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!

The 2012 Garden

It's finally here! Time to plant the garden.

We got the hoop house finished this past weekend so now we have even more growing space.

Here's what we're planting in the garden and hoop house this year:

Everything is from seed unless otherwise noted.

Beans:

Blue Lake Pole

Black Valentine Bush

Royalty Purple Bush

Peas:

Green Arrow

Oregon Sugar Pod II

Little Marvel

Carrots:

Nantes Scarlet

Potatoes:

All Blue

Modoc Red

Spinach:

Regal Hybrid

Celery:

Experimental- from cut base of celery purchased at store

Squash:

Bush Delicata

Herbs:

Sage (from start)

Oregano (from start)

Parsley

Cilantro

Basil (from start)

Gray Mammoth Sunflowers

Tomatoes (all from starts):

Brandywine

Silver Fir Tree

Manitoba

Sweet 100

Gold Nugget
Stupice

Onions:

Yellow (sets from feed store)

I'm really excited about our tomatoes this year! This will be the first time that we will be able to plant and EAT heirloom tomatoes grown here at home. I went with earlier variety heirlooms just to be on the safe side. Do you have a favorite tomato that you grow? I'd love to hear about it. Now that I feel I can grow almost any variety, I'm in tomato heaven!

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!

Can I Call it Spring?

It is March after all. We are so ready for spring to be here. How about you?
I think I am going to work on a spring banner for my blog. Because if it says "Spring!" then it should surely be here sooner!

We're riding bikes....

Waiting to till under the cover crop in the garden....

Watching plants and fruit trees bloom...

Planting new crops.... This is Timber's garden. It was part of her birthday present.

Baking chocolate cakes after Amanda shared this recipe..... Anne Bibby, are you reading this? Make this and you'll never give that Pillsbury box a second glance!

And raising baby chicks... This is another part of Timber's birthday present. Meet Daisy. She's a Golden Sex Link. And she's the only chicken we own with a name.
I'm going to go out now and soak up as much of the sun as I can because our 10 day forecast is showing nothing but rain starting tomorrow. Here's to spring coming in right after that!

unripe peaches

"Sometimes it's hard for a little monkey to be patient."

Where have I been??

O.k., seriously folks, this lack of blogging is getting a little out of hand. But truth be told, I have so enjoyed being away from the computer and spending the time doing all kinds of other things. I could go on and on if I were to recap the last few weeks around the homestead here but instead, I'll leave you with some pictures and spare you some pictures (the other 4 ladies and I had a great time butchering those rabbits!) in hopes that you'll see that I'm really not just neglecting you all.

Between the garden, animals, river and beach trips, books, quilting and cooking, life has been a busy blessing! I bet you didn't know that Blogger would allow so many pictures in one post! Yay for summer!