Barn Beam Mantle

When we moved into our shop, we moved into an empty box.  Sir Knight and my dad built a loft and stairs and we used furniture groupings to delineate rooms.  Over the years the "shouse" has become more and more homey but, of course, still lacks any kind of architectural detail.  Every ounce of "character" has had to come from us, not the shop.

Ever since Sir Knight, the children and I salvaged beams from a pioneer era milking barn, I have been wanting to use one of the beams as a mantle over our Procom gas stove.  This past weekend, Sir Knight and Master Calvin got out their saws and drills and brought my anticipated barn beam mantle to life! 

The first thing they did was measure the stove and determine how tall the mantle needed to be.  After measuring the barn beam, we determined how far apart the supports needed to be and cut those out of old oak packing crate beams.    Once the cuts had been made Sir Knight drilled through the uprights into the beam and then secured them with extra large screws, which he countersunk, so they wouldn't be evident from the face of the mantle.

The mantle balancing on the uprights

Putting in the screws

Help from Master Calvin

Although the mantle was fairly stable, Sir Knight wanted to bolt it to the wall so that it wouldn't accidentally fall on someone. He built a bracket out of an old piece of racking and screwed it to the underside of the mantle and then attached it to the wall, permanently securing the mantle and instantly adding "architectural character" to Little Shouse on the Prairie.



The new mantle - front and center!

The mantle was such a small thing, but it has delighted me immensely!  I know that many a blustery winter evening will be spent gathered around the hearth, enjoying the beauty that Sir Knight and young Master Calvin wrought with their work-worn hands.

A Blustery Afternoon

March is blowing its way into our lives.  After a beautiful, balmy week, we awoke to pounding rain this morning, along with dreary, overcast skies.  Since our plans for outside work were sidelined, I decided to organize my "new" pantry, do a little housework and bake a cake to go with our afternoon tea. 

Shouse living can be interesting, particularly when it comes to storage.  Our kitchen is completely "unfitted", meaning that every cupboard, stove and pantry is free-standing, none matching the other.  Our kitchen has evolved over the years, beginning with industrial shelving, a home-made counter-top and open shelves to hold our dishes.  Now we have a cupboard unit (out of an early 1900's restaurant), complete with drawers and flour bins and grocery store shelving (from a depression era grocery) has replaced the industrial racking.  Even with the shelving, my kitchen storage was severely limited, so a number of years ago my parents gave us a pantry they'd had built to fit in the small kitchen of our single-wide trailer.  It was perfect for our kitchen, not taking up very much space but providing much needed extra storage space. Unfortunately, our home is often the end of the line for poor, unsuspecting furniture.  Everything we own is WELL used, and my parents pantry was no different. 

I have been looking for a replacement pantry for a while, but the niche in our kitchen that we could put a cupboard was small, and finding just the right pantry proved to be a difficult challenge.  One afternoon, on an excursion to town,  Maid Elizabeth and I walked into an antique mall/flea market and what did my eyes behold but the perfect cupboard for our kitchen pantry!  I didn't buy it on the spot, but measured it and thought about it and decided that if it was still there when I went back to the store I would bring it home.  And so I did.

The cupboard was a perfect fit!  It has so much storage space (much more than my old pantry) and I have thoroughly enjoyed organizing it to make it work for our family. 

My pantry cupboard isn't our only new kitchen acquisition.  We also replaced our old farmhouse kitchen table!  We bought our table 20 years ago when we had two children and a small kitchen.  At the time we thought it was HUGE (at 6' long), but over the years, as our family increased the table seemed to shrink.  After moving into the shouse, we noticed a few other challenges - it was too wide for our dining area and the legs made it difficult to fit extra chairs around the table.  In order to make things work, we moved the table every day (sometimes 3 times a day), keeping it tucked in next to the garage door when not in use and pulling it out into the room when we had a meal.  It worked, but caused a lot of wear and tear to the table.  Another disadvantage was that it was very difficult to seat more than our family at the table, and even that was a little tight.  Holiday meals were truly challenging, seating some people around the table and scattering the rest throughout various spots in the house. 

