My rival

I have long understood that Mr. G has a penchant for a certain type of female that I am not. The kind with fawn colored hair and brown eyes with long lashes, but still, the pain of being replaced still smarts somewhat. I now have a rival for his affection and what's worse, he's brought her here to live! What's even worse than that is that I like her too.
















There she is. Would you be won over by that face? She came to live with us yesterday and we've named her (after much discussion) Tansy. I wanted to name the cows after herbs and flowers but something more original than Buttercup and Daisy. Other names we considered were: Angelica, Meadowsweet and Senna, but Tansy seemed the best fit for her.
She is five years old and is a dream to milk. No kicking, no dancing around, no knocking the bucket over, nothing. Since she doesn't have another cow to be with we've found that she's becoming attached to the children, she bawls when they leave her, so they visit her often. She's one of the smaller sized Jerseys, which is what we wanted and such a sweetheart, who could not love her?

Some days you eat bear........

Some days you eat bear and other days the bear eats you. That's our catch-phrase for "you win some, you lose some". I have been suspecting for a while that our bees were all dead; the hives were placed facing South and were pretty well protected, but they have been eerily silent of late. Our suspicions were confirmed today when I opened the hive to find scads of dead bees. Our weather comes from the North and West but this winter we had weeks of howling wind and snow blow up from the South. That has never happened since we've lived here and I worried at the time that the bees wouldn't survive. We wrapped the hive to try to forestall a disaster but it was all for nought. They basically starved to death. Since bees cluster to keep warm and can't really move when cold, they can starve when there's food 6 inches from them. We found several frames still partially filled with honey like the one below.

So we pulled them out and brought them in the house. The children cleaned the dead bees from 3 boxes worth of frames and brought them in the house and will do the other 3 tomorrow. Mice love to nest in empty bee boxes and feast on the wax, so we needed to take the wax frames out of temptation's way. ;-) Now the house smells wonderfully of honey! Of all things farming, beekeeping smells the best, it just permeates the air and fills your lungs with the sweet, earthy scent of honey.
I finished off our second gallon of syrup today and have been thinking about making maple jelly. Maple jelly on toast, maple jelly with peanut butter, maple jelly on waffles with whipped cream............. I've never tried it before but it gets rave reviews, so maybe I'll experiment.
I am going to draw the syrup winner this weekend, so be watching for your name!

Cast Iron Cauldrons

On the maple syrup front things are going better than expected. I must confess that I was skeptical about boiling it in a cauldron. I know the old-timers did it but come on, it has to be so inefficient! Well, color me surprised! It boils down faster than I've ever seen sap boil. Aleks boiled off roughly 75 gallons of sap in one day (still woefully behind modern evaporators) and we had fresh syrup on homemade french toast with sausage for supper on Saturday. That's our tradition, to eat the first syrup at a special "thanksgiving" meal. Below is the sugar camp.
The sap storage barrel is on the left, the warming pan is just to the right of the cauldron. The corrugated metal is to keep sparks from flying around. The children spend all day up there (after school work is done) and come home to eat, bathe and fall into an exhausted sleep. It's a good, good life!

It's syrup season!

Today marks the official beginning of Spring for our family, a day that has been eagerly awaited and much anticipated throughout the chill of Winter. Spring might not be here for you, but it begins for us when we tap the Maple trees. Daytime temperatures above freezing and nighttime temperatures dipping below freezing mean that the sap has begun to rise in the trees, before you know it they will be budding! We put in around 55 taps which is a far cry from the 550 that my Dad helped with when he was a boy! We drill ours the same way that they did though, with a bit and brace. After the hole is drilled the younger children race to plaster their mouths to the hole to drink the sap. It is only slightly sweet and not really that tasty, but they think it's great. After Mr. G pries them off the hole, he puts the taps in and hangs the buckets. The musical plink plink plink of the sap hitting the bucket begins.

