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It is instructive to watch the response of our media, government, and population to this pandemic and to take note. Actually, to take many notes. But that note taking needs to be done calmly and rationally, and I hope that what I share here will help in some way.

As a herbalist I use food and plants for our nourishment and medicine, and as a member and chapter leader of the Weston A Price Foundation, I prepare food traditionally and mostly from scratch, using and benefiting from the Foundation’s wise and proven principles. I’m aware of the importance for disaster preparation, and although I am not as prepared as I wish we were (will we ever be?), I keep a good stock of first aid supplies and freeze dried foods, mostly made by Thrive Life (you also can order through my account or even become your own boss using my ID number 32981).

When you have your food and medicine and supplies at hand, trials feel a little less bumpy. If you are starting from scratch, read my last blog post and begin today to address each area in which you are lacking. You are not powerless; you know how to read and you can start.

But I do understand inertia, and it is very, very real. After we downsized from our big house and farmette with its established gardens and livestock areas, it was almost impossible to start any semblance of a garden anywhere else. I tried, planting a little here and there, but once I got my game back on after a postpartum period, we ended up having to move again. So, three houses in five years doesn’t help me to feel real motivated to get digging into the soil.

But here we are. Motivated or not, reality says a garden–any garden of any size–is better than no garden. I have knowledge and experience, and (some) seeds. I decided what made the most sense to grow, and yes that included cut flowers. I especially considered medicinal plants and other foods that I couldn’t necessarily buy from the grocery store, but would add variety to our diet and thrive in our growing zone. So I brushed off the two trays I still had and got started. And then, we headed outside.

The old orchard is a mess. I have zero idea when the fruit trees were last pruned, and there are suckers and shoots everywhere, not to mention a massive invasion of blackberry vines (but, yay, blackberries!). There is no real large area for a massive garden in the traditional sense, but with a little bit of thinking, I can see potential.

Here is an area that is mostly cleaned up. Do you see what I see? A well pruned cherry tree, and terraces. Good morning light that I know will extend into afternoon. An empty bucket begging for something to climb up the gateway. Potential. So even though I’m not spending my 50th birthday doing what I originally planned (sniff), I can do what I can do. And I can do this.

What can you do? Surely there is something, and you probably know what it is (am I right?).

In other news, here are some resources that you may find helpful in navigating how to prevent and address any virus at all. I feel blessed we can have access to books and the internet to help us learn and apply what we are learning. Stay home, stay cozy, and stay safe, friends.

FOOD:

From Sally Fallon Morell, How to Protect Yourself from Coronavirus

HOMEOPATHY:

The Banerji homeopathic protocol
These are well respected doctors who have been treating generations of patients with homeopathy and currently see around 6,000 patients a week in their clinic. This is their protocol for prevention. For treatment, symptoms would guide further remedy choices. You can also check out Joette’s blog and use the search bar for many symptoms and protocols to help you wisely choose remedies.

HERBS:

Rosalee de la Floret, Herbs to Consider for Coronavirus
Also check out her Herbal Recipes for Preventing and Addressing Upper Respiratory Infections (free if you are on her email list)

7Song is a botanist, herbalist, and runs a free clinic in New York. Here are his notes on the COVID-19 Virus. (scroll down to “specific health issues)

Stephen Buhner is a well respected herbalist and author of books such as Herbal Antivirals. This is his take on the coronavirus.

Another herbalist, Michael Cottingham of Voyage Botanica was contacted weeks ago from the cruise ship that was quarantined in Japan. Apparently he gave them this formula and they were able to make it for 3000 people on that ship. All of these herbs are easily available at any grocery store (unlike, say, Buhner’s recipes which may be more difficult to find and to create easily and quickly). Herbalist Bonnie Kuhlman shared Michael’s recipe with permission, and I have permission to post it here for your use as well. I find most herbalists (and fiber artists!) to be most generous with their recipes.

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BASIL LEAF  (Ocimum basilicum)                                        1 teaspoon
OREGANO LEAF (Origanum vulgare)                                  1 teaspoon
THYME LEAF    (Thymus vulgaris)                                       1/2 teaspoon
ROSEMARY LEAF  (Rosmarinus off..)                                  1/2 teaspoon
GINGER ROOT – Ground   (Zingiber off.)                             1/4 teaspoon
TURMERIC ROOT – Ground  (Curcuma longa)                    1/4 teaspoon
CINNAMON BARK – Ground (Cinnamomum zeylanicum)    1/4 teaspoon
This is the amount to make 1 qt.  You may also add a little sage. Use either fresh or dried ginger and stick cinnamon.

Method
Measure and place herbs in a teapot or other container.
Bring one quart of boiled or distilled water just to a boil.
Pour over herbs. Cover to steep. Keep warm while steeping.
This solution should steep for at least 1/2 hour. 1 hour is better.
Strain.
Keep clear solution available at room temperature for immediate consumption.

For make-ahead amounts, refrigerate covered after straining.
Rewarm gently for use as needed.

DOSAGE
The average adult when sick with a cold or respiratory infection could drink as much as 2 quarts a day. Usually, a quart a day for adults is probably enough.
One can drink a cup or two (adults) a day to stimulate the immune system when a cold is going around.
Children between 5 and 15, could use up to a quart a day if sick, but probably more like a 1/2 of a quart should be enough. Children under 5, maybe just a couple of teaspoons of the tea, several times a day.

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This tea is warming, it increases diaphoretic action (sweating) if you drink a lot of it. Increases diuretic action (more urination). Increases respiratory function so you get less congestion. This tea blend is relaxing, so you get deeper and more restful sleeps. It is very anti-inflammatory and reducing inflammation is always helpful when you have a cold or infection. The tea increases circulation which is extremely helpful in congestion and infectious states. This tea blend is extremely anti-viral and antibacterial.

BASIL – Basil has been used as a spice and medicine for centuries.. It has traditionally been used by herbalists to treat nausea, gas pains, dysentery. Research shows that it inhibits organisms that cause dysentery. It is anti-viral and antibacterial. Has been used to treat lung infections and to help clean up mucous membrane congestion. Basil is also considered to be an effective immune stimulating herb and has been used to assist the bodies immune system in fighting various types of viral and bacterial infections.

OREGANO –  There are many different types of Oregano, but medicinally they are mostly the same. Oregano leaf is heating, spicy, and moving. It increases circulation and if you use enough of it, it will make you sweat (diaphoretic). It will also increase urination, which is extremely helpful when fighting an infection. This movement helps the body get rid of the cellular waste from an infection. A key to getting better when you have an infection in the lungs or mucous membranes is to create movement. Oregano really does that. Because Oregano contains a constituent called Thymol it makes it one of the premier plant medicines for fighting serious bacterial and viral infections.

Many of the plants in this tea blend contain Thymol – Oregano, Thyme, Rosemary and sometimes Basil – here is a short wikipedia description on this powerful constituent:
“Thymol has been used in alcohol solutions and in dusting powders for the treatment of tinea or ringworm infections, and was used in the United States to treat hookworm infections. People of the Middle East continue to use za’atar, a delicacy made with large amounts of thyme, to reduce and eliminate internal parasites. It is also used as a preservative in halothane, an anaesthetic, and as an antiseptic in mouthwash. When used to reduce plaque and gingivitis, thymol has been found to be more effective when used in combination with chlorhexidine than when used purely by itself. Thymol is also the active antiseptic ingredient in some toothpastes, such as Johnson & Johnson’s Euthymol. Thymol has been used to successfully control varroa mites and prevent fermentation and the growth of mold in bee colonies, methods developed by beekeeper R. O. B. Manley.[Thymol is also used as a rapidly degrading, non-persisting pesticide.Thymol can also be used as a medical disinfectant and general purpose disinfectant.” 

If I were to give a ranking to Oregano in my personal materia medica of the plants I use and consider vitally important – I would rank Oregano in the top 10. It’s antibacterial and anti-viral potential could be life saving.

THYME – Thyme contains a lot of Thymol making it a very powerful antibacterial and anti-viral plant medicine. Both major components of the volatile oil – thymol and carvacrol have been highly researched and are shown to be antibacterial and anti fungal. Thyme in large amounts has been used to expel worms, especially hookworms and ascarids. As a gargle or mouthwash Thyme is an excellent remedy for sore throats and infected gums. A hot tea of just Thyme is sweat-inducing making it effective against the common cold. Its volatile oils are excreted through the lungs making it excellent to use in bronchitis, whooping cough and pneumonia. Thyme is an excellent expectorant causing the coughing up of thick infectious mucus. An ointment made from Thyme has been used to treat shingles (Herpes zoster). * Large amounts of Thyme should be avoided during pregnancy.  While a common kitchen spice and a small pinch is used to flavor foods … larger amounts become a very serious medicine.

ROSEMARY – Another plant medicine that can contain small amounts of thymol, but also contains thujone, camphors, and other strong constituents. Rosemary is an excellent remedy for headaches and is considered to be an herbal nervine. It is a relaxing and vasodialating plant medicine. Good for lowering stress and calming down. It is antibacterial and antifungal. Topically the oil has been used to treat ringworm. The herb reduces flatulence and is stimulating to the digestion, liver and gall bladder increasing the flow of bile. It has been used to treat painful periods. Rosemary also improves the circulation and helps to strengthen fragile blood vessels due to its flavonoid diosmin.  I consider Rosemary another one of my top 10 most used plant medicines. Having used it with thousands of people in hundreds of different ways. There is 2000+ years of historical uses for this great medicine plant. Much has been written about Rosemary!

GINGER –  Ginger has been used as a plant medicine for many thousands of years by many different cultures. The roots of Ginger have long been prescribed for colds, coughs, flu, and promoting better digestion. It is one of the finest herbs for improving circulation. It is anti-viral and is an excellent respiratory plant medicine helping to expectorate stuck infectious mucus from the lungs. In this tea blend formula Ginger Root helps to move all the other herbs through the body more effectively. It helps to move waste from an infection by stimulating sweating and urination.

TURMERIC – This is probably one of the most researched of plant medicines with over 800 scientific papers to date. It is a premier anti-inflammatory. An action you want in most formulas. When you can reduce inflammation during an infectious condition your chances of recovery are greatly enhanced. Some research shows that Turmeric Root inhibits bacteria and fungal growth in the body. It has been used to help better digestion, especially with poor digestion of fats. This can make the blood less thick, which means less polluted blood, especially during infectious conditions. It is known to stimulate better lymphatic drainage which also aids the immune system. One could literally spend days and days reading about the amazing medicinal history of Turmeric.

CINNAMON –  Cinnamon has been used to warm the body, treat cold conditions and colds, to warm digestion and to ease flatulence.. Used to ease menstrual cramps and is antispasmodic to hectic lung coughing fits, easing the bronchi spasms. Cinnamon is extremely antibacterial inhibiting E.coli, Staphyloccus aureus, and thrush (Candida albicans). Used for thousands of years as a medicine plant, with a rich history of written uses and applications.

Keep in mind, that there are hundreds of books and thousands of internet pages that describe in great detail the plant medicine/spices in this tea blend. All of them have a rich history of use and all have been used for thousands of years. Even though most people know them just as spices to be used in cooking various dishes, in reality they are some of the most researched and important herbal medicines in the world.

This is a tasty tea that actually works to fight viral and bacterial infections, improve overall circulation, which helps to keep the lungs free of congestion and stimulates the immune system in time of need. This makes it useful in everything from the common cold, to a viral pandemic where there is no help to be found. If there ever was a time when higher medical care was not available or higher medical care was not able to help do to an overwhelming break down of the medical system, than this tea might just be enough to help you make it through such a terrible time.

Many of the spices or plant medicines in this tea blend have already been used in both bacterial plagues and viral pandemics. History is filled with their successful stories.  It is ironic that so many people lay in bed suffering from a cold or a more severe viral infection, meanwhile in their kitchen, in those tiny spice jars are the historic answers to their suffering. A pinch of knowledge might just save your life!

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Blessings,

On Fear and Viruses

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Psalms 23:1   The LORD is my shepherd…

No doubt some of my readers have joined me in caring for sick family members this winter, and the added palpable fear of contracting *the* virus has caused every minor sniffle to come under investigation. I join in with concern and caution, but I am also concerned about mob mentality panic.

The real fear, it seems, is not that we may suffer from an illness, but that we will be taken unaware and actually die from it. No one wants to die; in fact, the Bible states clearly in Hebrews 2:15 that we are all in bondage to a lifetime fear of death. What we are seeing in the media and in storefronts is the peeling off of an arrogance that we are in control of our own destinies. We simply are not. Each one of us will die, whether by illness (whether brought on by a virus or the breaking down of our aging bodies or even our minds) or by accident.

The devotional I recently went through offered up much fodder for deep thinking, and highlighted the difference between, for example, “The Lord is my shepherd” versus “I am my own caretaker”. Having a proper understanding of the sovereignty of God and of how we are to love our neighbors (ie. don’t buy up all of the toilet paper so your neighbor goes without…) flows from an interpretation of events based on truth. We don’t panic because we know we cannot control viruses, earthquakes, wars, and evil. We don’t panic because the Lord is our shepherd, and his rod (protection) and staff (direction) comforts us in all of our afflictions. Which will be many in this fallen world.

However, with God’s sovereignty firm in one hand, we hold human responsibility in the other. We do not flippantly throw caution to the wind, testing God (and His laws of gravity) by leaping from tall buildings. Or, in this case, licking doorknobs instead of cleaning them.

What are we doing in our home? We continue in the means we have to encourage good health. I encourage you to do the same. Here is a short list. Are there any areas you can bolster up the health and wellbeing of your family? Don’t wait for a public health crisis or panic; make these part of your lifestyle and as much as you can, make your body inhospitable to those bad bugs! Undergird it with the truth of the love of God and His leading through each and every event in your life.

DIET: we follow the recommendations of The Weston A Price Foundation, but we also supplement our diets with various vitamins, probiotics, and herbs. Daily cod liver oil and pastured eggs are important to us, as is avoiding industrial seed oils and sodas.

EXERCISE: whether taking a walk or running around on the lawn, doing something to encourage circulation is vital. And don’t just do the indoor gym or treadmill—go outside!

CLEANLINESS: keep your house clean, from the doorknobs to the countertops, to bathrooms and floors, even the duct system in your house. If this is a challenge for you, try Fly Lady systems.

MEDICINE: we all need a form of medicine on this side of the veil; choose yours wisely. In our family, we use foods, herbs, and homeopathic remedies. We rarely need anything else, but are thankful we have access to over-the-counter and prescription medications should we need them. Want to learn more? Go HERE for homeopathy, and/or HERE or HERE for herbalism, for starters.

PANTRY: keep it well stocked, as you never know what medical or environmental emergency will keep your feet at home or the grocery store shelves empty. The Survival Mom has great ideas and tips on how to approach and do these things. You can also shop for freeze dried foods to keep fresh in your pantry for many, many years (I appreciate it when you use my ID–32981–to order with!)

