it's sew good!

shortly after moving to Bradford county last May, i was invited to join a special group of women. it's a quilting group that they call the Friendship Quilters, and they have graciously included me in their meetings and projects ever since. some of those women were the first freindships that i formed after moving to this new place, and i will always be grateful for the warm welcome that they showed me.

one of the things that they do every month is have a block exchange. it's very simple, really. as a group we decide on what quilt block we'd like to make; what pattern we'll use and the colors. whoever wants to participate makes a block. then when we get together again, if you made a block your name goes in the hat. we all take turns winning, and then start all over again. last month i was the fortunate winner! i received 12 of these black and white blocks, and I'm busy thinking about how I'd like to design the quilt that I'll make.

and look what came in the mail today! this wonderful sewing thingy from my bloggy friend Angie. it's part of a project that we both volunteered for, Pay it Forward. even though Angie already sent me a wonderful box of hair bows for the girls, I'm tickled pink to receive this as well!

I'm not sure what to properly and respectfully call it, but i know what it is! there is a pin cushion, weighted with rice. it's big enough for pins, needles and safety pins. there is also the removable trash bag, which is a very nice feature. and then there are the little pockets for miscellaneous sewing notions: scissors, tape, thread and more pins.

thanks so much, Angie! the fabric is beautiful. i love stripes, florals and checks together. now i'm off to go sew!

Thursday's Livestock and Garden Report

we've been so incredibly busy outside with a multitude of projects that I've decided to add a new feature post. starting today, and sporadically on Thursdays, there will be the Livestock and Garden Report. this way i can keep you all updated with what we're currently focusing on, and how things are progressing. (and growing)

without further ado, in no particular order, is the first of my little homestead happenings:

last fall i got a box of perennial spring bulbs from my dear friend, Wanda. (she keeps showing up here alot, doesn't she? I'll have to introduce you to her sometime!) today the daffodils bloomed! the tulips and hyacinth are coming as well, but it will be a couple more weeks for them.

this is Bud, our red bone coon hound. B loves to feed him his dog biscuits, and will walk down to his house all by herself. i know it looks like he's biting her hand off, but he's really not! B is not scared at all, and this is one of the highlights of her day.



an interesting tidbit: Baby B is perhaps the only little girl that you know that has the honour of being named after (a different) red bone coon hound. B, the dog, was an amazing hunter, tracking and treeing 63 coons in one winter! maybe Dave will tell that story on a guest Friday. I'll have to see if i can talk him into that one.



Dudley is quite content, and loves when the girls bring him the winter rye from the garden. A will often bring him a green stick as well, and he appreciates that, too.



here Dave and G are finishing up clearing off this portion of land in preparation for our new pigs. previously, this was all just a jumble of scrub trees and thorn bushes. you can see the day lillies on the hillside in the front right foreground. we plan on buying 2 or 4 pigs in the next few weeks, and i'll be working at fencing off this area.

in exchange for a batch of oatmeal raisin cookies, G happily measured the pigs for me. i was surprised to learn that they weigh well over 250 pounds! although we planned (and plan) on butchering our own pig in the future, we realized that it would be nearly impossible to do that project this spring, so both pigs are going to the butcher on the 13th. in anticipation of that, I've been taking the opportunity to clean out the freezer and cellar of all those odd things that are lurking on shelves and in corners. Pig and Spot have enjoyed apple butter, apple dumplings, dilly beans, tomatoes, bananas, plum jelly, un-set peach jelly and several unidentifiable mounds of who-knows-what.




most of the seedlings are doing well, although it looks like we'll have to try again with the cauliflower. (this picture is of the peppers) they grew very tall and leggy, and probably will not make it. the peppers are doing well, as are the tomatoes and other cabbage-y stuff. the second greenhouse has really come in handy!




i was in town again this week, and while i was driving by the hardware store, i noticed that they had gotten their onion sets and seed potatoes. since Dave reads this blog, i don't feel that i should reveal at this time how much of each i bought. i may have been just a tad bit optimistic and enthusiastic. not to mention exuberant! let's just say that he should be happy that i buy seeds, and not shoes. right, dear?




we moved the high tunnel to its site in the garden last week, and today Dave and i put the plastic over it. it was fairly easy, and went very smoothly.





before we competed that, A was willingly picking rocks for us. i helped, along with B, and we filled the bucket fairly quickly.




after the plastic was on and fastened down, i put the thermometer inside. we were both surprised at how quickly the temperature climbed. today was a nice day, a very mild 60+ degrees. inside the high tunnel, it was 85! closer to the roof it was nearly 100!


