Let's see...

I just found out I was awarded a blog award...

This particular blog award is for bloggers who don't have a big following or perhaps are just starting out 200 or less followers.  I DON'T TYPICALLY  accept these blog awards...(that's why this is on my sidebar)
  
but in this case I'm making an exception ... because it will help promote bloggers who are small and may want to get their numbers and viewers UP!   If you are an award free blog and would rather not participate...please let me know and I'll remove your name and let someone else get the visits!  {smile}



Apparently Liebster is German for friend.  I consider all my followers and the ladies that frequent my blog friends!

So... let me start by saying a big Thank you Jonelle   from Johnnies' Junk... 

for awarding me this Liebster Blog award.

I recently met Jonelle and left her a comment about her beautifully  re-vamped kitchen


I'm in desperate need of color- coordination -inspiration and her post was just what I was looking for! 
So on with the awards! 

Rules are simple:

1. Copy and paste award on blog

2. Thank the person who gives you the award and add a link

3. Pick 5 blogs to pass the award to and let them know by leaving them a comment on their blog

4. Hope that your followers will visit your friends

Camp and Cottage Living  Kimberly, Lives up north...she's a retiree and grandmother with a newly designed Mother in Law suite for her Mother in Love... she's taken tender care to make it comfy for her to come live near them.

Mel's Design ...n' Harmony  -- I think I like Mel's crafts because of the 'redesigning' she does. She reuses cast offs and makes them into something beautiful and useful for today... bags, purses, aprons, home decor... all lovely!

Pioneer Woman at Heart ...Kristina... SAHM, camper, crafter, farmer...Homesteader in Action!

Herb and Botanicals   ...Living Life Frugally and Simply!  
Lisa  - is a grandmother, crafter, frugal homemaker with cute crafts and ideas
Abitosunshine  Ruthie is a Poet and a Writer... I recently had the pleasure of meeting her through the Giving Thanks Challenge... She writes beautiful inspirational poems. 


I hope you will visit and read these ladies blogs leave some lovely comments! 


God Bless you and Thanks for Reading~ 

Just in Case You were Wondering…

I AM still here. 
We survived the Thanksgiving Holiday …
and EVEN a little ‘BLACK FRIDAY’ shopping.
But sometime over the weekend… I’ll call it SATURDAY…
I started ‘PINNING’ and became lost in the never ending scroll bar that IS

God bless you and Thanks for reading~

Farm House Friday Post

I think this is my First FARM HOUSE FRIDAY POST … not for sure, but that statement is full of alliteration,too!
This past week I showed you the changes I made to the backsplash area behind my stove. HERE 
Well, this week---while I was supposed to be working on Thanksgiving preparations…  I was doing other things in the kitchen instead.
I liked my ‘pallet turned utensil crate’…but felt it needed something else…

today I added some  cool ‘signage’!  I just couldn’t resist any longer; I had to try my hand at it.

What do you think?  This is the perfect little touch it needed, I think.
I found a font I liked and printed it off… and did this the old fashioned way.  I traced it out onto the wood and then filled it in with a SHARPIE~oh, yes. I DID. Afterwards I ‘DINGED IT UP with a hammer in the graphic portion and brushed some Ooops! paint on it with a dry brush and wiped it off~ the final touch was sanding it off to just the right fade. All done!  I like it.
The other thing I did in my kitchen this week; I put wallpaper on the backsplash of my kitchen counter.  Here’s a peek.
  I’ll show you more of that in another post; I’m going to live with it for a few days over the holidays probably and see what I think of it. Right now?  I just don’t think the color is right. 
It is blue gray with Fired Steel (gun metal with a slight sheen) over the top lightly.  Right now I’m thinking it just isn’t doing it for me.
That’s it for now.

Happy Thanksgiving!

God bless you and thanks for Reading!

A Nest Egg

No. Sorry, I’m not speaking of all the wealth I have stashed. But then again... you know this isn't a finance blog ...so you may just be happy I'm talking money, especially this time of year!

Two nights ago we got home after dark.  We’d been gone all day and I wanted to go out and check on ‘the girls’ and see how they were doing.
When I got out there I was so surprised and happy…
 all the chickens including George ,my rooster,  were inside the coop; and out of the cool ,damp weather…FINALLY!   I had almost given up on them.
I have really been hoping they’d get inside there and get comfy and that their body heat would help one another to stay warm.  I have been also hoping they’d start laying in the nest boxes we built for them. But no.
So you can just imagine my utter surprise when I opened the nest box door around back and there WAS AN EGG!  YAY!

I check it everyday… hoping they’ve laid an egg inside there. All the eggs we’ve gotten so far have been under the coop in the corner next to the feed bin.  A shared favorite spot for two of the hens. But now…hopefully, they’ll start laying up top where they are supposed to be! 
This makes me proud of my chickens! 
I’m one happy chicken owner today. (written Tuesday) 
(it’s the little things that make this chick happy! seriously)
God bless you and Thanks for reading!

