This and That

It's been quiet around the homestead lately.  In between storms we've been working outside to get all the odds and ends wrapped up.  Cleaning up the remodeling debris is the worst. 

I've also been working on planting my order from Northern Trading Co. that I got earlier than I expected.  So far I've gotten everything planted that they've sent (all but my apple tree)--so that's a load off my mind.  They sent a Robin Hood rose and some hyacinth and crocus bulbs as free gifts.  Everything looks fantastic!!!  I can hardly wait for spring now to see it all grow!

Another project I have coming up is to pull up the poison ivy along the fence line to plant daffodils and the hyacinth/crocus bulbs.  The last time I attempted such a feat (in 2004) I was laid up in bed for 2 weeks afterwards with poison ivy on my face and chest (I was breastfeeding Son #6 at the time and I didn't know that I was covered in the oil when I nursed him.  He proceeded to help spread it on me though he didn't have any reaction himself--Praise God!!).  Sadly, I didn't realize that all those stringy roots I pulled up was poison ivy until after the fact because the leaves had fallen off already.

This was BEFORE it got really bad!!!

The best memory from the whole ordeal was when Son #4 said to Son #5...

"Don't kiss Mommy or you'll get poison ivy and you'll

be UGLY too!"  It still makes me laugh. 

The children constantly told me how much I looked like Gothmog

on Return of the King (Lord of the Rings)

Honestly, they were just about right!!!

It really was horrible!

They almost admitted me to the hospital but I was allowed to agonize at home on my own with the help of lots of Benedryl and some serious steriods! 

This time I'll pull the ivy while I know what and where they are and I will be prepared by wearing rubber gloves, jersy gloves, long sleeves, and pants with all of it coming off as soon as I'm done and being thrown into the washer immediatly.  Then I'll wash up with Dermoplast Poison Ivy Treatment/Wash.

I will never be without this most excellent product again!!!

It truly is miraculous!!!

I must do this dreaded job myself as I don't want anyone else to suffer if it goes badly.  I've got lots of experience in how to avoid it now while working in/around it.  I ignored pulling it up last year and it went forth and multiplied.  I cannot ignore it any longer. 

And now, on to happier thoughts.  :-)

A well camouflaged grey tree frog on our weathered window sill.

He's so cute!

Our chickens are moulting.  We've kept chickens for almost 15 years and I've never seen any look this pathetic!!  I'm giving them hard boiled eggs (crushed up, shell and all) for extra protein as well as their regular feed and scratch. 

From left to right...

Wellsummer, Americauna, Gold Laced Wyandott.

The Wyandott doesn't really appear to be moulting (the fuzz

on her tail is from the other hens pulling at her feathers.  Brutes!)

I still get an egg from her almost every day. 

But the other two are terrible--feathers missing, they're not laying

and they've lost weight.

I'll be glad when they're new feathers come in and they look

whole and healthy once again!

Just look at all those pinfeathers!!

I'm so excited about this little thrift shop find!  Dh had a pretty good day last week and we went shopping.  One of our stops was at our local Goodwill where I found this tiny little desk...

Toddler size!

As I looked closer I realized that I knew that little clown face in the

center of the upper part of the desk.

And those little red knobs.

The neurons in my brain were firing furiously.

Revelation...

I realized that I had a desk very similar when I was little.

Very little.

My most vivid memories of my desk are of wiping chalk

dust off of the inside groove where the chalkboard top rests

when it's closed.

When you erase the chalk marks some of the dust gets

caught underneath.

I can also remember the way the pegboard smelled when you

lifted the lid.

$12 for a little piece of my past.

I'm working to replace a few little things that I've lost through the

years (to our many moves as a child and getting flooded a

couple of times in my married life).

Funny how I didn't even remember this little piece of my life until

I saw it sitting there--waiting for me to come and take it home.

Now to get it cleaned up and find it a comfy spot in our home.

 I'm so happy to have this little jewel (back) in my life!

What I don't remember though is the little attatched seat.  Perhaps my desk didn't have a seat.  I'll have to see if my mom can remember.  :-)  It boggles my mind that this desk could be 40+ years old and in such wonderful shape.

