“Today, I’m declaring a half day,” I announce,” but it will be a work day.”

The children eye me suspiciously over breakfast.

“Education is about building the mind and the body, and today we’re building the body.”

Their eyes brighten. They like the sound of that. It sounds so like something that must happen outside. Out there where Spring is driving back the winter and calling for my children to join.

“We need a compost pile,” I inform them, “and we’re going to get it started.”

They actually cheer. Cheer because they can respond to the call which has already drawn most of their attention out of doors.

We collect materials while daddy collects fence posts. We measure and level and draw lines with string while daddy digs post holes. We…wait. Where did they go?

Off exploring.

Checking on the baby chicks.

Examining the vole tunnels.

Looking at the outline of the old lagoon.

Discovering the remnants of an old garden.

I ponder for a moment the notebook pages I could assign them to encourage their curiosity and help them find the answers to their many questions.

But not today. Today is a workday. And while they may not quite grasp it, this is exactly the kind of work I had hoped for.

homeschool homeschooling home education

Winter has broken its hold on the land.

There is mud.

There is green.

There is life.

I have never known a winter here like this one. Where it snows and snows and never melts. Last winter, my garlic got confused during a warm spell in December and began to sprout. Last winter, I grew hopeful during a warm spell in February and began planting in cloches.

This year, however, winter never released its grasp. After three weeks of sunshine and above freezing temperatures, there is yet snow on the land. Snow which was here in November and never had the chance to melt off.

It has been so long – so long since I’ve felt the warmth of the sun, the softness of the earth, the gentleness of the breeze. I have awaited this Spring with such anticipation, and now Spring is calling. The warm breeze whispers its call, and I answer. A dozen times a day, I answer, and walk outside.

Spring brings life to my dreams. It brings chicks and gardens and goslings. It brings action to the planning I’ve done all winter.

It brings mud.

It brings green.

It brings life.

___________________

And the Carnival of Homeschooling is up at Homeschool Bytes!

Update: Alison of Loving Nature’s Garden shared a great link to help you get connected to those in your community who could use your extra produce: AmpleHarvest.org.

It’s that time of year again, when gardeners everywhere begin planning, ordering and starting seeds. We’re still a couple months from our last frost date, but that didn’t stop me from ordering over $70 worth of seeds!

This Spring, we’re still deep in a recession with unemployment continuing to rise, and I wanted to do a little something to encourage you to help your neighbors and community by doing something gardeners have done for as long as there have been gardens:  Share the Harvest!  Except rather than “just” giving out of your unplanned surplus, I’d like you to consider planning now to plant a little extra, an extra row, an extra tomato plant, whatever you can squeeze in, so that you have a little more to give.

And think of someone or some organization to bless. If you have a few gardening friends willing to join you, think what that amount of garden fresh produce could mean to a struggling family!

If you do not know someone personally, ask your church or  other local organizations. When I used to supervise visits at the homeless shelter, I never saw people as excited about dinner as when there was a fresh apple. Apparently, they don’t see much fresh fruit.

Also think about talking to local nurseries. Campbell’s in Lincoln is serving as a collection site for extra fresh produce and is distributing it to organizations serving families in need.

For a dollar or two in seed and a little extra weeding, you could have several pounds of fresh produce to bless a neighbor with.

Territorial Seed Company is encouraging you to Share the Harvest, too, by including a free packet of carrot seed in every order this year. They estimate if all these are planted, raised and donated, that would provide 2.5 million pounds of fresh, nutritious carrots to families in need!

And now for the giveaway part. I just need some help spreading the idea, so I’m asking you to share this post via link from your blog, Facebook page or Twitter account. Leave a comment with a link to where you shared, and I will enter you in the drawing to win a $15 gift certificate to Territorial Seed Company.  Open to the US and Canada, but be aware that shipping costs may exceed the value of the certificate outside the continental US.

Feel free to use my button.

