The Day the Lights Came on in Savannah

 Hello y’all. So. We are here. In the most southern, eastern corner of west Tennessee. Lol. It has been a very emotionally draining week. Ups and downs and some sideways too. But, we have survived. It may sound corny and cliche, but love has kept our spirits up. Love of each other, love for our kids, and especially the love coming from family, friends, and even strangers.

We spent our first week here cooking over an open fire, charging phones in our van, and filling jugs for water at the local lake or buying it at full stations. Pioneers definitely had it rough. But I’m guessing they didn’t know they did and that’s why we feel so drained.

I was able to build one raised bed this week. I am still working on filling it. I plan to plant radish and carrots in there. I have some peppers and tomatoes in pots and they will be ok for a while until I build a bed for them. I am ready to plant lots of seeds.

We finally got power today, April 20, 2021. What a morning. We were stressing over the power pole inspection. Well, Daniel was, I knew he could do it. When it was approved on Monday, I figured we would have another week before the pole and power was to be connected. WRONG! Bright and early this morning 3 big trucks and 6 men took 30 minutes and BOOM.....power. Oh what a feeling. Kids plugged in chargers and smiled ear to ear. Now once it’s hot, we can have ac. 

Next is water. We have a well. We aren’t sure if it will work, but I am hopeful. I am hoping that will take only another week or so.  So until next time peeps. 

It’s Finally Time!

 The time has finally come! A life changing day has arrived. A momentous moment. A. A. A! Omg! It’s really happening. There’s so much to do! So so so much. Breathe Shane. Breathe. 

So, a lot of people know that in 2015 we bought 28 acres in Tennessee. We have for the last 6 years talked about moving there and starting our little farm. But, a month ago, God squeezed the toothpaste. (A saying that someone told me). It means, we were taking to long, so HE pushed. And now, we have 2 weeks until our last day in Louisiana. 

Let me back up a year or so. I was ready then. Daniel, however, was not. He’s not the fly by the seat of his pants kinda guy. He likes structure. He likes to be in control. I am the opposite. I’m like, hey this looks like fun, then jumps, THEN deals with the consequences. We are the perfect match. Like oil and water. Wait, is that right? Anyway, I having the wild hair up my rump to move and live in a camper, bought a 5th wheel Jayco camper in need of “repair”. Daniel will tell you that our definitions of “repair” differ. I just figured if I’m married to a carpenter, may as well take advantage, right? He has made my vision a reality. We gutted it. No fridge. No stove. He built 6 huge bunks for the kids. And is installing a stock tank bathtub now. Complete with rustic tub faucet. We will cook in an outside kitchen. And I can’t lie, I’m hoping the boys will utilize trees for ya know. 

I’m really looking forward to following my dreams of farming and bringing you guys along with me through all the ways social media brings us together. YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and face book can be such assets in the world we now find ourselves in. Until next time peeps  

Mamie's Breakfast

Breakfast Burritos For Mamie

Mamie works as a waitress at a local mom and pop restaurant. She likes to eat a savory breakfast rather than a sweet one. I make her these and she heats them in the micro each morning. I make about 30 so she has plenty. Daddy sometimes sneaks a few!

I scramble a lot of eggs while baking muffins, so that more than one thing is being accomplished at once, a must in a large family home. I buy the bacon pieces instead of the slices, you get more for your money and plus I will break it up anyway. I have made these with sausage too. But since daddy doesn't work in a place with a micro anymore, I haven't in a while.

Lots of Scrambled Eggs

BACON!

Cheese

Pre-torn Foil

Sometimes I add potatoes

Laid out and ready to roll, on my plastic wrapped counter for easy clean up

After I place all the fillings on the tortillas, I begin the rolling sides to middle (#1). Then I grab the bottom and roll up (#2). Once I am sure all the good stuff is inside, I start rolling the foil (#3 & 4), fold in the sides of the foil (#5).

#1

#2

#3

#4

#5

A Full shelf

Freezer cooking month 2 (October 2016)

September was our first time trying the month of cooking. It wasn't so bad. We had a few mistakes, but overall it went great. We had to remove a recipe or 2 for this month. One of the family favorites has been making me sick, so we won't be having it in October. I am hoping to get to the doctor soon to see what exactly the issue is with my tummy. Needless to say that by shop day, the freezer, cabinets, and fridge were bare.

Empty!

