Burns Best Farm

Where is Kitty?

Posted by BlueApple
05:38, Wednesday, August 27, 2008 .. Posted in On The Homefront .. 1 comments .. Link

I've had a busy summer and haven't spent much time checking up on my friends...Kitty hasn't posted since July 20. Can anyone tell me if she is alright?

Thank you!
Julia

Ice Cream Cake??

Posted by haflinger
03:57, Wednesday, August 27, 2008 .. Posted in cooking .. 0 comments .. Link

Has anyone made an ice cream cake? and are they hard to make? That is one thing I've never made. I have a friend that is coming over Fri with her husband and son and it was her birthday yesterday..So I want to make her dinner and cake and give her a gift.. I hope some one out there can help me..thanks..

Sister Brenda

What can you do on little?

Posted by HandsNHearts
01:51, Wednesday, August 27, 2008 .. Posted in From the Desk .. 2 comments .. Link

Hmmm...loaded question, I know.

What do I mean -- little land? little food? little money?

All of the above, I guess.

Say you have 2 acres of land, good zoning (meaning you can have animals and do what you wish). On this 2 acre patch you are wanting to set up homesteading. Maybe raise a beef cow or two, have a couple of hogs for processing, certainly chickens and maybe even a handful of rabbits.

You want room for the children and for family entertaining, of course. And there are 7 children in the mix.

So...how do you do it? Can you do it? Will it work?

Here's my thoughts...and they are not overly complete by any stretch...do chime in and give me ideas and share your experience!

Well, 2 acres isn't alot, but I do think it can be done. It all depends on how much you really want it to work. Chickens and rabbits are easy to start with and easiest for housing. Back north I'd build according to winter needs...something we can enclose for more indoor spacing during really cold, snowy, nasty weather. Rabbits are just as easy -- and let's not forget, prolific breeders -- so maybe just adding a room onto the end of the chicken coop to run a couple rows of cages.

Cows and pigs are moving into different territory. We have hogs. Pain in the rump roasts but oh-so delicious afterward. Not sure I'd care to have any more in the future, though. I am not convinced they are truly worth the aggravation yet. Still, pigs and cows can pasture together easily enough, but space? There isn't really alot with 2 acres, so we aren't necessarily looking at keeping them on pasture, so feed over winter...maybe raise them to butcher off before winter each year? Could be do-able, but really...I rather think the variety of animals on such a small space just isn't going to be easily achieved.

Garden and fruit space? Plenty of it, I think. My focus would be an awesome garden with more than enough food to go around, and lining that with fruit trees and bramble fruits. Then I'd look to those chickens and rabbits for our main food source. Maybe barter off some fresh chickens and rabbits for the occasional splurge of beef for dinner.

I just don't see the larger animals on the small space being cost effective. There won't be enough space to adequately rotate pasture areas and allow for regrowth. Dry-lots are doable, but not very animal friendly, and definitely not cost effective.

My personal thought (ya' knew I'd have at least one, right??). It ain't happening. Not such grand scale plans on such small scale land. It's a great size for a beginner homesteader, certainly, but I think it's setting the cart before the horse to plan on diving in head-first on this scale. Maybe I'm totally wrong (yes, it's been known to happen once or twice before...) but I think something on that scale will pretty much turn one off of homesteading. It's just too much, too fast.

What would I do, newbie from the city let's say, I've just bought my 2 acres and I'm getting itchy feet for homesteading? Garden and fruits, chickens and rabbits. Forget the cow and pigs for now. Plug every available penny into the 'land fund' kitty and pray for another few acres adjoining to open up. Or, start honing my skills now and save for that greener pasture down yonder road in a few years. I'd be learning all I could about canning, drying and preserving everything from that awesome garden and homestead orchard. I'd be changing my lifestyle to accommodate more chicken and rabbit, less burger and chops. I'd be starting on that homestead path of make if from scratch.

Use it up,
Wear it out,
Make it do
Or do without

That would become the family creed. Everything homemade from scratch, natural and moving in large strides toward self-sufficiency and complete God-reliance.

Then, one day, when I was no longer that newbie from the city with big plans I'd venture off to my real, true, forever patch of God's Green Earth. Fully armed with my homesteading skills and prepared to learn more skills...like raising the family beef cow and the mini herd of piggies (hmmm...would a group of pigs be a herd?). Maybe at that point I'd be ready to even raise some of my own grains for feed, too, or a bit of hay for winter storage.

