Vaughnshire Farm

(Pro 22:3) A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself: but the simple pass on, and are punished.

I ended the last post with this verse and I thought it would be worth a little commentary.  The concept here is not about hiding in the hills because there is trouble.  The idea is to be wise and prepare how best to serve those in times of trouble.  I will give credit here to the second phrase I heard from Franklin Sanders that also helped us in our journey, that is “Cultural Secession”. 

While the south may not have been able to secede from the union, there is no one forcing the people of the South, North, East or West to practice the culture that followed that great war.  We do not have to watch the wicked and perverse entertainment, we are not forced to place our children under the government school system, and to some extend we do not have to participate in their economy.  We are not forced to embrace the ideas and philosophies of the ISMs that shaped America during the 19th century.  One friend of ours summed the concept up like this.  “We are engaging in short term cultural secession, with a view towards long term dominion.”

The principle is simple, if you follow the culture and are enslaved by the same things that enslave the culture, then you will not be free to serve or lead the culture.  The motive in the previous post should be seen as an encouragement for God’s people to strive to be in a position to lead in times of trouble and serve their community around them, not to lead by running away from the trouble.  The following are two commentaries on this passage that I believe speak to the heart of the matter.

John Gill:

Pro 22:3 - A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself,…. A wise man, whose eyes are in his head, who looks about him and before him, and is cautious and careful of his conduct and behaviour; he foresees the evil of sin he is liable to be drawn into by such and such company, snares, and temptations; and therefore he keeps from them, and abstains from all appearance of evil, or what would lead him to it; and he foresees the evil of punishment, or the judgments of God that are coming on for sin; and he betakes himself to the Lord, to those hiding places and chambers of retreat and protection he has provided for his people, till the indignation be overpast; see Isaiah 26:20;

but the simple pass on, and are punished: foolish persons, devoid of the grace of God and the fear of him, go on careless and unconcerned in their sinful course of life, transgressing the law of God; they proceed from evil to evil, from lesser to greater sins; they go on in the broad road to destruction, and are punished with temporal judgments here, and with everlasting destruction hereafter.

Matthew Henry:

Pro 22:3 -
See here, 1. The benefit of wisdom and consideration: A prudent man, by the help of his prudence, will foresee an evil, before it comes, and hide himself; he will be aware when he is entering into a temptation and will put on his armour and stand on his guard. When the clouds are gathering for a storm he takes the warning, and flies to the name of the Lord as his strong tower. Noah foresaw the deluge, Joseph the years of famine, and provided accordingly. 2. The mischief of rashness and inconsideration. The simple, who believe every word that flatters them, will believe none that warns them, and so they pass on and are punished. They venture upon sin, though they are told what will be in the end thereof; they throw themselves into trouble, notwithstanding the fair warning given them, and they repent their presumption when it is too late. See an instance of both these, Exodus 9:20 & 21. Nothing is so fatal to precious souls as this, they will not take warning.

Beth pointed out here that one of the reasons we farm is for our health.  I would like to point out one of the other reasons is cost.  This article and the articles mentioned in the Parallel Economy post are all strong encouragements to remove ourselves from dependency on the corporate economy and move towards a more local family based agrarian economy.

It is not really about saving money as good as that is for a family of 10.  What is really the driving force behind this aspect of our agrarian adventure is the dependency on a system that is not only unhealthy, but is fast becoming undependable and expensive.  

One of the most important aspects of the parallel economy concept, that really helped our vision and our plans for the farm and family life, was being able to identify which economy we were operating in.  Consider the following purchase of a commodity that is on the rise: (Second Ref)

1 Gallon of Milk

• Corporate Economy
  • Cost $5 a gallon on sale
  • o Dependencies
    • Money on hand to purchase
    • Transportation (For you and the milk)
    • Corporation solvency (milk company, transportation company, store chain)
    • Store hours
  • Cost Drivers
    • Store profit / operational costs
    • Oil prices for transport
    • Feed Prices
    • Farm Workers
    • Equipment Costs and maintenance
    • Cattle costs
    • Federal and state regulations
    • Taxes
• Agrarian Economy
  • Cost - none out of pocket
  • o Dependencies
    • Healthy cow
    • Milk bucket
    • Maybe a rope if the cow is ornery.
  • Cost Drivers
    • Hay for the winter if you don’t cut your own
      • If you cut your own, fuel for your tractor, if you don’t use hand tools

Of course you could be somewhere in between on your journey where you are sharing a cow with some other families, or buying milk from a local farm.  The point of the parallel economy is, to understand where your dependencies are and know what risk you have for each of them, to provide for your family. 

