Birth Dynamics Blog

1940

Bethany — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 02:00:00 +0000

mother home heaven

Bethany — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 02:00:00 +0000

My latest read is a book by Theodore Cy called Mother, Home and Heaven. It is a beautiful old book filled with some very nice poetry and essays about mothers, home and heaven.

A mother’s continuing education…

Bethany — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 02:00:00 +0000

Tonight on the way to the grocery store, I was listening to a tape by R.J. Rushdoony called "The Reformation". It is from his series called A Christian Survey of World History. He was comparing the Reniassaince period with the Reformation. He pointed out that the Reniassaince was a time of increasingly humanistic reasoning and ideals and inward focus on ones self. The average Reniassaince man had more interest in clothing and attire, in how he dressed and what he looked like, than on what he looked like spiritually and morally. It was an age of increased focus on aesthetics placing looks and manners before morality. The Reformation hit at the root of these humanistic ideas with the cry, "What Saith the Scriptures?" Interestingly, Rushdoony related that this is where we are today....(these tapes were made in the 1970's!) I began to think about how far removed we are

Bethany — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 02:00:00 +0000

Cooking: Terms and What They Mean

Kitchen Remodel

Bethany — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 02:00:00 +0000

Several years ago, my husband came home to share with me the great find he had stumbled upon. It was a small country house on 2 acres that didn't catch my fancy right off. It was a beautiful piece of property, however the house was in need of some renovation. It was a good solid house with the only removations being cosmetic. The original 1970's cabinets, light fixtures, sink and dark panaled walls were very unappealing, however after some work, actually a lot of work, we have transformed that ugly 1970's house into something more updated and functional. One of the major renovations we did was to the kitchen. We removed the stair case and widened the kitchen several feet. We also removed all the old brown panaled walls and hung sheet rock. Here is a picture of the gutted kitchen: Here is the finished product: This house is 1,050 square feet so every inch counts. We decided to put tall cabinets that went to the ceiling to not only provide more storage, but to give the illusion of tallness. We also used the same flooring throughout the entire house, which also makes the house seem much bigger than before. I also put a big sink and a more dominant looking faucet and a large overhead light. We actually still have some trim work to do and other little things to finish it off. One of my favorite parts to this kitchen is the long back counter top. I love that! I also like the two very wide and deep drawers. I keep plates, smaller plates, and bowls in one and baking items in the bottom one. I like the look of the white cabinets, however, they need to be wiped down often to keep them clean. The counter tops were an experiment try it out type purchace. We bought a newer product that is made to have the look of a more expensive stone, like granite, but it is really a upper end fermica. If I were remodeling another house, I would use it again, however, for me to use in my own house, I would not put it in my house. It looks nice and is durable for normal people, but the amount of wear and tear I put on my kitchen, it won't last. I have already put several knicks in it. It is also pieced together in the corners instead of one solid smooth connection. I am always making sure I don't leave water on that small seam. For me, I am thinking I need a stainless steel top or granite type solid surface that is basically indestructable. I love the sink style, however I do not like the fact that water is constantly getting behind the faucet. The sink is something I also put through a lot of abuse on a daily basis. It is very scratched up on the bottom already just from large heavy pots and pans. I am able to scrub most of the discoloring out, however it is not holding up under the pressure of large family life! I love the extra wide open sink style though. For a house remodel, it is a nice looking style sink. However, I like a large old-farmstyle sink that has the high back and the faucet coming out of the wall. My appliances were purchased at different times at deeply discounted prices. They are scratch and dent type finds and I love them. The oven is made for use and all sorts of little tricks and gadgets, which usually means more of a chance for hardware failure. However, so far, I am pleased with it and use it several times a day, every day! The flooring is the same throughout the entire house. It is large plank wood looking flooring that is some kind of indestructable snap and lock flooring. I love it.

Mother’s move to real sustainable food…

Bethany — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 02:00:00 +0000

If you haven't heard, there is a growing movement of people moving back to, what some consider, an old fashion idea of sustainable farming. This is not the organic movement, although sustainable agriculture and gardening is organic. It is more than that! The term "organic" has been abused and misused to where you no longer can trust a company that says its food is organic as being something that is truly good. The U.S organic standards are laughable at best. Such companies who produce products like Horizan milk tout the organic health label, yet don't tell you that they run a mass corporation just like other big businesses and their poduct isn't as wonderful as they want you to believe. They want you to think that their milk comes from cows who have the freedom to be a cow and graze in a lush field of green grass. However, many of the big name organic companies are decieving customers into thinking their product is something it is not. Recently, I had an interesting phone conversation with a customer service represenative from the organic company "Cascadian Farm". I gave her the benefit of the doubt when I immediately noticed her accent was not any range or variation that resembled the English language--she was probably a legal immigrant right. Surly this call center was on American soil and not on "American Call Center" street in India. After all, the package I was calling about was organic broccoli. The package had a nice farm picture with a invitation, "If you have any questions or comments, call us...or come by and see the farm." The farm was supposedly located in Washington's fertile valley and had been around for years. However the part I was calling about was the confusion over the small, inconspicuous black lettering that said, "product of china" ??? I informed the customer service lady that I was sorely dissappointed in the product that I had purchased because it was the biggest, misleading piece of corporate advertising fraud that I had ever seen. She defended the company by saying that because of lack of fertile growing areas, that they are forced to go outside the U.S. to find good quality broccoli as well as other food products they sell. Anyone here in America can plainly see that we do not have a sortage of fertile growing areas. If this organic company wasn't such a huge mega corporation focused on how to make big bucks at the expense of quality and economy, they could find a way to grow organic American broccoli. But just like everything else, our globalized food economy is growing rapidly. We are living in an area of the country where we are seeing a big growth in sustainable farming. Not everyone we know are farmers. Even a small group of concerned families in the city are changing their buying habits to support local CSA's (community supported agriculture) through purchasing their produce from local farmers. As well, a growing few are becoming aware of the old fashion idea of fresh milk and dairy products and a local milk co-op has sprung up in response to this desire to return to sustainable food sources. As the big industrial food conglomorates contiune to focus on money all the while destroying food and land with their unstainable industrialism, more people are becoming aware and concerned and transitioning their purcashing choices. Move to Sustainable: Here are some of my tips for mother's to encourage them to think about the future of food. Read! Here are some good places to start: http://www.sustainabletable.org/intro/why/ -- while I do not believe we are going to run out of water and oil, I do hold strongly to the belief that sustainable farming is healthier for humans as well as being a responsible way to take care of our land. It focuses on furture generations instead of how much money I can make. Also check out www.eatwild.com Find your local food resources. Family farms are scattered all over. Find a farm and support your local family farm community by purchasing food from them. Gardeing in your own back yard. You do not have to have a big space for gardening. Two of my favorite gardening methods are Square-foot Gardening and Lasagna gardening. Use your flower beds for growing food intermixed with your flowers.

State Education.

Bethany — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 02:00:00 +0000

quotes from dabney on education: Every experienced teacher knows that pupils educate each other more than he educates them. The thousand nameless influences -- literary, social, moral, -- not only on the play ground but of the school room, the whispered conversation, the clandestine note, the sly grimace, the sly pinch, the good or bad recitation, mould the plastic character of children far more than the most faithful teacher's hand. " Dabney on The State Free School System (Volume 111 of Discussions with Robert Lewis Dabney, 1892)

Your children might be farm kids….

Bethany — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 02:00:00 +0000

Your children might be farm kids if your over hear your sons talking and one says, "Well, my doe is still not accepting service" and your other son responds, "hmmm, maybe we should make sure it isn't a buck." Your children might be farm kids if your 6 year old announces to visitors that the cow isn't a bull any longer because he got castrated. Your children might be farm kids if their spelling words are polyculture, poultry, compost, manure, horticulture. Your children might be farm kids if you ask your 4 year old what he is drawing and he says, "Cow patties, mom!"

Two very happy boys today…

Bethany — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 02:00:00 +0000

This is a developing story...but for now....this morning the news rang through the house that the boys had caught the suspect who was thieving eggs...

The Vaughnshire Falcon

Bethany — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 02:00:00 +0000

The American Kestrel (or know as the Sparrow Hawk) has been a favorite farm animal here on Vaughnshire. He has been hand fed from the time we brought him home. We recently released him, however he did not fly off like we expected. Since then he has made his home here on the Vaughnshire farm and provided us with lots of entertainment and awe of yet another piece of God's creation.

Organic Chicken Feed

Bethany — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 02:00:00 +0000

Today the children will show the Vaughnshire organic chicken feed processing steps. What is that out in the field? Why....it's children running around in the field with empty water bottles catching June bugs and Japanese beetles. Here are more children at the processing station. When I asked the 4 year old what they were doing he said, "Torturing the beetles...mom!" The two year old said, "Soup, Mom..." After they successfully kill or incapacitate the beetles, the 3rd crew takes the fresh organic chicken feed to the laying hens and watch them gulp down and enjoy the fine gourmet chicken food produced right here on the farm. That's just one way we incorporate creative play, work and productive organic farming all into one. Organic pest control, healthy organic chicken feed, increase in egg production, decrease in beetle population, entertainment, play and work for the children makes for happy tired children and an added bonus of mom being able to focus on the laundry mound.

prima facie

Bethany — Wed, 26 Oct 2005 08:42:51 +0000

Today begins the official web blog on Birth Dynamics. I was able to update the site with a very primitive natural birth photo page. Since that subject, natural birth photos, is in high demand, I thought I would begin posting some of our natural birth photos. LaMere Photography would like to be a hobby of mine but as of yet, my time is very limited for more pressing demands. I love photos especially black and white and especially newborn or pregnant photos in black and white or vintage toned. Enjoy.

New Photo Page

Bethany — Wed, 26 Oct 2005 08:48:30 +0000

This link will eventually be the "Natural Birth Photo Page".

About Me

Bethany — Thu, 27 Oct 2005 05:05:50 +0000

Homeschooling mom of 7 children whose blog covers topics such as pregnancy and childbirth as well as all things related to motherhood and the Biblical family life...raising a large family...the home...frugal living...agrarian and country life.....lots of rantings on feminism and government schools ;-) See the About page on the Birthdynamics website

GRRRRRR! First teeth

Bethany — Thu, 27 Oct 2005 16:45:35 +0000

Mariah lost her first tooth this week. It remained in her mouth for 68 months. She is very proud of her missing tooth.

Childbirth Section Updated

Bethany — Fri, 28 Oct 2005 16:28:26 +0000

The childbirth section is now on birthdynamics. It contains a few articles now. I posted an article entitled, "The Labor Alternative - A Pain-free Labor Addressed". I will post a sample of the article below and you can go to the link to read the rest.

As women, we were given the special job of carrying and birthing children. Childbirth can be looked at in two different ways: something to be avoided or something to be accepted.........The truth is that the very word "labor" implies...labor or work or exertion. In regards to childbirth labor, the incredible system of pregnancy and childbirth is a miraculous design. The processes that a women's body go through to give birth are intense and by no means a simple walk in the park. When defining "pain-free", I am saying that a normal childbirth doesn't just happen with out any "pain". As if you are enjoying eating a slice of pie and sipping on a cool glass of lemonade and all of the sudden with out any warning, a baby plops right out. "Wow, who knew!?!" Childbirth labor is designed as a process - a process of systems changing, muscles and ligaments altering and moving, hormones fluctuating. It is the process of birthing a human into the world which is by no means as simple as sipping lemonade. In fact I have a hard time believing that any birth could be completely pain free from just the logistical aspect of getting an average 8 pound human through a birth canal (we all know how big or not big that is). However, the better the understanding and preparation for the labor process, the better equipped the mother becomes to birth her baby which thereby decreases the pain in a variety of ways. Pain can come from many outlets. Lack of knowledge will increase the pain of birthing by leaps and bounds. If a mother feels a contraction pain and doesn't know what it is or what the purpose of that uncomfortable feeling is, the natural tendency is to tense up and focus on the pain. The opposite should be done however, relaxing and not focusing on the pain. Pain can be managed and controlled. Pain can be reduced and handled. Mental preparedness is a huge factor in being prepared to handle the pains of labor.

To read the rest of the article: go here

She takes my toys but…..

Bethany — Fri, 28 Oct 2005 16:51:14 +0000

The relationship of a 3 year old brother and a 1 year old sister is precious. Here is toddler boy: "She always takes my toys and then happily squeals at her conquest!"" "However, I will only let her in my boat this once because she sings a nice rendition of I'm Sailing off to Sea!"

The Boy Difference

Bethany — Tue, 01 Nov 2005 00:16:08 +0000

Boys defend. Boys protect. Boys conquer. The gear: That would be a bicycle helmet and part of the fence. Pierce sports a bungee cord, broom stick, and my missing pan lid.

