She's back.....

So it's been a few months since I have taken the time to blog. Not because I don't miss you, but because life has been crazy. I finally have my house settled, my lawn growing, flowers in the flower beds, a garden producing and the farm is coming along slowly but surely. My goal is blog frequently from here on out so hold me accountable please! Stay cool, drink lots of water and love the life you live!

Happy Trails!

Frozen in April

So the house is coming along, but I'm not ready to share pictures with you yet. The yard is still a work in progress, but grass is planted, grapes are planted, garden is rototilled and the Iris bulbs are chilling in the house for a few more days. This is why...

Yes those are icicles hanging from my grape vines. I returned from my morning at the gym to find that when the sprinklers came on at 6:30 am (while I was in town) it was too cold for  morning sprinklers. See in the desert, you never really know what the weather is going to do. Yesterday it was snailing (hail that falls like snow) but Sunday I got a sunburn! What the April!? 

Looking for Love

So I'm in the process to moving into the most adorable farm house. Well, it will be adorable when I'm through with it. It's got the necessities: good bones, a beautiful view and a homy vibe. What it lacks is LOVE.

This poor house has been through the renter ringer since the time the boy's cousins bought the farm. It has huge, gorgeous windows in the dining area that over look the fresh pen. **Side note: One of life's blessings is watching new calves be born and I have the joy of watching that happen daily.

As you can tell from these before pictures, the house could use a fresh coat of paint, new flooring (which will have to wait) and some junking. I'm going to have to work with the green carpet.... for now.

We spent the weekend cleaning, painting and repainting. It's a good thing the boy is tall because the "popcorn" ceilings, yes I repeat "POPCORN" ceilings required THREE coats and 5 gallons of paint. I chose one bargain bin accent wall color for the kitchen/dining area and brightened the master bath with some leftover Southwestern Turquoise paint I had mixed a few months ago to refinish some table legs. With the help of the boy's sweet mommy we were able to get everything painted sans one last coat on the ceilings in the entry way, hallway, bathroom and kitchen. We plan to finish painting and cleaning tonight so maybe tomorrow you can see progress pictures.

Sage hen

So, a month later I'm doing really good at keeping up this personal blog, not. You may have heard I moved to the desert, this is true. I now call Fallon, NV "The Oasis of the Desert" my home. As the boy's grandpa put it, "You've become a sage hen." I'm not really sure what this means, but from what I can tell it has something to do with spring chickens and desert rats.

A few notes about living in the desert:

Closed windows in the windy spring are a must - can you say lots of sand on my window ciels.
*side note, what did the pioneer women who didn't have vacuums do to manage this?

Lotion, lots of lotion is absolutely necessary. I'm turning from grape to raisin rapidly.

Even when it's delightfully warm in the afternoon it will be cold once it  gets dark.

Despite it all, nothing beats little girls running across the room screaming your name in excitement when you first get to town. Or the fact that with a 30 minute drive you can be surrounded by nothing but nature and peace. Yes, desert living is good.

Whatever is Pure

Sometimes I wonder what is so magical about writing and then it occurs to me that there is absolutely nothing magical about it. It's simply putting your thoughts into words and those words on the page. Sounds simple right? Well today my thoughts are pretty jumbled up.

It seems that at a time like this when the entire world was encouraged to root for agriculture on national telivision we should all be excited. Everyone who is a seat at the table for agriculture's stakeholders should be rejoicing, but that isn't the case. Some refuse to believe that what happened yesterday is a good thing. The fact is haters will hate and the selfish will seek self glorification and self righteousness. As for me, I want to say thank you Dodge Ram! Thank you for showing the world what we in agriculture mean to you! I realize you're probably going to get a few trucks sold out of this deal, but I believe in my heart that your motive was pure.

