Weekend Links

Berries!

In which I share my favorite posts from this blog's Facebook page.

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"...make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody."

1 Thes. 4: 11-12

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* Life is good on the homestead. I'm picking copious amounts of wild berries. (The photo to the right explains why I rarely have my kids help. Guess which bucket is mine and which bucket is one of the kids'.) We got a few coveted yellow plums, and there are still some red plums, prunes, and apples on the trees, despite hurricane force winds last spring. I'm growing broccoli and cauliflower, which I've never successfully grow before. Our little broody hen is sitting on ten hopefully fertilized eggs. The dog is finally coming out of his puppy phase. Hubby set up two additional rabbit cages, so my daughter can soon get a mate for her buck. And, in answer to many prayers, my hubby finally got a job close to home! No more four hours of commuting each day. No more concern about what fatigue and driving were doing to his health. What an AMAZING gift time is. We're thrilled for both him and us. He's taking a steep pay cut, but we are trusting God on this. And I'll be working even harder to try to bring in some income for our family. So...if you want to help support this blog (my labor of love) and my family, would you take a moment and consider purchasing one of my books? Most are very affordable. You can see them all here.

From a photo shoot I recently did for Self-Reliance magazine.

* I've blogged quite a bit about dehydrating food as an alternative to canning or freezing it. But another great reason to have a dehydrator is that it helps prevent food waste. Case in point: I bought some strawberries to make my daughter strawberry ice cream for her birthday, and had quite a few berries left over. But because we have an abundance of fruit on the homestead just now, they weren't getting eaten. So a few days ago, I popped them into the dehydrator. (Here's the one I use.) Quick and easy, and it will make a really yummy treat that will last on the shelf for at least a year!

Dehydrating strawberries.

* I have an article in the new issue of Backwoods Home magazine. Check it out; it's a fantastic resource for homesteaders.

Learn to make your own pectin in Backwoods Home magazine.

* Graco car seat recall.

* Blue Wilderness dog food recall.

* Comfy Cow ice cream recall due to E.Coli.

* AMPT Coffee recall.

* Papaya recall due to salmonella.

* Ground beef recall due to contamination with Styrofoam.

* I have new videos on YouTube. Be sure to check them out - and subscribe and like! Thank you.

* There's been a ton of news about the safety of viewing the solar eclipse. I thought I'd done the right thing by purchasing eclipse-safe glasses for everyone in the family. Then NASA came out and said they only recommended a handful of brands, saying other brands may not be tested safe. I know some people pooh-pooh the idea that viewing the eclipse without special glasses is unsafe. I do not, because I've researched the history of solar viewing and can see that thousands of people have damaged their eyesight looking at the sun. Anyway, I was relieved to find this comprehensive list of manufacturers who've had their eclipse glasses tested for safety. Our glasses are on the list! Are yours?

* How Smartphones are Destroying a Generation - an interesting read.