“Hey, there’s a mama goat with two doelings for sale.”

by Jen on February 17, 2012

“Oh yeah? How much?”

Was the conversation we had.  And now, we have three goats living in our garage.

Here are some pictures of the process.

Garage, before


 

Garage, after

 

Loaded the minivan full of wood pallets to make a platform for the goats to sleep on

 

Built a straw wall, added a pallet to hold hay, put straw bedding down

 

Chickens are all ready for their new neighbors

 

We took a little road trip

 

Packed the livestock into the back of the van

 

Getting Mama & babies moved in

 

Baby One - she's mostly white with a black stripe down her back and black around her eyes

 

Baby Two - she's peach and white and her ears flop down

 

Owen meets the baby goats

 

Adrie and Sam meeting the kids

 

Sharing a snack and getting settled in

 

So, we’ve only named the mama goat, the babies still need names.  They’re both girls, so if you have any suggestions, feel free to leave a comment.

Meet Jessie

by Jen on February 15, 2012

We got the kids a puppy for Christmas this year.  After much debate, we named her Jessica Sophia or Jessie (like the cowgirl from Toy Story).  :)

She’s mostly Australian Shepherd and really is a pretty smart dog.  We’ve introduced her to the other livestock but she’s never been loose around anything except our two cats.  So we’ll see if her natural herding instincts kick in or not.

Garden beginnings

by Jen on January 30, 2012

If you look up at the header image, you can see a stone retaining wall that runs from the garden shed over to the garage. Above that retaining wall is a mostly sunny spot that will eventually become the garden.

Here are a few pictures to get some idea of what we’re hoping to do.

Standing at the back corner of the garden shed, looking toward the house.

We’re building raised garden beds because the soil is a lot of clay & sand. The landscape timbers mark out where the beds will be with paths between each for easier weeding/planting.

Along the back of the garden shed. Where I'm hoping to put potato cages in.

Here’s the middle of the garden along the fence looking out toward the street.

That is the beginnings of our garden. Hopefully we can get all the raised beds built up three timbers tall and filled with dirt in time to put the plants in.

I just ordered some seeds this week too. I’m planning to start as many as I can inside using handmade newspaper seedling pots. I’ll try to post those once I start making them.

What does your garden look like? What would your dream garden look like?

Chicken set up

by Jen on January 26, 2012

We have been in our new home for almost 4 months, but since most of it has been colder temperatures, we have yet to move the chicken coop over.  So, the girls are set up in the garage for right now.

We took the old chain link chicken run and put it inside the garage to give the chickens a 10 ft by 10 ft space inside where its warm.  Here’s a few pictures:

 

 

 

We’re hoping to get the chicken coop moved over in the next couple of months and this spring, once we get the fence finished, they’ll free range in the backyard for part of the day.

That’s the plan anyway…
:)

Updates to Our Prairie Ashram

by Jen on October 25, 2011

Hey, I’ve been meaning to tell you about what we did last weekend, and what we got done the weekend before that…in fact we’ve just been downright productive all the way around.  But before I can really expand upon our productivity, I had better tell you that we have a new prairie ashram.

You read that right! We found, saw and purchased a new property that is now the headquarters of Our Prairie Ashram.  You may also have noticed our new header image of our new ashram.  Its been very exciting here, but with the move taking place later in the year than we’d hoped, there are lots and lots of things that need to be done before fall wraps up and winter begins.  Which is my attempt at an excuse for not posting the exciting information sooner.  ;)

We moved in the last week of September and have been working weekends (and Matt’s days off) to get things done and try to get settled before the cold really settles in here. We’ve gotten some exciting things accomplished and I really can’t wait to post them for you, but more often than not I sit down on the couch after getting the kids tucked in bed and fall asleep sitting up for a good 20 minutes.  And then once I wake up again I need to get lunches packed and clothes laid out for the kids to be ready for the bus in the morning.  So, don’t take it personally, I’m not neglecting you purposely.  And, we’ll be back soon to post more often.

Really, we will.   :)

Simple Recipe Saturday: Peppers & Eggs, Part 2

by Jen on October 22, 2011


I’m going to be up front with you. I like to cook, but I don’t like complicated. I enjoy preparing a meal for my family and sitting down to eat together. I do not enjoy recipes that have too many steps or too many ingredients. I am a simple cook. So in keeping with the spirit of wabi-sabi, I thought I would share some simple recipes with you. It doesn’t mean there won’t be some work to do, but most of these recipes will have a list of ingredients that are readily available (just remember, I’m from the midwest) and a list of instructions that won’t require your entire day spent in the kitchen.