WARMTH: keep warm! Wear layers. Traditional wisdom says to keep your neck and kidneys covered. Use natural fibers such as wool to maintain good body temperatures. Wear a hat to bed if your house is cold, and do what you can to keep your house warm.

OUTSIDE: go outside and get some fresh air (I hope you’re blessed to live where the air is fresh!) Walk on the grass with your bare feet when you can, smell the trees, look at the flowers, follow birds with your eyes, pick cool rocks. Let your mind wander, which leads me to…

MEDIA INTAKE: decrease this if it is causing you to lose your peace or sleep. Especially lose those inputs that cause you to be angry, make you feel like you have zero control over anything (or that you’re a victim of everything), or that constantly harp on the “enemy” or neglect to give the full picture. If you feel this to be an impossibility for any media, then at least listen to or read the opposite viewpoint alongside.

MEDIA OUTTAKE: decrease your own media conversation (blogging, social media posting, texting, tweeting, etc etc) if you feel like you can never have a thought in your head that isn’t followed by “I need to share this”.

CHIROPRACTIC: I would be remiss not to mention that a lifestyle of regular chiropractic adjustments is so helpful in staying healthy! Patients receiving regular chiropractic adjustments often report being sick less often and, when they do get sick, less severely. Read HERE and find a principled chiropractic doctor HERE.

SLEEP: sleep. Sleeeeeeeeeeep. Not just the proper number of hours, but quality hours. A dark room, no electronic equipment, quiet, and certainly not with your smartphone! If you are not sleeping, you are not giving your body a chance to repair damage and to heal from the day(s). Please get help if this is an issue for you.

STRESS: Stay your mind on what is true.  Philippians 4:8   Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. If you’re not reading your Bible every day, start today! Soak in the psalms if you don’t know where else to go. Pray for wisdom and understanding, and peace. Only the wicked have no peace (Isa 48:22), but as believers we have perfect peace, regardless of our circumstances, because we trust in God (Isa 26:3). If you are having a problem that you cannot overcome, I urge you to seek Biblical counseling. You can find online help HERE, or in person help HERE.

Many blessings, and peace, friends. The Lord is near, and you are not alone in your very green pasture. Gather your manna, and your trouble, for the day, and bless the Lord for all of His benefits. Our days here are short, but His Word (and our futures) are eternal.

Blessings,

The Daily Infusion

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We recently watched the moon blush its salmon shades while we enjoyed pumpkin soup and cornbread with neighbors. I remember reflecting upon the last time I witnessed such a lunar event: we were in the Big House, and I was in the moonlit barn awaiting a goat kid to come into the world. Appropriately, I named the doeling Luna.

 

It feels like a hundred years ago, a different lifetime. Because now I am here in my small cottage home, with new friends and soup mugs cupped into full hands, but the barns are empty and my milkcans are gathering dust from some forgotten place in the garage. How things change from one moon to another.

 

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I’m not sure how I feel about it. Sometimes I am happy, usually when the fire is roaring in the woodstove, the sourdough bread is baking, and the children are all working on their schoolwork or Legos or attitudes. But sometimes I am simply just moving forward, as through mud. The seasons are unfamiliar to me now. Spring was a time of drowning in milk and cheese. Autumn was a time of preparing farm and fields for winter. Now…what? It is simply a time of waiting. As between moons.

 

Last week, I managed to get the soil turned over, and the rows hoed, and the fava beans planted. With every pick I thought of Jackie Clay, of starting over, of her admonitions to just do what I could, to move forward. Even if it’s an hour a day. Even if it’s a few feet at a time. Even if it’s through mud. One woman to another, cheering me on. I believe her when she says I am strong enough.

 

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I have hopes. I have plans. I want to plant all the herbs I left in my Big House garden, and more. I want to have a ridiculous amount of culinary and medicinal herbs growing so that I can be ridiculously generous. I think, maybe someday I’ll teach my herb classes from my own garden. Maybe someday I’ll have my own garden. Even so, today, I can at least make soup. Invite neighbors. Appreciate the night sky.

 

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I was thinking of these things today as I was making my daily infusion. An infusion is, basically, extracting the properties of herbs into whatever you like, in this case, boiling water. I find it sort of meditative (thus combining round moons and round pumpkins and round cupped hands and mugs…). The daily infusion is one thing that gets me through the day. My current favorite is a combination of nettle (strengthening), oatstraw (calming), and red clover (sweet…as in I need to BE sweet). Sometimes I add a bit of hawthorn if my heart feels sick, or a touch of rose if I need a hug. I let it all steep until the jar is the temperature I like, and then strain. I like to add a little lavender honey, and drink it throughout the morning in between spelling tests and vacuuming and nursing.

 

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I have other “daily infusions”, too. Like my Bible study, making my bed, a daily walk. I enjoy pulling a letter or two from the mailbox, and reading funny little stories to my toddlers. It’s not so bad, the waiting times. Little daily infusions stir up courage and grace….and every now and then it’s uplifting to watch the moon with friends, too.

 

Blessings,

Seaweed Experience

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I admit it felt a little like running away. But I was very excited about learning from Ryan Drum and spending time gaining some knowledge and experience in all things seaweed. My eldest daughter came along for the weekend, under the guise of “help me with the baby”. Truthfully, it was more like, “This is gonna be SO! COOL! Wanna come?!” So we headed out while it was dark and met the first ferry at sunrise. It was beautiful, of course. Sunrises usually are.

 

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After seven more hours of travel (by car, by foot, by another ferry…) we spent four hours in classroom time, the “classroom” a large field adjacent to a dairy goat farm on Lopez Island. The sun was lazy, the shade welcome, and Poppy slept through it all in the middle of us, splayed onto a beach towel. We students were attentive and crosslegged in a meandering circle, trying to keep up with Dr. Drum’s sharp puns upon puns (upon puns…). I asked some questions. They were probably dumb. But then I was proud of myself for the bravery. You know…brave enough to ask the dumb questions.

 

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One evening, we took an herb walk and ended up on top of a hill that overlooked the water, other islands, dusky sky. The air was full of bromine and I just wanted to bottle it up and take it all home and smell it over and over and over. I didn’t miss my computer or my cell phone or the internet at all. What I really wanted at that moment wasn’t Verizon; it was a kayak!

 

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Harvesting seaweeds was such a delight. So many kinds! They were set to dry on top of sheets, or hung from the canopies. It was a little odd, smelling so much sea salt in the air…while in a dry grassy field. We met many wonderful herbalists and botanists and just-interested-in-seaweeds-ists. I like to think I made some new friends.

 

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Our last meal was ah-ma-zing. We all worked together and made seaweed culinary masterpieces. Superhero popcorn with kale and kelp and nettles and more. Nori wrapped salmon. Potatoes with sea lettuce, and sweet bull kelp pickles, and sea lettuce miso soup, and more. Needless to say, my family is eating seaweeds in just about everything these days! Did you know that ALL essential minerals are provided by dietary seaweeds?

 

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I know what some of you are thinking. I could never do something like that…I don’t have the time…I’m too busy teaching my kids math to learn anything new for myself… 

 

If that’s you, please go read this post: Moms Need to Keep Learning, Too. Read the comments, too. Then, maybe grab a journal and scribble down a dozen or so things you’re interested in, you’re curious about. You never know…you may end up one weekend on an experience of your own.

 

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P.S. If you’ve been waiting, Present is now available on Kindle. Take it with you on your time away 🙂

Present ebook ipad mini web

Blessings,

Plant a Little Something

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Such terrible things going on these days. Earthquakes, riots, illness, and on it goes. I know all of creation groans under the curse of sin, and sometimes I know we feel that groan in our spirits, too. I’m thankful I got to garden yesterday, to think about lovely things in front of me.

 

A friend brought me a couple of loads of soil with his truck. What a blessing! I enjoyed all of it…the blisters from shoveling it all out, the sore muscles from wheelbarrowing, the dirt under my fingernails. I freshened up the walkways with rock and/or timber, put down cardboard on areas with heavy buttercup invasions, and smoothed out rich black soil and compost. The smell was intoxicating.

 

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I planted oregano, thyme, rosemary. Winter and summer savory. Dill, catnip, strawberries, and chocolate mint. And lots more herbs and flowers: calendula, cosmos, poppies, columbine, borage, hollyhocks, sunflowers, anise hyssop, echinacea, brown-eyed susans, zinnia, chamomile, basil, nasturtium, love-in-a-mist, sweet rocket and bachelor’s buttons. Parsley, lovage, tarragon and violets, too. I had several starts, but most of it was from seed.

 

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None of this is going to feed my family a meal. For that, I am tremendously grateful for the milk delivery across the street and the CSA delivery to my front door and the cow that is growing down the highway a few miles. What provision! My husband is not interested in gardening on a large-scale at all, so right now, this is the space I’ve been given. I’m going to use it: lots of herbs for the meals and medicines I do make, and lots of flowers for the soul. Because when the world feels especially rotten, a little bouquet of flowers on the table or swaying in the walkways does my heart good. Plus I can nibble a piece of lemon balm while watching the children outside.

 

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Maybe some grief could be assuaged if everyone had a little soil to plant something into, even if it is just a small pot on the patio for a little parsley or peppermint. If nothing else, it could be fodder to contemplate the miraculous work God is able to do under the soil to grow the little seed. Then maybe we would think more about God, about His obvious handiwork in creation, about the privilege we have of knowing Him through Christ. I dunno. Maybe. A little extra dirt wouldn’t hurt, though, would it? I was glad to be plied from the continuing downsizing and the screens that continually beckon. The fresh air and sunshine did me good. Have you planted anything lately?

 

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Blessings,

Downsizing into the Bungalow

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Work continues in the little 1951 bungalow. Tools are everywhere, dust is abundant, paint splotches are spotted on the floors and lots of people are using their time and tools to help us make the transition. It’s not a small thing, *just* time and tools. Most folks have to travel as we do, 45 minutes or more to the house…and then of course another 45 minutes to return home. It’s all a beautiful labor of love.  Friends and family have helped with monetary gifts as well; always, it seems, right when we are running on empty and supplies are still needed. We do, after all, have to maintain our current house (and its bills) while we get it ready for market. We are stretched, to say the least!

 

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Insulation and walls are now finished in the two upstairs attic bedrooms. We added a skylight that opens to each room, too; what a difference that made in temperature and light! A group of men both young and old spent a good 12 hours to get those two rooms finished in one day. It was amazing. We ate a good rib supper that night (before they headed back to work!).

 

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Painting has been a slow process, but it’s getting finished. The last time we were there we looked at our primed and painted walls and after some hemming and hawing decided that, yes, we needed yet *another* coat. So back to the brushes we went. One of my friends that happens to live in the town we’re moving to (only 3/4 mile away!) has spent every spare moment she has, painting, painting, painting. I owe all of my friends whole truckloads of chocolate.

 

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At my current house, I continue to plug along, not quite waddling yet but in the 21st baby-to-be week already. The final packing is getting finished, the plates and pots and pans getting tucked into boxes. I’ve reserved the big rental truck for Monday. MONDAY!

 

Meanwhile, we’ve been picking and eating strawberries and cherries, and harvesting garlic. I cut down a lot of Greek oregano and got a good half gallon of dehydrated seasoning to use. There isn’t much else to harvest; I haven’t planted anything. But the perennials–herbs and fruit–are always the faithful mainstays and I’m grateful to enjoy them while I can.

 

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I’ve also harvested for my facial products, rose, calendula, borage and lavender. So very pretty. I’ve already infused them into a grapeseed/almond/azulene oil mix, and now just need to finish it with some beeswax and whatever else I want to add. Thinking about a bit of rose water and carrot seed essential oil, and then making a nice little cream with it. I can’t wait until next spring, to work in and plant my new garden. I have goals of duplicating and expanding my herb garden, and growing for dyes as well. There is space and sunshine for a good 1/4 acre gardening plot as well. I’ll be spending my winter dreaming up my plans, managing outbuilding and fencing repairs, and hunting down my next goat kids as well.

 

The rest of this year, however, I’ve given up the trowel and given myself to the move, the subsequent nesting, and of course the baby upcoming. I hope to continue to blog, to finish my current herbal studies, and–yes–to find that book cover for Present. One step at a time, yes?

 

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Blessings, and thank you for checking in!

Spring Planting

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Well, it’s the first day of spring and I finally closed my eyes to the mess indoors and went outside. I’ve had starts by my kitchen windows, and because I’m getting tired of working around them, decided some of them could go outside. I put a bunch of kale seedlings out, and topped it with my makeshift cloche. Someone who shall remain nameless (partly because said “someone” hasn’t confessed) stepped into this plastic bin and broke it. Ah well; it makes for a good greenhouse.

I figured it might still be too early to plant salad greens, but didn’t really have anything to lose (except, of course, a dozen seeds or so). In they went, and I topped them with a little plastic wrap. We’ll see in a week or so if I get some tiny sprouts going, and then I’ll cloche them, too.

 

spring garden

 

The free-ranging hens (we downsized to three) and rooster were more than happy to keep me company, and pecked and scratched in the raised bed next door. Their running-around days are ending probably this weekend. Sadly for them, the fence to the coop is going back up for the season to keep them out of my gardens. I understand the move-the-chicken-tractor-every-day chore, but sometimes you just gotta find a place to park those birds and let it just be the way it is. For the sake of one less chore.

 

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In case you were curious, our rooster is a black copper maran. We’ve never kept a rooster before, but he has earned his keep by staying friendly and managing his gals well. His crow is really curious, but it’s all right by us. Downstairs in the basement we’re raising chicks again: more amercaunas, speckled sussex, and black australorps. Plus another brooder of black and red “broilers” for the freezer. I’ve done the experiment of downsizing poultry and I miss my eggs and meat!

 

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While I was in the garden, I pulled weeds and observed. Coming up: garlic, lovage, echinacea, rhubarb, calendula, and of course dandelion en masse. The daffodils are already blooming and the irises won’t be too far behind. Everything is budding out, beautifully. It is a little odd, planning and planting for an unknown future; will *I* get to harvest these things? Or someone else? All I can hope is that, if we move, someone is planting for me, too.

 

We have to repair some raised beds. They lasted ten years! I refused to use treated lumber, so of course the wood rotted. It’s worth the comfort of knowing I don’t have chemicals seeping into my food.

 

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Spending time in the garden (and with these critters!) is always a pleasant time for me.

 

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Blessings,

“I Need to Go to the Store”

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I say those words far, far too often. In my case, it’s about twice a week, which may or may not sound as ridiculous to you as it does to me. But for as many years as I’ve worked towards decreasing my dependence on the supermarket, here I still am. I find it not only a great nuisance, but also wasteful. And dangerous. Anytime you *need* to go to the store means that it is a day your family better not get hit with a hurricane. Like illness. Like a pink slip. Like an injury. Or…a real hurricane.

 

I was thinking about this during lunch today. I sent the children outside to play while I put it together, and it ended up as something…well…”put together.”

