Sunday, September 23, 2012

Weekend In Review

The weather was heavenly this weekend - only about 85 degrees and we had a constant breeze. It's amazing how much you can accomplish when not suffering from the oppressive humidity of the south! Here's how the weekend shaped up!

- I decided it was time to harvest some of this delicious looking Romaine. Not actually harvesting till tomorrow before dinner. Spaghetti, meatballs, salad (that I don't have to go to the store to buy,) and homemade bread - also, no grocery store required! Yipee!





And doesn't it look like a Cabbage Patch baby just wants to pop out of my cabbage!!



- Even more exciting is that our coop is finally looking like a coop! Since my hubby can only work on it on Saturdays, it's been a slow process, but I love it. Can't wait to help our "girls" set up house!





And last but not least, my mom bought us this beautiful handmade basket for egg gathering. It's beautifully made and I adore it. For now, I grabbed a photo of it with some apples. Eggs to come!!



Basically, it was an awesome, prepping filled, homesteady kinda weekend!!

Friday, September 21, 2012

Food all around us!

Did you know that there is literally food all around us? We don't know what plants are edible anymore because we've grown too accustomed to the drive-through at McDonald's. So what if McDonald's vanished - and the grocery store too. Could you eat that "weed" at your feet? Visit my friend's blog for an awesome give-away. I need these books. I need to learn! Link: New Life On A Homestead

Friday...On My Walk

Beautiful little yellow moth enjoying my wildflowers - caught him in mid-flight. Have a beautiful weekend!



Thursday, September 20, 2012

Cleaning House!

I've been on a mission lately to concoct my own cleaning supplies. Laundry is a BIG deal with a family of six and it seems that I was always scrounging around for coupons to buy detergent – the stuff is not cheap!! I also wasn't happy with the way cleaning supplies deducted from my grocery budget. I want to but more food – not Tide! So, I wanted to share with you a perfectly wonderful detergent recipe – I didn't invent it, but I love telling everyone about it! We have a High Efficiency washer, and my hubby really wanted to stick with liquid detergent. No scientific rationale, he just felt the liquid would perform better in our machine. He did once have a job as an engineer at Whirlpool, so I don't question his expertise!! I found the recipe here – Liquid laundry Detergent! If it works on all the 19+ Duggar family, then I was sure it would work for mine. It is working wonderfully! So, go on over to the Duggar family site and make some laundry detergent! My bucket will probably last at least 6 months!

On another note - I LOVE the Duggar family!!

Now to the dish soap. This is soap to hand wash dishes, not for the dishwasher – that's next on my agenda. I'm currently testing a recipe and it still needs some tweaking. While suds don't clean the dishes, I would like a few more suds. I'll post a recipe when I perfect it! At least it looks pretty!


Friday, September 14, 2012

Friday...On My Walk

Finally caught a photo of this beautiful Heron on our pond. He only stops by about once a week, and my kids usually manage to spook him before I get a photo. Not this time!

Quilting = Happiness

I love to sew.

If you know me, you know this fact and it's very old news! I learned to sew clothing for my daughter, out of necessity really, but now it's just plain fun. One problem that I have encountered is that my daughter simply has too much. I don't NEED to make her yet another dress. However, I still have the burning desire to CREATE – I NEED to be creative. As a natural progression of things it seems, I'm turning into my grandmother – and I'm quilting. My father's exact quote to me a few days ago, “You're turning into my mother.” I never met my father's mother. She died a few years before I was born. She canned, farmed, sewed clothing, quilts – sounding familiar? Maybe she had a talk with me before coming to this earth and encouraged me to continue her work, preserve a dying art. Maybe a bit of her is living inside me. I can't help but picture her smiling from above. This is one of her quilts – with my dad's hand print at age 4. It is a precious possession. Here's my first attempt at quilting – not perfect but you have to start somewhere. I already have ideas for more in the works. Quilts make me happy! My babies will be warm and cozy this winter!





Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Growth

Sometimes growing is fun – new freedoms, new opportunities. Sometimes it's painful – new consequences, new responsibilities. Once thing is for sure though, we all NEED to grow. Growing and learning is what can make our lives fruitful and fulfilled. I read somewhere recently that a day without learning is a day wasted. Our days are limited on this earth. The older I get the more clearly I see this. The cycle of life comes around at its own chosen pace, ready or not. I don't want to waste the minutes and days that I've been given – I want to grow. As I've chatted with fellow homesteaders (rookies and pros), there is an underlying theme that pushed them to continue – even when times get hard. They all want to be prepared and they all want to learn. Learn about different ways to grow crops, learn about better ways to care for their animals, learn more healthy recipes for their families, learn how to make their own soaps and cleaners, the list goes on and on. Homesteaders are a community of learners and growers. I think this is why homesteading how so fully “sucked” me in. I like and have a great respect for the people who make homesteading happen – the people who live everyday to learn, grow and prepare. They are among the elite, and I strive to be like them.

Our growing fall garden - it's really taking off!





The roof is up on our chicken coop!!! I'm so excited!!

Friday, September 07, 2012

Friday....On My Walk

Didn't do much walking this week. Spent most of my time tending the sick. Our house was wracked by a nasty stomach bug for the last few days. I'll spare you the details, but let's just say I've done more than my fair share of mopping, scrubbing, washing - you get it. EWWWWWW. The highlight of the week was my peach vanilla fruit leather created in my dehydrator. It's still sitting, waiting for us to be well again to actually enjoy it.

A photo of one of our sweet kitties. My shutter awoke her from a nap. Life is hard, huh.