In this house it is not hard to tell its winter time. I tend to nest or hibernate in winter. I don't like cold weather and really rather stay inside and piddle around the house. I still have lots of sewing projects I want to do this winter tho. So it thinking about this, I thought "how nice would it be to have a room to set up the sewing machine and do crafts?" SO I proceeded to bring the subject up to Rodger. Our house has a den or family room and a formal living room (that is never used). So I got the big bright idea to put up a door at the end of the hallway and block off the den, move the furniture out and turn the den into a bedroom and use the smaller bedroom off the den as a walk-in closet. Rodger finally saw that it might be a good idea and digressed and agreed to help me make this possible. We first had to move a very large double book case that has served as a room divider in the living room to the wall at the end of the living room. Not a long move just time consuming as ALL the books had to be taken out and then move the case, then put the books back. Then we moved the sectional to the living room and attempted to move stuff around to get it in place. Now the big couch that was in the living room must go to Jason and Mary Kay's house. The chase lounge will remain in the living room soon as we get the couch out. I did get my bed moved last night and got to sleep in my new room. Seems kinda odd tho sleeping in the den. But I am young, I will adjust. Rodger went to bed, probably out of boredom because the TV is still in the den/bedroom and he don't want to sit on the bed to watch TV. We will move the TV as soon as the couch is gone and the cable to the satellite is moved. Probably this weekend. I stopped at the hardware store today and picked up 2- 8 ft sections of closet rod, yes I will have 16 ft of closet rods to hang stuff up. What ever will I do with all that hanging space. Oh my!! Anyway I have the large oak table in the "closet" now to use for my sewing machine and crafts. Tomorrow Rodger is going to put up the closet rods for me and then I can officially move into my new "closet". I think I will keep the dresser in the closet as it has a large mirror on it and use that maybe as a dressing room as well. Plenty of space for all this. I will have the table to use most of the time for laying out clothes, if I need to iron that can be done and the clothes hung on hangers, and enough room to put on lotion, makeup if I choose and space to spare. At least for now. Somehow I do think in the future I will end up with more stuff stored in there than I now expect. Only one drawback to having the den as a bedroom, the fireplace is in there. Now how nice is that. Not a problem for me at all. I love it. Hopefully by the weekend we will be moved and settled back to a routine.
We must get all this moving stuff done this week as when the weekend gets here I need to butcher some roosters. They are feeling their oats and making a pest of themselves with the older hens. And the hens want no part of those young studs. So as you might expect the young studs get whipped on a daily basis. So if I can get the roos killed and use them for stock and can it up I might get motivated enough to make a batch of bean soup and can that as well. We have learned to both like ( I alas liked) mixed bean soup with carrot, celery, and onion in it. I have some ham base flavoring that I bought in central Ky last fall that I want to add for flavor and the soup will still be kosher for Rodger. On weekends we most always have soup of some sort to eat on all weekend long. I have veggie/beef, gumbo, chili, plain bean, and will have mixed bean soup after this weekend. If we are not in the mood for one of those I will make chicken noodle soup or tater soup. Nothing beats a good bowl of soup on a cold weekend with fried cornbread. Toss some chopped onion in the cornbread and it make ya take back stuff ya didn't steal. Its yummy!!
Its not long till the big wedding in Las Vegas that we have been invited too. And of course we both will be so happy to go because our lil boy Rob is marrying his sweet fiance Amoy. We officially get a wonderful daughter in law. I got my fingers crossed that we will get another in the near future. I do like Mary Kay, Jason's girlfriend. Trust me, I sure feel blessed to have those girls in my life and Mary Kay's daughter Miranda. Really looking forward to our trip to Las Vegas in February. Sure will brighten up the winter for us. So far, 2013 is looking good. As long as we are blessed with our health all the rest will be minor.
Not much else happening here, so till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.