 

Store (In)Dependence

 

I began with leftover sauce and bits of meat from last night’s crockpot. Then I added white beans I had soaked last night and cooked up this morning. Looking into the fridge, I found a bit of leftover chicken and leftover peas. I added freeze-dried bell peppers, dehydrated celery and onions, and powdered garlic. It all became a very full–and filling–pot of soup for our lunch. It felt a bit like Carly Emery‘s “Independence Days”, days in which her family could eat without going to the store. It is pretty close to how I imagine my grandmother ate: using up what she had, eating from her pantry, eating in season and from what she preserved. Given that she lived her whole life in a remote Greek village, she could “need to go to the store” all she wanted…but there was none, except a small shop I remember old men liked to gather in at chess tables. It sold cigarettes and probably ouzo. I don’t even know how she fed her hens and dairy animals (feed store? what feed store?), but I suppose that is pondering material for another blog post.

 

Would your kids eat the soup I made? If times got really tough, would you know how to make food like that? Do you know how to use your pantry (and would anything be in it?), and how to cook from leftovers (food you didn’t toss or forget about)? Could you bake a loaf of bread from a handful of wheat berries?

 

I am not where I want to be in this, obviously, because as thankful as I am for the opportunity and time and means, once or twice a week to the store IS ridiculous because it means opportunity lost for other endeavors, time lost to travel and shopping, and money spent that could have been saved or otherwise better stewarded.

 

Do you–like me– “need to go to the store” quite a lot? Does it concern you at all to be so dependent upon that store being there, it being open, your having a means to get there and back, and the money to spend there, and that it would have exactly what your family needed exactly when your family needed it? If any of those things failed, what would you all eat?

 

I will share with you what I’ve done so far for my own family to decrease our dependence on the store, and then confess *why* I still find myself there too much even now.

 

Grains and legumes are easy to store and they last a long time. Prepared properly, they are nutritious and filling. Because we like baked goods, I also store wheat, salt, baking powder, and honey. I have a good store of both baker’s yeast and sourdough starters. If I couldn’t leave the house for whatever reason, we could still eat for quite a while.

 

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I store a lot of seasonings, but the key here is that I store much of what I use a lot of. Every year I dehydrate and powder a quart or more of garlic and oregano. I also keep thyme, onion, cinnamon and nutmeg. My aunt in Arizona once sent me a quart of dehydrated mixed chili peppers; yum yum yum! Buying seasonings in bulk or dehydrating your own is very inexpensive. Buying little cans of unique seasonings for a one-time recipe is very expensive, but you don’t have to create everything yourself. Just make sure to have on hand what your family likes best.

 

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A few years ago I started experimenting with freeze-dried foods. They’ve come in very handy for those times I didn’t have what I wanted, and I wanted to avoid a trip to the store. The bell peppers in our soup today came from such a can.

 

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Another experiment of mine was to prepare ready-meals. It seems like the majority of the store is exactly that: ready meals and ready breads and ready salads and ready everything! There have been pah-lenty of times our family has gotten home late from wherever or just didn’t have the money *today* and the fridge was an echo chamber. I got the idea from Jennifer Ess and so far, we’ve liked most of what we’ve tried. I like that any of my kids could grab a jar or two, add water, let it all simmer and voila, a decent meal is served.

 

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My chest freezer is a blessing. I realize that if we lose power, I’m going to be canning and dehydrating a whole lot in a short amount of time *if* I have the jars (another thing to prepare…), but in the meantime, this freezer has been an excellent place for me to keep an entire grassfed cow, dozens of homegrown chicken, and plenty of fish. Before we said goodbye to the last of our goats, we stored up plenty of goat milk to either drink or use for soap, too.

 

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Another thing I store is plenty of herbs. We use them for our medicine and in preparations for the body (soap, shampoo, oils, etc). I love having my own full medicine cabinets!

 

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So, what’s missing and why am I STILL going to the store? For me, it’s a lack of canned and preserved PRODUCE. I love to prepare and eat everything fresh, and if I’m not getting it from the garden, I’m going to the store. Furthermore, I have yet to harvest a goodly amount to preserve….so far, my perennials and fruit trees are too young to do much more than feed us during the growing season. And, worse, I confess I’ve been far too lazy to buy up that big box of apples or pears in season and to spend the hours needed to put them away. This is a serious blunder on my part. The truth is that if I spent my hours PRESERVING what is currently very accessible in my area (via the store, or farmer’s markets, or the farm down the street…), I would have more time on my hands than is spent by my trying to grow everything myself. My garden will not go away (that’s an extra measure of food security), but I need to be more thoughtful and diligent in my PRESERVATION of fruits and vegetables, so that I can clearly have no other real reason to go to the store other than because I *want* to and not because it’s getting into afternoon and oh-dear-supper’s-due and now I *have* to.

 

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One last thought. When you are working towards building up your pantry, it is important to USE your supplies. LEARN to cook those beans, LEARN to use up those scraps of leftovers, LEARN to cook from scratch and so forth. Otherwise, it is not only a waste of resources and time, it will be tremendously stressful if that day ever comes when going to the store on a whim isn’t even a possibility. Is that likely to happen? I don’t know. I don’t put that possibility at a “zero” however, and so we work towards those coveted independence days.

 

Blessings,

Full Hands, Emptying Farm-ette

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Seems like I hear that often enough, how my hands are full.  And they are.  And they are full of blessings and I’m sure I could fill books with gratitudes.  But sometimes I am restless anyway, eager to cultivate and create and concoct some other persona than the one I am.  But who does that, really, other than people in hiding?

 

I’ll tell you who.  People who have kept things hidden in order to meet the needs and demands and expectations of everyone else.  How to bring them out, however, when I’m busy with eternal matters such as motherhood and pressing needs such as laundry?  Furthermore, ought I to even care for those things, those talents, those latent dreams?  After all, anything less in importance than things eternal are, honestly, fodder for idolatry and we all know (either by wisdom or experience) where that road goes.  But still…there must be a way to glorify God in the travel while driving those dreams in some way…

 

 

Currently I’m going through a half-dozen boxes, and I do mean BOXES, of writing I’ve done since I was about 11 years old.  Piles and piles of poetry, short stories, journals, essays, reports, letters….all in worn hefty cardboard boxes with lids.  I had in my mind that I would create some sort of mixed media art with at least bits of it, sort of a *this was/is me* buried under ModPodge and acrylic paint.  The truth is, though, that much of it has ended in the garbage or recycling and *special* portions are reserved for a nice, hot bonfire.  I read enough of it to realize that I wasn’t ready to read/relive it, and more importantly, I didn’t need anyone else reading either.  I used to think my children and grands would like to, eventually, to see my spiritual growth and all of the good, bad and ugly.  However, it wasn’t ever my intention or reason for writing, so it seems a little dishonest.  Mainly it was me working things out with the One who already knew and knows.  I still write to do that, and I don’t need to prove to myself or anyone else anymore that “I am a writer” by pointing to an abundance of paper.  I just hope someone stronger emerges when the ashes from the past cool, because right now, it feels a bit blistery.

 

In the meantime, I’m keeping this little blog going.  I don’t know why.  Perhaps someone else out in ether world shares the same struggles with managing their lives with real purpose and meaning in this age of distractions.  The worst part is the death of real relationships; who needs to talk and share coffee or write letters when we can “just” text or “just” post on Facebook or “just” update our status?  And heavens, don’t even get me started with folks that do that sort of nonsense in the presence of real, live, breathing people!  Anyhow, before my pondering gets pontiferous…

 

Just a few things to share.

 

One, it is totally worth dehydrating your favorite seasonings and tis the season to do it.  I have lots of favorites, but garlic and oregano are tops in my kitchen so I make sure I have those.  Here is a perfect example about why to make your own.  This is dried oregano. The really nice green leafy greens on top are from my garden.  The bottom faded dried out little pieces are from the market, and yes it was specialty organic seasoning to boot (and not from China).  Guess which one smells and tastes better?  And NO, don’t add this as “one more thing to do”.   You don’t have to do it “all”; I gave up making laundry soap long ago 🙂

 

 

Oh and we are the worst tooth fairies ever.  We ALWAYS forget to exchange a dollar per tooth and we end up adding extra dollars for every night we forget (don’t want to disappoint anyone at this point anyhow by being on time!).  I got this note on the kitchen counter along with some *change*.

 

 

Annnnnnd, speaking of letting things go, a whole lot of animals have been tearfully sold around here to make room and time for I don’t know what but husband wants a break and so there we are.  Our farm-ette is emptying at a fast clip and it does look real lonely in empty fenced-in pastures.  Half of our ducks got picked off this year by foxes, too.  At this rate, this guy will be the only animal left once it’s all said and done.  As I said in a previous post, sometimes dreams need to die.  It’s pretty hard, though, to imagine what’s coming.

 

 

That’s all for now.

 

Blessings,

Summer Farm-ette Garden Tour

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The  potager is in crazy full bloom and I’m dying to share it with friends.  We had some unexpected guests show up last week (that actually happens quite a bit!) and it was fun to show them the wonderful fulness.  I sheepishly told one of them that it wasn’t really *me* growing anything, and he said, “Your husband did all this?!”  Haha!  Well, he did build all of the raised beds, put in the drip irrigation, design the fencing and do all of the hardscape.  What I meant was, the LORD makes everything to grow and sometimes He uses good ol’ perennials to do it!

 

I’m not really harvesting much of my herbs this year, just letting it all go mostly to seed.  It’s nice to take a break from that.  But I *am* cutting plenty of one of my favorite flowers, sweet peas, to keep within my close view indoors!  Enjoy the tour 🙂

 

butterfly on rhubarb leaf, feverfew

 

honeybees busy on lavender

 

kale that I need to cut and use quick!

 

lilies galore

 

another favorite flower of mine, calendula (obviously needing deadheading)

walkway; lots of squash, green beans, mints, sage, kiss-me-over-the-garden-gate flowers, apples

 

oh wait, these are my favorite too!  borage

sigh….sweet peas….love….

so the funny thing is that I *think* this is yellow squash…and not pumpkin…

 

oh look!  blueberries my kids haven’t found and eaten yet!

 

ok, I DID harvest garlic….lovvvvvve my garlic….

 

you can see the whole other garden out front…lots of onions, tomatoes, squashes, beets, broccoli (done now)…

and more cabbage than I know what to do with (quick! find the woman a sauerkraut recipe!)

 

Thanks for visiting my back kitchen garden.  I hope yours is just as lovely!

 

Blessings,

How I Make Time

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How do I make time to work on those things I want to keep learning? How can you?

 

  • Pick at it, here a little, there a little; 15 minutes a day is still almost 2 hours a week
  • Chuck the TV and turn off the internet
  • Read nonfiction in the bathtub or even while the kids are in theirs
  • Put the kids to bed on time
  • Always have something to do with you when you’re out: sketchbook, knitting, etc.
  • Greet the sunrise (not the midnight moon)
  • Ask your family for a few hours to yourself, once a week (schedule it)
  • Say “no” to too many outside responsibilities
  • Let your kids see that you have “homework” too; you can even do it while they’re busy with theirs
  • Do things with your family: gardening, learning about baking, painting…
  • Focus your interests onto a smaller plate; too many can pull you into too many directions and waste time
  • Take a class; nothing like outside dates or deadlines to help you get going!
  • Listen to audio tapes when in the car; it’s better for your blood pressure than talk radio anyway
  • Take a regular walk and learn to quiet your mind.  More ideas will come!

 

 

Blessings,

Moms Need to Keep Learning, Too

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I know the exasperation of wanting to know how other stay-at-home mothers *do it* while they’re raising their children.  How does she write those books, sell handmade goodies online, sew up cute everythings, and then take all those amazing photos to blog about it all?  Well, more than once I’ve had the poignant aha moment of “oh, she sends her kids off on the bus every morning…”  But, I also know homeschooling mamas who are running businesses and training for marathons.  Far more often, though, I hear about “the wrong season” to do anything outside of homemaking and homeschooling and methinks that’s no good!  “Dying to self” does not mean stifling your own interests anymore than “doing your own passion” means spending every waking moment on everything but homemaking and homeschooling.

 

Do homeschooling mothers need to put aside all of their own interests so that they can more *fully engage* in educating their children?  What does that mean, anyway?  That instead of reading a nonfiction book on a topic of interest, we ought to spend that time preparing more flashcards?  One of the definitions of education in the 1828 Websters says it is discipline intended to “form the manners and habits of youth”. Well, if one of those intentions is to raise lifelong learners, then we must also pay heed to Luke 6:40   The disciple is not above his master: but every one that is perfect shall be as his master.  

 

It is good for children to know and see that their mama is always learning new things, that  she borrows arms-full of books from the library (and reads them).  I think it’s all right for a mama to have some of her own homework or crafting time and to know that she may be subject to goals and deadlines just like they are.  How can it be bad to see her try new things in the kitchen or garden or classroom or sporting arena?  For a mother to have her own interests and to see her cultivate her own hobbies: is this selfishness?

 

All I know is that keeping at least a little toe in the genre of where you think your gifts are will help keep you sane, and who doesn’t want a sane mother?

 

As for me, one of my loves has been (and is) learning about God’s healing herbs.  It began as a child, loving to sit in fields watching and listening to grass rustling and birds chittering.  In college one of my most favorite classes ever was a botany course on spring wildflowers, complete with hunting them down and keying them out.  Once the children came along I learned how to make teas, tinctures, salves, and so forth.  I took online classes and earned two degrees (BS and MS) in Holistic Nutrition, figuring out how to cook those amazing foods that came from the ground and not from a box.  Later I took a class on botanical illustration.   Today I’m learning through both Vintage Remedies and the American Herbalists Guild.

 

It was quite a hurdle for me to get there, mentally.  There was/is always something else I could be doing, for the “good of my family”.  What I’ve learned, however, is that spending some time cultivating my own interests ultimately does my family good.   If you’re struggling with taking the time for your own learning, you might want to listen to this podcast I did on that very topic, Room for You.   You also might like listening to an interview I did with an author about how she wrote a book (and a good one at that!) while raising small children, Pursuing Your Talents in the Season of Motherhood.

 

At the risk of turning this place into an art blog, here is something I did today between family responsibilities.  Ongoing learning as a mom is like that, here a little, there a little.  I decided I wanted to learn about burdock more, and so googled pictures and then drew and watercolored.  Then I incorporated words to remind me how this beautiful plant is used.  It’s not a large thing I did.  But it’s something.

 

Are you taking any time at all for your own interests?  I remember my mother doing much needlework throughout my growing up years, and what a treasure all of that handwork is now, especially because her hands have betrayed her as she has aged.  Don’t wait until your children are grown, until you think a “better season” comes along.  Snatch the time here and there.  Learn and live alongside your babies, and enrich all of your lives in the process.

