Well I've been  busy canning. I love this time of the year. Canning jars full of color and texture, are like art work to me. I just love to stare. Crazy huh?

Pickled garlic and jalapeño peppers...

Lemon Curd ( great for Christmas presents) I like to keep my brother stocked up with jams and lemon curd. He loves toast and tea, and coffee as much as I do.

When I'm done canning i like to kick my feet up, and enjoy this....

In my favorite cup ever...

And eat some of this fresh from the oven...

My Great Grandma, Grandma, Mom, and I make this pumpkin delight every year at harvest/fall time. This is a four generational recipe. How cool is that!

We are enjoying the beautiful fall days, it goes so fast. 

 Enjoy the simple pleasures every day. Like pumpkins and squash you just harvested from you garden, 

and of course your ducks!

An Autumn Greeting


"Come," said the Wind to the Leaves one day.
"Come over the meadow and we will play.
Put on your dresses of red and gold.
For summer is gone and the days grow cold."

We went visiting! Homestead style - Work Party- Food -Friends.

Our friends our building their homestead dream...

Happy Homesteaders!

Milling their own wood...

With logs on the property.

Beautiful slab stairs from their own wood.

The camp kitchen.

We brought some house warming gifts. The wire basket  and  hand plunger were a hit!

So... my friend had to try out her new hand plunger on  some laundry.

Check out the dirty water coming out of some of the kids clothes. It does the job! 

Hand wringing the clothes. 

A makeshift-camping, laundry area! Did you know Pine Sol gets pitch out of clothes? New one for me, I always use peanut butter.

Finishing the job. A fun day... now its time for tea & cookies.

 It’s so good for children to work along side their parents. They feel needed and satisfied that they can do the job. It helps prepare them for real life. I believe if you work with them happily side by side, they learn that work can be pleasant and fun. I must admit, it was not always like this in our home. We had to learn ourselves. Integrating our children into our daily life was a challenge at first. It seemed so much faster to do the work ourselves. We learned fast that the best way to have them work was by our side. Leaving them to do a job they don’t know how to do, is a nightmare. Yes, my older children can do chores and work by themselves now, but it took time and training to do that. Take the time; it is so fun to work as a family! – “Many hands make light work.”

I have noticed that when the children do chores and work with the family, they really enjoy free time. Their so happy to go and play, ride bikes, read a good book, go for a walk, ect. If they don’t do any work, their bored and don’t know what to do.

When we moved out to our homestead, we started a tradition of reading every night together. These are defiantly some of our coziest memories.

Our time with our children is so short, work and play with them. You won’t regret it!

It’s Monday and were off to the Homestead Barn Hop, so come along and dos-ado!

I know this might seem a bit strange, but when June comes my mind says, “ winter is coming you better get ready.” I really do enjoy the summer months ( fishing, camping, gardening ect.) Up here in the North, summer is short and the frost comes early. I don’t think I’m strange though!  Our ancestors worked all summer preparing for winter. Fields were planted, wood was chopped, and food was gathered for the long winter ahead. I think in the present time we live in, we get so out of tune with the seasons.

Papa said he’s happy we are prepared for winter. The barn is stacked high with hay and our animals have cozy beds. The cellar is full of potatoes, onions, carrots and turnips, salted beef, and barrels of cider. We have enough dried cranberries to sell at market.

-       “ The Winter of Red Snow”

“ Come along, little Half-Pint. We better make hay while the sun shines.”

-       “ The Long Winter”

                   So savor Summer, enjoy the harvest of Fall, and be prepared for the cozy winter months ahead.
                            – Abby Jo

  

   Hubby and I don’t go out on dates much. We call shopping at Costco and eating a hotdog/drink for 1.50 a great “date”.  We love taking walks, and snuggling on the couch after the kids go to bed. Dinning out is just not really part of our life, and frankly I cannot stand spending that much money on one meal anymore!

My sweet daughter wanted to really surprise us and give us a “real date.” So she and her siblings planned a dinner for Daddy and I in the gazebo. She cooked pasta, sauce, breadsticks, herb tea, and cookies for dessert! They proceeded to dress up as waiters, sneaking the I-pod and speakers in the gazebo. They wanted to set the mood. All was ready as they lead us to our seats, and served us in style. What beautiful food. They fed themselves in the kitchen, and left us a good hour to dine by ourselves. It was such a sweet time, and because my sweet kids did it out of love, it was doubly sweet. Thanks Kids!

Four years ago, we started buying our heirloom non-GMO seeds from Baker Creek Seed Company, and have always been impressed. With northern spring weather what it is (snow and all), tender starts must be protected.

A greenhouse or starter house is a must for any northern gardener who wants to maximize their growing season. As a builder, I have studied many greenhouse plans. I’m looking for three main things:

1.  Simplicity of construction
2.  Least amount of material possible
3.  The ecstatic or look

Full walk in types are great if they in your budget, but since my budget didn’t allow this, I started looking into mini greenhouses.

Inspiration came last summer when my parents filled a dead chest freezer with dirt, placed a window on top and called it a greenhouse. Nice, I liked where this was going. With the sides painted black the heat gained during the day caused the Amazon to grow under a ceiling of glass.

Since I have no extra windows, I looked in the shop and gave a quick glance at what I did have.  I found a small roll of 6 mil. plastic, some screws and a hammer stapler. After getting a couple measurements I stared at these three building leftovers laid out before me.  Just like a chef motionless before three basic ingredients. Suddenly the three began to work together for one pupose.  A mini – Greenhouse.
    

I’ll finish painting, cover the bottom with rock, and cover the rock with hay. My wife suggested layering fresh hot manure on the hay and covering it with rich planting soil. The purpose of the manure is to warm the soil in aiding seeds to germinate.- Daniel 

  Doesn’t the week fly by? I was thinking how winter seems to slowly go by. Then spring is upon you, and everything seems to become a buzz of activity.
  Up north we are just getting our seeds organized and ready to start indoors. I have been up to my elbows in sourdough starter, sprouting, and making kombucha tea.

  We have been pouring over books, as of late. Everything from gardening to fermenting. Food has been on my thoughts as well. I really want to cook good food, and spend as little as posiable. It’s kinda of a challenge I’ve given myself. So, I have been expermenting with beans, grains, sprouting, sourdough, fermenting ect.

  This week we have recived some emails asking us how do you homestead, save money, and live on very little. I have no pat answers, but here are a couple things you can do to get started. We use our library and check out good books here are a few:

  There are a few you might want to own, because they are such a great refrance to have on hand. Every book has a slight twist in doing things. I have found that there is more then one way to do things, so find out the way it works for your family. Don’t get stressed, that you have to have everything! You can borrow, trade, make your own, or just do the best with what you have. It’s funny, we used to think we had to have everything in lehmans amish catalog to homestead, but you don’t ( even though some are very helpful ). “Nessesity is the mother of invention.”