Homesteading Homemakers Diary

-

I have this idea to write down what my days look like.  Every day seems different in some way and so I was thinking it was hard to come up with what a typical day looks like for me.  But then it dawned on me, really the variety of what is accomplished each day and what things are done ARE what make a “typical” day for me!  So periodically I will be posting a “typical” dayÂ’s diary from my life on my homestead. 


 


I am calling this little series my: Homesteading Homemakers Diary


 


Here is a day I wrote down last week:


 


Tuesday January 17..


 


Got up in the morning (very early), made my coffee and unloaded the dishwasher while the coffee was brewing.  Went back to bed with my fresh cup of coffee and did my Bible reading for the day and praying.


 


Computer time, spend time at my message board


 


Kids are up, animal chores, breakfast (oatmeal and toast)


 


Fold 2 loads of laundry, make my bed, clean up my room


 


Pick up the living room and have Sierra fold the throws and fluff the cushions on the couch and love seat.


 


I start school with my younger 3, my oldest daughter works on math with Jacob. The other 2 daughters begin their independent studies.   I iron fabric as Isaac reads to me.


 


I start sewing while pausing to help Isaac as he works through his school work.  He is in 2nd grade and needs lots of helps.


 


Lunch Break.. leftover bean soup from Monday night.


 


After lunch my 3 older girls leave to go do the child care at our homeschool group.  I am not going this time.  Too many things still to do at home.


 


Isaac vacuums the entry way rugs.  He is done with school and now plays a spelling game on computer.  Sierra is finishing her last Pace for the day.


 


I start a load of laundry and get the black beans cooking for dinner tonight. Then I pick up the kitchen and start the dishwasher.  Now time to make some buns for the black bean sloppy joes we are having tonight. 


 


I make a large pan of buns up and when they are almost done I grind the wheat for my bread and proceed to make 6 loaves of bread.


 


While the bread is rising, I answer some email. 


 


I move the laundry to the dryer.


 


I cut up the onions and red peppers for the sloppy joes. 


 


My daughters arrive home and Hannah cleans up the laundry room, Leanne cleans up the bathroom, Emily starts cooking the hamburger for dinner.


 


I take my 6 loaves of bread out of the oven.


 


Emily makes a salad and I finish assembling the sloppy joes.


 


We eat dinner; dad is working overtime so he will eat later on.


 


After dinner we clean up and get the house looking nice and everyone does something on their own.. Tobin comes home.


 


Him and I visit for a bit, he visits with the kids..  then someone comes over with their goats.  They are in heat and want to use my buck.  They have been here before so they know where the bucks are and what to do.  Two of my daughters go and ask them if they need help, they donÂ’t. 


 


Emily and Leanne go out to take care of the chickens, put the horse in his stall and feed the goats a little hay.


 


I make TobinÂ’s lunch and put it in the fridge, and get the coffee maker set for his morning coffee.


 


Then it is time to feed hubby, and off to bed.. the girls do the final cleaning of the kitchen and put the youngest ones to bed.  Tobin gets up at 3:am or so usually and I get up around 4:30 or 5:00 and do again! 


 


 


Comments

  1. DonnaJoyJanuary 23, 2006 at 2:11 AM

    Crystal - love the diary - being such a "list" person, I lvoe to see everything down in black and white - You are such a blessing.

    Donna

    ReplyDelete
  2. 4lilblessingsJanuary 23, 2006 at 10:07 AM

    oh crystal you get some much accomplished in a day! I need to get up earlier, I could tackle alot early in the morning...but I want to stay up late and veg...I need to work on that, lol! I aspire to be more like you!


    Lisa

    ReplyDelete
  3. CathyJanuary 23, 2006 at 12:16 PM

    Crystal,

    Loved reading about your day....I love how you are organized. You teach all of us ladies so much....we could never begin to thank you enough for all you do for us.

    Blessings my friend,

    Cathy

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

All messages are moderated. After approval your message will be posted. Thank you for your comments!! Crystal :)

Popular posts from this blog

Canning Chicken Noodle-less Soup

-
Image
Today was one of those busy days that it seemed I was moving from the time my feet hit the floor until this evening.. But, I got so much done and that is a great feeling! :) One of my accomplishments today was canning 14 jars of chicken noodle-less soup. I call it “noodle-less” because you can’t can noodles. They end up falling apart. So I canned the chicken, veggies and broth. When I go to use the soup I will bring it to a boil and then add a handful of noodles (any type of pasta will work) and cook it until the noodles are done. Because I plan to add the pasta after the fact I wanted to make sure there was enough chicken broth to do this. So I only filled my jars about half to two thirds with chicken and veggies and then filled with chicken broth. Here is how I did this…. I started off with 2 chickens that were a total weight of about 10lbs. I put them in my 14 quart stock pot… I then added 2 gallons of water.. And 3 tablespoons salt.. I brought this ...
Read more

Canning Cabbage

-
Image
I had 4 large heads of cabbage that weighted about 25 pounds. We had some really hot days and I figured I better get the last of them picked soon. My daughter Sierra and I ended up processing 3 of them yesterday and I have one left for a meal on my menu this week. I made pickled cabbage and then canned up the last of the cabbage. Here is the recipe for the pickled cabbage (according to how I made it)… 8 pounds cabbage 1 large onion 1 ½ red peppers 1 lb carrots ¾ cup salt 9 cups water 12 cups white vinegar 10 cups sugar 1t mustard seed 1t celery seed Slice cabbage thinly. Slice onion and peppers. Grate carrots. Mix all veggies together in a very large bowl. Sprinkle with salt and mix in well. Let sit for 2 hours to soften veggies. Rinse veggies well.  In a large stock pot (mine was 14 quarts) combine water, vinegar, sugar, spices. Bring to a boil. Add cabbage/veggies. Bring to a boil. Fill hot pint jars with veggies using a slotted spoon. Fill jar with brine...
Read more

Canning Beef Stew

-
Image
In my last blog post I shared that I had bought 10 pounds of beef roast. I cut it all up and used 4 pounds in 2 crockpot freezer meals ( http://homesteadinghomemaker.blogspot.com/2012/02/two-more-crockpot-meals-for-freezer.html ) . I used the other 6 pounds of meat along with potatoes, carrots, onions and celery to can beef stew. Here were the general proportions I used in canning 7 quarts of beef stew.. 6# beef 2# potatoes 2# carrots 1# onions 1# celery After I cut up the meat and got the freezer meals done I moved to the beef stew. I peeled and cut up the potatoes and carrots. I chopped up the onions and sliced the celery. I pulled out 3 quarts of veggie stock from my freezer to use for liquid in the stew. You can use beef or chicken stock or you can use water. I did not add anything to thicken the liquid as usually thickeners don’t hold up in canning. You can thicken the broth after it is opened if you would like. I added 1 teaspoon salt to each of my ...
Read more