Christmas Greetings to all!

I hope all of you are having a wonderful Christmas season so far.  Don't forget to take a little time this year to remember the reason for the season.  We have a tendancy this time of year to be so busy with all the parties, functions, decorating, baking and gift buying that we loose foucus.

I encourage you to add a tradition to your holiday going ons.  It will be a wonderful thing for your children to remember and to carry on to their families. It could be anything, and make it your own.

Remember ladies we don't have to be Martha this time of year.  Everything doesn't have to be perfect.  This can be one of the biggest stressors that we give ourselves and there is no need.  Remember if momma is unhappy everyone is unyhappy.   Everything doesn't have to be perfectly decorated or tons of homemade goodies baked at all times.  Do the best you can with what you have.  Praise God for his gift to us, for BEING THE REASON FOR THE SEASON,  and enjoy your family.

Now for a bit of farm and family news:

There is not a lot of things going on here this time of year. Everything tends to slow down.  We have been doing basic feeding and getting the new show calves ready for the new show season.   We have lots on our list to do this winter.  We are trying to get lots of brush and junk cut up and burned and we need to do some repairs to the barn and fences. One of my things to get made this winter is a new chicken tractor, for spring chickens to arrive too. It was to dry this summer to do any burning for sure.  

For bigger news, we are expecting a new baby in our home this up coming new year.  Yep, you heard me right.  I am expecting.  After getting over the surprise we are very excitied.  So far everything is going well.  I am only 13 weeks today, so we have a ways to go. I could use all of your prayers.  The Lord has a way of showing us that He is still in charge and that all we need is faith!

I hope everyone has a blessed Christmas,

God bless,

Tara

 



We have been very busy with fairs this past month.  Elzabeth won Grand Sim solution  and Reserve Suprem heifer at our district fair last week and we could not have been happier. Josh won Grand English heifer and Overall Grand commercial heifer.  Congratulation to them and lot of thanks to Riley for all his help.  We couldn't have done it with out him.  Hard work does pay off!

 

County fair was great, but exhausting.  The kids did so well this week.  I could not have been any prouder than I am now.  Elizabeth won Grand Sim soulution, Grand registered heifer, and Supreme heifer, and reserve showmanship.  Josh won Grand exotic commercial heifer, grand over all commercial heifer, and reserve suprem heifer and then he won showman ship over his sister.  You did not want to come home with us that night I promise you. JC did real well with his calf and he is counting the days when he won't be a Pee wee showman and can compete with the big ones.
                                  




 
Gumdrop and Josh

                                          
                                              Cali and Elizabeth.

This is JC muttin busting, His favorite thing to do each year.  Next year he will have to ride a calf.  He is getting to big for the sheep.

Homestead happenings

It's been a busy time around the farm.  The kids have been attending different camps and 4-H activities.  Their livestock skills team won 7th in the state.  Not bad for their first time going.  I have still been very busy with all my canning.  The garden has slowed down now and I am only getting a few things here and there. We are about to start turning everything under and planting for the fall.  The drought has hit us really hard as usual.  We are already hauling water for the wells at the house and the barn.  I tell ya, all the Good Lord has to do to get our attention is one little thing and that is turn off the water spout...... Our country is about to face a crisis in many ways.  Food prices are about to hit the roof.  We can see it coming.  We are determined to have a fall garden of some kind.  Also our county fair time is approaching fast, and we know it is coming every year, but it seems to get here faster with each year.  I hope everyone's summer is going well, ours is flying by fast.

Kids all dressed up for their banquet.


God bless, Tara

Gardening time

It's been busy around here lately.  The garden is going about as well as can be.  The temps are getting warmer everyday, but we are managing.  I have been a very busy bee canning.  I love this time of year, but it is a lot of work also.  It's a very rewarding kind of work.  When you know that your family is eating healthy and they know where there food comes from and what is in it.  It really makes all of it worth it in the end.          

The squash and broccoli are about played out.  Time to start new plants for the fall.