Renewal AND Thanks~

I posted so much over the summer about how difficult it was to grow anything this year first with the drought and then with the grasshoppers.
I thought I’d show a little bit of what has taken place in our yard since the onset of FALL.  Here in Texas our fall weather is usually a second rainy season and new growth.  I hear it said that people have successful  FALL GARDENS TOO.   It must be true … here is a peek!    FOUR O’CLOCKS  in bloom.  These were eaten to the ground but now are in full bloom everyday… guess what time? Roses. Beautiful.

Odd little mushroom growing out in the back part of our property near the huge Oak tree.
This is another picture of the mushroom…from the top. God is amazing. Check out the lacy opening and intricate work on this mushroom. I’ve truly never seen anything like it before. And ORANGE TOO!

Cherry tomatoes.  Still growing.  Finally starting to turn red.  This bush is loaded. I’m leaving them be until they tell us it’s going to freeze then I’ll make a mad dash to get them out of the garden. Hopefully, they’ll turn red.
This is my first harvest of radishes!  I just thinned them out this morning I got a dozen or so; and there are more still growing!
God is faithful.  He  is our provider.  We have much to be THANKFUL for.  I love it when HE sends the rain!  That was easy enough to say.  If I can only remember that when we’re in the middle of a heat wave.  If I can only remember to TRUST~
*Please continue to pray for the whole state of Texas as we are still in drought. The lakes are EXTREMELY low as are the stock ponds. Hay and feed is hard to come by.  The fields are again ‘greening’ up. So there is a little relief.  But we need so much more rain. I’m TRUSTING the LORD for all of it!
God bless you and thanks for reading!
in case I don’t post again before Thursday—HAPPY THANKSGIVING,Y’ALL!

Storage Solution-Creative Itch-Free!

I'm posting this at FJI- Special Link Party-- 

I’ve been looking at ‘faux tin’ backsplashes lately. Pricing it at Lowe’s… NOT liking what I see. Oh, I LOVE the cool ‘tin’ tiles you adhere to the wall; but I just decided I’m not coming off with the money it would take to makeover behind my stove and underneath my upper cabinets. 
So,  I came up with a different solution—that was more in keeping with my budget…FREE!

This is what I’ve had over my stove.  My little ‘chalkboard paint’ TRAY. Cute… I like it and I sometimes get a laugh when I write little sayings on it.  I’ll probably keep it in my kitchen- just not sure where yet.

While, back behind the barn the other day I came across this piece of corrugated tin… just lying there…calling my name.  
I took it into the house, cleaned it off and nailed  screwed it up there! I didn’t even have to think about it, I just did it.
I also saw a stack of pallets waiting to be used for some glorious project.
Then I remembered seeing this last week; FROM FLEA MARKET TRIXIEsource
…and I thought to myself, ‘You’d better do something with those pallets or they’ll be tossed or burned as soon as the BURN BAN is lifted’.
Here it is… my quest to have tin behind my stove- SATISFIED!  Right Now, I LOVE IT!  It holds all my utensils for cooking. 
Is it gorgeous and Turquoise? NO. But it is rustic and rough…just the way I like it!
I added a wire going across the back to hold it up; and right now I have placed a couple of pickle jars inside to help hold everything UP and in place. I will probably change those out soon with some bean cans; JUST as soon as I open up some canned veggies; after all, using pickle jars for holders -creates a shortage on perfectly good drinking glasses!   {wink-wink}
Three things this project had going for it from the beginning:

1. Storage
2. Creativity (I got to make something)
3. Price. Can’t beat free!

Not only did it become a storage and counter space solution; this little project satisfied my urge to switch things up a little in the kitchen.  One week before Thanksgiving is NOT the time to be delving into some great big project~ it also made me feel pretty good that I didn’t have to spend anything to do it. {SMILE}
* EDITED TO SAY:  I didn't leave it alone... I touched up my freebie again later with some fancy SIGNAGE... you can that HERE


I love reading about ways to add storage into our SMALL home and like most of you --- I DO it on a small budget.  Have you read  Brenda @ Cozy Little House and Claudia @ Mockingbird Hill Cottage ? They are starting a new series together called,  DEFENDING THE SMALL HOUSE

These two ladies have some great ideas. They just had their first installment this week…go there and check it out!  Nothing but BIG IDEAS FOR SMALL SPACES! 
God Bless you and Thanks for reading~

*thanks Trixie for inspiration and allowing me to use your photo!


linking here: FJI- saturday night special 108 
                 farmgirl friday 33

My Neighbor -Part 2

I recently told the story of “My Neighbor”

…and this Cow. (really, the whole herd)

**** Many of you asked and were curious over these events; so here’s THE REST OF THE STORY****

Turns out, Honey and I met our neighbor the other day. He was out driving his DODGE around the field…checking his fences; and I suppose, he was checking the job ‘Bull Dozer Guy’ did for him a couple weeks ago…

Anyway, we had us a little ol’ meet and greet at the back fence.