Welcome back! Clara and her Great Depression Cooking series are here again with Part 2 of last week’s receipe: Peppers & Eggs. Her website, for more information, is here: www.GreatDepressionCooking.com .

And, now, on with the recipe!


If you’ve tried this or any other of the recipes we’ve shared, please come back and let me know how it turned out! I’d love to hear from you!
Thanks for stopping in!

Simple Recipe Saturday: Peppers & Eggs, Part 1

by Jen on October 15, 2011


I’m going to be up front with you. I like to cook, but I don’t like complicated. I enjoy preparing a meal for my family and sitting down to eat together. I do not enjoy recipes that have too many steps or too many ingredients. I am a simple cook. So in keeping with the spirit of wabi-sabi, I thought I would share some simple recipes with you. It doesn’t mean there won’t be some work to do, but most of these recipes will have a list of ingredients that are readily available (just remember, I’m from the midwest) and a list of instructions that won’t require your entire day spent in the kitchen.

We’re back with Clara again, this time with a two-recipe set from her Great Depression Cooking series. Her website, for more information, is here: www.GreatDepressionCooking.com .

And, now, on with the recipe!


Next week, we’ll have part 2 of the Peppers & Eggs. Be sure to come back next week so you don’t miss it!
Thanks for stopping in!

Simple Recipe Saturday: The Poorman's Meal

by Jen on September 10, 2011


I’m going to be up front with you. I like to cook, but I don’t like complicated. I enjoy preparing a meal for my family and sitting down to eat together. I do not enjoy recipes that have too many steps or too many ingredients. I am a simple cook. So in keeping with the spirit of wabi-sabi, I thought I would share some simple recipes with you. It doesn’t mean there won’t be some work to do, but most of these recipes will have a list of ingredients that are readily available (just remember, I’m from the midwest) and a list of instructions that won’t require your entire day spent in the kitchen.

More from Clara this week and her Great Depression Cooking series. Her website, for more information, is here: www.GreatDepressionCooking.com .

And, now, on with the recipe!


Thanks for stopping in!

Grape harvest to jelly goodness

by Jen on September 4, 2011

I’ve never canned anything before, so when we decided to make grape jelly I really had no idea what to expect.  Luckily Matt had some experience with canning things and I am grateful that he took the lead on this project.

My youngest and I picked grapes on Friday morning and ended up with a bucket full, approximately 10 lbs worth.

Our first step in the conversion to jelly was to pull the grapes off the stems.

Next, the grapes got rinsed and dumped into a stock pot.

Then, they got cooked and mashed and cooked and mashed.

And more cooking and mashing.

Then into the strainer to separate the juice from the pulp.

We ended up with just a little over 10 cups of grape juice after squeezing out every bit of juice we could.

We prepped our pint jars by filling them with hot water to keep them from breaking when we poured in the hot jelly.

Next, we mixed the fruit pectin and sugar with our grape juice and ended up with this fantastic tasting, though still slightly runny jelly.

We filled our jars and wiped them clean.

Then we added the tops and proceeded on to their hot water baths.

The final tally of useable jelly was 11 full pints with a bit leftover.

For my first canning adventure it was fun to see how it worked and especially fun when the end result looked & smelled & tasted like what we were hoping for.  It was also good to make use of the fantastic crop of grapes we have.  It wasn’t as hard as I thought, but I could see that it was definitely easier with Matt and me working together.

Have you done much canning this year?  What do you like to “put up for the winter”?

Simple Recipe Saturday: Cooked Bread

by Jen on August 27, 2011


I’m going to be up front with you. I like to cook, but I don’t like complicated. I enjoy preparing a meal for my family and sitting down to eat together. I do not enjoy recipes that have too many steps or too many ingredients. I am a simple cook. So in keeping with the spirit of wabi-sabi, I thought I would share some simple recipes with you. It doesn’t mean there won’t be some work to do, but most of these recipes will have a list of ingredients that are readily available (just remember, I’m from the midwest) and a list of instructions that won’t require your entire day spent in the kitchen.

Clara is back again! To find more information about her Great Depression Cooking series, please visit her website here: www.GreatDepressionCooking.com .

And, now, on with the recipe!


Thanks for stopping in!