 

As you can see we are very dry.

 

Some of the bounty one morning.

 
 

 The boys are busy cutting okra.  I went a little over board.  You can't tell by this picture, but 

there is 5 rows of it. This particular day they got 2--5gallon buckets full. (thats a lot)

Canning tomatoes. Aren't they just beautiful.  Just think of all the yummy stuff

that I will be making this winter.

God has been good to us.
God bless everyone,
Tara

It has been some time since my last post.  Things have kinda been crazy around here.  We have been busy with the garden and all it entails and also VBS, and besides that I have gotten an infected tooth that decided to infect my whole face and has made me a very sick lady.  I never knew a little tooth could make someone so sick.  We haven't been doing much exciting to post about either.  Here are just a few pics.

This made a lot of plum jelly for sure.

About 24 jars worth

Sky VBS It was a very cute one.  

 

Sunset at a local lake.  We went fishing late one evening and it was just beautiful.

 

Don't know if you can see it, but that same afternoon of fishing there was an

alligator that kept on coming by to see what we where up to.

 

And of course we were all toooo excitied over Josh's big daddy of a fish.

 God has been good. 

God bless,

Tara

Joy comes in the morning

For his anger endureth but a moment, in his favor is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.            
 Psalm 30:5

What does that mean to you, "joy comes in the morning" .  It means to me that the Lord has got everything under control.  Doesn't it always seem better the next morning what ever we are going through.  

I originally posted this a year or so ago and it is always a wonder that I am writing something for someone else, but it always comes back to me in the end.  Joy is something I need right now, Joy is not a fleeting feeling that is called happiness, joy comes from within.  I am learning that life is not easy and it is really not easy when you become a parent.  I am learning how to let go and let God have control over my children.  I dedicated them to Him when they were babies, but I never truly have let go of them.  I am in a season of learning to take it one morning at a time, and that the sun will come up at the end of the night and I am going to be able to turn my face into the warmth and bask in it.

Sin has a way of trying to creep in and still our joy, satan wants to rob us of every bit of it.  He wants us to wallow in shame and in the darkness, because when we are in the darkness there is not light and light truly comes from above.

I love the mornings, I love the quietness of it.  The freshness of the morning.  It seems like the Lord cleaned up over night and everything is bright and fresh. Its like a new start.  Every morning that we get to wake up is a blessing from the Lord.

Joy comes in the morning when we go to Him in prayer.  Prayer for our husbands and children.  For us to be better moms and wives and servants for Him. Don't forget to even pray for those little things in life.  God wants to hear about those too. He loves you and wants to hear from you.  Sometimes we get so busy with all the stuff and fluff around us we forget to go to Him.   This is not a me time but a Lord keep me in your will time.  A time for just the two of you to talk.

I encourage you moms and wives to get up a little early, get a cup of coffee or tea and take the word of God and go out side.  There is something about studying His word that time of the day that is special.  I feel closer to Him for sure.  I promise you it sets the tone for the whole day.

God Bless,
Tara 

Its, been a good Saturday today.  It was just beautiful today.  It was rather cool, but you couldn't have asked for a nicer day today.  We got to go to a show today.  It was the first one since Christmas.  Dear daughter has not felt too well so we have not been able to go.  The kids did really good today.  Got several grands, several reserves, and Elizabeth won senior showmanship at both shows today.   I didn't get a lot of good pics today, the barn was really dark, and all the pics, turned out way to dark.

Elizabeth with Cali

Josh, with Gum drop.  We should have named her mighty mouse.  For such a small

package she is a strong little thing.  

Nothing like lunch of the tailgate of the truck.

There is something to be said about the friend ships made doing this, and there

is nothing like little boys and shavings,  

 

It was a good day of fun and winning, kids and calves enjoyed themselves and then we enjoyed dinner out

with good friends to celebrate our winnings, and Elizabeth's up coming birthday. God is good,

God bless,

Tara

 

Why mulch?

