Homesteading On The Internet

What Foods Should Be In Your Pantry

2012-02-11T12:34:00.000-08:00

A little snow fell last night

As I was making my list this morning of the supplies I am getting low on, I realized that many people still do not prepare. They think they have time. Or they think nothing is going to happen. Well, it doesn't have to be the collapse of our country to be an emergency. It could be many different things, that would necessitate you not being able to leave your home for some reason. And possibly not having any electricity either. Try living for a week-end with your power turned off and see how you do. Plan it so that you, or anyone in your family, cannot leave your home during this test period. How do you think you will do?

Photo Source

Make meals from the foods you have stored. Now we will take a look at your food. I am not talking about your garden produce here. What are you missing? What don't you care for? Do not store foods you or your family members will not eat. Almost everyone I know stores rice and beans. We never eat rice and beans. I think it would get pretty depressing if we stored them, and had to eat them in an emergency. I like to make a bean soup, or baked beans, occasionally. Now when I am writing this, I realize there are some rice dishes we like, but I haven't made them in a long, long time. Rice pudding is one. Who doesn't love homemade rice pudding? Stir fry on top of a plate of rice is another. So I will put rice back on the list. Just not a lot of it.

Photo Source

Flour is one of the main foods that needs to be stocked. You can make an awful lot of food with that. Make sure you have some basic baking ingredients. Along with the flour, salt, baking soda and powder, powdered milk, yeast, oil, some vanilla extract and spices. Yes, you can make cookies, biscuits, cakes, pies, breads on a campfire or wood stove! Give the family some treats. That will help them to not whine so much. Or you can stock up on wheat berries and grind your own as you need it. That is really the best way to cook with flour.

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Salt can be used for many things. Besides being needed in many baking recipes, it can also be used to preserve food. I suggest loading up on some, as you can store it forever.There has been talk of banning it in restaurants. Quite frankly, that worries me that eventually, it won't be available for the home either. I mean why do they pick on the restaurants, who are making recipes that need salt? When the food manufacturers load up processed foods with MSG and too much salt. Not to mention the other ingredients they stick in there. Next will it be sugar? Bacon? Or whatever they decide isn't good for us?

Photo Source

All of these ingredients are interchangeable, and will make other foods besides baked goods. It is possible to do all your cooking and baking right on an open fire, or even on a grill. So make sure you have other ways of cooking prepared for, if you cannot use your kitchen range. Take a look at your family's routine foods and try to build your supply from that. It is perfectly okay to have some store bought foods. I would go more for canned foods, than foods in boxes, because they will last longer. Once you build your supply up, use it in your every day meals. Believe me, you will be glad you did!

*Unless stated otherwise on photo

First Time Gardeners

2012-02-08T07:10:00.000-08:00

Producing Our Own Food!

If you are thinking of planting a garden for the first time this year, I say, "Congratulations to you!" This is the best step anyone can make toward self-sufficiency, self-reliance, independence, frugal living and most important, surviving. My father has always had a garden, and as a child I always remember those special salads he made with fresh lettuce and a homemade bacon dressing. Mmmm! It was so good! Make memories with your children!

Digging in the dirt is part of it!

I hope you are not one of those people who say they are scared to dig in the dirt because of bugs or worms. Not all bugs are bad and worms are never bad. In fact, I love to see the worms in my garden. Unfortunately, so do the birds! Next month my robins will return and will be digging in my garden for their special treat of worms. I don't begrudge them their meal as I have plenty of worms, and they do a good job at keeping most insects off my plants.

Heirloom Seeds

If this is your first year of planning a garden, here are some quick things to keep in mind:

Do not make your garden too big, if it is your first one.
Plant what your family likes to eat.
If you must try something new, limit it to one or two types of plants each year.
Buy seeds meant to grow in your climate.
If you have children, include them in the whole gardening process.
Do not panic or get overwhelmed by the garden. Enjoy it!
If you have limited area for your garden, use containers instead.
Do not get jealous of other gardens. Do your best with a small one at first.
To make watering easy, put some containers around the garden, so they fill up when it rains.
If you need compost, contact a local horse stable or farm and ask for it.

Pantry Moths In Your Food

2012-02-07T10:02:00.000-08:00

Photo Source: Teodoro S Gruhl

One of the biggest fears for people who store supplies of food is insect infestations. It can happen in the cleanest of homes. You can bring in a bag of food from a store that was already infested, and then you know what happens after that. If you store any livestock feed in your house, that could be a source of insects. Feeds seem to be an easy target.

I had that happen when I had my pet hen, Lil' Red. She didn't eat a whole bag of chicken feed real fast. I stored her feed in my pantry. One day, I discovered her feed had insects in it. It led to a few days of emptying my pantry of everything. Then I washed it down real good, including all the containers of food that was stored in there. As well as the walls, floors, shelves, door, ceiling and window. What a job that was!

In the spring, I like to take the pantry apart and give it a real good cleaning. This year I am buying from Amazon the Catchmaster Moth and Pantry Pest Trap: Two Packs of Two. I read the reviews and the people who bought them loved them. Some of the reviewers said they stock up on them and put them in every room of the house. And they really do work. Good enough for me. I will be trying them for myself and will let you know how they work out.

The pantry moth, as I call it, is not just one type of moth, but includes beetles as well They consist of the flour moth, the rice or black weevil, the sawtooth grain beetle, the red flour beetle, the granary weevil, Indian meal moths, etc. Too many to name here, but you get the idea. There is a lot of them! And they are coming to a pantry or kitchen near you, if you don't do the preventative maintenance involved.

Repackage foods in jars with tight fitting lids!

These pests will not make you sick or anything. It is just the idea of them being in your food that makes me sick! When you bring home food in boxes from the store, repackage it. My choice is glass jars with tight fitting lids. Tins are good too as long as the lids fit tight. I always check the bag of flour or rice when I open it before I pour it into the large jar I store it in.

The pantry moths like grain products, cat and dog foods, rice, pasta, processed foods that are in boxes like rice mixes, boxed type dinners, etc. birdseed, livestock feed, peanuts (in fact while researching this article I discovered that they LOVE peanuts!) and other foods too numerous to mention.

The best advice I can give is this:

Take everything out of your pantry.
Dust the whole thing, especially the walls.
Vacuum real good.
Wash with a good detergent all the shelves, walls, windows, floors and any containers.
Let it dry.
Put several of the pantry moth traps in several areas of your pantry. Even if it is small.
Make sure there are no moths in the food you put back in.
Wash all the food containers off real good. Dry.
Then put back in.
If you can, put a bay leaf in the jars of food that you put back in.

This is no guarantee that you got them. If not, you will see them caught in the pantry moth traps. I would say this is a job that should be done once or twice a year. Be very careful when you bring food in from the stores. Especially if you buy a bag of something that came open, or was taped by the store. You can also freeze the foods in your freezer first, if you have one available. Then repackage it in your containers for the pantry. Protect your pantry! It is your source of food!

*I am an affiliate of Amazon and receive a tiny commission if you buy from my links. But Amazon did not ask me to write this post. I wrote it because it was information I felt was needed.

Homesteading Skills You Want To Learn

2012-02-06T05:30:00.000-08:00

Fall 2011

I am working on a new eBook that will consist of needed homesteading skills. So I wanted to ask my homesteading readers a few questions. One is, if you are new to it, what would you like to learn? Or if you are not new, what was the first skill you learned, or wished you had learned in the beginning? When you think of homesteading and being self-sufficient, what comes to mind? Often someone moves to their future homestead, and then finds all the jobs that need to be done, but all at the same time! That is not good. You need to learn them before you get there.

Preparing raised beds with the wheel hoe

If you had to learn one skill first, what would it be? My own thought is, that it would be gardening. Nothing can beat growing food. Since the garden takes time to get started. Usually your garden gets better after you have acquired the experience. There is a lot to it. Starting seeds, the soil, planting, pest control, weed control, harvesting, etc. Lots to learn, but it is so worth it!

Canning with two pressure canners

For me, I learned how to can first. When we were living in an apartment, a country apartment, but still not exactly a homestead, I started out canning. My husband was baking bread and washing laundry by hand. We were fortunate in that apartment, that we were on the second floor, and was able to string a clothesline from the landing at the top of the stairs. It was an old farm that had been made into apartments and there was lots of land, a creek and old apple and pear trees. I canned crab apple jelly for the first time there.

Our home in 1996-97!

After that we went out on the road while my husband had a job driving an over-the-road truck. We traveled all over the country and I was busy reading our homesteading magazines aloud to him while he drove. I made lists of all the things I wanted to learn how to do. Eventually, all that came to be.

Not Much Snow Yet In February

2012-02-03T07:42:00.000-08:00

A Back View

It is surprising that we don't have much snow yet. New York state usually has record amounts of snow by now. We are used to it. So today when we took our garbage to our land fill and recycling center, we drove on truck trail which goes through the forest. It was a sheet of thick ice. You could ice skate down the middle. Now I wouldn't have taken it if I was driving. There are a lot of sharp curves, and if you went off them you'd go down a steep bank. That would be too much excitement for me to drive on it. My husband though, drives it slow and calm, like its just normal. He can drive any road, in any weather.

No snow? In February?

At the top of the trail, this is the hay field without snow in February. I still can't believe it. It started out as a dreary day, but now our sun is shining. The sun is hitting our solar panels now. We already had our generator on. As soon as the panels are bringing in more power, the generator will be turned off. We may not have had much snow, but we still have had cold temperatures and sunless days. Too many to count!

My favorite tree along the way!

Of course, what this means is that if we don't have a lot of snow to melt off in spring. Then there is not as much mud. I am definitely not taking it for granted that we will not get any more snow. This is February after all, and February is usually our worse month of the year. I have a feeling some big snow storms will be on the way this month. If I am wrong, that is okay.

As you can see, the fields have no snow at all!

I put plastic milk bottles outside at night to freeze for our cooler. They have not frozen solid in weeks now. Even though it is cold, they are not freezing solid. They freeze a little bit but not enough. Today, I saw where there is some ice that fell off the roof and I am going to use that in the cooler instead. In winter, I never have to buy ice.

Hobo was napping when we got back!

The building at the landfill was very cold. I felt sorry for Jessie, my husband's friend, and his coworker who work in that building all day. I was thinking about our cozy wood stove at home. When we got back from the landfill, which is only about five miles from our house, our cat, Hobo was sleeping in the chair in front of the wood stove. She knows where to go if she is cold!

Herbal eBooks In The Kindle Store

2012-02-02T16:27:00.000-08:00

Burdock, a valued plant on my homestead!

One of the things that I have been enjoying so much since I started reading eBooks on my new Kindle Fire, is the free eBooks available on Amazon. "Now why are they free," you ask? "They must be awful books to be sold for free!" Not so! Not so! They are being offered for free for a specific time period, set up by the author to get new readers to have the chance to read their books, and talk about it. To Tweet it! To share it on Facebook! To mention it in their blogs and on forums they frequent. They would love for you to write a review of it on Amazon. If they have a website, they would be equally happy if you made a comment there.

Here are some of the recent books I have downloaded from Amazon's Kindle store. I can't say if they are still free or not. It changes daily. Most of the books are very low cost, so you can load your Kindle up for very little money.

Herbal Health Care: How to Take Care of Yourself and Your Family Naturally

This book was about various herbs and how to use them for preventative and ailments. I liked it as no matter how much I read about natural health care, I can never get enough. Very well written and good details through out.

Natural Health Brief: Tea (Natural Health Briefs)

This eBook is written by Kathy Burns-Millyard, the same author who wrote the book above. I didn't realize they were both by the same author until I recognized her style of writing when I was reading the second one. Now I loved this book! I like tea and drink it. Not that often though. That will change. After reading all the benefits of Green Tea, Black Tea, Oolong Tea and White Tea, I am ready to give it a try. Especially as she mentioned some of very things I am trying to work on for myself.

How to Use Roman Chamomile Essential Oil (Aromatherapy)

I admit I do not know anything about essential oils. This book gave me a good idea of how to use and what it can be used for. I knew I wanted to explore it and find one certain one to use so I could learn. This book has given very clear directions on how and what to do. Dr. Miriam Kinai is a born again medical doctor who specializes in dermatology. She is also a certified aromatherapist and a trained Christian counselor.

Anti-Aging Herbs : Feel Better, Live Longer and Look Younger - Includes Recipes! (Healing Foods Series)

I can't say enough good stuff about this book! I loved it and I know I will refer to it often. The recipes sound delicious as well has healthy. The author, Lee Ann Dobbins said she had no energy and when she started researching she found that it was a matter of what she was eating. Once she changed her diet she was full of energy and completely revitalized. Now she shares the information and recipes with us!

Hawthorne Trees provide berries that are found in heart medicines.

Selling eBooks means you have to publicize your books yourself. And what is wrong with that? Not a thing! It means, I get to read some very good eBooks by some new indie authors and hopefully, they will go on to much success.

Prepare For Loss Of Income As Well

2012-02-01T07:54:00.000-08:00

Blizzard of 2011

Preparing for natural disasters such as storms, earthquakes, flooding, etc. is all well and good. One of the biggest reasons to prepare though, should be in case of loss of income. Loss of a job, loss of the wage earner due to illness or death, or divorce. Yes, divorce can happen to anyone when they least expect it. I know, it happened to me. Of course, that was before I was into preparedness or homesteading. I came out of that divorce pretty bad off, considering how I was living before it happened.

Home grown and home canned!