A few weeks ago we found a table on Craigslist that was longer (8 feet) and narrower than our farm table and it had a trestle rather than 4 legs.  And to top it off, it was priced at yard sale pricing.  Sir Knight and I drove to a town an hour away, loaded up the table and hauled it back to Little Shouse on the Prairie.  It has been wonderful!  I was a able to bring our big garden bench in and put it on one side of the table (it easily seats 5) and put chairs at the head, foot and other side.  At a tea party last week I set the table for 9 and enjoyed a comfortable, non-squeezed luncheon!  We can easily seat 12 and still have room to move around!

As I mentioned earlier, not only did I organize the pantry today, I also make a coffee cake to accompany our afternoon tea.  It was a lovely cake, with a tight, cake-like crumb (not coarse like many coffee cakes) and lots of cinnamon streusel.  It is perfect for a blustery afternoon, especially if you melt butter on each slice before serving!

Streusel Coffee Cake

For the streusel:
1 1/2 C packed brown sugar
1 C all-purpose flour
2 1/2 T cinnamon
6 T butter, melted

Combine streusel ingredients in a medium bowl and set aside.

For the cake:
1 1/2 cubes butter, softened
1 1/2 C sugar
1/3 C packed brown sugar
2 tsp. vanilla extract
3 large eggs
3/4 C sour cream (or yogurt)
1 1/2 C milk
3 3/4 C all-purpose flour
2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease and flour a 13x9" baking pan.

In a mixing bowl cream the butter, sugar and brown sugar.  Add the vanilla and eggs.  Beat until well blended and light.  Add sour cream and milk.  Beat until well combined.  Add the flour, baking powder and salt.  Mix until combined.

Pour 1/2 of the batter into the prepared pan.  Layer 1/2 of the streusel over the batter.  Spread remaining batter over the streusel filling.  Top with remaining streusel.

Put the pan on a larger cookie sheet and bake for 50 to 55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.

Serve warm with dollops of butter on top.

Ready for tea!

Coffee Cake with melting butter on top.....

Maid Elizabeth's tea cup

____________________________________________________

I hope you too, are enjoying a blustery, cozy March afternoon!  Remember, these are the good ol' days!

The Beauty of Spring

As you may have guessed, the new header is the front of the Shouse, dressed for spring!  With an early, warm spring this year, the flowers are in full bloom and the scent wafting through the door is heavenly.  The Virginia Creeper is filling out the arbor over the front door nicely and the irises have overtaken the planter boxes in front of the sun room.  My favorite flowers are the yellow roses (given to me by a green-thumbed friend who's great-grandmother brought them with her as she traveled west on the Oregon Trail!).  The yellow roses bloom only once a spring, but they are spectacular, and their aroma, sublime.  The pink roses are another gift from my friend with a wonderful green thumb and they bloom all summer, bringing me great delight.

The garlic beds that I planted last fall are robust, promising a healthy harvest.  Most of my planter boxes are still empty though - waiting for much needed attention.  Our family has succumbed to a particularly nasty illness that becomes either pneumonia or bronchitis (depending upon the person) and seems to have spread itself to every member of the family, over a month and a half period of time, just so we could enjoy it longer!  Between being ill and taking care of unwell children and now, husband, I haven't spent nearly the time outside this time of year requires!

And so, we will inhale the sweetly perfumed air and know that this season will pass too quickly, and we'll be off to the next.....

Feathering the Nest

As most of you know, one of my great joys is preparing my home for the winter.  I love to pull things together for the winter and make everything cozy.  I dress the garage door with drop cloths and curtains, switch out the tablecloths and prepare the oil lanterns.  In short - I nest.  And here, my friends, is a little peek into the Shouse....

Until next time,

Enola

I use dry erase markers on an old window to write a new proverb every week

Master Hand Grenade and I cut galvanized metal and made a wall in the loft-
I LOVE IT!

We left a portion of the loft open - I hung another antique window
that had the panes painted in chalkboard paint, to add a bit
of privacy upstairs.  In the three panes I wrote
Grace
Hope
Charity

My favorite corner in our bedroom

Dressed for winter

I used an old tank cartridge box to create a centerpiece for the table (it's more red than pink)



Solar Panels, Outhouses & Canned Meat

September marked the 14th anniversary of our family's move to "Little Shouse on the Prairie".  A lifetime has been lived in these last 14 years. 