A helped me to plant lettuce, radishes and cilantro in one of the cold frames. she really liked working in the dirt, and so did B.



the Cornish X are growing quickly. they've eaten almost 25 pounds of food in just one short week! we moved them to a bigger box earlier in the week, but just tonight put them in their new home outside. we have a small, bottomless pen that Dave built. the heat lamp is in there with them, and we've covered it with a tarp to further protect them from the weather. they'll be just fine, and they'll love to scratch around in the grass and dirt.




these chickens can eat an amazing amount of food. of course, since they will dress out at around 10-12 pounds in only 12 weeks, that's to be expected. today while i was at the feed mill i ordered 500 pounds of 23% protein feed for them. they need the higher protein feed since they grow so fast. we'll see just how long that lasts...







another reason we moved the Cornish X outside (besides that they stink!) is the buff orpington hens came on Tuesday afternoon. happily, all 25 peeps survived the trip, and we quickly settled them into the pool.



when we get new chicks Dave will often take the time to individually dip each peep's beak in water, then in the food. then we know that they are eating and drinking. these peeps are much more tranquil than the meat birds. the Cornish X are very skittish and freak out easily. it was getting very chaotic in the mud room with so many people coming and going, and then 50 chickens freaking out all the time!



so, there you have it. a blow-by-blow of our growing things. i better get this published, or it won't be Thursday anymore! tomorrow will be here all too soon, and no matter how much we accomplish in a day, there are always more things waiting for us. but keeping busy keeps us out of trouble...

pandemonium- it's just a normal day around here!

i love homeschooling my children, and after 11 years i feel confident in what we're doing and in the quality of education that they are receiving.

however, adding 2 little girls into the mix has definitely muddied up the waters more than a little bit!

I'm thankful that by the time A and B came along, every one already knew how to read, cursive writing and long division.

I'll be honest and confess that it can be sheer pandemonium around our house sometimes. between babies sitting on the schoolroom table, toddlers running off with any unguarded pen or pencil, and squealing girls pounding on the piano, it's a wonder that some days G and N even remember how to spell their own name!

more of the same- but better!

a few weeks ago, i wrote about how relaxing and theraputic it is for me to knit. a dear friend taught me how to make these round dishcloths. almost too much excitement to stand, isn't it? (although i will say, if you have any amount of testosterone running thorugh your veins, you will probably think that this round dishcloth is a doily!)

i quickly got started on a yellow one, and although they look complicated, it's an easy and repetitious pattern, and quick to learn. i splurged on a small ball of the blue variegated cotton, and made another round dishcloth. then, just be frugal and unboring, i made another square dishcloth in both the blue and yellow.


here's the pattern, if you'd like to try one yourself:

CO 16
Knit 1 row
* K 4, YO, K 10, turn
K back
K 4, YO, K 9, turn
K back
K 4, YO, K 8 turn
K back
K 4, YO, K 7, turn
K back (20 stitches)
BO 4, K to end
K back *
repeat until you have 13 points. bind off, sew together.


then topping off this dishcloth extravaganza, on another of my trips to town i bought some netting. actually, alot of netting. it's only 69 cents a yard, so i bought 6 yards. i cut it into 4" strips (lengthwise) and using a size Q crochet needle, i made these pot scrubbers. they're pretty easy, as well. just chain 5 stitches, and single crochet in each chain. (don't forget to chain one before turning the row) in no time at all, you'll have a handy-dandy scrubber of your own!

last week in review... in no particular order

last week was exceptionally busy, much more than usual it seemed. here's a brief re-cap of the highlights, and an overview of all the things that we got done.

Dave celebrated his birthday on Saturday. not quite a milestone, but nearly so. the girls helped me make his cake and the icing- chocolate cake with peanut butter icing. and of course, they were more than happy to help blow out the candles.

besides the 9 (nine) cases of mountain dew he received,and 2 magazine subscriptions, i made him this wall hanging. in case you can't read what it says: "hands to work ~ heart to God"

G and i worked on the pathway from where we park to the back porch (mud room) door. some of the rocks were very large and heavy, so we were glad to have the tractor to help with that part of the job.

A and B came out to help after their nap. there are still a few more rocks that I'd like to place, but that will have to wait a few more days. next we'll be working on the pathway from the parking area to the front door. we have an old barn foundation that we can get some more really cool rocks from.

i just love cool rocks, and sometimes i wonder why i didn't grow up to be a geologist!

right where the tractor is parked is where the 2 evergreen trees were until just a few weeks ago. this is where we plan on putting the orchard. we also laid out where we are going to put the apple and peach trees, and G started digging the holes.

