Harvest Lane Cottage

A good morning to you! The husband, the children, and the chickens are still asleep. It's quiet, peaceful, and no one's asked what's for breakfast yet! It's just cereal today. I've got to get busy and finish yard sale prep this morning. I've got to pick up tables at Friend Joyce's house; then, I'm off to Friend Sherry's house to set up. Sherry decided to open tonight rather than wait until Friday morning. It's just as well. Her house is on a busy street near a couple of factories; so, she gets lots of traffic. Well, it's not seven a.m. yet; but, I'd better get busy before everyone makes me busy. ~smile~ Baby Girl just woke up! Laura Abundantly Blessed

I'm taking a break from cleaning for a few minutes. Outside my window the squirrels are playing tag around one of the big oak trees. The oak tree in my backyard is so tall, I still have to look up into the branches from my second floor office window. While cleaning, my little kiddles were talking about their birthdays which led to talk of Farm Girl Days which lead to talk of Fall which led to Christmas! Now I'm listening to A Partridge in a Pear Tree. I wonder if I'll ever memorize the order of the maids a milking, lords a leaping, and nine ladies dancing? I'm also eating a decadent snack, a fudge brownie with fudge frosting with a very virtuous glass of iced water. I'll be back to the kitchen in just a bit. I have a lot of vegetables from the garden, ours and friends' that are crying to be put up somehow. I think I'll try some zucchini bread as I have lots of squash. I have lots of cucumbers and tomatoes and green peppers as well. I also want t...

My husband launched his new Saladmaster blog this week. He shared two of our favorite recipes- a delicious salad using cabbage instead of lettuce as the base and homemade coleslaw dressing . Saladmaster is cookware (translated pots and pans etc) that you can use to cook without oil, shortening, or water. It helps keep the nutrition in your cooking. We've used it for over 18 years now. I think it's one of the reasons our kids like vegetables! Anyhow, if you're interested, you can check out his blog, SM Cooks . Do check out the salad . It's one of our favorites. We've just started using the lemon and granny smith apple. It's delicious without them as well. If you try the dressing, take note that I have only used sugar not Splenda. I'm not really sure how you would do it with stevia. If you're interested in Saladmaster Cookware, he can tell you all about it or even cook dinner and demonstrate how it works for you if you're in the area. ...

I spent yesterday morning at the nearby community college with my oldest son. He's all enrolled. They're only waiting for the high school to send his transcript so that they can finish up his financial aid. If all goes well, it'll all be done this week. He spent the afternoon at orientation for his new job yesterday. He'll start that Wednesday. Life is going to get very busy very quickly for Matthew.

Just Saturday: 1. $5 Bag Sale at the Thrift Store. I'm really good at packing a bag! I spent about an hour and a half with my little kiddles searching for clothes for the family. We filled the brown paper grocery bag full! When I went to pay, the lady said, "It's taken care of. It was the Lord." After I realized what she was saying, I just felt overtaken by God's grace and provision! Wow God!  When Lowell unpacked the bag, we counted 23 items including three nice dress shirts for him and something for every family member including Grandma! Wow God! 2. We got the notebooks, pens, and pencils we need for the year at Walgreens for less than $5! Wow God! 3. Lowell went to Redeemed, a used bookstore that sells homeschool books and traded a couple of boxes of books that someone had given to us for the three readers that I need for Amy. He came home with $163 that I can use for other school things we need and the fees for Matthew's enrollment at the community c...

"Have regular hours for work and play; make each day both useful and pleasant, and prove that you understand the worth of time by employing it well. Then youth will be delightful, old age will bring few regrets, and life become a beautiful success, in spite of poverty." ~Louisa May Alcott Marmee's Advice in Little Women No Rules Weekend Party

I'm growing to love early mornings. I've gotten up early before; but, it was always begrudgingly. I've been getting up a few mornings a week to go to a water exercise class. I get there around 5:30 a.m. It's so quiet in town at that time. When I get home just before 7:00 a.m., it's still quiet. I like that. I'm going to go read in my Bible and pray for a bit. Then, I'm off to the kitchen to make brown sugar granola with the Hillbilly Housewife's recipe. Laura

