Briesacher-Hayes Farm News

Home is Where Your Story Begins

Welcome To Our Site...

Our home and farm blog is only here to allow those that do not live with us to better understand us. We strive to be a Christian family because we believe that there is definitely a God. We do desire simplicity of life. We desire a home and farm filled with wonder, love, and inspiration. This farm has a peace about it. I don't know what it is but it is peaceful here. The farms has been in the family since 1854.

March 2010
S M T W T F S
« Apr    
 123456
78910111213
14151617181920
21222324252627
28293031  

Mother - Daughter Salon Day

Posted By Gisela B-H* on April 23, 2009

Daughter with her long hair before it was cut.

Picture 1 of 15

Daughter with her long hair before it was cut.

Last week, my daughter and I, had a pair of mother and daughter salon appointments.  It was great!  My daughter, for sometime now, has been wanting to get her hair cut.  So, after her stating for the upteenth time that she wants her hair cut short, I make us both salon appointments.  My salonist was Lyndsey and my daughter’s was named Jaime.

My daughter was so excited to have her own salonist that she jumped up and down.  I had called the salon on a Friday and our appointment was set for the following Friday.  Now, my daughter knows her days of the week but she was so excited to finally be getting her hair cut that she asked me everyday if it was Friday, yet.

Here are some pictures from our afternoon at the salon.  I really enjoyed sharing a salon day with my daughter and I hope we can have many more mother - daughter salon days.  We, also, enjoyed putting on our Avon lip gloss we purchased from Aunt Veronica online Avon store.  I wore Crimson and my daughter wore Pink.  My daughter thought she was so grown up that day.  It was wonderful to experience that in her.

Also, I want to thank my husband for coming along and taking these special first time pictures.

Shed, Weather & Great-Grandmas

Posted By Gisela B-H* on April 5, 2009

We spent the weekend cleaning out the shed and getting rid a lot of things that we couldn’t get rid of in our initial clean due to sentimental reason.   This was the first stage to getting a new shed and tearing down our current red and white metal shed.   For safety and security reasons I wanted my daughter’s play area to be right where the shed is located. 

We also have both of my daughter’s living great-grandmothers in the hospital.  One went in with a broken hip and the other went in with reasons the doctors have not found yet.  The later great-grandmother was found incoherent on the bathroom floor but seizures, strokes, and the like have been ruled out.  I simply think that she lost her balance and hit her head causing a mild mild case of amensia. 

Anyway, snow is coming this week…can you believe that….it’s April! I had to bring the strawberries in and thus they are growing in my kitchen all snug and warm.  :)

Union Hill Cemetery Update

Posted By Gisela B-H* on March 25, 2009

Knowing that we couldn’t get the massive clean up done ourselves, we hired Shumakers Landscaping.  They are charging us $1200 to clean up the brush, cut down the knee high grass, cut down a tall dead tree, cut all the small trees growing, and burn the huge pile of debris that they made from pulling out and cleaning the cemetery.

Even though I think the amount is a little much, it is quite a relief to have the cemetery looking nice once more.  It should be easy to keep it maintain. At least I hope.  We’ve never been in trust to a cemetery before.

I did take before and after pictures and as soon as I download them off of my camera I will post them here.

Union Hill Cemetery is the finally resting place of our farm’s ancestors as well as many of the early settlers to Millstadt and St. Clair County.  The earliest burial was 1823.  I have made a website for Union Hill Cemetery but I haven’t had time to finish the design of it.  The link is www.UnionHillCemetery.com.

Rainbows

Posted By Gisela B-H* on March 25, 2009

Our new rainbow birdhouse.

Picture 1 of 4

After a nice spring downpour the Sun came out.  Well, if you remember anything from your Earth Science class then you should know that when the Sun and Rain Mist get together they produce a beautiful rainbow.  My daughter loves rainbows and so she was extremely happy to see this one yesterday.

