New Years Eve
Thursday, December 29, 2016
The good thing...the three other hives are doing great and I think that they will survive the winter. Today, the bees were outside the hive flying around, and the hive's interior was full of very active bees. I am pleased to see those hives doing well. There are plenty of bees to keep the hives warm, and they have plenty of food for the winter.
Wednesday, December 28, 2016
Life throws things at you. Unexpected, surprises, changes, and I find myself reflecting on the life lessons...of the past year. It might be hard...
Let it go.
Let it fall.
Let it be.
I am thinking about new adventures, fun things to do. I am more isolated than necessary, it is time to contact old friends and renew those ties. I need supportive people around me. I need friends to go on adventures with...even if it is just junking...or a movie. This is a fact.
I am blessed, and I am thankful for all those blessings.
Sunday, December 25, 2016
To all my friends, and family....I wish for you is to have a blessed day and peaceful, loving thoughts for all you love.
Have yourself a merry little Christmas,
Let your heart be light,...
Thru the years we all will be together
if the fates allow...
So hang a shining star upon the highest bough,
And have yourself a merry little Christmas now.
This is my main holiday display on the coffee table. The sculpture, Woman with Fawn, is so lovely. It is about 14" tall by 26" long, these were created in 1981, by an Austin Texas man, Mark la Pointe. This one is in perfect condition, the auction value is much higher than my Goodwill price. I absolutely love it.
I put it on a vintage silver tray, highlighted by the 4" silver crackle balls, greens, and pearl strands. A truly lovely, peaceful and beautiful display. Enjoy...
Thursday, December 22, 2016
Monday, December 19, 2016
I made a bread like this one today. It is a simple and easy to make bread. I used my new enameled small dutch oven, it is about 2 1/2 quart. I will be making it again...I like it with soup and stew. I found this recipe online.
Friday, December 16, 2016
Absolutely! Hubby and his friend went duck hunting. I planned a home alone party for one. I will only answer the phone for my family. Lock the doors, and act like no one is home. And...btw...it is going to be a very cold 8 degrees F tonight. The place is ready for it, all the animals are safe and sound. Burr....
Tuesday, December 13, 2016
The History Channel has the show The Vikings on it. This year's season is currently being shown. I love the show! This photo is from last week's show. There will be a big showdown between these 2 women in the next show. It has been a long time coming...and now it is time. I can't wait to see it!
Monday, December 12, 2016
I sometimes check out online auctions. Goodwill.com is a favorite that I look at frequently, and occasionally bid. The problem with them is that they tack on many extra dollars for shipping and handling fees. It can make a good bid, go to a high bid. So...if you go there, watch those things. Look up similar items on eBay and other sellers for an idea of a price.
I am trending SW vintage jewelry for a several years now, It is very pretty and looks great with casual clothing. I have purchased many sterling silver SW bangle bracelets for $1-2. Jeans, boots, and sweaters are a favorite of mine, and add something like this heart....and some bangles...truly eye catching. I get many compliments on my Turquoise jewelry items.
Sunday, December 11, 2016
Hubby and I drove out to Sweet Cheeks Winery today. It is very close to Eugene, OR. I wanted to taste some of the newly bottled wine, and decide what I liked the best. These are some photos from their website. It was raining very hard, and not good for taking photos.
The wine was excellent! Now, I want to give you top secret insider information.
The price is pretty high at the tasting room at the vineyard. The best place to get this excellent wine is Bi-Mart. That's right Bi-Mart, for all of you that live in the Pacific NW. The price is several dollars lower...look for the pretty label with the Blackbird. This is a great gift for the wine lovers in your life. Really!!
Saturday, December 10, 2016
I have been using these vintage ice skates beside the front door for about 20 years. These skates were very old when I got them, found at a Salvation Army store. There have been many kinds of displays made with them. This year is a simple, elegant style. Pretty greenery, and a lovely old scarf for the bow.
Friday, December 9, 2016
I like to make soap the old fashioned way. The chemistry involved requires precise weighing of the components, precise temperatures, and following the directions exactly. I must be completely able to focus on the process, and be committed to stay on track. The reward is a lovely soap, that is wonderful to use. The soap does last a long time, it has a good scent, and it doesn't have all the chemicals found in store soap.