Stella
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
Sunday, December 30, 2012
Yipee, it was my 50th birthday
Well probably by the time this posts, my birthday will have passed. I can tell you that turning 50 is not for wimps. I got more things that hurt than most people 70 years old. This sucks. But I am amazed that I made it this far and am so very thankful. I got a ton of good wishes on Facebook today, hubby offered to take me to Red Lobster to eat but with our weather forecast I told him maybe we should wait and do it when the weather was better. I didn't want to get iced in out of town on my birthday. So instead we went to the store to get a box of hair color. OK so I color, deny my age, I will. No seafood for dinner but we did make a big kettle of potato soup and fried cornbread with onions. So dang good.
I have got some things done that needed doing today. I got our garden seeds ordered that we are gonna need. I ordered from both Baker creek heirlooms and Seed savers exchange. In the past few years we have tried a few varieties of beans, corn and such and have decided on the varieties that do best for us here and that is what we are gonna stick with so we can save our own seed. Although we are planting 2 varieties of sweet corn, Golden bantam and Stowells Evergreen. The Golden bantam will sprout and come up in cooler ground and can be planted earlier in the season in our area. It is a good old fashioned variety of yellow sweet corn. The Stowells Evergreen is a white sweet corn that can be planted a lil later to extend the harvest. As for green beans, we like the taste of the Kentucky wonder. Neither of us here have a good back so if we can stand up and pick beans all the better. So my friend Randy from central Ky sent me some Ky wonder pole beans, the variety we like only in a climbing variety. So we can save seed from those as well. A gentleman that Rodger works with gave us some white half runners that we love also. So that will be our beans for the coming year. The seed corn I did order so we can have sweet corn that is true to variety and a pure strain. I also replenished our carrot seed supply. All the other seeds we need, we already have from saving them from last year.
In all this online ordering I ordered a dress to wear to Rob and Amoy's wedding in February in Las Vegas. Gosh that is not far off. Rodger bought a new pair of dress shoes for the wedding. I still will need to find shoes to wear. But that is taken care of. The plane tickets, hotel and transportation are all taken care of as well.
My regular readers may remember a few months back when I was fussing about my carpet shampoo machine breaking. Well I found one almost identical on Amazon.com for a really good price plus I had a gift card to apply to the price. Yippee for me, now I have a carpet machine on the way. That should give me something to do this winter.
It is almost time for lots of folks to start making New years resolutions. I don't make resolutions I guess I just try to better "me" every day. Some days I think I succeed, some days, not so much. But in the coming year I do want for Rodger and I to try to take better care of ourselves. That will include cutting way back or stopping smoking. I have already told Rodger that after new years day we cant smoke in the house any more unless its an electronic cigarette. My sweet son Rob bought me one of the electronic cigarettes and I think they help a lot to cut back. Now I need to order cartridge refills for them.
We are hoping that the weather cooperates a lil more tomorrow so we can get our deer skinned out and processed. I really need my summer kitchen. I am out of home canned mixed bean soup and need to make and can more of that. Also still have the small sweet potatoes that I need to can. Rob bought me one of the magnetic knife racks to keep my knives sharp and safely stored in the summer kitchen and I have not been able to get in there to get it mounted on the wall. Maybe after tomorrow. Jason and I are cooking our holiday dinner tomorrow of turkey and he is making the ham. Yummy!! Jason makes ham but putting ham of your choice in roasting pan and adding apple cider about half way up the ham and adding about 1 cup brown sugar making sure to coat the top of the ham well and bake in 200 degree oven over night. Oh my, this ham is sooo very good. You should try this method sometime, it is awesome.
Not much else happening here on the farm, so till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.
