What To Do On Work Trips

 This is why dear hubby doesn't like packing my truck. 😂😂😂😂 I have a project box that comes with me.  I have to have something to do while I'm here all day. I bring things to keep me busy. He better be glad I didn't bring my sewing machines this time. I would have but in this last place there is no room. However, I can get things prepped and ready to sew for when I do get home. And yes there will be something for him too. #sewing #projects #patterns #material #hobby 

My view. Sun 🌞 ☀️ shining but rain 🌧  is coming and geese are foraging. I get to see these geese every day. 😍 

Occasionally we can find somewhere that has a pool or whirlpool. Gives me a chance to ease arthritis inflammation. 

Of course, we don't always eat out. I go to the nearest stores and catch those sales after meal planning for the week.

There are times I get out and find things to do.

If he gets to have a day off, we will find a signature place to eat in that area and have a date day. 

And before you know it, he says its time to go home and you get the green light to start packing and a confirmation day to hit the road. See ya Virginia, until next time. We have enjoyed you but we miss home and can't wait to hug our people. 

If you enjoy our blog and content, be sure to sign up to receive emails when a new post is published so you don't miss a thing. We would love it if you would join us. Enjoy your reading. 

If you are curious about any products you see in our images or that we use in our kitchen, please feel free to visit our Amazon Store where everything is organized into lists for each category. 

Visit our 4D Farms Storefront here 

4D Farms LLC. is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. Our storefront link is an affiliate link that earns our farm a commission at no additional cost if you click through and make a purchase. You can trust that we recommend products that we use in our own home and love and maybe some we wish to have. Our storefront is designed to help you locate items easily by specific, organized, and titled lists. 

Thank you for your support. 

If you like video versions of our content here on our blog, you can visit our YouTube Channel here 

We hope you find something that you enjoy. We also have our channel designed by playlists so you can find your favorite topic to search for certain videos easily. We hope to see you there also. Subscribe to our channel so you can be notified when new videos are uploaded. Be sure to turn your notification bell on too or you will miss them. 

We also have a Novelty Merch Store for 4D Farms where you can find apparel, housewares, and novelty gifts for yourself, friends, and loved ones. We hope you like our custom-made designs by me and one of my daughters-in-law. They are our own and copywritten. 

You can visit our store here 

Have a Blessed Day

Tracy 

Keeper of the Home 

Homemade Bread Is Not Hard At All

 Hello friends, welcome to today's post. Come on in and set a spell.

Please do not ever think or let anyone tell you that making homemade bread is too hard, complicated, time-consuming or any of that nonsense. To anyone too intimidated to try, let me be the one to say, IT IS NOT HARD!!!! 

 I did an experiment today and ON PURPOSE,  hap hazardly tried this. When I say I "winged it", I am not exaggerating. 

I took ingredients that I knew worked well together (milk,  honey, oil, yeast, flour, and salt) NO MEASUREMENTS.  I literally eyeballed them. Barely mixed them together. NO KNEADING AT ALL. Put the lid on the bowl and set in a warm sunny window watching the sun come up. Throughout the day, I only did 3 stretch and folds. I could not believe the results after such minimal work. Look at that rise and elasticity!!! It was a sticky, hydrated texture. I resisted the urge to add any more flour. 

After the last stretch and fold, I dumped out on a floured surface, no kneading, shaped and made a mini loaf of bread and breadsticks. Set them aside one last time for the last rise and baked. Look at that rise and fluffiness again. 

This was all done in a hotel room with nothing but an air fryer. 

This goes to prove that making homemade bread is not dramatic. We overthink it too much. 

If you have been intimidated or nervous to try, please just give it up and dive in. Go for it!!!!! 🍞 🥪 🥖 🥐 🍞

I even experimented with making an artesian loaf using my 5-Minute No Knead dough that I use when we travel. 

