Teach Them The Faith

There is a family in our congregation that has produced a CD of the most beautiful music. It is called Teach Them The Faith, by Dan and Karen Vitco. It is my prayer that everyone own this CD. It is the doctrines of Protestant Faith sung by Karen and several children, Dan having written all the music. Their website is Teachthemthefaith.com and on the site you can read more about Dan and Karen and hear selected parts of the CD.

Family Reunion

Part of the family at the Capital Building.

Hanging with George and Martha.

All the kids at Mount Vernon.

Last weekend, October the 15-17 my entire family meet in Vienna Virginia for a reunion. The event was sparked by my cousin Kathleen, who was so kind to invite us all to her wedding, and we all accepted. I have one sister who lives in New Jersey, a brother in California, and a brother in Washington, and the last time we were all together, along with our parents, was in 2004.

It was a fast paced, fun couple of days, during which we toured some Smithsonian buildings, some national monuments, the Capital Building and Mount Vernon. Of course on Saturday night there was the absolutely beautiful wedding of my cousin as well.

It was a great time of fun and laughter, some great food and conversation, and as with any reunion, a lot of picture taking.

The Horses!

Last week Helena went to the barn and took some pictures of the horses. It had been raining for a while so the horses are all rather dirty.


Cord, a twenty year-old Paso Fino is our best horse of all.











Spirit, our very lazy thirteen year-old Tennessee Walking Horse.







Nugget, a thirteen year-old Racking Horse is the best trail horse in the world.






And Suzy! She is a nine-year-old Halflinger Mare and is cart trained. She is a very enjoyable pony to ride, and she LOVES the trail!

Chickens and Eggs

Over the course of the year we bought 43 new chickens, and 6 new ducks. That gave us 60 hens, three roosters and 7 ducks. Well, since then we have sold three hens, 4 hens died and we lost one duck and as a surprise, one hen turned out to be a rooster.

Well, last week I entered a dozen eggs into the local county fair and won first place. A little recognition for all our love and hard work to chickens.

By the way, I also won first place for my lufa sponge, and second place for popcorn.

St. Augustine

This was our third visit to St. Augustine. Here is why we enjoy this city so much.



The architecture - Flagler College




























The water

The History

Ponce De Leon made landfall in April of 1513 and named that land La Florida, the city founded in September of 1565 named St. Augustine. Not until 2055 will the American flag have waved over St. Augustine longer than the Spanish flag.

Ponce De Leon travelled with Christopher Columbus on his 1493 voyage to Santo Domingo. In 1508 Ponce travelled to San Juan and soon became its governor. After the 1513 trip to the east coast of Florida he travelled to the west coast. He left in February of 1521 with two ships and 200 men, by July of that year he was dead. He is buried in San Juan Puerto Rico.

Beach Vacation

The first week of July we took our family, the boys and Katya, the chaperon from Belarus, to St. Augustine, Florida. We stayed in a beautiful home in the historic area of the town, and drove the ten minutes to the beach four different days. We had a very enjoyable trip. Katya and the boys really love the beach. Katya had seen the ocean before, but the boys had never, Belarus being landlocked. We also visited the alligator farm one morning and rented a boat for one entire day.

Swimming, hiking and Horses

We have a small river that flows through our property, last Friday we all went swimming. Saturday we hiked around Pilot Mountain knob, then on Monday we saddled up a couple horses and got the boys riding in the ring.

Summer with our boys from Belarus

Robert and Artsiom



Artsiom and Helena

Intimidator, the new roller coaster

Entrance to Carowinds

We are participating once again in the American Belarus Relief Organization (ABRO), which sends children of Belarus to America for six weeks in the summer. We take them to the doctor, dentist and eye doctor and buy them shoes and clothing and they live as one of us in the hot summer sun. At our house they also get to feed animals and do farm chores as well as play outside and ride bikes. I will be putting pictures up of some of the things we are doing.

Yesterday we all went to Carowinds. Yes, Helena has a broken arm, she fell from her horse.

Trail Rides

Here in Pinnacle we live between 1-6 miles from some of the best horse trails in NC. The Sauratown Horse Trails, part of the Mountains to the Sea trail, and the Pilot Mountain State Park Corridor Trail are both very close to our home and lately Jeff and the girls have been making good use of them. As they do more riding we'll post more pictures of the trails, but here are a few.

