Homemaking Homesteader

It's a new week!

Good early morning all. I pray everyone had a wonderful weekend. We had beautiful Indian Summer weather here. I didn't get as much accomplished as I'd have liked but was still feeling bad with that sinus infection. I was able to get a script for antibiotics from the MD on call Friday morning before I left work. It helped but I still feel drained.

Sunday my Father decided it was the day to cut down the huge old ( at least 35yrs) Birch tree that sat in front of the house. It was past it's prime and needed to come down. We all got together to help. We got 3 cords of split wood plus my SIL was able to salvage a lot of branches that were 2-3 inches for starters. That tree had been there since my folks built that house so it was a big thing. It didn't take us long to clean it out as we had 2 splitters and a lot of help. We piled it into my Dad's big trailer and the John Deer hauled the wood and all of us down to my Brother's house where the wood went. My Dad won't burn Birch but my Brother has no issue burning it in his outdoor burner so we stacked it all there. Boy, that was some wet and heavy stuff! Then we all went back to the folks where my Mother had made BBQ ribs, scalloped spuds w/ham, beans and apple squares. Yummy! With all that work my blood sugar was at the low side so I was able to have an apple square. I also brought a small piece home - along with some spuds and ham.

I was doing laundry yesterday and my washer went out - AGAIN! I fear it's been moved one too many times and has lost it's will to wash LOL. Seriously, it died. My Dad is going to come over and check the belts but we all fear it's something more. Sigh..... just when I though I could get that new bed I need so badly. We'll see.

I was able to haul out the lawn mower and mulch under the leaves in the front yard but when I got up this morning, it didn't look like I'd done anything LOL.  I'll go over it once more on the next nice day (which could be a while).

Didn't get to the garage nor do the baking. I just didn't feel up to it. I've the stuff ready to make bread when I get home. I'll just toss it all into the bread maker, take a nap and should be up about the time it's done. Mmmmm, fresh warm bread. There is nothing like it.

I've a weird schedule this week. I'm working now, off tonite, the icky 3-11 Wednesday, off Thurs then my night shift Fri, Sat, and Sunday. What do you do??? Somewhere in all that I have to clean church too. Probably Friday.

Well, I need to go move around or I'm going to start getting sleepy. I shouldn't as I slept most of the day - I didn't sleep well last night so I suppose my body was making up for it.

Have a wonderful blessed day everyone. Maybe I'll get to see you Wednesday but since it's a 3-11 don't count on it LOL.

Michele

What a friend we have in Jesus

What a friend we have in Jesus, 
	all our sins and griefs to bear! 
	What a privilege to carry 
	everything to God in prayer! 
	O what peace we often forfeit,
	O what needless pain we bear, 
	all because we do not carry 
	everything to God in prayer. 

2.	Have we trials and temptations? 
	Is there trouble anywhere? 
	We should never be discouraged; 
	take it to the Lord in prayer. 
	Can we find a friend so faithful 
	who will all our sorrows share? 
	Jesus knows our every weakness; 
	take it to the Lord in prayer. 

3.	Are we weak and heavy laden, 
	cumbered with a load of care? 
	Precious Savior, still our refuge; 
	take it to the Lord in prayer. 
	Do thy friends despise, forsake thee? 
	Take it to the Lord in prayer! 
	In his arms he'll take and shield thee; 
	thou wilt find a solace there.

With much love, 
Mrs. Joseph Wood

Simple Journey Bookstore Sale is Ending!

The Simple Journey Bookstore Sale is Ending this Week!

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Quiet time...

Building an A-frame chicken coop....with pics

After a ton of research on coop styles, I decided to go with an A-frame coop. My most patient and wonderful hubby has been kind enough to sit back and let me build it....using his power tools! (And so far, all I've ruined is his skil saw...I kinda cut through the cord... Ooops! )

Now we aren't technically supposed to have chickens here (zoning law that is supposed to be changing) so I decided to build a greenhouse to put the chickens in. Hide them in plain site, and if I end up having to find other homes for them, I can still use the greenhouse.

With that in mind....let the pictures begin!

The first step was to clear the area for the A-frame and the chickens yard...

Next was to start building the basic frame,...

Then the rafters....

My helper...

Done with the rafters...

Then I used the corners we had cut from the 2x4 rafters and made little corner braces...

Next was the "firring strips".....

Then the palruf panels...one side clear...

This will be the chickens view..

The other side white...In this picture you can also see the cap that went over the peak. (Hubby had to help, I was too short to do it by myself!)

Then I loaded all along the base with rocks so sneaky coons/skunks can't get in... (I'm also putting chicken wire over the whole dirt floor to keep critters out)

Next was framing time....

Back wall framed...(Adam's testing it out for me...he had a blast getting filthy!)

Front wall framed...

Next was the plywood...Back, inside view...

Back, outside view...

Front inside view...

Front, outside view....

I still have a big to-do list to finish....

-Staple down the chicken wire over the floor

-I already framed out the pop door, but I need to cut it out and figure out how I want it to close/lock.

-Build a door and hang it.

