Frugalcountrymom

Paleo Diet should be called the Farmers diet

2012-01-22T13:46:00.000-06:00

Paleo Diet should be called the Farmers diet

My husband and I started the Paleo diet for 30days another name they like to call it is the "Cave man diet" I think more of it as the "Farmers diet". The main reason I call it this is because most of the stuff you will be eating can be found on a farm like meat, veggies nuts & berries, so unless you live on a farm or fish a lot this diet can be pretty expensive. To keep it frugal you need to have some connections or know how to get this stuff other then the super market......No wheat, Pasta, beans etc..

The diet consist of a lot of lean meats of fish, chicken, some lean pork, all kinds of veggies, fruits & nuts (except peanuts) To help on this quest of our for 30 days maybe longer I bought myself a "Superwave oven" sort of like the Nuwave oven but it was cheaper plus it had a glass dome not plastic, I despise plastic. I am cooking everything in it so far its coming out really good. I did try to make turkey bacon in it, I don't think it came out that well. I made sweet potato fry's my family loved them.

So we have taken out of our diet all processed foods & sugars trying to eat more raw as possible.
We have also omitted dairy some people worry about not having calcium but I am not too worried about that right now since we eat a lot of green leafy stuff which will substitute for it, if we do drink milk its raw milk so easy for our stomachs to digest. After 30 days I will bring back on cheese & yogurt but I really want to make my own from raw milk.

As for the meat luckily a few months ago I stocked up on pasture raised ground meat from a farmer, our fridge is loaded with lamb meat, & I just purchased 21 broilers from a 4-H boy. We are going to keep them on grass for a few weeks to get them healthier. We have pigs that will be ready for the butcher in May along with some stew chickens.

I have tons of pecans to eat so I have bought some other nuts to mix them up with them for snacks. It is going to be expensive buying all the vegetables right now till we can get our garden growing again.

Some say this is a lot like the atkins I disagree since they encourage you to eat lots of veggies and fruit. We plan to add a little more carbs with Gluten free products after the 30days. Its going back to the basics like I said a "Farmers diet" Note: My husband is following the book completely and more likely he will lose faster then I will, he has omitted fruit from his diet for the first 30days. I am trying to eat it only in the morning sometimes for snack. I need some kind of sugar or I will go mad! lol

=====================================================

Ways to save on the Paleo diet: (Will be adding more as I continue)
Check craigslist: Farmers advertise there as well as individual people on selling stuff. Check out the "Farm Garden section"
Check out local farmers market. Eat whats in season.
Raise your own chickens most cities will allow so many chickens in your area check out your State regulations.
Barter with a friend who likes to fish.
Find a whole cow, pig, lamb on craigslist and go halfs with another family tell them to take to butcher for you. (Make sure you know how the animal was raised)

===================================================

Special Note: When I first started this I didnt realize I was going to have such a withdrawal from sugar & that my body was going to get sick from detoxing. By the second day I thought I was going to crawl out of my skin it was then I realized I addicted I was to sugar! By the third day i was fine full of energy. Four day i started to get sick with what I thought was a cold aches, pains, sneezing like crazy, nose running. So for the fourth, Fifth & Sixth day I treated it like a cold. I took more vitamin C but I took cold meds at night cuz I couldnt sleep. By the seventh day it was completely gone its then I realized it wasn't a cold but my body detoxing. If I had only know it was my body detoxing I would have skipped the cold meds and drank more herbal teas and water. So this is warning to all who may start this it may not be that your getting sick but your body detoxing.

Menu: Jan 20, 2012

Day one:
Breakfast: 2 Pasture raised - eggs scrambled with green onion, 2 small oranges, green tea

Lunch: Lean steak no fat, sweet potato no butter, salad with oil on the side. "Restaurant" diet coke ;/

Dinner: Chicken breast, Mixed salad

Snacks: Nuts, fruit, sugar free gum

Note: Surprised I actually turned down fresh made bread & cinnamon butter. I was disgusted about how much products out there have sugar in them after reading the label. Its pretty gross, even the ham I bought had 2 g of sugar in it and that was the lowest one I could find!! On the upside went to bed feeling less bloated & I didnt have those stomach pains I've been having for awhile each night now.

Day two:
Breakfast: Almond pancakes http://www.paleoplan.com/2009/11-23/almond-flour-pancakes/ Tom & I thought this was ok, it goes great with fresh raspberries on top, kids didnt really like it especially since they couldn't pour syrup on it. Eating fruit as a syrup is a new concept for the kids they just dont get yet. Lean ham slices. Water.

Lunch: Steamed Chicken breast "Superwave" steamed carrots, salad, Lemonade "True Lemon" made with stevia.

Dinner: Steamed lemon fish with asparagus & mixed salad. Lemonade "True lemon"

Snacks: Nuts, fruit, sugar free gum

Note: Made double batch pancakes enough for family of four to have 3 small pancakes each. I thought I would want more but it was really filling!!!! Almond & coconut flour is really expensive at "Sprouts need to find another source in bulk. I am going into a sugar withdraw got some gum seems to help. I went into HEB yesterday went by the bakery didn't even phase me still battling wanting to have sugar, bought more gum.

Day Three:
Breakfast: Pasture raised -Scrambled eggs mixed with onion, red pepper, salt, onion powder, pepper, coffee with Stevie a bit of raw milk. Cantaloup, Water

Lunch: Hebrew National beef franks, steamed squash, green hot tea

Dinner: Steamed shrimp, chicken, mushrooms, orange pepper, garlic, unsweetened tea

Snacks: Nut, sugar free gum Made carrot cake but didnt eat any kids loved it.
http://www.paleoplan.com/2010/01-04/carrot-cake/

Workout: 10min on bike on uphill.

Notes: Feeling really tired today, the diet tells you to get a lot of rest which I did the last 2 nights, hubby is doing fine, he is taking more supplements then I am. I am taking some of the Fish oil, garlic tablet, multi vitamin. I am not sleepy just more like my body is tired like I am coming down with something but I am not??? Hubby thinks its my body detoxing itself. I intake a whole lot of sugar & carbs then my husband & I am more overweight so I am having a harder time then my husband. Most people say they feel more energetic after being on this diet. I think I need more time. My body is confused not sure where to get the extra carbs and sugar at I think.Got worse by afternoon, hubby suggested I exercise but didnt feel up to doing that I took a walk around farm for a bit felt tons better afterwards he was on to something!

Day Four:
Breakfast:: Fruit which consist of 2 small oranges, banana, grapes, 2 small almond pancakes w/raspberries & water.
Lunch: 2 Hebrew National beef franks
Dinner: Steamed Cod fish, steamed green beans, mix green salad
Snack: Mixed nuts, almond carrot cake, I did have 1 cup of raw milk. I know I am suppose to stay away but hard to eat cake without it :)
Exercise: 12min on bike hill.
Note: I felt really good today I slept late, I think I caught up on my sleep. No sugar withdrawals, I even managed to go grocery shopping without wanting anything sweet. Still crave sugar but its easier today.

Day Five:
Breakfast: & 7am: Fruit, orange, blueberries, water, supplements, 10am, 2 Pasture-eggs mixed with turkey sausage more water.
Lunch: Not sure if I ate or not I can't remember I fell asleep.
Dinner: Lamb chops, mixed salad, brussel sprouts
Snack: Mixed nuts, carrot cake from above.
Exercise: 12min bike
Note: Didnt feel good today I am coming down with cold, I thought it was the diet but it was a virus :( Will not eat only fruit so early in the morning, I think it was too much & it has too much sugar in it, upset my stomach, need to just mix it with rest of my food.

Day Six:
Breakfast: Pasture-2 Eggs & turkey sausage
Lunch: Lamb stew. Hubby made it with carrots, celery, tomatoes.
Dinner: Lean ribeye steak, asparagus, Corn on cob (forgot I wasnt suppose to have this yikes)
Snack:
Exercise: None feeling sick
Note: Hard time breathing, I felt bad not doing exercise.

Day Seven:
Brunch: Pasture 2 eggs, with spinach & two chopped up Hebrew national franks
Dinner: Stuffed green peppers, pasture raised ground beef, red pepper, salt, pepper, onion powder, spinach, mushroom, a bit of tomato sauce, onion.
Snack: Mixed nuts
Exercise:13min bike
Note: Still feeling under the weather

Week 2
Day eight:
Breakfast: 2 Eggs/1 Hebrew National frank, coffee
Lunch: Mongolian stir fry restaurant chicken, seafood, diet coke
Dinner: Stir fry with beef, diet tea
Snack: cup raw milk (I know I know but its raw ;p)
Exercise: 13min bike
Note: Feel tons better today, no running nose my cold is completely gone, no after affects cough!

Day nine:
Breakfast: Eggs, Sausage pattys, coffee.
Lunch: Bill Miller Sausage link, brisket, turkey meat, w/salad water
Dinner: Happy Guy Chinese food house soup (consist of pork, chicken, shrimp, bean sprout, carrots, brocoli
Snack: orange
Exercise: Walked w/cubscouts & boyscouts handing out flyers for a food drive, walked a few miles was on my feet most the day because of derby race.
Note: Was out most the day was hard to decide what we would eat when out, but I think we dd pretty good. Felt really good til the end of day but my heel spurs were hurting be because of all the walking & standing nothing to do with diet however by 9pm I was wiped went to bed early then woke up around 4am and couldnt sleep no more :(

Day ten:
Brunch: Ham slices, coffee blueberries, & pancakes made with coconut flour, http://hivelogic.com/articles/best-paleo-pancake-recipe/ (Calls for can of coconut milk figured that was about 2 1/2 cups)

Dinner: Cornish hen's, sweet potato slices, Salad & lemon/salt cucumber slices, stevia lemonade.
Snack: Mixed nuts
Exercise: None, but walking around farm
Note: Woke up around 3am with night mare couldnt go back to sleep. felt fine till around 3pm started feeling nauseated & dizzy, felt better got up started to prepare dinner in the middle I started sweating a lot & getting nauseated again. Not sure why I am all nauseated today I am guessing its part of the detox? Going to the Chiro just in case tonight could be a neck problem it has happened b4.

Day Eleven: (Lost 6 lbs on this diet on my weigh in day) 2 lbs b4 that so total of 6 lbs)
Breakfast:: Eggs, ham slices mixed w/olives, red pepper, coffee.
Lunch: Left over House soup we had for dinner the other night.
Dinner: Healthy meatloaf made w/dried onion, tomato sauce, eggs, chopped carrots, celery, flax seed, pasture raised beef/lamb mixture. Leftover sweet potatoes & broccoli on side, coffee wanted something warm.
Snack: Nuts mostly pecans and almonds.
Exercise:
Note: Feeling better today not dizzy or nauseated I wanted to go to Chiropractor but husband car wouldnt start so had to stay home he took my car. Kind of sluggish I guess cause it was cold and wet outside today it rained. I don't do well in cold weather.

Paleo Recipe sites:
http://paleodietlifestyle.com/paleo-diet-recipes/
http://www.paleo-recipes.com/

Paleo Blog site:
http://www.paleotable.com/

Gluten free sites:
http://allrecipes.com/recipes/healthy-recipes/gluten-free/
http://www.elanaspantry.com/
http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/gluten-free/
http://www.food.com/recipes/gluten-free
http://glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com/

Plastic Barrels ideas

2012-01-20T00:17:00.003-06:00

Just as I love the many ideas of pallets I love barrels too! So I decided to start collecting ideas on how to use barrels.

This is a friend of ours that we just helped build this hydroponic system for her small farm.

Of course these are always great for water catchers!

Here is a link to a guy that made a huge water catcher with the barrels

http://www.emmitsburg.net/gardens/articles/adams/audrey/water_barrel.htm

Gardening:

http://www.instructables.com/id/Double-Decker-Drum-Composter/

Movable garden containers

http://greenfusestock.photoshelter.com/image/I00004JPgz_ssbGc

Kids:

Kids car made out of a barrel cute!

http://daddytypes.com/2008/12/17/first_dump_out_the_dry_cleaning_solvent_diy_pedal_car_from_a_55-gal_drum.php

This guy made a sled for his kid out of a plastic barrel. Lucky kid!
http://whitetrashrepairs.com/white-trash/barrel-sled/

These people made a raft for their pool out of barrels
http://www.captainfletch.com/projects/boats/barellraft/barrelraft.asp

Animals:

This forum had a few good ideas for dog houses made out of barrels

http://www.easttexashogdoggers.com/forum/index.php?topic=3637.0

So this was harder then I thought collecting these, I would think there were more ideas out there. Just need more time I guess to look.

Electricity: Making windmils out of plastic drums

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UPe6A_UVPc&feature=relmfu

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUYepkTlioU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQKb8qvuqdw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yTGf1xL_LY&feature=relmfu

rain barrels, plastic barrels, rain totes, rain catchers, barrels, food totes

2011-11-20T09:04:00.001-06:00

Well its been a busy Oct/Nov here on the Farm. as you can see our orchard did outstanding this yr I am still picking pecans! Below is our new piglets, first time raising them, and no they will not be pets. They are cute and I have a hard time not falling for them.

I've sold a lot of pecans already this yr plus did some awesome trades. I did a few homemade jelly trades from the northwest I am happy cuz I can never get any fresh jelly around here much plus I also traded for a bread maker hardly used.

I've send some to our soldier and I need to send some to family now. I wish I could send some via mail to sell but the cost of postage is just not really worth it plus the cost of someone buying it compared to just buying it at store I dont know.... However our pecans are non sprayed and it is from this yrs crop. While store bought is sprayed and you never know how old they are you know.

Well so much to do I got to get cracking...get it?? cracking? lol

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

2011-09-13T00:04:00.000-05:00

Well we picked a few bags of these mustang grapes this summer, it was about the only thing that grew around our farm this summer. At least I will have jelly to can. We are still waiting on pecan season, that won't be till the end of Sept. All around us Texas is burning up, its getting scary now.

It always rains on my birthday week so I am hoping it follows tradition and rains on my week. My dads been away from this heat, he went to visit family in Calif but now its getting hot in Calif too so its time for him to come home. Not much going on right now, just been hiding out in the house its been too hot to go outside to do anything.

We did wake up early in the morning and started clearing up some of the pecan orchard for pecan picking.I need to prune the roses they say, I've been trying to water when I can, but we have restrictions right now. We need to move some fencing to the garden to cover up my black berries then let the sheep take over the garden, keeping them in there for days will clear the area for our future garden for fall or spring.Thats about it dull Summer. Hot hot.

Fall can't come fast enough

2011-08-13T13:47:00.001-05:00

Our pecans are almost done!

Fall is so close to us I can taste it but sure don't feel it in our triple digit weather in Texas. I made announcement to my family this yr I am going to get out our fall stuff really early from the shed. If we can't have cool weather here it will look like fall in our house!

My daughter made these flower arrangements for fall can't wait to put them up.

Well as you can see from the picture above our pecans are almost ready! They will start falling down at the end of Sept and continue to fall till the start of Nov. This is a busy time of yr because I will be out there fighting the squirrels picking them morning & afternoon before the squirrels can get their hands on them! I pick in the afternoon too because the winds we have in the early evening hours will knock some more down and the racoons at night will eat them if I don't. The squirrels are a pain because they only eat the tip of the pecan and leave the rest to rot! Luckily my sheep will find those and finish them off!.

After I have gathered enough I take them into Hondo to get them cracked I learned long ago to do this instead of manually having to do this by hand. Hubby bought me a machine pecan cracker but it still takes one at a time & it takes a long time. I barely have enough time to peel the pecans I have!

I will take these pecans and store for us in a freezer for this coming yr for Thanksgiving and Christmas cooking as well as sell a few & this yr I am going to send some to the soldiers. You would think with 80 trees I would have a ton but not all the tree's are still producing and not every yr the tree's produce.

Everyone thought because of the drought we wouldn't have pecans but with the canal's constantly running the roots of our tree's are constantly getting water. The water runs underground about 3 feet & you will hit water. We found that out the hard way when trying to build our septic tank lol.

Sam

Boy Scout camp vs Girl Scout camp

2011-08-07T15:25:00.009-05:00

My son trying to catch a fish.

Well summer is almost over for some its been one hot summer here in Texas the worst in Texas history. My son went to day camp then summer overnight camp. The first day of daycamp my daughter & I went to, to help. I was impressed a bit with the camp location but not the program or how it was run.

Impressed:
1. Ranch is donated to use by the owners each yr. Pretty camp
2. The arts director/BB gun director/Archery Fishing director all had it planned on what they were going to do. The boys got there they went over safety and they did it!
3. Director did a fantastic job on the safety of the boys in keeping them safe.

Problem:
1. Program way to long for this Tx heat boys got tired after 12pm they wanted to go home instead we were there till 2pm.
2. Hardly No shade boys forced to be in 100' degree weather tieing knots. They need more canopys.
3. Older boys forced to wear pink hats that didn't fit properly to cover ears, because the current volunteer camp director loves pink, even though I begged her not to make them wear it this yr. I saw three of the boys actually shove the hats to her this yr & refused to wear it.
4. No pool or any water games at all. It would have helped in this heat. Who designs these without water programs!
5. Being told by the director constantly to chill and go w/the flow cuz it was not organized enough for me as I try to direct 22 boys & not sure where to go cuz they haven't figured it out yet.

Summer overnight camp

Impressed:
1.The boys did well entertaining the boys well enough with skits and songs.
2. Nice boating program for the boys.

Problem:
1. Food was horrible & had no nutrition that they ordered at local school cafeteria, they would have been better off preparing their own food!
2. Too rocky the current camp first day there my son sprang his ankles along with others a mother took a plunge down & had to have stitches on her head.
3. Very disorganized boys scouts not set up for classes when the boys arrived so took 10-15 to set up b4 starting each day! And they have been having classes for weeks now.
4. Instead of sleeping with other boys in the tents the parents (who would have been in the tent next door) the mothers insisted their sons boys sleep with them in their tent. These are 10-11yr old boys- Way to go making a man out of your son lol need to untie that string sometime Ma'ma!

=============================

Girl Scout camp:

1. Girl scout camp they have paid counselors there for the summer they have been trained 2 weeks ahead on what they are going to do. They have a plan! Marine instructors would have been happy to their precise schedule!
2. Food is prepared by experienced cooks & at least one night is a cook out per week that the girls do themselves with help from counselors.
3. They go swimming at least once a day or at least have water sports to keep the girls cool.
4. Girls as little as 6yr are staying in cabins without their parents. Yah sometimes they cry cuz they are homesick a bit but by second day they are fine!

================
So when I worked at a girl scout camp eons ago I used to gripe about it but compared to the boyscout's I think its a luxury resort lol

I know the boyscouts is run by volunteers but maybe that is the trouble, maybe they need to have some more paid people. From what I heard the director of the boyscout camps runs more then one so he is run ragged between them all.

The director from the day camp though she does a great job in organizing at the start to get it going with all the paper work & is a volunteer, maybe she could listen to some suggestions instead getting all alpha when someone try's to offer any advise or suggestions. Instead of trying to add more programs maybe she can improve on the ones she has already has going. Pink hats need to go don't like my son being emasculated by a color lol sorry but this is big problem with me & apparently the boys too.

So camp next yr? Did the boys have fun? My son had fun in both camps even when he got injured he is a happy kid that just likes spending time with his friends. Other boys there did not look happy did not want to be there. Whined, cried the whole time. Wanted to go home. How was camp? I asked a couple of our boys from our den when they got home. "Glare" While after a week of girl scout camp girls would be crying leaving the counselors & friends.

We are not planning to attend next yrs cubscout day camp while its not a problem to others how she ran it, I clashed w/her to much. Most people have no gripe cause they have never been to no other camp but this one. I was a counselor & riding director for 4 yrs for the Girl Scouts. I know the current director won't change anything with anyones suggestions I found that out this yr. After day camp my daughter & I were sick for a week from being dehydrated even though we drank water like a camel. They didn't allow Gatorade for the boys though the last two days I started sneaking it in for myself though i felt guilty the boys couldn't have it ;/. My feet were so badly damaged from walking and standing for hours I had to wear a cast on my foot for 5 weeks.

Even if I could manage to change the program in the day camp, my son would only be going one more yr so why bother & bust her happy bubble? Over night camp my husband & the other den leader are looking at another camp to go too next summer plus we will be having some of our own cubscout family camping soon.

It was good experience this yr for us and our son. Hopefully next yr will be better!.

Couponing

2011-06-27T14:40:00.001-05:00

(These freebies were given to the local food pantry) The week before they were given to the homeless shelter in San Antonio. This coming basket will be given to the military.

I have been couponing for over 22yrs ever since I got married & went overseas. I went to the commissary for the first time with my lil budget of getting grocery's & discovered a barrel full of coupons they had for the spouses. I spent over 30min going thru the barrel desperately trying to get enough to be able to buy more grocery's.

Through the yrs I slowed down on couponing till it was time to try to get out of debt, then I went hog wild on collecting coupons again. After getting out of debt I slowed down again on collecting coupons. Recently 9 weeks ago frustrated that my grocery allowance hadn't gone up in yrs & we were trying to eat better I again went back to couponing. Yes It feel like a yo yo life w/coupons.

This time I had found a wonderful book called "The coupon mom" lil did I know this was a classic and in high demand this book. She took me to her site a long with other sites where I looked up deals. It was so much simplier then it was in my old days of trying to look up deals. They did it for you. The facebook local forums told me any deals they might have found while shopping in San Antonio. It was a another world opening up for me.

A lot of people asked me after I told them how much I saved that payday, "Well how much did you spend? Well I would say, "all of it!" All my allowance which is $125 a week for a family of 4 sometimes my dad too including non food & food goods. Last payday for instance I saved $99 with coupons, to me that's $99 extra stuff I bought that week & stayed within my budget.

Ive been keeping track of all the money I have been saving with coupons including the freebies and Husband gently reminded me not to forget to add in the cost of paper & ebay coupons I bought those two weeks. Darn! Rats! I almost forgot, it seemed fair cause why would I be doing this if I am breaking even or losing? So I had to recalculate it still came out pretty good. In 9 weeks I have saved w/coupons over $604.74 or $67 each week :)

I know I can do better the first of my ebay buys were bad I didn't know how to bid correctly so I spent to much. I have gotten better since then :) Hanging out with my coupon group has really helped too, learning new techniques and trading coupons.
I've been able to buy extra to donate to the homeless shelter, the local food pantry & now I am getting 4 boxes to go overseas.

The couponing world is good.

