Suburban Homesteading

Harvest

2011-08-03T09:11:00.000-06:00

Hi all! Lots of good stuff is popping up in the garden. I had a great harvest on Monday. I really need to go out today since we had a torrential rainfall last night and clean some things up out in the garden. I have cilantro falling down everywhere. Here's what I harvested:

I picked a ton of lettuce and prepared salads for my husband to go to work. The zucchini are gorgeous...look at that shine...you can't get that in the store unless there is wax and who knows what else on them. Most exciting is that my beets are doing fabulous this year. I picked three on Monday and I expect to pick many more the rest of this week.

The way I prepare them is wrap them up in aluminum foil with some olive oil and salt and roast them in the oven until they are soft. I cut off all the leaves, but I leave about an inch of stem left...that prevents your beets from "bleeding" out everywhere and making a terrible mess. Once they are baked, let them cool slightly and use a paper towel to rub the skin off. Really, it's quite easy and the mess is kept at a minimum. The family either eats them like that or I cube them up and put them in salads. It's quite delicious and makes me so happy to know it came from garden to table!

Another thing that is coming on like crazy around here are the raspberries. Oh, what joy! The kids pick them for me and rinse them off and put them in the freezer. Note: anyone who picks gets the special privilege of eating them!!! I then wait until they are all harvested (mine are the type that ripen all summer, not all at once) and I make raspberry mango jam--I call it the nectar of God because it is soooooo good!!!

I do have to scare the birds and squirrels off, but I don't mind sharing a few. Next year, I think I will be covering the whole patch with bird netting to keep the critters away. We have double the harvest of last year. I need to find some good raspberry recipes...feel free to share!!! I hope all is growing well for you! Blessings to you and have a lovely week.

Wordless Wednesday

2011-08-03T08:53:00.000-06:00

Favorite vegetable of the summer

2011-07-29T18:31:00.000-06:00

This is by far my favorite new variety for the garden this summer! It's been such a fun thing to grow and everyone gets such a kick out of it when I show it to them!

This is an eight ball zucchini!!! The plants are quite prolific--you can pick them at golf ball size up to a softball size---this one is probably in between. They are beautiful and delicious. Between these and my regular zucchini, I have about 14 cups of zucchini frozen and shredded in the freezer, plus the plenty we have eaten already. We just can't get enough zucchini around here!!! Can you imagine stuffing one of these for dinner??? I'm going to do it!!! I'll let you know how it turns out!

What new varieties are you growing??? Have a great weekend...I'm still behind in posts because I have so much to blog about, but we've got an exciting weekend planned so I'll have to tell you all about it next time! Have a beautiful weekend...blessings!!!

Recycled Jean Quilt is Finished!!!

2011-07-26T11:16:00.000-06:00

So much has been going on the last two weeks that I don't even know where to start! I will keep this post to this quilt. I had worked on getting it quilted and I really had to hurry because I have a daughter who was entering an apron in the county fair (that is going to be a whole other post!). I hate having to recalibrate the machine because it took me forever to switch everything over to sew on the denim. But lo and behold, it is finished!!!! This is our summer picnic quilt.

There are six of us in the family and every one of us has jeans in this quilt. The sweltering heat made it really uncomfortable to sew this behemoth!!! It weighs about seven pounds and I was sweating while I was quilting it on my machine. At one point, I had to go outside with my machine and set up in the shade because it was over 85 degrees...in my house!!!! I like how it turned out...because I used some stretchy jeans, some of the corners do not match perfectly...OH WELL!!! This is one of those workhorse kind of quilts so I'm not too worried about the imperfections...that's the whole point of this quilt. It's all been recycled and getting new life.

The quilt laid out in the driveway.

Detail of the center...again from jeans we had! (sorry, bad picture)

I hope you are all having a productive summer. I can finally check one project off my list! How about you??? Blessings to you, and may you keep cool in this heat!!!

Garden happenings

2011-07-04T13:49:00.000-06:00

Cilantro
I don't know about your garden, but one of my self-seeding plants in the garden is my cilantro. I can seriously consider it a weed because it grows everywhere!!!! Every year, I let it flower because it is so inviting to all the beneficial insects and then it goes to seed (which I try to control) and then it's growing season is over while everything else starts ramping up...like tomatoes. I always make salsa and can it and you have no idea how infuriated I am with myself because I have to buy cilantro...from the store...and it's not very cheap...and I had pounds of it weeks before!!!! Well, no more, my friends...I picked half a pound of it today and I could still get a lot more...I'll keep picking as this week progresses. I'm freezing it so that I have plenty when it's time for salsa making or if I want to make Chipotle-style burritos!!! I saw a blog where they clean the cilantro, take off stems, barely put olive oil on it so that everything gets an extremely light coat of it, then I bagged it up and stuck it in the freezer. I am so thrilled! Here's what half a pound of cilantro looks like:

The salad spinner I have the cilantro in is not a small one--it's a pretty large hefty one that can really hold some greens! (I got it at the thrift store for around $5...this brand usually runs around $30...it's already earned it's keep around here!)

Other homestead updates

The garden is just swinging along. I have my own personal army of ladybugs...it's been so exciting to see that because it helps me feel that the garden is in balance. The lacewings are out, too, so the beneficials are really working hard this summer season.

I will probably have some yellow squash and zucchini by the end of the week. We've had some beautiful salads lately and we are just chomping at the bit for the zucchini!!! The peas are prolific and tomatoes are forming left and right. All in all, it's been a good growing season so far.

The chickens have been so fun to watch and feed. I give them tons of garden scraps and I never knew chickens could "honk" like geese. It's the funniest thing. Here is something I found on clearance at our local grocery store. I wanted to do a rooster stencil on our chicken coop, but the bargains never cease to amaze me. This is the before...

It's a rooster chalkboard. I paid $3.59 for it because it no longer came with it's stand. No problem. I didn't want it as a chalkboard anyway! Here's where it is now!

This is actually the door of our chicken coop. We painted the rooster white like the trim, and I hardly had to put any effort into it!!!

Here's the actual full coop pretty much finished. I have one more thing I have to do with it if I get some time, but it is fully functional and complete! My husband did such a nice job!!! The flowers on the front give it a nice touch, too.

The yellow flowers, calibrochoa, I picked up from the store, and just peeking up in the back is one of two agastache (will be purple) that I started from seed indoors. They should be a striking combination!!!

I hope all is growing well in your part of the world. To all my fellow Americans, happy Fourth of July!!! Be safe and God bless!!!

Canning on the Homestead

2011-06-20T15:17:00.001-06:00

First Canning Session of the Year
What to do with all those radishes???

With the several pounds of radishes I have harvested, I had to figure out something to do with them. Only my husband and youngest daughter really like them, so I decided to make some radish relish so I can preserve them so they will last. The recipe I used is here. I have a feeling my husband is really going to like it. He tried it with all the raw ingredients and said it had good flavor. I'm sure it will only get better as time goes on and it has time to mellow out. It gets such a pretty pink and rosy color. I made two batches and got about 10 half-pints of relish!

This is a nice recipe because you have to let the whole concoction sit for three hours so you have time to get all your jars ready or do other things. Once that is done, you boil the ingredients for awhile and then jar them up and process (again, see recipe link). I look forward to seeing how this will taste in a few weeks, but I can rest knowing that none of the radishes went to waste! Plus, all the tops of the radishes were fed to the chickens. They loved them and get so excited when they see me coming! They have been so fun...hopefully, after this coming weekend, I can show you the finished coop!

I hope your gardens are growing beautifully! Have you started canning anything??? Happy preserving and blessings!

Chicken and garden updates

2011-06-13T17:39:00.000-06:00

Wow...time sure does fly when you're gardening! I've got a bunch of updates so I will start with the chickens. Here's the progression of our coop.

The coop with our salvaged window from a neighbor.

Hubby working on the run and the door has been added on.

Chickens already using the run!

Hubby is still finishing up the coop. He's got to put on the chicken wire on the back ventilation and he's finishing up the floor. The chickens are seven weeks old so they really needed some sunshine. They stayed in the run all night and since it's warm, they have fared very well. I couldn't sleep because I was so worried about a fox getting his paws/claws through the chicken wire...tonight we'll have them locked up in the coop! I really need some sleep, haha! The only supplies we bought for this coop are the screws and hinges, the chicken wire, shingles for the roof (I bet I could have found these but we really needed them now) and the paint (hello, $5 oops paint at Home Depot that normally runs over $37 for one gallon--who can afford that???) My husband did a great job and we need to put up the trim and finish painting. I can't wait until it's finished.

The garden is coming along well! I've had my battles though. Flea beetles are now prevalent in my backyard and they love the radishes!!! I think I will continue to sow radishes so that the flea beetles will only bother them...a trap crop. This is the first year I've grown radishes and they have turned out beautiful (minus the holey leaves!).

They truly are the jewels of the garden and are so lovely to photograph!

The greens are coming on strong as well. We had our first garden salad last night with the radishes. My spinach has turned out really nice this year. I've kept them spaced properly and they have just flourished.

I am up against the insects, though. The ants have gone crazy and now I have the flea beetles. It's an ongoing struggle, and I've found aphids, too. I've spied a few ladybugs so between me squishing and the ladybugs devouring, we may stay on top of things. Here's one last shot of the garden from an "aerial" perspective. This is taken from my bedroom window.

I've laid down hay as a mulch between the boxes. I'm not quite sure how I feel about it yet, but I consider it the cheap man's pathway. I would love to put flagstone or brick or pavers down, but that's not in the budget any time soon, so we'll see how this works for me. It gets quite windy sometimes so we'll see if the hay is still there in a few weeks. I hope your gardening and homesteading is going well. Let me know how your garden grows and happy homesteading! Blessings!

Recycling in the Suburban Homestead Garden

2011-05-20T15:54:00.000-06:00

I haven't been posting much because of all the spring preparations. It's been nothing but seedling and seed-starting "carnage" around here. There are a lot of ways to recycle common household items that would normally get thrown away to use in seed-starting. Here are some things I do:

I reuse disposable aluminum cooking containers. Whether I do bulk cooking or acquire them through friends after an event, I have plenty to use for my seedlings. The aluminum helps reflect the sun's warmth and light. I start my heat-loving plants, like squashes, this way. In the middle tray are my sunflowers. I've never started sunflowers early before. However, this year, I really want some bohemoths that grow 16 feet tall so I'm going to see if this works. What do I do with the sunflowers now? It's still a bit early for them and we've had tons of rain so I gave them each their own cozy little greenhouse.

