Time travel

Looking at the little, sleeping child next to me, I cannot imagine that she will ever be bigger than she is right now. I can't imagine that she will soon be running around and talking to me about her day or helping me in the kitchen. Right now, she is so little and constantly by my side.

It has been that way with every one of my children. Sure, I know they will grow up. Of course they will! It is just difficult to see it happening. I can't look around the house right now without seeing another one of my children, growing, changing, all at varying ages and stages, brought here by time travel. Seemingly created in this form, no one remembers how we got here, but here we all are, and they are older, bigger and more intelligent. My 10 year old is proof that children grow, and they do it quickly.

I held him once and marveled at the endless possibility of his future, how vast it seemed in its limitless potential and impossible to know or foresee. I know the same will be true for this little girl I hold now. It may not seem like it, especially on the days when she is unhappy or needs to be in constant contact physically with me, but someday she will have all the abilities to stand on her own. She will speak her mind and make her own decisions and have to accept consequences, all on her own. If I'm lucky, I will be there to comfort, console and counsel.

We are unable to record or recollect every moment of our children's lives (well, you could record it, but that is a lot of work and slightly creepy). Instead, we catch those expressions that they have been making since day 1 or 2, or we hear them saying a phrase they used as a toddler or preschooler, and it jogs our memory and we get a chance to travel back in time. The best part is that we get to take them with us in a way. as we share those stories with them. Its like our own little time machine.

I will try to cherish every moment I have with this babe. There may be days that I wish she was feeding herself or able to help me with laundry, but these are also days that I will never get back and she will never be this small again. Small enough to be cuddled in the crook of my elbow and the curve of my neck. Small enough to remind me of how it felt to have her somersaulting in my belly.

This summer has flown by while I have been inside, slowing down time, absorbing every moment of her first days. I didn't get to soak up the sun, but I basked in the smiles and sighs of my little one. That's what my time machine runs on.

It's a Girl!

It's a girl! I am very pleased to announce that our baby has arrived and it is a girl!




Born Friday, May 27th at our home. Her daddy delivered her and we are both recovering well and the whole family is taking some time to rest and bond.

We feel blessed to have another child and so very glad that she is healthy.

Even though she is just days old, already I get little flashes of overwhelming job I have in front of me - raising a girl! Sure, some of my worries are the same for all my children, but I never realized that there would be a different set of worries that come with having girls rather than boys. Should they be different? I have cared for my boys with one frame of mind and never considered what those same things would mean if I were caring for girls and some of the things we will face in the future, as parents of a girl, are scary!

I realize some of this is just part of the anxiety of having a newborn child. I'll stop there and not get into what could be a rabbit hole! :)

Locker room humor

Our homeschooled children have finally been introduced to some of the euphemisms for male genitalia, specifically "wiener" and the name "Dick". Try explaining those to a 9, 7 and 5 year old and not laughing. As the mother of 4 boys, I'm surprised we were able to put it off so long! Oh joy.

One of the interesting things I have learned, during my few years as a mother and homeschooler, is that playground/locker room humor is not just a "learned" thing. Sure, a lot of it can be avoided by eliminating videos and social interaction that contain inappropriate things, but for the most part, boys will find something to turn into a joke. Body functions, be they loud or smelly, or silly sounding body parts, are just funny to boys! Some girls laugh at things like that, but it really seems to be part of the male sense of humor. They can laugh at the disgusting parts of being a walking, talking, digesting, excreting, fallible human. It bothers me, but mostly, I just try to keep it reigned in and let them find things funny.

Something about being able to laugh at the silly thing must be a coping/bonding method for them as they grow up and face their destiny as men. Men bond over armpit orchestras and instant replays of groin injuries, whether it is in a locker room or battle field. It must be part of their nature for a very good reason. Crude, yes, but does it possibly help them to deal with the grim reality of war and the heavy responsibilities of being men? It could. I'll just have to keep it tempered with my motherly remarks and trust that God made them the way they are supposed to be. Anyone else have some insight into this? I'd love to hear from some dad's....!

My Zero Waste Plan

If you haven't seen it, you have to go read the Zero Waste Home blog. I was really convicted when I first read about this, partly because I know that she is doing what our ancestors used to do (and until their methods were pushed out by modern "conveniences", there were no landfills or pollution) and partly because I have really struggled with reducing my impact on the earth (in a physical sense) for a long time. I would like to be more self sustaining and produce less trash, as well as simplify our lives by reducing unnecessary clutter.

