Traditional Homemaking: Late Summer/Autumn 2010 - Page 4

[suddenlyamama]

where oh where have I been for these threads?
well I am new to the homemaking decision as of January of this year but I have jumped right in full speed ahead. DH and I come from working families ( both of our mothers are successful business women)
As much as we admire them, both of us wish we would have learned more about slow moving life, rather than work work, daycare, weekends spent running errands, etc. Also, neither of us witnessed our parents cultivating healthy relationships with one another.
Something we both wanted was a slow moving life, children whose home is a true refueling station, not just a passerby.
As a result, when I fell pregnant with dd, I quit!
I had NO domestic skills whatsoever ( I mean common, young marrieds in our 20s, both working, living in an urban dwelling)
Since then I have learned to sew, learn(ing) to cook, learning to cloth diaper, jam making, fermenting, tilling our small patch of land to plant a winter garden, stocking the freezer with delicious summer veggies, surviving off of one car and income.
This decision has been a HUGE change for us and is not always easy, so I am still learning every day!
Totally inspired by all of you!

[1jooj]

You ladies have some wonderful goals. Gosh, I don't even know what to do about goals...I guess my goal needs to be to be present.

I'm flying solo again this month, for the next three weeks, then dh will be home for a week, then he will be gone again for another week. All work travel.

During this month, we have placed the ram in with the ewes, the buck in with the does, and our third round of meat chicks should be reaching slaughter weight by the end of Oct. Gardens are winding down, but potatoes and onions need to be harvested, and there are still peppers, eggplants, lettuce, peas and herbs to harvest. I'm still milking twice daily. The leaves have begun falling and will need to be raked and fed to the animals.

Adding to that chaos, we are working on refinancing our mortgage this month (better rate and a 15-year term), as well as replacing our back door with insulated, energy-efficient doors.

Oh, and work has called and I am back to working for at least the next three weeks, probably about 20 hours a week or so.

I look around and my house is a dirty mess. Right now, every room needs to be cleaned. Every surface is cluttered. We've been in a long, mad scramble to get things done while dh was not traveling, that the day-to-day was sort of left to the bare-bones, not-let-the-house-fall-down basics. And I am fighting a scary eye infection that had me down with a fever last week.

I'll be trying to take it a day at a time, squeeze in some daily self-care (exercise), keep expectations reasonable and take up offers for help. I'd like to make another batch of hot sauce, get the house cleaned and decluttered, spend some time enjoying my kids rather than constantly policing, and not let the anxiety drive me to lose my temper or self control. (i.e. eat everything in the house and yell at the kids)

I did also spy a knitting pattern for a sweater I'd like to make, but that's asking rather a lot right now. One thing at a time.

[Jenn_M]

Jo- You sound like one busy mama!! I hope it all goes smoothly!

Welcome ktg, Melanie, and Jamie!!!


So, both my girls are sick. Aargh. One week into fall. We had a terrible winter last year and I really don't want a repeat this year. Especially with the baby due early January. What do you all do for illness? I was telling some friends that when I was a SAHM I would wait it out a few days before getting them into the doctor but now I feel like I have to take them to the doctor right away because I can't send them to school/daycare sick and I don't want to miss work. As a result I think we end up using antibiotics more than we probably need to .

I'm trying to finish up some knitting projects. I had started a pair of rainbow socks for my younger DD but I think her legs have grown a lot since I started them (cough.. several months ago..) and so now I'm making leg warmers for the baby. Or her if they will still fit around her calves. I have more of this colorway so when I'm done I will start a bigger pair of socks.

[CherryBomb]

My first try at fermenting pickles didn't go well. IDK what happened, but they didn't taste right and now they're growing what looks like white mold in the fridge So I need to have dh toss them. Sigh.

I've been too tired from pregnancy to accomplish much, but I did can a few pints of pickled peppers from the garden and some peach butter from our peach tree a few days ago.

[MommyPants]

Hello ladies! I'm new to the thread, but I'm going to jump right in. I've been a SAHM since May 06, and I love it!

