No Refrigeration....Now What?

It is surprising how often I hear people readily admit that they are a slave to technology.  Our family is still in the process of slowly learning to adapt to using only the technology that is truly a necessity.  Just when you believe that you have done all that you can, there is something else that you find yourself making adjustments with.  Refrigeration is one of these areas.

The thought that brought me to considering refrigeration is how dependent we are on it as a society.  Think about what would happen is the power went out due to a storm.  How much food would you lose?  Let's say that you go to your refrigerator right now and open it up only to find that the condensor went out and it was no longer keeping the food cold.  How would that affect your family?  I have seen many times a refrigerator that is stocked to the gills with containers of food.  So much food that much of it ends up being tossed out due to becoming spoiled before it was used.  Such a waste!

Now, think about exactly what you keep in the refrigerator.  Are there items that you don't use often, such as condiments, that you could utilize in a better way?  The goal for me it to limit the refrigerator use to only the extreme essentials. 

Condiments, like ketchup, I am able to repackage into much smaller amounts.  If you buy the #10 size cans of ketchup, you are able to home can it into the smaller 1/2 pint size canning jars.  The smaller size is plenty to use, but not so much that I contantly have a bottle of it in the refrigerator.  I try to purchase condiments that need refrigeration only when needed for a specific recipe or meal.  Buying the actual size needed will save refrigeration usages also.  Try making some things fresh, like mayonnaise. 

When cooking, try to eliminate leftovers by keeping portions at the right level when preparing the food.  Not only will you save money in the ingredients, but you won't be tossing out leftovers later on.   If making foods that can be home canned for the pantry, take it into consideration during the meal preparation.  One example is when I make a pot roast with vegetables.  I make a large roast but only enough vegetables are added for that one meal.  Once the meal is done, I divide the leftover roast into jars.  I then add the raw veggies to the jars.  Add the liquid from the roast with just enough water to fill the jars properly.  Processing the roast this way will allow you to have all the wonderful flavors of the roast, yet the veggies will not be over-cooked.

In summer, my refrigerator contents drops down to minimal.  I have a lot of bottled water filling the bottom shelf.  Another shelf contains cold salads, such as macaroni salad or a onion & cucumber salad.  Sweet tea is always present, along with fruit flavored drinks for the kids.  The only milk is a quart container (a day's supply) of almond milk.  Eggs and cheese round out the contents.  With the exception of eggs & cheese, I only store enough perisables in the refrigertor for that day's use.  This is the biggest savings fo us.  Should the refrigerator stop working, we only lose a day's supply of food.  It is nothing that we cannot easily replace.

I took a serious look at what I truly needed a refrigerator for and found that our family could easily use only a small office sized refrigerator for our needs.  That was a huge discovey!  I am so glad that I learned to home can.  That alone has done much to reduce the need for refrigeration.

My Garden Plans Resources

Finally! I bought some of those seed starting trays with clear lids. Today, after laundry is done, I will be planting seeds. By the time they are ready to be transplanted, my raised beds will be ready for them.

It is amazing just how much time it takes to move a garden and change methods. Once done however, the garden will be so much easier to maintain. I cannot remember if I had posted a link to the YouTube video, but here is the video that inspired me. I am going to be using the planting mixture suggested in Mel Bartholomew's book, Square Foot Gardening. The planting mixture recipe can be found here.

One of the nice parts of this method will be that it will require far less maintenance. Once the raised beds are made and filled, you only have to maintain the soil each season to"freshen" the nutrients in the mix by adding a bit more mix to the beds.

Christmas & Fabric Gift Bags

Less than a week until Christmas. Oh my. I look around the house and there is little signs of the upcoming holiday. So, this week, the kids are making decorations as well as some little gifts. They are doing great with the homeschooling. Grandson is loving his new school materials and Little Miss is enjoying the materials that she is using. She was surprised to notice that she has earned 2 badges in her Little Keeper's program. We won't have them until after the holidays, so I am thinking of saving them until the next time Daddy is home and then making a special event out of it by us taking her to dinner at her favorite place "Growls", which is pronounced Golden Corral by the rest of us. For those who don't know, Golden Corral is an all you can eat buffet. If given a vote, Little Miss will choose her "Growls" every time!

I have been busy in the evenings working on gifts. Mainly finishing up smaller projects. It is such fun to be able to make the gifts, with a house full of people, and no one know what you are doing. Requires a few late nights sometimes, but it is worth it.

I still have to finish making stockings and Little Miss' doll. If I can, I will sew up a few fabric gift bags to use instead of paper gift wrap. I am considering making a batch of the fabric gift bags later after the holidays to have a supply for during the year. I hate the idea of spending so much for paper wrap. With the fabric gift bags, I can make them to use with Joe and the kids. Once used, they can be saved for another time. If giving the gift to someone outside your home, the bag can be reused by them or they can fill it with a potpourri to make a nice scented bag to display in their home.

If you do much sewing, you know that there is often fabric left over. Sometimes, you have pretty fabric from an article of clothing that is out-grown in size. The fabric can be repurposed into the gift bags. The bags can be made of an assortment of sizes to fit nearly any wrapping need. I love the ones that are about lunch bag size. Those would get used more often than any other. A few bags made slightly larger would round out the set. If you need to stiffen up the bag bottom, place a piece of poster board or cover a portion of a cereal box cut to size into the bag bottom. Coordinating ribbon makes a nice closure.

In being conservative in the spending not only of our finances but in the natural resources the Lord has blessed us with, fabric gift bags just makes sense to me.

Simple Gift Idea for Kids

Here is a easy idea for a gift that kids (and maybe adults too) will enjoy. All kids love to use chalkboards. Here is a gift I am planning to make for the holiday.

Chalkboard Box

Materials:

Wooden cigar box (or something similar)

Paint to decorate the inside & outside of the box

Chalkboard paint

Foam brushes

Box of chalk

Scrap of flannel or fleece

Paint the inside and outside of the box as desired, leaving box lid unpainted. Let dry.

Carefully paint the box top with chalkboard paint. Use an extra coat if needed. Let dry.

Place a box of chalk in the box along with a scrap of flannel for an eraser.

Voila' That is it! Simple, yet most young kids will love it.

Bonus Idea:

If you have extra chalkboard paint left over, use it to paint an old vinyl placemat, for little ones to use at a table.

Another off-beat version of the chalkboard is to alter an old book. Start with an old hardcover book like those found at a thrift store. Glue pages together and let dry. Leaving a minimum 1 inch border around the page edges, cut out the pages using a sharp utility knife. This forms a box inside of the book. You may wish to paint the inside to dress it up a bit. When dry, paint the book cover with chalkboard paint.

