This was posted on a blog I follow this AM. How very true it is....Make MINE Freedom!!! Enjoy this, watch it all the way to the end and decide for yourself. :) Not a hard choice, really, but some these days have forgotten or have chosen not to remember what it means to be free and also what it takes. Too many are all to willing to sign over their freedom for a "quick fix" to issues we face as a nation. Even though this cartoon is over 60 years old, it couldn't be more fitting to today. Sad really, that we haven't learned much in 60 years.
Follow the link below to The Abundant Life blog. Thank you "Ma" for posting this!!
The Abundant Life: Make Mine Freedom (1948) cartoon
Monday, July 12, 2010
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Yard sale and hay time...what a weekend!
What a weekend we had! Such a busy time, but a fun time too. Our yard sale was set up and ready to go early Saturday morning. The people started coming right away...even before our 8:00 AM opening time. We didn't mind, it was a nice older gentleman that loved to talk. He visited with us for a long time, bought a few things and then said his good bye. :) Slowly, the crowds started coming. All day long, we had a fairly steady flow of people. I think the best part of the day was just spending the whole day with my hubby. We haven't had so much time together without working on something in a long time. Made for a fun day, for sure. :)
Saturday we got a phone call that the gentleman we usually buy our hay from had hay on the ground and ready to be hauled out of the field. It was good hay and a good price. So, even though my dear hubby was tired from a long week and a busy day of running a yard sale, he and our son Brandon headed out after dinner to bring in almost 100 bales of hay...that's just under 3 ton. YAY! Thankfully, that should be all the hay we will need until this time next year. Thank the Lord! Such a huge blessing and one less thing for us to have to deal with for the rest of the year. We even were able to load almost half of it into our hay loft in the barn...first time it's had hay in it. :) So, even though it had been a long day, my guys worked at bringing hay (with the help of some dear friends of ours....the guys helped them with some of their hay too) until 11:30 PM. We were up and ready for day two of our sale the next morning, bright and early. All tired, but we had a job to finish.
So, as you can see we had a long weekend. It was fun, full of hard work and so much together time. Loved it all! Tomorrow is another day, the start of another week. I have yet to plan menus or soak any grains for breakfast. I am thinking we'll end up having yogurt. :) We are all tired and have stayed up far too late. I'm headed to bed...far later than I had intended. It's all good though, it's been a great weekend! God has blessed us beyond measure and we are so thankful for it all.
Saturday we got a phone call that the gentleman we usually buy our hay from had hay on the ground and ready to be hauled out of the field. It was good hay and a good price. So, even though my dear hubby was tired from a long week and a busy day of running a yard sale, he and our son Brandon headed out after dinner to bring in almost 100 bales of hay...that's just under 3 ton. YAY! Thankfully, that should be all the hay we will need until this time next year. Thank the Lord! Such a huge blessing and one less thing for us to have to deal with for the rest of the year. We even were able to load almost half of it into our hay loft in the barn...first time it's had hay in it. :) So, even though it had been a long day, my guys worked at bringing hay (with the help of some dear friends of ours....the guys helped them with some of their hay too) until 11:30 PM. We were up and ready for day two of our sale the next morning, bright and early. All tired, but we had a job to finish.
So, as you can see we had a long weekend. It was fun, full of hard work and so much together time. Loved it all! Tomorrow is another day, the start of another week. I have yet to plan menus or soak any grains for breakfast. I am thinking we'll end up having yogurt. :) We are all tired and have stayed up far too late. I'm headed to bed...far later than I had intended. It's all good though, it's been a great weekend! God has blessed us beyond measure and we are so thankful for it all.
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Is it hot enough for you?
After what felt like an endless winter, a wet and cold spring, summer has finally come to our farm. Sure, we've had summer sunshine for a while now, thankfully, but the heat has come to visit as well now. Our forecast high for today is 90-95 degrees...tomorrow the high could reach 100! Talk about jumping into summer. It went from 60s and 70s to 90s in a matter of a day.
So, for today and tomorrow the kids and I are laying low. I'm avoiding turning on the stove or oven for fear of heating up the house even more. There is plenty that needs to be done in the kitchen, but the cooking will be kept to a minimum. Such a bummer too...so much baking I'd like to do. :) Oh well, we will survive.
This weekend we have a yard sale planned. I am NOT a fan of such undertakings, but it was something we decided we needed to do given our current financial stresses. Thankfully, my hard working man is back to work for a few weeks, but we never know when that could change and have decided to take this chance to get rid of some unwanted clutter. So, we'll be busy making deals and hopefully making a bit of money to put away for a future lay off. It will be SO nice to get rid of all of he extra "stuff". I just hope that I can survive the doing of it. :)
Friday, Alyssa and I will be busy baking a few goodies to have on hand for a small bake sale table at the sale too. That always is a welcomed thing at yard sales on early mornings. My goal is to make two batches of cinnamon rolls and a few batches of cookies. We'll also have lemonade and maybe some bottled water and soda...we'll see. With as far out as we live, I don't want to invest much. I don't have any idea how many people will venture our way...my prayer is a whole bunch! My prayer is that the Lord would bring buyers for the big things, that we'd get our price on them and that much of the little stuff would be purchased as well...my ultimate prayer is that it ALL sells. :) Wouldn't that be a HUGE God moment? Oh my! :)
In the mean time, given the heat, I'm taking advantage of the free clothes dryer. :) I'm working on the loads of laundry that have piled up. Hoping to get all of the bedding washed and hung out by the end of this heat wave. :) That is a job in and of itself! My clothesline will get a big workout this week, for sure. I love that tool...one of the best Mother's Day gifts I've ever gotten!
