TALU Link up #40

TALU Link up #40

Welcome to the TALU Tuesday!

That's right, the Tuesday Archive Link-Up.

Time to pull your treasured old posts out of those cobwebby archives, dust them off, and give them new life where they will be seen and enjoyed by untold millions OK, thousands of viewers.

See, this link-up is hosted by several people, who, all together have thousands upon thousands of followers. So when you link your post up with this party? Your post will show up on all their blogs, to all of their followers.
All you've got to do is:
1) link up your post using the linky tool below,
2) visit the hosts and leave a comment to say hi, if you'd like
3) and try to visit three or more of the blogs linked up and leave a comment.
4) Please keep it Family Friendly Ya'll!

They'll all be doing the same, so it's like a giant hippie love fest.
Bring your own flowers. Oh and when you comment?
Put in the secret code "TALU" (Tuesday Archive Link-Up) and then give a little wink so we'll all know what you're talking about.
Have fun! Now here are your TALU hosts, wonderful gals every one....
Jennifer, author of I Am Not Superwoman
Anne, author of Life On The Funny Farm
Debbie, author of Wrinkled Mommy
Kenya, author of Here's The Thing...
Shanna, author of Motherhood On The Rocks.
Rachel, author of Homesteading Quest

Review of Garden Birch box and a GIVEAWAY

I recently jumped on the Subscription Box bandwagon and my first box I got was the Birchbox Home box with a Garden theme. Of course that is for me.
It has since sold out, but I wanted to share it with you guys, and offer you a giveaway!
I love to do giveaways on my site, I don't have too many followers so your chances aren't bad :)

An amazing fig candle that has a little box of matches on the lid. I thought that was pretty smart. Tocca Hand Cream in Cleapatra ( again, this is full sized, not a tiny little sample) and it's flavor is grapefruit and cucumber! Yum!! Jasmin and Bergamote Eau De Toilette from L'Occitane, all I can say about this is AMAZING.


The cutest little notepad I have ever seen with fruits and veggies on it. 2 containers of preserves, all natural



This adorable little bag from Baggo, that will be great for the Farmer's Market







This Super Chef Grow me Kit. I got Basil.

And also the most fun little thing, this amazing little paring knife with a sleeve that has ( get this) RADISH Prints all over it. The cutest thing ever. I'm buying several more for gifts. So fun.

 

You can buy any of the above items from Birchbox individually now, you just can't get the full box. They have other beauty subscription boxes as well you can sign up for only $10 a month.

 

 

So now, on to the giveaway:

Winner will receive the Super Chef Basil Kit and one of the cute little jams. I'll pay shipping to winner, US lower 48 states only please.

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

TALU Link up #39

Welcome to the TALU Tuesday!

That's right, the Tuesday Archive Link-Up.

Time to pull your treasured old posts out of those cobwebby archives, dust them off, and give them new life where they will be seen and enjoyed by untold millions OK, thousands of viewers.

See, this link-up is hosted by several people, who, all together have thousands upon thousands of followers. So when you link your post up with this party? Your post will show up on all their blogs, to all of their followers.
All you've got to do is:
1) link up your post using the linky tool below,
2) visit the hosts and leave a comment to say hi, if you'd like
3) and try to visit three or more of the blogs linked up and leave a comment.
4) Please keep it Family Friendly Ya'll!

They'll all be doing the same, so it's like a giant hippie love fest.
Bring your own flowers. Oh and when you comment?
Put in the secret code "TALU" (Tuesday Archive Link-Up) and then give a little wink so we'll all know what you're talking about.
Have fun! Now here are your TALU hosts, wonderful gals every one....
Jennifer, author of I Am Not Superwoman
Anne, author of Life On The Funny Farm
Debbie, author of Wrinkled Mommy
Kenya, author of Here's The Thing...
Shanna, author of Motherhood On The Rocks.
Rachel, author of Homesteading Quest

Gardening to combat Hunger

I work with school gardens.I love my job. It's amazing. I went visiting a few schools in my state yesterday that won a school garden award in order to get a school garden up and running. I realized something yesterday.

 

I think that most of the time when we think of school gardens ( or just gardens in general really) we think of getting back to nature, learning to be sustainable, the joy of being outdoors, we think that gardening can help us teach kids about photosynthesis and natural resources. I think though one of the most important things about school gardens though, is that at the end of the day, the food that has been grown can be sent home with hungry children.

