Journey To Me

Pics-Harvest Festival and Plowing

These pics are from a couple of weeks ago.  Our town has a Fall Color Festival.  I only took a couple of pictures.  There are three rivers that converge in our town.  This is a shot from the bridge right downtown.  It was beautiful.

Our son also took part in the tractor pull.  He placed third (out of three ), but he did his best:

My honey plowed up a few acres on our north 20.  I think we're putting in oats and alfalfa next spring, and somehow want to get some wheat in. 

Here's a picture of the plowed field.  Isn't it lovely? 

I guess I sound like I'm boasting.  I just love this land and all that the Lord has blessed us with.  I want to be a good steward and use it for His glory.

From Glory Farm

Using the Harvest

 What are you getting from your garden?  We have harvested cabbage, tomatoes, potatoes, carrots, onions,sunflowers, kale, pumpkins, apples and plums this fall.  With this harvest there are a number of things I make.

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Homemade spaghetti sauce-tomatoes, garlic, onions, basil, thyme, sage, oregano, majarom, cayenne, savory from the garden

Homemade salsa-tomatoes, onions, cayenne from the garden

Cream of carrot soup

Tomato soup

Kale soup

Meatball stew-using carrots, potatoes, onions and beans from the garden

Scalloped hotdish-carrots, onions, potatoes

Speedy boiled dinner-cabbage, potatoes and carrots

Cabbage rolls-cabbage, tomatoes

Runzas-Ask for the recipe on this one.  These are delicious,  cabbage and onions

French Fries

Onion Rings-love these

Coleslaw

Applesauce, apple pie, baked apples, fresh plums, pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread, pumpkin pancakes

These are just a few ideas.  What do you make with your fresh harvest?

You know, even with stretching our grocery money, I'm still spending about $100 a week on groceries.  There are six of us, and I can't think of how to save any more than I am.  Any suggestions?

Garlic Works Wonders

Fixed the fence yesterday, got all of the critters back in their respective pastures and what do you think I see out the kitchen window this morning??????Cows in the horse pasture?  Good guess and you'd be right.  I can't figure out why our fence isn't charging.  Lord give me patience.

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It may be time to start up the furnace.  We're having freezing temps at night and the house gets down to 60 at night.  No wonder everyone heads for a hot shower first thing in the morning.

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Well, the headcold is still in the house.  Ds and I both ate a bunch of garlic yesterday and I believe that's why we both feel so much better today.  (and why no one gets close to us.)It usually works very well.  Dd is still feeling poorly and is next for the bathtub.  She doesn't want the garlic unless I mix it in with chicken noodle soup.  That's doable.

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Time to get my wool socks on and get the chores done. 

Have a good and Godly day.

From Glory Farm

Being Flexible-It's Just Not Me

It's  starting to be one of those days.  The two yougers are sick with a decent headcold and I think I feel their pain.  Or at least I'm starting to.  This means I get to do chores alone and I was just informed that we have donkeys and cows in the horse pasture.  This doesn't look good.  Morning plans out the window and walking fenceline, repairing and herding the animals back to their respective paddocks is on my list. 

Sun is out, birds are singing, it's a nice day for a walk!

Write more later.

Bartering, Borrowing and Blessings

  Most of our neighbors are farmers and they seem to be open to bartering for things.  My honey can fix about anything with a motor or engine and there aren't any farm mechanics around here, especially ones that make house calls.  See how God works?  My honey is trading labor for use of an excavator and some gravel to do our septic mound.  A neighbor's brother just gave DH a small blacksmith's forge.  My cousin tore down his cabin on the lake and let us scavenge tongue and groove, windows and doors, and firewood.  I have a friend with whom I traded hay for use of her ram to breed my ewes, now she's looking into getting me some free llamas, (blessing or not?)  We borrow equipment and lend equipment.  We help each other.  Lately, I have been stressing over finances.  I do this a lot.  (God is still working on me.)  So this morning I'm counting just a few of my blessings. 

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Today I get to...clean the barn, pick tomatoes, teach my children, perhaps trim goat and sheep hooves, find a buck for my dairy goats, check fenceline, stack firewood, this and maybe more.  How blessed to have sheep and goats, tomatoes and firewood and especially children.  A grateful heart is fertile soil for the Lord to work with.  Lord, I want You to harvest a bumper crop.

Homemade Blueberry Soda

Yesterday's list on my blog did help me to get more done.  I didn't want anyone to see all of those items still there.  I had an additional blessing yesterday.  My honey came home from work, sharpened my shears and said "Let's go and try them out."  So I got one sheep sheared.  Two to go. He also showed me how to run the splitter, so I can go and finish splitting the firewood!

