The Glitter Fairy

Oh how I love Christmas. The tree, the twinkle of the lights, the stockings hung by the fire...

until December 26 and then it is time for it to come down!  There is glitter EVERYWHERE!  I don't believe in fairies, but if I did, I know where they hid out during the holidays.

I decided to do a refrigerator purge and clean too.  Emptied all the left-over containers (made the chickens' day), and wiped it all down with a mixture of 3 parts warm water, 1 part white vinegar and 10 drops of Rosemary Essential Oil.  The rosemary essential oil adds a wonderful clean "piney" aroma in addition to having antibacterial qualities.

If you don't like that pine fresh scent... Lemon Essential Oil would also work great.

Now that the decorations and the tree are down and the floors are vacuumed, I think the hardwood would benefit from a good cleaning too.  But that is for another day. 

Right now it's time for a nice cup of something warm.

Merry Christmas Eve Eve

The weather around here isn't as frightful as it appears to be in other parts of the country.  We have had over an inch of rain, but no major flooding or frozen stuff.  Hope everyone else is safe and warm too.

While we try to eat healthy, whole organic foods as much as we can...we do have an occasional treat.  Today I'm making Haystacks.  Ever had them?  Butterscotch bliss is what they should be called!  Simple simple simple.  Not sure where the recipe originated, but I recall my grandmother making them every year.

It's not precise...but here's the basic idea if you'd like to give them a go:

• 1 bag of melted butterscotch  morsals, stir in:
• 1/2 large bag of chow mein noodles (the crunchy kind)
• 1/2 can low salt roasted peanuts.
• Drop by spoonfuls on parchment paper and let harden.
• Enjoy!

Finally Friday

Made it through the work week! ( I have a 9-5 40hr/wk one besides all I do around here.)

YAY!

But....I have to much left to do before Christmas.  Today's list includes:

• grocery shopping for the week at the supermarket
• picking up meat, milk, butter from the local farm
• preparing the items I'm bringing to Mr T's family holiday gathering.  (I have to bring the Sweet Potato Souffle and the Cole Slaw.  Every. Year.)
• gift shopping...I have to finish some shopping before tomorrow's event!
• chicken coop...started repainting that yesterday.  Need to finish the trim.

Mama hugs make it all better.

• need to cook the Mama Doxie (Dixie Mae) some chicken and rice.  Got to keep those pups happy with lots of rich mama milk.
• I know there's something else...but I haven't even had coffee yet...so I will leave it blank to fill in later! ha! ________________

 There's always something to do around the homestead!

OH...I know one more thing...when I pick up sweet potatoes and want to remember to get a couple extra so I can make the mutts some homemade Sweet Potato Chewies for Christmas! ( recipe coming soon!)

What's on your to-do list for today?

The Circle of Life

There's one thing that's always true on the homestead...

Death is never easy.

Whether you raise livestock for meat, eggs, milk or just have family pets...it's never easy to deal with. Not for me anyway.

Our second litter of dachshunds came late Monday night.  Dixie Mae and I were up til 3am bringing those 5 pups into the world.  The last little guy was just that...little. Very little.

And yesterday, he decided he just didn't have the strength to go on.

Yes, he was only with us for a day and a half...but it still hurts to lose him.

But today is another day. The sun is out and it's actually warm enough to take a ride on the bikes and do a little painting on the new old coop.

And the circle goes on.

Welcome to Sunflower Girl Farm.  

We are a small mountain homestead trying to get back to the basics of natural, healthy food, organic gardening, and being better stewards of the small plot of land we've been blessed with.

Some members of the 'stead include 9 dogs (more on that later!), chickens, and teenagers.  I'm Lynn...the Sunflower Girl and my right hand man is Mr. T (by the way, he looks nothing like any TV actor images you may now have in your head!)

Follow our journey as we share our successes as well as our mistakes, learn new skills and recipes, and endure losses and heartaches.

We are real people, with real dreams and real feelings.  Around here, what you see is what you get.  We love big, eat heartily, laugh loudly, and do it all with a heart for Jesus.

So sit back and enjoy the ride with us.