I recycle. I try to buy things in packaging that can be easily recycled in my area, which in Alaska, means paper, cardboard, tin, glass and #1 and #2 plastics. I compost, or did until we moved, and will start a new series of piles here this summer. I try to use cloth diapers and washable cleaning rags and towels to help cut down on paper waste. I buy second hand and I sew. I forage and I can foods. But as a home of 6 (and #7 on the way) we still make nearly 1 bag of garbage a day. That is a lot of trash over the course of a year!

I would like to move toward a "zero waste" home for my family. I am overwhelmed with the amount of stuff we own and keep around and I am not advocating throwing it all out and just starting over. There are some things that Bea does that I cannot support or are impractical for our lifestyle. They are thing that I have weighed in my pursuit of a simpler lifestyle.

1.The Johnsons are a family of 4 and they are done having kids. We are at 7 and probably still growing.
2.They live in California, where compost breaks down faster because of climate differences. It takes an average of 3 years in Alaska for a compost pile to completely cook and be ready for use as compost. I will feed kitchen scraps to my chickens and compost too, but our compost pile will never be able to take on wax paper like Bea's!
3. In California, fresh produce, milk, and meat are available year round. I live where everything has to be flown or trucked in, often unripe and expensive because of shipping, and that means I have to grow or preserve what I can when it is in season or buy it packaged from the store.
4. In California, natural foods grocery stores that offer bulk shopping are closer and more abundant, offering practically everything in a bulk bin and again, Bea Johnson pays less because of the shipping difference and she can stock up at any time. I know because when I go out of state, I shop at these stores and bring home all kinds of goodies because they are cheap and of better quality than what I can get at home. My local stores offer a limited mount in bulk, I would estimate a 10th of what they offered in bulk here when I was a child, and there isn't a demand for it like there used to be. I, in turn, need to order the foods, supplements and toiletries that are best for my family from an out of state company or buy them during special sales and keep them stocked up, which means I have to keep more of everything in my home at all times to make it affordable and practical. This means more clutter.
5. I have also noticed that Bea does some canning, but not nearly as much as I do (I haven't bought jam since my oldest was 1), nor does she plan for emergency preparedness, something that I am working on for my family and think is essential.

All of these things combined mean that my house has more clutter and, consequently, more waste than a "zero waste" home might have otherwise. I am not discouraged, I will just have to do what I can and keep finding waste free alternatives. I have started some of this and here is an outline of what I can do, now, within my means and region:

1. Talk to my stores about bringing in my own containers. I have already talked to the butcher at Fred Meyer's about bringing in my pyrex containers for meat and he said "No Problem!" I have also talked to one of the managers at my local Safeway and asked the same about using my glass jars for bulk items and she agreed to help me, as long as I come in while she is on shift. That is a good start. I currently use my mesh produce bags for bulk snacks as well, but obviously, that won't work for flours very well :) Just make sure to write down the item number for the cashiers!

2. Bake more bread. We eat at least 1 loaf of bread a day! My favorite is a brand from Fred's, but making my own is very easy and affordable. Really, I could teach the kids to do it when I am feeling lazy! Safeway and Freds both offer rolls, bagels and some other bread items in bulk and there is no problem with me using my mesh produce bags to get these. I've tried it ;)

3. Get a milk share. Make butter, yogurt, cheese and ice cream. I can start buying my cheese much more regularly at the Gourmet Garden, where I can purchase a myriad of cheeses European style. I am sure there will be no protest to using my own glass containers, but I will let you know.

4. Switch to flip top bottles for bottling my homemade wines and beers. I have some growlers with gaskets and it's not difficult to get more, just a matter of investing in them financially. This will mean less glass recycling and no rubber corks to toss and replace.

5. Look for better bulk items. Safeway, Fred Meyer's and maybe even the Gluten Free store? Local stores offer soaps, chocolate, flours, cheeses all in bulk, so be willing to shop at the little guy. Wax, honey, and maple syrup can be found at Cadre. I will try Echo Lake Meats too. And I just noticed that 3 Bears is offering organic and natural foods now, so some of my grains can come from there.

6. Buy more jars. I use these for canning, but also for storing dry goods for my emergency foods and pantry. Preserve more food like cheeses and eggs.

7. Make my own paper. Use the shredder to facilitate. I have all the supplies for this, and again, it can be something we do as a family once in a while. I recently sorted through all our boxes of books and papers as I was unpacking and found that there is enough paper in the house (construction, lined, notepads, drawing or watercolor) for well over a year! I will not be buying any more paper for a LONG time. We homeschool, so I could go paper less and let my kids do everything on the computer, but I dont' think that sitting in front of a computer all day is good for them, nor do I think we are ready to get rid of our book collections, since our kids read an average of 2 to 3 books a day, each.

