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Busy Times

Drew decided out of the blue that he wanted a pet in the house. I thought we were finally past that and even though I sometimes missed having a four legged critter around, the work entailed kept me from not missing it too much! Then all of a sudden Drew started asking again. His choices, a hamster, a fish or a kitten. I said no to a fish. Cleaning out a fish tank is not my idea of fun! A hamster only lives for a very short time. And we had this beautiful little kitten living outside already. Plus, mice control! So, we now have Milkweed inside. Millie for short. Milkweed is one of five that we brought home from my folks’ to raise as their momma disappeared. We bottle fed them all. One didn’t make it, two disappeared and unfortunately Drew ran over one with the Mule. A hard lesson for him but he pays a lot more attention now when he’s driving something. So now I’m busy with a kitten in the house. Oh the messes she makes. Especially when I forget to put my threads away for the night.

Peace Be To This House – designed to be a Christmas ornament but I love it so much I plan to frame it. It’s teeny tiny – stitched on 40 ct and so very sweet.

A sampler I stitched years ago and decided to finally frame. Simple Joys, Simple Life.

Sweet little freebies from Pinker n Punkin Quilting. Perfect for ornaments for the kids. Now to decide on how to finish them.

Which leads to stitching! I’m always busy stitching! I’ve framed a few that I dug out of my finished pile to enjoy and I’ve stitched some new things. I am caught up on orders which is a great feeling. Now to work on the kids’ ornaments for last year and this year. And maybe get a jump on next year’s too!

Making gifts for birthdays and Christmas is keeping me busy too. I made two sets of these Advent Christmas ornaments. One for the grandkids and one for Drew. We’re all ready for December 1st!

I’ve cleaned out my bedroom closet and have a pile of clothes that no longer fit. Now to decide whether to keep them or give them away. I don’t plan to gain weight again but I’m still a little leary of getting rid of them all. And Drew and I cleaned and organized the bathroom cupboards. I have this goal of getting each room picked up and organized. Unfortunately neat and tidy is extremely hard for me! But I’m working on it!

This past weekend we had beautiful weather and decided to take advantage of it and spend time at my folks’ cutting down trees and splitting wood. For some reason I always dread the thought of this but once we get started, it’s work that I really enjoy. Their timbers were destroyed after the storm that went through earlier this year and Dad has been wanting to get some of the downed trees taken care of so that’s what we worked on. Some of the trees were already down, some needed to come down. Joe did most of the downing and cutting while I used the splitter to split the logs and Mom, Dad and Drew stacked the logs on the trailer. We were all tired by the time we were finished last night, and cold too as the wind had picked up and the temperature dropped, but it was such a great feeling to have gotten so much accomplished! And boy did I sleep good!

Drew and Rambler took a nap while waiting for the work to get started!

The garden is cleaned off and put to rest for the winter. The chickens have been cleaned out and bedded down for cold weather. The flowers are all sleeping. I love this time of year. I love all the seasons and am thankful I live where we get to enjoy each one. But I love this season the best. I enjoy the darker days and the time we are able to spend slowing down. A time for lamps and soft light and blankets to cuddle up in. I look forward to the holidays but even more, I look forward to that time after the holidays. It’s almost like we’re being given permission to settle in for a time. To be calm and quiet. To reflect on what has passed and to get ready for the what is to come. It’s my favorite time of the year.

I’m Blessed

Long story here! Earlier this spring I got caught up in buying baby chicks. I knew we were needing a few more as some of our original flock is getting old and they aren’t laying anymore. But, I got a little out of hand and ended up with more chicks than our little coop could hold. Who could blame me, those little chicks are just so darn cute! And there were so many different kinds to choose from! And everywhere we went there were these little babies needing to be brought home! Unfortunately, about the time we were looking to buy or build a new coop, the price of lumber skyrocketed and we were not sure what we were going to do. Then Joe’s brother came to the rescue. He had this little building that he had originally built to be a playhouse for his girls. Well, he never got around to finishing it, the girls are grown and have families of their own, and he really just needed the building to be gone.

