This weekend certainly took an unexpected turn when our ox fell into a ditch – literally!
We have had a steer out to pasture with the intention of butchering him sometime soon, at least before vineyard work begins. As with all overwhelming tasks, however, it was easier to talk about it, plan and put it off. This weekend we were forced to action when he fell into a ditch and broke his pelvis.
The work began when our oldest son called to let us know he had found Hammy (yes, you read it correctly, short for hamburger – his fate was planned when we got him!) in a ditch and was unable to get him out. We quickly went to help dig the cow out and set him free. That was not to happen. John and the boys worked for a couple of hours without success. After consulting our vet, they dug enough dirt away so as to get straps around him and pull him out with a tractor. It was obvious that Hammy must be taken care of quickly.
Several months ago, with butchering him in mind, I had purchased a basic book on butchering. After all, the only experience I had was dissecting a pig in nursing school and I did not think that would help much! So, with book in hand, Saturday was filled with skinning and cleaning the almost 1600 lb animal. (We did not weigh him but guesstimated based on Buttercup’s weight.) We used a forklift to raise the carcass as it was skinned. Stretched out, it was about 9 ft long. Once skinned, it was washed and left to hang overnight. This sounds like a few easy steps, but it took all day! Especially removing the internals was a bit scary, but it was a wonderful anatomy lesson for the children – home education is a lifestyle! Thankfully, the weather had once again turned cold and, although it was miserable for us to be out in the cold wind, it was perfect for the meat.
Sunday, again with book in hand, we tackled the job of cutting and wrapping the meat. The most difficult part was determining where to make the cuts.
The chart in the book showed very straight cuts which did not follow muscle groups. After varying amounts of discussion, decisions were made and the meat cut.
Once the pieces were cut, others wrapped the meat in plastic wrap and then butcher paper for added protection and finally the packages were labelled. Butchering definitely involved everyone!
We ended up with about 570 lbs of meat, mostly roasts but also plenty of ground beef and soup bones! For a 1600 lb steer this may not seem to be much meat but he was a Holstein. Holsteins are bred for dairy purposes and not meat production. As a result, his frame was large and not as much meat, as say, an Angus. That being said, we only paid $10 for him at a local dairy when he was a few days old. So, except for the initial $10, Buttercup’s milk when he was young and pasture grass, we had very little invested! It is so exciting to have such economical, good quality, grass-fed beef now in our freezer.
It is also a huge relief that it is over and everyone is safe. Plus, we had a lot of fun working together – What a sense of accomplishment!
Our 3 year old is now officially potty trained! 
This would be a milestone for anyone, but for us, it is the end of an era. An era spanning 26 1/2 years.
Our oldest son was born ten days before our first anniversary. Little did we know that our first year would be one of the few periods of time in our married lives without diapers.
Diaper bags took the place of purses. Why carry both? It was much easier to throw my wallet and lipstick in the diaper bag. I think I have gone through at least 8 – 10 diaper bags. They were stylish, of course, and though they did not define me, they became my main fashion accessory. I like big purses so my diaper bags were also big. Maybe I should say, they were mutli-functional bags.
Having used cloth diapers for the past 26 1/2years (except occasionally splurging on disposables) I have seen the decline in diaper quality over the years. I am not talking about those cute ones available now with covers that use snaps rather than diaper pins. Being a hard core cloth diaper mommy, I stuck with diaper pins and plastic pants. Plastic pants which, by the way, as the quality decreased over the years, your fingers could go through if you were in a hurry and pulled them up on your toddler too quickly! My reasoning for not investing in the latest cloth diaper craze was, of course, financial. While still less expensive than disposables, they were much more costly than if I just stuck with what I had. After all, how many more children would I have?
So, here we are, twenty-seven, almost twenty-eight years from when we started. I am finally trading diapers for big girl panties for the last time and a diaper bag for a purse.
Think you detect a bit of sadness?
I do like purses – big metallic ones and big ones in pop colors – that’s undeniable.
I guess I just have to face it – the end of an era has come!
Maybe the girls will let me carry the grandchildren’s diaper bags.
Or …
Maybe, I should go shopping for a new purse!
*Photo Credit: Bing Images
I have been enjoying a couple of free magazines that I would like to share with you. 
