Dear Young Mother...

I have been invited to a baby blessing for my grandson... Basically, it is a group of ladies that gather around the baby and pray for him at different stages of his life.  The church we are attending has had them for decades but I am new to the whole business.  Personally, I am not so sure of how I feel about it either.  I am all for praying for children and pray for my children and grandchildren daily but I'm not so sure about this once for all approach.  At any rate, I was asked to give a short devotion and these are my thoughts...

Dear Sarah,

One of my favorite quotes from Tozer reads "Our prayers will become effective when we stop using them as a substitution for obedience."

Prayer is good.  Prayer is vital.  Prayer is not the totality of our work as a Christian. All the prayers we offer up here today will be of none effect if we ignore the plain precepts that our Lord lays down in scripture.  You, sweet momma, and your man are the feet of the Lord's plan.  You are His mouthpiece, His arms, His enforcer.


let's read from Deut 6 verse 2

That thou mightest fear the Lord thy God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command thee, thou and thy son, and thy son's son, all the days of thy life; that thy days may be prolonged.

As I watch you raise and love my son's sons.  I seek to encourage you that the time is short.  As a woman of God, you do not have the luxury of living for today... none of us do.  Living for today is a lie that Satan feeds our world to lull us to sleep.  It is imperative that we catch God's vision and to see down the telescope of time so that we not only raise godly children but  that we also raise godly children that will raise godly children.  What a waste if our work dies in the next generation.

Let's skip down to Deut 6: 4- 9

Hear O Israel, The Lord our God is one Lord:  And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.  And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: and thou shalt teach them diligently to thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way and when thou liest down and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.  And thou shalt write them upon the post of thy house and on thy gates.

Our Lord then repeats this entire message again in Chapter 11...

The Bible gives a very clear picture of raising a child for God and the picture it paints is that of a child underfoot...so beautiful and so contrary to what society teaches us about child rearing.  Satan hopes to cause us to run from our children. Let the pastor, youth leader, coach, school teacher or group peers be responsible for the training of your child.  And yet, God, lovingly in his word encourages us to run towards our families.  To work beside them, to dive headlong into their messy, chaotic, vibrant world and to teach them that they are a valued and important part within their family and within the family of God. 

By keeping them underfoot we are constantly available to point them to Christ, to remind them that they live in the presence of a holy God,  we serve as the frontlets between their eyes. 

I am reminded of a story that Christ told in Luke 11.  A man ended up with an unexpected visitor late at night and had no bread to give him so he ran to his neighbor and beat on the door asking for bread.  The neighbor answered, "trouble me not the door is shut and my children are with me in bed.."  If that isn't a picture of a child underfoot then I don't know what is.... and if you have ever had one of those little buggers turn sideways and take up all the room turning your spine into a pretzel then you know what I am talking about. When thou risest up and when thou liest down....cherish every moment and use it... even pretzel time... to teach Christ.

It is not enough to keep our children from evil.. to simply remove "bad" from their lives.  Further down in this same chapter we find a man that was healed from an evil spirit and he wandered around finding no rest for his soul.  His rooms were clean and swept but he had nothing wholesome to fill them with and so he went out and took to himself seven more spirits that were worse than the first.

A mother's duty is to fill her children's days by speaking words of light. Fill their lives with the presence of a Holy God.  Remind them that they are ambassadors for Christ and that they must serve Him with love, honor, and respect.  She must infuse every part of their being with Him.  Be watchful of their souls, sweep out the evil and replace it with good.  Examining their hearts and allowing them to see hers. 

We must walk with our children underfoot and constantly be leading them back to the feet of Christ because before you know it their feet will bring them to a path beside ours instead of under ours and that footing must be secure.

Stand By Your Man....

Not too long ago I bought a milk cow from a young dairy farmer. He was selling out and moving.  His farm was beautiful rolling hills dotted with Holsteins.  I had my choice of probably a hundred cows.  As we walked, I imagined his kids flying kites, catching frogs and coming home dirty and tired every night right before dark.  A hundred cows take a while to walk through so it wasn't a quick trip.

His wife joined us while we were walking and as we talked the conversation led to why they were quitting...


