Guest Writer - Times are Tight

Above is one of my buddies from nursing school, "city girl" and her little pumpkin. As you can see she was part of last weeks photo shot. She does not have a blog so I pestered her to write a little something up on her recent endeavors. I have learned from her and thought it would be nice to share with others.

Do you remember last winter? You know, when oil prices sky rocketed? Remember how the cost of groceries climbed higher on a weekly basis? I know large oil bills arrived in our mail box every 3-4 weeks and money got tighter all around which meant my grocery budget took a huge hit.

I know I’ll never forget! Because, on one shopping trip the rising cost of groceries literally brought me to the verge of tears! It seemed that literally every item I reached for that day had gone up in price. I’m not talking just a few pennies either! I’m talking dimes, quarters and dollars. Usually, I am one of those freaks of nature who enjoys grocery shopping…so the sting of tears between the produce aisle and the fish counter was not a good omen.

That night I composed an email to all of my friends. In it I asked them if they were having similar experiences with their budgets and what was it they were doing to stretch their dollar week to week? Was anyone willing to have a conversation around this issue? Did they have any money saving tips to offer me?

I hesitated to send it out because I felt financially embarrassed. I soon had found out that I had nothing to worry about and the sense of embarrassment was replaced by the strength and support of those friends. In fact, everyone replied and in doing so took away the feelings of isolation, provided emotional support and put me in touch with some great resources and ideas.

So, if the economy stretching your hard earned dollar so thin you can practically see through it, please read on.

Grocery budgets can be reduced significantly by giving up store and brand loyalty, creating a price book, shopping for sales, buying in bulk, creating a pantry along with a menu plan for the week/ month. It also helps to have a freezer and to learn to cook from scratch if you don’t know how already.

I found the following references very handy:

An e-book written by Lana Dorazio: Saving Thousands Grocery Shopping & Cook Great Food! It was well worth the $19.00 spent. It includes: e book, grocery price book, 50 simple recipes and an exclusive interview with a grocery store manager who gives away the company secrets. Check it out at www.grocerybook.com

Simple Savings Website & Newsletter

An online community dedicated to finding simple ways to save money and reduce debt to improve the quality of life.

www.simplesavings.com

Thanks City Girl for being such a sport!

Homemade Christmas

I have always questioned the way many Americans celebrate Christmas but for the most part I've went along with the way it has always been. Spending a good share of money, exchanging gift cards, and getting sucked in to the stress of it all. No more...this year we have decided to take a different approach with some of our friends and family. Instead of doing the gift card swap and going backward financially we have agreed to swap pictures and homemade goodies only.
It makes more sense and the presents are much more meaningful. The kids and I have also agreed to pick names and on Christmas eve we will all swap homemade presents. John and I will still buy for the kids but for the most part we buy practical presents.

For the last 4 years the kids and I go on an annual field trip to a local college for a fall photo session. John is usually off duck, bird, or bow hunting. We are husbandless and fatherless from October 1st until the end of November. Sure glad he doesn't have a muzzle loader! Our meals times often include roasted duck and woodcock....I'll stick to the Cornish rocks!

As a rule we usually bring a couple of friends and try to get a few good shots of them. This year we broke tradition, there was 11 of us total and Leah was an angel. Every year she has acted up for one reason or another up until this year. Last year she was hungry, the year before she was too hot, and before that I contributed her naughtiness to her age. This year I was armed with a back pack full of clothes, snacks, and drinks. Luke also made a bet with her for $10 that she couldn't be good. Low and behold she was sweet as pie! Above are a few of the pictures I took. We will make some fun Christmas presents, calendars, etc. with the pictures. When I look back at the previous years I see how much they've grown...sad! :(

Even though she was grouchy I always got a few snapshots because she is still cute.
This is in 2006, isn't her hair cute, I love it long but she hates to wear it up and chooses to keep short hair. What's a mom to do?

So here is a list of some of the things we are making this holiday season to give away.

Goat Milk Fudge - I have made one batch and did not quite get it to temperature but it still was so yummy! The recipe comes from I Love Mini Nubians

Peanut Butter Fudge

4 c. sugar
2 c. goat milk
1 stick butter or margarine
1 c. peanut butter, smooth or chunky
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Mix the sugar and goat milk into a large, heavy kettle. Cook over medium high heat until fudge reaches the soft ball stage. Stir often as this fudge has a tendency to stick to the bottom of the pot. When at the soft ball stage, remove from heat and stir in the peanut butter, butter and vanilla extract. Beat by hand until thick and dull looking. Pour into buttered 9" square pan. Cool and cut.

Bread - I have made a good egg and oatmeal bread but I want to experiment more with multi grain breads.

Goat Milk Soap - I have yet to make, I still need to get a scale. I have watched a few videos on you tube and will be experimenting soon.

