My Monday Weekly Happenings 2.24.14

Well it's basically Tuesday now! We got home late last night and I didn't get much done other than unpacking. Wanted to enjoy time with the kids since being gone all weekend. This weekend (Friday- Sunday) we enjoyed a bus trip to Wisconsin with the Young Farmers group we are a part of. It was a District 1 and 3 trip, that included couples from 13 counties. The group goes every year in February or March, but we haven't been since 2006, so we were looking forward to going! It was a nice getaway before getting crazy busy in the greenhouse. We toured places like Miller Brewery, Harley Davidson Museum, and Sprecher Brewery to name a few. I will do a blog post later this week about our trip.

The Weather: Last week we had some wild weather with heavy snow, then a lot of rain and warmer temps, ice, then fog and snow again. Looks like this week we are in for some really cold temps again. I hear the polar vortex is coming around again. Lovely! I was just getting excited I could see the dead grass under all the snow. Even if it is brown.

On The TV: Nothing, the kids are all tucked in bed and I'm working in my craft room.

On The Menu For This Week:

Monday - Spaghetti and Meatballs
Tuesday - Beef Enchiladas
Wednesday - Biscuits and Gravy
Thursday - Chicken Breast and Pasta Salad
Friday - Ty's School Carnival
Saturday - Crockpot Broccoli and Cheese Soup
Sunday - Fiesta Omelets with Bacon

To Do List For The Week: baby shower planning, trip to the fabric store, working on orders, working in the greenhouses, market stuff, and the general house work and laundry.

Sew.Stitch.Create. Projects for the Week: Crochet and sew custom orders. Some of my favorite things to do :) Shipping prop beds out. Hope to come up with a new idea for a wood prop also to be built.

Some of my completed projects from last week:

Newborn baby girl set and owl hat

Super Hero snack bags

Walker Farms Projects for the Week: The new chicks will be arriving this week. Getting things started in the greenhouse, lettuces, spinach, green onions, etc.

Pictures From The Week:

Making a mess with her yogurt ha!

Old Mill turned Feed Store in Cedarburg, Wisconsin from our trip. Love old buildings!!

Thanks for reading!!
Stacy

Cheesy Ham Hashbrown Casserole

I love casseroles and this is one of my family's all time favorite meals. It's easy and you can just throw the ingredients together and walk away from while it's in the oven. We eat this often and it is a good go-to dish to take to family gatherings.

Casserole Ingredients Needed:

24 oz. hashbrowns - shredded or homestyle (we like shredded best)
16 oz diced ham
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 can cream of chicken soup
16 oz sour cream
1/4 cup onion
1 stick of butter melted
pepper to taste

Combine the above casserole ingredients together in a large bowl and mix well.

Transfer to a 9x13 casserole dish 

Topping Ingredients

2 cups cornflakes
1/2 stick of butter melted

I like mine extra crunchy so sometimes I tend to add more cornflakes

Mix the cornflakes and melted butter together, then add to the top of the casserole. 

Bake at 350 degrees for 60 minutes.

So simple and easy. The best part is that there isn't a huge mess in the kitchen to get a tasty dinner!
Enjoy!!

My Monday Weekly Happenings 2.17.14

Another week of February over in a blink of an eye! This passed week I enjoyed traveling to Indianapolis to attend a blog workshop meeting. Hearing other talk about their blogs gives inspiration! The boys both had great times at their Valentine's parties at school.

The Weather: I think Mother Nature thinks we want more snow! Although we truly were due for a good cold winter, I think it's safe to say most are ready to say goodbye to this white stuff! We had a few inches of snow on Saturday evening and are getting more today. School let out early due to the 6-8 inches and strong winds we are expecting. It was a nice drive home! Our road drifts pretty bad and is basically drifted shut in spots in less than 2.5 hours of the snow storm. The temperatures are kind of all over the place for this week!

On My TV: Nothing right now. I have been watching the show The Lying Games on Netflix after the kids go to bed and I'm working on my crochet orders.

On The Menu For This Week:

Monday - Cheesy Ham Hashbrown Casserole
Tuesday - Crock Pot King Ranch Chicken
Wednesday - Meatloaf and Mashed Potatoes
Thursday - Cheeseburgers and Pasta Salad
Friday - Eating out
Saturday - Eating out
Sunday - not sure yet.

To Do List For The Week: Working on playing catch up with getting laundry put away. I can always keep up with getting it washed pretty good, its the folding and putting away that easily gets put until later.

Sew.Stitch.Create. Projects For The Week: I need to make a fabric run for a burp cloth order. I love fabric runs!! Of course because I always find more that I went in just to get. I can get lost looking at fabric! Don't tell your husband you'll be in and out when he plans to wait in the car for you. I think an hour was too long :) He just laughed though, so its all good.

