Merry Christmas

The Eve of Christmas was spent making homemade Pierogies for dinner ( and dog treats for our furry family member). We had a lovely meal of our pasture raised Pork, Homegrown home fermented Sauerkraut and homemade Pierogies.
Christmas took place outside for a good portion of the day. Hot Cider and Butternut squash and sausage soup warmed on the fire filled our bellies.
Our hearts are full <3 br="">Merry Christmas from our Homestead , to you and yours 

The Gift Of Imagination

2 nights ago I did something I believe most parents can relate too. Raise your hand if you ever get the last minute “ I didn’t get my kid enough stuff” anxiety.. I hate it, it goes against everything we believe and live by, but I still get that feeling every year. We do keep it simple at Christmas, alteast compared to a majority of americans, but she does get here share of stuff.
So , 2 nights ago…. I got in my car and drove AN HOUR one way to the store,, and not just any store,, wait for it…………. The corporate monster.. Walmart.
NOW here is where I defend myself
The Defendant calls Jaime Cool to the stand:
Walmart is all we have, literally… If you follow my blog you are familiar with just how removed we are from civilization. To recap: I have to drive 12 miles of gravel to get to a paved rd. after about 40 minutes I hit a town of 500 ( a crossroads with a gas station, a small mountain  school of 300.. k-8) a post office that’s open like 3 hours a day, and a small medical center ( thank god for that) and that’s it… another 10-15 minutes brings me to town. A town of about 18,000.. and we don’t have much in the way of stores.. your fast food restaurants, big lots, a bunch of different grocery stores, and Walmart,, a big ass Walmart….
I am not a regular Walmart shopper, I do go in for thread and fabric from time to time ( as we don’t have a fabric store, that’s 56 miles away, about 1.5 hours) or those things I cant find anywhere else,, a gun , a canoe, a trampoline ( haha, I haven’t bought any of those things, but you get it,, they have everything) . All my food shopping ( what we don’t grow and can,, snacks , sugar , flour, coffee milk etc) is done at Aldo and Big lots, my 2 favorite stores J
Only one problem  Aldi and Biglots, nor any other store in town had one I was looking for
2 specific,, MY LITTLE PONIES..
My daughter has been obsessed with my little ponies for more than a short phase. More like 2 YEARS. She brushes their hair every morning, they go to school with her every day … they have been in the creek , in the dirt, in the bathtub, have eaten dinner with us, gone to town with us,, they are almost family, haha


Ok so here I am 7 o clock at night, and  I Pull in to a SEA OF CARS. Now this is no small parking lot,, and it WAS. FULL.. of last minute crazed Christmas shoppers
“what in the hell am I doing here???” I ask myself. And then I go in..
anndddddd it’s a mad house.. full of people buying stuff..
and here I am buying stuff..
and wondering why Im here buying ….. stuff…..
Ive always enjoyed christmas for the decorating, baking, handmade gifts, making memories…. Yes the stuff has always been part of it,, but not my favorite part..

Straight ahead, to not pass go , do not collect 200 dollars,,, get to the pony aisle STAT!
I get to the pony aisle,,  it looks like a tornado hit the pony aisle.. good lord..
So ok, this should be easy, pick a 2 ponies.. I am pretty sure I stood there for 20 minutes looking.
She really wanted the pony with the beauty shop etc,, but you spend 11.00 more for a bunch of plastic crap that I am just gonna end up stepping on in 24 hours… KEEP IT SIMPLE, I tell myself…
I find 2 ponies ( that she doesn’t have and has asked for)
I head to check out and get the hell outta there, haha,, back to the forest, back to the gravel rd, back to the quiet….

So fastforward to the next day. Norah spent they day outside playing with the chickens..
Chasing them, trapping them,talking to them…. I would peek outside or do my usual “call” to make sure she was ok and still in the yard ( she likes to sneak off into the woods and down to the creek without asking sometimes). I cleaned the house and did inside chores… around late afternoon she called me outside to show me what she had been doing

A sled of water and a chicken fort, of course !

