Review-Homestead Blessings-The Art of Gardening

With the way the world is going these days, gardening is taking on a whole new meaning. It isn't something only our grandparents did and we are planting much more than flowers. In this dvd, the West Ladies bring you to their home garden. And what a garden it is! I don't remember if they say exactly how many acres they garden on but I can tell you it's a bunch! I think they grow just about everything that will grow in their area. They show you how they grow veggies (and some flowers)in raised beds and in containers, potatoes in the potato patch, composting and so much more. I really like the segment on potatoes because I have been wanting to grow some but wasn't sure how to do it since you don't "bury" the potato in soil. CeCe and Hannah planted a whole row of potatoes in a matter of minutes simply by putting down newspaper, then the potatoes, then covering them with straw. So simple. I also loved the composting section. I want to make a compost pile but, when you read about that on the internet, so many people make it sound complicated. "You must have a perfect balance of 'green' to 'brown' stuff or your compost will not work", "you must work it everyday for a year before you can use it" blah blah blah. These ladies show you that composting is very close to idiot proof. Like Vicki West says, it is all gonna rot anyway no matter how much or how little you put in. I also thought it was so funny that 2 of her girls are barefoot throughout the dvd. Shoes are a hard thing to keep on my girl, too!
Watch this dvd and you will be inspired to garden, too!

Our School Schedule

It is almost that time again. Yes, we will be starting our homeschooling again next Monday, the 13th. What is it about the beginning of school that gets me all into my organizational mode?? I love all the planning and the schedule making. Sometimes, we even FOLLOW the schedule! I thought I would post our TENTATIVE school schedule so you could see how we do it here.

7 am     Twin's wake up, get dressed. Take dogs out and feed them, feed cats and let chickens out of
             the coop and take care of personal hygiene (brush teeth, hair, etc)
8 am     Start personal chores such as making beds, bringing dirty clothes to laundry room, 
            straighten up rooms. Eat breakfast.
9-9:30  Bible Time-they read independently the whole time.

9:30-
   11:30 School Lessons

11:30-
    1 pm  Lunch, clean up, quiet time

1-3         Finish Lessons
3-4         Each one practices piano for 30 minutes while the other finishes projects or has free time
4-6:30   Afternoon chores (Not many now but will increase once we get more farm animals)
              Free time.
6:30-
    7:30  Dinner and dishes
7:30-8   Showers
8-9        Family tv time (will probably be family swim time until it gets cool out so showers will
             get done afterwards)
9 pm     Bed time

Now, will our days look like this all the time? Uh, no. I am hoping that they will loosely resemble this schedule more often than not. As we actually get going, we will alter the schedule and change things that don't work but isn't that one of the great things about homeschooling? Our schedule is configured for OUR family, not a whole school district! We can change things to suit what we are doing at the time without having to get permission from anyone. I love that!!!! Not to mention that I know exactly what my kids are learning because I am right there teaching them. I really don't know why I didn't start homeschooling from the beginning but I have done it since 4th grade (they are starting 7th this year) and I would highly recommend this to ALL parents. Plus, look at how much time I get to spend with my kids. This is time that I will never have again so I am taking full advantage of it!

Review-Homestead Blessings-The Art of Herbs

Sad, sad day....I watched the last of my Homestead Blessings dvd's :(  Of course I can always re-watch them and I definitely will, but it just isn't the same. I really wish they would do more dvd's. Anyway, this one was really good. See, I really want to grow herbs but I really just don't know much about them. After watching this video, I feel pretty sure it is something I can and will do. I just have to say that the West's gardens are glorious!! Nothing fancy, just simple raised beds and rows but it just looks so inviting. This dvd was filmed in their herb garden and they show you the herbs that they grow and give you tips about growing, harvesting and preserving them. They do a section on making herb butters, herb vinegars and an herb tonic. They also show an extremely simple way to make herbal teas. I honestly had no idea it was so easy! I like that they use herbs, not only for cooking, but for medicinal purposes too. I would much rather use herbs that have centuries worth of history of working then use some man made chemical concoction that could harm me or my family more than it could help. Another thing I loved about this dvd is that it gave me some wonderful ideas for Christmas gifts this year. Eventually, we would like our Christmases to be almost completely homemade. Most of the dvd's in this collection suggest things you could make as gifts that would be so wonderful to give family and friends.
Even though this is the last dvd that I had to watch, I still have some more to do reviews on. Guess I will just have to watch them again to, you know, get them fresh in my mind!

Random Things Around the Farm

I was going through some photos on my computer and I thought I would share some. No particular reason, just wanted to share. Hope you enjoy!

