Where the wind blows me

The gardening year

2011-12-19T10:12:00.000-08:00

This gardening year went on and on and on. I wasn't exhausted like some years in August. I had done some very good work neglecting it so I just wasn't hating my garden. Still the week before Thanksgiving when I still was ripening and processing tomatoes I decided it was time. With the twins birthdays and then Thanksgiving and then Christmas around the corner I just really needed to shift gears mentally. Feeding the last of the tomatoes to the compost bin was just the thing. Every year I vow to document my garden harvest. Next year will be the year!! Here is the pic of the tomato sauce I preserved several times this year. My own garlic, basil, oregano, peppers and a few batches with only my own tomatoes.

What is wrong with all these garden haters!?

2011-08-06T20:38:00.000-07:00

Got a minute? Go and try to support this lady and her garden.

http://adventuresofathriftymama.blogspot.com/2011/08/you-want-me-to-get-rid-of-my-garden-by.html

Here is what I wrote.
I am writing regarding a garden at Hamlin MHC in Webberville. I have no idea what your position is on this issue but am aware that representatives will be meeting with the tenant to discuss her garden. All I want to say is this. There are a lot of horrible things going on in the world today. Everything from crime to the economy to serious health issues across our nation. People treating each other horribly for no other reason than that they can or that they are stressed and looking to take it out on one another. Please let's not be petty. Let a person have a little joy by having a garden, feeding themselves wholesome food that nurtures their body and their soul. Is it so much to ask?

Garlic braids

2011-07-12T20:35:00.000-07:00

Dan and I used to live in Korea where we could buy garlic braids that looked just like this. Just looking at this picture makes me happy for that reason and to know that I have a year's worth of garlic that I grew! No irradiated garlic from China for me. And it was super easy. It might become my top crop recommendation!

What's growing in the garden

2011-07-12T20:30:00.000-07:00

Raising veggies at the neighbor's

Raising kids in our back yard. Lettuce and spinach nearing its end for the season.

The other kids in my backyard!

The wild animals in our backyard! HA!

Growing food in the front yard

2011-07-12T20:18:00.000-07:00

Julie Bass of Oak Park, Michigan is in trouble. For growing veggies in her front yard of all things! I have equated boobs to lawns now thanks to this issue. I know it is a leap for some but it just came to me so hear me out. They are both designed to feed us. Neither are meant to be augmented and boosted by additives and chemicals. They are not meant to be purely decorative. Our soil has a purpose; to grow food. Our bodies and minds have a purpose to nourish each other literally and figuratively. If there is enjoyment and things are pleasing to the eye then that is nice but not the sole purpose of either. Some may say we need to hide veggies in the back yard like hiding breastfeeding in the bathroom but that is not the way the world was meant to be. God didn't know we were going to all go and get all twisted, over-sexualized,and control freakish! OK enough wierd ranting that doesn't make sense to anyone who doesn't get my logic or humor/irony. Before you think I am totally wackadoodle, here is a more coherant piece I wrote.

Kate B. 1 week ago

Oak Park government is not living in our current reality. People need to be able to feed themselves and should be encouraged to do so. Here are a few ways she is helping herself and the world around her.
1. Doing what she can to feed her family rather than depending on government assistance to include subsidies. (You know much of the food we buy is subsidized via ag subsidies and oil company subsidies right?)
2. Not polluting her property and adjacent areas with herbicides or fertilizers needed to maintain a lush green grass.
3. Since she mentioned that it is organic she is also not killing off pollinators such as honey bees by using pesticides.
3. Not wasting water to maintain plant material that has minimal value such as grass.
4. Reducing her carbon footprint by sourcing her food from her front yard rather than the average 1500 miles. (It doesn't get any more local than your front yard!)
5. Reducing waste by not buying the equivalent produce at the store thus not wasting produce bags, cellophane, and styrofoam packaging etc.
7. Providing revenue to local businesses through the purchase of mulch and plant material.
8. Teaching her children to fight for things they believe in. (Government is suppposed to be for the people by the people.)
9. Decreasing her stress and improving her health through garden maintenance related exercise. (That is until the city decided to criminalize feeding oneself!)
10.Possibly most importantly she is providing an educational opportunity for young and old alike to learn about food production. There may come a time when those skills are needed given our country's penchant for war and oil.

