Author: Julia

I am a retired software solutions architect. I have been married to my husband, Bruce, for over forty years. We went full-time RVing for 3.5 years and saw much of the United States. After deciding to stop RVing, we bought a ranch house halfway up a hill on five acres. After Bruce and I talked about names for our five acres, we settled on Blackberry Homestead as a homage to the wild blackberries on the hill. We are working on creating our homestead. I love cooking and enjoy sharing recipes. I am also an artist, and I’ll share my current projects. Gardening and reading are my favorite hobbies.

Looking at RVs (Finding the RV 8)

December 6, 2019 This is the weekend we are going to look at the different models of Grand Design toy haulers. I’ll update this post to let you know how it goes. December 8, 2019 Update Saturday, we headed over to Windish to see the Momentums. We walked around the lot and found the Momentum […]

Spanakopita AKA Spinach Cheese Pie (Vegetarian)

This is slight modification of the “Vegetarian Pleasures” spanakopita recipe by Jeanne Lemlin. She uses small curd cottage cheese and doesn’t include nutmeg. This recipe is great for a buffet, as it feeds a crowd and tastes great at room temperature. I cut it into small squares for pot lucks.

Downsizing… (1)

December 4, 2019 So much won’t fit into the RV, so we’ve got to downsize. We have a nice size library of physical books that we will be letting go. Books are heavy and take up so much room. Bookcases are bulky and take up a lot of space as well.

Lamb Chops Marinated in Mint, Ginger Garlic, Honey, and Lemon Juice

I was looking in my refrigerator to figure out what type of marinade I wanted on the lamb rack. I found the following ingredients in the fridge (mint, cilantro, and ginger) and thought, I bet that would make a good marinade. So, I made up a marinade for the lamb, and I was really pleased […]

More Research This Weekend (Finding the RV 7)

November 29, 2019 So on Thanksgiving, we spent a lot of time discussing the pros and cons of the Grand Design Momentum models 397TH, 376TH, 376THS, 351M, and 381M . We took the pamphlet and compared layouts. We talked about the size of the living space. Bruce said he wished RV manufacturers would publish the […]

More RV Discussions (Finding the RV 6)

November 27, 2019 While I had thought we had settled on the Grand Design Momentum 376THS, it is a lot of money for a new one. The “Scot” in Bruce is kicking up at spending that much money on an unknown. This week, Bruce and I had some additional discussions about what we might do.

First Look at Trucks (Finding the Truck 1)

Yesterday, Bruce and I looked online for Dodge RAMs that matched our criteria. We wanted to test drive one that has the engine, transmission, and axel with the body configuration we want. We want the max tow package and a crew cab. We need a place to put the dogs. We also want the regular […]

Julia’s Seafood Gumbo and Chicken Gumbo

Here’s my recipe for seafood gumbo. I use techniques that I’ve learned over the years, such as making the roux in the oven and baking the sausage while the roux cooks. I chop up the vegetables while the roux is baking. The rice cooks while the gumbo simmers, and the bread toasts while the gumbo […]

Starting to Consider Trucks

Bruce and I watched several YouTube videos on the size of truck needed for towing. Then we started watching reviews on trucks. We are now discussing what truck we want to buy.