Our Plain and Simple Life

Testing...

2011-12-18T17:38:00.001-06:00

Just testing to see if things show up as they should.
I plan to get moving on blogging with a bit more focus...and certainty...after the holidays pass and the new year gets going.

If anyone is still here then, that is :-/

-blessings from Hands and Hearts Homestead!

What does the Bible say about caring for our old parents=?UTF-8?B?Pw==?=

2011-11-28T11:15:00.001-06:00

http://www.gotquestions.org/caring-for-old-parents.html

Blessings from Hands and Hearts Farm!

Life around here lately...

2011-11-07T10:23:00.003-06:00

Autumn reigns on the homestead. After so many months of temperatures to rival those of Hades, it's been blessed cool and crisp finally and we have welcomed every single degree of it here.

Look at those colors! Mississippi hasbeen flooded with COLOR this autumn. In our 6 years down here I have never seen so many beautiful reds, oranges and golds as I have this year. Usually the reds are confined to sumac and maybe a Bradford pear or something. This year, it's been beautiful out and I've loved it.

This is the pier at the spring where we get our water. It pretty much sums up life around here lately. There is a definite dead-end around here I just can't get around. Forget the fact that my husband, talking for a while about being finished with this work on the road stuff, has decided that he simply can't provide for his family by being home (can't lead his family by being gone, but I guess that's just how the coin drops these days)...forget my oldest daughter choosing to stay up north and lend a hand with Grandma and Great Grandma because, bottom line, she has unlimited freedom up there that I will not give here. I'm that way, you know...mean momma and all, no one is allowed any fun, it's all work work work and isolation in the sticks on the other side of the boonies here.

Things are just not going smoothly around here anymore. And pretty much, I just don't care. I'm tired of caring about any of it. I want to be an Occupy protester. I have valid points....I got married with the reasonable expectation of there being a spouse in my life, you know, through sickness, health, rich and poor, until death. I'm not dead. Talked with Dewey last night so I'm pretty sure he isn't either. Yet here I am...by myself playing single mom. I would make just as good an Occupy whatever person as those I've heard on the news feeds and such. I'm entitled to a husband at home, and maybe he should be entitled to a job with a reasonable income closer to home. See...I fit.

But, anyway...moving on...

I've been crocheting goodies (pattern for the baby hat found here), though I've frogged out far more than I've accomplished lately. I just wanted busy work I guess. I don't have a plan of yarn attack, just wandering about looking for something that might strike my eye and spark my needles.
I'm in a yarn rut.ollecting ideas and crafts and recipes and whatnot lately. The Thanksgiving menu is planned out and ready to implement. The bills are laid out for this month and next month, and I have started the next level of stock up plans. Here are some of the goodies:

Whole Wheat Banana Nut Bread from Voluntary Simplicity
Pioneer Christmas online class at CurrClick...perfect timing with our Little House on the Prairie studies going on at my school blog
a cute Turkey dishcloth to crochet...and a cute turkey coaster...
herbs for fighting colds and flus...and really, there are tons of great links to PDFs for your prepper notebooks over at Truth is Treason
World War II mini books for your lapbook fun
a cute kerchief
a great basketweave hoodie in sizes regular thru 4x, pattern for just $1
a V neck tunic style sweater, regular sizes thru 3x
a simple cardigan, sizes 2-8 toddler
Pumpkin Pie Casserole from Keeper of The Home
Tunisian Stitch shorties...or turn them into longies...and a Tunisian infant vest, sizes 6-24 months
and how to seam a Tunisian Knit stitch nicely
and a dear friend, listening to my struggles here lately, suggested this wonderful teaching from Charity Ministries

And, lastly, our theme song around here lately. Very fitting, on many levels...
Randy Travis, Faith in You...

I am not an Occupy fan, so get over it.

2011-11-07T09:02:00.003-06:00

What's been going on around me lately? Well, I've been having quite heated discussions on Facebook and a couple groups about the Occupy movement. Can't help myself. I think they had a good enough idea out of the starting gate...this country has a rich and deep history of protests that actuall acconmplish a goal...
...but they've lost it with the idiots and greedy low-lifes being shown by the media (yes, of course they are deeply biased, I know this) whining about how they have so little, how they were promised this or that, blah blah blah. No, there are no jobs around. No, there is not an equal distribution of wealth. No, your paper 'degree' from those expensive years spend in the pursuit of higher education isn't worth diddly. Suck it up and get over the victim party already. No one is promised anything in life. Who told you that if you spent thousands upon thousands of dollars you didn't have and would have to repay later, you'd be guaranteed a job making some decent money? Did you get that in writing? Where's your contract for guaranteed future enmployment? yeah. Thought so.

You are not entitled to a blasted thing in life, not a job, not an income that meets some fictional standard of living, and certainly not what someone else has, whether they themselves worked for it, inherited it, or stole it from the hard-working masses. By standing around with a sign telling me your sign would be better if they hadn't cut your art school funding, you merely look like just another lazy bum expecting a handout. By whining about how you have problems in life and expected some arbitrary government funding to help you cope, you look like just another bum expecting a handout.

We threw away jobs in this country. We allowed big government to offer bonuses, bail-outs and more to companies lying and cheating at every turn. We bailed these companies out, knowing full well they were lying through their teeth, then waved to them from our shores while they simply took our money and left for another shore, where another country was smiling and waving them in.

There is no work ethic in this country. It's long gone. Oh sure, there are still a some folks who have a conscience, who have morals and values and will not give anything less than 100% to their job no matter what it is. Those folks are the ones still working. They may be taken advantage of, but they keep working and aren't standing around with cardboard signs complaining because they feel entitled to what someone else has or was given.

Lifei s not fair. You don't get what you want. You aren't promised a piece of paper will bring you a paycheck. The land of milk and honey has most definitely soured. Are you seriously going to stand around in the streets, wringing your hands and crying about how someone owes you and you mean to collect?

Ugh. See...I've been making friends all over haven't I? I'm irritated with the garbage of entitlement. If we all got what we deserved we'd be broke and destitute, wallowing in sin, living in the carnal and enjoying our stupidty about it all.

Wait.

We are, aren't we? And we're applauding it in others to boot.

Crafting through the long winter days...

2011-10-24T12:55:00.000-05:00

Ok, so we don't exactcly get 'snowbound' here in north Mississippi...okay, we did get a fair amount of snow for being down South over the last winter here...

but that is hardly typical. At least not in my 6 years down here. Still, it's what I've got and I'll take it.

Crafting is just a natural winter sort of thing. The days grow shorter, outdoor activities, at least most of the fun ones, are curbed and it's more about keeping occupied inside as the days grow dark earlier and the inklings of 'cabin fever' begin to set in.

In our Little House books we are reading through, wintertime is for handwork of all kinds...whittling, leather repair, hand-sewing, knitting, and more. I love the short cozy days when a comfy chair, a warm fire and some handwork finish my days. It's just not the same in the summer, kwim?

Here are some gathered crafty ideas to spur your imagination as we come into the perfect crafting season...

Scrappy Pumpkins... or apples, or whatever! Stuff extra thick for a great pincushion, or even gift-toppers or tree ornaments
Craft a family of Clothespin Dolls for fun wintertime play
Whip up loads of fabric napkins for the family or for quick gifts
McCall's Patterns has a great list of sewing ideas in free downloadable patterns
Fleece gifts...a dog sweater, mittens, slipper booties, hood with scarf, snow pants and more!
a cute way to use up a few scraps...a dishsoap apron

And there's always scrap quilting projects like table runners, placemats, couch or chair throws....yarnwork like knitting and crocheting...embroidery and cross stitch samplers...

...the lists can go on all winter long!

Picture of the Day: a cozy start!

2011-10-19T08:37:00.001-05:00

It's not exactly freezing yet but it's a bit crisp and while heating the house with the cook stove is far from practical, it is perfect for taking the chill off the morning.

Ahh bring me some winter!!!

Blessings from Hands and Hearts Farm!

October brings some Autumn...

2011-10-13T16:41:00.000-05:00

Finally...pretty decent temps and a shut down to the a/c here on the homestead. Whew! It's about time Mother Nature catch up with the calendar pages and bring some relief here. My electric bill is heaving a huge sigh of relief!

Let's see...news of the homestead...

Goats are slowly cycling through with the golden boy here for breeding. The young buckling is even getting his feet wet (or beard...inside joke, if you know goat rut behavior) with a couple of young does of his own this year. We'll see how things progress. My track record for breeding isn't exactly stellar. Ran all my goats through for 8 weeks each the last 2 seasons and still just produced a small number of bred does. Guess it's not my forte. I keep plugging along though...goats milk soap, cheeses, and just plain cute little babies keep me trying.
This year will be a toss-up again. The bucks have mastered fence climbing...or in the case of the young buck jumping...and have had some unscheduled visits with the herd at large. You want funny, watch an active heat buck, tongue wiggling hither and yon, running like a little girl along the fence line, making some really hilarious, bording on pathetic, noises jump the fence line. Literally, he brought up those front legs and stood on the fence, and sort of did a climbing pole vault sort of jump. All 300# of him. I let him have a couple dates...he certainly deserved it after the great show.

I have all my hay needs in place here in the back clearing, tarped and ready for (hopefully) some good storage. I hauled in 30 large round bales this year, tyring to avoid the out-of-hay cruch in February and March like we went through this year. We've been under drought for hay for the past few years, and I got lucky to find some like I did. I'm not chancing that again. My aim is 1 bale per grouping every 5-6 weeks, so 3 bales at a time. What they pluck apart and trample gets a second life in the chicken area, or even put into the barn as additional bedding. I don't waste hay here. By the time a bale is truly spent, I've squeaked every ounce of potential use from those leafy stalks! The last of it hits the garden for mulching, (we've had some good luck without much in the way of weeds from the hay, too). I've been pondering over where a good location would be for the hay storage here. Ideally under at least a pole barn, sure, but I don't have one, and if I do get one set up, it will be for animals and probably not simply hay storage. Gravel is a good ground cover as it were for bale storage, but I really don't want gravel laid out in the back pasture clearing, kwim? I set the bales out there this year and sectioned them off with fencing, but it isn't really ideal. The ground is hard-packed back there and even with the heaviest storms, it has great run-off and stays fairly dry...much moreso than the usual mud flow we live on when it rains. I don't know. The front area, the panhandle going up the road, would probably be a good place, but I really prefer the heavy weeds and brush between us and the neighbors. Guess I need to put more pondering to the issue, heh?

We've been canning. Yes, I have a smooth-top electric stove. No, you are NOT supposed to do anything like can with a pressure canner, or even water bath canner, or use cast iron, etc. on this style range. It is unsafe and highly discouraged.
That being said, and standing as my disclaimer to those who come back later and chew me out because they have a cracked (or worse) stove-top from canning after I said I did...honestly I don't expect that problem here as I truly doubt I have a cult like following or anything, still...I have been canning. Dewey was home for a week and found a great deal on bulk white potatoes. We had just picked up a 50# bag for around $15 and then he brings home 400# of the beauties for around $7 per 50#. Can't pass that up, not in this starch eating family. So we went to inventory the canning jar status, grabbed more as we could find them this time of year, and went to scrubbing, peeling and cubing taters for the pantry.
Yes, most folks have little trouble keeping potatoes for the winter in plain storage. This being Mississippi and a pocket of humidity that lingers all year round, as well as being a double-wide mobile home, I don't store even the hardiest of fruits and veggies for ling-term keeping, I can them. I'll share a post soon on the process, though there have been some great blogs out there about canning goodies for long keeping.

Did you catch that part about Dewey being home for a week? It was wonderful! We haven't had him home since early August. We did meet up with him on those shuttle trips back and forth with children to visit Grandma, but we're talking fleeting, meet at the gas station or fast food parking lot to swap children times. He decided it was more than enough to be gone that long, and he needed some serious down time on his own homestead. Not that he wasn't tethered to the jobsite via phone most the time, and he had to go to a job locally to wrap up a few minor things and tie up the ends, but he was HOME from Wednesday thru Tuesday and we loved it!
We set up the game plan for getting the sheetrock up in the bedrooms, digging out some better footings/sonatube under the problem front room (used to be the front deck but we enclosed it and added it into the house), and had some fun 'campfire and a movie' nights in the back clearing. We tried to keep a stiff upper lip when Tuesday rolled around, but it wasn't easy. This current job should wrap up around November 16th, and if the plan doesn't change before then and they get a much closer to home job next, he'll be coming home regardless.
I know...I've already heard volumes on the stupidity of quitting a good paying job, or any job, given the current status quo of employment, especially around here. All that is well and good, and I agree, really I do...but I MISS MY HUSBAND AND WE WANT HIM HOME, employed or otherwise. He has been away for far too much of the past 3 years now. It was all good in the beginning, we prayed over it and it was definitely what we were led to do. I don't doubt that even now, but enough is enough already. We don't feel that leading anymore. The income is definitely a good thing, but at what expense to the family, kwim? Emily is 5 years old...he has missed out on a lot of her life, not to mention the other children. A couple weekends, just 4 days, a month being home is not exactly family bonding time. I can raise my children, I'm not some weak Mother who can't function without her husband, but the flipside to that is that I AM a weak Mother and I NEED my husband to be home, the children NEED their father to be here for them, to listen to them, to teach them and to direct them. I can raise my children, if I have to, on my own as it were, but that is simply not the way it's supposed to be, and while I may raise perfectly wonderful children, I cannot raise truly raise my children with only my 'motherly' perspective. They need a father. That's just the way of things.
Speaking of that...Paratus Familia has a great post on A Case for Men...

We are giving the current school plan a once (and twice...) over. No, I'm not falling back into that rut of switching up the curriculum or anything so drastic like that. We like our Rod & Staff core and I have no plans to quit that direction. What I do have plans to quit is the schedule we have been rolling with. It is too bumpy. We need more structure and more distinct time frames to our schooling. Dewey agrees, so we are in the tweaking mode here. Not easy when there are all those potatoes being processed and the joy of having extra hands in that process, but we are working out some new routines here and so far, so good. I'm just beginning with the revision, but I think we have gotten off to a good start with it.

My sewing list is....well, not exactly 'finished'. At least not in the traditional sense of the word. Ok, not in any sense of the word. It is probably never going to be truly finished, but it has progressed to a very nice stage of done-ness. I have to produce the boy's clothes yet, but I am seriously looking at farming that work out to Lois in TN. I stress more over the boys' needs than I do the girls' items. I don't like button holes, despite the great attachment for my machine. I don't mind the pants as much, but if I can budget it off, I will order up at least 3 sets for David and Jacob, and at least 2 sets for Matthew. I will have to find that dry goods paper from an Amish fabric source (hmmm....can't even recall when I saw the list last...ugh!) and I can get some more fabrics in so we are ready for the next round of sewing needs here. I have pretty much used up my stash. Funny, it took me a good 4 years, but I finally used up most of my scrubs fabric here. I hate that it's gone. Man that stuff held up and washed up like iron. Oh well, back to the world of regular fabrics again. I would like to get some Tropical Breeze for our summer dresses. I've talked about ordering that for the whole 6 years we've been down here and I keep putting it off. Time to get it back into the serious side of the budget.

I suppose that about covers it from here on the homestead. We will be having a great Thanksgiving this year....maybe an unemployed husband, but oldest son and his girlfriend and her children will be coming we think. He hasn't been home either for a while, and he's talking about coming for a week or so to lend a hand getting some of the bigger projects underway. Oldest daughter should be home when this job ends for Dewey. She headed up after the others finished their Grandma visits so she could lend a hand getting Grandma and Great Great (Great Grandma) set up for winter. My nest isn't empty with 7 still here, but it sure feels empty when even 2 are gone! What on earth will I do when the last one leaves for their own homestead???? Better be plenty of grandchildren to feather my nest with! I'm just sayin....

Little House on The Prairie books for sale!!!

2011-09-20T07:40:00.001-05:00

Yesterday I received a gift catalog from a company and before tossing it, I flipped thru it. I've no idea how it ended up in my name, but I only use catalogs like Fifi's and the like for idea inspiration...not purchasing ideas.

But this catalog yielded a foodie that I will be purchasing. And I thought you might be interested as well.

ABC Distributing...http://www.abcdistributing.com has the original 9 Little House on The Prairie books for a great price! The full set, original Garth Williams drawings and all, is just $26.95 plus shipping. It appears merchandise shipping on that price is a whopping $9.95 though. That still makes the set a pretty good price when you look around....unless you find a great sale elsewhere.

You can order online: http://www.abcdistributing.com

By mail and money order: ABC Distributing PO Box 905 Deerfield IL 60015-0905

Or by phone: 847-615-7366

The product number for the complete Little House on The Series boxed set is 653033-1LHS

Blessings from Hands and Hearts Farm!

Want a real hoot?

2011-09-13T15:34:00.001-05:00

If you aren't a long-time follower of mine (not that many of you are I suppose...) and just know me from here at this blog, you might be interested in seeing more of me....LOL.

I started off blogging at the Original HomesteadBlogger many moons back, probably 5 or 6 years now.

Yes, I've always been gifted with chatter.

Seriously though, there are some good things tucked into those far-away pages, and loads of links.

And no, I didn't really categorize any better or more consistently back then either, sorry.

Still, you might find some useful goodies just browsing around....

Abundant Blessings Homestead

-blessings from Hands and Hearts Homestead!

This Week...

2011-09-13T14:22:00.001-05:00

Has been busy. Well, hectic, at any rate. Chaotic fits, too.

We wrangled the neighbors horses back into their pasture. He recently fenced his property on the other side of the creek and moved his females in. They have close to 20 acres or more fenced off of wood land, pond and clearings.

He lives a mile or better down, at the head of our lane. Of course, he and his wife work days, so when we discovered the horses were roaming the access road and creek, there was no one to call. I couldn't just leave them out. Some folks around here get rather twisted when you mess with their animals, but I would hope if say, my cow were walking around the road up there and they saw her, they'd bring her back and shoo her behind a fence if we weren't home.

I've been sewing on the last truly needed dresses for the girls, and started attacking the pants and shirts for the boys. I don't like making shirts. I'm not at all good at sewing them, the collars give me fits, the button holes always seem to have a problem...but, in the interest of saving money, I have a load of fabric here and there's no reason I can't make them. They just give me a headache :-(

We found the new barn babies...

She just had the 2, same as her last litter. Fine with me. I like barn cats and all, but I have enough really. I'm glad she isn't like Black Momma...she used to pop out 7 each time!

Today, the original plan called for sewing more shirts, cutting more broadfalls out, schooling and so on. What happened in real life was hoof trimming and barn cleaning. So much for plans, right?

It might not look like much, but it is...was. We worked just over 4 1/2 hours out there raking out all the well-composted bedding, scraped down the old layers that still held moisture...and stink, oh my! We hauled over a dozen and some wheelbarrows full of that rich gold soil to the garden. Then we had to get the area leveled back out. Buddy, the Great Pyr, likes to hollow out the far corner for his bed, the goats tend to paw here and there, etc. It was running down hill into the barn stalls, not good when we usually have heavy rains in the fall. So, we raked and shoveled and tamped. I think we did pretty good, but here's my Word of Homestead Wisdom for the day....when building a barn, space those support posts far enough apart, and your roof line high enough up that you can back your tractor in! Not that we built this barn to begin with, but the side roof is low...like barely head high for me at 5.5'...and the posts are too close...man, if I could've backed the tractor in just enough for the box blade to get in there, clean out would've gone much faster. And I'd be much less sore in the shoulders. Much less.

Trust me, I'll take a sore bum from riding the tractor over stiff and aching arms and shoulders from shoveling and lugging a loaded wheelbarrow any day!

The rest of this day, what's left now as it's after 2 pm, will be quiet schooling and reading. I need to recreate my LHOP-On The Banks of Plum Creek/Week 2 notes on the school blog...again. That's twice now the autosave has failed and either then computer or the iPad has eaten my post. Arghhh...technology.

What's been happening around your homestead this week?

-blessings from Hands and Hearts Homestead!

Wood and Drywall and Paint...oh my!

2011-09-08T12:10:00.001-05:00

Paint. Everyone seems to be painting lately. Walls, furniture, barns, etc. I am feeling a bit left out. I live on a perpetual work-in-progress homestead here. Barn repairs always on the list of needs, the house itself in various stages of changing and modifying. There are several things I like about this place, but the constant upheaval of projects in the works gets a bit tiring.

My kitchen is plywood. The floor is laminate needing to be pulled up, and most likely replaced with plywood like the rest of the rooms already have. We have pulled out the cabinets, leaving just one small island counter area where the dehydrator sits. We mounted one section of my new countertop....I have 2 other sections yet, then original plan was for an L-shaped island, but we moved the cookstove into the space the island was to hold so honestly, I have no room for the other counter sections now. It's just one long counter, with the sink in place. No cabinets below, just open leaving space for my 5 gallon buckets of grains.

Immediately off the open kitchen is the Great Room. This a doublewide mobile home, so the main area is totally open. We pulled out the front wall a couple years back and enclosed the porch area, so the living room area is about 32x16 pr so. In this space we have the cookstove on the back/kitchen end, and my sewing area, our living room space with 2 couches and a chair, our dining area with my 9ft table, and our school area with 3 tall book shelves, 2 smaller shelves, and the turtle home. There isn't really much for wall space, just 1 wall about 8 1/2 ft. The other open wall space holds our school boards, a 4x8 white board and the same sized bulletin board. The other wall areas are broken up by windows, leaving only bookshelf room between them.

There is a small room space we haven't totally opened up to the Great Room yet, but I'm hoping Dewey can do it this year. This space is technically the dining room in the mobile home design, but my table simply wouldn't fit in there. It has been my sewing room and now houses the wood stove. Ideally it needs to be opened more to the Great Room. The wall with doorway to the kitchen needs to be reworked and sealed. Right now, that is the wall where the 2 refrigerators stand in the kitchen, and on the 'wood room' side is my brass and pewter baker's rack.

Aside from this open floor plan space, we have a small hallway to the children's bedrooms and main bath, and thru the 'wood room' is the master bed and bath area. We are pulling out walls and rebuilding them, replacing the cheap balsa wood style wallboard with heavy-duty industrial drywall and replacing the 1x2 so-called studs with actual 2x4 studs. Honestly, I can't believe then pictures even stay on the walls around they are so flimsy. It's a mobile home, though, so I know it's just how it's done. I miss a 'real' home.

I want to paint, but where to begin? What colors do I really want? A part of me really likes The fresh country farmhouse look....a light, minty green table and trims, crisp white walls and cabinets. But....we heat and cook with wood half the year. Wood smoke does not mingle well with white paint, especially not in a kitchen. I do have a life here, and scrubbing walls daily doesn't exactly fit in.

My other color ideas move toward my favorites....earthy, woodsy tones. I like spring and summer's bright colors, sure, but I am very much a fall and winter color way type. I'm just not sure how I want to work them in yet. I love the rich, deep browns and greens, the rich autumn yellows bordering on deep pumpkin tones, burgundy, etc. I would love maybe the right color of deep wine on the upper walls, with a chair rail and bead board on the lower walls in maybe a rich green...? I don't know. I can picture it, just don't know that I really want it in the entire area. The kitchen is very much open to the Great Room, so I need to blend somehow. I like the split wall look, and love beaded boards. Then again, barn boards would be great too.

The darker colors will make us look like we're living in a cave I'm sure, but the daily cleaning will be easier. We'll see. Lots of ideas rolling around. I suppose it is just paint...if I don't like it when I'm finished, I can always paint again :-)

-blessings from Hands and Hearts Homestead!

Wood and Drywall and Paint...oh my!

2011-09-08T11:27:00.001-05:00

BlogShare: Common Sense Homesteading: FDA to Consu...

2011-09-08T09:52:00.000-05:00

A Plain and Simple Homeschool: BlogShare: Common Sense Homesteading: FDA to Consu...: Common Sense Homesteading: FDA to Consumers- "You Do Not Have the Right to C... : I came across an article in Countryside magazine recentl...

A Test Posting

2011-09-06T09:35:00.001-05:00

Being out and about on the homestead, and utilizing the iPad for schooling so much, I am testing out the BlogPress app to see how it might work for us.

Do you use an iPad for schooling or daily things? What are your favorite apps?

-blessings from Hands and Hearts Homestead!

BlogShare: Common Sense Homesteading: Is What We Eat and Drink Making Us Sicker and Dumb...

2011-09-04T20:38:00.000-05:00

Common Sense Homesteading: Is What We Eat and Drink Making Us Sicker and Dumb...: We're told that if something is allowed into the food and water supply, it's supposed to be good for us, at at the very least, harmless. S...

