What Cats Think of Winter

Well its all over the news today that we are in for a doozy of a winter storm.A blizzard to be exact. Its been many years since we have heard that word in our area. Im totally not ready for it but if it brings us one more day closer to spring then so be it. ....  My house cats seem to disagree.

What Salem thinks of the forecast......

Reeses wants to know is it over yet??

Stay Safe and Warm Everyone!

Put On Your Dancing Shoes and Roll Up The Rug! WIth SOUND!

My Grandma Doris said that every Saturday night when she was a girl my Great Grandma would clear out all the furniture in their living room, roll up the rug , invite over all the neighborhood friends,wind up the victrola and they would DANCE! How wonderful that would of been to see as a child.

I am a proud owner of not one but two victrolas now. The first one I ever heard belonged to my brother and sister in law. There was just something about that scratchy old time sound that sucked me right in. I was hooked. My first Victrola I bought at an auction.It is a floor model and it was the most common and affordable one they made for its time period

The cabinet is in pretty rough shape, it has a lot of water damage and needed a little bit of work to get it going but the sound that comes out of it is just amazing and it uses NO electricity. That is just so remarkable to me.

The sound box

If you open the cabinet doors the sound will get louder.The bottom of the cabinet stores your records.

This Victrola I believe is from the early 20's. You can listen to it here

The song is called Put A Little Salt on the Bluebirds Tail (Before He flies Away)

Close your Eyes and picture dancing a Saturday night away

Wagner Ware and Southern Cornbread Recipe

Thse are my Wagner Ware cast iron pans I purchased at an auction awhile back.
A little bit of history about Wagner Ware. From what I have read it changed Americas kitchens for the better. 

"In 1895 the Montgomery Ward mail-order catalog drew from a growing number of foundries in the United States to present customers with the widest variety yet of cast iron cooking ware.

They featured lots of gem pans, and a waffle iron produced by the Wagner Manufacturing Co. in Sidney, Ohio.  However one of their biggest sellers was Schofield's Patent cake griddle.  The catalog proclaimed these griddles "makes better cakes than any other griddle ever invented, because the little pans are deep and hold the batter and prevent it spreading out, getting thin and drying out." Depending on size the pans were billed as provided six to eight cakes per minute.  Cost was 65 cents per pan"

The ones I own are called corn stick pans. Im not sure of the exact date when they were made but Im guessing maybe the 1920's or 30's by what I have researched online. They are very heavy and very well made, not like the type of cookware we have nowadays. This is what My Great Grandma cooked with. I get a bit of nostalgia using my pans to bake cornbread for my family, Even though they made fun of the fact that their dinner did INDEED look like a corncob. I hope to pass them along to the next generation in the future and I can almost guarantee that these pans will outlive me.  Now if I could just find a cast iron skillet to call my own. Just think how great my fried chicken will turn out if I have one of THOSE!


Stirring up the cornbread

This was a mix shhhh!! No ingredients in the pantry to make it from scratch

Taking them out of the oven and yes my children made me aware of the fact I did overfill a few of them :)

Out of the pan and ready to eat! Some butter and honey and Waa Laa!! SO delicious!

Southern Sweet Cornbread recipe

Ingredients:

Servings:
12 12

12

Servings Size

• 
  

• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 1/4 cup honey
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup butter (softened)
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup water
• 2 cups white cornmeal (for less gritty) or 2 cups yellow cornmeal (I use white)
• 2 cups flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt

Directions:

Prep Time: 20 mins

Total Time: 50 mins

Read more: http://www.food.com/recipe/southern-pride-sweet-cornbread-79857#ixzz1CFyOMnnE

1. 1 Grease a 9x13 inch baking pan with shortening.
2. 2 Preheat oven to 375°F.
3. 3 Mix sugar, butter, eggs, milk, honey and water together in a large bowl.
4. 4 Mix dry ingredients together in a separate bowl: cornmeal, flour,baking powder, and salt.
5. 5 While stirring, add dry ingredients to sugar, egg, and milk mixture and mix thoroughly.
6. 6 Mixture will be slightly lumpy.
7. 7 Pour into greased rectangular pan.
8. 8 Bake for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown on top.

I Found Willie's Baby Picture!

If you havent met Willie please read about him here


Such a cute Little Baby!



