Neighbors

We are getting neighbors. The land across the road was for sale for a while. Oh how I dreaded the thought of a trailer park going in there. Those seem to be popping up all over around here. People buying large parcels of land. Land that use to be someones farm, then splitting it up in to smaller pieces. People bring in trailers until that's all you see for miles. Not that there is anything wrong with trailers themselves. It's just seems that when you get a lot of them in an area, you end up with a few people who you really don't want to live beside. I just didn't want my "little house on the prairie" to be upset by "MTV cribs."

Anyway,(I kind of got off course)a young feller bought over 50 acres. Yea!!!!!! No splitting the farm up.But,(get ready for it)he told us today that the reason he bought the land was to homestead on. Double YEA!!!He and his soon to be wife are going to have their own little homestead too. With goats and milk cows and herbs and chickens and.....(I could go on and on.)I'm so excited. Now I can talk to someone face to face about the things that are important to me. I can tell them about how I am thinking about getting a milk goat and they won't look at me with a disgusted look on their face and say,"Why?" Triple YEA!!!!!!!We are already talking about swapping seeds and books about gardening. I couldn't have hand picked a better neighbor for us to have.

Now, what has been going on around here this week. First of all, I didn't realize that it has been so long since I last posted. Time just seems to be flying by. It's going to be (do I dare say it?) Christmas real soon. I would tell you what I'm going to get my family for presents this year but, they read this too. (No cheating Lil Sis!) Pretty soon we will be cranking up the wood burner for some serious heat. Already the nights are in the lower 50's. I love this time of year.

Boy, this post is all over the place. Since the garden has pretty well pooped out, I'm hoping to blog more. We shall see how that goes. lol

Until next time......

Small Farm Girl, neighbor.

First Day Party

Hi guys!WHA SUP!(didn't that sound all ghetto?) I'll tell you wha sup here, the thermometer! It got hot. All at once, HOT! But, it always does when it's time for hay. That's what Hubby has been doing all week. HAY. I think I actually heard him talking in his sleep about hay, poor guy. lol.

Another thing that has happened, is the schools around here have started. (Watch out for the school buses!) When me and my sister were in school, my mom would have what we called "A First Day Party." On the first day of school,Mom would call cousins and aunts and uncles to come over for cake and ice cream. Just like a birthday party,except no presents.(unless you wanted to bring them, I would never say no to presents.)Since all of my cousins started school on the same day as me and Lil Sis, it was their "first day party" too. We would all gather around the table and laugh and tell about our first days of school. It was like letting off steam. Sometimes there would be more than 30 people there in our little kitchen. It didn't matter to us, we were having fun and eating cake and ice cream.

As we all got older, and graduated from school, the "first day parties" slowly stopped. It got so disappointing when you would see the school buses go by your house on the first day of school, and knowing that you wouldn't have a "first day party." It wasn't a "first day" for you. Oh well,that's what happens when you get old. Until..........

My uncle married a school teacher!!!!!YEA!!!! We started having our "first day parties" again! So last Monday, we all gathered at his house with a cake and ice cream. She was sooooooo surprised. We sang "Happy First Day" and everything. It was just like old time, except we were all older now. But what a great time we all had.Although we didn't go in the back yard and play kick ball. lol. So if you are needing a pick-me-up for the kids because they had to go back to school, try a "first day party." It will do wonders.

Until later.....

Small Farm Girl, partier.

What's Up?

Hi everyone! It's hard to believe it's been so long since I've posted. Wow, time flies! We have been pretty busy around here. Hubby has been cutting lots and lots of hay. I'm not complaining. It's always good to have lots and lots of hay. The corn has been coming on pretty good too. I've been freezing and freezing, lots and lots of corn.(see a pattern here?)

Well I told you I would post some pictures of my herb garden. Not to pretty right now. All of the things laying around in the garden is to dissuade Luke from getting into the garden. Notice the caution tape? There is electric fence wire between them. The fence doesn't have electric to it, it's just a small barrier for him.He's too lazy to try to go through it. (knock on wood)



The other day I had my hair cut at work. My hair had gotten to the point of either cutting it or shaving it. (girls, you know where I'm coming from)I told the hairstylist just to do something. I didn't care what. Well this is what she gave me. Not bad, kinda cute,now that I look at the pictures, but just not my style. The sides of my head reminded me of chicken wings.



So I asked Hubby what he though. He look me, his head tilted sideways. "Turn around," he said. I turned.


He started laughing. "Guess what?" he said. "Chicken butt!"

"What?"

"You have a chicken on your head! The back of your head looks like a chicken's butt."

Well, if you look at it, I guess it does. Needless to say, the next day at work, I had it cut into a totally different style. Not because of what he said, but because I kind of thought the same thing.lol

So until later....

Small Farm Girl, chicken head.

"Weed" Garden

A few days ago me and Hubby bought some herbs for the herb garden. I'm going to try and start a nice one. I want one that has some herbs for cooking and some for medicinal proposes. I think herbs are powerful "weeds." I also think the art of using them is lost. Not many people believe in herbs anymore, except for making food taste good. My ancestors believed in them, and I'll bet your ancestors did too. Maybe you still do. I hope so. We need more people to be able to use natures remedies instead of the synthetic "medicine"that mainstream doctors are pushing now. I'm not here to say mainstream medicine is wrong or right. What I am saying,is don't overlook nature for some things.

