one year

We just passed our 1 year anniversary living on our off grid property. Where has the time gone? The Lord is constantly reminding me that my days have been numbered and that I should not allow the time to slip through my fingers.

 

 

The kids working on their 4-H Bucket Calf project

We dealt with water issues this summer. Both of our hand dug wells went dry at the end of June. But the Lord provided! Oh, how He provided! We have a creek on our property....way down at the bottom of it. Before we had moved I had watched the Wranglerstar video on ram pumps and had tucked that little bit of knowledge into the back of my mind. And in May, I showed the video to my husband, not fully knowing that we were going to actually need to use the information held in it.

Building our third ram pump. (They got smaller as the creek went down.)

I was out of town with the little ones visiting my grandparents when the wells went dry. My husband and our oldest son went to work on building our first ram pump. Not only did they build one, but they had it up and running, pumping water, before we even got home from the visit!

At this point, it's not as sustainable as we'd like. Because of the distance from the creek (and the elevation change) the ram pump is pumping into a holding tank about halfway between the creek and our home. A submersible pump is them pumping from that tank up to our holding tank above the house.

Knowing that the submersible pump is not going to work if we couldn't access fuel, we are hoping to resolve our water issues this winter with a sustainable alternative, or two.

Our water issues were temporarily solved but I was sure that the creek would dry up by late summer. Our rain/snow fall last winter surely couldn't be enough to keep that creek going. I prayed. We'd have to haul water up here if the creek dried up. But the Lord is good isn't He?? Even when things don't look good, He is good. And I am thankful for His faithfulness.

I'm eager to add more animals to this homestead but as my husband reminds me...if we barely have enough water for us, how are we to water more animals as well? And he is right. And so, I'm patient. I'm patiently waiting for the Lord to give us the direction that we need to take for a sustainable water supply. I know He will.

We were able to add one small animal to the homestead this summer though and that was Thomas. My daughter is in love. We all enjoy the kitten but he is especially HER baby. We have a horrible problem with mice and rats here and Thomas is still young but he's caught one small rat already (that I know of) and I am thankful for that!

Kitties sleep in the most interesting positions.

Our garden did amazing this year. Amazing! For what we had to start with I was sure that if a single green bean grew I would be thankful. I didn't hold out much hope. But again, I prayed. "Lord, this is your garden, not mine. You are the One that makes all things grow, I'm just a tender of it. If it be Your will, make this garden bountiful." And it was. Faithfulness. Again.

Mini watermelon

 

Garden 2014

 

Helping can green beans

Early on in moving here we realized that while we had a few neighbors that we liked there were no like minded families up on this mountain. I prayed that the Lord would bring up a family. There are quite a few pieces of property for sale up here. I can currently think of 3 or 4 just off the top of my head.  I wrote my prayers down in my journal, praying that it would come to pass. And it did. He brought up a Christian, homeschool family of 9 that bought the place for sale that borders ours! Of all the places up here they could have moved (and they really MOVED, from southern California to the mountains of northern California - from beeches to backwoods!) the Lord planted them right next door. I can walk to their house! Faithfulness. Again and again.

And so I'm encouraged to pray even more! Lord, one family a year, that's what we're going to ask for. One like minded family a year. And not only will He be hearing that prayer from us but also from our neighbors too! We're praying for a Christian agrarian revival on this mountain!
Wanna move? :)

Layton has proven himself quite the dedicated fisherman. While the rest of us are enjoying the river swimming in it or from it's banks, he is out in it, up a ways from us, waist deep, right by a riffle casting in his line. The entire time. Catching little ones and the occasional keeper like this one...

The big one!

He has the natural talent from his father. And if he keeps at it, which I'm sure he will, one of these days he'll be as good a fisherman as his daddy is too. In fishing am thankful for the lesson he receives from taking the time to do a job right, learning that the reward comes to those that are willing to stick it out and work hard. He is learning that success isn't always instant and that patience is a virtue.

Treadle sewing.

As for quilting (which is primarily what this blog was to be about, even though it's often not) I haven't had much time this summer to sew. As usual. I was able to finish up a few things this late spring and I'm already planning my quilts for this winter. This one, this one, and this one are on my list. I was happy about finishing up a civil war sampler (below) that my mother in law and I began over 5 years ago. How nice it was to get it quilted by Kathy and put the binding on it! It is serving as a second quilt on our bed already this fall season.

Butternut and Blue Quilt

 

I could go on and on it seems like but you've probably had enough as it is. Hopefully it won't be so long before I can post again. We'll see how it goes!

