Well most of you know that we had a devastating fire at our farm this week. We were woken up at 12:30 to a phone call letting us know that our barn was on fire. I immediately ran outside assuming our big barn was on fire and had to let the baby goats out fast. A quick look outside and I saw the entire chicken coop engulfed in flames. I called 911 while my husband ran outside to see what he could save. But there was nothing left to save. This started a long list of what if’s . . .

What if I saw or heard something when I went to bottle feed one of the baby goats at 11:30?

What if when my husband went outside at midnight, he noticed something? A sound, a light, anything . . .

What if our neighbor didn’t think to look outside when her dog was barking? That fire could have easily spread to other buildings or across acres of dry grass.

What if the bucks weren’t locked up in there that night? We hadn’t locked the boys up in at least a week. For some unknown reason the kids locked them up when they went to feed that night. Without mentioning this fact to them, they quickly realized their mistake. We know there was nothing we could do, but my kids are still sad about the situation.

What if all the loose hay had been cleaned up the previous week when the coop clean-up was under way?

What if all of our chickens were left in the coop? About two weeks prior we separated the new chickens from the older chickens. All the young, good layers were in the coop, along with my sons prized cochin chickens. All the older hens and roosters were living in the big barn. Little Man was planning a portable chicken coop for his cochins, but it was a project that never got started.

What if I had finished the project of moving all our storage stuff back to the trailer? I am very thankful that we had just 4 days previously moved an antique school table and chairs out of there. 2 days previously I had gone out there and went thru all the tubs and sorted items. We grabbed a few pairs of shoes for the kids. I had counted my sleepy wraps and thought about grabbing one for me to have a back-up, but didn’t do it. I did an inventory check of all my books I had listed on PaperBack Swap.

What if we didn’t purchase the motorcycle and need to trailer to haul it home? We would have never even moved our stuff to the building.

This cloud of “what if’s” could drown a person. And it’s only human to sit and think them all thru. But we have a merciful and gracious God and He uses all things to work towards good for those that love the Lord! We are claiming that promise!

My son came to me the day after the fire and told me that he felt he had learned to not be lazy. He felt that if he had cleaned up ALL the loose hay the fire wouldn’t have moved so quickly. I learned to let go of “stuff”. My husband learned that its ok to get help from other people and be thankful for them in his life.

And we have all learned the need to finish projects.

This is after it had been cleaned up.

These are some great ideas to turn a picture into a unique gift.

I came across this new online calendar program that I’m gonna try out come January and I wanted to share it with you!

So let’s try it together and see what we all think.

I’ve tried a few programs, but I have nothing linked together. I’m hoping that I will be able to access this online on my phone and always have my compact calendar with me. I know there are a ton of programs out there, but I like the looks of this one. But we will have to wait and see. It doesn’t cost anything to get on their list, so join me!

1. I could empty it into my bedroom, a controlled environment and
2. It was small and wouldn’t overwhelm me.

There was a lot of stuff in there! And of course Peanut was trying to help sort.

It can be as simple as this pull-out from Club, JR. magazine. My son found this print and hung it up in his room. Nehemiah 9:6

I placed this reminder on my bedside table, alongside my prayer journal and Bible.

This beautiful reminder sits on our piano. (pun intended)

This lovely print out hangs in my bathroom right above my sink. It’s my daily encouragement.

I have this one hanging in the hallway as a quiet reminder to my children. I simply used a word processor for this one.

In my kitchen, right next to the meal cleanup chart are two verses to help keep me focused on my duties as a wife and mother. I coped and laminated these out of a Bible Study book.

I took teacher display board letters and posted Ephesians 5:15 on the dining room wall so that we could all remember to be careful.

And one of my favorites is Phillipians 4:8 written above my tv. We don’t have regular television, but we do watch movies and the news. We have to always be cautious of what goes in and guard our hearts.

Psalm 100:1-2 sits above my piano. A soft reminder to make a joyful noise, not a loud one.

Why do we find this important? Having a relationship with the Lord isn’t confined into a scheduled quiet time. Good thing, because quiet is not something that happens often around here. Even Bible Study time consists of giggly girls, crying babies, and many questions. God’s desire for us to write “them on the doorposts” is a very practical way to soak in His word everyday right in the middle of our daily busy life.

But now I’m past that, and on to discovering the spontaneous, active, crazy, disorganized mom that I am. Do you remember the dog in the movie Up? You know the one that mid sentence would stop everything to point out a squirrl? Yep, that’s me. No wonder I leave milk sitting in the sink all day. When I ask a child to go get their shoes, they will come back 10 min later declaring they can’t find them, and I have forgotten what they can’t find. Or on my way to the bathroom, I stop to check my email and 2 hours later I still haven’t made it that end of the house. And my most dreaded trait – my inability to follow any kind of schedule. How did I ever survive high school?

