Book Review: The Wilder Life

You all may recall that I'm quite fascinated with Laura Ingalls Wilder. Please refer to my other posts regarding Laura and her life:

 Part 1: Introduction to the Series, information about Laura
Part 2: The books!
Part 3: Dress like Laura
Part 4: Places to visit to have that "Laura Experience"
Part 5: Cook like Laura


I also went and visited her adult home in Mansfield, MO which you can read about here.

So, this book called The Wilder Life is written by Wendy McClure and I of course got it from our local library.

She is a young lady, which based on a few things she says in the book is just a few years older than me and takes an adventure to visit the sites of Laura Ingalls. She describes herself as being quite obsessed herself and talks about buying multiple sunbonnets, churning butter and making snow candy as described in the Little House books. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I read it very fast and was excited to see what was next. I told my husband " I think this lady is my long lost best friend!". I mean I could see myself sitting down at a coffee shop with this gal and chatting for hours. We seem to have a kindred spirit. She is quite funny and has a wonderful writing style. I really enjoyed this book and was in a way sad for it to end...I think anyone that is interested with Laura would really find this to be an enjoyable read. Pick up a copy !

Mid Summer check in

I have been busy to say the least. And it is really getting hot here. I've been doing my animal tending, gardening , jogging etc in the MORNING before about 9 am or it really is pretty un bearable.

So you can always see my 2015 canning updates here .

 This is an old picture from last year when I had a canning party !

 

This year we have had lots and lots of cucumbers. You can see in my canning list that I have made pickles. I've done bread and butter, spicy dill and regular dill. I still may make a few more quarts. I've also give away probably 20 gallons to my friends that want to make pickles, and I've sold about $50 to folks on a Facebook group ( like an online yardsale). We also like to keep the cut up and cold in the fridge and snack on them throughout the day, and I have used them as a facial mask ( get them cold then put them on my eyes). Not sure if it works but it feels good. I also cut a few up and keep it in a pitcher of water in the fridge. Something a bit refreshing about it.

 

We slice them and put them on sandwiches and I have made several salads and such out of them. A few of my favorites are :

Dressed Cucumbers 

Cucumber and Tomato Salad

 

The cucumbers are about finished for the season, I expect maybe a few more quarts of pickles, and some to snack on, but not a substantial amount. 

 

I only made 4 quarts of blueberry pie filling, and I wished I could have made more. This is all our blueberries made this year as they are still young, and honestly I was impressed with that many. I just couldn't buy any at the farmer's market to make pie filing with, I hope to make some peach and apple pie fillings as well, so buying blueberries at the Farmer's market seemed a bit frivolous. We had plenty to snack on and I made a few cobblers and even some homemade ice cream and fried pies with them.

 

Now we are coming upon what I like to call, the hottest of the hot. Tomatoes, black-eyed peas, peppers and okra are all coming in strong. I see many more hours of salsa, pepper relish and shelling peas. Be sure to check out my recipe for pepper relish. It is delicious and we all love ( grown ups, it's spicy for kids)

 

 

What have ya'll been up to? Anything especially doing well? Anything that was a flop?

 

Baby Birds need to eat too!

Baby birds are so fun to watch. We have several fun birdhouses around and this year have had a lot of fun watching them. Here is a picture ( although a bit blurry) of a momma bird feeding her adorably cute babies. I love how they open their mouths so wide, just knowing mom will put something good in it.

 

Dill and Bread and Butter Pickles

Ah cucumbers. We planted quite a few this year and so far they are doing great! This is the first large harvest we've seen, besides just a few here or there we've been eating.

 

Everyone needs some fantastic baskets for picking the garden. They sell fancy ones that are expensive but this one I think I got for maybe $1 at a yard sale. We've been using it for years.