52 weeks of Garlic

2011-07-11T15:36:00.000-07:00

After years of wanting to start garlic I finally got it accomplished last fall. Planting garlic is like planting peas for me. Getting it done is a sign of success because there is a one-time window to make it happen. If you plant beans a month late you have less beans but still you do have beans. Around here garlic a month late would mean digging in the snow. For peas it is the opposite although the weather has definitely changing so I should plant it even if I think it is too late. Heck we still have beautiful lettuce so peas would have been fine. But I digress.. So after a bit of faith last fall and a bit of uncertainty this spring.... 55 heads of garlic from my one raised bed is my reward. So happy. They were at risk for a bit because the day I harvested ended up in a downpour while I was trapped under babies (read:nursing). But I brought them in on our bread loaf rack and put a box fan under them and they are gorgeous. I will have to take garlic braid pictures another day. Softnecks don't make beautiful, yummy scapes but they do braid. :)

June, at least I know where you went, I think

2011-07-05T15:27:00.000-07:00

What happened in June? 10 day vacation with family at a rental house in the Outer Banks started the month off. It was fun, fun, fun. Well worth the effort and expense of travelling with 3 kiddos. Wish we could see Dan's family more. And so begins our recruiting efforts to convince them all to move! :)

We came home and played catch up. Had to dispatch a chicken who was laying internally. Easier than I thought it would be. GIANT hard boiled-ish yolk is about all the details some of you likely want.

I also started night weaning Flower to get more milk from Iris. Started harvesting spring crops like lettuce and spinach and rhubarb and radishes. Giant phallic French breakfast radishes that I was tempted to take a pic of to share. We went on two strawberry farm picking trips and picked sugar snap peas as well. 30 some jars of strawberry syrup and some frozen peas were the first things put up for the year.

We started toying with cordials. Brandy infused with cherries from our little neighborhood farmer's market. Elderflower/lemon balm/lemon peel infused vodka. Hoping to try get some green plums to make umeshu.

We also got our first taker on us harvesting fruit trees for free. We took home 20lbs of tart cherries after 3 hrs of picking that took me 3 nights to pit and freeze. We used some to make Vitamix "ice cream" and dehydrated some as well. My niece Sarah came to spend a few days so that was a whirlwind of picnics and local attractions.

At the end of the month Dan brought home a first bit of honey and comb that was being built where it shouldn't have been.

I hope to add a few more pics to this later.

And now it is July.

May sailed away too

2011-07-05T14:29:00.000-07:00

May was full of planting, taking care of animals, worrying that my hubby might lose his job, and us preparing to take all 3 kiddos on a vacation to the Outer Banks over Memorial Day weekend. I'll have to do a whole post about our vacation another time. We also got to spend sometime with Grandpa Dan on his yearly trek through.

Planting raised beds, herb planters, and tilling up a new area to plant were the main gardening activities at home. At home we planted our many herbs, onions, shallots, lettuce mix, chard, spinach, beets, carrots, radish, peppers, and tomatoes. We tended our garlic and are so happy to have that for the first time in our garden.
We also took over a neighbor's backyard and had to clear the jungle and set up 7 raised beds and bring in soil/compost mix to get those started. We planted an herb garden, potatoes, cucumbers, beans, onions, radishes, carrots, turnips, cabbage, peppers, corn, several varieties of squash and tomatoes. We hope that it will be a successful garden and worth the time, money and effort.

March and April went to the bees and goats

2011-07-05T08:39:00.000-07:00

How could it be that my last post was in March? Too busy I guess to document here as I'd like to. But here is the recap...

March and April were full of preparing for goats and bees. For us that meant partitioning our shed aka garage and converting half of the space into a goat pen. We also created an outdoor area in front of that for them to frolick if they desire. If you had asked me in February when we would be getting the goats, I don't know what I would have said if I was being honest with myself. It was really all up in the air until our local health dept called to say I could try goats. We actually ended up getting the goats first due to this unexpected turn. "Go while the getting is good" I think is the proper cliche. I think the last weekend in March is when we took the 2 hr drive to pick them up. We got them settled in and started milking Iris.

This necessitated a quick milk stand project that my hubby worked on in the wee hours of the night shortly after Iris and Flower arrived. Iris was too difficult to milk without it. Within 48 hours of giving hubby the plans I had a beautiful, well built milk stand in the goat pen. We'll call the milk stand my birthday present as we were so busy that my birthday was mostly uncelebrated and forgotten about. My poor wrist was taking a beating and I was grateful for the effort hubby put into it late into the night after work. There is not a thing I would change about it. I love it. Another trick I learned is to whistle while you milk. Iris calms down immediately. It is a beautiful milk stand that we got the plans for from www.fiascofarm.com/goats/milkstand.html

Anyway the bees were supposed to arrive the 2nd weekend in April. But thanks to a lucky delay in the arrival of the bees and hubby's hard work we managed to to get the two top bar hives built just in the nick of time.

