Pioneer Woman at Heart

. . . ordered 30 white ro cks (for meat) and 6 more barred ro ck s (layers). . . . my d aughter finished the gate on t he goat's "birthing" stall , and sold both bucklings already. . . . put the seed p otatoes in a single la y er in fron t of the corn/pe llet burn er to encour age the eyes to produce sooner.   . . .Hubby picked up 1 1/2 tons of stone (cost us $20.00) to upgrade the driveway.  He also had a neighbor drag the driveway (pulling a piece of equipment behind his tractor) to smooth out all the dips made over winter. . . .fin ish ing painting the kitchen cupboards (yahooooo !) today.  W e just need to install knobs on t he upper cab inets. . . .started the p rocess to locate someone , and t ear down one barn . . . . my 16 year-old daughter made a batch of go at's milk soa p yesterday . . . .put up Hubby's nephew 's camper a nd made re pairs on t he doo r and table, so it can be put up for sale . . . .gave away our kids (wooden fr...

(the photo in the magazine article makes this appear more red than mine turned out) I found this recipe ( our snack) in the December 20 12 issue of Health Mag azine .  However, they also have it on-line , so I don't have to type out the recipe:  Red-Lentil Hummus. Hubby and I love hummus made from chickpeas and wanted to try this one.  I finally made it.  I could n ot find red lentils in our stores h ere, so it was another item we picked up on one of our weekend trips ( it was sold bulk in a Nature store). I am sure you can buy them on -line as well, but it sure helps when you can buy your ingredients locally. Aside from that, this recipe is very good.  Give it a try if you like hummus, and i f you want to add more lentils to your die t.   Note: After chilling this, t he color was a teensy bit more red. My fam ily (those that enjoy hummus) raved over this recipe.  They enjoy ed it more than my regular hummus recipe that uses chickp...

Although I've had a strenuous week, and had goat du ties to cover my d aughter's absence, I got the chan ce to hold and kiss the cutesome twosome ( my n ame for the twin buck lings). I pampered myself with fresh roses and t ulips. Today is the last day for Drive r's ed. classes, and the first day of spring break (f or the younger ones).  The younger two gir ls have already bombarded me with sleepover runs, and so forth.      Sharing a update on "Dark Days Challeng e" Break fast has been farm fresh eggs, along with homemade whole wheat bread we bought, topped with hormone free (locally ma de) butter, and my home canned jams/jellies.     This is the easiest recipes I have come up wi th.  Last summer we were gifted ho me canned Pepper Mustar d Sa uce.  I was told it would be delicous over meatballs.  However, I simply placed orga nic chicken tend erloins in the crock, the n topped it with a jar of sauce.  Wa...

(reversible, and handmade) As promised to some folks, here is the photo of the clothespin apron I purchased for $1.50.  I found it at a thrift store, when I was really not looking for anything in particular.  I love it when I find useable thrift items.  I just have to keep the shopping prudent.

"Please tell you are not buyi ng that!" I scolded hubby. " A guy at work is letting us give it a try .  That's all." "Right!" I scolded in non-agreement. "His kids are all in college and don't even use it anymore ," he tried to coa x me even more." Two days go b y. "I thought you were just trying it out ? I asked with eyes squinted . Next thin g I know , Hubby is out in that go kart and spin ning wheels, with dirt all over his backside .  He comes back inside smiling . "Uh, Honey? Can you wash this ? " he ask s. (big long sigh from me ) Another day goes by. The k ids have been drivin g it all over the farm. "Mom , if you were driving it around when the bus pulls in, you'd be the coolest Mom ever!" exclaimed my 19 year -old daughter.            

Now this is how you get your laundry dried!  W ow zers!  Check out that clothesline!  Hubby and I laugh ed !  I need one that big !  H ubby and I took a nother road trip, but this one was for heirloom see ds, seed potatoes, and onion sets.    We d ecided to do some re la xing , s c enic driving be fore we returned home. Speaking of home .  This is w hat we wok e to this Monday mo rning.   The re is about a three foot dri ft in the center of our ho rseshoe drive.  I am so glad we got the goats moved o ut of the big bar n .  I never expec ted more snow.  Snow is expected all day today, and s chool is closed.   

