tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-88645967817300099582024-03-13T01:24:08.251-04:00The House on the HillThe story of a small West Virginia family starting their back to the land journey in the house on the hillAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17944842972501088288noreply@blogger.comBlogger282125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8864596781730009958.post-18495129564720285522017-08-27T20:41:00.000-04:002017-08-27T20:41:23.434-04:00It's Been A Year...AlmostI miss writing. I miss telling our story. So, I'm going to start writing more. And I'm going to tell more of our story. Garden, hen hatched chicks, my soap business, homeschooling - so much I have to tell you. But for now, I'll leave you with this picture of a recent garden haul. We are really loving these <a href="http://www.rareseeds.com/pink-senorita-zinnia/" target="_blank">Pink Senorita zinnias</a> from Baker Creek. Because life is more beautiful with flowers.<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17944842972501088288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8864596781730009958.post-81896395778822151182016-09-11T21:13:00.000-04:002016-09-11T21:13:27.685-04:00'Tis the Season...for Pumpkin!Labor Day is over, so you know what that means? No more white jeans, right? Or is that "cool" now? I don't know - fashion was never my strong point. No, no...labor day is over and now it means that the grocery stores are going to be flooded with pumpkin E.V.E.R.Y.T.H.I.N.G! Pumpkin spiced Cheerios. Pumpkin bagels. Pumpkin tea. Pumpkin coffee. Pumpkin peanut butter. So much pumpkin!<br />
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I love pumpkin as much as the next fall loving girl, but I prefer to get my pumpkin from the garden. A few years ago, I fell in love with the Long Island Cheese Pumpkin. Good flavor, great yield! They are doing great in my squash jungle this year and I harvested my first one a few weeks ago. They hold well in storage, but since I was looking to start my fall baking, I decided to roast it.<br />
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Roasting is simple - cut the pumpkin in half, place cut side down on a cookie sheet, add a little water and pop it in a 350 degree oven. Check on it periodically and when the skin is softened on the pumpkin, pull it out. Let it cool and then scoop the flesh into a food processor. Whiz that baby up and let it drain through some cheesecloth. Measure it out and freeze in quart bags for future use. I freeze mine flat on a cookie sheet first for better stacking in the freezer. You know, when you get a hankering for some pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. Or maybe some pumpkin bagels. I made some a few years ago...think I might have to pull out that recipe and make them again.<br />
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This pumpkin gave me 7 cups of pumpkin puree. Take that canned pumpkin! I have 5 more in the garden, so I should be able to fulfill all my pumpkin dreams this fall and winter. What about you? What's your favorite pumpkin treat?<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17944842972501088288noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8864596781730009958.post-57606670278558669042016-05-12T15:48:00.001-04:002016-05-12T15:48:37.599-04:00House on the Hill Soap Co Well, it's official - House on the Hill Soap Co is here! After over a year of vacillating on what to do, I've jumped right in. I will be selling my soap at the <a href="http://www.bridgeportfarmersmarket.com/" target="_blank">Bridgeport Farmers Market</a>, <a href="http://www.facebook.com/doddridgecountyfarmersmarket" target="_blank">Doddridge County Farmers Market</a>, and the <a href="http://www.facebook.com/bondscreekfarmmarket" target="_blank">Bonds Creek Farm Market</a> will carry a selection.<br />
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I won't be at each market every week, but check back here on the blog and I'll let you know where I'll be and what varieties I will have. This Sunday, May 15 is the opening day at the Bridgeport Farmers Market and I will be there! It is located off of I-79, exit 124. Just follow the signs, smells, and sounds that lead you to a truly fun Sunday treat. This week, I will have Oatmeal, Milk, & Honey, Oatmeal & Brown Sugar, and Chocolate Swirl.<br />
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I've already had a request for some online ordering, but for the time being I will only be at the markets. If you'd like to set up special orders or arrange for a local pick up, feel free to shoot me an e-mail at houseonthehillsoapco@gmail.com. I'm no longer on Facebook, but you can find me on <a href="https://www.instagram.com/houseonthehillsoapco/" target="_blank">Instagram</a>!<br />
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I'm so excited to have something I truly love doing and can do it while homeschooling my kids. And you know, keeping up that crazy chicken lady stuff, and growing as much food as we can. Here goes!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17944842972501088288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8864596781730009958.post-78716733166234412122016-03-25T13:45:00.000-04:002016-03-25T13:45:51.768-04:00A New JourneyIf you've been on my <a href="http://www.facebook.com/houseonthehillwv" target="_blank">Facebook</a> page over the last year, you've probably seen off and on posts about starting a soap business. I've been making soap for my family and friends now for over two years. It's really something I enjoy and I've gotten some great feedback about it. I *think* finally ready to take the plunge!<br />
