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Apple Trees & Big Red Barns

Posted on Saturday, November 22, 2008 at 08:56 by Rachel - 0 Comments - Post Comment - Link

Apple Trees and Big Red Barns…

Here’s some more photos I took on Tuesday morning. When the first snow fell, I thought the barn and our lovely crabapple tree were like peas and carrots. Comment and tell me which ones you like best! Enjoy!

Matthew 5:14 Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.
I hope you have enjoyed reading the thoughts and happenings of a fifteen-year-old girl from the country. “You can do all things through CHRIST who strengthens you!” Philippians 4:13

Hunting Season

Posted on Saturday, November 22, 2008 at 08:17 by Gabbie - 2 Comments - Post Comment - Link

Years ago, when Grandma was still alive (she died in 1993), we would all gather at her house on those cold winter weekends during hunting season. The men (or boys as she called them....the "Great White Hunters to others) would gather early in the morning in the barnyard and map out where everyone was going to be hunting that day, so that there were no "suprises"!!!

When it was a decent hour in the morning (no I don't consider 5 am a decent hour! LMSO), the ladies of the family would gather at Grandma's house with soups, sandwiches, and lots of baked goods and extra coffee pots and crockpots and prepare the hunters luncheon. My oh my, we had pies, cookies, cakes, and lots of candies for the men, and of course, us kids would jump in and grab a bite too of course

There was a set time for everyone to meet back at Grandma's farm house for lunch. As the hunters piled into the house to warm up and get some nourishment, the ladies of the family were the waitresses. The kids and womenfolk would eat before or after the hunters. Coffee pots were passed around and everyone had a second piece of pie because sittting in a deerstand and tracking deer was a hard job!!!

After they ate, and left for their second hunting session of the day, the women would clean up, and retire to the living room for some good conversation and crafting. Some women sewed items by hand, crocheted or knit, or did embroidiery while the kids played.

Around sunset, the woman would gather in the kitchen again to make sure everything was set for another round of hungry hunters. Mostly the same foods were served, but there was always a backup plan of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and storebought cookies and treats just in case they ate too much for lunch. This rarely happened since the women fixed many soups and sandwiches for the whole day. One year there were 4 extra hunters who ate with ours, and we were glad to have the back up sandwiches, etc.

After eating, the men would retire to the living room to share hunting stories (they were the best stories too....like the year my brother shot a dear and forgot his tag in the truck about 100 yards away. A conservation agent just "happened" along about that time, checking people for lisences and tags, and gave my brother a fine for not having the ticket on him. LOL Poor guy. Oh well, taught him a lesson didn't it) while the women cleaned up, put things away, and packed up leftovers, the kids, etc. Everyone went home tired, and ready to do it again the following day.

I miss those times. Grandma died, and the old farmhouse is inhabitible and falling in now. It is weird how people say, so and so was the one who held the family together. I used to think they were crazy, but in this case, it is true. Grandma certainly held the family together. It just isn't the same without her. The boys are still gathering in the barnlot to talk before hunting starts, and they still have their deer stands in the same trees, but they meet elsewhere now to eat lunch and supper. It might be good food and conversation, but many of the men are gone now, and several of the ladies are too, replaced by the next generation of hunters.

Catching up

Posted on Friday, November 21, 2008 at 10:39 by Heritage Hill Homestead - 0 Comments - Post Comment - Link

Where has this past week gone? Time flies when you are having fun, right?? Well, I guess I have been having fun then.

The auction I talked about going to on Saturday was very cold!! We got a truck load of stuff for a total of $12. A large cooler we can use for Farmers Market, several boxes of canning jars, a table, and the best of all..........an arch way that I have been wanting for a long time. This one had been used for wedding decorations, it has roses, tulle and lights on it, however those will come off and I will put it over the gate into the poulty yard and I will plant honeysuckle on it! It cost a dollar! Since it was so cold things went very cheap.

We stopped and got Kaylan and she came home with us to spend the night. Then on Sunday there was a surprise party planned for Ryan celebrating him finishing his college class. He still has some elective classes to finish up hours before he will actually graduate. But he completed an 18 month business class and a huge paper.....so he deserved a party. However, he was not particularly happy with the idea at first, I guess he doesn't like surprises, he was happy by the end. Part of the problem was it was a beautiful day and he had plans to spend it outdoors. Anyway, happy or not, we are very proud of you Ryan!

