Whisper Wind Farm Comes to a Close

I have decided to bring this blog to a close. We have moved and started a new chapter in our life and are in a new place with new goals, wants and needs. All of that deserves its own space and its own blog. I am sad in many ways to see the end of Whisper Wind Farm. I spent 16 years of my life doing a lot of sweating, bleeding, crying, laughing, and living there. It is sad to be starting over after all those years of working so hard. It is sad to see the end of the place where I have raised my children. I don't do change very well, but in many ways I am excited. Since we are no longer at Whisper Wind Farm I feel like I can't write for Whisper Wind Farm. That is a chapter and story for someone else. I am going to leave this blog here and attach it to my new one. So our journey will be followed and recorded for all to see, but all of the old knowledge and ramblings will be here just like it always has been. So while I hope you enjoy and gain much from our past journey, I pray that you join us on our new journey at Willow Pond. Blessings to all, Kat

Moving the Farm

Well, we finally closed on a new piece of property. It is a cute little farm cottage on 6 acres with a huge barn. It also comes with a 33 year old horse and the resident barn cat. I agreed to let them stay as it would have been too traumatic for the horse to be moved at his age and the cat would not adapt to city life well. It is a little smaller than we initially wanted, but our oldest is grown and our youngest is following quickly. We will have it paid for by the time my husband retires and then if we choose to stay it will be something easily managed. The only thing I really don't like is that it has a pond and I hate ponds because they bring snakes. In our neck of the woods, snakes that visit ponds are likely water moccasins and the pond is right in front of the house. Indeed, we saw three in the pond and managed to kill one. So, I wound up with a pond because the farm had most everything else that we wanted. So far, our adventure in moving the farm has not been much fun. The house has to be completely repainted inside and the new wood floors need to be sealed....all before the movers come next week. We also had an emergency trip to the next state over because my father in law is now in hospice house. It has been a sad week in spite of the excitement of a new place. I don't make changes very easily...in fact it is my biggest anxiety. My husband almost had to force me to make this move even though I know it is for the best. I go from being excited one day to sheer panic the next day. The snakes haven't helped...sheer panic. The biggest lesson that I am learning....God has got this, just keep moving forward. So, my husband has been putting up fence and I have been furiously painting. The movers come next week for the furniture. It will take all month to get everything else moved. Needless to say, I am exhausted at night when I go to bed and still sore and tired when I wake up. The inside of the house will be finished this weekend. The barn will be a nightmare. Over 20 years of stuff left behind in this huge barn. Most of it is garbage. Oh, did I mention the best part....we have absolutely no immediate neighbors. We have neighbors on the next road over and a couple around the corner, but none next to us. The land next to us is a very large parcel owned by a doctor in the city. Actually we are one of only 2 houses on our entire road and there is about 6 miles between us. This is awesome in my book! Well, I have to move the pantry today so I had better get busy. Blessings to all and will keep you updated on the move.

