Preparing For Winter

My husband is just about the most handy, creative guy I know. Really. He never ceases to amaze me. When things are broken or in need of repair in and around our home it seems he can always fix it. There are very few times we ever have to call a repairman out. You know how much money that saves us?

So, I decided to brag on him a little today. Can you tell what this invention is? I looked out my front window one morning and saw my man outside with this "thing" behind his truck. Out the door we came to see what he had created. This, my dear friends, is a log splitter!

Last winter Monroe borrowed a store bought log splitter from a friend. We use a lot of wood during the winter. It is our main source of heat for our home. We have a large fireplace in our living room that keeps us nice and warm but it surely likes to devour wood. So, using that borrowed log splitter set my hubby's imagination spinning. He had been pondering about building one for a few days because we talked about it several times. Work has been very slow over at the shop so that gave him some extra time to put his thoughts into action.

He used all scrap pieces of metal, parts from a wrecked truck and a lawn mower motor that were of no use at the shop and TAAAH...DAAAH....a log splitter!!

The axe or blade thingy that splits the wood is just a flat piece of metal that he bent and welded together. Then he used a grinder to put the edge on the blade. Pretty nifty don't you think?

The trailer was an old road sign trailer that is used on the highway to hold the flashing signs.

I looked in the Tractor Supply flyer that came this week and they were advertising what else but log splitters! Guess how much they cost???? They cost from $1,000 to $1,800!! Talk about a savings!

It makes me happy to know that my boys can learn from their Dad. They are watching and learning. One day when they are in charge of their own household I hope they will look back and remember all the things their Dad made and repaired at our home. I have a feeling he will be getting some phone calls in the future for some advice which he will not mind at all :-)

They are already excited about the new log splitter because splitting logs is a chore they must take a turn doing during the winter months. Now they just have to stack, stack, stack!

A Summer Re-cap

Summertime always seems to fly by too quickly for me. Before I know it, it is time to hit the books again with my boys. This summer was no different. We worked, we played and we visited friends. We were not able to have a family vacation but we did manage to take a couple of weekend get aways and day trips.

So here is a quick look at some of the highlights of our busy summer.

We bought a pregnant Saanen dairy goat the first of this year and by late spring we had two does born! There is nothing quite like having baby goats. They are so much fun. They can be just as much a pet as a farm animal. Just look at these two! We named them Sugar and Spice. We chose the right name for Spice because she does have a "spicy" attitude ;-)

We learned how to milk a goat, how to prepare the milk and I was very busy finding ways to use all of the wonderful milk we were able to get! I began to hear complaints every time someone opened the refrigerator. "I can't find anything in here for all this milk!" was a common remark.

So I began making yogurt, shown below, and a yummy soft cheese, sour cream, buttermilk and ricotta cheese. Talk about busy!! It was very rewarding though.
I was fortunate to make a trip to the farmer's market with a dear friend. She suggested going along with me for my first "buying experience" and I am so glad she did! It can be very overwhelming. There are so many vendors and they will negotiate with you on their prices! What fun! I bought this box of tomatoes for only $5.00!!! Aren't they beautiful? I had planned to can them but we ended up eating them all fresh. They were so delicious.

I also bought corn from the farmer's market. This was my first attempt at freezing corn. Brooke went in on halves with me so she came over and together we put up creamed corn....whew.....sore fingers and a messy kitchen was our sacrifice. Speaking of messy kitchen, even now, months later, every once in a while a speck of something will catch my eye in the most unusual place in my kitchen and I will wonder, "What in the world is that? Oh, of course, CORN!" Next year this will be a back porch job!!

Our summer garden didn't produce as much as I would have liked but we were able to get a few good pickings of peas. We did get lots of okra. It seems every year we have a good crop of okra that continues producing through the entire summer.

Here is our pea sheller. What a time saver!

There was time for a little R & R. Brooke and I had girls' night out with a couple of friends and we went to see Mary Poppins at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center. We really enjoyed ourselves and this was something that no one else in my family envied me for going to see. This was most definitely a "girl thing" to do, according to all my guys!!