He shook his head and looked off into the distance.. "I need to drive truck for a while, to pay a few bills, and she just doesn't want to help me anymore."

She stood there, arms folded tight against her chest, staring at the same unknown spot on the horizon..  she didn't deny it but simply said.  "This was his dream, not mine.  I'm going back to my career."


There was a deep, hurting sigh from the farmer and I stood there feeling like an intruder as I watched an unspoken conversation take place between the two.  After what felt like an eternity of silence I asked about her career choice.


"I have the chance to become a manager at McDonald's and I am going for it."

Ladies, this is going to show you what a horrible excuse for a Christian I am... because I simultaneously wanted to give her a big motherly hug and ....I also wanted to slap her upside her head....hard.... the battle was real.  I did neither. Go Shell!


Then it was my turn to let out a big sigh... I couldn't help it.  This man sitting in his field with his hopes and dreams laying in a crumpled heap all around his feet.  And her.  We can give her some excuses.  It's just the age she's been raised in, her lack of biblical knowledge.. her will.  Maybe he is just a big, fat jerk.  Maybe she doesn't like cows. Not one of those excuses lessens the pain she is causing her family.  Not one of them validates her behaviour.

We stand around and lament that men aren't men anymore... good heavens, ladies, let's give them some real women and see what happens.

 In an instant I watched those same tired, dirty kids move from sitting in the cow bunks to sitting on the couch at some daycare, playing video games and popping pills for their ADHD  while she handed greasy fries and overpriced burgers to strangers who didn't even bother to look up from their phones to say thank you.

Would my opinion have changed if she would have said Lawyer? Doctor? ... No.

and I know there are some men who ask their wives to work outside their homes.  I'm not talking about working at home or away.... I'm talking about vision.

Purpose.

My man.

Your man.

Her man.

they were created for greatness.  It. Is. In. Them.  It's in you.  And while each person can achieve a certain level of greatness on their own.  When a man and a woman enter into a covenant relationship together, they become one flesh.  One team.  Every good team has a team leader and teams only win when they work together towards the same goal.

Don't punish your family.

To be drawn and quartered was a punishment ordained in England for treason. They would take the condemned person, tie him to horses and send those horses running in different directions thus ripping his body mercilessly apart. It is considered the epitome of cruel punishment.  Ladies, we draw and quarter our families when we pull against our man.


Let's contrast that with the words of our Lord in Ecclesiastes,

The fool foldeth his hands together, and eateth his own flesh.
Better is an handful with quietness. than both the hands full with travail and vexation of spirit.
Then I returned, and saw vanity under the sun.
There is one alone, and there is not a second; yea, he hath neither child nor brother: yet is there no end of all his labour; neither is his eye satisfied with riches; neither saith he, For whom do I labour, and bereave my soul of good?  This is also vanity, yea, it is a sore travail.
Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour.
For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up.  Again if two lie together, then they have heat: but how can one be warm alone?  And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.  Better is a poor and a wise child than an old and foolish king.


Stand with your man.  It is better to live a quiet and poor life at your man's side than it is to have the best career in the world,  live like a king and leave your children to their own devices.  Money is temporary and replaceable.  If you took all the money you have and burned it today, tomorrow you could earn more. For all that matters, you can steal more (please don't) or find more... money is always available. always somewhere. That man that lays beside you each night and those children across the hall?  They are irreplaceable.  They are God's gift to you and your gift to the world.

Do you ever wonder why in Proverbs 31 when the Lord is extolling all the character qualities of a virtuous woman one of them is  "Her husband is known in the gates"?  Because she put him there.  She freed him to be a leader by lifting instead of dragging,  by praying instead of nagging, she stood on her own two feet and became a woman of strength by becoming the woman of her man's dreams.  He owed her everything, and he knew it.... and a few verses down we find he praised her for it and so did her children.

Did the Lord give you a business mind? Skills?  Talents? Why would you ever waste them building a stranger's empire?  Get behind your man... square your shoulders, my dear, and boost. See his vision and give it all you've got.  Oh, it'll be hard work,  I know.   Some of it isn't going to be any fun.

