Homestead Happenings

 

The end of another week,

and the sunsets have been simply spectacular!

It looks as if the sky is on fire through the trees,

but not to worry, it is only Mother Nature showcasing one of Her many talents.

Here are a few of the things that went on this week.

The leaf collection and mulching are complete

in both our yard and our neighbors'.

Our wonderful next-door neighbor allows us to use her 

mower with attached bagger to clean up our yard,

and in return we take care of hers.

Everyone wins!

We have this massive leaf pile out by the garden,

and another two cubic yards in heavy duty bags.

I think we're set for leaf mulch for a while!

I finally got around to cleaning up the loofah.

We ended up with about 20 usable loofahs.

These will be listed on our local Next Door

for anyone who can use them.

Considering that I wasn't sure they would dry in time,

(we got cold weather earlier than expected),

I'm quite pleased with the harvest.

One of the big projects we've been 

dragging our feet on pondering for months,

was how to level our shed.

Big K can fix just about anything,

but this lil' conundrum was a little out of his comfort zone.

The floor inside had started to buckle,

and after calling a couple of shed companies,

ended up with no one who would do the job.

Until I asked our neighbor Joe.

Joe is an 80-something gentleman 

who lives a block over and does all sorts of odd jobs

for folks in the neighborhood.

He cuts grass, chops wood, builds stuff,

he's truly a talented guy.

Not only did he do a fabulous job of leveling the shed,

he would not take payment for it.

We ended up dropping off a Lowe's gift card,

knowing that he'll put it to good use.

Generous neighbors are such a blessing.

A couple of the raised beds have been dismantled,

to make room for our new Birdie's beds.

The garden is being reconfigured,

and two of the beds need to be moved anyway.

The soil from these beds will be added to

the asparagus bed,

as it has settled quite a bit.

I've been working on getting rid of things 

that I don't really need.

A couple of items were found that I didn't even realize I had.

One was this French newspaper,

which must have been with my mom's things.

Our next-door neighbor is going to help me

with the translation.

Someone suggested that perhaps the paper

held some information about a family member.

I don't really know what to do with this,

as I have no way to contact any of my mom's family in France,

if they are even still around.

Suggestions?

Here's the other item.

Remember these?

Here's the flip side.

Again, what to do with these random things?

I know that C will not be interested in them,

so there's really no reason to save them,

but I can't bring myself to just throw them out.

Not my style.

The baking has commenced.

Another year of sharing my mom's recipe for Madelienes.

They are a traditional French "cookie"

that my momma used to bake at Christmas time.

They taste like miniature sponge cakes more than cookies.

Unfortunately for me, I can't eat them because they contain gluten,

but I do enjoy making them for others,

knowing that they've probably never had anything like them.

Our indoor decorations are fairly simple.

We always decorate the mantel with our various holiday Lego sets.

It's a fun activity for the whole family,

and it gives our home a unique, cheerful theme.

Hoping you are enjoying this holiday season,

however you celebrate!