Grow and Regrow

     Use your scraps to grow new things 

        Last year when the pandemic started and people were crazy over seeds we looked around to find seeds at home. One of the sought-after and most used veggies in my house is the carrot. We are always trimming the tops. Last year we put them in water and grew them a few weeks .... they failed. This year I had to do a juice diet as part of a gastro thing and we had a ton of carrots we tried every way to re grow them just trial and error and finally, it worked

Here are our steps to get it to work cut off the top leaving about an inch. Then put it into a container and drain the water every other day. We left them on the counter in full sun. When the little carrot bit gets some roots plant them in the soil. 

We put ours in a pot to see how they grow this time last time we put it in the soil and it failed. If they fail this time we will do cold frames and our greenhouse next year.

Momma's Mayo Muffins

Mayo Muffins

 

                            As part of this Homestead journey, we are learning to bake from scratch and use what we have. We have a very old cookbook from the great depression and picked up a few things from in it and look for more all over the internet. We are really trying to use my cookbooks more but I am not alone in the cooking adventure most nights my 9-year-old helps cook or bake. 

One thing you will never see me do is "fix " a mess or a tray she has made ... she is learning from her mistakes if it has flour on the tops she knows to mix it better next time.

They were so yummy and they think next time we add cheese or seasoning to them to really get some bang out of these in different meals.

Now for how to make these wonderful fluffy muffins

2 cups flour 

2 tsp baking powder 

1 tsp of salt 

1 cup of milk

4 tbs of mayo
1 egg  
stir in wet to dry for 5 mins scoop into a well-greased muffin pan bake in a preheated 350-degree oven for 15-18 mins. 

 

  This Old Store

This is a bit of a history lesson on where we live 

Our house was built in the 1870s, it is two stories with a wood frame, clapboard siding, and a stone foundation. Its siding material, window trim, storefront design, and doors have never been altered. The second floor also retains its historic layout with paneled doors, ornate keyholes, decorative baseboard, and plaster walls and ceilings. It was run as a general store till 1968 and then sat abandoned until 1995. In 1995 a wonderful family moved it off its stone foundation ( but kept the stones to use later) and restored it with care keeping all of the charms. They lived in it and care for it, they used the building for all the family businesses so it has been just about anything you can think of in its long life.  We approached this family with our dream and asked if they were willing to sell the property to us. They agreed and then the hard work and fun started.

Move-in day 2nd-floor living area

   

In getting our home we used a VA loan ... one part of the Va loan was no peeling paint ... so for the whole month of Oct before we brought our house day and night we painted.

    

                    

When we finished it went from a yellow little store to a tan and green family home filled with love and happy times ahead.

Introduction to Why bury your hands

Why bury your hands in the land? 

Why not? 

    This is a quick introduction to why we started on this journey. Have you ever had a life change that was so dramatic you looked at the world in a totally different way. In 2008 we moved to England and then Germany while Daddy O was in the military, living there really connected us to our food. We had a milkman, we would get weekly CSA boxes, and we would attend markets. When it came to leaving the services we did not want to leave that behind. We started looking for forever places we both wanted land to grow on and a quirky house.  That look ended when we found the perfect place for us in 2018 in 2019 we purchased it every day we try to learn something or do something to better it for ourselves. I will be putting in some lessons learned over 2020 as I record keep for 2021. This blog is just that a record-keeping tool for the homestead.

    So now you know the why here is the why not. In Jan 2015 I was diagnosed with Inflammatory Breast Cancer stage3c at the time I was given 5 years to live I am in year 6. Things are tough, there are days I do not want to get out of bed. There are days I can not get out of bed. There are children in this house who step up and say that this is not a why not this is a why not do it. We are homesteading and because we need to bury our hands in the land instead of burying our heads in the sand.

    Now here is the fun part of who we are. You know a bit about me ( Momma O and Daddy O ) here is the rest of the homestead we have a 9-year-old who hates chores but loves outside, an 8-year-old who loves tools, dirt, and animals, and last a 7-year-old who we have to pay to go outside somedays. We have 2 dogs one is 15 one is 1 and adding animals yearly. Daddy O is a retired Navy computer man who has taken up construction for fun because he likes hard work. He is into trees, firepits, and beer. I am a teacher who loves outside, learning, and teaching my children. This blog will contain a little bit of all those things.
       

     I will save the rest of the stuff for the blog but that is a bit of us

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