Liebster Award!

Liebster Award!

I received an email today saying my Little Homestead blog had been nominated for a blog award! What fun! It's always nice to have people acknowledge all the years spent building a blog up. I received it from Britni at Homeschoolinmommychronicles  Britni says-

The Liebster Reward is and award being passed around the blogosphere to up and coming bloggers. The rules are as follows:

    Acknowledge and thank the blog who nominated you. Done

    Look for an award image that you like, and post it on your blog. Done

    Answer the 11 questions asked by the person/blog who nominated you. Done

    List 11 random facts about yourself. Done

    Nominate 11 blogs with under 1,000 followers to receive the award. Done, but I will do 3. I don't follow that many blogs, sorry.  

    Let the bloggers know that you nominated them. Done

    Give them 11 questions to answer. Done

Here are my answers for Britni's questions:

    1-When you were a child, what was your dream job? Do you have that job today? No, I never had one specific job, but I LOVE being an elementary librarian!!!

    2-What are your 3 favorite books? Rumi- The Essential Rumi, The Lord of The Rings books, and Ordinary People As Monks & Mystics: Lifestyles for Spiritual Wholeness. Quite a range, eh? :)

   3- If you have to move out of the country, where would you move to? Either Scandinavia (probably Norway or Sweden), or France/Italy/Spain. 

   4- Can you cook? YES! I'm quite a foodie, and have lots of great compliments over the years.

    5- Is there any post you’ve been planning to do, but have been postponing for awhile now? Yes, news of my death ;)

   6- If you could have any super power, what would it be? Why? Invisibility! Think of the information you could glean! Just don't get run over by a truck...

    

  7- Do you prefer the beach or the mountain? Why? Mountains, hands down- trees, water, snow, clean air and wildlife...

    

  8- What movie did you love to watch as a child? The Sound of Music

  9- What is something that your learned recently? How to play school politics :)

 10- What is your favorite season of the year and why? Winter- no yard work or food preservation!

 11- What TV series do you watch? I have Netflix and just finished Firefly, great Scifi show! Otherwise- NCIS New Orleans, NCIS and Chicago Fire.

Here are my 11 random facts:

1-I hate school politics

2-I LOVE Traders Joe's chocolate bars with whole hazelnuts, oh my!

3-I hate shallow people, not hate, but find them INCREDIBLY boring

4-I LOVE SNOW!!! I could live in Minnesota, Wisconsin, you name it. BUT I would need green summers too

5-I worry about aging

6-I worry about my adult kids stupid mistakes- I hate having to sit back and watch them happen

7-I love my adult kids :)

8- I love my best friend, who is also my hubby Dave :)

9- It pains me to listen to women of all ages constantly criticize themselves, especially how they look. It's pure self-loathing. Who taught them that???

10- I just want a decent night's sleep- every night :(  Long story...

11- I'm listening to my cat snore right now :)

I'm nominating....

Jackie @ Bornimaginative Wonderful posts and amazing photos!!!

Margo @ Thriftathome  Great ideas, family stuff and photos!

Susan @ E-i-e-i-omg-bybiddie  Just too freaking funny, and really inspiring, doing it all alone :)

I'm asking the three lovely ladies these sames questions-

    When you were a child, what was your dream job? Do you have that job today?

    What are your 3 favorite books?

    If you have to move out of the country, where would you move to?

    Can you cook?

    Is there any post you’ve been planning to do, but have been postponing for awhile now?

    If you could have any super power, what would it be? Why?

    Do you prefer the beach or the mountain? Why?

    What movie did you love to watch as a child?

    What is something that your learned recently?

    What is your favorite season of the year and why?

    What TV series do you watch?

And what are your 11 random facts?

Thanks all!!! 

Happy 2nd Blogversary! Another Giveaway! 1950's Housewife Bridal Shower Idea, Summer Video, Chicken Sculpture

Happy 2nd Blogversary!-
Apparently I missed my blogversary! Dang. Well, sometimes medical things take precedence. I was noticing I'm closing in on my 300th post too! So... it's time to reflect. OK, I'm finished. Actually I just want to thank my followers, older and newer, for being here. It was so nice to have some of you email me personally and ask how my foot surgery went. That meant  a lot. Virtual pals are one of the nicer parts of being online.  Blogging has been a real learning curve, like accidentally deleting a bunch of photos on my new smart phone and not being able to retrieve them! So, I'm restoring as many as I can before last summer. Oh well. You do what you can.

