What Will We Need? How long did our winter harvest last?

A quick little post today guys to record some important information. 

1.  We had a bushel and a half of apples and it lasted us through February.  We dehydrated it and made applesauce.  I ate apples in my oatmeal and for  snacks and it lasted through mid January.  Finishing up the last quart of applesauce out of 5 qrts. in the next couple days.  Supplemented with cranberry sauce (bought at 99cents a bag; 2 bags made about 6 half pints of sauce)  I bought a couple batches of bananas but otherwise the apples and cranberries lasted.  Just made my second bag of cranberries sauce the morning of this writing.  Would like to have another 1/2 bushel of apples for juicing next year and another supplement of another fruit for winter. Strawberries?

2.  I bought butternut squash, acorn squash and sweet potatoes through the fall and still have 2 acorn squash left. Eric and Ashton quickly tired of sweet potatoes, maybe alternate with baking potatoes-  will grow both hopefully to strike a good balance.  We like butternut much better than acorn, will want more next year with only a couple acorn.  Would like supplement of Kale and lettuce started in July and September for longer harvest- lettuce lasted until mid January under a plexi glass cover even with deep freezing temps. 

3. 28 pounds of deer meat lasted us until last week of February (received mid December) 1lb ground bags.  Goal to have 2 deer next year.  One ground one cut for steaks and sausage.  Really sucks that I will be buying other meats other than chicken in March. 

Learning more about deer skinning and processing- will need to prepare place to process or go to friends house to process. 

More info to come; will start gardening log soon. 

A New Level of Freedom.

   
Hello All,

I wanted to write a quick post to celebrate a milestone.  It has been two years since I have accepted a paycheck from an employer.  Well, let me be a bit more clear.  The employer I now work for is my self.  It is such a feeling of empowerment knowing that the money you just put in your bank account isn't from the work you did for someone else, but actually the money you earned working for yourself.    That is a feeling of true freedom. 

Not to say that I can just go and do whatever I want because I can't.  I have customers to keep happy and a store to help run, but what a feeling to have a new level of freedom that not too many folks are willing to have, because of the intense hard work you have to do to have this freedom. 

Now, I understand that  this life isn't for everyone.  It's not glamorous and it's not easy. You have to be willing to do a LOT of hard work with little time off, but when its time to relax -- it is the most joyous reward and won't be taken for granted.

We are still working with a strict budget.  Our "paycheck" from our business now covers ALL our expenses.  We are paying a bit more on the principal on our mortgage, saving for an emergency fund, saving for retirement, saving for our son and saving for our next car.  We are doing this -- and right now we are successful.  We keep our eyes to the sky for possibilities, planning, predicting and playing out different scenarios so we continue on a good, dependable, self sufficient and adventurous road. 

I feel like that scene from Cast Away starring Tom Hanks when he finally made a fire and he stands back dancing, wooping and hollering-- "LOOK WHAT I HAVE DONE!  I HAVE MADE FIRE!"  That's us!  Through blood (well, maybe a little blood) sweat (a lot) and tears (A LOT) we have made our own fire! 

Here's to a new level of freedom!  Let the journey continue!!   

                      

While I was away....

Hello All,

Today's post will be all about getting you caught up with what is going on with us.  Today I'll catch you up on my little homestead. 

I'm afraid that really there isn't a lot of news.  My garden did so-so.  I got a few peas, strawberries and blackberries.  I got some garlic and I got a good amount of jalapenos.  I had lots of tomatoes, but bugs got a hold of them before I could.  We have a problem with grasshoppers, so they really took their toll on things.  My lack of time (or scheduling, whichever way you want to see it) didn't help either as they would end up staying on the vine past its prime. I was lucky to have those tomato and jalapeno plants at all.  Luckily one of our customers had extra plants left over from where he worked so he gave some to us.  I was surprised at how well the jalapenos did!  The problem is that we don't eat them very often so we ended up pickling them instead.  We have4 pint jars and we are still working on the first jar! 

