Sewing

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Emily and I started a sewing project yesterday. I have had a pattern for a long split riding skirt, for years now. Emily bought fabric to make one last year, but we never got around to making it.

One of my goals for the girls to prepare them for life is to have them able to do basic sewing. Emily wanted to have a home ec day yesterday, as well as doing her math, so we started this project. These are the kinds of projects that we have to do in bits and pieces, as we have time. One thing she hates to do is to pin the pattern on the fabric and cut it out. Seems simple enough but I remember the first few times I did it - it is intimidating! What if you do it wrong? It will be ruined!

Well, I helped her pin and she did great with it all. We realized that we need a zipper so we will stop today and purchase one on our way home from co-op.

Tomorrow they are calling for a nor'easter...snow to start in the afternoon and on into Saturday, where wind will be added into the mix. Crazy. I don't think we will be going anywhere, except poor Tim who has to work this weekend!

I forsee lots of sewing for the next few days!

Snow and Driving....

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Last night I hosted a co-op committee meeting at my home. It started to snow lightly after our meeting started. As everyone headed home, I talked to my girls, who were hanging out with Chelsea over at Hospitality Lane, telling them the usual parent stuff "drive carefully, go slow," that kind of thing.

After a while, I realized that they should be home, but weren't, so I called. They were fine, but having a hard time finding a road home that didn't have a steep hill. The slid a bit on the one road we travel on all the time, just when they would have made a turn. So they kept on going straight, taking them a longer way. However, they couldn't get up a hill there and had to turn around and come back the way they had just come. We talked about the steep hill on the road they normally would have taken and we figured out a way for them to come a different road that doesn't have the hills that these two others do. They got home safely.

Tim was out at my mom and dad's doing our taxes, and had the little ones along with him. I called him as he was heading out, and told him that the girls were having to find a road without a hill. He said he would rescue them if they needed help...good Daddy! They arrived home before he did, and he called on his way home to make sure they had arrived. He had had some "fun", going up a steep road on the way home, but the rest of the way with hills were fine.

This is just the way it is sometimes here in beautiful Pennsylvania. I am looking out my window right now and seeing about 3 inches of snow covering everything and enjoying it's beauty. I love how even in the midst of the cold, with driving sometimes tricky, there is so much to enjoy.

Our Own Orchard

A desire we have is to make our land work for us. This year that means that we are going to plant some fruit trees and do some raised beds for vegetables, and our strawberries.

We are going to start small...we don't want to be overwhelmed by it all. Tim has been clearing an area that had become overgrown and had some walnut trees that were damaged. This is where we are going to plant our fruit trees.

We are going to have peaches and apples to start with. We love freestone peaches, one of our favorites is Red Haven. When you eat a Red Haven peach, you will think you have died and gone to heaven! We will buy several peach trees, probably 2 different varieties to stagger the ripening time. That way we can harvest, eat, can and sell to our hearts content.

I am researching what size to get, prices and whether we would have fruit the first year or not.

We also are going to buy Gala apples probably and Pink Ladies, which are also known by the name Cripps Pink. These are the kinds favored by our kids, although we have liked Cameo, Fugi, Smokehouse (especially good for applesauce) and Jonagold. We have a big fruit orchard near us and as we are mostly looking to provide food for our family, we will not be growing to sell, except if we find we have a lot of extra, then perhaps we can get hooked up with a CSA in our area.

A favorite orchard of ours since we moved to Pennsylvania 15 years ago is Kauffman's Fruit Farm. In my research as to where to buy fruit trees locally I found that they sell fruit trees!

We desire to be more self sustaining and to also help us to keep our food bill down. Has food in your area gone up in price lately? It seems as if everything here has. We also want for our children to know that they can grow food and process it, and help to provide for the needs of their families and loved ones. These are skills that our great-grandparents and grandparents had, but that no one thinks much of anymore. We are so dependent on our local grocery store.

Here are some blogs I like to read that encourage simple, self sustaining living.

down---to---earth Rhonda is in Australia and has a wonderful blog with a jam packed archive of how to do just about everything from making your own soap to raising chickens!

