Long Time No See

A lot of life has been lived since my last post. Lately I feel like I've finally been coming back around to "me". I think part of me was lost for a little while. I'm still knitting and can't imagine ever not knitting. Our boys are growing and we are so proud of them. I've been making lots of blackberry desserts and canning blackberry jam. Now I've got lots of tomatoes to work up and green beans. Today I dyed my hair with henna. It's lovely, the color should deepen over the next few days. It was a messy process but gave me that little bit of red I needed. I'm hopeful I will get back into the swing of regular blogging but if not that's okay. This blog started out for me, a journal of my life. I would like to get back to putting life's little details down. Until next time.......

Goodnight Sweet Princess

Chiquita Renee Asplin

May 12th, 1995-November 5th, 2009

Cooking with Clara

I just love this little lady, Great Depression Cooking with Clara on you tube. Thanks Suzanne for introducing me to her show.

Life, etc, etc, etc

It's been a while since I stopped in here. The summer finally caught up with me and I decided to take a break.

So, much happened over the summer: Camping trips, vacation, the loss of five chickens (including Rooster), the ending of a ten year friendship (a friendship I thought would be lifelong, my head still spins a little about it), a garden that did not do well, my father started bringing produce in from a fellow employee and that has kept me busy for weeks!

And the biggest thing is that I started knitting for money. So, I'm not on here much. I'm sitting over there in the corner knit, knit, knitting. And loving it!

So, I will pop in from time to time, if I have time, and jot down a note or two about life.

The Hives Of July

Soooo, G broke out in hives Thursday. Out of the blue, completely covered in them.

Hmmm, what brought this on I thought? No new foods, no new soaps or detergents. Hmmm, he wasn't feeling good on Sunday, but no fever and that was four days before.

Dr. said, pretty sure it's viral. And it's quite impressive G. Textbook for severe case. Big, huge smile from G on that one.

These are pictures after I took him to the Dr. and he's been on a steroid and antihistamine for 24 hrs. You should have seen him before that.

If you look closely you will see peanut butter at the corners of his mouth. Usually there is something there. lol

On his ears, eyelids, etc

This looks soooo much better than it did. His belly and chest area was one big red mass yesterday.

The back looks better too believe it or not.

Itchy, itchy.


Looks like some kind of disease, doesn't it?

Tip #1

Hey I was reading in my country living magazine, which is free btw, that if you have tomatoes that split on the vine, you should wrap a plastic baggie over them and close it up and it will help save the tomato for you.

If we get as much rain this summer as we did last I will for sure have to try this.

A Big Scary Snappin' Turtle

I looked out the kitchen window last night and noticed we had a visitor.

This fella (or maybe Filly) was pretty good sized.

At this point I'm thinking just how fast can a snappin turtle move?

That's a big ol tail.

The token boy with a snappin turtle shot.

Here's the best part though. We caught him and left him in here for C to see when he got home. Three hours later, C walks in the door and says where's the turtle. It got out and somehow did not turn that big tote over. Crazy!

Lessons on Farm Life

Recently, I casually mentioned a Spring Surprise. I ended up with a broody hen this spring and decided to give it a go. She's been on five eggs and all was going well. Yesterday chick #1 hatched out and we were all very excited. I had decided not to separate the hen and chicks from the rest of the birds, hoping that the Mama would take care of things. Well, she didn't. I'm not sure if she just felt pulled to sit on the remaining eggs or what but the other chickens got a hold of that chick and well they did what chickens do. When we found her she was quite mangled and barely alive. I was just sick to my stomach about it. What to do now, I asked my chicken mentor and she gave me the details on what had to be done, for the dying chick and the mama and possible other chicks. Sooo, with a sad heart I put the chick out of it's misery and then went about moving things around to make sure the remaining eggs/chicks would be safe.

It was a hard lesson to learn. I guess what I wanted to happen was just not going to work with the nature of chickens. So, now the hen and chicks are in my garage safe and sound.

And here's the good stuff:

Holding pen.

Don'tcha love my nest box.

I think she looks pretty cozy in that shirt box.

Checkin out the food supplies.

Mama Hen and three peeps



See the little peep sticking it's head out. There's actually two of them in this picture. One in front and one in back.

Can you see the peep in this pick. It's like an I Spy Pic.

A Country Livin' Surprise

This is a spring job our boys "love" to get called on to do, cleaning out the window well. It was G's turn and he was less than thrilled but he went on down there to dig out all the nasty leaves and the toads and the frogs that get down in there.





See he's headin down, no problem.

Then, Oh my goodness what is that? After much discussion he decided to go get his big brother for assistance.

Big brother climbed in and got a box and a rake to pull this guy or girl or whatever out. Can you see it? Here's a better look.

Those are some big ol pinchers on that thing.

Here it is up close and personal. It's huge!

Ha! not really, but it looked really big and scary to G.

This picture is pretty normal around here. P is sitting all calm and G is moving so he's blurry. Hold. Still. For. Just. One. Picture. Please!

This is the crawdaddy rescuer headin out to move Mr. or Mrs. Crawdaddy to a safe location. Well, unless a raccoon finds him or her tonight.

Seed Swap Excitement

How excited do you think I was when I opened my mail box and saw this big fat envelope?

To be honest at first I thought it was yarn, because that would just be super great if someone sent me a big bag of yarn(FYI, I prefer natural fibers. ;0p). But then I realized it was from the seed swap Howling Hill started. And I was just as excited about the seeds as I was when I thought it was yarn(are you getting the idea that I have a thing for yarn?) I signed up last year but the seeds never made it to me. This year though everybody was able to take and give and send it on and now it's my turn.