So off to Coon Rapids we went, Joe, Don and my dad tore the building down into pieces, and we hauled it home. Then Joe and Drew got to work. I couldn’t for the life of me see what Joe saw as far as how he was going to put this back together and attach it to his shop but I knew he knew what he was doing. He put the walls back together and changed the roofline. Then he moved the whole thing to the side of the shop. Drew loved that part – he was the one who got to drive the 4-wheeler and pull the building!

Then the work began. We used as much lumber as we could salvage from our woodpile but had to purchase windows, flooring and steel. But even at that, it didn’t cost us a fraction of what a new building would have cost.

The girls have been in it all summer. They love it and I love it. Choring is so much easier now. And gathering eggs is so much easier. And it will be so nice this winter to be able to go inside a building to chore and the girls won’t have to go outside if they don’t want to as I their feed and water will be inside. I loved the little prefab coop we originally had. It served its purpose well. And we still use it to house a chicken that the others pick on. But this big coop is just perfect. And then, over the weekend, Joe did this:

He added this sweet little porch. I just love it! It is so darn cute! I am so blessed to have a husband who knows me and what will make me happy! I love my silly chickens, I love having eggs to give to others and I love my sweet little chicken coop. And so do my chickens!

That’s Eloise in white! And I think Matthew the Rooster is to the left. They aren’t all named but there’s always those few special souls that stand out from the crowd!

Quiet Places

We who live in quiet places have the opportunity to become acquainted with ourselves, to think our own thoughts and live our own lives in a way that is not possible for those keeping up with the crowd.

By Laura Ingalls Wilder

I’ve walked this lane so very many times and in all season. By myself, with family, and with many different dogs throughout the years, a cat or two, herding sheep, leading a horse, riding a horse . . .

We had a hectic couple of weeks again. A family camping trip (post to come), Joe was under the weather, babysitting the grandkids, helping Dad and Mom. I was starting to get overwhelmed again. Then this morning, while we were at Dad and Mom’s, I stole away for a walk down to the timber.

This little timber has been my happy place for oh so many years. Just a quick walk through the trees and I always feels so much better. Now that there is no livestock down here, the trees and grasses and wildflowers are taking over again and that makes my heart happy!

The beans are turning and look so pretty.

I love the above quote by Laura Ingalls Wilder and I’m working more and more towards living in a quiet place. I want to just be home and have my handful of acres be my quiet place where I don’t have to worry about keeping up with the crowd. And of course, I’ll head over to the timber too when I need to really unwind!

My tree – I always have to visit this majestic old cottonwood.

Weaving

Remember weaving potholders as a child? I always thought it was so much fun. And then those potholders never got used! They were so small and they would melt if they got hot. They got shoved into the back of a kitchen drawer. I don’t even know what happened to those potholders I used to make.

I do remember enjoying the process of making them though. Such a simple thing – weaving over and under, over and under and watching the pattern unfold. It’s a calming process. Kind of like cross stitch I guess. Simple, repetitive actions that slowly turn into these beautiful pieces of art.

This one is made with wool loops dyed with goldenrod. It is not near as vibrant as the pictures show. More muted shades of golds and greens. It is absolutely stunning. And to think something as simple and plentiful as goldenrod was used.

I ran across an advertisement the other day and was intrigued. The same process from when I was a child only using a nice metal loom and colorful cotton loops. And all of these beautiful patterns to try. A finished product that you could actually use. So I decided to give it a try.

This one was made using wool loops dyed with walnuts. Probably my favorite so far.

And then, I discovered these naturally dyed loops. And the loops are wool. Oh my goodness. I love, love the idea of all natural. So much fun to see what you end up with. No two loops look the exact same color. So very very prim – just my style! And you can buy natural, undyed loops. Maybe I will give dying a try one of these days!

This one was made with cotton loops. Drew picked out the colors and the pattern. It think it turned out beautiful!

I love the bigger loom and the bigger size potholder. They are nice and thick and will be perfect for those hot dishes that come out of the oven. No worries about the countertop or worries over the potholder melting. Now I need to try to dig out my old smaller loom so I can make smaller potholders. I think they would work great for coffee and tea mug rugs!

