August 28, 2012

August 28, 2012

 

It has been very trying the last few days.  My dear daughter has come down with a terrible case of strep throat.  She really did not want anything but a lollipop.  I don’t keep that on hand so I decided to try to figure out how to make them myself.

Mary Jane Butters Glamping book had some wonderful sweeteners using corn syrup and flavoring.  So I decided to get a bit more interesting.  Using some raw honey I get at my local organic store I made something similar.  I took ¾ cup of water, 1 cup of sugar and ½ cup of honey.  Put it in a quart pot on medium heat, and heated until it was 300 degrees.  As soon as that is reached remove from heat and stir with a spoon until it is thickened up a bit.  Place paper based sticks on a cookie sheet or use a silicon mold and pour into circles on a clean cookie sheet or into the molds.  Let sit for an hour and then enjoy.

Learning to do these odd jobs gives my dear city parents worries.  Such as “Cheese made from raw organic milk, doesn’t it have a lot of weird enzymes that could hurt you?”

To that I say, “No worse than the pre shredded cheese that you purchase at the “Extra Large Bird” Grocery store.”

I am reminded of Psalm 10: 17,

Lord, You have hear the desire of the humble; You will prepare their heart; You will cause Your ear to hear.

The Lord does speak to us, but sometimes we are just too busy to listen, or do not want to believe the lord has spoken to us.

Well my daughter’s fever has finally broken and she is back to her usual self.  The wash is on the line and our Lunch is almost done.

Have a blessed day everyone!

August 20, 2012

Today is a bittersweet day.  My dad came over the weekend and put up a full blown swingset / playground.  My daughter is ever so happy right now, swinging her little heart out and playing in the fort.  My mother and father are truly wonderful people that they would give my children this gift. 

My daughter is so happy with her new swingset.  We just need to get a swing for my little baby boy so he can enjoy it to.

I am reminded of Exodus 20:12 ESV “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.”

I also spied our church from the nest of the fort.  I love that there is a direct line of sight from the playground to our beautiful church, displaying some of God’s best work of art of land.  You can just see the white steeple and redness right where the trees are trimmed down.

Today is a simple day of cooking.  And for breakfast I made Mary Jane Farm cheese biscuits.  I keep a jar of the Mary Jane Farm Budget Mix in my cabinet.  I poured ¾ cup of water and 1 Tablespoon of butter into a bowl and added mix until it was a sticky doughy mess.  Placing on a greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 for about 10-12 minutes.

As for sewing it is simply hemming bridesmaids’ dresses and making skirts for a girl for the upcoming school year.  I will be sure to provide a tutorial for this simple skirt.

Also to my surprise, this past Saturday a box arrived from the post man.  As I opened it up I found Mary Jane Butters new Glamping book.  I was so excited about the prospect of reading it I ran into my house, got under my new Mary Jane Farmgirl Quilt and readied up for an afternoon of reading.  I looked through the pictures and found so much inspiring information.  It was a wonderful read, touching on a lot of subjects from spotting issues when purchasing a trailer, to inspiration for glaming it up, to using the proper hitch and finally safety and cooking.  I would not say the book is a in depth look at how to repair and restore a vintage trailer, but it is good for a beginner, knowing what to look for in a trailer.

I don’t have a vintage trailer and my 2000 Ford Taurus might tow only 1000 lbs… not to mention not having an expendable 2 thousand dollars to buy a trailer.  So we might pitch the tent one night sometime soon.  And glam that up, I just have to be careful this time of year because last year we got hit with a massive flood.  But part of the book spoke to me, camping in gowns, now that is glamping, and that I would very well do.

All and all my 6^th wedding anniversary yesterday was simple and wonderful.  I got to sit around my friend’s campfire, enjoy a few toasted marshmallows, think just how lucky I am to have so much love around me.

Have a wonderful day!

August 10, 2012

August 10, 2012

So today I decided to take on a project, just to make all my labels for my ingredients wall uniform.  First before anything, let me tell you how I took the screen captures.  It is so easy, first, look on your keyboard for the “Print screen” aka “Print Scrn” button.  As soon as you locate it, hit it on the desired screen. Next open up the paint program and press CTRL and V

Boom screen capture! 

Now right click on file, then Save As…

Find the right folder and save the picture as what ever you want.

Then click Save.

Alright back to the pantry labels… 

I found these wonderful labels here http://www.scribd.com/doc/68194957/Pantry-Labels

Now you can download the PDF of it and print out the labels, if that is all you need.  I still suggest printing out the labels you will need them later.  But I found a bunch missing from my ingredients; I keep different boxes for Light and Dark Brown Sugar.  So here is how I made my own, only using word and paint, no adobe for me.

First you will want to copy the labels from the screen, right click and click copy.

Next open up a word document and hit Control+V

Now using the crop button from the Picture Tools Menu, isolate one label.

Now click the crop button to deactivate the setting.

