And this is normal?

I took this shot the other day.  I was getting some work done on the Ipad and looked up to investigate the silence.  It's very rare that there is silence with the boys in the same room.  You can imagine my wonder to find Judah and William in this pose.  After some questioning, I discovered they were practicing being statues.  Apparently that'e easier if you are standing on the back of the couch!  We all laughed, put aside the work and took some time to practice other statue poses.   "Hey boys, try this one!"  After about 40 mins of giggles and all out belly laughs, it was back to work and them off to some other adventure.   Yes, this is normal....I wouldn't trade these moments for the world.
There are changes in the air at The Reynolds Nation.  We all feel like "something" is just around the corner.  We are anticipating a change and are willing to give it a go.  Moments like this, I'm sure, will keep us grounded and make the journey one to remember!

One step forward two steps back

We are back to the place of decision around The Reynolds Nation. After much prayer and consideration, we have left Soveriegn Grace of Daytona. They are truly great friends and it has been a place for us to heal from some past hurts. So here we are now looking for a church family to call home. We tried a church here locally that is just not going to work for us. We are accustomed to seeing the works of the spirit displayed in present day. This church was full of eye candy and drama. Lights, camera, and action! I am so past the screaming Pastors. So keep the family of seven in your prayers as were make this journey!

Tired Monday from a very busy weekend

WOW!  Now that was a busy weekend.  We are just recovering from a three day weekend.  Saturday was spent finishing some projects around the farm. Alcatraz is complete and finally ready for the chickens to arrive this week!  So by the end of the week we should have the 20 layers in place!
I was also able to complete my second hive inspection with the help of Randy from Zip Tie Ranch.  One hive is doing really well.  The other not so good.  All signs point to a dead queen, which in little time will mean dead colony.  We have taken steps to help them raise a new queen.  We should know by next Saturday.
On Sunday, I sang on the new worship team at church and we served in Children's Church.  A quick drive home then we were off again!  We went to the beach to enjoy the afternoon, celebrating Judah's 4th Birthday.  It was perfect weather beach, which probably accounts for the many pink bodies we have running around the house.  We purchased a pop up canopy to help protect us from the blaring sun.  Then we rushed home to host the actual birthday party for Judah, including his requested Robot Cake!
Then as we woke up yesterday, we figures out that we had nothing planned for the day.  We didn't want to go to the beach again due to the sunburns from the day before, so we decided on having a cookout.  We found some friends who didn't have plans and put together an impromptu BBQ.  We cooked the meat and had everyone else bring a side.  Ended up being quite the party. Everyone had fun and again the weather was perfect.
So another busy weekend behind us as we begin another week!  Tired....but so in love with LIFE!

Another crazy weekend on the farm

Well, yet another whirlwind weekend is coming to a close. We always seem to be non-stop on the weekends here on the farm. It is our one time of the week that we can get a ton of stuff done. It's a lot of work, but it's all part of the fun we are calling life.

Saturday morning I went over to my mom's to help begin the process of moving back. She and my Dad moved in with my grandmother over a year ago to help take care of her. Well, now that my mom has remodeled her house, it is time to get ready to move back in. So Bryn, Esther, and Caleb came with me to all work hard to get a good start on the process. We got a lot done!

Then my mom was gracious enough to watch ALL the kids while Allison and I went on a date. We went to Ikea to get another bookcase and a new bed for the girls. My mom was keeping them overnight, so we got to take our time and relax.

This morning we all went to church, then back home to get some work done around here. I had to work more on the milking stand, plant some tomatoes and some other odds and ends outside. Then it was time to build the girls' new bed. It was fairly easy, especially with help form both the girls. See the pic below.

Then Doby, our newest addition, a dairy goat arrived and was milked immdiatly. Allison's first time went well. We got a quart of fresh goat milk. Doby is a sweet girl and will fit right in here.

Now we're wrapping it up and getting ready for the week.

I'm so happy!

Please excuse the dust!

Apparently google has had some problems with their Blogger site. This page is one of many that was affected by the disturbance. Unfortunately, that means a lot of the recently added changes have been lost. We will have the page back up and running early next week. Thanks for your patience!

It's a crazy balance game

Sitting here wide awake at 11:45, thinking about the crazy balancing trick that we call life. As a nasty virus ripped though our house this week, it was really brought to my attention how delicate it all really is and how dependent we all are on each other, as a family. I mean, if one person goes down, we all feel the effects. Every person play an integral part around here. Allison was sick today ( very rare) and we all just fell apart. So happy she is feeling better.
Then it comes down to the balance of work and home life. By day, I am a well dressed, mild mannered, multi-tasking professional. In the evening and on weekends I turn into homestead man! At times it seems like duel personalities. My passion has always been my family. Whatever I do, there is a direct link to it being for them. I love my work, but really...it's for them. I really love this farm life....but again...for them. I like creating a comfortable atmosphere for them to grow up in. That requires the balance of a well paying profession mixed with a little dirt under the fingernails. It's a balance that can be a bit demanding at times, but a balance I have grown to love!

