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“If people let government decide what foods they eat and what medicines they take, their bodies will soon be in as sorry a state as are the souls of those who live under tyranny.” Thomas Jefferson

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Our Fabulous Fig Tree

I just have to tell you the story of our fig tree as it is amazing. When we moved onto our property 7 years ago a very large and old oak tree had been struck by lightning. Half of that oak tree took out the small barn and the other half of that oak tree split the fig tree completely in half all the way to the ground. We figured since there already appeared to be decay at the base of one of the halves of the fig tree that we would lose that half of the tree. The other half appeared to be in good shape, but we didn't hold our breath because the tree had suffered major trauma. We were very surprised when that year the fig tree produced two bumper crops, one early in the summer and one just before fall. It did the same thing for the next several years. We had so many figs off of that tree that we could not use them all. We had several gallons to give away and also sold about 30 gallons. Last winter the half of the tree that had received the most damage finally collapsed onto the ground, completely rotted and broken at the base. We thought that the half had finally given up the ghost and were preparing to cut it up and dispose of the dead wood. As I looked more closely guess what I noticed? Leaf buds. Brand spanking new leaf buds growing on limbs that for all intents and purposes should have been completely dead. Only the hand of God could be making that tree leaf out. Not only did that dead looking half of the tree leaf out, it is producing figs! Lots of figs! We again will have two bumper crops of figs this year thanks to the good Lord above. I have already given several quarts away and we have eaten figs every morning with our breakfast for the past week. I have 6 lbs. dehydrating now and will pick more to dehydrate this evening. It is only by the grace of God that we are able to enjoy this fruit, because that tree should be dead. It isn't, and not only that it is flourishing. I highly recommend fig trees to any homesteader that can possibly grow one. They are tough, don't appear to be bothered by disease. I say this because the peach trees which are very close to the fig developed a fungus that we could not get rid of and died. The fig tree never slowed down production nor drop a leaf. Figs are a power packed little fruit providing loads of fiber, a healthy dose of B6, and loads of potassium. They are sweet and delicious and can go with just about anything. This fruit and the tree that it grows on is well worth considering for the homestead. Enjoy!

Motherhood

There is an excellent post that I so needed to read over at the Biblical Womanhood blog. The past couple of weeks have been so extremely busy for me and I really have felt like I am just spinning in circles. I just cannot keep up with everything that needs doing and my oldest daughter and I have been working feverishly. It seems as if the past couple of weeks that is about all we do is work and still there is so much to do. I guess I should explain a little bit about how this situation came about. My husband agreed to do some work on my aunt's rental house. The carpets needed to be removed, new flooring put down, new paint, some repairs and such. I was going to clean it for her since it was left by the previous tenant in a deplorable condition. Well, two days before he was to start the work he tore the ligaments in his ankle and is now in a cast, ordered by the doctor to do nothing for at least 3 weeks. So, I got the job of doing the work for my aunt. I also got all of the work around the farm in addition to my normal duties. I am doing and doing and doing and still not enough to keep up. Spending 4 hours a day working at the rental, trying to keep up with the housework, yardwork, and farmwork has become overwhelming. My oldest is helping as much as she can and without her no laundry would get done folded or put away. She is a good kid and I don't know what I would do without her right now. I don't feel as if I have ever been this overwhelmed. Thank goodness I should have the rental finished in about a week or so. Hopefully, I can hang on until then. I know I desperately miss my children because even though we are together physically it is not the together in which my attention is completely focused on them. They have been troopers through this and with the grace of God I will get through these next few weeks until my husband is healed. I will be delighted when I can get back to the role of "mommy". I highly recommend the articles, they are excellent and here are the links.
Distracted Christian Mothers
Exhausted Moms

Watch Your Livestock

When the economy gets tough and folks are out of work they become desperate and all sorts of things happen. I have been receiving reports from other homesteaders across the country losing animals like rabbits and chickens on a pretty regular basis in the past couple of months. Now I find this news report from Florida about horse owners finding their animals slaughtered and the meat stolen. Apparently, they are selling the meat on the black market. And yes folks, horse meat is high dollar meat. A few years ago I know it was running around 12.00 a pound. Here is the news report (it does have some graphic photos)

So it might be time for folks to start thinking about locking up their stock at night. I am thinking that might be a real good idea. If you do lock your barn please make sure that you keep the key in a handy place close to the door of your house. Don't leave it laying around where you might have to hunt for it in case of emergency. There is absolutely nothing worse than watching animals burn to death in a barn fire. I know, I have seen it and it is a memory that I will never forget and never get over. So use good judgement and take precautions. God bless.