The bees arrived the last weekend in April. Hubby installed them with a friend from work while the kids and I watched on. Other than knocking one plug in on one of the queens the installation went off without a hitch or even a sting.

Oh and I about forgot. We also received our shipment of apple trees x3, peach, plum, and mini-peach and mini-nectarine plus blackberry bushes. It came a bit earlier than I expected and helped make early April extra crazy for us trying to get them all into the ground. Throw in Mama getting sick in the mix, saying goodbye to a mama friend moving to Houston, Easter, Mom Prom. Yep now I know why I didn't get anything posted in April!

The first 'Land of Milk & Honey' girls

2011-03-02T20:27:00.001-08:00

Looks like a couple of kids looking for trouble. ;)

Pics of the girls at 1 day old

My future endeavors?

2011-03-01T17:24:00.000-08:00

Hubby wants the front yard gone and my lovely Honey Locust to go with it. Edible fruit trees out front would be nice but what about the privacy from the street and the shaded picnics with the kiddos! "Not yet anyway" I tell him. But if www.brownthumbmama.com picks me for the giveaway for the book The Edible Front Yard maybe I will let him toy with the project a bit. :) Of course, he already has 10 trees or so he needs to plant for me this April plus two bee hives to make plus retrofitting our garage for my goats and the fencing they need. I am guessing I will get to keep my Honey Locust for awhile! ;)

My urban homesteading endeavors

2011-03-01T12:03:00.000-08:00

Recently there has been much talk of urban homesteading and what it means. "To each their own" is definitely the correct phrase to use here.

So as a followup to my post about the "who" of our homestead here is the "what" of our urban homestead.

Several years ago I caught the urban farm bug. We don't have a lot of land. 50 feet x 128 feet to be exact! I started out with a vegetable garden. Growing more than I cared to eat. I love to grow but didn't know how to use nor did I desire to use much of it frankly! I love heirlooms and unique items. Some of the fun things I have grown are cotton, purple potatoes, fish peppers, dozens of varieties of tomatoes, beautiful eggplants. They were beautiful enough that consumption was just a bonus. I have flirted with the idea of being a small-scale seed grower or farmer but now am more family oriented and looking to be more self-sufficient.

When we bought our house I loved the raised sunny area calling for a garden (which the chickens now occupy) and the secluded bit of a hillside and envisioned a secret garden there. I started a veggie garden and finally was able to plant perennials like asparagus, rhubarb and chives.

For a while I got a bit off track and had a brief but intense affair with hostas. At one point I had somewhere in the neighborhood of 100 varieties. Boy those things can get expensive and while beautiful I have grown past them and envision one day they might share their space with bees.

From veggies I next endeavored to grow a bit of fruit. I started several Asian pears (remember I like different things!) to have all but one mowed over. Amazingly last year it fruited despite its bad location thanks to me. I had a small strawberry patch and rhubarb as no garden is complete without them according to my genetics I believe. For a few years this was enough for me. I was devoting a lot of gardening related energy to the youth garden program I started. After that it was devoting time to my first baby.

We have slowly evolved though in our life aspirations and quickly wanted to really kick it up a notch. I suppose a farm just isn't a farm without animals so in spring of 2010 despite having brand-new twins we got chicks. From there I started scheming for goats and bought 2 Nigerian Dwarf goats in the fall of 2010. We were a bit off track in getting them home for a while but now in 2011 seem to be on track thanks to my city councilman! 2011 has barely begun and we have ordered a fair amount of fruit trees and fruiting bushes this spring. Apples, and peaches, and plums, oh my! We have also added golden currants and grapes in the last couple of years. I hope to try out espaliering the apple trees this year. This should handle my preserves needs in a few years. Nothing like your own preserves mixed into fresh yogurt. :) The little things that make me smile. I also hope to really kick up our veggies this year. With the babies a bit older we'll see. We have a few hundred starts in the basement growing as I hope to cover the coop roof with an herb garden. Soon I will start peppers and tomatoes and the rest of the veggies. We have a lot of new things going on in the kitchen too. Hubby has started making bread regularly and I have made a decent stash of preserves all thanks to some great books for Christmas. We have a few things growing in the kitchen, too. Yogurt, kefir, kombucha to name a few. Soon we will have goats milk to play with making more cheese and soap. Iris just kidded and should be here within weeks. I really look forward to that new learning experience. The bees are in route and hives to be built this month in anticipation of their installation on a nearby property. And the chickens have just layed their first 8 egg day including a robin's egg blue that just started being layed this week. Eight eggs from eight hens, what more can you ask for! Things are looking up and spring is in the air!