Another Giveaway!-
In honor of my 2nd blogversary AND reaching almost 300 posts, I'm going to have another giveaway! Keep reading the next week and I'll let you know what the goodies are and how to win them! Thanks!

1950's Housewife Bridal Shower Idea-
I read this over at Canning Granny  1950's Housewife Shower Idea  and loved it! Very creative job she did. I had never heard of "pounding" before. It's a Quaker tradition of giving newlyweds a pound of various things like butter, grains, flours, sugar, etc. to stock their new pantry. Great idea! I have 2 girls getting married in the next year, so I may borrow some aspects of that. This is another good idea that ties into homesteading, for those of us who want to encourage others to do some form of preparedness. If I could get all 3 of my girls on board with the idea of a working pantry, preserving foods, etc.

Summer Video-
Man this gets me in the mode to get out on the water!!!

 Pontoon by Little Big Town

Chicken Sculpture-

I saw this cute chicken sculpture in local parking lot yesterday, and shot it with my cell phone camera. It looks like someone made it out of sheet metal, then painted it. I want it!!!

200th Post Blogiversary Coming Soon! More Peach Jam

200th Post Blogversary Coming Soon!-
Wow, it's hard to believe I'm almost to 200 posts! Geez, who would have thought? It's been a real learning curve, with questions for myself like-
what do people want to know?
is this boring? (I hope not)
does anyone go "gee what's Nancy in Boise up to now?" (inquiring minds want to know)

Well, if nothing else it's a fun virtual diary of sorts. I do leave certain personal things out for privacy sake. I firmly believe that many people may regret (later) posting things when it comes to too much honesty. I save that for family and close personal friends. So............. Interesting fact- I've had over 4,000 visitors from all over the world between April 22nd and today! WOW. Check out the cluster map near the bottom of the page.

I will be doing another special something. I don't know what it will be for, as I'm still thinking. Maybe something homemade ;)  We'll see. Two more posts then I'll do an "official" special something with the format. Check back soon!

More Peach Jam-
I bought some more wonderful peaches (and apples) at the farmer's market yesterday. I got a 1/2 peaches and 1/2 apples (big!) mixed box for $15.00, picked Thurs./Fri. The peaches are dusty in this shot not bruised, they were perfect-

The market will be open for another month, but not with all the vendors. I decided to make more peach jam, with a better, lower sugar recipe. The first recipe in June (?) was too sweet for me (even after reducing the sugar), so I found this one Easy Low Sugar Peach Jam. I love jam because it's so FAST! My total (not all in pic) was 16 jars, 6 spiced the rest non-spiced. Much better flavor with less sugar! I heard pinging all afternoon. I made a wonderful apple cobbler with about 1/3 the apples, saving the rest for something else.

Native American Ethnobotany Database, The Shelf That Keeps on Giving, One Lovely Blog Award, Thrifting

Native American Ethnobotany Database-

For those of you who like to forage or know more about the medicinal benefits of plant and edibles, here's a great site I stumbled onto- Herb.umd.umich.edu  This database is a wonderful resource for searching out relevant historical information about many foraged/wild foods, and their uses and benefits. You can find out info about a weed in your backyard, like berries, lambs quarters, etc. There are citations for each separate benefit (so there maybe several per search) well as a link the USDA Plants database. Here's a citation for raspberries:

Rubus parviflorus Nutt.
Thimbleberry; Rosaceae
Bella Coola Food (Preserves)
Berries cooked with wild raspberries and other fruits into a thick jam, dried and used for food.
Turner, Nancy J. 1973 The Ethnobotany of the Bella Coola Indians of British Columbia. Syesis 6:193-220 (p. 209)
Plantsusda.gov

and lambs quarters:

Chenopodium album L.
Lambsquarters; Chenopodiaceae
Carrier Drug (Blood Medicine)
Decoction of plant taken to improve the blood.
Carrier Linguistic Committee 1973 Plants of Carrier Country. Fort St. James, BC. Carrier Linguistic Committee (p. 86)


The Shelf That Keeps on Giving-
A few weeks ago we bought an ugly brown thrift shelf for some vintage display items in the kitchen. After I did 2 coats of white paint we realized- it was 1/2" too narrow. Then I painted it the wall color as I thought it would look more cohesive. Then we realized the boards were warped. And twisted. OMG, I should have spent the $$$ for new wood! I am so done. Anyway, Dave & I adjusted it and it finally looks pretty good. Nothing in a 25+ year old house is level and square anymore anyway! It's as level as can be and there's a shadow on the right so... ta da!!!

