Life around Here

Dear friends, it’s been awhile since I have written. We have had a heavy wet snow that took down quite a few of our good cedar trees. After the snow we had an ice storm. But thankfully we have made it through all of this weather and our tent has survived and we have stayed warm. Now we are having springlike weather and it makes me want to start the garden but I know it’s still a bit early for most things. I have planted some herbs and we also planted 8 new fruit trees. We are slowly adding to our food gardens and hopefully one day we will see positive results.

During the ice storm I was able to sew a dress that I really liked and it is exactly what I have been searching for. A dear friend from across the miles sent me the pattern and I absolutely love it.

After machine sewing this one and deciding I loved it I made another one but of course I hand sewed it because I do truly enjoy hand sewing my dresses. It took me about a week of working on it when time allowed.

We lost our stove pipe on one of the warmer days. It just cracked open– thankfully when no fire was in the stove. We reassembled the old pipe and installed it but it’s such a small pipe it doesn’t draw well so we bought a better quality pipe and have been waiting on a good day to install it.

There is something that has changed around here and this is the cause of the delay in my writing this post. Over the past 3 weeks I have done much soul searching and I have decided that I want to live simply and even though I have thought I could achieve this with limited internet use I never could. We always seem to be looking up something or going to the phone for our first source of info. But we have changed this and actually this is the longest I have held our phone in 3 weeks. The internet felt like an invasion into our old fashion lives and using it or watching videos always seemed to strip some of the joy we felt. It clashed greatly with what we strive for. So I put it away and I am one of those peole that in order to break a habit I have to go all or nothing so I went all. I no longer look at the news, watch YouTube, and barely check emails. The phone is used for texts or calls. Both the hubby and I have decided on that. We have downgraded our phone service so that we have the most basic plan our company allows and if we do need the internet for ordering or to find an old book which we have done in the past on internet archive we have just enough internet to do this. I have found peace in this. I spend my time instead reading my Bible in the morning, sewing on my dress or whoever’s outfit I am working on in the evening and making bread, grinding flour or making more raised beds,– things I didn’t do because I felt I was always looking something up or reading something or just scrolling. I know this isn’t for everyone and not everyone will understand but this is what is best for me and my family. I am content without the technology and as much as I can do without I will. It has freed my mind in ways I could never describe. And it is wonderful and I wouldn’t go back. And so that brings me here– to this post– I have thoroughly enjoyed sharing our lives with you and I have been encouraged by your comments and suggestions. Thank you to all of you for reading and cheering for us but I have decided not to write this blog anymore. I would like to write a book one day (The Road to the Old Paths maybe?)– who knows? I am blessed and content and ready to see where this new road takes me.

I will leave the blog up and maybe someone can get some encouragement from it in the future. May God bless each one of you and I hope everyone has a blessed week!!

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Learning to Be Content……

A reader advised me to start writing my blog posts to friends as if we were really living back in time since I struggle so to make the time to write one. However I do enjoy letter writing and think thas is a brilliant idea.

Dear Friends, I started this s letter the 17th of January… Maybe I can post it in a week or so. There is so much to tell and I will add to it as the week goes on.

The weather has been rather messy around here. I ended up having to wash clothes inside, hanging them on the outside line to drip dry a little and then bringing in what we need to hang by the stove at night. It works but last year I would have let the clothes build up until they were unmanageable because of the weather. We are slowly learning things can still be done even in the cold or rain. It might just take some more creative planning. Another thing I have changed is our baking. Last year I thought I had to bake bread loaves for us to have fresh bread and honestly my little tent stove is not large enough for my Dutch oven that can hold my bread pans so again I have adapted. We bake more rolls now or buns whichever we decide to call them. I can make my sourdough or yeast bread and rise it near the stove. When it is ready, I shape my rolls and usually fill 3 or 4 pie pans full. A friend sent me some stoneware pie plates and these bake rolls just beautifully. I heat my skillet and lid, place the pan of risen rolls inside and put the lid on. Then I carefully pile embers on the lid and let them bake about 30 minutes or so. I get beautiful bread everytime and the rolls can be used anyway loaf bread would be. Learning these little things seems to be the key. I don’t get so frustrated with doughy loaves from some haphazard setup I rig up to bake bread on the stove. I have also learned to do cookies the same way except they go directly in the skillet. It may take a little more time since I can only cook about 10 at a time but it works. Learning to be content with what I have seems to be the lesson for me.

