Busy Bee...

I have been trying to 'get it all done' but sometimes I fall short...well, that and I love to create impossible to-do lists that are hard to get done, lol. Ah, well. Lessons, my friends...it all about the lessons. Right now I am being handed lessons on patience, moderation, and manifesting. They are old lessons, but ones that like to come along and kick me in the behind every once in a while...so I have to take a step back and 're-learn'...such is life

I have been a busy bee in the kitchen as of late...I have canned, to date:

7qt tomato sauce

12pt blueberry preserves, 7pt peach preserves, and 5pt peach chutney

6pt tomato-apple chutney and 5pt mango chutney

8pt apple butter

...and I baked 3 apple pies with my new secret recipe pie crust. This is alot of canning for a gal who has never canned before this year! And let me tell ya...there is no better sound than the POP of the jars sealing :) I am hoping to get about 6pt of salsa canned and another 6-8qt of tomato sauce. I figure we use about a qt. a week and 14 qt.s would get me through the winter. Pretty cool! I still have a half a bushel of apples that I will probably need to freeze...I will bake with some but most will be cooked down to applesauce and frozen for winter baking. I also have POUNDS of zuichinni frozen for that purpose, along with lots of greens. Not bad!

Secret recipe pie crust? PIZZA DOUGH. For real. I am a sad excuse for a baker, and me and pie crusts share no love. I know many people who make fantastic pie crusts but me....not so much. I was about to go back to the store bought rollout crusts when a friend of mine said to me "why don't you use pizza dough? Just don't let it have the second rise." Now, I LOVE to make bread, and I have a tried and true recipe that I use for all things bread product, including pizza dough. I had my doubts but ANYTHING had to be better than the wretched pie crust I made for last week's peach pie...which ended up in the compost pile. I put the bottom crust in the pan, pricked it and baked it for about 15 mins at 425. Then I added my filling, popped it back in the oven for an hour at 350. When it was done...I gasped. They were gorgeous! They looked like pie shaped turnovers!!! Beautiful. That will be my new crust for future pies. Plus, since I make a quadruple batch, I had enough for 3 pies with tops, a batch of biscuits this morning and I can probably get 2 loaves of bread or a batch of bagles if I am feeling really motivated :) Wanna see?

We have started school, and I am very much planning on following the Charlotte Mason curriculum this year...minus the religion piece. In reviewing the website and reading over the book it is just such a good fit for us. Everything CM says it is a way of life, not just a curriculum, involving lots of time spent in nature, and pursuing personal interests. This is not to say she is not promoting kids learning *school stuff* it is simply stating she likes balance...as do I :) So, we spend 2-3(usually closer to 3) hours on actual sit-down-and-work school stuff, and the rest of the day is more experiential things...I have a couple GREAT books I am going to implement this year, a fantastic art book, and 2 great science books. History will start off with us reading out of the American History book and see where that takes us. I like to start with that, and if something catches their interest we can read biographies, etc. CM is HUGE into 'living books' which are books about real things and real people, along with a heavy dose of classical literature. We do several poems a month which we will continue, and I am thinking of doing some fables this year as well. We did finish the Peter Rabbit book aka Adventures with Animals by Thorton Burgess and the kids loved it. I have the actual individual novels as well, so we may read some of those this year too. I am planning on the Little House on the Prarie series, along with My Side of the Mountain and its sequels...I read it last year and LOVED it and it would go along superbly with our Nature Studies.

We also get to start the most ginormous Nature Study book this year. It is an amazing book I was able to download off the CM site, and I absolutely love it. We will be spending at least one day a week on the mountain until it snows, so I expect the book will come in handy. I will most likely plan our lessons around chapters that apply to us geographically and seasonally. Fun times ahead! As far as the rest of the curriculum...we will be skipping the Bible pieces, though I may substitute that with something of a spiritual bend...we'll see. The math they use is a little lacking in my opinion, especially for JD, so we are following a different math path :) Everything else is a go, and the kids are super excited. As is their mom :)

Want some links? These are my favorite CM sites...

http://amblesideonline.org/New.shtml

http://simplycharlottemason.com/

http://charlottemason.tripod.com/

Speaking of school....the kiddos are waiting! :)

InJoy...

'

On the To-Do list for today...