 

 

 

 

 

Blessings,

Basic Herbs in My Home

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It’s that time of year when harvest is closed and the dark and cold outside foster rejuvenation of mind and body.  It’s a time to find quiet, catch up on reading, pick up the knitting needles (or scrapbooking…or whatever…) again and take advantage of more hours to sleep.  For me, it’s also a time to reassess what I need in my pantry and restock with foods that are fresh from the season.  Whatever I was unable to grow myself (quite a lot, but that’s a different story) I try to purchase in bulk:  boxes of fruit and nuts and pastured butter, half a grassfed cow, a full pig, dozens of salmon.  It is nice to be prepared for those days (weeks?) of cold and snow and to know I don’t *have* to run to the store for every little thing.  And other things like trays of soap curing in the basement feels good, too.

 

It’s also a good time to address the herbs and remedies and teas I have on hand.  If someone in my family gets a sore throat, I don’t want to be wishing I had the right remedy on hand at that moment.  That being said, I’ve learned I don’t have to keep EVERY little herb on hand.  At one time I had easily hundreds of different herbs to use, but it was unnecessary.  Most herbs have multiple uses, so you don’t need a whole bunch.

 

I now consider three basic things in deciding which herbs to keep on hand.

 

1.  What is the purpose of it?

 

Do I want to keep a particular herb for seasoning foods?  For treating coughs?  For making a salve with?  For soothing a fever?  It is good to also start backwards:  what do I think I am likely to be facing and how can I prepare a natural remedy for it?  For example, at one point, I’ll probably have a child with a tummy ache.  How do I want to treat that?

 

2.  Does it grow nearby?

 

I really think there is something to finding and using the herbs that naturally grow nearby.  Sure, I could use an herb that grows in the dry Southwest desert, but wouldn’t it make more sense to find one that grows near me in the wet Pacific Northwest?  Never mind the sustainability of doing so (picking it right outside my door versus having it flown in by jet), but it just seems that plants that grow in the same environment as where I am living will marry better with my body.

 

3.  Is it at all a part of my heritage?

 

This may just cancel out reason number two, but is the herb at all connected with my heritage, my genetic makeup, my DNA?  For example, my mother is from the Meditteranean.  Now I know that I’ll never grow red ripe tomatoes here for more than a week (if that), but oregano, thyme and rosemary are constant companions for me. True, these grow well in my garden (if not natively), but even if I were in the freezing Midwest, my body would just crave the herbs from that region from whence part of my family came.

 

Of course, all of those reasons can be thrown out the window and you can choose to use whatever you like!

 

Here are the herbs I personally consider must-haves for myself and my own family.  From these I make salves, tinctures, teas and seasonings.

 

GARLIC….without a doubt, this is the one herb I would not want to be without.  I consider it practically a cure-all!  I use it for many, many ailments, and it is something that I grow every year.  I use it liberally in cooking and even eat it raw.  If you come to my house with a sore throat, expect me to give you a clove and encourage you to eat it!

 

PLANTAIN…grows everywhere around here.  It is awesome for bug bites!  I use it in my salve.

 

YARROW…also grows here and is a wonderful all around herb for use both internally and externally.

 

CALENDULA…works so well for face and beauty products.  I grow this easy flower in my garden and it reseeds every year on its own (love that!).  I like to steep the petals in oil as a base for any facial products I make.  Furthermore, because it is excellent for the skin, I also use this in salves.  And, it’s beautiful in salads, completely edible.

 

GINGER, SLIPPERY ELM, PEPPERMINT…all excellent for digestive woes.  Peppermint is also wonderful for fevers.  I grow peppermint in my garden, buy ginger from the store,  and mail order the slippery elm.  I’ve used slippery elm for my dairy goats as well.

 

THYME, OREGANO, ROSEMARY…used in my cooking on an almost daily basis..  All are grown in my garden.  They are excellent for respiratory woes and are anti-bacterial for starters.  Furthermore, not only do they make my food taste better, they make my food BE better.

 

COMFREY, ARNICA, ALOE….used externally and excellent for wounds, burns and bumps!

 

ELDERBERRY…a native plant here and wonderful in supporting the immune system in whatever ails it.  ECHINACEA is also good but in my opinion can definitely be overused.  Sometimes it actually makes people feel worse, especially if they have thyroid issues.  I prefer to use elderberry.

 

Those are my favorites!  I still need to make my year’s supply of salve and facial products, but I have my own harvests dried and ready for me to use.  I do use homeopathic remedies and essential oils as well.

 

Do you have any favorites or must haves?  Be sure to visit my friend Jasmine at Ponder the Path for more ideas on keeping an herbal medicine pantry.

 

You can also catch my podcast on Preventative Health Care for Families and, when prevention fails, Loving Health Care for Families.

 

Stay well!

Post-Due Date Waiting

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Well, here I still am, now six days after my “due date” for baby number seven.  It’s nothing new to me, this waiting for a “late” baby to show up; in fact, baby number five decided to wait a whopping 18 days (and he packed on the pounds to prove it, at 10lb 15oz).  The other part that is not new is the discouragement; it is hard to know the baby is all well and good and is just bidding his (her?) time.  And of course, the phone calls, the surprised looks (“what? you’re still pregnant?!”)….I’m sure many of you have been there!

So this is what I’ve been doing in the meantime, in this period of just waiting.  First of all, I’ve been staying mostly home.  I’m just so swollen and am sooooo terribly waddle-ly and slow; folks think I’m going to drop a baby right there on the floor in front of them.

I make myself go outside at least, and take a walk around the place, noticing what is waning (the daffodils) and what is blooming (the clematis).  Spring is definitely here.  I love having all windows open to the fresh air cleaning out the house, too.

 

 

I did notice that we lost one of our cherry trees, but the rest of the fruit trees are beginning to bloom in beautiful colors.  I do miss my honeybees, though, the ones I used to find all over my orchard and garden.  I think of doing that again, next year.

 

 

My men built a “buck hut” for my male goats, which I appreciated.  I sat on the lawn chair keeping them company while they put it together.  They have designs of putting up signs that say things like “no does allowed”.

 

 

Speaking of goats, there was some excitement yesterday as the goat barn was getting cleaned out.  My husband sunk into some soft mud and almost lost his tractor down a ravine.  The whole left side of the tractor is in mid-air in the picture, being held up by the backhoe and a small alder tree.  Yours truly got to burn rubber on the old 4×4 pickup trying to pull the thing out of the ravine with a chain while husband balanced on the tractor trying to help back it out.  You would have thought *that* sort of fun would have put me into labor!  And yes, I got the tractor out, and yes, it was fun in a crazy sort of way.

 

 

When I have to go inside to put this baby down (oy), I find myself doing this and that.  This morning I was listening to a sermon and following along in my Bible while working on some embroidery.  Magazines and books keep me occupied, too.  Oh, and blogging (smile).

 

 

I was bummed to miss the homeschool conference this weekend, really.  But I spent some time rethinking and reorganizing what I want to do next year anyway.  Next year I’ll be teaching a 1st grader all the way through 9th, plus Ruby (who is almost four) and loving on a new baby too (…who needs to come out, hear me, Baby?)

 

 

And truly, why not start another quilt?  I think this little thing would be so sweet for a baby girl.  If this one is a boy, that will just give me an excuse to create a whole other quilt, so that’s a win-win in my mind.

 

 

Back outside, I’m watching my family do chores around the place.  It’s hard not to feel guilty for being unable to help; they are all keeping the home and land going without me.  They are so excited about this baby; every morning I’ve been having to give them a sheepish grin, “no, no contractions, no baby yet…sorry.”  But they are very lighthearted about it all.  We keep saying, “Well, we’re one day closer!”

 

 

Here is the wonderful work my family finished today; getting the muck cleaned up outside of the barn and replacing it with gravel and rock.  Oh I cannot tell you what a GIFT this was to me (AND my goats).  All four of my “girls” are due to have their own babies next month.

 

 

Sometimes I spend time just sitting in the wooded pasture watching my goats forage.  It’s so incredibly quiet; all I can hear are my children whooping and playing outside, along with the chorus of birds and the munching of my goats moving through the brush.  I have some very sweet goats who will come and snuggle their heads on my lap to say “hello” too.  It’s all very relaxing.  I love the slow life and want more of it.

 

 

This is my herd queen, Splat.  She demands (and gets) respect from the rest of the group.  She was always stand-offish to me until I kept her company last year while she was kidding for the first time.  Now we sort of *understand* one another and she’ll give me some attention, butting others out of the way to get it if need be.  Poor thing is missing fur from her nose because of our feeder rubbing it wrong.  Isn’t she beautiful, though?  I think she’s carrying at least three babies.  I planned to have mine first, but at this point, I guess we’ll see…

 

 

Here’s another trusty chair of mine to use outside.  I was harvesting nettle, and used some to dehydrate, and some to make tea with, mixed with peppermint.  I found a recipe for nettle pasta but lately just the thought of that much kitchen time hasn’t been appealing.  Right now I’ve got quite a bit of frozen pizza in the freezer.

 

 

I did manage to make some sourdough raisin bread for breakfasts, though. They are in the freezer, also.  I’m looking forward to having some toasted, with butter, with scrambled eggs and orange juice, the morning after the birth-day or thereabouts.

 

 

I’ll tell you some things I haven’t done.  I haven’t changed a diaper in a while, or cleaned a dish, or cleaned a bathroom, or swept a floor, or pulled a weed.  My family is taking care of all of that, except the weeding.  In fact, the whole place is overrun with weeds (and of course, what are weeds but pretty flowers growing where you don’t want them?).  I decided to let the whole plot go fallow this spring and summer, and will get it all tackled hopefully this fall.  In the meantime, I’m looking up and finding recipes for dandelion jam and so forth.

 

 

So there it is.  Supper’s coming out of the crockpot right now and tonight I’ll take yet another bath and go to bed again hoping for a wake-up in the wee hours.  If the sun greets me for another day of waiting, you’ll know what I’ll probably be up to.  And yes, it will at least be another day closer…

Preparing For Baby With Herbs

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Ok, I think it’s fair to say I’m “officially” nesting now, trying to get the house in order and cleaned up before baby shows up.  And, of course, if Mama is nesting, there’s no rest for the others, is there?  With the dark and dumping rain we had going on outside, I figured it was the “perfect” time to finally get my reproduction schoolhouse lights up in the kitchen.  So the boys graciously went to work.
And about six hours and much troubleshooting later, I had more light in my kitchen!  It’s nice to see a project finished.  Here in the Pacific Northwest, we need all the light we can get.
I’ve been waddling around getting ready for labor and birth and baby.  I made up a gallon of what I call “Mama’s Brew.”  I’ve been making this mix for half a dozen years at least.  It is fabulous for helping me along with uterine toning and has lots of great minerals in it.  At this point, I’m trying to drink about a quart a day.  I’m still taking my prenatal vitamins and extra B vitamins, C and D3 (I got my D blood levels tested before embarking on that).
The recipe is two parts nettle, two parts red raspberry, one part alfalfa and one part oatstraw.  To make, I put about a cup of the mix into a half gallon jar, fill with boiling water, cap and let it steep for a couple of hours.  Then I strain and sweeten to taste (but I like the taste unsweetened, mostly).  The finished tea keeps about 24 hours in the fridge.
In the background are other teas I’ve mixed, for immune system support, calming, tummy woes, etc.  Herbal teas are a mainstay in our home.
Here’s my brew ready to drink.   Do you like my makeshift container for it?  My friend’s husband came up with the brilliant idea of drilling a straw hole in the lid.

I also prepared some herbal tinctures.  The black cohosh is an excellent help for late pregnancy in stimulating contractions, and the crampbark will be useful after the birth is over to help relieve any uterine cramping and pains.   Two different herbs with two very different and helpful uses.  (Note:  I am not licensed to give medical advice and you should never use anything your practitioner would not recommend).

I like to make and use an herbal bath tea after the baby is born and I am able to get into the tub.  Basically I make a very strong tea with this and then strain it all into the tub; it is NOT for drinking.  My mix includes:  comfrey, uva ursi, shepherd’s purse, myrrh, and arnica.  Ruby was so hard to nurse that she left me incredibly sore after breastfeeding; I used this tea just to dip my chest into on hands and knees for relief.

For the bath, I add to this tea mix two cups of bath salts with three to four drops each lavender and cypress.  It is wonderful.

I have specific essential oils ready for birth also.  I’m now a member of Young Living Oils because I am so impressed with their “seed to seal” process AND how incredibly potent their oils are.  It’s like the difference between store bought garlic powder (from who knows where) and making your own from your own garden.  Oils I keep on hand specifically for childbirth are lavender (relaxing), cypress (healing), cistus (internal healing, especially for hemorrhage) and clary sage (to strengthen and regulate contractions).  You remember reading I’m not a *doctor*, right?  These are my own helps.

I also have on hand plenty of homeopathic remedies for whatever shows up.  That’s our medicine cabinet in a nutshell:  herbs, oils, and remedies.  We stay healthy.

I spent the day getting ready for baby, too.  I used the casserole basket I made  to store the cloth diapers and wraps, and folded up the swaddling linens.  Baby’s gowns and onesies are in a drawer.  There is a jar of homemade baby powder I made with arrowroot powder and herbs (powdered calendula, lavender, chamomile).  Once baby starts moving around more, he or she will be changed on a bigger bed and ultimately the floor.  I’m not about to buy a “changing table” now, at baby number seven!  Can you tell we’re in my closet?

My birthday was a couple of weeks ago, and I told my family all I wanted was some flowers.  Aren’t these orchids beautiful?  They’ll be lovely to look at if I spend any time laboring in the tub.

I got the bedding ready also.  What you see here is a bentwood cradle that once had my husband in it; isn’t it gorgeous?  I love it!  On the floor is where baby will sleep though, in the little Moses basket I’ve put all of my babies into with a sweet cotton blanket my sister in law gave me for baby number one.  The basket has a lovely cotton and wool filled mattress a dear woman made for me, no plastics whatsoever.  The pumpkin colored knitted wool blanket I finished awaits in it, too.

That’s it, I think.  Now we just need the baby to arrive!  I think I am mentally ready for the hard road of labor ahead, but of course it is never a “fun trip”.  I am praying for a boring, uncomplicated labor and birth with a beautiful baby.  If the Lord brings it to your heart, might you join me in that prayer?

Blessings,

Healing a Duck After An Attack

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*UPDATE*  This morning, the 30th, our last duck, our “one tough duck” Handsome, died.  We are all sick about it.  But we’re reminded how awful death really is, and how Jesus conquered death.  Someday, someday soon, death will die.

 

It’s never a good sign when my kids come pounding on the kitchen door with frantic looks on their faces during morning chores.

Raccoons visited during the night and managed to reach into the sleeping ducks, pulled their heads through the fence and began feasting.  The dogs ran them off but not fast enough.  Two of the girls were dead this morning, our third (and last) girl died later.

What we still have (at this moment) is our boy, our one-winged Handsome.  Handsome is one tough duck.  He must have nine lives because he’s been through plenty of trauma in his short life already.

He’s pretty stunned of course, and weak.  He has wounds in the same places, along his neck and back.  The first thing we did this morning is put plenty of fresh, clean straw down in the pen.  And, of course, remove his friends.

