We Three

My daughter took this picture of us with her camera. We were actually just looking at houses for sale on the internet, me kneeling on the floor, my husband on the computer chair and my son peeking in from behind.

The picture turned out really well. And I am glad I have it as keepsake for this moment in time.

Varmits!

Last year it was the deer. This year I am battling the raccoons. In my farthest raised bed I have been growing corn and cantaloupe, with a few extra onion bulbs just to see what would happen.



Yesterday I went out to check on my nearly ripe cantaloupe and found my 'mini' corn field decimated. The stalks were knocked over, the ears ripped off and the the little nibbled on cobs were left lying in the dirt. My heart fell. They were almost ready. They had been doing so well.

It is hard when I have spent a number of hours preparing, and planting, weeding and watering only to have an uninvited guest come and help themselves.

On Monday we stopped by a local farm, one of our favourite farm stands and bought two dozen corn cobs that we blanched and froze for winter. We will probably have to do that at least one more time before September. Last year, I froze just one dozen and it barely lasted until Christmas. The ones I was growing in the back were an experiment, something we could eat and offer to neighbours at a barbecue. Not anymore I guess.



Perhaps a scarecrow would have worked. I may try that next year.

Today I did end up harvesting one cantaloupe and hope it is ripe and ready since I really have no idea what I am doing. There are four others that are not quite ripe.



The pumpkins are growing still, the strawberries as well. Tomatoes are ripening as I type but other than that the garden is coming to a slow close. Next year I will try harder at extending the harvest but while we are still living here, there is very little I can do. For now we make do visiting farms, buying local produce and freezing, or storing for winter.

Etsy Store Additions

I just added 3 new skeins of handspun wool to my Etsy Shop, Bless Ewe Farm.



It can take up to 6 hours to complete a skein, so I mean it when I saw they were lovingly created. Spinning is not a speedy craft. It takes time and patience, something that fits well with simplicity and they way I live my life. I also derive a lot of enjoyment from knowing my products are naturally made, comprising of natural resources that are renewable and not harmful to the environment. Please help me spread the word about using naturally derived resources.



I plan to do a lot more spinning this fall to keep the supply lines running. I am also going to start knitting a few items as well.

Inner Mean Girl Cleanse

Well, this is exciting! Has there ever been a time your life when the thing you needed most just seemed to drop right into your lap? There was a time when I was freshly living on my own, nearly penniless and desperately needing a pair of pants since all two pairs at home were threadbare. I remember needing pants yet also needing as much of my hard earned money for food. It was a tough decision to make but figured if I spent $8 on a pair of pants at the thrift store I could figure out a cheaper menu for those two weeks until pay day. I found a pair in my size, nearly new, for $8 no less, and took them home. I put them on the next day and put my hands in the pockets to see how they felt and pulled out a folded $20 bill. I was speechless. Like pennies from heaven, this overlooked donation was my blessing. What I needed at that moment fell right into my lap.



Flash forward 12 years later and enter the Inner Mean Girl Cleanse, something I desperately need at this very moment. As a woman, I am terribly hard on myself. I feel like I am fumbling through life, multitasking every minute and yet never accomplishing everything I would like. I berate myself for my faults. I chide my inability to do more. I get down on myself because Jane can do this and Jacklyn can do that. I am constantly comparing myself and putting myself down in the process without even realizing it. I am in open combat with my inner mean girl and never knew the chick existed.

This summer, I have been in a process of reclaiming my life, my health and my center and yet I still struggle daily with all the things that I am 'suppose' to be doing. I tell myself I shouldn't be on the treadmill when the dishes need to be done. I get anxious after buying non-local foods, or realize how much packaging a product had once I get it home. My garden stands weed-filled and neglected while I toil away inside getting ready for another school year. In the end, all the pressures amount to one big giant mass of guilt, aka my mean girl masquerading around reminding me of how much I fall short of my goals.

I need respite but rather than give up gardening, simplicity, homesteading and homeschooling I need to find a way to deal with the guilt, the pressure and the expectations. I need permission to do my best and be happy with that. The only way I am going to accomplish that is by banishing my inner mean girl.

Homemade Yogurt

This summer, I have been trying to concoct my own yogurt without a lot of success. Apparently, the process is tricky and takes some practice. My first batch was laughable, and resembled only slightly thick milk. After some online digging, I found out I was heating my milk too hot and then killing my starter. The next batch, which I only heated to 120 degrees F (instead of 180F like I previously was told), had all the yogurt on the bottom and a thin layer of whey and milk on top. But at least I was seeing progress.

Third times the charm in this case. After two botched batches I finally got it right, even if it is a bit runnier than store bought. Now I feel confident posting it here.

Plain Homemade Yogurt

Wash out two 500 ml glass canning jars. Set aside. Place a full kettle of water on the boil. Doesn't need to be boiling, but near boiling.

You will need:

1 liter (4 cups) of milk
1/4 to 1/2 cup of plain yogurt

Yogurt makes more yogurt, who knew? Make sure you buy yogurt with *live bacterial cultures*. Any milk will do, from skim milk to whole milk or even raw milk.



In a saucepan warm up milk to 120 degrees F. Use a cooking thermometer and keep any eye on the temperature. Remove from heat and let cool slightly. Take about 1/2 cup of warm milk from pan and mix with your yogurt starter. Then add it back to the sauce pan.

Pour the milk/yogurt into the two jars. Place on the lids and put them both into a insulated cooler.



Take your kettle of near-boiling water and pour the water into the cooler, all around the jars. Close lid. This will need to stay for about 8 to 10 hours. You can do more. I was pushing 12 hours incubating before I found success. When time is up place both jars in the fridge. The mixture will thicken as it cools so you won't know if it worked until a few hours later.

