Sep. 17, 2009 - A Birthday Weekend

Taking A Birthday Break

DD's birthday is this coming Tuesday. She will be 20 years old. We are having a family dinner here tomorrow night. So I won't be posting again until Monday. I will be using all of my time doing cooking, baking, and cleaning prep. So until Monday!

Sep. 11, 2009 - Blackberry Lane Farm: The Story Behind The Name

How We Named Our Farm

Our farm isn't a working farm. Right now, it is only a hobby farm. One day, with the knowledge I hope to gain and improvements we hope to make, I would like it to become a part of a home-based business of sorts. With that in mind, I thought it was only appropriate that we name our farm.

First, let me give you a little history of our land. Most of our land was once part of the land owned by my great-grandfather. He bought 2 homesteads and  combined them into a working dairy farm, in the 1920s. My grandfather was his youngest child and inheirted the farm.  He took over the dairy operations. My father grew up working on the farm. When he married, he bought some of the land from my grandfather and built a house. My grandfather got out of the dairy farming business and went into the landscaping business. Eventually, my uncle bought some of the land and built a house. Now, several of us grandkids live on some of the land.

The land we own was once part of my father's land and my grandfather's land. My father or daddy (that is what I call him, although I am almost 40 years old) gave us the land our old trailer sit on and we bought the land our new home sits on from my grandmother. The land our new farmhouse and buildings sit on once housed the pig pens and then a mulch pile area for the landscaping business.

I love blackberries and they grew abundantly around this area.  Behind our old trailer we had a bank area that I made into a large flower bed. I kept this area weeded and cleaned out. I kept trying to kill what I thought was wild rose bushes. When I asked my daddy for advice on how to get rid of this pesky plant, he looked at them and said they were blackberry briars. Since then we have left them along and let them take over the bank area.The exsistence of those blackberries is where the Blackberry part of the name comes from.

We live very near the road and part of our land was once part of a state road before they straightened out a sharp curve and changed the road. Our old trailer actually sit on the old road bed so that is where the Lane part of the name comes from.

A working Farm is what I hope our 1.3 acres will eventaully become. I already sale eggs from our few chickens. I hope to expand on that idea some how and start selling produce at a roadside vegetable stand. That is why I am here at Homesteadblogger. I look forward to meeting and making new friends.  I want to learn new ways and  get advice on how we can become more self-sufficent. I want to learn from more experienced farmers and homesteaders. So any help or advice I can get will be greatly appreciated. 

Stayed tuned for an introduction to our farm animals.

Sep. 3, 2009 - Relaunching My Blog

Starting Over, Kinda Of

Hello, again, everyone! I am just about ready to start posting again. I plan on putting up the first post, next Tuesday, Sept., 8th. I have a plan and an idea of how to run my blog now. I think my reworked plan will make it easier on me to post and keep up with comments.

I had almost decided to close this blog and delete all of my posts. I just didn't feel like I was reaching anyone or that anyone really cared that I was absent. If it weren't for a few loyal, faithfully, caring friends; I would have ready done so. I want to thank those fews wonderful dear friends for letting me know that you missed me and were excited to know I was coming back soon.

I have been blogging at another blogging site since June. I have found the bloggers there to be very caring, warm, welcoming people with whom I share alot in calm with. In the past 3 months I have had almost 1/3 of the people that have visited this blog visit my other blog just since June. I have been left comments on almost every post I have put up.

I am not blaming or pointing fingers at anyone. I know how busy homeschoolers are. I also am no longer homeschooling, because DD is now in her second year of college. Maybe that has something to with why I wasn't getting much traffic. Maybe it was because I was sharing things that were unpopular or views not shared by most. Maybe, there are just too many bloggers here to keep up with. I don't know.

I won't be sharing my other blog address, yet. If traffic here doesn't pick up in the next few months, I will probably delete this blog and share my other address with my few loyal, faithful friends, because I don't want to lose those sweet connections.

Please don't take any of this as if I was eating sour grapes. That isn't it. I share no ill feelings toward anyone. I started this blog as a way to carry on the Titus 2 mandate. If I am not reaching anyone here than I need to move on to where it is helping someone.

Until September 8th!

Aug. 12, 2009 - Hello, Everyone!

I'm Back, Kinda Of

I just wanted to pop in and tell everyone I am fine and my family is fine. We have had a busy, productive summer. DD will be starting her fall semster classes next week. This is a busy month for us full of birthdays; our niece's, 2 nephews', our great-nephew's, and mine. I will be helping throw a household shower for our niece at the end of the month.

