Sunday, January 29, 2012
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
L is for Links
Just a few links to share for now.
Potato Project .......Now why do I grown my own food and buy organic?
Remember the number 8 when shopping for groceries.Why? Read this super easy tip.
( I have yet to explore the website this link is from,don't blame me if it is odd stuff.I just wanted the tip I posted.)
Glad to know I am not the only one worried about there being fewer bugs. I think adding some bug habitat into our garden projects would be great.
My local readers most likely know this Portlander's work already.Awesome Urban Farming themes over here.
And you really should follow this French Gardeners blog.It's total eye candy.Don't worry the posts start in French but then at the bottom it's in English.
I had the flu last weekend so I was able to stock pile these for sharing. Issac is the last one of us getting over this yuck of a bug so by the weeks end we should all be rolling along once more.
Other than that we have had interesting weather here that made me late for work twice this week.Snow,No Snow,Heavy Rains,Winds.My Dad is now on flood watch and has no power.I can't reach him by phone and they won't let us get close enough to go get him.Hopefully he is safe and got his horses moved.Wish him luck.
I am going to close because this is starting to sound like a country western song,all I need to add is the story of the dog my Dad gave away coming back to his house after 6 weeks. (Really,that happened just a week or so ago.)
Rois
Potato Project .......Now why do I grown my own food and buy organic?
Remember the number 8 when shopping for groceries.Why? Read this super easy tip.
( I have yet to explore the website this link is from,don't blame me if it is odd stuff.I just wanted the tip I posted.)
Glad to know I am not the only one worried about there being fewer bugs. I think adding some bug habitat into our garden projects would be great.
My local readers most likely know this Portlander's work already.Awesome Urban Farming themes over here.
And you really should follow this French Gardeners blog.It's total eye candy.Don't worry the posts start in French but then at the bottom it's in English.
I had the flu last weekend so I was able to stock pile these for sharing. Issac is the last one of us getting over this yuck of a bug so by the weeks end we should all be rolling along once more.
Other than that we have had interesting weather here that made me late for work twice this week.Snow,No Snow,Heavy Rains,Winds.My Dad is now on flood watch and has no power.I can't reach him by phone and they won't let us get close enough to go get him.Hopefully he is safe and got his horses moved.Wish him luck.
I am going to close because this is starting to sound like a country western song,all I need to add is the story of the dog my Dad gave away coming back to his house after 6 weeks. (Really,that happened just a week or so ago.)
Rois
Sunday, January 8, 2012
DIY Instant Oatmeal
Today had the feeling of the start of our starting over around here.It's good to be back and feeling more at home.Happily working hard and for ourselves.
Last night Chance and I went to the book store to look through the books that pertain to our vibe of homesteading,gardens,food,building and nature.We have been gifted a gift card to Powell's Books and thought we might find something to add to our library.Nope,no books for us last night.
Instead we had a great planning session sitting on the floor of the book store.We mapped out what we wanted to do and how to go about it.Once home we wrote it all down and added in some pricing we could do via the internet.Now we have a check list to work from over the next many months.
Today Chance started in on the first phase of some of the outdoor work needing to be done.He started to clear out the random bits and piles of things we no longer need.Once we are done with this we will have a blank-ish slate we can work from.
There's a couple of areas we would like to re purpose and put to better use.Which includes moving the compost bins.Why we put them near where we sit to eat is a mystery to us.The bins don't stink but seeing them makes some dinner guests squirm.
As for me I was indoors today getting things ready for the work week.Most of that was mundane chores but I did do one project I saw a while back.I made our own instant oatmeal.Issac loves instant oatmeal (gag me) but I won't buy it for several reasons.A.It is over packaged.B over priced C.full of crap if you don't pay the extra for organic (organic processed foods are foolish at our house.) so he has been out of luck for a looong time.
Here is the link for the article I read for DIY Instant Oatmeal. I did not follow all of it.I never add salt to oatmeal so that was left out.And I wanted a more grainy oatmeal instead of the pastie stuff instant can be so I left out the powered oatmeal.Finally I left out the dry milk since we will be eating this at home and can add real milk if we want it.Once I know we like it I will experiment with adding other grains and dried fruit or nuts.
