8 Muddy Boots

So Much to Catch Up On!

2011-10-20T21:26:00.000-04:00

I really AM still around! I can't believe it's been ALL SUMMER since I posted last!

I guess we kept REAL busy, and now this Fall, we are STILL very busy! I am actually homeschooling my boys again! So they get the computers during the first half of the day, the second half, I try to play catch up in my house! (More on that soon!)

Well, I PROMISE I will be back and share how it went with 4H this year, with our food prep, our farm and more! Talk to you all soon! :)

Clothesline Challenge!

2011-06-20T12:18:00.000-04:00

Alright ~ time to share how much you have SAVED on either your gas or electric bill by using your clothesline instead of your dryer!

This month there was about a week where it RAINED almost everyday. So I used my dryer at that time, but MOSTLY have line dried everything! My last bill, I saved $40 off of our usual bill! We also got a swimming pool during this time and have been running the pump, but we STILL reduced our bill!

Now, how about YOU!?!?! How did you do? Did you save? Tell us about it!!!

Pictures from the Farm

2011-06-18T20:50:00.000-04:00

I know I have been MIA lately.... So I am giving you a few pictures from the last week. We have been so busy (despite the chillier temps) with weeding garden, strawberries, we even sheered ONE of our sheep...

We are busy, but I am enjoying it. It is rewarding! Having those berries in the freezer, knowing that the garden is producing when the grocery bill is tight. And the harvest, Mmmm mmmm mmmm!!! Delicious!

On to the pictures!

Our beef cattle

Our ducks by the pond

Some of our goat babies

Our Jacob Sheep Mommy, Lindsay


Lindsay's daughter, Charlotte

Puck- Before Haircut

Puck- After Haircut

My Jacob Sheep Girls

Two of our ducks hatched their own babies... And they are super cute. So are the boys in these pictures... :)

Boys and Baby Ducks

Koen & Baby Duck

Caden & Baby Duck

Hope you enjoyed these for now... I WILL be back soon. I want to hear how the Clothesline Challenge has gone for each of you! That will come up in the next few days... Get your electric (or gas) bills out and be ready to share on Monday! Also, how is your garden doing??? I can't wait to hear AND to show you ours also...

More later!

Harvesting!

2011-06-08T10:29:00.000-04:00

Oh my, I absolutely LOVE this time of year. The WARMTH has not only appreared (as well as some of the rain DISappearing), but along with all of that rain and now sunshine, we are seeing things spring up like CRAZY in the garden!

I will share pics soon, I am actually working (volunteering on our church office while many people from our church get to go to Israel!). So I will add pics when I have time in the next day or 2. But we are REALLY enjoying the harvest of STRAWBERRIES that we have been getting DAILY! The last 2 mornings, I have enjoyed a fresh ORGANIC strawberry and raw milk smoothie for breakfast! Doesn't get any better than that! (Well, maybe with some homegrown raw honey!)

Lettuce is also coming on! I CANNOT WAIT for that!

Many othering things are Springing up! Pics coming VERY soon!

What are you enjoying from your garden/farm???

Rain, Rain Go Away...

2011-05-26T11:04:00.000-04:00

....come again in July....

OK, so it doesn't rhyme, BUT, the rain SERIOUSLY needs to go. I hafta go swimmin' if I want to hang anything on my clotheslines!

Boat needed to hang clothes on line! ;)

We have hardly gotten much of a break around here. Besides that, people all across the country can do without the devastation that many of these storms and rain are causing... WE ARE PRAYING FOR THOSE PEOPLE. And I can complain about some rain (well, a LOT of rain), but our hearts are really sad for those who have lost loved ones or even property due to this mess of stormy weather...

And we are DEFINITELY earning our name "Muddy Boots Farm"... Why didn't we name it 'Sunny and warm boots farm', or 'sunny with a pleasant breeze on a beach farm'....??? Live and learn, I suppose...

Gardening on Our Farm

2011-05-18T20:03:00.000-04:00

Just planted garden

It's been a while since I have updated much going on here on the farm. So today I am going to update you on our garden!

Austin planting potatoes

In Indiana, it has been raining SO much that my garden was just too wet to even till! My hubby finally got it tilled about 2 1/2 weeks ago (if I can remember right). And the next day I was planting my potatoes! I got red and Kennebec potatoes. About 15 lbs in all... It cost me less than $2 and will bring us well over 100-150 lbs of potatoes.

Potatoes and strawberries

About 1 1/2 weeks ago, I got a bit more planted. I got 2 types of lettuce. I actually planted MORE than I know we will eat, BUT I am hoping to be able to sell some of it. Hopefully that will go well... I am going to be planting some Kale also soon (if it stops raining again). I also planted 2 rows of carrots, two different types. I had 4 yellow pepper plants, but one died of undetermined causes... Maybe underfoot of a wayward duck... :(

Lincoln Peas

We also have 2 rows of peas. 3 different types of organic tomato plants, and 4 Roma plants. I am hoping my tomatoes are better this year. Last year, my plants weren't very productive and those that WERE, were rotten BEFORE they started to turn red.

I have one cucumber plant.

I thought I had planted my green beans, but looking back through my things I guess I haven't planted them yet. I will get to those as soon as the rain stops and things dry out a bit.

Large Strawberry blooms

My strawberry plants that I planted last year are doing SO well!!! The flowers are HUGE! I can't wait to start getting strawberries. We JUST ran out of our frozen strawberries, and I am super bummed about it! We still have lots of jelly left though.

Strawberries with rainy sky background

2 of my blueberry bushes made it through the Winter. They won't probably produce much for a few years. I would like to get several more, because blueberries actually absorb pesticides like a sponge and most places feel the need to spray for bugs! I want to get away from that!

I just got some rhubarb plants from a friend. So hopefully next year I can get some rhubarb for some nice pies and desserts! :) YUM!

I also got some red raspberry plants from her also.... Oh the possibilities!

My apples trees are blossoming right now also. I have the two older ones and the two newer ones (planted last year), which are looking great and will probably produce fruit! Not sure how to keep the bugs off this year though.... Last year I lost all of my apples to the bugs. :(

My good lookin' boys in front of our apple trees

I am also hoping to utilize my herb garden this year. Last year I let it get too grown and flowered out without a chance to learn how to use them much... I enjoyed the FEW times I did get to use them, but this year that is more of a priority! Anyone have some ideas you want to share??? :)

So, how are YOUR garden's coming??? I would love to visit your blogs and see! Post a link in the comments if you have a post about it! Thanks and can't wait to see them!!!!!

I'm Still Here!

2011-05-16T20:36:00.000-04:00

Alright, so I haven't been writing on here. If you have a small farm of your own, you know what a busy time of year it is! I will be posting again in the next 2 days... ASAP anyways...

Until then, hope your Clothesline Challenge is going well! I think mine seems to be alright, except there has been a lot of rain, and I think tonight I HAVE to use the drier... boo...

Talk to you SOON!

PS- also, still trying to get pics onto my computer... Since I have to replace all of that and I have NO time, it's been a job! :)

Happy Mother's Day!!!

2011-05-08T06:00:00.001-04:00

I hope all mother's out there have a BEAUTIFUL Mother's Day....

You have earned a day named just for you! Thank you for raising your children the best way you know how, and for trying to be the best mother you can be...

Happy Mother's Day!!!!

Clothesline Challenge

2011-05-03T06:00:00.001-04:00

I'm kind of freaking right now because my pictures didn't exactly get saved when we did the computer cleaning.... I mean we THOUGHT we saved them and it DID save SOME.... So I am using some images from Microsoft! Thank you for saving me Microsoft Images!

Anyways, the last several months I have been FLIPPING OUT at the increasing amount of electric in our household! We just can't afford to spend anymore on electricity! One thing that has made a NOTICEABLE difference in the past, has been when I use my CLOTHESLINE! My husband actually figured out that 2 years ago, we saved over $100 that summer (about 4 months)...

So, in wanting to save EVEN MORE, I am going to challenge MYSELF, as well as YOU! I want to see how much we can truly save each month on our electric bills! Of course there are other little shifts in electric, but I want to see if you can notice ANY differences at all!

If you don't have a "proper" clothesline, it doesn't matter. Use some clothesline in between a few trees, whatever you can do to get those WONDERFUL smelling clothes and save some $$$.

You up for it? Check out your latest electric (or gas) bill (whatever kind of dryer you have). Look at the total, and let's see what kind of difference we can see!

So join me! Let's DO this! :)

Computer Fixed!

2011-05-02T08:40:00.000-04:00

I JUST got my computer back last night! And it seems as though it is all fixed! When I type, the letters come up right away (as opposed to several MINUTES later!). And the pages come up faster, even bringing on pictures is faster!. So it shouldn't be such a chunk out of my day to do a post any more! :) YAY!

I have a few things coming up that hopefully will work out. I am hoping to post soon about my "Clothesline Challenge". And I am hoping to do a "30 Days on Muddy Boots Farm", which you can follow me each day in what I do on our farm, and more importantly, see what the animals are doing and how my garden is growing! :)

I hope I haven't lost all of you... Now I am so excited to type on my computer! :D

I will post again VERY soon! See you then!

Chickens, Bees, Gardens and Spring

2011-04-27T08:34:00.000-04:00

Deklyn and his baby girl Leia

Oh! I can't even believe it has been almost 2 weeks since I posted last.... I usually enjoy more time in front of the computer (down time!). But my computer needs worked on in a BAD way.... it needs a total cleaning. Like everything needs to be wiped off of the hard drive then things need to be reinstalled.... When I type, it's extremely difficult because it won't move for several seconds and then everything you typed will just appear on the screen.... So there are so many mistakes and to go back and correct them takes forever too... But enough of my crazy computer, just a note though.... I will HOPEFULLY have a friend work on that his week... But that means I will be without a computer for a day or two...

We got rid of a few chickens last week. I put an ad on Craig's List and we sold some of our Rhode Island Reds and some of the Golden Comets that we bought last year. We kept about 10 RIR and got rid of all of our Golden Comets. We also have some of our 2-3 year old Buff's and Americaunas. We also have a few mutt chickens that we hatched last year, plus our banty chickens. So, we are down to about 30 or less chickens. Corn prices have just been getting so high, we can't do as many chickens! We were getting about 20 eggs a day with the 80+ chickens, and now we got rid of all of the chickens BUT our NEW layers started laying this week too and we are still getting about the same amount with 30! Good news! :)

We also got our new bees yesterday! Last years bees, we had got 2 hives. One hive swarmed (up and left us!) and the other seemed a little weak. So we left them with all of their honey. And we didn't expect them to make it through the winter. But to our surprise, we found them alive and thriving a few weeks ago! We had already ordered 2 new batches of bees, so we actually had to buy a new set of brooders and other things. But hopefully, we will have the one hive making honey like crazy since they are seasoned veterans and then we will have another 2 hives with a little less... I am hoping to have some honey this year then! Maybe enough to last me all year long. I would probably use about 8+ gallons of honey a year, maybe more if I had it around instead of sugar! I am excited to have those going.

It has literally been raining like CRAZY here. Our pond is flooded and everything is SO muddy. We finally have our tiller up and running, and it is SO wet, that hubby couldn't even get the garden all tilled. So for me to plant anything is not possible! I have seed potatoes (red and Kennebec) ready to go into the ground any day. I also have all of the cold weather things to go into the ground yet too... I HAVE to get this stuff in the ground soon, grocery prices are already going NUTS and I have to be able to feed 4 boys with crazy appetites!

All of the other animals are doing good. Baby goats and sheep are getting bigger and enjoying being outside. I love watching them frolic and play in the pasture. It's so funny! :) But we are finally done with baby season. Our last Jacob sheep had a baby last week and we weren't around all day... It ended up dying. He was just so big, my hubby thinks she probably had some difficulty... I gues life on the farm brings those sad things sometimes though.

So much going on right now! How about you? I need to get around and visit some of your blogs also! I miss spending my down time on the computer and getting some reading in!

Population Explosion

2011-04-14T11:08:00.000-04:00

We have had SO many things happening the last few days, it's been hard to keep up! We have went from 5 goats to 11 goats, and from 3 female sheep, to 6 female sheep!

First, on Friday night we had a new baby goat! Padme, my son's goat, is the mother. We weren't even sure she was really pregnant. But she surprised us all when we saw some little hooves sticking out her back side! She had a little trouble, but when I helped pull as she was pushing, her new little addition came out and was fine! She had a little girl! YAY!

Here she is. My son named her Leia. If you are a Star Wars fan, you will understand...

Padme is a very attentive mother, however she has YET to produce any milk.... Have been trying to figure out what to do, but don't know anything yet.... So she is another bottle fed baby!

Then on Monday night, we were surprised to find Myst, our Jacob, had a baby also! She was out in the pasture and my hubby came home from Boyscouts and found Myst and baby running around in the pasture!

She ALSO had a girl! And she is a tiny little thing! SO cute! She doesn't have a name yet.... I haven't had time to THINK about it yet! Plus, with all of the babies, I might be out of names!! Ha!

Here is one of our other babies, Daisy (Iris's baby). The babies are now 5 weeks old!

For the last week or more, Lindsay has been trying to get out of her pen in the barn to get out and be in the pasture again. Well, today I finally let her. She ran into the pasture and was very protective for her little ones against all of the other animals. Including her baby from last year, Charlotte. Charlotte came up to her mother all happy to see her, but Lindsay pushed her away thinking she was going to hurt the babies. So right now Charlotte is a little sad at this situation. BUT, hopefully Charlotte will be our last momma on the farm to have some babies. And I think she has only a few weeks left! So hopefully she will soon have a family of her own.

Charlotte top left, Lindsay and babies

On Saturday, we FINALLY got the horns burnt (disbudded) on our goats. They might have scurs, but hopefully it's not too bad. We waited too long... The boys (the only 2 boys we have so far out of all of the babies!) were also banded. Because they will be taken to 4H. Along with some shots!

I also started Padme on some shots to hopefully get milk going for her, so we can at least MILK her and bottle feed her baby... We will see!

I hope this gives you SOME ideas of what has been happening around here! Hope you are having some fun with all of your new babies also! :)

**Sorry if these photos aren't the best, they were all taken with my cell phone...

Pictures From Our Goat Pens

2011-04-05T08:18:00.000-04:00

So we've been having a good time with all of our goat babies... As you remember Sophie had 4 and Iris had 1. And the babies are now 3 weeks old! They are getting so big!

So I thought I would share some pics from these precious little guys (and girls!).

Koen and I are getting ready to go down and feed Charlie. You might remember Charlie was the little fella that we had in our house because he couldn't walk for almost a week after he was born.

Little Charlie LOVES his bottle! Here Koen and I are feeding him... He's even got milk all over his face!

Iris's little girl is getting big, and she's super sweet... Her name is Daisy. She loves to lay her head up against you when you scratch that special spot under her jaw...

Here are all of Sophie's babies! She hasn't bonded with poor Charlie, but we keep him in the pen so he can learn things from the other goats. Top right side is baby number one, you remember him with the heart??? His name is Buddy. The little brown and white is Grace, she is a cutie. Then the black and white is Sunny. She is calm and loving, probably the most loving of all of this "batch". Then the one to the left (brown) is Charlie...

This is little Grace. She is sweet and active. She loves attention.... Just look at that little face!

Our 2 little males will be 4H goats. Our little females will be for milking. Their mother's were already good milkers and their fathers are from "Star Milker" lines.... I'm still new to MILKING goats so I know Star Milker is a good thing, but that's it.

We probably wont keep all of the females, but maybe sell them as milkers this Fall or maybe next year.

Coming soon, we will be putting the babies out to pasture for the first time! I always love this time.... The babies are a little timid, BUT LOVE it after they spend a few minutes out.

Have a beautiful day!!!

Some Motivation for You to Grow Your Own Food

2011-04-01T09:54:00.000-04:00

This is the time of year when many of us are thinking about or (for those warmer climates!) actively working on our gardens.

I personally also love being able to raise our own eggs and meat. I want to know how my animals (meat) are being treated. I want to know what is going into my food. And more. Especially when it comes to feeding my boys.

I found this article via Dr. Mercola. You MAY want to click on it, and maybe even do a bit of research on your own...

The article is 16 Foods with Scary Surprises. It gives 16 foods that we commonly buy from major companies, and the FDA requirements as far as ACCEPTABLE levels of rodent hairs, mammal excrement, larvae, fly eggs and more.... Yes, you heard it right, there are ACCEPTABLE levels....

I don't know about you, but this article motivates me even more to grow/ raise my own food! What about you? Check out the article, then come back and let me know what you think!

This Year's FIRST Jacob Babies!

2011-03-31T10:27:00.000-04:00

It finally happened! We have our first Jacob babies of 2011! Lindsay gave birth to 2 baby girls yesterday afternoon, and we discovered them about 20-30 minutes later!

This was pretty exciting because this is the first time we actually PAIRED the male, Puck, and Lindsay together last Fall. This is the first time we have ever been involved in the whole process.

We were "rewarded" with 2 precious little baby girls! YAY!

Check out some of the photos of our sweet little girls!!!