I was reminded of this verse by one of my favorite bloggers; "Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise." Philippians 4:8

Homegrown Green Chili Sauce

I love homegrown foods. I am reading a book called "The Dirty Life" by Kristin Kimball. If you want to have a better understanding of the emotional ties behind the local food movement I suggest reading the book and although I don't entirely agree with every statement made in the book (which by the way I haven't finished), reading her descriptions of cooking with homegrown foods reminded me how very lucky we are. Most kids raised in the agriculture industry are raised on homegrown foods. Whether that's the spare calf you raised as a 4-H project, or the garden you tended with your Pappa, homegrown foods abound on farms and ranches across America.

One thing that I love most about gardening is the canning. This past summer I had the chance to be home and took advantage of Momma and Daddy's garden. I put up peppers, cherries, pesto and dried basil. Unfortunately most of the produce was not in full when I left in late July. There is nothing like cooking with those ingredients knowing that they came off the land of my home.

Another thing that I have come to realize is a major blessing is giving away produce. Dear friends of my grandparents live in Crow Mountain, Arkansas and they have a huge garden every year. Mary loves to take produce to church for to give to whoever wants it. She sent jalapenos and squash with me in August and just the night before last I again enjoyed delicious butternut squash. (you can freeze almost anything!)

Homegrown foods from friends are always delicious. This past weekend I visited a friend in New Mexico and his mother sent us home with a few sacks of homegrown, fire roasted then frozen green chilies.



Amazing. I used them to make a green chili sauce that and I'm going to share that recipe with you right now.

I used frozen fire roasted chilies. If that is your situation too, remove the skins and dice them. You can also used canned chilies that you get at the store already diced.

In a large bowl combine the diced chilies with a few tablespoons of lemon juice.

Using your potato masher mash the green chilies until the mixture is relatively smooth.



Add a dash of salt, a dash of pepper, a touch of garlic, and a pinch of love. Mix well.

You can use this thick sauce on steaks, eat it with chips, burgers, eggs, really just about anything you can think of.




Wonderfully out of the ordinary and very budget friendly. ***Using store bought chilies will cost about $2.00***


America's Ranch & Farm families provide us with an abundance of delicious, safe and quality foods.... we certainly are blessed.

Until We Meet Again,

Anna-Lisa

For The recipe that is pictured visit my other blog, BeefonaBudget.com

Anna's Quick Tip: To help frozen vegetables maintain their bright color steam them instead of boiling them!

Homemade Holiday Swags

I love homemade Christmas decorations. When I was a little girl, my sister and I had the task of going in the pasture behind our house to pick the mansanita, cut the pine and collect the pine cones that Momma would use to decorate the house. Currently I find myself in a place that is absent of mansanita and certainly absent of pine. So my first winter here I decided to make my own version of Momma's classics and I created this swag that will hang in my house for years to come.



The steps to creating your own are simple and budget friendly, get out your toolkit and get to creating!

You will need:

3 Strands of Green Swagging from the Dollar Store)
Pine Cones (You can find them at any WalMart or Dollar Store)
Fake Red Berries (Also at the Dollar Store)
Floral Wire
Pliers

Step 1: Braid the 3 strands together loosely to make the swag look full and not so cheap! Tie the ends together with floral wire.

Step 2: Stick red berries throughout the swag, staggering them so there isn't very many bare spots. You can attach them with floral wire for additional security as well.

Step 3: Place the pine cones throughout and attach them with floral wire.

Step 4 (Optional): I found this cute berry star and wired it to the center of the swag. You can choose to leave this out!



Hang them anywhere in the house using small screw hooks. You know the kind that come with a picture hanging kit? They don't do much damage to the wall and they work great cause you can just hook one of the strands of swag on there and it will stay up beautifully. I have hung them over doors, over entryways and this year it hangs over a mirror in my living room!



Hope you enjoyed this homemade hint!

Until We Meet Again,

Anna-Lisa


Anna's Quick Tip #23: To add a holiday homey feel to any table just put some pine cones in a basket as a centerpiece. You can thread ribbon through them or even mix in some Christmas bulbs. Super easy, really cheap and you will love it!