A few pics

A few pictures from the past

Josh with a bull calf several years ago.

Josh helped Rudy the clown during a PRCA rodeo held at
our district fair. He helped him for several years. This was the
best fun for him. He had a blast, memories that will last a life time. This was
a picture about 3 years ago.

JC has been at every county fair since he was born. We gave him

the first year off because he couldn't walk yet LOL.

The inside of our barn, it is over 100 years old.



JC when he was 3, he is now 6. I don't have any pics from the last year two years due to camera
issues. He was so little and cute!

homestead happenings

Elizabeth with her heifer Jezz. She won supreme heifer at county and
supreme heifer at district. We can't wait to get a calf from her.

Well not much going on around here this weekend. We have begun the countdown to our county fair next week. This weekend we cleaned the fairgrounds, there were lots of kidos and moms and dads to help, everything is looking so nice.

I haven't felt very well today and hubby was exhausted still from the week, so we stayed home from church today. My BP has been really low today and so has my heart rate, when it want's to do this I just feel really exhausted all day.hopefully by tomorrow I will be feeling some what better. Sometimes you just need a day to recoup, a body can only take so much ya know.

This weeks plans are: clean out the camper, take a load of clothes and junk to the sheltered workshop, get health papers from vets, 4-H meeting, clean tack and show box and paint the stall, and that is just a few things. I will have to make a running tally everyday to keep us on track.

The kids have been out looking at the moon tonight. It is big and bright for sure. God is so good.
God bless ya,
Tara

What is going on?

Are you ready for what is going on in this country right now?

Could you survive if we were to have an economic fall out?

Could you as a family have enough food for a year?

Could you make it?These are just a few question that I have this morning. I
Have decided to start some post about homesteading skills and what we
can do to better prepare ourselves. I think our family needs to learn a few things.
So I invite you to come along and join us on this adventure

Some of the things that we are already doing is trying to provide some of our own food. I do not want to be dependent on a gro. store for everything. What if someday I can't get to a store, or don't have any money. (which seems to be more often for us).
We had two hogs butchered this spring there pics are above, we got close to 400lbs of meat from them. We are looking for 4 more right now. We also have a steer we are feeding out right now, from him we will average another 700 lbs of meat from an 1100 lb steer. I know a lot of people doesn't have room for a steer, but a hog is more manageable. They can eat all your kitchen and garden scraps, you would be surprised . The satisfaction of knowing that you didn't have to throw anything away and you would be getting something for your scraps is a good thing, less waste, and you know where your food is coming from.

Next I encourage you to get a garden going, even if it is a small one. I have been so upset this year over ours, but we have learned something, I will need to always have more than I plan on needing, in case we have another summer like this one.

I have been learning to do lots of homesteading skills, like canning, butter making, bread making, cooking a lot of things from scratch, sewing etc.
You would be amazed at how we can save money on food by making lots of things from scratch and not buying pre made pre packaged food. On average I spend around 400$ a month for food and cleaning supplies. That is for two adults, two teenagers, and one 6 year old (five of us).
I will try to do a post later on about how I shop for groceries and some cost cutting ways. I would love to get that 400 even down more. I would love to hear your comments and any suggestion that you may have.
May God bless ya till next time,
Tara

Its that time of year again!

It's that time of year again, the time when we start to pull out the curriculum catalogs, and make new schedules, revamp and renew from the previous year, change and add things, have lots of prayers and are full of excitement. Yep its time to go back to school "homeschool".
It is hard to believe but, this will be our 4th year to be home. I am not going to tell you it has all been sunshine and roses. There are days when I want to scream, or cry or both. But, I would not trade it for anything. I will never forget the first week we were home and I was at the kitchen stove doing some baking and the kids where gathered around the table and I looked around and the peace that came over me was overwhelming, I still get that feeling. The satisfaction that I am raising them in a God fearing home, a Christ centered home.
I still feel like I don't know anything, but I do believe a lot of the doubt that is placed in me is of satan and this world. He wants to place doubt in us and try to cause chaos.
I have decided to of course do some changes this year, we are going to try and do more hands on things this year and I have decided that the best way for us to try and do history this year is through literature and living history, I think we are going to try and take a lot more field trips that are focused around what we are studying that month.
I learn something new all the time myself, I want the kids to want to learn and not feel as though it is a job, that is my goal for this year, to install a love to learn in the kidos. We are going to have a fun and exciting year this year. The great thing about homeschooling is that it's not just 8-3 , its 24 hours, 7 days a week. Outside or inside, at home or away. "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me" Philippians 4:13