When we moved here, I was 31 years old.  Sir Knight and I had three children - Maid Elizabeth, 11, Master Hand Grenade, 4, and Miss Serenity, 1.  Never would I have guessed that by the time I was 45 we would still be living in a shop in the middle of a prairie.  I couldn't have known that our family would swell to 7 and that our children's fondest memories would be of oil lamps, generators, solar panels, outhouses, canned meat and afternoon tea in front of the wood cookstove.

When Sir Knight and I embarked on this great adventure, we had visions of a huge garden, a barn full of stock and a cozy house keeping the prairie winds at bay.  That vision never materialized.  Instead, life happened.  When we weren't looking, Maid Elizabeth grew up.  Master Hand Grenade became a man and Miss Serenity became my right hand and an accomplished young woman. Princess Dragon Snack was a gift that added mirth and joy to our family and Master Calvin brought with him blessings untold.  Our adventure is beautiful - but it is not at all like the vision that I thought was our future.

When we moved into Little Shouse on the Prairie, we became pioneers.  We did everything the hard way.  We had no running water, no electricity and no bathroom facilities.  The first night we spent in the shop was sobering.  We had made our move on a wish and a prayer and now the reality of our lives came into sharp focus.  It was 17 degrees and we had no heat (we hadn't run our stove pipe through the roof yet), no way to cook, a cow to milk and a baby to care for - along with a four year old that had a hard time walking and an eleven year old that wanted to help but wasn't prepared for pioneer life.  I cried - a lot.

After three weeks of feeling sorry for myself, I had a heart to heart talk with God.  He reminded me that His mercies were new every morning and that I came from good pioneer stock.  As long as I kept my eyes on Him, He would give me all of the strength that I needed.  I straightened my back, squared my shoulders and went to work. 

First things first. We came up with a system for household water.  Filling a 7 gallon barrel with water from the neighbor  (I made sure to use the one that Sir Knight had fitted with a spigot), we hefted it on to the industrial racking in my kitchen.  Instantly, with the flip of the spigot, I had running water in my kitchen.  The next order of business was creating a somewhat functional bathroom.  Although we had plumbing in place for a toilet, we had no running water or a septic system.  Our short-term facilities consisted of a camp toilet that used plastic bags for waste, strategically placed behind a few barrels in our shed.  The camp toilet was rickety and the shed did little to lessen the forceful blasts of wind sweeping across the prairie.  I didn't like using the bathroom, so potty training was definitely out of the question!  Surveying our options, I decided on the closest thing to indoor plumbing I could come up with - a real toilet.  Throwing away the camp toilet base and securing the seat (plastic bags and all) to our "real" toilet (currently sitting on our bathroom floor) we had makeshift indoor facilities.  I positioned the toilet behind a screen room divider and suddenly we had at least a modicum of privacy, and non-breezy privacy at that!

Due to the early cold weather, my dad cleared his schedule and came up to help Sir Knight install stove pipe so that we could hook up our wood cookstove to heat our shouse (and our water and our food!).  As winter closed in we drew close, knowing one another as only quiet conversation and complete silence will allow.  While the wind howled outside (shaking our very roof), we sipped hot cocoa and read aloud by oil lamp.  Our kitchen became the center of our home. Heated by the cookstove, it embodied everything a home should be - warm, embracing, welcoming.  In that small room our pioneer family braved our first non-electric winter.  We knew nothing but the gentle hiss of Coleman lanterns, the joyful singing of the tea kettle and the simple pleasures of hearth and home.

In our 14 years on this windy prairie our lives have changed drastically.  We now have electric lights (from our solar panels and battery bank), running water and a washing machine.  We have indoor plumbing, a refrigerator and a propane cookstove.  Although we don't live in a "regular" house, we have all the comforts of home.

Our pioneer life has become less rustic and more modern with each passing year.  Although I still cook on our wood cookstove, use the outhouse regularly and home can most of our food, our children long for the simple life of pioneer living.  Not too long ago, Princess Dragon Snack came up to me and said, "Mom, do you think we can turn all the lights off, light the oil lamps and pretend to be off-grid?".  I grinned and said, "Let me get the hot cocoa".

Our lives have not turned out the way I had expected.  Our adventures have taken us on the road less traveled.  We have made mistakes, we have had bad attitudes and we have almost called it quits.  But we have persevered and learned more than any smooth road could have possibly taught us.   We have learned that real life happens when you're not looking.  That your darkest days are your best memories.  And that "someday" is right now.