<a href=”http://roscommonacres.com/2010/03/share-the-harvest-challenge-and-giveaway/” mce_href=”http://roscommonacres.com/2010/03/share-the-harvest-challenge-and-giveaway/”><img src=”http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk163/gottsegnet/sharetheharvest.jpg” mce_src=”http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk163/gottsegnet/sharetheharvest.jpg” alt=”Share the Harvest” width=”125″ height=”125″ /></a>

And the giveaway ends Friday March 19, 2010. I’d love to hear how you plan to Share the Harvest, and will post the link of all blogs participating. I’ll also share periodic updates about how our harvest sharing is going right up until we give it away.

If you haven’t already, you might also enjoy my free e-book, Developing Christian Character Through Gardening.

Disclosure: I am in no way connected to Territorial Seed Company. I just liked their carrot seed promotion, and they have gift certificates. I am paying for it myself and have received no compensation of any kind from Territorial Seed Company.

Discussing our new chicks on Twitter, I was asked the same question over and over. “Why? Why chickens?” Some had chickens and were curious about how our family got started, some were sort of kind of entertaining the idea, some seemed to think I (and everyone going on about chickens) were a little unhinged and one wanted to bring her husband around. So, in answer to this one great question, I give you

The Roscommon Acres Definitive Guide for Why You, Too, Should Consider Chickens

Chickens are educational.

From breed selection through their first precious eggs and beyond, you will amazed at how much there is to learn about and from chickens.  As a homeschooling family, our primary interest was the lessons to be learned.  We learned a little about meat birds, though layers were our focus, and discovered the wonderful world of dual purpose breeds.  Then heritage breeds. Then this whole issue of industrial agriculture and what it means for the genetic diversity of the simple chicken as they are continually selectively bred for larger breasts or greater egg production.  Right now, we are comparing the development of a Cornish Cross, the standard in meat production, to the Plymouth Rock, a heritage breed that can be used both as a meat bird and a layer.  Stay tuned for periodic updates on their comparative development, dressing weights and flavor as we blog their little lives all the way to the dinner table.

Without chickens, there can be no eggs.

Yes, of course you can get those watery things from the grocery store.  But once you find that first, beautiful egg in the nest box, you know that eggs from backyard chickens are happier, healthier and better looking.  The yolk is a deeper color, the whites stiffer, the shells harder.  And then there is just the sense of accomplishment. Of raising something yourself and reaping the benefits of your labor. You may find yourself peeking in the refrigerator, just to look at the eggs, and then you will know there is something special about these eggs beyond any proposed health benefits.

Chicken poo is the black gold of gardening.

Simply put, if you garden, you have a use for chickens. Chicken manure is rich in nitrogen, phosphoric acid and potash, as well as organic matter that will build soil while nourishing your plants. Trust me. Your plants will thank you. Just remember that chicken poo is HOT. If not composted prior to applying, you risk burning your plants. As an added bonus (if you have enough chickens, anyway), you can use the manure in a hotbed, and use that hot composting action to warm seedlings outside the normal growing season.

Chickens are good insect control.

Chickens are omnivores, but you haven’t seen a chicken live until you’ve watched it chase bugs. My chickens will spot an earthworm on my shovel from across the yard and come racing, necks outstretched and wings flapping to get to it before I finish turning the soil. They provide excellent control for ticks, flies, mosquitoes, ants, slugs, snails and just about anything else they can catch.

Chickens are good tillers.

At the end of the growing season, turn your chickens loose on your garden. They will finish off the green stuff you leave standing, scratch and turn the soil in the continual hunt for insects and dust baths, decrease the number of hibernating and pupating pests and leave a nice layer of fertilizer to get you started for next year.

Chickens make great garbage disposals.

Think of them as pigs with feathers. Carrot peelings, left over oatmeal, bits of spaghetti…garbage to you and treats to a chicken.  Feeding chickens your kitchen scraps puts your garbage to good use while lowering your feed cost.  There’s very little they won’t eat, but I’ve read that you shouldn’t feed them potato peelings, avocado, dry beans or eggplant.

Chickens are good therapy.

Everyone I talk to who owns chickens spends time just watching their flock. Sure, it is good practice to spend a lot of time watching any animal in your care. Especially in chickens, where their signals that something is wrong are slight. But that isn’t why we do it. We do it because it feels good. Because in that moment, things are still and quiet and you can let your mind wander. Because there’s nothing quite like a freshly laid egg to warm your hands on a brisk morning. Because touching and frying and tasting the products of your labor brings meaning to breakfast that can never come from a styrofoam carton at WalMart.