Knitting Nightmares

Okay, I am doing it. I have been talking about wanting to learn to knit
for some time now. Well, I bought a pair of needles about a year ago
and gave it a go. What a first-class disaster! I just had the worst
time trying to do the stitches. They were too tight and just a pain in
the backside to work with. I remember learning to knit when I was in
elementary school. It was a very informal group of girls learning from
a girl's mother who came to the school and volunteered as a room mom. I
remember how she taught us to cast on to load the stitches onto the
needle. Well, after learning how to do the basic knit & purl stitches,
the family moved before we could learn to increase, decrease, or finish
off the piece. In a nutshell, I learned how to do basic knitting to
make a scarf, but never learned how to take it off the needles.

Last year, I carefully loaded a needle and began knitting. When I
reached the end of the first row I switched the needles in my hands and
started the next row. Got through that one and thought I was doing
great. I thought to myself, "Woo hoo! I'm knitting!" Little did I
know, lurking around row 4 was the beginnings of a nightmare. The
stitches were becoming gradually tighter and in row 4 were actually
making a slight squeaking sound as the yarn slide across the metal
needles. By row 5, I could not even slip the needle under the yarn on
the other needle to start a new stitch. I was in such a state of
frustration that I was ready to cry. I set the work aside until I was
ready to deal with it again. So, here I am nearly a year later looking
at that knitting attempt. It lurks on the shelf. I know I need to just
remove all the yarn from the needles and start over. It is my albatross.

A week ago, I was at a craft supply store and saw a beautiful pair of
wooden knitting needles that I fell in love with. I thought about some
handcrafted wooden crochet hooks that were made for me. I use the
wooden ones and prefer them to the plastic or metal. They feel very
comfortable to work with. I thought that if the wooden knitting needles
are as comfortable as the crochet hooks are, I would enjoy using them.
I didn't buy those needles. I love them, but will consider them as a
reward for learning to actually make a finished project using the pair
of knitting needles I have right now. Sigh.......

So, here I sit with that Knitting Nightmare mocking me. I am really
going to do it. I am going to reach over tonight and undo all that yarn
from the needle and banish that nightmare from my sight. If I don't
post again soon, I may need a rescue from a savvy knitter to get
unraveled. Or maybe a Knitter's Anonymous intervention. Or maybe a
good cry over a piece of dark chocolate. Will see what happens.....

Play Dough Recipe & Gift Idea

I found a website tonight quite by chance.  It is Sensory Processing Disorder.  I was doing a web search for a homemade Play Dough recipe and stumbled upon the website.  After glancing through as much as my phone would allow, I thought I would pass the link along.  What I noticed is that they have a lot of information about Autism and other types of sensory disorders.  If you have need of this type of information and resources, then that is a site that may be of interest.

As I mentioned, I was searching for a play dough recipe.  I used to have a really good one, but it was misplaced.  Our son is getting more involved and wanting to mimic what our daughter and grandson are doing.  With this in mind, I decided to make play dough again.  In the past, our son was not interested in anything that felt sticky or strange on his fingers.  Commercially made play doughs have a slight stickiness to them that caused him to not want to touch it.  In making homemade versions, I am able to control the dough consistency to match what he will tolerate.  I have been finding that if I knead in a bit of Cream of Tartar into the dough before giving it to him, it makes the dough more smooth.  Cream of Tartar also has a quality in it that will extend the shelf-life of the play dough.  The following recipe, found on the above mentioned website, will last about 3-4 months.

Play Dough Recipe

In a 2-quart pan mix together:
1 cup flour
½ cup salt
2 teaspoons Cream of Tartar

Add:
1 Tablespoon oil
1 cup water with food coloring in it

Cook over a medium heat.  At first it will appear to have too much water in it but will quickly begin to form into a ball of dough.  When dough pulls away from the sides of the pan, take out of pan and lightly knead until smooth.  If necessary, knead in a little flour to remove any stickiness.

Store play dough in baggies or air-tight containers for 3-4 months.

If you do a web search for play dough activity ideas, you will find many activities to teach fine motor skills and sensory activities for young children to enjoy.  With the holiday season coming up, you can make up a batch of dough without food coloring.  Choose a recipe that can be baked to harden the dough after it is formed into shapes.  Allow the kids to roll the dough about 1/4" to 3/8" thickness.  Cut out into shapes using holiday cookie cutters.  With a drinking straw, make a hole near the top of the shape for threading a ribbon through after it is baked.  Place the cut outs onto a parchment paper lined cookie sheet and bake according to the dough's recipe directions.  When hardened and cooled, use markers or paints to decorate the ornament.  Let dry.  Thread a length of ribbon through the hole to make a hanging loop.

One Christmas gift that the kids are making for their Grandparents are hand prints pressed into the clay.  The dough will be rolled out about 3/8" thick and cut the size of a dessert plate.  Once their hand print is pressed into the clay, it will be baked until hardened.  They will then paint the hand print, let dry and add the ribbon for hanging.  I will write our son's name and year on his.  Our daughter will write her own name and the year on her hand print.

If there are little ones on your gift list, consider making them a basket filled with various colored homemade play dough.  Include in the basket the recipe for their Mom to help them make more as needed throughout the year.  I have also seen batches of homemade play dough prettily packaged in little baskets or containers of about 6 colors each being sold in craft shows.  Using unsweetened drink mix, such as Kool-aid to both color and scent the dough is a fun option for doughs you give as gifts.  The only caution I would add to that is to be sure the scented play dough isn't given to a child who is likely to eat some of the dough because of it having a fruity scent.

Enjoy!

Paula

Holiday Crafting: Votive Candles

As mentioned before, I will be posting ideas for crafts and activities that we are going to be doing. The first of these are Votive Candle Holders.

These are a recycle craft. I have a small collection of those little clear glass jars that dried beef come in. At a yard sale, I was given a small stack of packaged little decorative napkins that they had a surplus of. The only materials I have had to buy are Mod Podge and the little votive candles to put into the holders.

To make these candle holders, start by separating the layers of your decorative napkins so that you only have the decorative layer. Save the bottom layer to use for another project. Just a note: if you only have the white tissue napkins, use food coloring & water to "tie dye" the napkins then let dry before using.