The days that we are living now are my children's best memories.  They won't remember what they got for Christmas or how many times they were told to do the dishes, but they will remember oil lamps, generators, solar panels, outhouses, canned meat and afternoon tea in front of the wood cookstove. 

If you are like our family and your reality is different than your dream, don't let your reality slip through your fingers while trying to grasp your dream.  Make your reality beautiful.  These are our "good ol' days".

The Blessings of "NO"

Most of you know that Sir Knight and I have had the desire to sell our homestead and move for a number of years.  When we originally bought our property, we had intended to live here forever.  We even purchased land with very few zoning requirements, hoping that one day we could subdivide and provide our children with plots of land to build their own homes, essentially creating a family "compound".

As our children grew older, our hopes and desires changed.  We found ourselves longing to move closer to my parents, to have our children grow up near their grandparents.  We wanted to become a community of generational living - all having our own homes, but in close enough proximity to shoulder each others burdens and share in each others daily lives.

Having a clear direction, we put our property on the market and began looking at options in the vicinity of my parent's.  Convinced that we would be moving shortly, I spent weeks packing all but the essentials and storing the boxes tidily in the horse trailer - anxiously awaiting moving day.

Quickly, we found the perfect property for our family.  It was a HUGE old house on 20 acres, complete with a barn, chicken house, garage and two ponds.  The house was rambling and quirky and full of character - a perfect fit.  The children had picked out their rooms and I was redecorating the house in my mind.  My thoughts were filled with hope and joy.  We made an offer on the house (full price, even) with the condition that our property sold.  Our offer was summarily rejected.  I prayed and prayed and prayed.  Sir Knight and I talked and planned and gave it another shot.  We made yet another offer, sweetening the pot, but to no avail.  Our offer was rejected again.  I was crushed.

The truth of the matter is that even if the homeowners had accepted our offer, our property hadn't sold.  An accepted offer wouldn't have made a whole hill of beans difference, we couldn't buy our dream property.  God had spoken.  The answer was "NO".

That was the beginning of a cycle of highs and lows, impossible hopes and dashed dreams.  Over the next few years, we would find ourselves hoping against hope that this property or that was finally the "one", only to be told "NO".   My best girlfriend's mother decided to sell their family home.  I had practically grown up there - it had to be the one!  NO.  A piece of property came for sale right down the road from my folks (where there is very little privately-held land - and it never goes up for sale) - that was the perfect piece!  NO.  Again and again and again, our dreams evaporated.

I would like to say that I took all of this gracefully, with perfect peace and contentment, but the truth is that I raged inside.  I cried and I questioned and I felt abandoned by God.  I kept thinking that if I just did all of the right things, if I tried harder, that everything would fall into place.  It seemed, however, that the harder I tried to make things happen, the more resounding the NO became.

I felt trapped.  My best efforts where for naught.  Our circumstances were less than desirable, but we couldn't seem to change them.  We couldn't sell, we couldn't move, we couldn't even change our current living arrangements without going into untenable debt.

I have to admit it - I was angry with God.  I had watched Him bless many of our friends abundantly, extravagantly - yet His constant answer to our family was NO.  No, you can't sell.  No, you can't move.  No, you can't live in a house.  No, you can't enjoy the ease and comfort of a normal life - even for a little while.  No, Sir Knight can't get a job that is easier on his body.  No, no, no!  And the worst part?  I hated my lack of faith.  I hated the fact that I questioned God.  In my head I knew of His faithfulness, His goodness.  In my head I knew that His plan for our family was perfect.  I just couldn't see the forest through the trees and I hated my lack of vision.  I was broken.

So, what did I do?  I hit my knees and cried out to my Lord.  I told Him of my anger.  I poured out my soul.  I asked for His forgiveness for my lack of faith.  I begged Him to sustain me through the valley of unbelief.  I prayed to desire His will alone and to live my life according to the will of my Father.  I practiced contentment, reminding myself of His many blessings on a daily, even hourly basis.  I sought to understand the very character of God.