Care packages for Soldiers

2011-06-22T13:02:00.006-05:00

When my husband was in the army he lived off of most of our care packages cause he said the Army hired local vendors & the food wasn't good sometimes even making them sick. So between my family & his he lived off our pacakges. Once's I sent him a Mexican feast of taco shells, canned beans, salsa I knew he had the cheese from the MIR kits. Of course word got around & I couldn't find a taco shell for the life of me at the commissary anymore lol

Time's have changed and the care package ideas are great now. I am going to paste some of the ideas down just in case their websites go down & it will be a shame to see it all gone but I will give credit to where credit is due. If you haven't at least sent one care package out to our soldiers this year please consider doing that. If you don't have time to fix one try

www.treatsfortroops.com or treatanysoldier.com or uso.org

http://www.cafepress.com/lovethetroops/491788

First and foremost - letters of support & encouragement along with pictures of friends and family. (include your name, address, phone number, & email along with a "what can I send you" note if you want to hear back from them).

Use Priority large boxes that you can request from the post office for free! Has no weight limit so the price is always going to be $12.95 to send. This has a logo for the "Support our Soldiers" & it will go faster the post office person said when they see this logo. Also grab form 2976-A you don't have to list every single item I don't just list all the big items or any liquid like soap.

If you must send food items with other non food items make sure its very well packed. Tape the soap bottles close. I usually put mine in double zip lock bags just incase something leaks. They say if you put something that smells it might make the food smell too ;( ick.

Please check with the soldier on what they request b4 sending stuff they don't need like a video if they don't have a video player or microwave food if they dont have a microwave. Number one thing I see them request so far

1.Wipes
2. To go Gatorade & lemonade to go drink mix
3. Beef Jerky
4. Number one snack they request is protein bars or girl scout cookies!

You can do theme boxes too!
Birthday boxes!
Halloween, Christmas, Valatine, Thanksgiving boxes

Remember no PORK products because of the country they are in.

DVDs (recently released pre viewed DVD movies are fine, TV shows on DVD are great too), music CDs, & CD storage books Coffee, coco, tea, hot cider mix (powdered flavored creamer, too) - not liquids Mugs (unbreakable like camping gear is better) Microwaveable non perishable just-add-water foods like soups and mac-n-cheese

Snacks - candy (not too melty), chocolate, trail mix, granola bars, gum, cookies, nuts, popcorn, chips, etc (Entenmann's Products were specifically requested)Slim Jims, jerky, pre cooked vacuum packed meats, & canned chicken - NO pork items Canned fruit (pop top is best - not the ones with foil lids), canned veggies (the kind you would eat.)

Hair brushes deodorant (the guys like Old Spice Red Zone) lotion (body & face) Beanie Babies, etc - for the soldiers to pass out as good will gifts to the local children Room deodorizers/air fresheners and scented candles (nothing too melty)
Nail files & nail clippers (nail polish for the girls)Toothpaste, toothbrushes, mouthwash, & floss Hair bands & barrettes for pony tails Razors & shaving cream girls like "Venus" disposable razors, guys like Mach 3 and Mach 3 Turbo Refill blades)

Tampons & pads
Magazines (mostly men's mags, not too old), books, word game books
Playing Cards, board games, chess, checkers, ect.
AA batteries (they have access to all other sizes)
Blank cards, stationery & pens
Baby wipes - for when there's no water
AT&T phone cards for phoning home
Black wool knit caps
Black wool or leather gloves
Black wool socks or insulated boot socks
Black t-shirts (air force)
Brown t-shirts (army/marines)
Black underwear
Foot powder
Soap
Shampoo, conditioner, Leave-In Spray conditioner
Twin size sheet sets and pillows

http://thefuntimesguide.com/2005/09/soldierpackages.php

Deodorant
Shower to Shower body powder
Jelly beans
Disposable camera
Rice Krispie treats
Altoids or mints
Beef jerky
Snack mixes
Sunflower seeds
Chewing gum
Nuts
Long-distance phone cards
Little Debbie’s snacks
Ziploc bags (for keeping things airtight, watertight, and fresher)
Coffee
Gatorade
Jaw breakers
Poker game
Playing cards
Dice
Music CDs
Toothbrushes & toothpaste
Inflatable pillow
Cookies or muffins in individual packages (Big bags often fill with dust if not eaten right away.)
Dominoes
Canned food items
Footbag/hacky-sac
Spices (crushed red pepper), salt, pepper
Smoked oysters and sardines
Squeeze butter
Pringles chips
Individually-wrapped licorice
Microwave popcorn
DVD movies
Ramen noodles
Macaroni & cheese
Disposable shower towels
Olives, pickles, peppers (Be sure to add lots and lots of bubble wrap around these items.)
Cereal bars/granola bars
Microwave pasta that doesn’t need refrigeration
Bed pillows (these were a hit with my nephew!)
Hot cocoa mix
Soup mix
M&M’s (plain or peanut)
Newspapers
Magazines (these don’t have to be brand new)
Koozies to keep water
bottles and cans cool
AA batteries
D size batteries
Air fresheners (…like stick-ups, F’breeze. My personal favorite is Citrus Magic in the pure linen scent.)
Canned air to blow dust out of electronics
Stress relief squeeze balls
Sewing kit
Baby wipes
Board games
Shoe laces for gym shoes and boots
Brown t-shirts
Boot socks
Underwear
Hand warmers
Inflatable seat cushions
Razors
Juice boxes and drink pouches
Ink pens
Notepads of paper
Word Puzzle books
Air activated heat wraps for sore muscles
Foot massager
Icy hot patches
Microwaveable plates, bowls, paper plates
Foot powder
Vitamins
Paperback books
Gift baskets filled with lots of useful items and packaged as a present
Video games (Nintendo Wii, Playstation, Xbox)

http://www.thesoldiersfamily.com/Care_Package_Ideas.html

Baby Wipes
Phone Cards
Magazines
Books
Movies
Hand Warmers
Foot Warmers
Tooth Brushes
Mouthwash
Frebreeze
Body Wash
Body Spray
Pringles
Crackers
Cookies
Beef Jerkey
Comic Books
Travel Size Games (chess, checkers)
Deck of Cards
Memory Cards (i.e. PSP's)
Memory Sticks
Suntan Lotion
Non Carbonated Drinks (Propel)
Uniform T-shirts (which can either be ordered on line
from AAFES or bought at the PX)
Underwear
Pictures From Home
Thumb Tack (to hang the pictures)
Hard Candy
Blue and Black Pens
Notebooks
Envelopes
Fly Paper (some areas where the soldiers live have lots of flies)
A multi-tool or really good folding knife
Sun Glasses
Digital or Disposable Cameras
Travel Size Packets of Laundry Detergent
Powdered Drinks, especially Gatorade
Blank Writable CD's
Crossword Puzzles, Word Searches, Soduku

Duct tape prom

2011-06-19T22:17:00.001-05:00

Well my homeschool daughter was invited by one of her anime friends to his high school prom. She has always liked the movie, "Pretty and pink" so I had always figured she would make her own dress from a thrift store since she is so talented with her sewing, but never did I imagine what she decided to do instead.

Miranda started sewing at a very young age. I wasn't her teacher, I could barely sew on a button instead our homeschool co-op offered a beginning course in sewing then later on more advanced. In highschool I put her in an advanced sewing class for kids interested in becoming fashion desinger's thru San Antonio community schools. Miranda was more interested in flower arranging and running her own business but still she took the course wanting to improve her sewing skills.

After asking my husband for permission to take my daughter her date came back with a flyer he got from school, from the makers of DUCT tape they offered scholarships to any students willing to go to their prom in duct tape and made the top 10. I can tell you even though I was willing for her to buy an old dress & fix up the idea of creating a dress from duct tape was a shocker to me. Yes her whole outfit is made from duct tape!

She showed me previous contest's and what they wore and I warmed up to the idea a bit. She drew up a few pictures decided on a color (duct tape has many colors!) then began to design, cut & sew. Took two weeks for both of them to create their outfits. I will always remember fondly watching H2O (mermaid show) til 1am in the morning helping her cut tape out. I have to admit it wasn't too expensive either.

Her date and her went to the prom I would like to show his picture too but I don't have their permission to do that so I won't; However I will show you the flower she made for him above and hers. He wore mostly black but he did have the same silver and blue colors to match on certain parts of his suit.

She even managed to put her finger nails the same color and her shoes as well. Unfortunately they didn't make the top 10 so they won't be winning any scholarships which was starting at $4000! Each...but it was a great learning experience for them both & everyone at school loved their dress/suit that they asked to take picture with them and of them.

Another plus that day was my niece from California was visiting us. She had just finished cosmetology school so she did her hair and make up for her cousin. That was really sweet of her and she did an awesome job as you can see.

My daughter has grown up to be a beautiful woman I am glad to have taught her the value of a dollar to not be afraid to do and try new things. That will be a night she will always remember I am sure of it.

New ideas on the farm

2011-05-04T13:58:00.000-05:00

Well isnt that a niffty idea I thought to use on my compost pit when we re build it. We are using cinder blocks for a compost pit but recently we need to movie it. In the past I have put herb plants on top of it but they always dry up or fall down this is a great idea!

This Weekend marks mothersday weekend. For a present I told hubby I wanted him to finish making the aquaponics center. I just can't wait to have it done to start growing things in it.

Not much going on at the farm. We still havent gotten rain and the fires have started. This one started yesterday due to a faulty wire system on the electric companys part. It burned down a few acres across the canal from us and burned down 3 of his much needed hay bales.

The scary part was it was close to 3 small oil wells you can see them on the left hand side. The other day we got 40% chance of rain we were soooo hopeful then nothing :(

On to happier things I have taken up couponing again. I joined a club in San Antonio to keep me motivated. Already I have saved and gotten so many freebies. I am hoping to start up a swap book at our local libaries. Two of the libaries loved the idea and the one I love the most said, "No" they don't have the room. I think I caught the libarian on a bad day :( well her loss and that community it seems.

Still doing cubscouts infact Friday night we have another meeting. Tom my hubby just finished up a camping training session. The cubscouts have done a lot for my husband and my son I am so glad we got into it. They have bonded closer I think.

Talked to my beef man the other day, he dosent have any calfs right now :( but hopefully in the winter he will have some, by then I will be out of beef so its good to restock up my freezer. I ordered 5 broilers from a local chicken producer but it kills me that we havent done R own. Tom would need to fix up a moveable coop the old ones we have could not hold them.

I also need to order new chicken layers but it cost money and we just dont have the extra right now especially right after the huge Easter party we had.

Sam

Future Aquaponics

2011-04-13T08:49:00.002-05:00

Well we finally got started on our aquaponics system by cutting the barrels in half. Tom's been on the look out on our farm to find wood laying around to use for the stand for the barrels.

I can't wait to get this system up and running. I really want to grow lettuce in it since its so dangerious to buy it from the stores lately cause of contamination. The idea of fresh fish too is a big plus.

Well not much going on farm. We could really use some rain. We are in stage one of restriction in San Antonio for water usage. Dosent affect us here but it just goes to show you how dry we are up here.

The canal people have decided to build a canal on our property to get to my neighbors house that has about 11 acres...1 acre is the house....so it seems a big deal just to put a lil water on their field. Not much we can do about it, can't really fight the goverment and thats what the BMA is...our lawyer told us to just work with them if we can...so thats what we are doing for now.

They orginally wanted to put the canal smack in the middle of our field but that would have blocked us off from getting to our other side of the field, not an option and we would fight it then I am pretty sure.

Most of my family been in the hospital in and out all this last month. It has to be a record for my family its so strange...Whats the saying, "When it rain it pours" I lost my voice during the process of my family being in and out. Just really tired plus trying to keep up with farm work and homeschooling the same time.

I got us another male goat. He's name is Alfie I will write about him when I get a picture. Thats about it for now. I am going to my first coupon club today I am hoping it will be fun and helpful for my collection of coupons I am starting again. Maybe make some new friends will be really nice too.

Have a great week everyone

Sam

Aquaponics weekend

2011-04-03T12:53:00.003-05:00

A few months ago we did an introduction aquaponics class. A few weeks ago hubby got the stuff to make our own so we decided this time to take a hands on class on it by the same guy that did the introduction class.

It was taught at a local farm near us so it worked out really well, the aquaponics system is going to be a learning tool for some disabled kids on a farm. It took more then 9hrs with a few people working but we finally finished it up.

I can't wait to start ours but we have a long way to go with only two of us making it and hubby of course has his own ideas on making his own. We plan to put fish in it, not sure which kind, I perfer perch.

Sam

Hugelkultur

2011-03-07T12:58:00.006-06:00

This weekend we finished with digging out our hole for our first Hugelkultur project bed. If you don't know what that is, I am going to put more on it in my gardening blog. http://samsveggies.blogspot.com/

We had a really productive day, we spent the morning picking up sticks around our place for the hugelkultur bed, finished digging the hole. I moved the chicken coop and took them food as well as water.

Made cream puffs out of the fresh eggs we got, watched a show with my family, made dinner, picked up raw milk from the farm down the road and the Sunday paper. Yep it was a really nice productive day. I even made a few phone calls to my family and friends.

I am trying to fight off a cold so far, so good. I got to keep moving. There is always so much to do in the spring. I should be more inside cleaning but I would rather be outside right?

Snow day

2011-02-21T22:29:00.002-06:00

Every 10 or so years it snows here south of San Antonio. We get really excited when it does. Water goes off the shelfs, our roads are closed down. I swear most are hwy's were closed that day. No school no work for a lot of folks. I rememered the last time it snowed it was in the 80s and I was a teenager.

I know its funny how we react to snow but you got to remember we have no snow plows and to get us to go to work or school on a snow day is asking for the impossible lol.

So that night my husband and I heard ice hitting our house then later on I guess a bit of snow fell. By the time we woke up in the morning the sun was out already melting everything. My son was able to make a mini snowman & throw snowballs at the cats.

I walked around my chicken coop and fed the sheep, nothing new to them it seems. It was nice seeing the snow glitter in the sun, very pretty. I like snow but only during Christmas time. If I wanted more snow I would have asked hubby to move to a colder climate. I am a sun worshiper I have to admit. The sun gives me energy.

It was a nice snow day, I wouldnt mind another one next year maybe in December but I am not holding my breath.

My chicken catalogs have arrived!

2011-01-28T16:19:00.003-06:00

Thats me moving my chickens this last year.

It finally came in my handy dandy chicken catalog with chick prices. I am in badly need of more chickens! But wait do I really want to do this anymore? I used to make a delivery to San Antonio every other week but it gets harder and harder to sell the eggs. Don't get me wrong I love having chickens and I will always continue having chickens but not sure I want to get that many and try again getting new customers.

There is 2 much competition out there & they don't care about the food safety rules that I had followed. If they say its from the farm people believe them even if they are locked in a coop all day long. All the people see is CHEAP and FARM. I saw some the other day and the eggs were so dirty they had poo from the chickens still on it which could be really dangerous if not properly cleaned & chickens get infection. Sooner or later someone is going to get the swine flu or something bad & all the people that sell eggs will be getting a bad rep because of someone that was lazy.

I don't force my chickens to lay having light on all night. As soon as they go into molt I don't kill them or give them away. I have some chickens out there as old as 5 yrs. My chickens are old they lay when they feel it's time to lay. I clean my eggs with warm/water/vinagar. Only a very small handful appreciate the "Pasture raised method" it's good for our field as well as the chickens.

Right now with just the small amount of eggs I am getting I sell to a few loyal customers and anything extra I give to the milk farmer down the road in exchange for raw milk. It suits me fine. I would love to sell at the farmers market because I love the idea of meeting new & old customers. I looked into it once. You have to get a license, have the rug torn out from the back of my van to sell from it. Get a background check & pay the farmers fee. So would it be worth it in the long run? Not sure. I would lose my Saturdays too

Anyways I am still excited about getting more chickens I just need to rethink how I want to run this business or just keep to providing for my home only. I am also thinking of raising broilers just for my family & maybe a few to trade?

Traditions

2011-01-27T13:12:00.005-06:00

I love and live for traditions, I was lucky enough to marry a wonderful man that loves to cook and took the time to study and learn from my mother before she passed away. This is our third year of making tamales without my mother. He did an awesome job of cooking the meat and preparing the masa for it. I was kind of worried that no one would show up from my family most of them want to buy those awful store bought tamales, "They taste ok" they tell me. Who are they fooling? Yuck.

In the end we had a whole table full of volunteers plus always someone comes new to want to learn which is fine with us we could use the help. We buy Mexican pastry's the coffee and hot chocolate flows freely. Us older adults have some wine coolers maybe, we talk, we joke, we make fun of someone who is not spreading the masa on correctly.

Its a good time and we ended up with 75 dozen tamales for the year that we divided up among the volunteers the ones we didn't eat yet :) I hope my family continues wanting to do this some of them gripe each year because its at the end of Christmas & every one's tired. I wonder what would happen if my husband decided not to do this for a few yrs would they get used to those store bought tamales? Would they forget about the fun times as we meet up as a family? This is a tradition I hope we never stop.

Pallet-ideas

2010-12-10T02:28:00.000-06:00

Pallet ideas

For a while now I have been intrigued by the use of pallets. They seem to be everywhere and if you look for example on the craigslist or free cycle you see people trying to get rid of them all the time.

On my internet search I have seen, sheds, chicken coops, garden fences etc.. I decided to start a link section of these places and ideas so I don't have to keep repeat looking for them when I am trying to tell people about how wonderful they are:

Buldings & Structures:

Tiny House out of pallets
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKgSoKedbos&feature=fvwrel

Another small house design out of pallets
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Z7WI2v1Mh8&feature=related

This guy has pictures of sheds that he had made..ingenious!
http://summerville-novascotia.com/PalletShed/

Making a childrens playhouse with pallets its in another language but at least you can see the finished product
http://en.espritcabane.com/furniture-plans/pallet-coffee-table.php

Wooden fence (This one is my favorite which I featured on top)
http://www.ruralramblings.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Chicken-Lovers-Day_4310.jpg

Stairs made out of pallets
http://www.readymade.com/file_uploads/10763/14-doghouse7__large__large.jpg

Ideas for a dog house made out of pallets. This site has a video!
http://www.instructables.com/id/The-Doggy-Retreat/

================

Gardening with pallets:

Pallet pen for compost another great idea with detail instructions
http://www.co.hanover.va.us/works/composting2.htm

Vertical garden using pallets
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQKCm7wKS8I

Using a pallet as a garden! Great idea thanks Debbiehttp://lifeonthebalcony.com/how-to-turn-a-pallet-into-a-garden

Potting bench made of pallets
http://s3.amazonaws.com/atimg/1568058/pallet_potting_3_rect540.jpg

This is a garden table from pallets
http://www.laspilitas.com/garden/howto/pallet-table.html

Here is another detail instructions on building a garden bed out of pallets
http://www.ehow.com/how_5171668_use-build-raised-garden-beds.html

Furniture made with Pallets:

Pallet shelf
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5125/5261941819_86ed20c313_z.jpg

Pictures of pallets:
A place to put your plates pallet design
http://remodelista.com/img/sub/katrin-arens-kitchen-jordi-canosa.jpg

This guy made a table out of pallets
http://www.palatablewoodworking.com/projects/PalletTable/PalletTable.html

A bed frame they made out of pallets
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3P_nLk4gftQ&feature=related

Pallet computer desk
http://www.charm.net/~jriley/pallet.html

This person made a garden chair from pallets..Great idea~
http://www.laspilitas.com/garden/howto/garden-chair.html

Coffee table made from pallets
http://en.espritcabane.com/furniture-plans/pallet-coffee-table.php

Chicken Pallet ones:

http://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=23574-maran-pallet-coop

Small chicken coop, though I wasnt really impressed with this guys building skills he is very dangerious.
http://www.instructables.com/id/Turn-Old-Pallets-Into-A-Chicken-Tractor/

Here is a better chicken coop build with pallets
http://www.backyardchickens.com/coops/pallet-coop.html

Here is a nest box made out of pallets
http://littlehouseinthesuburbs.com/2009/04/nesting-box-from-pallet.html

Here is a blog of someone that build a smaller chicken coop with pallets
http://mountainmama-jenny.blogspot.com/2009/07/pallet-chicken-coop.html

This woman build her back yard seating with pallets..Great pics!
Garden and Furniture Pallets:
http://www.re-nest.com/re-nest/creative-reuse/before-and-after-pallets-used-for-outdoor-furniture-081685

http://www.epinions.com/content_4747731076
This guy talks about building a green house planters with pallets

========================

Please leave a note and let me know which one was your favorite design with pallets. Add your own too!

thanks

2010-09-09T16:44:00.003-05:00

My daughter Miranda, my son Tommy and great nephew Le'on

This little boy was born this week. He is number 11 of my great nephews. With five older sisters in my family I was bound to become an aunt at an early age. I think I became an aunt at around 5yrs old. One of my nieces ended up being more of a sister to me then me being her aunt.
She calls me Auntie Samanthie most the others Aunt Sam.

I have to this date. 13 nieces, 7 nephews, 19 great nieces, 11 great nephews and one great, great nephew, this is not counting my own two kids which are the youngest of the nephews & nieces in my family. Funny but my kids are growing up with the great nieces and nephews.

Yes my family is very large. When we have thanksgiving at my house my whole living room is full of them, I have to move the sofa’s and everything out of my house just to fit everyone. One of my dreams is to have a large enough living room to fit even more.

Most of my family is here but I still have a few left behind in California where I was born but NOT raised. I have one niece in Virginia along with some great nieces and nephews. My family is so large once long ago as my husband and I drove out of Texas to go see his family in Washington state he commented on how large my family is and if we were in trouble with a flat tire someone from my family could help us no matter where we were, I just laughed.

About an hour later we pulled into a truck stop out in the middle of no where and a huge truck honked at us as we drove in, it happened to be one of my Uncles. I come from a long line of truckers and military family. My husband just looked at me and laughed. I had to agree then, that yes I do have a large family.

This is not even counting my own uncles, aunts, cousins and my husband’s side of the family, with his family we add on more nieces and nephews to our already large clan.

One of my dear friends said once your family is like a big Mexican soap Opera you should write a book about them. I just laugh, yah we have a lot of drama with a big family but with this large of a family what do you expect? The Brady bunch? Even they fought.

I asked my daughter once if she wouldn’t mind having Christmas instead in the mountains of Idaho or Washington for once, her reply was, “And miss being with all my cousins on this day are you kidding?”Guess that answers on how much we love our family.

Water storage and Pears

2010-08-30T23:07:00.004-05:00

Yes those are big water jugs 350 gal to be exact. We have been watching them on craigslist and hubby finally found a good deal on them and grabbed two of them.

One of them we are going to use for emergency water storage and the other I think hubby wants to do some kind of aquaponics set up.

