This Week at Ramsey Farms

For the week ending June 28 ~ 

Wow...another crazy week. I did get an offer an my house, I countered, they took a week to respond and then...I said YES! Then I submitted my offer on a 14-acre homestead in Georgia and by the end of the day, I had another deal! Let me just tell you, there was boisterous whooping and yelling and literal dancing in the street!! I'm sure my neighbors wondered what in the world was wrong with me! :)

There has been so much to do since then and keep up with the day-to-day here! Sending what feels likes thousands of mortgage-related documents to the lender, coordinating home inspections, termite inspections, well-water testing, and learning everything-you-ever-want-to-know (and don't) about septic systems! Getting home owner's insurance and flood insurance quotes, sending another fifteen-hundred docs to the lender, printing a novel-like stack of papers, and signing my name about 75 times. And waiting for my buyers to set up their walk-through inspection. Waiting. And worrying.

Worry wastes time and puts wrinkles on your face - I should not worry about the things I cannot control. I keep trying to remind myself of that, but it's easier said than done. There are still things that could go wrong and nothing is done until it's done. So far this has been an easy process (frighteningly too easy actually) and those nagging little fears or doubts keep trying to creep in and stress me out!

This process is all-consuming and it seems as though nothing else is going on around here. We have been enjoying the potatoes, carrots, onions, garlic, beets, green beans, basil, and all the fresh herbs from the garden. The tomatoes are lush and full of small, green 'mators and the sweet basil plants alongside the 'mators are tall and full of large, dark green leaves!

The cucumber have bright yellow blossoms all over them and the vines are attaching themselves to the corn stalks. The corn is awesome - some stalks are about 4.5' tall with a fluffy red grain-looking flower on top of the tallest plants. The great northern beans have climbed the trellis well and are full of large, swollen bean pods. I have learned that for these we will have to wait until the plant starts turning brown to harvest these dry beans. The summer squashes have yellow blooms and several sunflowers have opened in all their glorious beauty.

I've made my Georgia planting calendar and have a plan ready for when we get there. The growing season is much longer there and I'm excited to have so many options and ideas for planting August through December and right on into 2015. Gosh this waiting is so difficult!!

DIY All-Natural Sunscreen

Ingredients

1/3 cup Shea butter
1/3 cup coconut oil
1/4 cup organic beeswax beads
3/4 Tbsp Zinc oxide

Directions

1. Heat beeswax and shea butter in a glass jar (use double boiler or microwave on 50%). Heat until nearly melted. 
2. Add coconut oil. Heat until melted. USE CAUTION JAR IS HOT!
3. Stir contents until well blended. Add zinc oxide powder. (Safety note: you should wear a mask or bandanna around your mouth and nose when working with zinc oxide powder to avoid inhaling the particles. Once blended into oil the risk is eliminated.)
4. Using a immersion blender (or I use my hand mixer with just one beater installed), blend your lotion until smooth. 
5. Allow to cool to a solid form.

This lotion will work as a terrific sunscreen, it is also used as an effective underarm deodorant, and highly effective cream for rashes and quick healing of pimples/acne. I have modified this recipe based on one I found for diaper rash cream. :) This is a stronger version of my original sunscreen blend. I do like the original blend better for deodorant, but this version is much less runny. It has the consistency of a thick paste.

Update: Check out WHY these ingredients are beneficial for you!

This Week at Ramsey Farms

For week ending June 20 ~

This week the painting in the great room continued...it looks to be about 80% complete now. The pale blue-green wall color is so much nicer than the dark, dark fake wood paneling brown. It's actually really pretty and bright in this big room without enough windows or lighting. I wish we had painted in here 14 years ago (yes, I know...My mom had been telling me for 14 years to paint this room!)

I made raspberry cobbler and a small batch of pectin-free raspberry jam this week. Apparently the raspberry seeds have enough natural pectin, so I am excited to see how it turns out and have a small test cup in the fridge to try.

Harvested the rest of the beets from row 1 and canned three  pints of pickled beets. We had a delicious stir-fry of homegrown veggie: carrots, onions, garlic, and herbs and lots of delicious homemade bread this week. I made a loaf of sweet potato bread that no one has a clue has sweet potatoes in it (they think it's "cinnamon bread" and it does contain a good deal of ground cinnamon and brown sugar).

My dear daughter baked dinner rolls one night this week and has been so helpful in housecleaning and chores and taking care of her little brother. She is also just noticing that her mom is hilariously funny (usually she thinks I am just "dumb" I bet) and even told me I should do stand-up. (I'm pretty sure she was not kidding.) I am blessed with fantastic kids.