The best thing you can give an animal that is wounded or sick is your love.  The next best thing is medicine.  We wrapped him up slowly and snuggly in a clean towel, and spoke soothingly to him.  We still don’t know if he’ll make it, but added stress from the voices and mannerisms from his keepers would not help him one spit.

We gently wiped his wounds, soaking in the good herbal tea I made.  And we coaxed and encouraged him to drink some water that I had dissolved homeopathic arnica into.

I think the dogs felt badly, too.

 

The worst part is always telling the little kids and watching their faces fall and tears overflow.  I hate death.  I can’t wait for death to die.  Come, Lord, quickly.

The herbal tea I made was based on a mix I have prepared for a postpartum bath, with comfrey, uva ursi, shepherd’s purse, myrrh and arnica.  I added to it a pinch of cayenne and some calendula, and lamented I was out of yarrow and goldenseal; I would have added those if I had them.  To the warm tea, I added a drop of Ocotea essential oil.  This tea is what we used to clean and bath our wounded duck with, and we’ll do it again two or three more times today if he lives.

Making arnica water was easy.  I dissolved about five 30x tablets into some water.

It was a sober morning.  I already miss the pleasant soft quacking my little flock made as they wandered around during the day, freely.  The couple dozen duck eggs in the fridge feel out of place.  The silence of death hangs low, and we are sad.

Natural Face and Skin Cream, Part Two

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Well, I was so excited about the fabulous cream I made last night that I wanted to share it with you pronto!  And then….something was nagging at me….like….didn’t I blog about that before?

YEP.  You can read how I did it here.  So I guess that makes this post “Part Two”.

But…seeing as how I took pictures (again), and the recipe is different, here is another way to save a load of money.  Honestly, have you seen how much those (chemical and preservative and who knows what else) creams cost at the department store?!  Making your own facial/skin cream at home gives you control over the ingredients, and you can play with different recipes to make something that suits your own personal skin.

The first thing I did was pick herbs from my garden last summer.  I chose calendula, lavender, and chamomile, all very good flowers for skin care.  I let them wilt a bit to lessen the water content.  Aren’t they beautiful?

Then I infused them in a jar of oil for (umm….) a month or so.  I used what I had on hand at the time:  almond oil (that I typically use in the morning on my face straight), grapeseed oil, and azulene.  Azulene is the oil made from chamomile flowers; it’s a real pretty blue.  It comes in my waxing supplies (ouch!) and I always have extra oil left so I save it for making beauty products with.

When I was ready, I strained the flowers out and had a lovely blue-green oil that I kept in a dark cupboard until I was ready to use it.  It smelled very nice.

To start, keep in mind some simple formulas:

To make a salve:  1 cup oil (volume) to 1oz beeswax (weight).
To make a cream: same but blend with 6TB liquid.
To make a lotion: same but blend with even more liquid.

So, logically, I *could* have made a salve first, then blended a bit of liquid into the rest.  Make sense?

I wanted an easy formula, so I added more oils until I got to 3 cups.  You can see here I added shea butter and coconut straight to the measuring cup.  I had these already on hand, which was a *yay* moment for me because shea is so expensive I about never have that on hand.  There are all kinds of oils you could use, like olive oil, too.

I melted all of the oils, and 3oz beeswax (remember, 1 cup oil to 1oz beeswax) into a pan on the lowest possible setting. I didn’t want to cook my oils!  Just gently warmed until everything melted.

At this point, I had a salve mix, but I was going for the cream.  So while that pot was melting away, I prepped my liquid.  I used 1 cup plus a couple of tablespoons worth.  In here I put some orange water, aloe vera gel, and distilled water. I popped open 1500IU worth of vitamin E and 30,000IU of vitamin A (I’m sure I could have put more!).  I also added 48 drops of rose essential oil.  I usually figure 
16 drops of essential oil per cup of oil.  More or less.  Are you getting that this is not a “perfect” formulaic recipe?

Once the oils/beeswax was melted, I put it all into my blender.  I decided to throw in a half tablespoon of lanolin; that is the *glob* you see there.  I waited until the mix came to room temperature(ish), and of course by then my lanolin was melted too.

Now was the time to get busy, otherwise I was going to end up with a blender full of cooled and hardened SALVE and how would I dig that out?  So, while the blender was going at full speed, I slowly added in my liquid mixture.  It whipped up just like making mayonnaise.

But the work wasn’t done until the cream was poured!  If you don’t work quickly, it will solidify in your blender (but at least you’ll have a really great story to tell).   You can see in the photo that the jar on the left was one of the last ones poured; see how it’s cooling quickly?

Let me tell you what.  This stuff is amazing.  It initially felt a little greasy going on but within the half hour it had soaked into my skin.  As I type this my hands are baby-soft.  I plan to use this on my face at night, but I might just have to use it on my hands and feet too!  I loved that I had so many odds and ends from other projects and could just recycle them into one product, too.

If you make this, be sure to clean out your blender quickly.  I added hot-hot water, a drop of dishwashing liquid, and a splash of vinegar and blended.  It came clean.

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Blessings (and beauty!),

Elderberry Syrup

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Elderberry syrup is really easy to make, and a great support to the immune system. 

Start out with as much fresh or dried berries as you would like.  I used two cups dried.

Cover with water, and simmer for about 40 minutes or so, until the berries are soft and the water looks dark with juice.

Strain, mushing the berries to get as much juice out as you can.  You can save the berries for other uses, or just make the chickens outside very, very happy.

Add enough raw honey (which has its own medicinal properties, too) to taste, and that’s it!  Elderberry syrup is really tart, so be prepared to use quite a bit of honey if you want to give it to your kids straight.  Keep in the fridge.  A spoonful a day helps keep the bugs away 🙂

Bringing the Green Inside

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I’ve taken advantage of the last few gorgeous sunny days here in the Pacific Northwest to put the garden to bed, pulling out the old and mulching heavily.  Garlic and shallots are planted and that’s about all I’m going to do for overwintering crops this year.

I used to have many, many plants inside of my house, but truthfully there is enough work already for me to do inside and I’d rather be outside with God’s creation.  Still, it is nice to have a bit of green here and there, and I’ll show you the extent of what I have.  There isn’t a whole lot (by design!):

In my laundry/mud room I have a bonsai tree, and the same violets that I brought up from California with me 15 years ago.  I don’t take very good care of either, letting them get bone dry regularly and then just sinking them both in pails of water to allow dry spots to bubble up for five minutes or so.  Some folks may think I’m doing it all wrong, but hey…I still have purple flowers after 15 years.

Another plant I brought up with me all those years ago was a ficus tree a friend gave me when she moved to another state.  We thought we had killed it in the hot transport but it came back.  I thought I had killed it when I kept it outside for the winter but it came back.  I’ve hacked it back, ignored watering it, had a cat pee in it, kept it in sunshine and in shade…and still it lives.  It’s not my green thumb; it’s God’s little resurrection reminder.

In my kitchen I like to have fresh flowers all year long.  It’s just one of those things that makes me happy.  If nothing’s in my garden, I buy a few stems from the market.   Next to my pretty flowers is the wall I tape up things I like, like poems, Bible verses, reminders, etc.  I don’t stress about tape on my walls.

I mostly dislike dried plants in my house.  They get dusty and fade and I don’t care to care for them.  Lavender I like, however, and I can keep them for about two years.  I cut them from my garden, and have little bundles in the bathroom and by my bedside.

And who says greenery needs to be green?  I made this little candle holder from outside twigs, hotgluing them together and using some homemade (store-boughten) paper for the shade.  It looks really pretty at night, a soft glow.

There are lots of ways to bring the outside in, but make sure you aren’t adding more work than you are willing to spend on the inside greeneries.

You can read more thoughts on bringing the green inside this week at other High Five Mom posts. Tell them I sent you!

Expressing the Creative Side

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Rearranging the house, painting furniture, zealous decluttering happening around these parts.  And a massive garage sale coming on Saturday morning.  It is slow, room by room, drawer by drawer, but the house is getting a huge fresh breath of air.  For too long I haven’t wanted to really invest in my home this way because (1) I didn’t *deserve* a big beautiful house and (2) we had (have) no money to do anything major.  Ahhh but grace abounds and re-decorating with what I have is free.  Besides, selling stuff makes money, and as it turns out my kids love to paint (praise the Lord because I don’t!).

My closet got a makeover as well.  First I removed absolutely everything out of it.  And then I painted the wall and my husband’s childhood dresser, and then I refused to put anything back in that didn’t fit or made me feel frumpy or was just plain old.  Yes, that emptied my closet!!  I am slowly filling it with a purchase here and there, and it is amazing how much better it feels to have a small wardrobe and to know everything there will be something nice that fits well.  I have the perfect little new dress to wear for my 19th wedding anniversary coming up on Monday.

I love my letter friends and pen pals! It is so nice to get a letter (thank you!) and to carefully pry it loose it during a quiet moment (OR to rip it open in the car outside the post office!).  I love just listening to the handwriting and contemplating the words of these other faithful women just making their way like I am. I think every woman needs a letter-writing friend. It fosters slowness.  Observation.  Exhaling.

I’ve also been journaling, re-creating my habit of writing every day.  It’s been like meeting myself, all over again!

Slowly stitching my way across my linen and wool bed cover.  I’m working on the border now.  A couple of days ago I was threading through the pieces thinking how I need to make more time for this, not just for me but for my children as well.  There’s far too much time in academics and chores and I think we need more balance in the visual arts, at least to allow them to express their creative sides more.  I tend to worry more about finishing grammar work than if they got anything even remotely related to art begun or finished. I bet we could listen to audio books and whatnot while we worked on projects.  I’ll be praying on this while we make out our new autumn schedule.

I did finish my basket!  I made it the perfect size for carrying a casserole dish in, and deep enough also for two dishes.  My husband said he would make me a little tabletop to separate the two layers.  A friend of mine sewed up the liner for me in exchange for herbal tinctures, and we are both very happy with that trade!

The garden is blooming, and it is wonderful to look out the kitchen windows to see the crazy purples and oranges and blues and of course green everywhere.  The nice thing is that most of it is just perennials coming back, and I let the surprises just be where they wanted for the most part: poppies in the path, borage throughout, calendula seeding elsewheres.  I haven’t even minded the hens coming in.  If I have salad greens (and I do!) it is a plus; if I don’t, I figure it’s an excuse to go to the farmer’s market.  I have corn, squash, beans, and tomatoes out front this year, too, but I’m not too stressed about keeping the weeds down.  Maybe I should be.  But I’m not.

Between my road trip with my friend, and the vacation at the beach with my family we just had, I’ve got a little stash of artist playthings going.  Wool felt, ribbon, fat quarter fabric, scrapbooking paper, stickers, a rubber stamp, paint.  I don’t know what I’m going to do with it all.  But right now I am enjoying them all on my desktop, just looking pretty.  Maybe inspiration will come.

I’m learning that I don’t need to necessarily have my act together (according to me, my biggest critic) before embarking on creative pursuits.  I just need to start them, and to cultivate habit and routine to see them through.  The arts can become just another aspect of homelife, weaving in through homeschooling, homemaking, playing and dishes. 

What did you like to do when you were young?  What arts do you most enjoy?  Try a little nibble if you’re feeling a little dry, and maybe that seedbed will stir into something beautiful.

Blessings,

Homemade Green Mix

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I was inspired to put together my own family’s green mix after watching one of the homesteading videos in which they did the same. Her mix was far larger than mine (and also I assume way more costly) and I didn’t want to end up with more than we would use within the year, so I shot for a gallon’s worth. We’ll see how long it lasts. I also wanted to pick and choose the herbs and whatnot to put in it.

I had a lot of the herbs I wanted on hand (yay!), and measured them out on a scale. I wasn’t worried about using or even buying “powdered” because I thought it would be fresher “cut and sifted” (less air surface exposed) and my handy-dandy VitaMix would powder them anyway.

It was fun seeing all of the freshly dried potent herbs mixing up, all with their own smells (chlorella is absolutely the worse smelling stuff ever!) and color and texture variations. God is so good to give us medicine in our backyards under our own noses!

I did have to clean up a green dust cloud all over the kitchen when it was all said and done.

Here is my recipe. I am sure someone out there could fuss at me for putting *that* in it or leaving *that* out of it but I am satisfied for my first try at it. I actually narrowed down my choices quite a bit, because I was shooting for that gallon size. I tried for a variety of helps that were appropriate for our family. Also, I listed the very, very short basic reason for including particular herbs…if you research them individually I am sure you will find they are really power houses!

5oz spearmint: good for tummy (and especially for flavoring!)

4oz each:
chlorella: immune support, pulls mercury
alfalfa: high in minerals, good for detox
nettle: high in minerals, good for adrenals, blood purifier
dandelion: good for detoxing liver/kidneys/colon; antacid, pulls aluminum
kelp: sea minerals, pulls aluminum
horsetail: pulls lead, good for hair/nails/connective tissue

2oz each:
oatstraw: calcium, cell support, nervine
hawthorn berry: heart support
astragalus: immune support
licorice root: support for adrenal and pectoral glands
ginger root: increases circulation, fights inflammation, anticatarrhal
tumeric: pulls mercury and aluminum
marshmallow root: support for kidneys, decreasing stones
ginkgo biloba: cell and brain support
red clover blossom: lymph care, blood purifier
chia seed: omega 3’s, fiber, demulcent
catnip: analgesic, nervine
chapparal: natural antibiotic
goldenseal: antiseptic, natural antibiotic
burdock root: pulls aluminum
maca root: adrenal support
gooseberry: fights free radical damage

Ones I did not add but very well could have (some must be refrigerated and I didn’t want to deal with that). I can also use these in other kitchen meal preparation areas:

spirulina: immune support
bee pollen/royal jelly: immune support
aloe vera: immune support, destroys/expels worms & parasites, natural antibiotic
milk thistle: liver support
bilberry: eyes
dulse: sea minerals
wheat/barley grass: greens
rose hips: antioxidant
dried fruits/acerola berry/elderberry: antioxidants
MSM: hair and nails
lecithin: cell support and skin
red raspberry: muscle tone
stevia: flavor

Bulk Herb Store is a great place to buy herbs (in bulk :), very inexpensive. But if you only want a couple ounces, you could try Jean’s Greens or Rose Mountain.

Here it is! We use a heaping tablespoon in our big VitaMix smoothies.

Blessings,

Late Winter Head Spinning

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I think my head’s going to pop off. Somehow when I wasn’t paying too much attention I left behind my winter’s rest and started on a number of projects with gusto. And now I think my gusto’s getting up and leaving me! So this blog entry will be a brain dump; feel free to pass it by if your own head starts to hurt.

Wiving: still trying to find my way around my husband’s new obsession. I am so thankful to have received the last couple of issues of No Greater Joy magazine because the whole *obsession* thing is addressed. And I’m thinking, “Oh GOOD! This is normal! But now what do I do?…..” And by the way, they’re currently having an Amazon blitz with a book on an issue that is so important to talk to children about.

Mommying: oh….I don’t need to list anything here because if you’re a mom you know. It’s full.

