Something New to try this Year

This year on the garden menu will be buttercrunch lettuce,basil,eggplants,two kinds of tomatoes,cherry tomatoes,and two different kinds of peppers. Planted carrots yesterday and this weekend planting peas and three kinds of leaf lettuce. I hope I got this right this year and everything doesn't get ate or get blight like it did last year. In the meantime,believe it not I still have broccoli plants I overwintered that are still putting out! And I have a small rosemary that is still trying to grow.I also have lavender that is going to go outside as soon as this weather warms up.

Now if this rain would stop for abit and let us dry out but I don't see that happening anytime soon. Since I wrote the top paragraphs my seeds have come up except the eggplants and some of the peppers.But hopefully they will soon.I got my peas going and carrots,yet to see some life from them. I planted the peas where I grew the loofhas last year.And I got both sides of the trellis covered.
This weekend (hopefully without rain but suppose to) going to put in vertical trellis for the yard long and green beans.I guess I'm gonna put in raised beds this year.I was going to try for hugelkultur beds but after much thought  and reading,they attract snakes and mice and thats two things I don't need.i really wanted to make one but....


My weight loss is coming along pretty good. 60 pounds gone so far. It has however slowed down to a turtle crawl,hadn't really lost any since January but was told that was normal because the more weight I lose they slower it comes off.Ok. Plus my age too so.


That's what's up right now,not much until the garden gets going.I'll try to get pictures on here on the progress if I can get a camera.Or I can get my phone camera working.Have a great day!

First Time Making Jerky

Had a little bit of venison to make "other" stuff with so I decided to try my hand at making deer jerky.So far I have a stainless steel bowl setting in the fridge with slices of deer meat soaking in Dale's steak sauce and Worcestershire and onion powder,garlic powder and just a little soy sauce.The meat looks so good!.Will take a picture when I get done with it.

We have another cold front that came in this afternoon.It's really chilly tonight! The deer are moving around,seen three does last night.One of the does was really big.She has two smaller does with her but no fawns.

Deer jerky.Picture didn't come out too good.
Made it with Dale's steak sauce and Worcestershire sauce,soy sauce and garlic powder,onion powder.The soy sauce made it very salty but it did mellow out a bit after cooking.

Snow Picture

Not a lot of snow but it got icy at night. New camera might be coming soon.Got my eye on a Sony.

Chilling in the South

I'm sitting here with my door open today.Tomorrow will be another story.They say snow and ice,looking like it will stay north of here.It looks like it will miss me but can never tell.I can't wait really til next month.Gonna get those seeds started early. Been just raining and drizzling and just down right gloomy weather.Where's the sun?? I am beginning to not be a winter person anymore.I like the snow but this winter has been really icy. I guess it's because I can't get out in the yard,maybe I'm getting cabin fever.Whatever it is wished it would go away!

This was before the snow came!

Well it did snow and just enough to shut everything down for a couple days.There is a little snow on the ground.The deer have been out like crazy. Had a nice size buck come thru,looked like a 8 pointer.
Getting lots of new babies(fawns).

I went and bought a handful of seeds.Ok two handfuls.I kinda went nuts but I ended up getting green beans,tomatoes,swiss chard(I've never had swiss chard before)peppers,lettuce,zucchini,snow peas.I already had eggplant and lavendar.I need to still get parsley and sage and thyme and some rosemary.I am planning a BIG garden this year.I got pots and totes and a yard waiting to be filled.

I'm also going to try my hand at growing stevia. AND growing my own tea.We'll see how that goes.I made my own notebook this year and each plant has it's own page. I'm very excited about this and maybe I'll do better with this way of working it. I sat up this morning writing and reading online how to grow this and that.

My soap stuff is coming along fine.When the weather gets warmer I'll start soaping again,it's just too cold to do any right now. That also goes for tie dying too.

Since I quit smoking I need to keep myself busy and it 's great! I love the stuff I'm doing. I am always looking for things to do.And there is plenty to do around a homestead!

Oh Here Comes Winter!

Yep we are gonna get socked full force with Mr.Winter tomorrow. I have tried to insulated this crappy mobile home the best I could. My broccoli took a dive outside. We had too many cold days and nights for them to survive. BUT I have three broccoli plants inside and they are putting out! So cool. I went and had my walk  for today and I don't know when I'll be able to go again. I'm now down 51 pounds less than I was. 3 more and my sister-in-law said she was gonna throw me a party(yeah we'll see about that)My brother said "she'll probably serve ice cream and cake".No I don't think so! Ok maybe the low carb sugar free stuff.

I told hubstead I did not want to be here if the winter is gonna be this cold.We needed this though.The fleas and ticks were horrible and the we usually don't have snakes in the yard but this year we had a couple. One was a Copperhead. Not good with my dog walking around. On the other side,the other night,there was a big buck outside.The deer are in rut this time of the year here. He had a set of large antlers on him .I've never seen him around here and since then I haven't.There is alot of wooded area where we live. I hope he comes back through maybe I can get a picture of him without scaring him.

