Pure Glory Homestead

Hi! Candice~Marie here! Listen ~ my Husband, Allan, and I have been working together for 11 years. It takes practice, folks. We definitely work much better now than in the beginning but sometimes it's just one of those days! Now, I've asked him to film while he is trying to teach me so it didn't really go that well since he was doing something he knows nothing about and I was doing something I know nothing about. Next time, I'll recruit my Mom to do the filming so we can concentrate on the teaching and learning of the Kubota tractor! Anyways, have a laugh at our expense.

Since I didn't feel comfortable using the tractor to lift our small building, I wanted to at least participate in some small way besides being the gopher. So I use the forks attachment to move a pallet of stuff out of the way. This is the first time I've actually used the forks. I feel a need to learn this tractor so my philosophy is, if I don't use it, I'll never learn it. I can't be the only person on the face of the Earth to learn how to use a tractor from scratch. I might be kinda on the old side to learn it but that's ok. LOL!

For game day in Wisconsin, you gotta have the cheese curds! So delicious when you fry them up yourself! Recipe is from America's Test Kitchen: 1 cup all-purpose flour 1 cup cornstarch 1½ teaspoons table salt 1 teaspoon baking powder 1½ cups light-bodied American lager (like a Miller Lite) 1 pound cheese curds 6 cups peanut or vegetable oil Whisk flour, cornstarch, salt, and baking powder together in a large bowl. Add beer and whisk until smooth. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 20 minutes. In large Dutch oven, heat oil over medium-high het to 375 degrees. Drop cheese curds into batter. Using fork, remove cheese curds from batter, allowing excess batter to drip back into bowl. Carefully add to hot oil and fry until exterior is golden brown. Remove from oil with slotted spoon. Transfer to paper towel-lined plate or sheet pan to drain, and season to taste with salt. Serve with ketchup (or ketchup cut with Bloody Mary mix!).

Hi! Candice~Marie here! In this video, my husband, Allan, is helping me learn how to change the implements on our Kubota L2501. I will drop the bucket, pick up the forks, drop the forks where we store them and then go get the bucket. I have dropped and picked up the bucket once before many months ago when we first bought the tractor but I have not practiced since then. This session also gives me a chance to just practice starting up the machine and remembering to press on the clutch when I turn the key, lift my implements, put on the parking brake, take off the parking brake, etc.

We have been trying to plant flowers to attract pollinators because there just doesn't seem to be that many around. I was just telling my husband that I was thinking of bringing in some solitary bees from somewhere. That's something I'd need to do more research on but perhaps it's better to be patient and wait for them to come. I will definitely be planting more, lots more, sunflowers!

My husband bought me a lawnmower! The thing gets away from me sometimes.

Still learning but what did I learn? Press on the clutch while turning the key and lift up the implements before stepping on the gas! Yikes!

After 3 years of living on the property, the city folk have finally decided to bite the bullet and purchase a tractor! We chose a Kubota L2501. Allan is very happy that now he has the ability to grade the driveway himself. We had some gravel delivered and sprinkled down the drive. Now, it's time for Candice~Marie (that's me) to learn to activate the float feature and spread some gravel.

When choosing our flowers for the garden, we like to keep in mind what the pollinators might like. The Fuzzy Bumble Bees love the Lupine and we are so happy to see them returning again and again while the Lupine are in bloom.

Yep, if you have a classic farm house front porch how can you not decorate it? We know the wind storms are fierce and often but we decorate anyways and deal with it. Even the wind storms hold their own special gloriousness.

We have lived here for three years and we always see Pelicans starting in Spring. Turns out we live on a migratory bird path and these Pelicans are coming to the Marsh along the west shore of Green Bay to breed. This is the first year we have seen them gathering everyday right behind our house. There has always been tons of nature and wildlife here but this is quite a sight! We had to share and we hope you enjoy.

Today I am doing a little housekeeping in the garden. The weeds coming up in between the cracks in the pathway are bothering me and I want to clear the path so we can enjoy the beauty of our garden. I actually enjoy weeding sometimes so I just take my time and enjoy the afternoon. The results were worth it and it actually took me 2 afternoons. Enjoy my garden!

Last year, I did not plant Rosemary in my garden even though I would have loved to. I just ran out of time because I was concentrating on other plants. This year, I made sure that Rosemary was the first thing on my list and I started a few plants several weeks ago to see what would happen. A lot of seeds did not come up, however, I have plenty more seeds. In this video I have planted the rest of them. I have 7 dozen egg trays I have seeded. I will be happy with however many grow. I will count it as a blessing. One is better than none! #homesteading #seeds #gardening Lady of the Homestead is my way to share the beauty of my world. These videos are what I see. I'm not saying that there won't be issues or problems but I will ALWAYS look for the positive in the situation or what we learned. I will always move in a positive direction. We're just getting started here. I hope you will either subscribe or if my videos are not quite up to your standards, that you will come back because I am always thinking on improving. Thank you for visiting and if you can, please at least throw a like on my video. I do work hard on them. Thanks very much and I wish you all the best for today and everyday!

Time to make some pizza sauce using our garden tomatoes that we canned in the fall. Except, we can't get the jar open! Here is an example of a good seal! #homesteading

A January morning provides a beautiful hoarfrost and the Abominable Snowman makes an appearance on our land. #winter #snow

We are out of wood for our wood burning stove so we are off to the lumberjack place for 3 scoops of wood to enjoy our nightly fires. #fires #woodburningstoves

Walk with me along the shoreline and then we'll come back to the house to make Pierogis for Christmas. After all that hard work, we'll have to relax by the fire for a bit. The Pierogi recipes I use is from America's Test Kitchen: https://www.americastestkitchen.com/recipes/5185-polish-dumplings-pierogi https://www.americastestkitchen.com/recipes/5568-potato-and-cheese-filling-for-polish-dumplings

Beautiful and elegant Sandhill Cranes visit us at the end of November which is unusual. We normally look forward to their arrival in early spring and we sadly say goodbye to them in the early or middle part of fall. This year the weather has been very mild so they are still around ~ to our delight. #wildlife #birds Music Information: Finding Movement by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100693 Artist: http://incompetech.com/

Let's make some fresh cinnamon rolls with a secret ingredient you won't want to miss and a fresh cup of coffee. Then I'll show you how I pack them up to enjoy over the next few weeks.

My two favorite morning "chores" are feeding the deer and other wildlife and tending to the fire. We love our new, smaller and very efficient wood burner. Come join me in my morning routine! #fire wood #wildlife

It's all about apples in this video. We grabbed a bag of deer apples while we were buying deer corn and they sure do love the apples! I also bake a cranberry apple pie that I served for Thanksgiving ~ I did not use the deer apples to make this pie.