Friday, July 17, 2009

Learning Year by Year

Each year on a homestead is a learning experience. Even those who have been doing this their whole lives still learn new things each year. I know my grandaddy did, and if there wasn't something happening on the farm then he was seeking out someone who knew something he didn't. A farm is like a work in perpetual progress. There are always new ways to do things or old ways to get back to that work better. I have always found that experience is the best teacher. Indeed each year I learn something. This year I learned that I did not plant nearly enough corn. That is ok. I will get enough silage to get the goats through the winter without hay. I will get enough corn for the chickens and the horses for a little while, certainly not all winter. I am pretty sure that I will not meet my 100 lb. goal for sunflower seeds. Most of my sunflowers turned out pretty small and I didn't plant enough. By the time all is said and done with the sunflowers I might reach half of my goal. That is ok, next year I will plant more. I have a small field that I think next year will be nothing but corn and sunflowers. That will more than double what I planted this year and should let me reach my goal better. This year has been a learning experience in the garden over all because I decided to try quite a few new varieties of veggies. When heirloom gardening the choices are irresistable at seed ordering time. I have learned that some things just do not do very well. My white bush squash has simply not done well in our humidity. While the plants have grown to tremendous size and been very prolific, the humidity causes the small squash to grow mold and rot before they get anywhere close to harvest size. I think I have managed to get 2 squash out of the bunch. Just enough for a taste. So I don't see myself wasting the time and resources to plant that variety again. I also planted 12 different varieties of tomatoes. Some have been hit hard by verticillium wilt and while they have grown, they were stunted with no flowers and no tomatoes. I will try them in greenhouse conditions and if I have a problem then will scrap trying to grow that variety. I will get enough sunflower hay once the sunflowers are harvested to feed the rabbits through the winter, so that is a plus. I think if I have one thing to tell new homesteaders, that would be seek to learn something from each year's experience. Don't ever stop learning and don't ever stop seeking for that learning experience. You never know what might happen with all that knowledge floating around in your head! God bless and have a wonderful day!

Chickens-the Catch 22 of the Garden

I love my chickens and I love free ranging my chickens. However, chickens are a catch 22 in the garden. They are great little bug hunters and are really good at helping to till in compost. They also help my compost pile to process more quickly while adding their own deposits to the compost piles. The "catch" comes when the chickens overstep their "free ranging" by eating my green tomatoes. A chicken can completely clean out the inside of a tomato leaving absolutely nothing but the skin on the ground. I wish I could peel tomatoes with that level of effeciency! Chickens can also get very enthusiastic with their scratching methods and scratch so much among the corn stalks that the stalks fall over. Fences do not always keep chickens out because despite the fact that they are a little clumsy they can fly well enough to get over the fence. I let my chickens out in the morning and they make a beeline for the garden, making a brief stop at the compost pile. For the most part they have not done much damage and yes they have only taken a few of my tomatoes, but I really wish they would leave the corn alone for a few days. Everyday I go out patches of my corn are layed down flat. Within a couple of days that patch will stand back up, only for another patch to be laying down. I have had very few bug problems this year with the exception of a squash vine borer situation which with the help of my chickens is now under control. The chickens and I saved all of the squash plants and they are now producing quite well. I am also beginning to see a few baby zuchinni which will be ready to start harvesting soon. Without my chickens, I might have lost all those plants (20). I say might because the only thing that I am sure of is that during the period of attack on my plants the chickens spent a large amount of time among the squash plants. I also have not seemed to have much of a problem with Japanese beetle. I have seen a few, but they have been a very few compared to the thousands that we normally get. I get aggravated with my chickens, but overall I think I am pretty happy to have their help in the garden. We'll see how many of my tomatoes they steal and how I feel by the end of the season. My guinea is much more particular and careful of the plants. However, he is all alone and bug patrol would simply be too much for one lonely little guinea.

