The Cottage on the Hill

Up in the Adirondack Mountains lay small communities, often of lower income mountain families, who rely on their public library for books for their children. In Upper Jay, NY, the Wells Library lost almost all of its children's section to the extensive flooding caused by Hurricane Irene. They are looking for donations of New Hardcover children's books. Do you have a children's book favorite? Perhaps consider buying a copy and donating it. You could also donate money, or Amazon.com or Barnes and Noble gift cards. You could look through your children's book shelves and see if there are any books in like new condition you could mail up. Media mail is inexpensive, too. Please consider donating. For more information, visit here: http://www.katemessner.com/after-irene-a-small-town-adirondack-library-needs-your-help/

I am excited! I talked to hubby and we both agreed that we should switch bedrooms with the children. Our oldest hit a growth spurt and jumped up another 1 1/2 inches. His toddler-sized bed is no longer comfortable for him, but we can't fit the other two children in the room with a twin size bed in it. I am so looking forward to carving out a nook for my little girl. Her own girly space. Hubby also gave me the go ahead to redo the smaller bedroom to a mutual decorating taste we share! I am so excited! At the same time, I am humbled, thankful and grateful. While this little cottage is getting small for our growing family, at least I have a sweet cottage to call my own. So many lost their homes and possessions, pets and even more great a loss, loves ones in the recent flooding caused by Hurricane Irene. I would greatly appreciate it if you would take the time to check out the Hurricane Irene soaps I am selling on etsy. Every soap labeled Hurricane Irene is being sold wi...

I read an article today , a commentary written in an area paper that really didn't help me to sympathize with our public school teachers. Why? If this statement really does echo how our teachers unions and teachers feel, then I find it disturbing: I suppose the pendulum has swung to the other extreme from the days within our lifetime when teachers were venerated and idolized, the never-wrong authority figures to whom parents and students always deferred. Um....really?!! I thought PARENTS are supposed to the authority in a child's life. I thought only GOD can be our "never-wrong authority." And deffer to a teacher? Perhaps working with the teacher for my child's education, yes, but deferring to them to make the ultimate decisions on behalf of my child? IDOLIZED?!?! Granted, the author speaks of the pendulum swing which means from one extreme to the other. The ideal would be somewhere in the middle....parents and teachers working together for their chi...

South west of me is a stunningly beautiful valley. This is a before shot of the valley, I believe from just last autumn. And here is the valley after Hurricane Irene. This is just a mile from my house. Thankfully, I'm up in the hills, so I had no damage, but in some of this footage, a friend of mine lost her house. Buried under water. HERE is a youtube video of an historic site not too far from me. The water is supposed to be well behind the house. It hit flood stages and just kept going, higher and higher.

While whittling away time on facebook today during Tropical Storm Irene, a facebook friend got me started on Hurricane Haikus. I thought I'd share them: The wind is blowing. Rain seeps into my basement. Power, please stay on. I've had one brown out. Rain seeps in through kids' AC. Damage has begun. The wind is so strong. My heart is pounding stronger. Grammar: more strongly? Facebook distracts me From the wind and rain outside As I write Haikus. Leaking heater vent In bathroom vent; and Cora Has a stomach bug. Prayers are lifted For the locals flooded out And other damage. Stay off the roadways All you crazy idiots! Walmart stores can wait. The frogs are croaking Just outside my window. Life returns for me. But for many more My heart breaks for flooded loss And displaced people. Such destruction here But Upstate New York will be Beautiful once more. For picture of what Irene did in and around the local area, click HERE!

Marguerite Patten, then. Marguerite Patten, OBE, now. I have recently learned about Marguerite Patten, the home economics and wartime rationing and cooking queen of England. The little I've seen of her on BBC's "1940's House" reveals a woman of grace and positive thinking. I look forward to learning more about her and her home economics. I have found some of her books on etsy, but I am looking for her wartime rationing cookbook now.

She considereth a field, and buyeth it: with the fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard. Proverbs 31:16 Just down the road from my house a 2.3 acre field went up for sale. It has a stream down one side of it and woods about it, but nothing else. I want it. I would LOVE to have a patch of earth like that to plant my orchard, berry bushes, rhubarb row, and big ol' vegetable garden. Since it isn't too far away, I might even consider putting on some animals! I, personally think it's a little pricey for the area and local real estate market at $21,000, but oh how I'd like to have it!