Added characters!! Pics soon!

2011-03-01T11:58:00.000-08:00

Iris kidded with twin does ealier this week!! Squee!!! I am so excited and can't wait to get/share pictures. The plan for now is that Iris' former owner will retain one of the girls and the other will go to the woman who is boarding Angelina for me (as payment for Angelina's boarding), or I will sell her, or might have to keep her if I fall in love...wait I can't do that!! ;)

Urban homesteaders; the characters

2011-02-21T12:00:00.000-08:00

I would wager that anyone who calls themselves an urban homesteader is a character. I also imagine there are several supporting characters. So here is an introduction to ours.

The hard working man behind all our endeavors. Builder, planner, prepper, soon-to-be beekeeper.

Big sister who is growing up with a different life experience than most kids her age in this city. We hope to further her "real" education by homeschooling her.

The twins that contribute to the chaos. Gigglers, mess makers, garden helpers.

Nadia, the first non-human addition to our lives before we even envisioned our current lifestyle. Defender of the chickens and guardian of the humans.

The nameless girls and their beautiful petticoats. Entertainers , bug hunters, orb makers.

Coming soon:

Sisters in Milk
Iris, soon-to-be mama of twins or more??

Angelina, soon-to-be first time mama.

Me, the mama who wrangles this bunch. Gardener, schemer, soon-to be-milker.

Raising Chickens in Omaha - Fun, Rewarding, AND Legal | Omaha.net

2011-02-18T12:55:00.000-08:00

Raising Chickens in Omaha - Fun, Rewarding, AND Legal | Omaha.net

Fellow Chicken Mamas

2011-02-18T12:12:00.000-08:00

Today I invited a new soon-to-be chicken mama over to talk chickens and such. I enjoy meeting people who are on the same path as me or some variation of it. I get out of it as much as I give, if not more. So last year I started hosting Chicken Mama get-togethers at my house. I can't say I came up with the name or the idea of getting together but luckily I don't think anyone has trademarked "Chicken Mama" yet. (HA! Sorry I couldn't help myself Dervaes! Jokes at your expense, you poor things!)

Anway we are mostly youngish mothers with small children. We join together to give each other support in our endeavors to eat and live sustainably. It is a safe place where no one will roll their eyes when you spend 5 minutes talking about the coolest chicken breed you are just dying to get your hands on. It is also an environment where knowledge sharing just pours forth. Over the course of our time together we might jump from talking about coop plans, to where to get organic feed, to where to buy sustainably raised beef, to what cool new site we found online, to agreeing to co-op on an order of herbs, to talking about a new recipe we tried, ....to infinite and beyond.

We are having fun building community and making new friends.

Together our brains are the equivalent of a super-computer, a full-time paid lobbyist, and a small research firm.

Together we will change our lives, our communities, our world!

Stepping on my path to freedom

2011-02-17T19:37:00.001-08:00

With the Path to Freedom folks trying to steal my path to freedom or at least my ability to speak about it using a universal language I am compelled to forego my much needed sleep to write a new blog entry. (Anyone who knows the extent of my lack of sleep given my sleep challenged twins knows this must be serious!) ;) Does my blog entry do anything to take back my right to use the phrase "urban homestead"? No! But as an urban homesteader I am defiant and will not be told what words I can and can not use nor what I can and can not do. Defiance! It is one of the urban homestead core principles I feel. Urban homesteaders are much like the settlers that homesteaded our country in some ways I imagine. Many would say it can't be done. It is impossible to do this thing you desire! But we know with patience and fortitude we will prevail. And once I have a certain little Health Dept permit in my grubby little hands and I know I'm not going to jinx it by proclaiming victory in a public domain I will share a little story about perserverance and what it can yield. But for now I have an aching back from typing one-handed while NAK so I will sign off with a simple statement. Piss-off Dervaes!

