Living Frugally 2023 version

    Anybody that has been a reader of my blog for very long or knows me very well, knows that I am fairly passionate about living frugally. I admit I find it a pretty fun hobby - so possibly most people will find me strange but oh well. :-)

   I think one of the biggest helps for me financially (after simply trusting God that He is going to provide - I will work and do my best and God will take care of the details) is to really get my mind wrapped around the fact to pretty much all of us have money and we MAKE A CHOICE what we do with it. Many are caught in some sort of debt trap and they don't feel like they have any choices, but pretty much everybody does at some time and we make many, many financial choices every single day. So live intentionally, prepare for the hard times (trouble with health, with cars, home repairs, etc) and make a priority to spend on the things that actually matter to you (after taking care of your financial commitments).

  The things that matter to you - that is different for everybody. So the things I save money on totally may not work for you as perhaps your biggest joy in life is going to a coffee shop every single day. In my viewpoint that is a huge waste of money but I also am happier not drinking something ridiculously expensive out of a cup destined for the landfill and drinking something that isn't very good for me either. I will enjoy it on a very rare occasion - as I admit they do taste pretty good (well not the coffee actually - I am not a fan - but I love a good Chai) but not something regularly. It simply would not bring me joy. But I do love to travel. Our family went to Ireland in April, Colorado in July and other smaller trips as well. I also recently bought a ticket to go to Brazil in January, Lord Willing. That brings me joy. I am willing to make all sorts of other financial sacrifices to make that happen and I do that gladly. I also am very passionate about being debt free and so I have been attacking my mortgage and paying off just as much as I can early. That brings me joy (and I know, I'm weird).

  Anyway, I have been talking with a bunch of people that have a little less money to work with just now and so I thought I would share some of the ways that I spend less money. I am going to divide them into categories and I will try to link to more information just as much as possible.

Cleaning

• I use a vinegar water solution to clean instead of glass cleaner.
• I mop using just water and sometimes a drop of essential oil.
• I don't use paper towels or any one use items for cleaning, instead I have a large collection of rags made from old t-shirts and towels.
  
• 
  

Clothing

• I don't shop very often (less than once a month- at times far less).
• When I do shop I almost only shop at a consignment store that I bring things to whenever we have things we don't need and then I earn store credit. So usually I shop for free.
• I say "yes" to hand-me-downs. If we aren't able to use them I can generally take them into the consignment store or pass them on to someone else.
• I challenge myself to be creative in my clothing combinations every so often and sometimes old clothes can feel very new when you combine them in a fun way.
• When I do play clothing my goal is to buy quality items that will last well. This is especially important to me in shoes. I generally just buy leather shoes and they can last for years and years. 
• For tennis/hiking shoes (what I wear most days) I like Keens. They last time I needed a pair I bought some used ones in good condition off of Ebay for a pretty good price.
• I am really working to have clothes that are truly my style (I like ones in natural fabrics, often feminine, rustic or woodsy) - so no matter what fads come and go I can just stick with ones that I like how they look and feel. 

Decorating

• I enjoy having artwork on my walls that was created by family or friends.
• Much decoration in our home often is foraged from the woods or garden.
• Houseplants make pretty and healthy decorations. I have rarely bought one but I have a huge collection. That is largely because I work at a flower shop and can bring home ones that aren't looking healthy enough to sell and then work to bring them back to health. That plant doctoring actually consists of watering them occasionally and putting them by a window, nothing to fancy. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. If you have friends that love plants you can often get plant starts from them. That is another great way to have a houseful of plants cheaply.
• I like to make quilts from fabric scraps.
• Throw pillows are another thing that has been easy for me to make from things that I had on hand (old bed pillows can supply stuffing).
• I have found curtains very easy to make and if you look for fabric on sale you can do it pretty cheaply too.
• I like to have basket for gathering produce from the garden. They also make nice decor. I have found them cheaply at thrift stores or garage sales.

Education

• This year and last year Megan has been going to college for free with something called PSEO (post secondary education opportunity) that is offered to Juniors and Seniors in Minnesota. She has been able to do it online through a Christian college in St. Paul. Lord willing, she will graduate with her associates degree this coming Spring at the same time she graduates from high school. We will have to pay about $1000 for her to take a couple of Bible classes this next semester as the college requires it for graduation and the state won't pay for that. I have heard of similar programs in some other states. If your child is interested in college this is a great way to do it.
• When homeschooling we stayed pretty frugal by using a lot of reusable books and using the library extensively. 
• I try to do "Continuing Education" for my floral business by watching videos on Youtube. There are a lot on there that are well done and helpful. I am guessing this is true of many industries. 
  
  
  
  
  

Entertainment

• We pretty much never go to the movie theater.
• I have watched some local plays by volunteering to be an usher and then you get to watch for free. We also sometimes pay for tickets at our community theater - that is worth it to me. And community theater is far less than ticket prices I have seen elsewhere and they do a fantastic job.
• We don't have cable or Netflix (or anything else that I pay for except internet). A lot of what we watch is off YouTube. 
• For fun we enjoy making music together, playing games, ping-pong, reading, biking, camping and canoeing. 

