My 2 Cents #2 Thanksgiving and a Giveaway

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Sorry, not many notes. Just my thoughts on Thanksgiving and a giveaway. I hope you enjoy.



 I do talk about this tourniquet and we are having a giveaway for it. A good addition to you first aid kit. It is very simple to use and I am happy to have it as a part of my first aid kit. It is far superior to any of the make do options that I have available.

I received this tourniquet free in order to review it. 
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thanksgiving Should be a Family Event

I remember so many Thanksgivings from my childhood. The women would cook everything and the men would talk hunting or sometimes sports. At one set of my grandparents sports were banned from the television. My grandfather refused to watch anyone play ball.

The feast was incredible, nothing fancy, but incredible none the less. Nearly all of the vegetables had come from the garden. A couple of years the ham was home raised. The turkey was always purchased because turkeys stand around and think up ways to die.

After the meal everyone would sing a few hymns then all of the men would go hunting. It all just worked. Well fast forward about 30 years. It is a lot harder for things to work that way.

My wife works at a hospital and has to work not only Thanksgiving Day but also the day before and the day after. She works 12 hour shifts so Thanksgiving Day is out. I know that blended families have had to be flexible for a long time, but it is fairly new to us.

This year we are celebrating Thanksgiving the weekend before the actual date. I took a vacation day on Friday to help with the cooking. My wife and I both take an active part in the feast preparations.

The day of our event was also the day for food pickup. Our church participates in One Harvest food ministry. It is a way for anyone to purchase lower coat groceries. People can order boxes of food at wholesale. This month we are picking up 15 boxes of food. There are several good things about One Harvest. First is anyone can order you don't have to be "in need" to buy food from them. Second, it gets people out in the community. Third, it helps anyone save money on their grocery bill.

You can go to their site and see if there is a pickup location near you. Every little bit helps.

Family and friends will be dropping by and eating throughout the evening. We tried to have a set time and a traditional sit down meal, we just couldn't pull it together. As long as everyone drops by it will all be alright.

Take some time this year and remember all of the ways you have been blessed. Think about all of the small blessings we tend to overlook. Don't put all of the work on one person. Help make the holiday enjoyable for everyone. Guys help out.

Rural Dreams and Homestead Wishes

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Rural Wisdom and Know How #3

News from the Carter Homestead:

This past week has been insane. I have been barely able to keep up with the schedule I have tried to set for my self on blogging and the things I want to do here. I work in retail in my day job so you know that is crazy trying to get ready for Black Friday. Crazy workers trying to prepare for crazy shoppers.

The Rural Economist is very proud to be able to be a part of a really nice giveaway.
My wife has relented on not letting me take a major role in the cooking of the Thanksgiving dinner. I know it is hard for her. She has been cooking Thanksgiving dinner since she was about 12. She knows I am a good cook and I am glad that she will entrust me with this, her most important meal of the year.

I know that nearly everyone is trying to get ready for Thanksgiving dinner. We have fixed a couple of thing already and have them in the freezer. I will be doing a lot of the cooking this year because my wife will have to work the night before and she will need to sleep. If you are looking for some really cool ideas for this years Thanksgiving dinner check out the Homestead Bloggers Network's 7 Days of Thanksgiving. Lots of great recipe ideas. I am sure there will be some great ideas posted here by all of our wonderful bloggers.

Giveaways:

We have two great giveaways going right now. Click the link to enter the one you want or both. Any shares on social media are also greatly appreciated.

http://theruraleconomist.blogspot.com/2013/11/puritans-pride-holiday-survival-kit.html

http://theruraleconomist.blogspot.com/2013/11/wise-decor-giveaway.html

Questions for the Week:

(1) Do you have a winter garden?

(2) How would you describe your homestead; rural, semi rural, semi suburban, suburban, or urban?

(3) Do you have any special traditions on Thanksgiving?

(4) What projects are you planning for either this winter or next spring?

My Answers:

(1) I had planned on having one, but I just did not get it put in.

(2) We are semi rural and live on 1/2 acre.

(3)  We really don't. I am wanting to start one. This year we are going to go around the table and everyone has to list one thing they are thankful for.

(4) I have a HUGE yellow jackets nest in an old storage room. Soon on a Really cold day, I am going to take them out. Next spring I plan on putting in a meat bird run.

You can subscribe to The Rural Economist by email, simply fill out the form to the top right of this page. You can also follow The Rural Economist on Facebook by clicking HERE

Keep It Rural

I cannot wait to read all of the wonderful posts from great writers all across the country. But first here are the featured posts from last week.

http://taylormaderanch.com/blog/replanting-onions-again/

http://wilkerdos.blogspot.com/2013/11/diy-tool-caddy.html

http://www.greeneggsandgoats.com/2013/11/easy-diy-feather-ornaments.html

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Carter's Homestead Sweet Potato Casserole

http://homesteadbloggersnetwork.com/7-days-thanksgiving/ 

Before I get started, I want everyone to repeat after me. Butter is your friend. Ready? Okay everyone "Butter is your friend". Now that we have that out of the way.