The Husband Support Role in Labor

Bethany — Tue, 01 Nov 2005 04:29:18 +0000

I have just completed an article entitled The Husband Support Role in Labor

There was a time when the husband's role in labor and childbirth was delegated to the back waiting room. The scene was one of an anxious Father pacing the floor with a cigar in his mouth. He was out of the loop. He was clueless and powerless.........Times have changed.........Husbands have regained much lost ground and become active in the labor support role. This is a vitally important role as no one on earth can fill the place of the husband to his wife who is experiencing such a life changing event: the birth of their child. It has now come full circle: the conception of the child, the months of pregnancy, the expectation of labor, the experience of birth, the joy of new life.

Thanks to my sister-in-law for the beautiful father daughter picture of my husband and baby girl. She is an excellent photographer that does beautiful work.

Boys and Swords

Bethany — Fri, 04 Nov 2005 03:50:31 +0000

At 3 yrs old, he is an expert lego swordsman, building some incredible swords , helicopters and airplanes --which he hopes to enter into the State Fair next year. Yes, there is a lego building category ;-)

They Are Always Watching You

Bethany — Sat, 05 Nov 2005 04:07:30 +0000

The other day, I made a trek into town to the grocery store. I took my daughter and left the rest of the children with dad. We had a nice afternoon out. The Autumn leaves are becoming more brilliant each day. We awed at the brilliant hues of reds, oranges and yellows. We collected our groceries and approached the check out stand to cheerfully be greeted by the young check-out lady asking, "Where are all your children?!?" I looked at her in a state of bewilderment wondering how in the world she knew I had a lot of children. I knew I did not know this person. I asked her, "How did you know I had a lot of children?" Very curious I was! She said that she had seen me at the end of summer in the store with all of my children. She said she watched us in amazement wondering what it would be like to have a large family. She said she was very interested in how I did that! I was just a little stunned. The last time I went to that particular store was at the end of summer and I did have all my children with me. It was a hectic day. Being pregnant and taking a lot of children to the store on a hot summer day is a lot of work. I remember wondering why I went to the store with everyone at the time that I did but figured we should just act nice and quickly get what we need and get out of the store and back home. Two months later I am reminded of my mission on earth. At times it is easy to loose sight and get off track, to become easily distracted by the business of life. I am reminded to look at the higher calling and purpose for my life and family even when I take a trip to the grocery store. I do not know how God will use my witness to impact others around me so I best be ready at all times to shine forth light in a dark world. I was reminded that "They are always watching you!"

Born Feminine

Bethany — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 04:13:53 +0000

I am continually blessed by this 14 month old baby girl. Her little motherly actions are so adorable---she pats her baby doll on the back, rock the doll cradle and gives big wet slobbery kisses on her baby dolls face.

Blog

Bethany — Tue, 15 Nov 2005 02:11:27 +0000

Vision Tennessee's new blog. Check out the link.

Inching along at 8 months

Bethany — Wed, 23 Nov 2005 05:08:07 +0000

32 weeks pregnant and slowing...... As these last weeks approach, I have grand nesting plans. The problem is that my grand plans and my physical ability don't match. I will try and aim my focus on completing those tasks that will aid in an easier last part of pregnancy and postpartum time. Some things on the list are: 1. stocking the pantry 2. buying extra necessary supplies to avoid trips to the grocery store (laundry soap, paper plates, diapers, etc.) 3. Store several weeks worth of freezer meals. Supper and lunches are helpful. Calzones, pizza pocket type sandwiches are great for the freezer and heat up nicely. Supper freezer meals are quick and complete with a fresh salad and some bread or a steamed veggie. 4. Store away extra toys and stuff. Limiting the toys, storing away or getting rid of clutter that will make keeping house difficult. (Why, I should do this regularly!) 5. Order enough prenatal vitamins for the postpartum time--- mother's milk and postpartum teas, herbs, iron building herbs. 6. Gather birthing and baby supplies. 7. Round up helpers. Mother's helpers for the toddlers, helpers for housekeeping and meals.

Birth Stories

Bethany — Wed, 23 Nov 2005 05:10:19 +0000

The Large Family Logistics website has a great family / mothering blog---click here to read some birth stories she has been posting lately.

Diet For Pregnant and Lactating Mothers

Bethany — Wed, 30 Nov 2005 06:14:26 +0000

I have been following the "Raw Milk" issue here in Tennessee. In 33 out of the 50 states it is legal to sell raw milk. Tennessee happens to be one of those states where it is illegal. However, for those who diligently seek raw milk, you can get it in the local Amish communities. I am hoping to get a cow! However, because of space and time, a milk goat will have to suffice. In my research and search for raw milk, I ran across this group: Weston A. Price Foundation. Although I don't personally agree with every point they make...it is a different sort of thinking about nutrition than what we are told to think. My goal is to remove the modern American processed foods from our diet and replace with whole foods that our great grandparents grew up on--food from the farm. For example here is the Weston A. Price recommended diet for the pregnant and lactating mother: Diet for Pregnant and Nursing Mothers 1 tablespoon cod liver oil daily, (mixed with water or a little fresh juice) 2 8-ounce glasses whole milk daily, preferably raw and from pasture-fed cows (learn more about raw milk on our website, A Campaign for Real Milk, www.realmilk.com) 4 tablespoons butter daily, preferably from pasture-fed cows 2 or more eggs daily, preferably from pastured chickens Additional egg yolks daily, added to smoothies, salad dressings, scrambled eggs, etc. 3-4 ounces fresh liver, once or twice per week Fresh seafood, 2-4 times per week, particularly wild salmon, shellfish and fish eggs Fresh beef or lamb daily, always consumed with the fat Oily fish or lard daily, for vitamin D 2 tablespoons coconut oil daily, used in cooking or smoothies, etc. Lacto-fermented condiments and beverages Bone broths used in soups, stews and sauces Soaked whole grains Fresh vegetables and fruits AVOID: * Trans fatty acids (e.g., hydrogenated oils) * Junk foods * Commercial fried foods * Sugar * White flour * Soft drinks * Caffeine * Alcohol * Cigarettes * Drugs (even prescription drugs)

Time of Thanks

Bethany — Thu, 01 Dec 2005 05:25:39 +0000

We enjoyed a joyous Thanksgiving holiday. Thanksgiving Eve, we spent the day cooking and baking: Grandmother Davis' cornbread dressing (passed down from her mother), fresh cranberry sauce, old fashion sweet potatoes with walnut topping, pumpkin pie. We decided that a 16 lb turkey isn't near enough. We will have to make two turkeys next year to provide left overs. Next year we hope to raise our own Turkeys, memorize the Thanksgiving play we read this year, celebrate longer, tell more stories and have more people over to remember this wonderful occasion.

Cowboy Joe and Davy Crockett

Bethany — Thu, 01 Dec 2005 05:36:53 +0000

This boy is either "Cowboy Joe" or "Davy Crockett" depending his mood. Both shoot bears and attack the enemy.

32 weeks pregnant and Optimal Fetal Positioning

Bethany — Thu, 01 Dec 2005 06:04:01 +0000

Late in my pregnancy with baby number 7, I am reading up on labor and childbirth. Optimal Fetal Positioning refers to the best position for the baby to be in before birth. Optimal Fetal Positioning is a theory that was developed by Jean Sutton, a midwife and Pauline Scott, a antenatal teacher. They observed that the mother's position and movement influences the way the baby lays in the womb during the final weeks of pregnancy. If a mother reclines back in the seat of a car, or lounges back on the couch or bed, the baby most likely would assume a posterior position. By sitting forward, reclining and sleeping on the mothers left side, the baby was likely to assume a occiput anterior position which is ideal for birth. Malpresentation causes problems in labor and birth from long difficult labors to even more serious problems which could result in a c-section. It is extremely important for the baby to be in the proper positions as it maneuvers through the pelvis. Optimal fetal positioning could make birth easier for the baby and mother.

"The 'occiput anterior' position is ideal for birth - it means that the baby is lined up so as to fit through your pelvis as easily as possible. The baby is head down, facing your back, with his back on one side of the front of your tummy. In this position, the baby's head is easily 'flexed', his chin tucked onto his chest, so that the smallest part of his head will be applied to the cervix first. The diameter of his head which has to fit through the pelvis is approximately 9.5 cm, and the circumference approximately 27.5cm. The position is usually 'Left Occiput Anterior' or LOA - occasionally the baby may be Right Occiput Anterior or ROA. To finish reading more about Optimal Fetal Positioning

Avoid reclining back on the couch or in bed. The heaviest part of the baby will swing to your backside and thus turn the baby into a posterior position or with his back towards your back. (posterior babies are harder to deliver, longer labors and lots of back pain.) Lay on your left side. Sit in a forward position. Tailor sitting and pelvic rocks. For more ideas you can search for "Optimal Fetal Positioning" on the web.

Hygiene and Childbirth

Bethany — Fri, 02 Dec 2005 04:26:09 +0000

This is an excerpt from Jordan Rubin's book The Maker's Diet. If you are looking for Garden of Life vitamins and supplements, you can get them here. Chapter 4 â€“ Hygiene: The Double-edged Sword

PIONEERING MODERN HYGIENE One hundred years later, hundreds of thousands of European women were dying of childbirth fever until a Viennese obstetrician named Dr. Semmelweis rediscovered biblical hygiene. His medical students routinely dissected cadavers barehanded in one room and then walked into the next to perform pelvic examinations or help deliver babies-without washing their hands! Death rates often approached the 50 percent mark. Dr. Semmelweis went against the grain of established medical practice and asked every doctor and medical student to wash their hands between deliveries (and autopsies). When they did, the death rate dropped by 90 percent! However, Dr. Semmelweis was ridiculed for his hygienic practice, and his staff insisted on going back to the old way! Even as late as World War 11, it is estimated that poor hygiene caused three times more deaths than battlefield wounds.

All about Fat

Bethany — Fri, 02 Dec 2005 05:33:48 +0000

Here is some info I have found in response to some questions about fat and beef: "Research shows that grass-fed beef contains fat that is actually good for you. grass-fed beef has more Omega-3 fatty acids, which reduce the risk of heart disease. Grass-fed also contains more beta-carotene and up to five times as much CLA." No feedlots, hormones, grain or antibiotics in your meat will give you better tasting meat as well as nutritionally superior meat compared to meat that comes off of a bad fatty grain fed cow. (whose fat is not comparable to grass fed cow fat) So fat from pasture fed animals is desirable. Fat from grain fed, antibiotic and hormone filled cows is completely different in nutritional content. Also fake fats like Crisco, margarine and other synthetic fats are completely unhealthy and should be avoided. Homemakers use to use lard instead of Crisco which was a much healthier. Not that you would just eat the lard by the spoonfuls...but the point being that fats consumed in moderation that are real and unmodified are healthy. I prefer raw butter personally as I can not get past the word "lard". The myth that all fats are bad is simply not true. We need fats--not refined, chemically, altered fats...but real fats are beneficial and downright necessary for life. Breast milk has an incredible high amount of cholesterol because babies need this vital nutrient for proper growth and development of the neurological brain systems. God designed cows to eat grass, not be packed in a feed lot eating as much grain as possible. Vegetables grown without being genetically modified and chemically bathed are absolutely delicious and wonderfully healthy for you. Dairy products that are raw and fresh are beneficial. I do not believe that we should consume mostly fat and beef, however. I have just come to believe that these products, naturally produced, in moderation contribute to a well rounded diet. I am very much in favor of freshly extracted juice and lots of vegetables and believe that we should eat more raw food. I am getting away from the refined, altered, processed, genetically modified, hormonal, medicated, fake foods. An interesting website with lots of information is called EatWild.com For further reading on more exact facts about the health benefits of grass-fed products - this article is a must read Another article: Confused about Fat? Choose Grass-fed!

Tri-Iron for Anemia

Bethany — Wed, 07 Dec 2005 05:12:51 +0000

Iron and Anemia It seems to be a constant struggle, although I have found great success in keeping my iron levels up by juicing several times a week, lately it has been much more difficult to maintain. My favorite regular juice consists of about 4 carrots, 2 long celery sticks, half a cucumber, a handful of spinach and half of apple. I have been taking chlorophyll but because I have liquid chlorophyll, it is a bit more difficult for me to take than in pill form. I have to put it in some juice or swig it down which doesn't end up high on the priority list. As I was looking over my home birth supply list tonight, I ran across one of Shonda Parker's herbs---from Tri-light herbs called Tri-Iron, which I will be ordering and trying out this time before the birth but also to take after the birth. Below is the details on the herb: Tri Iron (Nettle leaf, Yellow dock, Red raspberry, Dandelion, and Anise) Most of the herbs in this formula are high in iron, with anise being an herb known to increase absorption of iron. Â·Nettle leaf (Urtica dioica) - Nettles are medicinally used for their antiallergy and anti-inflammatory properties (for allergies and joint and arthritic pain) as well as showing promise in slowing progression of prostate cancer. We include them in this formula because of the high chlorophyll content which traditionally is used to boost the body's absorption of iron. Â·Yellow dock (Rumex crispus) - This herb is high in iron and is commonly used by midwives to aid in bringing pregnant mother's hemoglobin levels up to optimal ranges before childbirth. Â·Red raspberry (Rubus idaeus) - Another herb high in iron that also helps offset the mild bowel stimulating aspect of yellow dock. Â·Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) - Excellent mild liver support that shows effectiveness in the treatment of colitis and urinary disorders due to its mild diuretic effect. This herb has a good iron content. Â·Anise (Pimpinella anisum) - Anise has been shown to increase the body's uptake of iron. It is also used for dyspeptic tummy conditions as well as an expectorant for mucus conditions of the respiratory tract. Other actions include: mildly antispasmodic and antibacterial. Tri Iron may be taken by anyone desiring to support healthy hemoglobin levels in the body by taking 1/2 to 1 teaspoon twice daily.