I cook almost all of our meals from scratch, and I would love to figure out a GOOD bread recipe and work on it. A whole wheat sourdough would be wonderful! I'd also love to learn more about canning and freezing, but we eat pretty much all organically raised food and I have a hard time finding organic foods in quantities and at prices that make it worth doing my own.

I love to garden, but have had very little success with it at our current house. We moved in March of last year and immediately put a garden in the side yard. It was a gamble and the trees won. There wasn't enough sun to get anything out of it. The backyard, however, had plenty of sun. So, this year we did an amazing raised bed garden, with the chicken run around it. It started off amazing, and then didn't produce much of anything. The trees in the back yard grew over the top of the back yard and there was almost no sunlight, which is my guess as to why we got no produce. We basically ended up opening it up to the chickens and letting them have the greens from it. I'm going to have dh put in a cold frame or two closer to the house and take advantage of the leaves being down so that I can get SOME food out of my own ground! Next year, I may go to the community organic garden up the street, but I am due in May with #3, so we'll have to see how it goes when we get there.

I knit voraciously at this time of year! I've whipped out a cotton sweater for my 4 yo, a wool sweater for my 2 year old, a wool hat for my 2 year old, and I have a pair of mittens for my 4 year old ready to graft. Then will be mittens for the two year old and then a handful of wool socks for the two of them.

I sew, and have about a million projects planned for fall/winter! I've made three pairs of flannel lined corduroy pants for the kids for the coming cold weather. I've got one more pair of these cut out and ready to sew, and then I'm starting on a pair of flannel lined wool pants for each of them. I may make their coats first, haven't decided yet. I'd like to make them both some jammies, but they do have plenty of knit jammies already, so I may hold off on that for a while. I'm going to make a few lap quilts for Christmas. I made a pair of slippers from a felted wool sweater for my 2 yo yesterday and I'm going to make myself a pair soon too. That's all I can remember without hopping up to look.

Cleaning - I've got an index card box and I've got my daily chores listed on the cards. I'm trying to keep up with the housework all of the time and keep everything looking nice.

Homeschooling - We do Waldorf inspired homeschooling, which is basically just play and rhythm at this point. However, we also host a Waldorf homeschool enrichment program at our house every Thursday, which is a lot of fun! There is a pretty good sized group and we do circle time, story time, an activity (craft, game, nature walk), lunch and then an afternoon activity for the older kids and free play for the younger kids. It is a LOT of fun!

I guess that is all about me for now! I look forward to getting to know everyone and learn more homemaking skills!

[APBTlover]

Great! I love seeing all these new posters! Welcome!

As for me, I'm (mostly) patiently awaiting this baby's birth. . . any day now. I'm quite tired (getting up to pee 4 times a night doesn't really facilitate restful sleep) and mostly focused on keeping the house presentable at all times so it's not a wreck when the baby's born. I did finally learn to make rabbit stock... I haven't eaten any yet but it smells delicious! I also finally made a rabbit recipe we liked enough for regular rotation. I don't know why, but none of my previous attempts at cooking rabbit have been very tasty, so I finally gave up and just adapted a chicken recipe. It was wonderful!

Good luck on all your projects! Once we get into the swing of things with a newborn, I can't wait to get started on some fall and winter goals.

[Sundance_11]

Thanks for the welcome, Ladies!!

There haven't been many posts, can I assume your harvests are keeping everyone off the computer??

We're almost done with our garden. We got the celery and the rest of the broccoli into the freezer last night. I also picked the beets (not too many). I don't know what I'll do with them. I grew them for the greens, but can't throw them into the compost pile. We don't really like them. Does anyone have a recipe that I could try that would change my opinion??

We're having a potato digging party tonight! My friend's DD is 11, and LOVES helping us dig them, so they're coming over to dig, and have supper...

DS woke up as I was typing, so it's taken me half an hour to get this written, and nurse him back to sleep...so now I must go and work on supper!

Hopefully there will be some new posts to read later

Melanie

[ltlmrs]

Originally Posted by Sundance_11

I also picked the beets (not too many). I don't know what I'll do with them. I grew them for the greens, but can't throw them into the compost pile. We don't really like them. Does anyone have a recipe that I could try that would change my opinion??

Borsch and beet kvas! Or make beet chips.

