Lehman’s Country Life

I have a strange dance that I’m doing most days in my kitchen. It’s a step, slide, step, slide, turn around, lift over, step slide. If I stand still too long, I get chewed on - either on my knee or calf, through my pant leg.And why, do you ask, am I doing this strange dance? Because of little critters in my kitchen!

On Valentine’s Day this year, my husband Norm brought home a newborn kid for me to care for. His mother was a youngster herself and didn’t know how to care for him, much less have enough milk to feed him. As I held him and warmed him in my arms, I got to thinking - if YOU were given a newborn goat or sheep, could YOU care for it properly?
Read the rest of this post »

Bookmark it:

Hide Sites

This is the first of a three part series on how to live an environmentally responsible lifestyle. Entitled “How to teach green,” it will help you instill respect for the earth in your children.

“I can use both sides of paper for drawing.” Allison, age 8

“If you turn the water off when you brush your teeth, over a year’s time you can save a lot of water.” Brandon, age 12

The first step is let your children learn about the environment. Learning is the path to caring.

Start simply. Instead of taking your preschooler to a massive nature preserve for a three-hour tour, collect a few leaves from a favorite tree and examine them under a microscope. Let the learning process begin (literally) in their own backyard. Find something they are already familiar with and learn more about it.
Go outside. It may sound simple, but send your children outside. They need to immerse themselves in the environment before they can care about it. If your children are outside at least once every day, they will become attuned to the seasonal changes, as well as the daily changes. When is the sun the brightest? Why? When does dusk fall? Does it change as the seasons change? What color are the leaves? Is the ground muddy or dry?
Read the rest of this post »

Bookmark it:

Hide Sites

Springtime. The very word conjures up visions of spindly legged lambs bouncing about, chickadees squabbling around the feeder, and trees breaking out in song while the sun beams down benevolently. All very Disney-esque. Unfortunately, I’ve long since been disabused. There’s not going to be a Laura Ingalls look-alike tripping down any of the snow drifts in my backyard any time soon. I have to think that Julius might have gotten to put in the garden come spring of 44 BC if he’d paid better attention to the season- a couple of months of cabin fever is likely to make even the most stoic of Roman Senators a bit cranky.

But there are some undeniable signs that spring is in the air and, rather than hiding under our togas, all that can be done is to grit our teeth and get on with it.
Read the rest of this post »

Bookmark it:

Hide Sites

When the market garden is done for the year (as much as it can be, because there is always something to do) we can sit back and hopefully relax a bit. If the season was good, we can survive the winter with our profits. If not, we must find something to do to make up the difference.

Such is the case for many who try to survive on the income from a market garden or from any seasonal income based project. It can be anything and for those who try to live some type of self- sustaining lifestyle it can be everything.
As for me, I try to survive in the off season so I do not have to work for “the man”. My mind is always working, trying to find ideas to make a few bucks, not to get rich, but to be able to keep doing the things that I love.
This late winter is no different. And my first project hit me right in the head. What started out as a trial run appears to be headed for bigger things, but they will have to wait until next season. Let me explain.

Read the rest of this post »

Bookmark it:

Hide Sites