They are SUPER cute and are already running. Lindsay is being a good mother as usual, being very attentive to them. What do you think about the names Faith and Hope? Now, how to tell them apart.... hmmm...

I also have some pictures of our little goats who are now 3 weeks old! They will be coming soon!

Have a beautiful day!

MO Milk!

2011-03-28T10:33:00.000-04:00

Well, it's milk time again! We have been collecting milk for our little guy, Charlie, that we had in the house. But a little over a week after they were born, we had more milk than Charlie needed to drink. So now we have milk for US!

There hasn't been a LOT of milk, but it is starting to increase now. I think it is because right now we are just milking Iris (black) and her little baby is eating more hay and grain. OR it could be the herbs that I am giving her that I got from Molly's Herbals, one for general health and one to help produce more milk!

We will soon be separating the babies out at night and milking BOTH females in the morning, then rejoining their babies with them during the day. Hopefully at that point, we will be getting even MORE milk!

Soon (I hope) we will get to the point of NOT having to buy milk from the store. We currently spend about $24 in milk a week! And that is with buying Almond Milk (for us lactose intolerant people!) and also regular milk. When we have lots of goat milk, we will no longer need to spend that on milk! :) I look forward to that!

Goat's milk is illegal to sell it here in Indiana, BUT we DO drink our own... We trust our own cleanliness and procedures! So we drink it raw, only filtering it first.

Do any of YOU drink goat's milk? Do you produce your own milk on your farm?

Making Vanilla!

2011-03-22T09:35:00.000-04:00

Alright, when I saw the my sister-in-law was making her own vanilla with a bottle of Vodka, I thought she was a little nutty.

Then, I went to the cupboard and looked at my imitation vanilla in the cupboard. Ingredient list was Water, alcohol, vanilla bean extractives, and sugar. Interesting!

So, I went a did some looking at how to make a more PURE vanilla. I checked out my sister-in-law's info and HER sister-in-laws info. From there, I ordered my vanilla beans from Olive Nation. I paid $13.46 total for 16 beans. (Free Shipping!)

When I received the beans, it took me several days to get up the strength to go to the store and buy vodka! When I did, I felt I needed to explain why I was buying it! The cashier said, "Honey, I don't judge!". But, I'm a God-fearin' woman, who doesn't drink this stuff! I promise!!! I'm sure after doing this a few times, I won't feel the need to explain, but this day I did...

I got home and put my stuff together! I cut the beans long ways with my kitchen scissors. And stuck all 16 in the vanilla. I think I saw where you put 10 or 12 in but I got 16 so I thought I might as well use them all and maybe it will last longer! You can continue to reuse your beans for several more batches of vanilla!

After only a day and a half, this is what the beans looked like!

You should let the beans sit, for 4-6 weeks. It has been ONE week for me so far, and it has darkened dramatically AND already smells heavenly! I can hardly wait!

When are YOU gonna make yourself some??? :)

More BABIES! Turkeys!

2011-03-18T10:14:00.000-04:00

Well, this week wasn't the BEST week to get turkeys, but that is when they came in for 4H, so we will take them! Like so many of the baby poultry we get here on our farm, we start them in our basement. Reason is that this IS Indiana, and the temps get really low and CAN get a little warmer... But they fluctuate so much, that if we want to limit the loss of lives, we will keep them where there are no drafts and constant heat = basement!

Like I said we got these little turkeys for 4H. And we got 6 of them. I would LOVE to raise turkeys, we actually eat a LOT of turkey burger. So in our quest to be able to eat healthier and be able to eat what we have raised, I would LOVE to raise them on a regular basis...

These little guys are 5 days old today, and super friendly. I love turkeys!

Do YOU have any turkeys???

So Much Happening at Once!!!

2011-03-17T11:45:00.000-04:00

I can't believe it's been almost a week since I posted last, I WILL become better!

So much has been happening since then! Last Friday we added another baby goat to our family! Iris, our black Nubian, had her baby! She only had one, which surprised me, because in the past she has had triplets. But we were good with it because we just had the 4 from Sophie! Iris had a little girl! I named her Daisy. She's a sweetheart...

Proud Mom, Black Iris and baby Daisy, 2 days old

Because Daisy was a single baby, I wanted to try to make sure she stayed warm. So I tool one of my hubby's old socks that was developing a hole in it and I made her a little sweater! I cut it in the house, so when I got it on her, I realized it SHOULD have been bigger but, it kept her warmer... But when I put that thing on her, she acted like she could hardly walk. She kept falling over and eventually hung her head so low, as though she were thoroughly ashamed.

Daisy does NOT like her Sock Sweater!

BUT, after a while, she got used to it and wandered around again with the big goats...

Isn't she cute?

Close-up of baby Daisy, 2 days old

Sophie's babies have been doing really well. Up until yesterday, we still had the one little guy in our home. But I was afraid he wouldn't get to learn much of what he needed to from other goats. I mean, he pretty much thought he was one of the HUMAN family! Plus his little legs FINALLY healed up and were doing what they were supposed to!

We re-joined him with his mother and siblings, and SO far everything is going well... He has now learned to play fight bumping heads.... Big fun!

Here are some pics from a few days ago of some of Sophie's 3 that weren't in the house...

Sophie's babies- Grace (left) and Buddy

Sophie's babies all tuckered out from playing!

The little black and white female on the bottom of the last pic is Sunny.

They are all doing so great and I have been loving the experience of having babies on the farm again!!! I have been milking a little bit on Iris, because she doesn't have enough babies to relieve the milk supply. On the weekend, we will probably be separating the babies from the mom's and bottle feeding all of them... It took me an hour to do chores this morning, only having to bottle feed ONE. It may be taking a bit more time in the future!!!

Padme, our other little female that is possibly bred, looks as though she COULD have a baby or so, but we will have to see. She could have a baby any day, but it may also be another few weeks. We don't have the exact date from the lady where we had them bred. So we will just have to keep and eye out!

I will be bringing you MORE pics really soon!

We Have the Season's FIRST Babies!

2011-03-11T18:28:00.001-05:00

Babies asleep

Last night, I had prepared dinner and was getting ready to go to an important leadership meeting for our church's Women's Ministry, which I was running. My husband comes in from the barn, and he tells us that we were probably going to have babies tonight. He said Sophie had some wet stuff on her bottom (one of the things I told him to watch for). So I scarfed my dinner and went down to the barn, within probably 5 minutes. When I got down there, she had two "bubbles" from the sac coming out already!

I RAN up to the house, because the boys REALLY wanted to see the babies being born. I ran in and told them the babies were coming NOW! And I ran back down (and you KNOW this was important, cuz I DON'T RUN...), and found she was pushing. The boys got down there in time.

They were in time to see the little front hooves of that fist little baby sticking out. I was there ready to remove the sack off the babies faces. The boys were excited but slightly scared for the situation, so I was able to explain about what was happening, and what would happen next.

We ended up on the THIRD baby, yes third, having a little scare. His head came through and she kept pushing, but just couldn't get him out. She stopped him while his head was out but his body was still in. I got worried pretty quickly that this might cause some damage. So I grabbed him and gently started to pull when she contracted. The big boy slowly started to come out so I stopped pulling. He stopped at his back legs. And she wasn't pushing anymore, so I pulled him the rest of the way out. He ended up being big!

As I was taking care if THAT big guy, she was cleaning him up, and I saw what I believed to be the placenta coming out. I didn't pay much attention to it, because I was focused on her NOT stepping on her babies. Then my son said, "MOM! It's another baby!" In shock, I looked back and sure enough there layed baby number 4!!!

As soon as I gave some instruction to my husband who wasn't prepared for all of this, I ran to the house and changed my clothes. Then left for my meeting, smelling like a goat. And still in shock that our Sophie had 4 babies!

Charlie and Koen

Right now, all of the babies are doing well. The one little "big" guy that had gotten stuck, he doesn't have his land legs yet. I think it is from being stuck for a little while. So we brought him in the house, and are bottle feeding him his mommy's milk. He is a little sweetheart. Boys have already named him Charlie.

We ended up having 2 boys and 2 girls. The first boy paved the way for the rest of them. Check out his markings:

Sophie decided to have her babies on the coldest, windiest night of the week. So we woke several times in the night, and hubby even mad them a little "nest" so they could stay warmer. That was about 3:30 in the morning.

This morning the babies in the barn, all seem to be happy. I got in the pen and pet them, and they didn't get all upset like they wanted to eat or anything. Little Charlie that is in the house was starving at 6:30 am when my boys started waking up. So I went down and collected some milk from mommy, and brought it up, giving it all to that hungry little fella.

It's going to be a busy couple of weeks bottle feeding all of these babies, but it makes you smile to see those little tails flicking back and forth when they are happy...

Seed Winners! (Finally!)

2011-03-07T09:35:00.000-05:00

Sorry about the delay in the drawing.... As usual, life just gets busy! And STILL no babies! Though she is having a tougher and tougher time getting to her feet everytime I go to the barn to check on them....

Anywho! I went to Random.org and drew some numbers!

Here are my winners!

Here are your random numbers:

4
7

Timestamp: 2011-03-07 14:21:04 UTC

That is Dodi and Curbstone Farmstead!

Congratulations! You SHOULD be receiving an e-mail from me soon!

Thanks to everyone who entered!

No Babies Yet...

2011-03-04T10:31:00.000-05:00

I didn't realize I had been gone so long! More days than I would like! I have been busy planning new things with our Women's Ministry at our church and a few days helping out at our church, so I guess I lost track of days! I will get the names for our seed drawing up soon.

But, in all my busyness, I guess it's good we haven't had any babies yet! Though, the one mommy (Sophie) is looking pretty ready, she was acting pretty strange when I went down this morning also. So we will see if we have babies soon or not! She is quite a bit bigger than the other female who is due in another week...

Our sheep are needing some attention before they have their babies at the end of the month too... I need to shave around their bottoms and their utter. It makes it a lot easier for birthing and for babies then to find mommy's milk!

So much to do, but looking forward to those babies!!! Do you have any babies yet???

Preparing for Babies

2011-02-25T12:08:00.001-05:00

Within the week, we should start seeing the baby activity from our goats! I am so excited! I LOVE babies. Love, love, love!

Last year, when our sheep were pregnant, I was NOT prepared. I knew they were going to be having their babies any day, but I didn't really have anything to prepare MYSELF. God created animals with a motherly instinct, and most mother animals do just fine on their own to deliver and take care of their young ones. But having animals on my farm, I feel that we have taken them out of that "natural" element , and making them more dependent on humans. So, we need to be prepared to assist if necessary.

Plus, when I went down for the first time last Spring and found that my sheep was in FULL labor, I freaked! I ran around like a chicken with my head cut off, trying to gather things and to call my friend who was more experienced in animal births.

So this year, I am determined to be more prepared. Each year, I will probably discover more of what I want and don't want, maybe some better ways to do things, but for now I am sharing what I am doing. For you personally, it has to fit what you like and what you don't like. It all comes with experience.

So here is what I am going to have on hand for the birth of our new goats/ sheep:

Heat Lamp- This is a MUST in Indiana weather. Especially the stuff that we have right now! Make sure even if you already have a heat lamp and bulb, that you buy a NEW bulb, just in case. You MAY just want to replace it right away so you can be sure that it won't burn out after a few hours then your baby is chilled to the point of being sick...
This isn't something to have on hand, but your pen should be cleaned out well. OR you should have a separate pen to put your mommy in right before she is to give birth. That way, she has a clean pen, and less stress. She may need a friend if in a new pen. Make sure it isn't someone she will fight with!
Scissors (cleaned). This can be for any number of things... I always need them in the barn anyways, and never have them! You don't want to be running to the house in the middle of the birth!
Betadine- You can use this for the dip for a placenta after the baby is born. it helps it dry up a little fast. Or for any wounds, this is good to have around on the farm.
Garbage bag (or old feed bag)- For any trash from cleaning up a baby, cleaning up placenta, etc.
Paper towels, Puppy Potty Mats, old CLEAN towels- These are for clean-up. When the baby comes out, it helps if you can dry the baby of right away. You can lay down a potty mat to keep the baby clean while it lays on the ground. Then you can clean off all of the goo!
Baby bottles or special bottle for baby goats or sheep- These are "just in case".
Milk Supplement- This is just in case also. It is SUPER important that the baby gets the colostrum from the mother though. But if it comes to life or death, we need to get milk into the baby. Make sure the milk is approved for goats or sheep.
Special treat for mommy- Make sure you have some sweet feed or molasses or honey and water for her after all of her hard work!

Now, mentally prepare yourself for the birth! And know that not every birth is perfect. There could be problems. But I believe that God is in control of everything. So if a goat is having some issues and you try to help and it dies, it is difficult! But that is what was supposed to happen. This part is difficult for me. But knowing that God is all knowing and always in control helps me out a lot.

Hopefully this helps someone out there! Maybe showing you that you CAN have a baby on your farm! You don't have to be afraid! If I can do it, you DEFINITELY can! If you have any questions, feel free to ask. Like I said I am an amateur, but have been through it twice! I can point you in the way of an answer or help you out if I can!

Vacation Blog for Big Families

2011-02-24T08:55:00.000-05:00

Alright, I haven't had enough to do, so I decided to start a new blog! OK, before you dismiss me as being crazy...( which I pretty much am, but let's not make any judgments yet....) this is another subject that is easy for me! Big families on vacation!

After going on our recent vacation, I realized that "normal" vacations are usually a cookie cutter type vacation: hotel room for 4, resort or park passes for 4, dinner plan for 4... even car rentals are a standard 4-5 passenger vehicle.

SO what can a bigger family do for vacation? Or what if you want to travel with your extended family? Well, our new blog will hopefully help out with that! Big Family on Vacation will hopefully address all of those issues and show you options to what all is out there are far as vacations for our bigger families! And traveling as cost efficiently as possible!

Following in the footsteps of my mother, I have become skilled in packing and planning vacations for a larger family! It's a challenge and I really enjoy it...

If you would, check it out and let me know what you think! I am also going to try to keep track of coupons, and special deals for families to use... Because that is right down MY alley! :)

Thanks!

Come back tomorrow as I show you how to get ready for having baby animals on your farm!!!

School All Summer!?

2011-02-23T09:17:00.000-05:00

Ice and Snow!

Oi! The weather... I'm not really sure what I can say about it, that hasn't already been said over the last few months. This Winter has "seemed" to last so long!

We had the temporary thaw which was pleasant, while it lasted, but now the snow and ice is back with a vengeance!

My boys have now missed so many days of school that we are about 2 weeks further into the summer! Our date was already pretty late (June7th), but now I think we've missed so much that we are going to be there until the 16 or 17th! If we miss another day or two, we could be jumping into that next week!

My son Austin is already afraid that we are going to be having school over his birthday (June 23rd!). And we might not be too far off that!

Weather for the next 2 days show that we could have some more potentially bad weather on the way! Snow and ice mix for Thursday and Friday....

I wonder if the school would just let us homeschool our kids so we don't have to miss half of the summer...

Anyone else missing a lot of school this year???

Close to Baby TIme...

2011-02-17T13:45:00.000-05:00

Well, my illness is much improved and just dealing with a cough and a little stuffiness. Which is TOTALLY do-able compared to what I was working with! Giving me more motivation and a little bit sunnier side to things is the warmer weather we have been experiencing!

It is a high of 58 today, so snow is starting to melt! The mud is a little less than desirable, but I can definitely deal with it. It's just nice to get out from underneath all of that snow!

We are about 2-3 weeks out from experiencing our first babies on the farm this year! Our goats are getting bigger, and it was ESPECIALLY noticeable when we were able to bring them outside today into the pasture!

The white goat (Sophie, my first milker!) and the black (Iris, 3 year old that I just bought in the Fall) are looking pretty huge. The little brown one (Padme, my son's little female that he bought as an investment with his 4H money from last year) doesn't look as big. BUT, she was a few weeks behind the other 2 and this would be her first baby. So IF she is pregnant, I am only expecting one from her, but these will be the first GOAT babies born on my farm, so I can't really make any accurate predictions, seein' that I have NO IDEA! :)

I am going to be giving the girls their CD &T shots this weekend, so they and their babies are all ready. We also need to clean out their pens badly. These three have figured out how to unlatch a pretty tough gate latch for their pen, and open it all the time. Bad thing about this is that they have FREQUENTLY gotten into the food, and gotten the squirts... :( SO, the pens need a good cleaning, though it is pretty large pen and they waist a lot of their hay, it still looks pretty clean...

I will definitely keep you up to date on the progress of these mommys! DO you have any baby goats coming on YOUR farm?

Spring Fever- Garden Giveaway

2011-02-15T10:55:00.000-05:00

I was just putting together my seed order from Pinetree Seeds. I ordered with them last year, and was very happy with my order and with the seeds I purchased. They had MANY types of heirloom seeds and MUCH cheaper prices than you find many other places.

I am having a bit of Spring Fever after just coming home from Florida where things are starting to green up, and now there is a little bit of a thaw going on in Indiana. So I am placing my order, and I wanted to get a little something extra for some of my friends!

