Tuesday, November 25, 2014
Keep plucking
So the deal fell apart days before we were supposed to close. Stupid shady bank. So we are on the hunt again. Looking for something cheaper so we can get out of debt. I've been offline more lately. I will update with pictures of our new bantam chicks later this week.
Saturday, September 27, 2014
Yum smores from the oven

Wednesday, September 24, 2014
Dishcloths

Tuesday, September 23, 2014
Glitter
Who doesn't love glitter?! I mean really is there any other way to decorate? So I've had some pink and white glitter for months with the intention of making a light switch cover for my oldest. I finally finished it. Super easy. Modge podge the cover, cover in glitter, let dry and spray with sealant. My oldest daughter just loves it. Thinking about doing the one in her closet as well. I should modge podge all the light switches with scrapbook paper. Pinterest is awesome!
Saturday, September 20, 2014
Great Grandmother's dough recipe
I made my great grandma's rolls tonight. Considering all the cooking and bread making I'm doing lately this might not seem like a big deal. But it is. I usually only make them at Christmas time since they are so time consuming to make. Although I'm finding as I make them more they aren't so tedious. My great grandma made them all the time. For any get together and probably everyday eating too. She always seemed to have them. They remind me of her. She passed away in December of 2010 at the age of 99. She was a wonderful woman. Whom I loved very much. Everyone loved her rolls. But I'm the only one who knows how to make them.
So some back story. At the young age of 15 I learned lots. I learned to crochet and knit and I took 3 weeks in a little town called Onalaska, WA to learn how to make my grandmother's rolls. It's actually a dough recipe but everyone associate the recipe with her rolls. That was mostly what she made with the dough. But she told me how to do cinnamon rolls, maple bats and the like. Well as I learn more about breads I'm trying new things. So I did some trials with the rolls tonight. I'm making cloverleaf rolls, bread and cinnamon rolls. The cinnamon rolls I have made before. Usually I make the rolls by putting butter on the rolled out dough and cutting and folding. Very simple yet yummy way to have some sweet butter rolls. Anyway, when I attended her funeral in Dec 2010 I was asked if I wanted anything of hers. I said if possible I would love her recipes. A month or so later I got a Recipe box full of her recipes that she had collected thru the years. I don't know if they went thru them before I got them but I'm assuming not. Since I found notes and all sorts of treasures in there. I was also asked for my grandmother's recipe. And it may sound mean but I won't give it up. I took 3 weeks out of my summer as a teenager to learn that recipe. None of those people took the time to learn when she was alive. They didn't see the treasure that they had until she was gone. And it's sad. It's probably rather mean of me to keep the secrets to myself but I'm going to teach my children to make them and pass the recipe along through the generations.
So some back story. At the young age of 15 I learned lots. I learned to crochet and knit and I took 3 weeks in a little town called Onalaska, WA to learn how to make my grandmother's rolls. It's actually a dough recipe but everyone associate the recipe with her rolls. That was mostly what she made with the dough. But she told me how to do cinnamon rolls, maple bats and the like. Well as I learn more about breads I'm trying new things. So I did some trials with the rolls tonight. I'm making cloverleaf rolls, bread and cinnamon rolls. The cinnamon rolls I have made before. Usually I make the rolls by putting butter on the rolled out dough and cutting and folding. Very simple yet yummy way to have some sweet butter rolls. Anyway, when I attended her funeral in Dec 2010 I was asked if I wanted anything of hers. I said if possible I would love her recipes. A month or so later I got a Recipe box full of her recipes that she had collected thru the years. I don't know if they went thru them before I got them but I'm assuming not. Since I found notes and all sorts of treasures in there. I was also asked for my grandmother's recipe. And it may sound mean but I won't give it up. I took 3 weeks out of my summer as a teenager to learn that recipe. None of those people took the time to learn when she was alive. They didn't see the treasure that they had until she was gone. And it's sad. It's probably rather mean of me to keep the secrets to myself but I'm going to teach my children to make them and pass the recipe along through the generations.
Friday, September 19, 2014
Homemade refried beans perfected
I finally did it! I made the perfect batch of refried beans today from scratch. I'm so proud of myself. Thanks to a co worker who is a paid chef I found a method that worked great.