This one was made with cotton loops. It is just so perfectly fit for Fall!

I can’t get Drew interested in making them. He thinks it looks boring. But he did enjoy picking out colors and a pattern for me to make one! I’m addicted to all the different patterns and designs. It’s just fun to sit down and put some colors together and see what you come up with. Or follow a pattern and try using different colors and seeing how different each one comes out. I want to try all the patterns and all the colors! But I definitely don’t need all the potholders!

August Storm

Last Thursday brought us an overnight storm that was quite the ride. We were all in bed and almost asleep when the wind picked up and we could hear things blowing around. Then the rain started in, along with hail. We knew it wasn’t going to be good.

We were lucky and didn’t have anything too major as far as damage at our place. We had tree limbs down, the trampoline was blown completely away and Drew’s swing set toppled over yet again. Compared to many others, we were very lucky. We spent all day Friday at my folks’ place cleaning up their damage. They had trees down, facia missing from the house and their canopy where they park their camper was destroyed. They had a vent blow off the camper and a little water inside but Joe fixed that right away. My Uncle Jerry came and helped out and we got their yard all tidied up. Their neighbors weren’t so lucky. They had a brand new 5th wheel camper that rolled and was completely destroyed and on up the road there were grain bins destroyed. Crops were flattened, roofs were missing, many many trees down all around. A tree fell on the roof of a friend’s house and left a hole. But nobody injured or lives lost. So, when you look at the big picture, things really aren’t that bad.

We didn’t have homeschool on Friday as Drew helped out with cleanup. We headed over to Dad and Mom’s to assess the damage then came home and put on our work clothes and gathered the tools we would need. In the meantime, a neighbor stopped by and Joe and Drew went with him to help with a tree limb that was down on a power line. Then over to spend the day at Dad and Mom’s where Drew pitched in. His favorite task was dragging tree limbs down to the burn pile using the Mule.

Saturday was spent at home where we cleaned up our yard. Dad and Mom came and helped. The swing set was righted and repaired. We’ll have to purchase a board to finish up that process. Tree limbs were drug to the burn pile, the yard was raked, the patio and deck were cleaned up. The worst part at our place was the amount of dead birds we found, everywhere. They were mostly sparrows. I have never seen so many dead birds after a storm. Joe figured he raked up at least 20 from under the oak trees alone. Very sad.

Then on Sunday a neighbor came over and asked if he could have Drew for the day. They went to the cemetery down the road and did clean up there and then did more clean up at his property at the end of our gravel road. Our road ends in a dead end and the neighbor has property at the bottom where he has a couple of cabins on the river and he had lots of tree limbs down. Joe and I ended up down there later and helped them finish up. Then we sat in his screened in porch and visited for awhile. It was nice to catch up.

All in all it was a very busy and exhausting three days. We didn’t get anything done we had planned for the weekend as clean up was first priority. And it was a great learning experience for Drew as he got to witness first hand family, friends and neighbors pulling together to help each other out during a time of need.

Appreciating Home

An evening stroll down to the pumpkin patch.

We’ve been on the go for the past few weeks. Camping takes its toll on me. I love it but we camped two weekends in a row, one trip was three hours away, the other trip was closer to home but was unplanned. Planning, packing, getting everything ready, is a lot of work. Then this past week has been taking care of grandkids, spending a day with the homeschool group, going on a road trip Wednesday for our anniversary, then back to watching the grandkids. Another road trip on Saturday to spend the day with Joe’s sister and brother in law. Don’t get me wrong, these are all things that I thoroughly enjoy. And I am thankful I am able to do them. And yet, when we run like this, so many important things suffer.

When the flowers were blooming before it got so hot and dry here.

As I was outside doing some watering I realized how I’ve spent the past however many days running from one thing to the other and not being able to give anything here at home the attention it needs. The flowers are getting watered whenever I can fit them in. The chores get done of course – the animals always get fed and watered, but there’s no time to enjoy them. Since we’re needing rain badly the garden is pretty much done but what little is left hasn’t been harvested and taken care of in a timely fashion. And the house is a disaster.