For Today, July 21, 2009 Outside my window... rain gently falling, quenching our thirsty garden...our rooster practicing his cockle-doodle-doo...our little back hens and our yellow footed black and white speckled hen hiding under cover...a cool 69 degrees. I am thinking...about how to prepare for yet another yard sale as I try to rid my home of clutter and make some money for birthday gifts. We have three coming between now and mid-September. I am thankful for...a roof over our head...the gentle rain shower...cool air...air conditioning when it's hot...friends and family...God's mercy and provision. From the learning rooms...time off for the kids. I'm thinking over what I'll be doing for next year. From the kitchen... I'll be making some coconut oatmeal cookies, a lunch of pancakes and eggs, and for dinner, chicken sandwiches made with leftover chicken breast from last night's chicken and dumplings. I am wearing...a black and whit...

Who can beat homemade biscuits with homemade strawberry jam? My Friend Beth called me and told me they had strawberries at Aldi for $ .69 a pound! I zoomed over and bought a flat. We ate some with homemade whipped cream. I jarred up a quart with sugar to use over cake or ice cream. Then I made up a batch of jam using the Sure Gel cooked recipe. I've got plenty of room in my freezer right now; but, I like to be able to put the jars on the shelf. I taught Emily to make homemade biscuits using this recipe last year. Now I let her make most of our biscuits. She did so this morning; so, here I am writing about it. ~smile~ I hope you all have a wonderful day. It's been so pretty here. It was a beautiful day to go to yard sales yesterday. We also took an evening drive in the country and ended up following a number of parachute planes to the Show Me Chute Flyers Fly In . It was incredible watching what looked like a fancy go-cart with a propeller and a parachute take off and fly with t...

A friend gave us a pile of pickling cucumbers. I've never made pickles of any kind; but, he said that they'd be good for pickle relish. Well, I've canned tomatoes and green beans and made jam and jelly. I got out my Ball Blue Book and looked up the recipe. It looked easy enough. I took the book with me to the store this morning to make sure I didn't forget anything. The recipe called for green and red peppers. As I put them in my cart, I wished that ours were ready in our garden. I spent almost $5 on peppers! It called for celery seed. Yes, I've got that. Salt, yes. Sugar, yes. Onions, yes. Mustard seed. No, I'm sure I don't have that. Unfortunately, neither did the store. Nor did the next store or the next. Finally, I found myself at Wal-Mart. My three children kept insisting that we had mustard seed at home. Impossible. I could not think of anything that I would have bought mustard seed to make. I've never pickled be...

At every meal we've been scrounging to find enough spoons for our family of 6. I've been looking at yard sales and so have a couple of my friends. The other night, as I was cleaning out a closet for a yard sale, I found a box of silver that my mother-in-law gave us several years ago. It had been forgotten sometime during our last two moves. It had stainless flatware mixed in. I was amazed! God had provided for our current need years ago and had me find it now! I was so excited I nearly cried at the sweetness of it. I didn't count it all; but, there were 54 spoons! He does provide. Thank you Jesus! Laura

I went to a little after school Bible club when I was in first grade and in the beginning of second grade. Believe it or not, it was held in the school. I remember watching the flannel graph board as the teacher told the stories of Jesus. I never doubted that Jesus was a real person or that God was real. So, when the teacher taught us the Bible verse, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life," I believed her (John 3:16). In fact, that was the only verse that I remembered through the years. I loved my little classes and was sorry that I couldn't continue them when I moved to Kansas during second grade. After I moved to Kansas, there was an occasional Vacation Bible School; but, for the most part, not a whole lot of training. My mom did teach me to say the child's prayer, "Now I lay me down to sleep. I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake, I...

