Making pickles

Using cucumbers and dill from our garden. These turned out super sweet, we will try them with half the sugar next time! So fun for the kids to be able to eat the fruits of their labor. :-)

Long update

A friend asked for an update, so I am posting what I replied to her as an update here too.

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Not sure where to begin on how we are... I am frankly surprised that God is asking this of me again, LOL!  The office work and phones are keeping me very busy.

The kids seem to be adjusting well.  I am so thankful that we are home, makes it a lot easier!  Heather has started to take over most of the cooking - at least 2 meals a day.  She really enjoys it and it is a big help to me.  She still loves reading and doing her little crafts and projects.  Rose plays with Will much of the time, she is reading more too and has been really enjoying drawing lately and has shown some talent there.  Will is just full of energy and I am so thankful for our land and that I can give him the freedom to run and play and catch critters to his heart's content.  We have had some attitude issues with the additional chores and garden work, but are working through it.

We are doing basic math and grammar and reading books on history as much as we can, but school is definitely slowed down lately.  I decided to give the kids CAT tests this year so I would know what we need to work on next year.  I've never done that, so interested to see how it goes.  My goal is to somehow get 1-on-1 time with each of them, do the testing in the morning and then something fun with them in the afternoon.  Haven't quite figured out the logistics yet though.

I am enjoying the outdoors and the chickens and gardens very much.  All is well so far out there, but so many projects to still be done!  I planted using the square foot gardening method in raised lasagna beds... it's not a huge garden but there are a massive amount of plants in there!  We are all anxious to see how it goes.  The rains have been a blessing and things are growing like crazy.

The house is my downfall right now.  I just cannot keep up, when I am indoors I am at the computer working or on the phone - so things have just fallen apart.  I am planning a yard sale with my sister and friends the first Sat in June (just set yesterday), so hope to really clean out some extra clutter.  We are replacing the carpets in the living room and hallway with laminate and I am so happy to be getting that done!  I am also planning to paint the walls and eventually get new trim.  We will be replacing the 10 year old furniture, which I am very excited about.  Tom and I are going to work together on getting this done gradually, so hopefully I don't go insane with the state of things as a work-in-progress! :-).

My health is definitely suffering from the stress and being so very busy.  I am not making good choices with eating and so have gained back 20lbs :(  I am itchy and tired and bloated and my cycles are getting crazier.  I am sleeping a bit better though, that's a bonus.

God has blessed our efforts with the business.  It has worked out well, better than I could have hoped for. The men that we had to lay off have found good jobs within a couple weeks of us giving them notice and are happy and at the same pay level - amazing!  That has helped Tom feel a lot better and taken away the depression and worry.  We have moved everything out of the shop, painted, cleaned carpets and got our deposit back on the building, the landlords were understanding and kind.  We are using 2 storage sheds as a place to store extra stock and machinery.  I am doing the phones/dispatch/bookkeeping and Tom and 1 other man are running 2 trucks and we are staying busy and enough money is coming in that we are recovering nicely.  We anticipate being caught up on bills by the end of this month and then will start saving for a storage shed at our house where we can put a small office and move the things from the rental sheds into so we don't have that monthly cost.  It is exciting to see things turning and Tom's outlook on things has changed dramatically - as in his expectations and ideas about money and growth have become much more in line with God's.  That is so wonderful and has carried over into our personal finances too.

I had a pretty good Mother's Day.  Tom and the kids took me out for a late dinner Saturday night after we worked outdoors all day.  It was yummy!  Sunday we had church, a fellowship dinner and afternoon service (love that!).  We came home and I took a 3-hour nap which was so nice and obviously much needed.  I meant to have Tom get a pic of me with the kids and forgot, will have to do that soon.  I hope that you all enjoyed your day as well <3

Thank you as always for your prayers and support.

Simple Joys

We have had a great time the last couple days planting the garden. It has been relaxing, but hard work all at once. I have really enjoyed getting lots done outside, with all sorts of projects (see here for details). Wish housework was as energizing and enjoyable!

We have been doing basic stuff for school daily and then going outside to work and play. The kids have been happy to be able to play with the water hose a few times already this year. We will be doing some testing soon to see where we are with their learning and what we should work on over the summer and/or in the fall.

Tom and I (with Heather's help) have cleaned up our screen room outside and started enjoying sitting outside for our coffee in the mornings before he leaves. This always motivates me to read my Bible more regularly, having that quiet and peace in the mornings. My spirits are being lifted and my soul is at peace, I am sure the Vit D from the sunshine is really helping with that too! I have quite the tan going now. :-)

Tom recently found replacement parts for his grill and has it working quite well again. We LOVE to grill out in the warmer weather, use it almost daily - best Father's Day gift ever! We have also been enjoying hanging our clothes on the line to dry. Our washing machine is having problems remembering to spin out the loads, thankfully we have a back-up at the shop and will bring that home tonight and get this one repaired. We are also considering a new refrigerator, ours is 10 years old now and a fire hazard, doesn't seal real well and we really would like an ice-maker. Another thing we have been discussing is replacing our living room carpet with laminate... it really is time to get rid of that, blech!