September is for....

2011-09-04T12:55:00.000-05:00

...birthdays. That is the theme this month. And next month, too. Well ok...we are in our 6 month birthday season run actually. This month we had Jacob, aka Wild Child, who turned 10 yesterday on his vacation to Grandma's house.

My Grandmother, aka Great Great, turned 92 the same day, so they shared their birthday fun.

...anniversary memories. Next week, on the 15th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, my oldest turns 25.
Next month, we roll out 3 more children's birthdays, November brings just 1, December is Dewey's and my birthdays, January has 2 children and February has a birthday and anniversary. It's busy around here from July on in the birthday department :o)

We made a long turn-around trip from Mississippi up to Vincennes, IN and home again Friday. Can we say L.O.N.G drive...5:30 am to 9:30 pm and near 700 miles. We met up with Grandma (who met up with Dewey before meeting up with us...) and swapped children. Two weeks ago I drove up and gave away 2 children to Dewey to deliver to Grandma's for vacation time. Friday, we met up to swap out those 2 for 3 more. Of course I missed those first 2 vacationees, but I'm not liking this group vacation at all. My baby is up there. Sure, Wild Child is up there, and the 18 year old farm hand too, but Emily is up there. My baby. For 2 weeks. That's 14 days. That's dang near 340 HOURS. I'm not liking this. Sure, Dewey says I'll be fine, but what does he know. He isn't here, 24/7, tethered to the daily moods, attitudes, giggles and pouts of these kids like I am. And this is my baby. She isn't just having a sleep0ver, she's STATES away having a sleepover. I need a hobby. Something other than children.

I had new tires ordered and put on before we left this round. Expensive hunks of rounded rubber. My van takes heavy duty truck tires, and while I didn't go for the top-of-the-line pricey ones, I did go for the mid-priced at a bit over $700. Despite ,my nearly 210k mileage on the van, and the shoddy lumpy roads I drive on, my last tires lasted 3 years...the best time I've gotten out of any tires.
My 'tire guy' races custom Mustangs...something about iron GT-40 heads and Elderbrock intakes and NOS stuff....all Greek to me but apparently a big deal if you understand all that stuff. Which I don't. But, whatever floats your boat...or speeds up your Mustang, as the case may be.

Homestead projects this month are mainly centered on making sure I bring in enough hay for the season. You'd think haying went well this year, but it didn't. Early cold messed it up nearly as bad as the ensuing drought did. Hay is in short supply yet again this year, so that is our main focus this month. I want at least 20 round bales lined up in that back pasture waiting for use. That means hustle and direction this month. We have a barn to finish clearing and compost to be relocated to the garden to be tilled in for winter. I have a tree to remove so I can rip ground extending from the garden to the barn. Expansion is a good thing.

Dewey bought a hay fork for the tractor (gotta love a man who buys something practical and needed as a gift. LOL...keep your city girl 'shiny' bling ladies, I'll take my 'farm livin' bling any day!) No more man-handling the round bales for us. What a breeze it is moving them and unloading the trailer now.

Other projects, aside from the sewing blitz I've had going on gearing up the masses with fall and winter clothing, I've been working on some quilting, yarn work and so forth. Remember that great jelly roll I picked up for a quilt?

Well, I finally settled on a pattern of sorts and have it pieced. No...it's not finished, but the blocks are stitched together and when it gets down to crunch time, it will all come together. I suppose there is something to be said for the stress of last minute work.

I've also finished and sent off the baby set I made for my cousin's daughter's baby, due in November. Just in case there's a shower, I wanted to have my gift up there and ready. I still don't much care for the bow-legged pants look, but I'm hoping it looks better ON a baby than simply lying on my table for a photo shoot. I will give the pants another go at some point, but I'll definitely make some changes to the weird increases in the thigh sections.

I finished the Peas and Carrots sweater set (that's a pacifier strap wtih it). I have to whip up some booties for it yet, and I may do a hat as well, but it's ready to go. Our friends' daughter is due in a month.

The last set is a sweater and a baby snuggly...you know, those backwards bathrobe things. I thought it would make a great carseat/carrier cover blanket, no hassles for the belts and such. I think they turned out fairly nice. I'm happy enough with how it worked that I'll make more of them for sure.

My other yarn work has been on larger sweater projects. I found this book at Hobby Lobby called The Crochet Closet by Lisa Gentry. The projects are pretty good, and the sizing is up to 2x in most projects.

The first project I'm working on is the sweater from the cover, but I almost went with this vest instead. The yarn I picked is a wool blend in a pebbled path sort of browns mix. It's working up quickly (when I have a chance to actually work on it that is) and works across in 1 piece then sleeves.

We went on a nature stroll around the property when Dewey was in overnight last week. It was hot, but hunting season is coming in soon and the walks will be abandoned. I don't care how much blaze orange your wear, high powered rifles, dogs and 4 wheelers don't encourage me to take many walks.
We walked along collecting pretty things along the way, searching out the hickory nut and walnut trees for harvesting (the only nut harvesting I've ever done was back north when those blasted walnuts needed plowing out of the driveway....I don't even know when they really come into readiness for harvesting and such. Anyone?)

We gathered fallen nuts, acorns and weeds along the walk...this is known as chigger weed around here. During the right time of the season, the stems are literally coated with chiggers....ugh. They are pretty though, and the butterflies seem to like them as well so they can't be all bad.

Emily likes flowers...though she fought her brothers hard for nuts and pinecones for her bucket.

Andrew really enjoyed the touch of wildlife from our walk...He ate most of Emily's flowers, shredded a few pinecones by batting them around the floors for a couple hours, and then feasted on the long feathery grasses they collected. Getting in touch with his inner wild cat, I imagine.

Homestead First Aid...you know, back not too long ago, women were urged to make and roll bandages for the WWI and WWII troops. Sure, maybe they didn't use stretchy waffle weave in Pepto Bismol pink, but still, the idea was the same....

Use it up,

Wear it out,

Make it do,

or Do without!

The goats are doing well. Kendra is still stiff-walking with that hind leg, but she has no issues climbing and jumping for tree limbs, so I call it a good heal. A few weeks back they were all circling the dwindling hay bale, eating and lounging, and they pushed on it just right and rolled it over onto Kendra who was laying next to it. We were outside, so it didn't stay on her long, the children got it rolled off her, but it had her laid out on her side with her leg in an odd position. We didn't feel anything broken, not that I'm a student of goat anatomy, but there was nothing obvious with her leg. She had a very limp foot though and wouldn't stand, let alone walk. We let her rest for an hour or so, then worked on getting her up and moving. I'm sure she had the wind knocked out of her if nothing else.
When we got down to the business of tending her leg, I realized I had no badnages, no ACE wrap, nothing. What's up with a working homestead full of animals, not to mention children ,not having a fully stocked first aid kit??
So...we made do. I pulled out some stretchycotton knit fabric and wrapped her leg providing it some support while she strengthened and allowed it some rest. We did a poultice of comfrey and soaked her wrap in the tea as well, reapplying and heating the tea soak for several days.

Go ahead...tell me where I've failed my cow this year...we haven't had her AI'd yet. Is that really wrong? Woody is 5 months old this month, and we intended on having her done before this. She should have been done a month back, but time got away from us with so many other things, I just didn't have time.
Pathetic, I know. It's a shot, wait 10 days and give another shot, then get the AI straw out here within 24-48 hours. Hardly a severe time alternating event, but we just forgot and never set up the deal. Yes, I have the shots here. Hopefully they are still 'good' (I never really looked into their care because I picked them up from the Vet with the intentions of doing it right away...) We really should get moving on her rebreeding. Right now, this month should put her at June delivery. That isn't a bad time, though it could be hot it's not likely to be sweltering miserable.

Woody is growing like a weed. I need to get another picture of him up, he's a gorgeous deep rich dark chocolate color, unlike his red momma. And a sweetheart...he comes to his name (ok, we're weird with animals...do you really want a bull to come to his name? hmmm...) and likes to play. I think he needs a toy. You know, other than my rubber water barrels.

And lastly....the gratuitous cute puppy shot from the homestead...This is Sissy (yes, how southern cutie is that name...she came with it). She is a stinker, don't let the cuteness hide that fact. And she has a shrieking yap that will cut glass when she gets excited...or scared...wants to eat...wants to get your attention...sees a butterfly come too close to the window...you get the picture. She is about the size of a jumbo Tootsie Roll. Ok, a fat, overstuffed, 4-5# Tootsie Roll. Spoiled utterly and completely by Abigail who can't even go to the bathroom without Sissy whining terribly and pathetically at the door the whole time.

Sissy's 'job' around her is to herd the chickens.

Of course she has a job. This is a homestead, a working homestead, mind you. Everything out here serves a need, has a purpose for being. It may seem like I collect merely for the fun of collecting, like dogs, cats, clutter, etc. But no. Homesteads need to be functioning. Everything having a purpose, having a use. Sissy, the fat tootsie roll, is just large enough to herd the chickens.

As long as they don't turn on her and chase her.
Because she runs.
And runs pretty dadgum fast considering she has like inch long stubby nubs for legs under that roll.

So there you have it. September plans that touch on the number of things being handled around this little neck of the woods. Another added task as rains become more frequent for the season...house jacking. No, not like hijacking, but floor and bottle jacking under the front porch at my door. Rain tends to completely sog out this clay and with too much rain, my front door gets an undistinguished sag going on. Pretty much traps us inside. Not bad if the children are already outside, but a big stinkin' deal if it pours overnight and we are all inside. It makes for interesting escape ideas. I know I've said many many times that this mobile home is far from air tight and all, but when the door won't open and the windows have furniture in front of them it tends to be alot more air tight than one might like.

No, we are not trapped inside the house in the even of fire or such. It's a mobile home...it does have great 'pliability' so to speak. In the event of a fire, we are not about to piddly dinker around worrying about whether or not the front door will open. A well placed kick to the window will afford a handy exit...as would simply yanking the door hard. But, on a daily basis, I try to discourage the damage-the-house ideas here.

Happy Fall Y'all...almost!

A Mid-Month Friday...

2011-08-12T15:25:00.000-05:00

Little House on The Prairie, week 3 getting ready to start. The weather outside has calmed down a bit, on the heat index side at least, though we did get slammed Sunday with some storm cells coming through. That adds to the usual list of tasks here some tree work. We had several come down, but quite a few merely laid into their tree neighbor, which poses a problem in the pasture with goats interested in finding upper level leafy goodness. I won't complain about the torrents of rain, though, because it's been a miserable season of drought around here.

The sewing list is moving along. Dresses, night clothes and underthings, aprons, shirts, pants...I don't have my count listed, guess I should check it out. I know I'm pretty much done with at least one child's full winter needs, aside from a few odds and ends that I may or may not get to. These camisoles were the last of her needs...

I have a sweater pattern I'd like to work up. I am hoping to work the sizing a little larger, as it only goes up to an 8 child. There are a couple others I like, like this one and this one, in x-small adult. There are some vest patterns I would like to maybe work on (I could so easily adapt this one). So many ideas...
Other crocheting...I've finished the longies from that new baby pattern book. I like them...and I don't. They seem very zoot suit like to me, bowed, funky, etc. I don't know. I suppose once actually ON a baby they might not be so bad. The sweater I was planning on didn't pan out. I just couldn't get into the pattern. I have tons of them and just couldn't get into any of them so far. Guess I'll go back to my old trusty pattern instead and skip working anything 'new and improved'.

This momma had a come-apart this week. I'm talking full-blown, gut the house from wall to wall, cleaning and purging, no survivors kind of come-apart. I'm tired of feeling like we are living in the barn instead of the house here. We started in the bedrooms, taking apart beds, pulling mattresses, moving every stick of furniture out and scrubbing wall to wall, floor to ceiling, and filling garbage bags. No, I didn't even sort things to keep for recycling, I just closed my eyes and purged fast. I'm a pack rat. The 'quick grab with eyes closed' type of purge is all that works for me. I rationalize keeping too many things any other way.
After bedrooms, we attacked the great room. Quite the mess piled around isn't it? Behind me is the mountains of laundry. It was simply too shameful to show that part.

The living and dining room spaces in the great room were flopped around, book shelves moved, couch and table, television and so forth. Except the piano, if it moved, we attacked it. The end result as of yesterday was this...

I'm standing at the loveseat. We created a sort of reading nook in the front area. Behind me is now the dining table, and on the other side of that, the couch. It actually faces my sewing area, which I didn't move around at all. Probably will, but for now, it's fine. No one around here cares much, and honestly, sewing needs trump any television watching, so it's hardly a conflict of interest :-) And the reorganized book shelves look so pretty. I didn't go full out on organizing, just set the teacher books together so we could grab and go. I may refine the shelving a bit more later, but for now, it'll work better than the chaos we had.
We also washed windows and put up some autumn leaf window clings we grabbed at Dollar Tree. Between those and the leaf doilies and construction paper we still have to work with I think we can get some pretties set up and get the feel of a cooler autumn around here. Any great craft ideas I may have missed? I can always use some new ideas for projects the littles can work on.

And during the purge I came across this...ain't he just the sweetest thing? Kinda cute little baby boy too, heh? This was nearly 13 years ago, Matthew is the baby. Gee, I have such cute men around here. Gpo ahead...you can agree with me.

Almost August!!! Autumn is coming...

2011-07-29T13:29:00.000-05:00

...ok, so maybe August doesn't equal autumn, but it does get my heart moving toward thoughts of autumn and away from summer. Back to school sales -- today and tomorrow is Tax Free Day here in Mississippi, FYI -- The garden is coming to a slow close here, with a handful of straggling acorn squash, some okra and the last few tomatoes. Not sure about the 200 onions that went in as their tops disappeared long ago and we simply mulched over them. The beets are really sluggish this year as well. I'm about ready to say enough, give up the dream, and turn the chickens loose in there. I'm ready to rip it up and get moving on next year's garden! Having even minimal success this year has spurred me on.

Hay season. Not that I have to cut and bale it or anything, but I do have to get to hauling and fill the clearing and barn for the winter here. We ran shy last year, thanks mostly to my not factoring in near enough for Miss Judy the cow-hog. Man, when she wants to eat, she really cuts loose and packs it in :o) Not having ideal grazing pasture land here, hay it is. This year I plan to be prepared. Hopefully on the side of over-kill. Better too much than be hunting and begging up hay in February!

Our Little House on the Prairie journey is moving along on the school blog. We will begin the second book, Little House on the Prairie, Monday already. Everything is linked along the top bar, if you're interested in following along. I'll be getting the reading schedule laid out this weekend and be posted in time for Monday.

We have missed being able to get outside for school every so often this year. I don't have to say why, everyone's been dealing with the same insane weather all over. It's been miserable. We did find a few days where we could at least do some reading and nature study outdoors, though, without melting into a puddle.

We were going to put it off, but we couldn't....had to head to the spring Wednesday this week to get water. We filled 15 3 and 4 gallon jugs. And I enjoyed the peaceful-as-always scenery at the lake, and even shared some crackers with the fish while we filled the jugs. They area just around the deck must be a spawn bed...there were fish in varying stages of size up around the deck and shallows there. And what a feeding frenzy when I crumbled the crackers and tossed them in! Looked like an attack of pirahna :o)

My new crochet book arrived this week, and I really enjoyed browsing and planning with the great patterns. I have a....um, cousin's daughter would be what???...expecting her first this November, plus our friends' daughter is expecting her first as well. It appears there is a run on boys in my circles :o) I have plenty of patterns stashed away here, sure, and a ton of them tucked away online and in the iPad files as well. I wasn't in the mood for any of them. I tried to find one or two I liked, but no luck. Everything just seemed girly to me, and with boys in the future that wouldn't do. So, browsing around at Amazon and Annies Attic, I stumbled across a bunny trail that led me to this book...

And it's FILLED with great fun patterns! Best of all, each pattern is sized for 0/3, 6, 12, 18 months! There's a hoodie I think is kind of neat made up in a chunky yarn...

A really cute chevron striped swing-style pulloever, sort of a cross between a poncho and a sweater...

A couple cute toys as well...

Your basic baby winter set with hat, booties and mittens...

And my favorite...this terrific romper, very much a crocheted Union suit! I love it! I mean, sure, you could do it up in all sorts of colorways, but honestly, you just gotta do at least one in RED...

So what did I choose? Well, I'm leaning toward the union suit myself, but we'll see. I actually started it already, then frogged the whole thing because I simply wasn't thrilled with my pale colorway. It deserves something with more oomph! and color I think. Guess I'll just have to break down and go check out Hobby Lobby this weekend....poor me, I know.

Dewey is still up in Indianapolis. He alternates weekends home with another guy on the job and this wasn't his weekend. We've been clearning and purging yet again (face it, that is simply an on-going project on most homesteads....) and finally attacked the yard with the mower and weed-eater. Should have just left the jungle in place because all we managed to do is uncover the hidden junk out here. But, I suppose it needed to be done at least twice this year. Without rain, and with all this heat, the grass wasn't exactly growing by leaps and bounds but still, were we not rural, it would have been mowed long before now. Out here I tend not to care either way as no one but the mail delivery and the neighbor sees the place. Plus it's been too dang hot to give a whip about the yard length.

But it's done now, and we even attacked the workshop and emptied out the oldest upright freezer to dispose of it. I decided that, depsite its useless state as anything resembling energy-efficiency, it was still too decent in condition to salvage out, so off to the barn it goes to be upcycled as a feed storage container. I have several 55 gallong drums we fill with the grain feed for the animals, but there is usually a bag or two that won't fit and needs to be stored properly to keep from mildew and other animals...the upright will now do that job. It's an old enough model that it has these incredible sturdy metal shelves in it, perfect for storing 50# bags of grain. Eventually I do plan to line one of the small rooms in the barn with sheet tin, ceiling floor and walls, to make a total feed storage room, but for now, it'll be the upright freezer.

One of the main reasons it headed off the grid here is for the 2nd month in a row, my electric bill bounced too high. I understand the heatwave has had a great deal to do with the increase in electrical usage, especially here where I hate summer heat and all, but going up to the tune of $140+ in just 60 days...no, that isn't the turnip truck I fell from. We have cut back to the bare bones here for electric, and yes, the single window a/c has been chugging away faithfully here, we have cut back if not eliminated completely so many things, I don't believe my bill is correct. Of course, calling hillbillyville electric and complaining just nets me a condescending tone and "well you know now, your bill will go up when you use more electric" comments. Like I said, hillbillyville and turnip trucks. I don't mind an increase, I expected an increase, like I said I don't like summer...and this one 'bout pulled me under with heat and humidity...but $140 is a scam and I don't like it. There is nothing different running...that can't all be a/c when there's just ONE medium_sized window unit running, and it's not even a year old, so it's top of the line energy star rating and all. The fridge hasn't changed, and it's about a year old as well...the water heater is brand new and we don't use that much there...the chest freezer runs, yeah, but it always does. Turn on the ocassional light in the evening, run the tv and DVD player for a couple movies or documnetaries and I sure can't see that adding up to $140 EXTRA all of a sudden.

Oh well, nothing I can do about it now but cut the cords for the next cycle and see what happens. They gouge us every year in the summer, but this one was just too much. I want a generator. I'd rather pop for the diesel than pay this scam rate anymore :o(

So how bad was your electric this month in the heatwave?

Cheer up...Autumn is only 55 days away!!!

Printable butterfly colouring outlines - free downloads from nature detectives

2011-07-20T12:46:00.000-05:00

Printable butterfly colouring outlines - free downloads from nature detectives

Make a butterfly feeder - instructions from nature detectives run by the Woodland Trust

2011-07-19T07:09:00.000-05:00

Make a butterfly feeder - instructions from nature detectives run by the Woodland Trust

Being a Mom...

2011-07-18T11:15:00.000-05:00

When I am just a spry (ahem...) 60 years old.....my oldest will be just about my current age, and my youngest will be 21 years old.

Can you hear the creaking of my poor old bones? When I was that young 21 year old, SIXTY was a lifetime away. And it surely meant retirement homes and walkers. Shoot, even 40 seemed way over on the rolling-down-the-other-side-of-the-hill stage! You know what I'm talking about...it's that hill, that old age hill where everything is down hill afterwards. Slow rolling for some, sure, but for others, it's a train without brakes rolling full-bore down the age hill.

And I will be 60. No doubt a grandmother by that point, LOL. I never really thought much about age and my children. There is an almost 20 year span between oldest and youngest. Twenty years! Goodness, I've been a MOM a long time. My entire adult life has been babies and toddlers. Of course, that is over with now, as my youngest is 5 and hardly worthy of the toddler title anymore.

Don't know why that struck me this morning, it just crept up quietly in my thinking. I have been a Mom a long while, and most days I feel like I haven't learned a single useful thing in all those years. Other days I feel I could write a whole series of encyclopedias on raising children....albeit much would still consist of the wrong ways as opposed to the right.

Guess I feel a bit out of sorts with this new found knowledge here. I am still knee-deep in the mothering season of my life, with homeschooling for another 17 years or so ahead of me and the pending season of grandmother-hood...no, no one is expecting around here, I'm just sayin....My wild mommy days are closing behind me I guess.

Well, except that I still have all those years of homeschooling ahead of me...with Wild Child having a good 7 years of school left, Lord give me strength! Even with my olders, daily life is still full of adventures, and I suppose it would be totally in vain to consider the middles and youngers to be more sedate and calm in their futures, heh? Yeah, my wild days are probably just hitting some momentum at this point.

I don't imagine the future. I don't wonder at various scenarios of 5 years or 10 years down the road, or even 2 years. I like to live in the moment with this bunch. I feel a sense of sadness thinking of this season coming to an end, even if it is a piece down the road yet. I know I will replace that sadness with a whole new set of smiles when it's time for the grandmother season.

Still....I'll be 60 when my youngest is 21. Did you hear that??? That is the proof 60 isn't such an "old" age afterall :o) Maybe there's another hill past that one, heh? I mean, I still feel like I'm climbing up a steep one...

Halfway thru July??

2011-07-11T09:53:00.001-05:00

Good grief...July 11th already? It's been so hot and miserable lately, the days have simply blended one into the next without much variance. Supposed to reach 112 today with the heat index. Already heavy humidity out there. Yuck. I am so not a summer person. Give me blizzards any day!

Dewey was working closer to home (only 4 hrs away most of June and into July, but this morning that ended as he pulled out and headed back up to Indianapolis again. Of course, that means attitudes all over the place this morning :( Chores were haphazard at best, feed barrels left without lids -- great in this humidity --and I've had mouth and backtalk since they opened their eyes. Always a joy when Dad leaves :( So, we have BootCamp again here it seems. Funny how many times they can go thru BootCamp and still act up to the point we have to repeat it. I tire of BootCamp :(

The garden is looking pretty sad right now. Drought is pretty much everywhere, and despite heavy mulching and watering, the zucchini has pretty much run it's course it seems. The tomato plants are sparse looking green twigs with tomatoes hanging around them. The purple hull peas came quietly, offered less than a quart jar shelled, and they are drooping in the heatwave as well. I'm not complaining...too much...because folks, WE HAD A GARDEN THIS YEAR!!! First decent growth in 6 years of attempts in this clay. Our first garden was ok, but since then it's been miserable to get anything besides weeds to grow in the cracked clay ground we have. This year, pay dirt...literally!

During some recent tractor-necessary work in the woods, we came across this little bit of outer space weirdness...

Apparently, it's a Passion Flower, and it has some really useful properties in the herbal meds world. What a great find out here!!

Yes, that's our view here. I love the woods out here...don't care for the ticks, or the snakes...but I do love the woodland features of our property and the surrounding area south and west of our place. Acres and acres, hundreds of them, of nothing more 'civilized' than this view right here. Much of the surrounding woods don't even have horse trails through them. One direction from us has normal roads and house and all, but for the most part, once you climb into our little neck of the woods here, it's all beyond rural boondocks out here, and I love it.

And, of course, being wooded like that, we have some neat wildlife potential. Last week our local newspaper reported on several black bear sightings, one of which a mere 3-4 miles down from our homestead. Talk about perfect timing...we are reading Little House in The Big Woods, with plenty of adventures concerning bears with Laura and Ma and Pa :-) He's travelling around, coming from Alabama and being tracked, and doubtful he'saround here anymore, but it was interesting. This link here is a bit better, out of Memphis...ignore the fact they know little about bears in general, they're news folks, facts aren't always priority.