While in the area, Mom and I picked up pears. I had wanted to get some and was afraid they may all be gone by then, but there were a lot of nice ones on the ground. So, they are waiting on me to make something of them now. I want to make pear honey for sure, maybe can some, not sure what all.

Monday I took Mom to see a very close friend that had a stroke about 3 months ago. It was really hard to see her, but at the same time, she looked good and responded to some conversation. She has come a long way and with therapy, and continued prayer she will improve.

Tuesday evening we attended a meeting in Emporia for local food providers. I think they called it Growing Local Foods. Anyway, gardeners, livestock producers, etc. came together to talk about marketing ideas in our area. It was a good meeting and we made a new acquaintance that lives near us and has many similar interests.

Wednesday was the most perfect fall day, Thursday was winter! Today not quite as cold. We made a shopping trip today. Stocked up on baking supplies mostly. Sutherlands had their fruit sale today, so I got 15 pounds of Granny Smith apples, they were 69 cents a pound.

Speaking of bargains...........gas today in town was $1.65.......how about that!

Sunday we will celebrate Thanksgiving with a dinner following the service at church. We are making a big pan of dressing, and I don't know for sure what else yet. I suppose I should make deviled eggs as we have plenty right now.

Well that about brings us up to date around the homestead.

Country Blessings,

Marilyn~at Heritage Hill Homestead

Cinnamon Roll Recipe

Posted on Friday, November 21, 2008 at 10:30 by Heritage Hill Homestead - 1 Comments - Post Comment - Link

Finally I am back with the cinnamon roll recipe I mentioned. I have made it 3 times now and it has turned out well. They seem to stay soft for several days. I am making them for the same resturant that I make the pies for, so I wanted them to be really good! Apparently they do like them as they have ordered them twice this week. Thanks to LaJuan in Colorado for sending this to me and allowing me to share it here with you.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This came from "Favorite Family Recipes - The Martin Family". They are a conservative (horse and buggy) Mennonite family out of Barnett, Missouri.

Cinnamon Rolls -

3 c. flour 1 T. salt

2 c. warm water 5 eggs, beaten

2 pkg. yeast (2 T.) 6 c. flour

2 c. raw potatoes, 1 pound butter

cooked & mashed 3/4 pound brown sugar

1 c. lard (shortening) cinnamon

1 cup sugar raisins

- Dissolve yeast in warm water.

Let set (start) and then add 3 cups flour.

Let rise one hour.

- Same time, dice potatoes. Cook and mash.

While mashed potatoes are still hot, add lard, sugar and salt.

Mix and add eggs.

Add all of this to flour-yeast mixture.

- Add 6 cups flour.

Knead and let rise until double.

- Roll out and spread with butter (I prefer melted) and brown sugar.

Sprinkle with cinnamon and raisins as desired.

Cut and bake at 350 degrees.

Last note was 15 minutes with question mark.

(Note: I baked them at 375 for 20 minutes)

Marilyn~at Heritage Hill Homestead

A Different Christmas Poem

Posted on Friday, November 21, 2008 at 07:33 by Nurseforlife - 0 Comments - Link

The embers glowed softly, and in their dim light,
I gazed round the room and I cherished the sight.
My wife was asleep, her head on my chest,
My daughter beside me, angelic in rest.
Outside the snow fell, a blanket of white,
Transforming the yard to a winter delight.

The sparkling lights in the tree I believe,
Completed the magic that was Christmas Eve.
My eyelids were heavy, my breathing was deep,
Secure and surrounded by love I would sleep.
In perfect contentment, or so it would seem,
So I slumbered, perhaps I started to dream.

The sound wasn't loud, and it wasn't too near,
But I opened my eyes when it tickled my ear.
Perhaps just a cough, I didn't quite know, Then the
sure sound of footsteps outside in the snow.
My soul gave a tremble, I struggled to hear,
And I crept to the door just to see who was near.