If you have never made bread and think you would like to give it a whirl, please join me on my YouTube channel. I have a Breadmaking for Beginners Series on a playlist by itself that you are free to hop in and watch. I would advise starting from the very beginning. I start the series by making a few simple southern favorites like Quick Rolls, Cornbread, and Biscuits. Then we work our way up to a bread dough that is so simple. It's called 5-Minute No Knead Dough. This is great for people who want quick, easy, no fuss, no-knead, no stand mixing required, bread dough. This dough also mimics sourdough through a fermentation process without maintenance. Then we graduate to intermediate where we begin with kneaded doughs. We will get to the advanced stage later. It's a doozy. It is still in the making. But you can catch that series here 

I hope you will join us and embark on this Breadmaking journey as well. There is nothing I love more than the smell of fresh bread baking. It is one of my favorites. 

If you enjoy our blog and content, be sure to sign up to receive emails when a new post is published so you don't miss a thing. We would love it if you would join us. Enjoy your reading. 

If you are curious about any products you see in our images or that we use in our kitchen, please feel free to visit our Amazon Store where everything is organized into lists for each category. 

Visit our 4D Farms Storefront here 

4D Farms LLC. is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. Our storefront link is an affiliate link that earns our farm a commission at no additional cost if you click through and make a purchase. You can trust that we recommend products that we use in our own home and love and maybe some we wish to have. Our storefront is designed to help you locate items easily by specific, organized, and titled lists. 

Thank you for your support. 

If you like video versions of our content here on our blog, you can visit our YouTube Channel here 

We hope you find something that you enjoy. We also have our channel designed by playlists so you can find your favorite topic to search for certain videos easily. We hope to see you there also. Subscribe to our channel so you can be notified when new videos are uploaded. Be sure to turn your notification bell on too or you will miss them. 

We also have a Novelty Merch Store for 4D Farms where you can find apparel, housewares, and novelty gifts for yourself, friends, and loved ones. We hope you like our custom-made designs by me and one of my daughters-in-law. They are our own and copywritten. 

You can visit our store here 

Have a Blessed Day

Tracy 

Keeper of the Home 

Making a Home Away From Home

 Hello friends, welcome to today's post. Come on in and set a spell.

I can still enjoy the comforts of home even while in a hotel on a work trip. 

Sweet tea in the Keurig ✔️ ✅️ 

Chocolate Oatmeal NO Bake cookies for dear hubby in the instant pot ✔️✅️

Mashed potatoes in the instant pot ✔️✅️

Pork chops in the air fryer ✔️✅️

Bread dough rising in a warm window seal for dinner rolls. ✔️✅️

I try to make our work trips as comfortable and homey as possible. 

If you would like to know how I make all these things possible for me and my dear hubby, you can check out my 4D Farms Travel/Small Space Cooking Playlist on our YouTube channel (link is below) where  I share tips and tricks of travel living, and making delicious meals using nothing but an instant pot, air fryer or microwave. 

The magic of making homemade bread in a hotel will be in another post. Stay tuned. 

#travel ##cooking #baking #travelvlog #instantpotrecipes #microwave #airfryer

If you enjoy our blog and content, be sure to sign up to receive emails when a new post is published so you don't miss a thing. We would love it if you would join us. Enjoy your reading. 

If you are curious about any products you see in our images or that we use in our kitchen, please feel free to visit our Amazon Store where everything is organized into lists for each category. 

Visit our 4D Farms Storefront here 

4D Farms LLC. is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. Our storefront link is an affiliate link that earns our farm a commission at no additional cost if you click through and make a purchase. You can trust that we recommend products that we use in our own home and love and maybe some we wish to have. Our storefront is designed to help you locate items easily by specific, organized, and titled lists. 

Thank you for your support. 

If you like video versions of our content here on our blog, you can visit our YouTube Channel here 

We hope you find something that you enjoy. We also have our channel designed by playlists so you can find your favorite topic to search for certain videos easily. We hope to see you there also. Subscribe to our channel so you can be notified when new videos are uploaded. Be sure to turn your notification bell on too or you will miss them. 

We also have a Novelty Merch Store for 4D Farms where you can find apparel, housewares, and novelty gifts for yourself, friends, and loved ones. We hope you like our custom-made designs by me and one of my daughters-in-law. They are our own and copywritten. 

