Snowy Wednesday

This is the picture out my front window this afternoon.Snow,snow and more snow,although they say its suppose to start raining later and rain all day tomorrow.

We went to court today for my grand daughter and daughter, never frown on small Blessing. The judge gave her a continued case until April 7th. Blessing,, no matter how big or small its a Blessing from above. Now Miss Hailey can relax and breath and be a little girl again .

Today Rob couldnt work so he was here to drive which is also a Blessing to me because snow,truck,bad roads lead to me and panic. But all is well, now its time to concentrate back on here and my farming,sewing and baking,crafts. They all have taken second plate to everything else.

In a past post I mention recipes of the day and I have slacked on getting that started so today I believe is a good day to start. Now let me see what did I say Wednesday would feature?????

Wednesday was a MEAT DAY! Whether is how to can,dry,cook,salt, or a recipe based mainly on the meat in the menu.

Today what will it be? Beef,Pork,Chicken,Squirrel,Racoon,Turkey???????

Winner is::::::Pineapple BBQ Lamb Spare Ribs ( in this case country style spare ribs from my pigs)

3lbs spareribs 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1 8 oz can crushed pineapple 1 teaspoon salt

1/4 c vinegar 1/8 teaspoon pepper

1/4 c honey 1/4 teaspoon ginger

1 clove garlic, finely chopped

Place spareribs on a rack in a shallow roasting pan> bake at 325' for approximately 1 hour. Drain of drippings Combine remaining ingredients and mix well. Pour over the ribs and bake 45 mins or until tender baste ribs frequently during baking.

This is what we are having for supper tonight. I am going to boil potatoes and serve broccoli as vegetable. My husband is very much a meat and potatoes guy, Old school.

In my case since I dont have a regular oven right now I have made do with making a oven box on top of my wood stove.

This is when I miss the cook stove being hooked up but theres no room for both and the Fischer heats 100% more than the Glenwood,and since we only use wood to heat with need to do whats best for the house also.I do all my cooking on top of wood stove.

Just made a hot cup of tea as I sit here and ponder what else to write with out boring any one.

Everyone is napping here, I guess its a good day for it. I did hear Rob down stairs splitting my 24" wood. Now thats one heck of a work out. I split wood yesterday by hand and believe I love to split wood Honestly I do. But need to convince him just because the stove can take over 24 inch wood doesnt mean the wood has to be 24 inches long. But I can feel the "burn" in my ribs today I really thought my back would be hurting more. But its fine. We have some Ash out there to cut up now and split.Told Rob if he could split some of what is down stairs the rest could wait til weekend because we are in the mist of a snow storm they say 6-10 inches,yuck, I could see my lawn in spots. Asked him not to plow it because behind this storm is also rain and then if it all melts again and freezes I wont be able to walk out there. I am sure it didnt hurt his feeling not have to cut wood and plow snow, now he is sleeping. Anthony is also sleeping which gives me 2 hands to type with. Nick is watching his tv and eating his lunch.

The weather guys are talking heavy rain and wind coming tonight with possible power outages,can you see the smile? I love power outages, my style of living. Its the only way I can get to live Little House days with out a fight from everyone else. Oh I am sure if Rob could figure a way to have his refrigerator for his cold milk and water didnt run from a well 300+ feet int he ground we would be off the grid. Someday will get it figured out to be.

A few more squares and I will have the lap afghan done, its in browns and tans. Think I am going to make some shawls I love them think they are just so lady like. Will post pictures of them.

Well time to check out some more pioneer sites. A friend of mine Cristy has some great stuff on her Blog,,She finds some excellent stuff so I have to go tag them and join so I can learn some more. I am going to be 50 next month and by the time I am 55 I want to be totally self suffienct and off the grid, thats my goal.

Lazy Sunday

This is Anthony with a Girl Scout Cookie smile Thin Mint to be exact.

I laughed so hard had to take his picture

Lazy Sunday

Thats a term used very loosely around here.

