Semi Random thoughts...

I have been so lazy this last week, we started working on the sanctuary , by cutting down the couple of sapling that have sprouted in the space. That is all we have done here this week in reality, and I really need to get out and clear some space in my berry patch as it's getting a tad overgrown with plants that are not berry producers.

I also need to clear out the non-potato plants from my potato bed, I guess it's just been the warm last couple of days making me not want to go out and work. I plan on going out and working tomorrow if it's not raining, as we are suppose to have on and off rain for the next seven days here.

I had an interesting thought the other day on HFCS(high fructose corn syrup), now except for the very random soda when we go out and I need some sugar in my system; we have pretty much removed this substance from our diet. Except for ketchup, and I mention this for one reason. I generally put it on burgers myself, and the other day for the heck of it I put it on some of our home made fries. I did a “yuck” immediately. It's weird as I know why I got the “yuck” it is the HFCS as I've had some ketchup that has none in it and those taste “normal” to me. However, the kind I recently picked up as my son is a ketchup hound uses it.

So I can honestly say that HFCS does add “flavor” to the products it's in, and if you are no longer use to “tasting” it on a regular basis you will notice it. I know I did, Silver did as well. I know my kids don't notice it as they eat meals at school, which we all know is filled with foods that contain this ingredient in it. I really am considering setting up “home” lunches for the next school year, and getting the kids off it; but it might be a loosing battle. I say this because my kids do get “rewarded” by teachers with soda pop, candy, and chips. How do you stop that? The schools obviously have no issues with it, and neither do the teachers.

It kinda goes back to my complaint about the local churches using candy to get kids to participate in their churches. I understand rewarding good work, trust me; it is the easiest way to get a child to work. However, I think there is a better way. I know all kids like coloring.. even older ones, I have seen it. They all also like stickers (who doesn't?), and little “sticky” things. They could even reward kids with more computer time.

Come on folks.. how about trying????

Speaking of the kids, they will be out of school on the 14^th of May, I think that's a bit early. I know they didn't have snow days this year, but it's still odd to me to see kids out of school before June. I don't think they are doing a heck of a lot right now either as they took the “mandated” standardized tests a week ago and the kids have not come home with any homework since. My son said they are doing their “final” exams right now in the high school, but he only had to take one; and that in all the other classes he's watching movies. What ever happened to teaching the full year?

I'm a little sorry this has turned into a bit of a gripe session on here today.. but trust me I could go on a tad more, about much more. Tink knows why, but here is not really the place to vent on certain subjects. I would like to thank her in advance for the plants she is passing along, I've had so much troubles getting melons to grow; she's going to be passing some starts onto me. I love melons and have been disappointed that the last two years I have not been able to get them to grow.

I am “working” on some bread loaves today, one straight sourdough, the second is a sourdough with oatmeal, flaxseed, and sunflower oil. I hope it comes out good! I have been branching out of late trying out new things with the no knead sourdough and , we had been thinking something. If Silver could get me an outdoor bread oven built and we can find a way to cook multi loaves at once, would I be able to sell them at the local Farmer's market? Do I need a special permit to sell a baked item? I think I will be looking into this. I do love baking and I just get behind on it too. I am also going to see when the kids take their trip this summer if I can pick up some fabric scraps to do some other “projects” that I could sell possibly. I love to sew and I do it all by hand, I have made my kids blankets often from young ages; all from “remnant” pieces of fabric. They love them, and they are very sturdy so I wonder if there is a market for them locally.

Well that's it for now... before I ramble 20 pages or more.... grins

Be Well, Be Safe, and Blessed Be...

Lots of Random Work

Good Mid-morning everyone!

I finally got our blankets out the clothes line... I had been putting them off, but decided to get them out today.. of course we are out of bleach so I tried peroxide on the white ones. We'll see if they get as bright as bleach, I don't like bleach and would love a few recommendations on an alternative for a -GOOD- whitener to use instead.

