Rachael Eliker's Blog, page 16

What's Most Important

Happy Easter from The Rehomesteaders!With great anticipation and eagerness, Easter finally arrived. It is one of our favorite holidays for lots of reasons--the beginning of spring and so much new life, the seasonal sweets and special dinners, running after hidden eggs...it's all good fun, but it's not what's most important.
Decorate your own bunny pancakes.I'm never surprised when I'm awoken before the sunrise on the day of a major holiday. There's some sort of internal clock that knows just...

Costumed Candy Begging

The prettiest, freaky dragon I ever did see!It's been several months since Halloween but it's been on my mind lately. For one, it's amazing how much has changed since last October--who could have guessed that my kids would be home from school for six months straight, the world would be walking on eggshells, and people would be hoarding toilet paper and flour. Also, we JUST ran out of Halloween candy. We managed to ration the chocolate and suckers pretty well.
Our October kicked off nicely. We...

Down But Not Out

Evelyn and Peter have a few thoughts about the start of 2020.

Easy Egg Noodles

There's been something on my list of goals for quite some time: making noodles. Since I have a little extra time on my hands, I thought this week, I might as well. I'm so happy I did! Not only are they simple, they're very filling and go great with just about anything--white sauce, marinara, a little butter and garlic. These will definitely be put on our regular rotation.
Ingredients:
2 cups flour1/8 teaspoon salt2 eggs1/3 cup milk1 Tablespoon butter, softened
In a stand mixer (or other large...

Loves Her Brother

That can't be comfortable.Whenever people find out we're expecting another, one of the inevitable questions we get is whether or not there's sibling jealousy when the new one arrives. In short: nope.
Peter doesn't always appreciate Zoey's affection.So, when Peter was born, Zoey loved him like every other previous sibling has loved the new baby. She loved to sit next to me on the couch, holding baby Peter, and kiss him gently on the cheeks.
As Peter's grown, Zoey has found it increasingly...

Goodbye Woody, Hello Winston

It feels like it wasn't that long ago that Woody was born on our farm. He was the first non-human, non-poultry baby we'd welcomed onto our farm since we lived in Iowa and were thrilled to have a bull calf join our family.
Dolly had been running with an angus bull when we bought her and we had been anticipating his birth for months, not really knowing when she was due. Then one evening while we were outside and checking on everyone, I said something to Jack about how if she didn't give birth...

Sunny Sunday

So happy to be outside!Weekends are always a coveted time at our house. I love having everyone home, mostly because we get to spend time together, though the kids will probably say it's because I have extra hands to help me clean and do chores. True, but we also do fun stuff. Although to me, work is fun.
Filling up the trailer with mulch for the garden.It's not often that I have an entire twenty-four hours of muscle from Jack, babysitting and go-fering from the kids, so Saturdays, I'll...

Homemade Granola

This granola recipe is one of my go-to's. It was always a treat when my mom made it and now that I'm grown up, I can make it whenever I darn well please. It's healthier than sugary storebought cereal, it's versatile (think with milk, as a snack, in a parfait), it's quick, it's filling, it's satisfying...in short, it's heavenly.

Ingredients :

10 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1 cup wheat germ
1/2 pound shredded coconut
2 cups raw sunflower seeds
1 cup sesame seeds
3 cups chopped almonds, pecans,...

Christmas Has Come and Gone

Nearly two months have passed since we celebrated Christmas 2019 but like any good trip back to Nebraska, it was memorable enough that we're still feeling the effects of it.
Elsa getting her baby fix.We pulled the kids out of school a day early (they only ever watch movies and eat candy at school the day before a break anyway, right?) and drove to Nebraska in a single day. Thankfully this year, there were no escaped cows or loose chickens while we were away--always a blessing--and arrived in...

Crappy Februaries

I'm still finding splatters of dried food from that disaster.I can't quite put my finger on why, but February has never been my favorite month. And by not my favorite, I mean it's my least favorite. Maybe it's the gray skies, that I'm sick of the endless cold winter (although, this year, I can hardly complain...it's been pretty nice as far as winters go). It's definitely not that I fear Valentine's day--I have the best Valentine's chocolate party every year with the family and feel...