The Maker’s Diet

Bethany — Fri, 16 Dec 2005 03:50:36 +0000

I mentioned that I was reading a book called The Maker's Diet. I am really enjoying it and highly recommend it. It is not just a "diet" book but a health nutrition book. If you are wanting to regain your health or loose weight, you can....but the whole foods, non processed, unrefined way of eating is promoted, which is highly beneficial to the entire family. If you enjoy Sally Fallon, Weston A. Price or the subject of primitive diets (what humans use to eat before the industrial revolution and the invention of white flour, Crisco and fake foods) -- you will love this book. I purchased mine off ebay for $3 -- a hardback version. Other books on the list to read: Mommy Diagnostics by Shonda Parker Naturally Healthy Pregnancy by Shonda Parker I am eagerly awaiting for them to arrive in the mail any day.

Iron Levels

Bethany — Fri, 16 Dec 2005 04:38:53 +0000

I have to say that I am really impressed with how fast fresh juicing works to bring low iron levels up. At our check today, I am at 11.5! Which, she said, is perfect. I usually juice lots of greens, a small amount of carrot, a half of an apple. Other Iron Foods: Also, I have either bought omega-3, free range chicken eggs or gathered some from our own eggs from our chickens (but they have been on laying strike because of being traumatized by the dogs.) Grass-fed red beef (slow cooked crock pot roast is the best - not only makes your house smell homey and warm but is great on a cold winter day with veggies and homemade bread!) Dates (my 3 year old calls these "big raisins") Lots of green vegetables and other iron rich vegetables Sweet Potatoes Raw nuts and Seeds (almonds, walnuts, pine nuts, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds) Taking Vitamin C with Iron aids in absorption. I have found that I love (now crave) fresh squeezed grapefruit juice-- didn't know I liked grapefruit and didn't know of all its health benefits!

Healthy Dessert

Bethany — Fri, 16 Dec 2005 04:49:46 +0000

It is so easy to over do the sweets...especially this time of year! I made a healthy treat that my family yummed up yesterday. Beth's Frozen Berry Yogurt Large container of healthy plain yogurt. I like the Brown Cow brand but StonyField Farm has a good plain yogurt as well. Frozen Berry Mix (black, red, blue berries) - Sam's carries a large bag of frozen berries for a great price and they taste great. Maple Syrup Crushed walnuts or almonds (optional) I poured the plain yogurt into a 8X8 square glass dish. Put frozen berries all over the top of the yogurt. Sprinkle crushed nuts over the top. Drizzle maple syrup lightly over the top. Make right before you sit down for supper and cover with plastic wrap and let it stay in the refrigerator until after supper. The frozen berries will slightly freeze some of the yogurt around it---my children called it "yogurt ice". I will try to slightly freeze the whole thing next time to see what it turns out like. But this was really yummy---the children loved it and it wasn't overly sweet. Great for a snack.

Shonda Parker Books

Bethany — Fri, 23 Dec 2005 05:13:09 +0000

Excellent and must haves for mommies--- I ordered 2 of Shonda Parker's books off her website and have almost finished The Naturally Healthy Pregnancy, The Essential Guide To Nutritional and Botanical Medicine For The Childbearing Years. Here is the link for the books: Naturally Healthy Website The other book is called Mommy Diagnostics, The Art Of Taking Care Of Your Family. It is a huge resource for everything you ever wanted to know on how to treat common ailments herbally and naturally.

New Year!

Bethany — Wed, 28 Dec 2005 03:55:57 +0000

This week we prepare our goals for the upcoming year. As tradition around here, we prepare for a big New Year's party where we will celebrate the year and revisit the highlights as well as re-examine our goals for the last year. Sometimes this re-examination is a bit humbling! Did we do what we said we were going to do? It is an exciting time. We usually have this as a family time but this year we are having several days of celebration- Friday and Saturday as well as Sunday, the New Years Day. Friday we will be fellowshipping here in our home with many friends which is an added party we have not had before. We hope to spread our vision of goal setting, family accountability through regular goal meetings throughout the year as well as a challenge to set goals not just yearly but multi-generationally. On Saturday, we will have our family goal party and share a bit more intimately on our family vision and goals, as well as have a time of prayer and celebration over the what the Lord has done in our family over the last year and pray for His guidance as we head into a new year. On Sunday, we will be worshipping at our Church as this year falls on the Lord's Day - a day that we have focused on keeping holy this last year and seen many benefits to our reforming our families convictions of keeping the 4th commandment. Here is how I develop my goals and continue to develop my previous years' goals. I divide my goals into categories: Personal Character, Marriage, Home, Homeschool, Projects, Business. Under personal character, I put things like my goals for personal devotion times, character traits I need to work on and how I am going to improve, what tapes I need to listen to or books I need to read, exercise and nutrition goals. Under marriage, I put things like: what I need to work on, date nights etc. Under the section of Home: many things can fall into this category. This includes chore charts and some home schedules, meal planning to insure the home is running smoothly. Under home schooling I list goals of what I need to accomplish with each child. For example last year it was teaching one of my children to read. Under projects, I list a project that I would like completed. Last year I set a goal to get my loose photos in albums. Under business, I set goals for my website. The important thing is to be reasonable. It is easy to set yourself up for failure by all the grandiose planning your mind can conceive. Look at it logistically. Look at the amount of time you have and do not place something like a home business over home. Do not schedule out every 30 minutes of the day in a new schedule you think you should be following only to find that doesn't work always with a bunch of toddlers around. Start small. Break it down into monthly tasks to insure you are meeting your year goal. Have family goal meetings regularly.

Crack, Crack, Twist and Pop….

Bethany — Wed, 28 Dec 2005 20:12:57 +0000

Wow, a visit to the chiropractor is heave--especially when pregnant! At 37 weeks along, I am feeling the weight of this growing baby. The midwife is visiting me weekly and we are trying to get this baby in a good position. Up to date the baby has been laying in a twisted transverse position that is highly uncomfortable for me and poses a challenge to breathing as it feels like a large mass is resting in my diaphragm. As well--this position is not good for birthing ;-) Yesterday, the chiropractor gave me some much needed relief. She has changed positions and now I am working on getting her to turn from a posterior position to anterior. I visited the chiropractor in my last pregnancy and actually had the baby a week early after an adjustment. Using chiropractic care, the baby was turned from a breech position to the proper anterior head down position. Chiropractic care in pregnancy-- HIGHLY recommended.

The Art of Meal Planning

Bethany — Fri, 06 Jan 2006 20:37:41 +0000

The Art of Meal Planning: I think I could write scads of info on the subject as it is something that I have had to develop and use out of necessity. If you are new to meal planning, there are a lots of websites that offer all sorts of free printables for meal planning. Weekly meal planners, monthly meal planners in all sorts of different layouts. I often use printables from www.organizedhome.com or I make up my own. You can also download templates from the microsoft word website and type in your menus and then print them out. Some tips for your weekly menu: On Monday, make up your snacks. You can slice up your carrot sticks, make your peanut butter crackers and celery sticks with cream cheese. Slice up some cheese. These are easy foods to store not to mention a healthier alternative to say....chips or candy. Having a easy quick breakfast on Monday allows for easy clean up and for you to be able to prepare some of your snack foods for the week. You could even make up a double batch of tuna or chicken salad for sandwiches and have this for Monday and Tuesday lunches. You do not have to have something different every day and by using this doubling method it saves you time and hassle. If you make pancakes, make a double or triple batch. You can always make enough for breakfast, feed yourself and the children and then come back to making and storing away the rest for another day. Tortillas are another thing we make in bulk and also freeze well. I have a simple pancake recipe that I usually use. My 3 older children can even make pancakes now without help! We use a large electric plug in griddle and it makes it so easy to make a ton of pancakes in a short amount of time. I use zip-lock freezer bags and mark the date and contents with a Sharpie pen...then store in the freezer. Thaw and use the toaster oven or regular oven or throw on the griddle to heat up. (You could heat in the microwave but I try to stay away from the microwave as much as possible) Here are some example menus: Monday: breakfast: Cereal, buttered toast, oranges snack: celery with cream cheese sticks lunch: grilled tuna sandwiches, boiled eggs, almonds, soup snack: crackers and cheese supper: Roast, baked potatoes, steamed veggies and salad Tuesday: breakfast: double batch of pancakes, applesauce, bacon snack: carrot sticks with peanut butter and a boiled egg lunch: left over roast and salad sandwiches or tuna sandwiches if you made a double batch snack: frozen fruit and yogurt supper: spinach and bacon quiche, vegetable soup, French bread Wednesday: breakfast: heat up pancakes you made yesterday, sliced oranges, eggs snack: peanut butter crackers and dried fruit lunch: left over vegetable soup and grilled cheese snack: celery and cream cheese sticks supper: Spaghetti and meat balls, salad and garlic bread. Lunch Ideas: baked potatoes tuna sandwiches chicken salad sandwiches chicken soup (this soup is so simple, healthy and inexpensive to make. You can make a ton of it at one time and freeze what you do not use for later usage) pizza bread sandwich pockets black bean salad grilled cheese and soup burritos A word on once a month cooking - If you are interested in once a month cooking (bulk cooking) then you may want to purchase a book like Once-a-Month Cooking by Mimi Wilson and Mary Beth Lagerborg. There are others--Frozen Assets is another one. I have these types of books but never use their systems of bulk cooking now because I have adapted my own system. I use some recipes out of these books still. The first time I tried bulk cooking, I did exactly what the book said. It was easy--they already had the meals planned out and the grocery list. 6 hours of cooking later, I had a bulk load of food in the freezer. I remember opening up the freezer and just gazing at my accomplishment! If you incorporate meal planning and bulk cooking into your lifestyle, you will reap a huge benefit not only with the superior nutrition factor, but also not having to eat out or just grab something because you have no clue what is for dinner. Recipes to follow in future post...................

January 1st, 2006

Bethany — Fri, 06 Jan 2006 21:05:20 +0000

It seems like the years are flying by the older I become. My birthday is in a few weeks and I will be turning 30 years old. I am excited about entering another decade of life. My 7th child is due on my birthday, so it is still to be seen whether we will share birthdays or if she will arrive early or late. This New Year, we met as a family and begain to discuss our goals and visions for this year of 2006. It was a wonderful challenging time. I just added an additional goal to my lenghthy list. I was reading about someone who had a journal from her great-grandmother and read from it often finding interesting and helpful words of wisdom about life in general. How awesome is that! I decided to start a "Journal for My Daughters" and chronical a years worth of thoughts about motherhood, homemaking, pregnancy, child training and discipline, world-view, and my general life as it is in 2006. Hopefully, my daughters for generations to come will have encouragement and wisdom as well as challenge to live a life of surrender to Christ, to live a life of biblical femininity and womanhood as well as to have a multigenerational worldview. So far I have 6 continuous days journaled.

Prenatal Journal

Bethany — Thu, 12 Jan 2006 16:32:16 +0000

Every day I have been journaling in a "prenatal journal". With each baby, I keep a folder with everything pertaining to that pregnancy. Ultrasound pictures, prenatal appointment visit updates, birth supply lists, phone numbers etc. As the pregnancy draws to an end, my journaling becomes more profuse. I have been able to look back over these journals and find some similarities and also see some complete differences. Interesting little tid bits that make it fun to guess how this labor will be.

Long Awaited Pictures

Bethany — Wed, 18 Jan 2006 23:24:31 +0000

Annabelle Elisabeth Vaughn was born at home on January 15, 2006. She weighed 7 lbs and 12 oz and was 20.5 inches long. This is Annabelle looking around at her 1 day exam. She now weighs 7 lbs 2 oz. I have never had this tiny of a baby! Patrick inspects his baby sister. He says, "Ahhh, she looks just like a baby cricket!" Mariah, Mom, Baby Annabelle and the greatest Midwife in the world, Susie Meeks!