One of the girls informed me this morning one of their friends is selling rabbits, YEAH! Maybe I'll get my start on my rabbit breeding group even though I had given up on them for this year. I like rabbit meat, and they grow quick and convert feed to meat the best. I am planning on trying what Joseph Stalin over at Polyface Farms has done (I don't know if he still is though) and get them back to eating grasses instead of “bought” feed. It will probably take a few generations though, and I am willing to try it out till they are able to move to a close to 100% grass feeding. I know from experience that rabbits that are “pets” do still eat grass when given the chance. I personally think they just don't know how too eat it full time. I am also looking forward to the wonderful manure we'll get from it!

I picked up some humming bird food this morning, and I am hoping by next year my few shrubs that should attract them will be big enough to sustain them instead of me buying “feed” for them. I my opinion any kind of pollinator is a good thing, as long as it's a pollinator.

This morning I have also set up one quart jar of orange rosemary vinegar to “blend” over the next two weeks. I am hoping for some interesting salads from this, as it will be used in making salad dressings. I will test it in two weeks to see if it's what I want, if it's not strong enough yet it'll go back to the dark spot in my pantry. I cut the rosemary just before putting it into the vinegar, my little plant has so much new growth on it I do hope it grows big. A five foot tall rosemary bush would not bother me one bit. I think I know a few people who would agree with me too.

I am going to try tomorrow to get pictures of the potatoes that are coming up in the potato bed. I have also started clearing the area for my “sanctuary”, it's not going to be very big. It's also going to be a lot closer to the road than I'd like, however; it “feels” like the right spot. I am planning on setting out a circle with a brick outline and place a correct tree at the compass points (anyone got the list of the trees that would go there?), I need to look up the correspondence for it. I use to have it written down, but it got lost somewhere. I am hoping to find enough stone on property to make a small alter in the center for offerings. Then on the one end we will be making the “memory garden” for my dad and Silver's first wife. I can picture it in my head , I just hope it translates well.

Well that's it for now.

Be Well, Be Safe, and Blessed Be...

Hi there everyone.. it is such a lovely morning today!  Despite the chilly temps that is, take a look at what I picked up for lunch today:

Course, not my lettuce plats look a little weak now; but we will enjoy it!  It's just going to be the lettuce, those couple of early onions, and a tomato that we bought (ugh) that is in the fridge, a lite vinaigrette and lunch will be served.  Maybe we'll add some chicken.. but I doubt it.

I wound up taking a lovely walk down to the mail box this morning, as I forgot to hand my son our outgoing mail.  Stormy the cat, and his grandson Holstien followed me down and we had some lovely opportunities for pictures with the light.

This is a pretty "wild" rose that is across the street from us, the "wild" roses have all been blooming for over a week now here.  What I don't "get" is that when we first moved here only the one in the old foundation was white, now all the ones up and down the road are; they use to be pink.

Here is a picture from the beginning of our road toward us:

We live down that "hill" and up the next one (which you can't see from this picture) it's roughly a 1/2 mile walk one way.  So it's a nice little bit of exercise.

Now I mentioned how we are going to have an abundance of black berries this year?  Here is a close view of just a couple plants:

Look at the amount of flowers on those canes!  We are going to have a massive crop of them this year!  I can't wait till they are full of ripe berries, and I can make more jam.. and have a few berry desserts.  This picture has come from our "clearing"  the canes moved in last year and this year we will reap the rewards of letting them go wild.  Next year they will probably be going so we can put in a few big garden beds.

The puppies the girls have been caring for are leaving this week, supposedly today.  Not a bad thing to me, as in the last couple weeks they girls have not wanted to work with them.  It has been a fight to even get them to feed the two girls.  I hope they have learned that animal raising is not as easy as they thought.

Now one more picture:

I am still amazed by how well these cabbages are doing!  they are getting so big and this recent batch of cold weather has made them grow a little faster.  So I hope they finish in time for my planned cucumber planting next month.

Well as my laundry is almost done I need to head back out!

Be Well, Be Safe, and Blessed Be...

Earthday in the garden

Well it was such a pretty morning this morning when we got up we sat outside to enjoy the morning sunshine, before the kids went off to church. We also went out to see what our screening trees were doing, and right now the ones doing the best seems to be the poplar's and I was concerned about those ones. I had thought those weren't going to grow well, but they are “leafing out” the best right now. My willows are getting leaves, but very slowly.