What do you think?

Homestead Homeschooling...

Posted by HandsNHearts
11:21, Wednesday, August 27, 2008 .. Posted in The School Desk .. 3 comments .. Link

Homeschooling goes on...

Ever had one of those mornings where school just sort of starts rather on its own?

I over-slept. Not that I've never slept beyond children rising and getting busy, but once in a while, it does happen.

I think I'm more 'thoughtful' of my husband's leaving this weekend for his new job than I care to admit.

He will be gone a good 12-18 months. He'll only be 6 hours away, but still...we've never really been apart for any serious length of time. He has gone to help on jobsites where he might be there 7-10 days...but 12-18 months??

I'm not really worried -- LOL, we're stout country folk here. No, let me rephrase myself -- we are stout backwoods, mountain-living, rural folk.

Think some sort of combination of Caroline Ingalls meets Olivia Walton meets Ma Kettle.

That would be us. The Ingalls-Walton-Kettle family. We are just the other side of rural out here on our mountain, but we have enough civilization around us to be comfortable. Town is about 13 miles down the mountain and over the highway. hey -- we're big time now -- we just got a Super Wal-Mart here.

But, I just haven't had a sound sleep all of this week now and today, it sort of caught up with me I guess. The children have morning tasks done aside from barn chores, and some are doing school without me.

Our schooling looks like this...on a good day...Rod & Staff books scattered along the harvest table we have. There is math, English, several Pathway Readers, the large KJV Bible and the big green Webster's Dictionary. The white board is ready with Bible verses for copy and memory work. Someone might be over in the living room, listening to a CD from Homeschool Radio Shows to give us a narrative later on. And the littles are coloring. That's their main contribution to a school day most of the time. They grab their ABC series and the crayons (ok, they are crayons only in the loosest of sense....how do you keep proper, intact crayons with so many oungers around?) and they begin creating masterpieces of school work for the day.

We have several read-aloud times during the day. Could be Considering God's Creation, or Mystery of History, our Heroes of History books, or some of our family reading time books...Little House on the Prairie series, Dear America or My America series, or any of our Rod & Staff story books we've been collecting.

Later today someone will have started a Daniel Boone DVD and most will be sitting in the living room. They might pick Christy, but usually they go for Daniel Boone...or one of the original Adventures of Robin Hood. We like that old time television stuff 'round here.

But...as I sit here, school is going on...crayons are all over, and one of the middles is reading a Pathway Reader while the youngers work on their math workbooks...one complaining because another is getting farther ahead.

This is a good morning. It's these days, when Mom might not be doing her part as she should and school just flows along regardless, that I sit back and get that warm, fuzzy, homeschool-y kind of feeling. Right now, public school would be nothing but arguments and paper fights and mayhem.

Don't get me wrong -- we have mayhem here too. Quite often.

That's why we live just on the other side of rural. That's where the Kettle side of the family comes into the mix!

Good Site for Identifying Wild Herbs

Posted by HSB Front Porch
11:12 AM, Aug. 27, 2008 .. Posted in Homestead Garden and Farm .. 0 comments .. Link

I happend upon this really neat photo index for herbs this morning, while attempting to identify a lovely little plant that popped up after our much needed rains.

NaturesHerbal has some links to other "herby" things, too. I found a Poison Ivy Relief kit that my dear friend Debbie needs right this minute!

Speaking of Poison Ivy relief....I am searching, without much success, for Jewelweed seeds. I found a source for plants, but would prefer seeds if possible. If any of you are fortunate enough to have Jewelweed growing wild on your homestead, I would be so very thankful if you would share some seed with me. I will gladly pay for the seeds and the postage if you would be kind enough to send them my way!

Blessings,

Catherine

Homeschool Memoirs: Week #2 - Homeschool Agendas

Posted by MamaDuke
07:33, Wednesday, August 27, 2008 .. 8 comments .. Link

This week for the Homeschool Memoirs, we are to discuss our agendas & plans for this school year. Wow! I've been fluctuating quite a bit on what exactly we're going to do so now is as good a time as any to put them into words.

