This is what happens to homemade bread when the baby opens the door during the baking process
Twas yummy lathered with homemade honey butter too!
Then there was the homemade laundry detergent....... It's been 6 months since we've made laundry detergent. 3.00 goes a L-O-N-G way in homemade! Yes that's .50 per month! Amazing......
And then - the homemade veggies from the garden......
We harvested three days worth of lettuce, 1 radish, and 3 green peppers. Last nights salad was YUMMY!
One of my favorite 'down-time' activities is to blog search and see what others are doing that's homemade. There's something so fulfilling about making instead of buying.......
This morning I woke up, stumbled into the kitchen and began preparing the morning coffee. It was 5:30. Then I focused my attention on what to serve hubby for breakfast..... The chickens gave us two fresh eggs, so I grilled up some toast and scrambled the eggs for hubby. And during the dutiful event my mind was processing....processing.
The first round of thoughts began by way of a verse:
"She gets up while it is still dark; she provides food for her family...." That was a comforting thought considering what was taking place in my kitchen.
After that the thoughts continued on..... comparing recent events and happenings with scripture and God's view of things. "If a man does not work, he does not eat..." was another. And I thought of how easily we become dependent on people, our sights off the Lord, and become slaves....
"Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?"
So here's the deal. The 'guvment' don't take care of me and mine. Reason being, I'm not looking to 'the man' for provision. I'm looking to God and the way I see it he's doing a mighty fine job. Gary and I have seen some hard times. We've been there done that. We made lots of mistakes and LEARNED from them. Our parents never instilled in us the ethic of take what you can. My mother worked HARD. She was a single mother that supported me on her own and NEVER took a government handout to help. I was not blessed with free medical or dental, but then again I was never cursed blessed with a mentality that would handicap me for the rest of my life.
Things were different in days gone by. Families took care of each other. Grandparents lived debt free, instilled the same values into their children, and everyone lived well by obeying the rules of the Bible. Granny would have 10 or 12 children to help take care of her and even in her old age lived in peace and safety. Things were different before we looked to 'the man' to take care of us and I believe the start of that downward spiral took place during the great depression.
So this morning I will head to the kitchen and continue on...... I have grain that needs to be ground today. We'll have fresh baked bread for lunch. Soon, I'll head out to the garden and harvest some lettuce, peppers, and a radish or two. That will make a mighty-fine organic salad. I was able to dust the shelves in the living room this past weekend and today will organize the troops to dust the dining room. There's laundry to wash, dry, and fold, and I have to mix up some homemade laundry detergent. There's work to be done and I'm not going to sit on my rear complaining, hoping the guardian angel of complacency will show up and grant a wish.
I'm geared up, as you can tell, so our biblicl knowledge will include truths about laziness and wisdom. The children will love it! They love when Momma gets fired up and teaches them truth. I'll speak loud and bold and strong, because that's what I do when I get fired up. Tell me my husband should be doing that and I'll tell you I am his help meet. He's out bringing home the bacon while I fry it up in a pan. God is good and we live life as a team. Jo will live life beside me, preparing at least half the food that is prepared and Bub will finish the huge amount of yard work he's been doing in between his filming adventures. The littles will dust and sweep and I will pray that they learn good work ethic and the wisdom of organization. There are improvements that have to be made in these areas and sometimes I am at a loss for what to do and how to do it. But there is one consolation...... we press on!
Philippians 3:14
I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
The girls and I were able to attend the Cinderella show on Saturday. Some friends of ours were in the show, one playing the lead role of Christopher, and the group did quite an impressive job!
These were taken before we left.
And this photo was taken at intermission.
Other friends have recently been involved in a faith based film project as well. I wish I had photographs, but I do not. Jamice headed out for some hands on experience and soon found himself very much involved. They were scheduled to put him behind the camera on Saturday working as a Cinematographer and he's made some local connections as well. He has many upcoming adventures, and his knowledge of film - the in's and out's of everything, just floors me. It's passion I tell ya! Whatever ye do, do it to the glory of God!
Suppose I'd say I have a special guest today. A special treat for all our gardening enthusiasts.....
Here's a gentleman that has been using kiddie pools to garden since the early 70's. He gradually left traditional gardening and worked his way up to 8 pools, providing food for his household.
*photo of Grandpa w/ kiddie pool gardens off to the side
I'd like to ask him all the in's and out's, the who's and what's - the why's and how's, yet little is known about Grandpas adventures with kiddie pool gardening.
What we do know is that as Grandpa (my husbands Grandfather) aged, he began the pool gardens and worked his way up to 8 of the pools. And we do know that it is most definitely addicting, just by our own experience!
We are on our third or fourth gardening season with the pools and I see the appeal of it all. It's easier on your back and legs, MUCH easier to weed, has fewer issues with bugs and absolutely no issues with gophers. We've learned the joys of pool gardening and we've learned there are some things you don't do. You don't plant potatoes, onions, or garlic. And as far as drainage goes - we need plenty!
