Down South Girl

I got this from over at Deanna's new blog corner and thought it was very interesting.

69% would not be my ideal but it did not take into consideration that we own our vehicles and grow our own meat (pigs, chickens, hunt for deer).  It just hit on some of the basics.  We have several areas of improvement but all in all, I think we are better than most.

Here is the link to go try it out yourselves:

Could You Survive Another Great Depression?

You Are 69% Likely to Survive Another Great Depression

Even though you may not be expecting the worst, you're the type of person who prepares for the worst. You live a relatively modest life. You don't overspend, and you aren't very materialistic. You are also quite self sufficient and independent. You have many useful skills. You can take care of yourself and those you love... which is crucial to surviving another Great Depression.

And here are my answers and comments:

I thought this might be a great opportunity to share the following clip.

It is a clip of a guy/missionary speaking to a youth conference in Montgomery, Al.  I will tell you that it is LONG.  However, my family watched it last night and it is so powerful you don't even realize that it is that long.  I hope you watch it and enjoy it.

We live in Ms. and the first presidential debate is Friday here in Ms.  I have given the topic of this election a great deal of thought.  I have come to the conclusion that neither of these men are who I would want for the next president.  However, I do think America is falling under judgement and we are getting what we deserve for turning so blatantly against God.  I agree with just about everything Sarah Palin stands for but does that mean she is right for our country as Vice President.  Does that mean that God's Word is not God's Word?  Do we compromise?  I still do not know what I will do come Nov. but I am pondering on this topic heavily.  I realize that Obama and his liberal agenda could just put us farther and farther into the pit of sin.  It's a very slippery slope we are on.  I think we need to be on our knees daily.

Have a great evening.

Blessings,

Trixi

I saw this over on another forum I am on and thought it was too cute.  If we haven't said some of these then we have probably thought them.

Have a great evening.

Blessings,

Trixi

We have been here a year in August.  I can't believe it has been a year.  In that time it seems as if we have visited a ton of churches.  In reality we have visited about 10.  In between we have driven an hour home to go to our old church.  Well, then we moved out to our little slice of heaven and it's more like an hour and forty five minutes to go home.  So the possibilities of continuing to travel home to go to church are not as often now.  Therefore we have really needed to find a church here.  Not to mention the fact that my honey is scheduled to go back to Iraq in March and it would be nice to have a church family.  Anyway, we had been visiting the little Baptist church about 5 miles from our house and it was most definitely not what we were seeking but the people are so nice and a several are our neighbors.  The main problem is they have not had a pastor in over a year and I think there may be some internal bickering going on.  So a couple of weeks ago Dh and I were riding some backroads around us and stumbled on this pretty nice size church.  I mean it is still a small country church but a good size.  I would say it might seat 300, literally out in the middle of nowhere.  Anyway, we visited this past Sunday.  It's a Baptist church but I am thinking not Southern Baptist as they are strictly KJV.  We got a visit from the pastor on Tuesday night.  He is a young guy with 4 small children.  They homeschool and are extremely conservative.  He also has a great desire for reaching the lost.  So in a nut shell they seem to be a lot like our family.  In this area it is really hard to find a homeschooling family much less one that is the pastor of a church.  To make a long story a little shorter, there are some areas we would have to compromise in but this church seems to be the closest thing we have seen since our home church.  It has been a long tough road to find a church where the church is really focused on hearing and doing what the Word of God says.  It's a really sad thing.  However, we are praying about this one!!

Have a great day!!

Blessings,

Trixi

When we bought this place, we knew God had blessed us but didn't really get the full feel of it until here lately. 

Our harvest of pears and muscadines have been coming in daily.....

Here are the muscadines in my sink.  I think I have had about 4 sinks full so far.  I have made bronze muscadine jelly and purple.  The bronze tastes better but the purple is beautiful.

Here's a clothes basket full of pears.  We have picked 2 clothes baskets full.  I have made pear butter, pear preserves, and spiced pears out of them.  I will make a few more jars of pear preserves and then the rest will just be made into canned pears.  I got my recipe for pear preserves fromRegina at Skeeter Creek Farms and we LOVE them.  They are perfect.

Here are a couple of pictures of the harvest on my shelves.  I hope for Dh, to one day make me shelving specifically just for all of my canned items.   So far I have 49 jars of muscadines and pears filled.  I have a lot more to pick and am just about out of jars.  So I will have to purchase some more. 

I am so thankful for all that God has provided.  It has kept me busy and I am worn out with canning but I know when we are eating hot buttered biscuits with homemade canned muscadine jelly, this winter, we will be ever so thankful.

I also worked on my little plot for my fall garden.  I hope to put out lettuce, brocolli, carrots, and cauliflower tomorrow.

Blessings,

Trixi

Oh, yes, it's part of this whole self sustaining lifestyle we are trying to lead.  Well, the pigs are getting bigger and they love and I do mean love to try to get out of their pen.  My honey built them this nice big pen in our barn that keeps them sheltered from heat and rain.  Do they appreciate all of his hard work?  No.  I guess the grass is greener on the other side , as they say.  So honey has been doing all sorts of fence mending, LOL, to try to keep these little devils in.  They are still so small that they can squeeze their little bodies through the hog wire.  So yesterday hubby wove barbed wire through the holes.  Well, this was the scene this morning.

I think Betty and Wilma were getting the best of him.LOL

So now the love of my life, has wood pallets lined up all over the pig pen.  It looks horrendous but oh well.  It's just until they are too big to squeeze through the holes.  We will soon have our garden spot fenced in so that they can graze on it.  We will have a door on the side of the barn for them to go in and out.  That way they will have shelter and be tilling and fertilizing my garden spot. 

We fared very well from the hurricane.  We got lots and I mean lots of rain.  My yard is a sopping wet mess but it could have been so much worse.   Here's a pic of the horses yesterday.  I think they were just tired of the rain but they wouldn't get out of it.

We have had so much going on here since the buying of the new homestead.  We love it so much here.  Here is the hammock that my DH put up for us before the rain came in.  The kids love it!!!  They will take their pillows and blankets out and read a book in the hammock.  I hope to see them out there a good bit between now and winter.

Since the purchase of the house, groceries and gas have tripled.  This has really dipped into the budget.  We have not had the resources to buy all of the supplies that we have wanted for the new homestead.  However, we did read in the Market Bulletin this past week that a guy wanted someone to come and take down a shed and do the cleanup and you could keep the materials from it.  Dh went over to look at it today.  It was an old smoke house.  So he and our son will go start to take it apart in the morning.  We are so thankful.  We will be using the siding for our garden shed and hopefully the roof will be used for a new chicken coop this spring.  We hope to triple our flock but we will need a new coop.  This will put us on our way. 

Like I said, we have had a lot going on.  One thing as of late, is our muscadines and pears are ready and I have been making jelly and jam.  I am so thankful for what the Lord has provided.  These will make wonderful Christmas gifts on a very tight budget.

I hope you are all doing well and bless you!!!