I’m an ongoing project. I am always reading 3-4 books at a time, sewing 3-4 different outfits, and always whipping something up in the kitchen. If I don’t have a project I find that I get bored easily. I’m your guy (or gal) if you want to know about almost any curriculum out there, but sit down and actually use a curriculum and I’m lost. I can plan out an entire school year to never sit down and do more than one day of it. Oh we do school, and my kids are passing the tests to prove it, but it consists of moody science videos, board games galore, real hands on experiences and field trips that will rock your world. Two of my kids got to dissect a squid the other day. Our lives don’t lack educational quality, but they do lack discipline. There I said it! That ugly word: discipline.

I crave it, yet can’t seem to grasp it. My oldest daughter has to have a schedule. She thrives on it. She is lost with out it. But for some reason the Lord put her into our family. I’ve given her a schedule and am trying to adjust so that she can have some consistency. And then go to bed at night, reminded of the fact that I failed yet again.

So I’m gonna finish Carol’s book and get back to ya.

Now I’m a relatively smart girl, so I figure she speaks of the simple nature of our life. Many people dream of returning to our roots a bit. We picture this sweet life of gardening, farm animals, home baking, and lots of kids running around. I get the “wow, you are so motivated and inspiring” and the “how do it do it all?” and the “you just know how to do everything!” comments frequently. And to discourage anymore such statements, let me assure you I am not super woman and I can’t do it all and I definitely don’t know how to do everything. I do like creating things and I love to eat, so I tend to spend a lot of time in the kitchen. But to think I inspired someone to live a simpler life? Hmmm . . .

It’s funny, because I wouldn’t describe my life as simple. It’s downright challenging! Don’t take me wrong, I love my life. I love a good challenge, which is how I ended up in such a life. I just don’t want to fool people into thinking that my life is simple. It’s simple in the fact that if you don’t feed the chickens you don’t get eggs. It’s simple in the fact that if you don’t get out there and milk the goat you don’t have any milk. It’s simple in that there will be six hungry people around the table five times a day whether you feel like cooking or not. And simply put, there isn’t running to McDonalds in a pinch. I can’t even get a pizza delivered out here. It ain’t complicated in that sense.

But milking twice a day regardless of how I feel can be exhausting. Especially when I have a goat or two that has . . . well lets just say personality, and gives me my daily workout. Chasing bucks that get out of the pen to mingle with the girls during supper time has to be taken care of immediately. Discovering the donkey has wondered down the road requires my attention before he wanders too far regardless of what I’m doing at the time. When temps drop below freezing and 25 gallons of water has frozen solid, someone has to take a hammer and break it up so that the animals can drink. Cooking from scratch 3-5 times a day makes a big mess and I usually run the dishwasher twice a day. When I get a box of produce to can, it has to be canned quickly to produce the best product. These are long days on my feet in a hot kitchen. And among all of that I have to fit in the daily homeschooling, cleaning, and budgeting. If you could write my life out in if/then statements, it would be simple.

But from where I am standing, sometimes I dream about your simple life. Paying rent so that I am not responsible for all repairs. Having a small backyard in which to make beautiful and just enjoy. Being close to activities and shopping so that it doesn’t take all day to get my groceries bought and being able to take advantage of library programs and field trips. Having time to hang out with friends or a quick visit to the coffee shop. Actual time to sew and scrapbook because I’m not caring for animals. People would actually be able to swing by and visit.

This is one of those “the grass is always greener on the other side” scenarios. So I remind myself that the grass is great over here, it’s just different over there. And I remember that I chose this life and love this life. And if anyone wants to venture my way I would LOVE to share what I know and help and encourage. But please don’t come over here just because you think it’s a better, simpler life. Come over here because you want to find pleasure in working hard for your family and getting closer to this wonderful world God has given us to enjoy. Come over and learn a new way of life for the good of you and your family. This is a great life.

And if you want to just get your feet wet, you are welcome to set up a time to come out and check out what we “do” everyday. I love that I inspire someone, just want it to be for the right reasons.

I started with the basic, cook it and freeze it. I filled this huge pot up three times! I ended up with 6 small bags of frozen swiss chard. We don’t typically eat frozen spinach, but it works great for adding to dishes as I need them.

Next I moved on to a tried and true recipe: spinach balls. These were a big hit last year, so I made two batches of them this year.