Now this isn't out of the ordinary for Miss Norah. She is always building something outside, creating , using her imagination. But I guess it just struck a chord with me because I was in such a tiz to get her more STUFF 2 nights earlier...

I don't know why I felt compelled to write this. This is  not intended to be a judgmental post, nor is it written to make you feel guilty about all that stuff you bought..

Lets face it,, Our kids will wake up Christmas Morning so excited and tear into all That stuff we bought, there will be smiling, giggling, excitement and memories.. and it makes it all worth it,,,

But don't forget to leave a little room for the best  gift you can give a child........
IMAGINATION

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from our Homestead to yours!!

The Cools

Handmade Homemade Holidays

at the risk of sounding Cliché. I LOVE this time of year. The gardens are sleeping, the bees are tucked in , and my sewing machine has been dusted off after months of neglect. A time to warm myself by the woodcookstove, cook comfort food, bake treats for the family and prepare for The Holiday Season!
Of course, like any mom with a little girl, I succumb to some commercialism to make the little gals Christmas morning nothing short of spectacular. Although it is kept to a minimum, and I really enjoy focusing on handmade and homemade, and teaching Norah to enjoy these things too, as they really are the most special and genuine of all Christmas moments.

Here are some things we have been working on the past week.............................



Homemade
Chicken sausage

 17 lbs to be exact... we processed birds last week , froze some whole, and decided to make sausage with the rest. We ended up with ; Italian, hot Italian, Breakfast style, and Bratwurst,, all equally tantalizing!
Sounds like a good addition to Christmas morning breakfast, to me ;)


Handmade Bows ( and arrows)

My husband made these, and they are AMAZING. He made enough for the whole family , plus a couple more for Christmas gifts. Norah loves hers, and boy is she a natural! I just am not as good a aim, she told me I just didn't have the skills .. haha
He made arrows to go with the bows, but also bought some. The handmade ones are made with doll rods, and eraser tips.
I had a lot of people ask how to make these! I did say I would blog about it, but we just haven't had time .. I do promise to edit this blog and post a link on how to make them soon!


Handmade Quivers

I stitched up these quivers so the kids have somewhere to put their arrows.

Handmade Basket

I had so much fun making this and do believe I have found yet another hobby ;) after a walk through the woods yesterday morning, I decided to collect some ( what I believe is) Honeysuckle vine, and gave a try at making a basket. not to shabby for my first one. Ill be making more for sure. This may to go someone with some handmade gift in it, as it would make a lovely gift basket.


Handmade Hot pad

 

 These Hot pads are they result of a Rug gone wrong.. I braided miles and miles of fabric to make a rug last year. Well the rug was not turning out as expected. The larger the rug became,the harder it was to keep it from "waving" despite my efforts to wet the rug and set something heavy on it,, the large the rug got the less that worked.. SO, I turned these braided beauties into hot pad. I made one for myself and love it, and will be making a few for gifts.





Handmade Snowmen

We will be making these every year !! free, fun, and earth friendly :) Oh,and they won't melt ;)




and last ( well last for now) but not  least.. Handmade Snowflakes!

 I was a bit addicted to these this year. Norah and I spent a good couple hours experimenting , trying to cut out the perfect snowflake, A great craft to try with your kids!!!



From our Homestead to yours

Have a most blessed Holiday Season..

The Cools ~

Thankful

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chicken, Green beans, Mashed Potatoes, sweet potatoes, Delicata squash, pickled peppers, stuffing with homemade breadcrumbs and our canned chicken stock, carrots, pickles, pumpkin for pie , apples for apple pie, and greens from the garden.. All from our homestead ..

 Setting the table. and dreaming of Pumpkin Pie...