Really I am not gone forever

I think I must have needed a break to assess life as we know it. Plus life as we know it has been crazy busy and on hold at the same time. First things first, last year our oldest daughter ran away with her boyfriend. She didn't have any contact with us for months. She now has contact although it is limited and never ever without him. If she talks to me on the phone, he is right there. If she comes to see me, he is the one who brings her. He has control of every aspect of her life. I still don't know where she lives. So she is not fully back in our lives or even fully living her own life. However, she talks to me and she will come to dinner if they have the gas money to get here. So, for now I will be content with that and let God do what he needs to do in all of this. We still have not moved and we are still in limbo. We found a little farm with an adorable little cottage and a great big huge barn. We loved it immediately and signed a contract on it. Everything imaginable that could go wrong has gone wrong and the seller is a nut. I hated to write that but honestly there is no other way to put it. She has also had a terrible realtor and she is not good at making decisions and getting things done. If her realtor had done his job then he would have held her hand and not left her to run around like a chicken with her head cut off making manic phone calls to anyone she could think of and not getting anything accomplished with all of that. We are headed to our third closing this coming week, hopefully if a judge signs some papers today. If not then we are still waiting. That is frustrating when our whole farm is packed up and waiting to go. Our animals are tired and frustrated and of all things I am now having to mow grass because they are in small paddocks instead of the big pastures because we pulled all the fence up this winter. It is absolutely crazy. I don't know if God is trying to discourage us or the devil is testing our faith that God will get us through this, but either way we still love this property. Meanwhile, while all of this has been going on my mom went into the hospital with pneumonia and wound up spending 7 weeks in there because of scalded skin syndrome caused by the hospitals improper use of antibiotics and staph. Then even when they didn't know what was wrong with her and she was progressively getting worse, (think burn victim losing skin on over 75% of their body) they tried to refuse to send her to a better/bigger/more informed hospital. It was a nightmare, but we finally got her to that better hospital and they knew exactly what it was and exactly what to do. It helps when there is a resident dermatologist. While mom was in the hospital we found out her finances were in pretty bad shape and she had made some really bad financial decisions. My sister and I have had to take over her finances to try and get her out of the mess that she was in. Apparently, mom had decided to start a business with the help of some online sales scam and had spent thousands of dollars, taken out loans she can't afford to pay back, was bouncing checks to pay for this and couldn't afford her basic living expenses anymore. She lives with my godmother and my goddaughter and each of them pay 1/3 of the household expenses and for several months she had not been paying her share apparently. So my godmother finally told me while mom was in the hospital because she is living on retirement and can't afford to support my mom. Mom is still not happy with us, and honestly I don't blame her. But we really had no choice and I think there was a lot of confusion on mom's part as to what she was and wasn't paying and how much was going out. I don't think she realized how much in debt she was. I think she was so far extended that she couldn't keep track anymore. I seem to be noticing a lot more confusion these days. Like yesterday a long time (20 plus years long)friend was as the house. She has diabetes and has all of her life. We were talking about it and Mom said, "Oh, when did you get to be diabetic? I didn't know that you had diabetes. What are you going to do?" She honestly did not remember that this woman had diabetes despite having known it for years. So, I have been almost too busy with Mom to worry much about the house situation. Now, to top all of that off my father in law is in the hospital following a seizure in another state and his wife is saying he can't come back home. So we are really in a pickle there as well. We honestly don't know what we are going to do in this situation. On a good note our little one is doing great. We finally got the testing done and she is definitely dyslexic, which honestly makes her feel better. We were able to get some great suggestions for curriculum for dyslexics, plus now she has access to some programs online for dyslexics. We also have access to tutoring specialized for dyslexia if we need it. She is doing really well though with the Orton Gillingham materials that we now have for spelling and reading. We have seen a huge improvement so far. As long as we keep seeing improvement through the program then we are good. Since her dyslexia affects her handwriting (dysgraphia)we are finding that cursive handwriting is working better for her. We are also going to do a keyboarding program so she learns to type better. Both of those will be key for her in the future and since she will never write very quickly we will purchase a Livescribe pen in the future. Right now we are looking for a not too expensive tablet that we can download the book programs for her on. The kindle only works with audible and they don't have any special dyslexia considerations where price is concerned. So that is life in a nutshell for us right now. Still living with boxes, but considering all the hospital stuff haven't been home much to notice it. Still in farm limbo which really really stinks. Still praying that it will all work out soon. Blessings, Kat

Wow, it has been a year....a really bad year

I finally decided to take a look at my blog and try to write something. I have been here a few times over the past year and I have left full of tears. This has been a very hard year for our family and we are still having a difficult time of things. Just writing these few sentences has the tears flowing. I will explain all, but it will take several posts. In this first, I will update on our decision to find a new farm and move. That has not happened yet. We have found several places over the past year and all of them have fallen through or been snatched up before we could get our little ducks in a row. We have been dependent on selling some property we have in another state for the funds and there have been many complications with that process. That is the main duck that has held up everything else. We did downsize our little herd of goats and our rabbits. The goats that we have left are expecting babies in another month or so. I hate that we are still here and not settled somewhere......anywhere. My house is mostly packed except for things used every day...dishes, pots/pans...things like that. So, I essentially am living in a storage locker. Not much fun, but I keep hoping that things will work out sometime soon. There was no garden this year because I was planning on moving. I could have had one since I am still here. The animals were turned into the garden area so that we could take down fencing in other areas so now my garden area is destroyed. So it looks like there may not be another garden this year. In truth, without my little farm activities and my garden I feel a bit lost. It was something that grounded me and comforted me. I have really missed it all over the past year. I am hoping that this new year coming up will bring good things. I have faith that God will get me through these difficult days and our family will see sunshine again on the other side. Meanwhile, I take things one day at a time and hope to see my little garden again and I actually look forward to milking goats soon. Blessings to you all and please look for the next part of this past year's saga. Kat

Sorry, I have been gone so long

I know, I know. I am sorry that I have been gone for so long. Life has just been crazy and we as a family have had some serious decision making to do. Our oldest daughter Petunia will be graduating high school this year. So, I have been with the other graduating moms planning graduation and all that entails. Petunia has decided that she will be going to nanny school like Patrice's daughter over at Rural Revolution. She loves children and babysitting has always brought her much joy. She is very excited. But first she will spend the summer with my sister in New England working to earn some money and experiencing life a little bit. But first she had to have her first car accident. Thank the good Lord above that she walked away with only a scar on her forehead from a tree branch that came through the window and nothing more. Trust me when I say, odds were in favor of her not walking away at all. She was most definitely surrounded by angels that night. My husband's pathfinder was totaled and we had to look for another car. That has taken up a few weeks of our time. Then the little ones schooling is taking up much more of our day as she is getting into more big girl things and it simply takes more time. We follow a Charlotte Mason curriculum and there is a lot of reading on both of our parts. We have decided that it is time to downsize our farm activities for two reasons. The first being that it is time for us to look for a new home and the second is that I simply need less physical stress so that I can finish healing my autoimmune disease as much as possible. So, we will definitely keep the chickens and the garden. But more than likely most of the rabbits and the goats will be going. At the most we will keep 3 goats and 3 rabbits. That will allow us to start taking up fencing and give me a break on the physical aspect of farming. It will give me a chance to do some healing and us a chance to save some money to help with a downpayment. We have not gotten much from our livestock over the past couple of years, and it just seems like we are wasting money feeding them when we are getting very little. I also don't know yet whether I will be able to eat dairy anymore, my little one doesn't like to drink much milk and is not a cheese fan, my oldest will be leaving the nest, my husband is not fond of milk and only drinks about 1 glass a month...so we just aren't sure whether it justifies keeping the goats for now. Just lots of changes going on and this blog will probably take more of a homeschooling and homekeeping path rather than the homesteading path. I suppose that is ok for now and we will just have to see what the future brings. Blessings, Kat