This was a coffee cake I made using freshly ground cinnamon. I was blessed with a mortar and pestle and decided to learn to use it.

Of course I have been sewing. The hubby’s shirt worked out well but he decided the front placket needed some changing so now I am making another one to practice a new technique. Also I have also been hand sewing a project in the evening. I decided to make me a Victorian day bonnet to cover my hair. I usually wear bandanas over my hair and my sunbonnet. But the hubby had requested a night cap for himself for sleeping. After I made it and saw how practical it was I read about how women used to cover their hair at night and in the day for cleanliness sake. So I am working on one.

I suppose the other news around here is the hubby’s new project. After much discussion he has decided to build a 6×8 log cabin playhouse for the kids. He told me how unsure he was about building our cabin and so he decided his best bet was to build a prototype for lack of a better word. He is using rocks for the foundation and logs for the seals and floor joist. The walls will be cedars that are already down across the property. He is not going to debark these since it’s the wrong time of year for that sort of thing. He is just practicing new skills and getting more comfortable with using logs for building.

This is an exciting step and I can see it is already helping him. He is problem solving with building techniques he has never used. We both agreed you can only read about a subject so much before you actually just have to get out there and do it. It won’t be big but it is a start. The kids are helping and I love walking over there in the afternoon to see the progress. We finally had a break in the rainy weather so my job was washing the clothes I was starting to get behind on. I did manage to keep up with underclothes by washing inside during the bad weather but I needed to wash sheets and outer clothes as well as towels.

I do hope this letter finds you well and may you all have a blessed week.

Just Taking the Time…..

Sometimes I find it very difficult to take the time to write this blog. I get so busy and thanks to internet and WordPress app, it can take over an hour to write and publish each post. So here I am at 2:35 in the morning starting a fire to knock out the chill and trying to type up the post. Honestly ever since going to the hubby’s mom’s house I have been rather discouraged and have found what I want to say difficult to put into words. The stepdad greatly insulted our lifestyle and choices while we were there making it plain we were not welcome back due to the way we have chosen to live. The things he said were hurtful and have taken time to process. What was even more hurtful was that the hubby’s mom did not defend us or disagree with her husband. Needless to say, it was a very long and uncomfortable weekend that made us feel out of place and uncomfortable. We returned home questioning whether we were doing the right thing but we know we are. This is what we have been called to do– we don’t always understand it and we don’t understand why there are people out there who judge us so harshly especially family (people who should love us no matter what)– but we press on knowing in our hearts we have made the right decision for our family. God has a wonderful plan for us and oh my the blessings He bestows on us daily is just overwhelming!

Our life is simple and plain and we work hard but we enjoy it. We thrive in the silence the woods offer, the simple joys of just being away from all the beeping technology that fills the Nana’s house. We always feel peace in being home.

We have marked out the spot for the cabin and the hubby and children have begun clearing it but we continue to go back and forth on what we need. We considered a larger cabin like a 20×24– but then there is the logistics of a bigger foundation. We consider a smaller cabin like a 10×12 with two small add on bed chambers. Each area would have its own foundation. We consider the different methods such as traditional notch style cabin, butt and pass method or the one we lean toward the most– vertical or blockade style. We have at maximum 8 inch trees. The vertical style is more suited to smaller trees than a traditional style cabin. We keep going back to the foundation — the easiest thing would be to pour concrete piers or even a small footer but we really want to do this the pioneer way and use rock for the foundation. So many choices and we have to get it right. We can’t just redo this. Once the trees are cut and the cabin started we can’t just change our minds.

We long for a cabin with real walls and some type of insulation to keep the heat in better than our tent does. But we want to make the right choices as well and not just build something we are dissatisfied with. We plan and draw and go back and forth on all the things we can do.