In town, I stumbled on some great 'jelly roll' fabrics and some baby yarn in the half-price bin at WalMart. I have some baby gifts to be made in the next few months, so it was perfect timing. Now to get crafting! I've already done a newborn set in the yarn, and I've laid out the jelly roll strips

Aside from that, life has pretty much been just run of the mill around here lately. Lions, and tigers, and bears....well, just the bears, anyway...

Ant or Grasshopper?

2011-07-05T10:25:00.002-05:00

My son, if thou be surety for thy friend, [if] thou hast stricken thy hand with a stranger, Thou art snared with the words of thy mouth, thou art taken with the words of thy mouth. Do this now, my son, and deliver thyself, when thou art come into the hand of thy friend; go, humble thyself, and make sure thy friend. Give not sleep to thine eyes, nor slumber to thine eyelids. Deliver thyself as a roe from the hand [of the hunter], and as a bird from the hand of the fowler.
Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise: Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, Provideth her meat in the summer, [and] gathereth her food in the harvest. How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep? [Yet] a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man.
Proverbs 6:1-11, KJV

I read this this morning and it struck me, being July already and winter being ‘just around the corner’ despite the 96+ temps…

Our ancestors worked all summer preparing for winter. Fields were planted, wood was chopped, and food was gathered for the long winter ahead. I think in the present time we live in, we get so out of tune with the seasons.

Surely you know the story/parable of The Ant and the Grasshopper, right? The industrious ants work hard all summer, collecting and gathering, while the grasshopper is more of a situational party-animal, enjoying the company of friends, living off the system around him and not giving a thought to the future coming at him regardless of the carefree days of summer.

Hmm…sounds like alot of folks I know. We live in a world of grasshoppers these days. Too many grasshoppers.
What happens when ‘summer’ ends and you are finally faced with ‘winter’? Do you realize, too late, that your carefree and party mindset lulled you into death? I wonder…do folks like that, those grasshopper types, ever grow up, ever realize their mistakes? Or do they live their lives waiting on someone else, some government entity, some tax-break, some refund, some 401k or profit-sharing, to keep them fed and clothed, to provide for their future winter season?
Can a grasshopper become an ant? Sure they can. If you look around, that is happening all over. It’s wrapped up in different covers right now….homesteader, prepper, etc….but it’s still the same age-old telling of the Ant and Grasshopper story.
Our ancestors didn’t know of any other way to live…

Papa said he’s happy we are prepared for winter. The barn is stacked high with hay and our animals have cozy beds. The cellar is full of potatoes, onions, carrots and turnips, salted beef, and barrels of cider. We have enough dried cranberries to sell at market.
- “ The Winter of Red Snow”

“ Come along, little Half-Pint. We better make hay while the sun shines.”
- “ The Long Winter”

So savor Summer, enjoy the harvest of Fall, and be prepared for the cozy winter months ahead.
– Abby Jo

I suppose you could argue when the grasshopper-change occurred…was it with rationing in the 40’s? Probably not…rationing increased the ‘prepper’ heart of mind, and all those Victory Gardens popped up as mainstream plans. What about the 50’s? Parents were still mostly of an ‘Ant’ mindset, but what about the youth…rock-a-billy did a number on youth back then, or so they say. How about the 60’s or 70’s? Well, it certainly could have gotten a toe-hold then, there was still alot of ‘growing’ going on, albeit not so much in traditional edibles…we’ll just leave it at that, LOL.
It could have been the 80’s…most were relishing the land of plenty mindset back then, definitely a grasshopper stereotype, and stocking-up or putting by were not so much a part of the American vocabulary.
Either way, today, economically collapsed as we are, the grasshoppers still far out-number the ants, and I find that interesting. You would think some level of common sense would prevail and the ants would take over, but not so. I still know more grasshoppers than ants, and they are just like the one in the story…laughing and making fun of my efforts toward a future that even the blind can see coming.
Efforts like simplifying at home, cutting away all the corners until there are only deeply rounded edges remaining. We are trying solar lighting, turning off more than we turn on, etc.
Efforts like gardening, regardless of the daunting task of changing clay into black gold out here. I have access to some great local farm markets, so my own or otherwise, the canning and dehydrator will be put to good use, as will the herbal knowledge and medicinals.
Efforts like learning ‘new’ old fashioned skills to sustain a family into the future. Projects like cheese-making, crocheting and knitting, quilting, wild-crafting, etc.
Efforts like homeschooling…that is certainly an Ant kind of undertaking these days…retraining the grasshopper-taught minds of the masses.
Maybe my ‘Ant’ mentality is amusing to those with the ‘Grasshopper’ sense…

it’s hard-work, constant-work, and it takes heart and inspiration. There. is work from sun up to sun down and then some. It is a ‘free time’ filled not with party skills, but practical skills, like mending and sewing. Partying takes nothing, not even the smallest of efforts, let alone heart.

So, where do you see yourself today? In 5 years? Where will you be when “winter” comes knocking at your door?

Starting Little House on the Prairie tomorrow!

2011-07-04T13:29:00.001-05:00

There are links all over my school blog, but I've pulled the really good ones, and the fun ones together in linked pages and tabbed them at the top for easier searching as we begin our Big Woods journey tomorrow. Some of the resources will be used throughout the Little House series, so you'll see some links repeatedly, but for the most part, each book will be tabbed individually along the top of the blog for you.

I will try to share ideas and crafts that will help bring your boys into the adventure as well. Everyone seems to have issues with their boys being interested in the series. I have never had that problem, but just in case you do, I'll try to collect some more 'boy-friendly' ideas and pursuits. I'm hoping that everyone following along with us will share their experiences, crafty finds, additional resources and more in the comments for each section that I've tabbed (please try to leave comments on the page I've tabbed at the top, so we will have them together in one place, easier for all to find as we go along)

So, tomorrow we begin....gather your books, check out the available internet resources and links I've tried to compile from other sites and great bloggers who have blazed the westward trail before me. And most of all, be creative! There are no set-in-stone rules for this unit study. The pioneer period is full of great views along the way, and if something doesn't work out for you, be creative and make some changes! For example, our first week we will be making corn husk dolls, but if you don't have the materials, change it around and make yarn dolls, pillowcase dolls, bandana dolls, or even real stick figures made from small branches, twigs, a bit of string, etc. HAVE FUN!!

The Week 1 reading and resources are gathered on the school blog, so check it out and leave some comments with your own notes and suggestions!! Wagons Ho!!

Show your Patriotism?

2011-07-01T07:41:00.000-05:00

It's no secret I'm sort of drawn between this side and that side of the fence of what America IS anymore. No, I'm not getting into any long-breath political conversation. There's no point in that. Folks believe what they believe, plain and simple. I don't beleive we are any great shakes of a nation anymore. I believe we are running full bore into what our immigrant forebearers left their own countries for.

And, on a whole, we seem quite content to sit idly by and watch the flow of Hitler-esque 'liberties' dive straight in on us. We smile at it, in fact. We smile at millions being spent on military action in countries we don't belong in, while the body bags fill the transports home. We are content to watch gas prices rise over mere weeks to more than necessary, simply so fat cat politicians and their foreign oil buddies can pad their pockets. We are dang near giddy when we can't afford to buy simple groceries at the store because what isn't on some arbitrary recall list here, has had a severe price jack because of spring storms, hard winters, shipping fuel costs, and just plain Mom and Pop wanting extra cash this month to pay those taxes Big Brother imposed.

Satan doesn't take over with quick, in your face, actions. He's slinky about it, under-handed, smooth-talking and shy. He smiles alot, spits out platitudes and qoutes little bits of proverbial wisdom here and there. He sweetens his pot of destruction with just enough honey to get your interest. That's all he needs. We are a self-saavy lot. We pat ourselves and each other on the back all day, relishing our finese at being so aware and so proactive in our life. We are, to him, a huge grin of accomplishment.

America isn't the 'land of milk and honey' once sought after by foreign countries around the globe. We aren't a mecca for immigration...no, not even counting the Mexican State we are drifting back to. We aren't even a half Christian nation these days, we are merely mega churches with empty words spilling into the masses of empty shells lining the pews. The Bible is pretty clear, no matter what version you read, and if you see even a small portion of America in there anymore, you must be smoking some pretty potent herbal concoctions. We have leadership at the very head of this snake taking his direction from everywhere but the country he was elected by and paid by. It trickles down through every level of sub-leadership, down to the mayors and city councilmen. We have Congressmen 'refusing' to leave their positions...refusing?...what's up with that? I suppose, allowing a string of Presidential sit-downs (remember Clinton and his blatant acts in office with Miss whats-her-name this week...) has simply shown we don't care much what goes on around here.

So, July 4th comes around, heat waves scattered here and there, and families will travel and visit, picnic and reunion, celecbrate and enjoy. And complain about food prices rising, gas prices rising, maybe absent military family members, and perhaps even grumble a bit about the government. You know how it goes. We'll be doing the same here...well, we have a birthday, we always do fireworks for her birthday, we'll cookout and enjoy having Dad home before another out-of-state run of work takes him farther away from where he belongs. I don't complain too much about the rising costs of food and gas prices, but that's because I don't leave the homestead all that often unless I have to, and I don't buy alot of grocery store fodder. I probably shouldn't complain about the government, because honestly, I don't believe any of it matters. We are corrupt to the core and no amount of belly-aching is going to alter that. We don't want real change. Change tends to come quickly and we don't like quick. We prefer satan's mode of change...sucker the mindless drones using their own power and techniques. We do that everyday as we complain about terrorism (and lock our Troops in for another round of desert nomadding...cry for more and more security while giving ours away with TSA, gun control, healthcare 'reform'...).

No, I won't complain anymore. This is soapbox enough, I guess. I've repeated it a hundred times. I'm just a plain lady, mothering 9 children, on a simple little patch of weeds and clay in the hinterlands. I don't know anything about anything outside of my life with children, chickens, a cow or two and some patches of annoying honey locusts. I've got some proactive life of my own to be tending...

Why I Will Be Wearing Black On The Fourth of July...from Consent of the Governed

No Red, White and Blue for me this year.

I am in mourning.
It's not that I am not patriotic.

Quite the opposite.
I will be wearing black this 4th of July - to mourn the loss of our freedoms and the trampling of our Constitution by Washington. If you think everything is hunky dory in America, wear Red White and Blue on Independence Day and celebrate the illusion of the freedoms Americans pretend to enjoy. If you want to do something about getting those freedoms back, wear black instead and tell people why.

I will tell you why:

-We've lost our 4th amendment rights.
-SWAT Teams can kick down your door and shoot you dead.
-Our president takes orders from NATO and the UN; Not Congress.
-There is no such thing as Posse Comitatus anymore, and our military is now acting as policing forces in our own country.
-TSA/Our government is groping little old ladies and children at airports, and desensitizing the population to this kind of humiliating treatment in the the name of "security".
-Our government freely listens in on our telephone conversations and reads our mail, checking our credit card statements and phone bills.
-We are being mandated to buy healthcare being told what kind of lightbulbs to use.
-One seventh of our nation is on foodstamps and our leader and his family fly all over the world to vacation and have a good time as we serfs foot the bill.
-Our President acts like a dictator with his executive orders and Congressional "end arounds".
-Every single day there is another Constitutional abuse coming out of Washington, with no care or rebuke. The oath of office means nothing to too many.

How can I possibly wear Red, White and Blue when our Republic is dying? and when our Congress does not have the backbone to end this madness?
It is time to redouble our efforts to take back our beloved Republic.

Happy Independence Day Weekend!

2011-06-29T22:22:00.001-05:00

The United States flag does not fly because the wind moves past it. The United States flag flies from the last breath of each military member who has died protecting it. American soldiers don't fight because they hate what's in front of them...they fight because they love what's behind them.

Be blessed this Independence Day weekend!

Sewing on a rainy day...

2011-06-28T11:21:00.000-05:00

Remember stories of generations past and the sewing circles?

We've watched many shows with this type of gathering lately...Christy, Little House on the Prairie, Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman...and we've read stories in many of our Readers, as well.

Today, as the dark clouds roll around outside, and our lamps are lit and casting a cozy, pioneer glow to the great room, we're crafting. And it's with a purpose, too....Miss Emily turns 5 very soon :)

Summer Reading: Little House on The Prairie series

2011-06-09T13:22:00.000-05:00

Pack your wagons! We're heading west!

Yes, we are going to work through the Little House on The Prairie series again this summer. We love the books, and between the direction given by The Prairie Primer, and the great efforts of We Love The Prairie Primer blog, we'll get even more out of it, adding in plenty of YouTube clips, fun biography searches, arts and crafts. There is even a great Facebook Group you might be interested.

There are a few folks joining along as we go, so I've set up our homeschool blog to make it easier to find the various weeks and notes we will be using. I will post the over-all reading assignments, via the direction of The Prairie Primer, soon and perhaps we can get started by the end of the month. If you'd rather, the homeschool blog is a Networked Blog, so you can follow along via Facebook as well.

You are welcome to follow along, and please share your own notes and ideas for projects and field trips, vocabulary, crafts and more for each book.

hmmm...boredome gets you what?

2011-06-06T17:36:00.000-05:00

It gets you a new blog experience when you come visit me :)

Ahhh, my boredom is impressive, heh?

Ok, not so much. Still, I was bored. Needed a creative outlet. Guess maybe I'll stick with the yarn and needles as the creative outlet next time.

The children went down to play in the creek for a while. This was after Matt came up from running fence through the timber talking about the foot long, pencil-thin green snake that dropped off the trees and into the neckline of his t-shirt :)

Jennifer brought it up for everyone to check out. They wanted to keep it.

I'm all for taking in wayward animals, orphans, strays and so forth, but snakes...nope. Gotta draw that line somewhere.

Entrelac Crochet

2011-06-03T08:37:00.000-05:00

I am on a couple of crochet groupa via Yahoo and one of the topics that seems to come up is Tunisian Crochet. From there, Entrelac pops up quite often. I love the looks of it, but haven’t tackled it myself yet. It doesn’t appear too difficult or anything, I just haven’t taken the time to really sit and give it a shot.

Well that, and I almost always have too many WIPs (Works in Progress…) on the hooks already. I am a total UFO (Unfinished Objects) queen!

One day though, Entrlac and I will meet and I’m sure I’ll be cranking out baby blankets, hot pads, lapghans and more using the many color variations that will highlight the stitch.

The Art of Crochet…Entrelac Crochet Tutorial

Can’t you see this done in pastels for a baby blanket? Or bright primary shades for a child? Maybe a variety of colors for a sort of Grandmother’s Flower Garden effect? Or perhaps something more practical, like a serious stash-buster crazy blanket style?

The possibilities are endless! Happy Stitching!

Here Comes June Already!

2011-05-31T19:14:00.001-05:00

Did I really blog so little in May? Not that anyone missed my goofy, incoherent ramblings much I'm sure, but still...I'm not exactly the poster child for quiet and shy you know.

Over the last short time here, aside from having a great long weekend with Memorial Day and Dewey being home, life has been a bir off kilter around here. We had one of the baby goats (Kendra's twins) go down will illness unexpectedly. We nursed him 24/7 in the house here for near a week and alas, he passed. We aren't 100% sure at all what the issue was, just that he grew more and more listless and unable to actively nurse on his own. He was a twin birth, and the other twin seemed to be very active and well. They were about a month old when the weaker twin passed. Within 3 days, the stronger twin was found in the barn being pawed and bellowed at by momma who apparently didn't realize he too had passed in the night :-( I don't do this part of homesteading very well at all. Burials aside, we have been cautiously watching the health of the others in the herd. Those were the last babies of the season, and so far, both earlier babies, Rachel's Eve and Happy's Jeremiah, are well. They are also older, being about 6 months now. We are leaning toward the belief that perhaps the twins suffered from White Muscle Disease, or a goat version of MS. No way of knowing for sure, but the symptoms certainly bear that diagnosis out. We will certainly we will certainly begin treating for selenium deficiency as part of the goat regime here.

Two days ago, going to the barn for evening chores, we discovered Gideon, our year-old buckling from Kendra's triplet set last year lying in the barn, stiff and dead. There was not physical sign of trauma with him either, and that morning he was out and about the timber with everyone else, seemingly perfectly normal. Now I am a bit more concerned. It's one thing to lose young ones still nursing, but a year old going down without warning is something else. Happy New Year has been off her feed a couple days, just quietly lying about, disinterested in hay, branches and grain. They are all current on worming, there has been no changes of note in feed, browsing or water so again, I'm stumped o.O Now, we do have what they call "cow killer" or Red Velvet, ants down here...perhaps he simply got stung? I don't know. Perhaps a snake? We didn't see any visible marking showing signs of a bite or sting, but that's not to say it wasn't there.

Either way, I've had my fill of digging graves around here. Time for things to perk back up. So, to help spur that along, we went out this morning and bought 990' of field fencing again, several (but not near enough) T-posts, and replenished the fence staple supply. Jennifer, Matthew and I started hitting the back clearing and timber, marking out another 'browsing section' for goats, including the back clearing for Miss Judy and young Woody to enjoy as well. Of course, we don't plan for fencing during the winter months, when the bug and snake population are otherwise occupied. Shoot no....we dive right in as SUMMER STRIKES and the temnps start popping the mercury out the top of the thermometer. :::sigh::: we never were much for pre-planning around here. Today we got home and tackled a whopping 40' of fencing, complete with a wooden gate post set, and 4 T-posts. I'm not over-joyed with the amount of work done, but we did what we could prior to hitting the timber and underbrush. Now the real fun begins....tick land. Ugh...I can feel them crawling already!

Last week, as more storms jumped around the area, we lost power and I began to stress a bit around the 8th hour. Our 2 freezers are fairly packed (both a good thing and a bad thing). Our freezers are outside in the workshop building, so despite being inside more or less, they are exposed to a great deal of heat under normal circumstances, take out the power and we have a pretty hot environment. I bought several bags of ice and packed the chest and upright and kept a prayer handy. All in all, we were out some 15 hours, lost what was in the milk fridge as well as the few items in the other one, and it could have been alot worse. I know...I could have saved those gallons of milk and made yogurt. I didn't think along those lines, and I wasn't sure when the power would return. Next time. I'll be more prepared next time. Really, we don't keep alot in the fridge to begin with, so there's not much to lose really, but still...I did have too much in the freezers, something I try to avoid. Shouldn't have let them build up a store like that. Should have had them canned up in the pantry. Lesson learned.

On a recent shopping trip to replenish the TP, Abbey discovered the joys of Sam's Club and a 2.5 gallon container of giant dill pickles. We're talking her earthly version of heaven here. This is the daughter who asks for a gallong of dill pickles all her own every year for her birthday. She's lovin' this.

On the blog sharing front, I have been gathering goodies all over....

Recipes....

Strawberry Sheet Pie from Mennonite Girls Can Cook...just spend time with their site and archives. I promise delicious results!

Balancing Beauty and Bedlam...great recipes, among so many other things, including this Mexican Style Chicken OAMC

Mandy's Recipe Box shared some great doughnuts...I suggest simply adding her to your Reader or favorites listing because there are way more goodies you'll want to save and add to your recipes!

Just Plain Good Finds...

A dear online friend, Sara, has started sharing her homestead goodies like soaps and other things here at Fresh From The Homestead. Stop by and check her out, order some great homemade soap, and grab her Facebook link :-)

I Take Joy shared a great post on Dishes, Duties and Datebooks worth reading and pondering.

Dandelion Seeds shared a great Devotional for the Disorganized. A definite keeper and one to print out!

Sprouting Flowers has a great PDF Alphabet Printing Chart loaded up to share. Remember sitting in those grade school classrooms checking your handwriting against the row of alphabet cards that lined the area above the blackboard? Well, I do. This set however is much better...each letter is there with a coordinating Bible verse to memorize. Definitely printing this out to laminate and hang here!

And lastly, but perhaps the best little goodie I came across and tucked aside, Plain Pam's Blog. I've shared many of her posts before, including crafts, but here is her craft label at her blog. There is a great Yo-Yo Quilt, some great, easy to crochet slippers, and more. And of course, the rest of the blog is even better!

So...off to dinner and then rubbing some serious pain ointment on my aching wrists, taking a mega Ibuprofen and totally vegging out this evening. Tomorrow the fencing continues into the dark reaches of the poison ivy and oak riddled timber brush. Oh joy...

Lest we forget...

2011-05-30T08:06:00.001-05:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3G1FvlPakkU&sns=em

Memorial Day is just that....a day of remembrance, of those left behind saying thank you and recalling memories in front of a quiet white stone.

Memorial Day has little to do with the various wars, conflicts, etc. that protesters will shout about.

Memorial Day is about the fallen men and women, over all the generations, who believed in what their hearts told them freedom was all about. Freedoms we enjoy daily and take for granted. Freedoms they no longer know.

It is not about celebrating war. It is about celebrating the life of those soldiers who stood so you didn't have to. It's about saying thank you, and we miss you.

Quick note for now...

2011-05-26T14:45:00.000-05:00

We're all fine here. No serious storms tagged us in the week of fronts moving through. Last night we were on the fringe of the last tail and lost several trees...and power...in our area for 15 hours, but that's small potatoes compared to Oklahoma, Missouri, southern central Illinois and Minnesota.

Today I am l.a.z.y. I have been awake since yesterday morning and I admit it -- I am no longer a spring chicken. I'm plum tuckered and I'm declaring today as a nation-wide (well, homestead-wide, anyway) holiday....NAP DAY.

Feel free to join the quiet, peaceful fun yourself :)

testing Windows Live Writer…

2011-05-16T19:00:00.001-05:00

just downloaded this and thought I’d give it a quick test run to see if it’ll work. I just hate having hiccups in Blogger, even if they don’t happen very often.

Homestead Laundry How-To

2011-05-16T18:22:00.000-05:00

Laundry Day. Or days, as the case most likely is, for the families I know anyway.

Where to begin?

Separating clothes, a little soaking and pre-washing of those really bad stains, making laudry soap...

We make our own laundry soap here, but you certainly don't have to in order to wash laundry by hand. Need a recipe? Crystal's recipe, at The Family Homestead, is a great place to start for a liquid version., though many recipes are basically the same with a few personal tweaks here and there. For a dry version, Instructables has a nice tutorial. Wet, dry, scent added or base soap scent only...Whatever your preference, you'll find a detergent that you like and that's all that counts.

What do you need?

Well, there are any number of specialty items out there for hand-washing on the homestead, everything from a James Washer (a design that could easily be recreated with a little ingenuity and skill) to a hand held Rapid Washer, and many variances in-between, like this neat bicycle-powered washer (here's a tutorial)

Your bar soap 'starter'...such as the traditional Fels Naptha, or something more modern, such as Zote, Ivory Soap, Kirks Castile, Octagon, etc.

You will need to get a box of 20 Mule Team Borax, (I can still get this at most local stores, so look around) and Arm & Hammer Washing Soda...not to be confused with baking soda! They are not the same product at all.

You can add scent with essential oil, or even a scented oil used for soap making (I get mine at Hobby Lobby usually)

an old, empty detergent bucket or jug to put your newly made laundry detergent into :)

Me...I have a few heavy duty watering troughs from the feed store as my washing tubs, a stick agitator (aka modified plunger) and a washboard for the scrubbing of extra dirty things.

So....let's begin.

I'll assume you already have separated clothes. Darks, lights, colors, whites, etc. This is

one of my heavy watering tubs, kept specifically for laundry. I fill it with hot water to whatever height I need to soak my dirties in, in this case, it was the bubble bath for our whites. I added a bit of our laundry detergent as well as a bit of Mrs Stewart's Bluing. (well, in this photo, it was bleach alternative...I was out of the bluing). We added extra water via garden hose...didn't have much plunging to do this way.

These will remain soaking as long as needed to help break up the dirt, and the scrub board used as necessary.

Depending on where you are setting up your laundry area, you could soak overnight in the bathtub, in the sink if you don't have many items, or in a tub like mine most of the day. During the summer, a morning hot water bath in a black tub like mine can remain pretty warm during the daytime hours if left in a sunny location. The longer your dirtiest clothes can sit and soak, with a little agitation now and then, the easier the stains will soak out on their own without so much scrubbing on your part.

In another tub for washing, we begin the laundry day with the least of the dirties. By starting with the least stained items, you have the opportunity to get the most out of your hot water usage by washing multiple 'loads' before the water is too dirty or has cooled off too much. It's not absolutely necessary to wash in hot water, no, especially if you are utilizing a soaking or pre-wash tub for the dirtier items, but adding at least a bit of hot water to the cycle will help release stains and dirt and aid in dissolving your detergent.
The washing tub has a couple buckets of hot water added, a bit of laundry soap, a dose of garden hose water, and we plunge for several minutes. It's neat how much sudsing you can create with some serious plunging, even for relatively non-sudsing detergent.

