Fa la la!

Finally took some time AWAY from the computer and made something by hand. (I've needed some non-screen-staring time.) Check it out here.

Once a year, way out in Waco there's a Homestead Fair  (click here) where a Christian community—they call themselves the Homestead Heritage—puts on a big show with classes and lectures on the basics of homesteading. It includes things like aquaponic gardening, bee keeping, soap making, sheep herding, and barn raising like you see below. It's gaining popularity as I'm sure you can imagine why.

I hoped the barn raising event would be like Seven Brides for Seven Brothers…but it was more of a lecture on the history of barns and different ways of construction (which was interesting) and then the raising of one side of the frame. The guys did it and it was fun to watch.

Of course there are animals to get up close and personal with. Below Adam demonstrates how a man holds a baby versus how a woman holds a baby.

Below is a hand woven blanket. The sign reads: This cotton/linen double weave coverlet was woven on the draw loom in a traditional overshot coverlet pattern called "Double Orange Peel". Three, three foot panels were individually woven and hand-sewn together to make it queen-size with plow tuck or king-size shams.
It took a total of 114 hours from the time the threads were measured until it was washed and ironed.

40 hours to set up the loom
42 hours to weave the panels
32 hours to sew and hem

Oh, and the price: $9,500

Students were demonstrating how the various items are made. I was incredibly impressed. I liked seeing the teens and pre-teens presenting useful skills. We don't see that much in our society and it worries me a bit.

The only "sit down and learn" demonstration we caught was Hot Process Soap Making. Evidently lye is dangerous to work with. Maybe I'll go for cold process if I ever try to make soap. My bad luck dictates an explosion is likely to occur. The presenter was intelligent, well educated, and able to answer questions and make comparisons to the products we buy in the store.

Below is one of the buildings which showcased heirloom quality items for sale. Most were labeled "student work" or "master" and usually had the name of the person who made it. There were quilts, woven items such as scarves and mats and blankets; wooden items like tables and chairs, straw brooms; hand thrown pottery, and hand woven baskets.

Below is the mill for grinding all sorts of grains (of course). There were samples to taste and mixes to purchase, including gluten free options.

Most of the food at the fair is handmade from the communities' own product. We had lovely apple cider donuts. And the brick oven pizza is mouth watering just to look at, its got homemade cheese and farm grown meat. The corn dogs are also made of "real" meat and home milled breading. I told myself I wouldn't eat anymore…but after tasting one of the fresh cinnamon rolls (we watched them take the rolls out of the oven and slather them with icing) I felt panicked—I NEEDED to have one of my own—so we went back and bought more. I become such a happy little oinklett when it comes to great food.

I'd like to go again next year and catch a few more demonstrations and classes. This was a fun first visit!

Self Discipline

There's a gym just down the street that's only $10 a month, so we joined. And in October I thought to myself, "If we can have enough self discipline to become financially free, then I can have enough self discipline to loose 15 lbs by Christmas."

So here I am! Five days a week. I hate working out—but I only have 3-4 lbs. left to go. It's going to be close! (Then a loss of 10 more in the new year and I'll be where I'd like to stay.) I can totally do this.
GO ME!

Next Step

Even though you had planned to start your food storage as soon as your debt was paid off—you had thought to do it little by little. However, with Dallas being ground zero for the Ebola virus, you got caught up in the frenzied, scared talk going around. So the first step to food storage is:

1. Freak out. Make sure you tell your husband you are having nightmares. He'll probably get on board.

2. Do research on the basic, life sustaining foods. Realize you probably won't eat some of it. Ever. Powdered milk? Bleck.

3. Go to Costco and buy a A LOT OF IT. (But you make sure you go on a Saturday for all the free food samples. Always.)

4. Buy out all 250 mylar bags from the Home Storage Center. And think "neener neener" in your head because you just bought the whole supply available.

