Our piece of the Prairie

How to Make a Jack-o-Lantern that Lasts for Years

Posted by Boltbabe
05:53, 2008-Oct-10 .. Posted in Homeschool .. 0 comments .. Link

Simple Journey Ministries Presents

Mom, I’m Bored!

The Everlasting Jack-o-Lantern

If your family likes carving gourds and pumpkins in the fall (I know some families that do not celebrate Halloween that do this with a Christian poem), I got a nifty idea from a crafty friend that would be a great craft and homeschool project that can be preserved for years to come. This is an idea that will also work exceptionally well, for those tracking the projects over the years for families who traditionally do this project.

~Women Professing Godliness~

Posted by FaithfulAcres
11:11, Thursday, October 9, 2008 .. 0 comments .. Link

~ This new blog is to share with you some feelings that perhaps we have all experienced and to show forth the truth of God's Word and make a light in this dark evil world.~

But like my Dear Sweet Husband and Best Friend says " Lin , it is not about You, its about Christ in you. " So with his blessing I will post here on some issues I have faced over the years as a godly woman and Mamma.

I look forward to sharing with ya'll soon.

Blessings, the Lord Keep Thee
Linda

Hubby Found a Job

Posted by GrandmaRosie
10:33 PM, Thu 9 Oct 2008 .. Posted in ROSIES RAMBLINGS .. 3 comments .. Link

It has been very hard on us the past 2 months. DH lost he job of almost 20 years. He is not a young man and a job has been hard to find. He has one starting Monday. The pay is not much, no insurance to speak of, it is hundreds of miles from home ( I miss him already!) But it is a job. It will do until God sends something better!

Update on Us: Oct 9th 2008

Posted by FaithfulAcres
10:06 PM, Thursday, October 9, 2008 .. Posted in From Our House to Yours .. 1 comments .. Link

Well here I am going on my second week in AL, I never even thought I would get here to visit my daughter, much less be here this long.
Mark is in NY getting out stuff and bringing it back to Linden this week coming up and then coming down to get the children and I and take us home so to say to Linden. We are staying out on Old Hwy 13 in our RV while we wait for the house we want to rent for the winter to become available. Mr. Sam and his wife Daine are nice christian folks and rent us the space next to his matianance mans place and I can keep my goats there with me too. They homeschool and just are the sweetest folks to us. The Lord was good to lead us to meet them and them let us stay there till we get a real home for the winter. ( Lady who is to be our landlord had to evict the lady who lives there out for non payment, so we had to wait a month or so longer to get the home. Should be Nov 2nd or 12th , time will tell.) Lordwilling we will be living in Lobelville in a nice Doublewide with a wood burning fireplace in the Livingroom, Screen Porch on the one end and porches front and back, very private area also.
Living in the RV for 9 weeks, wasnt what we had planned but the Lord provided it and so we are using it as our home till he gives us another one. Being down here without Mark arround is not an exsperience I enjoy. Things with my own daughter are far different then the way we live or what we desire for our own children. My granddaughters go to Head Start Daily and other things just sorta get to me, but I am biding my time till we go home. My own children miss having a home to live in, the adventure at times has been fun, but at times very trying on us.
The goats are living in the stock trailer and I have no fence for them and of all things were in Town. The trains at night are too many and too noisey that is for sure, traffic is alot here too near 78. If I had a way to get back to Linden, I would go now. Small town living in the country is more my speed that is for sure. The goats are doing well. Magnolia kidded with triplet purebred 6th gen mini nubian babies, 2 bucks and 1 doe. I only have their dam and a non related buck now. My buck won 1st place in intermediate bucks on MDGAs Virtual show online, so I am pleased with him and my new kids too. Only thing is Mark would rather I sold them and that we didnt have animals till we have our own land. I am a bit heartbroken over that but I am not arguing. They should be in a barn and on pasture and not in town ! I did sell two to a lady in TN up in Cunningham, she is so pleased with them and I am so happy to have her have them on her farm.

Please pray for Marks traveling mercies and safe return with out things in the RV and in a trailer he is hauling. Pray it ,keeps running and brings him safely home.

Also pray for us , we need a vechile that our family can drive to the store and such after we get settled or before, have not found one yet. Truck or mini van or reg van would do, with towing capabilites. So we dont need to drive the RV everywhere we go.