My list

A week before shopping day I started talking to everyone about their likes and dislikes from this month. Mostly no one had issues. Kids didn't like the frozen pancakes and asked for more PB&Js, muffins, and go to snacks. So this month there are no pancakes and I made a lot more muffins. I wrote a calendar on paper and filled it in with meals I wanted to make. This is easy. Every Sunday is gumbo and every Tuesday is taco/fajita night. We also have a few events this month that I will be bringing food to. I found that I need to shop once a week for some things. Milk, fresh lettuce and tomatoes, and bananas for hubby's lunch. I made sure and wrote that down too. I am still working on counting the amount of meat needed. Last month I had to buy more ground meat. This month, I may have bought to little chicken. Last month I didn't buy enough sugar for the month. We are a sweet tea family. So I made sure this month I did!

I took the list from last month and created an Excel file that had prices for each item on it. I then put the number of items I needed. This gave me an estimated total for my bill. This is only an estimate since stores often have price changes and sales. But it was a good start.

Two baskets later

We went to the store on an early Saturday morning. The two older kids had an event they were working at, so I dropped them and headed to the store with Alicia and Louella in tow. Two hours later, we headed to the register. I use reusable bags, so I tried to find a cashier I knew would work with me. She scanned and I bagged. I love reusable bags. You can pack so much more into them and kids can carry them better too. I did find onions on sale so I bought a lot. I will chop them and freeze them. I also was able to cut a few things from my list that we had in the pantry already. When we got home, I sat down to nurse and think of my plan. Even though most "month" cookers take only one day to prepare and freeze, I need like 3 maybe 4. I have 8 kids at home, 2 work and 1 nurses. So I will have to break up my prep.

I made meatloaf for freezer, 3 of them. There were 100 PB&Js, 500+ muffins, 15 breakfast bowls, 30 breakfast burritos, cooked and bagged chopped chicken for gumbo, sliced and bagged gumbo sausage, cooked and bagged chili, chopped lbs and lbs of onions and bell peppers, seasoned and bagged fajita meat. I figured it was only a few days until I cooked tacos so I just over cooked a lot that night and bagged it into 2 bags after dinner that night.

Some of the Burritos

2 meatloaves

I would say the hardest part has been stopping kids from eating things that are not meant to be eaten so soon. I used to go to the store every other day. This has also stopped the purchasing of snacks constantly. That has saved money and calories.

Better labeling this month

Bell peppers on top freezing separate before I bag so they won't stick

We also have several events in October to which we have to bring a dessert or other dish to. I incorporated this into my list although salad stuff needs to be purchased the day before the event. I also need to go back and get candy for all Saints event at the Barn. Now to get to sewing and writing the blog about this years all Saints party.

Great Youtube Channels Part 2

Like I have said, I spend a lot of time watching Youtube channels and reading about homesteading, farming, chickens, and more. I posted previously 3 that I liked. Here are 3 more!!

NMP-Photo by Justin Rhodes

Justin Rhodes, his wife Rebekah, and their 4 children have a great life in the hills of North Carolina. He claims the title of Chicken Ninja and she is The Beautiful One. He posts a new video daily. He doesn't leave out the bad and only show the good. He learns and teaches though the mistakes and issues.  His video series on "100 days of growing food" is a great watch. It's real life. It's kids and plants and animals. It is funny and informative. It is one that I watch every single day without fail.
Here is the link to his channel:Justin Rhodes YouTube Channel

His wife has her own channel here:The Beautiful One's YouTube Channel

NMP--Ozark Living Photo

Another one I like is Ozark Living. Seeing him get his land together and hearing the stories has really inspired me. I know that one day I will have mine too. He also doesn't leave out the problems. He is an honest and straight forward kind of fella. I like that. I like his simple life.
Ozark Living

NMP--Deep South Photo

The 3rd one I visit pretty often is Deep South Homestead. They are only a few hours from where I live so the weather conditions are usually just like mine. This makes them a good choice for me to watch. Danny and Wanda show everything from growing to canning to farm equipment to coffee talks. It's a nice channel to watch.
Deep South

First time FREEZER cooking for a month (September 2016)

I have been toying with the idea of freezer cooking for a while now. Between constant trips to store, not knowing what to cook each night, and a rising grocery bill, I needed to do something. I decided I would start on September 8th. So, the first thing I had to do was plan...plan...plan. I watched many videos and read lots of blogs. I have a large family, so I wanted to know what others do. I also wanted to do breakfast as well as dinner. We do leftovers as lunches. I would only need lunch food if we ate all the meal the night before. All this meant I really needed to plan well. It being my first attempt, I did give myself some leeway to mess up.