That's right--more recycling! These are two liter soda bottles that I've been collecting and cut up to house my seedlings right in the ground. If it gets too warm, I can unscrew the lid or take the whole thing off. This will keep the soil around them warm until they can get established and the air temperature finally warms up around here! It's supposed to be near 75-80 this weekend so I'll be sure to pop these off so they don't get fried. (You can do this with virtually any large plastic container you have: milk jugs, juice containers, etc.)

When you're out shopping and checking out clearance items, look at things that you can use more than once. I was out a couple of weeks ago and they had Easter candy on clearance. Look at this container:

These were filled with delicious gummie candies for $0.20 each. I was not interested in the candy (although we all loved them); it was the container I wanted! It's perfect for soaking seeds--you can use both the lid and bottom for this.

Here are some Morning Glories ready to go out. (Remember to nick their hard seed coat before you soak.) These were the perfect size so I soaked all my morning glories and sweet peas this way! Perfect containers--plus, I can save seeds in these later in the summer. Here's another scenario: you're shopping and you get the family a rotisserie chicken for dinner. Cook up that carcass for stock, and don't throw out the plastic container the chicken came in. It is perfect for housing those little peat pots and comes with it's own lid!

Back to two-liter soda bottles: here's a pumpkin I started early. I cut the two-liter bottle two-thirds of the way up, and then I use the top by inverting it to keep the greenhouse effect. Once it's warm enough, you won't need the lid and you can transplant.

Again, you can use pretty much any plastic container you have around. I also use yogurt cups for seedlings, and in some of the pictures I have plastic cups that I fill with seed starting medium. I put most things under lights in my basement, but I have quickly run out of room and one of my lights has blown out (argh!). So, I am trying to get things rotated through as fast as I can to get them out in the garden. The weather is still a bit shaky around here, but I am trying to keep up the best I can. My whole point of this post is to show that there are so many things we can recycle to suit our purposes. I hope this inspires you to get planting or get creative.

I'd love to hear some of the innovative ways you start your seeds. Until next time, happy gardening!

Blessings to you!

The Backyard Chicken Coop

2011-05-09T10:13:00.001-06:00

Much has been going on here and there's just not enough time!!!! As I said in an earlier post, my Mother's Day and birthday gifts this year would be a nice chicken coop. I have been scouring Craig's list and everywhere looking for free lumber so we could build it for CHEAP! No such luck. So that changed things a little. I wanted a free-standing coop in the back of the yard, but with no free lumber, the budget wasn't going to allow for it. Plan B was to convert the bottom of our kids' fort-style playground. My youngest is 9 so she's really the only one who plays under there. It is 4' x 8' under there and would have made a fine coop...I just didn't like it being so close to the neighbors. So my husband and I head off to Home Depot. I turn my head and show him the new townhomes being built by us, and ta da, there are three ginormous trash dumpsters full of scrap lumber! Oh, how the Lord provides!!!

My husband and I started filling up the car. Someone from the complex turned us in so the property manager came to see what we were doing. The fine man told us the dumpsters were all fair game so we continued on. I walked home because the car was full (we literally were about 3 blocks from our house) and then my hubby went a second time with my son for more. My son even found a box of nails in the dumpster. It was amazing what we got for free! Here's a couple of pics of the amazing wood we found.

Our pile of free plywood!

Can you believe this was all free???

We feel so blessed! My husband proceeded to start some of the framing and got the base done. It was scorching hot outside (which makes me so happy), so the fellows were drained. Here's what they got done so far:

Those square bases that elevate the coop were also free. They are made of wood and I imagine they are used for columns or some sort of support. They came in three feet lengths and are really strong.

More will get done this week, I'm sure, and I will keep you posted. We kept the coop dimensions the same...4 x 8.

On another note for Mother's Day, I hope you all had a beautiful day. Here's what my children made for me: garden signs! Pretty simple and practical and a whimsical little touch for the garden.

Aren't they cute? My two others busy working...

And here's the final product:

We may end up adding a bit of color to the background because the white is really white, but we'll see. The kiddos did a good job and it will be a lovely addition to the garden. I hope you are all doing well and having a lovely spring!!! Blessings!

Garden beseiged with...snow!

2011-04-27T07:03:00.000-06:00

Here we are at the end of April and last night it snowed again. It's not an unexpected thing around here in Colorado. It just puts a "damper" on your gardening.

I put out my pea seeds...for some reason I plant so late. The snow always puts me off. In Colorado, it seems we go from the end of winter to summer. Spring is filled with snowstorms and hail storms and all that fun stuff and then BAM, it's summer. It's a bit annoying, but we're making due. My lettuce and spinach haven't sprouted yet (I probably wouldn't sprout either with this kind of weather). Anyways, like I said with Easter, all of this will be gone by this afternoon. We're due for some nice weather and the temps are going to warm up nicely for the latter part of this week. My husband has been working so diligently on this backyard and rearranging our boxes and building some new ones. I am excited for when August arrives because that's when the garden looks its best!

I will update with more photos once the backyard is semi-dry. My husband is almost done! I've also sown some mustard and collard greens (yummy) and am still sprouting things indoors under lights. I need to start all my pumpkin and zucchini and squashes inside.

On the chick front, the little ladies are doing well! They are growing like crazy! My daughter's teacher actually bought chicks (since the incubator eggs did not hatch). So my daughter brought home one more Buff Orpington. That brings us up to nine chicks...like I said, I think a few of the girls aren't actually girls, but we'll wait and see.

I hope your weather is nicer than mine. I've been cruising the web and am living vicariously through your warm locations and wonderful gardens. I wish you happy gardening! Blessings!

Backyard Chickens

2011-04-25T09:35:00.001-06:00

We now have our own little flock!
It is so exciting! I have wanted chickens for years and here we have them. We were going to get them from my daughter's enrichment program that she goes to one day a week. They have been studying the life cycle of a chicken and had eggs in an incubator. Unfortunately, there was a substitute one day and the incubator was left without electricity for a few hours. Those poor babies aren't going to hatch. We were so excited and couldn't take any more anticipation so on Good Friday I went and got eight little beauties. (I love the little water dispenser...you use a mason jar that screws into the metal base...our little chick feeder is the same way.)

We can't get over how fast they are growing. We have two Buff Orpingtons, two Barred Rocks, two black sex-linked crosses, and two reds (not Rhode Island, I just can't remember). I have a keen sense that at least two of these fluffies are going to be roosters, so our flock will shrink, but we are so thrilled.

Everyday the children have been taking turns cleaning out their brooder and giving them fresh water twice a day. My birthday is next month so I think my gift is going to be a lovely coop (I know I'm weird, but that's how I do things...I'd rather get something we can use!).

Look at the perfect wings already forming on the red to the right (that is Nugget, by the way). Some names the kids picked out are Lazy, Daisy, Yolko, Sunshine, Mr. Feisty, Nugget, Friday, and Lily. As a gardener, I'm excited about only one thing: compost. All that chicken poop is going to do wonders for my garden. It's been my missing link because I've always had to buy fertilizer on top of the small amount of compost we make. Not anymore! These babies are just what we needed for this homestead!

Do you think she's happy??? My daughter and "Daisy."

Much is going on around here. I hope you all are enjoying the tumultuous weather of spring. I hope we get some sun soon...I have lots of gardening to do! Have a happy Monday, friends. Blessings to you!

Happy Easter!

2011-04-24T07:57:00.000-06:00

Happy Easter, Colorado Style!

This snow all started last night. With a little sunshine, it will be gone, but only in Colorado can you have snow from Halloween to Easter (sometimes to Mother's Day). I will be thankful for the moisture!

I hope you all have a blessed and precious Easter!!!

Fantastic Food Friday

2011-04-22T10:03:00.000-06:00

Giant Family Cookie Covered in Strawberries

So I usually do frugal food Friday, but this recipe is slightly more expensive unless you can get the berries for a really good price or grow them yourself. Then it would be a great deal, plus it looks like a million bucks. I learned to make this through Pampered Chef years ago and have made many adaptations to it since then. The first thing you need to do is mix up a batch of your favorite chocolate chip cookies. We all have our own recipe so I'm foregoing that step here. Instead of making individual cookies, make one massive cookie. If your cookie tray is rectangular, make it that shape. Sometimes I use my stones and make a circle cookie. Just remember that the cookie dough expands in the oven and you don't want any going off the sides of your tray into the hot oven so adjust the amount of dough.

Once baked and cooled, you can start with all your other ingredients and prep everything for assembly. You will need:
1. one package of cream cheese, softened
2. one large bottle of marshmallow fluff
3. one pound of strawberries, sliced
4. half a package of chocolate chips, melted

Mix the cream cheese and marshmallow fluff. This is your first layer. Cover your cookie with it and spread generously. Now arrange your strawberries over the whole thing. Once finished with that, drizzle your melted chocolate over the whole thing making a pleasant pattern. You can get creative and add all kinds of other things: nuts of any variety, any type of chopped up chocolate bar, m&ms, etc. The combinations are endless!

Hope you have fun with this! It will feed a big crowd and would be a wonderful treat for Easter! With that said, I hope you have a blessed Easter!

The Suburban Backyard Garden

2011-04-21T08:28:00.000-06:00

Hello, friends. We just got our computer back last night and I'm sooooo thrilled. Now I can get back to my blogging. Our backyard is undergoing a huge transformation. We have raised beds, but after seeing a picture in a magazine I have gone mad and want to do something similar. So my dear husband had to take some boxes apart and rearrange them and dig through some hard compounded ground, but progress is being made!

What you see going down the middle is going to be mirrored on the left side of it. There will be an "alleyway" going down the center. Out of the boxes we will have two long wooden poles of some sort (at least 8 feet long) that will all meet down the middle forming a very simple archway. I'll be growing beans or anything else that vines. Sun will still get through because it won't be solid. They'll just grow up the poles. We still have lots to do. I will get all my greens seeded today. As progress continues to be made I'll post more pics.

To the right of the arbor is where we will be putting the chicken coop and run. We are so excited to have chickens! My daughter was getting them from her classroom. We were hoping to have them by now but we've learned that the substitute teacher had the incubator off for two hours...sad, sad, sad. We're not sure if we'll be getting chicks from them now. We had our brooder all set up for them, too. Thankfully, we literally live down the street from a feed store and I'm going to get some surprise chicks for Easter!

Just to the right of the picture (not shown) we will be putting in a fire pit. My husband has always wanted one so we're going to do it! That's going to make for some fun evenings!

To the left of this picture is our swingset and the place I hang my laundry.

Because of my limited space, I hang everything on hangers. I can put up twice the amount of laundry on these lines by doing so (at least two loads). There are two things we have on this little suburban homestead that we can always count on: sun and wind! It makes for very speedy line drying! Speaking of which, I have some loads of laundry to do.