The jars in the picture are our bounty from our trees this year. We got two baskets full of pears. They are not very sweet so hubby put a bit of sweetness in them but not a whole lot. It took a long time to ripen them.

Last year we only got one basket full from both small trees; hopefully next year we will get double the amount. Not much going on in the farm, trying to get ready for our vacation and take care of things for my dad before we leave. Chickens are still laying a lot even with this heat here in Texas. I am thinking it’s because I have them close to the orchard this year.

Well that’s about it for the update. Have a great upcoming Sept!

Shearing time

2010-06-13T01:52:00.005-05:00

So we emailed someone on the craigslist that said they sheared. We were really excited because we havent been able to find anyone since we got Remulus. We tried to do it ourselfs but it was really hard, and we just didnt have the equipment to do it properly.

The person emailed us said they would be here in two weeks, it would cost $15 to shear and $20 to travel to our area...we were more then willing to pay. The day comes for the person to show up and it ends up being a very tall teenage girl around 13-14yrs old lol, in tow is her lil brother who helps her and her mom and grandma..must be a family thing :)

Anyways she tries once then second time she manages to get the Ram down. After that she starts to shear, and boy does she do a good job. It was great. Remuls looked like a new Ram!

We gave her a $5 tip for doing an awesome job, she told us previous stories of shearing, and how she learned via 4-H on how to shear her own animals.

I was thinking what a great job for her, for the summer and part time work. Most the people that shear around here only do large herds or they are too old now to shear anymore. Its a great business to get into with not only the sheep but the alpacas, and lamas too that belong to hobby farms.

Her mom told me she can clear up to $500 a day! on shearing. Yup I see her college education being paid b4 she even gets out of highschool.

Awesome day. Remulus I know feels soooo much better.

Below b4 Remuls got sheared:

Below after Remuls got sheared:

2010-06-04T11:49:00.002-05:00

This was funny its my neighbors house, looks like the cow was delivering mail. Cow express?

Well we had some really high winds through here recently over 70'miles. We fared pretty good. We were on our way from picking up bricks from someone I got thru the craigs list. Its a good thing we had all that weight in the truck it kept the truck steady.

Check out my garden blog later I will have pictures of the bricks and what we will be doing with it. Our neighbor across the street lost her electricty that night. It was around 2am when i saw the CPS trucks around to fix it, by morning she had it back. I cant say the same for people in SA..it took longer for them I wonder why?

Sheep have been eating the fallen leaves like crazy. At least they are not hungry! We recently took 15 sheep to the butcher. We told them to ground it all up, would be easier to sell this way. Next time I am thinking of them doing chops and ground meat. We should be taking another load in by fall or winter..Need to do it b4 hunting season hits.

This is going to help our field a lot having 15 sheep less in our field so the grass can grow. We want to have eventually have only two rams and 20 sheep. We have been working on our garden a lot, we have to do it early in the morning or late at night cuz the heat has been brutal. I think I am going to lose my tomatoes if I dont find some kind of shade for them soon.

Trying to slowly clean up the house, I just havent been motivated but I really need to do it soon, company will be coming over in July so need to really do this, I have been concentrating more outside.

Well thats about the only update now. Need to update my garden blog.

Sam

Spring is coming

2010-05-20T13:51:00.002-05:00

Picture: No thats not a buffalo but he does look like one our ram :) We actually will have someone to shear him this June. My chickens are in the back ground

Finally everything is getting greener at our house, the problem with us getting rain is we are getting a late start on our garden. I am hoping it dosent get too hot but its suppose to be in the 90's all this week...sigh.

We got mostly all are garden in just need to plant some more seeds. We need to call the butcher to take in about 15-20 sheep to get them off the grass so the younger ones will have some for a bit til its time to take them to the butcher too. We are trying to downsize our herd to give our fields a break.

Tom has promised to build me a chicken mobile for the garden it has been a long time dream to raise smaller breeds of chickens just for the heck of it. We plan to keep it near the garden to help out with the bug problem this year since we don't spray this would be a perfect idea. Next pay day I have to start collecting pint jars because hopefully when our garden starts to come in we will be doing a lot of canning.

Today I was thinking about my goat barrels. I really miss her. She was such a difficult goat I always had to tie down her back legs when milking her but once they were tied she was quiet and let me milk her. Once Miranda goes to college I might consider getting another one.

I really need to sell more eggs, or even give some away but havent had the time, there is so much to do I am surprised I am even writing this right now. I guess I just needed the mental break. My sons graduation for cubscouts is coming up this Monday so trying to prepare for that too. Summer is coming around the corner really fast. We will probably get a summer pass at the local pool but I heard thru the grapevine some of my family will be getting a summer pass at Seaworld so we might do that now that my son is older and can swim.

My daughter informed me the other day she found lil pecans forming on the trees. Yah us hopefully it will be another good year for pecans. We wont see them falling till Oct I think. We are debating on getting turkeys or not this year. I know my husband wants to raise them but we wont have anyone to watch them while we are away for a bit on vacation. So we really need to think about it.

Thats it for the update for now...really need to get busy doing other stuff.

Sam

Spring stocking up

2010-04-13T17:42:00.007-05:00

Well with the start of spring here in South Texas we have been busy trying to fill our freezer & shelfs with goodies. My husband got a great deal with our local butcher someone who shot a pig & deer wanted to combine it in sausage meat but never picked up so after 30days he had to sell it & he just asked to cover the cost of his butchering. Y'all might want to try that with yours too, especiallly 30 days after deer season.

We also got a great deal on a cow $2.75 lb for a half of cow. We went in with a few other familys that got the 1/4 deals. I wish we could have gotten the whole. We also filled up our freezer with three lambs that we just grounded the meat up.

I had bought these garlic in bulk at our down town farmers market, well actually my veggie co-op I am in did that so I put them in olive oil this way it will last plus I can use the yummy olive oil later on in my cooking a long with the garlic.

Our Veggie co-op is doing really well. Each week we pitch in $15 she combines it with other familys and we get our share of goodies. She tries to buy stuff we use every day like pototoes, onions, lettuce..etc..

I put in half of my garden bed its been too wet to do anymore. Twenty one tomotoe plants planted a long with onions in between & marigolds to help keep bugs away. On the other side we put in fresh compost from our sheep I put in two cherry tomatoes and have more to go I am thinking lettuce. We also have another completly empty bed filled with rich compost that I need to fill but I need to plan what I want to plant. I guess I better hurry :)

Our fruit orchard is doing really well, the apples, pears, & plums look like we will have a few to harvest this year. Last yr the apples all fell off :( but we did get pears but we picked them too soon in fear of a huge hail storm coming. I also have black berries growing again this year. Last year I got two hehe..hopefully this yr I will get a bit more but still its growing slowler then I thought it would.

I look forward to posting more on here on how things R going in our neck of the woods this coming spring.

Samantha

Daisy

2010-03-02T11:14:00.003-06:00

After much thought and discussion my family and I decided to get ourselfs another dog. We decided on the basset hound breed. My husband has always wanted a basset hound and my son just wanted a hound dog so it worked out. I just wanted a nice family dog that wouldnt growl or bite us and keep watch over my family I think we found her in Daisy.

She is sweet and very smart I think its going to work out as her being our family dog. I have heard nothing but good from people that have basset hounds. My chickens have been laying again. At least 40-50 eggs a day even the old hens are laying. I found me another milk host that I can leave the eggs with her. Some of my old customers are with her. I am happy to see some of my old customers come back to me.

Awhile back I was desperate for eggs since my chickens had stopped laying for a few months so I went to a local farm to get some from a guy who claims to have "Free range" well...I think free range means running around the chicken coop but with no grass around the egg has no taste and it was light color not what I was used too.

It was still better then store bought. I still have about half doz left and I have been using it for only cooking. We have been happily eating a lot of omelets. There is hardly any grass out in the field so we need to cull some lambs as many as we can. We have over 23 baby lambs right now we need to make room for too.

Garden is still to wet to work in, we got our truck stuck in it the other day thinking it was dry enough sigh..We need to at least work on our raised beds.

Sorry for jumping around here..I just dont got a lot of time right now

Published

2010-02-19T12:54:00.003-06:00

So one of my articles I sold to an online website is now being published in this book, "The Everything Homeschooling book" The editor is suppose to also send me a free copy this week I can't wait to see it. She was going to send it last week but she got snowed in.

She is really nice and has bought previous articles of mine for her website too. So I have been happy to get a few days with sun shine and it has cleared up a bit of our field from all the rains we have gotten.

I have ordered local honey this coming Saturday I can't wait to start cooking with it. We have our own honey but I use it for eating with biquits/special stuff etc..Tom didnt get to go out to the hive this year so we don't have much left.

I also joined another Veggie Co-op locally. The last time I was in one it was in SA and it was a pain having to go up there to get my stuff when I didnt need to go to SA. This one is nice too cause she is getting basic stuff we use everyday, not wierd stuff that I wouldnt use. Thats the problem with joining some of these veggie co-ops is sometimes you are left with things you don't use and it goes to waste

I had recently gotten stuff from a local farm that dosent spray, but theres is $30 to join and half the stuff is not from their farm plus its stuff I dont use! So to fix this I joined our local co-op for only $15 a share and I am going to get extra stuff that they have in season from the other one. Right now for instance they have spinach in season.

My chickens have started laying even the old ones. I am getting at least 40 eggs a day now..JOY<>

Well tons to do today I was tickled that I could scan checks to my bank today..it took a few trys but I find it really easy now. The money is there within seconds! Which is wonderful for me since I need to shop 2day.

Have a wonderful week everyone

Sam

LambTime 2010

2010-02-05T00:37:00.004-06:00

We have over 17 lambs this winter season, this one has to be one of the most unique ones out there. My sister says she looks like Angela Jolene, another friend says I should call her "Kisses" good name but dont want to name her if we eat her.

Lots of rain this pic was after the rain now its more flooded. I am worried about hoof rot on the sheep so I am glad they are staying in the barn for now. The lambs are safe at least and dry. Hoping it will stop raining.

We despertly need some sun. I need it for energy the farm needs it for growth. Our truck is in the shop right now and as always about this time we need to be in three different places at once. I was really hoping this would be a quiet semester but with Miranda taking her new sewing class every Mon/Wed its really time consuming but its so worth it for her. Its things I wouldnt be able to teach her in sewing plus it comes with a 36hr certificate for fashion sewing.

I still have 4 bags to crack of pecans but havent had the time. I have though got my coupons back and order and saved over $28 on coupons tonite. We are hoping to put the garden in but with the rains its preventing us from prepping. My chicken feeder is half way done again had to be stopped cause of the rain. Hopefully the wood is not rotted :(

Well thats about it for our farm updated other then my chickens finally started to lay, funny thing is that its the older chickens laying not the younger ones. The ones I was going to cull. sigh..

Pallet ideas

2010-01-20T13:14:00.017-06:00

Love this picture not my farm but I thought it was so cute

For a while now I have been intrigued by the use of pallets. They seem to be everywhere and if you look for example at certain business or on the craigslist or free cycle you see people trying to get rid of them all the time.

On my internet search I have seen, sheds, chicken coops, garden fences etc.. I decided to start a link section of these places and ideas so I don't have to keep repeat looking for them when I am trying to tell people about how wonderful they are:

Here is our picture of are newly made pig pen

A new Year 2009

2010-01-04T01:42:00.005-06:00

Wow the last time I wrote on here it was Oct I almost forgot I had a blog. Inspired by the movie Julie and Julia I decided to get out my cook book, "Better Homes and Gardens" New Dieters Cook Book & try some of the recipes. I have always loved this book so much because of the pictures it shows for each and everyone of the recipes. It also gives you the nutrition value for each food as well as the calories.

For the new year as a lot of people I am not going on a diet but I am going to try to watch what my family and I eat in the coming year to try to lose weight and become more organized. On my fridge I have a calender to write down each meal we have for each day, this will give me an idea of what we eat to get a variety plus see how many times we actually go out and eat.

My taste buds have been so dulled lately with the same old foods. I discussed with my husband we need to read more of the Sunday food section and try out new restaurants in the San Antonio area at least one every pay day rather then go to our same old restaurants.

Besides cleaning up for after the holidays I am trying to organize better too. I decided not to do Co-op this year as much as I love the people in co-op I am just too busy during this semester. I still have pecans to crack save/sell and it will be lambing season soon. I need to also sell some more of our sheep so we dont have to feed them this winter. Lots of paperwork to do still.

I guess I could have just helped someone but I dont want to let someone down when we missed a few days....So I have decided to just go to lunch onces in a while so Tommy can play. Tommy is really involoved with his cubscouts right now & its going to be derby time and Miranda is really involoved with her girl scouts and Yes its that time again...Cookie time. I am sure we will get drafted for some booths again this year.

Farm is going well but my chickens havent laid in months because of the cold and being old. I am relucant getting anymore till my husband fixes my coop for me. We need to put the feeder inside the coop to keep the sheep away so I dont have to be dragging that fense each time I move it. Right now its a two person job it shouldnt have to be. I should be able to get into the tractor and move it myself.

Its been colder then normal here in Texas which has been nice. As long as my sun is shining I dont care how cold it gets :)

Rain finally Oct

2009-10-06T00:07:00.001-05:00

My son is now a cubscouts and is doing really well in it. My husband a new den leader also joined for the first time and has taken to it like a fish to water. We have 10 boys in our den which is one of the biggest ones out of our pack.

Well we have finally been getting some much needed rain out on our farm, though I still feel like we have a bubble around us with only cracks of it letting the rain in its very strange. Dad is doing well next door but he is sick with a cold right now. A cold is no big deal for a lot of us but I worry for my dad because of his age.

We got a few pears this year from our pear trees, our apples fell to the ground and rotted so we didn’t get any apples. Our pecans are slowly following down; we have been trying to find a dry day to go out to the orchard to pick up branches and get some for firewood to some families I know that could use it.

Tom is doing well at work, we are blessed he has a good job where I am able to stay at home even during these tough times. We are going to have a few events happen in the next couple of months. One is our family reunion in my home town coming up this month.
Next is Halloween. Our small town has a great turnout for Halloween each year. The school and one of the Baptist church always has a carnival. Our routine is always to go to sonic for the special deals they always have that day 25cent corn dogs and icecream then we head off to trick or treat. A couple of houses have haunted houses, the fire department gives out candy, even this one house always gives out glow sticks for the kids.

Yes we do this “trick or treating” , no we are not wicked people, and by golly we are still Christian after this day. I find nothing wrong with doing what we did as kids, my daughter and her friend are 16yr and they still love trick or treating and taking her little brother out, we do this as a family. Some say they may be too old but what is too old? Who declares it? I say let them be kids for as long as they can, they have years ahead of them to be grown up.

Anyways we have my family reunion in Oct and I have family flying down from Calif to see us. Then we are off to Vegas for my husbands army reunion. Somewhere in Jan or Feb we are suppose to go sledding and skiing with the kids if we can find a place so if y’all know of a place where we can sled on bunny hills during this time that is close to Texas please let me know.
Chickens are still chickens laying just enough, our sheep we have to bring in every night there is a couger that comes around our area and takes one down if we leave it out I am hoping it will move on. That’s about it for now on the update on our farm.

Sheep

2009-08-08T01:49:00.003-05:00

Well we got rid of 22 older sheep at the auction, but didnt get much from them. The only good thing is we got them off the field. Grass is scarce with hardly any rain. 1/2 was the only thing we go in months now.

Sold 6 to customers and will take more to another butcher to be able to resell individual parts. Pecans getting big, rotted ones are dropping, End of Sept they should start to fall.

Its been so hot here its hard to think straight some days even with air conditioning. Tommy passed his swim level 3. Both kids are now in Krav Maga I have been shuffleing things around to try to fit only two days a week to SA.

Hot, Hot, I am melting

Canning Tomatoes

2009-07-16T17:18:00.002-05:00

Canning Tomatoes

These are notes for myself for when I have to process them again

Mistakes and Suggestions:

Make sure kitchen sink and counter are clean not only work space but you need use the sink a lot too. This took the longest time because I didn’t have things cleaned off first.

Make sure to find the right size pans for the quart or pint jars with the wire bottom so they won’t be touching the bottom of pan

Don’t underestimate the size of jar the Quart jars take in a lot! Check the tips of it to make sure not broken and bottoms!

Pan & Lid

Tongs that hold the jar

Funnel

Don’t use chopping block too messy use bowl so you can use the juice to put in jars that are not that full.

Bag of ice on hand

Start to bowl water for cans when you are done blanching the tomatoes it takes a long time to boil water. You don’t want it boiling when you put it in though because it might crack, needs to be in there as it boils.
Also in jars 2 tablespoons of lemon juice 1 tsp of salt per quart jar.

Takes about 30 seconds or longer to blanch the tomatoes keep an eye on them some take longer than others as it starts to pull away the skin is the best time.

45min for 6/7 quart jars. 12 hours to rest and let pop the lid

Would have liked to add some color

Before sealing the lid put a something in the side of inside of jar to get air out.

You may remove the ring when done if you want, press in the middle to make sure if its sealed and won’t easily come off.

If anyone knows of some kind of colorful herb I can put in the jars without the taste going crazy with it let me know.

Links:
http://www.canning-food-recipes.com/canning_tomatoes.htm

http://www.dinnerplanner.com/canning_tomatoes.htm

**** http://www.pickyourown.org/canning_tomatoes.htm

http://canningusa.com/IfICanYouCan/TomatoSauceHerbs.htm

The water cure

2009-07-07T01:43:00.001-05:00

Farm life: Turkey chicks are doing great, almost chance of rain today but it blew by us so sad just half mile away it rained. Field is going really dry. We really need to cull our sheep but haven’t had the time. Pecans are still looking great!
Garden is doing ok, ants and other bugs are starting to attack it along with the over grown grass its been hard to go out and weed though. I did weed over the rose garden/Herb garden today.

It’s been one week since I started the water cure program with the book, “You’re not sick you’re Thirsty” I wanted to mark this day so I know exactly when I started. In one week Pros: I feel tons better. If I drink two glasses of water before I go outside I don’t have much allergys infact it’s been a week since I have taken any meds for it. My skin feels clearer. I am not eating as much.
Cons: I keep having to go to the bathroom they say its gets better as you go along you won’t have to go as much I hope that is true. My chiropractor gave me these strips to test to see if I am dehydrated; it has certain levels to let you know. Mine wasn’t really bad but I am still dehydrated the same for my kids. My husband was the only one that is doing really well with his water intake.

My sister also took the test and I laughed when she said, “But I just drank water” Your body is like a dry sponge when you’re dehydrated and each time you drink water it’s like only a drop being put into the sponge. It will take many drops to make to fill and heal you. It’s so fascinating the book I found out when you feel thirsty its already too late for your body, which means your body is already in red alert that you needed that water long ago.

Also found out those sensors that try to let us know we are thirsty we usually lose it as we grow older. Which might be the reason why so many people are overweight when they get older the signals get weak and they might think they are hungry not thirsty.

2009-06-22T08:13:00.004-05:00

If you look closely you can see the pecans in the leaves hiding. I am so happy most of our trees are full of pecans. Last year these lil babys just fell off one day I was so sad, it looks like its going to be a good pecan year.

This means every morning and night I will have to be out there to pick them. Co-op will be hard to do this year if I don’t get organized. I plan to do 1st-3rd bug science for the co-op and get a lot of my stuff from oriental trading. I wont have more then 12 kids in my class because the kits are 12.

Our garden is doing really nice, I went ahead an mowed this last week, I would do more but its gotten so hot the last few days in the 100's! its brutal to go out. My berry bushes are doing great too I wish they would bloom this year I might have a few but they are young yet.

Going to try to plant some flowers today and order some flower farmer books this upcoming payday I want to learn to flower farm since daughter wants to become a florist and son loves to plant we can be a family business :) Told daughter if we can get some flowers going we can sell them on weekends at fleamarket.

I lost my old cat this week, I think it was cancer we came back she had a lump was still eating but getting skinner then one day she was gone. She was not a loving cat but she was a good momma.

I got to take my son to swimming lessons all this week again so got to leave now.

Sam

2009-06-13T23:38:00.004-05:00

Yes I love flea marketing or in this case city wide garage sale finds. Last weekend a town near me had one of these sales. I was so excited I only regret I didn’t have any more money to spend for that day.

I ended up with those two white chairs for $2 for the pair. They match sort of the others ones that I have for my dads dining room/porch . I also got some silverware from an estate going on the same time as the garage sales. The local library was having book sales out front of their library. They were selling $1 a bag, you fill up as much as you can fit in the bags. I filled up 4 bags :) I just love books.

Not much more going on at the ranch right now other then things are growing really well in our gardens right now and we are picking all kinds of salads, collard greens, tomatoes, radishes, it’s not enough to can but enough to eat fresh.

The sheep need to be culled badly we just haven’t had time. Not much grass out there for that many so it’s best we get rid of some of the older ones. The brooder needs to be build but we haven’t had time for that either. Hawks been attacking my chickens again I have lost three so far.

They are getting really smart and brave going into the netting even now to get my chickens. I am attempting to make relish tomorrow we will see how it goes so far buying the cucumbers wasn’t that expensive but the red peppers have put me over my budget on it so I hope it will be worth it. I also have to put away some local corn that I bought from a local farm near us. We don’t grow corn ourselves because it would take up too much space.

Gardening coming along

2009-05-12T23:17:00.004-05:00

Spent this last month of April $420.40 for a family of four $53.90 was Non food related Personal Household stuff. I saved $82.55 on coupons which brought it down to $283.95. $30.72 was special stuff for Easter. So total came out to $253.23 for the month or $63.30 per week for family of four.

I have a budget of $500 for Food/Household Items/Personal stuff for the month so I did really, really good. Most the stuff I bought also was for stocking up. The $83.55 was the most I have every saved in a month before it sets a record for me. Working on putting a youtube for my briefcase coupon binder but will have to wait till after vacation.

Farm News:

We got most of our watering system in, it was part of my mother's day present :) My tomatoes are doing all really good. Got the fence around the garden too so now the dogs can't come in and wreck havoc keeps most of the cats out too.

We have had a really bad week and half, you know how the saying goes when it rains it poors.

1. Had 30 chickens stolen from coop by someone one night
2. Got a flat had to replce the two front tires.
3. Husband trans had a hole had to replace the whole thing
4. Air Conditioner fan outside broke for our house
5. Air conditioner for my car broke
6. Husband started with migranes really bad so bad had to take him to doctors and pick him up from work.

