All Work, No Play

I've been pushing myself pretty hard the last several weeks, and it's starting to show.  June started out with two weddings, one of them for our daughter.  Then, our oldest at home ventured off to summer camp for the third year in a row.  Right after that the hubby took a week off of work to work at home.  LOL  That's life married to a work-a-holic.  We did accomplish a lot here on the homestead though.  We've got 38 chickens and four sheep now.  Our new wood shelter is just waiting to hold our winter heating fuel.  The felled tree is still begging for our attention, but the bobcat is up and running and being useful.

Now, we're in full swing for our first time participating in the 4-H fair.  We're blessed in that the St. Clair County Fairgrounds are "just around the corner."  Attending every day of the week has quickly become a family tradition.  The kids spend all year looking forward to Dollar Day, the only day they actually get to ride the rides.  There is so much to see and enjoy, and it's a much anticipated event for us.  This year Harmony will be entering her Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Pecan Drop Cookies.  I can tell you first hand that they are wonderful.  We've been her test subjects for a few months now, and we will surely miss our weekly batch of cookies after her cookies have been officially entered.  She's both excited and nervous, but who wouldn't be.

In the meantime I have been laboriously re-purposing FIVE ROOMS in our home.  Talk about a HUGE undertaking!  I'm exhausted, but does it ever feel good to finally be reclaiming our space after all the changes our family has faced these last few years.  So many people moving in and out in such a short time, adding two children to the family, and plunging head first back into homeschooling has taken a tremendous toll on the state of our home.  We've still got a lot to do, but the dust is finally settling in the rooms...thankfully!  The next big project will be going through ALL of the closets.  I say, "BRING IT!".

The major reorganization of our space will have to be put on hold for at least a couple weeks while we enjoy our 4-H week as well as the company of our Navy son before he leaves for his next deployment.  Some things are just more important than projects.

Today, we took a much needed break from all the work around here.  We slept in, listened to Pam Rossi and Sunday Morning Overeasy while cooking a big breakfast together, played a round of the old board game LIFE, relaxed a while, took the kids out for pizza, stopped by the park, and watched them play in the sprinkler.  It was a much needed remedy for two very overworked parents.

Now, the evening is coming to a close.  We introduced the kids to The Dick Van Dyke Show, and now we're watching M*A*S*H, another family tradition.  The time has come for teeth to be brushed and kids to be tucked in.  Wonder what stories they'll choose tonight.

What have you been up to this summer?  Are you looking forward to any traditional activities this year?  Have you already honored some?  We'd love to hear all about it!

For now, sweet dreams!

Putting Up the Harvest: Strawberries

Last year I made a decision to put up as much food as I am capable.  In my perfect world I would grow everything I preserve.  In reality very little of what I preserve this year will come from my own soil.  It seems homesteading is filled with way many more bumps and hurdles than I could have possibly anticipated.  My perfectionist side goes crazy trying to deal with everything, and my desire to stumble upon a magic wand grows greater each passing day.  However, at some point I have to come to grips with reality, and that means ANOTHER year without any real designated garden beds to grow food.  It means ANOTHER failed attempt at starting seeds inside.  It means ANOTHER year of supporting my local farmers in my effort to put up and preserve as much produce as I possibly can.  It also means ANOTHER year of not putting up as much as I desire.  After all, I am indeed only one person.

I am one person with high ideals and even higher standards.  I am one person traveling a major detour with no clear sight around the bend limiting my ability to even see the ideals let alone reach the standards.  I am one person shifting gears, dodging potholes, cautiously braking, gingerly steering my way through this uncharted journey that we call life.  I am one person trying to figure out how to live as simply and graciously as possible given my own unique set of circumstances.

And, then there are strawberries.

One thing I've learned over the last couple of years is that eating in season requires determination, flexibility, and a lot of work.  You have to be determined, because it is time consuming.  Making any amount of homemade jam is A LOT more work than buying a jar at the store.  You have to be flexible, because when the item to be preserved is at its peak all life stops to preserve that specific food item before it passes its peak and begins to rot.  It doesn't matter what needs doing.  If you bought one, two, or ten flats of strawberries you darned well better get them processed within a day or so, or you can say goodbye to all those berries, the time you already invested, and the money you spent on them.  It's a downward slope that goes VERY quickly.

