• Question for You About an Age Old Wedding Tradition

    Okay ladies, single and married, I would like to hear what you have to say.  Zachary is getting married May 18 so all things wedding are on my mind and an idea came to me for the “something old” item but maybe I don’t even want to go there?  Maybe it’s a tradition we should lay aside? What is your opinion of the old tradition of the bride carrying something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue? This tradition dates back several centuries.  Here are some of the meanings behind each one. Something old – signifying that she is leaving her old life behind and is starting a new life…

  • Butchering Chickens at the Farm

    I felt like a real farm girl Saturday.  Let me tell you all about it (well maybe not all, that would be a bit too unpleasant) About 6 months ago I did something I hope I’m smart enough to never do again.  I ordered a straight run of chicks.  A straight run simply means I purchased a bunch of chicks and I wouldn’t know tell they got older if they would be hens or roosters. I was buying these chicks to resell once they became older to people at our church who want meat that’s not soft like what we buy from the store. They’re from the Phillipines and Africa…

  • Experimenting with a Winter Harvest of Lettuce and Spinach

    I have wanted to write this post for months because I am quite excited about the thought of growing a garden year-round.  Never mind the fact that I am not entirely successful with one season, I want to grow in all 4 seasons. 🙂 This past winter I decided to experiment with an idea I had read about in Eliot Coleman’s book The Winter Harvest Handbook:  Year Round Vegetable Production Using Deep Organic Techniques and Unheated Greenhouses. Eliot Colman lives in Maine and has produced organic crops commercially for several years. I haven’t read the book from cover to cover but what I did gather was that you can harvest…

  • A Solution for Your Kitchen Baskets

    Last week, after returning from Michigan, I finally got to one of those projects that’s been hanging over me for a while – tidying up the pantry.  As you have probably noticed in your own home things have to constantly be straightened or cleaned. This is the second law of thermodynamics at work.  Now I was impressed when I learned about this law recently because it sounded so grandiose, like something only really smart people talked about or understood.  However, if you put it into everyday words as the book I’m reading called Better than Good did, it becomes something that makes complete sense and applies to everyone, even you.…

  • The Ending of Our Trip

    The Sunday after the wedding, our gracious hosts showed more hospitality and had a luncheon with all the out-of-towners. It was lovely and although they live in small quarters, it just shows once again that you don’t have to be in a big place to be accommodating.  You can do it and people will still love it. Monday most everyone left (except for us) and so we waved my sister and her family, as well as Seth the wanderer (my son), who went home with them for a week and doesn’t come home till tomorrow. Time with family and friends… is always delightful… Happily, our next reunion will be in…