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I really like making things from scratch, so soap was a no brainer thing for me to start making on our homestead. I have also adjusted the recipe to use tallow, which I have been rendering myself as well.<br />
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I'm working my way through the business mumbo jumbo right now - things like insurance and registering my business name. But, be sure to keep an eye out for House on the Hill Soap Co!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17944842972501088288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8864596781730009958.post-32429701413513650992016-03-01T12:25:00.001-05:002016-03-01T12:25:37.522-05:00Chicken SweaterChickens in sweaters are awfully cute, but did you know that chickens don't *need* sweaters? Chickens actually have a more difficult time in the summer than they do in the winter. Our coop has no supplemental heat or lighting and our gals fare just fine. I wanted to knit this sweater up just for fun - it really brings out Rose's comb, don't you think?<br />
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Be sure to check out my latest <a href="http://www.grit.com/animals/chickens/the-mystery-egg-zb0z1602.aspx" target="_blank">Grit blog</a>!</div>
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17944842972501088288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8864596781730009958.post-2865493363720254712015-09-14T12:55:00.001-04:002015-09-14T12:55:10.998-04:00A New Reason to Slow DownSoooo......I love being in the kitchen. It helps relieve stress and I love cooking up good, healthy food for my family. For my birthday two years ago, my hubs got me an electric pressure cooker. It's been a delight to use, especially when cooking up our dried beans from the garden.<br />
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Rewind to Friday evening. I was cooking some Calypso beans from last summer in the pressure cooker for some homemade baked beans. I had the chicken cooking all day in the crock pot and everything was ready to go for the baked beans, except the beans weren't quite ready. I released the pressure from the cooker and *thought* that there was enough released to open the lid. My first indication that the lid was still on somewhat tight should have made me stop. But, it didn't. I had two hungry kids and it was a beautiful day and I wanted to get dinner on the table so we could play outside until bathtime. Well, turns out, the cooker was not ready to be opened. As the lid released, boiling water spurted out all over my chest, arm, and thighs.<br />
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Fortunately, my kids and husband were playing in the living room and were nowhere near me. They also had no idea what happened until I screamed and was ripping my clothes off to run to the shower. I tried to run cold water on it, but it hurt too bad. When my husband realized what had happened and looked me over, he quickly ushered the kids ready and we got in the car to go to Med Express.<br />
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Luckily for me, the water did not hit my face or eyes. I do have 1st and 2nd degree burns, but it could have been far, far worse. I was prescribed pain medicine and some antibiotic cream and sent home with instructions to focus on "pain and protection." Since it hit the front of my legs, pants are out of the question. Luckily, I am a skirt and dress wearing fan for the summer and so, I've been ok so far. The pain medicine was really unnecessary as well (after my c-section, I only used Tylenol...).<br />
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I was reluctant to share this because it is somewhat embarrassing to make such a foolish mistake. But, as I spoke to my friends over the weekend and they saw the damage, not one person told me it was foolish or stupid. Everyone was relieved that it was not any worse and wished me well in my recovery. And while I hope to not have any major scarring from the incident, I will use any scar I have as a reminder to slow down. Life moves fast enough as it is, I don't need to rush things.<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17944842972501088288noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8864596781730009958.post-7381492569067750342015-09-08T12:46:00.001-04:002015-09-08T12:46:03.871-04:00What's on the Needles - Sept 7It's back! I'm starting back up my weekly "What's on the Needles" posts! Knitting really helps keep me centered and the benefits of knitting are numerous. Sharing with you helps me even more!<br />
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I've really grown to enjoy knitting socks. I used to collect toe socks as a teen (are those still a thing?!), so I think my adoration has been longstanding. I really like the way these self striping yarns knit up. I recently finished one sock and am going to cast on the second this afternoon.<br />
