Pioneer Woman at Heart

One Flourishing, Frugal and Fun Family!

One family learning to live off the land, cut back on expenses, and to live a simpler and a more self-sufficient lifestyle.

Adopted Motto

"Eat it up,
Wear it out,
Make it do,
Or go without."
~A Pioneer Sampler, by Barbara Greenwood~

Showing posts with label Horses. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Horses. Show all posts

Monday, March 4, 2013

Writing and Therapy

This pen, another one from my collection, is great for writing.  It's a "Wellness" pen.  It even has it written on the pen.

The ink contains a fragrance that is pleasant and said to create a "wellness" overall feeling, when you write. 

....there has been a lot of writing going on in this home lately.   Two of us in particular.

Money.  Have too much, and it can get out of control and cause you to lose focus.  Don't have enough, and it forces you to make unwanted, aching sacrifices.

  To feel so powerless to prevent certain things from happening, can be a tremendously emotional roller coaster.  Especially when it involves your own children.

It becomes extraordinarily stressful and very overwhelming. 


Helplessness shattering sense that nothing will be the same.  Headaches, heartaches, stomach pains.  Asking God why did it have to be this way.......

Parenting is enormously complicated, and raw.

......more later.
 

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Homestead Tidbits


It looks like I will need to do some baking with some ripe bananas, as the kids are not eating them up lately.  We are all still battling the "crud" and wish it to be gone today.

We have some work to get done, and have taken inventory on the new goat stalls.  We've got some plans with the goats too.  

Blondie remains to be cantankerous.  She loves her grass and will do anything to get at it.  Including breaking her wire fencing.  We have some plans to work on that too.  We may be in a bit of a situation with her too.  I'll have more on that as we contact the vet.

Saturday, February 9, 2013

Interesting book ~ Oldest Daughter Turns 19 ~ Lymph Node Update

Dirt-Cheap Survival Retreat, One Man's Solution, written by M.D. Creekmore.

This book is not written as a "how-to" for readers, but more about sharing one man's experience and tips on what worked for him, and what didn't.  He shares his tips (and suggestions) on smart storage, stocking up, preparedness, and self-sufficiency.


Today, is my oldest daughter's birthday - 19 years ago, she was born, and weighed 10 lbs. All but one of my kiddos weighed 10 lbs. or more.  The doctor's nurses used to joke to me, and ask if I knew the difference between eating a pumpkin and an apple.  For some reason, God gave me big babies.

Anyway, she's still sleeping, so I hope to share some photos of her birthday, later tomorrow.   Her horse's birthday is this month too. 

I am slowly recovering from this "crud" that I caught.  The good news is, that my lymph node in the back of my neck, has returned to normal.  It only took 6 months, but thank goodness it is normal again.  I noticed that when I was drinking the homemade ginger ale, that it was shrinking faster than with anything else I was doing.  Then when I started drinking the hot ginger tea (also homemade), it started to shrink even faster.  I'm not a doctor, but for me, this experience worked.   

Today, hubby is not working.  Yay!  He's been working so many overtime hours, I haven't seen him much.  Today he has plans to work on the van that we need to sell, repair a door knob, and other things around here. 

Peanut (goat) seems to be feeling better thankfully, but now Blondie's (horse) foot is swelling up again.  

Friday, February 8, 2013

Homestead Tidbits

The two older girls saddled Blondie for some exercise.  Here is my 16 year-old, giving Blondie a head rub.  You can tell she is loving every minute of it.

Since Blondie is still not up to weight, my 16 year-old daughter rode her (lightest one in the house).  Blondie seemed to love her walk around the property, and Misty (left) seems to be intrigued about the new arrival on the farm.

I had to laugh at a comment my oldest daughter made.  She said that Blondie was staring at the towels on the line, and was probably trying to figure out what it was.  She said it was almost as if Blondie was warning the towels they better not try and steal her food. Ha ha ha ha!  Blondie has never see clothing drying on a clothesline before.

Peanut, one of the pregnant lamancha goats has a cold.  Thankfully, we have organic peppermint oil on hand, and it made a world of different for her.  She wouldn't come out of the barn until my daughter went out with the oil.  About a half hour after that, she was out sitting in the sun and breathing better.

I'm up to see the kids off to school, and then it's back to bed.  I got about 30 minutes of sleep.  I could not breath through my nose, and breathing through my mouth was no fun.  I drank about 1/2 gallon of water, and could not get rest at all.  No matter what I tried, I could not clear my nasal airways.  So frustratingMy eyes are so swollen they hurt.  It's raining here this morning and warmer.

