The Next Thing

Preparing

tina — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 19:02:19 +0000

As the rain beats outside our windows today we prepare.

We prepare for the coming garden. I have daily been planting more seeds out in the greenhouse. I can see tiny little seedlings starting to peek through as I take my daily walk through and breathe the sweet air inside before getting to work. It’s exciting!

We prepare for Sabbath. Its still early in the week but I know that we have a busy weekend starting it early tomorrow. So we felt today was the day to make sure the house is clean, all the extra foods made and clothes washed. The girls are making some sour cream coffee cake, something I’ve never actually witnessed anyone have with coffee. They are also trying their hand at doughnuts (I know, its sounds bad all this junk food. No e-mails telling me I’m a bad mom!) and M is gonna try her hand at bread.

I still need to make sure we have everything extra that needs to be packed into the car. I guess a list would be a good way to prepare for this, huh? I always seem to forget something! Have a great and blessed weekend ~Tina

Grow something edible

tina — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 14:05:13 +0000

Thought I’d share something that I ran across. Its a slideshow. I think after seeing these pictures no one has an excuse to not grow something edible!

Busy Days

tina — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 02:37:44 +0000

Its been a busy week or so. I’ve been busy in the greenhouse making soil blocks. It is getting fuller by the day. While busy I thought I’d share a site I saw come across a self sufficiency group I’m on. It teaches you how to save your seeds. This is something I, myself, haven’t done enough but plan on learning and saving as much seed as I can this year. Enjoy your week. I hope you’re getting as much sunshine as we are

tina — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 18:05:38 +0000

More snow! I just can hardly believe it! This has been one cold, snowy winter for us. Its just unbelievable!

Here’s our $6.60 chair we got at the clearance Goodwill. J was so excited about it. Probably because he was able to throw out our old green couch, LOL! Its still a little dirty so we’ll have to scrub it up again but for that price who can complain?

Greenhouse photos

tina — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 21:23:16 +0000

I thought I’d post updated photos of the greenhouse.

We got the shelves up over the weekend! Woo Hoo!!

I am still waiting for our seeds to arrive in the mail.

I feel like I’m running behind schedule because last year I had stuff growing already!

What’s Been Goin’ On

tina — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 03:39:14 +0000

My youngest lost her front tooth, with one more loose right there in the front, and while I went to grab my camera she turned away and put in her teeth. When I called to her this is what I saw:

Well, my seeds are now ordered as of last week and my girls are anxiously awaiting their arrival! The problem this year is that there is too much I want to try but am limited on the funds and energy it would take to purchase & keep them all up. This is of course on top of the drawer full of seeds I still have/saved from last year. The girls put in an order of flowers & herbs too.

I’ve been reading up on some different ways to do things this year. Hopefully it’ll make things a bit less labor intensive. I wanted to do the lasagna gardening last fall but since we were hoping to sell the house J thought it would be a waster of energy. The house is still on the market and people are still looking but so far that offer still eludes us. We are now just living like we’ll be here for a while and if the house sells in the meantime great. I am gonna plan on the lasagna garden approach this fall if we are still here!

The greenhouse plastic arrived toward the end of last week and we (I should say J) put it up while we were at church. It looks great, stays warm and I eager to fill it to capacity! We then went out the next day to the Lowe’s and they were selling an entire rack of clearanced flowers for an amazing price! Thankfully J had the trailer hitched up. We still had to put some in the back of the car though.

We actually ended up getting about 4 or 5 inches of snow over Valentines weekend and so the girls enjoyed playing in it while it lasted. It is usually all over within two days! It doesn’t hang around long enough for you to get tired of it. To me its like old man winter just likes to come for short visits to our area, maybe when he gets a little sick of the local scenery. He then decides that he’s not that fond of the warm, blaring sun that peeks its head out all too often so he goes back to where he came from. Its a win win situation for everyone! Its so quick that no one really has time to complain.