So, for today and tomorrow the kids and I are laying low. I'm avoiding turning on the stove or oven for fear of heating up the house even more. There is plenty that needs to be done in the kitchen, but the cooking will be kept to a minimum. Such a bummer too...so much baking I'd like to do. :) Oh well, we will survive.
This weekend we have a yard sale planned. I am NOT a fan of such undertakings, but it was something we decided we needed to do given our current financial stresses. Thankfully, my hard working man is back to work for a few weeks, but we never know when that could change and have decided to take this chance to get rid of some unwanted clutter. So, we'll be busy making deals and hopefully making a bit of money to put away for a future lay off. It will be SO nice to get rid of all of he extra "stuff". I just hope that I can survive the doing of it. :)
Friday, Alyssa and I will be busy baking a few goodies to have on hand for a small bake sale table at the sale too. That always is a welcomed thing at yard sales on early mornings. My goal is to make two batches of cinnamon rolls and a few batches of cookies. We'll also have lemonade and maybe some bottled water and soda...we'll see. With as far out as we live, I don't want to invest much. I don't have any idea how many people will venture our way...my prayer is a whole bunch! My prayer is that the Lord would bring buyers for the big things, that we'd get our price on them and that much of the little stuff would be purchased as well...my ultimate prayer is that it ALL sells. :) Wouldn't that be a HUGE God moment? Oh my! :)
In the mean time, given the heat, I'm taking advantage of the free clothes dryer. :) I'm working on the loads of laundry that have piled up. Hoping to get all of the bedding washed and hung out by the end of this heat wave. :) That is a job in and of itself! My clothesline will get a big workout this week, for sure. I love that tool...one of the best Mother's Day gifts I've ever gotten!
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Wheat Hoagie Rolls...so good!
Today I made a batch of Crystal Miller's hoagie rolls. I have been visiting her site, The Family Homestead for years and love trying her creations. I would LOVE to be able to take credit for this creation, but all I did was follow instructions. :) These rolls are AMAZINGLY light and fluffy. Perfect for any brat or hot dog you'd want to fill them with, or just to use as a sandwich roll. So good! My next batch of these will actually be hamburger buns.Because I am trying to totally avoid processed flours, I want to try this recipe again without any added unbleached flour. We'll see how it goes. The amount in this recipe is so little, it won't be the end of the world if I have to keep the processed flour in them. I do have to try though. :) Either way, this recipe is super easy to make and the dough is amazingly soft and easy to work with. I loved making these. How I've missed baking with wheat flour...so far, we are doing well. My prayer is that we have found what is going to work for our family.
These will go perfectly with tomorrow night's dinner of grilled hot dogs and brats, potato salad, fresh carrot sticks and cucumber coins, and fresh melon salad. I can't wait to have dinner tomorrow. :) Thank you Crystal for posting this amazing recipe on your site....I am hooked!
First of the Season!
Raspberries, so sweet and juicy! I do believe they are one of my favorite berries. Our raspberry canes are doing so amazingly well. Every year I am blessed with an abundance of wonderful berries. This past weekend, I picked the bowl of ripe berries. There have been a few ripe, here and there for the past week or so but this was the first "real" picking of the year. In another day or two, there will be more ready. Most of these berries will end up in the freezer for future smoothies and berry syrup to be used in fresh yogurt and on pancakes and waffles. There never seems to be an end to the ideas for these tasty berries. There also never seems to be enough berries for all of the ideas. :)
Sunday, July 4, 2010
American Pride!
Happy 4th of July everyone! Today is such a special day. Our country's birthday...no matter how we may feel about the current state of things in this country, one thing remains...being proud of ALL of those that have served our great nation. Past and present. This took on a whole new meaning to us this year. Our oldest son joined the military. He became a United States Marine! I just got off the phone with him, thankfully he is able to call us often. :) He is in training right now in California. Feels like such a long ways away, but he will be home again in August. :)
This spring, we were blessed with the chance to go visit him and see his graduation from boot camp. What an event that was! So many amazing memories we made that weekend. A once in a lifetime event and we felt SO blessed to be there! We are so very proud of our son and of every member of our nations armed forces. They serve a great nation...sacrifice daily for our freedom! There is NO way to thank them enough. The picture below was taken at MCRD San Diego, CA.
This is our son on his graduation day...such a handsome young man! We are SO VERY PROUD of him! :)
Have a very safe and happy 4th of July! Say a prayer for our service members and their families. They all give so very much to keep our great nation free! God bless them...and you. :)
Friday, July 2, 2010
Adventures of soaking grains....so far, so good!
