Thanks for stopping by! I'm Magi, a scratch cooking, homeschooling mama, learning to raise good kids, good food, and good fun on our teeny-tiny little farm!
We’ve completed the new “master” bedroom! Okay, to be honest most of our clothes are still in the old bedroom, waiting to be washed, culled and donated, or put back into the closet. The closet is a walk-through between the two bedrooms, so we’ll keep […]
Since our daughters share a bedroom we’ve been using the third, and smallest bedroom in our house as as toy room for a couple of years. During that time the room was often a hideous mess, with the door closed and no one using it. Finally […]
Wow! The new year is already off to a running start. How is it already the middle of January?
Of course, you all know that the seed catalogs are rolling in and making me itch for warm soil and sunshine. Unfortunately there will be snow on the ground for quite a while yet, so this year I plan to do more season-extending in the garden. I’ve started lettuce and spinach indoors and plan to (try to) grow them to harvest in our sunniest window. As soon as it’s consistently above freezing at night I’ll dig out the cold frame and start some outdoors. I really want some early season veggies this year. I’m hoping for enough to participate in my local farmer’s market.
I’d also like to experiment with growing some of our own chicken feed, not just feeding them the scraps and stalks we don’t eat. I’m talking about growing some crops specifically for the chickens. I’ve been toying with the idea of fodder beets, sunflowers, and maybe some worms. We already feed them our surplus walnuts, as a treat. It’s no use trying to sell walnuts here as nearly every home has it’s own tree or two.
As for blogging goals, I plan to blog more consistently. I’m shooting for at least one update per week. I get bogged down when I have a full plate at work, but this year looks to be leaner on the “real job” front.
Since work will be lean this year I’ll be working hard to earn more from home. One of the ways I hope to earn more from home is to add more affilate advertising to my site. I’ll be scouring the affiliate sites for good relevant companies and products to share with you. I do not want my blog to become a solid wall of advertising, but I don’t mind sharing a link that will benefit my readers and myself at the same time. Of course if I specifically recommend a product in a post, rather than just in a sidebar button, you can rest assured that I’ve used the product and I’m sharing my honest opinion.
As for personal goals, it’s the usual:
What are your goals for 2013 and beyond?
Linked up at No Ordinary Blog Hop, and The Homestead Barn Hop
I stayed in bed until 9 AM, and spent the entire day in my jammies today. BUT, I accomplished an awful lot. First I made a delicious breakfast of pancakes, eggs, and bacon. Then I sat around awhile, drinking hot tea and slowly absorbing the caffeine. […]
We’re big fans of Mexican food around here. While I don’t usually go for too much spice myself, I try to keep a can or two of pickled Jalapenos around so my husband can spice up whatever “bland Americanized Mexican” food I try to feed […]
Let me paint you a picture.
This afternoon, I went to the post office to pick up a registered package. I signed for it, thanked the Post Mistress, and cheerfully wished her Happy Holidays. That’s right. I said Happy Holidays. There was an akward pause before she replied Merry Christmas, in the tone of voice you use with a child who has mistankenly said skabetti, instead of spaghetti.
I can see some of you now. You’ve sharply drawn in your breath, and now you’re shaking your head. Perhaps you’re even feeling a little righteous indignation. I thought she was a Christian. What a shame.
I am not perfect, but I am a Christian. I wasn’t trying to deny Christ. I was simply acting out of habit. You see, I remember a time when Happy Holidays meant only Happy Holidays. Rest assured, if I had meant only Merry Christmas, that’s what I would have said.
What I meant by Happy Holidays, which I start saying around mid-November, (or I did before politics made it a declaration of atheism) is Happy-Thanksgiving-Merry-Christmas-and-Happy-New-Year-I hope-you’ll-enjoy-your-family-and-eat-a-lot-of-pie. Until a couple years ago, I thought that’s what everyone meant. Somehow Happy Holidays is easier to get out. ( I’m fully aware that there’s another argument to be had here, regarding intent, and the road to hell. I will be happy to have your thoughts in the comments section.)
Judge me for being naive if you must, but where I grew up, everyone is a Christian, in name at least. In my rather narrow view it never would have occured to me in a million years that anyone meant to deny Christ, or pussy-foot around someone faith, by saying Happy Holidays.
What a sad world we live in where, because we are all so keen to judge one another, we hesitate to give a whole hearted greeting, instead stumbling on our words, or perhaps saying nothing at all, lest the recipient assume we are pagan if it comes out wrong. Can we dispense with the politics for just a moment, and be glad someone wished us well, no matter the season?
Please, if I forget myself and wish you Happy Holidays, understand I am not denying Christ, I’m merely acknowledging New Years.
Our little community seems to be in a season of loss. Although we all must know that we are not being singled out, it sure feels as if we are. If there can be a silver lining it’s that we’ve all had the opportunity to […]
I sit at the computer today, not knowing quite how to put into words what I am thinking, and not knowing if it’s worth sharing, yet feeling compelled to do so, if only for the fact that it forces me to sort my thoughts from my […]
With Thanksgiving coming soon, many of us are counting our blessings a little more than usual. That’s wonderful! I love hearing what folks are thankful for. A kind husband. Bedtime for kids. Enough money. Wine. You get the idea. There are as many things to be thankful for as there are grateful souls in the world.
At our house we do a couple of things to try to keep the “attitude of gratitude” all year round. We hope our children will grow up with the positive outlook one gains from the ready recognition of blessings.
The first thing we do to encourage our children to be thankful is to gently remind them when thanks are in order. You’ve all done this. The lady at the bank hands your kid a lollypop. You tilt your head toward your kid.
“What do we tell the nice lady?”
And then your kid thanks the nice lady. I bet you didn’t even realize you were teaching your child something beyond common courtesy. But you are! You’re teaching your child to recognize a blessing.
The other thing we do is to pray regularly. When I was growing up our bedtime prayers consisted of the usual rhyme.
“Now I lay me down to sleep…”
That is a great prayer, and littles love it, partly because it rhymes, partly, probably, because it is the same each time, lending another layer of consistency to the night-time routine.
At our house we do something a little different though. I ask the kids to come up with two things they’re thankful for each bedtime. Sometimes they have to dig deep to come up with any, sometimes they dish out the same ones several nights in a row, and sometimes they shock me with things I would never have thought to be thankful for. Like Homework. Really?
Although a child who is thankful for homework makes me a little worried that there may have been a mix up at the hospital, I’m glad to see both of our children expressing gratitude. Sometimes they even encourage me without realizing it.
One such instance was a week or so ago. We were leaving the house to take the six-year-old to the school bus. We were on the verge of being late. We’d searched the house for the coats only to remember at the last minute that they were in the car, the thirty-two degree car. Then we’d nearly forgotten her lunch box. All of this on top of the fact that I am not a morning person. Then the little one was dawdling behind. I turned to hurry her and saw her kneeling in the dirt, hands folded.
“Dear Jesus, Thank you for my love, Thank you for my family. Amen”.
Then she was up and running. I wanted to be mad that we were almost late, and that the jeans she’d just put on were already filthy, but seeing her take a moment to give thanks, without my prompting her to, made the rest of my day. And I was thankful.
What are you thankful for?
Well friends, it’s my first week back at home for the winter and so far I’m loving it. I’m making a dent in the gigantic laundry mound that’s been piling up for the past few months. Yeah, I’ve been mostly caught up once or twice in […]