Food

• Use what you have in abundance. Are you getting a lot of something from the garden? Where you gifted from somebody else's abundance? Did you find a great deal on something? Especially if it is something that will go bad - build your menu around it. 
• Don't let food go to waste. Eat up those leftovers the next day for lunch. If it is more than you can eat before it goes bad - freeze some or share it with others if you can.
• I don't shop very often. I love to see how long we can eat from the pantry. This has been very helpful in keeping our grocery budget low.
• When you find good deals of something that will last for a while (in the freezer or on the shelf) stock up on it. Try to get enough that it will last until the next good sale. How much to get varies according to how much you eat it, how long it lasts and how good the deal is. A month or so ago a local store had Mac and Cheese boxes four for a dollar. I hadn't seen that sort of deal on that for a long time. I ended up getting 2 boxes of boxes (48 in all). It is a cheap quick meal that the kids like to make once and a while. Today we went to an Amish store in our area and they had jars of natural peanut butter marked at a dollar and then I looked and saw that you could get a flat of 12 for $9. That is a steal of a deal and so I now have 24 jars of peanut butter. It doesn't outdate for over a year and we should use that much in that time. I also found butter cheaper today than I had for a while ($2.99 a lb) so I got 24 pounds.
  
• I grow a garden (which I do not spend much money at all on (around $35 a year for seeds and that is pretty much it) and then we eat from the garden just as much as we can in the summer and fall. I also put up as much food as I can.
• I rarely got out to eat or buy premade food or drink.

Gifts

• I make quite a few handmade gifts. Not as many at this season of life as I have done in the past but still quite a few. I pretty much always make them from things we have on hand whether it be from my craft/sewing closet or our kitchen cupboards. I have been blessed to be on the receiving end of many people cleaning out their craft supplies however so I have an abundance to work from. Pictured above is a miniature picnic that Megan and I put together for my niece, Lilly. Below is a wreath I made for my sister Keren.
  
• I do sometimes find things at second hand stores or garage sales that are new or basically look new and I will gift them at times. 
• I wrote a post a while back on saving money on gifts that has more thoughts, ideas and details.
• Our Christian radio station in town has something called "Shopping on the radio" that offers gift cards to local businesses at a discount. I will sometimes buy those and either just use them as gifts or use them to buy gifts. It also supports the radio station in the process.

Health

• I make it a habit to drink plenty of water each day. It is tap water (when at home that means well water) so it is free.
• I do a lymph massage every morning.
• I drink warm vinegar water every morning. (2 tablespoons raw organic apple cider vinegar in 16 ounces of warm water).
• I try to do some activity/exercising outside at least 5 days a week.
• I eat a lot of whole grains, vegetables and unprocessed natural foods. I limit my use of sugar.
• I rarely have caffeine.
• I try to get at least 7 hours of sleep a day.
• I don't have a gym membership instead I enjoy working hard, biking, walking, etc that I can do for free.
• I try to spend time stretching at least 5 times a week.

Insurance

• A couple of years ago we switched from having a partially government subsidized health insurance to instead using Samaritan's Ministries which is a Christian Health Care Sharing program. That ended up saving me over $200 a month and my deductible went from $6,000 to $450 which is quite significant. Though none of us have needed to go to the doctor during the time we have been using it (praise God!) and so I can't give you first hand account of how well it actually works I have heard from others that it does work well when you have a need. I know that personally I really, really enjoy getting to send my monthly checks (11 months of the year I send them directly to another believer who has a medical expense) to someone whom I can learn a little about and pray for as well. If you should decide to check them out and join would you please say that Abbi Cobb referred you? That will take a little off my expense for the next month if you do.
• Really sit down and talk with your insurance agent and make sure that you have the coverage you actually need and want. I was able to get rid of some redundant coverage this year that saved me $34 a month. Not a lot but over time it adds up.

Laundry

• I make our own laundry soap
• I don't use either fabric softener or dryer sheets. (This not only saves me money but has made it so I have less headaches as well - I used to love the smell but after removing most unnatural scents from my life I have less headaches - I never knew that they were associated before.)

Personal Products

• I only use shampoo about once a week (I do shower daily but I have found it is better for my scalp, hair and pocketbook to shampoo less). I did have to get to that gradually but your body will stop producing so much grease if you don't strip the oils so often.
• I use a menstrual cup.
• I buy toilet paper in bulk from a local paper supply company.
• I make my own deodorant most of the time (and I like it better than what I have bought when I run out of time to make it).
• I make my own lotion bars. 

Phone

• I use a tracphone instead of having a plan I have to pay for every month. That has worked pretty well for me. I spend around $150 a year for having a smart phone.

Those are a few of the things that I do to save money. I would love to hear what you do to live frugally!