Burning up the Yard and an Update

Yes, I did. I started what was to be a burn some yard trash fire which almost turned into a nightmare. I had the pile to be burned all nice and tidy with all the straw and leaves raked away from it, so I thought. I stood there for hours watching it burn with absolutely no problems. As it burned down to mostly just a smoldering mass I decided to get a quick shower and then get somthing to eat. After my shower, I checked on the fire and it was doing just fine. No problems at all, still not much more than a smoldering mass. Then I decided to get some lunch and sit down for a little bit inside as it is still hot here. So, after I fixed my food and sat down I sent the teenager out to check on the fire. Not sure if she walked around it all the way or just glanced across the yard. When I got done eating the wind had picked up a little and as I walked out to what should have been a smoldering pile of coals, I saw flames....good sized ones too. Not good. The fire apparently at some point had jumped my break and ignited some of the yard and then gotten into some pine straw which led to my property line and the neighbor's wood behind me. It wasn't moving terribly fast but it was faster, hotter and bigger than I like and it was spreading. I sent the little one in to get the oldest child and we commenced to putting this out before we set our neighbor's property on fire. It too a good 2 hours to make sure that absolutely everything was completely out, but fortunately it looked worse than it was and it didn't take much to have it under control. Just took forever getting all the hotspots put out for good. I have to admit it was a bit scary and my husband came home to us covered it dust, dirt and soot...so I am banned from having another fire when he is not home. He is probably right we do both need to be home.

Other than that it is the mad rush to get everything that needs doing done before cold weather gets here. I know....most of you know that I live in the south and we don't get near the winter that you guys up north get. So, I know most of you are wondering why I am so all fired up to have all this extra stuff done. Well, the reason is that my body just does not handle cold well. It is very painful actually, especially in my hands. Even with gloves on I lose feeling in my hands quickly and then lose use of them. So the less time I need to spend outside the better. I know there are things that come up but I try to have everything as efficient as possible. The worst is when we don't have enough wood split to get us through. So this year I am making sure that there is enough wood split even if it kills me. I want to spend most of this winter learning how to crochet, sewing, school with the girls and other nice inside activities rather than outside splitting wood with hands that are absolutely killing me or that I can't feel at all. I also have to get the house ready....you know this old finicky house that has to be caulked at re-caulked and sealed and everything else to keep the cold out and the heat in. So, I have been putting up food, making cheese, making soap, caulking, getting in wood, doing barn repairs, getting in hay, etc. etc. etc. It has been busy and next month we have the fair and a good deep clean of the house before we close it up for winter. Busy, busy busy! Blessings, Kat

Preparing for Winter

It has been awhile since I have posted. It seems like now that we are in the last part of summer we are in the mad dash to get ready for winter in addition to summer stuff. The tomatoes are coming in well despite the fight with the tomato hornworms. I really hate those things and we have had a heavy year for them. I have picked dozens each day to make sure that I actually get some tomatoes. As it is we have a late crop because the first tomatoes were hit pretty hard despite my efforts. So the tomato plants put on a second crop which is what we are now harvesting. The pole beans are about played out and I am getting ready to pull them. The second round of squash and zuchinni are just about to start flowering so we will have more just before the cold weather comes in. We are also busy filling the woodshed and getting the pastures in order. I put some finished compost on the goat's winter pasture yesterday and threw out some old wheat seed to encourage the chickens to scratch it in. I truly love it when I can get the critters to do my work for me! Now, if I can just find where they are hiding the eggs. We haven't gotten any eggs for a week and are having a time trying to find them. I am worried that something is getting the eggs. This week I re-mulched all the pathways in the garden so they are good to go until late winter/early spring. I try to mulch them twice a year to keep the weed population down. The biggest frugal thing I have done lately is to buy a bunch of potatoes that were on a really good sale and can most of them. Now, my emergency potato stores are stocked back up. My husband also replaced the brake pads on his car, saving us a good deal of money in not having to go to the mechanic. He also changed the oil in my car, saving even more money. We have spent a good deal of time this summer working in the yard. Unfortunately, we get busy with those things that are higher on the priority list and the yard gets pushed to the bottom. I have cleaned up countless piles of sticks and small branches that have fallen out of the trees and we have cut out dead branches so that we avoid so many fallen branches. We have had a couple of dead trees lose their tops and have burned off the piles of dead, rotten wood from that. We have also gotten rid of some weedy patches that made the yard look untidy. The dead fig tree was cut down and I have been able to keep the grass mowed on a regular basis. We still have some more work to do, but all in all the yard is looking much tidier. Our next goal is to clean up the old chicken coop that finally fell over this past winter. The back yard will look so much better once that is gone. Because of the heat that we have been dealing with we can only spend a couple hours outside early in the morning, so I think we have accomplished a lot with the little time that we have had. I think this fall when things get a little cooler we will be able to really make a difference and knock out some things that seem to take so long to get finished. We butchered a litter of rabbits this past month so that helped put meat in the freezer. Looking forward to deer season, even though I am not looking forward to the cold weather that comes with deer season. I remade two outdated dresses into more modern dresses last week. I love it when I get a new outfit made. It is so exciting to get to wear it. I have some oversized t-shirts that my aunt gave me that I am going to make into skirts soon. It will be nice to have a few more everyday skirts since the ones that I have have seen a lot of use. Within the next month I will be going through the children's clothes to see what they might need for this winter. I don't think Little Britches will need much, but Petunia might need a few things. Well, daylight is burning so I had better get to it before I can't stand the heat anymore. Blessings, Kat