I've been debating for a few weeks now whether or not to switch bedrooms with my children. Should life continue on the same path, it will be inevitable that they'll have to move to the master bedroom for the simple fact that they are growing. So, should I just delay matters, or get right to the point? We live in a small 1950's cottage that only has 2 bedrooms. The master bedroom is 11x13 feet and the children's bedroom is a tiny 7x9 feet. Can you imagine that I'm squeezing 3 young children into that space? Before I start getting all sorts of nasty comments, let me assure you that they are comfortable and actually love being together like that. But, they are getting older. They are growing up. My daughter doesn't really have a corner to call her own, other than her bed. I feel badly, especially since she does like to go off on her own and play and imagine. Having two brothers on either side of her in a small house, she's often overrun with trucks...

I thought of a couple more things I would like to have should we stay in our little cottage. I would like a root cellar. There is a small embankment behind our garage. That would be the perfect spot for a little root cellar. A grain mill! I want a hand cranked one. The electric ones are only good should you have electricity. I like the security of not relying on electricity.

I was just asked to create a suit of clothes for the new chaplain of the 21st Regiment of Food (living history). I'll be a race to the finish as he'll need it for a wedding in October, but I am excited to sew again!

The Frontiersman's Daughter by Laura Frantz In typical Christian romantic fiction fashion, the book creates an angst that seems to draw in romantically starved teenage girls. It left me wanting to slap Lael upside the head and rolling my eyes at the cliches. Also, as an 18th century living historian, I was annoyed by once again, an author's lack of expertise in the area of clothing of the period. Also, for a book marketed as a CHRISTIAN fiction, I found it a bit too risque. While some may laugh at me calling it risque, hear me out. A tangled web of romance between 3 men, mostly spurred by infatuations, the lead character sharing passionate kisses with all of them, and a near-naked evening swim with 1 of them. I guess it wouldn't bother me so much, but I know these books are devoured by impressionable teenage girls and I found it a bit much, remember my own impressionable teenage self. Granted, the lead character, Lael, wasn't saved, I still think it was a b...

The making of culinary creations using leftovers used to be a housewife's skill. I'm not big on leftovers, myself, but in the name of thrift and less waste, (and the fact that I cleaned out my fridge today) I'm tackling some leftovers. I have turned some old carrots, green beans from my garden, frozen corn, some leftover mashed potatoes and one lonely drumstick into a pot of nourishing soup with the simple addition of chicken broth I had on hand and some herbs and seasonings. Then, there was the loaf of bread I made that was quickly going stale. I whirred some more of those old carrots in the food processor along with some eggs, spices, the good bits of an apple starting to go bad, raisins, maple syrup, a little bit of organic cane sugar (hopefully to make it more palatable to my picky eater) and some milk. I added that to half the loaf crumbled up in a bowl and I'm letting it sit overnight. In the morning I will bake it into a bread pudding (disguised as cake...

A while ago, I posted THIS video of a zero-waste family. The other day, I came across her blog HERE ! While I am quite certain I could never get my family, or even myself to go that extreme, I do look Bea's idea that we should consciously live. So many times we just push the auto-pilot button and don't even realize all the mindless things we were doing. It's just easier to unwrap the processed food, pop it in the 'nuke and toss the packaging into the trash. We are also a society of visual people. Years of television have drawn us away from the reality that even if we don't see it, it still exists. Just because the landfill isn't within eyesight doesn't mean that all our waste just disappears into oblivion. Bea put me to shame! I always thought I did pretty well with my garbage. I'd feel a little self-righteous pride as I drove down the road on garbage day and saw other people's cans bulging while mine wasn't even half-filled. But, a...

While my ultimate dream would be to have our own farm with our own farm house and a few cottages for my aging relatives to be nearby, sometimes I like to dream about what I'd like to do for our current little cottage. 1. Vermont Bun Baker I'd put this in my basement and in the dining room I'd put in one of those large, Victorian grates in the floor for the heat to rise up through. I could use this for off the grid living, for fun, and for heating and cooking should the power go out in the wintertime. 2. Gutters and rain barrels We need gutters on this house. It would greatly help in keeping water out of the basement. Plus, rain collection would be a great way to green up our water usage. Not only could I use the water for gardening (gravity fed irrigation system to my garden, perchance?) and animals, but I could run it through a: 3. Berkey Water Filter This would allow me to use the water collected in the rain barrels for human consumption! 4. Farm Animals...