Lazy doesnt happen often for me. After spending a week being very sick today is a good day. I have accomplished alot. Several loads of laundry til I ran out of spaces to hang it up. Pork roast on the stove cooking with onions and garlic, shortly will have carrots and potatoes added to finish all cooking in one pan.

Going to be painting one of my floors tonight hunter green, got the paint for free with one of the ads from Homesteadingtoday other wise known to most of us on face book as HT. If you have never checked out a wonderful site with knowledge from so many different people you are missing something that is special. so when you get a chance go browse thru http://www.homesteadingtoday.com/ I bet you'll find something that interest you. If you dont you will be the first person I have ever mentioned it to that didnt like something about the site.

The sun has been out great today, wish we didnt have snow and it was like April would of been a perfect day for a walk. But with Anthony just getting over being sick also not taking any chances.

Rob has been working all day or should I say been gone all day. From the phone call I just received more like a bunch of guys standing around chatting about logging and horses and a combination of both and how who is related to who,HMMM that sound like what they accuse women of doing.

Been reading alot about raised bed gardens. I do believe that is what I am going to do this yr here. Will be able to plant a little earlier, it mention placing plastic jugs over plants ,,I have started saving milk jugs an any plastic jug we get recycle them instead of putting them at the dump.Going to do more research and post in seperate posting.

Really not much going on today as the title say lazy Sunday. The week will make up for it I am sure. Still have to reset up my sewing room, I want to out a bed in there. Believe me this summer it will be so hot up stairs some one else will be glad theres a bed down there also. With being sick and or having the baby here I sleep alot of night in recliner if I had a spare bed we could sleep down there.

Took a gander in the refrigerator awhile ago to see what was left for left overs..LOL right, with 2 men and a growing teenager- leftovers . I did see enough roast beef to make a nice meat pie tomorrow. I have been craving a nice juicey meatloaf lately so that will happen for one meal, then meat loaf sandwiches,, yumyum.

Thinking about starting recipe day posting, each day of the week feature an ole fashion olden day recipe. Monday- breads, Tuesday-casserole-Wednesday-meat dish-Thursday vegetables-Friday-desserts- Saturday and Sunday will be suprise days. What do ya think? feed back any one?

Gardening,craft,canning, posting to start appearing when I find intersting stuff.

If you want to know something, let me know I'll look it up and share it.

Well my baby is dancing to HillBilly Bones and is requiring my attention.

So on that note you have a wonderful day

pictures from FARM JOURNAL OCTOBER 1947

Meet the rest of the family

Daisy my goat, side ways she would look just like the calves black with white belt

Our cows, the calves are black and white belted galloways x hereford . Jacob is the one in the front. Beside him is his Mother Dot she is a jersey/ hereford cross. Behind her is Lucy who looks just like Jacob except her white belt doesnt connect, hers looks like a horse shoe. Lucy's mom was the one we just had to put down because she all of a sudden couldnt walk. Her mom was Casey, my milking jersey, I miss her,especially everytime I have to buy milk. Casey was my very first heifer when we bought the farm. But she put alot of hamburger in the freezer. Circle of life on the farm.

Girls getting equal time

Since I show cased the boys the other day with the farrier,thought I better give my girls some attention. cant have them going on strike on me. Mr.Rooster in background.

Also did you know if you steam fresh eggs for 20 mins and cool them completely, you'll be able to peel them. Fresh eggs dont boil and peel as well as the store bought eggs. The store bought eggs could be a month or so old by the time you buy them. Yuck so much for fresh.

Try a comparsion buy fresh eggs from your local farmer and get a store bought egg, crack them open in a bowl. notice the difference in color. fresh farm eggs yolks are so much brighter, better taste also

Friday snowy out there

I am sorry for not posting for a couple days. I have been very much under the weather so to speak. My darling Anthony gave me his cold which for me turned in to full blown flu. I don't get sick often but boy when I do watch out.
I don't know about your house but in this one,certain people get sick and the world stops while others are dragging hinny and still keep plugging along. My husband gets sick the world comes to a screaming halt, he stays in bed he wants to be waited on hand an foot (ok that's no different than other day), me I get sick so i cant drive type sick I still cook,clean do chores and take care of a baby, I didn't see me in bed whining how bad I felt. Shows the different levels of pain, and strengths people have. But anyways, I got a decent night sleep baby slept between grampa and me most of the night, right where he was wanted to be. He wanted nothing to do with his crib, he was so cute, me he claws the crap out of my face and grampa he was gentling and softly rubbing his back with his fingers while he was falling a sleep, like a little kitten kneading on something.