 Time at the creek

Norah managed to snap a photo of me at the woodstove




Blessed and Thankful BEYOND measure. Spent the day preparing a Homegrown meal over the woodstove. Boy , that was a bit of a challenge as it was 60 out, but I managed to keep it fairly comfortable in the house.
What an indescribable feeling of pride , security, and gratefulness to be able to provide a Dinner from everything we grew, with wood we harvested, split and stacked. To be able to sit down as a family and enjoy and Reflect on all we have ( so so much!!).. especially our Health, which allows us to live this life,, made this day even that much more special.

We followed the meal with a beautiful hike outside and some time at the creek.


If a day were ever perfect, this was the day..


Hope everyone had a beautiful Thanksgiving!

Blessings
The Cool Family

A Beautiful Easter Sunday

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1 of 4 Queens that have hatched, this is one of the biggest virgin queens we have reared, she is at 1 o clock in the photos and is walking away,(pointed rear end )

 

 

                                                                        Recycling bin

                                               1 of my 5 gardens ( back garden) taken from Norahs tree house

Robb in Bee yard 1

A place to rest :)

 

We spent the Entire day outside day, it was the perfect way to spend Easter Sunday. The temps were in the mid 60's and it was a good solar day ;)  After the basket hunt and  annual chocolate breakfast sugar high,haha, Norah worked in her garden and got all her veggies in! She is  going with a purple theme this year. She has planted potatoes, Purple Kale, Purple Cauliflower, Purple Carrots and Purple Beans! She watered and even weeded around the rocks ( last year she didn't weed her garden much, and lets just say there were lots of tears come august, when the weeds were as tall as her,,haha)

Rob got into the hives today, to check on some Queen Cells,, We had a couple queens hatch today! If you look at the photo,  (its not the greatest pic) the queen is at 1 o clock and is walking away, you an only see her hind end :) She had only been hatched a few hours when the photo was taken.

Robb also built us a nice recycling bin, we have been using a trash can for the past 10 yrs.. without a lid,, haha, so you can imagine how messy that looks on the backporch... This one is made with recycled wood and has room for 3 buckets on the inside, it looks much nicer and will make recycling easier as everything will be pre-sorted! 
He Even had time to break out the chainsaw and make me a chair out of an old stump that is inside my back garden area,, isn't it cute ? :D

and me? well I weeded, seeded , planted, and hand dug some new spots for annuals, all day!... I am making good headway on planting .. Ive got almost all our cool weather crops in, so far I've planted, Potatoes, onions , Broccoli, Cauliflower, spinach, ,Kale, lettuce, strawberry plants, swisschard, radish, carrots, beets, arugula, cilantro ( and I might be missing something ;)
as soon as I am sure we are past our frost date, I will be planting, Beans, Tomatoes, Peppers, Eggplant, Squash, cucumbers, sunflowers( well I cheated and put some sunflowers in today ;) watermelons , sweet potatoes and winter squash,....

We all have a bit of sunburn, and are tired, and boy what a good feeling it is!

I hope everyone had a blessed Easter Sunday..

 

The Cool Family

 

December projects

Well winter is officially almost here.. Its been rather mild here in North west NC, and we have been able to get outside and work on all the things we cant get done in summer .
This Morning was a bit chilly, atleast do chilly to process our chickens. Robb defeathered one bird and quickly came in to warm his hands over the cookstove.. Cold and wet don't mix.. so we decided to wait until next Sunday to do the other nine.. But hey we have dinner for tonight ;)

 

 

Robb has been busy Building mating Nucs for the apiary
Mating nucs are tiny 2 frame hives, that we will Put newly reared Virgin Queens in.. The Queens will then mate, start laying eggs about 3 weeks later, and then we will move these frames into a full size hive.
Our plans are to really expand this year.. So he has plans on rearing a lot of queens, which means lots of mating nucs need built before spring!






Today ( instead of processing chickens) we started on Norahs Tree House! This is her Big present from us. We went and purchased some lumber yesterday to get started. She is over the moon about this, and I know she will get so many hours of play and imagination time ( and quiet time) here in her own little space..