Then, there's the work.

It requires work processing your own food.  That's why there's such a huge market for already prepared food.  In our current culture there generally isn't time afforded to women, or men for that matter, for caring for their families like there used to be.  Unless we make a conscious effort to set up our lives to allow the time for the work involved in growing and preparing our own food it just cannot happen.  Not only does it take work, but it takes time, and it takes way more time than we would actually think.  Oh, and yes, your arms can and will get a workout hulling and processing strawberries.  Putting up food is repetitive work, and you have to be committed to the end product in order to see it through.

The reward.

I didn't mention that it is rewarding, very rewarding.  Nothing tastes so amazing as anything you put up yourself, unless of course it's something your grandma put up.  There is nothing more satisfying than opening up a jar of jam that you processed yourself.  You know every aspect of the food you are about to consume; its origin, the process in which it was prepared, etc.  Feeding your family can be done with the confidence that they are eating real, quality, nourishing food.  It can't get much better than that.

So, since I just processed two flats of strawberries for the first time I thought I might share with you what we did with them.  Unfortunately, I did not take any pictures of the finished products, but I can assure you that they are beautiful and delicious.

What we did with our strawberries:

Homemade Strawberry Yogurt Pops

1 quart Homemade Plain Yogurt
1 quart Fresh Strawberries, cleaned and hulled
1/2 cup Local Honey
2 Tbs. Pure Vanilla

I did this in two batches.  Using a blender, mix half of ingredients until well blended.  Pour into freezer molds and freeze until solid.  Repeat with remaining ingredients.

That's all there is to it!



Homemade Strawberry Yogurt Drink

Use the same recipe as above.  Only, this time pour into mason jars and refrigerate instead of freezing.  The kids love to drink this with a straw.  Super yummy!



Strawberry Syrup

I just took some of my strawberries and blended them with some local pure maple syrup and put it in jars in the refrigerator.  I didn't make a lot of this, less than a quart, as it's just a special treat, and it needs to be refrigerated.  It's awesome, though!  (You can make a cooked version as well that is super simple.)



Puree'd Strawberries

I really wanted to make Strawberry Jam, but time would not allow.  With a grandson over for the weekend and a hubby at home on vacation, my time was short when the strawberries were ready.  So, I just pulsed them through the blender and poured them into sandwich bags.  I laid them out on a cookie sheet and set them in the freezer.  After they froze, I removed the cookie sheet and stacked them up.  As time allows I'll use them to make jam, throw them in smoothies, or add them to pancake batter.  No matter how we consume them I know we'll love them, especially in the dead of winter.



Fresh in the Refrigerator

I cleaned up the last two quarts and let them dry.  Then I put them into one of those cool bags you can buy for keeping produce fresh in the refrigerator.  We plan to use some for Strawberry Shortcake.  The rest will just be eaten like they are or put on top of yogurt or cereal.

Do you have a favorite way to use fresh strawberries when they're in season?  I'd love to hear about it!

Preparing for Animals on the Homestead

If you've been poking around here for any length of time by now you've figured out that we're city folk in the process of transitioning to country folk.  Nearly four years ago we packed up our (nowhere near) postage stamp existence just outside Detroit and relocated to 11 acres 20 minutes west of Port Huron.  We absolutely love it here, and there's not a thing we miss about city living.  That being said, we are inexperienced at just about everything living on our little homestead requires.  There's wood heat, well water, plants and animals we cannot identify, storing up food, gardening on a grander scale, and now we're venturing into raising farm animals.