Rain. That pretty much eliminates my painting for today. Can't open the windows to let the fumes out and with 2 asthmatics in the house...yeah, no. :)

Instead, I am going to do some cooking and canning. Oh, and henna my hair. Being frugal does not equal being frumpy, lol...plus I had some left under the sink ;)

My plan for today is to make some pear muffins (for now and to freeze) and freeze the rest of the pears for future use. I am also going to make my first batch of tomato sauce, and possibly some blueberry jam. Oh, and start some yogurt cheese and make some nut butters. I have wanted to make yogurt cheese forever and I FINALLY found my cheesecloth. Also, I do not usually use nuts but I have some nuts left in the fridge that need a use so I figure I will make some pecan/almond/pumpkin seed butter. The kids can use it on crackers and such.

Also on the agenda is making dog food and laundry detergent. Want recipes? I started making dog food in an effortto save money and feed Becky better quality food. Making her food not only saves me about $20 a month (from the $45 I was spending on the really good quality food I was giving her) but now I *know* that she is getting really good food. Basically, I make a 4 day mix that includes: brown rice or barley, oatmeal, sweet potaotes and/or squash, greens, broccoli or green beans or some other veggies. I cook the grain, roast the veggies in the oven and mix everything all together in a big tupperware and add: nutritional yeast, salmon (in a can, bones and all) olive oil, and a few squirts of fish oil from some caps I pierce. She LOVES it. Once we are getting more eggs, I will give her some of those as well. She can also get a dollop of yogurt on occasion, as well as other goodies, plus we feed her table scraps (healthy stuff) so her diet is pretty varied and healthy! She gets fruit as a treat, according to what she likes, and once her store bought dog cookies are gone I will be making some cookies for her as well. I tried doing something similar for the cats, but they were NOT having it. I am going to try and add some stuff to their diet as they ONLY eat the cheap, crappy cat food. That is what they like and while its great for my wallet, I can't think it is good for them. I'll have to make them some sort of special treat or something. I have seen a few recipes that I may try in the future.

I am also making another batch of laundry detergent today. Here is the recipe I use:
2c grated hard soap(Fels Naptha-sp- or Ivory work, I use my own homemade soap)
1c washing soda
1c Borax
1c baking soda(optional)
Few drops essential oils(optional, I don't as I have kids with *smell* issues)
1/4c of OxyClean

I basically make a HUGE 3 gallon containers worth and that lasts me MONTHS. I am down to about 1/2 gal. worth so I am making more. For about $18 I make probably 4-5mo worth of laundry detergent. That is $3/mo! Pretty darn good. My laundry is clean, and since we divert our grey water for watering, I don't have to worry about 'chemicals' going into the yard. I use about 1/8 to 1/4 cup per large load. This cleans and de-stinks even my running clothes, which says alot! :)

I will make a separate recipe post later, so I can file it under Good Eats :)

For anyone who is in the market for becoming more frugal and self sufficient (and, I highly recommend you at least think about it...if you watch the news at all you know that things are going to get worse 'round here before they get better...*if* they get better...) I would HIGHLY recommend 2 books- The Backyard Homesteader and The Encyclopedia of Country Living. Book 1 tells you how to be self sufficient on a small plot of land which I think it fantastic. We used their plan to map out our orchard, and I will be using their 'map' for my next gardens (herb) next year. Book 2 is everything you want to know about being a farm gal, lol. The language in the book is humerous and it is a bit heavy on the religious mentionings for me but it will walk you through just about anything you need to know as far as doing things 'old school'. I am canning old school as I cannot afford a pressure canner and they walk you through everything you need to know. Awesome refrence books and well worth their cost. Don't know if they have them at the libraries, but worth checking out.

Also, check out some of the blogs I follow...these people are doing some pretty cool things a la living the simple life. :)

Recipes and pics to come!

Living Green

What does 'Living Green' mean to you?



To me, it is far more than simply bringing your own bags ot the grocery store and recycling. It is truly a way of life. It is being concious of what you use, how you use it...what you buy and where you buy it. Sadly, on my green path I have noticed that Living Green can be expensive at times. To me, it shouldn't be...Living Green is synonymous with being frugal. Spending less, buying less, using less.