8. Use my mp3 player more. I could be buying books on cd and downloading them right to it! Also, change the newspaper and magazine subscriptions to e-subscriptions. And we will be exercising that library card a lot more!

9. Cancel junk mail! Call, email, write to magazines and mailing lists when I get some to help reduce the amount of paper waste coming IN to my home to begin with!

10. Rethink recycling and composting. Buy less packaging, use more aluminum and glass, less paper and boxes, NO plastics. Aluminum and glass can be recycled indefinitely, where paper can only be recycled once.

11. No more birthday party junk. No goody bags filled with junky toys, no balloons, no streamers. Birthday gifts can easily be changed to activities or gift certificates, which my kids love and I love because they get individual time with a relative or mom or dad! Best of all, no mess to clean up! I'll be using my silicone cupcake liners more often and I invested in some Silpat mats to eliminate the foil and parchment that I have been using for baking. Maybe we will switch to a special tablecloth that everyone can write on as a family keepsake or maybe quilt squares that can be saved until they are 18 and then made into a graduation gift?
The same goes for eating out - no more junky toys, eat where there are plates, not a package, when possible, and carry snacks and water in the car like we used to (everyone has their own metal water bottle now). We can even keep extra pyrex in the car for leftovers at restaurants.

14. Switch bathroom stuff. Minimize! Everyone can use the same shampoo, but it would be nice to find one that came in bulk. Make more of our products -like tooth paste, home made balms and salves in our own tins. We have switched to cloth potty wipes for the toddlers, and we already do cloth diapers, and I am switching to cloth pads.

15. Pair down clothing. I have done this for the sizes that the older boys are currently in, but I need to do this with the sizes that are stored right now. Same for shoes. I need to eliminate things that are stained or ripped (they will go into a rag box for sewing projects) and donate the extras. Mom and Dad need to do this too, even if we think we will fit into those sizes again someday, the clothes may be impractical or we may not like them anymore and they need to go! Just reducing the boys clothing has certainly made laundry easier to keep up with!

16. Make sure the hubby and I have time to go fishing, hunting and foraging. Our garden is off to a good start this year and I have plans to get it completely planted before the beginning of June. Doing as much as we can for ourselves is probably the single most important thing we can do to reduce our household waste!

As Bea would say:

Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, in that order!

Wish me luck :)

Menu Mailer Liberation!

Before you scroll down to read my post, Cooking Traditional Foods is having a giveaway! Click here to enter. There are 9 different ways to enter for a chance at winning the Back to Basics E-book.

Last summer I posted about my new cook book and raved about how much I loved it, but never named it. It is a book called "Nourishing Traditions" and can be found on Amazon. I had been looking for a cook book that would allow me to feed my family with quality food in a way that was close to how I already cooked. This was it. It was similar to how my mother cooked for us when I was young and it seemed easy enough. I cut out store bought mayo, packaged oatmeal, and cold cereal. I upgraded our butter to the best I could find (which wasn't the most expensive, suprisingly) and gave myself a pat on the back for always refusing to feed my family margarine! I loved it because I didn't have to change a lot; I already cooked with fresh ingredients and made everything from scratch. And then I found a blog devoted to cooking in the same fashion! I thought I was set!

But like any cook, I get tired. I order in, or eat out, or resort to the occasional frozen meal and I feel SO much guilt each time that I do! How was I supposed to keep up with cooking 3 meals a day, 1 or 2 snacks, chores, homeschool and 4 kids? Everyone slips up, right? I find it even harder to prepare meals in the evening, when I am tired or the kitchen is a mess, especially now in the last 6 weeks of my 5th pregnancy!

While I was filling out my entries for this e-book giveaway, I was asked to answer the question "what your biggest hurdle is to getting traditional foods into your family on a consistent basis?" And I thought I had a few good answers (*cough* excuses) like time, energy, money.... but really, if healthy, filling, nourishing food is so important to me, would those things hold me back? What did it really come down to? One ugly word: stubbornness!