Stella
I have got some things done that needed doing today. I got our garden seeds ordered that we are gonna need. I ordered from both Baker creek heirlooms and Seed savers exchange. In the past few years we have tried a few varieties of beans, corn and such and have decided on the varieties that do best for us here and that is what we are gonna stick with so we can save our own seed. Although we are planting 2 varieties of sweet corn, Golden bantam and Stowells Evergreen. The Golden bantam will sprout and come up in cooler ground and can be planted earlier in the season in our area. It is a good old fashioned variety of yellow sweet corn. The Stowells Evergreen is a white sweet corn that can be planted a lil later to extend the harvest. As for green beans, we like the taste of the Kentucky wonder. Neither of us here have a good back so if we can stand up and pick beans all the better. So my friend Randy from central Ky sent me some Ky wonder pole beans, the variety we like only in a climbing variety. So we can save seed from those as well. A gentleman that Rodger works with gave us some white half runners that we love also. So that will be our beans for the coming year. The seed corn I did order so we can have sweet corn that is true to variety and a pure strain. I also replenished our carrot seed supply. All the other seeds we need, we already have from saving them from last year.
In all this online ordering I ordered a dress to wear to Rob and Amoy's wedding in February in Las Vegas. Gosh that is not far off. Rodger bought a new pair of dress shoes for the wedding. I still will need to find shoes to wear. But that is taken care of. The plane tickets, hotel and transportation are all taken care of as well.
My regular readers may remember a few months back when I was fussing about my carpet shampoo machine breaking. Well I found one almost identical on Amazon.com for a really good price plus I had a gift card to apply to the price. Yippee for me, now I have a carpet machine on the way. That should give me something to do this winter.
It is almost time for lots of folks to start making New years resolutions. I don't make resolutions I guess I just try to better "me" every day. Some days I think I succeed, some days, not so much. But in the coming year I do want for Rodger and I to try to take better care of ourselves. That will include cutting way back or stopping smoking. I have already told Rodger that after new years day we cant smoke in the house any more unless its an electronic cigarette. My sweet son Rob bought me one of the electronic cigarettes and I think they help a lot to cut back. Now I need to order cartridge refills for them.
We are hoping that the weather cooperates a lil more tomorrow so we can get our deer skinned out and processed. I really need my summer kitchen. I am out of home canned mixed bean soup and need to make and can more of that. Also still have the small sweet potatoes that I need to can. Rob bought me one of the magnetic knife racks to keep my knives sharp and safely stored in the summer kitchen and I have not been able to get in there to get it mounted on the wall. Maybe after tomorrow. Jason and I are cooking our holiday dinner tomorrow of turkey and he is making the ham. Yummy!! Jason makes ham but putting ham of your choice in roasting pan and adding apple cider about half way up the ham and adding about 1 cup brown sugar making sure to coat the top of the ham well and bake in 200 degree oven over night. Oh my, this ham is sooo very good. You should try this method sometime, it is awesome.
Not much else happening here on the farm, so till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.
Stella
Wednesday, December 26, 2012
Its officially time to hibernate
Our forecast is for snow and rain, freezing weather, the whole mess. I don't drive in weather like that. I stay home and hibernate when the weather turns to crap. But on the bright side I will surf the web and get my garden planned and heirloom seeds that I need ordered in. We already have our plane tickets and hotel booked for February in Las Vegas for Rob and Amoys wedding. Dang that is not long off either. This year is almost to its end and then we are on the down hill slide to spring and greenhouse preps and gardens. Kinda hard to imagine that with snow on the ground and corn still in the field.I think the older we get the faster time goes by. I have a birthday on Saturday and with that one I figure my life is half over at best. Kinda scary if ya think about it.
What kind of new years resolutions do you make? I am not big on making so called resolutions. I think I rather try everyday to be a better person. Be more patient with others, take more time for friends and family. Be kinder to my own self. Now that would be a big accomplishment for me to be kinder to me. I tend to over do every thing I start. I guess I have always kept going to finish any thing I start and sometimes my mind writes checks my body cant cash. That makes for a big crash to recover. But such is my nature. So I think I shall try to do better at pacing my self this new year. I will let ya know how that goes.
I do have several sewing projects that I need to work on this winter while I am in hibernation. Nothing big, just a few lil things. I also want to get into making my own body lotions. I know some oils are great for the skin and if I add herbal tinctures to that I should end up with a good healing soothing lotion. I will post recipe and directions when I get this all figured out. So I am off to look up lotion recipes and properties. Till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.