Standing out in the cold and the dark of the night,
A lone figure stood, his face weary and tight.
A soldier, I puzzled, some twenty years old,
Perhaps a Marine, huddled here in the cold.
Alone in the dark, he looked up and smiled,
Standing watch over me, and my wife and my child.

"What are you doing?" I asked without fear,
"Come in this moment, it's freezing out here!
Put down your pack, brush the snow from your sleeve,
You should be at home on a cold Christmas Eve!"
For barely a moment I saw his eyes shift,
Away from the cold and the snow blown in drifts..

To the window that danced with a warm fire's light
Then he sighed and he said "Its really all right,
I'm out here by choice. I'm here every night."
"It's my duty to stand at the front of the line,
That separates you from the darkest of times.

No one had to ask or beg or implore me,
I'm proud to stand here like my fathers before me.
My Gramps died at ' Pearl on a day in December,"
Then he sighed, "That's a Christmas 'Gram always remembers."
My dad stood his watch in the jungles of ' Nam ',
And now it is my turn and so, here I am.

I've not seen my own son in more than a while,
But my wife sends me pictures, he's sure got her smile.
Then he bent and he carefully pulled from his bag,
The red, white, and blue... an American flag.
I can live through the cold and the being alone,
Away from my family, my house and my home.

I can stand at my post through the rain and the sleet,
I can sleep in a foxhole with little to eat.
I can carry the weight of killing another,
Or lay down my life with my sister and brother..
Who stand at the front against any and all,
To ensure for all time that this flag will not fall."

" So go back inside," he said, "harbor no fright,
Your family is waiting and I'll be all right."
"But isn't there something I can do, at the least,
"Give you money," I asked, "or prepare you a feast?
It seems all too little for all that you've done,
For being away from your wife and your son."

Then his eye welled a tear that held no regret,
"Just tell us you love us, and never forget.
To fight for our rights back at home while we're gone,
To stand your own watch, no matter how long.
For when we come home, either standing or dead,
To know you remember we fought and we bled.
Is payment enough, and with that we will trust,
That we mattered to you as you mattered to us."

PLEASE, would you do me the kind favor of sending this to as many
people as you can? Christmas will be coming soon and some credit is due to our
U.S service men and women for our being able to celebrate these
festivities. Let's try in this small way to pay a tiny bit of what we owe. Make people
stop and think of our heroes, living and dead, who sacrificed themselves for us.

LCDR Jeff Giles, SC, USN
30th Naval Construction Regiment
OIC, Logistics Cell One
Al Taqqadum, Iraq

I received this in an email from a friend today whose son and daughter in law are serving in Iraq again this holiday season.

Table Project

Posted on Friday, November 21, 2008 at 12:42 PM by Mama Hen - 2 Comments - Link

When we moved to our current home, we bought a dining room set second hand. It was very solid, and well built, but needed refinishing. The table had several marks and scratches on the top, and had been chewed on by a dog on the bottom.

So I decided to get started...thankfully we have a double door to the back porch and were able to move the table outside to sand....

JR helping sand... JD helped as well, but I didn't have the camera handy when he did...

Almost done sanding...

And here it is.....it is still wet, but it is looking so much better! You can see it "stretched" and one of the leaves sitting in it. I still have to do the other leaf and the benches and chairs, but those will have to wait until spring. It is too cold to work outside anymore, and the stain doesn't like to dry well when it is cold. We are pleased with the results.

http://www.homesteadblogger.com/mamahen

My first try at ZIPPERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Posted on Friday, November 21, 2008 at 01:22 by Gabbie - 2 Comments - Post Comment - Link

I am in a swap online, and my swap partner has specifically requested throw pillows for her living room couch. We made a deal that if I make the pillow covers, she will buy the inserts for them if I make them a standard size. That way the shipping won't be so costly. I hope she loves them!!! The fabric was on her wish list, so I think she will.

And the bonus is, zippers are not that hard!! I am thinking of buying some smaller zippers and making some wristlets and makeup bags sometime soon!!

Here is a pic:

And here is a close up of the fabric:

I finally made myself an apron!! IT"S MINE!! ALL MINE!!!

