Mud or Poop?

As most of us know, rainy days bring inches of mud. Today we went walking the pasture just scooping things and out and Hope, the wild-crazy-not-trained-I-own-this-place-horse, kept running up behind us and slinging mad around everyone when she'd run around everyone.. Sadly K got the worst of it.

She wasn't to happy about it, but I found it rather funny.
Does anyone else get to trample thru a foot of mud Everytime it rains? What do you do to help cope with it besides Muk Boots and good balance!

Paddlefish Snaggin'

Have you ever heard of paddlefish or spoonbill? I had heard of it but never actually seen one before until I started dating Mr. Smith, right after we met he went on a trip with some friends and while that trip wasn't a very successful one I did some pictures of small ones. Well this year I knew I was going, made arrangements for the kids weeks in advance even.
I wanted to catch a big fish, I wanted to provide for my family, I wanted a weekend get away.
My first trip was TERRIBLE. Absolutely. RIDICULOUS. It was cold, it was raining, it hailed on us... We found a cave to hide it until the hail the penny sized hail stopped. Then just when we thought it was all done and back to being just stupid cold again it starts snowing. I'm not talking about little flakes either, the biggest flakes I had seen all winter down south. I didn't even want to go back.
BUT, I didn't catch anything that weekend.. so I made plans for another weekend. And I went back to mid-Missouri.
This time when we get on the river it's got white caps it's so dang windy but at least it wasn't cold right? We limited out within 3 hours that day it was AMAZING and fun. I thought I had gotten snagged up on a log or something the first time I hooked in to one. After fighting it for a few minutes we got it in the boated I was so gleaming. Tired-yes- but cheerful.
The next day I ended up limiting out right away but the hubs couldn't quite get the job done and it was miserably hot that day. We had sun burns by the end of the day, I was stripping down in the boat trying to get my long johns off so I didn't die of heat stroke. I tell going what... Missouri is the worst state ever when it comes to weather.

Needless to say, I got the fish and we're going back for more! It is a great freezer filler, 1 fish completely cleaned fills up a little more than a 1 gallon bag. Personally I think it taste like catfish, and that's one of the few thinks the children will eat so it's a score for us.

Into The Woods We Go

Today a neighbor invited us all out to go morel hunting. It was REALLY cold out there considering it's spring, I mean they are calling for a frost tonight and people have already started planting their fields so no one was planning on that happening for sure.
Our neighbor and family took all of us out to 2 spots to find these little guys and I'll be honest... I. Needed. Glasses. I couldn't see them if my life depended on it at first. I only ended up finding like 8-10 on my own. The kids did really good tho! Our kids did better than me once we showed them what they looked like and on the top side MINE EVEN ATE THEM.
Yes, that's right! My picky eating children ate fried morels. I might have called them fried chicken at first because around here we say everything is chicken until they try it then if they like it I tell them the truth.
Back to us hunting, we found a few big yellows and the rest were smell greys? I believe but the 5 kids all had bun bread bags and they filled up at least one bag completely with each trip, usually a little more than that. Neighbors kids were leading our kids around and letting them pick all the ones they found which was so sweet of them because they aren't much older than mine.

Now on to cooking, we have fried some up the past 2 nights here at the ole homestead because we're not sure how to freeze them and they turn out not soft and gooey. Personally when I make them I like to dip them in egg roll'em around a little in a flour mixture and them drop them in my hot pan to fry to a light golden brown. If you don't have your own flour mixture you like to use for things here's mine.

FLOUR MIXTURE:
1 C Flour
2 TBS seasoned salt (I use Lowery's)
1 teaspoon of black pepper

If you know how to freeze these little guys and save them, shoot me a message and let me know!! I'd love to be able to fry some up during the winter.

A Step In The Right Direction.

  So I met a guy....(what good story doesn't start out like that).... We've been together for over a year but we live so far apart that we've been talking about living together because we don't get to see each other to often. This month we decided to pack up the monsters and go stay with him for a couple to 3 weeks to help the kids adjust to a full time move up North.

Of course the KIDS LOVE IT, thank God right? We do a little homesteading down South but we live in a subdivision so we have limits, but here.. well here there are no rules. I've been slowly making plans for the house, the farm, the animals... everything.

This is our journey to a more self sustainable life and while it may be a lot of hard work and take years to get to the point that we want it will be our journey. So far we've cleaned up his 4 bay tire shop so I can fit all my crafting saws in one bay for an area for me. We built shelving units and added a flooring in the rafters to store stuff up top. Yesterday I started adding a run to his old chicken coop and that's what I'm hoping to finish it up today or tomorrow depending on the rain.

The dying breath of my plants.

     This year I decided to plant a garden, my first REAL garden. I've planted a tomato plant here and cucumber plant there the last few years but didn't do anything major. My little bundles of joy are 3 and 4 now so it was time I started to do things that I enjoy again. This year I put a raised bed in the corner of the fence, ugly spot and it got plenty of sun. 

     Inside that raised bed I planted 2 beefsteak tomato plants, 1 cherry, 6 green beans, 3 peppers (green, purple, and yellow) 6 okra (only 4 made it after my dog), 3 rows of carrots, 2 rows of leaf lettuce, and some yellow onions. I also tilled up a spot at the top of the hill and plants 2 zuccuhini, 2 yellow squash, 1 egg plant, 3 rows of corn, 4 cucumber, 8 pumpkin, and 8 watermelon. Everything was going GREAT the first 6 weeks and then.... then slowly things started to take a turn for the worse.

     First one of my big tomato plants started curling up on the leaves, they felt so dry and the plant itself didn't get as near as tall as the other one I would say about a foot or so shorter. So..... I turned to my favorite source ever, Pinterest and Google. I wasn't seeing any bugs, also I had already Sevin dusted everything when the squash bugs showed up so I felt that was covered on that. I also added new fresh garden soil for the raised bed this spring when I built the beds so I felt I wasn't lacking in nutrients or anything. Next thought was overwatering so I skipped a day of watering because to be honest the dirt wasn't that dry anything but then my big plant started to shrivel up a little bit, and SO DID MY PEPPERS. They started getting dry and curled up and after I skipped a watering some of the big leaves flipped over upside down. :/

     Now in my top garden bed my zucchini plant in the middle  the leaves have started turning yellow and falling off, and they are droopy and the other leaves on the same plant have become thin and "sharp" looking. At first I was thinking it was the bugs but let me tell you, I have done my time on my knees in that garden. I crawl around in the evenings and smash bugs, flip over every leaf, I don't think it's bugs and it's the only plant. So again, I don't know what is wrong. A few of the blooms that had already started to bear fruit died also kind of like blossom end rot? On that note, a bunch of the blossoms on my tomato plants shrivel up and died too before they even started showing. 

     Okay so in the first picture is my zucchini plant as soon as I started noticing the problem, in the second picture is it a few days. Notice how the leaves are shriveling up and becomes "sharper" like the rough edges are becoming more pronounced.

          SOMEONE HELP ME!  

Now, on a better note I was able to relax a little before I went on my bug smashing spree. So enjoy!!