We shook hands and politely introduced ourselves to one another. 

We asked questions.  He kindly told us… he was just having the fields turned over allowing for the grass to come up better and getting rid of the brush so that the cows could make their rounds and get good and fat. He told us also that he had the ponds cleaned out---since they were dried up anyway.

We told him we’d met the previous owner and he said that man was his father in law--- and that his wife and brother in law inherited all that land from “Pappa” after he passed.

We asked about fishing in the ponds.(Since we’d previously had permission to do so.) He DIDN’T SAY NO. What he said was… for liability reasons His “wife’s family frowned upon it”.  Blah, blah, blah…these cows can be mean…blah, blah, blah can’t be responsible… YOU KNOW.

We perfectly well understand all these things—that is why we asked.

So… I guess we’ll be finding a new fishing hole.

But on the bright side… we’re not getting 100 new neighbors. NOT THAT I MIND NEIGHBORS… you’re all my neighbors right?  Blah, blah, blah…

But, you just don’t ALL live right next door. 

…THE END!

God bless you and Thanks for hearing me out …AGAIN!

=)

The Ugly Truth about my Dirty Dishes~

Homestead Barn Hop #36

This guy was out my kitchen window today… not far from my Chicken Coop! Dangerous, I know, for the chickens.
He was busy doing my favorite thing for birds of all kinds to do in my yard… he was filling up on GRASSHOPPERS!  {SMILE}
 He looks distracted or maybe cautious, doesn’t he? There actually was a squirrel ‘flirting with disaster’  on the ground near the Oak tree out the kitchen window. (Not pictured) 

I’ve been spotted… here he is…

Looking right at me! 

He flew away after this and I didn’t get anymore pictures of him.

SEE what happens when you have a window above your kitchen sink… 

…AND YOUR binoculars close at hand? 

These aren’t just excuses folks… these are legitimate reasons! 

God bless you and Thanks for reading!

(I’ve got to get back in the kitchen now…funs, over.)


You can read more about why all the displaced wild life in my yard HERE .

The Work of God~

   
 Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.”John 6:29
God Bless you and Thanks for reading!

My Neighbor~

  I have a NEXT DOOR NEIGHBOR…his house is miles away. I can’t even see it from here. 
Really, I guess you could say he is my NEXT PASTURE Neighbor.
You see we share a FENCE together.  Looking at the photo my land stops where the fence row is; about the middle of the photo. You can see the cattle panel on the left of the picture. Right about even with the water mark.

See how lush and green everything is in the pictures above?  That picture was taken I think some time in March or April of 2011…this year!

Not to mention~ The cows!
I also have mixed feelings.

See how bare everything looks now?  One lone tree standing in the middle of a pasture.  The Greenery to the right, is also trees…PILED HIGH IN A MOUND.

See?  A mound of trees. They are all over the place out there. I didn’t get a picture of the Bull dozer…but this man has been driving around like mad, knocking down trees.
He’s left a few.  He’s trimmed some up nice enough to get under with a mower or on horseback. We’re not really sure what he’s doing back there.  He may just be turning over the growth - making way for new growth.   Everyone around these parts has taken to digging new ponds during this drought we’re having.  He’s not dug any NEW ones , I don’t think; but he has dug out the old ones—cleaning them out getting them ready for rain. Perhaps, new life in the ponds.
One problem is, it bugs me- as his NEXT  PASTURE NEIGHBOR that I don’t know the reason behind it.  I don’t even know if the man driving the bull dozer is MY NEXT PASTURE NEIGHBOR or just some guy hired to knock down all the trees!   He is NOT the man that used to own the land, years ago, the one I’ve met in the past.  That man has probably passed away—he was old as the hills back then, when I met him.
Secondly… the wild life.  This acreage behind us used to be teaming with wild life.  Beaver, Crane, Raccoon, Owls, Wood-Pecker, Red-Tail Hawk…he’s pushed over living trees and huge gnarly looking dead trees, habitats for all types of wild life.  He didn’t ask me, his NEXT PASTURE NEIGHBOR  if I thought that would be okay. 