A Good Harvest

There is something very wonderful about harvest time. It just might be my favorite time of year. (But then again Spring gives it some pretty strong competition and there are other fun and wonderful things to do other times of year as well so I just don't know....) It is also a wearying time of year as food doesn't just sit around in perfect condition waiting for you to have time to harvest or process. The canning sometimes takes longer than you think and you are up late waiting for the prescribed time to be done so that you can turn the burner off and take things out. But it is so fun to find the treasures in the garden and hive and a blessing to get meat from the pasture or woods as well. Whether we get our food from the grocery store or the garden it is a gift from God but I think it is often easier to remember that it is God who gives us all things richly to enjoy when we are out in nature harvesting things He has caused to grow. 

   After a two year break I had bees again this year. I had taken a break for a few reasons: 1. I still had enough honey from previous years. 2. My life got a lot busier when I had to go to work following Ken leaving and this was something I could skip. 3. In 2020 when I last kept bees I got stung near the end of the season and reacted to it much more strongly than I ever had before. I was stung on the ear (through the netting that had gotten to close to my ear) and both ears immediately started throbbing, my neck (but not my throat) and arms swelled up and I broke out into hives. It was a little scary. Since then I have taken a homeopathic treatment that is supposed to have cured my honey bee allergy but it hasn't been tested to I don't know if it worked or not. I also have a lot less stress in my life then I did that Fall (as my marriage was falling apart at the time) and I think that my body was quite possibly simply overloaded when the sting happened. Anyway I decided to try again but I have been careful and I didn't work with them unless I had somebody around that could drive me to the emergency room if necessary. 

The bees did well and I had fun watching the miracle that a bee hive is and sharing it with others (as I had nephews and nieces come to learn about it with me). I did learn a lesson this year about not putting off harvesting honey. I had extracted some honey in August (as they had pretty much filled the boxes and I needed more space) and then some in September and I got a nice amount from those times but I knew there was a lot more still in the hives. I needed to extract before it got to cold but it seemed like things were going fine that way. We didn't get a killing harvest at our place until this week. There were rainy, chilly days but for the most part it still seemed pretty nice. And I was hoping for a whole day to work on it and Saturday is the only day for me that is a possibility and I had been busy with weddings, working, traveling and company and it didn't happen. I finally got out to finish getting the honey out a week ago and discovered that the bees and all the honey (except for about a dozen bees and 20 pounds of honey in one hive) had completely disappeared. I honestly don't know what happened but I think in the future I had better not let it go so late. I had figured there was about 150 pounds of honey out there so it was a disappointment but in my learning to trust God in all things I was able to have complete peace about it. He knows what we need. He knows everything in the future all the could-have-beens and He knows what is best - Always. And I had perfectly cleaned out hives to put away and NO stings this year! 

Flowers are an important part of my gardening (and my life). I don't actually harvest these to store away for winter except in pictures. :-) Someone said once that being able to have flowers in every room of their house was a sign of wealth. I totally agree. I feel like I have "arrived" when I can enjoy flowers all over my home. I love being able to get them out of the garden to decorate. I am also super blessed because with my business I end up with extra flowers and with working part time at the flower shop I also can bring old (no longer sellable) flowers home and decorate my home with them. It gives me joy and I feel incredibly blessed. By the way I am curious about that- I have come to realize that not all people have the obsession with flowers that I have, some people will even say "No Thank You" when you offer them a bouquet - are you the type the loves them and find they give you joy or are they something that don't really stir any emotion in you?

I love canning tomatoes - they are so quick and easy. I canned quite a bit from my garden and then a neighbor also shared these lovely ones with me. 

Carrots that I got to dig from a friends garden. I love getting to dig carrots and potatoes and things like that! It feels like looking for treasure.

I have enjoyed harvesting wild mushrooms from our yard this year - such as this gemmed puffball.

One evening every burner was busy as I canned applesauce, cooked down goat bones, made tomato jam and salsa and blanched broccoli. I ended up canning quite a bit of broth and some soup too. I helped my parents with butchering a little and they blessed me with some meat. This year is a little sad as my parents got rid of all their goats. They have had goats since before I was born so this is a real change for them.

Thanks to my parents prolific apple trees I was able to dehydrate a lot of apples. They are a yummy snack. I love how efficient my current dehydrator is. I also canned apple pie filling and applesauce.

Today I made Kimchee. I think it is going to be a yummy (and good for you) batch and I am excited about it. I am thinking maybe I should make another batch.

   The freezers are full and the pantry shelves look lovely too. I am so thankful for God's many blessings. We got our first hard freeze last night so it is time to move on to the next season. I am looking forward to some sewing/crafting.

  Did you harvest anything at your house? What is a favorite thing for you to harvest?
 

Healthy Living (without spending a lot of money)

 Taking care of our health is so important. Why? Our bodies are a gift from God that He blessed us with to use to glorify Him. We can't control everything that happens to our bodies (not by a long shot!) nor do I think we should be so paranoid that living healthy consumes our thoughts in a big way and we don't do or eat anything that we think might possibly be dangerous for our body. We need to have balance. If we gradually develop healthy habits however we can live a pretty healthy lifestyle and it will just be easy and normal for us rather than all consuming. 

 Health has been on my mind lately because a friend invited to join her (and others) in a 12 week challenge to live more healthfully. Here is what we are working on:

THE CHALLENGE

Each item is worth 1 point, with a possible 10 points per day

1. 7 hrs. of sleep (not necessarily consecutive - naps count too!)

