Where have we been…

Posted on April 19, 2011 by familyplushomestead

We’ve been super busy on the farm. We have been getting seeds started, we’ve got about 500 starters going so far and another 200 to finish tomorrow, just got tired I guess. They are on trays under growth lights because we are getting 2″ of snow tonight into tomorrow – BOO!!! We buy only Heirloom, non-GMO seeds! We’re passionate about this obviously.

We did quite a bit of canning over the weekend. One thing we’ve been wanting to get to is canning meat in our pressure canner.

It was not as hard as it sounds. We did up about 20 lbs of boneless, skinless, chicken breasts. We did quarts and followed the directions from here: Food Storage Made Easy

It turned out well- notice I’m using my tattler lids! i tried to put my sales link on the side bar and right now that’s not working so if you are interested – go ahead and leave me a message in the comments and I’ll email you. I won’t post your private info 🙂 We love our tattler lids! I’m planning a future post on this really soon! we wanted to do a whole bunch so we could completely feel confident in our testimony!!

We also did a whole lot more of carrots/potatos mixed. We add these into our stews, or roasts. They are not mushy at all – and are really yummy.

We reorganized some food and living space – am very happy with how it turned out. We’ve started ordering from Azure Standard and I needed to have a spot to store organizing food. I really like how Laura from Heavenly Homemakers shares her Azure ordering – I’ve linked her bulk post and I ❤ how every month she lists the Azure specials. I’ll work in May on PICTURES like Laura does! We ordered wheat berries, honey, potatos,

We also have been very busy at church, the hubby part of the homestead was offered the Associate pastor position at church and is heading back to school!

Sorry I haven’t been posting, maybe with the snow, it will settle down a bit, baby chick pics coming soon!

All in a Day: House Cleaning

Posted on March 30, 2011 by familyplushomestead

How do we keep our house clean…well… hmmm.. ~~I’ll be back in just a bit (looking around)~~

In theory, we keep our house clean by:

1) being responsible for ourselves, picking up after ourselves. If you get something out, put it away.

2) spending a few minutes throughout the day tidying (10 minutes to clean at any point) – this is especially necessary with 14 children at home, 12 of whom are homeschooled and 2 who are… messy makers. Figure 12 students with a minimum of 6 subjects – 72 books plus pens, plus notebooks… especially since we are book lovers, and so some subjects have a lot of books! Everybody helps with this. It is part of living in a family 🙂

3) chores – our chore system is a paid system. It is 3 tiered. If you are a little – you don’t do a chore. You also don’t get paid AND you miss out on some things we do for just bigs. They’ll get it someday – when they are old enough or responsible enough to do a chore. Even in the chore system, there are 2 more levels, entry and professional. Entry level gets paid, but doesn’t get benefits. (think hourly employee!) They make $5.00 every other week and they do a fairly small chore. Professional levels make perks! They make significantly more money. The people who help with dishes at my house make significanly more money than the person who empties the garbage. The person who is currently on dishes does all the dishes for a family of 16 every day with no dishwasher! He makes 25$ every other week. Other perks we have – late night snack :), movies, etc.

4) it is my responsibility to ensure cleanliness in my home. I cannot “expect what I don’t inspect”. Below is an example of a chore gone BAD!!! ((“THANKFULLY THIS IS NOT THE NORM!!))

Sometimes I am gone, sometimes I am busy or gone, sometimes I am tired. It isn’t an excuse. There are times where our house just doesn’t get clean. I try but recognize I am human, and that the bodies in my house will still be here tomorrow. I also try and recognize that disorder in the house makes others cranky (especially daddy who dislikes things under his feet!) Those are his feet in this picture and this is the only picture with him, his feet and floor).

5) keep my priorities right 🙂 be a Mary first off!!! Value family and relationship above all else. Here is our most recent family picture! (Vacation post forthcoming!!)