I made this soap about November 1, and it had to cure until now. Yesterday, I wrapped up stacks of 3 soaps with this pretty dark turquoise ribbon. Each bar is about 2 1/2" by 4", nice big bars. I will be giving these to friends and neighbor's who stop by the farm.
I used to make soaps for selling, but that has ended. Now, I make about 2 batches each year.
Monday, December 5, 2016
It has been a long extremely rainy fall. There has not been a killing frost, my garden is still green. That is about to change, and I will see dead foliage. I took this photo out my front door, looking across the pasture/hay field toward the north. Tonight will bring maybe 8 to 10" of fresh snow. The forecast is to drop cold tomorrow night...12 degrees F. I hope that there is enough snow to insulate the plants and waterlines. I have the swimming pool pump circulating the water, so that there will not be freezing in the pipes. There will be winterizing needed to keep the farm warm, and I hope we don't have an electrical outage! I will be wearing those warm winter boots!! Soon!!
Sunday, December 4, 2016
I want to personally thank Ree Drummond for her Beef Stew recipe. thepioneerwoman.com/beef-stew-with-beer-and-paprika/ Check this link for the exact recipe and her instructions. I have all her cookbooks...and I love her recipes and the directions with photos in her books.
Today, Sunday, I made Elk Stew with Beer and Paprika.
I changed this recipe a bit by using some tough old elk steak, and my home grown carrots and potatoes. This elk meat is very tough....and I thought that I might get it tender using Ree's method. I used the all day, slow and low method. It worked, and I was rewarded with a wonderful pot of stew.
I even used my new Cuisinart small dutch oven! Perfect for cooking for 2! We have many regular cast iron items around, but this one is my first enameled one. I will be using it frequently...
And after all this, and a great meal...hubby did not thank me, or compliment me. Bummer............but I think that he must have liked it...he ate 2 bowls.
Saturday, December 3, 2016
I want to introduce my child, Nicole. I am very proud that she is a bright and unique person. I am happy to say that she is a strong supporter of my life, as I am with her. We don't always share a point of view...but we understand that our differences are the things that make us...us. I love her! It would break my heart if we had a problem in our relationship.
Wednesday, November 30, 2016
This post is actually a product recommendation by me. These were invented by a man from Bend Oregon. No one in the USA could manufacture these, so they are made in China. There are many colors and different sizes available. I am so very impressed with the ones that I have. They are wonderful for outdoor activities, and to take with you in the car. The good thing is that Dicks Sporting Goods has a great sale going on, 25% off. I think that the superior product is worth the higher price. All you campers out there...think about it. They are a great gift idea for the outdoor person in your life.
Tuesday, November 29, 2016
I took these photos to give you a little hint of my ideas for holiday decor. A little shiny, sparkly, and nature used together.
Sunday, November 27, 2016
I have been looking for an inexpensive Nativity Set that feels right for my crafting project. I was about to give up, when I found this 5 piece set at the thrift store. The items were all separated on the shelves. I found the Mary and thought, this will work for my idea. I think that these items that will work very well. I like the finish and will not change it.
This is my inspiration from Pinterest. I will use this idea loosely as I decorate for Christmas with the found Nativity Set.
Saturday, November 26, 2016
Kelly Rae Roberts Artwork |
I was very surprised and happy today when I found this 8" x 12" art print. I put it right beside the small television in my studio. This makes 3 of her prints in my collection...all found at thrift stores. I sometimes put my own additions on the prints, a glittery stone, a bit of old broken jewelry...something special to me. I think that I might add some kind of addition to the angel wings, on this print.
I am very grateful for my daughter and her hubby coming for the holiday weekend. They are important to me, and I love to have them stay with us.
I have been feeling very good since I stopped taking Lisinopril. I will see my Dr on Monday, to talk about the medicine.
Friday, November 25, 2016
I love this book by Melody Ross. I hope that you like it! I have to listen to her reading the book sometimes....just to remind myself that I am going to be okay......I am kinda havin' a couple of challenging weeks here.