Until next time friends, blessings to you!

We're Moving! And some other random things...

Wow. Where do I start? The last time I blogged anything was back in June. 4 months ago.

Part of that was due to the garden/summer season. And I knew it would happen. It does every year. My sewing machine collects dust- literally- and we spend out time outside and busy with warm weather projects.

At the ocean

Riding one of Uncle's horses
 

Let's do a quick recap:

Our county fair this summer was really fun. I'll have to apologize though for the lousy phone camera pictures.
 

Timber and her prize winning arrangement

 

 

 

Layton showing his calf 

The garden and green house both did well. Layton grew the best corn we've ever eaten! We got about 25 pumpkins off our pumpkin vines and our fruit trees were amazing.

The Lord really blessed us this year with a bumper crop of everything. What a wonderful last summer to remember at our old home.
 

Main Garden 2013 

 

And speaking of old homes, did you read that we were moving?

Oh, this has been such a long, patient process for our family. My husband and I have been looking at property for close to 5 years now. Looking and waiting. Waiting for the Lord to provide the right time and the right place (not to mention something affordable so that we're not in debt for very long!)

 We are purchasing a 5 acre parcel with a fixer upper, off grid home. We are beyond thankful to the Lord for His provision of this piece of land. It is going to take a lot of work and a lot of fixing (home and land wise) but we are excited about the possibilities that await us. If any of you have ever read Michael Bunker's book "Surviving Off Off-Grid" then you'll know what we are shooting for with this new homestead. If you haven't read his book yet, may I humbly suggest that you get your hands on a copy and read it. Then re-read it. And then apply it to the best of your ability.
 

Mason and Oakley
Mason is wearing his "mountain boy" shirt I made this summer using a pattern from here.

 

A few other notes...

I have read the book Trim Healthy Mama and am using the methods in it to change my eating habits. So far (about 8 weeks into it) I have lost nearly 17lbs. I am thrilled and am well on my way to being a healthier mama for my family. It was easy for me to employ the eating methods in the book since we already eat a organic/whole foods diet. All I really had to do was cut out the sugar (which everyone should do anyway) and reduce my grains significantly. I then used the way my body burns fuel (fats and carbs) in the S and E meals to lose the weight. It may sound a tad bit confusing but if you read the book, it becomes clear.
 

I was also supposed to cut out whole raw milk. That made me sad. So instead of being ultra strict with the diet, I now consume much less raw milk than I did before, maybe drinking 1/4 cup per day. I still want the beneficial bacteria and all the yumminess whole, raw milk has to offer, I just don't need all the fat.
 

 

We started school in the beginning of September. This year I have a Jr. (in high school), a 1st grader and a kindergartener. Wyatt is using a combo of Apologia, Rod and Staff, Journibles, and Notgrass American History.
Layton and Timber are using Heart of Dakota. Mason is just hanging out, being an almost 4 year old.


 

I found some of these at Fred Meyer a few weeks ago.

 

If there are 2 things I am a sucker for it's quilts, canning jars,.. and bowls. Wait, that's three.
 Anyway...

I restrained myself to just purchasing the one 6-pack of them.

I canned Spiced Apple Peel Jelly in them. I used Quinn's recipe as a starting point and then altered it from there.

 

I took my peels and cores and poured water over them to almost cover. Then I strained that, added the ACV and a handful of cloves and cinnamon sticks. I placed a cover on my pot, brought it to a boil, turned the heat off and infused the spices in juice for about a half hour. I then strained the juice, removing the sticks and cloves. From that point I pretty much followed the instructions in the Pomona Pectin box for jelly making. For sweetener I used a combination of coconut sugar and evaporated cane juice.

 

From 20lbs of apples, the peels and cores made up a nice finished 6 pints of jelly.

Signs of fall

 

So far hunting season has been a bust. Well for the most part. My dear husband has been so incredibly busy with work this fall that he hasn't had the time to go hunting on his own. Hunting this season has included mom (me), a 16 year old, a 6 year old, a 5 year old and a 3 year old. All piled into a truck. A loud, diesel truck.
Or walking along paths, breaking sticks underfoot, jumping, laughing and generally running off anything within 500 feet of us, 2 minutes before we even get there.
So here is the fruit of our labor so far...

 

One Grouse.

This coming weekend is the last weekend for bucks here in Northern California's B zone but thankfully upland game bird and bear season continue.

(Oh, and as a note, the 3 year old is holding a bottle of ROOTbeer. Just to clarify.)