 

There are still hungry kids in this country, in my state in particular I saw that yesterday as I visited two very poor rural schools. Those principals weren't excited about kids being able to do science fairs, or learning about soil profiles, they mentioned that kids would be able to go to bed with food in their stomach. Hungry kids could learn and possibly teach their families how to grow food that they can use as substinance. It hit me yesterday folks, we have to grow food for hungry people to EAT!!

There are lots of programs out there that already to this, you can grow an extra row and donate to your food pantry, you can participate in gleaning programs that donate to the hungry, food pantries are planting community gardens across the country. It's out there, I just feel burdened to put it MORE out there.

 

So this post was a bit different than most of mine, but I hope you will think about ways to get involved and get food into the mouths of those kids that need it most. Talk about ways to get a garden at your school, see if you can donate produce or fruit to the backpack program at your local school, if they don't have one, see if you can start one.

 

No matter what your political views are, it isn't the child's fault, and we need to realize that we can't educate a child, unless we nourish the WHOLE child, including their health.

 

Happy Homesteading ya'll!

Linked up with Monday Barn Hop

Tuesday's TALU Link Up #38

Welcome to the TALU Tuesday!

That's right, the Tuesday Archive Link-Up.

Time to pull your treasured old posts out of those cobwebby archives, dust them off, and give them new life where they will be seen and enjoyed by untold millions OK, thousands of viewers.

See, this link-up is hosted by several people, who, all together have thousands upon thousands of followers. So when you link your post up with this party? Your post will show up on all their blogs, to all of their followers.
All you've got to do is:
1) link up your post using the linky tool below,
2) visit the hosts and leave a comment to say hi, if you'd like
3) and try to visit three or more of the blogs linked up and leave a comment.
4) Please keep it Family Friendly Ya'll!

They'll all be doing the same, so it's like a giant hippie love fest.
Bring your own flowers. Oh and when you comment?
Put in the secret code "TALU" (Tuesday Archive Link-Up) and then give a little wink so we'll all know what you're talking about.
Have fun! Now here are your TALU hosts, wonderful gals every one....
Jennifer, author of I Am Not Superwoman
Anne, author of Life On The Funny Farm
Debbie, author of Wrinkled Mommy
Kenya, author of Here's The Thing...
Shanna, author of Motherhood On The Rocks.
Rachel, author of Homesteading Quest

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Tuesday's Archive Link Up

Welcome to the TALU Tuesday!

That's right, the Tuesday Archive Link-Up. Time to pull your treasured old posts out of those cobwebby archives, dust them off, and give them new life where they will be seen and enjoyed by untold millions OK, thousands of viewers.

See, this link-up is hosted by several people, who, all together have thousands upon thousands of followers.

So when you link your post up with this party? Your post will show up on all their blogs, to all of their followers.
All you've got to do is:
1) link up your post using the linky tool below,
2) visit the hosts and leave a comment to say hi, if you'd like,
3) and try to visit three or more of the blogs linked up and leave a comment.
4) Please keep it Family Friendly Ya'll!

They'll all be doing the same, so it's like a giant hippie love fest. Bring your own flowers. Oh and when you comment?

Put in the secret code "TALU" (Tuesday Archive Link-Up) and then give a little wink so we'll all know what you're talking about. Have fun!
Now here are your TALU hosts, wonderful gals every one....

Jennifer, author of I Am Not Superwoman
Anne, author of Life On The Funny Farm
Debbie, author of Wrinkled Mommy
Kenya, author of Here's The Thing...
Shanna, author of Motherhood On The Rocks.
Rachel, author of Homesteading Quest

Our Spring Break Getaway to Oklahoma City

We went on a small getaway while the kids were out of school to Oklahoma City. It was about a 5-6 hour drive for us and the kids had never been to Oklahoma. We want to visit all 50 states with the kids, by the time the oldest one graduates. So off to Oklahoma we went.

First stop- The National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum

They had a great little kid's area. Here is a place that had a little cabin for the kids to play in, a pretend campfire that had dutch oven cooking stuff, a stage coach they could play in etc. It was very hands on and the kids had a blast.

