This Year's Seedlings...

I've been having fun this year raising my seedlings. I'm still trying to use up my old seeds that I bought in 2008, 2009, and 2010.  Surprisingly many of them are coming up.

Check out these Sumter Cucumber seedlings.  I've never seen cucumber seedlings do this long legged thing before.  Too funny.  They are getting plenty of light so go figure.  They are just starting to work on their first set of true leaves.  :-)

These are my tomatoes and peppers and some herbs.  My sweet peppers were old and they have been very slow to germinate.  The tomatoes did well.  Some of them were new seeds so I expected them to do well.

We used old Christmas lights to keep them warm (an idea I saw on Pinterest)--especially at night when the temps had been dropping down into the 30s and 20s outside and in front of the window got quite chilly.  I think that helped those seeds out a lot.  And now that we're having warmer weather and strong sunlight they're really taking off. 

What do you think of my little toilet paper roll seedling starter pots?  I had a lot of fun making them.  :-)  They're potted in plastic Christmas containers.  My attempts at frugal seed starting.  :-)  I have some seeds planted in the tp roll pots inside milk cartons too.  I have some old herb seeds planted in them and hope that they will come up too.  If the seeds come up I'll post some pictures of them too.

I can't wait to get everything into the ground!

Untitled (I just couldn't think of a good title for this post!) :-)

Yesterday I was on Pinterest and saw the most gorgeous olive colored chicken eggs (for which I aim to obtain someday soon!) .  I went to the blog site of one of the pictures.  Nice blog.  Great pictures and interesting reading.  But the author hadn't updated in months.  From blogging very regularly to nothing.  No explanations.  Just nothing.  It's not the first blog that I've visited that's been that way.  I always wonder what happened to cause that person to not post anymore.  A death in the family?  Too busy?  Tired of blogging?  Did they not post for so long that they just don't know how to start again?

Busted!!  Guilt!!

There I sat, thinking about how many times I've done the same thing.  I don't go months without posting but I've gone quite a few weeks too many times.  I confess that many of those times I've just been in such a funk about our circumstances that it's hard to think of anything "worthy" to post.  You know, "if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all"?  And so it's been these past few months. 

I dwell upon (in no particular order of importance)...
Our financial circumstances continues to deteriorate.  We've went from almost nothing (very little income) to almost nothing-er.  Things are so tight that I've cut my last two convenience/luxury expenses of paper towels and paper plates out of our budget.  We do continue to count toilet paper as a necessity though.  ;-)

The weather has been cold and gloomy and that affects my mood more this winter than it has in previous years.  I long for spring but fear another horribly hot and deathly dry summer.

Our renovations to our ancient, tiny mobile home are going much slower than we had anticipated.  It's hard for DH to get much accomplished with his back always hurting and I'm certainly not skilled enough to do much of it.  We have gotten our new kitchen cabinets stained and the first clear coat on.  DH works on sanding them so that we can apply another clear coat.  They are beautiful and I cannot wait to get them installed!!  Oh, I'm so impatient!!

Our little ancient car has been giving us a lot of trouble and has broken down several times.  Today it broke down when I went to the bank and is, in fact, still sitting in the bank's parking lot.  DH has to tow it home tomorrow (it was just too cold to do anything with it today).  We have access to DH's father's van but I hope that our car can be fixed quickly and cheaply. 

Stuck on the side of the road in December about an hour from home!!

Daughter #2 thinks everything is a photo op!

I still can't find my camera and I fear that it is truly gone.  I just cannot remember for sure what happened to it that last day that we used it--Halloween when our little Dachshund Uno had an allergic reaction and we took pictures of his poor swollen little face and body.  Did we take it with us and leave it in the car and it got stolen?  Did it somehow get thrown away?  It certainly wouldn't be the first time that something valuable ended up in the trash!  Did it get stuffed in some little hidey-hole somewhere that I haven't searched?  I feel lost without it!!  And I certainly can't afford to buy a new one!!  I borrow Daughter #2's camera but it isn't as good as mine is and the pictures end up disappointing me.  :-(

Is it just me or is does it seem like the world is going a bit crazy?  I really like a calm, stable, loving environment and all the crazy stuff going on in the world gets to me sometimes.  Crazy weather, earthquakes/volcanic eruptions, government corruption/debt, little children being sexually abused or shot and killed in school...  And the list goes on!!  Jeepers!! 