Many blessings to you and I look forward to seeing how your plots are shaping up!!! Happy spring planting!

When the children start to grow up...

2011-04-10T14:10:00.000-06:00

I am here at the library as we are still under hostage to our hijacked computer. I am blessed that we have such a wonderful library system where we can use the computers. I just can't really upload any pictures which is a bummer because I love posting them for you. It will probably be another week before I can post pics.

Until then, another reason I am at the library is that my daughter started working here at the little coffee shop in the library. She got the job literally by the hand of God. She didn't apply here although she applied at several other places. We saw a friend that we hadn't seen in years and just started chatting it up in front of this coffee shop. The lady in the coffee shop kept staring at us. Well, turns out, the coffee shop owner is the neighbor of this friend I hadn't seen in years and wanted to hire my daughter. How amazing is that?!!! She got the job and has started working.

Her first full day of training went quite miserably. This little coffee shop has no drain so there is a portable tank that must be dumped out periodically in a separate location. Well, the tank overflowed and her shoes and bottom of her pants were soaked, she had to dry mop it by hand and it just was so much information for her to take in during an intense eight hour training session. As I took her home she was crying.

Have you ever noticed the moment your children actually started growing up? It was during these moments that I realized that my daughter is truly embarking into adulthood. She is 16 and I know that there are things that I won't be able to do for her or help her with. She has her own battles to win and I have had to tell her on more than one occasion that she has a voice. Yes, my daughter, you were blessed with a voice to ask questions with and advocate for yourself...mom will not always be around. It's so hard yet necessary and scary all at the same time. I know that I am going through some growing pains because I am being prepared for my children to grow up. One day, my daughter may end up going to study in London...Lord, help me. But I know that I am my children's biggest cheerleader and I am here to help guide their way until they can fly on their own. That's the whold purpose of raising your children. To prepare them...and along the way, we mothers are getting prepared for when the babies leave the nest and can take on the world as we have taught them. It's bittersweet. It's also exciting because the future holds so many rewarding moments that will reflect everything from the past. She's learning. I'm learning. We are learning things together. I pray that in all this, that I am preparing her well and that she will be ready. It's all we can do: pray and lead.

I hope you had a beautiful weekend. I am looking forward to getting my revamped machine so I can do more food and garden posts. Until then, blessings to you!

Garden clean-up and technical difficulties...

2011-04-07T14:28:00.000-06:00

It finally feels like spring...we cleaned out the garden last week and it's just itching to be planted!!! I'm no fool, though, because the weather can change 50 degrees in one day. I still have seedlings and can't wait for them to be planted. We've decided to do some major rearranging of our boxes we've set up. I'm very excited and can't wait to show you the before and afters!

Another exciting development-- we will be getting our chicks next week! It's been my desire for a very long time to have backyard suburban chickens and we are getting them for FREE from my daughter's enrichment program...we can have up to ten birds (no roosters). I can't wait for all that wonderful fertilizer for my garden. I have much to do until we get them...

Which leads me to my next dilemma...my computer is having much technical difficulties and so I am here at our favorite place, the library. As soon as I can get back online again, I will post pics and update you on the chicks. Hopefully, we should have a handful by Tuesday. I look forward to blogging all about the fluffy little guys and our adventures of keeping them away from our two cats, plus we will have to eventually devise some kind of impenetrable fortress in the backyard due to the cunning antics of the neighborhood foxes, not to mention all the prairie falcons and massive owl who lives near us. It will be an experience!

I hope you are having a great week! Blessings to you and may you have a wonderful weekend at your homestead!

Living Gently--What does it mean to you?

2011-03-24T11:49:00.000-06:00

To be gentle and live a gentle life...it's easier said than done. I do aspire to it everyday. I am in the whirlwind of raising my children and taking them to different places at different times. It can be exhausting. However, my children range in age from 9-16 and they are such good children. I am so blessed. You hear people discussing how they are going to dread their children turning into teenagers. I will tell anyone that I simply love this stage of life. It's a joy to have conversations and talks about the future without having to deal with bad behavior all the time.

What does living gently mean to me? Hmmmm. I would have to say it connects me to the past. I love to quilt and can and cook and garden. It's a simple way of life. Not many women do these things any more. I also am teaching my daughters these things-it keeps these ways alive. I am striving to be more gentle in spirit--I can tend to be a bit feisty, especially when you put me behind the wheel of a car, hahahaha! There's no perfection around here, believe me! I still have lots of areas to work on, but the point is, I am striving to better myself and my surroundings. I am a lifelong learner and I want to continue to learn new (or old) skills. Does that mean we live like pilgrims??? Absolutely not. My children are educated and learn all the new technology through computer classes...they HAVE to be able to thrive and soar in the times they live in. We use technology to our benefit and are not slaves to it.

So what do I pass on to my son? I'm sure you've read about the embroidering that goes on around here. Well, my son is extremely artistic and he is ALL boy. Boys are so much different than girls. I read a line in Dr. Dobson's book Raising Up Boys that I will never forget..."Mothers raise boys. Fathers raise men." Doesn't that line give you chills? It is so vital for a boy to have a close relationship with his father. Fortunately, we have that in our family. In fact, tomorrow my son and husband go to hunter safety class. My son will get his certificate and will be able to hunt for the first time this year (he's been hunting before; he wasn't allowed to shoot anything). We will get him his very own rifle for his birthday and then he can be a part of providing food for our family. He is very respectful to me...any time he sees an opportunity, he asks if I need help. He does his chores and he is constantly drawing or making amazing creations out of paper or cardboard. Since all my children were little, I have always encouraged creativity and supplied them with every sort of crafting notion they could use. It's their imaginations that spark it all and I simply love to see their creations. I would be remiss if I didn't mention our love for books. ( I could do a whole post on that one! )

Gentle living--a connection to the past, simplicity, creativity, a deep and abiding respect and love for one another as we live our lives. Does it mean perfection? No. We are works in progress. But we do it all together.

What does gentle living mean to you? I hope you make headway into your gentle life...I'm about to go *tackle* mine for the day, haha! Blessings to you!

Our House of Embroidery..on a budget

2011-03-23T13:39:00.000-06:00

As we are on spring break, I have lovely projects set up for my daughters. I recently found some flour sack towels on clearance at our local Sam's club. They were on clearance because the plastic wrap was damaged...they marked them down half-price which means bargain for me! I paid a little over $6 for 12 of them which is a very good deal! We were at the craft store yesterday and you would end up paying nearly $7 for two.

Freshly laundered flour sack towels

While at the craft store, I also picked up on sale the Aunt Martha's transfer patterns for $0.99 each. I bought five--each of my girls picked one for themselves and I picked two. As you know, my oldest does embroidery. I've also taught my younger two to backstitch so they are learning redwork. It's really a lot of fun and there are so many fun patterns to choose from. Here's a sneak peek at what they are working on:

A lovely rose pattern

This is my youngest daughter who is nine years old. As you can see, her stitches can use some improvement, the sweet little darling, but already since I've started typing, she has done a great job staying to the lines. All it takes is practice, practice, practice.

Running horses pattern

This is my middle daughter who is fourteen. She adores anything with a horse on it! She would love to have horses in her future. She does excellent backstitch and I can't wait to see how this turns out for her!

A pattern of a colonial lady with her umbrella

My oldest is working on a bit of a harder pattern because it involves different stitches...she has much more experience so she will use some lazy daisy stitches and french knots.
It's turning out to be quite the productive day and quite inexpensive. These transfer patterns are good for additional transfers, plus there were many more patterns they haven't used yet. The cost for this little project per child came out to $1.45 each. It will give them hours of enjoyment and they will have a nice finished piece when they are all done.

What fun projects are you doing on a budget? Hope you are having a lovely Wednesday...blessings!

Lofty Plans...

2011-03-22T14:15:00.000-06:00

Does anyone recognize this spectacular palace? It is in fact Hampton Court, which was the residence of King Henry VIII. If you read the previous post, I talked about some exciting developments for my 16 year old daughter. This is the exciting development...this is where she wants to go to school...in this building. Is that not magnificent??? What school could possibly be housed in a palace, you ask? Well, it has an amazing history and it is called the Royal School of Needlework. It has a prestigious reputation and would be a fantastic place for her to learn and be immersed in such history. My daughter has a passion for fashion and this would be a great avenue for her to pursue. She is going to apply for their 2 year foundation degree program once she is done with school, then if she feels so inclined, she can do a third year which would have an emphasis on fashion and textiles. I had heard of this school before, but never had any thoughts about it for my children. It came up again last week and I thoroughly researched it and it seems to be the perfect fit for my daughter. She does great embroidery and this would possibly give her a high-brow entrance into the fashion world. Once this came up, I talked about it with my daughter the next morning. She loved the idea and then I went to my part-time childcare job and a good friend of mine just found out she's going on a trip to England with her husband. I told her all about this place and sent her questions to take to the school because she is in fact going to visit! She is actually in England right now! All this has progressed so quickly...we are continually researching and my daughter really wants to pursue this!

So, I have to sit down and realize that my daughter may be going to school in England...that she has to leave home...oh, my heart!!! We are on spring break right now and she is looking for jobs. She actually was offered a job without even applying just because we knew the person who is her neighbor. All of these things are falling into place and I can see how exciting the future is for her...I have homeschooled her since third grade and these are the moments we have been preparing her for. It's a bit scary. As a high schooler, she's been doing a dual-enrollment program at a very good charter school and I don't regret it at all. It's a hybrid program that's been started specifically for homeschoolers. With all that said, all I can do now is to keep helping her go in the direction she wants to go and to pray. God has orchestrated all this up to this point and we will continue to leave it in His hands.

If you are interested in information about the Royal School of Needlework, here is the link. How have you dealt with your children leaving the nest and going to school??? This is my first child so I have three more to go, but the first one is really hard! We still have two more years, but as you know, time flies!

There's been the excitement for this week...I hope you are having a lovely week! Blessings!

My Daughter's Quilting/Embroidery Project

2011-03-21T10:38:00.000-06:00

I hadn't posted for a few weeks due to my oldest daughter's fine arts project--I stayed up with her so she had company at all hours of the night. She is part of AWANA and as a high schooler, she goes to the national competition with her team. They do Bible quiz, games, and fine arts projects and can win scholarships. She actually won last year. She had quite the lofty project this year and almost to the detriment of her health and grades, she finished it. I must say, it turned out beautifully and has led to some exciting developments. First, let me share some pictures with you!

View from the center

This project features Galatians 5:22 about the fruit of the Spirit. The top tier has the reference, the middle tier has the beginning of the verse, and the lower portion has nine miniature quilts with each of the fruit of the Spirit.

