turkey

Do you remember I told you about the female turkey we had just roaming around our neighborhood? Well we haven't seen her for a while and I was beginning to think something bad happened to her. Well I saw her on tuesday!! yay! And even more exciting she had about 6-7 little fluffy balls peeping and following her!!!!! I am so excited to see how they are going to grow. Even if they are wild and not mine I am still excited about watching them until we do get the chance to have livestock of our own! :)

Anything new and exciting around your place?  would love to hear!! :)

check out this great blog and giveaway!

Here is a great blog I have started following and she is doing a giveaway! Check it out!



http://theblessedhearth.blogspot.com/2011/05/giveaway-for-you.html

~Katie

garden

Well I added more to the big garden :) I wanted to make sure this year I could actually make some tomato sauce from the tomatoes from our garden or at least ketchup. So I bought some Amish paste plants (18 of them to be exact!) :) Hopefully that should do it! hahah We also picked up some watermelon plants as well. Never had success with watermelon, but I am determined this year to at least get one! :) Today is suppose to be pretty hot and humid, hope my plants survive! :) Picks to come of the big garden! Everytime I  go up there I forget my camera!

Plant anything new in your garden?? I would love to hear!

Have a wonderful day!!!

Katie

Prayer for those hit by the tornadoes

Today I am thinking about all I have seen and heard on the news about those who were hit by the tornados. My thoughts and prayers go out to those who have lost everything and maybe even a family member or friend. I will Be looking into how our family can help anyway we can. I encourage all of you to do the same, even a little something  you think wouldn't be enough is more then these people have right now. We should all pray for these people, families, friends and stranger and now more then ever, not take anything we have for granted! We are so blessed!

~ Katie

Garden update for this week

Here are some updated pictures of the garden this week. Strawberries are growing REALLY well. Up at the other garden I will get some pictures of what are growing up there soon. But what is at our house are all doing great! There is something eating my poor broccoli plants! Any ideas what I can put on the leaves to keep them away?  Have a great week!
                                                                         Strawberries

                                                                        Carrots

                                                                           cucumbers

                                                            Beans

                                                 Sorry it's blurry, pepper plant

                                         First time doing heirloom tomatoes! :)

                                                                              Peas

                                                          Spinach, something is going after these too! UGH!

                                                       One potato plant

                                                       Mixed cutting flowers

                                             My poor broccoli plants :(

HAVE A WONDERFUL WEEK! WOULD LOVE TO HEAR HOW YOUR GARDEN IS DOING! :)

~ Katie

Unfair

I read a devotional yesterday that really got me thinking. It is from the Our Daily Bread.
It was about how people that don't do the right thing come out on top and those who do the right thing don't seem to get what they deserve. " A businessman cheats yet wins the big contract , and the guy who parties all the time is robust and healthy- while you or your loved ones struggle with  finances or medical issues."( Our Daily Bread) .

I know I feel this way alot , with us wanting our little farm and those who have farms and don't use them and let them rot away, when my husband and I have so  much passion to farm and can't do it. We wish people would just give us their farms so we can actually use it. I have to stop and remember God is in control and He has a place for us! Just in His timing.

I know the feelings that I have are not really the same as what was in this devotional, but it made me think about my jealousy and how I think things are unfair,  but to be reminded that  God knows our wants and desires of our hearts. My mom and dad gave me a block magnet that I have by my desk that when I get fustrated or discouraged about having a farm I look and and read. It is Jeremiah 29:11:

" I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."