Anyway, I needed to get my new "gems" into the ground today. But, since I have been making salsa and freezing corn all day long, I found myself outside in the dark planting the herbs. I was going to plant them early tomorrow morning but, it's suppose to really rain around here the next few days. So,my window of opportunity was shrinking. I had all but one more to plant when the phone started to ring. So, laying down all my planting tools, I went inside to answer it. Of course, it was nothing important. But, as I went back outside to finish the garden, what did I see? My St. Bernard scratching a place in the newly tilled earth! He was making his self a nice place to sleep! AAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!Of course I yelled at him to get out of my garden. (Yes, I know he just wanted a cool place to lay. Please don't comment on my being mean to him. lol) That's when he looked at me like, "What?" As he was getting up to leave, I turned around and Skeeter(my mini wiener dog) was squatting on the other side of the herb garden peeing!!!!I can't win for losing!

Oh well, I guess if my herbs can live through my dogs' punishments, they will be able to live through anything.

Until next time....

Small Farm Girl, herb-avore.

Rally On The River

Hey everyone, it's your long lost blogger Small Farm Girl. You know, the blogger that hasn't been blogging lately. This learning to homestead is pretty hard work. lol. But, it is worth it. Me and Hubby have been canning tomato juice, freezing corn,freezing cherry tomatoes, freezing bell peppers, and on top of all of that, working my "regular" job. Tomorrow we are going to try to can some sausa. I'm just going to make up the recipe as I go.

The garden has just about had it. It's croaking out it's last bit of food. In a way it's sad, but, in a way I'm doing back flips and yelling YAHOO! I'm just about done myself. Don't tell anyone, but I'm about ready for fall.

Oh yea, has anyone ever heard of being able to freeze turnips? We will have an abundance of them and I don't want them to go to waste. We don't have a root celler yet. Any suggestions would be apreciated.

Now to what me and Hubby did today. We went to a motorcycle rally. I have never seen so many motorcycles at one spot, at one time.


I have also never seen so many people that should NOT wear bikinis. Just because they make the bikini in your size, does NOT mean you have to wear it. There are images that are burned into my brain that I will probably never forget. EEEWWWWW!!!We didn't stay for more than an hour. Don't get me wrong, there were nice bikes there. There were also some people who did dress nice. It wasn't all bad. It was just soooo humid and hot, we just didn't want to stay around for long.



I had just taken this photo a few days ago and thought that I would post it today. Just so I could have a nice ending to this post. It has not been touched up or anything. I think it's beautiful. It's little things like these sunsets that me glad I live in the country.



So for now.....

Small Farm Girl, fashion guru.(LOL)

Yea!!!!!!

You are all back!!!!!!!All of my blogs that I follow. All of my peeps.(Didn't that sound ghetto?)I'm soooooo glad you guys are back. I felt like an addict who couldn't get any drugs. I was FREAK'N OUT MAN!!!!But now, things can get back to normal. I can have my daily dose of my fellow homesteaders. You don't realize how much you really care about people until they are gone.

So WELCOME BACK Y'ALL!!!!

Small Farm Girl, blog reader.


p.s. Thank you all for your great comments in my time of need. lol

What????!!!!!

All of the blogs that I follow are completely gone!!!! I don't know what happened to them. It shows that I don't have any that I follow. Well, guess what, I do follow blogs.

So don't fret if I don't comment on your blog for a while, I'll get you back somehow.

sfg

small farm girl.....UP all night!

It's 3:20 in the morning, and I can't sleep. I've got HEART BURN!!!! We canned 19 quarts of tomato juice today. Of course, I had to drink some. (make that a lot!) Boy, am I paying for it now. Oh well, I figured since I was up, I would catch up on my blog. It's been a while since I have posted anything. Busy, very busy.

This last weekend me and Hubby went to my family reunion in Marion Oh. It took us about 3 hours to get there. I slept most of the way, up and back. I figure if I sleep on trips where we have to drive on a busy freeway, our marriage will last longer. lol. I am "professional" back seat driver.(I guess that would be a passanger seat driver.) I am constantly saying,"Watch that car!" or "That light is turning red!" or "Would you pay attention to the road and quit looking at that tractor!" I wouldn't even want me as a passanger.(Although, in all fairness, I have saved us from some wrecks by doing that.) I have got a hole worn out in the floorboard on the passanger side. It's where I am applying "MY break." So to keep Hubby from wringing my neck on "freeway" rides. I either sleep or read. (Thank goodness I don't get sick when I read in the car. That could be a whole other blog. :) )

Anyway, we had a really nice time seeing family and friends that we haven't seen in a long while. But I have a question,when you go to family reunions, why do you sit with the people you see the most through out the year? Shouldn't you mingle with everyone else? Shouldn't you be catching up on what THEY are doing? lol.