With the warmer days we have had we have cooked and washed outside. The hubby and oldest daughter continue to work on wood. It is a never ending job but they are becoming quiet proficient in it.

As prices of things continue to go up, I am trying to apply more and more old ideas to the present situation. We have been using brown rice instead of potatoes in our meals due to the price of potatoes. The other night we made sausage fritters which is just a jar of sausage I had canned mixed with flour and eggs and milk powder plus seasonings. I make these into a thick paste and make patties and fry them up. On the side we had white gravy and leftover sourdough biscuits with brown rice. It was very good, simple, and filling. Yesterday morning I noticed we had quite a few biscuits and sourdough rolls getting old so I broke these up and soaked them in a bit of milk while made a syrup of butter, sugar , and milk on the stove. After the syrup cooked awhile I added nutmeg, cinnamon, and vanilla. I mixed this into the bread chunks and baked it. I think the syrup would have softened the bread sufficiently without having had to presoak in the milk water. It was actually delicious with our morning oatmeal and used up the leftovers we had.

I have also been sewing quite a bit. The hubby likes the new Amish style shirt I make him but he says he prefers the arm range movement of the frontier style shirt. So I made a practice shirt with all the Amish pattern except for adding the sleeve gussets of the frontier shirt. He greatly likes this style and it was not a difficult change to make. I have been knitting socks for all of us to continue to replace the store bought socks which wear out so quickly. I have also been sewing myself a wool petticoat in the evening. And so that is how life goes around here– we work hard everyday but we enjoy each moment.

I do hope everyone has a blessed week. Thank you for not giving up on me as I have struggled to put out a new post.

A New Year

I have never been so thankful as I was yesterday to step back onto our property. We visited the hubby’s mom for a couple of days and I have never been so thankful and felt so blessed that we are able to live in the woods– in a tent– in peace. God has blessed us greatly this past year and I know He has wonderful things this year. This is the cabin year. We are making plans and hope to start clearing the spot this very week. Excitement and anticipation are in the air. We know the journey will be hard and labor intensive and we know we will run into problems. Nothing goes smoothly for us but it always works out.

We have survived a winter storm in the tent. The temps were below zero for the real feel. But we made it through. We stayed relatively warm and our wood burned good. We are so blessed!!

I am excited to see what the new year will bring. I do hope and pray everyone has a blessed day. Happy New Year!!

Living the Old Ways

Jeremiah 6:16 Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein.

Living the Old ways is hard work. It seems there is no one left to teach the simple everyday things people knew a little over a hundred years ago. The hubby and I have been struggling to go back and practice more of the old ways and not let so many modern conveniences interrupt. One example of this is our daily bathing. After much trial and error we have learned to sponge bathe with a basin and pitcher. We had tried this last year but were very unsuccessful and messy. We would get water everywhere. I even googled how to sponge bathe as pitiful as that is and came up with nothing. I remembered reading on GDonna’s blog how she sponge bathes and I was currently reading a book by Sarah A. Chrisman This Victorian Life explaining that she sponge bathes daily. She and her husband live as if it is 1880-1890 on a daily basis. I determined this can’t be beyond my grasp and we decided to learn this skill this year. We use less water and we are not dependent on our rechargeable shower. But how does one do this effectively and without a water mess everywhere especially with three children? Well first we discovered our cloth has been wrong. We were using good old modern washcloths which do not wring out well. After some thought on what would have been in the past, I cut out some flannel rags and marked each one in a different way for each family member. This made all the difference. The flannel absorbs the soap and water but can be wrung out very well so that when one washes water isn’t running down to the floor. Even the kids have been successful with this sponge bathing experience. First I temper cold water with hot in our 2 quart pitcher. After pouring a little of this water into our bowl I lather the soap in onto the flannel and rewet the rag wringing it out well. Starting with the face I just work down cleaning thoroughly. I rinse my rag in the soapy water and scrub any parts that I deem need extra cleaning once again. So rinse the rag in the same water again. Next I pour out this soapy water and refill my bowl with fresh water and rinse my rag and begin rinsing myself with this fresh water. Again the key is to wring out the rag well. After a good rinse I again rinse my rag and pour fresh water once more and wash my hands and my rag. This completes my sponge bathing. Usually I use just under 2 quarts of water and it is simple, effective, and not messy at all.

