Organization and Simplicity Add Peace

Summer is the time of year that all my projects start to feel a bit overwhelming. In the spring I’m inspired and feel a bit invincible because everything is starting fresh after what seems like a long winter. Now things are dry and it seems everything needs watered, weeded, mowed and generally tended to. It’s time to clean out the barn and, since we live on a farm, there’s a ton of dust that needs to be cleaned up in the house.

Recently my husband and I went away for a few days. It seemed innocent enough, we just needed a little break. Coming back, however, has proven to be more of a chore than we had bargained for! Some of my plants were dying after just a few day of inattention. There is dust everywhere and just the packing and unpacking process seemed overwhelming. The yard is needing mowed and we just want to turn around and go back to “vacation”, where ever that is.

So this whole process has me thinking about getting things more organized and self sufficient so that we can take a break once in a while without being so overwhelmed. This year our final child flew the coop, so to speak, and now we have more time to head off into parts unknown with the motorhome or the four wheeling rig so it’s time to get home settled into a more organized routine. A routine anyone can step into for a few days and keep running. With this in mind I am searching Amazon for a few organizing helps and I’ve made a list of some of the things that are interesting me. I’m also in the mood to minimize some of my belongings and am starting a pile of “to be donated” items as well.

I’ll be going through my closets, office, kitchen and even the yard and garden to minimize and organize. When I’m out on a little excursion I realize that I’m able to live with a lot less “stuff” so I’ll be donating some of what I have and I’ve found these bins that will help me to organize some of what is left after I purge. If you’d like to take a look at these click on the image and it will take you to their Amazon listing. (As an Amazon Associate I do earn a small amount from qualifying orders.). I really like the fact that these handy bins open from the front or the top so you can so easily access their contents.

I will be working on this project for a while so I will let you know if I find other items that are useful in this search for a more simple useable and less stressful lifestyle.

Stay tuned!!

Meet Turbo the Donkey…

It’s fall here on the farm and the nights are getting cooler.  The leaves on the trees are just beginning to change colors and there is the occasional cloudy day.  I absolutely love this time of year!  I think it is my favorite mostly because I love the colors and also because the weather is so pleasant.  The days are warm and the nights are cool and that suits me well!

Turbo the donkey also likes these fall days.  His horse buddy is back from camp and the sun feels so good on his back.  He likes to roll around in the dirt a bit and then just lay there and soak up the sun.  He’s a bit bored with the dry grass that is in his pasture and likes to chase the alpaca around until the alpaca will chase him back and bight at him to make him stop.  To Turbo this is all a game that helps to make life more fun!

Turbo will soon have his eighth birthday and has been here on our little farm for about five years.  We have all learned to love him in those five years.  We had never known a donkey before he came.  He first came to satisfy the longing of a little girl who desperately wanted a horse but we couldn’t afford one at the time so a donkey would have to do.  Since then, he has installed himself as a permanent part of the family.

If I was to explain his personality in a simplified way, I would say he is like a dog only bigger.  Turbo knows his name and comes when we call him and he loves to be scratched just about anywhere.  He really likes his ears scratched and also his back side.  Turbo will chase the goats around until they jump up on a pile of concrete pieces in the pasture.  Then he backs up to the pile where the goat is and waits for the goat to scratch him with it’s horns.  This little game is so funny to watch!  If the goat is willing to stay there for a while, Turbo will turn and have his neck scratched and under his chin too.

My husband started keeping little bags of fruit snacks in his work van especially for Turbo.  When he comes home from work he stops along the fence to feed some to Turbo.  As you might expect, Turbo has come to anticipate these little treats and as soon as he sees that work van pull into the driveway he comes running toward the fence where he hopes to get his treat.

Turbo can be ridden but is not trained well enough to go where you want him to unless he is following the horse.  Our little girl, who was the reason Turbo first came, is now college age and working to train Turbo to pull a cart.  I’m sure I’ll report on that process later when the training is farther along.  She is also training him to stand better for hoof trimming time.

Getting to know Turbo has helped me to better appreciate God’s creatures.  Every animal I’ve known has a personality and Turbo is no exception.  What some may call a dumb animal has a loving personality with a bit of mischief thrown in and an obvious intelligence that is hard to deny once you’re acquainted with him.  He does appear to be stubborn at times as donkeys are known to be, but I have discovered that many times that stubbornness is actually more rooted in caution.  He doesn’t like knew situations and will be very careful until he knows that they are safe.

