You Might Be A Homesteader If...

Your husband gives you these for Christmas!

To go with this that he got me for my birthday. (Click the comments to find the answer.  Mr. Herrick Kimball of The Deliberate Agrarian guessed correctly.)

You also might be a homesteading/fly fishing/bamboo fly rod building kind of guy if you get these from your wife for Christmas...

And you might have homeschoolers in your household if you purchase things like this for Christmas...

And what celebration would be complete with out cookie decorating! (And eating.)

  

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Cookie Cheer Up!

Well, we have a snow blower that works but unfortunately I don't have a snow blow operator!

Yesterday after plowing the drive and my wonderful path to the barn, Farmer John started to complain about his wrist hurting. He was in so much pain before work this morning I told him to go get it checked out.

Diagnosis... Tendonitis! Yah... so no nice plowed path to the barn.  We aren't quite ready to give that responsibility to our son with anything more than a shovel at this point in time.

Had another surprise diagnosis today... strep throat for my nine year old!  Keep the good times coming!

So what can you do when it is cold, snowy and you have "patients" to keep happy?  Make Christmas cookies!

Who doesn't feel better after a frosted Christmas sugar cookie? 

Usually we have a traditional recipe we follow but I found a new recipe that includes sour cream in it and it seemed like a good day to give it a try.

We didn't mess with Christmas shapes today since it was just a "test" run.  We stuck with easy-peasy circles.  Plain white frosting and simple sprinkles.

The verdict... Yum! I think this may be my new traditional recipe!  I will definitely need to make lots so that my son has fuel to snow shovel my path to the barn.

You can find the recipe for  Cut-Out Sour Cream Cookies and frosting here!

They certainly boosted spirits at Creek Cottage Homestead.  Happy baking, frosting and eating!!

God's Plan For Us

Proverbs 31:12

 

She brings him (her husband) good, not harm, all the days of her life.

Homesteading Means Staying At Home

Just a couple of nights ago I was sighing and feeling extremely stressed out and unhappy because all I seem to be doing lately is running around.  An errand here, the library there, this child here, that child there... Frustrating! I just want to be at home doing the things that need to be done.

Well, today the Lord gave me a nudge to remind me that He is in control.  The brakes on my car are failing and Farmer John deemed the car unsafe to drive.  BOOM!  Just like that I don't have to run around anymore.  I get to stay home.  Now, it actually is kinda inconvenient (Had to put my son's guitar lessons on hold and when do I grocery shop?) but really it is a blessing in disguise.

My husband's work schedule is such that he will be home so that I can have the car for Wed. evening church services, and city girl's theater lessons  (for 10 weeks) and he will be off most Sunday's as well. Those are the important things. Everything else will work itself out.

We currently don't have the funds to get the car fixed so we are going to be living life as a one car family for a while but I really don't mind. The Lord never works in ways that I expect but he knows what is best for me.  The Homestead is where my heart is!  Thank you, Lord Jesus!

Fighting The Curse!

In Genesis Chapter 3 God said to Adam, "Cursed is the ground because of you... It will produce thorns and thistles for you."

Yep!  Wonderful.

That is why we have this:

And this...

 

 And this...

 

But even in God's original plan we had work to do. In Genesis 2:15 it says, "The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.

 

...And so that is what we did today.  We worked hard fighting the curse of weeds and taking care of our little piece of blessing.  Not all aspects of homesteading are glamorous- actually very few are- but the rewards are bountiful when you see the finished product of all your hard work.

 

 

Nothing left but the mailbox, the day lilies and dirt. 

 

The plan is to chip fallen branches (from the backwoods of our property) and cover the dirt with chip mulch and then next spring put in some more plants.  I think lavender would be good.  What do you think?

 

To The GRAM!

The Grand Rapids Art Museum has just started free Tuesday admission!  So guess where John and I, the kids and Grandma and Grandpa Schuh went yesterday!  I can't pass up free admission to a museum! 

I was quite excited to go because one of the visiting exhibits featured the quilts of Susana Allen Hunter.  I was surprised to find out that Ms. Hunter wasn't an art quilter or hobbyist in pursuit of the perfect look.  She was a poor farm wife who made quilts out of necessity to keep her family warm.  She recycled bed sheets, clothing, and flour, seed and feed sacks.  Some quilts had no batting, some had homespun cotton batting and one even had batting made from lint.  She wasn't concerned with perfect lines and rarely used any common patterns but merely put pieces of cloth together to be functional.  I bet you she never thought that any of her quilts would be museum pieces yet here they are.

My husband was not impressed, but I was.  Here was a woman doing what she needed to do to provide for her family and she worked with what she had.  She didn't have an unlimited budget and a cute little quilt shop to purchase fabric from.  She didn't worry about perfection but time and love went into those quilts.  She probably didn't even have a sewing machine.  I can only hope that I serve my family with such dedication.  There was no photography allowed so I didn't get any pictures but I will remember those quilts for a long time.  Those quilts represent freedom to me.  Freedom from vanity, freedom from expectations and just a true humbleness.  We woman need more of that!

Flowers and salads!

Last night's dandelion and lilac salad was a success!  I will not be facing church discipline or excommunication. I don't know that people will be rushing to recreate it any time soon but everyone tried it and found it surprisingly good.  Everyone but Farmer John.  Turns out that he doesn't like the smell of lilacs (You think I would know this after 20 years.) and "they taste just like they smell."  After he was finished eating there was a little pile of lilac petals on the side of his plate.  Seems the dandelions were fine for him though.  Next time I'll sneak dandelion greens into it too.  I only did the flower heads last night.

Regular vege salad with the addition of edible flowers: Lilacs and Dandelions.