One of my favorites is the quilt on love. All these quilts are embroidered with mostly silk ribbon, and my daughter has perfected the french knot. Look at the tall flowers...I tell her that I have no other way to describe them except as "delicious", hahaha!!!

Thank you for letting me indulge you about my daughter. I really am a proud mama because this project was a huge undertaking and took so much work. She is sixteen and after all this was said and done, we think we know where she would like to go to school. I am going to do a separate post on that because this would be an exceptionally long post otherwise. However, it has everything to do with these pictures and will be about a school most people have never heard of. It's got a magnificent history and as a homeschooling mom who has taught her girls some things about embroidery and quilting, it makes perfect sense for the skills and direction that my oldest daughter would like to go. It is all coming together so amazingly that the Lord's hand has been on her and it's becoming so clear what she needs to do!

I can't wait to tell you so come back again!!! Have a great day and blessings to you!!!

Stretching the Food Budget Friday

2011-03-18T13:58:00.000-06:00

Fast Food at My House

Are you ever in a pinch and need to make something fast without having to go to a fast food joint??? With four kids and many different schedules, my instinct is to get something quick. However, the budget is too thin to be going out all the time. Another problem I have is that I make everything from scratch and sometimes meals take a while to put together. Things are frozen in bulk and time is of the essence.

So, what do I do? Well, a little planning never hurt anyone! Add a bit of creativity and you have yourself a meal! One of my easy go-to quick meals is bread pizza. I got a nice loaf of sourdough bread on the clearance rack. I use my homemade sauce and top with cheese and I throw it in the oven for a few minutes and boom, quick meal with great results.

I also made a second batch in which I put some leftover sausage. I have a stash of cut-up green peppers in the freezer which I bought on sale during the summer for such a time as this. A little bit of pepper goes a long way! I added the cheese and crushed red peppers and my husband was very happy with it!!! He eats late at night due to his work shift so this is also a quick dish to reheat.

This also is a super-cheap meal idea...we have been in a bind lately financially so this was quite delicious and very affordable. Who doesn't like pizza?

Hope you have a great week...we are going into Spring Break now, hallelujah!!!! We have lots of cleaning to do and fun projects. Lots of posts to come! Blessings to you!

Wordless Wednesday...sort of...

2011-03-16T16:22:00.000-06:00

Only in the suburbs can you see a fox on your neighbor's shed, hahaha!!!

A couple weeks before the shed incident, these foxes were all in my backyard, relaxing on our deck. We love that our entire property is full of life...I just don't want to see these critters when I get chickens!!!

Hope you're having a great week...I have lots to blog about and will be back soon!!! It's been non-stop busy around here but I see a nice break coming called spring break...Hallelujah! Blessings!!!

Starting to plan the garden...

2011-02-14T17:46:00.000-07:00

It's that time of year...we're getting tired of the cold and we can see little snippets of warm weather that definitely has me dreaming of spring!!! Today is Valentine's Day and my youngest daughter and I are going to start some flower seedlings indoors under lights. We have a tradition in my house to make heart-shaped pizzas and have a few chocolates, but other than that, I'd rather have flowers in the garden than overpriced ones that will die in a few days...it's just me! We try not to buy into the ridiculous commercialism...we love Valentine's Day and we all love each other, but we do not appreciate the expense or hype just to tell someone you love them. My husband and I got breakfast in bed from our kids with some heart-felt crafts they made this morning. They can't sell that in stores!!!

So my youngest daughter (age 9) is my little gardener and loves to pick and grow and plant with me. We have a splendid time and she is great at preserving seeds for the next year. We have both been leafing through our seed catalogs which, by the way, are now about three times as much as the picture I took. If you're looking for a great catalog that is committed to saving seeds and preserving heirloom varieties, my very favorite is the Seed Savers Exchange. They have beautiful plants and are highly committed to preserving our food and flower heritage of the past. As you can see by the cover in my picture, it is a stunning catalog. It's nice to see that many growers are becoming more interested in non-genetically mutated, non-pesticide tested, pure heirloom seeds. Thank you very much.

This was just a quick post, but I'll keep you updated with pics with our indoor seedlings and such. It's still a little early yet for our veggie seeds, but soon I will be starting tomatoes! For my friends on the other side of the world that are enjoying summer...I'm sooooo jealous!!! We'll be there soon, I suppose and everything in its own time! But until then, I'm dreaming of my summer garden!!! MMMMMMMM...fresh zucchini...I'm not sure how much longer I can last!!! Hahahaha!

Blessings to you and happy planning and dreaming!

Stretching the Food Budget Friday

2011-02-11T17:25:00.000-07:00

Lasagna

Sorry for such the delay in blogging; between bad weather, getting sick, and my oldest daughter's algebra class, my hands have been full. So back to blogging I go. We have to forego getting groceries for an extra week due to some budget issues, but with a well-stocked pantry and freezer, that isn't a huge problem. I decided to make lasagna last night. I did have a problem though: I had no cottage cheese. The lasagna I make is fairly traditional: mozzarella, meat sauce, cottage cheese, a sprinkling of parmesan. However, with no cottage cheese, I felt my lasagna would fall pretty flat. I didn't have any extra meat to put in it so what to do???

Well, this is where the homemaker must get creative and improvise!!! We had some leftover mashed potatoes...yes, mashed potatoes! I mixed in extra sour cream and layered the tasty potatoes as I usually would with cottage cheese. I baked it and served it and it was quite tasty and gave the lasagna some bulk and substance! It absorbed any extra liquid and made a very nice substitute. Is it traditional? Of course not. But we made do with what we had on hand and turned out an excellent meal without having to run to the store. Problem solved. Stretching your food budget means being creative with the food you are blessed with and not running to the market every time something comes up. Mashed potatoes (or potatoes in any form) can be substituted to give your dish an extra oomph...try it and see what happens! I'd love to hear what you're doing to stretch your food budgets!

I hope you all have a warm and toasty weekend as I know many are still digging out from the snow! Blessings to you and hope to hear about any awesome substitutions you have made with your meals!!!

Stretching the Food Budget Friday

2011-01-14T22:55:00.000-07:00

What to do with 12 ounces of pecans??? Part 1

Stretching the food budget: this is a skill that can net you big gains in the finance department. As a homemaker, I've had to make magic with what I have on hand. I can make a vat of chicken noodle soup with two chicken breasts or make a few pounds of hamburger last a couple of weeks. For our family of six, this skill is a necessity.

Coming out of the holidays, do you splurge on a few extras to make special recipes? I do. I get all giddy when I see all those displays of nuts during the holidays because there are so many recipes that use them. However, they are expensive. So I bought 12 ounces of pecans for $5.99. I had considered making a pecan pie for Christmas, but that would have taken most of the pecans and I wanted it for many other recipes. Here is a recipe that will take something ordinary like apple pie and launch it into extraordinary with a twist using pecans. I found the recipe while cruising through the grocery store. They always have little free pamphlets put out by companies full of recipes using their products. I found one by Pillsbury and it's called Topsy Turvy Apple Pie. I'm not going to give you the apple pie recipe...use your own favorite recipe for this because we all have one, LOL! What makes this pie amazing is this...before you assemble your pie in the pie pan, mix together the following ingredients at the bottom: 1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar, 1 TBSP. margarine or butter, melted, 1 TBSP. corn syrup, and then arrange 1/4 cup pecan halves in the mixture to make a nice design.

Now assemble your pie as if there was nothing on the bottom of the pie pan. Here's how my pie looked before baking.

Here it is after baking. Notice I didn't go crazy making the crust look perfect...there's a reason for that.

Immediately run a knife around the edge of the pie pan and carefully with all the skill you can muster, turn the whole thing upside down onto a platter or cake stand. I know...it goes against everything within you...but look at the result!

This is why it's not important what your "top crust" looks like. It will be the bottom crust. This pie was absolutely delicious because of the pecans and the unusual twist on an old-fashioned recipe. I hope you try it sometime and enjoy!!! It is absolutely delicious! It's a great recipe that with the use of pecans, takes it to a whole other level. Only 1/4 cup of pecans were used, so we still have plenty of pecans left for many other recipes. Blessings to you and enjoy the nuts in your life, hahaha!

New Year's Resolution...project

2011-01-10T08:47:00.001-07:00

I have the same new year's resolutions that I do most every year: lose weight and get organized. I did lose 25 pounds last year and plan on losing another 20 this year. As far as getting organized, I know in my heart that it is a lifelong pursuit, haha!

I was going through a pile of old projects and came across a project that I've had for at least 12 or 13 years now. When we moved into our house ten years ago, I left a space on my wall for this project. I still have that space waiting and yet, the project is nowhere near finished. My new year's resolution is to finish this project this year! I can't take another moment...it is time! I will finish it and I'm working in time mostly everyday to work on it. It's a large cross-stitch tapestry of a peacock that I bought in a kit. It is magnificent and will look so beautiful when I finish it. Here is how much I've worked on it in the last 13 years:

Aren't I pathetic???!!! Just keeping it real, hahahaha!!! It's all wrinkled. Here's a better view of this delightful little corner:

I am going to finish this thing, darn it!!! It really messes with your eyes because it's cross-stitched onto linen so you have to work over 2 squares...I basically have to work on it during the day in full light. I found this image on the web so you can see what the finished product will look like.

What you can't see is that there are gold beads all throughout the border and you use gold filament to accentuate (which I absolutely hate using because it's difficult to work with). When I am done with this, I am going to get it professionally framed. This is going to be one of those heirlooms that's passed down to my children...provided I ever get it done!!!

So, what projects do you have lurking about??? Hopefully, they haven't sat around as long as mine, LOL! Let's make this the year of finished projects!!! Blessings on your endeavors!!!

P.S. If you read my post before this one, we were without hot water for five days...I'm happy to report that we are up and running again thanks to a good friend who helped us install a new hot water heater. He saved us a good $500 on installation and we are so very grateful! No more bathing in the "mini-spa" as I affectionately call our 18 gallon plastic bin.

Homesteading in the days of yore...

2011-01-05T20:47:00.000-07:00

Have you ever wondered how women back in the pioneer days did so much without our modern day conveniences? For instance, just the effort to clean anything, be it household items or people, took a tremendous amount of effort because water had to be heated up by fire and then hauled to the point of necessity. It took so much work! Plus, water takes a while to heat up, especially in great volume. What has me pondering about all this?

