Porch Time ~ Work Time

Porch time was a bit cooler yesterday, but I had it no less. I honestly wanted one last moment out there before we put furniture away for winter (which is today).   I had most of my chores done, but decided to sneak it in early.  Just in case.

I wasn't sure what dinner time would bring, and I did not want to miss out on "5 minutes for me."

It was another good day to

Winter Prep Continues

It might take us much longer than most, but somehow we get most (or all) of our winter prep done.  Although, I'll admit, panic is creeping in, as time passes by.  

We have to remove the brush from the tree, and cut the remaining of it down, before we can set up our snow fence.  This weekend Hubby is hauling our second oldest daughter's car home for an all day Saturday repair.  That leaves our work undone.  I'm afraid the brush will be frozen to the ground come Sunday morning.

....from the homesteading journal

. . . harvested more kale and froze some.

Mini Retreat ~ Back to Reality World

Hubby surprised me and whisked me away over the weekend.  Even though he was feeling under the weather prior to the weekend, he took us away for that much needed (balance) time we need alone by ourselves.

I gave up my computer over the weekend, and wrote with pen and paper.  Which was a challenge, considering I wrote in the care with Hubby driving.  I hope I can read my hand writing today.  It will be a  challenge in itself to get caught back up.

Upon returning, we plunged directly into reality world.  No time to sip wine on the porch, or lounge around and read books either.  We dove right back in whether we wanted to or not.

Rain and Drizzle

Not much going on in the way of gettin' things done for winter here.  Although wood stoves are getting looked at.  We now have a bag of cherry pits to try in our pellet stove, and see how those heat this winter.

It's been raining and mostly drizzle in our parts.  The wind arrived in full force, which I am happy to see, as it will dry out the ground and the porch furniture I need to put away yet.

Chicken feed in my hair and other homestead moments. . .

No photos for this tidbit, but you might get a laugh.  It was raining and pretty dark out.  I headed out to open the barn doors and let some light in on the ladies and Sparta.  It was still raining and too early to let them out and about, so I

Testing the new... Tidbits

I filled my new dehydrator with organic dandelion greens.  I still want to put more in the freezer, but I will be utilizing the dried greens too.  They dried faster than in the old dehydrator too.

The dried greens will be used for dog food, to make tea, to add to any dish we eat, to make dandelion vinegar, and other herbal mixtures.  I won't have to buy dandelion tea any more now.  Oh, I can use the dandelion for poultices too.

Happy Homemaker Monday

It's already a very busy Monday.  I'm joining Diary of a Stay at Home Mom today.

The weather . . .
Cool, sunny and delightful.

Weekend Update

Sunday I had "back up" plans in case the tree service guy (aka Hubby) had another "interruption."  My first job was to put more kale up, then tackle putting zinnia seeds in packets.

Saturday Scraps

I'm up early although against my will.  Now that I am dog care taker number one, I have dog duty.  Most days he curls up with me, but today, he was up and begging to go out.  So up I am.

I haven't have enough coffee yet, and already deleted a comment accidentally.  I hope that isn't a sign of how my day will be today, ha ha!

Yesterday I put up the last of the dandelion greens into the freezer.  I was afraid they would go bad before my dehydrator arrived.  And like all things you try to plan, my dehydrator arrived after I froze the last of the greens.

Dandelion Greens for Dogs ~ Crocheted Cowls ~ Writing Update

I picked up more dandelion greens on my trip to town delivering meals to Dad.  With my dehydrator due to arrive any day now, I plan to dehydrate some for Jesse.  The one dog remaining from the original pack of ours.

He has tumors, and some were removed, but are growing back.  They are "fatty" tumors, but with that in mind, I'm drying dandelion, to sprinkle over his food (1 tsp. per every 20 lbs. of weight).  

His dog treats are made with kale, so he's getting more vitamins and nutrients that way as well.

Plantain Healing Salve ~ Homemade "Neosporin"

Remember the herbal oil I was heating in the sun for a plantain/comfrey salve?

Well, it's done, and I melted beeswax with it and wa-la!  Homemade "Neosporin." 

I washed a few lip balm containers, and some recycled baby food jars to store it in.

Random Tidbits ~ Dandelion Greens

Not sure how many interesting posts you will be blessed with this month.  After cranking out 3400 words yesterday (bringing my total word count to 5200), I literally ran to the porch to get some "me time" in, but did not even get there until 5:45pm,  Dinner was spaghetti and meatballs, and I had to make a fresh batch of meatballs, so time was of the essence. 

Detox and Recovery

Yesterday, Hubby and I got early morning porch/coffee time, before he headed out to fix Daughter's car.  I ended up having evening porch time with a book (yay!).  The good news, is the car is fixed, but she missed class today.  She'll get to drive back today.  That way I can still have my own car this week.

Party is not over yet ~ House is a Rockin'

You all may have to check on me in the morning......the house is still rockin' at 10am today.  I did sneak out to the porch for my coffee and sunrise, but slowly they woke up.  They devoured the mini caramel apples I made.

Egg on the Porch ~ Fun Happenings

Despite being the weekend I was up pretty early.  It's hard to sleep in when a cat is demanding food by sitting backwards in my bed, and flapping his tail on my face.  He's not even my cat per-say.  His master is Youngest, but he spends most of his time with me. And of course, barn kitty Timmy was at the door pawing to me for food too.  I just love that cat.  He is so loving.

