Master Bedroom Redo

This is what we worked on last week,   300 pounds of trash later (Carpet, carpet pad, wall paper, some ugly pillar things etc..) and a lot (lot lot lot lot) of elbow grease and about $100 worth of paint wa-la an updated clean room.

We took the pillars and 1/2 wall out and patched and Casey hung a rod from the top so I could hang curtains. I think they glam it up.  Through the curtains is the m. bath and dressing room & closet.  We also removed mirrored sliding closet doors and opened the weird little area up for the dressing room.

The headboard is from Rhonda!  We are making a trade!  And the curtain is from her as well, it is hiding the ugly windows....

As for the floor, I painted it a tan, like Ivy's room, and it looked so bla, so I glazed it with black paint and that did the trick.  Now it looks like acid washed cement.  And the blemishes just make it more interesting.  I want to add a pretty chandy and a few things for the walls maybe, (really like it spare though).

Entryway redo!

We love chalkboard walls.  Talk about personalizing your home!
Here is the wall Ivy and I did last week.  I think we will do the whole entry, both sides.  But for now we are out of paint.

Random December Stuff

Ruby in her cowgirl shirt from Grandpa. 

One evening it was awful quiet, so daddy went to check and found this little gal in her closet passed out! 

From the machine shop:  A random project Casey built for a fiber optics guy--some sort of tri-pod for some sort of thing.

A cold December morning they showed up dressed in their swimsuits with some Audrey Hepburn eyes.

On the farm:

These guys have been hanging out on our farm.  Behind them is the Pecos River.  They are so welcome here, as we are missing the wildlife from the ranch we used to live on.  We want to get a turkey feeder for them.

 And around the house:

I added some curtains to our dining room window.  

Also to the kitchen window.  I love the way it dresses it up.  Also, we do have some pretty ugly windows so I think it detracts from them a bit.

On Christmas Eve, Ivy decided to take down the lovely wallpaper from our entryway.  It was about time...So she spent all day and got it off.  It was hard.  I helped her some and put so much water on the wall that it went into a light switch and we had a current running through the wall for a while, so we had to take a break.

Then she painted an entry wall with chalkboard paint.  Fun!

Since flowers are not available right now, we are using spruce for  flower arrangements.

The living room is a  little more  cozy up for winter...Trying to add texture.

And layering it up a little more.....

Clay with the camera....

And not to forget Clay, here is a picture he snapped  of himself.

LOL

This is just a funny picture that I like....No one  we know...

The Six of Us--plus

Thanksgiving 2012 (Photo by Lisa Norman)

And almost the whole entire clan.  (photo by Lisa Norman)

Barley Sprouting Update

Barley soaked for 12 hours

Barley day 2 being flooded

Day 4 sprouts...

Day 5   We are watering this for 2 minutes every 4 hours, at 10,2,6,10,2,6

Day 6 getting green-getting mold, put a fan going and poured on 3% hydrogen peroxide, also sloped the  shelves more so that the water would run off better, too much water standing.

Day 8 before harvesting it.

Summary:

Our first harvest wasn't as good as we had hoped.
We got about 3-4 lb of fodder from 1 lb of seed.  Our conclusion is that we have to get some better seed, this seed didn't germinate very well or grow very well.  We bought it from a feed mill ($12.50 for 50lb very inexpensive), it was full of chaff and took a lot to get it clean (and I still don't think I cleaned it well enough.)

We fed 1/2 a tray to our little flerd and they were slow to eat it.  They were not anxious to try something new, however by afternoon they had eaten it all up.  We will slowly increase our production and feeding to the animals.

Today I started some food grade wheat seed that I have for making bread.  It was a lot heavier seed than the barley.

I think that I must use bleach to sterilize the seed.  I was trying to avoid it because I hate the smell, it bothers me, the vinegar I used to soak and clean the  seed still had mold.  We added a fan and also sloped the shelving more for better drainage.  Mold is our enemy here, so I hope we can get it stopped.  Good news is you can clean the mold out with hydrogen peroxide and not loose your whole tray to it.

We are just learning a brand new thing so we are not expecting everything to be perfect to start out with.

This week we will be on our way to Curtis & Curtis to buy good seed.  I need some chickens to feed the feed-mill barley to, they can eat molded whatever and would love it!

My Cutie Tooties

Turkey Feathers and Company

Clay has been organizing his sisters.  Love it when they are home to play together.

Ivy has been reading Nancy Drew books all weekend, so she was missing in these pics...

Hydroponics In the Garage

 Hopefully this system will allow us to maximize livestock production on our little farm.  This is just in the starting phase. (All of this takes a while if you don't want to go into big debt starting out.)  We have this in our garage and are going to be experimenting with it to feed our animals.  We are using barley seeds to start out with.  The temperature has to be controlled and we have to have very good sanitation to prevent mold.  The barley sprouts over a 7 day period.  Each day you soak more grain and begin a new tray.    One pound of seed is converted to about 8 pounds of feed.  (Numbers vary with the seed you use and how long you soak it.)

This is the Mini-Fodder-System from FarmTek

Barley after 1 day in the tray....

Where the water comes through...

Where the water drains out, and the control box...

Stay tuned for progress!

Feeding kids!

November is already over?

Just want to share a wonderful web site with a lot of really great recipes for nourishing picky eaters!  I made the Chia Seed Energy bars and they were the best!  I worked all day without stopping and/or running out of energy.  I also tried the ground beef jerky recipe and Clay said it was the best day ever because of the jerky.   The little girls can eat it without choking....Simple and good!
here is the site:  
http://wellnessmama.com/recipe-index/

Mrs. Piggle Wiggle, Our Poor Little Cow

I wanted to give her a extra fancy name, but  Mrs Piggle Wiggle fit her.  She is just not glowing like I want her to be.  What to do?  She has been wormed, using natural stuff and meds....I guess we'll do it again....

Poor thing her jaw is a little off too.  But she is gentle and sweet... (These first 2 pics are from 2 months ago when we got her.  The following are from today.)

 This is her today.  Still in very poor condition.  Yes, her tail is also very homily.  Poor thing.

This is baby Sprout.  She has grown tremendously....

Mrs Piggle Wiggle today....

She is a very young cow, she was 14 months when she had her baby.  She is so run down...

Cattle on Pumpkin....

This is near Clovis.  The first time we saw these fields of ripe pumpkins we were just delighted.  And we continue to be.  Bright orange in the midst of a year that never showed too much color.

I think 2 or 2 1/2 circles.  I wish I new the details of why they didn't get harvested.  Casey says their might be a window where they would make a lot if the timing is right, and if not maybe they aren't worth harvesting?  That's his guess.  Beautiful and sad....

Cattle on pumpkins.  I just like it.   What is this beef going to taste like?

A Clean House

I just had to document this, because it reminds me that I do love my house when it is clean.  And it encourages me, when I look at the pictures to get to work!  Love days like these when I get to stay home and putter around the house all day.  We set up an office at home, so I don't even have to go anywhere to get billing done!!  Love it. Love my home.  Feeling very thankful for it all these days!

The trick was getting this 10 foot table in our tiny dining room.  Somehow, it works!

Rosemary, please don't die while your are visiting us in the house this winter.

The only way I like this kitchen.  BTW that pot on the stove is cranking out some serious moisture!

A little touch of greenery....

A rancher gave me the little tq. table out of an old dump he is tearing down.  It is so perfect!

Kiddos bathroom updated a little...