Annabelle’s Birth

Bethany — Thu, 19 Jan 2006 03:15:48 +0000

I will be posting Annabelle's birth story on my website. I will update it later on in the week after I get back some more information from the midwife. During labor, she keeps a pretty detailed labor flow chart. I asked for a copy to put in Annabelle's pregnancy journal and baby book. For now...here is the link to the rough copy of her birth story with some pictures: Annabelle's Birth Story

New Home Birth Pictures

Bethany — Thu, 19 Jan 2006 07:01:41 +0000

I posted a home birth picture page to my site. Check it out here. Home Birth Photos

Infant Massage

Bethany — Tue, 24 Jan 2006 22:28:42 +0000

Annabelle gets her first infant massage at 5 days old by Aunt Kathy. Kathy is a massage therapist in Ft. Worth, Tx. She flew up for a couple of days to visit and gave Annabelle a relaxing massage that put her to sleep for hours!

After Pains

Bethany — Fri, 27 Jan 2006 01:25:57 +0000

It is worse than labor pain - After Pains - and it seems to be more intense with the more children I have! I have talked to some mothers with many children who do not experience extreme after pains...so it is not something that all women deal with. The first day, the after pains were only bearable with extra strength Tylenol and a herbal remedy called "After Ease". Usually, I am on Tylenol or Motrin and the herbs for 3 complete days.Â There are times when the pains were so bad that I would have to curl in a fetal position and just cry and would get nauseated from the pain. However, with the last few postpartum recovery times, I have immediately started the herbs and meds to decrease this extreme reaction to a few isolated instances. Recovering after baby number 7 was actually a little different. This time I had 24 hours of intense after pains and immediately was able to stop the Tylenol. Days 2 and 3, I occasionally took the herbs. It was amazingly better this time around! I did take the 5-W herbs the last weeks of pregnancy and drink a lot of raspberry leaf tea so that may have helped as well. AfterEase is made by WishGarden Herbs and can be purchased online. I buy my birthing supplies from a Christian family owned company in Texas called In His Hands birth supply. AfterEase decreases the intensity of after birth pains. It contains Crampbark, Black Haw Bark, Yarrow Flower, and Motherwart Leaf. Suggested use is 2 - 4 droppers in either a little juice or water and can be repeated as necessary. ContractEase is a similar herbal remedy. I have not personally tried it though. It is made by Tri-light herbs and is recommended by Shonda Parker (her books are great). It contains herbs that support the female glandular and nervous system after birth. The herbs are crampbark, wild yam, black haw, scullcap, valerian root, hops, chamomile, fennel and catnip. It is also certified organic.

Post-Partum Recovery with 7 Children ?

Bethany — Sat, 28 Jan 2006 07:10:09 +0000

How in the world are you supposed to have a post-partum recovery with 7 children? I would have to say that it is impossible without help! I have been extremely blessed to have my mom and sister-in-law here for the last week and a half. They traveled from Texas to our home in Tennessee to help with the children, house and meals. I have spent most of my time resting, napping, nursing, reading...and blogging or writing. I am enjoying my time with Annabelle and very grateful for the help as I have had an easier post-partum time. Things that have helped make a smoother post-partum recovery: 1.) having help! 2.) having meals already prepared, help to prepare new meals, friends bringing by meals and a sister-in-law that has stocked my freezer with meals and bread. 3.) taking naps to prevent the sleep deprivation from being up in the wee hours. 4.) taking prenatal vitamins, chlorophyll (especially important after giving birth), drinking lots of water and eating a breastfeeding mother's amount of calories. Being tired and overworked contribute to post-partum blues and extreme emotional swings. If you can rest well for 2 weeks, sleeping often, nursing often, eating and drinking regularly, not only will this help you deal with the hormone fluctuations that happen after birth but it will also help establish a good milk supply. My midwife is a stickler on staying down for a set amount of time after giving birth and believes this is especially important for mothers with many children and those who have had close pregnancies. My grandmother believes that women should take a full 6 weeks to recover with limited activity.

Post Partum After Pains Tips

Bethany — Tue, 31 Jan 2006 07:00:53 +0000

In my last post about post-partum afterpains, I forgot to mention two tips my midwife informed me about that will help prevent or decrease postpartum afterpains. 1.) Keep your bladder empty. After giving birth, the bladder no longer receives the never ending bathroom trip signals that it received when pregnant. You may not "feel" like you need to urinate but it is a good idea to go at least once every hour. An empty bladder will help keep the uterus in the right place as well as hard and firm. 2.) Keep the uterus hard and firm. Nursing is excellent to keep clamp the uterus down properly. Do not allow long spaces of time to lapse between feedings. Massaging the stomach to keep the uterus firm is also a good way to keep it clamped down properly.

Annabelle’s Books

Bethany — Fri, 03 Feb 2006 06:44:38 +0000

Actually this is Annabelle amid our books. Annabelle is almost 3 weeks old and only has one book so far -- A is For Annabelle by Tasha Tudor (thanks Carpenters for the perfect baby gift.) Reading is a passion of ours...we each can usually be caught reading several books at one time. We hope to cultivate a love for reading and a desire for knowledge in our children.

My current reading list is: Marriage to a Difficult Man by Elisabeth Dodds (Yes, my husband knows I am reading this book...he bought it for me ;-) This is an excellent book about the uncommon union between Jonathan and Sarah Edwards. I am encouraged and challenged by Sarah's love for the Lord and love for her family. She was an incredible helpmeet to her husband, manager of her home, and mother and educator of their 11 children! Raising Maidens of Virtue, A Study of Feminine Loveliness for Mothers and Daughters by Stacy McDonald. Excellent book for mothers and daughters although I would say the age level would be around 12 to 14 years old. My daughter is almost 7 years and I am reading parts of this book to her and we are studying it on a simplified level. Great devotional. Beloved Bride: The Letters of Stonewall Jackson to His Wife by William Potter. Excellent book. I try to read everything I can on the wives of great men. This is an excellent book for that! Stonewall wrote many incredible letters to his wife Anna, filled with tender words that flow out so smoothly for a man on the battle field. Their relationship was one of rich love and covenantal faithfulness. I am absolutely amazed, challenged and encouraged by their deep love for God and understanding of His sovereign will. Their faith and marriage are inspiring. I am currently not reading any pregnancy or lactation or childbirth books-- shocking--but here are my highly recommended books for pregnancy and breastfeeding: 1.) The Naturally Healthy Pregnancy by Shonda Parker (if you are into natural health, homebirth, herbs - you will love this book. It is "the essential guide to nutritional and botanical medicine for the childbearing years...) 2.) Mommy Diagnostics by Shonda Parker (also a huge volume of information for mothers about the art of taking care of your family naturally. I would say it is a reference guide rather than a leisure reading) 3.) The Birth Book by Dr. Sears (This book gives the basics of birthing. If you are a first time mother, this book is essential. Throw away the What to Expect When Your Expecting books...and get the Sears books instead. I think he gives a balanced view of birth from a medical doctor perspective without being too medical. He lays out the pros and cons of every birthing routine and procedure.) 4.) The Pregnancy Book by Dr. Sears (a good basic introduction to pregnancy..balanced) 5.) The Breastfeeding Book by Dr. Sears ( good reference book as well as a good read through book on breastfeeding. Very similar to the same views expressed in the Womanly Art of Breastfeeding book) 6.) The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding by the La Leche League (Excellent must have breastfeeding book. How to's and why's of breastfeeding.)

Amazing Birth Story of Twins from Mom of now 10 children.

Bethany — Tue, 07 Feb 2006 20:01:28 +0000

I read this really awesome birth story and thought I would post it.Â Thanks Carolyn for giving me permission to use your story on my blog.Â Many prayers and blessings to you.Â Congratulations ;-)Â

Well, our babies are finally here. Actually they were born January 20th, but it's been a little crazy around here since. It seems the more babies I have, the easier the first stage labor is and the more work/aches the pushing stage is. I saw my midwife on Monday Jan 16 and she said to go home, pack my bags, because things could happen any time. I was a 5-6. Well, we made all kinds of plans and sat there for days with nothing happening. Thursday was a little bit of contractions, but they stopped by night time. Friday they started again, very mild and sporadic, but when I did have them, there was a fair amount of pressure. Knowing where I had been when I last saw the midwife, I was a little nervous, so we decided to go visit her with my sis who always comes to our births. I was a 7-8, so I called my hubby so he could meet us at the hospital. I couldn't believe things were progressing, because I felt fine. My sister and I went out for lunch, and then we walked around and around the hallways at the hospital for a couple of hours. The ob showed up and broke my water (I was a 9 by then) and a half hour later Joel John was born. When the doc held him up I remember thinking, "my, that looks like a REGULAR sized baby." I was expecting a little baby to fit the 5-7 lb baby clothes we had brought. Then I realized I had to do this all over again. I didn't think I had it in me, but my midwife got me into a better position and Peter Louis came to see us about 10 minutes later. They each weighed 8 lbs, 2 oz! We had prayed for big babies we could take home right away, and the Lord sure answered.The pediatrician cleared them for discharge before they cleared me! Four hours after they were born, we were on our way home. They knew our midwife would be following up on us. I marvel at how well I felt through the whole pregnancy, and that I made it to 39 weeks without any bed rest. God is so good!Carolyn in WA, mom to 10 (that still is sinking in) Â Â

New Happenings - The Family Work Forum

Bethany — Fri, 10 Feb 2006 04:40:37 +0000

Paul has been working on a new website www.familyworkforum.com It is a website that encourages family entrepreneurship. Family Work Forum, is a meaningful exploration of legitimate opportunities for families to turn their hearts towards home while still earning a living to put food on the table. It is still very much in the baby stage, but he hopes to build over the next few months to something substantial. The FAQs are still being written. The Family Work Forum will contain a wealth of business and entrepreneurship ideas and articles. It also will be home to many blogs on various subjects for business owners to post information, updates, ramblings etc. etc. The Birth Dynamics blog will be moving over to The Family Work Forum soon. I have already posted a couple of repeat articles out there. http://familyworkforum.com/?q=blog/3

Mother Baby Picture Journal

Bethany — Fri, 10 Feb 2006 05:48:09 +0000

The smell of her newborn-ness is alluring. The face of innocence is captivating. Her soft skin and wrinkly neck are divine! Her smiles are melting. .....oft times sleepless nights......showerless days.....sleepy momma.... all worth it....newborn warmth, softness, gentle fast breaths, whimpers, squeaks and tiny grunts, newborn cries, tiny feet and hands, startled jumps, little stretches, frowns and smiles, nursing smacks and milk dribbles.....contented baby and blessed woman.

Toddler Whispy

Bethany — Tue, 14 Feb 2006 07:05:46 +0000

Her hair is blond. It is whispy. It comes in a thousand different lengths but............... we accomplished something today that I have been waiting for.... Piggy Tails! And she likes them ! Not everyone thought the new piggy tails were cute. Patrick said, "Well, now she looks like a bull."

Velcro Baby Wearing

Bethany — Fri, 17 Feb 2006 06:18:50 +0000

She is almost 5 weeks old and likes me a whole lot! I like her a whole lot as well. She loves to be near mommy which is completely normal and expected of a newborn who just spent 40 weeks inside me, feeling my every movement, hearing my heartbeat, hearing my voice. I am not one to let a newborn just "cry it out" and I do not really believe a newborn is spoiled by too much holding. I believe being held, touched, loved on is important for baby and mom. However, that being said, it is impossible to hold her 24/7. Sometimes I just need a brief moment to myself. I need to do necessary things like get dressed. It amazes me how she knows when I am not there! I lay her down for a nap and usually within 5 minutes she is crying. I can snuggle up next to her and speak softly or sing to her while stoking her head or patting her back and she will fall back asleep. It is an incredible feeling to be needed by her. This time is only brief and I am trying to soak up all the wonder of her newborn-ness. All that to say, I lost my sling. I have had a variety of slings over the years. I am not a huge baby wearing person, although I do wear my babies when they are newborn and little babies. I don't wear them once they get too wiggly and heavy! My newborns cuddle up in the sling and sleep contently. Currently I own a New Native Baby sling that I can't find. I have searched for it high and low but am still hoping to find it soon. Until then, I have thought about everything from making my own sling out of a blanket to velcroing us together.

prenatal vitamins

Bethany — Fri, 17 Feb 2006 06:32:19 +0000

I just ordered vitamins and noticed that vitacost lowered their already low price on the Rainbow Light Prenatal vitamins to $28.89 currently. I was shocked to see that they had lowered their already low price--they were $31 something. This is a really great deal for these vitamins because at the health food store they are around $60!!!Â Some do not like the fact that you take 6 a day. It is suggested to take 2 during the morning, noon and night meal, however, you can take 3 in the morning and 3 in the evening if that makes it easier for you. They also have a one a day prenatal. Rainbow Light Complete Prenatal System 360 Tabs for $28.89 (regular price is $63.95) I also am going to try this product: Postpartum Omega Mom -- The First EFA Product Specifically Designed for Postpartum Women with Important Nutrients for Infant Brain Development and DHA for Postpartum Mood Support. I already take a fish oil gelcap but do not like the fishy taste of it. I thought I would switch to this oil to see how I liked it. I will post later about the results.

