The White Family Homesteaders

     One of my hobbies that I enjoy most and my family gets to reap the rewards of is canning.  It all started when a family friend showed us how to make pickles, they were so crisp, tasty and some were even spicy.  Once we were settled in our own place I took a free intro class into canning at our local extension office and was hooked.  I haven't done as much as I'd like to but one day I hope to can so much that the hubby has to build me a new room for all my treats.  We were lucky enough to have someone give us a dehydrator a while back but we never did anything with it ourselves besides the one time we pulled it out for jerky.  Just in the last few months I've seen pineapples for a whopping .99 cents what a deal.  Being a canner when I see massive amounts of fruit or vegetables for cheap I wonder how I could preserve them.  It's kind of like hoarding but the good kind, right?  When I missed out on that good deal on pineapples I said to myself the next time they'

     Our week went by too fast probably because we were being productive and enjoying being outside.  Some weeks just seem to zoom by and it's back to the work week, boo.  One of our biggest dreams is to be able to be a profitable farm/homestead.  As corny as it may sound we enjoy being together and working on our homestead.  The best day for us is when we are outside making progress on projects.      While being productive we managed to get some logs processed and put away to keep us warm for a couple more weeks.  I worked my homestead mama time management skills and the weather app to work it in between a Costco trip, doctor appts and got it done between two days.  The beauty of it is Papa didn't have to get drenched in the process. The pile is getting smaller believe it or not.       The second day of splitting we all were able to participate and by participate I mean being an audience for Papa who is doing all the hard work.  I make sure the kiddos aren't playi

     I'm starting to believe the weather is against us.  Everytime we have a chore outside that needs to be done the weather is uncooperative but when we have no plan the weather is fantastic.  We need to get more logs cut and split because this winter is different then most or maybe I've been keeping the house warmer either way our pile is super low.  With the melting snow and heavy rainfall though our firewood processing pad is a shallow lake.  It would be cruel to make Papa cut in those conditions.  So it's been postponed another week but next week it has to be done, the lake is drying up so it looks promising. Where's the plug? I need to drain this water.      The weather here has been unpredictable and surprising to say the least.  I have a weather app on my phone and it's always alerting me to winter advisory warnings or this or that.  The one warning that usually never is correct is the wind warnings.  For the most part I don't even pay attentio

     Our week started off same ole and then some snow was predicted but the only snow we ever see is the pretty dusting of it and by noon it's gone.  So were we concerned, nope.  Our plan for the week consisted of lil man returning to school, cutting up more firewood because it's been colder than normal and making a quick special trip to the coast for a puppy pickup. Firewood stack is looking bare.      New Year's day arrived and so did the snow, not too much so we thought, no big deal.  We threw some snowballs and did some sledding that lasted about two rides before we washed the snow away. The following day we were amazed by the abundance of snow that had fallen while we slept.  The snowsuits, gloves, and hats went back on and we went outside for round two of sledding and now we had enough snow for a snowman.  With the excitement of the mounds of snow it was hard to get the kids inside to do much else.  Plus poor Papa was out of supplies to continue his welding pro