2. 48 oz. of water

3. 30 minutes of exercise (not necessarily consecutive)

4. 2 servings of veggies, 2 servings of fruit

5. No soda, beer, wine, unhealthy snacks (ex: potato chips), or bad fast food (anything fried!)

6. No sweets. (Desserts, pastries, sugary snacks & cereals) * Sugar-Free alternatives are OK. (But be careful with sugar free!! Moderation...)

7. No eating after dinner/8pm

8. 15 min. of scripture reading (or spiritual text if you don't do scripture)

9. One journal entry (any length)

10. Express sincere appreciation, love or praise to your spouse (if single, to another person)

Note: You have one free point, PER CATEGORY, PER WEEK. One free point for exercise, one free point for soda/fast food/unhealthy snacks, one free point for sweets, etc. You do not have 10 free points to use however you choose -they are NOT interchangeable and if you choose not to use a free point in a category, it is gone at weeks end. You could also just choose to have one "free" day where all points are free (which is less confusing), but we are allowing for flexibility and success!

Exceptions: **You are excused from the sweet rule on YOUR BIRTHDAY. **You are allowed three sick days where you are excused (only) from exercising and eating veg/fruit/water [if you can’t eat/drink] This is ONLY to be used if you are indeed sick.

Many of the items are pretty easy for me as they were already habits (such as the water, Bible reading, prayer journaling, saying "I love you"/praise and getting enough sleep) which was good because 10 new habits would be pretty insane to try to start all at once. 

  The 30 minutes of exercise has been the most challenging but I have (mostly!) found it pretty fun too. I did have a habit of trying to stretch/exercise at least 5 days a week but if I stretched for 1 minute, did 10 sit-ups and 25 to 50 jumping jacks all of which I could easily get done in less than 5 minutes then I felt like I was good to go. I'm not saying that idea is wrong but it has been fun to stretch myself to do more and to do it at least 6 days a week. My exercise routine has been pretty eclectic and I haven't found a certain time in the day that always works to do it. Often I will be pushing in some time of it at the very last bit of the day before bed. Things I have been doing for exercise are: Walking, jumping jacks, planking, sit-ups, very vigorous cleaning (running up and down the stairs putting stuff away, sweeping or mopping fast - I only use this for minutes if I am getting my heart rate up), shoveling, hauling in wood and following various exercise videos on Youtube such as figure eight and this one below that I have really enjoyed:

I have also been using several that really promote pelvic floor health. Some of these are much easier so if I am really tired after a busy day of work I will do one of these that aren't so exhausting:

Another item that has been a bit of a challenge for me that I didn't expect was making sure that I was eating 4 servings of fruits and veggies. I have had to make a conscious effort to eat more fruit but I am really enjoying that.

 For the most part number 5 is no big deal as most of those I don't use ever and none were daily habits but avoiding junk food when it is easily available such as at a potluck (and we have been having 2 of those a week lately) can be a challenge for me.

No sweets was the second biggest challenge after the exercising. It hasn't been as hard as I thought (even with the 2 potlucks a week) but it is still something I crave from time to time. I did already have practice using honey instead of sugar some and I don't make or buy a lot of sweets so it wasn't a daily habit to have them anyway but I would pretty much always eat dessert (and sometimes several) if it was offered so that is something I have had to change.

Not eating after 8 pm is also a change for me as I tend to be a snacker but that hasn't been very hard so I am thankful. 

6 weeks in, I haven't noticed any great changes in my body but it has been fun. I am curious how much of the changes I will keep up with after the 12 weeks are over.

Some other healthy habits that I practice are....

1. Spending time in prayer (by myself and with others) and giving my troubles and worries to God.

2. Oil Pulling every morning. Here is an article that shows reasons why and how to do it. 

3. Drinking warm water with Raw Apple Cider Vinegar in it each morning. Here is an interesting article about that.

4. Eating primarily whole grains.

5. Growing as much of our own food as possible.

6. I do take vitamin D and C, Magnesium and Iron every day (though sometimes D and C only in the winter)

A couple of new ones that I have been working to start are:

1. Dry brushing (Here is a video that explains it )

2. Here is another video that I ran across that I thought looked like a good idea so I have been doing this lately as well.

None of these things are expensive to do and most of them are free. I would love to hear what things you do to try to stay healthy.

Also I did think this would be an appropriate place to share about Medical insurance. Once Ken left the home and I was having to finance things on my own paying for normal medical insurance was very cost prohibitive and I didn't want to deal with all the paperwork of using state medical assistance. So instead we use Samaritan Ministries. It is much cheaper than the state subsidized insurance we had before, it has a much lower deductible and it is super simple. I love getting to send a check and letter and pray for the people that we get to help each month. It is health cost sharing instead of insurance. I have not had to use it to get money for myself yet (Thanks be to God!) but a friend has and she said it worked quite smoothly. If you sign up please tell them that Abbi Cobb referred you (I think I may be benefited by that a little). Anyway - I have been thankful for this option and just thought that I would share it with you too.

