It’s that time of year when it seems everyone wants something, mostly monetary donations. I’m here to keep more of the dosh in your pocket; it may seem like only pennies but like Benjamin Franklin said, “Watch the pennies and the dollars will take care of themselves”. My first cheap聽frugal solution concerns the kitchen. Some of the cheap frugal things…
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I Hate Saying Good-bye 馃槩
Pixie (Siamese), Hattie (calico), Grandma (gray) and Inky (black) I’m tired of saying good-bye. Tonight it was Hattie Cat, one of the first barn cats I brought to the house more than 24 years ago. Old age comes to those of us most fortunate and it came to Hattie, so named by Dave but unbeknownst to him it was my…
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Fire Starters – Fast, Inexpensive Small Gifts
~ ingredients ~ At the last farm, heat was provided by a couple of stoves…one was a black, round, potbelly stove that was used for coal and the other stove was a stove using wood. Dave always liked “fat wood” to start his fires while I, being the cheapskate, liked to make and use fire starters. Fat wood is, basically,…
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A Small Thing but My Own
Winter Farm Prep, Hodge Podge Catch-Up
Winter Farm Prep looks different for each farm but there are a few things that every farm has in common. My small garden takes an afternoon to prep while the prep for horses and equipment takes much longer. Speaking of the garden, I gather the last of the fruit and vegs then pull up the plants to take to the…
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10 Days of WORK!
Almost two weeks ago, Daniel, a friend from the old farm came to visit and work. An amazing amount was accomplished in the barn, on the farm, in the house, on the driveway. Seriously, I’ve got three pages of chores/work that’s been checked off. While he was here, Katelyn and Christopher were here as well; Katelyn is a farrier and…
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My Other Self
聽~ home, where my dreams lead ~ Recently, I asked someone if I’d heard God wrong. I thought He said, “Make the blog a business; tell what you know because every time an old person dies, a library is lost.” I just spent 2 hours writing an article on moving from city to country, hit publish and POOF! it’s gone….
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Vintage Homestead – Windfall Apple Butter
Granny and PawPaw Lynch lived beside my parents; in fact, it was PawPaw who sold my parents their acreage to start their own homestead. Daddy grew up on an Appalachian homestead doing all those things one imagines on a hardscrabble farm. They raised most everything they needed to eat聽 (milk cow, chickens, hogs, garden, hunted, fished) and for many decades…
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Can One Die From Takotsubo Cardiomyopathy?
Be warned, this is a self indulgent post; you may choose to abandon now. I am not a person for whom happiness comes easily now which is one of the great ironies of life. My middle name, Kay, is Celtic for happy but it seems, along with that name, I’ve also inherited the Celts propensity for ennui. A lot of…
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A Holiday From Normal
~ “Where y’all been?” asks Sam P. Spade, Secret Angel ~ By now it’s no surprise I’m a low tech anything technical. When I began doing this post hours and hours ago, I realized there were comments to which I’d never responded so began, an hour several hours ago (sensing a theme?) by answering. Heck, it’s been so long since…
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