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Planning our Upcoming Homeschool Year

The first year that we homeschooled, I had spent quite a bit of time finding material and printing and bookmarking lessons and such off the computer. I carefully gathered books and composed a list for library trips. With all this planning and work that I did, our first year was a bit discombobulated to say the least. The one thing that I forgot to do was to organize all of this material into some semblance of order. I know that there are many out there that don't think education should have scheduling and order. That may work for their home, but it will not work in mine. First, my children like having a schedule and they like order. They know what to expect. Second, I like order and schedules as I tend to get distracted easily and try to do to many things at one time. Having a schedule reigns me in and keeps me from overwhelming myself and my children. Thirdly, we have too much to do to fly blind. So that first year I didn't have a schedule or a plan. All I had was a bunch of great material. Oh boy, that first year was rough and so much time was wasted in trying to decide what to use and where to go next. I wasted so much time each day and each week looking for what I knew I had either printed or bookmarked. We made it through that year and my daughter did gain some knowledge, however I had no desire to repeat the performance. So the next summer I spent 2 weeks out of the summer with my major project being to organize the school year and gather our materials. The following years have gone much more smoothly without taking up much of my daily time. For anyone following an eclectic school of thought or a Charlotte Mason school of thought in their homeschooling I highly encourage taking some time to organize your schooling material and to have a plan. Without planning, the year seems to be discombobulate and does not flow smoothly. I believe that these disruption of trying to figure out what I wanted to do next or where I wanted to go with my child's learning take away from the value of the education. So the best thing that I do each year for our homeschool is to plan it. Our schedule and plan is not set in stone, but it is a guide that keeps us on a smooth track with very little disturbance. I feel that planning is essential to a healthy educational environment, just as some sort of planning is essential to run a home well or a business well. Nothing has ever been a successful venture without planning. For our planning we use a simple calendar in which we have materials that we wish to use that month and the resources from which to draw. Each day is planned with what we wish to do that day. Not every subject is covered everyday. Things like Shakespeare and Plutarch are only done once a week, but because of our calendar I know which day of the week we are planning to cover that material. At the close of each school session we look to the next day on the calendar make any adjustments that need to be made and lay out our materials for the next day. Having a plan also allows my daughter and I to plan our intense schoolwork in which she needs to focus more and I need to devote my attention to her around my toddler's naptime. This gives us a good 2-3 hours of one on one time in which we are not interrupted by a busy and precocious toddler. Planning is essential to a well run educational environment. I encourage you all to spend a little time thinking about how you want your school year to run and make a plan.

Monday, July 13, 2009

New Southern history Website

A friend of mine pointed me to a relatively new website about true Southern history. Some of you might enjoy it and some of you might not. Anyway if anyone is interested in checking out The Dixie Republic and learning a few things about our history here in the South, especially stuff you never learned or never will learn from government or mainstream educators. Our great Confederate heroes knew that unless we learned our history for ourselves it would be rewritten by the victors. In the words of Major General Patrick Cleburne:

"Every man should endeavor to understand the meaning of subjugation before it is too late... It means the history of this heroic struggle will be written by the enemy; that our youth will be trained by Northern schoolteachers; will learn from Northern school books their version of the war; will be impressed by the influences of history and education to regard our gallant dead as traitors, and our maimed veterans as fit objects for derision... It is said slavery is all we are fighting for, and if we give it up we give up all. Even if this were true, which we deny, slavery is not all our enemies are fighting for. It is merely the pretense to establish sectional superiority and a more centralized form of government, and to deprive us of our rights and liberties."
--- Maj. General Patrick R. Cleburne, CSA, January 1864, writing on what would happen if the Confederacy were to be defeated.

Pay close attention to his last two sentences, for that is exactly what has happened to this great nation and I believe that it has become more and more difficult to deny it. As Southerners it is our duty to study and know our true history, for it is a noble one.