We will be exhausted and some days reduced to tears.  But let's give that man of ours a wink even through the tears. Give our children the ultimate picture of a strong woman by filling their lives with peaceful joy.  That trail that our fella is trying to lead us down? Let's jump on it with both feet, girlfriend, and let's keep trusting in God because he has great things planned for us.

Crown Up.

~Proverbs 12:4   

Grafting...

We have been praying for the Lord to give us an additional piece of property for several years now, so far He has been asking us to wait. 

I hate waiting but wait it is. 

I decided that while I wait I can prepare though.  The piece has a spot on it that will be perfect for another orchard the only problem is is that when He finally gives us the green light we will be so broke paying for it that I won't have the funds to buy the new trees.  I don't want to buy the trees now because I have no place to store them until we get it... it's a mess, really.  So I decided to use the fruit trees that we already have and love.  I will graft branches from them to rootstock in preparation for the property.  They will be small so thus easier to stash until the Lord sees fit to bless us.

Grafting is a lot easier than it sounds.  first, you need rootstock.  you can find them online for a fair price and buying them ensures that you can control the height of your tree. Or you can buy seeds to grow grafting stock here.

The cheapest way is to just plant seeds from the fruit you are eating.  The girls and I are constantly throwing fruit seeds and pits in random pots of dirt and forgetting about them until they are big enough to graft... or in some cases bear fruit. don't laugh, someday you may be eating a Holverson apple and lovin' it.   The only drawback to this is most of them are standard roots so they will be tall. It doesn't bother me, I figure I can either trim trees or my husband's wallet and I would rather trim trees, the trimmings make good grafting starts.  Yes, it's a never-ending cycle.

Today, I am grafting apple. I grab my rootstock.

A dormant plant is ideal but today, this is what I had. Life is full of compromises, girls

full.  of.  them.


I  also grab a fresh limb from the tree I wish to duplicate... at least one of them is dormant.  You want the branches to be as evenly matched in size as possible... if one has to be bigger make sure the root side is the bigger diameter. A small root cannot support a large tree.

I then cut the root and the limb at an angle to expose as much cambium as I can.  Cambium is the green layer under the bark and before the wood.  That is the part that grows so you want to line up both layers of cambium touching as much as possible.

yes, I have pulled my rootstock out of the pot.  This is a much more graceful process when you don't have to photograph the entire thing with your cell phone, I promise.  

It helps to cut a second groove into the backside of the branches this will allow you to slip them together like tongue and groove. Giving added support.  I had to recut this branch after I pulled it apart to show you the slice.  It should not be this dramatic just a thin strip to wedge together.

Gently slide the two pieces together until they are well matched. 

When the cambium matches up as best as possible wrap it tightly with a rubber band (it will weather and crack off).   On the last wrap tuck the tip under the loop and it will hold itself.

Next you will want to heat some bees wax.  If you don't have bees you can get some here for a good price.   I use a dessert dish in a pot of boiling water like a double boiler.

once it is melted I can lift it out and pour it over the rubber band to seal it, unless I am grafting a branch onto a mature tree and then I use a paint brush to brush it on.

make sure both sides are coated.  This will all crack off and weather over the next year.  Don't pick at it for at least twelve months and then if it is growing well and you feel that you need to you can help it a little but it is really not necessary.

Then replant it being careful to keep the graft above the dirt line.

It is important to graft several trees even if you only want one.... any time you are dealing with living things you should expect a certain amount of failure. Having to find another spot to put a tree is much easier to swallow than not being able to dig a hole for any.

And that is just another easy way to fill your paradise with safe, wonderful, food.  Have a great weekend!

MYO Yogurt

We have milk cows.  Our last house had two acres with it and we had milk goats.  The house before that had three city lots, plenty of room for pygmy goats behind a privacy fence.  In some towns that is illegal, it was in our town... so I may or may not have had pygmy goats behind a privacy fence... that's not the point.  The point is, we can produce our own dairy and for relatively cheap.


Pygmy goats are small, they can live in a dog house. I will give you a goat in the city tip... you need two.  A lonely goat is a noisy goat, besides you only get milk if that little gal is bred. So two it must be.  A pygmy goat only gives about a quart of milk a day but because it is whole milk you can water it down and make it stretch farther in cooking or on cereal.