Another whirlwind month

2010-09-19T08:09:00.000-07:00

It seems I just posted the other day but in fact it has been some time. In the past month my daughter Annie's eyes have started sparkling with mischief. She is climbing on tables and chairs and stairs. Liam is trying to figure this tornado out and defend himself from her. Like Annie he is working on his two top front teeth. Etta is continually growing and amazing us with the things she is picking up. Her ability to imaginatively play by herself for long stretches is fun to watch and very helpful to me. She is enjoying playing with friends and library storytime.
We spent a week out visiting family and going to the state fair. More on that in a separate post. The coop is still in the same state as the last time I posted but the girls don't mind and we got our first eggs while gone on vacation. We are cleaning up the backyard (a huge task) so we can call to get our coop inspected for a permit. We had a chicken go "free range" last week so we figure we better get on it.
It has been a month of blessingways. 3 in about as many recent weeks. I am blessed to be a part of them all. I might do a blessingway post at a later time.
My hubby is taking another term off in an attempt to get on top of the honey-do list that seems to persist. We celebrated our 5th anniversary the other day with a picnic to a park area near the river. We picked up Delice to go and the whole family ebjoyed the mild weather and fresh air.

Liam and Hadari; a blossoming friendship

2010-08-27T13:32:00.000-07:00

Today we had a fun gorilla interaction. At first I was nursing Liam and the baby gorilla came over to investigate but another gorilla protectively grasped his hand and led him away. A bit later Liam was standing by the gorilla exhibit with his hands on the glass and one year-old Hadari came over and placed his hands against them. It was very sweet. I wish we had a picture of it. Liam at 9 mos is about the same height and size. It was pretty cool. My friend Katy might have snapped a shot.

Come on you're 19 already!

2010-08-19T14:01:00.000-07:00

Once you get to a certain age there are no free lunches. Come on girls you are 19 weeks right now. Show me the eggs!

I have a couple new girls in my life

2010-08-17T14:12:00.000-07:00

No, I don't mean new friends..although I have been so lucky to meet some cool, new people lately. Like many of my new friends these girls make milk too (or will soon enough). Nope these girls are of the 4 legged variety in the Caprine family. They will legally be mine soon but won't come home until this fall at the earliest or next spring at the latest. Let me introduce them to you. First there is Angelina. She is a doeling just born this spring. She is out of a beautiful herd of Nigerian Dwarf goats bred by Megan Serfling out of Serfling Farms in South Dakota.

Her sister in milk will be Iris out of Promessa in Daykin, Nebraska. Iris' mother is a 4+lb milker and we hope Iris will be too. We will breed her first so that my first kidding and milking experiences will be with a more experienced doe. I will breed them alternatingly in spring and fall to have year round milk. Unlike most goats Nigerian Dwarf goats are year-round breeders. The idea of fresh milk and baby goats twice a year makes me giddy!

This is what her former owner had to say about Iris. "Iris is for sale to a milking home. She kidded with a single buckling in May and is being a super mom. She comes out to the milkstand and gets right on, she stands quietly for milking, and waits until I'm done with both goats on the stands. Iris is a bit shy at first, but once warmed up is quite friendly, loves to be petted and given treats.She has been led around a little by the collar. While I love the looks of her open ribbing and deep wide body, her udder just isn't quite up to show ring standards, though it will be a functional useful udder. She milks out well and can be a wonderful milk producer for someone wanting great tasting milk in a small package. Her dam is a good 4+ lb milker who has a long and persistant lactation, and I expect she will match that at least as a mature doe, as her sire's dam was also a very good milker. "
I am so excited to embark on this new adventure in healthy, sustainable living and eating!

What happened to time being on my side?

2010-08-15T12:04:00.000-07:00

Well I have been using it! I may have to go back and do some make-up blogs. Since I last posted we've been busy no time to sit around blogging. And babies are mobile so not as much sitting around nursing and typing either!

This is what we've been up to....
By chance found out my great-great grandparents lived one block from where I live for the final 20 and 30 years of their lives unbeknownst to me or my parents until now.
Spent a week visiting my parents.
Got together with friends from high school.
Hubby ended up sick and in the ER.
Went to a family reunion.
Threw a fairy themed party for my three year old, Etta.
Annie and Liam have started crawling.
Liam is cruising.
Annie now has a tooth.
I had a root canal and crown..lucky me!
Hubby has taken a summer break from pursuing his Master's degree.
We went "cabin" camping on the Platte River.
Just made arrangements to purchase 2 Nigerian Dwarf goats.
Hubby will likely finish the chicken coop today (trimwork left to do, of course).

Hmm all that on top of getting together with friends, going to storytime, daily "treasure" hunts for the first egg etc......No wonder I haven't posted a thing in a month!!!

