A Critter Corner Account

Recently I was walking in the playground, and I saw a couple of toads. Many toad species live in the United States. I caught a few of the warty amphibians and made a home for them in my tank on Critter Corner. Then I put them in my terrarium.

I wanted to find something else, so I walked down the driveway looking for lizards. At that moment I saw a flash of gray. I tried to grab hold of the lizard, but it got away. They are very fast and can escape you. I came back up to the playground and caught two more toads. The next day I fed my critters some news bees. News bees are very hard to capture!

I went back down the driveway to see if there were any more lizards that I could discover. I saw one. It was on the split rail fence. Since lizards are cold blooded, they will come out in morning to lie on the split rail fence to warm up in the sun. I walked up very slowly and grabbed him. It was a baby Eastern Fence Lizard. Females are usually bigger than the males. I did not know if it was a boy or a girl because he was small. I like hatchlings because their mouths are too small to bite. Besides they are very cute. He is only about six centimeters, including his long tail.

A couple days later I saw Bartimaeus, our cat, playing with something. I walked to him and saw that it was a rainbow skink, also known as a blue tailed skink. I took Bartimaeus away and grabbed the skink and put it in my habitat. It looked like it was hungry, so I gave it a pill bug to eat. It liked it, so I gave it some ants. Skinks can grow up to twenty centimeters in length. Mine was only about seven centimeters without his tail.

It has been an exciting time to watch my creatures run around and eat what I feed them in Critter Corner, our special place on the north side of our porch. I have learned a lot about amphibians and reptiles by looking after them every day.

~Isaac

Our Jog

  

We all like to jog,

Sometimes in the fog.

It makes me hot and tired,

As hot as a gun when fired.

Jogging is good for you,

It makes your body mostly new.

One time we saw an owl,

I hope to see another one, wow!

We see lots of wildlife,

Nothing manmade like a cutting knife.

I love to see things like logs.

Which we see lots on our jogs.

~Unique

Soundsational Reflections

My mind can create the image, the little six-year-old girl excitedly sitting down at the piano to perform, a glorious vision of her fingers gliding over the black and white keys, letting loose imprisoned voices which stir the hearts of the listeners. Now, I see her enchanted, eyes sparkling with delight as she listens to her older sister pick out dozens of familiar tunes, her fingers appearing to effortlessly fly over the eight strings of the mandolin.

2012

When I first came to be a part of my great big, wonderful family, I wanted to play music. From the beginning I was submersed into the melodious world of violins, guitars, mandolins, pianos and voices all blended together to create a soundsational home. I watched, listened, and knew I wanted to be a part of it all. I was going to be a musician.

Mama began to teach me. I tried to imagine there were balls underneath my fingers, keeping them curved upright like every good pianist does. Patiently, mama explained to me the language of music, the letters of the notes, their corresponding keys, etc. A little while later, Rachel tuned up, and gifted me with one of her older mandolins that she no longer used. I was ecstatic, and that instrument became one of my most loved and prized possessions.

2013

The little girl was brought back to reality when it actually came time for her to play. I can feel her disappointment as she places her fingers on the piano. Instead of her glorious vision, she could only plunk out the notes to Old MacDonald Had a Farm. Instead of recognizable tunes, all that came from her mandolin’s strings was barely recognizable chords, and aching fingers. If you haven’t figured it out by now, the little girl in this story is me. Disappointed and discouraged, I became afraid that I might never be able to play music as well as the rest of my family. That is when Mama told me to realize that the reason we play is to give glory to God. Our music is a way to praise and worship Him. We hope that those who listen to our songs are encouraged and blessed by them, but we mustn’t lose focus of why we do it. And God gives the increase as we are diligent!

2015

So, I continued to practice and practice and practice some more, and slowly my music transformed into what I wanted to hear. I am still learning. Sometimes I lose my focus and become nervous. But Mama told me that every musician feels that way in their own journey. I am so grateful for those who help me continue to make my musical vision become a reality. I am pleased that I listened and am still persevering to become a better musician for Him who gave me the ability and the aspiration to make music. Make a joyful noise unto the Lord all the earth. Psalm 100:1

~Halayah

Scores of Hungry Garter Snakes!