Tear the napkin into workable sections. I recommend no bigger than 1 inch square. Lightly coat a section of the outside of your glass jar with Mod Podge. Lay the napkins over it and continue adding more pieces of the napkin, slightly overlapping each piece, until the outside of the jar is covered. Let dry completely. Add another light coat of Mod Podge and allow to dry again. You can add a total of 2-3 top coats of the Mod Podge. On the final coat, you may like to accent the candle holder with a fine glitter.

The finished candle holder is very pretty and an easy project even for young preschool aged children to complete with limited assistance. It makes a nice decoration as well as a cute gift idea.

Going Vegetarian......Again

Well, here we go again. I had been eating meat and as always, my chronic pain issues have increased. Seems to go with the territory. Ever time I quit the vegetarian style of eating, I start having problems. So, I am getting serious with the vegetarian diet again.

This time around though, I am taking it a step further. I already know that Micah cannot have dairy without getting stomach and bowel problems. Too much meat does the same thing to him. I am gathering recipes for gluten-free foods for us. I am curious as to what that may do for us all. Gluten is a big problem with many autistic children. I am wondering how Micah would do if I gradually cut out the gluten.

Making the change all at once is difficult. I am finding that many gluten-free foods are very pricey. With that in mind, I am gathering recipes to try out that will allow me to make the foods from scratch. While the packaged foods are expensive, making them yourself doesn't have to be.

I was recently given the book "Gluten-free Cooking for Dummies" by a dear friend. In it, they have a recipe for a gluten-free flour mix to use in place of all-purpose flour. The various flours used in the mix may be harder to find, but I am sure that I will find them at an affordable price. I love to be challenged in my cooking. Learning to make everything gluten-free & dairy-free will be a great opportunity for me to stretch my abilities.

Micah has often turned away when we try to feed him meat. At times, he will even spit it out. It seems as though I am simply allowing him his own choice in this. At 3 yrs old, he rarely will eat meat without a fuss. I have mentioned to others often that if it were not for the yogurt, cheddar cheese, and eggs that he eats, Micah would be vegan.

I am looking forward to learning to convert family favorite recipes into a gluten-free, dairy-free alternative. From what I am seeing, it won't be a difficult transition. I will have to find a hand-cranked grinder to mill the grains into flour. This will be the most economical way to get the flours we need to make a good, nutrient loaded flour mix for making our breads and other foods.

Another option that I am adding is raw foods. There are many easy recipes to make that fall into this category. With the hot summer days ahead, I am also looking at the fact that I won't have to heat up the kitchen when making the meals. I already have known that the closer to raw a vegetable or fruit are, the higher thier nutrient levels and the more calories that are burned to digest the food. Overall, it is an excellent option for us.

I am so blessed that Joe supports his change. He enjoys trying the new recipes along with us. Being on the truck most of the time, he is able to get meat daily if he wants to while at a truck stop or through the home canned meals I send with him. When he is home though, he eats the vegetarian diet with us. I love that!

New Season of Change

Well, here we go again!  It would seem that we are going to be having another season of change.  Joe and I have talked over our family's financial situation and come to the realization that we need to make changes.  They won't be easy, but are necessary.  Joe has been working a job for 2 years now at very low pay so that he can be home with the family more.  Well, it isn't working out anymore.  Prices are going up and the income isn't keeping up with the increases in the costs.  We have looked at it from every possible angle to find a different answer that would keep Joe home but there is only one option.....Joe is going back to truck driving.   Joe has 6 years of experience as a truck driver and loves the work.  It is the only professional training that he has for employment.  Over the past two years, he has enjoyed being home, but also has felt like a fish out of water.  In rural areas, there are not very many options for making a good income.  You have to commute to where the jobs are.  A common problem is that the fuel costs for commuting can be high enough to become yet another financial burden to the family.  You are left having to make tough decisions to take care of family needs.   We have done the truck driving jobs before and so we know what to expect.  My father and most of my uncles were truck drivers, as was Joe's Dad.  Joe and I used to team drive for a trucking company years ago until I was nearly 6 months pregnant with Abigail.  Then Joe went out on a truck without me for another 2 years.  We are both used to Joe being home each night.  The kids certainly are used to Daddy being home.  Abigail was 2 years old when he left truck driving and Micah has never experienced Daddy being gone for a long period.  This will make it a tough adjustment for the kids especially.   This time around, Joe is planning to work as a solo driver.  He won't be training new drivers as he did before.  Finding a co-driver to team up with is also a challenge.  Team driving is similar to a marriage.  You have 2 people living for an extended period of time in very close quarters.  If there is a personality conflict or you have a co-driver who is lazy about his driving, it can be just a stressful as an unhappy marriage.  It is difficult to find a co-driver that shares your work ethics and also has a personality that matches well with your own.   It will be hard at first for me to get used to Joe being gone again.  Over the next couple of weeks, I am going to be canning up some meals for him to take along.  Then, once he is on the truck, I will continue to get meals stocked up in the pantry.  When I first did this a few years ago, we found that Joe's food bill for the month dropped to $150 per month with his taking home canned soups, stews, and other meals in the canning jars.  He would heat the food up in a small "lunchbox" cooker.  It is called a lunchbox cooker due to it looking exactly like a black lunch box with an electrical cord that plugs into the 12 volt (cigarette lighter) outlet in the truck.  Joe would buy small foil bread pans that fit inside the cooker to heat the food in.  The pans then became the dish he would eat out of.  Even with the cost of the foil pans, the overall cost was far less than Joe having to eat at the truck stops.  Not to mention the home canned was much healthier too!  On average, he took 48 pint jars of food with him each month.  He also had a gallon size plastic jar of homemade granola and plenty of dried fruit trail mixes.  For his first few days out, I always sent along some fresh baked cookies and some homemade flat bread.  He loved it!   It is going to be very different this time when Joe leaves out on a truck.  Not only will I have Abigail, but now there is Micah.  We have the blessing of having sold our sheep, so I won't have to worry about tending them & being attacked again like before.  The only animals that we currently have is our dog and a few chickens that were given to us to free range.  The chickens simply eat the bugs that they find while scratching the soil and roost in the trees near the house.  The only somewhat difficult part of Joe's being gone will be changing out the propane tanks & taking them to be filled.  One 26 gallon tank lasts about a month.  We are looking at the option of setting up 2 filled tanks with a regulator in between so that when one tank gets low, I can switch to the second tank without having to disconnect anything.  This should give me plenty of propane to last until Joe gets home again. We can't have home delivery as our tanks hold far less than what the 100 gallon delivery minimum.  This other method should work just fine.   The kids and I have been in a routine now that will continue to work well after Joe goes out on the truck.  I think the hardest part will be the loneliness that will be felt.  While I do know more people than I did when he drove before, it isn't the same as having him here.  One person referred to a trucker's wife as being a stay-at-home single parent that gets a paycheck twice a month.  I have to admit that in many ways it can feel like that.   One way that I helped to combat the loneliness was to have lots of pen pals.  Having those letters to read & to write to others were great.  When I felt lonely, I could go back and read them again.  Joe was always great about surprising me with postcards or other mail while he was gone.  Of course there is also his text messages & phone calls.  Another way that I found peace was to spend more time in the Bible and also listening to recorded sermons.  Whether the sermons came from the church we attended at that time or through another sermon tape ministry, they were a wonderful uplift to my heart.  One of my favorite resources for recorded sermons are the ones from Charity Ministries.  They are an Anabaptist (Mennonite) organization that provides the sermons for free.  You can either download an MP3 recording or you can order a free tape/CD to be mailed to you.   It will be interesting to see where the Lord leads us this time.  He never takes us to a place that is boring.  He does however always takes the road with us and never leaves us to flounder on our own.   May the Lord's blessings be with thee,   Paula

