Visit from Family and Friends

Posted by Amanda Silvey

     Two weeks ago Mom's parents drove down from St.Louis for a visit. They had been to our uncle and aunt's house in Jacksonville,TX, and came by here on their way home. They met us at a church in Waldo where Dad was filling in, and since the song leader was gone that night Grandpa got to do the music. Right after they left some friends from Kansas came to see us, so we had a full week. :) We were very excited about getting to see them all again, and we had a great time.

Grandma helped us snap beans while Will showed Grandpa how

to sell things on ebay.

Many hands make light work!:)

Grandpa acting like his normal self.

On Monday we went and visited the fire department where Will works. 

It was neat looking at all the big trucks.

That's a lot of hose.

Dad had to explain to Grace what the pole was for. :)

We then headed upstairs to see the living quarters.

Here is where everyone bunks.

Thanks for the tour Will! Keep up the good work.

The next night Pap, Nana, and Aunt Lynn joined us for supper.

It was a treat to be with both sets of grandparents at one time.

Pap, Nana, and Aunt Lynn, relaxing after supper.

Grandma and Grandpa 

Thanks for coming to see us!

The Adams, our friends from Kansas, came down to see us a few days after our

 grandparents left. While they were here, Will and Mr.Keith worked on our well pump.

                             We took them to Hope one day and gave them a tour of the firehouse.

                            

                                                Keiton tried out the exercise equipment. 

Will explained how all the trucks work.

                                              

We timed Will putting all his gear on; it's amazing how he gets it all on in less than a minute!

It was pretty warm that day, and it must be hot wearing all that in a fire.

We enjoyed the visit! Hope to see you guys again sometime soon. 

And according to Jared :), the best part of the week was getting to go

and hear his favorite quartet, the Melody Boys, sing.

Farm Happenings

Posted by Amanda Silvey

Hello everybody! I know it’s been awhile since we posted anything, so here are a few pictures that give you a glimpse of what has been going on around here.   

 Spring is in the air. God’s creation is so beautiful!

In the morning before breakfast we head out to the garden to do some hoeing.

 The weeds are growing pretty fast so we’ve had to stay on top of them.     

                         

                       We have found that these potato rakes are wonderful for getting weeds out.

                             

                                             With not using any chemicals in our gardening, picking potato bugs is an
                                  everyday task. We have to be diligent to pick them every morning so that they 
                                  do not eat the plants.

                         
                      Squash bugs like cool, dark places to hide under and we have found that placing
                   cardboard on the ground next to the squash plants has really helped. Usually in the
                   morning there will be a bunch of squash bugs under the cardboard, and we pick them off
                   and put them in a jar of water.

                          
                            We were blessed with a lot of rain this past week, and we nearly got flooded.

                          
                                                            The rain has really helped the garden to take off.

                              
                                                                 Our tomato plants are growing big and fast.

                          
                                                         We have some good sized tomatoes growing and
                                                                         these will be turning red soon. 
                                         
                          
                                                            Beautiful corn stalks growing in Jacob’s garden.

                          
                        The green bean plants are putting on and we have been picking a lot already.

                           
                                                                  Jared’s ducks absolutely love the rain!

                                 About 4 weeks ago one of Jared’s ducks hatched some Pekin duck eggs 
                              that he had bought. It is so fun to watch them follow her all around the yard.

                                  

                                                                                     Here they are now. 

                                       They have grown so fast and they are almost as big as their mother!

                       
                                   Here are some of our chickens. We have Rhode Island Reds, Dominiques
                                   (better known as "Dominickers" around here), and one guinea.

                                   
                                      Jared hatched some more chicks not too long ago and they are
                                               really enjoying this outside pen Will built for them.

                     
                                       The chicks are really friendly and love to be fed scraps.

                                                                           John is raising New Zealand rabbits for meat, and this is his first litter.                                                    He butchered one the other day and we had Rabbit and Dumplings. It tasted just like chicken! 

                         
                                         John and Will put together this outside pen for his rabbits
                                      so that they can stay cooler when the hot weather starts up.

                    
                                                We were excited to find a bunch of boysenberries
                   growing along the edge of our property, and we made some Boysenberry Jam…Yum!

                   
                                                 Sarah and Grace were having a lot of fun with this
                                           box turtle we found, which is affectionately called “Stacy”.

                           
                                                                            A beautiful sunset  

                                    “The heavens declare the glory of God; 

                                                  And the firmament shows    

                                                 His handiwork.”

                                        Psalm19:1                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

Happy Mother's Day!

 Happy Mother’s Day Mom.

                      We Love You!

"Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her:

'Many daughters have done well, but you excel them all.'

Charm is deceitful and beauty is passing,

 but a woman who fears the LORD, she shall be praised.