Breastfeeding In Public

Bethany — Tue, 21 Feb 2006 17:36:11 +0000

Breastfeeding in public has gained notable attention here in our county lately. Recently, a mother was told that she was not allowed to breastfeed her baby in the Victoria's Secret dressing room in a local mall. I found that quite interesting being the type of store it is! You would think with the amount of concern Victoria's Secret has over modesty, they wouldn't have a problem with it..but evidently they did! Be it a county building or a public building, nursing an infant isn't a crime as some would have us think. Another mother recently made the news when she was asked to stop breastfeeding her baby at a local Recreation Center. The Rec Center said they have rules in regards to breastfeeding because some people are "uncomfortable" with seeing a woman breastfeed. Their policy is that if you want to breastfeed your baby...you must do so in the bathroom. Both of these instances were with women who were discreetly, modestly nursing their infants. They were not exposed in an offensive way. I personally do not have a problem with mothers feeding their babies in public. I nurse my baby in public when necessary. I do know that some gung-ho breastfeeding mothers feel they should be able to bare all and feed their babies how ever they want. I have seen these type mothers in public and find it very offensive for them to assume that everybody should just accept exposed bare breasts in pubic if a baby is attached to them. I do not believe bare breasts are acceptable public displays. As nursing mothers, we have the have the responsibility to be discreet and modest. Thankfully not all public places harass breastfeeding mothers. Just recently, I was walking through a department store with my girls. Annabelle was fussing and I was trying to soothe her until I could find a place to stop and feed her. A kind woman who worked there walked up to me and commented on how precious the baby was. She continued, "I hope you don't mind me asking a personal question, but do you breastfeed her?" I was a bit confused by her question but stated that I did. She said, "I just wanted you to know that if you needed me to open up a dressing room or direct you to a comfortable couch, I would be happy to help you." I told her that I appreciated her kindness. I was thankful that I didn't happen to run into someone who was "uncomfortable" with breastfeeding that night.

In all my spare time….

Bethany — Tue, 28 Feb 2006 04:08:33 +0000

Actually in all the spare time that I do not have, I have not been able to blog away. Annabelle is 6 weeks old and although things are settling down slightly, I am still very busy with all the children. We are anxiously awaiting spring. My mind dreams of the glorious garden I have intentions of planting. We will see if that become reality. I do plan on posting some interesting stories as soon as I can get them out of my brain and on paper (the computer). For now, the business of motherhood has overtaken me and left me only with a few brief moments to myself. How wonderful to be needed! WARNING: My disposition changes rapidly and without warning.....

the thing i hate most

Bethany — Tue, 07 Mar 2006 04:52:26 +0000

I absolutely hate any sickness that includes throwing up. This past week, the 18 month old caught some sort of stomach bug that was really bad! This wasn't an easy 24 hr. thing...it was days! She threw up everywhere many times over and because she is female and 18 months old...she overreacts and makes things even more difficult to deal with. Finally she is feeling better after a long 6 days of not being herself. Now that she is better, her 3 year old brother came down with it yesterday. I was reading some interesting things about "Gastrointestinal Difficulties" in my Mommy Diagnostics book. Foods and Supplements that are beneficial for stopping diarrhea are: 1.) Acidophilus and Bifidus 2.) Barley broth - cook the barley in extra water and drink the broth. 3.) Make fresh applesauce without the peels because peel stimulates the bowel. Mix in carob powder. Carob powder is excellent for stopping diarrhea. 4.) AntiDiatribe TincTract or IntestiCalm - the dosage is 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon given after every bout of diarrhea. Diarrhea lasting over a couple of days or that does not respond to any remedies should be checked for parasites through a stool culture. Sounds disgusting but I have been told that you can call your doctor and ask them for a stool culture kit. This will help diagnose what is causing the sickness. For parasites, nutritional supplements like garlic, goldenseal, grapefruit seed extract, papaya enzymes, wormwood are very beneficial. You can also buy a product called Worm-Out TincTract. Large doses of garlic should be taken with Worm-Out. I have always wondered how you are supposed to know if it is a stomach virus, stomach flu or food poisoning, bad food etc. Shonda Parker says, " A gastrointestinal virus can be home diagnosed by observing a 12 to 14 hour period of nausea and / or vomiting followed by diarrhea. Viruses have to travel through the gastrointestinal tract first causing nausea/vomiting with the diarrhea following in 1 to 2 days or sooner. Food poisoning differs from a virus in that usually both vomiting and diarrhea occur simultaneously in an abrupt onset, or diarrhea only occurs. In food poisoning, the vomiting and diarrhea together is the body's attempt to rid the system of toxic bacteria, such as salmonella, campylobacter, listeria, E-coli, stapholococcus aureus and shigella; protozoa, such as giardia or crytosporidium; or a poison. Most people realize that a GI virus is contagious but do not consider food poisoning to be contagious, yet it is. " For vomiting, Shonda Parker suggests: Offer 1/8 teaspoon sips of black tea every hour until the stomach is stretched back out and can handle more liquid. No gulping. Avoid all dairy products for several days after a GI illness. Morning Smooth works for nausea. Tummy Plus by TincTract is an herbal remedy that has antimicrobials for fighting infection. Observe STRICT hand washing precautions!!!! Clean door knobs, light switches, toys and any other highly touched objects. Because I have a large family, something like this is very serious. If keeps going like it is, at this rate we will be dealing with this for the next 2 months! I have been trying to prevent it through quarantine, lots of hand washing and wiping down the highly touched areas with cleaner on a daily basis now. Tomorrow I go to buy some acidophilus and intend on putting the entire family on it.

soft and furry

Bethany — Tue, 07 Mar 2006 06:06:19 +0000

The 3 to 5 year old stage of life is a humorous one.Â One day I intend on putting a book together of all the "Kid Funnies" I have written down over the years. Recently Patrick was sitting next to me and admiring Annabelle saying, " Look mom, she likes it when I pet her." Later he added sweetly, "She has soft fur." So far she has also been liken to resemble a baby cricket.Â I was informed that he thought I looked like a nice furry fox. HMMM.Â Eva has gone from looking like a bull to looking "zach-ly like Mr. Tumnis".Â Everybody looks like something else...Ever wonder what you look like...just ask...he can tell you "zach-ly" exactly what you look like. Those glasses of his do amazing things!

it’s all about me!

Bethany — Fri, 10 Mar 2006 05:44:15 +0000

Have you ever stopped to think about how selfish children are! Just listen! If it isn't someone whining, it is someone crying or someone asking yet for something else. Though much of the asking and crying is legit...it is selfish really. Children are naturally concerned about themselves most of the time. --The 18 month old is sitting in the high chair and is out of food. She screams and starts reaching her hands out in a grabbing motion. She wants more obviously. But the tack and manner in which she operates is downright rude and selfish. Can you imagine me sitting at the table eating my dinner and then all of the sudden started screaming at you for more food while reaching my hands out in a grabbing motion! --The baby cries the moment you put her down. Now granted it is getting better with more frequent times of contentment. But what would happen if I just started screaming and carrying on the moment someone stopped paying attention to me. --The toddler boys whine and although it is met with discipline, the whining isn't extinct around here....yet. What if someone asked me a question and I answered in a long, moaning, sick whale sounding whine? --Another child is upset because another sibling has a toy that is better than the one he has. So first he tries to talk the sibling out of the toy, then he just takes it. Can you imagine if I went over to a friend's house and saw that she had better cooking pots and pans than I have. I then tried to talk her out of her pots and pans, then I just took them. All this had me thinking that though the methods of communication and actions in children are unique, it doesn't mean we should be satisfied with that method and let them continue on in their ways. Of course newborns cry. That is how they communicate. That is all they know at this stage in life. As mothers we have a unique gift to interpret those cries and meet their needs and nurture them with lots of love. Yet over time, we as parents, are given the responsibility to love and teach them how to properly communicate. As they become toddlers and the newborn cry progresses to a torturous toddler whine, we are needed to train that whine into the proper verbal skills. We should not convince ourselves, "ohh, they just don't know any better" and just accept whining as the means of communication. We can however say, "ohh, they don't know any better" and I am going to see to it that they do know better. Consistently, we should address the whine and reinforce the acceptable means of communication by showing them how to communicate properly. Some moments can be chaotic, the baby is crying, the toddler is letting out some tribal sounding yell, the boy toddlers are whining for more, the other children are asking for more food or asking when we are going or asking if I could get them this or that. Recently, I humored myself and scared my kids by unexpectedly crying back at them and answering them in the same whine they asked the question in. It was a simple lesson to them, showing them how scary and ugly whining is. These seemingly little squabbles we deal with on a daily basis seem frivolous but looking deeper, we can see that these little things are what the big things in life are made out of. Daily, we are dealing with and correcting life long social skills and manners as well as correcting character issues and communication skills that are necessary to for our children to know. Teaching your child not to whine when he is 3 years old will have lasting implications when he is 30 years old. Have you ever seen a 30 year old whine and complain and stomp out of the room when he doesn't get his way? I have and wondered why his mother didn't teach him when he was 3 that life isn't a bowl of cherries and we don't always get what we want. Parenting is about transitioning the selfish, "it's all about me" to the serving, "what can I do for others".

Just when you think you are at your limit…..

Bethany — Mon, 20 Mar 2006 22:30:16 +0000

just remember it can always get worse..... Annabelle and Mariah have chicken pox and most likely the other 5 will come down with it soon. For all those wondering why the blog posts have been sporadic.... life is just very interesting and entertaining around here ;-)

info on chicken pox

Bethany — Tue, 21 Mar 2006 04:15:21 +0000

The most common season is late winter and early spring.
The incubation is anywhere from 10 to 21 days.
Usually fever starts before the appearance of the bumps by 1 to 2 days.Â
The contagious period starts 1 to 2 days before the appearance of the rash and ends when all the bumps are crusted, typically around 5 to 7 days.
Never use aspirin with a child with chickenpox.
Adults tend to suffer with more severe disease than children.

I think we picked it up from the grocery store.Â So far that is the only place I can think of.Â I didn't notice the girls running a fever 1 or 2 days prior.Â The first symptom I noticed was the bumps and within hours a low grade fever. Want to read a Politically Incorrect article about chicken pox???Â See this article in Mothering Magazine called Chickenpox Party: Developing Natural Varicella Immunity

it’s not enough to just have chicken pox…..

Bethany — Wed, 22 Mar 2006 18:00:40 +0000

we have to get extreme cases of chicken pox to make life even more interesting ;-) My 6 year old has them bad. However the good news is that yesterday was the worst day for her and she seems to be on a upswing with the spots slowing down and the first ones starting to scab over, at least some of them. Today she is breaking out on the bottoms of her feet and the palms of her hands and between her toes and fingers. She has them head to toe, in her hair, in her ears, in her mouth, on her lips, on her eye lids and where the eyelashes grow and even on on her eyeball! I feel so bad for her! Annabelle has a mild case but a good enough case that she shouldn't get it again....or at least I hope not. We have found much relief in the Aveeno Oatmeal bath and a homeopathic remedy that is supposed to help with chicken pox. The Caladryl and Calamine are also helpful but it would be even more helpful if it was available in gallon size for large families.

Breastfeeding - The ultimate Immunization

Bethany — Sat, 25 Mar 2006 05:32:55 +0000

According to the Iowa Extension Service, every teaspoon of breastmilk has 3,000,000 germ killing cells in it; so if a baby gets even one teaspoon a day, it is very valuable! (see articles below)

Mother's milk is truly an incredible provision that God designed. I am amazed at its wonders--as they are too numerous to count. Breastmilk is the ultimate immunization as well as ultimate nutrition. We have been dealing with the dreaded chicken pox around here for almost a week. It isn't slowing down yet, but I have watched each of my children deal with this childhood sickness with much interest. My oldest is trying to take it like a man. My daughter was horrified when she found out that her spots were going to turn in to scabs. My son, who has a hard time sitting still and is always on the go...is finding no self control when it comes to scratching. My 3 year old doesn't know what "stop scratching" means and freaks out when calamine lotion touches his skin. My 5 year old, who either had a very light case or has bug bites and hasn't broken out with it yet, keeps saying that he wants more spots.Â I found him in the bathroom with a q-tip and the pink calamine lotion putting dots on his belly. Annabelle was one of the first ones to come down with it. With a couple of fussy days and a low grade fever, she was by far the easiest one to deal with. She nursed more often and for longer periods of time. My body evidently picked up on the clues that she wasn't feeling well and in turn made a large supply of milk for her. I became more hungry and tired as well. In all of this, I marvel at the amazing design our Creator developed: the mother child nursing relationship is incredible. Getting back to the ultimate immunization: it isn't uncommon for a newborn to completely be protected against illnesses like the chicken pox. However, this was not the case with us. Even though she is only 9 weeks old, Annabelle did get the chicken pox. The amazing thing is that she developed a mild case with minimal spots. The majority of her spots were in her hair and neck, with several on her face, a couple on her midsection and a couple on her back. The more amazing thing is her spots healed up amazingly fast! Most of her spots are completely gone with no sign that they were ever there in the first place. I know that the breastmilk acted like pure liquid healing for her and am thankful for this amazing natural medicine for our babies. Interesting articles on the breastfeeding and immunity: Immune Factors in Human Milk How Breastmilk Protects Newborns By the way, www.kellymom.com is a great resourse for breastfeeding info.