Cultural Genocide

Cultural genocide...That is what is going on. Not just a displeasure with a certain flag (The confederate Battle Flag) and what they perceive it to represent. This is all out war against an entire culture and what will be next....physical genocide? Because you can never truly eliminate the culture and the truth as long as there are people who can teach and tell the truth. It isn't just about a flag, now they are taking down monuments, and talking about digging up graves. Erasing from existence the sacrifices of so many for freedom from government oppression. Erasing any interest in the knowledge of the actual facts and truth. Not only are they erasing our culture from existence, they are inciting a war and a hatred like none before. I have lived in the south all my life and never seen the hatred that I now see. Signs in front of businesses inciting hate. I have even been called hateful things by complete strangers outside of stores as I walked to or from the store. Well, I won't go on and on about that...I am sure you get the picture. Things are tense. But here is my issue...if they erase all knowledge and all symbols of my heritage are they then going to erase Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks from history. Close the Museums, change the street names and remove any monument or symbol of their existence? Why is it any more fair for those to keep their place of honor(especially the tyrant King)than it is for my cultural icons to keep their place of honor. History is history and those who don't learn from it are doomed to repeat it....oh wait....they already have...Slavery....blacks today just don't realize that they traded one master for another. The federal government is a fickle entity though and when they are done using them, then where will they be. Maybe it is time to quit idolizing the tax evader King and start learning about truly great men like Booker T. Washington or George Washington Carver. Black men that truly spent their lives empowering, educating, and helping to provide the tools for true freedom to the black culture. These two men were truly two of the greatest men in the history of America and yet rarely are they spoken of. Many blacks don't even know who they are. Let's see education vs. civil disobience and the masses will choose civil disobience each and every time. Fine have your civil disobience if you must, but keep your hands off my culture. I have a right to mine as you have a right to yours and I will respect your right as long as you respect my right. Cultural genocide truly is happening and really has me concerned with where it is leading.....genocide of the people of that culture? Where will it stop...whose culture is the next to fall? Think about it folks...this is just the beginning.

Sad 4th of July

On this 4th of July I find that I am terribly saddened at the state of things. We should be celebrating freedom...a freedom won by much bloodshed and the sacrifices of many. However, we find ourselves in a land with less and less freedom. Many of us Americans are losing the freedom to celebrate our heritage. We are losing the right to fly the Confederate battle flag. It is a symbol of freedom, but because some yahoo chose to use it as a symbol of hate in his sick twisted mind the world has jumped on that bandwagon again. We have been through this before. No, it is not the only flag of the Confederacy but it is an important one. It is one that kept men alive on the battle field. Men that fought and died for freedom...not oppression. Unlike what many like to say the Civil War was about, the truth is that it was about freedom and we are still fighting for those freedoms today. The Supreme Court just this past week disregarded the Constitution of the United States to force the states to comply with a ruling that it was not granted the power to make. States Rights once again tread upon. What was fought for in 1776 was the same thing the Confederates fought for in 1856 and it is the same thing we are fighting now...a government grown too large and oppressive...the loss of true freedom. Now, that overgrown tyranny is threatening to take away and deny many Americans their heritage. While it is great and wonderful for others to celebrate their heritage, we are denied the celebration of ours. In fact, they are trying hard to wipe it completely out of existence. Our founding fathers must be turning over in their graves at the sad lot this country has become. The First Amendment officially died this past week, they are working hard on the second, and the Supreme Court once again overstepped its power and told the people of each state that their wants do not matter and they have no right to decide for themselves what is best for their state. I find this a sad 4th of July with nothing to celebrate...1776 means nothing in Amerika anymore. We should be a country in mourning...we have lost much.

