Of Home and Farm...

Well, we are still alive and well, and busy!

Thank you for praying for us! Dad is much better(not one hundred percent, though.)

On the farm, I think we are done harvesting. We(by we, I mean Dad and the boys) finished picking corn last Friday for high-moisture corn. Grandpa Ring came over and helped haul wagons. He is doing very well.

Our garden is about done, but we still have some lettuce and cabbage in the garden. We also have some peas and broccoli in the garden that we planted late, but they aren't growing very well because of the frost. Oh, we still have our carrots in the ground, but we leave them there all winter and just get them as we use them.

Bethany got to take her brace off two Fridays ago, but still has to be careful.

I think that is about it for updates, so here are some pictures.

I am not sure who took this picture, but I really like it!

We have had some really beautiful sunrises!

Not sure who took this one, either.

Some roses are still blooming.

Sorry about the dust on it, but this bush is by the road (it is dirt) and it was warm and dry this past week (beautiful weather!)

I really like the center of these flowers!

Scarlet flax is very pretty!

A bachelor button.

Some of our lettuce from our garden.

Bethany took this picture.

A pea blossom.

Here are more pictures of Bethany's cakes:

These were for the hayride.(Esther took these pictures)

She and the rest of her class made turkey cakes!

Pretty cute, isn't it?

Bethany took this picture.

On Saturday, I took some "school" pictures of Anna, Sarah, and Lydia.

Here are a couple group pictures of them.

Oh, and some of Simeon, too!

While I was taking some of the pictures, a rabbit ran from right behind us.

We looked and its hiding place had been right behind us.

So here is the one picture we got of it.

A  couple posts ago, I asked you to guess who was in the picture.

Well, here is the picture again and the name of the person who is in it:

It is Esther!

I think that is it for now.
So long for now!

Posted by -Hannah- Pictures by Hannah unless otherwise noted.

This and That on the Ring Farm

What have we been doing lately?

Well, we had a hay ride last Saturday, regular stuff, and why can't I think of anything else? I will probably remember something as soon as I publish this!

Mercy playing in the leaves.

Mercy(back) and Grace(front)

They are very hard to tell apart sometimes.

Sarah playing with them in the leaves. I love all their faces!

Mercy, "Want some leaves?"

Two of our calves. The jersey one is Henrietta.

Can you see the white hooves in the back and the black ones in the front?

Some of our winter supply of wood. Our main heat source is a wood stove.

One of our blueberry bushes.

Some lettuce with a row of peas and some trees in the background.

Some apples we bought. Yummy!

On the 26th, Bethany, Lydia, Simeon, and I took a walk in the woods.

Simeon trying to walk and look through my binoculars at the same time.

I will have to say that I do not recommend doing it!

Silly Lydia swing on some grape vines.

Sweet little Lydia!

I love you, Simeon!

Some ferns in the woods.

Isn't God's creation beautiful?!

The Ashtabula River

 A violet in October!

Simeon and I.

Someone actually got the camera away from me!

Now for a few hay ride pictures:

Mercy

Grace

 

Approaching the State Road covered bridge.

The waterfall near the covered bridge

Bethany is taking a cake decorating class and has to practice.

Here is one of the cakes she made:

 A hornet nest in our tree.

 

Corn stalks from our popcorn with the frost on them.

A flower with frost with the sunlight shining on it.

 

 

The grass was beautiful!

Oh, could you pray for us?

Esther, Anna, and I have already been sick, but Dad has it now and the rest will probably get it. It isn't fun, fever, headache, cough...

So, please pray, especially for Dad.

Thanks!

Posted by -Hannah-

Fall Events...

...like the covered bridge festival, making applesauce, and butchering chickens!

First we'll post pictures of the covered bridge festival/tour:

A view from the top of the hill.

 

Yep, I sold fudge, at Grandpa and Grandma Whitford's which

is just up the road from us. People were turning around in their driveway,

and so a lot more people saw that there was goat milk fudge around. :)

 

Hannah, Anna, Sarah, and I were all there at the time that we took

this picture (with the timer on our camera :).

Hannah took this really neat picture.

 

Another one of Hannah's pictures-I love this one!

Here are some squash and pumpkin pictures:

And the applesauce making:

Simeon and Hannah, just like when they made tomato juice! :)

Simeon cranking and Hannah scooping the apples into the mill.

The sillies tickling each other.

I like this picture!

The applesauce running into our giant bowl.

Hmmm...