In a nutshell, I'm a bit worn down by the cares of this world right now and don't feel that I have very much to offer. 

On the bright side...
One of my New Year's Resolutions this year was to craft/create more.  I've been crocheting most evenings and have a few projects that need just a bit more attention to be finished.  I'll try to post some pictures when they're complete.

We've been getting a fair amount of schoolwork done for a change.  Daughters #2 and 4 recently enrolled in the Penn Foster High School program (Daughter #2 is a bit late but has firmly decided that she wants a diploma--not a GED--and worked a housekeeping job at a resort last summer to be able to afford to enroll).  Both girls finished their first unit and received 100% on their first test.  Yay!!

I'm perusing garden catalogs/webistes and planning this year's garden.  I hope that the weather is much more cooperative and not so hot and dry.  I have lots of ideas and there are tons of seeds I'd love to buy.  So far I've ordered...

Amish Paste Tomatoes

Yellow Sweet Spanish Onions

I have a few simple projects planned for this spring.  One of them I am working on now.  I'm saving my yarn scraps to put in a suet feeder to hang on the fence for the birds to build their nests.  You can read about it over at Juniper Moon Farm...

I have a few other things on my mind as well but I'll save those ideas for another post.

I hope that I can post more frequently again.  I do enjoy blogging.  :-)

Until next time...

Miscellany Around the Homestead

Wow...  Where does the time go?  I think I must be in some secret time warp or something.  I realize that being busy has that effect on a person but this does seem excessive.  :-)

So what have I been up to?  We're still working on cleaning up the garden spaces since we kept everything going until the last minute.  It was much more easy/pleasurable to clean up the tomato cages when the plants were dead and brittle than when heavy and still green.  One advantage to procrastination, maybe. 

I've been working things out in my head as to what our garden placement will be next year.  I like to rotate everything and this year I am working toward more companion planting. 

Already I have moved my tea roses where they get more sun than in the spot we hurriedly shoved them into last year when we moved.  I've planted a semi-circle of chives around them (dividing them up and getting them out of the pot that they had grown in for the past 4 or 5 years) to help deter the pests.  I'm eager to see how it looks this summer.

I've got a couple crazy garden ideas in mind, such as... 

1) We are saving all of our empty toilet paper rolls and paper towel rolls to make our own seed starters this year.  I got the idea from Whole Larder Love...  (One of my very favorite homesteading blogs!!)

Then I found some simple directions on how to do it at SimplyForties.  It's a neat little tutorial.  :-) 

What an awesomely inexpensive and green project.  If this turns out to be as nice as the Jiffy Peat Pellets that I use I will be very happy because the cost will be about half of what I pay for the pellets.

2) I am saving all of my 2 liter bottles and will hopefully have enough to sink halfway into the ground to make a border for a raised bed for my pepper plant next year.  I plan to plant carrot seeds in the soda bottles.  There's a lot of garden projects using 2 liter bottles but so far I haven't seen my idea done.  There may be a good reason for that, right?  Ha Ha!!  But we'll see.  The hardest part will be getting DH to part with the cash needed to get some really good top soil to fill in the bed and bottles.  :-)

Some of my indoor projects have been decluttering and organizing.  I've also resumed my kombucha culturing and have begun a batch of soda culture to make some Ginger Beer (not alcoholic).  It's been a while since I've made any and I've been hankering for some.  It's so delicious. 

I am STILL canning tomatoes as they ripen.  My table is still covered in ripening tomatoes!!!  One day I thought, "How crazy!!  Who else in Missouri is canning tomatoes in November?"  But I had been complaining about not making my quota what with the drought and extreme heat that we had this summer.  When most gardeners were calling it quits we were really just getting hammered with overabundance.  The nice thing is that I have lots of green tomatoes to share with family!  :-)

When I have spare time I'm usually on Pinterest or researching herbs and natural healing.  It is my dream to someday soon open an herb store.  :-)

This Thanksgiving week will be a busy one for us with a get-together with my family and also a big dinner here at our little homestead with Son #1 and his family and also Son #3 coming in for that. 

My camera is STILL missing and I am getting worried.  The last time that we used it was Halloween day when we took pictures of our little Dachshund Uno had an allergic reaction (probably to a pecan that got dropped on the floor!) and we took pictures of how swollen up he was before we took him to the vet.  It was a mixed up and stressful day and who knows where that camera's final landing spot was.  It certainly wasn't in any of it's usual spots!  I'd really like to have my camera for the holiday!!