The first is the “In Touch” magazine published by In Touch Ministries. This is a ministry of the First Baptist Church of Atlanta where Dr. Charles Stanley is the pastor. “In Touch” is a monthly publication and in addition to encouraging articles, it also has daily devotions. At the end of each day’s devotion is a Bible reading designed to guide you in reading through the Bible in one year. I have tried several of these “read-through-the-Bible-in-a-year” programs and have never been able to keep up. This one is different. I have found it very manageable and even enjoyable! If you are interested, simply visit InTouch.org and sign up for this free magazine. You might also enjoy browsing the site. Many of Dr. Stanley’s sermons are available free of charge, as well as, their store to purchase other products.
*You will receive letters with ministry updates from Dr. Stanley and be asked to give monetarily to them. You may choose to do so, or not, and continue to receive the magazine.
The second publication I would like to introduce you to is “Above Rubies”. This magazine is published 3-4 times per year and is also free to receive. AboveRubies is a website and magazine founded by Nancy Campbell. On their website they describe their mission well:
Above Rubies is a ministry to encourage women in their high calling as wives, mothers, and homemakers. Its purpose isto uphold and strengthen family life and to raise the standard of God’s truth in the nation.
The name has been chosen from Proverbs 31.10 AMP, “A capable, intelligent and virtuous woman, who is he who can find her? She is far more precious than jewels and her value is far Above Rubies or pearls.”
Both of these ministries offer products free of charge and I would encourage you to give them a try. I know I have really enjoyed them!
*I am in no way affiliated with either of these ministries and just wanted to share with you something that I enjoy!
As I posted last week in Redecorating – Paint It!, painting furniture is an easy and economical way to add pizzazz to a room. An alternative to painting is refinishing the furniture. Of course, practice makes perfect and the more pieces of furniture you refinish the seemingly easier it becomes. If you have never refinished furniture, give it a try. It is surprisingly, not difficult and the results can be beautiful. Whether it is an antique, a yard sale find or just a piece needing a face-lift, refinishing it yourself could be the solution to your problem.
I chose to refinish a dresser and two nightstands that had been in storage. They are part of a bedroom suite which belonged to my parents. The furniture itself is very good quality but the finish was worn and cracked.
While there are many chemicals on the market to dissolve and remove the finish, I have had good results with scraping the finish off. I use a stiff putty knife held perpendicular to the surface.
With even pressure, I pull ithe putty knife toward me scraping the finish off.
Even pressure is very important. Without it, ripples can be made in the wood. Normally, the ripples can be sanded out, but it is much easier if they are avoided.
Once the finish is removed, sand the surface using fine sandpaper. Fine steel wool may also be used. Once the surface is smooth, clean and dust it to remove any residual dust.
You are now ready to apply stain, if desired. I am using Early American stain by Minwax. Dipping a small rag into the stain, cover the raw wood evenly. According to the can directions, leave the stain on the desired amount of time. The longer the excess stain is left on, the more is absorbed into the wood and the darker the finished piece will be. I left the stain on about 10 minutes and then wiped off the excess. You may reapply to darken if you desire. Allow to dry for 24 hours before applying a protective finish.
I use polyurethane in a satin finish as my topcoat. It is durable and adds a richness to the appearance of the piece. The method of application is similar to staining. Using a small rag that can be thrown away, dip into the polyurethane and apply a very thin coat evenly to the surface. One coat is usually sufficient but if you desire another coat, allow it to dry 24 hours. Once dry, use a piece of steel wool and very lightly rub over the entire surface. This is to knock off any bumps that may occur due to dust or other foreign debris. Once smooth, brush off and vacuum to remove the residual steel wool. You may now reapply polyurethane as desired. Since these pieces will be in the girls’ room, I only applied one coat.
Both stain and polyurethane must be cleaned up with mineral spirits.
Besides being enjoyable, having your own garden is not only economical but also provides your family with a healthy source of fresh vegetables. Our garden spot, pictured above, looks desolate now and the pink flamingos look lonely – but wait until June!
While I am not planting yet, we are preparing. Our garden is on part of what once was an 65 acre cotton circle. As a result, our soil must be supplemented. We do this with home grown manure. We have access to a pecan shelling company in the little town near us. Most people have their pecans shelled and leave the shells with the owner. So, we pick them up and spread them in the chicken yard. The chickens love to peck through and find the morsels of pecans left in the shells. (This is a great way to supplement the chickens’ feed!) Between the decayed shells and the chicken manure, we have great compost!