Good news...well I still have 111 chickens left they were nice enough to close the coop afterwards.
I have two new tires
Husband has a new trans didnt cost as much as they first started.
Air conditioner outside has a new fan at least it didnt happen when we were on vacation
Air conditioner in car not sure whats wrong with it but we will be on vacation while its being fixed...praying its not that much and it should be covered.
I think with Mexico fire burning had something to do with it hopefully it will be over soon.

Our trip to Disney is coming up soon just trying to tie up lose ends and think postive thoughts. I am so happy I have been dreaming of this for years. Kids are excited, hubby is not so much but I know he will have fun once we get there....Hey its better then being at work lol

Hot, hot hot here already and its only May sigh....Wasnt I just whining about the cold? lol

High Winds

2009-04-30T23:52:00.002-05:00

Well its a good thing we didnt have any turkeys in the coop when we had these high winds the other night.

Not much more damage though I was really surprised just small branches from the tree but I think any major branches that was weak had fallen off months ago already.

I have been putting mulch around my garden so of course I can't breath right now its cedar. Trying to get this going before we take off on our week trip to Disney world in May it wont be long now.

We have the plane tickets, the reservation at hotel, the reservation for a car and our tickets for Disney World arrived the other day. I just hope that the swine flu virus goes down before we have to take off.

Not much more going on around here besides we got robbed of 30 chickens a few nights ago. Long story short then came in back pulled pens off of fence ran across the field into my coop and took around 30 of my hens. You can see the truck mark easily on the road. They were nice enough to close the chicken coop again. I wouldnt have known if it wasnt for the fact that my chickens only gave me 23 eggs that day usually I get 50-70 plus eggs a day.

I also noticed that the hens were not roosting on certain roosts in the coop. Usually they have their favorite spots and the ones up front were gone. sigh...

Ahh well not much more I can do I reported it to police, put a lock on door but it wont really keep them out and this time listen to when my neighbors dogs bark. I was so tired that night I heard them bark but was just too tired to go out and look at 2am I wanted to go to bed!

Well speaking of bed.

Thats it for update

Sam

April showers

2009-04-17T13:10:00.002-05:00

Well we finally got some rain today. As you can see its making everything really green around our farm. Well Easter is finally over we had a really nice party despite the greyness of the day the kids had a good time. I am not sure we are having it next year maybe just the dinner because we had do many people leave to go to another party.

The only reason we started having it was because the family really had no where to go but it seems they do now. Our church has an annual easter party we might just do that instead and a really nice dinner for us.

Not much more going on around here, the sheep are out on the pasture now because it grew the grass a bit. The babys are especially getting fatter. We bought our airline tickets to Disney world for May we are really excited about going. Airline tickets, hotel, tickets to disney world, all we need now is a rental car.

Everything of course is going to be paid cash. We are staying for 6 nights 5 days. One day we are just heading to the beach for the day and have some fun and look around Florida should be fun. One day we are at Magic Kingdom two days at Epcot and the last at the Animal Kingdom.

Doing well with my coupons might be looking for another place to carry coupons the leather one is a bit heavy and awkward to carry.

Sam

Saved $33.97 in coupons

2009-04-04T10:48:00.004-05:00

Above:"Picture of outdoor kitchen that Tom and I loved at the olive Festival we went too last week. Please exuse again the date on pic I can't seem to fix it.

Wow the leaves from our pecan tree's are coming out now its better then looking like a haunted forest! I bought me another black berrie bush they don't seem to be doing so well the others I had planted but the banana ones are really nice looking.

I also bought me a herb plant and another tomatoe plant, you can never have enough tomatoes growing. Last year I had enough for our family but not enough to share I hope to change that this year. I just wish I had more money for it.

HomeSchool Co-op is finally over for the year yah! I love co-op but I really hate these 8 week sessions that the other moms seem to love. They say they can't do enough in the time they have, and I can barily arrange enough stuff to do for the eight weeks. The last day the kids really love because I have a free day, where they can go into my cart of goodies and do what they want. I figure thats what coop is all about having fun with each other thats what counts.

Some of them painted, others played with playdoh a few did puzzles but they mostly blew up a balloon and tossed it around the room, I tell you thats hours of fun hehe. Anyways not sure about next semester but I won't do the spring again, its just too much to do on the farm during this time.

Well I can't wait to show everyone my new coupon briefcase organizer. I am still organizing it but I took it for a test run this last payday shopping and did so well! I liked the way it fit in my cart. I had spent a total of $242.33 this included food, household items and personel stuff. I saved $33.97 in coupons which brought it down to $208.36. I am at the point now where I am stock piling and not just buying food for the week. Thats about $104 per week

We already have all kinds of meat in the freezer, lots of beef from when we bought a half of cow and we had got it at a really good price per pound. Of course we have a lot of lamb too right now. I'am also working on my recipe notebook which I can't wait to show y'all too :)

Well I am off to the flea market to spend on what I saved lol.

Have a wonderful weekend

My price Book

2009-03-18T22:23:00.002-05:00

Ok it took me a while to do this but I think its the way I want it. I tried putting it in excel but I really didnt like it and I wanted people to download it easily and not everyone has excels. I am going to make a lot of copys and put it in a notebook.

Hopefully I will remember to take it with me when I go grocery shopping.

http://www.frugalcountrymom.com/samspricebook.doc

I had looked at all sorts of videos on price books and other downloadable pricebooks although I got some great ideas I didnt want to use theirs at all I wanted it to go across my list not downwards. There is a nice video one on www.monkeysee.com "Type in Price Book" I tried looking in youtube didnt see any I guess I should add my own.

I had one a few years ago I really liked it and I kept up with it but it didnt feel right going downards on the list. Also the first time I did it I spent two weeks adding things and forgot a major thing to add and that was size.

I also wanted to add date this time around too. I will let you know how it turns out.

Sam

Rain Yes we got some

2009-03-16T09:10:00.006-05:00

We finally got some rain it wasn’t much it was very light and only 1 inch but boy did the plants love it! I recently planted some tomatoes plants at least the dog can’t dig them up because they have the tomatoes cage protecting them. I planted my blackberries too but two of them don’t look so good when I had planted them so I hope I saved them. I am scared to plant anything else till Tom can get the fence in for me to keep the dogs out.

I also bought some banana plants on the craigs listing from someone who was selling them. I think I got a good price for them $10 each and she threw in two extra for free. Toms been busy on the farm, since we finally got some rain he finally went to our burn pit and burned that with some old lumber we had piled up, we have to do it while the burn ban was lifted.

He also threw some lime on the field that mixed with the sheep and chicken manure should get it growing if we can get some more rain. This week seems to be another busy week with milk/egg run speech therapist tutoring and I really have to hit our favorite thrift store and get some more outfits for church. Tommy is already outgrown everything I had bought him last and Miranda needs a few more outfits and myself included.

We had went to a new Goodwill the other day because my daughter wanted to see if she could pick up something for her costume for the Culture fair this coming week for her Girl Scouts. We ended up finding a dress blouse to go over it and some awesome roman looking sandals. It cost $21 including tax but that was a good bargain but I could have gotten a better deal at the Texas Thrift Shop.

We had just went in that store because it was closer and brand new we wanted to check it out, I think things are way too expensive and even though they do color coordinate the clothes it’s frustrating because it’s not by size like they do at the Texas Thrift store. I think it saves me time other people may think otherwise.

Been working hard on my coupons and I wanted to show you my little youtube I did.

Why do we do this?

2009-02-18T02:53:00.006-06:00

This is where most peoples chickens come from at a store

Well we have around 34 lambs the last count I had did and 7 didn’t make it because of either complications or the mother rejected them. I tried to save one of them with some special milk from my next door neighbor but after 3 days of trying to keep it alive and getting up every 4 hours to feed it, it just didn’t make it.

It died in my daughters friends arms she was trying to feed it she was devastated about it. I didn’t want to put my kids through that again, plus we had lost so much sleep. Some of my family don't seem to understand that nature will keep the strong and the weak will not survive its just the way nature works.

They don't understand that we need the genetics from the stronger sheep, why would we want to keep weak sheep in our herd?
They wanted me to go out there every day to try to save any that were rejected, they say why have them if I am not going to go out there and save them all? Sigh....One of the ones they wanted me to save they kept telling me to go after it because the mother hadnt claimed it yet. After a few hours she finally did what would have happened if I took it from her overreacting?

My family/friends have a kind heart I don't blame them at one time in my life I might have been like that too, especially when I had the energy.
However when you become a farmer/rancher you see a lot of births and deaths and you have to know the difference between pets and food. Do people actually think their meats grow on trees? At least we try to be humane about it and give them a good life till its time to butcher a lot better then the factory animals.

It’s hard for outsiders to understand our life, they think we are a hobby farm, just doing it for a hobby. I try over and over to explain to them but they don’t seem to understand, they won’t eat a chicken egg from my chickens because ....well I don’t know ...I guess the chicken in the factory who has never seen natural light and its beak is chopped off and injected with who knows what to keep from getting diseases is a much taster egg ???
They just don't want to really know where the food comes from...or they might say...well let someone else do it why do you have too?

They want me to over feed them, To give them more food then what the experts say to give them. This gives us a profit how by over feeding them so they won’t breed because they are too fat? Then there is the people who really understand our way of life that we have been doing for over 8yrs now, the ones that buy our products the ones that come to our farm once a year to show their kids where food comes from, the ones that care what goes into their body’s.

I have to keep remembering these people most I see seasonally except for like my eggs. The people who get my egg are always so thrilled, each week as I clean the many many eggs I get I think why am I doing this? Then I see the smiling faces of my customers coming from miles to get my eggs and products telling me how thankful they are for me doing this because not many do.
I smile yah it’s worth it

Feburary at the ranch 2009

2009-02-12T11:29:00.004-06:00

Our hay we bought locally for sheep/goats small pic sorry

Quote for the day:

"We are all cups, constantly and quietly being filled. The trick is, knowing how to tip ourselves over and let the beautiful stuff out." -Ray Bradbury

Well its dry here on our ranch, so dry the grass is dying whats left of it, there is no leaves on the trees either so its pretty depressing. Tom and I had a chance recently to maybe by a 21 acre piece of land near us it was beautiful coastal land near the canal but we turned it down.

Greedly we have always wanted more land but when it comes down to it we are only 60,000 left on our own property our payments are only around $650.00 a month and its worth $250 thousand if not more in the future when the realesate goes back up so do we want to add more on to our debt?

Recently we read a book called, "Ten acres is enough" and we got really inspired on what he did on his little 10 acres and we thought, "hey we got 5 more acres then he does plus a pecan orchard we can do the same thing"

So instead we decided on trying to focus on building up our land here instead which I think is a good plan who needs to get more in debt especially right now. We were blessed this year to get a bonus and a 2% raise for my husband. I was just happy that he has a job now with so many around us losing them we were tickled to get it.

Recently I have heard of two people that I know that may be losing their houses, both didnt make wise choices the last few years in their financial life and they know this..., I feel so guilty that we are doing so well now and that in May we are planning a real vacation something we really havent done in years.

I feel like the ant and the grasshopper, while this May we are going to go off on a week vacation up to disney world with the kids and fly up there, they may be losing their houses. In the past three years we have scraped and sacrifised to get where we are now. I am so blessed that we heard about Dave Ramsey back then so we wont be hurting so bad now with our budget. I feel so guilty I dont even like telling them about our plans about our happiness about finally able to do this with my family.

This is the first time in years that we are getting a bonus from his work and our income tax return that we can use it on ourselfs instead of putting it towards our debt. We plan not only to go to Disney world, but also to get a new fridge and a new bed for our aching backs. The rest goes to fixing up our farm and adding to our emergency fund of 6/9 months worth of savings.

Of course we are doing this as frugal as possible even though we dont have too old habits stick with us. We are going to compare shop for our items (bed/fridge) and we are looking for the best airline tickets up there to Orlando which I found for $99 one way what a deal! Of course Disneys is offering a great deal buy 4 nights up there and get three for free!

I guess this is the best time to get discounts and buy things because of the economy sales are good for us at least. The craig listing is wonderful right now so many things for sale that people are getting rid of right now to get some extra cash. We picked up a huge chest freezer usually around $400-$500 for $130.00 it was brand new still it just stunk hehe we cleaned out with bleach smells good now.

We recently bought some beef (half a cow) for $1.99 a lb how good is that and it was pastured raised too. Right now our freezer is full of turkey, lamb and beef. Getting a generator is another thing on our list to do for the ranch.

I feel so happy I want to shout to family and friends of our accomplishments but I keep quiet because most our hurting really badly right now I really pray things would get better for everyone.

Water Water and More Water

2009-01-13T10:17:00.004-06:00

Great article "Healing with water" http://www.naturalnews.com/003202.html I actually have one of the books he mentions. Its a hard read but lots of interesting points. I ordered one more of his so I hope its an easier read.

If I drink juice I only drink like 8 oz same for milk. I have been drining a lot of water. If I go out I ask for half/half sweet tea. Hopefully someday i will cut out the sweet part. The first week I couldnt stop going to the bathroom lol but now its a lot better the girls from walkertracker said it would get better they were not wrong.

Makes a lot of sense the water study. I am two days into my week three since I have started to do my new life style of losing weight by eating better and exercising by walking more. Week three is when I start to slow down get tired of it all, but so far so good I feel great, I feel like I lost tons but in reality if you count during Thanksgiving when I started following Pauls Advice I have lost a total of 9 lbs.

I sure don't look like it but I do see the puffiness in my face gone and my clothes do seem to fit a lot better. My two sisters on the other hand who are following the weight watchers plan the first week one loses a lot like 8 lbs the other like 6 lbs. I am happy for them I wish I could lose more then the little 2 lbs I lost the first week and 1 lb the next but its a good progress and I am not really counting points just eating normal. As I told the nurse who runs my walking program, "its not the quality of food I eat it was the quantity of food I eat"

For over a year now since I started writing my ebook I have switched to better foods for my family. Wheat products, more veggies and fruits in our diet. I keep track of what I eat seeing what the calories are at "Sparks page" but I am not too worried about the calories as long as I eat slow and chew and enjoy.

My walking is doing good I'am keeping with my goal of 10,000 steps a day. If you can see by my walker tracker blog on the side of this page my average is actually 11,000 a day. At 10,000 thats five miles a day. I have gone to the work out class in our nearby town where they work as a group to a video Monday and Thursday. Its fun but the last time I went no one was there but the nurse teacher. Today I didnt go time flew by but I did work out with my daughter. Its good muscle class I think daughter wants to do it more often so I just might.

Sisters want me to switch to weight watchers they keep asking me about it. I know they are excited about it. Perhaps they think I should lose more then what I am losing but its fine really. I am feeding not only myself but my family as well, this is a perm change for all of us. I can't be eating lean cruisine like they are for ever. No they don't eat this all the time I note this because they might yell at me if they read this blog hahaha. Its just that I have others I have to feed and I need to do it right. Besides its great for my future ebook.

My scale sort of broke the other day it got stuck I was wondering why it wasnt moving lol. Of course I got a nice new digital one and it put me 5 lbs more then I thought. Of course with hubby he is excited it put him slimmer then he thought.

It was a shock to me my 5 extra pounds but its not like I gained it when I started this life style change its just that I didnt take an accurate reading in the first place. So this Sunday when I weight myself I might have lost more then 1 lb but who knows. I will have at least an accurate reading next Sunday plus I measured my self too.

Farm Life:

3 born new lambs. One lost so it would have been 4
Cold
Kids registration for co-op this coming Monday
Walking 5 miles 10,000 steps a day still

Reality check on Winter

2009-01-05T12:30:00.004-06:00

Some people really love winter the coolness, the leaves all fallen down, the grey puffy clouds laying on the sofa near a cozy fire, curled up in a blanket drinking hot cocoa :)

I am not one of them. The coolness makes me shiver and I hate putting on extra clothes to stay warm and I dont have enough time to get used to it not that I ever would I don't think.... I lived in Germany for almost 3 years and I didnt get used to it.

I remember shivering so hard my back ached. As for the puffy grey clouds its just really gloomy to me, my sun is gone. My sun that gives me energy when I face it letting it warm my face and my whole body. I miss my sun.

And as far as laying curled up in a blanket, reality check is I have to go out in the cold to check on the animals, I have to walk I don't have time to curl up and drink cocoa and I dont have a fire place. Down around here you want airconditioning to survive :)

I am sure there is many that thrive in the winter coolness more power to you thats why you live there and I live here :) People not used to the heat that live here sort of melt like the witch in the wizard of oz "I am melting!!!!! hehe

Update on Homelife:

Hubby back to work he was really sick this Christmas with a cold congestion and cough. Kids and I started to get it but we fought it off with rest and garlic tablets!

Kids are starting up their homework today again.

My house is still in shambles. I have Christmas boxes waiting to be put back in shed but its too fricken cold to do that yet so it stays in my hallway

Animals need more hay

Need to decide on what to do for Randy and Toms birthday coming up in Feb. I have an idea it just needs some research.

New baby lamb born new years day-Its a girl!

1st week of walking is going good. I lost 2 lbs for weigh in Sunday

Happy New Years 2009

2008-12-28T13:17:00.002-06:00

Another year is coming soon where has time gone? I feel soooo old. Weather has been gloomy lately I am hoping for a bit of a sprinkle to stop the fireworks from catching fire like last year. Poor volunteer fire department had to put out so many fires last year because of stupid people. We saw at least 4 fires in our area and I mean from my back porch. A friend of mine from Coop said they were outside trying to stop their place from catching fire caused by neighbors fireworks.

As always we dont go anywhere for the New year. Hubby and I have never really gone to any partys in the 20yrs we have been married. We don't really drink, we are not looking to look for someone else so what else is there? Be with friends family? hmm we just like to stay home with the kids do a few sparkles and relax from the Christmas season. We just had a party!

My house is still a mess from it sigh...We have a saying where if you dont have your house clean for the new year your house will be that way for the rest of the year. So all my family try to clean before the new year. We also have a tradition of opening the front and back door just before the new year to let any negative vibes out of the house.

Of course we have the other tradition where we eat black eye peas. The more you eat the richer your suppose to be :P

Well if you didnt notice already on the side of my blog is a new tracker. Its a walking tracker I got from http://www.walkertracker.com tonight I will be tracking steps. I am also hopefully joining a walking club locally I need to call them.

Two of my sisters are all in plan to lose weight and get healthy too. I am also reading and following the advice of "I can make you thin" Paul McKenna. I saw his program a few months ago and when I actually start to follow his advice I lose weight.

His plan is really simple such as just eating what you want when you want just in quanity and be aware of what you eat. Eat slow enjoy the food. I remember the first week I started my jaw actually hurt from chewing so much hahaha

I had tried it for a bit then started getting ready for vacation and put it on hold. This time I bought his book and I found a journal I am going to use. Wish me luck

Sam

Frugal Christmas

2008-12-17T14:37:00.004-06:00

With the economy being really bad this year so the experts say a lot of people are not going to have a good Christmas they say because of it. Instead of the 30 plus christmas toys the kids usually get they are only going to get maybe 6 or 7 *gasp* Instead of families going out to partys or having one they actually have to stay home with the kids and think of creative things to do with them *gasp again*

As for my family its no different this year as it was the last few years. We have a budget for each member the kids make a list knowing that they wont get everything on it. We think of creative things to do with the kids that won't cost a lot of money like our annual cookie bake.
We are not tightening our belts but we are not overspending either.

Yes we do have money to have a really have expensive Christmas but is that what we have strived for all these years of getting out of debt? To be able to have an expensive Christmas? To have our credit card maxed out again?

Through our quest through these last few years to be debt free we have learned its not about the toys we can get but the quality time with our family that means the most to us. Last year instead of buying a new tv because ours went out we got it fixed instead imagine that? We make cookies for my husbands office each year and also a few days before our Christmas Eve party (which everyone brings a dish) we give a bag to each family of goodies to take home with them. This means a lot for the families that dont bake a lot and have something for Christmas day to snack on, I make some of my moms oldies including more of my own.

I have a gift for each of my nieces and nephews but they are not that expensive under $10 and I start early buying them. I have a large family and because we are blessed this year I make sure all the kids will have something to open Christmas morning but I remind my family of something...

They have done studys where a kid will open 30 presents one after the other and at first they are excited but it soon dies down as they go as fast as they can to the next one and barily a whisper of thank you anymore. They can become ungrateful their eyes sort of glazed over of not knowing where to start with so many choices kids don't need that many choices. Where if a child has just a few presents to open they will mean more to him and he will take it slower and appreicate it more.

We have cut down a lot the last few years with the presents and the kids didnt really notice it, we dont put the presents there till Christmas Eve because then they will start to count who has more which you know how it is sometimes with sible rival.

One child wants something expensive so you buy that the other wants less expensive so you can buy him 3 things that cost about as much as the first childs present, but does a child know this? No its the number I tell you cost matters not to them.

Besides Christmas Eve all my other family brings gifts to exchange that night and the kids are allowed one gift to open so the other presents would get lost in the mess is our logic :)

Have a good Christmas don't believe what the so called experts say about having a poor Christmas if you say right now as you read this, "Well it is going to be poor" then that is what you are going to have you have just doomed yourself to having a poor, awful Christmas.

Think positive be creative and remember its Christs birthday not your kids.

Have a toy gift exchange with family/friends
Set a budget
Have the kids make a wish list but make sure they know they may not get all of it
Be creative make/bake things instead for family. Did they mention they love your pumpkin bread?
Shop early/Compare prices just dont buy it from one store
Shop at thrift stores clean them up some things still have tags on them.
Find free things going on in your community
A lot of organizations give away toys to families in need

Pikes Place for Kids Seatle

2008-12-10T23:06:00.003-06:00

Well we went in Dec to go see Pikes place in Seatle while we waited for our flight we loved it with a few downers if your taking kids.

On the highway strip near the airport there are a lot of hotels that you can rent all of them you will hear the planes just a fact of life people. We stayed at Best Western was really nice and clean make sure not to get near icemachines too loud!

Daves place great place to eat on that strip, had good fish and chips dont eat the steak there they dont know how to make a good steak like Texas can hahaha...also verrazanos http://www.verrazanos.com/ great italian restaurant that had seafood a bit pricy but all italian restaurants can be pricey. It was worth it.

They have restaurant at hotel but we went to IHOP instead less crowded then Dennies down the way and the service was grand!

Hotel was near bus line if you wanted to use bus, word of caution make sure to come back in winter before 4:30pm it gets really dark fast. Rained most the night and morning but luckily by the time we went to Pikes place it had stopped.

We went to space needle..cost for family of 4 over $56 wow..daughter got really sick going up..word of advice if your afraid of heights make sure your not near the glass window going up in elevator it scared both of us.