I also used my available flowers in a more traditional sense.

 Dandelions flower heads floating in a shallow bowl of water.

Lilacs as the centerpiece of the table.

The other in season item I used for the evening was rhubarb from my garden in a yummy rhubarb crumble topped with homemade vanilla custard!

My rhubarb earlier this spring.

 

It is so much fun to "use what you've got" and be creative rather then running to the store and buying something.

The only downer to the night was the over abundance of mosquitoes that chased us off the deck and indoors for the evening.  Bat houses, homemade natural mosquito sprays and itch remedies will be fodder for another blog post.

How A Two-Year Old Keeps Busy

I love two-year olds.  They are so fun and amazing.  If we don't end up having another child (Quite possible as I am nearing 42.) I hope my kids marry young and start having kids so I can enjoy grandbabies!

I was busy with a project the other day and left the two year old to entertain herself.  When I was done I went to see what she had been doing.  This is what I found...

 One snake put to bed...

 Flip flops stacked...

 Tigger dressed...

 Shoes on...

 Shoes off and mothering triplets...

 Shopping cart accident...

 Geography studied...

And a blow kiss for Mom!

WHAT A BLESSING CHILDREN ARE!!!

God's Plan For Us

She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness.

Proverbs 31:27

She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. Proverbs 31:27
I love that my "career" is serving my God, husband, family and home! What a blessed life- doing what God created me to do.

A little glimpse of this "homestead"

I really am lucky. My husband works as a senior manager for Costco and likes to not have to commute more than 25 minutes to work. In our current area of Grand Rapids, MI, that puts us just on the suburban/country line.

I must explain that my husband is climbing the management ladder and with every promotion (usually) a move is involved. Not just small moves but big ones like: Idaho to Texas or Texas to Michigan. So because of this we have chosen to rent rather then buy a home. In the general Grand Rapids area there are not a lot of single homes to rent. Duplexes abound. So we live on a street, on the last vestiges of suburbia, lined with rental duplexes. But the yard is big and we have a huge field behind us and woods at the edge of the field and we can leave suburbia behind by going for a less than mile walk.

We are also blessed to live right next door to very kind landlords who let us do many things. We have a herb garden and garden (some people on our street our not allowed this), we built our own shed, we are building a greenhouse off the shed, my son built a top bar bee hive for "dad" for a Christmas present so we will start keeping some bees this year. And, Lord willing, with the addition of the greenhouse we will have an area to overwinter some chickens and rabbits. We also are allowed to put up a clothes line for drying clothes. (Another thing some on our street would be prohibited to do. It just depends on the landlord and most of the houses have different ones.)

We don't have "acreage" but we have room and no fences. (Though sometimes fences do make good neighbors.) We would love to do more but since we could move at any time Costco deems and we are just renting, it is enough.

Hopefully with any upcoming moves we can keep in a country setting but I am prepared to farm/homestead in a suburban or urban area too, if that is where God puts us.


This is where I have strawberries planted, but you can't see them because I haven't weeded them yet this spring. The bed is about as big as the shadow from the shed. A little tip for all you readers starting a new garden area. DIG OUT AND REMOVE THE GRASS! DO NOT MERELY TILL IT IN. If you do not remove the grass/weeds totally, you will fight a never ending weeding fight. We learned our lesson good!

Here is my sad looking little herb patch. Six of the nine beds have been weeded. I still have to free my peppermint and my lavender and clear out the parsley/cilantro section from last year. The three sections on the left I weeded, cleared/transplanted so that my DH can build me a greenhouse using part of that space. So my little bed shrinks even more... sigh.

This is the back yard as viewed from our deck. Our "part" is from the left of the picture to shed on the right. The first tree line in the picture is the back of the yard. Behind that is a huge empty field. (Our tent trailer is stored out there.) Our vege garden is on the left in front of the swing set. We plan on enlarging it this year. My DH wants to experiment with growing some wheat.

Here is the shed my DH and son built AND the start of my greenhouse addition!

Back after the flu!

Whew! Sorry for the unplanned break on the blog. I was unprepared for the flu to hit the family mid-last week. Nothing is harder than having a five month-old vomiting after every feeding. But we survived and are back to normal.

On the news front: I received- courtesy of newbaby.com - an easy to operate, hot pink vado pocket video camera. Soon I will be adding videos to the blog! I just have to get used to being "on camera". It's kinda weird as usually I do the shooting or photos, not be in them. The camera is great and easy to use even for a non-techy like me! Even my eight year old can just grab the cam, push a button and start recording. (That did mean deleting seven minutes of Sponge Bob he chose to video off the t.v.) When I'm on video I plan to enlist my 12 year-old to shoot but I can also use a tripod too. Here is a question for my readers: What do you want to see? I know the Grandparent's answers but what about the rest of you?

Okay, on with the day! I have a big pile of mending calling my name, a family to feed, a garden to plan and hopefully a trip to the farm store to see the little chicks and research coop options. I love being an Artisan of the Home!

Making Your Home A Haven

Doesn't everyone wear winter gloves and shorts when vaccuming?

Crystal Paine has passed Making Your Home A Haven to her friend Tammy. In honor of the switch today's challange is a simple one. Come up with a morning routine of no more than five things. I already have a morning routine so this one was easy.

1. Feed/change my five month old daughter

2. Coffee/computer time

3. Feed my four other children

4. Morning chores (Sweeping, dishes etc.)

5. School

Yes, Bible and prayer time should be in there but I tend to fall back asleep if I try that in the morning. Either that or I get constant inturruptions from rising children. Hmmm... I remember when a quiet time used to be a quiet time.

Check out other routines at Tammy's blog.