Happy Monday 6.18.18

I enjoyed my weekend.  It was Sarah's birthday and Father's Day and I felt good about the cards and gifts that I gave and even got mailed off almost in time.  I am really trying to do better and be more thoughtful in that regard.  It was so much easier to ignore everything, but I did not get to experience the joy that comes with knowing you did what you could do and hopefully brighten someone's minute or hour or day.  

But now, it is Monday and the new week begins.  I have big plans to stick with my planner.  So far so good; yes, it is only 9:30 on Monday morning, but still, I have made it this far! 

The weather is going to be hot and humid all week.  That means the animals and the garden need extra attention.  Water checks every couple of hours, less grain feed, make sure well shaded and cool. I am going to have to water the garden throughout the day.  I have two soaker hoses set up-one for the tomatoes and one for the green beans.  I have a sprinkler to cover the raised beds and zucchini.  With our well water and pump, I cannot water for a long period of time or all the water in the house and barnyard kicks off until it has time to adjust.  So I have be a little more strategic with laundry and washing dishes and watering the animals and flushing the toilet during the day.  Speaking of laundry, I am SO ready to get my totes, buckets, plunger and scrub board set up for my outdoor laundry.  It is the perfect weather.  Warm that water up throughout the afternoon and night, wash clothes in the early morning as the sun comes up and hang them on the line for a few hours.  So satisfying. Might get some concrete blocks moved and ready a little later this evening.  

I am bottle feeding little Izzie (Isabella Bird) now so that I can milk Mocha, as well as Ginger twice a day.  I had slacked off due to the weather and lack of appropriate shelters when it had rained for so long.  The babies could not be separated at that time. 

I need to till up a place in the garden and get more beans and tomatoes planted, as well as get some soil for some container lettuce on the deck this week.  I am a bit behind on that.   I will need to pick a few more blueberries today before the birds find them.  I try to get out there every other day, or two at the most, for that reason.   We are also planning to go to a local orchard for some peaches and blackberries and who knows what else for some canning, freezing, jams and eating, of course. We are shooting for mid week on that though. 

I also need to spray for fireants around the feed shelter.  I don't like a lot of poison on the place and I put up with a lot, but I cannot have ants in the animal feed or the containers.  It is too hot to have to wear gloves just to get layer mash out of the feed bag.  

I need to rake the goat yard and the chicken coop.  Those 49 Cornish cross chicks are messy!  I will put the chicken refuse in a pile somewhere in a corner of the garden and the goat manure around some plants. 

This week I will also be checking in often on my broody hen.  She started sitting around the first of June, so we are close to the 21 days.  I am hoping once they hatch I can move them all to the garden coop for safety.  This is the first time I have had a broody hen.  I am super excited. 

Since it is Monday, I need to take off trash and will probably go with mom to the post office to get her mail.  I don't need anything from the feed store or anywhere else.  

The room of the day is the kitchen.  I need to do some deeper cleaning in the kitchen-clean out the fridge, wipe out the oven, reorganize pots and pans and spices.  I also need to do a hard-core mopping of the kitchen.  I have assigned everyday a room to be given a little extra attention to.  Hopefully, I will be able to make a monthly schedule of things such as washing curtains or dusting corners so that I don't just happen to see it one day and think 'Good Grief!!' 

The current project is the craft room, formerly know as the sun room.  As I have begun to want to make homemade cards, sew and other little crafty things, especially planners, scrapbooking, etc. and Sarah has a Cricut and heat press for her decals and shirts, etc., I am in need of a space for us to work on these things.  This room is perfect with natural light, an adequate amount of room and out of the way, as well as lots of windows and a sliding door for air circulation if I decide to paint or stain something.  So the first step is to clean it up.  There are lots of tools and "where does this go?" kind of items that need to find a permanent home or be thrown away or donated. That will take all week alone. But Bruce and I need to really focus a few hours on the weekend to get this done.  

Today's meals are:  

Fried eggs and sausage for Bruce. 

 Sarah and I will probably have the extra boiled eggs that I made yesterday with some left over sausage. 

Fried chicken (one of the Cornish Rocks we butchered recently), 

mashed potatoes with white gravy, corn

leftover cucumber salad,  and a slice of the homemade bread 

I am making right now either toasted with gravy, or just plain

with butter.

With my Monday list, I think I had better get to it!  What's in store for you on this Monday? 

Have a blessed and productive day!  🙏

Thursday 6.14.18

I hope your list went better than mine!  Honestly, I did okay.
I made Hubby eggs and sausage before work and got a little bit of a lunch packed for him.  Sarah and I had a great breakfast after our walk to the mailbox of eggs, avocado, fresh blueberries from our bushes, toast with homemade strawberry jam.
I got our barrel from B&G and some extra layer mash for those voracious little Cornish cross chicks.  We made soap, castile soap, that will be cured in one year!

