On Tuesday I went to have my quiet time and was slowly amazed at how the Lord reveals things to me.  Even days later, I am still thinking about this, meditating on the truth of it.

In "My Utmost for His Highest",  Worship, was the topic.

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I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas!  I am amazed at how one week of vacation from daycare has made me SO ready to get back in the swing of things!  I'm very excited for school to begin again, and I am busy trying to create some fun activities for the new school year.

I spent  yesterday cleaning up the school/craft/office room in our house, and that always makes me excited.  I also put black beans to soak so I can make taco soup today.  It's one of our new favorites! 

I'm very ready to nail down reading with my dd in the next couple of months.  I have found that she really loves the "Mandie" book series and have been reading them at night to her and ds.  But I'd love to see her reading on her own.  She is really struggling putting all the pieces together.  We did schedule a eye appointment for today, just to make sure.  She passed one last year, but it was one done just by our doctor, and I want to make sure there is nothing wrong with her eyes. 

I look forward to working really hard at my violin also.  One of my goals for the year is really getting better at playing.  I love playing it, it's just finding the time to do it! 

My husband and I are coming up with three "goals" that we want to work on this year.  I know one of mine will be consistently working out.  We both are around 50 lbs. overweight, and we both are HORRIBLE at keeping each other accountable.  But we are also seeing the effects of not setting a good example.  I have HORRIBLE follow through, so sometimes what sounds like a good idea often fizzles after a week or so.  So I want to really change things for our whole family.  Alot of the little things I've done I've stuck with so far (for about 6 months)  but excersise is just not sticking. But dh is finally on board with me. 

Hope everyone has a wonderful day!

Amy

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I LOVE Fall!  I am so thankful for the lady who planted these sugar maple trees in the backyard.  They are so beautiful.  The kids and I collected some leaves yesterday, and we will probably make leaf turkeys for a craft.  They also took some and make "field guides" with them for school. I'm slowly using more of a Charlotte Mason method with school instead of the hard core paperwork at a table all day.  We just finished Swiss Family Robinson, and got to watch the movie yesterday.  My good friend gave me some wonderful lesson plan sheets to help me keep track of my day and they make all the difference! I love watching my children learning, and soaking up knowledge.  I love giving them the tools for it!

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Happy Birthday Tyson!

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 We are slowly trying to get some work done on our house to make it more liveable for us.  We desperately need more room, so we are adding shelves, closets, pantries, etc. as needed.  Here are pictures of our Coat closet being built.

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I hope everyone had a wonderful fourth of July!  I love celebrating our country's birthday!

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While making an herbal infusion last night, I burned my hand.  We are talking boiling hot water + skin.  Not fun.  So, since I'm fairly new to this herb stuff, I knew that comfrey was good for burns, I knew I could make an infusion, but that is about the limit for my knowledge.  Well, I got out my herb books, while trying to look up what I could do while keeping my hand under cold water. Stash of comfrey leaves.....

And I some in water to make an infusion to soak my hand in, and also ground some up and mixed with water to make a compress.  I put some of the ground up leaves on my skin and wrapped it in gauze.  then I soaked it also in the infusion.   It was uncomfortable at first, but as I took my mind off of the pain and relaxed, I forgot about it. 

This is my hand this morning.

You can see a little bit where it is red in the crease of my thumb and hand.  But there is NO pain.  I normally (I am quite the clutz and burn, cut, bruise and scratch myself quite frequently) would still be in pain, and definitly making a doctors appointment.  But this morning, no blisters, no pain, no swelling.  (I should have taken pictures last night!)  I'm very happy it worked, and I am now that much more excited about trying out new things like making tinctures.   Yeah!

God Bless,

Amy

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I just wanted to thank all who left comments on my posts.  Especially the last one.  It truly warms my heart. 

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Monday morning we said goodbye to my husband as he made his way back to Maryland.  He will be stationed there until Sept./Oct. then he will be able to come home for good, and we will be getting out of the military.  We had a wonderful time while he was here, and look very forward to seeing him again.

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We have two laying hens who have been on strike.  We have 6 more chicks, and just ordered 13 more pullets.  Well, these hens would lay for a week or so, then stop.  Then lay, and stop.  I couldn't figure out what was going on, and since this is our first chicken experience, we were worried.  So we've tried everything.  They have'nt laid an egg in about two months.  We built automatic feeders.  We built a new coop, we put a radio in  with them, we move nest boxes around, kept the lights on.  You name it we tried it.  Well, my dad, who raises all things poultry, mentioned that he talks to his chickens.  I'm thinking, you've got to be kidding me.  But lo, behold, thursday evening I went out and talked to them on and off all evening, feeding them treats from the kitchen, and treating them like pets.  What do I find bright and early Friday morning? 