Native Plants To Grow:Lead Plant

Description: This native perennial plant is 1-3' tall, producing occasional side branches. Lead Plant is usually semi-erect; in partially shaded situations, it will sprawl along the ground in the direction of greater lighter. With age, it becomes increasing woody, assuming that growth and development are not disrupted by occasional fires or browsing from animals. The young stems are light green and covered with white hairs. The compound leaves are whitish to greyish green, depending on the intensity of sunlight reaching the plant. Sometimes fine hairs cover the plant to the extent that it appears to be heavily dusted with white lead, hence its name. The compound leaves are bipinnate, 4-12" long, and may have up to 50 small leaflets, each about ½" long and ¼" wide. The small flowers occur along pubescent spikes, about 2-6" long, at the ends of major branches. These flowers range in color from light to dark purple. Each flower has a single upper petal, which is tubular at first, but later unfolds horizontally to protect the reproductive parts. There are also 8 exerted reddish stamens with bright yellow anthers that are quite conspicuous. There is little or no floral scent. The blooming period occurs from early to mid-summer and lasts about 3 weeks. The central root occasionally branches, and can extend 15 ft. or more into the soil.

Cultivation: The preference is full sun and average to dry soil. Lead Plant is not particular about soil type, and will flourish in loamy, sandy, gravelly, or clay soil. It adds nitrogen to the soil. Partial sun is tolerated, but it will flower less abundantly and have a tendency to sprawl. Leadplant is easy to grow, but slow to develop – flowers may not appear for at least 3 years. A wire fence or cage may be necessary to protect young plants from rabbits and other herbivores.

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies YUM!

My house now smells wonderful thanks to these oatmeal cookies.This recipe calls for honey, an ingredient not usually seen in a oatmeal cookie recipe. They are very good just be sure to watch them closely so they dont get to brown.

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter
• 1 1/4 cups packed brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 3 cups rolled oats
• 1 cup raisins

If Only A Picture Could Speak

I collect old photographs. I look for them at Auctions, Antique stores and Estate sales. Im mostly drawn to the objects in the backgrounds or the clothing that is worn. I find myself daydreaming about what it would be like just to step into that picture for awhile. Sometimes the people have such stern faces and other times you can just see the love shining right through their eyes. I never understood why someone would give up these old mementos of their families histories.I guess if they didnt then I wouldnt be able to have them as my own.

 Even though I dont know anyone in the old photos as I look at them in their frames ,on our walls, and  shelves in our home I cant help but to think of them as part of our family now too. I hope that somehow they know that they are not just forgotten faces but a link to the past and a hope for our future.

Which One Of These Is Not Like The Other

This was taken at our old farmhouse. This black and white "cat" would show up everynight. I get alot of grief from everyone for feeding skunks.  I know they carry rabies and other diseases and they dont smell too pretty but if it comes into my yard I feed it regardless of its popularity among everyone else. I am not the type of person who could ever harm any living thing. Besides have you ever seen a skunks face? ADORABLE!

Beyond Freezing!

This past Thursday night into Friday morning our temperatures here were the lowest we have had in a long time. It was -30 with the wind chill and the temperature when I got up was -4. You dont know how happy I was to see this guy show up.

We havent seen the sun very much in the last three months and when it does make an appearance it is a joyous day.

The moon was still shining as the sun rose

It didnt take long to melt the frost on our front door. (The frost on the INSIDE of the door.)

It didnt get much warmer on Friday I think the high was 4. Its days like these when I remind myself not to complain one little bit when its 100 degrees in the shade!!! 

Oh how I could use one of those days right now so I can unthaw.

New Visitor

Had a new visitor yesterday on my feeder. Its a red bellied woodpecker. Im not sure how they got their name though because their bellies arent red?? You would think red HEADED wood pecker would fit them better but what do I know. I took these photos through the window so they arent the greatest but I didnt want to miss the opportunity to photograph such a beautiful bird.

                                   I hope that he/she likes it here and decides to stay!

Native Plants to Grow: PURPLE PRARIE SMOKE

This is great for  attracting butterflies

This is one of my favorites. I live in zone 5 and and planted this last year in our native garden.

An Unwanted Visitor....Well if your a bird anyway

This Hawk has decided that he likes our pasture. Its wide open and great for catching those mice he seems to love. He is eating the seeds out of a giant sunflower that we left in the garden in this picture.

For the past month I have witnessed this graceful bird go about his daily life. He is usually perched atop one of  our fence posts or in the mulberry tree. I have been trying for awhile now to get a good photo of him but so far he isnt allowing any close-ups

At our old farmhouse we use to have alot of evergreen trees and were lucky enough to have a hawk family raise their young one year on our farm. I have pictures and video of the babies when the momma was teaching them how to fly. I will have to look back through photos and find them and post them here in the future.Hard to believe that such ugly babies turn into such beautiful adults.