I took extra pictures the other day of my animals i will post them also, cant get the picture thing on here figured out on how to post them and arrange them so i can write next to them, who knows maybe ya cant. I will have to ask a Blogger friend how she does hers.

I have alot to do today, store to restock paper products and dog food, wish I had more time I would make their dog food instead of buying all the store stuff. I also have to clean the rental today we have people leaving and coming in so praying it isnt a bad mess.

Been considering different topics to write about, give me some feed back, was thinking about doing recipes of the day, one week do desserts, another breads,casseroles, what do ya think, but find Ole fashion back in time recipes. I am trying to go back and use what they would cook with back in 1800's when they didnt have all the modern store conviences. When everything wasnt instant and microwavable. They didnt have the weight problems we have now, people had to get up and do stuff, how many farmers do you see over weight in the 1800's. Takes engery to walk behind a plow or to cut hay by hand. Myself i would love to have the chance to live like that just to prove to myself I can do it. To be on one of those wilderness shows where they have to build their own houses and store stuff for winter cut wood, I think it would be great.

I was reading idfferent parts of magazines we get, this article was on growing your own chicken feed. I pay alot out in grains for all my animals I need to find things I can grow and store for the winter months for my animals. As they stated chickens didnt have store bought feed in the wild.
Sometimes i think they have produced a chicken that wont lay eggs unless its getting layer pellets, mine seem to go on strike with out grains store bought. but this yr will be different their pens will be made where they get to get out side in a bigger area and scratch for feed also. We have a hay field we do and the people said we can do anything with it..Myself i would like to harrow it up and plant corn, the cows,horses,chickens goats everything eats corn. I believe we only get 100 bales of hay off from it so maybe we could get more benfit out of planting a crop instead. I would mean more work it the beginning but worth if it works this coming winter.

If you plant a crop for your animals feed let me know how it goes and what you plant. Always looking for ways to be more self sufficient.
Going to try my hand at growing and drying my own herbs this yr haven't given it a shot before but it about time.Making raised bed gardens to make it easier on my back.

I was thinking also the other day, I placed a ad on Craigslist to sell my glenwood kitchen cook stove, because of the way the house is being remodeled it is to big for the space and with Nick he could fall and get burnt, Sitting here this morning I had a brain cramp,, I don't want to really sell it, i do enjoy sitting next to it with my rocking chair and knitting,crocheting or just having a cup of coffee and reading. I think my stove ought to go in my shop, I will need heat, I want to give the shop a rustic, country feel, almost ole timey where you'd see the old men playing checkers on the front porch, feel, did ya know what I mean. If I put the stove in there and some chairs, ya all could stop for coffee and donuts and sit a spell, could have soups or stews simmering for supper while I worked out there, would cut down on any clutter because of the clearance needed for the stove, maybe a braided rug on the floor, kind of like coming into someones kitchen. Make it look like a country kitchen for the old days, have the butter churn and ice cream maker, canning jars plant, eggs baskets and milk cans for decorations but use them to hold things. Give me some feed back on it. Let me know what ya think.
Sitting here looking out the window and be able to see the total yard, and its only 6:30. Loving it. more daylight mean spring is coming and warmer weather will soon follow. dreaming of the first morning warm enough to take coffee outside and sit on front step.
Well time to get the boys in gear or they're both going to be late.
have a very Blessed day

Horses & The Farrier

Mike getting a fitting for new shoes

Little trim

Rob & Mike

MIKE STANDING IN BARN

Little trim Bob

Good- Boy Bob

BOB standing in Stocks waiting

Bob is getting better about having his feet done, but still needs stocks, Mike get his done right in driveway, stands super good. New shoes for my boys -all set for another 6 weeks