Hubby and I were mowing the grass together one evening. I was in Big Green (the tractor) and he was zipping around on Mini Green (our new 0 turn radius mower). We were both mowing in the same section and when I turned and came back for another pass, I saw he mowed a heart in the grass for me. What a sweetie! Of course I had my phone with me so I snapped a pic of his sweetness!!

A few days later, I was mowing around some of the pecan trees in the pasture and everytime I passed by this little fella (a baby bluejay I believe) he would watch me, then promply close his eyes when I passed by. After a few passes, he decided I was making entirely too much noise so he hopped away to find someplace quieter to nap.

This is my pathetic attempt at growing carrots. Yes folks, this is supposed to be a carrot. We have very dense clay soil and I bought seeds specifically for clay soils but this is what all of them look like. The only thing worse than my carrot growing abilities is my photography of said carrots!

This is my dog Lilly. She knows she is not supposed to be on the bed but I caught her one morning when I was going to make the bed. She stuck her head under the pillow as soon as I walked in. Bad doggie!!!

I don't even remember what month I took this in. Probably May or maybe beginning of June. Whenever it was, it was the LAST nice morning we had. I was enjoying a nice hot cup of coffee on the porch and it was so beautiful out. Now I have to enjoy my hot coffee sitting in front of a fan so I don't melt! (If you look closely, you can see the tan line on my ankles! Farmer tan for legs!)

This was the only thing I found beautiful at Walmart that day!

Well, there you have it. Just some pics I had in the ole computer.

Review-Homestead Blessings-The Art of Sewing

Growing up, no one I knew could sew. When I was in my early teens, the bug bit me and I set out to teach myself. This was back in the olden days. You know, before the internet! I hung out at our local Ben Franklin store and oogled the patterns, sewing notions and fabrics. When I was about 15, my mom bought me my first sewing machine. I was in love. I had the darndest time trying to figure it out but I kept on trying. I never really produced anything more than a pillow, I think. It has only been in the last 5-6 years that I have really learned how to use that sewing machine (yes, I still have it and it runs beautifully). Even though I haven't turned out any clothing, other than an old fashioned prairie dress for my daughter when she was in 1st grade and needed a costume, I can whip up some curtains or aprons in no time flat! I really want to learn how to do more. My daughter wants to learn how to make some skirts and I would love to do some quilting. This particular dvd really makes sewing look quite easy. I love how they explain everything they are doing and give you tips to make things go easier. They start off showing you how to make a pillow, pillowcase and blanket for a doll. If you have daughters or granddaughters, this is an awesome skill to possess! Then they move on to making an adorable blanket that is kind of quilt-like. Then it is on to skirts and tops. All along the way, you get to see step-by-step what they are doing and talking about. I love that they are so joyful in sharing this skill that, again, is obvious they have grown up doing. We have lost such an appreciation for the home arts, relegating them to simple drudgery that must be done. I prefer to think of these skills as the necessary tools that I need to have in order to be good at my "job" which is taking care of my home and family. Why do some people look down on that???? Anyway, this is just another wonderful dvd that I have found so informative. If you are a seasoned seamstress, there probably isn't much you will glean from it but, if you're like me and don't have a firm foundation in sewing, this is something that you will find helpful. One thing they show you that I never thought about was transferring patterns (you know, those tissue paper ones that are almost impossible to use without ripping!)to fabric if you are going to be using them quite a bit. The fabric pattern can then be pinned or even just stuck to the fabric you are cutting out depending on what type of fabric you are using. I really enjoy watching these dvd's (and rewatching them) and I know you will too.

Happenings on the Homestead

Things are pretty busy around here (aren't they always?!). This heat has been deadly, literally. I lost my 2nd chicken to the heat last weekend. We are doing everything we can to keep them cool. We fill the waterers daily and put frozen water bottles in them to keep the water cold (sometimes several times a day). I leave the big door on the coop open all day so the breeze (I loosely use this term!) blows completely through it and I turn on a sprinkler that pumps out 58 degree water. The chickens don't necessarily like the sprinkler while it is on but they love sloshing around in the water when I turn it off. Even through all of that, we have lost 2 of them. Two of my better layers at that! This is a hard part of homesteading, losing that which you have nurtured since it was born. But life goes on and so does the work. Speaking of chickens, we had our first snake in this chicken coop the other night. The kids went out to close up the coop for the night and collect the eggs when they came roaring back into the house screaming about a snake. Apparently, my son opened the egg collection hatch and was about to stick his hand into the laying boxes and a very large chicken snake was already in there consuming eggs. Little man is NOT crazy about snakes so he came and got us for that task. Snakes don't really bother me. Frogs terrify me but snakes fascinate me. Hubby told me to get his gun and I started thinking "He's not REALLY going to fire that thing in the chicken coop, is he?" Thankfully, he was going to fire it AFTER we got the snake onto the ground outside but things didn't really go as planned. Mr. Snake wasn't really interested in leaving his stash of eggs so hubs took the shovel to him in the laying box. It was pretty hard to manuver around because the shovel was almost as wide as the box but after a few strikes, he got the job done. When he pulled the snake out, it was about 3 1/2 feet long and quite fat. Needless to say, we only got 4 eggs that day. The kids have been pretty reluctant to go back to the coop but we are trying to teach them that snakes are just a part of homesteading and that they still need to do their jobs. They are, however, collecting the eggs while it is still very light outside so there are no more at-dusk surprises!

