Due to technical difficulties...

Posted on Tuesday, November 18, 2008 at 01:28

....I have the need to live in a grass hut away from all conveniences.  No. Really.  Due to technical difficulties and the ensuing reliance upon all things technical to make 'life run smoothly' - I think a little hut-time would be just the ticket.

My computer went on the fritz yesterday. Now, mind you I love to NOT be on the computer.

A day spent working online or filling customer orders or promoting our business is good, but can be VERY - uhm - hollow? Yeah, that's it. Not that I don't LOVE our customers and am thankful, bu the bookwork is not too inspiring. So usually I try not to touch work until after lunch.

Chores first. A little creative time. Tasks. Lunch then seated work....that's how it works best for me.  It gives me time with the Lord in the morning and the kids before they head for college and then the house is nice and clean and smells of the newest item from the 'test kitchen' are in the air - so work is not so all encompassing.

But...when faced with a lack of communications because of computer issues(our 800# calls get emailed, orders are emailed, etc) the looming next day is one of CONSTANT computer time. Yuck. Also, a lapse in customer communication makes for some frustrated customers when we're back 'up' and running.

So...that is why today would be a great HUT day. Get away from the reliance upon technical conveniences. ... strip things down to just me and God and His provision.

That's what we call it here – “grass hut time”.  It's a need we identify when we are overwhelmed and engulfed in the aftermath of technical difficulties or find ourselves distracted by the conveniences or societal obligations for "success" (whatever 'THAT is?).

My kids actually coined the phrase of wanting to live in a grass hut – much to the surprise of their peers. Not to run away from things as much as to sharpen the senses that God gave them.  The incessant Facebook/Myspace comparisons of their lives with others. Remote controls to flip the TV mindlessly. Microwave meals (of which we eat none – but you know ….) College. Job. Car repairs.  iPods. Video Games. We are overloaded with choices to distract ourselves or rely upon technology instead of hear the still small voice of God.

Today I long for some grass hut time.

UPDATE on bread bowls and potato bean soup.

Posted on Friday, November 14, 2008 at 10:57

Just saw my earlier post when posting the last one!  If you want the recipe, it is going out in our newsletter this Monday (11/17) with pictures and all! So go sign up at: http://www.eatgrains.com to get your FREE monthly recipes!

Blessed are those who mourn....for they shall be comforted.

Posted on Friday, November 14, 2008 at 10:36

True mourning. Just what is that?

Bread bowls and Potato-Bean Soup!

Posted on Wednesday, October 29, 2008 at 01:41

Ah, the cooler weather and a fire in the fire place!

We just had a huge shipment of dried beans come in to our inventory for the online store - and of course, I have now been inspired to use our personal stash for the colder nights.

I made bread bowls today and have been cooking my son's favorite potato-bean soup to put into them for dinner.  This is a cheap, warm and hearty meal on the cool nights that my family has enjoyed each time the season turns chilly.

I think they are both going to be next month's newsletter recipes too.... if anyone wants it go to:  http://www.eatgrains.com and sign up.

Anyway - we have stacked the wood in the garage (a portion of it anyway the rest is outside) and brought in a sizable amount to keep the fire going all day. It really cuts our heating cost and makes the house cozy.

There was  SNOW just half an hour's drive from us yesterday! Amazing!  That is an early snow for NC!

Anyway - will blog more another time - fighting a little cold that my youngest shared with me....

Blessings!

Donna

Added a slide show! Wow that took me a while!

Posted on Thursday, October 23, 2008 at 02:50

Well, I am certainly NOT the tech person in our family!

But if I do say so myself, I'm rather happy with getting it in there at ALL.

These are a few pictures of some of the baked goods that I"ve been working on using freshly milled whole wheat.  So I just wanted to share!

Best Blessings!

Donna

It's Officially FALL! Last hay of the season is drying on the ground.