This little one needed some extra attention as it wasn’t ready to drink from a bowl as fast as its siblings

I get clothes washed, and hung on the line, folded and then it sits in the basket. I’ve had clean clothes sitting in the dryer for days. I have dishes in the sink that need washed. The floors need swept and vacuumed so very badly. And there’s stuff everywhere. We get home, drop things here and there, then leave again. Oh yes, for the past week we’ve been bottle feeding five baby kittens that lost their mama and that has been a challenge. But this week is finally different. Joe is gone for work, I have a doctor’s appointment tomorrow morning in town and that is it. No running. Even next weekend is free from any type of schedule. Of course it starts back up again after that. We have three camping trips planned for September.

Drew got bored while the adults were chatting so he climbed a tree!

Being on the run like this reminds me of how precious spending time at home really is. I look back at all the years I worked full time outside of the home and all the years of running kids to school and sports and band and 4-H, etc. We did all the things we thought we were supposed to do. Everything everybody else we knew was doing. I knew somewhere deep inside that it wasn’t what we wanted or needed but it was expected. I don’t do well with constantly being on the go. I tend to shut down eventually. And I find that I don’t really enjoy anything. I can’t live in the moment when I’m constantly thinking about what we will be doing next and how I will get everything done that needs to be done. Then when I do have a little free time, that time is spent putting everything back in order just so that we can go again.

While the homeschool moms chatted, the kids went on a hike and found a great place to play. Drew insisted I hike with him after everybody left so I could see the “house” they built!

I see so many people on this path. And if it works for them, that is great. It just doesn’t work for me. When I think back to how much running we did with our kids when they were young and then I talk to younger parents today and they talk about all that their kids do, it just exhausts me. And it has to exhaust those kids. There is no such thing as a break between extracurricular activities in today’s world. One thing overlaps into the next and on and on. They travel everywhere, in state, out of state, every weekend, week after week after week. Where is the quality family time in all of this? That time of simply being with each other with no other agenda besides living in the moment and enjoying each other’s company? When you get caught up in all of this you don’t see what you may be missing. I try more and more to not be on the go all of the time. I know now that I really just need to be home.

Happy at Home

This has been a busy week at work for Joe. He’s been leaving the house early in the morning, taking his coffee to go, and getting home late in the evening, long after supper. Sunday evening when we were talking abut the week to come, he asked if I was going to need to go anywhere this week. I said I did need to get to the store to get supplies needed for our camping trip and to get chicken feed but I was flexible on when I would need to go. He asked if I could wait until Thursday morning. He would be home on Thursday. The back of the pickup is loaded from last weekend’s camping trip and he really didn’t want to unload everything for me to take the truck to town if he didn’t have to. I was fine with that. The only downside to me having to stay home is the longer I’m home without going anywhere at all, the harder it is to get me to leave. I’m just happy to stay home.

This has been a busy week for me even though I haven’t gone anywhere. The tomatoes have kept me busy! I canned another 9 pints of salsa yesterday. I think that makes 38 pints, and that’s not counting however many Abby has taken home. She’s come over twice to learn how to can. And I’ve dehydrated twice. I’m trying dehydrating the cherry tomatoes, then using the food processor to turn them into a powder. I can use that powder in soups and stews this winter or to make tomato paste and sauce. I decided it was time to dig out the vacuum sealer and see if I could figure it out and I now have two bags of vacuum sealed tomato powder.

I’m planning to chop up more tomatoes today and put them in quart bags to freeze. Any time I need a can of diced tomatoes for a recipe I’ll just pull a bag out of the freezer. If I have this stuff on hand, I don’t have to worry in the winter if there’s a big storm or if Joe is gone and I don’t want to have to go to town. I can go to my pantry or freezer for what I need! That makes me happy!