The ability to provide our family with affordable and healthy food is a fairly important concept of freedom.  If you can’t eat, you can’t live.  If you are dependent upon a failing system to eat, then you are depending on this system to live.

I don’t think we are in for a cataclysmic end to our current economy.  All I know is that it will end.  History teaches us that there has never been an economic model that has not ended.  (Can anyone think of one?)  I am rather inclined to believe we will continue the cycle we have begun and will continue to reap bad rewards from bad practices.  The fruit of that is if you are dependent upon that economy you will be subject to it.

If the corporate economy came to a halt tomorrow, do you know where your next loaf of bread would come from?  What about if it continues a slow decline that lasts until your grandchildren are parents?  Are you training your children on these principles?  If you doubt the importance of what I’m saying, ask yourself this question; How is it I know the phrase “Russian bread line”?  Russia was once a thriving economy, but that is not what she was known for in recent years.  I would submit that we are on the same path as Russia.

(Pro 22:3) A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself: but the simple pass on, and are punished.

The character examples in Proverbs 31 are so far above reproach, it is hard to figure out how a woman’s job as keeper of her home and assistant to her husband are anywhere considered substandard or ho-hum?

However, it really is only in believing anti-Biblical thought that one can conjure up the idea that Godly womanhood and glorious motherhood are liken to some repressive, unintelligent, low existence.  According to Scripture, it is just the opposite.  Yet many women, including Christian women, have foolishly believed the snide, negative comments about ”home makers being barefoot, pregnant and chained to the stove”.  So they shun the glorious role God gave to women and believe that being barren and fruitless and chained to a grey cubical (or a job) 50 hours a week is the liberated and educated choice.  

The so-called liberated feminist believes the same lie the serpent told Eve in the garden –the humanistic lie that you shall be as a god, deciding for yourself what is good and evil. Beware of the serpent’s beguiling lies and know that when we follow down that destructive path and believe the lies of this feminized culture, it is the road to hell: pain, misery, death and destruction.

When we look at the view that God has of women, we see a completely different picture than what the raging feminist have been painting for the last 150 years. 

( I would highly encourage you to read Jennie Chancey’s article entitled, You Don’t Know Feminism.)

In Proverbs, we see the examples of a woman who was well-educated, industrious, hospitable. We see ultimate security and real love in marriage. We see true prosperity and eternal value. She is highly productive and skillful. She is bold, respected, honored and her husband is known in high places because of her character. She serves and entertains. She is eloquent, prepared and has long term vision and foresight.  She cares for children and those in need.  This woman isn’t measured by what a pagan culture says is acceptable, she is measured and valued in the eyes of her Creator God!  Her home isn’t stagnant edifice of a pile of decaying sticks, but is a thriving, economically vital, bustling place of industry. (see Proverbs 31:10-31)

While the average woman may not be a flaming feminist after the ilk of Linda Hirshman, the culture has set the standard for what and who women should be and the majority of women have been infected by feminist thought whether they know it or not!  As Christian women, our standard isn’t what culture dictates — it comes directly from Scripture — and in our culture our standard, as Christians,  is extremely opposite of current societal norms. 

Two of our boys are in the “chicken business”  — egg production business, I should say.  Our 12 year old has been diligently writing business plans, calculating costs, reading about chickens, researching breeds and buying options and talking non-stop about his business ideas.  This has been brewing for a while, but was actually jump-started about a month ago when a local restaurant owner told him as soon as he could supply 15 dozen eggs every week, he would buy from him.  That was all it took to get those little entrepreneur wheels kicked into high gear. 

The seven year old has been handed down the operation of being in charge of supplying our family with eggs.  He is working on getting his own flock of chickens that he buys and raises.  He has one buff hen laying currently.  This hen he bought with his own money back in the summer and successfully raised a nice looking laying producer of which he is very proud of. 

Then, of course, there are the 2 super buff chicks that are now safely in the chicken tractor and he tells me they will be laying in June.  So he has a ways to go to raise his production levels to meet the egg usage demands of our large family, but is highly confident that he can do the job. 