Here's some things I finished this week:

Hat with flower and matching fingerless gloves

Farm print bib and burp cloths


For this week, I hope to finish a colorful goat hat, make a newborn owl hat, and newborn diaper cover with matching hat. I am almost caught up on orders as well.

I recently put a few items in my ETSY shop, my husband has made me some wooden props, and they are doing well. Looking forward to adding more items as time allows to get things made.

Walker Farms Projects For The Week: Getting ready for new chicks, and start seeding early spring produce.


Pictures From This Week:

Today during the snow storm

 

The Farmer In Him

On Friday's L doesn't have preschool, so he spent the afternoon with my brother yesterday. They spent the majority of the time working on things in the shop. The plan was after I got off work and picked up T from school, we would be by to pick L up. Then swing by my in laws to pick up B on the way home.

Before we left the boys wanted to help do chores. That's perfectly fine with me! I want them to have every opportunity possible to help out. Plus it's calving season for my brother and parents herd, so they were excited to see the baby calves again. L is a true farm boy, and couldn't wait to "take the strings off the bales" as he would say with his slight twang in his voice. Every chance he can he wants to be helping and says "we have work to do."

We headed out to feed and water the cows and saw a new calf just born. We had missed the birth by probably only 5 -10 minutes. Growing up I remember it was always so exciting to see calves and foals be born. Especially with the horses, as they were up at the house during foaling time, my dad would wake us up first thing in the morning, "We had a filly this morning" or "We had a stud colt this morning" and we would hurry out to see and see what kind of coloring we got (we had paint horses). Or on occasion, even the middle of the night, a calf or foal was being born right then and we were able to watch. I hope my kids get to witness it sometime as well.

We needed to get the cow and calf into the barn, coming from work, heels aren't too helpful in the cow pasture in snow. So I grabbed a pair of my brother's bibs and boots and helped get the other cows and calves moved around to bring in this next one.

L was full of questions as always.

"What's that hanging from his belly?"
"That's the umbilical cord."
"What is a 'bilicord' for?"
"Well its how the baby gets food when its inside the cows belly."
"Oh, Ill have to tell Grandpa I saw that!"

"Why's the cow going that way?",  "What's that gate for?" "What's this, What's that?" So inquisitive he is!

He is truly our little farmer and so interested in everything. He is so willing to work and help out! He couldn't wait to give the cows each some slabs of hay. He would throw up a slab, it'd come back down, and he would keep trying until he got it into the pen.

"Why do the cows drink so much?" "Why do some have horns?"

At this time, we don't have any other animals at our house other than the chickens and our dog, so I love any extra agriculture experiences that they can get. L is definitely one that will take up any offers and I am so glad he does. I love seeing the little farmer in him!



Have a great day!
Stacy

Handmade Valentine's Giving

Valentine's Day is this Friday! (Ahh it seems like we just celebrated Christmas!) So, this means school parties and excitement for the kids!
This year I wanted to find some online printables for Valentine's cards. In previous years, we have bought the box ones from the store, but this year I wanted to do something different. The kids always enjoy helping and I can't pass up a time to be a little crafty.
I found a blog that had put together a post with 75 of the best Valentine's Day free printables. You can find it here. Another blog had a variety of printables for all seasons also. We used this one here. I showed the boys some options and let them decide, below is what they settled on.

T adding pencils to his maze card.

Supplies needed for L's candy planes

The finished planes for 10 preschoolers :)

Our finished products!

 So if you are still in need of Valentine's cards for your kids' school parties, try some online free printables. It's fun to have something a little different and a great opportunity to do some DIY as well!

Thanks for reading!
Stacy

My Monday Weekly Happenings 2.10.14

I can't believe it is almost the middle of February already by the end of this week. It seems like the months just fly by. But I'm ok with February moving along fast, so we can get to March and closer to Spring.

The Weather: Looks like we will have a few colder days this week, but I will be looking forward to those 23 degree days. I also believe I saw next week's projected temperatures were in the high 30s. On a positive side, it looks like the kids will have a full week of school. I don't think there has been a full week since Christmas break was over. We looked back at our farm calendar today and on this date last year it was 40 degrees.

 

On My TV: We just finished watching Despicable Me 2 with the kids before bedtime. Nothing at the moment though.

On The Menu For This Week: Lately we have been doing a lot of crock pot meals. Last night, we had chicken and dumplings in the crock pot. We are also trying new recipes, thanks to Pinterest, blogs, and websites, to expand the variety of meals we have.