Time on my side

2010-07-06T16:35:00.001-07:00

Nothing makes me happier than when time is on my side. This morning was a prime example. Thanks goes to hubby for staying home from work in case Etta was still sick. With the help with the kiddos I managed to salvage the last of my organic apples. We had started to feed them to the chickens because they were beyond fresh eating and I didn't know when I might have time to get to them. Those chickens eat too well at our house! Anyway I put them all to their "best possible use" which I love. I have a real hierarchy worked out; good pieces for dehydrating, smaller bits and odd pieces to the apple sauce (with some peaches that were nearing their end and odd bits of banana that weren't suited for dehydrating), apple peels and other small bits to the chickens, seeds and really core bits to the compost. Ahh the little things that bring me joy!

Holy cuteness

2010-06-25T18:50:00.000-07:00

So I recently got goat fever. Think baby fever then change "babies" to "goats". It all gained speed in my mind as I posted a while back about a horrible dairy cow story I saw and our efforts to live more sustainable whether by choice or necessity. From the thought of, "I should really consider goats. If hubby agreed to chickens after nagging for about 2 years why not goats." to falling in love with the idea took about 2 weeks. I had mentioned it before but never really thought of it as a serious possibility. So I first started my dairy goat search and read a bit about Kinder goats and then Nigerians and the various cross-bred mini-goats that you can breed. Frankly they are smaller than my dog..with the benefit of producing milk. Now Nadia is a great dog: she lovingly puts up with our inattention and makes me feel safe but she doesn't produce anything. Maybe she wants to be a goat herder in her spare time? Wonder if people would even notice if I had goats? Gotta get 2 so they don't get lonely.
I had briefly looked for Nebraska breeders but couldn't find any online. But then I mentioned it to my sister who lives in Worms and she has a neighbor who has mini-goats she is sure I get get stock from!! So when we are out that way for the Nebraska State Fair I am planning on a field trip to see them and how feasible it would be to have 2. It would be nice to make sure I like their milk, too, although I ultimately hope to make herbed cheeses and maybe soap. Now that you think I am crazy look at these cuties and tell me you could resist!

Check out these adorable goats.. http://playritefarm.webs.com/2010kids.htm

My friend wants mini-sheep. They are CUTE too!
http://mylittlesheep.com/

Asian Pear Miracle

2010-06-23T16:56:00.000-07:00

About 4-5 years ago I planted 3 Asian Pear trees. Two got mowed over. The one that I still have was planted in a "temporary" spot. It was just set there to heal in for a bit. It is in an awful spot under the canopy of another tree. I figured it would not ever set fruit due to the shade and that it is not a self-pollinator but amazingly I have 5!! cherry sized or larger fruit on it. I see about 3 that aborted as well. So exciting..now to decide to move it this fall or not. I would possibly get a better yield and ultimately a healthier tree but I could also kill it.

Eatin' local

2010-06-16T19:11:00.001-07:00

I may not be good at eating local and eating simple yet but my daughter sure is! Tonight's dinner... homemade applesauce and peas straight from the vine! The snow peas are going wild but she likes the shelling peas and sharing them with the chickens and feeding the shell to Nadia.

Lots of teeth to come

2010-06-15T19:45:00.000-07:00

As of June 15th, Liam has his first tooth. Here he is the day prior gnawing on a green bean.

Ever watchful sister looking on.

Sitting pretty

2010-06-14T19:59:00.000-07:00

Babies are sitting unsupported for long stretches now. Here is a pic from June 2nd before they were quite solid yet.

Homemade applesauce Yum!

2010-06-13T08:09:00.000-07:00

I have never had homemade applesauce before so I had no idea how yummy and easy it is. Frankly I don't like the storebought stuff so I just assumed I didn't like applesauce. So turning lemons into lemonade, I used a batch of apples that was spoiling before they should have been. All I did was peel them using a handy little apple peeler I found at a thrift store for a $1 and put them in a pot with a bit of water. Actually Etta peeled them and she loved doing it! It was a great task for an almost 3 year old. Several hours later after treating myself to a food mill we had yummy applesauce that the babies loved!

All about eggs

2010-06-08T08:48:00.000-07:00

How do you tell how old your store-bought eggs really are?
http://whatscookingamerica.net/Q-A/EggsSell.htm

About American egg handling processes.
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/06/08/why-you-dont-want-to-buy-organic-eggs-at-the-grocery-store.aspx?aid=CD945

Hmm..now don't you wish you had a coop in your backyard?

My little Cinderella

2010-05-31T19:29:00.000-07:00

While at Montessori Etta learned some cleaning skills. I don't think Miss Jeannie would have approved of the dirty feet ON the table though. :)

The coop being put to good use

2010-05-30T19:37:00.000-07:00

Different breed of chickies inhabiting the coop!