They put the lids on to keep out the rain and squirrel "presents" and then off to the next tree. Last year some of our buckets didn't have lids and every morning we would find corn in the bottom of the bucket. They finally discovered that a squirrel was nesting above the bucket in the tree and would come down to drink the sap and leave corn behind. Payment maybe? ;-)

Every year previously we would boil it down in the house, but this year Aleks wanted to do it differently. He wants to boil it in the woods instead of walking all the sap the half mile back home. I can't blame him, hauling 20 5-gallon buckets full of sap every day for a month must get tiresome. A sugar house with an evaporator would have been great, but they're so expensive. So, we bought a 20-gallon cast iron kettle and they are going to hang it from a sturdy branch in the woods. We found this wonderful couple from South Carolina who specialize in antique cast iron and we bought it from them. Aleks has been chopping wood for weeks in anticipation, all the boys are excited about it and they've made a lovely, primitive sugar camp. We will still finish it off in the house, but the lion's share of boiling will be outside of the kitchen. It takes 40 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of syrup so that's a lot of evaporation!

All of which brings me to my next point. I'm having my first blogger give-away and the prize is a pint of Maple syrup! All you have to do is leave a comment on my blog and mention it on your blog. I'm not going to check up on you, we'll just use the honor system. I'll draw a winner toward the end of March, good luck!

...and walk therein

A few times a year I get the "book of stuff" out and update it; that's a pretty mundane name for something that I value highly, isn't it? I should really think of a more suitable title for it, but so far nothing has come to mind. I began my journey with this book almost 8 years ago and I'm so glad I did. Whenever something is given to me or is purchased, it is recorded in the book. Mind you, only things that will be heirlooms and passed down, not things like bath towels. ;-) I record who gave it to me and why, or if purchased then I will write where I got it and how much I paid. When my parents have given me things I will ask them to tell me again the story behind it and I take careful notes, which then become part of the legacy of the book. So everytime I get it out it allows us to look at what riches we've been given and be thankful all over again. It also assures that we don't forget. The particular book I chose is full of beautiful watercolors and has appropriate "thankful" verses, many of them scripture.

We have strayed from being an oral culture and we tend not to tell and retell the stories of our heritage, unfortunately this helps us to forget who we are. God understood this human tendency and gave His children the admonition not to forget; remember it, talk about it, tell it again and again! The book helps me do this.

The cute little butter crock above was my Valentine's Day gift from Mr. G. We don't normally celebrate Valentine's but this year he bought me cheesecake (2 different kinds), Hershey's Kisses, Peanut Butter cups, and a yellow rose. I don't know what came over him, he must be twitterpated. ;-)

This lovely treasure was also purchased this past weekend, it is a "Krusty Korn Kobs" cornbread pan. I normally find corny spellings really obnoxious, but for whatever reason I'm completely charmed with this pan. It was patented in 1920 so maybe the era it came from makes it less corny (pun intended, haha) than a modern thing would, I don't know.

In other news, I got my carpet back from the cleaners today!!! I'm so glad, there's no carpet here just wood and *cold* tiles. The carpet is a HUGE 100%wool rug, it weighs a few hundred pounds so we don't move it much. It makes the livingroom so much more cozy, a perfect place to curl up with a book.

I need to get cracking on supper and bathe little people afterwards but I want to leave you with this thought.......

"Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein."

Jeremiah 6:16

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! ;-)

Happy Birthday Mom!

Today is my Mother's birthday; she was born on Saturday February 7, 1931. Since I've already written some things about her childhood, I thought I'd tell you about mine.

Here she is on the right with some friends in 1948

My Mom would make cookies for my entire grade school class with each child's name written on their cookie in frosting, the teacher too! She always made elaborate homemade Halloween costumes, I was Betsy Ross in 1976, a pumpkin in a great big crepe paper pumpkin suit, and a lady-in-waiting with a blue gown and lace overlay along with a tall pointy hat with ribbons flowing from it.

My Mom was the yard sale/rummage sale queen, we spent entire summers looking through sales and buying treasures. I think that must be where I came to love antiques and all things with a "past". She was very indulgent about this passion of mine. When I decided that I wanted to twirl baton she threw herself into that by making some of my outfits,taking me to practice, parades, and competitions. And when that wore off.......well, you get the idea. She was behind me 100% and always believed in me; I suppose that's where the self confidence springs from. She always said "even if you're a failure at everything else in your life, you can still be a good parent" and so I learned what the most important things really were, and one of my much quoted favorites "there's always money for what you want" and so I learned about the importance of priorities and goal setting. There's a lot of wisdom there from a lifetime of experience. I couldn't have asked for better. I love you Mom.

