Sunday, May 25, 2014

3 Day Weekend

So, what are we doing this 3 day weekend we have? The yard! Yes, you heard me right. We are not spending a leisurely weekend with Eric or even his parents at the lake.
You have heard me talk about my garden, and that is going really well, but that is usually where it stops. The reason is that the people who did our yard last year did not do it correctly. So, ever since it has gotten to be warm enough to be outside, my dear husband has been renting big machinery every weekend that the weather permits and is doing the job himself. As of yesterday, we now, finally have a yard that has the grade we wanted in the first place. Now we must have top soil trucked in, since they did not do any topsoil at all last year (we were told that they would rock hounded our fill dirt and it would be perfect to grow a new lawn... NOPE!). Eric will have to rent yet another machine, God willing, next weekend to push that around, then we can finally plant grass seed and pray for a steady amount of rain so we don't have to water all the time, then have a yard sometime in the middle of summer.
So in conclusion, if you can, do everything yourself. Do not think another person, even if they are hired, will do the job correctly. At least this seems to be our experience time and time again.
Maybe someday I will be able to have a little time alone with my husband and the children will finally have time to play with their father...

Saturday, May 17, 2014

Life

You know, I started trying to write this a month or so ago, but I had to put it on hold. I had a lot of anger going through me and I needed to vent, but God gave me a blank mind and I couldn't get my thoughts out on paper, so I stopped, calmed down, and waited until I could write what needed to be said and not just a mish mash of things that couldn't be deciphered.

Life has many ups and downs. There are so many people in our lives that just don't understand what we are going through. When Eric and I got married, we made many rules to follow.

First was that we would never start drinking or smoke. That would be automatic grounds for divorce. We teach our children that smoking and drinking is an abomination as said in the Bible.

Second, whom ever cooks does not clean. That has had to be tweaked in recent years, since I am the Stay at Home Mother and I hardly ever see my dear husband who works a crazy amount of hours, so I can live my dream, but when he is home and cooks, I do try to do the dishes for him.

Third, is plain and simple. I am a Stay at Home Mother, which means... I stay at home. I do not go off all over the place shopping or hanging out with friends. I am a mother to the children God has blessed us with and do not have time for frivolities. I nurse and cloth diaper our babies, I keep our home in a decent order at all times, laundry is done every day, dishes are done as I have time, the children are home schooled, I keep the accounts straight, and I cook from scratch meals >90% of the time. I also keep the children in optimal health by not allowing many processed foods and letting them be children, letting them run and play outdoors as much as possible and dig in the dirt to learn about the wonders of nature that God put right in front of us. So far if we are ill, I am blessed to be using only
 herbs, essential oils, and homeopathy. My children have never had any conventional medicine or vaccine. We do not go to a medical doctor, but do go occasionally to a chiropractor. We have not had to go to our naturopath in 4 years, thank the Lord.

Some people may read this and think I am nuts, but aren't we as wives supposed to submit to our husbands? People now seem to read the Bible, but do not think it really applies to now. Of course it applies to now. God's rule are for forever, not a "back in the day" kind of thing. There are no time stamps on what God commands. The sooner everyone understands this, the happier people will become.

New additions

Last weekend we decided to add to our household. No, we are not pregnant, but we did go to the Stark County Humane Society and bring home 2 of the best cats you could dream of. We have been a pet less house for about 3 years now (no I don't count the fish we got last year... You can't cuddle and play with them.) We knew we didn't want kittens to have to train and definitely did not want a hairball like one of our previous cats, so we went with specifics in mind, and we definitely got what we were looking for!

Meet Carmel and Oreo. Yes, the children named them, well we just kept Oreo's name, since it fit, but Grady named the orange and white one, since I was not going to call our cat "Chaos".


Maybe one of these days Eric will allow me to get a dog...

Time to Plant 6

This past week I got everything in the ground, including all the cool things I bought from the SCOFF.  I can't wait for fresh veggies!

I also was able to harvest a little asparagus, from the plants that are now 4 years old and my rhubarb which is 3 years old.

I made strawberry rhubarb refrigerator jam to be able to add to our Kalona yogurt I buy from co-op.

Here is how I make it.

1 bag frozen strawberries (Woodstock)
2-3 cups sliced rhubarb chunks
1/4 cup (or less) sugar
2 tbsp water

Put in a stainless pan and simmer over med low heat until all is mashed and thickened.
Stir every so often so it doesn't burn.
Pour in a quart ball jar and let cool before putting it in the fridge.
Use within 2 weeks.

You can put it in small jelly jars and freeze it to make it last longer.

To put in yogurt, I put about 2 tbsp in a jelly jar and fill the rest with my maple vanilla yogurt. I make about 8 ahead of time so they can be eaten whenever the children are "starving" between meals or as an easy breakfast. The plastic ball jar lids are wonderful for this purpose.

Maple vanilla yogurt:
1 large tub of yogurt
3 tbsp local maple syrup
3 tsp homemade vanilla extract

Monday, May 5, 2014

Time to Plant 5

All signs of frost are now gone. I is now time to get all of your direct sow vegetables and herbs in the ground.

Yesterday, it finally did not rain, so I got the flower garden started with direct sowing the carnations, poppies, and chrysanthemums.

For herbs, the cilantro, black cumin, lemon balm, lemon grass,  nasturtiums, and fennel.

All of the starter plants made their way into our sun room to start hardening off. I hope to have everything in the raised beds next weekend, but we shall see what God has in store for the weather.

In the next day or so, I would like to get my green beans and marigolds direct sowed.

If you are local, there is a certified organic plant sale at the Simon's farm, that we purchase many things from. I will be getting a few things that I decided would be best left to the experts, such as basil, parsley, sage, and a few other misc funky trial plants.

We have also started working on an asparagus bed. I hope to be able to do that this year, we shall see.