 The hops grew pretty well, especially the cascade variety that we let grow on the ground in the garden.  My neighbor Martin even mowed three of them down to the nub once and they still grew back with no complaints.  We're definitely going to need to take some out since we found out we planted them way too close together. They need some sturdier supports this year as well. 

 

 

We enjoyed our summer which went by way too fast.  We did manage to go to the water park once this year, but never made it to the lake. 

 

 

Before we knew it summer was over and it was time to head back to school.  Ashton started middle school this year!  The game changer is now he gets on the bus at, get this.... 6:40 am!!  Holy What!?!  So remember all that BS I had written about getting up an hour earlier so I could clean the house?  YEP, straight out the window! 

 

 

I'm surprised he was awake enough to even eat his breakfast on the first day of school!

 

 

My handsome man heading off to school.  It was a little bit of a rocky start, but now he is having the best year he has ever had.  Next thing you know, it's Halloween and the holidays. 

Ashton has since decided that he doesn't like the drums or band and will not want to continue next year.  I think he'll probably do drama club or chorus. 

 

All the while during these colder months I have gone back to organizing and rethinking my house.  I even had to re-do the monstrous armoire because I tore it up again.  I will do another post soon on the changes I made. 

We did an interview with my grandmother I call Muzzy.  We filmed it.  It was so fun and I learned more about her as a young girl and not just my grandmother.  She turned 92 this year! 

 

 

Now here we are in the middle of February!  We have had a ton of snow this year and record breaking cold temperatures! We are all longing for warm weather!  It's in the 40's today and we are excited.  I will do another post soon to show all the other things we've been up too since I last posted. 

 

Until Next Time Friends!









Not Just Yet.

Hello Again ALL!

Apparently Homemaker Kim isn't finished!  How has everybody been?  I wanted to do a quick post to say that I am going to be blogging here regularly again.  If anything, for me.  I had fun reading my older posts when I was kicking around the idea of blogging again.  It was nice to have a journal of all the things I had tried and experiences I had been through.  The pictures themselves are worth it! 

So here I am again gang.  I truly hope that someone will come along with me that isn't related to me, but if not, I'm cool with that. 

I have so much to catch you up on! 

Until Next Time Friends! 

This is the end. Hold your breath and count to ten.

Thanks Adele for introducing me today.... your voice is so lovely. 

You've heard Skyfall right? 

Anyhoo guys and gals, Well, I should say one gal.  I think I'm done.  I really enjoyed doing this blog and for over a year I have done it, but its not gaining traction and hasn't showed that anyone else other than my momma even reads these posts.  It was fun, but lately its been kind of a downer knowing that its not reaching many people.  So, I'll keep within my own pet peeves and give you the warning.  This is it.  Homemaker Kim blog is finished.  Close the book.

Thank you and good night. 


Momma, know that I will certainly keep you informed of all my domestic and business based adventures always..... love you! 

Why I Quit Food Shopping Once A Month.

Hello All,

If you follow frugal blogs or know anything about America's Cheapest Family, you have probably heard of only going food shopping one time a month.  The reasons are obviously to save time, but also so that you aren't tempted to buy those impulse buy items... (my weakness is the donuts at the bakery)  It is a wonderful thing if you can swing it. 

I did this for many months.  I would pour over my menu for the month, look at the ads and create my "master" grocery list.  I would end up shopping at 3 different stores usually.  I would hit the grocery outlet first to see if there were any things on my list that I could score for really cheap.  Then I would hit Target for things like toilet paper, trash bags, deodorant and things like that.  I would finally hit the grocery store and be completely and utterly exhausted by the time I got home.  However, knowing that I was finished for a whole month was a very good feeling. 

When we started the business, things started to get a little bit more hairy.  We did basically the same thing except that we would span the shopping over three days and go after work.  You notice that I say "we" because I was no longer alone in the shopping.  I now had hubby and son to tag along... and let me tell ya, if you wanna bust a budget just take those two into an outlet grocery store where everything is just so yummy and cheap .... and "HONEY THEY'RE ONLY 50 CENTS!  So of course we had to have 8 or 10!  Those boys, I tell ya....