2011 @ The King's Ball

Check out the other All in a Day Bloggers…

Carrie @ Our Full House

Christi @ Where the Creek Meets the Lake

Elizabeth @ Yes They’re All Ours

Kathy @ Kathy Mom of Many

Kristy @ Homemaker’s Cottage

Lori @ Happy Busy Mama

Monica @ Natural Mama

Renee @ Bakers Dozen

Hope to see you more this week, as we recover from vacation, laundry, lack of sleep and photo overload…

Momma

Dehydrating

Posted on March 29, 2011 by familyplushomestead

Here is my promised post:

I love my dehydrator, every time I use it, I love it more and more. I have had a Nesco one, but for the last few years have had an Excaliber.

We have used it primarily until this year for deer jerky. As I delve into more food preservation, I have been able to use it for leftovers, cheap buys on marked down produce and garden abundance!

Here is us – making our own fruit mix for vacation!

(we find spraying the banana chips/apple pcs. with straight lemon juice helps keep them from turning brown)

This is banana chips, strawberry pcs., apple chunks (those got a little too brown, but tasted great!) and then I added raisins and dried organic cranberries.

We had these on our route and they were delicious!

All in A Day: Crazy Sunday mornings

Posted on March 16, 2011 by familyplushomestead

Sunday mornings – a quote my husband likes (I think Chuck Swindoll?) is that some of you lose your Christianity on your way to church. I will admit that we have our definite moments where it is crazy! It actually used to be crazier, we had 6 children under 7 at one point, and now we only have 2 under 8 so definitely different stage of life. Most all of our children are fully capable of getting themselves ready in the morning now. Actually doesn’t it seem like the teenagers are the worst! (at home 18,17,16,14,14,13)

My husband works with the youth at our church and he teaches Sunday School. His long-term goal is entering the pastorate (separate post there!) It is imperative that we are on time. Here’s what we do:

1. Set out our clothes ahead of time. This means ironed, this means shoes ready. This prevents arguing over clothes on Sunday morning. (Mostly me – saying it isn’t appropriate).

2. Have our Bibles and our hotebooks ready to go.

3. Have our lunch ready to go into the oven. See this post: on Sunday cooking. Use the roaster where appropriate.

4. Our Sunday breakfasts are very simple, it is cereal, oatmeal packets, etc. We eat whole meals every other day of the week, but this makes sure that the children are motivated to get to the table 🙂 and it takes less time to prepare.

5. Set a timer, and keep giving time reminders.

6. When in doubt, dad goes on ahead and mom follows with all stragglers. grrr… Well, it’s an honest blog, we’re not always all on time.

I think the best advice I’d give someone trying to make Sundays less crazy would be to find systems that work for you. Look for ways to make your morning easier. Yes, in my world, that includes bribing someone to start the coffee!

God Bless, we’re off on vacation for 11 days in 2 days! I’ve got posts in the hopper on preparing for spring, dehydrating foods (love this!) and ways to prepare for vacation for a LARGE family. We’ll see if that gets done as I’m pretty busy making sure everyone has what they need for vacation.

Don’t know how much internet I’ll have along the way, but hope to post soon.

Momma

Check out the other All in a Day Bloggers…

Carrie @ Our Full House

Christi @ Where the Creek Meets the Lake

Elizabeth @ Yes They’re All Ours

Kathy @ Kathy Mom of Many

Kristy @ Homemaker’s Cottage

Lori @ Happy Busy Mama

Monica @ Natural Mama

Renee @ Bakers Dozen

What are you doing to get ready for Spring?

Posted on March 8, 2011 by familyplushomestead

Up here in Iowa, we have been surrounded by massive quantities of white fluffy stuff for so long, it’s hard to imagine that it will ever change! But this weekend our temp should be above freezing for multiple days in a row!

So for spring -> We’re taking a humongous paycut as my husband beomes the fulltime pastor at our church and is no longer supplementing our income with the field that pays lots better of Informational Technologies Consulting. We want to be producing half of our food from our farm.