We recycle everything we can. We reuse everything we can also. Its not that hard to do, really :) if its still good, don't toss it! We are a big fan of hand-me-downs, and pretty much always shop at thrift stores. The only thing I buy new is socks and underwear and occasionally shoes. I find more quality clothing in thrift stores in super condition that if I went and bought at the store, I couldn't afford! Plus, why not reuse clothes that are in good condition? We recycle clothes through the kids, and when they are no longer wearable they get donated(if they are still useable) or as of late they go in the rag pile. I am also saving shirts to make cloth napkins out of...but that is another post! :) Even the Hubby gets hand-me-downs from a woman he works with! Her hubby is a bit of a clothes freak and gives Hubby his *old* (barely even WORN) clothes from major name brand stores. Hubby looks like a million bucks! ;)



We do the usual bringing of our own bags to stores, and I used to not take plastic bags for produce(I have cloth produce bags that I forget to bring...) but my grocery store started using compostable bags so I take them now. I save them and use them for bread bags when I make bread. We have chickens for eggs, grow what we can, and if we can get local, or as local as possible...we do. We try to be conciencious shoppers...you do the best you can with what you have :)

We are also as green as possible around our house. All our lights are CFL, all major appliances are Energy Star, and things like computers, TV's, etc are on power strips that are shut off when not in use. Anything not used regularly is unplugged, we don't use air conditioners, space heaters, etc. We are in the process of removing old (nasty) carpet and linoleum and replacing it with greener options, wool or cotton area rugs, etc.

Being self sufficient has become more important to me over the last few years. After the *Ice Storm* which left us without power for a week, I took a good look at how we managed. We did ok, though we did need to rely on a generator for some things. It was an interesting experience and showed me that though we are pretty basic here, we still rely on many modern conveniences. It also drove home my desire to live even more simply and frugally. There is so much wasted in our society and it KILLS me to see it.

Being frugal...this is a tough one. Though I would love to always support local businesses and avoid warehouse stores et al, how sad is it that you must have money to live green and local! Not always, but sometimes. We support local businesses as much as possible, even if it costs a little more, when we can. But there are times we can't and we head to warehouse hell. I am working on trying to make it so I do not have to do that (oh the day when I never have to enter a warehouse/walmart store again...sigh.) but sometimes what needs to be done for the good of my family will outweigh avoiding hell-stores. But, at least it is on my mind and I teach my children about it. In these times when money is pretty much an issue for most people I know, being frugal is becoming much more popular. Even if it is simply giving pause before you make a purchase and see if you are purchasing out of need or want...this has been a big lesson for me. I only purchase out of need at this point. There are no want-purchases. I will say, it has been incredbly freeing! Not only am I not supporting BigBusiness by buying unnecessary crap, but I have less of that *crap* around my house! :) Plus, a penny saved is a penny earned... :)

Bartering is a lost art that really should make a comeback. I think bartering is the best and will do so whenever I can. I have one neighbor that trades me cereal for the kids for some of our eggs. My other neighbor gets eggs and extra veggies from our garden, and she is going to give us all the peaches we can pick off her tree come Sept. I have another neighbor up the strees who has apples that I am going to ask to pick as I know they let alot go to compost. A friend of ours with huge gardens always sends me greens, and he gave us 20+lbs of blueberries and 25lbs of pears, in return for us helping him pick veggies, work in the yard, etc. I LOVE THIS!!!

I am going to try my hand at canning this year. I have always frozen, but after the ice storm I realize that I need to do both as canning will keep, ice or no ice. My plan is to make some tomato sauce as we are inundated with tomatoes, as well as apple butter and blueberry jam. I am going to can peaches, pears and apples for pies and muffins, etc and possily make some salsas and chutneys. Doing it the old fashioned way as I do not own a pressure cooker. I have about 30lbs of tomatoes to make sauce with (this, after freezing about 5qts already) I am also considering canning some stews and chowders if this goes well. Again, I normally freeze but...I am trying new things this year! To be able to open up a jar of stew and heat it up on the wood stove...mmmm...

Speaking of which....I am DEFINITELY going to start cooking on the wood stove again. I love it and found you can make all sorts of things inside the stove as well as on top. :) Saves electricity and feels very rustic. My dream stove is one of those big Vermont Castings wood cook stoves...I can't seem to convince Hubby that is the way to go though... :)

Well, this post has taken me DAYS to write so now its time to post it, lol :)