Life is not really complicated; we make it complicated more often than not. All I had to do was use common sense and think about the problem. I didn’t need google or anything else to teach me how to do this. I just needed to apply myself to the problem at hand and think. I had tried several ways that weren’t as effective but finally changing the style rag worked wonderfully. I imagine a sponge would produce similar results.

We have also been learning that our clothes make a huge difference in how we live and our comfort level. This is an ongoing process for us. Natural fibers are essential. Also layers are essential. The hubby finally found a cotton union suit at a local store. He found that these worked great at keeping him warm versus a heavy coat while he is trying to work. We knew a wool one would be best but after pricing 100% wool suits we knew that wouldn’t be feasible for us. I kept an eye out and finally a set the hubby’s size came up on Ebay for $48. They were in need of mending and the seller accepted $35 because of this. After they arrived I washed and mended the small holes around the cuffs. He has worn them for two days now and they are very practical and warm and functional.

Mending these took a little of my time and saved us over $100. This is an old way that was done commonly in the past. Clothes that had much life left in them were mended. We prefer wool socks and wool wraps. All of these are expensive. We were blessed to find me a wool blanket that I use as a cloak for $2 at a goodwill. We buy wool yarn on sale at Hobby Lobby and I knit our socks. A sweet lady at church took the time to teach me this old skill. I sew all of our clothes on my 1950s Singer treadle.

I didn’t always know how to do these things. Much of it I have learned through trial and error and much I have learned through others willing to teach me. These are all old skills. Skills that have brought our ancestors through times when we didn’t have the modern conveniences. If I didn’t sew on the treadle I would hand sew which I do a lot of anyway.

I have a deer quarter salt curing. I have looked through all of my books, I have watched videos, I have read articles but nothing I can find teaches me how to salt cure a meat the old way without smoking. So I am just experimenting with what I have learned and hopefully it will be successful. There are so many skills that are lost or quickly becoming lost– not only skills– common things like sponge bathing. Maybe this next week just try something from the past like mending or bathing with a bowl and jug. Just something that doesn’t use a modern convenience. Maybe read by candle or lamplight instead of watching the TV. Just something from the past before electricity– or running water or even telephones. All of these are wonderful extras but they are not necessities.

The kids begged for a tree so we bought this little glass one on sale. It plugs into our solar generator for a couple of hours each night. The kids love it. I do hope everyone has a blessed week.

From Another Time….

Winter has moved in and we keep the wood stocked under the grain table and the stove. Thankfully our wood is burning much better this year than last. It is amazing the difference dry seasoned wood truly makes.

Thanksgiving was a dreary rainy day but we had so much to be thankful for. As I cooked our meal on top of the little wood stove we listened to old Thanksgiving radio programs. Most of them were from the late 1940s. It is amazing how our country has changed and it did sadden our hearts to think of this. However we are so thankful that we can live differently than what we see out in the world. There was a simplicity and wholesomeness even in the 40s that has been lost. Times were different. Maybe they weren’t really simpler but people knew how to deal with things better and had more common sense I do believe. Their parents had come through the Great Depression– these people had just come through World War 2. Life wasn’t easy but they were thankful and ready to push ahead. They didn’t let circumstances pull them down– they fought together to move forward as families– as a country. We had much to think about as we listened and much to be thankful for. We too try to use what we have to move ahead even when it seems we are fighting against the flow of normal.

I often think we are making no difference at all– we are just oddities people pass by and forget. When I look at my children though I know we are doing something that will be remembered and that they will know that life can be lived differently and without all the things most people deem necessities. We are truly blessed with all that we have. I remind myself of this even when it is cold and I am washing clothes outside– I think at least I can do this and at least we can all be together. My washing machine won’t break down– my clothesline won’t fail me. How blessed I am! When I pump water I am thankful for the ability to be able to pump clean cold water from the depths of the earth. When I empty the compost toilet I am thankful we are all healthy and strong. When I get up at two in the morning to feed the fire, I am thankful for the wood and the stove. Yes there are times I complain– things are hard here but as soon as I remind myself of the blessings we have.