There are so many reason that we need to mulch our gardens.  It can conserve water foremost, a good two inches or more can save on the need for watering. Especially in areas where there is not much rain. It also is a good weed barrier.   I don't know about you, but hoeing and weeding is the least of my gardening favorites.  The less is better.  Also is is such a good soil amendment.  It will break down over time and add valuable vitamins and nutrients.  Our 4-H club just did a little work cleaning up the community center where we hold our meetings.  We took home some of the straw and today we spent the day putting it around the tomatoes.  You can use a variety of things for mulch.  You can use pine straw and leaves, to bark and wood chips and even shavings.  Also we have used the hay that we have cleaned out of the stall at the barn before in the garden.  You want to use things that cost little to nothing.  I wouldn't suggest buying straw bales to use.  That can get expensive, unless you have used them as bedding first at the barn.  Remember barn stuff also has the added factor of having some manure in it and that is a good amendment for your soil.

The boys hard at work.  They are blessing to me for sure.

 Homestead tomato.

 There is nothing like a drink of cool well water from a hose after all that work.

We planted a few different varieties of tomatoes this year.  We planted, Homestead, Roma, Arkansas Traveler, and a Cherokee Purple.  All of these are an heirloom variety.  We tried to do more heirloom plantings this year. 
God Bless ya,
Tara

A littlle bit of gardening.

Garden planning is a must.  I see lots of little gardens that are fine for wanting some fresh veggies for the summer, but in order to have enough to put up we need to look at how much we need for an entire year.  You need to figure how many times you have eaten beans or corn or potatoes and figure accordingly.  And this year if the Lord allows I am going to go over that amount.  Last years drought and not being able to save anything really taught me something.  It is better to have to much than not enough.   The chart above is a good one to go by, but if you have more than just 4 people , you will have to alter it.

This was our green bean patch last year, our potatoes were to the right. and off to the left is the corn,  everything was just coming up at this point. If you can't tell, these are LONG>>>>>> rows. ha, ha. 

 We grew the biggest onions, I think we have ever grown. we enjoyed every bit of them.  One of these days I would like to have a root cellar, we really don't have a good place to put our root crops.  I put straw in a plastic crate and laid them in it and then stacked the trays on top of each other. They lasted a long time. We ate them up before they went bad.

  This is JC. standing in a hay ring.  The bull pushed it into the garden and it was his job to get it out.  That is purple hull peas behind him trying to peek out.  I wish I had a pic of the tomatoes and our sprinklers, I will try and get a shot of them this summer.

  

Just remember that gardening is like anything else, it takes a lot of work, time and patience.  Everybody needs to be eating better and eating less processed foods.  The best way to know it is healthy is to grow it yourself. So good luck to you and your gardens this year.  

God Bless, 

Tara 

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homemade egg noodles

 I decided to try my hand at making homemade egg noodles.  They turned out pretty good.  I think next time I will mix them up with my stand mixer and not by hand and see if they are smoother.  Over all they were good.









The ingredients are: 2 Cups flour, 4 eggs, 1 tsp salt.  I mixed the flour and salt and then made a well in the flour and added my eggs.  I started on the inside and worked my way to the outside until all the eggs and flour were combined.

 

 

 

s 

 

 

           












I then turned out on my board and worked it untill it was smooth. I wrapped some plastic wrap around it and let it rest in the fridge for about 30 minutes.















         I then cut into quarters , to make smaller pieces to roll out.
                                

z

 I rolled out very thin and cut into strips using my pizza cutter.

  

I made one batch to cook now and then cut the other ones into smaller pieces to dry to use later.

I cooked them like I would do any other pasta, lots of water and lots of salt. Make sure to shake off as much flour as you can.  the excess flour can make your water icky.

This is my end result.  We had egg noodles with a cheesy garlic cream sauce and broccoli for lunch today.

Hope you will try them for yourselves.  In fact, if I rolled them out thicker, I think they would be good for chicken dumplings also.  I have the smaller pieces drying in the oven.  You can dry lots of things in your oven if you have a pilot light that stays on all the time. God bless until next time.


