sneak peek - what could it be?

i am DYING to share this project with you guys - it's been a true LABOR of love (i.e. - it took longer than i thought it would). it will get used every day - by me and by the kids. YAY!! here's a sneak peek ... what do you think it is?

Welcome The Princess - a new contributor

YEAH!  My good friend Jannet (The Princess)  is joining the BFW blog as a regular contributor.  She's AWESOME, and I'm excited to have her join me as we work to bring you more frequent and regular content.

Here she is!

greetings, brainy farm wife fans! my name is jannet and i am so very excited to be a part of teresa's venture. :) she consistently amazes me at the things she comes up with and her insight. i call her my "dr. phaura" (dr. phil and dr. laura combined).

i've been married to my mr. wonderful for over 17 years and am continually impressed that he puts up with me. i'm crazy, a total pink lover, a believer that i'm a princess, and love to have fun (and sleep). together, we had four goofy kids in less than five years. told you i'm crazy!! "roni" is almost 14; "bug" just turned 12; "weasel" is 10; and "boo" is 9.

as for me, i'm an arizona transplant that now lives in colorado. before moving here 18 months ago, i had never really lived more than 15 miles away from the house i grew up in. so this was a h-u-g-e change. i'm the oldest of seven kids (5 boys and 1 girl) and love being the boss in charge of things.

i'm a stay at home mom to the kiddos - who are all in school ALL DAY LONG!! not that i don't love the kids, but it's nice to have me time and then be ready to enjoy them when they get home. or at least be prepared for the joy that will come when they arrive.

i love to try new things - from foods to crafts. i have my own playroom that i create in. i enjoy cleaning, organizing, sleeping (napping is my best talent!), and finding solutions to problems - total trial and error. i'm an anything but typical  girly girl - anything pink, sparkly, glittery, or shiny gets my attention (have you seen up? instead of "squirrel", i'm distracted with "sparkles") but i also have a dream of owning a harley fat boy some day and i have my own gun; i save scary movies & tv shows for watching when mr. wonderful is out of town.

i'm giddy with joy at the idea of sharing some of my thoughts with you ... i look forward to getting to know you all!

Weekend Craftiness - UPcycling T-Shirts to Yarn

I've been having WAY too much fun on Pinterest lately and have saved so many wonderful ideas that I decided to share some ideas with my kids and get crafty with them. 

So, we dug through our goodwill bag and pulled out all the old t-shirts and starting turning them into rags.   It was fun to see them intense on the work and working together.  

Best of all, we were able to sit around the table and work together on a common goal.  We're working on some projects using recyled materials for their 4-H activities this year.

The final result!

Now to dig through Pinterest and their crochet patterns.

THINK before you speak

In trying to actually give my kids some good visual reminders of the lessons that I am trying to teach them, I put together a couple of signs.  It also gave me a good opportunity to try out a new digital scrapbooking software.  (Stay tuned for a giveaway, too!)

Here are my final attempts, what do you think?  Guess which one I used?? ;)

Unlikely Friendships - Book Winner!

Thank you to all the new visitors and followers.  I'm excited to see more people following us around.

We look forward to a new year with lots more to feed your body, mind and soul.   The winner of the book is lucky post #5 - Megan!  Congrats!!  email me at brainyfarmwife@gmail.com with your address and I'll get this right out to you.

Book Giveaway - Unlikely Friendships

I found this adorable book and knew that I just had to have it.  It is a collection of stories about the unlikely friendships between animals. For example, the pig and the dachshund where the dog became a foster mom to a runty little piglet. Just makes your heart melt! 

I love stories of all sorts that discuss how things you don't THINK should work, do.  Whether it's animal friendships, recipe adaptations or people beating the odds. I especially liked this book because it appeals to me and this blog: Brainy and Farm Wife, the idea that two opposites can equally co-exist.

And now, to kick off the new year, I want to share a copy with you! 

We will be focusing on our theme of Feeding the Body, Mind and Soul this year with posts such as:
*  Recipes & Menu ideas
*  Parenting tips and trick
*  Craft ideas and tutorials
*  Favorite reads
*  Product recommendations, favorite tips and tricks, organizing and planning
*  Self-sufficancy and sustainable living


Here are the contest details:
Each comment counts as 1 entry

* Leave a comment below and tell me what you most enjoy reading on the blog
* Follow the blog, let me know you've done so, and what you'd like to see more of this year
* Like on Facebook, let me know that you've done so
* SHARE the contest with others, have them say that you sent them and you will both have the opportunity to win a copy!
* Follow us on Pinterest and comment that you have done so, also state what you love pinning

There you have it!  You can earn 5 entries (or more if you refer others) .  Contest closes on Sunday, January 8th and the winner will be selected via a random number generator and announced on the 9th.

Ready.  Set. GO!

Granny's Legacy

My Granny is one of my heroes.  When I was little, I was lucky enough to go and spend a week with them every summer.  We always made crafts, sewed, cooked, went to the library, worked in the garden and went fishing.  She was a city girl who's father worked for the Edison Company in Southern California in the 30's.  She met my Grandpa, from a sheep ranching family in Utah when he was a door to door salesman selling portraits during the Depression.  She adapted to the farming life, and they even owned a chicken ranch.  She was very industrious.  I remember one year when staying with her in the summer she bought me a cute top.  She liked the style so much she traced it out and created a pattern to be able to make more!  I remember once she made an apron out of trash bags so that layers of the bottom could tear off when they got dirty.  I wish I could remember exactly how, time has clouded that memory a bit.