Both of these boys awoke early this morning and eagerly went to town with dad to buy some more chicks.  The 12 year old bought 31 chicks to add to his business and our 7 year old bought 5 more buff chicks to add to his collection. 

We were also informed today by the 12 year old that one of his pullets is definitely broody.  She has been successfully sitting on her nest of 10 eggs and has pulled feathers.  This was a very exciting discovery because he was the one who suspected she was ready to sit last week.  Since then, he has been researching and reading about what to watch for and has been diligently checking in on her to make sure she was doing what she was supposed to be doing.  Next week, he will candle the eggs. 

Sometimes discussing your beliefs and passions in public can be fun and encouraging.  Other times it can be frustrating and even disheartening.  Then there are times like this, where it is just plain confusing!  We recently saw a link to Beth’s article on Gender specific education from a self proclaim reluctant feminist; Lara.

What is confusing about Lara is she claims to be a Christian and says the Bible is her favorite book, “above all else“.  The confusing part is how someone who reads the Bible can claim that feminism is a good thing and even countenance it as a philosophy.  After reading through her category on feminism, I believe there may be many people in this same position of trying to reconcile the Bible with feminism.  It is to that I wish to offer a few thoughts.

First, I’ve noticed the line of reasoning usually does not start with the Bible, it starts with emotional ploys, such as; look at all the good feminism has done - after all women can vote now.  Or, what about all those women who are oppressed by wicked men.  Let’s be very candid and allow me to speak like a man here if I can.  Those statements are red herrings typical of the women’s rights women of the Planned Parenthood ilk.  They throw out some emotion filled statement about women being raped and being forced to have a baby to cover up the truth of the murder of the baby. 

The statement makes an assumption of a good while ignoring the evil that must take place for the so called good.

In the case of women voting, they had the right to vote in many states here in America long before so called suffrage.  In order to exercise that right they had to be the head of a household and a landowner.  The same requirements for men to vote.  Now this was not consistence across all states, but it was at least the starting place for most of the laws prior to suffrage.  The Biblical principle is if the woman is part of the man’s household he represents his family and is responsible for what his family does.  Bible Reference:

And Moses spoke unto the heads of the tribes concerning the children of Israel, saying, This is the thing which the LORD hath commanded. If a man vow a vow unto the LORD, or swear an oath to bind his soul with a bond; he shall not break his word, he shall do according to all that proceedeth out of his mouth.

If a woman also vow a vow unto the LORD, and bind herself by a bond, being in her father’s house in her youth; And her father hear her vow, and her bond wherewith she hath bound her soul, and her father shall hold his peace at her: then all her vows shall stand, and every bond wherewith she hath bound her soul shall stand. But if her father disallow her in the day that he heareth; not any of her vows, or of her bonds wherewith she hath bound her soul, shall stand: and the LORD shall forgive her, because her father disallowed her.

And if she had at all a husband, when she vowed, or uttered aught out of her lips, wherewith she bound her soul; And her husband heard it, and held his peace at her in the day that he heard it: then her vows shall stand, and her bonds wherewith she bound her soul shall stand. But if her husband disallowed her on the day that he heard it; then he shall make her vow which she vowed, and that which she uttered with her lips, wherewith she bound her soul, of none effect: and the LORD shall forgive her.  But every vow of a widow, and of her that is divorced, wherewith they have bound their souls, shall stand against her.

And if she vowed in her husband’s house, or bound her soul by a bond with an oath; And her husband heard it, and held his peace at her, and disallowed her not: then all her vows shall stand, and every bond wherewith she bound her soul shall stand. But if her husband hath utterly made them void on the day he heard them; then whatsoever proceeded out of her lips concerning her vows, or concerning the bond of her soul, shall not stand: her husband hath made them void; and the LORD shall forgive her. Every vow, and every binding oath to afflict the soul, her husband may establish it, or her husband may make it void.

