Seasons and Discoveries

Hello everyone!  I hope you are doing well!  First, I would like to apologize to all my non-Facebook followers.  You must have thought I’d left the planet.  No, I’m here and I am back on Facebook.  I missed my family and friends way too much!  I post farm updates on FB and then forget to blog about them  But, no excuse, I should have blogged a few times since September 6th! It’s all about balance!

Suffice it to say, I have a lot to catch you up on!

Remember the little garden shed?  I finally got around to decorating it with a few signs.  I want to add more but, just haven’t had much free time.  Hopefully I’ll make more throughout the winter months.

Several discoveries have been made since September!

One big discovery I made is that there is a much larger town than the one I have been going to and it’s only 15 minutes further away!  Middlesboro, KY!  They have a Kroger. Y’all, I about fell out.  They have a Super Walmart, too.  I’ve gone there a few times now.  I was super excited about that!

Second big discovery is we found that we have chamomile, passion fruit and golden rod growing throughout the property.  The golden rod is massive.  I researched it and found you can make salves and oils with it.  So, you know I had to try it.  I can’t wait to see how it turns out.  Right now it is sitting in oil for the next few weeks.  Once completed, I’ll add beeswax to make the salve.    From the oil you can make salve. It’s good for sore muscles and arthritis.  I’m trying to use all the resources we have here.  It’s amazing what you can do with wild flowers and plants.  We are adding elderberry and sugarcane to the property.  Sugarcane can be used to make molasses.  I met a lady in town and bought some of her homemade molasses this summer and used it in my canned baked beans.   

Third big discovery was the back side of our property line.  Al cut a small walking trail to get to some fallen trees for firewood.  It turned out so pretty.  We’ve named it Firewood Lane. I had no idea how beautiful the view was back there! 

Let’s see, the garden has been plowed in preparation for Spring.  We have already ordered seeds and will be ready when Spring arrives.  To be honest though, I was happy for this season to end.  It has kept me on my toes most of the summer harvesting and processing almost daily.  I ended up canning about 438 jars!  Check out my inventory list! We did very well with the pumpkins, cucumbers, tomatoes and spaghetti squash.   The green peppers and serrano’s were insane.  All in all we were happy with the outcome.  Next year it will be even better.  Living and learning each season. That’s what it’s all about!

Fall, my favorite time of year.  Bring on the fires and all the coziness.  Plus, the view is spectacular.  The only thing that I could do without during the Fall months are the stink bugs and the Asian beetles.  I have never in my life been around so many bugs at one time. Literally swarms.  I stayed inside most of the days they were here.  We finally had below freezing temps and that about wiped them all out.  Thank goodness.

And, with Fall, comes all the Fall decor.

I even decorated outside a bit.

I’ve really gotten into tablescapes this year.  I can’t wait to come up with something for Christmas. Honestly, I can’t wait for Christmas decorations period!  I have family coming for Thanksgiving so I will wait until after that weekend to start pulling all the Christmas stuff out. I will be in Georgia a couple of times in December and with Thanksgiving coming so late in November I feel like my Christmas decor may need to stay up into January this year.

Oh, I did manage to finally get a Fall barn quilt made for the little red shed at our gate.  

In my last blog I mentioned we were planning on building a root cellar. Since completing the laundry room, (check it out!)  BEFORE —-   AFTER —- and now currently working on the bathroom, we ended up changing the layout for the rest of the basement.  The back half of the basement is underground so, we are going to try and utilize part of it for a root cellar. Right now, this room serves as an overflow room of canned goods and such products.  We are going to see how that works throughout the winter.  If we find it is too difficult keeping the temps regulated then, we will reconsider building the outdoor root cellar.  For now, we have enough to do without adding on to our list just yet!

We added a chopping block to the kitchen and I love it!  After all the canning this summer, I knew I needed one. We tested out the space first with a comparable box to make sure there would be enough room to navigate and space to open cabinets and such. It’s perfect. 

My sister and brother-in-law came for a short visit right before Halloween.  We made a few crafts while they were here. 

Oh, and before I forget, I wanted to share these recipes with you. I think I mentioned a few posts back of how I made some homemade bath bombs.  Well, recently I found another recipe for shower bombs.  These things are amazing!  And, they are so easy to make! 

They make great gifts!  I found my molds at an antique shop and most ingredients can be found on Amazon. Bath Bombs DIY Shower Bombs

Now, you know I am not going to end this post with no dog and cat updates!

The cats are doing very well.    They load up at night with zero issues. George, however, is usually the last to load but, he never puts up a fight. They hang out on the porch some but, you can find them mostly hunting. They brought me two birds the other day which I was not happy about.  Then, a few days ago I saved two chipmunks from certain death.  Ugh. Farm life ain’t always pretty.

Hercules is getting around very well.  He hurt one of his back legs, we believe, trying to jump on the couch. Al had to carry him for a few days up and down the stairs.  Although weak, he is recovering.  We bought him little rubber shoes.  I don’t know how that’s going to go.  Stay tuned.  They mainly enjoy sitting by a warm fire in the evenings.

Bun and Honey continue to keep us safe from coyotes and whatever else they bark at throughout the middle of the night. They are putting weight on for winter. We are going to desperately try and get their “laboratory” built before January.  It will be insulated and will have heated pads in them.

Ok,  so I’m off to do a little Christmas shopping….online.

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Thanksgiving!  There is so, so much to be thankful for!  Take a few moments each day and find one thing to be grateful for then, thank God for giving it to you.

XO,

Elisa