Traditional Homemaking Fall/Spring 2009! - Page 12

[AahRee]

I'm lurking... I'm a really horrible homemaker, but would love to improve, so hopefully you ladies will rub off on me!

[Katico]

MamaFern - those berries look SO appealing!

Sitting her with hot coffee, my sweet baby chattering while she plays, it's finally sunny....I can't say I'm feeling very motivated to actually DO anything...

But, it is Tuesday - the day I sweep/mop/dust the downstairs of the house, so I'd better get to that. We just got rid of one of our 3 cats (he dominated the other two), a long haired cat, and there is already noticeably less cat hair everywhere! Yay to that.

And maybe, since it is so nice out, DD and I will go out and prune some of the forsythia - they are crowding the sidewalk!

Made some applesauce fro organic apples a friend picked so I want to freeze that up in cubes for DD - even though we are doing Baby Led Weaning, I figure applesauce will get used as a spread or on her oatmeal, yogurt, etc.

DD's sweater is all done except one of the button bands, have to do some research today to figure out how I want to do it.

My brother and his GF are visiting this weekend from across the country and I am trying to think of thoughtful (and quick) handmade gifts to send back with them for Christmas.

I think tonight's supper will be quesedillas.

[1jooj]

About to make my second coffee and get on with the day here...we have rain all day, which makes a nice morning in the barn with the animals. Plus, dinner tonight is LEFTOVERS! This means an early dinner, and possibly popcorn later.

The cabbage and I are still staring at each other across the kitchen table.

So today will include cleaning bathrooms, putting away laundry, tidying bedrooms and sweeping floors. In the barn, I'll feed and water, give apples for treats and sweep corners. Bees will be in, so no bee visits. Need to go to the coop and pick up layer feed for the birds. And if I manage another 1000w on the WIP, then today is a great success.

Katico, what about those wee rice warmers? A set of rice warmers of various sizes? Got any lovely jams? You could decorate the jars with some calico and a cute label. What about locally produce specialties? Don't know where "across the country is," but do you have things they don't grow in their areas? I'm thinking local popcorn...

Here's to another great day!

[Birdie B.]

Originally Posted by magstphil

OT-

Birdie B! That's one of my girls' name! Birdie Bree.

I LOVE your girls' names! They are so sweet! My name is Courtney, but my husband calls me Birdie and variations like Birdie B. I just love it, so it's my user name. At some point I might start using it as my real name, though, cause he never calls me Courtney anymore!

The chicken turned out wonderful and as much as I hated picking all the little bits of meat off the carcass, I did it! I'll use the rest of the chicken for stew or casserole or even chicken salad, and boil up the bones.

Tonight is lasagna night, with locally raised ground beef. I just got an email from the farmer saying they are getting a new cow and will start offering raw milk! I'm going to buy a share, and we'll get 1-2 gallons a week. I want to learn how to make yogurt and cheese, since we eat tons of it around here!

I'm also going to start my holiday knitting... tomorrow.

[columbusmomma]

Last night I prepared tonight's meal in advance b/c Tuesday is crazy for us! I made homemade meatballs with local beef
Tonight I'm going to finally make apple turnovers with apples we picked at the orchard. DS wants to use the apple peeler big time! I'm trying to stock the pantry and get the cabinets in order for fall. I just picked up a great recipe book at the library about canning and preserving. The recipes look fantastic! Hope to hit the farmer's market this weekend and get some stuff. Need to clean the bathroom and put too small clothes away into storage, DS'. I need to start a deep fall clean too and get some decluttering done

[artparent]

unpacked but not all put away.

amazing how folks around here become calmer as things are tidied.

we are on miniature days - two days + nights to each day...up at 4 a.m., sleep at 11, up at 4 p.m. sleep at 11!!

*

[Katico]

Originally Posted by 1jooj

Katico, what about those wee rice warmers? A set of rice warmers of various sizes? Got any lovely jams? You could decorate the jars with some calico and a cute label. What about locally produce specialties? Don't know where "across the country is," but do you have things they don't grow in their areas? I'm thinking local popcorn...

He lives in Western Canada, we live in the East. I think you're onto something - I should think hard about what he might miss that he can't get out there. And maybe I have time to knit a pair of fingerless gloves for her - I think that would be up her alley

Originally Posted by Birdie B.

