Perfectly Posh ! ALL NATURAL pampering, GIVEAWAY TIME!

I wanted to share a great company with you! And with that comes a giveaway!

Perfectly Posh proudly offers pure, pampering products. We carefully select the lines, fragrances, and ingredients we offer you, to let you indulge body and mind. It is a pursuit of Perfectly Posh to give you products that you can be proud to wear and to share.

Posh offers you things made from the very best ingredients on earth. From luxurious shea and cocoa butters, to indulgent and nourishing oils, you can be sure that our products are the highest-quality formulations you can find. Find peace of mind knowing we're: • Paraben-free and paraffin-free • SLS-free • Gluten-free • Soy-free • Using essential oil and fine pthalate-free fragrances • Natural: Full of butters, oils, and other nourishing ingredients • Preserved with gentle, effective vitamin E We offer pampering that is spa-grade, long-lasting, and a fabulous experience. Perfectly Posh uses tocopherol (vitamin E) as it's primary preservative, and we fragrance with high-quality perfumes and essential oils. Take care of yourself with products that will please you both mind and body.

Prepare to be passionate about our pursuit! We offer over eighty unique, creatively branded products to choose from. Whether you want to take a long, leisurely bath, or need to brighten your mood on the go: Posh is for you.

Indulge in the details around all of our fabulous pampering. Click here to see it all ....

Now for the giveaway:

Peace, love, and patchouli exfoliate your skin to take you on a far-out creamy vanilla trip. Our ultra-hip, triple-milled, moisturizing soap Chunk.

This smells amazing, and leaves you feeling so fresh. One lucky reader will win it. I'll ship it to you for free!!

How do you win?

1. Follow Homesteading Quest ( my blog) and leave a comment telling me you did, or if you already do comment telling me that- 1 entry

2. Like my Perfectly Posh Facebook Page and comment letting me know you did- 1 entry

3. Make any purchase from my page here and get 5 entries

4. Let me know your favorite item that Posh carries in a comment and get 1 entry

Shipping to the lower US only please. Thanks.

I'll draw for a winner on Friday August 24th @ 9 PM CST.

Linked up to Morris Tribe Blog Carnival

Updates around the homestead and AH we need RAIN

I haven't updated lately about the status of the garden or anything so I thought today would be as good a day as any. For one thing, we NEED rain. Living in the South where it is typically very hot anyways, combined with 100+ temperatures for weeks and no rain since April 24th ( YES! APRIL) we are really having a hard year. The well is the lowest my Dad has seen it his whole life....

Anyways here goes with the updates;
Have I ever shown you all our little school bell? I love it. My parents it bought it at a little yard sell up in the mountains years and years ago. I tied a string on it and ring it to let the kids know when it's time to come inside from playing. Such a fun little addition to our homestead don't you think?

Next is our pear tree. We have two of these beauties and they provide such yummy fruit year after year. This one is already full and will be ready here in just probably about a month.

I just love this tree. It's been such a great source of many, many pounds of pears over the years.

The tomatoes are really really needing a rain. Watering just isn't cutting it. We haven't had the harvest this year we are used to because of the dry conditions. We still are getting tomatoes, but not the yield we are used to. Still delicious though, and the ones we are getting are just as flavorful as ever.

   Then we have the cabbage. We are down to three of these babies. They have been great to us this year and we have enjoyed many cabbage dishes the past few months. These last 3 will come off this week and then our cabbage will be finished for a while. These have been nice and big and hearty and one cabbage feeds our family at least 2 meals.  Muscadines anyone? These are really looking good this year. They typically come off around the middle to end of August and are pretty good at withstanding heat. I've had to run a few racoons out of them, but by and large I am looking for a great yield from these yummy little fruits from the grape family.

We replanted a few squash for  a late picking. The ones we planted in the first of the summer burned up pretty fast, so hopefully these will be coming off towards the end of August.

Peppers. We have some peppers. It doesn't seem like the jalepenos are getting as BIG as we are used to , but they are producing lots just the same.