2nd Annual Pecan Gathereing

Yesterday we visited the Cuivre Island Conservation Area for our 2nd Annual Pecan Gathering. :-) I hope to make this a yearly event. It's a lot of fun--well, at least for me.  I took the boys along to help.

Son #4, Son #6, Son #5

Pretty little pale lilac colored flower

A beautiful fungus

It looked almost magical and I half expected a fairy to be hiding nearby.

Another type of fungus

I don't know anything about what's safe and what's not.

So I just take pictures of them.  :-)

On a fallen log at the edge of Cuivre River

A new addition this year...

Large boulders lining the sides across from the parking area.

They don't have any graffitti on them yet and are very nice.

A big hit with my boys, in fact.

Son #5 listening to an Adventures in Odyssey.

He wasn't thrilled about picking pecans.

He was hungry, bored and quite grumpy.

He really doesn't like going places.

Son #4 hopping across the boulders.

He jumped across each one of them.

Son #6

He had a lot of fun and even enjoyed picking the pecans.

There were woodpeckers everywhere.

It's hard to see but this is a Redheaded Woodpecker.

Leaving the conservation area.

Beautiful fall scene.

The sun broke through the clouds on our way out.

Our booty!

The quarter is in there for reference to the size of the pecans.

Small.

The heat and drought conditions were NOT a friend to the

pecan trees even though they were so close to the river.

The pecans to the left of the quarter are this year's pecans.

The pecans to the right are some I saved from last year.

Can you see the difference in the size and color?

And I thought that they were small last year!!

No matter.  We will use these with thankfulness

and enjoy each delicious bite!  :-)

Now my girls want me to take them out there next!!

Fall Is Around The Corner

Happy September everybody!! 

We've been having some rain lately.  Our tally from Isaac was almost 3 inches.  So that was nice.  And not a single gully washer!!  ;-)  There's talk of more rain in the forceast tonight and tomorrow.  Yay!

Everything is greening up nicely again.  Seems odd that normally, at this time of year, everything is turning brown and getting ready for fall.  What's "normal" anymore anyway?  :-P

For DH's birthday and our 31st anniversary this past week we were gifted with some money from DH's parents--and I have gleefully already spent my share of the booty!!  I was wanting to put in some fruits and ornamentals in a few of the limited spots that need some TLC around our place.  We miss our blackberries, raspberries, apples and peaches from the old place and wanted to try to stuff a few things in here at the new place.  I was searching for a small, disease resistant apple tree and discovered a new source of admiration and desire!!...

I bought (pictures are all from their website)...

Liberty Apple Tree

Small tree

Disease resistant

Crisp, sweet and tart.

Self pollinating!!

Perfect!

Elderberry Combo

2 different types for pollination.

Not only are the berries my heart's desire but

the leaves can be dried and crushed to put on

squash plants to repel Squash Bugs!  Yippee!!

Ours at the old place would have bore properly this year.

Dwarf Sand Cherry

Interesting history: A treat for the Westward

Pioneer as they crossed the Prairies.

Pink Rosa Rugosa

I've been wanting some of these for a long time

for those large, edible hips.  :-)

Mixed Butterfly Bush

Sadly, the one that Son #3 bought me for Mother's

Day a few years ago died after I dug it up when we

moved.  :-(

Chinese Wisteria

I've been wanting one of these vines for awhile but

have been afraid of how they can run wild.

I'll have to give it a go and hopefully it'll be

spectacular!

The prices were fantastic!!!  I'm going to go bonkers waiting for them to ship in November though!  :-)  My order qualified for 2 free trees so I'm hoping we'll get something wonderful!!  We shall see.  I'm excited!

Aside from this I am trying to figure out where to plant my fall garden and WHAT to plant.  I saw a neat idea on Pinterest for using an old trampoline frame for a garden coldframe/greenhouse.

The tutorial was at HowDoesShe but I didn't have any luck

getting to it.  I'm surethat DH can figure out how to design it 

easily--It's what he does.  :-)

(when he's having a good

day and isn't doing something else!)

But isn't this cool?!?!

If we decide to do this I will certainly post about it!

Fall is my most absolute favorite time of year!!  So much to do!  How about you?  Do you have any fall dreams or projects in mind?