Growing and canning your food, as well as stocking up on supplies, all takes money to do. Learn to save your seeds from one year to the next. Swap with others for plants you want to try. Buy items to stock up little by little each week or month. Once you have done it though, you can look at all those assets you have. If anything happens in your life like a divorce, or having to leave your homestead and move somewhere else, those are the first items to pack. All the material goods in the world will not supply your main needs which is shelter, water, heat and food, and not necessarily in that order.

The key to preparing is in the garden!

This is going to be my year of stocking up even more. I am planning on buying local produce in season before my garden starts producing. Local producers start their plants in greenhouses, then they get a big jump on the gardening season here in our zone five. As you know, I have been busy making the plans for the garden, and those are a part of the whole picture. I start seeds in the house, but it isn't the best place to do that. We don't have a lot of free space, and our house gets cooler at night than seeds like.

An Electric Garden Cart makes my chores easier!

As you age, some of the jobs become harder, but they also give you a sense of accomplishment. The food supply is my accomplishment. I hate to make my husband or son have to help me when I get worn out. They do, and will without complaint. I have been finding easier ways of doing the jobs that are hard for me. Both of my knees have gotten very bad, and I have learned to be patient and rest. After awhile, I can go on and do whatever it was that I was doing. Altogether it is a part of the bigger picture......preparing for everything, life tosses your way! Are you prepared or just getting started?

Shopping For Food Frugally

2012-01-28T08:12:00.000-08:00

I am shopping for potatoes today!

Frugal shopping takes planning, as I told in my previous post, Making A Plan For Frugal Shopping. Walking into my local grocery store, Mainesource in Binghamton, NY, with my well planned list should result in a good supply of food for my family. Now if you shop in the discount grocery stores, you will get bargains. Bargain food in those stores though, is usually not quality grade food. It is good and safe, but most times the meat is greasy and the produce has seen better days. Not so at Mainesource, which is where I do most of my shopping.

Plenty of choices for potatoes or onions here!

Upon entering the store, the first thing we encounter is the fresh produce. My plan included potatoes and onions, as we eat a lot of them and are always running out. Have you ever bought those five and ten pound bags of potatoes and get them home to find they are spongy, full of sprouted eyes and some are really dirty? Many times the other stores put them on sale to move them out of the store. At Mainesource, the potatoes are always fresh, clean and almost perfect.

Top quality food for restaurants is good for consumers too!

After paying more money for those small bags of potatoes, I was pleased to see the prices on these bags. We bought one 50 pound bag of potatoes for $13.49. Potatoes is a good food to serve your family as it helps you to fill up those with big appetites. There are so many ways to serve them and usually everyone likes them. I like to find recipes for old favorites and add some variety to our menu.

Good sized, fresh potatoes!

The next time you go to the store you make your big purchases for something else. After all, you shouldn't need more potatoes. If you find you do, because you used them all up, then you should buy two bags instead of one. By knowing your family's eating habits you will know whether they will go through something quickly. Sometimes it maybe that having something new in bulk makes them eat more of it. After a period that may wear off. Then they'll be saying they are tired of it, unless you fix it in different ways.

Home fries in the making!

I like serving potatoes for breakfast as home fries or hash browns with eggs and toast. Makes your family members starting the day out with a full stomach. There are many recipes for potatoes online, you can make so many dishes with them. Here is one from my friend, Paula, Fanned Potatoes. That is a recipe I will be making soon, as I know Paula is a fantastic cook! Here are some of my own:

Steamed Potatoes

Wash clean a dozen well-grown new potatoes, steam
until a fork will pierce, dry in heat five minutes, then peel, and throw
into a skillet, with a heaping tablespoonful of butter, well-rolled in
flour, half a pint of rich milk, ten drops onion juice, salt and pepper
to taste, and a teaspoonful of chopped parsley. The sauce must be
bubbling when the potatoes are put in. Toss them in it for five minutes,
put in deep dish and pour the gravy over. Serve very hot.

Easy Shepherds Pie

1 lb. ground beef
1 medium onion, chopped
1 can (10 3/4 oz.) Cream of Mushroom Soup, or whatever you have
1 tbsp. ketchup
1/8 tsp. ground black pepper
1 cup frozen peas and carrots
Mashed potatoes to cover the top.

Cook beef and onion in 10" skillet over medium-high heat until well browned, stirring to break up meat. Pour off fat. Stir soup, ketchup, black pepper and peas and carrots into skillet. Spoon beef mixture in 9" pie plate. Spoon potatoes over beef mixture. Bake at 400°F. for 15 min. or until potatoes are lightly browned.

Parmesan Corn Chowder

2 cups water
2 cups diced peeled potatoes
1 cup sliced or diced peeled carrots
1/2 cup sliced celery
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup butter or margarine
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
2 cups milk
1 can (14 3/4 oz.) cream style corn
1 1/2 cups (6 oz.) shredded Parmesan cheese

In a large saucepan, combine the first five ingredients; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 12-15 minutes or until vegetables are tender (do not drain).

Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, melt butter. Stir in flour, salt and pepper until smooth; gradually stir in milk. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Stir into the vegetable mixture. Add corn and Parmesan cheese. Cook 10 minutes longer or until heated through. Yield: 7 servings

Parmesan Potato Casserole

2 cups mashed potatoes
8 ounces cream cheese
2 eggs
1 small onion, diced
2 tablespoons flour
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
1/4 cup dried bread crumbs
Salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Mix Parmesan cheese and bread crumbs; set aside. In a medium-sized bowl, combine mashed potatoes, cream cheese, eggs, onion, and flour. Beat with a mixer on low speed until blended. Beat at high speed until mixture is light and fluffy. Add salt and pepper. Pour potato mixture into a greased casserole dish. Sprinkle with bread crumb/Parmesan cheese mixture. Bake for 35 minutes

Potato Deutsch's

7 potatoes
6 slices dry bread
2 cups milk
2 eggs
salt and pepper

Grate potatoes, rinse in cold water, press dry. Soak 6 bread slices in milk, then beat in 2 eggs, salt and pepper, to taste. Stir in the potatoes. Pour into a greased dish, top with sour cream, bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

Latkes

Potato pancakes are really tasty!

2 cups grated peeled raw potatoes, well drained (about 2 large)
1 beaten egg
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
3 - 4 Tbsp. flour (just enough to make a thick batter)

Drop by spoonfuls (spread with spoon to 3/8" thick) on a well greased griddle or heavy frying pan containing hot oil. Brown on each side. Drain on paper towels and newspaper before serving. Great with applesauce!

A pleasant buying experience at Mainesource!

I am trying to buy most of our food in bulk these days. The reason is that you get more food for less money. Once you get started doing this, you will really see the savings over time. You will be paying less money per pound. So for me it is worth the drive 32 miles away to buy the food. Buying not only potatoes, but other produce, meat, dairy products, canned goods, condiments and pasta this way, will really stretch that food budget in these tough times.

$13.49 for 50 lbs.

By the way, According to the FTC Blogging Disclosure, I have to let you know that Mainesource did contact me about writing a post about how to save money by shopping in bulk. That was after I had posted about their store in several past posts, since it is my regular store. In no way did they influence me on what I wrote!

If you already shop in bulk, put a comment in telling your tips for buying, storing and using your bulk food. I'd love to hear from you and may use it in a future post on this blog.

FTC Blogging Disclosure

Home Processing Your Food, Your Way

2012-01-27T12:15:00.000-08:00

Empty jars build up if you don't do more canning!

Canning jars are building up. I mean empty jars, not full ones. I know this is a sign that I am behind on refilling them. As you use your canned foods, keep a box or cupboard for the empty jars. Make sure you have a separate area for each type of jar. Then when you are in hurry to can, you know where the jars are that you need.

Canning Equipment

It is a like a circle, can the food, eat the food, then refill the empty jars by canning more foods. Instead of filling your pantry or cupboard with store bought canned foods, they are your home canned foods. Make your own dry mixes of food you normally buy in the store. Such as pudding mixes, baking mixes, cake mixes, cream soup mix and hot coco mix. They are easy to mix up and store in your pantry until you need them. Cheaper and you can adjust them to fit your taste. Not some manufacturer.

Can your own pumpkin for pie!

For example, a can of blueberry pie filling at Walmart, their brand, which is the cheapest, is over $3.00 and does not fill the pie crust. Now if you either grow your own blueberries or go to a pick your own place and make your own blueberry pie filling when they are in season, you will have plenty of really tasty pie filling. You may also buy fresh or frozen berries in the stores or at farmer's markets, but that will cost more. At least they will taste better though! Same with apple or pumpkin pie filling or any kind you like.

Lynn at Viggies Veggies is my friend on Facebook, and she has been canning up a storm this year. Be sure to check out her blog, and see why I think she is a shining example for a homesteading woman. Not only is she single, but she is an "urban homesteader". This shows what can be done once you make the move to get serious. Proves my notion that you can do it anywhere!

Making A Plan For Frugal Shopping

2012-01-26T13:34:00.000-08:00

Nowadays you can't just walk into a grocery store without a plan and a shopping list. When people ask me how to shop frugally and bring home some decent food for their family, that is the number one answer I give them. "Make a plan and a list!"

Making the grocery list without your plan will work, but it will not be the most effective use of your grocery budget. When making a plan, you must know what meals and snacks your family will be eating for the week or month. Keeping a list of the foods your family eats on a regular basis is the first step.

The next step is to have a permanent list of the ingredients you use. That way if you need to change the way you make something, you can just delete the ingredient to add the new one. This is a post I wrote about making my list for our low carb food plan in 2010, Planning Your Meals Around Special Diets. You just write it around the type of diet your family eats.

Do not neglect adding new recipes,which you should, to add some variety and pizzazz to your table. There are many online sources of recipes such as All Recipes. You can locate recipes of all descriptions and ingredients to build a repertoire of recipes to fit every size budget.

If your list is for one week, plan what you will serve for each day. How much does your family eat? A family with teenage boys may need more than a family with little children or no children. Plan to have enough food that is nutritious and enough so they won't leave the table hungry.

Always include the sale flyers from the stores you are shopping at, if possible. Sometimes you may find a good deal on a meat or other ingredient you weren't planning on serving this week. Make your list flexible enough to change the plan for the week to include it. In 2008, I had wrote a post called My Frugal Grocery Shopping Plan that is just a quick overview of how to do it.

If you have children, of whatever age, include them in the making of the food plan for the week. That way, they will understand the process, and as they grow up, they will have an understanding of how to do it themselves. While they are younger though, it teaches them why they are eating certain meals this week, and not others. Ask them for their ideas for meals, and it can be an activity of teaching math and frugal shopping.

In future posts, I will be going into detail on how you can best shop frugal and stay well within your budget. If you have any suggestions yourself, please feel free to post them in my comment section. I love to interact with my readers, and may use some of your ideas in my future posts!

Hobo On Wordless Wednesday

2012-01-25T06:01:00.000-08:00

No Sun Means Less Power

2012-01-24T06:56:00.000-08:00

Gray days don't charge solar panels!

Days without sun are limiting our power since our wind turbine is not completed yet. Had to wait till spring to finish it. I guess if you just buy a turbine or pole to put it on you can get it finished faster. My husband though is building a special pole that he has finished, but there is more to it then just setting the turbine on the top. It bends over so he can work on it in case there is a problem with the turbine. Of course, depending on how big your system, you may be able to get through the time with low sun. Our system is very small.

Solar Panels in summer charge really good!

I am not complaining as usually January is much worse than this. It appears though that we are having our January thaw. Our wood stoves are banked back and I am not wearing long sleeves. Not bad for January. It worries me though, what is in store for February? That is usually our worse month by far.

Callie Cat spends the winter sleeping!

Since I am off my computer most of the day for now, I will be writing a quick post today. This morning I had a sale on eBay so I had to package that up and check my other auctions. Now I will get off after I take my photos out of my camera and put on the computer. I will spend most of my day working around the house. Organizing and cleaning mostly.

Missing the sunshine!

Hope everyone has a great day, and if you have sunshine........enjoy it!

Firewood Harvest

2012-01-23T06:40:00.000-08:00

I love the forest!

When you heat with wood it is a big plus if you have your own supply of firewood. Instead of buying wood, then you are cutting it. By taking down all the dead wood, it gives more room and light to the new trees just coming in. Too many trees, too close together, limits the sunlight coming in down below, to the ones just trying to get started. I have replanted a few pine trees myself, putting them in my front yard along the road. Presently, we have room for a few more.

Woods behind our house

Many trees die and stand for years until a wind knocks them over. On our land, we had a tornado take down over 300 trees, which we used for firewood for many years. Often a tree doesn't even appear to be dead, grows leaves and like the apple trees, even fruit. Then all of a sudden the tree falls over and you find it is all rotted inside.

Their wild instinct is to eat wood!

Hardwood is a good choice for burning in your wood stove. Hardwood according to Wikipedia: "Hardwoods have a more complex structure than softwoods. The dominant feature separating "hardwoods" from softwoods is the presence of pores, or vessels.The vessels may show considerable variation in size, shape of perforation plates (simple, scalariform, reticulate, foraminate), and structure of cell wall, such as spiral thickenings."

Cherry, elm, pine and oak

The hardwood we have in our forest and surrounding area here in upstate NY are Maple, Oak, Elm, Cherry and Poplar (or Aspen, as it is referred to). Elm had some years ago been victims of Dutch Elm disease and were history. Now though, our forest and surrounding area is rich with elms. They are everywhere and our forest is full of them. When we first moved here, Cherry, was plentiful. And I so love a fire made of cherry. Oh, the smell is so comforting! The forest changes over time though, now the cherry is not as plentiful as it once was. More Oak is coming up. The seeds will lay dormant for many years and all of a sudden, trees come up that you hadn't seen before. Nature's surprise!