Raised Row Gardening - Update

I want to thank everyone for the comments and email concerning the garden.  It seems to be a good topic for discussion.  I wanted to post a bit of an update and more information about the way we are gardening.  The raised rows that we are using average about 12-14 inches wide.  They are approximately 8-10 inches higher than the walk path between them.  The path between is about 12 inches wide to give us plenty of space to walk through with a wheel barrow.  We are covering the walk paths and sides of the raised rows clear up to the plants with 2-3 inches of mulch.   I have 2 rows of tomato plants.  One is a medium sized tomato variety called Marglobe.  It is said to be a good choice for canning and is very popular in our area.  The second row is the Roma variety of tomato.  We love these as a good all-purpose tomato in that it is not really juicy when dicing it for a salad.  They make a good choice for making sauces, ketchup, or bbq sauce for canning also.  We have 11 Roma and 13 Marglobe plants.  The 12th Roma plant is Abbie's and is planted in a container until we find a place to have her little garden.  We were blessed to find in one of our 6-plant pony packs of Marglobe, there were 2 tomato plants in one of the little sections.  This extra one gave us the odd number of 13 plants.  I planted the tomato plants about 12 inches apart in a single line down each raised row.  The spacing will provide each plant with plenty of light and room to grow.  Soon, I will be raiding the supply of tree trimmings from previous storms to gather sticks of sufficient size to stake up the tomato plants.   My row of radish and carrots were planted in a "scattering" method.  Not very uniform in spacing, but with the tiny seeds this method works well for me.  The plants start growing fairly close together in some areas and will need to be thinned out.  With the radishes, I am able to thin the plants, clean them and use them in a salad just as you would a full sized one.  They are flavorful, just have not formed the bulb.  Carrots are a bit slower growing.  I only thin if truly needed in the beginning.  When doing this, I very carefully pull the tiny plants and using a pencil or stick to make a hole, I transplant the carrot in another spot where there is room for it to grow.  This helps me to not waste a good plant.  Later on, as the carrots become larger, I thin them out when the carrots reach the "baby carrot" size and are tender.  These are a great addition to salads.  Abbie loves to dip baby carrots in peanut butter as a afternoon snack.  The main point is that I do not believe in tossing away any of the plants that I thin out.  I try to find ways to use them or transplant them back into the garden.   The rows of bush type beans and peas are planted about 3-4 rows across the raised row.  I space the seeds about 2 inches apart, unless I am being helped by my 4 year old daughter who believes that seeds need to be closer to their neighbors!  LOL   The rows of plants are close enough together (about 3 inches apart) that they provide good shade and support to each other.  I know that this is planting much closer than recommended, but I have always had great results with it.  The harvest yields from planting this close together has never been stunted by spacing the plants this close.   Root crops such as beets are planted with the seeds spaced just far enough apart to allow each plant to grow to it's full size.  If you like your beets to be harvested when they are 2 inches diameter, plant them about 5 inches from each other.  This allows about 1 inch of space in between them once full grown.  I often will plant the seeds 2 inches apart.  When the beets are about 1" diameter, you pick every other beet.  These can be pickled and canned whole.  The remaining beets, I like to pick when they are about 2 inches diameter for canning sliced beets.  By then the beets are getting very crowded looking, but still doing well.  Typically, you can replant beets again as soon as the larger ones are harvested.  This will give you two full harvests of beets in one growing season.   I refer to things like squash, cucumbers, pumpkins, melons, and gourds as "mound plants."  This is due to the fact that I plant them in rows containing raised mounds or hills in which the seeds are planted.  I make the hills about 10" diameter and plant 3-5 seeds per hill, depending on the size of the full grown plant.  Large plants such as zucchini contain 3 seeds per hill, while smaller plants such as cucumbers will have up to 5 seeds.  I have found that I am able to grow this way with great results each time.  Harvest yields are very good and few weeds are able to grow around the plants.  With the addition of mulch, there is literally no weeding to be done.  Plants that require a great amount of space, such as pumpkins, are planted with no more than 3 seeds per hill and the hills are spaced up to 4 feet apart to allow plenty of room for the vines.  If you keep a close watch on the vining plants, you can train the vines to go where you want them.  Just gently lift and move them to where you want them to go.   Hope this helps.   May the Lord's blessings be with thee,   Paula