So, I am giving away a $5 gift certificate for Pinetree Seeds to TWO lucky winners! Most of the seeds from Pinetree run from $.95 to $1.50, so with $5 you could get over a thousand seeds for any of your favorite garden veggies!

I just wanted to show my appreciation for all of my "friends" here!

Here's all you have to do:

1st Entry- Share what kind of garden seeds you would buy! You can check out Pinetree Seeds to see what a wide selection they have.

More Entries:

Follow this blog, and then leave a comment that you follow!
Follow us on Facebook, and then let us know that you follow us there too!
Share this giveaway on YOUR blog. Leave a link here so I can check it out!

That's it! This giveaway will close on Wednesday, March 2nd, 2011! So enter today!!!

PS- Pinetree is not sponsoring this giveaway. I am personally giving these certificates away.

Ugh! Sickness!

2011-02-11T10:37:00.000-05:00

I had big plans for this week on here, but I ended up getting sick on Tuesday with a headache, body aches, cough, sore throat, and did I mention body aches???? Yeah, it's been fun... I guess it's going around but, why did I have to get it now? I'm still not caught up from being home from vacation! Well, today I just have a headache and chest cough that doesn't feel so hot, BUT I am at least able to get up and do somethings! So I'm done complaining... Sorry. :S

I DID want to share with you two things, before we head into the weekend.

One is that on my vacation I told you I was blogging for i.seeKissimmee.com. They have finally gotten some of the posts that I did, up and going! So see what I did each day. Go HERE!!! Tell me what you think!

Also, you MIGHT want to come back Monday, because I have a review and giveaway for you! So make sure you visit back here by Monday, and get entered! You're gonna love it!

Party's Over...

2011-02-07T21:40:00.000-05:00

That's right, I'm back! And still trying to recover from not sleeping at all the first night and just a little the LAST night of vacation! Poor me, right? Ha!

From the pool of the house we rented, at dusk.

Well, we did have a great time, but we can't LIVE on vacation, can we? Though I would love to try it, reality of life calls us back. Plus, who can leave some of the precious furry faces that we have at home? Not me!

Well, we arrived back LATE on Friday night, well I guess more like EARLY Saturday morning! It was crazy going from Florida, who is starting to have their Spring with all of their grass starting to green, to Indiana where everything was covered in a few feet of snow! Talk about a big change!

When we got home...

But, you quickly get used to it, though I hate to hide my skin now, because I actually FINALLY have some color on it! Lilly White is NOT a color, tan... now that looks nice! But, we have to hide our tans under socks, and sweaters. Oh well...

I have to tell you though, that I am excited to be back, and excited to share some fun things that we will be doing in the coming weeks and months. And maybe some giveaways! Woot! But that will all come soon. Well, after I get the house back in order and when I catch up on that sleep... Don't worry, it won't take long. Until then, I want to hear what kind of weather you've been having... Please share, I want to know I didn't loose all of you while I was away!

What kind of weather have you been having? Any snow? Spring like weather (jealous!)? Please share!

Comin' Home Soon...

2011-02-03T21:20:00.000-05:00

Ah vacation.... Well, it is coming to an end for us...

I am now packing and with in 38 hours we will be back home, in blizzard beaten Indiana. I look forward to getting back to seeing how all of you are doing also! I will try to post something on Monday at some point.

Until then, I will leave you with a few pictures from our vacation.

Talk to you soon!

On the way to our Character Breakfast with Mickey!

My boys on the beach

Mickey and Me!

Koen on the Beach

Hibernation

2011-01-21T08:15:00.000-05:00

With highs in the teens and lows in the single digits, I could SO easily hibernate!Animals on our farm all snuggle down in their beds. The chickens don't leave the "warmth" of their coop or barn. Everyone else stays in their "homes" and don't leave unless they hear me coming. Then they come out and make their noises, so I feed them faster...

Then after they chow down most of what I brought them, they head back to their little warm areas. I won't see them wandering in the pasture. Sometimes you will see the sheep, but my hubby figured out that they don't like WIND. So, if there is wind, you WON'T see the sheep either!

So, right now I need to work myself up and BUNDLE myself up to go outside. Once I am out there, I am usually fine, with the exception of my freezing fingers. All those buckets of water back and forth get those gloves WET and not too enjoyable when it is so cold out! Then I LOVE coming back in to stand in front of the fire. Ahh! SO warm!

Hope you are all staying warm!

Country Gal, Big City

2011-01-18T08:41:00.002-05:00

As I sit in front of my computer this morning, my boys are enjoying another 2 hour delay (NOW CANCELED! Ugh!). It is a little warmer out this morning, but we had some freezing rain last night.... Oh I can't wait for the Spring, the green grass, plowing my garden, picking those first strawberries...

But until then, my family has been planning our trip to Florida. I have been planning a trip for about 2 years, and this last Spring, my husband's family decided they were able to go also.

So, now here I am, dreaming of warmer weather.... And it is actually within my reach! So, how does a country gal leave the country for a week and enjoy time in a "big city"? Well, luckily I actually LOVE to VISIT bigger cities. My hubby, uh, not so much... You have to "mentally prepare" him for months in advance to be able to make the trip. He doesn't like crowds and when you have crowds and are toting 4 kids, it CAN be a little nerve racking!

We have some good friends from our church who are going to be lovin' on our farm babies, while we are away. They themselves are a 4H family and if they had more land, I think they would have many more animals also. Right now they have chickens, rabbits and dogs! I appreciate their willingness to drive to our home 2 times each day to care for our babies. Thanks Carrie & family!!! <3

As of today, we have 9 days until we leave to DRIVE to Florida. Approximate drive time = 17 hours. And we are driving straight through! We will be leaving when my sons get out from school and driving straight through to get there about 8 AM! Can we do it? YEAH we can!

From about age 12 to college age, my family of 7 would drive yearly to Florida in a small minivan. Every seat was filled, under the seats, and no roof carriers! We even took a lot of our own food to save money! How did my mom do it? Well, planning, planning, planning... And a lot of smart packing!

So, we've washed the poo off of our sandals and packed them away in our suitcases... (hehehehe!) We are ready to take a trip to the big city for some warmth and definitely some fun with family. Next Friday, you will start to see my posts HERE, at I See Kissimmee. Daily I will have posts on there telling what our family did, where we ate, and how much fun we had! Along with lots of pics!

Until then, you will still see posts from me here... So keep coming back to watch our farm life... :)

Poor Turkey...

2011-01-17T09:18:00.000-05:00

Well, if I hadn't shared it before, our Turkey made it through Thanksgiving and is still with us! She is a sweet thing and has been enjoying the snow!

Until about a week and a half ago... Not sure what happened but Turkey must have gotten stepped on by the goats or something and wasn't able to walk anymore. My husband's first thought was that he was going to have to cull him, but like a few other animals that we have had, I just wanted to wait and see what's going on with them. She can still MOVE her leg, but she just couldn't stand on it or walk on it.

On Friday of last week, she started to stand on it, but still couldn't walk too well on it. So we are waiting to see how she is going to do. Don't know if it was/ is dislocated..... but not sure either how to fix a dislocated leg of a turkey! If she doesn't get better, we are going to have to do what we are gonna have to do, because it isn't fair for her to be kept around suffering because we don't want to get rid of her.

I am just hoping she gets better!

Walking to the barn

As for the rest of the farm, it's just slow. COLD, and slow. Not much excitement. I just look forward to the warmth of Spring and Summer!

New Year's Resolutions?

2011-01-11T16:07:00.000-05:00

I know, people usually don't want to admit that they do this, but it IS kind of good to sometimes have a "check" of ourselves, and re-evaluate how things are going in our lives and even in our homes and farms.

So I thought I would share a few (until now) unwritten and unspoken things I would like to change on my farm and home this year!

As being relatively new to the "farm" thing, I think it is good to always question how I can do things more efficiently and even more naturally. I plan on being more "deliberate" with my garden this year. As in, I am planting things according to their "freezability or can-ability". So less of the cuccumber/ mellon thing... More of the rotational garden that can be "kept" thing... I am keeping with NO chemicals on my garden. I am soon going to be ordering my seeds, and I am BEYOND excited about the thought of Spring again! This year our strawberries will be ready, and I am so excited about those also. Especially with NO chemicals. I pick from a local farm that is surrounded by farm ground that sprays their fields. So you HAVE to know there are chemicals there.

In the barn, I hope to keep things pastured. And feeds being natural feeds, when necessary. We really don't have the option of organic around where I live, with out a HUGE price tag and shipping... I am excited to be having our first baby goats! I will be letting them nurse from their mother for a week or a little more, THEN I will be milking the mother and bottle feeding the babies their mother's milk. Bottle feeding will help with the friendliness of the goat. Which will be GREAT for 4H. I hope to shear my sheep again this Spring, and take in all of the wool this time to have it processed, I am excited for the potential of my own yarn! What to make, what to make....

In my home, I hope to keep with making cleaners, and to learn how to make more. I am planning on more organic in my cupboards too. I have been gradually trying to do that, so as to not break the bank. I want to continue to make things more in the kitchen. My family loves it, and I feel SO much better about knowing the ingredients.

Overall, SIMPLE. SIMPLE! I am a simple, mother and wife. I live on a farm. I get my feet and hands dirty. I want my boys to be healthy and HAPPY. I ADORE my husband. I am a child of God. Beyond that, there isn't much else. Keep it simple. Keep LIFE simple.

What are YOUR resolutions for the new year for your home and farm? Please share!!! Let's encourage each other in this process this year!

On the Farm

2011-01-07T10:15:00.000-05:00

I hope all of you are having a great New Year! My #3 son was born on New Year's Eve, and he just turned 6! Caden is my sweet little man that loves to be a big helper. So a late Happy Birthday to him!

On the farm, we got rid of all of the ice! It all melted off and was only muddy for about a day. Which is very do-able! Then it froze up again, and was very nice! The night before last night, it started to snow again. And now we have a thin layer of snow on the ground.

Our Farm, this morning

Temps have been in the teens at night and the 20's during the day. I can deal with that as long as it isn't windy! We had some windy days, and combined with the cold, it was NOT nice to work in! In fact, it is hard to BREATHE in! Ugg!

All of the animals are doing good, and we have been getting more eggs! Even though it has been so cold, and many people in our neck of the woods aren't getting many eggs right now. Our feed seems to be working well, and I am going to keep mixing that up for them as long as it works! Prices did just go up at the mill again, so there is a bit of a pinch, but hopefully with egg production UP, we can make up for some of that...

Our baby Layers

Our baby layers are still in a "brooder", but when I open the gate to it in the morning and evening, they LOVE to come roaming outside. So while I do chores, they wonder around outside. And DON'T want to come back in when I'm done! We actually also have some meat chickens still! They are almost 14 weeks old! They are ready to be butchered in 8 weeks, and usually die when they get to a certain age, because things just start giving out. Hopefully their life is a testament to how good of care they are getting!! My hubby has been going out and butchering 4-6 at a time, but it is just SO cold, and some of them were a bit smaller, so we are letting them eat to get a bit bigger. The ones we butchered last week, the one was so big that I couldn't fit it in a gallon baggie. So we cooked it up for supper. The meat was still very good! There are 4 more, I think, to butcher. And they are currently living with the baby layers. Everyone seems to be getting along just fine!

Puck, our Jacob male, is getting HUGE!

Well, instead of just chatting about it, I need to get out and take care of them this morning! Time to bundle up! Brrrr! It's a chilly, SNOWY 18 degrees out right now! :)

Sorry!

2011-01-06T18:54:00.000-05:00

Sorry about my absence! I am just getting a quick note on here tonight, to let you all know I had no Internet! Out in the boonies where I live, there are not many options to Internet service providers. We have been called by companies who say they are SURE they could get us connection, then when they test it, they can't!

Anyways, our Broadband card got broken by one of my sons running into it on our computer. We finally got a new one, and here I am a week later, apologizing again!!!

I hope to be able to publish something tomorrow, so I can share what we are doing here on our little patch of dirt (er, I mean snow...). Thanks for holding in there! Talk to you all soon!

Gone Too Long....

2010-12-27T13:47:00.000-05:00

Hello Friends! I wasn't counting on being "gone" for so long, but with my boys being off school ALL last week and preparing for Christmas, I started a blog entry but didn't finish it! :(

I wanted to touch base with you all now though, and ESPECIALLY to wish you all a LATE Merry Christmas! We were busy, BUT it was wonderful to get together with our families. We hope yours was great as well! It is wonderful to get to REALLY be able to share the reason for the season, with our children especially. And it is really amazing to learn what great things that their Bible class is teaching our children! We talk about things of importance quite often with our children, but it is REALLY great that not just our church is supporting us in this. Because they were able to tell us some of the great things that their teachers in their Bible class shared with them. (Yes, their PUBLIC school DOES teach an optional Bible class!)

We have been busy here in our little farm, and it is actually REALLY cold right now too! My husband and I were talking and it seems like in past years, it would snow and then it would melt off. It would snow, then melt off again... It would continue and do this on and off all winter. But last winter and THIS winter it STAYED and didn't melt off, so no chances for that slippery ice to melt. In the barn yard, the ice is starting to build up. When we empty the buckets (morning and evening) to give each area fresh water, we toss the water outside. The bad thing about that is, the water freezes into ice. And the ice outside the barn is building up!

We are also a bit closer to baby time! We have started to feed out female goats some grain. When they get closer to baby time, all animals need to gain a bit more weight so they can support their growing babies (in the belly then after they are born!). Right now we are just feeding the goats a little each day, but mid January we will have to up it to about 1 lb per day per goat. At that time we will probably start feeding our sheep a bit of grain too, then increase theirs around Mid February.

It is also good to keep their grain up for a while after birth, to keep the mom healthy. We feed grain until the Spring grasses are coming in really well, for the sheep (because we don't milk them). But the goats, we actually will leave babies with their mother for about a week, then take them away and bottle feed. These babies will be bottle fed for a few months, and will be VERY friendly and loving animals when we are done! Great for 4H! :)

Cows are getting bigger everyday also. Can't wait to have our grass fed beef! I absolutely HATE buying beef from the grocery store. It tastes horrible, and the beef with "less fat" is still SO greasy! I can't stand it.

The chickens are still producing well also. That is if our dog doesn't squeeze his skinny butt through the chicken door, and eat the eggs... If we make the door any smaller, the chickens won't be able to get in. We need to find our dog a new home, but we haven't been able to do it yet. So for now, we have to try to figure out how to keep him away from the coop, it's not working so well. But we ARE still getting enough eggs...

Well, that's all I have time for right now. But I will be back soon, I promise! Hope to get back to check out some of YOUR blogs this week too and hearing how things are going for all of you! Have a beautiful day!

Family Vacation: Disney Vacation

2010-12-15T08:36:00.000-05:00

Yep. We are making the BIG trip. We are going to go to Florida. Our family has been planning for this for about 4 years now. And now we have the pleasure of being able to go with our EXTENDED family. Yes! We get to go with my in-laws! In all, there are 4 families (adults and kids!). And we are going to venture to Florida at the end of January 2011!

Caden and I in July 2009, Fort Meyers Beach

So, how can a "frugal" family make a trip like this? Well, like I said we have been planning for this for about 4 years. When we were buying and remodeling our house, we ran everything through a Disney Chase Credit Card, then right away were able to pay it off with our loan. Doing this, we were able to earn 1% back. Doesn't sound like much, UNLESS you are running money through for remodeling a house! We were able to save so much that we got 1- 4 day adult ticket and 2 - 4 day children's tickets to Disney PAID FOR! And right now, we have another $80-90 waiting on a card to be redeemed at the parks, for parking, meals, snacks, etc... Our card (and planning!) really helped us pay for this trip! I don't always SUGGEST a credit card, but when we were paying it right away, it was great to be able to earn the 1% while not racking up bills.

So, what else?

Don't forget the OJ! My niece Aiva and Caden

Well, there are SEVERAL sources to watch for deals on. You can also get coupons, etc from these sites. But check often on them, and read through thoroughly, so you can soak in all of the info that will pertain to your family!

Check out these sites:

On those 2 sites is a WEALTH of information! They really keep you up to date on all things Disney AND MORE!

1997 Christmas with my sisters! Ah, the memories of Disney!

We won't be staying in a hotel this year, but we are going to be getting a house. We went with FHVR.net. This will actually be the second year we have used this company, and have been EXTREMELY happy with them. With several families, you can pay LESS than you would be able to pay in a hotel, PLUS you have your own private pool and hot tub, even game room in most instances.

As time gets closer, you will hear more from me on how we are preparing our 4 boys for an 18 hour drive! Believe me it CAN be done, and it doesn't have to be stressful! Also, other money saving tips coming in the next few weeks!

So, if you love the warm weather, but didn't know how to get started, hopefully this helps! Like I said, more info is coming in the next few weeks! If you have an questions until then, feel free to ask!

The Weather Outside is Frightful...

2010-12-13T11:16:00.000-05:00

But the fire is so delightful... And I want to hibernate right beside it! As many of you know, the midwest got hit pretty hard by Winter storms. And Indiana didn't get as much as other places but we are still stuck inside, well, to a certain extent. Church was canceled yesterday, and school was canceled today... But chores are NEVER canceled.... In fact, they become harder, as you probably know!

