Homeschooling and Homesteading

Homeschooling and homesteading just flow naturally together.  How better for children to learn hands on life lessons with the day to day activities at home on the land.  One thing I deeply appreciate about doing both is how well we know and truly appreciate the uniqueness of our daughter.  She has a great love for God and all of His creation.  She has a determined spirit in learning everything she can possibly

Harvest Time in the Ozark Mountains

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As each season comes upon us, we celebrate and treasure what each one holds.  Autumn is no different and I have felt for many years that Autumn is my most favorite season of all.  We cherish the crisp mornings, the warm afternoons, the turning of the leaves and the harvest!  I wouldn't be being completely honest with you though if I didn't mention how exhausted we are by the time winter rolls around and we are just as grateful for the rest that winter provides with snuggling up in front of the fire with a mug of something warm and steamy to drink.  But for now.....there is work to do!

It seems I haven't gotten anything done on this blog except for posting a few recipes here and there and for that, I apologize.  There has been plenty of activity here on the homestead and I have taken many pictures, however, there never seems to be enough time to get everything posted.  I've been stashing posts away to complete through the winter and update everyone on our progress, but I thought I would give you a few ideas of what has been going on around here just this past week....

Of course homesteading isn't complete without canning.... and thankfully a lot of that got done this week.

We can never have enough green beans canned.  A friend of mine with five children cans 140 quarts of green beans every year.  When I first heard that, my jaw dropped,

Autumn Fried Apples

 For the record, I am crazy about our new cast iron ware that I got for my birthday.....thank you Mom and Dad!  Since it's apple season, we gathered a few bushels and proceeded to make some Apple Butter (future post) which called for 5 1/2 pounds of apples per batch.  Our wonderful, helpful daughter was having so much fun peeling the apples with the awesome (everyone should have one) apple peeler, that she got ahead of me and we had some leftover, peeled and sliced apples.  Seriously though, everyone should have one of these apple peelers, they peel, slice and core all at the same time.  (Thank you for mine Mom and Dad in law!)

Anyway....back to the leftover apples and our new cast iron ware.  At some point I had seen where someone (if I could remember who I'd give them credit for it)  had fried up some apples in their cast iron skillet, so with great excitement I melted about 3 tablespoons of butter in the skillet, layered in the apples while sprinkling them with brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg.  While having it on medium heat, I turned the apples until they were covered with a beautifully golden glaze and the apples were soft when pierced with a fork.  I have to say....YUM!!!  Wonderfully yummy on homemade ice cream.  It might even be a good glaze on meats if there is any left...which is doubtful in this house.

Secret Places in the Ozark Mountains

Yesterday was a rare and treasured gift, my dear husband and I spent some time driving the back roads of our Ozark Mountains.  We have had an extremely long, hot and dry summer and after working from dawn to dusk, day after day all summer long.....a country drive, just the two of us, seemed like a gift.  I took along the camera because I wanted to share some of these rare seen sights with those of you that have never been to the Ozarks.  Each region of this world has things that can be found all over the world and they also have other things that are unique to that specific region.  Ours may or may not be unique, but they are extremely Ozarkian in nature.  One can still find extreme isolation in these mountains

Canning Sweet Pickle Relish

So I found myself with 25 pounds of cucumbers...

I've already canned Bread and Butter Pickles and Kosher Dill Pickles for the year and have more than we need for the next year pickle wise anyway, so what in the world do I do with all of these cucumbers?  Since many of them were little bitty picklers, I decided to make up a batch of whole sweet pickles.  The problem was, there was still a whole mess of cucumbers to do something with.  

Peach Butter and Spiced Peach Butter

I absolutely love the changing seasons and each new harvest that the good Lord gives us.  We were blessed with getting some extremely sweet and juicy peaches this season and I decided to make a good sized batch of Peach Butter.  It was a new learning experience for me, but it wasn't too hard and now I've learned an even easier method than the one I used for the first two batches which I'll share with you.

For one batch of Peach Butter or Spiced Peach Butter you'll need

Fresh Garden Macaroni Salad

Nothing says summer like a freshly made macaroni salad!  

It's easy to modify if you prefer one vegetable over another or maybe you just like to add in a fresh herb or two.  Our family recipe is one that changes depending on what is available in the garden that day, but here is the basics of it for you: