Our four oldest kids had the opportunity to travel to Colorado for an assembly of our Presbyterian churches last week. Not only was it a blessing to them, but it was also a blessing to us as well. Cory took time off from his electrical business, so he could help us to keep everything going on the farm. We called it a “working vacation.”
This time of year gets busier since we are moving our sheep and cows daily, our laying hens every other day, and milking four cows and moving them on pasture daily. We also put our meat birds on pasture recently, so they are getting moved daily as well. The gardens are still being planted and the weeds don’t wait for us to finish planting, although that would be nice. This doesn’t include all the routine work, teaching and training, and relationship building. With all of this to say, we are blessed with a lot of work.
In preparation for this trip, we got ahead of our normal routine work for this time of year, and more importantly added even more efficient systems to our farm compared to last year. For example, Aiden designed and installed drip irrigation on our orchard and many of our garden areas. He calculated that we are using less than half of the water we were using in the past, and the plants look great. That has saved me a lot of time! Praise the Lord. We will see how things look in July, when we often get behind in some of the weeding.
Their trip also forced us to think even more about how to do our work more efficiently. I learned that I can accomplish more in a day than I ever thought possible (seeking the Lord in everything) and that our younger children are very capable of helping out as well. This efficiency was a true blessing and answer to prayer (something I pray about daily). In fact, some of the kids were fighting over who got to help with the dishes and more than one person wanted to clean the bathrooms (I know this won’t last).
We did what we needed to do, and when we were done with our work, we planned something fun each day. We had a fire, hay rack ride, games, and ended the week by visiting with the older kids and enjoyed looking at the numerous pictures that were taken from their trip. We had apple cider from our orchard each night, and they thought my simple meals were special, especially since we were able to add some fresh vegetables from the garden.
Our older children are such a blessing, and Cory and I realize that we will be losing them soon, but we look forward to what God has in store for them and know that we will be able to manage. This trip was a reminder that God will give us what we need when the times comes.
After our previous email about how the little ones and I made a half gallon of vanilla extract for our family, I had several people reach out and ask if we could do that for them. I have been thinking about how we could help them out and save them money.
I came up with a plan after some praying and calculating. I could make a quart of vanilla (which would be about 8 of the bottles of vanilla) and sell it for $86 for Tahitian and $81 for Madagascar. They save because I wouldn’t have to find storage for it for several months or separate it into the bottles (the time and cost of the bottles does add up).
When the time comes, they can strain off the beans and add this to empty Boston Round Bottles here. These work great for easier storage, or to give away as gifts once the extract is done. To save even more money, instead of buying the bottles, they could dip into the quart jar with the vanilla beans still in it (using a teaspoon or tablespoon) like I often do. The vanilla in the jar is best after several months, but I have used mine as early as few weeks. The flavor will keep getting better.
Frugal tip: When the extract is gone, I like to pour 35% alcohol over the beans and make a weaker vanilla, or I like to add them two at a time to a pan of water and heat on our stove with apples and cinnamon sticks to diffuse throughout our house. This natural fragrance lasts for many days and smells amazing.
If you would like a quart of vanilla too, simply message me, and I will be happy to help you out. If you would like to make your own vanilla, you can check out our two varieties of vanilla beans here for Tahitian and here for Madagascar.