Review-Homestead Blessings-The Art of Quilting

This is one of my favorites! I have been wanting to learn to quilt for ages now. This dvd gives so many tips, ideas and encouragement that I don't know where to begin. They take you from planning your design (with lots of tips and shortcuts!) to cutting your blocks (again, lots of helpful hints) to piecing them together and assembling them to the quilting, backing and binding part. By the time you follow all the steps, you will have a beautiful, useful, HOMEMADE quilt! They show you everything you need to know to make your very own quilt. There are also segments on making comforters and pot holders, too. Plus, a little bonus project. This is a VERY informative dvd that I am sure I will watch dozens of times to glean everything I can. In one of the bonus features, you even get a peek into an old fashioned quilting bee. I am starting to get the idea that there isn't anything that these ladies cannot do!

Review-Homestead Blessings-The Art of Candle Making

I have yet to come across anyone who doesn't like candles. The glow they give off is so relaxing and, if they are scented, they smell sooooo good. I am a major candle freak. I love to have one burning in the house throughout the day to make things smell nice and who doesn't love candlelit dinners????
This dvd shows you the basics of candle making. They make beautiful tapers among other shapes. One thing I just didn't realize about candle making was just how much wax you need. They have a very large can (maybe a gallon can) filled with melted beeswax and more in another pan heating for replenishing the larger can. The steps for making tapered candles seem very simple. Heat the very large container of beeswax, cut your wick and weight it with a small washer or something then dip in wax. Hang for 30 seconds. Dip again. Hang for 30 seconds. Dip again....See a pattern developing. They couldn't agree on exactly how many dips it took to get the tapers at the right thickness but they all agreed it was a bunch. Once they got them to the right thickness, they twisted some together to make beautiful double candles. Now, I am not sure that you will save any money making these candles but it is a useful skill to have. Later in the video, Vicki shows you how to make ornaments using the wax. This is something you could do and sell or give away as gifts. At the end, Vicki and Jasmine show you a way to make a wax globe that is utterly gorgeous. They use a balloon filled with water and dip it in the wax SEVERAL times. The water in the balloon keeps the balloon from exploding when you dip it in the hot wax. After it is dipped enough, they pop the balloon and you have a beautiful globe that you can either fill with more wax and put a wick in to make a candle or you can leave it hollow and use a tea light in it. Either way, they are fantastic.
If you are a crafty person or just someone who likes to make things yourself, this is a great dvd for you.

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.