Monday - Cheeseburger Casserole
Tuesday - White Chicken Chili in biscuit bowl
Wednesday - Leftovers
Thursday -  Beef Tacos
Friday - Chicken Tortellini Alfredo
Saturday - Homemade Pizza
Sunday  - French Toast - I like to have breakfast for dinner atleast once a week!

On My To Do List This Week: I think laundry and general cleaning are never ending and always on the to do list. I will be working on Valentine's goodies and cards for the boys' classes.

Sew.Stitch.Create. Projects For The Week: Finish a flower hat, finish two amigurmui dolls, work more on some upcycled props and tiebacks, and a colorful goat hat. I don't have much listed in my Etsy sight, but was excited to have a Etsy sale of a newborn prop bed this weekend also.

Here are completed projects from the past week:

I hadn't made snack bags for a while, and had an order for some, so I'm excited to bring them back to my page.

Chevron Peasant Dresses were shipped out this week.

 

A handwritten canvas sign made for a new baby boy  - baby shower

Newborn twin prop set made

 Fingerless gloves made

 

 Burp cloths on terri cloth

Walker Farms Projects For The Week: We are expecting baby chicks soon, so we are getting ready for them. We are also getting our seeding area ready to start seeding vegetable flats. Planning to start this coming weekend. Looking forward to fresh produce soon!

Pictures Of The Week:

I told her to smile and say cheese and this is what I got :) Her personality is really starting to show. Love it!

The boys built a blanket fort one of the days we were home on a snow day.

Eating their pizza and watching a movie in their fort.

 

Have a great Monday, thanks for reading!

Stacy

Mess Free Finger Painting On Our Snow Day

Today we are home, snowed in. I'm not sure the exact amount of snow we have gotten because the wind is blowing pretty good out here in wide open country. We have two spots on our road, one to the North and one to the South, that drift shut pretty bad when we have this much snow and wind.

I knew I would need an activity for the kids to do, mainly the boys, to break up some of the day. I saw the idea of mess free finger painting on Pinterest. We haven't ever done that before so it would be a good activity they would be interested in for a while. I set it up early this morning and they have been back and forth several times. Going to play with other things and coming back to the finger painting. I also eventually put a letter sheet there so Lane could practice his letters.

Are you snowed in today? Give this activity a try.

All you need:
Ziploc bags
Paint
Tape
A window/A piece of white paper if placing on a table - so they can see the picture they are making better

Ty drew a tractor

 

Lane said this was a field

Lane practicing letters

I think we are also going to do some baking today. I have two boys eager to help with cleaning today too so I will be taking advantage of that :) Working on orders during nap time will also be on my list.

Have a great "snow" day everyone!
Stacy

Sledding!!

This weekend we got some sledding and fort making time in.

It was a little warmer outside, so we took advantage of that. My dad called to see if we wanted to go  - Of course we do!  

 

 

We're supposed to get more snow today through Wednesday, so I'm sure we will go sledding again! 

Have a great day everyone! 

The Farm That Used To Be

I was moving things around in our living room yesterday, moving some furniture to new locations, changing up pictures on the wall, and rearranging my decorations.

Sometime you just need to move things around for a new look. 

Well one of the things I moved was this picture, moving from one wall to another wall. On this space I think I like it best. It has its own little area it seems.

My husband and I have a strong appreciation for history, local history more specifically. Even more than that we truly appreciate the history of our property and surrounding area. As I moved this picture and look at it, I just wonder how is used to be and what it was like. 

The land we live on was bought by Rudolph Savich from Benjamin Gifford (where the little old town of Gifford got its name). The old gambrel style barn was built in 1913 and lived in until 1939, when the house was built. Oh how I wish that barn was still there! 

The hill our house sets on was called Rattlesnake Island until the muck was drained. Rudolph's wife dug a mote on the property while they were building the house, to keep the snakes out. Some of this is still present today and is part of the driveway. 

Rudolph's son Emil took over the farm at some point. He added onto the house. You can still see the spot on the wall where the old stove used to be. 

The large buildings were built for potato storage. After he quit potatoes, the block shed was converted to a hog barn.

This aerial photo was from 1966, when the farm we live on was probably in its prime.  Scott got it as a gift one year for Christmas.

The house and the three large sheds are still standing and also the shed in the back. Now there is also a swing set, two greenhouses, a chicken coop, a covered pavilion, and 3 children and a chocolate lab that play outside.  Now it is Walker Farms. We grow produce for our CSA and local farmers markets. We grow pumpkins, gourds, squash, and Indian corn as well. Most of what we grow is off site but this is where it all comes. We hope to add more chickens, and some beef cows. We will eventually put up some more greenhouses as well. We continue to update the old farm house to make it our own.

We won't ever forget the history of our farm, we will pass it down.

Thanks for reading!
Stacy