Busy Day in the Garden

Saturday, May 8th.   Today began with lots of sunshine, cool temps and a pleasant breeze.  A perfect time to be outdoors and take care of the garden and other yard work.  Remember the free mulch we received from the tree trimming service?  We are moving large amounts of it to our garden.  This morning, Joe's parents dropped by for a couple of hours to help. Joe's Mom shoveled mulch into the 2 wheel barrows.  Joe's Dad then would bring the mulch to the garden.  I worked at spreading it out between the garden rows and around the plants.  We have about 3 inches of mulch layered there now.  This should be plenty to help hold moisture around the plants and also to prevent weed growth.  Having a large garden, we are hoping that this will make it easier to maintain.   After lunch, it is back to the garden.  I am wanting to get as much planted as possible.  The weather service is saying that we have a chance of rain for the next several days.  I need to at least get the beans and peas planted.  I am losing the window of opportunity to plant them.  If not in the ground by the end of this month, it will be too late.  The temperatures get too hot in June.  The tender young plants will have a difficult time managing to grow and produce once the 100*+ temperatures arrive on a daily basis in late June.  They need as much growing time as possible so that the plants are well established.   We managed to get a bit of preparations done in the garden while the little ones were napping.  Joe is shoveling trenches and piling the soil from the trenches on the garden rows to form the raised rows.  The raised rows are averaging about 12-14 inches wide.  After Joe forms the mounds, I go over them with a hoe or shovel to break up any large clumps of soil.  I then rake over the soil to smooth it out in preparation for planting.  I am able to plant 3-4 parallel rows of a vegetable in each row.  Things like root crops (carrots, beets, radishes) can have 4 rows planted per raised row and not be too crowded.  I like doing this as it saves the extra work for Joe in making the mounds.  It also helps with weed control.  Carrots and beets need to be thinned, but I thin them when they are large enough to use as baby carrots or the small whole beets for pickling.  To me, this seems a good way to prevent waste.  Radishes can also be thinned once they are about 1-2 inches tall.  With the roots removed, the remaining stem and leaves can be used just as you would radish sprouts on a sandwich or in a wrap to add a bit of extra flavor.  Vegetables that can be planted in 3 parallel per raised row are peas, bush beans, spinach, chard, many of your smaller leafy greens, and larger root crops such as onions.   I know that some may fuss about how I plant.  Gardening books and articles often state that you should plant your rows of beans 12 inches apart.  Why?  I have planted this way for 20+ years without any problem.  The gauge that I use is the seed spacing.  If I am able to plant the seeds 2 inches apart, then why do rows need to be 12 inches apart?  My Dad used to plant double-rows of beans or peas, spacing the 2 rows about 2-3 inches apart.  This produced a thicker bushy row of beans that shaded the ground enough to prevent most of the weed growth.  I plant my root crop seeds far enough apart to allow the vegetables to grow to proper size.  By eliminating the extra distance between the rows also allows me to conserve space.  If we are using from the garden throughout the season, then the closer planting becomes even less of an issue.   This week, as we are able we will be adding even more raised rows/mounds and Joe will be filling up some wood crates with mulch, old hay, compost and soil to prepare them for me to plant into.  I have decided to plant my leafy greens in those to prevent the rabbits from having a banquet.  In future seasons, these will also be used for many of the root crops also.  It will allow me to plant more of the bushy plants in the raised rows.   We are making the raised rows in the front section of the garden and the hills for the squash, pumpkin, melons, cucumbers, and any large vining plants will be in the back section.  As we are preparing the garden, I am looking forward to it being fully planted.  With the mulch layer on top, the garden will be so easy to tend to!  The wood shipping crates that we are using for planters are a nice addition.  I already have plans to plant in them earlier next season and then cover them with clear plastic to form a makeshift cold frame.    I love watching the progress that we are making.  Each day, we are getting closer to being finished.  Abbie has been helping with the planting and has fun giving the tomatoes a "drink of water" each day we don't have rain.  Micah plays out there as we work.  We find it very important to have them out there and involved as much as possible.  Not only to teach them how to garden, but to teach them to work together as a family to get things done.  We want them to grow up with a strong work ethic.  One of the best parts of the gardening is that family time together.  Working as a family on a fun project that will benefit the entire family for months to come.   May the Lord's blessings be with thee,   Paula

Free Mulch resource & PIFs

I am so excited. this morning, we were blessed with a second dump load of mulch from a tree cutting service. They have been cutting down the trees that have grown too close to power lines along the roads near us. I spoke to them a couple of weeks ago and they agreed to drop off the mulch at our home. This is a free resource that you can check into. Many of the tree cutting service companies look for new places to leave the mulch made from the tree limbs and branches run through the chipper. We now have a small mountain of 2 loads of mulch sitting ready to be put into our garden. They are going to use our home as one of their regular dumping areas. this means that whenever they are in the area working, they will be bringing a load to us periodically.
The mulch works well in compost piles, or simply spread around your garden plants. In autumn, it makes a nice layer to place on your garden soil to add nutrients to the soil as well as prevent weed growth in the early spring. Definately worth checking out the tree cutting service companies in your area.

This morning, I had a comment waiting to be moderated from someone (Mrs. CW Mouse) who had missed out on the first PIF that I had held. For those new to PIF, I gather the names & addresses of 3 people wanting to participate. I send each participant a handmade item. In exchange, they gather from their own blogs the names & addresses of 3 people wanting to participate. They make a handmade item for each and mail it off to them. Each person participating is expected to continue "Paying It Forward" to 3 people on their blogs. If you are interested in participating, please email me at okprairiemom@gmail.com and let me know. Mrs. CW Mouse, I will assume that you are wanting to participate. Please email me to confirm. I then will have room for 2 more participants.

Nearly Free Garden Fence

Greetings! In a previous post, I spoke of my husband using wooden shipping crates as raised garden beds. Well, here is an idea that we are implementing.

We get the shipping crates free from a business in town that receives their manufacturing supplies in them. Normally, the business would burn the crates so they are happy to have us take them off their hands. Another free item that we get are old wooden pallets. We are setting up the border of the garden with alternating pallets & crates. The crates help to stabilize the pallets to make a very strong fence to keep wildlife and errant livestock from eating the garden's vegetable plants.

The pallets serve both as fence material and can be used as a trellis to support climbing plants or those such as tomatoes that need the support. The crates serve as raised garden beds as well as compost bins. Once we have the entire perimeter of the garden fenced with the pallets and crates, we will be adding rows of crates inside the garden for next year's planting.

The wood is weather treated so it will last a long time before needing replaced. The crates are tall enough (waist high) that we can easily tend the garden without getting sore. The height is great also for keeping many of the smaller animals such as rabbits away from the plants. If we run out of crates, we can easily make some using 4 pallets held together with metal strapping & screws.

Is this a rustic method, certainly. It is a wonderful way to recycle the materials though as well as provide excellent protection to the garden at very low cost. Our fencing & crates are costing us only the price of the screws used to attach the pallets to the crates and the time & fuel used to bring the materials home.

We are filling the crates about 2/3 full of old hay as a filler before adding the soil. In future years we will only need to ammend the soil by adding compost or other materials to fortify the soil. In all, it is a very easy method that will serve us well for many years to come.

Recycled Container Gardening

As I mentioned previously, the Lord has been blessing us abundantly with rain. We have had a 18 day stretch of rain daily. Some days more than others, but thoughts of having Beloved build an ark were beginning to take place. LOL

We have started putting wooden shipping crates in the garden to use as planting boxes. We put old hay in the bottom with top soil on the top. These are going to work out great. They end up being about waist high which will eliminate the problem of aching backs or knees from weeding the garden. We are putting weed barrier cloth - a black plastic with tiny holes in it to allow water to drian through - on top of the soil before planting our seedlings. This will further eliminate the need to be weeding the garden so much. The weed barrier also will help to hold in the moisture in the soil. One word of caution however - always place some mulch on top of the plastic if you have very hot summers! If you neglect to do this, you tomato and other plants can get too hot and be burned.