The boys worked on spreading the compost over the garden and are preparing to till it in. You can see the color difference. The garden dirt is reddish while the manure is a rich dark color.
Here in our area of west Texas, we have a problem with nematodes. In fact, in the vineyard, when selecting the root-stock for our vines, one requirement is that it be nematode resistant! In the garden, they really take a toll on our squashes! Our next addition to the soil will be something to kill nematodes!
While we will not actually plant the garden until April or May, the time spent preparing and planning now will hopefully make for a more bountiful garden.
“Use it up, wear it out, make do or do without!”
—— My husband
At the end of 2009, I posted “My Top 40 Frugal Living Tips.” Now, 2 years later, it is encouraging to review it. If you have been reading Dimes2Vines for a while, you know the last 4 years have been challenging, to say the least! Starting a 20 acre vineyard from scratch is a lot of hard work. Hard work without an accompanying paycheck!
With a large family, frugal living has always been a part of our lifestyle but became significantly more important. Now after our first successful harvest, we are continuing our frugal lifestyle. Why? To be good stewards. I am not talking about a miserly lifestyle. Rather, we are continuing to work together for our common family goals.
These goals include expanding the vineyard – we are planting another 2 1/3 acres of grapes this year – and finishing our house which overlooks the vineyard. Hopefully, we will continue the Insulated Concrete Forms (ICF) upward after this year’s havest in Oct. 2012.
Many items on my top 40 list seem to be common sense things but they are also easy to forget about, such as, #16 adjust your thermostat, #17 turn off lights and #18 turn off ceiling fans when leaving a room.
In fact, as I review the list, we are still practicing them all – from tithing (#1),to writing down all expenses in my budget book (#2) to using VoIP as our phone rather than cell phones (#40).
Don’t underestimate the power of the “little things”. The little things can quickly add up! Each of the 40 tips alone may seem insignificant, but, together they can amount to great savings.
Redecorating can easily mean spending lots of money, but, it does not have to. With phase one of our home completed, I felt it time for some sprucing up in the interior design area. One very budget friendly way to add pizzazz is to start with pieces of furntiure you already have or a yard sale find and paint it!
You can see the difference in an old dresser before:
After painting it is ready to hold our 6 year old son’s clothes:
There are a few things to be aware of before you begin.
1. There are 2 types of paint commonly used on furniture, latex and oil based. If the piece of furniture is already painted, you need to know what type of paint is on it. To do this, take a cotton ball wet (but not dripping) with nail polish remover. Gently rub the painted surface in an inconspicuous spot. If the paint is latex, a small amount of color will show on the cotton ball. If the paint is oil based, the cotton ball will be clean.
Why is this important? If you use a latex paint over an oil based paint – it will peel. The pink trunk below was the toy box from my childhood. It was painted with an oil based paint.
This does not mean you must use an oil based paint which seems to take forever to dry and smells terribly. But, the surface must be primed. I use a primer product made by Kilz for oil based paint. It is available in a spray, a paint can, and either of these are available in a regular or an odorless version. The same pink trunk now primed with Kilz primer for oil based paint. I also taped old newspaper to the inside to protect the surface not to be painted.
Finally, the “new” blue trunk painted with latex paint is better suited for the boys’ room.
I personally prefer using latex paint because there is very little odor, drying time is much faster and clean up is with soap and water rather than mineral spirits.
2. The surface should be clean and smooth. Gently sand the piece with fine sandpaper to roughen it up. This allows the new paint to adhere better.
3. Work in a well ventilated area. The wind here in west Texas makes painting outside many days almost impossible. I painted the furniture pictured in the middle of the kitchen with the windows open. I did use the spray primer on the toy box so the priming was done outside.
4. Protect your work surface. I always spread newspaper or plastic on the floor.
5. You will need a paint brush and an old rag to wipe up any drips.
6. Read the back of the paint can for specifics about drying time and time needed between paint applications.
7. Clean up your brush with soap and water if using latex paint and mineral spirits if using oil based paint.
What will eventually be our basement is now home sweet home. We are all enjoying starting the New Year in our own home. So far we are very pleased with the ICF (insulated concrete forms) walls and are amazed at the insulation value. Our small wood burning stove can quickly cause us to open windows to let out the heat!
