Muddy Boots, Old Houses and The Farm

Muddy Boots – we cleaned up the yard and the barn….

We had such a nice day on Sunday so we took the day to clean up the yard around the house and Rusty tidy upped the barn.

We got the burn bin out, a couple rakes and shovels and started to tiddy up stuff that has been hanging out in the yard. It’s important to do that so when it snows and we use the blower on the tractor we don’t hit any unexpected items that could break the shear pins.

So I collected left over wood pieces from the wood splitting and branches and other wood things. Raked up a few piles and we will get through it all.

Another task that has to be done before winter….. the chicken coop run. It needs to be remade and covered for winter so that the chickens can get out and stretch their feet when it snows. Hopefully some time this week or next week.

The greenhouse has done so well this year♡

Russ had the fun task of going through the barn and making it more accessible. The barn is so old and is in such poor shape because of lack of care from previous owners…. it will have to come down. We will have to shore it up in a couple places so that we can get through the winter and start to dismantle it come the spring.

When I get my garden stakes out of the beds I will mark the tops and they will go around the property so that we know where we don’t want to go with the tractor and snow blower.

Not sure what kind of winter we are gonna have but it has been a nice fall season so far. I have a few fall crops that need to get harvested and that will happen this week then it’s clean up as best as I can until I can’t

Funny how the seasons change and all the work associated with each change….. looking forward to the quieter time of winter for a little rest. Time to do some stuff I enjoy.

Oh yes, I found a couple Christmas items in the barn two that need to be charged by the sun

and one item my sled that needs to be cleaned up and repainted I think.

My next task….. decorate for Christmas 🎄

The Farm – Fall cleaning

It’s November and I guess at some time soon we will get some snow. We had our first frost this morning. We have had frost all around us the last couple weeks but because of our high altitude on the hill no frost til today. Brrrr…..

Yesterday I was tidying up the compost area and miss daisy decided she wanted to help. So she jumped up on the tractor with me as I moved the compost around to a new pile.

Had to chase her away when I was moving some soil in the weedy area behind the original pile….. out of concern because…..

I disturbed a hornet nest. Can’t tell you how grateful I was that it was cold outside…. they didn’t know what hit them and they were flying around in anger but confusion. If it had been any warmer…. well I would have left the tractor running as I ran away….

This is the second hornets nest I have accidentally uncovered this year….. in the ground. So I ran back to the house to get the hornet / wasp spray and completely covered the opening of the nest.

Once I felt comfortable I of course used the scoop on the tractor to uncovered the rest of the nest and sprayed it as well. All I can say is this could have been a completely different post had it been 5 – 10 degrees warmer.

Well the compost pile is tidy, the chickens are happy with a new round of worms and bugs…. I am happy I didn’t get stung🐝

I think an inground hornets nest is supposed to tell the tale of a mild winter?

Old Houses – cooler weather….Comfort food

You come across a good recipe and you don’t mind sharing it especially when it makes you feel happy.

Sunday night I thought that I would try a new homemade mac and cheese recipe and my taste tester went for seconds….

So I thought that I would share one of my new homemade farmhouse comfort foods with you all. It will be a hit.

Bacon, Onion Mac and Cheese.

The recipe is made with shell pasta which gives it a cool look.

So I start with cutting up the bacon in small pieces and then fry it up in my lodge cast iron pan until crispy. I then have the sweet onion chopped up in my starlit chopper and caramelize them up in the left over bacon grease. At the same time I start a pot of salted water for the pasta shells. So now I take 1/4 cup of butter added to the same cast iron pan I used for the bacon and onions…. lots if nice taste left in the pan when the butter is melted I slowly add stirring consistently the 1/4 cup of organic flour. This process makes a really nice roux, I add my 1 1/2 – 2 cups of homogenized milk slowly to incorporate it with the flour butter mixture so that you do not get lumps. Once the sauce is thickening you then can add three cups of shredded old white cheddar cheese, fried bacon and caramelized onions. When all those ingredients have combined together well add it to your cooked and drained shell pasta. Mix well and serve.

Second and third servings will be requured:) happy farmhouse comfort eating food♡.

Old Houses – what is sabbath / day of rest

We have been spending time with God and asking Him to reveal His truths to us and draw us closer to Him.

There is no doubt that we are living in what can be considered last days and the events going on are definitely a sign.

Being hungry for the things of God in this time is a really GOOD thing. One thing we talked about last week-end is that most of us do not practice the day of rest or sabbath day. It is definitely something that God said we should observe. It’s funny because I had been thinking about it for a few weeks now and Rusty brought up the conversation.

So we decided that we would try to observe it on the actual seventh day like God did when he created the earth. So it would be observed on Friday at sunset to Saturday at sunset. Mostly celebrated by the Jewish people its a really nice time where family get together for a good meal and reflection on what God did.

No, we are not Jewish but we do feel that observing a day of rest is an important part of serving God.

As we go we will get better at resting and celebrating with friends. Really looking forward to it.

So this past weekend we started our first observance. Now because things were a bit crazy we decide to observe Saturday into Sunday but most definitely will be doing Friday into Saturday this week moving forward.