About two weeks ago we brought home 20 baby chicks.  It's kind of comical to me, because we really have no clue hot to take care of them.  We're learning in the process.  I read, and we talk; to each other and to those we know with experience.  It's been two weeks, and all 20 are growing and starting to practice flying.  It's high time we got some temporary fencing up so we can let them out for a little while each day for some scratching, bug eating, and flying practice.  They've almost outgrown their two 22 gallon aquariums they are currently calling home.  The plan is to move them into their newer, high-class trailer we converted for them.  However, there is still some work that needs to be completed for our little chicken family can move in and get settled.  The nesting boxes need dividers and covers built to keep the little turd makers happy and their nesting boxes a respectable level of clean.  We need to install roosts and secure the doors.  That's about it aside from needing to purchase a truck load of pine shavings or straw or whatever it is we ultimately decide on for bedding in there.  Seems everyone has an opinion on that one, and we need to develop our own.  Only time and experience will establish that for us.

Some of the baby chicks at one week old.

The other big project currently under way is fencing.  We were fortunate in that there were already present two animal shelters when we purchased our property.  So, we have no building to do in preparation for the second addition to the homestead, four sheep; one to eat, three to keep.  Who knows how many we'll ultimately end up raising, but we are looking forward to the experience.  I choose to not think about certain aspects like babies being born (I watched too many episodes of Dr. Pohl!) and lambs going to slaughter.

The next animal that will be around is the goats that we plan to put to work clearing land.  For the time being we have made arrangements with a good friend to borrow a goat here and there.  After this summer we'll see if we'd like to add our own goats to the homestead.  I am thankful that we're holding off on this one.  I'm all for diving in head first, but adding three different animals that I've never raised, know nothing about, and have no real knowledge of was a bit of an intimidating idea to me.

It's funny to me that now that animals are slowly finding their way to our homestead people keep asking us if we'll be getting cows.  Um...no...not for now.  Who knows what the future holds, but sheep and chickens are quite enough for now.

The kids working hard to rid the back bed of weeds
and all the hen and chick, and there were a lot!

Stage one.  Next, we plan to move all the flowers
to another bed and grow only veggies here.

For now, the kids and I are focusing our energies on prepping the three existing planting beds for vegetables.  We will plant some flowers, but our main focus is veggies.  When we moved here there was little in the way of landscaping, and there was no existing garden bed.  So, we are transforming the two original flower beds at the front and back of the house to grow veggies along with the flowers.  This is the technique I used in our tiny yard in the city.  It worked wonderfully.  We also transformed another area of the property the first year we were here by removing a lot of overgrowth and underbrush to create a large planting bed with some trees remaining.  It's been slow going getting stuff to grow there, but we're still plugging away at that.  Since the north side of our property is going to get all dug up in order to run new water lines to both the house and the barn, we'll have to wait another year to have access to the best planing area on our property.  In the meantime there is talk of building a raised bed along the whole south side of the house.  We'll see how that works out.

Spring is a time of growth and new life, and homestead life provides lots and lots of projects and chores.  What have you been up to in your neck of the woods?  We'd love to hear about it!

What's New at the Zoo?

 A lot has been happening on our little wannabe homestead.  Last weekend we had one of our granddaughters visiting for the weekend, and I think we gave her a nice taste of country life.  We are fortunate enough to have my best friend of nearly 35 years and her family living just down the road, and we got to visit their little budding farm to feed baby goats.  It was a lot of fun and really got us excited about the animals that will soon be joining us here.  This weekend will see 20 chicks moving in, and in about a month we plan to add four sheep.  There is talk of goats, but we'll see when they get added to the mix.  It may be later this summer, or possibly next spring.  One thing at a time.  Here are pictures of kids with kids.  Too much cuteness!

There is a lot of work to be done on the homestead.  When we moved here four nearly four years ago the property was very overgrown.  The one animal shelter was so well camouflaged by plant life that it took three visits before we even discovered its existence.  The first order of business is to fence in the area where the sheep will be housed.  Fortunately the hubs had some experienced help, and as a bonus we were able to use existing poles.  Have you ever priced fencing?  Yeah, and there's lots more to put up.

You can see why the hubby wants goats.

Hard at work.

