This morning my oldest daughter’s heifer had her first calf!  It’s a lovely little black Dexter heifer according to my husband.  Yay!  This new mamma looks like she has great teats for milking, we’re going to try her in the future.  Dexter’s can be a bit short in the teats, but this mamma’s mamma had nice long ones, and it looks like it’s carrying through!  Hallelujah!  I’ll see if I can get a picture later today .

If you follow the blogs of other homesteaders this might seem late in the year to start calfing.  However, we still don’t have any fresh growing green grass.  We live in the Far North after all!

Welcome to the 87th Homesteading Carnival!  I’m a bit late posting (we were in the city today), but thanks for joining us here!

ENERGY

 Charles presents Solar Roof Panels posted at How To Make Electricity.

RECIPES & FOOD

Neighbor Nancy presents Learn-a-New-Skill Challenge; Sourdough; Recession Depression Therapy posted at Recession Depression Therapy. Saying, “Join the fun and learn to make sourdough. Or, please lend your expertise. Also, a history tie in for educators.”

The Smarter Wallet presents Organic Food: Healthy Food Ideas For The Ordinary Shopper posted at The Smarter Wallet.

Rani presents Irish Potato Candies posted at Christ’s Bridge. Saying, “Do you need something sweet for St. Patrick’s Day?”

Jim presents Making Your Own Homemade Pizza posted at Blueprint for Financial Prosperity.

Miss Rachel presents Chocolate Chip Muffins posted at Rachel’s Reasoning -. Saying, “This is a delicious recipe for some nice homemade chocolate chip muffins. Great a party or for a family treat.”

Abi presents Dangerous Chocolate Cake posted at lighter side.

GARDENING

Stephanie presents The Illustrated Guide to Gardening posted at Make It From Scratch.

Tammy presents Our Very Productive Weekend posted at Simply Beck’s Bounty. Saying, “Spring “binge” gardening … and now we are exhausted from all of the work. HA!”

Thomas W presents Building A Better Bean Trellis posted at Happy Farming.

LIVESTOCK

Carole DeJarnatt presents Ten Things I Have Learned from My Chickens posted at Fowl Visions.

NATURE

Cheryl St.John presents World?s Biggest Something or Other posted at Petticoats & Pistols. A post about collecting deer antlers (our family loves to do this as well!)

AdmirableIndia.com presents Amarnath Yatra: Part 2: Sheshnag mountain and Panchtarni posted at AdmirableIndia.com.

Don’t forget to visit Oak Hill Homestead next Monday for the 88th Homesteading Carnival!

You might recall that there have been 3 kittens, a Mamma cat and a 5 month or so old kit living here in our 600 sq. foot house with my husband, 3 children and I. Life has been wild. There has always been a cat or child underfoot, and with reorganizing the living room it’s been tricky finding clear floor space to walk in without squashing someone or something.

Well, yesterday morning that all changed. Kaelynn was lying in bed quietly after waking up and suddenly she let out a howl. One of our sweet, innocent, now approximately 12 week old kittens had pounced on her face and delivered a royal scratching. The kitten drew blood. It wasn’t pretty. Inflamed, red, sore, tears. The kittens got the boot. All of the cats did actually. With a wee baby in the house we can’t have that going on! I’m not feeling too charitable towards felines today.

It’s certainly not the best time of year to be giving the kittens the “Welcome to the outside world full-time, heave-ho!” but it had to be. Larry says that they are camping out in the shed behind the house. So be it.

I often reflect upon the odd blend of hi-tech/lo-tech living that our family passes through each and every day of our lives.  While composing the post for Hands of Hope I heard the cry go up from the bathroom, “Mom, Rosie just dumped the shavings on the floor.”