Okay, I'm getting off the subject here. Anyway, we had a great time. My dad and his brothers played music and there was a lot of dancing. Of course, it had to be the hottest day of the year. Boy did I get worn out.(although it was okay, I slept on the way home. :) ) We got back home around 8:00 pm that night. Happy to have seen family, and full from some really good food.

Today, me and Hubby canned and canned and canned. We had 4 five gallon buckets full of tomatoes. We would have had more, but it poured the rain and Hubby couldn't get back into the garden to pick more. I, for one, was glad. Canning 19 quarts of tomatoe juice is hard on fat girls. lol. If Hubby hadn't helped me, there was no way I could have done all of that today. We started around 4:30, and quit around 9:00 pm. There was tomatoe pieces and parts everywhere. So, I cleaned up and fixed us something to eat. I told Hubby we were going to have tomato soup to eat. I just got "The Look." (women, you know "the look." lol)

Well, I'm going to go and try to get some sleep. Maybe eat some Tums or something.

So for now.....

Small Farm Girl,fire breather.

Hi everyone! My last post was kind of a downer. I was just in a funk. I am back to normal now. Why? Because of all of YOUR blogs. You may wonder sometimes if it is worth writing your blog anymore or if it really matters if you do. Well IT DOES!!!! It helps to know there are others out there like myself, who thinks like I do. As I was reading other blogs these past few days, it makes me realize why we do what we do, why we work our tushes off to can beans and corn and pickles. One for the money saving "free" food, one for the satisfaction of knowing what is in the food you eat, and one for the feel of being out in the garden and creating things with your own hard work.(okay, nature had a little bit to do with it too.)So to everyone out there who is actually thinking of quiting with the blogging.Please don't. You may be making more of an impact than what you may think.

Okay, on to another topic. I've had a few people ask me about my peach butter recipe. Well here it is...

Get a bunch of peaches, peal them and take out the pits. Now you have a few decisions to make.You can either put them in a blender and palse them, or you can put them in a pot whole. If you keep them whole, cook them down and then mash them with a potatoe masher. I use a blender. It seems like it is faster. Then I add about 2 cups of sugar for each blender full. Actually I just add to taste. I find that some peaches are a little more tart than others. Then add cinnimon to taste.(do you see a pattern here?) If you want, add a bit(that's a technical term) of ginger. It's very simple. It's just what ever you like. Cook it down until it's the consistincy that you want. If you want it thicker, cook it longer. If you want it runny, don't cook it as long. But one thing,out of all of this that you have to do is, make sure you constantly stir it. It will stick and burn on the bottom if you don't. Then put it in jars and seal. Or, if you want freeze it in freezer bags. It taste the same. Hard recipe huh? lol

Well it's getting late and I'm going to go to bed.

Until next time.....

Small Farm Girl,motivated.

I'm still here, I promise.

I'm still alive and kicking. I have not left you, nor have I been abducted by aliens. I am a slave to the garden right now. The veggies are getting ripe faster than I can can.(not the dance.) The beans are slowing down, but the tomatoes are just starting to hit their stride. Soon the corn will be coming on. It's times like these I wonder about just saying forget it. But then I read one of you guy's blogs and I get motivated again. I'm so glad I have "partners in crime" out there. It's good to know that other people are getting over whelmed too. I know, I know, sometime in January or February, I'll be glad I canned so much. I think I over did it for the first year of canning though. I have sooooooo much stuff that I want to do. Freeze the turnips, freeze more cherry tomatoes, pick and freeze zucchini and squash, freeze bell pepper strips,can some more beans, etc..etc..etc... I have to quit complaining though, I know not everyone can have the opportunity to do what me and Hubby are doing now. We are blessed with our small 50 acres. I shouldn't complain about using it to it potential. I just feel guilty about the cucumbers that are not being picked on time. And then, we have to throw them to the chickens. What a waste. If I could just keep up. Well, I knew that the main thing that I am concentrating on is tomatoes, corn, and green beans. Those are doing really good. Maybe next year I'll concentrate on more pickles or more frozen zucchini. Oh yea, and more pickled beets. I just love them! I've had a few people want the recipe for my beats, so here it is.......


Aunt Ester's Beets

5 cups of sugar
5 cups of vinegar
whole cloves

Wash and clean beets.Leave roots and about 2 to 3 inches of tops on the beets.Leaving a little bit of the tops on the beets keeps the color from leaking out. Cook beets until a fork can go in easily. (I pressure cook them at 15 lbs for 15 mins)While you are waiting for the beets to cook, bring sugar and vinegar to a rolling boil. After beets are cooked, take off peal. It should slide off easily along with the roots and stems. Make sure the beets are around the same size. Some may have to be cut in half or into quarters. Pack firmly into jars. Drop 6-8 whole cloves into jars after you put in the beets. Then pour liquid into jars with the beets and cloves. Put on lids and wait for the wonderful sound of the "POP"

See they are really easy! And, they are the best tasting beets in the world. I hope you try some. They are worth it.

Well, I'm gonna have to let you guys go for now. So until later.....


Small Farm Girl, tuckered out.