Dairy animals can be fed grass, hay, garden produce.  Summer squash and sunflowers are a fast growing food in the summer, feed the sunflower leaves and keep the seed heads for winter.   Winter squash, carrots and beets store over winter providing free food year round.  If it's goats, they love leaves and tree prunings. Super easy to store and super cheap.


Well, I really should get on to the blog post, shouldn't I...


Yogurt is super easy and so very good for you.  Even if you need to use store-bought milk. Making your own ensures that you are giving the best you can to your family.



Step 1: Heat your milk to 180 degrees, I use a meat thermometer.  They run double duty and are cheap.  you can pick one up for less than five bucks here. My yogotherm holds a half gallon so that is the amount of milk I heat.

Step 2:  You are going to need something to incubate your yogurt in... I picked up a yogotherm when our oldest was a baby so 25 years ago...  I like that it doesn't require electricity and after 25 years I can truthfully say they last.  Amazon has them here or you can use a jar wrapped in a towel and placed in a cooler.  Some instapots have a yogurt setting, mine doesn't but I'd check. maybe make use of an old thermos.  Or you can buy a fancy electric one. (sorry, I couldn't recommend a brand)  There are many choices out there.

Once your milk is heated it needs to cool to 112 degrees.  I know, why heat it that high in the first place? ... it's supposed to kill out competing bacteria.  To be honest, I rarely make it to 160* before I tire of babysitting it and dump it in the therm but the recommended temp is 180* so that is what I recommend you should do.....

So now, the moment of many choices.  What to use as a starter.  I recommend Rickie's  Y5 direct set culture.  You can find it here.  They messed up one time and sent me the Y3... it's good too.  If you purchase a yogotherm it will come with a culture sample.  Unless they have improved it in the last quarter century do yourself a favor and toss it.  It will not set.  I had to make lots of smoothies for the kids out of unset yogurt before I realized it wasn't my fault but the cultures.  

*Money saving tip:  once you make a batch of cultured yogurt you can use a teaspoon of it to set another batch and so on for quite a few batches before it becomes sour and needs to be replaced.  The package of Y5 or Y3 both come with five starters in them so they last for a long time this way. Store culture packets in your freezer.

Okay so your milk is at 112* and you are going to sprinkle the starter over the top and let it sit for about five minutes... again this is a preference, some days I need to get outside and I make it a minute or two and just stir the puppy in.  But for the rest of you patient people who can wait five minutes then gently stir the culture to ensure it is mixed throughout.  (Somehow I missed a picture of this, probably too impatient.)

Place the lid on and let sit undisturbed for 12 hours and then refrigerate.  I usually make it in the morning then toss it in the fridge just before I go to bed...close enough.

and for breakfast, you will have rich creamy yogurt that you can feel good about serving.

It can be flavored in many ways. Jam or honey are two of our family's favorites.  Maple syrup is good.  I am hoping to do an extra credit post for using it in desserts... we'll have to see how this weekend goes.

But that is it gals, feeding our family less. Less additives, less sugar, less human contact.  Less.

Now make more of your day and spend it loving on that family!

Vanilla Extract

I love cooking with real food.. and real food is expensive if we are talking money.
Real food is fun if we are talking saving our money and providing for our own.


Today, I am making a new batch of vanilla.  I made the old batch eight years ago and I have just been adding to it as the years come and go.  This year the beans are finally getting weak enough to justify buying some new ones.  And by justify I mean justify.. they have gotten so expensive.  The tall slender beans that you see in my old bottle, I paid ten bucks for.  This time,  I paid an arm and a leg for these little ugly beans.  However,  when you average it out over the next eight years, the savings is there.



What you need:

1)  a bottle of vodka

If you use ibotta they are offering some really good kickbacks on vodka from Walmart right now.  If you don't use ibotta, it is free to sign up here, They are awesome at supplying rebates on everyday purchases.

2)   vanilla beans



That's it.  oh, and about five minutes of your time.




I like to use bottles with the flip top lid, they last longer than the metal screw on.