The chicks are growing and ready to take over their whole house and have some new straw laid. We need to build their outside run very soon also. Carl and Molly are best buds now and Carl is growing up really fast. Cats and bunnies are doing well. Rose found a tiny turtle the other day and has adopted it for the time being. Liz, Will's lizard escaped on Saturday morning when Rose opened her tank - but was found again Sunday afternoon. We were very glad to find her, she is such a fun pet.

Our business is doing well right now. There is plenty of work for the 1-2 trucks that we are running now and bills are getting caught up on. Things seem to be stabilizing and I am growing accustomed to the added responsibilities.

That's really about it in our world right now - work and play, dirt and bugs, clouds and sunshine, animals and plants, rain and wind. Finding joy in it all.

Kombucha Tea

I got a kombucha tea baby (SCOBY) from a freecycler locally. I had been interested in trying this fermented food and was excited to get the chance. People pay big bucks for this stuff at health food stores. It is easy to make at home!

Here is a detailed website with lots of information on the benefits and how to make it, so I will just leave you with the link.

I will add that we liked it fine. The kids really liked it and can't wait to have the next batch. I am off sugar, so only tried a small sip - I am pretty sure that most of the sugar is fermented out, but don't want to risk it. Tom said it was too vinegary, but I think I could fix it so that he would like it. I told the kids it was apple cider soda and they were quite excited. They don't get to drink soda, so the fizziness of this was pretty fun for them. :-)

It was interesting to watch it grow. The baby that I got was as round as a mason jar, it spreads to cover the surface of whatever you put it in - so I used a gallon jar and it grew to be the size of the jar! It is now on the 2nd batch creating it's own "baby" and will do so each batch... so if anyone would like one, just let me know by leaving a comment! I will get it to you. :-)

A productive day

Today, I am feeling almost 100% better. :-) I got lots more done. Cleaned up a bit, got the kitchen completely clean before bedtime tonight - hooray! Also made laundry soap, started a batch of kombucha tea, got all our chores done, played out in the snow flurries, got my shopping list and coupons together for tomorrow. I was very excited when I posted a few "wanted" ads on Craig's List and got responses from people willing to do some bartering... for fence material, a shed (will be a chicken house), and a bunny! So, a good day and now I am off to watch a movie with Tom and go to sleep. Hopefully tomorrow will be just as good.

Here are pics of the laundry soap. After setting 24 hours it thickened up and I am impressed with the consistency, I added some lavender so like the smell so far... the price is great! We'll see how it goes when we use it.

Update: I have used the laundry soap for several loads now, and I like it so far... I am still not completely sure, but don't have any complaints at the moment. The price breakdown: Arm & Hammer Wash Booster $3, Borax $3, bar of ivory soap (cheap, believe we got it free on a deal). We used only 1 cup of each and 1 bar of soap... so the boxes we bought will go a long way. It made a huge amount of detergent as you can see! I will update again if we decide we don't like it, but so far so good...

In the kitchen / Home Ec Day

We had a "home ec" day on Tuesday. I had lots of kitchen work to do and Tom suggested we take a day to work on it together. The kids and I had a great time, we needed a break from the papers and it was a fun day. We had a half bushel of apples that I had picked up from a local orchard and we sliced those all up for pies, crisps, and applesauce. I like to freeze sliced apples in gallon bags with the seasonings already mixed in for pies and crisps so that I can take them out and dump them into a pie crust or top for a crisp. We made a couple quarts of applesauce also. I didn't touch the apples - the kids did that all by themselves! I made a meatloaf and shaped some burgers that went in the freezer. Will de-boned a pre-cooked chicken for me so that I could make a soup for dinner. I cooked some squash to make my favorite fall recipe, Butternut Bisque with turkey ham and broccoli.

I have been baking 2 loaves of bread twice weekly to help stretch the food budget. It's been a nice routine, though I shouldn't eat so much bread. I love using my Kitchen Aid mixer and have the process down to memory now. I use a sourdough starter that my sister gave me. It is a sweet sourdough and gets the most consistent results of the ones I have tried.

A Good Day

The kids and I had a great day today. We've had good days overall lately, but today was great. Tom was home this morning until after lunch and he worked outside, burning wood and mowing - he is working hard to claim the acreage next door for a yard. The breeze was cool and the burning wood smelled great, with a hint of cedar from the saplings being mowed and burned (a shame, but there are so many of them!). It has been around 70 during the day and 50 at night here, perfect for open windows and warm blankets at night, socks and warm drinks in the morning. I love the fall!

