Monday Is For Meal Planning

	Breakfast	Lunch	Dinner
Sunday  5	Baked oatmeal	Invited out	Bean dip Tortilla chips
Monday 6	Scrambled eggs Banana Muffins	Divided lunch Potatoes/hotdogs Cukes & dip Peaches	Chicken patty sandwiches Cucumbers & dip
Tuesday 7	Breakfast Enchiladas	1 help Lloyd Leftovers Hotdogs	Spaghetti (GF) Lettuce salad Peach crisp
Wednesday	Waffles Sausage gravy	All at one job Leftovers Carrots & dip	Turkey, sausage, potato dish
Thursday 9	Fried eggs and beans	All at one job Leftovers Peaches	Beans Cornbread Coleslaw
Friday 10	Egg biscuits	All at one job Leftovers Cheese sandwiches	Southwest pizza Veggies & dip
Saturday 11	Muffins	Leftovers	Salmon Rice

And so I will post it on Tuesday. 😀 Need some inspiration?

Some of the recipes are linked to what I use or something similar. Waffles and muffins are made with light buckwheat flour. For bread and biscuits I use spelt flour.

For the lunch menus I write down what is happening for jobs so I know how to pack.

There will likely be puddings throughout the week as well, using up milk. Breakfast will include homemade yogurt as often as possible.

What are you cooking this week?

Here's what we saw Friday morning in the western sky. Of course, a picture never does justice. It was a full arch, double in some places.

Have a tasty week!

Thomas Jefferson Education Convention

For the last several years I have been studying the Thomas Jefferson Education (TJEd) philosophy. Take note- this is not a curriculum, it is a philosophy of learning. Some time ago I shared the "Inspire, don't require" key of learning/teaching.

This past week the TJEd Convention 2018 began. I'm sorry to introduce this just now, because if you didn't know about it before, you have missed the early bird pricing. But even so, the price is reasonable.

And the content is life changing. We have been part of a "conveyor belt model" of education for so long that we think it is the normal way to be educated. Then when our children don't meet our expectations or don't do well with this "normal" way of being academically educated, we panic. Our children feel like failures and so do we.

"It worked for me!" we say. "Why doesn't it work for my child?" 

We find our children coming away from a formal academic education with a hatred for learning. They slam the books shut with a hurrah and want nothing to do with them forever after.

Is that the education we want for our children? No! A resounding no! 

We want our children to know their purpose in life and be educated in a way that will equip them for that purpose. TJEd will help us know how to accomplish this. 

Sign up here for the convention. (Scroll down to the box that says "The 2018 TJEd Online Convention".) I've listened to Rachel's first two videos and am feeling excited about the upcoming school year.

If you are unable to listen to the convention and would rather read, check out the book A Thomas Jefferson Education.

Dishwasher!

Matthew (16) and Melvin (14) gave me a most precious gift this week! They pulled a dishwasher out of storage and replaced the one in the house that has been out of service for years. 

It is so wonderful to be able to put the dirty dishes in there and let them wash while I do laundry, sweep floors, wash windows or sleep!

Happy dance!

Flower Show -Lilies

There are some pretty lilies hiding in the weeds around here.

 “And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith? Matthew 6:28-30 NLT

Milk Products

A gift from one of my Sunday school students. The perfect dish for butter!

Have you ever wished for a family cow? It's wonderful! And then sometimes... the load (or overload) of milk is exhausting.

Our cow gives seven or eight gallons of milk per day. We are doing a cow share with another family of eight so that takes care of the between days. But we need to do something with the other twenty-eight gallons that are produced in a week.

Today I am making or have made...

...butter.

Butter draining in a sieve.

...yogurt.

Milk cooling after being heated to make yogurt

...tapioca pudding (baby pearl).

Cooling in a sink of water

And here is a gallon of milk that I am contemplating what must be done with it.

Condensation on the jar

Often we set it out in a bucket to sour/clabber and then we feed it to the chickens. But as much as I'm able I like to keep it edible for humans. I also make hard cheese and cottage cheese.

What would you do with gallons and gallons of milk?

Wore Out

You come home at night
Sit down for a bite
And you're wore out!

You're hardly able 
To get up from the table
'Cause you're wore out!

You crawl into bed
Sleep like you're dead
'Cause you're wore out!

In the morning you wake up
Can't seem to get up
'Cause you're wore out!



You get up on Sunday
Dread to see Monday
'Cause you're wore out!

You go set in church
And your back starts to hurt
'Cause it's wore out!

The choir starts to sing
And you can't feel a thing 
'Cause you're wore out!

You pray the sermon and song
Won't last too long
'Cause you're wore out!



You go for a ride 
In the car with your wife
And it's wore out! (The car, that is!)

She starts to worry 
Tells you not to hurry
This car is wore out!

You don't know where you're at
One of the tires has gone flat
'Cause it's wore out!

From the sound of the motor 
We'll soon have to tow her
Cause she's wore out!



When we get to heaven with Jesus our King
We won't have to worry about anything
We'll be happy and free and our bodies won't be
Wore out!

We'll be happy and free 
Nothing there will ever be
Wore out!

Know the feeling? Here's a rendition of this song that I like. And to be honest I really identify with this song currently. 

Learn who the author is here.

Counting Blessings

There is a challenge going on at Frugal Family Food. It's "low spend month" where we are challenged to use from pantry, fridge and freezer instead of getting as much from the grocery store. (Subscribe to their newsletter here.)

When the challenge was announced I thought there would be no way for me to participate. This is the time of year when my canned and frozen food is nearly depleted. Out with the old, time for some new.

But then I began to realize how much I had. One day I took pictures of things I was given and that came from our own farm. It has happened more than once that I decide to not buy as much and then God begins to shower me with food from sources I never thought of.

Peas and strawberries from the garden.

 20 lb bag of potatoes for $4.

 Milk from the cow.

Free cheese from my bro-in-law, who drives a food truck.

 Green things from our garden.

 Shucked peas (from our garden).

 Carrots from our friends' garden.

 Honey from our friends' bees.

 Eggs from our chickens.

 Blueberries from friends.

 Black raspberries from our orchard.

 Blueberries from our orchard.

Homemade butter.

Basil from the garden.

It is good to count one's blessings!

For a bonus here's a video of our youngest son mowing the yard. He has been bugging us for awhile to be allowed to do it. Our oldest was mowing with this same machine at 8 yrs of age. Why are we reluctant to allow the nearly 13 yr old youngest one to do it?