I have to say…. what an incredible feeling when we cam in Saturday evening after a bit to eat knowing that it was rest time now. It’s like everything work related just shut off and I was in a state of peace. I remarked this to Rusty and he felt the same. It was so nice. I felt so rested sunday evening in my body and my mind♡

If this is something you have never done, I would encourage you to look into it and try I out and see what God does in your life.

Love you all, have a terrific day and week. If you want, tell me your thoughts and if you might try it.

Blessing to you all and trust God, He loves you and wants you to know Him.

Old Houses – Wood Stack

We started on the last wood stack that has been seasoning out in the yard. We wanted to try and get the last 3 cord of wood in the basement. I think that is how much was out there.

Knowing that we were gonna have some heavy rain on Sunday as well as we wanted to make sure it was a dry as possible, we worked hard getting the wood inside. Rusty was outside using the tractor to move the stacked wood over to the basement window. His job… tossing them in where I was receiving them, stacking and splitting as I went.

The goal was to get the whole stack in if possible. We were under a time constraint as well… needed to get it all done before sun down.

So I started to stack a couple piles around some wood planks we are storing and Rusty worked on bring loads over and tossing them in the window.

It worked pretty good… got a little overwhelmed at points but handled it all well and I was able to stack small rounds and splits and stacking the rest of the wood in a tidy manner.

Everytime I climbed up on the inside wood stack in front of the window… I was keenly aware of my age, move ability and the fact that I could get buried by wood logs if any of it decided to move… but it all worked out well.

So now we are ready, warmth and wood wise for the snow but still have a few chores outside to get ready for any white stuff.

I am amazed every year, after the hard long task of cutting, splitting and stacking exactly how rewarding it is to to know that we have the warmth / heating security ready for the cold season. I know it’s not a chore that a huge percentage of people want or right now or need to do but we are ready for whatever comes our way. It is a more self-sustaining lifestyle that does require a bit of planning just like our gardens. The satisfaction of providing for ourselves and not depending on others for our well being during the winter months brings peace to us.

God bless everyone. Check Him out you won’t regret it♡

Muddy Boots – Ocean views

It is such a beautiful day here so as I was about to go and get our chase the ace ticket I thought…. hmmm maybe murdoch would to go for a drive? Then I thought well we need to work on the wood stack too. So I said to Rusty do you want to go for a quick ride to hunter river? He said sure why not.

As Rusty was getting Murdoch’s kong ready he said we should take him with us….. I said for sure he would love that. So off we went.

We decided to go north through Cavendish Park… the sun 🌞 is shinning so bright. Murdoch got up on my lap stuck his head out the window and enjoyed the ride. We stopped at one on the view points in the park and got out for a walk…. so beautiful.

So we tuckered out the dog and now we will work on the wood pile.♡♡♡ it is of course very close to November and it could snow anytime soon.

Have a great sunny day from PEI, give someone a hug and trust Jesus for everything He loves you♡

Muddy Boots – The fall gardens

It’s funny, it’s been warm still so the garden in some respects is still giving. I picked 2 zucchini squashes today I still have some basil in the herb beds and I picked a whole bunch of other stuff although not all completely. I even noticed that my strawberry plants have flowers and small fruits on them😳😲😯.lol

I made a batch of garden huckleberry jam earlier in the week and it tastes amazing and has some incredible antioxidants that we need. So that means that I need to go back out and pick the last half of the garden huckleberries I left behind.

I cleaned up the swisschard bed and the chickens had a good feed. It is getting a bit cooler but the swisschard and kale beds will give for a while yet. I picked some really beautiful red chard which I think we will have tomorrow. I picked some cute looking carrots, more winter squashes, one last spaghetti squash and a couple of pumpkins.

I also harvested some absolutely beautiful leeks. Some of those leeks will get dehydrated, some will become leeks and potato soup base and another bunch will get frozen. Looking forward to a hot bowl of potato leek soup and homemade bread or crackers.

The back beds where I planted the late season onion sets got picked today and even though they are not big they will make excellent pickle onions on their own, and added with the mini peppers and baby carrots to cauliflower for our hot pickle veggies….yum! I think some of those will also get dehydrated for soups and stews… etc

I found some green peppers that I will use to make a big batch of Chilli to eat and can. I think we will also make a batch of stew with carrots, turnips, potatoes and onions…. canned “convenience” food. It’s awesome how I’m outside looking at what still needs to get harvested and I can come up ideas of what to cook.

One thing that is new to harvesting this year is crosnes or chinese artichokes… they look like little Michelin men…. crunchie, juicy, nutty tasting. I will have to come up with some recipes for them…. they are prolific this year.

I got a batch of fire cider started tonight and that’s is gonna need to sit for about 4 weeks. By that time it gets strained and stored for many uses. The first main reason would be for fighting sickness and then you can use it as a marinade and salad dressing. Gonna be a really good healthy addition to the farmhouse. I have a batch of fermented garlic in raw honey going as well for flu and cold prevention. All the tasty, yummy good for us goodness. I hope to get a batch of fermented honey fermented cranberries too.