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? ;-)

Happy Birthday Dad!

This past Monday, January 19th, my Dad celebrated his 84th birthday. He has spent his whole life in the same county he was born in, Chautauqua County, NY, with a few short exceptions. He grew up in and around the Sherman, NY area; sometimes living with his Father and Step-Mother and sometimes with his Grandfather and his housekeeper Pearl. Pearl saved his life when he was little and had cut open one of the veins in his neck, she put him on the farmhouse table and packed the gushing wound with flour. When the Doctor finally made it he said the the boy would've died had she not acted as she did.

Here he is in 1929, 4 years old

His Father and Grandfather were both farmers and my Dad recalls that they did all the heavy work with a team of horses but they also had a "hoopi", that's a Model T truck rear-end and they used that to disc and drag. They couldn't plow with it though because it didn't have enough weight. His Grandfather also kept a yoke of oxen. After his Step-Mother broke his nose he ran away and was working in a bowling alley sticking pins. He had eaten leeks and she told him never to come in the house smelling like that again, so the next year the hired man asked him if he knew what that plant was and he said "leeks". The hired man said they were wild onions so my Dad ate them; when his Step-Mother asked him if he ate leeks he said no, but he had eaten wild onions. She grabbed him by the shirt and hauled him over the table and onto the floor where she proceeded to beat him. This wasn't an isolated incident and eventually he ran away. His Father said he'd sign the papers for my Dad to join the service if he'd come back to the farm for a while, so he did that. He joined the Navy in February 1942 when he was 17 and was discharged in December 1945. He was on the USS Wyoming, USS Izard and the USS Ross and received 13 battle stars. He was in Tokyo bay when the peace treaty was signed and returned home and went to work on the Nickel Plate Railroad. He was called up to go to Korea in 1950 and returned to the Nickel Plate after he had served there.

1951 aboard the USS Lioba

He married my Mother in 1950 and gave up his hell-raising ways, but I'll save that for the post I want to write on their Anniversary in April. He led such an interesting life and truly (like Laura Ingalls Wilder herself thought) saw the end of one way of life and saw many, many changes ushered in. From farming with horses to space travel; Model T's to the internet.

Happy Birthday Dad, I'm so proud of you!

Love,

Paris

Winter days

Here in Ohio we don't get a lot of snow, most of the winter you can still see the grass. However, a week and a half ago we got a record breaking 5-6 inches! I know, I know, all of my family in Western New York is snickering about it, but what can I say? I haven't been out of the house in a while so I decided to stroll up the driveway to get at least a little exercise (it's a tenth of a mile long) and then I went to see what the men were up to. They were cutting wood (no surprise there) so I watched for a while until Aleks suggested to me to take a turn. Well, OK, if you're going to push me. ;-) Let me tell ya, sawing wood by hand is hard work!So here I am, getting my upper body workout. It's no wonder the 4 of them are as strong as oxes! So, now my shoulders are sore (but don't tell anybody). They do this every day, I'm so glad that I get the easier job of being a wife and mother! Sometimes women are tempted to lament about how hard they've got it but really, I've got it made! If I want to stay in the house, I can. If I want to sew or cook or bake, I can do whichever I like. Mr. G and the boys have to do the chores, cut wood and go to work no matter how much they might wish to stay in the house and read. So, here's to all the men who do the hard part so that we can do what we do best, keep our homes a welcoming place for our family.

We just finished The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder. We read it once, years ago, but I wanted to read it aloud again. It's hard to complain about your lot in life whilst reading about what that family went through to survive 7 months of blizzards. Their entire life consisted of 2 meals a day of brown bread (dry) and boiled potatoes and twisting hay to keep a fire going so that they wouldn't freeze to death. Sobering, huh? They ran out of kerosene at one point and Ma made a button lamp so they would have at least a little light. I've copied that part out for you, here it is:


“If only I had some grease I could fix some kind of a light,” Ma considered. “We didn’t lack for light when I was a girl, before this new-fangled kerosene was ever heard of.”