I cannot wait to settle, get back to "normal life" baking , cooking , sewing, and spending time with my best friend and sweetheart.

Faith 6 and Hope 5 are so wanting a home. Daniel is 8 months old growing like a well fed calf and he just seems to be a happy baby. He wasnt too happy cutting teeth this week. He now has 4 , 2 top and 2 bottom.
Would you believe he just fits into 18 months clothing. He is tall and heavy.

Well I am tired and needing to get to bed. I hope all is well in your homes and I can't wait to meet those of you nearby home when I get there.
Debi, its near your not far away and thank you for letting me know what is up with in the neighbourhood.

Love and blessings to all
Linda

A New Blog for a New Purpose...

Posted by ~Melissa
09:51, Thursday, October 9, 2008 .. Posted in General Notices .. 0 comments .. Link

I started a new blog called Health and Healing. In this blog, I hope to encourage myself towards better health by writing about health topics. Putting down into words these things I have read about or learned along the way. I am a registered nurse, however, I put my license to inactive status to homeschool and be a stay at home mom. I have always loved the aspect of preventive health, yet my day job when I worked focused on healing, usually by means of drugs or surgical methods. That did not always have the best of results.

Doctors and nurses both on the field are so busy that they have little time to teach their patients about true health. They become specialists in drugs or surgical procedures. Working on many floors, I knew the routines for post surgical heart surgeries, for hip and knee replacements, for same-day surgeries, for medical problems such as COPD, pneumonia, and strokes. I also knew nursing treatments for many mental disorders as directed by our psychiatric ward. But when it came to teaching someone the way to better health using means of nutrients and natural remedies and water treatments... I had little to offer. I knew a few, but that wasn't a priority in the school where I was taught, nor is it a priority in many nursing schools or even medical schools.

I have done alot of reading. I have attended alot of health seminars. I am intrigued by how wonderful God has created our bodies and how within the Bible many health topics are touched on. It is interesting to read in Genesis how he created our bodies for work, for rest, and even the foods we should eat. Oh, how we have strayed from those instructions the Lord has given us. Granted there aren't too many specific do's and don'ts in the Bible to where one can say without a doubt we shouldn't use tobacco, but there are principles that can apply to many health questions today. My focus on my continuing education has been on preventive health and on the natural processes that we were created with.

Now, having said all that, I have to admit that I am human. I may have read all this good stuff and I may understand that it is good to follow, but to actually change my life so that I am living within these principles has not always been easy. I need reminders. I need encouragment. I need continuing education. I imagine that many have those same desires... to be healthy, but how? ...to not have to depend on doctors or drugs for simple health ailments, but how? ...to raise up healthy kids, but how?

I won't have all the answers, but I hope to share some things as I recall, as they are pertinent to my life, and as I am planning programs at my church. Maybe the bits that I share will be the encouragement that others need to face their day or a struggle they have. May God use this blog to encourage others. For it is not my wisdom, it is God's.

Warmly, ~Melissa

I shoulda, but I didn't

Posted by Heritage Hill Homestead
09:46, Thursday, October 9, 2008 .. 0 comments .. Link

do anything with the last of the tomatoes today. We picked them and pulled the vines a few days ago. Hubby has mowed the garden and is working on the tiller to get it all worked up for the winter. Anyway, the tomatoes were top on the list for today, but I seemed to find enough other things to do all day. I really wanted some more canned and now that I have them, I can't seem to make myself get to them. Why is that? They are not real nice, most very small and some have bad spots, so I think I will make juice out of what I can salvage now. It will NEED to be done tomorrow as we will be gone all day Saturday.

We will be going to an exotic sale Saturday, it is held near here 3 times a year. We always enjoy it, you just never know what might be there. We do not plan to buy much.........famous last words, I know. The only thing we are really looking for is a couple of doves. We got a really neat big cage this spring and have not gotten anything to put in it. Usually things sell really cheap at the fall sale as folks are thinning out before winter, so it is a good time to buy if there is something we need. We don't have anything to take to sell this time either. We are going to take the last puppy we saved from Sophie's litter and see if we can give her away. We intended to keep her, but just do not need one more dog to feed. She would make someone a good farm dog and we want her to go to a good home!

I spent the afternoon redoing the fence in one of the goat pens. I only started out to take out a gate and replace it with a cattle panel. Well, all of it was in need of some fixin up, so ended up changing out the walk in gate and redoing all of the T-posts. I also started to enlarge their pen on the other side, got a couple of panels up, but decided to wait to move the rest of the fence............this old lady was getting tired!