This is a picture of the city that is set up inside the musuem. It's amazing. You feel like you literally step back in town. They have US Marshall's walking around in costume, they have jail cells you can get into. They also have a saloon, bank, church, school house, general store, post office and more.Super fun.

They had a bunk house where the kids could dress up in cowboy type clothes. The kids enjoyed dressing up. They had a lot of stuff for adults as well. Beautiful artwork from Western artists as well as Native Americans. Sculptures, paintings, weavings, jewelry and clothing.

 

Another place we visited was the Musuem of Osteology.Oh My Word!It was amazing. Probably not everyone's cup of tea, but our family loved it.Such a learning experience for our little Scientists. They had complete skeletons from mice and fish all the way up to giraffes, whales and elephants. We looked for hours. Even little guy.

The flamingo above was fascinating. Their legs are just super awesome.

This was a little rabbit. We had a great discussion about the shape of the thighs and the legs and how that made them be able to hop.

Here is my biggest Science lover with a skeleton as big as she was.

 

It's important for us to travel, but we try to make it a learning experience and something the kids will remember. If you are close enough to OK City, it's a fascinating city and we could have stayed there several more days.

 

 

Happy Homesteading Ya'll!!

Linked up with Monday Homestead Blog Hop I heart Naptime

Updates from around the homestead

Well we are finally seeing a tiny bit of Spring around here. We didn't have a crazy snowy winter, but it just seemed to stay cold and rainy here for a lot longer than usual.

The cilantro is doing pretty well. It looks  a little discolored in this photo but I can almost taste the fresh salsa now....

The basil is just getting planted, last year I made and froze several batches of pesto. I hope to do more this year as it was so good.

Clifford is enjoying the nice weather as well. Goats are such playful little creatures. I love to watch them run and jump.

One of our very favorite spots during the spring- fall. We sit out here on the swing, you can see one garden plot behind us. It is in the shade of a giant oak and it's just so peaceful and serene.

 Before mentioned giant oak tree. It's huge. I don't really even know how to get a picture of it. I thought this was an interesting angle. It was taken close to twilight. Such a massive beautiful site.

Sugar snap peas. These puppies need to be staked soon with some kind of trellis, but are doing well for now. We love snap peas.

Rainbow swiss chard.....

Beautiful green onions. These are such a refreshing little treat with a salad .

Lettuce mix. Going to get some tasty salads from these little babies.

 

Below you will see two projects we have been working on. We are blessed to live in the country and have several ponds and streams on our property. This one is closest to the house and we have been clearing it so the kids can play in it. I have many fond memories of summers long ago playing in the creek, looking for crawdads, finding turtles and frogs, making dams, splashing and just enjoying it. We made a small dam ( below) and let the baby ducks get out in them. It was such fun.

Here is a little bit more of the creek, it snakes around to the right there at the back of the phone and has several semi deep hole s( like maybe thigh deep). We are excited about the opportunity for the kids to play in it now that it is cleaned up a bit.

 

Busy time of year around the homestead. Hope you all are doing well.

 

 

Linked up with Monday Homestead Barn Hop

TALU- Tuesday's Archive Link Up

Welcome to the TALU Tuesday!

That's right, the Tuesday Archive Link-Up. Time to pull your treasured old posts out of those cobwebby archives, dust them off, and give them new life where they will be seen and enjoyed by untold millions OK, thousands of viewers.

See, this link-up is hosted by several people, who, all together have thousands upon thousands of followers.

So when you link your post up with this party? Your post will show up on all their blogs, to all of their followers.
All you've got to do is:
1) link up your post using the linky tool below,
2) visit the hosts and leave a comment to say hi, if you'd like,
3) and try to visit three or more of the blogs linked up and leave a comment.
4) Please keep it Family Friendly Ya'll!

They'll all be doing the same, so it's like a giant hippie love fest. Bring your own flowers. Oh and when you comment?

Put in the secret code "TALU" (Tuesday Archive Link-Up) and then give a little wink so we'll all know what you're talking about. Have fun!
Now here are your TALU hosts, wonderful gals every one....

Jennifer, author of I Am Not Superwoman
Anne, author of Life On The Funny Farm
Debbie, author of Wrinkled Mommy
Kenya, author of Here's The Thing...
Shanna, author of Motherhood On The Rocks.
Rachel, author of Homesteading Quest