I didn't get to the craft room or Jake's room or the fridge.  So basically, I didn't clean anything.

I picked green beans and there was not enough to can, so Mom, Sarah and I hit the lake for about an hour to relax in the water.

I got about 5 cups of milk from Ginger and 1 tablespoon from Mocha.  Izzie is still with her all the time.  I really need to get back to bottle feeding and milking twice daily before they dry up.

I didn't do a finger food/cold plate for supper.  After doing the bills this morning, I decided to use what I had at home.  Luckily, we have good inventory at this point.  I used hamburger I had in the freezer for patties, cucumbers from the garden and onions Mom gave me from Sam's, yellow squash from the garden, of course the green beans I picked today, and everything else that I had in the fridge or freezer to make supper. It was actually quite good.

Hamburger patty, cucumber salad, 

fresh green beans with bacon and onion

and squash casserole

My dishwasher died on me today.  *sigh*  It goes with the lifestyle, so I should be handwashing dishes anyway really.  Just like I shouldn't have used the dryer today.  Can't be lazy!  It can be easy to when you have those conveniences at your fingertips.

It is time to do tomorrow's to-do list.  It is my daughter's birthday so we will be going to town and eating at Chick-fil-A as well as a local ice cream shop for dessert.  (No cake because 1) we will have one for father's day and 2) she will be having a party at the lake with friends and family so that is where the cake will be next week.) So tomorrow's list is just basic daily routine stuff...might not even make a list until Saturday!
Have a blessed evening and productive tomorrow!
What's on your agenda tomorrow?

Tuesday 5.15.18

Yesterday was such a hot and humid day! I sweat planting the front flower bed, I sweat milking Ginger, I sweat taking the clothes off the line.  I am not one who sweats easily.  When it is that hot and humid, what should one fix for mealtime?  

What else but a nice warm pot roast and fresh warm bread, right? Nonetheless we were well-nourished and able to continue the day's work until nightfall.  

I did have a bit of a scare worming the goats.  I only got two of them wormed.  Maggie and Tulip.  I was using Ivermectin horse wormer paste and set the poundage at 50.  It was about 8 am, and apparently it was early morning nap time.  Everyone was dozing or at least in a relaxed state, making it very easy to worm them.  I got Maggie done; she needed it the worst as her hair is getting a frizzy curl to it.  Moved on to Tulip and set the poundage to 50 and locked the little ring and plunged the paste into her mouth.  But it didn't stop at 50...it finished the whole tube, which was about 500 pounds worth.  I may have said an ugly word in panic and ran to get my phone.  I called mom as I frantically searched the Internet for any information.  By the time mom called me back I had read at least three different sites telling me it should be fine.  Just to watch her over 24 hours but it should be fine.  I did check on her every few hours and each time I checked she was eating.  Side effect??  We shall see.

Daughter and I headed to town by 9 am.  Dropped of a library book, bought my herbs and pretties at Lowe's, headed to Wally-World for a furnace filter and some sheer curtains so mom could cover the rabbits with some shade but still have airflow in this horrid heat and humidity.  We also got our grocery list at Aldi for under $70.  This was really good because I doubled up on a few items just to have on hand.  They did not have any cornmeal though, just cornmeal mix.  No thank you, I can add flour and baking powder myself!  I called the local awning provider and set up an appointment for a free estimate next Monday at 4 pm.  I am hoping to get our address plaques and plates up by then as it is apparently a huge undertaking to find our house.  I finally got the bread baked that I was supposed to do last week.  I got to bake them in the new pans that mom ordered for me.  LOVE THEM!  Obviously, she got a loaf to see how well they worked :)

I did not get to canning.  I will make that my main focus today, especially if it does rain like they said it might.  Of course the chances have dropped from 50% to 25% overnight, sooo...yeah...I made my to-do list based on the prediction of rain over the next several days.  It is subject to change...

As is my menu.  Yesterday we had a surprise lunch with mom and Pete, so I didn't make pimento cheese as I thought I would. Because we still have leftover pasta from Friday in the fridge, that will be today's lunch so as not to waste anything (sorry, chickies!), and I also have so much pot roast and green beans left from last night that I will be making vegetable soup by adding cabbage, canned tomatoes, and any frozen vegetables that are needing used up along with a grilled cheese sandwich for supper tonight.  Admittedly, this will throw off a couple of things: 1) I will need more cabbage to make coleslaw for Wednesday's supper, 2) I will probably pass on the beans and ham dinner that was scheduled for tonight-even though the temperatures are going to be about 15 degrees cooler starting today, and 3) that means I don't have to run to find cornmeal until tomorrow-wootwoot! I will probably look for it since I am out in the small town to take trash off anyway, but I don't HAVE to.