For instance is he stubborn or cautious…?  We have a small pond that we keep some fish in and that our goose loves to swim in.  Turbo would not even walk near that pond at first sight of it.  He was afraid of it for some reason.  Pull and tug as we might, he would dig in his heels and insist on going the long way around the pond.  We often let Turbo run about inside our two acres fenced area, especially in spring, and after studying that pond for some time he now views it as a source of water and will even wade into it just a bit to get a drink of water.

I hope that you have a chance to stop and enjoy the season that is upon us and if you’re inclined, to also have for a friend, an animal that will appreciate and even reciprocate your attentions.

God bless!

Turkey’s on the farm…

This morning we added some new members to our animal family here on the farm.  We’ve never had turkeys before so I had to look online to even get an idea as to the breed of these guys.  They are male and female and the female had just started laying eggs before they were given to us and that’s the extent of the information that was given to us with them.  Since we’ve always kept chickens and have had guinea fowl and have a goose, I feel confident that we will be able to care for them adequately.  I would love to know what kind they are though and if they are able to breed naturally.  If anyone knows, I’d love to have you comment on this blog and let me know.  From my research I am guessing standard bronze.  I’m not completely sure though.

These turkey’s have been housed with a goat and some chickens until now so when they came to us this morning I put them in the pasture with our goats.  It was so cute to see the goats sniff at them and try to figure out “who” they were.  “Everyone” on the farm is so interested in meeting these new members.  When the chickens came out of their house for the day, they looked the turkeys over carefully.  The horses are watching over the fence and the dog has been in and out of the house all day checking on the turkeys.  He is half boarder collie and half blue healer and so by breed is very interested in the animals.  He has taken it upon himself to make sure that they all stay in their proper enclosures.  Since the chickens are wandering freely about the yard this time of year the dog makes sure they stay off the front porch.

Those of us in the house are able to see the turkeys out the front windows so we are checking on them regularly from a distance.  They perked up quite a bit when I took kitchen scraps out for them and the other animals!  It has been a windy day here so us humans are not too interested in spending a lot of time outside.  We’ll have fun, though, getting to know these new creatures in the days and weeks to come!

Good-bye for now and God bless!

Easter Blessings…

Happy Easter!  This is a day when Christian’s all over the world remember the resurrection of Christ.  Our family doesn’t  do a lot of celebrating on this day but like to remember the resurrection every day of the year.  We do, however, have the custom of hiding and finding eggs on Easter morning and it has always been a fun tradition for our kids.  Even though our kids are getting older now and want to hide the eggs themselves, they still like to keep to this tradition.

I have never really liked to color eggs because I don’t like the smell of vinegar so I’m really excited  that farm eggs are often multi colored already and ours are!  I took the opportunity to take some pictures of them when the sun was at an angle a couple of days ago and they are beautiful!  I’ve added some of those pictures to this blog.

So, in spite of the distraction of new farm animals arriving this morning which I’ll write about in a later blog, we have boiled our eggs and look forward to our other tradition for this day which is eating creamed eggs on toast, as we call it.  This is a tradition that carries back to my childhood and is basically white gravy with boiled eggs sliced into it and poured over buttered toast.  My mother is a wonderful country cook and I learned to cook from her.  It takes a while for me to get a recipe on paper because I’m used to just putting a little of this and a little of that in until it looks right and tastes right rather than measuring.  I am adding the recipe for the Egg Gravy here though.  This recipe is quite simple to make and intended for the person who is used to making gravy with a packet from the store or has never made gravy before and would like to know how to make a gravy from scratch.

RECIPE:  Put ingredients into the frying pan (I like to use an iron skillet but it should work in any skillet):  1/4 c. vegetable oil and heat pan, add 1 cup flour stirred into the oil.  When the flour and oil are stirred well and the flour is browned a little begin to add water slowly and stir to smooth consistency while you add.  If you add water all at once the gravy will be lumpy.  Continue adding water and stirring until the gravy is the consistency that you want it to be.  Next add salt to taste and then slice the boiled, peeled eggs into the gravy and stir.  I used about 8 eggs in our pan of gravy.  This is a simple recipe and yet special to us because we only eat it on Easter!

Easter has been a day of memory making for me throughout my childhood and my children’s years of growing up and I hope that you have a chance to spend time with your family making memories this weekend.

God bless!

 

 

Our Hens’ Gems…

It’s been a few days since I had time to check in here!  Life has been happening here on the farm to the tune of two of the children in this house heading on a band trip to Hawaii (jealous mom here!), another readying to go on a more local, week long mission trip, some teen age issues with another of the children requiring much extra attention from Dad and me, etc.

