Praising God for the beginnings of a bountiful Harvest!

"Build houses and live in them; and plant gardens and eat their produce." Jeremiah 29:5

And this is exactly what we have done since moving into our home in Barnstead. The tornado of 2008 that took down over 300 trees in our back and side yard has helped considerably with this. Beauty from the destruction of the tornado, letting the sun shine in even more, and helping with many things to grow.

We love to have a garden, and we love this time of year. We just finished a wonderful harvest of strawberries, and are now enjoying a bounty of raspberries, too. We also have planted in our main garden: (many of these started in my wonderful cold frame built by my honey---Thank you Glenn!)

*sunflowers

*corn

*wax beans

*green and purple beans

*peas

*carrots

*beets

*lettuce

*spinach

*pumpkins (even some seeds from a prize winning giant pumpkin!)

*zucchini

*summer squash

*tomatoes

*potatoes

*gourds

*canteloupe

*watermelon

*onions

*garlic

*broccoli

*cauliflower

*cabbage

*acorn squash

I think that's it. Here is a photo of our garden right now, and also one of the 9 cups of raspberries the kids and I picked on Friday. (I just learned that my friend just paid 5.49 a lb for commercial pick your own raspberries! Wow...this is quite a savings!

Trampoline Camp Out

Last night Madelyn said..."Mom, I know you are going to say no, but can we sleep out under the stars on the trampoline, the girls and I?", and I said..."Yes, that would be fine!"...This was met with great cheers from the girls! So...they got their "camping" gear and headed out to bed down on the trampoline! It was chilly, it was buggy, but they lasted out there all night! We could hardly believe it! Stanley the cat even joined the fun!

A Visit From a New Friend!

Last weekend we had a visit from a new friend, who came here a stranger to some, and left a sister to all! We love you Starsha!

Our Wednesday Night Dinner with Grampy and Grammie comes to Barnstead!

Yesterday Glenn's Aunt Susan called me and said, "How about if we come to you today instead of you coming to us?"..."Wow...that's great!", I said! So they came to us! We served 10 for dinner last night and had a wonderful time! Can't you tell??

"Eggsciting" Things are Happening on the Winslow Farm!

On Friday, June 18th, we collected 16 fertile eggs from our dear friends the Arsenault's. They have a VERY active rooster! We placed them in the incubator that Glenn and Brittany made in 2000 as a homeschool project! We used it one time in 2004, and haven't used it since then ourselves. We've loaned it out to other families, though. Our eggs are due to hatch 21 days later on July 9th! They need a great deal of attention. They need to be turned three times a day. The incubator needs to maintain a consistent temperature of 100.5 degrees. This is done by a thermostat and this controls two light bulbs and how often they come on and off. There needs to be a water supply in the bottom for moisture. This is important to the developing chicks. On day 17, there will be no more need to turn the eggs and we will need to leave the incubator closed and make sure there is plenty of moisture in there to last for the remaining 4 days. This most closely simulates the hen nesting on the eggs. In the photos above, you may see some initials on some of the eggs. Maddie, Grace, and Elisha have all "claimed" an egg to be their chick! We also have stars on each egg to show what side they were last turned on.

One week ago, we candled the eggs. This means to take a flashlight in a dark area and put it right up to the egg shell. You can see the developing chick inside the egg. It was really cool. We believe all 16 eggs are fertile and should produce chicks. Today is day 13 and this is what the chicks look like in the egg on day 15 and day 20. It's quite amazing and a true testimony to God's creation!

We promise to keep you posted as things progress!