Around the Homestead ~ November

Hello and Welcome to "Around the Homestead" for November!

1 & 2: My daughters have been working hard at school and enjoy having our study times together. Princess A. has decided to headcover a bit more. She has been studying 1 Corinthians 11 too.

3&4:One of my other birthday gifts was this antique wash basin. I have wanted one for a long time for a baby bath for our land. And I found one via Etsy! I am so happy with it - and Baby B. loves to play in it!

5: We put up our Christmas decorations last week. We are toning it down and making Christmas more simple. We want our focus to be upon Christ rather than the whole hoopla of it all.  So, we have a smaller tree this year and less decorations.


We took a few day trips around here exploring the vast countryside of Utah. We have fallen in love with the Pony Express trail and go farther and farther every time we visited. In these photos we visited Simpson Springs station - it has a small log cabin and such gorgeous views!




We decided to make it to the Dugway Geode Area (first picture on top left).  We had fun searching for Geode's and met some nice people too.  The girls were so fascinate with the crystals growing on all the rocks there. We almost made it to Fish Springs near the Nevada border, but it was growing late and we didn't want to be stuck out in the middle of nowhere when the sun set.  We stopped at a few abandoned places to look around and to shoot our guns. It was lots of fun!'

Other Happenings: I finished my first Herbal class at the beginning of November and will find out my exam results on Friday of this week. I can't wait to find out! I will then continue onward in my Herbal studies (I am hoping to become a Master Herbalist). I am taking classes through The School of Natural Healing. 

We are continuing to use our laundry rack. I haven't used the dryer now for over two weeks! I bought a "rapid hand washer" and a large bucket and saving for a wringer.. then I can do the laundry by hand.

Life has been quiet here as I have been writing letters, reading books, reading together as a family each night, exploring the wilds of Utah, simplifying our lives here at home, homeschooling, cooking and baking up a storm, enjoyed a quiet Thanksgiving at home, working on fixing a broken sewing machine, researching homesteading things, keeping up on the house, and wishing for snow!

Youtube video's we are enjoying this month:

Recipe We are enjoying this month: (These are a hit when people come over and are quick to prepare!)

Emily's Homemade Sloppy Joe Recipe:

1 lb ground beef
1 green bell pepper chopped
1/2 onion chopped
2-4 cups ketchup
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tsp mustard (could use powdered or liquid)

Directions: Saute onion and green bell pepper and set aside.  Brown the meat, add the pepper and onion back in.  Add ketchup, brown sugar and mustard and simmer until hot and bubbly.  You can add less or more ketchup too - make it your sloppy joe consistency you like. :)

I also like to toast my sandwich buns in the oven and serve the mixture on that.

Hope y'all had a lovely November!

I will be doing a Pinterest next month, and don't miss the "Oil Lamp" blog post coming up in a week or so.

Love,
Emily Fay