It's the little things in life that give me so much pleasure.  :-)

A Nostalgic Lesson in Life

The mobile home that we are renovating isn't just any old trailer.  It has a special history to our family.  When our 2 oldest boys were just tiny things we lived there for about a year or so.  It's been "remodeled" several times so it doesn't really look the same on the inside anymore.  Especially since DH has gutted the back half!

I've gotten to tell the our younger children the story of the time that Son #1 stood up in his bed and threw a melamine cup into Son #2's crib, hitting him in the head (resulting in a nice scar above his eyebrow).  And how we had our pieces of furniture arranged.  And of the time that Son #2 had a seizure while we were watching Star Wars (#4 "A New Hope" which was technically #1 in the series at that time) and we had to rush him to the hospital in a terrible snowstorm (we've connected the dots and think that it was a bad reaction to a round of immunizations!).  The children love to hear these stories about the big brothers that they don't get to see very often anymore.

It's not hard to remember living in this mobile home.  It seems like only a short time ago.  And yet eons. 

Please forgive the poor quality of these scanned photos.  They have been through a flood.  (We saved the best of them, but we lost many.)  These were taken between fall of 1983 to summer of 1984.

Son #1 playing in front of Paw-Paw's shop (next door). 

Paw-Paw still works from this shop repairing boat motors 28 years later. 

Son #1 is not quite 2 and Son #2 not quite 6 months.

I know that they look very docile but they were a bit of a handful !

Son #1 wearing Mommy's shirt!!  What a ham!!

Son #2 with his Snoopy sling.

This picture was taken shortly before we moved.

I lifted him up to a sitting position by his arms one day

after he woke up from his nap and his shoulder popped out of socket!

It happened once more a few months later when I was swinging him

around by his arms.  Scary.  Hospital trip both times.

We would have lived in the mobile home a bit longer if the hot water heater wouldn't have gone out.  I lived with it for a couple of weeks but finally gave DH an ultimatum...  Fix it/replace it or I was leaving!!  I couldn't be expected to do laundry and bathe children with no hot water!!!  Never one to back down from a good challenge, DH let me pack up and move back to my parents!!  It's funny now with a lot of time and maturity under our belts.  But back then, in the throes of youth and emotion (hormones!!) it was very serious business!!  And to think that here we are, 27 years later, living here again and having to do dishes and laundry in cold water and heat water for baths what with our very limited electric resources (SOON to be remedied!!).  The Lord is never one to let a good lesson in wisdom and maturity go to waste!!  He is gracious to let us continue to take the tests again and again until we pass!!  Chin up.  Smile on my face.  One foot in front of the other.  Let's do it right this time!!

Our Week in Pictures

Decided to spend a little time putting some pictures up here of this past week. 

We FINALLY got to have Daughter #3's birthday party last weekend!!!  We kept trying and something would happen--namely someone else would get sick or someone couldn't be here... or something!!  But it just all kind of fell together and... Whew!!  I'm glad we finally got to celebrate this poor girls birthday!!

Momma always gets the honor of cutting and serving the birthday cake!!  It was very tasty!!  Daughter #4 did the (cake) decorating this year.

Grandson #1 "helping" unwrap gifts.  You can see by the look on his face that he has some experience with this kind of heart shaped gift.  That's the nice thing about having a birthday around Valentines Day--all sorts of sweets and love themed things to buy.

Grandson #2 trying to figure out the Sit 'n Spin.

Uno trying to figure out the Sit 'n Spin.

Cousin #2 (which is technically my Nephew #2) always cracks me up!!

Hail on our front porch.  I wasn't home for this event but Daughter #4 took this picture.  We normally don't get hail this early in the year.  And some years we don't even get it at all.  Usually it only happens when I forget to bring in my seedlings as I'm working to harden them off for planting--and they get ruined.

Nap time!!  Son #6 snuggling the puppy while Olivia keeps tabs.

As you can see, our life is kind of ho hum, but we like it this way.  On the flip side when it gets crazy (see my March 2nd post) it's pretty crazy!!  Ho hum is good.  :-)

Handmade Soap

See what I've been doing in my "spare time" (hahahahahahaha!!)...  It's beautiful, fragrant, handmade soap.   The soap on the left is Rose Petal scented (with real rose petals).  The soap in the middle is Lavender (with real Lavender buds).  And the brown soap on the right is... well, I haven't quite figured out what to call it.  I made it with cocoa butter and added some dutch cocoa, vanilla coffee grounds, and almond scent.  It doesn't really smell like chocolate or coffee or almonds.  Maybe like hot chocolate but weaker.  It is my favorite though!!  And it looks a lot darker in the picture.  My little boys loved the frogs and turtles.

