How about twenty in twenty-seven?

I didn't make my deadline for the Twenty in Twenty Challenge to de-clutter our home and share things we no longer need. But, I did finally get my twentieth bag tossed today! Yay! And thanks to my family for pitching in where asked and for giving generously to the donation center.

I'm pretty burned out on sorting and purging for now, so I'm taking a break to enjoy the empty spaces we found. We may still try to tackle our big barn/garage before the weather warms up too much, and I know that big job will be rewarding when we accomplish it.

Kudos to those of you who joined me in the Twenty in Twenty Challenge. Now, doesn't that feel better?

Twenty in Twenty - Challenge Update

We have donated or trashed fourteen bags of stuff, and I am so thrilled! I have exactly one week left to move six more bags of junk off the Pecan Bluff premises. So far we've culled clothes, shoes, games, toys, kitchen items, and even a variety of old boxes (now why on earth was I storing those?) I also made a conscious effort to use up various hair products and soaps, etc, that we started and then moved on to using something else. What a waste, and what needless clutter to have those half-empty bottles hanging around! So, we've tossed lots of bottles and jars too, as we've used them up finally.

Our home feels lighter, and my heart feels joyful at seeing open space where it wasn't before. This has been a great way to bless my family and teach my children that the stuff of this world musn't keep us from doing our job on this earth ~ to bring glory to God. Sharing things we don't need and paring down what we own has already helped our family work and serve more effectively in the past couple of weeks, and that's been a wonderful change.

Incredibly, we accomplished this big challenge so easily in the house and yard that we didn't even do much clearing in the garage yet. And it really needs it. So, this challenge may be reinstated for the month of March so we can get that mammoth job done before the hot weather hits.

I got emails that some of you were working toward cleaning up your messes along with me this month. If you joined me in the Twenty in Twenty Challenge, congratulations on all your hard work. Let me know how you are doing, and keep on blessing your home and your family. To God be the glory!

The Challenge : Twenty in Twenty

I'm ready for a new challenge, people!
Before this month is up we will purge our home and garage of 20 bags of stuff we don't need! It's a big challenge, but I think we can do it. That's one bag per day every day until the end of February ~ 20 bags in 20 days. Want to jump in and join us?
I'm aiming to get one large trash bag filled per day, but even small bags will count. Plus, if I get rid of a big item (like the giant electronic phonics game I found today that makes the X sound no matter which letter you push) it counts as one bag of stuff all by it's lonesome.
So, we are off to dig through closets, rummage through the garage, and shuffle through shelves to find stuff we don't need, don't want, or don't use. If we find something we haven't used in the past year then we're going to think long and hard on whether we really, truly need that thingamajig. Then we'll haul all those donations to Goodwill and pray that someone needing just such an item will find it there.
This is gonna feel great!

Eat What You Grow - Fruits of Our Labors

In the past few weeks we've picked lots of peaches, along with lots of worms. Ick. I spent about three days processing peaches, and for all my efforts I had one peach pie, one peach cobbler, and 5 pints of peach jam, plus buckets full of scraps for the chickens. Oh, and I forgot the extra varicose veins I'm enjoying after that peach pitting marathon. I decided that if we don't keep up the spraying schedule perfectly next spring to keep the bugs at bay, then next summer I'm giving all the peaches to the chickens and letting them find the worms.

The blackberries were outstanding. Huge and luscious, and sweet! The kids enjoyed just running outside and picking and eating them sun-warmed, straight from the bush. Blackberries have no insect problems, and since the bushes are thornless they are so much fun to pick. We harvested about a quart per day, every day for about 2 weeks. They were so delicious fresh that we didn't bother to make anything out of them ~ we just popped them in our mouths. Perfect.

Next year we'd like to do a better job of pruning all the fruit trees and the blackberry bushes. A perfectly implemented spray schedule for the peaches is a must. And we would really like to have about 5 big blackberry bushes, instead of the one we have. Blackberries grow so well here, and are low maintenance, and the kids all love them. 

One little apple tree made two tight little apples. I couldn't tell if they were ripe or not so I picked one this week. The kids ate it fine and it tasted good, but it was a touch green. We'll leave the other lone apple on the tree for a while longer. The loads of pears are breaking the branches of the tree, but hanging on there. We hope to be harvesting pears just about the time everything else around here croaks from the heat~ at the end of August. 

This has been such a great learning experience for all of us. We are looking forward to the fall, when our southern garden will have it's best season of all! 

Turning Off the Heat

I want to try an experiment this year. I'd like for our family to make a real effort to live off the land. I want to really think it through and look for ways to use our blessings more effectively.  I think when we analyze just how we've utilized the resources we have, we will be both happily surprised in some areas, and terribly ashamed in others.  So, during 2010 we challenge ourselves to do our very best to use the blessings God has given us here on this land. We'll start with a challenge this month, and more challenges will follow this one ~assuming we all survive and don't get too grouchy.

Now, I realize there will be some times that we just have to give in and use all the modern conveniences that we enjoy ~ For example, while I love the smell of laundry hung on the fence to dry, my ragweed allergies prohibit drying clothes outside for a couple months per year, so in the dryer they will go. Insect allergies keep some of my children from helping with the garden much when the bugs are bad, so we may be shopping for our veggies more during those times. And we do all love to eat garden-fresh broccoli, but just how much broccoli can we expect our children to consume (and even more importantly, at what level of broccoli consumption do children begin to turn greenish?) And although I know some Native Americans made a good living off the nuts, I believe that man cannot live on pecans alone, even here at Pecan Bluff. Nope, this won't be real pioneer living by a long shot. But surely there are ways to work a little harder and really use the stuff we have right outside our door, right?

We are starting off our challenge by nixing the use the our central heat for one whole month. We will use only our wood stove to heat the whole house. Of course, we decided to take this challenge long before the blast of arctic air came swooping all the way into Texas, bringing the coldest temperatures we've seen in a while. But, a deal is a deal, and we've already double-dog-dared each other, so the heat stays off.  Meanwhile, we are keeping the woodstove blazing, drinking hot tea, layering on the clothes when in the chilly back bedrooms, and peeling off those layers when we head to the living room where the stove keeps the temperature downright balmy.

Tonight we are expecting temps in the single digits, so we will see how we do in our little challenge. Obviously, no small children will be frozen in this little experiment, but they may have to wear socks around the house this month.

Let's just see how much of that good old pioneer moxie we still have here at Pecan Bluff!