How was your summer?

New Website

I am a proud momma and proud momma's just have to share with the whole world when they are proud of their child/children.....right???

Well my first-born, Brooke, now officially has a website for her photography business and I would like to invite you to go and take a peek if you haven't already done so. I was (am) very impressed but my opinion may be slightly biased! The photo below is just a sample of her work. Here is the link: http://brookescottphotography.com

If you ever find yourself in need of a photographer, please keep her in mind. The Lord is so good and she has been able to stay home with her babies while maintaining a photography business. She is a busy mommy!

Brooke and Brent, my second-born, have worked together on several weddings now. Brent loves photography as well and is currently in college majoring in Communication Arts. Imagine that, two photographers in my family and how long has it been since we have had family pictures taken? Many years ago is the answer to that question!! I guess trying to photograph your own family is probably harder than photographing someone else's family. No matter! I am ready for a family photo session!!

I'm Back

Finally I have time to sit at my computer long enough to gather my thoughts for a blog! Can anyone tell me what happened to the month of August ;-) I seem to have lost it somewhere!
We have been so very busy this summer. I will share the highlights of our summer in the next few blogs.

Haven't my two sweet grandsons grown? They are so much fun!
They have new backpacks and they were so proud so show Nonna!Uh-Oh! Here's trouble! She is too sweet to get into too much trouble. Just ask her Poppa!!

And here is Reese's partner in crime! Oh well, no harm done.

School is back in session in our household. We are beginning our studies this year with the people of the Pacific Ocean and SE Asia. It has been AMAZING thus far. I just love learning along with my boys! Did you know that between the area of West Africa to East Asia live 95 percent of the world's unevangelized?! Eight-four percent of the world's poor live there as well!

What a mission field! This is the basis of study for our school year and I can't wait to dig in. Let me just put in a good word for the wonderful people of Sonlight Curriculum. If you are looking for the BEST of the BEST in home school curriculum look no further! In all my 22 years of home schooling I have never found any other curriculum that measures up to Sonlight! They are a great resouce.

That's all for now. I have a couple of videos from our camp this summer. I am having trouble getting them to post but I am not giving up yet. I hope to have them posted soon. Stay tuned...

Newly Found Treasures

I have to confess something. I have an addiction. I have an addiction for books!! I just love them, old or new it doesn't matter to me. Just ask my children! Anytime we are at a yard sale or thrift store they can always find me in the book section. They have to "talk" me out of that area by reminding me of how many books I already own and where in the world would I put another one! I am blessed to have a school room to home school the boys in and we have a small library in there. I have an antique china cabinet full of antique books. My kitchen cabinet is full of cookbooks and farm books... it's an addiction I tell you! My family is keeping a close eye on me, though. When I stop stocking the pantry with food and start putting more books there I know they will call for some professional help ;-)





I do have a special place in my heart for old books, however. I love to touch them, smell them and imagine what life must have been like in days past. My sweet husband just loves to collect old things. So, you can imagine my excitement when he drove up to the front door recently with a trailer behind his pickup full of old things! Someone called him and wanted their storage building cleaned out. The contents belonged to this person's grandfather who had recently passed away. Monroe didn't have to think twice about it. He would be glad to clean the building out! Some of the belongings were just junk and had to be discarded but packed away in a box was a treasure just for me....OLD BOOKS!! There were other great finds too like a collection of cast iron wear and old ball canning jars. I will blog about those later but I just had to share my "new" books with you.



The Farmstead Magazine is from 1977 and was published in Maine. Hot Weather Dishes was published in 1888 by Mrs. S. T. Rorer!! She writes in the preface: "During the hot weather old housekeepers frequently become embarrassed over the arrangement of seasonable dishes. The Author, feeling this difficulty, sends this little directory as a helpmate to her fellow housewives." Now come on ladies, it doesn't get much better than that!







And just look at this little recipe booklet, copyright 1933, from K. C. Baking Powder!! Priceless!