Peanut gave birth to twin boys a week early.  It was a surprise to us all.  Go to my daughter's blog to see more photos of the little guys:  Life as A Teen Farmgirl

W ri ting i s one of my passions.  It's also how I help support our income . I successfully wrote a nar rative essay as an exercise ye sterda y .  That was after two days o f writer's block.    I am back to writing daily.  It really means a lot to me.  As a child, I fell in love with writing poems and still have many of them.  However, today, l do not writ e poetry.  For now anyway. I follow a few blogs , re garding writing for a living , more encouragement , motivation, and tips . In following Rachelle Gardner's blog, she adds statements to "tweet."  Since I do not "tweet" I am reposting one on my blog today: “The first key to making a living as a writer is VOLUME." So, today I plan to in crease my "volume." Over t he last 5-7 years, I have let many distractions pull me away from writing.  It's very easy to do, when you have a large (blended) family.  It's not all peaches an d cream.  It's also p...

I am so happy they we have fresh goat's milk , as part of our self-sufficiency , and health reasons. T he gover nment just can't stop messing with milk th ese days.  Read here:  Fl avored Milk . . .  just passing this along for anyone interest ed.  " Diet" Milk? Ugh.

It's been a while since I po sted anything regarding the Dark Days Challenge.  Ye sterday, breakfast was fresh farm eg gs, and organic wa ffles . Dinner was a past a dish using my home canned tomato sauce, f rozen (gard en) green peppers and dehydrated mushrooms .  My home canned, organic apple sauce is a wond erful side for breakfast, lunch or dinner (or for baking too). Thi s week I have had a hankering for iced tea .  I have been making a gallon almost every day.  Mmmm!   Today, I will be scra mbling up 2 dozen eggs, and adding onion and green pep pers (from last year's garden), and adding frozen spinach.  This makes it easy for hubby to grab a quick breakfast bu rri to before he goes to work. Evening , wind dow n time, usually involve s hot tea .  I purchased organic, loose le af tea from a small (privately owned) local business.  

As you can tell by my blog po st title, there are two of us who dread this week and next - driver's education classes. 

W e ran into "s nags" with the goat fencing.  We could not drive t-posts , due to cement around the found ation, so we nailed up 2 x4 's against the barn and then ran the fencing out.  However, once we started getting on a "roll" we ran into needing another tool . My 16 year-old finished put ting up some last boards, to keep the stalls baby s afe, and started moving her supplies last night.  She finally finished about 9:00pm.   Do you see that little gal on the outside of the pen?  That little escape artist got throug h the boards.  My daughter had to go back out after dinner, and put metal f encing all around the stall.  We still need to board up the "birthing " stall that is on t he very right, and then the outside (temporary) fencing (back of the stall).  Thank goodness the barn has a small a nimal door that slides , that we took advantage of, and the fencing will be direct ly on the outside of that door. After that we have a ...

It's Sunday and we already have a busy "work" day (I detest work on Sunday, but this "stuff" must get done ....once and for all). Have you ever had a job that needed to be completed, and it just kept dragging out ?  And out?  And out?  And you never thought it would get finished ? The goat stalls , in the other barn, are on e of those jobs. Every time there is a day to work..... something is needed, something breaks, or the drill battery dies.  Or there is some kind of interrup tion that stalls the job.  And then there is the weather. Today is the day, I want this job finished .  Say a prayer .  We still have to move temp or ary fencing, buil d new fencing, and so f orth.   The reality of self-sufficiency , is that it takes investment .  Including time.     We don't have hired hands, and hubby works out side the home full-time.   And the other reality is, is that I have very little time, even as a stay-at-home Mom...

(my snack while cleaning yesterday...a girl has to have her chocolate) I'm not one to "blog ho p " or the like, but I found the most recent post o n Hennings en Happenings a fun one.  Here's mine: Wha t are you. . . Listening to :  the rabbit shake his watering unit , and my oldest daughter's cell phone v ibrate (she should know tha t her alarm won't wake her up that way) .  Not exciting information I know. Eating : Noth ing at the mo ment , but just ate two farm fresh eggs over easy for breakfast. Watching :  Hubby and I are in the 6 th e p is ode of 8, o f McLeod's Daughters. Reading : Nake d, Drunk,and Writing (see?  It really is a book) Making :  Another dishcloth and more rag rugs. Planning : What chickens to buy soon, what cool weather veg etables to p lant , and what ch eeses to make this year.  What to build to house our meat chic kens.  New item ideas for Farmer's Market and what da tes to attend. Doing :...