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Baking in Cast Iron ~ Naughty Horse

Baking continues - Irish Soda Bread (Before)

 Cooling....

Isn't it beautiful? Yum! 

I used a recipe I found on the internet, but used ricotta cheese in place of sour cream, and cut the 3 cups of raisins down to 2 cups.  I also baked it in a 12 inch cast iron pan vs. a 9 inch (didn't have one).  I just reduced the heat by 25 degrees about half way through the baking process.  The ricotta worked as well as the sour cream.  What can I say, part of our motto is "use it up."

Last night I woke coughed and coughed.  This morning I woke to a sore throat.  I am very low on honey so I cannot try the cough syrup Candy mentioned.  I hope to restock this weekend.   Two more girls are feeling ill now. 

Yesterday, while I was checking the soup on the crock pot, I looked out the window to see Blondie (my daughter's horse) with her head completely over the fence, eating the grass on the outside.  Hmpf.  I ran out and threw her some hay on the other side, to keep her mind off the grass out there.  She knows the fence is not electric.

Then when the three younger ones arrived, Blondie was doing it again.  So, out went my second oldest daughter, and got her head back in the fence.

Only a few minutes later, that daughter was back in, and my oldest was driving in the driveway.  In that short time, she (Blondie) go caught up in the fence and had her blanket half way down.  My son and I already straightened her blanket once in the morning.  She's been rolling in it already too.

Thankfully, the weather is warmer, and her blanket is off, but my oldest daughter had to fix the fence.  Naughty horse.   







Thursday, January 24, 2013

Kid Funny ~ More Frozen Pipes

"You'll all need to go get a jug of sink water in the other bathroom to brush your teeth," I told the kids since the pipes were froze (again).

"Be careful for what you wish for," said my 11 year-old daughter.  "Yesterday I was just saying that I wanted to go camping.  I feel like we're camping."





Blondie finally got a nicely warm turn out blanket, to cover her.  Golly, I'm so thankful for that.  She's looking better and better every day, and even the hair around her neck appears healthier and thicker.  Her foot seems to be getting better also.

I'm praying that the water pipes do not have any damage during this cold spell.  They seem to warm up later in the evening, but I still worry when the water starts to flow again.  Say a little prayer we don't have damage.
  

While my oldest daughter was shoveling frozen horse poo, her dog Sadie was having a blast playing with the ice that was knocked out of the buckets.  Silly dog.  
 

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Up Early ~ Frozen Pipes ~ Handmade Hay Net ~ A Prescripton for Myself

Cell phones were ringing early this morning.  Both between 4am and 5:30am.  Hubby was called in to work, and the school called.  With temperatures at -12°F, the school is currently delayed for 2 hours.  I am praying all the outside animals stayed warm enough last night.  The barn cats did not come to the door, so I am sure they found a warm corner in the barn.

Our water pipes froze last night, which was to be expected, so last night I warned the kids to fill all the water jugs for the animals, and of course flushing toilets.  At 7am, we got cold water, but hot water pipes were still frozen.
 

Yesterday I made a hay net for Blondie.  The drawstring is a bit too short, but she ate all the hay in it.  I'll be posting a photo on my S.C.R.A.P. blog later.



...this is what I prescribed to myself today, along with a hot up of tea.

I love Leslie Meier mystery novels.   Lucy Stone, married with two kids, is a newspaper reporter in Tinker's Cove.  My kind of book.  If you haven't read the Lucy Stone series, you should.  

Monday, January 21, 2013

Bringing Her Horse Home



If our life isn't interesting enough, it just got even more.  We don't make this stuff up....


Meet Bombshell Blondie.  She's my daughter's horse.  We suddenly needed a place for her.

The people that were leasing her just up and disappeared, and stopped paying her boarding.  My daughter has been unable to reach these people also.  We are told that both the woman and her husband had lost their jobs.  However, I am upset that they handled it this way, by simply leaving and cutting off all communication.  Once I was told, hubby and I scrambled to figure out how to get her here.  It was our only solution, as we could not pay her boarding as well.
  

With a make-shift stall in one of the barns (a barn that is in the best condition), and a temporary fencing area, a free trailer trip to bring her, a free bag of horse feed, we succeeded.

Unfortunately, she is up for sale.  My daughter had not been able to find a job and is attending college.   I hate to see her have to sell her, but that is her choice.  The horse came to us very underweight, and is very happy to have grass.  By nightfall, she appeared to be much happier.  If she doesn't sell, and we are able to keep her, Blondie will get a new lean-to and a larger pasture.