Husband and son loved it took me awhile to let go of rail near building kept feeling I was tilting towards the other rail awful feeling.

Went to Children museum that was a waste for us kids are too big for it. If you have a kid older then 8yrs they will be really bored worse if you have a teenager. This is for really little kids they will have a blast.

We took monarail that is right near Space needle downtown towards Pikes place, Make sure to put your round trip tickets someplace you can find it later. It was fun.

It dropped us in a really nice mall we went down a few flights and hit the streets. Pikes place was 4 blocks down and I mean down. As soon as we hit the street my mom alert hit full force. You know what I mean the mom alert saying there is too many people, around that you can't vouch for.... that look suspious, the mom alert that makes you grab your kids hands and look where your older kids are at telling them to keep close. The mom alert that makes you stop smiling and put on a If you get near my kids I will bite your head off face expression" :)

Maybe if your from a city you are used to it but coming from a small town and living out in country I felt it full force. So anyways making sure Tommy had my hand and Randy was close to her dad we traveled downwards looking for a fish diner to eat. There was tons everywhere! Just a warning a lot of diners around Wash have bars in it too its just the fact of life down that way I noticed.

I found one couldnt remember the name of it If I find the receit I will write it down they had the best clam chowder I had yet in Wash state very friendly service, great fish! Oh and the deserts! all and every kind of culture you can think of is there at Pikes place, russian, french, american, chinese etc...try something different its a blast to your taste buds I even carried one with me to take on plane :)

The markets were great! The freshiest stuff I have ever seen in a long time, veggies, fruits, fish and even pasta. Even the fish they will pack it for you and put in container to take with you on the plane! Good for two days!

We loved all the shops looking out to the sea

Word of advice with kids you might want to explain to them.

Pikes place is full of homeless people, you can see them and not to be mean here but you sometimes can even smell some of them. This is just a warning so you can explain some facts of life to the kids. DO NOT let them use public bathrooms unless an adult goes with them even then you DONT want to do this. If your eating down there like at Seatles coffee shop or smaller restaurants ask to use their bathrooms instead.

The public bathroom my husband said had homeless people living in the stalls. I didnt check out the females probably the same thing. Some parts of the Pikes place was too scary and no one really down there that got my mom alert up again. I never saw any cops down there just outside on horses watch where you go or you might end up all alone.

On the up side there was a lot of talented homeless people playing guitar for money, playing all kinds of instruments, one man had two cats out on the sidewalk they both had sweaters on he said he was collecting for a cat society but you kind of know better. The cats were sweet he let my kids pet them one had two extra toes on her. We left him some money and had always some to give to the musicians.

Ok we left it was almost getting dark we didnt watch the time bad thing in seatle during winter it gets dark at 4:30pm. We rushed back to parking lot in this car garage was really scary I didnt see guards just female attendent. Make sure to take ticket with you so you can punch it in when you come back walking works different there then here in San Antonio where you pay as you drive out.

Thats about it. The hotel had a shuttle but our Enterprise where we rented was just down the street and they had their own shuttle. By the way we rented a SUV and it had automatic heated seats talk about pleasure in 40' weather hahaha. Look for hotels and car rentals during the day not at night because prices rise at night people are desperate and they know this!

Had a good time will love to go again at Pikes place

Sam

History Links

2008-11-29T12:46:00.002-06:00

Here are my favorite History Links

History Links

Growth of a Nation this is a must see for all parents and kids my favorite http://www.animatedatlas.com/movie2.html

Some pay sites: Free trial
http://www.teachervision.fen.com/tv/tvsearch.php?keywords=history&sitesearch=1

History Link.Org http://www.historylink.org/

History Net http://www.historynet.com/

Best History websites http://besthistorysites.net/index.shtml

Civil war for Kids http://www2.lhric.org/pocantico/civilwar/cwar.htm

Digital History http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/

Maps of early America http://www.earlyamerica.com/earlyamerica/maps/ (has an annoying popup)
Eyewitness to History http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/

History Channel http://www.history.com/home.do

Famous Moments in Early American history http://www.earlyamerica.com/series.html

History teacher.net http://www.historyteacher.net/

Audio clips history http://www.thinkport.org/classroom/onlineclips/socialstudiesclips.tp

American Presidents http://www.presidentsusa.net/

President hall http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/

American Time line http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/ndlpedu/features/timeline/index.html

Time line of American Revolution http://www.pbs.org/ktca/liberty/chronicle.html

Declaration of Independence http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/declaration.html

Talking History http://www.talkinghistory.org/

The above are my favorites but if you are looking for something specific like World War, Civil war, Jewish or Black History try the link below its one of my favorites too.

Classroom favorites http://www.internet4classrooms.com/social_history.htm

Please post me a msg if you have a favorite too so I can add it thanks!

Sam

Our Family Trip to Wash State

2008-11-21T12:07:00.002-06:00

Well our flight was really nice. Southwest has come a long way and even though its a cheap plane it sure does not look it inside the plane it looked really new and clean. I thought was going to feel really Claustrophobic but it was a smaller plane with three seats in both side and nothing in the middle. The flight attendants were really nice and sometimes really funny.

The pilot though gave us two hard landings and my sinus was killing me. At one time my head starting spinning and giving me pain because of my cold and the plane starting to land I guess it was because of the congestion. We got to see the Grand Canyon.

I did forget my plier pocket knife was in my bigger purse. The lady asked me if I had anything in my purse she took me aside I guess cause they already saw it there. I looked at her and said, "Quite honestly I am not sure what I had packed" She pulled out the plier pocket knife with her gloved hand showing me. I blinked, "Oh darn I said I forgot about it" she started reciting her speech about what I had to do now if I wanted to keep it. I interupted her and said, "Look I forgot it was there just take it its not worth it she ran off with the object like it was burning her hands.

Husband was horrified thought I was going to get pulled over and body searched hahaha. Come on this is Texas I am sure they found bigger pocket knifes then my pinky knife that couldnt even cut a piece of thread besides the pliers were bigger. We kidded that I was going to be followed for the rest of the time because I looked like a dangerous person hauling around with me two kids and a husband.

Other then the head thing it was a really good flight and I was worried for nothing. When we got to the airport the shuttle took us to the rental car place we didnt have to wait long the Seatle airport had at least 6 going to Enterprise every few min.

They let me pick from 3 SUVs I was pleased and I picked a Dodge brand new one, hubby and the kids really liked it and our 6 luggage plus 5 carry ons fit nicely in the back. The drive to my motherinlaws house was really beautiful we went through some really big mountains and daughter pointed out some small waterfalls. Gosh it was so green, greener then I have seen in years living in Texas. There was no snow, it was good for driving but a bit disapointing I was hoping there was some on the ground at least. We are hoping for some more on the way back.

Well we are relaxing right now I am glad I got internet connection. We are off to go maybe see his grandma in a bit maybe get some lunch someplace. Its really cold over here but the sun thankfully is out today just really crisp outside.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone :)

Sam

Almost there

2008-11-15T23:11:00.003-06:00

Been washing like crazy to prepare for our trip to Washington state. They said I need the kids shot records or birth certificate. Its not like I am leaving the country! Good grief they said the kids school ID would work. ...."Blink"....We homeschool

Sooooo I am thinking maybe in future to go get their ID at drivers place. I wonder how old you have to be? Hubby said we should just get their passports instead. Sometimes he travels to Canada so they would need it then.

All the animals have been taken care of, the chicken coop roof once again has been fixed. The water containers all fixed too. I guess we are pretty much all set. I excited for the kids to be on the plane for the first time but scared for myself because of enclosed places.

Got to run

:)

I've been tagged

2008-11-12T16:24:00.005-06:00

Ok so I do these sometimes I dont mind :) This way I can learn more about the person. Just dont double tag me because I wont do it again unless its been a few months. I have no idea who I am going to send this to next so going to leave it blank for now at bottom then post it later:

A nice lady Marnie with an interesting blog I am going to keep up with now tagged me:

Here are the rules:

1. Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.2. People who are tagged need to write on their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.3. At the end of your blog post, you need to choose 3 people to get tagged and list their name.4. Don't forget to leave them a comment telling them they're tagged and to read your blog.So, here goes, 8 random things about me...

1. I sit in a broken chair just before it gets dark waiting for my chickens to go into their coop I like to just watch them and its peaceful out there :)

2. I curl my hair with my fingers when I am thinking

3. I really dislike electric storms when trying to sleep it freaks me out

4. I really dislike the cold thats why I live in Texas

5. My downfall is eating snowballs especially the pink ones also any pie yum

6. People who whine about their downs in their life irritate me

7. I met my husband tubing down the river. He was in the Army I was working at a girlscout camp for the summer.

8. Married my husband only after two months of seeing each other only on the weekends!

People I tagged:

Basic Dinner Menu Ideas

2008-11-07T14:51:00.001-06:00

Basic Dinner Menu idea

I am trying to get together basic menus that we use and most Americans to get an idea how we eat and to be able to make weekly menus (substitute healthy items) I find it will be more organized as well as save on the purse in the long run.

Sam

Chicken

Whole Chicken
Fried Chicken
BQ Chicken
Chicken in Crock Pot recipes
Recipe Chickens on stove our favorites-Peanut butter chicken, Chicken cooked with fruit and a sauce

Cut up Chicken/ Left over Chicken
Chicken Soup
Chicken Stir Fry
Chicken Sandwiches
Chicken Casserole
Chicken and Dumpling
Chicken Pot Pie
Chicken and Pasta

Beef

WholeRoast Beef
Steaks

Beef Cuts
Flank/Round/Chuck/Corned Beef/Tenderloin/Brisket/Sirloin
Beef Sausages
Caldo/Beef Soup
Steak Pecado
Beef stir Fry
Beef and Pasta

Hamburger Beef
Hamburgers
Sloppy Joes
Meat Loaf
Beef Stroganoff
Stuffed green peppers
Pizza
Casserole
Tacos shells/Tortillas
Cassroles

Pork/Turkey/Fish recipes

Pork, Pork Chops, Ribs, Ham
Sandwiches (Tortas)
Left Overs
Spilt pea soup
Stir fry with pork

Turkey: whole (lots to do with turkey leftovers, casseroles, stir fry, sandwiches, spaghetti, soup

Fish: Oven baked, stove top different kinds of fish, we like Salmon, tuna, catfish

Extra Dishes

Enchilada Cheese
Pasta Dishes/ Afredo, Lasagna,

Basic Pantry List

2008-11-07T12:50:00.005-06:00

Trying to get my pantry list organized so I can update it to my family needs when I need too. I feel if you know what you have you can make sure to keep it well supplied, buy in bulk and on sale when needed, especially since you know you will need it eventually and use the coupons before they expire.

Baking Goods: Baking Powder, Powder Baking Soda, Chocolate Chips, Confectioners' Sugar, Dark/Light Brown Sugar, Corn Syrup Vanilla Extract (not flavoring), Yeast Packets (store in fridge), Shredded Coconut (store in fridge) Decorative Sugar and Sprinkles Food Coloring Hershey's® Cocoa Powder Unsweetened Baking Chocolate, Nuts & Seeds (almonds, pecans, walnuts, soy nuts, sunflower seeds, etc... store in freezer)

Breads:Bagels English Muffins Hotdog or Hamburger Buns Graham Crackers Multi-Grain Bread Pretzels Ritz®-like Crackers Tortillas -Can be stored in freezer for later use.

Canned Goods: Chicken Broth (or store your own in the freezer whenever you boil a chicken) Fruit (sliced peaches, pears, pineapple, fruit cocktail - packed in their own juice!) Soups (chicken noodle, tomato, cream of mushroom, cream of chicken, etc...) Tomatoes (diced, crushed) Tomato Paste Tomato Sauce Tuna (white albacore), or Chicken Vegetables (green beans, sliced mushrooms, etc...) Condensed Milk, Spaghetti Sauce , Olives (black or green) Pickle Hamburger Chips Pickle Relish Teriyaki Sauce, Pie Fillings Pumpkin
Extras. Hot Dog Chili , Salsa

Condiments: Ketchup, Mayo, Mustard, Dijon, Pickles, Jellys, Peanut Butter, Honey, Molasses, Applesauce Barbecue ,Canola Oil Cooking Spray, Olive Oil, Pancake Syrup, Salad Dressing, Soy Sauce Vegetable Shortening Vinegar Worcestershire Sauce, Apple Butter Apple-Cider Vinegar Pickle Hamburger Chips Pickle Relish Teriyaki Sauce

Dairy: milk, eggs, real butter, margarine, cheese, sour cream, Cool Whip®, ice cream, yogurt, etc...)

Drinks: Tomotoe juice, 7-up, cranberry juice

Dry Goods:
Coffee Cornmeal Cornstarch Cream of Wheat Dry Beans (black, pinto, navy, etc...) Dry Cereals Dry Milk Powder, Flour unprocessed,wheat, cake flour) Granulated Sugar Cream of rice Long-grain White Rice and Brown Rice, Oatmeal (quick cooking and regular)

Frozen: Peas, mixed veggies, brocolli, spinach,

Pasta:
Pasta (spaghetti, fettuccini, elbows, penne, rigatoni, shells, twists, lasagna, wide egg noodles, etc...) Ramen Noodles Tea

Perishable Items: (as needed)
Fresh Fruit in Season or on Sale (apples, bananas, berries, oranges, grapes, melons, etc...) Fresh Vegetables in Season or on Sale (asparagus, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, celery, corn on the cob, green peppers, mushrooms, etc...)
Garlic Meat, Fish & Poultry - (Whats on season)
Onions (yellow, sweet or red-which are actually purple)
Potatoes (white, small red, yellow/gold or sweet)
Salad (lettuce, tomato, cucumbers, etc...) Bottled Water (for emergencies)

Spices: Basil Bay Leaves, Bouillon Cubes (chicken and beef) Chili Powder, Cinnamon, Garlic both powder and salt, Ginger, Nutmeg, Onion Powder, Oregano, Paprika, Parsley, Pepper (coarse ground) Rosemary, Sage Salt (low-sodium, Morton® iodized and sea salt), cream of tarter, Vanilla,
Extras... Celery Seeds Chives Cloves Cumin Curry Powder Dry Mustard Poppy Seeds Sesame Seeds Thyme

Snacks:
Popcorn, Jello, Puddings, Cake mixes, Cake frostings, Raisins, Mini-marshmallows

Its family time soon

2008-11-06T16:06:00.001-06:00

We have only a week and half before our trip to Washington state happens wow where did time fly? I still have to rent our car which we have been holding back on deciding which one to get with chance of snow coming up through the path.

I am so glad the turkeys are taken care of, next week will be the last class for Co-op and the last class for my daughters calligraphy class. Then its washing, packing and preparing for two weeks of family visiting.

I look forward on seeing Seatle I have always wanted to go there we might not go their the first few days but on the way back hubby promised me a few days there :) should be really fun.

Thank goodness the election is over I really had a sour stomach the night of the election, I am sure things will change but not all for the good. I am a real conservative with certain values that I think is dieing with people in America. I can only be thankful Texas is still a good ol republican state for how long?

I don’t know it was really close in our state however looking locally I looked at our local election and it was McCain 10,404 votes, Democratic 2,396, Libertarian Party 75 seems the cities seem to have more democrats. I will pray for Obama he has a lot to tackle and with some crazy supporters thinking he is going to personally take care of them.

Did anyone see the one on youtube with the supporter saying she would be so happy if he was elected because she wouldn’t have to worry about filling up her gas or paying her mortgage? Good grief.

Enough I am tired. Going to take a nap for a bit then start on dinner and chores was out this morning to try to get my dad another cell phone, pick up daughter then shop a bit I am pooped. Driving to San Antonio makes a person sleepy J

2008-11-02T12:04:00.002-06:00

Shrink bags

We used the shrink bags this week during Turkey processing time andreally liked them. Our customers said they looked very professionalthey loved them. Last year we tried using the small vacuum sealer andthat took a lot of time (very messy & frustrating), it was betterthan not doing anything to the bags at all. We wanted thosecommercial vacuum sealers but they cost around $4000 on up aroundhere. We will let you know in a couple of months how they handle inthe freezer.Here is what we did and it seemed to work.

We made sure the turkeys were well drained of any water this is very important. After processing we sanitized our homemade scalder once more and gotthe temperature to 180-200 degrees then husband held on to the top ofthe bags, at this time we did NOT twist them at all we just held onto the top. He did not submerge the turkey all the way.He then dunked til it sealed at the bottom without any air really.Then he pulled it out twisted it and I put the hog ring pins on withthe pliers and closed it shut tight. Hubby then turned it around anddunked it the other way just a bit to seal the other side.

This takestwo people one to hold the turkey up and the other to put the ringson with pliers.We found doing it this way kept the air out and we didn't poke anyholes anywhere. It went really fast. Done.Notes:1. Use those long oven gloves that can take the heat, should worknicely so you won't burn yourself with the scalder, better safe thansorry.2. Here is a picture of the finished product. We will be using thoseshrink bags again next time I highly recommend them if don't alreadyhave a commercial vacuum sealer.

It will save you tons $. Very important: our biggest bird was only 18 lbs which was reallygood because our customers want 18 lb and lower. On the site it saysLarge Turkey (20-25 lb) bags well it barely fit our 18 lb it did notget us enough room on top to twist. I doubt it would fit a larger 20lb they must have went by some really skinny birds. Next time we aregoing to also order some of the Extra large 20-25 lb bags for themore hefty ones.4. Here is the farm where we ordered the bags they are hard to get ahold of because they are a working farm so don't order at the lastmin they will return your call when they can.

Thanks for my Pasture Poultry group for sharing this site with me y'all I hope others will benefit from the bags as well.http://cornerstone-farm.com/shrink_bags.htm5. Hog rings and pliers they have them at the website to buy, if youcan find them cheaper look around we found ours at our local Tractorsupply store but we were lucky it was the last ones left due tohunters grabbing all the others.Sam/Moderator

Kids Chores and money

2008-10-28T12:48:00.002-05:00

I have a hard time giving my kids money for home chores. I give my daughter a modest allowance biweekly when we get paid. Its not for doing chores around the house its just allowance because we love her and we want her to save and handle money wisely.

Doing chores around the house is part of all families duties and I really dont think kids should get paid for it. My daughter chores are pick up trash with help of her brother. Put dishes away in dishwasher or counter if I can't get to them. Wash, fold and put away her own clothes. Keep her room cleaned, feed her own cat sometimes the other house cats or outside cats if her Pa'Pa is away and cant do it. She helps me dust and fold the towels sometimes.

My son hasnt got an allowance yet he is 8yrs but he is just understanding about money right now I am teaching it at co-op and he is one of my students. He puts away his own clothes and pick up his room, helps sissy with trash, feeds his dog sometimes his sisters dog if she is away for the night and her fishes as well.

We all work together, when daughter wants to earn a bit more money I have her do things for extra like , pair up her fathers socks and put them in drawer for $1 I hate doing this and hubby likes them together...mine arent they are clean but I dont have time to pair them up blaaaa...hahaha

She cleans the inside of my car for a few dollars although picking up trash in car is not one of the things she gets paid for because that is required to keep the back seat clean that's where her and her brother sit.

She has to dust and clean the fabric and dashboard of the car. Sometimes when her brother rooms is sooooo messy I can't get him to even start because he is so lost I have her help and direct him a bit.

Sam

Company Picnic

2008-10-25T23:39:00.001-05:00

Oh what fun we had today as my husbands company had their annual picnic it’s still good to see things normal even with these hard times everyone is going through right now. Gas is almost back to normal so it wasn’t too much as we headed out to the beautiful hillcountry to this one ranch.

My husband and my two kids along with me and dad tagged along. When we first got their we were starved because we had only oatmeal for breakfast knowing we would eat like pigs for this thing we saved room in our stomachs hahaha

Mini hamburgers, hotdogs, quesada’s, B-Q chicken, sausage on a stick and beef sandwiches, chulupas or some people call them tostadas depending on if you’re from Calif or Texas. They had corn on the cob, potatoes salad, cole slaw, salads with watermeon, to drink they had sodas of all kinds, lemonade, punch, coffee, hot chocolate, water. I noticed they didn’t have bottle water this year just the water in the jugs. For Desert they had smores with a camp fire to cook your marshmallows, cookies, brownies, candy apples, and the Swans truck was there with all kinds of ice cream as much as you can eat they kept trying to push it on everyone that went by it was funny.

For entertainment they had a small 30 min rodeo, which was fun they had a cowboy roper and he made everyone laugh with his jokes as well as his gimmicks along with bull riding and barrel racing. They had Texas poker and bingo and they all had cash prizes of $50-$175 certificates. I really tried and I came close to it but I didn’t win too many other lucky people there with their troop of kids hahaha-no fair. Mine were off to the rides, Tons of bouncing things and two rock climbing walls, hayrides, usually fishing but the creek was dry. Freesbie toss, all kinds of rides my kids kept going on them till they were green in the face especially with all that food I am surprised they didn’t barf.

Best of all it was 5 hours of fun with the family and it was all FREE!!! Did I mention it was FREE!!! My husband company also hosts a Christmas night out with a big band and free food for the adults only, for years I didn’t go because hubby didn’t tell me who was playing he just said you want to go to Christmas party? I am like hmmm I don’t think so…. but he forgot to always mention the big hits bands that were playing I thought it was some DJ or something. Like last year it was Chicago then the year before that it was Journey I Think. That’s a big thing not to mention!

So once a year now hubby and I leave the kids with whoever we can and we dress up in beautiful clothes that we only wear once a year hahaha and we get a hotel room and we party all night long. Can’t wait to see who is playing next.

Well its 11:40 here I need to get to bed my allergy’s are killing me I need sleep! It was a beautiful day thanks Lord for making it normal and a blessing that we could take my dad with us.
Sam

Pantry all organized

2008-10-23T13:05:00.006-05:00

So after 3 pay days I finally got my pantry organized the first week I had it organized I saved $50 on shopping because I didnt buy extra stuff. The last couple of paydays I was buying in bulk or extra stuff because I wanted to be ready just in case of hard times coming ahead. I had no idea though what I have now I do I am soooo proud.

I am cleaning off my kitchen table next and my pantry for my cans next. I have a microwave in it that I only use once a year so I am thinking of putting it away till Christmas time and using it for my computer and other stuff.

Well its almost turkey process time. My dad has been helping clean up the farm and I have been trying to help when I can. He made a mistake of burning some grasss which almost gave me a heart attack lol. Can you imagine your going to have people come over and they are going to see burnt grass....sigh anyways took care of that problem with a little sweat I put in some of my compost around it, I couldnt use it anyways my dad made it posion by putting in round up spray around it..sigh again. What can I say my dad loves chemical sprays.

