Here are a couple more presents I made for family members this Christmas.
More Homemade Christmas Presents for My Family
December 28, 2009 at 9:28 am (Homemade & DIY, Our Family's Homestead Journey)
Tags: bookends, bubinga, Christmas, cross, Sherlock Holmes, woodwork
More Homemade Christmas
December 25, 2009 at 7:28 pm (Homemade & DIY, Our Family's Homestead Journey)
Tags: bubinga, Christmas, homemade, lacewood, robot, spare parts, toy
Here is a lacewood and bubinga valet tray I made as a present for my dad this Christmas.
Here is the completed robot toy I made for my kids this Christmas. It has a magnetic hand and a 360 degree swivel head. It rolls fast too.
Abbie’s Homemade Bunny Puzzle for Christmas
December 13, 2009 at 7:57 pm (Homemade & DIY, Our Family's Homestead Journey)
Tags: bunny, Christmas, handmade, heirloom, linseed, present, puzzle, rabbit, scrolled, scrolling, scrollsaw, toy, wood, woodwork
This is one of my little girl Abbie’s Christmas presents. I finished it yesterday. I slipped and cut my finger and nail on the scrollsaw blade…my first bad cut. I hope she likes it. It’s darn near unbreakable because the wood I chose, Makore, is so dense. I finished it with linseed oil.
Growing Playlists of Videos On Our YouTube Channel
December 10, 2009 at 11:52 am (A Life of Learning, Homemade & DIY)
Tags: Canning, construction, DIY, Food, Good Life, handmade, homesteading, toys, video, wood
I’ve been gathering onto our YouTube channel a great selection of homestead-related videos from across the YouTube world. I realize one can search directly on YouTube for these. However, I find it easier to have many of them on one site…thus our YouTube channel. Eventually, I will be uploading some homemade videos too.
So far, I have selected over 120 videos. Here are the playlists on the channel so far.
Learn how to can food, so you have real healthy food in your pantry to last you all year.
- The Good Life
It’s a must visit for anyone interested in British sitcom. On his 40th birthday to be precise, Tom Good decides that he’s had enough of the rat race and that he and wife Barbara will become self-sufficient.
- Homemade Toys
A topic dear to my heart and my children’s hands. Here are some wonderful examples of homemade toys. Also of note here, are discussions of important legislation and the efforts of the Handmade Toy Alliance.
- Homestead Inspirations
Seeing others’ homesteading efforts is inspirational and informative.
- More Homestead DIY Skills, Tools, & Tech
There are so many skills to learn and enjoy. We are capable of doing so much for ourselves. Often it is more fulfilling than paying someone else to do it.
- Real Food versus GMO
If we don’t take back control of our food supply we and future generations will suffer the loss of food diversity, our health, and personal independence. Find out what really is going on behind the scenes in our food supply.
Video series on Canning added to our YouTube channel
December 7, 2009 at 3:04 pm (A Life of Learning, Canning)
Tags: Canning, food preservation, video
I just added a well done six part series to our YouTube channel. The series goes step-by-step through the whole process of canning food. I haven’t done any canning yet, but I plan to do much canning come Spring harvest. Here is the first clip in the series.
The full series can be seen here on our YouTube Channel.
Toy Robot Under Construction
December 3, 2009 at 6:55 pm (Homemade & DIY, Our Family's Homestead Journey)
Tags: homemade, robot, toy, woodwork
Making some presents this year. Here is a robot under construction. It will be a toy for one of my sons. It still needs many parts, sanding, filing, painting, and sealing. Just a sneak peak.
UPDATE…
Here is the finished product.
Snow comes to our part of Texas.
December 2, 2009 at 11:23 am (Gardening, Our Family's Homestead Journey)
Tags: cold, freeze, snow, Winter
Hopefully the plants in the big garden can hang on a bit longer. They were blanketed with snow this morning for about two hours. The temperature was around 40 degrees F. I think they’ll make it. There are lettuces, collards, broccoli, cauliflower, and swiss chard. I did go ahead and clip the swiss chard from the small garden this morning, just in case the snow would have done them in. So, it is salad for a couple of days now.
I and my family enjoyed seeing the snow. It is rare here in North Texas. It is nearly gone now, a few hours later. If the garden is a loss, I will be ok with that. I had some good harvests. I’ll check on the big garden at lunch. Either way, I am excitedly getting into planning the Spring garden now.
Going Homestead 