Chickens are political.

While there are cities across the nation that are quite friendly to chickens (would you believe that even New York City allows an unlimited number of hens?!), there are others which just don’t quite seem to get it. If your area doesn’t allow chickens, ask around. You might be surprised to stumble upon a vast underground chicken movement.  Citizens nationwide are banding together and working to change legislation to allow small backyard flocks. Their arguments and tactics are actually very similar to that of the homeschool movement, and you may be surprised to find liberals and conservatives working together to change the same laws for some of the very same reasons. Kinda like us homeschoolers.

Chickens build community.

They are an oddity, especially if you live in an urban or suburban area. A few fresh eggs delivered here or there normally quells any initial worry about the smell or the noise people seem to glean from stereotypes, and you just might find your neighbor looking over the fence at your flock busy with some weeding or insect control. Our old place backed up against a baseball field, and one afternoon, a woman came and asked if she could photograph our chickens who were running free about the backyard. She was delighted at how such a simple little animal made the connection between town and country seem closer.  Neighbors stopped to look in the coop, children asked to pet them and strangers spontaneously began talking about their chickens, or their grandmother’s flock they remembered growing up. One of our neighbors even helped us with the construction of the roost.

Convinced?  Check out my entry on getting started with chickens.  Still looking for more information? Ask away! I may not know the answer, but I’ll do my best to help you find it!

Do you have chickens? Have you blogged about them? My Mr. Linky seems to have stopped working, so feel free to add a link to the comment box and I will add it to the entry! Thank you!!

More chicken blogs:

(not so) urban hennery Thoughts on country living, farming, gardening and eating locally

Raising Chickens: Keeping chickens in your backyard The title pretty much explains it all.

The Little Egg Farm Delightful personal blog of a grandmother with chickens.

Urban Chickens Network News and information about the backyard chicken.

Selected with the help of Random.org, the winner of Empowering Youth is commenter number 6, Pat!  I’ll be emailing you shortly to get your information and should be sending it shortly!

Congratulations!

Next up in my bookshelf clearing endeavor is Empowering Youth, by Kelly Curtis.  Kelly also runs a blog, by the way:  Pass the Torch.  You may be familiar with it from her one year homeschooling experiment which, if I remember correctly, occurred the same year she wrote the book!  That has given me great encouragement as I muddle my way through my goals, and composing wonderful passages in my mind that are gone once I get some quiet time at the computer.

This is a nice little book focused on encouraging the development of young leaders with (from the back cover):

• Nineteen youth and adult activities that provide community initiatives and organizations with ways to get started in youth empowerment.
• Firsthand accounts from youth and adults around the world who offer insight, advice, and best practices.
• Five checklists to get groups thinkng about how they support youth empowerment.
• Motivating tips and anecdotes showing how adults can empower youth every day.
• Research that demonstrates the value of taking this approach.

And again, all you need do to enter is leave a comment.  Barring the unforeseen, I will choose a winner sometime Friday, February 26 with the help of Random.org.

Open to the US and Canada.

Shawna!  Congratulations!

I’ll be sending out Among Schoolchildren on Tuesday (hopefully).  Also, I should be sending Marci’s copy of Tom Swift at the same time.  A week behind here because, well, my purse was stolen and my computer crashed and, well, it has just been one of those weeks.

Last weeks’ “This Book Needs a New Family Giveaway” was so much fun, I decided to do it again.  And may continue until this stack of books next to my bookshelf has disappeared.  Next up is a book I have some history with:  Among Schoolchildren, by Tracy Kidder.

This book spent some well-deserved time on the national bestseller list, quite an accomplishment for a book about American education.  It was required reading in my college education courses and was one of the few books I have been assigned that I actually read from cover to cover.  In fact year later, as a Teach for America corps member in the Rio Grande Valley, I would be reminded of Mrs. Zajac’s fifth grade class, the poor area she taught in and the life she poured into her students.

