Change is in the Air

It has been unseasonably cool this summer, not that I'm complaining or anything, but it has certainly felt more like fall than summer.  Even as I'm typing this I'm sitting with an afghan I made a few years ago wrapped around my shoulders.  I have a couple of windows open and the chill is working it's way through the room.   Tonight would be a good night for a warm glass of tea. 

Today was filled to the brim with hustle and bustle.   First it was check-ups at the doctors office for two of the four munchkins, then swim lessons and a workout at the Y, then home to make dinner and clean.  Our upstairs shower and toilet have been less than perfectly functional for the last two weeks or so and we are finally getting a plumber in to take a look at it tomorrow so the upstairs bath needed a good scrub down.   After that it was out to the orchard in the late evening to pick a giant bushel of apples before the last bit of sun was gone. 

With the cooler weather my thoughts have been turning to those of sweaters for the youngsters.  Oldest needs a couple of new ones as does Middle and the baby.  I have been spending much of the precious little downtime I've had lately scouring the internet for cute patterns to try.  I may break out the knitting machine and work a few up on it this year.  It might be fun.   I also need to be working on a warmer blanket for DS number 3.

It seems like lately I have more projects than time.  I'm going to have to slow down eventually.  I'm already tired just thinking about everything that still needs done.  The apples need put up, the sweaters need made, the house needs cleaned, the laundry needs washed, I need to start getting the kids ready for schooling, then there are the dinners to be made, the shopping to be done, the bills to be paid, and on and on it goes. 

This weekend we are making a trip to the zoo with the kiddos.  It will be a much needed distraction and break from the daily grind.  I think stepping back, even just for a day, will do us all a world of good.   I love this lifestyle, I've been doing it for many, many years.  The country is gorgeous.  Life is "simpler".  We work hard and we sleep well.  But even something as well loved and as wonderful as the simple life can become overwhelming if you don't take a break now and again to regroup. 

Blessings be unto you and yours until next time. 

The Chickens Have Landed

A little chicken love to brighten your day!

 This is one of our marans (we think) sitting out enjoying the sunshine in front of the big barn.

 Here she is again. 

And this one is one of our barred rocks.  She's extremely friendly.  LOVES to perch on my husbands shoulder.

Well that's it for the moment.  Just a little chicken break.  Enjoy it.  :)

Happy Fourth of July...

Ok, so I'm a day but I hope your Fourth of July was a good one.  For us, meh...  There was a light drizzle here so our tiny midwestern town decided it might melt if it held it's fireworks display so they postponed it for tonight.  Unfortunately, we didn't get the message and we packed up all the kids in our finest patriotic gear, grabbed the camera, grabbed a picnic basket and headed for the fairgrounds.  At least we didn't feel too dumb, there were several other people there who didn't get the message either.

We spent most of our Fourth of July morning and afternoon working out in the garden planting and weeding and weeding and planting and working on the old Ford tractor that hasn't been run in more than two years.   After hooking the chain up to it and pulling it with the truck around the barn once or twice we were able to get it started and it ran really well.  The only problem with is it refuses to start back up once it's shut down so obviously we need to work on the starter a bit more but just the fact that ol' reliable started up at all and ran for any length of time was a wonderful thing. 

The garden itself is doing pretty well.  In the little garden we've attempted a "mostly" no till approach.  The only tilling we have done has been in the planted rows themselves and, considering the small size of this particular garden space, that has only been about six rows all told.  I can honestly say I don't think I'll take a no till approach next year but the garden has grown, we do have celery, chinese lettuce, peppers, broccoli, tomatoes, watermelon and corn popping up.  We even have a musk melon coming up that we didn't even try for.

Our summer flowers are starting to bloom. 

We finally have our chicken coop MOSTLY finished and our girls have been in their new home for about a week now.  They seem to really enjoy it.  We still have a few odds and ends to work on like their window and cutting out the door to their outside pen area and adding a couple more perches but overall it's done.    It's a nice change from the small, portable coop we did have.  This one is secure in the barn and should, hopefully, be much nicer for winter.  The girls seem to really enjoy it.

I think the only one who doesn't like the new coop is Miney the barn cat

He can watch the chickens in their new space but can't get at them, which he's just not real happy about.  :) 

Strawberries and more

Spring is easily one of the busiest times of the year for us, second only to fall.  In the spring we clean, we till,we fertilize, we plant, we fertilize a little more, we pull weeds, and pull weeds, and pull more weeds, we do a lot of the work on the buildings that we neglected to do over the winter and we wrap up our schooling on top of all that. 

This spring was particularly busy.  We ordered approximately 30 young trees to start our new orchard.  We spent a good portion of the beginning of spring planting all the new apple, peach, cherry and apricot trees we acquired, hopefully in about 2 years we will start to see the fruits of our labors.  Very exciting. 

This is one of the larger peach trees we planted.  It already had a few small peach buds on it but those have mostly shriveled away. 