About two months ago while I was walking around the pond, our dog Pepper started barking and running in circles around something on the ground! When I walked up, Pepper grabbed the thing in his mouth and shook it viciously until I yelled for him to stop. When he did, I saw that the thing was a very big garter snake! The scared garter snake was ready to strike at anything that moved. By the time I had it safely in a home that I fixed for it on Critter Corner, I had been bitten twice! As I closed the lid to the snake’s new home, I saw the reptile had a cut on its side from where Pepper had grabbed her! Feeling sorry for the snake, I took her out and wrapped the cut with a piece of tissue and tape. After a few days, the cut was healed, and I removed the bandage.

The garter snake was doing very well now, and without its bandage I noticed that she had an unusually long lump in her belly. At first, I thought that she just had eaten something recently before I caught her, but when the lump continued to stay in the one spot, I realized that she was probably carrying babies! It was exciting to think of having baby garter snakes on Critter Corner.

I continued feeding and caring for the snake, and slowly the lump in her belly grew bigger. We were going to be gone for a week at Hillsboro Family Camp, so I put enough food in with the snake to last until we got back. When we returned, I looked in the snake’s pen and there were tons of baby garter snakes all over the place in the tank! It was getting dark, and when I shone the light in the tank, I saw a whole lot of snakes in the log tunnel!

After I showed everyone the snakes, I tried to feed the hungry reptiles with earth worms, little toads, baby frogs, and tiny insects. A few of them ate, and when it got too dark to see, I decided to feed and count the rest of them the next day.

The following day after church, I counted and fed every one of the baby garter snakes. There were 51 of them! 

I kept every one of the thin 3-inch-long snakes for about a week. Then I let 36 of them go, leaving me with a mere 15.

I have had my garter snakes for about a month now, and they have already grown two inches! Feeding them is a big job. 

When I feed them their small fish, frogs, toads and insects, I must stand and watch because sometimes they almost eat each other! It’s fun to watch them eat.

I hope to keep my garter snakes until fall. Then I will let them go. Maybe next year I will catch some of the same ones when they are bigger. I wonder if they will remember me.

~Samuel

The Florida Weave

Several visions may pop in your mind when hearing the term “The Florida Weave.” One may think it is an intoxicated driver traveling down the road in Florida. Maybe you conjure up thoughts of a line dance from the past, where individuals pass back and forth intertwining with one another. You could consider that it is a special basket made in the Sunshine state. All of those are good guesses. However, the term actually refers to a simple way to support tomatoes, keeping them off the ground, while allowing them to grow to their full potential.

The technique was developed by Florida commercial growers because it is a fast, simple, and inexpensive method that helps tomatoes grow tall with good production, keeping them exposed to the beneficial Florida sun. While there are several ways to employ the weave, they all employ the same general method. I will describe the method we used, but this could be easily modified depending on your resources and location. We utilize 2ft by 8ft raised beds for our tomatoes.

1. Place three plants in the 2x8ft box, one in the middle and one on each end about one and a half foot from the ends.

 

2. Drive a seven-foot T-post centered on the inside wall of each end of the box about one to one and a half feet deep.

 

3. As the tomatoes grow, take twine (we use balers twine) and tie it about six inches up on one of the t-posts. Then pull twine to the right side of the stalk of the first tomato and to the left side of the second and to the right side of the third. Then wrap the twine around the other t-post and bring the twine back to the opposite side of each tomato and tie it at the same point that you started.

 4. As the tomatoes grow, continue with the same weaving process about every six inches up the t-posts.

Do your best to keep all the leaves off the ground and the plants standing tall. This keeps pests from climbing up the plant leaves. If the plants are indeterminate, they will continue to grow taller and taller until they finally reach the top of the t-posts around six feet. With this method, it is simple to observe and reach each angle of the plant, which allows you to easily pinch off the unproductive suckers that drain its resources. You can also detect diseases, bugs, or worms more readily, as the plants are at eye level, adding to productivity.