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What's on your needles?</div>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17944842972501088288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8864596781730009958.post-5634689218253451312015-09-07T19:55:00.005-04:002015-09-07T19:55:47.806-04:00Fall PlantingHappy Labor Day! I don't know about where you live, but the weather here today made it seem more like the 4th of July than Labor Day. We took advantage of somewhat cooler temperatures this morning to get out to the garden.<br />
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After reading <a href="http://www.motherofahubbard.com/" target="_blank">Mother of a Hubbard</a> and seeing all of Kathy's success with her eastern Kentucky winter garden, I've been itching to try my hand at it. Two weeks ago, we planted some beets and peas. The peas are starting to come up nicely. From what I've read, fall peas are far superior to spring planted ones, so time will tell!<br />
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I got some kale, spinach, swiss chard, and lettuce in the ground. I hope to do some succession planting of the lettuce and perhaps purchase some corn salad to plant in a few weeks. I also will be ordering our row cover this week. Despite the forecasted high of 96 tomorrow, cold weather will be here before we know it!<br />
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We also need rain - badly! We have 6 rain barrels and they are pretty much empty. We were able to set up our soaker hoses, so that will help out in keeping the newly planted seeds moist and ready to germinate.<br />
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Every time I go to the garden, I am accompanied by Chip. He slithers in through the fence. After the planting was done and the soaker hoses connected, I sat down for a minute to rest and watch the hoses do their thing. Chip decided it was prime time for some cuddling, and so we sat and enjoyed some quiet time alone. A rare occurrence around here!<br />
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How about you? Are you trying your hand at a fall or winter garden? Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17944842972501088288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8864596781730009958.post-4982356990436139002015-09-05T20:02:00.002-04:002015-09-05T20:02:30.883-04:002015 - The Year of the TomatoThe last two years, our tomato harvests have been pretty abysmal. Our first year, the wacky weather killed off a lot of our plants. Last year, without the fence, the chickens annihilated any chance of tomatoes. So, this year! This year! With remineralizing our soil (yes, I know, I need to dedicate a post to that!), our garden has been doing awesome. That and the fence.<br />
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Since we love tomatoes and tomato products through the winter, I came into this summer prepared. I started some of my own plants and bought other heirloom varieties from a farmer <a href="http://www.bondscreekfarm.com/" target="_blank">friend</a>. All in all, we started the summer with 2 dozen tomato plants. <a href="http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2015/08/18/432771713/cherokee-purple-the-story-behind-one-of-our-favorite-tomatoes" target="_blank">Cherokee Purple</a>, Mortgage Lifter, Bonny's Best, Pineapple, Black Krim, German Johnson, Amish Paste, Italian Heirloom, Stupice, Gold Medal, San Marzano, Sun Gold, and Black Cherry have all outdone themselves this year.<br />
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While I haven't been weighing each harvest to keep track, I do know we used 48 pounds for barbeque sauce and ketchup. We have 12 quart bags frozen of roasted tomato sauce and 14 jars of plain tomato sauce canned. We like to keep things plain around here so we can spice them up when we use them this winter. Our plants show no signs of stopping and I'd guess we've harvested <i>at least</i> 300 pounds.<br />
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We've also harvested 100 pounds of potatoes, 3 pumpkins, 18 Delicata squash, and we could actually grow decent carrots this year! How did YOUR garden do?<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17944842972501088288noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8864596781730009958.post-82897760276860643672015-05-27T19:17:00.001-04:002015-05-27T19:19:39.259-04:00The Great Garden ProjectLast year, our garden got totally annihilated by our chickens. It was totally our fault as we didn't have an adequate fence in place. And once those gals got the taste for heirloom tomatoes, they refused to share them. So, we plotted and planned over the winter.<br />
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Ever since we bought this property 6 years ago, Dan has had dreams of putting in a small vineyard for making his own wine. He decided that this was the year. As we were talking about the addition, we knew it would need to be fenced as well as the garden. So, to save some labor, he placed the vineyard next to the garden so it could be fenced as one.<br />
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The first layer of fence was installed before we planted the grapes so that the chickens or deer wouldn't just rip them up. As added protection, a second fence is being placed five feet away with an additional buried fence to deter any burrowing rodents.<br />
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Dan planted 21 grape plants - seven for white wine, seven for red wine, and a mixture of seven for fresh eating, jelly and juice.<br />