But if her husband altogether hold his peace at her from day to day; then he establisheth all her vows, or all her bonds, which are upon her: he confirmeth them, because he held his peace at her in the day that he heard them. But if he shall any ways make them void after that he hath heard them; then he shall bear her iniquity. These are the statutes, which the LORD commanded Moses, between a man and his wife, between the father and his daughter, being yet in her youth in her father’s house.   (Num 30:1-16)

So what “good” did we gain when women received the right to vote?  Instead of a woman being in subjection to her husband, trusting and helping him in his responsibilities to lead the family and make decisions, including who would best represent the family in the civic realm, we have the woman now with the civic “freedom” to counter her husband’s wishes and actually nullify his wishes for the family.  Let’s distinguish between a civic freedom and a Biblical command here as well.  Just because a law is passed does not make it morally right.  Reference the abortion laws for instance.

Bible Reference:

The aged women likewise, that they be in behavior as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things; That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.  (Tit 2:3-5)

In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with braided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array. But (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works. Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. For Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression. Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety.  (1Ti 2:9-15)

One has to ask this question, how serious is blasphemy?  If Titus 2 was the only Scripture in the Bible that addressed this issue would this be enough to overthrow the ideology of feminism?

To be clear this has nothing to do with how smart or capable a woman is and it has everything to do with God’s order for society. Lara, is a PhD student so I’m fairly certain God blessed her with an articulate tongue and a quick wit, as evidenced in her writings. I happen to think my wife is brilliant. God has given her the ability to think and to write and to be a blessing to those around her. These gifting are not lost because she submits to her husband, rather they are enhanced.

No the issue here is not the intelligence and skill of the woman or the ability of the man for that matter, it is about God’s created order for society.  God created mankind.  God has spoken in His Word about how we are to relate to one another. 

Bible Reference:

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
(Gen 1:27)

… but for Adam there was not found a help meet for him. And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.  (Gen 2:20-24)

What we gained when women won the right to vote, was not freedom for women, but the destruction of the biblical family and God’s created order.  A woman was not created to stand alone any more than a man was.  God created each of us distinct to complement one another and to bring glory to Him.  We are equal in value before God, but very different in the functions and roles we are called to fulfill in this world.  The man’s role is to lead his family.  The woman’s role is to support her husband and be his helpmate in the work God calls him to.

I don’t think most Christians, women or men, realize how inundated we are by the philosophies of this world and the social humanism that came with the industrial revolution.  We like to pick our own small little piece of the battle and we miss the bigger picture as described in the summery of this post.  As to the socialist humanistic education system, I don’t think it is helpful for men or women.  Why would we go to the God hating Darwinist to ask them to teach us about God’s world?

The Bible is more than a good book with some suggestions, it is the source book for the law we live by and the grace that is our eternal hope.  It is the only sure rule we can hang our eternal lives upon.  All other philosophies will fail, but the Word of God will not return void.

First, I’m indebted to Franklin Sanders for the title of this piece.  Several years ago he mentioned this phrase that has stuck with me.  In fact, it did more than stick with me, it verbalized in two simple words a good portion of what Vaughnshire is; at least in this generation.

Beth has posted many articles on couponing and shopping wisely in our current economy.  At the same time we are also gardening, raising our own beef and chicken, and milking our own cow.  These in a nut shell are the two economies we live in.  On the one side, we are exploiting the folly of the industrial model by leveraging their own marketing strategies and on the other we are working to become self sufficient and community interdependent by producing our own food and trading with other likeminded families.

Currently in America, both options are at least marginally legal.  As the corporate practices continue to put people’s health at risk for the sake of profits, there will continue to be broad sweeping laws.  These new laws will continue to place an undue burden upon small family farmers and communities that wish to engage in a free trade and barter economy.

If we look back at Russia in the last century, we see a legally sanctioned economic system operating in parallel with what came to be known as the black market.  When the official economy could not provide the basic necessities of life, people turned to the black market.  Many economists and government pundits will try to blame the rise of black markets on people not wanting to pay taxes.  I would claim the rise of the black market within a sanctioned economic system is a sign of that system’s failures.   

Today in America we have a legally sanctioned economy with an appearance of a free market.  However, the truth of the matter is there are far more government regulations imposed upon the economy than most realize.  Most regulations serve to protect the economy under the pretence of protecting the people.  (A point I will endeavor to prove in a future post.)

