Humble Beginnings

Inventory, Fishing and School

We have been very busy lately (hence the reason I haven't been blogging).  Plus, I really couldn't find anything to say.

Yesterday we finished up my children's school work for the year.  Yeah!  They are very excited and I must say that I am also very excited.  I've been trying to figure out what we're going to do next fall and I think we're going to try more of a Charlotte Mason approach.  I pulled out my Charlotte Mason book to brush up on it, but I think we're going to concentrate more on reading whole books, learn Latin, etc.  I'll probably sit down with my children in the next week or so and see what they'd like to do.

We've also been doing some serious fishing - about 2-3 times per week, if we can.  We found a great fishing hole about 45 minutes from our home.  It's a beautiful drive up there which is always nice.  We caught 3 good-size bass last week.  This Saturday we're going with some friends to another friend's stock tank that is overstocked with catfish and bass so anything we catch we get to keep.  I'm hoping we'll catch enough to feed us for awhile.  My goal this summer is to find enough food (i.e. wild berries, etc.). that we don't have to buy much food.  Plus, fish is so good for you.  The hard part for us is convincing James that we're going to eat the next fish we catch.  He wants to fill our tank (pond) here at the house so he can fish from here.  It's not a great idea, but man, I'd like to eat some of what we catch!!

Also, I did an inventory yesterday of all the things I have canned.  I wasn't sure what I had.  I have a total of 170 jars of canned goodies.  Even though the cucumbers are doing poorly this year, I have tons of pickles from last year to carry us through another year.  I also don't think I need to can anymore jams as we have about 20 from last year (and that's after giving away a bunch).  So, this year instead of making jams, I'm going to make pie fillings or preserves or "pear sauce" - things like that.  As many of you know, our home is less than 800 square feet so storage is lacking.  I have some jars in the pantry and the rest are upstairs in a corner, stacked up.  So, hubby's going to make me some shelves that line the staircase.  It should be a lot easier to find what I'm looking for now!

The garden is also doing well - at least part of it.  We officially have 10 green bean plants in various stages of growth.  One of them has blooms on it.  The sweet peas are being devoured by little green worms, so every day we're out there gently shaking them, removing the fallen little worms and squishing them.  The tomatoes are doing wonderful with tons of blooms and some little tomatoes.  James' jalapeno plants are thriving.  He has about 10 blooms on each plant.  Plus, his cayenne are also growing.  And, the pumpkins are also doing wonderful and growing like crazy. 

That's about it for now...God's blessings to each of you!