One Lovely Blog Award-
Reminder- if you won the One Lovely Blog award from me you need to: share 7 random things about yourself and pass it on to 10 other lovely blogs. I know you're all busy, but do it when you can!

Thrifting-
Haven't done much lately with the heat, but I did get a great movie on DVD for $2.00, three cute cheese spreaders for 25 cents each. One says "fresh asparagus", another "celery 10 cents", cute. I'll take them camping soon...

and this cute little oil lamp, which works!

Stay cool wherever you are!

It's HOT! Technology, Dehumanization and Homesteading & My Blog Award!

      
It's HOT!!!
This photo was from yesterday, in the shade, on the north side of the house. Ugh. We were out running errands, and I was really tired from being in and out of the heat. I drank lots of water, went to bed early and today will be staying in. Giving the garden and chickens lots of extra TLC...

Technology, Dehumanization and Homesteading-
I read an article and loved this section, it reminds me to be more thoughtful about the choices I make:

1. Whenever technology does not humanize it dehumanizes (diminishes man). 2. Whatever diminishes man diminishes his capacity to receive God. 3. Therefore bad technology is spiritually alienating and destructive to the soul.

It should be evident that in many instances the conclusion drawn about a particular piece of technology will depend upon many factors besides the piece of technology itself. Thus, in spite of my latent Luddism, I have been convinced by experience that in general, while not great technology (it is noisy, undependable, and pollutes) the chainsaw is a defensible tool. To saw a winter's worth of wood by hand takes an ungodly long time and a huge output of energy, but with a chainsaw it is a couple of days labor (depending on the latitude). It seems the time and energy saved make it worth enduring the noise and smell. But this is not absolute: if the time saved is spent building, planting, praying, playing with kids or some other holy endeavor it is a worthwhile exchange. If it's spent watching TV one would be better off sweating over the woodpile. Other technologies may seem more black and white. An electric knife or can opener, for example, seems to be about as senseless a piece of gadgetry as can be conceived, except for the arthritic or handicapped. And some folks, I am told, regularly drive to spas where they then pay money to walk on treadmills.

From- Caelumetterra.com, a compilation of a magazine articles with a Catholic back-to-the-land vision. From their web site, describing the contributors- These people came from a wide range of backgrounds and experience, and included organic farmers, artists, homeschooling mothers, human rights activists, professors, computer professionals, Luddites, friars working in the inner city, and families living in the backwoods.While I'm not religious I "get it", from a spiritual perspective. I will peruse their database when I have more time. caelum et terra loosely translated means "heaven to earth"...

      

My Blog Award!-
A big thank you to Ashlee at Tinygardener for the new One Lovely Blog Award! Wow, that made my month !!! So here the requirements: I have to share 7 random things about myself and also pass it on to 10 other lovely blogs. I will post a comment to the other blogs to let them know!

7 Random Things About Myself-
1. I hate having to listen too much loud noise around the neighborhood. Am I just getting old?
2. I watch too much tv
3. I love my new cat Anya, she's awesome!!!
4. I can't figure out how to remove 2 big shrubs in the front yard, so I can plant more fruit trees
5. I want to go fishing locally but can't find anyone to show me a good spot
6. My right hip hurts, back to PT tomorrow
7. I love my camera, it's so easy to use and has consistent, decent shots!

My 10 One Lovely Blog Awards go to, drum roll, please.....
Pioneerwomanatheart  She really inspired me the most to start my own blog and push myself in homesteading, thanks!
My5acredream
e-i-e-i-omg
Krazoacres
Lazyjbarcfarm
Farmgirlfare
Hardworkhomestead
Tosingwithgoats
Thriftathome
Roseprairiequilts

While there are some other blogs I check once in a while, these are all on my "must read" list! So many great ideas!!!


Homesteadrevival