Summer is most definitely here

Well, summer is most definitely here. Heat index has already been over 100 and only supposed to get worse this week. The humidity is very high. Yesterday I was out getting the morning chores done as soon as I had enough light to work on and I was drenched in sweat by 8 am. It is 6 am now and I am getting ready to head outside to get more chores done. The goats are taking more naps in the shade during the day...don't blame them really. This is truly siesta weather. We finally turned on the AC in the house this past week. Right now we are trying to zone cool the house and hope that works for this summer. Right now I am in our den with just the ceiling fan going, no AC yet, and frankly it is uncomfortably sticky. I do think the thermal curtains are helping to keep it cooler, but with this high heat and humidity there really is no super relief without air condition.

The garden so far is holding its own. The cucumbers and squash are done for now. I have replanted but it will be a month or so before we start having more squash. The zucchini are still holding their own and I will be replanting those as well. The pole beans are starting to produce, I am just hoping that this blistering heat won't cause them to drop their blooms. The tomato plants are loaded with tomatoes, which I am super excited about since last year I had a poor crop of tomatoes. Not enough to do everything I wanted to do. Now I am dreaming of all the salsa, tomato sauce, canned tomatoes, ketchup, and anything else I can think of. Sweet potatoes are almost finished planting and hopefully they will do well this year. Carrots and beets are almost finished up. I have a few more that I will pull and make another small batch of pickled beets and then use the rest in salads and such. The carrots will be frozen and used up this coming week.

We had a stroke of fortune this past week. My aunt replaced her dishwasher because it made a lot of noise. Nothing wrong with it and it is only a year old, but it was just too loud. So she asked if we would like to have it. I brought it home because our 20 year old dishwasher was starting to leak a small amount at the door seal. It also did not get the dishes as clean as I would like. Well, the next day my old dishwasher wouldn't even turn on. So we installed the one I got from my aunt and yes it is loud, but it works and cleans the dishes well and doesn't leak. Win, win in my book. New dishwasher for free. The bonus is that hers holds more dishes so won't have to be run as often, saving electricity.

Once again I am purging things in the house. Whenever I purge excess items I put stuff away that I am not sure I want to get rid of. This past week I have taken two loads to goodwill of those items that I put aside last year. It feels so good to get rid of stuff. I am now at the point where I am ready to get rid of several pieces of furniture. I mean really who needs 4 dining room tables, I only have one dining room.

We had vacation Bible school this past week at our church and that just about wore me out. The kids enjoyed it, but I am not cut out to be a teacher. I just don't have the patience. It definitely made for a long week, but I have to admit it was a fun program.

I am finally done with all the sewing for the children so maybe now I can do some sewing for me. I look forward to it. I enjoy creating new clothes and I do need some new summer dresses to wear to church.

Hope you all are enjoying your first few days of summer. Blessings, Kat

Frugal Things Done for June

The garden is producing like gangbusters and I have been busy busy with it and with children. Petunia our oldest is now driving...so look out world here she comes. The pool is open so we are trying to make use of that while we can. Little britches thinks she might like to be on the swim team so we will let her try out in August. I haven't accomplished many great things in the way of frugality, but there have been a few. Here they are:

1. Used several coupons to save about 10.00 at the grocery store.

2. Used grocery store fuel perks to save on a tank of gas at the gas station.

3. Made a pair of too short jeans into shorts for Little Britches.

4. Made an old hippy skirt of Petunia's into a summer dress for Little Britches by taking in the waist (now top) and adding shoulder straps.

5. I have been purging again so I sold a few things that we no longer needed.

6. Stocked up on chicken for 39 cents a pound.

7. Put up pickles, pickled beets, squash and zucchini from the garden.

8. Harvested lettuce and carrots for meals.

9. We still have not turned on the air condition for the season. It won't be much longer though...the days are getting very warm and sticky with very little nighttime relief.

10. I cooked three meals on the grill and the rest of the time we have eaten cold stuff...too hot to eat heavy meals anyway.

11. We have a boatload of beets this year so I made beet chips for a treat.

12. I made cheese, butter and yogurt this week. I froze some of the yogurt for smoothies during the time we won't have milk coming in.

13. I harvested seeds from cucumbers, squash, zucchini, and cantaloupe this week.

14. We had one extra sweet potato for some reason so I cut it in half and it has now produce a lot of slips for planting. I have already planted 6 of them and will be planting more as soon as they have a good number of roots on them.

15. The bottom portion of our garden where we used to plant corn is really weedy and I am concerned about snakes, so 3 times this week I have herded the goats into that portion for them to clean it out. Free feed for them and it saves me the time, energy and gas of weedeating it. I just have to watch them really closely while I am out working, but so far so good.

I guess that is about it. Not a whole lot other than normal stuff, but every little bit helps and that is just that little bit more than can go into savings. Hope you all have a blessed week. Kat

2015 Garden Photos

The garden this year is coming along nicely so I thought I would share. Enjoy!

This is the top bed area. As you can see the catnip has really taken over the front portion. There are also carrots, beets, basil and tomatoes in this area.

Here are some of the tomatoes in the top garden area. You can just barely see the narrow walk and then the beets on the other side of the walk.