It seems as if I've spent every spare moment in the kitchen this week. Between my work for Gling, the gluten-free website I work for and my own personal cooking and baking, it's been a long week in the kitchen. Not that I'm complaining, mind you, I love both jobs. :) Creating tasty foods for my family and tweaking recipes to be gluten-free and tasty is always a good time. OK, not always, it really isn't fun to have a recipe not work, but for the most part it's all good times!
My newest adventure in soaking grains and flours has been a huge learning experience. I've had several successes and one failure. One thing I am learning is that I have got to get better at menu planning...like planning ALL of our food for the week, not just dinner. So, this weekend, that is what I'll be working on. I need to come up with a good plan for the next week so that I will know what grains or flours to start soaking when. So far, other than the flopped recipe, that has been my biggest hurdle. I am learning that planning ahead, something that I "thought" I was good at, is a must...oh, and I realized that I have not been planning as well as I had thought, either. :)
My biggest success, in my mind, was the soaked baked oatmeal! HUGE success in the fact that my oatmeal hating daughter LOVED it! YAY!! This mamma was thrilled at that statement. :) One less battle, gotta love that. Not only did my family love it, but I was also able to make it gluten-free and therefore add it to the list of recipes on Gling. That is always a huge bonus, being able to share something that my family loves with the gluten-free community is always a good thing! When we first started eating gluten-free, I struggled to find a good site to meet all of my needs for information and recipes. That is why I love my job with the website so much, I get to pass on what I've learned and get a bit of extra money for our budget as well. A win win!
My flop of the week was a kefir soaked sourdough bread. I don't know what I did wrong there. I'm waiting to hear from the friend that I got the recipe from and see if perhaps I missed something. We'll see if I can't get it to work next time. It's a recipe that her family loves, so I'm thinking I did something wrong.
I also have a sourdough starter that I'm using that I bought from Leeners several months ago and never got around to trying. So far, my first bread attempt was a good one! Very sour and very tasty. YUM! I am hoping to make sourdough pancakes this AM for breakfast and start another batch of bread tomorrow. Thankfully, so far, we've seen no ill effects from eating these soaked flours and grains. I am praying it stays that way. :)
Other than gluten-free goodies and soaked flours and grains, I've also been working on a bit of cheese making. Last night I started a batch of Fromagina. I bought the culture from New England Cheese Making Supply Company, I get all of my cultures from them. The selection is amazing and the prices are good too. This is the first time I've made this cheese, we'll see how we like it. I guess its a creamy spreadable cheese. Sounds tasty to me. :) I'll also be making mozzarella today as well and perhaps ricotta. I have several gallons of milk to get used up. Between cheese and ice cream, we'll be well supplied in dairy products this weekend. :)
My newest adventure in soaking grains and flours has been a huge learning experience. I've had several successes and one failure. One thing I am learning is that I have got to get better at menu planning...like planning ALL of our food for the week, not just dinner. So, this weekend, that is what I'll be working on. I need to come up with a good plan for the next week so that I will know what grains or flours to start soaking when. So far, other than the flopped recipe, that has been my biggest hurdle. I am learning that planning ahead, something that I "thought" I was good at, is a must...oh, and I realized that I have not been planning as well as I had thought, either. :)
My biggest success, in my mind, was the soaked baked oatmeal! HUGE success in the fact that my oatmeal hating daughter LOVED it! YAY!! This mamma was thrilled at that statement. :) One less battle, gotta love that. Not only did my family love it, but I was also able to make it gluten-free and therefore add it to the list of recipes on Gling. That is always a huge bonus, being able to share something that my family loves with the gluten-free community is always a good thing! When we first started eating gluten-free, I struggled to find a good site to meet all of my needs for information and recipes. That is why I love my job with the website so much, I get to pass on what I've learned and get a bit of extra money for our budget as well. A win win!
My flop of the week was a kefir soaked sourdough bread. I don't know what I did wrong there. I'm waiting to hear from the friend that I got the recipe from and see if perhaps I missed something. We'll see if I can't get it to work next time. It's a recipe that her family loves, so I'm thinking I did something wrong.
I also have a sourdough starter that I'm using that I bought from Leeners several months ago and never got around to trying. So far, my first bread attempt was a good one! Very sour and very tasty. YUM! I am hoping to make sourdough pancakes this AM for breakfast and start another batch of bread tomorrow. Thankfully, so far, we've seen no ill effects from eating these soaked flours and grains. I am praying it stays that way. :)
Other than gluten-free goodies and soaked flours and grains, I've also been working on a bit of cheese making. Last night I started a batch of Fromagina. I bought the culture from New England Cheese Making Supply Company, I get all of my cultures from them. The selection is amazing and the prices are good too. This is the first time I've made this cheese, we'll see how we like it. I guess its a creamy spreadable cheese. Sounds tasty to me. :) I'll also be making mozzarella today as well and perhaps ricotta. I have several gallons of milk to get used up. Between cheese and ice cream, we'll be well supplied in dairy products this weekend. :)