Spuds

Thanksgiving Wishes

Nothing purchased can come close to the renewed sense of gratitude for having family and friends.   ~Courtland Milloy

This season, I am increasingly aware of the blessing of family and friends.  And you wonderful folks here are some of those I feel priveleged to count among my friends; though our connection is just a "cyber" one, I feel a kinship with many of you who are part of this little community. 

I received this little poem in my inbox from another dear friend, and would like to share it with you:

I pray you have a lovely Thanksgiving holiday, surrounded by the the blessing of family and friends, enjoying some of the bountiful harvest from your gardens! 

I will be back visiting with you on the Front Porch soon.   Our family is once again "on the move", so it may be a few days until the computer has a new spot in our little nest, and is set up and ready to go.  First must come other things...the kitchen, the bedrooms, the bathrooms (oh, they need some serious attention), and of course, a nice sunny spot indoors for my potted herbs. 

Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good!!!

Blessings to you and yours,

Catherine

Well that's not how this is supposed to work!

Pumpkin Pie Coffee Creamer

Save on Shaving Cream

Don’t you love the ease of shaving with your favorite shaving cream or lotion? Well, you can get that simple time saver for less!

When your shaving cream or lotion runs out, don’t replace it. Instead use olive oil! Olive oil is a bit thicker than other oils, but also provides essential moisture to your skin. Rub it on your leg and shave as usual. If this seems like the end of this frugal practice, hold on, because you will also save on your moisturizing lotion. When you use olive oil in place of shaving cream, you won’t need to moisturize your skin afterwards. DOUBLE SAVINGS!

This tip works with men as well, and since olive oil doesn’t have an odor, no purchasing of separate products. Now that is a simply frugal savings!

These are my thoughts.

Leslie Valeska

~Contributing Writer~

Leslie Valeska is the lucky wife of Thomas.  With children ranging in ages from 4-16, she has had a lot of time to learn and experience much of the fine art of homemaking. She is a writer, speaker, and vintage seamstress. For FREE daily tips and a FREE E-zine on simple and frugal living visit her blog Journey to Simplicity. Need a source of encouragement, inspiration, and support on your journey to Godly womanhood? Visit Simple Journey Ministries (she has a FREE E-zine too!) Of course, don’t forget to visit the Simple Journey Bookstore!

Thanks Gardening

With the Thanksgiving holiday quickly approaching (where did this year go?); I've been pondering having a thankful heart.  Our family has much to give thanks for- health, a home (not our dream home, but a roof over our heads nonetheless), friends, family, and for the time being, 2 gardens! 

Gardening is one of those things that we just "do" in our family.  For me, growing things is not only a hobby, but a passion I suppose.   As I ponder giving thanks, and more importantly....living thanks to Him who gives to us so generously and abundantly; I am seeking ways to make gardening a way of giving and living gratitude.  

Here are a few thoughts:

Sharing the harvest, a simple place to start.

Planting an extra row of edibles to donate to a food bank or needy famililes.

Saving seeds and sharing those with other gardeners.

Starting a community garden and teaching others the skills to grow their own food.

Market gardening, and donating part (or all) of the profits to the needy or perhaps to a missionary.

Hosting a "Harvest Festival" that gives honor and glory to the Lord of the Harvest.

Giving the gift of seeds to a needy family.

Supporting mission efforts that teach sustainable agriculture.

Anyone else have ideas to share?

Give Thanks to the Lord, for He is good!

Thanksgiving, after all, is a word of action.   ~W.J. Cameron

Blessings,

Catherine

Fall Baking: Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls

 

Winter Harvest

Conventional wisdom would tell us that the time for putting up produce has come and gone with summer's long, warm days.  But, that just isn't so!  There are many ways to keep preserving the harvest even as we head into late fall and early winter.  Here are a few ideas:

Cranberries -  Take advantage of the low prices and abundance of this versatile autumn fruit.  I like to stock up on the 3 lb. bags available at Costco and other discount stores.  Just throw the bags into your freezer for future batches of homemade cranberry jelly, breads, muffins and even for juicing.  Canning cranberry jelly is super easy.  Because of it's high acidity and natural pectin content, you only need to put your jars in a boiling water bath for about 5 minutes.  Little half-pint jars of cranberry jelly are a great addition to a Christmas gift basket.  Write to me if you would like my recipe for Honeyed Cranberry Jelly.

Yams & Sweet Potatoes - Again, another veggie that is in season right now.  You must have a pressure canner to can these gems, but they are great for the freezer too!  Simply boil them whole till tender, remove skins and chunk up or mash.  Then, freeze in quart bags.  Now you have them ready-cooked for those last minute meals.

Nuts - Plentiful and nutritious late season crop.  Buy them in bulk in their shells for the best prices.  Once shelled, most nuts freeze very well.

Pumpkin - Now that Halloween has passed, your local pumpkin patch, farmer's market or grocery store may be eager to sell their leftover pumpkins.  Buy small to medium sized pumpkins and keep them in a cool (not cold), dry, dark place.  They will keep for several months if they are not cut open.  When you are ready to use them, you can bake them like squash, scoop out the flesh and freeze for pies, breads and soups.

Apples - Still delicious and fresh in the markets.  Prices are low, so stock up!  There is no end to what you can do with apples - applesauce, apple butter, pies, juice - can them, freeze them and/or dry them.  You can be enjoying delicious, freshly made apple treats through the months ahead by putting in a little time and effort now.

I have learned that no matter what the date says on my calendar, I can always find something to "put by" to keep my pantry filled with fresh, home-preserved foods.