I also froze four more quarts of corn. On a sad note, when we checked our sweet corn Sunday evening we discovered that either racoon or deer had gotten every single ear. To say I was unhappy would be an understatement. I fed the rabbits well this spring as they got all of my cabbage plants and all of my carrots and kohlrabi. I’m definitely going to have to figure out how to fence in the garden next spring to keep those pesky rabbits away. And now the corn is gone. I was blessed to have a neighbor drop off some corn so we’ve had fresh corn on the cob and I’ve been able to freeze 9 quart bags but that’s not near what I was planning to have in the freezer. But, it’s better than none at all!

This morning Drew asked if we could start school. I love that he asked! So, we dug out the new math program and jumped in! My original plan was to spend this week getting everything organized and ready so we could officially start next week. Then an impromptu camping trip camp up for this weekend, Thursday evening through Sunday, and having to keep the grandkids three days next week to help Abby out seems to have pushed that starting date back. I guess we’ll do what we can when we can and officially start a little later. But, just knowing that Drew is asking makes me happy!

And so I’ll spend the rest of today chopping and freezing those tomatoes, making cucumbers and onions with the last of the cucumbers from the garden, and making out my shopping list and menu for the long weekend coming up. Oh, and packing up our clothes and everything we need in the camper that can be packed early. Abby asked if I could bring the dehydrator so she could dehydrate her abundance of cherry tomatoes at the campground. That makes me happy too, knowing that she’s starting to have an interest in gardening and food preservation.

Oh yes, I can’t forget the laundry hanging on the line that needs to be folded and brought in. And we watched our chrysalis turn into a Monarch this morning. The eggs need gathered and the chickens need to be fed and watered along with Rambler and the kitties. And of course I have to fit stitching in somewhere as I have orders I’m working on. There is always always something to do. And doing these things makes being home a happy place to be!

I just can’t decide which I like better – the zinnias or the cosmos. So I brought some of both into the house to enjoy!

“A home is for functionality. Not a show place.”

I read these words today and they resonated with me. Now, I would never say my home is a show place. It’s just a simple, little, very old house. It has rooms and they all have four walls – no open floor plan here. It has cracked plaster and worn floors. It’s been added onto and I have to be honest, the addition was not done well. The original part of the house, the over 100 year old part, is built to last. The addition, which was put on long before we bought it, was not. The floorplan is wonky. When we had it appraised years ago, the appraiser said the floorplan was odd but works. When we bought this place, 31 years ago, I didn’t really want it. The only positive for me was it was in the country. And it wasn’t going to be our forever home. And yet, 31 years later, here we are. And this is home. I’ve grown to love this little house.

Drew had been gone visiting my sister for a few days so my little kitchen table was pretty and neat with a vase of flowers sitting in the center. He was home for maybe a 1/2 hour and this is what it looks like now! He did leave the vase of flowers for me to enjoy too!

I’ve raised four kids in this little three bedroom/one bathroom house. We’ve eaten countless meals and played countless games at the dining room table. We’ve spent countless hours sitting in the living room talking and just being. I’d hate to guess how much time I’ve spent in the kitchen cooking and doing dishes. When you live in a little house with that many people, if you’re truly living, you really can’t have a showplace in the sense that you have a beautiful, spotless home with everything perfectly in place. Just the opposite. Even when you’ve spent hours cleaning and picking up, there will still be a mound of shoes at the backdoor, eggs in a basket on the kitchen counter, piles of books and toys scattered here and there, a project started and not yet finished on the dining room table. And that is how it should be. A comfortable place to just be. To live. To function.

My dining room table right now. They just keep coming! And I just keep trying to keep up!

We used to entertain here quite a bit. When the older kids were younger and our group of friends also had kids, we would have people out. The kids would play together in the bedrooms and the adults would play games and cards at the dining room table. We had lots of fun. That slowly changed over the years. As the kids got older and involved in extracurricular things, our time was spent with our friends at these functions. Then the kids grew up and moved out. Now entertaining means the kids come over to visit. And bring the grandkids. And this little house pretty much stays the same. We’ve done some improvements here and there and there’s many more that need to be done. But for the most part, it’s stayed the same. It’s home. It’s lived in and loved. It functions. Not as a showplace but as a home. And that makes me happy.