Painting the hives

Just a quick post to show progress on the hives. They got two coats of paint today. We tossed around a few differet color possibilities, but ended up going with the color of the house trim. No, not because we wanted everything all matchy matchy, but because we already had the paint. That's a lesson we are gradually learning about farming.. Use what you have. To that I would add....as long as it looks good. Can't beat that outta me!!! As you can see from the pics, I had a shadow during the process. It is pretty typical to have a helper on almost any project. I love it.

A small farm, but a farm indeed.

It seems, lately, that things at The Reynolds Nation are really starting to pick up. When we bought the property all those years ago, we had thoughts of possibly getting some animals, but we didn't really know what we wanted. We moved there primarily to have a place for the kids to play freely without the fear of speeding cars or wandering strangers. As time went on we further established a plan of attack; what kind of animals and what kind of farming. No matter how much planning we did, things never seemed to happen. Then recently it began to hit us. What do you want to do here? If you want to actually have a farm, it is going to take time, money and consistency. We found ourselves so wrapped up with activity that there was no time left to breathe, much less farm. So we made drastic changes to start simplifying our lives. Like, back to the basics! And wouldn't you know......the farming desires have started to become a reality.


So now we are in the midst of starting this little farm. Our immediate plans call for beekeeping for honey and pollination, dairy goats for milk and cheese, chickens for both eggs and meat, and a vegetable garden to eliminate some of that outrageous grocery bill.


Things are getting busy, yes! But it seems to be a different kind of busy. This busy seems to be more like therapy than busy-ness! I find real joy and a lot of satisfaction in putting in real hard labor and seeing an instant return that I can touch.


Keep up to date as we jump even further into this "farm life".

Busy Saturday...but hives are built

This morning we went to the second day of a two day marriage seminar. It was nice that we got out around noon and still has half of the day left. After a crazy week at work (800 miles of driving) I was exhausted and convinced Allison of the desperate need of a nap. So we both took a quick nap. Then it was time to get up and GET BUSY! We were sitting around talking about the placement of the bees, the other day, and realized we needed to put a coat of paint on the side of the house that bees will be on. We both figured it might be more fun to paint it now before we had 120,000 curious bees watching us. So we painted the side of the house. We will finish it up tomorrow. It is supposed to be yet another cooler (85 degrees) out. That should make it a little easier.

Allison wanted a night out with her friend and left me to my hive building. I was able to put together four deeps and two shallow supers. In case you were wondering, yes....I am covered in wood glue and yes.....I hammered my finger at least once. I am very happy with the finished product. All that is left to to assemble 48 comb frames and paint the hive body. We are still on track, folks, for the arrival of the bees next weekend.

The pictures above show two starter hives (on the left) and what they will look like once the bees start to grow in numbers and need room for babies and HONEY!!!

Hives in Hand

During a business trip to Jacksonville, today, I picked up the bodies of the two hives. Jacksonville of all places! There in the middle of the city, was a mom and pop operation I found online. I was able to place my order over the phone and they had it all ready to pick up today!

I was so excited when I got home that I put one of the hives together (dry assembled...no glue or nails) just to see what it looked like. Lots of work to get done in the next week, so I can go pick up the bees.

Orders have been placed! There's no turning back now!

Well, the bee keeping supplies have been ordered and have been shipped! I went to my first beekeeper's meeting and after the drama of the members was over we learned about harvesting. Better yet, we had time to spend with beekeepers who are neck deep in honey production for this season. Got some good information and feel totally overwhelmed! Im still very excited and can't wait for them to arrive, just thinking about 50-60,000 bees flying around the house.

Well, fantastic news! We learned today that we will in fact be starting our hives this spring instead of next. I've been frantically searching the net and reviewing for the best way to get this started. Luckily we are connect to our really good friends who have already started the process and have been able to give us a steer in the right direction.
We have decided to start with two hives to make it easier to judge the health of one hive compared to another. That means in the not to distant future we will be delivering about 15000 bees to our property! On purpose!

It is hard to believe all the preparation that goes into establishing a hive, but we expect the reward to be more than worth it. Our calculations tell us that we should be able to replace the 5 gallons of honey we buy per year with our homegrown local honey!

Talk to you soon!

Summertime on the farm

As temperatures reach into the 90's, The Reynolds Nation tends to spend more time indoors and fewer days spent out on the farm. Yesterday, we wrapped up some spring cleaning of the yard. The heat and humidity seems to make you tired so quickly. We are beginning to realize through that our heatwave evacuation will not be a full retreat. A farm takes a lot of work. Although ours is quite small and just starting up, there is always something to do. To abandon the farm for the Florida summer would set us back years!
So yesterday we were getting the yard ready for summer by clearing some more land, cleaning out the area on the side of the shed, i spent nearly two hours with a weed eater, and we managed to get 27 trees planted.
In the very front of our property, he have no plants which leaves a open view to and from neighbors. So to create a natural border, i started researching quick growing plants. I can up with two of the most productive growers (putting aside bamboo). A few months ago, I ordered hybrid willow and hybrid poplar trees. They are said to grow at an amazing 7-10 feet per year. This is exactly what we are looking for. The poplars grow tall and the willows grow full. So along the front of our property, I planted them in a two willow to one poplar ratio. I will update on just how fast they grow!