[Sundance_11]

Originally Posted by ltlmrs

Borsch and beet kvas! Or make beet chips.

Thanks...I'd been meaning to make kvass, and forgot about that, thanks

[1jooj]

Hey mamas! The thread has been so quiet...I hope it's because everyone has been busy doing the things they love.

Anyone finding themselves feeling crafty, at least in the Northern Hemisphere, now that gardens are winding down? How were your harvests this year? Any fun room make-overs? Hm?

We had a wet, wet growing season. It stunted our sweetcorn and the tomatoes did pretty poorly, but I canned enough to get us through chili season. Our peppers, hot and bell, loved the weather, and the eggplants also did well. I didn't like the result of roasting and freezing peppers last year, though, so I am still ISO a good way to preserve my peppers. I made hot sauce and canned that, and also canned many quarts of pickles this summer.

We started a perennial garden, so that is kind of exciting. Put in asparagus and rhubarb, berries and herbs, and hope to add more perennials every year. I'm hoping that, as we finally start to "landscape" the yard a little, we integrate lots of edibles. Potatoes, watermelons and squashes had a good year. So now we're eating potatoes and squash.

We raised 3 rounds of meat chickens this summer. My first two rounds had bigger losses , but the third did great. Now I have a coop to clean out before winter creeps in, so I can get that manure out to heat up the compost pile.

Lambs didn't grow well this year, either. We had a good lamb crop considering that we only bred a couple sheep, but they were late lambs, and just didn't get very big. I have a ram in now, and am hoping that an earlier crop next year, with a large and proven ram, will do well for us.

Goats did great for their first year milking. We had cheese and yogurt. I have one jar of feta left and am now drying off the ladies for their pregnancy vacation. We'll miss the milk.

Dh had layers hatch out a few clutches this summer, so it looks like we are set for replacement hens, too.

Bees didn't have the best year, but they did OK. We have honey for ourselves for the summer. I want to make lip balms again this fall.

Dh has been traveling, so I have been a little overwhelmed between my job, kids and the outside chores. You can imagine what the house looks like. Hoping now that the cold is coming, I might get some time to cozy up and make something. Looking forward to bread and stew season, and hopefully picking out a knitting project. We replaced doors on the house with insulated ones, and will be putting up drywall and putting down flooring in our mudroom over the winter. There are still a million projects, but we are progressing toward the vision, I suppose.

So...what are you ladies up to these days? I am looking for some inspiration. Show me your craftiness!

[Sundance_11]

I'm terrible at responding to everything in a long post (but good at writing them, and expecting a response..hmm....maybe I need to work on that, lol!)...but I will do my best.
Our garden did really well, too! We've got a ton of food in the basement, and in the freezer, and in the preserve cupboard--it's only our 3rd year doing any of this, so we're very proud!

I had to laugh at your crafty question--it must be something bout the cooler weather or the shorter days that brings it on! I'm making halloween costumes for the kids (Dorothy & the Scarecrow from the Wizard of Oz), as well as attempting to get mitts and hats knit. I would also like to sew us each a pair of jammies for the winter, and make socks...but until I get those costumes sewn (I am so a rookie), most everything else is on hold!

Our replacement layers are 18 weeks old today, so I expect we'll start having some pullet eggs very soon, which will be good, because we are not able to satisy all of our customers right now!

I can't remember if I mentioned earlier, or not that we are planning to get a dairy cow this winter! We buy milk from a local farm, but that source has dried up for them to travel this winter, so we won't have that anymore...so we need to get on this cow, ASAP! I can't wait, though, for unlimited FRESH milk, yogurt, butter, cheeese, cream, etc!

Anyways, as usual, I don't have time to finish this up...but I am hoping that the thread will pick back up, I am loving being a part of it!

Melanie

[Jenn_M]

Love reading all the animal updates! I will just live vicariously through you ladies!

We are moving in 17 days. Nothing is packed. I have a pile of Christmas gifts to work on. Our baby will be here in 10 weeks. I am hosting Thanksgiving 2 weeks after we move into the new place.



And it's COLD here. 44 degrees with sustained winds of about 40 mph. I need to get to work on hats and mittens for the girls.