God bless,
Tara

Don't forget to go over to Our Simple Country Life and check out all the other great links there today. 

Joyfulness comes with contentment

 

 

I talked last week about contentment and today I want to talk a little about finding joy.  Joy will in the end help you to be contented.  I am unfortunately preaching to my self this morning.  This last week has found me not feeling so joyous.  It is just satan's way of trying find a foot hold in our home.  What is that old saying if momma aint happy ain't no body happy..  There is a lot of truth to that.  We hold the keys to our family's disposition within ourselves.  So there are a few things that you can try this week;

1. simplify your life
That's right try to simplify as much as you can.  Remember I am preaching to myself this morning.  We have a tendency to have so many activities going on.  We have had to cut back on a lot of stuff that we used to do.  We made a choice several years ago that we would not do sports and do our cattle shows.  It was just to much.  I have cut back on volunteering so much at church.  I realized I don't have to do everything and it is okay for someone else to be in charge.  My family comes first.  I know what you are thinking. That is the church you are supposed to put God first. Yes we are to put the Lord first. But, I realized that my family was falling apart because I spent so much time doing other things.  Also the first way to tear a church apart is to start with the family.  My first calling is to minister to them and then go out. Figure out what you just have to do and do only those things.  Learn to say NO...

2Learn to love the little things.
I am still learning this.  Learn to love the everyday job.  The ones that never seem to end.  For me that is dishes and laundry.  And I hate to do both, but am learning to love them .  One thing is, I have my children help me with these chores.  Many hands make light work. If you have children get them in there to help.  Even if they are young.   Talk about things or sing songs. It will make the time go by quicker. Remember to clean as you prepare your meals and the mess won't be as bad. Also one thing that I have learned is prayer.  I pray for my family at this time too.  It is a good time to thank God for all his blessings.  He is the one that gave you all of the food that enabled you to have that meal. There are so many people today that don't have anything to eat and would be glad for a kitchen full of dirty dishes.   He gave you those clothes to keep you warm and most of all He gave you those children and your husband as a gift.  Every time you pick up your husbands dirty work clothes , just thank the Good Lord for letting him have a job and to keep him safe. 

3. Keep a time of prayer and Bible Study
I have found this to be oh so important.  Just a few minutes in the morning and read a Psalms if nothing else and something I have been learning is to pray for others.  when we pray for other peoples happiness and joy it will bring joy to our lives also.  I can always tell a difference in my day when I have not done my Bible reading and prayer in the morning.   It will set the mood for the whole day.  Don't forget to have a time of bible study with your children during the day.  It doesn't have to be much, just a few minutes.

4. Smile 
Remember attitude is everything.  The more you smile and have a bright attitude it will  spill  over into everything that you do.  I am usually a very smiling person and on the days I am grumpy and grouchy, boy my kids know it.  They even tell me "mom if you could see the look on your face today" . That  is always an eye opener for me.   

Most of all just remember that we are all human and we are going to have those days when the phone is ringing off the hook, everyone wants our attention, and everything is going in circles.  Remember to stop! Look around you and the gifts that have been given you.  Take a break and go have a glass of tea outside for a minute and listen to the birds and smell the fresh air.  Learn to love the little things, the boring and mundane jobs we have to do everyday, go to the Lord in constant prayer and smile and remember to love your life and make it the best it can be and be a blessing to the Lord, and to your family. Hope this helps you this morning.
God bless ya,
Tara   

 JC had a great time dying eggs.  He did a good job of getting more dye on the eggs than himself. Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of everyone all dressed up.  Once we got to their Mim's house, everyone made a mad dash and changed clothes.  I will say everyone looked very handsome.  Josh wanted to wear pink and ended up wearing a button up pink shirt.  He kept saying all day it takes a "real man to wear this shirt" LOL that boy is a mess for sure.

JC hunting eggs at his Mim's house. 

 

 

  God Bless,
Tara