In the same motion hit Control+C

Then open up paint and hit Control+V

The picture will come up.

Using the Eraser tool, erase the text inside

Using the text “A” button open up a text box, underneath the label, that way you don’t have to stress about fitting it in just right.  Type in the name that you want to use.

Make sure it is on a similar font such as Arial Unicode MS, size 32

Using the move box cover the text like this.

Now pick up and move.

Now highlight the box, leaving a bit of  room on the bottom.

Now hit Control+C

Go back to the word document with the original label and hit Control+V on the line under the original label that was isolated.

Now make sure your zoom setting is set at 100% and  hold the original printed  label sheet up to you computer.  Now you can see if you need to shrink or enlarge the label so it is uniform.  You only have to make sure the first is uniform, that way you can match up the rest to the first.

Just resize the label and  you will have more CUSTOM Labels that are uniform in size.

Once you get the hang of it the process can go quickly

Here is my ingredients before the new labels.

And now after.

Have a wonderful day, everyone!

August 2, 2012

I am so very excited today.  I just finished putting in a split rail fence around my garden.  I dug all the holes by hand with a very old post hole digger.  I am almost done, I need to find a gate that will swing open for me.  I have a few ideas.  That is why the fence is not fully finished.  It was hours of work, but well worth it in the end. 

As for my sewing I am pleased to share a few family pictures from our weekend at Otakon in Baltimore Maryland.

My son is Prince Phillip, I am Sleeping Beauty, my daughter is Repunzel from Tangled, and my Husband is the King from Repunzel.

As I worked on the fence, I was praying to Jesus thanking him for giving me a strong back and helping my will to continue on.  I found this wonderful bible passage about my thoughts. 1 Chronicles 16:11 Seek the LORD and his strength; seek his presence continually!

Everyone have a wonderful day!

August 1, 2012

August 1st, 2012

So today is a very exciting day.  Today I was named the Farmgirl of the Year for 2012 by Mary Jane Farm Magazine.  Here is the write up in the Cluck, all rights belong to MJF, not me.

Announcing the 2012 Farmgirl of the Year …

I am proud as can be to introduce you to fellow Farmgirl sister and our fourth ever

Farmgirl of the Year, Emily Hack.  When we chose Emily as this year’s Farmgirl of the Year, she had earned an impressive 77 merit badges—and since then she’s earned seven more!  So, with a grand total (as of the time I’m writing this, maybe more by the time you’re reading it) of 84 merit badges, Emily has certainly earned this recognition. What’s even more impressive is that Emily has earned all her badges in just a little over a year. That means she’s been racking ’em up (or sewing them on) at a rate of over five per month. Emily says she loves earning badges because of the sense of accomplishment it provides. “It’s a wondrous feeling,” she says. “I have always loved to learn things that I wasn’t exposed to as a child, and doing this with MaryJanesFarm gives me new goals to work for.” I bet you’re as curious about our newest Farmgirl as I was, right?  Emily was born in Pittsburgh, PA, and now lives in York, PA, with her husband Richard, their two small children Bridget and William, and their little Scottish terrier, Gracie. She loves sewing, baking, and writing, and hopes to one day pass an appreciation for those things along to younger women by becoming a home economics teacher.  Emily learned to sew when she was in middle school and has been doing it ever since. “It’s my real passion in life,” she told me. She also likes to quilt, which she’s been doing since college. She loved sewing so much that she left college to join her family’s business of altering bridal gowns and formal wear. “It was there that I learned how the body curves and how to put patterns together,” she says.  Her passion for creativity and sewing eventually led her to the world of costuming, a hobby that she and her husband enjoy together. She also makes civil war gowns, aprons, jewelry, and baby and maternity items (she sells a few of her things on her Etsy shop). And she makes clothes for her children. Whew—her sewing machine needs a merit badge of its own!  Emily found MaryJanesFarm last year when she was looking for some help with her vegetable garden. “I’m a newbie gardener,” she says. “I started some cucumbers indoors and they died when I transplanted them outside—I think I shocked them. I was looking around online for some advice and found answers to all my homesteading questions in the

Farmgirl chatrooms.” 

Emily’s astounding Farmgirl efforts will be well-rewarded. The “prize package” changes each year, and this year we’re loading Emily up with what we think a fantastic Farmgirl like her deserves. In addition to becoming a lifetime member of the Farmgirl Sisterhood, she’ll receive:

- A lifetime subscription to MaryJanesFarm magazine including all back issues except those sold out

- A Farmgirl Sisterhood necklace

- All of my books, including my new one (that’s not even out yet!), Glamping with MaryJane, and any future books I publish

- A MaryJanesFarm 2013 calendar

- A $500 gift certificate to use on our online store

- A set of my organic bed sheets

- A package of Farmgirl fun surprises

I’m so glad you found us, Emily, and a huge congratulations on being the 2012 Farmgirl of the Year. Keep on earning

those badges, sister!

This is really exciting news for me and I will be looking forward to a great year.