Note: The first time or two that you handwash, you will notice alot more detergent than you will later on. Washing machines, no matter how good, still leave a bit of soap residue in place. Why? Detergents/soaps 'catch' dirt, and afterall, the quicker your clothing gets 'dirty' the sooner you'll wash again, and the sooner you will need to purchase more laundry detergent. It's quite the racket.

Our cycle of plunging, or agitating, the laundry and then allowing a rest (or soaking) time goes on for probably 10-20 minutes, depending on the amount of dirt and staining we have to deal with. We have a scrub board to use for stains, and to work in any additional soap we might need. I keep a bar of laundry soap (I prefer Octagon or Fels Naptha myself) handy for spot stain scrubbing, collars, etc. Soaking does a great deal, but sometimes working in a bit of soap and elbow grease is helpful.

Our agitator...a modified bell-shaped plunger, bought at Lowe's for under $5. Our modifications are easy to see...we used one of Dewey's hole saws to put quarter-sized holes around the plunger bell. In this case, we placed 4 holes. On this style plunger, there is an inner 'lining' to this bell portion, so we made similar holes in it as well, so as to facilitate the water flow, so it agitates better. It's all very scientific, LOL.

My children actually enjoy hand-washing, and we're pretty quick at knocking out loads these days. My fancy washing machine indoors takes a full 54 minutes for a large load with fabric softener added. If it's something really stained, or thick like bath towels, where I would add the extra rinse cycle to ensure soap removal, we're up to 68 minutes. Heavy duty wash load plus all that stuff and it's 78 minutes. That's per load. Insane. Not counting the long soaking items we hand-wash, we can usually knock out the equivalient of 5-7 loads in 2 hours, from separating to washing and rinsing to hanging on the clothesline. A mornings' work and we have a fully loaded clothesline for the day, not to mention we have used alot less water, despite my fancy washing machine being one of those high efficiency mega beasts.

After the 'wash' cycle is finished in tub #1, the laundry gets wrung out and placed into the second tub (this one filled with garden hose water) and agitated again for several minutes for the first of two 'rinse' cycles. In this first rinse tub we have added a bit of distilled white vinegar to help as a fabric softener, usually no more than 1/4 cup for the whole tub. The rinse cycle is agitated several times, with resting in-between, then wrung out and placed in the next rinse bucket and repeated. It was surprising to me just how much detergent residue remained in the clothes, despite what I thought was some pretty intense washing and rinsing and wringing before we started using the plunger as an agitator!
Given the difficulty a handful of children and one momma with carpal tunnel can have with wringing out clothing thoroughly, I do the bigger and heavier things in to the washing machine still. Things like denim jeans, large bath towels, comforters and blankets, etc. The plan is to get a couple of good sized, sturdy wringers, but even then, I see the comforters being a washing machine item nonetheless.

So, there you have it. Homestead Laundry Washing Day. Your preference of laundry soaps and additives, a few buckets, a plunger, some hot water and a couple hours of your time. If you do laundry by hand, I'd love to hear about your laundry adventures, any tips and thoughts you have on making the day easier, laundry recipes, etc.

Of Water Collecting, Sewing, and Hand-Washing Laundry...

2011-05-16T16:22:00.001-05:00

Wild lilacs...or a Butterfly Bush variety? Gorgeous, aren't they? And the scent is so strong for such a delicate flower! Aren't they pretty? I'll be digging some up from out back in the timber where they are growing relatively unappreciated, and try to transplant some up front where I can enjoy them in their season.

Yes, I did say I needed to start getting on the computer more often. I forgot. The netbook sits in the desk, in the drawer actually, and I simply don't think about turning it on and logging in. I should. Facebook is all fine and dandy, but I do have friends (with more common sense perhap?) who don't have time to follow my inane ramblings on social networking venues. They visit here, and while I'm hardly anything exciting, I'm sure they would appreciate my showing up once in a while.

Around here lately we have...checked the oil in the van. Exciting, I know. Dewey appreciates my checking it once in a while. It has over 203k miles on it and well,it drinks a bit of oil now and again. I forget to check it. I mean, I'm not an idiot...I can change a tire and change the oil and all that stuff if I have to. I just don't give it all much thought. It's just one of those things. That, and with vans like these, the dadgum oil checker stick thingamabob is like 2 yards long and it's just a nusance. But, I did check it...and added oil. I aim to please :)


We've also been collecting water. I get comments and notes all the time (surprise, surprise, I know) about how we live like poor, Third World inhabitants, how backwoods we are, how this, how that we are compared to the world at large...a decidedly not old fashioned world. Yeah. Ok. Our water district out here in the hinterlands, Blackland Water Association, has absolutely awful water. Nasty stuff. No, it's not "dirty" in appearance, but it's loaded with chlorine. Smells like the swimming pool at the Y when you fill a tub or the sink. Chlorine is a carcinogen. And it's heavy in our tap water. We prefer to collect water every of weeks at a local spring. On average, we fill anywhere from 22-26 3 gallon jugs every couple of weeks. We live rural...these are some of our roads coming home...


I've been sewing. Aren't I always? Well, no, actually, I always have it on my RMD list (Really Must Do), but it's always relocated to the next list. I am working on summer clothes. Summer...you know, that season that is upon us already? My plan is always Spring/Summer clothes ready by April and the Autumn/Winter clothes ready by October. It's just a plan. We aren't set in stone. Obviously.
However, in the past 5 days or so, I have whipped out 2 dresses for myself, 2 for Emily plus her bloomers and a couple pinafores, as well as 1 each for Abigail and KatiAnne, plus their bloomers. I have 2 mnore for Emily ready to stitch, and 1 more for the other girls with all the fabrics ready to go for more as well as shirts and pants for the boys. I'm behind. It's the story of my sewing life. I should stress over this lack of sewing, but I don't. Maybe I should. We cou ld all be running around here au naturale....

I've also been crocheting on things. The Bavarian Stitch (aka Catherine Wheel) afghan is about finished, and I think I might just send it along with Dewey on his work trips. Maybe a Father's Day gift :) Socks have been worked as well...yes, Mom, those are the ones I'm sending you. Dishcloths have been hitting the hook again as well. I sold or gave away as gifts most of last year's handwork so time to replenish. I'm working most of them in the Tunisian Stitch I have made our "house pattern". I've been asked alot about 'teaching' the stitch and it's variations, but I don't know the first thing creating a YouTube tutorial, or even a ebook for that matter, so unless someone out there wants to give ME some lessons, I'll just leave all this to the pro's who have already done the goodies.


Laundry. It's like my sewing....always on the list, always relocating because of a seemingly endless supply. Yes, we are a large family, and yes, this is a working homestead and we get dirty just living every day life here...but seriously, why does the flow of laundry grow instead of shrink? I have a fancy washing machine that takes longer per load and doesn't clean as well as we can do hand-washing. Yes, I'm talking buckets and soaking, scrubbing, and a modified plunger :) We get our clothes more clean washing by hand than that fancy "high efficiency" washing machine does, and it takes us alot less time to do it. We can have non-soaking loads of clean clothes ready to hang on the line with a couple hours of work, where each load in the machine runs 54 minutes if I'm filling to capacity. We are still washing blankets and bath towels in the machine, but I'm hoping to get a couple wringers set up for those. I'll post a pictorial of our laundry washing in the next post :)

With Judy back in business here, we've been making butter at least twice weekly again. Yum. I missed having fresh, homemade butter. It's super easy to make....we collect the cream off our milk twice daily, morning and evening, after the milk has set and chilled for the day or overnight. This is collected in a jar and kept in the fridge. Once I have my jar filled (I collect a half gallon before making butter), we pull the jar out and let it sit on the counter a couple of hours to take the chill off and then it's butter time. I use my KitchenAid mixer and the whisk attachment, but you can easily use a blender, or simply a jar, a couple of marbles and alot of shaking. A half gallon of cream makes just under 2# of butter, and that's a bit much for a blender to pop out in one shot, and I'm not sure I could rock and roll long enough to shake that into butter, so the mixer it is :)

Depending on the room temp, consistency of the cream, and all that stuff, we have butter within the half hour. After skimming it from the resulting buttermilk, we begin pressing it out. I have a wooden Paula Deen spatula from WalMart that works perfectly for pressing out the butter. We press and rinse with ice water 3 times, pressing out the liquid thoroughly each time, and then I salt the butter with about 1 tsp sea salt per pound. The butter is then pressed into containers and frozen. I have some small round cheap tupperware (in the picture) that holds about 3/4 of a pound. I've also used my mini loaf pans. Once frozen, I transfer the butter to a quart sized freezer bag and it's weighed and dated and back to the freezer until needed. My 'butter dish' is one of those glass Pyrex dishes that has a nice rubber lid. Fits the butter I've made wonderfully.

Other news....hmmm....the garden is planted, but I have some flooded beans I need to replant when things dry up a bit more. The goat kidding season is over, I hope. Kendra isn't milking worth a hoot again this year, but I suppose I can live. Happy has decreased her milk as well...big ol' piggy Jeremiah needs to relocate to the male pen. He's past age, and honestly, being the same size as Gideon (last year's buck), he can certainly handle himself. I just hate separating him. He bellows like a baby all night. I'm such a softie.

Dewey has been home the last couple weekends, and we get this coming weekend with him home as well before he's sent back to the Indianapolis job. We're planning for a Father's Day weekend. I'd love a Memorial Day long weekend...there's some fencing to be done :)

So...anyone want to give a lesson on creating youtube clips and ebooks?

People are so funny...

2011-05-09T14:48:00.001-05:00

Yes, I have a collection of what you might call trolls...folks who follow my blog just to take shots at things I may say. It's funny. I mean, sure, it's a personal attack most often, and it used to bother me, but whatever. I'm not responsible for what folks think, let alone what they say.

However, I am a little more responsible for here, my little homestead on the internet. So, comments that come out to do little more than bait a response from me, or belittle my opinions and beliefs, well, you'll have to settle for finding another venue for sharing your discontent. Your own blog, perhaps?

What I believe to be true for my family would be just that...for my own family. You are free to agree or disagree, sure. It is a free world, moreso on the internet I suspect. But, I'm afraid I won't be answering every disagreement or baited 'shot' tossed this way. Things like how I am manipulating my children by our wearing dresses only, how we are wrongly motivated in our homeschooling, our church selection, our Bible version, our lifestyle...the list is on-going...these are areas you are wasting your computer time sending me notes and messages, comments I won't publish and answer.

We wear dresses and skirts. We homeschool. We are rather Baptist in our structure, but honestly, I don't want a religious 'label.' We live, eat, and breathe normal air like everyone else. Why we homeschool could be as simple as we believe the Bible calls parents to be the primary teachers for their children. It could also be something like the government schools are falling below measure every single day and students are falling along with them. If you know us, you know why we homeschool. Our Bible choice is our choice. Our dress code is a personal choice. You are free to dress as you please, and allow your children to dress as they please. It's no concern of mine, and I would expect the same response.

I've been repeatedly told we live an old fashioned, out of date, lifestyle. Please...we have cell phones, we have a television we watch videos on, we have several computers and an iPad. Do we appear to be forging a pioneer existence here? We are plain, but not Plain enough for our Plain friends...and we are most definitely not worldly enough for everyone else. We simply are what we are.We listen to music of all kinds, from hillbilly to Celtic to country to Appalachia mountain ballads and Mozart. We try to garden, and we buy little store-bought processed foods and simply bake and cook from as close to scratch and raw as we can. We use solar lighting and oil lamps, but my husband is an electrician so I'm hardly off-grid here. We have a cow and goats and chickens for food needs. I love the pioneers of our history, carving out a life from little more than what fit in a small wagon...but I have a 1440 sq ft house filled with far too much clutter and junk to truly let go and live a free, old fashioned life.

I would love to have the life Olivia Walton had. I have the children already, so I'm halfway there, right? Equally I would fit into the life of Caroline Ingalls and be just as happy. What I actually have is more the life of Ma kettle. But it's my life, and I'm happy enough with that.

So, I won't be answering questions about our sons being manipulated to follow the family line....have you even seen my eldest son? He's about as far from following the family line in appearances as one could get, LOL. Nor will I discuss whether or not we have selected a spouse for our daughters. This isn't a cult, you know. It's my family. i would pray that my children make well grounded and thought out decisions in their life, but who knows? I can only do my part, which is to train them properly so they at least have some solid ground to begin with. A house of cards or of solid stone is their decision. I'm not manipulating anyone. If I were, I'd have a husband at home instead of off working out of state to support his family, and my children would remain close to home. The world out there isn't getting any prettier, you know.

But thanks for asking :)

Random Photos from the Homestead

2011-05-05T14:01:00.000-05:00

This was what schooling looked like for near 4 days last week as one storm front after another rolled through our area. These are all around midday, though you sure couldn't tell it by the darkness outside and inside.

These are Emily's socks, from a new pattern I crocheted called "Over The Rainbow Wellies Socks" from the March/April issue of Crochet Today magazine. Technically, they were to be knee socks, but my gauge was different, so I didn't buy enough yarn to play with the pattern. Besides, Emily was practically hanging on me for 2 days while I made these, begging for them to be for her. I should have come up the ankle a bit more, but she doesn't care. They are her footies :) I've already started more from this pattern. They work up so easily once you get your mind set on the plan, and they are very easily adjusted to different foot lengths and width as well. A keeper sock pattern I think :)

The garden, in all it's clay clod glory. I've beat that ground to near death this year, as usual. I ripped it up using the box blade for the tractor...flipped those little finger thingies downward, then tilted the box part out of my way, sort of a jury-rigged cultivator. I zigged, I zagged, I headed west and east, north and south, I did everything but spin circles with that box blade to rip this ground up. Then I tilled with the hand tiller. This direction and that, until it looked so pretty. It looked like a real garden, one capable of sustaining life and producing a harvest of things other than mile-long rooted weeds.

But, alas, no...it wasn't any better ground than any other year. It looked pretty, but it was clod-filled and clumpy. Hard clumpy. Rock-like clumpy. Same Blackland Community Mississippi clay crud I have every year here. Blackland my aunt fanny...and no, I don't actually have an aunt fanny, so you get my meaning right?
So, being somewhat resourceful when the moment calls for it, I did what made sense....I stole more cinder blocks from the stack Dewey has out front and I used them to make raised rows in the garden. We worked long and hard, hauling 1- and 2-hole blocks from up front to out back and into the garden. We raked what decent soil there was into what would have been my normal planting rows, and then we boxed it in, making a 'raised row' of sorts. I filled this with bought garden soil....yes, I live on 20 acres and yet I bought garden soil. Sad isn't it?
I don't plan to do the entire garden in this manner unless I have to, but the tomatoes and the peppers are tucked neatly into these narrow raised beds, filled with the prettiest black garden soil I could find (and afford). Next to these we planted onions and a 3 or 4x 6 flat bed of bush type beans. That's all I have in thus far, rains have sort of put a stop to more planting yet, until it dries a bit more. I have 3 other kinds of beans and some beets to go in yet, and I'd like to get a section ready for pumpkins and zucchini. Not sure what else I want to try out there, given I usually put a lot of work in just to watch the ground dry off and push everything out of big, deep cracks in the bone-dry July ground :( Still, no loss, no gain, right?

This is one end of the grape arbor. For 2 years, the grapes have produced a few spindly twigs with some curly little vines and that's it. A little show with no substance. This year, we have pin dot little grape clusters tucked in these vines. Maybe this year...dare I dream? What should I fertilize with for grapes? They have some potential this year, I just know it.

Around this Homestead Lately...

2011-05-05T10:25:00.000-05:00

I'm beginning to think I should rename our little spread here to Hidden Acres....or Covert Homestead Operations...I have been super lax about sharing anything on the blog lately. It's been very sporadic for posting anymore. And it's not so much that we've been super busy, though we have been have busy, but more like I've updated my Facebook page far more often than I've pulled out the computer and updated the blog. It's bad. My mother even joined Facebook so she could keep updated. That's bad.

The Royal Wedding happened. I didn't watch it, though I did browse a few photos of the bride's dress. Pretty. I liked it. Other than that, sorry, the wedding just didn't appeal to me, even if I did get up at the crack of dark way back in the day and watch Princess Diana flub her husband's name :)

Osama bin laden is dead. Again. Or so the news tells me. Of course, I believe I've been told this a couple other times, too, so who knows. If he is, good. Funny they say it was a SEAL team that took him out...thought obamalama wanted to cut those paychecks back? Guess he decided not to. Maybe a good move. Either way, it's all just a political pony show as far as I'm concerned. Folks were babbling up storms about what a coup this was, and maybe we could get rid of TSA now. Seriously? You think one man being killed/captured will reverse the TSA stuff? Sorry, but we wanted security here, and to get something means giving up a handful of things...so TSA is here to stay.
How about since the "objective" is now supposedly gone, we just wrap up our bedrolls and bring the troops HOME. It's been an easy 9 years on the ground over there, and if Osama is truly no more, we've done what we supposedly went over there to do, so get off the pot and bring the troops back home now. Oh, wait...we can't can we? We shifted over to the other 'problem' now huh? What was that 'problem' again? Guess I can't keep up with all these things...

Well, all that aside, here's a snapshot of some of what's been going on around here....

Recipes Shared:
Soaked Wheat Nourishing Traditions Style Challah
Soaked Wheat Bread via Passionate Homemaking
I have the book Nourishing Traditions, and maybe I just haven't read through the great side-notes yet, but I don't see alot worth having the book in hand yet. I already had many of the recipe styles down from reading the great blogs out there, but I keep plodding through, and I will read the side-notes again and again until it's all just second nature here.
Granola with Raisins from Like a Bubbling Brook
Asparagus Snack Squares from Taste of Home
We made a batch of fresh Honeysuckle Jelly using this recipe (more on this in another post)
Making Herbal Ointments and Salves with the Wood Wife's Journal
Easy Potatoe and Bacon Breakfast Casserole (and so many other recipes) via Our Best Bites
Herbal Remedies Info site is a definite keeper here
LifeScript had a nice bit on Carpal Tunnel...I am always looking at good Carpal Tunnel information
Bubbles at Home:

Bubbles: 6 cups water 2 cups Ivory or Joy dishsoap and 3/4 cup corn syrup mix and shake well to combine. Let set for 4 hrs. Refrigerate when not using and allow to come to room temp before using.. Use bubble wands, or make your own from wire hangers and enjoy :)

Some Crafts Shared:
Apron Style Bib
The Rachel Wrap Shirt...can't wait to make this!
By the way...Craftiness is Not an Optional is hosting another Sew-A-Long with a cute little girl's dress, so definitely scroll around and check out the site!
from Treasures From Yarn, a crocheted Small Shell Sock pattern
and another crocheted sock
Blue Ridge Hoodie crochet pattern
Victorian Infant Cape pattern...I have made these for years! Jennifer was wrapped in one way back when :)

Blogs I Visited, aside my full Google Reader:
Like a Bubbling Brook
Little Homestead in the Valley
Like A Warm Cup of Coffee....and I scored her new ebook, 31 Days to Clean as well :)
Headcoverings
Two Frog Home....great recipes, great upcycle ideas...another keeper!

News And Such:
Smithville MS levelled by F5 tornado
Photos of the Smithville MS tornado damage
Cullman AL damage
Tuscaloosa AL tornado damage
Vision Forum shares about the tornado that leveled the Crawford family home....Kelly Crawford (Generation Cedar)
Is Church Membership Biblical post
A Note for Wives of Unemployed Husbands from SmockityFrocks
I was bored...I music searched...I found this little gem of funny from Bill Engval, as well as this favorite song from Rascal Flatts

Schooling during the storm looked like we were schooling at midnight here. We had the lamps lit, trying to keep enough light to make things doable. We did end up spending a good half hour or so out in the workshop building, not that it's in much sturdier shape than being in a mobile home, but it might have lasted an extra 10 mins if we'd been hit here. We need a storm shelter, problem is, I'm claustrophobic BIG TIME, so watching a hole get dug and a tin can shelter plopped in just isn't going to cut it for me. Not to mention they are just too small for a large family. I need something more along the lines of a small basement, or a large root cellar kind of thing. I do far better in the daytime than I do with these overnight storms, so I need something that will be suitable for children to go into and lay down if necessary. Something we can spend some time in if we have to. Ever seen the movie Blast from The Past? Now that is a storm shelter I could live with :)

Along with those tidbits, I started the garden. The soil, despite being inundated with flood waters, was still ROCK HARD CLODS, as usual. So, the children and I schlepped some cinder blocks over and formed up narrow raised beds, instead of row planting. We used what decently busted soil I had in the garden, then filled the remainder with really good black garden soil that I had to BUY. UGH! I shouldn't have to BUY dirt when I live on 20 acres, kwim? Anyway, I did, and we planted up 3 long rows of tomatoes, 3 rows of bell peppers, several rows of onions, a 3x6 bed of bush beans, and I have more to go if it dries up enough to get back in there. Is it too late to put my beets in, ya think?

We have finally gotten Woody Jr to get an interest in grains and grasses and hay. He's a month old now, down to about 1/2-3/4 gallon of milk a day (still via bottle...he hates buckets I think). He spends his days playing with Miss Judy and running around. She is far more content with him closer at hand...plus, she was rolling all my fencing over just to get at him to give him his daily momma licking and prodding. So, day time is family togetherness time in the pasture I guess.

Now, I need to get a good grasp on when Judy comes and goes from heat so we can get her rebred. Not that I have many prospects lined up around here, Jerseys are not exactly prolific in my neck of the woods, but I'll find one somewhere, or we'll go for AI. Still, I have to catch her actually IN HEAT, and so far, I ain't seen nothin' :(

Hints?? Tips?? Suggestions?? Send 'em my way folks, I really need them!

We had another set of goat twins here. Kendra, who never gave the slightest appearance of pregnancy, nor showed the least interest in Malachi back in the fall, popped out twins a couple weeks ago, middle of the night, out in the back pasture. Sigh. I'm beginning to seriously doubt my animal husbandry abilities when it comes to breeding :( They are cute little buggers, and both male, which we really didn't need more of around here. The children named them Bo and Luke. Yes, we've been watching old Dukes of Hazard television shows, can you tell?

Our other babies, Jeremiah and Eve, are doing great. Jeremiah is already the size of Gideon....last year's buckling! Sheesh louise he is a big boy! And still adorable with that salt and pepper coloring. Such a sweetheart.

We are working laundry through today, as well as getting bread going and of course, some schooling. We are hoping to get Dewey home this weekend, though it appears it won't be until Saturday afternoon now. He's up in Indianapolis, working on a couple projects so he can get an inspection Friday, then he'll head to Carthage TN to meet with another Superintendent on a job he'll be working at for a couple weeks while he waits on the Indy job to take off in the rains and mud up there. That means for a couple weeks at least, we might get him here every weekend. Would be nice, as we haven't had him home in about 5 weeks now. I have a huge Boston Butt roast and a huge turkey pulled and thawing...thought we'd smoke them Saturday, but looks like I'll be cooking them in the house as I don't do the smoker, and Dewey won't be here until too late to get them going.

I will get sewing and working on the new blog here...promise. I will also try to pull together some sort of update for the school blog, though it's been pretty mundane on that branch of the homestead tree lately. Lots of reading and nothing exciting going on. The younger girls are about to start some cross stitch samplers, if that's exciting. They aren't fancy, but they sort of fit into the whole American Revolution and Lewis & Clark time frame I think. I'm planning some simple quilt work for the next level, when we hit the pioneers. And yes, I've started looking back at the Weaver unit studies yet again. I have been back and forth on that curriculum for a good 15 years now. Lately I have noticed alot more talk about it, so my interest is piqued again. But I really like the Paths curriculum, so maybe I should just move on to the next level and keep with it, heh?

So, there ya go. If you are following me on FB, sorry, these are all total repeats of old news for you.

20 Signs That A Horrific Global Food Crisis Is Coming | The Survival Spot Blog

2011-04-18T17:41:00.001-05:00

http://www.survival-spot.com/survival-blog/20-signs-that-a-horrific-global-food-crisis-is-coming/

Where does the time go?