There is a second link on the recipe links page that breaks down the costs of making your own that I did not agree with. I paid $1.57 for the organic quick oats,almost a pounds worth The amount of brown sugar and cinnamon I used was small and very little cost.I figure I filled our 2 quart jar for around $2.50.Much cheaper than a box of organic instant oatmeal,no crap in it and the only "garbage" it created was the paper bag I brought the oatmeal home in.(The paper bag will either be reused to death or composted.So no waste there.) By adding in other add ins the cost will go up but I buy them anyway so in evens out in my book.
Issac is one happy kid and swears he will eat oatmeal every morning because he loves it if it's instant.Ok,kid just eat your breakfast and go to school already.
Can you believe this? I have yet to even open the seed catalog that came the other day.?!?! Really,I have not but it is Sunday evening and the days work is done.I can settle on to the couch with the catalog and enjoy the rest of the evening picking out more seeds than we have growing room for.
Oh dear..the first episode of season 2 for Downton Abbey a PBS series I LOVE starts tonight.The seed catalog will have to wait.
Rois
Last night Chance and I went to the book store to look through the books that pertain to our vibe of homesteading,gardens,food,building and nature.We have been gifted a gift card to Powell's Books and thought we might find something to add to our library.Nope,no books for us last night.
Instead we had a great planning session sitting on the floor of the book store.We mapped out what we wanted to do and how to go about it.Once home we wrote it all down and added in some pricing we could do via the internet.Now we have a check list to work from over the next many months.
Today Chance started in on the first phase of some of the outdoor work needing to be done.He started to clear out the random bits and piles of things we no longer need.Once we are done with this we will have a blank-ish slate we can work from.
There's a couple of areas we would like to re purpose and put to better use.Which includes moving the compost bins.Why we put them near where we sit to eat is a mystery to us.The bins don't stink but seeing them makes some dinner guests squirm.
As for me I was indoors today getting things ready for the work week.Most of that was mundane chores but I did do one project I saw a while back.I made our own instant oatmeal.Issac loves instant oatmeal (gag me) but I won't buy it for several reasons.A.It is over packaged.B over priced C.full of crap if you don't pay the extra for organic (organic processed foods are foolish at our house.) so he has been out of luck for a looong time.
Here is the link for the article I read for DIY Instant Oatmeal. I did not follow all of it.I never add salt to oatmeal so that was left out.And I wanted a more grainy oatmeal instead of the pastie stuff instant can be so I left out the powered oatmeal.Finally I left out the dry milk since we will be eating this at home and can add real milk if we want it.Once I know we like it I will experiment with adding other grains and dried fruit or nuts.
There is a second link on the recipe links page that breaks down the costs of making your own that I did not agree with. I paid $1.57 for the organic quick oats,almost a pounds worth The amount of brown sugar and cinnamon I used was small and very little cost.I figure I filled our 2 quart jar for around $2.50.Much cheaper than a box of organic instant oatmeal,no crap in it and the only "garbage" it created was the paper bag I brought the oatmeal home in.(The paper bag will either be reused to death or composted.So no waste there.) By adding in other add ins the cost will go up but I buy them anyway so in evens out in my book.
Issac is one happy kid and swears he will eat oatmeal every morning because he loves it if it's instant.Ok,kid just eat your breakfast and go to school already.
Can you believe this? I have yet to even open the seed catalog that came the other day.?!?! Really,I have not but it is Sunday evening and the days work is done.I can settle on to the couch with the catalog and enjoy the rest of the evening picking out more seeds than we have growing room for.
Oh dear..the first episode of season 2 for Downton Abbey a PBS series I LOVE starts tonight.The seed catalog will have to wait.
Rois
Thursday, January 5, 2012
Sweater,Yarn & Samsara.
The last time I was here was July 21st,that was a bit a go wasn't it? At the time I thought I wanted to move my blog to Wordpress but you know what? Blogger feels like home so I am coming back here.
The last several months have been rough for us as a family.We found ourselves needing to just close the doors to the world so we could work through it all,to feel all of the roughness of what was going on,to sort through it all and figure out what to do.