Pickles aren't that difficult in my opinions. You can get recipes from the Ball Book of Canning, online by just googling pickle recipes and from mixes such as Mrs. Wages.  Our family likes a combination of Dill, Spicy Dill and Bread and Butter. Today's canning session produced

4 quart Dill, 3 quart bread and butter and 1 pint bread and butter.

 

I forsee me doing more batches in the future, as long as the garden keeps producing. We love sandwiches and hamburgers with dill on it, as well as just crunching on them for a snack or with a meal. I only have one child that loves the Bread and Butter as of yet, but it's my favorite and my father will appreciated a few jars as gifts as well.

 

To see my totals for canning for the 2015 season you can go here.!

 

Let me know in your comments what you have been canning so far.

 

Happy Homesteading!!!

A girl and her chicks: A love story in pictures

Above is a picture of my oldest daughter several years ago with a baby chick. She loved her chicks.

Here she is about 5 years later with a new chick. She still loves her chicks. We have 12 adult chickens right now, and now we have 8 teenager chickens as the kids call them , and 8 new chicks. We have some neat breeds that the girls plan on showing at the fair. I'll let you know how that goes.

Ministering to those with Cancer ( or other troubles)

I'm betting you won't have to look around far to see those that are having some troubles. It seems right now in our community there are several fighting cancer. Besides prayer there are a few other ways I would like to encourage you to minister to those with cancer.

1. Offer yourself
Many times the family or patient won't accept help, but it's nice to ask. When you know of a family that is having troubles think what might be of help to them. Some suggestions ( depending on how well you know them)
-picking up things from town for them ( works well if the family lives far from town like ours does)
-mowing the yard or other yard type work, especially if the one that is ill is the one that does the mowing
-offer to clean their home or do their laundry
-offer to watch their children so the adults can rest

2. Offer a meal
- I call ( or text or email) and let them know I would like to bring a meal and what night and time this week would be good for them. I then follow up letting them know I'll be there with dinner at 6 pm on Friday so they know to expect it.
-bring the food in disposables so they won't have to worry about getting back your best lasagna pan, you can find aluminum dishes of all size at Dollar Tree around here and I just stock up when I go.
-If you don't know the family well , get a sense of what they like
-Sometimes after a long illness the budget also decreases so I'll try to bring some treats especially if they have kids, things they may not be used to getting so much
-I also bring a bag of paper plates, napkins, silverware etc. so they family won't have to do dishes, I normally try to ditch the disposables, but this is one time I use them

3. Send a card
I find it's odd to write "Get Well Soon" on a card for those undergoing lengthy chemo or radiation treatments, but some other things to write might include
-Praying for you
-Thinking of you
-Hope you have a better week
-Sending hugs
-Love you and your family
-Sending smiles your way
Something along those lines. DaySpring has some good cards with religious sentiments on them and I normally buy the variety pack to have them on hand, but again the Dollar Tree has some good ones for .50 cents each here.

I challenge you to find one family in your area this week that could use a smile. Let them know that others care and offer up one of the above this week: yourself, a meal or a card. Let me know of a time recently you have been ministered to like this, or have ministered to others.

Happy Homesteading Y'all

Schoola: Sign up now for $15 credit and FREE SHIPPING, get some summer clothes for your kiddos

I don't post about this sort of thing a ton, but I ran across this and want to share.
The site Schoola  is kind of like an online thrift store for kids clothing.

You can shop by size, by type ( dresses, sweaters, shorts etc.) and by gender.

I bought 2 pairs of LLBEAN Leggings for my daughters for this summer and a nice tshirt. They all came in under $15 ( which I had for signing up) and shipping is FREE right now, so it didn't cost me a thing.

Try it out! Here is the link : SCHOOLA

Every single penny we can save is a blessing, and I believe we are to be good stewards of our money. I have no problem shopping second hand stores, thrift stores and yard sales. There are times when buying new is appropriate and maybe even necessary, but especially for things like play clothes, why waste that money? I also like to reuse!

Hope that helps someone out.

Happy Homesteading Y'all!