Well, my new year is starting with a bang...or I should say, a leak! Our hot water heater is cracked and we won't be installing a new one until Saturday-so no hot water delivered to us conveniently! Fortunately, in this wonderful modern age we live in, electricity is my friend and I have massive pots to boil water in for any use we need. I've had to wash my dishes by hand (I'm sure you are all balking at me right now, but my least favorite chore is washing dishes by hand and my dishwasher is truly a workhorse around here!). It has been a long time since I've washed dishes by hand and it really hasn't been that bad. In fact, seeing how much water I save may be a turning point for me. We shall see!

The question arises now on how we bathe. It's interesting because most of us don't think about this due to the fact that we have hot, running water. With six of us, bathing is a pressing issue. Hmmmmm. We had to come up with something so let me show you our make-shift tub in the tub!

That's right--it's a handy 18 gallon bin just purchased on black Friday! I boil water in my massive pot, we take it upstairs and pour it in the bin while the bin is in the tub, add cold water to bring down the temp. a little, and then proceed to bathe. We told the kids to wash their hair and their face first, then they could sit in it (or attempt to sit in it) or stand in it and wash off. This may seem weird to blog about, but like I said, it's not something I ever thought about before. All I can say is that I am soooooo thankful to have the ability to heat up water fairly quickly. I know that there are those who are off the electrical grid and all I can say is blessings to you. This does take a lot of work and effort to have the luxury of a warm bath or shower. What I would like to focus on now is what would we do if the electricity goes out for quite some time. This little stint without hot water has really made me think about preparedness in these type of areas. Hopefully, this post will make you think a little about these things, too, and if not, at least you have yet another use for an 18 gallon bin!!!

After all this, it makes me very thankful for what we do have. I am thankful that our hot water heater has lasted this long and I pray our next one will have longevity as well. And I am always grateful for the women who came before us working tirelessly to provide for their homesteads no matter what the circumstances! May we all rise up and meet every difficulty that comes our way with that same pioneer spirit! May you enjoy your hot water no matter how it gets heated!!!!

Recycled jean quilt top FINISHED!

2011-01-03T23:20:00.000-07:00

Here we are in the new year and I have finished a project!!! Yay! However, I had this thing sitting around all summer waiting for only two more rows to be sewn on! I am so thrilled to finally have the top finished! This is going to be our massive picnic quilt!!! It is 80" x 80". Yeah, it's big!

I have hoarded our family's old jeans for years and now we have this to show for it! As you can see, I included pockets and seams and a lot of sites said not to use stretchy jeans which I used, too! Hello, it's recycling at it's finest. Now, let me say that sewing denim is not the easiest material to work with. I used the strongest, thickest needles I could use for my machine and I used upholstery thread to make sure the seams were nice and strong. I didn't break any needles, but I had to help the machine along in a few places. I had considered felting all the edges, but when I saw how much work was required per square I just went with simple blocks. This project was too big to felt for the time I wanted to invest in it. There are six of us in the family and I used jeans from all of us. It's so rewarding to see something so utilitarian repurposed for an even happier and more utilitarian use.

Here's a picture of the center (sorry about the color...I just took this and had to use the flash...it's dark and my lighting is poor). The girls always have pairs of jeans with fancy designs on them (can you say hand-me-downs). I used a pair to make a nice design for the center of the quilt.

As I said, all the jeans we already had. I bought brand new denim backing for a steal at Walmart when they were getting rid of all their fabrics. The only thing I spent a good deal of money on was the batting. With a 40% off coupon, I paid $18.00 for such a big piece of batting. Because of that, I will be using this quilt indoors during the winter for us on our couches as we watch movies. I really love how it turned out and now I've got to figure out how I'm going to "quilt" this monster. I had considered buttons. I don't like tied quilts. I may just pick a number of squares that don't have massive seams to quilt so that this thing will stay together. Any suggestions??? I will post another picture when all is said and done. That won't be for awhile because my daughter is working on a fine arts project and using my sewing machine. I will have to wait. Until then, I hope your projects are coming together and you're finishing old ones or starting new ones!!! I would love to hear about your projects, with denim or otherwise! Happy quilting and happy recycling!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

2010-12-31T19:03:00.000-07:00

May you and yours have a safe and happy New Year!!! Blessings to you all! I look forward to all the wonderful new adventures that lay ahead in this fresh, new year!

Our Gingerbread Parthenon!

2010-12-30T16:11:00.000-07:00

Yes, we are homeschoolers and what better way to celebrate some of the fun things about Christmas than to combine history with the holidays!!! Here was our gingerbread Parthenon. I had sworn off gingerbread for many years, but I finally found a great recipe. Now I need to perfect royal icing. I used powdered meringue, but the icing seized up on me so it was hard to work with. Nonetheless, it gave our Parthenon a more authentic look (hey, you gotta look at the silver lining!). Has anyone built anything unusual out of gingerbread? How about some hints about icing??? I really need to take some time working on that!!!

My goal was to pipe on the column design with the icing, but grand plans usually don't work out. Oh well, we shall try something different next year!

Christmas Debriefing

2010-12-30T16:02:00.000-07:00

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas! We had a great Christmas ourselves and I am now in a ponderous mood as I am developing some new strategies for the new year! I'm settling in as the snow falls outside, and thinking about next Christmas...I know, I know...I really don't want to, but for the sake of the budget, I have to!!! One of the things I'm going to hit hard this next year is the thrift stores (I'm a big thrift store shopper anyways, but I'm going to be more mindful of Christmas gifts). I instituted some of that this year and my children were just thrilled and overjoyed. Here were some of my bargains:

For my son: I don't care what age you are because we all love Lego's and their counterparts. I found my son three different ships made by MegaBloks. One is the Black Pearl, one is the Flying Dutchman (both are from the Pirates of the Caribbean), and a neat viking ship-not pictured. These ships cost around $39.99 brand new. I paid $2.99 and $3.99 for these ships. They have given my son hours of entertainment already. I also found small bags of blocks at the thrift store that he added to his collection. On top of that, for $2.99, we bought him hundreds of toy soldiers. They aren't your average toy soldiers--they have different eras--WWII, Vietnam, etc. He and my husband have a game they made up using these little guys and my son learns all kinds of tactical strategies!!!

Another great thrift store bargain which my whole library is made up of is BOOKS!!! We always hit the jackpot. I found one of my daughter's practically brand new 39 Clues books, and for my youngest, I found five Tinker Bell books--she totally loves Tinker Bell. The 39 Clues books are hardback and in the store retail for $12.99--I bought them for $2.99 each--and they had the trading cards in them, too! The Tinker Bell books retail for $4.97-$5.99. I got them practically brand new for $1.49!!! Awesome!!!

What to do about teenagers? My oldest daughter is almost 16 and has quite the fashion sense. Most of her clothes comes from Kohl's or friends. So guess what I found? The thrift stores are chock full of name brand clothing in excellent condition. I got her these two shirts--one is Mudd, which comes from Kohl's and the other is from H & M--hello, both name brand and under $5.00!!!

I'm not saying I'm going to get everything from the thrift store--but it certainly helps the budget!!! Even picky children can get amazing things--you just have to take time to look!!! So I am going to take this whole next year to find some real treasures to supplement some more. I was really pleased with these things I found and my kids were in shock that they came from the thrift store because they were in amazing shape!!! Give yourself some time and I will guarantee your budget will be thrilled!!! Anyone out there find any great bargains???

Strawberry Jam and Bargain Kitchen Essentials

2010-10-11T17:36:00.000-06:00

I had the wonderful opportunity to go to a private greenhouse and glean from their strawberry beds. I came home with 25 lbs. of ripe strawberries!!! My goodness! I definitely had my work cut out for me because I had to attend to them right away. I turned it all into jam because my family could not live without the sweet stuff and after many, many hours of work, I've got enough to last well into next year. I may even have the chance to go pick more!!! I ended up with 24 full pints and 6 half-pints!!! I am really happy with my jam stash now!!

I've been doing a lot of thrift store hunting lately and have found some real gems! It seems that I've been in a real stainless steel kind of a mood lately. Our local thrift store has offered $10 off for a $10 purchase coupon per email so our family has cashed these in and I have found some "steals." First on the list is what I call my baby stockpot. In the picture on the right is my huge stainless steel stockpot I bought over 10 years ago at Dillard's (I think) for half-price which was $18. It still looks practically brand new even though it's a work horse around here. I can cook 20 pounds of potatoes, it holds 25 pounds of strawberries (that's right, I took it strawberry picking), plus I can make stock in it from a huge turkey carcass! The one on the left is the one from the thrift store. The first thing that came to mind when I saw it was JAM! It's the perfect size to make a batch of jam! It has high sides so the jam can sputter away without making me a mess! Can you say $1.99???!!! Oh yes, I've already used it to process all those strawberries into jam (in separate batches, of course).

My next bargain was this ginormous stainless steel mixing bowl. I had one years ago that I had sent with my husband to a church function I couldn't attend and he obviously never made it back home with it. I just never had the heart to spend $16-$20 on one and finally found one for $3.99! I absolutely love it!

My next acquisition were these Wearever AirBake cookie sheets. I figured I was taking a gamble on these because I couldn't figure why anyone would want to get rid of them unless they weren't any good. After a minimum amount of cleaning, we baked some cookies on them and they are great! Can you imagine how many cookies I can bake now at once!!!? The big one is 15" x 20" and the smaller one is roughly 14" x 16 1/2". They were only $2.99 each. Remember, I had my coupons so I basically got all these things for FREE!!! These cookie sheets are totally expensive brand new...I think the big one goes for $20.

And finally, who couldn't use a few more gravy boats. These awesome stainless steel gravy boats were priced at $1.59 and $0.99. I think I am so ready for the holidays now!!!

I hope all of you are finding wonderful bargains and I would love to hear all your stories of what you're preserving on your homesteads. I have much more to come in the next few days as we are on fall break...

Blessings to you on your homesteads!

Quick and thrifty fall treat...Caramel Apples

2010-10-02T16:21:00.000-06:00

I'm getting ready to do a huge batch of canning because I have at least 40 pounds of apples. That number is dwindling because they're just sooooo good to eat. So, with all the work ahead of us, we thought we would make a delicious treat of caramel apples.

We took the easy way out and bought two bags of caramels that are individually wrapped. The bag comes with 5 sticks each for your apples. Each bag takes one tablespoon of milk and you zap it in the microwave for 2 1/2 minutes. We coated our apples with the caramel then put chopped peanuts on the still warm and sticky caramel. We let it set in the fridge for 5-10 minutes and then melted chocolate chips in the microwave and adorned our apples with slashes of chocolate. We used Gala apples which are delicious as is, but when you add all this gooey goodness, MERCY!!!!! For the price of one apple in a specialty chocolate shop, we got ten!!! That is what I call bang for your buck. When I was pregnant with my last child, caramel apples were all I craved. I haven't made these in a long time, which I'm not sure why, but they really are a great treat for the fall. The kids are in apple-caramel-chocolate heaven!