Any bottle will work though, even a decorative one from the dollar store.

 unwrap your vanilla beans.

use a sharp knife to slice them open.

Drop them in.  set it on your counter and every so often give it a good shake. Or don't... vanilla isn't picky about the amount of attention it receives. In about 6 weeks you will have oodles and gobs of vanilla extract. As you deplete it add more vodka to the beans.

Simple and basic.  Easier than getting that stupid sticker off my new bottle anyway.  Now, what other plans do you have for the rest of your day?

*I have been asked if you need to let the vanilla sit for an additional six weeks when you add vodka.  If you add to it regularly and in small amounts the answer is no.  I knew my beans were wearing out so I have not replenished this bottle in a long time.  If I were to add to it at this stage, yes, I would let it sit at least a couple of weeks.

Have a great day, Ladies!

Sowing in Winter...

Sowing in the sunshine, sowing in the shadows

Fearing neither cloud nor winter's chilling breeze;

by and by the harvest and the labor ended,

we shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves.

She does not fear the snow...hate it maybe, yes, but no fear.  In fact, winter is an excellent time to get caught up on all that went lacking during the summer.  Seeding being one of them.

The frost/thaw action of winter is the perfect time to plant tree and perennial seeds.  It softens those hard exteriors and allows for better germination.  On our farm, we are creating silvo pastures. Multi-storied, tree-lined, alleyways for the cattle to graze in.  We don't plant just any trees, they must meet at least two, preferably three farm needs.  We look for trees, shrubs, and perennials that provide nectar for our bees, nitrogen for our soil and a food source for one or more of the animals living on our place (including us).

Trees are expensive and creating tree-lined alleyways takes a lot of trees so I have had to get creative with my accumulation.   Seeds, cuttings, grafts, layering are all ways that I have acquired treelings.  I am also very familiar with my conservations website that offers native seedlings in bulk for great prices.  If you don't have a lot of space but would like to order native seedlings from your conservation office a quick ad on craigslist will provide you with more than enough people willing to share your order.

For winter sowing you just need to acquire containers that will act as little mini green houses... milk jugs, juice jugs, deli containers, ice cream containers.... if you don't use many of these things ask around there is always someone willing to save containers.

I have dropped some pretty heavy hints on wanting a cold frame like this one for a couple of years now. It would eliminate the need to scrounge containers from other people and stop my back porch from deserving all the "Clampett comments" it receives..  If you don't like it then you know how to fix it. 

This year, my winter sowing includes a tree I am so excited about, bitter orange,  Every year I buy a box of organic oranges and the price was painful to pay, $22 for a half bushel. While I have several indoor citrus trees they don't provide enough for my crew especially when I make my Vitamin C powder.  I need peels and a lot of them. This year the price jumped to $29 because there is a shortage and it finally spurred me to start looking for another source. 

I am that source.  

Some experts say bitter orange is hardy to zone 5 others that it is only hardy to zone 9-10.  I live in zone 6 and I have seen them here so I'm carefully picking a sheltered spot for my new adventure.  The tree it's self is ugly and thorny, the fruit is super sour like a lemon.  The rind is good in marmalade. I bought my seeds off of Amazon. 

winter sowing is easy because this is just temporary housing for them so spacing isn't an issue just toss the seeds in the dirt, lightly cover and mist a bit. Put your cover on and place outside in the dead of winter.  The constant freeze/thaw will push the seeds down into the dirt and bring them up close to the surface.  it will crack the hard exterior and also insure that only the strongest survive.... look at my lil citrus babies getting ready to provide me with organic vitamin C for my crew.

Watch them as the weather begins to warm and soon you will see tiny starts, once they are a couple of inches high you need to separate them out into individual containers....

Winter Sowing is a great time to seed perennials as well.  Remember the Echinacea root you needed for  the elderberry elixir?  Get those seeds in the dirt. but only use the leaves and flowers the first two years.  I add a new group of flowers to my patch every year. harvesting the old and growing the new.

I also put in some milk weed for the girls as well as Sage.  Healthy, hardy seedlings for a fraction of the price.

What could your kingdom use?  Here is a few ideas from our list this year...


