Upgrades and new arrivals

   I have a new appreciation for bloggers! Some of the blogs I read have a new post everyday. After just 7 months of keeping this blog and trying to at least post once a week and failing I am amazed at the wonderful loyal bloggers I read.  I have ideas for posts quite often but getting on the computer to put them to type is another matter entirely.
   Our new life is quite busy but laid back at the same time if you can believe the two can go together. Maybe it's just a matter of perspective. :)  The fall weather here has been nice a mild.  We have had a couple good freezes so the garden is done and all but one kind of mushroom is done for the season.  The garden didn't fare well this year as I only got the tomato plants in and the armadillos kept digging them up.  We did have some good fried green tomatoes but that was about it.
    Now we will be on to hunting season.  Super D has been getting ready and the girls are itching to go.  We also added on to the trailer to make room for a wood stove.

 Super D hard at work again!  He is awesome!

Ok, here's a shot from inside you can see the stove pipe behind the silly hillbilly, dark fairy, and leprechaun. Well, I don't think he was going for leprechaun but I think it fits :) We still have some work on this room as you can see the exposed insulation.  I am loving the wood stove but am learning it's a bit of an art to know just how much and when to add wood so you don't cook yourself out.
  Our family is also growing.  We moved here with our two dogs, remember Grandma holding them in Colorado vacation post, and we have had a variety of reptiles move through our doors since being here. Well, now I have to introduce Simba.                                               

 Simba has adopted us as his family. He has made himself at home and is super sweet.













He has no problem with

Sugarbug smothering him with love.
















It took Simba two day's to break us all down and let him into the house one freezing night. I don't think the dogs like his presence!

 Simba has been regulated back to the outdoors for the time being and we've given him a bed next to the batteries for the solar system to get out of the weather because we added baby chicks this week.

 Who knew you could get chicks mailed to you!  Super D picked them up at the Post Office.  They are super cute.

  This little one is our rare chick.  Not sure what kind he/she is but the rest are buff orpingtions. I'll have a post about their care later :)
Our only other big news is we have a well coming!  I can't wait till we have our own well and pump.  Running water is on the way :) We're moving up in the world. 

Fall! Whoo Hooo!

 Fall has arrived to our neck of the woods. I love fall!  This is what it is supposed to look like in October.

Not snow on the ground which was quite likely when we lived in Colorado. :)  October here also means a birthday.  Sassafras turned 14 this week!  We got to have a great party outside in the beautiful weather with a great game of kickball in the field and of course cake. I think she had fun!

   The cake says "Sing your heart out"  My girl loves to sing! 

Mr. R gave Sassafras a bar of soap. He said he liked to give kids something they can use.  But give him credit there was $ hidden inside :)

Sweet ma and her girls!  They are growing way too fast!

We partied late into the night.  My poor little niece just couldn't stay awake any longer.  Sassafras enjoyed her party with new friends and family!
  Along with fall means we spend more time outside in the woods.  Well hiking through the woods means poison ivy we've learned.  Poor Sugarbug got a really bad case a week ago.

My girl was miserable!  This was just her face and arm but she had a rash over her belly and legs too.  We're not sure how she got it so bad.  We've been careful to watch for it and when we've had to walk through it we wash quickly but it is really a silent attacker.  You can't see the oil or smell it if you get it on you it is easy to spread all over and the rash doesn't show up for almost two days.  Nasty stuff that we are learning to deal with.  So far we've all had a spot or two of it.  Sugarbug had the worst case so far though.
The pay off to walks in the woods- Mushrooms! 

Yes that is a massive mushroom!  We believe it is a Hen of the Woods.  And it is edible and good.  I made mushroom soup with that and still had a gallon bag full to freeze and some for our lunch meal the next day! We have gotten good a identifying several edible mushrooms that a good eating to add to our meals.
Soon we'll have chickens to add to our homestead.  Enjoy your fall weather!

Crazy Mushroom People

A friend dubbed us the Crazy Mushroom People.

I think I'm beginning to see why.

 

We went mushroom hunting again!  I think we are slightly addicted and love tramping through the woods.  We are getting better about spotting them and knowing what we want to look for. 