Thursday, November 24, 2016
I have much to be thankful and grateful for in my life. My hope for you is a peaceful and good day this season.
Tuesday, November 22, 2016
Not my collection.....
Oh my, I have collected small vintage turkeys for quite a few years now. Where are they? I hope that they will show up in a storage box soon. (Sad face.)
Monday, November 21, 2016
Top 10 stress-relieving tips
Improve your quality of life and stress less with these effective ideas. It's a fact of life: Everyone experiences stress. But when it goes unmanaged, daily stress can harm your health and reduce your quality of life. Fortunately, stress doesn't have to overcome or overwhelm you. Gain control and live better with these stress-reducing suggestions.
Make a list. Write a to-do list, breaking down tasks into smaller steps. Prioritize the items and tackle them one at a time.
Take care of yourself. Get enough sleep and eat a healthy diet. Avoid — or limit — alcohol and caffeine.
Set realistic goals. Don't expect perfection from projects or people — including yourself. Mind your schedule.
Don't take on too many responsibilities or agree to attend too many social events. If you're overwhelmed, eliminate some obligations or share the work.
Talk it out. Call on the support and guidance of good friends and family.
Exercise regularly. Thirty minutes of physical activity a day can help fight stress.
Set aside time every day for stress management. Meditation, deep-breathing exercises, yoga and guided imagery are all good techniques to try.
Have fun. Spend time each day doing a hobby or other activity that you enjoy.
Resolve conflicts. Work toward repairing — or coming to terms with — any broken or difficult relationships.
Visualize success. Imagine how difficult situations might be resolved in a less stressful way.
By managing — and reducing — the stress in your life, you can make better, healthier decisions and improve your overall wellness.
From the Mayo Clinic
Update- My doctor put me on Lisinopril recently, and when I checked the side effects online. I found out that this medicine may have caused my stressed out symptoms. I must go see her after this week.
Thursday, November 17, 2016
I have a good friend who is moving away, and beginning a new life on the road. Everything is happening very fast. She found out that her rental home was being sold just last September. She thought that it would take a year to sell it...wrong...it took 2 weeks. She has to be out of the house by Dec 15th. She has had a hard time deciding her future...she is young enough that she should be in the workforce...and she has spent her life savings. That is a challenge! She must find some paying work....that is not going to happen here. Remember I wrote about a problem with no economy, and no work here.
She found a used trailer that she purchased...but it is Houston Texas. What? I said? Do you know how far that is? She does and has her plans made. She will start her new life by storing most of her belongings. Going to Texas to get her trailer, and spend the next year or more traveling and visiting friends around the southern USA. Brave? Yes. Risky? Yes. I wish her well, and that her decision is going to work out for her. Will I miss her? Yes, very much.
Wednesday, November 16, 2016
This Vintage Turkey Platter was made in the USA, about 1950.
This Vintage Turkey Platter was made in Japan, about 1960.
I found these 2 platters the last 2 years. They came from thrift stores, found at different places and different times. The prices were very affordable. I think that it is great to use these. My tip to find these, go to the stores when they first put out the holiday stuff. I just stalk the stores to get the good stuff. You never know what you may come across.
At the present time I am stalking the stores for vintage Christmas, especially for the "right" vintage things. I am being very focused on unique, special things. Things that can be used all year around are a priority....like vintage hanging crystals, stars, birds, pearls, and hearts.
Saturday, November 12, 2016
I live in the state of Oregon. The violent riots that have happened in Portland are a disgrace to our state. There are professional anarchists that thrive in Portland Oregon. The Oregon vote was slightly higher for Hillary Clinton than Donald Trump...all our electoral votes go the Clinton.
There are many people here in rural Oregon, who live a miserable life, a life of poverty, with poor education, and no chance for a decent job or life. We are also the middle class who is paying taxes. Do you know that 130 million people in the USA pay federal taxes...and 114 million people in the USA do not pay tax and receive free dole from the government.