Stella
What kind of new years resolutions do you make? I am not big on making so called resolutions. I think I rather try everyday to be a better person. Be more patient with others, take more time for friends and family. Be kinder to my own self. Now that would be a big accomplishment for me to be kinder to me. I tend to over do every thing I start. I guess I have always kept going to finish any thing I start and sometimes my mind writes checks my body cant cash. That makes for a big crash to recover. But such is my nature. So I think I shall try to do better at pacing my self this new year. I will let ya know how that goes.
I do have several sewing projects that I need to work on this winter while I am in hibernation. Nothing big, just a few lil things. I also want to get into making my own body lotions. I know some oils are great for the skin and if I add herbal tinctures to that I should end up with a good healing soothing lotion. I will post recipe and directions when I get this all figured out. So I am off to look up lotion recipes and properties. Till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.
Stella
Sunday, December 23, 2012
We have been blessed this year
I was just thinking today how blessed we really are here. It has been a busy year but successful one. We started the year with a nice vacation to see Rob and Amoy and spend time with them. They took us to Las Vegas for a few days. That was fun. Back home to being busy with the gardens and summer time stuff. Our gardens and crops did great this year in spite of the dry season. So thankful for that. I did can lots of veggies to last us thru the winter and beyond I hope. We did have several chickens to butcher this year as well. Still have some that need to go in the jars. I have a bunch of young roosters our setting hens hatched off that are mature enough to be harassing the hens. Much to the annoyance of the king of the flock. So seems there is a constant brawl going on in the chicken house. I am getting far more eggs than we can use. Hopefully Rodger's niece and her hubby can come get some of em soon. When I butcher off the excess roosters I think I will cull my laying flock as well. I surely don't need that many hens. I probably have 20 or more. Have not really took time to count them lately.
In November deer season Rodger came home with 3 deer total. Very thankful for the meat in the freezer. Then in muzzle loader season in December he got another doe. So more meat in the freezer. I spent the 2 weeks of muzzle loader season in west Ky at my aunts lodge again to help her out with that. We normally don't have hunters for muzzle loader season but this year she did have 8 hunters in camp. That kept me busy. And the guys were so nice, fun to talk to, just all around great guys. ALL of them have either beat cancer or some other major medical issue in their lives. So they were also great moral support for Aunt Ann. So far she has tolerated her chemo really well, not been sick, just tired and weaker than normal. But doing OK. For this I am so thankful. Please continue to keep her in your prayers.
After a busy couple weeks I am finally back home so I can hibernate for the winter. I did bring home some sewing projects from Aunt Ann's too. That should keep me occupied when the weather goes to crap. I have some quilt tops, some of which my late aunt Connie made that I would like to quilt and get finished. Also Aunt Ann gave me some embroidered quilt squares that my grandmother McKinney made. I think I might have those made into a baby quilt for a lil grand baby. I think I have enough squares to make 3 quilts. Hmmm.
Rodger spent the day getting our other corn crib cleaned out and ready to put the white corn in so we can shell and dry some to have ground into meal. And then whats left will be used as chicken feed. In winter the chickens will eat a lot of corn. It helps keep them warmer with all the carbs in it. Makes beautiful dark yellow yolks in the eggs too.
Rodger and I decided to make a trip to Walmart yesterday to get a few things we needed. Good grief, people are crazy this time of year. We did get the things we had on our list and didn't come home too broke. We stopped to see Tammy on our way home. She is coping as well as can be expected with losing Carl last month. She still needs continued prayers to get her life back together after that sudden lose. He surely is missed by all of us. Love spending time with Tammy, wonderful lady. I am blessed to have great sisters in law. They are good christian ladies that love their families.
Tomorrow I think Rodger is gonna process his deer he brought home last week and get her in the freezer. Than maybe he can help me butcher the roosters and get them off the feed bill and stop the chicken house brawls. Just maybe. But would it be wrong to make a feller work on his birthday? I don't think Rodger would think much of spending his 55th birthday butchering. Guess only one way to find out eh? If I never update my blog again you all will know that didn't end well.