I have slowly been working on my blog template, trying to update everything and clean everything up. I have tried to make sure all of the links I have to sites will actually lead to an updated site. There is nothing more frustrating to me to follow a link only to find an out-of-date wedsite or worse a deleted website. If you find any of mine, please let me know.

I hope to start blogging here regularly in September. I have been doing some organizing and coming up with a plan to make blogging less stressful on me and allowing me to enjoy it once again.

I have missed talking to everyone. Please, forgive me for not keeping in touch. I have thought of some of you often. So please know, you haven't been out of my thoughts.

Until,  September!

May. 28, 2009 - Taking A Break

Break Time

Time has come for me to take a break. Blogging has become a chore. I don't know which direction I want to go in. I have so many great ideas. I don't know where to start. I need to refresh and regroup. I need to revaluate my purpose and my goals. Thank you to all of the dear friends I have made here in the USA and across the pond. You have been loyal readers. I will drop by from time to time to check in and comment. I don't know when a new post will be added. I may just take some time, rearrange things, rewrite posts, delete olds, and work on new ones.

God bless you all! Until we meet again!

Tafy Sills 

Apr. 30, 2009 - Icky Sicky

Not Feeling To Well

This morning I woke up early not feeling very well. I seem to be experiencing some sort of stomach aliment. Not serious, yet, just some cramping...Well, I guess any more details would be TMI. Sorry about that.  Any way, I am not really feeling up to putting together a long post.

On the somewhat funny side, I was in the grocery store when DH called to check up on me. I told him I still wasn't feeling the best. I had slept late but I still was managing to get most of the grocery shopping done by lunchtime. A thought ran through my head. I wonder how many people listening to my phone call are thinking about running away from me because I said I didn't feel well and screaming Swine Flu. I was waiting for some one to come and spray me down with Lysol and wipe down everyting I touched with Clorox. I did see a woman at Walmart buying 2 big containers of Lysol wipes.

All the wipes and anti-bacterial gel is no subsistution for good old-fashioned house cleaning, proper kitchen procedures, and a little old-fashioned commonsense. Get a grip people!

Apr. 29, 2009 - Our Wild, Weird, Wacky Weekend

Or Our Tale Of Woe

Okay, this past weekend was suppose to be our relaxing camping weekend in front of cable tv and filled with junk food! Not!

The weather this past weekend was perfect. Temps in the high 70s to low 80s. No humidity expected after a slight chance of a thundrstrom Friday evening, but no big deal. The car and camper were packed. We were ready to head up the mountain. We left exactly when we wanted to, a little before 11:00am. We planned on picking up lunch on our way to the campground.

On the way up the mountain, our car started missing and making a rattling noise. DH was trying to figure out what was wrong. It wasn't the transmission. It wasn't brand new. The motor sounded fine. There were no indicator lights on. No smoke. No steam. No smell. He thought it could be a loose belt and a loose plug. No big deal. It got a little worse and than seemed to work itself out. No problem. Everything was going to be okay. Wrong!

We were 5 miles away from the campground. We were in the turning lane in the busiest intersection of the small college mountain town and our car died. IT DIED!  Dead! We weren't going anywhere!

The dog and I got out of the car. We dodged traffic to get to a gas station on the other side of the road. I  used DD's cell phone to call my FIL. I told him what was going on and told him he may have to come and get us. Meanwhile, a policeman showed up. He set out cones and directed traffic around our car and camper. DH called me on his cell from the middle of the road to tell me the policeman had called a tow truck and it would be there in about 5 minutes. He told me to call his dad back and to tell him to head up the mountain. Now you know I really don't like cell phones but in this situation they were very useful.

Our car and camper were towed about a 1/4 of a mile up the road. So we (including the dog) walked to the car garage. DH called his dad again to tell hime where we were. DD went inside to sit and read a book while I stayed outside with the dog. I kept her in the shade under a big pick-up truck to try to keep her cool. I was mostly in the shade but I still got a slight sunburn. DH looked at the car and figured out what happened. A headgasket blew causing all the water in the radiator to leak in the oil pan causing the motor to lock up. The motor was finished. It could not be coaxed to life.

FIL showed up about a hour and a half later. We unpacked the car and put everything in his van. They unhooked the car from the camper. (The garage agreed to let us sit in their parking lot until DH could come and tow it home this weekend. They were very nice. They offered to let uss borrow a car if we wanted to get something to eat. They also let us use their restroom.) The camper was soon hooked up to FIL's van. After a stop at Chick-A-Filet for lunch (FIL's treat. I have a wonderful FIL), we were on our way home.