I went out and finished “weeding” the garden bed that the green cabbage, lettuce, chard, onions, corn salad, and chrysanthemums are in, and then planted my bush bean seeds. I did pole beans last year, but they did not produce as well as the bush beans I have used for years. I do want to make a very good effort to grow Tiger's eyes next year, provided I can find a place that will sell me about a pound of them at a reasonable price.

While I was planting the beans I noticed that the soil is looking wonderful there, and the chicken manure is composting down well in the soil. The funny thing is, the area the most of our volunteers are coming up in that bed is on the end that had the worst soil last year. Seems I got the soil right in that section now. I did fin another volunteer today a bit farther down than the others. I have almost ½ a pound of my blue lake bush beans planted. I will be planting more once the other plants there are done growing and have been fully harvested. I did discover that right now I didn't need a full pound, but next year I will have a “bed” big enough for it.

I also went and set out the sprouted potatoes we have discovered in our potato bin. While out there I did discover that my seed potatoes are growing, and I had to do a quick check and make sure I did not step on any of them. Also I had to recover a couple I saw that were uncovered, as well as move a little of the straw away from one that was struggling a little.

The puppies my girls have been taking care of are supposedly leaving this week, we'll see if they do or not. I am hoping that we can do some training on the pups Paris had and maybe raise their value a little, maybe we can get a little money for them. Though Tink.. I'll save one if the little guy can have it yet.

That's it for now,

Be Well Be Safe, and Blessed Be....

USDA to let Chicken producers self inspect

I read this and almost choked on my cup of tea this morning:

http://news.yahoo.com/usda-let-industry-self-inspect-chicken-191142649--abc-news-topstories.html

Seems the USDA is planning to let the chicken industry selfinspect their own chickens, some how I don't think the money they are "saving" ($85 million over 3 years) is going to be a good thing.  I imagine that all of the bad that currently comes from the factory chicken production will continue to get worse, and it will be due to lax inspection statuses.

I hope at least some of the chicken producers wind up "being big" and do things properly.  However I suggest people start only buying free range eggs and meat unless you grow them yourself.   As if you grow them yourself you are responsible if you hurt yourself, so you tend to make sure you know what is and isn't going on with your meat.

Keep your eyes open folks, and watch what you eat...

Be Well, Be Safe, and Blessed Be...

A New Batch of Babies on the Homestead

Well... our dog Paris who was suppose to be spayed... seems to not be.  A couple of days ago when we were out planting the black current I mentioned to Silver that it looked like her nipples were getting big.  Then this morning when I went out to feed her and Midnight I was surprised to find 4 chocolate lab pups squalling.  So we brought momma inside and her babies:

I'd love to have a few words with the vet that told us she was "fixed"... were had planned on getting her done before we moved here but the vet told us she was already.   Uh huh... my 5-6yr old dog just had puppies... yep... she's "fixed".  Oh well, can't do much besides taking care of it now.

Hey Tink... I was wrong this morning... we now have 6:

This picture is a little deceiving... there are 5 chocolate and one black, they all seem to be doing fine.. and Paris doesn't seem to be having any more.

So in about 4-5 months.. anyone want a puppy.. they are hunting line...

Happy Friday!

Be Well, Be Safe, and Blessed Be....

Volunteers Line Up!

So here I am after removing a 5 gallon bucket of greens from the garden to the chicken salad bar, I noticed while out there "weeding" that I had a couple more volunteers than I thought I had.  So here they all are:

Our first volunteer is a squash of unknown variety, I know it's a squash as I planted squash here last year... but, considering I have moved the earth around here and I don't quite recall what got planted where in that bed last year.  It shall remain "nameless" till I see the fruit on it.  I am hoping for a pumpkin, maybe Lady Godiva.

Next:

Here is another unknown squash, seems some of the seeds I planted last year that did not germinate decided they liked the ground better this year.

Yes, that's another squash... I hope at least one of these is a summer squash and at least one is a pumpkin.  I don't really care what they are though if they grow well and produce copious amounts of veggies for me.

Here is a surprise I got that I believe I have mentioned:

This is the "pot" that I get my lemon cucumbers in last year.. so what sprouted when I tried to grow chives...?  Cucumbers, they seem to be doing alright even with early morning temps being down to the high forties sometimes.  ...and no they are not being moved.