Lovely Wintertime

Temps are supposed to get below zero tonight and that is fairly normal for January in Northern Minnesota. It can be cold but it is oh so beautiful and invigorating too. I truly love it here. Even when the wind feels a little nippy and my eyelashes get frosty - I love living here. 

 I thought I would share a few of our winter doings so far this season....

The top picture is of Malcolm and Thomas - biking in the snow. People heavily discourage me from doing that after my tumble last winter but I guess it is okay for Malcolm when he has his Daddy's help.

Several weeks ago my parents brought their wood splitter and my brother Peter and Niece Jatan over for a Saturday morning. Thomas, Malcolm and Jonathan also came and they along with Aaron, Megan and I worked on doing up a nice amount of wood for us and some for my mother-in-law, Sharyl too. What a blessing that was! We love having our cozy fires and wood is needed for that.

Mom and Dad make a pretty good team! They have been working that way for over 50 years now.

We got two loads like this for us. Yay!!

I am not sure how much this guy did to help but he sure is cute!

He, Megan and Jaten were the stacking team.

A couple of weeks ago I invited my friend Amy over to hang out with me on a Saturday when the kids were busy doing other things. We enjoyed breakfast (Aaron was here for that) and then a lovely walk in the woods followed by sewing on a quilt together.

The woods were lovely but even more lovely is friendship. I am so blessed.

We have gotten quite a lot of snow this year and we have really been able to enjoy the winter wonderland look!

The next day after church and lunch Aaron and I decided to do some back country downhill skiing. Aaron had checked out this area the week before with Megan.
There was a trail from the road that we were able to follow to get to the hill. 

Once we went down the hill of course we had to take our skis off and climb back up. It was fabulous exercise.

It was around 2 degrees that day but the sun was shining, I dressed warmly and with all the exercise I got so hot!

Kitchi is always happy to be a part of things.

Aaron is a great skier and sometimes seems like he has endless energy.

A few days later I got this picture of Megan when we were out on a walk. It was pretty chilly that day (below zero I am pretty sure) so she wore a trench coat over her snowsuit. I guess there is a book out (which I have heard is a good one) called "There's No Such Thing as Bad Weather" (by a Scandinavian Mom) that then also says that there is just bad clothing. I generally agree. If you dress for the weather you can truly enjoy time outside in all kinds of temps.

My goal is to get outside and get some exercise of some sort at least 5 times a week. I think it is really good for you - mentally and physically. 

How is your winter going? Are you enjoying it? What sorts of things do you do outside in the winter time?
 

Ice Skating and the Benefits of Going Outside

This year has been a beautiful one for ice skating around here. Both the Lakes and the River froze over and had lovely ice before we really got snow. I had other things scheduled the day that some of my family went skating on the lake but they said it was just gorgeous - you could see down a long ways through the ice. I do know that looked very pretty when I dropped Aaron off. 

 Though I haven't gone on the lake I did have fun going a couple of times on the river so far and I hope to go often this winter.

Aaron, Megan and I went skating one night with lanterns and flashlights. It was fun.

 Though I have long loved spending time outside (I love camping, gardening, biking, walking, skating, canoeing, etc.) it is easy to get busy and not get out very much. That can happen especially easily in the Winter when it is cold out there too!

  When COVID 19 regulations hit we were required to be outside if we wanted to see others outside our family so the social butterfly in me made that a priority. I have enjoyed many a walk with friends when normally we probably would have sat inside. We had church services outside and more. I really enjoyed all that time outside and I have learned to dress better for the weather so that I didn't get too cold. It has been fun.

  Being outside is also very good for our health. So if you are at all concerned about getting sick or just like to live a healthier life - why don't you try to spend more time outside.

  Here are some ways that being outside can help you....

-More oxygen and cleaner lungs. Outside air almost always has higher levels of oxygen which will help clean out our lungs. With our world being concerned about a sickness that attacks the lungs - I recommend spending time outside to counteract that.

-Higher Brain Function. All that oxygen that we get outside is super helpful for our brain! Breathing in the fresh air helps your brain to work so much better.

-More Vitamin D. We get Vitamin D from sun exposure which happens outside. This helps with brain function and helps us to have a much stronger immune system.

-Lower Blood Pressure and Heart rate. Every cell in your body needs oxygen to function. More oxygen being available helps your heart to relax which then lowers your blood pressure.

-Reduces Stress. It has been found that spending time in nature reduces stress. Taking a walk outside helps the brain produce endorphins which are neurotransmitters responsible for regulating mood. 

-It is good for your digestive system. When you have a better flow of oxygen in your body it helps you to digest food more effectively. This will especially be nice if you are trying to lost weight.

-It strengthens your immune system. When we increase the amount of oxygen it helps our white blood cells to function properly so they can kill bacteria and germs.

-It helps you heal faster. When cells get more oxygen they can work better which causes you to heal faster.

Here are some ways that I have been spending more time outside...