The chicken turned out wonderful and as much as I hated picking all the little bits of meat off the carcass, I did it! I'll use the rest of the chicken for stew or casserole or even chicken salad, and boil up the bones.

Chicken Salad sounds really good, I never think to make it!

Originally Posted by columbusmomma

Tonight I'm going to finally make apple turnovers with apples we picked at the orchard.

What kind of pastry do you use? Has anyone made turnover and frozen them unbaked? WOuld that work?

DD's sweater is done, think I'll cast on those fingerless gloves right now, have to get the spare room ready for company and today is the day I deep clean the kitchen.

I was reading our free local paper yesterday and see an article on the chicken bylaws. Our city (Halifax, in a very rural Province) has been ridiculous and won't allow backyard chicken keeping, claiming it leads to rodent problems. One of our local business moguls has announced his intention to move his chickens from his country home to his city home and is basically daring the city to do something about it. I have high hopes this will eventually mean we will be free to have some cluckers! I think Halifax, with it's rural surroundings and highly educated population, could seriously become a model city for local food and home food production. We have space, we have knowledge, we have an appreciation for good food and clean, green land. And frankly, we need to face the fact that even in the cities, families are going to need to have a hand in producing at least part of their food someday. Let's lay the groundwork now before it is truly a crisis!

[GardenStream]

Originally Posted by Katico

I was reading our free local paper yesterday and see an article on the chicken bylaws. Our city (Halifax, in a very rural Province) has been ridiculous and won't allow backyard chicken keeping, claiming it leads to rodent problems. One of our local business moguls has announced his intention to move his chickens from his country home to his city home and is basically daring the city to do something about it. I have high hopes this will eventually mean we will be free to have some cluckers! I think Halifax, with it's rural surroundings and highly educated population, could seriously become a model city for local food and home food production. We have space, we have knowledge, we have an appreciation for good food and clean, green land. And frankly, we need to face the fact that even in the cities, families are going to need to have a hand in producing at least part of their food someday. Let's lay the groundwork now before it is truly a crisis!

That's great!

I live out in the country on a little over 8 acres and I still can't have chickens. I can have sheep, goats, cows, llamas, horses, but I can't have pigs or chickens. It's ridiculous

[1jooj]

Chickens eat mice. In fact, last night as a wee brown mouse ran from beneath our fridge to the kids' pile of backpacks , I had a fleeting thought of bringing a couple of the old RI Reds to take care of things. I've seen mine eat snakes, too. I know I'm preaching to the choir, but...as long as you have your feed stowed securely, you won't add to the rodent problem.

atobols, that truly is ridiculous. I am zoned Ag 1, meaning I can have any livestock. Thank goodness.

Katico, wrist warmers are also awesome. I not-so-secretly wish I could knit (maybe this will be the winter I learn) so I could own (and make for others) exactly such things as cool gloves, hats, scarves and hoods.

Re: turnovers, I seem to remember my mom buying the things, made in advance and frozen. There used to be a baked good factory in town with an outlet store, and people bought all kinds of doughs, frozen cakes, breads, buns, etc. They went out of biz a few years ago...but I remember placing turnovers on cookie sheets, frozen. They were the flaky layered pastry kind. Yeah, I grew up eating a lot of premade food.

Today is an experiment for me. I am having coffee now, and then heading out to the barn for chores. Then, I'll do some exercises, shower and head into town for reading class at dd's school. Then, I'm meeting a former colleague for lunch downtown. That will leave an opening between lunch hour and 3p, when I am picking up kids for the doc appointment. I think I will carry along my laptop and spend a couple hours working on my WIP at the public library. We'll be getting home late, but leftover cottage pie is dinner tonight.

Speaking of food, I am in need of a diet overhaul. I am caving to the cravings of the cold season, and things are not pretty. Yesterday, though, I made a big pot of green tea with my home-grown lemon verbena. Lovely. I need to totally reconsider what I am doing. The comfort foods are fine for the kids, but I need more exercise if I am going to be able to eat like they do. And if I am writing more than an hour a day, well...I'm not working out then, am I?

Yikes.

Anyway, as an alternative that includes more movement, I could bike into town and run errands that way, then get home and grab the car for the doc appointment. Also an OK option. (I live 4 miles from school, another 2ish to downtown. High of 56 today, and I think I can find some gloves if I dig around.) Actually, I could stop in at the yarn store downtown and ask about a good beginner project...

Of course, all this means I am a mom on the move today. Should be a nice way to break up my week.

