Don had been telling me for months that I ought to check out gardening groups or photography groups or anything--just take a look at all the groups available on Yahoo groups. Well, I ignored this until one day over Christmas when I was sick and had not energy to do anything but surf on the net. So I checked out the groups--oh, man, there is every interest imagainable. I went crazy and joined about 7 groups--gardening, homesteading, frugal living, and some preparedness and survival groups. I must confess I have mostly been a "lurker"--just reading the posts and not sending in my own. I have commented on a few but mostly just read. They are all so interesting and informative. Really have enjoyed them.
Most of them are Christian groups. Read a lot of scary stuff on many of them--fears of what lies ahead for us in America because of the economy and of course, Obama. I really struggle as I want so badly for Obama to be a good president--and govern with integrity and the best interests of our nation at heart. I pray for him and I will support him and do my best to think the best of him.....but I am watching him like a hawk, too. There is just something in me that does not trust him. Yet, I really really hope I am proved wrong here.
But to go on, I hear lots of things on these groups and I fear of passing them on to my family and friends as I do not want to be thought of as a kook or fearful or paranoid or crazy or pessimistic. I am not afraid. I know and trust my Lord and I KNOW He is in control of everything and I am safe in his hand. But does that mean that I just sit back and do nothing and let what may come, just come. Is it wrong to want to be prepared and wise to the best of my ability and to warn others to do the same? We have many seperate issues going on here--the collapse of economies worldwide; war and terrorism; Obama. So even if Obama is an outstanding , wonderful president he cannot control the other two. So I just think we all need to be wise, aware, pay attention to the news and what is going on in the world, pay attention to what goes on around you. By this I mean--listen to lots of things--what are people saying,?are those around you losing their jobs? do you no notice bare spaces on grocery shelves?, are more and more major companies going under each day? how does the dollar compare to other currencies? are more of the rights we used to take for granted being taken away--even in the name of national security? Just pay attention--that is all I am saying. Pray for God to give you wisdom. Buy a few extra groceries each week and stash them away. Keep cash on hand. Keep your gas tank filled. Work hard to get out of debt. The best way I know of to think of this is to pretend a hurricane is coming your way and it is likely you will be out of power for a couple of weeks and that all stores and gas stations will be closed. Could you survive for those two weeks on what you have at home? Where would you get water? How would you stay warm? How would you communicate with loved ones? Do you have a battery radio so you can stay informed as to what is going on? Do you have enough diapers? formula? baby foods? your food? pet food? another way to cook besides electricity? Everyone should have one or two out of area--preferably out of state family contact for emergencies. Often, for whatever reason it is easier to reach someone far away than across town in emergencies. We should have someone out of state that can take messages and relay them for us. I suggest for our family we use Barbara Barlow in New York or Chris Elder in Florida--Don's sisters who are listed on the family address sheet I emailed everyone. And everyone should fork out the $29 for a weather radio and put batteries in it NOW. That is an emergency broadcasting station, too, for your local area for emergencies other than weather.
I am just going to start posting (at the risk of my family calling the little guys in white coats) anything I come across that bears hearing. You can do with it what you want. I just don't think I could live with myself to just keep quiet and let my loved ones be surprised by events that I think are quite likely. The main one being food shortages. Frankly, I think all of us would be wise to try to grow at least a little bit of food--or at least buy some seeds to keep on hand (non-hybrid ones). That's all for today. (please don't think I'm crazy)
Monday, January 26, 2009
Busy, busy, busy down on the farm
I have been away again--from blogging, not home--for far too long. We have just been real busy around the ole' homestead. Both Don and I are deep into "homesteading mode". We want to grow lots of our own food so we know where it is coming from and that it is safe and that it is real food. I am really into growing heirloom vegetables--the good old varieties that have not been messed with by Monsanto and genetically altered. They should taste better and just be unique. As I mentioned in my New Year's goals, I would love to be able to grow and sell heirloom tomatoes. So this year will kind of be my trial year--I am planting about 18 different varieties and will try to keep records of which one do best and that we like the best and then zero in on those. We are going to plant just about every other vegetable imaginable, too.
Don has been busy building us garden beds as we are using the Square Foot garden approach. This is where you plant intensely (close together) in 4x4 size beds. So far we have a 6x7' bed that I planted last fall with winter vegetables. Yea, it is off size but we found it in the barn at the ranch and it was designed to dovetail together so we used it as is. It is a bit hard to reach across to the middle but I can live with it. All our lettuce, onions, spinach, chard is growing nicely but the brocoli did not do so well. I think I will have to use transplants next fall instead of direct sowing.