The last four years have been like being tangled up in an itchy,too tight sweater.You know you put on a sweater and think "oh,this is fine.It's a bit snug and itchy but it will work out." but then you try living your life wearing it.There are spots the rub you raw,and places that ITCH in that maddening way. You try to reach out and you find your sleeves are pulling above your elbows they are just that short.Then you wonder if you will get a rash from the sweater,well,if not at least it may lead you to a nervous break down in the classic Chinese water torture kind of break down.
You wiggle,squirm,pull and tug to get it to stop.Did I just say stop? Stop...and stop is what we did. We stopped and looked at this itchy too tight sweater called life.We needed to sit with the sweater and feel it.Breath it in and work on moving it along.Sit and sort through the different parts and put them in place.While sitting there feeling all itchy and strangled we found a lose thread and pulled.Slowly we pulled,life twisted,turned, spun and things started to ease up.
Now we find ourselves with this ball of yarn that represents the past four years.It's a rainbow of a ball,it's not all itchy.There are the soft silken spots that are the good things,family,friends,health and growing.Silken spots that carried us through the rough parts.There are strong parts.Well, because the past four years didn't kill us,what does not kill you makes you stronger after all. The tender quiet spots from deep within our hearts,that have changed how we see the world,given us sharp eyed vision for what is important.
Winter days are upon us.Days spent indoors waiting for the light to slowly return to us.Days we are spending drafting a new pattern to weave and knit our ball of yarn into a new beginning.Seed catalogs will arrive soon.The garden will call and out the door we will go.
Thank you to all of you who are still here.Welcome to the 3 new followers I managed to acquire while I neglected this part of my life.It's a quiet time of year for big projects and news may not be too exciting for a few more weeks.But I am here again and happy to be back.
Rois
*****Samsara here is a link just in case.
The last several months have been rough for us as a family.We found ourselves needing to just close the doors to the world so we could work through it all,to feel all of the roughness of what was going on,to sort through it all and figure out what to do.
The last four years have been like being tangled up in an itchy,too tight sweater.You know you put on a sweater and think "oh,this is fine.It's a bit snug and itchy but it will work out." but then you try living your life wearing it.There are spots the rub you raw,and places that ITCH in that maddening way. You try to reach out and you find your sleeves are pulling above your elbows they are just that short.Then you wonder if you will get a rash from the sweater,well,if not at least it may lead you to a nervous break down in the classic Chinese water torture kind of break down.
You wiggle,squirm,pull and tug to get it to stop.Did I just say stop? Stop...and stop is what we did. We stopped and looked at this itchy too tight sweater called life.We needed to sit with the sweater and feel it.Breath it in and work on moving it along.Sit and sort through the different parts and put them in place.While sitting there feeling all itchy and strangled we found a lose thread and pulled.Slowly we pulled,life twisted,turned, spun and things started to ease up.
Now we find ourselves with this ball of yarn that represents the past four years.It's a rainbow of a ball,it's not all itchy.There are the soft silken spots that are the good things,family,friends,health and growing.Silken spots that carried us through the rough parts.There are strong parts.Well, because the past four years didn't kill us,what does not kill you makes you stronger after all. The tender quiet spots from deep within our hearts,that have changed how we see the world,given us sharp eyed vision for what is important.
Winter days are upon us.Days spent indoors waiting for the light to slowly return to us.Days we are spending drafting a new pattern to weave and knit our ball of yarn into a new beginning.Seed catalogs will arrive soon.The garden will call and out the door we will go.
Thank you to all of you who are still here.Welcome to the 3 new followers I managed to acquire while I neglected this part of my life.It's a quiet time of year for big projects and news may not be too exciting for a few more weeks.But I am here again and happy to be back.
Rois
*****Samsara here is a link just in case.
Thursday, July 21, 2011
We are moving.......
We are moving this blog that is.After some thought we are moving over to Wordpress.Chance and I are trying to get the classes we will be teaching promoted in a better way and with the new site we can do that.We can also better organize all of the other things we share with you.
It's been great being here but it's time to change.We hope all of our followers will follow us on over.
Here's the link to the new page
Rois
It's been great being here but it's time to change.We hope all of our followers will follow us on over.
Here's the link to the new page
Rois
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
7 jars of jam and our new stove.
