Traditional Homemaking Summer 2009! - Page 20

[1jooj]

Thanks, artparent! I am going to find a jar and go for the sourdough! If I can keep kombucha, surely I can manage sourdough, right?

A friend of mine did cukes in whey. She didn't like them, but she doesn't like pickles, either. Another friend did fermented mixed pickles. They weren't sour enough to suit my taste...I suppose they probably could have just cured longer and I'd have liked them. I might give that a try now with green tomatoes, peppers and eggplants as the garden winds down...

Dh is home for the next whole month! : We have the second half of Ramadan to enjoy as a family, then the Eid season, and then he will be gone too long again. So I need to to my best to make the home wonderful while he's here.

I never really addressed the "why" part of traditional homemaking...but to me, the whole point of living as a family is sharing a home, and for me, homemaking is just part of that. We share as many meals as we can, gathered at the table. We try to make a space that is designated as our private family nation, our refuge from the outside. When we invite people into it, it's clear to them that this is the inside of our tribal area, and they are welcome to participate in our home. My dh is straight from a 3rd-world "old country," so mending and making do are totally normal to him. He struggles against the new-immigrant desire to have the appearance of "making it," with the new, clean jeans, leased car, etc. That can be tough under certain circumstances, but we so prefer the life we're living.

I am looking forward to spending a lot of time with my mom this fall and winter, from canning tomatoes (and maybe salsa and sauces, we'll see) to sewing (she makes the most beautiful quilts). I also have friends who knit, and I really want to learn. Eventually I want to be able to take my own fleeces and make wonderful things from them. I'd love to make special items from my most beloved sheep. I have a gorgeous handmade shawl from my dhs' grandmother, handspun and herb-dyed wool. It is amazing. She made it free of modern technology, probably while tent-caravaning (they're nomads). I must learn this skill.

[MamaFern]

Originally Posted by artparent

what i plan to do with my girls this week: sourdough!
then i'm going to follow this recipe:
no knead bread

anyone ferment vegetables in whey? are they yummy?

oo, getting close to ordering fabric :

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the no knead bread is amazing! we make it often. my suggestion, since its already a kind of sourdough, is just adding some whey or yogurt to the mix, and it adds more sour flavour. yum. best bread ever. i make it with a mixture of spelt, kamut and other wheat free flours. it always turns out perfect.

[MamaFern]

Originally Posted by artparent

hi fern
that sounds amazing, yes please the recipe!

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allo!


basic frecipe:

Ingredients
8 pounds 3 to 4 inch long pickling cucumbers
4 cups white vinegar (i use raw organic cider vinegar)
12 cups water (hard water is best..helps them be crunchy)
2/3 cup pickling salt (i use coarse grey sea salt)
16 cloves garlic, peeled and halved (as fresh & organic as posssible)
8 sprigs fresh dill weed
8 heads fresh dill weed

my method is to wash jars then oven sterilize them, bring brine to almost a boil, then lower heat so it stays there, put garlic & dill in the bottom, fill with pickle cukes, and fill up with hot brine (jar is hot as well) put on lid (which has been boiled and is still hot) and don't close too tightly..this allows any air to release. i don't do a hot bath after. wait 3 months for best results, but we opened a jar a few days later and they are already amazing.

eta: i did 25 lbs of cucumbers..so did this recipe x 3.

[artparent]

thank you SO much fern. i'll try that with the sourdough, i'll be making it wheat free as well, so great to know :

i cannot wait to try the pickles

i have ordered fabric, let's hope 15 yards of the stuff fits in my suitcases i cannot wait to see it. i used harts fabrics and superbuzzy. very exciting!

i cut out the nightgown from a shirt for my little one and started modifying a nightgown for my tall one, they are both eyelety white fabric, very romantic, though the little one declared NO RUFFLES. i think she'll come around and i can use ruffles to lengthen it next year. i'm going to take off most of the buttons from the shirt and just sew it closed, except right at the top..the buttons are at the back and there was a convenient seam that was originally along the shoulderblades of the back of the shirt, and is now and empire line for the front

i decided to leave sourdough culturing/bread baking until we get back to england, as i don't want to take the culture through the radiation on the airplane we are also mad busy here!

it seems like our floors MAY yet be refinished (in england) so we're waiting on those dates before we decide when to come home. my poor dear partner won't have seen our girls in two months, thank goodness for video chat! i want those floors pretty. i hope, i hope!


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[artparent]

also the 'widdershins' pattern for cabled toe-up socks from knitty.com is knitting up SO beautifully, i'm getting requests for presents we'll see how fast i can make them!

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[artparent]

ah, me again. canning mamas, i wonder if these canning jars are safe to use? any experience?

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[1jooj]

I've only used lids and rings. I have a few jars like those, and I use them for storing dried herbs. Sorry...

Your nightgowns sound beautiful. I'd love some pretty jammies myself. I think I am going to do some looking for a nice, heavy flannel nightgown for the winter.

