New beginnings

OUR NEW FLOCK!!! These are our 6 little babies!! We are excited to have Janie may, peep peep, Sally, Happy, Caren, and Baby Face. We have raised chickens before when the boys where little but this time we have alot less chickens. The kids are excited and we can't wait to watch them grow and provide our family with eggs. In return we will provide them with love and a very nice home. These are our new pets. ( pictures soon of the $25 coop)

Getting back

to the blog. Sometimes I find it hard to get on here and report on what we have done or share things we use differently but I will try to do better.
Seems this summer got away from us. two days after the kids got out for summer vacation our daughter fell and broke her arm which required surgery. So we spent the summer trying to keep her cool and comfortable. With gaining full range of motion 12 days before school started she then started horseback riding lessons.
Our homesteads garden was not very useful this year and we are very disappointed. But with 1 year as a flop in the 9 years we have lived here it doesn't seem so bad.
We have braced the fence to get a calf and a few goats. We have raised them before and loved every moment of it.

Hope this entry finds you well and busy. Our homestead is still growing and we have exciting news in the next post. See you back here in a bit!

Impact - Pay it forward

The last few days here have been turned upside down. With nearly 8 inches of rain in 2 days we found ourselves being prepared. Comforting yes. With roads closed everywhere and buildings under water we were thanking GOD that we did not have to run out and get anything. GOD gave us the ability to have everything we needed at this time. We are thankful.

The pictures above are our back yard. We never have seen water like this since we have moved here over 8 years ago. We needed the rain, last month we were 5 inches below our normal rainfall. Now we are ahead. With a recent post from a friend ( thanks Andie) got me thinking of my spiritual gifts. I wasn't sure what they were but now I think this rainfall I feel better about what they might be. My mom and I were talking and she has a friend that lost everything. I have a great deal of things that were for a yard sale in my moms garage. Well as soon as my mom mentioned that this family needed things I said without skipping a beat " if they need it give it to them" I am also going through things in my home. I am not doing this for the "thank yous". I do this because I am a giving and caring person. I care about others and hope they find comfort in others willing to help. I pray someone sees others helping out and follow. So if someone has every helped you, help someone else. Thanks for reading and GOD bless.

Looking back

last year I took the Footprint calculator quiz and http://bitofsoil.blogspot.com/2009/04/how-big-is-your-footprint.html was surprised to learn how much I was using. So I took the quiz again this year after changing more of how we live. Our results are as followed

Last year - we needed 3.8 earths to live like we did- NOW - 2010 we need 3.5

Last year - we needed 16.9 global acres to sustain us - NOW 2010 we need 15.8

Of course we are not perfect. But just a little bit of change and being aware of what we buy makes a big difference.

Where I'm at

is a place I love. I live in a place where even the paved roads are mostly dirt come Spring. The tractors from the fields going too and froe. I live in a place where having a garden is a natural thing we do. I live in a place where 24 hours is never enough time in a day.
Those are the things I love about where I live. But I also live in a place where planting 51 cabbage plants means only 1 will survive to the next day. I live in a place where the frost will hit the peach trees right after the blooms come out. I live in a place where the rain is not plentyful.
So what does a person do that depends on these things for the winter months of feeding a family of 5. Well I plant more plants, spray the trees with homemade orgainic fruit tree spray, and pray. Pray that we will get through this and get rain. But in the mean time we will collect as much water we can and plant more veggies that the birds will leave alone.

What do you love about where you live?

Good to know

with the uncertains of the weather it is good to know that our pantry is plentiful. We are snowed in and the schools are closed. The snow is coming down and the wind is blowing but we are warm and comfortable. Its hard to believe that some carrots are still in the ground but good to have plenty food.
They say it could get down to -13 windchill tonight but with a handy kerosine heater the electric could go out and we can still be warm.
With all the snow coming down its hard to think we are garden planning today. We are making lists and preparing the greenhouse with a few last touchs. Our garden will be expanded by 12-15 feet this year also plans for another 6 raised beds going in, in the back this winter also. And again we will be tearing up some of the front yard for other edibles, herbs, trees. So excited.... So what are you preparing for the growing months?

Best food ever

voted number one from the family. Spaghetti sauce, homemade of course. Its wonderful on cold days. The sauce recipe comes from the Blue ball book. And its a winner!!!

January

and still stocked. This winter we have bought $34.23 of groceries. Thats it! But we didn't really have to buy that much but the kids were begging for a hotdog. They haven't had one for sometime at home.
We have our frezzer still half full and the pantry shelves from 6 shelves to 3. We have not gone hungry and we eat well. This is all off the pounds we grew and or were gifted to us. I love winter....and spring.......fall..........and summer...

Shed/ greenhouse

With the temps here in the low teens and planting time quickly upon us here we decided to make the shed into a make shift greenhouse. With little time to spare we cleaned it out and are in the process of putting up more shelves. We also was gifted a little Coleman heater that runs for 20 hours on one fill up of Coleman fuel. Surprisingly its perfect for the little shed to stay warm and toasty. And that's even on low. I started the heater on a below zero night and within 1 hour the 9x9 shed was above freezing and around 45 degrees. Should be perfect for the little plants not to freeze on cold nights. Also the lights give off heat so its worth a shot.