Here was the view of our backyard yesterday morning:

And here is the view of my walk down to the barn this morning. It was actually lighter, because I made my trip a little LATER because of boys being home...

Here are my Jacob ladies outside. On Saturday, they were put all back together and the males were put together (for the first time). Calvin, our new male actually escaped, because Puck is a little pushy... and kept trying to fight him! So he is now in with our baby goats...

Here is Koen, he went outside yesterday with his brothers and dad, and he looked in at me in the house...

Here is the result of the blowing and drifting snow... BEAUTIFUL!

My hubby had to dig a way for his work car to get out of the drive this morning. It was parked right behind our truck, and he had to dig through a snow drift. You can see the roads aren't looking too hot, and even drifting in many spots...

Well, I was hoping to go to the grocery today (Mondays are usually my day) BUT, I will just hang out at home today, and FINISH with my holiday decorating, and some cleaning of course!

Tomorrow, I will share with you about our vacation coming up! And some info on how YOU TOO can get great information for your vacation!

Until then, we will try to stay warm, and we hope you do as well! Have a beautiful day!

What is Your Favorite Christmas Movie?

2010-12-10T10:42:00.000-05:00

I'm an oldies gal... I would LOVE to have lived in the 50's- early 60's. So naturally, I guess, my FAVORITE Christmas movie is "It's a Wonderful Life"... My SECOND favorite is White Christmas... I love the story lines, I love the simplicity of life then. And in "White Christmas", I love the singing and dancing!

Which movie or movies do you love to watch this time of year, and why? Please share!

Winter is Officially Here!

2010-12-09T08:56:00.000-05:00

Hi Friends! Today has been the first day that I haven't had a bunch of running to do during the day, so I am going to get some blogging in today! And what a beautiful wintery day to stay in.... Well, kind of. Of course, I need to go and get some chores done yet... which will be C-C-COOOOLLLLDD! But it sure is pretty to look at. I suppose I will enoy it when I get back into the house, standing in front of our corn burner...

So, all week here in Indiana, we have gotten snow! Everyday it drops a little more. And this weekend is supposed to be even more! I love to look at the beautiful snow, and I even enjoy the snow at Christmas time. But I am DEFINITELY not a cold weather person. I am very much a warm weather gal. So when I go out, I freeze quickly, and I take forever to thaw out!

But enough complaining! I have been getting quite a bit done, for Christmas anyways. There are still a few things I would like to accomplish before the big day, but am glad to have MOST gifts done, and planning getting done for get togethers...

I finally have some pictures today! Here are 2 from putting our tree up:

Boys all ready to decorate the tree!

Koen, the little ham in the front, wanted HIS picture taken!

And here are some pics from our farm this week...

This was taken at the end of last week. We got a bunch of rain!

Our first BIG snow day Monday. The animals weren't sure WHAT to do!

Turkey (yes, she is still around!) hiding out in the barn!

After Monday's snow, I broke out the cover-alls, and went to work doing my chores...

Our Jacob pair, Myst and Calvin, scarfing on some hay.

The sun coming up this morning, over a snowy farm.

Our finished tree this morning, with a beautiful backdrop!

In store for me today is running to the mill (one of Koen's favorite trips!), and staying home, making Christmas cookies and MAYBE some noodles. I also need to catch up on some laundry, I started last night, but it NEVER seems to end! Can I hear an AMEN!?

I also want to share with you all about our vacation that is coming up in about 7 weeks! Yep, we are going somewhere warm! I will share real soon! Until then, have a beautiful day! I need to go bundle up and get outside to do some chores! See ya later!

DO It Yourself, Waterer Heaters

2010-12-03T14:38:00.000-05:00

Last year, you MAY remember I posted a link for making your own waterer heaters. I was reminded of this, when our chicken's water started to freeze this last week. My husband asked if we still had those heaters. And as far as I knew, we did. Hubby found them, and they are STILL in great working condition! Even after storing them in our barn this whole year!

We put it under our NEW chicken waterer, which is a metal one...

And it works great. So far, with temps reaching to the near teens, I have yet to go down and find I have to chip the water out of their waterer.

To find information on how to make your own waterer, go through my link HERE.

This year, we replaced the bulb, but didn't have to replace anything else! These, of course, are for smaller waterers. But I have also used them under waterers for my sheep, the waterers were larger, and when it got REALLY cold out, it didn't work as well. It works the best if you can get the same circumference of tin as your waterer....

Hope you enjoy this idea, and have as much fun making one of these as I did!

Getting All Decorated for Christmas...

2010-12-01T12:12:00.000-05:00

Right now, I am sitting in the midst of a MESS! Since we were all sick over the long Thanksgiving weekend, we didn't get to do any decorating, but TODAY my friends, TODAY is the day!

I am moving furniture and sweeping under everything, dusting and such... I don't like to bring new things in on a bunch of dust/ dirt! So, here I sit, on my "lunch break"... ;)

We will also be getting our tree tonight I hope! We go to a Christmas tree farm that is about 5 miles from our home. Very nice family. We also LOVE the smell of pine! They also plant hundreds, if not thousands of trees each year. And hubby has gotten baby trees to plant on our farm the last few years.

To add to the "Christmas-y" feel here in Indiana, it is snowing, and has been all morning. It's colder than, well, something really cold.... :) And it wasn't "fun" doing chores this morning, but everyone was glad too see the ice off of their water! YES! It is COLD! The snow seems to be sticking too! The boys are loving it, I'm sure!

Well, lunch break is nearly over (I'm such a stickler!), so I better get busy! Pictures of my beautiful mess will come soon, as well as more pics from the farm. Until then, have a WARM and beautiful day!

Our Girls are Here!

2010-11-29T15:07:00.001-05:00

Well, after a month and a half, we finally got our Sophie back, along with our 2 new goats! If you remember, we took them to be bred at a near by farm. And now, I HOPE they are all three "with kids"... hehehe!

Here is a pic of our little and BIG ladies:

From left to right: Sophie, Padme` and Iris

They are all very sweet, and I look forward to many gallons of milk from them! :)

Speaking of that, I have researching goat's milk soap and natural soap recipes, and I SO want to make soap! I think with as fast as we use soap around this place, it would definitely be worth the effort! Any of you make soap before? Any tips?

Well, it feels good to once again have milk goats in the barn. And it will be nice to have their fresh milk in our fridge! Now we look forward to the end of February for BABIES!!!

Long Week

2010-11-29T08:25:00.000-05:00

First of all, I want to apologize for being neglectful to my blog! I actually have a couple posts started and one post that was SUPPOSED to come up last week! But, We had the FLU run through the house last week... And it ran through with a furry! My husband, who is usually pretty healthy and doesn't get sick, GOT SICK! We had one son home on Monday last week, with the flu. Then Thursday started the snowball of everyone else, including myself! Luckily, we didn't have any engagements until Sunday!

In the end, everyone in my house got sick EXCEPT for the littlest one! Which is ironic, because he is a thumb-sucker. And he is into EVERYTHING.

But, we thank God for healthy bodies, and quick recoveries.

So, I will go back and revise anything that needs revised and I will be posting later today, one of those posts that was supposed to come out last week! Check back!

See You very soon!!!! :)

Homemade Thanksgiving

2010-11-22T10:29:00.000-05:00

Alright, Thanksgiving is in just a few days, and I want to hear what you all are making! Preferably, I want to know what YOU have raised on your plot of dirt, and are serving on your dinner table (or A dinner table)! Or items that you made completely from scratch!

Yesterday, I had a get together with MY family and the plan WAS to have our turkey that we have raised, but hubby's overtime and other activities, we ran out of time... So had to go with a store bought turkey... (Thanks Jennie-O!) But, we DID have our potatoes (mashed potatoes) and corn. I also made bread from scratch and had some of our homemade strawberry jelly with it... Next year, hopefully I will have more time and be able to MAKE my own stuffing. There is an elderly lady from church that makes WONDERFUL stuffing and I hope to be able to learn from her! My family also brought some yummy goodies also, which made for a delicious meal!

So now, how about you? Since we won't be able to (or have time to link up on Thursday for "From Scratch...", let's see what all you will be doing now! If you don't have a link, leave a comment in the comments area. I would LOVE to hear what you all are making!!!

From Scratch...

2010-11-18T13:11:00.000-05:00

Hey! It's Thursday!? Ahhh! I can't believe my week has been flying by! Right now, I am posting this at almost 1:00pm, and I have been literally running all morning! But enough of the complainin' and on to the good stuff!

So, Thursdays are when we discuss/ share what we have made from scratch in the past week! So, right now I am going to TRY to remember what I have made in this past week!!!

Pizza : homemade crust, ground turkey, organic mushrooms, cheese and homemade sauce....
Granola cereal...
Deer Roast, organic carrots and potatoes from our garden
Grandmother Bread
Homemade chicken noodle soup
Homemade brownies (from a homemade mix!)

I think that is it! Nothing that we eat comes from a "boxed meal". Most everything is in some ways "from scratch".... And always try to keep it healthy and mostly organic!

So, now it is YOUR turn!!! If you can link up and share what you have made from scratch this week, OR share by commenting in the comment section! I look forward to hearing what you've made!!!

Farm Goin's Ons...

2010-11-17T19:45:00.000-05:00

I know it has been almost a week since I posted, which I try not to do! But things around our home have been busy and around the farm have been slow.... Not much to report. Also, not much time to report it. I am STILL working on information that I got from the Purdue Extension office on Goats and Sheep, the classes I took a few weeks ago. I'm sorry it is all taking so long, but life takes a front seat!

So! What has been going on? Well, a few things, I guess. We sold our two little Jacob rams, which I was hoping we'd be able to do instead of having to butcher them. I know that we will do that on our farm, but I wasn't ready for these sheep to be butchered. I guess I was just hoping to be able to have these not only as a business, but also as a conservation of these animals. I hope we succeeded in that in this past week.

Our front pasture now seems pretty empty. But not for long. We have little Max and Annie in the front pasture, and they will soon be joined by 3 other ladies! Which should be here any day.

Our little layers, we moved outside and they are getting along just fine! The temps have been getting to freezing during the night, and they are all staying cozy and warm in their little hut.

They are also sharing the hut with our broilers. Each with their own side. The broilers have about 2 weeks to go, I can't believe how the time has flown... I am SO very thankful for being able to raise them and to have that meat this winter.

Speaking of meat, it is quickly approaching Thanksgiving, and many months ago I had purchased 7 turkeys. Today though, I only have one of them, thanks to a wild barn cat. Now "Turkey" is like a pet. She loves us, and we love her. The boys all say that they won't eat any if we butcher her for Thanksgiving... And they are kind of right, it's hard to have ONE animal, and to not get attached... So, as much as it pains me to say it, she will probably be going to the big pan someday soon...

On a lighter note, my little lettuce is still growing well in the kitchen window! It is 1+ inches now, and getting bigger! You can tell it LOVES the sunlight! It's all leaning in that direction. I will maybe have to rotate the pot... I cannot WAIT to have fresh lettuce again!

I also just got my seed catalog that I sent for. I am already circling all of the things that interest me, and hopefully I will be ready to order the first of January! Ooooh! I can't wait!

How are you all doing???

Beautiful Days...

2010-11-11T11:12:00.000-05:00

While these beautiful days last, I am trying to get some outside work done! It has been in the mid-60's, and by the weekend, it will be dropping to the 40's around here in Indiana. So, on my plate today is the chicken coop! I want to get a good cleaning done before the "stuff" freezes to the floor. Plus the "girls" like to push hay out of their boxes, and I need to replace some of that...

Also today, I MAY be selling my two Jacob rams... A gentleman is coming to check them out today, and may be interested in both of them. We will see! I hope we can sell them in time to get our goats back home. The two little males are kind of "lost" right now. Not really having a Home of their own. We have them in with the little goats right now. The space is so big for these 4, that they don't even socialize! But when our 3 girl goats come home, we will have to put them in the same pasture, and I don't know how that will work. May have to move the boys if they aren't gone at that time!

Also, on my plate today is HOPEFULLY some laundry. Our septic system has been running a little slow, so we can't use anything that uses a large amount of water. Today someone is coming to take a look at it, and hopefully today they can get that figured out without much money out of pocket!

I have a post coming tomorrow about some classes I took through Purdue Univ. Extension office on the care of sheep and goats. I hope to have some info that may help some of you learn some new things, just like I did! It was great information!

Well, time to get back to work! Are you enjoying some nice weather too?

Guess What is Growing?

2010-11-09T10:14:00.000-05:00

Remember, I planted lettuce seeds on Friday morning?

Well, check out what is ALREADY growing in my kitchen window! After only 4 days!

Isn't it BEAUTIFUL!?

Australian Yellow Leaf Lettuce

Daylight SAVINGS? And My Barn Helper!!!

2010-11-08T11:29:00.001-05:00

Alright, so our clocks SAY that we got an extra hour in, but I don't feel it! My kids get all messed up which makes for a tired mom and dad. And when there is a tired mamma, time seems to go by much faster than it should!

It really seems as though I have LOST an hour!

SO it is WONDERFUL when I get help around the barn with my chores! Lately, here has been my helper:

Wait, here she comes...

She heard the door shut from the house...

She's been doing this for a little over a week now. She LITERALLY follows me everywhere! I thought at first, it was because she wanted food, but I fed her several times in several different places, and all she did was follow me!

Her name is Peppercorn. Her friend is a little more timid, and her name is Salty. They are both "Silkies".

I DO enjoy their little fluff faces in the morning!

Do YOU have a little barn helper?

Growing Lettuce INSIDE!

2010-11-05T11:45:00.000-04:00

I live in Indiana, and in the Winter, if you want lettuce, you have to buy the nasty lookin' stuff in the store. Well, this last summer, I finally figured out (it wasn't hard!) how to grow lettuce in my garden successfully, and it was AWESOME! My boys loved it too. And it was GREAT to be able to get large amounts of lettuce when I needed it without having to pay the organic lettuce prices!

So, I am going to try to grow lettuce INSIDE this Winter!

A few months ago, I bought a container with lettuce in mind. I asked my son to fill it up with dirt for me:

Since we ARE in the house, gardening in a small container, I am using non-conventional gardening tools:

Here are the seeds that I saved from my Austrailian Yellow Leaf Lettuce:

I spread some around in the dirt, then with my "gardening tool", I "raked" them into the soil:

I then watered, and stuck my pot in a south-facing window. I can almost taste the lettuce now!

The container needs cleaned up a bit, but I think it will do quite nicely! Have you ever tried gardening inside? How did it go?

From Scratch...

2010-11-04T10:35:00.000-04:00

It's Thursday! These week has gone so quickly, that I almost forgot it was almost the weekend! When my hubby works a lot, and I have to kick it in and take on all of the chores, it makes a hectic week, but I guess it goes faster though!

But today, we are going to be sharing what we have made from scratch this week! I would love for you to join in!

Alright! Well, for MY family, like I have mentioned before, we don't do much from a box. We may do Cheerios, or boxed wholesome pasta (just pasta, not a meal) but we don't do pre-made, store-bought, box mixes. I MAY have some in my cupboard that we have got free or really cheap with coupons, but they are rapidly expiring, and I need to donate them!

On to what we did this week! We haven't done a lot of our "normal" because we have actually got together with family once this last weekend and went to a Harvest Party. But here is what we have done (if I can remember everything!):

Deer Roast and Veggies. (From a Deer my hubby got last year, just a few things left from it)
Scalloped potatoes and ham (YUM!)
Power Muffins
homemade Brownies (from Homemade Brownie Mix)
Cookies
Homemade Play-dough

Leftovers and Pasta & Salads worked good this week, with hubby working and only kids to feed. I love to make sure my kids have healthy food, but I tend to only work hard on food that my hubby will enjoy... :)

SO, what have YOU been making this week??? Please share by linking up OR by adding to the comments!

Yes, MORE New Additions! (PLUS UPDATE!)

2010-11-03T06:00:00.003-04:00

I'm sorry I was a "no show" yesterday. I told you I would share with you what the new members were going to be! I did not get ANY time to sit down yesterday! I went from boys off to school, chores, 9 am Bible Study, home for a quick lunch, to teach Junior Achievement, VOTED!, then home to make a meal for a family at church, make MY family a meal, boys home, chores, eat, Worship practice, Goat/sheep meeting at our extension office then home by almost 10pm! No time for computer AT ALL!

This last Springs baby layers.

So, I will share with you now more of my ~~craziness~~ pure genius! We are getting 50 more layer chickens today!!! Really our egg "selling" has helped feed not only our layers but also help feed our meat birds as well. So if we can continue to get our eggs for free AND our meat bird for free, just by selling eggs, I think I am going to give it a whirl! I love chickens. OBVIOUSLY. And we are hoping to get some now, so they will be ready to lay in the Spring. Never done this before, so we will let you know how it works! :)

We are getting Rhode Island Reds, this time. And I will be SURE to post pics of all 50 of the little buggers when I get them (hopefully this morning!). Talk to you real soon!