The kids have been out foraging as of late, a past time we readily encourage but only after they have been taught what to look for and what to stay far away from by us adults.  They've been bringing in bountiful harvests of wild strawberries and mulberries and hopefully by the middle of next month they will be bringing us blackberries for pies and jam.  

 This is not one of the wild strawberries found on our property.  Those, although plentiful, were considerably smaller than this one.  This was, however, one of the excellent berries my mother-in-law picked for us from another local farmer.  Sooo good. 

This is one of the many blackberry bushes on our property.   The berries aren't quite ready yet, but they are getting there.  

We've been working hard in the garden as well although I don't have any pictures from the garden to share with you at the moment.  The corn is coming along nicely, so are the watermelons, tomatoes, peppers and herbs. This year's garden is much smaller, with far fewer crops than previous year's gardens because I had just given birth when it was time to start planting and, frankly, I just didn't have the energy to do a large garden this year.  Good thing we still have lots of canned and frozen veggies and fruit from last year.  

Another sure sign of spring around here....baby chicks.  We ordered 29 (of which we still have 25) baby chicks of various different breeds (all brown or colored egg layers) back in January so much of the last part of the winter was not only spent preparing for our new little human but also for our new baby chickens as well.  

 Aren't they cute?  We have a couple easter eggers in there, and some marans, rhode island reds, a delaware, a couple salmon favorelles, some welsummers and langshans among others. 

They are much bigger now than they were when this picture was taken and are currently residing in a much bigger "pen", right in the middle of my kitchen no less, until they are big enough to head out to the coop in the barn.   Speaking of, I think I need to refill their water container and give them some more feed.

So long for now. 

So Much to Talk About but so Little Time

Well, as you may have noticed, I've been offline for quite awhile.  That seems to happen to me at various points and I really do apologize for that but this time I have a good excuse, namely a brand new addition to the family in the form of a fairly small (albeit getting much bigger all the time) little baby boy. 

Yes this new little guy has kept me pretty busy.  He had me working well before he was born.  For this reason, I, the prodigal daughter, do not return to you empty handed.  I have pictures of many projects that I worked on over the last several months.  Check them out.

First up is the John Deere baby blanket that I made for the munchkin. 

 I made this out of a simple John Deere fabric panel that I found at JoAnns.  I picked up a matching blue and white polka dotted soft, flannel fabric for the backing.  I put right sides together, ran a simple straight stitch around the edges, leaving about a 1in. to 1 1/2 in. opening for turning it right side out.  Then I stitched the opening closed and there you have it, a simple, super cute farm fresh blanket. 


The next blanket was made for the munchkin by a wonderful friend of mine.  The fact that her blanket was also a John Deere blanket was a really rather amusing coincidence.  She had no idea that I had already made a similar blanket.  Great minds think alike, I guess ;) 

After I made the John Deere blanket I worked on a swaddle blanket.  I found a super cute owl patterned fabric and matched it with a really soft, green minky fabric.  This has been, hands down, the most useful thing I've made for this baby.   The pattern was incredibly easy and I will most definitely be making more of these.   The hat is a crochet owl pattern.  It worked up fast and I've gotten more compliments on it than you could believe.  Apparently there is something irresistible about babies in owl hats.  Who knew?

 The last bit is a simple baby sweater, knit in garter stitch and a pair of basic baby socks.  Very utilitarian, no?  Simple but necessary. 

Next up, a bit of knitted eye candy.  This blanket was a baby gift from my amazingly talented aunt.  Believe me, the picture does not do it justice.  It is such a beautiful blanket and so soft.  I absolutely love it.  She's got skills, my aunt.  

And the last is a crocheted blanket with a song bird applique and some appliqued music notes.  The blanket is easy.  Ch. 127, double crochet in the second chain from the hook and continue working double crochet stitches across the row.  Ch. 3. Turn. Double crochet the next row.  Just keep doing that for as many rows as you like until you get the length you want (I worked 62 rows) and then work a border of single crochet around all the edges.  Easy peasy, lemon squeezy.  The songbird pattern you can find here.   I worked the music notes a bit differently than in the pattern.  I simply tried to embroider them on, and I think they would have turned out nicely that way if it weren't for the fact that I was making this blanket during a thunderstorm and therefore I had to contend with a 55lb. dog/scaredy cat who was desperate to climb onto my head for safety.  

That's it for now but I have lots more coming up including new recipes, brand new baby chicks who should be arriving in the next few weeks, new garden happenings and, of course, many more crafts.  We'll have fun! 

Homemade Biscuit Mix

Food costs have been steadily increasing for the last several years and are expected to continue to go up, up and away.  With more and more families finding that their grocery bills are increasing $100, $200, sometimes even $300 a month without buying any more than they used too, many people are scrambling for ways to cut food costs.   Making at home and making in bulk is one way to do just that. 

A family of four will, on average, spend about $700-$900 a month on groceries.  A family of 6 will spend an average of $1,200 to $1,500 a month.   By homesteading (raising our own, growing our own, making our own, canning our own, and freezing our own) our family of five, soon to be six, spends an average of only $200 a month on groceries.  $1,000 to $1,300 less a month than most other families our size.  That's not including the costs we save on other items we make ourselves like soaps, detergents, clothes, even some furniture.  Even small steps towards a more self-sufficient lifestyle can be well worth it.  

