Darlene

Contingent on the finances . . .

 

(So don't save up all your heavy lifting)

Too late.

I already have a list started.

lol

It's interesting how different we all are.

I would never put any member of my family into the hands of a 'professional'.

Obviously you've done all you can to the best of your ability but it's just not something I could ever do and hits me very strong. Only God knows what is ultimately right or wrong and I'm not passing judgment by any means. If He's given you a peace about the situation then that's all that matters.

Best of luck.

Oh wow CGA! That would be SO awesome if you and DD came!

~praying praying praying~

Darlene, you know I don't have an accent! Why are you misleading these poor folks. :wink (2):

Dear Lord,

Please open our dear Stephanie's blind eyes that she might see the extremely souuuuuuuuuuuuuthern accent she is blessed with...

lolol

((((stephanie))))

Oh, Momo! That would be so wonderful if y'all could come!!!!!!! It's been a rough day and I just got online and read this thread and was thrilled to see you'll be coming. P.S. I'm taking your 'maybe' as a "YES!!!!"

lolol

Ma and Pa Steele, what a special surprise to see that you'll be coming too!!!!! I can't wait to finally meet you in person! You've been a member here for many, many years and are very special to so many of us.

Mac, you tell mama that we're expecting her to show up! She is absolutely precious and I would love to see her again. This time you have to stay longer!

You make a couple of good points...

Buying seed now in case it gets difficult to find, and looking into the drought resistant varieties.

Thanks for mentioning this!

Bummer. ((((wink))))

awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww (((((madison)))) I'm so happy that you'll be able to make it! lolol

Every year she asks me, "are you going to have a get together this year????" because she really does enjoy having everyone here.

Stephanie's southern accent will definitely have you giggling! lol I know she would love to meet you in person too!

I too spent some time in the garden the last few days weeding. I got busy for a week and then it rained for 3 days so you can imagine how much the weeds loved that. It feels good to make progress...I did a little in my onion patch but still have the majority left to go.

It's crazy how relaxing pulling weeds is. Sometimes when I need some space I'll go down there just to pull a few weeds.

I've been running stringers off a high wire for the pole beans to climb up. We put in fencing for the cuke to vine up so that's finally done. I have more weeding to do but the cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower plants are just about done. My potatoes are blooming so hopefully in a few weeks we'll be raking in the taters, on and on and on.

Wink, just turn the calendar forward a couple of weeks so hubby gets the harvest done a little early...lol

You know I would absolutely love it if you came. It's as if I've known you forever and it just ain't fair that I haven't been able to meet you face to face yet.

It's that time again...it's been 2 years since we last had our MrsSurvival get together so it's time we have another.

October 11-14, 2012 everyone is invited to come up to my farm and gather together with friends near and dear to our hearts that we've met here online. It's a wonderful time of fellowship and sharing and has deepened and strengthened the bonds we have together.

I don't know all that we will be doing over the course of those few days but I do know that Stephanie will be bringing her spinner and doing some workshop on spinning. I have a spinner also and a floor loom so we'll see how far we can take that. I would like to spend some time doing a workshop in soapmaking for any that might be interested. Cheesemaking is another one I would like to do time permitting. It goes without saying that we'll be doing some shooting...that's a highlight of many peoples stay.

For those who have never attended one of our gatherings, how we work it is everyone converges here on my farm. Everyone is welcome to stay here...I have some beds available and some blowup mattresses so everyone gets a comfortable place to stay. Some people have brought their tents and camped out on the farm and there's local hotels that aren't too far away if anyone would prefer that. Regardless, we share our meals together here along with the various workshops we put together with lots of time to just sit and chat face to face.

All members are welcome as well as any spouses and children.

If you'd like to come and/or plan to come either respond to this thread or send me a pm so we can begin to get a head count and prepare for our get together in October. If anyone has any questions you're welcome to ask.

I foresee this as being the best get together we've ever had!

A quarter won't take up much freezer space at all. I have a 24 cubic foot chest freezer and a quarter cow took up 1/4 of the freezer.

There are processing fees. There are kill fees and then the amount per pound that the butcher charges. Here, the kill fee is $35 and the butcher charges 40 cents per pound, hanging weight.

It's just that whatever price you're being quoted has those charges figured into the price/lb already.

A quarter cow wouldn't last us a year. I think it depends on the size of the family and their eating habits. Generally, people will count on a whole cow lasting a year for a family, so a quarter wouldn't last me or most people for a year. If you don't eat alot of beef then I guess it would last longer but only you know your family's eating style.

I expect beef prices to continue to rise. If it were me (and not everyone thinks like I do), I'd probably lean toward the half cow vs the 1/4 cow, just to lock in the prices. One thing I'm almost certain of is that the prices will not go down.

I just took our steer in that we had been rasing. He probably weighed in at 1400-1500lbs. I exoect to get about 700-800lbs from that. He was a larger steer so will net more but I'll keep about half of that which will get me through the year hopefully with a family of 3.

When I first moved here they were in the 3rd years of a major drought. My pond was down about 4 feet and it was getting critical with water sources in the state. It was a valuable learning experience for me because I learned what water sources I would have in such a situation. My creek dried up but the mountain spring that the house is on continued to overflow even in the drought. There are areas on the land where the springs are close to the surface and it's kind of marshy there. In the drought those marshy areas stayed wet so I learned I had some good water sources that remained even when threatened.

On the flip side, being able to raise the hay for the animals was severely compromised. Last year we had a really dry spring and summer and while we weren't has hard hit as Texas and other areas, most people around here only got 1 cutting from their hay fields. This year we seem a little more balanced. We go a couple of weeks without rain and then we have a week of rain. Consequently I watch my pond go down a little and then back up.

We all know that water is critical to survival but it's a whole different ballgame when we actually go through a period of time where that is threatened.

Yeah chica, I know that's what they say but that infamous manufacturer of Roundup is not someone I really trust.

Oh well.

But yeah, I had the issue confirmed by a fancy named, educated plant professional.

Yeah, I remember you telling me to put the roundup down before I dug up my original garden but the man came sooner vs later to till everything up.

My concern these days would be the residue that chemicals will leave behind for years and years and years. I have a tree that dies a little more every year because of roundup applied 5 years ago. Skerry.

Congrats on your new home!

I'm currently planting the biggest garden I've ever planted. I've learned alot over the past 5 years and it's really showing in the things I have planted thus far. I'm just now getting my summer crops in...corn, beans, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, etc. The spring crops are doing awesome so I took a couple of pictures.

The first picture is of my broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage.

The second picture is of some of my lettuces.

The third picture is of my broccoli

The fourth picture is of my cauliflower.

And the last picture is of my potatoes.

As you can see, the weeding never ends.

HA! Mt Rider!!!!!!

I told you so!!!!!

lolol

lol You are so busted GP lol. Nice work, and yes I'm sick of feeding the pigs. Trying to carry a 70-80lb of feed UP the hill to where the grunting, ungrateful, impatient, PITA pigs are is getting old.

*think bacon, darlene...nice, meaty, crisp bacon...*

I think I can haul one more bag up that hill.

0:)

lol

We need pictures!!!!!

I don't remember posting a spaghetti sauce recipe. My use my marinara with everything, unless I'm forgetting something lol.

I bumped the post that the recipe is contained in and here's a direct link:

http://mrssurvival.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=36427&st=0&p=310129&hl=marinara&fromsearch=1entry310129

Bump!

You know that y'all are in my prayers.

Bump