Beefsteak Mushroom- Super D tried said it tasted acidy.  (AGAIN DO NOT TRY A MUSHROOM THAT YOU ARE NOT 100% SURE IT IS WHAT YOU THINK IT IS! PICTURES ARE NOT ENOUGH FOR IDENTIFICATION. Local names of mushrooms are different in different areas most use the Latin names to identify. Don't use my pictures alone to identify a mushroom do your research.  I can not be responsible for you getting sick or worse!)

 

These are our pear shaped puffballs.  We got a whole basket full.  They were wonderful.  A light mushroom flavor.  We sauteed them in butter and onions flavored with a little garlic and added cheese.  Yum!

These are our Giant Puffballs.  These were almost the size of a soccer ball.  They are edible when fresh but these where a little too old.  When we cut them open they were yellow and green on the inside, when young they are pure white.  We'll keep our eyes peeled for more of these!

  We saw these monsters on the road while going 50mph down the highway!  Of course we had to stop.  No idea what they are we couldn't identify them but they were cool looking.

Mushrooms come in more colors and shapes than I ever could have imagined!  The red one is small but so cool looking.  It was a very delicate mushroom and slimy feeling. Below is a coral mushroom.  Edible and good.  This is what we were on the hunt to collect. 

 

We were successful!  That mountain of coral will feed 3 families!  The purple ones are  Purple-Gilled Laccaria and they are absolutely delicious.  We really like them.  They taste like your classic mushroom only better.  I'm sure our mushroom adventures aren't over anytime soon.  I only shared a couple of our 100 pictures we have already.  Glad you could join us.  :)

Family Time = Fun, Fun, Fun

          Family is important to us.  Sadly not all of our family is close by but we do have a good chunk here.  We tend to get together as often as we all can.  Give us any reason to have a party and we will. :)  We had a blast this weekend hanging out with family and friends.  We made it to a church meeting that was by a beautiful lake and got a great family picture.

 

Then home to let the Party begin.

A party at our place means a big fire will be involved.  Above you have the Aunt and Uncle and kiddos.

 

Mother and kids hanging out. Some how I caught both Grandma S and Aunt S with thier eyes closed.

Of course we have to have target practice.  You'll notice kids in the background playing ball. 

We had a blast with shooting of all guns and bows, games of kickball, volleyball, and tag.  Everyone had a great time and we will miss being able to do these much more as the weather really starts to cool off. 

Our next big party is yet to come though, Sassafras has a birthday next week so we will have at least one more big brawl.  :) 

 

Hunting Mushrooms

      There is nothing better than walking through the woods on a cloudy, misty day.  No heat to deal with and the bugs aren't usually out yet if you've had a good rain.  But that doesn't mean the animal aren't busy and tracks show up better in the muddy areas.  The best part is mushrooms are popping up everywhere.  I never knew there was such a variety of mushrooms in the world. We had two days of mushroom hunting and collected probably over 150 mushrooms most of which we couldn't identify but some we did. 
   Again as with anything from the wild please do your own research before you eat anything!!  Mushrooms can be especially dangerous as you must be very careful to know what you are eating making a mistake can be fatal.  We used books, pictures, and internet to identify our mushrooms and did not even taste anything we were not 100% sure about. Pictures will not do it alone as so many of the mushrooms look alike and may look like a poisonous counterpart.  You have to study descriptions and often take spore prints of the mushrooms to determine what they are. I can not be responsible for someone eating a poisonous mushroom.
  That said we have had alot of fun exploring and learning about what the earth has to offer us. 

The Mother Lode of Mushrooms!

                                                       In the end all our mushrooms filled that 5 gallon bucket.


Here is our prize mushroom.  Super D found this while hunting.  No deer but I think this was better.

                           This is called a Bearded tooth mushroom and it was good to eat!  These are rare to find and this provided enough for six people.  It was meaty and super yummy fried up.

                             These are a honey mushroom but there are several varieties and we were not successful in figuring out which one these were.  Some are edible and some aren't so we didn't chance eating these.

       These are a Pale Jelly Roll. They are not edible but pretty cool to look at.  They wiggle like jello.