A small huguelkultur bed on the other side of the top portion of the garden and yes that is the shallow part of the cement pond!

Still at the top of the garden but in the pond area looking back toward the house and goat barn. Under the tree is a large huguelkultur bed with herbs and flowers.

There are 2 bed areas here. The triangle bed which splits the pathway to go in different directions and then on the very far side next to the fence is the salad bar. All the kale has been harvested from here and the salad stuff is about done. Some wayward catnip has taken up residence but will become rabbit food shortly. The triangle bed has flowers and herbs that haven't come up yet.

This is going down the left side of the triangle. Peas haven't come up, then there are tomatoes, basil, marigolds, zinnias, and after th tomatoes will be another crop of peas. In the middle bed is squash, then on the far end the bed is fallow until fall. Directly across from the first set of peas is okra, watermelon, 4 o'clocks and soon to be eggplant.

This is down the right side from the triangle. On the right is oregano, lavender, sweet peppers, tomatoes, pole beans, hot peppers and asparagus. Oh, marigolds, basil and morning glories.

This is the outside fence along the driveway. it houses cucumbers, kale, dill, radishes, zuchinni, marigolds, and apple mint on the very far end.
That is it for now. Happy gardening!

Dogs Earned their Keep

The dogs definitely earned their keep yesterday. I was in the garden working when I heard a big commotion with the chickens who were in the front pasture. I looked up and saw several chickens on the run back toward the house and barn. Behind them was a dog, then two dogs. So I screamed at the dogs to get out of here and my two heard me. They came running off the side porch and saw the dogs too. They went after the two dogs giving them a beating that they won't soon forget and ran them back through the fence. I think these two dogs came from a neighbor about a 1/2 mile down the road. Fortunately, because of the quick action of my dogs I didn't lose any chickens. I think it will be some time before those dogs think about coming back. Titan had blood on him and it wasn't his blood. They definitely earned their supper last night. Of course, Titan was worn out and had to take the kind of nap only a mastiff can take! Sometimes, I tend to think the dogs are lazy and good for nothing. But they are the reason that I don't have bad critters and can let my chickens free range. I used to have skunks here on a regular basis and I haven't seen or smelled a skunk in years. Dakota works all night long keeping predators at bay. My neighbor lost all his chickens to coyotes. The coyotes stay well clear of my place. Before Dakota I lost all my rabbits in one night as something, torn through the wire into the rabbit hutches. Now, my rabbits are safe, most of the time. I did lose a chicken that went through the fence into the woods on the neighbors property. Both Dakota and I watched it happen, but she couldn't do a thing because of the field fence. It was the chickens fault for leaving the dogs protection. These two dogs are definitely worth their keep, even when it seems like all they do is sleep. Blessings, Kat

Thermal Curtains are Working Well

Hello All,
I just wanted to give an update on the thermal curtains that I spent weeks working on. They are working better than expected. The past week has been hot even for deep south standards. We went from one week being in the 70s for highs and then jumped right into the next week being in the high 80s and low 90s. Big difference and actually quite miserable outside. However, the thermal curtains are working wonderfully. Yesterday, the high was 91 for us. We closed the windows, blinds and curtains on the south side of the house about 10 am. The eastside curtains are closed as soon as I get up in the morning and then opened about 10 am. The west side curtains are closed about 4:00. So while it was a hot 91 degrees outside yesterday, the temperature in the house never got higher than 78 degrees. The back of the house was even cooler at 74 degrees, but it has no south facing windows at all. Still no air condition running and we were quite comfortable most of the day. In the late afternoon we felt a little warm, but I attribute that to the humidity since the actual temp was not warm at all. The humidity has been quite high. And there it is, the culprit that usually forces us to finally cave and turn on the AC...humidity. Not only does it make you feel as if it is 10 degrees hotter than it really is, it will make mildew start to grow in the house. That simply cannot be tolerated as we are all highly allergic and it is no fun throwing things out that have gone completely green. I remember one summer I wasn't paying close attention and the furniture in the living room (which we don't use much) was completely green before I really noticed it. It was a bear to clean all of that upholstery and take the furniture outside into the sun to completely dry and solarized the mildew. So we will just have to see and I am much more vigilant these days. Otherwise the curtains are working wonderfully and while most in the south are already running up those power bills with their ACs we are still getting a small reprieve. Blessings, Kat

Vinegar weed killer

Ok, there are many homemade recipes that just don't work. However, this vinegar weed killer really works and on a sunny day it works fast. Here it is:

Vinegar weed killer

In a 32 oz. spray bottle put 1/4 cup salt, 1/4 cup dish soap and fill the rest of the way with white vinegar. Spray on plants to be killed.

That is it. It is so easy, cheaper and healthier than the chemical alternative. However, there are some cautions:

This will change the pH of your soil.

This will kill all plants, so be careful of overspray.

It works best in the sun.

Some weeds are stubborn and might need a second application.

