SORRY I'VE BEEN AWAY

I didn't realize it has been so long since I wrote ....

We are still in the middle of our move out of Minnesota ....

It doesn't look as if we will have quite as much growing land as I thought we would - but then maybe that's okay, since we are older now and the thought of getting out into a field just makes our backs and knees seize up!!!

but, we've got a beautiful look out at a lake ....

hubby can go fishing whenever he wants ....
he just can't eat any of them because I'm extremely allergic (according to my mom while I was growing up)

And .... I'm living with a CAT ....
don't get me wrong, my mother-in-law's cat is a "nice" cat ... although he keeps rubbing on my legs when I'm in shorts, and stretches his paws up under drawers when I'm getting ready to close them ... that type of thing ... it just that, until I started dating my husband - I didn't know i had an allergy to cats too ....

So, he gets the run of the house .... I get the pantry, bedroom , and one bathroom where he isn't allowed (although he will follow me into the pantry) ...

My dog, Luna. loves the house .... doesn't even mind the radio collar not working up here - hubby takes her for walks all the time .... he says he enjoys it too - it gives him extra steps on his FitBit .... lol ....

So there are things to get used to in a new state ... mostly TAXES ...

In MN, there is no tax on clothing, nor MOST food ... but the tax system is totally wacky.
And at the end of the year, you will ALWAYS be told you owe MORE ... ever since Crazy Eyes was governor ... Mark Dayton ....

And if there's a "surplus" - which means people paid TOO MUCH .... Tim Walz WON'T give any of it back to the ones who actually got overcharged!!

Oh I've got OPINIONS on him!!!!!!!!!  But not for here ....

In this state - we have to pay tax on EVERYTHING we buy .... including clothing and food ..... but it ends up costing LESS for the most part ....

very strange.

I was hoping to have a garden this year ....

But that didn't work out -- hubby and I can't agree on things at the moment ....

such as where it's going to go ....

nor what's going to get planted there

BUT - we will figure all this out ....

but ....

Later ....

so it will likely be another verrrrrrryyyy long time - again - before I get back here to post.

Famers are in for MORE troubles

 Ah Man - gotta start this over again .... I wrote this once and totally went off tangent ... 

(This is a copy of a post I put on my "Gems" blog .... I thought you all might like it too)

Let's get straight to the agnews .... I may copy this and put it over on my "garden" blog as well .... it's been a very long time since I've posted over there.

To RENT land - a very common practice - the prices are going UP ... by a LOT ...

LAND RENT COSTS

Per Acre $160

Yr-Yr UP 3.2%

LAND VALUE (cropland)

Per Acre $5,570

Yr-Yr UP 4.7%

NET INCOME FOR FARMERS (estimated)

DOWN 25% for 2024 

These are the newest numbers from the US Department of Agriculture .... which was begun by President Abraham Lincoln DURING the Civil War (I find this rather interesting, I may have to do a little research)

But - in most people's everyday lives, we think of the USDA as the people who keep the meat in the stores edible - and that things are going well in the Butcher shops as well.

Most people DON'T realize that they have a hand in just about EVERYTHING that goes in your mouth .... meat, vegetables, grain, etc. even liquids as well ....

Homesteaders - and some farmers too - deal with them on a personal level as well .... because they decide what can and cannot be preserved, and which method should be used to do so, AND for how long something can sit in your pantry once you jar/can/dehydrate/freeze-dry/freeze it ....

They have a LOT more power than most people know about ... or that they were originally designed to do ....

but like I said, I've got to do some research - there had to be a reason for the USDA to be founded to begin with ....

Either way you look at it -- the farmers are going to get it in the end ... you would do better buying your goods at ROAD SIDE STANDS for the most part .... or a Farmer's Market IF, AND ONLY IF, the person selling can tell you anything you want to know about it ....

Did you know that there are people selling at Farmer's Markets who actually do NOT grow the veg they are selling?