The red book on the left from the first photo above is a cookbook compiled from the Ladies Aid Society of Grace Methodist Episcopal Church, South Jacksonville, Florida, copyright 1905! On the page for the bread recipe section I found this quote; "But tho' so much of learning had been crammed into her head, she couldn't for the life of her compound a loaf of bread." Ha! Ha! How funny! And the dedication page reads: "To all the housewives and sweethearts throughout the land who are aiming at greater perfection in the art of cooking, this little book is respectfully dedicated." Wow. That is a sobering thought for we women of the twenty-first century! We have lost our "aim" somewhere along the way, ladies.

From the same red book I found some interesting Home Remedies and Household Hints. I must share one remedy with you. It is "Cure For A Felon: A felon may be cured by tying the affected finger in a poultice of pulverized rock salt and turpentine, renewing as the poultice becomes dry. Usually twenty-four hours application of the above will cure the felon."

Are you as confused as I was when I first read this home remedy? What in the world is a felon? I conjured up in my mind a thief that a family caught on their property. They must have brought him into their house, and hanged him up by his finger while applying a painful poultice...tee hee hee. That will teach him!

Luckily, I found out what a felon is by looking in this Webster's New World Dictionary, copyright 1952.
This dictionary was also in with the goodies from the storage building. This is what Webster's definition is for felon- n., a painful, pus-producing infection at the end of a finger or toe, near the nail. Ahhh, now that makes perfect sense and I learned a new word for the day, did you?

Last but not least, a songbook by Bill Monroe. It is dated 1947 and is in fair condition.

I also got several old magazines. I have the perfect place for them, an old, antique trunk Monroe brought home a few years ago. Actually, he brought home two old trunks. Oh, the goodies I found in those trunks.

There were old letters, baby clothes, wool scarves.....well, I better save that for another post. I am sure you have heard enough!

We have been very busy this summer with a camp/ministry our church has been blessed with. We were gone last week to the camp with the youth from our church. It was awesome! I am gathering photos and video to post soon.

Stay tuned...

Date Night

Lately every evening just before dusk, when it cools off outside a little, my hubby and I have been slipping off to a blackberry patch in the pasture behind our house. It has been a nice and quiet time together as we pick and talk. Sometimes, okay most of the time, it is NOT nice and quiet around our home. I love the noise and busyness in our home but if Monroe and I want to have a private conversation it must be planned. I think that is what we found so enjoyable about the blackberry picking. Of course, the extra reward was all the delicious blackberries we got to take home! It wasn't long before our secret getaway was discovered, however. Each evening we would be gone about 30 minutes and then in the distance we could hear a motor getting closer and closer. We would just laugh. It was usually Bryce coming out on the four-wheeler to "help pick".

Notice the beekeeper's gloves. A dear friend told me to use them when blackberry picking and they work perfectly for keeping your arms and hands from being scratched. So, even if you don't keep bees but you go blackberry picking, get yourself a pair of these gloves!

On this particular evening we looked up to find the boys coming out to us on the swamp buggy. This is about how far they got when they bogged down in the mud. It had been raining every day which caused it to get really mucky out back.

Dad to the rescue! They can't fool me though. I know every one of those males love getting stuck and having to get pulled out. I hear them talk of it later. Oh, the excitement in their voices as they relate the story to some other male. It must be a guy-thing! In my opinion, as my boys would say,...."whatev....!" And this is what they got stuck in.

We were also being watched by a small gator. Can you see his head? It is the little dot right in the middle of the picture. We estimated him to be approximately 4 or 5 feet long.

Back to business! Monroe found a clever way to get the berries that were too high to reach. He let down the tailgate of the jeep and backed up into the bushes. This was a great idea and I got a lot of nice, big berries. However, the next evening we went back to the same spot and just before he backed the jeep up into the bushes he spotted a black snake...a big black snake!!...curled around some branches way up high....right where we had been picking!! I thought I was safe being up in the back of a vehicle but noooo! I always watched for snakes down on the ground but never up high until now!!

We have been enjoying blackberry buckle. It is so good with a cup of coffee!