Roasting hot dogs

The perfect skipping rock

 

 

 

The Creator's creation is simply amazing. All through out the year but especially, in my mind, in the fall. The crispness of air, the changing colors and temperatures. Stunning.

Thank you, Lord.

 

 

Lastly, quilting.

I have started a bit more here and there. I wish I could share some of the finished tops here on my blog but alas, I have readers (family and friends) who will be receiving some of these come Christmas and I'd hate to spoil the surprise. It is wonderful to hear the hum of my machine again though.

 

I will say though that I am working on another quilt for our bed. I'm using Jenny Doan's tutorial below. It's quick and easy. When you're making a quilt to cover a CA King bed, you want quick and easy. At least I do. I dug through my fabric stash and found the perfect fabric for this quilt... Wildflower Serenade by Kansas Troubles Quilters for Moda.

 

Yes, I know that the line is about 5 years old but I don't try not to stash fabric unless I know I'll use it at some point in the future.

 

 

Have you ever used a tutorial from the Missouri Star Quilt Co.?

 

There is more but I won't go into it for now. If you've made it this far you must be dedicated.

 Did I hit you with enough stuff?

Thanks for sticking with me.

 

Hopefully I can post again before the year is over.

 

I hope that your fall is full of His wonderful grace and blessings!

For Lack of a Better Post

Ya see, I have about 3-4 posts that are half written. And I just haven't had the time to finish them to publish! So, for lack of a better post, you'll get a whole lot of pictures and not so many words. A picture is worth a thousand words anyway so I'll let them do the talking for me.

In no particular order.........

Enjoy your week!

Hoop Houses and Other Happenings Around the Farm

*I use the term "farm" lightly. Growing chickens, turkeys, hogs, gardens and kids on one acre may classify as a small farm I suppose.*

We've been working around the homestead hoping that the sun we're seeing (in between the bouts of rain) really is a sign of spring...with a summer on the way.

So, what have we been up to?
Well, first let's do a poultry count. These numbers aren't pretty folks. Over the last 2 months we've lost 2 ducks, 1 turkey, 1 hen and 2 chicks to different causes.

(A few of our older chicks that are in the coop already)

The last one though was hard to take. While the smallest chicks were free roaming just outside the barn the other day, it was breezy. Maybe more like windy. Windy enough to blow down a small piece of plywood that was up against a fence. Guess what was standing right under the plywood when it fell? Yep. Layton's chick for fair. How is it possible that out of the 14 or so chicks that are in there, the board had to fall on his one fair chicken??!

Well, it's a good thing that mama has learned from experience and when we got his chick for fair, we also got back up chick #1 and back up chick #2. While he still has a chicken to show, he lost all the work he had put into handling the first chick. Thankfully fair isn't until August so he still has time to work with this new one.
With the losses, we're currently standing at: 8 laying hens, 1 rooster, 22 chicks and 2 ducklings. I'm praying for no more losses!

Part of our problem with losing poultry is that the back of our property is not fenced. And around here, some folks allow their dogs to wander about the county without any thought. Dogs that like to kill chickens.

So, instead of sitting out all summer with a .22 we cross fenced the back.My husband is amazing. Have I ever said that? He is. His hands produce the most wonderful things. And our fence was no exception. Now all we have to do is fence the back of the property and I've got an amazing area for a small goat barn and pasture. Then I just need to convince my husband that goats milk really is wonderful.

Have I also mentioned before that we have a very short growing season here? Not Alaska short, but short. We start to plant late May/early June (when most of you are all already harvesting your first round of green beans and peas) so growing tomatoes here is difficult to say the least. Unless you grow cherry tomatoes in your garden. And we do. They are wonderful. But sometimes a girl longs for a huge, ripe, sweet, slicing tomato to add to a summer sandwich.
I think this may be my summer. We are going to build this hoop house:

The plans are from here. Just incase you want to build a quick, inexpensive green house for yourself. We're talking less than $150.00.
I can already taste the sweet goodness!

And it looks as if I already have my Head Waterer for the hoop house.

Sorry that this post is so long but I find that as the weather gets better, and the Lord works on my heart more about my jobs here at home, that I have less time to blog and therefore need to pack as much as I can into one post!

New Baby Chicks with Video!

Our second round of hatching eggs in an incubator came to an end last Saturday with the hatching of 7 new Buff Orpingtons! I caught quite a bit on our little handheld camera (sorry the picture quality isn't better.)