When we got home, they parked the camper and unhooked it. We unloaded the van. DH went to unlock the camper so he could put it up (our camper is a pop-up) and realized both set of camper keys are in the car an hour away up the mountain. We had to get into the camper because most of our clothes were in it. So he heads back up the mountain in my car. 2 hours later, he is back home and we unload the camper.

We decided to go ahead and grill the chicken we had planned on grilling for supper. DH goes out turns on the gas and lights the grill. He comes in to get the chicken goes back out to put the chicken on and guess what. The grill tank had run out of gas.  This wasn't a real big deal. We just got the full tank off of the camper and put it on the grill. While we were eating, I told DH that was 3 things that happened. Nothing else shuld happen.

Around 8:00 pm, the slight chance of a thunderstrom turned into a rather bad thunderstrom with alot of lightning and thunder. An hour later as the strom was winding down, there was one last big crack of thunder and a flash of lightning. Guess what! You guessed our power went out. We were sitting in the living room in the dark and I was rolling on the floor laughing (so to speak). We called the power company. It only took an hour and a half for them to get it back on. Which wasn't bad considering all we had been through already.

As DH was getting ready for bed, he wanted to check on something on the computer real quick only to realize our internet was down. No biggy! It would probably be back up by tomorrow. Right! Wrong! We went Saturday and Sunday with no internet. Monday rolled around. I called the telephone company. they said a cable had been cut. Our internet would be restored by 11:00 am on Tuesday. 12:00 noon on Tuesday still no internet. The phone company sends out a technician. Modem seems to be fine Filter seems to be fine. Phoneline seems to be fine. Could be a card gone bad at the office. He goes back to the office. An hour later, he is back. It was a bad card but he changed our filter just in case.

Okay, now you know why I have been absent. Still trying to recover from the weekend. Have alot of things going on right now. To all my friends who have left comments, I haven't forgotten about you. I will get back in touch with you soon. 

Whew! I am exhausted all over again from just typing about our wild, weird, wacky weekend. Need rest!

Mar. 20, 2009 - Lazy Morning/Productive Afternon

A Wonderful Lazy Morning/A Very Productive Afternoon

After a wild, jam-packed week, last week, and a busy catch-up week, this week; it was nice to wake up to a wonderful lazy morning. DH was off today making the morning even nicer. The golden sunshine was filling our bedroom with its rays. The air had a springtime nip to it, but the under the covers it was nice and warm. We were able to wake up slowly, allowing ourselves the pleasure of dozing off and on. We spent some time talking about various things and our plans for the day. Finally, around 9:45 am; DH got up to shower. I went in the kitchen to start frying bacon. DD had been up for 2 hours. She had already completed her morning chores and was working on schoolwork. Once out of the shower, DH scrambled us eggs.(Fresh eggs from our chickens. They started laying in Feb. Now we are getting as many as 8 eggs a day, which we should since we have 8 hens.) We ate our bacon, eggs, and apple slices while we chatted away. We sipped cups of hot chocolate while we listened to Glenn Beck's radio show. Finally around 11:00 am, DH went out to run his errands. I finished up my morning routine and headed to the shower. Once out, I came to get Oakley for her bath; much to her displeasure. Having that out of the way; I did a few other little odd jobs, then came in here to write this post. It has been such a relaxing morning. I think with all we do as wives and mothers; we should really enjoy those rare times we getting a lazy, relaxing morning, hour, day, or evening. 

I haven't really had a huge chunk of time to spend on the computer, lately. I have been working on posts a little at a time. Typing away when I get a few minutes. So I do have other posts in the works, with pictures. For now, I am off to do laundry (the never ending task) and outside to work in my garden beds. 

Update:

A lazy morning turned into a productive afternoon. I took a load of clothes of the line I hung up yesterday, that got wet from a litlle shower we had. I washed a load of clothes, dried them, hung some of them outside. I made a loaf of Italian bread for supper. DD and I set out the rest of our onion slips. I thinned my radishes and planted a row and a half. I also sowed 2 more rows of lettuce. I posted a post on my apron adventure and updated this one. I am getting ready to go into the kitchen to make 2 big salads that we will top with chicken. Our salad will be served with fresh, warm Italian bread. YUM! I may even make strawberry fruit smoothies for dessert. YUM-YUM! Off to the kitchen.

