All better!

After a tense day yesterday Asa woke up this morning feeling more like himself. It's amazing how his pain effected the whole house, his singing voice today brought the smiles out again! He was very feverish all day yesterday and very feverish all night long, though I gave him Tylenol it seemed to offer no relief at all. And I worried, oh how I worried about him. I don't currently have a thermometer, but I'm sure that I only would have worried more if I could have known what his body was really doing. I had to remind myself over and over that if he doesn't seem overly sick, then he isn't sick. I got some homeopathic stuff today so we'll see what that does, but he's had a good day so far. I have such a tendency toward self doubt, I long for a community of others to bolster my confidence in myself and our body's ability to heal itself. You guys are the closest thing I have. Thanks a lot to all of you for your suggestions and prayers. Mr. G and I both prayed for him last night and I think out of everything we tried, that offered the most help.

Poor, poor baby

My poor baby is teething hard! He has always been a hard teether, but I saw marked improvement when he began to wear his amber teething necklace. Today, however, it just isn't doing the trick. He's cutting 2 eye teeth plus a molar or two and he's feverish, drooly, and unhappy. Katie made him an allspice necklace this afternoon, he's chewed on a frozen carrot and had herbal tea. All with little effect. Does anybody have any other suggestions? I'm out of clove oil, have no rum in the house or real vanilla......

Summer ritual

Today kicks off the official beginning of Jam Making, a very much enjoyed (and tasty) summer ritual. The various pastures around our place boast several Mulberry trees which we attempt to harvest ahead of the birds and raccoons. The children's summer ritual involves eating enough Mulberries to give them diarrhea ;-) Actually, I'm glad to have them do this, it works as a sort of early summer cleanse.

I have never really been interested in making jam from them though because you can't easily remove the stems but we decided to try it anyway. The results were very pleasing!

When I first began making jam I made loads of freezer jam, a super tasty method that is probably the most popular right now with home canners. I did make one batch of strawberry freezer jam for my folks, my Mom likes it on ice cream. ;-) But the majority of our jam this year will be the good, old fashioned cooked version. Also, I really want to get away from store bought pectin because it costs money and has ingredients that I don't like in it, so I made our jam without added pectin. This results in a different "set" than what I'm used to, but I wonder if that's because the artificial, mass produced product seems "normal" whereas the real deal seems "off" to us? I've found that to be true in so many cases, for instance, what does corn really taste like? Likely you've never had anything but the super sweet, hybridized candy thing that we call corn. It's such a shame how much we've lost. The biggest down side to cooked jam is the loss in yield, we ended up with about half of what we would have had by doing freezer jam (and I can just hear Angie now saying that she's not going to all that trouble to only get half, lol). I also added very, very little sugar, this gives a tarter taste but is more in keeping with our philosophies about sugar consumption. We all loved it when we did the taste test though, so apparently no one misses the sugar.

The other new thing I did this year is to replace the traditional bands and lids with Gulf Wax. I really debated this one because paraffin is a petroleum by-product which I don't like but lids are a constant expense and I don't like that either. Just so you know, the USDA does not recommend using paraffin wax to seal anything because of mold contamination. But I think the USDA is suspect anyway, probably representatives from Ball sit on its advisory board...... but I digress. The nice thing about the wax is that it's endlessly reusable! I really like that, plus it looks quaint and old fashioned which is a nice bonus. Aesthetics are important, right? The USDA representative did say that the only real danger would be mold, which is easily seen upon opening the jar, so it's not like you'd be playing around with botulism or something that can't be seen or tasted. I hope that I will like it as much as I want to like it!

I have found that I can't make too much jam in the evening because it makes my feet swell up, so I try to be finished before noon. I can then go and enjoy the breeze on the porch which is where I've also been doing my sewing lately. I'll have Mr. G or Aleks carry my "sewing table", which is actually my Great Aunt Elizabeth's canning table, out to the porch and I can sew with a comfortable breeze blowing. I like to be there and watch the children play and depending on where Tansy is I can watch her graze. It is a very peaceful feeling. ;-) All of my "work" (should I even call it that?) brings me such a sense of satisfaction. The cooking, canning, dehydrating, sewing, hanging laundry, mending....... none of it is a chore. I'm so thankful that I don't have to leave home to earn money. I really sympathize with those who are compelled to do so!

My life lately

I am now finished with the last of Abigail's dresses. This is the pink/red print that I bought recently from Zinck's. I wanted to do something a little different so I pleated the bodice and added 100% cotton ribbon on the stitch line. The skirt is pleated as well to keep the theme going. We tried to do sausage curls but that didn't work out very well, they were just too limp. ;-)

This is a better shot of the sleeve detail. I pleated the sleeves just like the skirt and added the same trim.
This is a close up of the pleated bodice. I really like the look and I think I'll make this style again!

The boys also got new homespun shirts which I have yet to put the buttons or buttonholes on. They prefer their homemade shirts to storebought as does Mr. G, they are more comfortable I guess!