This e-book giveaway is a collection of menu mailers! You know, weekly menu's mailed to you, complete with recipes and shopping lists. Why am I not already using these fantastic mailers?! Because somewhere in my process of learning to cook (which came from Gourmet magazine and the Joy of Cooking), and training myself to reject fast food or mainstream diets, I decided that I didn't need advice from anyone! I had been down the road of going vegetarian, back to meat and processed foods, to vegan, to gourmet, then to allergy and weight loss diets and finally (thanks to my husband) settled in a place where I was allowed to eat what I wanted, as long as it was all natural. I had so many ideas pushed at me that taking any of them became a sign of weakness and I wasn't about to let anyone tell me what to eat ever again, because I was far more informed than anyone! This means that the possibility of following a menu mailer was so beneath me that I couldn't even consider it! I browse the recipes that come to my inbox and move on.

But here I am: to tired to cook or go out to eat, hungry, and I loathe shopping or making lists to GO shopping. I need help! I can't afford to keep eating out, physically or financially! And feeding my family meals from the freezer isn't bad if I'm the one that made them and put them in there! I give up - I am submitting! If you are in any way like me (at least, the to tired to make dinner part) I encourage you to give it a try for a month! Just a month, that's all I am committing to right now. And I'm not waiting to win the book to start.

One last thing before I go.... I want to know: How did you learn to cook? And what is your biggest challenge when it comes to feeding your family healthy, nutritious foods?

Update: I have switched dish unloading/loading time from after lunch, to after breakfast. It seems to be helping a great deal, leaving the dishwasher available for dirty dishes all day long, and keeping my kitchen clean! Its much easier to cook dinner when I don't have to do dishes first. Now, we all load our plates after dinner and I turn it on and things are ready to be put away in the morning! A small change with a huge impact!

10 Tips For Becoming More Self Sufficient

10 Tips For Becoming More Self Sufficient

A list like this is meant to help you, not make you feel inadequate, nor make you feel superior in anyway. This list is comprised of steps that I have taken (or am currently working towards) in my own home to save money and make my family healthier by cutting out over processed foods and decreasing our exposure to chemical laden products, as well as make us less reliant on modern "conveniences". I do NOT think everyone has to live like this, though some or all of these will become a necessity in the event of a major economic collapse or catastrophic natural disaster in our country.

1. Get cultured. Keep a yeast culture and a yogurt culture both in your fridge. The yeast culture can be used to make breads, home made wines and beers. The yogurt culture will keep you in yogurt, whey (for making fermented foods and beverages), and cheese.

2. Switch to cloth. Imagine if your budget was trimmed by taking out the twelve dollars you spend a week on paper products! That's a monthly savings of almost $50! Replace paper napkins, paper towels, tissues, bathroom wipes (yep), disposable diapers and feminine pads all with cloth! You can sew these, buy them, or buy items from the thrift store to cut up and use for these items. There are SO many businesses on line that sell these products or patterns (that can be found free) that this might be the easiest switch to make. You'll probably notice that there is less dust in your house (tissues being pulled from the box make a TON of dust!) There will be more room on your storage shelves for food and other important items, too.

3. Drop the cleaning supplies. Switch to vinegar and baking soda. Use newspapers to wipe your windows. Seriously, it works and all it takes is a spray bottle with vinegar and water and some wadded up paper. Best of all, you stop breathing and pouring all those toxic chemicals into the ground, where they eventually end up in the ground water, streams and some day, the ocean.

4. Don't over look castille soap. It can be used for EVERYTHING. Laundry, bathing, dishes. One soap, all those uses. Best of all, it stores on a shelf indefinitely.

5. Use rain barrels. Unless, of course, rain capture is illegal in your state, so check on that first. In cool climates in the summer, this is an easy way to get water. It can be used to water the garden, and in more dire situations, bathing, laundry and dishes. Heck, filter it and bottle it up and you have water for emergency storage!

6. Use coupons, but don't go crazy. If you are the shopper in your house, you probably have a pile of paper slips spit out by the register each time you buy something. Get them out, organize them, toss the ones you won't use (or donate them to a charity, food bank, military, or coupon bin at your local store). Coupons are a great way to shave money off your budget or get an item that is always priced just beyond your comfort zone. There are a lot of good sites on the internet dedicated to coupons. Your local stores all have websites that you can sign up for their weekly sales fliers and sometimes get special promotions emailed to you that aren't announced to the public, just by being on their mailing list. Many retailers also offer coupons that can be loaded onto your rewards card, making your savings paperless!
Here is the down side: a LOT of coupons are for junk food. I mean, close to 75%. There is, believe it or not, a bit of a government conspiracy here, but the point is this: just because you have a coupon for it does NOT make it something you NEED or something you should feel like you have to buy! DO NOT BUY WHAT YOU DON'T EAT OR USE! If you don't eat junk, or are sensitive to chemicals in something other than a specific product you use, don't feel pressured into buying it because its cheap! Likewise, just because you have a coupon does not make it a good deal! Often the regular price of the store brand still beats the discounted price of a name brand. Don't waste money unless its vital.