I now know why I dont have as many birds visiting my feeders as I use to. Yesterday he sat for a good hour right here in this spot in the picture above just watching them eating at the bird feeders. Im not happy that he sees them as potential dinner but I have to accept it.

.

It never ceases to amaze me how beautiful gods creatures really are.

Looking through this new book I picked up. Its called Blue Ribbon Preserves by Linda J Amendt

 

It can be purchased HERE

So many wonderful canning recipes I cant wait to try them out.

Being its winter here and there isnt anything growing in the garden right now I thought I would try a recipe for:

About Blooming Time !

Winter is so tiring and long and boring. I am missing the sunshine and the color green. Anyone that knows me knows I love flowers. Im not picky, I love them all even some  that people consider weeds. My beautiful sister in law bought me a hyacinth last year for my birthday in February. It was beautiful and smelled heavenly. I had all the intentions of planting those bulbs in the fall. I never got around to it and just recently was cleaning the basement and discovered the forgotten flower bulbs. I was so happy to see that they were peeking their little heads up out of the dirt, sort of winking at me.

Exactly what I needed to get me through this long winter.A little touch of spring!!

Anyone Know How To Make Chicken Socks?

First let me start off by saying these are not my chickens...They belong to my Parents and live on their farm about 40 minutes from me.I plan on getting my own chickens this spring as soon as I get my chicken coop built. I am not a carpenter nor can I cut a straight line so that should be interesting. :) I was visiting this past sunday, which we always try to do and I noticed the chickens standing on one leg:

It made me wonder if they do this because the ground is cold? I have very little chicken knowledge

and have been spending my winter reading every chicken book and magazine I have. Havent come across any information on it just yet. Anyone know? If thats the case maybe someone should invent chicken SOCKS!  Just sayin!

Maybe I interrupted their Karate class  ..... I thought I heard " Crane kick"





disclaimer: These chickens are pets, they will never be food,as much to my fathers dismay (he was born on a farm where you actually eat the chickens you raise) besides they are to pretty to be dinner.

Night Visitors

One good thing about fresh fallen snow, You get to see who is visiting you at night.

                                   A coyote was in our pasture

A close up of his/her footprint

And a whole lot of bunny prints in my herb garden

Lets hope the coyote doesnt see those bunny tracks ! Yikes!

A Little Salt...Please

What our road is looking like today

I dont think you are suppose to be able to check your hair on your way to the mailbox :)

Perfect spot for a cat bath

I had to laugh at my tomcat Popeye. He found the perfect spot for his afternoon bath.

Its Heated and the perfect size

Bet the birds are wondering why their water has the distinct flavor of cat today ;)  

Azodicarbo ..................What ??????????

Azodicarbonamide? That is an ingredient in a loaf of bread I have in our bread box. As part of my journey on getting back to a self sufficient lifestyle I am wanting to learn how to make and bake bread. Not the frozen bread dough stuff you buy in the freezer section as I can bake that up no problem, and not the bread maker electric box thing you plug in. Im a master of that already. Im talking about a REAL homemade loaf of bread that only has REAL ingredients like flour, sugar, yeast ,water and some baking powder.

If you are of my generation this is the only bread you have probably ever known, this is the only bread my children have ever known.

Well it wasnt always that way. My Grandma Doris use to bake bread on Mondays with my Great Grandma Amelia. EVERY Monday they made bread for the whole week. I know! GASP!!  I am wondering when we became ok with eating bread that contains all these chemicals that I cant even pronounce. For giggles I looked up this long word( that was one of many) on the back of the bread wrapper. Here is what I found   
                             Azodicarbonamide

"The principal use of azodicarbonamide is in the production of foamed plastics as an additive. The thermal decomposition of azodicarbonamide results in the evolution of nitrogen, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, and ammonia gases, which are trapped in the polymer as bubbles to form a foamed article. Common examples of this application are window and door gaskets, padded floor mats, gym/exercise mats, shoe soles, etc"

The last line really shocked me SHOE SOLES!!! What???? I am afraid to even look up any of the other ingredients listed. Truth is we are eating alot of things that arent food. Yeah its great that we live in a time of convenience and an abundance and variety of different foods but at what price? What do all these chemicals that are added to our food to make them look pretty and prolong their shelf life do to our bodies over time? When did we allow this and make it acceptable? I think its because we dont know what we are eating anymore. Well for this girl thats just more motivation to learn how to bake a loaf of bread, dont get me wrong I have tried,MANY times. It looks like bread, even smells heavenly of bread but  always had the weight of a brick :)   My Grandma Adeline was a wonderful bread maker, I hear stories of her perfectly baked rolls. Unfortunately she lived  far away from me and I never really got the chance to learn her secrets. A few years ago my cousins put together a cook book in my Grandma Adeline's memory. She was a mother of 14 children FOURTEEN! I dont know how she did it. One of my favorite quotes of my Grandma Adeline about baking was "Its not always about the ingredients in the recipe,its about the love that you put into your baking"
              That must be my problem I forgot to add the love