It's raining today so it's a get stuff done in the house day.  I like this down time.

There is a site called Learning Herbs, which I discovered from one of you nice gals here at homesteadblogger.  They send out herbal recipes to my e-mail every once in awhile and I thought I'd try the last one.  It's instructions on making fermented berry soda.  Here is the site-  http://www.learningherbs.com/news_issue_20.html If you go there, you should be able to find this newest recipe.  It's also a great site for anyone who likes to forage, like we do.

Have a blessed day.  Don't forget to include God.

Lists

Thought I would post my list on here.  Maybe give me more incentive to get it done?

• Bake-bread and sweets
• Make huckleberry jam
• Pull carrots pull 3/4 of the carrots
• pick corn
• Take care of animals
• Clean goat room
• Unload two one truck of firewood
• Clean out cubby and rearrange
• Homeschool, of course
• Pick up dd from piano
• Make and can applesauce once honey comes home with more sugar
• Clean bathroom
• Do Laundry

Do I think I'll get it all done?  I never get everything off my list in one day.  Usually two or three.  The garden needs to be pulled and manure spread and then disked.  Garlic needs to go in for next year.  Barnyard and barn need to be cleaned with a friend's skidsteer, fenceline moved, big rounds stored in the yard.  My honey is overwhelmed, which I've never seen happen before.  He's had a couple of logs fall on his toes and his boots were so old that the steel toe became unattached.  Now it hurts to walk.  He has a problem finding boots that fit.  His feet are very wide and it's hard to find him boots.  This is causing his back to hurt again and I think he's just miserable with everything happening at once.  Join me in praying for him, if he comes to mind. Thank you.

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I'll come back tonight and see how many of those things I can cross off my list. 

On my mark-

Get set-

Go!

Let Winter Begin?????

I wanted to share some good news. 

Long story-Our home is 100 years old and has a couple different additions on it.  Not very air tight and when we had it tested, we had the equivalent of 200 softball size holes in it.  Needless to say, we didn't have to worry  about carbon monoxide  poisoning.  It was COLD.  Last winter we went through enough propane to run a small town.  Well, for the last two weeks we've had work done on it.  Winterizing.  They finished yesterday and ran the test again.  They cut the amount of airflow down to about 20% of what it was before!  Better than they even thought it would be.  I was told that we should go through less than half the amount of fuel we went through last winter.  And when I woke up this morning, I was warm!  We don't have any furnace hooked up yet, and it was about 38 degrees outside!  How cool is that?  Or, I should say, how warm is that?

Thank you Lord!  You are so good to us.

Another Tutorial-Horseradish Sauce

It's one of those days when the list is longer than the amount of hours.  I HAVE to get to shearing today and no matter how nice it is out, we have to have school.  No more playing hookie.  Carrots need to be pulled and homes found for a few cabbages. 

I was up early and made some horseradish sauce, so you guys get another tutorial!  How blessed are you?

Warning-This stuff is strong and you may want to wear safety glasses.  No joke.

I dug up the horseradish yesterday and ended up with some nice straight roots this year-

Next peel these, either with a knife or a peeler.  I like a knife better-

Now chop these into smaller pieces.  You can process them in a blender or in a food processor.  I used my food processor because it goes faster and chops finer.

I added a teaspoon of vinegar for each batch that I chopped.  If you're using a blender, you may need more.  This is the horseradish all chopped-

I ended up with about four cups of ground horseradish. If  you're using a blender, you can just keep the ground horseradish in there as  you add the rest of the ingredients.  Next, I ground up a bulb of garlic and added it along with about 1/2 cup of olive oil, 1 cup of cider vinegar, 2 teaspoons salt, and 1/3 cup honey.  If you'd like your sauce to be more saucey, add more vinegar.

The finished product-

I don't can horseradish.  Just stick it in the fridge and it'll keep for months.  It does lose it's bite the longer you keep it. 

I use horseradish on all types of meat and on some sandwiches.  My dad loves it and I usually give him at least half of my harvest.

Enjoy!

This Fine Day-It Is a Gift

In honor of the great weather we're having today-school has been canceled.  It has been replaced with gardening, barn cleaning and hopefully shearing some form of livestock.

I got a pic of dd3's new kids-These are Boer, Nubian, Oberhaasli cross doelings, born June 2.

I thought I'd post a pic of some Icelandics that really need a shave:

These are my furry girls.  I guess wooly would be the correct term.

Well I'd better get going. 

Enjoy your day, whatever the weather.

From Glory Farm