Hi Y'all, I came across a recipe for homemade dishwasher powder. I don't have a dishwasher myself; but, I know that my Friend Sherry and many of you have them. Erin uses Borax and washing soda mixed together to make her own powder. Then she uses 1 T per load. Those two products are so versatile! You can read the recipe and more details at her blog, I Am Frugal . Well, it's time for me to go do some cleaning up! Laura Suggested Reading: Ways to Enjoy Homemaking Saving Money on Clothes by Mending Super Quick Super Cheap Laundry Detergent

I have switched to making my own laundry detergent last month. I make it with borax, washing soda and bars of ivory soap. I grate 3 small bars of Ivory soap. I add 2 cups of borax and 2 cups of washing soda. I mix it all together and put it in quart canning jars. I then use 2-3 T per load. Nothing new. You can find recipes for laundry detergent all over the web. My problem came when I had an oily stain and no liquid laundry detergent to pretreat with. Hmmm. If Dawn dish soap takes grease away from your dishes and hands, why not clothes? So, I wetted the area, put just a drop or two of Dawn on the stain, added just a bit more water and scrubbed the area together. I then washed as usual with the homemade detergent. It worked! I then tried it on other stains as they came up. It worked, even on ketchup! I was so pleased. I've since tried Joy and a store brand of dish soap. They worked, too. So, I have a new stain remover without a new item on my grocery list!! G...

My treasures, Matthew, Emily, Michael and Amy.

Like you, I'm sure, I have many memories of Independence days through the years. I can remember going to the car races with my Grandpa Frank and Grandma Mamie and waiting, waiting, waiting for the races to be over. I wanted to watch the fireworks! I also remember flying in their little airplane to a nearby town to go to a town picnic in the park. I was so upset when Grandpa wanted to leave early before the fireworks. I was later thrilled to watch them from the air! I remember standing out on Grandma Mamie and Grandpa Frank's front porch and playing with sparklers. Sparklers were my favorites. I used to try to write my name with them in the air. They were the next best thing to a real magical fairy wand. Hey, I was young! I wasn't that smart about sparkler safety, though. I dropped one on the porch and then stepped on it with a bare little foot. Yikes! I could wail with the best of them. Grandma and Grandpa moved to Texas when I was a teenager. So, from...

I remember as a young child, living in a big white two story house in Dearborn, Michigan. I have a variety of memories of living there: -my first real birthday party on my sixth birthday, -getting a bike for my sixth birthday, -learning to ride my bike and Jimmy Roush not believing me, -my first crush on Jimmy which was severely hampered by him not believing me, -skinning my elbows and knees a lot, - getting thorns in my bare feet from the big rose bush by the driveway, -taking my mom's spoons to the yard to dig, -playing with my friend next door, Becky who was in third grade and had to go to school all day , -getting locked in the garage with the overhead door only a few inches open, yelling for help, and using a croquet mallet and sliding it across the ground outside the door to get attention, -learning to pray every time I heard a siren. It was Detroit in 1970-72. There were a lot of sirens. I also learned something from my mom and dad that is still d...

C. Emily Lane 2014 You know how sometimes you find something so good, you just don't want to keep it to yourself? Today I'm sharing an article with you, with permission, from Nancy Campbell, the editress of Above Rubies. It's the most encouraging magazine and web-site that I know of for mothers and wives. If you enjoy it, please go to Mrs. Campbell's website, Above Rubies . Here's the article in its entirety . Isaiah 3:9, “The show of their countenance doth witness against them.” Or here is a more modern translation - MLB, “The expression of their faces witnesses against them.” "Most mornings two of my daughters, Evangeline and Serene, join me for our one-hour morning walk. We walk fast but we talk fast as well. One morning I asked them the question, “How can we have a heavenly atmosphere in our homes?” “Wear a happy face,” Evangeline immediately answered. I didn’t expect that answer, but it was a good one. The face we wake up with will determin...

Happy New Year! July first in Missouri is officially the first day of the new school year in Missouri. If you're a public school teacher or parent, that probably doesn't matter one iota to you. BUT, if you're a homeschooling parent, you can start recording all of the educational activities your child does on July 1st. If you're new to homeschooling, or just considering it, know that it is so worth it. You can find information about homeschooling and your state's requirements at the Homeschool Legal Defence Association website. So, happy new year homeschool families! Laura