UPDATE!!! We got the babies this morning, and they are already settled in their temporary home. They will QUICKLY outgrow THIS area, and we will have to get them a new area REAL SOON! All arrived in good health! Check out some cuteness...

50 layer chicks!

Getting settled after a crazy first 2 days of life...

Aren't these gals CUTE!?!?

I will keep you all posted on these girls as they grow! Next for them, a BIGGER home! :)

Frosty, Cold Morning on the Farm...

2010-11-01T09:51:00.000-04:00

Cold morning

Well, now that it's November, I guess I need to get a new mindset. It WILL be cold when I do chores in the morning, afternoon and evening. I WILL need to wear gloves so my fingers don't freeze off, and a winter coat is a must! I cannot be late anymore to the barn, because this time of year, our grass fed animals need to have some hay too.... And if they don't get their adequate amount of hay, they MAY just escape on you. I found THAT out on Thursday morning with our cows!

Frost on the Grass

But there is still so much going on, on our farm right now!

First, you may remember I told you last Thursday I went about 2 1/2 hours away and got a new ram Jacob! Well, here he is! Calvin!

Calvin

He is a very pretty boy, he is still very scared. But I think he is getting more used to me and my incessant talking and hanging over his gate, trying to be friends! :) Yesterday, we moved our little female, Myst, in with him. It was love at first site for him, but for her, I still think she needs to get to know him more... maybe a ring on her ~~finger~~ hoof.

Speaking of which, we also moved the other 2 female Jacobs in with our other ram. It is that time of year! And this is our FIRST time of putting together pairs to breed. So we are totally hoping nature takes it's course. Because we would LOVE to have some pretty little Jacob babies in March/ April!

Our 2 females moved in with our male Jacob

We also moved out little broiler chicks outside again, just in time for the frost! We moved them into a little hut that we had out for the animals in one pasture that never got used. We lined it with straw and some pine shavings, and got a heat lamp. They are getting so large, so fast that they needed more room than I could give them in our basement! They seemed to be pretty warm when I went down at 8 am this morning, and there was one under the lamp but the rest were away from it a bit, and they seemed pretty warm in there. I am going to keep sprinkling it with the pine shavings so they keep nice and toasty.

Our baby broilers in their new outside home.

Cows peeking into the broiler chicks home, trying to figure out how they can get that grain!

This week (or maybe the coming weekend) we are going to be getting our 3 female goats back. SO we should be expecting babies from them in February or March! We will also be getting more additions to our farm this week! I will tell you all about that tomorrow! Until then, have a beautiful day, and stay warm!

Sunrise this morning

Our Broiler Babies- Update

2010-10-29T09:02:00.000-04:00

If you remember about 2 weeks ago, we got 26 broiler chicks. Going from layer chickens to BROILER chickens is a whole new ballgame. They eat a TON more ( I might mean this literally), they smell worse, and they are growing SO rapidly that if they don't get the correct nutrients that they need, they will die.

Unfortunately, that is what happened to a few of mine. I was hoping to make a mix for them, but when I went to the local mill, they notified me that one of the important ingredients (bone meal OR fish meal) was illegal for them to sell. They can sell products with it IN it, but not as a whole ingredient. Not sure if this is only an Indiana thing....? But after my trip to the mill, I came home and gave the chicks the parts that I had. Which in addition to COLD, killed off 7 of my broilers... :( Many of them lost the use of their legs.

I got them actual BROILER starter feed then, and started giving that to them and praying. Sorry at the loss of life to those poor chicks. I HATE that part of farming.

I also brought the chicks BACK into my basement, where they smell it up, BUT are alive. There was one chick, I thought was not going ot make it. It had NO use of it's legs. It couldn't get to the food or water. SO a few times a day, I was going down and helping it get drinks by dunking it's beak in the water. It knew what to do from there. Then when I put it down, I left it by the food. I did this for about 5 or 6 days. Each day there seemed to be some improvement in the chicks condition.

Today, I literally cannot tell which chick he is, he is now healthy and running around with the others.

Lesson learned. It is impossible to make the broiler chick feed with what I have available to me where I live, so I will feed them the chick starter and add the more nutritious stuff, like I did before.

So I have 19 chicks that in about 5 weeks from now will be ready for butcher. It truly is amazing. And something to be thankful for. We won't be raising any more until the weather gets nicer, maybe April or May??? I will never raise any more broilers that I have to keep inside all of the time. Raising them in the pasture is CLEANER and a whole lot tastier!

How about you? Have you raised broilers before? Have you thought about it?

From Scratch...

2010-10-28T06:00:00.001-04:00

It's Thursday! And time for "From Scratch", where we can link up and share what we made from scratch this week!

This week seemed really busy for some reason. Seemed like I did a lot of running and had a lot of chores! I hope this doesn't keep up! While you are reading this, I am HOPEFULLY on my way to pick up our new little male Jacob sheep. Of course I have to travel 2 1/2 hours away in windy/ possibly rainy conditions... Which should be fun! So, if you think about it, say a little prayer for me for safe travel. I would sure appreciate it.

So, on with the show! This week, this is what I made from scratch:

Granola! For cereal in the mornings! Very filling, very healthy!
Pumpkin Dinner Rolls. This is a family FAVORITE. Makes big batches and can be frozen to pull out later. So nice!
Baked Oatmeal. Yum! Warm, and filling for breakfast!
Homemade chicken noodle soup (from home raised chickens).
Mashed potatoes (from our abundance of potatoes this year!).
Pizza! I know you have all come to expect this one! :)
All other meals are made at home, never from a boxed meal! I use as many whole ingredients as I can, and if I purchase something, I try to make sure it is "natural" or organic.

That's it for me!

What all have YOU made this week? I would LOVE to hear! You can either link up below OR add what you've made to the comments area! Thanks! And I look forward to seeing what you have all made "from scratch"!

A Day in the Slow Life...

2010-10-26T06:00:00.003-04:00

Silkies and Mille Fleur in the morning... Eatin' Breakfast

Well, I would say more like a busy day in the slow life! I was challenged last week by Alla from Mountain Valley Farm to record MY day, A day in the slow life. As my day started out, I realized it was ANYTHING but slow! :)

Here goes!

6:40 am- I was awaken by my wonderful (but loud) hubby, and kids who insist on waking up WAY to early. Daddy makes them farm fresh eggs for breakfast. They love 'em!

7:10- The finder of lost socks, gatherer of school belongings, cleaner of 2 year olds who just didn't quite make it to the potty, settler of fights emerges from the bedroom dressed and ready to tackle my Monday morning.

7:35- Boy's Hair combed- check, teeth brushed- check, folders and backpacks ready- check, shoes on AND tied- check, money for field trip and for recorder for music- check.

7:40- Lost library book not found, and overdue and this point. Lost somewhere in the truck... AND MY TRUCK ISN'T EVEN A MESS!

7:47- Bus Arrives. Hallelujah.

7:48- 8:05- Laundry to basement, loaded, started and towels folded from dryer.

Chicken Breakfast- Early AM

8:05- Baby broilers fed, watered and a new layer of pine mulch put down in their box. Because it has been so cold at night around here, we have had to move them BACK down to the basement....

8:08- Grab a big drink of water. AH! Start barn chores... Everyone is doing well, although the mille fleurs and dog were a little miffed they were all closed in the barn this morning, but happy to run outside! Good thing I wasn't late!

8:32- Back from barn chores.

To the mailbox in the morning...

8:35- Netflix to mailbox. This is GREAT when you don't live near a town, and your movies are never late!

8:37- Make a phone call to a dear friend to see if I can borrow their livestock trailer for our new sheep on Thursday, while multitasking and cleaning the sink in my bathroom...

8:44- Multitask again- sit in front of the computer, blog and eat breakfast of homemade granola cereal.

9:30- Laundry again (oh, this NEVER ends).

9:45- Make grocery list and balance check book.

10:10- Shower time! Dress and get ready for "town". Also get my 2 yo. ready.

11:00- Early lunch of leftover homemade chicken noodle soup over homemade mashed potatoes.Check a few blogs while eating.

11:15- Out the door (also grab mail and let chickens out of their coop before I go)

12:52 pm- Arrive home from Meijer, unload groceries and unpack everything.

1:15- Laundry (told you this never ends!)

1:30- To barn- gather eggs, mix chicken feed that I bought late last week, and add more straw to nests.... Ooh Laa Laa! They LOVE that!

We LOVE our cozy nests!

2:20pm- Laundry (put some things away)

2:30- Kitchen clean-up. Kitchen HAS to be clean before I make things in it! Koen takes a nap! :)

2:55- Start baking up a storm. Making granola cereal, bake a pumpkin to use in Pumpkin Dinner Rolls, then bake Pumpkin Dinner Rolls.

3:29- Boys home from school!

3:45- Start Supper!

5:00- Dinner ready. Turkey burgers on the grill and fried potatoes on the stove. YUM!

5:20- clean-up, boys off to Boy Scouts

5:45- finish dinner rolls.

6:15- Barn Chores. Feed and water everyone, make sure all of the chickens are in their coop, and close up the barn. We got a record 24 eggs today! So in 3 weeks of having our new HOME MIXED feed, we got 24 eggs from 30 chickens! :)

New Chicken Mixture

6:45- Work on Junior Achievement (I am volunteering at my son's school), work on things for tomorrow morning's Bible Study (I go and study with some elderly women on Tuesday mornings)...

8:00- Boys home, get ready for bed... Say prayers, kiss good night, then QUIET! Ahhh!

8:30- finish cleaning up kitchen from dinner and dinner rolls! Load dishwasher with remaining items. Hubby LOVES a clean kitchen in the morning...

8:50- Check on Baby Broilers. Clean water, feed, and more clean litter. Thank God for the meat that is growing right now in my basement!

9:00 pm - Sit down at the computer and try to type up SOMETHING interesting for you to read on Tuesday morning....

At this very moment, it is 10:36 pm, and After getting ready for bed, I read from 2 different versions of Bibles (Message and NIV) for at least 2 chapters each, then praise God for another productive day. Oh, I can't wait for my pillow...

I do thank God for the willingness to achieve certain things each day. I praise Him for the group of ladies I study with on Tuesdays, I think they like me there to help them, but I like to learn from them as well... I praise God for each animal and for the roof over our heads. I praise Him for my husband's job, and paycheck. I praise Him for such a wonderful husband and for my energetic sons. I praise Him that my body is in relatively decent health, and that He motivates me each day to do better. I praise God for everything I have. Not everyday is THIS busy, but most days I TRY to keep busy doing "worthwhile" things, not always do I succeed!

This is the slow life, not because it is necessarily SLOW, but because we aren't going too fast to be thankful for the simple things in life. When you are going too fast to enjoy all that God has blessed you with, then you won't realize HOW MUCH He has blessed you with.

I am not going to tag anyone with this, but PLEASE SHARE with us if you choose to record "A Day in the Slow Life" on YOUR blog... I encourage you to share what YOU do each day!

ANOTHER ADDITION to our Farm Family??? AND Farm Tally!

2010-10-25T09:30:00.000-04:00

OK, I admit, reading this, I am beginning to think I have an illness... One year ago last summer, all we had were chickens. Like 20. Now, well, I can't even tell you how many animals we have...

SO the addition, well, we are going to make a 5 hour round trip to Michigan to get a new male Jacob sheep. I KNOW we already have more males than we need here, BUT in order to keep some "clean" bloodlines, we needed to get a male that wasn't related to our girls... We knew a year ago that this Fall we would have to get another male. So, we are! His name is Calvin. And he is a 4 horned, beautiful ram.

So I have a call in to a dear friend to see if I can borrow their livestock trailer, and I have my sister set-up to take a road trip with me! I am hoping to get it done during the day when the boys are gone at school... Hubby is too busy this time of year with work, that he cannot go either, so 2 gals and 2- 2 year olds taking a road trip! Sounds ~~crazy~~ like an adventure, RIGHT?

I will keep you updated!

Until then, I am going to count all of my animals here... because, like I said, I have no idea exactly HOW MANY animals we have... Plus I myself, am a little curious!

Here goes...

30 layer hens and 1 rooster = 31
19 broiler chicks = 19
2 silkies (chickens) = 2
5 mille fleur chickens = 5
1 turkey = 1
cows = 2
sheep, 3 females, 4 males (counting our new guy) = 7
Goats, 1 wether, 4 females = 5
Ducks = 9
Dogs = 2
Cats (outside, barns- GREAT mousers!) = 4
Bees ( I don't know we can really call this an animal, plus how MANY would I count???)

OK, I THINK that's all we have! For now! Remember November 2nd, we are getting MORE! :) I will share what's coming next week... And I just gave friend one of my goats (NOT counted in the total) and she is trading me a baby animal from HER farm... I will share that when the time gets closer to bringing it home.

So, for now we have 57 chickens (of different types), and a total of 87 animals on our farm! AH! That number freaks me out a bit, BUT it doesn't seem like that much when you are here, at least to me... :)

Well, crazy or not, we love having animals. We love not only what healthy products they produce for our family, BUT their companionship also. I LOVE going to the barn. I love talking to them, and hear them "talking" back....

Are there any more "crazy" animals people out there??? Or anyone on the "road to crazy"???? Don't you love it?! :)

Next Week...

2010-10-23T08:58:00.000-04:00

Lord willing, I will be covering a few different things next week!

One is thanks to Alla at Mountain Valley Farms. She participated in a fun little activity called "A Day in the Slow Life", in which for a day she kept track of all she did and posted them for us to see... She tagged me to participate, so I will be participating in it this week!

Also, coming up for our family is a big extended family vacation. We, as a family, have been planning for a few years to go on this vacation, then this summer my in-laws (brother /sister-in-laws, kids and mother/father-in-law) decided they would also like to go. Starting next week, I will share with you WHERE we are going, staying and playing, HOW we are doing it (financially) and other thoughts and ideas, and links for Vacationing with Family!

We also have our "From Scratch..." series, where you can share what you have been making from scratch that week! I have come across some great recipes, as well as those of you linking are sharing some delicious stuff also! You will want to check it out on Thursday!

Plus, we will be keeping you updated as to new things happening here on the Farm! And there ARE new things!

If you want to keep updated with what is going on here, please "follow" us (to the right of your screen) or add us to your Facebook (links are posted within minutes of blog posts).

We will see you next week! Have a great weekend! :)

All coming up starting Monday

Garden Fever....

2010-10-22T13:20:00.000-04:00

And so it starts.... I am itching to get those new seed catalogs in the mail so I can start planning my garden for next year.

Is this an illness? It might be.

I may have to go online and get all of those free seed catalogs and start making my lists, I will be ordering in 3 months so I NEED TO! OK, I talked me into it....

Maybe I will plant a container of salad for in the house.... I DO have one I want to bring in... And salad sounds REAL GOOD right now.

Are you itching to start YOUR gardens yet? Mine has been done for about a month now, so I am ready to go again! :) What new things are you going to do next year?

From Scratch...

2010-10-21T10:26:00.000-04:00

It is a beautiful Fall week so far, chilly in the evenings, and daytime temps are very pleasant.

Lots going on still on our little farm, and so life rarely is at a stand still. Baking and MAKING are difficult when life gets busy, BUT you make time if it's important. Tuesday I ran LITERALLY all day, run to this place then this place, then do this real quick before I have to go here. But when I got home, got kids in bed and realized it was 8:30 pm, I WANTED to have some Breakfast muffins for the next morning. So I made them! 9:30 I pulled them out of the oven, and they were ready for the next day. Crazy? Possibly, and very likely. BUT, important to me....

So here is a run down of what I made this week From Scratch...

Pizza crust (this might be on each week, as we LOVE it!). Made with homemade sauce, turkey burger, organic mushrooms, and cheese. There is enough dough that I also make breadsticks, and my boys love 'em....
Crock pot whole chicken (raised on our farm) broth, organic veggies.... (kept the broth)
Chicken noodle soup, made with save broth, noodles, organic veggies.
Pumpkin muffins (new one for us, I made it with fresh pumpkin from our garden!0
Power Muffins (double batch)
Granola. Delish!
Warm Cider, YUM! (Dump cider in a crock pot, add chopped apple sliced orange and cinnamon sticks, let simmer on low for an hour or more)
As well as most dinners, and some breakfasts being put together with whole ingredients and made from scratch...

I have much more planned for today, like laundry soap! I ran out and need to make a new batch!

What are YOU making form Scratch? Please share what you made this week, either by linking up or sharing in the comments! If you'd like, you can also use the button above that says from scratch!

Thanks for sharing!

Beautiful Fall Morning...

2010-10-20T11:46:00.000-04:00

This morning was absolutely beautiful. As the past few have been... Fall is truly beautiful.

I enjoy going to the barn in the mornings, less in the deep Winter snow, more in the warm months. Today was no exception.

Most mornings are the same, I have a welcome crew who walk me down to the barn, all the while telling me about their need for breakfast... It really IS the sweetest thing. Maybe some morning soon, I will video it.

