Future Plans for Our One Acre Homestead

Today over lunch we discussed some plans we hope to implement over the next couple of months as well as some longer term plans.

• Our garden down at the neighbors has just about come to its end with the exception of tomatoes. In September as long as the temperature cooperates we will be planting more greens and cabbage. This will come in handy for us and the chickens.


• Today and tomorrow hubby hopes to start building a cold frame to transplant our strawberries. Also building a raised bed to try growing some greens here at the house. Once the leaves start falling we should have a little more sunlight throughout the day for gardening.


• Within the next week or two we will start digging the area in the backyard for our pond. We have an entire 3ft deep pool set up that we will utilize to start a pond for backyard catfish farming. This will start off on a small scale and hopefully if everything goes well there is a large island area in the front of our house that would accommodate a larger pond dug in the ground. This pond would be more ornamental due to neighbors seeing it but still functional for growing catfish to eat.


• Putting gutters back up on the house and setting up a rain barrel collecting system.

Struggling To Write Blog Posts

Days have been very ho-hum around here. Not much to write about. At least not anything that my readers would find interesting, amusing, etc. Garden is winding down in the sense that we are only harvesting tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers at this point. Hoping to replant all the lettuces for the fall in the next month. Still too hot to put in seeds in the ground for that. Today is actually the first pleasant day in almost 6 weeks with a high temp predicted of 87 and breezy. I am sure the chickens will be thankful for this. I have felt so sorry for them this summer. So ready for Fall. Of course if the same thing happens with the seasons as last year we will be looking at an early Winter. Just got our electric bill and it was the highest I have ever seen it, 263.00. Our house is entirely electric including our water because of the well pump. Our lowest electric bill this past year was 130.00. I haven't even been able to hang the clothes out to dry because of the humidity in the air. Even if I start at 9 in the morning the clothes are still damp by 5 in the afternoon, then you have to start watching for pop up storms so the clothes won't get wet from rain. Betty the hen has gone broody again. I am not to concerned about it at this point because all of my adult hens will be going in to molt soon anyway. The Buff Orpingtons are almost 20 weeks and on laying pellets. Hoping they will start laying in the next month. Built there nesting boxes last week and put some fake eggs in them. School is moving right along. In the next couple of week I have multiple doctor appts coming up. Recheck for my acid reflux, the dreaded mammogram, and a minor out patient surgery. Hubby having dental issues - one tooth extracted last week and two major deep fillings yesterday. So I guess this updates folks for a while.

New Smoothie Recipe

That is, new to me. I got this off the Internet today, not sure where. Tried it this afternoon and it tasted pretty good. I am trying to find ways to get my fruit and veggie servings in each day. I typically am not the type of person to just go and pick up a carrot, etc. to eat for a snack. I am also trying to including items in my diet that will help my acid reflux. I was recently put on a medication, Dexilant, for my acid reflux and I am having some side effects but tried to come off the medication and back on to my Nexium, but the burning came back double. The only thing I am worried about is the calorie content in the smoothies. I am sure this one has at least 300 calories. To off set the difference I will be eating salad and a boiled egg for dinner.

3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup yogurt
1 banana
1/2 cup frozen blueberries
1 teaspoon honey
1 tablespoon flax seeds

The recipe did mention if you are not accustomed to alot of fiber in your diet to start off with 1 or 2 teaspoons of the flax seed until your body adjusts to the 1 tablespoon.

School Schedule

It is that time of the year where any self respecting home school mom is posting their daily school schedule. I worked on tweaking this schedule all summer and it still might need more tweaking as time goes by, but this is what we do all week.

Mondays - Math, History, Bible, Literature, Spelling, Poetry, Cursive, Written or oral narration, Read aloud story. Monday afternoons starting in September will include a group middle school chemistry class 1:30 to 3:30. Monday evenings Grace will take part in a drama ministry team.

Tuesdays - Math, Science, History, Bible, Literature, Spelling, Poetry, Vocabulary, Written or oral narration, Read aloud story. Drama practice in the afternoons for Robin Hood 3:30 to 5:00.

Wednesday - Math, Science, History, Bible, Literature, Map Drills, Poetry, Cursive, Written or oral narration, Read aloud story.

Thursdays - Math, Science, History, Bible, Literature, Spelling, Poetry, Vocabulary, Written or oral narration, Read aloud story. Art class 1:30 t0 2:30.

Fridays - Math, Picture study, Personal development, Story starters, Nature Study, Spelling, Emily Dickinson poetry readings, Read aloud story.

We are still working on getting Grace set up with voice lessons. The only individual in town that teaches voice is always booked up. We will know by mid August if anything is available. This is also a pretty expensive endeavor. Time will tell if this will work out.

Science for the Next Couple of Weeks

For the new school year we have actually started with two science units, Thomas Edison and a solar power building kit. I am handling the Thomas Edison unit and Scott is handling the solar power building kit. Physical science is so above my pay grade. Monday they discussed turning solar into energy and today it was about gear ratio, sprockets, etc. By Monday of next week they hope to start building one of the vehicles that will run on the solar powered batteries.

Prayer Request

A family from our church is going through a very difficult time. The adults in this family are grandparents and guardians of their three grandchildren. At one time it was five but two have graduated and moved out of the home. The grandfather who is 62 was diagnosed with metastasized pancreatic cancer a month ago. He has been sick for much longer but was not diagnosed until recently. The doctors say it is just a matter of weeks. He is ready to move on but is very worried about the family he is leaving behind. Both of the grandparents have been on disability for quite a while. Once he passes on she will loose what little income he brought in. They are very worried about losing their home and and meeting the monthly bills as well as continuing to support three grandchildren. It is enough to sit and watch someone die as he is on hospice at home but to also have all these financial worries. Please pray for Larry (grandfather), he is in so much pain and nauseous constantly, unable to eat. Please pray for comfort and strength. Please pray for the family.

Happenings From The Kitchen

A co-worker gave my husband a case of whole wheat spaghetti and a case of whole wheat penne pasta. This should go great with the home made pasta sauce we have been freezing.

Today Grace is attending a Star Wars party. Each attendee was to bring a snack that went along with the theme. Last night we made candy coated light saber pretzels and at the party we will prepare Yoda Soda (sprite and lime sherbet).

This morning I cooked a pot of tea to mix with my new stevia sweetener. Also prepared a pot of fruit green tea to chill in the fridge.

My wash clothes have been looking a little grubby plus I only use one each day then clean them. Recently I purchased some new yarn to make 4-5 new wash clothes.