That is it. I keep a bottle fixed all the time through the growing season so that I have it handy. This really does work well and I don't have to worry about poisoning any of my animals. Blessings, Kat

Frugal Things Done for April

Well, there was nothing exciting about the last part of April as far as savings. It was pretty much just a routine thing around here. Here is what was accomplished.

1. At least 2 meals a week were cooked on the grill.

2. We ate 4 no cook meals this week. Two were leftover nights and two were salad picked from the garden) or sandwich (made with wheat free flat bread) nights.

3. Most showers were able to be done in the solar shower, so the hot water heater has mostly been off.

4. All laundry was washed in cold water and hung on the line.

5. I made cheese and butter.

6. Our local small grocer often sells bananas that are starting to turn at a huge discount. I picked up several pounds of these bananas for less that two dollars and froze them for smoothies later.

7. I only had a few small errands this week in town so my husband ran them for me on his way home from work. This meant that my car stayed parked in the driveway for an entire week.

8. I did have to go to town for Little Britches soccer game and on the way home I stopped at Lowe's for some bird netting. I happened upon the plant clearance rack and found 3 lantana, a couple of lavender plants, and a 6 pack of marigolds all marked way down so I got them for the garden. The lantana is really good at attracting bees and butterflies. The lavender will make a nice addition to my herbs and well I just like the marigolds.

9. We took down the old metal swingset and took the scrap metal to the the metal recycler. It wasn't much but we made 15.00.

10. The weather has been nice so no AC or heat. Just the windows open.

11. I made some new skirts and dresses for Petunia for the summer.

I guess that is about it. All in all I am happy with our downsizing of our electrical useage. We are now running on average around 15 kwH a day. I would like to see this go down even further, but not sure if it will. We will see. Have a blessed day, Kat

Sewing for Less

Recently, I had someone ask me why I bothered sewing clothes when I could buy them at the thrift store cheaper than I could buy fabric. I explained to her that sewing isn't a skill that warrants expensive trips to the fabric store. Many times I have someone give me clothes that are a bit out of date or too large or whatever. Usually, my sewing adventures involved re-making things into other things. Here are some things that I have done that keep clothing, household goods, and other sewing costs even cheaper than buying clothing at the thrift store.

1. Re-making what I already have. I had some boho/hippy style skirts that were given to me by my mother in law. They were cute and I love hippy style clothing. However, it doesn't really love me. I am short and a little wider than I would like to be and these skirts made me look shorter and wider than I already am. But I didn't want to get rid of them. So I made them into summer sundresses for me and my oldest daughter by simply replacing the elastic waistband with another piece of elastic that fit around our busts and then adding nice wide shoulder straps. We can wear them loose or with belts to give our waist more definition. They fit great and even left loose are more flattering because they fall in a more even way than they did when they were skirts. They come to just a hint above our knees so don't make us look even shorter than we are. The cost of 5 dresses was maybe 1.00 that I had in thread and elastic. That is about 20 cents a piece. Thrift store cost would have been at least 2.00 a skirt if not more.

2. When I am at yard sales or flea markets I pick up sewing supplies. I am always looking out for sewing supplies. I once bought a quart size Ziploc bag full of black thread for 1.00. That was years ago and I am still using that black thread. There were probably 15 to 20 spools in that bag. Another time I bought 4 large spools of serger thread even though I don't have a serger. I paid about 2.00 for all 4 spools. I use it for handsewing items and I am still using off those spools.

3.Along the lines of remaking, many times yard sales with have nice quality clothing for almost nothing. If the material of the clothing is good quality I try to consider if I can re-make it or re-size it. I have made many skirts out of shirts that were way too large or dresses for my daughters out of shirts that were too large.

4. Clothing that has stains can often be cut apart, the fabric flipped over if the stain doesn't go through and remade into something else. Or it can be cut up and the stained portion discarded, then the rest can be used for some type of home goods craft such as patchwork placemats for the table, or everyday dinner napkins that don't really need to match perfectly.

5. Fabric is fabric, so I am prone to picking up decent quality sheets anytime I can. I had built up my stash of sheets so well that recently when I made thermal curtains for the house I had plenty of sheets for the project. I made curtains for 14 very large sets of windows (4 required an entire kind size sheet to cover) out of maybe 3.00 worth of yard/thrift store sheets. I also made 3 shade cloths for the garden out of some cheaper stained sheets that were actually given to me.

These are just a few of the ways that I can save money sewing. Sewing for our house saves a lot of money and doesn't mean any trips to the fabric store. Recently I was in the fabric store getting my scissors sharpened and while I was waiting looked at the price of fabric. The lady that prompted this post was right. For the cost of fabric, I could buy a whole lot of clothing from the thrift store. But I can do it much cheaper. Blessings, Kat

At War with the Electric Bill

Our power company really and truly has a racket going. When the bill comes it has two numbers listed on it, the useage amount and the amount of state tax charged. These two are added to give me the total amount to pay. They like to say that I pay 7-8 cents per kwH. However, if you look at how much you used multiplied by the appropriate rate (tiered rate) then you find that you have been charged almost twice what your calculations should have been. When you call the company to find out why you find there are all sorts of hidden fees within the amount charged under useage. Fuel fees, base rates, several different taxes, etc. You can't win for losing. We dropped our useage down to 640kwH this past billing period. According to the rates we should have been charged 44.80 plus the 3.00 state tax...so 47.80. Instead our bill was 90.88. Over 30.00 in hidden fees and taxes. Must be nice to get away with hiding charges and fees from customers. I bet a lot of folks out there would not be happy if they realized what they are really paying and what they should be paying. Why tell people that they are paying 7 cents a kwH when clearly they are not. Isn't that false advertising? Wouldn't that be illegal if any other business did that? So how is it that the power company can get away with it? So we are at war and determined more than ever to give them the least amount of money that we can get away with. Have a blessed day, Kat

Rain, Rain...