A Birthday Gift From "Nature"

As I was wandering through my gardens yesterday evening I noticed that some of the tomatoes I had been keeping my eye on (and hoping that they would be ready for my birthday!) had indeed ripened--a couple of my Indigo Rose and some of the little volunteer hybrids (though they have remained true to the storebought parent) that Daughter #3 grew herself.  Then, to my surprise, there were some of the Chocolate Cherry tomatoes ready too.  Yippee!!!  What a delightful birthday present!!  We have never harvested tomatoes of any type this early--EVER.  So I'm super excited!  And there are gazillions more on the vines biding their time too.  I'm looking forward to a bumper crop this year!

The red tomatoes are my daughter's hybrid offspring.

The purple tomatoes to the left are the Indigo Rose (7 and 8 oclock positions).

The smaller ones are the Chocolate Cherry tomaotes.

They were totally delicious!!!  :-)

I have my 5 quart crockpot full of cucumbers culturing in brine that I will have to move to quart jars (and into the refigerator) tomorrow.  Another batch will take it's place.  I hope to be able to do at least this same amount weekly for the duration of summer and fall.  I haven't tried one of the pickle slices yet but the brine is extremely tasty!!!  I will try to post pictures in the next day or two.

Celebrating a Simple Life

"It is no bad thing to celebrate a simple life."

 Bilbo Baggins

This is what I am doing right now. Celebrating a simple life. A quiet life.  A life of not keeping up with the Joneses.  Thank you Lord.  It is freeing.

There are definite benefits to not having money. Sure, I have to cook more (from scratch, no less!) instead of running out to grab fast food because I was too busy doing who-knows-what to bother with cooking something nutritious.

And we can't afford to be out and about. But we're staying healthy by not catching everyone else's germs.

And we more often "Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without." (Boyd K. Packer) which is really cool to see how God provides--or that we didn't really need it after all.

It's a life of enjoying working indoors doing homey things and outdoors doing yardwork/gardening.  Of listening to the birds singing (you wouldn't believe how this place sounds like a bird sanctuary!!) everyday and enjoying the weather by varying degrees (ha ha!!  Pun intended!!).  It's a respite that I am grateful for.  I know it won't always be like this but I'm loving this low key lifestyle right now.


Daughter #2 was here for 2 weeks begining with Easter weekend.  The calm before her storm of having to go back to work at the resort where my sister works at the Lake of the Ozarks doing housekeeping. 

We pretty much kept things laid back but we did get in some driving time (she still hasn't gotten her license--our kiddos generally aren't in a real hurry to grow up.  And since we can't afford to get her a car or insurance this suits us for now.)

A beautiful sunset while driving.

We did some clothing alterations. Years ago I won this little denim miniskirt on eBay in a lot of other clothing. I didn't really know what I would do with it but kept it in case I had an epiphany... And we did! Daughter #2 cut off 10 inches of a velour dressy dress that used to belong to Daughter #4 that I had saved to use for scraps or a craft. She hand sewed the pleats and we sewed it onto the miniskirt for a cute little layered skirt.

We also added ruffles to the hem of a pair of denim shorts that were a bit too short.  But I didn't get to take a picture since she had to leave before they were finished.  Hopefully she'll send me a picture and I can post it soon.

On a sad note...  One of our neighbors died yesterday.  He was quite old.  A little over 25 years ago he loaned us the money to buy our first house--a serious fixer-upper on the Mississippi River slough (built on stilts).  And he was old then!  :-)  He lived a long, very productive and quiet life and was busy right up until the end.  I'm thankful for all that he's done for our family over the years and pray that his soul finds eternal rest.

A Little Miscellany

Today I will be going to pick up Daughter #2 to bring her home for a little visit. She's been feeling a bit homesick so we thought she should come for a few days. I'm sure shopping and cooking and maybe a craft project or two will be in order. :-)

She sent me this picture of her eating a deer leg. I'm sure it was delicious but it just doesn't sound all that appetizing when put that way... "eating a deer leg"  ;-)

I was looking through my picture file and realized that I hadn't posted this one yet. Such a cool sky picture!! Another one taken while out walking the dogs early in the morning. Amazing how that few minutes a day has enriched my life so much!!

This week I will be scouring the grocery stores for Blood Oranges.  Our family are blood orange freaks!!  I could buy them buy the dozens and we'll eat them up in no time!!

Photo courtesy of Simply Recipes

Now that they are in season again...  I'm planning to make some Blood Orange Marmalade over the weekend or early next week.

Since the past year had been such an uncertain one with...

sorting,

packing,

moving,

unpacking,

more sorting

and trying to make all of our belongings fit into a tiny mobile home

(still a work in progress!!)...

