Burger in the House

Real, honest-to-goodness beef burger has been somewhat of a rarity around here. The prices are outrageous and turkey burger is leaner. I would also like to have some ground chicken to make healthier breakfast sausage, but it's expensive also.

A couple months ago, my hubby bought the grinder attachment for my Kitchen Aid mixer. I finally put it to use today and it was sooo cool!  The grocery store had ground round on sale for $1.69 lb!  Pretty cheap for good, lean burger. Only took minutes to complete. So now I have nearly 6 pounds of fresh ground burger in the freezer! And the men in the house couldn't be happier.  :)  I would prefer it to be grass-fed beef raised ourselves, but it's a step.

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

Here's a picture of my girls enjoying themselves in the yard the other day.  I thought I had all seven when I snapped the picture, but Miss Ethel (see sidebar) escaped.  She must have thought she was having a bad feather day.  I just love watching them and it is so much better than TV! 

We are only getting 2 or 3 eggs a day now due to less daylight.  I keep going back and forth on whether or not to use artificial light to keep production up through the winter.  But much like deciding what we will do with Jesus, choosing to do nothing is the same as saying no.

There are sure to be more chicks in the spring and though I don't want to wish time away, I can't wait for those fuzzy little girls!  But until then, I plan on enjoying the slower pace of winter.  :)

Fireside Chat

First night of the season for a fire! Love it. No heat source can compare to the warmth and comfort of a fire. And it's sooo beautiful! We could have used one last night as we had a light frost this morning. The forecast calls for 30 degrees or below tonight. Brrrrr....

As much as we would love to heat our home solely on wood heat, it's just not feasible without a woodstove/insert (and that's not in the budget right now). We do try to rely on it as much as we can since the other source is oil heat and it can get VERY expensive. Our routine for the winter is to build a fire in the morning, keep it going during the day, if necessary, stock it up at night and let the furnace kick on if it gets below 61 after the fire goes out. Of course, this isn't fail-proof. Some days, in all honesty, we're running errands, get home late, or are lazy.  Hey, just being honest!  :)  Our home is small enough that we can keep the main living areas quite comfortable with the wood heat. Our weather is fairly mild through the winter so that helps. Our goal is to use that oil furnace as little as possible!

We have been very blessed to get free wood the last couple years (this will be our 3rd winter here, 2nd using the fireplace). The 42-acre parcel we live on has several wooded acres. We have been allowed to help manage the forested area by removing dead trees, injured trees, etc. And this year, we've helped a friend who has a tree-removal business on the side in exchange for free wood!  We'll probably end up with about 5 cords out of that. Not enough for the winter, but we haven't harvested any from the property here.

Do you use wood heat?  If so, how many cords to use for the season?  Winter is fast approaching.  Stay warm, friends!  :)

Elderberry Syrup

Elderberry Syrup. I've heard of its powerful properties for quite some time. While lying flat on back and fed up with this cold, I decided to finally check it out. Aw, YouTube. It looked easy enough and I had the ingredients on hand, but didn't get the gumption until about 10:30p.m. to finally mix up a batch.

The kids, recently sequestered to bed, began calling out, "What's that smell?!". I suppose it may have had a funny smell, but my smeller wasn't in working order. I finished steeping it, added the honey and took a dose, several throughout the night, actually. I think it is rather yummy. Never listen to a kid when it comes to something that will help them feel better. It's all bad to them.

Give it a try yourself! (click on the link above to watch the video) Take 1 tablespoon daily for good health or 1 tablespoon every hour while sick.

Sick

A cold has been going around and it finally landed on me. It's a doozy! It's probably been 5 years since I've been sick to the point of it keeping me down. Moved out to the couch at 3:45 a.m. and have pretty much been here ever since. My head feels like it is going to explode!

I'm tired of sitting here. I can see and think of so many things to do! I guess I should grab a notebook and write them down when I think of it. Hopefully, I'll have a more interesting post after I'm better....which better be tomorrow! :)

Dish Pan Hands

Visit here often enough and you'll soon learn that I have a great desire to live a simpler, slower life. Recently, I've been thinking about what more I can do to slow things down, save a little money, and enjoy life more.

Some may find it funny that I would choose doing dishes by hand as a means of enjoying life more. But it's true! Our very gracious landlords blessed us with a new dishwasher awhile back when the previous one went on the fritz. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to clean very well. We were constantly re-washing dishes and (gasp!) complaining!

Remembering that we had survived, quite nicely in fact, for about two weeks with no dishwasher while we waited for the new one, I decided we could do it again. And it would be FUN! Oh, what wonderful opportunities of deepening the family bond while we wash and dry together! I can picture long talks with my girl and fun towel snapping contests with my boys. And since I refuse to let the dishwasher merely take up useful space, I will be looking for things to store in it, after a thorough cleaning, of course. Let the dish pan hands commence! :)

Faith of a Mustard Seed

There are big changes happening in our backyard. Dirt-movers have been around throughout the summer, taking all they wanted for a building project down the road, leaving behind a big bowl. Dirt-movers #2 came in to shape what was left behind and boy, did they make a mountain! It was amazing to see this huge pile of dirt appear in just a day. The motive for the mountain is to increase "privacy" from the major state hwy that is just a stone's throw away. Something tells me this isn't what Jesus meant by having the faith of a mustard seed to move mountains! :)

The home we rent is part of a 42-acre parcel of land owned by a club of Swiss folks. Our home has been allotted 3 acres, however, only about an acre is currently usable. We hope to have full use of the 3 acres by spring. All the dirt being moved around is in preparation for more forest to be planted as a tax break for the non-profit club. Watching those big machines makes for cheap entertainment! It does make me wonder what my house will look like all winter with so much dirt around. An opportunity to sharpen my housekeeping skills, eh?

Grandma's Best

My Grandma had a lot of "bests". But the turn of weather to fall had me hankering for one of her "bests" in particular. She made the most comforting and warming pot of minestrone soup and I couldn't wait to have my home filled with its mouth-watering aroma. This was my first batch since she went home with Jesus last May. I am so thankful that she left a legacy of "bests" that allow me to drift off to memories that fill me with joy.

I hope you'll check back as I share more of these "bests", especially as we approach the Christmas season! My sisters, other family members and I are hoping to have a lefse making day soon. I'll be sure to post when it happens!

Basic contents of Gram's Minestrone Soup:

Browned ground beef w/onions, celery, carrots and garlic
Rutabaga
Potato
Cabbage
Rice
Tomatoes
Basil & Thyme (I often cheat and just use Italian seasoning with same great results)

Grate a little Parmesan cheese on top and accompany with bread. Grab a blanket, a good movie and ENJOY!