Things I did different: soaked for 1 hour then drained and put into the crockpot. Then I put garlic, dried onions and salt into the water. As they cooked I stirred the pot to ensure flavors where mixing. Tested bean softness until I got to the perfect consistency. Then hubby ladled the beans into a pan, added lard and mashed them up. The flavor was great. Not bland like before and texture was awesome too.
Thursday, September 18, 2014
Banana bread

Thursday Morning Thoughts
I'm sick again this week. No fun but it's what happens when the kids first go back to school. All those germs LOL. Anyway so I was here thinking just about everything and about mistakes I am making or have made on this new blog. But I realized that right now there isn't much of a following if anyone at all reads so a few learning mistakes will be ok. I'm also thinking of other content I could put on our farm blog. It's a slow time of year right now for us since I'm not able to do a fall garden and the chickens aren't doing much. Ours aren't even molting yet. Once we start the move I can blog about the new coop being built, moving the chickens, building the farm, the deconstruction of the other house on the property and planned improvements. But for now it's spirit week and new recipes. Going to make banana bread this evening plus the school spirit shirts for tomorrow. Need to start more homemade bread for sandwiches since the last loaf went bad. We didn't eat many sandwiches this week. Fed it to the chickens. My youngest is watching Little Einstein's talking to the TV, and I am writing this blog. I'm working on another blanket project, I have four going right now but this new one has to be done by the end of October so it gets priority. Once the shirts get done I will post pictures of them.
Wednesday, September 17, 2014
Pretty eggs
I thought I would post a farm related post since I haven't done that in awhile. And seeing the variety of our eggs really cheers me up. We have quite the colorful collection of layers. We get light brown, brown, white, blue/green, and brown speckled. Oh it's so fun to go collecting. We get 17-18 eggs a day. And no we can't keep up on eating them. We give away a lot of eggs each week to coworkers, church and friends. It's a wonderful blessing to share with others.
Crazy hair day

Today was crazy hair day at school. The kids and I had a lot of fun doing their hair this morning. Of course my oldest came home with her hair down :( but she brought everything back with her. My son wanted a mohawk but he just had such thick hair it was just super spiky. Spirit week has been a lot of fun. This is the first time my kids have gotten to participate but they are getting into the spirit.
And of course the baby couldn't be left out :). She naturally wakes up with crazy hair.
Tuesday, September 16, 2014
Spirit week at school
Monday, September 15, 2014
Apprasial ordered
So we are finally moving forward with the purchase of the farm. We ordered and paid for the appraisal on Friday. So fingers crossed it all comes back good and we don't have to renegotiate a new price due to a low appraisal. If all goes well we should be moving sometime in October. Or at least that is my suspicion. Meanwhile I need to start looking for boxes again and decluttering the house. Taking a load to the goodwill tomorrow and hope to pick up some free boxes if I can find any on craigslist tonight or in the morning.
On an animal related note we have decided to hold off for one year before adding any cows or pigs to the farm. We are going to get our debt out of the way so we can free up the money we need for the livestock trailer and things of that nature. It should take 12 months if I can keep us on track. Then it will be gung ho! So in the meantime you can follow on our chicken, gardening and cooking adventures. Also my creative adventures :).
Started a new blanket tonight that is for a wedding gift at the end of October. I will post pictures once it is finished. I finished my 2 blankets for nieces in Oregon a few weeks ago. I will post pictures of my projects tomorrow. All good things in our life right now.
On an animal related note we have decided to hold off for one year before adding any cows or pigs to the farm. We are going to get our debt out of the way so we can free up the money we need for the livestock trailer and things of that nature. It should take 12 months if I can keep us on track. Then it will be gung ho! So in the meantime you can follow on our chicken, gardening and cooking adventures. Also my creative adventures :).
Started a new blanket tonight that is for a wedding gift at the end of October. I will post pictures once it is finished. I finished my 2 blankets for nieces in Oregon a few weeks ago. I will post pictures of my projects tomorrow. All good things in our life right now.
