Busy Day

Whew! today has been a busy day. We started the day early by going to the local Peach Orchard. We were there by 7 am and the girls had such fun looking for the best peaches. We ended up with 15 pounds of a variety of different kinds of peaches. I know that won't be enough to put any up , but we will have some great snacks and desserts next week with our peaches!

Then it was off to the local Farmer's Market. It's still pretty small where we are, but it is growing considerably. Mostly everything that they were selling were things that we already have in our garden like okra, peppers, squash, tomatoes, etc. but we did by 2 pounds of raw milk cheese, one was jalepeno (YUM) and the other is a white cheddar.

Next was to our local bakery for a snack. I've been going to this little bakery since I was a child and it's so fun. The girls picked out a cupcake and I bought some rolls to eat with our new cheese:). It is so hot here that just thinking about turning on anything to cook makes me sweat. It will be sandwiches and cold salads for a few more days until things can cool off a bit, then maybe some cooking and baking will resume.

I still haven't decided on my August Quest yet. I guess we will all find out tomorrow.

This and That

So, since I'm fairly certain no one reads my blog yet anyways, I doubt anyone has missed me, but I just returned home late last night from a 7 day trip to California. It was work related but thankfully my work is crazy awesome and I got to travel with some great people. We got to see some wonderful sites. We flew into San Francisco then drove down the coast into Los Angeles. We had stops in Big Sur, Sunnydale, Santa Cruz and more fantastic stops. I'll try to post pictures soon.

I got to read some great Homesteading-type magazines on the plan though and that was inspiring for me.

My all time favorite magazine is Hobby Home Farm, followed closely by Mother Earth News, Organic Gardening and Natural Home.

Chickens!

Our family loves our chickens. With 3 year old and 4 year old daughters, our chickens get plenty of love and attention. A few weeks back, the girls got to experience the magical experience of chickens hatching. We had 2 of our 5 hens setting at the same time, and within just a few days of each other, they hatched leaving our family proud owners of 16 new chicks! Here is a picture of "Henny" and a few of her chicks.

Homesteading Quest Explanation

So, what exactly is this new venture I am undertaking?

Well I like to read other people's blogs about homesteading, gardening, natural living etc. and I wanted to do one of my own. I did want something a bit different though, so I thought of the idea of setting goals or "quests" and then blog about how they go. I'm thinking maybe monthly to start with, and of course all of my quests will have something to do with homesteading, simple living, gardening, cooking etc.

I want an online journal that I can keep to detail my journey into more self sufficient living and address the ups and downs of what that entails. I already have a few "quests" in mind so I will list a few that I have been thinking about:
- make apple butter
-make pear butter
-blackberry jam
-homeade chocolate pretzels ( I saw these last Christmas and not only were they adorable, but the girls both loved them)
- a month of only homeade bread
- a month of completely living from the pantry
- trying a set amount of Taste of Home Recipes in one month
-making candied pecans ( we always have a bounty of pecans and I need to start doing more with them than just cracking them and eating them aimlessly)
-growing my own sprouts in the kitchen

I have some other things I would like to challenge myself with monthly also so I think that this blog will really help me on my quest to learn new skills and try new things.

Right now it is crazy hot and much of our summer produce has already came off and been eaten or preserved. I'll start with my quests in August.

In June and July ( so far) I have put up
-12 pints mint apple jelly ( from frozen apple juice from last year)
- 60+ pints of salsa
-16 pints strawberry jam
-50 ears of corn ( frozen on the cob)
-8 oz dried dill

I'll write tomorrow to introduce a few of my animals and myself a bit more and one day I'll even upload pictures of our pets. Until then...........

Homesteading Quest........