I noticed that I had less and less time to create the menu and master list, so for a couple months I created a weeks worth of meals and just multiplied it times 4.  Yes, we ate the same menu for a month straight... and it got so boring! Here's something else that got old.  Since I was more rushed in my meal planning phase I ALWAYS seemed to forget SOMETHING for the menu!  SHOOT!  It always seemed to be a small but very much needed thing too.... like butter.  Ya gotta have butta!  (that's me channeling my Long Island Medium Theresa!--never heard of her?  OK, moving on.)

So I finally gave in (and it helped that we now have 2 cars!) and started shopping on my days off each week.  I now can create a weeks worth of meals, try new recipes and still stay within budget.
If I'm low on something there are no worries, I'll just get it next week.  I still go to Target and the outlet store, but I only go once a month still for those.  I hit Costco every few months for bulk items like flour and sugar.  The bulk of my food shopping is at Aldi.  I'm sorry folks, but I love that place.  I steer clear of the processed stuff as much as possible and buy the whole foods.  You can buy healthy stuff for cheap, but that's a whole other post. 

So, there you have it.  Now am I against going shopping once a month?  Absolutely not.  It's awesome.  But, some families have the time, some don't.  I'm definitely in the don't have time in this season of my life.  That's what my blog is all about... finding that sweet spot between being a business woman and a homemaker. 

Until Next Time Friends!

Update on all the goings on!

Hey Everyone! 

Hope everyone is doing well -- and to all the momma's out there, I hope you had a great Mother's Day.

Anyway,  I thought I would do an update on all the stuff going on in Casa De Boyers....

On the home front, things are moving along.... slowly, but moving.  I'm afraid that my gardening dreams are all but washed away this year.... there is simply just no time unless I get up and out to the garden by the butt crack of dawn... and that's just not gonna happen.  I'm looking into perennial gardening.  My side garden where all my perennial plants and flowers are up and look beautiful.  I have not touched it except for mowing it once this year.  That's the garden I need.  I (in all my spare time tee-hee) hope to move my tulip bulbs to places you can actually see them.  I also want to split some of the iris that I have and move them to the bare side of the house.  That would look really pretty.  I've got some strawberries and a blackberry bush that are doing well even though I've only weeded the bed. The Black Susan's I planted last fall are coming up and taking off.... so yeah, I have to face it that a perennial garden is what I need.  I'm looking into all the fruits and veggies that are perennial. We planted about 10 hop plants on either side of the back of the house to try to provide some privacy.  They are doing great, but grow really fast and need support.  This year tomato cages will be all they need, but next year, we'll need posts with steel cables to support those babies!  Maybe some day HGTV will show up at my door and just do everything I want in 1 day!!  A girl has to dream....

On the business front, things are moving along... steadily moving.  We are so tired most days and we are working harder than we have ever worked. BUT WOW!  Is it worth it.  Not to say there aren't days that I wanna pull out my hair and long for things to be back the way they used to be, but those days are fewer and fewer.  Things are going really well and I know this is where we're supposed to be.  It feels so good to earn our own money.  We are still on a tight budget at home, but we are very purposeful with every dollar.  Even though we are not earning a very large salary right now, we are still able to set money back for savings.  We're starting to look around the house for those extras that we really don't need or want any longer to help boost the emergency fund a little quicker. 

On the kitty front, fun loving babies!  Our oldest Shade, was having trouble with her tummy and the medication is just so expensive.  We decided to not get medicine and just try a really high quality food.  It is a grain free rabbit meat based food and it has done wonders for her.  We give her a bit of either yogurt or wet food in the morning and let her eat the dry the rest of the day.  She no longer vomits and diarrhea is gone.  She has spunk in her step again and seems to feel so much better.  The other kitties are doing great.  Loving all the sun spots around the house! 

Until next time friends!