So what's the homesteading tip for today?   Making your own biscuit mix!  Replace store bought mixes like Bisquick and Jiffy for a much more economical homemade mix.  The recipe I use makes biscuits, pancakes, waffles, muffins, some breads, cake and more all from one convenient mix that takes only a few minutes to prepare. 

What you'll need:

1. A large bowl
2. An air-tight container
3. All-purpose flour
4. Sugar
5. Non-fat, dry milk
6. Salt
7. Baking powder
8. Vegetable shortening
9. Sifter
10. A food processor or pastry cutter

The mix:
 Sift 6 cups of flour, 1 cup non-fat dry milk, 1/2 cup sugar, 1/4 cup baking powder, and 2 t. salt into the large bowl and stir to mix.

 Add 3/4 cup shortening and either grind in a food processor (my preferred way) or cut in with a pastry cutter until mixture looks like coarse crumbs.

 That's it.  Store it in an airtight container at room temperature or, even better yet, in the fridge for as long as it takes you to use it.  Simple. 


Some things make with it:

Biscuits:
Preheat oven to 425°.
Mix 2 c. biscuit mix with 1/2 c. water.  Stir well.  Turn onto floured surface and knead just a few times.  Roll or pat to desired thickness (I generally use about 1/2 in.)  and cut with a biscuit cutter or lightly floured glass.   Bake on an ungreased cookie sheet 12-14 minutes or until lightly browned. 

Pancakes:
1 c. biscuit mix
1/2-2/3 c. water
1 egg
1 T. vegetable oil

Beat together egg and water.  Stir together egg/water mixture, biscuit mix and oil just until moistened.  Cook on a hot griddle.   Makes 18 3-inch pancakes. 

Waffles:
2 c. biscuit mix
2 eggs
2 T. vegetable oil
1 1/4 c. water

Mix the same as for pancakes.  Cook in hot waffle iron.

Oat Muffins:
1 c. biscuit mix
1/2 c. rolled oats
2 T. sugar
1/3 c. raisins
1 egg, beaten
1/2 c. water
2 T. melted butter, margarine or vegetable oil

Preheat oven to 350°.  Combine dry ingredients and raisins in a bowl.  Combine egg, water, and oil in another bowl and then stir into dry ingredients until just moistened.  Spoon into 6 well-greased muffin cups.  Bake for about 25 minutes.  Makes 6 large muffins.

Raisin Cinnamon Bread:
3 c. biscuit mix
1/4 c. sugar
1 1/2 t. cinnamon
2 t. grated lemon rind
1 1/4 c. raisins
1 egg
1 c. water
2 T. melted butter, margarine or vegetable oil

Preheat oven to 325°.  Combine biscuit mix, sugar, cinnamon, lemon rind and raisins in a bowl.  Combine egg, water and butter and stir into dry ingredients.  Beat on medium speed for 30 seconds.   Turn into well greased 9" x 5" loaf pan.  Bake for about 1 hour and 15 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Turn onto a rack to cool. 

Quick and easy cake:
1 1/3 c. biscuit mix
3/4 c. sugar
1 egg
1/2 c. water
1 1/2 t. vanilla

Preheat oven to 350°. Combine dry ingredients in a bowl.  Combine egg, water and vanilla.  Stir 1/2 of liquid mixture into dry ingredients; beat on medium speed for 1 minute.  Stir in rest of liquid mixture and beat 1 minute longer.  Turn into greased and floured 8 in. cake pan.  Bake for 25 minutes or until done.  Allow to cool before frosting. 

Goodbye 2012

The last year was interesting to say the least.  Nationally we watched the economy dip and turn on it's own roller coaster ride.  We paid $4 or more a gallon for gas at times (I can still remember my parents complaining for paying nearly $.75 a gallon in the late 80's, early 90's).  We saw turmoil in  Europe and the Middle East.  We dug deeper into our pocket books to pay for groceries and healthcare premiums.  We suffered through a crazy election cycle and we are, if we're smart, bracing ourselves for dramatically increasing costs in every area from healthcare to groceries to buying a car.   We also cheered for our athletes in the 2012 Olympics, lost our beloved Twinkies, and saw communities pull together in the aftermath of a hurricane. 

Here at home we suffered through droughts and storms.  Some harvests were bumper crops, others offered almost no yields at all.  We made a major move.  We spent warm days outside on the porch swing.  We received help from family and friends and we gave help to family and friends.  We started to new construction, we welcomed new life, we hunkered down and we held our heads up.   It's crazy how much can happen in one year.   As far as quality goes, 2012 wasn't a terrible year.  I've seen much worse but I've also seen much better.  My New's Year's resolution this year are to do everything I can personally to make sure 2013 is spectacular.  I hope to head to church more, spend less, work even harder to show my family how much they mean to me and spend more time on things I really like to do.  

God Bless, everyone.  Have a wonderful New Year!