New Computer & Pants

Well . . . . our new computer came today. I have to wait for Mom and Dad to get their tax returns in order to get the high speed internet so for the time being we're using the old computer for the internet. I hope this computer doesn't crash anytime soon!!!!!

Last night I sewed a pair of PJ pants. They turned out very well! I'll have to get a picture. They are a light blue with cows jumping over moons. I like cows. I have a whole wall in my room that has cow pictures!!!!

Interesting Start

I had a very interesting start to my Saturday. I stayed the night at my brothers' house (two brother's renting together) because my oldest brother (Ben) invited me to go to a professional lacrosse game. I live about an hour and a half from where they do so I spent the night so I didn't have to drive home late when the game was over. I got up this morning to go back home and as I was backing out of the driveway (I had to go around Andy's car) I got stuck in the snow. Andy tried to help me get out but we'll have to wait for Ben to get back from work to help us with his pick-up truck. AND there is a BIG snow/ice storm coming across the state of Minnesota this evening and I don't want to drive in that home. So I get to spend another night with my brothers!!!!!!!!

Cute Purse

I made a very cute purse today! It's lime green. It's a smaller purse but just the right size for me. It's a little less than a foot long. I got a little messy attaching the liner to the zipper but other than that it turned out fantastic!

Yummy!

The other night Mom let me pick the marinade for a venison roast that we had in the freezer. It turned out SOOOOO good that I had to share with you the recipe.

Basic Marinade
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
2 tbsp. vegetable oil
2 tbsp. soy sauce
2 tbsp. ketchup
1/4 tsp. onion salt
Garlic powder to taste,
Black pepper to taste.
Combine ingredients and use with beef, pork, or chicken (or venison!!).

Pot Holder

I made a pot holder today. I made it from a pattern I found online and it turned out pretty good! My future kitchen will be cows so I thought I would make one that I could put into my hope chest and save for later use.

Funny Chickens

I just had to share with you what our chickens do during the cold winters here in Minnesota! We've had -33 wind chills here for the past few days.

They sit on top of our cows to get themselves warm!!!!!! Who ever said chickens were dumb?

Kitchen Tip

Hi there,

Did you just burn food to the bottom of your pot/pan? Can't get it off with a scraper no matter how hard you scrape? Put just enough vinegar to cover the bottom of your pot/pan. Then put twice that amount of water in. Boil that mixture and watch as the burnt food lifts away. It might take a while if it's really bad but it will work!!!!!!!

Happy Birthday!

Today is my birthday!!! I turned 17 today. My parents gave me a FarmGirl t-shirt, long sleeve, it says "Fresh from the Farm". They also gave me a white,Kitchen Aid, 5 quart, mixer!!!!! I will use that a lot once I get my own house. My mom has a 6 quart kitchen aid mixer and she uses it EVERY DAY.

A Little Sewing

I just got done sewing my christmas skirt for this year of 2009! I used a pattern from Favorite Things Pattern Design. It was THIS pattern. It turned out reall cute and now I'm working on a purple shirt to go with it.

I finished wraping most of my gifts. I still have to sew Dad's and Andy's and then I will be done for this christmas season!!!

I have to work for the next 6 days Which should make them go fast and I can get to christmas faster!! Got to look for the good in everything my Mom always says.

Busy

I've been busy lately...sorry I haven't written. I got a job at a Target and have been trying to get trained in that.

I have also been helping my Mom work on my family's website: www.freedomacresfarm.webs.com

I did make a Twitter account and you can now get updates from me quicker here: www.twitter.com/homedaughter

Sorry Again,
Hannah

School Pictures

This week we took our homeschool pictures. And this is the results. We took them ourselves and we are going to get them printed on 8x10 photo paper.

This is me. I'm almost 17.














This is Sophia. She turned 4 in February.

This is Nate. He turned 3 in January.

This is Micah, he just turned 2 in September.

Family Fun

Andy came home today and the little kids (Sophia, Nate, and Micah) didn't know that he was coming. The kids were down stairs and as he went down there to greet them I heard joyful screams of "Big Brother Andy is home!" The kids get so excited when my brother's come home. Ben had to work but Andy managed to get the day off and come up to the farm.

Tomatoes, Tomatoes, Tomatoes!

I'm sick of tomatoes!!!! We've been canning all of our tomatoes into what we call our red sauce. We use it in hot-dishes, pizzas, spaghetti sauce, etc.

We remove the cores of 30lbs of tomatoes and then put them (a few at a time) into our Vita Mix (a really cool blender) skins and all and then we heat them. We add our spices:
4 1/2 Tbsp. Salt
2 Tbsp. Oregano
4 Tbsp. Parsley
2 tsp. black pepper
1/4 cup brown sugar
5 cloves garlic, minced

We saute 1 medium onion and 1 medium green pepper in 1/4 cup vegetable oil and add that as well. Then we bring to a boil and then let it simmer until it gets to thickness we like. Then we can it up in pints in a boiling water bath for 40 Minutes.

Apples and Grapes

Last week we made apple cider. We made 7 gallons of cider and we canned it for this winter! We also made lots more apples sauce! I'll have to get a total count on everything in our pantry for you.

I have purple fingers!!!! Yesterday and today I picked our neighbors grapes off the vine so Mom could make grape juice! My fingers are very purple. It's a good thing my favorite color is purple!!! We picked 11 buckets (5 gallon buckets) of grapes and got about 22 gallons of juice.

Now on to the tomatoes that are coming in! We will be making sauce out of that to make pizza and hot dishes with.

Canning Season

So far our pantry has acquired: 35 quarts of peaches, 7 quarts of beans, 21 quarts of dill pickles, 6 quarts of apple sauce, and 3 quarts of spaghetti sauce. We still have a good 6 weeks of canning left yet!!!

August 22, 2009

Today… August 22th, 2009
Outside my window… Wild flowers are growing in the grass.
I am thinking… about what I have to get done this week for school.
I am thankful for… My new sewing machine!I am wearing… Jeans, a t-shirt, a sweat shirt and socks.
I am reading… nothing but my school books right now.
I am creating… Christmas gifts (yes really). When you have 5 gifts to make you need to start early.
One of my favorite things… my new rabbit, Dot.
For education this week… I'm starting Chemistry
A keeper at home skill I am using/learning … Sewing on my new machine.
A spiritual lesson I’m learning… is having a servants heart.
A godly character trait I plan to work on… Consideration.
Scripture I am memorizing… 1 Chronicles 29:11 &12.
I am praying for… My country (The United States Of America)
For the rest of the week… I plan on having a good start to my first term as a Junior.

New Shirt

I finally finished sewing a shirt that I've had cut out for two years!!! I'll have to get a picture for you to see. It is McCall's 5138, view D.

Picture of my shirt coming soon.

New Bunny

This is my new rabbit, Dot. She is a Mini Rex and is about 6 weeks old. She is very soft and is quite small yet, but she will grow.

Baby Chicks

We've got quite a few baby chicks here on the farm. I'll take some pictures this week and get them posted so you can see.

We home hatched 2 about two months ago (but a fox got one) and then 3 about 3 weeks ago and now we have 12 that just hatched last Sunday (the 9th). We have two different chickens that went broody.

After that fox got 6 of our good layers we had to build up our flock some how and we thought this might be a good idea! WE had to get rid of our rooster because he attacked Sophia. We hope one of the babies is a rooster so we can continue to have babies.

New Sewing Machine

I got a new sewing machine on Saturday. It's a HuskyStar C10, desighned by Husqvarna.

It has many decoritive stiches.