So back to Don's building..he built us a 4x24' bed; a 4x12' bed, and a 4x4' bed all of which share the space inside the old pig pen (the one with the chainlink fence around it back of the goat pen). But I still want one more 4x12' bed so we are going to fence a little area off next to this area and add some more room. It is hard figuring out just where to plant everything so that something does not shade something else, etc. I think I have it all figured out on paper.....now I need to start planting my little peat pots so things will be ready to set out in April. I have stacks of gardening books and seed catalogs all over the kitchen table. Have all my seeds bought. I ran into a great deal last week at Ace Hardware--all their last year seeds were 10 cents each and they had lots of the heirloom varieties in there and lots of flower seeds too, so I went kind of crazy and came home with a whole bag of seeds. If you keep them cool and dry seeds will last for years.
I also decided we needed to revive our old orchard, too, so ordered a dozen fruit and nut trees. Six of the fruit trees came in last week and we got them planted. There were 1 plum, 2 peach, 1 apricot, and two Apricot/Plum crosses--1 called an Aprium and the other a Pluot. I love apricots and plums. Then I have some more plums, apricots, pecans, and a pomegranite tree coming in early February. I also want to buy locally a Loring peach (my favorite) and a fig tree.
And we ordered six blackberry vines to plant where grapes used to be in the orchard and 20 asparagus crowns to put in that 4x4' bed. Asparagus is a perennial that should last 12 years or more.
We also accomplished something else on my goal list: got three cats spayed and their shots and got rid of two wild feral cats. So now we have only 1 cat on the place that is not fixed--she is a wild one that lives under the old white pickup. She is tough to catch but we sure want to do it before she adds more kittens to our lot. Now we just need to get our older cats caught up on their shots and we will be up to speed. Also need to haul the billy goat, the two mamas and their 4 babies back to the ranch. It is getting too expensive to feed them all here. That will leave us with 3 pregnant goats, 1 pregnant ewe, and 1 ram.
It is so so dry here--not a blade of anything green. The chickens get let out of their pen after noon and love to roam and scratch and are roaming farther and farther in search of food. We have got to figure out a way to let them out to scratch and range but keep them contained somehow, too. Right now, they don't do much harm but I would like to plant some muskmelons and watermelons and corn and pumpkins in the orchard, too, and they would really make a mess of that.
So that is some of what we have been up to lately and what has kept me from blogging. But today is drizzly, cloudy day--the kind it is nice to stay inside and blog kind of day so I will add more in next blog.
Don has been busy building us garden beds as we are using the Square Foot garden approach. This is where you plant intensely (close together) in 4x4 size beds. So far we have a 6x7' bed that I planted last fall with winter vegetables. Yea, it is off size but we found it in the barn at the ranch and it was designed to dovetail together so we used it as is. It is a bit hard to reach across to the middle but I can live with it. All our lettuce, onions, spinach, chard is growing nicely but the brocoli did not do so well. I think I will have to use transplants next fall instead of direct sowing.
So back to Don's building..he built us a 4x24' bed; a 4x12' bed, and a 4x4' bed all of which share the space inside the old pig pen (the one with the chainlink fence around it back of the goat pen). But I still want one more 4x12' bed so we are going to fence a little area off next to this area and add some more room. It is hard figuring out just where to plant everything so that something does not shade something else, etc. I think I have it all figured out on paper.....now I need to start planting my little peat pots so things will be ready to set out in April. I have stacks of gardening books and seed catalogs all over the kitchen table. Have all my seeds bought. I ran into a great deal last week at Ace Hardware--all their last year seeds were 10 cents each and they had lots of the heirloom varieties in there and lots of flower seeds too, so I went kind of crazy and came home with a whole bag of seeds. If you keep them cool and dry seeds will last for years.
I also decided we needed to revive our old orchard, too, so ordered a dozen fruit and nut trees. Six of the fruit trees came in last week and we got them planted. There were 1 plum, 2 peach, 1 apricot, and two Apricot/Plum crosses--1 called an Aprium and the other a Pluot. I love apricots and plums. Then I have some more plums, apricots, pecans, and a pomegranite tree coming in early February. I also want to buy locally a Loring peach (my favorite) and a fig tree.