• Going on walks pretty much every day and sometime more with friends and family. It is a lovely way to visit and improve your health at the same time.
• Embrace jobs like shoveling, gardening, getting in wood, etc. that prompt you to spend time outside.
• Sometimes (especially if it isn't super cold) we will take a book or Ken even takes computer work outside.
• I try to do some of my exercises at least 3 times a week outside.
• Biking - even in the snow.
• Ice skating.

Do you get outside much? What do you like to do out there?

Perfect Peace which leads to Praise!

Some eagles that I saw the other day. It looks like they are getting together but practicing social distancing too. :-)

  This world is just a bit crazy right now it would seem. We are living through something that none of us has ever seen before. There is the virus that is uncertain (how many people will it really infect, how far will it spread, how long will it last, will we get it???) but beyond that so many have jobs that have ended or changed, routines are off, so much that people have worked long and hard for has been cancelled and we don't even know for sure that we can find the normal things we need at the store.

  I am so thankful for the perfect peace that comes from knowing and following JESUS! When we follow Him we know that He has all of this in His control. Also we can live with an eternal focus realizing that truly all that matters is what effects where we and others will spend eternity. I admit to feeling a bit worried for a moment as it seems like there had been some exciting things happening in our church and I was afraid this virus might really put a damper on progress that was being made. I have had to step back and realize that God has this in control. He is allowing things to be shaken up a bit and who knows what all good may come from that. He can work out everything for His good!

  I did truly miss attending normal church services this morning but we had a truly blessed day of focusing on Jesus anyway. We joined the Live Stream for Forest Park Church of Christ  (from Crowley, LA - our good friend Jason preaches down there) and then We did facetime with my mother-in-law while we sang, prayed and had communion. Then this evening we listened to a sermon that Mike from our church here had recorded. As I looked on my Facebook feed I saw that we were not the only ones connecting with various churches from all over the globe - many were doing that. How encouraging that was to me to see that seeking God is what really matters to so many.

   I want to share a scripture of encouragement that Mike shared with us:

Habakkuk 3:17-19

"Though the fig tree should not blossom

and there be no fruit on the vines,

Though the yield of the olive should fail and the fields produce no food,

Though the the flock should be cut off from the fold

and there be no cattle in the stalls,

Yet I will exult in the Lord,

I will rejoice in the God of my Salvation.

The Lord God is my strength,

And He has made my feet like hinds' feet

and makes me walk on high places."

  So, even if we are facing disappointments or even very scary and genuine trials let's look past that and see the work that God is doing in our lives. Let's praise Him over and over and over again. He is worthy!

Life Lately

 What is going on in you all's lives? Life sure keeps moving on and changing around here - it is fun but it sure does feel like you need to be on your toes and aware so you don't miss something!

   Though I think it would be fun to write many individual posts on different subjects that hasn't been happening very well here lately so this will be a post of many different things that are going on in our lives. A few snapshots of how God has been blessing us..... I wish I could share real snapshots on more of them but my picture taking has been almost non-existent lately so for the most part I'll have to use words.

 A major part of our lives lately has been our involvement in Community Theater. Way back in August Aaron, Megan and I tried out for the Musical "Annie" (Little Orphan Annie). We were picked- Megan as one of the main orphans, Aaron gets to play numerous roles: Dog Catcher, Cordell Hull (A Cabinet member), Secret Service and even Santa Claus. That one is rather funny to us as that is a fairy tale that we have generally avoided in our house. I was chosen to be Mrs. Pugh the cook in Mr. Warbucks' mansion. I also get to play a homeless person in Hooverville. I had not been very acquainted with this musical but we watched it (on Youtube) before trying out. After watching it I discovered that there was quite a bit of swearing in it. I didn't want to be in something like that so I asked the directors about that and they said they wouldn't be leaving that in. For the most part they have done as they said but unfortunately in a couple of places I guess they thought it was part of the story to leave it. For the most part I find the script very interesting and full of true historical details. That is of course up my alley. It isn't perfect but life generally isn't.

 We have generally practiced 3 times a week and we open in 2 weeks. This has been more challenging (I was especially surprised for how I have been challenged musically) and more fun than I expected. It has been fun to better get to know the people in Theater. The kids have done other productions but this was the first one for me.

My Mother-in-law has been able to move into her new house across the street from us this week and that is exciting! After my Father-in-law passed on in December she decided to sell their house and buy the lot across from us and put a house there. She ended up buying a modular home and then has had a garage built onto it. She house sold in June and so a little before that we got her moved over to our place. Most of her stuff went in storage but she had a little camper trailer and a big van with a bed and stuff in it and so she camped out here. She did camp out for much of the summer just using our laundry and bathroom but ended up moving into the house in the last couple of months. I have enjoyed our times of music together (she loves music as much as I do) and our times of spiritual discussions. There also have been challenges with adding a very opinionated person to our quite opinionated household and patience with each other as we dealt with schedules that didn't jibe real well.  As our family works towards having less stuff (still very much a work in progress) I unfortunately think we have a harder time dealing with other people's stuff. Having a lot of stuff added to our household was actually one of the most challenging things for us and we were happy to help her get it moved to her new house. It is going to be so nice and handy to have her just across the road from us, God really blessed in that! One of the things that I especially love about Sharyl is the way she enjoys a good adventure. When I ask her if she wants to go berry picking or take a hike to look for wild foods or anything of that nature - her eyes will light up and if at all possible she will say "yes" and off we will go. Now that Mara is gone from home and as the others get older and move away I will especially be appreciating Sharyl's willingness to go adventuring with me.