Pictures - we frame pictures, make Christmas cards, sideshows, and calendars.

Christmas Ornaments - we will be making angels out of pinecones, acorns, bay leaves, and dried flowers.

Earrings- I make beaded sterling earrings (credits to my friend Mary). They make great presents for earring lovers. I would be willing to do a post on if anyone is interested.
It is easy!

Body/Linen Spray - I made lavender body spray recently. I used a 2 oz spray bottle, distilled water, 1 T. of witch hazel, and several drops of essential oil (whatever scent you prefer)

Bath Salts - 1 C epsom salt(scented or plain), 1 C sea salt, a small amount of dried flowers (I used lavender) and a few drops of essential oil (if the salt is not scented). It looks nice in a canning jar with some raffia tied around the top.


I would love to hear what others are doing for homemade presents!

Just for Fun!

This is Polly, we dog sat last week while my brother in-law and family were away camping. They have been dog-sitting her all summer. I wouldn't give her back and didn't want to after having her for a few days. She made herself right at home down on the farm.



I found this over at I Love Nubians make Mine Mini as I was reading her responses I was thinking how I'd respond. So here it is just for fun, please join along if you wish.

The object is to answer the questions with only one word.

1. Where is your cell phone? charging
2. Where is your significant other? sleeping
3. hair color? brown
4. Your mother? unique
5. Your father? supportive
6. Your favorite thing? camera
7. Your dream last night? disturbing
8. Your dream/goal? happiness
9. The room you're in? computer
10. Your hobby? farming
11. Your fear? drowning
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? here
13. Where were you last night? home
14. What you're not? boring
15. One of your wish-list items? longevity
16. Where you grew up? Maine
17. The last thing you did? dishes
18. What are you wearing? sweats
19. Your TV? never
20.Your pet? many
21. Your Computer? lifeline
22. Your mood? chipper
23. Missing Someone? Pepere
24. Your car? paid
25. Something you're not wearing? underwear
26. Favorite Store? farm
27. Your summer? short
28. Love someone? many
29. Your favorite color? none
30. When is the last time you laughed? always
31. Last time you cried? unsure


I apologize for my grammar errors on my last post. My mom just pointed them out. I had to chuckle, I made a word up "we'd" and I repeated a couple words oops. I proofread my blog at 2 am after taking 2 benadryl for insomnia.

Change Takes Time

I could have taken 100 pictures of these beautifully stocked shelves but I controlled myself. It was hard to get it all in one shot.(The bottom row is not visible)
This is what we haven't already consumed or given away. Here we have mustard pickles, dill pickles, zucchini pickles, pickled beets, and zucchini relish. Next year I plan to have a pressure cooker so I will be able to preserve an array of our bounty rather than being limited to high acidic foods.
Last year was the first time I did any canning since before having children. I preserved zucchini pickles and relish only, it went quickly. This year I swore to put up more zuchinni and I did not, now my stock is already almost depleted. :( The are real popular with the kids, my parents, and my neighbors.
Note to self for next year: MAKE LOTS OF ZUCCHINI RELISH AND PICKLES

My food stash is not much in comparison to the food some that my fellow bloggers put up ..Nita at Trapper Creek, Angie at Children in the Corn, and Phelan at Homesteading Neophyte

but it is a start. They have been my inspiration!

In the past I've dabbled with freezing vegetables from the garden and we always had a deer meat but this year I really stocked up. Our freezer is stocked with tomatoes, spaghetti sauce, tomato sauce, corn, green beans, edamame beans, home fries, blueberries, blackberries, cabbage, chickens, turkeys (soon), and we will have pork by December.
The root cellar will be stocked with garlic, onions, acorn squash, buttercup and butternut squash, spaghetti squash, hubbard squash, and potatoes.

We have grown gardens for years but I've never had much of a desire to preserve until recently. Nor did I have the time with 2 little ones, work and school. I have found that canning is time consuming but the rewards are immeasurable. There is nothing like sitting down with your family eating a homegrown meal that everyone took part in creating. The kids take pride in this too. We go around the table giving thanks for something and whatever creature we may be eating usually is mentioned as well, "for the chicken who sacrificed his life for us" and in recent months we take notice to what came from the farm, what we obtained locally, and what did not.

I really never realized how much this life has impacted our kids lives until we went to their parent teacher conferences last week and both of their teachers mentioned how much the kids shared about their lives on the farm. In past years writing was not one of Luke's favorite interests. Now he says he often needs extra paper because he has so much to write about. Luke is passionate about the life we live and Leah enjoys it as well but she is not she is not as verbal about it. However, she does love the critters and cooking is most certainly on the top of her favorites list. Luke says he is the only child in his class with a garden which I find hard to believe in living in Maine but he knows better than I.