Posted on Friday, November 21, 2008 at 01:19 by Gabbie - 3 Comments - Post Comment - Link

I have been sewing and crafting for others so much lately (and I honeslty do enjoy it), but decided the other day to take 15 minutes to spend on my own apron. I have had this apron laying in a stack on my sewing table 1/2 way done for 2 months or so now. LMSO Sad isn't it??? But alas, it is done, and I love it!!!!

Here is a pic:

Life in the 1500's

Posted on Thursday, November 20, 2008 at 03:45 by Nurseforlife - 2 Comments - Link

LIFE IN THE 1500'S-

The next time you are washing your hands and complain because the water temperature isn't just how you like it, think about how things used to be. Here are some facts about the1500s:

Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May, and still smelled pretty good by June. Ho wever, they were starting to smell, so brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odor. Hence the custom today of carrying a bouquet when getting married.

Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the house had the privilege of the nice clean water, then all the other sons and men, then the women and finally the children. Last of all the babies. By then the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it. Hence the saying, Don't throw the baby out with the Bath water..

Houses had thatched roofs-thick straw-piled high, with no wood underneath. It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all the cats and other small animals (mice, bugs) lived in the roof When it rained it became slippery and sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof.. Hence the saying . It's raining cats and dogs.

There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house.. This posed a real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings could mess up your nice clean bed. Hence, a bed with big posts and a sheet hung over the top afforded some protection. That's how canopy beds came into existence.

The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt. Hence the saying, Dirt poor. The wealthy had slate floors that would get slippery in the winter when wet, so they spread thresh (straw) on floor to help keep their footing. As the winter wore on, they added more thresh until, when you opened the door, it would all start slipping outside. A piece of wood was placed in the entranceway. Hence the saying a thresh hold.

(Getting quite an education, aren't you?)

In those old days, they cooked in the kitchen with a big kettle that always hung over the fire. Every day they lit the fire and added things to the pot. They ate mostly vegetables and did not get much meat. They would eat the stew for dinner, leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold overnight and then start over the nex t day. Sometimes stew had food in it that had been there for quite a while. Hence the rhyme, Peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old..

Sometimes they could obtain pork, which made them feel quite special.. When visitors came over, they would hang up their bacon to show off. It was a sign of wealth that a man could, bring home the bacon. They would cut off a little to share with guests and would all sit around and chew the fat..

Those with money had plates made of pewter. Food with high acid content caused some of the lead to leach onto the food, causing lead poisoning death. This happened most often with tomatoes, so for the next 400 years or so, tomatoes were considered poisonous.

Bread was divided according to status. Workers got the burnt bottom of the loaf, the family got the middle, and guests got the top, or the upper crust.

Lead cups were used to drink ale or whisky. The combination would sometimes knock the imbibers out for a couple of days. Someone walking along the road would take them for dead and prepare them for burial. They were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days and the family would gather around and eat and drink and wait and see if they would wake up. Hence the custom of holding a wake.

England is old and small and the local folks started running out of places to bury people. So they would dig up coffins and would take the bones to a bone-house, and reuse the grave. When reopening these coffins, 1 out of 25 coffins were found to have scratch marks on the inside and they realized they had been burying people alive. S o they would tie a string on the wrist of the corpse, lead it through the coffin and up through the ground and tie it to a bell. Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all night (the graveyard shift..) to listen for the bell; thus, someone could be, saved by the bell or was considered a ..dead ringer..
Educate someone. Share these facts with your friends!

Some days

Posted on Thursday, November 20, 2008 at 06:04 by plantinthings - Link

my son just test my patience. He can be so hurtful and mean in what he says to me.....I just want to be just as hurtful back. But I know it's his age 11, and I'm in the middle of a divorce and his dad is bribing him to come live with him by promising to buy him video games (M rated, at that), just buying him whatever he wants to try to win him over to his side. I hoping this divorce will be over soon.

Went to my attorney's yesterday, after nearly a year negotiating with him to try to keep costs down and being civil about the whole matter he just keeps wanting more, well my attorney is MAD and sent his attorney a fax telling him all negotions are done, we'll be going to medation. So please keep my son and me in your prayers and that soon this will be over.

By the way my son just came in an apologized to me for hurting my feelings. I do feel better.

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