Back to our day... we got to work on school on time after breakfast with daddy (rarely happens) and I *think* the children are starting to get the idea that if they work quickly without chatting and goofing off, they will get done in plenty of time for outside play and free time in the afternoons! That is what happened today. :-) Heather finished up by lunchtime and Rose was done by 2pm (she is SO easily distracted, she is the one that dawdles the most). I was able to lay down and listen to a homeschool talk radio show while closing my eyes for about an hour - aaaaahhhh, lovely. The kids ran around outside and then did a replica painting of the Cretan "Toreador Fresco" on paper in preparation for doing it on wet plaster later this week. They had fun with that and really did great jobs!

We then worked together in the kitchen until Tom came home. Rose pretty much single-handedly made dinner. Browned hamburger with seasonings, cooked and mashed potatoes and then threw them together with a can of peas and a can of corn. Will scooped the flesh out of 2 small pumpkins and a spaghetti squash I had cooked this afternoon. I threw the pumpkin together with ingredients for a pie and Heather made the crust all by herself! Yummy!!!

We are making some routine changes and really enjoying our busy days AT HOME. I wake up in the morning and sigh with relief that I don't have to run around anywhere but here that day. We enjoy our Fridays when we go to classes, run our errands and have dinner with friends - but SO enjoy our days at home too!

Today I also got a good bit of housecleaning done. Our dishwasher is not cleaning well anymore, so we finally gave up on it and demoted it to a drying rack. So, our new system is that each person is assigned 1 cup, 1 plate, 1 fork, 1 spoon and they are responsible for hand-washing them at the end of each meal. I do the extras. Ideally, we will not have big pile-ups of dishes this way. I got that organized, washed up all the dishes, did 2 loads of laundry, washed and re-organized counters, swept and vacuumed floors, scrubbed our bathroom, cooked or froze the produce I had sitting out, made 3 meals and a pie - hooray!

I am planning to have a yard sale in a week or two and am working on getting things together for that. I have lots of closets and piles to sort through, hope I can really minimize some of the clutter around here, and make a few dollars.

I am now working on finalizing our new budget, paying bills and making a home-management schedule. Tomorrow I need to start working on a menu and grocery list. We have a church picnic on Saturday, so I need to try to get next week's school planning done on Thursday/Friday.

Goodnight everyone!

Dinner last night...

What was for dinner at your house, or what's for dinner tonight? Leave a comment and tell us!

Dinner last night was chicken thighs with spicy plum sauce. All diet approved! We really liked it - this is the 2nd time I have made it, but the first time we grilled it and burned it - so had to try again! Here is the recipe I used as a guideline:

Spicy Plum Chicken Thighs (submitted by Beth Curran of Crozet to our Horse and Buggy Produce CSA).
Sauce Ingredients:
2 Tbsp peanut oil
1 small onion, coarsely chopped
4 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
1 Tbsp fresh ginger, coarsely chopped
1 Thai chile, coarsely chopped
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1 1/2 lbs red or purple plums, pitted and coarsely chopped
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 Tbsp fresh lime juice
1 Tbsp granulated sugar
Sauce Preparation:
Use side burner or grill. Heat oil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onions and garlic and cook until soft. Add ginger, chile pepper, cinnamon and cloves and cook for 2 minutes. Add remaining ingredients and cook until plums are soft and mixture has thickened. Place mixture in a food processor and mix until smooth. Let cool.
Grilling:
8 chicken thighs, skin on , bone in
Plum Sauce
Salt & pepper to taste
Preheat grill. Season chicken with salt and pepper to taste. Grill, on 1 side for 5 minutes, or until golden brown. Turn the chicken over, brush with sauce and continue grilling for 3 to 4 minutes, turn over and brush with sauce. Continue grilling and brushing with the sauce until the chicken is cooked through, approximately 12 to 15 minutes.
Yield: 4 servings.

In the kitchen

I feel pretty accomplished this evening. I have been in the kitchen cooking for the last two days, preparing for my trip, making some meals for a friend, and stocking the freezer for Tom while we are gone. Here is what I got done:

• 2 meatloafs


• 3 quarts of meatballs


• 1 large and 1 small beef/veggie soup


• 1 large and 1 small chicken/veggie soup


• 2 dozen burgers mixed and flash frozen


• 1 large chili


• 4 dozen banana muffins


• 4 loaves of zucchini nut bread

Tomorrow Rose and I are going to make oatmeal cookies and I think I'll do some chicken thighs in barbecue sauce and some corn casserole. I ran out of eggs today.

Here is a pic of Heather helping roll out the meatballs. She also made the zucchini bread herself, deboned the chicken, and poured the banana muffins. Will helped make the banana muffin batter and put the paper liners in the muffin tins. Rose has been busy cleaning her very messy room, hopefully she can help me tomorrow. :-)