Hmm, could I ignore it?  Apparently not.  Broom in hand I confronted the mess.   There on the floor was the contents of a 5 gallon pail of wood shavings.  Enough to put a blip in my blogging for the night.  Now what were these shavings for pray tell?  Our sawdust potty .  Some of you know that we don’t have running water.  Part of that deal is the BEST toilet ever, a 5 gallon pail that we use in place of the traditional commode.  Just sprinkle with sawdust or wood shavings after each deposit and it’s 99% odor free!

And after it was cleaned up – back to the blogging.  Just another example of the strange juxtapositions we find each day in our home.

In addition to being the 68th edition of the homesteading carnival, today is queening day here at the homestead.  Just before lunch our Mamma cat, Patches went into labour.  So far we have two tiny, sweet baby kittens, who look just like their Pappa.  Who is this mysterious Pappa cat?  Not one of our Tom’s (DH and I fixed them), but a dark, handsome stranger we saw visiting the farm one day.  He was a handsome fellow, black with white tuxedo markings and white socks.  Both of the new kittens look just like him!  Well, with a bit more white, and more tabby/striped.

Here is Mamma in her queening box.  I didn’t want to disturb them, so this isn’t the best photo.  Patches was SO big, she must have had more than two in there!  She’s busy nursing at the moment.

So, I’ve dubbed this edition of the carnival – Kittens on the Farm, now on to the posts – enjoy!

Jennifer in OR presents October Exploring posted at Diary of 1.

Miss Amanda presents It’s A Learning Experience – Great Hot Dip For Fall posted at It’s A Learning Experience -.

Larry Bogart presents Homemade solar panel rack posted at Measure Twice, Cut Once.

Sisterlisa presents Laundry Schedule posted at The HomeSpun Life.

Dawn presents The Weather Channel: When Weather Changed History posted at My Home Sweet Home.

Miss Monica June (MJ) presents Italian Basil Tomato Melt posted at Cooking with MJ.

Miss Virginia presents Wheat Tortillas posted at The Jelly Bean Palace.

GrrlScientist presents Hebridean Black-faced Sheep posted at Living the Scientific Life.

Mark presents Vet Again posted at My Quiet Cabin.

Stephanie presents Homemade Cranberry Sauce posted at Make It From Scratch.

Stephanie presents Weekend Demolition posted at Adventures in the 100 Acre Wood.

Abi presents lighter side – Green-Tomato Chutney posted at lighter side.

Lauren Rose presents THE CULTIVATION OF VEGETABLES | Own Home Style .com posted at Own Home Style .com.

Ken Schulte presents How To Generate Your Own Alternative Energy At Home | Alternative Energy Secrets posted at Alternative Energy Secrets.

Miss Jocelyn presents Good Posture? posted at Feelin’ Feminine.

Miss Jocelyn & Miss Emily Rose presents Blessed Girlhood: Autograph Album posted at Growing In Grace Magazine.

Miss Jocelyn presents Modest Make-Up? posted at A Pondering Heart.

Whooo! That Miss Jocelyn is a busy young lady!

Erica Burgan presents Homemade Sloppy Joes posted at The Sojourner.

AdmirableIndia.com presents Hogenakkal Falls: Part 1 posted at AdmirableIndia.com.

Christy Jordan presents Canning: THE MUSICAL! (Canning Tutorial) posted at Southern Plate.

axel presents 2 Healthy Snacks posted at axel g.

Thanks to everyone for submitting, and I hope you’ll join us next Monday at Walking Therein.

Don’t forget to submit your blog article to the next edition of the homesteading carnival thc using our carnival submission form.

If you haven’t submitted a post to the Homesteading Carnival for this upcoming Monday, please join us!

I need your post by midnight tonight, Sunday October 05th, because Monday, October 06th I’ll be posting links to a variety of homesteading links from around the blogosphere!  Submitting is easy, just click this link!

See you then!