Coffee, Tea, Books and Me Brenda has such great wisdom and a sidebar with lots of links!

Hearts For Homesteading The West Ladies of Homestead Blessings live simply and show you how to do the same!

Tickleberry Farm jAne is a great blogging friend. She has links on her sidebar too!

Double Nickel Farm Jen is living her dream in New Mexico with her husband and children. Lots of good articles and ideas.

We will be busy this Spring, planting, watering, working hard. It will be good for us! Are you working toward being more self sustaining? Do you have a vegetable garden? Fruit trees? Any desire to do this? Do you think we are crazy?

Ideas For Hospitality

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Many people have the notion that hospitality means formal, like the dinner party in the painting above. However, nothing could be further than the truth! Most of our hospitality is of the casual, 'come if you can' variety.

Sunday afternoons are a frequent opportunity for us to do this, even after a fellowship meal at church. We often invite whoever wants to come over to come. This includes families with teens, families with little ones, teens without their families. It's fun and a great opportunity to get to know people. As the day turns into evening, we light some candles and light some lamps for ambiance. We make coffee and tea and we settle in together.

Last evening a couple of young men from a new to our church family came over along with the usual crowd. It was a wonderful time - the little people played, the teens got a game of Taboo going, the adults chatted about everything as usual. We snacked and ate a pancake and egg casserole supper. Usually people bring food along to share, which is a good thing as last evening there were 29 people at our home including the seven of us!

To make sure we are prepared for hosting a crowd, we make sure we keep some easy to make foods in the freezer, we declutter the living room and kitchen, and we make sure the basement and the kids bedrooms are tidy. That's it. Sometimes we have people here at the house and I haven't even mopped my floors! Hee hee, well that happens most of the time actually!

During the week we also had our pastor over. Mike is a single man who appreciates a home cooked meal and good fellowship! We made sure that we made a dessert we knew he liked but otherwise he came for a family dinner.

This is such an easy way to offer hospitality - just include people in what you are doing. Going to the park? Invite a family to go with you. Having dinner? Invite someone to come share it with you.

People have a need for connection. They want to be noticed and included. Don't be intimidated by families with lots of kids or a family with young children. Often these families don't get invitations as people tend to worry about what they would do with them. If you know a family with lots of kids and you have a small home, why not invite them to meet you at a park for a picnic. It is easy to say "We would like to get to know you all better, but our home is so small. Would you like to join us at the park for a picnic? We will bring the meat and rolls, would you bring a salad and dessert? This is a win win situation. You get to reach out to others and the parents can relax, let their kids play at the park (which the kids will love) and the parents don't have to worry about their kids and your house!

Don't let the size of your home, or your finances keep you from fellowshipping with others. Seriously, we made pancakes for dinner last night, Becky brought a couple of egg casseroles and everyone was full and happy!

The Mom of the new family said they were looking for a church, because they and their kids have had such a hard time finding people who would talk to them at church, the kids especially. She said "Fellowship is something you all do really well." It's true. The families in our church are very warm and welcoming. Last week we were at a different family's home, everyone brought food to share and we had a great time.

If you are not used to practicing hospitality, I encourage you to do it. It's fun and it is important. When you get to know others it helps you know that you are not alone as you walk through this world, scripture tells us to do be hospitable without grumbling. (1 Peter 4:9)

Most importantly it is key that you have a hospitable spirit. When you are warm and welcoming it doesn't matter if you feed people breakfast food for dinner, and eat off paper plates. They leave happy and filled, because you showed that you care about them.

I would love to hear your ideas for practicing hospitality! Do you have people over often? What kinds of things do you do?

Siblings

Lindsay took some great photos of the kids this summer. I thought I would share them with you.

Alicia Is Having A Giveaway!

My niece in love is having a giveaway! She has recently opened an Etsy store selling her darling handmade "Little Lisey's".

This is the one she is giving away....Click on her button above to join in!