5. Prep your bags by labeling them.

6. Prep your jars by washing them. Wonder to yourself…am I becoming a "Prepper?" That could be scary expensive.

7. Invite a friend over and have a treat ready to eat while working.

8. Help one another fill each other's bags and seal them with goodness inside:
110 lbs. of flour.
125 lbs. of sugar. 
100 lbs. of rice. 
50ish lbs. of oats. 
4 bags powdered milk

25 lbs. beans

25 lbs. steel cut oats

9. Remember the Food Saver your mother-in-law gave you? But you didn't understand what it was for? After watching a few YouTube videos on dry canning it hit you that you have the tool for that! Now don't you feel sheepish for even considering letting it go?

10. So the next step is to dry can and seal into jars:
chia seeds
variety of herbs in bulk
aluminum free baking powder
and help your friend can her M&M's (all the time wishing you'd thought of that.)

11. After four hours step back and look at all your spoils. You can't keep your eyes off the pillowy,  shiny bags of food (face it you like sparkly things.) But you are also so proud of all that work. (Your new job paid for it after all.)

12. Cross your fingers that the oxygen absorbers do their work, or you'll have to re-do EVERYTHING.

13. Realize you now have to find a place to store all of this. Plus, you're not even close to having all the different varieties of food you should.

14. Go to bed satisfied and begin wondering how long the shelf life for Nutella, chocolate, and cookie butter is.

So, do you want to know the REAL reason I'm doing all this? Click here.

Our church is VERY big on emergency preparedness and has been for years. We are constantly advised to prepare against the hard times or calamity—because they do and will come. Good advice! Every time I read lessons given on this topic it ALWAYS says to have a food and financial reserve, food and financial reserve, food AND financial reserve. They are BOTH important. I am SO GLAD we have a plan for both and the plan is working for us. It's so awesome to witness! I just want EVERYBODY to get on board!

Deep Sea Fishing

He left me again. To fish. Again. And then Adam sent this image from the condo just to rub it in.

The company woke early for their chartered excursion to catch the little fish to bait the big fish.
The guy next to Adam in the orange is Adam's boss. He's a very good man.

Below the red fish are Mingos (can't remember the others). They're all filets with no skin so I'm not sure which is which when I open my freezer.

Adam can't remember the name for this one below: (do we deserve to eat the fish if we can't name  them?)

The catch of the day. That's A LOT of fish. You should see my freezer. Fish stew anyone?

Adam fought a large fish for quite a while, going from one side of the boat to the other. I've sped up part of the process in the video. Password: fighter DeepSea2 from Anna Zenk on Vimeo.

The fish from the video is a Mackerel. We get to eat this one because we know its name. Heh.

Concert at the WinStar Casino

The WinStar Casino (photo credit here) is just across the Texas border, it boasts the largest casino in the world and I believe them. Adam, the Marlex's, and I drove out there to attend…

...you guessed it! Another concert! WOOOO! I'm not going to say who it was…let's see if you can guess by the time this video is over. (I know I couldn't, some of the songs are familiar though. I guess I'm not old enough heh heh.)

Password: secretone
Secret1 from Anna Zenk on Vimeo.

Did you scroll down to cheat?

It was very crowded, and loud, and way fun!

The song is totally bastardized to get it into the clip below, but I don't care! I just wanted to capture the evening.
Password: theseeds
Sewing from Anna Zenk on Vimeo.
After that we HAD to go eat at the all-you-can eat buffet—because that's what you do at a casino. Eat. REAL CRAB! So yummy. And of course…three desserts…or more….
Thanks to Marla and Lex for the fun treat!

It's NOT About the Journey, It's About the Destination

Preface:
A couple of month ago I went home for a visit to be with my parents and help out with some things. Then, on the way to the airport I did something STUPID. I sat facing Dad while we talked and made myself carsick.

By the time we reached the airport I was facing forward, unable to talk and shaky. I couldn't even go to my terminal. I had to stop moving NOW. It was terrible. How would I survive the day?

And then the flight. With a layover, where I couldn't even disembark during our time on the ground, not even soda helped. The man next to me looked worried for me and pointed his air toward me. I am so thankful for the kindness of strangers.

Upon disembarking in Austin, TX, I knew Marla, Lex and Adam had driven several hours to meet me at the airport. We were all on our way to a lake house in Center Point, TX (kind of close to San Antonio). Our friends Jeannette and Jeff had rented a vacation home for the week and invited us to come and stay for the weekend and enjoy the Center Pointe Lake on the Guadalpe River with them.