I live in a miserable rural small town, Oakridge, I see the able bodied 20 yr old's idle, with no jobs and no future. I see the old people in stark poverty, the children who wear rags and only have good food at school. We need a better economy, and good jobs. Living a life of poverty is a terrible thing.
Wednesday, November 9, 2016
I know that many of you are in despair, desperate, worried, and very sad about the Presidential election yesterday. Take Heart Dear Ones. Everyone has this experience, sooner or later, your personal favorite candidate will lose. It breaks your heart, and sends you into a tail spin. We live in a nation that allows free and open elections, that in itself is a blessing. This country will move forward, and I believe that the future is good. You may not see the possibilities, but try to be happy for your life in the USA. We are a great nation!
Thursday, November 3, 2016
We are having several nice, sunny, days this week. It is wonderful after the wettest October in 57 years. Hubby and I spent about 3 hours looking for wild mushrooms. There were many varieties of mushrooms that I noticed during my walks into the woods. I was stalking the wild Chanterelle, that is shown in this pic. My free, personal use mushroom permit allows me to harvest up to 20 gallons of mushroom's. I think that I got about 2 gallons. I will use some to prepare a wonderful recipe for Cream of Chanterelle soup. So....delicious! The rest will be sliced and dried. The mushrooms reconstitute very well. I try to get enough dried for 3 - 2 quart canning jars.
This website tells more about harvesting these mushrooms.
www.wild-harvest.com/chanterelle-mushrooms/
Tuesday, November 1, 2016
"Beautiful friend. Try not to wish your years away, wishing you were younger, wishing the signs of aging away.
The world needs more women who embrace their wrinkles and who know the power of wisdom gained from many years of being alive, and who are absolutely comfortable in their skin. The world needs more women who sing through life's winters, who dance even though their bodies jiggle, who count the laugh lines as decades of wonderful memories.
We are women. We are brave. We are beautiful and real.
Let's be happy exactly where we are.
When we can adore every phase of our own life, we give each other encouragement to do the same."
Brave Girls Club Message
I like this quote, it is personal to me. I am an optimist, I love what I am doing. Yes, some days are harder than others...I keeping doing what I love...and preserve. My years as a wise woman are good. I hope to have many more years to come.
Monday, October 31, 2016
Hi Friends, I understand from some of you, that it is difficult to post comments to my blog. Today, I changed the settings and hopefully you will now be able to post comments. I will wait and see what happens. If I get spam comments, and it becomes a problem.....I might need to change. Let me know if this helps you.
Saturday, October 29, 2016
I want to change from my last post. Thank you to the ladies who responded. I have been noticing some vintage nativity sets being brought out at the thrift stores. This photo is an inspiration to create something similar for myself. The old items with a twist for today's trends. I like a white, cream, silver, and green theme for my home. Painting the figures white and adding some shading for aging the look. Simple fir greens and strings of faux pearls for added decoration. I did find some sheep, cattle, and donkeys....it's a start.
Sunday, October 23, 2016
When someone mistreats you, it is so important to not allow it to measure your value.
Whether it is a look, or a few cruel words said in a moment of heat, or from many years of abusive words, it is difficult to deal with.
Do not allow the words in, sweet friend. Please do not allow the mistreatment to go any further than the person who said it. Let them keep the poison. Say kind words to yourself. Allow yourself to heal for as long as it takes, then make a promise to yourself that you will do whatever it takes to protect yourself....always with love, strength, and bravery.
You are worth protecting. Your heart is worth protecting. Your soul is worth protecting. You have the right to protect yourself.
This is an excerpt from a Brave Girls Club daily email.
Why do I post this, why is Brave Girls Club very important to me? I have taken to heart many of these messages. I have made the promise to myself that I will do whatever it takes to protect myself, with Love, Strength, and Bravery!
Monday, October 17, 2016
It took several days to harvest our honey this fall, we worked on and off. It is completely done now, and we have 2 1/2 gallons, about 30 lbs of raw honey. It is packaged in small honey bears, 1/2 pint jars, 1 pint jars and large quart jars. The biggest mess, everything is sticky, I find it all over the place. My hands find it somehow, and I am washing them all the time. The frames that have had the honey removed are still full of the good stuff..........they are put into the smallest hive we have. It will help those bees enormously. They love it.