This just gives me hope and reminds me that God does want us to have hope and know he has plans for our future, just sit back and enjoy the ride. :)

Hope you all have a great week!
 ~Katie








 

join the barn hop

Link up and let us know what you are doing on your homestead and see what others are doing on theirs! :)

check out this giveaway

There is a giveaway for any who want to learn about bee keeping! Go to The morristribe.com to enter! :)

http://www.themorristribe.com/2011/05/keeping-bees-book-giveaway/


~Katie

garden update

Here are some pictures of the garden so far, the first picture is of the new shade garden( aka the old compost pile ) we put in last night! Need to add some more plants , but very happy with it. We have 3 kinds of peppers green, red and yellow. Alot of onions ( I am thrilled about, Tom not so much! LOL)
The carrots are doing awesome I am quite happy this is my first year doing them.The cucumbers are just starting to peak through the soil! yay! Our beets are coming up really well too.
The picture in of the big metal bucket is where the red potatoes are planted along with a small section in the side garden.
The broccoli are doing really well, the sun is getting to them sometimes, but they are still doing really well.
I just planted a basil plant and some onions up front so hopefully they will do well too.
Spinach is doing awesome as well!! Yay again that will be my lunches!
And last but not least our strawberries are doing great, they are flowering and we can see some green berries on them!! Can't wait!
How is your garden coming?

homesteading

I took a part time job that I could work from home with, we thought this would be a great oppurtunity for me and us as a family. We found out it was just way to stressful with two children under the age of 5. So we discussed it and desided this just wasn't working, more importantly it was taking time away my children and I didn't like that at all! So I am back to being a stay at home mom! Yay! It really makes you grateful as a mom to have as much time with your children as you can! We said the extra money would be nice but not worth sacrificing family time with our boys.! We really prayed about this and felt God saying this isn't the route I want you to take.

So anyway, I am back to working on homesteading things around our house again.:) It has been to long. My latest experiment was yestereday using vinegar as a laundry softener. Now if you read other blogs about homemade laundry detergant and using vinegar as a softner you probally had the same reaction. " I don't want my clothes to smell vinegar!". Well I am not a big fan of the clothes feeling "rough" should we say when coming off the line. haha So yesterday I said okay why not lets try it! Of course I only did a load of rags to test , just in case it did stink them up.
So as I anxously waited for the rinse I finally put the 1/2 cup of vinegar in the load. After the laundry was done I took it out and took a sniff. WOW!!!!! It didn't smell at all! Just clean! So now I am a believer and a vinegar user on my laundry! I would recommend you try it! The clothes are softer for sure coming off the line. I am very happy and a bit suprised!

Have you tried anything new that you would like to share? I would love to hear!


~Katie

garden '11

I haven't been here for a while and wanted to update on the garden. So far we have planted two rows of iceburg lettuce and 3 rows of spinach ( tom was less then thrilled LOL) . all are coming up great! Lots of salads this summer!

I have planted two rows of snap peas which are doing great as well! I am so excited I hope they keep up okay , last year they didn't produce very much. So hoping they produce alot more. I am going to plant a few more in amongst the ones that have come up. so hopefully that will help.

I have planted 4 broccoli plants ( yes once again Tom not thrilled haha) and they seem to be doing really well as well. I want to plant onions which I am behind on doing. I don't want to plant them while we are getting so much rain because the ones I did plant got drowned out or washed away :( so I will be trying to plant some this weekend if the weather is nice.

We have 4-5 rows of various carrots that are coming up through the ground and so are the 5 rows of beets that are coming up! yay!!! I planted a basil plant as well.
I just planted a row of red and green peppers the other day as well so hoping those come up.

I am going to go to hostetter's and getting a few tomato plants to plant.

I am also researching blueberry bushes. I am looking into getting 2 or 3 bushes to plant for next year. :)

The strawberries are doing great this year!! We have alot of blossoms on them. Kyle is very excited!!! :)( I am too)! I bought 3 plants to put in the one garden of them and will be getting a few more to put into the other patch.

In the garden we are doing at a friend's house while they are gone is in the works.
We are getting a ton of asparagus!! we planted potatoes and peas so far. But no sign of those hoping they didn't get rained out!
We are going to go up and start planting this weekend. We are going to plant corn, tomatoes, beans, peppers, lettuce, and some other things my mom is wanting to plant.

So things are busy around here gardening. We are still praying and waiting patiently for God's timing to get that homestead of our dreams. We know he has it out there somewhere! :) And we are excited to see it!!!

What are you planting in your gardens? I would love to hear!

Hope you all have a wonderful day and week!

Katie