Jan. 21, 2009 - Life on Blackberry Lane Farm

What I Have Been Busy With

Hello! Everyone! I finally have found some uninterrupted time to sit down and write a blog post. I have managed to put up 2 What's For Supper Saturday posts, but haven't had time for much else. I haven't been busy in the sense I have had alot of running around to do. I have been able to be home for a great deal of time. I took advantage of that time to catch up on some of those household chores that require more than a few minutes to do.

My first task, the week after DH's vacation was over, taking down the Christmas decorations and putting them away. I also worked 2 days that week. (Subbing jobs have been rare since our state is hurting for money, so I took the work when I could get it.) The next week, I finally got all the decorations down and put away. The next step was to put them back up in the garden shed, which I had to clean up and reorganize as I went. DD's closet, or our catch-all closet, was my next project. I moved everything out. Got rid of a door we had been storing in there. I purged and rearranged items. I had 3 stacks of things that I had borrowed from other people to return. I also have a bag of clothes and household items to donate to Good Will. My craft storage drawers were next on my list to purge and rearrange. I load up a mop bucket full of craft items I no longer am in need of since we are finished with school and this is my last year of doing KAH. I gave these items to the lady that is charge of children's church at Chapel for their use.

I had time to do little things I had been putting off. Like, labeling picture envelopes and storing them in photo albums. I also tied bundles of keepsake items to store in memory boxes. I was able to do this work at my writing desk that I bought with my Christmas money which arrived on the 8th. I am going to love working at it. Along with my purging and rearranging, I cleaned house as I went. I am trying to get back on my cleaning schedule and tasks. I am almost there. It will be easier to maintain since I am not running DD to classes on campus. All of her classes this semster are on the internet. We have had some very cold weather for our region, which required my checking on the outside animals water at least 3 times during the day.

There have been 3 birthdays in our family since Christmas; my FIL's, DH's, and my mother's. I cooked for DH's birhtday at his parents'. I also cooked for his and my mother's birthday dinner with my family. Luckily, the cakes were taken care of by other people, so I didn't have baking to do, too. 

I am hoping I can get to the blogging projects I have planned soon. I have had a few minutes to work on posts about our homeschooling experience I hope to share in a revamped Homeschooling section. I have other things in mind, also. I have started back my What's For Supper Saturday. If would like to know what that is all about and for details on how to participate go here and here.

Well, it is time for me go start on supper. We have Bible study tonight, although I don't know if DD and I will go. She seems to be coming down with a cold or something. Until next time, which I hope won't be so long from now.

Dec. 27, 2008 - For Unto Us A Child Is Born

Love Came Down At Christmas

I hope everyone had a blessed Merry Christmas. Ours was a nice one, a little rushed as our Christmases usually are. The day seemed to wear us out. The temp. really didn't feel Christmas like. It was 64° by 3:00 pm.

Having DH home for almost 2 weeks has been nice, so far. He has spent much of his time moving fences. He finished up yesterday as night fell. He had a few more post to pull up this morning. Once he did that, the fence moving project is completed. He spent the rest of the afternoon running errands and counting paving brick. We are going to use the old paving brick walkway from our old homesite to make a sitting area around the firepit I gave him for Christmas. Around the sitting area will be flower beds. This whole area is located on the south side of the house. So I need to put in flowers and plants that can take the hot sun. I drew a plan and laid out the flowers I want to use; Irises, Day Lilies, Black-Eyed Susans, and Zinnas. For early spring color, I am going to use Daffodils and Thrift. For early summer color, I am going to use Sweet Williams and Snapdragons. I can't wait to get this project started. We hope to have at least the firepit part finished by New Years Eve, so we can ring in the New Year around the fire.

As 2009 approaches, my mind is swirling questions and ideas. The questions I have are about what the future holds for this country. What will people do once they realized that they were led down the primrose path? How will they react once their pseudo-messiah has failed them? Will the economy continue to fail? Is a Great Depression far off? I know God is control. I know He has a plan. I know He will provide for our every need. I just hate to see this once great country fall and fail. I know the potential this country still has, but it is being stifled by the Enemy's cohorts.

Oh! The ideas flitting through my mind. Ideas for our family. Ideas for my life. Ideas for my blog. Ideas, ideas, ideas. The trick now is to organize them and put them into action. You, my unlucky friends, will be the ones I bounce thoughts off of and the ones I share with.

Time spent with DH is the most important item on my to do list right now. So my posts my be few and far between for the next week. So I would like to wish all of you a Happy New Year and pray for many blessings  for you and your family in the year to come.