Chance and I made 7 jars of Strawberry Rhubarb Jam using the the recipe in the link from yesterdays posting. As you can see in the photo below we ended up using the Canning Kettle because we doubled the batch and could fill the canning kettle.
Somehow I forgot to blog about us getting a new stove.Well,it's not New but something even better to us,it's Vintage. Our old stove sucked overall and we never knew if what we were baking would burn or not.It was still working so we could not justify buying a new one any time soon.But my Mom was gifted this stove and didn't need it. Knowing we were disgusted with our stove Mom re-gifted the stove to us.For once re-gifting was the perfect thing to do.We have a love of the vintage stoves since they tend to be work horses and easy enough for Chance to repair.Just the fact that its repairable makes this stove a treasure to us.So many appliances these days can't be fixed easily or at all,what a waste of a lot of money.
Now back to the jam.Chance is home way before me on my work days so before I got home he prepped as much of the jam ingredients as he could.This made for a quick session of canning once I was home.I think all together it took about an hour to put the jam up.The division of the work and the ease of a smaller batch has insipred us to think about more small batches.Like my Mom said to me we might be able to put up more from our own garden this way.Chance also pointed out we could end up with a bigger variety of things,that sure would be the spice of life wouldn't it?
This morning before work I was cruising around online and came across this recipe for Bacon Jam Hand Pies.In my pre-coffee haze I thought the recipe was for Bacon and Jam Hand Pies but as I read through it's for Bacon Jam. Oh My Goodness,Jam made from Bacon. And what is sitting in our fridge curing waiting to be smoked next week? Bacon,made by that handsome man of mine.I had Chance look over the recipe and of course he said "Let's do it" I am not overly interested in the Hand Pie part but once we make the Bacon Jam and have tasted it I may make it into the pies.Unless we figure out another way to use it.It is Jam,couldn't we just smear it on toast?
Finally, I am announcing this here for all of my readers first so if you want to snag a spot you can.Chance and I will be teaching a Chicken Butchering class here at Hrafinstaad Friday Aug 19th at 6 PM.The cost of the class is $30 , you bring your own chicken to butcher then take home and one sharp kitchen knife.We limit the number to 10 so there is plenty of time to give help as needed.The closing date for sign up is Monday Aug 15th. Email us if you are interested- hrafinstaad at aol dot com.Please feel free to spread the word.
I am feeling so much better about how things are going around here.Seeing the back garden growing rapidly has given me much hope that we will carry on.Also reminding myself that there is actually a nice list of veggies that we can plant in the coming weeks for winter gardening has put some get up and plant in my feet.Speaking of winter gardening.Chance picked up some free window glass so we can build a couple of cold frames for a winter garden.I'll post more when we start the building.
Rois
 |
| Round one of canning on our new stove. |
Now back to the jam.Chance is home way before me on my work days so before I got home he prepped as much of the jam ingredients as he could.This made for a quick session of canning once I was home.I think all together it took about an hour to put the jam up.The division of the work and the ease of a smaller batch has insipred us to think about more small batches.Like my Mom said to me we might be able to put up more from our own garden this way.Chance also pointed out we could end up with a bigger variety of things,that sure would be the spice of life wouldn't it?
 |
| Strawberry Rhubarb Jam |
Finally, I am announcing this here for all of my readers first so if you want to snag a spot you can.Chance and I will be teaching a Chicken Butchering class here at Hrafinstaad Friday Aug 19th at 6 PM.The cost of the class is $30 , you bring your own chicken to butcher then take home and one sharp kitchen knife.We limit the number to 10 so there is plenty of time to give help as needed.The closing date for sign up is Monday Aug 15th. Email us if you are interested- hrafinstaad at aol dot com.Please feel free to spread the word.
I am feeling so much better about how things are going around here.Seeing the back garden growing rapidly has given me much hope that we will carry on.Also reminding myself that there is actually a nice list of veggies that we can plant in the coming weeks for winter gardening has put some get up and plant in my feet.Speaking of winter gardening.Chance picked up some free window glass so we can build a couple of cold frames for a winter garden.I'll post more when we start the building.
Rois
Canning Kettle or just a pot.