Another thing we've been hard at work on ever since we moved in is establishing some garden beds.  There was no real landscaping here at all, and everything was overgrown.  Each year we've managed to grow some sort of food, last year providing the biggest haul so far.  We actually got to do some canning!  This year we are trying our hand at seed starting.  There are flowers and veggies in there.  We have three beds that need attention.  There are bushes to pull, branches to trim, and plants to move.  Hopefully, we'll see a bigger haul this year.

This is the first time we find ourselves without a canine companion in nearly 20 years.  However, we do have two resident felines.  They do a wonderful job of keeping the rodent population under control, and I'm guessing their presence keeps snakes at bay.  In all the years we've lived here I've yet to see one.  Although, I do know they are present as they've been spotted by others.  Harmony and I have been working on honing our photography skills.  This first picture is Charlie, the alpha male.  He loves to hang out in the woods behind our home.  I was finally able to focus past the branches and capture his little, basking self.

Charlie on a Log

Admiring the kill.

All the little kids chickened out, so Harmony
flung the dead mole into the woods.
I love Kiley's face!

We've been cooking a lot of food from scratch here, and Harmony is really growing in her abilities in the kitchen.  She has been working on perfecting her recipe for Gluten Free Chocoloate Chip Cookies for entry in the 4-H Fair this July.  She's getting pretty good and can now follow the recipe all on her own.  We're still working on completely understanding measurement, but she does it all on her own asking questions as she goes along.  We enjoy being her tasters very much!  Every family should bake chocolate chip cookies once a week!

Harmony baking GF Chocolate Chip Cookies

 I've never been a fan of oatmeal.  A friend from our local homeschool support group was kind enough to share her recipe for Baked Oatmeal.  We absolutely love it.  I'll share the recipe in a future post as well as a few others I've been working on for you.  So, stay tuned!

Martha's Baked Oatmeal

We love to hear what others are doing in their homeschool.  What have you been up to?  What are your plans for the summer months?  Do share!

Finally!

Country living hasn't worked out quite exactly as I had planned.  My ambitions out number my ambition by far.  As you well know, we've been flung a few curve balls since we moved.  It's caused me to take MUCH longer in accomplishing things around our so-called homestead.  Again, I almost threw the towel completely in on growing anything around here that resembled food for yet another summer.

When we moved here there was no real landscaping to speak of, so everything we do is completely new and has required a lot of manual labor on our part.  There was one existing flower bed around our front porch, and I had resigned myself to leaving it alone.  It wasn't planted the way I would do it, but it looked nice enough.  One less thing to worry about while we tackle the laundry list of things more pressing around here; chop wood to heat during winter, mow the grass, trim the trees, build a barn, build a chicken coop, build a hearth for a now needed new wood burner, etc.

Our home when we first purchased it with original plants.

A different plan came about, and I'm glad we are seeing it through.  Jack Frost bit real hard this winter here in SE Michigan.  We had numerous days with sustained 30-degrees BELOW ZERO temperatures.  I don't recall a winter that found me spending more time indoors ever in my life.  Well, the star attraction around our front porch was four lovely rosebushes that bloomed spring through fall.  The problem?  They are only cold-hardy to temperatures of 20-degrees below zero.  Yes.  They died.

My damaged trees and dead rose bushes this spring.

Once we determined the rose bushes were not coming back my husband cut them off at the base with his chainsaw.  We left it like that for a short while, but it was driving me crazy.  We're nearing the end of planting season, so vegetable plants are easily found for 99-cents here, and perennials can be picked up for Buy One, Get One FREE.  My kind of deals.

The kids and I stopped at a farm stand that we pass on our way back and forth to the chiropractor.  We found four heirloom tomato plants, 12 bell pepper, and four jalapeno peppers along with some daisies and a couple other flowers. I managed to keep them alive in their pots for about a week and was anxious to get them in the ground.  I kept trying to determine how it was I was going to get these plants into dirt, but be it pot on the porch or in the ground I really wanted to see them grow.

Fortunately, my hubby agreed to dig out the rosebush roots this past Sunday.  I decided to run out to a local feed store for rabbit food and bird seed.  Well, they have four greenhouses.  I found two kinds of lettuce totaling eight plants, four eggplant plants, two large basil plants, four slicing cucumber plants, and some more flowers.