I really need to get busy in the house and do some closet cleaning and organizing. Thas what I do in winter time when I cant be out in the gardens and yard. Might even find more sewing projects to do this winter. I would like to make a big crocheted rag runner for the kitchen. I am betting if I clean closets I can find enough worn out clothes to make a big one.
Rodger did get online and order parts to fix our electric furnace today. So when we get those maybe we can get his neices' boyfriend to install them for a reasonable price and then we will have 3 sources of heat again. But even if we can fix the electric furnace we will still just heat with propane and the fireplace in the den. We find it is much cheaper to do that than to pay for electric but in the event the propane tank runs out in the middle of the night someone don't have to freeze to go switch tanks.
Not really much happening around here on the farm. But just reflecting on the years blessings and being thankful for the life we have. Till next time, blessings and Merry Christmas from the McGuire homestead.
Stella
In November deer season Rodger came home with 3 deer total. Very thankful for the meat in the freezer. Then in muzzle loader season in December he got another doe. So more meat in the freezer. I spent the 2 weeks of muzzle loader season in west Ky at my aunts lodge again to help her out with that. We normally don't have hunters for muzzle loader season but this year she did have 8 hunters in camp. That kept me busy. And the guys were so nice, fun to talk to, just all around great guys. ALL of them have either beat cancer or some other major medical issue in their lives. So they were also great moral support for Aunt Ann. So far she has tolerated her chemo really well, not been sick, just tired and weaker than normal. But doing OK. For this I am so thankful. Please continue to keep her in your prayers.
After a busy couple weeks I am finally back home so I can hibernate for the winter. I did bring home some sewing projects from Aunt Ann's too. That should keep me occupied when the weather goes to crap. I have some quilt tops, some of which my late aunt Connie made that I would like to quilt and get finished. Also Aunt Ann gave me some embroidered quilt squares that my grandmother McKinney made. I think I might have those made into a baby quilt for a lil grand baby. I think I have enough squares to make 3 quilts. Hmmm.
Rodger spent the day getting our other corn crib cleaned out and ready to put the white corn in so we can shell and dry some to have ground into meal. And then whats left will be used as chicken feed. In winter the chickens will eat a lot of corn. It helps keep them warmer with all the carbs in it. Makes beautiful dark yellow yolks in the eggs too.
Rodger and I decided to make a trip to Walmart yesterday to get a few things we needed. Good grief, people are crazy this time of year. We did get the things we had on our list and didn't come home too broke. We stopped to see Tammy on our way home. She is coping as well as can be expected with losing Carl last month. She still needs continued prayers to get her life back together after that sudden lose. He surely is missed by all of us. Love spending time with Tammy, wonderful lady. I am blessed to have great sisters in law. They are good christian ladies that love their families.
Tomorrow I think Rodger is gonna process his deer he brought home last week and get her in the freezer. Than maybe he can help me butcher the roosters and get them off the feed bill and stop the chicken house brawls. Just maybe. But would it be wrong to make a feller work on his birthday? I don't think Rodger would think much of spending his 55th birthday butchering. Guess only one way to find out eh? If I never update my blog again you all will know that didn't end well.
I really need to get busy in the house and do some closet cleaning and organizing. Thas what I do in winter time when I cant be out in the gardens and yard. Might even find more sewing projects to do this winter. I would like to make a big crocheted rag runner for the kitchen. I am betting if I clean closets I can find enough worn out clothes to make a big one.
Rodger did get online and order parts to fix our electric furnace today. So when we get those maybe we can get his neices' boyfriend to install them for a reasonable price and then we will have 3 sources of heat again. But even if we can fix the electric furnace we will still just heat with propane and the fireplace in the den. We find it is much cheaper to do that than to pay for electric but in the event the propane tank runs out in the middle of the night someone don't have to freeze to go switch tanks.
Not really much happening around here on the farm. But just reflecting on the years blessings and being thankful for the life we have. Till next time, blessings and Merry Christmas from the McGuire homestead.