God has provided for us in amazing ways and in ways we never even could have imagined.

We have wonderful friends who let my children decorate their Christmas tree and their house. They were thrilled to be included in such an activity. These people accept us as we are and we are truly blessed in that. We were also blessed by someone else with a deer that we have been processing. It will be our first experiment in old fashion salt curing. So far we have cut some up to eat fresh and ground some for burgers.

I do pray everyone had a good Thanksgiving and I hope everyone has a blessed week.

Invasion–Apples–&Antiques

Currently we are under attack by hundreds of lady bugs. We finally hauled the generator and old shop vac down from the garage shop and have vaccummed literally hundreds out of the tent. We found where they seemed to be making a home and destroyed that– we covered up all the ridgepole holes in the top of the tent– we have sprayed essential oils to cover up the pheromone trails but nothing seems to actually work. From everything hubby read, they should be done mating by the end of November. I sure hope so. Waking up to a ladybug crawling across your eye is not pleasant! I suppose it’s just part of living outside in a tent. I am thankful it’s only ladybugs and not something worse.

We were able to get 60 pounds of apples on sale and we spent a day peeling and canning applesauce, apple butter, and apple pie filling. It was a long hot day but well worth it in the end. We had a couple of jars of pie filling that didn’t seal so we made quick use of those.

With fall finally here and cooler weather we are trying to gather as much firewood as possible without using our winter firewood stacks until absolutely necessary. The hubby and children went over to the cabin sight and began clearing that area. This way it serves a dual purpose– we get stove wood and clear our future home sight of the many logs piles.

It may seem very small but this is such an exciting step for us. I love our tent but there is something in me that longs for four solid walls and the security they offer. We love the absolute seclusion up at the house sight. Just being in the middle of the woods surrounded by trees is so peaceful. I grabbed a couple of folding chairs after I finished washing clothes and we all took an apple snack break and sat in the sitting area of the cabin.

Saturday I canned 19 pints of sausage we were able to get cheap. However my little camp stove that I use to pressure can finally finished itself off. It was vintage when we bought it and over time the knobs have broken off on 2 of the 3 burners. I just started using pliers to turn the burners off but the little nubs I was using to turn them off finally broke off too. One of the burners will not turn off at all and finding replacement parts for such an old stove is is nearly impossible and expensive– so we will be on the lookout for a new propane stove. We considered maybe a fish fryer style but it will be whatever we find a deal on.

We went to yard sale and found an old oil lantern for $2. It looked awful and hubby said we probably couldn’t fix it since it was missing the cap for the kerosene well. However we cleaned it up and he whittled a wooden cork and sealed the bottom of the cork with rubber and pushed this into the fill hole. The lantern works great! For us this is a blessing. Finding quality lamps and lanterns is no easy task. We use the kerosene lamps mostly in the morning when we are up before the children.

Thank you for all the encouraging comments on my last post. I do hope everyone has a blessed week.

Slowing Down

Overnight it seems the leaves have changed and have started falling. I looked up from the hammock and saw all these colors. Fall has to be my favorite time of the year. Already we are burning the wood stove daily. There is a definite coolness to the air in the mornings. Nights are cool too but we haven’t started a fire at night yet. We are waiting on that as long as possible. But during the day we are certainly thankful for the cooler weather.