For both children, we are going to be shuffling it up a little bit from previous years - which mainly involved established curriculums and workbooks. This year, though, we're going to focus on reading and writing. How? Well ...

James (4th grade):

He's an excellent reader already although I don't know if he's "advanced" or not (we don't test the kids reading levels), but he can read extremely well. He's mainly interested in battles, wars, military excursions, military vehicles and aircraft. He loves a good scary story and enjoys R.L. Stein (in his spare time). However, I do want him to broaden his horizon and read about other topics. So, this year we're going to simply pick "living" books from the library and let him dive into them. We're going to do this for most of our topics this year: science, history, geography, etc. Whatever we're studying about will be added to the history timeline book we created (and have really never used). Depending on the book we're reading at the time, we're going to look up the geography of the area. We may even use some of this material for art (haven't figured out yet). He's also going to focus on writing more. He's going to write 5 minutes every day in his journal - either by topics I decide or he thinks of (whichever works better). We love the Math U See program and have it used since he was in first grade. We'll continue to do that as well. He's in the Epsilon book this year and learning fractions. By the way, did I mention that he's a year ahead in math? We were going to learn Latin this year and we may start on it. I downloaded the Road to Latin program last week which contains a sample to start with - like the first few chapters. We'll get started on that and go from there. We just don't have the money right now to buy the full curriculum. I'm also going to focus on more specific writing assignments and paragraph structure this year. I think that James needs to really focus on the writing aspect more. He's lacking in this area and hopefully by the end of the year we'll be able to do a better job. Art's always been our weakest area - we study it some but not regularly. I hope to do more with that this year. And, as for science, hubby has a degree in Environmental Science so walks, etc. become a science classroom. James has been practicing his archery this year - he hopes to one day kill a buck with his bow. So, I consider that to also be part of "P.E.". We're debating on putting him on a flag football team but can't justify the $95 fee right now. So, he may have to wait until Spring.

Lauren (1st grade):

Lauren is also progressing quite nicely in her studies. We'll continue to use the Math U See Alpha book with her this year. She started on it last spring and didn't finish the first year (she was still in kindergarten so I didn't want to push her too hard). We're also going to continue reading through the McGuffey series with her and we'll also do copywork and spelling out of the McGuffey readers. As she progresses, I plan on bringing in other books for her to read. Some of the history books, etc. we'll also listen to as James reads and go over the geography, history, etc. as he goes through them. We may try to do a few lapbooks with her. Sometimes she likes to do those and sometimes she doesn't. I'm also going to have her starting on Greek (just the alphabet this year and the sounds of the alphabet). That's how we started James. I already have the curriculum for this so it won't cost us anything.

Scheduling:

Wow. We kind of just wing it. I've been keeping track of their work and schedules in the Homeschool Tracker but as far as a daily schedule, hmmm... I also plan to use the new Schoolhouse Planner (which is way cool). I hope to put everything down on paper this weekend. We'll try this schedule and see how it goes:

Daily:

Bible reading
Math
Reading practice for Lauren
Journal Writing (James) and Copywork (Lauren)
Latin or Greek
Archery practice or running outside and being silly for awhile (maybe bike riding)
Science - working on an experiment from an array of books James has or studying nature
Reading/history/geography: "living" books - I'm still working on a list so that's not ready yet

Weekly:

Art / Music (maybe learn to play the guitar) - I have a book on that

We used to take Fridays off every week, then two weeks at Christmas and one week at Easter and one for Spring Break (sometimes these are combined).

I'm also pretty excited because the month of December is going to be preparation for Christmas - reading Christmas books about Jesus' birth, crafts, activities, putting all the Christmas presents together, etc. We've never been able to do this and fit it around the other curriculums, so I plan on having a full month of Christmas this year. That should be exciting.

Trying vegetarian meals...

Posted by BlueApple
12:01, Wednesday, August 27, 2008 .. Posted in On The Homefront .. 2 comments .. Link

Well after two years of "empty nesting" two of my daughters are back home! It's an adjustment to be sure, but I'm loving having them home. Now, if you ask them....probably not so much, LOL!

With having them home my food bill has definitely taken a jump so gone is the "fly by the seat of my pants" dinners for two. Time to get back to planning meals and watching prices. Actually, I enjoy it..kind of a game to see how well we can eat and spend little! I use to be a vegetarian but with a growing family I got tired of cooking different for myself. One great way to cut spending is to add at least one meatless meal each week. I plan to slowly do half and half and, hopefully, my husband won't even notice!