Posted on Tuesday, October 21, 2008 at 07:23

The last hay was cut today. It produced a wonderful aroma as we took our evening walk.  Crickets chirped and the breeze blew the sweet floral sent of newly cut hay around the field.  The leaves are falling after they have hit their peak oranges, yellows and reds. The soft flutter and light crunch under our feet made me think of upcoming Thanksgiving foods and warm fires in the fireplace!

The shorter field that was almost as tall as my husband now reveled its one time inhabitants. A ground hog, and many bugs! A baby snake was quite the entertainment for our black lab and the last batch of kittens. It was quite a site to watch them stare and 'dance' as the little garter snake tried to move across the path.

The den and dining room have new candles lit and raffia and silk leaves sprinkled around to decorate for the season. The windows are painted with painted 'leaves' in all the harvest colors as if we have a perpetual flutter just outside at all times. All the outdoor plants are pulled indoors to find new homes and bring the green inside, since it will soon all be gone on the outside.

It is officially Fall at the Millers Homestead here in NC and we are loving it!

May God grant you a renewed sense of His Love as the weather cools. May it cause us each to draw into His Warmth and snuggle close enough to hear His Heartbeat and be moved as He Breaths.

Blessings in the Risen Messiah!

Donna Miller

Cooler weather and fire pit fun!

Posted on Monday, October 20, 2008 at 02:12

If we can get some pictures, I will post them later.

This past weekend, we decided to dig a large fire pit at the back corner of our cleared property.  We dug it quite large with a deeper hole in the center for venting and air-flow.  Then we lined the walls with bricks to keep the shape.

After a long day of shoveling and hauling and bricking, we sat down with some of the kids' friends over to beef hot-dogs and the fixings! Roasted marshmellows and smores.

This was such a nice (and yet exhausting) family project that cost us NO MONEY and built a memory!  Seems that the more of these people can do, the more likely the family will make it through difficult times and stay in tact.

Now, it's off to The Mast Store to buy a cast iron Dutch Oven and over fire-pit frame! Mmmmm - Stew in the Fire-pit! Can't WAIT~!

Best Blessings!

Donna

http://www.eatgrains.com

Being content...

Posted on Tuesday, October 14, 2008 at 02:17

This word has been running through my heart and mind a lot lately.

So, as usual, I thought I'd study the word 'content' and hope to find some deeper meanings and see just what all the hub-bub is about, this "being content" and why it was on my mind so much lately. Funny thing happened when I did this...I found another word that is spelled exactly the same, but pronounced differently.

The word I was looking for was 'content' (kənˈtɛnt) but the other word I found was 'content' (kŏn'těnt'). Here is what an online dictionary says about each one.

The fist one (kənˈtɛnt) has a few difinitions but this sums up what I was looking for is: satisfied with what one is or has; not wanting more or anything else or Desiring no more than what one has; satisfied.

The other word (kŏn'těnt') has many more varying definitions, but these hit a chord with me on the topic I was really searching: significance or profundity; meaning or The substantive or meaningful part.Of course all this searching of 'words' leads me to THE WORD for complete clarity, and here is what I've found. These four verses penned by Paul (who's life had variety of circumstances):

Php 4:11 - I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever (as in NO MATTER or reguardless of) the circumstances.

Php 4:12 - I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.

1Ti 6:8 - But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.

Heb 13:5 - Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you."

The last line of this verse in Hebrews above is the clue to my word study. By focusing on the meaning of his life God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you." is what grownded Paul in a content state. This was not a state of acquiescing or complacency, but of deep meaning regardless of the circumstances of his life.

To be content, I need to focus on the meaningful content of my life not the circumstances that change around me, but on the unfailing love of Adonai.

http://www.millersgrainhouse.com/store

What does Yom Kippur (this day) mean to a follower of Messiah?

Posted on Thursday, October 9, 2008 at 10:19

 

Even if your sins are like scarlet, they will be white as snow (Isaiah 1:18).