The sun was shining when I let the chickens run free yesterday, but clouds quickly took over.  I'm not ready to see less and less of the sun, but I enjoyed what we did get yesterday.

I let the chickens out of their run yesterday, to have free roam of the homestead.  They typically huddle in their favorite mud bath dirt hole, or under their favorite tree.  Not yesterday.  They were everywhere, and it was quite nice to see them from every window of the house.  

I had to laugh at this.  I walked past the side door and saw few hens run off the side porch.  When one lady got up, there was an egg under her.  HA!  It was warm, so she must have been sitting there for a while and I didn't know it.  Just something funny to share.  Oh, and they didn't just leave me an egg, you can see they left chicken poo on the porch too.

Garden ~ Random Friday Tidbits

My home grown kale is still producing.  This is has been the most impressive year for kale, despite the rest of the garden.

 I brought in a large pot of kale and had enough to blanch and freeze for one meal, and fill the dehydrator with the rest.

Campfire Enchilladas

We made these the other day, and that is not my homemade tortilla in the photo (sadly).  I had purchased food supplies to go camping, so we ended up making "camper" meals this week instead (minus the camping).

Freezing Mashed Sweet Potatoes

The grocer had organic sweet potatoes in stock, so I took advantage and brought some home.  I'm freezing them for winter meals.

Yesterday, I baked several, then allowed them to cool completely.   I added a bit of water and organic broth to the pan.  I pierced each sweet potato a few times before placing in the covered pan.

Random Monday

I spent a day reading and completely writing exercises on Sunday, and realize that every book that was recommended is not available at the library.   Although, I started reading two books that I've had on my shelf, I felt I had wasted away the day. 

I was already in a sour mood by Sunday morning.  We should have never cancelled our camping trip.  The rain and wind was nothing like the forecast stated.  And Sunday, the only thing to deal with was the cooler temperature.  Three of us badly wanted a retreat to get away from everything.  One was our college daughter, who was sad we cancelled it in the first place.

Dehydrator Dog Treats

I shared this recipe once before, and since I was dehydrating more of our home grown kale, I'm sharing again.

First, you will need to cook the rice, and dehydrate kale and Parmesan cheese (see note) to make them.  Once you have these dried, you will then have them on hand to make the treats.

Cancelled Trip ~ Rain ~ Barn Wood Shelf ~ Tidbits

We booked our last camping trip for this weekend, but had to cancel it yesterday.  Why?  Rain and wind.  We've camped in rain before, but this time the weatherman predicts we'll get over 2 inches of rain on Saturday alone.

It is to start raining tonight, and it rained yesterday.  The temperature is nice, but cooking would be an issue.  We don't have an RV, with a full kitchen inside.  We cook all meals outside the camper (which I prefer).  When the wind is in bad, we can't put our awning out to cover the gas stove either.

Don't be shocked, but.... ~ Tidbits

I actually spent half a day on a project for myself.  Seriously I did!  One of Hubby's sisters went to the hospital and Hubby was called to go at 3:00am.  She is okay, and resting from the last update I got.

However, he was so tired, he came home from work early and slept.  I could not make any noise, so I opted to crochet for once.  Ha!  Felt good too.
 
 What did I make?


 

 

A pair of crocheted boot cuffs for one of my pairs of boots.

'Tis the time for ear muffs and boot cuffs, so I got out a pattern book that I've been wanting to try for a few years now.  There is a pattern to make a matching ear muff for the cuffs I crocheted too.  However, I ran out of the yarn I was using.  A trip to town is on the agenda sometime soon.  I used "off white" instead of "aran" yarn for this.

Now the girls have eye-spied the cuffs and want a pair.  I told them to tell me their color and Santa would gladly give them a pair for Christmas.

Update:  I am sorry to get this posted so late, but here is the book the boot cuff pattern is located it:

 (Front)

(Back)

Freezing Mashed Potatoes

Our grocer sometimes sells organic russet or red potatoes.  This week they has russet on sale for $1.99/3 lb. bag.

Although the grocer gal checking me out, insisted that staff on the TV show The Chew,  verified freezing mashed potatoes was not worth it (nor freezing any potato in any form).  I am doing it anyway, and hope they are wrong.

Our home grown supply has dwindled to about nothing, so this is my last resort to stock up potatoes.  Other than dehydrating, which I know works.

Random as ever....

Despite a frost, I have a few roses blooming.  The zinnias are pretty much done for the season, so those will be pulled before the snow arrives.  I have some work to do in the kitchen today, but the weather has warmed up enough for "porch time." 

Winter Prep Continues ~ Random Tidibits

Good morning world!

Starting the day a little slower today.  Good Morning Coffee!


These past few days have been exciting around here.  The colder weather is getting me inspired to write a list of projects to do this winter.  Fun ones.  Like read a book.

Homemade Gift Ideas for the Holidays

I went back through my blog recently, and compiled a post today to share many handmade gifts I made over the years.  Hopefully, you will find an idea here, or have one to share.

What I gifted in 2015:  Christmas 2015

Handmade Hand Lotion (they loved this!)  I ended up putting it in 4 oz. canning jars to gift.  I do suggest adding the preservative for gifting too.

Puttin' Up Herbs ~ Handiwork Tidbits

Rosemary and sage filled these two drying racks.

Door Decor ~ Tidbits

The changing of the wreath.

I finally took down my bright, floral door wreath, and put up my fall/winter apple wreath.  I've had this wreath for over 10 years and it still looks nice.  It covers the fall and winter seasons.