And we ordered six blackberry vines to plant where grapes used to be in the orchard and 20 asparagus crowns to put in that 4x4' bed. Asparagus is a perennial that should last 12 years or more.
We also accomplished something else on my goal list: got three cats spayed and their shots and got rid of two wild feral cats. So now we have only 1 cat on the place that is not fixed--she is a wild one that lives under the old white pickup. She is tough to catch but we sure want to do it before she adds more kittens to our lot. Now we just need to get our older cats caught up on their shots and we will be up to speed. Also need to haul the billy goat, the two mamas and their 4 babies back to the ranch. It is getting too expensive to feed them all here. That will leave us with 3 pregnant goats, 1 pregnant ewe, and 1 ram.
It is so so dry here--not a blade of anything green. The chickens get let out of their pen after noon and love to roam and scratch and are roaming farther and farther in search of food. We have got to figure out a way to let them out to scratch and range but keep them contained somehow, too. Right now, they don't do much harm but I would like to plant some muskmelons and watermelons and corn and pumpkins in the orchard, too, and they would really make a mess of that.
So that is some of what we have been up to lately and what has kept me from blogging. But today is drizzly, cloudy day--the kind it is nice to stay inside and blog kind of day so I will add more in next blog.
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Happy
I am so happy. Last Sunday Don and I visited a new church--Hill Country Fellowship in Burnet. We have been feeling the call to find a new church home for some time now. That is so hard. But when we walked into this church we knew we were home. We both loved it. God was there. We loved the worship, the preaching, the pastor and other leaders. It was all about Jesus and praising Him--no agendas, no programs, just people gathering to love the Lord togeether. So we now have a new church home. And even though the church is in Burneet, there is a home group that meets just about 2 miles away. We saw so many old friends--it was like coming home again. We sat next to Ronnie and Jodie Waggoner and Stefani Powell. I am just so excited about getting involved there.
Can't remember if I blogged this earlier but back in December I went to a community Christmas program--MESSIAH--by myself as Don was sick. I just love Christmas music and this was directed by my friend, Barbara Bend, and it was so wonderful. And I ran into two old friends from home schooling days--Suzan Leggett and Stefani Powell. We had such a good visit and they invited me to a book club they have started that includes some of my other old friends. I am so excited to be getting together with some women friends once a month. The book we are discussing this month is THE MEMORY KEEPERS DAUGHTER. Anyone read it?
I have started my own little workout using a book I ordered from Amazon. I like it. I am also trying to walk everyday with Don--we have a 2 mile route--and I want to work out on my cardioglide 3 days a week. I already feel better. And I want to follow the Superfoods RX eating plan. BUT......my sweet tooth is hollering something awful. I just crave sweets. I am going to have to give all those Christmas goodies leftover to the chickens tomorrow to save myself.
So I am feeling energized and ready for the new year. But I gotta go to bed now. Night, night
Can't remember if I blogged this earlier but back in December I went to a community Christmas program--MESSIAH--by myself as Don was sick. I just love Christmas music and this was directed by my friend, Barbara Bend, and it was so wonderful. And I ran into two old friends from home schooling days--Suzan Leggett and Stefani Powell. We had such a good visit and they invited me to a book club they have started that includes some of my other old friends. I am so excited to be getting together with some women friends once a month. The book we are discussing this month is THE MEMORY KEEPERS DAUGHTER. Anyone read it?
I have started my own little workout using a book I ordered from Amazon. I like it. I am also trying to walk everyday with Don--we have a 2 mile route--and I want to work out on my cardioglide 3 days a week. I already feel better. And I want to follow the Superfoods RX eating plan. BUT......my sweet tooth is hollering something awful. I just crave sweets. I am going to have to give all those Christmas goodies leftover to the chickens tomorrow to save myself.
So I am feeling energized and ready for the new year. But I gotta go to bed now. Night, night
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Grandkids at Christmas time
Mason and the string of fish he caught with Pop-pop in our pond.
Pop-pop and his fishermen
Rebecca
Elizabeth
Grant, the "I-refuse-to-wear-shoes" boy, loves being outdoors.
Star football player, Blaine, runs to catch a pass in a football game with daddy and his uncles.
Hayden and his grandma
Hayden things Mason bouncing a ball is the funniest thing ever.
Monday, January 5, 2009
2009
This is the year:
- I will lose 20 pounds and keep it off. (had to start with that one, right?)
- I will have a quiet time with the Lord early each morning and continue to chat with Him throughout my day.