Do followers of Jesus really understand this day? I think we have missed some really key components of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob when we have inadvertently dismissed what the foundations of God’s Grace and foreshadowing’s of His Messiah are in the Old Testament. The Hebrew Festivals and Holy Days show such amazing glimpses into the Love of the Father and Sacrifice of The Son,   Today (yesterday from sundown to today at sundown) is Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement). It is the most holy day on the Jewish calendar since Moses. The focus of today is the most important issue facing humanity- atonement and forgiveness for our sins.   In Temple times, Yom Kippur centered on the sacrifice of the two goats described in Leviticus 16. After the priest had confessed the sins of the nation over one goat -  the chatat (sin goat) - it was to be sacrificed for those sins. The second goat - the azazel (scapegoat) - was also to have the sins of the people confessed over it. But instead of being slain, this goat was set free into the wilderness.. By so doing, the people of Israel were to realize that their sins were taken away from them as they trusted in God's way of atonement. These were God’s instructions.   History also reveals a very extraordinary part of the Day of Atonement’s goat ceremony. The Talmud (Yoma 39b) tells us about a crimson red thread that was attached to the scapegoat and, each year, the thread would miraculously turn white. For the rabbis, this revealed the truth of Isaiah 1:18, that God had cleansed the people of their sin. Then it is recorded that astonishingly, around the year 30 C. E. about forty years before the destruction of the Second Temple, something changed. The thread stopped turning white! Do we in the church today even KNOW that time table and what happened?   The Messiah came at that time and fulfilled what those two goats had foreshadowed. The thread, no longer turning white, was a sign to the world and His People that God sent his Son to be the propitiation and atonement for our sins (Romans 3:23-25).   It is fascinating how ALL of Scripture points to our Messiah! All of the history of God’s People point to the Messiah.   In closing – This Chapter, also in Romans, really conveys what I believe is God’s Heart for how we approach the wholeness of Scripture, His Chosen People (through whom He sent our Messiah) and the History they exhibit through following His Appointed Times ( what some would call Jewish Holidays).  We are grafted into THAT root. How much more ‘RICH’ we are when we realize where we get our nourishment!   Sorry folks, but I am a ‘context’ kinda gal – so you’re gonna get the whole chapter…   New International Version    Romans 11 11:1 I ask then: Did God reject his people? By no means! I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin. 11:2 God did not reject his people, whom he foreknew. Don't you know what the Scripture says in the passage about Elijah--how he appealed to God against Israel: 11:3 "Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars; I am the only one left, and they are trying to kill me"? 11:4 And what was God's answer to him? "I have reserved for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal." 11:5 So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace. 11:6 And if by grace, then it is no longer by works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace. 11:7 What then? What Israel sought so earnestly it did not obtain, but the elect did. The others were hardened, 11:8 as it is written: "God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes so that they could not see and ears so that they could not hear, to this very day." 11:9 And David says: "May their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a retribution for them. 11:10 May their eyes be darkened so they cannot see, and their backs be bent forever." 11:11 Again I ask: Did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all! Rather, because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious. 11:12 But if their transgression means riches for the world, and their loss means riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their fullness bring! 11:13 I am talking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I make much of my ministry 11:14 in the hope that I may somehow arouse my own people to envy and save some of them. 11:15 For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? 11:16 If the part of the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy; if the root is holy, so are the branches. 11:17 If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, 11:18 do not boast over those branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you. 11:19 You will say then, "Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in." 11:20 Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but be afraid. 11:21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either. 11:22 Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off. 11:23 And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. 11:24 After all, if you were cut out of an olive tree that is wild by nature, and contrary to nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more readily will these, the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree! 11:25 I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. 11:26 And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: "The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob. 11:27 And this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins." 11:28 As far as the gospel is concerned, they are enemies on your account; but as far as election is concerned, they are loved on account of the patriarchs, 11:29 for God's gifts and his call are irrevocable. 11:30 Just as you who were at one time disobedient to God have now received mercy as a result of their disobedience, 11:31 so they too have now become disobedient in order that they too may now receive mercy as a result of God's mercy to you. 11:32 For God has bound all men over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all.

And again – in another translation…..