I've never made anything but "melt and pour" soap before.  I had been planning to make "real" soap and had collected my lye, molds, scents and some of the oils over the past few years.  But I just never got around to making any.  So I dug out some of my soap making books--and I really liked this one by Delores Boone...

She uses the "hot process" method and I used my crock-pot to cook the soap.  It was great and even though my soaps never did what the book said it would do, it still made soap.  I hardly ever follow directions for anything but since it was my first time and I know how dangerous lye can be, I made sure I tried to do everything as close as possible to her instructions as I could.  By the third batch I knew enough of what to expect and do that I "improvised" with my additives to make the "hot cocoa almondine" batch. 

So now I have a new mania!!  I'm obsessed!! 

Playing Catch-up

Just thought I'd give an update on what's going on 'round the homestead. Grab a cup of something nice and warm while you catch up cause it's cold and rainy again here--and I feel so much better thinking of you all cozy and warm!! :-)

DH drove his parents down to our place yesterday in their RV. They'll be staying at least a couple of weeks so that we can help them out with food and stuff. My Father in law is doing great and looks the picture of rosy health. The doctor says that he can't life anything over 5 pounds so he just gets to take things easy for a while. And it's nothing for us to cook for a couple more people. When you're already cooking for 10 on a daily basis a couple more small servings ain't nothing!!

This has not been my "month" for appliances.

• First my vacuum cleaner broke down but DH managed to find a part from an old, spare vacuum we had sitting around. It worked great until I broke it again. Grrrr...
• Then my washer went out on me (needs an expensive part) and I managed to locate a free washer on Craigslist that someone wanted out of their basement. DH got it installed and discovered that the motor was locked up. Yeah, the nice little old lady swore it worked--and it did after a good dose of wd40 and some tlc. It's still working fine though we did have to tighten the belt a bit. What do you expect for an appliance that's "free"? And while the free machine works fine I really miss my awesome front loader that washes twice the clothes for half the soap. But since I make my own laundry soap the cost isn't terribly bad. It's just not as convenient to have to make it more often.
• Now my stove is out of service with one of the parts leaking gas and we have to order new parts for it too. I'm using my crockpot, a little countertop electric burner and the microwave (sparingly!) to cook.

When it rains, it pours!! We are trying to as frugal as possible since money is very tight for us right now. It certainly makes for interesting and creative moments around our place.

With the colder wet weather here now there's more chores for the kids to do. The goats have to be brought into the barn at night now and thus taken back out to the field in the morning. The sheep always stay out. We have a small shelter in the field but I'd rather play it safe than have the goats coming down sick.

I got my first (heirloom) seed catalog in the mail last week!! I've devoured it a couple of times already. A passionate gardener is either IN their garden or thinking about it!! Ha Ha!! If I could only accomplish half of what I dream up!!

Last week I discovered this amazing herbal site. I found their blog first...
http://learningherbs.typepad.com/ The videos are just great!! Thanks to their site I am now making my own soda culture!! Check it out if you are interested in herbs and healthy living. They have a free e-course too. Lots, lots, LOTS of great information.

Well, that's about all of the interesting stuff going on, aside from the "interesting" daily stuff. Never a dull moment!! ;-)

And Some More Pictures...

I told you that I had taken a "few" pictures!! :-)

My kefir culturing in my china cabinet. It looks so pretty in there--and fits in perfectly.


I've been using my crock pot a lot lately. It's so helpful to not have to worry about what's for supper in the afternoon. This is beef roast and vegetables. So yummy!! I do think that it might be time to buy a bigger one though. I always pack it a bit too full! Also, the jars to the left are chopped peppers that I dehydrated. The taller quart jar is sweet peppers and the smaller pint jar is hot peppers. I'm working on clearing out the garden and these are what was left on the pepper plants. Ya know, every time I cut hot peppers I promise myself that next time I'm going to wear gloves but I never do. This batch was super hot and I washed my hands and arms for hours after cutting them--and even used some Solarcaine spay to help ease the burn. I'm telling you, they were HOT!!


