Fall = Harvest

Well, Fall has come to us here in Siberia. Actually, it is almost over...but I am still going to tell you about it. So, since I have a garden, Fall means HARVEST TIME! Yes, a.k.a. a whole lot of work! Seeing as Fall around here doesn't last very long, there is a lot to get done in a short period of time. The past two years, including this one, we have actually had just the right temperatures for the leaves to have time to change before they fall to the ground and the snow begins to blow. I love Autumn and have really enjoyed the beautifully colored landscapes. So much that I wanted to share them with you, before we get back to the work of bringing in the harvest. Enjoy the view!

Those white things to the left are potato bags left over from the day's work of harvesting.

Okay, so now that we have enjoyed the weather a bit on our walk through the village, let's get back to the subject at hand- harvest! It goes something like this...

First we get my husband to dig up all the potatoes, sorting them as we go between seed and larger potatoes to eat as we need them. We also pile up all the plants to burn later.

Ryan helping to pile up the old plants.

Then we take all the potatoes up to our house to dry out a bit before bagging them and storing for the winter.

Beka sorting the potatoes further after they have had a few days to dry.

Bags of potatoes ready for storage.

Inside most Russian homes there are sometimes several "podvalls" or underground storage areas in which people keep their potatoes and other vegetables for winter storage. Our house has two of these. This one pictured below is in a smaller room attached to our house; the other one is in our living room floor. So, before we put our potatoes down in this storage area, we must be sure it is clean, dry, and ready for this year's crop of potatoes.

Rebekah and Ryan down inside the "podvall".

We also bring up our other vegetables before the first freeze of the year.

Having a little fun while gathering corn. 

A beautiful harvest of sweet corn - even in Siberia!

Someone once said,"Plant zucchini only if you have lots of friends."

I agree! This is not even close to half of this year's squash and zucchini crop.

Whew! We are glad to have this year's gardening season over and the fruits of our labor stored away for the winter.  It always feels like such an accomplishment when the last bag of potatoes are safe and sound in the "podvall".  Next post I promise to give you a great recipe that we enjoy, using our fresh supply of potatoes.

Timothy Mark Sterling - 8 years old

On September 25, 2011, we celebrated our youngest son's 8th birthday. This year his special day fell on a Sunday so it was quite a busy day with Sunday services in the morning, but we managed to fit in a proper celebration with just our family.

One of our birthday traditions is allowing the birthday boy/girl to choose the dinner meal and Timothy chose Chicken and Spinach Alfredo pizza this year. 

Everyone was sure pleased with his choice!

Timothy's cake request was a race track in the shape of an 8 with Mater and Lightning McQueen from Cars.

He was very happy with how it turned out!

I always enjoy taking the other kids out to the nearby stores in the village to purchase a special gift for their sibling's birthday. It is sweet to see how they want to buy just the right gift and get almost as excited themselves to give the gift as the recipient is to receive it!

Timothy reading his card from Rebekah.

Rebekah always spends much time making personal cards to give to her brothers on their birthdays.

Ryan presenting the presents he purchased for Timothy with his own money.

This year we were grateful for James and Amber Pranger, who came to Krasnoyarsk on a survey trip, bringing a special gift for Timothy (and Ryan too but he has to wait until his birthday to receive his gift) all the way from America.

Timothy received a Nerf sword and shield set which made his day, as you can see!

Ready for battle!

God bless you Timothy. We are so excited to watch you grow and see how the Lord will use you in the future. We thank the Lord for you and the gift you are to our family.

Our Family Pets

I thought some of you might be interested in seeing what kind of pets we have here in Russia. When our family moved to a house in the village our kids immediately became excited about having pets of their very own to take care of. Each day as part of their chores, they do just that even in the winter months. We have had everything from chickens and turkeys to turtles as pets but currently we have it narrowed down to the basics.

First of all, meet Roxy, our best security system ever! She is a Caucasian Shepherd. You can read more about her breed here. 

Roxy - this Summer.

The kids were so excited to find out that a friend of ours' dog had puppies not too long after we moved out to the village. When they were old enough, David took Ryan to choose a puppy for our family.

The kids with Roxy the first day we brought her home, 7-17-06.

Another pic of Roxy the day we brought her home.

Roxy is a great guard dog and pretty much everyone who "meets" her is afraid of her, which is a plus for a dog who is to protect your family and guard the house and property. She really is great with our kids and loves to get attention from all of us. We just love her! She can handle the cold winters we have and stays outside year round (can you just see me keeping this big dog in my house!?) She also eats snow for hydration so we don't have to give her water in the winter.

Several years ago my husband brought home a small kitten for our daughter, Rebekah. It was to be her Christmas present; her first kitten. She was very sweet and Rebekah was so happy and surprised since she knew her daddy's hate strong dislike for cats. However, the next door neighbor's dog also strongly disliked cats and she felt the need to do her part to help control the cat population. Our poor cat, Tinkerbell, happened to be the next victim on her list. Since "Tink" had recently had a litter of kittens, we kept one of the girls to "carry on the name" as my daughter said. So, a few years later, 2nd Tink had a son who is also named "Tommy" after his uncle Tommy (another one of the 1st Tink's kittens). Are you getting all this? 

2nd Tink and her son, Tommy

Most recently we have added these fluffy little guys to our family. They are called  Muscovy ducks. Alexander, one of the men who attends our services, has several different types of birds, including Muscovy ducks, on his property. David began reading more about these ducks and soon realized that they were the ideal solution to several needs we have with our land. They are great eaters and will devour any flying/moving critter i.e., mosquitoes, flies, spiders. This is a blessing for me since those that we will keep for breeding will live at the bottom of our property thus, greatly decreasing the amount of bugs that hinder me when I am working in the garden. Also, they love grass, weeds, etc. So, instant bug zappers and weed eaters! Sounds good to me! Those who we will not keep will be eaten for dinner. That's right! They have some good meat on their bones so we will be eating a few. Alexander tells us that their eggs are also delicious. Many good points about these pets - who will not all remain pets. 

The ducks when we first bought them. They are much larger now.

Shh! That is why we didn't name them all! If you name them, you'll want to keep them!