Trees surround us!

Some people say not to use pine, a softwood, for wood stoves. We do though. It gives you a hot fire and will build up creosote in the chimney, but my husband cleans our chimney a lot, monthly. So its not much of a problem for us. If I need a hot fire for cooking something that requires a high temp, I will always make a fire with some pine. Pine is plentiful here and I'd hate to waste it. Mixing a softwood with a hardwood is something we do. It extends the softwood's burning time.

Ah........split firewood!

What Does Simple Living Mean To You?

2012-01-22T09:10:00.000-08:00

What does simple living mean to you? I have been reading a variety of websites and books that proclaim the "simple living" philosophy. The nuts and bolts of most of these books and sites is to get rid of everything you own, except only the things you need to live. So I am asking my readers here, is that what you think it is?

As for myself, I do not own a lot of things. Having moved more than a few things and going through divorce makes you lose things you had. So you end up with less. Then moving into a smaller house that did not have electricity at the time, made me get rid of things I used to have, and then had no use for.

Much of my things are of either necessity or sentimental value. What about you? My next question is how do you rid yourself of the sentimental items? Or do you? And do you have to? Some of mine, I have decided to keep and some, I will get rid of. The only reason I am getting rid of them is that is the only way I can be sure they are going to a home that wants them. If I sell them on eBay, then someone paid money for them so they must want and value them. Right? Not so, when they are inherited by family members who do not.

Favorite Photos From Past Posts

2012-01-21T15:30:00.000-08:00

Sites along the way near my home

Forest Path back to the house

Patches, my big baby!

A hay field nearby

2012-01-20T14:56:00.000-08:00

Self-reliance means to rely on yourself as much as possible. If you are buying most of your food and supplies from the store right now, that is fine. Implementing some changes in the way you do things now, is the way you can get on the road to true self-reliance or self-sufficiency. I have decided to make some changes that will really pull my homestead together.

For me, preparedness is essential. I have been doing research this morning on some of the ideas I am working on. Our garden is the center of that self-reliance preparations. My recent posts have been about planning our garden for this year. I am making a change by planting more green beans in any extra spot I can find. This will be my "extra crop" for this year. Next year, it will be something else. Eventually I may add some beds that will for these crops every year.

New crops that I plan to add this year will be:

Asparagus
Cabbage
Carrots
Beets
Blueberries
Concord Grapes
Raspberries

There will probably be more as I work it out. Do a little bit at a time, so it is not so over whelming. Be sure to do something though. Don't put it on the back burner for too long or it may be too late.

Learning New Ideas

2012-01-19T15:58:00.000-08:00

Our off-the-grid homestead in summer

I have been reading a new book, Surviving Off Off-Grid, that I should have read long ago, like last year when it was first published. But I did not, even though I reminded myself several times to buy it. One of my friends had told me about it last year and I guess I had forgotten about it. Well one day this week it was on Amazon's Kindle store for free and I grabbed it. Am I glad I did!

I am not even done with it and I had to share it here. Michael Bunker got some flack in the review department due to the religious tones of his book, but if you read it with an open mind you can pick up a lot of good information. The trouble is if you put anything religious in a book, someone is going to put it down. So I don't pay any attention to those reviews.

Our garden

What I found interesting in his book are some things I plan on concentrating on this year on our homestead. One is learning to use other methods of food preservation. Up until now, I have used mainly canning or the root cellar. Now I am going to learn about using salting and lacto-fermentation methods of preserving foods. He also gave me other great ideas I intend to use in the garden this year too. I will write more about it once I figure it all out and how it applies to us.

Winter - Wordless Wednesday

2012-01-18T10:37:00.000-08:00

Protecting Home Canned Foods From Freezing

2012-01-17T16:01:00.000-08:00

Packing Boxes For Our Move To FL In 1994!

There is no question about it, our homesteading life can be hard. It is much harder if you do not organize your house as well as your time. Many jobs around the homestead can be eliminated if you have organized your home. I know from experience. I was far from organized the last few years. Boy, would I get stressed! Where to start? What can I do? Then I found Flylady!

"Shine Your Sink!"

Did I change overnight? No! Have I always been this way? Heavens no! I was once the most organized person in the world. I kid you not. What happened? Life happened. Moving to and then back again from Florida in 1995 was the beginning of my disorganization. Actually, it was when I move there in 1994, that did it. The house was way too small and had barely any closets or cupboards to put anything in. It seems after that, every house I moved into did not have enough room for my stuff.

Home Canned Foods

I was so overwhelmed by the job of storing my home canned foods once my husband started work on our battery room. It meant the cellar would be open and would now get too cold in the winter and too hot in the summer to store jars of food. It also made it accessible to critters during the night. So I put them in my pantry. Then the mice came in and got the jars all dirty on top. I would cover them with plastic to protect them. It was a nightmare!

Empty jars are on the bottom now.

Soon I started buying plastic (And you know HOW MUCH I hate plastic!) containers, like the Rubbermaid ones. Now I keep my jars of food and almost everything else inside them. There was still one problem. In the winter now, my pantry gets really cold. So the containers that had home canned food in them could freeze if they were sitting on the floor. Which they were. Now they are off the floor and sitting on containers of empty jars. Easy to get to when I am in the middle of canning and need jars. Plus, they were stored upstairs taking up valuable space. Now that was a good solution to that problem.

Why I Wrote My Own eBook

2012-01-16T15:13:00.000-08:00

In front of my house in winter!

I wrote my eBook, My Homesteading Journey, back in 2007, and started selling it on my website. At that time, I was selling it for $14.99 and had pretty decent sales. Then they kind of slowed down and I lowered the price to $7.99. Most of the people who purchase it are people interested in being homesteaders. Not urban homesteaders, as that is a whole other ball game. People who may be planning on moving outside of the city they are in right now. Or people who have done that and are trying to figure out what to do first.

On CD

In the fall, I put it up for sale on eBay. Selling it in a CD disc format according to eBay rules. I sold a few there also. I never did as good with it until I put it in the Kindle store on Amazon. It sells good there and I have some good feedback. That makes me feel good, especially if the people who buy it are wanting to change their life and become self-reliant. I have been selling it for $0.99 now. So it is very affordable for people without a lot resources.

Growing Your Food Is A Must!

Selling it to other homesteaders was easy. Now on Amazon other people are buying it. People who worry about whether my sentences are structured according to the grammar rules. I don't need someone buying it to grade it. This is my life and the way I do things. That is all. Not a work of literature or a book that will be on the NY Times bestseller list. I wrote it for real people who are searching for a way of life that frees them from people like that.

Having a cup of coffee with me!

If our life changed from the way it is right now, to something much different. I'd be willing to bet a lot of people would be wishing they were living this way. I feel though, that some of those people are trying to put eBooks and especially self-published authors down. So they are posting bad reviews of authors on Amazon. My book is written exactly how my blog is written.....from my heart, like you are sitting at my table with me! Hope that is good enough.

Cold, But Beautiful Morning!

2012-01-15T08:26:00.000-08:00

Cold, But Beautiful Morning!

This morning my husband awoke to his horse, Dark Shadow, whinnying loudly. He hurried up and got dressed, and went outside to check on her. She usually does that when she wants him for some reason. And usually it is important. She doesn't just do that all the time.They had eaten all their night hay, and needed more.........it was cold! Hay warms them up fast. So he gave them more and went back inside.

Hay Keeps Horses Warm In Cold Temps!

He came in and started the job of getting the big heating wood stove opened up and then adding wood. He started the kerosene heater in the bathroom. Unfortunately, it had been moved, and the wick had become crooked, so it smoked. After he fixed it, we had a warm bathroom.

Below Zero This Morning!

We started off with temps of ten below zero, in a bit it had come up two degrees. After he got the stoves cranking to warm up the house, he went out to the woods quickly and brought back more kindling. We had been lax on stocking up kindling. So that won't happen again!

Tightening the chain

We have been getting our own wood and only buy some when we come across a great deal. Soon though, we will be getting our own wood lot since we do not want to cut our forest down. Up until now, we have used only dead wood or fallen trees. After our tornado in 2000, we heated with those trees for years.

Getting ready to add some more wood!

Once our fire is going in our big heating wood stove, you are warm and cozy. In fact, whoever sits in the chair in front of the stove, is almost guaranteed to fall asleep! The fire does that to you for some reason. I make it a point to never sit there. I am not one to take a nap during the daytime. The sun is now shining on our homestead and bringing in power to our solar panels. Just a busy morning here.........on our forest homestead.

Callie and Patches keeping warm!

Fruit In Our 2012 Garden Plan - Part Three

2012-01-14T09:13:00.000-08:00

Elderberries!

In my plans for our garden, I do not forget the wild fruit plants that adorn our forest and around our homestead. Some are used for medicinal purposes, but are a food source as well. My mother always told me that her favorite pie was elderberry. I never remembered having it until we moved out here. It grows abundantly here in New York state. I do not have to do anything with it except try to guard a bush or two from the birds, so it can ripen. They eat them before it has ripened, so they get it all while I am waiting for it to ripen.

Wild Blackberries

Blackberries is another berry that grows wild around here. In fact, they will take over your yard and pasture if not controlled. Don't have to worry about them either. We have more than enough for the bees, birds and us, to eat all we want. They are everywhere.

Wild Cherries

Wild cherries grow all over around here. There are more than a few varieties. Chokecherries seem to be popular and used for jams, jellies and wine. I haven't tried them yet myself, but have them on the top of my list for this year.

Grape Vine

Wild grapes, or better known as Fox Grapes, grow through out our state forest. Now this is another fruit I have so much trouble harvesting, due to the birds and the bees. The bees are all over this all summer. Kind of hard for me to get near it, let alone harvest it. When we first moved here, I was able to can a lot of grape juice, jam and jelly from this plant. Since that time though, more birds and bees come to our little homestead now.

Apple Tree

When we first moved here, our property must had over 30 wild apple trees. They were the old heirloom types, planted long ago. Now we only have a few left on our property, but new ones have sprung up. This year apples were plentiful.

A Hawthorne Tree

Hawthorne berries grow all over our area also. They are the ingredient in some of the newest heart medicines. So they are a very healthy snack. Just pick a handful when you are outside in the forest.

Wild Strawberries

Wild strawberries grow all over too. I plant some of my own because they are bigger. But these little berries are the jewels of the forest. So good! But you'd have to spend quite a few hours picking to fill your bucket.

These are just a few of the wild fruits of the forest and fields around us. I plan to add more fruits every year. None of these were planted by me, so they were free for taking when we moved here. I will be writing about the new fruits I plan to add to our homestead this year.

Making Homemade Chicken Soup For Colds

2012-01-13T10:10:00.000-08:00

Homemade Chicken Soup!

Recently, my husband went to our credit union and was inside for about five minutes. He came out complaining that the teller had a very bad cold and he was afraid he'd catch it. He did! So did I! Why can't they stay home when they have colds? Well, if you have a job they frown on you taking off for being sick in bed. So how do you think they'd react if you only had................a cold?????????

Cooking A Whole Chicken

Most people attribute the benefical benefit of chicken soup to clearing up colds to the steam, that comes from the hot soup. You are breathing it in and it clears up the congestion. According to Irwin Ziment, M.D., pulmonary specialist and professor at the UCLA School for Medicine, the chicken releases an amino acid that is somewhat like the drug, acetylcysteine, which is an ingredient in cold medicines.

Debone the chicken!

We are all familiar with the medinical benefits of spices, such as garlic and pepper, as well, as onions. These are all known treatments of respiratory diseases. They work by thinning out the mucus and making breathing much easier. Stephen Rennard, M.D., chief of pulmonary medicine at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, tested chicken soup in his lab. His conclusion is that chicken soup acts as an anti-inflammatory. It controls the neutrophils, the inflammatory white blood cells. Cold symptoms, such as coughs and congestion, are often caused by inflammation produced when neutrophils travel to the bronchial tubes and accumulate there.

My Ingredients

My Homemade Chicken Soup

1 whole chicken
4 carrots, sliced or one can
1 can whole tomatoes (I use skinless variety)
6 medium potatoes, cubed
4 stalks celery, sliced
celery leaves chopped
1 large onion, chopped (I do not add this as my husband will not eat it if I do)
water to cover
salt and pepper to taste (I skipped the salt)
Garlic powder to taste
4-6 chicken bouillon cubes, low sodium without MSG
1 package of noodles

Chopped the celery including leaves

Put the chicken in a large soup pot and cover with cold water. Heat and simmer, uncovered, until the chicken meat falls off of the bone. I like to make a lot so use a really big stockpot. You can use a smaller size one.

Soup Simmering!

Take the chicken out of the pot. Pick the meat off of the bones, cube the potatoes, and chop the carrots, celery and onion. Season the broth with salt, pepper, garlic and chicken bouillon to taste. Return the chicken, and add the potatoes, carrots, celery, tomato and onion to the pot and simmer.

Tastes so good!

I feel the longer it cooks the better it gets. I make a big stock pot of it, so I do not follow the amounts in the recipe. I don't usually use a recipe so this is one I put together from the way I make it. Do it the way you like. A bowl of it on a cold day makes a nice snack if you have it on the wood stove simmering. You can play with it to suit your family. It is really much better the next day or longer.

Interior Design Is Very Important!

2012-01-12T03:51:00.000-08:00

From Simple Design

Do you think you have to have a big expensive house before you can even think about the interior design of your home? No, you do not. The design of your home is very important. Even if it is not finished the way you plan. Your home needs to be your sanctuary from the world. It needs to soothe your core being!