2011-04-11T22:28:00.003-05:00

Even if it has been upper 80s and feels like hot, sticky summer :-)

Dewey left last might to head to the job site in Indianapolis then straight over to Illinois for his BILs funeral tomorrow afternoon. Bill, his older sister's husband, was killed in a semi truck accident last week. His truck left the off-ramp and flipped, killing him instantly. Prayers would be appreciated as they walk thru this season. Deb is beside herself and still hysterical as you would expect :( She has always been a wife. She has no idea what to do :( Thank The Lord they have a good church family!
Have you ever considered what will happen when your spouse dies? Not in some warped, morbid way, just plain thinking ahead. I'm sure we'd continue on, that's just what happens, but day to day stuff...insurance, finances, etc. Inevitable, sure...and it's not like I'm concerned about never being with him again...I know where he's going :) but still...how do you plan for that sort of emptiness? Can you?

The children and I were able to go back thru and till the garden area again before the storms ran thru here this afternoon. We are ready to plant now! We put some leftover field fencing around it to keep the dogs from mashing the clay back down. I'm excited....looks like some decent soil finally, with all the barnyard and barn stall goodies worked in :)

I was also able to move a couple of the solar lights to another area. They aren't fancy at all, Dewey just wired an on/off switch to some of those outdoor motion-sensor lights that are solar powered and we use them as indoor lighting. I found I needed some lighting in an area we hadn't really directed them toward, so I moved the solar piece to another location and fished the wire thru the window. Worked perfect to put light where I needed, but still gives light in the main living area. These lights are working out very nicely! Sure beats the heat of oil lamps in the summer, not to mention the savings on the electric bill :)

About the time we finished all these tasks, the winds picked up and we had quite a few strong gusts straight out of the south. They were strong enough to flip up, fold in half, and sail over the fence our calf hut! Now mind you, this isn't exactly a sturdy structure to begin with, but I sure wasn't expecting this! We penned off a corner of the pasture near the fence here at the house for the calf. For his 'house' we did what we've always done for temporary shelter for animals...arched a couple of cattle panels, wired them together, covered down the back, as well as over top and sides, with a large tarp, and secured it with several bungee cords and/or rope and voilà....calf hut. We can hang a heat lamp in there, watered, etc. Works great...unless of course you didn't really plan for a full frontal assault from the wind gusting 40-50 mph. It literally flipped it upwards, folded one panel back over the other, and flipped it over the fence into the dog run! Ugh! That baby's anchored down now....we tethered the front open end to cinder blocks! If it goes again, Woody the calf can just move inside the house with us!

I'm planning to get the meat order done at the butcher in another week. Probably just 200# each ground beef and stewing chunks. I might get 50# of sausage to have on hand for when Dewey gets home time, but that's about it. I'll get ground turkey later, and we'll butcher chickens. I'm hoping the heat levels back to something more truly spring-like so I can get the majority of the meat canned up, but I'm not very hopeful. These temps have gone berserk lately and it's only April...what hope do I have for May, let alone real summer?

My sewing list is still, well, a list. I have several things cut, but sewing hasn't been working as readily as I had hoped. I'll blame it on Dewey being home. With him gone so much out of state working, I wasn't about to spend his home time tethered between an ironing board and sewing machine despite the pending nakedness if I don't get busy! But, he'll be working for the next couple weeks, so it's crunch time now! No excuses anymore....unless it dries up for planting the garden :) I mean, what use are clothes if we starve to death....right?

Lactating Cows....

2011-04-01T07:16:00.000-05:00

Do you have one?

I don't. I'm beginning to think Miss Judy is toying with us. She was due last Sunday. Not that I know fiddly about cows, mind you. She's had some show but that's about it.

I want milk.

Common sense Emergency Food Storage tips...

2011-03-22T11:16:00.001-05:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gF8xD64clqQ&sns=em

Be sure to check out other related videos shared on the YouTube page with this one.

BlogShare: Cooking with littles

2011-03-15T05:35:00.000-05:00

http://cookingwithlittles.blogspot.com/2011/01/large-batch-of-buttermilk-rolls-by-hand.html

This links directly to her large batch buttermilk biscuits....but don't stop there! Check out her right sidebar....Gluten Free and tons more are there waiting....

Handbook of Nature Study...FREE this week!

2011-03-14T08:28:00.001-05:00

http://www.homeschoolfreebieoftheday.com

This week, each day, Homeschool Freebie is offering the complete Handbook of Nature Study in great PDF form!!!!!

Nuclear Fallout Survival | The Survival Spot Blog

2011-03-13T18:55:00.001-05:00

http://www.survival-spot.com/survival-blog/nuclear-fallout-survival/

Information is free. Knowledge can be useful. If you never use the information, what have you lost? If, Lord forbid, you have chance to use it, you have gained something far too many others will not have.

Click the link in the sharing and read the fallout guide.

Study Guide for Book of Virtues - Shiver Academy

2011-03-11T06:23:00.000-06:00

This incredible sharing is a tremendous 992 page study guide for William Bennett's Book of Virtues. Lapbook elements, word/spelling lists, copywork and so much more!

http://www.shiveracademy.com/book-of-virtues.html

Lesson Plan Information Twinklemom has offered a laid out schedule for The Book Of Virtues–Elementary Level. This schedule is a very basic schedule forcusing on the 10 virtues listed in BOV. (Book of Virtues). She has a place where you can type in the readings you would like to cover, Copywork, even has a suggestion for a memory Bible Verse and some optional suggested readings. Such as parables that would fit in with the unit’s theme. I am not sure what exactly this is–but I believe it is available on line. Keep in mind this is intended for the primary grades. Her children are truly in the YOUNG bracket. So if you are looking for something for a grade 7 study, this would not be it.

RecipeShare: 10 Minute Brownies

2011-02-27T20:08:00.001-06:00

http://www.foodista.com/recipe/L46P5Y52/10-minute-brownies

And a great website, too!

CraftShare: Make a Quill Pen

2011-02-26T20:31:00.001-06:00

http://www.education.com/activity/article/Make_Quill_Pens/

Perfect accompaniment for our Revolutionary War fun.....

Storm update

2011-02-25T05:22:00.001-06:00

Thought I'd let everyone know the storms that blew thorough last night made a huge mess and a great light show, but no real damage here. We had high wind advisories buzzing thru midnight, and the hard rain lasted a good hour.

I know my front yard is totally littered with branches and sticks, and the mud monster most certainly returned so we'll be swimming to the barn for chores. Guess Spring is coming to Mississippi :) No, I'm not counting winter out just yet. I know better than that just coming into March.

I know it rained so hard and the winds blew horizontal just right....all the windows along the west side flooded. We had towels stuffed into windows and packed into the top between the window and blinds :( I suppose that's not really too bad considering. Hope it dries out good before the weekend storms move through so I can run some caulk around.

But, bottom line is we're still in Kansas, Toto.....or should I say we're still in Mississippi, Bubba......

Update? Ya'll want an update????

2011-02-24T10:24:00.000-06:00

You know by now that we are a pretyt boring family. Life just rolls along and we roll along with it. Nothing fancy, no frills, maybe a few bells and whistles, but by and large, mundane, boring, every day normal stuff happens here.

The Man of The Homestead:
Still working on the road. He's in Atlanta right now until who knows. This company is not only goofy, but tight-lipped (or maybe just disorganized?). They said end of February for Indianapolis....now they say Mid March. Guess we'll find out when they actually tell him hit to road north :( He's been able to get home 2 weekends so far, but could be a few weeks before he gets in again. We are ready for him to be HOME, income or not :( Obviously that isn't as practical as it might sound, but we're desperate. State welfare isn't looking so bad if we can get him home. Naw, we are desperate but not government-dole kind of desperate....yet.

Children of The Homestead:
Hmmm...pretty much normal there. As normal as this group is, anyway. Jennifer has been working at the Vet's office for about 3 weeks now, volunteer basis so far. She works about 10 hours a day up there and loves it. The folks are friendly, she is learning tons of stuff and even helps with surgeries. Much as she might not want to admit it, it is totally her line of work. She is very much the animal husbandry sort. Downside...she has her momma's too-soft heart and wants to rescue all the "moving to the shelter" strays that get dropped off there. She moves to a paid employee status starting in March :o)

Johanna, Matthew and the others are working into new routines with the absence of one of the task masters here. Still a bit on the bumpy side, but the routines are starting to level out some. The school schedule has been all over the place lately, but audio books and Netflix documentaries to the rescue! We have been very much the 'plugged in homeschool' lately, with not so much textbook in your hand stuff, and a whole lot of documentary lessons. It's nice to have that to use once in a while, but my TV and computer has been ON way more than we like around here and I'm ready to get back to wuiet books-in-hand kind of work.

Speaking of which, I am going to pull back from the Rod and Staff format of our schooling and switch the rest of this "year" to Christian Light Education light units. I need the textbook break and I think seeing a group of 10 books in math and english will work well and help them get back on a schedule. And no, we aren't fudging on our Paths of Exploration...I'm keeping it. We love it and are having lots of fun with it. I'm ready to order the Paths of Settlement pack next. And I'm loving the Kindle for school reading. We have loaded several audios, as well as reading sources on there and are getting alot of use with it daily. Between the audios and using my cell resources, it's been great.

The Homemaker of The Homestead:
I have a different cell phone, and while I like so many of its features, it's a pain in the rumpus to be honest. I miss my Blackberry. Complain about the cost if you will, but that baby handles a lot of stuff and keeps track of a great deal. If my netbook was a bit more on the portable side, I'd use it 150%...but we need a phone as well. I can't find a good blogging app for the cell...in terms of sending photos, links and the like, as I had with the Blackberry. Save the nasty notes about my having a Blackberry or this new cell...I have it because I can, plain and simple. I utilize it in many, many ways, with educational apps as well as organizational apps. I am getting my money's worth from having a 'smartphone' and you really don't have to like or dislike it. It's just what I have, plain and simple.

I found a great deal on a nice, canvas type, 10x10 free-standing gazebo thing a couple weeks ago. We can take the farm market set up on the road as it were. There are several places folks set up impromptu roadside stands around here, and we can now come and go a bit more easily if we want. Sitting in the open weather in summer in Mississippi might work for the natives but I'd melt away in under an hour. I'm a shade person...LOL, I'm an a/c person, but I haven't found a portable one that runs off my car just yet!

I'm at the sewing machine here working on summer clothing needs. Our tentative summer needs list is this:
Boys....8 pants (4 each) I will probably do some shirts, but most will be plain tshirts we buy
Girls...10-12 dresses (4 each), 4 for me, 12 kapps/veils, 12 aprons/pinafores, 12 bloomers/camisoles, 6 nightgowns (2 each and maybe a couple for me)
I have the boys pants cut and ready. Stitched David's yesterday and wowsers....ever seen an old 1940s movie gangster in his Zoot Suit??? No? How about the movie The Mask? Or maybe for the 80s crowd, MC Hammer?
Poor kid. I adjusted them and they are much more normal now, but wow, what a pattern! Lesson learned. Stick to what I already know and like.

I also have more flannel burps done up, and am working here and there on more discloths. I don't know what else to do up aside from more sunbonnets.

Around The Homestead:
We are hopefully getting a garden in this year. Obviously the backyard won't work as that is home to Miss Judy. So, I'm looking at the side of the backyard cow pasture now. Right now, there sits the burn pile and a half-dead ancient pear tree, so that gets dealt with first. From remodelling the kitchen we have plenty out there and I'll get a friend of ours to bring his backhoe in and remove it all, then come and turn the ground over so it might dry a bit more quickly, then disc and prayerfully we'll have a garden space that will produce. It's easy access to the wonderful, um, additions from Miss Judy is just another perk :o)

It's also time for another mega pantry stock up. Probably the start of March I'll hit the stores and maybe make a trip to Lobelville and Harvest Time to do the yearly stocking up of needs here. I hate to see what this year's total will be. All in all we did about $1500 last year when it was completed, and I grossly underestimated the wheat, rice and oats needs here. I figured I'd need a bit more and we certainly did. Last year, though the main plan was for just 6 months, we eeked out nearly a full year in just about everything....short of the wheat, rice, oats and the sweeteners. Not bad, and I'm more than pleased with that, but this year it has to be better. Plus I'm looking for a full year in the majority of needs, with very limited shopping necessary or perhaps just for farm market goods and any sales that pop up on the typical pantry stash items. I imagine it will increase this year to at least the $2500 I have planned and ear-marked. I've already seen huge increases in just the last month on the staples like coffee, wheat and sweeteners :(
And gas prices....in less than a week we've jumped nearly 20 cents a gallon. I know many have been paying $3 or more already, but we weren't around here, now it's $3.10 this week :( That isn't even a quarter of a tank here. Depressing to see that money vanish so quickly, but I can definitely see $4 a gallon before summer even hits :( We will most definitely be HOMEBODIES moreso this year, with any trips being well-planned and multi-tasked!

Aside from the pantry stock up, I'm looking to lay in extra feed grains and hay this year as well. That darn cow eats more than I figured. Of course, I don't have a hay ring in place yet, so she gets a bit sloppy and I'm sure I'm losing some feed hay that way, but still....we salvage every bit of downed hay we can around here, for deep bedding in the barn or adding to the chicken coop and run. I get every ounce of use from my hay purchase, but I think I can get better with a more confined feeding area. Either way, we blew through 2 round bales a month and that wasn't really enough. I will plan for 3 bales/month all year, and we should be ahead of the game....right??
For stocking the usual grain feed needs, I plan to build a feed room....Dewey sort of laughed at my plan, but whatever :o) I think it will do the trick. I have barrels right now, and while that is nice, they hardly hold a quantity of feed for long term needs, like several months. I want 6 months of grain feed needs here on site, and without a place to store it, the mice will eat too happy here. I want to line one of the smaller barn rooms with roofing tin (just because I can get it at a good price, as opposed to flat sheet tin...besides, corrugated adds some cool effect to the room, don't you think??). The feed bags can be stacked in there and be more rodent-proof ffor longer storage. Are you laughing? It seems like a viable plan to me. Use it up, Wear it out, Make it do...or get creative :o)

Fencing the property is in line this year as well. The old fence posts have long since dropped their fence holdings along one side and the neighbor's little field access keeps widening. Time for a survey and a well marked fence line. We have to fence in the back clearing, as well as open up the brush timber areas here to the goats. We have a 10x24 space (mol) ready for the calf when it arrives late March, and I'm doing a simple cattle panel hoop house enclosure for it. It's out of the wind, blocked by 2 buildings, so I think that will be good enough. When do momma's naturally wean their babies? Think the calf can live a happy, content life with the goats in their larger pasture areas....at least for a year? I am so unprepared for a calf....but so ready for milk again!

The goats...I've already shared their baby photos for the year. No one else popped yet, so perhaps we're finished with 2 milking does this season. The brush goat has been looking and acting ready, but so far nothing. We're watching her for signs of anything...she bagged out and recessed a couple days, and I was concerned about a prolapse or maybe a breech...neither of which we have ever dealt with, but she's seemingly fine. She lays out most of the day, but when she's up and active, she is pretty active, so I have no idea what went on with that. Being alone with all this, I just hope that Miss Judy breezes through her delivery with no intervention needed...midwifing a 1300# cow just doesn't seem all that fun.

We will be putting up a new coop this year and moving the chickens. I am doing a split coop, so we can house meats on one side and layers on the other, with their own fence-enclosed runs. I miss eggs and the current layers are just too hit-and-miss with that. Eggs went up from $17 for 15 dozen to over $25 for 15 dozen....unacceptable when I'm feeding 18 birds here :(

Hmmm....what else? Shopping, working plans, animal happenings...am I missing anything update-worthy? I'm sure someone will let me know what I've missed :) I know most of you have snagged my connection on Facebook to keep up with any doings here as I've been so lapse in blog updates, but I will try to work this better. Not everyone wants a Facebook account...and I can't blame you there. It's just another annoying little connection to the world. If you don't have one, I don't suggest falling into the trap and getting one. It has a decent enough purpose, but it can suck you in even more than the blogging can. Or maybe that's just me. I am thinking of taking a full month off this summer, no blogging, no texting, no Facebook....totally unplug from the social network world and just breathe a little. I'll let you know when that might happen...though I don't expect to be too missed during the busy summer time :)

Article: How Vaccinations Work

2011-02-18T07:22:00.001-06:00

http://www.veteranstoday.com/2010/08/19/operation-desert-storm-20-years-later-situation-reports/

Excellent article by Dr. Philip Incao...

HomeschoolShare: The Underground Railroad for all ages

2011-02-17T06:42:00.001-06:00

http://www.hsclassroom.net/2011/02/the-underground-railroad-for-all-ages/

To All Us Kids Born Between 1925-1970...

2011-02-15T17:57:00.001-06:00

To All Us Kids Born Between 1925-1970...

http://plainpamsblog.blogspot.com/2011/02/to-all-us-kids-born-between-1925-1970.html

To all the kids who survived the 1930s, '40s, '50s, '60s and '70s!! First, we survived being born to mothers who may have smoked and/or drank while they were pregnant. They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes. Then, after that trauma, we were put to sleep on our tummies in baby cribs covered with bright colored lead-based paints. We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, locks on doors or cabinets, and, when we rode our bikes, we had baseball caps, not helmets, on our heads. As infants and children, we would ride in cars with no car seats, no booster seats, no seat belts, no air bags, bald tires and sometimes no brakes. Riding in the back of a pick- up truck on a warm day was always a special treat. We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle. We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle, and no one actually died from this. We ate cupcakes, white bread, real butter, and bacon. We drank Kool-Aid made with real white sugar. And we weren't overweight. Why? Because we were always outside playing...that's why! We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on. No one was able to reach us all day. --And, we were ok. We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride them down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem. We did not have Play Stations, Nintendos and X-boxes. There were no video games, no 150 channels on cable, no video movies or DVDs, no surround-sound or CDs, no cell phones, no personal computers, no Internet and no chat rooms. We had friends and we went outside and found them! We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth, and there were no lawsuits from those accidents. We would get spankings with wooden spoons, switches, ping-pong paddles, or just a bare hand, and no one would call child services to report abuse. We ate worms, and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever. We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays, made up games with sticks and tennis balls, and -although we were told it would happen- we did not put out very many eyes. We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just walked in and talked to them. Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!! The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law! These generations have produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers, and inventors ever. The past 50 to 85 years have seen an explosion of innovation and new ideas.. We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned how to deal with it all. If you are one of those born between 1925-1970, congratulations! (And yep---I'm one of them!)

BlogShare: The Wreck of the Irish

2011-02-15T15:42:00.001-06:00

American Conservative

http://restoringmayberry.blogspot.com/2011/02/american-conservative.html

This is an absolute eye-opener of the decline of Ireland's boom time. You'd have to be blind and deaf to not recognize the too-familiar stones America is kicking along the same path to self-destruction.

BlogShare: Chocolate Sugar Cookie Recipe – All About Food Storage

2011-02-11T18:52:00.000-06:00

http://allaboutfoodstorage.com/2011/02/chocolate-sugar-cookie-recipe/

BlogShare: The Nitty Gritty on Nickels

2011-02-09T09:34:00.001-06:00

The Nitty Gritty on Nickels

http://www.survivalblog.com/2011/02/the_nitty_gritty_on_nickels.html

As I've mentioned before in SurvivalBlog, U.S. Five cent pieces ("Nickels") should be considered a long-term hedge on inflation. I recently had a gent e-mail me, asking how he could eventually “cash in” on his cache of Nickels. He asked: "Are we to melt them down, or sell them to a collector? How does one obtain their true 7.4 cents [base metal content] value?" My response: Don't expect to cash in for several years. I anticipate that there won't be a large scale speculative market in Nickels until their base metal value ("melt value") exceeds twice their face value ("2X Face"), or perhaps 3X face.
Once the price of Nickels hits 4X face value, speculators will probably be willing to pay for shipping. By the way, I also predict that it will be then that the ubiquitous Priority Mail Flat Rate Box will come into play, with dealers mailing Nickels in $300 face value increments. The U.S. Postal Service may someday regret their decision to transition to "Flat Rate" boxes for Priority Mail with a 70 pound limit.
Once the price of Nickels hits 5X face there will surely be published "bid/ask" quotations for $100, $300, and $500 face value quantities, just as has been the norm for pre-1965 U.S. 90% silver coinage since the early 1970s. (Those coins are typically sold in a $1,000 face value Bag (weighing about $55 pounds), or a "Half bag" (containing $500 face value.) Soon after the current Nickels are dropped from circulation, we will see $300 face value boxes of Nickels put up for competitive bidding, on eBay.
An Aside: Nickel Logistics
Nickels are heavy! Storing and transporting them can be a challenge.
I've done some tests:
$300 face value (150 rolls @$2 face value per roll) fit easily fit in a standard U.S. Postal Service Medium Flat Rate Box, and that weighs about 68 pounds.) They can be mailed from coast to coast for less than $25. Doing so will take a bit of reinforcement. Given enough wraps of strapping tape, a corrugated box will securely transport $300 worth of Nickels.
The standard USGI .30 caliber ammo can works perfectly for storing rolls of Nickels at home. Each can will hold $180 face value (90 rolls of $2 each) of Nickels. The larger .50 caliber cans also work, but when full of coins they are too heavy to carry easily.
Legalities
Since late 2006 it has been illegal in the U.S. to melt or to export Pennies or Nickels. But it is reasonable to assume that this restriction will be dropped after these coins have been purged from circulation. They will soon be replaced with either silver-flashed zinc slugs, or tokens stamped out of stainless steel. (The planned composition has not yet been announced.)

By 2015, when the new pseudo-Nickels are in full circulation, we will look back fondly on the days when we could walk up to our local bank teller and ask for "$20 in Nickels in Rolls", and have genuine Nickels cheerfully handed to us, at their face value.
Death, Taxes, and Inflation
It has been said that "the only two things that are certain in life are death and taxes." I'd like to nominate "inflation" as an addition to that phrase. For the past 100 years, we've been gradually robbed of our purchasing power through the hidden form of taxation called inflation. Currency inflation explains why gold coins and silver coins had to be dropped by the U.S. Mint in the 1930s and 1960s, respectively. Ditto for 100% copper Pennies, back in 1981. (The ones that have been produced since then are copper-flashed zinc slugs, but even the base metal value of those is now slightly greater than their face value.)
Inflation marches on and on. Inflation will inevitably be the impetus for a change in the composition of the lowly Nickel. Each Nickel presently has about 7.3 cents in base metal ("melt") value, and they cost the Mint more than 9 cents each to make. You don't need a doctorate in Economics to conclude that the U.S. Mint cannot continue minting Nickels that are 75% copper and 25% nickel--at least not much longer.
Without Later Regrets
Don't miss out on the opportunity to hedge on inflation with Nickels. Just like the folks who failed to acquire silver dimes and quarters in the early 1960s, you will kick yourself if you fail to stock up on Nickels. Do so before they are debased and the older issue is quickly snatched out of circulation. The handwriting is on the wall, folks. Stop dawdling, and go to the bank and trade some of your paper FRNs for something tangible.

VideoShare: The World According to Monsanto

2011-02-05T07:28:00.001-06:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YH4OwBYDQe8&sns=em

If you're going to live like a sheep, at least use your common sense and educate yourself.

BlogShare: Buy It Wholesale--Free Food Now and Free Food Later, by P.O.

2011-02-03T18:43:00.001-06:00

Buy It Wholesale--Free Food Now and Free Food Later, by P.O.

http://www.survivalblog.com/2011/02/buy_it_wholesale--free_food_no.html

I wanted to share with my fellow preppers a way to rapidly increase your food storage. Yes, it's legal and for real! I have no sales pitch and nothing to gain out of this, I've been doing this for almost a year now and the results have been just amazing.

My wife and I started a Farmer's Market in our community almost three years ago. The following "system" I have developed since then has come from our experiences there as well as my almost 20 years in restaurant management. It can easily work for you with minimal effort. Please stick with me because I'll run the numbers for you off of actual prices in my area and you'll be shocked and amazed at how much all of us are getting charged by our local supermarkets! Even if you don't have the time or inclination to do this, read on, as there is some very valuable information that could save you big money on your preps!

If your family is like ours we don't have a lot of money left over after paying the bills. Times are tough. So if you could find a way to put a little cash in your pocket, eat fresh fruits and veggies for free, and be able to can or dehydrate them for free, then wouldn't you? Even if you and a few friends pitch in and buy produce in bulk and split it evenly amongst yourselves you can dramatically reduce your current food costs as well as your future food prep costs. You can then use that saved money for other prep areas like medical supplies, ammo, and guns etc.

I call what we do a Local Food Co-op because it's not really a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA). Basically I buy an assortment of produce (fruits and veggies mainly) by the case or bushel and sell boxes (or bags) of assorted produce for either $10 (small family) or $20 (large family) with plenty left over for our family to eat for free and we have our dehydrator going 24/7 kicking out dehydrated food free for future use. Now let me clarify a few things before I get into the "nuts and bolts" of this operation.