The funny thing is that when we first got the bees....we didn't think about the honey harvest. If we priced it by all the $$$ spent to get this far.....the price would be outrageous. Not to say, that for some people, bee keeping is a money making endeavour. We do indeed get a good harvest of produce and fruit!
Prepping For the Storm
The dying Typhoon Songda from Japan is making its way across the Pacific Ocean to the US coastline and then inland. This is forecast to happen, on Saturday afternoon. I understand that this situation has not happened in a long time. The storms normally die in the Pacific. The last huge storm like this happened in October 1962, the "Columbus Day Storm". I moved to Oregon in late summer of 1966, so I have not experienced a storm like this.
I think that it is wise to prepare for the possibilities that may occur from this storm. The forecasters are predicting high winds and way more rainfall than is normal for the PNW USA. My thoughts are many falling trees, closing all the roads, landslides closing roads, and the loss the electrical power. It goes to say that there will be no television, land line phones, and Internet. We may not leave the farm for awhile, except to see our nearest neighbors, because we live in a rural area.
What have I done;
stored drinking water
stored gasoline for the generator, and maybe autos
Plenty of normal supplies
washed all the dirty clothing
washed all the dishes
prepared some stew and other food to heat up
plenty of candles on hand
batteries
put everything outdoors in protected buildings
charged all the phones, tablets, and backup batteries for those items
plenty of charcoal briquette's for dutch oven cooking
We have plenty of firewood. The temperatures are going to stay about 60, so not extreme. The pool will provide all the wash water and toilet flushing water we need.
There will be baking of sourdough biscuits, and cookies.
The storm may change direction, but I think that I am wise.
Friday, October 14, 2016
We have been making a honey-sticky mess getting the honey processed. We are doing the raw honey method. See this link for a good idea of the process Raw Honey Extraction
The goal here at High Prairie Farmgirl's is to complete the project tomorrow, ending with lovely jars of raw honey. This will make one more project done for the year. There will be a good quantity of bees wax left from the project. I am asking one friend if she could use it in her handmade lotions, and other projects.
Thursday, October 13, 2016
I love the unique art that Kelly Rae Roberts creates. In fact, I have two small prints right by my desk. I met her at the Brave Girl Symposium in July, and she is great. That occasion was her first public speaking engagement, and she did well. She is now going to NYC to speak at an art gathering. She is from Portland Oregon and sells her art online and at one store. www.kellyraeroberts.com
Tuesday, October 11, 2016
Oh yeah Girlfriends, Today is Apple Pie Day....says me. Everything is very busy here on the farm. We are prepping for fall rainy season, and winter. Right now there are multiple projects ongoing. We harvested honey from our 6 hives on Sunday, and now are extracting the honey, filtering in, processing it, and putting the honey into storage jars. The project is just starting...but I estimate that we will end up with 75 lbs of honey.
Another ongoing project is heating and purifying the beef tallow for handmade soap. This takes several days, I use a crock pot inside the shop...to keep the mess and smell out of the house. I may make soap next week.
We have been preparing the barn and paddock areas for the cattle. We keep them close to home during the winter feeding season. They enjoy the summer months of pasture and we let them stay as long as possible.
I cleaned and defrosted, the extra freezer and refrigerator that is inside the shop. I organized the indoor freezer.
We backed the big travel trailer into the shop for the next 7 - 8 months.
I have been putting things inside the shop, the pool house, and the greenhouse, meaning- the garden stuff that does not remain in the weather. Cleaning plants out of the yard & garden, I have removed several tractor loads. The plant material goes on a large compost pile There are still harvests to be done...beets, parsnips, and sweet potatoes. I am waiting for a freeze before harvesting these things.
Tomorrow on the schedule, prune all the mature lavender plants back and haul the cuttings away. Most people do this earlier...I leave mine until the blooming is completely over, for the bees to get the pollen and nectar.
We are expecting a major rainstorm later this week and weekend. There are plenty of things to do inside during that time.
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