To More Upscale

Have you ever spent a busy day or week-end somewhere else and walk into your house and say, "Thank goodness, I am home. " That feeling is what you are supposed to feel in your home. Unorganized, cluttered, messy...........even if not dirty, are all feelings that will interfere with those feelings of peacefulness when you come into your home. It also holds back success from other areas of your life when you live in an unorganized house. Interior design with your family and lifestyle in mind is easy to achieve with a little knowledge.

Photo Source

Design your home so that it is easy to find what you are looking for. Seating is welcoming, easy to get to. Place lighting so it is in appropriate places when you need it. Don't have objects on the floor in the way. I try to keep my own home so that I can walk into it in the dark, and find exactly what I am looking for. If your power ever goes out, that is important.

Photo Source

Safety as well as eye appeal are two things to study as you design the interior of your home. In my mind, the inside is even more important than the outside. Some people only care about the outside because that is what everyone else sees. The inside though, affects you and your family. If it is chaos then you will be in that frame of mind as well. Your children will learn from you and take that with them when they go out on their own. It is what they will teach their children. So goes that circle of life.

All Photographs Copyright © 2012 Kathleen G. Lupole
Unless otherwise stated on photo

A Year Ago On Wordless Wednesday

2012-01-11T07:38:00.000-08:00

Planning 2012 Garden Part Two

2012-01-10T08:43:00.000-08:00

Backyard Raised Beds!

Since I was writing about our plans for this year's garden, I found I could not do it all in one post. So to continue from where I left off, I had to write more. You see our garden is one very important part of our homestead. In fact, if we moved to a piece of land to build a house, the very first thing we would do is to put our garden in or prepare our garden area for the future garden. I always say "water, food, a roof over our heads and heat in that order."

Pumpkins In 2010!

Pumpkins is something we love and eat all year, if I have enough to can. My pumpkin plants didn't start last year. I make a lot of pumpkin pies or pumpkin bread as those are my husband's favorites. I really need to increase the amount of pumpkins that come up. So far, I only get one or two on each plant.

Hot Peppers!

Hot peppers are another of our favorites here. This year though I am looking to reproduce the ones I like for the store, so will be buying new seeds for those. They seem to produce a lot on each plant and I like that.

Green Bell Peppers!

Green bell peppers is one of my favorites also. These are really good. But some years I have grown them and had beautiful plants, but no peppers. I don't know why that happens, but I will be increasing the number of plants I grow of these also.

Our First Time Broccoli Plants Grew Good Last Year!

Last year we tested an area to see if I could get broccoli to come up. I read where someone said anyone could grow it. So I thought I'd try. Broccoli without doubt, is a favorite here too. Never could grow enough to preserve some. I'd like to try dehydrating some though.

Cherry Tomato Plants Growing Wild!

Our cherry tomatoes have been coming up on their own in our back raised bed. Don't have to plant them, they just come up. So I will leave them be. They do not get the Late Blight, so for some reason it doesn't affect them. This is an heirloom plant that I planted when I first moved here.

Potato Plants

Potatoes is a plant that I can grow! If I have room for it, it will come up with no problem. One year, I had almost all our beds full of them. My parents have always grown their own and stored them in their root cellar. So I know the value of the potato. I'd like to try growing them in straw. Potatoes is a food that you can eat in so many ways. It is worth growing and can be grown in little spaces too.

Kale grew good too!

Kale is a plant I like. It even grew under the snow and we ate it as a salad green in the winter. Liked that about it. I still have some that I canned. It is a good addition to soups and casseroles. It is very healthy so you should at least try it.

One of our lettuce and salad greens bed!

Lettuce grows good for us. I pick it daily for our salad and the next day it has grown back. I plan on adding two more beds of lettuce this year. We eat tons of salads all year. It is something I have always done.

Pale Gray Hopi Squash

Pale Gray Hopi Squash is a winter squash I almost forgot to put on this list! I will be growing it and hopefully will get more this time. We liked it and it can be stored fresh or canned. This is an heirloom plant. I was so fortunate enough to have a Homesteading Today member send me some free seeds! I have treasured them ever since.

The Jurassic Bed.......giant plants grow here!

This list is still not complete. I will be adding the foods I did not grow and show you what my final list will be before I order any seeds I do not have. I will also do a list of the fruits too. Need to add more of them as we do not grow enough. If it wasn't for the wild ones, we'd be fruitless! What are your gardening plans for this year? Please share!

Planning The 2012 Garden List

2012-01-09T08:19:00.000-08:00

Raised Beds in Winter 2011

As the old saying goes, "The days get longer, the cold gets stronger." It is very true. My husband walks around saying that to himself much of the time. We look forward to longer days, but not to the bitter cold of winter. So during this time of the year, what do I do? I ponder what seeds to start in March for my garden! Yes, it is that time of the year when the seed companies are busy sending me catalogs. I love to study them over and over.

These raised beds can grow an awful lot of food!

This year, I have promised myself to not waste an inch of space in my raised beds. That means planting only the vegetables we absolutely love and will eat. Some of our old favorites we will be increasing.

Cucumbers - I did really well last year with the Blonde Boothby. Will be planting that as well as the Lemon Cucumber. We really loved these and they were plentiful.

Green Beans is a food that our whole family loves. My son would open a jar for supper every night if I didn't argue. So we need many jars of them. I never seem to plant as many as I need. Or we just eat more if they are available. I usually plant the bush type bean.

Summer Squash is a vegetable that we normally eat fresh all summer. If I can get it started inside and out in the ground pretty quick, we will have plenty and soon. I also can it and it has turned out to be a much better product than when I tried it before. The secret is to can it in cubes. Very good all winter!

Zucchini is a vegetable I always have in my garden. I can make so many dishes with it as well as pickles, relish, in salad, with dips, fried and in casseroles. What isn't there to love about this veggie?

Butternut and Acorn Squash is another vegetable that can be used for many dishes. I like to make a pie with it using a pumpkin pie recipe. Nobody ever knows the difference.

Sunday Afternoon At Peaceful Forest

2012-01-08T15:31:00.000-08:00

My mother used to draw a lot. When she was bedridden, she tried to keep busy. She read a ton of books too. My father would bring home a lot of books for her to read. He'd find second hand ones for her. She, of course, crocheted a lot. Constantly. Her and her sisters all were very good at that. Never had to use a pattern. She'd make her own. Drawing was something she did with us kids when we were small. I was never very good at it myself. But my son, Jeff, and my brother's son, Mickey Joe, were both gifted in that way too.

When she passed away in 2002, my father gave me some of her things and that included her book of her drawings. She loved animals of all kinds and did a lot of them. I thought I'd share this one with you today. Hope you like it!

Nikita's Fourteenth Birthday!

2012-01-07T08:59:00.000-08:00

Nikita Blackwolf Lupole - January 7, 1998

Nikita Blackwolf is our dog who is celebrating her fourteenth birthday today. I thought for sure she would not make it to this birthday. Though she is in good shape, healthy looking, despite being overweight (an issue we are presently working on), and having some weird lumps and bumps on various parts of her body. For the most part she is a very happy girl even after having had to give up some of her favorite activities as she got older.

In the yard

One being sleeping upstairs in the bedroom. Once the stairs became too much for her, some years back, we had to move her bed downstairs for good. She adapted well to this change. But I know she misses being up there. She used to come to my husband when he was in bed and tell him good night. If he went to bed without telling her good night, she'd get up and come to him.

July 2011, hanging out!

In 2003, we bought our truck which has a big step to get in and a teeny space for the back seat. She was able to get in and out very cautiously, but soon could not go with us anymore. I was very sad over this, as I missed her attention to things she'd see along the road. She loved going to the grocery store with me and would be watching for me to come out. In fact, I know that is how she understands where we get the food from. Her favorite thing was to see a cat or another dog along the road. She'd growl and bark and act like she wanted to tear them apart.......but in reality, she is a very gentle girl and loves cats. I always hoped I'd be able to get another car for her and me to go in. I haven't been able to do that. Now, I don't think it will be possible before she is gone.

Winter 2011, loving the snow!

One of her most favorite things she used to do was to go on horseback rides. She would go for miles and never tire or have a problem. Trotting right alongside the horses. Riding past other homes, with other dogs in the yard did not deter her from sticking with the horses. One time I remember she went with my husband up the road. Soon my horse, Georgie Girl, was standing riderless out front with Nikita standing right beside her. I didn't know what had happened. Soon my husband was walking in the driveway, mad because he had gotten off Georgie Girl to fasten a gate, and she took off and left him behind. Nikita though, chose to stay with the horse.

In 2000, the area that became the paddock!

My husband and Nikita hiked all the trails through out the state forest around us. They'd be gone for hours. Investigating areas that were so deep in the forest that even the hunters hadn't discovered them. Nikita loved doing that! My husband has said many times that he really misses those walks. They were a team! He hardly ever hikes anywhere anymore without her. It just is not the same.

In 1998

It is sad to see her activities change, but it happens to all of us. People, horses, cats and dogs. Life goes on and you can't dwell on that part of it. Instead seek out other activities that you can do. For an animal it is different since they can't take up a hobby or other activity. All I can do is to encourage her to go outside and take a walk in the woods with me. Give her all the love and attention I can at this time in her life. She is a very pampered girl and we cherish each and every day with her.

Callie sleeping with Nikita!

One thing I have noticed as she had become older is that now she seems very wise. She observes things you wouldn't think a dog would understand. Her knowledge as she got older, became so apparent to us. Like somehow, she passed us by, and was now the one who was taking care of us. She has many conversations with us by staring into our eyes, and I can feel her words through those meaningful looks.

Spent My Day With My Big Brother!

2012-01-06T16:27:00.000-08:00

Mickey and Dakota

Today, my husband and I spent most of our day at my brother's house. He lives about 16 miles from us. I wish I had remembered my camera! I'd have gotten some awesome shots of him and the long rifles he builds. They are beautiful and he makes them all by hand. He sells some, but only if someone orders it first, then he makes it for that particular person. Otherwise, he makes it for himself and wants to keep it.

My Big Brother!

He was in a band when we were kids back in the sixties living in Flagler Beach, FL. He played the rhythm guitar and keyboards. His band did pretty good, playing at all our community dances. It was cool, having a brother who was in a band! Now he has a corner in his house that is for his collection of guitars and his new Fender amp.

The Spirit Of The Old West in New Milford, PA

Now though instead of being in a band, he has had a wild west show called, The Spirit Of The Old West. Presently, he has been doing his shows mostly in Cooperstown, NY, catching the outlaws who hold up the train. Using blackpowder guns and authentic clothing for the time period. He has been doing this for a long time now, years.

Mickey, Me and our neighbor

Well, I promised myself that I will go back over there and get some photos of his leather work, his guns, guitars and historical books. Maybe if I am lucky, I can get some shots of his girlfriend, Cindy's beautiful sewing projects that he wears proudly, especially a beautiful hunting shirt.

Be Aware Of Fire Safety On The Homestead

2012-01-05T12:14:00.000-08:00

Fire!

Since this is the time of year when many people are using wood stoves, I thought I'd touch a subject that is very important. That is the topic of fire safety. Cooking and heating with wood or any fuel source really can be dangerous, as I am sure everyone knows. Some people that contact me worry about the safety of using wood stoves, and will mention it scares them. Nothing wrong with feeling that way! I was the same way when we got our first wood heating stove.

Wood stoves mean having a fire burning inside your house!

You can follow all the safety rules and still have a fire. Or you can be so careful in how you do everything in your house, and then have someone stay with you or visit, who ignores those rules and in turn burns your home down with carelessness. What I have found that you have to do...........is to practice a little tough love on this person. After all, it is your house and all your belongings in it!

Stove is burning red hot!

Now to get on to the safety precautions you need to take. I am taking it for granted it is already installed correctly and is safe, and has already been tested to be safe. Or you are already using it and just want to brush up on the safety issues. You may want to ask your insurance company if they have a handout on fire safety or contact your local fire department.

Dry kindling!

The chimney is the first place to focus your attention. If you have a straight pipe with no elbows, you should have no problems with it. My cook stove is like that. We have hardly ever had to clean the chimney. My husband will check it and it is clean as a whistle most of the time. For that pipe, he uses a chain and drops it down the pipe. Simple!

Ash pail and shovel to the left, big pedestal sits above the floor!

The wood heating stove in our living room has two elbows. One at the stove where it hooks into the chimney. The other is upstairs where it goes through the ceiling. Because of the way the beams are, it has to have another elbow. My husband is planning on changing that in the future. But for now, we have two elbows, and I can tell you that is the areas where the creosote accumulates.

The first elbow right at the back of the stove!

Don't make a plan of cleaning the chimney once a year or something like that. Please, as soon as you realize it needs cleaning, do it then! One way to judge it is if it smokes when you open the door to the stove and the smoke pours out of it instead of going up the chimney.........it needs cleaning! Pipe is blocked. My husband cleans our chimney as soon as he knows it needs it. Several times a month, if needed. Depends on the type of wood we are burning, and if it banked back more due to not being all that cold.

Creosote is what accumulates in your chimney!

Make sure you do not leave flammable items sitting on your stove or laying next to it. Sometimes you might set something on it when it is not lit, then forget it is there later when it is. Always take stock of what is around it. Keep your ash pail and shovel by the stove at all times. If a coal jumps out when you open it to put wood on it, you need the shovel handy to scoop it up. Not a time to go look for it!

Damper on the wood cook stove is open here.