Homemaking: I’m still in the midst of turning my house into one big snowglobe and shaking it all up. Furniture is moving all over the place, rooms are being reorganized, and my husband has more than once had to break out his tools to re-do something in a different place. I’m also slowly painting my way through the downstairs, changing colors. There will be some rewiring and carpentry to be done as well. I’ll share some before and after pics when it’s done.

Outside: Spring is coming! And unless I just want to un-garden for another season, I need to finish the inside of my house so I can work on the outside of it. Chicks are arriving this week, ducklings are on order, seeds are ready to be started (in my newly heated greenhouse woohoo!), and I’m still looking to buy more dairy goats (gals) and sell my own babies (guys). I’m pretty certain my honeybees are not going to make it through this winter, but I’d love to be surprised. I’ll be adding a second hive, and have those bees on order, too. Next month (wait…it is next month yet? Ack! Tomorrow!) I’ll be helping out with shearing and planning a nice little herd of shetland sheep to add to our home sweet home. The new pasture for the goats is planned and we’re just waiting for the ground to thaw to start putting in posts for the fence. And then there’s a barn to finish building…

Other projects: I have a podcast to prepare for this week (which has been so well received; thank you for your many blessings on it), and a photobook of the last year to put together, hopefully before this year is out. And speaking of last year, I finished my Holistic Nutrition masters program (yay!) and now want to expand my herb education beyond “family herbalist”. So I’m eyeing a new distant learning school but I better not jump until fall (at least). I have a soap making class to teach next week, a preschool bags activity group to keep up with (and a bunch of activities to make for it), a retreat to prepare for (planning/preparing meals for the speaker and making a hundred or so bookmarks), and a homeschool conference coming up which means I need to plan out next year’s curriculum so I know what I need to purchase. Let’s not even discuss the handwork projects I want to finish up.

I know. When I die there will still be things in my “in” box. And everything I’m doing will someday burn up anyway; it’s that whole vanity thing. But still, it’s a glory to participate in eternally-living-child-raising, help-meet-covenant-keeping, creative endeavors and creature-husbandry. I just pray the Lord keeps my head on straight through it all.

Blessings,

Change of Seasons

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Since the miscarriage, I’ve been thinking lately how my life is changing seasons. I’m no longer the young woman taking my fertility and youth for granted. I’m also no longer the girl who was so challenged by what other people thought of me, it guided what I did, said and wore. I’m finally comfortable being the person that some people love (xo!), and the same person that others hate (xo to you, anyway!). I am learning to become more content every day with who God has made me to be, and it is a lovely and restful place to be.

So it seems appropriate as I think on things that the leaves outside are about all blown from the trees, and the smell of winter is in the air. Fall is bowing out, winter coming in. And God is so gracious in it all, directing and orchestrating changes both in creation and in me.

I feel I’ve been MIA in these Internet parts. All the blogs I used to read…I’ve sort of forgotten about them. I didn’t mean to. I just decided that not having the computer available when I want it was actually a blessing. And that I could actually do the things I was reading about others doing and blogging about. In fact, if after reading this post you want to turn off your own computer and go to work on your own projects…and then you forget to come back…I wouldn’t be offended. I’m definitely not a “stay on the computer” encourager!

One thing I’m doing more of is reading and writing snail mail letters. I love getting mail in the mailbox! It’s so lovely to see my writer’s handwriting, to steep a cup of tea and then just focus on my friend and her words. It’s so different than reading a blog-click-reading a blog-click-reading a blog… I know, I’m a dying breed. It’s ok. I don’t mind what others think 😉

I’ve been picking at projects here and there, mostly the ones that are stashed here and there. Seems I’m forever dreaming up new projects without completing the ones I’ve started. I think it’s time for a little discipline and to finish up some of these lovely things.

I have a lovely bump of Icelandic wool to spin, but first I needed to get the other spun wool off the bobbins. Like I said…unfinished projects!

One thing I did get done was to harvest a good bunch of herbs before the first frost was due to arrive. I was surprised at how nicely they dried just hanging in my kitchen; usually I use the dehydrator. I’ll have to crumble and jar these up soon, though, to avoid dust collecting on them. Or maybe I’ll just leave several bundles out for good smells and looks. I left the rest of the garden as is. I knew the first frost would kill the tumbling bright orange nasturtiums but I couldn’t bare to pull them out yet.

We’ve had lots of people over, some invited, some surprises, but always a great delight. We keep a puzzle out most of the year (not summer…that is outside season!) and our guests like to pick at them while they’re here. It’s surprising how a simple thing can open up someone to dialogue. Of course, it also helps that we don’t have a TV to distract anyone.

I managed to get some shopping done with my Mom when my parents came to visit. Shopping is not my favorite thing to do; I’m so picky about clothing (no plastic-wear, please) and it is so hard to find basic things to wear. If someone would open a shop that sold wonderful aprons and simple cotton shirts and long easy skirts and shawls for fall and woolen capes for winter and real wool/cotton leggings and homespun knitted socks…I’d be a customer for life!

With the colder weather outside, the board games are coming out more. And books. And elaborate train tracks and baking recipes.

And then, we did get hit not only with the first frost, but the first snow! We got 6-7 inches and the children were wild with pleasure in sledding and snowball fighting. Last year we got not even a single snowflake! Outside, the roads were slick and cluttered with abandoned cars. I was so thankful I had pre-bought snowpants and snow gloves for all of the children, just in case, during one of those rare shopping trips. It was nice to be comfortable in my home, not feeling “trapped” at all….of course it helped that we kept our power on the whole miraculous time. Our visitors from California, however, were freezing!

Our two does (far left and right) are (we hope) expecting kids next month sometime. If these gals actually give birth, it will be the first successful breeding we’ve ever had and what a joy that will be!

Staying snowed in with grandparents keeping the children occupied gave me opportunity to address our Christmas cards. Every year we receive less and less; folks either stop sending them or they transition to e-cards and such. I miss finding my mailbox full of cards, but I realize, as I’ve mentioned, I’m a dying breed of treasuring snail mail.

I’m already in the mood to decorate for Christmas. We bought the largest tree we’ve ever had, placed it in the middle of the room, and brought down boxes from the attic full of lights and sleigh bells and children’s Christmas books. If the Lord sees fit to sell our house this spring, this will be our last Christmas here. I want it to be nice.

So blessings to you, sweet readers! Make sure to make time to sit on the snow chairs your kids make and enjoy the other funny things they like to do.

Blessings,

A Soap Making Craze

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Maybe if I stay busy enough I won’t spend time wondering if I’m sad enough. Isn’t that weird? You all are so kind to me; thank you thank you thank you. I haven’t even deleted any emails yet; rereading your words and hymns is a great comfort. So, I’ve been on a soap making craze, and for the you-know-who’s in my life who want PICTURES and DIRECTIONS, here they are 🙂 Well, sort of. You have to get your own recipe.

Making soap is a little like making spaghetti. Every woman has her “own way” of “how it’s supposed to be done”. This is just how I’ve done it, and believe me, I’m no expert. But I am, however, a woman with lots of soap curing in my basement! There are a lot of soap recipes to choose from, but the basics are relatively the same. I’m going to show you the basics, and you can use whatever recipe you want.

The first thing I do is prepare my mold because then I won’t forget about doing it and panic when I have a pot of hot caustic soap to pour and nothing ready. My husband and son made wooden soap molds for me in 1lb, 2lb, and 4lb sizes. I like using wood because it absorbs the heat, but you can use glass or stainless steel containers or even clean milk cartons. Don’t use aluminum, though, because it can react to the lye. I like to line my molds with freezer paper (shiny side is soap side), but you could just use some sort of grease or whatnot. I like the paper because it gives me something to grab to pull my soap out with. Don’t use foil, though (aluminum…). I try to smooth the paper out so there aren’t a lot of creases, but I’m not too finicky. Does this sound complicated already? I hope not!

If I’m going to put in any textures like ground oatmeal or scents like lavender or colorants, I set those things up and have them at the ready to pour right where I’ll be mixing everything. That way I don’t have to stop to take off a lid at the point when everything’s moving quickly.

Next, I weigh my fats and oils. I love my digital scale! It’s so accurate and easy to use. Whatever fats and oils your recipe calls for, use. DON’T substitute until you are ready to come up with new recipes (using things like lye calculators), because different fats act and react differently. So find a recipe that uses ingredients you either have on hand or are willing to buy…some of which is cheap and some of which is definitely not. Different fats/oils have different lathering and moisturizing qualities, so you’ll just have to experiment to find what you like.

After weighing my fats and oils, I melt them gently over the stove top. You could use a microwave (carefully), but I wouldn’t want to use a microwave for at least a dozen reasons, including not being able to watch my melting. As soon as everything’s melted together, I turn off the heat and let it cool to about 100 degrees. I use a meat thermometer to gauge the temperature.

Now it’s time to mix the second batch: the liquid and the lye. A stainless steel pot (never aluminum…which you shouldn’t be using in your kitchen anyway, IMHO) cools down pretty quick so that is what I use. In this picture I used coffee because I was making a coffee soap for the kitchen. Always use distilled water as your base, whether you’re using it plain, or making a tea (or coffee!) for soap. Do NOT substitute dairy milk for your liquid; making milk soap entails specially preparing the milk (not horribly hard, but another step.) Again, weigh your water and then weigh your lye separately. When you are ready to add your lye to water (NEVER the other way around), PUT ON YOUR GOGGLES AND GLOVES. Once lye mixes with water it heats up very fast (like to 200 degrees!). Keep a window open (it will be gassy) and keep the children A-W-A-Y. As soon as the lye dissolves into your liquid (stir), put the pot into an ice bath to get it cooling. You want to bring the solution down to a range close to your fats temperature, 100 degrees. And don’t stress about using lye. Yes, it’s dangerous but so is bleach and gasoline and poopy diapers. Be smart about your movements (that is, pay attention) and wear those gloves and goggles.

Once the temperature has hit about 100 degrees, it’s time to mix the two batches together. Carefully pour the liquid/lye mix into the fats pot. And please make sure your immersion blender is IMMERSED before starting it up. Keep the thermometer in the pot and blend blend blend until it begins to thicken and the temperature goes up a couple of degrees. It can take like five or more minutes, but don’t be discouraged! In this picture it was just about ready; you can even see the “trace” which is the track the blender leaves as it moves in the pot. I like to blend on the floor because it gives me greater control.

After it’s ready (that is, the mix has moved up a couple of degrees in temperature), then is when I add my pretties: textures bits, scents, colors. I prefer a more natural product (that’s no surprise, huh?!) so I don’t use soap colorants, and I do use essential oils. For a one pound batch of soap, I use about 1/4 oz of essential oil (that’s like half a bottle!). For textures, I just sort of eye it and add about 1/3 cup or more until I like what I see. I blend the goodies in just until it’s mixed, really a few seconds. Don’t take too long because it will just be that much harder to get it all out.

It’s time to pour! I use a plastic spatula to get it all out. And yes, I use my regular kitchen ware for everything. I figure that’s what dishwashers are for, and I’ve never had a problem washing everything well. My friend used a baking dish, lined with freezer paper. Put your poured soap in a safe place where little hands (and bigger husbands) can’t bump into them.

After pouring it’s time to wash. And yes, keep those gloves and goggles on!!! You do not want lye-anything to splatter anywhere (it will burn but just rinse with water if you get some on your skin). After everything’s cleaned up, you are done for the day!

Find something else to do…

The next day, it’s time to cut soap! Put those gloves back on! Here is a handy-dandy cutter the men in my life made for me. I just pulled out my soap from the mold and then set it in the cutter, and used my bread scraper to cut.

Psssst. You don’t need a special cutter. You could even use a knife. In this picture you can see the soap is still a bit soft; I think it’s because of the coffee, but I don’t know. It still worked though. And you can smooth out the edges a bit with your gloved fingers at this time, too, if you have pokey edges.

Find a safe place to cure your soap (away from little hands…). You could use cookie cooling racks but whatever you use won’t be available for about a month. I use old trays and paper sacks as a liner, recording the kind and date. I flip my soap every few days or so. You can see how it’s drying already. The longer you cure your soap, the harder it will get. You can buy ph strips to see if your soap is “for sure” ready (that is, the lye is completely finished and won’t burn)…but I usually wait at least a month and go with it. I’ve never had a problem (not that there’s never a first…).

So here is all of my soap! Top left is 4lbs of rosemary shampoo bars, and underneath that is a pound of kelp/bay/peppermint/tea tree. Top right is a pound of oatmeal/calendula/chamomile/beeswax/honey. Right middle is a pound of coffee/cocoa (with coffee grounds, too!), and on the bottom right is lemon/lemongrass/lemon peel/poppyseed. And no, I’m not that creative. I just looked around websites that were selling soap and thought, “hey! That sounds like a good flavor! I’ll do that!” I don’t like using colorants, but you can see that just the additives alone colored the soaps nicely.

That’s it! If you’re new (or even not) to soap making, I recommend my very favorite soap making book ever; totally easy to understand and use:

Understand though, that making soap is a bit like making spaghetti…and you will find your own personal style and way of making it work. I, however, am done with soap for a while. Which is a good thing, because now I’m in the mood to make beauty products as my homemade moisturizer is almost out. Calendula is currently steeping in almond oil…and I am keeping busy.

May the Lord bless you,

Bye, Bye, Summer

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How did I get to mid-October already? Yet, here we are with crisp sunny days and leaves glowing with yellow. It’s time for garden clean-up: the last mowing, the weeding and mulching, putting away the hammock and so forth. Garlic will hopefully be planted in the next couple of days, but it is bittersweet, wondering who will pull it out in July as our home is for sale. Do I even want to cloche the fall vegetable offerings? Part of me just wants to put it all to bed, to say my goodbyes and let it rest.

The kitchen has been busy as usual. Lots of jams are put up, and applesauce, and salsas and tomato sauces and dehydrated garlic, onion, hot peppers, mushrooms and various herbs from the garden. I’ve got plenty of salve for boo-boo’s and lots of tinctures for ailments that hopefully won’t show up now that I’m armed. A fun thing I’ve been doing is preparing “tincture kits” for my friends while watching a movie (Pride and Prejudice!). You should have seen and smelled the small media room; it was clouded with a dry herbal smell for days! For five bucks each, my pals get all the premixed organic herbs and can make a pint of tincture for themselves. It’s a very happy go around.

