Life Update

I have failed to post on here for quite some time now.  This year has been a very busy one to say the least.  Lots of different things going on around here at the ranch, and outside of our little piece of property!

Summer nights in Oklahoma are most always very humid and sticky.  But we've had beautiful ones as well, like the one in the photo above.

We've experienced many thunderstorms this Summer, which is definitely different than last year's very dry spell.  Rain is a great blessing!  I snapped the photo above one night, standing in the back of our truck, as lightening cracked across the sky.  It was a spectacular storm to observe!

We have had the joy to see a TON of little babies be born on our little farm!!  Ducklings, chicks, bunnies and goat kids...all so fun to watch grow up  :-)

My graphic design business has drastically taken off (in a good way).  Filling client requests and answering questions is a daily task of mine, as well as designing graphics and print material for the family sign shop.  Above is a photo of some of the many printed materials I've created for ForeKidsGolf.com  -  They are loyal clients of mine that I have worked closely with for these last couple years.

Since the recent heavy, often rains, our pastures, for the most part, are flourishing and have shown a very big difference in last year's production.  It is greener, longer and doesn't get dried by the sun as easily, thankfully!

So there you go, that is a basic overview of what my Summer has held thus far.  More to come Lord willing, I just need to make time to post.

Stay cool in this heat!
~Hannah

2 Families = BOOM!

It happened again last night!  Two families, the Young's (us) and the Fish's (really good friends of ours), got together again and. . . BOOM!  We are almost always up to crazy stuff, and in this case, it was learning two new dances at Liberty Ranch  :-)

On the way there

Line-dancing madness!

The pomegranate massacre!

All in all, it was a great night!  Praise God for these fun times  :-)

~Hannah

Winterizing a Shelter

It was a very pretty day for working outside!  So I decided to winterize a shelter for our bucks that was in dire need of a makeover.

Here the shelter is before anything was done to it.  It was like a wind tunnel.

Always keep your hay rope! Comes in handy for projects like these.

First, I hung a thick quilt on the open side, cutting 4 slits in the top, then stringing hay rope through over the roof, and attaching it to the other side. Yes, it's pretty okie-looking, but it works :)

Attached hay rope.

Then, I cut two slits in the sides, and wrapped the blanket around the poles.

The side is done.

 I started on the wall by digging about a 3" trench, then setting a board inside the trench. Then I attached wire to the inside of the board, and nailed a piece of metal on the outside of the board, leaving a space in between the wire and metal wall. I used the little space to put insulation in (junk blankets and fabric). Then I added a support beam at the end.

Another view of the wall.

I added a coroplast board to finish the wall. I put a pallet on the side behind the quilt, and leaned a pole up to secure it.  Done! It's pretty warm inside already :)

Jasper, already enjoying the shelter

Stay warm!
~Hannah

Homeschool Field Trip: Meet the Governor

So our family and another homeschooled family decided to take a little road trip down to the OSU Auditorium to meet our Oklahoma Governor and hear her speak.  We had a nice drive in the pouring rain!

Headed to Tulsa in the pouring rain!

Where is our freedom now?

Me and my brothers Josiah (right) & Isaiah (left)

Qadoshyah Fish, riding with us on the way down to Tulsa  :)

Our crazy little group before we go inside

Unfortunately, the meeting was largely centered around science and technology, instead of focusing our destroyed liberties.

Governor Mary Fallin, along with her legislative cabinet

During this meeting, the Governor allowed some of the citizens to ask questions publicly, and my dad was able to get a question in.  Later, we met Mary and spoke with her for a bit.  She hates the constitution and does not know what freedom is all about, since she, at the Oklahoma State Convention this year, called Ron Paul supporters "Obama supporters".  She also endorsed Mitt Romney for president, the candidate who supports the National Defense Authorization Act, which allows for indefinite detention of any American citizen, without charge, trial or due process of law.  So, the way I see it is, big government against the people!

Anyway, the drive back was a blast, filled with singing, junking out on candy bars, and good conversations!

JUNK FOOD  -  I rarely eat this kinda stuff, but hey, we were on a road trip  :)

The back window

Politics is a large part of my life right now, since it involves our liberties being taken away piece by piece.  I'll try and post more!

Goodnight!
~Hannah

Just Imagine . . .