Jenna Z. over at Corgipants sent them to me, funny thing I forgot to mention to Jenna Z. I use to live in her neck of the woods. Kind of ironic isn't it.

I chose these veggies and flowers:

Watermelon-Moon & Stars, Chelsea and Sugar Babies

Squash-Gold Nugget
White Tipped Scarlet Radish

Eggplant-Long Purple

Sweet Fennel

Cucumber-Marketer

Pumpkin- Rouge d'etamps and Blue Moon
Peppers-Pretty In Purple

White Cleome

Swamp Milkweed

False Indigo

Larkspur (Pink)

Yellow 4 O'Clocks

And I put these seeds in:

Veggies:

Rhubarb

Tomatoes-Black Krim and Amish Paste

Parisian Pickling Cucumber

Heat Tolerant Lettuce

NuMex Big Jim Chili Peppers

Green Culinary Sage

Grandma Eink's Dill

Flowers:

Tall Blue Larkspur

Bee Balm

Gian Imperial Larkspur

Black Hollyhocks

Sunflowers-dwarf mix

Red Columbine

Giant White Moonflower

Cabbage Leaf Poppies

Rose of Sharon

I'm mailing them off to Melissa @ Melissa's Ramblings.

The Shack Giveaway

So, I finally made it through this book, not because it was a difficult read but just because of timing. I received it from Suzanne right around the Holidays and it sat there waiting for me until things slowed down enough for me to get to it.

This book made me cry and laugh. But it also made me ponder some ideas I hadn't really thought about before. It gave me a better understanding of God's love, mercy and grace. Whoever wins this book will be blessed by it I'm sure.

Suzanne's idea was The Sisterhood of the Traveling Shack. So, if you are interested in this endeavor please leave a comment on this post. If you blog about this giveaway let me know that too in the comments and you'll gain an extra chance to win. I will be drawing the winner on Tuesday January 20th @ 9PM.

Pick me, Pick me, Pick me

Wow, I left a comment and actually got picked for something. I've been reading blogs since 2005 and this is the first time I've gotten picked for something.

Suzanne's blog: At Home with the Farmer's Wife posted about The Shack. Lots of people around me have been mentioning this book so I thought why not and lo and behold she picked my name. Woot! Woot! I'm totally surprised and excited.

Soooo, stay tuned. I'll let you know when I get it and what I think when I read it then I'll have a post offering it to one of you!

So Eggciting!

Today was a day of firsts. We culled two roosters (we actually means my DH) I helped once the birds looked like meat. That took quite a bit of time since this was our first time. C said he would just as soon work overtime and pay for natural free range all ready processed birds. So, he's definitely not sold on us doing it ourselves yet. We also took care of Yolkie, he was also a roo and had lots of issues, so he has now went on to the great Hen house in the sky.

Let's see that's two new things, what was the other thing, hmmm, OH YEAH! Now I remember I found our first egg!!!!!!!!! Our Buff's will be 17 weeks on Monday and already an egg. I am soooo Eggcited!

Here it is right where I found it. It took great restraint to not pick it up right away. (I had to run back to the house and get my camera)

Hmmm, could this be the girl who laid it?

Chicken secrets!

Egg on a bed of greens

Our first tiny egg vs. store eggs

Egg in a milk cap

Egg house

Egg on a piano

Egg in a yarn nest(this is my fav)

Ahhh, don't do it!

Egg vs Baseball

4x4 Egg

Mini truck Egg

A precious jewel, for sure.

The Great Hunters *warning pictures of a dead deer

My guys have been talking about deer hunting all year. P turned twelve this year and I guess with all the testosterone swimming in his veins he really wanted to hunt. So, they have been scouting for weeks on our property. They set up a blind and would go down in the wee hours of the AM and sit and freeze and watch for deer. Most days they would come up and say they saw a couple. I would say, Oh yeah, well I saw four or six or eight right out the kitchen window depending on the day. Soooo, off to the local farm store and ninety bucks later, we have a deer stand in our front yard. Yes, you read that right, FRONT YARD. Our property sits off the road and is surrounded by trees. You can't see our house from the road. We are pretty secluded.

Friday morning they were up dark and early and out to the the stand they went. At about seven AM I was helping G get ready for school and we were keeping an eye on the hunters from the dining room and kitchen windows. G had walked away for a minute and I walked to the sink to do something looked up and saw a Mama doe and a yearling, called G in to have a look and about then, BANG! P had shot at a felted buck or possibly a Duck (doe with antlers) and missed. Then the deer ran of course. But the shot flushed out another group of them from the west and DH shot the buck you see in the pics.

Talk about one excited and yet at the same time disappointed boy. It was his first time and he rushed the shot. Now he knows for next time. He was right in there with his Dad though, my soft hearted boy helped field dress, skin and butcher that deer without blinking.

G was so happy that it happened before he got on the bus. DH was happy it happened the first day, he hates the cold and P was wishing we had more than one deer permit. Maybe next year.



Two happy guys!



How did this boy turn into a young man?


A few more years G and it's your turn.

Too Many Roos

Roo #1- Rooster, the main man, numero uno. Isn't he handsome.

Roo #2- Pat, mean, frustrated, dinner soon. ;0)


Roo #3- No name, not mean or aggressive yet, still will be in my freezer soon.


Roo #4- Yolkie, issues, issues, issues. Not staying in this world much longer, but not dinner.



FYI-I only ordered one roo and there was one marked with a blue head when they came. That would be Rooster. All the others were OOPS! by the hatchery. I used Cackle Hatchery out of Missouri.

So, after the Holiday weekend we will be down to 12 birds, 1 Roo and 11 Hens.