Sitting down planning the month of meals

Once I spoke with husband and the kids about meals they like and dislike, I chose which I would use. Then I decided on how often I would make the said meal. I will never make all 10 people in my house happy with a meal all at once, not even CRAWFISH does that!!! But, by asking them about it, I was sure to at least make them happy once. I also needed to find meals that would freeze well. I have a pressure cooker and a slowcooker, those are helpful in what I am planning to do.

My Original List

The list after the trip

 Once I figured all the meals out, I packed my van with the baby, a helper (Alicia, 12), and reusable shopping bags. I love to use these bags! You can put so much more in them and the kids can carry them easier. We were off to Walmart. I did look for coupons and sales. However, I buy off brands anyway so I didn't find anything cheaper elsewhere. I so wish we had some of the stores others are able to use close to me. But, you do what you can with what you are given. It took 2 hours and 2 baskets. As we shopped, I wrote prices, adjusted some of the quantities, added and removed some things. Like I said, being my first trip, I gave myself some room to make mistakes. I plan on using this list as a master and putting it and prices into an Excel workbook. That way I can move quicker through the planning process. Maybe even use Excel and put what I want to cook and it will add what I need to the list. Being a nerd may come in handy with this!

Actually Less Than I Thought It Would Be

The Van!!

I didn't do to bad. I came in under budget, however, I did have to go back and get a few things I had chose not to get and wound up needing. Also, I was gifted several pounds of wild game!!! More on that later.

Spent $477 had a $700 budget

Elizabeth and Alicia making sandwiches

Now it was time to get cooking. In my planning stage, I wanted to cook all day. This did not work for us. I have a newborn who needs to nurse, I bring both my husband and daughter to work and back everyday, and just plain doing anything with kids. I put 2 to work on PB&Js for the freezer. We made loads of them. It was messy, but I wanted the kids involved.

5lbs of potatoes for breakfast bowls 

                                            

                                                          My bell pepper isn't to happy

upright freezer

I made meatballs, taco meat, sliced peppers, (I still gotta do the onions), made dozens of muffins, pancakes, and sandwiches. I want to make it easy for a teenager to make dinner if they need to. Having the meals marked on the calendar means no one has to wonder what's for dinner. They can just look. It also helps me to. I think I will need to have a weekly shopping list too though. I need things like milk, eggs, and fresh veggies weekly. That will add to the budget too. I also would like to incorporate more snacks to the planning. Now they just use the PB&Js as snacks. I would love to add fresh fruits, but the cost is just to high.

door

We eat Gumbo every Sunday, no matter the temperature. So, I pre-cut the sausage and pre-cooked the chicken. This way, the time consuming parts are done. I even cheated on the trinity and bought frozen seasoning mix. I know, I am going to be in trouble with some. But this whole thing is about time saving and money saving. I can't wait for the onions and peppers to go on sale. The 10 for 10 sale!!

 So far all has went great. I am still not done with some stuff. But that is more my time management than planning. I will make double on some stuff next month. Here is a list of meals we used this month and number of times we will eat it. Not sure which ones we will keep or not.

Meatloaf 3 I made the loaf, wrapped in plastic, put in $1 pan, and froze. I will defrost in fridge night before and use crock pot next day. I am reusing pans, they are just for freezing and stacking.
Tacos 2 I made the meat and froze in family size portions in gal ziplocs.
Fajitas 2 I seasoned the chicken and froze it in ziplocs, we like these cooked fresh.
BFD (breakfast for dinner) 2 
Gumbo 4 Chopped sausage and pre cooked chicken.
Spaghetti 2 Made a ton of meatballs!
Cajun Pasta 2 Chopped sausage and pre cooked chicken.
Hot Dogs 4
Chili 2 Precooked and froze
Chicken (stew, baked, other) 6

A Little Homestead Update

Things are moving a lot slower than this momma would like. I want to go now. But, we are hitting lots of road blocks along the way. Lack of work here to pay off bills before we go is a rough step. Our next move is to start selling things we do not need and downsizing our STUFF. Also, we will be turning off a couple of the cell phones, the cable, and a few subscriptions we have.

It has been mentally tough lately. Having to push our dreams back. It can be quite overwhelming. I have cried a few times along the way. Living where we live now, and the oil field being what it has become, has made plans fall through or look like they will never happen.

Something that has kept me going is knowing that even if it doesn't happen in my time, it can and will happen in God's time. He knows what is best for us. He will guide us. We pray daily for the wisdom for making the right choices. Daniel is looking for work as we speak and has been doing odd jobs. I am making a few quilts and will sell them soon.

It will happen. When? Who knows! But I am finally at a place where I can understand the process. Spending my time learning and studying.

Peace to Ya'll
JMJ