Had a big fast-breaking party tonight. It was really nice. Way too many leftovers, though. :

[Gremco]

I am definitely making myself some flannel night gowns this winter. I'm even tempted to make matching flannel pants underneath them. I get cold very easily. Right now I'm focusing on getting some play food done for DS's birthday. It is only a few days away. I picked up yarn to make my new baby a turtle, and I'll probably make another for my brother's new baby. I had my brother help me pick out the yarn. It is wonderful having an artist for a brother. He spots color combination that I overlook and usually work much better than what I would have chose.

[artparent]

i sewed up my little one's nightgown, reconstructed from a woman's eyelety white shirt, and i modified another similar one for my tall one, she would like ruffles at the shoulders, so i may attempt that soon. i hemmed a pink woolen dress that had come undone, and helped my sister with knitting, my tall one with felting a tail for her bunny and sewing up and stuffing the bunny; i've now knitted round my cabley sock and will pick up the other one and knit round the heel (i'm about to run out of wool, which i have more of in london)...i got an old, very densely knit, long scarf from my mother, that my grandmother knit, it is unwearable, so heavy, so i'd like to get some big needles and knit it with a very open, lacy stitch as a throw

i'd like to buy some more yarn before i leave in a couple of weeks or so, for various projects - christmas presents mostly.

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[1jooj]

I so covet your sewing and knitting skills! I have a dear friend who sews, and I think I will try to get a few lessons once the snow flies around here.

Until then, I pickle. I broke a jar in the canner, wouldn't you know it was hot peppers, so boiling hot pepper brine is burning our eyes. But I managed 8qt and 3pt dill pickles, 2 pt hot peppers and 2 qt zucchini refrigerator pickles.

Tomatoes are well on their way. By this time next week, I should have some canned, and I have frozen some cherry tomatoes, too.

Dh and the kids brought a kitten home yesterday from a visit to a friend's farm. I'm not thrilled, but he's nice. I made an herbal flea bath for him yesterday and today I dewormed him and treated his eyes. Next week, I'll have to see about scheduling a vet visit for shots and neutering.

We also put away a couple more birds this morning. In the freezer, I mean.

Besides canning tomatoes, my next big task is Eid gifts for my kids. I have two weeks to figure out what to give them and how to accomplish it. I want to put together a puppet making kit for dd, and I don't know about ds. He's 8, loves outdoors, already has a lot of books. Just not sure what to do with him. He doesn't like art/crafts, doesn't like cooking or doing much household stuff, has most of the sports equipment for sports he enjoys.

[MamaFern]

artparent: i think you probably need lid & ring jars for pickles, unless you are making freezer pickles, maybe. never done that though.
you can get 12 widemouth mason jars for 13$ or so..which is okay since you can use them for many years to come. i tried using some old jars and the just smashed. it was so irritating having to clean up shattered glass whislt pickling!

im in the middle of making honey sweetened bread & butter pickles right now. the house smells divine! i also set up my kind sized bed this morning! im so : not to have to sleep in a twin bed with my squirmey nursling ever again!

[artparent]

shucks, well, my sewing skills are still very basic, i hope to really learn to do things properly..but my knitting skills are getting there, these two socks match so far and i really love the cabling.

those pickles sound yummy. i'll get new lids for the old jars around here. i was attracted to these jars because they are all glass, and i've heard good things about some types of all glass and bad things about others..

of course, i'm looking for silver-coloured lids + bands, because i'm crazy that way

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[MamaFern]

Originally Posted by artparent

shucks, well, my sewing skills are still very basic, i hope to really learn to do things properly..but my knitting skills are getting there, these two socks match so far and i really love the cabling.

those pickles sound yummy. i'll get new lids for the old jars around here. i was attracted to these jars because they are all glass, and i've heard good things about some types of all glass and bad things about others..

of course, i'm looking for silver-coloured lids + bands, because i'm crazy that way

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i just bought some new jars with lovely silver lids..they even have a pretty swirly design on the top! they are Bernardin wide mouth mason jars and look just gorgeous all filled with beets and honey sweetened bread & butter pickles. i stayed up till midnight canning, but it was so worth it!
im uploading some photos to my flickr page..http://www.flickr.com/photos/2705796...7622164022767/

[artparent]

i'll look for them - did you buy them locally?
can't wait to see.

i've got a huge bookshelf, built into our livingroom in london, and while it is lovely to have that much shelving, most of our books are in canada and most are likely to stay there! so i am planning to use the top shelves as my pantry because you know i will like to sit on my couch and gaze at them. it is also the coldest room in the house, and the darkest rows of gorgeous colourful food would be just the thing. if i ever get back to london, and ever learn to can!!

hey fern, pics are great! yum, pickles!!

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[AFWife]

Can we start a new one for fall? lol I feel so behind

[holyhelianthus]

Originally Posted by AFWife

Can we start a new one for fall? lol I feel so behind

Sure I'll do that now! :

[holyhelianthus]

New thread: http://www.mothering.com/discussions...php?p=14355798

And I remembered the Southern Hemisphere mamas this time!