We have about 10 different varieties of peppers, ranging from sweet, to mild to SMOKING. I'll use them to pickle, and also will make more pepper jelly and some pepper relish also. We also just eat these a lot.

The okra is still producing pretty well. They should hopefully all the way through August and into September. I fry these puppies up, sometimes I boil them, and sometimes I roast them. I'll pickle some and freeze some also for the winter. Beware though before planting a ton of okra that you HAVE to pick it about every other day. It won't make more until you do and the really long, big ones are too tough to eat.  Below are the two rows of them we planted this year. PLENTY let me tell you.

This is my daughter's gourd. She planted it for a 4H project. She wants to make a birdhouse out of it. :)

So that's what is keeping us busy. We are still getting about 8-10 eggs per day and have a few herbs we are still collecting from, mainly cilantro, basil, and dill.

What's been happening in your part of the woods?

Linked up to the Morris Tribes Blog Carnival and Homesteading Barn Hop

If you have to buy your meat at the store....

I recently found the show Mountain Men on tv. I think it is on the History Channel or maybe Nat Geo. Anyways, one of the men said something that has had me thinking. He said ( and don't quote me) but something to the effect of " When you have to start buying your meat from the store, it's the beginning of the end"..... WOW.

This particular episode had the man above that lives in Alaska and he was taking his wife and young daughter on a caribou hunt. They needed meat. Their freezer needed meat to sustain them for the winter. So they hunt. Such a simple complex, yet it seems to be so foreign to so many people now a days.

If you follow my blog you know that our family only eats deer meat and fish that we catch.(We enjoy a wild turkey, pheasant, ducks, geese, rabbit and squirrel also, but those are special treats).   Also on rare occasions we eat seafood when we are fortunate enough to get some fresh from the coast. That was the case this week. We had the great opportunity to share the wonderful experience of oyster tonging, crabbing and some sea fishing with our daughters. They are used to fishing in lakes, but they have never harvested oysters or crabs fresh from the gulf.

Here is a picture of my oldest daughter pulling in a crab trap. You pull it in with a big hook.

Then you empty your yummy crabs from the trap, re bait and throw it back in. You can't see the crabs too well from this picture, but between about 6 traps we had an abundance of crabs for dinner.

Next were the oysters. If you have never seen anyone tong for oysters before it is pretty great. They use what look like post hole diggers with rakes on the end, and basically scoop them up.

You just dump them out and then go through them and kind of cull them. You don't want all the extra materials, only the good oysters .

The shells of the oysters can be sharp so it's important to wear gloves. You can sea the girls helping here which is kind of adorable in my opinion.

Next was fishing. Basically the same as fresh water fishing, just different types of fish. This was a kind of saltwater catfish we caught. We got 6 of these puppies on the day we were out.

We had a feast of crab, oysters and fried catfish for dinner and had plenty to share with our family.

I really want to encourage everyone to think of ways to harvest some of their own meat sources.

Of course not everyone can have herds of cattle, nor does everyone want that. I can't tell you the last time we had beef and we are okay. Not everyone can raise chickens to eat, and again even though we have chickens we don't eat them. But hunting and fishing is something that most can do. America has an abundance of these harvestables and to our family it is a real blessing. Hunting and fishing done humanly, respectfully and lawfully is one of the greatest lessons in sustainability we can leave our children .

What all do you hunt for your family??

Linked up to Monday Homestead Barn Hop. The Morris Tribe The Funny Farm TALU Adorned From Above

My first canning party!!! 64 jars + 200 ears of corn

My oh my oh my!!! If you follow my blog you may recall me talking about forming a canning club. If not, you can read about it here.

So today was our innagural meeting. We are still trying to think of a name.... Anyways today it was just me and my friend E.

We started out with pickles. Bread and butter, dill, kosher dill and spicy dill.
We did spears, coins and whole small pickles.

I got my daughters involved.

It's great to be able to teach them skills and know how. Here is my oldest helping to pack the jars before we pour the liquid on it.