This morning was a busy morning already, and as I am stepping into the chicken coop, I noticed I hadn't slipped on my boots, but was wearing my cute shoes... Oh well, not the first time, definitely not the last.

Broiler chicks seem to be doing alright, I think we have a few that aren't doing well though, which is to be expected. I just hope we don't have too many that way. We moved them outside in the brooder on Sunday, and they have been keeping toasty in there!

Being Fall, the grasses are dying off and we are having to start give some hay to our cows, sheep and goats. We are trying to keep them as "grass-fed" so hay will be their food through the Winter, into the Spring. They seem to be getting bigger and we DID figure their weight the other day, and on average they have been gaining 2 pounds a day, all on pasture!

Well, time to keep moving on the day! Hope yours is beautiful too!

Recipe: Crock Pot Apple Crisp

2010-10-19T07:00:00.005-04:00

I love Fall. I love everything about Fall, well except for the EXTREMELY cold days... But I love apples, which are in abundance this time of year. And it makes me want to whip up some nice, warm crock pot apple crisp! YUM!

I love fast and easy. This recipe is great because you can fix it 2-3 hours before you are expecting company, and it is ready when you are! I don't know about you, but when I have company, I want to pay attention to THEM instead of working in the kitchen!

So, I got this recipe from a book my sister-in-law got me a long while back, called "Fix-It and Forget-It Recipes for Entertaining". Now for being recipes for entertaining, I STILL have to double this recipe. And let me tell you, IF there are left-overs, they refrigerate well, and heat well for the next day! It doesn't last beyond that in MY house.

So, here it is, the crock-pot recipe for Apple Crisp:

1 qt. canned apple pie filling, OR
    2/3 C. sugar
    1 1/4C. water
    3 Tbsp. cornstarch
    4 C. sliced, peeled apples
    1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
    1/4 tsp. ground all-spice
3/4 C. quick oats (I use regular!)
1/2 C. brown sugar
1/2 C. flour
1/4 C. butter, at room temperature

- Place pie filling in slow cooker, or combine 2/3 C.sugar, water, corn starch, apples, cinnamon and all-spice. Place in cooker.
- Combine remaining ingredients until crumbly. Sprinkle over apple filling.
- Cover. Cook on low for 2-3 hours, (or will sit on "warm" until you are ready!)

**Makes 6-8 servings**

I haven't used the pie filling from the can, but the mixture above works very well. The hardest part about all of it is cutting and peeling the apples!

Hope you enjoy!

Pumpkin Collecting... And Other Fall Goodies

2010-10-18T11:35:00.001-04:00

I don't know about you, but right now in Northeastern Indiana, IT IS NICE! Not that the temps are my FAVORITE, but they are definitely pleasant. Today was showing sign of rain, but my youngest son and I went and did barn chores, rode on a combine of a nice neighbor who farms the field behind our property, and I gathered the last of the pie pumpkins from the garden. All in cooler, but very nice weather.

Speaking of pie pumpkins, Mmmmmm! I can't wait to start cooking up these babies! Those are just a few of them, the rest are providing nice decoration in my house! :) There are a few favorite pumpkin recipes that I want to bring out, and a new recipe from my sister, that I want to try. My sister started blogging, after I told her that she HAS to start blogging, because she has so many great, healthy recipes, that I can't be posting all of HER recipes. Go HERE and you can find where she has posted some great information on the health benefits of pumpkin. If you browse her site, she has a pumpkin muffin recipe that I am going to be trying today... Can't wait!

Over the weekend, we collected more walnuts from our tree, and I have honestly never kept the walnuts for our family. SO I don't know how much I will get yet, I'm not looking forward to cracking through that STAINING outer layer of the walnut. But I am looking forward to saving some major cash on not having to buy organic walnuts! :) I will post when I do those!

I also am about ready to harvest some lettuce that grew on it's own in my garden, from the lettuce I planted this summer. I am going to start a long pot so I can bring it in the house, and have lettuce during the winter! Projects, projects!

So, what are you all doing right now? Still pulling things from a fall garden?

Lots New...

2010-10-16T12:00:00.002-04:00

There's a lot going on right now! And I appreciate you all visiting, and all of your comments and support to this site. I wanted to review a few things, but make sure you check out older posts too, to see everything that is happening right now.

Our major thing I wanted to make sure everyone checked out is our new farm website. One that site, we are basically advertising all of the animals that we have for sale and eggs, meat animals and produce that is for sale locally. If you take a look, please make sure you let me know what you think. We can't change much as far as form, but the words are ours. Let me know what you think, and please be gentle! It's a little different than blogging! And I felt SO out of my element putting it together, believe it or not! So check our site out HERE.

I also want to make sure that you all know, each time I post on this site, I also post on our Facebook page with a link to the new post. Check it out on the right, and "LIKE" us. You can get updates within minutes of our new posts! Click HERE to LIKE us!

Also, make sure you get the feed to our site! Look to the left of the screen and "follow" our site! As I try to get companies to do giveaways on our site, it helps them to know that we have a lot of followers! So, if you enjoy what we are doing on this site, make sure you "like" and "follow" us! :)

As always, I appreciate you, REALLY! Thank you for each one of you visiting, thank you for your comments and your participation!

Check Out Our New Web Site!

2010-10-15T19:42:00.000-04:00

We have a new web site for our farm! And It is still in the "set-up" stages, but it's getting done! This site is for our Jacob sheep, our goats, and for any eggs, meat animals or produce that our farm may have for sale. Hopefully in the future, we will be able to tell about events that we will hold on our little farm, such as Visitor's Days or seasonal events (these of course, are looking into the future!).

Please visit the site, and let me know what you think about the information, the user friendly-ness, etc... This is a free site I am using (for now) so I can't change much of the form or set-up, but the details are all ours! Be gentle! :)

I appreciate you taking a look! CLICK THE PICTURE BELOW TO VISIT!

Baby Broilers are Here!

2010-10-15T09:02:00.001-04:00

A day later than I thought, we got our baby broiler chicks. Yes, they come in the mail! Via USPS! If you didn't know it, just hatched baby chicks don't need food or water for approximately 72 hours after they are born. Which makes it quite easy to ship them! They keep each other warm, and they are quite resilient!

So far, I have been giving them our homemade mix, not sure if I may try to get them some baby broiler mix, because I still don't have everything they are going to need in the mix that I have for them...

We ordered 25 baby broilers, and the hatchery, Meyer Hatchery out of Ohio, actually sent us 26! Woot! They must have thought one of them looked a little sickly.... But they arrived in good condition, and are still 24 hours after getting them, are looking good!

You MAY notice in this picture, that there are some babies to one side and more babies to the other... And not really any in the middle where the heat lamp is the strongest. After this picture I took the lamp up a little, because this means it is way too warm under the heat lamp. I inch it up, little by little, until we find the happy medium! If there are a bunch of babies huddled directly under the lamp and no where else, that means it's too cold and they are all trying to pile up under the warmest spot...

It also helps to have a thermometer, but after many times of doing this, we just kind of read the chicks! Then each week as they get older, we just raise the heat lamp a little higher and a little higher.... until they are on their own! In the summer time, it is a lot easier to bring the chicks out sooner because of the warm temps. In the Fall, we will have to keep the chicks under the lamp longer...

It definitely feels good to have these chicks. Knowing that at the end of November we will have a freezer full of chicken for the Winter. We only have a few chickens in the freezer now... we have one from the broilers we raised this summer, and we still have a couple from the black broilers we raised last February/ March. And to note, the black broilers- I WAS NOT impressed with. Could have been the type, but I know it would have helped to have raised them on pasture, which we weren't able to do in February and March.

All in all, I am enjoying the farm life, even as the temps are dropping... New life, food preparations being made...

I am also working on an actual WEB SITE for our farm. We will be putting our Jacobs and goats up for sale there (in the future), and eventually working locally with selling meat chickens, maybe beef, turkey, eggs, and more... I am just hoping to get it looking good, and that it will serve it's purpose, of helping sell animals to help me supplement some of our income. I will put a link up here when I get it all done, so you all can help and tell me what you think! I pray it works out!

More additions are coming in November, plus we should be getting our goats back from getting bred. It is also about time to breed our Jacob sheep! Lots happening!

Well, time to get the chores done! I have put it off long enough (it's CHILLY out this morning!!). Take care! Have a great weekend!

From Scratch...

2010-10-14T09:38:00.000-04:00

OK, kids.... (hehehe!) Sorry I am posting this a little late! I was expecting the baby broiler chicks YESTERDAY. But it took them 2 days to come 3 hours, I guess... So, now that I am done getting them all snuggled in and all of my barn chores are done, I am excited to see what you all made from scratch this week!!!

This for me was crazy! Last weekend we went to Michigan and the Upper Peninsula... We got back and Monday was my catch-up day, for laundry, cleaning, etc... I had a few other things on my schedule (I use the word FEW very loosely...) and here I am today! I think I made 3 things from scratch this week... Failure? No. We all have weeks that are busy, and as long as we STRIVE to bring healthy foods to our tables, no one can ask any more.

Here are the 3 things I made:

Pizza Crust. We just absolutely LOVE pizza! Especially since I make the crust, I make the sauce, we brown some turkey burger, add organic mushrooms, and olives, then some cheese and I have some VERY happy boys in my house! I have made this pizza crust recipe over the camp fire! I usually bake the crust FIRST. Then come back and put all of the toppings on, and then heat all of it up! YUM!
Granola Bars for our trip. Of course, I had none of the usual ingredients! NO walnuts (I just need to pick them up out of my yard now!), no chocolate chips OR dried fruit... So I added about a cup or a little less of peanut butter. I thought it was SO GOOD! My boys, well, they weren't as excited about them. SO I may just wait until I have all of the ingredients next time!
Power Muffins. OK, funny name, but a great and SUPER healthy muffin! I got this recipe from my sister, and if I can get her permission, I will share it with you soon! ;)

So, now it's YOUR turn! What did you make this week from scratch? PLEASE SHARE! You can share by linking up OR by adding it in the comments below! Either way, we would LOVE to hear from you! I also love visiting your blogs! Thanks for linking up!!!!

The Secret's in the Feed....

2010-10-13T11:56:00.001-04:00

I have mentioned on here a few times in the last 2 or 3 months, that we had been having trouble with our egg production. We had 30 chickens and were getting any where from 3-5 eggs a day! So we switched feed a few times, we tried feed from 2 different mills in the area, and from a farm supply store. Not that these don't work for other people! But, for our chickens for some reason the production dropped to one egg! And I know the ONE chicken that was laying that egg too...

Then we just went to straight cracked corn and sunflower seeds, and the productions stopped all together. We had been without eggs for about a month, and people told us that they were just molting. But, I'm not convinced. Getting 5 eggs from 30 chickens isn't great either! There was something going on.

I had read the book, "You Can Farm" by Joel Salatin, and he mentioned that he doesn't get special feed from feed stores, or spend the money on organic feed. He mixed his own. I then bought his book, "Pastured Poultry Profits". This book is basically showing you how you can make really good money on raising poultry. He is very open about all of the things that they do on their farm, and says he doesn't want to take over production for the world, he wants to help other people raise good local foods for their own communities.

In "Pastured Poultry Profits" he gives a food mix for his broilers, and in the section for layers he gives a food mix for them as well...

Because I do not have permission from Joel Salatin to write quotes from his book, I will tell you what I have mixed so far... But to find out percentages and exactly what Mr. Salatin has perfected over many years, you will have to check out his book. (I want to add here that I am getting no compensation from this! )

Yesterday, and the day before (after feeding this to our layers for 1 1/2 weeks) they have layed 7 and 8 eggs! At 8:30 this morning, before feeding them, they had already layed 4 eggs!

Here is what we are feeding our layer chickens... I hope to add a few more things but haven' done it yet:

Cracked corn, oats, soy bean meal, sunflower seeds (this was one that Joel hadn't suggested but I add because our chickens LOVE them!), oyster shell, kelp, and I occasionally add a vitamin supplement from Molly's Herbals. This supplement can be used for all of your livestock.

That is what I use! I have been able to test it now for a week and a half, and the results have far out weighted those of the different commercial layer feeds we have used. And it's getting better each day!

The cost is ABOUT the same for the feed. Except you have to buy more at one time, but you don't have to run to the mill as much! The kelp is a little more expensive, but you don't use much of it, this goes for the oyster shell and the herbal supplement as well... But it is helped by the lower cost of the cracked corn , which is the MAJOR ingredient in this mixture.

In his book, Joel outlines why he uses each one of the things that they do in their feed. He also gives you story examples of why they have had to add different ingredients! I cannot retype all of these great part of the book, unfortunately.

For the past few day, I have been excited to go to the coop again!

Here is a little of our "Routine" with the chickens also:

In the morning, the chickens have been closed up in the coop all night, I go down at about 8:30 or so and feed them and make sure their waterer still have plenty of water (and is clean!). I close the coop door behind me so no one wants to jump out, and I feed them their breakfast. If there are any eggs, I gather them so the egg peckers in the group don't get any ideas (and if they DO, they would probably have rude awakening at the golf balls that we have left out there for them!). This also keeps the eggs cleaner, so we don't have to wash off the "bloom" and poo when we get to the house. I leave the chickens in their coop until around noon, then I go and open their little "chicken door". At that time, I check for eggs again. Then, I don't check on them until around 5 pm, when I go down and feed them (and check the waterer). I call them, "Heeeere, Chick-chick-chick-chick-chick- chick- chickERS!" (trust me, they come RUNNIN'). They all jump inside, and start eating their dinner. When they do, I check on last time for eggs (sometimes there are some later layers), then close them up for the night. They DO have a light that is on a light sensitive timer, so when it gets darker out, the light comes on. One thing I DON'T like about it, is that it stays on all night. I have been looking for a reasonably priced alternative, and haven't found one yet. The next morning, we start all over again. I have a routine with my children, why wouldn't I have one with my animals as well??? :)

Well, that what I can share with you! Hopefully that helps you, but I would suggest borrowing the Joel Salatin book for the library or a friend OR buying it yourself ( I bought mine by saving up my Swagbucks for Amazon.com!).

I will keep you updated on how the chickens progress!!! (PS- After I wrote this, I went down to let the chickens out, and gather eggs again. I found 5 more eggs, pictured above! That brings me to a total of 9 eggs, and I still haven't gathered from the late layers yet!)

New Farm Additions Coming Tomorrow!

2010-10-12T09:30:00.000-04:00

Pictures from our broilers from this summer.

Tomorrow we have some new additions joining us on the farm. Well, for a short time anyways.

We are going to be getting some more meat chickens! Our meat chickens this summer were such a success, we can't WAIT to have more.

These little guys stayed inside only about a week or 2, then we put them outside in the summer warmth. Daily, we moved their brooder to new grass. I also supplemented their "broiler feed" with cracked corn and sunflower seeds. They LOVED the sunflower seeds!!!

We also raised them about 2- 2 1/2 weeks BEYOND their expected butcher date. If you read anything about broiler chickens, you see that right around the time when they need to be butchered, the chickens start getting to heavy for their frame, then they just lay and eat because their legs can't withstand the weight of their bodies. Ours, being 2 to 2 1/2 weeks OVER that butcher date, were still RUNNING around in the pasture! I couldn't believe it! Each day that went by that we couldn't spend the time to butcher, I expected there to be a dead chicken , but they were VERY healthy!

As for the meat, there was so much meat on one of those chickens that if fed my family of 6, TWICE! We could have a crock pot chicken one day and the next have chicken sandwiches, chicken noodle soup, or what ever. I gave one to my sister, and she said she had never had such a big chicken! And the taste, YUM! It really can't be beat!

So, our little guys will be coming tomorrow. We wanted to try to get some more chickens in before the weather got cold because we would like to keep them on pasture! I also have a new feed mixture I would like to try on them this time, something more natural.

Oh, and we aren't finished! We still have MORE new additions coming in about 2 weeks!

Have any of you raised broiler chickens? How did you raise them, on pasture, in an enclosed yard? How did you like the meat?

Our broilers from this summer.

Back from A Busy Family Weekend Trip!

2010-10-11T11:06:00.000-04:00

40 Mile Point Lighthouse

We just got back last night from a weekend vacation to the Upper part of Michigan... Both the upper peninsula and the upper part of the lower peninsula...

After I finish with the pile of laundry, and catching up with other chores, I will tell you all about it, WITH pictures! Plus, more planned this week! Including some of those "new additions" I was telling you about!

Talk to you soon!

Recipe: Pancake Mix

2010-10-08T06:00:00.001-04:00

I mentioned earlier this week that I have been working on finding food "mix" recipes that can make meal preparations easier and QUICKER, as well as staying healthy. Well, I came across a recipe, and as always I change it up!

I told my sons to be honest with me and to tell me if they liked these pancakes or not, and the response was with much enthusiasm! They LOVED them! Even my pickier son, who earlier asked why they were a different color, LOVED them! I was happy to hear their reaction, then I tried it and it WAS really good!

Also healthier than your typical store bought box mix! Without further ado, here is the recipe!

Pancake Mix

4 C. All-purpose Flour (I use unbleached)
2 C. whole wheat flour (I used sprouted whole grain whole wheat)
2/3 C. sugar
2 Tbsp. baking powder
1 Tbsp. baking soda

Makes 2 batches.