Jujube Dates

Echinacea

Sage

Feverfew

Roman Chamomile

Catalpa ~ around my pond for fish food

Chaste tree

American Cranberry

Autumn Olive

Siberian Pea Shrub

I could go on and on..but you've got this.  Just look around, find the need and get it filled.  Seeds are very inexpensive compared to trees and plants, Winter sowing allows the jump start that they need to be large and healthy by the following fall plus eliminates the need for hardening off because they have been outside the entire time.  This also works for tender garden annuals like tomatoes and cukes but wait until the end of Feb and cover if you are expecting a hard frost after they have sprouted.

Please make this a family affair.  Littles love sticking seeds in the dirt and growing things creates ownership.   This way when summer is taking you out at the knees you can ask little Joey to water "His" trees and know he will water and weed them with care because he understands the time that has been invested in them.

Now, girls, let's get our hands dirty.

Vitamin C powder *Extra credit

Vitamins can be a tricky thing. The problem is you don't really know what is in the pills you are popping and while I am not a conspiracy theorist, I do know that vitamin companies are not making pills because they love your family.  They are making vitamins to provide money for their own and they are going to source the cheapest resources available.  I hate to cut them out of a sale but when it comes to nutrition we can provide our own.

Vitamin C is essential to our health and it is found in so many sources.  There are a few that it tends to be concentrated in.  Rose hips, Highbush Cranberries, Seaberries, and citrus peels.

Throughout the year, I think we will cover all of these but today we will make Vitamin C powder from citrus peels.

First, we need to get our hands on organic citrus.  Oranges, lemons, limes, grapefruit or a combination of them would be great.  I believe if you have to buy food it is best to make it organic.  I am also a realist and have raised six children... you can't always afford organic. Here, however, organic is necessary because we are dealing with the peels and the peels receive the majority of the spray in a conventional orchard.

As your family eats the fruit save back the peels and toss them in that handy solar dehydrator (that you have an envelope started for, right?)  Until you get it you can place them on cookie racks but it's going to take up a lot of counter space.

Check the peels daily and when they are good and hard drop them in your blender a few at a time.

grind until it is a fine powder.  Store in the freezer.

1 tsp provides your daily need for vitamin C.  Sprinkle it over your coffee in the morning. add it to your cereal or smoothie.  Soups, stews, be creative.  You can even pack it into glycerin soft gels if you feel you are missing something by not popping a pill.

this batch is waiting to be added to my elderberry elixir.


Wow,  we just made health food out of trash.... how did we ever let corporations convince us that we needed them?

Elderberry Elixir

Winter and I have never really appreciated each other.  I'm solar powered and without the sun I run dim.  Without heat, my body tries to hibernate.  I feel bad for our livestock, I feel bad for me.  The cold, the ice, the lack of green growing things just makes me cranky.   It's pathetic really, but true.

You know what else winter brings?  Colds and Flu.  I'm telling ya, nothing good comes out of winter.

I have been hesitant to write this post because I don't want a debate over vaccinations. We have kicked this dead horse enough.  Look, ladies, we have got to get out of each others space.   If you have time to start running someone else's life I promise that you are letting something very important fall apart in your own.  Tend your own backyard, sister, and let's give each other some grace.

If you decide that the flu shot is a safe precaution for your family I am happy for you.  In our home, it is not.  Not giving my family flu shots, however, does not mean that I pretend the flu doesn't exist.  Nor am I nervously wringing my hands, fearful that it is going to devour them right before my eyes.  Remember, the prudent wife?  She provides for the future.

In August the elderberries are ripe in Missouri, and in August I make my first batch of flu-fighting elixir.  I will make several more throughout the winter from dried berries but I always have the first batch in the fridge long before I need it because if you wait until you are sick to make it, you won't feel good enough to do it.

First, you need a source for elderberries.  They grow wild in a lot of states if you can beat the squirrels to them.  When we lived in Idaho I bought them here.   