Sunday, September 7, 2014
Fresh homemade bread

Monday, September 1, 2014
hiccups
Buying property or a house isn't what it used to be before 2008. There are so many more hoops to jump through. We are teetering on the edge of losing the property which to be honest has me down in the dumps :(. But we have a plan B which will have us out of debt in 18 months so I guess that will work too. Right now I am working on Christmas gifts (crochet afghans) and trying not to worry. September is a busy month with birthdays so hopefully that will help keep me distracted. Pray that we get an answer one way or the other tomorrow. I will for sure try to post when I know something. If we don't move be watching for posts about a fall garden going in and trying to get us going in that direction.
Wednesday, August 20, 2014
Things I never thought I would miss
So while I was down with a broken foot, cast and crutches to boot, I wasn't able to do my normal routine and chores. I had to rely heavily on my kids. It was miserable. They had lots of extra inside chores plus helping with daily chicken chores. The kids are slightly afraid of the rooster. He tends to be aggressive. So that complicated things towards the end. But we got thru it. But this week I've been back out there with them. Giving them (the chickens) supervised outside time. Meaning out of the chicken run. They love it! The scratch and peck and chase grasshoppers. It's wonderful to just watch them. I've gotten used to seeing them and interacting with them. And I missed them while I was down. It's good to know that I love my "chores" so much that I want to do them. I wake up excited to see the chickens each morning. I look forward to our upcoming move where we will add many more animals to our life. We have the new coop all planned out. Just waiting on a closing date. Once the papers are signed we are building the coop. Don't worry I will update when we have a date. Because I know there's oh so many people reading my blog. Thinking purple for the coop color. But we shall see.
Gifts


Homemade kind of day
Started with pancakes not from a box and French toast. Then made fries from potatoes and started the Freezer Hashbrowns. Those are easier than I thought. Then I was out of ketchup so I whipped up some of that while I was at the stove lol. I didn't have any tomato paste so I used tomato sauce and just reduced it down. The ketchup is in the fridge now. I tasted a bit and it seemed good. Maybe more vinegar than we are used to but I will keep trying. That is the whole point of this. Then it was time to start the crockpot Mac and Cheese. Gosh I'm tired just reading all of that :). Took out ground beef. Going to make hamburgers this weeks and tacos and if there is any left over maybe chili. We love ground beef. Hence the need for beef cows. Links to all the recipes are provided. I managed to do all this while the toddler slept. I am for sure on a roll. Need to learn how to be independent of the store. It will be even better when it comes from our garden as well.
House update, closing is being delayed due to paperwork and there still isn't any date set. But on a good note the sellers have agreed to delay the closing so that is good too. It means we won't lose the property because of the slow paperwork. But I seriously wish it would move along because I'm excited about the property.
House update, closing is being delayed due to paperwork and there still isn't any date set. But on a good note the sellers have agreed to delay the closing so that is good too. It means we won't lose the property because of the slow paperwork. But I seriously wish it would move along because I'm excited about the property.
Saturday, August 16, 2014
Hand spinning
Friday, August 15, 2014
Delays
So we won't be closing in a week. I'm very sad but I have to believe there is a reason for the delay. God has a plan. Silly paperwork slowed everything down. Hubby thinks it will only slow us down by a week. I'm thinking two weeks. I guess we will see. Either way it gives us more time to save money and pack. So it's ok. I'm working in Houston again this weekend which isn't a lot of fun but good for the bank account.
Something else that happened this week was along with the survey we found that the our fence is shared. So we are going to need to make friends with the neighbors and make sure we are all ok with how we use/share the fence. Not that we shouldn't make friends with the neighbors anyway. When you live further out in the country it's a good idea to make friends and watch out for each other. It makes sense for everyone to help each other out and build that community. We don't have any super close neighbors at the new property like we currently do so I'm sure the fence won't be a big problem. There is a gate between us and the neighbor so we will either have two locks or put a fence on our side.
The delay also allows me to do more research and find new stuff to plant and animals to purchase ;). And who doesn't want that. This post is kind of all over the road. I guess I'm a little tired.