Each batch makes 18-22 pancakes.

To make this mix:
- use 3 slightly rounded cups of mix
- add 3 eggs
- 1 3/4 C. milk
- 1 tsp. vanilla

Mix together with wire whisk and bake on a griddle with temp of 250-275 degrees.

*** We also added frozen blueberries after we poured each pancake on the griddle.

YUM! This mix is great to make ahead and them fix up in minutes! Enjoy!

From Scratch...

2010-10-07T06:00:00.001-04:00

It's Thursday! Time to share what you are making "from scratch"!

This week I was more motivated to bake because I loved getting warmed up in the kitchen with the heat from the oven! Plus the reward of fresh baked goodies just can't be beat!

This week I made:

Apple Crisp in the crock pot! Recipe coming soon! :)
Grandmother Bread
Baked Oatmeal with Blueberries
Pancakes with a new pancake mix (recipe coming tomorrow!)
Power Muffins (recipe from my sister)

Today I am also planning to dehydrate some apples in my dehydrator. We LOVE dehydrated apples...

Now it's your turn! What did YOU make this week??? Please share in the comments or by linking up! Feel free to use the button above!

Recipe: Seasoned Rice Mix

2010-10-05T08:00:00.004-04:00

Seasoned Rice Mix

I have been on a quest for easy lately in baking. Some days it is just too much to spend an hour in the kitchen preparing food. Sometimes all I have is 15 minutes, as I come in from the barn or squeeze that shower in for the day... Because when kids come home at 3:30 pm and hubby comes home after that, the house is rockin' and we might be headed to soccer or something for church.

It is tempting to buy one of those pre-made, high sodium meals when you know those busy evenings are inevitable... But I JUST haven't been able to bring myself to doing it. What I decided to do was make some healthier, pre-made things- even if I have to figure it out on my own!

The Internet is so full of info, so I started there first! I have found several recipes! Of course "revision" is my middle name, so I always tweak things a bit. BUT, I am on my way!

One recipe I found, we have tried and approved! It is a seasoned rice mix recipe. It was GREAT with home raised chicken and veggies!

The one PROBLEM with this recipe, is that I can't locally find any chicken bouillon that doesn't contain MSG. I DID find some on Amazon.com that I am ordering. There is THIS VERSION that is Organic and THIS little bit cheaper version that is not organic. Both have no added MSG.

So, on to the recipe!

Seasoned Rice Mix

3 C. uncooked long grain rice
6 tsp. chicken bouillon granules
1/4 C. dried parsley flakes
2 tsp. onion powder
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 tsp. dried thyme

Combine and store in airtight container.

To Prepare: Combine 2 C. water and 1 Tbsp butter in sauce pan. Bring to boil. Stir in 1 rounded cup of rice mix. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes. Makes 6 servings.

I think it would also taste awesome to add some small chopped veggies like onion, carrot, peas, etc to this at the very end of the simmer! It is cheap and easy, and healthy!

Enjoy!

New Farm Family!

2010-10-04T08:00:00.001-04:00

Saturday morning, if you would have seen us, well, this is what you MAY have caught a glimpse driving by you on the road...

Yes, I am driving our old mini van, with a GOAT in the back. We have our mini van and we have our Suburban. Both '99's... But it's just easier to load a goat into a mini van! We did put a tarp down on the floor, but not always does the tarp do it's "tarply duties"... This time however, it seemed to serve it's purpose.

WHY were we in the mini van to begin with? GREAT question! Our goat, Sophie (the cute one with the long ears, pictured above), was being taken to a farm to be bred! She wasn't as excited as I thought she would be, BUT in the end, I think she liked our choice in men....

She cried for only a short time, but her new boyfriend was very gentlemanly... And I think she started to warm up to him before we left...

I took my son, Deklyn, with me because he was going to pick out a female to have bred also. He wanted to make an investment with the 4H money he got this summer. He is planning on selling a baby goat to his brother, Austin, who is going to be in his first year of 4H next year. :) Here is the little female he chose, unfortunately, she is still nameless. Any ideas?

She is the gal in the back....

She was also going to be bred by the little male that Sophie was being bred by.

Then we have our other new female. This one I have had picked out for about a month or more! Her name is Iris! She is a nice sized gal who is 3 years old. And a GREAT milker!

And here is a pic of her new man! Iris is in the center, the male is the ugly one on the right!

Then we have this little thing that we brought home with us... Yes, in the mini van. Deklyn bought this gal too, but she was too young to be bred this year. She is a real sweet heart. Her name is Annie! She looks a lot like our little wether Max and our other female Riley (both in this pic too)...

All in all, we have 3 new goats! Iris, Annie and ???... Iris, ???(no name) and Sophie are being bred! SO we COULD have up to 6 new goat babies this Spring! Add that to the 3 Jacob sheep that we are going to have bred in a few weeks, there will be no shortage of babies on our farm starting late February/ beginning of March! Oooo... will are gonna be busy! Especially with 3 goats to milk in the COLD! Oh well. It will be a huge blessing to have that much milk.

And I'm sure you won't be surprised to hear me say that we aren't done with new life on our farm this Fall! There are actually going to be MANY more additions... But we are gonna save THAT for another day!

Found Something I've Been Looking For!

2010-10-03T14:58:00.002-04:00

OK, I had once saw on a woman's blog that she has bought this long bread pan from a local market... From which I am hundreds of miles away.... Bummer. So since that time well over a year ago, I have been on the look out for a LONG bread pan. One that make bread that LOOKS more like store bought...

Well, I FOUND IT!

I have done some reviews for CSN Stores, and happened to be looking on their site, and I found it! CSN actually has over 200 online stores where you can find everything from purses, to bar stools, to bake ware, like my loaf pans!!! In fact there are SEVERAL different loaf pans, in MANY different shapes and sizes! I think I am going to be placing an order! YAY!

From Scratch...

2010-09-30T09:25:00.000-04:00

It's Thursday and once again time to share what we made from scratch this week! Hopefully now that temps are dropping (in SOME areas!), it will be easier to get into the baking mood! And if you haven't been in the kitchen for a while, this is your challenge! Make something new this week! And then share with us next week how it went! Not always are my attempts successful, but mistakes help us grow and learn!

This week, my sister and I made a trip to the bulk food store. It is always so fun to have a list of new ingredients to try in a new recipe, and then to pick them out at the bulk food store. This week my new ingredients were Sprouted Whole Wheat Flour and Sesame Seeds. I used the Sprouted Whole Wheat Flour last night in homemade pancakes and in homemade granola... It is GREAT for you and tastes good!

Some of our bulk food items.

You will also see that I have honey in the pic above. I get that from my uncle. We DO have our own honey bees, but we didn't collect any honey from them this year. We are going to leave the honey for the colony this Winter. Until then, I still need some GOOD honey to substitute for sugar in many recipes!

Last night, I was so happy to FINALLY have wheat flour, I made some of our favorite homemade granola...

A favorite in our family: Granola!

I didn't have the dried fruit, but I added mini chocolate chips.... Mmmm!

This week, I also made some muffins, and replaced the normal sugar amount with honey. SO we don't have to feel so bad about eating them! :)

I am looking forward to trying a few more recipes this week also... I will share them if they turn out to be any good!

So what did YOU make this week? Care to share? Please either link up or share in the comments!

Fall is Settling In...

2010-09-28T15:25:00.000-04:00

Though I wasn't ready for a DROP in temps like has happened here in Indiana lately, I DO love the Fall. We love the changing leaves and apples, apple cider, apple crisp, caramel apples, well pretty much anything apple... We are also getting ready for a trip "Up North". You will hear more about that next week!

It's beginning to look a lot like Fall!

But for now, things have slowed down on the Homestead.

Sophie munching on some food...

I have stopped milking Sophie. She wasn't giving a great deal of milk (as the seller had told me) when we purchased her, and her milk continued to decrease to the point where it wasn't worth my time to go out there and milk her daily! So, after I give her a good "worming" (nothing crazy- just giving her an "organic herb" wormer from Fias Co. Farm and Molly's Herbals.), hopefully she will be ready to breed! Then end of February beginning of March we should have our first batch of babies on the Farm! :) Don't worry, we have a nice warm place to be at that time! :)

Speaking of goats,we will be not only taking Sophie to be bred in the next week, but also having our new goat (maybe 2!) bred as well. The new goat's name is Iris, and we were going to go and pick her up but figured since we have to take her back in a few weeks, we should just leave her there and have her bred early... And my son also might be purchasing a goat to breed for 4H... I will let you know! :)

Here are the boys! Goats and sheep!

We have been having a time with our layers... trying to get them to lay eggs. But I think I found a pretty good recipe for them to try out... I will let you know if it works! It is INSTEAD of the commercial bags of feed...

Waiting to bust out!

Chow time!

Our bulls are getting bigger! So far as I can tell anyways... Looking to butcher them sometime next year!

It's tough being a bull...

We will be looking to breed our little Jacob ladies in mid-October! So we could expect babies from them any where from the end of March to beginning of April! Can't wait! These guys are the CUTEST when they are born! We also got them a new little "hut" (as well as the boys, in their pasture). So far they just haven't figured out what it's for! They may just think that is where I drop off treats for them! :)

Our little Charlotte born this Spring.

Our female Jacobs and their new home...

Puck... he's a big boy!

Like I said the seasons are changing quickly around here, and before we know it, it's gonna do the "S" word.... (~~snow~~) I'm NOT ready for THAT!

Changing colors!

Pond is still dry..

Ah, hot apple cider while I "work"...

What's happening on YOUR homestead?

From Scratch...

2010-09-24T11:33:00.001-04:00

Crazy morning! Crazy week!

Boy do I need to go to our "bulk food" store! I'm runnin' out of EVERYTHING!

This we enjoyed a pizza crust that I made extra, and covered then stuck in the freezer! LOVE IT! It was SO easy! Next time I make one pizza batch, I am going to make another to freeze! It was a quick and easy meal! And healthy!

Last night, I also made a small batch of apple sauce in the crock-pot. Ooooh buddy, the smell is heavenly! NO secret recipe, just cut up some apples then add cinnamon and a little sugar (or honey if you have it!).

A recipe is coming in this next week of a new favorite here in our household... My favorite thing about it is, I don't think you can mess it up! :) Love those! And I promise, more pictures of food!!!

So what are YOU making this week??? Share a link or tell us in the comments!

Genetically Modified Salmon

2010-09-23T10:04:00.003-04:00

Sounds tasty, doesn't it.

Take a look at THIS ARTICLE, and look at not only the obvious health effects, but the long term effects of the environment.... It could destroy and mutate river life as we know it! Only a matter of time!

Disgusting...

Be Smart, Not Scared!

2010-09-22T10:40:00.003-04:00

It's so easy when you start watching documentaries on how your "food" is made, and processed to just throw your hands up and say, "well, I'm gonna die some day anyways...". Or in seeing the way that commercially produced meat is raised and treated, it's easy to become a vegetarian!

And when you hear about how they have now come up with a genetically raised salmon, that is close to being approved for the masses..... Why, it just makes me mad!

So, what can we do? Our food is killing us!

There are LOTS of things you can do, whether you live on 20 acres or zero... You just have to be smart, not scared!

If you don't have land, raise what you can, WHERE you can! Be it on a balcony, in a window or rooftop, plant some herbs and veggies in planters!
If you DO have land, grow what you can. Start out with some, and as you find that you enjoy it or have more time, plant more! Don't let your flower gardens be big and beautiful, but you don't have time for veggies! It's all in priorities!

Make sure you look at the "Dirty Dozen" and the "Clean 15" to make sure you are able to put your money into food that NEEDS to be organic. Some foods just aren't as effected by pesticides, like bananas because of their removable thick, skin. Make sure you buy those potatoes organic!
You don't NEED to become Vegetarian! Shop at meat markets that DON'T ship their meat from a far... I was once in a chain grocery store and looked at the hamburger which had a sticker on it telling that it was a product of Mexico, Canada & the US! That seems SO wrong!
If you have land, make the investment of animals! PRODUCING ONES! Chickens, goats, sheep, cows, etc... We started out getting some for ourselves, but now are going to grow, because we have had people who want to buy from us! In doing this, PART of your investment can come back to you. Animals are SO enjoyable! You don't realize it until you have them. Don't believe me? Go visit a friend's farm, and ask them to take you along as they do their "chores". Then watch those happy animals! I wouldn't give this up!
Shop from the FARMER! This is the best bet yet for those without land or time to raise animals. If you can actually GO to the farm, even better. Make sure those cattle are pasture raised, make sure those chickens are free-ranged... Make sure you don't see round-up dead grass around their "natural/ organic" garden... You may not be able to grow much, but it doesn't mean you have run out of choices!
Cook and Bake! Don't be afraid! Something is better than nothing. Find a homemade bread or dish that you like to make... Ask a friend to show you EXACTLY how she makes those healthy casseroles! Find a few things that YOU CAN DO and DO IT! Why??? Well, you know EXACTLY what is in them... Better than store bought!

I'm sure there are MANY more great ideas I didn't mention, but the point is wherever you are, whatever your situation in life, knowing what is in beef and chicken for the super market doesn't mean you have to be scared. You DO still have choices!

Inspired...

2010-09-17T06:00:00.005-04:00

This Wednesday night, my hubby and I traveled an hour away from our home to see speaker and farmer, Joel Salatin.

If you are like us, and have some land, own animals and want to do better, want to be more natural, more organic... Joel Salatin is your go to guy.

In the speaking engagement Wednesday night at Albion College in Michigan, Joel showed pictures of his homestead and explained how not only most farms in the U.S. are not only smelly and many times breeding grounds for disease, but how these animals aren't being allowed to do things to their full potential, or being able to express their "animal-ness", as Mr. Salatin says.

For example, instead of having a farm where you raise cows for beef and then having to scoop poop and feed them grain everyday, and on top of that having the distinctive SMELL of a cow farm... you could allow cows to do what cows LIKE to do... They could be put on a pasture, able to forage for their own food, then each day move the cows to a new grazing area (via SIMPLE electric line). THEN, allow something like meat chickens, layer chickens or turkeys to come behind the cows , dig around in the soil, spreading around manure, and making MORE manure. After a day moving them also, following the cows... Then in a few weeks time, you won't only NOT be able to tell the animals were there, you will have more beautiful and lush grasses then you had before! Even better, unless you are sittin' with your nose over a fresh pile of poo, you won't even be able to SMELL the couple hundred animals that are on your farm!

And, oh! This CAN get better!

No disease!
HEALTHIER MEAT, EGGS, and DAIRY!
LESS WORK!!!

So, our trip was great. I am HOPING to someday go visit Mr. Salatin's Polyface Farms. I am looking forward to reading more books by him in the future, like my next one coming from Amazon.com (free with all of the Swagbucks I've earned!), Pastured Poultry Profits!

I'm a farm geek...

I ain't ashamed.

From Scratch...

2010-09-16T09:54:00.003-04:00

It's Thursday! And starting today, we are going to be sharing again what we are making "from scratch"! I cannot WAIT to see what your making this week!

Our egg production has been down, A LOT. Let's say... to zero. ZERO. Zip. Nada... So baking our usual favorite treats, hasn't been happening. Which is a BUMMER!

BUT, I have been making this delightful new recipe, English Muffins! English Muffins are one of my FAVORITE breakfasts. I used to buy these because I didn't know that they could be made! Not by regular people anyways! And it is so simple!

I got my recipe from Happy Homemaker. Check it out HERE. The thing that takes the longest is the rise time! AND you make them on your griddle! LOVE IT!

What new and fun things are you making? Care to share??? We would LOVE to see! Link up if you can or share in the comments!!!

Dinner Plate, Salad Plate, Dessert Plate...

2010-09-14T13:30:00.004-04:00

People often comment to me that it looks like I have a full plate! To which I reply, "Yes, my dinner plate, salad plate AND dessert plate are all very full!".

BUT, I have my down time, and the Lord knows EXACTLY when I need it, because He doesn't push me beyond what is manageable!

When you work at what you love and what you enjoy, it isn't too hard to get up and kick it in that day! I am not a morning person, but as soon as I wake up, the hugs that I get when I roll myself out of bed, are the BEST (yes, my boys wake up WAY too early!). It's hard to wake up on "the wrong side of the bed" when you have happy faces to greet you in the morning. And boy, I LOVE those little faces...

I consider my JOB all of the things that it takes to run our home, and farm smoothly. My husband works hard all day at work, and I will work hard all day at home, doing what I can to make things run as smoothly as possible.

It's hard to hate your job, when you go to the barn and all of the animals are happy to see you! I know EXACTLY what people are talking about when they talk about animals on "factory farms" not being happy.... Because if you, as a farmer (did I call myself a FARMER!?), took care, I mean GOOD care, of your animals, the animals themselves KNOW IT! Promise! They will produce better, have better health, and live longer for you! All because you ENJOY your job!