Having done all the work ourselves has taken time but certainly saved us a lot of money. As of now, we have spent right at $42,000 and have1500 sq ft with 3 bedrooms and 1 bath (Yes, 1 bath for 9 people can be challenging at times but there are more to come upstairs!).
We did decide to do some extras since this is hopefully the house we will grow old in. The $42,000 figure includes a $1500 Pelican water softener which has been well worth the expense. We did purchase the larger model to accommodate the remainder of the house. If you live in an area which has hard water, you may be interested in one as it uses no salt but rather a bed of crystals. The crystal bed causes the naturally dissolved minerals in the hard water to form tiny crystals suspended in the water. These tiny crystals are relatively inactive and so the water “feels” soft in the shower, dishwasher and other normal usage. The bed never needs replacing and in just 4 years it will have paid for itself.
John also installed a fire sprinkler system inside, we used beaded board wood for the ceiling, the bathroom is floor to ceiling porcelain tile and the kitchen counter is made of granite tiles (bought on sale).
The exterior door opens into the laundry room which leads into the kitchen.
The kitchen, dining room and family room are really one large room.
It is very conducive to our lifestyle to be able to see what is going on from any room. The bedrooms are off the southwest side of the family room. Complete settling in is happening little by little and hopefully will be completed before the vineyard work really starts.
Phase 2 is planned to begin after this year’s harvest. Extending another 14 feet on 3 sides with the ICF and continuing upward. The 14 foot areas will provide storage, wine cellar, cheese cave and root cellar. The first floor will have 4000 sq ft. with a very large center family room surrounded by a 5 ft wide hall. The bedrooms, bathrooms, kitchen and study will surround the center room and be off the hall.
The roof will be metal of a yet to be determined color. The temporary TPO (Themo Plastic Olefin) roofing, which is now covering what will be the first floors sub-flooring, will be removed once the ICF walls and metal roof are in place. The exposed basement walls will have a stone facade with stucco on the exterior of the upstairs.
Being do-it-yourselfers has provided us many memories, opportunity to learn new skills, and the chance to work together as a family besides having more that we otherwise would have been able to afford. While it has taken time and been a lot of work, it has certainly been worth it!
Now, to be content and wait for phase 2!
Ebates is starting the year off with Double Cash Back on select stores – what a way to start 2012!
I posted quite awhile ago about the “Ebates Sign up Bonus”. In addition to the $5 Ebates credit, if you sign up now, you may opt instead to choose from several gift cards: $10 Barnes & Nobles, $10 Home Depot, $10 Target or a $10 Magazine.com.
What is Ebates? It is an online cash back shopping site, working with over 1,200 stores to give cash back and coupons to you. They get a commission from the stores when you make a purchase and instead of keeping that money, they share it with you! Joining Ebates is free. And four times a year they mail you a big fat check, or transfer the money to your PayPal account if you’d prefer.
Like I always say, “you have to spend money to make money, so, the more you spend, the more you get back!” Seriously though, if you shop online, why not get a rebate for it?
Ebates has a nice referral program also. You receive $5 for each referral who signs up using your unique link (found under the “Tell-a-Friend” tab) and then makes a $20 purchase within 90 days of joining. Try it and if you like it, why not tell others. Help them earn money on their online purchases also.
 
I would like to share with you a site that could very well save you money if you order books online.
The Book Depository is a website that I have used for a while now. I am very pleased with it and want to share it with you. They offer free shipping worldwide! Free shipping, combined with their everyday low prices, has made for money savings for me.
If you have been reading Dimes2Vines for any period of time, you know that I am a comparison shopper. Ordering online is certainly no exception. It has been my experience that The Book Depository prices beas other sites and I have my books in 7 – 10 days.
*The above links are my affiliate links. I appreciate your using them, but whether or not you do, I want to help you make the most of what you have.
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Grab My Dime! 
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About Me 
God has amazingly blessed me, Dina-Marie, with a wonderful husband and 10 beautiful children. Moving from our "secure" life in Alabama to the "exciting" life of starting a vineyard in west Texas has been challenging to say the least. I have had the opportunity to take a crash course in frugal living and become a real farm girl - complete with milk cow and chickens. I have learned the importance of health from the inside out, "traditional" cooking and cod liver oil!
I hope to encourage you to make the most of where you are and what you have. |