The fact of the matter is we just want to live on our land, raise our children, and enjoy the fruits of our labor as a Christian family.  When we raise our own beef, we don’t use the government “recommended” chemicals and drugs.  It is not because we are being antagonistic to the government or disrespectful to big industry experts.  It is simply that we have studied the issue and found these practices are not needed on a small farm and some of these practices can actually be hazardous to our health.  At the same time, if there are going to be a thousand cows in a small building they are going to need certain drugs just to stay alive.  These are dangers we simply don’t face on a family farm.

No one would really have a problem with us raising our own beef, for the most part.  But the trouble comes with the “enjoy the fruits of our labor” part of the statement.  Once we have produced something, we should be able to benefit from it.  For instance, if we have friends on another farm who use the same organic type practices in producing raw milk we should be able to trade something we produced for something they produced.  We are exchanging or enjoying the fruit of our labor.  But, if we offer a side of beef to these friends in exchange for a few months of milk, all of a sudden we are at risk of breaking laws and operating in a black market economy.  But yet, this is the very essence of Christian community; to be able to serve one another and provide for the needs of one another.

Many believe by engaging in this kind of free market community focused exchange we are hurting the sanctioned economic model.  The assumption is that if we did not buy good healthy beef or milk from our neighbor, then we would be buying the hormone fed simulated beef from the corporate farms.  The fact of the matter is, we would go without, before we would consume most corporate animal products.

There are some areas where we are unable (or unwilling at this point) to go without some items from the corporate economy.  For these items we take advantage of the competition between the different corporations or we buy second hand.  There is indeed a science to the marketing and advertising these corporations do.  As such many moms are figuring out an inside track to this and are saving thousands of dollars a year by exercising a little discipline in their shopping habits.

The down side of this is as the economy becomes more depressed the government will be under more pressure to do something about it.  Historically one of the first things governments have done in this situation is go after those people not participating in the economy.  I predict there will be more and more high handed investigations into the small family farms.  At the same time the corporate farming practices will continue to come home to roost and this trend will push more people to seek safer food options for their family.  This will further strain the corporate economy and the governmental oversight of the food industry.  We will see more organizations like the Farm to Consumer Legal Defense Fund.

That might all sound a little depressing and I confess in some regards it is a bleak outlook for America.  But there is an upside as well.  If we begin to develop community focused food options either locally or regionally, we will be far more secure from outside economic interruptions.  Not only will we be more independent, we will be eating much healthier if we know where our food comes from and the practices used to raise it. 

Of course this is only dealing with the food industry.  What about housing, transportation, Medical services, clothing, or education?  There are a lot of challenges facing families in the coming generations.  By God’s grace we will discuss more of these soon.

A few days ago my 7 year old came in from doing his farm chores and sighed a big sigh….and then unloaded all the frustrations a 7 year old farmer can have.

“YOU will not believe what happened.  Every time I try to move my chicks to the chicken tractor something happens…The first time it was about 16 degrees outside and then the next time it was about 8 degrees.  AND NOW, Bonnie (the milk cow) broke through the chicken tractor and ate all the chicken feed and now I can’t put my chicks in the chicken tractor because the zip ties are completely broke!”  SIGH….

Me….standing in the kitchen listening to all his frustrations and offering him little help — after all, the boy just wants to put his chickens in the field.  They are ready — you know.  1 more inch to grow and they will hit the top of the chick cage! 

Yesterday, after returning home from grocery shopping, I meet a very happy farmer boy who informed me: 

“Guess what???  I finally put my chicks in the chicken tractor and NOTHING HAPPENED!”

For his sake, I sure am glad nothing happened and his chicks are finally safe living the life of farm chickens on green pastures!

…well, there are many reasons, but one good one is having the pure and simple freedom of raising our own beef cow in our own pasture. 

He eats grass and drinks fresh spring water and has free access to all the sunshine he could ever want in his big old fashion pasture.  He isn’t medicated, vaccinated, chemically coated or filled with hormones.  He lives the peaceful life of a cow on a family farm.   

Raising your own beef really is not that difficult and leaves one to wonder why in the world we ever allowed ourselves to become mixed up in the Frankenstein factory meat-lots anyway?  Is it any wonder we are seeing the headlines in the papers this week about the largest beef recall in this nation’s history?

USDA recalls 143 million pounds of beef

Small Risk of Danger from Beef Recall

The largest beef recall in the nation’s history but “Don’t Worry”! 