This is the recipe I used with a few tweaks. Farmers almanac is where it came from:) you can find the detailed instructions there.

It seems like it’s not slowing down yet. But that is farmhouse living. A life I would not trade.

Looking forward to updating you again soon as I continue down this fall road. I guess soon it will be Christmas cookie baking season….and decorating time.

I almost forgot…… I picked the biggest haul of mint leaves ever today and I left a big patch untouched. The aroma is incredible. Looking forward to sending some of the dried leaves to my mom♡♡♡ I think she will love them and I picked a couple of brussel stems…. can’t wait to try them.

Well I better go my eyes are heavy….it was a cool windy day and I am exhausted. Have a great weekend, everyone♡♡

Old Houses – next projects

So we are working on the main floor renos now and it is getting exciting.

I would say the next next couple projects will all kind of happen in around each other. Meaning they will kind of happen sort if together.

We have the coffee bar wall that needs to be completed in the newly renovated room with the wood stove. This room will have our built in dining area and sliding door to the backyard and coffee bar sitting area. This room will open up to the new kitchen and have a built in wall cabinet between the eating area and kitchen. As well as access to the new family room and hallway to the upper stairs.

The second project is to complete the insulation, electrical and plumbing in the new back addition. This room is a mudroom / laundry / entry / pantry sort of summer kitchenish. Now that most of the harvest I have been collecting has been prepared this room is having space freed up. We need to get the insulation up soon as we are getting into cooler weather and we want to be able to move my washer and dryer in there soon. It’s also gonna have a 2 piece bathroom which will be really nice, a sink area and a large pantry wall.

That room at the end is the bathroom or powder room.

Project 3 is gutting the remaining areas in the what was the palor/living room that will be our new kitchen. We have to take the old heat pump, nasty unisulated walls and yucky side window. Once the old walls are opened up and the insulation foam, reframing goes up and the old window reframed and closed up its gonna be a nice room again.

Gonna have such am amazing view from the future kitchen sink area.

Small steps in the process of making our old farmhouse a beautiful place♡ can’t wait.

So right now I have my two canning shelves and food storage buckets in the newly renovated Woodstove room and once the pantry addition room is insulated my shelves will go in there and and free up the other room. I think it’s all coming along nicely.

Can’t wait to show you all what it will look like.

Canning and preserving is still going on and probably will for another couple weeks.

Take care everyone, love you all.

If you don’t know the Lord… get to know him ♡.

The House – its definitely a gonner

So it’s official, I killed my stove. Too much canning I guess…. when the stove had that exploding noise that was it.

If anyone is aware…. its extremely difficult to find appliances etc these days with all the shortages. So I was going to have to settle for a not so great stove just because I needed something and then sell it in the new year when my new kitchen is betting put together and a new stove has a home.

I was fortunate enough after a few phone calls today to actually get a really nice range. We were able to take it home with us tonight in the pick up.

I am back to a glass top stove and something new…. convection oven.

So I guess I will have to relearn some of my recipes for the oven and get crazy canning the rest of my harvest.

So for now it’s a combo black and stainless steel maytag range and my cheap white fridge:)

Looking forward to cooking some new meals. So get ready to be spammed with some cooking pictures and a video or two♡.

Oh my…..don’t know where to categorized this

I have a yucky post today…. lockdowns and mandates have wreaked havoc on many….and today I’m gonna show you what waiting too long for medical help can do.

I’m sure some of you saw my post back in September on my birthday when I finally had my root canal on a tooth that should have been done in April 30, 2020 but everything got shut down.

I was on countless rounds of antibiotics while I waited for every unelected health official to decide when it was safe enough for certain medical procedures like dentistry to more forward. Unbelievable really.

Unfortunately for me the “safe enough time” was not in enough time to save a molar which I need for chewing. Because the tooth that needed the canal was to sore most days to chew with all the eating pressure went to the other side. So due to all the stupid rules it took so incredibly long to get what should have been a timely repair done and then I would not have had to go through today. I’d still have all my teeth in my mouth.

So I had my root canal finally completed September 21, 2021 and then today’s appointment to extract the tooth on the other side because of all the over use and food stuckage and a cavity that needed attention but couldn’t get the attention it needed…

I had my left upper back molar pulled:( I actual felt grief over it today. It’s so sad, it didn’t have to be this way…

So as you can see…. the decay was bad…. you can even see how the roots fused together 😳😲😯 the tooth next to it needs to get fixed as it has a cavity as well and hopefully we don’t have to do another canal.

But now we heal up for 2 weeks and vist my most awesome new dentist in Summerside, Dr Millie and her assistant Ruby rock! I’m swollen, sore, and a bit grumpy tonight. Feeling a bit sad but grateful the ultimate pain is finally gonna be gone.

I won’t gross anyone including myself by showing you the hole left behind in my upper jaw…. my mouth is sore and my jaw is sore too with all the work done. I am hoping to have a nice sleep one of these nights soon…. no clenching, no headache, no pain.

So maybe you all can put in a good word with the tooth fairy and she will visit tonight….. I could use some new garden tools 🙂