Never leave the door open while you have gone to another location! I know that seems like anyone would know that, but not all people do. Make sure there is enough room behind the stove to where you stack your wood or where the wall is. We have roofing tin on the wall behind our wood stove. It never even feels hot. But it is way further than the 18-36" that is recommended. Make sure you have a fire extinguisher nearby at all times. Most times when you think you have a fire in the chimney, the first thing to do is to close the damper. That should shut it down.

Damper closed in this picture.

Make sure your floor underneath and in front of the stove is also fire resistant. Our big heating stove has a pedestal that is the bottom so it doesn't even touch the floor. In fact, our cats' favorite place to sleep in the early morning hours is on that pedestal. Our home office is right by the stove, so we are warm and comfy all day while we work. And our fire is never neglected that way.

Wood work is part of it!

Teach your young children right from the start about the dangers of fire and wood stoves. You wouldn't want one of them to start a fire, or do anything with your stove, when nobody is at home. I don't have any young children at home, but if I did, I would make sure they knew NEVER to open the door, or put anything on it at all, unless a grown up was present! If you have very young, like toddlers, I would put something around it so they could not touch it and get burnt.

Cook stove chimney from the kitchen!

I hope this helps you a little bit. If you have any questions, feel free to ask me. You can also search online for fire safety and installation precautions. Stay safe and enjoy your wood stoves!

This Morning On Wordless Wednesday

2012-01-04T07:32:00.000-08:00

Secluded But Not Far From Town

2012-01-03T11:23:00.000-08:00

Our neighbor's herd

When we moved to our homestead in 1999, there was that big scare coming up about the year 2000 screwing up life as we know it. It was due to that year changing from the 1900 to 2000, and all the programs that could not be fixed to accommodate that change. As we all know, it was fixed and went without a glitch. People were stocking up and preparing like crazy.

Protected by a donkey in the middle of the forest!

Since we had just moved here, we were not prepared much at all. At that time, it felt like we were really secluded. In fact, even now, when visitors come out here to see us, they will remark on how far out we live. But we really are not far at all. Or secluded enough. To others though, I guess it must seem like it is. We don't really need to stock up huge amounts due to danger of being snowed in for the winter.

Civilization is not far!

Our house is only six miles from the town of Oxford, ten from Greene, and 12 from Walmart, which is just one mile from the city of Norwich. The small towns of McDonough and Smithville Flats are five and nine miles respectively. Our highway department plows our road early in the morning and keeps it clean most of the time. So we are rarely snowed in. Of course, my husband can drive through anything! So I am not worried about that.

Tyner Hill scares me in the snow! Lucky, Hubby was driving!

So this morning we did some errands and now I have supper cooking, and just took two pies out of the oven. I figure these guys, my husband and son, deserve some treats now and then! Apple Caramel and Blueberry Pies! Smell so good!I am glad we are not having a really bad snow storm yet. It can happen at any time though. Have a good homesteading day all!

Learn How On Pinterest

2012-01-02T11:04:00.000-08:00

I have a confession to make...........I am addicted, badly! Yes, I always said I never get addicted to anything, but it has happened to me. My addiction is to a web site called Pinterest. Have you heard of it? If you have been there, then you know how addicting it can be. I go there to relax and have fun. Yes, it is possible to do that online.

It is a networking site with pictures.......lots of pictures! Awesome pictures about any subject you are interested in. You set up boards with names of the topics you like, and then you pin (click it and add it to whatever board you choose) photos to it. Other members will repin or like your pictures, they may make a comment on it or reply to you about the picture. If a member has boards you like, you can follow that board. It is free and fun to use. You can also share the pins on Facebook or Twitter.

At first, I didn't quite understand the whole concept of this site. Now, I have spent most of the holidays playing on it.......WOW! This site is powerful! Now I finally get it. I have developed my boards with topics that generate my own interests. Some of the boards I have set up will help me writing this blog this year and also to put together a new homesteading book I am working on.

The way to develop your boards on Pinterest so they are of use to you on your blogs is to search for the kind of items you want to write about. This is my entire Pinterest Board.

You can see all my topics:

I've Been - Places I have traveled to or lived.
Horses - I love these magnificent creatures!
Flowers - Flowers of all colors and varieties.
Black Dogs - I am partial to the black dog!
Cats - My whole life, I have been a "cat person" and always will be.
Things I Found - Items I find that look interesting.
Past Memories - Past memories of cars, people, items, music, whatever.
Feelings - Love, Hate, Friendships, Sadness, etc.
Favorite Places & Spaces - Beautiful spots and rooms to make them stand out.
Homestead Home - My vision of my homestead home or other homesteads.
Critters And Nature - Animals and nature.
Food - Good food that I'd like to make.
Homestead Gardens - The garden on the homestead is the most important part!
Places Afar - Places that I have not been, but look inviting.
My Style Pinboard - Personal style of what I like, make-up, clothing, hair, my style.
Products I Love - Products I find that I'd like to have.
I Could Have Said That - Saying that I thought or could have said.
People - Famous and some not so famous.
DIY - Crafts, Repairs, Projects of all kinds.
Tiny Critters - Teeny tiny critters, from bugs, to baby critters, to cells.
Gifts - Beautiful items that could be a gift for the people in my life.
Photography - I love photography and this is all things to do with that hobby.
Purple - My favorite color.........need I say more? Take a peek and feast your eyes!
Our Future Home Office - Ideas for turning our living room into a home office with style.
Holidays - Ideas for all holidays.
Christian - All thing Christian related.
Modern Homesteading - Homesteading in the new century, high tech and old!
Preps - Preparation is one of the things I stress, see for yourself!
New York State - I LOVE my home state of NY.......this is why!
Sweets - Sugar is so bad for you! But sometimes, I need a little taste of these goodies!
Low Carb Food - The wonderful food that will save our lives and help us live long lives!
Storage And Organization - Organize and Prosper!

These are not set in stone. I add more daily, delete some and sometimes the site it is on disappears and so does the photo. I also rearrange them as sometimes I add them to the wrong board or add more than one of the same photo. It is fun and you can find new ways of doing things or making things. Lots of good recipes! If you go there, please follow me and leave me a message and I will follow you back.

I am not an affiliate of Pinterest, though I wish I was! I am just a very happy pinner! Honestly!

A New Year

2012-01-01T09:18:00.000-08:00

Simplify our house!

This is the first day of 2012. My goodness, last year certainly went fast! Everybody is busy writing their resolutions for 2012 down last night or today. What about you? Do you have plans for the new year? Starting over, wiping the slate clean? Maybe looking at the resolutions you made for last year, and trying again this year? And if so, why? What caused you to not keep your resolutions last year? Can you change it this year? I can. So can you!

Picture Source

The most important item on my agenda is to simplify my home. To keep taking things to the thrift store if it is not being used anymore. What is the sense of holding onto things that are not used anymore? I got rid of a load of books this year, but have more to get rid of. The books I held onto were books that I use like guide books. Those I will keep, but other books are on the way out too. I have slowly been switching over to mostly digital items, such as music, books, even my photos. I love the digital world! No file cabinets or book cases needed!

Picture Source

The two things that I seem to accumulate are books and junk mail. Lots of paper. The more I get rid of it, the more I seem to have. My rule now is no more physical books. And junk mail is put in the box by the wood stove for fire starting. I still receive a lot of physical catalogs even though I do almost all my purchases online. I like the seed catalogs, but don't really care for the others. My son likes to read the Sportsman Guide though.

Working on house

We are always striving to improve our homestead. Our house needs work and it is constantly an ongoing project. Many improvements have been made over the years. Now I am working to increase my income so we can get these projects completed faster. Not that I haven't always been doing that. Then move on. Get our water in our house, our battery room completed and batteries in there and our wind turbine up. Those are the main projects that we badly need done.

Green Beans in beds 2011

The next most important item for me will be making my garden produce more food this year. Plan it better and do not grow anything that we don't regularly eat. Like trying new crops. If I try them, I will only plant a plant or two this year, and see what the outcome is. Do we love it and want more? Or was it something no one really liked that much? Also plant more of the vegetables that we eat a lot of. Make every speck of space in the beds count! Looking forward to putting my plans into action and focus on these resolutions for 2012. Hope you have an awesome year!

Cat Collection - Wordless Wednesday

2011-12-28T15:07:00.000-08:00

A Case Protects My Kindle Fire!

2011-12-27T12:36:00.000-08:00

My Kindle Fire

After having my new Kindle Fire for a month, I can still say, that I love it and have not found one problem with it. It works like an absolute charm. I have always read a lot, but I am reading twice as much now. Finding books in Amazon's kindle store daily. Every morning, I charge the battery, usually when the generator is running. Mainly, I use it for reading. You can play music or videos on it as well as go onto the internet with it. You can also send documents to your kindle as they give you a special email address for it. I have not watched a video or sent myself a document yet.

Timbuk2 Kindle and Kindle Touch ENVELOPE SLEEVE

My husband ordered the sleeve that protects it when he bought the kindle fire. So I have kept it stored in there whenever I am not using it. I am very careful with it and this makes it easy to take good care of it. My review of the sleeve is now on Amazon, which I wrote this morning. I could not believe that someone said it does not fit the Kindle Fire. It fits perfectly! I am thinking of adding my customer images to prove it.

My Kindle Fire fits right inside the sleeve!

I have been reading a lot of free books available in the Kindle Store on Amazon. Amazon urged the authors to put their books up for free for a short period and that would get their books out there and getting read. I don't know if that type of promotion works or not for the authors. I did not choose to do it with my books since I already am offering them for .99. Seems to be low enough already. But I did snap up some good books to read where the authors took advantage of that.

It fits right inside with a little room left over!

One more accessory I need for it, will be JBuds J5 Earbud-style Metal Headphones for Kindle Fire. Then I could listen to music by not disturbing my husband when he is watching videos or asleep. There is quite a bit of very good music for free on Amazon also. So I now have two new albums. One is Native American flutes, which I love. The other other is gospel hymns and that is outstanding. I cannot believe all the free content available on Amazon for the Kindle Fire! Keeps me reading...........

A Very Special Christmas

2011-12-26T14:07:00.000-08:00

Michael Dran and Robert Lupole, Christmas Day!

Christmas was the best I have had in a long time! Spending the day with my awesome father at my father-in-law's house was so wonderful. I will stash that memory away forever! The holidays have not been very good for either of our fathers, since they lost their lifetime partners, their wives and our mothers. But I think they quite enjoyed the day yesterday. Especially when my FIL, asked my father, "How are you, old man?" Snickering, since my father at 92, is six months older than himself!

Keeping an eye on the chili!

My FIL is well known for making his secret family recipe for chili, which he used to make every Christmas. In fact, this year is the first year he actually took part in planning the day, since my MIL had died. Ken, my BIL decorated the house a bit, and had the table set when we all arrived. My husband had made two Bread Puddings, one to leave at home for my son, and one to take with us. He used to make it for his mother, because she thought his was always better than the ones she made. It turned out very good, and everyone was remembering his grandmother, who used to make it years ago.

We have enjoyed many family dinners here!

We arrived first, after picking up my father and stepson, Jeff. Yes, our sons have the same name! My son stayed home to keep an eye on the homestead, our critters, and keeping the wood stoves going. Soon my sister-in-law, Pat, and her husband, Tim, came in with their arms full of packages and food. They were surprised to see we had brought guests! The more the merrier!

My gorgeous stepson, Jeff!

We hadn't seen too much of my stepson, Jeff, as he was working out of town the last couple of years. My husband's day was complete by having him join us. I noticed he was smiling all day! So it was a simple celebration, but a very meaningful one for all of us. Catching up on each other's news and spending a day together, as we remembered our family members who are no longer with us.......our mothers, Hazel Dran, Lucille Lupole, brother, Jack Lupole, daughter, Hollie Sunshine Lupole Fletcher. What a day we had!

My Christmas Spirit Is Back

2011-12-21T07:55:00.001-08:00

Christmas 1988 - My son, Jeffrey

Christmas is not usually my favorite time of the year. When my son was growing up, I went all out for it. I decorated our house lavishly. We had two Christmas trees, even though I did not decorate the outside with lights like many people do. One tree was white with silver and blue ornaments and lights. That tree was in my big bay window in my upstairs living room. I loved that tree!

Merry Christmas Readers!

My Christmas spirit had vanished. It is rough out here in the cold winter. Usually we have at least a foot of snow by now. Instead we have rain and mud this year. Some years, we did not go anywhere due to the amount of snow we got. Or someone in our family was sick, or had a cold, so Christmas was canceled. It is different when everyone is grown up and there are no children. You can always have it on another day.

Our Pine Tree!

Every year my father has been having Christmas with my niece and her family. So I don't spend the holiday with my father anymore. He does not like to drive on my road to come, especially in the winter. It is a bad dirt road in a secluded area, so I understand. Since my mother had passed away in 2002, my family had changed.

Daddy and me!

For years, I am the one who did Christmas for my whole family. But when I married my husband, his mother would get upset about us not coming to her house.So we went there, since it was so important to her. My parents did not make a big deal of it.

The Way To FIL's House!

Now both mothers are gone, My FIL and BIL live together in a city not far from us. They invited us to come to their house for Christmas this year. A small dinner, his Dad's Famous Chili, if he can remember how to make it! I had just spoke to my father on the phone and he sounded like he didn't want to go to my niece's house for Christmas. So I thought I'd invite him to go with us to my FIL's house. My sister-in-law and her husband will be there too. A small gathering with our fathers, who at 91, FIL and 92, my father, could very well be our last. Though I have told my father to make a new goal of living to be one hundred!

Jeff and my father in the summer time!