Time to get my preserving done...till next time...Enjoy your fall treats!!!

Nature Study -- A Dying Pond

2010-09-30T18:26:00.000-06:00

Another book I love to use is Anna Botsford Comstock's Handbook of Nature Study. Over four years ago we started doing nature studies and right here in our neighborhood we have a pond. It has been a great source of pleasure and learning for all of us. Our very first lesson was about cattails. We learned all about them and interestingly, cattails will inevitably be the downfall of a pond. They will suck a pond dry and in our climate with not much rain, this pond is slowly losing its water. It's quite sad. We have had some great discoveries here and have seen so many birds. Here's how the pond looks as it is slowly dying. This picture is taken from the other side of the pond where you can now walk on what was once the bottom of the pond.

We have nesting red-winged blackbirds, the sparrows come out every spring, and there's ducks galore; it's also been a layover spot for migrating great blue herons and ibises. We have loved this natural little spot and it's really hard to watch it dry up. What's been awesome though is that we knew this would happen because we studied it!!! If you're looking to beef up your nature studies, I highly recommend this book. Enjoy nature and be blessed by your surroundings! Your children will love it! They will learn the cycles of life and death and become acquainted with all sorts of critters. It truly is a beautiful learning experience and is what a memorable childhood is all about! Blessings with your study of nature!

Thrifty Weight Loss

2010-09-30T09:22:00.000-06:00

You always hear about people with hefty gym memberships at the beginning of the year and usually by the end of summer, they are no longer going to the gym and that expensive membership has gone to waste. Or your neighbor or friend gets that sweet piece of equipment at their house and again, it goes to waste and is used to hang laundry. If you have beat that cycle, God bless you!!! Because of our one income, we can't afford a gym membership and we have discussed an expensive piece of gym equipment, but we don't want it to fall into the overpriced laundry holder category.

I'm one of those people who really has to watch her weight. I've birthed four children and 40 is just on the horizon for me. Fortunately, all my life, I've been fairly active so I can say that I know my body pretty well. I know exactly what I have to do and what I need to eat and what kind of exercises I need to do. From January to June, I lost 25 pounds for our big trip to Florida. I took a two month break and now I've started up my regimen again so I can get rid of a final 15 more pounds. So how can you lose weight in a thrifty manner? Here are some of the strategies I used to get the weight off without breaking the bank that I hope will help you as well.

First and foremost, the fat you have to get rid of first is in your head! Stinkin' thinkin' has to go away. You need to gear up mentally for what you are about to do and commit to it with all your mind. You have to break old habits and establish new ones. It takes me a couple of weeks to do this before I actually start working out. I start drinking more water and start scheduling my days so I can fit a workout in. Do you need motivation? Go to the store and try on a nice dress. Don't like what you see? Now you have fuel for your fire. It doesn't matter how much money you spend or what equipment you have or how great a trainer is...if you can't get past your mental blocks, you won't lose weight. Do what you need to do to get mentally ready...establish new habits, journal what you're doing and what you're feeling, etc...
If it's been ages since you've exercised, go to the doctor.
Start walking. If you work all day, take a walk at lunch and eat a light lunch afterwards. Get your body used to moving. Hello, walking is free!
If you're past that and need more, here's what I did. Exercise dvds. I know some of you are balking already. I'm pretty particular when it comes to exercise dvds. First of all, I have to like the personality of the trainer. If I don't like the person, I can't get a good workout. Also, I have to like the people who are doing the exercises along with the trainer. Gorgeous supermodel types with a size 0 body and plastic smile doesn't really cut it for me. My kids and I watch Biggest Loser every season and Jillian is by far my favorite and she has exercise dvds along with Biggest Loser dvds. These dvds only cost $10 and you get a lot of bang for your buck. There are usually three different levels and the more fit you get, the higher the level you can do. Plus, you have real people exercising who really do need to lose weight and are doing something about it. The only other equipment you need for these dvds are light handweights and an exercise mat if you don't have carpeting.
Of course, you'll say, "but I get bored." So do I!!! So I have at least five dvds and can do different ones during the week. Once you do these for a few months, you can move on to the next level.
Start a walking/jogging/running regimen. Again, you're outside and it's free!!! Do two miles or try to work up to it. Walk a block, jog a block, walk a block. The more you do this the easier it will become. That first step is always the hardest. That's why you have to get your brain on board to push your body. YOU CAN DO IT!!! The only real expense you'll have is good running shoes. You could also get a good cross-trainer pair and use it for everything. Do not skimp on your shoes.
Make some goals that are reasonable. Weigh yourself at the beginning and then I would really wait to weigh yourself again after two weeks. Don't let that be your obsession. Your hard work will pay off and it will take time.
Now the question of nutrition: how do you keep this thrifty??? I did not buy supplements or fancy smancy shakes or any of that stuff. Buying fast food, pre-packaged food, fried foods, packaged snacks...all that costs more money than buying food in it's natural state and cooking from scratch...save yourself the money. Don't buy all that junk. I made sure I ate good, healthy food. I drastically lowered my fat intake, totally increased my fiber, watched my carbs, and most importantly, I had a few snacks throughout the day. Eat a hand full of nuts or an apple or some carrots. Some of these diets just go crazy on a precise measurement of this, that, and the other. Use common sense. Your body will also tell you when you get hungry. Does that mean you need to eat five pounds of food? No. Eat a few nuts or a yogurt and really observe how your body reacts. That hungry sensation will leave. It really won't take much to satisfy you.
Reward yourself. Set up some rewards. Maybe after your first ten pounds you can get a new dvd or heavier weights or a cute outfit to workout in. You won't have the guilt of spending the money, plus you have a visual marker of the milestone you reached!
Set up a cheat meal or cheat day. I had a cheat meal set up, especially when I first started working out, because when you start eating more stricter, that little part of you is going to feel deprived. So on my cheat meal I could eat WHATEVER I wanted. That gives you something to look forward to mentally if you're struggling during the week. Once you really get working out, and have done it for a few weeks or months, you will really see your progress and the cheat meal will almost become obsolete.
What if you fall off the wagon and go crazy after a weekend of splurging??? Get over your bad self and continue where you left off. No one is perfect and we all struggle!!! The point is to keep pressing on. Don't feel guilty and get all dejected over it. Just keep going...we all have times when we have celebrations and eat like pigs...hello, holidays are coming. Just keep pressing on!

I hope this helps anyone who is starting out. It's still a bit general, but know that you can do it. I have to tell this to myself all the time. It's about my health and being a fit woman, wife, and mother. Taking control of this area of your life will spill out to every other area. If anything, you'll feel so good and can wear thinner clothes and keep up with your kids. Lately I've been so exhausted and I know my body really needs the exercise!!! Good luck to you! Remember, you don't have to spend a fortune to lose weight!!!!!
Happy exercising!!!

Blogging and Simple Living...?

2010-09-24T20:35:00.000-06:00

I find blogging very relaxing and I love going to other blogs and seeing creativity overflowing. I wish I had more time to devote to blogging, but I am in the middle of living my life, hahaha! It's kind of a theme I've been seeing all over the blog world lately. People are taking a hiatus and letting their blogs wait for them until they can catch up with themselves. I am stunned at how much energy people can put into their blogs--they have beautiful sites and I just wonder where they find the time??? I have four kids in three different levels of school and I just am exhausted by the end of the night. I love going to blogs where older and wiser and gentler ladies give wonderful advice about slowing down and living simply. As much as I love the outlet of blogging, sometimes it just doesn't fit into a simple lifestyle!!!! I guess it comes down to what stage of life you're in and what your priorities are. I truly admire those of you out there who can "do it all." I'm just not one of those people!

I truly believe it's priorities that lead us to a simpler lifestyle. I think that personality may come into play as well. I'm the type of person that can live in the middle of nowhere and be perfectly happy. I have friends who cannot function unless they are on the phone with someone or must be in the presence of other people constantly. I don't think those kinds of people blog, LOL! And that's ok because we're all different and have different needs. To me, simplicity is a calm, quiet life where I can hear myself think and not have the pull of a thousand different functions to go to. I can say "no" and not feel any guilt over it. I focus on my family and make sure their needs are met, whether it's food, clothing, a hug or a kiss. I try to take care of myself and read a good book and fit in exercise where I can. Simplicity can mean so many things to so many different people. How do you define it??? Is it hard for you to blog while you're trying to maintain your life?
I'd love to hear your thoughts...

Favorite books in our suburban homeschool...

2010-09-23T22:36:00.001-06:00

It's another busy year with homeschooling. My kids also have the pleasure of going to a part-time hybrid public school program where we get the best of both worlds. They are mostly homeschooled, but they can take classes and test into college and go for free at the community college while still in high school. Plus, I no longer have to teach high school math to them, hallelujah!!! My younger ones go to a one-day enrichment program every week as well so we are all over the place!!!

I would love to share some books I love and couldn't live without. I also have some new favorites. If I posted every book I loved, the internet wouldn't be big enough, LOL!!! So I will highlight just a few of my faves.

These books are written by William J. Bennett. The Educated Child is an excellent resource to see what your child should be accomplishing per grade level. He has lots of great advice and things to look for in the education of your child. I cannot speak highly enough about The Book of Virtues. It is a great compilation of stories that every child should grow up with. There are famous speeches and everything in the book deals with character issues! We find ourselves picking this up and reading from it every now and then because it's chock full of good stuff. I love it so much I've got a copy for each of my children!

This is another gem I turn to when I need a refreshing. It is called A Charlotte Mason Companion. It was written by Karen Andreola who revolutionized and brought to the forefront the teaching methods of Charlotte Mason. I don't follow everything in the book, but it makes me sigh with relief and know that life is indeed sweet. It is an essential for homeschoolers and educators!

We read a lot of good children's literature in my house. I happened upon this series at the thrift store after seeing a preview for the movie they were releasing (September 24th, by the way). I figured I would read it to see if it was worth our time. It's fantastic! I'm in Book 8. We're doing this as a read aloud and finished Book 1. It is action-packed and you will learn so much about owls. In fact, with my two youngest, we are doing lapbooks on owls because of these books. There isn't a bunch of hocus-pocus in this. The only objectionable thing I could think of is that in the later books, there are owl ghosts who have unfinished business on earth called "scrooms." They aren't evil, but I guess they aren't entirely necessary. Also, the owl God is called Glaux...his name is used in vain just as people use the Lord's name in vain. Other than those two points, it really is a beautifully written series and the aforementioned offenses can be discussed with your children if you find it objectionable. The owls are noble and true and possess very good character traits. I highly recommend this series!!! We can't wait to see the movie which I believe is based on the first four books.

