End of Summer Days

Hi, everyone! We have been pretty busy here at Front Forty Farm, and I can't believe we are already half way through the month of August...where does the time go? We are enjoying the last few weeks of summer, but I'm sad to think of the warm sunny days coming to an end.  I wish it would slow down.  Why is it that June, July and August fly by so much faster than January, February, and March? Summer is always too short in comparison to the long winter.

I did, however, want to take a quick break from the hustle and bustle and give you a little snippet of the goings-on here at the farm. 

Harvesting the Garden

The rattlesnake pole beans are in full swing now, but my bush beans have seen better days. The pounding rains we have had this summer have taken their toll on them.

We have been enjoying the cucumbers, and I'm hoping to get enough to make pickles this year. 

Picking Blueberries

My blueberry bushes produced 5 gallons of blueberries this year, more than ever before.  I guess the vigorous pruning that I thought "almost killed them" last year actually did them some good.

Morning Playtime

My baby is no longer content to lie on his back and watch the world go by.  He wants to be on the go and has perfected the "army crawl".  The other day I put him on his blanket with a bucket of toys and ran outside to hang some dripping bathing suits on the line.  I opened the door to find that Little #10 had made his way from the dining room, through the  living room into the mud room to the front door.  Time to haul out those menacing baby gates.

Rainy Day Games

The older boys love to play games.  I recently picked up the games Apples to Apples and Cranium Cadoo, in like-new condition, at the Goodwill, which have come in very handy on the rainy days we have had this summer.  The boys have taught the younger ones how to play Uno, and in the picture above they are playing a game my eldest son made up...it was quite ingenious, and it kept the Littles attention until bedtime.

Soccer Camp

Four of our Littles enjoy playing soccer on various teams in the fall, and they headed off to camp last week.  They worked hard, learned new techniques and made some new friends. One came home a "World Cup" champ and two of them teamed up and won the "Gatorade 2 vs 2 Challenge". Hubby and I were quite proud of our little superstars.

Fun at Camp

We recently spent some time at Hubby's family camp.  The lake and sand beach are beautiful, and the Littles wish we could spend more time there, but with it being a two hour drive away, we usually only make it there once or twice a summer.  

Taking a Moment to Enjoy the Flowers

I have one of my vintage metal chairs near the garden so that when I take a moment to sit, I can enjoy the beauty of the flowers.  After picking the beans, I like to end them while sitting in this chair.  The Littles usually crowd around me asking for beans to crunch on; they run off, coming back momentarily for another. 

New Refrigerator

We have been having issues with our refrigerator for quite some time, and after numerous repairs, we decided it was time to purchase a new one.  I'm not convinced I'm in love with this new fridge, though.  It has the same amount of cubic space as the old one, but it has less room...does that make sense?  The makers of our old refrigerator  seemed to have made the best use of the space by retro-fitting the drawers and shelves, using every inch of space available, but I see a lot of wasted space in my new fridge; with ten Littles I need all the refrigerator space I can get.

Preparing for School

I have been doing lots of work in the new Library, preparing for the upcoming start of school. It is getting very close to being finished, and I'm so excited to share the final reveal with you. I'm very pleased with the way it is turning out; it really is beginning to have the look and feel of a library. 

New Babies

Yesterday we woke to find that one of our guinea hens had become a proud new mama.  The chicks are simply adorable, and as mama becomes less wary and lets us get closer, I will try to get some better pictures of our new babies. 

Of course, there is the day-to-day...laundry, housecleaning, cooking, summer colds and tummy bug (ewwwww!), chauffeuring teens here and there, etc...

Our days are quite full, and almost everyone is ready to flop into their beds at night; no one has any trouble sleeping.  I do, however, try to squeeze in a few minutes of quiet time for reading before I turn out my light.  I recently started reading Becoming Jane Eyre.

I was very hesitant to read this book because I generally avoid any books written as "sequels" to the brilliant, time-honored classic works of Austen and the Brontes, but I'm so happy I decided to take this book off the shelf and bring it home with me.  It is nothing like the "continuing sagas" of Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy that I dislike so much.  As a Bronte fan, it has gently given me more insight to the lives of Charlotte and her family. Although it is a work of fiction, the author has taken few liberties and has kept to the known and accepted facts about the Brontes.  I recommend this book to anyone who has enjoyed the Bronte novels.

Well, I have been working on this post for four days now, and I think it is finally time to hit "publish".  I hope you all have a great day.  Thanks for stopping by my little corner.