The Complete Jewish Bible

Romans 11

11:1 "In that case, I say, isn't it that God has repudiated his people?" Heaven forbid! For I myself am a son of Isra'el, from the seed of Avraham, u of the tribe of Binyamin.

11:2 God has not repudiated his people, v whom he chose in advance. Or don't you know what the Tanakh says about Eliyahu? He pleads with God against Isra'el,

11:3 "ADONAI, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars, and I'm the only one left, and now they want to kill me too!"w

11:4 But what is God's answer to him? "I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not knelt down to Ba'al."

11:5 It's the same way in the present age: there is a remnant, chosen by grace.

11:6 (Now if it is by grace, it is accordingly not based on legalistic works; if it were otherwise, grace would no longer be grace.)

11:7 What follows is that Isra'el has not attained the goal for which she is striving. The ones chosen have obtained it, but the rest have been made stonelike,

11:8 just as the Tanakh says, "God has given them a spirit of dullness eyes that do not see and ears that do not hear, right down to the present day."

11:9 And David says, "Let their dining table become for them a snare and a trap, a pitfall and a punishment.

11:10 Let their eyes be darkened, so that they can't see, with their backs bent continually."

11:11 "In that case, I say, isn't it that they have stumbled with the result that they have permanently fallen away?" Heaven forbid! Quite the contrary, it is by means of their stumbling that the deliverance has come to the Gentiles, in order to provoke them to jealousy. a

11:12 Moreover, if their stumbling is bringing riches to the world - that is, if Isra'el's being placed temporarily in a condition less favored than that of the Gentiles is bringing riches to the latter - how much greater riches will Isra'el in its fullness bring them!

11:13 However, to those of you who are Gentiles I say this: since I myself am an emissary sent to the Gentiles, I make known the importance of my work

11:14 in the hope that somehow I may provoke some of my own people to jealousy and save some of them!

11:15 For if their casting Yeshua aside means reconciliation for the world, what will their accepting him mean? It will be life from the dead!

11:16 Now if the hallah offered as firstfruits is holy, so is the whole loaf. And if the root is holy, so are the branches.

11:17  But if some of the branches were broken off, and you - a wild olive - were grafted in among them and have become equal sharers in the rich root of the olive tree,

11:18 then don't boast as if you were better than the branches! However, if you do boast, remember that you are not supporting the root, the root is supporting you.

11:19 So you will say, "Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in."

11:20 True, but so what? They were broken off because of their lack of trust. However, you keep your place only because of your trust. So don't be arrogant; on the contrary, be terrified!

11:21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, he certainly won't spare you!

11:22 So take a good look at God's kindness and his severity: on the one hand, severity toward those who fell off; but, on the other hand, God's kindness toward you - provided you maintain yourself in that kindness! Otherwise, you too will be cut off!

11:23 Moreover, the others, if they do not persist in their lack of trust, will be grafted in; because God is able to graft them back in.

11:24 For if you were cut out of what is by nature a wild olive tree and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these natural branches be grafted back into their own olive tree!

11:25 For, brothers, I want you to understand this truth which God formerly concealed but has now revealed, so that you won't imagine you know more than you actually do. It is that stoniness, to a degree, has come upon Isra'el, until the Gentile world enters in its fullness;

11:26 and that it is in this way that all Isra'el will be saved. As the Tanakh says, "Out of Tziyon will come the Redeemer; he will turn away ungodliness from Ya'akov

11:27 and this will be my covenant with them, . . . when I take away their sins."

11:28 With respect to the Good News they are hated for your sake. But with respect to being chosen they are loved for the Patriarchs' sake,

11:29 for God's free gifts and his calling are irrevocable.

11:30 Just as you yourselves were disobedient to God before but have received mercy now because of Isra'el's disobedience;

11:31 so also Isra'el has been disobedient now, so that by your showing them the same mercy that God has shown you, they too may now receive God's mercy.

11:32 For God has shut up all mankind together in disobedience, in order that he might show mercy to all!