He also didn’t return any of our wayward golf balls that he may have unearthed; that we may have over- looked, in the past, while retrieving them from driving practice  a good ol’ competitive game of ‘KNOCK-THE-SNOT-OUT-OF-THAT-BALL-AND-SEE-HOW-FAR-IT-GOES’ 
See?  I told you I have mixed feelings. 
My only THOUGHT NOW is… that he’s not about to ‘Pave Paradise and put up a parking lot.’ …you know what I mean?  I haven’t even met the man—but imagine if I had to meet a whole bunch of NEW NEXT PASTURE NEIGHBORS AND I COULD SEE THEIR DOORS from here.  I’d have to call them NEXT DOOR NEIGHBORS!
God Bless you and Thanks for Hearing Me Out!

She’s sort of ~Like a Pig~

  While everyone else is minding their own ‘chicken business’…   “Do you mind if I just lie here and fluff the dirt?” She’s one dirty little chicken!  “ ‘Scuse me, while I roll in the dirt”
I’m not sure what this is…but it must feel wonderful!   This is the very first time I’ve ever seen my chicken ‘dust bathing’, I guess.
It’s a curious thing to me.   Wallowing in the mud. Or in this instance 'rolling around in the dirt’
God bless you and thanks for reading!

Green Tomatoes~

After the Summer Drought and onslaught of Grasshoppers… I posted this photo of my ‘Lone-Tomato Plant’. 

You can see the tripod support holding up that little green sprig? That is my tomato plant that survived the summer drought…it lived off dish water! {smile}

 

  Here it is today.  We haven’t had any hard frost yet. 

We’re having 60° days right now and 40 ° nights.  This weekend is predicted to be in the lower 80’s.  I’m watching the weather pretty closely. If they say we’re going to have a hard frost – I’ll have to get out there and get all those Green tomatoes off there and get them put up.

This Tomato bush is loaded with green tomatoes! 

I recently bought a book titled ‘Country Wisdom and Know How’ …it has several recipes for green tomatoes.  I can’t wait. 

I’ve never  EVEN eaten a ‘Fried Green Tomato’…so I’m looking forward to that and some bread and Green Salsa (not together, of course) ;I’ll have enough to can and I’ll be able to try several recipes over the winter months.  I don’t mind firing up the oven in the winter.  In fact I do my best cooking when it’s cold out.

 

farm girl hop

God Bless you and Thanks for reading!

Recent Happenings and Giving Thanks Challenge~

All rolled into one!

Three times in the last week or so;  we’ve had cool temps roll into the area…and even a little bit of MUCH NEEDED RAIN! I liked this picture of the clouds.  I love the sound of rolling thunder in the distance.  It’s the big storms, high winds and huge thunderstorms that I get uncomfortable with.

  You can also see this is one of the fence lines we hope to replace soon~  there are just posts right now, no actual fencing.

We’re still having pretty mild temps.  nothing too cold yet.  It’s like a roller coaster really, cool and warm, up and down. So when something like this blows through…I usually catch a little allergy.  (Can you catch an allergy really?)  Not for sure.  But something blows up my nose and it isn’t a cold. But it creates stuffiness and headaches.

I usually take a clove of garlic and some organic honey by the Tablespoon Full and eat that a few days. I get over whatever it is usually pretty quickly. It doesn’t taste all that great…but is sure does the trick!

I’m so Thankful to the LORD the way He has provided for us …for good health.  He has made a way definitely for Honey to get the medical attention he has needed this year. The LORD has also made a way for me to be able to treat whatever little nuisance type illnesses I’ve had in the past couple of years.  He has given me the interest I need in the area of health and NATURAL REMEDIES. I praise Him for that and am so thankful for HIS provision and healing.

On Sunday 2 weeks ago, Honey and I jumped into the car and drove to Dallas after church. He’s been reminiscing of his mom here lately, she passed away two years ago on Oct.30 --We went to the Farmers Market Downtown. He enjoyed it and it took his mind of things.

   Besides we haven’t been in years.  (he didn’t know I was taking a picture…That’s Honey sportin’ his new wool hat!)

We bought lots of  local produce. Honey has been wanting some homemade pasta noodles. (I haven’t made any in years…HOMEMADE WOULD CERTAINLY BE CHEAPER, I TELL YA~)

I found this there—He chose plain Fettuccini and I chose Habanera Fettuccini. We also bought some fish and pork loin (not pictured) and some sausage. We were looking at some Grass-fed beef; but he was out of what we ordered…so we bought the pork loin and sausage from him instead.  We’re interested in trying meat that is grown naturally without added ingredients--- that take away from the product.

And LASTLY,

This past Sunday we drove to Midlothian,TX and picked up some deer meat we had processed.  Honey has a friend that hunts and we pay for the processing. He says he can’t eat it all.  The amount we pay is small compared to the out of pocket expenses we’d have to pay for if we had to get a deer lease, equipment, ammo, license, etc.  It was a nice drive and he was able to visit with an old friend he hasn’t seen much since retiring from work.

************************************************************* 

(Giving-Thanks Challenge)

 

God Bless you and Thanks for reading!