I also have anywhere from 6 - 9 little ones to feed each day in my child care. This time of year it's so much fun to watch them pick blueberries in my patch, or plums from the tree. They enjoy picking berries and eating them with their lunch! I love showing them where their food comes from and helping them have a love for gardening and eating well. Next month we'll be doing a unit on apples and making applesauce is always a favorite activity.

Thought I would share a vegetarian recipe I tried yesterday. My husband liked it and said it was even better the next day. I didn't double it but made a bit more than the recipe size. When I make it again I would add some sharp white cheddar as well for a little added zip. This is a great summer meal...just add sliced watermelon and/or a green salad.

Onion Bread Pudding

1 vidalia or other sweet onion, cut into 1/4-inch slices
2 cups 2% reduced-fat milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
8 cups cubed French bread (about 8 ounces)
3/4 cup (3 ounces) shredded Gruyère or Swiss cheese, divided (I used more cheese as well)
Cooking spray

Preheat oven to 425°.

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion slices (keep slices intact); cook 3 minutes on each side or until browned. (I cooked them a bit longer)

Combine milk, salt, thyme, pepper, and eggs in a large bowl, stirring with a whisk. Add the bread cubes and 1/2 cup cheese; toss mixture well. Place the bread mixture in an 8-inch square baking dish coated with cooking spray. Arrange onion slices on top of bread mixture. Sprinkle with 1/4 cup cheese. Bake at 425° 25 minutes or until set and golden.

Yield: 4 servings (serving size: about 1 1/2 cups)

CALORIES 364 (30% from fat); FAT 12.2g (sat 5.7g,mono 3.7g,poly 1.1g); IRON 2.1mg; CHOLESTEROL 136mg; CALCIUM 294mg; CARBOHYDRATE 43.8g; SODIUM 806mg; PROTEIN 19.7g; FIBER 3.4g

Going to be MIA for a bit...

Posted by HandsNHearts
10:53, Tuesday, August 26, 2008 .. 3 comments .. Link

Dewey will be heading over to Arkansas this weekend to get started on the new job. We are all excited about the prospects this job will offer, though the time away isn't top on our favorite list. We have plans, though. Plans for visits alot...and plans for a living history study this year

Do keep us lifted in prayer if we come to mind. Dewey for peace while gone from home where his heart is deeply embedded, and for safety while traveling and living there. And for us, who will miss him terribly, but want this all to work for the best for the family. So, we will be cheerful and trust that The Lord is working all of this for our benefit. He has been guiding us in this since it first came up and we each have peace over the decision. Still, being apart is hard for the flesh to be happy about.

The other notebook computer here is off on the FedEx truck. It had an accident and needs repair or replacement. Thank you Lord for great warranties! This notebook is next to head out. I thought I'd try waiting for the other to return, but it will be a minimum of 10 working days. Our warranty coverage is up the end of September and if they aren't working properly after walking through everything they keep trying, I want them repaired or replaced. That's what I paid for. We bought the big warranty...it covers everything under the sun that could ever possibly happen to these things...if Wild Child takes them to the barn and the piggies play with them -- it's covered! If they end up in the driveway and get run over -- it's covered. If someone spills their bowl of cereal or glass of tea over the keyboard and it turns pretty blue and green colors in little lightening flashes -- it's covered. With this family, we thought ahead and wanted to be prepared, kwim?

Well, I need to gather some items for Dewey's paperwork and get back to the chores of the day here. I might be missing in action for a couple of weeks if both computers head off for repair. Need to close some group mails until then! See you when I get back online!

Blog Award!

Posted by Ashley
10:58, Tue-26-Aug-2008 .. 1 comments .. Link

I have needed to post about this lovely award for over a week! It's so sweet, yes?

Joy gave it to me. What people say when they mention my blog always leaves me feeling humbled.

I keep forgetting to post this award, partly because I'm very mentally scattered right now, partly because I'm staying pretty busy. Which I find ironic because I've tried to write some very thought-provoking posts lately, yet it's hard to concentrate on everything that needs done!

