New Mexico Adventure Week Two

     Our second week with the Coopers began with a trip to the White Sands National Monument. It was amazing!

New Mexico Adventure - Week 1

     For several months, Savana, LilyAnn, and I have been eagerly anticipating a trip out west with Mamaw to visit the Coopers (Aunt GieGie, Uncle Mark, and cousins.) Finally, the much-awaited day came and we loaded up in the van for the first leg of the trip - from our house to Mamaw's. Michael and Hanna drove us over there, stayed the night with all of us, and took us to Tallahassee the next morning (Monday) to pick up the rental van.

The travelers.

It just isn't safe to ride in a skirt!

*A word of explanation: I was recently asked to write an article about riding safely in skirts. This is the result.  I hope it is encouraging!

     We girls were out with Daddy for our annual Christmas shopping trip - which is really just a nice opportunity to go out for the day with him since we don't usually buy much. We headed into Barnes & Noble to get some coffee and stood near the front door, enjoying our special treat, when an older, sloppily-dressed lady came up to us. "I just wanted to say that I like the way your girls dress," she began in a forceful tone. She looked from Daddy to each of us.

     "Well, thank you," Daddy said.

     "I don't dress that way because I ride horses and it just ain't safe to ride in a skirt, but I like the way you dress."

     All my sisters - except Anna Frances, who was distracted - looked at me. I smiled and said, "Actually, I have horses too and ride in a skirt all the time."

     "Well, you can do that, but I ain't gonna be caught dead in a skirt! It ain't safe!" she said.

     This lady held to a common misconception. All of us who wear skirts have probably heard it at some point or other and many ladies who prefer to dress modestly feel that wearing skirts or dresses would restrict them from riding. This simply is not true, though. Riding in a skirt can be done safely - but it does take a certain amount of thought and preparation. For the purpose of this article, explaining how to ride safely in a skirt, I'm going to skip all the wonderful reasons to wear skirts. Those of you who are reading this are probably already familiar with these reasons and the Biblical basis for them.

     I have been riding in skirts for eight years or so and have never had a skirt-related accident yet. Not to say I never will have one, but I haven't to date. I have also done a lot of other things in skirts, including climbing trees (a lot), swimming, hiking, bicycle riding, climbing rocks, canoeing, dog training, and working around the house and farm. 

This is what many people think of when they hear of riding horses in skirts.

A trip to the east coast (of Florida)

     I'm not quite sure how to begin this blog post since I haven't posted since October...  Sorry folks!  I can't promise to do better, because frankly, blogging about personal life/ family stuff just isn't the most important thing I have to do right now.  But - for those of you who are interested, I will still try to at least occasionally post something family related.

     So...  Without further ado, here is our recent trip to the Atlantic side of Florida!

"Over the sandhills and through the swamps, to Mamaw's house we go..."

Sunday afternoon after church, the whole family, including Duncan, loaded up and headed over to Mamaw's and Bompa's.  We stayed overnight, and celebrated my 23rd birthday, and Frank's 1st birthday.  It was a fun time!

Warning:  This is a long post with lots of pictures.  I had lots of fun posting them; partly because the day is still fresh on my mind, and partly because I got to it before Savana!  :)

Frankie started a new workout program.

(Isn't he just as cute as he can be?!)

"If I faithfully lift weights, I will be strong.  This is serious."

"You know, Mama, you should lift weights too!  It's good for everyone."

Snapshots from Our Vacation, 2016

We left for Kentucky and Michigan on June 29th, 2016, at about 1:30 AM.  We don't normally leave that early, but my aunt and her family were leaving the next day (well, really the same day, since it was after midnight) for New Mexico, and we were helping them finish packing and loading their van.

We made it to Kentucky around 3:30, June 29th.

Picnic on the Ichetucknee

I know this blog post is terribly late, but I wanted to share it anyway.

For Evan's and Justice's birthday, we took a family trip down the Ichetucknee River.  One canoe and about five inflatable innertubes carried our whole family down the river.  Well, several members swam most of the way, but of course they could rest holding onto the rafts or canoe whenever they needed to, or switch with someone on a tube.

Snapshots From Our Vacation~ Pt. 4: Michigan Visit

From Kentucky, we went to visit some friends in Michigan for a week.  We had a wonderful time!

We:

 Sang around the campfire,

Snapshots of Family Life on the Feldman Farm

It's beginning to feel like spring outside, and we are all catching spring fever!  Farrah and LilyAnn have quite a few vegetables planted in their gardens, and the grass is starting to grow again in the pastures (very important when you have animals).  I have been taking the younger ones outside and doing some farm work lately:  cleaning the stall, spreading manure in the pastures, raking leaves for the pig, etc.

Yesterday I took Emaline, Russell and Anna-Frances outside to rake leaves.  We were putting them in the pig pen for our new piglet to root in, mulch up, and compost.  (Pigs make the best compost machines.)

This Big Piggy Stayed Home...

Yesterday, we slaughtered our first pig on the farm.

We've sent a few pigs to the butcher before, but this time we decided to try it ourselves.  And it was worth it!

Butchering Day

I have always liked the idea of a self-sufficient lifestyle.  (Sufficient as regards food; we will always be dependent upon God!)  Saturday, we made another step towards supplying our own food.

LilyAnn and Justice helped me butcher a sheep.

He was an extra mouth to feed, kind of mean, and very healthy, so we decided it was time for him to go to the freezer.  And rather than paying someone else to butcher him, and having to cart him over there, we decided to just do it ourselves.

This photo was taken several months ago.

(WARNING:  Images include a (dead) sheep being processed, and children helping with the work.  With that said, I will add that I have intentionally omitted any very shocking photos.  And, for the record, the sheep died instantly and painlessly.)

Family Hiking Trip!

Well, the cooler weather has come, at least, for a few days, and we took advantage of it to have a family hike in Gothe State Park.

The Chicken Butchering Brigade!

This morning, we butchered two roosters who were about to become a problem on the farm.  

LilyAnn, Justice, Emaline and Russell were my helpers.  Oh, and Kep helped too, when one of the roosters got away.  He later supervised operations from under the table.

A New Addition...

Ever since I got Fannie, we have thought it would be great to have another horse so that I wouldn't have to ride alone.  I always said that a large pony would be best- one big enough for any of us to ride, yet smaller than an average horse so he would be less intimidating for the younger ones to ride.
Well...  It seemed a little bit impossible for us to get another, but the Lord provided one.

In the Garden...

We have been working outside for about an hour every day before it gets too hot.

April with the Feldmans...

This April has been a whirlwind.  We have had something, or several things, every week this month, and have been on the run a lot. 

Early this month, we visited a small Paso Fino farm to look at a stallion.  I had been considering breeding Fannie, and when I got online to see if there were any good stallions around, I found:

Jesse el Rubio