Category Archives: Blog Posts

I Love Mother Nature, That’s Why I Recycle LESS!

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by Tammy Taylor~

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Y’all know I have an environmental bend.  Back in my fledgling environmental days I was pretty darn proud that my recycling bin was full while my landfill-bound trash bin was only half filled.  A badge of environmental pride!  And recycling is good, don’t get me wrong.

But recycling is still dealing with trash.

And I was shocked to find out the recycling that you diligently separate & send off often ends up at the landfill anyway.  (gasp!) So these days I’m actually recycling LESS and helping Mother Nature much MORE!

Why I Recycle LESS. Yes I love Mother Nature, but I've found by recycling less I'm not only saving lots of money, I'm saving the environment too! #TaylorMadeHomestead

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Garden Update: April

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by Tammy Taylor~

Y’all know I have to have my hands in the dirt.  Wanna know a secret? I don’t really enjoy gardening (I know, REALLY??! gasp!)  But it’s true. I don’t enjoy the planting, weeding, watering, maintenance, etc.  But I really love the harvesting and that makes it all worth the toil.

Harvesting fresh veggies from my own garden minutes before supper is healthier than veggies traveling all those miles to get to my supper table. Plus food this fresh just tastes better!  And I’ve often said that planting a garden is like growing your own money.  Pounds & pounds of fresh, organic produce for just the price of a small packet of heirloom seeds?  Yes please!

Wanna see how my garden is doing?  C’mon in, I’ll share my April garden update!

April Garden Update. I've had some powerful setbacks to planting my veggie garden this month! Come see how I overcame the adversity. #TaylorMadeHomestead

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Easy Slow-Cooker Italian Flavored Pot Roast Recipe

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RancherMan’s quite the accomplished hunter.  As such, we always have a freezer stocked full of pork roasts and I enjoy finding different ways to cook them.  I often use my slow cooker to prepare those roasts. Most of the time I’ll flavor it very generically so I can remake the leftover cooked meat into whatever we’re in the mood for.  I’ve made Carnitas Tacos, or Pulled-Pork Enchiladas, or even BBQ Sandwiches & more.

But today I’m in the mood for an Italian-style roast with diced tomatoes, chunky onions,  crushed garlic & minced fresh herbs.

Italian Flavored Pot Roast Recipe. Chunk a few simple ingredients into a slow cooker and then sit back & wait for supper to be cooked for you! #TaylorMadeHomestead

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Today’s a big day – I’m Finally 5 Years Cancer Free!

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by Tammy Taylor~

Five years ago today I said “Goodbye and good RIDDANCE” to breast cancer.  It was one of the darkest and most scary times in my life.  And yet, one of my most blessed times as well.  Sound odd?  Believe me, it does to me too.  But I guess sometimes when you’re at the lowest and most fearful point in your life, things happen.

Breast cancer - a frightening diagnosis. Today I'm 5 years cancer free. As frightening and emotional as the experience was, there were many blessings to behold too. Read my story. #TaylorMadeHomestead

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How To Make A Cute Gift Box With A Greeting Card

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by Tammy Taylor~

Y’all remember last Christmas I showed you how to repurpose Christmas Cards into cute little Christmas gift boxes?  Well I thought I’d point out that you can use any greeting card to make these gift boxes.  A friend of mine was celebrating a birthday recently. I decided to gift her some homemade Lavender/Rosemary soap, but how to package it?

Quick and easy fix – I pulled the birthday card she gave ME last year and decided to turn it into a cute little gift box. Won’t that be the sweetest idea?  Plus it’s the perfect size for a bar of homemade soap!

You can repurpose a pretty greeting card into a cute gift box in minutes. It's easy and there's no waste! #TaylorMadeHomestead

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Frame-Swap Split for Beehives Doubles Your Hive Numbers!

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by Tammy Taylor~

Around the end of March RancherMan & I start thinking about splitting our beehives.  Splitting a hive accomplishes 2 things – it expands the number of hives in your apiary. (yea!)   But it also gives the bees a little elbow room by putting empty frames in each hive allowing for expansion.

You see, if the bees get to thinking things are too cramped, they’ll swarm looking for more space.  And that’s something no beekeeper wants since there’s been lots of time & effort into managing their apiary. We did our splits by swapping empty frames for full ones.  it was easy!

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Homestead Hack: Cardboard In Compost

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by Tammy Taylor~

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Y’all know I have a compost tumbler and I’m a big advocate for making your own compost.  It’s healthy for your plants, cheap to make & a great way to make good use of kitchen scraps and paper trash that would otherwise just be wasted.  And it’s super easy too, you just make sure to have a proper mix of browns & greens.  Add a little water, do a little compost turning and BOOM!  Black gold for your garden. You can see my Compost Post Here.

For ‘greens’ you can use grass clippings, vegetable peels, etc.  And for ‘browns’ you can use dried leaves, paper, twigs, etc.  I often use corrugated cardboard boxes to fill my ‘browns’ requirement.  But ugh, tearing all that cardboard requires some elbow grease #amiright?  Come check out this Homestead Hack to see how I make it easy.

I use cardboard in my compost. But it takes lots of grip to tear up all that cardboard. Come see this Homestead Hack that makes it EASY! #TaylorMadeHomestead

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Fast Food: Basic Mix-n-Pour BBQ Sauce Recipe

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by Tammy Taylor~

I like to cook a big, honkin’ pork roast & then plan other dinners for later from the leftovers.  This Planned Leftovers way of cooking is a budget saver for sure!  From that leftover pork roast I may shred and whip up Carnitas Tacos one night, being sure to use some of the cooked onions & peppers from that roast.  I’ve also been known to make Pulled Pork Enchiladas.  But an even faster remade dish is Pulled Pork BBQ Sandwiches.

Recently I decided BBQ sandwiches would be perfect for supper.  It had been such a busy day, I needed tonight’s supper to be easy! I often have a spare bottle of BBQ sauce in the pantry for such easy-supper plans. But alas, not this time!  I decided to try to whip up a basic BBQ sauce using just what I had in my fridge.

A simple no-cook BBQ sauce for pulled pork BBQ sandwiches that can be mixed in minutes. This recipe's easy with basic ingredients from the fridge. #TaylorMadeHomestead

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But… Don’t We ALL Want To Be Younger?

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by Tammy Taylor~

I’m 55 years old, y’all. But here’s the thing – I’m not ashamed of my age. I love being Fifty-Five!

Wait, don’t we all want to appear younger than we are?  It’s true that many folks try to do everything they can to fight against showing their age. In a society that seems to glorify youth, I guess they just feel better about themselves if they look younger than their years.  And here’s the important thing – that’s OK!

There’s NO shame in that, y’all – do what makes you happy.

But personally, I’m not in constant pursuit of looking younger than I am.  And I’m not gonna lie – it feels pretty good! I’m very happy in my own skin – gray hair, wrinkles & all!

Sure there were great things I enjoyed in my 20's, 30's & 40's. But my 50's are glorious! I'm not ashamed of my age! #TaylorMadeHomestead

This photo used for mirror illustration only was taken about 4 years ago – There are many more grays now!

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