Ingredients:
3 Large Sweet Potatoes
1 Cup Butter
1 Package of Graham Crackers (you can also use 2 cups Graham Cracker Curmbs)
3/4 Cup Brown Sugar Packed
3/4 Cup White Sugar
1 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract
2 Cups Pecans

Bake 3 Large sweet potatoes about 2 hours or until you can puncture with a fork.
Note: This can be done ahead of time and potatoes can be stored in the fridge for a couple of days.
Let cool at least enough to handle then peel potatoes. The skins will come right off and these skins are great for the compost pile.

Place peeled sweet potatoes in a mixing bowl. Add brown sugar, white sugar, vanilla extract, and 1/2 cup butter melted. Mix well.

If you are using Graham Crackers crush them to a medium course consistency. If using Graham Cracker crumbs pour 2 cups in a bowl. Add 1/2 cup melted butter mix well. After mixed press into bottom of casserole bowl.

Spoon sweet potato mixture into casserole bowl, on top of Graham Cracker crust. Once all mixture is spooned in, smooth the mixture.

Take pecans and layer the top with them as pictured below.

Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes.

That is it. To add some variety you can put marshmallows on top before you bake so the marshmallows will be a little crisp. Mini marshmallows work best. If you want a crunchy topping you can add 1 1/2 cups of oatmeal mixed with another 1/2 cup melted butter under the pecans. 

I hope you enjoy, and Happy Thanksgiving.

Keep It Rural.

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Rural Wisdom and Know How #2

News from the Carter Homestead

We had our first killing frost this week. That means I will be digging my fall potatoes this next week. We will see how they did. I will be honest, I am not very optimistic.

My wife’s birthday is this next week and I would like to take this opportunity to tell her in front of the world how much I love and appreciate her. We have grown together in ways that I did not think possible. Baby you are incredible.

I and my youngest son spent some time with my grandfather this past Saturday running the family grist mill. In a little less than an hour we ground about 100 pounds of cornmeal. If we were to run a giveaway for some home grown, home ground cornmeal, would you be interested? Please comment to let me know.

7 Days of Thanksgiving

The Homestead Bloggers Network will be hosting & Days of Thanksgiving the 21^st through the 27^th of November. Each day will feature a different meal course i.e. drinks, salads, main dishes. There will be lots of great ideas and if I can get my act together I will have posts on at least 2 of those days. www.homesteadbloggersnetwork.com

This Week’s Question

(1)    Have you started planning your Thanksgiving menu yet?

(2)    Have you been participating in the month of thankfulness?

(3)    What is the biggest challenge you face on your homestead?

(4)    Name one thing you are thankful for.

My Answers

(1)    Our Thanksgiving will be lite this year. My wife has to work the night before. I have offered to fix the whole meal, but she would not hear of that.

(2)    I have. Each day I post something I am thankful for on The Rural Economist Facebook page. I think it is good to reflect on all of the blessing we have.

(3)    Time. If I had more time I could do more around here and maybe even post more than twice a week.

(4)    I have already said my wife above, but I will give one more. I am thankful for a whole family that is working toward being more self sustainable.

Featured Posts from Last Week

How to Make a Pallet Barn by The Free Range Life
How to Make Your Own Salves and Potions by Small Gardners
Maple Pumpkin Pie with Salted Pecan Brittle by Maple Grove Place

Now it is your turn. Please post your answers in the comments section. This way we will get to know each other better.

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Rural Wisdom and Know How #1

News From Around Carter Homestead:

Here in the South the weather is chaotic, one day the high will be the low 50's and two days later the mid 70's with night time lows ranging from upper 20's to low 60's. Our weather makes things interesting. For tonight at least I am sitting by the fire.

My wife is in full on "Let's get this Christmas shopping done" mode. Most of the shopping has been done on Amazon so far. She is incredible. No procrastination going on with her.

We have two birthdays this week both my wife's mother and mine. We also found out that my wife will be having to work Thanksgiving day and the weekend before, so we will be having to get creative in our celebrations this year.

I would like for this to turn into a real conversation. I would like to get to know all of you and give you a chance to get to know my family and myself. In that spirit I am going to post some questions each week and give my answers. I would like for you all to answer the questions in the comments.

(1) As we are coming up on Veterans Day, are there any veterans in your family?
(2) Do you do anything to celebrate Veterans Day?
(3) Have you started your Christmas Shopping?
(4) When do you start listening to Christmas music?

My answers (1) I am a veteran as are both of my grandfathers. Both of my grandfathers served during WWII. I have my paw paw's WWII flag that was on his casket and his father's WWI flag. (2) Sadly, I do not do anything special. I will have to work. (3) My wife is on this with a vengeance. (4) I listen to Christmas music anytime the mood strikes me February or even July is fine by me. My wife thinks it should wait till the day after Thanksgiving. Now it is your turn.

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We have a giveaway going for copies of two eBooks. The Urban Chicken and The Gardening Notebook. You can enter for this giveaway either on the posts about these books or on The Rural Economist Facebook page. We are looking forward to hearing from you.