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The grapes arrived looking like dead sticks with roots as they were dormant one year plants. Once they were in the ground, they took off. They are looking great! Once the outer fence is up, Dan will build in his trellis system. And hopefully in a year or two, we will be enjoying some delicious grapes!<br />
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I've been working with a gardening friend of mine in Vermont on nutrient dense gardening techniques and we've done a lot of work on our soil so far. That's a whole other post, but I'm super excited for the garden this year!<br />
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I've gotten most everything planted except for the peppers and tomatoes we started and the okra. The tomatoes are caged and mulched with straw.<br />
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The onions are rocking so far and I've mulched around them as well.</div>
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The kids planted sunflowers and I planted zinnias. I'm hopeful for the zinnias - I had some nice ones growing last year before Dan decided to hoe them away...</div>
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Once all of the seeds are up, I plan to weed well and mulch around everything. Last year, we didn't have any success getting our peppers to germinate. This year, since each of our kids would eat their weight in bell peppers, we were determined to get some started. A heat mat worked wonders and we've had great germination success. The little plants are outside so they will be ready to go in the garden hopefully this weekend.</div>
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Whew...there's a lot more to talk about, so I'll save it for another post! How is YOUR gardening coming along?</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17944842972501088288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8864596781730009958.post-59085900645214360262015-03-02T13:20:00.000-05:002015-03-02T13:20:20.966-05:00The Root CellarHappy March! And I sure hope you February rocked as well. I know I haven't been updating much lately. There's not much exciting happening around these parts other than winter. Cold. Snow. Slick driveway. Let's just say I tend to become a hermit over the winter. And I really believe SAD is a real thing! <div>
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The chickens are getting coop fever. They can get out on a path I shoveled, but they're bored. The dog lays around and sleeps all day. The kids really need aired out. The forecast has some warmer temps coming up and I couldn't be more thrilled. </div>
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We have a few projects we've been working on. Namely some basement projects! When we built the house, we knew we wanted a root cellar. What's the point of growing a lot of good food if you don't have a place to put it? So, Dan recently put in some shelving. Let's just say it made a huge difference. He had some big plans for his wine storage in there as well, but this helped us majorly clean things up. Now, just to see those jars filled with food!</div>
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He also framed up a storage closet. The pictures aren't terribly exciting, so I won't bore you :-) Our next big project is the kids bedroom. We are getting some bunk beds this weekend and have some major closet organization planned. I guess there's more going on than I thought! </div>
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Check back this week and I'll show you the curtains I sowed up as well as tell you what happened to Rex Roo!</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17944842972501088288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8864596781730009958.post-22457538915900989892015-01-18T10:20:00.001-05:002015-01-18T10:20:28.432-05:002014: A Year in ReviewHey, look at me...the cool kid putting up my year in review post 18 days after the new year! Since it's about time for those new years resolutions to have fizzled out, grab yourself a cookie or two and check out what happened last year!<br />
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The new year started off COLD! And snowy. And I had an incredible case of cabin fever. As in, I was looking for villas in Italy and farms in France. I was convinced we needed to move to Europe. If you ever get bored, search for French farms. You can get some nice ones with 200 year old farmhouses.<br />
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But, I digress. 2014 for us was the year of the chicken. This was the year we were finally going to make the plunge into the world of poultry. It started by Dan planning and building a passive solar designed chicken coop. We had intended to get 20 Buff Orpington chicks from a local farmer, but she had some issues with her hatch. We instead for 3 chicks. While I had hoped to keep a flock of just Buffs as we read nothing but good things about them, I got bit by the feed store bug and ended up bringing home 8 assorted chicks. A local friend and her family were moving across the country, so we adopted their 10 hens. It was fantastic because we started with eggs right away instead of waiting! I recently wrote a blog for <a href="http://www.grit.com/animals/chickens/chicken-keeping-lessons.aspx" target="_blank">Grit</a> about our foray into chickens. Check it out!<br />
