new blog

Just wanted to let everyone who follows this blog know that I started a new one and will not be posting in this one anymore. The new one is simplelifeofapril.blogspot.com if you would like to follow it I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you.

Love giveaways

I follow a blog called pure modesty and she has a great scentsy giveaway right now. The address for it is http://www.puremodesty.com/wardrobe-wednesdayfall-scentsy-give-away/#comment-1521. I wish everyone luck on it and I would recommend following her blog, it is a joy to read.

Being self sufficient

I would like to know what everyone else does to try and be more self sufficient. I wish there was a way for me to be totally self sufficient and not have to rely on the grocery store or outside help but realistically at least for me I do not think that is 100% possible. For one thing it takes money that I do not have. So, as the Bible tells us I will be content in the situation I am in. Now that fall is upon us and the growing season is over I am trying to learn what all I can do for my garden soil to make it the best it can be for growing next year. I am also going to decide over the fall and winter months what I want to plant next year, decide what plants grow the best in this area, what all herbs I need for my medicinal and kitchen herb gardens, where I would like to plant everything and if I need to clear some more space for the garden. Which is something I seem to need to do each year. This is also a good time to get to work on some projects for Christmas and to start thinking about my Christmas baking. I also need to make my barn a little less drafty and work on a more winterproof chicken coop. Each season brings on different things that need to be done. But when winter comes around maybe things will slow down a little and I will have a chance to breathe and relax a little. I love fall, it is my favorite time of year. Summer is to hot and winter is to cold but fall is just right. Fall and spring are both times of the year that I enjoy but I think I like fall the best.

I am back again

Right now is my check email, facebook and blogs time and I realized I hadn't blogged in quite awhile. The newest addition to my farm is my bunnies. I am raising them for meat but will love them just the same until that time comes. I am not sure what kind of rabbits they are but I am thinking that the black and white ones have some checkered giant in them and the markings on the brown and white one look like dutch. I have seen some of the parents and was told about the ones I didnt see and they should all be a nice sized rabbit.

It has been raining all day yesterday and so far all morning today. Hopefully we will continue to get lots and lots of rain so that we can have alot of water in our well. Yesterday I was having a hard time dealing with our water issues. I felt so discouraged. I tried to wash a load of clothes but it ran the well dry before they were finished and it took a long time to get our water back. On top of the well being bad our hot water tank is also bad now so we do not have any hot water. It isnt the end of the world though because my stove still works so I just heat up any water I need for cleaning, dishes or bathing and use it. I praise God that we are able to do that because one day I decided not to bother with heating it up and just took a cold shower, wow! Never want to do that again, lol.

Caitlyn is back at school now. I think she had a good summer. She did a lot. She went to the Wilds with my sister in law's church for a week and then went camping with them at Tomilinson Run Park for another week and she also got to go to the fair everyday for a week. I think that sounds like a good summer. I got to feed goats everyday this summer so that was good, ahahahaha.

I have been trying to stay busy canning and freezing so that we can have fresh food in the winter and not have to buy the garbage that the grocery store sells. I am trying hard to raise all of my own stuff. It would be awesome to one day be totally self sufficient but I am not even sure if it is possible especially since Doug and Caitlyn would never give up the cable, tee hee hee.

The temps are finally getting cooler out and I can feel fall in the air. I am glad, I do not like the hot summer. I cant wait to see the leaves changing colors and the pretty smells and colors of Autumn. Spring and Autumn are my favorite times of the year but I have learned to be content with whatever season it is.Wether it is a season in my life or a season on the earth the Lord wants us to trust him and to enjoy it. Blessings to all who are reading this, hope you have a wonderful God filled day. God bless you!

canning peaches

I canned some peaches yesterday. Usually I like to take pictures of each step so everyone can see how hard I work, I mean how fun it all is but yesterday I forgot so all you get to see is a pic of the jars when I first took them out of the water bath. I decided to try a new recipe for the syrup because the other one had so much sugar in it. I have not tasted them yet but it sure smelled good. All I had to do was put a pot on with about 10 cups of water and 4 tsp honey, that is a 2 tsp honey to every 5 cups of water ratio. I heated this while I peeled the peaches to put in the jars and after the syrup started boiling I reduced the heat to a simmer. I then put 1/8 tsp fruit fresh (absorbic acid) into each jar to help keep the peaches looking pretty and filled each jar with sliced peaches. I then poured the syrup over the peaches and put lid on. After all the jars are filled I put them in a hot water bath canner to boil for 25 minutes and voila! I now have some yummy canned peaches. I then simmered the peach skins for a while, drained off the juice, put in a jar and put in fridge to save for making peach jelly later. I waste as little as possible. I then took the cooked skins to the chickens after they cooled. The only things that got thrown out was the seeds. Also, the few peaches I had left that would not be enough to fill a jar, I either ate or sliced and froze.

Water, dont take it for granted

Woke up this morning and we have no water. Our well went dry. This happens every summer, usually around June so we were blessed to have water clear until August. I was able to squeeze out enough to water the animals but after that nothing. Praying that if I give it a couple hours it will fill up at least enough for us to take a shower. Before I lived out here I lived in town and we really took water for granted. You know what they say, you dont know what you have until it's gone. We had to pay for our water then but we always had plenty of water unless a water main broke or something like that. I like having well water better then city water but when our well starts going dry it is really hard for me to remember that, lol. Luckily, my mom and grandma live right next door and they have a really good well and I can take my laundry down there and I can fill some jugs and buckets to bring up to the trailer to use. I try to look at the positive things but it is hard when I have no water. Maybe we are spoiled in society today. There was a time that they had to haul all of their water to use. Problem with that would be we have no nearby creeks to haul from. I think that would be cool though. Could sit by the creek and relax along with it providing my family with good water. I will just have to pretend my mom's house is my creek. :-)

Downsizing

I have alot to do today but of course I decided that being on the computer was first priority after feeding and milking the animals. I wont bore you with all of the mundane things I have to do (even though I find most of them to be exciting), but I am going to share how I am planning on downsizing our expenses. First of all I am going to go through the cupboards and refrigerator and see what all is hidden in there that I have forgotten about, then putting it all where I can see it when I open the doors. I am only going to buy things when I absolutely need them. We need to eat more of what we have instead of just what we are wanting at the time. I am also going to try and make almost everything we eat, instead of buying the snack items I am going to bake ALL of my own. I do already make alot of my own but I still give into the temtation of easily accessible items. We also need to quit eating out every other weekend. Sometimes it is every weekend. It is so much easier for me to just go through the drive thru then to go home and make a meal but make a meal is what I am gonna do from now on. These are the few things I am gonna start with, it does not sound like much but each little step will get me closer to the big picture.