I am starting on my HoneyBee Stepping stones for the Back gardens!! I can not wait to see what these look like throughout the pathway.. I am wondering if I should use pigment in some?? If so,, what colors/color combo do you think would look nice?
My plans are to get one or 2 done a week, So by spring I will have enough to place throughout the back garden.


Dreaming of spring here, but keeping busy .

What have you been up to??

Sugar and Spice

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and everything Nice....... That's what little girls are made of.. 



Starting to get a start on Holiday crafts and gifs.
I found this sweet vintage looking Mini suitcase at The Goodwill. Its the perfect size for my 3 yr old niece, I will be filling it with Handmade dolly clothes for her collection of baby dolls ( she is allllll girl and loves her dollies)....
I am still working on the scrap quilt, Ive finished sewing it together, just need to sew the binding and sew together... Thinking a  handmade Advent Calendar might be on the list too..................
What have you been working on?

December Do Over

Whoa, December has been a whirlwind! We pretty much missed out on the first 2 weeks off the month. My Daughter became pretty sick with Pneumonia. We made an emergency trip to the ER on December 5th, and then both spent a week on the couch, as I came down with the Flu as well! If it werent for my husband I don't know what we would have done....

He ALSO managed to get the Hot water hooked up to the Cookstove. A couple more days of hard work, and a couple more dollars in supplies, and he had it up and running around the 10th of December!

It went off without a hitch, and worked PERFECT for the first 2 days, UNTIL a pipe burst in the Bathroom.... still sick and lethargic, I woke around 9 am on the 12th,, to a pipe in the front bathroom, gushing water.. Imagine a hose on high (without no spray nozzle),, yeah, it was insane.. I am so happy I heard it, as our bedroom is a ways away ... It must have only been going on for a couple minutes, enought to empty about 20 gallons of water in our bathroom, hallway, and onto a bit of our carpet in the bedroom.  Could December really get any worse??
Robb came home fixed the pipe, and insisted it had nothing to do with the hot water system we just hooked up. Now, he is a Maintenance Man, and a damn good one, so I took his word, let him fix the pipe, and forgot about it.. Until...................
I woke up at about Midnight the following night.. To the sound of what sounded like a waterfall in our laundry room.. ANOTHER BURST PIPE!?!?!?!?!?!  Robb jumped out of bed, and proceeded to throw around the F*** word  a couple times,, turned the water off,, and proceeded to vaccum up the water in the hallway, put towels and fans on the carpet.. I lay in bed, completely annoyed (haha) and frustrated.. and figured midnight was not the best time to have a conversation about why another pipe coincidentally burst in the Laundry room....

The next morning, while googling whatever I could think of, to see if I could help figure out why our pipes keep bursting,,,Robb called me from work, to tell me we needed and Expansion Tank..
When we hooked up the cooktove to the hotwater tanke, we also added some check valves, these prevent the hot water from backingup into the cold water line, which is great and a good safety measure, But because of the size of the tank ( we have a 40 gallon tank,, pretty small) the hot water was building up pressure and that pressure needed somewhere to go,, so it chose any which way it could when the pressure built up! The expansion tank has resolved the problem.. But not before creating YET another mess.. RObb had to tear off the wall in the laundry room,,, clean up the water mess,,, replumb the pipes in copper ( we had some pretty cheap pipe in there) and then hook up the expansion tank.

I must say, I didnt think any of this Off the Grid stuff would be perfect... and when the Hot water system worked perfect at first,, I had my doubts..hahaahaha..
We arent quitters though and know there will be more challenges along the way.,,and since the expansion tank, the hot water system works AMAZING!! Start a fire, watch the temp, and you have PLENTY of hot water do live just as we did before.
I will admit if I am gone all day,, I do turn the hot water off,,, as I am still suffering from some broken pipe PTSD..... not quite over that yet,,lol


Since then, My Little Miss Norah has gone to her last check up and is Pneumonia Free! I am better! We have a totally awesome HOt water system, and I am finally working on Holiday deocorating,  baking and crafts....

I guess a December Do over wont be necessary after all....:)
Happy Holiday from The Cool Homestead!