The photos below are from the ice storm we had prior to the recent snow.

have you ever seen ice on cactus?

This is a photo of my birthday gifts from my girls.

They’re such sweet little things, so thoughtful. How could I be anything but proud? Funny story, my youngest wrapped her gifts herself. The first thing I unwrapped was wrapped with the tie of her bathrobe. I jokingly said do I get to keep this? Her response was that it would be OK because she couldn’t find the robe for quite some time now. The next thing I pulled out of the bag was wrapped in her bathrobe! Too cute

Growing Peanuts

tina — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 14:42:38 +0000

So, its another cold, rainy day here. Of course this leaves my mind dreaming again. Seeds are being ordered and I’ve been researching some other ways/things to plant. I found this and decided we are gonna give growing peanuts a try this year! I have done some grocery store growing in the past so I don’t think much about trying this Who knows how well it’ll turn out but anything is worth the try at least once, right?! No matter what its always a fun, educational way to teach the girls to try doing different things or doing things differently. Not to worry if it’ll work out or not but try and try again until you figure out what does work.

Learn something new

tina — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 16:03:57 +0000

I’m a firm believer that you should learn something new as often as possible. Yesterday I learned, quite accidentally, that my houseleek or as most people know them ~ hen-and-chicks ~ actually have medicinal uses. I was excited to read this since I have a few overgrown containers going now!

I started a “wish list” on amazon. If I knew how, I’d put it up here to share books that seem like they would be worth the purchase. I’ll look into it a litle more but can’t promise anything as I still haven’t figured out how to upgrade this wordpress blog yet! I’m not a real computer oriented person, in case you haven’t noticed. I guess these are a few more things I could stand to learn, huh?

We are supposed to be getting a little bit of snow today and by a little bit I mean 1/4″ to 1″. People are actually excited about this! There’s no playing in 1/4″ of snow! Anyway, it seems funny because we always seem to get the snow/ice Friday night or early Saturday. Just in time to keep my poor hubby in the house on his time off!

I’m now getting my seed list ready so I can order in a couple days! Yay! Hopefully, J will be able to get the plastic for the greenhouse soon and we can get that set up. I can’t wait! Once I’m done I’ll post what I’m gonna be planting this year, the new & the old.

A Little Rest

tina — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 15:02:19 +0000

Today I feel much more rested than I have in previous days. Its been so crazy around here lately, running to and fro. I decided to stay home & rest last night rather than going to prayer meeting since my daughter had the night off. I know, I know, we should want to go to these things. And I do, I thoroughly enjoy it and the study we’ve been doing. I also know that even though we are to take a day of rest, going to church bi-weekly and staying long hours aren’t always the peaceful rest we need. Add to that schooling the children, making dinner, keeping the house picked up, dealing with people outside of your house & their demands, a birthday sleepover one night, a squirrel crawling through the attic another, and the list could go on and on. It tends to take a toll on you and your health. I know, from personal experience, that this is a recipe for someone to end up sick. And yes, my oldest is now fighting something, so the wisest thing I can do is listen to our bodies and take the rest that we need for a few days. My children aren’t always happy about this but I think in the end they get it too and we all feel much better for it.

A Thought

tina — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 13:04:47 +0000

This morning it occured to me while writing an e-mail how differently we all view and process things. It was just one of those eureka moments. E-u-r-e-k-a (can you hear my echo too?)! While one suffers over things another doesn’t let it hold her back! While one heart breaks another keeps on keeping on, shaking the dust from her feet. While one thinks this is such a horrible thing that just can’t be any other way, another finds a different way to make it work. While one chooses to be offended, another doesn’t think twice about it. And yes, I do believe at times we choose to be offended. This life isn’t easy. No one ever promised us that bed of roses! But this life, this precious life, is ours to do with what we, well, choose. We can make it a happy or a sad miserable life by the way we react to things. The way we process things. Are we gonna let every little thing get us down? Or are we gonna shake the dust from our feet and move on?