Prairie Scraps

 I’ve been pondering using our 1953 Airstream Clipper for a craft she shed instead of using it as storage.  It’s too small right now for us to camp in, so we move it back and forth in the back yard to mow under it and everything that we can’t decide what to do with it, we put in there to store it!  Well, I decided to actually use it to make my crafts and hopefully get all my craft items stored in there too!   One of the issues I do have is that I have everything stored everywhere - in the house, in my laundry, in storage, you name it!  I’ve stashed craft projects everywhere!  It will be so nice to have a place to go and create and also be able to know where everything is and be inspired by all of that. I convinced my husband to bring it up to my driveway near the house and help me clean it out.  While it was cleaned out, I did a video tour of it so you could see what it looks like before I get my creating in there! My pipe dream is to have a pop craft ...

Don't you love a snow day?  We homeschool, and we still get excited about snow days from school.  Don't ask me why, because we still have school on snow days!  But, there really is a thing of wonder when it snows enough to cancel everything!  What do you do for snow days?

 We've had laying hens for three years and last year, you may remember our adventure with meat chickens .  Well, we raised another 50 meat chickens again this year.    Last year's chickens were a pretty good success, but our neighbor's dog, killed 17 of them four days before butchering.  That day, we all cried through trying to salvage all of them as best we could.  Unfortunately, although we processed them all, they tasted horrible, because they had, had a heart attack from being run down by the dogs.  The chickens that made it to butchering day, though, tasted so wonderful through the winter that we just had to do it again!   Our neighbor actually hooks us up and gets the chicks in.  He sells them to us after a week in his hoop house, and then we bring them down to our little addition to the hen house until they can be moved outside.  I will admit that these chickens are not that pretty and the smell really...

After a beautiful and warmer spring (50's here in Idaho!) I was a little shocked to wake up this morning to snow!  Oh, and a strong, cold wind too!  This was one of those mornings where I wished that I was a coffee drinker, because this coffee sounds so warm and cozy and yummy, that I almost want it on hand!  In fact, I may just get it in for my 17 year old daughter to try!  Watch the video and tell me what you think!  If you'd like to get your own, go HERE to get it!   Even if I'm not a coffee drinker, I hope you enjoy and say "Hot Coffee, Please!" March 2, 2016 - In like a lion

Last week our area homeschool group parents got into a discussion about testing.  Many parents in our area, have paid money every year for their kids to have Independent Standardized tests.  I have taken a different approach for checking where my kids are at, and making sure that they are understanding what I'm teaching.  In fact, a part of me really doesn't like the standardized tests at all!  Here are some of the reasons why I think they are NOT effective (all my opinions): Many homeschool children aren't having formal testing done regularly, so testing once a year is not going to really test their abilities as a student, as much as test their ability to test. Most public school systems are teaching towards the test. As a homeschooler, you can't compete with this, or even dream of considering the test results to be fairly representing your children, good or bad.  Weeks (and maybe even months) before the testing in the public schools, the teacher...

I'm new to elderberries.  I don't ever remember seeing them in the Midwest.  I've heard quite a bit about them since moving to the West, but have been really intimidated by the.  The house that we moved to last year has the bushes (or shall I say trees) everywhere on the property.  Several people told me how poisonous they are and how they can cause stomach problems if you don't handle them right.  Last year, I thought about harvesting my many bushes of them all season, but chickened out!     This year, I decided that I wasn't going to use them again, but at least I would try to let people in my friends circle come pick them. So I put up a post on a local Facebook group.  I got a couple of takers.  Of course, the one evening that we could pick together, it was pouring rain and really cold!  While I was helping my friend pick a 5 gallon bucket of elderberries, I got to thinking that maybe it was tim...

Last week was a big week around our town -  it was Homecoming Week.  As a part of homecoming week, the athletes in football, volleyball, and cross country, do a Big Brother, Little Sister Exchange.  The volleyball players pick one of the football player's names out to give some school spirit to for the week.  Although we homeschool, my kids have played on the high school teams at the public school, so this has been a fun week for them for the past few years!  The school assigns my kids a locker to use for the week so that it can be used for a drop off place.    As a homeschool, I have to say this has been a really great experience for my kids to not only bond with their teammates, but also feel like they are a part of the community.  My kids go to all the after school event during homecoming, including bonfires, cookouts, and even ride in the parade with their graduating class.   The week begins with decorating each others l...