Winter Is Back

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Winter is back - no snow but frigid temperatures!

I am off to do my 'merchant ships' thing, and I am dreading the cold and wind! I will be dressed appropriately though!

Weather like this makes me so thankful for our warm home, hot things to drink, and the coziness of our family life! We will bundle up this evening and head to church for a game night. I am planning on knitting and visiting!

Tomorrow will bring more outdoor work like last week, felling trees, clearing brush...I need to plan for warm meals and treats for all my hard workers...

Enjoy your day - I love my Friday's out, sometimes with one of my girls, but when I go alone I have my ipod to listen to good messages or good music. I will stop by the library today to pick up "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society." Paula recommended it so I thought I would give it a read. Have you read it?

What are your plans for the weekend?

ps- check out Very Calm for a great quote from J.R. Miller - Priceless

My First Grandchild Is A....

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GIRL!!!!

Oh, my...it is still sinking in. The parents to be had an ultrasound done on Monday and found out that it is a daughter for them! What a precious gift we are all being given, by the Creator of All Life!

I immediately went to the store and bought soft purple yarn and soft pink and have started on one of many future knitting projects! I also have been thinking of some sweet cream colored flannel fabric with pink roses that I have in my stash. This wee granddaughter is to be born in June, so she won't need flannel anything right away, but come fall I am thinking she made need Grandma to make her a sweet little dress...

We are praying for her already. I have been asked to be there when the baby is born, I am so excited! I got to be there when my great nephew Elijah was born and that was so special, but this will be amazing! I know that I will cry for joy!

I have less than 6 months to go...I better get knitting!

My Living Room and Kitchen On A Rainy Day

The photo quality is not great and it was a very rainy morning, but I wanted to show you what my living room looks like now that I have moved the tv and the computer downstairs to the family room.

This is what you see when you enter through our front door, but friends all enter through the kitchen door that you see.

This is our real life, dogs in the house, kids playing around, coats and bags on couches - the older girls were going to a friends house for the afternoon. If you look closely you can see dishes drying on the stove....probably dust on the piano as well!

You can see the cute child's chair we found at Goodwill, with the lamp on the piano it makes for a cozy reading or knitting spot.

We have a lot of company especially on the weekends, and the arrangement of the furniture insures that there is comfort and is set up for easy conversation. I have room for some bookcases behind the one couch and possibly a small chair in the corner as we love our reading nooks! I am going to play around with that space a bit and see what I come up with...

With no budget for decorating, I most often repurpose items or change rooms around to give me a new look or feel in a room, rather than purchasing something. Do you change this around alot or is this just a sickness I have? Tell me I am not alone!!!

Felling Trees

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The girls are busy today helping their dad fell some trees for our near neighbors and clearing a section of our own property. Our neighbors have some health issues and we are happy to be able to help them to remove some trees that have fallen. The section we are clearing has a huge walnut tree that was split three ways during a storm this past summer and a lot of over growth. We are clearing that area not only to make it look neater and tidy, but because we are going to plant fruit trees and do some raised garden beds in that area.

The girls aren't dressed quite like this young maiden in the painting, except for Sarah perhaps, but they do have a knight keeping an eye on them - their Dad! He is manning the chain saw and they are hauling wood, driving the truck, putting brush on a big burn pile...They are a good crew for their Dad and he is so grateful for their willing, cheerful help. Also, Jonathan from Hospitality Lane is making his way here to lend his considerable strength and helpfulness. We are thankful for the willingness on his part to give up a Saturday to lend a hand.

My job is to keep the coffee hot, have hot water available for cocoa, make sure there is a nice, hot lunch and generally be available. I also have some laundry to fold, and I am hoping to clean my floors. However that may need to wait until after dinner, when they will be done tracking mud and dirt etc, into the house!

What are you doing this weekend? Do tell!

Mantle Party Every Friday

Who knew?

Every Friday there is a Mantle Party! What fun!

Thanks Marcia for letting me in on the fun...you should all check it out, if you get the chance!