Spinach Balls

2 cups chopped cooked spinach
3 cups bread crumbs (I make my own)
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1/2 t celery seed
6 eggs
3/4 cup melted butter
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 t black pepper
2 drops Tabasco
1 t dried sage
1/4 t crushed rosemary
1/4 t nutmeg
2 t Braggs amino acids

In a large bowl mix together ingredients. Chill for one hour. Shape into 1″ balls. Freeze on a cookie sheet. When frozen place in freezer bags.
Bake in 350 oven for 25 minutes. (I’ve also put them in a crock pot on high for 2 hours.) They taste yummy with spaghetti sauce.

Although this made a lot of spinach balls, it only used up 4 cups of cooked spinach. So off to make a spinach loaf. I haven’t tried this one yet, but here is the recipe I used.

Spinach Loaf

1/2 cup chopped onions
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 T olive oil
2 cups chopped spinach
2 eggs
2 t lemon juice
1/2 cup pine nuts
1/4 cup shredded mozzarella
1 T grated Parmesan

In large skillet, saute the onions and garlic in oil. Add spinach. Cook about 8 minutes. Allow mixture to cool slightly and add eggs, lemon juice and nuts. Mix well and spread in loaf pan. Freeze.
When ready to bake, cover and bake 45 minutes at 350. Uncover and sprinkle with cheeses and bake 5-10 minutes.

I only made one of these because I haven’t tested it yet, so we’ll see what the family thinks when I pull it out of the freezer.

This years favorite spinach recipe goes to the Hot Pockets!

Spinach Hot Pockets

First make a batch of pizza dough or buy the refrigerator dough from the store.

Then mix together 2 cups cooked spinach, cream of mushroom soup, and 1 pound browned ground beef in a skillet.

Roll out pizza dough. I used a sandwich looking thing to make my pockets, but you can simply cut squares of dough, fill with one scoop of filling, and fold over. Wet the edges of the dough to help it stick together better.

Bake at 350 for about 10 minutes until dough is golden brown. Then let cool, place in freezer bags, and freeze. These can simply be reheated in a microwave or toaster oven. My husband loves to take these to work with him.

And that was the end of the spinach (swiss chard).

First was to reduce the milk stash in the fridge. I took a gallon of milk and began the cheese process yesterday. Sadly I let it sit too long and it didn’t make cheese, but some kind of rubbery concoction. But I did manage to save 1/2 gallon of whey from the mix. I froze that since I just didn’t have time to do anything with it.

Then I took everything that could go in the deep freeze and froze it. The fresh ground flours, cheeses, yeast and meats.

This morning, I took the homemade yogurts and the half can of pineapple and made some pineapple yogurt to top our granola. YUM!

The next big challenge was the vegetables. So I cooked up the beets in the fridge to use on salads. Then I took the homemade pineapple vinegar, cabbage, onion, and carrots and whipped up some sauerkraut. That right there used up a lot of stuff out of the fridge.

Next project is to use up all the pineapple juice and make an Asian sauce for chicken. This is easy to make and can be frozen for future use.

So this was an unplanned “Cooking Day” but feeling good about all that’s getting accomplished.

I also discovered that my electric company will offer me a $50 credit on my account for energy star appliances. We bought a front loader washing machine last year, but didn’t realize that we could get electric credit! Hoping they will still honor the purchase.

Of course the grocery budget is the first thing that gets chopped, so we are trying to live out of the pantry this month.

I’ve also used Swagbucks and other survey programs to earn Amazon credits. I’ve put $45 on my Amazon account this month! I even got Amazon credit from my credit card program! Now granted, I don’t recommend the credit card program, but it was nice to have that little added benefit.

One of our local CSA’s (community supported agriculture) offered referral credits, so I shared with my friends how much we enjoyed Grant Family Farms and I already have $20 credit with them which I plan on using toward purchasing meat. For you locals, be sure to mention my name, Felicia Johnson, if you decide to sign up. Their produce is GMO free and organic. They carry egg, bread, mushroom, veggie and fruit shares. And you can order organic meats from them. (Had to stick in my 2 cents here!)

I’ve also looked into putting our propane on a monthly billing program to try to spread out that cost. We’ll see how that works. It doesn’t save me any money exactly, but spreads it out a bit so that I’m not making such big payments every time the truck comes out.

And as a last ditch effort, I added the dreaded donate button to my blog and website. If people are willing to donate a $1 towards some random guys beer fund, surely a few may find my diesel fund more worthy. I don’t make money from my website, I just enjoy sharing my ideas!

Please share with me how you are saving, stretching, and generating money during these economic changes!