First, the people that buy produce from me get it for far less money than they can get it from Wal-Mart (or any other supermarket in our area ) and it's almost always better quality or at least the same quality.

Second, it doesn't take too much time at all to run. You'll need to spend a little more time up front getting all the needed information but after that less than five hours a week should be all you'll need to devote to your food independence. I spend an hour and a half once a week going to buy the produce. ( An hour of that is the round trip to buy it and about a half hour to purchase everything needed.) I might spend another hour and a half dividing out the produce into orders for the customers and then getting them to the customers. (Most of my customers are either friends, family, neighbors, or coworkers.) Is it worth it to you to spend three hours a week so you and your family can eat all the fresh fruits and veggies they want for free all week long and all the produce you can dehydrate and can for future use for free?

Third, you don't need to be an expert to set this up and run it for yourself and lastly, you don't need dozens and dozens of customers to do this. I started with just 10. People will come looking for you when word gets around about how good a deal they can get. Most people are in utter disbelief about how much produce they get for the money when they get their first order! A few have even tried to give me more money than what I charge. Now on to the meat and potatoes...

First we'll run some numbers. I'm using the actual prices I'm paying right now (12/2/10) for this example:

This is roughly based on a weeks worth of produce for a family. Let's say you get 10 larger size families wanting "in" at a $20 share a week. So week 1 goes like this:
10 families at $20 =                             $200
That $200 you take and go buy:
100 lbs of potatoes for                             $40
25 lbs (case) of tomatoes for                   $12
bushel (30 lbs+) of green beans for         $19
bushel (40 lbs+) of oranges for                   $20
bushel of cucumbers (40 lbs+)for           $10
a bushel (25 lbs) of bell peppers for        $14
bushel (40 lbs+) of red delicious apples $20
case (25 lbs) of yellow squash for           $12
case (12 lbs) of zucchini for                    $12
50 lbs of onions for                                 $20
                                                               ______
Total money spent:                                  $179
You go and divide up the produce and each family gets:
5 lbs of potatoes
2 lbs of tomatoes (that's around 6)
2 lbs of green beans ( that's almost a half a plastic grocery bag full!)
3 lbs of oranges (about 5-6 oranges)
3 lbs of cukes ( about 4 or 5)
2 lbs of bell peppers (5 to 6)
3 lbs of apples (5 to 6)
2 lbs of squash (6 to 8)
1 lb of zucchini (3 to 5)
3 lbs of onions (5 to 7)
That's 26 pounds of food for $20! Can you walk into any one store and come out with all that for $20?
Now here's what you and your family get out of the deal:
$21 cash (offsets the gas and wear and tear on your vehicle to get produce)
50 lbs of potatoes
5 lbs of tomatoes
10 lbs oranges
10 lbs cukes
5 lbs bell peppers
10 lbs apples
5 lbs squash
2 lbs zucchini
20 lbs of onions

That's $21 cash and 117 lbs of produce for three hours worth of work!
You could sell off two more shares for another $40 in your pocket and still have a bunch of produce to eat all week and plenty more to can and dehydrate for future use. You could also give more of the produce to your customers that is entirely up to you. That's free food now and free food later!

About the only up front investment is you're going to need a scale to weight the produce. I got mine from the kitchen department at Target for around $20.00 and it's weights up to 11 or 12 pounds before the scale tops out. I also bought a bigger cheap plastic bowl to put on the scale to weight out bulkier items like green beans or potatoes for another couple of dollars. Just remember to "zero" out the scale when you put it to use or your weights will be off. It wouldn't hurt to have a heavier duty scale to weigh your bulk cases just to make sure you got what you paid for. I just use our bathroom scale and set the cases on that. It works great and I didn't have to go out and buy one. [JWR Adds: In many jurisdictions, scales must be state-certified as "legal for trade."]

So, obviously, you have to figure out where to get your bulk produce from and there are several ways to do that. I would start by opening up the phone book or do a web search for produce companies for your local area or biggest city by you. Ask them to fax or email you a copy of their latest produce price list. Some update them daily, some weekly. Get on their e-mail/fax list so you get updated pricing. Get pricing from several produce companies if possible. The price lists also include the case count (how many of something come per case or case weight.

Also be sure and sign up for their newsletter if they offer one. It will tell you about shortages (huge price increases) due to weather etc. as well as price swings due to being in between growing seasons. For instance, as summer winds up, tomatoes wind down in most areas of the country leaving about a four week span until Florida's winter crop comes online. Prices can spike from $12 a case to well over $20 and I've seen over $40 last year when Florida had a freeze that wiped out a bunch of tomatoes. This is useful information as you can stock up on some produce that has a longer shelf life or brace your customers for temporary outages or reductions in their usual amounts of that specific item.

You should also check with your local farmers. Most are willing (and want) to sell directly to you during their growing season. It can never hurt to build a relationship with your local farmers. In a SHTF scenario they may be your only option to source food if you can't grow it yourself.

BIG TIP ALERT : Another place to get bulk produce is from Restaurant Depot if there is one in your area. It's free to join you just have to show proof you have a business. (Any business!) They generally want to see your business license as proof but are pretty lenient usually. Even if you don't have a business bring a friend or coworker who does as they gave me four cards with my business name on them. Meaning anyone with a card can shop. (Hint, hint!) They have unbelievable prices on a wide variety of produce as well as bulk foodstuffs such as spices, bouillon base, instant potatoes and hash browns, #10 cans of everything, bulk dried fruit, etc. And if that's not enough they also carry 20-to-100 lb bags of wheat, assorted flours, assorted rice, assorted beans, split green peas, lentils, corn meal, sugar, et cetera. They also beat Sam's Club on most prices also including lunch meats, chicken, and beef etc. This place is a Preppers dream!

Once you get the price lists you now know the bulk pricing your typical restaurant would pay. Next get a few weeks worth of newspaper ads from your local supermarkets. That, combined with going to the grocery stores will tell you what the average consumer pays for produce.
Do the math from the bulk price list from the produce companies to get a bulk to retail comparison. For example... bulk price on a 50 lb box of potatoes might be $20.00 and a 5 lb bag from the supermarket might cost you $4.00. So $20 / 50 lb = 40 cents per pound x 5 lbs is $2.00. Or pay the $4.00 at the supermarket. Just bring a pocket calculator with you when you go and you'll know before you buy it if you can make money on it (or at least break even) before you purchase. When you get to know your pricing it ensures you won't be paying retail prices on bulk purchases.

Now you might run the numbers and find just buying from you local produce companies will work. You may even be able to get them to deliver! But, there is usually an even better way.

Every decent size city usually has a "downtown" area where all the produce comes in by train or ship. ( Which is also usually where your produce companies are located) Usually there is a downtown open air market or Farmer's Market (or combination of both like in my city) What happens there is the public can buy wholesale from the Farmers themselves or from the market. These are where the real deals are, folks. The same 50 lb bag 'o potatoes you bought for $20 from a produce company can probably be had for $12-15 there. Most places like this are open 7 days a week, 365 days a year. They are open real early in the morning too, so you can beat the rush hour traffic by going either before or after. They also seem to have a lot of the seasonal produce a week or so ahead of them appearing in your supermarkets.

The people there are usually pretty helpful and will answer questions about how many per case or pounds per case etc. Just ask!   You can also open up and inspect the cases or boxes too. You might need to buy the $14 case one week because the older $8 case looks a little too close to the end of it's "shelf life", while the next week the $8 case might be perfect.

The produce quality is usually better there also if you take the time to look around and comparison shop. You'll also have a choice of different sizes. A 25 lb case of tomatoes can have 25 tomatoes in or it could have over 50. (Far more than 50 if you get Roma or cherry tomatoes)

A few other items of note: Pay attention to how many of an item come in a case or bushel. Items like tomatoes, squash, zucchini are sold in different sizes or grades. If you buy the largest size of tomatoes for instance there might only be enough to give every customer one where if you bought medium size case they might be able to get 3 or 4 even though the weight and cost could be the same. When possible try to notice where your each of your produce items come from. People would much rather buy local or regional than from some scary sounding city in a third world country. People will ask and the more you know about your produce the happier you can make your customers.
It is important to note that rules, regulations, and requirements imposed by various government agencies vary from location to location so I can't even begin to cover that here. But suffice it to say that a group of friends or co-workers buying wholesale and dividing it up amongst yourselves is viewed differently than if you have so many customers you have a warehouse with a retail shop up front and full-on marketing and advertising. If you feel you need to know more on this by all means please consult your local government, lawyers, accountants, and experts in general.

I've been in the restaurant management business for almost 20 years and I can get produce far cheaper than the major international restaurant chain I currently work for with over 1,500 locations in 31 different countries, and now you can too.

WORDS TO THE WISE: Produce in this country and around the world is not nearly as abundant as you might think or are led to believe! I have seen several severe shortages over my almost two decades in the restaurant business and they are happening more and more frequently. I'm aware of on more than one occasion several national restaurant chains temporarily (meaning weeks or months at a time) not selling certain items because of shortages--caused by a multitude of reasons--here in the United States. The restaurant chains stop selling it for reasons such as:
1. They flat out can't procure enough to supply their restaurants.
2. The quality of product they get is just too substandard to sell to their customers.
3. Because of the shortage it becomes too cost prohibitive and would kill profitability.
4. They stop selling it so you can still buy it at the supermarket. They fear the public's reaction to food shortages will be to quit eating out and stock up and stay home.

So be warned: Get it while it's still abundant and you still can afford it and can or dehydrate it for your future security. I'm going to start including rice and various dried beans and put it in with my customers orders. I plan on telling them to store it in 2 liter soda or juice bottles for their emergency food supply and buy a dehydrator with the money they are saving and get busy.   The U.S. government is now suggesting a minimum of a "few weeks" supply of food now. They used to say three days was sufficient. I wonder what's changed all that? Wouldn't you feel a bit safer if you knew your neighbors and local community had emergency food you provided for below market cost? If they have enough food to get though an emergency you won't have to worry about sharing. Tricking them into recycling/reusing the soda and juice bottles for storage would be an added bonus too!

I have found it helps retain customers if you switch up or rotate the types of produce from time to time. Also throw in some different recipes or ways to cook or prepare some of the produce. You'd be surprised how many people have no idea what to do with a sweet potato or that kids who hate green beans generally love them with Asian salad dressing on them. (That is if you can get them to try the green beans in the first place!)

That's pretty much it. You find people who want to pay less for better produce. Find out where to get the best bulk prices then you buy it, divide it up, and hand it out to your customers. A couple hours a week tops for free produce and a little food security. You gotta love it! I hope you have found this article helpful and informative. It has made a huge difference to my family of seven as it has helped greatly cut our food bill, sped up our emergency food preparations, and we now eat healthier than we ever have in the past.

Even if it's not for you, then help a brother or sister out and pass it along because if you'd just take a minute to think about it, you probably know someone who could use this system.

BlogShare: The Value of a Chore System

2011-01-31T06:22:00.001-06:00

http://raisinghomemakers.com/2011/the-value-of-a-chore-system/

Goats...

2011-01-30T14:39:00.001-06:00

End of the week...and the month

2011-01-30T14:09:00.001-06:00

Let's see...what's been happening around the homestead here lately?
Lots of nothing, and lots of stuff. Usual stuff, really.

Dewey headed over to Atlanta And will be there thru the end of February it seems. After that, it looks like Indianapolis until at least Thanksgiving. We are looking all over for something closer to home. We need him home, not having to go everywhere but home for work. He's missing too much being gone. I don't imagine things will get better, so we just do what we have to do.

We used the tractor to handle a hay bale into the cow yard. I want a hay fork. No...I *need* a hay fork. Want isn't even part of it. Man-handling hay bales is not very practical when just about every where they need to be is uphill :(
Not that a hay fork will help much right now...I, um, ran the tractor out of gas. No big deal I figured, but apparently you just aren't to run a diesel out. So, sitting in the middle of the backyard, next to a hay bale, is a dead-on-the-ground 1969 Ford tractor :( Vapor locked or some such is what I'm told. Sheesh Louise single momma farming is a hassle.

We had a great snow here. Lasted a full week with 8 inches on the ground. It was great. The children played outsider from day break to sun set every day, coming in just long enough to dry out before heading straight back out. The bad part was the melting that follows. The road up here was miserable. There's very little stone on our road as it is, and with the neighbor pulling his semi up every week, the garbage truck rutting up the lane weekly....it's been a mess to say the least. I'll have to make some calls and twist some road crew tails I guess. I'd like a road back here.

Jennifer has started "working" with the Vet. She's just a volunteer, tending the animals, cleaning and sterilizing the cages and tools, filling out records, and of course, cleaning the kennels :) It will be a great experience for her. He wants her to get involved with everything up there. Said his best learning came from shadowing another Vet and just asking a lot of questions and watching. Book learning is a good thing, and obviously necessary for learning, but plain old common sense is a huge bonus. Even if she does nothing with this line of work, it's good practical work experience and you know, it's hard to go wrong working for the local sheriff :)

Hmmm....what else? No more goat babies yet. So far just Jeremiah and Eve. They are playing with the rest of the herd and growing like weeds. They are almost a month old now. We have plenty of things to do for spring around the goat pen...clean up, clearing the barn and freshening the bedding, building a lean-to in the back pasture for shade and such this summer, working more fencing and so forth. Always something.

I'm hoping to get a friend in here with his backhoe and equipment and get some things cleared away. I'd like to get an area cleared and worked for a garden, but it's getting terribly late for this year. Right now the ground is so soft and mud is everywhere, there's definitely no way it will be done too soon :(

We are planning a new chicken coop, with a fenced run out both sides, so we can set up layers and run a couple batches of meat birds. We've also been talking about another barn. Ours is old -ancient probably fits better- and it's in a low area so water and mud is a constant problem. The back side of the main pasture section is higher ground. If we could get Dewey here long enough to put up the 'skeleton' and a roof, Jennifer Matt and I could get the rest put up. A roof section would gives us shade and some protection over summer, buying us time to finish through before winter again. We'll see. There's always a plan tumbling around.

Another plan working here is this year's big pantry stock up. Last February we spent around $1500, between a 6 month menu plan and stocking a good year in staples. This year no one expects it to be that 'cheap' but I'm hoping to get a decent price. Food costs have already gone up a great deal on basics and staples, with rice and wheat, sugar and sweeteners, coffee...these have all gone up almost half of last years prices. I'm hoping to set in double the basic pantry stock and non-food supplies for around $2000 this year, but we'll see. I have a plan A list and a plan B list....the current availability and prices will determine which gets used.

Get your plans for 2011 laid out and start on stocking up. Start easy if you must, and lay up at least 3 months of your typical needs for food; livestock and/or pets. After that is set up, hit your debt hard this year. The only truly acceptable payments you have should be utilities. You stand to lose everything else you owe money on if your income is hurt. There are changes coming for everyone, and if you follow even the government propaganda news machines you are hearing that. Stocking your pantry doesn't hurt you but losing an income or being priced out of food due to shortages will. It's just old fashioned common sense.

Basic Potato Tots Recipe - CHOW

2011-01-27T14:53:00.001-06:00

http://www.chow.com/recipes/29271-basic-potato-tots

Super Mom vs. Abiding Mom – Free Printable | Graham Family Ministries

2011-01-24T10:13:00.001-06:00

http://www.school4jesus.com/super-mom-vs-abiding-mom-free-printable

U.S. government commits avian holocaust

2011-01-22T22:51:00.000-06:00

http://www.mississippipreppersnetwork.com/2011/01/us-government-commits-avian-holocaust.html

The Great Disconnect

2011-01-22T07:24:00.000-06:00

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ParatusFamilia/~3/B-2LqOgIcz0/great-disconnect.html

Connected by DROID on Verizon Wireless

CraftShare: Perpetual Button Calendar

2011-01-19T17:51:00.001-06:00

Is this not cute and easy? I can see this selling at the farm markets. All the fabric and button color combinations....

Here's the instructions from the Craftzine blog:
http://blog.craftzine.com/archive/2011/01/how-to_make_a_perpetual_button.html

Be sure to bookmark their page and return for more great crafting ideas!

Study: Many college students not learning to think critically | McClatchy

2011-01-18T12:01:00.001-06:00

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2011/01/18/106949/study-many-college-students-not.html

:::An unprecedented study that followed several thousand undergraduates through four years of college found that large numbers didn't learn the critical thinking, complex reasoning and written communication skills that are widely assumed to be at the core of a college education.

Many of the students graduated without knowing how to sift fact from opinion, make a clear written argument or objectively review conflicting reports of a situation or event, according to New York University sociologist Richard Arum, lead author of the study. The students, for example, couldn't determine the cause of an increase in neighborhood crime or how best to respond without being swayed by emotional testimony and political spin.:::

Save the debate, ok? Blog your own opinion of course, but fight the urge to anonymously or namely bash my remarks here....

But spoiled adult children is the most common outflow from 'higher education'. The majority of adults today can't form a coherent sentence and at least 90% of the 'college' groupies I know totally lack in plain old fashioned COMMON SENSE. Thousands of dollars in debt, they still lack any real practical *skills* for building a career unless someone else provides them with an outlet for their book learning.

No, not *everyone* obviously....doctors, maybe lawyers come to mind quick...but exactly what practical skills do you glean from years of books and lectures costing thousands and hundreds of thousands of dollars? When all those large corporations go belly up or shift overseas, what everyday practical life skills do you have to make a living? A Bachelor of Arts degree gives you what, precisely? That fancy paper saying you have uber-credits and an Associates degree leves you with what skills, exactly?

Book learning is the backbone of the world. I'm not debating that. But if you're willing to ride that decades-long debt wagon, and your scope of education encompasses skills of a shadowy nature, what exactly have you gained in the end? Self satisfaction? That won't pay your bills or feed your family. You'll be exactly what this study shows....a debt-ridden incoherent job-seeker.

Soapbox closed. Blog your nasty comments on your own space, ok?

Christian Preparedness Apologetics from Paratus Familia

2011-01-17T08:28:00.001-06:00

Preparedness Apologetics

I have had a lot of people ask me if Preparedness/Survival was a "Christian Tenet", or rather, if Christians weren't supposed to be relying on God to take care of them in all situations, even emergencies. After much conversation with my husband I have come up with what I consider "Preparedness Apologetics". We do believe that being prepared is a biblical principle. Here are our reasons.

We absolutely believe that God is the author of life and sustains us from even before our very first breath. It is His providence that sees us through each day and provides hope for the future. However, He did give us biblical principles to live by and preparedness is one of many.

When God spoke to Noah, he told him to prepare for judgment. He gave him very specific instructions about building an ark, loading it with life sustaining food and preparing his family for the trials of the days ahead. Now, if anybody had a reason to doubt, it was Noah. For over 100 years, Noah worked on the ark. I have no doubt there were many naysayers and hecklers, but Noah persevered. Noah built a boat in a world that had never seen rain, never seen a flood, never even seen an "act of God". What faith! God could have saved Noah and his family by "Divine Intervention", but instead, he chose to have Noah "prepare".

The story of Joseph may be an overused example of preparedness, but it is without a doubt a perfect picture of God's faithfulness through preparedness. Once more, God could have chosen not to allow the famine, but instead, he readied His servant Joseph to care for his people. What would have happened to the people of Egypt and the surrounding areas had Joseph not headed God's voice? The face of God's people would be entirely different.

The example of the ten virgins in Mathew, although directly relating to the returning of the bridegroom, is instructive in discerning the wise from the foolish. The wise virgins brought with them their lamps and their oil, conversely, the foolish virgins brought their lamps, but lacked the foresight to bring oil. My desire is to be known as wise rather than foolish.

Another thought is that God always starts with something. When He made man, he started with dirt. When He made woman, he started with man. God instructed Elijah to have the widow feed him. She explained that she had only enough flour and oil for one loaf for she and her son, and then they would die. He instructed her to feed him first and their supplies would last. THEY DID! She had something, and God multiplied it. Even Jesus, with His very first miracle, started with something. He didn't just conjure up wine for the wedding, he started with water. Later, at the Sermon on the Mount, he started with a few loaves and fishes, and fed 5000 men, not counting women and children. He used what was available and multiplied it. Those examples, at the very least, should spur us to have SOMETHING. God, in His sovereignty, will use what we have - but we need to start with something. We don't have to panic about not having everything we think we need, but we do need to make an effort to acquire SOMETHING.

And then we get into the Proverbs. They are a goldmine of preparedness advice:

Proverbs 6:6-8
Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise! It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest.

Proverbs 21:20
In the house of the wise are stores of choice food and oil, but a foolish man devours all he has.

Proverbs 22:3
A prudent man sees danger and takes refuge, but the simple keep going and suffer for it.

Proverbs 27:12 (this one is even mentioned twice!)
The prudent see danger and take refuge, but the simple keep going and suffer for it.

Proverbs 30:25
Ants are creatures of little strength, yet they store up their food in the summer.

Proverbs 31 is one of my favorite chapters. It is like a job description for a Godly wife. A couple of verses really speak to me when it comes to preparedness. 31:15 "She gets up while it is still dark; she provides food for her family and portions for her servant girls". 31:21 "When it snows, she has no fear for her household; for all of them are clothed in scarlet". 31:25 "She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come". The Proverbs 31 woman provided food for her household. She did not wait for someone else to provide for her. She was not afraid of the cold, because she had already made sure that her household was well clothed. She laughed at the days to come. I think this is my favorite verse. For a woman, the only way that you can laugh at the days to come is if you feel that you have taken care what needs to be taken care of. When you have laid in supplies, a part of you says "bring it on!". Then you truly can laugh at the days to come.

As Christians, it is our responsibility to be wise stewards. How can we be a beacon of hope in a dark world, if we, ourselves are dependent on the charity of others? How can we bring glory to God if we are stealing to survive? We must be like the prudent man who sees danger and takes refuge rather than the simple man who keeps going and suffers for it.

Homeschool Freebie of The Day this week:

2011-01-16T13:50:00.001-06:00

Take note of what's coming your way this week and pick them up
on their respective days:

Monday, Jan 17:
HOW BEN FRANKLIN LEARNED:
Four Short Stories for Young Readers (PDF ebook)

Few people ever knew so many things as did Benjamin Franklin.
Men said, "How did he ever learn so many things?" For he had been
a poor boy who had to work for a living. He could not go to school
at all after he was ten years old. Here are four neat stories of
young Benjamin Franklin, which may just motivate your own kids to
"learn to learn" for themselves. Included are the stories of how
young Franklin taught himself, how an ant helped him find out
things for himself, his experiments with electricity and the kite,
and the story of paying too much for a penny whistle.

-------------

Tuesday, Jan 18:
From BOYS to MEN: A TEENAGERS' WORK AND INFLUENCE (PDF ebook)

This excellent essay on the changing roles boys & teenagers have
as they grow into adulthood written in the late 1800s and
published Anonymously. Though some of the specific references in
this text are now dated, the truths contained in this ebook are
wonderfully vital and true and well worth sharing with growing
boys even today. Excellent reading for thoughtful
(and not-so-thoughtful) young folks!

-------------

Wednesday, Jan 19:
IN THE DAYS OF THE GUILD (PDF ebook)

Today's resource is this great historical storybook, set in
13th Century Europe, telling the stories of different boys and
girls who came to learn and master different trades through
apprenticeship to different craftsmen and merchant guilds.
These stories run the gamut of many of the main crafts and
industries of the Medieval period, including scribes, wool
merchants, stained glass artisans, goldsmith, potter, goose girl,
perfumer, musician, and many more. Lots of excellent illustrations
with some color plates too. A wonderful "living history" book
that really brings the times to life through the stories of
these young people finding their "calling" in life,
13th Century style.

-------------

Thursday, Jan 20:
CANDY MATH (PDF ebook)

This little guide is SO much fun! It
shows you how you can make basic, "hands on" math lessons a true
delight for your little ones by using inexpensive candy (or even
breakfast cereal) as math manipulatives to teach primary age
children almost any basic math concept. There is a natural
attraction and fascination for children in playing with (and
learning from) candy. Just the novelty of candy being part of
a lesson (not to mention eating it at the end of the lesson) is
enough to hold the attention of most children.The examples in
this short ebook will give you almost two dozen creative learning
games, lesson plans and activities, with examples to get you
started teaching: SKIP COUNTING * ODD AND EVEN * GROUPING *
GREATER THAN, LESS THAN, EQUAL TO * MEASUREMENT * ADDITION *
SUBTRACTION * MULTIPLICATION * DIVISION * FRACTIONS * GRAPHS
* ESTIMATING * MAKING SETS ... and more!