Meantime, I have to unload the dill from the dehydrator and replace with mint, haul out the kitchen waste, make beds and vacuum the upstairs before I go. Sheep will need water again, since they were inside most of yesterday (wind and rain!), and a good pile of hay.

And figure out how to get rid of the MICE! Will add health food store to my town rounds, to get more peppermint oil, but that's nowhere near enough. We have a hundred-year-old, cream city brick farmhouse with a holey stone foundation, gaps in doors, an add-on bathroom with a crawlspace directly opening to the basement...I could go on...

So I'm open to suggestions that don't include glue traps.

[artparent]

that *is* ridiculous. vancouver has allowed them. *london* allows them!!

i rolled 5 large balls of yarn from my grandmother's old scarf. next i'm hoping to whorl some to work into a throw along with these. should be cosy when the cold creeps in i got a sweater my aunt had knitted, to frog for yarn, but it is fuzzy yarn and just knots up. i guess my other option is to felt it?

we are inching closer to getting our floors refinished, it looks like it will be completely disruptive. it makes me less inclined to put anything away, as it will need to be packed up!

my girls slept really well last night. i know, i watched them so off to have a nap now, and accomplish things another day.

*

[columbusmomma]

Originally Posted by Katico

He lives in Western Canada, we live in the East. I think you're onto something - I should think hard about what he might miss that he can't get out there. And maybe I have time to knit a pair of fingerless gloves for her - I think that would be up her alley



Chicken Salad sounds really good, I never think to make it!




What kind of pastry do you use? Has anyone made turnover and frozen them unbaked? WOuld that work?

DD's sweater is done, think I'll cast on those fingerless gloves right now, have to get the spare room ready for company and today is the day I deep clean the kitchen.

I was reading our free local paper yesterday and see an article on the chicken bylaws. Our city (Halifax, in a very rural Province) has been ridiculous and won't allow backyard chicken keeping, claiming it leads to rodent problems. One of our local business moguls has announced his intention to move his chickens from his country home to his city home and is basically daring the city to do something about it. I have high hopes this will eventually mean we will be free to have some cluckers! I think Halifax, with it's rural surroundings and highly educated population, could seriously become a model city for local food and home food production. We have space, we have knowledge, we have an appreciation for good food and clean, green land. And frankly, we need to face the fact that even in the cities, families are going to need to have a hand in producing at least part of their food someday. Let's lay the groundwork now before it is truly a crisis!

The pastry dough for the turnovers was simple:

3/4 c. butter/ softened
8 0z. cream cheese/ softened
Cream together until well blended.
Add 2 C. flour
Chill for at least 1 hour.
Not sure about the freezing.....

[1jooj]

I went to the yarn store. OMG. First of all, I got a DVD, some inexpensive yarn and beginner-type needles to learn how. So, This will be the winter I learn to knit. I want fingerless gloves, mittens, socks, hoods, cowls, scarves, you name it. The yarn store also has stuff to card, spin, weave, you name it. So, it may be a long way off, but someday, I may be making a Pokey hat (from my special needs black sheep).

Also got the EOs I needed to replace.

[artparent]

appleturnovers are my happiest place

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[MamaFern]

Originally Posted by artparent

appleturnovers are my happiest place

*

omg. your pinwheels are how do you replicate them?(i want!!)

[artparent]

i used to have pdf on my homemade stories section, but it is being reconfigured let me see how big it is, i can send it to you.

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[1jooj]

artparent, I am so in awe.

We're all on a monthlong course of fluconazole. I hate it, but we have to get rid of this ringworm. Every time I think we have it beaten, another spot pops up somewhere. Dd is on for 6 weeks.

Dh wrote a very cute note to tell us that as he unpacked his case in the incredibly gorgeous hotel in Kuwait, something fell from his things and rolled to the floor. It was sheep poo.

My mom is bringing her garden waste today, so it is a lost day for accomplishments. Maybe get some cookies made. I'll be picking up dh's car and maybe starting on the mulching of the trees if I can stand it.

I had lunch with a former colleague yesterday, and it was really nice. She is a struggling WOHM with two LOs. Long story short, she wants to stay home. She wants to be the mom making stuff and making do at home, and her dh has not yet embraced what that can mean for them as a family. Maybe once we see the "new normal," more people like her and her dh will be willing to make the big adjustments necessary to do what makes them really happy. I talked to her about how, if you are really at home with the LOs, and working every day on your homemaking, it's harder to really notice how much less $$ you have. I mean, I see most traditional homemakers not out shopping daily and spending major time on self-maintenance, but truly staying home and focusing on how to make home better (notsomuch buy home better).