Give her of the fruit of her hands, and let her own works praise her in the gates."

Proverbs 31:28-31 

How to Save Money Making Your Own Laundry Soap

Posted by Dana Silvey

One of the things that we do here on our farm is learning how to be more self sufficient.  Part of this is making things our self.  This allows us to save money and to live a healthier lifestyle.  For this post I want to show you how we make our own laundry detergent.  I have made both the powder and liquid detergents but find the liquid to be more cost effective.  Just to quickly break down the cost for you:  one batch of the liquid detergent makes a five gallon bucket and usually lasts me about seven months (I usually do a load of laundry each weekday and maybe two on Saturday).  The cost for making one five gallon bucket is about $3.70, so divide that by seven months and you get about $.53 a month!

 Let me first give you the recipe then I will show you some pictures of us making the detergent:  (This recipe makes a five gallon bucket.  If you want to just make a small batch to try it out I will put those directions at the end.)

  

    

• 1 cup of Borax 
• 1 cup of Washing Powder
• 1 bar of soap (Fels Naptha or Zote)

(For the recipe I will show you below I used one bar of Zote.  I usually will use half a bar of each: Fels Naptha and Zote.  I have used just the Fels Naptha before.  You just need the equivalent of one bar of soap.)

*All of these ingredients are found in the laundry section at Wal Mart

                                                           *  *  *  *

 Grate your bar of soap with a cheese grater. Fill your 5 gallon bucket halfway full of hot water. Heat 4 cups of water in a pan on top of your stove.  Add your powders to this mixture and stir until they dissolve.  Now add your grated soap and stir until it is completely melted.   Add this soapy mixture to your 5 gallon bucket and stir well.  Now fill up your bucket the rest of the way with hot water and stir well.  I set the lid on top as I let the mixture cool.  As it is cooling I occasionally stir the mixture (maybe every hour or so).  As it cools it will begin to gel, so stirring occasionally will keep it from globbing up.  If your husband has one of those paint stirring sticks that attaches to the end of a drill you can use that to get it mixed well.  Once it is cooled you are ready to pour it into containers or you can leave it in your bucket.  I use old laundry soap containers that my mother-in-law saved for me.  In one container I fill halfway with my soap mixture and fill the rest with water.  I use this on my not so dirty clothes.  Then the other bottle I fill all the way with my soap mixture.  I use this on my boy’s dirty clothes.

Use 1/2 to 3/4 cup for your regular top loader machine and about 1/4 to 1/2 cup for your High Efficiency machine.  This detergent is low sudsing so you will not see a lot of suds like you would from store bought detergent.

 Step 1: Grate your bar of soap with a cheese grater.

 Step 2: Fill your 5 gallon bucket half full with hot water.

 Step 3: Heat 4 cups of water in a pan on your stove.

 Measure out your Borax and washing powder. 

 Step 4: Add powders to the 4 cups of water.

 Step 5: Stir until completely dissolved.

 Step 6: Add grated soap and stir until completely melted.

This is what your mixture should look like.

Step 7: Add soap mixture to your bucket.

 Step 8: Stir well.

Step 9: Fill the bucket up the rest of the 

way with hot water and stir well. 

 Step 10: Stir mixture as it cools.

When it has cooled it will be gel-like.

 Step 11: Now you can pour your mixture into your bottles

 or leave in your bucket.

A Note About Pre-treating Stains: The only thing I use to pre-treat stains is "just plain soap". What I mean by "just plain soap" is soap that has just two basic ingredients: Sodium Cocoate and Sodium Tallowate. These are the basic ingredients in just plain lye soap. A lot of the ingredients in our soaps and cleaners are harmful to us. The soap I use is Rosa Venus. It does have a third ingredient, fragrance, but this is one of the closest to “just plain soap” that I have found in the stores. I’m sure there are others out there, but this is the one my grocery store carries.  I keep a bar of this and a small bowl of water by my washer. When I have a stain to treat, I dip the soap in the water and rub it on the stain. I repeat this until the stain is wet and soapy.  The Fels Naptha soap also works well for pre-treating stains.

Small Batch of Laundry Soap

3 pints of water

1/2 cup Borax

1/2 cup Washing Powder

1/3 bar of soap (grated)

2 quarts of hot water

2 gallon bucket

Heat three pints of water on stove top.  Add powders and stir until dissolved.  Add grated soap and stir until completely melted.  Add two quarts of hot water to your bucket.  Pour in your soapy mixture and stir.  Fill your bucket up the rest of the way with hot water and stir.  As the mixture cools stir occasionally as it begins to gel.  Pour into your containers.   You can fill one container halfway with your soap mixture and fill the rest with water.  This you can use for clothes that are not heavily soiled.  Fill another container with just your soap mixture and use for heavily soiled clothes.