These are beautiful Moonshadow Hyacinth Asian Beans that my Uncle shared with me when we were visiting after my grandma's funeral. These are heirloom beans. He called them Jefferson Beans. Historically they were grown in Thomas Jefferson's garden at Monticello. Sharing these bits of history are a passion of mine!!


This is my tub of beautiful pinapple mint. It dries up very fine and tastes tangy. I bought a sprig at the Baker Creek Planting Festival (in Mansfield, MO) last May--and boy, did it flourish!!

Aren't these mushrooms gorgeous??? This is a shagbark Hickory stump. I was surprised to see them there. Don't know if they're edible or not.

Also, if you feel led, please pray from my wonderful Father-in-law. He is in the hospital planning to have a double or triple bypass heart surgery in the next couple of days. Thanks in advance. It means a lot to us.

More Pictures

Just thought I'd share a few more pictures...

We finally had a chance to harvest the birdhouse gourds last week. This is a big wheelbarrow full. And some of the gourds were really big!! I need to get them drying on our shelves in our warehouse so that in a few months I can make birdhouses!! :-)

Here's Son #4 and adorible Grandson filling the birdfeeders.

Son #4 hanging a birdfeeder near the woods. We love looking out of our schoolroom and watching the birds eat.

My garlic bed all tucked in for the winter. I planted 10 varieties this year.

My pretty garlic braid hanging in the kitchen from last years garlic. So tasty!!

This has been a busy fall for us. We're having "normal" weather again and trying to get as much work done as possible before winter sets in.

Why I Shake Out My Clothes Before Dressing...

Eeeewwwwwwww... Doesn't that just give you goose bumps??!!

As I was hanging up one of Son #3's t-shirts last night I spread open a spot to hang it and this guy here caught my eye on one of his other shirts. Yes, we have a problem with brown recluse spiders. We're in the country and we have "stuff"--you know, storage clothing and boxes of stored things that we aren't using right now. We also have a room that we don't use where we store said stuff. A brown recluse haven. Then there's also the barn and the warehouse too that they really love.

I've read that many people live in homes that are heavily infested and never even know that they have a problem with them because the spiders are so carefully hidden. Well, I don't go for that!! Many times I will pray as I enter the "stuff" room--or any other room--that if there are brown recluses in there, the Lord will expose them so that I might end their existence. It's amazing how many I see!! So either we are beyond heavily infested or the Lord honors my prayers. :-)

I also go on "spider hunts" for them. I'll look around and think, "hmmm, I haven't been through that box in a while" and I carefully open it up and I almost always find at least one.

One thing that also works really well are those sticky mouse traps. Tuck them into a corner and stick something in front of it. What's really funny is that sometimes the mice will come to the trap and eat the spiders off of them. And of course we do occasionally catch a mouse on them too. Ah, life in the country.

Most people think, "Just call the exterminator" but that doesn't work so well unless you plan to have them spray inside of all of your boxes and storage things. Those little buggers really do hide well.

We have all sorts of spiders running about. I'm a "live and let live" sort of person. I know that spiders have a vital function in the food chain and capture and release the wolf spiders, jumping spiders, and the other "harmless" ones that accidentally find their way into my home. But the brown recluses must die. Thankfully the black widows keep themselves contained to the barn and warehouse--and yes, those must die too. I have people to worry about!!

Have we ever been bitten by a brown recluse? Son #1 has when he was getting his AirSoft gun out of the box that had been stored under the bed. He saw the spider on his hand and was sure that it bit him. But that is the only time we have known for sure. When we even remotely suspect that someone has been bitten we use Raw Tien Chi powder (mixed with water into a paste) and then put a band-aid over the spot. We use it for any injury that looks like it might be infected or looks serious. Awesome Stuff!! (If you visit the link above, be sure that you read his stories for his own personal use of the Tien Chi powder. Very interesting reading for those of you interested in herbs and natural medicine.)