I never really answered the first thread question about homemaking and its appeal. The fact is, I ran kicking and screaming from the job as soon as I thought my kids were old enough, and over time I realized it is a real and important set of tasks that can either be semi-handled by two committed, focused, dedicated partners (and then their income has to pay for the rest in goods/services), or is sorely missed by families. Mine was the sorely missing type, because my dh can't "do his share" due to his work travel, and I was working too much (both at the office in taking it home).

So, why homemaking? Because people need a home. Even my dh's desert nomad grandparents made a home when they set up their tent. We need a sense of place and belonging, and the work of homemaking places those cues everywhere--the smells and sights and sounds and feelings and flavors of my home. My dh's travel intensifies his need for a sense of home when he is here, and the kids need it, too. It is their security. It helps them be safe and confident in the world.

And why traditional? I have found that, on a modest income, this is the only way we can successfully make our home. At the same time, traditional homemaking answers a lot of the stuff I feel called to do, and it's tightly tied to our farming. I live among exurban sprawl, and we'll keep at least this little farm from going to subdivision. By freezing, canning and drying, I'm helping us get the most out of the chem-free crops and animals we raise. I want to learn the skills to take this further and someday also use their wool to make some of our clothing. I want to use what's already there, too, and upcycle/recycle things into uses we really need, or we can gift or sell to others.

I know, Can you tell dh isn't around? I'm just feeling really lucky today.

[1jooj]

OK, to serial post, I saw these bags at a new little vintage shop when I was downtown yesterday. The photo doesn't do them justice, but they are big totes made from old suits.

I also have a large pile of feed bags which are non-recyclable. I think they would be fun to make into grocery bags and somehow decorate with acrylic paints...

[artparent]

shucks
that's a bit of what i *really* do but distract myself with making all kinds of things ...especially homemaking. i may have figured out how to work them all in together, but we'll have to see - i need to finish the animation i'm working on. somehow. in between everything else. speaking of which, what *is* WIP, 1jooj?

the sun came out and i found a lot of energy, despite waking up at 1 a.m. with my little one, who woke up my tall one, and they played til 6 then went to sleep, and somehow i did not they went out in the garden this afternoon, and i cut back the sprawling jasmine and mile-a-minute, and dug out the compost and spread some on the garden, wow did we eat a lot of eggs last year! i'm going to start crushing them. naturally i want my compost to look pretty . i raked the pebble path out, mowed the lawn (fixed the mower first, which was jammed with a rusty nail ) and started a new compost with the clippings, and used my shears to edge the lawn a bit and take down the long grasses along the fence. there were some ornamental grasses in my beds that had sent up babies, so i dug them up and popped them in along the fence, they are just what i wanted there, a bit of elegant movement, and the daffodils will come up between them in the spring. the neighbours were having some awfully tall trees cut down, and i waved at the fellow in the tree, and he is going to give us a quote on thinning the ash trees so maybe i will get some light in next year! if it isn't too expensive. otherwise it will have to be me and my rusty saw and my very short ladder

so i am very inspired and can once again look out the window at my garden.

i've also decided to sell off our ottoman and open up the space for the girls to play, and i've started them with a tidy-up routine despite our chaotic sleep times. it is helping to make us feel at home again.

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[Juvysen]

So, it was 64 in here when we woke up this morning and we haven't gotten around to getting more wood for the woodstove...

So I strategically baked pumpkin bread with the pumpkin puree i made the other day. WOOT!

[MamaFern]

Originally Posted by 1jooj

artparent, I am so in awe.

We're all on a monthlong course of fluconazole. I hate it, but we have to get rid of this ringworm. Every time I think we have it beaten, another spot pops up somewhere. Dd is on for 6 weeks.

have you tried taking diatomaceous earth? i *think* my littlest one may have pin worms and all of my reasearch says that this is the best & safest route to being pest free.. its good for a TON of other things as well. my whole family is going to start taking it. it has to be food grade and there is a company that sells it ground as fine as flour and you can actually add it to baking and stuff.. fossil shell flour they call it. im REALLY hoping it gets rid of whatever is happening in her (and maybe all of us) its so gross to me.