Sometimes housework can be unrewarding, because as soon as you get everything finished, you have to start all over again. BUT, someday... SOMEDAY, you WILL see reward from all of your hard work. Your children will have your good habits (believe it or not!). And I think there are a lot of people who think we live in a spic-n-span house ALL THE TIME, because when my boys see any type of mess, ANYWHERE, they say something about it! YIKES! It's embarrassing, but I do appreciate that my boys think our house is so clean!

NOTE: My house is not always spic-n-span! I have a very lived in home, but mostly clutter free and not dirty (as long as I can help it!)...

Gardening. Now weeds can seem like another never ending job. But when I go to my freezer or cupboards, and I see jars or baggies full of homegrown hard work, I am so proud! Proud that we stuck it out and made this year better than the last. Proud that we, as a family, pulled weeds, planted and cared for a garden that produced something great!

My Christian walk... Sometimes in a growing church (like we have), people can start feeling overwhelmed by taking part in a lot of areas. Pray about what you are to be doing! Don't just do things because they need bodies! DO it because you have a heart for it! Do it because you want to share the love of Jesus Christ with people! DO it because one day you want our Father to tell you, WELL DONE... People should see the glow of Christ in you instead of exhaustion!

Like I have talked about before, when you have a great helper, things become a LOT more manageable! My husband is beyond awesome. He does so much, and is such a great father. He works all day, and comes home to lend a hand with what I need done... Being "yoked" to a good spouse makes a huge difference in the "enjoyability" of your job!

So, when you fill your plate, make sure it is being filled with the things that you LOVE!

Life is busy, but it flies by when we aren't looking! How is YOUR plate(s) looking???

9 Years...

2010-09-11T11:06:00.004-04:00

I can hardly wrap my mind around the events of 9 years ago, even with the amount of time that has passed.

I am still in awe of the stories of the individuals who passed on that day. The bravery of men and women on those airplanes, the bravery of those men and women on the ground working quickly to try to avoid more loss of lives...

I will never forget...

Down on the Farm

2010-09-09T10:52:00.006-04:00

Sorry about the small break folks! My little guy is better, and is back to his rowdy, crazy little self!Oh yeah, and he is ALMOST potty trained!!! YAY! YAAAAAAYYYY!!! Can you tell I am SO PUMPED about that?! :)

There is so much to catch up on!

First, my oldest son, I told you that he wanted to get baptized and he did it on Sunday. We were so very proud of him! And so glad that he was ready to take the step of "stepping it up" and showing people how much he loves Jesus!

Here is BEFORE:
And AFTER:
YAY!

My 3rd son, Caden lost his first tooth! He pulled his own first tooth AT SCHOOL! Here he is, milk mustache and all... He was MOSTLY excited about the money! :)

Here he is all dressed up... Park ranger? Policeman? Not quite sure...

We have been working on different things around the homestead, because it FEELS so much like Fall... Hubby was tired of looking at the dead and dying garden... SO we yanked much of what we had. Tomato plants were still producing, BUT the tomatoes were horrible! So I know not to plant those next year! Lesson learned!

We still have our sunflowers, but those will be coming out soon, before the birds get them. I'm not sure if we will dry them to eat or if those will be dried for the chickens, for a mid-Winter snack! We also have sweet peppers. Some carrots, that are JUST about done. We also have pumpkins (the pie kind!), YUM! And we have our strawberry plants that have spread like wild fire! Can't wait for THOSE next year!!!

We harvested a bunch of Winter Squash, hopefully those will be good! I have never grown them before! I should be able to just stick those in my basement (similar to a root cellar- temps are never higher than 70 or lower than 55...). I look forward to those and the potatoes! :)

With Fall on it's way, and the temps being cooler... I am already thinking about my garden next year! I KNOW I am going to do more cool weather veggies, like peas, onions, and carrots. We don't really eat peas or onions, but I think if we had them we would! We all like them, but just don't ever BUY them... hmmm... Maybe I should start on my seed order now...

Another change that is coming, is that we are going to be getting another milking goat! Her name is Black Iris. This time, I did my homework on the seller! We will hopefully get her in the next week or so! Pictures to come! :)

Also, with Fall coming up in less than 2 weeks (yikes! already?!!), I am REALLY in the mood for baking and trying new recipes! Of course, most of them (knowing me!) are for different types of bread product! :) But next Thursday, we will be starting back up with "From Scratch", where we share links or just recipes that we love! AND share what you have been making that week! I'm ready! How about you?

Still lots of great things to come! You'll want to stick around for the fun! See ya later, alligator! :D

Weekend Briefing...

2010-09-07T14:15:00.004-04:00

So how was YOUR weekends? It was kind of nice to have that "extra' day in there!

Our weekend was as cool as 63 degrees on Friday! And it got up to probably 80 on Monday... It has been windy, sunny, cloudy, cool, warm... Crazy weather!

But we enjoyed it!

Hubby worked on our chicken coop a bit. It needed some work, the nesting boxes were less than desirable, and now HOPEFULLY they will LOVE their new nesting boxes SO MUCH they will lay LOTS of eggs! Pictures later!

My oldest son, Deklyn, who is now 9 years old, decided he wanted to be Baptized! So, on Sunday, he was baptized in a service that our church held. I was so proud! He is growing up very quickly! I snapped lots of pics, but I will have to show them another day...

Because! Last night, my littlest guy, Koen, got sick in the middle of the night. Nothing messes up a day more than waking in the middle of the night to a sick child, and then the lack of sleep, as I kept waking up to listen to see if he was doing OK... BUT, as of this morning and even into this afternoon, he is doing well. So I'm not sure if something just didn't agree with his system or what. But he is eating and drinking well today.

So, we have lots of great things going on in the next week! And I think you will love to be a part! Please come back and visit, you will be happy you did! In the mean time, I am going to try to catch up on some things...

I will see you all soon!

Labor Day!

2010-09-06T09:12:00.003-04:00

May you have a restful and fun Labor Day! We will be enjoying the day, just to catch-up on projects, and no school! Have a wonderful day!

To find out the very BEGINNINGS of Labor Day, go HERE.

Clinging to the Past

2010-09-03T09:11:00.002-04:00

Sometimes clinging to the past isn't always a bad thing.

Sometimes all of this awesome technology can get to be too much, and get to change things that SHOULDN'T be changed. Including seeds. When you engineer a seed, when you take this-n-that, and you throw out this other thing... it may LOOK like an ear of corn, but now it's inner genetics are unrecognizable as being such. (More good info HERE).

Man of us are drawing to a close our summer growing season, and look forward to what we are going to do next year. Many of you are also considering a garden for the first time next year! Whatever we are looking forward to, it is always a good thing to make sure we keep it SIMPLE.

Heirloom seeds. They are the good stuff! They are what has been around for a long time. The weak ones die off, the strong and healthy ones survive, and continue to grow. I had some pie pumpkins that I bought at a local farm. I kept the seeds last year, and planted them this year. These were obviously a GMO seed, because I got a mutant gourd out of the bunch of pumpkins. I DIDN'T PLANT GOURDS! It is on the SAME plant as the pumpkins! Genetically modified plants can mutate a do different things from year to year. SO if you want to save seeds from year to year, it is a good idea to get a trustworthy seed to start with, such as heirloom!

Inexpensive equipment. The most expensive peice of equipment I own is a rototiller. This tiller can break sod, which has been a HUGE blessing this year. We got some quotes on people coming out and tractor tilling our garden and sod for us, and it would have cost us a couple hundred dollars! The rest of our equipment is all hand tools! Spade, rake, hoe, shovel... Garden hose, cheap sprinkler. We bought an expensive one a few years back and it lasted about a year and a half with our hard water, so now we bye cheap, and it lasts the same amount of time, if not longer!

Prep your ground NOW. If you are planning on breaking new ground next Spring for a garden, start NOW! Hubby and I will be breaking new garden ground in the next few weeeks, and I am going to dump manure all over it! It is natural. It is a great way to naturally give what your soil needs. It also encourages eart worms and other beneficial insects. You can till it in now, or wait until Spring. Either way, it's good stuff! If you don't have manure on your property, check with neighbors who have animals. If they have animals, they most likely have manure that they would LOVE to get rid of!

Start looking at seeds companies, and getting their catalogs. This is probably the most fun! Get a variety of companies. Check out the prices and quantities. Make the right decision for you. Be ready and make your seed orders this Winter! I made mine in January, and I had no problems getting the seeds that I wanted AND I had the seeds in plenty of time!

Growing is IMPORTANT! Whatever you do, growing SOMEthing is IMPORTANT! If you just grow a tomato plant in your apartment window, or a few plants on a patio, THAT is something! Whatever amount is WORKABLE for you, is good. Don't try to push yourself because someone else has more of a garden. It's not a show.

Whatever you do, again, keep it SIMPLE. Gardening can be a JOY, but it can also be a burden.

I like to think back to what MY grandmother would have done on her farm as a child... She grew up during the Depression, and I always like to try to think about what they did. They didn't have big expensive equipment, they didn't have mutating plants. I also don't want you to think we have to again, seem "poor". BUT, simple can be a good thing. Getting to many things going can be pouring money into too many different things, things that don't necessarily need to BE!

Most of all, HAVE FUN! Gardening is FUN! Pulling those sun-ripened tomatoes out and serving them, still warmed by the sun, on your table is a blessing.

It may seem a ways off, but start planning now! You will be glad you did!

Answered Prayers!

2010-09-02T12:40:00.003-04:00

You can put your faith in many different things. I chose God. Because he answers prayers...

Yeah. Remember yesterday? Well, yesterday there was a 30% chance of rain. Today?

RAIN!

And it's been raining since long before I woke this morning, and has given us a BUNCH of rain. What a blessing today! Thank you God!

Rain, Rain! Where are You?

2010-09-01T07:46:00.003-04:00

Man, we here in Northern Indiana, are in BAD need of some rain. OH, it has rained in the last month, a few times.... For a short while.... Just enough to get the surface wet, and then evaporate back into the air... Bummer.

So things are suffering. My strawberry plants were starting to curl, and the dirt in my usually VERY NICE garden, is as hard as a rock. So we have been using the garden sprinkler to try too help. Nothing is like the rain though.

The grasses which feed our GRASS FED ANIMALS is starting to dry, and the only grasses left are the tall grasses. Usually around the pond there is some lush green grass, even when it starts to get a little dry. In our 4 years of living on this farm, I have NEVER seen the pond THIS LOW.

Where is the rain?

Hubby came home yesterday and said he saw a local farmer had completely picked one of his fields of corn, because it was all dried and ready... Usually, they don't pick until October... Last year there were still fields standing at Thanksgiving, and even Christmas because the fields had been too damp! Amazing how different 2 years can be!

So, in looking at the forecast in our area, I see a chance of rain today and tomorrow. I am praying that we get rain!

How about you? What is it like in YOUR area? Have you been super dry or are you getting enough rain? Hubby is praying that the hurricane is going to get us some of that much needed rain... How about YOU???

A Review in Frugality

2010-08-31T06:00:00.001-04:00

Now that the boys are back to school, I think life will slow down a little bit... at least during the day! And I am reviewing some things, like how am I doing with our money? Am I still practicing what I have preached?

As I look through different things and start cleaning out other things, I remember a few items and thought it may be helpful if I list them out. Not only for you, but for me!

Here are a few ways to be frugal:

This one is obvious to ME, and what we are currently working the hardest at... Growing our own food! Some people may argue that gardening and putting up your food can be just as expensive as buying it from the store. Well, you are right. It CAN be. But mine hasn't been. You may have an initial investment of jars and what not, but if you start plants from your own seed (pennies!) and grow the plant yourself, then stick the plant in the ground, you will be able to harvest fruits and veggies for next to nothing. Especially when you realize you don't need fancy equipment. Example: We just canned grape jelly. We had to buy more jars. So even with our invested jars, we spent about $1.50 per pint jar of jelly. You cannot find organic grape jelly for that price! Take away the cost of the jars, we will only have pennies in the whole cost next year! So consider a garden/ herb garden/orchard...
Get some animals! A very cost effective animal is a chicken. They can produce eggs for you, you can sell your extras (to make back some or pay for all of your feed money) and have organic or at least natural, free range eggs. Then in a few years when your hens get too old to produce, you can have some meat. You don't need expensive feeds, you need free range! More animals that would be beneficial: cow (pasture raised), goats (pasture raised- meat/ milk), turkeys, and more. If you cannot pasture raise animals, it will end up being more expensive, and not as healthy.
Turn off your lights! This is one we constantly struggle with. When it starts to get dark, my boys think they need every light on in the house. A way to help with this is to remove some light bulbs! We have done this in our upstairs hallway, and basement. Another way to make sure every light isn't on, walk the house. As a mom or dad, it's just a fact that kids will leave lights on. Walk the house and turn them off. I have even gone as far as taking the bulb away from my son's room because he kept forgetting to turn off the light when he went to school. When he finally got his bulb back, he thought about it a lot better!
To go along with the last one, use a clothes line! Your electric or gas dryer sucks up the money. Last year, I remember we saved about $200 during the summer months by using the clothes line. That is a big savings!
Don't buy a lot of disposable. This means disposable plates, cups, napkins, paper towels, etc. Sometimes it IS just easier, but don't make it a habit, and you can save money.
Don't buy single serving items. The costs of single serving puddings, chips, crackers, granola bars, oatmeal, etc is a rip off! Don't do it! Buy a large bag or container and split up the items yourself. You can also make your own and split it up. You can also use reusable containers instead of having individual packaging for each thing. Plus making your own is healthier! :)
Bake! Healthy. Delicious. Cheap. 'Nuf said.
Make grocery lists. Buy ONLY what you have on your list, UNLESS you see a SPECTACULAR deal that you just cannot pass up.
Make a menu plan. Make it a week in advance, and stick to it. This will make it easy to shop, and less trips to the grocery store.
Don't make a bunch of trips to the store! We live about 15 minutes away from the town where I grocery shop. So making a few trips a week would waste a LOT of gas! I only plan on ONE trip into town a week.
Figure up how much money you want to spend at the store, and DON'T overspend! This can EASILY happen. For years, I went into a MEGA grocery store, and had a list of a few items. I would come out of there having spent 4 times what I should have. Stores do this! Don't fall prey!
Keep your home and vehicle clean and in good condition. OK, I'm not talking about daily living here. I DO live in a house with 4 boys, I KNOW the reality. BUT (stay with me here), I have also been in homes that when trash is left to sit, it leaves a stain. When the stain sits, it causes bugs, you can have bacteria, and much more. If a chair leg breaks, fix it right away, don't just leave it for someone to get hurt on or to cause worse damage to the chair and have to get a new one. When you don't make sure the oil gets changed in a timely manner in your vehicle, it can cause worse problems that paying $20 (or less if your handy!) for the original oil change! Don't leave things outside to rot. Especially during wet months or during the Winter. Bring them inside, cover them, etc. Take care of what you have, and it will last you a LONG time.
Don't be afraid of coupons! For a few years now I have used coupons, not just in a casual manner, but so much so that I was saving LOADS of money on my grocery bills. Right now, I don't use the "processed food" like I did before, so I don't have as much need for coupons. So I don't buy the paper. BUT, I DO check coupons.com for PRINTABLE coupons. They still are beneficial, and I still save about $5-10. a week with my printable coupons. You can see one source I use on the right hand side of this page (scroll down a little). You can usually print 2 of those by hitting the "back" button.
Don't be afraid to STOCK UP! I love going to "bulk" stores. I usually buy 50 lbs of white flour, 25 lbs of wheat, bulk sugar, bulk cocoa, flax, (whole)seasonings, regular oats and more. This way the "per pound" price can be cheaper! And if you go through a lot of ingredients (baking for a family) then it is VERY cost effective, plus chances are you will have ingredients on hand to make most anything you want!
Wear your clothes more than once. BEAR WITH ME HERE! Clothes I wear to church on Sunday goes on a clean body to sit in a clean church. I come home, and there is NO reason to throw them in the laundry! Sometimes I wear jeans for 2-3 days in a row. If I am around the house, and not doing any "dirty work", no one knows any different! I usually wear my staple "white tank top" all of the time. To "mix it up" a bit, I wear shirts OVER the white tank. These shirts usually can be worn again also. The less laundry I have to wash, the better!

Of course this is just a basic list (there is so much more!), but hopefully helpful and thought provoking!

People actually assume that we are "normal" people, until they come to the farm! Our pastor's wife told me one time that she thought my hubby and I were kind of preppy people. Then she got to know us, visit our home, and find out what we REALLY DO, and she says she was so glad to find out how down to earth we were!

Frugal doesn't mean "poor" looking, sending your children to school in rages and eating beans and rice for meals. Frugal is all in how you want to spend your time and money.

Now that I have reviewed my own list, I need to keep plugging away and improving! What have YOU found is a great way to save money?

Favorite Books on Homesteading?

2010-08-27T11:26:00.002-04:00

Today, I am just asking a question...

I love to read, and am always looking to learn a bit more.... I have also read some awesome books on homesteading....

So, my question is: What is YOUR favorite book on homesteading??? Why is it your favorite? (I guess that was 2 questions... oops!) :)

Please share!

Thank you in advance!