Just say a prayer that she loves her stall and fencing area enough, to not try and leave it.  I don't want to be chasing a Thoroughbred around.  And I don't need her crossing the 2-lane highway we live on either.  


My daughter, and a good friend of hers, put together a very quick blanket - one fleece blanket underneath, and leftover fleece from one of my sewing projects on top, and twine.  It worked out perfect until we can get her a good blanket.    Thankfully, we are not having snow and rain.  Yesterday it was very cold - wind chill at 11°F. 

As a child living in the city, my parents owned two horses.  Since then, I've been on one or two, but I do not have the good knowledge of caring for a horse.  Thankfully, my daughter does.  I already learned a lot in one day.
 

Sunday, January 20, 2013

Surprise Delivery ~ Busy Saturday


In my hustle and bustle of daily duties, including the terrible habit I have of worrying, a delivery arrived to my door.
A very special delivery.

A beautiful bouquet of  flowers, that were arranged in a beautiful vase.  

Smelling and seeing them is just the prescription I needed for stress. 

They came from my sister-in-law, who sent me a very inspiring note, regarding her enjoyment of reading my blog.

Saturday was a busy day around here too.  

The girls started their day by working on the horse fencing and building a make-shift stall with what ever they could reuse.  I had to make a trip to town for horse feed, wood pellets and pick up something at my brother's.  Then it was back home to unload the second truck load of wood.  I still haven't been feeling good, but the elderberry is definitely helping.

While unloading the second load of wood, I ran inside to fetch my camera.  We've been having some beautiful sunsets here recently.  

It was then, that I saw all my laundry on the line, and had to run out and get it all down in the dark.  It was nice to come inside and find the turkey in the roaster ready to eat.   Boy were we all hungry. 

The horse fencing and stable were completed and her horse is to arrive Sunday.
 

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Pumpkins, Carrots and A Horse

While I was out taking laundry down, I thought I better double check the garden.  It's been raining here and everything is a soggy mess.

I pulled on my mucking boots, and slushed out to the back squash garden.  I found a few more pumpkins, and believe it or not, 3 carrots.  I thought for sure I pulled all of them.

I washed off those tasty carrots and blessed Peanut (our goat in milk) a treat.  She gobbled them down.  The younger goats are not interested in that type of food just yet, but our goat in milk, and our billy goat, love veggies.

I roasted several of the pie pumpkins, pureed them and they have blessed the freezer "pantry" now.  I can take out what I need for future baking.
Tiger, came right out to the kitchen when I sliced the first pumpkin.  I think he can smell squash a mile away.  We gave him the nickname "squash boy."  He looooves veggies, especially squash.  He's nibbling on some pumpkin in the photo.

The freezer was blessed with 12 1/2 cups of pureed pumpkin.  I appreciate my pumpkin a lot more now.  It's now easy cutting all of them, cutting out the seeds, roasting, skinning and then making puree.  It took all morning, and in between the roasting time, I was able to do a bit of bathroom cleaning.  Phew!  Now if I can just get my writing done.



The pantry was also blessed with a 1/2 pint jar full of dried rosemary, and about 1/4 cup of dried oregano.  With all this rain, I was able to cut several more stalks of rosemary to dry.  I may even cut some more thyme and oregano today.

Now for the horse part of the post.  Last night my daughter went to the stable.  She arrived right when her horse was having a "small episode of colic" and I had no clue what it was.  Later I found out, and it's a very bad thing to happen to a horse, considering they can not throw up.  Ugh. We found out the stable has sand, and sand can't be digested.  

Luckily, with my daughter's timing, and some medication, the horse is okay.  Phew!  There are so many things I have yet to learn.

Friday, September 16, 2011

Poisonous to Horses

I am so glad we are boarding Blondie at a stable right now, so that we can research the plants on the property (and get the fencing in place).

I am finding plants that can hurt horses, and we need to remove them.  Here are some of the poisonous plants that we found here (I have milkweed growing along the creek and isn't near where the horse will go, or the goats):


and Dogbane (no photo yet).  I guess we have some work to do.

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Newest Addition To The Farm

Meet Bombshell Blondie.  She's being boarded very close to home, but will soon be here after the fencing is ready.

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

It's Official


My oldest daughter got hired by a local area food chain.  She is now saving her paycheck to buy this beautiful horse named Bombshell Blondie.  She is tossing around the idea of starting her own blog, to write her journey in horse care, horse riding, and her overall love for horses.



And she will probably include her love for her dog Sadie.
I'll post her blog link, once she gets it started.

Here it is:  A HORSE OF HER OWN