Something else that happened this week was along with the survey we found that the our fence is shared. So we are going to need to make friends with the neighbors and make sure we are all ok with how we use/share the fence. Not that we shouldn't make friends with the neighbors anyway. When you live further out in the country it's a good idea to make friends and watch out for each other. It makes sense for everyone to help each other out and build that community. We don't have any super close neighbors at the new property like we currently do so I'm sure the fence won't be a big problem. There is a gate between us and the neighbor so we will either have two locks or put a fence on our side.
The delay also allows me to do more research and find new stuff to plant and animals to purchase ;). And who doesn't want that. This post is kind of all over the road. I guess I'm a little tired.
Wednesday, August 13, 2014
Baking
Tuesday, August 12, 2014
Survey complete
The survey for the new property is completed. We are purchasing 39.74 acres, but I'm going to go ahead and round up to 40 LOL. It also means were are continuing to move forward which is a good sign. It appears that the fence lines along the road are for sure ours but the fences that have pastures on either side might be the neighbors. We will have to chat it up with them and find out. Hopefully it will be a friendly sharing kind of neighbor so we don't have to add more fencing. Ah the joys of farm/country living. Lessons to be learned. But many times in these communities people share. We have the appraisal to be completed (just waiting on the bank to order it) and two other documents. So tonight I decided it was time to start putting together boxes and packing up stuff. Guess I shouldn't put it off any longer. We could be moving anytime in the next few weeks. Hopefully it will happen sooner rather than later.
Monday, August 11, 2014
Roosters
We actually have two roosters until we move. But this is the rooster that will move with us. He is rather aggressive and very protective of his flock. With good reason. That is his job. Do you need a rooster? There is a lot of debate about this on many forums and blogs. Good arguments on both sides. We like having a rooster. Keeps our hens happy. We have the chance to hatch chicks since our bantam seems to be broody and he is gorgeous. Our rooster is an Americana. We got 4 chicks with our first flock because they lay blue green eggs. It's very exciting. Then one turned out to be a rooster and it was even better. He has the most beautiful tail feather. So he will move to the new house with us. This picture was taken while doing supervised outside time last night. I have started doing this since others seem to have great luck with supervised time. The chickens love it and the barn cats seem to just leave them alone. It's a win for everyone. If you look close enough you can see the rooster's wings are clipped, he likes to fly :).
Saturday, August 9, 2014
Pretty Eggs

Thursday, August 7, 2014
Never a dull moment
Farming is not for the weak that is for sure. We aren't even on our own property yet and it's never dull around here LOL. So about 8 weeks ago I broke my foot. Not the most fun thing this summer. So the kids have been helping me with chicken chores. Letting them out, putting them away, filling water, stuff like that. Hubby cleans the coop each weekend for me. Well being on crutches I can't get to the coop very well. So I asked the kids to check the feed and make sure the chickens had food. I should have checked myself :(. They were completely out tonight. So I needed to make a last minute run (remember that whole going to town is a drive post?) to the tractor supply for chicken feed. I also was taking the car to show someone interested in buying. So it worked out and wasn't a complete waste of gas. But wow that stunk. The chickens were so happy when we got home and filled the feeder. Well actually the BIL filled it for me and filled the water inside the coop.
On a not farm related note, I also got melted chocolate in my clean purse and found that the van has a flat tire. Never a dull moment around here :).
On a not farm related note, I also got melted chocolate in my clean purse and found that the van has a flat tire. Never a dull moment around here :).
Wednesday, August 6, 2014
Grocery shopping

Tuesday, August 5, 2014
Everyone needs a chicken
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Loving her bantam hen "Eskimo" |
So the lesson for today? Chickens are a great, inexpensive way to start homesteading and eating healthy. Can't keep chickens? Find a local farm to get eggs from. You won't be disappointed.
Saturday, August 2, 2014
Fiber, yarn, sheep
Friday, August 1, 2014
4H
My oldest will be joining 4H in a couple weeks. She is very excited. She will be showing a bunny. A breeding bunny :) so she will get to keep it after the county fair in January. We are excited about this opportunity for her. We have heard so many great things about kids in 4H. There is a pool party next Tuesday that I will take the kids to and see how she likes the other kids and the leaders. They will help her learn to show and she will get to make some new friends to boot. There isn't a club at her school so we will just join one in the town North of us. Luckily at this early age she can just go and have fun without it being a huge deal. As she gets older we will probably pick an animal and keep with it. But for now she can show a bunny and enjoy the learning experience. I have also learned that we can use the ag exemption for her 4H project stuff. Which will help save us some money. The next year is going to be a lot of fun.