     Ever see a blue mushroom?   These are the Indigo Milky.  They leak a blue milk like liquid when damaged.  They are edible but we didn't get the chance to eat these yet.  I'll report on taste next time.

    How about a purple one?  We never did figure out what this was.  But it was a cool looking! 
Can't wait to go hunting again!

Lessons Learned and Challenges

                 We went on a great vacation to Colorado to visit family and friends.  We had a blast and I learned some things.  There are things about city life that I miss...  I miss being able to run outside barefoot in the manicured grass lawns.  Our field is just not the same. I miss being able to run to the store and to a friends house to visit.   But I also learned what I love about our country life. 
        While away I missed Stars!  The stars outside my front door are amazingly bright and plentiful.  In the city you just can not see them because of all the lights.   
I missed the quiet.  Now understand me, the country is not quiet but the noises are different.  I enjoy the sounds of nature including the annoying cow and early rising roosters to cars and people.
I missed wide open spaces.  I was surprised how much I missed being able to see for miles and not just across the street.  I love looking out and seeing space and trees.  I got sad looking out and just seeing the neighbors house and felt cramped.   
             It is safe to say I have fallen in love with our life here!  Even though we are still living with no running water, no oven, and no store around the corner I am happier here than I was in town.  I am living my dream and am so thankful.  No running water but we now have internet. :)
             Even with the challenges of country living we are going strong and it is really starting to feel like home.  

        Now besides the challenges of hauling water and going to town to do laundry here are some other obtstacles we have faced.....
         Deer!  There are tons of deer and in a heroic effort to save one Super D swerved missed the deer but lost contol of the car and rolled it.   So we are one car down now.

Only Super D and I were in the car and thankfully we only suffered a couple scrapes nothing serious.

Poison Ivy!  Yuck.  I was the first of our family to have a major entaglement with this stuff.  We've been very careful about watching out for the stuff and have been able to avoid it.  Well we were working out side one day and I must have run into it around my ankles and didn't realize it and then managed to spread it all the way up my leg and even on me wrists a little. 

 

Here's what I've learned about Poison Ivy. It iches like crazy! What is super bad is that if you give in and itch it then it stings bad.  It causes red swollen areas where it is bad and once you have a good case of it it takes 14-20 days to clear up. Thankfully after a week the iching has lessened a little but it amazes me how it will start to itch terribly out of nowhere. 

Other than this it's little pests like the armidillos that keep digging up my garden and the mice that want to find their way into the trailer.  But overall these are little things that we are learning to live with.  Most the critters we find we still fasinating!  Next I'll tell you about our mushroom hunts and new pets. :) 

I'd love to hear from you if your reading these and have any questions! 

 

Vacation back home?

        Well, we had a great vacation to Colorado to visit family and friends.  We also got to stop in Okahoma and visit Grammy for her birthday. (I'd tell you which one but I fear for my life) We only got to stay the weekend with Grammy but we had a blast celebrating out playing putt putt golf.  Never knew that to be so dangerous!  So to the fun stuff here are the pictures from this adventure  :) 


Super D and Sassafras relaxing at Great Grandmas

Great Grandma left the cooking to us and Sugarbug was only to ready to make pumpkin pie!

Grandpa and Sugarbug (Super D's dad)

A whole mess of kids we had over one afternoon,  Not sure Grandma knew how to handle that :)  (Mom's if you want these pics I'll e-mail them to you just let me know!)

Grandma fell in love with our doggies we tried to leave them with her :)  Sorry Grandma has made it clear she doesn't want to have her picture online so I blocked her but couldn't resist the picture. 



      After Colorado it was back to Oklahoma! Time to party :)

Me and the Birthday Girl. 

Sugarbug insisted that Grammy blow out a candle and since I forgot to get them for her cake this was all we could find.



Playing in the arcade waiting for our turn at putt putt, I think Sugarbug is about to crash!

Yeah Hole in one for the Birthday Girl!  

Aunt J (My sister) taking her turn. Note the water behind her. 

 Now note Sugarbug with no shoes and wet pants!  Apparently my children can not resist water.  :)  She fell in chasing a run away ball.

All in all we had an awesome Vacation and I learned why I'm happy to be back in Missouri and now feel like we are at home.  But that's for next time.