Elderberry Elixir:

2 cups fresh or 1 cup dried elderberries

4 cups water

2 cups raw local honey

several pieces echinacea root  (if you don't grow your own you can find it here)

1 Tbsp organic orange powder  this is the extra credit post for this week

2 cinnamon sticks

few slices of raw ginger (optional)

few slices of organic lemon (optional)

put water, elderberries, echinacea root, orange powder, 

cinnamon sticks, ginger and lemon slices in a pot.

bring to a boil.

reduce heat and simmer until liquid is reduced by half.

strain through cheesecloth to remove bulk material. give the cheese cloth a good twist to get the last of the juice from the berries.  Careful it's hot.

Allow to cool to room temperature.

This step is important because raw honey*  provides many antibacterial properties and if you cook it, it will be of no use.

When cool add honey and transfer to a jar.  Store in fridge.

for preventative, my crew takes one tsp every day.

If they feel a tickle or have been exposed to someone ill they take a tsp every 2-3 hours.

And that is it. 

Easy.  

Prepared.

Now join me in front of the fire and let's pine for Spring......

*the USDA does not recommend feeding raw honey to children under the age of 1 or to people with compromised immune systems.  Again, you are the one qualified to make choices for your family.

Don't Waste Your Teaspoons..

Houses and riches are the inheritance of fathers: 

and a prudent wife is from the Lord.

Proverbs 19:14

Prudent: wise or judicious in practical affairs.

               discreet or circumspect.

               careful in providing for the future; provident.

When we first got married one of Shane's little grannies told me 

"don't be the kind of woman who throws her husband's earning out the back door with a shovel while he is working himself to death trying to put it in the front with a teaspoon."

That image has stuck with me. Man, has it stuck.

And there are days that life drags it out by the shovel full and there is nothing I can do about it.  But the things I can control.... those things, I had better be about the business of controlling.

I want to be a prudent wife.  I want the Lord to teach me to use my resources wisely.  So today as teaspoon-y as it will be we are going to talk about trash.

Think about what leaves your house as trash on a weekly basis.  Now think about the boundaries of your domain and think of where they can be used as resources...  In the near future we are going to be mapping that domain but for now, just picture it in your head.

~

My junk: cardboard boxes because I do most of my shopping online and also junk mail.  

My need:  the pumpkin field... It has poor soil and lots of rocks.

My solution: flatten the cardboard and chuck it in the field just before it rains. I don't toss it out any other time because we have dogs that drag it off but once it is good and wet it begins to break down into the dirt and they can't move it.

My solution for junk mail is a bit different.  I burn it then spread the ash in the pumpkin field.  I don't want my credit card offers accidentally getting into someone else's hands and ash is excellent for bugs and acidity in Missouri soil.

~

My junk: egg shells.

My need: my garden.

My solution is to place a cookie sheet on top of my fridge and train everyone to toss their shells up on it. When the shells are dry I either put them in the blender (this has proven time-consuming)

  

or 

double bag them and set the bag in a high traffic area of my house.    (Hey, I haven't lived through 25 years of broken items without knowing how to use it to my advantage..  just sayin')

The nicely crushed shells are spread on our fields during the winter and used in our garden around plants to ward of snails and add extra calcium during the summer.

~

My junk:  coffee grounds

My need:  again my soil.... I live in Missouri, this is going to be a never-ending theme.

My solution is to save the grounds and like the eggshells, they are put on the fields in winter and our garden in summer. BUT NOT the filters, those go in the compost bin for while they will break down and are excellent for the soil they do not break down quickly and I'm telling you from experience you will find yourself on the other side of winter looking like there is a bunch of used toilet paper strewn all over your field...not a pretty sight..

As a side note if I need to make a trip to the big city I am always on a lookout for the coffee shops and when I pass them I pull in and check their dumpsters.  I have brought home huge garbage bags full of coffee grounds in the past and my land is always thankful to have it.  Just be respectful and don't make a mess of their area.

~

My junk:  food scraps.

My need:  very little.  we have pigs and chicken that eat most of our scraps but there are a few things that I cannot feed them such as potato peelings, avocado pits, pineapple tops, hair either from shaving the dogs or the boys, stuff like that.  

My solution:  I took a lick tub, you can use a bucket, and knocked a few holes in the bottom. Then someone from my crew carelessly ran it over with the 4wheeler.  The last step added no benifit except to raise my blood pressure.