“That’s so,” said Pa. “These times are too progressive. Everything has changed too fast. Railroads and telegraph and kerosene and coal stoves- they’re good things to have but the trouble is, folks get to depend on ‘em.”

When he had gone to do the chores for the night Ma told Carrie to bring her the ragbag. She took some of the axle grease from the box and spread it in an old saucer. Then she cut a small square of calico. “Now find me a button in the button bag, Carrie.”
“What kind of button, Ma?” Carrie asked, bringing the button bag from the cold front room.
“Oh, one of Pa’s old overcoat buttons,” said Ma.
She put the button in the center of the square of calico. She drew the cloth together over the button and wound a thread tightly around it and twisted the corners of calico straight upward in a tapering bunch. Then she rubbed a little axle grease up the calico and set the button into the axle grease in the saucer.

“Give me a match, Charles, please,” Ma said. She lighted the taper tip of the button lamp. A tiny flame flickered and grew stronger. It burned steadily, melting the axle grease and drawing it up through the cloth into itself, keeping itself alight by burning. The little flame was like the flame of a candle in the dark.
“You’re a wonder, Caroline,” said Pa. “It’s only a little light, but it makes all the difference.”

The Long Winter
Laura Ingalls Wilder

We decided to make a button lamp today and followed Ma's directions. At first it burned really fast and seemed to be just burning the cloth, but after a while it seemed to settle down and just burn the oil. I didn't use axle grease but cheap-o corn oil that has been used to deep fry a bunch of stuff. It was really bright, much more so than modern candles (maybe candles in the 1880's burned brighter?) and was hard to blow out. Very hard. It took 2 of us blowing as hard as we could, several times, to blow it out.

Elisabethe's birthday

Elisabethe had her 5th birthday on Sunday, the 21st and that finishes out our birthdays for the year! I decided -remembered?- that she needed a birthday dress on friday and so we went through our meager fabric stash and found this piece. I wanted to do something different so I decided to try my hand at making bretelles.Bretelles are the over-the-shoulder-thingys that you see edged in rick rack. Rick rack isn't exactly period correct, at least not our modern Jo-Ann Fabrics version, but it was what I had. The bretelles have royal blue rick rack while the waistband is edged in black; that wasn't intentional, I thought that I needed another pack of blue when really I needed black. I never noticed until the bretelles were on, so they'll be coming off and be redone. Bretelles are an 1840's thing which is an era we don't reenact, so this is technically just an everyday dress, not one for reenactments or living histories. Therefore, the messed up bretelles shouldn't bug me, but they do! They dress has 3 growth tucks as well, which are hard to see unfortunately.

Elisabethe had told me in August that she wanted a birthday picnic like Rebekah had and I kind of just blew it off in my mind -you don't have picnics in December- but as her birthday drew closer I began to reconsider. So, we had a picnic by the fire complete with subs, potato salad and 2 kinds of jello.

And then, we roasted marshmallows in the woodstove!

And made smores!

The whole thing turned out very well, it was an interesting notion to picnic whilst the snow blew!

A sweet story

I have blogged at various times about our oldest son, Aleks, but I've rarely put up pictures of him. He tends to be un-photogenic, like I am, and nobody likes pictures put up when they don't look good so....... lots of stories, no pictures. This past Sunday, during Church, I snapped several pictures and just had to share them with you anyway. Abby likes to sit with Aleks, she really likes to hold his hand and thinks he's just wonderful. He is very gracious about the whole thing (I just love him for it!) Anyhow, here they are, we're singing in the pictures, by the way.Before we were even done singing she fell asleep, isn't that absolutely precious?

Elisabethe (who is almost 5) has stated often that she's going to marry Aleks. When she's in bed she talks to Katie a lot about what her wedding dress will look like, what dances they'll do (he'll bow and she will curtsey) about the cake.......... and on and on. Katie asked her the other night "what if Aleks wants to marry someone else?" and she got a horrified look on her face and said "why would Aleks want to marry somebody else?" ;-) Now, don't misunderstand, Aleks finds all that talk about marrying his 5 year old sister embarrassing, but he'd never hurt her feelings over it. Sometimes, I'm actually tempted to think I've got this parenting thing down pat. But, then I overhear Rebekah singing "Silver bells, silver bells, it's Christmas time in the privy" and I know that I've got a long way to go!