What is on my agenda today? 

What are your plans for the day? 
Hope you have a blessed and productive day!  

Monday 5.14.18

Hello Monday!
Did you have a good weekend?  Hope all the Mothers had a wonderful Mother's Day.
This weekend I pretty much took off the best that a happy homesteading wife can.  After the 1 o'clock milking, feeding and watering, Hubby and I took a little trip on the lake.  It was a nice time, but it was sooo hot!!  I got a few good pictures.  I was too excited when I saw two bald eagles and didn't get a good steady shot of either one-can I blame the rocky boat?  It was a nice 4 hours off the farm but still in nature.

Thought it was a bird until I got close

Lots of gar in one cove

Majestic

Smallest of Hubby's four catches

Deer were thirsty too

Just released catch of the day

Catch of the day-tee hee hee

She's watching me...

Still watching me...little creepy

For Mother's Day, we took Mamaw to the Artisphere in the Ville.  This is her caliber of art, not my painting on the feed barrel art, but true professional artists with prices to match.  We tried to convince her to prepare for her scratch art exhibit next year.  I think she would do quite well.  Once home, hubby and daughter helped put up some strawberries we picked Saturday.  (Not good form in leaving them overnight, but they did not go to waste.)

What's on the agenda today? You might see a certain routine starting to develop.

 I will do some basic "after the weekend cleanup."  I also will be going to town to pick up a few some flowers before the rain tomorrow to get those in the ground, some groceries for this week's menu and to drop off a library book.  When I get home and get all the animals well-watered, fed and somewhat comfortable, I will do some canning and baking after lunch. Luckily it is a crockpot day so supper should be fairly easy.  In fact, this week is a little heavy on the crockpot, but we are supposed to get rain for several days so that will be nice.

Hope you have a productive and blessed day!

Thursday 5.10.18

Yesterday I spent most of the day hitting some important neglected areas in my home.  The refrigerator and the pantry.  They were both in a bad way, four trash bags full bad way.  I got rid of anything that I hadn't used in the past couple of months, of course any science experiments and anything that screamed "REALLY??"  All of those special spices and sauces that we buy for that one recipe that never came to fruition-finally gone. Am I going to use hoisin sauce on my biscuits and gravy?  No, not really.  Any stir-fry or oriental type food that I make is pretty basic so...

I had hoped to bake some bread yesterday but my mission took more time than I thought-not that I am complaining, I brought it upon myself by not taking the time to do things right.  

I got an e-mail that my chickens were shipped yesterday.  So I expect them either today or tomorrow at the latest.  Their new home is all ready with straw and pine shreds and lights and clean feeders and waterers.  I have the left over Gro-gel packet for them and the electrolytes for their first couple of days water.  BUT...one of the reasons that I dislike new chicks in the spring, particularly late, warm-day spring is snakes.  I always lose a baby chick or more to snakes in the spring.  And of course, yesterday, I found the first snake in the chicken coop, right next door to the new baby coop. 

Finished off at least two eggs! 

Had to decapitate the little fella since he knew where the eggs were and 

would hear the baby chicks that arrive soon

What is on the agenda today?  Hopefully a more balanced indoor/outdoor schedule.  Most important is hauling off yesterday's trash before critters come and decide to rearrange the bags. 

What are your plans for the day?  Or do you have any? 
Hope your day is productive and blessed! 

Tuesday 5.8.18

My time management is horrible!!  
Obviously, yesterday was not as productive as I had hoped.  Let's go over the list.  I started out well.  I listened to audiobible while I cooked breakfast.  The impact of bible study was insufficient.  God deserves sitting down and focusing on his Word that I hold in my hand, not listen to someone else's voice while I fry eggs. 
I did just fine until daughter and I tried to bottle feed the babies...yes, the wheels fell off at about 8 am.  It may have been too early and they weren't hungry.  It did not improve when we went to pick berries.  I did not account for the time it would take to get to the acres (25 minutes) and the actual picking time (30 minutes for just over 2 baskets-which, by the way, yielded 2- 1/2 gallon bags in the freezer and about 4 cups fresh for eating) and we stopped at a local grocery to complete my grocery list for the week.  I didn't get home until close to 11.  Yep, way off my timeline. I would like to interject here that we did have to follow two yearling deer running down the middle of the road for over a mile.  One turned off after probably 1/2 mile and ran off into the woods.  The other...poor thing was going back and forth between lanes and did not veer off until it came to a dirt road that opened into a field.  I have never had such an experience before.  He will be on someone's table this fall most likely, if he makes it that long! 