"To you, Sons of Confederate Veterans, we will commit the vindication of the cause for which we fought. To your strength will be given the defense of the Confederate soldier's good name, the guardianship of his history, the emulation of his virtues, the perpetuation of those principles which he loved and which you love also, and those ideals which made him glorious and which you also cherish. Remember, it is your duty to see that the true history of the South is presented to future generations."
--- Lt. General Stephen Dill Lee, Commander General, United Confederate Veterans, New Orleans, Louisiana, April 25, 1906.

The cause of the Confederacy was a noble cause and one that has not ceased to exist, we stand for this cause today more than ever. The only difference between now and then is that many of the states, no matter north or south east or west, now stands with us. I fear that it is now too little too late, however and that they talons of apostasy and treason have sunk in too deep for too long. I will close with the words of General Robert E. Lee:

"All that the South has ever desired was the Union as established by our forefathers should be preserved and that the government as originally organized should be administered in purity and truth."
--- General Robert E. Lee, CSA

What is global warming?

You know, lately with all this cap and trade tax mess going on in our government and the willingness of the American people to believe this bunk "science", I have gotten really disgusted. It amazes me that someone who took one environmental science course in college is now considered an authority on environmental science. If that is true then let's see, I must be an authority on English Literature, American History, business management, analytical mathematics and others right along with my required courses for my biology major. Wow, I did not know that I was so knowledgeable. Ok, sarcasm over. I have been trying to tell people that global warming is a scam for years. Unlike many people who hear the word scientist, and automatically assume that they have all encompassing knowledge, I actually like to see credentials and what kind of scientist they are before I take anything that they say with any type of authority. What many mainstream folks don't realize is that there are many different science degrees and types of science. Many degrees and science majors these days are simply watered down basic science and nothing more. Well finally, the scientific community truly has had enough and those with true knowledge about environmental science and 30,000 of them have come together to put (or try to) put a stop to this global warming scam. Here is the news report:

Look folks, there are many environmental issues that need to be addressed. There are pollutants being dumped and spilled on a daily basis. You don't hear much about those types of things because of who is doing the dumping and spilling. The EPA is in bed with corporate interests so you can believe a word they say. With so many real issues to deal with I think the people need to give up the ghost on this global warming lie.

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Corn and Sunflowers