-------------

Friday, Jan 21:
WHAT TO DRAW AND HOW TO DRAW IT (PDF ebook)

Today's resource is this wonderful "how to" drawing book first
published in 1913, which shows young artists, step-by-step,
how to create all sorts of characters, animals, buildings & other
fanciful cartoons & designs. It is a delight, and many of you will
have to pry your kids away from this one. Check it out!

----------------

You can download each of these resources on their respective days at:

http://www.homeschoolfreebieoftheday.com

The Third Wave of Homeschool Persecution: The Home School Court Report Vol. XXVI, No. 6—Cover Story

2011-01-15T20:07:00.001-06:00

Worth reading even if you don't homeschool!

http://www.hslda.org/courtreport/V26N6/V26N601.asp?PrinterFriendly=True

:::From a speech delivered by HSLDA Chairman Michael Farris at the Christian Home Educators of Ohio conference on October 7, 2010

A THIRD WAVE OF ARGUMENT that seeks to curtail or crush the homeschooling movement—specifically, the Christian homeschooling movement—is coming. You need to know about it. You need to get ready to fight it.

Unlike the first two waves, it is based on an essentially true factual premise, whereas the first two waves were based on faulty factual assertions.

BrandX

...
"FREEDOM OF RELIGION
DOES NOT INCLUDE...
RELIGION WHICH IS INTOLERANT
OF THE BELIEFS OF OTHERS"
...

The first wave of attack on homeschooling was based on the argument that homeschooling simply could not deliver a proper program of academic instruction. This assertion has been decisively proven false and is no longer believed by any credible person on any side of the homeschooling debate.

The second wave of attack was based on the all-too-familiar whine, "What about socialization?" But, because the first generation of homeschoolers has participated in a huge number of community activities while being home educated and is now entering the world of college and the workforce, tens of millions of people now know people who have been homeschooled. And the vast majority of people who know a child who has been homeschooled for a number of years would simply laugh at the idea that there are socialization problems from this approach to education.

There is a bit of work left to completely eradicate this second false assertion, but another decade of homeschoolers entering the workforce and the world of adulthood should pretty much take care of the need we have for societal acceptance of the truth: homeschoolers get along well with others—even those who radically differ from them.

But there is a third wave coming. And I doubt that many of you have any idea of the intensity and breadth of the elitist movement that is taking dead aim at our movement. This time, they are armed with an argument that is essentially true.

Now when you read their material, they exaggerate the facts, they invent hypothetical examples that are so far-fetched as to be laughable; but when you dig down and look honestly at their charges, they are essentially correct.

Here is their assertion. Christian homeschooling parents are effectively transmitting values to their children that the elitists believe are dangerous to the well-being of both these very children and society as a whole.

What are those values? Homosexuality is a sin. Men should be the leaders of their families. Jesus is the only way to God. All other religions are false.

I could go on. But what the elitists really mean is the set of religious beliefs that they label as fundamentalist Christianity.

The March of a New Orthodoxy

Kimberly A. Yuracko, a professor from the prestigious Northwestern University School of Law, wrote an article for the California Law Review claiming that there are legal and constitutional limits on the ability of homeschooling parents "to teach their children idiosyncratic and illiberal beliefs and values." She contends that there must be new legal approaches to mandate government control of the educational choices for those children whose "parents want to teach against the enlightenment."1

In the May 2010 edition of the William and Mary Bill of Rights Journal, Catherine Ross, a law professor from George Washington Law School, published a broadside aimed at the hundreds of thousands of families homeschooling represents. Her article was entitled "Fundamentalist Challenges to Core Democratic Values: Exit and Homeschooling."

BrandX

...
"STATES DELEGATE
POWER OVER CHILDREN
TO PARENTS—
NOT VICE VERSA."
...

Listen to how she begins:

This Essay explores the choice many traditionalist Christian parents (both fundamentalist and evangelical) make to leave public schools in order to teach their children at home, thus in most instances escaping meaningful oversight. I am not primarily concerned here with the quality of academic achievement in the core curricular areas among homeschoolers, which has been the subject of much heated debate. Instead, my comments focus on civic education in the broadest sense, which I define primarily as exposure to the constitutional norm of tolerance. I shall argue that the growing reliance on homeschooling comes into direct conflict with assuring that children are exposed to such constitutional values.2

Listen to her again, later in the same article:

Many liberal political theorists argue, however, that there are limits to tolerance. In order for the norm of tolerance to survive across generations, society need not and should not tolerate the inculcation of absolutist views that undermine toleration of difference. Respect for difference should not be confused with approval for approaches that would splinter us into countless warring groups. Hence an argument that tolerance for diverse views and values is a foundational principle does not conflict with the notion that the state can and should limit the ability of intolerant homeschoolers to inculcate hostility to difference in their children—at least during the portion of the day they claim to devote to satisfying the compulsory schooling requirement.3

Again, Professor Ross continues:

If a parent subscribes to an absolutist belief system premised on the notion that it was handed down by a creator, that it (like the Ten Commandments) is etched in stone and that all other systems are wrong, the essential lessons of a civic education (i.e., tolerance and mutual respect) often seem deeply challenging and suspect. If the core principle in a parent's belief system is that there is only one immutable truth that cannot be questioned, many educational topics will be off limits. Such "private truths" have no place in the public arena, including the public schools.4

And, finally, Professor Ross tells us what she thinks should be done about us, in addition to imposing testing requirements and all manner of academic regulation.

I propose that we add to the civics education goals of the state, including lessons on mutual respect for diverse populations and viewpoints as a mandatory curricular requirement. As I observed above, some homeschoolers doubtless are committed to diversity, and this requirement would not conflict with their educational agenda, but this is not the group that concerns me. Imposing curricular requirements about respect for diverse viewpoints will be seen as undermining the most authoritarian conservative homeschoolers—those who believe in an absolute truth which forms the basis of the education they provide their children. Unfortunately, the unavoidable counterpart of a belief in absolute truth is that other belief systems are mistaken at best, and at worst, evil.5

Professors Yuracko and Ross are far from alone in urging these positions. Professor Martha Albertson Fineman, from the Emory University School of Law, wrote in 2009 of her fear of parents with "oppressive, hierarchical belief systems."6 She says,

Indeed, the long-term consequences for the child being home schooled or sent to a private school cannot be overstated. The total absence of regulation over what and how children are taught leaves the child vulnerable to gaining a sub-par or non-existent education from which they may never recover. Moreover, the risk that parents or private schools unfairly impose hierarchical or oppressive beliefs on their children is magnified by the absence of state oversight or the application of any particular educational standards.7

So what does she recommend should be done about all of us?

Private education should be banned. All of it. Private schools, religious schools, homeschools.

. . . [T]he more appropriate suggestion for our current educational dilemma is that public education should be mandatory and universal. Parental expressive interest could supplement but never supplant the public institutions where the basic and fundamental lesson would be taught and experienced by all American children: we must struggle together to define ourselves both as a collective and as individuals.8

Fineman's comments come from a book entitled What Is Right for Children? The Competing Paradigms of Religion and Human Rights.

The closer I get to my LLM (master of laws) degree in public international law from the University of London, where I have focused on human rights law, the more I agree with the subtitle of Fineman's book—with one small caveat.

But first, one needs to know how internationalists define human rights. To the United Nations crowd, human rights contain five categories of rights: economic, social, cultural, political, and civil rights. The civil and political rights are closely parallel to the American Bill of Rights. But economic, social, and cultural rights mandate global socialism and religious syncretism.

Thus, when one pulls open the cover and really looks at the worldview of UN theories of human rights, it is beyond debate that it is incompatible with faithful, biblical Christianity.

My University of London textbook cited Religious Liberty and International Law in Europe by Malcolm Evans in regard to the idea of adopting an international convention on religious liberty. Evans describes a very strange notion of liberty:

"If this means anything, it means that the freedom of religion does not include the right to adhere to a religion which is intolerant of the beliefs of others. On this view, 'Human Rights' has itself become a 'religion or belief' which is itself as intolerant of other forms of value systems which may stand in opposition to its own central tenets as any of those it seeks to address."9

Make no mistake about it. This is the march of a new orthodoxy. It is a competing religion. You are one of its adherents if you say that all roads lead to God. If you refuse to subscribe to this article of faith, your rights won't be protected; you will be persecuted.

Mandatory Tolerance

Article 29 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) affirmatively mandates certain things that must be taught to all children. This mandate applies to public schools, private schools, homeschools, Sunday schools, parents who are just talking to their kids at dinner, and even the content of television programs.

Here is one clause from Article 29: "The preparation of the child for responsible life in a free society, in the spirit of understanding, peace, tolerance, equality of sexes, and friendship among all peoples, ethnic, national and religious groups and persons of indigenous origin . . . ."10

Now you understand what they mean to accomplish with mandatory teaching of tolerance. They aim to stop you from teaching your own children that Jesus is the only way to God. The American Bar Association (ABA) recognized all of this years ago in a book it published promoting the ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. According to the ABA, a church school that taught that other worldviews are unacceptable and that Jesus is the only way to God would be teaching lessons that "fly in the face" of Article 29 of the CRC.11

The human rights movement promotes the notion that a child's right to an education—specifically a tolerant education of the sort we see outlined in Article 29 and explained by professors Evans, Yuracko, Ross, and Fineman—declares that the child's interests flow from the state. Thus, the state stands superior to the parent. Here is what Yuracko says on this very point:

This argument about the constitutionally mandated minimum education that states must require of homeschools is critically important for two reasons. Conceptually, it rejects the dominant HSLDA view that parents possess absolute control over their children's education. It highlights the legal distinctness of parents and children and emphasizes that parental control over children's basic education flows from the state (rather than vice versa). States delegate power over children's basic education to parents, and the delegation itself is necessarily subject to constitutional constraints.12

Let me quote that again. "States delegate power over children to parents—not vice versa."

The motive is to stop Christianity. The theory that advances their motive is that the state comes first in a child's life. And I am proud that at least one of these professors recognizes that HSLDA is their chief opponent.

These advocates of children's rights love to wrap themselves in the mantle of international human rights. But do their radical theories about parents, children, and education comport with the recognized principles of human rights?

A Prior Right

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), adopted in 1948 by the UN General Assembly, is considered the grand foundation of all international human rights documents. Its adoption was not an act of international law, but an aspirational document pointing nations to public policy positions that were believed to protect human rights. Article 26 contains this provision:

"Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children."13

It is an article of faith among international human rights advocates that the launch of the human rights movement was a global response to the atrocities of Nazi Germany. Hitler claimed a prior right to choose the education and philosophy for children of his Reich. The UDHR repudiates this Nazi position and solidly places the choice of education first with the parent. Our rights are prior to any government claims over our children.

This philosophy was repeated in a document that is considered a component of the International Bill of Human Rights—the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights.

It says in Article 13:

The States Parties to the present Covenant undertake to have respect for the liberty of parents and, when applicable, legal guardians to choose for their children schools, other than those established by the public authorities, which conform to such minimum educational standards as may be laid down or approved by the State and to ensure the religious and moral education of their children in conformity with their own convictions.14

Parents get to choose the religious and moral education of their children in conformity with their own convictions. Even fundamentalist Christians are included in this declaration.

Crushing Dissent

Listen to what one sensible international law professor says about the theories of these radicals of human rights. Professor Cole Durham describes various state approaches to religious liberty. Going from one extreme to the other, he lists:

Absolute theocracies (for example, stereotypical Islamic fundamentalist regimes)

States with established churches (Great Britain is one example: "maintains an established church, but guarantees equal treatment for all other religious beliefs"15)

States with endorsed churches (countries where a particular church is recognized as holding a special place in the culture and history, such as Spain)

Cooperationist regimes (Germany today, where the government cooperates with and even funds religious institutions, but does not single any out for special recognition)

Accommodationist states (some in U.S. theory; maintain "a posture of benevolent neutrality toward religion"16)

Separationist states ("rigid separation of church and state"17—for instance, Stalinist regimes)

"As state influence becomes more pervasive and regulatory burdens expand, refusal to exempt or accommodate shades into hostility," notes Durham.18 Of the separationist states, the author says:

More extreme forms of separationism make stronger attempts to cordon off religion from public life. One form this can take is through tightening the state monopoly on certain forms of educational or social services. In the educational realm, the state can ban home schooling altogether, can proscribe private schools, or can submit either of the foregoing to such extensive accreditation requirements that it is virtually impossible for independent religious education to function.19. (.....)::::

Visit the site and read the full article!

BlogShare: Simple, Green, Frugal Co-op:

2011-01-15T09:46:00.001-06:00

Throwback at Trapper Creek has a great tutorial over at Simple, Green, Frugal Co-op -- Making Healing Cottonwood Salve:

http://simple-green-frugal-co-op.blogspot.com/2009/04/healing-cottonwood-salve.html

While there at the Simple Green Frugal Co-op definitely spend time browsing the archives and great bloggers who share there. You will glean enough information on *everything* to fill several notebooks, trust me!

Sigh.....annoying....

2011-01-11T21:23:00.001-06:00

Problem #157 with husband working away from home....

We believe we have a water pipe leak :( Nothing certain yet, it's just too dang frigid to get under the house tonight.

Jennifer noticed a rather annoying hissing water-running sound after her shower. It kept going, so Matthew went out to the main water junction at the driveway and turned off the water supply to the house tonight. And we bled out all the cold water lines. Bingo....noise stopped.

So, pipe break, pin leak...who knows. :::sigh::: We'll tackle that in the morning. Rather Jennifer will tackle that in the morning. Ain't no way I'm going under the house as claustrophobic as I am. Nope.

Ahhh, it's times like these that I know just how blessed I am to have a "Jill of all trades" for a daughter. Not many 18yo girls have a clue about plumbing.

Or fencing.

Or midwifery for dogs, goats, and in a couple months, cows.

Or lancing cysts on goats.

Of course, she'll probably chip a nail and go all girly on me tomorrow....

Her 'price' for playing Mario the Plumber tomorrow? She wants a color ink cartridge and laminating sheets. She has a stash of Cary Grant, Claudette Colbert and Marilyn Monroe movie stills she wants to print out.

Like I said, she'll probably go all girly on me...

BlogShare: Three Seasons Farm

2011-01-11T19:28:00.000-06:00

A wonderful online friend, Stephanie, has finally gotten her crafting blog up and running! And she is giving 20% of every sale to Gleaning The Harvest! Go here to visit Gleaning The Harvest:
http://gleaningtheharvest.com/

From Stephanie's site:
**We are a family of 4 who strive to live our lives to the best of our ability according to YHVH (G-d)'s will. We make handmade items that would be excellent gifts for those you love most! If you do not see an item in a color you like, please feel free to contact us at threeseasonsfarm@gmail.com, we gladly take custom orders. We hope you enjoy your visit with us, and please, share with your friends and family. Shalom!**

Among the great knit afghans and such she has to offer, she is having a give-away:
A thick and warm scarf, double-knit and gorgeous raspberry :)

http://threeseasonsfarm.blogspot.com/2011/01/huge-thank-you-and-giveaway.html

Stop by, say hello, leave a comment to be entered into her drawing on January 31st!!

Our creek this morning...

2011-01-11T14:28:00.000-06:00

The Long Journey Home....

2011-01-11T14:27:00.000-06:00

...to this homestead, that is.
There's no mail delivery up here again today. We haven't been plowed out....which isn't surprising. The motto down here, especially for the more rural folk, is simple:

The Lords giveth....and The Lord will taketh away.

There isn't really what you'd call winter road equipment around here. It's The South, after all. The last snow that had depth and lasted a couple days was 1984 I'm told. The storm in 1994 doesn't count. It was all ice. Two weeks' worth.

At any rate, snow removal is up to mother nature around these parts. We have a road grader in the county. And a gravel dump truck or two, and I've seen a flat-bed dump, too. And the 'crew' (We have 4, I believe) all have shovels :) The idea of removing the snow itself entails sprinkling red clay sand on the over-passes. That's pretty much it. It wouldn't be frugal to sprinkle sand on all the roads. Not when mother nature will do it for free :)

So, with the snow still on the roads, and being on the other side of rural, the mail delivery, um, wasn't. When Sharon (our carrier) called to let us know that sure, it seemed we had been abandoned here, we really hadn't been, or at least we weren't the only ones. She asked about our lane. I quickly said no, not even worth a try. The road down a mile at the end of our lane she hadn't been to either.

So, we went for a walk :) Rather we went for a slide. Down the hill away from our place....up the hill at the end of the property....around a curve. That picture....that is at the curve about 3/4 of a mile from the house. Way down that road, as far as you can see, there is a bend in the road. That's us. There's nothing on our lane. It was beautiful.

From the looks of it, we won't have mail until Thursday. Maybe the roads will be open a bit at that point. I hear the main roads are in good shape, and that grader I mentioned....he went up the mountain on another road this morning.

The Cookbook of the 50+ Friends Club

2011-01-10T13:31:00.001-06:00

Dewey's cousin sent this to us and I want to make sure I don't lose it....and it really should be shared :)

Enjoy the recipes and pass it along yourself!

http://www.50plusfriends.com/cookbook/index.html

SNOW!

2011-01-10T07:26:00.001-06:00

It's belly-covering on our German Shepherd mix :)
Past knee-deep on Miss Emily.

ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS :)

That's SNOW, baby!!

2011-01-09T23:11:00.001-06:00

Absolute sorry excuse for a picture, but hey, it's 11pm and I live in the beyond-rural hinterlands...it's the best I can do right now :)

And it may not look like it, but that is SIX INCHES OF SNOW on my van :)

I have died and gone to heaven...can it get any better than this? Be still my heart :)

More Blues here...

2011-01-09T21:18:00.000-06:00

We have about 3/4in on the ground so far here on the homestead, and it's still coming down heavy.

Ahhh, the joys of winter :)

This Week's Homeschool Freebies:

2011-01-09T15:36:00.000-06:00

Monday, Jan 10th:

HOW LOTS OF STUFF IS MADE (streaming videos)

It's a fun video day at homeschoolfreebieoftheday, as we feature
some modern and vintage clips on how stuff like peanut butter,
skis, chocolate, light bulbs, and bicycles get made. Hey, we even
have guest commentary from Woody Allen, Jonathan Winters &
Joanne Worley. Don't miss the show!

------------------

Tuesday, Jan 11th:
HOW TO PLAY THE PIANO BY EAR: HOME STUDY COURSE (PDF ebook)

How to Play the Piano By Ear: A Simple Home Study Course gives
you the quickest and easiest way to learn to play the piano by
ear... while, in the process, learning most everything you'll
need to know about musical notation "as you go". It is a
wonderful, motivating, accessible "how to" manual that many top
pianists once used to perfect their piano playing. (And even if
you're already playing the piano by note, you'll benefit
immensely from investigating what ear playing can contribute
to your further progress.) Normally $14.95, but not today!

-------------------

Wednesday, Jan 12th:
DRAWING FOR BEGINNERS, by Dorothy Furniss (PDF ebook)

This classic book by Dorothy Furniss is a wonderful introduction
to drawing, well written and nicely illustrated. Included are
chapters on sketching from life and from your imagination,
sketching people and animals, perspective drawing, drawing tools,
and much more. Probably not as many illustrations as you could ask
for, but the text is every bit as good - if not better - than most
modern "how to" drawing guides.

-------------------

Thursday, Jan 13th:
It's a SNOW DAY!

So... let's learn all about snowflakes, listen to stories about
some amazing snow events, make some snow crafts, and a lot more
"cool stuff" in today's collection of snow-oriented resources!

-------------------

Friday, Jan 14th:
SLOW AND SAVORY SUPPERS: A Natural Slow Cooker Cookbook (PDF ebook)

This excellent, well illustrated slow cooker cookbook by Angela Coffman
31 slow cooker recipes to save time and money, as well as helpful tips and
slow cooker basics to help any home chef create great time saving dishes.

----------------

You can find each of these resources on their respective days
this week at:

http://www.homeschoolfreebieoftheday.com

Pretty pinks and blues...

2011-01-09T11:55:00.000-06:00

..and mainly SOUTH of me! UGH!!

The Weather Watch begins...

2011-01-09T07:43:00.001-06:00

They say it's coming.
Maybe 5-7 inches.
We have food, of course...we have plenty of water...we have plenty of wood for heat...we can (and do) use the wood cookstove.

We're ready. Bring it on mother nature!!

BlogShare: Top 10 Survival Downloads You Should Have

2011-01-08T19:00:00.001-06:00

Great sharing from the Alabama Preppers Network:

The Top 10 Survival/Prepper Downloads You Should Have

http://www.alabamapreppersnetwork.com/2011/01/top-10-survival-downloads-you-should.html

BlogShare: Practical self sufficiency through food skills.

2011-01-07T10:24:00.001-06:00

http://www.food-skills-for-self-sufficiency.com/index.html

Ain't he sweet?

2011-01-07T09:52:00.000-06:00

HNY Jeremiah, 1-3-2011

NewsShare: Feds order farmer to destroy his own wheat crops: The shocking revelations of Wickard vs Filburn

2011-01-07T07:33:00.001-06:00

I've had countless folks tell me the same thing here on the blog when I pass along articles, links, and sharings about S.501. Believe what you want about the reaching hand of government and your private home and land, your family, etc. History repeats itself...and sadly, it's rarely the 'good' stuff that comes back around.
You wouldn't think a family with a handful of chickens selling eggs...or a quiet little table of extra garden produce at the end of a driveway...or a few gallons of milk fresh from your cow....would be a threat to the powers that be, but they are just that. It's a family of dissenters, going against the drone societal beliefs. It's a rebellion quietly smoking, and the government isn't going to wait to see if the tinder catches, they're going to flood the pending fire out before it gets a chance to spread out any.

http://www.naturalnews.com/030799_food_freedom_Wickard_vs_Filburn.html

:::(NaturalNews) In arguing for S.501, the "Food Safety Modernization Act," there are all sorts of attorneys, legislators and internet commentators who keep claiming, "The government won't try to control the food production of small farms." They say, "Your backyard garden is safe" and that the feds won't come knocking on your door to control your seeds or foods.

As usual, these pushers of Big Government are utterly ignorant of the history in their own country. Because as you'll learn right here, not only CAN the U.S. government control and dictate to single-family farms what they can grow in their own backyards; the government has already blatantly done so!

In this article, I'll share with you the full and true story of how Big Government has already run rampant over the rights of individuals to grow their own food -- I'll even cite the US Supreme Court decision that "legalized" this tyranny.

How the tyrants came after a farmer named Roscoe Filburn

It all starts with a farmer named Roscoe Filburn, a modest farmer who grew wheat in his own back yard in order to feed his chickens.

One day, a U.S. government official showed up at his farm. Noting that Filburn was growing a lot of wheat, this government official determined that Filburn was growing too much wheat and ordered Filburn to destroy his wheat crops and pay a large fine to the federal government.

The year was 1940, you see. And through a highly protectionist policy, the federal government had decided to artificially drive up the prices of wheat by limiting the amount of wheat that could be grown on any given acre. This is all part of Big Government's "infinite wisdom" of trying to somehow improve prosperity by destroying food and impairing economic productivity. (Be wary any time the government says it's going to "solve problems" for you.)

The federal government, of course, claims authority over all commerce (even when such claims are blatantly in violation of the limitations placed upon government by the Constitution). But Roscoe Filburn wasn't selling his wheat to anyone. Thus, he was not engaged in interstate commerce. He wasn't growing wheat as something to use for commerce at all, in fact. He was simply growing wheat in his back yard and feeding it to his chickens. That's not commerce. That's just growing your own food.

But get this: The government insisted he pay a fine and destroy his wheat, so Filburn took the government to court, arguing that the federal government had no right to tell a man to destroy his food crops just because they wanted to protect some sort of artificially high prices in the wheat market.

This case eventually went to the US Supreme Court. It's now known as Wickard v. Filburn, and it is one of the most famous US Supreme Court decisions ever rendered because it represents a gross expansion of the tyranny of the federal government.

The US Supreme Court sided with government tyranny

The US Supreme Court, you see, ruled that Roscoe Filburn's wheat could be regulated and destroyed by the federal government simply because Roscoe's wheat production might reduce the amount of wheat he bought from other wheat producers and therefore could impact interstate trade.

Now stay with me on this, because this is a really, really important point to understand.

