God's Plan For Us...

And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; And to knowledge temperance; And to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; And to godliness brotherly kindness; And to brotherly kindness charity.

 

2 Peter 1: 5-7

Free Foraged Food & Turning 9

I love nothing more than getting something for free.  It gives me great satisfaction.  My husband surprised me on Labor Day.  He was one of a few managers that had to go to the warehouse to "walk" it and make sure everything was okay since it was closed for the day.  He asked me to come along because there was a lone apple tree on the edge of the property and the apples just fall to the ground each year.  We were gonna pick those apples and make use of them. (We had permission.)

We didn't get too many because we didn't bring a ladder (I had to stand on the hood of the car) but we did get enough for a pie.

One our way too and from the warehouse I pointed out to him every "stray" apple tree along side the road that didn't look like anyone did anything with.  They were stand alone trees at the edge of fields and had fruit littering the ground. I told him we should go ask permission from all those landowners to access the apples.  I had been thinking this for a couple of weeks and John was surprised that I was thinking along the same lines as he was.  What can I say... the budget is miniscule and free food is enticing.

I also pointed out an apple tree on the road by our house on an abandoned bank owned property.  Again with no ladder we couldn't get the good apples but we got a bag full of apples that had fallen on the ground and we fed those to the chickens with the intent to get more if needed.  It takes so little to make us happy.

Yesterday was a day of celebration. Reagan turned 9!  We cancelled school and she chose to spend the morning at the mall with her big sisters, trying on clothes and then spent the afternoon with her dad and brother shooting air guns and bows/arrows.  Oh to be nine and have so many interests!  She is currently latch hooking away on her birthday gift.  Happy Birthday #4 child. We love you!!!!!

Friday's Read & Write

Last week I tackled Scott Westerfeld's series Uglies, Pretties, and Specials.  Really good reads but I would have preferred a different ending after investing all that time. Still need to get the last book in that world, Extras.

I attempted A Commonwealth of Thieves a book on the history and founding of Australia (I'm a history buff and an Austraphile.) But I found the writing a little too heavy for me at this time.  I think all day and when I sit down to read I want to be carried off on an adventure not have to think more.  This is nothing against the way the author writes but rather my feeble brain rejecting the information.

I also tried the novel Feed but only got a few pages in and decided it was not for me. Too much casual swearing.  I understand swearing in appropriate spots like, say, getting your thumb smashed by a hammer but this was just conversational swearing with no purpose.  I decided if the first few pages were riddled with said words that the rest of the book wasn't bound to be any different.  Great concept though... advertising fed straight into everyone's brains.

This week brings me the new Writer's Digest issue and a new Costco Connection. I also am re-reading Mary Kole's book on writing YA and MG. Good stuff it is!

On the writing end... I've finished the beginning of The Follower and an now headed into the dreaded middle section.  Trying hard not to let it sag.  Good thing my readers (my two teen girls) are around to tell me if it's any good or not.  At least if my book never sees the light of day I will have two fans.  My girls admitted that they had been fan-girling over the book all ready.  That's a compliment!

What are you all reading? Writing?

Too Many Happenings Around The Homestead!

Sometimes I don't post because nothing particularly exciting is going on.  Other times like, these past few days, I don't post because there is too much going on.  My husband rotated to a new position at work, we started a school, we started a new schedule, and I've been canning tomatoes.

My husband has moved to receiving manager instead of administration manager. That means instead of closing the warehouse and getting home around 11:00pm, he opens the warehouse and goes in at 4:00am.  This also means that he gets up at 3:00am.  Guess what time I get to get up at?  Yep... 3:00am. Yeah!

I get up at that time to make John's coffee, breakfast and pack him a lunch.  Also, if I can stay awake, that gives me time to have a personal quiet time (that really is quiet), computer time, writing time, time to get ready for the day, time to clean and time to make breakfast for the kids before they get up and start their days.  It all looks really good on paper but 3:00am is really early.

The kids get up at 8:00 and eat, get ready for the day, do their morning chores and are ready to start school by 9:30. The school day keeps me busy rotating between children and their subject needs. Sometimes I am free if they don't need a lot of help.  Other times I have very little free time.  School is done by 4:00 and I get a few minutes to breathe before dinner prep, dinner, family time and bed.  It is a very full day but the schedule allows us to keep on task. There are days (like tomorrow- my daughter's birthday) that we throw out the schedule all together and just enjoy the day.  Also we had to toss the schedule yesterday because we have tomatoes to can.  But that is okay.  My goal is to be productive so schedule or no as long as what needs to get done, gets done it is a good day.

How do you do all you need to?

God's Plan For Us...

 

Psalm 51: 10 -12

Create in my a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit to sustain me.

Alice Waters Helps Me Sneak Veges!

 Chef Alice Waters is brilliant when it comes to vege recipes.  I've been turning to her book The Art of Simple Food for ideas on what to do with my garden bounty.

Tonight we are using fresh tomatoes and making her Simple Tomato Sauce: 2 lbs ripe tomatoes, garlic, olive oil and seasonings.  And I'm going to sneak in some roasted patty pan squash into it too! (Of course I will also put in some ground beef so that my meat loving son will be appeased.)  Served over pasta it will be simple and yummy.

She also has a recipe for raw tomato sauce.  Fresh tomatoes, basil and olive oil!

 

Last night I used some of my chard for her Chard Frittata.  Chard, olive oil, onion, garlic, seasonings and eggs (from our chickens) served on garlic toast. Yummy!  What I love about her recipes is that they really are simple yet cheffy and taste delicious!

If you are not the best "scratch" cook (like me) I recommend this cook book highly!

Eat This... NOT That!

Eat This!

 

Our tomatoes are finally coming ripe fast enough to warrant a bit of canning tomorrow.  I have already pulled out my trusted Ball Blue Book and will be canning a few quarts of tomato sauce.

 I no longer buy pre-made pasta sauces but in the past I have depended on plain tomato sauce for my sauce base.  What is so bad about that?  It's organic right?  Yep, however the acidic nature of tomatoes causes the lining of the can to leak BPA into the food.  Uncool!

Not That!

My budget is miniscule and I can not afford the premium sauce that comes in glass jars but I am able to make my own! I urge everyone to try canning tomatoes.  They're pretty easy and the taste is awesome! Not to mention kicking one more nasty chemical out of the house.  Hmmm... seems our great-grandparents had it good!