Spring

Bethany — Fri, 31 Mar 2006 02:40:46 +0000

Spring is beautiful. In the rolling hills of Tennessee the weather is crisp and cool with more days of warmth that bring a much needed break from the cold bare winter. Here, the first signs of spring are the blooming of the brilliant yellow jonquils and forsythia bushes. Now, the wild crab apple trees, dogwoods, redbuds and fruit trees are in full blossom. The robins are plump. The bluebirds and cardinals are bright and brilliant. Numerous other birds flit about. Our peas and marigolds are sprouting. It is beautiful. Amongst these beautiful things, we still have chicken pox and I am recovering from mastitis. Since I am prone to this while breastfeeding, I have learned how to treat it naturally and successfully with the use of herbs and vitamins----so thankfully it isn't that big of an ordeal. Once I am completely recovered, I have a urge to spring clean. This site is by a momma of many children www.largefamilylogistics.net and here is her blog for some great spring cleaning tips....

2 Month Old Bright Eyes

Bethany — Fri, 31 Mar 2006 23:23:31 +0000

I love these big bright blue eyes but who does she look like? Other than looking like a baby cricket, most of the other children say she just looks like a baby.

prayer request

Bethany — Wed, 05 Apr 2006 04:14:27 +0000

Please say a prayer for a friend of mine.Â Her newborn baby, Jonathan, is having heart surgery tomorrow morning, Wed. April 5, at 7:30 am.Â They are missionaries in Turkey.Â They had to fly back home (Texas) because of the seriousness of baby Jonathan's heart.Â He has a heart defect that requires surgery even though he is only 6 weeks old.Â Â Pray that the Lord heals Jonathan and strengthens Dawn and Billy Ray.

We are finally finished

Bethany — Thu, 06 Apr 2006 04:03:47 +0000

I am closing the Chicken Pox book...a full 3 weeks and now all 7 children have broken out.Â I am glad that it was short lived compared to what it could have been.Â Today was a better day, with only spots to show for, the children enjoyed the day playing in the nice spring outdoors. The best chicken pox idea we tried was the oatmeal sock.Â Forget the Aveeno bath--we did that in the beginning but with 7 children and several baths a day--that quickly ran out.Â I put 1 cup of oats in a sock and tied the end and let the children play with it in the bathtub--better and cheaper than Aveeno.Â I could gently rub backs and necks for soothing relief from the itch.Â They loved it.

notes on meal planning

Bethany — Sat, 08 Apr 2006 05:28:59 +0000

Some notes on meal planning:

I do not plan a month in advance all the time. Some times I go week to week. Like this month-after coming off a big month last month with visitors in my house and sickness-my meal planning went out the window mostly. I plan to pick it up again but for now I am just planning a week in advance.

I write my meals down on a calendar and post it on the refrigerator. Some people use a dry erase board-that way they can make quick changes or switches easily.

After I plan what meals I want...I make my list. I plan down to the snacks and drinks. I plan breakfast, lunch and supper. I usually have a couple of things for breakfast and lunch and we just rotate them. Sometimes I tweak my plan a bit after visiting the grocery store. If I had planned apples for snacks, but oranges were on sale buy one bag, get one free. Then I will change the apples to oranges.

Snack Prep examples: On Monday, I might wash and chop up carrots, celery and broccoli and place them in a Tupperware type container and store in the refrigerator. I will also make large amounts of peanut butter crackers. I also might peal about 8 oranges and put in a zip lock bag and store in the refrig. Occasionally I will bake bulk muffins or mix up some granola or trail mix. It helps me to have snacks that are quick and easy but with the amount of people we have, I try to make it as healthy and frugal as possible - making my own peanut butter crackers is much cheaper than buying them. I boil large amounts of eggs for snacks or for use in tuna salad. When I make tuna salad...I make a lot of it and use it the next day as well.

Freezing meals: You can freeze meals a couple of different ways. Either work up your freezer meals gradually. For example, if you are making lasagna for supper, make two of them and freeze one. It doesn't take that much extra time..but saves a lot of time in the long run. Or you can just plan a day or two of major cooking and baking. When I do this, I never bake and cook on the same day. I have a separate baking day.

I have followed the Once a Month cooking book in the past, but now I use a couple of recipes from it and make up my own plan. If I am cooking for the month, it takes me more than a day to cook all the meals and I will have a helper come over.

It might look something like this: the last Wednesday of the month is planning day, Thursday is shopping, Friday and Saturday are cooking.

To start off, I will take a piece of paper and write down something like this: Lasagna - 4 meals Mexican Stroganoff- 2 meals Pizza Bread - 2 meals Chicken n' rice - 2 meals Bar-B-Q chicken -2 meals Teriyaki chicken - 2 meals Chicken soup - 4 meals Chili - 2 meals Spaghetti - 4 meals meatloaf - 4 meals sandwich pockets - 4 meals

This is how I plan how many "FREEZER" meals I want and how I know how much to buy. This doesn't include the other items I will need for other meals. If I am going to make 4 lasagnas, I will buy 4 boxes of noodles, 4 tubs of cottage cheese, 2 large blocks of cheese, a huge can of sauce with enough onion, garlic, mushrooms, green pepper or what ever else I want in my sauce.....etc. etc. I will cook my sauce in a large crock pot and have my four trays ready to fill with noodles, cheese, sauce etc. Then wrap them up and freeze.

If I make meatloaf, I mix up the meat with the egg, spices, bread crumbs etc. and shape into a loaf and freeze it. I don't cook the meatloaf before freezing. When I want to use it, I thaw it and bake it. Throw in some potatoes or steam some veggies and toss a salad...it is an easy meal that would have taken more time if you would have done it all at once.

Teriyaki chicken- if you use the frozen chicken breasts, add some teriyaki sauce and a can of pineapple rings. Drain the juice from the can. Freeze the chicken, sauce and pineapple in a zip lock bag. My kids love this either on a toasted bun for a sandwich or cut up over rice. Marinated meats are the easiest though. If you want to marinate steak or chicken or pork chops or even fish, you can buy the gallon size zip lock bags and assemble by mixing the marinade and meat in the bag and freezing. I buy frozen chicken breasts and place them in a freezer bag with the sauce. Don't thaw the chicken breasts...just stick it back in the freezer. When you want to have the B-B-Q chicken breasts for supper one night, you let it thaw and it does great at soaking up the sauce..pour it in a pan and bake it. When freezing your soups or chili or spaghetti sauce..... you will need to let them cool. Freeze the bags laying flat or else you will get very misshapen frozen bags that are hard to organize in a freezer.

Label your bags or freezer storage pans with a permanent maker. Don't forget baking instructions.

You may not want to eat a freezer meal every night. I have some nights where I make supper with the pressure cooker or where I will have something simmering in the crock pot all day.

Our job as the manger of our home is an important one. Many of us forget how important this job is.

baby burning calories

Bethany — Tue, 11 Apr 2006 19:45:37 +0000

I was interested to find out that breastfeeding burns anywhere from 300 to 800 calories per day. Amazing isn't it. Some mothers find that breastfeeding doesn't affect weight loss, other find that breastfeeding seems to drop the weight very quickly...sometimes too quickly.

RDAs for non-pregnant, pregnant and lactating women

Bethany — Thu, 13 Apr 2006 01:16:27 +0000

Here are the Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDAs) of some nutrients for nonpregnant, pregnant, and nursing women between the ages of 25 and 50.

	Non-Pregnant	Pregnant	Nursing (to 6 mos.)
Calories	2000	2300	2500
Protein (g)	44	60	65
Vitamin A (mcg R.E.)	800	800	1300
Vitamin D (mcg)	5	10	10
Vitamin C (mg)	60	70	95
Thiamin (mg)	1.1	1.5	1.6
Riboflavin (mg)	1.3	1.6	1.8
Niacin (mg N.E.)	15	17	20
Vitamin B6 (mg)	1.6	2.2	2.1
Calcium (mg)	800	1200	1200
Iron (mg)	15	30	15
Folate (mcg)	180	400	280
Zinc (mg)	12	15	19
Vitamin B12 (mcg)	2.0	2.2	2.6

returning

Bethany — Tue, 25 Apr 2006 03:49:06 +0000

I will be gearing up to post some blog entries soon.Â I took a vacation from blogging.Â We had a wonderful week with my family who came a very long way just to see us!Â We had a great time!

Stay-At-Home Mom Salary

Bethany — Thu, 27 Apr 2006 22:38:51 +0000

This off salary.com,

Stay-at-home mothers wear many hats. They're the family CEO, the day care provider, accountant, chauffeur, counselor, chef, nurse, laundress, entertainer, personal stylist, and educator. Based on a 90-hour work week, Salary.com has estimated that a fair wage for the typical stay-at-home mom would be well over $90,000 for executing all of her daily tasks. Factor in overtime, and the appropriate salary takes a leap of around $25,000.

That $115,000 was taking into account 2 children. Now, we all know that a stay at home mother is worth way more than that! For the complete article, Dream Job: Stay-at-Home Mom. (Although I do not agree with it completely...some of the info is interesting.)

Queen of my own domain

Bethany — Fri, 28 Apr 2006 02:11:37 +0000

I ran across another article while doing some research for an article I am writing on a similar subject. I found this article chilling in some aspects. Consider an excerpt from Stay-At-Home Moms: The Most Important Job in the World:

The search begins. For some reason, telephone poles seem to have become billboards around our community. I can stop at almost any intersection and read a number of flyers:

Garage sale, 9 to 2, Sat. only

Firewood, Maple & Fir, Delivered

Reward: Have You Seen Our Golden Retriever?

Quality Child Care in My Home

Quality child care? From a phone number stapled to a telephone pole along Hogan Road? Is that all the recommendation needed today to consider placing children in a strangerâ€™s care? Have we become so desperate? Not long ago, I received a letter from Kendall, a young friend who works in a daycare center. It read: â€œWorking here for the past three years has given me a stark view of where families, especially women, are headed. Motherhood is no longer valued, and it is seen more as a mark of prestige than as the precious gift it truly is. Our little girls are growing up playing office, banker and travel agent while they take their baby dolls to a daycare center or sitter.â€? That was a strong statement, so I called Kendall and asked her to tell me more about her concerns. She replied, â€œNot all mothers who bring their children to day care are bad mothers. But I see a lot of tired women who donâ€™t have any patience at the end of the day. I see too many of them whisk their kids off to another babysitter for the evening while they do things for themselves. When Kendall was little, she played house. There was a mommy and a daddy â€œThese little girls donâ€™t play house,â€? she told me. â€œThey never cook a meal; they microwave everything. I never see them nurturing their dolls. They just put them in a crib and have their friends take care of them. These little girls all want to be like boys. Theyâ€™re very competitive, but theyâ€™re not at all nurturing.â€? Kendall works in a daycare center because she loves children. She has no ax to grind with day care and no grudge to bear against mothers, Sheâ€™s merely reporting what she sees. And what she sees is too many mothers forgetting to nurture and using child-care workers as substitute parents. And she sees little girls mimicking their mommies â€” putting their baby dolls aside and going to the office.

Our children learn by our example. Momma at home is vital. Too many times the wonderful aspirations of family, babies and home are traded for office work and day-care. The corporate woman has neutralized her femininity. The competition with men is endless and she will never be satisfied in her quest to rule or even exist in the domain that isn't hers to be in. Her domain is in the home and her role is that of wife and mother. She is queen ruler. She is the chief managing officer. Most homes today are worn and rusty, missing the much needed care and supervision of a full time mother. The well-oiled machine has been abandoned as the fairy princess has galloped off to another land hoping to find fulfillment, only to ultimately bring her home into a state of ruins. Like I have said before, as a stay-at-home mother, our job is not that of baby-sitter or thumb-twiddler. Running a household requires more years of training than any college degree. The results of this lack of education and training are seen in today's woman, who scarcely knows a fraction of what was commonly known amongst the least educated woman a century ago in regards to homemaking and raising children. Unfortunately, our modern society holds such a low view of motherhood and homemaking, that many of us received little, if any, preparation and education for the job we now hold. That is not an excuse for not executing our roles properly; self-learning and education are available to us all. I am encouraged to see a new generation of women being raised with the understanding that homemaking and motherhood are vitally important. It is awesome to see some of these young women who already have become proficient in the arts and skills of homemaking. I see how prepared they are for marriage and how incredibly suited and comfortable they are in their roles as wife, mother and homemaker. There is much satisfaction in being the queen of your own domain.