We have plans to add to the number of crates each year. We may end up building some from old pallets also if we run out of crates. Our garden area is about 88' x 108' in size. The crates are about 4' square. We can place a lot of these crates in that area. I am planning to have a portion of the garden area for the vining plants to be planted directly in the ground. Most likely they will be in the back portion.

If you live near a business that receives product in the wooden shipping crates, you may want to consider talking to the owner or manager. Some businesses will burn or otherwise destroy the crates even though they are in very good condition. You may be able to get the crates for a very low cost or free. If you are handy with hand tools, you can also make your own crates using old wood pallets. In our area, the local Ace Hardware & Lumber Stores give away the old wooden pallets. Be sure to specify the old ones as they also have new ones which they sell. We have often gone to their store and loaded up a trailer with a full load of pallets for free.

Looking around, you can find many recycleable containers that would be suitable for gardening. The only criteria being that they can hold the soil & water. Bakeries and restaurants often have plastic buckets that they recieve food products in. These often get thrown away unless people ask for the containers. Put a few drainage holes in the bottom and you have a nice container for your tomatoes or other plants.

Be creative. You may find that there is a vast array of options available to you.

Raised Bed Garden Idea

One of our on again, off again topics here has been whether or not we will be able to plant a garden this spring. With the new building project that will be taking place, we just haven't been certain that we will have the time to spend on a large garden. There is also the fact that the truck with building materials would be driving right through the area where the garden is always located. So, it was beginning to look like we may not be able to have a large garden. If we have to wait until the garden area is no longer being used as an access to the build site, I would miss the window of opportunity to plant many of the cooler weather crops such as leaf lettuce, spinach, mustard, and swiss chard. I also would not be able to put out cabbage, iceberg lettuce, and my tomatoes. The vegetables that I could plant would be the faster growing ones like zucchini that are relatively no-maintenance and can be planted in early summer. The other issue has been the time spent tending the garden. With us focusing on getting the house closed in and made ready enough to move in by fall, Beloved won't have time to help me with the garden. Nor will I have as much time to tend it as I will be doing other tasks to prepare for the new house also.

Today, an idea came to me that may just work. For some time now, I have been thinking about gardening in raised beds. Raised beds are easier on your back and knees. You also have much less weeding to do since you are not having to weed the paths in between the garden rows. Typically with a raised bed garden, it is faster, easier, and cheaper to prepare the garden beds from one season to the next. You only have to ammend the soil in the raised bed whereas in a traditional garden you are ammending all the garden area including the paths in between your plantings. If you need a cold frame, you can easily set one up by building a little dome-type structure to place over the raised bed. This can be as simple as using old fencing and forming an arch to support clear tarp plastic. Poking the ends of the fencing into the sides of the raised bed is often enough to hold it in place. You can also do the same along one side of the raised bed to form a trellis for your vining plants.

So, where is this all going? Out in our yard we have several large wooden shipping crates. Beloved is using some of them for storing scrap wood and also the smaller lengths of firewood that we use in the cookstove. He has access to more of these crates and could bring some home. The crates stand anywhere from 3-4 feet tall and are about 5 feet square. The wood slats have just enough room to allow for drainage in some of the crates while others have wood slats that are a bit further apart. I am thinking that if we fill the crates about 3/4 full of old hay, topped with a layer of some type of material that would prevent the hay from sprouting, then finish filling with a good planting mix we could use the crates for raised bed gardening. The crates with the wider gaps in between the side slats would also have some weed barrier plastic or other material lining the inside of the box to prevent planting mix from spilling through.

If we use a good soil mixture, we can avoid the problems of having lots of weeds to tend to. Adding mulch around the plants would also limit the weeding and help to hold moisture in the soil. Because the raised beds are not completely filled with soil, it will be much easier to scoop the soil out into a wheelbarrow and move the crate to a more permanent location should we decide to do so. As the hay and soil settle into the crate over the season, we will be able to add to the crate the following season when we prepare the crates for the next planting.

For a gardening plan, I am referencing the Square Foot Gardening website. I have gardened by this method before with good results. If we are unable to do the garden this way in the spring, it will be something that I will want to pursue as soon as we are able to do so. If nothing else, I could plant a few things in late summer for a fall harvest.

Supply Run

One of the tasks that we have each month is a trip to Tulsa for supplies. It is about 1.5 hours drive from home to get there, but I am able to get all of our supplies for the month in one trip. There are smaller towns in between, but they do not have everything we are needing to buy. By making the journey to Tulsa, I am able to get all of our dry goods, check the thrift stores for anything we are needing, and most of all, I am able to go to a health food store to get the specialty items that typical grocery stores do not carry.

Tomorrow is my shopping day. Micah and I will be taking our bagged recyclables to the recycling center in Sapulpa. It is one that will accept nearly all household trash that we have. Basically, if we can't burn it in our burn pit, the recycling center takes it. It has been great. We have been without trash service since early last summer and have not missed it at all.

Today, I did an inventory of our pantry to see what all we were getting low on. Surprisingly, we are in pretty good shape where the dry goods are concerned. I am going to be stocking up more on the frozen vegetables and such this trip. Our garden didn't do as well as we would have liked last year. Now, I just stock up on the frozen vegetables. Some, I end up canning to save space in the refrigerator's freezer. All in all, it works out great.

At the Whole Foods Market in Tulsa, they have a large bulk foods selection. I love to shop that area. They have a wide assortment of items including the various grains, mixes and seasonings. Something that they do that is different from many stores is to have the plastic deli containers in the bulk area instead of bags. The containers are in pint and quart size. They also have plastic bottles for the things like syrups or honey. I like this as I am able to reuse these containers each time I go. In the spices and herbs section, they have large jars of the dried spices & herbs that you can measure out into little baggies. The price for the seasonings there is much cheaper than the cost of the bottles & jars of seasonings at the grocery store. I buy the amount that I need and it costs under 25 cents. Instead of using the little bags however, I have found a better solution. The Parents Choice baby food has the fruit in small plastic cups with very tight fitting snap on lids. Each cup holds about 1/4 cup. I am saving these for the bulk seasonings and spices. The containers are very light, like the deli containers, and will hold more than the smallest sized bottles of spices that you find in the grocery store.