Preparing our children for this future

Posted on Friday, October 3, 2008 at 10:36

Today - our son turns twenty-two, (22), TWO DECADES AND TWO YEARS, older than when I HAD him....sorry, it echoes through my mind and heart just how fast our children have grown up. 

So today I will take out the little outfit we brought him home from the hospital, lay it on his bed and wait for him to come home from work and see it.  His sisters will decorate the cake I baked for him this morning (A Star Wars theme this year) and we will go out to his favorite restaurant tomorrow for a dinner.  That is how our home 'does' birthdays....low key.

He has his 'intended wife' chosen and is waiting for the right time to propose. We approve of her. He has our blessing - we don't have much else to give him but that.

But what have we given him thus far for his future?  Well, we are seeing the fruits of our years of training as he matures - yes there were times we wondered - but there they are: A good work ethic, a passion to do God's Will, a frugal mindset of a good steward and an unconditional love for all. Thank the Lord that our bumblings as parents have still produced an honorable man after God’s Own Heart.

But, did we know we were preparing him for THIS future? The one with the economy looking as it does?

Well, yes, we did.

God told my hubby (okay no audible voice or clouds, but deep DEEP within his heart) that our children would be launched out at a tumultuous time and to prepare them to be content and productive regardless of the circumstances.  The foundations of society are all shaking - but the foundation in our Savior is solid. That is the basis of how we have prepared them.  From there we built on growing food, storing for hard times, sharing what we have with others in need, productive time vs. entertainment and the outcome is now three adult children with tools to face an uncertain earthly future with a certain Peace.

Yesterday, as my big strapping son was talking with us in the kitchen while his baby sister fixed dinner (Thursday is her night), he shared with me the topic of the economy as viewed by his peers in a class at college.  He said it was mentioned that "those old people in their 50s (ok, even he laughed at that being old) will all be okay, because, well, they know how to work, they already have worked....we (college kids) don't know how to work yet. We're going to have to give up so much fun stuff because we just can't afford it"

Ouch.

Well, it's a truer statement than they realize - not that college makes you know how to work - but the generation our kids are in have lost the working mindset.  My son said he sat there and half laughed and half cried. Laughed because he doesn’t' feel that way and he was thankful that we raised him weird, and half cried because, he worries for his generation.

For his birthday - he bought me a dehydrator and his Daddy a soothing fountain for his office.  Our son said that he didn't do anything to get born, so we should get the gifts for his birth.  I'd say he's prepared.

Sorry. This got long!

Bless you for reading all the way through -

Best Blessings!

Donna

http://www.millersgrainhouse.com/store

Midst of the storm kind of Peace

Posted on Tuesday, September 30, 2008 at 02:23

If we follow the news and the ticker tape RSS feeds of global events, it would seem easy to get worked up and fretful. I mean, it all looks oh so very tense out there in the 'world', doesn't it?

In addition to the blessing of the release from numbness (see last post) there has been a great time of learning that God is doing in our home. The latest is: Peace - regardless of the circumstances around us.

It's almost as if I (we, our family) welcome the rough times now. I can't say it has always been like that. Actually, I'd say until learning not to take things or people for granted that I've been the biggest whiner in the past. Now I realize that I was allowing confusing times, uncertain income, where to live, what do DO with my life, how will my adult children live in this time, on and on and on to dictate my outward appearance of peace. 

Oh, not the real peace (the one no one sees that is deep inside because of Christ) but it covered THAT REAL PEACE UP - even when it WAS there! 

How on earth can I share what I had covered up with worry or trying to control circumstances? I can't. *I* was in the way of real peace being evident to others.

So, that's why now I say - 'Come Messiah Come' - even though it may get tougher, it's almost like a welcomed storm, just to be able to SEE HIS PEACE in the midst of it all now!

Best Blessings!

Donna Miller

Sharing God's Lessons - Battling the Numbness

Posted on Wednesday, September 24, 2008 at 02:58

WOW. Started typing this and it went blank...so I will be obedient and just type what God has been working in my life, my families lives and it has been kicking my teeth in....