Now I showed this picture I believe yesterday:

My potato that is in the spot we grew them last year that later became our compost pile.  Now here is the one I haven't shown yet:

Here is the other potato volunteer, it's growing out of my current compost pile.  Also yes, you see a lot of paper in there, I recently read about the entirety of the types of paper you can use if you are willing to let your compost "mature" a little longer.  So, I am giving it a try.  The potato likes it.

Now I have a few pictures of that I had to free from crowding due to the "weeds" (I hate that term as most of mine were Lambs Quarters).  First the lettuce:

I don't know how they wound up only sprouting in clumps, but they did.  I harvested some leaves this morning and this is how they looked after it.  We will be having a nice little salad for lunch today.

Here are a few cabbages I planted as just seed, and some of the "spillover" onions from the sets I bought and didn't realize there was more than would fit in the initial spot.

..and last but not least Silver's Sprouts sitting in my pea bed.  This is where I am going to have the squashes I plant this year.  Also we have 4 sprouts, though I had planted 6.  The 4 legged lawn mowers ate 2 of them along with all my broccoli.

Well that's all the update I have right now, I am going to try to double this post on wordpress in a bit.  We had a lovely LambsQuarter wilted salad with a berry/lilac dressing.  I'm thinking of making bread dough when I get my dishes done and the remained of my laundry

Be Well, Be Safe, and Blessed Be....

I have Pictures!

Ok, I got the camera working finally... seems I had the batteries in the wrong way.  Figures right?  Then we tried downloading the correct software for the camera to this computer and it kept not working.  So I had to go dig out my computer to try and "work" on the pictures... so I've had some fun with it...  Anyway here are my pictures to fully update everyone:

First up is the van again.. and note this is the "after legal" picture:

I love the color I swear I do.. especially since the picture on Craigslist looked a tad brown.  I like this red shade, the interior carpet is a light blue and the "trim" is all done in wood.

Now I mentioned that my girls were fostering/training some hunting pups, here they are:

Aren't they cute?  The guy who owns them is selling them as they are now for $1500, when he first brought them over with no training they were wroth $900; and that is price a piece.

Now onto my plant pictures!

This one I took just to show how many blackberry canes are in our "clearing" right now... guess who's gonna have a lot of black berry jam this year?

This of course is some red cabbage, they are in the box that my tomatoes were in last year, this year when these "guys" are done the cucumbers will be planted here.  As you can see they are BIG, I always feel like they are going to reach out and grab me as I walk past.

This is one of the two Elderberries I planted last year, this is the more "bushy" one; all of the "branches" have about a 1/2 inch to 1 inch of growth on them.

So does it's twin:

I swear this one is going to be a monster when it gets to maturity!

This, if you can see it well; is most of my onions for this year.  All they are growing in is some of my "finished" compost, chicken manure/straw, and I think perlite.  On top of our clay-ey soil and we just kinda pushed the sets in.. I did transplant the onions I started inside and they are the first row on the right side.

This is my volunteer potato growing in the spot we had them last year that later became our compost pile.  I have another volunteer one growing out of this year's compost pile.  Also the seed potatoes I planted have not grown very big as yet and I wonder if they have too much sun as the ones last year were in partial to full shade.

This pretty little thing is the Rosemary that I transplanted last fall, it survived and has new growth on it.  I do hope it gets very big.  to the left, the light green leaves is I think coriander, and also near it is a tarragon and catmint from last year as well!

This here is my newest the Black Current I planted with Silver's help yesterday, it seems to be doing the "wilt after transplant" that I'm use to seeing.  I had bought two small ones of these last year and both got  trampled(?) or eaten(?) by the deer that graze here.  I am hoping to see flowers on this possibly this year.

This little thing is a Goji Berry, I ordered it as I wanted to see if it tastes good seeing as how for some time a lot of "health nuts" said that it's good for you.  Also I like to try new things and don't mind adding new flavors if they taste good.  If it doesn't I can always mix it into a jam or use it to feed our chickens.

this is one of my two Russian Tea trees, I am so happy to get some tea plants.  I also hope the flavor of this black tea is good.  The two little trees seem to be enjoying their new homes, I just need to go through and make sure the blackberry bramble doesn't crowd them out.