You can visit our store here 

Have a Blessed Day

Tracy 

Keeper of the Home 

Shop One Time I Will Not Overwhelm You Black Friday Shopping

 

Well, that time is upon us again. Where did the time go? Just yesterday I was planting new seeds in the garden for a wonderful summer harvest. 

October came and went while we blinked. Now we are halfway through November. WOW!!!!!!

It is that time of year when we are being commercialized to Black Friday shopping. Let me give you a back story. In my teenage years, I started working in retail. I got a job at a department store in a mall in our hometown. This is where I developed a better work ethic of serving customers known as customer service. (We lack this in today's world, but that's a rabbit hole and we want chase that one). I used to have to work every Black Friday. I remember taking the whole week and setting up for those sales, making cash terminal adjustments, moving clothing and display cases around. It was a job. Then the big day came. We were almost there at the crack of dawn, so were the customers. And with them, they brought their, dare I say,   ATTITUDES!!!!!! We all know how that goes. We were all exhausted when closing time came around. I swore then and there that if I ever got a job outside of retail I would never ever ever get out on that day as long as I live. 30 years later, I can proudly say, I NEVER HAVE.  Yep, you read that right. I have never even left the house on Black Friday. I do not want in the traffic or deal with the crowds. I have not missed it, because no insert........ONLINE SHOPPING 

Now, I know this has pros and cons which we want get into in this post. For some it is a blessing, for some, they still enjoy getting out and going. This is all fine. The main thing is, you get the best deals and you save money. 

We see it every year, your social media, email, tv's, mobile devices, etc., is all bombarded with ads and commercials. Mine does too. We sometimes get tired of these even before the holidays get here. We are burned out before we even get to attend all the activities. 

I am an affiliate with some companies and we have an Amazon Store as well as a Novelty Shop. 

I know what everyone else does that are affiliates as well. They very enthusiastically post everywhere, every day, every item, (you get the picture) on all platforms on the internet. We are supposed to do this, however, it can get overwhelming to some and not bother others. I know this is odd since I am an affiliate. 

BUT!!!!!! I will not bombard you, overwhelm you, or any other as that matter. I am going to take this time to make ONE POST, ONE DAY. 

I am going to post affiliate links to companies that I am a part of and enjoy. We own and use a lot of these products. I would never sponsor something that was not good. I will not overwhelm you with pictures and ads. I will let you do the clicking and navigating. If you do go through my link and shop, you will be helping an ole gal out. Our farm does earn a small commission at no cost to you. 

These companies are in the thick of their Black Friday Sales for the year and if you miss these, you might not get them at that price again. 

Here is the list. I hope you find something for everyone in your home, your friends and loved ones. 

If you see anything in any of our videos on our YouTube channel that you like or want, I always say it is in our Amazon Store. I have everything organized onto lists in our store that make sense. These lists make it easier to find what you are looking for. Here is the link to our Amazon Storefront 

We have a novelty store in which me and one of my daughters in law create cute, playful, and meaningful designs and put them onto merchandise. We have apparel, drinkware, bags, and kitchen items. I'm sure you will find something that you like. Here is the link to our Novelty Store 

I absolutely love Dollar Tree. I could spend all day in that place. They have really stepped up their game and gotten in a lot of good merchandise and yes, you can shop online. Here is the link to the website 

If you have been in the mind for a Grain Mill or Mixer: check these out. I bought my mother one and she loves it. Be sure to use 4DFARMS20 at checkout. Here is the link 

We are avid hunters and we rely on certain places for our hunting gear. These companies do not gear just toward men, they also have women's and children's needs. 

TideWe Hunting Gear 

Optics Planet, Inc. for firearms and ammunition. Use code: SAS5 at checkout. 

Dear hubby loves smoking and grilling. We own a Pit Boss Smoker and Grill. Here is where you can find some great deals. 