I found a good article on the topic to be:  Consumers Told To Eat Local Meat — Where meat comes from, how it is processed are keys in the wake of a record beef recall

We hope to encourage other families to seek out alternatives to the regular factory system through either raising your own, buying from a family farm or utilizing a coop for your meat purchases.  For our family, the road to being self-sufficient in the area of producing home grown meat, has been a long and greatly anticipated journey–one we haven’t arrived at yet, however, news such as these food recalls only furthers our resolve to think and grow with sustainable, generational intent. 

More to come on this subject…

We headed out to town on a strict frugal shopping mission and came back very pleased with our ultra-frugal results! 

Our trip to CVS trip cost us a grand total of .44 cents!  I ended up with 2 packages of diapers and two packages of pullups and a toothbrush and a bunch of Hershey’s chocolate (great for baking!).  I earned $17 back in extra bucks. 

Our trip to Kroger was also a huge success ending up with some freebies like baby wipes and our final stop to replace our blender was a huge surprise when we found a $55 blender for $13 and it has a food processor attachment.  Evidently blenders are a seasonal item, or so I was told?  Since I tend to go through a blender a year, until I can find a good commercial grade, stainless steal, non-breakable blender…the $13 blender does the job. 

Here is just a sample of some of the good finds: free soap, free huggies wipes, free Tabasco sauce and cayenne pepper sauce, .40 cent toothbrushes, .80 cent big roll viva paper towels.  We also found a beautiful .50 cent potted plant marked down from $15.  All in all, our grocery / household supplies bill this week was considerably less. 

I am beginning to see great successes in our pantry store and can contribute that to several factors:  1.)  It is amazing how much you can do by just raising your own meat, eggs and milk!   2.)   I also quit buying small bags (3 to 5 lbs) of items from the Amish and started buying the 25lb and 50lb bags from them– grain, flour, oats, sugar etc.  That really makes a difference in the long run if you can plan the extra expense of a $19 or $22 purchase for a large bag into the month.  3.)  Taking advantage of the regular stores as much as possible when I find excellent stock-up deals (using coupons and rebates) on items for our pantry store. 

Frugal Tips when shopping at a regular stores: 

• Always look for a clearance section in the store.  We found a basket full of Recharge juice, the kind I was looking to stock up on for labor and postpartum, marked down to $1 a jug.  We found the clearanced blender on a back shelf away from the other smaller regular priced appliances.
• Scan the store shelves for clearance tags and stickers hidden along side regular priced items.  We found 8 bottles of dish soap, which ended up being free after the coupons, sitting on the shelf next to the regular priced dish soap.  We also found 10 packages of baby wipes clearanced out just because they had Christmas packaging, which ended up being free after coupons. 
• Don’t forget about those little stores.  We have a small town store that ran a sale last week on toilet paper and with coupons we stocked up on some free toilet paper.  Sometimes these smaller IGA type stores run some very good sales.  Everything else may cost triple, but they will occasionally have some great loss leader sales you can take advantage of. 
• Keep a mental tally, or a calculator handy to keep up with what your total cost should be.  I got back over $10 just on yesterday’s trip as well as 3 bags of free dog food after pointing out that several items rang up higher than what the sale tag said. 

While the girls were out doing some much needed pantry stocking, the men were doing some much needed farm work of which another blog post will have to tell…

I enjoy perusing through Tammy’s recipe site.  She has a great amount of cooking tips and inspiration that are realistic to homemakers with little children running around. 

I recently tried the cinnamon roll recipe she posted and was quite pleased with the results.  They were a huge hit around here!  You can adjust the roll filling to your own personal liking.  I added a bit more filling and add some nuts.  I also figured out that you can easily make these cinnamon rolls up ahead of time. 

After the first rising, punch down and roll out your dough and fill.  Roll up in a long roll and slice.  You can either freeze them in a sliced roll or you can lay them out on either on trays, or in disposable pans or in foil covered cardboard can holder boxes…then cover in plastic wrap and place in the freezer.  When ready to use, leave some time for them to thaw and rise in a warm place before baking. 

We made up several trays of these cinnamon rolls for a one time mess that will net us many future easy uses. 

I also found lots of inspiration from her recent posts on meal planning after the baby is born and have been inspired to start planning my freezer meals for late pregnancy and postpartum. 

I’ll post a picture as soon as it gets off my camera….