To Be Continued: Part Two...........

Meal Planning Article

Bethany — Fri, 28 Apr 2006 02:21:52 +0000

I ran across this article called Once-A-Month-Cooking: How To Make Your Plan Work by Crystal Paine. It is also a great resource for those wanting to learn or expand their meal planning skills. Through many years of trial and error, these homemaking skills of meal planning are becoming refined. Isn't it wonderful that we mothers have the opportunity to train our daughters to be skilled workers within the home even while they are young in preparation for the day they will become the manager of their own home. Training our daughters in the lost skills of homemaking is a responsibility of ours and an invaluable gift to them. This week, I encourage you to set aside some time to plan your meals for May.

ebooks

Bethany — Wed, 03 May 2006 21:21:18 +0000

I am in the process of putting this ebook on our website www.familyworkforum.com I ran across it recently and thought it would be a great resource for the Family Work Forum website. We are looking to expand the website by offering more entrepreneurial type topics and resources. We hope to recruit families who have already started businesses to share their stories as well. Right now, the ebook special is $80 worth of ebooks for $24. She has this special for 2 weeks up until Mother's Day. Some of the books in the deal are: How to Start Your Own Business by Crystal Paine. This is a guide for Christian young women who wish to venture into the world of starting your own home based business. Menu Planning Made Easy! 54 pages by Sheri Graham. It contains 4 weeks worth of dinner menus, recipes and shopping lists. It also had forms to make your own menus, recipe ideas for breakfast, lunch and desserts, cooking and money saving tips. HomeGrown Business by Jesse and Crystal Paine. It is over 80 pages and highlights 29 families who share their experiences at growing a home business while homeschooling at the same time. Topics covered such as: how to balance homeschooling and home business, how to involve your children in your home business, how to integrate your home business into your children's education, and much more! The Bread By Hand ebook by Kimberly Eddy is a 43 page with illustrations instruction booklet on how to make fresh, homemade bread. This eBook explains the bread-baking process in detail and even helps the most inexperienced baker understand the ins and outs of baking bread by hand. Whether you are interested in learning how to bake white bread, wheat bread, or any other sort of bread, you will learn how in this ebook. In fact, this ebook doesn't just stop at baking basic breads, but also covers sourdough bread, rye bread, homemade soft pretzels, bagels, cinnamon rolls, and more. And several other ones like: Thriving on One Income, Momma's Guide to Growing Your Groceries, Simply Centsible Suppers, The Merchant Maiden: Earning an Income Without Compromising Convictions.

continued from Queen Of My Own Domain

Bethany — Tue, 09 May 2006 04:16:40 +0000

To continue from Queen of my Own Domain: The article, Stay-At-Home Moms: The Most Important Job in the World, goes on to say,

"I know there are many moms who have children still at home and who truly have no choice but to work outside the home. For them, it isn't just a matter of wanting to maintain a certain lifestyle. Even in those cases, however, as in all others, a mother's care is the preferred choice. I don't say that to make anyone feel guilty; it's just a fact. "

I would agree that in our culture, there are circumstances where mothers are working outside the home not by choice but out of what seems desperate necessity. I have seen mothers struggle with wanting to be with their children but feel as if they have no other option. However, it is quite possible for even these mothers to escape the daily work grind away from their home and focus their energies on working in their home. There are countless opportunities for those that truly seek to be home with their children. I have seen women quit the corporate job and come home to their children. Home-based businesses are a reality. I am not saying it is easy, but it is possible. For those seeking to stay at home, but needing to maintain an income for their home because of circumstances such as being a single mother, the road may be longer and harder but well worth it. We all know of the Proverbs 31 woman who loved and served her husband as well as maintained her home and trained her children with excellence. We read of her working within her home producing and contributing to the home economy. We read of her as a skilled, educated and knowledgeable manager of her own home, not as an independent career woman. As women, we can contribute to the economy of the home in many ways. We can bring in an income in unique ways. We can also add to the economy of the home through wise shopping expenditures. As we support our husband, train our children and manager our home, we find true fulfillment. Too many times the interworkings of the home are completely ignored and abandoned. Many times the neglect is unintentional. In our modern culture, home life is not stressed as something important or in need of care. However, once women awake to the fact that their home and family are in desperate need of their specific skills, the art of homemaking begins to take on new meaning. A wise women builds her own home, but the foolish woman tears it down with her own hands. (Proverbs 14:1)

Home Schooling: a way of life

Bethany — Tue, 09 May 2006 04:46:59 +0000

Home schooling with a large family is one thing. Home schooling with a large family where the majority of of them are toddlers and babies is an entirely different story. I get many questions on how I home school with so many little ones. I actually do not really know the answer to that question. I have to admit that I had major withdraws from subtle indoctrination. Even though IÂ was private school educated, there was a part of me that could not grasp the understanding that home schooling is NOT modern education. It doesn't look or taste the same. Understanding came gradually and now I am completely sold on the home schooling way of life. I know the humanistic philosophy and deliberate indoctrination goals of the founders of the modern education system - i.e. Dewey. I steer clear of this modern educational approach. But as a mother of 7 children, all vying for my time, plus the laundry, the cleaning, the meals: Who has time to "do" school? Our first and foremost Biblical mandate is to train up our children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Deuteronomy 6 talks about an education style that includes talking and walking along side our children. There is this fallacy thinking looming over us that if we do not follow strict structured schooling for hours on end each day then our children will be ill-educated. Don't let the pressure of "doing school" bring unnecessary stress into your day. When I say, "Homeschooling: a way of life", I am not speaking code for "unschooling". I am talking about the majority of the "schooling" coming from life experiences. This is not to say that the children never receive any book education, however, in a large family with babies and toddlers, structured sit down times can be hard to find. I am speaking of a certain home schooling lifestyle that can be a workable, fulfilling experience in your family.Â I do not get boggled down with 7 different subjects, nor do I worry with grading mounds of paperwork.Â I do not read the "WhatÂ yourÂ 2nd grader should know" books.Â I view my home as a garden that requires careful tending each day.Â Discipline, education and training are part of the daily routine.Â Some days IÂ spend most of the dayÂ pulling weeds of un-Godly character.Â Some days are rainy days.Â Some days are hot and toilsome.Â Some days are filled with beautiful fruit and gentle breezes.Â Home education is a way of life.Â We must not make academics our goal, but instead, that of training our sons and daughters in the nurture and admonition of the Lord first and foremost.Â The academics will follow.Â

Amelia’s Aprons….

Bethany — Tue, 09 May 2006 23:23:30 +0000

In my article, Queen of My Own Domain, I mentioned the possibilities of starting home based work. My sister-in-law has done just that. She quit corporate america and came home to her children. She is now working part time as a nanny as well as working on her own home-based business called, Amelia's Aprons. I absolutely love the Edwardian Apron. She uses Jennie Chancey's Edwardian Apron pattern. Here is a link to the apron that I have. This is my new favorite. She has just posted new aprons for May. We also have her little girl's apron (the adjustable one) and crayon aprons--- great!

meal time shlump encouragement…..

Bethany — Tue, 09 May 2006 23:26:41 +0000

At 3, he has many quirks and difficulties we all have to deal with on a daily basis. One of them is food issues. All of the sudden, our happy, energetic, lovable boy can turn into a sore sight with one glance at some sort of food he all of the sudden deems unacceptable. The offender tonight was "SALAD". However, it is refreshing to hear siblings come along side their brother and offer words of encouragement. Our witty 5 year old always has something profound to say. He leaned over to admonished his 3 year old brother in the sweetest, kindest, most musical voice by saying, "Paterson, it's OK. It's really only washed weeds, she just calls it salad."

ohh, the people we meet….

Bethany — Thu, 11 May 2006 20:38:17 +0000

We live in a feminist culture. For those of us that are committed to raising our daughters to be Godly women, the task can seem quite daunting at times. It seems like Jezebel and her minons are 'round every corner. My daughter and I take a trip into town about once a month to complete a big grocery shopping trip. Annabelle comes along in the Baby Bjorn front pack carrier (which I love). I bring my older daughter because I believe that even at her young age, she needs to be with her mother learning about how to run a household. I include her when I plan meals, make grocery lists and buy groceries. I love this one on one time with her. She usually shares her many thoughts and ideas and has many questions. It is a glorious time of mother/daughter togetherness. One recent occasion, we were going about our day, progressively accomplishing the tasks on our list. We had one final store to visit. As we were walking in the store, we noticed a woman walking out of the store wearing a shirt that had the words "CHILD - PROOF" emblazoned across the front. I looked at her. She looked at me. It was the ultimate clash of two opposing worldviews. While she was boldly wearing "Child - Proof", I was wearing my newborn baby in a front pack carrier. I could not stop thinking about how completely opposing the feminist ideology is. These two world views are not only completely opposite of one another, but they are at war with one another. We are at war. Womanhood and girlhood are attacked relentlessly day after day. As women seeking to serve our Lord and Savior, we must realize that our life of service to our family and glorying in our womanly roles is not culturally acceptable, nor is it "normal". We must protect and arm our daughters against the feminist onslaught in our world by giving them a strong foundation in biblical womanhood. That day at the store provided another launching pad, from which, the goal of beautiful girlhood and femininity was furthered in my daughter's life as well as mine. She was able to see a pictorial difference in the "child-proof" woman and us. I was also reminded of the battle. It was not comprehendible to her that a woman would not want children and further more, would flaunt her evil worldview in public. However, that is the world we live in. It is important for them to know and understand the battle we are in. It isn't just about a tee-shirt. It is about a evil world view that is at odds with Christ.

growing too quickly

Bethany — Sat, 20 May 2006 02:14:11 +0000

All 4 months of her...

Eating the cookie-cutter approach

Bethany — Sat, 20 May 2006 02:22:12 +0000

The Cookie Cutter Approach is the basic, all-inclusive, one-size-fits-all approach to education that dominates the American education system.Â Just picture a factory assembly line.Â Picture young impressionable children lined up on the factory conveyer belt.Â One by one, they are indoctrinated not only with an anti-God worldview, but also molded and shaped into gender-neutral people that are easily swayed and controlled. We see the moral decline and decay eating away at our Nation and our Churches, yet many professing Christians maintain a synchronization with the world in most areas of their lives. God and Biblical living are pulled off the shelf only when necessary.Â To most people, education is considered a neutral subject consisting only of facts and figures.Â However, neutrality in education is non-existent.Â It is first and foremost a biblical mandate for fathers and mothers to educate and train their children with a distinctly Christian approach (Deut.6, Ps.1).Â Scripture tells us not to walk in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stand in the way of sinners, nor sit in the seat of the scornful but that we are to delight and meditate in the law of the Lord day and night.Â Scripture also tells us that we are to diligently teach our children in the ways of the Lord.Â In the training and education of our children, parents are given a great responsibility.Â Too many times, parents shirk this duty off to worldly educators and expect someone else to do the job that the Lord has given them to do. In the newly released book So Much More, it states,

"The line is drawn between the two competing types of educational priorities at the very beginning of the Bible.Â As Tom Eldredge points out in the book Safely Home, 'The first conflict in recorded history was a battle over education.'Â He explains that Adam and Eve were given a choice between knowing God and walking with Him, gradually discovering more and more of His truth and wisdom or a shortcut to instant knowledge -- to eat the fruit and know everything, good and evil.Â These two education philosophies -- the empty shallow knowledge centered around man, and the wisdom of God which comes only through knowing and fearing God are still at war today."Â It goes on to say, "In a culture devoted to the pursuit of wealth, pleasure, comfort and entertainment, shallow man-centered education is now higher education.Â Academic qualifications have become a goal that has nothing to do with learning or wisdom."

What is a distinctly Christian education?Â By distinct, I mean, identifiably Christian.Â The Bible should be the foundation from which all knowledge flows.Â It is impossible to teach Truth in regards to Science without the understanding of Creator God.Â A foundational belief in the 6 days of creation is inseparable from Science.Â Likewise, history is inseparable from the providential hand of God.Â God is not even silent in the realm of mathematics.Â But more than academics, the late scholar R.J. Rushdooney said, "the purpose of Christian education is not academic: it is religious and practical."Â Why would we as parents even consider placing our most valuable gift in the hands of the pagans.Â We should fear and tremble at the thought of a god-less system teaching our children anything.Â Truth can only be taught with a Biblical worldview because all truth comes from God. Without Biblical wisdom and understanding, we are nothing but educated fools with a skewed worldview.Â As parents desiring to give our children a distinctly Christian education, the cookie cutter approach is detrimental.Â Taking education out of the all-inclusive, one size-fits-all approach is vitally important if we intend on producing vivacious learners and visionary leaders with a Bible centered worldview.