So now I have something to look forward to! As long as no one gets sick or anything, we will be headed to spend our day with both of our fathers. We aren't telling my husband's family that we are bringing my father. It is our surprise. They have been complaining because no one comes to visit them anymore. And they really like my father. I can't wait to get there and see our fathers having a nice Christmas day with us.

Merry Christmas to all my readers here. I am not sure I will have the chance to write another post before then. I love you all, and hope you have a wonderful day with your family, friends and critters!

Garden Produce In Flooded Areas

2011-12-20T11:03:00.000-08:00

Flooded area nearby in Oxford!

With all the flooding around the country in recent years, many people lost the gardens they worked so hard on. What happened after the flood waters went down? What if their gardens survived the flood water? But was the produce still safe to eat? Why or Why not?

Vegetables and fruits should not be eaten if flooded!

Many conditions after a flood of the area can affect the safety of the food growing in your garden. Flood waters can contain contaminants such as agricultural or other chemicals, as well as disease-causing organisms that come from the run off of agriculture land or septic systems. Many homes that were flooded could contain chemicals in their garages, basements, fuel tanks, etc. or businesses that use chemicals. All that gets into the flood waters.

Lettuce should be destroyed if flooded if contaminates are in the water!

After a flood, green leafy vegetables that are eaten fresh such as lettuce and cabbage are a high risk of contamination for 90 days. So they should be destroyed and not eaten. Greens that are cooked, such as kale, beet greens, etc., should be cut back and allow it to regrow before being eaten. They should be cooked thoroughly before eating. Now I know we don't like losing our produce in our gardens, but I wouldn't be risking my family's life by harvesting this food.

Raging waters can cause such destruction!

Well known food borne illnesses arise from garden produce that has been contaminated with floodwaters containing pathogenic bacteria, parasites, and viruses. Typical pathogens involved in these particular situations include E. coli 0157:H7, Cryptosporidium parvum, Cyclospora, Giardia, Campylobacter, and Hepatitis A. Every single one of these diseases make people gravely sick and in some instances have long-term complications or may cause death.

Strawberry blossoms and fruit should be taken off!

Plants with blossoms or fruit, such as strawberries or tomatoes should be discarded. The stilt and contaminates become imbedded in leaves, petioles, stems, or other natural openings of fleshy structures. It is not possible to clean them, especially as most of them have a lot of ridges and crevices that would possibly contain contaminated silt and/or bacteria.

Root crops such as potatoes should be peeled and cooked!

Root crops would have to be peeled, including crops that were still underground. Such as potatoes, beets, carrots, etc. and cooked thoroughly before eating. Remember it is your family's health that is at risk! It depends on the level of contamination from the flood water on your garden. The pathogens eventually die out, but can remain present in your ground for several months. If you were flooded from a feedlot or septic overflow you shouldn't even consider using any produce for at least 90 days. Better to safe than sorry. You can have it tested if you are still uneasy about it. I would want to be sure myself.

All Photographs Copyright © 2011 Kathleen G. Lupole

*All facts here were researched at the Dept. Of Horticulture, Cornell University

More Than Gingerbread - German Recipes!

2011-12-17T09:37:00.000-08:00

From Lucky Charm To Christmas Delight

Last year, I met someone, Paula Bowser, who has become a very good friend of mine. I have never met her in person. Though I have high hopes of meeting her in the future. She is from Germany and is so knowledgeable in many things. I have learned a lot from her and her blogs. When I first met her, she was in Germany and planning to come to the United States to get married to her long time beau. All of our gang, on The Redhead Riter's Community, on The Blogfrog, was pretty excited for her! We are a group of close internet friends, that seems to go beyond the computer world.

Photo Source

This year, Paula Bowser has written an eBook, From Lucky Charm To Christmas Delight, of the recipes she had compiled of German goodies for her new American husband. This book is special to me because my husband, was stationed in Germany when he was in the service in the seventies, and told me of the delicious German foods, and especially, the desserts.

My Kindle Fire

Now her eBook is in the kindle store at Amazon! It is easy to get the app there for people who do not own a book reader and would like to have it on their computer. Amazon has Free Kindle Reading Apps so you can buy or get free eBooks to read on your computer. Lots of good ones too!

Photo Source

German Lebkuchen (gingerbread) and Christmas Cookies Recipes! Exquisite, homemade delights adding to the festive spirit in your home!

Photo Source

You will bake original German gingerbread with the gift of the deities - honey! Surprise your family with "Stollen" and your knowledge about its 500 years history. Learn how to make "Baumkuchen", the king of cakes; or why pepper cookies are seldom made with pepper!

Passed on from generation to generation by German families now living in America. Collected and "handwritten" in the year 2011, by Paula Bowser, newcomer to the USA! She says, "Now celebrating Christmas in my new home country. I love to share this collection, traditions and stories with you!"

Please check out Paula's book! At this low price it is just in time for your holiday baking. Do me a big favor, while you are buying her book, please "Like" her book on Amazon.

In this book:

Honey – Gift of the Deities

Lebkuchen (gingerbread)

From Lucky Charm to Christmas Delight

Stollen Recipes

With a Hint of History

X- mas Cake Recipe

Festive Tart Recipe

Triple C – Christmas Chocolate Cake

Baumkuchen – The King of Cake

Christmas Cookies Recipes

Why Pepper Cookies aren't made with Pepper!

Step by Step Guide – Gingerbread House

Modern Gingerbread Magic - Desserts

German Christmas Traditions

Tips & Tricks & Resources

Photo Source

If you follow her recipes and make some of these Christmas goodies, send me a photo and I will feature it on this blog. I will be making the gingerbread very soon and will share that with my readers also. I know you will enjoy her recipes!!!

On My Mother's Birthday - Remembering Her

2011-12-16T09:15:00.000-08:00

My beautiful mother in 1942

Hazel Dorothy Neer Dran

Today, December 16th is my mother's birthday. I always think of her birthday coming as soon as December first comes. Before she became sick in the seventies, she was always a very independent woman. Her and my father made a life for themselves that was centered around their home and family. We were never rich, but we always had food, clothing and a home. My brother, Mickey and I had many happy memories of growing up in our family.

Mom chasing after Mickey 1951!

When I was three, they sold their house and gave away all their belongings except what they could fit in our car, and we headed out to California. Along the way we stopped at the Rocky Mountains. We stayed out there for about three months and my mother hated it. So they just packed us back up and we headed back to NY. My grandmother welcomed us home and we stayed with her until they could find another house.

Our house on Route 7, Harpursville, NY

I always remember the day they came home and said they bought a house. Mom said to get ready because my new next door neighbor is waiting to meet me! Kim Wright who lived next door, was there to meet me when we got to our new house. We became the best of friends. My parents had a bought a big two story, 12 room house about 8 miles from my grandmother's and one mile from the town of Harpursville, NY. I loved living in this house. Near all my relatives. I especially liked spending nights at my grandmother's house, which I did quite often.

Some of our friends and cousins at my party

Our neighborhood was full of children our ages. We had a lot of friends there and it was a good place to live. There was a creek behind our houses where we swam all summer. Our house had a big piece of land right next to our house, so it wasn't like we had houses on top of each other. We also owned the land across the road from our house. There was a good hill there for sleigh riding in the winter.

My father building our gas station

Soon after we moved there, my father started building a gas station. It was right on Route 7, and at that time, that was a very busy highway. Many years after we moved from there, they built 88 which is a very busy route for over the road trucks and travelers. But at that time, in 1956, Route 7 was an ideal place for a gas station.

Dran's Atlantic, Harpursville, NY 1955-62

My parents worked together on running our gas station. It was a local hang out for teenage boys who learned how to fix their cars since my father welcomed them and didn't mind helping them. I think he liked it. My mother was active in the local PTA and did all types of volunteer jobs at Harpursville School. In fact, when they gave shots in the gym every year, she worked there to help. But every year, they'd have to notify her that her daughter was in the nurse's office because she fainted in line waiting for her shot! She always told that story years later.

The Food Wars Include Low Carbers

2011-12-15T07:32:00.000-08:00

Ground Beef for low carb meals!

As most people know, I eat mostly low carb foods. I follow Dr. Atkins' induction food plan when I am being very good. When I am not being very good.............I suffer! Not kidding! I have written about it in this post, The Key To Low Carb Cooking.

Baked Beans Is A High Carb Meal!

Something I have noticed on the internet and elsewhere, is that there are food wars going on. It is so weird how people want everyone else to do exactly what they are doing. If they are vegetarians, they put down the meat eaters. Or vice versa. If they eat high carbs, they put down low carbs. I guess it carries over to other parts of life though. Smokers vrs non-smokers. Drinkers vrs non-drinkers. Homesteaders vrs "Yuppies" (or whatever you call them).

One of the low carb foods that I rely on!

Why is that? I personally, like to encourage people in my lifestyle or food plan, if they show a interest in it. If not, then one less person to move out to the country or buy up all the good meat and produce in the store! If they are not interested in the things I am, that is fine with me. I will not fight with them or argue about it. I am not trying to say my way is the best way, or the only way. Just my way.

Berries are a low carb fave!

My husband and I tried several times to switch to vegetarian. It did not do it for us. We both grew up with meat at every meal, and was not satisfied without it. When I read Dr. Atkins book, I found that everything he said for me, was right on. Ever since I switched, my health improved and I lost weight. So it speaks for itself.

Wordless Wednesday - Peaceful Forest Homestead

2011-12-14T04:38:00.000-08:00

Kindle Edition Of My Homesteading Journey

2011-12-12T10:43:00.000-08:00

Thoughts of a simpler life?

Recently I have added my eBooks to the Kindle store on Amazon. This means they had to be formatted for the kindle. I managed to do it and so far, no complaints. I am hoping it works out, as I like selling there. My book, My Homesteading Journey, of course, is written for "modern homesteaders" in mind. It is my story or journey of how my husband and I came to live here and this lifestyle.

My Homesteading Journey

As anyone who knows me or that is a member of the Homesteading Today forum, I have told many times before, that I did not live this lifestyle before. Growing up we always lived in the country except for the brief time that we lived in Flagler Beach, FL, where we were a mile from the beach. Other than that, we never lived in the city limits. But my parents both worked at jobs and were not into a self-sufficient lifestyle, even though both of them were raised that way.

Our three horses!

Some topics in my book may be of interest to anyone wanting to learn how to become self-reliant in this crazy world. I don't have all the answers. But these are the things that have worked for us. As you know, we don't raise animals for food. We may get a flock of chickens in the future, but that would be the extent of raising animals.

Gardening For Food!

This is a list of some of the topics I have written about in this book:

Homesteading In The Forest
How My Solar Energy System Works
Heating And Cooling Your Home
Heating With Wood
Transportation
How We Got To This Point In Our Lives
Buying Your Homestead
1. Finding The Perfect Realtor
2. Making Your Offer
Foraging For Wild Foods
The Pantry & Root Cellar
Building The Barn

Fencing

Cutting Your Electricity Costs

The Water System

Refrigeration

Buying A Wood Cook stove

Cooking On A Wood Cook Stove

katlupe's Favorite Recipes

The Gardens

Composting

Decorating Your Homestead

To Prepare For Self Sufficiency In Times Of Emergencies

If you purchase my book for your kindle and have any questions about homesteading or any of the topics, please feel free to contact me here. I am planning another more detailed homesteading how to book that will be not so personal. More instructional. Your questions will give me a better scope on what is needed for anyone starting out. And if you purchase my book, I want to give you a big Thank You, right now! I really do appreciate it!!!

Morning Chores During Cold Weather

2011-12-11T05:37:00.001-08:00

Cold Winter 2010

On a cold morning, on our Peaceful Forest Homestead, the first one who gets up must open the dampers on the wood stove. Then the first riser gets a fire going in the wood cook stove and gets the coffee pot on. The coffee pot has been prepared the night before. I am not always the first one to get up. My son is an early riser so since he has been staying with us, he gets up and does those chores. If not, either my husband or I do them.

Fire going in wood cook stove!

While the coffee is perking, the first riser will then add wood to the big wood stove. Then replenish the cat's dry food dish. We usually sit and have our coffee and talk about our plans for the day at that time. After coffee, time to get moving.

Horses look forward to breakfast!

Horses being the first on the agenda. In the cold weather, horses need their hay for warmth. Sometimes they won't even touch the feed, knowing that the hay will warm them up. While they are eating is the time when my husband will usually clean the barn. There is one big stall for all three, with a big open door so they can go in and out as they please. The manure from this will be put into our compost pile.

Water drained down, handle up insures flow in cold temps

One of the most important chores on our homestead is priming our pitcher water pump. Since we do not have running water here, we cannot afford to lose the use of our pump. Horses need and want a lot of water in cold weather. Snow is NOT a substitute! After it is primed and running, we take fresh water to the barn, to the house and anywhere else we may need it. On cold days, the handle is put back up and water drained down out of the pipe so it doesn't freeze.

Split firewood - a VERY important chore!

Those are the regular chores we do every single morning. If we need firewood brought in or cut, that is usually done at that time also. Then we come in and check our computers and it is time for breakfast. A routine done every day, keeps your homestead orderly, organized and running smoothly........regardless of how cold it is. What about you? Does your routine vary in cold weather?

Start Homesteading

2011-12-10T07:35:00.001-08:00

Chainsaws are essential to our homestead life!

Learning how to live your life as self-sufficient as possible in this crazy world is not easy. So many people write to me and say they are stuck in the city. Stuck in a job. Stuck in a relationship with someone who does not want to live this way at all. I mean, some people have no desire to take on this life. Especially if they have never been exposed to it at all. If you are wanting to get started though, there are ways to do that without moving or divorcing your spouse and children.