Of course, being the mommy that I am made sure to comment on how beautiful God made the rainbow for us to see today.  My daughter knows the story of the Flood and how God set a rainbow in the sky as his covenant not to destroy the Earth again because of the wickedness of man.

Also, just three day prior to the rainbow we bought a new bluebird house and my daughter and I painted it with rainbow watercolors.  We had such fun doing it in the kitchen.  I sprayed it with a gloss and daddy put it up.

Ignorant Knowledge

Posted By Gisela B-H* on January 15, 2009

Ignorant knowledge… what a paradox. There is something to be said about those who truly believe they are smart enough to comment on very important things without the knowledge gathered from research. For example homeschooling. I can not tell you all the mouth drops we receive when I tell that I and my husband have decided to homeschool our daughter. I am a very intelligent woman and to add I do not take my role as mother passively. In regards to her education, naturally, I would want the best for her. She is beyond those her age, if not double her age. She is only three but has begun reading, doing math, her imagination is very well established indeed, and her humor is amazing. In the beginning, we did not feel that the local public school was to correct place to educate her, thus beginning of my in-depth research in education.

I researched all the different styles of education and the different schools already established in the area, free and private. My husband and I interviewed a few to boot. After about two months, I started my research in homeschooling. I, like many I have met, had a stereotype towards homeschooling. However, once deep into my research, I was amazed at the plethora of curriculums and styles and methods that make up the world of homeschooling. There is absolutely something that will meet the needs of her learning style at any particular moment in her educating journey. I could not imagine another source of education like that to homeschooling. Her education can be tailored to her and her speed and love of learning.

One of the styles of homeschooling I found overwhelming great was the Charlotte Mason style of learning. Charlotte Mason was an 19th century educator and she devoted her life to the education of children. She studied children and the way they learn. She was known for her saying, “For the sake of the children.” The basis of her style is to teach to a child the love of learning so that they will desire to keep learning. I’ve reading all of the following books on Charlotte Mason:

A Charlotte Mason Companion: Personal Reflections on the Gentle Art of Learning

Charlotte Mason Summaries
Charlotte Mason’s Original Homeschooling Series

So, after almost a year of researching, reading, and studying child education I am very confident that homeschooling is the correct place to educate my daughter. I am still surprised at the ego of those who clings to the “stereotype” of homeschooling and try to talk me out of it doing such a thing. I simply tell them that unless they have researched the matter as I have I will not get into a debate with them for it will not be worth the words. I also tell them that I am not here to convince them and that if they are indeed concerned about my daughter’s education and want to research the issue then I will be more than happy discuss their findings. Most are not really all that concerned about her education. The one question that I get the most is not about her education, sadly, but about her socialization and that is another post. :)

God Bless!

A New Sleep Area.

Posted By Gisela B-H* on January 4, 2009

Just before Christmas my husband and I decided that we did not want the girls sleeping on air mattresses again in the basement so we purchase a Tempur-Pedic style of bed and converted the living area into a sleeping area. Below is a picture of the new bed. Also, I wanted to included a picture of the closet. The closet door is located on the side but we are going to move the lowboy piece of furniture and one of my favorite painitings, which is a pointillism painting by George Seurat, called Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte. The entire painting is created by tiny dots.

I am having some trouble posting in my blog all of a sudden. As soon as I get it fixed, I will post some pictures and more text.

Renovating the Downstairs Bathroom

Posted By Gisela B-H* on December 30, 2008

Well, we’ve started!  We started the renovation of downstairs bathroom.  It’s quite a small room and so with a lot of thinking we have finally came up with a design.  I can’t wait until it’s finished! :)  I was so tired of that bathroom.  It was so closed-in.

Here are some pictures of the before and during the destruction.  While doing the destruction we found some termite damage.  Ouch!   The bathroom really needed updating in a bad way.

Don’t forget to click the pictures for a larger view.

The old sinkthe old toiletThe old shower faucet.

Old bathroom shower that was made of cinderblocks.Where the old toilet use to be.

Shower going down.the old sink gowning downGone!

Termite damage.  yuk!more termite damage.Sink gone!