So, tonight, I am gathering up all the containers and frozen food tote bags to prepare for the shopping trip. I am going to take note of how many bags I end up using from the store so that next month, I can have that many fabric tote bags on hand. I am really wanting to get away from bringing home the plastic bags. Beloved bringing home a few during the month is fine. We reuse them as trash bags in the smaller trash cans and other purposes. I do however want to limit the number of them that we bring home so that we don't get over run by them.

Green Living Laundry Tips & Ideas

I am excited. I had been trying to find the good old fashioned metal wash tubs and was getting discouraged by the high prices. To buy the galvanised metal tubs from a farming supply costs over $65 for the size tub needed for washing laundry. Well, yesterday I made a discovery. At Lowe's Home Improvement Center, they have large round galvanised metal washtubs in their paint supply area for under $15 each. What a find! I had just bought an old washtub just like these at a flea market for $2 which needed some sylicone put into the small holes in the bottom of the washtub. Right there in the same isle of the store were the same size wash tubs. I now know where I am going to buy my washtubs from now on. I am still happy to have found the one I bought at the flea market. If the sylicone I got doesn't fill in the holes, it will make a great container for my garden. I will eventually get 2 wash tubs, one for washing the other for rinsing. Then, we will be able to remove the washer & dryer from the house and set up a low table or bench for me to set the wash tubs on when doing the laundry. I am quite happy about the changes. At first, doing laundry by hand for a family seemed a daunting task. Especially with 2 little ones, one in cloth diapers and the other in cloth training pants. I am finding however that the task is much easier than I originally thought. If I presoak the laundry in hot soapy water to soften the soil, the laundry is washed faster than in a machine. I have posted in an earlier post the steps that I take in doing laundry by hand.

One of the challenges of drying laundry without a dryer is finding creative ways to dry the laundry. Issues such as space, cost for setting up, and weather can be a challenge. There is a small investment in setting up a line drying system. The simpliest and cheapest is to string a clothesline rope between 2 trees or posts that are already in place. Many who plan on line drying exclusively prefer a more permanent setup such as the metal T-posts set in the ground with concrete footers or an umbrella clothesline that can be set up when needed and removed when not in use. There are countless options for indoor clotheslines also. You can find dryer racks of various sizes and materials readily available at most stores or online.

An option that we are implementing for now is using a portable clothes rack. We have an area in our family room near the wood stove that we are able to set the clothes rack. Under the rack, I will have the large washable fabric pads like you see for using on beds. These will catch any drips and prevent the water from making a mess on the floor. I found 6 of these at a thrift store and was able to buy them in new condition for under $4.00 for all 6 of them. I will be using some recycled fabric to add onto the quilted side to give it a stronger fabric & prevent the rack from tearing them. By hanging the laundry on hangers, I can dry more items in a smaller space. The laundry, once dried, will be ready to hang up to put them away.

A simple and effective clothesline that you can run across your room from one wall to another is a dog chain. These chains are designed to be used outdoors where they will be exposed to rain and not rust. As long as the links are large enough to allow a hanger to be hung onto a link, with the hanger's hook going through the link, you can use the dog chain. You can attach the chain to the wall using a metal hook. Be certain to use a hook that is heavy enough and is well attached to the wall stud. Add another hook on the opposite wall and slip the ends of the chain onto the hooks when the line is in use. When not in use, you can remove the chain from one hook and slip it onto the opposite hook so the chain hangs down the wall out of the way. Another advantage of using a chain for your clothesline is that if you are using it outdoors on a windy day, your laundry on hangers will not be easily blown off the line. For heavy items such as a blanket or quilt, you can still use the chain, just drape the blanket over the chain. It should not cause any stains or rust on the fabric if the chain is the metal that is rust-proof.

You can find clothes dryer racks that are made from dowels in many online stores and find similar racks in department stores. If you are creative and have a drill, you can make your own using the simple directions on the Handyman Wire website. The instructions given are for a large rack. If you have access to an old baby crib that has seen better days, you can make your own rack that is suspended from the ceiling using the crib side rails for the drying rack.

On Korey Atterberry's blog, she posted a tutorial for making a drying rack for cloth diapers using 1/2 inch PVC pipe. This is a very easy project that nearly anyone can accomplish. This rack is a nice size for things like dish towels, socks, and other small items. I am thinking that it would be a great project to try and make from wooden dowels instead of the PVC so that I can set the rack directly on top of the wood stove we heat with. Our wood stove has the entire top vented to allow the heat to rise. By placing a rack built to fit the wood stove, I would be able to dry cloth diapers and other small items very quickly. To make a fast project, you can use the wooden stretcher bar frames like those used for embroidery or needlepoint. These frames are 4-sided and fit together easily. No tools needed to assemble them. When put together, they look similar to a picture frame. You can use wood glue to hold the corners together at the joint. Drill your dowel holes (same diameter as your dowels for a tight fit) along one frame edge. It may be helpful to tape the 2 frames together and drill through both at once to make sure the holes on both frames line up correctly. This edge will be at the top of your rack. For added stability, you can add a couple of dowel holes in the bottom edge near the corners to add a stabilizing dowel at these corners. Place a dowel in each hole of one of the frames. Then, line up the other frame and slip the dowels into the holes. Push the dowels through until the ends are even with the outside edge of the frames. This will make a very sturdy rack that will give you a lot of use. QUICK NOTE: You can make this same wooden rack using 1/4 or 3/8 inch dowels on a smaller frame to make a drying rack for homemade pasta or for using on your counter to hang dish cloths & towel between uses.

I have been quite surprized to learn that in many neighborhoods across the nation, home owners associations or cities themselves are banning the use of outdoor clotheslines. A common reason being that they feel that it lowers property values. For some reason they feel that line drying our laundry is only done by those in poverty situations. Good grief! The Boston Globe has a wonderful article that explains the situation. In a time when people are concerned with global warming, energy conservation, and the rising cost of energy, you would think that a person would be free to make the choice for themselves on how to do their laundry. It makes no sense to me that any group or city government can dictate whether or not a person can line dry their laundry. There are some legislators trying to change this, but it would seem that other legislators are not wanting to upset the home owners associations. Check to see if your area has such a ban. If you are wanting to exercise your option to use clotheslines and are unable to, write to your legislators and let them know how you feel about it.

Do you have a creative way of drying your laundry by line drying? Feel free to share your ideas. If you live in a neighborhood that does not allow the use of outdoor clotheslines and still dry your clothing without a machine, please share your stories. There may be others in such a neighborhood that is needing ideas on how to line dry without the outdoor clotheslines.