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The garden wasn't anything to write home about this year. We had hopes of fencing in the garden, but any efforts were immediately crushed by the chickens. Once they got a taste for the tomatoes....it was all downhill. We did harvest 80 pounds of potatoes and dried beans. I guess those are things that are unappealing to our flock!<br />
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We have been in fresh eggs since we have gotten our girls (and Rex!). Rex has proven to be an <a href="http://houseonthehillwv.blogspot.com/2014/10/rex-drunken-college-roo.html" target="_blank">enigma</a>, but is doing well now and has been taking good care of his girls. The girls have not taken any breaks from laying and we have learned that molting is rough. But, we are now those weird chicken people. My husband takes eggs to work and I'm already planning for a few colored egg layers for the spring!<br />
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When my kids give me the chance over the next few days, I'll be sharing with you our plans for the new year and a really cool website I've found!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17944842972501088288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8864596781730009958.post-85555844465560241392015-01-11T17:38:00.004-05:002015-01-11T17:38:54.619-05:00Happy New Year!Merry Christmas! Happy New Year! And happy anything else I might have missed in the last few weeks! Things got really crazy over the holidays with family visiting and time has gotten away from me. But, I'm back! And ready to share new and fun things with you all!<br />
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This past week was COLD! We are so fortunate we have a woodstove because the sun was pretty darn shy this week. Between keeping the woodstove stoked and making sure the chickens were fed and watered proved to be a tiring week for me. But, the temperatures are rising and the chickens were out pecking around today. We were out planning out our vineyard and fencing options for the garden. It is shaping up to be a really exciting spring between garden fencing, remineralizing the soil, and putting in our orchard and vineyard.<br />
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I hope to get a year end recap up this week - you know, only 2 weeks late. And I'll share with you an exciting Christmas gift. And our new years goals. Wow. I have a lot to catch up on! But, it is all exciting and I hope you'll check back to come along for the ride.<br />
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Although the sun hasn't been out much, there have been some pretty awesome sunsets. That's one of the best parts of living on the hill!<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17944842972501088288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8864596781730009958.post-24176633265494632742014-12-24T18:55:00.001-05:002014-12-24T18:55:43.883-05:00Merry Christmas<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17944842972501088288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8864596781730009958.post-75197033543028077372014-12-11T19:37:00.000-05:002014-12-11T19:37:18.123-05:00Winter SunI've mentioned before about how much we really love the sun. When we were investigating ideas for our house, we looked into a lot of options. We thought about a cob house. We were working out a floor plan for a yurt. We knew we wanted something that was efficient in some way - and that's what sold us on passive solar.<br />
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We literally live on top of a hill. We see no other houses and the only thing we do see other than trees is the stacks of a local power plant in the distance. And that's on the east side of our house, where we don't frequently look out the windows. It makes us laugh, because people think we live in a huge house because the whole south side is windows. It's really not that big! But, it certainly does look that way from the south.<br />
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For the passive solar design to be effective, there are some elements built into the design. An important one, especially for the winter, is the length of the overhang. Our roof has a two foot overhang! I'm used to it now, but when I drive by houses with no overhang at all, it looks weird :-)<br />
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The overhang keeps the sun out in the summer and allows for lots of sunlight to enter in the winter! We were skeptical at first, but were quickly proven wrong our first winter here. The sun can reach our woodstove and even the pennisula in the kitchen!<br />
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As the solstice approaches, we garner an even deeper appreciation of the sun. And look forward to the return of the light!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17944842972501088288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8864596781730009958.post-76147236924108094992014-12-10T13:42:00.002-05:002014-12-10T13:42:46.080-05:00On the Needles - Holiday KnittingI haven't been putting up my knitting updates recently...because, well, it's not that exciting. I decided to make a lot of the same thing (which is still a secret!) for Christmas gifts this year. So, I've been knitting like crazy. In 2 weeks, I can tell you what they are. Until then, any guesses?<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17944842972501088288noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8864596781730009958.post-73645507000093023372014-12-02T12:41:00.000-05:002014-12-02T12:41:01.468-05:00Do You Weave?So, I'm a little more than a month away from my birthday. Last year on my <a href="http://houseonthehillwv.blogspot.com/2014/01/a-milestone-birthday.html" target="_blank">birthday</a>, my mother in law gifted me a rigid heddle lap loom. The loom was handcrafted by a couple in MI, I believe, and is really quite gorgeous. The thought and care they put into making the loom and also the details that come with it are pretty top notch.<br />