I am so thankful that God loved me enough to tell me NO.  Through the years of disappointments and struggles, God has drawn me closer to Him.  He has shown me the depths of His love and the reservoirs of His grace.  He has taught me that we can't earn His favor, yet He delights in giving good gifts to His children, even when they don't deserve them.  He has taught me that His best work is often done under the shadow of grief and that hope is renewed every morning.  He has taught me that when I am at the end of my human strength, He will uphold me with His mighty right hand.  He has given me eyes to see and ears to hear - and that alone is worth every disappointment and every hour of suffering.

And here we are.  We still have not sold our property.  We still have no prospects of moving nearer my parents.  Sir Knight still works at a job that is very hard on his every joint and muscle.  We still don't live in a house.  We still have hopes and dreams and desires unfulfilled.  Our circumstances have not changed - but my faith has.  Every morning I wake with a mind filled with hope.  Not necessarily the hope of selling and moving and having an easier life, but the hope that God's perfect will will be done - that He is still on His throne and that He holds me in the palm of His hand.  I have the hope and the assurance that whatever God does with this family is right - whether it is accomplished here in "Little Shouse on the Prairie" or in the mountains of my youth.  I am exactly where God wants me!

If God had allowed all of the desires of my heart to be immediately and completely fulfilled, I would never have experienced the blessings of being told "No".  I would not have raged and questioned and cried until finally falling to my knees in submission.  I would never have scratched the surface of my faith.

I still would love to sell and move.  I would love to live in a house and see my husband working at a job that is not so physically draining.  But I am content.  I am content because I know that I can trust God with our lives.  I know that His plan is to prosper us and not to harm us.  And I know that being in the center of His will is exactly where I want to be.

Feathering my Nest

One of my greatest joys in life is creating a beautiful, inviting home.  Sir Knight has come to know, just by the faraway look in my eye, that redecorating or rearranging is imminent.  I especially love to use things in creative and unexpected ways.

Over the years, I have found that I can dress my house up any way I like with the things I already have.  Sometimes I wander through the "shouse" looking for a table or lamp to move to another area.  Sometimes, I look through the shed, the container or even the burn pile for inspiration.  Lately, I have been feathering my nest with anything and everything galvanized.

My romance with galvanized metal began a number of years ago when I was desperate to clean up the backsplash behind my sink.  When Sir Knight and I had brought in our old restaurant cupboard to serve as a kitchen cupboard in the "shouse", we put bead board behind the sink and counters.  After years of service, the bead board had deteriorated to the point of looking dirty and impossibly worn.  Wanting something that I could clean easily, I looked no further than our building material pile.  A number of pieces of metal roofing caught my eye and I knew they would be perfect for my purposes.  Master Hand Grenade and I put a metal blade on the circular saw, donned eye protection and used the kitchen table as a work table.  We measured and cut and used roofing screws to install our new black splash.  Perfect!  It is easy to clean, rustic and suits our rowdy family perfectly.

Our backsplash

Taking a cue from the back splash, I began to look for other ways to incorporate galvanized metal in our home (have I mentioned how easy it is to clean?).   We had junked a few beehives that were past their usefulness but I saved most of the components to be used for some as of yet identified purpose or another.  One day I was wishing that the table that sits next to the love seat in the kitchen had a bigger tabletop and suddenly I though "Hive Top".  I quickly trekked to the shed, grabbed a galvanized hive top and fitted it snugly over the existing wooden top of the side table.  It was just right, big enough to give me extra space but not so big that the table became unstable.  As of yet, the hive top is just sitting on the table, however, Sir Knight has offered to screw it to the wood with nice rounded head screws if I would like (I'm just sure if I'm ready to commit).

Hive top fitted over the top of a wooden table

Sometime later, I saw a gorgeous wooden wine barrel lid fitted with a metal band that was intended to sit in the middle of a table and hold a cheese board and wine or a lovely loaf of artisan bread.  I really wanted to bring that lid home, but it was exorbitantly expensive and I knew, with a bit of thought, I could come up with something that I had laying around.  In came yet another hive top.  The galvanized metal looks great against the rustic backdrop of our worn pine table and if I flip it over, it works great as a serving tray!  Multipurpose!

And as a table centerpiece

Last week, I was cleaning out the pantry (you should never have to use a broom and dustpan to clean the pantry!) and was looking around my various spots for some make-do shelving to make the pantry shelves a bit more useful.  I didn't find anything very romantic (a plastic milk crate and soda crate), but did spy an unused chicken feeder, galvanized of course, that was just begging to be used for something.