When we bought this farm we were just excited to have a bigger house and lots of land. We had no idea how into this farming thing we'd get. Over the last 2 years things have just evolved. The first farm animals were an impulse buy on my part, can you believe? The kids and I were at a local "Animal Kingdom" and as we were leaving I questioned the owner if she had anything for sale. She happened to have ducks and chicks and a few minutes later we were cruising towards home with 6 baby chicks(which all turned out to be roosters) and 2 ducklings. Luke was in the back seat saying "Dad is gonna killlllllll you." I chuckled and said, "no fear". John is use to my unpredictability . I think that is part of the reason why he loves me, it can be fun (ok well I think it is fun). Let's see, I have come home with "without permission " a beater car in high school, a pool, a couple stray dogs, rabbits, many cats, a sheep, and a few goats.

What do you think I will come home next, they will be ready on the 20th, they are small and fury.

Last I will share a recipe for Pumpkin Chocolate Chip muffins that I made last night.

INGREDIENTS

• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup canned pumpkin
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 
  
• DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease and flour muffin pan or use paper liners.
2. Mix sugar, oil, eggs. Add pumpkin and water. In separate bowl mix together the baking flour, baking soda, baking powder, spices and salt.. Add wet mixture and stir in chocolate chips.
3. Fill muffin cups 2/3 full with batter. Bake in preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes.
   ENJOY THE WEEKEND :)
   

Open for Business

John set up the stand once again. We sold about $80 worth over the weekend. We had an honor system vegetable stand for 6 weeks during the summer taking in $50-$60/week. It was a learning experience but I think we will do again next summer. I realized quickly that selling veggies is not a huge money maker and does require some effort. I hope that as the kids get older they may take it over. It will be a good experience for them and a way to make some money. It is also nice to chat with the locals and a good way to get rid of extra produce. We also sell eggs on a regular basis when we have extra at $2.00/ dozen. We put them out in a cooler by the road with a sign. The cooler is always empty within a few hours. All these little things we do helps to pay for grain for all the critters.

We had an eventful weekend carving pumpkins and cooking the seeds....

....painting pumpkins. I am am working on a witch one, pictures to come.

Leah's ghost

I forgot to mention we sold all those chicks right after I posted the OMG we have 200 chickens post. We have 30 left that will be in the freezer in a few weeks.

Live in the Moment

This week I read a touching post by Down to Earth. I clicked on the links she shared to read about a devastating event that occurred in August. A fellow blogger and her husband were in a plane crash and severely burned. I too will share the links with my blog friends.

This is Stephanie's blog which her sister is keeping alive by re-posting some of her previous posts.
This link has updates of about their recovery.
Another link with more updates.

My hearts go out to them, their children, and their families.

My Favorite Time of Year

The change of seasons is always a pleasure but fall is my favorite. The smells, the cool air, apple picking, the leaves changing colors and the harvest.

The next few days we will be preparing a roadside set up to sell our cornstalks and pumpkins and we will be decorating around the farm with our bounty. We will also go apple picking. I can't wait! I always dreamed of having a big barn so we could have an annual Halloween Party but now I don't have it in me. In a few years when the kids are done with trick or treating I think we will make that a tradition her at Achorn Farm.

I have a love hate relationship with these guys. I love that I feed them and they will feed us. I love that they eat all of our leftovers. I love that they have rototilled and are in the process of fertilizing us one hell of a garden. I hate the way they squeal when I go out to feed them. I hate that Obama thought my finger was a carrot and nearly drew blood. I hate that they intimidate me.

A couple weeks ago John asked me to come out and help him with the pigs. His plan was to deworm them and take the metal tags out of our 2 auction pigs ears. It ended up being quite a scene! Kind of like a kid in the ER when you restrain them but worse. They squealed so loud my neighbors must of thought we were torturing them. John was the pig wrestler and I was suppose to be playing the Vet role. Luke sat on their shelter and watched, he repeatedly said "Mom lets take pictures for your blog". I think a video would have been more appropriate and we probably could have won "Home Funniest Videos". They would have had to do a lot of bleeping though, I was not impressed! Actually, I quit farming that day too. Like I said before, I am intimidated by the pigs. The tags were difficult to get out of their ears and I was scared to put my hands too close to their mouths. I managed to get 2 of the 4 tags out and get the wormer in ...I think we will summons our neighbor next time because I am all set with pig wrestling. You had to be there to really appreciate this situation.

Can you believe it? John bought me a kitchen aid mixer for my birthday last week. Any tips for bread making with this baby are welcomed!
Late is better then never, right? This was suppose to be posted Monday. The doing not thinking challenge is hosted by Two Frog Home. I am getting 2-3 workouts in a week in (I could step it up a notch), I have yet to return to the gym. I have been eating healthier and I quit diet pepsi last week. I went through caffeine withdrawals for 3 days. I have lost 4 lbs, my goal was to loose 5 by December.