The sheep have been busy clipping the grass which is good they will hit the spots where the grass is high so we don't have to pull out the weeds. There is so much to do still, this weekend we are going to my husbands company picnic, which is free, Free food, free prizes, free rides...you cant beat that and all the dessert you can eat.

Hubby pulled out the hive didnt get stung thank goodness the other day he really got them mad shaking their box trying to get it lose they stung him 3 times but he is kind of allergic so he was down for a whole day just feeling really bad.
Well got to get going, we are going to football game tonight, then tomorrow is my daughters anime meeting.

Sam

Speech Problems Homeschooling Kids-Texas

2008-10-22T14:39:00.003-05:00

As most insurance companys they usually only carry kids up to 5yrs with speech problems then they think the public schools are going to help so they cut you off. Public schools must do a evaulation on the kids its the law. They can make exceptions for homeschoolers but they dont have too. Yes I know we pay their school taxes yet they dont have to help us if they dont want too. Pretty sad. So you be nice to them and see if they have room to help you on the side or if you want to have full speech therapy you need to enroll full time.

My son has a speech problem where he forgets to make his "S" Sounds and forgets the "D" sounds in the middle. He talks too fast so it comes out mumble. Every year I kept hoping it would get better he is 8 yrs now and it hasnt gotten much better but at least we can understand him, others can't which he has a hard time making friends because of that plus he is behind in his studys. How could I get him to read when I cant even get him to say his ABC out loud.

Our insurance cut us off so we have to look for alternatives. I called THSC they were not much help they directed me to a volunteer site which the most information all I got was that they were extremely busy and they volunteered but if you have a question feel free to ask them. So I did and in response I got was the same thing they volunteer and are extremely busy good grief. Yes well I got that why dont you even have links to your site at least!

So I spent hours trying to find the information I needed. To help myself and others I plan to put them here and perhaps send to THSC for others. I feel alone right now.

Here is a list of Texas Speech Schools they have direct links to their school so you can find out if you can qualify to take your kids there. Most have a flat rate fee but if your low income they might offer classes for less. They have a l ot more to offer so I am going to contact them next to see what they can do to help me. I will update later.

Texas Speech Language Hearing Association-List of Schools

http://www.txsha.org/texas_university_programs.asp

San Antonio offers Our Lady of the Lake University
http://www.ollusa.edu/s/346/ollu.aspx?sid=346&gid=1&pgid=1041

At the time I write this the cost for evaluation is $175 flat rate fee -$55 for each hour taught which is about $100 less then the place my insurance used to pay.

It goes before a board the paperwork you do and it works by semester so the sooner we do this the better. If your lower income it might be cheaper. We are middle class so I doubt it for us.

Sam

Update: Letter finally from THSC dated Friday/Oct 24

Dear Samantha,

I am sorry you have not been able to find any assistance with your son's speech problems.

Since July 1, 2001, public schools have not been required to provide special education services to home school students. Then Texas Education Commissioner Jim Nelson confirmed this in a letter to THSC in March, 2001. "Public schools may still choose to provide special education services to private school students on a part-time basis if they wish, but they will no longer be required to do so," he said.

This is the result of changes in the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) in 1997 and the federal regulations issued in 1999. The 1997 regulations required public schools to "provided special education and related services designed to meet the needs of private school children with disabilities residing in [its] jurisdiction."

However, the new regulations state, "No private school child with a disability has an individual right to receive some or all of the special education and related services that the child would receive if enrolled in a public school."
According to Commissioner Nelson, public schools are now required to spend a portion of their IDEA funds to provide for participation for private school children with disabilities.

However, "the type of services and manner in which they are provided are to be determined by the local school district based on consultations with appropriate representatives of private school children with disabilities." Commissioner Nelson concluded by saying, "Those students will receive only those services that can be supported by federal funds..."

We would encourage you to contact the school district and ask them to meet with you concerning how they can help you with the special needs of your child as a "representative of private school children with disabilities."
Hope this is helpful.

Sincerely,

Sheila

Organized

2008-10-17T08:43:00.003-05:00

Ok, so while trying to do my cleaning this last few weeks I am trying to organize as well. I find that as I organized its like losing pounds of worry off my mind if that makes sense. Also its been helping me with my diet....oh I hate to say that word....ummmm healthy living choices is much better.

When I think of dieting I think of starving myself it has such a negative impact on the mind the word especially if you are trying to do that for years. I bought a white magetic board for my bathroom to encourage myself, its the first thing I see in the morning and so far I saw it and got encouraged so I am drinking water as I type this right now.

1. Take Vitamins (Check)
2. Take Garlic Pill (Check)
3. Drink Water (Check on 1 -8 oz 1/2 4 oz of water
4. Exercise (Going outside in a min to do chores and walk around the grounds I wish my peodeometer was working!
5. Eat slowly today (noted)
6. Nightly stretch ritual in bathroom before bath

Last night I bought shoe box size containers and put the jello in one, pudding in another, sauce mixes in another, hot cereal in yet another. Also have two one for tea and the other for different flavor teas. I will take a picture of it when I can. Speaking of picture I am keeping an eye out for cameras. I really want a new one for our trip as well as for taking pictures for my ebook and website my old one is soooo blurrrry lately and its only a 4pix.

The one I am looking at has 8 pix and has a mini video camera with sound :)

Well lots to do this morning. I got us an hair appointment with our hollywood hair dresser. I call her that because when we get our hair done it feels like we are movie stars hahaha...yah she is that good, she is expensive but you get what you pay for which is why we dont do it very often.

Sam

Clean Clean why cant I clean

2008-10-09T00:47:00.002-05:00

Well for days now I have been trying to clean the house I had it in my mind that was going to organize some more but with just doing basic chores, trying to get some homeschool in and doing extra stuff like trying to sale our lamb and rest of the turkeys its been impossible.

I have only been able to do the basic stuff like keep dishes clean, sweep floors and do the laundry. We found out this week was the last week to get our lambs in before our butcher shuts the door on us livestalk people and open up for only deer hunters and this will go on till January.

Poor deer ....well....maybe...but have you ever had deer meat and did I mention we will be getting some really low cost deer meat from our butcher at the end of deer season :) It seems that after deer season hunters will take their kill there but wont pick it up or varies reason, no room, no money or wife says no WAY! anyways thats low cost deer meat for us.

We bought our tickets to Washington state for Thanksgiving my husband is really excited he hasnt seen his family in a long time and while I am excited too I am a bit worried because I need a suitcase, I need warm pants because I really dont own that many living in Texas :) Tommy needs some pants too, Miranda needs a jacket...sigh the list goes on and we have only 3 more paydays. Looks like I am hitting the thrift shops.

With this economy right now its pretty scary I was having doubts but hubby and I sat down talking about our finances and I am feeling much better now, things are not so bad with us at least. Its funny we are able to invest in our retirement but I hardly have any money for clothes for us right now.

Well need to sign off to go do dishes to go to bed.

Shot Friday-More Anime

2008-10-03T15:49:00.006-05:00

Well we just got back from San Antonio where the kids had to get shots updated. The girlscout group wanted a copy of my daughters shot record and when I went to get it out I noticed some of it was missing, so when I called to get it they said by the way......

My daughters eyes watered up but she didnt cry, my son did I had to hold him down for the second one plus they got the mist flu shot. They hated it. I myself would rather get it as a shot then shot up my nose. They tried to get me to give my daughter that cervic cancer one ummm its for girls with risk of cancer from having intercourse...I told them no, they looked at me...she is guarded more then fortknox hahaha please......she is not even allowed to date yet. Not saying there is anything against it but its farily new so I want to wait to see what happens. I wouldnt even give my kids the chicken pox shots till it was out for a few years.

To make up for the torture I put them through that morning I took them to Dennys where they could have breakfast served to them other then mommy :) We then hit the thrift shop on the way back looking for yet another Anime costume for my daughter, this time I told her we are making it not buying it she agreed.

Her character has 4 pony tails, black dress with v neck (we couldnt find so we got blouse and skirt) We got material that looks like it was part of a curtain (red) to make around her waist. The shoes are the one thing I am worried about finding and the huge fan she is suppose to have too.

I wish I could afford to just buy it for her but its just not possible we are trying to save as much as we can right now and its coming out of my allowance money.

Not much going on for the weekend there is Oct Fest in one of our nearby towns but that usually cost money. I would freely give it if I had it :)

I had lost my coupon books awhile back so I had to do another, while trying to find my blouse I had just bought that was on sale I found it....but still havent found my blouse sigh...I am so disorganized right now so much going through my head.

I have a homeschool magazine write me for an interview about my postcard group they want a picture but I need to wait for my hubby (takes awful pic, sorry honey) or my sister to come to take it for us to send to them. My editor that buys my homeschool articles wants some comments from me for her updated books she is doing so I need to do that too.

I have been working on my ebook again I printed it out to be able to look at it better then on the computer so its slow going havent had much time but at night when the kids are asleep to work on it. I really want to get this out soon I think its a good time to introduce it.

I need to reread my ebook on how to get it out again. I need to find an artist and I need to get it edited.

Sam

Veggies in Season

2008-10-01T11:48:00.001-05:00

Seasonal Veggies

Januaryoranges, grapefruit, tangerines, tangelos, lemons, papayas, cabbages: red, white and green; leeks, broccoli, cauliflower
zSB(3,3)

Februaryoranges, tanelos, grapefruit, lemons, papayas, broccoli, cauliflower

Marchpineapples, mangoes, broccoli. lettuce

Aprilpineapples, mangoes, zucchini, rhubarb, artichokes, asparagus, spring peas, broccoli, lettuce

Maycherries, pineapples, apricots, okra, zucchini, rhubarb, artichokes, asparagus, spring peas, broccoli, lettuce

Junewatermelon, strawberries, cantaloupe, cherries, blueberries, peaches, apricots, corn, lettuce

Julywatermelon, strawberries, cantaloupe, blueberries, peaches, apricots, kiwi, raspberries, plums, cucumbers, tomatoes, summer squash, corn, green beans, lettuce

Augustwatermelon, strawberries, cantaloupe, blueberries, peaches, apricots, kiwi, raspberries, plums, cucumbers, corn, eggplant, tomatoes, summer squash, green beans, lettuce

Septembergrapes, pomegranates, persimmons,eggplants, pumpkins, tomatoes, spinach, lettuce

Octobercranberries, apples, pomegranates, grapes, sweet potatoes, pumpkins, winter squash, broccoli, spinach, lettuce

Is no one listening?

2008-09-24T22:52:00.002-05:00

So I go to my favorite chat haunts and have been reading and I know people try to keep the politics down but no one is talking about preparing for what is sure to come. Is everyone blind? Or just not caring? I think now that gas is a bit below $4 people have stopped panicking.

We are so close to the brink of collasping and everyone is just going about every day life. Its like watching everything in slow motion and you see something coming but everyone is just going slow and not caring.

I know I am wierd hahaha but I am worried when our Treasury Secretary says "God help us all" seeing the huge businesses go down you got to be worried just a tiny bit. No one is talking about it no one is preparing.

We did a lot of gardening today and I am relucant to use any of our can goods I am using everything up in the freezer and fridge stuff that will last. I am trying to get more organized go to sleep earlier get up earlier but its still not helping and tomorrow will be no help.

Tomorrow we do a bit of fun and go to Homeschool day at SeaWorld its always fun to do this I can't wait though I feel guilty like I should be home inventorying instead. I am still not sure what I want to do for my birthday we are short money sigh....and I take my car finally in to see once again if they can fix my air conditioner I wish it would stay fixed because I have to do my transmission next.

We did sit down and talk to the kids about things changing and hubby sat down with me on us getting really back to budgeting just in case things go bad. There are some container lids we are looking into for bulk barrels for flour, sugar etc...it might sound extreme to some of you but we think of it this way if nothing happens then we buy in bulk which is frugal and we will have a lot stored up for any emergency.

Well got to run to get to bed early...we are still alive and kicking.

Sam

Money Class K-3rd

2008-09-14T22:48:00.005-05:00

Edited July 16

Equipment:

Two poster boards with money bought at school house locker store
Money stamps stickers I got from Dollar tree for $1 each
Poster boards different colors from Dollar General
Play money I got from Dollar General $1 hated that it didnt nichols

=================================================

This year I am teaching a money class for K-3rd grade since its a broad range of ages I had to be prepared for kids who knew more then others on this subject. This sort of teaching reminds me of the old school house approach meaning that the teacher had a broad range to teach the kids in the old days; One teacher many age group of kids.

Bingo board: Above picture is my attempt at making a money bingo for basic identifications 1 c 5 c 10 c 25 c $1 $5 $10 and $20 I made cards to go along with it next to the boards as you can see. I made 6 boards each of them have different places where everything is place but each board has the same thing on it. Its not a matter of winning but idenitifying without looking at your neighbors board. I showed them the card the first time around then second time I just called out the money for them to try to find.

When I tried this game it went really, really fast with them both times so was it worth it? I think it was good practice for them this would have been especially good for prek-K

Next week I attempt another bingo game more advance

First week -Hour class actually about 45min because you have to settle down which takes around 5min and 10min to clean up.

Work on pennys-First Day

*I hide 20 pennies around the room and they had to find it and place on the table. (This went really well, the kids loved and and told their moms they loved it)
*We then placed them all on the table and discussed the penny how much its worth, how different they were, how some were older looking then others, how different ones have different dates on it. I brought in a canada looking coin that almost looked like it and told them to see if any of them looked different, they of course found it. I then told them what it was how it looked like a penny but it wasnt. I then showed them the fake pennies we were going to use in its place.

*I also have for the first day a coloring sheet, this went really fast especially for boys they didnt like it very well.

*We did some work sheets they didnt like it much but I know the moms love to see this later and the kids love to show it off. Each semester I buy those plain folders and have the kids color put stickers on it with their names at the end of the semester I give it back to them with their work sheets and they can take home to show other parent/grandparent. (note: I had tried to let them take it home each day their worksheets before but it always ended up on the floor someplace in coop or in their knapsack for ages. This is a lot better)

Identifying a penny sheet from http://www.moneyinstructor.com/

Money worksheets with pennies from http://www.dositey.com/

*I have bought from the teachers store-Carson-Dellosa Publ Poster boards of US COINS I hung this on the board and we discussed it, especially the one that says it takes 5 pennies to make a nichol, two nichols to make a dime etc...

*Playing my homemade bingo game I laminated

*Playing dice game with pennies - Role dice you get that many pennies-when they collect 5
pennies they can turn into bank (My class assistant was the banker) and get 5cents each person takes turns collecting pennies. When they get two 5 cent pieces they can turn it in for 2 dimes etc...till quarter This took a good 30min They boys loved it, the ones that didnt grasp it didnt like it but I have high hopes. It was a good game. We had only gotten to only 25cents. I need to spice it up a bit.

Emergency I will take playdoh in and they can press real pennies into it for fun. (Didnt have time for it but its good to have in future)

Sam

Texas Christmas Snow

2008-09-09T14:51:00.003-05:00

Favorite Quote for today: "We ask justice, we ask equality, we ask that all the civil and political rights that belong to citizens of the United States, be guaranteed to us and our daughters forever." —Susan B. Anthony, Declaration of Rights for Women, July 1876

Oh how beautiful this cotton looks its all around me in the fields, but what comes with this beautiful prickly cotton is the worst allergery season for locals like myself that happen to live around it.

First the planes come zooming in at the wee hours of the morning if you want to sleep forget it as they zoom close by and spray chemicals all over. Of course they always pick the days when the wind has changed and its blowing towards our house. The first whif I get I go into a sneezing fit. They do this for a few weeks then finally one day you see the big trucks out there ready to pick and then it gets worse.

The dust they kick up and the final spraying combination just makes my throat tighten up and my eyes start to burn. I am a zombie those final weeks with so many allergery meds in me I have yet to find any that WONT make me sleepy. I go to my doctor and I tell her I don't need any that make me sleepy I am a MOM I can't have those. What does she do give me one that the first time I take it knocks me out for two days flat! I need to change doctors.

At HEB today I see locals surrounding the allergery medicine section. Its a cold they say smiling....bull I think ....funny when its a cold they say its allergerys hehe

A little rain comes today and with it the hopes of a hurricane in a distance which could be deadly for some but a God send for us far inland folks hoping it will bring rain and with it wash away the last remaining chemicals and cotton fields till they next plant the corn...which is not so bad unless you see movies like "The sign" with Mel Gibson haha

On to other news my ad in the homeschool paper didnt work out so well I didnt get one call from it :( I still have 13 lambs to sell I am at lost where to advertise next for it without costing and arm and a leg.

We had our co-op registration for our homeschool it went pretty well I think. I have only 5 students in my money class that is just enough for me. I did the happy dance when I found out. When I first started teaching I would end up with 14 students plus it was really hard back then to control that many little ones. I don't know how the teachers from public school do it. Years of practice I imagine and doing it over and over again.

I looked again at my pecan trees I really dont see any on the trees. Where did they go? Did they not form? Last year I didnt think I was going to get any and I did so hopefully I will again at least get a few. I was really hoping for a good crop this year :(

I feel a little depressed today must be from very little sleep the last couple of days I need to get back in a sleeping schedule, go to bed earlier, wake up earlier. I have been going to bed around 3am and getting up around 8am ...5 hours of sleep is not cutting it. I dont mind a 30min nap but anything longer wears on me.

My car is in the shop that could be another reason why I feel a bit under the weather. Every time it goes I get depressed because I feel trapped at home. They usually have to order a part that is in another city and it takes them days to get here then they fix it and it goes out again within a few weeks. This is the 4th time to take it in this summer, my family keeps telling me to get rid of the car....sigh...yah give me the money to buy a new one CASH and I will. I am thankful to even have a car right now. I heard last night that people are not getting loans for cars and keeping their older cars. My own mechanic says business has picked up haha yup sounds about right.

Ok dont want to be that depressed soooo...lets see good things....My house is clean, laundry is caught up, did all my shopping before car went down. Hubby let me order netflix and its really paying for itself we get two movies at a time and we can usually get 4 in all for a week. I am catching up with movies.

I had a dream of my mother after a year and 3 months and I was finally able to hug her and talk to her briefly saying how much we missed her and she said responded back. I realized I was dreaming, I realized she was gone I was alert in my dream...its was good...put me at peace. I had dreams of mom before but always I see her in a distance or I could never hear her or I hear her but not see her.....was frustrating.

Someone did me wrong not long ago sort of snubbed me in front of others. I was angry but instead of getting upset I sent them an encouragement card. It was hard to do I was upset. I had a feeling she might be one of those persons that might thrive in bad things happening in their lives so they can get care from others. I have seen this type before, but instead I sent the card with gritted teeth but my heart really meant it, it was was stubborness that was trying to hold me back.

Saw her again a few days ago, she hugged me said it meant the world to her and she felt bad about how she treated me that day, said I had no idea what is going on in her life. She didnt say any more I didnt ask her. I am not one of those women that are listeners I think she knows this... I am one of those people that say, "There is no victimes in life only volunteers". "Things happen for reason even when its really bad" Get a bit of comfort if things go wrong but then put the chin up and go on with life ...too much to do so little time we have on this earth. I hope things get better for her.

Speaking of which I need to get off of her and ...I am going to give my son icecream right now and we are going to spend some time together.

Sept is here

2008-09-06T01:56:00.003-05:00

Picture: Last big storm we had here had over 3 inches of rain yah us!

Where did time fly? Its already Sept and school is starting and I am not ready! Ack!

I am not so worried because I have gotten most of the things I wanted to get done in and around

the house with the help of my husband, dad and kids so life is looking really good. We got the mulch down for the garden again and I have been slowing pulling down my summer garden and getting ready for the fall garden. Iam behind....go figure.

Well end of August we celebrated our sons 8th birthday and our 20th anniversary. We didnt do anything really really exciting like we wanted too but it was nice and we got to talk a lot which meant the world to me. Son had his birthday at home with his cousins and his pinata that he wanted so bad. We bought him a new and bigger fish tank with some new fish compliments of his grandma from Wash State.

Pecans should be falling soon I am really excited. Home school Co-op should be starting soon I am only teaching one class "Money class" for Tommy and kids his age should be fun. Tomorrow I am going flea marketing with my sisters so I better sign off early here just wanted to let y'all know I am breathing and everyone here on the farm is fine.

5 New kittens addition to our farm ...sigh....anyone want any kitten? :)

Sam

August

2008-08-19T12:41:00.007-05:00

Edited Aug 21 LOVE THIS PICTURE!
These are not from my chickens it was from someone in my Pasture Poultry group I thought it was really neat the double tripple egg yolk.

I have recently edited this part because the owner of the eggs wrote me below and said their chickens were not sickly but very young and started to lay young. "A chicken "Mistake" she said. You can read her comment below.

Deep in the back of my mind I knew they were not sickly I just couldnt put my mind to typing the right "word" my fingers typed faster then my brain sometimes hehe so please forgive me.

I believe that could happen with a young hen like hers did; however I have chickens of my own that are two-three-four years old and they sometimes lay these kind of eggs too, they are not young. Someone in the group say it could be from the diet?. Maybe its because they are getting older and their cycle is getting all mixed up again? I can see that happening too.

Ahhh well if you ever go to our Pasture Poultry group you can see how we debate on so many subjects when it comes to chickens, Different methods different breeds, different climates so it all varies. Just when you think you figure it all out about chickens someone comes out with another theory about the subject that has you thinking hmmmmm

Raising chickens for so long now and watching the Pasture Poultry group for years I have come to the conclusion that not one person, book, website is 100% completely correct. Just got to go with what is good in your guts for you and your family it’s what we are doing.

========================================

Well August has been a busy month with birthdays and anniversary’s. My husband and I just celebrated our 2oth has it been that long already? Seems just like yesterday when I met him tubing down the river with his army friend. Two months after we met and only seeing each other one day at of each weekend (I was working summer camp) he got orders to leave to Germany and it was either say goodbye or get married. Glad he made the right choice hehe

We got 2 1/2 inches of rain these last few weeks...Thank you God! We actually still have standing puddles. Chickens are fine but laying less now, I just put an ad in the homeschool newsletter to advertise our sheep and turkeys it has over 5000 members.

I still have around 13 sheep to sale and I am hoping to get new customers or its back to the advertising board to figure out where I can advertise next. I like to stick to the homeschoolers since it’s a field I know and the families are usually great. As Joel says you want customers that want good quality you don't want customers looking for a bargain they will give you trouble.

We should be harvesting our honey soon I am disappointed hubby didn’t have time to put another super on for the new bee hive to get more honey since there is still a lot of flowers around. I did uncover the older empty one and cleaned it out a bit hoping a nice bee family will move in like our last one.