The federal government claimed authority under the Commerce Clause of the US Constitution (Article 1, Section 8), even though the Commerce Clause was originally written primarily to prevent states from erecting tariffs, not to allow the federal government to control interstate trade. But thanks to the twisted interpretation of the government -- and believe me, the government will twist every interpretation it can in an effort to assert more power over the population -- the feds claimed that Filburn's growing of his own wheat effectively reduced interstate commerce in wheat. Therefore, they reasoned, they could regulate his backyard wheat production (and order him to destroy his wheat).

Because of this US Supreme Court decision in 1942, it now means the federal government can order you to halt food production in your own back yard by arguing that when you grow your own food, the amount of food you purchase from other food providers is reduced, meaning that your food production impacts interstate trade and therefore can be fully controlled by the federal government.

In other words, the federal government claims the authority right now -- even without the Food Safety Modernization Act -- to knock on your door and order you at gunpoint to destroy all the food in your garden, your greenhouse or your farm. They can order you to destroy all seeds in your possession and all food harvested from your own garden. And they can do all this with the full protection of U.S. law by simply citing the precedent set in Wickard v. Filburn in 1942 as ruled by the US Supreme Court.

Why the naysayers will probably starve

Still think you have the right to grow your own food? I've heard all sorts of naysayers claiming that S.510 -- the Food Safety Modernization Act -- is no threat to small growers and family farms. They say the fears about S.510 are overblown and that the government can't possibly shut down your backyard gardens or small, local vegetable farms. They say this with the kind of smug certainty you might typically hear from a doctor who thinks he knows everything about human health (but who actually knows nothing about nutrition).

These naysayers tend to operate out of an assumption that Big Government will never take away their rights and freedoms and that expanding the reach of agencies such as the TSA, FDA, DEA and FTC with even more power and more armed agents is a good thing because the government always takes care of the people. We need more protection from e.coli, they argue, so let's unleash 4,000 armed FDA agents instead to protect us from bacteria. But who will protect us from the FDA?

What these ignorant naysayers don't understand is that government is constantly trying to expand its power to the point of tyranny. As a current example of this, look at what just happened with Chavez in Venezuela. He has now been granted what are essentially dictatorial powers over the country (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dy...). Chavez is now the King of Venezuela, and whatever he says is now law. Venezuelan citizens are now slaves to his tyranny, and they must follow his orders or be executed.

The United States is moving in precisely the same direction. First, power gets stripped away from the People little by little. Then it gets concentrated in the hands of a few regulatory agencies who write their own laws and who stay in power year after year because none of their officials are elected. (Think the FDA commissioner is elected by the people? Think again...) And then, over time, a few powerful individuals concentrate power from those agencies into their own hands. Before long, the country is run by a handful of power-crazed tyrants who disregard all freedoms and rights of the People.

This is precisely what the FDA is doing with the Food Safety Modernization Act. Backed by yet more funding and a new army of agents, plus the Supreme Court ruling that says the federal government can order you to destroy the food you're growing in your own back yard, the FDA can now pillage the countryside, going from farm to farm and house to house, burning fields and ordering the citizenry to destroy their plants, seeds and crops. This is exactly what they've been doing to raw milk producers and food coops, by the way (http://www.naturalnews.com/030136_R...).

That is no exaggeration. It is a documented "legal" precedent established in Wickard vs Filburn, and it can be used at any moment to destroy the ability of people to grow their own food, thereby making these people totally dependent on dead processed food (which is always FDA approved if it's dead, of course) made in food factories that churn out nutritional deficiencies and death.

What will you eat when the government destroys your local food supply?

You see, under the argument that your backyard garden "impacts interstate commerce," the federal government can order you to simply spray Roundup on your entire garden in order to kill it.

What will you eat then? When the GMO crops suffer a mass catastrophic failure, and the monocultured wheat dies from a global viral infection called ug99 "rust" (http://theemergencyfoodsupply.com/a...), what will you eat?

If the government has its way, you won't eat at all. You'll starve to death under the "protection" of the food safety thugs at the FDA who don't believe any "live" food is safe in the first place (hence their war against raw milk).

Those people who have the foresight to grow their own gardens and protect their food sources from the tyranny of the federal government may actually have a chance at surviving. The rest will simply starve while waiting in government food lines where the feds hand out nutritionally worthless cheese and other depleted processed foods that Sesame Street absurdly thinks are "superfoods" (http://www.naturalnews.com/030626_m...).

Big Government declares war on the local food movement

Make no mistake, folks: the government is attempting to destroy the local food movement. They are trying to wipe out small, organic farms that compete with corporate agribiz in the same way the FDA has long plotted to destroy natural health supplement companies who compete with Big Pharma.

It's all about wiping out the little guys and protecting the monopoly markets of the largest and most influential corporations that are poisoning the earth and destroying your health. As Wickard vs Filburn clearly demonstrated, the government does not believe you have any natural right or Constitutional right to grow your own food. In fact, the government believes it has the right to order you to destroy your food at the time of its choosing.

Don't think this could happen to you? Filburn didn't either. The idea that his own government would show up at his door and order him to burn his field of wheat was simply unimaginable. Similarly, the idea that the FDA would tear across the countryside wiping out small family farms is unimaginable to many Americans today. But that's only because they don't know their own history and they put far too much faith in the flimsy idea that the government somehow, in some way, respects the rights and freedoms of the People.

The obvious falsehood of that idea is evident in the way we are all being treated by the TSA. Who would have thought, just two years ago, that we'd be subjected to government-enforced molestation at the hands of airport security screeners? That idea seems unthinkable at the time, much like the idea that the FDA could seize your garden seeds or order you to destroy your greenhouse crops. Yet such actions are already within the claimed power of the federal government... merely waiting to be invoked at the time of their choosing.

Traitors to freedom

All those who voted for S.510 -- which includes the entire U.S. Senate, Republicans and Democrats alike -- are traitors to the freedoms upon which America was founded. They have thrust our food supply into the hands of tyrants who are just waiting to exercise their control and "authority" over as many people as possible.

Five years ago, I joked that people might one day be arrested for smuggling broccoli across state lines. Today, that joke has become a sad reality. The mere act of growing food and selling it to your neighbor without government permission is about to become a criminal act. And no, small farms are not "exempt" from S.510. They must provide financial information and apply to the FDA to be granted exemption status. That sounds a lot like slaves begging for mercy from the king, doesn't it?

Keep the big picture in mind as you consider all this: When teens are poisoned by the aspartame in diet soda, the FDA does nothing. When children are given cancer by the sodium nitrite in hot dogs, the FDA does nothing. When countless thousands of Americans suffer heart attacks and cardiovascular disease each year from the partially-hydrogenated oils used throughout the food supply, the FDA does nothing. But when you grow fresh produce in your own back yard and carry it to your local farmer's market to sell it without government permission, you will be arrested by the FDA as a criminal.:::

BlogShare: Art, Like Bread

2011-01-07T07:16:00.001-06:00

Stephanie shared this at Facebook and I love it! What a great tip. After making all those potholders and table pads, dishcloths and washcloths from cotton and the like, when I grabbed plain 'ol RedHeart for something else it was like stitching with baling twine! It just seemed so much more 'thick' and 'stiff' and anything but soft and comfortable! I can't wait to try this....I have a shawl on the hook now!

http://artlikebread.blogspot.com/2011/01/how-i-made-scratchy-yarn-like-buttah.html

(...) :::So let me tell you (step by step) what I did to make my scratchy scarf buttery smooth.

Thanks to Leslie on Crochetbug for the Red Heart in vinegar tip!

1. Soak the scarf for 20 min in a cold vinegar solution. (Ratio of 1:64, vinegar to water should do.)

2. Rinse

3. Hand wash in cold water with shampoo. Do not agitate.

4. Rinse twice

5. Gently massage in a generous amount of hair conditioner into each part until it is saturated.

6. Let sit 10 min.

7. Soak saturated scarf in cold water for at least an hour.

8. Rinse twice.

9. Gently get rid of excess water by lightly squeezing, and rolling in a towel.

10. Block garment by laying flat to dry.

I used cheap Suave shampoo and conditioner for this, and not only is my scarf like buttah, it also smells like apples. :::

BlogShare: SpunkyHomeSchool: Homeschoolers and Tax Breaks

2011-01-05T12:26:00.001-06:00

I love Spunky Homeschool's blog. Many will no doubt disagree with the views shared, but that's fine. You don't have to agree, and as always you can express whatever opinion you may have on the subject. Just a reminder, though, free speech within these pages belongs solely to me, as does your free speech within your own arena. In other words, I'm not opening a debate on the merits or the darker side as it were, of government interaction with private homeschooling.

http://spunkyhomeschool.blogspot.com/2011/01/homeschoolers-and-tax-break.html

Homeschoolers and Tax Breaks

Wednesday, January 05, 2011

With the new Congress sworn in, some conservatives are looking into whether or not homeschoolers should get a tax-break.

The New York Times picked up the debate and wondered "Do Homeschool Schoolers Deserve a Tax Break?" They presented a variety of opinions from many of the major voices in education. I agree with the the sentiments of Neal P. McCluskey of the CATO Insitution that tax breaks are an "Unconstitutional Instrusion."

If nothing else, Washington would need to ensure that credits weren't being claimed fraudulently, requiring some "proof" of home schooling. Proof, however, could eventually be defined as, say, passing scores on federally prescribed tests – just the sort of dictate many home schoolers despise. And then there's the matter of making worse a tax code already so complicated you need an army of accountants to figure it out.

Homeschoolers deserve some breaks. At the national level, that means adhering to the Constitution and getting the federal government out of education which would benefit not just homeschoolers, but all taxpayers.

And that "proof" is exactly what Chester Finn called for in his essay, "Yes, to a Tax Credit, but Tests are Necessary".

In return for the financial help, however, home-schooled students should be required to take state tests, just as they would do in regular school, charter school or virtual schools. And if they don't pass those tests, either the subsidy vanishes or the kids must enroll in some sort of school with a decent academic track record

I must admit surprise and disappointment with the opinion offered by William Estrada, director of HSLDA's federal relations department, in support of a tax-credit, "No Extra Rules Required." Estrada included a definition for "qualifying educational expenses" for all parents, no matter where they educate their children. And to avoid regulation and prevent abuse,

The I.R.S. could conduct an audit, and the parent or parent's tax preparer could retain all the necessary documentation relating to the child's education and the qualifying educational expense to show to the I.R.S. if necessary. just retain their records and the IRS could conduct an audit.

Wow! So not only will we be required to prove we're educating through testing, we'll be proving we're not tax cheats too! Because you know those homeschoolers and our tendency toward abuse! Please HSLDA you can do better than this!

Estrada's position appears to contradict a long held belief of HSLDA and many homeschoolers that the federal government should stay out of education. Here's what they wrote in 2000,

"The federal government's involvement in education represents everything that is wrong with so many of our government agencies; they are unconstitutional, wasteful, expensive, and out of touch. It is the duty of our congress to not only abolish the Department of Education, but the entire federal involvement in education.

Wouldn't this tax-credit be counter productive to that goal? HSLDA doesn't think so. In 2009, they wrote, "HSLDA will support tax credits that promote educational choice without threatening any regulation of homeschoolers."

But is promoting any educational choice a role of the federal government? NO!
.......(more at link, plus great archives as well)

Anyone who's been here a handful of times already knows my thoughts on this idea. I'm a *private* homeschool as defined by my State laws. I do not ask for a handout from the government and I do not want one. The government dangled some pretty candy in the faces of Alaskan homeschoolers a few years back and hooked quite a few. Funny how the candy always preceeds the pit they've dug. Honey lures flies I guess.

This idea reeks of government phishing and is just another step toward taking more freedoms away from The People under the guise of being helpful and encouraging. Don't fall for it.

RecipeShare: Plain Pam's Meatloaf Casserole

2011-01-04T17:04:00.001-06:00

Yum....

Meatloaf Cassarole...
By Plain Pam

2 lb. hamburger
2 tsp. salt
½ tsp. pepper
1 egg, beaten
1 c. oatmeal
1 c. tomato juice
3 qt. mashed potatoes, seasoned to taste
Velveeta cheese

Directions
Mix all together, except potatoes and cheese. Bake in a casserole dish for 1 hour at 350°. Spread potatoes on top, then cover with cheese slices and bake until cheese is melted.

BlogShare: Farm Wars: Monsanto sneaks in again

2011-01-03T06:57:00.000-06:00

http://farmwars.info/?p=4897

:::::: Just when we thought that. buying "Organic" was safe, we run headlong into the deliberate poisoning of our organic food supply by the FDA in collusion with none other than the folks who brought us Aspartame. NutraSweet, a former Monsanto asset, has developed a new and improved version of this neurotoxin called Neotame.

Neotame has similar structure to aspartame — except that, from it's structure, appears to be even more toxic than aspartame. This potential increase in toxicity will make up for the fact that less will be used in diet drinks. Like aspartame, some of the concerns include gradual neurotoxic and immunotoxic damage from the combination of the formaldehyde metabolite (which is toxic at extremely low doses) and the excitotoxic amino acid. (Holisticmed.com)

But surely, this product would be labeled! NOT SO!!! For this little gem, no labeling required. And it is even included in USDA Certified Organic food.

The food labeling requirements required for aspartame have now been dropped for Neotame, and no one is clear why this was allowed to happen. Neotame has been ruled acceptable, and without being included on the list of ingredients, for:

USDA Certified Organic food items.

Certified Kosher products with the official letter k inside the circle on labels. (Janet Hull)

Let me make this perfectly clear. Neotame does not have to be included in ANY list of ingredients! So, if you buy processed food, whether USDA Certified Organic or not, that food most likely will contain Neotame because it is cost-effective, and since no one knows it is there, there is no public backlash similar to what is happening with Aspartame. A win/win situation!

But that's not all. Just love chowing down on that delicious steak? Well, that cow most likely will have been fed with feed containing…..you guessed it…..Neotame! A product called "Sweetos," which is actually composed of Neotame, is being substituted for molasses in animal feed.

"Sweetos is an economical substitute for molasses. Sweetos guarantees the masking of unpleasant tastes and odor and improves the palatability of feed. This product will be economical for farmers and manufacturers of cattle feed. It can also be used in mineral mixture," said Craig Petray, CEO, The NutraSweet Company, a division of Searle, which is a part of Monsanto. (Bungalow Bill)

Why would we feed animals food that is so distasteful that we would have to mask the unpleasantness with an artificial sweetener? Most animals will not eat spoiled, rancid feed. They know by the smell that it is not good. Enter Sweetos (Neotame). Just cover up the unpleasant tastes and odors, and you can feed them anything you want to, courtesy of the oh, so considerate folks at Monsanto and company.

But of course, Monsanto is no longer associated with NutraSweet. In the time-honored tradition of covering its assets, Monsanto has a proven track record of spinning off controversial portions of its company that generate too much scrutiny, such as it did with the Solutia solution. :::::

Go visit the Farm Wars site linked above and read the whole thing. Monsanto is hardly the world's buddy and some corporate saving grace. Want to own the people? Own their food resources. Monsanto owns you, plain and simple. And they are leading you in quietly to the slaughter.

Homeschool Freebies This Week

2011-01-02T17:23:00.000-06:00

Monday, Jan 3rd:
THE BROWNIES PRIMER (PDF ebook)

One of the most popular children's illustrators in the late 1800s
was Palmer Cox,
who created the amazing "Brownies" for the pages of ST. NICHOLAS
magazine in the 1870s, and later a whole series of Brownies books.
Cox drew incredibly intricate pictures of his playful Brownies,
often with hundreds of brownies on every page. Amazingly, each
brownie character was unique and possessed its own personality.
If your kids have never seen these before, they are in for a real
treat. They are a little like "Where's Waldo?" in that you can
just about make a game of every full page illustration, trying
to spot your favorite brownies. The Brownies Primer is a fine
beginning reader primer using many delightful illustrations from
various Cox books. Use it for reading, for coloring, or just for
plain fun, exploring these amazing pictures.

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Tuesday, Jan 4th:
FARM ANIMALS MATCHING CARDS (PDF ebook)

Farm Animals Matching Cards from GentleShepherd.biz is an e-book
(normally $3) with masters for making your own matching card set.
There are two pages of matching cards--six animals on each page.
These picture pages can be printed out in color, on card stock.
You will need to print each page two times, so there will be a
double set of cards. The cards are cut apart, and are then ready
to use. You can also have them laminated, to make them more durable.
Words in four languages (English, Spanish, French, and German) for
the 12 farm animals AND their sounds are listed on two charts,
so the game can easily be used for foreign language practice.

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Wednesday, Jan 5th:
LET'S LEARN TO TELL TIME! (PDF ebook)

Don't fret over teaching time! Today's free resource from Sonbeams
offers teaching tips, worksheets, and flashcard printables focused
on telling time. You'll learn hours, half hours, quarter after,
and quarter 'til times for digital and wall clocks. Ages 5 to 8.

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Thursday, Jan 6th:
BABY WORLD: STORIES, RHYMES & PICTURES for LITTLE FOLK (PDF ebook)
Part One

A HUGE, wonderful vintage collection of stories, games, rhymes,
playtime activities and hundreds of
gorgeous black and white pictures collected from the pages of
the classic St. Nicholas Magazine by Mary Mapes Dodge.
Every page is a delight... Wonderful resource to share with your
little ones! This PDF edition is so big (60+ megs) that we are
splitting it into two parts, with the first part today and the
second tomorrow.

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Friday, Jan 7th:
BABY WORLD: STORIES, RHYMES & PICTURES for LITTLE FOLK (PDF ebook)
Part TWO

More wonderful stories, poems and classic pictures for little
ones, plus a super-neat section of things older kids can make
and do to keep little siblings happy. Kids of ALL ages (and parents)
will love fiddling with those. A vintage gem from St. Nicholas magazine.

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You can download each of these resources on their respective days at:

http://www.homeschoolfreebieoftheday.com

Monsanto's Long History of Poisoning....

2011-01-02T12:12:00.001-06:00

Read the pages. 'Nuf said.
http://bestmeal.info/food/monsanto.shtml

Happy New Year 2011!!

2011-01-01T07:48:00.001-06:00

Ahhh, blunt and to the point as I am, I read something like this from a friend and just had to share it here.

Dear Family and Friends,
As 2010 closes I'd like to say that I know during the last year there were times when I upset you, disturbed you, pestered and annoyed you.
There were days when I'm sure I tried your patience and stretched the common boundaries of our relationship pretty thin.
There were moments when loving me and being my friend was a difficult task. When accepting my many and varied 'quirks' meant a compromise on your part, or at least a deep sense of humor and forgiveness.
So as we come into the new year I want to tell you something from the bottom of my heart....

Suck it up cupcake! There are NO CHANGES planned for 2011 :)

Happy New Year's Eve....

2010-12-31T09:57:00.001-06:00

We were surprised early this morning with a BABY!! Rachel, one of our younger does, was walking around outside with a bit of a blob hanging out. Abbey walked around the pasture area and didn't see anything so naturally....she came running in saying there was some blood on a goat and in the pen.

Nice wake-up call.

She bolted back out while I hunted for my boots. Silly me...they were in the truck, of course. Doesn't everyone keep boots in the truck? (Someone wore them out yesterday and took them off, tossing them in the truck.....ugh)

As I headed out, Abbey popped out of the barn and yelled "there's a BABY in here!". We tracked down the momma, Rachel, just walking around with the other does in the pen. Her baby, was curled up with our male Great Pyr :) He *loves* babies. I'm pretty sure it was Buddy who cleaned off baby. Rachel seems a bit clueless this first time. She sniffed at the baby, licked a bit around her head and ears, but she was relatively uninterested. Buddy, on the other hand, is the all Proverbs 31 momma material....for a male, anyway.

Lady, our german shepherd mix was beside herself waiting outside that barn to be told she could come in. Jennifer took the baby over for her to see....Lady was tearing down the gate, barking up a storm she was so excited! LOL. She checked that baby out from stem to stern, sniffed at Rachel to make sure they belonged together, and she and Buddy have taken up guard duty outside the 'nursery pen' now.

So, surprise :) We are scrambling to finish birthing pens now. We weren't expecting babies for *at least* 3 more weeks! Got me a little worried now....time to hustle!

Oh, and we did milk out Rachel and bottle feed the baby this morning to be sure she got colostrum. Rachel has been letting her nurse now, so we're stepping back and watching to see things go well. I think maybe she just needed to be penned alone, enclosed and private :)

BlogShare: Rural Revolution: Ten Steps toward Christian Simplicity

2010-12-30T07:39:00.001-06:00

Excellent sharing!! Well worth adding to your daily blog reading list!

http://www.rural-revolution.com/2010/12/ten-steps-toward-christian-simplicity.html

BlogShare: Using Essential Oils for Pain - Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

2010-12-28T09:45:00.001-06:00

http://joshealthcorner.blogspot.com/2010/12/using-essential-oils-for-pain-carpal.html

Excellent post with several good 'recipes' shared. Visit for the entire post, and bookmark the site for further reading! She has incredible information and links to share on many thing!

December "Stuffs"

2010-12-27T14:39:00.000-06:00

Let's see...we had a white Christmas. WHITE I tell you! There was a good inch and half on the ground Christmas morning, and truly it stayed over half the day. Ahh, the natives were probably freaking out and counting rolls of tp in their linen closets, but I was out walking. Even before the children opened a single gift, I was outside just enjoying the absolute peace that comes with a snow-covered homestead. The silence is just HUGE when it snows, have you ever noticed that? If not, you've missed a great gift.

Dewey and Christopher were home from Thursday on. Dewey came in Wednesday night. We had a great Christmas, with everyone together. Too much chaos as usual, but that's just typical large family stuff there. Among our gifts opened were some much-needed insulated bibs for work -- Dewey has to be up in Indianapolis on that next job by mid-January :( -- a new set of jumper cables, some ITunes gift cards for tech-son who only wanted that :o) And momma got a Kindle :o) I've been playing with it all morning, getting the stash of books I had between both computers loaded in, plus checking out other sites to download goodies (www.gutenburg.org, librivox recordings, etc). I need to get or make a new case. Dewey bought one, a nice leather one with a light but out of the box it never worked. We tried everything and it just didn't work. I took it back Sunday afternoon. THAT was an experience. arghhhh! What the heck ever happened to personal pride, knowledgeable staff at the store, COMPETENCY? I hate Best Buy. Truly, they are the worst big box store I have ever shopped at. Want crappy merchandise with the absolute worst in customer service.....shop Best Buy. Want to waste not only money, but time and a serious dose of patience....shop Best Buy. They are idiots. The staff, the so-called customer service crew, even the managers who you would hope would be of a slightly higher intelligence, or at least, coherency level....they are all idiots.
ok. 'nuf said. If you work for Best Buy, I'm sorry....I am, based on experiences with 3 different stores now, going to lump all those dimwits into one idiot basket. Can't help myself. I'm tactless and blunt.

So, I'm looking at a new Kindle cover...or maybe I'll make one.

Yes, you read right back there. Dewey is scheduled to be sent to Indianapolis, for what is supposedly an 8 month job, by mid-January. That's about 8.5 hours away. Not exactly an easy weekend home visit trip :( I keep hoping they'll change their minds. They have a job that is less than an hour from home here and they could put him there, if they wanted to. Doubt they will, but maybe. You never know. If not, we're looking at kidding season and Miss Judy having her calf...garden prep work and planting, new pasture areas fenced....just about everything that will be done here, solo. I'm not looking forward to that again this year. It's getting very tiresome.

Off to finish the school planning :o)

And the morning was...

2010-12-25T06:49:00.001-06:00

..blanketed in a soft quilt of white :)

Have a blessed CHRISTmas everyone!

BlogShare: Paratus Familia

2010-12-23T21:58:00.001-06:00

I've shared their blog before :) It's a favorite of mine. Earlier they shared a good 'joke' I wanted to pass along...

You might be a redneck if:  It never occurred to you to be offended by the phrase, 'One nation, under God..'

You might be a redneck if:  You've never protested about seeing
the 10 Commandments posted in public places.

You might be a redneck if:  You still say ' Christmas' instead of 'Winter Festival.'

You might be a redneck if:  You bow your head when someone prays.

You might be a redneck if:  You stand and place your hand over your heart when they play the National Anthem

You might be a redneck if:  You treat our armed forces veterans with great respect, and always have.

You might be a redneck if:  You've never burned an American flag, nor intend to.

You might be a redneck if: You know what you believe and you aren't afraid to say so, no matter who is listening.

You might be a redneck if:  You respect your elders and raised your kids to do the same.

You might be a redneck if:  You'd give your last dollar to a friend.