 I simply toss the trash in my beautiful lick tub and forget it. One year the boys had a few worms left over from bait and I tossed them in there too.  But honestly, it is completely neglected until I need it.

 Then I just scrape the unprocessed stuff to the side and scoop out as much as I need from the bottom to dress my tomatoes or add to a hole of a newly planted tree.

~

My junk:   scrap metal, broken parts from the tractor, trucks, cans... it is a joke around here to use a "mom" voice and say "is that recyclable?"

My need:  money

My solution:  designate a spot for recyclables, keep it as tight and organized as possible or my man will make "Clampett comments" Watch your metal prices then make a trip to town when it's high (or when the pile is making you crazy) and claim your money, honey.


*Note: there are no pictures of my Clampett pile.... a girl has got to have her pride,  ya know.



Well, there are a few ideas to get you started.  Get the children involved in looking for teaspoons and see what fun you can have. 

Extra Credit

The Food 4 Less in Springfield had bananas for $.25 a pound.  So last Friday when Shane had a few errands to run in town I hopped in the truck and went with him.  Yes, people stare when you are pushing a cart full of bananas through the store but you get use to it.

my knife was long enough that I could spoon four bananas together and slice them all at once.

They do not require any added sugar just lay the slices out and let them go.

I have an electric dryer that I use in the summer because Missouri is too humid most days for a solar one but in the winter I hang my solar dryer by the fireplace and make our heat pull double duty. This year the price of bananas was so good I'm running both dehydrators.



If you don't have a dehydrator, the easiest way to get one is to start an envelope for one.  Put all loose change and spare cash into it until you have enough to purchase it.  I buy most of my homemaking eguipment this way. A solar one like mine is under $14 and won't take long to get, electric ones take a little more.  Amazon offers several nice solar ones but you'll find my favorite one for indoors  here  These solar dryers are also excellent for drying homemade soap  (that project is coming up soon).

That's it!  Easy and effective and now I have dried bananas to add to my muesli.... at least until the crew finds their hiding spot.


What is on sale this week that you could stock up on?

Breakfast

I love making breakfast for my family... okay, the truth is I don't.  I love my cup of coffee, my bible and the sun coming up while I sit on the deck...... trust me, it is a rare thing for either option to happen.

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day and while our house has a good supply of bacon, eggs, waffles and yogurt some days just try to rip my feet out from underneath me before I can even get out of bed in the morning...... you too huh?

Well here are two guilt-free cold cereal options to have on hand for mornings when the crew just needs to feed themselves.

P.S. both are good on yogurt too!



Muesli:

mix together Oats,
dried fruit (bananas, apricots, pineapple, dates, raisins, whatever you have)
and nuts (sunflower seeds, walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts, again, whatever you have)
to make 8 cups of dry ingredients.

then in a separate bowl mix

1 cup honey
1 cup butter (melted)
4 TB brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon


pour over dry ingredients and stir well

spread in a roasting dish and bake at 350* for 30 minutes stirring every 10 until golden brown.

this will brown up quite a bit after removing from oven, do not overcook.






Grapenuts:


2 cups water
2 cups milk
1 cup honey
4 tsp baking powder
2 tsp salt
7 cups wheat flour

mix all ingredients together to form a cake like batter.

divide between two lightly greased rimmed cookie sheets.

Bake 350* 35-40 minutes switching and checking half way through.

after baking and while still warm break cake into small pieces and grind in a blender.

I drop small amounts into the blender and use the ice chopping button. once ground I dump those and add more chunks to blender.

You can also wait until it is completely cool and run through a meat grinder but I find it to be too much to clean up.

after it is all crumbled up put back in the oven at 300*  stirring often until dry and crisp.
This one takes a lot longer than the Muesli to brown and dry out but it is so worth it.

Both recipes can be adapted to your needs.  We use honey because we keep bees. You may have maple syrup or molasses on hand neither are unpleasant.

It is a great idea to make both of these on the same day because you will only have to wash the roaster pan once.... and that is a win in my book any day.

Enjoy your kingdom today, Ladies!

1Tim 5:8