Lisa Vitello

Lisa publishes the New Harvest Homestead newsletter for women who want to live a simpler, more home-centered lifestyle.  Back issues are packed with recipes and information for canning and preserving all of the foods above and lots more!

Thanksgiving Craft Project: Make a Thankful Tree

Want a fun way for you and your family to display all that you are thankful for?? Make a Thankful Tree!!

You will need:
1 brown paper bag
Construction Paper: red, yellow and orange

Cut open the brown paper bag by cutting down one of the creases and then cutting the bottom off. Lay the paper out on the table and use about half to ¾ of the length of the bag to draw a tree trunk.

Staple this to the back of a door or a bulletin board.

Using the remaining pieces of the bag make branches. Staple those coming form the tree trunk.

Now make leaves out of construction paper. Make lots of them!

Put them in a basket and leave a pen nearby.

Have the members of your family begin to write down on the leaves what they are thankful for. Begin to attach these leaves to the tree.

Once you start this project.. the tree can fill up quickly!!

How nice to have a heart full of thanks to the Lord for all His blessings when you sit down to your Thanksgiving dinner!

Crystal Miller
http://www.homesteadblogger.com/quiverfull
http://www.thefamilyhomestead.com

The Winter Lull...or not

Some of you may be wondering what happened to our journey to our homestead.  We are still plugging away.  In fact, if you've read my personal blog, I'm sure you've heard the good news.   We actually bought our Little Slice of Heaven in August!

We have 1 acre of land in the Matanuska Valley.  It is in the shadow of Hubby's favorite mountain, Pioneer Peak.    I know it isn't much, but there are several other lots around us that are vacant and we are hoping to eventually buy those as well.  Either way, 1 acre is a lot more than you can find here in Anchorage!

So, when do we move?  Well, it isn't quite that simple.  This is completly raw land.  We spent the 2 months between purchase and winter clearing a bit and trying to plan the layout.  We are ready to make the driveway, but the snow came before we got it done.  That will be our first step after spring thaw.  We also need to drill a well and place a septic. 

For now, all of our actual activity is on hold.  We do have a wonderful winter wonderland to go watch the Northern Lights or to cut more firewood for our pathetic little fireplace.  But we won't be doing any real work for several months, unless we have an unseasonably warm winter.  When we visited there 2 weeks ago, there was 3 inches of snow on the ground and the thermometer in the van said it was 0 degrees.  It was 23 degrees in town, with no snow.  Gotta love being on the "dark side" of the mountain! 

However, we are not necessarily sitting back on our laurels.  We are spending this winter paying off as many things as possible in the interim and trying to save up as much as we can for building in the summer.

God has provided in ways we never expected.  For example, my husband starts a new job next week.  His former employer has offered him $2/hr more than he has been making at the credit union.  This new job happens to be at an elementary school, where he will have summers off.  This will allow him unlimited time to work on our land and get it ready for our target move-in date.

We do have a goal.  Our goal is to move to the land 1 year from now, when our lease is up on this duplex.  This means that we will have to be extra-busy this summer and extra-wise with our money between now and then.  We may not have the cabin completed, but we'd like to have it at least livable.  In fact, Hubby has said he wants to move to the land November 2009 wether we are in the cabin, a yurt, an RV, or a cardboard box!

There may not be much to report this winter, but I will try to keep you updated on our journey to the land.  Homestead or Bust, indeed!!

Kristina Duckett

Frugal Turkey Ideas

Bring on the Turkey!

With Thanksgiving approaching quickly it is time to assess your turkey needs. There are a few helpful tips that can keep your Thanksgiving meal budget in line and help you trim the food budget after the meal without making your family tired of looking at turkey to the point they hope that you are going to serve mac and cheese only next year for Thanksgiving!

• Plan ahead. Turkey can make a great meal! BUT your family will be tired of turkey leftovers so that by Christmas you have already gained 10 pounds if you are serving leftovers several times a week! However, when you learn some turkey tips on how to stretch a turkey you can offer it throughout the entire winter without your family being bored! Also, in your planning turkey can be VERY cheap, but you have to know the best price and prepare to have freezer space to store a few turkeys for the entire season. This couldn’t be simpler!
• Learn alternate ways of preparing leftovers and strip your turkey on Thanksgiving or the day afterwards. I typically do this the day afterwards. With my plan in hand I can get that leftover meat ready to for the freezer for meals later in the winter. Cooked turkey can be shredded or ground in your food processor to replace ground meat for a wide variety of recipes. Doing this can not only stretch the use of the turkey, but also a cleverly frugal mom can disguise the ground turkey so that her family doesn’t feel as though they are eating turkey.
• Make plenty of soup stock with the carcass of your turkey. Most people use the carcass once and then throw it away. However, I have found that I can move the turkey carcass to three different Dutch ovens (one after the other is a great way to get it done at one time) and have an abundance of delicious stock! Do this each time you make one of those turkeys in your freezer and you will have stock on hand for the entire winter! Simple and frugal.

These are my thoughts.

Leslie Valeska

~Contributing Writer~

Leslie Valeska is the lucky wife of Thomas.  With children ranging in ages from 4-16, she has had a lot of time to learn and experience much of the fine art of homemaking. She is a writer, speaker, and vintage seamstress. For FREE daily tips and a FREE E-zine on simple and frugal living visit her blog Journey to Simplicity. Need a source of encouragement, inspiration, and support on your journey to Godly womanhood? Visit Simple Journey Ministries (she has a FREE E-zine too!) Of course, don’t forget to visit the Simple Journey Bookstore!