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And so, I've had it almost a year. And I've only made 2 things with it. The scarf/table runner that it was warped to make and another small placemat. When my mother in law was in visiting over the summer, we attempted to warp it. It worked ok...but, warping is most definitely the hardest part of weaving! We warped it with cotton and the weft yarn was some beautiful hand dyed local yarn.<br />
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Things were going well, until we noticed that the heddle had a little snag in it. It was wearing down one of my warp pieces until it finally broke. We tried to knot it back together, but it wouldn't hold. So, instead of a scarf, I have a small table mat. That's ok!<br />
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We sanded the whole heddle to smooth out any bumps. I have an eight dent rigid heddle, which is suited to use worsted weight yarns. And I haven't attempted to warp it since. But! The cold weather is certainly starting to set in and what better time to start!<br />
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There are so many things I could make, the possibilities are endless. What about you - do you weave? Do you have any tips for a newbie like myself?Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17944842972501088288noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8864596781730009958.post-12522618584617855472014-12-01T12:08:00.000-05:002014-12-12T12:24:27.205-05:00Homemade OrnamentsWe went yesterday to cut our Christmas tree! We are firm believers that the tree shouldn't be up before Thanksgiving. We had to take advantage of the 60 degree temperatures yesterday! While we have the room for a bigger tree, we chose a smaller tree. It measured in at five and a half feet and it is the perfect height for the kids to decorate it.<br />
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Speaking of decorating, I'm a big fan of making our own Christmas tree decorations. Two years ago, Kole and I made cinnamon ornaments. When I ran across a recipe for <a href="http://www.funathomewithkids.com/2014/11/chocolate-salt-dough-recipe-for.html" target="_blank">chocolate salt dough</a> from Fun at Home With Kids, I knew we had to give it a go.<br />
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I'm so thankful for our stand mixer when it comes to making play doughs and salt doughs. It gives it a much smoother texture than I could achieve with kneading it. It could be I'm just a wimp, too!<br />
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This stuff smells awesome. Like whoa. The kids had fun digging in. Quite literally for Little J. And of course, some had to go into her mouth. It surely doesn't taste good, but at least there isn't anything toxic about it.<br />
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I encouraged Kole to use Christmas cookie cutters, but he insisted on machines and tools. It's their tree, so hey! But, much like making cut out cookies, the novelty wore off after the first few and so I was left with the rest.<br />
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That's ok - there really is something therapeutic about getting your hands into dough. I added some holes to the top for string and they're currently finishing up baking in the oven. Annnd, my house smells amazing!<br />
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I can't wait to get them up on the tree! How about you? How do you like to decorate your tree?<br />
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Shared over <a href="http://www.flipflopbarnyard.com/homestead-blog-hop/homestead-blog-hop-7/#more-1530" target="_blank">the Homestead Blog hop!</a><br />
And at the <a href="http://thehomesteadinghippy.com/swedish-christmas-braid-from-the-farm/" target="_blank">From the Farm Blog Hop</a> </div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17944842972501088288noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8864596781730009958.post-62465295826646279372014-11-27T19:09:00.000-05:002014-11-27T19:09:53.566-05:00A Simple Thanksgiving Happy Thanksgiving to all my American friends! It was a beautifully chilly day here on the hill and we were the hosts for dinner today. It was a mainly local food meal - we purchased our turkey from a local <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Gardner-Farms/110028545748492?ref=br_tf" target="_blank">farmer</a>, potatoes from our garden, homemade bread for our stuffing, and brussel sprouts from another local <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/L-M-Farms/168574719871551?ref=br_tf" target="_blank">farming couple</a>.<br />
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Although I inevitably stress about the meal, it's not because I'm making
a complicated recipe or because we're making a million and one dishes.