This is one of our four wintergreen plants, when they arrived from RainTree they still had some berries on them and I tried one.  It has a very nice mildly minty flavor.  So between leaves and the berries it should provide another nice tea.  Also I am hoping the berries dry well for a nice addition to winter stews.

..and of course this is one of the Rhubarb that we got from RainTree as well.  This happens to be our biggest "plant" right now, even though I know some of the other crowns were bigger.  This one just took off the fastest.  It is bigger than the leaves of the crown we planted last year that survived.  I will make this stament.. if you buy anything from RainTree... DEFIANTLY  get your Rhubarb crowns from them, they were huge when they showed up and they grew fast.  The reason they are growing at different rates is I planted each crown slightly differently in depth and how much cover they had so it's a matter of how much they had to "fight" to grow.  they are all growing and that is the important thing.

Well... I did not get my weeding done, I will be doing it tomorrow morning after the kids head off to school. I shall also be starting to harvest my lettuce before it takes over and I will take pictures of what's in that bed once I can show which plants I intended to be there.  Right now it's hard to tell where the intended plants are and not the Lambs Quarters are... oh well..  That's it for now...

Be Well Be Safe, and Blessed Be...

..The impact of commercials

Now I Know This is a picture of that awful stuff that Monsanto makes and sells to the general public as a "must have" for anyone wanting to get rid of the most "stubborn" weeds.  I want to make a point with it...  I was watching the news when the most recent commercial for this product appeared on the TV.  It has the "Hit the Road Jack" music for the background sound and a bunch of "weeds" being "kicked to the curb".  The final scene in it is what I think is a plantain climbing on a bus with a bunch of other "weeds" bending over to look at the newcomer.

I wonder if the people that buy this "stuff" every year notice that the product has gotten supposedly "stronger" over the years.. I say "supposedly" as I saw somewhere (and I hope someone points out where it is) that a gardener that had an old bottle looked at the label from then to a more current one and the concentration was lower.  Now  even if that is true... if the chemical cocktail is really so good, so wonderful; why would they need to make as in the picture "extended control"?  Why would they need to make a "Max" version?  Does it make sense to you?

Now as for the commercial... I remember watching it a couple of days ago as my kids remarked at how cute the "weeds" were.  My 15yr old thought the work they did on the animation was great as they looked so real.  After seeing their reactions to the commercial itself, and what it was accociated with; is it a ploy to get the attention of kids too?  What the H_ _ _ does making a commercial about weed killer cute do for it besides making a kid want to use it.   ..and considering it's dangerous for a kid to use it why would you want that?

Hey folks... why make a poison look cute to a child, come on people... what happens when "Jr" wants to do the work in the yard because the commercials say that you should use it to get rid of these "bad" plants.  Monsanto needs to not make their advertisements geared towards kids.

Think about it....

Well Troubles and a "weedy"day

 Well to all those people that cheered when we got our well first running, we had a brief scare yesterday. Yesterday afternoon our water stopped flowing... Silver went out and the well tank was empty. Silver tested all the wires, and it was getting power. However... there was 2 things wrong with it. #1. There was a “bug” between 2 of the connectors interrupting the circuit.

#2. We discovered that the control box was not fully “connecting” with all the connections.

So we got rid of the bug and then duct taped the whole box in the correct spot. I am heading out later today to do my (groans) weeding that I've been putting off, as I can't stand doing it. However I'm going to take a close friend's suggestion and use meditation while doing it... I'm gonna plug into my ipod and “tune out” the activity. I'm also hoping to get some pictures done of the garden and so forth. If I manage to get some I'll be back on to post them. I'm ready to start harvesting our lettuce, and my red cabbages are ready to start grabbing people they are so big.... and they are only starting to “head”.

I am doing laundry this morning and I will be going out between loads to plant our new very pretty black current out in our “berry patch”. Though with the cherry bushes I imagine “berry patch” is a slight misnomer.

The day lilies are starting to put out new greens so they are doing well... however I think only one of the banana trees have survived. Our trees/shrubs we have planted along our road are getting leaves... and I can't wait to see them grow this year.