New crop of chicks

Last week, along with Helena's 13th birthday, new chicks arrived. We got four new breeds, Buff Chanteclers, Black Australorps, Speckled Sussex, and Light Brahmas. This is the first time we got chicks that were non-yellow, and they are all so cute.

The Cooksy's Hacienda

Last week we helped a dear friend get some painting done on his dream retirement home. Mr. and Mrs. Cooksey have always dreamed of owning an organic farm, and bought the land several years ago. Although they have been doing some of the farming, they have not been living on the property. Last year they started construction on the dwelling, and this summer they are close to moving in, but need to paint and put in the flooring, thus we found ourselves in South Carolina painting.

We packed up the camper, and the kids bikes, and the dog and made our way to Kershaw, SC, a place we had never been before. Mr. Cooksey has a trail around the perimeter of the property and his garden is all inclosed to keep out the deer and other animals. He also has a series of soaker hoses snaking through the garden to keep everything watered. The kids enjoyed the sand and the biking and Jeff and I painted. They kids also did some weeding in the garden, and a little painting. We got a lot completed, but we will have to go back and do a little more before the Cooksey's can move in.

Spring Pasture Maintenance

back of barn after a month

front of barn

back of barn in March

Kathleen pulling the plugger with gator

gathering equipment and seed

Last month the entire family worked many long hours and days in an attempt to bring our horse pastures back to life. We gathered rocks and branches, we filled holes, and kicked poop, we plugged, seeded and harrowed. Now a month after a few rains and some warm days, we are beginning to see more green than brown. Today we actually let the horse graze in the back field for the first time this year, and oh were they happy.

Death of the third bantam chicken

The Bantam Trio

Lightning was a little banny rooster,

and he was a beautiful bright red.

He had two little bantam friends,

but now all three are dead.

Gloria was a little brown hen,

and was a rare color 'twas said.

She and her friends played together,

but now all three are dead.

Honey was a pretty white rooster,

and his merry life was led.

But one morning there was a calamity,

and now all three are dead.

by Helena George

In 2008 we bought three bantam chicks, Gloria died within a few months, the second, Honey, died shortly after, but Lightning the red rooster died this afternoon. We were all sad.

Baby Goats

Yesterday, March the 28th, our nanny goat Rosebud, gave birth to three babies. Thankfully, all are well, despite their being born while we were gone, and in the rain.

Biltong

Last year some friends introduced me to the enjoyment of South African jerky, called biltong, I was immediately hooked. After spending a good amount of money buying it, I decided that there had to be a way of making it myself. After some internet searching I found a site called biltongbox.com and there was my answer. It is a website for people who, most likely, grew up in South Africa eating the stuff, but no longer live there and miss the taste.

So, I employed our friend Paul Trimble, who does a lot of handyman work for us, and gave him the plans for the box. He had it finished in less than a day and by the next day I had meat dying. It is very simple; beef, salt, vinegar, pepper and coriander, dry and cut. It all takes 2-3 days to process and dry, and about one day to eat. Most of us here on the farm like it, I do know some people who don't like, and that can't be understood.

Family Ski Trip

Ober Gatlinburg resort. Robert is the lone skier on the slope.

Smokey Mountain National Park

Gatlinburg, view from tram.

This week we took the kids skiing for their first time. We went to Gatlinburg TN, a resort in the Smokey Mountains of TN, we all had a great time.

We all went to the ski school before hitting the slopes, and Jeff and the kids did great. They moved from the lesson slope to the next level very quickly, and by day two, Jeff and Maria were ready for the black diamonds. I on the other hand had to spend all of the first day, and half of the second day on the lesson slope. I eventually figured it out and we all enjoyed riding the lifts and skiing together. It was a great trip and a lot of fun for all.

We also went ice skating at the ski resort and everyone did well. It had been years since any of us had been skating and Helena and Robert had never been before.

Gatlinburg has a new aquarium and it was very nice. We had never been to an aquarium where you walk under the tank and the fish swim on three sides of the walkway.

We rented a cabin that has a hot tub and we all sat in the hot tub at the end of the day. It was difficult stepping outside in your swimsuit when it was 33 and snowing, but the water felt so good.