Where Have I Been??? A New Family Member?? And What To COOK For Thanksgiving??

Now that the busy months on the farm are starting to wind down I hope to have more time to devote to my blog. I have been so busy keeping up with the garden and the yardwork that I havent had much time to post  on here. I have learned so many new things over the growing season and have alot of stories and recipes to share. Im not a big fan of winter but I am actually looking forward to a little bit of a slower pace and some much needed me time. We are also expecting a new family member in the Spring so I am looking forward to sharing this new adventure with my blogging friends. Stay Tuned!  Right now the dilemma at my house is what to bring to Thanksgiving dinner. I have so many recipes I would love to try and am having a hard time narrowing it down to just a few. Nothing will top my Grandmoms and my Moms cooking though. YUMM! Im looking forward to spending the day with the people I love the most and looking forward tooeven more , a late night turkey sandwich with my children and going to bed knowing that the next day we will all be going to cut our Christmas tree..Its such a magical time of the year and its just waiting  right around the corner. Now off to browse through a few thousand recipes...... :)  What are some of your favorite Thanksgiving dishes?

You Can Take the Girl Out Of The Country.. But You Cant Take The Country Out Of The Girl

I have been so busy with my new furbabies that I really havent had  time to do much of anything else.Just keeping up on housework and everyday stuff I have been neglecting my blog a little bit Im afraid :(
I write this blog mostly for myself , to keep me motivated to reach a goal and if someone else happens to read it and can relate or just wants to share a glimpse into their life with me or has a suggestion to help me reach my goal well thats even better. This posting is gonna be more of a personal one just because in the last few weeks I have heard from more than one person how much I have "changed"  referring to the person I was in my mid 20's to be exact. Well that got me thinking that Wow! am I really that much different that people have made it a point to mention it to me? That I am "A Country Girl now". What exactly IS a country girl?
I was born and raised in the country. I have lived in the country for the majority of my life minus about 9 or 10 years when I lived in town. At the time I was in my mid 20's and was really all I could afford.It was nice to be close to friends and the convenience of having everything so close by was great. But if I remember correctly the country girl in me was always there, maybe not as strong as it is now but theres no denying it as much as I tried to hide it there was those little things that were always there. To my friends I was known as the hairband rocker girl who hated country music and wouldnt be caught dead in a country bar lol! I was gonna marry a rockstar and live happily ever after. To my friends I was also that girl who loved late night walks through a town that was sleeping, to be able to share the quiet of the night with someone and to get a peek at those few stars that you were able to see above all those houses. I was also the girl who had an amazing dislike for shoes and socks when the air was finally warm. I have always had a love for animals and can see the beauty in a dandelion.  So that brings me back to the question of what Exactly is a country girl?

If a country girl is someone who prefers worn out jeans and tshirts instead of dresses and heels then thats me. Dont get me wrong I like to think that I " Clean up nice" so they say but I dont wake up every day and try to impress everyone else around me by what I wear.Once the weather is warm enough to dig in the dirt I will have no nails and dirt under what little nails I do have left. I save earthworms if I am digging a hole I will stop what I am doing and move them to a safe spot.I have always been that way even as a little girl, when everyone was making lightning bug rings I just couldnt do it. I didnt want to hurt any living thing even if it was just a bug. Im still that way today with the exception of flies and mosquitoes.I have also been known to save  even the bad bugs from my pond if they are drowning.If I see something suffering I have to try to save it even if its just a bug.I am the girl who gets just as excited at 40 as I did at 5 when I see the first lightning bug of the season.I sleep with all the windows open at night so I can hear the crickets and katydids sing, To me its better than any lullaby. I have watched a monarch butterfly hatch right out in front of my eyes and been blessed to have it try out its wings for the first time from the palm of my hand. Its better than any nature show on television could ever be. I have sat so still that I have felt the air from a dragonflies wings on my face,
I know what hundreds of honeybees sound like as they go about their morning work gathering nectar and pollinating all of those sweet smelling flowers and trees.I have also kissed a frog and a toad literally when I was 3 .
If being a country girl means that I can look up at a star filled sky everytime and see it and all its beauty as  if it was the first one I have ever seen in my life then thats me. To actually be able to have my breath taken away by a sunset or the rise of a full moon than I guess Im country in that way too.

Some country girls drive tractors or ride horses or milk cows. Im not that girl, not that I wouldnt want to be but being country for me is more about my connection with nature, the earth and all the beautiful things around us everyday. As I have gotten older I have learned to listen and learn from wildlife and nature. I can now appreciate it and not take it for granted.
I wanted my children to be able to experience what I got too as a kid. To grow up in the country is really an amazing gift even if when your a kid you dont think that at the time.I realize that there are some people who are just perfectly fine and happy living in town and to them dirt is literally a four letter word and to each their own if thats what makes them happy. But that lifes just not for me.  I am truly blessed to be able to finally own our little piece of earth and I plan on doing all I can to give back to nature for all that its given me.

So you see I have always been a country girl. Just one who can rock out to a Bon Jovi song and know all the lyrics to a Keith Urban song and sing them badly with her windows down in her pick up truck. A girl can be country and not have to wear overalls and a straw hat. I personally listen to country music because they sing about all the things I love about being in the country.I can relate to the way they are feeling because thats exactly how I feel too.
The old saying goes that you always go back to your roots,  you end up where your from, no matter where life takes you, you always end up home. My home has always been in the country. Its a part of me and one that I am proud of and thankful for. It just took me a long time to finally get here.

So to everyone who thinks I have "changed" Im still the same person I always was inside. If you really knew me than you would of known that all along


For the record I did marry that rockstar ;)   now if I could just get him to put down the guitar and pick up a shovel it would be perfect.




Me and the best older brother a sister could ever ask for!
I was a bit of a tomboy :)
And no those arent real guns. We just spent most of our summers playing cops and robbers.
I was 3 years old in this picture and it was also the year I kissed my first frog.
Funny thing is Our new farm is not far from the house this picture was taken at. My parents rented this farm for a few years.So you really do end up back home as this is the first farmhouse I have any memory of. We never planned on buying a farm where we did. It found us. 



A Weed I Would Be Happy To See Right Now!

Its been a long cold winter... Bring on the Dandelions please!

Farm Livin Is The Life For Me...Unless there is a Blizzard

I am a survivor! The great blizzard of 2011 will go down in history books. I have never seen so much snow in my lifetime. A record 20 inches and 60 mph wind gusts.People  were stranded in their cars and all roads shut down. I wouldnt trade living in the country for anything but I think next time there is a blizzard coming Im camping out in town.

  

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

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.

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.

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 :)

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

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