The heart of our homestead!

Do you believe you must buy a home in the country to start the homesteading lifestyle? No! Absolutely not! I have met many homesteaders who live right dab in the middle of the city. Two blogging and homesteading friends who are currently urban homesteaders, thirtyfivebyninety and Viggie Veggies do an awesome job of homesteading in the city. As long as you have some kind of a backyard that you can plant a garden in, you should be able to get started. Starting small is always the best way anyway.

Our food supply at Peaceful Forest!

I have written about beginning homesteading skills many times on this blog. Learn Your Homesteading Skills Slowly, is one. But I still see when I go to my favorite homesteading forum that many "wannabees" do not, or think they cannot, start until they buy their property. That is not the way to do it. You must start now, wherever you are, whatever situation you are in. Learn and research. Discover exactly how you want to live. You do not need to live like the Nearings or Jackie Clay. Pick your own road. It is your homesteading journey, this is My Homesteading Journey!

Canning my garden produce every year builds our food supply!

With the internet you can learn all the skills you need very easily. Put the term in the search engine and find your directions. What could be easier? So many things I do now, I had never done before. You sharpen your skills the more you do them. So get started!

Capturing The Beauty Of Snow This Morning!

2011-12-08T07:56:00.001-08:00

Snow Cover In The Forest This Morning!

Across The Road From Our House!

Our Backyard This Morning!

Looking Out My Window!

The Garden!

Happenings Around Our Homestead

2011-12-06T06:08:00.001-08:00

Patches, absolutely HATES winter!

We have been having the most unusual weather for December here in upstate NY. I am not complaining though! No snow. Not really cold temperatures. In fact, today I am wearing shorts and we let our wood stove go out. We have had some sprinkling of flurries some days, rained last night. Now if it had been cold like usual it would have been snow. No sun to speak of. The cold could come in at any time though.

Took a dinner to my FIL's house in Johnson City, NY

Sunday, we (my husband, son and I all contributed) made a second Thanksgiving dinner. and took it to my father-in-law's house. My brother-in-law lives with his dad, and they were missing a "woman's touch" around the holidays. They don't eat much between the two of them. So that dinner will probably last them a few days. I made double amounts of everything, and we already finished ours'.

Dreaming of starting seeds in 4 months!

I am already planning my garden for spring. Spring is not that far away now. Less than four months! So I will be ordering seeds I need, though I don't need a lot this year. It always seems to help when it turns cold, to plan your garden. Keeps you mood hopeful that the cold will not last.

Into the forest the eagle flew!

Yesterday, my son and I were out in the backyard while I was washing laundry. All of a sudden he was yelling, "look it look it look it!" I looked at where he was looking, and there was a huge eagle flying low between the barn and us. He was so close! I saw his face so clearly. I feel that was a sign of luck for both of us. Especially since it was the first one either of us have ever seen that was not in a zoo. I wish I could have taken a picture of him. He looked exactly like all the pictures you see of eagles............wings spread out, soaring! Awesome!

Free Homesteading Books For My Kindle Fire!

2011-11-28T07:16:00.001-08:00

As all my readers know by now, my husband recently bought me a Kindle Fire. So I was excited to go to Amazon to pick out some books to read. What I discovered was a lot of FREE books. They aren't just free, but for a homesteading gal with a mind set on the old ways of doing things...........it is a GOLDMINE!

I have discovered so many new books to me that were written in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Before 1923, means there is no copywrite on these books. I am having a field day on these books! Now I can't wait to get off my computer in the early evening, so I can read my new books on my Kindle Fire. I know we usually think free things are not worth anything. Well for me, these books are full of information that can be used even today. Yes, there is some information that is outdated. But I like reading how they did things back then. I take what information I can use and go from there.

Here is list of some of the books I bought from the Kindle store and loved: (ALL But one is FREE!)

1. Mary at the Farm and Book of Recipes Compiled during Her Visitamong the "Pennsylvania Germans" - Edith Thomas - This book is the first one I got for the Kindle Fire. It is the story of a young girl, Mary coming to stay at her Aunt and Uncle's farm to learn how to be a housewife for her upcoming marriage. The discussions between her and her Aunt are priceless. It is also a cookbook with Mary and her Aunt's recipes. And VERY good recipes!

2. The American Frugal Housewife - Lydia Maria Francis Child - This book had many good reviews on Amazon even though most of the women liked it from the historical stand point. I liked learning new frugal things that were so common back then. If you let yourself, you can learn from reading books like this.

3. Pennsylvania Dutch Cooking - Unknown author - This cookbook could become my favorite. It has all those classic recipes we know of the Amish cook lore. The recipes for Rivels, Hot Dutch Potato Salad, Chicken and Corn Soup, etc.

4. Dishes and Beverages of the Old South - Martha McCulloch-Williams - This book is another one that is part historical and big part the recipes. The author tells about her "Mammy" and how she did things. Lots of detail on her kitchen, and cooking with, and cleaning the cast iron cookware. Very good info! I love this book and can't wait to sit down and just read it.

5. The Virginia Housewife - Mary Randolph -This is considered one of the first cookbooks of its time period. When looking through it I found many shortcuts and substitutions for various ingredients. She had a recipe for "Mock Macaroni", croquets, vermecelli, and just about every kind of pudding you can think of....and many you can't!

6. The Book of Household Management - Mrs. Isabella Mary Beeton - This book is another one that is a cookbook and book combined. I think in the day of these books, they explained why or what the history was of the recipes or way of doing things came about. The author is instructing you how to be a good mistress of the house. Doing your work in a timely manner and doing it so you don't have to do it over and over. I found it very helpful for some things I want to work on myself.

7. Self-Sufficiency (Back to Basics Guides) -Abigail R. Gehring - This book I accidentally bought when I first tried to buy using Amazon Prime. It has a lot of good information and is good for anyone new to homesteading. I am hopeful I will learn something new in it. Not saying that I know it all!

8. Life in the Backwoods - Susanna Moodie - This book I have just started and it has already grabbed my interest. I like reading about this time period and the way of life. The descriptions of the way things were cooked, cleaned and cared for make the book well worth my time.

9. Letters of a Woman Homesteader - Elinore Pruitt Stewart - I have had this book in my computer for some time. Before I got my Kindle Fire I was reading it on my computer. I have been putting a chapter on my NY Homesteading group's forum daily, as it is just so good. The author is writing this book as letter written to her former employer.

10. Patchwork A Story of 'The Plain People' Anna Balmer Myers - This book is a novel and I have not started it yet. I glanced through it and I can't wait to start reading it. It is about a young girl who has lost her mother and is being raised by someone else, learning the ways of the plain people that her mother would have taught her.

I will be putting up more books here as I read them. All of these books are free except for the Self-Sufficiency book. Amazon did not ask me to write this post, and they are not paying me for it (doggone it!). But I am an affiliate of Amazon, so be sure to read my link below for more information on that process. So if you click on all but one of the links, they are free. If you like these kind of books, you are in for a treat! By the way, you do not have to own a Kindle to download the free books on Amazon, they have an app there for reading them on your computer. Check it out!

FTC Blogging Disclosure

Thankful For My Readers!

2011-11-25T05:48:00.001-08:00

Our Thanksgiving dinner yesterday was a traditional dinner. Nothing fancy, just good food, cooked by me. Our pumpkin pies and bread was made with pumpkin we grew in our garden, and I canned. A little bit of work for an outstanding meal! That is one of the advantages of raising your own food. Next year, I plan on following a plan I have devised for filling our food supply.

Today I am worn out from a day spent in the kitchen. But it was worth it. To make a nice dinner for my husband and son. My son has been a big help to me in the kitchen, and I know most men his age would not want to be in the kitchen helping their mom. But he worries about me and this is the only way he can help. I appreciate his help so much!

I am very thankful to my husband, who throughout the year keeps our home running smoothly. He is always working on making things easier, repairing something, or just general care of our homestead and horses. I appreciate it and may not tell him every day. Not only that, but he is instrumental in my computer work for my home based business........which is very important for keeping our homestead running smoothly.

We don't participate in the Christmas shopping season that everyone else loves to do. My husband did buy me a Kindle Fire as a surprise, but not really a Christmas gift. Just because he knew I wanted one, and if I had one I could read at night using the light on it. Our power is limited during the winter without much sunlight. Another reason I wanted one was that I love reading eBooks instead of physical books now. But even more so, now that I have my Kindle Fire!

I hope you all had a wonderful dinner yesterday and are having a good holiday week-end with your family. I just want to say here that I am thankful for all my readers here. Listening to what I say and taking the time out of your day to visit my blog, making a comment and/or telling others to visit it too............really means a lot to me. I love all of my readers even though I do not know you and am grateful for each and every one of you. Thank you!

Thinking Pumpkin Pies - Wordless Wednesday

2011-11-23T14:53:00.001-08:00

DIY Rear Lift For Older Dogs Going Up Stairs

2011-11-22T10:18:00.001-08:00

We had been having some issues with our dog, Nikita, as she ages. She is now 13 and except for her weight issue, seems to be healthy. She has always been very picky about her food. I have tried to feed her the raw food diet, which consists of meat and raw bones. She loves both and it is her choice over all other. I have to work on her to get her to eat dog food. Another food she loves is cat food, and that is something she has been eating right along. I think it may have contributed to her gaining so much weight. She steals it when no one is looking. Now she has been on a diet and has not had any cat food, or any greasy meat, such as hamburger. She has been doing good on it and looks like she has lost some weight already.

Nikita Could Not Get Up These Stairs

A couple weeks ago, she went outside and could not get back up the stairs. So my husband had to build a ramp out of whatever he had on hand. The ramp came out pretty good and I like it for myself. At first, Nikita would not use it. She was nervous about it and would not go on it. He got mad and went out to our little graveyard to dig a grave for her. He said if she can't come in the house, we cannot leave her outside.

The New Ramp!

I saw him take the shovel and pick and head out there. But I said to myself, "Oh no, it is not time for that. She is not that bad off." I headed to my computer. Started searching for a way to get her up the stairs. This is what I found for helping a dog go up the stairs.......the Fabric Walkin' Lift Rear Harness. I needed something that day though, not something I had to order and wait for. So that was out. Besides, I don't think she'd have accepted it since it had loops around each separate leg. I know my dog. She is VERY particular about things.

The Ramp Has Asphalt Roofing On Surface.

Then I found these answers on Yahoo Answers:

"they do make slings which fit under the dogs belly both front and back. then with his size you would need 2 people to lift and carry up the stairs. this works well for large size dogs. it just lifts his feet up and off you go and he can walk if he is able while you are supporting most of his weight. i would nt use right after eating or drinking. available in large pet stores. good luck. i have been there.also"

"Now for now, use a beach towel looped under the tuck up (where the hind legs meet the body. and support the rear. this will help."

Stairs Are Not Easy For Us!

I took a big towel and went out to the barn where Nikita was laying. And I told her I found the answer and she got up and seemed excited. I put the towel around her, in front of the back legs and walked her to the back stairs. I called Jeff to come help. He and I worked together and she was able to go right up the stairs. She was so happy to get back in the house! Then Jeff went out to the graveyard and told Larry. He was happy too as he did not want to lose our little girl yet.

FDA Warning About Chicken Jerky Treats

This has nothing to do with her walking issue or weight issue, but just thought I'd share this with anyone who might be feeding their dogs these treats. Yesterday, I discovered the chicken jerky treats she loves so much come from China and the FDA is warning us that a lot of dogs have gotten very sick and died from them. She had just eaten two bags of them over the last week! And today my husband brought home two more bags from the store! I packed them away. I might take them back to the store if I get a chance tomorrow. She knows they are in the pantry and keeps eyeing me because she loves them so much. I will learn to make them myself. As soon as I do, I will post the recipe here.

My New Kindle Fire - Thank You, Larry!

2011-11-20T03:44:00.001-08:00

Yesterday my husband totally surprised me! I am still speechless...............

The mail carrier came and my son, Jeffrey went out and got the mail. He came walking in with two small boxes, and handed them to my husband. I asked who they were for. He said "Larry." I saw Amazon written on the outside of the box and figured he had ordered parts to something or new movies. But he looked at the box and then handed them to me. He said they were for me! Me???? I knew I hadn't ordered anything.

Click picture to buy from my Amazon affiliate link!

I took the boxes and saw printed on the box "Kindle Fire" in big letters! I was so excited! He knew I was trying to save up my Swag Bucks to buy one. Just the night before when I went to bed, I was thinking how long it would take me to get enough Swag Bucks to buy one.

Doesn't look like much, does it?

I can't tell you too much about it yet. But you know me.............I will be writing more about it as I learn how to use it. But the one thing I can't believe is how my husband, Larry, and my son, Jeff, shared this secret all week and never said a word! Jeff is not the best secret keeper. They were both watching for the mail carrier to bring it, and Friday was the day it was supposed to arrive, and it did not. According to the tracking number, it had arrived at our post office, but was not delivered until the next day. They were both anxious. I loved it that they surprised me!

Enjoying learning my new Kindle Fire!

One thing we have been striving toward is changing our household over to all digital products as much as possible. I have sold off most of my music CDs and now will have my music stored on my Cloud storage on Amazon. I buy just about everything there already. If you buy mp3 music from Amazon though, it does not use any of your 5 G of storage on the cloud......another incentive to shop there. Smart Amazon!

Searching for books on Amazon!