This last week, I actually had to take time off of homeschooling to get my canning done.  Don't worry, the kids worked on their handwriting, math and grammar workbooks in the kitchen (if you can see all the clutter in the background - that's it!) while I canned away, but I couldn't do our history, bible and read-alouds or my tomatoes would go to waste.    You might wonder where I got so many tomatoes.  I'd love to say I grew them, but that's just not the case!  It is so dry here in the summer, that it's difficult to get tomatoes to grow nicely.  BUT, we have a guy down in Lucille, ID area who's know as Tomato Tom!!! He has tomato growing perfected, and you can pick your own tomatoes for only $.50 a pound!  Why grow your own, when it's so cheap and fresh down the road?  Each year, we run down there on a weekend and pick with the kids about 100 pounds of tomatoes for the winter months.   I like to have enough salsa and ca...

Sunset courtesy of wildfire smoke I'm really not an alarmist or one of those people that thinks we'll all lose our homes at some point, but with over 200 wildfires going around our area, and threats of lightning storms, I'm starting to worry and plan for the worst.  Being from the Midwest, I've never lived under such threat of fire, so I asked my girlfriends last night for their advice on what to do if we have to be evacuated.  Many of their ideas were actually really great, so I'm going to give you a list of what to do in order of importance, with the idea that your family and children are safely evacuated (or on their way out) and you have some time to load your vehicles to leave. Don't ever put yourself or your family in harms way for things in your home! What to do before an evacuation: Put all important documents in a portable, fire safe file if possible.  Files to gather: Birth certificates, marriage certificates,Medical insurance cards, home and c...

Ok, I love old fashioned s'mores.  You know, the yummy perfectly golden cooked marshmallows over a campfire between two graham crackers and three rectangles of Hershey's chocolate.  We've tried all different kinds of options for s'mores, but they just don't quite make the cut.  We've used Peeps instead of marshmallows.  We've tried Rolo's and Reese's peanut butter cups.  We've tried square marshmallows and the jumbo ones.  I love the off brand, cheap marshmallows the best.  None of these options quite match up, though! Sooo..... this weekend, while we were camping, we went about making our traditional, only-way-to-eat s'mores as usual!  Then, for whatever reason, I decided that I would try my perfectly cooked, off-brand marshmallow between two homemade chocolate chip cookies!  Oh, my!! We now have a competitor to the original, traditional s'mores!  You don't even need the chocolate!  The chocolate chips melt with the h...

On the way home from town at 1pm today, we saw this horizontal rainbow above the mountain!  I'm not exactly sure what it is, but after doing a bunch of searching online, have settled with Wikipedia's version of it: (See the entire article Here)  A circumhorizontal arc is an optical phenomenon - an ice-halo formed by the refraction of sun- or moonlight in plate-shaped ice crystals suspended in the atmosphere, typically in cirrus or cirrostratus clouds. In its full form, the arc has the appearance of a large, brightly spectrum-coloured band running parallel to the horizon, located below the Sun or Moon. The distance below the Sun or Moon is twice as far as the common 22-degree halo . Red is the uppermost colour. Often, when the halo-forming cloud is small or patchy, only fragments of the arc are seen. As with all halos, it can be caused by the Sun as well as (but much more rarely) by the Moon. [ 1 ]     So, although the rainbow looks curved, it was straigh...

Just wanted to share what our meat chickens are starting to look like.  They sure do grow fast!  My kids and husband primarily take care of the chickens, so I was shocked at how big they are when I went down there to see them last night.  Just three or so weeks away from butchering time!  It's going to take us four days to butcher all 300 chickens, so it will be a big ordeal!  Stay tuned for that!

My firstborn is about to graduate this Sunday! Because we homeschool, this is creating a few weeks with a ton of work and getting ready for the graduation ceremony and the party!  But I have to say doing the crafting is my favorite part!   There are four boys in our area that are graduating together, so we are having their graduation in one of the family's barn (not animal barn, but really, an extra space for people gathering barn!)  It's a beautiful location and a beautiful barn, so we feel extremely blessed to be a part of this ceremony and party!   We decided to make the most of the country feel and have burlap and country accents.  I offered to make burlap pennants for each of the boys, spelling their names, for the card tables, and then also a big GRADUATION banner for the gate out of burlap.  I happened to have four extra pennants, so decided to make one with 2015 on it for another accent.    Their color is navy blue, so I...

The sunsets on the prairie are always a reminder to us that we truly made the right decision to move our family of 7 across the United States to the West.  Some days are tough here, it's hard to fit in with the locals, difficult to get used to everything new and seems unreal that we are 70 miles from the nearest Wal-Mart or McDonald's.  And then, God sends this for us to enjoy at the end of most days!  