I've also gone on a button buying binge as of late. I use china buttons on dresses and pinafores and metal on shirts with the very occasional mother-of-pearl thrown in when I don't have anything better. I buy mostly from E-Bay but that can be hit or miss especially with china calicoes as they tend to get snatched up by collectors. I purchased these below along with 118 plain white china buttons not pictured. I also have about 20-30 ringers coming by the end of this week. I'm pretty happy with my purchases especially in light of how expensive new buttons are, I had to buy new metal buttons for the shirts and they were $.66 a piece. That's more per button than the antique ones which are better quality too.

This is Katie and her new green dress. It's the first one that she has sewn entirely by herself. I'm very proud of her and the job she did!

She and I also hand washed the boys' wool winter coats. Dirty! Ugh, I could not believe the water, but they are all fresh and clean now and packed away. We also gave the girls' winter dresses a heavy scrubbing, mended them if needed and put them away until the weather cools. That's a job that I feel good about once it's accomplished.

Aleks, Levi and Micah got new overalls this past week. They are rather partial to overalls and really dislike the fit of modern jeans. I suppose if that's all they owned they would get used to it, but for work wear nothing beats pants that don't fall down! ;-)

In addition to all this we harvested over 1000 leeks and got a gallon of powder from them. The garden is doing well and we're eating sugar peas now. Mmm!

I had some blood work done and found out that I'm pretty anemic and I have a low platelet count. I have never been anemic before and was pretty surprised to hear this, although it sure explains why I'm so tired. I'm supposed to take it easy. ;-) Also, I have consistently been measuring big this time, which is again something that never happens to me (except for the twins of course). Anywhere from 3 to 8 cm bigger but we're pretty sure it's not twins so.... what is it? It seems odd to me that you could have 8 children and each pregnancy would be pretty much the same until your 9th and then boom! everything is different. Time will tell, I supose.

Things have been so crazy here that I hardly have any computer time. Blogs that I used to check frequently now don't get visited. I miss hearing about you all and hope to be back when things settle down.

Home Economics

My last post got rather lengthy and so I left out what we did when we got home from the auction. The day had been very warm and we were so thirsty for a refreshing drink that we decided to make lemonade. Here is our recipe if you'd like to see what the real deal tastes like. Fair Day Lemonade

• 8 lemons
• 2 cups white sugar
• ice

Place lemons in a mixing bowl and cover with boiling water. This removes the wax that lemons are coated with to keep them from drying out. Let sit in water for 2-3 minutes then drain water and wipe out bowl. Place lemons on a towel and roll firmly back and forth to dry them off and to make juicier. Slice lemons thinly and place 1 layer in bottom of bowl followed by a sprinkling of sugar. Slice lemons on a plate so as not to lose any juice. Slice all lemons and use all sugar layer by layer then let it rest for a half hour. Press firmly with a beetle, don't worry if you break the pulp. Place all contents in a glass pitcher, add 3 quarts of cold water, stir well, and serve over ice cubes for your picnic luncheon at the Fair. Because of the peels, this lemonade will get bitter if left overnight and is best consumed fresh.

Also on the menu were homemade crackers. This recipe is exceedingly simple and very hardy. They hold up well in soups and are great for dipping, the recipe is so versatile that I never tire of it.

Cottage Crackers

• 3 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup warm water
• 1/3 cup olive oil

Mix flour and salt together thoroughly and then add water and oil. Knead until all the flour is incorporated and dough has an even consistency. Tear dough into 12 fairly even balls and coat each lightly with oil, then place on a plate and allow to rest covered with a towel for 45 minutes. Heat oven to 450 and roll each ball into a rectangle then cut into strips (these can be rolled out without using flour, the oil coating makes them not stick). Place on floured cookie sheet, poke with fork holes and add garnish. These crackers are really bland plain, our favorite toppings are garlic powder, salt and parmesan cheese. Divine! For a sweeter cracker use sugar and cinnamon. Bake for 10-13 minutes or until edges lightly brown and curl. They will have more snap if allowed to cool before eating. The first time I made these I cut them into circles but the dough doesn't like to be handled too much (it will get tough) so the strips seem to work best. Enjoy!!!

Today the children dug 300-400 leeks and brought them home to be preserved. We love wild leeks, they really add zip to soups and casseroles.

Below are Elisabethe and Abigail, they were in charge of washing the stems before they got diced up.



Rebekah was washing the bulbs and placing them on a tray to be dehydrated. Tabitha, in the background, is chopping up stems.


Levi, Aleks and Micah were trimming roots off, chopping stems and placing on trays.