You're wading in a peaceful creek. Life is good, when suddenly a flash flood overwhelms the small creek, and now you're on a crash course through the torrent, to a devastating end! You're trying to keep your head above water and you know in your heart that this is a bad situation, but keep trying to convince yourself that the current is leading you to safety.  Little do you know, it's leading you closer and closer to a massive drop off.

People on the banks of the river call out to you time and time again and throw life raft after life raft to you, warning you of the inevitable danger you face, yet you don't grab on...you don't listen.

The same is happening with this country, the United States. The media and our leaders put up a barrier between you and reality, giving you a false sense of security. Then, when the time comes for you to face the hard truth that has been suppressed, and is now being shown to you, and the "elephant in the room" has "come out of the closet", you choose to look at the mouse in the corner.

I urge you to take responsibility as an American citizen and stand up for your country to protect your freedoms and the freedoms of the generations to come!

Vote for RON PAUL in 2012!   Check out what he stands for at www.ronpaul2012.com

You can't ignore FREEDOM anymore!!

This is far to serious to ignore.  A vote for Ron Paul is a vote for FREEDOM!
 
~Hannah

Snapshot Sunday: At the kid pen

Peeking  :)

Sucking on my finger :)

Today was a beautiful, warm day for working outside!  I put together a small pen for the two bucklings today and they had a blast running around in it!

Been a VERY exciting week!

Hi readers,
I have been quite a busy girl lately, so that explains my lack of posting!  Here's the rundown of this past month...

On February 6th, me and most of the family headed out on a 12 hour roadtrip to TN (for another consultation with the Lyme doctor), leaving the farm in the hands of my dad who stayed home.  That was an event all in itself  :)

When we got back, the farm was, well, in somewhat of a mess.  But, everything is fine and back to normal now!

This past Monday, a neighbor drove up in my driveway and told me he had a stuck, breech kid and needed help getting it out.  So, we hopped in his truck bed and off we went to his barn!  The doe was having a lot of trouble, so I stuck my fingers in there.  The reason it was stuck wasn't because it was breech, but because it was folded in half.  Since my sister's hands are quite a bit smaller than mine, she was able to get in there and reposition the kid to where it would come out.  Everything went smoothly and the mama and kid are happy now!

That same day, Cloudy, our Saanen doe, went into early labor, having slight contractions and a filling udder filling and squatting.  Me and my sister got up a few times in the night to check on her...nothing.

Then, at about 11 a.m. on Wednesday, Cloudy had her first kid...a little, pitch black buckling!  I'd say about 30 minutes later, she had another black buckling.  Everything went smoothly and her placenta passed with ease.  The significance of this birth was this was my problem birther 2 years ago!  You can read the whole story here: http://7thundersranch.blogspot.com/2011/02/indy-kidded.html

Cloudy's two adorable bucklings

In addition to Cloudy having her kids, about two hours later, I came out into the barn to find a doeling of Frosty's (Frosty is one of our Nubian does) on the ground already, being licked off by Cloudy, LOL!  Before it was all over and done with, Frosty ended up with two beautiful doelings!

I'll just say that I've slept very well for the past week from being so tired!  It's been about a year since we've had bottle kids, so we're getting back into the swing of things  :)

The first doeling of Frosty's

This is what makes farm life fun and FULL of surprises!  In one way I look forward to kidding season because I like bottle feeding and playing with the kids...but on the other hand, I always get just a little bit tense before a goat birth as you never know if the goat will deliver perfectly or have a stuck kid or...the list could go on and on about what "could" go wrong at a birth.  Thankfully, we've never had a goat die, but we've had a few close calls.  It's not always glamorous life, but it's a blessing of a life to live.  I praise God for putting us here on this beautiful piece of property and allowing us to have a farm and be as self-sufficient as we can be right now.

Hope you enjoyed this post as much as I enjoyed writing it  :)

Goodnight!

~Hannah

P.S.  I'm, Lord willing, going to a Ron Paul rally tomorrow to see him speak, so I'll try to post about that when I get back!  I went to a Ron Paul sign wave yesterday afternoon at the corner in our town, Tahlequah.  That was pretty fun and we got a lot of response!

What is Homeschooling All About?