To my shame I missed the pool buying season again! They NEVER go on sale in this part of the country. I've tried holding out for the sale for two years and I will not miss the opportunity to buy again! Eventhough I said that last year, I mean it this time
This morning finds me sipping coffee and checking email. I am hoping to grab a couple photos of the garden when I go out to water. It's surprising how much a garden grows when you're not watching
Big Bub set out at 5:30 this morning to work on the set of a new film. He'll be there for two days and may be an extra in the film tomorrow. He's hoping for some technical time today - can't wait to see how it goes......
Here is his latest creation w/ a special guest appearance by a very special someone. I'm so proud of you boys! Keep pressing on!
Nov. 3, 2009 - ~Time flies when you're having fun....
Posted By Miss E
It's been a full week and I hope to write more when life slows down a little. I'm trying to remember that the blog is not the most important thing. So, here's a timely update and then I'm off for the most important things....
Saturday Gary's cousin tied the knot, as they say.
even got a photo of this cute little couple, hardy-har-har.
Proof that we're still here ;) The garden's still growing and we're actually harvesting many vegetables. We took the week off from school last week and we'll be schooling on and off this week in some new locations, but I'll write about that in a few days and hopefully be able to share some photos as well.
It has been such a nice birthday weekend. Gary made a special dish he's been making for over 20 years - Spanish style steak. A thin cut steak wrapped around stuffing and served with black beans and rice - YUM! Part of the fun of birthdays is to see what the birthday person will request for the special day. We've got one that requests Burger King almost every single time and another that requests homemade spaghetti and meatballs.
Jo made my chocolate CHOCOLATE birthday cake and the cute little hat I'm wearing above. And this little fella was falling asleep in the middle of singing the happy birthday song. I've never had one doze off while singing! He was OUT by the time the cake was served...... ADORABLE.
And since it's been nearly a week since the last garden update, here goes.....
The pool (towards the back of the photo) is the pepper pool, which has several pepper plants, as well as 2 heads of cabbage, and some teeny-tiny developing beets. The front pool has 6 or 7 radishes, 5-8 heads of lettuce, 1 broccoli, and 7 heads of cabbage growing. I recently fudged and bought the cabbage from our local feed store. They were waving their cute little leaves and calling my name. Apparently they had heard of our pool gardens and vegetables are dying to get in!
Here's our lettuce pool, which is beginning to explode with greenage. Every couple of days I thin the pool a bit. We really should have purchased a few more pools just for the lettuce and spinach! They love the pools and we sure do love them......
And here's our newest endeavor for the winter garden which will be harvested between December and January - Lord willing. Two rows of beets and two rows of collards. The row in the middle was the spinach that didn't take, so I planted some more this afternoon. We'll transplant all of these in a couple weeks and keep our garden growing through the New Year. At this time we're not sure if we're going to continue planting in the pools or if we're going to plant in hubby's vegetable garden area. He's had the area covered for several weeks now and all the weeds and bugs are just about gone. If we add the fertilizer from our chickens we'll be able to plant in that area when these are transplant ready and they'll have plenty of nutrients to keep growing.
Have a blessed week this week my friends. I'll talk w/most of you on the F&B!
The days have been full here lately and this week has flown by! In between our daily school schedule, new exercise routines, gardening, and taking care of situations like this:
We have managed to press on, getting ready for family this Thanksgiving.
The top of the cabinets in the diningroom are just about complete. They need an added touch of something.....haven't figured out what that something is exactly, but when I do that part will be marked off the list of to-do's
And if you're wondering..... the stain came out of the quilt. Thanks to many, many, friends who chimed in to help me I will be able to dress the girls beds with their matching quilts this Thanksgiving. Matching quilts which were a gift from my mother who will be visiting that day. Thanking the Lord for stain sticks, but not so much for markers.......
Here's the lettuce and spinach. We should be able to begin the harvesting in 2-3 weeks and have lots of Salad for Thanksgiving! This is the smallest pool we have, so I'll be planting more lettuce again soon.
Here's the radish section.
These are the amazing pepper trees. Yes I'm calling them trees because they are as tall as I am, not saying much, but for a pepper plant that says a lot I think! We gave growing peppers another try, after a previous failure,and they've been producing ever since, providing about 4 peppers a week. Notice the size..... recently they began to pick back up to their normal size as well.
So far the Fall garden has nearly been free. We had extra seeds from previous plantings (some are working....some are not), and our compost has been brewing for several months now. We decided to try a little pellet kit we found on sale and I went ahead and bought a few dollars worth of seeds as well, so I think we've just about approached the $10.00 point in recent days.....
My helper and I planted beets, collards, and spinach today. I hope the seeds are not too old and everything sprouts quickly. The pellets were a lot of fun for the little helper, a new experience. It was fun to see them blow up and expand when the water was added.......
It's a beautiful day today - perfect planting weather!
I've turned this blog over to the children to communicate with you all about what is going on in their lives, including school and whatever else they would like to talk about.