Since my husband bought it on his Amazon account, it was automatically registered as Larry's Kindle. This morning he deregistered it, and I registered it as mine. So I am waiting for the change over at the moment. One big reason for me wanting one so bad is that since we generate our own electricity, and some nights, especially in the winter (when there is not much sunshine), I cannot read at night because we cannot spare the extra power for the lights. This way I can sit and read on my Kindle Fire...........which I did last night! I downloaded a free book that was written in 1909, which was about a homesteading family. It was a story and a cookbook in one. I loved reading it on my new Kindle Fire!

The cover for my Kindle Fire!

I'll be on my Kindle Fire today............

Homemade Shampoo

2011-11-18T15:18:00.001-08:00

Photo Source: Jon Sullivan

Homesteaders are known for making their own products. We love making soap, candles, cleaning supplies, laundry soap and anything else we can perfect. So it stands to reason that we would be making our own shampoo too. It is not that hard to do. Making your own shampoo is really based on your own hair condition and color. I have dark auburn hair, which tends to be dry, especially as I have gotten older. So this is the kind of shampoo I am making, and it comes from Rosemary Gladstar's book, Herbs For Natural Beauty.

8 oz. strong herbal infusion
(dried calendula flowers, marsh mallow root and nettle leaf; equal parts of each one)
3 oz. liquid castille soap
1/4 tsp. Jojoba oil
20-30 drops peppermint essential oil

Simmer 1 oz of herb in 8 oz. of water over low heat for 20 minutes. Strain. Cool. Slowly add the castille soap, then mix in the Jojoba oil and essential oil. Store in a bottle. Shake before use. I store it in glass bottles, as I do not use plastic if I can help it.

As I said, this is based on what I need. You need to research what is good for your type of hair. Peppermint promotes hair growth. I have very thick hair, but because of my age, I want to keep the hair growth coming. The herbs here are for "dry" hair. If your hair is oily, use rosemary oil instead. All of these products can be ordered from health food stores online or even on Amazon. Surprisingly, it is not expensive at all.

Another tip from Rosemary Gladstar's book, is that you should never wash your hair more than once or twice a week! More washing is not good for it. The silky clean feeling we all love is the natural protective oils have been stripped from it with the frequent washing and hair shampoo that contains detergents. Brushing though is VERY good for it! Be sure to clean your brush whenever you wash your hair.

As for conditioner, I have used one all of my life. Now I finally have learned what its ingredients really do! They coat your hair and it feels incredibly silky, shiny, beautiful and glorious, but what it is really doing is...........keeping the natural oils from your scalp and other moisturizing products you may use, from actually getting into your hair! If you are stripping your hair with shampoo, and then coating your hair with conditioner, over and over.......then your hair is getting drier and drier.

So what do I do for conditioner? I massage a nickel sized amount of light extra virgin olive oil into my hair. It won't make it oily, just soaks in. It never makes my hair feel oily. It makes it easy to comb out, as my hair as I said above, is very thick, and very shiny. I love to make my own products! What about you?

Saying Goodbye

2011-11-16T04:38:00.001-08:00

minnikin's critters

She was a shepherdess. I met her on Homesteading Today, a homesteading forum. Since we both lived in NY, we became friends there. Eventually, we both became members of a NY homesteading group. For some reason we seem to have connected immediately. She always liked the way I would say that my husband said, that "we were not living old-fashioned, but of the future." Several times she'd ask me to repeat it so she could remember it. I believe it was the way she was trying to live also.We met in person FINALLY, at our NY group's second get together, which was at Bowman Park. I remember when I was introduced to her, she just hugged me like we were old friends, who hadn't seen each other in some time.

Hut On The Hill Homestead

Mary Scholfield lost her battle with breast cancer this past Saturday. She was a major member on our NY forum and really lived this homesteading life. Her knowledge she shared with us all. I read some of her posts from 2007 today, and found them so full of information. "Minnikin" really knew the direction she wanted to take with her Hut On The Hill Homestead. I might add that her homestead was a big old dairy barn that she and her husband, Jim, had been working on. They lived in one end and the animals in the other. I always liked that idea.

Some of her lambs!

One of our members, "backtotheland" wrote:

"I remember the first time I met Mary. I answered an ad on craigslist for Jackie who wanted a certain breed of sheep and Mary had one. Well away I went with Jackie in my Eddie Bauer Explorer to find Mary and the sheep. We finally found her and we both immediately fell in love with them, Mary and her flock of sheep. We loaded Toy in the car and brought her back to Jackie's where she is still going strong today.

Then there was the time I went out to see Mary at the "barn house" and we had such a good time while she showed me the property. I myself, purchased two ewes from her, Bonnie and Little Sister. Little Sister is gone now, which I found out the other day. But Bonnie is still going strong. And I think, due to the circumstances where she is, that I'm going to ask for her back as soon as I can get a building up. She is a beautiful ewe and I don't want anything to happen to her, especially now. Mary was a wonderful, wonderful lady and I will miss her, even though I didn't see her much."

Artwork done by her nephew that she was so proud of!

She will always be "minnkin" to me. As a homesteader, "minnikin" had so many plans. She was really into the raw milk issue. And had posted a wonderful blog post about it that I wish I had saved. On our group's forum she had posted many links to a variety of homesteading topics. I think I will be posting some of her ideas in future posts on this blog as the information is so timely and should not be wasted. She was studying on how to train oxen and had such hopes of what she would do in the future.

Onja

Mary posted, "Some days my favorite thing to do is go sit with critters. Today I bundled up warmly and sat in the hay with the lambs - Minuet, Caliope, and Zephyr.

Minnie is the sweetest little thing - as friendly as a puppy and soft as the fine-wooled breeds. She's a kind of lonely right now because her Mum is in with the ram. I am honored that she thinks I am a suitable substitute for company. She stayed right by side, nibbling my hair, pulling off my glasses, and nudging me for scratches. She's a clingy one and follows me like the old rhyme.. everywhere that Mary went, Minuet was sure to go...

Zephyr , the newest addition, seemed very unsure about me sitting there, at first. I could tell he was really nervous because I could see too much white around his eyes. They get wild eyed looking when they're nervous.

Eventually he came sniffing around to see what I was all about, so I pulled out a pair of scissors and started snipping at some wool tags around his head. Those are little wads of felted wool that form around hay seeds, behind their ears, or on the chest and belly. The wool in these tags pulls on the sheep's skin. They enjoy it when I sit there gently cutting them out.

Soon, instead of wild eyed nervousness, he was standing with droopy, half closed lids...

After about an hour the temperature started to really drop, and I had to escape to the heat, but it was such a nice way to spend a little time. It makes me feel guilty, though - playing hooky from chores."

One of her angora bunnies!

My deepest sympathy and prayers are sent to Mary's family. Just know, that she will never be forgotten. And all the members of our NY Homesteading group, will be using her knowledge for many years to come!

Rest In Peace, Sweet Homesteading Sister!

"minnikin"

Horses In The Forest

2011-11-14T06:40:00.001-08:00

Georgie Girl

Georgie Girl is the "boss mare" of our little horse herd. She had become the "boss mare" of the farm we bought her from, as soon as I let her go out with the other horses. She took over that herd on her own. She also bonded with Dark Shadow who is her half sister. Since Georgie Girl was a racehorse there, she was kept separate from the group of horses that were allowed to go out on the pasture. My buying her changed that.

Dark Shadow, Georgie & Tawny

In our tiny herd, Tawny is the low horse on the totem pole. She gets even with that position by attacking smaller animals than her. Like our dog, Nikita, our cat, Callie, who she attacked twice............and when we had my pet hen, Lil' Red, she almost killed her. So as sweet and cuddly she is when she is hugging on us, she has that "pony" attitude and shows how tough she really is. Now, the only cats that dare to go past her in the paddock is Hobo, who for some reason she leaves alone. Hobo spends a lot of time out in the paddock hunting, and that seems to be okay with Tawny. The stray tomcat who appears to live here too, though I can't get near him, walks through the paddock often, and none of the horses even look up.

Dark Shadow getting up

Dark Shadow is very spirited. Georgie and Tawny have calmed down with age. Not Dark Shadow. She seems to be not aging at all. If something or someone is in the woods or walking up the road, she either walks very quickly, or trots to the fence to get a closer look. She has always walked very fast. At the farm we bought her from, she would gallop right up to my husband standing out in the arena, and stop right in front of him. I think she liked doing that. He had no problem with it at that time. I think now, he'd be more careful, since he has aged since then himself.

Napping!

Living out here is very quiet for these girls. They don't pay attention to the vehicles driving by. Even four wheelers or snowmobiles. They are used to them. Hunters go by and sometimes fire off guns when in the woods. Doesn't seem to bother these girls at all. Now the only thing that actually gets their attention is stray dogs or cats, and of course, other horses riding by. When the state forest workers walk along the fence line marking the trees for logging, they pay attention to them. I think they are just very curious. Much like we are.

Jeff handing out apples!

My son has been taking care of them since he came to stay with us. He is feeding the girls and spending a lot of time with them. They are very trusting to lay down while he walks right up to them, petting them, giving them apples and talking to them. Horses don't usually stay down when someone is nearby. But our horses have been doing that for years with my husband and me. And now with my son. Must be this life out in the forest agrees with them.

How I Improved My eBay Auctions

2011-11-11T11:36:00.001-08:00

One of my recent auctions on eBay!

I have been having some success on my eBay auctions lately. I read a free eBook called "7 Deadliest eBay Sins" and it has improved my listings immensely. I thought I knew it all! But no, the author in this book really explained it in simple, easy language for me. Of course, he has videos on his site and I have to get up between 2:00 AM and 7:00 AM to view them. Now it seems that my auctions are doing better.

Another one! Antique nails!

My auctions have been selling and I am using the 50 Free listings that eBay allows. It helps me make some extra money and we can all use some of that, right? I really have no complaints at all selling there. The fees aren't that bad no matter what rumors you hear. It costs way more to have your own site! Plus you may not get that much traffic to it. Where eBay has the traffic. Can't argue with that. I still tweet my eBay auctions. But it just takes that one person looking for something you are selling to get a sale. You never know.

Close up shots are essential!

Some of the key changes I have made in my listings are:

Free Shipping! Everyone likes this. Even if their items cost more as long as they don't have to pay for shipping.
Refunds available! This too, will make a buyer more comfortable with shopping with you. I give them 14 days to return the item. 7 days does not seem like enough time to me.
Communication! As soon as I know my auction has been sold and paid for, I send a friendly email thanking the buyer for it. Then when I ship it, I send another email with their Delivery Confirmation number with a personal message.
After it has shipped, I leave the buyer their feedback.
Better photos! I created an area in my house that is like a small studio for my eBay photos. What a difference that has made! Especially for the small items, like jewelry.
Read the eBay discussion boards. Lurk. Just read and let it sink it. That is what I do.
Research whatever it is you plan to sell. I study, study and study some more. It helps to know your market.
I designed a nice template to make the listings look more professional. I plan on buying one of my own soon.
I explain in detail the payments, the shipping and the refund policy.
I designed a nice about me page to explain who I am. I am a real live person!

There you have it. Maybe some of these ideas are not new to some of you. But I have looked at many listings on eBay that barely even tell you what the item is, let alone what their policies are. Well, off to work on some new photos and auctions. Have a good day!

Family Blending

2011-11-07T03:45:00.000-08:00

My grandmother and my mother!

Family. According to Wikipedia:

"In human context, a family (from Latin: familia) is a group of people affiliated by consanguinity, affinity, or co-residence. In most societies it is the principal institution for the socialization of children. Extended from the human "family unit" by biological-cultural affinity, marriage, economy, culture, tradition, honour, and friendship are concepts of family that are physical and metaphorical, or that grow increasingly inclusive extending to community, village, city, region, nationhood, global village and humanism. A family group consisting of a father, mother and their children is called a nuclear family. This term can be contrasted with an extended family."

So according to this definition, there is no mention of love or fondness for each other. There is not a word of liking each other or sharing the same beliefs or concerns. Growing up in the same house with the same parents does not make any guarantee that brothers and sisters will be close or even love each other. Not necessarily alike, but maybe at least care about each other, and be to nice to each other. Not say hurtful things to or about them.

My grandmother, uncles, aunts & cousins!

I am the first one on front row!

It is not just my family that has had issues. More families have trouble getting along than you know. I think it is really common. If your family gets along and loves each other when the children grow up.......then thank your lucky stars! I have talked to so many people complaining about their families. Now the holidays are coming up, and people start worrying about those holiday dinners spent with family members who don't get along with others.

Why do people say things that hurt others without even thinking about the other person's feelings? Doesn't anyone care anymore? Are people that selfish nowadays? No wonder so many people move across the country, or the world, without a second thought! They are probably glad to get away.

One person in a family can create this situation. One person's jealousy of others. Or one person marries into a family and changes that family forever. Instead of joining the family and being a part of it, the person drives a wedge into a family. It is never the same after that. Sometimes it causes the family member who marries that person to change too. One of my husband's favorite sayings is, "You are your environment." That is so true!

My mother holding my son in 1970!

I think what may happen is that each person carries the baggage of their family. Then they marry and their baggage.........beliefs, thoughts, hang ups, does not blend into the family they have married into. So it starts a disruption. It becomes bigger as the years go by. If the family has many new people who have married into their family, it has a snowball effect over the years.

Pretty soon it becomes one family against the other within one whole family. So how can they get along? Is it ever possible? You can get along with some of the members and not others. My conclusion is to tolerate those members at weddings and funerals. Don't go to their family dinners or celebrations. Don't invite them to your home or holidays. Distance yourself from them. Why? Life is too short to spend time worrying about those snide remarks. Life is too short to ruin your family holidays and celebrations. In the long run, it is their lost. Those years apart away from the members of your family can never be brought back. Sad.