Now how about butchering chickens?

 One of the meat chickens.

Nice... he he

Mr. Barker came down to help us.

Hannah, our meat cutter. She cut the legs, thighs, and breasts off the carcasses.

We've got lots of carcasses for chicken noodle soup!!

I decided not to post some of the pictures that were closer up to the cleaning out of chickens and

all that, ya know. :)

Spreading manure! This is a neat picture that Hannah

took. (Of course, we didn't spread it, but someone else.)

Our great-Uncle Harry and Aunt Norma-Jean came over this week. We have a cow named after Aunt N-J, and this is the cow's calf, named Henrietta. :)

 

Micah carrying the little cutie.

  

Okay, this might be a strange picture, but when I was making fudge (to sell) and Hannah was cutting

squash, I thought the two colors were kind of pretty together.

 

The dark sky, the sun shining on the partly harvested corn field, and the beautiful leaves...
they all make for a pretty picture!

I hope you enjoyed all the pictures! 
On Friday morning we had a wonderful and yet a disappointing(is that the right word?) surprise called snow!
This is only mid-October, and we've not yet had our first frost. :) But there was only enough snow to dust the cars, roofs, and a few other things. It melted when it hit the ground. 

Hope you all have a good evening and a blessed Lord's Day.

Posted by -Esther-

Lydia's Birthday and Fun!

Hello Everyone! We are experimenting with a different posting setup, so please bear with us.

   Some news:
Bethany has a fractured radius bone at the elbow and has her arm in a brace.
Dad and the boys have been chopping corn.
I know there were other things I was going to write about, but I don't remember right now. I will remember after I publish this. :)

Here are some pictures of when we planted 8 blueberry plants on the 18th of September.

Lydia hiding in one of the holes.

Mercy trying to get out of a hole after being put there because of her wandering.

Anna "stuck" in a hole with her bike. Her face is hilarious!

Grace playing nicely in the dirt.

Another bike "stuck" in a hole, this time it is Sarah.

Lydia "stuck" in a hole and "panicking", while Simeon waits patiently for the "tow truck" :)

Making tomato sauce on the 18th.

Daniel's puppy, Ellie, photo by Daniel.

I am not sure when this picture was taken, but it was a beautiful sunrise!
Esther took the picture.

Some of the Amish neighbors horses and cows, photo taken by Bethany on 9-23-09.

This picture was taken on September 25th. Can you guess who it is, and can you see the star above the person's head?

Grace on the left, Mercy on the right. They were watching Daniel getting a silage wagon.

Simeon and I making tomato juice. He had lots of fun cranking.
Mom took this picture. Thanks Mom!

 

Now, pictures of Lydia's birthday...

  I forgot to tell you how old Lydia was on her birthday post, but she turned 8.

The cake is pink lozenger cake. It was good, just a little too, um, pink lozengerish :)

I love this picture of Lydia!

A book! She loves to read.

I think she put all her presents in this bag.
Photo by Esther.

We had to light our wood stove, so we were cooking some things on it. We do this a lot in the winter.

I was washing dishes, and I saw the hosta that was blooming, so I just had to take pictures. I thing I got about 10, but this is one of my favorites.

Not sure who took this picture, but another beautiful sunrise!

The dark sky, the sun, the corn field, and the shadow. Beautiful. The camera just can not capture it.
I think Esther took this picture.

Posted by -Hannah-

Pictures taken by Hannah unless otherwise stated.  

Happy Birthday, Lydia!

Silly Lydee in the woods this summer.

Lydia(looks like the twins, doesn't she?!) in 2003.

Sarah and Lydia in 2003(I think). They are so cute!

Lydia in front of some berry bushes in 2004.

Micah and Lydia in 2005.

"Playing" the piano in 2006.

Lydia with her chicken-pox and missing tooth in 2006. She looks happy, doesn't she?

Lydia with Mercy and Sarah with Grace.

Lydia and Simeon washing dishes. Simeon saw this picture, and said, "Lydia was rinsing them out and I scrubbing them!"

Lydia with her "fountain".

This spring, she wanted some pictures taken with the flowers.

January 1st, she dressed up to go to Grandpa and Grandma Ring's.


She is silly, doesn't like to do the dishwasher, likes to read, likes to play, and loves sweet stuff.
Her favorite animal is a horse, and her favorite colors are purple and pink.
Well, I have to go make her cake!
Happy 8th Birthday, Lydia!

Posted by -Hannah-