In the meantime, the little ladies that live out in the chicken house have been hard at work!  They have taken to laying over a dozen eggs a day which is getting quite exciting for all of us!  Last year we raised quite a few new chicks to add some fresh hens to our flock.  It had been a few years since we had done this and now we are happily reaping the rewards of last summers efforts.  I really love to see a variety in the egg basket so we added some Ameraucana’s to the flock while we were at it.  Now the egg collection looks so pretty!

Our eighteen year old daughter really loves to sell the eggs so she has been cleaning and selling the ones that we don’t use ourselves.  She doesn’t seem to have any trouble finding people who want to buy eggs from healthy free range chickens.  This is a great way for us to get good quality eggs for our own use and also for the chickens to pay for their own upkeep.

I’ve been doing some extra weeding around the flower gardens which is unearthing some plump worms and grubs.  The chickens, who are milling about, are thrilled to have the extra protein in their diet and the alpaca is standing by waiting for the weeds.  It’s a win win situation!

Another benefit of having chickens is the pure enjoyment of watching them.  I usually keep a variety of breeds of hens so that I can tell them apart.  It is more fun for me to know who I’m seeing when I look out the window at them.  When ever I go outside they all come running in hopes of getting some kitchen scraps or grain that I may have for them.  They are really easy to keep pets.  Chickens are a great addition to any small or large homestead!

Well, I’m off to check the egg production for the day, good-bye for now!

God bless…

 

Spring Dreaming…

Wow!  It feels and looks like spring is here on the farm even if the calendar doesn’t yet concur with this notion.  My daffodils are blooming beautifully and the sun is shining and those things make me want to be outside working in my yard and garden.  My husband planted some new peach trees yesterday in the rain and we’re excited to see them come out of their dormancy and look alive!  I’ve been out weeding and had the kids trimming last years dead herbs and flowers in preparation of the spring time awakening that is soon to come.  What an awesome time of year!

This is the time of year that I am thinking about all of my gardening dreams for the year.  Often I don’t accomplish all of them.  Once things are really hot I have a tendency to be more lethargic than I’d like.  I have to get outside in the early morning or late evening to accomplish my yard work.  We do hope to have a few vegetables growing this year though, and hope our strawberry and raspberry patches will produce well.

Just for today though… The spring dreams are flowing in the sunshine, the apricot trees look like they are about ready to break forth in bloom, the hyacinths and daffodils are already there and it is all like a symphony to my eyes!  Awww (delighted sigh), guess I’ll go out and work on accomplishing some of those dreams.

Toodle-oo!

Some Saving to Do…

Today I want to share with you just a few of the ways that we save money in our family.  As you know, “A penny saved is a penny earned”!

1. Hair Cuts – From the day that my boyfriend, now husband, said to me, “Either you cut my hair or I will,” I have been trying my hand at barbering.  It has saved us a lot of money over the years.  Of course, I’ve gotten better with time.  Thanks to my choice of a longer hair style, my husband and I are able to cut my hair as well.  I do go in for a “professional do” on a rare occasion.  That is always a relaxing event!
2. Heating Bill – We have a large wood stove that heats our entire house and garage as well as provides a cooking surface when it is being used.  We generally get our firewood from a tree trimmer in the area.  He is willing to bring the long logs here and dump them at our home and my husband cuts them into lengths.  This has been the most cost and labor effective way for us to heat our home and also saves on our cooking fuel bill.
3. Gifts – This is an area where we all love to get creative!  I like to crochet, cook, sew, knit, make candles, lotions, bath salts, and more.  These activities are fun to pass on to the kids and make great cost effective gifts!  I am usually able to go to my “gift box” and gather something out when it is time to give a gift which is really nice!!!
4. Car repairs – This is an area that not everyone is able to do but that my husband is very good at.  There are a lot of online videos these days that make repairs easier to do yourself if you are able to follow what they are doing in the video.  There are actually pretty good diagnostics available online too.  The web is definitely an asset that we never had in years gone by but makes many jobs much easier now.
5. Food preparation – This is something that I don’t think is given much thought by some these days.  It costs quite a lot less to prepare your own meals using dry beans, rice, potatoes, pastas etc. then if you choose to purchase already prepared meals.  For my family, which consists of 7 of us living in our house right now, it is very worth the effort to figure out how to make tasty meals from “scratch”.  It’s not too hard to look up recipes on pinterest or find recipe books at thrift stores or even ask friends for suggestions.  We tend to like the foods that we can make here at home better than the ones that are pre-made.

Well, enough for now, the kids are all home and time for me to go into mom mode!  God bless!