Well, my corn is producing ears like crazy and some will be ready to start harvesting soon. With the corn producing ears also comes the dreaded silkworm. I noticed some when I was checking the corn Monday in between rain showers. I simply picked them off and squished them. I know there will be more to come but with the rain Monday and Tuesday I couldn't apply any mineral oil. I will do that today once I check the forecast. The bugs are really a problem this year, even though my garden is in a new spot, virgin ground, they have managed to come from far and wide. It seems like every plant in the garden is plagued right now with something or other. Well, all that is except the watermelon, so far that has escaped predation. I need to start getting some of my fall planting in so that it has time to grow. Hopefully, it won't be attacked by bugs too badly. The first patch of sunflowers is coming along nicely and I will start harvesting those this week. I need 150 lbs. to get me through the winter in feed. You don't need much. I tried breeding the rabbits again this week, but my doe is not interested and was growling at Bubba. So we will try again in a few days. This is her last chance to give me a litter, or it is off to freezer camp. I am currently looking for another doe, but meat rabbits are not easy to find. The other day I was so excited to see our quail that came to visit in the garden. I now know where they are living and they have babies. yesterday, mama and all of the little babies were trotting across the driveway looking for a snack. I am glad that we have left that woodpile in the bottom of one pasture as it has turned out to be a really nice habitat for all sorts of critters. However, the quail apparently love it and I hope they will all stay and raise lots more babies. Coffee, the goat, has got to be getting close to kidding. I am not sure her sister is pregnant. The breeder we bought her from said that she was but I am thinking that she didn't catch. We finished the boys' pasture fence and they do not like be separated from the girls. The girls don't like it either and all 5 goats have been miserable and crying for each other. Of course, since we don't have the shed for the boys finished they have been all back together in the goat barn the past couple of days and have been happy happy happy. It is time to start getting our seed for the pastures this fall and we will be bush hogging again soon. I am still trying to get some more weight on our old stallion. I am just not sure how many more winters the old man is gonna make it through. Each winter is harder on him and each winter it is harder for him to recover from. He still has a lot of spunk and still makes sure that his son knows he is top dog of the pasture. This weekend will be an overhaul for everyone with worming, Bo-SE shots for the girls(goats) and hoof trimming for everyone. Don't know if I will get all the horses done this weekend as I can usually only handle one a day. I am much slower than a farrier, however, since there are no more farriers in my area I am the best they have. Well, I take that back. There is one farrier left in our area, but he is not willing to do our stallion without drugging him and he is just too old for that. Frankly, the farrier is afraid of Thunder just like our vet is. I have never understood why some people choose to work with large animals for their livliehood when they are afraid of them. Our old vet was a woman who weighed 100 lbs. soaking wet and she never let Thunder intimidate her. Our current vet is a big strong man and he is terrified of Thunder, which feeds the old blowhards ego and makes him act bigger and badder than he is. I've worked with a lot of stallions and truly folks he is a gem as far as personality. Speaking of all the horse's could really use a good scrub down and grooming. Since we have had rain for 2 days and I don't have to spend all that time watering the garden I think that will be today's project. With so much going on they have been kind of left to their own devices with the exception of fly spray and a quick brush at feeding time. They deserve some attention. So I guess I am off to play with the ponies before the heat gets too bad. Have a blessed day!