GARDEN-
We’ll be doubling the size of our garden. Our garden has had both productive years and non-productive years and because it’s always supplemented our eating, it hasn’t been a concern. This year we’ll be looking at ways to increase supply. We’re also adding another area to our garden that we hope won’t be impacted by flooding. Iowa’s flooding makes national news and it makes garden news here at our farm. We’re moving to another part of the acreage in an attempt to bring it to higher ground. Good news – no flooding, bad news – in that area, we’re starting from scratch!

CHICKENS
This year, we will again by doing chickens. We do layers for eggs and meatbirds as well.

Layers: We are local to to the McMurray Hatchery and Welp’s is fairly close by as well. We also have ordered from Cackle Hatchery in Missouri. There is something extra fun for the kids about going to pick up the new chickens right from the hatchery and they certainly don’t suffer the trauma of being mailed for a couple of days.
As far as chickens go – our favorite layers are Buff Orpingtons.

We’ll see how it goes.
Blessings

All in A Day – a Typical Day

Posted on March 3, 2011 by familyplushomestead

My first thought on this topic was… well, I’m off the hook, I have nothing to write! There is no typical day at our house!

But then I thought about it. I am just not off the hook that easy. YES! There is a price to be paid by trying to be open to God’s leading and following Him each and every day, and sometimes that price is “normality”. BUT – we do have a routine, and even if I, or my husband, or the children have specific needs or are gone, stuff still gets done. It is because of the stuff getting done part that comes the knowledge that we have that routine.

So, in essence, even though not a single day looks like this… here is a typical day 🙂

7:15 am – alarm – ignore ignore ignore… yep i’m a late sleeper! Brian’s already been up and going for hours! We used to do family time about now but with Brian’s new work schedule, he’s already working.

8:00 am – coffee in hand, stumble towards computer. breakfast going (probably by a pre-teen although my 8 year old LOVES to cook breakfast, and serve it to everyone. Personal care – cleaning your room, etc.. Farm Chores!

9:00 am – school starts, I start with youngest and work my way up. On good days, where we can stay home and DO school, I am loving the Before Five in a Row for the little guys. This is a must drop if I’m doing running, helping with ministry stuff, etc.

10:00am – work on checking off school, kids keep plugging away. I plan to share in a future post my ideas for getting through school with lots of kids.

11:30 am – Family Devotional Time – some bigger kids and Dad have theirs done by now, I usually do mine at night, preferably late but I sure do enjoy a cup of coffee and early devos too. My problem is I like to do it uninterrupted (seriously!)

12:00 – lunch

1:00 – today we were babysitting a grandbaby (actually we have all week) and he needed a nap… keep going on school, my children use charts or check lists depending on age to know what they need to accomplish.

This would be the time that I like to work on family subjects of read alouds and history! This hasn’t worked as well for me this year as it has for the last 4, but we’re plugging through!

3:00 – crazy time starts, snack, sports practices, Dad is off work with his current schedule. the afternoon will include all sorts of things, soon I hope to have in including gardening, On Wednesdays we are consumed with church prep stuff.

We eat supper around 6. After supper, assigned chores by those who have them!

We start bedtime at 8.

I’m so amazed that as hard as this year has been, as crazy! Brian working 2 jobs, myself doing an enormous amount of support work, the adult children and their needs, the children at home and theirs, more obvious… we have gotten a lot accomplished. We do get school done, we are working in ministry and looking at ways to expand that even more. We do love making meals for others, or helping other families, especially babysitting little lambs. This routine is why we are able to accomplish so much! With the huge upcoming change for Brian’s job and our need to cut our expenses, we are developing more and more skills and the need to be able to provide more for less. This all needs to fit into the same 24 hours we get every day!