Laundering Cloth Diapers

Okay, so you have made the cloth diapers from recycled fabrics to help cut down costs. Now, you are faced with a problem.....laundering them. Depending on how many diapers you made, you will be needing to wash them each day or every 2 days. I recommend that you have no less than 2 dozen diapers if you are not wanting to wash them each day. Along with the diapers, I make an equal number of doublers. Two dozen diapers is about what you would need for a 2-day supply for a newborn. As the baby gets older, this amount will last longer. It is best to have more than you think you will need. There often will be times when the extra diapers are handy to have.

Because of a baby's sensitive skin, you need to be cautious in how you launder the diapers. When I wash our infant's diapers and toddler's training pants, I use a mild soap. This means a soap that has no dyes or fragrances. I add a cup of white vinegar to the rinse water. This will remove any soap residue left on the clothing. No commercial fabric softeners are used in the rinse. They lessen the absorbency of the diaper fabric.

When I dry the diapers, I hang them on the line whenever possible. The only times I do not hang them on the line is if I am running short on diapers and need them dried quickly or if the weather is not cooperating. There are several advantages to drying diapers on a clothesline. One obvious advantage is the cost. Drying them on a line is free. You do not have to pay for the energy used. Another is that the diapers are more thoroughly dried. Have you ever noticed that a towel or clothing dried on a clothesline is stiff while the machine dried ones are soft? The tumbling action helps to soften the fabric as well as a small amount of moisture remaining in the fabric. Line dried items are dried through evaporation without the humidity factor that exists in the clothes dryer. The sunlight also will naturally bleach out any stains in the diapers.

The question remains though. How do you avoid using the clothes dryer in bad weather? Well, I have been working on that specific question. One way is to use a drying rack like the expandable free-standing ones made from dowels. These are great as they can be moved to a location where they will do the most good. If you have a wood stove, you can place the drying rack near the stove so that the diapers get the best amount of heat. The moisture evaporating from the diapers as they dry will also help add humidity into the air. Limited on space and cannot use a drying rack? How about using the retractable clotheslines. Installed to be stretched over the bathtub, the diapers will be out of the way while drying. If you live in a rental and cannot install the retractable clothesline, there is another easy & interesting option. I found a blog today that has the directions for making a small cloth diaper drying rack that will fit on your clothes dryer or table. This rack, made from PVC pipe, would be great also for small items such as underclothes, hand towels, wash cloths, dishcloths, socks, etc. If making a rack for your prefold diapers, just measure the longest edge of the diaper and divide the measurement in half. Take that measurement and add about 2 inches to get the height of the drying rack. This will provide plenty of room for the diapers to not be dragging on the table surface as they dry.

I love the concept of this drying rack. It is not glued together, thus you are able to remove the leg portions to store it between uses. Being a PVC material, it is easy to wash and will not develop mold. For many who wish to cut expenses, this rack may be a good investment & project to do.

Revival of the Old Ways

It seems that with each generation, we are losing more of the knowledge and teachings of the old ways. With that loss of knowledge comes a dependence on the stores to provide for our family's needs. But does it really need to be this way?

There was a time when young boys and girls were taught by working along side their parents how to do the basic skills that they would need later in life. Sons were taught how to farm, tend livestock, or to work in the trade of their fathers. Daughters were taught how to properly keep the home, meal preparation, gardening & food preservation, sewing, quilting and other needle arts, soap and candle making, along with the other skills that a homemaker needed. Today, very few children are brought up learning these skills. I remember as a youth having friends who had no idea how to prepare a meal. If it were not for the Home Ec classes at school, they would never have learned. What a sad thing it is to see so many families struggling so hard today when if they had learned & put into practice the skills of frugal and self reliant living, their lives could be made easier.

It seems that many people feel as I do that the knowledge of the old ways need to be kept alive. There is a small revival happening across our nation. People are taking a second look and interest in the ways of the earlier generations. They are wanting to learn how the pioneers and others managed in hard economic times and in the days before all the conveniences were so readily available.

I have been surprized to find that there are instructional videos on sites like YouTube that teach how to do the old handcrafts such as preparing wool for spinning, spinning both on a wheel and using drop spindles, cheese making, soap making, and many other skills that were a necessary knowledge to have in the old days. For those starting out in homesteading, you can learn how to garden, tend animals, butchering various types of livestock, hunting skills, and much more.

Whether you have dreams of homesteading or simply want to ease your family's financial burdens, look into the old skills. Take a hard look at your spending and see what areas you can make changes. Changes don't have to come all at once. Make them gradually, choosing the one change that is most needed first. Once you are comfortable with that change, make another one. Involve your family in this. Let your children, if they are old enough, to make changes also that would benefit them and the family. Every new skill that your children learn will be a blessing to them later in life. One of the blessings that you can give your children as they grow is the ability to do for themselves as much as possible. Whether they use the skills to save money or use them to earn a little extra income, the knowledge will benefit them.

New Homestead Adventure

It looks like our family is about to embark on a new homestead adventure. Our home is needing so much major repair (foundation, termite damage, roof) that we have had to make the decision to rebuild. So, here is the challenge. How does a family with very limited financial resources build a new home without accumulating debt? That is the interesting part.

We have decided on a small approx. 800 sq. ft. floor plan. It is a simple design that is actually based on the house my Grandmother lived in when I was growing up. It is 3 bedroom with 1 bath. On our floor plan, the bathroom is as large as the bedrooms as it will also serve as the laundry room. Two of the bedrooms will be along one end of the house and the bathroom & 3rd bedroom will be on the opposite side of the house. In the center section of the home will be one large room. One portion of the room will serve as a kitchen area, the other end as a living room area, with the dining table separating the two areas. This design will allow us to place 2 propane heaters in opposite ends of the central room which will be enough to heat the entire home. We will also have our wood stoves that will heat the home, with the propane being there as a back-up for times such as ovenight or if we are low on firewood.

We are excited about this. Joe and I have talked about doing this in the past, but always thought of it happening further in the future. I am researching online for options on how we can best do this. There are so many options out there. We just have to sift through them to find the one that is in a price range that we can afford without going into debt. Our plan is to get the foundation, framing, and roof done with help. Joe and I can close it up and wrap it. Once the house is closed up and we get the insulation and plumbing in, we will be able to move in. We can always finish the interior after we are in the house.

Isn't it exciting to see how the Lord leads? We hadn't thought of doing this so soon, but evidently it is the right time.