This week has been a little bit of a whirlwind. Mainly on account of...oh yeah, that offer I got on the house!! Wooot! Yay! You did not want to be inside my brain at that point because it got jammed packed with lists and to-dos and ideas and fear and doubt quite fast. To make the long torturous week short and sweet for you my dear readers, I'm waiting on their counteroffer. And I squelched my doubts and fears by reminding myself of the dreams I've had for the past 20 years of living on my own farm. No doubt it's been a long journey and it's time, I'm ready.

The person you are destined to be doesn't live in fear, she is held back by nothing and no one, she is propelled by her dreams and ambitions, she is emboldened and empowered by her inner strength.

This Week at Ramsey Farms

For the week ending June 14, 2014~

hail storm

This week was the official kick-start to summer as schools let out and a new routine is (somewhat) in place. The week was full of sleeping-in, summer sports workouts, the pool, playing outside, afternoon thunderstorms (even a big hail storm Tuesday), baking breads, cooking dinners, mom's taxi cab service, and the continuous painting in my great room. No house showings this week. Ready for the next new owner to come find this place and make their offer!!

I delivered a big order of rosemary bread and buttery white bread (I cannot come up with a good name for it) to a customer this week. I collected my earnings from my retail display of strawberry jams (all sold out) and set up a little display to take bread orders and jams. I spent a nice hot sunshiny couple hours one afternoon picking raspberries and made a batch of jam the next day. Fresh raspberries are so good in a glass of wine or just a glass of ice water with a sprig of organic chocolate mint!

We enjoyed an awesome stir fry of fresh squash, onions, carrots, garlic, & basil with our dinner one night this week. We grew everything in it but the squash, but that came from around the corner so the entire dish was grown right here in our neighborhood! It went deliciously with baked pork chops, brown rice, and homemade bread. The garden is producing plenty of green beans, sweet peas, onions, carrots, and beets right now and the potatoes will soon be ready for harvesting and eating!

There is nothing better than sitting in the shade of a southern June afternoon with a big ol' glass of sweet iced tea garnished with a sprig of mint and fresh raspberries while you sleepily chat with friends, family, and neighbors and enjoy the birdsong. I love my lovely spot next to the herb garden for that, but I am looking forward to having a bigger backyard in the deeper south to enjoy...

This Week at Ramsey Farms

Week ending June 7, 2014

I harvested my first batch of homegrown beets this week!! Just a few large early beets and made two pints of pickled beets. Yum! Tastes like my Grammaw's recipe!!

The house was shown four times this week!! That is a record that more than doubled the number of total showings. There is someone interested in making an offer on the "Big Farm" we found in Georgia back in April. They have not made an official offer, so I'm not too concerned. Yet. Plus I know that what is meant to happen is what will happen. If that property sells before mine does, well so be it. I

believe that means there is another farm looking for us. (That's right, the piece of real estate is searching us out and wanting us to come find it, buy it, make it our home.)

My next door neighbor gave us a heap of yellow squash that we have thoroughly enjoyed eating on this week! My son likes to eat it raw with raw onions. (Don't ask.) I did a squash, onion, garlic saute one night, a cheesy delicious squash casserole another night, and fried squash two more nights! We're also eating lots of carrots and onions and it's time again to harvest some sweet peas and radishes and maybe a few more days until I will want to take up more beets. I
have been cutting and drying the garlic scapes (scallions/stems) for use in recipes.

Baked lots of yummy breads this week including one that will be perfect for a friend's baby shower next weekend. By the way, all the strawberry jam I made was sold - the feed n' seed sold out and had people coming back asking for more! I plan to make a much bigger batch of blackberry / raspberry jams in the coming week or two. That way I can put up my own stash and sell a good bit too. (Don't worry, I have my own personal stash of the strawberry, too. Under lock and key. Ha!) :)

Made my own sour cream by mixing 1 cup whole milk with 1/4 cup distilled white vinegar in a glass jar. Shake it up very well. Put it at the back of your fridge (the coldest location) and let it set up for at least about 30 minutes. Do NOT shake it or stir it! The cream will rise to the top and the vinegar will sink to the bottom of your jar. Spoon out the cream and use just like store-bought sour cream - it is easy and delicious! The sour cream you made will be good as long as the date on your milk - so use that as your expiration date. Enjoy!

Created new batches of sunscreen, bodywash, hand soap, and tried a new dish soap recipe this week. Hopefully one of these days I will get all these DIY all-natural recipes posted to share with y'all.

