Blog has Moved...

The other day I decided to start a new blog... so if you are by any chance still following me you can now find me here

http://barefootinglysimple.blogspot.com/


Hope you enjoy!

I know it has been forever and a day since I posted

But they changed it all around, and I am slow when it comes to change.

Not much new has been going on around here.  Just the cycles of life.  I am out of school for the summer, and we have baby animals left and right. lol Our incubators have been running non stop since April and we have hatched ducklings, chicks, and quail.  I just started another incubator 2 days ago.

Our gardens are looking great! Going to dig potatoes tomorrow more than likely.  Here are some pictures...

Musings on Farming

Recently, I was sitting in a college level Agriculture class, our professor stated that girls often don’t return back to the farm; and these days you are lucky if the boys return to the farm.  We were told that many don’t farm because people can make at least twice as much money in town than they can on the farm.  While I agree that farming usually isn’t profitable, when did farming become just about the profit? I was raised on the farm and am proud of it.  I am proud of our farm, and am glad for the values and responsibility it taught me.  Why is this world so concerned with profit?  The way I see it is if you can get by on the farm you are doing good – because that usually means that your major bills are being paid on and you have food on the table.  Many people seem to depend so much on others these days.  They don’t seem to know any other way. 

I am a female, age 26.  I was born on the farm, moved off the farm to go to school for 1 year, couldn’t stand not living on the farm and came back.  I am back in school, hoping to get a degree in Agriculture because I truly believe it is our future.  Without agriculture nothing else will stand up.  I realize that there are not many like me, but it is becoming a growing trend to get back to our roots and farm.  Even if it is just urban farming.  Food is the most important thing to me.  I can do without other things, so many people in our society fail to see that.  Sure I would love to have a new house, drive a new truck, not have to work so hard all the time – but what then would be the point of living.  I enjoy my work most of the time, most people can’t say that about their office jobs.

I enjoy teaching my children responsibility, I enjoy seeing them run through the fields and exploring.  I love knowing that not only do I but my kids know where their food comes from.  Sure I do go to the grocery store, but not nearly as often as a lot of people.  We only buy a few groceries each month, and truthfully if we had to we could do without those few groceries.  I can almost everything I know to, my daughter and son will both learn when they are old enough.  Preserving food for the unknown times is something I feel everyone should know.  Our ancestors did it for a way of survival.  Many died trying to learn how to keep enough food to last through the year.  I feel we at least owe them something for leaving us with such a knowledge on food preservation.

Yes farming seems to be a dying art, but I feel that it has to start living again or we all will be in BIG trouble.  Oh and when I say farming I am not talking about these 8000 acre “farms” that have managers and presidents…  I am talking about true family farms.  Those that the average American family tries to farm.  I was raised on a 300 acre family farm, and even though my parents had to work away from the farm, I grew to love everything there is about the farm. My dad went to work every day, got home at 4 or 5 and went to the fields until dark, sometimes working after dark.  My mom is the same way.  As soon as she gets home she is either in the house doing housework or out helping my dad on the farm.  That is what farm families do.  On Sunday morning mom and dad would feed the animals, eat breakfast, get ready for church, go to church and then Sunday afternoons are reserved for family.  The only farm work is the necessary farm work- taking care of animals.  

Storm Shelter

Busy days

Enjoying the mild winter here, but am anticipating planting the garden.  I am yearning for fresh produce and I just can not bring my self to pay the ridiculous prices the stores are asking for shipped in fruit and vegetables!

I have been buying a few things that have been on sale...but not much.  I bought 2 pineapples the other day at Aldis and made 8 (4oz) and 2 (8oz) jars of pineapple jam.  It is so good!  I also made 7 (8oz) jars of grape juice jelly.   Right now the PC is jiggling with 3 pints of chicken gizzards and hearts, hoping that they hold up well enough for frying.  Chris said that his grandma always pressure cooked gizzards before frying to make them more tender.  Trying it as an experiment.  Going to open 1 jar tonight and fry them up.

We have decided not to do a canning kitchen... instead we are building a 19x12 addition onto the kitchen! I am so excited.  Worried about how this will effect my canning this summer, but I guess I could always move all my supplies to my mom's if needed.  Hoping to plant a VERY BIG garden so I can can up most of it.  Hate running out of food!

In my addition I will be getting new cabinets, open shelving and a new DISHWASHER! I cannot wait and am getting more and more excited as I think about it!  We don't know for sure yet how much it all is going to cost, but we got quite a bit back from our taxes AND mom and dad are going to help with some of it since it is their house after all.  Our construction guy came and looked at it, we are waiting on an estimate.  I think we are going with a concrete floor to save some money and luckily we have plumbers and electricians in the family.  Also Chris can do sheetrock... so that will help tremendously.  We are going to buy unfinished cabinets and stain them ourselves.  Going to go with a laminate countertop.  We can't afford to go super fancy, but I am going to have things how I want them - such as taller cabinets than standard because of my height.  I want my cabinets to be at least 4ft tall.

Chris bought me a new ring the other day.  My diamond wedding ring is so bulky it is always getting snagged on things.  Plus if I don't take it off while cooking it gets so nasty between the diamonds and in the cracks.  It is also too tight.  We are going to get it resized but then I am going to put it up.  I wanted just a SIMPLE band to wear around home.  I love it. It is made of titanium (so very durable) and says Forever Love around the outside of it.

Top left: New ring
Bottom Right: Regular wedding ring

And a few more recent pics:

Sophia and her toothy smile! She will be 3 in just a few months!

If you look really hard, there are Canadian geese on the bank!

Beautiful Sky!

I just love this sky!

Long Ago forgotten...