We keep it simple. Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, and a
vegetable are all we need to be satisfied. <br />
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We are working our way through our white potatoes from the garden this summer. They are starting to get some eyes, but they are just fine once they are peeled. And they make some awesome mashed potatoes! Now that we have a table saw, one of our projects for the winter is building <a href="http://ana-white.com/2012/06/plans/food-storage-shelf" target="_blank">root cellar storage</a> and potato bins are on the list!<br />
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My grandma requested lots of stuffing, so she walked me through how she made hers. It's pretty basic with lots of bread, onion, eggs, butter, and a splash of chicken broth. Kole was excited that stuffing was essentially just bread, but was disappointed when he saw onions. Oh well, more for us!<br />
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My concern really lies in making sure we get the turkey fully cooked! And not cooked as in National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation cooked turkey! We have been getting our turkeys locally for the last several years, but this year Becky and Larry raised some heritage turkeys to meet a demand. We have become accustomed to, and prefer, heritage chicken so we decided to give the turkey a go. If you're not familiar with the heritage breed poultry, they tend to take longer to grow and have less white breast meat. Since we've never cooked one before, Dan scoured the internet. He found that most of the people he found had butterflied the turkey and it was done in a little over an hour at a high temperature. I was skeptical, but I told him the turkey was his domain!<br />
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So, a little after 11, he put the turkey in and by 12:30 it was ready! Not bad for an 11.5 pound bird! He made sure to use two meat thermometers to ensure that it was fully cooked. The <a href="http://www.foodsafety.gov/" target="_blank">foodsafety.gov</a> website has a lot of good tips for ensuring your turkey is properly prepared - these tips are good for more than just Thanksgiving! And while this <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ho8MIJSwr1A&feature=youtu.be" target="_blank">video</a> may make you giggle, food safety is important!<br />
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I love how this infographic shows the appropriate places to take a temperature reading on the bird. I really, really tried to remember to get pictures along the way, but I forgot. It was a whirlwind getting food on the table and we couldn't wait to dig in...</div>
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There were 6 adults and 2 littles, but we have a good deal of leftover turkey. And a lot of dark meat! Like, really dark meat. I'm thinking about maybe trying <a href="http://www.homegrownandhandmadethebook.com/2013/11/turkey-stroganoff.html" target="_blank">turkey stroganoff</a>! I love how Deborah likens the dark meat to being useful in recipes that call for beef or pork. I think we are heritage bird converts!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17944842972501088288noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8864596781730009958.post-71344592306647613212014-11-26T12:28:00.000-05:002014-11-26T12:28:20.929-05:00Thanksgiving PrepIt's a cold and snowy day here in WV! Our thanksgiving preparations started last night when Dan put a dry salt brine on the turkey. We got a heritage breed turkey weighing in at 11 pounds. Should be enough for us! We are anxious to try it tomorrow.<br />
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I baked bread for stuffing and put together the dough for some bread for tomorrow. Later will be baking the pies!<br />
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I mentioned the other day that I was planning to make soap for some gifts. I decided to get started on it today! I'll put a post together Friday with how I do it. It's a lot of fun and smells awesome. I plan to start selling some of my soap after the new year.<br />
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What are you doing to prepare for tomorrow?Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17944842972501088288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8864596781730009958.post-33761865392654086652014-11-24T12:11:00.000-05:002014-11-24T12:11:26.739-05:00On the Needles November 24Wow. A month away from Christmas Eve! And Thanksgiving week! I picked up our bird from Gardner Farms yesterday. They raised some heritage birds this year and so we are excited to give it a try.<br />
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In other news, I was elected to be on the board of directors for the Clarksburg Farmers Market. I'm excited and nervous, but I hope my input can help make some positive changes to help grow the market!<br />
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And I've been knitting like crazy. I came across a pattern for a mug cozy that I love. It's going to be Christmas gifts for quite a few people. And I finished my mom's moccasins.<br />
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Since the mug cozies are to be Christmas gifts, I don't want to post a picture of the finished product. They are a quick knit and I can bust through some of my leftover yarn from other projects! Here's a sneak peek...<br />
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Let's just say I have 4 done and will probably cast another on today. I think they'll make lovely gifts. And along the gift line... I'll be making some soap in the next few days. I'll try to get pictures along the way!<br />
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Are you making gifts for the holidays?Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17944842972501088288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8864596781730009958.post-12240432168787988672014-11-20T13:13:00.000-05:002014-11-20T13:13:01.917-05:00Home ImprovementYou all know that as a homeowner (and specifically if you built your own house!), your work is never done. There is always something that can be done. When we completed construction on the house two and half years ago, we knew we weren't really *done*. We still have little odds and ends to do. Life happened - like some pretty memorable winters, adjusting to life with two kids, adjusting to life on 53 acres - you get the gist. So, this past weekend, we set to work to completely finish the kids bathroom.<br />