Monday, July 6, 2009

Rain, Rain, Glorious Rain

After a month with absolutely zero rain, we are getting a good rain. I am praying that my garden is truly enjoying it. It has been such a tough month with no rain and trying to keep the garden from burning up. The pond has also dropped way down, leading to a huge algae bloom which is no good for the fish and creating more work for me having to aerate more. Normally, I am outside at 5:30 watering the garden and getting those chores done before the other farm chores so that I can be back inside before the heat of the day gets really bad. I don't tolerate the extreme heat anymore like I used to. I suffered real bad heat exhaustion one summer and ever since just can't take much of the heat. This rain is such a blessing from the good Lord above! I hope your week is getting off to a glorious start as well. Today will be a good day to finish up some of those sewing projects that seem to be put off and put off. I haven't finished the summer sewing and it is almost time to start on the fall sewing. Wow! Time sure flies. Well, it is about time to make a mad dash to the barn and get everyone fed and settled for the day. How wonderful to start the day this way! God bless and take care!

Saturday, July 4, 2009

Gardening woes

Oh, it is a tough year with the garden. The past couple of weeks of very high heat and humidity has taken its toll as the tomatoes are beginning to suffer from bacterial and fungal problems. I had to completely tear out one tomato plant today to try and keep it from spreading. I am doing everything I know to do organically for these problems and just hope that I save some of my tomato plants. I do have several with tomatoes so we will see. The squash vine borers are terrible this year and I have not been able to find any BT to use, so have been making up my own pesticide and treating the plants. These little buggers are tough to get rid of and usually destroy the plant. I have several plants producing so maybe I will save some of them. The pond is experiencing some heavy evaporation, 1" per day. So I have had to do some extra aerating to try to control the algae bloom. We will try to start harvesting some of the fish to cut down on the numbers within the next week or so. Some of them may be smaller than I would like, but I am afraid that if I don't thin the numbers then I will have a fish kill due to the algae and lack of oxygen. With the pond dropping the concentration levels of ammonia and nitrates rise, leading to the algae, which depletes the oxygen. I would like to get a pump for next year, but it is difficult to find one that is affordable for such a large pond. The plus side of the drop in water levels is that it makes it much easier to clean out more of detritus on the bottom of the pond. This material is great to add to the compost pile. Today, as I was facing the frustration of all these things, I thought if it weren't for my honey bee friends and my children that I would just give up and head for the store for some type of chemicals to combat all these things. However, my honey bee friends are hard at work every morning as I water the garden. They flit from plant to plant busy about their morning chores as I am busy about mine. The sound of their buzzing and the site of their hard work brings such joy and peace in those early morning hours that I don't have the heart to wipe them out. Their hive is in the garden and during the heat of the day they can be seen at the entrance to the hive fanning away with their wings trying to keep the hive cool. Of course, they built their hive in one of the worst places that I can think of. Our pond in the center of the garden still has the remnants of what was once a diving board. All that is left is the metal pipe that held the board. The bees chose this pipe to build their hive in. I imagine that pipe gets quite warm on these hot days. Hoever, the bees work very hard to keep things cool inside the hive. The wild rabbits that have made a burrough in the goat pasture have eaten all the sweet potatoes, so I lost that crop. I really can't begrudge them too much as they are a joy to watch in the early morning hours as the young popples come out to play. They have not touched anything else in the garden, just the sweet potatoes. This morning I had a very unusual visitor in the garden....a quail. This little bird was not just on the edge of the garden, it was making its way through the corn rows and then through the remainder of the rows right into the heart of the garden closest to the house. I was a little worried because my cats are usually out hunting early in the morning and I was worried that they would see this precious little piece of nature and decide it would make a good breakfast. It didn't stay long, but maybe it grabbed a few bugs while it was looking around. For those of you who don't live in the southeast, these little birds not so many years ago were very difficult to find because of over hunting and habitat destruction. Since more small farmers became aware of their plight they are becoming more plentiful. I have seen more this year than I have in years and I attribute it to the fact that we have left several spots that are good habitat for the little birds. There is a hunting club behind me so they might be seeking refuge at my place. That is fine with me. The dogs don't bother them and right now the cats are occupied with the field rats (yes rats) and the chipmunks. Speaking of cats, this morning as I was watching the quail taking a stroll among the veggies one of my cats came up from the pasture carrying a field rat as big as the cat. I sure was glad that it was dead being that close to the house. I would hate for it to have gotten loose and into the house or barn. Mice don't bother me as much, but rats as big as a cat will scare the daylights out of me! Things are pretty peaceful around here and we just keep plugging along as the heat allows. Rain would be wonderful and we pray everyday for some. The corn and sunflowers are about the only things truly thriving in the garden this year. I will be better prepared next year and not be late in my planting. I think that because I was late the stress of the heat got to my plants before they had a chance to reach their full growth and strength. So they are stressed and stress brings about trouble in the garden. Fortunately, this year I don't have to totally depend on it for our survival. I will gather what I can and learn from the experience and next year will be better. Maybe the fall crops will be better, we will just have to see. God bless and take care.

Francis Scott Key Wrote a Song

"Then, in that hour of deliverance, my heart spoke. Does not such a country, and such defenders of their country, deserve a song?" Francis Scott Key