Since day one, I have been homeschooled by my two loving parents.  From my first day of school, I have enjoyed learning in the comfort of my own home, away from the many distractions that can often be present in a traditional public school.  Real-life experiences are in every aspect of my daily life, and here are some examples of what my siblings & I are involved in:

               - Buying & selling animals

               - Having both business & personal conversations & daily interactions with adults 

               - Learning to cook, organize and be a homemaker & homesteader

               - Gaining knowledge about lost & dying trades & activities

               - Slaughtering and butchering livestock

               - Learning to live off the land by growing & harvesting our own food

               - Field trips with other homeschoolers

               - Line dancing and choreographing dances with friends 

               - Learning how to start and operate your own business (most of us have some sort 

               - Lessons on managing money, time and finances

               - Songwriting and singing

               - Learning to play musical instruments

There are many more things that we learn on a daily basis that I could list off, but there are too many to list here.  Many of the activities in this list are the real-life things that a public school child might not have time to learn, considering the limitations he/she has due to the typical school system schedule.

I would also like to take this opportunity to dispel some of the most common misconceptions about homeschooling, & to answer some of the most common questions we hear from curious folks:

Question:
"What do you do about socialization?"

Answer :
We have the benefit of learning to socialize with many different age groups, not just our peers.  Field trips and other learning activities with other homeschoolers take place on a weekly basis, and are a very important part of our education experience.  Being able to carry on a good conversation with an adult is a very important skill to learn and starts at a very early age.  This skill enables home-educated children to be able to communicate with the real world when they grow up.  Most of my siblings & I already have our own home businesses that we run, in which we communicate with clients on a regular basis.

Question:
"How will they ever be able to get a college education?"

Answer :
It is often thought that we (homeschoolers) won't be smart enough to go to college.  Well, that is not at all true, in fact, home schooled kids often excel when compared with the average public school student.  Check out this article from the Home School Legal Defense Association:  http://hslda.org/docs/nche/000000/00000017.asp  -  Many homeschooled students go on to receive a college degree, & many universities actually desire home-schooled students because of their self-motivated style of learning & excellent track record of excelling in the college setting.

Question:
"How can a parent teach without a teaching degree?"

Answer :
Although some states in the US require a teaching credential for a parent to home educate their child, most states do not.  A parent makes a perfect teacher, because they know their child better than anyone else could.  There is a one-on-one connection with the parent & the child, & the parent can focus on strengthening any learning weaknesses the child may have.

Question:
"Aren't you bored with being schooled at home?"

Answer :
The fact is, no, I'm not bored with home schooling at all.  I'm so busy with being taught new things every day, meeting new people all the time, studying, running my own business and socializing with friends, that there really isn't any time or reason to be bored.  I feel very protected and safe right here, being taught by my parents at home.  Because of my great home-education experience, I will be fully armed in the future with the information & skills I will need to be successful.

Question:
"Are you out of school today?"

Answer :
This question is asked by people when we go shopping or run errands on a "school day".  Usually when we go to town, we are either just taking a break from bookwork to run into town and grab a few needed supplies, or we pack the backpacks full of our books and do school on the road...but school is never over for us!  The grocery store is even a learning experience.  Problem solving & math equations in the aisles are very common for us, LOL!  For example, Mom will teach us how to calculate the unit price on food items in order to get the best value on the product.  So, the answer is really no, we're not out of school today!  We're on a real-life learning "field trip"  :)


There are quite a bit more curious questions we get asked, but it's just too many to list!  I think there are many well-meaning people who are simply curious about what home-schooling is all about & they want to learn more about it.  I am more than happy to help them understand this wonderful method of education.

This was my essay project today, which my mother (teacher) assigned to me.  I hope, by reading this, you've gotten a better appreciation for homeschoolers and their unique place in our society.  The conclusion to this article is that homeschooling, if done correctly, can and will (Lord willing) produce a generation of smart, ethical and resourceful citizens of the United States.

Have a blessed evening and please feel free to leave your comments or questions!

~Hannah

Ups and downs

Well, it was a sad day yesterday.  Ginger, our oldest Grandma goat died at age 14.  It was sort of expected by me and my sister, as she wasn't acting herself at all for the past week.  God gave her a long life and made her produce some beautiful goats!

1 Samuel 2:6-7

 ⁶ The LORD kills and makes alive;  
    He brings down to the grave and brings up.
 ⁷ The LORD makes poor and makes rich;
    He brings low and lifts up.

On a brighter note, we bought another goat...a beautiful Nubian doe and she's pregnant, due in August!  She's now the second biggest goat we own  :)

Is this a goat or an octopus?

Stay cool!
~Hannah