We held a bonfire and wienie roast on Friday. It's so lovely to eat outside at the table or on the picnic blanket while watching the fire and taking in the beauty of the garden. And what bonfire is complete without roasting some marshmallows? We made lots of s'mores for dessert then caught lightning bugs and chatted by the fireside until late.

Ramsey Farms Vinaigrette Recipe

Ramsey Farms Vinaigrette

This is similar to an Italian dressing. Change up the type of vinegar (red wine, balsamic, cider, white, infused, any kind!) and herbs you use for a limitless variety of tastes!

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup olive oil (or any salad oil)
• 3.5 Tbsp vinegar (use your favorite type, try other varieties for something new each time!)
• Black pepper
• Salt (I like kosher)
• Fresh & dried herbs: Basil, rosemary, oregano, thyme, garlic, onion, etc. - come up with your favorite blend
• *Use dried red pepper flakes to make it zesty!
• *Use mayo as part of 1/3 cup oil to make it similar to a creamy Italian dressing!

Directions

Mix all ingredients. Shake well. Refrigerate. EAT! :)

You can view the Ramsey Farms Ranch Dressing recipe here.

This Week at Ramsey Farms

For week ending May 31, 2014

We are battling birds with the corn and bean plants - they keep digging up seeds or even entire plants! I believe it's the mischievous blue jays making trouble. Chief Farmhand, Chris made a tent  out of scrap wood and some tulle I had laying around and that seems to work great to protect the plants from the dastardly birds, but only covers less than half our crop. So he also fashioned some protectors from plastic drink and juice bottles to help insure we get to eat some corn this summer. We reseeded all the corn, beans, sunflowers, summer squash, okra, and peppers that haven't popped up yet (or were wrestled out of their snug soil bed by crazy birds).

Most of the lettuce is finished it's growing season, however we are still harvesting lots of carrots, radishes, onions, garlic, and herbs! Looking forward to lots of late season radishes, beets, potatoes, and another round of sweet peas coming soon.

The bakery has sure been getting busy with a handful of new customers! I need to invest in an order of paper bakery bags to ensure all the bread I'm selling or giving away is nicely and consistently packaged.

Flour Tortillas

Our daughter only has 6.5 days of middle school remaining. My son graduated from his 4 year old preschool class this week. He was delighted to give both his teachers a loaf of homemade bread and a jar of homemade strawberry jam! And those were the last of the strawberry jams - they went so fast. I did manage to hide a few jars for myself for later in the year when I really need that "spring time in a jar" flavor!

My daughter made up a batch of laundry detergent and dishwasher detergent. I know it's been close to about a year since I've bought dishwasher detergent and I bet it was 2012 the last time I purchased laundry detergents. I love that my clothes just smell clean, not like perfume and our dishes are super clean and we aren't harming the environment or our pocketbooks! Win-win-win!

Yum! Chicken tacos with organic lettuce & homemade tortillas

I have been using apple cider vinegar (ACV) as a conditioning hair rinse and am really amazed that something like vinegar can make your hair so darn super soft! No expensive conditioners have ever come close to this kind of softness!! So if you read Andy's Lotions & Potions post a few weeks ago, I can vouch that ACV works wonderfully as a hair conditioner. Wash and rinse your hair, work the vinegar through your hair, leave in for about 5 minutes, rinse. And that vinegar smell does dissipate quickly. Try it - you'll be so shocked! What other recipes and ideas have you tried from Andy's article?

Be sure to check out the homemade croutons recipe, garden pics, and cold frame pictures.

And keep your fingers crossed, do a wish-dance, say a prayer or incantation, but oh...I so want to sell this house. Somebody, somewhere needs this little place and I wish they'd come find it and make their offer. My Big Farm awaits me and I find myself daydreaming about all the things we plan on doing on the farm...adding a back patio and screened in porch by the pool, building the chicken coop next to the river in the shade, putting the rabbit hutch behind the storage shed in the back, watching my kids run wild on their own 14-acres or play in the tree house or swim in the pool or play in the creek, laying in a hammock in the front yard shade trees, baking bread in another kitchen, thinking about where the goats might go or the hogs or a barn or a camping area or cabin or deer cleaning station...my poor mind wanders away to this place and my body just can't wait to get there. It's coming, right? It has to...

"Knowing I cannot and must not simply submit to the standards imposed on me, and merely conform as "they" would like. This I am convinced is wrong - but the pressure never ceases." ~ Thomas Merton