I started this blog to share our journey of getting out of debt and going off grid. I wanted readers to realize it can be done even with little money and definitely with much hard work. Here lately though I have started realizing this journey we are on is about so much more than learning to live without running water and electricity– it’s actually been a journey of self discovery and learning who I am as a woman. For a long time in my life I let my mother and sisters dictate who I should be. I changed to who they wanted when I was with them. When I severed that relationship several years ago by standing up for myself, something began to change. I began to more fully seek the Lord’s will in my life and I continued to change. I accepted the confidence hubby gave and slowly started becoming the woman God wanted me to be. I started trying to simplify life. After we moved out here, again I had to learn and grow more. So many things we didn’t do right or understand because we tried doing things in a modern way but it went against the nature of this lifestyle. I fought it because even though I loved the thought of the very old ways and longed for that simplicity, I couldn’t make myself slow down that much. But I am learning to accept the old way. It’s a decision that has to be made in the heart. I can continue to mix the modern with the old and hope I find peace in that or I can fully embrace the old ways of doing things and just slow down– sometimes just stopping completely to meditate on what I am actually doing. Maybe it will take me an hour to pump all the water but that’s okay. It’s our water and our well and what else do I really have to rush off to do? There is everyday that God gives me to do the work that I have to do for that day.

I am one of those people who never slows down — I cannot sit idle. If I sit, I sew or knit– my hands stay busy. I don’t think this is wrong but I am working on not feeling so frustrated if every job doesn’t get finished in the time I think it should be. I am trying to stop and concentrate on each task instead of rushing through each one already worrying about the next.

The more I retreat to this simpler life and put away modern conveniences, I struggle with this blog. It is hard to share the personal part of this life– I really believe anyone can share the projects and the ups and downs of learning a whole new lifestyle but it is almost impossible to put into words what is happening inside of me. There is a part of me that wants to completely retreat– to only leave this land when necessary. I want to rely on what is here; I want to put the phone aside and forget learning things from YouTube or writing this blog or anything really at all to do with modern technology. I am one of those people that if I need to break a habit, I can’t start slowly. I have to just stop altogether. So I struggle with all of this modern in my life. I know God put me in this time for a reason but I do feel it is to teach my children a simpler way– to show them and whoever else will listen that life doesn’t have to be so complicated. There is deep satisfaction in doing the everyday things with our own hands without the noise of a busy encroaching world constantly in our ears. We have problems out here– but I believe God has led us here for a reason if nothing else than to bless us with a wonderful church and to teach us to just slow down and depend on Him.

We have changed– we dress differently because we have found what is comfortable and suitable to this lifestyle we have chosen. People may think we are odd– we certainly get stares but we know that dressing as people did in the past is functional for the work we do– it’s practical in the life we live without AC or heat. We are trying to adapt in every way to this life of the past. We are embracing it and I am trying not to fight it and just enjoy the simplicity and peace that is here.

I think that for awhile at least I will continue to write this blog and share our life. I really hope that I can share that a simpler life is available no matter where you live or what you do. It just takes that first step of willingness to seek it and deciding to just do it no matter what others think. Maybe for a day or even a week just separate yourself from the technology as much as possible. Do something by hand just because you can. I do hope that this helps someone out there and that our life inspires someone else but even if it doesn’t I am content that we are doing what we are called to do and I find joy in this.

I never include photos of myself because I truly despise having my picture taken but here is one little boy took of me in the orchard. I was about to empty the composting toilet– one of those jobs I have to make myself be thankful for. Our little trees are flourishing with the compost.

I hope everyone has a blessed rest of the week.

Thoughts….

We had some wonderfully cool mornings that made fall really feel like it was on its way. Then last week the temps jumped back up into the 100s and after the coolness it truly was miserable. Thankfully it only lasted about 4 days and we are now back to fall temps. It’s been a busy few weeks here. The hubby has been diligently working on finishing our woodshed for the main firewood.

The other pile he still has to cover but at least these stacks closest to the house are dried in now. This has been one of those projects he had to complete before starting on cabin work.

Our oldest daughter turned 11 on the 16th and right before her birthday she took a hatchet to her thumb when she was chopping wood. She has used a hatchet for over a year now and she is usually very careful. Thankfully with hubby’s EMS experience he was able to doctor it and it has healed much better than we expected.