Thursday, July 31, 2014
Farm name
So I will probably change the name of the blog to reflect the name of the farm. We will register all of our animal herds and get our brand registered in our counties. It's kind of exciting really :). I texted the hubby and told him what I was thinking and that it wasn't really fitting. It didn't really work. So he started throwing out ideas. And it got the thinking started. Then I thought what about 5 Blessings Farm?? Hubby loved it, I loved it and bam a farm name was born :). So far it doesn't seem to be used in our counties. Hope to design a brand 5B. We can also tag the animals that can be branded it looks like. I'm still learning so more to come on that. There isn't a statewide registry so I just have to worry about our county.
I also started the process to sign my oldest up for 4H. Sounds like we will be doing breeding bunnies since she won't want to part with her first show bunny LOL. We can register her in two weeks. She is so excited and they are so helpful at the 4H office. It will also help with the ag exemption.
I also started the process to sign my oldest up for 4H. Sounds like we will be doing breeding bunnies since she won't want to part with her first show bunny LOL. We can register her in two weeks. She is so excited and they are so helpful at the 4H office. It will also help with the ag exemption.
Wednesday, July 30, 2014
Chicken from our flock
Water!
Water is one of the most important things you need. Regardless of where you live you need water to live. One of the biggest things my homesteading friends talk about or ask about is if there is water on the property. Our prospective property we knew had a stock pond, although no water at the current time. But after many delays we finally got the well working. The breakers had been stolen :(. So the seller had an electrician come out and fix it. The end result... Running water! Very good news. Septic is empty, also good news. Electrical company will come out and drop a second pole and meter for our house after we close and move the house out there. There is already one water trough hooked up to the well with a float so that is good for us when we are getting ready to put bigger animals on the property. Woohoo for water!!
Tuesday, July 29, 2014
Lessons when buying
Buying rural property is different than buying in the suburbs. A lot different :). Not a bad different just different. You have different things to consider. And your dreams/goals should be one of those many things that you think about.
We first had to think about how much property we wanted. Well hubby wanted hundreds of acres... that wasn't going to happen but we settled on 10-20 acres when we started looking. So off we went to the internet to search. What options were already on the property, what isn't on the property, how much is the property, what does that equal per acre? You get the idea.
Hubby wanted trees, I wanted room for the animals, we both wanted water and power. I wanted a good space for my garden and orchard. Hubby wanted room to grow.
So I found 19 acres with a well that "might" work, power, a trailer that needed to be disposed of, no fencing, no trees, lots of great open space with plenty of options for buildings and a home site. But when you want to move it seems like a great option.
Across the road there was another sign. This one had 26 acres, with two barns (both needing work), a small house, needing to be cleaned out and renovated, two sheds, and a stone building. Three sides were fenced. Power and a septic were on the property but no well... Why was there no well?
Both pastures looked good, and the price was the range I was looking for. Downside was a feed lot right next door.
Hubby found a property. It had 39.7 acres, an unfinished house, fully fenced, well, septic, and power already on the property. From the pictures it didn't appear to have many trees and was outside the school district that we are already in. But the hubby wanted to go look. So we went out and looked. The pastures are recovering nicely, still fully fenced, more trees than we expected and a 2 acre stock pond. The price was higher than I wanted to pay, however it was a great price for the amount of property. Great views.
Around here a working well is a huge plus. Wells can cost well over 10K to have dug. Septic systems are about 9K. Having the whole 40 acres fenced is another huge plus. The cost of fencing is much more than people realize. We fenced 1/4 of an acre with 4x4 panels for the goats and it cost $500 (which included the fencing and tposts). The property has 5 strand barbed wire all the way around. We also knew that when we found the right place we would know. This was our homestead/retirement property. As soon as we went out and looked we knew it was where we wanted to be.