But I couldn't meet them when I got off the plane. I carefully shuffled toward a bathroom stall and locked myself in, trying to calm my tummy and head down until I got a text from Adam "Are you here?"

I will speed up the story and say the rest of the drive was on curvy roads! We had to pull over so I could escape and walk a bit. When we finally arrived (it was well after dark)  I have never been so thankful stop moving in ALL MY LIFE. NEVER.

Lesson: USE DRAMAMINE. Forget soda and crackers. It's pressure point bracelets and drugs for me next time. It didn't even cross my mind to get some until the trip was almost over. (Moan…)

The next morning we woke up and walked out onto the deck were greeted by this—and it was LOVELY. I KNEW the day was going to be drastically different from the day before. And it was. Oh how it was.

I can't believe little ole us got invited to the big kid hang out! What a day. We stayed in the water most of the time. Jeannette made awesome food. It was calm. This is the kind of thing I like. A small, good group of friends, and time spent where it's beautiful. It feeds my soul.

I am grateful for the memories we'll have of this trip. I am grateful for friends who are so kind and open to sharing their vacation with us! This trip will not be forgotten.

Here's a video of some of the fun. Password: RiverLake
Lake from Anna Zenk on Vimeo.

Dreaming of Fish

Since last year's fly fishing trip, Adam, Lee and Adam's Dad have been planning, thinking about, and dreaming of fish. I have no doubt lovely images like this have been swimming through their heads at night.

Since the drive to Utah is a long one. I imagine the guys could just hear the rushing water and feel the breeze flowing down the waterway with the cool water calling out to rush over their warm limbs….

Bah ha! What am I thinking? There's no time for that poetic mush. Guys don't think like that!
This is how it goes down.

"First, we're going to SMASH all this stuff into the car and get out there as fast as we can and catch us some fish!"

I actually can't believe this little Kia Sorento held all their gear. I was going to show a video of how they did it but—your imagination will do just fine.

The drive to Utah is a LONG one. Lee, proves that even guys take selflies when they're bored enough.

As soon as they arrived, and before even getting to camp the men pulled over and started fishing.

They stayed an entire week and fished several rivers in the area. Don't you just love all the waders hanging from the line? So homey.

Here's a view near the camp.

One river—I believe it was everyone's favorite—is only accessible by walking quite a long distance on a set of tracks. And you are FORCED to walk there as there's no real trail on either side. (These are the ones I almost cried about last year.)
Below is a machine filling the ditch along the side with dirt. Below right: Again, Lee proves something with his camera: guys like taking pictures of pretty flowers. And further below Adam proves that giving up on the tracks is OKAY.
(Just kidding. He lost his Dad and sat down for a rest while looking for him.)

Let the fishing begin!

Panoramics are cool…but there's no way in reality to actually SEE how awesome they are. How wide is YOUR screen? Oh well, you get the idea.

Those are big fish! Adam kept the one on the far right since it was a monster and they all ate it for dinner. The fish are pretty yeah? I hadn't realized there was a variety—but they are all stocked every year.

And since Lee didn't catch any fish, again he takes a selfie to prove something...

Ha ha! Just kidding again! (I'm feeling rambunctious today). Lee caught his fair share and will also be able to provide for his family during the zombie ebolalipse.

Here's a shot of dinner at camp.

One night the guys passed what they thought was a giant raccoon, so they backed up and found it was a huge porcupine! Adam said it was "being a butt." Meaning it was being a mean ornery thing—it actually turned it's rear toward the car to take it on!

Last day: The guys are ready to come home after a full week of getting up early and fishing all day.

I was very happy to see Adam had brought home two fish for us! So I fried 'em up. I love fried trout skins, and the meat inside was so moist. I really do like trout—and Adam. A week with him gone was long enough for me!

I'm sure the guys will be making a tradition out of this trip. I'm glad. I like to see Adam spend time with his best friend and Dad. What more could a guy ask for? (Well…there are other things but I'm sure we don't need to talk about those…)