Like I said, the heat here has been awful so hubby and I purchased a solution. A pool! It is just an above ground one but it is huge!

Here is the hole that was dug and filled with sand to make the bottom level. The truck in the background is the installers on their way tour house.

Here, they have put down the bottom rail that will hold the sides up.

The sides are up, yay!!!! These are the 2 installers. Poor guys, it was sooooooo hot, I was worried they would fall out with heat stroke or something. You can see they put our sprinkler in the pool to help keep them cool.

Liner is in!

Top rail is on and it's time for water.
It took 2 days to fill this thing up. I felt so guilty about using so much water but it is just too hot to feel guilty for too long!

The finished product! All filled and ready for swimming! We plotted out where we want the deck to go and priced it yesterday....OUCH!!! Apparently, our tastes are a bit expensive! We had planned to do it ourselves but hubby is super busy with work and we want it to get done ASAP so we aren't tracking a ton of dirt into the pool everytime we get in.  We have 2 people coming to give us a price for them to do it but if it is too much, looks like we will have a weeks' worth of late nights working on it ourselves. We don't want to spend too much money because we have a vacation coming up in September and we need to make sure we don't touch any of that money that has been set aside.

Along with the end of July comes planning for the beginning of school. I have been making out some schedules for the kids (and me) for when we "officially" begin school on August 13th. Like all homeschoolers though, learning goes on each and every day, but we tend to be a bit more relaxed for a month or two in the summer. I have already ordered their cirriculum and I am just waiting for it to get here. We use Switched On Schoolhouse. We love it. The lessons are challenging, they have lots of different electives we can add on to our base courses and there is very minimal grading that has to be done by me. THAT is a good thing! The program keeps track of all grades and even attendance (for our state compliance). I just print out report cards to keep for their files and we're all good. I can access their grades at all times and I can even see how long it took them to do lessons, quizzes and tests. We usually do the lessons together, though, so I can make sure that they are getting a good grasp of the material and we practice their reading aloud by having them alternate reading paragraphs in the lesson. I know some people think that we need workbooks and textbooks to be really learning but I find that my kids are learning a great deal (dare I say MORE than their friends in conventional school). And, like I said before, learning takes place each and every day. I truly love homeschooling and I pray that I never have to send them to school outside the home. This is where they belong and so do I.

Review-Homestead Blessings-The Art of Dairy Delights

I have to state, up front, that I am not a fan of milk. Or yogurt. Or a lot of cheese. However, I truly enjoyed watching this dvd. Someday, sooner rather than later, I would like to get a dairy cow. I have done a ton of research and I have a friend who lives in Maine that owns a dairy farm (lots of free advice and tips!) so I feel fairly confident that I could do this. I may even decide I like raw milk. Who knows? Anyway, my kids LOVE milk and we go through a ton of it but I really don't think the milk bought in grocery stores is all that healthy. I have been researching milk for quite some time now and have decided that, for our family, raw is a better fit for us. Plus, it will be one more thing that I won't need to depend on a grocery store for.
Now, for the dvd review. This was a wonderful and informative video. They use milk from their cow (and even show you how they milk it) to make all sorts of yummy creations such as butter (flavored ones too), yogurt, cheese and ice cream. They make it all look so easy! I can't wait to try the yogurt. Even though I don't really like the taste of yogurt, the twins and hubby could eat it all day, everyday. When you buy it from the store it can get a bit expensive plus you have no control over what the manufacturer slips into it. When you make it yourself, you control the ingredients, the texture and tartness. I also like how they use a standard cooler to "cook" their yogurt. No need to buy any fancy yogurt maker. You use what you have.
Since we use butter for almost all the cooking we do, we go through a lot and it ain't cheap at the store. Organic butter at our Kroger is $4+ a pound. The regular butter is $2.50 a pound. I am trying to buy as much organic as I can but it can get really pricey, really fast so making it ourselves will save money. I have also heard that the price on all things dairy and beefy will skyrocket by the end of the year so every little thing we can do one our own will benefit our bottom line. These dvd's teach you how to be self reliant and provide for yourself and your family. Who couldn't use that? Plus, they show you a family working together to achieve a common goal. That is something that I want for my family.