In a candid and vulnerable conversation with our youngest daughter, she was struggling with 'controling her female emotions' but feeling 'numb' at the same time. Some of you ladies likely 'get' this...I did.

These words just 'came out' of me the other day, and I get NO GLORY from them because they really are something that God must have done....out came....

"To overcome the numbness, we have to first allow God to help us not take people, relationships, circomstances, our own lives for granted. Taking for granted is like capping off all of our feelings and building a protective sheild that doesn't allow feelings."

This has opened some FLOOD GATES in our home.

Not sure if anyone here 'gets' this or if it has the same impact as it has had on us...but God is really moving here and we are FEELING more for each other, for His Son, for the Blessings....not emotionally, or dramatizingly...but deep, real and open.

Wow!

Just wanted to share.

I think this blog will become more like that...sharing lessons God is working through our family....if ya'll don't mind....

BEST BLESSINGS~

Donna Miller

Update on my pregnant neice...thank you for prayers!

Posted on Friday, September 19, 2008 at 06:09

The last we heard, she had begun bleeding (not due for almost 2.5 months) - but that has stopped.  She is under the care of the doctors who are monitoring her very closely now.  She went for an ultra-sound and we have not heard from that as of yet. The baby's heartbeat is fine and now that the bleeding has stopped, they feel she is going to be able to carry to term or very close with, of course, much more monitoring than usual.

Thank you ALL for your immediate prayers and lifting her before the Lord. She has been pretty calm with this prengancy up until this incident, and it has rattled her a good bit.  Please continue to pray for her peace (of course that will help the whole situation too if she can remain calm) since this is her first baby, it's all new to her!

Praise God the scary part seems to have passed!

Thank you again! 

Please pray for my pregnant niece... in the ER

Posted on Wednesday, September 17, 2008 at 01:34

Folks, I am just posting this out there for all who will please take a moment to pray for my niece (27) who is pregnant with their first baby (7 months along) and was just rushed to the ER in tears.

I don't have details more than she is very upset and in the ER now (a couple hours away from us).

Our girls and I (18/20) just saw her a few days ago and they remarked how great their cousin looks as a new to be mom - how it suits her.  They are of course worried about her too.

Please lift her and her baby boy to be and her hubby up to the Lord in prayer.

Thanks.

Best Blessings!

Surprise! Poison Ivy! Who knew?

Posted on Monday, September 15, 2008 at 02:51

Well, I know what poison ivy looks like because my son is highly allergic to it.  I know where it grows around here and I know I have always been immune to it.  In all my life (43 years of it) I have been the one that pulled the poison ivy out because I’ve never EVER had a reaction. That is until a surprise attack of poison ivy....  

I hadn't been outside since Saturday (that's LAST Saturday, the 6th) because we had company and then our middle one got VERY VERY sick, so I'd been house-bound. Suddenly Tuesday evening (the 9th), I pulled my arm out from a pillow I'd been snuggling to find a track of blisters on my left forearm and on my right shin. Tah Dah - Poison Ivy? But no....I've never reacted before and haven't been out in days to come in contact with any....but there it was...and still here it is....and around my body it continues to creep.

Personally, in my opinion, birth pains are not as bad as the constant itch of poison ivy.

I finally broke down and got some 'Ivyrest' and Benadryl yesterday. I hate medications, but they helped me to sleep and not scratch in my sleep...so I’ll take it at night and slather up so I can rest and not lose my mind from itchy sleep deprivation.

Who knew poison ivy would suddenly show up with such a delayed reaction time! I'd share pictures but - gross - no - never mind!

This has me so distracted, I can't seem to work around the house or work work either. Thank the LORD we had done another video before the swollen blistered arm incident!  I did get to upload it this Friday: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UffwLUbgPRI  ... and I am hoping this clears up before this Friday's taping for my next installment on stretching groceries! Don't want to have one arm bigger than the other!

As it cools down here in NC (this week it won't be above 77!) it will be easier to get outside and finish up the chores that I couldn't do in the heat with this poison ivy stuff last week. So...I am distracted and wasting time until it clears up a bit more. Fun Fun Fun!