New Babies have been a fun part of our life lately. In just a little over a week 3 new babies were born in our church group. One of them is my niece! So we have been working on taking meals and organizing meals and are working to organize a party to celebrate. Babies are such a blessing. For two of the moms their last birth had not gone very well and it was such a blessing that this time it went really well and quite fast. God is so good! The picture above is of Megan with her cousins - Buirlen and Beulah. It is fun that these 3 new babies from church all have middle names that are plants: Ivy, Magnolia and Rose.

Dizziness has been something I have been dealing with lately. It does seem to be getting better so I am pretty thankful about that. Some mornings in the last couple of weeks I would try to get up and just have to lay right back down because I couldn't manage to be up. Sometimes I would just have to steady myself, sometimes I would feel very much like I was going to faint and sometimes I would feel like vomiting. Anyway some days it would last almost all day and then some nights it would be really bad as I would lie down in bed. When I wasn't dizzy I often felt cloudy. Today has been a really good day and I am hoping I am on the mend. I have seen the chiropractor about it and taken some blood tests. It possibly is low blood pressure - we don't know for sure. If it persists much longer I will probably go to a regular doctor about it. Not feeling good is hard but I honestly think it is good for me sometimes. It leaves me feeling much more thankful for the days that I do feel good and it leaves me feeling more sympathy and compassion for others that have physical struggles. I know this has given me much more understanding for some of what Mara has gone through with her health struggles - which praise God seem to be not bothering her so much anymore!!!

Last week Aaron celebrated his 16th birthday. He has been getting very into Mountain biking in the last couple of years and so I said I would take him somewhere fun to go Mtn biking for his birthday. I did also have wedding flowers to do that weekend so it couldn't be very far away. Our neighbors (who are avid mtn. bikers) told us about a neat new trail in Cohasset, MN called Tioga Mountian Bike Trail. That was only a little over an hour away. So last Saturday Aaron, Megan and I headed over there and my sister Martha and her family joined us there (it was kind of in between our homes). It was a gorgeous day, there were lots of trails for different abilities and they had a lot of fun elements. Aaron and Lars (my nephew) biked nearly the whole time were were there (over 5 hours) and the rest of us biked some. We didn't have enough mountain bikes for all of us so we had to take turns and most of us didn't have the stamina to do it all day anyway. I was really thankful that my dizziness of the morning had passed by the time we got over there - doing curvy, narrow trails on hillsides with bumps would have been not so fun to do while dizzy. Aaron had a wonderful day! He had ordered a new to him bike just before this and had been excited to use it but when it came the frame was cracked. That was a big disappointment but with some help from Grandpa we found a welder that was able to fix it on Friday and it worked great for this outing. We were super thankful! He didn't charge that much either.

Megan and I have been trying to do more art lately. We are setting aside time each Thursday to work on it. Currently we are doing a History, Writing and Art book which is fun. We will try other things after that. Art is something Megan really loves and I want to encourage her to improve in it. I have decided when it comes to having color in her art she tends to be rather impressionistic.

  Anyway, that is a bit of our life. What is going on with yours?

Hello! Just Checking In

So, Ken and I just got back from a week long trip to St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands. It was a very fun time and we made a lot of memories. The picture above was one I took from the deck of the AirBnB that we were staying at. It was fun to be able to look down and the harbor each day and check out what was going on. This picture was taken on our last day and there ended up being 6 cruise ships in port that day which made the area quite busy! But we were getting pretty adept at getting around and finding some less busy areas so it was fine. 

We did enjoy the beach a lot but explored a lot of other places too. I hope to share our whole itinerary soon. It was interesting going and trying to be zero waste - I didn't accomplish the zero part but I did find ways to avoid trash (especially plastic) a lot so I was happy about that. I will have a better report on that later. 

We were working to do this trip somewhat on the cheap and it was going fairly well for a bit but a canceled flight threw economical all out the window. Oh well, life happens and temperatures that are way below zero are not the airlines fault. We were trying to leave on the coldest week of the year. We had -41 (and that is not windchill - windschill was around -65) in our town just after we left.

I have so many things that I want to tell about so hopefully I can write some good long posts soon.

We are still exploring ideas to figure out Mara's health problems. We seem to have made some progress but we are still working on things. Most recently she is going on an elimination diet where we go off Dairy, Gluten, Corn, Soy, Sugar, Peanuts, Eggs, Beef, Pork, Shell Fish and processed grains (and probably some other things that I am forgetting at the moment) for 3 weeks and then we slowly and methodically add them back in again. We started Thursday. Megan and I are joining her. We have been doing tons of cooking experimenting since then including some yummy coconut milk Popsicles that Megan made. I will try to share some more about that as well.

God Bless!