Stella
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
Busy couple weeks
The past couple weeks have kinda been a blur for me. I did get to see my sweet aunt Ann and her family for a week or so during the modern gun hunting season this year. I kinda managed the hunting lodge for her. She was starting some medical treatments at the same time and was getting pretty tired. I did call and talk to her today and she is positive and sounds great. I think I will try to go see her for a few days in December before the weather gets too bad. Love her bunches and just hate she was feeling rotten. But we are looking forward to next year when we can cook for the deer hunters in her lodge again. We always had such fun doing that.
I came home on the Sunday before Thanksgiving and made it to the house just a few hours before Rob and Amoy got here. Loved having my kids home for a visit.
I came home on the Sunday before Thanksgiving and made it to the house just a few hours before Rob and Amoy got here. Loved having my kids home for a visit.
Are these 2 cute together or what? I think this lil momma is gettin a lil belly. We are sure looking forward to May and a lil grand baby.
These 2 are the perfect match. I am so blessed with the best future daughters in law. Both beautiful ladies. And this one has blessed us with a sweet step granddaughter as well. Love this kid to pieces.
Above is Miranda and her momma Mary Kay. Mary Kay made cake for the thanksgiving dinner on Saturday.
We didn't have our usual family thanksgiving dinner at Tammy's house this year. It has really been a tough holiday for her an her kids. Her hubby Carl, our brother in law got injured on Monday helping an older man move an out building and lost his battle on Wednesday. It sure broke our hearts. Carl was a wonderful brother in law, husband, father and friend to all who knew him. His immediate family made his funeral arrangements on Friday and we had family Thanksgiving dinner at our house on Saturday. ALL the families were here at our house, and it was full. I think we had a good dinner and I hope everyone had a lil time to just chill and relax for a lil while from all the stress and sadness. We have 2 new babies in the family this year so Rob and Amoy got a lil practice with the lil babies.
Rob and Amoy had to leave our house at midnight on Saturday night to get to Louisville airport to catch their flight at 6am. They arrived at 4 am or so all to find that their flight never existed. Rob was so mad. They booked their flight thru Orbitz on Frontier airlines. I would NOT recommend either of these to anyone. They ended up not getting a flight out till after 4 pm on Sunday. So they spent the whole day sitting in the airport an finally arrived at their house in Elko Nevada 12 hours later than planned. I don't think I needed the stress of them being stuck there any more than they did. I know Amoy had to be really tired an stressed an she sure didn't need that right now.
Sunday evening we went to visitation for Carl in Irvine. Not sure I have known any man that was so loved an respected as he was. I am certain there were at least 500 people who visited the family that evening. The funeral service on Sunday was beautiful. It was a good tribute to him, sad, lots of tears shed. I know I did my share. Then it was like a sudden cool breeze in summer time, I felt peace and comfort, and after that shed no more tears. Prayers for comfort do get answered. I know they did at that moment. God does work in mysterious ways for sure.
In the midst of all this chaos, our furnace stopped working. No heat! oh my, but at least we do have a working wood fireplace in the den an a propane stove in the other end of the house, so technically we do have heat. That is as long as Rodger can keep the propane tanks filled at work. Right now the meter is not working on the big tank at work so we have to use the propane sparingly. During our family Thanksgiving dinner, Robbie, our step neices' boyfriend works in heating an air so he looked at the heating unit and we thought we had it fixed. Not sure now what ails it. But maybe he can look at it again and see if he can fix it or replace something to get us thru the winter till we can afforded to get a different heat and cooling system.
If it ain't one thing its 3. But Josh brought us 2 deer when he came down on Friday night. We will likely skin those out this coming weekend. More meat for the freezer. Also there is another muzzle loader season coming up in mid December. Guess the guys will be hunting that one too. If Jason don't go hunting I might go just to visit with Josh's parents and maybe sit in the stands with Dana. Loved hunting with her. We have not been able to hunt together for several years since I got hurt at work. I know it would be so fun.