The unfinished house has great potential to be finished. As long as the foundation is good we are going to fix it up. There are no other buildings, so everything can be done just the way we have always dreamed. Part of the agreement was to ensure the well was still working, so power was turned on. We also included that a manufactured home had to be allowed on the property. A 2 acre stock pond can cost thousands to build but we already have one and we can use it for shooting practice. Sure we have to do a lot of building and it won't be a fast process. But since it's completely fenced we could potentially put cows on the property within a year. It fits with our dreams and goals.
If you can't tell we made an offer on the 40 acres and should close by August 22 :).
We first had to think about how much property we wanted. Well hubby wanted hundreds of acres... that wasn't going to happen but we settled on 10-20 acres when we started looking. So off we went to the internet to search. What options were already on the property, what isn't on the property, how much is the property, what does that equal per acre? You get the idea.
Hubby wanted trees, I wanted room for the animals, we both wanted water and power. I wanted a good space for my garden and orchard. Hubby wanted room to grow.
So I found 19 acres with a well that "might" work, power, a trailer that needed to be disposed of, no fencing, no trees, lots of great open space with plenty of options for buildings and a home site. But when you want to move it seems like a great option.
Across the road there was another sign. This one had 26 acres, with two barns (both needing work), a small house, needing to be cleaned out and renovated, two sheds, and a stone building. Three sides were fenced. Power and a septic were on the property but no well... Why was there no well?
Both pastures looked good, and the price was the range I was looking for. Downside was a feed lot right next door.
Hubby found a property. It had 39.7 acres, an unfinished house, fully fenced, well, septic, and power already on the property. From the pictures it didn't appear to have many trees and was outside the school district that we are already in. But the hubby wanted to go look. So we went out and looked. The pastures are recovering nicely, still fully fenced, more trees than we expected and a 2 acre stock pond. The price was higher than I wanted to pay, however it was a great price for the amount of property. Great views.
Around here a working well is a huge plus. Wells can cost well over 10K to have dug. Septic systems are about 9K. Having the whole 40 acres fenced is another huge plus. The cost of fencing is much more than people realize. We fenced 1/4 of an acre with 4x4 panels for the goats and it cost $500 (which included the fencing and tposts). The property has 5 strand barbed wire all the way around. We also knew that when we found the right place we would know. This was our homestead/retirement property. As soon as we went out and looked we knew it was where we wanted to be.
The unfinished house has great potential to be finished. As long as the foundation is good we are going to fix it up. There are no other buildings, so everything can be done just the way we have always dreamed. Part of the agreement was to ensure the well was still working, so power was turned on. We also included that a manufactured home had to be allowed on the property. A 2 acre stock pond can cost thousands to build but we already have one and we can use it for shooting practice. Sure we have to do a lot of building and it won't be a fast process. But since it's completely fenced we could potentially put cows on the property within a year. It fits with our dreams and goals.
If you can't tell we made an offer on the 40 acres and should close by August 22 :).
The journey thus far
So a year ago in July we packed up our house and moved to Texas from Washington. It's been a journey for sure. Lots of lessons learned and lots to learn. Today the hubby suggested I document all we have learned and then document what we learn as we journey to a self sufficient homesteading lifestyle. So while I'm not great at keep up on this stuff, I'm going to try my best. Things I hope to post is the start and improvements to the new property, new recipes, new animals, and just anything that helps us move to a self sufficient lifestyle. I know there are plenty of blog and sites out there that do this. I'm not planning a following this is just so we can look at where we started and where we are.
Events of the last year....
July 2013 moved into rental house in TX.
Dec 2013 moved onto family land in our own manufactured home.
August 2014 moving to our own land 40 acres. Same general area but our own place.
This has been a crazy year. We have learned a lot. We will be moving our 11 chickens to our new property. I will of course be posting pictures of the new coop and run. Next week I hope to post some pictures of the new property so that we can see how it changes over the years ahead.
Events of the last year....
July 2013 moved into rental house in TX.
Dec 2013 moved onto family land in our own manufactured home.
August 2014 moving to our own land 40 acres. Same general area but our own place.
This has been a crazy year. We have learned a lot. We will be moving our 11 chickens to our new property. I will of course be posting pictures of the new coop and run. Next week I hope to post some pictures of the new property so that we can see how it changes over the years ahead.
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