I haven't had time to do any canning. I've missed it terribly.

So, I'm hoping that I can work some "putting food by" into our schedule. I'd like to do some little something at least once a month--or more oftten if I can swing it.  That's my new goal anyway!!  I'll be keeping you updated.

More Garden Stuff

Seeds are happily stratifying...

Do you see my heirloom pumpkin to the back left

of this picture?  I STILL have not got around to

processing it (it's so pretty!).  And that's not all.

I have another one (plain orange) in the schoolroom

too that needs processing. 

(blush!) 

I'd like to pause time for a week (or month)

and just catch up on everything I'm behind on!!

I won these beauties on eBay. 120 seeds of Wisconsin heirloom pickling cucumbers. I've never grown the black spiny kind before. I've read lots of good things about them. Fingers crossed!!

I'm starting to go through my seeds to take inventory. So many seeds I'd like to buy but alas, no money. I will do whatever I have to do to buy these though...

Indigo Rose Tomatoes from Territorial Seed Co.

Oh!!  These are so exciting!!

Perhaps I should rename my blog "Heritage Homestead GARDEN Ramblings". ;-)

Time to Start Stratifying Seeds

I was reminded today that I needed to get my seeds stratifying--which basically means to put them through a winter of sorts.  To read about how to do it you can go here.  Some years I remember to do this but most years I forget until it's too late!!  By happy chance I came across a reminder today!!  :-)  Since we've moved I will be starting all over with many of the perennials that I had at the other place.

So here's what I'm going to put into the fridge for some chilling...

Amado Coneflower
Joe Pye Weed
Munstead Lavender
White Japanese Rose (rosa rugosa)
Valerian
Stinging Nettles

I will be planting inside shortly...

Precoce D' Argenteuil Asparagus
Naranjilla (a tropical garden berry)
Victoria Rhubarb
Australian Brown Onion
Red Burgundy Onion
Southport Red Globe Onion

The Onions will grow to be sets to place in the garden later this spring.  I've never grown onions from seed before so this ought to be interesting.  :-)  I'm also planning to sow some Stevia and grow it as a houseplant.  I've tried sowing it before and it never grew so we will see what happens.

A gardener's work is never done!!

Goodbye 2011

OK, I confess that I've been a bit naughty by not posting an update as promised. And I fully expected to get at least one lump of coal for Christmas (and I didn't!! Yay!!) :-)

I've taken a serious Internet vacation these past two months and have scarecly been on a computer for anything. Very refreshing. But my brain still looks at nearly everything as potential blog posts!! Ha Ha!! I've missed blogging and reading other blogs.

I hope and pray that everyone had a blessed holiday season!!

I thought I'd wrap up 2011 with a few pictures that I've taken during my break and wanted to share...

While out shopping one day we stopped in at a Hallmark shop and I found these...  I was SO in love!!!

I worked out a pattern in my mind and this is how it turned out. Actually this wasn't the first one that I made but this is the one that I took a picture of--it's for my daughter-in-law for her birthday this past week.

Mind you, I really don't crochet well and only know a few stitches but these just kind of came together on their own.  Sometimes I can just look at something and work it out in my head way easier than trying to follow someone else's pattern. *I* was happy with it anyway.

One day while outside (shortly before Thanksgiving) I came across this gigantic sycamore leaf.  17 inches from tip to tip.  And it was a beautiful leaf too--shiny and heavy.

Son #6 demonstrating how big this leaf was!

Look at the size of this egg.  A double yolker?

Yep (The egg with two yolks at the top is that huge egg)!!  Our family loves eggs fried in butter with the yolk all runny.  Mmmm...

Pecan Bars made with the pecans that we foraged from a nearby conservation area.  You can read about it here.  They were so yummy!!

Our micro-Christmas.  Thanks to my mom and DH's parents we got to have a little bit of Christmas this year.  These were our presents for Christmas Eve.  My youngest sister had sent presents that I kept hidden so that we had more to open on Christmas morning. 

My mom also sent us this giant goody box from Swiss Colony.  We are still working on eating all of this delicious stuff.  There was a lot of goodies!!  :-)

I saved the best picture for last...  On Thanksgiving Day I got to meet my newest grandson for the first time!!  Isn't he a total doll?  What a sweet baby!!

Happy New Year!!!

I pray that you will have a blessed 2012!!!