That's all for now,

Be Well, Be Safe, and Blessed Be...

A Few Words on Food...

 I've decided to make a statement today about the “proper” foods to eat... Now I have good reason behind this. I get so tired of hearing how one food is good for you and how another isn't. Back in the way olde days, you know; before “processed” foods were made commercially. People generally only had to worry about a couple of things when it came to their food. Could they get it, and in what quantities.

The various groups in local areas from not even that far back.. middle ages till probably about the time they started putting things in tin cans. Sometimes even a tad past that. People ate totally locally, and seasonally. Which if you pay attention to most of the “big time” nutritionists out there and the “green movement” all talk about doing for your health and the environment.

Now I'm not putting either of those groups of people down here I could actually be considered part of the green movement per sec... As I do believe in protecting the environment and getting poisons out of the ground.. which means getting it out of our food.

I sit here sometimes and wonder though if some people are just silly... To tell you that one “natural” food is bad for you then come back a few years later and discover that it really was ok for you. We need to stop with the going back and forth.

Back when what you grew is what you ate, you also went out and foraged for some of your foods. Some people still do this and even some high range food items are still acquired in this fashion. Ever hear of Morel mushrooms.. they can only be “hunted”, I have yet heard of someone growing them commercially.

So if you just head back to providing your own food source, you are eating the proper diet in reality. If done correctly you will provide all your own fats, meats, grains, vegetables, and fruits any person could need. Some of it is found through foraging and you have to be willing to go out and do it. I have taken up to making a wilted Lambs Quarter salad while that “weed” is growing. I gather blackberries from the multitude of canes that grow wild here, and I am learning about other things I can acquire to add to our plates here.

I know some people would find it odd that I planted “old fashioned” daylillies in my vegetable garden. However, the flowers are edible, as are the flower buds; which can be used as a thickener for soups and stews. I have been told the young leaves as they are just starting to come up can be eaten like asparagus. Cattails are also edible, the roots for one can be dug up in winter and eaten like potatoes, the pollen can be gathered and used like flour. Again the young shoots can be eaten as well.

I have just read the first of the books on the series called “The Hunger Games” and then looking over what is being talked about online about food got me to writing this post. It's not hard to grow your own foods.. or even to eat seasonally. Also to be able to eat food you prepare yourself, most food does not really take all that long to prepare, especially since there are so many ways to make it faster or “hands free”.

Another pet peeve (as I guess you can call it) is food made from actual food versus food made from plastics... Take the following for example, a friend of mine posted it on Facebook:

Margarine was originally manufactured to fatten turkeys. When it killed the turkeys, the people who had put all the money into the research wanted a payback so they put their heads together to figure out what to do with this product to get their money back.
It was a white substance with no food appeal so they added the yellow coloring and sold it to people to use in place of butter. How do you like it? They have come out with some clever new flavorings....

DO YOU KNOW.. The difference between margarine and butter?
Read on to the end...gets very interesting!

Both have the same amount of calories.

Butter is slightly higher in saturated fats at 8 grams; compared to5 grams for margarine.

Eating margarine can increase heart disease in women by 53% over eating the same amount of butter, according to a recent Harvard Medical Study.

Eating butter increases the absorption of many other nutrients in other foods.
Butter has many nutritional benefits where margarine has a few and only because they are added!
Butter tastes much better than margarine and it can enhance the flavors of other foods.

Butter has been around for centuries where margarine has been around for less than 100 years.

And now, for Margarine..
Very High in Trans fatty acids.
Triples risk of coronary heart disease ...
Increases total cholesterol and LDL (this is the bad cholesterol) and lowers HDL cholesterol, (the good cholesterol)

Increases the risk of cancers up to five times..

Lowers quality of breast milk

Decreases immune response.

Decreases insulin response.

And here's the most disturbing fact... HERE IS THE PART THAT IS VERY INTERESTING!

Margarine is but ONE MOLECULE away from being PLASTIC... and shares 27 ingredients with PAINT

These facts alone were enough to have me avoiding margarine for life and anything else that is hydrogenated (this means hydrogen is added, changing the molecular structure of the substance).