Many of them go to Produce Auctions in other states, then haul it back to their state, package it, and sell it.

I did not realize this until one of the Canners I watch on YouTube put up a video of an Auction she had gone to (and videoed) went to a Farmer's Market in a different city than where she lived - some of us do this - and low & behold, there was a person who she had captured in her video actually SELLING similar product to what she had seen them purchase at the auction just a few days before!!!

It's a scam!

But .... that's a differnet post .... which I will put on my Garden blog.  

WHAT A BUNCH OF HOOEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

NOT my video

Its sounds like this study is lumping ALL home canned goods as a PROCESSED FOOD 

Kiss my Ball Jars!

ITS BEEN A LONG LONG TIME

It has been so long -- that this is the 5th time I've restarted this post ... LOL ... I just feel like I'm drolling on and on .... So I'm going to split this up ... on the plus timde - it means more posts.m

So lets hit the MAJOR updates:

    My husband mom, my mother-in-law, passed away 4 years ago and our youngest sone has become my Father-in-law's primary caregiver.  He says he likes it up there.  Its very quiet, and his work load is pretty light ... he just refuses to get paid for it. 

    My father-in-law turned 92 yrs old this year, and had a couple of stays in the hospital up there.  He is now on Hospice - but that just means "comfort care" not "death bed" care these days ... he had a prettyn major change to his medication. But he seems to be doing well as can be expected.

    Oldest is engaged - he went with his girlfriend up north at the end of September and came back engaged ... no date set as of yet, but it sounds like they are going to have an "engagement party" in December ... Nevver heard of one before, do we buy a gift ... god I hope not (more later)

    We are going to be grandparents - oldest daughter has had a "Timing Issue" as we call it, and she is due in February right around Valentine's Day ... marrieage may come after the baby is born, I think. Baby daddy seems to be dragging his feet ... but that's a whole different can of worms and I don't want to get into that.

    My youngest son, while excited to be an uncle and getting a new sister-in-law, is enjoying living at the resort.  He says he isn't sure if he could move back so close to the city any more.

    My youngest ... she is in her last year of college.  She says the one class that had kicked her butt twice before - problems with the professor - I want to say its the last class she has to pass to get her accounting certification.  

    Now for hubby -- okay, fair to say I am keeping a LOT of info off this page.  Its his story and I just come across as being witchy, give and take a letter ... Let me say - I love my husband very much, and I'm glad things weren't any worse ... and he is still alive, even after I found out the story as he's told it to me so far ... I've a feeling he is still holding a few things back that I likely will not know about for a while yet.  He was pretty embarrassed.

    Hubby got a spiral fracture of the smaller of the two bones in the shin ... he also messed up the tendons in his ankle.  He had to have some surgery - pin to hold the shin bone in place and then ... how to describe this ... to fix the tendons in the ankle, they had to tie the tendons back where they belonged with whatever it is they use for such things ... he has to keep weight off of it until January.

    This will not be easy for him to do in a state where 7-8 months are in snow.

    This winter is going to be .... Interesting ... 

    I used to have a parent at the daycare of Japanese decent ... one day I told him to have an "interesting day" - he said he understood that I certainly didn't mean it this way, but in Japanese culture to wish someone an "interesting day" is kind of like cursing them out.

    I just hope I haven't damned us ... this year will be hard enouhg.

HODIDAYS are coming ... inflation is up ... especially food ... its definately going to ge 'interesting"

ITS BEEN NEARLY 21 YEARS

This year was 20 years since we moved to the farm ... and there are days I still feel like Lisa - only difference is, I WANTED to move here!