- I will eat healthier. I will concentrate on eating the Super foods.
- I will walk two miles at least 4 times a week and do a workout 4 times a week.
- I will be active in our new church--Hill Country Fellowship
- I will grow heirloom vegetables and practice organic gardening methods. I will work hard to learn how to be a better gardner and grow more of our own food.
- I will plant more fruit trees.
- I will learn more about animal husbandry--especially chickens, goats and sheep. I will develop a market for my fresh eggs.
- I will get all our cats fixed.
- I will get caught up on all the animals vaccinations.
- Don and I will finish the ranch fence so that our animals have access to entire ranch.
- I will find ways to volunteer and be more active in my community.
- I will plant lots of flowers.
- I will improve in my photography skills.
- I will spend more time with my family and friends.
- I will play games more.
- I will pray that together Don and I will develop a home farm business that will produce an income, delight us and our customers, bring families together, help others and bring us all closer to the land and to God. I pray for God to lead us to something akin to the strawberry farm--an activity/business that could complement that enterprise.
- I will work hard at learning to remember people's names.
- I would like to write more and improve my writing skills.
- I would like to read more for pleasure and relaxation.
- I would like to be more confident with my cooking and invite others over more.
- I will strive to have positive thoughts, a cheerful countenance, and gracious speech.
- I will have an attitude of gratitude. I will make a habit of sittin' in the sunshine and counting my blessings.
- I want to have a teachable spirit and to accept criticism graciously and to learn from my mistakes. I want to be quick to recognize my faults and repent. I want to be quick to forgive and difficult to offend.
- I will practice building up and encouraging others. I will smile more.
- I will fight for my country to remain a Godly nation.
- I will be alert, vigilant, and informed on any attempts to destroy the rights and freedoms given to Americans in our constitution.
- And the only reason I might succeed in any of these resolutions is because: I CAN DO ALL THINGS THROUGH CHRIST WHO GIVES ME STRENGTH.
Happy New Year
I'm glad to be in the new year. I love Christmas and we had a wonderful one but I am glad to get back to normal life....whatever that is. Yet, at the same time it is a bittersweet parting. The house looks so sad and lifeless without the Christmas lights and decorations. And it is so quiet (after having grandkids here for five days). I loved having everyone around--both at Tammie's for Christmas and here at home for New Years. We played lots of games but the best by far was our New Year's eve game of Capture the Flag. Tammie and I rocked! One of us captured the flag in each of the three games. We showed those youngsters how to play. Adam would be so proud of us--yet so mad if he was on the opposing team. It was great fun.
Seemed that most of us went through the stomach bug, too, at some point during the holidays. We share everything in this family.
I am sitting in front of a nice roaring fire on this very cold, rainy evening. We have had our woodstove for nearly 30 years but it never drew really well so if you left the doors open smoke would fill the room. We got the chimney worked on and it draws so much better now that I can open the front doors to the stove and put on the firescreen that came with it and it is like a fireplace. I love it. Sitting on my new couch, cozy by the roaring fire, surrounded by several sleeping cats, and catching up on the blogs. Doesn't get much better than this.
But then.....the telephone rang and it was the Burnet sheriff calling us about a house fire in Granite Shoals--10 people lived in the trailer that burned to the ground--thankfully, none were home when it happened. So looks like we will have to out in the cold and wet and do our Red Cross duty.
I will try to be better at blogging. It is just that sometimes my life seems so uninteresting. I am not being a snob, or lazy, just hate to be boring.
Seemed that most of us went through the stomach bug, too, at some point during the holidays. We share everything in this family.
I am sitting in front of a nice roaring fire on this very cold, rainy evening. We have had our woodstove for nearly 30 years but it never drew really well so if you left the doors open smoke would fill the room. We got the chimney worked on and it draws so much better now that I can open the front doors to the stove and put on the firescreen that came with it and it is like a fireplace. I love it. Sitting on my new couch, cozy by the roaring fire, surrounded by several sleeping cats, and catching up on the blogs. Doesn't get much better than this.
But then.....the telephone rang and it was the Burnet sheriff calling us about a house fire in Granite Shoals--10 people lived in the trailer that burned to the ground--thankfully, none were home when it happened. So looks like we will have to out in the cold and wet and do our Red Cross duty.
I will try to be better at blogging. It is just that sometimes my life seems so uninteresting. I am not being a snob, or lazy, just hate to be boring.
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