Depending how my next few batches go, I may cave and buy a yogurt maker. Yogurt makers regulate the incubating temperature and provides more consistent batches. I wanted to try this version with the mason jars and cooler, using materials I had on hand before I dole out money on yet another kitchen appliance.

Hitting a Groove

My daughter and I hit a groove today and we ran with it. It all started when I thought I should make use of the cheaper weekend hydro and make some cookies for the coming week. It's been so hot this summer I have done very little baking.

Our local hydro (electric) company has instituted "Time of Use" rates for electric power usage. After checking out the website I noticed, three categories of use: On-Peak, Mid-Peak and Off-Peak Use. Basically each category has it's own rate for Kwh usage. Peak hours (when everyone is cranking up the juice) is from noon until 5, when the rate is 9.9 cents/kwh. Off-Peak lasts from about 7 pm to 9 am and weekends, costing about 5 cents a kwh. That's a big difference and since we are not creating our own hydro via solar, this change is one that I need to take advantage of.

So we started with cookies, a double batch of course because my family will finish off a single batch in less than 24 hours. With my daughter adding ingredients, mixing and helping me immensely I was able to start making rice krispie squares while she put the dough on the cookie sheets. Once the first batch of cookies were baking I asked her to mash some bananas that had gone brown. With the krispie squares done, she and I began working on banana muffins. She mixed, I checked the cookies, then my son came in to mix while my daughter read the recipe and I filled the cookie tray again. Once all the muffins were in muffin cups all the cookies were baked and on cooling racks, so in the muffins went.

All the while we were putting ingredients away, wiping counters, doing a few dishes, checking laundry and preparing dinner. As soon as the muffins were baked, I got dinner in. We never turned the oven off. All in all, the oven was on for less than 2 hours and we have enough baked goods to feed an army...aka my family for the coming week.

Timing it just right is the challenge but this was not the first time we attempted this (in the past I burnt two cookie trays of dough because I forgot to set the timer and got distracted with my next recips). All the recipes we did were my standbys, so all the ingredients were in my pantry. This is where a full pantry comes in handy.

So I think today was a productive day. I even got caught up on my laundry! It was a good day!

Another Homeschool Year Ahead

Things have been busy this summer, so busy with canning, freezing, gardening and socializing you'd think I wouldn't have time for much else. That would be true if I wasn't such a neurotic planner and anxious artist. We've been facing a big question this year, a conundrum that has been raging war in my mind for the majority of the summer.

Finishing last year's academic agenda was grueling. The kids did great but myself, on the other hand, found it difficult, taxing and so very draining. In addition to our daily book work, I am chauffeuring taking my kids on play dates, field trips and social outtings. This spring I also vowed to gain control of my physical health and began and running/walking program, I began long distance swimming again and joined a weekly strengthening class with a real-live trainer. It seems to be working. I have lost 25lbs so far. Those two responsibilities alone (homeschooling and my health) have become major time-suckers, and when you add that to my gardening, canning and general money saving activities in the home I have little time for anything else.

But there is something else that I have neglected in all my busyness. My creative writing. I said to my husband recently that I am not a business minded career woman. I am not a very good homemaker. I am an artist, a writer who sometimes channels Virginia Woolf. I don't get nearly as much time to write as I would hope and as a result my progress has been relatively slow. This past year, from February to June has been a very long dry spell, one of my longest to date and that had me worried. Worried that I was starting to forgo my own ambitions entirely to be one of those women who doesn't know what do with them selves once the children are gone. I don't want that. I know who I am and what I am meant to do and I am trying to do the best for everyone. It's not easy. It's a tough balance.

For us, with the public school choices we have in our area, homeschooling is better for both my children. I am not a public school-basher. I don't go on and on about how horrible public schools are or how neglectful public school parents are. I like to keep things positive and this year I vow to continue doing that. I have gone through many weeks this summer agonizing over the best course of action, weighing both sides evenly before ultimately deciding to homeschool one more year. After that who knows. I said when we started, we will take it one year at a time. I just never thought making the decision to keep homeschooling would be more difficult than making the decision to start homeschooling.

Playing Cat and Mouse

For weeks we have been plagued by an ever-elusive mouse who has made his home above our kitchen cupboards. Despite have more cats than kids, our felines have been unable to capture the menace. Often at night, I would wander into the kitchen to find one of the cats, (or two or three) perched on counter tops staring up into the cupboards. They often chase flies around the house (causing much amusement and destruction) so I thought nothing of this, until I found tiny holes in my dried pasta bags, and bits of food all over our otherwise organized cupboard. Strange. Where was this critter coming from and how had he eluded the claws and jaws of our pets?

As a result of nibbled bags of food I was forced to place all our dry goods in 1L mason jars or plastic containers, a quick, inexpensive fix since I already had the supplies. Anything that wasn't in cans was placed in a safe place away from gnawing teeth. I had hoped to starve him out.



He had become good at avoiding capture. My husband even heard him once in the cupboard at night. Once I removed all food items from the cupboards and left all cupboard doors open to give our cats easy access. The noose was tightening and I think the mouse must have knew his days were numbered.

Then late last night, while attending my sick daughter, we heard Augustus pawing at something on her shelf. She and I both thought it must be a string, he is known to make a play thing out stationary objects. And then all the ruckus was over and he showed us his quarry... the Mouse! My husband chased down the cat and chucked the dead thing outside which our other cat promptly ran out for. It was like she was saying, "Don't throw that out, it's still fresh!" and out she ran.

I am so glad to have the whole ordeal over with, though I don't mind having all my dry goods in glass jars. I think I will keep it that way.