I love this farm

Truly I do

IMPORTANT WEBSITE -- CHECK OUT THE USDA INFO ON UP COMING FOOD PRICES

RE-POST FROM THE GINGER GARGOYLE GEMS PAGE Here is the link to the USDA's webpage where they discuss how much THEY say food prices are going to go up ... they, of course, don't have a foot into reality and we all know that they will be way unde%r the actual price of things ... https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/food-price-outlook/summary-findings/#:~:text=Beef%20and%20veal%20prices%20increased%201.1%20percent%20from%20February%20to,strong%20domestic%20and%20international%20demand I have been watching the sale flayers for our local store ... Cub Foods ... and they have had their steaks jump from $7/lb to $10/lb ... I'm sorry but that is almost 150% of what it cost a month ago!!! I'm wondering if someone added a decimal point some place It is reminding me a lot of the 70's when the elderly were eating cat/dog food because it was cheaper than hamburger - and we're talking the really CHEAP burger too, not even 73/27, we're talking the 50/50 stuff. I don't know if you've ever had it, but if you were a kid back then you know the joy of having a greased up colon! AND we had 6 boys in my family too -- boy did we put the sewer system to task! then too there will be another run on TOILDET PAPER & PAPER TOWELS, as well as CLEANING SUPPLIES this means, if you are a CANNER you will be having a tough time finding VINEGAR yet again this year -- since so many people have found that it works just as good as alcohol or bleach for cleaning. Canners use it to clean the rims of their jars for ensure a strong seal, to add to the canner water to prevent the "dust" from hard water, to clean jars after canning (cuts the grease like you wouldn't believe), and for making fermentations/pickles. as well as for other recipes ... and cleaning Definately the thing to do is to learn the PROPER method for putting up/away food ... avoid Rebel Canning if you are a Newbie ... seriously, do NOT "can" bread, cake, meatloaf, or creamed soups ... or the like. Maybe I should start doing a series over on my "Oh Crock" blogger page ... what do you think??

Stay At Gnome!!!!!

Hey everybody -- it's been sooooo long since I've posted
I've been trying my best NOT to post online these days -- mostly because everything seems to get a political leaning mad - well - I've already accidentally posted to this blog items I've meant for one of my other pages as it is.

We put in a seed order this year and have found the seed catalog more than a tad vague when it came to seeds sold by the thousand but only had an option of 10 thousand ...

Needless to say .... it caused quite a bit of tension when hubby came home with the order

I needed to de-stress

Enter Maymay Made It  she has issued a Punch Art challenge ... and I wanted to send a quick note to my brother to be sure he wasn't ok (he is in/on hospice)

So here is the card I made for him

  

It's plain, clean & simple ... but it didn't actually use ANY punches

But only because I don't own very many

I used regular old Cutting dies

Simply Made Crafts "Square Paper Bag/Lantern " Die set - the banner (his hat) and 2 of the pedal flower dies, the medium (his feet) and the small (his nose)

Gemini Stitched Hearts - either die 3 or 4 would work, I chose #3 (smallest to largest) for his beard

The paper came from my stash, background from a 8x8 square that already had the green & blue

The paper for the beard & his hat came from the SSS 2020 March card kit 

Any ink can be used to color the edges, I happened to use "Gingerbread" Hybrid ink from Scrapbooking.com 

I covered the hat with a layer of clear Wink-a-Luna but it didn't really show up very well, so I say just forget about it

Then I hit the edge of EACH piece with the ink pad - best to do it now before you glue it together

Glue the hat behind the heart in the "hump" side, just enough so the corners don't show 

Then cut a THREE petal piece from the medium flower keeping them attached to one another.  Clip off the CENTER petal with cutting the other 2 apart (so it's kind of like a V) 

Glue the feet behind the pointed end  of the heart ❤️ making them stick out to your liking

Cut 1 petal off the small flower and glue onto the face between the 2 heart humps for the nose

Draw a smirk under the nose

I decided once the glu had dried to gently curve the hat & beard of the gnome

Then I used thin bits of foam (Scrapbooking Made Simple) to pop it up on the card front

Cut a tag, write "Staying Gnome, Thinking of You" on it

Attach to card front

Write a message inside the card base 

Glue the card front on the outside - check to be sure it's going the correct direction

And Viola!!

Pop in the mail and off it goes!