Last night I realized we do have enough Strawberries and Ruhbarb to do a small batch of jam. I went and checked out a recipe I had seen over at Food in Jars website. As I clicked my way on to the site I found she is doing a give away for a Ball Home Canning Discovery Kit.The kit has 3 pint jars, a canning basket that holds only 3 jars and a recipe booklet.I signed up for the give away because I was excited about the smallness of the canning basket.This nifty basket can be used in whatever kettle or pot you have it will fit in with enough room to cover the jars as you process them,awesomeness! If I had that basket I wouldn't always have to heat up my giant canning kettle for small batches of jars.If I won the give away it wouldn't be here for the jam I am wanting to make but the next time, if I was the lucky winner , I wouldn't have lug out the big kettle,wait forever for it too heat or use more water and power than a few jars are worthy of.
After I had clicked on the comment send button I thought to myself.."Wait a minute! I need to call Mom" Somewhere in the back of my mind was a thought I couldn't pin down about my Mom and canning kettles.I think I had even blogged about this vauge idea.Had I? Never mind,I'll just call and maybe I'll end up repeating myself in a posting but oh well.
So I ring Mom and fill her in on the small batch of jam,the small basket Ball now makes and my missing thought finally arrives in my head.The question I posed to my Mom was "I don't have to have a canning basket to can right? Didn't you tell me you can just put a kitchen towel in the bottom a pot so the jars don't rattle around?" Mom's answer was,you don't have to have a canning kettle or basket.She then reminded me that she had told me once upon a time about how she never had an actual canning kettle and just used a big pot for her canning.As long as the pot has enough room for an inch or more of water to be over the tops of the jars you are good.
I can't tell you how nice this thought is to me.Sometimes getting the big kettle out for smaller jobs is just a big pain in the butt.And I think about the water used and the power too and cringe.Too much waste! Now that Mom has reminded me/filled me in on this I feel much more inspired to do smaller batches of things.
My Mom was impressed with Food in Jars promoting smaller batches of canning.Mom said that it made sense,a person could put things up as they came into season in your own garden.I guess no one had thought of this back when Mom was canning.It was always these big canning days filled with rows and rows of jars.
Maybe I have repeated myself about not needing a canning kettle to can or maybe all of you already knew this gem but for some reason it excites me.Probly because now my small job can stay a small job all beacuse I can just use my soup pot.
So this evening sandwhiched between dinner,Scout drop off and pick up Chance and I will be making jam.And even if our weather isn't looking like summer the house will smell like it.I'll let you know how it all goes.
Rois
After I had clicked on the comment send button I thought to myself.."Wait a minute! I need to call Mom" Somewhere in the back of my mind was a thought I couldn't pin down about my Mom and canning kettles.I think I had even blogged about this vauge idea.Had I? Never mind,I'll just call and maybe I'll end up repeating myself in a posting but oh well.
So I ring Mom and fill her in on the small batch of jam,the small basket Ball now makes and my missing thought finally arrives in my head.The question I posed to my Mom was "I don't have to have a canning basket to can right? Didn't you tell me you can just put a kitchen towel in the bottom a pot so the jars don't rattle around?" Mom's answer was,you don't have to have a canning kettle or basket.She then reminded me that she had told me once upon a time about how she never had an actual canning kettle and just used a big pot for her canning.As long as the pot has enough room for an inch or more of water to be over the tops of the jars you are good.
I can't tell you how nice this thought is to me.Sometimes getting the big kettle out for smaller jobs is just a big pain in the butt.And I think about the water used and the power too and cringe.Too much waste! Now that Mom has reminded me/filled me in on this I feel much more inspired to do smaller batches of things.
My Mom was impressed with Food in Jars promoting smaller batches of canning.Mom said that it made sense,a person could put things up as they came into season in your own garden.I guess no one had thought of this back when Mom was canning.It was always these big canning days filled with rows and rows of jars.
Maybe I have repeated myself about not needing a canning kettle to can or maybe all of you already knew this gem but for some reason it excites me.Probly because now my small job can stay a small job all beacuse I can just use my soup pot.
So this evening sandwhiched between dinner,Scout drop off and pick up Chance and I will be making jam.And even if our weather isn't looking like summer the house will smell like it.I'll let you know how it all goes.
Rois
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