A Simple Day

After days of hot and humid weather, the kind that make it miserable to be outside for any length of time, we finally got a break today! I even have the windows open! Perfect weather for hanging laundry on the line. Joe braved the heat last evening to finish up my clothesline for me – bless his heart! After I finished up the supper dishes I went out and helped. And I went to bed last night knowing I was going to get to hang clothes outside in the morning. I get excited about such crazy things! And today the sky is overcast, there’s a beautiful breeze, the temp is down and the humidity is gone. The chickens are even happy!

And I get to look out the open window and see my laundry dancing in the breeze! I get excited over open windows too. I hate having the house shut up – any chance I get the air gets turned off and the windows get opened. I love hearing the birds chirping and the trees rustling and Gilbert (in the picture above) and Matthew perfecting their cock a doodle doo!

I had wanted to learn to can for years and last summer I finally decided to jump in with both feet and teach myself. I asked for the Bell Canning Book for Christmas, purchased my canning supplies and next thing I knew I had jelly, salsa, applesauce and tomato juice all in jars waiting for winter meals! And now it’s canning season again!

The beginning of the tomato harvest. Now my table is covered with bright red tomatoes!

This year I’m finding that it has already become more “natural” to me. I don’t have to read before doing every step. I’m a lot calmer and I’m really enjoying the process. Last week I put up Canndied Jalapenos. I made them last year and Joe and I loved them. So this year, I’m planning to can a lot more of them. So far I’ve put up 8 jars using my tried and true recipe. But I’ve discovered a different recipe that is Trim Healthy Mama approved so I’m hoping to have enough jalapenos to give it a try. We’re working on eating healthier and we’re really loving the THM plan.

This week it’s been salsa. Abby came over Tuesday and we put up 11 pints. She took half and I kept half. Yesterday I put up 9 more. And it looks like I’ll have enough tomatoes and peppers to hopefully do that many more again! We like to eat salsa plain but I also put it in chili and other things so it’s nice to have it canned and ready. Canning for me is another way of living a more simple life. And there is just so much satisfaction in it. Yes, it’s time consuming. It takes a lot of time to harvest, prep and go through the actual canning process. But at the end of the day, you have all these beautiful jars full of summer goodness just waiting to be opened and enjoyed! And I never get tired of listening to that ping that says all is good! Homegrown, healthy ingredients – we know exactly where everything came from. Another step towards living simple!

And I pulled my onions today. My Mom says to never let the August sun touch your onions so no August sun for these guys! Last year I pulled them, chopped them up and put them in the freezer. This year I’m going to try and dry them and keep them in the basement. I’ve got them in the pergola right now drying. There’s lots of shade here so hopefully they will dry alright. I’ll keep an eye on them. Then when they’re dry, I’ll clean them up. Cut the greens off, trim the roots and dust off the dirt that’s left. Then I’ll put them in an old milk crate and store them in the basement and see how it goes. I want to keep freezer space open for our sweet corn so I’m hoping this will work out fine. It stays cool and dark in the basement during the winter so I’m hoping for good results. Again, another step towards that simple living. And the more I can put away for the winter, the less running to town I’ll have to do and less chance for worry when a winter storm hits!

Dandelions

Drew and I harvested dandelions earlier this spring when they first started popping up. Most people I know think of dandelions as weeds but after sketching them in our Nature Journals and doing some research we decided to make some useful items out of them. We have so so many dandelions in our yard and I love them. They remind me of little drops of sunshine all over the ground! And the bees and the chickens enjoy them too.

I decided to make some dandelion lotion bars out of the fresh blooms. And Drew wanted to try frying some blossoms. The lotion bars turned out so sweet and they work wonderfully. Drew wasn’t a huge fan of the fried blossoms. I kind of winged it and they could have used a little more flavor in the breading but it was still fun to try. We harvested quite a few extra blooms to dry for later use. I want to slowly start adding to my stash of dried naturals to have on hand.

Making use of dandelions was fun and a great way to get outside even though it was still an early chilly spring day. And now Drew will pick me little dandelion bouquets now and then when he’s outside playing!