Not many Americans really know the story behind the Star Spangled Banner and it is an amazing story about ordinary men, women and children. Not a story of the typical heroes of the Revolutionary War but just simple souls seeking to live a life in peace, free from tyranny and oppression. A people wanting to make their way in the world by the sweat of their brow and the callouses of their hands and owe their allegiance to no one but God Almighty. Oh, I know, these days it is considered politically incorrect to say that America was founded as a nation dedicated to God and Jesus Christ by men who revered Him, loved Him, and fought and died for Him. The tribes of Israel and the sons of Joseph had come to their new promised land, under their new name and just wanted to live free and in peace. Anyway back to the story of the star spangled banner and Francis Scott Key. It is an amazing story and one that I did not learn of until I was much older than school age. The thing that dumbfounded me when I happened on this little tidbit of history is that I was never taught this in school. I think if I had been taught more about the people of the revolution instead of droll facts, battles and dates, I would have had much more interest in history. It wasn't until I started researching my own genealogy that I truly began to learn about history and especially history of that time. There are so many family with records that tell a story of a people and you truly do not find those stories until you start looking for your own story of your own people. So on this 4th of July I would like to share with you the story behind the Star Spangled Banner, words to a song that we often sing without thinking of their meaning. I may have certain details incorrect, but that truly is irrelevant because this song is a tribute to a people, not a time or a place. During the revolutionary war it was common for Britain and the Colonies to exchange prisoners of war. Francis Scott Key was sent on such a mission, to exchange prisoners of war with a British Admiral. The colonial prisoners were being held off shore of New York? (somebody correct me if I am wrong). Actually the whole British fleet was out there. Key made his way out to the ship and in discussing the exchange with the admiral, was interrupted by the admiral who said that by morning no exchange would be necessary. The prisoners would be free to go. Key was puzzled by this and questioned the meaning of the admiral's words. The admiral told Key to look over at the shore, at a small Fort flying the American flag. I believe it was Fort McHenry but since I am too lazy to go looking through boxes of genealogy notes I will depend on one of you to supply the correct fort. The Admiral then told Key that by morning light the war would be over because that Fort had been instructed to take down that flag or the entire British fleet would open fire and destroy it. Key the pleaded with the admiral because you see, there were only a handful of colonial soldiers at that fort. Most were somewhere else. That fort was occupied mostly by civilian men, women, and children. The Admiral told Key that all they had to do was to take down that flag voluntarily or the British fleet would take it down. The flag never wavered and because darkness had fallen Key was unable to make his way back to shore. He was forced to watch the horror of that night unfold. The appointed time passed and the flag stood in place, the British fleet opened fire on that little fort. The prisoners in the hold wanted to know what was happening and so Key relayed the details of the night. The fleet would fire on the fort and specifically on the flag. With each wave of attack the red glare would show the flag to still stand. As the night wore on the flag wavered many times as the fleet was directly firing at the flag. The flag became more tattered as the night wore on and no one on that ship knew how that flag still stood under such a brutal and direct attack. However, the flag stood and it may have shredded and it may have wavered, but that flag never fell and no one took it down. As dawn came, the admiral did as promised and released the prisoners who headed to shore straight for Fort McHenry? The flag was still there, even though the fort itself was demolished by the brutal attack. When Key arrived at the fort, what he saw was almost beyond belief. You see the flag and its pole had suffered many direct hits and each time that the flag started to fall the men in the fort would run to hold it up. Each time that the flag was hit the men holding it would be killed and more men would run to hold it up. Eventually, the men of the fort were all dead holding onto that flag pole and the boys of the fort took their positions to see that it did not fall. That flag was held up and in place over that demolished fort by the bodies of civilian men and boys. Patriots willing to give their life so that others might live free. The Star Spangled Banner was a song written to honor their death and their sacrifice. It is a song that has honored the death and sacrifice of all who have stood for ideals of the founding fathers and the people of the Revolution. Now, over 200 years later, I sit here having a very bittersweet 4th of July. It is a sad day in our history because we have lost what was once so precious that people were willing to die for it. When Benjamin Franklin was asked what form of government our new nation had, he replied, "A republic, if you can keep it." Well, infortunately we haven't kept our republic in which sovereign states worked together for a common interest. Now we have slave states dependent on a central superpower. Children in schools are no longer taught that America is a Constitutional Republic, instead they are taught that it is a Democracy. Our history has been rewritten, and our people no longer value the freedom that our founding fathers sought to give us. We are once again subjects of a tyrannical government and so many don't even know it. So on this day in which men voluntarily gave their lives for freedom, I find it sad that their descendants have allowed such a precious gift to be stolen and some even voluntarily give it away. This has been coming for a long time and little by little our freedoms have been eroded away. The Constitution that many of us hold dear is of little value in Washington anymore. The men and women of the Confederacy were the last to make a stand for that document. I know that is another story to most, but really it is the same story. Government was too big and taking too much control, many states saw it and knew it. It was the states of the Confederacy and Maryland who chose to make a stand for the founding fathers and the Constitution. This country was bought and paid for with the blood of ordinary men and women, Francis Scott Key knew this and saw it first hand. The next time any American sings the Star Spangled Banner they should remember that, and hold those ideals close to their heart. Do we truly have any patriots anymore, or are we patriots where only words are concerned? Do we have the courage that our forefathers once had, or have our numbers been diluted by the blood of cowards? Oh, say, can you see....?