The front bed along the porch replanted with flowers and vegetables.

The kids and I managed to get most everything in the ground right in the existing flower bed around the front porch.  We still have some peppers and lettuce to plant along with some flowers.  I am thinking the produce plants will go in big tubs on the porch, and we will add the flowers to a perennial bed we have been trying to establish the last couple of summers.  First, we need to pull a lot of weeds!

Seems funny to have moved from a postage stamp sized yard to nearly 11 acres and still be planting like I live in the city.  For now, this is a simple solution.  However, I still hold out hope for my cottage-style raised bed garden.  One day.  One day.

Planning to be Flexible in My Homeschool

It's funny how time presses on, and we transform into a new reflection of ourselves.  It's true, really.  I mean, think about it.  Are you the same person you were even a year ago?  What about 10 or 20 years ago?  Of course not!  One of the areas I notice the greatest change in myself over the years, and the most painful of processes I might add, is in the area of flexibility.  I am still a very serious person, but praise God I can relax a little now.  There are so many factors that have contributed to me learning to loosen up a little bit, and not take life quite so seriously.

My life has been anything but simple.  Maybe that is why I have become so determined to live more and more simple as each day passes.  I actually work to slowdown; to take in the beauty around me, and to genuinely enjoy living.  This does not come without it's challenges.  One expression rings true for me more often than I like, "Life gets in the way of living."  It seems I am in a constant battle against the throws of life, but I am becoming an expert at rolling with the punches.

Most recently life has been quite possibly more challenging for me than it ever has been, and that is saying a lot given all the challenges I have faced in my 40 plus years.  As a homeschool parent in our unique circumstances I am quite certain it has never been more important to me to keep a regular schedule and stay on track.  This is a feat that proved near impossible of late.  Rest assured we have entered a 'life lull', and I couldn't be more relieved.

The key to flexibility?  Planning.  Yes, that's right.  Planning.  It is my planning that permits me the freedom to be flexible.  Only certain things get written in pen, because ALL things can be rescheduled, restructured, revised, and rewritten.  Having a plan helps me keep my head about me when all of life is spinning out of control around me.  What plans are the biggest stress reducers in times of extreme chaos?  Here are the top on my list:

Educational Plan - I always plan at a minimum one week out.  Ideally, I will plan a month ahead.  Of course, this is written COMPLETELY in pencil.  The freedom it gives me is unmatched by anything else.  It is so much easier to pull out my planner, look at the plan for the day, and work my way down the list.  No real thinking is needed; just read and do!  It may be a bit intimidating at first, but the return on the investment is priceless.  Having it all written ahead of time makes it so much easier to shuffle things around if need be, and most importantly accomplish more than we would if we were completely flying by the seat of our pants.  My new favorite tool for keeping this all together is My Well Planned Day planner.  I use the paper version.  It rocks!

Meal Plan - Having a meal plan is a close second to the educational plan.  I can quite lose my mind if I have had a stressful, or unexpectedly busy day, and I find myself with three hungry kids and no plan.  It's in times like this that I resort to poor decision making.  I let laziness, or tiredness, or stress, or whatever you prefer to label it, win out and order a pizza, or pick up Chinese, or even go out to eat.  Living 20 minutes away from everything makes this an even more costly venture.  My time and money, and my health, are very important to me.  So, if I want to protect those areas of my life and the lives of my family I must have a plan.  Over the years I have used different strategies to accomplish the same goal.  One resource you may enjoy is called Pepperplate.  I loved it for a time, and will surely return to it one day, but for now I am a pen to paper meal planner.  Quite simply, I just make a list of breakfasts, lunches, and dinners for about three weeks.  I base my grocery shopping on those meals, which is done every two weeks, and plug my meals in my planner (in pencil).  I don't always have the said meal on the said day, but I can be prepared for busy days and plan to cook more involved meals on more relaxed days.