Dave and both boys worked hard this week clearing this portion of the hillside. it was formerly covered with dried weeds, brush and wood, as well as a trash pile. (which G and i burned 2 weeks ago.) this hillside will come up all in naturalized (orange) day lillies, so the pressure was on to get it cleaned off in time for the new spring growth, which you can see has already begun.

they also continued the cleanup well to the left of this picture. the plan is to pasture the new pigs in that area. I'll keep you posted on that.

although this is not the greatest picture (it's actually a picture of a photocopy of a picture) this is what our house looked like in 1930. if you look closely, you can see in the lower left hand corner some stems of day lillies getting ready to bloom. while we are not deluding ourselves that we can afford to restore this wonderful old house to its former glory, we are hoping for a reasonable compromise!

i already told you about the cold frames that G built for me. I'm very pleased with them, and already have them filled with pig manure and dirt. i have been excitedly monitoring the temperature inside, and was thrilled to observe that so far, it's been warming up to 84 degrees, and holding a mild temperature of 50 degrees inside at night. we'll see how it continues to do as some of the nights can still get quite chilly. the high tunnel is now over part of the garden, and filled with a wonderful mixture of hay and manure that i hauled over from a farmer friend. Dave will soon cover it with plastic. after the high tunnel has a chance to warm up, and its been tilled, we'll be able to plant our tomatoes in there!

both the broccoli and cauliflower are up. I'm thinking that this will be a gigantic amount of both, so I've started collecting recipes that i think my family will eat. of course we'll freeze alot, and i hope to have some to sell. i also plan on plating a second crop of broccoli and cauliflower, either in July, or later in the high tunnel when the tomatoes are done. these crops will go in the lower garden, and even though I'll be planting either side of the rows with marigolds, there is no guarantee that i will actually harvest any of these plants!

we also bought another greenhouse. (it was the last one that Lowe's had!) there are still many seeds to plant, and it was obvious that we didn't have enough room. the second greenhouse has grow lights, but the "heater" is just a 100 watt bulb on the bottom shelf.

the pigs are getting ginormous, and in fact are not long for this world. while they are certainly not wild or mean, they are very large and aggressive. i was a little hesitant to jump in there with them to measure their girth and length to see how much they might weigh. maybe later this week i can bribe G to do that for me...

meanwhile, i plan on moving them twice a day, instead of just once as we have been doing. that's because i don't have anything better to do than pull my pigs all over the field with the tractor. *ahem* actually, i would like to have them root up as much of that lower garden as they can before we haul them off the the butchers on April 13th.

after such a busy week, i had promised the kids that we would have a campfire on Sunday afternoon. so after naps were over, G and i bundled up A and B, loaded up the wagon with our supplies and headed down to the campfire ring.

N had a nice fire going, and we enjoyed a relaxing time, filled with hot dogs, smoke, lots of chocolate, graham crackers and copious amounts of marshmallows.

now we feel relaxed and refreshed, and ready for another busy week!

this is as good as it gets. (for now)

15 months ago when we purchased this house, our beautiful kitchen was only a dream. through God's blessings and continued provision for our family, (and the fortuitous placement of the Marcellus shale formation) we were able to do this wonderful and efficient kitchen much sooner than we anticipated.

if you'd like a shocking before and after comparison of the work that we did, just click here. for a few in-progress reports, you can click here and here.


for now, the kitchen is, for all intents and purposes, done. there is still some trim work, leveling of the dishwasher and stove and the garage door to fix. (i had to tape it down to take this picture!) the floor is still undone, and we will work on that as we are able.




the spring rush is on, and we are concentrating our work efforts outside, so these last few details will have to wait until it's dark or raining. or dark and raining!



but I'm not complaining. it's a beautiful kitchen and my wonderful husband did a great job!

ready or not, here we come!

this morning at half past o'dark early, we received a phone call from the US Government. (actually, it was just the Postmaster from Towanda!) our peeps were waiting for us at the post office. so off Dave and A went, to bring home the newest members of our family.

these 50 Cornish rock cross straight run roosters are actually the first of several installments. next week we will get 25 more buff orpingtons, followed by 6 Indian runner ducks when the weather is warm enough to ship them. then, around the end of July, we will receive 50 more Cornish X chickens. so i guess by the end of the summer we should be on a first name basis with the Postmaster!

A was eager to help get the chicks settled in to their new home. we have a kiddie swimming pool that we keep in the mud room. the bottom is covered with pine shavings, and the chicks have a heat lamp, as well as fresh food and water at all times. the peeps will stay in here until i get sick of them in my house they are around 2 weeks old.

although both A and B would love to hold the chicks, we've had to tell them that only petting is allowed. even though these little guys will grow to be plenty big and fat, right now they are fragile and easily hurt, especially their legs.

now they're all settled in, and contentedly making little peeping sounds. we eat around 100 chickens a year, and we've raised most of our own chicken meat for the last several years. this year we hope to be a bit more efficient. we've found this breed to be the best for food to meat ratio, and I've already written the butchering date on the calendar. (June 17)

today G has been working diligently at making me a pair of cold frames. he's doing a great job so far, and in the next few days, I'll get them filled with some manure and dirt. after the soil has a chance to warm up a bit, I'll plant some cold hardy crops in them. i'll also use the cold frames to harden off some of the colder crops, freeing up more space in the little greenhouse.