Not much else happening on the homestead. So till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.
Stella
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
Seems we gonna be busy
For the next few weeks it will be kinda busy around here on the farm. First off I have to leave on Thursday to go to western Ky to help my aunt with the hunting lodge again this year. Sure cant do the physical part of it anymore but will more or less be just keeping things in order and make sure things go smoothly. And I get to baby sit her lil dog Jack. Please keep my sweet aunt Ann in prayer as she starts her battle with cancer this week most likely with chemo and radiation. It will be tough for all of us for a while. I hope to be able to relieve her stress by taking care of the deer hunters and seeing that they are fed an have a clean lodge. I wont be back home to my house till November 18th. Rob and Amoy will be home that weekend so I must come home to spend the holiday with them. Rodger and Jason and probably Mary Kay will all be deer hunting for the next couple weeks. Not sure which ones are staying on the farm an which ones are going north to hunt. Be nice if I also bring home deer meat, ya think? I do enjoy working at the lodge but my body cant handle the long hours on my feet anymore. But back at home we will have Thanksgiving with Rodgers family on thanksgiving day and then I will fix dinner on Saturday for us here so local friends can come down and see Rob while he is here. The next week we will skin and process what deer we have harvested and get the meat in the freezer and canned up. Some time in all this mess Rodger and Jason will have to pick the corn and get it in the crib or sold, which ever comes first. We still need a few more good frost on the corn to get the moisture down so it will store well. I didn't get my sweet taters canned that I wanted to so that will get done after the holiday too I suppose. Maybe we get some snow the first part of December so I can just hibernate till spring. I just know that wont happen.
Not much else happening here, so till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.
Stella
Not much else happening here, so till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.
Stella
Friday, November 2, 2012
Slowing down
Its the time of year to slow down and think about the holidays that are so near. Not near enough for me as my lil boy Rob and Amoy will be home for Thanksgiving. I am really looking forward to seeing them. We have Thanksgiving at Rodger's sister Tammy's house on thanksgiving day and then I will have a dinner here at the house on Saturday for family and friend here that want to come see Rob and Amoy while they are here. So in the next couple weeks I have to get busy planning dinner and meals to feed the kids while they are home. Rodger is off the whole week for deer season. He and Jason will deer hunt the weekend Rob gets to Kentucky till they have several deer for the freezer then they will be home.
Tomorrow Rodger and Jason will skin an process the deer Rodger got a couple weeks ago and get him out of my summer kitchen.That is if Jason can use his right hand well enough. He has a splint on it because he had an accident at work and broke his hand. Just a boxers fracture and it will heal fast. Its no biggie for him. It rained last weekend and they didn't get that task taken care of. We just got rain from the tail end of the hurricane Sandy that hit the east coast devastating several states. Please keep those folks in your prayers. After the fellers get the deer processed I will need to spend a week in the summer kitchen canning up some of our smaller sweet potatoes. After canning they can just be drained and glazed an served. If you hadn't noticed I can a lot of what I call "convenience foods" for us. There are time in winter if we get a big snow storm we can lose power for several days and the things I can are things that can be opened and just heated up and served with minimal resources. I also need to get some pears canned before they are all gone and get eaten by the deer an rabbits. By the time I get this done I hope the fellers have more deer to hang in the kitchen to cool out. Most likely that will be the end of our season of canning and preserving. Till next year at least.
I finally made my granola today. The recipe I used is great but the idea of toasting the granola in the crock pot was a no go. So I made the granola the old fashioned way. So here is the recipe for granola.
Granola my way
5 cups old fashioned oats
1/2 cup ground flax seed
3/4 cup coconut oil (I use half butter, half oil)
3/4 cup honey
2 tsp vanilla
2 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 cups coconut
1/2 cup raw pumpkin seeds
1/2 cup raw almonds
1 to 2 cups mix ins (seeds or nuts of choice, raisins, dried fruit, chocolate chips)
Melt oil and/or butter, stir in honey, vanilla and cinnamon.