Self-Care Plan - With the education of my children planned out and the food we'll eat prepared for, it's time for me to think about what it is that keeps me sane.  What do I do to feed my soul, to tend to the care and keeping of me?  As mothers we give 100% of ourselves, and that will surely run short if we don't keep ourselves in good health; spiritual, mental, and physical.  I may not be able to pursue all the things that interest me all the time, but I can keep my eye out for opportunities, and even create them as the need, or dare I say desire, arises.  One book that really helped me along in recognizing was The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron.  I worked through it years ago with a friend.  I am glad I stuck it out.  It did require some commitment.  I've always thought to do it again, but the time has not come for such things as of yet.  Also, I currently use YouVersion to do my morning studies.  It's awesome, because you can do studies and easily catch up if you miss a day or two, or more.  Meal planning falls under this category as well since planning ahead allows me the freedom to prepare homemade, fresh food for myself and my family.  I also make an effort to surround myself with uplifting individuals and consciously invest my time in quality people.  All relationships take a certain amount of work.  Choose where you spend your energy wisely, and you will be greatly blessed by your efforts.

Financial Plan - I do not claim to be any sort of expert in the area of finances, but the responsibility for my household finances has landed in my lap.  I have learned by experience what works for me and what does not.  I simply must keep a monthly budget and maintain the importance of tithe at the very top of my list.  I am not sure what your experience has been, but I can tell directly in my pocketbook if I have fumbled the ball in the tithe department.  It has been my experience that my finances are MUCH easier to bear when I faithfully pay my tithe.  Bill paying and budgeting other expenses is most challenging, by far, when I somehow fail to remember to pay my tithe.  In general money goes much farther if you have a plan, and don't just throw it around thoughtlessly.  In times of great stress, it is SO MUCH easier to just pop on my computer, look at my list of commitments, and pay the bills.  No real thinking is needed.  It is a total life saver.  If you have not taken advantage of online bill pay, you simply have to give it a try.  It saves loads of time and money.  Love it!

Special Occasion Plan - With so many children in my charge there is no way we can have any type of gathering without at least some advance planning on my part.  Over the years I have gotten better and better at simplifying things, praise God!  Having raised seven children to adulthood, four public schooled/three homeschooled, and currently raising three more as homeschoolers, along with waiting for grandchild number 13 to enter the world, just getting our immediate family together is a major undertaking.  Some events get planned months in advance, while others can be put together in a couple of weeks, or even days when necessary, but the common thread is to plan.  Period.  Also, I have learned to not be shy about asking for help when I need it.  The perfectionist-control freak in me has learned to allow such "intrusions".  ;)

Homestead Plan - This kind of ties in with my homeschool plan, as our plan is to raise our children to know and understand the homestead lifestyle.  It has become very important to me to live as close to the land as possible.  It is a purpose that I value in importance for teaching my children.  The land we tend, the food we eat, being responsible and accountable, our contribution to our community; all of these things are of great importance to me.  Homesteading fits perfectly into our lifestyle and offers many lessons on planning and flexibility.  On a homestead there would not be much accomplished if we were lacking much in either area.

Housekeeping Plan - There was a time in my life when this would be at the top of my list, and look where it landed.  At the very bottom!  Of course, it is necessary to plan for the care and keeping of your home, but I dare say that it is the easiest to slough off and the most forgiving.  All the things listed above, yes all of them, are incredibly more important than how much laundry you have, or the counter full of dishes, or even how many weeks, or months, it's been since you mopped your floors.  It took me years AND YEARS to become comfortable with this fact, but it is entirely life changing once you arrive; I mean completely arrive.  Of course, if you ever want to achieve a certain level of clean, or even maintain a semblance of cleanliness, it is purely essential to have a plan.  Even a loose plan is helpful.  Your truest of friends don't come over to inspect your house, they come to see you.  Learn to relax a little and recognize that everyone that has any amount of children home full-time lives in various stages of mess and disorder.

So, the conclusion?  Planning the various parts of my life integral to my daily living gives me the freedom to be flexible.  I have learned to value my time above all other resources.  Whatever I can do to guard and protect my most cherished resource is well worth my effort and pays off in great dividends, most of all the preservation of my sanity.