After I finished the dreaded pantry job, I fetched the feeder and scrubbed it clean, all the while trying to decide just where it should go.  First, I put it on the propane fireplace in the living room, filled it with burlap ribbon, electric candles, pinecones and antlers.  It was nice, but just not quite right.  While I stood there surveying my work, I heard the beeping of the washing machine in the bathroom.  I ran in to put another load of laundry on, glanced at the bathtub, and knew that my chicken feeder had found its home.

A 36" chicken feeder with the swivel top removed

The legs fit perfectly over the sides of the tub!

Disassembling my initial chicken feeder efforts, I moved the feeder to the bathroom, flipped down the legs and fitted it over the sides of my cast iron bathtub.  A galvanized, fitted bathtub caddy!  Perfect!  I added a few candles, some washcloths and a jar of homemade bath soak - creating a simply lovely, romantic bath accoutrement.  Because the feeder has sides, it holds a book quite nicely and the galvanized metal is the perfect medium in a bathroom setting.  I couldn't have purchased a better tub caddy!

A grain scoop candle-holder

After moving things from here to there, I found my coffee table (also a medical storage box on wheels) depressingly empty.  Keeping with the farm chic theme, I rescued a bent, slightly rusted grain scoop, scrubbed it up and set about creating a simple center-piece.  I fit two electric candles (not as romantic as the real deal, but better with pets and children) in the scoop, added a few berry branches and a bit of moss.  Simple, classic and just right sitting on a piece of reclaimed rustic barn board.

I love to feather my nest with unused things I already have.  Between the great outdoors and my burn pile, I have a unique, warm and quirky home that I love.  And with the incorporation of a chicken feeder, I have literally "Feathered my Nest"!

Doors - A Highly Over-rated Commodity!

Our family had the wonderful good fortune of spending Christmas with my parents in the highlands of the remote American Redoubt.  My parents live on the homestead where I was raised, amid glacier-fed creeks, alpine meadows and hundreds of miles of unbroken wilderness.  Their home is one of singular beauty.

When I was growing up, we lived in an older, single-wide mobile home, that to my tastes, lacked character and charm.  Years after I left home, my parents set about building their perfect retreat - a compact cabin with the capacity to house innumerable people should the need arise.  When it is just the two of them, they raise the attic staircase and live comfortably in their two bedroom cabin with stunning views.  When our considerably ample clan arrives, they lower the staircase, double their square footage and make room for a house-full.

My parents home is lovely.  They have composite "hardwood" floors, walls separating rooms and, my children's favorite feature - doors.  Nice floors, walls and doors are all things I have secretly (or not so secretly) coveted since moving into our "shouse".  It is soooo nice to spend time in our own room (complete with walls and a door) and take leisurely baths in a room with a lock!

The first few days spent in my parents home is something akin to staying in a 5 star resort.  And then, the doors begin to get the best of me.  Yes, the doors!  In our home, we have large pieces of furniture separating rooms and curtains coverings the "doorways".  While I often complain about the lacking doors, I have come to appreciate my curtains.  Curtains never slam.  You have no idea when the children go in and out of a room 15 times in a row.  Never, do you have a child on one side of the curtains and a child on the other side, trying to use the curtains as a barrier - it just doesn't work!

The view from my parents front porch

It has been so long since I have lived in a "normal" house, that I have forgotten how stressful it is!  When I lived in a house with hardwood floors and wall to wall carpeting, I worried about the kids coming into the house with snow all over their boots.  Not in a shouse with concrete floors!  When we had nicely painted, sheet-rocked walls, I worried about the kids scraping the walls with toys or wiping dirty hands on them.  Not so in a shouse with no interior walls to worry about!  When we lived in a house with doors, I was careful to make sure we didn't have kids behind closed doors (you never know what can happen!).  In a shouse with no doors - well, it keeps honest kids honest.

A mist rising from the creek

We had a wonderful Christmas spent with our favorite people in the world - my parents.  When all was said and done, I received the unexpected gift of contentment.  I had the opportunity to see my "shouse" through new eyes and appreciate all of the unconventional "character" that I have been blessed with.

And now I know - doors are a highly over-rated commodity!