Frost.  It was 38 degrees C a few weeks ago, and this week around Monday we had total frost kill in the garden.  Of course, there wasn’t much out there – but we did get some zucchini, winter squash and potatoes! Here’s a picture of our oldest, Kaelynn at the start of the potato harvest.  If you head over to Larry’s blog you can see a picture of them at the end.  We got more potatoes than their little Gator could hold, so the harvest wasn’t THAT tiny .  We did get a LOT of squash, but that’s no surprise, right?  They took over the garden!  And when Larry put the cows in there to eat down the weeds, they wouldn’t touch it…scary squash!

Over at Christian Children’s Book Review I posted my review of my favourite Christian picture book that is no longer in print – The Creation Story illustrated by Norman Messenger.  In short it is absolutely my favourite creation story that I’ve read so far, hands down.  Read the review to learn why!

It’s been awhile since I submitted to The Homesteading Carnival, but I was included this week, and the 63rd Carnival is up.  The Carnival is in need of some growth – more submissions!  So if you have a homestead, check out the carnival and submit your related posts .

Miss Jocelyn presents Cultural Modesty? posted at A Pondering Heart.

Grandma Rosie presents Grocery Stockpile List posted at Grandma Rosie’s Texas Home.

Miss Amanda presents My Learning Experience – Blossoming Anew posted at My Learning Experience.

Larry Bogart presents Making hay while the sun shines posted at Measure Twice, Cut Once. This is my husband! He has many more pictures of our Dexter cattle if you’d like to take a peek at his blog.

HowToMe presents How To Fold a Fitted Sheet (guest submission) posted at HowToMe. Somebody actually knows how to do this?

Stephanie presents New Pigs posted at Adventures in the 100 Acre Wood.

Sheri presents Cookware continuation posted at The Shades of Pink.

Kathy Hester presents Gazpacho: A Taste of Summer posted at Chow Spice.

Sisterlisa presents Routines Vs. Schedules posted at The HomeSpun Life.

Hope that everyone is having a wonderful, busy and productive summer on their homesteads!  Please join The Homsteading Carnival over at A Happy Home on Monday, August 18th for the 62nd edition of the Homesteading Carnival!

Welcome to the July 28, 2008 edition of the Carnival of Home Preserving 3rd Edition! I’m honoured to be hosting this new and highly useful carnival this week! We just have a small garden this year, and since our season is so much later than most, we don’t have any produce that needs preserving yet! Thankfully though – there are ladies and gents are busy canning, freezing and drying already, and sharing their insights with us for our reading pleasure! Enjoy .

Don’t forget to join Laura (the carnivals instigator) at Laura William’s Musings next week for another edition of the Carnival of Home Preserving! You can submit your articles to the carnival for inclusion next week here.

Dehydrating

Tomato Lady presents Oven-Dried Tomatoes posted at Little House in the Suburbs.

Mike Smythers presents Lump Charcoal posted at Meat Smoking.

Canning

Joseph presents ginger-melon preserves posted at choke, artichoke.

Angela Billings presents Squash Pickles posted at Homemaking Blog.

:: Suzanne :: presents Tomato Salsa posted at :: Adventures in Daily Living ::.

Kendra presents Up to our eyeballs in nectarines posted at A Sonoma Garden.

Marlene Dotterer presents Canning Day posted at Meals by Marlene.

Michelle presents Canning Rhubarb in Syrup posted at Life in Tee Harbor, Alaska.

Dana Wright presents Tomato Relish posted at Garden Green.

Gwen Mangelson presents My week so far posted at Paper Expressions.

Laura Williams presents Frugal Hints and Tips for Home Preserving posted at Laura Williams’ Musings.

Jane presents God Gave Plums….. posted at Seeds to Sew.

Marsha presents Love My Peaches posted at Hot Water Bath.

Kate presents Our Red House: Rocket (Arugula) and Pecan Pesto posted at Our Red House.

Freezing

Barb presents Bags of Mixed Vegetables, Frozen posted at My Daily Round.

Patsy presents It’s Cantaloupe and Watermelon Season posted at Likewise, Ye Older Women.

There’s a whole lot of Titus 2 goodness here for those of us who are just learning to preserve the harvest, so dig in and enjoy!