We got the last freezer cleaned out this week. Well, it wasn't defrosted like it should have been, so I should say straightened out. It was sad to throw out all that needed thrown out, but it had to be done. Some things weren't marked or dated and some were just old. There is a bunch of misc. meat that I will thaw out and give the dogs along. We are doing a much better job now, always marking and dating before putting anything in the freezer. I am much more aware of the importance of keeping up with that job recently. One of the freezers is empty for the winter and all cleaned out, so we have it turned off now. Hubby stocked up on ground beef yesterday before he went to Farmers Market.

Market was very quiet yesterday, it is winding down for the year. I am glad the one I have here is over, I enjoy baking, but the pressure every Friday gets tiring.

Yesterday was our Grandson's 15th birthday, Happy Birthday Bodhi.

Today was another perfect fall day here, I wish I could order about 2-3 months more of them so I could get everything done outside I want to and need to get done!

I am tired and ready to head to bed.............Good night to all.

Country Blessings,

Marilyn~at Heritage Hill Homestead

Tasty Turnips

Posted by GrandmaRosie
9:05 PM, Thu 9 Oct 2008 .. Posted in FROM THE KITCHEN .. 0 comments .. Link

I am crazy about turnips. My kids think I am odd!

Tasty Turnips
4 strips bacon
2 cups diced white turnips
1 cup diced potatoes
3/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp sugar
1/4 cup cream
Fry bacon until crisp; chop and set aside. Combine vegetables, 1 tbsp
bacon drippings, seasonings and sugar; add water just to cover. Cook
until tender, then drain. Add cream; mash. Add chopped bacon; mix well.
Serve immediately. Makes 6 servings

submitted by Mrs Walter Sager
Orchard Park Grange, No 1335
Orchard Park, New York
National Grange
Bicentennial Year Cookbook (1976)

Anyone know where Christine Duncan is ?

Posted by FaithfulAcres
4:45 PM, Thursday, October 9, 2008 .. Posted in From Our House to Yours .. 1 comments .. Link

Deanna anyone ? Where has she gone to ? Did they move to TN to stay yet ?
Christine you out there ?

Its Me Linda
Will be back in Linden in a week or so , visiting my daughter in AL right now.

Blessings to ya
Linda

This weekend....

Posted by Sherry
02:59, Thursday, October 9, 2008 .. Posted in Day to day on the homestead .. 0 comments .. Link

I am still in the midst of canning season. I will be making Apple pie filling. I just received this from my MIL. I guess this was one of my SIL recipes. So I am going to give it a whirl. It seems to be basically easy and I have all of the ingredients, which helps. I also have more tomatoes to can. So I am not sure if I will can those or just freeze them for chile and soups. I may do those with onions, I am out of peppers. My husband talked to a friend of his from work and may press some of our apples into cider. YUMMY! If he can I may have him press it with pears. Oh, yes more pears, I was blessed with a gift of pears. I am so grateful for that. They aren't quit ripe yet so till they ripen I will have to wait for that. When they are ready I will dehydrate them, can and make sauce out of it. I may make a pear or apple cobbler this weekend too. MMMM! I just love this season. It is supposed to be unseasonable warm so lots to do.

Blessings,

Sherry

baking, baking, cleaning and VERA!

Posted by Dana
12:54, 2008-Oct-9 .. Posted in daily life .. 0 comments .. Link

I'm dead and not stopping anytime soon! I got up and mopped and worked out and took a bread to start laundry, get Joey going on school, make bfast, make oatmeal cinnamon chip bars, and then vacuum. I did get Sunday School prepped for as well. The cinnamon rolls and caramel rolls smell HEAVENLY that are baking int he oven! I still need to ge potatoes peeled and diced for mashed potatoes (to go w/the chicken'n'noodles!) and then I can take a break. I"m sure the laundry is ready to come off the line as well.

I GOT MY VERA BAGS TODAY! She just mailed them priority yesterday! The post office ROCKS! And I LOVE the bags! Mom's medical binder fits perfectly in the curvy tote that I got for her! PTL! I'm still not sure if I'm going to keep the 2nd tote or not. I wished that I'd had more money cuz they would've been AWESOME gifts for Christmas!

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