And this blackberry cobbler didn't last long. I almost didn't get a picture of it in time.

I was able to put several bags of berries in the freezer as well. Last summer I made blackberry jam. We still had a few jars left so I decided to just freeze this year's picking. My boys don't like the seeds in the jam so next time I will make jelly with them.

I have had such a busy summer! I have so much more to blog but I always run out of hours in my day. I will try to be more diligent.

And Like A Good Neighbor...

Our little town has changed so much in the past ten years. Being born and raised in this area, I can tell you that it has gone from a small, quaint little community where everyone knew everyone (well almost) to a place where I can be uptown all day and never see a person I know! This can be somewhat depressing to me and some days I really dislike where we live and I allow myself to become discouraged.

Now let me clarify, I absolutely love where the Lord has allowed us to raise our children, out in the country (well, as much "out in the country" as one can get in our town) with lots of room to let four boys roam. This home has truly been a blessing and answer to prayer for us. If I could just pick up my house and move it somewhere that is so far out that, as my dear friend, Kay, would say, " you have to pump sunshine in" that would be the place for me!

Well, one particular morning a few days ago, I was out doing my morning chores and thinking about how things have changed so around here. I was trying to be content but at the same time I was daydreaming about going out to feed our farm animals and then working in my vegetable garden in perfect 72 degree weather while seeing our cows grazing contentedly on the rolling hills of our "property". After being outside a FEW minutes and wiping sweat from my forehead in the humid 95 degree weather, I noticed that I kept hearing someone yelling "Hey, Hey!". The calling would stop and then a few minutes later I would hear it again. I didn't think much of it and just dismissed it as the road crew that had been working out on the highway in front of our house several days earlier. I just assumed that they were back.

While I was in the goat pen, my dear husband suddenly appeared. He was talking on his phone and promptly let the person on the other end know that I was okay. He then explained to me that our neighbor that lives across the pasture that is behind our house (it is probably 4 or 5 acres across) heard someone yelling and called my hubby to make sure that we were okay. See the tin roof in the middle of this picture? That is his barn. He had pulled his truck all the way up to the edge of the pond that is in his backyard and had his binoculars out looking to make sure we were all safe. That is when I felt the Lord gently reminding me that He had provided this place for us and that He is still in control. I was feeling pretty humbled when suddenly I remembered our other precious neighbor, a.k.a. the gardening guru. He is an elderly gentleman and like a second grandfather to my boys. He lives next door to us and Monroe has seen him fall out in his garden and rescued him on more than one occasion. This is where he lives. Note the rows of corn..beautiful garden ;-)

"Quick, call Mr. Willie's house and make sure he has not fallen out in the garden!" I said. My hubby didn't wait to make a call but ran down the fenceline and through the little gate we put in for visiting. He went down the garden rows looking but thankfully, our dear neighbor was inside his house.

Next, Monroe called our neighbor across the highway. They have a farm with many animals and citrus groves. After talking to this neighbor our mystery voice was solved and no one was needing help. It turns out that this neighbor was yelling at his hunting dogs! I'm not sure what he was trying to get them to do, or not do, but he had stirred up all of his neighbors in the process!

Now this may seem like an unimportant story to you but for me it was huge! I felt like the Lord knew I needed to be reminded of His perfect will and peace. It is not unusual for us to hear police sirens going by in front of our house day and night several times a week, sometimes several times a day. This is not the same neighborhood!

However, I am keeping my trust in Him. I love Psalm 91! It is about God's protection over His own. Yep, been reading that over and over lately!!

I just had to share one more picture. Each morning when I go out to feed the goats all of our cows are standing outside the goat pen with a pitiful look on their faces. They stand around patiently waiting. Then when they hear the grain hitting the bottom of the goat's feed bucket they can take it no longer! This is what I see almost every morning. A big snout sticking through the fence and this long tongue just barely able to reach a few pieces of grain, but oh how delicious it must be. So, I must assume that not only is the grass greener on the other side of the fence but the feed must be better too! What a hoot!! Have a blessed day!!