Next trip to the store Im stocking up on yeast and I am gonna use my Grandma Adelines recipes and bake the best loaf of bread ever. It might take me a few tries and possibly a few "bricks" later but I am determined. If I get good at it I might even be able to make cinnamon rolls HOMEMADE!!., No more of the kind in the rolled up tube you open with a spoon.  Now that I think of it I havent checked the ingredients on that can. Im almost afraid to. Nothing that delicious can come from a cardboard tube without consequences. 
                                 If you get bored someday look up some of those long, words you cant pronounce ingredients  just for giggles. I bet you will be surprised at what you are REALLY eating.
                            
       I dont think I have every seen the word "LOVE" listed as an ingredient on anything  bought at the store.



                       In memory of my Grandma Adeline

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azodicarbonamide

Meet Willie

This is our barn cat "One Eyed Willie"

He has quickly become one of my favorite faces in the barn. It wasnt always that way though.

When he was just a kitten I wasnt allowed to come near him or pet him or even look at him! He wasnt gonna have anything to do with me. Im not sure why that was just the way he wanted it.

We moved to our very own farm house in the summer of 2009. When we did we brought all of our farm cats from our previous rented farmhouse with us. It was not an easy thing to do as some of them didnt want to be caught and taken to a new farm but I wasnt going to leave any of them behind regardless of how they felt about me. Well we made it through summer and Willie grew into a beautiful black cat. He still hated me though but put up with me cuz I bring the food. Well when winter rolled around Willie got very sick, he had colds in his eyes and  a horribly plugged up nose. The mama in me decided that whether he liked it or not I was gonna help him . It was really quite easy the first time to catch him because due to the cold he had he wasnt able to see me. Well after lots of growling and kicking I was able to hold him for the first time and wipe his nose and put medicine on his eyes. Day after day I did this and finally he decided that I wasnt really all that bad or he figured he didnt have a choice I guess. Well long story short he finally got better. I was really worried that he wasnt going to pull through but he did. His right eye isnt the same but he seems to be ok with that. Thats how he got his name . Im not only a country girl but am also a huge movie buff.One eyed Willie from the Goonies just seemed to fit him. He has a pirate way about him.

He doesnt like to share

And is always the first head in the food bowl

(notice the cat food on his head and the macaroni on his back)

He has become a totally different cat than what he use to be. He is usually the first one to greet me in the morning and at night when I feed everyone. He is known to purr on occasion and rub his fur all over your pant legs so you will give him some attention.He also is a teacher as I have noticed him taking the other younger kids on adventures. Showing them how to climb trees and teaching them that the water in the creek always tastes better than the bowl.

It just goes to show that if you show love to an animal they will love you just as much right back.

Now I wonder if I can find a eye patch thats cat sized.

Middle of Winter :(

Well its January 15th and right smack dab in the middle of winter here. We havent seen the sun for days. Got the good news that more snow is coming this week. I am so ready for the warmer weather to arrive. Im getting a little cabin fever I think ,even the barn kitties are agreeing with me . I notice that even they take advantage of the sun when it decides to come out, All stretched out just taking it all in. I guess I should enjoy this down time when there isnt so many projects to do. Without winter I wouldnt really appreciate spring when it arrives. The way the air smells when you finally get that first nice day and being able to watch everything wake up from its winter slumber. I think today Ill climb into my old rocking chair and look through my many garden books and plot and plan my spring endeavors. Only a few more weeks and I bet then I will be wishing to be able to just sit and relax for awhile.    

I could never do this...or could I ???

 An example of how My Great grandmother had to make every meal.

 I dont know how she did it plus took care of  6 children and the household chores everyday. No microwaves, no fast food? . I have a great respect for her and a deep admiration . I only wish that she was here today to teach me what she knew. Such a beautiful lady. She always had a smile and a hug for you. Its her that will be on my mind when I feel like giving up and saying I can't DO it. 

photo from ShorpyHiggenbaum.com

Lets give this a try

I am wanting to learn how to go back to the simpler times in life. My goal is to lead a self-sufficient life and to get back to homesteading like my Great Grandma did. .  My goal for this blog is to share some of the things I learn along my journey and to also help keep myself on track.