Being a negative Nelly, I will tell you what I didn't accomplish...
1. Power hour cleaning ended up being only about 30 minutes. And I REALLY needed to finish.
2.  Didn't get to the chicks' barn or equipment, which is a must-they might even be here today and I will not be ready!! This was trumped by the shortness of strawberry-picking season.  Will this be a huge mistake?? 
3. I didn't get to go through my receipts and do the checkbook.  Another MUST.
4. Hubby got the mail for me on the way home because I did not make the walk to the mailbox.  Remember it is over a half-mile one way so don't judge me too harshly. 
5.  I didn't make barn freshener .
6.  I didn't deposit the check.  
7.  I didn't get the Sam's cheese divided and in the freezer. 

Now, on the other hand, I got the colors and towels caught up, which was 5 loads that I hung on the clothesline and got all put away.  So I am caught up and back on schedule with the laundry.

It was a beautiful day.  I really enjoyed the animals.  Milking two new Nigerians was a bit of an adventure, but all in all Tulip and Maggie were good. The babies did not care for the bottle at first feeding.  Millie did awesome the rest of the day.  Minnie choked a bit and would just hold it in her mouth.  Poppy was too hoppy but got a little.  Cinnamon got the leftovers even though she should be just about weaned!  

Last night there was a thunderstorm that passed through about 10:30 or 11:00 or so.  I don't quite remember.  It was a toad strangler!  Sounded like hail on the roof. 

I slept really well before that and after that.  In fact, this morning's cell phone alarm went off for about 4 minutes before I was cognizant enough to know what it was.  EEK!  Might have to change that gentle little chiming.  

So what is on the Agenda today?
Lots of leftovers undoubtedly...
I wanted to work outside most of the day, of course, this was planned before it rained.  I am hoping most things won't be too wet in the garden.  I may not be able to use the cultivator to plant some of my potted plants and herbs I need to get in the ground, thai basil, pineapple sage and I still have tomatoes and jalapenos too. Cleaning out the barn and gathering/ washing equipment is critical status.   Here is the rest of the list.  I have not been quite as ambitious with this list...

I hope your day is blessed and productive! 

Monday 5.7.18

We survived the weekend!  We had tried our hand at an underutilized local Farmer's Market. (I have only seen one vehicle/vendor there one time in seven years.)  We had a few lovely customers, but was it worth the 2 and 3 days of cooking, and all of the work that Mamaw put into it.  No.  I do believe that with consistent showing up it would grow, but when you have goats to milk, babies to feed, gardens to tend to, housework, cooking for the family, you know, a life not dependent on that income, it makes it a stressful chore.  We shall see what happens.  

What is on the agenda for today? 

I really have to get the house at least straightened up.  Having spent Thursday and Friday cooking and preparing for the market and going to the market, I got behind.  I am putting in a concerted effort to make breakfast for Hubby every morning.  Fingers crossed.  It will actually make things easier for me as far as having to prepare bulk sausage, egg and cheese biscuits and keeping them in the freezer.  I will do this occasionally either if we have an abundance of eggs, breakfast meat goes on sale, I have leftovers to use up or the mood strikes. It will be nice to have the backup if I am sick, tired or just plain stubborn.  

I am going back to pick some more berries.  I have a couple more weeks to do this and I intend to load up the freezer and jam shelf.  I did get 5 pints of jam and 6 pints of strawberry lemonade concentrate done last week.  

I have 50 Cornish cross chicks coming this week so it is imperative that I get the barn ready and make sure all of the equipment (waterers, feeders, heat lamps) are washed and ready for them.  I also need to make sure I have some cookies (I think mom's leftover market cookies might come in handy) to give to the post office for receiving the baby chicks.  

I have this week's menu planned and I did go to Sam's and Aldi yesterday in preparation, but I did not get everything (lemons were sold out!  What!?) and still need to make a trip today to finish up the shopping so there are no "glitches" the rest of the week.  Is this the most healthy menu...no...but I am trying to find balance between what is on the homestead, what is in the pantry/freezer and what is affordable and what is healthy-oh, and if it tastes good too.  I am packing everyone's lunch, including mine and daughter's so that we don't scrounge around at 12:30 and just eat chips...unless it has specified chips, and they are in the brown lunch bag! 

It is finally normal "southern spring" weather-in the 80's.  Finally time to get those sweatshirts, jackets and camouflage hunting outfits out of the closet and under the bed.  I always leave at least two sweatshirts out for those 2 am possum attacks that require running out in the cooler night air. 

It is dawn and I hear the roosters crowing.  That is my cue to get out there and feed, water, prepare to milk and feed and get the day going.  I hope you have a blessed and productive Monday!