-Build nest boxes

-Put up roosts (I have a maple we cut down while clearing the chickens yard and I'm hoping to use that.)

-Trim work

-Painting

-Build and fence in the chickens yard.

And I'm sure there's more I'm not thinking of right now!

Sorry..just had to add these...

Little man trying to be a duck...

And my supervisors!

I'll try to add more pictures as it all comes together!

PS

We've chosen to buy an incubator and have eggs cookin' in it right now! The are due around Oct. 31. We'll be adding some more at the end of this week and are setting up a second incubator to be used as a "hatcher". This has been an incredible lesson in "school" for us. Very educational...more on that later!

My Quilt is done

After having completed the top of my quilt 6 or 7 years ago, it is finally done!  It was harder to hand quilt as I used a wool batting in it.  It was real thick in areas, so it was hard to make even stitches.


I quilted stars on a white background using white thread. 

Rude people today in the market

I ran into more rude people today at the market.  I breed and train service dogs. Plus we own 4 service dogs.  2 are going to replace the 2 older service dogs.  We have a total of 7 dogs.  1 is a wolf and 1 is a half wolf.

Any way we ran to the market to pick up cabbage for dinner.  I take one of the service dogs, Alex with me in.  Alex is a 20 month old 120+ golden.  We are finishing up his training. We just finished Kristi's volleyball practice and we stopped in real quick.   Shayna and Kristi waited in the truck with Kristi's one service dog Gracie.

So Alex and I run in.  Alex has on is id stating he is a medical alert service dog.  So off we go in the store.   Alex does his job, he stays right by my side , he ignores the people.  We get some rude looks , that is normal.   A few people say look a dog!  What guy said what the f word they let dogs in here???  I look at Alex and say I know we just do not talk to people like, that loud enough for that nice man to hear . 

As we are getting in line a store worker comes up to me and says "Miss are you blind?"  I look right at him and say no.  I then turned away from him.  Again "Miss??"  I look at him , yes.  "Miss does this dog assist you???"    (Do you think?? , I did not say that but wanted too)  I looked at him and said yes.   We were next in line and the phone rings at the check stand.  The manager says yes I see and he leans over to look at Alex and then he looks at me.   I just smile.

When it is our turn to pay the manager asks me what kind of dog is he?  I say he is a medical alert.  He was very nice about it all.  He said his manager was giving him a hard time about it.

Hello. Alex has on his id stating he is a medical alert dog.  He is well behaved , more than some peoples children.   The problem??  I am not blind nor in a wheelchair.   I look normal, what do you need a service dog for ????????????????. 

Do to this we started a service to help people with their service dogs.  I do not like dealing with the people who do not know the law and I know other have the same problem.  What a pain in the tush!!

I do not mind people when they are interested in what the dogs do or what breed.  I love to tell people how they can help people out with service dogs.   I tell some where they can go to be puppy raisers and so on.....   But, I do not like to deal with rude people.  

 Some people go look a dog what is it doing here real loud and rude.  The girls and I go where ??? And we look they some times point to our dogs and we say no that is a ? Horse, Monkey, or many types of zoo animals  .  Ok , we do it to get back at them.  We just can't hold it in some times.   We don't go look they let rude people in.

Ok I will get off the box now.

God Bless, mj

Rainy Monday

It has been gloomy and dreary all day long.........and tomorrow is supposed to be the same or worse.  Yuck!  I really need sunshine to have any ambition at all, so as you can imagine, I haven't gotten much done today.  I have a "few" indoor projects I could be doing, maybe tomorrow some of them will inspire me, I sure hope so.

We actually didn't buy anything at the auction Saturday except 4 roller pigeons.  There was lots of critters there for sale, but nothing that really interested us, so we left about 1/2 way through the sale. 

Got home that evening and found out a lady wanted pies made for Sunday........so I spent Saturday night baking.  Remember I just said I was glad the pressure of baking every Friday was over for the summer??  Well, I had an order for 3 pies on Friday afternoon, and then made 6 more on Saturday night.

We had a pot-luck dinner at church yesterday.  A friend and neighbor gave me some eggplant and a recipe last week, so I tried it out.  It turned out good.  As always there was lots of good food there.

We have an interim pastor right now, he has been there about 6 weeks.  I can see the Lord working through him and it is exciting!  He is such a caring man and really stresses prayer.  Almost every Sunday there have been people going forward for baptism ( our church is Baptist) and to join the church.  You would not think people would make those kinds of decisions without a full time pastor.  There is just a different attitude, very exciting indeed!

Hubby has been working, until the rain, on getting the garden worked up.  It will be quite a bit bigger next year.  We also need to have a spot ready for some blackberry plants.  Some friends asked if we wanted some starts next spring.....of course I said yes!  They will have to be someplace safe from goat escapes.  Not sure there is any such place???

I know there are mixed feelings about Oprah, but I saw advertised today that her show tomorrow, Tuesday, might be interesting.  It is Where does our food come from, or something close to that.   They showed some free range chickens.  Don't know what it will include, but I thought it might be of interest to watch and see how they present the topic.  It may make us small producers look bad or it may bring us some great advertisement............