Best Blessings!

Donna

Hoping to share some pics of the summer.

Posted on Thursday, September 11, 2008 at 04:44

One comment from a homesteading daughter here has inspired me to share some of my oldest daughter's pics. She hopes to be a professional photographer on the mission feild some day, Lord Willing.

So, below are some of her work:

All these were taken through our DEN window!

Aren't these great sites to see in your side yard!!?

Well, I had more of them but...they are too big to load.....

Anyway, I've been so blessed with such talented kids! They got it from God not me!

Oldest - son - is my videographer and editor for work.

Middle - daughter - photographer for work now, but hopes to be on the mission feild as photographer

Littlest - daughter - designed our business logo and is getting her degree in Graphic Arts and Advertizing. She'll be done with it soon!

Family is such a blessing!

Fall/Winter Planning Time!

Posted on Tuesday, September 9, 2008 at 03:20

With the fall feeling in the air, I"ve been moving my outdoor efforts to making my winter indoor list.  I make a list of things that will best be done in the short, wet, winter days.  Here are just a few that always top my list:

1. Re-organize and clean Kitchen Cabinets and Drawers!

2. Make 'kindling' from all the grain bags (50lb, three-ply paper bags) that piled up over the spring and summer.

4. De-seed all those wildflowers for next spring/summer's wildflower patch. Sort some of them into 'alike' batches so that if I want more morning glories or sunflowers in a specific spot I know what's what.

We seem to be having a cold front heading our way and the weather will be cooler toward the end of the week...so I'll be more in the 'mood' to add to this list...but in the mean-time....I know there's more to this list and I need some inspiration!

It would be GREAT to hear some of the things you all (my fellow homestead-bloggers) do over the winter while it's cold outside! Chime in! I need to know of more to keep myself productive while indoors...because it's coming soon. (o:

Best Blessings!

Donna

Recipes, tips and video tutorials - http://www.eatgrains.com

An audio visual tip for stretching food dollars.

Posted on Friday, September 5, 2008 at 05:39

An Audio-Visual Tip for Saving Money on Groceries!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cycj1dEAK0Q

“Give a man a fish; you have fed him for today.  Teach a man to fish; and you have fed him for a lifetime”—Author unknown

Best Blessings!

Milling, baking, whole grain videos - FREE

Posted on Thursday, September 4, 2008 at 01:34

Hello from NC.

At first, I thought I'd tack this onto another blog, but since it was TOTALLY unrelated, it seemed better to just make a new one! 

If you are toying with the idea of milling grain, using more whole grains or just want some good free recipes...and visual steps to see how you CAN do it, please consider looking at and subscribing to this...

Millers Grain House Video Channel.

It should be updated about once a week so no one gets overwelmed OR bored!

Come and visit...

Best Blessings in our Risen Messiah!

Donna

Anyone else feeling FALL?

Posted on Thursday, September 4, 2008 at 01:15

It's not here yet, but wow, the fall feeling is in the air here in our part of NC.

The sun changes how it shines and the breeze picks up a little bit of an earthly smell and nip.

We may be in store for one more 'hot' day, but it looks and feels like fall is on the way.

 Fall is one of my favorite seasons. We can still get outside. We play in all the leaves as they float down. We go driving on the parkway and bake some of the BEST foods.

Why fall foods are my favorites, I'm not sure. Maybe it's part of how God ordained the seasons and my body just craves the foods that are naturally associated with that season's harvest.  Whatever the reason, I'm ready for things made with pumpkin and apples!

Tomorrow, Lord willing, I plan to make Amish Friendship Bread (the sweet lady from the post office shared her starter with me) with a whole wheat and pumpkin flair to it! 

I can't WAIT - but I have to - it's not day 10 yet!!

Hopefully I can get some pictures before my family devours it and share with y'all here! If only we could post SMELLS! Mmmmm.....

Praying that all you good homesteaders and homesteaders-at-heart are looking forward to the fall as much as I am!

Best Blessings in our Risen Messiah!

Donna Miller