Sept/Oct should be time to harvest the pecans, a few are falling down already but they are green still. I can't wait because I am about out.

Garden is sort of dormant right now getting a few tomatoes, I need to do an update on it on what I learned this year...coming soon.

Well that’s about the update for now have a great upcoming week.

Daughter Anime Girl Scout Troop

2008-08-09T23:27:00.003-05:00

My daughter is a big fan of Kingdom Hearts video game and Anime stuff so when a friend of a friend decided to start a Girl Scout Anime troop in San Antonio we jumped at the chance to join. I was despertly searching about this time things for my daughter to do to get her busy during her teenage years for socializing.

She had talked about going back to public school but hearing how things were in the public school I knew it would not be a good choice. I felt it was the girl friends she was missing. She had her best friend but she needed to interact with others her age.

It was difficult because she is not into boys as most public school girls her age is, but she loves the anime stuff. Every other week her troop meets and they have met so far for dinner with each other at a chinese restaurant of course and they have gone to two Anime conventions the biggest being here in San Antonio this weekend.

They are having a blast. We had to order her costume from Hong Kong and we were disapointed that the wig did not come in time so we had to spray paint her hair. Daughter says she didnt mind doing it but in future she really hopes not too hehe its very sticky. She was Zexion from Kingdom of hearts she made the book herself. Her best friend was lexaeus.

The Costume was so much we told her we expect her to get married in it someday hehe. It hasnt been cheap but it has been really well worth it. She can be any of the organization she just has to change hairdos and prop.

Hubby and I are very happy that she is having fun with the group and talking to the other moms they were also glad to find other girls into the Anime stuff since this is very odd to some people its not very common. So far they have around 15 girls in the group and it grows each time I talk to the group leader. It has been a postive experience for our daughter.

Doing the Anime stuff has been a learning experience for the moms and dads as well as we have had to watch what they watch, play and read to make sure its for their age.

Sam

Harvest Time Pear greanbeans

2008-07-27T23:55:00.002-05:00

Dolly was heading our way we thought the other day so I went outside to pick the pears from the fruit orchard before it knocked them down and my husband helped. We were pleasantly surprised to get so many for second season. Last season we had just planted the tree, so I am hoping my next season it will be even more pears.

Not sure what I am going to do with them, but I better hurry before they rot or husband eats them all hehe I also picked a lot of green beans that day and we ate the whole lot of it that night yum.

Well the turkeys are doing ok still thank goodness I am praying the worst is over now. We havent had any more attacks on the sheep lately but we have been keeping them in the orchard. Took my husband on a date to go see the “Darknight” it was pretty gloomy I wouldn’t take my own kids to go see it which is why we left Randy here with Tommy today. My dad and sister were right next door.

Tomorrow is our co-op meeting for my homeschool group. I hope she takes my suggestion on making it a 3 hour day for classes per day instead of 4 hours and giving the kids and moms more lunch hour play time.

I just used the last of my pecans from last year on some pumpkin bread I can’t wait till next seasons pecans I already have a trade going for some syrup.

Well that’s it for tonight.

The Ant Massacre of 2008

2008-07-20T22:43:00.004-05:00

So we got our turkey chicks a few days ago and everything went ok as we put all 41 into the brooder. The brooder was build by my husband 7 years ago so it was getting on in age and falling apart a bit, but we really didn’t know how much till the other night I was going to the back yard to go check on them and I saw both of the dogs under the trailer playing with something.

It was a turkey chick. I was in shock, how did it get there? Nooooooo I cried as I tried to get it away I had to crawl under the trailer to grab it, finally I did and they had another one they were playing with, I grabbed that one only to see another and another roaming around. My son and his cousin were out in the back yard I yelled to them, "Tommy go get your Daddy! Hurry!

So my son ran in, "Mommy needs you daddy it’s the turkeys" What had happen was the bottom back board was rotting and they were just rolling out into the grass area. Well after we fixed that little problem two of the chicks had died and ants were on them. I thought maybe it was trauma from the dogs? I took the dead ones out and then an hour later saw 2 more dead with ants of them. It hit me, it’s not the trauma it’s the ants killing my chicks they are attacking them.

We put them in a box for the night in our house; we lost another chick to being smushed. The next day we had to clean out the whole brooder, move it, spray it with this orange natural biodegradable oil plus something else my husband put in there and cover it back up. They are happy now but we lost a total of 7 chicks. That’s a lot of chicks to lose the first few days. 10 of those chicks were supposed to be ours. At least we are blessed that we didn’t have to feed them that long but we lost out on the cost of buying them.

I pray now the others will survive for their rest of their journey.

A bird ate two of my tomatoes today, they were almost ready to pick sigh….at least it left me one. Tomorrow I need to try to cover them up. I found someone to buy my goats milk a nice lady from my milk/egg group I am so happy to find someone who likes goat milk I am glad to be able to share with her Barrels milk. It will be enough for me and some for her and later when I wean the babys from her I will get even more for my cheese making. The money will help pay for Barrels feed, it has gone up so much. Today I attempted to make Feta cheese and I followed the directions wrong so I have to start all over. I am short two quarts of milk and right now I am saving up for my new customer so I will have to wait till Wed milking to finish up.

Thursday is payday it can’t come soon enough so much to get for the house.

Sam

Buying Curriculmn online

2008-07-18T11:55:00.005-05:00

This is listed in my website but thought I would add it here too.
http://www.frugalcountrymom.com/frugalhomeschool.html

Enjoy

Curriculum When buying curriculum for the year find out which one you want first by asking other homeschoolers, checking out a book fairs, looking online or ordering a catalog from the vendor. Once you find the ones you want look around at the used book swap sites online and the used book fairs that homeschool groups usually have each year.

Check out my San Antonio Home schoolers page above for ideas on the yearly Curriculum fairs for my area or at least get some ideas.

If you would like a "Card Pack" from "The Home School Connection" they will send you it via snail mail to your home address for free. In it you will find tons of homeschool related products. "Click Here" to fill out the form. To look at vedors on line go to their website at
http://www.nrm-inc.com/homeschool/homeschool.htm

If you buy it new plan to use it for your other younger kids someday that would make a good investment or plan to sell it to get some of your money back. When buying from auctions make sure you know the orginal price before you start bidding, this way you wont over pay for used books. Start early looking for these to get ahead of the Aug/Sept school rush.

Tips:
Buy it used from friends, book swaps, flea markets, thrift stores, library book sales
Have a book swap day with your homeschool group
Share with another mom that has the same age children as yourself
Form a coop or at least just a class and pitch in and buy the book/subject
Do you have connections with a public school teacher. Each year they get sample books to go over to see if they want to buy it for their class. If they don't then ask them for it.
Try finding your stuff on ebay: Just keep in mind how much it orginally cost so you wont get into a bidding war with another mom-have a set amount you will spend on it, bid at the last few min of the sale to grab it, keep in mind the cost of shipping, If you dont win ebay will email you other items similar to the one you lost, or look at the persons other items listed he/she might have the same item again up for bid at another day!

Yahoo groups used book- Join these to help you find used books
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/homeschoolingonashoestring_usedbooks/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HOMESCHL-USED-BOOKS/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/UsedHomeSchoolBooks/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HomeschoolBookSource/

Main websites for book exchanges and used books
Veggie group Love it! –Look under swap- http://www.vegsource.com/homeschool/
Home School Classifieds- http://homeschoolclassifieds.com/
The Swap-small fee to insert - http://theswap.com/
Homeschool Bid -Just like Ebay- http://www.homeschoolbid.com/
This little Piggy stas home online auction https://www.thislittlepiggystayshome.com/
Well trained mind forum http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/index.php

Regular sites for clearance sales
Christine book love their catalog http://www.christianbook.com/

If your in the San Antonio area try
San Antonio online garage http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sanantonioonlinegaragesale/
San Antonio free cycle http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sanantoniofreecycle/
San Antonio freely given http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SAHFG/
San Antonio Educational Book Swap http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SAEducationalBookSwap

If your looking for something specific in a subject like history, math, English you can try my Haven Homeschool group link pages where I will be adding on through time. You don’t have to join the group to access the links
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/havenhomeschoolgroup/links

Create your own curriculum that can be down with help from the library and other resources on line check out my unit studies and printable pages.

Sam

Another long day

2008-07-16T23:59:00.003-05:00

This cloud was a while back and our last hint of rain...sigh....
We picked up the girls today from camp, the mother of my daughters friend and I went in her car to pick them up and boy was it hot.

Recently I bought a thermos from Walgreens. I love it, I bought it for $12 its thin and keeps water cold for hours even when left in the car in the sun. I have decided to buy 3 more slowly when I have the money.

Speaking of money I have been really depressed lately with not having enough to buy the stuff I need. I am blessed we bought the corn while we did at $7 for 50lb bag because in two weeks it went to $8.90. I am worried about the feed for the turkeys that are coming in early in the morning tomorrow. We calculated the price of turkeys based on feed, but if it goes up we will get a loss.

We just don't have the money right now to buy excess like we did with the corn...worry ,,...worry. I need to rebudget my own budget for my household account to see where I can cut or sale something. I did to really hit the coupons. The only thing is selling right now is my eggs and my husband wants me to raise my prices sigh.....I am scared I will lose my customers. I tried so hard to keep it low the price for eggs but the feed keeps going up.

We also need to redo our whole budget as a whole. I need more for grocerys it keeps going up on food.

Well enough worry for tonight need to sleep another long day tomorrow. Tommy takes his test "Crosses fingers" I hope he passes.

Sam

Crawdads

2008-07-15T23:20:00.004-05:00

Dad with the crawdad

Its hard to see but I was walking to my car one day and saw this crawdad staring back at me and boy was he mad kept trying to pinch me. It was too cute. My dad the expert of course picked him up put him in that thing above then dropped him off at the canal. Too bad a few more of these we could have had a nice meal hahaha

There has been teenage boys the last few days at the canal I imagine that is what they are trying to find in those muddy water. Well just a few more days left for my sons swimming class, and tomorrow I go pick up my daughter from camp. I know she wished it would have been a bit longer. I hope she had a good time.

I pulled some cucumbers from my garden I am finding out a lot of things hide from me lol I didnt even know they were done. Its been really hot over here but not that hot where I am hating it already. I am going to advertise for our lamb in our homeschool group newsletter in San Antonio but I missed the deadline for this month. I need to sell 13more sheep, I am sure the older customers might want some more. I am at loss where to sell them now. I love the advertising side of this I did this really well in College when I took a class in it I made a "A"

There was always a waiting time for the lambs but now this year we had more then are current customers needed so we need to find a way to reach the newer ones. Our turkeys are on there way too. So far I have only sold 4 out of 30. Feed keeps going up I hate that because then the cost of our product has to go up.

Well its late I need to sleep

First Strawberry Jams

2008-07-08T00:24:00.005-05:00

I made my first jams today, it was pretty easy I opened one up the next day pretty tasty I was worried about putting in too much honey that it would overwhelm the strawberrys but as I cooked it the taste of honey went away more. I had 4 basket full of strawberrys about 9 cups. I added fresh apples from our own apple tree, and our own honey. I also added some lemon juice.

I figured with not the cost of the jars it was $1.00 a jar to make. I will try it with toast tomorrow to see how well it came out and most important to see how my Tommy likes it. I made it for him mostly. Tired of the jellys at the stores that has so many perservatives in it.

The book up top is the cookbook I used. Hubby actually got it for us, it has small recipes in it for small amount of canning, I like it a lot so far.

Well today was a good day, we got an another inch of rain which means total in the last three days we got 1 1/2 inches of rain yah! The chicks of course got wet the ones that ventured outside but they were ok. I had a heck of a time getting them into the coop tonight they were so lost. I hope the hawks stay away.

Earlier we took Tommy to his swim lesson, Tom went with us I was very pleased to see him take part of our daily routine. I got a hold of a riding instructor in a town near us. Not sure on the ride up there but she is offering english riding lesson. I would like my daughter to take it again, she really loves horses.

We will see on the lessons she heads off to camp next week, so we have to get her stuff ready for it plus buy her a new bathing suit amoung other stuff...money money...

Hubby goes back to work tomorrow he had a nice 5 day vacation. He's big boss CEO is asking maybe because of the gas prices of people willing to work from home. We are excited about this, it will be adjustment hahaha but it will be good on gas. Tom is going to hint again that he would volunteer for the new project on working from home. "Cross fingers"

We had gotten a booster for our attenena and it works great for our computer now the speed is really fast, of course my computer is the same but we are trying to figure out a way to hook mine up during the day when Tom is not using it. I will miss my dining room though this is where I currently have it. I guess I like it cause its the hub of the house smack in the middle I can see and know all :)

Well I have to wash dishes and take a shower still, tomorrow is egg/milk run so it wil be busy. Dad is taking Tommy to his swimming lesson so he wont miss it while Randy and I deliver eggs. I am debating on making Randy go with them to help.

Got to run

Sam

Garden update July 6

2008-07-06T23:42:00.002-05:00

Ok so if you really look from the last time I posted my green beans have gotten thicker. Lots of flowering on them but no green beans yet. I am not sure when to pick the cucumbers the last time I did it was too early.

No more rain today but it kept pretty cool outside. I put the last of my chicks with my chickens today I had a total of 73 chicks, Somehow I am missing 8 of them. One of them heads was bleeding I guess he was getting picked on so I put him in one of the rabbit cages and put some no pick lotion on him. I will give him a few days to let it scab over then put him back with the others.

I will have to keep watch over them they don't want to leave the big coop just yet.

We went to dairyqueen today my family and my dad to go get some icecream after dinner then we picked up some videos it was a nice outing out with the family. Love dairyqueen. The HEB here is trying to buy them out so they can build a super HEB. I hope they don't buy them out because I will miss Dairy Queen.

I take my son back to swimming lessons again starting tomorrow I hope he learns even more on how to swim he is taking to it a lot more then my daughter did he's age. Not much more going on I am hoping to make some strawberry jam tomorrow. Hubby is home again tomorrow its a 5 day vacation for him he sure does need it.

Sam

Salsa time

2008-07-04T23:54:00.005-05:00

So what do you do when you get a deal on a box of tomotoes? Well I could have freezed them but instead we got my mothers recipe out and made some salsa. Of course I had to go get some more jalapenos I didnt have enough and I had to buy some more jar seals.

It came out really, really hot. My husband must have been mad at me hahaha. There is a saying in my family when my mother would make some salsa and if it came out really hot she was really mad at my dad. So when it did we would say, "Gosh mom you must have been mad at dad when you were making this hahaha"

My husband has my moms recipe sort of.....she made it with him once and he wrote it down. My husband said I could never divorse him because he has all my mothers recipes :)

Well I hope everyone had a happy 4th of July. We worked our rears off today but most holidays we do.

Farm Life I moved 20 chicks into the main coop today. We will see how they survive with the older chicks. Tomorrow night we put in more till they are all out there. This is where I might lose half my chicks to predators sigh...

Time to Cull the Sheep

2008-07-01T23:56:00.005-05:00

It was that time of year again where we culled our sheep, tagging and putting the rubberbands around ummm lets say private parts of the male :)

Dad and Tom are above in picture with one of our rams. For two days they just lay down as much as possible, poor things. We do it so they can't mate and also it gives a better taste to the meat.

My dad took a fall that day but luckily the sheep broke his fall so he fell on a fluffy sheep then rolled off of him. It was sort of funny watching it I wished I had a video camera at the time it sort of happened slow motion and I keptt saying, "Dad let go!" but my dad still on the ground said, No I got it!, I got it! holding on to the lamb hehe ---No animal or father was hurt making this scene :)

Not much going on its been cool here the last two days with storms trying to come in but they wont even spit at us. Another sheep died out in the field, something is getting them at night. We put them in the orchard for now. Hopefully that will help.

Tom spent a few nights all night outside but what ever it was never came to attack. My neighbors are having trouble too and got some of theirs killed. I am thinking its a cougar or big bob cat or even a big wild dog. There is no wholes in our fence so its jumping a 4ft fence.

Well got to go take shower and get ready for bed.

Sam

tomotoes

2008-06-29T01:16:00.003-05:00

Today we got together two of my sisters, my dad and my own family to have a lunch/dinner. It has been one year today since my mother passed away. It was sad but nice at the same time to be with family and laugh and talk about my wonderful mother. I miss her so much still.

Mary my sister made this pork rib/pototoe dinner and I made the salad, Becky paid for it all. Above is the tomotoes I used from my dads and my garden, they were so good.

News:

Tommy passed his swimming level 1 test with the Red Cross. We are so proud of him I enrolled him right away into the 2 level class. What did I get myself into! hehe Got to be there at 10:30 for two weeks again....sigh.....I want him to be a good swimmer. I had a dream once that he drowned in a friends pool so this is really important to me too. I can still feel the heart ache from that dream still. He loves it. I wouldnt push him if he didnt like the class.

We have had two sheep die on us. Something is killing them. Tom is going out tonight to sit out there for a bit. Bobo was out in the field this morning we are thinking it was either him or something that killed the sheep then Bobo went after them. My neighbors had their sheep killed and I know Bobo can't get into their place so Bobo is still not the top suspect.

Well not much more today, its really late and we have to cull the sheep tomorrow.

Sam

Garden update June 23, 2008

2008-06-23T00:24:00.003-05:00

Just wanted to update my garden today the green beans have reached the top and are falling over the other side now looking really good still. The other picture is of my pototoes, its a good thing I read that when they start to die on top they are nearly done otherwise I would have thought they were dieing hahaha. I need more tomotoe stakes I am going to Hondo this week so I can pick me up some if they still got them.

Been a great week can't complain. Family, my farm animals doing ok even in this 90 degree heat but I am not complaining when other people temps are higher or flooding. We are blessed.

Tommy might be sick he is moaning in his sleep I gave him some cough cold meds. He was in his pool all day I told him not to drink the water from the pool but since he was a toddler will he listen? sigh....we still have a week of his swimming lessons left I hope it blows over tonight but I doubt it.

Not being motivated this week I really need to pull myself together to do things around the house its getting messy again. If I can keep the living room/kitchen and dining room clean I am happy. The bathroom needs big time cleaning.

Well the VBS is not happening at our church and when I found another one close in San Antonio its happening at night! Whats with these night classes? Don't they realize the kids need to get to bed early. I am a bit disapointed but in a way its a blessing so we wont be so booked up this week with milk/egg run one two dentist appt and now a doc appt if Tommy dont get well its going to be a rushed busy week.

BREATH!!!!!

Sam

Flowering Vegtable Plants

2008-06-18T21:31:00.005-05:00

Okra, squash and green bean blooms

Today just before it got dark I finally had a chance to go look at my garden. I was surprised to not only see my green beans blooming but also little okra already growing and some yellow squash.

Happily I pulled weeds around the garden not minding at all that I was dripping sweat from the humity ugg... it wasnt that bad the heat just very humid. Today I ordered 30 -50lb bags of corn for future use of my animals. Dang if we had the money we should have bought it when it was $5 a bag now its $7.00 just down the road at another feed store it was $8.50.

Tom said that he heard that it will continue going up and that they might even put it on rashion not sure if I spelled that right. I priced out some other stuff too like milo.

I saw some La manchas babys for sale last night and I wrote the person but havent heard from them yet.

Well I am tired not much more to report its been a long day.

Sam

2008-06-14T23:59:00.002-05:00

My first jams

Ok so for about a week now I have been trying to make my peach/plum jam that I got from the last veggie/fruit group. It has been one chaotic week though and I haven’t had time I have been so exhausted especially with the heat being around in the 90’s.

So today after I made sure all the animals had water outside I cleaned up the kitchen as much as could with dinner looming close I was determined to get it done even though all I wanted to do was take a nap.

I went into the fridge and there was hardly any peaches left my kids and husband had ate most of them…so sigh I couldn’t make the huge batch like I wanted but I am glad I didn’t because I wouldn’t have had the room.

I also decided I didn’t want to use sugar. It made me upset that I would have too so I took out my honey book and looked. It called for something called tapioca flour. Dang it I don’t have this flour whatever it is I have never even heard of it before. I read I could use some starch. It made it foggy as soon as I put it in I am not sure about this for future we will see when I open one tomorrow.

This is for my future use is why I am writing it so I won’t forget.

1. Put in dishwasher jars I am going to use, Tom said I should sterilize them in hot boiling water instead to be extra safe. I will do that next time.

2. I put on some boiling water and put the plums and peaches in the water for a few seconds then take them out and put them in cold water. I noticed the longer I kept in cold ice water the better they peeled.

3. I also put boiling water on and put in a bowl to sterilize the lids.

4. Peeled them I needed Miranda’s help so they wouldn’t go cold on me before I could get to them all. Need to remember to cut them really small next time so they will cook faster.

5. I think I used about 8 cups of peaches and 4 cups plums and two cups of honey. I decided the next time I will put in whatever I have and not really worry about it just make sure it will go together for instance…. I do have to remember that the plums were really sweet and over took the taste out of the peach. I also sliced one lemon I liked this a lot.

6. The recipe had called for 7 cups of sugar goodness! So with honey it said to do half. Well I didn’t thank goodness. I only put in two cups of honey noticing how watering it was and stopped. It took a long time of boiling to take the strong taste of honey out and this was raw honey from SAT not our hard core honey here.

7. I added about 1/3 cup of starch and tried to dissolve it as much as possible but I can see in one of the jars some of the starch that didn’t dissolve dang it again I really need to make sure next time that it does.

8. Poured into jars

9. ****Biggest mistake I made was not putting the boiling water to boil before I started all this as soon as I put the stuff in the jars and closed the lids tight I needed to put them in the boiling water for 10min.

10. They started to pop the lids as soon as I started to pull them out of the hot water bath. The big pan I used only could hold 9 little jars. Guess what I had 9 little jars whooo hoooo

Tomorrow we try the jam I really hope it comes out good.

Farm Trip

2008-06-11T23:32:00.002-05:00

Ok so blogger is acting really wierd. On my last post I couldnt get any indents to my writing thats why its all wierd hopefully this one is going to be better.

Long day today, it was my godsons birthday so I really wanted to get him a present which meant driving into San Antonio which meant I didnt get the stuff I wanted done here, but I got hugs from all the kids it was worth it.

Above is my dad with my daughter Miranda behind them is some swimming cows and pigs hahaha. Its at the farm we visited last weekend near Temple. The pig was on a mission, these kids were chasing her piglets and the mom was taking a short cut to get to her piglets before the kids could. Gosh I really dislike people who let their kids run wild and not watch them on farms. I am surprised the pig didnt gore them. Stupid parents.