7. Learn a new skill. A useful one. A skill is something that can be traded. Example: You make soap, but your neighbor sews and so the two of you trade soap for repairs. That saves you both money and time. Libraries are full of books that can teach you almost anything you want to know and its FREE! Learn to sew, make candles, learn leather tooling, repair nets, whatever. If you can do something with your hands, you will be able to barter for other things you can't do.

8. Plant some food. A container on the porch with lettuce and some herbs in it not only saves money and feeds you but gives you something to enjoy. The color, the distraction, the sense of accomplishment. It doesn't have to be a huge garden, just start with what you can find (a bucket and a bag of dirt can be had for under $5 in some places.)

9. Shop thrift stores and yard sales. Buying supplies and materials does not have to be expensive. Yard sales and thrift stores can bring bars of soap in the package still, fabric for clothing and projects, tools and kitchen equipment. Utilize Craigslist and Freecycle in your area for things you really want. Don't give up waiting for an expensive item to surface. Don't be afraid to advertise that you are looking for something - sometimes people have it and they doubt someone else would want it, so speak up! Write a list and keep it in the car to take into thrift stores, yard sales.

10. Keep animals that feed you. This may be the most difficult one, but the benefits far outweigh the costs. Animals like chickens, goats, ducks and geese all require less acreage and boarding room than an animal like a cow, require less feed (because they can browse for food) and they provide several important things to humans. They keep you busy, offering year-round exercise and entertainment as you care for them, and they offer food that is of a better quality than anything you will get from a grocery store. Meat, eggs and milk will always be needed and what you don't eat, you can sell! Can't afford the initial cost of buying animals? Try Craigslist! You would be surprised at how many animals are put up for sale or adoption because the current owner has more than they want to care for. I've seen whole chicken coops given away at the end of the summer when the owner realized the chickens would either need to be boarded all winter or slaughtered. You can walk away with animals that are just maturing or at the least, free meat!

There are so many more ideas that can be added to this list, but 10 is a good place to start. If you need help locating one of the items I referenced or instructions for something, please don't hesitate to ask!

Taking stock

Thanks so much for the positive feedback on my last post! Its been hard to stay away from church, actually. It has paid off SO much, just in the 2 weekends I have missed. I hope you will visit my other blog and check on our home projects.

One of the things that I have been doing to prepare our family for hard times, be they financial collapse in our nation, natural disasters, or any other unforseen trouble, is to replenish our long term stocks of food and supplies. We had started doing this a few years ago, when our finances finally allowed us to buy extra and put it away, but we ended up using it! We decided to use our stores while we were saving up money for our house and it was very helpful. Now that we are in the new house, its time to start that up again, but how do you feed a growing family of 6 on a budget?

How? First we are returning to our budget. With our savings and tax rebate for buying a house, we have become pretty lax in our spending habits! We have used it to run out and buy materials for things, eat out when we are too tired and its really gotten out of control! Now that our reserves are pretty much depleted, things must change!

I have set the grocery budget (which includes clothing spending, school supplies and gift giving) at something pretty modest and will adjust it if I discover that it's just not possible to keep us fed or floating on that amount. Food in Alaska is much more expensive than the contiguous U.S., no matter what retailer you shop at. Gas is way more expensive. But there has to be a point to start from. I buy 1) what we need for the week for food and home care and 2) any extra in the grocery budget goes to stocking the shelves with future necessities. This means I have a list of things that we absolutely could not live without in a pared down existence and if something is on a screaming sale that week, I get it and check it off. I am rotating thru the list on a monthly basis, so I am purchasing an extra one of each storage item every month. The goal is to stay under budget each week, and build up some savings (again, since we kinda used it up working on the house!) Hopefully, at the end of each quarter (so that would be the end of May, since I started in March?) make a bulk order for grains and things that are VERY hard to come by at my local stores and must be ordered.

Now, my organizing of these items is sub-par! We have shelves in the basement, but they are currently crammed with all the boxes and random junk from the move. I have to get down there soon and reorganize! I should probably make a master list of expiration dates too, to help me keep on top of using what I have and keeping it replenished. Its a lot of work to get this set up, but as I learned with the last time we needed it, it is worth the effort.

Tomorrow I have a fun list of things that I am doing at home to help make our lifestyle less a "consumer driven dependency " and more self sufficient. Well, they are fun for me :)