So many times while I'm in my kitchen, or out with my animals or crafting I feel her with me.  And she is.  All of the things that she has taught me, that she taught my Father and he passed down to me, are with me each and every day.

For Christmas I got a copy of this amazing cookbook that she had put together for her kids.  I loved her letter in the beginning.  And I wanted to share it as I kick off the blog this year.

 1983

Dear Children,

I have been teaching a mini-class in our Relief Society and I really enjoy it. It is one thing that I like to do.  However I am always changing recipes to suit my family, or what I have on hand. Sometimes I get carried away telling them how to change things and get them a little confused.  Like the time I made peach-apricot-pineapple jam last year and didn’t have enough, so I finely grated 2 cups of carrots and added them, and it is good jam!

My first exciting experience that way was in Bloomington. I had promised some child a pink birthday cake and pink frosting.  Tragedy! No red food coloring.  I was quite a ways from the store, no car, and I had to figure out what to do.  I looked around and all that I had that could be pink, was beets.  Viola! I cooked a few beets in a little water, cooled it, and added it to the cake and then the frosting.  It worked just fine. Nobody even knew it until I told them later.  Then they laughed and laughed, but it worked.

I’ve been “fixing up” recipes ever since, sometimes with success, sometimes not.  But to me cooking is a creative activity and I have enjoyed experimenting. Luckily, with five children, someone was always hungry enough to eat whatever I cooked, successfully or not!

My next big exciting event happened in Highland. I had bought a large bag full of bananas because they were really ripe, and cheap. But so everyone wouldn’t eat them all at once, I hid most of them in the bottom of the trash sack. I was going to make some banana pie. That was Floyd’s (my grandpa) favorite pie.

I told some child to take it out and dump it on the smoldering  trash fire, out by the egg room.  Just as they dumped it I remembered my bananas and ran out yelling, wait! Wait!    When I told them what had happened, everyone grabbed sticks and the rake and got most of the bananas out and ate the ones that were edible.  I didn’t save any money on that deal and Floyd didn’t get any pie!

The leaders of our church have told us to use what we have, use it up, and not to be wasteful. I have tried to do this, especially in the kitchen. In Yucaipa, I had a large peanut butter jar in the freezer and I would put in the left over vegetables, roast bones, gravy, rice, etc  and when it was full I made soup.

I purchased a large T bone roast, browned it and cooked it.  Then cut off the bone, added more water, my thawed out jar of whatever, some extra seasonings and there was supper.  I usually heard, ‘What ?  Mom’s soup again?” But everyone ate it.

Last year I was teaching a class on Favorite Old Recipes and found out that a lot of women had never cut up a chicken, make soup or cake from scratch or used leftovers, so we had some lessons on those subjects.

I had some recipes that I had written down that my mother had told me and some that I remembered from when I was young.  I also had a few old cookbooks that we had used at home, and some I’ve had since we were married. Floyd used to give me a new appliance every year for my birthday or Christmas and they all had booklets with good recipes in them and I used them a lot.

After doing those lessons, I thought my children might like to have them. I started to write down a few more and each recipe had a memory about my family.  Finally had to stop, my “booklet” was getting too heavy, and wouldn’t fit in the cover. I made the cover to suit each girl, I hoped, and I hope you enjoy looking at them. Xeroxed some recipes out of my books, most of my memories of food are happy ones – maybe that’s why I’m not skinny. From having Dad make ice-cream (with our help), to eating chicken legs in bed at night, under the covers, while reading with the flashlight, and being just a little “ant-y” in the morning, to learning to cook without salt , it’s all been fun. Now I try to use up all the vegetables and fruits we raise and use them in different ways.

I hope you all enjoy this booklet, and learn to have fun in your kitchen – or teach your children to! And I hope you pass on a few of your favorite recipes to your children.

I thought it would be nice to include something from the “other side” of your families and the recipes in the back are from them.  I have included some of Floyd’s mother’s recipes.  She was a wonderful cook and I learned a lot from her.  She had real butter cream, fresh eggs and vegetables and fruit she put up herself. She made her own bread and was a good seamstress. She was president of the Relief Society when we first went back to Utah and I thought then that it was great.

It took me quite a while, before I joined the church and became a real member of Relief Society, and there were many times during the years that I have been unable to go. I had children of Primary age and I always seemed to be teaching them. I know, though, that the Relief Society is an inspired program, and I have learned so many things there that have benefited myself and my family, and the sisters have always been ready to help me in any way possible. Primary and Relief Society were an educational and also a social experience for me for many years, Relief Society still is. And I am still learning new skills and absorbing new ideas.

I am thankful that I have a husband who was willing, and able, to work hard and long to raise food and earn money so our children could have the food and necessities that they needed to grow up healthy and able to take care of themselves and their families.

Now I really enjoy watching the grandchildren eat what I cook and bake and Floyd enjoys so much sharing what he has grown with children and grandchildren.

 Love, Mom