If you have always wanted to garden but do not have the physical ability or space you should really check these out, Garden Tower Project: Vertical Container Gardening for porches and balconies: 

All moms love to display their child's artwork in the home. Here is a neat idea just for that 

If you have always wanted some Bentgo Merchandise for your kids or even your school supplies for lunches or dinner meals to take to work and school, they are now running a sale shop here for all your Bentgo supply needs 

These are some of the affiliate programs that we enjoy and love. I hope you have enjoyed and appreciated me not bombarding or overwhelming you with all the links and ads for your shopping. I just trust that you will shop through my links to help our farm out. I feel confident you will find something for everyone. 

If you do get out and brave the crowds please be careful and use caution. This time of year can get a little crazy. Trust me, I KNOW!!!!!

This post contains affiliate links to which 4D Farms LLC. participates and earns a small commission on purchases you make when visiting our links at no extra cost to you. 

#sales #discounts #deals #savings #blackfriday #shopping #coupons #ads #onlineshopping 

Tracy

Keeper of the Home

Making Breakfasts For Dear Hubbys Work Days

 Hello friends. Welcome to today's post. Come on in and set a spell. 

Even when we are on a work trip, I still plan, prep, and cook the majority of our meals using a microwave (if there is one), an air fryer, and an instant pot. But I have now added a new appliance to my travel kitchen box. By the way, dear hubby said if I packed one more thing in this box, he would not load it in my truck for me. Hmmmm.....he did anyway. You see, he notices the things I do and the things I need to make them happen. The new little appliance I added is an electric skillet. I normally use the pot of instant pot to brown, saute, or fry things. However, I could never master pancakes or such. One morning I was able to whip him up some banana pancakes in it. He loved them with a side of bacon every morning for a week. ( I make a week's worth so they last him then I switch to something else). On this particular week, I was making him some sausage. It worked perfectly. 

Then I had forgotten about these two little gems that has been in my kitchen box for a while and never used them. Well, I did today. The little mini waffle maker did an awesome job of making us some waffles. The little container is a batter mixer and it pours. It has a little round whisk ball in it to help mix the batter. You place your ingredients in and shake it vigorously several times. It worked pretty well too. Only one little thing to clean up instead of a big bowl, spoon etc. I love the pour spout. 

A whole batch of sausage and waffles for breakfast for the next week. I add a little dressing bottle of syrup for him to go in his lunch box as well. 

It's just the small ways of taking care of him that he really appreciates. I love that I can still make healthy meals for us even while away from home. I use some of my same knowledge of homemaking but just apply it on a smaller scale for traveling. 

These ideas also come in handy for anyone traveling, small space cooking or college kids in dorm rooms. 

I hope this has encouraged you somehow. 

These nifty little gadgets are in our Amazon Store which will be linked below. Right now they are on sale and would make nice gifts. 

If you want to see some of the meals I make while on a work trip using nothing but an instant pot and air fryer also, go to our YouTube channel  and check out our Travel/Small Space Cooking Playlist. I share alot of recipes with you. 

If you enjoy our blog and content, be sure to sign up to receive emails when a new post is published so you don't miss a thing. We would love it if you would join us. Enjoy your reading. 

If you are curious about any products you see in our images or that we use in our kitchen, please feel free to visit our Amazon Store where everything is organized into lists for each category. 

Visit our 4D Farms Storefront here 

4D Farms LLC. is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. Our storefront link is an affiliate link that earns our farm a commission at no additional cost if you click through and make a purchase. You can trust that we recommend products that we use in our own home and love and maybe some we wish to have. Our storefront is designed to help you locate items easily by specific, organized, and titled lists. 

Thank you for your support. 

If you like video versions of our content here on our blog, you can visit our YouTube Channel here 

We hope you find something that you enjoy. We also have our channel designed by playlists so you can find your favorite topic to search for certain videos easily. We hope to see you there also. Subscribe to our channel so you can be notified when new videos are uploaded. Be sure to turn your notification bell on too or you will miss them. 

We also have a Novelty Merch Store for 4D Farms where you can find apparel, housewares, and novelty gifts for yourself, friends, and loved ones. We hope you like our custom-made designs by me and one of my daughters-in-law. They are our own and copywritten. 

You can visit our store here 

Have a Blessed Day

Tracy 

Keeper of the Home