Those Brautiful Summer Colors

 We are beginning to gather a few things from the garden. It is a little later this year coming in due to later in the year freezes and frosts. Last year I was canning and Preserving in June. 

We will get there though. How is your gardens doing? We got very much needed rain last night thanks to Hurrican Beryle. 

All the beautiful colors of Summer. There is nothing like seeing green tomatoes turn red and buds turn into vegetables. 

#preserving #grocery #homesteading #prepping #gardening #garden #vegetables

We are in the hottest parts of the summer. Please practice safety and stay cool. Stay hydrated.  Work early in the mornings or late in the evenings when the sun is not as strong. Know your limits. Take frequent breaks and sit under the shade. If you are starting to feel dizzy, light headed or nauseous,  you have gone past your limit and gotten too hot. Please be careful out there. 

Happy Gardening 

Tracy 

Keeper of the Home

Teaching Homemaking Skills

 I love teaching homemaking skills. I will teach to anyone who wants to learn. 

I had the pleasure of teaching our sons to cook and clean so they would know how to do things for themselves when they moved out and on their own in the world. I did not want them to be handicapped and not know how to do some things. Those things have come in handy because they help their wives in their own homes and work as a team. They even know how to sew on a button. 

Now, a second generation later, I am getting to teach little Homemakers. 

They have been helping me cook and clean since they could walk. 

Now I get to add teaching sewing skills to their list. 

I have taught them how to sew stitches, sew on buttons and now cutting out patterns, pin them to fabric and then cut out their material. 

I let them help me guide the fabric under the sewing machine and get the feel of a machines noise and motion. I finished the harder parts they are not ready for yet.  We will get to those steps later. 

They were so proud of themselves. And they wore them to bed that night. 

All children can learn simple life skills starting in the toddler years. If we do not teach them these skills they will not be able to function properly later in life when they leave home. 

Let's get back to being those Titus 2 women in the Bible. The next generations depend on it. 

#homemaking #lifeskills #sewing 

Tracy

Keeper of the Home

More Summer Fun

 We are enjoying our summer fun here at 4D Farms. 

There has been swimming 

Eating Ice Cream 

Riding 

Bird Watching 

Blue berry picking 

More tea parties

Taking care of cows

Taking care of the garden

And church

We are trying to squeeze in as much time as we can before school starts back in our area next month. 

Tracy

Keeper of the Home

INFLATION!!!!! Prices Are Outrageous

 With todays prices as high as they are, we try to find as many ways to save money as possible. One way we do this is shopping the sales and buy multiple quantities or pounds of something. Chicken is no exception. We watch for sales at our favorite grocery store and we go shopping. We will buy multiple packages and bring it home and repackage it into meal portions, place into vacuum seal bags and vacuum seal them with out FoodSaver Vacuum Sealer. This saves us tons of money every year and we are able to stock our freezer. 

Another way to save even more is to buy whole chickens when they go on sale. We saved even more by doing this because, we are cutting out the middle man for labor of processing, plastics for packaging and time. We did this same process, we brought them home, cut them up into sections, portioned them into meal portions, placed in vacuum seal bags, and vacuum sealed. Our freezer was full again. 

If you do not know how to cut up and process a whole chicken from the grocery store, dear hubby has an awesome video showing you how to do this process. He explains it so well. He takes you through the whole process from start to finish. He also includes a price break down per pound. 

Check out his video below. Just click on the picture. 

#savemoney #grocery #savings #deals #sales #frugal #groceryshopping #moneysavingtips #homemaking #homesteading #lifeskills #prepping #preserving

Tracy

Keeper of the Home

Let Freedom Ring

 Today we take the time to reflect on and remember all those brave men and women who fought for the freedoms we have in this great country today. 

God Bless the USA.  🇺🇸🇺🇸

Money Saving Gaget

 These little gadgets are so handy. If you are old fashioned like me and wash ziploc bags out 😊 to save money, this is your thing. It is a bag dryer. Those things cost money.  I only wash bags that have maybe produce or something easy to clean in them, not meats. I hang them on this little booger to dry and reuse them a couple of times. Fits up to gallon size bags. I also use them to dry Food Saver vacuum seal bags and reuse. They come in a pack of 3. 

You can find it here

We can all learn so many ways to save money here and there and cut costs down. 

#recycle #frugal #save #savemoney #reuse #homemaking #homesteading #amazon #deals #steals #sale