And yes, I did a happy egg dance.  I got another one this morning too.  So in my opinion, chickens must be a social creature. 

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The other day I went to push my kids on the tire swing.  I had not been out to give them a good push in a while, and to my suprise, the tire swing tree is a mulberry tree! There are two of them on our property, and I am SO excited.  I love mulberries, and remember spending hours in the summer picking the berries off the trees and eating them.  SO yummy.

They look little and green now, but I can't wait till they are ready!

Anyone know any good mulberry recipes?

God Bless,

Amy

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I have been trying to patiently wait until our ground is dry enough to till up.  I have little plants and seedling waiting to go into the ground, (some still need some time though) but it just keeps raining.  I did put in my strawberries and spinach, but I'm worried it's going to be even too late.  I have a wonderful neighbor who ran a farm all his life, and he is advising me to wait, and be patient.  So wait and be patient I'm going to do.  I think. 

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This is my husband working hard on a new coop for our chickens.  We have a new batch of pullets arriving in June, and we want them comfy!

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I got this reciepe off of http://www.stephskitchen.com  and it's great!

You start with olive oil and seasonings, along with cut up pieces of bread.  I love this for my bread that is left over or that we aren't going to eat.

Then you pour them onto a cookie sheet.

Bake them for 8-10 mins @ 350 degrees, then take out and shake parmesean cheese on them.  Then bake for another 7 mins.  Enjoy!

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So I wanted to post about homeade croutons that I made.  But I can't get my pictures to upload.  Anyone know what I'm doing wrong?  NO matter how I resize it, it keeps saying I don't have enough available space.  ARRRGGGHHHH!

Someone Help!

Amy

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It's been too long since I've posted.  While taking pictures of my coop and chickens last month, I dropped my camera and broke it.  I just recieved my mother's day present, and my lovely husband bought me a new camera.  How much he loves me! 

This is a picture of our hen that we call "Big Mama".  She's finally laying eggs again after a month long dry spell. Here are some of the others.

Now that I have a camera again, I will go back to regularly posting like before, sharing my journey of homesteading.

God Bless!

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We had our first tornado warning and sirens Monday afternoon.  I remember this from growing up, but it's been a while, and my kids were suprised to say the least.  I just really had not thought about it.  But it is that time of year.  I praise God that he has provided me with wonderful neighbors, and they had us come and "hunker down" with them in their basement, which is beautiful, it's like a whole other house. 

Needless to say, when the sun does shine here, everything is beautiful and green.  My parents and siblings came over this weekend, and we did a honey-do-list here.  My dad built a beautiful wheelchair ramp for my father-in-law, and a removeable one for the step into the house.  Then we started demo on our master bath.  I'm going to post pictures tonight.  He also hung a tire swing, put a weather flap on my garage door, fixed my dryer vent, put together my lawnmower (actually my brother Russ did that!), and built a chicken coop for my chicks, and the egg laying hen he brought me!  Whew!  What a blessing they are to me. Even though I have a hard time telling them I need help here by myself, they did'nt even hesistate to come and fix things.

Well, I'll be taking pictures today, since it's beautiful right now, and it's supposed to rain tongiht and the next couple of days.  (like we need it. Note the sarcasm)

God bless!

Amy

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I thought I would post some pics of me canning some minestrone soup.  I love to can, and I've been really enjoying canning foods like soups that I can easily open and serve, not to mention, other than the cost of the soup, which is pretty cheap, it's free.  It's a great way to save room in my freezer, and fridge, and make the most of leftovers. I love it!

My pressure canner/cooker

Hot canning jars-waiting for soup!

Soup-heated up, just like if we were going to eat it.

Hot soup in hot jars-now time for the lids

Wiping the jars down, ready to put them in the canner

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Yesterday it was WAY windy.  But a good day to fly our new kites! 

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This is week one of our baby chicks. We have four that look like this one above, then a all yellow one, and a black one.  I'm so excited!  This is our first time having chickens.  I threw together a little coop situation, and my parents are coming down this weekend to bring me an egg laying hen, so I can have eggs now, and then help me with an actual coop, and to fix a few things around the house.

I'm trying to be patient, not to rush things as I go along.  We have limited funds,(as does just about everyone right now!) and I am trying to make use of the many things that were left here when we bought this house.  But without my husband present, I am limited to what I can do physically.  But it's still fun. I have so many things I would love to see done with this land.  I can't wait to till up the land and garden!

These chick pictures are from last week, so sometime today I will take some of them now, and compare. They are getting so big!  I see them as a promise though, of the homesteading adventures yet to come.

God Bless,

Amy

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