we used the old window sashes from the house. after replacing all the unbelievably old and leaky windows, Dave had the foresight to save the sashes. now we're re-using them to make our cold frames.

and here's a (very poor) shot of our little greenhouse. it's already chock full, and I'm not nearly done starting seeds. last night we were up late getting some things started. so far we have:

1 flat broccoli

1 flat cauliflower

3 flats tomatoes (many different varieties)

1 flat peppers

1 flat mixed tomatoes and cabbage

so, even though the calendar says spring is officially here, the weather outside is still a bit nippy. but that's OK- we're going on faith... spring always comes; and we're going to be ready!

heating with wood, round two!

yesterday afternoon our tri-axle load of wood finally came. we paid what we feel is a very reasonable price. better yet, it was a fully packed load, consisting of mostly ash. i remember only the very end of a poem that i read somewhere about wood, and the quality of heat it would give: "ash wood wet and ash wood dry, a king can warm his slippers by."

anyway, it was quickly unloaded under the close supervision of Dave and both girls. thankfully, it was mostly smaller trunks, so G and N will be relieved that there won't be much splitting to do.

we plan on building a wood shed, so next year we'll be storing our firewood under the pole shed, instead of under tarps. slowly but steadily, we're making progress, and improving things around here!

it's almost as good as 10 acres of pasture and a hay field!

today Dave's newest acquisition arrived straight off the boat from China. (in a wooden box, no less! when was the last time that you saw that?)

what is it, you may ask. well, I'm going to tell you! it's a meat grinder. a 1 horsepower meat grinder. as in, grind up anything and every thing in sight that doesn't move fast enough! (including the neighbor's dog that has the nasty habit of coming down and eating my chickens!) soon the pig will be large enough to butcher, and this is something that we needed to do that job. Dave is the ultimate e-bayer, and that's where we got this. (he looks for everything on e-bay. everything!) we plan on making lots of sausage, and this nifty grinder will be just the ticket!

and another of Dave's great ideas: next fall we are going to buy a cow. a large cow. a very alive cow. and then we'll bring it home, and after the proper preparation and such, we'll run it through this grinder and have boatloads of ground beef! so, just remember that you heard it here first!

because we're all about cutting edge in the frugal country living department. (no pun intended!)

p.s. i was TOTALLY kidding about the neighbor's dog. but i had you going there for a minute, didn't i?

spring is (begrudgingly) coming!

there has been a flurry of activity around our little homestead in the last weeks, preparing for the inevitable and anxiously awaited event of SPRING! we know it's coming, and have seen signs of the impending death of this long and cold winter. some of the things that we have observed are:

* robins

* mourning doves

* MUD!

* a dwindling wood pile

* crocus blooming

* daffodil blooms

* perennial plants awakening

there are still several projects that i was hoping to finish (or have Dave finish) here in the house, but it's getting harder and harder to stay inside and do them. Dave is off and running with some of his spring ideas and things to build, and I'm afraid that i might not see him here in the house again until October! (the kitchen is *almost* done, and I've been waiting for those final small, but important things, to be completed before posting some more pictures. in light of the way things have been going, I'll try to get some pictures up of where we are now. very soon.)

our latest project is the high tunnel. after looking into buying one already made, and experiencing profound sticker shock, Dave decided we could easily build one ourselves. the size is approximately 20' X 12', and will be big enough to house many tomato plants and other stuff, too. we're still on our learning curve about this newest venture, and we'll be learning as we're going. a very helpful book that we'll be gleaning TONS of information from is Four Season Harvest, by Eliot Coleman. he and his wife, Barbara, have successfully grown a multitude of things in their high tunnel nearly year round. while that sounds a bit unrealistic ambitious for us in our first year, we're enthusiastically going to give it our best shot!

here we have our little helpers: a contrast in personalities! baby B is anxious to get outside, notwithstanding the fact that she has no pants on! B just knows that her beloved Dada and brother are out there, and she doesn't want to miss one thing!








A, on the other hand, is perfectly content to stay inside, with her faithful companion Phoebe. like i always say: "you can't go wrong with a warm quilt and a good book!"

Dave and G have made good progress with the hoops for the high tunnel, and just as they are nearly done, the electric company shows up to cut down our 2 trees. never mind that I've been repeatedly calling them for over 6 months! it just goes to show what a well placed phone call can do... this little knoll gets wonderful sunshine, and we plan on planting our little orchard here. we haven't made the final decision on what varieties of trees we want, but we plan on planting 4 apple and 2 peach trees that we'll buy from Miller Nurseries.

the electric company makes short work of the 2 trees (causing me to wonder what took them so long to come, anyway?) and while Dave gets right to work hauling away the carcasses...

...A and B are working at finishing up the high tunnel.

many hands make light work!