Enjoy looking at other people’s typical days by checking out the other All in a Day Bloggers…

Carrie @ Our Full House

Christi @ Where the Creek Meets the Lake

Elizabeth @ Yes They’re All Ours

Kathy @ Kathy Mom of Many

Kristy @ Homemaker’s Cottage

Lori @ Happy Busy Mama

Monica @ Natural Mama

Renee @ Bakers Dozen

Hand Made Noodles

Posted on February 23, 2011 by familyplushomestead

From my facebook today,

This is the roller we have,we bought it at Lehman’s. We do make enough noodles for our family – these are recent photos …

We love home made noodles, we’ve had them this week in homemade Chicken Noodle soup and with Venison tips over noodles!

Our recipe is 6 eggs, 5 cups flour, add a little cold water as needed. Press through roller, dry a bit, cut, and dry completely!

Momma A

Sad News New News

Posted on February 23, 2011 by familyplushomestead

As of yesterday, I’m newly listed on Mega Family Blogs!

I’m sorry I haven’t been posting, Brian’s mom passed away this past week, and life has been a bit zooier than usually.

Donna was a wonderful wife to her husband, and a devoted mom to Brian and his 2 brothers. She loved all of her grandchildren and will be missed.

Grandma and 2 grandchildren last year.

eta – I changed the title, was going to do 2 separate posts but lost time…

changed setting on comments

Posted on February 17, 2011 by familyplushomestead

I think 🙂

Non Word pressers should be able to post. Thanks to Steph @ Cheapskate Cook (one of my new FAVORITE websites!)

All in a Day: Spending Time with Hubby

Posted on February 16, 2011 by familyplushomestead

INSERT HEADER

How do we spend time together?

1)Blackberry! Thank you Verizon Wireless. We communicate multiple times during the day via text messaging. Also, our cell phones are an integral part of spending time together!

2) Teenagers – when all of our children were younger, it was primarily other moms of many who shared with us (Thank you Terri Camp whose oldest daughter one night practically saved my life or my marriage or both!) After a while, my older girls got to be teenagers, and I hope they too were helpful to other moms with little children!) Now my teenage girls are adults. Some of them are now moms out on their own. I’m raising up a new group of teenagers. We start by giving them responsibility – maybe at church or a buddy time at home to train in care-taking. Actually, we start years before that with modeling and pretend housekeeping skills but as we grow in maturity, we are allowed more responsibility. Babysitting at our house is always a paid chore unless it is a gift of the heart by the baby-sitter (birthdays, etc that will happen!)

3) Family ~ the lady in this picture with all of our kids is my aunt. She is a person who has blessed us very much. She has been on vacation with us twice, will host us when needed at her own house and even covers us for homeschool conventions, romantic date nights and last summer big time helped us when we had two teen boys both needing a parent on the same weekend… She was graciously accompanied by my next resource.

4. grandparents

I realize that not all people have grandparents that are able, close enough, or willing to help babysit. In fact, my parents are not necessarily able to watch all 20 of our children in one fell swoop, but they are willing to entertain them.

5. kid swap – find a friend who needs the same and be willing to host! We had a great couple we did this with frequently. Made a huge difference when we both had only littles.

well that is the how we spend time together, what do we do when we have time together?

1) talk (hence the blackberry!)

2) go out for breakfast or dessert 🙂 these are ideas for if all of your kids can’t be watched at one time, but perhaps you can leave while some or all are sleeping

3) regular date nights – not a necessity but they are surely wonderful! uninterrupted conversation with only your husband, warm food and no cutting the meat!

4) our annual special weekend away – we usually try and get this to be a conference we’ve wanted to attend. We stay at a special hotel, have a special meal and enjoy being refreshed as parents and as a couple.

Everyday – regardless of babysitters, time and desire, its important to be in the Word and be in prayer together.

Carrie @ Our Full House

Christi @ Where the Creek Meets the Lake

Elizabeth @ Yes They’re All Ours

Kathy @ Kathy Mom of Many

Kristy @ Homemaker’s Cottage

Lori @ Happy Busy Mama

Monica @ Natural Mama

Renee @