After reading articles in homesteading magazines, an idea began to evolve. Create my own instant potato mix which would include dehydrated potatoes and spices of my choice. We won’t be harvesting potatoes from the garden until late summer or early fall, but as luck would have it, our local grocery store was running a sale. Ten pounds of potatoes for $1.99! This gave us the opportunity to do a test run on my idea.

The steps were simple but time consuming. Peel, cut, boil, dehydrate then blend into a powder. Ten pounds of whole potatoes equated to one quart of powdered potatoes. In theory, the experiment worked. We are rehydrating the potato powder for meals, however, the whole potatoes would have definitely provided for more meals.

Two of my goals for here on the farm are to make do with what I have and to keep my country life simple. During this same season, but a few years back, Don and I went to help family with an outside project. They briefly stared at me with surprise on their faces. I was wearing my everyday work coat which they had never seen before. I wasn’t bothered by their reaction. I just smiled, shrugged and said, “This is how we really live.” To put it another way, if it still serves its purpose, we don’t spend resources to replace it with something new. Yes, I have a like-new work coat that was shared to me. However, this coat still services its purpose. And the cattle don’t care what I wear.

We are ready to heat our home and dry our laundry. It’s a good feeling to have a full woodshed. Yes, we have a propane furnace and cutting, splitting, hauling and stacking wood takes time and work, but wood heat feels so good. Once the stove is stoked and loaded in the morning, the inside temperature can reach the upper 80s. Then we open a couple of windows to let some heat out and some fresh air and bird chatter in. I call it “letting the outside in”.

As for drying the laundry, years ago Don built two drying racks to hang laundry on. These racks are in the same area as the stove. Yes, we have a clothes dryer but have hardly used it over the past 30 years. Now I’m wondering how much money we have saved on our electric bill. Hmmm.

We are mindful of the trees we drop in an effort to maintain good wood lot management, whether that means promoting future growth or managing erosion. Our wooded areas are just as important as our pastureland being grazed.

On October 16th, a hard freeze spread across mid-Missouri. The evening before, we did one last garden harvest of anything ripe enough to store. This included a quantity of watermelon. What a treat this turned out to be. All nine were around 20 pounds of sweet deliciousness. Because of their size, and the amount of other produce, we had to be creative about where to put them until we could get around to sharing with family and neighbors. Who really needs leg room under the kitchen table anyway?

For whatever reason, a few skunks decided to make our yard and garden their home. Most likely they were attracted by all the moles. However, when they took shelter in the crawl space under our house, it was time for them to go.

The trap we purchased worked well. We baited it with peanut butter and once captured, the stinky critters were hauled to the back fence line and released. One skunk though, showed no fear of us at all. It roamed the yard, barely giving us a second glance as we went about daily life. Once captured and released, it returned the next day, still friendly and showing no hard feelings. We trapped it again but made the mistake of sitting the trap on uneven ground. Skunky licked up the peanut butter, wiggled around, and tipped the trap over, thus allowing the door to jar open. Skunked by a skunk.

After trapping Skunky a third time, we released him in a conservation area. Perhaps he is tagging along with some campers. As for us, we are back to an overabundance of moles in the yard. Does that mean we have been skunked twice?

Once again, we have skunks looking for free room and board – this time under our house. We first noticed them scavenging the yard for beetles and possible moles. They don’t seem interested in us as we go about our daily activates, but because of the odor, potentially eating the cat food and snacking in the garden, they just can’t stay. One has been trapped and will be released at the back fence line, then just one more to go. Hopefully.

The garden tilled up great. All the grass clippings, leaves, composted manure and wood ashes keep the soil going strong. On March 3rd, we tilled the garden, installed a trellis and dropped twenty-four snow pea seeds in the ground. Last year I planted the peas too late, the temps warmed, and harvest was low.

Snow peas are a must have in our garden every year. They taste good and have great health benefits. We can walk out to the garden and snack on them, serve them as a vegetable during mealtime or freeze them in small quantities for later use in stir fry.