Totals:
Bread and Butter: 9
Dill: 10
Kosher Dill:9
Spicy Dill:8

Then we did some jars of pickled jalepenos. These are great as we use them on EVERYTHING. Lots of mexican inspired dishes, and even on salads and in omelettes.
Jalepenos: 10

Then on to the Blueberry jam...Yum. Thats all I can say about that.
Blueberry Jam: 10

Then we did Pepper jelly. This is very thick and  almost a chutney and is great to use on cream cheese as an appetizer type dish, or on beans, or even just on plain toast. Delicious.

Look at how beautiful they are. Great for gift giving also. These puppies are spicy!!
Pepper Jelly: 8

Then if that weren't enough, we each put up 100 ears of corn. That means we shucked and silked 200 ears this morning....

Corn: 200 ears

I must say that I'm exhausted. I mean really tired. It is so worth it though. Great company and knowing that I'll have great food for my family in upcoming days.

Total for our first canning party 64 jars and 200 ears of corn. Not too shabby I would think for our first meeting:)

Until next time, Happy Homesteading!!

Linked up to The Morris Tribe, Homesteading Barn Hop,Carnival of Home Preserving,Preparedness Challenge

How I Fry my Okra

Like most gardens in the South we have an abundance of Okra. I plan on pickling some, but honestly it is just so delicious right from the vine, into the pan , onto my plate. I fry it. I'm a good Southener..... I do use olive oil though, so that helps....

Start out with your okra, and cut up into "coins". I like to put mine into a colander, as it helps with the washing later on. I also like to cut up a garlic clove or two and tonight I put a few cayenne peppers from the garden in it for spice. Yum-me.

When everything is cut up I start to get the frying pan HOT. I pour in olive oil ( you can use other kinds of oil too, like vegetable if you want).

Then I wash the okra and kind of shake it to get the excess water off. Then I dump all of the newly wet okra into my mixture I made of yellow corn meal with a little salt and pepper.

I than shake off the excess corn meal mixture and put into the frying pan. And I wait. And I smell the delicious aroma, and I wait some more. And I stir. You want to reduce heat and kind of let simmer after the initial "shock" of the hot oil.

Add a few baby roma's fresh from the garden and another cayenne, and you have a delicious, frugal, delicious, ( did I say that already???) meal.

And a close up just to make you jealous...

Until next time, Happy Homesteading...


Linked up to What's Cooking Wednesday, Simple Lives Thursday, Frugal Ways, It's a Keeper Thursday

Book Review- Farm Anatomy- The Curious Parts and Pieces of Country Life

I recently read this book. Farm Anatomy: The Curious Parts and Pieces of Country Life. It's writen by Julia Rothman and is easily found on Amazon, or local Libraries I'm sure. This was a fun little book. I have to say that I really appreciated the cute illustrations. There was illustrations from everything from soil profiles and makeups to different breeds of chickens. There were step by step directions to building projects and how to plan certain things in your garden. Overall I think this was a very fun, light read. It wasn't as "intense" or fact heavy as many farm-y books I've read lately. It was fun, light, lots of fun colorful picture and my two small kids liked looking at the pictures also.

There were recipes included in the book also that were very good. Some great bread recipes.

I think this would make a good gift also for someone. I love to gift people books, and this would be great for the beginner or the experienced. Just an overall joyful read.

Half Off of Ranger Rick Magazine for Kids

I saw this deal on Eversave and thought that some of my readers might enjoy it. I got a subscription to the Ranger Rick for my 6 year old daughter who
1) LOVES animals and outdoors and
2) LOVES getting mail. So I thought this was a great way to get her even more interested in reading. There are 3 different subscriptions you can buy
Animal Baby: for toddlers
Big Backyard: for preschoolers
Ranger Rick: for school aged kiddos

I remember getting this as a child and loved running to the mailbox to check to see if I got anyhing and then pouring over each and every word and picture when I got my magazine. Oh fun times!

Hopefully someone finds this useful!