We will dehydrate these for a day or two and then store them in gallon size glass jars. If it appears to be an insufficient quantity, then we will try to get another batch harvested before the fields get plowed and they all are plowed under. We also made 2 batches of butter today, which never lasts long. I can't hope to put any back with the way the children eat it. ;-) I fed the buttermilk to the baby chicks, usually I use it in biscuits or pancakes or something but not today. We are also freezing at least 1 gallon of milk a day so that when Tansy is dry we won't have to resort to buying milk. I think that's all the news from the home front for now, I hope you have a lovely Wednesday evening!

Miscellaneous things relating to Spring

Here it is a Saturday afternoon in February and we are poring over seed catalogs dreaming of Spring! We want to expand our green bean varieties and have found several promising types. I think we'll stick with the potatoes that we love best and not try too many different things in that area. Our favorites are Rosegold and Russian Banana Fingerlings, both available from Wood Prairie Farm.

I'm on a quest for a particular kind of cast iron kettle and while out today we stopped at Lehman's. We found a 6,8 and 10" cast iron skillet set in the bargain room for $14, so we snapped those up. I also bought 2 more Eric Sloane books, An Age Of Barns and Once Upon A Time: The Way America Was. The second title is basically a survey of how America has changed because our sense of who we are has changed. We were once looked up to because of yankee ingenuity and a can-do attitude, whereas now materialism is what most people think of when they think of America. If you think the present day American "culture" is a fabulous thing, then you probably won't enjoy this book. But, if you realize that without a proper respect for our past and an understanding of the sense of peace that comes from doing for yourself, we will never have the riches that our forefathers did. They certainly didn't have the ready cash or the leisure time that we do, yet they left a legacy that we can only wonder at. What legacy are you leaving? What will your children remember you for, or your great grandchildren?

We are also planning on what herbs to grow this year in addition to the "old faithfuls". I want to grow ox-eye daisies because they're good for asthma and borage which is useful for many things including colds, fevers and bronchitis. Two of the herb books that I use the most are Culpeper's Color Herbal and The Modern Herbal 2 volume set. Both are worth their weight in gold, in my opinion, along with a field guide for identifying wild growing flowers and "weeds". I love to look up some unknown plant that grows here, positively identify it, look it up in the herb book to see what it's good for and then put it to use! I find that a lot more satisfying than buying herbs but you have to start somewhere. Especially for those of you who are city or suburb dwellers (be very careful not to harvest herbs from places that use Chem-lawn type products) and can't be assured that your weeds are pesticide free! ;-)

Self Sufficiency

I've been thinking about doing a self sufficiency post ever since Zebu and Brooke asked for it but I kind of got hung up on what a misnomer "self sufficiency" is. You see, it's like cooking from scratch, where there are different levels or definitions of what "from scratch" means. Does it mean I buy the meat from the store and the flour and then make something with it? Does it mean I grind the wheat and buy the meat from a neighboring farmer and then make something from it? Does it mean that I grow the wheat and thresh it and grind it *and* raise and butcher the animal and then cook with it? None of us is or probably ever will be "self sufficient" in the true sense, we can only reduce our dependence on the larger economy.

A while back some friends and I listed ways in which we live outside of the economy. I was remarking that our super-plain Amish neighbors can survive because in many ways they have "checked out" of the larger world and created their own sub-economy that allows them to live on the scale they desire. I am fortunate to live where I do so that I can avail myself of their businesses and services; which allows me to live in this twilight zone of somewhere between the "real" world and the Amish sub-culture. Some of the things that I listed:

1. garden and save seeds
2. preserve food (I like dehydrating better than any other method)
3. raise your own meat (especially important with pork. *especially* Chinese pork because it's fed on human waste and is linked to brain tumors)
4. grind my own wheat. even better to grow your own.
5. heat with wood and cut what you burn
6. sew my own clothes
7. wash on cold and never use a clothes drier
8. stay out of grocery stores, buy locally at family owned bulk food stores
9. make my own maple syrup
10. raise bees for honey
11. have laying hens
12. use homemade cleaners
13. make my own toothpaste (does a better job *and* avoids cancer, what could be better!)
14. make my own soap
15. use cloth diapers
16. use cloth pads for monthly "issues" ;-)
17. don't buy plastic. I don't store food in plastic because it leaches chemicals into food and especially so if you microwave it
18. don't own a microwave
19. cook in cast iron or stainless steel. I'm assuming that everybody knows that aluminum and teflon are bad for you.......
20. spin the wool from our sheep
21. cut the men/boy's hair at home
22. mend clothes
23. make our own candles
24. raise/gather the herbs we use medicinally
25. stay away from doctors when possible
26. make butter and soft cheeses
27. don't eat out anything that you can make at home
28. have milk goats
29. avoid immunizations. think you're safe now that mercury was removed? think again and read this

Now, some of those aren't so much self sufficiency as they are healthy living, but I threw them out there anyway. This isn't an exhaustive list by any means and some things on the list I have done/or can do but I don't always do, like candle making. I suppose if someone were just starting out I'd say to concentrate on growing your own food and especially meat or find a local source to buy from.

Any questions? ;-)