Lastly is a new edition to our homeschool routine. This is a tall book...it's the Timechart History of the World. It opens up and the history of the world literally unfolds before your eyes!!! We use it with our history curriculum and hunk of burning love (my hubby, hee hee) uses it for biblical history. It's fascinating to see how everything lines up and it gives everyone a good idea what was going on in the world at the same time!!!

I have many more books I would love to share with you. I'll do many more posts of other books and projects we're working on. Have a great weekend and may a story take you far away!!! Happy reading!

Thrift Store Pointers

2010-09-23T08:35:00.000-06:00

You can certainly feel the chill in the air around here. Leaves are turning, the garden is dying off, and the kids are well on their way with school. It has been exceptionally busy since my last post. I can barely get any time to do my blogging so I will try to be better about it.

I have been hitting the thrift stores more frequently and have found some amazing deals!!!! I already have a few Christmas gifts lined up. I found three Mega Block (very similar to Lego's) ships--the Black Pearl, the Flying Dutchman, and a viking ship that are absolutely fantastic! My son is going to love them! I paid $3-$4 for them each, when in fact they retail for $30 or more. I am SO pleased with finding those! Plus, I have found some amazing book deals that you just can't beat!! I'm not sure if a bookseller or retailer donates these books, but I have found some very popular books in sets that you can't get for such low prices. For instance, the Guardians of Ga'Hoole--I got books 1-10 for $1.49 each! I also found four of the 39 Clues books (in hardback) for $2.99 each. I found all six of the Warriors books for $1.49 each...all these books were in pristine condition. I've also been looking for some curtains for my living room and found the most magnificent set for $10. All this stuff is brand new or near new...you can't beat the prices. So, here are some of my tips for thrift shopping that I've acquired over the years.

Go as often as you can. You will see the new material as it comes in. You'll know what's been there awhile and you'll get first dibs on the new stuff.
If it's a fantastic deal, buy it!!! You will totally regret not getting it because it will be gone the next time you go back!
I usually don't wait for the half-price days because whatever it is I've been eyeballing will be gone!
Thrift stores are wising up to seasonality--you will pay higher prices for canning jars during canning season. Don't buy them...you will pay almost the same price as new ones! However, if you want a cheap costume for Halloween, the thrift store is the place. The same goes for Christmas items.
Which leads me to my next tip, KNOW YOUR PRICES!!! You don't want to pay the same price for used as you would for new!
Thrift stores are without question one of the best places to get name brand clothes!
Never leave your shopping cart unsupervised. I speak from experience. People have no shame and will take something out of your cart...I've had something taken out of mine ONCE and believe me, it was the last time. If you spent all that time finding a great deal, protect it!

These are just a few hints for you. I love the thrift stores! As a homeschooling family, my library has been built on thrift store books. No one can beat their prices...it just takes a bit of legwork from you, but it's totally worth it and will save you a ton of money. I find my oldest daughter great dresses for school dances. The dresses are the $150+ bridesmaid dresses that have only been worn once that I get for very, very cheap! Keep a list of what you need and keep your eyes opened! You never know what treasure awaits you! Happy thrifting!

Reorganizing...Just Do It!!!

2010-07-20T17:42:00.000-06:00

Ladies, you know how it is...we just keep getting more stuff! I got a new set of pots and pans because I really needed some new ones...I still had a set that was 10 years old. So I really needed to purge my space to make room for the new pans and that can only mean one thing...reorganizing. Well, I went into my cabinet where I kept all my pots and pans and I dragged everything out.

Can you believe all of this fit in there??? I cleaned down the shelves and threw out things I no longer needed...like the lids to pans that have been long gone. Now my new space was nice and clean!

I reorganized by putting all my baking sheets, muffin tins, cake dish, trifle bowl, and other miscellaneous items in this cabinet to give my pots and pans more room.

Nice and tidy! Now I moved my pots and pans to underneath my island and it's glorious to have them so neat.

I really didn't know what to do with myself...actually, it got me motivated and I cleaned my kitchen and it looked so nice. That's the problem with reorganizing...it's infectious and you can't just stop. It snowballs from one area to another! Hahahaha! What are you reorganizing??? I hope you're having fun enjoying your newly reorganized space...I'm loving mine...now to the next area!!!
Blessings on your reorganizing!!!

Seasoning Cast Iron

2010-07-20T17:21:00.000-06:00

We will be going on our very first camping trip as a family. Many years ago, my husband worked for a sporting goods store that got bought out by another sporting goods store. So they were getting rid of all the old inventory to make room for the new. Everything was marked down, plus my husband had his employee discount, so we got a tent, 2 cast iron dutch ovens, and a cast iron skillet for a song!!! Now it's time for us to use it! I haven't used the dutch ovens so I needed to season them. Here are the step-by-step instructions that the cast iron manufacturer provided.

Wash new cookware with hot, soapy water and a stiff brush. Rinse and dry completely.
Apply a thin coat of vegetable oil or melted vegetable shortening to the entire surface (including lid if applicable), both inside and out.
Line the lower oven rack with aluminum foil, and preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Place the cookware upside down on the upper oven rack. The aluminum foil will catch any drippings.
Bake the cookware for one hour, then turn off the oven and let the cookware cool before removing.
Store uncovered in a dry place.
After use, clean using a stiff brush and hot water only. Towel dry immediately and apply a light coating of vegetable oil to cookware while still warm.

I used melted shortening. Here's what the cast iron looks like after being newly seasoned. The one on the right is straight out of the box and is exactly what it looks like when you start. The one on the left is how it will look after being seasoned for the first time. With much more use, they will turn darker and darker.

Now I've got to learn how to cook with it!!! I've got a few recipes and I'm going to try dump cake so we'll see how it all turns out. I'll keep you posted on the camping trip when we get back!
Happy camping and happy cooking!

Aprons

2010-07-07T13:59:00.000-06:00

Another one of my projects this summer and hopefully wrapped up soon are the aprons I am making for my children. I've been wanting to make them for a long time now and so the opportunity presented itself and here I am. All the older Walmarts with a fabric section are getting rid of all their fabrics. I missed the beginning of the 50% off by a day or two so all the quilting fabrics were gone, but I picked up a few other fabrics that will be part of future projects. I found canvas/duck fabric and it was exactly what I was looking for to be used as aprons. It will hold up to a lot of wear and tear so I am really, really happy with the $2.50/yd. pricetag!!!! It is excellent material. I've completed one and almost done with another. I've got two more to go and this is how they will look.

This is my youngest and hers is more "fru-fru." The daisy buttons along the top match the daisies on the edging of her pocket...too cute!!!!! The apron I'm almost finished with is my son's. His has black and white accents. He can wear his when he helps Dad barbeque and with me in the kitchen. My two older girls have their accents picked out. It's a lot of fun and will probably go with them when they grow up. {sigh}

Another great deal I found at Walmart was denim. In an earlier post I showed all my jeans cut into squares ready to be sewn into a quilt. I found the backing denim for cheap!!! I can get moving on that once I'm done with the aprons!!! Be warned, though. The fabric is thick. One or two layers are fine, but when you're dealing with seams and putting on the ties, MERCY! I already broke two thick needles. I think I've figured out how to negotiate it all, but as with anything, it takes a little bit of time!

What are you sewing up this summer??? I'll keep you posted with the aprons and the quilt as I finish them.

Happy sewing and blessings!!!

Canning Jar Jubilation!!!

2010-07-06T23:40:00.001-06:00

On the morning of Fourth of July, I went to the thrift store to find a little jacket since we would be spending the day in the mountains and I've lost weight that I needed to get one. I figured since I was there, I should also look for some canning jars since I need to gear up for more canning this summer and you can get a great deal if you can find them. The thrift store was running a weekend promotion of 50% off most items for the holiday weekend. LET THE HUNT BEGIN was my attitude!!! Lo and behold, I found three boxes of various sized canning jars and all three boxes were half-off. There were 38 jars total. A quick scan of the jars inside led my eyes to an old blue Ball jar and one with the wire-type canning lid. I knew my $7.00 would be well worth the cost. I took them home and didn't touch them until we got back later that night. Upon opening the boxes, I found canning jar treasure!!! You will not believe the jars I got and after much research, I am completely amazed at the history that I found!!! What started me on my old canning jar journey is the four jars I found at our church garage sale. I paid $15 for all four of them without really knowing how much the value of old jars were and what would be a good price. I've put them on my windowsill in the kitchen.

Now after finding my treasures in the box, I have found out all kinds of fascinating little facts! You can date your Ball jars by the writing style on them. Here is a great website if you're interested at all about figuring out the date of your jars: here! It's a great site to give you info on your jars. So, without further ado, here are some of the jars I found.

These are Ball Ideal jars manufactured in 1908. They have the wire-type closure and use a glass lid. The one on the left is the only jar I got with a lid so I am thrilled with it. It amazes me to think that this glass is over 100 years old and was used for canning during WWI. Remarkable!!!

I actually got two blue Ball jars in my boxes. The one on the left is much older than the one on the right. Can you see the difference in how Ball is embossed on the glass (see the last L)? This is how you date the jars.

I got three of these Ball Perfect Masons. What are so different about these? It's a bit hard to see in the picture, but these jars are not clear. They are gray. They are worth a lot more. In the manufacturing of these glasses, a chemical was used and once the jars are exposed to sunlight, they change color. That's why you have blue jars, but you can also find amber, green, and amethyst colored jars. WHO KNEW??!! I had no idea!

These are Kerr jars manufactured in 1915. Kerr is actually the company who invented the two-piece system for canning lids that we now enjoy today. I KNOW!!!! Fascinating!!!

This is a square Atlas mason jar. It was made in 1920. Square jars are also worth more! I didn't know this! After finding all these great gems in my boxes, I had two more boxes downstairs full of quart jars I had gotten at the thrift store a while back for pickles so I started investigating. Three of them are Longlife mason jars and are going for $10.00 a piece on ebay. I also found some vintage quart jars that were made in the 1970's. Since I was born in the 70's and I'm still working, I'm going to use the jars so they should still work, HA! I also have a jar that is a Midland Mason jar. It was only manufactured for one year--1975. It's worth $8-$10. I had no idea there were so many different canning jar companies! It is absolutely mind-blowing that these jars have survived so long!!! Again, I am inspired by these ladies from our past who diligently put up food from their gardens, not only to survive and have food for their families, but they also supported the war efforts. By WWII, most canning jars were standard mouth jars (not wide mouth jars) because they were conserving as much metal as they could! I am amazed!!!