The weather man said there are frost warnings for the north-west part of Kansas tonight.........yikes, I know it is coming soon enough but I am not ready! 

Country Blessings,

Marilyn~at Heritage Hill Homestead

Transitions

The weather is turning cooler, although still dry enough to hang the laundry on the line.  We had one light freeze, but luckily DH and I finished the cold frame the day before so my lettuce was safe inside.  We are finishing our food preservation today with the last of the corn.  We put up 950 packages of food in addition to what we had left from last year for a total of 1200 packages.  I am very satisfied with all the hard work.

Now we start transitioning to fall and although we still have some items to collect - mushrooms, nuts, and elderberries - our focus is on sewing.  I have finished 3 dresses and 3 pinafores.  I have 5 more dresses and 4 vests to finish so that church clothes are finished for this season.  Children need play clothes and everday clothes, but there is no possibility of finishing it all before the new year.  Because . . . there are only ten sewing weeks left until Christmas!

In an effort to cut down on costs, I am making most of my kids' gifts.  I can share because they don't read my blog.  Boys are getting cowboy and Indian dress up clothes.  They always ask why the dress up box only has things for their sisters.  Everyone is getting new pajamas.  Several kids need new special blankets.  Girls are getting doll clothes.  I am planning that everyone will get one store bought item.  The kids will pool their money to buy one gift for each of their siblings.  This allows them to experience the joy of giving without being too much to manage.  Seven kids buying for seven kids is 49 gifts - that it is too much shopping for Mom.

We have been doing a few cost cutting measures around here.  Using our wood stove in the house to heat.  Using our outside boiler to heat hot water.  The combination of these 2 means zero electricity for heat and water.  We are getting our laundry done early in the morning so it can be hung on the line for the day.  We are making our own baby wipes to use with cloth diapers.  We made our own cleaning rags for each bathroom.  Since we don't use paper towels I occasionally buy white wash cloths for the rag drawer.  We placed these in old baby wipe boxes and put a mixture of water, vinegar, and dish soap over the top.  Now we have pre-moistened, chemical free bathroom wipes ready to be used.  We already use cloth napkins and avoid buying paper products.

The price of food is definately on the rise around here.  I spend about $350 per month on food, but I could spend $0 if need be.  I buy dairy products, wheat, rice, oats, sugar, baking products, and spices.  I keep stocking up a little each month.  This amount includes toilet paper, laundry soap, cleaning products, etc.  I figure I have a years worth of food on hand. 

I have seen a few bloggers posing questions about how to begin to prepare for poor economic times.  I think it is helpful to think about the what if's in order to make a list.  What if we had no income for 1 month - okay we have enough cash on hand to cover the bills and we have enough food on hand to feed us.  We are building a 3 month supply of animal food and we would like to have fuel tanks to stock up on fuel.  What if things were really bad and we had to go a year without income - okay we have food but we would have difficulty paying our bills.  We could probably defend what we have but our animals would have trouble surviving with little store bought feed.  These "what if's" allow us to think about where our priorities should be.  I have found it helpful to tackle more than one preparation thing at a time, so all our eggs are not in one basket.

Happy homesteading . . .

October 13, 2008

Well yesterday was a day from dickens.... got a phone call from our 20 year old son in northern Ohio, and he was saying that he had run into some problems and now he had no where to live... so we went and picked him up, a 3 hour drive, waited while he finished up some business, and came home. We got home about 11:30pm.

All the children get one chance to come home, and if they do well, then Praise God... if not... next time around, they can figure out their own way (providing nothing horrible happens and they REALLY need us, you know..)

It was good to see our two boys that we hadn't seen in almost 3 years. It's blurry, I know, but you get the idea. The young lady to the extreme right of the picture is the Mother of my grandson.

I also got to see my grandson that I had never seen before.  I had seen pictures, but never in person...

This is Keegan Matthew.... and he has eyes like his Great Grandpa (my Daddy).

I called off work today and of course, got guff from a co-worker who  says, "I'll just give you Be**y's number and YOU can call HER, cause it looks like NO-ONE is coming in tomorrow!" I told her to just write it down, and hung up. I did my part, now let them do theirs.... *SIGH*

I finished up laundry today, had quite a time with 11 y/o disobedient child continuing to be disobedient, cooked supper, had the washer overflow, took 15 y/o to work, picked 15 y/o up from work, helped ds make appointments for tomorrow to look for work, and yes..... I am still alive! :)

Just finishing up putting 2 quarts beef broth up and 2 quarts of chicken broth up.

Made 4 loaves of bread today (2 white and 2 wheat).

Quite the busy past two days, I would say!

Life is good, and God even better.

Here's a quick pic of the 14 year old sister and the 25 year old brother.... she's climbed up him and is hanging on his back. He is way over 6 foot tall by the way! (She's barely 5 ft)

Can you see the love?

Too bad we don't live closer.

Good lookin' kids the good Lord gave me, eh?

~~Blessings~