We have found this method more beneficial than cages, fences, or stakes, as we have enjoyed a fruitful harvest of luscious red ripe tomatoes from our garden throughout the summer.

~Mark

Home

Home is the place where love abounds. A place where joy is easily found, and laughter energizes the very air. Home is the place where you can relax. It’s a place where you can dream and put those dreams into action. You can work and make goals uninterrupted by worldly distractions.

Blessing adorns the home. Contentment is a halo on the roof of the house. Home is a stronghold robed in the garb of encouragement. The walls are painted with tranquility and radiate with serenity. The air is fresh and unpolluted by the worries of the world. Home is where the music of goodness echoes though the walls and the song of faithfulness is heard. Every thread of carpet is charged by happiness. Peace mists down from the ceiling to the floors. Comfort is infused into every piece of furniture and spills over to the blankets in the basket around the corner.

Meals are served and are never without a helping of thankfulness. The table is surrounded by an atmosphere of gratitude and thankfulness. The old oak table and the chairs encircling it are infused with memories, and stories that have been told in its presence.

Home is a place so full of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control that there is no room for doubt, complaints, fear, anxiety, stress, hatred, selfishness, arguing, or anger. Home is where we continually feast on the Fruit of the Spirit.

Home is where bonds are strengthened, and lessons are learned. The shadow of sorrow may come for a time, but the sunshine of gratitude and gladness drive it quickly away. When uncertainty approaches, confidence in the Lord carries you through. Home is a safe place; a harbor, a haven, a refuge, and we find solace there. Home is where we learn about our eternal home, Heaven.

Home is love, strength, and family.

~Jayla

The Bee Feeder

A month ago, Mom ordered some bees so we could put them in a beehive in the orchard. We put the box in the orchard so the bees could pollinate the fruit trees and give us honey! Bees use their sense of smell, to find the flowers they’re looking for. They arrived in the post office a couple of weeks late, and a lot of them had died. It was sad to see lots of the bees dead.

Dad, Isaac, Samuel, and I, took the bees down to the bee box and poured the bees in the box, then we put the queen in. We put her in the middle frame of the box. There were a lot more bees alive than we thought there were. They flew everywhere. 

After dumping the bees in and letting the queen out of her cage, we put the lid on the box. The queen can lay up to 2000 to 3000 eggs a day! That’s a lot. Then we went up to the house to make some sugar water for them.

This is how we made it for the bees. We took a pot and put some sugar in it, them we put a couple of cups of water in it and turned the stove on to boil the water. While the water was boiling, I made a bee feeder to put the sugar water in.

To make the bee feeder, I washed out an old coconut oil container then I got the drill and drilled about twelve holes just below the lid. The holes I drilled were to let a little food out at a time for the bees. Then it was done. After the sugar water was done and cooled, we put it into the feeder and took it down to the bees.

A couple of hours later, the bees were all over the feeder and everywhere around! Did you know a bee’s wing beats 11,400 times per minute? That’s why they make a buzzing noise. It was very cool to watch them. The next day, I went down to check the feeder and the sugar water was gone! I refilled it and the bees were happy again.

Bees are fun to watch. They are fun to watch on flowers, and it is amazing how they turn nectar into honey. I am glad we put the bees in the orchard. They will help our fruit trees give more fruit and help the garden grow.

~Jonah

Niko Niko

I've been running off and on since I graduated from high school. Running during sports always seemed like a punishment or drudgery, but when I began running on my own at age eighteen, it quickly became freeing. Mark had left for Army basic training and I took up jogging to pass the time while he was gone.

Having later moved to Wilmington while in nursing school, I would get up before daylight and run along the busy streets; cars passing on their way to work. Once, I slipped in the snowy sidewalk in a busy intersection under the early morning streetlights. I quickly got up and continued on, much chagrined and hoping no one had taken the time to notice.

In our little gray house in Pricetown, I would sneak in a run while Mark played with our small children. When I became pregnant for Rachel, I continued running into my third trimester.

After we moved to Providence Prairie, our jogging days waned as homesteading took the forefront and most of our physical resources. Soon though, we found ourselves once again jogging, this time along the rock roads of desolate Hamilton County. We rarely met a car but saw plenty of oil horses. It was an introvert runner’s paradise.