Oh remember I said I wanted to learn two things every year? My next thing,tie dyeing and learning how to pressure can. Canner,Santa didn't bring one so I got to buy that myself. Thanks Santa,you fat,sorry, never mind. Anyways,I'm planting a bigger garden next year(hubstead is not too happy with that)but beans are on the menu and tomatoes. I can't eat too many tomatoes on this diet but I can have a little. I can eat above ground vegetables and very little root veggies. Most root veggies have sugar and starches. I am growing peas,Snow peas which I can have those. I have all my stuff to fight the bugs and hopefully I won't get blight too. So next year is planned I hope.

We haven't done much work on the house in the last couple of years.The last thing we did was put a metal roof on. This is a rather large doublewide and its getting hard for me to take care of it. I'm wanting to sell it down the road but hubstead said no it'll be paid for. I'm wanting a small cabin on some flat land. Here we can't get out during the winter because we are on a hill. And to get out you have to go up another hill which it's paved and ice is very slick. I am not going to ruin my truck for anyone.But it hasn't been that bad.lots of things to still explore and I also was thinking about natural tie dying too. Got to do some looking on the internet for that.

Well that's it for now. I'll post some pictures if it snows.My camera is old and maybe it will work. So everyone have a great New Year!!!! Leave your worries and pain behind and start out fresh.

Weight Loss and Me

I am doing really well on this high fat low carb WOE(way of eating). I've lost 45 pounds since the first of July this year. I'm enjoying getting in the kitchen and cooking up new recipes too. I couldn't believe just by cutting out  sugar(oh yeah it's got to go!) and any kind of flour including wheat,processed foods,fruits that are high in sugar. You got to read labels and know how to read them. Temptation is every where and I got it down of saying no. I highly recommend this to anyone who is over weight and struggling with diabetes. This WOE lets you eat fat(yep that's what I said) like real butter and I drink whipping cream in my coffee.Try the bulletproof coffee,it's fantastic! Get ya going. I eat alot of veggies,but only the ones that grow above ground and and ones that are not high in sugar. Meat with fat is great,eggs,good oils.If you're interested look it up.I set myself up on this which was easy. Most of you know I quit smoking last year and wanted to watch my weight,well this did it.

Our cold is coming and I am dreading it this year. The last two years were really warm for winter.I have everything,so far,ready for it but you're never really ready. Me and mine caught a respiratory virus that almost did us in.I have never had anything like that.The chills,fever,coughing(alot!) so much my chest felt like it was on fire.If you get this ,go to the doctor,not only is it bad but highly contagious.I was in the room with the person for only 10 minutes.

Well I'll get back to hollar at ya when something comes up and I can think.I believe I'm still recooping from this mess.

Taking Charge

Interesting how life goes sometimes.I have been busy trying to get this awful weight off me and now it's going great.Since July 1st of this year I have dropped 37 pounds. I was just feeling so sluggish and run down. Plus the fact too I quit smoking over a year ago.Wow a whole year has gone by. I can not begin to say how much better I feel for my age. I'm on a low carb way of eating.I ran across this while I was in a stop smoking group on FB. Which by the way I deactivated my account from there.Long story.And now I feel free from that. Anyway they were very supportive of people trying to quit and really helped me out.I will miss them. This low carb eating consist of eating high fat and medium protein and about between 20 to 30 carbs a day. I cut out pepsi,sugar,pasta,potatoes,breads(I do miss biscuits),cakes and anything that is processed.Also grains and some fruit because of the high sugar content and beans.Now I know some people would cringe at some of this but I didn't eat alot of this stuff anyway. I detoxed from this and it was rough but now I get nauseous if I even smell some of it. However the new way of cooking has me in the kitchen more.I'm using almond flour(sparely) and coconut flour,eating breakfast more which consist for now of eggs and bacon or sausage and I make a piece of  bread from almond flour.Its not like regular flour,its actually made from almonds but it rises like flour. I read labels,you have to on this.I've been losing about a half a pound a week.

Eggs left over cube steak and spinach

Eggs,Avocado and Kale.

Just a couple of examples here

Now on to the garden. From last month on the blog,I had 5 loofahs,well I found two more. So this year the vines have produced 10 loofahs all together. I've planted some more broccoli and the weather here is turning cooler so we'll have to see how they turn out.I did plant carrots just to see if I could get them growing,yeah got beautiful tops and tiny carrots and that's about it. I'm not trying again. My spinach is coming along nicely as long as I can keep the bugs off. I've been collecting yard long green beans off the vine all summer and now they are about done.Today I'm pulling them up and cleaning that area so I can plant something else next year. I won't be planting loofahs next year cause I have enough to give away to friends and family if they want them.I have to make some goatsmilk soap again.I made coffee soap but it's way too rough to give out.I'm stuck with the bars I have but they will be used. I didn't grind the coffee grounds up and left them as they were. Yeah they are rough,about take the skin off. So I have been quite busy this summer.I taught myself to can jelly,make soap and still doing my baskets and very little and I mean very little on my beads. I exercise everyday and watch my weight and try to be positive. I'm doing good. It's going to be great to buy some new clothes. I put a bra on and I laughed so hard,yep didn't fit. I do believe I have taken charge of things about myself and feel really good about it. I didn't know if I could but I did know if I didn't I wouldn't last. I was getting bad. I have a new saying,change the way you think can change your world. Y'all have a great day!!