I hope this enlightens you a little about canning jars. I was trying to get some jars to can with and now I've got my own collection of antique jars. What should I do with them??? Hmmmm......sounds like another post down the road!

Happy canning and happy treasure hunting!!!

Love the new gadgets here...

2010-07-06T19:58:00.001-06:00

As mentioned in an earlier post, I have another blog on another site. However, I am really loving the new setup here at blogger and I think I'm going to start posting here from now on! It's awesome and I finally have a blog that looks the way I want it to...my other blog changed servers, sites, browsers or whatever the technical term is, and I'm really not that happy with it. So, I guess this will be my blog home now!!! Lots of posts to come...can't wait! I used to have problems posting more than one picture here, but it seems the kinks are all worked out of the system and everything is sooooo user friendly! I'm really pleased and look forward to blogging more! I have to figure out how to import from my other blog...I know there's a way; I just have to figure it out! Stay tuned!

Breathtaking!!!

2010-07-06T19:54:00.000-06:00

While we were on vacation in Florida, we did all the typical things like Disney and Universal. We also visited some not so typical places. They were absolutely breathtaking and considered local gems! One such place was called Blue Spring State Park. This place is a natural manatee refuge in the winter months. In the summer, it is paradise! I have never seen water such a color in my life. The wildlife was amazing. There were six foot gars (a type of long fish) everywhere, not to mention all kinds of other fish. I saw two massive catfish. It was spectacular! The water stays a constant 72 degrees year-round. The family swam around in it, but even for Florida, it was chilly!!! One look at this picture and you will see what I mean!

You can also see the trees with all the spanish moss hanging from them. It was amazing! What was strange for us coming from Colorado was all the palm trees interspersed with the regular trees...weird!!! It was a gorgeous place and we were so happy to take this little excursion!

If you look at the above picture and see the dark shadows in the water, those are the gar. Amazing! It was a biological hodgepodge of everything and so fascinating and mesmerizing! You can totally understand why the manatee hang out here!!!

Vacation is almost here...garden is in!

2010-06-04T21:06:00.000-06:00

We are full speed ahead here on our suburban homestead!!! Everything is pretty much planted and coming up! This year I've planted a ton of cucumbers as I am going to can pickles this summer!!! I'm very excited about the prospect of it! I also have a lot more squash planted as well. Last year was not a good zucchini year and we are praying for a good harvest this year!!! I've got some tomatoes growing...I've had to fight the weather so we'll see how they fare. All the lettuces look amazing and the peas are coming around nicely. I was going to plant my beans, but every year I've wanted to coat them with inoculant to get a better harvest and I can never get my hands on any. I've finally ordered it online so in a week or so I can get started on that.

We are almost ready for vacation! It is going to be crazy fun and I can't wait. The kids are so excited!!! We are doing the whole Florida/beach/theme park vacation. I love blogging, but this isn't my main blog. If you are interested, my other site is www.homesteadblogger.com/zucchinimom. I've got all kinds of stuff there, including recipes, all this fun vacation stuff, gardening, homesteading in the suburbs, etc. I'd love to get to know more of you! I hope you have a great weekend!!!

Gardening and kitchen revelations

2010-05-24T22:59:00.002-06:00

We have had gale force winds around here and I didn't get much done over the weekend. Finally, around dinner, the winds stopped, the sun shone, and I put in all my seeds into the ground. Ahhhh. I feel much better now. I'm particularly excited about my French pumpkins, affectionately called the Cinderella pumpkin. They are an heirloom variety that the carriage in Cinderella was made from. It's a large, flatter shaped pumpkin and looks just beautiful. I'm crossing my fingers and praying for just one beauty this summer!!!

I also decided something...instead of pining away for an expensive Bosch mixer, an expensive grain mill, and a horde of hard grain, I decided to break out my bread machine and make dough so I can bake it in the oven. I think we often times get in a rut of "I have to have..." something in order to accomplish something. Why not make dough and then bake it in the oven??? I finally dug the machine out of the small appliance cemetery in the garage and put it to work!!! It's been in the garage because with my family of six, one little bitty loaf of bread equates to one slice per person...not exactly worth my time and effort.

So I decided I was making rolls for my family and you know what, they turned out gorgeous and delicious! No more feeling sorry for myself because I don't have the newest, most efficient fandangled gadgets out there. I think back to the prairie women who did it all by hand and cared and nurtured for their families amazingly well with what little they had. They are truly inspiring and help me when I'm not feeling like I'm homesteading very well.

I hope your homestead is running smoothly! Dust off some of those small appliances and put them to work! You just may be surprised with what you turn out!!!

Recycle your jeans into a quilt

2010-05-12T18:49:00.004-06:00

Hi all. I am revamping my little blog here. I hope I spark a little interest. A project I will be working on is a massive picnic quilt made from recycled jeans. These are all the squares I have cut. They are 6 1/2" x 6 1/2". I have been collecting our jeans for years specifically for this project! I can't wait until I have it all finished! This is only the first stage so I will keep you posted on my progress. It's a great way to reuse and recycle something that we all have! Wait until I show you what I have planned for some of the pockets that weren't used!!! But that's for another post!!!

As you can see, I have many different colors and I have included seams and some decorative features, too. I've watched some youtube instructions and some people don't feel seams should be used or stretchy denim--hello, I've had four babies, you better believe my jeans stretch!!! It wouldn't be recycling if I didn't use them!!!!!! I've also included stained jeans. My husband works very hard for us so it will be included. With my family of six, we all have contributions and it will be a quilt for the family!!! What are some clever uses of old jeans that you have???

Sixty pounds of peaches!!!

2009-08-15T00:38:00.004-06:00

Here are the "fruits" of my labor. Sixty pounds of peaches netted me in total: 22 pints of peach butter, 11 pints of sliced peaches in a light syrup, 7 half pints of peach jam, 7 tiny little jelly jars of peach butter, and about a pound in the freezer. Not bad for all my efforts!!! What have I learned from my peach-y exercise in canning?

1. Make sure your peaches are absolutely ripe!!!! The peels will come off so much easier after you immerse them in boiling water for 30 seconds and then dipped in cold water. The first 20 pounds I processed was very laborious because they weren't ripe. By my last 20 pounds, we had it down!!! Make sure they're ripe!!!!!!

2. "Many hands make light work!" The more the merrier and it will go by quickly if you have lots of help.

3. Flying peach pulp will burn you! Trust me...I learned the hard way!!!!

4. I've heard of some people boiling down the pits and peels. I personally gave some of the peels to my worms (I have a small worm bin) and they absolutely love them!!!!

It will be a joy to have that peach butter in winter, but for now, I really don't want to see another peach for awhile, ha, ha!!!

What are you preserving in your neck of the woods???

More canning...peaches and pears!

2009-08-06T06:10:00.004-06:00

Look at these gorgeous pears! These only cost me $1 per 3 lbs. Oh yes!!! I will be making pear butter out of these beauties. Plus, I bought 40 more pounds of peaches. I know, I know, you probably think I'm crazy, but they were such a deal. In a previous post, I told you that I made 4 little jelly containers of peach butter. Uhhh, they're all gone. The kids went crazy over it. They love it on toast and the other night we put it on pancakes. It was CRAZY GOOD!!! So I'm going to make loads of it for this winter. Can't you imagine a blizzard outside and having a delicious scone or buttermilk biscuit topped with the lusciousness of summer by way of peach butter? I can't wait to scoff at the snow while indulging myself!!! Yes, I'm a summer baby! Needless to say, I'll be busy the next few days with my canning, but it will be so worth it!!!

Beans are coming in!

2009-08-06T05:59:00.004-06:00

These are the lovely Royal Burgundy beans. They are a purple bush bean that was my oldest daughter's crop this year since her favorite color is purple!!! We picked only seven so far, but that is just the beginning! We have many more to come!!! The family stood around as we cooked them to watch the color change from purple to green!!! These are a great bean to have to get your kids interested in growing and eating beans! It's healthy and you have a little magic show to go with it!!! They were just tickled!

We did manage to get one zucchini so far (absolutely disappointing)! The tomatoes are starting to ripen...I can't wait to make salsa! The squashes are plugging along as well. We have pumpkins and yellow summer squash, and for the first time I'm growing dipper gourds. I'm way excited about that one! How is your garden growing???

Canning is "peachy" keen!

2009-08-03T22:25:00.007-06:00

I bought twenty pounds of peaches because I got them dirt cheap!!! Here are the "fruits" of my labor! I canned 11 pints of sliced peaches in light syrup, 7 pints of peach jam, and 4 of the tiny little jelly jars of peach butter!!! Not bad for twenty pounds. I think I will be getting another twenty pounds since it was sooooo inexpensive ($0.39/lb.). I can't wait until winter to eat this summery goodness!!!

When I started with the peach jam a few days ago, I could not get the peels off the peach. I think it was because the peaches weren't quite ripe. I waited a few days for them to ripen to can the sliced peaches, and the peels came off like it was nothing. That saved me a ton of work!!!! Now they look so pretty and I'll check the seals tomorrow. In the background you'll notice Ball's Blue Book of Preserving. It has been such a valuable guide as I can this year. It is quite the resource and I would highly recommend it to anyone who wants to learn to can things properly. What are you canning or preserving this season?

An update on my zucchini: not so good. It's very embarrassing that I'm zucchinimom and I'll barely have any zucchini this year. Last year was such a stellar year for zucchini around here and horrible for tomatoes. This year, the tomatoes are growing like gangbusters and the zucchini are doing miserable. Such is the life of a gardener!!!

Happy growing and happy preserving!!!

Powdery mildew and our dear zucchini

2009-07-12T15:24:00.002-06:00

I decided to start blogging here because of all the great gardening blogs I follow here. I call my blog Zucchinimom because I am mom to a family who could literally eat their weight in zucchini!!!

On that note, we are engaged in a battle royale with powdery mildew on our zucchini. It is quite stressful to all of us; our beloved zucchini is under siege. So today I have started my battle plan against the fungus (I believe it is a fungus???). After reading many different homemade solutions, I have opted for the milk solution. You use 10% milk to water, and then you spray the leaves of your affected plants. I will keep you posted on this strategy to see if it works or not. Above I have the after and before picture (I'm trying to figure out the whole picture thing here; it's a bit different from other blogs). I thinned out a majority of the badly infected leaves. I have nine plants in total so maybe they needed a bit more room. The scientist in me is leaving some of the not-so-bad leaves around to see the difference that the milk solution makes. I will keep you all posted and let you know the results of my experiment...(insert evil laughter).

(Can anyone here tell me how to move my pictures around??? This isn't the easiest thing to figure out. I've already looked up on the help menu how to do this but nothing seems to work. Thanks!)