We’ve been milking and are now working to dry off the goat. She has become a real pain, laying down on the milk bucket. My husband has to hold her backside up in the air so we can milk! (Find that man a chiropractor!) Twice we’ve had to throw out the milk because goaty stepped into it. And recently, I got into my beehive completely excited for the honey harvest I was going to have and when I got in there….nothing. Nada. Not only was there no honey to harvest, there wasn’t enough to feed them through the winter. So I am feeding my honeybees (trying not to sulk about it) and in all practicalities, starting over. I ought to mention that summer never *really* arrived here in the Pacific Northwest so not only did the bees not do well, dozens of tomato plants with fruit that rotted on the vine were pulled out by gardeners all over the area. I did manage to get my 85 pound puppy into the van for his trip to the vet to get *fixed* (that is, really, “broken”), but had to clean out the poop when I got home. Did I mention he is a big dog? No small potatoes there! Ah, the ease of country living…

I managed to sneak away for a weekend to the beach and got three scrapbook albums finished. When I first got there, I took a good look around and realized I was surrounded by scrapbooking professionals with tools and lights and electrical gadgets I’ve never even heard of. I was like, um, here are my pictures, papers and tape and pen. My books are very, very plain, maybe a strip of colored paper on the edges and that’s that. It’s just not my thing to make ornate pages even though I can totally appreciate the artistry that goes into them. And anyway, I got three books done. To me, that’s golden. And walking on the beach wasn’t too shabby, either.

I spun some more yarn, and tried to knit a hat. Which I finally ripped all out because I couldn’t get the GAP to close (you knitters will understand). And I am currently trying to knit a sock. Which I think I’ll probably be ripping out because I can’t get the GAP to close. Sigh. Knitter at heart, but not in my fingers. Maybe I’ll just end up spinning yarn for other knitters. In the meantime, I made a nice basket, finished an autumnal quilt, and have stacks of fabric waiting for other projects. And I have a nice gentleman from N’York making me some new harnesses for my loom.

I hope you’re enjoying your first days of fall! It’s a wonderful time to plan projects for those restful and quiet days of winter.

Blessings,

First Aid Kits: What’s in Yours?

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Confidence in reacting to the boo-boos of life is stoked by being prepared for them. I keep two first aid kits: one at home and one in the van. As usual, my focus is on natural remedies and a drugless approach to treating the everyday scrapes, bumps and tummy aches.

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Here is the list of what I keep in the van (see the photo above):
* bandages
* arnica for bumps and bruises, apis for bee stings, and belladonna for sudden fevers
* Rescue Remedy for calming
* a packet of cayenne pepper for bleeding control. No, really. A little cayenne on the tongue helps to stop bleeding. Worked wonders on my daughter’s bloody nose not too long ago, in fact.
* a bottle of shelf-stable probiotics for upset tummies. That is MARVELOUS to have on hand when a child gets a stomacheache while out and about.
* a jar of herbal salve
* hand sanitizer

In my home kit, this is what I keep on hand as a BASIC:
* rubbing alcohol for disinfecting a wound after cleaning it
* all sorts of bandages and adehesive dressing
* tweezers for splinters and, because we live in the woods, a tick-remover kit
* arnica gel for bumps and bruises

In addition to my kit, I have these things in my home to treat my family as needed:
* several ice packs in the freezer and the Boo Boo Bunny of course

* aloe vera juice (in a spray bottle) in the fridge
* a variety of homeopathic remedies for various ailments
* a variety of essential oils
* a variety of homemade tinctures for various ailments
* a variety of homemade salves for insect bites, rashes, cuts, etc.
* Rescue Remedy for a quick, calming response

* a variety of homemade and store-bought teas
* a variety of dried herbs to use as needed
* a homemade 4 Thieves disinfectant spray; here is an easy way to make some
* activated charcoal for poison control
* electrolyte replacement drinks for fevers or diarrhea

For more specific information regarding treating your family’s health care needs, give a listen to:

Dr. Mom: Preventative Health Care for Families

and

Dr. Mom: Loving Health Care for Families

Here are some books I like to use in keeping my family healthy:

It is a joy to take care of our families! Keep learning!

 

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Living Slow

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Every now and again I wonder what everyone is rushing all about life for. Usually I think of this while watching traffic, knowing that each multi-thousand steel encasement has at least one person in it with places to go and things to do. And because of the stainless bubble surrounding said person, there is opportunity to rule this mini world with radio or phone (hands free, of course) without any bother or sacrifice to anyone else. In fact, if there is a chance of interaction with another vehicle, it’s usually not the tip of the hat (whatever happened to those manly things?) and an acknowledgement of another human being. It’s usually, um…mean.

I want the slow life. I’ll readily admit I love to drive and yes, with loud music, but if I had my druthers, I’d rather saunter around on a horse from place to place, noticing seed pods coming before the flourish of fall leaves.

Other than twitter and email, I’ve been MIA in reading blogs and whatnot on the computer. It’s a love-hate thing. Love the information I can get. Hate how it pulls the life out of my marrow. Love writing and sharing photos. Hate how sedentary I am while doing it. If my computer finally died, would I cry? How many people are rushing through their lives to get back to the computer, to social media, to blog hopping, to texting? How, I wonder, did people ever fill their time before this blessed technology? I’m not altogether certain, but I am sure more lives involved more people and projects.

Here are some snippets of my life lately. And yes, it takes a while to upload photos, format them, post them, write a blog and then *ta da!* “publish post”. I think it’s worth doing on occasion. I think…

**OH OH!! This blog is interrupted for a phone call from my brother! YAY!!**

So…where was I….oh, pics to share with you! Consider these some of the “instead” things I’ve been doing while off the computer. I harvested a goodly bunch of hardneck garlic and after curing them all, I peeled and cut apart all of the cloves. It was a lot of work, but I find fresh powered garlic so yummy all year long, so the time is worth it to me.

Then there was the dehydrating and powdering to do. The whole house smelled like an Italian restaurant. Mmmmm….

I ended up with almost three quarts of powdered garlic, and began sharing some with friends. If you want to make your own, you can see my directions here.

I also made a good batch of fresh salve. I cold steeped herbs (comfrey, plantain, goldenseal, calendula, chickweed, echinacea, and chapparal) in olive oil for a couple of months. Then, I used up some beeswax from my own hive (with bits of honey still on it) and put in tea tree oil and lavender essential oils. I think it’s the best salve I’ve ever made!

We’ve been buying fruit by the case and canning them in jams. The fruit leather is real good, the cobblers are tasty too, and the pies….oh, the pies!

The cool thing about friends that have gardens is that they share! We gleaned green beans from their little farm and then snapped and blanched and froze them all up for the winter. And of course, there was plenty for eating for suppers!

My girls and I have been working on making baskets. We took a field trip and bought supplies, and then invited a lovely woman to come teach us how to do this. I’m so inspired! I think I’ll be able to say, “hmm, I want a basket for my (whatever)” and then be able to make one! My plan is to tea dye my basket when it’s finished. Notice the mug. It says, “Smile at the rain.” I needed to. Because it was raining. Because summer never really showed up.

My kids don’t have or play video games, unless you want to count their math program. So they have to find other things to do. My 12yo has been copying photographs with colored pencils. And my 10yo son has been picking up cans alongside the road and then using them for target practice. And so forth…

I’ve been enjoying watching my puppy (on the left) growing up. He’s larger than my yellow lab now. Raising a puppy is a challenge, but I’ve enjoyed it very, very much. It’s nice to sit outside and read a book while watching these dogs play with each other. What’s wrong with being a homebody?

So, that’s a little mish-mash. Fall is coming on. To me, the official start of fall is when I pick the last of my sweet peas, clean up the garden a bit, and plant for a winter harvest of greens. I’ve made peace with summer leaving without much of a visit. I’ve been eyeing my knitting and sewing projects, preparing for the homeschooling year, reading various books and trying to keep my mind and heart on the length of days I have left in this life and the wonderful God who lets me live them. You have a wonderful life, too. Don’t miss it.

Blessings,

What’s in Your Pantry?

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What’s in the pantry matters! You do have control over the food you provide and prepare for your family. Learn to create a health-promoting, wholesome kitchen, learn to cook from scratch, and learn to take control of your families bodily AND financial health. It really matters!

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Supplies for a healthy pantry:
* glass gallon and half-gallon jars with lids
* 5 gallon buckets with zip lids
* a canner with jars and sealing lids

What to buy:
* the healthiest, most organic food you can afford
* what your family will eat!
* food in bulk; ask for case discounts, join co-ops, shop sales, etc.
* locally grown meat and produce, as much as possible

How to begin:
* Start with what you already like to cook, and slowly build your stock.
* Think of having mostly “ingredients” and less pre-mixed foods
* Ask for help! Lots of people know how to grind wheat, bake, make jam, can beans… Ask!

Keeping hubby happy:
* Have snack foods on hand! Trail mix and nuts ready to eat will keep him from helplessly staring at all those jars of dried beans and millet when you’re away (smile).

Blessings,

Lavender Dreams

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Lavender. Oh how I love lavender! I love the way it looks, the way it waves in the breeze, their easy care. I like to make beauty products with it and hang them to dry. I have about a dozen lavender plants here and there around the house, but there are around 200 varieties of lavender. Here is some information about lavender from one of my favorite farms.

Yesterday, I picked a nice basket of them from the front yard, always right below the first set of leaves.

I suppose I ought to mention how much I like the smell of lavender. Mmmm…. Notice that this lavender is picked before the flowers open.

This is what I find beautiful: rows and rows of lavender, swaying in the breeze like the ocean swells. And the scent of it all brushing together is so lovely. We spent the day at a lavender festival, and I could almost just close my eyes and imagine this scene growing outside my own home. Maybe someday…

In the meantime, I was thankful for the relaxing day! And now I must go have a lavender shortbread cookie right from the oven before packing them up for our church potluck tomorrow. I am so grateful for little pieces of heaven like this!

Blessings,

Homemade Seasonings 2010

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It’s harvest time, for whatever there is to actually harvest this year. We’re enjoying salad from the garden, at least. One of the things I enjoy doing is drying the seasonings I want to use in the kitchen throughout the year, but it is a little bittersweet. Is it too much to ask that someone will buy my home and LOVE the herb garden I planted and tended? Perhaps. But I ask anyway. Here is how I dried my Greek oregano:

I trimmed my oregano plant as it was flowering. I didn’t want the flowers to go to seed, because I didn’t want it to spread anymore. It’s best to trim herbs and flowers at the beginning of the day rather than in a full hot sun (ha ha…like we have that!).

I stripped the leaves off the stalks. If you try this and it doesn’t strip easily, flip it around. There is definitely an easier way to do it.

I ended up with two large bowls of oregano leaves. And hands that smelled like oregano.

Some folks wash their herbal leaves and some don’t. I do. I spin it a bit at a time in the salad spinner. Then I put the leaves onto dehydrator trays and dried them at 125 degrees for about 12 hours or so. The leaves were crispy, not bendy.

I put the leaves into a big bowl and just crumbled it all more with my hands. It made a decent amount, and now it’s all ready for spaghetti sauce, Italian seasoning, meatloaf….

I also pulled the garlic I planted last fall. The bulbs were beautiful! Last fall I decided to plant just hardneck garlic for drying to powder, rather than any softnecks for storage. I just didn’t have the room to do both, and I use the powder for just about every garlic need I have anyway. Did you know that the powdered garlic from the store is mostly from China? Yikes! Besides, making it fresh is amazingly better!

I’m contemplating planting garlic this fall. Would the new owner know what those stalks coming from the ground are and what to do with them? Then again, with this market, it could be me pulling up garlic this time next year. Hmm..

In any case, I was very, very pleased. I set them in a shady spot in the barn to cure, which will take about a month or so. Then I will powder them.

May your garden be fruitful!

Dr. Mom: Loving Health Care for Families

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Even in doing all the preventative measures talked about in Part One, moms still need to have a plan in treating illness when it occurs. It is our responsibility to watch over and encourage vibrant health in our families. Here are some thoughts in treating illness when it happens.

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  • Stay home. The world will wait. The body cannot heal and recover well when the ill person is off running around. Give your mind a rest as well.
  • Use home remedies. This is a book I like to use, but there are certainly others:
  • Use herbs. They are God’s pharmacy! Beware of “green” witchery, as ALL witchery is an abomination with the Lord. Psalms 104:14 He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man: that he may bring forth food out of the earth… Here is an excellent site that I trust for information regarding herbs. They also carry a number of very helpful books.
  • Heal the digestive tract. Use plenty of rice, fruit and vegetables. Use probiotics. Learn to make homemade chicken broth and keep some on hand in the freezer or canned. Here’s how I make chicken broth:
Put one whole, organic chicken in a large pot.
Add roughly cut carrots, celery, and onions.
Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for at least a couple hours.
Strain out vegetables and save meat for a meal.
Add salt to taste to broth, cool, and preserve.
  • Increase circulation through baths, using sea salts and essential oils. Do wet sock treatments.
  • Use chiropractic care. Here is the article written by my husband on ear infections, and here is the one written about Licking Doorknobs (you KNOW that sounds sick!).
  • Offer plenty of liquids: water, herbal teas, electrolite drinks (such as Recharge), mild juices. No dairy, soda pop, or orange juice.
  • Keep up on the supplements! I happily get mine from here, but there a lot of good, quality companies out there.
  • Seek a doctor that respects YOU and comes alongside in treatment as a team member. Know when to take a family member to the doctor, and then do so.

If you’re looking for a good starting point, I’d recommend this book:

May the Lord bless your efforts to keep you and your family well!

Around the Yard

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Well, I can’t have you all over for tea and scones, so I’ll just take you on a tour around the yard. This is more of what’s going on in my (outside) world:

The hens want out. They want out, badly. I almost feel cruel just walking by, leaving their door shut. But I like the tender seedlings growing in my garden, so they can just scratch at the bit of earth they have and choose to be happy. And lay us some more eggs.

Here is my puppy. He’s 10 months old and larger than my yellow lab. He is a maremma and very ACTIVE!

Peaches are actually growing! This is their second year; the tree is shorter than I am, but its branches have about a dozen peaches. I can’t wait to pick a ripe one! Assuming of course the sun will come out and do its thing…

Love these roses against the striped grass. So pretty.

I bought these pink hydrangeas from a wonderful nursery that was bought out (forced out) by a big company. A lot of us were pretty stinkin’ mad at the whole deal.

The tomatoes are growing well in the greenhouse. My honeybees usually make it inside to pollinate, but they’ve been content to stay out of the wet weather. We’ll see how much fruit sets…

I planted valerian from seed. Do they like to spread! But I think they smell nice and look lovely.

Blackberries are coming on like crazy. No one around here plants them. We just pick them and then yank them out from the middle of our yards and gardens on a regular basis.

These are another of naturally growing flowers in our area: foxgloves. They’re toxic, but check out the amazing landing pad they have for bees! It looks like an airport’s landing strip!

I planted these calendula from seed. What a wonderful herb to treat wounds with; they are almost always in my boo-boo salves.

The lilies were shared by a sweet friend of mine. Spliting garden treasures is a wonderful thing to do!

Batchelor’s buttons for floral bouquets in a pretty blue…

…and borage blooming. I love picking the borage blossoms, freezing them in water in ice cube trays, and putting them into summer drinks. Pretty and gives a quite tasty flavor, too!

It looks like we’ll have plenty of green peas to pick.

Yarrow grows in the “weeds”. Some of the best herbs are (ahem) “weeds”. Fever-killers, these are.

Grape colored poppies! This is the third year I tried planting them and here they finally are! I just love them.