Homemade {Colorful} Cleaner

 

 

Lately I had really wanted to have a spray cleaner in every bathroom (before I had been carrying one around to each one but I wanted a little more convenience) so I went looking and found that I did have some extra spray bottles saved. Yeah! I use spray bottles over and over again and have at times rescued empty ones from the trash after cleaning at the church building. I have hardly bought any spray cleaners for years and years.

 

 

    Anyway, I quickly put together some white vinegar, rubbing alcohol and water and had them all ready to go. I just lately discovered the nice addition of rubbing alcohol. It helps clean mirrors and windows nicely and also dissolved some sticky stuff. I was working on making labels for them when Aaron came along and wondered if he could "color them". Since I was working on the labels I assumed that is what he was talking about (and I think that was his intent) and I said sure and went off to teach Megan a piano lesson. He didn't finish labeling them but then I looked over and saw that he hadn't just colored the labels - the cleaner was all colored too. Food coloring at work.

 

  He was pretty tickled about his project and making my natural cleaner not so natural anymore. He thought they looked just like store bought now. Oh my silly boy!

 

 

   They seem to still be working fine but I will be a little more careful where I use them for the time being.

 

 

   Do you make your own spray cleaner? What do you use?

Buying Bulk Chicken Feed and Saving Money

I am pretty excited because last week I was able to figure out how to get chicken feed that not only was about 1/2 the price of buying it in bags at the feed store but also it has way less GMO ingredients in it AND it works for all our chickens (layers and broilers) and mixed with some other stuff it is the main source of feed for our rabbits too! 

  I did actually buy food in bulk once last year as well with my dad's help and that was a huge money saver but this time I did even more research so that it was healthier ingredients (without raising the price hardly at all) and it works for the rabbits. 

So... if you also raise animals and haven't looked into this I thought I should share what I did.

 Our local feed store has an option where you can buy 500 lbs or more (I think 500 is the minimum but I am not sure) of feed that they mix together for you according to how you want it. Then they bag it up for you in reusable bags that I can take back to them to use again (I love that aspect too - no waste!). My Dad usually gets his feed in 1000 lb quantities and gets them in a really big bag that he moves around with a bobcat.

I wanted around 18% protein. I think my batch ended up closer to 17% but that should be fine as we feed them a lot of other scraps too and often soak their grain in whey or extra old milk so they will get protein in other ways as well.

Here is my recipe which is just over 500 lbs. I based it off of my dad's recipe and then a lot of research online and a lot of talking with the feed store and finding out what they had available and the price and then figuring out the protein content of each addition.

150 lbs. Barley
50 lbs Corn (I may cut this out completely next time or see if I can get it organic to avoid GMO)
100 lbs Hard Red Winter Wheat
100 lbs Oats
50 lbs Black Seeded Sunflower Seeds
30 lbs 41 Poultry Concentrate (a mixture of many things but high in Soy so I will work to find a substitute for this in the future. I used way less than most mixes however so at least it was a big improvement in my opinion.)
25 lbs Flax Seed
10 lbs Calcium
2.5 lbs Trace Mineral Salt
2 lbs Vitamins A, D and E
1.5 lbs Molasses

My total cost was $95.39

It should last for many months. We are currently feeding 32 broilers but they will be butchered soon, we also have 23 layers and 4 (with 2 more coming on Sunday) Rabbits. We do try to also give them a lot of weeds and scraps. With the rabbits we mixed the feed with rabbit pellets for now but will be added hay and things like that in the future.

I would love to hear what you feed to your chickens and rabbits and why.

 Our broiler pen was getting stinky so I have been added sawdust and other wood shavings to it. It makes it so much nicer! I got sawdust from my dad's sawmill.

It is Salad Season!

 Summer is the time for lots of salads. They taste so cool and yummy, they are good for you and they can be made from things you can easily grow in your garden and potentially forage from your woods.

I planted a lot of different greens this year: Chinese Cabbage, Kale, 3 types of Lettuce, Tatsoi and Purple Mustard and possibly more that I am not remembering at the moment. My goal is to be able to make salad every day for supper throughout the remainder of the growing season. Not only will that be good for us but it will help us save money on our food budget as I will not need to buy so many fresh fruits and veggies.

Besides greens there are a lot of ways to make your salad fun and interesting. By adding some protien you can also turn it into a whole meal. Our family really enjoys Cobb Salad with all sorts of toppings.

Here are some ideas of things you can add to your salads:

• Chick peas (easy and economical to cook up yourself.
• Cheese- any variety shredded or even chunked. Our homemade cheese from Goat milk is yummy crumbled on salad.
• Boiled eggs (this works well for us right now since our birds are producing nicely.)
• Homemade croutons
• Sunflower Seeds
• Sprouts
• Black eyed Beans
• Cooked up Chicken Breasts
• Cooked up pieces of steak
• Many other veggies such as radishes, carrots, peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, etc.
• Black Olives
• and much more...

I would love to hear how you like to eat your salads. Do you grow salad stuff in your garden?

If you are looking for some homemade salad dressing recipes or want to know how to make croutons then visit this old post of mine.