Chicken coop progress

2010-05-29T09:23:00.000-07:00

Hot as blazes and hubby is at work till noon on this fine Saturday morning. When he gets home he plans to get right to work on it.
Hope he doesn't melt! Here is progress to date.

Mid April we started - 1st steps were to tear out my raised beds, remove my old carpet mulch from walkways, add another chain link fence and gate to the rear of the chicken's area to fence the chickens out of my shade garden. Then we began sinking posts for the coop. The hen house will be 4 feet by 5 feet with attached run.

Mid May we made it to this point - Hen house mostly framed in and roof supports started. We need to really reinforce the roof since I hope to convert it to a green roof in the near term.

4th weekend of May - We now have a roof that is ready for shingles.

Wind is blowing me towards Kinder goats

2010-05-27T15:05:00.000-07:00

Just watched an atrocious video about abuse of cows at a dairy in Ohio. While I can't imagine most dairies treat their cows this way it spurred me to look into goats again a bit. I know nothing about them but am interested in the self-sufficiency of having them. Would love to have Angora goats for their fiber one day but right now I'm interested in milk. So I looked for small milk goats and came up with Kinder goats. They are supposed to be a cross between a standard Nubian and a Pygmy. Good milk production in a small package. Not imagining it will happen anytime soon. But in the meantime I'll try to locate some milk to try and try to learn more about goat husbandry.
I found this site and enjoyed reading about them a bit and would like to try some recipes.
http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles2/sanderson95.html

Used this link to locate some places that I might be able to buy some milk from.
http://www.realmilk.com/where2.html#ia

So off on another tangent. My poor hubby.

Chicken peace

2010-05-23T07:47:00.000-07:00

We gave the chicks their first outing yesterday. I can't tell you how at peace it made me feel watching them outside. For some time I stood there holding my soft, naked babies wearing cloth dipes while my daughter looked over the chickens making themselves comfy amongst the raised beds. I felt that in that moment we were really doing our best to share our lives with Mother Nature rather than just observe her or use her. Sustainable, simple living really can bring you satisfaction! It is not all about sacrifice.

My 3ft tall 35lb gift

2010-05-21T12:20:00.000-07:00

My daughter is such a gift to me. She is not only a gift in what she does for me such as trying to help keep the babies amused or filling my water glass, she is a gift in what she does to help me in other ways. She reminds me to be happy with her infectious laugh. She reminds me to have fun with her silly games. She reminds me to be strong as she tests her boundaries. She reminds me to show compassion as she mirrors my words and actions. She is a little bottle of enthusiasm and emotions that reminds me to appreciate my day and to know that every minute of every day is a new one for new chances to love, learn, and truly live.

New Blog - Wordpress to Blogger

2010-05-16T12:11:00.000-07:00

I started this blog in 2009 on wordpress and found the set-up over there very cumbersome and lacking in some regards. Then I found out I was pregnant with twins and eventually ended up very sick with pneumonia and unable to do much but sleep for several months until the babies arrived at nearly term right before Thanksgiving. Finally hoping this is the right time where I might have enough time to blog so I moved over here to Blogger. We'll see how this goes. Life is busy and I'd like to use this blog as an external memory (external to my brain that is) to capture highlights in my life, log progress on projects and endeavors, and stay on track in general. Follow along if you'd like.

Chicken coop at a standstill

2010-05-16T11:52:00.000-07:00

So it seems my chickens will linger in the basement a bit longer. Last week we were out of town for a graduation. This weekend it seemed we need a break and hubby wasn't feeling great so no progress. I also gave up on the green roof for now since it seemed it was throwing off my hubby's progress as he couldn't envision exactly how he was going to do it. It can always be converted later. April 8th we got the first 5 chicks and then April 13th the other 4 arrived in the mail so they are getting a bit big to still be inside but so far so good,

Backyard farming

2009-03-01T12:09:00.000-08:00

March 1, 2009
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/environment/2008-11-02-myfarm_N.htm

I read this article awhile ago. It may be my ticket to organic farming given that I have no land. I just need to figure out a price at which customers would be interested and I would make it worth my time. The basic concept is that you, the farmer, create gardens and maintain them in a customers back yard. The customer then has fresh veggies and herbs right outside their door…fresh and almost no carbon footprint provided that the farmer doesn’t travel too far to get to the property. Better than a CSA in some ways since the farmer only plants what the customer wants.