And we redid our raspberry beds. Again. I hope the next owner enjoys these berries.

That’s lavender on the left. I don’t think I could ever grow too much lavender. I have dreams of planting fields of lavender.

And there’s our puppy saying “bye bye”. Goooooood puppy, mwah!

Blessings,

In the Garden: Early Summer

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Spring has been very wet here, more so than usual. I think the entire month of May was made up mostly of rain, and the sun was everywhere-but-here. I don’t mind the rain most times, but it became more and more difficult not to gripe about it. And really, I have nothing to gripe about: my seedlings were all watered without my help and I was able to work on sewing and handwork projects (which I’ll share later). Something in my heart rings about being thankful in all circumstances.

Want a little tour?

The garlic scapes (the curly flowering coming up in the middle of the stalk) have now been cut and I am enjoying them chopped and fried. I am down to my last half dozen or so garlic heads from last year so I am really, really happy to see these coming due. I have even more growing in another raised bed.

The cherries are ripening.

Oh, is there anything better than salad from your own garden?!

This isn’t a food, but I just love the flowers on this Japanese Snowball tree.

Now, this IS food. Yum. Too bad the strawberry crops up here have suffered so due to the wet.

I enjoy growing and drying my own herbs for seasonings. Here are different varieties of sage.

I like the look of lavender growing together with chamomile.

The peas are coming!

What’s a garden without a birdhouse?

Lemon balm. For summer tea. And drying, of course.

Roses are blooming (miraculous up here in the Pacific Northwest!). They smell so nice.

I love the look of hydrangeas together with creeping jenny. The color just pops.

Calendula is back. Calendula is a wonderful herb for healing.

And here is the guardian of the gardens. We’ve just begun letting her outside. Don’t all cats need a garden to bask in when the sun shines?

I hope you’re enjoying God’s creation in your own gardens as well.
Blessings,

Herbes de Provence

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I was following a crockpot recipe from a cookbook written by a fellow blogger when I came across an ingredient I didn’t have on hand: herbes de provence. I used to have available to me every spice and seasoning available (or so it seemed), but over the years I’ve weeded out the ones I hardly use. Like herbes de provence.

So I checked online and found a recipe. I was pretty excited as I went down the list because I had every one of the seasonings from my last summer’s garden ready and dried! So after I did my little snoopy dance, I measured and put together my own herbes de provence mix:

2 1/2 TB oregano
2 1/2 TB thyme
2 TB savory
2 TB lavender
1 tsp basil
1 tsp sage
1 tsp rosemary

It’s beautiful. It smells incredible. Now I just need to find more recipes that use this mix. And more seeds to grow twice as many plants this year so that I will have plenty leftover to share.

More Homemade Seasonings

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After my stint of garlic powder making, I was totally hooked on making our own seasonings. Never mind that most of our garlic powder now comes from China (and this writer makes some interesting observations about that); the color, smell and flavor of freshly made seasonings is out of this world. This only matters if (a) you like to eat good tasting food and (b) you’re concerned about what’s in the food you’re eating…and I happen to care about both.

So I decided to make onion powder in the same manner.

These are the onions from my garden that I started out with. And no, that’s not just the photo making them look small. My hens got into my garden last summer and scratched them all up! I supplemented them for this project with some organic yellow onions from the market, which I bought for 98 cents a pound. I know I could have save two dimes a pound by not buying organic, but seriously, what is the point of that? I figure I can find that much change in the parking lot if I looked for it. I can’t remember exactly, but I probably used around five other large onions.

It took a while to peel these itty bitty things, but I did not want them to go to waste! I just picked at it whenever I was in the kitchen, 10 minutes here and there. Sometimes, that’s just how things get done.

I wasn’t about to chop them all by hand, however, and just pulsed them a bit in the food processor.

It took around 16 hours to dehydrate them at 145 degrees. And yes, everyone in the vicinity of the dehydrator for the first few hours got very, very weepy! Soon the whole house smelled like onions. I didn’t care. I figured it was all good cleansing for the respiratory system (ha).

After the pieces were brittle, I put them into the processor again and ran it until it was powdered. I had to watch for the cloud of dust that needed to settle before popping the lid off. Then, I put the whole batch through a sieve.

See all of those larger pieces of onion left in the sieve? That’s what you call “MINCED onion.” (oooooo….don’t you love it when you *get* what food really is outside of the packaged store stuff?) I ended up with a full jar of onion powder and about a third of minced onion. It looks and smells outstanding! The powder from the store looks awfully sorry next to it.

My pantry now has fresh dried herbs of all sorts, mostly from the garden: oregano, thyme, savory, tarragon, lemon thyme, sage, garlic, red pepper and now onion. I had so much of it all that I decided it would be fun to make my own Italian seasoning mix. I didn’t have any dried basil or parsley on hand (next summer, Lord willing), so I bought some organic basil and parsley from the market and dehydrated it all.

Take a look at this parsley. I sure wish the photo was better:

On the left is my freshly dried parsley (not grown in China). It is a brilliant dark green, smells intense, and is still curly. The store bought on the right is a faded light green and brown, and is in these weird flat square pieces.

Anyhow, I got a recipe for Italian Seasoning online and mixed it all up. Other than the pepper, everything else was dehydrated in the kitchen. In case you’re wondering, I use an Excalibur Dehydrator. I love it! If you know someone who has one collecting dust in their garage, I bet you could very nicely ask them if they’d take $20 for it. They are also a find in garage sales.

This is my Italian Seasoning mix. It looks beautiful, and if I could make a scratch and smell onto your computer, I would. I’ve really had fun with this.

Flu Busting

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It seems like every year we get the same warnings about the flu d’jour (or d’season, as it were). These seem to be mostly brought to us by newsanchors who make it their mission to cause widespread panic and fear no matter what content is on their teleprompter, so although I take steps to protect and care for my family during the (entire) year, the best thing I can do is express a quiet trust in the Lord God’s care for us, and rest in His sovereignty in all things. No one’s going to be ill around here without God’s permission! Knowing this helps me to keep things in perspective and, instead of panicking, gives me opportunity to thoughtfully prepare. Stress, in case you did not know, does not lend itself to healthy living. And we all know that mommies are not allowed to get sick!

The best form of flu-care I know is to prevent it in the first place. This sounds obvious, but when the children are out late for multiple holiday events over and over (and over) again, all those extra Christmas treats, late bedtimes, and cold wet evenings keep their immune systems from running at top notch. It’s all right to say, “No dessert today” at an event, or even to put them all to bed EARLY for a change. Protect those nap (or quiet) times and feed them well with wholesome food and drink.

I am more diligent about keeping up with supplements during the winter months, especially cod liver oil. My children like it emulsified because it does not go down oily. I take my CLO also, and prefer mine fermented. It is pricey, but I’m the only one that can handle the taste, so it does last a while!

The other supplements we take in addition to our multivitamins include elderberry syrup and plenty of fresh powdered garlic on just about everything.

If I even *smell* a flu coming on, I use Oscillococcinum, cut out all sugars completely and even grains mostly, and I brew up plenty of echinacea-blended tea to drink. I buy my herbs in bulk and make my own, but you can find herbal teas in quality markets. I like Traditional Medicinals.

Now, honestly, we hardly get sick around here at all. Typically what happens is that I have a child complaining of a stomachache or even a fever that is low for the morning but off and running around by lunchtime. But that’s not to say we don’t ever see the a-typical (for us) illness.

To treat for flu, I use homeopathic remedies. Some people think they’re more like “potions”, to which I say phooey on them. Just because it’s not a pharmaceutical drug doesn’t mean it’s from the devil. I have lots of remedies on hand, but the ones we use most often are Belladonna, Nux Vom, Pulsatilla, and Arnica. Apis is awesome for bee stings, by the way.

I also use herbal tinctures that I’ve made. I brainstormed what ailments we as a family are probably going to see at some time, and then researched what herbs would combat those. For example, I’ve made some for onsets of colds and some for fevers, some for tummy aches and some for headaches (although, I have to say that with chiropractic care, we about NEVER see a headache from anyone in our family.) You can buy tinctures already made from a company like Herbs for Kids.

For meals, I let the afflicted fast as desired to give their system a chance to fight off the *bug* instead of working on digestion. If the ill person wants to eat (which is rare), I will make chicken broth with plenty of garlic in it and perhaps applesauce or homemade pudding or buttered sourdough toast. I might mix in probiotics as well. I do make sure that he or she stays hydrated with plenty of liquids, which include herbal teas and electrolyte drinks, such as Recharge. If juice is requested, I make sure to get real cranberry, not made from concentrate.

It’s important also to provide (as much as possible) a quiet place to rest and sleep. I don’t use videos to entertain too much as I don’t think all the metallic light and sound are all that conducive to healing. All of our children are fairly compassionate towards a sick sibling and will respect their peace if he or she happens to be sleeping on the living room couch.

If there is a lot of pain involved, or a very high temperature for a lengthy period, I do call my naturpathic doctor and we keep in touch. If nothing were changing for the better, I would not hesitate to call my medical doctor for his prescription pad and drugs, but haven’t needed to do so yet because healing comes. By the way, I am not afraid of fevers, even “high” ones (and what is “high” for one mom isn’t for another); fevers are about the business of fighting off disease and that is something I want to support, not suppress. I think my children have had about half a dozen Tylenols total combined between the six of them all their lives; and they usually got them when my confidence (or energy) waned and Tom had to make a 2am trip to the market to get some. None of them have yet ever needed an antibiotic for anything.

We are very blessed to have enjoyed good health over the years, and I do not take it for granted in the least. I think you can keep your family healthy as well; do the research, prepare, and baby your wee ones when they are ill in confidence. Your love is powerful medicine.

Homegrown Seasonings

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PhotobucketAfter last year’s mini garlic harvest, I set apart two entire raised beds to plant garlic for the current year. In one bed I planted softneck garlic, which keeps well and is currently stored in a mesh bag in the basement. In the other, I planted hardneck garlic. They grew so beautifully through the winter snow, reaching their curly scapes upward in the spring.

I thought I’d share how I powdered my garlic for keeping. I got the directions from this great little book, which apparently is almost out of print, so buy it quick!

After I cut off the scapes (and chopped and sauteed them in butter YUM), I waited until most of the outer leaves were drying up. Then, I carefully dug up the bulbs; I counted 43. I kept them hung in the the barn for a good month to cure.

This is what I ended up with after cutting off the leaves and trimming the roots: nice, clean bulbs.

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Then, I separated the cloves. This took some time, but I sort of just picked at it a bit at a time over the course of several days. That is how I do most projects; here 20 minutes, there 15. It works.

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Photobucket Taking the wrappers off of the cloves took the longest. I cut the tip of the top and bottom off each clove, and then my 7yo helped me peel all of them. They looked so great!

This next part was easy! I just sliced them all up in the food processor!

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Into the dehydrator they went! I dried them for about 30 hours at 115 degrees. I knew they were done when they weren’t so “bendy” but more brittle.

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This part was also easy: I blended them in small batches in the blender. I had to wait a moment after blending before opening the top, though, because it made a good garlic dust cloud. Photobucket

Sifting was next. Photobucket Instead of throwing the large particles back into the blender, I left it alone. Minced garlic, anyone?

So there you have it. One quart of powdered garlic, one quart of garlic chips ready to be powdered, and a small jar of minced. We put garlic onto just about everything, even plain ole cheese pizza (mmm…and with a dusting of fresh dried oregano, too!). Sometimes I will mix a little bit of powder with raw honey and put it on a wound with gauze and tape on top. It works great!

Now, if my chickens hadn’t dug up my onions, I would have done the same with them. Instead, I’ll probably *cheat* and buy some at the farmers market and give it a go. I really enjoy growing and using my own herbs and seasonings for my family.

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Drying Herbs: Fresh Garlic Powder

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Garlic from the gardenThe heat has been stifling around here, topping at 103. Our home isn’t equipped with air conditioning (so I guess that makes us “green friendly”). Between spritzing rabbit ears with water and showing up at the doorsteps of friends to enjoy their AC, we are all just holding on until the weather changes. Tonight cool salty sea air is wafting through the windows and it is such a mercy.

One blessing the heat has given is in the rapid drying of the herbs I had hung in the barn. I had tried drying some herbs in the dehydrator, but in comparing the two methods, hang drying definitely maintained a more rich color, even though the dehydrator was on at a low temperature.

Last night I crumbled three quarters a gallon of oregano (Italian, anyone?), and today put away ample amounts of lemon thyme and sage. I’m almost miffed that I once thought spending $4 for a teeny jar of dried seasonings was reasonable. And, I’m feeling good about the lack of pesticides, lead, and bugs that are not getting ground up into my spice jars by impersonal machinery. And there’s just something about sitting barefoot on the porch steps, hands deep into dried chamomile blossoms, that makes the heat a bit more bearable. I saved all of the leafless dried twiggy stems for my friend to use in her woodstove this winter. Won’t that smell so good?

My first harvest of softneck garlic was already harvested about 6 weeks ago, and is now hanging in a mesh bag in the basement. The photo here is of hardneck garlic, that beautiful plant that puts out a single curly flower (called a scape) that, if you want large bulbs, must be cut off early and (if you like the unusual) be cut up and sauteed in butter. In any case, my plan for the good 7 1/2 pounds I got from my garden is to turn it all into garlic powder.

Fresh garlic powder is AMAZING. I made it for the first time last year. At an herb class I was teaching, I shared what I knew about garlic. First I opened up a store bought jar of powder, which was very pleasant as we passed it around. Then I opened up my own jar and WOW, everyone could smell it from across the room! We loved it on everything, and even used it on our wounds (mixing with a bit of raw honey, and covering with gauze and tape).

This is a great book if you are interested in trying this on your own. Also, the Internet is full of resources to help you grow, harvest and use your own fresh and dried herbs. This year, don’t let the thyme (or basil or sage…) get buried under snowfall; pick and dry it now and let it remind you of hot summer days when the soup’s on.

Thyme on My Hands

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barnherbsI sat at my kitchen table, crumbling thyme I had previously hung from the bottom cupboards in the kitchen. It was hard not to let my mind wander to the last year as I methodically stripped off dried leaves from woody stems into the large stainless steel bowl.

An unexpected diagnosis of Down Syndrome with our newest baby.

Months of working alongside my husband to create his business website.

Crumble, crumble, crumble.

Finishing (more like putting up with) the last class for my masters in Holistic Nutrition.

Questions of purpose in homeschooling, followed by sister pains of mommy-guilt and mommy-inadequacy. A rebellious 5 year old. A 3 year old that insists on soiling his pants because, well, it’s warm and it’s his. A 7 year old beginning speech therapy. A 9 year old beginning to sprout his rooster feathers and an 11 year old showing emotional signs of pre-puberty.

I think I am better at crumbling thyme. It is safer and the aroma is somewhat comforting, like winter slow cooking.

And yet Jesus sends whispers. New creation. Renew your mind. You are mine. Follow me.

You, Lord, will I follow. Nothing seems scary when the Light is near.