While California is in (and has been in) a severe drought, we are severely wet. We have been having a tremendous amount of rain over the past month and frankly it is getting to be a little much. It is pouring rain now and has been since about 7pm last night. There is no end in sight for today at least. Our septic system is feeling the strain as the pipes gurgle with each slow flush of the toilet. Showers are on major restriction and those that do take place are good old fashioned "navy" showers. We did get a small break on Wednesday enough to warm the water in the solar shower outside so that all of us could get a good shower. It was nice even though the water was more lukewarm than warm. It was more comfortable than cold and it allowed a better shower than a quick in and out navy shower. I washed as many dishes in the outdoor sink as possible to give the septic a small break from the dishwasher. Everything around here is wet and flooded. The garden has grown by leaps and bounds and so has the grass. The bad thing about the garden is that I find very few non rainy pockets to get out and pull weeds, the good thing about the grass in that there is plenty for the critters to eat. There is so much water that the fire ants are everywhere looking for a dry place. You don't have to step in a bed to get bit, just step outside. It seemed nice that we got the solar shower fixed so that it was working properly. However, one requirement of have a solar shower is having some solar power..hard to do when the sun is hidden behind those rain clouds. I told my hubby that maybe I needed a redneck bathtub. We have an old cast iron tub just sitting out at the barn waiting to be used for something. We don't need it for a water trough...we have another one for that. He just shook his head and mumbled something about all the wood being wet. I know there are times he truly wonders what in the world he got himself into when he married me. I think this was one time that he felt fortunate to be cleaning out the winter bedding from the goat barn...a very stinky chore especially with all the rain. You watch folks...I will not only have a solar shower but soon, very soon I will also have a redneck bathtub. I just have to get all the planning and placement figured out so that he can't help but say, "Yes, honey, that sounds like a fine idea. I will get right on that." Sometimes, truly I think I might be a little off myself. But that feeling only lasts a fleeting moment. We have had to do so much with so little for so many years that I am beginning to think that I am learning to do stuff with nothing at all! LOL! California, I will gladly give you some rain today in exchange for some sunshine tomorrow. Have a blessed day everyone, Kat

Tightwad tips for April- Part 1

Well, I guess I have had a good number of frugal accomplishments for the first part of this month. Here is what we have accomplished.

1. I made butter from the cream off the goat milk.

2. I made cheese and yogurt from our goat milk.

3. I bought chicken leg quarters on sale for 39 cents a pound.

4. We have eaten salads from the garden 4 times this month.

5. I made 3 play dresses for little britches from older clothes that I had saved but were not really in good shape to give to someone else or wear into town.

6. I saved the buttons off the clothes that I deconstructed for the play dresses.

7. Our grass is growing like crazy now so we were able to decrease the grain fed to the horse. She gets more in the winter because of the cold and no grass, only hay. So in the summer when we have plenty of grain we can cut her grain needs by half.

8. I baked potatoes in the crockpot.

9. I grilled one meal entirely on the grill.

10. Everything that possibly can be is on power strips to be completely shut off at night.

11. The solar shower was used 6 times which kept the water heater from having to be turned on.

12. I used by grocery store fuel perks to save on gas. We filled up both cars at the same time for 1.76 a gallon.

13. I am now able to collect some weeds, herbs, and such for the rabbits. So after spending a couple of weeks re-introducing these things slowly we are now able to replace 1/2 of their grain needs. This cuts the feed bill in half for the rabbits.

14. Since it is that time of year to clean out and replace bedding in the rabbit colonies we raked pine straw to mix in with the regular straw. This cut down on half the cost of the straw. It would be nice if we could just use all pine straw, but it isn't very absorbent. Mixing it in is about the best we can do.

15. We have a barrel set up for solar hot water and were able to wash the breakfast and lunch dishes by hand using the hot water from the barrel. This meant that the dishwasher ran every other day instead of everyday, cutting down on electrical useage.

Well, that is about it. I am hoping to have a solar oven and cooker up and running by the end of the month so that we can cook mostly with solar power during the summer. I would also like to make a haybox type cooker, but don't know how much that will benefit during the summer since we don't eat soups or stews or heavy meals in the summer.

Hope this gives others some ideas on little ways to trim those living expenses. It is especially needed nowadays since the cost of living is rising faster that paychecks are rising.

Have a blessed day,
Kat