locust trees and infections

Well this has been an interesting week so far. Sunday we had Jeff's mom and dad over for supper, I fixed a roast with gravy, rice, green beans, candied carrots and fresh rolls. We had a good time of fellowship together. It had been a while since they where here so we really enjoyed the company. Sunday JC didn't feel very well though and kept complaining about his armpit hurting. We didn't think anything of it because him and Josh are always wresting around with each other. Well on Monday morning he couldn't lift up his arm with out it hurting and a knot had appeared. Yeaterday it was even bigger. Needless to say we made a trip to the doctors office. While we were waiting I took JC to use the restroom and wash his hands(his hands are always dirty, he's a little BOY what can I tell ya) any way I noticed a thorn in his index finger that had puss around it. I told him we would have to get that out when we got home. We then went back to the waiting room. When the doctor finally saw us, the first thing he said was there was an infection in his arm somewhere and the lymph nodes in his arm were trying to keep it from entering his body. "light bulb" I told the doc. I think I found the problem already. That little splinter in his finger. And of course that was it. He dug around in his finger and tried to get it out and sent off a culture of it and sent us home with some really strong antibiotics to take. JC told us he had gotten it from a locust tree at the pump. So I learned a lesson here. Locust tree thorns are something not to be played with.

Can you see the lymph node sticking out?

This is a black locust tree limb, you can't see from this picture but it does have some thorns
on it.

Now the hardest part of all this is going to be keeping him inside out of the heat for a few days. I guess when you are a 6 year old boy you have no feeling of temperatures, it doesn't matter if it is hot or cold outside, that is where he wants to be.
God Bless ya,
Tara

Random thoughts this morning

The joys of homemaking

Oh the joys of homemaking, being a wife and stay at home mom. I can not imagine any better job. For most of my marriage I have been home with my children and husband, I only worked outside the home 2 times and they were for very short periods of time. For years I kept asking God to show me "his will" for me. I have all kinds of books on "God's purpose in your life" well let me tell you, I was doing it all along, just not very well. It wasn't until I realized that being home was my purpose that I started looking at things very different. I realized that my home was being neglected because I was not looking at it. I was looking somewhere off in the distance. God has given us a job, a purpose and that is to be a help meet to our husbands and keepers at home. If you are married and have children then those two things are your purpose. I have really made some changes around here the last couple of years and the first one was to be a more submissive wife, just that alone can change the atmosphere of your home, when mom and dad are in love and one accord with each other things can't help but to get better, next was discipline of the children and next was order in our home. As I have said before God is not the order of chaos, Satan is and if our home is chaotic he can get a foot into our homes and well we all know what can happen then. I can always tell when we begin to get a little chaotic around here and then we have to reign everything back into focus and trust me, it is easy to get that way. Satan wants to make us so busy that we don't have time to focus on our family and home the way we need to. I struggle daily with all these things, and I constantly have to stop and go to Christ and ask for His help, I am still learning and still growing, but being home with a happy heart for my husband and my children is the very best.
May God Bless ya,
Tara

Homemade Ranch dressing

The dressing turned out very good.
5TBL-minced dried onions
7tsp dried parsley
4tsp salt
2tsp garlic powder
pinch of dill week
1tsp onion powder
mix together and store in air tight container

To make dressing:
Add 3 TBL mix with 1 cup mayo and 1/2 cup buttermilk
Mix and let sit over night for best results.

If you wanted the dressing a little thinner just add more buttermilk. I didn't have
any buttermilk so I made my own. Just take 1 cup of milk and add 1tbl spoon of vinegar or lemon juice. It was weak tasting right after I made it but the next day it was great!

Tooth fairy

It finally came out. That little top tooth has been
hanging by a thread for days now.

Homestead happenings

There has not been much happening around here. It is too hot for much. This week our highs are going to be around 105-108 and that is regular temps. The heat index will make it feel like 115. We have just been doing regular feeding of momma cows and show calves. County fair is in 3 weeks so it is crunch time for us. We need to work on getting some craft projects done this week for the fair.

This weeks menu looks a lot like last weeks, because I didn't get to stick with my menu last week, I didn't have my crock-pot to do my rib and roast in so I am going to do some of them this week.

Sun-Pot luck at church
Mon-Smoked sausage casserole
Tues- Chicken strips, chicken herb rice, salad
Wed-BBQ ribs in the crock-pot, potato salad, baked beans
Thurs- Beef stir-fry with rice
Fri- Go to town day also known as fend for your self night.
Lunch this week will be something simple and light because of the heat. Grilled cheese or cheese casadeas, left overs or salad.

I am going to try my hand at making homemade ranch dressing and if it turns out well I will post about it.
God bless,
Tara