Also due to family from out-of-state getting in today, and my husband taking off work for most of their visit, this is my almost-sort-of-last-chance to do this. (I do want to try to post off and on during the next week but it might just be pictures.)

Picking 7 blogs to pass the award onto is daunting as well. Will it be easy or hard? Who will I forget this time? Ack!

Disclaimer: If you do not accept awards, I'm not offended if you don't display it. I'm not trying to clutter your blog, just to be nice and tell you that I REALLY LOVE YOUR BLOG!

**[Edit: forgot to ad the rules of the award!]

The rules of the award are:

1.The winner can put the award on his/her blog

2.Link the person you received the award from

3.Nominate at least 7 other blogs

4.Put links of those blogs on yours

5.Leave a message on the blogs of those you nominated

Generation Cedar (formerly Families Against Feminisim) - the url to the blog changed recently and I still haven't changed it on my sidebar. I check this blog every day. While we disagree on some theological points, this blog always makes me think. I find it encouraging and uplifting and challenging to take part in some of the discussions that occur here.

Home Girl - My other every-day blog. She's so easy for me to read and relate to. Her blog is so refreshingly honest and forthright. It's also quite balanced - you know, heavy topics, light topics, the kind of balance I don't even try for because, well, I seriously doubt I could achieve it. This girl seems to accomplish it effortlessly and is so coherent and concise . . . .

In A Shoe - a really fun family of eleven. Mostly, the mom blogs, but sprinkled throughout are blogs from the dad and oldest daughters, helping to round out the perceptions of the family that you can draw from knowing them online. Sometimes it's serious, but mostly it's lighter and I appreciate that.

Ornaments of Grace - This lovely blog is updated sometimes on a weekly basis. Which is fine by me, as that's about as often as I can check it and the content is always so good! I don't want to miss a thing, but as the mom of a 2.5yo and a 10.5mo and another on the way sometimes it's just so nice to find a blog that is rich and thought-provoking and I don't get behind 15 posts if I miss a week!

Happy To Be Called Mommy! - If she wasn't so personable over the net, she'd be intimadating! I think her crafts are adorable. Bethany is making mozarella cheese this week. Have you ever want to make your own mesophillic starter culture at home? I have no idea what you use that for, but she makes it look fun and easy!

Just Give Me Jesus - I have never met you, but I consider you a dear friend. Cyberworld would be an emptier, lonlier place without your raw, open blog. Thank you for sharing your thoughts on HSB.

One more? Just one more? How did this happen?

Large Family Mothering - Have I mentioned that sometimes I don't get around to visiting blogs often? And how much I enjoy the ones that make me think and challenge how I percieve my world? This is one of those nuggets that enriches my life.

Blessings,

~Ashley~

Picnic and good book..........

Posted by LittleHouse
10:32, Tuesday, August 26, 2008 .. 0 comments .. Link

Yesterday we had some what of a rest day. The girls did school and I finished cleaning up from the weekend. Last week we had school each day but Friday to get ready for our small group picnic. This time the picnic was at our home. We were expecting around 25-30 and had 42 people come. I believe this was the biggest picnic for our small group.

I was a little afraid of what people would think of our small home and yard. We only own 1 acre and many in our group have much more land and way bigger homes than ours, but you know what I believe everyone had a better time because we didn't have a show-place house we had a comfortable home everyone felt very relaxed and had a good time. It was a hot day in the 90's. Some ate indoors and some out doors. We got to show everyone our garden:) The youth played volleyball against the adults and almost everyone went home with a bag of tomatoes. One of my dear friends left with one of my best jars of bread-n-butter pickles:) The pickles were a great hit at the party. It is sad that people don't can much anymore. We are hoping to make a few more jars of pickles this week maybe dill this time:)

Our garden is just about done for summer...but wait what about fall gardening glad you asked:) We are hoping to plant more garlic,onions and brocolli. We already have some lettuce and spinach in the ground.

I almost forgot our neighbors behind us just got chickens and a rooster:) I love to hear the rooster crow:) We are getting excited about our chickens now:) We are still trying to find time to build our coop I will let you know how that goes:)

I haven't had to much time to stitch... but I am hoping to find some time:) It won't be long before the cold weather hits and I love to curl up with a good stitching project or yes a good book. I am reading a good one right now about solar gardening. There is always something to learn:)

I better get back to some of my daily duties,

Much Love,

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