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When we were getting ready to move in, I took Kole to Target to look at wall decals to try to decide how to decorate his bathroom. He was big into "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" book and fell in love with the stickers. So, they were up on the wall until recently. To start the project, I took down the stickers in preparation for painting. Holy moly, what a difference that small change made! The bathroom isn't very large, but it felt huge once the stickers were down.<br />
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In preparation for the update, I was scouring Etsy for printables that I could have printed and framed to put up in the room. I ran across <a href="https://www.etsy.com/listing/121188399/hungry-caterpillar-bath-art-printables?ref=sr_gallery_1&ga_search_query=very+hungry+caterpillar+bathroom&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery" target="_blank">these</a> and had them printed at the local Staples. Frames can be mucho expensive, so I picked up some frames at Dollar Tree and painted them white. They turned out better than I had anticipated!<br />
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After Kole picked out the stickers, I did some searching for a shower curtain to match. I was really happy to find this <a href="http://www.potterybarnkids.com/products/eric-carle-shower-curtain/" target="_blank">shower curtain</a> (hey - it's on clearance right now!). It was a pricey purchase, but it is still in fantastic condition after two and a half years. It washes well and if I hang it outside to dry, I don't have to iron it. And it's just plain cute :-)<br />
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On top of painting, Dan adjusted the placement of the vanity light, scraped away paint from the edges of the tub surround (hey, when we painted we didn't have very good lighting in there and I did the best I could!), used some acetone to remove paint on the textured floor of the tub, and we washed the outlet covers. Next up, we will touch up paint the trim and door. All of our doors were primed only when we hung them, so we are planning to work our way through them this winter to completely finish out the trim. Once that is done, we can pat ourselves on the back for finally finishing the room. And then look at our to do list for the rest! Hey, at least we have a table saw now!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17944842972501088288noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8864596781730009958.post-57152777230460220662014-11-16T10:25:00.000-05:002014-11-20T13:10:12.121-05:00On the Needles November 16<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Boy, felting can be tedious. Don't get me wrong, I love knitting to felt. My terrible gussets disappear when felted! But the whole felting process. Whew. Or perhaps it's because my husband has big feet.<br />
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I only got one of his gigantor slippers felted. And I started on some moccasin like slippers for my mom. They're to be felted as well, but she's got small feet!<br />
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We've been working on some projects around the house this week. We still have some finishing work to do and we are starting with the kids bathroom. They have a very hungry caterpillar shower curtain. We initially put up very hungry caterpillar stickers, but I haven't been feeling them lately. So, I found some cool printable on Etsy and got them printed at Staples. I picked up some frames yesterday at the Dollar Tree and painted them white. I trimmed the pictures to fit. I'm pretty happy with how they turned out!<br />
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Dan is working on finishing up filling in holes and painting the trim as well as putting up a fresh coat of paint. He moved the light above the vanity to get it more centered. I'll try to get some finished pictures when it's all done! I'm also working on our gallery wall in the entry way. I picked up some dimensional letters at JoAnns and painted them white. They'll go up above the kids pictures.<br />
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I'll keep you updated on our progress! What are your craft or DIY plans for the week?<br />
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Check out some other great posts over at the <a href="http://www.littleblogonthehomestead.com/homestead-blog-hop-5/" target="_blank">homestead blog hop</a>!<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17944842972501088288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8864596781730009958.post-14049833771042989452014-11-12T19:12:00.002-05:002014-11-12T19:12:55.813-05:00Four Season GardeningI shared recently on my Facebook page how envious I am of <a href="http://motherofahubbard.com/" target="_blank">Mother of a Hubbard</a>. Her winter garden is drool worthy! She's in KY in a similar zone to me, so it was encouraging to see her having such success. And it made my tummy rumble at the thought of harvesting delicious greens year round.<br />
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I ordered Eliot Coleman's books, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Four-Season-Harvest-Organic-Vegetables-Edition/dp/1890132276" target="_blank">Four Season Harvest</a>, and I can't wait to read it cover to cover. I read through the first chapter and I love how down to earth it is. And how encouraging!<br />
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We have big goals for next year and I'd love to try our hand at four season harvests! How about you? Are you a year round gardener?Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17944842972501088288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8864596781730009958.post-6920248470153250912014-11-08T19:13:00.000-05:002014-11-20T13:05:22.722-05:00On The Needles - November 8It's definitely getting to be knitting weather round these parts. Dark early and chilly = cuddled under the blanket knitting. It will be even better with the woodstove going :-)<br />
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I'm trying to get Dan's slippers done before it gets too much colder. I am a l m o s t there!<br />
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For an idea of just how big these puppies are, check out the picture of Kole's 4 year old sized hand next to one.<br />
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And do you see the sun in that picture!? When you live in a passive solar house, you hope for the sun. It makes such a difference in the comfort level of the house. It can raise the house a good 10 degrees on a nice sunny day. We love free heat!<br />
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What's on your needles this week?
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<a href="http://www.littleblogonthehomestead.com/homestead-blog-hop-4/"></a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17944842972501088288noreply@blogger.com1