Various things pertaining to historical living

This is Katie's "transition dress" which she wore to Christmas in ---, it is called a transition dress because she's beginning to cross the divide from girlhood to womanhood. In the 1860's that transition was delayed until the mid to late teens, very unlike today where the littlest of girls are routinely dressed like street walkers. It has features of both children's and adult's dresses and still is not the floor length of an adult gown. For the event she wore her hair in a single braid down the back tied with a silk ribbon, the pinner apron is a wonderfully useful garment for keeping one's dress from becoming mussed up and is handy for carrying and wiping any number of things!

Courtesy of Gramma, the 6 youngest children had presents to open at ---. Tabitha and Rebekah received the penny wooden dolls on the left and Katie made the rolled cloth dolls on the right for Elisabethe and Abigail. We brought along blocks and cloth scraps and the girls made their dolls a house with beds and put a pine branch in an empty wooden spool for a Christmas tree in miniature. Levi and Micah enjoyed entertaining us with the flapjack on the bottom left and quickly learned how to use the top on the bottom right and competed with who could spin it the longest which eventually became "see who can knock the top over as it spins so your brother doesn't win". Pretty much everybody tried their hand (er, mouth) at the Jew's harp in the center. We also got a book about making paper dolls since the girls are forever-and-a-day wanting me to cut dolls for them. All these toys were purchased from the Ragged Soldier, a wonderful on-line store run by the Mescher's, selling all kinds of nifty old-fashioned toys for reenacting children!




We went today to try on the coat that I ordered for Aleks. A pair of Amish sisters sew coats for a living so I'm having wool coats made for the three boys. Aleks' coat fit great and the woman did an excellent job, which is a relief to me. I have several people who have helped me with sewing at various times and some are certainly more skilled than others. The shirt to the right is one of nine shirts that my friend Anna made for the boys. It is a "squares and rectangles" shirt, excellently sewn complete with beautiful handmade buttonholes. Truly, a well made shirt is a thing of beauty!


The picture below is called "Watchers in the Night", I used to have a very small version of it hanging up when we lived in North Carolina, but it apparently got mislaid in the many moves since then. I absolutely love the angel depicted in it, so manly and protective! Did you know that every Biblical angel whose gender is known is male? I think it's just another example of every good thing being corrupted into something different than the Lord intended, I can't think of too many pictures I've ever seen with manly angels. Either they are completely effeminate (which is an abomination) or they're female (which I suppose would also be an abomination since God didn't create them thus). Every child has an angel who always beholds the face of the Father, I take comfort in that. But, supper is almost ready, we're having ham steaks, mashed potatoes with cream and cream cheese, and peas! Good night.

Christmas in Zoar

It has been quite a while since I wrote anything here due to the press of getting everything ready for the Christmas in Zoar event. Zoar is a village that is now a historical site, the home of 19th century German separatists. They have a semi-annual reenactment that we really enjoy but this is their first Christmas reenactment. We don't normally do cold weather events so I had quite a few garments to sew to be ready. Originally we were to be in the Gardener's house but on wednesday (3 days ago!) the Ohio Historical Society decided that we could not be there after all, no reason was given and they could not be persuaded! So, we were moved to the Sewing house, they *did* furnish it for us and it was "heated" which was a requirement because of the children. Well, as it turns out, this is the coldest "first weekend in December" we've had in 10 years! So much for global warming. ;-) The house was COLD! The children were huddled around with teeth chattering, bored to death because nobody came. Well, 4 small groups did, but not a single child. This was due to several reasons: the cold, the programs had us listed in the Gardener's house which was closer to where the public mainly was (there were signs put up re-directing the public), but the sign outside the Sewing house said "not open to the public" which nobody thought about until we pointed it out. What a letdown. I'm not sure if we're going back tomorrow or not, it depends on the weather, I guess.