We ran off and on, but sometime prior to our first two children’s courtships, we became more consistent again. We didn't miss a day of running for an entire year! That felt like an accomplishment! When we have been in periods of life where we aren't running, I always eventually found myself gazing longingly at runners as we passed by them in the car. Walking was fine, but I know that when I am running, I feel happy and free.

Once again, I persuaded Mark to go running with me. So, since early 2021, we have amped up our normal walking routine as I was eager to return to my solitary community of runners. Just me, just Mark, sometimes our children.

After periods of no running, it made sense to begin gradually. We utilized the C25K program and set off. Couch to 5 kilometers in just six to eight weeks sounded great! Nevertheless, we were well into running when it was time for preplanned surgery for Mark. After our hiatus and his recuperation, we picked up where we left off and completed the program. I might mention that we weren't very fast. Not fast at all! In fact, I've never been a fast runner.

Still jogging slowly, I came across an article about a Japanese professor, Hiroaki Tanaka, who was a marathon runner. Later in life, he started running slower in an attempt to improve his marathon time. Amazingly, he just about cut his time in half! Tanaka formalized his slow jogging system after using it to cut his time from 4:11 for the marathon in his thirties to 2:40 when he was fifty-years old and eventually 2:38:50 – his personal best after that. That is impressive!

He calls his technique Niko Niko running, which in Japanese means happy, happy. That is because the pace is slow enough to carry on a conversation and isn't exhausting. It's a happy run that you look forward to. Mark and I appreciate our slow run together as we catch up on each other's day and reconnect. He says it reminds him of the airborne shuffle that he did in basic training . He recalled how they could run at that pace for hours on end. And more recently, I have been enjoying special one on one time with each child as they take a turn accompanying their mama on her run.

I realized that this slow jogging was exactly what we were already doing! It is a an efficient, healthier, and pain-free approach to running for all ages and lifestyles. It gave me peace to think that I didn't have to push myself to meet some outside standards of what someone else called running. I could keep on doing what I was already doing and continue to improve my health and wellbeing! In fact, after doing further reading about this running technique, I realized there were many, many more benefits from this running type as compared to faster running.

Slow jogging is an intensity of running that occurs at a heart rate of around 138 minus half your age. It is easy on the joints. And the effects of your run continue long after the run is finished. It reduces anxiety, improves your sense of calm and well-being, it reduces pain. It has been shown to have positive effects on metabolic syndrome, high blood pressure, and increases HDL cholesterol in patients doing 180 minutes of slow jogging per week. The slower pace of Niko Niko jogging prevents your body from creating cortisol. People who speak of a runner’s high are often referring to the adrenaline spike that occurs somewhere mid run. What happens when you jog slower is that it causes your body to release endocannabinoids that aren't released in faster runs. Running just feels good!

So I think I will keep on running. . At my slow pace. . . Happily. And free.

~Rhonda

Chicory

About a week ago, Mom and I went jogging. On the way we saw some flowers. Mama told me that they were called chicory. It was hard to remember the name chicory. She told me to just remember chick like in chicken, but instead of “en” put an “ory” at the end.

Chicory grows alongside the edges of the road. The flowers are bright blue with dark blue stamens and pistils in the middle. The chicory’s scientific name is Cichorium intybus. The goldfinches like to eat the seeds of the chicory plant.

Mom also said that the pioneers would put the roots of the chicory in boiling water to make a coffee like drink. People have used the chicory since the Egyptians, who ground up its leaves roots and flowers to use for medicine. Traditionally the root was use for tea to treat jaundice, liver enlargement, gout and rheumatism.

I am glad that we saw the chicory. I want to try the drink. First, I need to dig it up and wash the root. Then I’ll have to cut it in to one-inch pieces. After I preheat the oven to 350 degrees, I will put the slices on a cookie sheet to roast until golden brown. Mom has a coffee grinder that she might let me use to grind the roasted roots. I would then put it in a mug and pour boiling water over it. It might be good, it might not, but I still am excited to try it.

~Isaac