CROPs training

2009-02-28T12:07:00.000-08:00

February 28, 2009
So starting last Saturday I have started going to organic farming classes in Lincoln. So the two sessions so far have been interesting and invigorating. Not a lot of new information but still enjoyable. I can’t wait to start seeds soon. There is definately something very therapeutic about watching plants sprout and grow when it is still winter. Tips I learned this week..
1. For those tomatoes I have trouble with pick them when they are not quite ripe so that they will not cat-face.
2.Try to get early spring items planted the first week of April because they love the snow cover.
3. It takes 7 generations to stabilize a hybrid.
4. Only use your seed mat until germination; not needed through emergence.
5. Hybrids tend to fruit all at once…here I hated them and now I must admit they do have a purpose besides ruining our seed heritage.

Over-inspired

2009-01-25T08:14:00.000-08:00

January 25, 2009
Have you ever become overcome by the desire to do it all. I am overwhelmed by the cool things I want to do. Organic farming classes..sign me up. New youth garden entepreneurial project..let’s do it. Stained glass class…I’d love to. Those are just the ideas that I have put in motion in the past 2 weeks…What about my goals for 2009 which was just kicked off 4 weeks ago..Become more self-reliant..quit buying crap from China..quit eating sugar…quit eating high fructose corn syrup…make more meals at home. What about the other specific things I want to do..handmake more of Etta’s toys…knit my own bras…finish at least one quilt project…make Etta some training pants. How in the world am I to accomplish this as well as the daily grind!?

Sleep and cytokines

2009-01-20T08:22:00.000-08:00

January 20, 2009
CHICAGO (AP) – Preventing the common cold may be as easy as getting more sleep.

Researchers paid healthy adults $800 to have cold viruses sprayed up their noses and then wait five days in a hotel to see if they got sick. Habitual eight-hour sleepers were much less likely to get sick than those who slept less than seven hours or slept fitfully.

“The longer you sleep, the better off you are, the less susceptible you are to colds,” said lead researcher Sheldon Cohen, who studies the effects of stress on health at Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Mellon University.

Earlier research has suggested that sleep boosts the immune system at the cell level. But Cohen’s is the first study to show that small sleep disturbances increase the risk of getting sick, said Dr. Michael Irwin, who researches immune response at the University of California at Los Angeles and was not involved in the study.

“The message is to maintain regular sleep habits because those are really critical for health,” Irwin said.

During cold season, staying out of range of sneezing relatives and co-workers may be impossible. The study, whose findings appear in Monday’s edition of the Archives of Internal Medicine, mimicked those conditions by exposing participants to a common cold virus – rhinovirus – and most of them became infected with it.

But not everyone suffered cold symptoms.

The people who slept less than seven hours a night in the weeks before they were exposed to the virus were three times more likely to catch a cold than those who slept eight hours or more.

To find willing cold victims, researchers placed ads and recruited 78 men and 75 women, all healthy and willing to go one-on-one against the virus. They ranged in age from 21 to 55.

First, their sleep habits were recorded for two weeks. Every evening, researchers interviewed them by phone about their sleep the night before. Subjects were asked what time they went to bed, what time they got up, how much time they spent awake during the night and whether they felt rested in the morning.

Then the participants checked into a hotel, and the virus was squirted up their noses. After five days, the virus had done its work, infecting 135 of the 153 volunteers. But only 54 people got sick.

Researchers measured the volunteers’ runny noses by weighing their used tissues. Congestion was tested by squirting dye in the subjects’ noses to see how long it took to get to the back of their throats.

Sleeping fitfully also was tied to a greater risk of catching a cold. Those who tossed and turned more than 8 percent of the time in bed were five times more likely to get sick than those who were sleepless only 2 percent of the time.

Surprisingly, feeling rested was not linked to staying well. Cohen said he wasn’t sure why that is, other than feeling rested is more subjective than recalling bedtime and wake-up time.

Cold symptoms like congestion and sore throat are caused by the body’s fight against a virus, rather than the virus itself, Cohen said. People whose bodies make the perfect amount of infection-fighting proteins called cytokines will not even know they are fighting a virus. But if their bodies make too many, they feel sick.

Sleep may fine-tune the body’s immune response, Cohen said, helping regulate the perfect response.

Elderberry jury still out

2009-01-20T08:18:00.000-08:00

January 20, 2009
So the day after I took the elderberry syrup I got very sick….did I kick my cytokines into overdrive thus making me “feel” sicker (see sleep post to see the connection) or did the elderberry possibly help me from getting as sick as hubby who we had to bring to the ER he was so dehydrated. Or did it have no effect?