Open a tub of margarine and leave it open in your garage or shaded area. Within a couple of days you will notice a couple of things:

* no flies, not even those pesky fruit flies will go near it (that should tell you something)

* it does not rot or smell differently because it has no value ; nothing will grow on it. Even those teeny weeny micro-organisms will not a find a home to grow. Why? Because it is nearly plastic. Would you melt your Tupperware and spread that on your toast?

What do you think about one of the #1 substances that graces the American table now? I don't like Margarine... never have. My mother used it when I grew up because for one it cost less (and yes the “cost” is less), and because “EVERYONE” said that butter was bad for you. Ummm... ok if it's bad for you and eating a plastic substance is good. Why not just stop growing food and feed everyone plastic from the stores.. it would be cheaper I imagine...

So in a nutshell my opinion on this is, eat what is food you make yourself... or that you can find the process of and that it doesn't include a mixture of chemicals by a chemist. A good rule of thumb is if you can't pronounce.. or for that fact even know what an ingredient is.. don't buy it! I buy ice cream this way as at this moment it's harder for me to make it. I also avoid HFCS (high fructose corn syrup), MSG, and most other chemical flavor enhancers. Yes, on “occasion” I do knuckle down if I or Silver is having a blood sugar reaction; or when I have to shove the kids out the door before I am awake enough to put a meal together for them.

What I find funny is when I have been making my own bread now for over a year and we for what ever reason needed a loaf of bread and we bought some. The kids thought the store bought bread tasted bad.

So Eat local.. eat seasonally, eat REAL FOOD; I use this term because if it has to many chemicals.. I don't consider it to being very natural in nature. Now I better climb off this soap box before I really start rambling on, and on, and on.....

Be Well, Be Safe, and Blessed Be...

Happy Easter!

For those who celebrate it Happy Easter Morning, and for those like me who do not, Good Sunday Morning. I have finally gotten all of our plants and they have been planted. This includes all of the “screen” trees we ordered. Those have been planted along our road just far enough back so if they have to dig up the electric line that the one neighbor put in they shouldn't be bothered. There are 26 (only suppose to be 25) hybrid willow's, 5 Russian olive (not edible), 2 honey suckle (the third is in the garden for bee attractant), and 6 poplars. We have almost fully done the road line on our property. We are hoping they will grow in well and hide our property a bit.

Now considering Silver has promised his son if he does well in school he will go visit I can say that we have bought a van. It is a 1989 GMC conversion van, that the back seat turns into a bed. It is going to be useful when we take my kids to visit their grandmother this summer. We spent a good deal of money buying it and getting it on the road, but it is worth it. We love it, we also spent Thursday cleaning the interior; oh the conversion is a camper. We only had to do one real repair to get the van inspected, replacing a part on the brakes; thankfully it only cost $9. Incidentally the plates in this picture are not the correct ones.

So we got ourselves a Spring gift.. or it could be considered an early birthday gift for me.

Be Well, Be Safe, and Blessed Be...

Anniversary Day!

Well today is the anniversary of the day we have moved to our home This starts our 3^rd year living here and there has been so many changes. In more ways than one. One big change is with the life I am living and the people I am with I finally have a stable home for my kids. This is the biggest deal for us.

We are growing at least part of our food in our own garden. We are on a first name basis with the local MFA employees. We have been to Baker Creek Heirloom seeds a couple of times. We have our own producing flock of chickens.

The soil in our garden is getting better than it was when we moved here. I couldn't believe it when the soil was easy to dig down into. Silver has been in the best health in years, as he's getting plenty of exercise.

We have gone from having no water and living out of a tent, to having a small building and a claw-foot bathtub in a real bathroom. We now have a “real” kitchen … and a acquisition over the last weekend was new (to us) side-by-side refrigerator that we bought for $75; that is maybe a year old.

These are just a few of the things that have been changing in our lives since coming here, and living the life we have wanted to live. My only regret? That we had not done it sooner. Live the life you truly want to live, not the one you think you need. Remember we are living off a very small income, and we take care of all important things. All of our bills get paid, we have a home to live in, we have food on the table. ...and We live where we want to be living, could life be any better?

Be Well, Be Safe, and Blessed Be...