I had tried to remember the title, wanted to recommend it to a friend, thought I might like to read it again myself.  But I couldn’t remember the title or enough specific details to find any information and thought it lost to the blur that was my college life.  Then what should I discover at the library book sale last fall but this very book?!  And what should I discover in all my boxes of books in the attic but this very book?!  And while I like it an awful lot, I really don’t need two copies.

So I hope one of you might enjoy it as much as I.

Just leave a comment to enter and make sure to leave a method of contacting you.  If you leave a correct email in the comment form, you do not need to retype it.  I will select a winner Friday, February 19, 2010.

Open to anyone in the US or Canada.

Today, I don’t have to go anywhere.  We may go to the library because I promised the children we would this week and this week is running out of days.  But I don’t have to, I don’t even particularly want to, and I’m relishing the ability to just be home.

It is a new feeling for me. For some time, the mere thought of staying home for days at a time led to restlessness and a vague sense of being trapped.  I could only straighten the same rooms, mediate the same squabbles, fold the same laundry, wash the same dishes so many times before going stir crazy.

I tried not to go into town unnecessarily.  We were, after all, doing our best to save wherever we could.  But having something to do away from home was a relief.  I even looked forward to grocery shopping, especially on the rare occasion my husband was home and agreed to take the children while I “picked up a few things.”

Like my sanity.

Living here is a little different.  Part of that is because it is still new, but there’s more.  The chickens keep me occupied throughout the day, I have several light remodeling projects and I’m in the midst of planning for a sizable garden as well as a small flock of geese.  I have enough work to fill each day, but it is a different kind of work than  just continually cleaning and moving around the same things in the endlessly tedious task of maintaining our stuff.  It feels more productive because I am building and creating something new while laying a basic groundwork for our future here.

Interestingly, even my ever-present pile of laundry seems less daunting and the continual picking up behind small children less tedious.

And for the first time since leaving the workforce, I truly want to be here at home.

As many of you know, we recently moved.  That involved a lot of sorting and boxing.  It involved going through all my books, and even finding a few I think I can let go of.  This is huge, people.  I’d say you have no idea, but then, I know most of you are homeschoolers and probably suffer from a similar weakness for acquiring books faster than you can read (or even shelve!) them.

Anyway, I thought the whole separation process would go much better if I found a happy home for them to go to, so welcome to my first “This Book Needs a New Family” giveaway.  All you have to do to enter is leave a comment somehow indicating you want the book and I’ll pick one random winner on Friday, February 12, 2010.

My first book to give away is a fun little adventure story:  Tom Swift and His Airline Express by Victor Appleton.  What can I say about this book?  Well, to begin with, the author definitely listened to his fifth grade English teacher when she told him to never to use the same word twice.  In the very first chapter, just after learning young Tom, an inventor and owner of quite a factory, has excellent eyes, he’s caught quite by surprise.

That’s the queerest thing I’ve seen yet!” exclaimed Tom, rubbing his organs of vision. p. 4

And that is why you want this book.  The children loved it, and my husband and I laughed all the way to the end.  In fact, after stopping for a break from reading in the car it was my husband who called out, “Aw, do we have to stop now?”

It was first published in 1926, as part of a series of books about the inventor Tom and his escapades defending his ideas from the enemies of the Swift Construction Plant.  It was actually quite popular in its day, with over 100 titles celebrating Tom Swift.  As a homeschooling mom, I thought it provided an interesting peek into the early twentieth century, with its faith in science and technology, honor of wealth and the fruits of hard work, and views toward blacks.

Eradicate, the colored man, is presented as somewhat childlike, fiercely loyal but lacking much of any real purpose (not to mention intelligence).  You just don’t get characterizations like this these days:

Of course, Koku and Eradicate insisted on joining in the search, and had it not been that the matter was now getting serious it would have been laughable to watch the giant and the colored man.  Each was jealous of the other, each was fearful that the other would be the first to discover Tom. p. 71

So yeah, the book is just begging to spur all sorts of discussions.  I know you can’t wait to get started, so leave a comment letting me know how much you would just love to have this book.

Open to anyone in the US or Canada.

Oh, and it is definitely pre-1985 and I know how much y’all love CPSIA, so just imagine its pages dripping with lead and don’t give it to your children.