These kids were also on this little pier in the pond and this thing looked like it was about to fall down any minutue. Where were the parents? I have no idea who belonged too who, probably trying to sit in the shade. I told hubby now I know whey we don't have many farm days, but thank goodness for all the fencing around our place keeps people from trampling all over when picking up the turkeys.

Well I need to wash dishes and I am soooo dehydrated.

Good evening

Sam

Update on garden June 1st week

2008-06-09T16:27:00.006-05:00

Well my babys are doing really good but I wish I could get them in the barn
but I need to make a corral for them. I am trying to get my dad to make one for
me. He told me today I should give Barrels a break and let her feed her babys
and not milk her. "Blink, Blink" not milk her then why would I did I even get
her then if not to milk her? Dad just dosent understand. He never really had a
milking goat.

I had to explain to him that I am not going to start milking her right
away, the babys are going to be drinking for awhile now, but when they start to
finally eat and I supplement their feed is when I will start milking Barrels so
her milk production won't be going down since the babys are no longer drinking
as much.

I will be only milking her in the mornings for now and let the babys have
the rest of the milk for the rest of the days till I wean the babys off her.
Some days I wont be able to milk her so it will be really convient to let the
babys have the milk. I did this last year and it worked out really well.

I laugh when I think of the time I was milking her and we had the bats come
in from Mexico and I was trying to milk her with hundreds of bats flying around.
I wasnt worried about them biting me or falling in my hair I was worried about
poop falling on me hahaha.

Well got to go things to do

Sam

HTML>

My babies! La Manacha babys

2008-06-07T23:02:00.003-05:00

They finally ventured out into the big outdoors. They are so cute I can't help picking them up all the time and kissing them hahaha.

The black and white is the girl Dixie or Diamond not sure on her name yet.
Dixon is the boy brown and white.

I just can't wait to increase my heard I really wish I could get some more female babys even if I have to bottle feed them. La Mancha are really hard to find and if you do find them you find them bred to something else more likely a nubian.

We just got back from a farm day tour my hubby Tom, kids and my dad, it was ok, nothing new that we didnt already know, it was fun we stopped at a b-q place "Salt Lick" wow talk about being crowded. I was so hungry and my heart fell seeing so many cars and buses there. There was even local police helping people park...talk about popular but within 5min we were called. We had just gotten some home made lemondade from the girls making it outside, then we were seated. The food was also out in 5min min talk about service! Wow and the food was great!!! A must to see if your near the Austin area. They had a band playing too that night, but talk about getting lost, its out in the boonies and there is no signs anywhere advertising it.

Got to goooo I am sooooo tired and sleepy and car sick right now I need a shower and visine for my eyes they burn. It was partly cloudy today but brutaly hot later around 3pm. Nice country out that way towards Temple Texas but not sure I would like to live there.

This got me really motivated about our sheep cheese someday. There is a dairy farm up in Dallas that I would like to go see. I am going to talk to hubby about it another day. Got to go to church tomorrow so I really need to sign off.

Sam

My baby La Mancha Kids

2008-06-03T17:00:00.002-05:00

Yes I am a grandmother again, thank you thank you :)

Barrels finally had her babys she had a baby boy first the white and brown one drinking milk already then a few min later Dixie the black and white all covered in after birth still was born. She looks just like her monster father hahaha poor baby hopefully she won't be like him.

I am hoping to trade the girl maybe but I want to keep the boy because I can breed it with the mother but not the sister and boys are harder to find that wont come with previous behavior problems like their father had.

I would need to get the boy young for him not to have those behavior problems.

Good news day also is I found a A-Z grant class I can take via internet locally here. Infact if I like it there is more advance classes I can take on it. I have a business plan in mind for our farm and I would like to find some grants to make a go out of it, not loans, but grants.

Even if my business plan dosent work it will be good experience for me for my library skills if I want to go back and work in a library. I am hoping as Tommy gets older I can start to volunteer more at our local libraries and these skills will come in handy.

Also for good news I finished up my ebook finally! Well at least I finished the rough draft of the rough draft that had followed the rough draft hahaha now its just making it look prettier and get my editor to look it over for me. I am also in the look out for a good graphic artist for my book, they say that the cover is very important and I believe that because I buy books based on covers for romance novels hahaha

Well its a good day and the sun is finally going down a bit I need to make dinner right now meat loaf and do my chores.

Ta ta

Sam :) happy happy happy

Joel Osteen

2008-06-02T02:08:00.003-05:00

Joel Osteen

I have been listening to his Sunday Sermons on tv a lot and find them very encouraging. I have found out that the people that do not like him is because they say he is too encouraging that he dosen't say enough about hell and damination and is too eager, too happy, to inspiring.

Can there be such thing as too happy? Can there be too much encouraging? He does encourage everyone to go to a good bible base church. Every time I listen to him I have a tear in my eye, and I am so inspired on what he says its soooo encouraging I just want to hug him.

He's advice is wonderful. Tonight he says I need to have a goal I have been really frustrated recently so this advice is golden to me. I have had goals before thats how we got out of debt but I told hubby the other day that we need to get back on our budget and rework it for other goals. Especially with the gas prices going up its something we really need to do.

Since Tommy hasnt had any speech classes the last few weeks I am sort of lost on what to do on these days off that we used to go into SA. I know longer need to go and its been nice just staying home. I should be catching up on chores but instead I have been catching up on reading and watching movies :) ahhh well this week I do not have that luxury anymore I really need to get moving on goals.

I really need to make some more money too. Something I can do online or on the farm. I know some people think, "Wow the things I can do to make money on a farm" well sure there is lots of things but it cost money to start it.

I don't know I really need to think about it. I am going to do some research right now.

Sam signing off....

My New Garden Hat

2008-05-25T00:02:00.002-05:00

It took me awhile to find me a garden hat. I picked this up at Walmart last week. I liked it because it was already all bent. You can't see it much but there is a pin on top that says "Sam" my sister Marta made it with beads. Tom has a hat similar but he's floats he says hahaha

Well I pulled my first radish today it was ready to pick I was so excited I ate it before I could take a picture of it haha. We had a bq at our church today it was soooooo hot I tried to stay in the church as much as possible. Tomorrow we go back to church again and we will probably eat there again because there was so much food left we decided to do that again.

The girls were walking in the pecan orchard today when they saw a snake curled up, my daughters friend started poking it and it moved so they told us about it. Hubby went to go shoot it when he did he missed the first time and it struck out at him missing and striking itself. I have never seen that before.

We put it over the fence belly up "old wise tale that it will make it rain now" :) Hey don't laugh we can use all the help we can get. Daughter and friend have a new rule now. If you see a snake you DONT poke it sigh........

Well its late I need to get to bed.

Sam

Sheep in playground

2008-05-23T22:13:00.002-05:00

No the sheep didnt sneak it I let them in our back yard so they could eat the grass and weeds back there. Is it a ploy for me not to mow the grass? Maybe :)

Problem was where I took the picture right behind me is some of my elephant ear plants and boy did that look tasty to them. I had to sit there and guard my plants from them. Especially my goat barrels if you look at the second picture you will see her standing there waiting for me to blink or nod off to sleep so she could sneak in.

Later on today she escaped to the front yard and ate one of my rose bushes..sigh..told her she can't come in with the sheep anymore she has been banned. She is suppose to have her baby any day now I am hoping she pops soon I want to know what she has.

I am really excited today I got in a touch with a nice lady from Sequin who occasionally has cows to sale. Hopefully when the time comes I will be able to get one from her. Sequin is not too far from us. Its the closet I have seen for ages someone selling a cow :)

Got to go its humid today and it has made me really tired.

Sam

Garden Update

2008-05-17T22:48:00.004-05:00

Well my garden has been updated a lot. I took off the chicken wire around it because it was squishing my garden. My husband put a fence around it so now Bobo the dog wont be digging or laying in it.

I bought this week the tomatoe wires from Walmart in Hondo. I had looked for them all over San Antonio at 3 other walmarts and Lowes but only found the huge ones for about $6.00 each these only cost around $1.23 each. These were smaller and fit perfect in my square foot garden.

If you look really close you will see the small green tomotoes growing :)

If you look close too you will see my new watering system that I got from walmart. It was a 75ft long seeper flat soaker hose. It was made out of Nylon Mesh a lot different from the other soakers I had seen. I didnt like the others. This one was flat and as soon as I put the hose on it inflated and soaked up everything really fast. I was really impressed.

I bought two of them at $15 each I think it was a great bargain. I pulled weeds today and also mowed the lawn. It was a good day. It sprinkled for a bit today but later it just got sunny I think it was in the high 80's today lovely.

Sam

Trip to the Apple Seed Project near Temple Texas

2008-05-13T22:49:00.003-05:00

Hubby and Miranda were at the Apple Seed project for two nights and had a blast. They brought me the targets they shot at and we were both very impressed with Miranda's shots. Hubby said she did just as well as the other full grown men there. They said she was a trooper not ever complaining and following instructions even through thatat 100' weather they had that day.

The instructors even told her if she improved some more to make the 220 they would love for her to become a female instructor. Hubby couldnt say enough good stuff about the instructors there he said they were very patient with all of them and never raised their voices.

It was fun and very educational talking about not only the revolution war but also the Texas revolution war. They have another one in June but we will be very busy during that month so I think the next might be in November but that might be the instructor one I will have to find out when the next apple project will be.

Hubby said he learned more there in those two days of instruction then he learned while being in the army. Some of the guys there that had taken $3000 gun instructions seminars said they learned a lot more that day then during that instruction that they paid for isnt that a hoot.

Sam

The AppleSeed project

2008-05-09T13:11:00.002-05:00

Above: Tom and Randy target shooting before they leave.

Well hubby and daughter are off this weekend to the AppleSeed project near Temple Texas. No they are not going to plant apple trees hahaha. The AppleSeed project is part of the Revolutionary War Veterans Association.

Here is a quote from their website "designed to take you from being a simple rifle owner to being a true rifleman. All throughout American history, the rifleman has been defined as a marksman capable of hitting a man-sized target from 500 yards away — no ifs, ands or buts about it. This 500-yard range is traditionally known as "the rifleman's quarter-mile;" a rifleman can hit just about any target he can see. This skill was particulary evident in the birth of our country, and was the difference in winning the Revolutionary War. More on it http://www.appleseedinfo.org/

They of course do a lot of gun safety stuff. Hubby was really excited about going and Miranda too, today they did some practice shots at a target and Miranda hit the bulls eyes. She takes after her mommy what can I say haha shhh don't tell Tom.

Personally I think anyone that owns a gun should take some sort of gun safety course. I realize a lot of people don't believe in guns and well that is fine and dandy its your right not to bear arms if you don't want too. Hey don't you just love America. Just don't think you have the right to take my guns away.

Living on a ranch and growing up on a ranch we have guns its simple. If you have a rattlesnake that has cornered your kid on a porch I would rather much take my chances trying to shoot it then trying to kill it with a rake or call the police who know telling when they will show up at your place, this is just one simple example.

Miranda has instructions to take pictures of the camp ground while they are there to show me. Maybe next time when my dad is back home Tommy and I can go as well. We can man the camp while they go off to the shoot range on the ranch.

Tommy is too young to do this now, Tom hopes to become an instructor in time if he really likes it, maybe even start one closer to San Antonio someday? Anyways they will be gone for the weekend. Tommy and I are going to the new Farmers market tomorrow, my sister Marta might go with us. I bought a slip and slide for Tommy and his cousins to play on today and tomorrow its really hot today here in Texas

Well I need to finish cleaning still sooooo poof

Sam

How does your garden grow

2008-05-08T19:41:00.006-05:00

Yes that is chicken wire around my garden and its not even put up right just drapped around my garden. The dog got in one day and tore up two of my tomotoe plants and some onions. The really big green stuff is green beans growing it seems to be doing the best. I've had to spray it recently with a mixture of water, hot sauce and starch to keep the peel bugs away.

So far its been working but its only been a day/night and I didnt see any on them this afternoon. Time will tell, everything else is growing really nice and I got tomotoes growing already in my bush near my roses I am so excited. Our fruit trees have some apples, plums and aproicots growing too.

My chicks are doing really good they are sort of skitish when I get near them they scare really easily. So far I havent seen any dead chicks and the temp is keeping ok, I opened up the side window to it to let some air in.

I went to go pick up my local veggies today in Castroville and found out they will be having a farmers market once a month in Castroville it got me thinking about selling eggs someday there when the chicks are grown. Its only once a month but that is enough time for me. Maybe if I get my garden going more I can sell some of that along with honey and pecans too. Right now I have all the cutomers I can handle for all the stuff we have on our farm.

Speaking of honey I bought some locally in San Antonio the other day just to compare and have some in stock, boy was it light, in fact it was too light. It didn't have much taste it was like it was strained or something I didnt really like it. I won't buy from there again. I am sure everyone else loves it from the group but if you have had some of our honey or even the honey from the old man in Devine that sells it you would see the difference.

Honey season is coming up in August. I have to remember to save some of the cone for my highschool friend Leah. She asked me last year and I completly forgot, hopefully I will remember this year. I need more jars! I saw some at the thrift shop Hospice the other day for 25 cents each I am not sure if that is a good price or not I need to compare.

Well thats about it for today I need to go do chores and close up my dads pecan house for the night. He should be back in June he said. Our income tax check rebate thingie came in today so I sent him $300 since we claim him in our taxes.

The lady at the tax office said it was better to let us claim him then give him some money so that we we can get the tax credit on our income tax. It worked out really good. Dad said he is going to use the money to make it back home from California. He said he was hoping the gas will go down but I told him not to count on it. He was going to wait till July but I think he wants to come back sooner.

Got to do chores

Sam

Chicks are here! all 100 of them!

2008-05-07T08:35:00.004-05:00

The Postmaster here called us at 5:45 am this morning to let us know the chicks were in already. I rolled over in the bed and said to my husband, "I am a mommy again" hahaha

I guess they called early because they don't want the chirping all morning long at the post office. My husband went to go pick them up which I was so thankful for because I have been driving every single day since I took the week off. Having to drive all over slows me down on my spring cleaning.

Anyways I got the daughter up and turned on all the lights outside because it was still dark and we prepared for the chicks arrival getting water, newspaper and the feed. We turned on the lights last night in the chick brooder to make sure the temp was at 100'

When hubby came back we took one at a time and gave them water and showed them where the food was and set them free to roam in the brooder. This was the second time that we didnt have any squished chicks they all survived including the 5 extra they put in the box.

The first week is going to be crucial to see who is going to survive or not. My friend who had ordered the 25 chicks is not going to be here so I have to take care of them for a week till they get back from the coast, I have to chick sit hehe

I am sad about this because they dont get the experience for taking care of them and seeing them so small within a week they will be a lot larger. The good thing about this is that I will get them stronger before they go with their new owners so they will have a better chance of surving when little kids pick them up so much.

I let them order them with me because its cheaper in the long run for both of us and they didnt have the knowledge yet on what kinds to get, I got straight run sex links. They are all female chicks and this breed will start laying a lot earlier then any other breed plus they were born to be pasture raised chickens. Its a favorite of my Pasture Poultry yahoo group. By the way did I mention I became owner of my Pasture Poultry group? It has over 2500 members from all over the world and I have been moderating it for over a year now, The owner passed it on over to me she was busy with other projects.

Anyways by the time we finished with the chicks the sun had risen a bit, its a bit cloudy outside still so no real sun yet. I went to go let my chickens go at the coop and feed the goat while hubby went to take a shower and daughter went back to bed.

Tommy my son slept through the whole thing but he was up and about for breakfast this morning. It was a real treat to drink coffee with hubby this morning and talk a bit. I like these times.

I am going to rest up a bit before I tackle any more stuff today.

Sam

Late-Spring Cleaning

2008-05-05T23:24:00.004-05:00

Two full size garbage bags, one donation bag later my sons room is finally clean. It took most the day to to it. I was going to take a before picture but I was too embarrased, you couldnt even walk in the room it was that bad. Above he is playing with his army men he has been really happy. He helped me the whole time I was cleaning most the day, till the last hour I let him go watch tv for a bit so he can get out of the way while I did the finish touches to his room.

I decided awhile back that I needed a week to clean the house I kept saying that till my husband finally said why dont you? So I canceled all appointments and made sure it was not on a milk/egg/veggie run week and decided to do it.

My sister is staying in town baby sitting her grandkids so she was not here to distract me otherwise I would be going next door a lot to take breaks. I decided on my sons room first for two reasons, one because it is the messier room of the house but also because it will keep him busy playing in the room (its like christmas for him finding toys all together, hasnt seen for awhile) so I can tackle the rest of the house.

Tomorrow I might have to pick up the chicks early in the morning I am hoping they wont come till Wed morning. I also have to do a few errands getting some more cleaning supplies and stopping by to get some feed for my chickens, hopefully it wont take me that long to do that.

I think I will do the living room and the dining room for my next project, besides picking up I plan to rearrange the living room a bit. I have no idea what I am going to do maybe it will come to me tonight.

I am really tired right now, my throat hurts I think from all the dust from today. I will go to bed early tonight. I have to put out the trash and I didnt do it tonight because it looked like it might rain.

later

Sam

Another Veggie Coop

2008-04-29T22:55:00.003-05:00

I have joined another Veggie coop. I am not sure if I am keeping both or dropping one. This one seems to be a lot closer and a lot better because its a local farm that does not spray their veggies. However its not a lot of stuff and its $5.00 more then the other group. I like the goodies I get on the other group its things we use.

This last week I got beets. I am not sure what to do with them. We don't usually eat beets. Before I could think what to do with them I left them out too long...sigh..I am sure its not going to be the last time we get beets.

We got a lot of young cumcumbers so I peeled them and cut them up in slices and put lemon and salt boy where they yummy! So far I can afford it and with the prices going up at the grocery store I guess I am glad to even get it especially locally.

I did find out that they will take kids to help work the farm for a field trip. I am thinking we can do a co-op class next semester on square foot gardening and gardening in general I am excited. I would have it early in the morning so that the kids can work at the farm for awhile before classes on Monday.

Sam

Garden is growing

2008-04-23T13:39:00.003-05:00

Its hard to see but my garden is starting to grow now. So far I have planted and that is growing is tomotoes, onions, yellow pepers two of them, lettuce, carrots, radishes, peppers and green beans. I will try to be planting okra, climbing peas and pototoes, but I need to get to my compost first for the pototoes.

I am having trouble with the dog digging on the part I havent planted yet so yesterday I bought some cover for the plants I hope to get to that today too. I bought the dog a pool so he can cool off hopefully he will go there instead of my garden.

Hubby bought some fencing this weekend for the part of our field near the garden. We plan to put the sheep there to graze then later my chicks when they come out of the brooder, this way they are double safe from predators including my dog who killed 20 of them last year.

This is a great place to put our turkeys too. He was going to put the fence up this last weekend but he got sick so it will have to wait. This weekend hubby is going to a gun show in San Antonio with a friend and I am going to flea market a tad. Later on we are going to see that movie Expelled its something hubby wants to see I would rather go see Iron Man hahaha but I am happy to just be with hubby and usually I pick the movies so should be interesting.

Miranda my daughter is going to her friends Katies house for a few hours and Tommy will be at our gym for kids night out where they will be making fiesta floats, watching movies and eating pizza and of course playing in the gym. Should be a nice date night. If I am lucky I might get dinner too hahaha

Well thats about it for now I have tons to do today.

Sam aka Frugalcountrymom

Square foot gardening

2008-04-11T13:48:00.006-05:00

Ok so just above you see Tom my hubby putting in the cattle panels in the middle of our garden so the hanging crops can climb. The top picture is my attempt to try to do a little square foot gardening of course its 1 foot wide but across its going to be a bit more so I am dividing that too for the hanging crops.

The first day after we had done all this our dog decided it was a nice cool place to lay down in so we had to scold him about that, then the next day today I see what looks like cats digging in it. I told hubby in an email that we need to get some sort of netting otherwise any seeds I plant are going to be wasted.

Tom at this moment is telling me to search for floating covers. It looks hot to me I was hoping on just some netting. I am waiting for his reply on it. Each week that we wait it gets hotter and hotter here in South Texas.

For reference I use "All new square foot gardening by Mel Bartholomew-We have his older version book somplace in our house so we decided to buy the newer one. Everything he says in it makes sense about wasted space. I highly recommend his book.

Experiment gone wrong

2008-04-06T20:44:00.004-05:00

Well all the work I did to my companion gardening to my roses was ruined today. It took me two days of work to get the garden ready and plant the onions. Actually it had taken me a year to get the poison out of the ground from last year.

Chemicals got on my roses and onions. I am not even going to go in details on how it got there.

I read the ingridents...well it said DO NOT HANDLE with your bare hands, do not get it in your eyes. Well if I can't handle it with my hands I really dont want it in my food. We have fertilizer already its called compost. I am sure it works well but its not what I want my family to be eating. Its like the giant tomotoe that might grow in a Neclear waste dump its huge, its big and red but would you eat it?

So I pulled all the onions except the chives in the pot and when my compost is ready I will spread it on my rose soil and start all over again and give it another year and try it again. We wont be eating any rose petals once again with our salads for another year.

My tomotoe plant in the middle of my roses at least thank goodness was not touching the roses because I had a black thing around it so I am going to leave that be for now. I just planted carrots near them so hopefully it will be ok.

Its still a bit early and Tom said the onions are still for sale at the local feed market so I am going to stop by tomorrow to pick some up and plant them in our new garden instead.

Sam

Companion Gardening

2008-04-04T14:49:00.006-05:00

So in our pursuit of raising a garden this year I am trying a hand of "Companion gardening" which is not a new thing but its new to me. With Companon gardening you plant things together that will benefit each other.

Above second picture you can see my rose plants that I planted last year and this year some more. In between I planted onions and chives and in the pots on each corner I hope to grow more chives in those too. They help keep the bugs away from my roses and help prevent the dreaded black spots.

On the other plot up top I have with roses I planted in the middle some tomotoes and onions in between the roses. I am not sure what I will be planting in the middle of it yet, time will tell and I need to get some more nice soil for it.

All this information I got from an author named Louise Riotte who lives in Oklahoma which as you know the climate is pretty close to Texas :) her book the one I have is called "Carrtos love tomotoes" I love this book and I am reading it every chance I can get.

Is it going to work? Who knows I can only pray that it will. I hated the wasted space between my roses I felt guilty planting stuff I couldnt eat....well...I guess you could eat roses in salad some people do that but...anyways....I am happy with the results so far.

We plan to do the bigger plot like this too companion garden so they can benefit each other.

I will update pictures as they grow ....or if they grow :)

Sam