Punkins' world....SUNSHINE, seeds and no more drought!

[lorihadams]

I got some good homemade salsa, can I come too?

How do you bread your okra to fry it? I can't ever get it to come out right. Do you just use flour or do you make a batter?

 

[keljonma]

We've ordered winter wheat, pasture grasses and clovers from Shumways. I like them and they've always sent free seeds. Three years ago we got free tomato, and last year free greens seeds.

 

[punkin]

lori,
I just toss the okra in dry cornmeal with some black pepper and cajun seasoning. Fry it up in an old cast iron skillet. Last year was the first year that I froze the okra whole instead of cutting it up before freezing. Turned out great.

Bring the salsa, I've got refried beans.

Kel,
I think the seeds I got free were sweet banana pepper. I have plenty already, but free is free. Last year I pickled those peppers whole, and they are not as firm as I want. This year, I'm gonna slice them like they do for salads and such and then pickle them.

 

[punkin]

Our local schools were closed due to so much rain. Homeschool was open though. The private school that we homeschool from was closed today. DS best friends who homeschool here didn't know that. If they had, they wouldn't have showed up. I wasn't going to tell them.

Josh and Jacob are still pretty far behind. Josh is worse-4 books behind. And, get this: their parents are letting them go to Florida for a week with thier aunt. It's going to be really tough for them to catch up. I told my DS he can have the time off, too. He is all caught up and on schedule.

They did work pretty hard today. If they were here next week, I could get them caught up a book or two. Their parents just seem not to place as much importance on it as I do with my DS. One of the boys is supposed to graduate this year . . . we'll see.

I was going to make more rolls for the freezer, but I was out of milk, again. I did manage to make some cards to be sold to help with the Church building & maintainence fund.

I'm waiting on my brocolli and cabbage seeds to come in. I'd like to have them ready for customers by the second week of March.

Had to put hay in the chicken's run. It was soppy wet. All of outside is soppy wet. The sun did peek through a little bit today

 

[keljonma]

Our local schools were closed due to so much rain. Homeschool was open though. The private school that we homeschool from was closed today. DS best friends who homeschool here didn't know that. If they had, they wouldn't have showed up. I wasn't going to tell them.

Josh and Jacob are still pretty far behind. Josh is worse-4 books behind. And, get this: their parents are letting them go to Florida for a week with thier aunt. It's going to be really tough for them to catch up. I told my DS he can have the time off, too. He is all caught up and on schedule.

They did work pretty hard today. If they were here next week, I could get them caught up a book or two. Their parents just seem not to place as much importance on it as I do with my DS. One of the boys is supposed to graduate this year . . . we'll see.

Sure seems a shame the parents don't seem as concerned about their sons' educations as you do, punkin! If they don't see the importance in it now, will they ever continue after high school? Sounds like a tough road for them in the future.

I'm sure your son sees how much easier it is for him to be current with his work. If he doesn't now, I'm sure he will when it gets close to crunch time for his friends.

I was going to make more rolls for the freezer, but I was out of milk, again. I did manage to make some cards to be sold to help with the Church building & maintainence fund.

I use non-fat dry milk reconstituted for bread if I'm out of milk. I always have it on hand because I use it to make yogurt.

I'd love to hear more about the cards you are making for your church building and maintenance fund.

Had to put hay in the chicken's run. It was soppy wet. All of outside is soppy wet. The sun did peek through a little bit today

I bet your animals are glad the rain stopped. Although I've noticed our chickens don't seem to mind getting all muddy.

 

[punkin]

Hey kel,

It really is sad that I seem to care more about their education. Kind of like if I worry about it, they don't have to.

I ran out of dry milk, too. I try to keep it on hand, but ran out of both.

I'll post some pics of the cards when I get a chance. I enjoy making them and it gives me something to do when the weather is bad. I hate being bored.

You sure have been busy posting recipies. I'll have to try some of them.
Wednesday night we missed our Church's Eatin' Meetin'. I still wasn't feeling up to it.

Yesterday, I thought I could finally get out of the house for a while and not have to blow my nose every half hour. I went to the bank, got my hair trimmed and went by the Goodwill store. Some of their textiles were half off. I got a green square table cloth for the card table at Christmas for $2.00. I bought several new dishcloths for .50 each and 6 receiving blankets for 3.00. In my effort to cut back on paper towels, I am going to use the blankets for hand towels in the greenhouse. I cut each one in fourths and will stitch the 2 sides. That'll make me 24 perfectly good handtowels.
My friend finished monogramming the cloth napkins for my SIL's birthday. I bought 12 restaurant quality napkins from Ebay and she put a "G" on them. They look terrific! I would like to find a cheap (inexpensive, lol) basket to put them in.

Today, we are going to the seed supply store in Knoxville to stock up on greenhouse supplies and order my new greenhouse
It will probably take a couple of weeks to come in. That will be a big expense, but I'm sure I will be able to make it back and then some in sales this spring.

 

[Farmfresh]

Punkin

Head back to the Goodwill store - that is where I usually find the baskets I use for giving soaps!

I love shopping at Thrift stores! That is one advantage of living in the "big city". We have a Salvation Army Store, a DAV, a Goodwill, and a Blind thrift store all fairly close by. We also have a Habit for Humanity Re-Store fairly close that is GREAT for buying building supplies.

I have a good friend that sells vintage fancy lingerie and accessories on eBay. She has a round of thrift stores and second hand shops (about 6 or 8) that she goes to almost everyday. If I need a special thing or she sees some good homestead item she calls when she sees it or picks it up for me. In this way I got my brand new in the box (with Christmas tags still in the bottom) bread machine for $5.00, my Squeezo strainer for $3.00 and lots of canning jars and a whole case of new canning lids!

I love to "recycle"!

 

[punkin]

FF,

Wow, you have quite a choice on thrift stores. This Goodwill is the only one that is local. I looked for a basket yesterday, but didn't find one that I liked. I always keep my eye out for canning "anything", but so far, no luck.

Kel,
Here is a picture of just some of the cards I've made recently. At Church, I usually get a $2.00-$3.00 donation for each.

 

[Farmfresh]

Wow VERY nice work. And so much better than American Greetings!

 

[keljonma]

WOW, punkin! Those are some really professional looking cards!

Do you make these on your own or do the women of your church make them as a group get together?

I ask because our United Methodist Women's group just started a card ministry. The women were making jsut birthday greeting cards during the first meeting, which was Dec 30. I couldn't make it.

--

I have been cooking since I was 9, so I have been collecting recipes for 46 years! My mom collected a lot too. Most of her recipes were family recipes that were never written down until she put them to paper. My son loves to cook too. So I am trying to organize everything so

So I have books and books of recipes. I thought I would start posting some of the ones we use most often, or have garnered good comments when taken to pot lucks and fundraisers.

---

Sounds like some good deals at the thrift for you!! Way to go!