 State Championships are big deals around here for sports.  Parents often decorate the buses for their trips as well as give the teams goodies to cheer them on!  I think its great and have enjoyed participating in both of my kid's adventures this year to State!   My oldest son, just qualified with five other kids to compete for State Sole Ensemble, so I wanted to treat them to some cheer too! Here's what I sent for the trip with them!   Here's what the tag says:   "Pop, Pop, Fizz, Fizz, Oh what a great Singer....you Izz!  Congrats on going to State!"   In the party bag, I included: Can of Dr. Pepper Pop Tootsie Pop Pop Rocks Bag of Microwave Popcorn I also added in a bag for the teacher and their accompanist and thanked them for their efforts to get our kids there! Love the fact that I can do a little something to cheer my son and his friends on!  Hoping they enjoy!  

Although, these raspberries aren't really found "wild" in nature, at least not here, I do love it when you find unexpected bounty in the wild or at home.  We are moving to a new place in the woods and the garden is very overgrown.  I got totally distracted with the kids yesterday when we spotted these in the weeds!  Sometimes though, when you are finding food in nature, you have to have the ability to drop everything and focus on picking when you find it ripe!  These were so close to being overripe that it couldn't wait for one more day.  So, instead of packing or house, the kids and I spent a couple of hours picking these beauties and then freezing them (because I don't have time to can right now). Two days ago, we spend a couple of hours of picking illusive huckleberries!  This is truly a  test of your patience, though, because you can walk through most plants and find nothing and then, Bingo!  tons!  The unique character of...

One of the great things about living on the Prairie, is that we also are very close to the rivers and the mountains. We often forget to take advantage of the great outdoors in our busy lives.  It's important to us to remember why we moved here, and that is to enjoy the great outdoors and the beauty that mountains provide. We hit the 50's yesterday, so we decided to take on one of the local hiking trails. We too a hike on McAllister Trail just off the Southfork River.  We loaded each of the kids with their own snack bag, as well as an emergency kit.  We've had a lot to learn about hiking in the great outdoors here.  You can easily find yourself in a dangerous situation, so it is important to bring emergency supplies with, just in case.  One of our first hikes, we put it all in one backpack, but then found that person was exhausted by the end.  Now we have learned, and each person takes their own drink and snacks, and then a little extra supplies ...

Meet our new baby lamb, Cocoa!  We are so excited that he has come to our flock of American Black Belly sheep!  It's going to be hard to take these cuties to market! My son left to work for a few hours today, and we had no babies, and voila! when he came home, we had a very exciting new addition to the family!  We got these three sheep a couple of months ago for free.  Well, of course they cost money to feed, but they came pregnant.  We knew that they should be due in December, so we've been anxiously awaiting!  The great thing about this breed, is that they need very little assistance lambing.  We had no idea it was going on.  You can see the happy family here.  Yes, I am aware that the dark sheep is fixing to have a birth soon!  She stopped while we were watching, so we'll be checking on them frequently.  We decided on Cocoa for a name and we know he's a boy, because of where he was peeing from!  He is very tired, but...

We are experiencing record lows at zero degrees outside, but the crafting is in full swing getting ready for a craft show on Saturday!  We even had to move our painting projects indoors with a very large paint cloth down!  Praying we don't spread the paint mess! I'm sharing some photos of some of the things I'm really excited about!  In fact, many of them I don't want to sell!  All the proceeds for this sale are going to my daughter's 4-H trip to Japan, so this seems more important than ever to sell, sell, sell!  Sorry, not much writing or how-to's, I have too much to get finished. Christmas Metal Basket Burlap covered chair with "socks" Sweater Jar Pillows in hound's-tooth, wool, and sweaters - I have just one more to make!  One of the burlap wreaths, finished. Chalk Paint Jars   Now for the pricing and  getting it all together and set up at 5am on Sautrday!  Let me know what you think! 

We've had a pretty busy summer, and try as I might, I haven't gotten around to posting here and updating things.  For that, I apologize.  So with a little nudge from a good friend, I am starting with a new post today to share one of the things that keeps me really busy every fall. Since moving West, it's been difficult to change my concept of harvest time.  We had a great big garden in the Midwest in which I was busy harvesting and preserving.  In the West, I haven't been in a house long enough to actually grow a garden, but we have been greatly blessed with the great outdoors and some wonderful neighbors!  One of our neighbors here, shares their fruit orchard with us after all their family and friends pick what they need first.  I often feel like the old picture of "The Gleaners" when I go to clean the trees of the leftover fruit. Here's an excerpt explaining the picture from Wikipedia that describes the picture: "The Gleaners is an exampl...