We started with 18 eggs of which some I knew weren't fertile. I just wasn't sure which ones they were. We have mostly Buff Orpington hens and a BO rooster. We also have 3 Barred Rock hens that our rooster refuses to mate with. He won't mate with any of the other hens either....unless they are a Buff Orpington. How in the world can a rooster be so picky?? Anyway, the Barred Rock eggs look JUST like the BO eggs so I knew that I would have some infertile eggs. I must have been bad at collecting because we started with 18 eggs and on day 7 I threw out 10 of them. I had candled all of them on day 4 and then again on day 7. The eggs that were clear got tossed and we ended up with 8 fertile, growing chicks!
7 of the 8 eggs hatched. Here are the girls and boys in their temporary brooder which is currently sitting in our bathroom.
I feather sexed them on day 2 and it looks as though we have 4 cockerels and 3 pullets. Once I get a handle on my chick situation, I should be able to move these babes out into the garage. I currently have 8 chicks out in the coop that are almost fully feathered, under a light and 10 chicks and 1 duckling in our garage under several lights.
It's chick-mania here!

The Cost of Raising Hogs for Meat

I finally took a few moments to sit down with my pen and paper, receipts, and a calculator to figure out the cost of our hogs this go 'round. I try to do the math every time we butcher because there are so many variables, how much we paid for the weaner (which by the way caused quite a ruckus in the feed store the other day when I asked the owner "how much he was selling his weaners for" and someone over heard me not knowing that I was talking about pigs), how big the hogs actually get before we butcher, how long we keep them, how much food they go through, etc.

So, for this time around our first hog weighed in at 250lbs, via the weight tape, a week or so before we butchered. Her hanging weight- which was her weight with no hide, no head, no guts, and no feet came out to 157lbs. I know that may seem like a huge difference but trust me, that huge head and the hide together weighs a ton!

-We paid $125.00 for the pig (we got it later than 8wks) normally, weaners are anywhere from $80-$100 in our area

-We spent $375.00 on organic hog feed ($750.00 really, since there are two hogs but I split the cost in half for one hog)

-We spent $4.00 in straw (again, halved for the one hog)

So, $125+$375+$4= $504.00 to raise a hog

Our meat then came out to $504/157 lbs = $3.21/lb

We are sending out one ham and the bellies to be smoked this time so our total cost will look more like this: $566/157lb= $3.60/lb

We saved the cost of butchering it by doing it ourselves. The last time we had a hog butchered off our property it was $50 for the kill and then $200.00 in cut/wrap/smoke fees. If we added those onto this hog it would have been $504+$200+$50= $754...then divided by 157lbs= $4.80/lb.

We're certainly saving money by doing it on our own. We can't buy organic pork, let alone bacon, for $3.60/lb. I know the bacon goes for something like $7.00/lb and I believe the chops are around $6.00/lb.

We'll be butchering our second hog in the next few weeks and then in October we'll be getting 2 more weaners. These should be a little less expensive, around $80.00 which will certainly make our bottom line lower. We'll be getting gilts again since we really enjoyed them this time. I actually enjoyed them so much that I was a little sad to see the first one gone but their purpose is food, not as pets. I'm thankful to have a freezer full right now!

the busiest time of the year

The end of summer. Fall. It's the busiest time around here- even putting spring to shame. Harvesting the garden is busier, in my opinion, than planting it. I spent an hour and a half yesterday harvesting green beans alone. Then I spent another couple of hours snapping, filling jars and canning. With the help of my trusty homemaker in training, my daughter.

But it's just not the garden, it's getting ready for the school year, putting together our daily schedule, making sure that I have all the curriculum that I need. And what's more? Hunting season has already begun! Well, bow season at least. And in just 4 more weeks, rifle season opens.

I'm also feeling nesty lately. No, I'm not pregnant....although I would love to be. Maybe it's the other baby we have around here now....

Meet Miss Oakley. She's a Cane Corso (Italian Mastiff) and she's 12 weeks old. She likes squeaky toys, chewing on anything and brief walks. She's loyal to her family and loves lying around.

I haven't had a puppy in over 12 years. All the work though is now coming back to me. While I'm still loving her puppy breath, all the loose skin, and the way her ears flop around while she runs, I'll be happy when the housebreaking, chewing on the furniture (good thing it's all second hand) stage is over.

Ah summer, I'm glad you're still here for a little while longer. A few more trips to the river, a few more BBQ's, I'm going to hold onto as much sunshine as I can now because I know the rain will be here all too soon!

What's your busiest season where you live?