Just thought I'd share this creepy side of our lives!! And remember, always shake out your clothes before dressing!! :-)

Strawberry Heaven

Our little strawberry patch has been providing us with many baskets full of juicy, sweet goodness for several weeks now. Over Memorial Day weekend we got our biggest picking ever and I decided that I was going to preserve some of that yumminess for winter when fresh strawberries are just a memory. Normally I freeze our strawberries whole--provided that I have any left from all the sneaky little hands taking "just one more". We use them for smoothies that I make in our VitaMix. I also make fruit leather for the kids to snack on making sure that the dehydrator stays below 100 degrees so that they keep all their happy little enzymes to aid in digestion. We really do love our raw fruit!!

The picture doesn't do justice to how many strawberries are REALLY there!!

From left to right: Strawberry-banana-yogurt fruit roll ups (they were so good!!), Strawberry spread (it was supposed to be jam but it's a bit thin), Strawberry syrup (we mix it with pancake syrup to pour on top of our banana pancakes), Strawberries frozen whole--almost a full gallon size freezer bags worth.

A Surprise For Me

Yesterday when I walked into my little office I was quite surprised to find an enormous bouquet of roses and evergreen branches sitting on my desk. My first thought was "Hmmm... What's going on here?" Now mind you, I do get flowers fairly often (usually for birthdays and Mother's day) so I don't know why that thought popped into my head--except that the arrangement was huge and very expensive and I was wondering who was trying to "butter" me up. :-)

Turns out that DH had been planning to send me flowers for some time now but just never got around to it until yesterday. I had wondered why he kept calling me to find out if I had been to the office yet.

They are the most beautiful flowers ever and the whole things smells absolutely awesome with the roses and the evergreen branches. Very festive and romantic. He sent three cards with them. One said "To my best friend", another said "To a wonderful mother", and the last said "To my wife". Awwwww... Isn't that just the sweetest thing??? I confess that I was very surprised--totally unsuspecting. :-)

I feel sorry for those sad couples who give up on their marriages after a few years when the "feelings" have faded. DH and I are not old yet, though we have been married for 27 years. Some of those years have been better than others (and some have been pretty awful) but I am so thankful that we have stuck it out and have arrived at this place where we are happy to just be together day in and day out--just being ourselves and enjoying each other. Many people can't imagine being with just one person for so long, but the neat thing is that we are constantly changing, growing and maturing. The 17 year old boy that I married (at the tender age of 15) is not the same person now. And neither am I. This is so a God thing!!

Anyway, I just wanted to share this lovely gesture of my husband to show how much he loves and misses me. Only 5 more days until he's home again!!

The Most Awesome Kitchen Appliance!!

I'm so excited!! DH and I spent the night out last Friday--we usually try to do this once a month or so--and on Saturday we popped in to our Sam's Club to pick up a few things. There was a nice couple doing demonstrations with Vitamix machines. They whipped up a bunch of stuff and it was absolutely delish!! So much so that DH decided that we needed one!! We also bought the grain grinder attatchments too. So far we've made several smoothies, ice cream, some tortilla soup (that wasn't as good as we tasted at the demonstration but I'll keep working at it), a loaf of whole wheat bread and a loaf of apple, cinnamon, raisin bread.

We dabble a lot in raw foods and this will be such a help in making smoothies and mixing up stuff. I am sooooo... excited!! :-)

Sunflower Seeds

I've been having a lot of fun lately with the sunflowers that we grew in our garden this year. They were the Mammoth grey stripe variety. Normally, when we grow sunflowers I give them to the birds or chickens. This year I wanted to salt and dehydrate them for us to snack on this winter. And they turned out fabulous!!!

All we did is separate the seeds from the head, let them dry for a few days on the kitchen table, soak them in brine (1/4 cup of salt in 1 quart of water) for 24+ hours and then we stuck them in the dehydrator for 24+ hours at 100 degrees. The seeds were a little crispier than I like but still very delicious. And very nutritious too since they should still have their little enzymes (by drying them below 105 degrees) to aid in digestion.

from left to right: salted sunflower seeds ready to eat, sunflower seeds to sort, brine and dry, the mostly empty sunflower head

These sunflowers are an heirloom variety so I will be saving some of the seeds to replant next spring. The children have said that we definitely need to plant a lot more next year since these turned out so yummy. It feels really good to find something healthy the children love to snack on that we can grow ourselves.