In a large bowl mix remaining ingredients except mix ins. Pour oil mixture over all and stir to blend evenly.
Pour granola into a baking pan and put in 350 degree oven till toasted. Stir every 5 or 10 minutes for even browning. When toasted cool add the mix ins of choice and store in air tight container.
This only took about 20 or 30 minutes in my oven as I used a dark pan and it browned faster so watch the granola closely as to not burn it. Below are the mix ins that I used. On the left is dried ground cherries, dried strawberries and dried apples, and in the bag Chia seeds.
IF my plans go as I plan I will make another batch of cookie dough to freeze for later when the kids are home. We always need snacks when the kids are here. Somehow they think they need to eat while they are home. But thas OK, thas what moms do for their kids when they are gone from home too long. I am really looking forward to their visit. I guess I will just stay busy till then.
Remember the orphan kittens I raised after their momma got killed? The black one has disappeared but I still have Possum. When they were little they spent a lot of time with the chickens. So now in the evening when I go out to close up the chickens Possum is usually in the building with them. I have a confused cat that thinks hes a chicken.
During the day when it rains Possum stays all day in the building and sleeps with the chickens. Poor fellow don't know hes a cat.
Not much else happening on the farm, so till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.
Stella
Tomorrow Rodger and Jason will skin an process the deer Rodger got a couple weeks ago and get him out of my summer kitchen.That is if Jason can use his right hand well enough. He has a splint on it because he had an accident at work and broke his hand. Just a boxers fracture and it will heal fast. Its no biggie for him. It rained last weekend and they didn't get that task taken care of. We just got rain from the tail end of the hurricane Sandy that hit the east coast devastating several states. Please keep those folks in your prayers. After the fellers get the deer processed I will need to spend a week in the summer kitchen canning up some of our smaller sweet potatoes. After canning they can just be drained and glazed an served. If you hadn't noticed I can a lot of what I call "convenience foods" for us. There are time in winter if we get a big snow storm we can lose power for several days and the things I can are things that can be opened and just heated up and served with minimal resources. I also need to get some pears canned before they are all gone and get eaten by the deer an rabbits. By the time I get this done I hope the fellers have more deer to hang in the kitchen to cool out. Most likely that will be the end of our season of canning and preserving. Till next year at least.
I finally made my granola today. The recipe I used is great but the idea of toasting the granola in the crock pot was a no go. So I made the granola the old fashioned way. So here is the recipe for granola.
Granola my way
5 cups old fashioned oats
1/2 cup ground flax seed
3/4 cup coconut oil (I use half butter, half oil)
3/4 cup honey
2 tsp vanilla
2 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 cups coconut
1/2 cup raw pumpkin seeds
1/2 cup raw almonds
1 to 2 cups mix ins (seeds or nuts of choice, raisins, dried fruit, chocolate chips)
Melt oil and/or butter, stir in honey, vanilla and cinnamon.
In a large bowl mix remaining ingredients except mix ins. Pour oil mixture over all and stir to blend evenly.
Pour granola into a baking pan and put in 350 degree oven till toasted. Stir every 5 or 10 minutes for even browning. When toasted cool add the mix ins of choice and store in air tight container.
This only took about 20 or 30 minutes in my oven as I used a dark pan and it browned faster so watch the granola closely as to not burn it. Below are the mix ins that I used. On the left is dried ground cherries, dried strawberries and dried apples, and in the bag Chia seeds.
IF my plans go as I plan I will make another batch of cookie dough to freeze for later when the kids are home. We always need snacks when the kids are here. Somehow they think they need to eat while they are home. But thas OK, thas what moms do for their kids when they are gone from home too long. I am really looking forward to their visit. I guess I will just stay busy till then.
Remember the orphan kittens I raised after their momma got killed? The black one has disappeared but I still have Possum. When they were little they spent a lot of time with the chickens. So now in the evening when I go out to close up the chickens Possum is usually in the building with them. I have a confused cat that thinks hes a chicken.
Not much else happening on the farm, so till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.
Stella
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)