Yesterday was a day the kids have been excited about for months. Nearby a town sponsored an old fashion day where old skills are demonstrated. We all dressed up in our Sunday best and got there early. For us this is our dress. We wear plain clothes or pioneer clothes everyday. We have found these most comfortable in the way we live. We wear the layers worn in the old days with shifts, stays/corsets/, petticoats, and dresses. The little boy wears a Plain shirt and fall front pants or overalls. The hubby wears pants that are replicated from the military pants worn in the War Between the States. It is more affordable to dress this way if you can sew and I sew constantly. I usually have a day sewing project that I sew on the treadle and at night I hand sew on my work dresses. In the mornings before chores, I knit socks. At the old fashioned day everyone thought we were in costume and we had our picture taken at least ten times. We almost felt out of place because we are different even though others were actually dressed up. The skills demonstrated are now everyday life to us. Everyone kept telling us to go try the beans and hoecakes but we eat that every Sunday. We watched the gentleman and lady at the chuck wagon cook with the coals in the Dutch oven. This is something I do daily and I don’t always enjoy it anymore. It has become routine but it made me step back and realize how blessed I am to have learned these skills over this past year. The cooks told us this was their last event and they were retiring and selling the setup to someone else. They said their children had no interest in such things. It made me sad for them. I truly believe our children and young adults today need an interest in these old skills and our history to learn how to live properly in today’s time. Times have changed and progress is often a good thing but it’s also important to know our past and know basic skills.

It’s also good to be creative and think outside the box. The hubby bought me these leather pumps at a antique store going out of business for $2. They retailed at $210. I absolutely love them but after two wears the heel cap cracked and broke out. After much searching and thinking we finally decided to cut up some old rewards cards and super glued these to the heel. The hubby cut up an old tire and glued these over the plastic card. After it dried he trimmed up the rubber and you cannot even tell we added a sole.

Hopefully I get a lot more wear out of these shoes. Life doesn’t have to be so complicated. We can simplify it by having only a few things we love and use. If we truly love what we have we will fix it until it can’t be fixed anymore instead of just running to buy something new that probably isn’t as quality.

I do hope everyone has a blessed week.

Shower House

With fall and hunting season fast approaching, our little logging road sees more people as they go on to the other lots behind us to hunt. Last year we made do with a little shower tent to help with privacy during shower time but it was blown away in one of the spring storms we had. They hubby decided it was time to build us a shower room on the shower deck. He used old slab boards that were left on the property and he the oldest daughter constructed this over a few days time. The wall facing the road is solid but due to lack of materials the other walls have gaps but since there is no privacy issue with these two directions, we are not concerned about this. We have a shower curtain that is pulled down to make a door. It’s absolutely wonderful to be able to shower in complete privacy without everyone having to go inside so one person can shower. This has been a long planned for edition.

It has been fair week here and things have just been busy. This blog seems more difficult to get up as life settles more to a routine here and we endeavor to get so much done. Our oldest daughter has never entered anything into the fair and she was so excited to enter one of her woodworking pieces. Our pastor and she had found this piece of wood on the property and he liked it so she did some sanding and smoothing  and we decided it looked like a mushroom. She gave it to him some time ago but he encouraged her to enter it into the fair and she won a blue ribbon with it.

I did do some canning with some tomatoes a gentleman brought to church. I made a few jars of salsa. I am getting better at canning over the fire.

Thankfully we have had quite a bit of rain which is helping my fall garden and our rain catchment. This is definitely a blessing. I love just being able to fill the washing machine and rinse tubs without pumping all that water. I can just let it fill and soak the clothes all while making breakfast.

The rain has forced me to cook a meal or two inside. We have no roof over the outdoor kitchen area. Since I couldn’t bake anything with the camp stove I invented what we called doughnut cakes– similar to pancakes but no need for syrup. They had coconut, nutmeg, and cinnamon in a pancake style batter. They were delicious.

Of course I have been sewing. I finished one of little boy’s pants and have two pairs left to go. I have been sewing my new dress which is an 1840s wrapper day dress from Black Snails patterns. It is completely handsewn with piping all through the dress seams. It is taking quite a bit of time but I really would like a good everyday work dress and I love this style dress.

We are certainly staying busy but making good progress. I do hope everyone has a blessed Labor Day weekend.