Fostering Creative Play

Bethany — Wed, 24 May 2006 22:10:58 +0000

There is a dearth of creative play in the life of a modern child. Children are surrounded by plastic, noise-making toys. Is it any wonder that the Art of Play is lost? Fostering creative play is not that difficult. Most children are busting at the seams with creativity. All they need is the encouragement to use that creativity that God put in them. Limiting T.V., video games, useless plastic toys and exposing them to a wide variety of creative building tools builds a creative thinker. What are these creative building tools? Simple things.... like a cardboard box....dirt.....rocks....water or old clothes, a flat sheet, pots and pans. A Creative Play Picture Journal The Pioneer Princess and her sister Princess Patchwork enjoy a early summer day on the grounds of Vaughnshire. Up hops, Prince Patrick, who has been turned into a frog for many years by the evil Motimer, dragoon of Syphony. Princess Patchwork kisses the frog. Prince Patrick fights a battle with the evil-one-eyed Motimer. One-Eyed Mortimer fires a flaming arrow at castle Vaughnshire. Close-up of the one-eyed Mortimer, feared dragoon of Syphony Tower. Joyful Maiden Princess Patchwork just before her capture. The fight to rescue Princess Patchwork from the evil one-eyed Mortimer. The fight continues...Princess Patchwork screams in fear...Sir Stirling of Vaughnshire wards off the evil dragoon.....at last... Princess Patchwork is..... Finally, returned safely to her home. All in the Kingdom rejoice of the valiant bravery displayed by Prince Patrick and Sir Stirling and the great battle for the Patchwork Princess was told for generations.

Unusual Friend

Bethany — Wed, 24 May 2006 23:25:57 +0000

Some dear (no pun intended) friends of ours, the Carpenters, raised this deer from the time it was a newborn --handfed, bottle-fed. Her name is Fern and now she is a year old. She stays around/near their 20 acre farm in the Tennessee Hills. We were over visiting and as the children were romping and playing in the field, Fern showed up and romped and played with them.

Unique yard decor….

Bethany — Tue, 30 May 2006 17:21:12 +0000

Hmmmm.... I glanced outside and a massive amount of cut up cardboard box pieces caught my eye. The debris was scattered all over the deck along with the missing pair of scissors I had been looking for. I walked outside and saw some of the children in the field. One was attaching a cardboard cut-out of a deer to the tree. The other was hammering a stake into the ground with a metal bat. He had duck-taped his cardboard cut-out deer to a stake. With bows and arrows in hand, these boys proceed to target practice in their own creative way. Ingredients: A few creative boys, cardboard, tape, scrap wood or sticks, bows and arrows = hours of uninterrupted play.

Part One - Adventures in the Strange and Unusual: A weekend family trip

Bethany — Tue, 30 May 2006 17:53:03 +0000

We decided to take a weekend family trip close to home. Our goal was to get out and relax a bit...unwind. We had a great time and saw some neat ...and unusual things. Part one: One of the interesting things we saw on our weekend vacation. Not your typical sign. This sign can actually can make the modern mind think, "What actually does that mean? I don't understand? " So in case your wondering...I took some more pictures. Not your typical parking lot. Can't quite read the sign in the distance.... That's better.... Just your typical Amish Parking spaces at the local Wal-mart Supercenter. Seriously. More weekend vacation stories and pictures to be continued.......

Part Two - Adventures in the Strange and Unusual: A weekend family trip

Bethany — Mon, 05 Jun 2006 17:11:52 +0000

To continue: We finished up our trip with a picnic, a trip to the farm, fishing, and a supper feast on our small catch. My favorite Cow... The Scotch Highland (Heiland) cattle. They are the oldest known breed of cattle originating in the remote hilly regions and western Coastal Islands of Scotland. They are a hearty breed of cattle with a gentle disposition and generally reliable. They have a unique shaggy hair coat. A ginormous pig - ready to go to market. This pig might as well of been a monster. Eva didn't take to kindly to him. A nightmare of toddlerhood. Our inspiring agrarian friends, The Sanders..... It was a balmy summer day out on the farm. Here he is with his fine ~~mule~~, I mean HORSE (see comments) team cutting hay. (no they are not Amish) Last time we visited them, Peyton drove the team back to the barn. A rich experience he absolutely loved. One farmer tip we learned: When returning them to the barn, the closer you walk behind them, the less it hurts when they kick you. I am not sure that eased my nerves about my boy taking these huge mammoths back to the barn. A perfect dream: The children LOVED fishing. Nestled in the hills of southern Tennessee, we found a perfect secluded fishing spot with lots of fish. The 5 year old racked in the fish, with his total numbers being 5 fish. He offered us some fishing advice: "Well, you see, you have boyng it up and down...so the fish think it's real and they will bite on to it." He had the right idea. He was constantly dancing his line in the water (i.e boynging) and the fish were attracted to his dancing cricket bait. Yes, we did eat our fish...more on that later.

Overload: Finding refreshment and peace and focus

Bethany — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 20:37:13 +0000

Recently, our days seem to have become intensely busy. However, we have been making efforts to slow down and enjoy the incredible life that God has given us. It is easy to get wrapped up in things that, when you sit down and think about it, are basically nothing but busy tasks that are not near as important as what you think they are. A messy house, a disorganized laundry room, the missing toddler's shoes are some of the frivolous things that can interfere with the peace in my life. I personally love a spotless kitchen and a ultra-clean house. (HA!) That love and having 7 young children, which I love more, are at competing odds at this phase in life. Often, my husband gives me nuggets of wisdom with his wise words. One evening as I was lamenting my failures as a housekeeper in a state of being extremely tired and overwhelmed, I pointed out to him that my kitchen is always a mess and that I can not seem to keep it clean. Every time it is spotless, soon I am cooking in it again. It is never ending. He paused to consider my complaint and basically said that I had a skewed view of how my kitchen should be. A kitchen that was used for feeding 9 people all day long, every day wasn't supposed to be immaculate. We use our kitchen, unlike the majority of the American population where kitchens have become abandoned. How I work myself into frivolous frustrations, I do not know? However, that little reminder from a clear thinker changed my outlook. I can look at my kitchen like a well oiled machine: it may not be as pretty as the neighbors, but it is obviously used and highly productive! I have to be careful not to let the cleaning overtake my life. It is easy to work into insanity. I have come to see that while my life consists of lots of little ones, certain things will have to be put aside at this time in my life. Not that cleaning or organizing is completely forsaken, but that is not the goal. The goal is focused around my children. The training, loving, reading, playing, feeding of these little ones takes precedence over cleaning. Yesterday, the cooler weather put a spring in our step as the children enjoyed romping and playing outdoors. Baby Annabelle enjoyed a lazy day afternoon watching her siblings and feeling the grass prickle her little bare feet. I enjoyed interacting and observing their youthful vigor and wild imagination. The older boys were convinced they had seen a......in their own words, "Mom, we saw a Rhamphorhynchoid Pterodactyl flying over our house!!" (maybe this story on another blog post) The younger boys were catching bees on the clover. The girls were pushing around their baby doll stroller in the yard. Though the kitchen and bathrooms needed cleaning and the floors could have been scrubbed, the time spent outdoors with the children, not only refreshed me, but reminded me of where my focus was supposed to be. Though the work load and logistical aspects of running a large family are at times overwhelming, taking a brief break to take a walk, or just sitting outside sipping some iced tea can do wonders for me. It reminds me to slow down and focus on the important. The cleaning can wait, it will always be there. For now, I will get around to it when I can. It isn't worth sacrificing my peace and refreshment and distracting me from my primary focus. On their way back from being in the creek...soaked and dirty...but now depleted of energy and ready for clean up and supper.

Mysterious Sighting

Bethany — Thu, 15 Jun 2006 20:04:36 +0000

In my last post, I alluded to an incident that occurred here of a mysterious bird sighting. The boys were yelling, â€œMom, we saw a Rhamphorhynchoid Pterodactyl flying over our house!!" They went on to describe the huge bird as having a long tail with a ball at the end of it. I had never heard the word, "Rhamporhynchoid". I had no idea what they were talking about. However, the boys knew exactly what a "Ramph -or- rink - coid" was and were able to give me specifics about the unheard of bird. In their minds, this was the bird they saw flying over our house. HMMM.... I could tell that they had obviously seen something by the emotion in their voices and look on their faces. Of course, I didn't think it was a pterosaur. My boys enjoy anything having to do with paleontology, creation, dinosaurs and the like. One of their favorite videos is called, Creation in Symphony by Dr. Carl Baugh. They are familiar with Dr. Baugh and a team of paleontologist who have actually traveled across the world in search of pterosaurs, as they believe that it is still possible that certain flying lizards may still be alive in unexplored, remote areas of the earth. A favorite book, The Great Dinosaur Mystery and The Bible is also another good children's resource for learning about creation and dinosaurs from a Biblical perspective. It is an interesting subject to ponder. So, what was this mysterious sighting? We believe the mysterious bird was a very large eagle carrying a snake that he had caught. Earlier that morning, I had seen large eagle like birds (unlike the regular vulture) flying over our area and took notice of how beautiful they were soaring high above. Upon further research we found out that it was not uncommon for large birds to pick up things such as rats, snakes, small rabbits and fly off with them. However, the boys are convinced of their pterosaur sighting. I, on the other hand, was, for the first time, pondering the thought of the possibility of snakes falling from the sky.

Remember and Give Thanks

Bethany — Sat, 17 Jun 2006 05:11:40 +0000

It is easy for me to get caught up in my own life and not realize that there is a big hurting world outside the doors of my home. Today my husband and I spent the day in the hospital with our 5 year old little boy while he underwent a surgery to correct a eye disorder. All went very well and he is now home sleeping peacefully and starting to recover. However, my mind could not stop thinking about the different things we saw today. The surgery took place at a Children's hospital and as such was filled with children. It was a sobering experience. A mom crying in the hallway, a baby crying in the opposite room, room after room with a hurting child, a 4 lb baby, a 16 year old girl...each individual dealing with various issues of crisis. I, too, had to send, not with any ease either, my little boy back with the surgeon today, just like 25 (normally 75 to 85 each day) other parents did today for various other reasons. However, some of these children didn't get to come home today. I thought, next week when I am tempted to complain over my measly piles of laundry or get frustrated with my overly energetic 3 year old, I will remember the mothers and fathers I saw today, who are dealing with greater issues than I can even imagine: Who would love nothing more than to have a healthy child and wash his play clothes. It is so easy to forget and overlook the blessings we have each day. Today, I was reminded to give thanks every time I want to complain.

Grateful Daughter

Bethany — Tue, 20 Jun 2006 16:43:12 +0000

I have grand intentions on one day writing a book about something. I have several book titles and different subjects that I would like to write about but one of them raking high on the list is a book about my father and the impact he has had on my life. As I have now grown into a wife and mother with responsibilities of my own, I have gained a deeper appreciation for my dad as well as gained a deeper understanding of the impact of having a Godly father regularly involved in my life. When I think back upon my childhood, my memories of a strong father figure stand out vividly in my mind. My dad is what you would consider definitely someone who thinks outside the box of normality.Â As a child I assumed that all fathers were witty, great story tellers, adventures, lovers of history and would never pass up a chance to stop and read every historical marker in sight.Â But more than that, he has always imparted Godly wisdom to us by consistently and continually reminding us of our duties in this life towards God, our heavenly father, as well as our duties to our fellow man. This Father's Day, I had a wonderful chat with my father over the phone and as always, he continued to pour forth reminders and challenges for me as well as point me to Christ and remind me that my life is not for me to live solely for myself, but a gift God has granted to me to be used for God's glory. Thanks Dad for all you have done and still do.

Random thoughts on multi-generational large family life: in the past as a child, now as a parent

Bethany — Tue, 20 Jun 2006 17:01:46 +0000

I recently ran across my baby book and found a breastfeeding instruction sheet that the hospital had given to my mother when I was born. This was back in the mid 70's and I couldn't help but laugh at some of the funny backwards thinking in regards to breastfeeding. Such as, Instruction #3:

"The first day or two, allow baby to nurse the breast only a few minutes, 5 minutes at the most, then gradually increase the nursing time as you have more breast milk."

Other mentions of not feeding the baby until you have scrubbed your hands with the "wash-up" package (washing hands is good), or cleaning the breast with soap and water (which is not recommended now) and not to smoke after you have cleaned your hands (??). It is amazing that my mother successfully nursed 5 children each for lengthy periods of time in an age when breastfeeding was not common place. Even today, it is not really considered normal for longer than a few weeks. As a child, I remember my mother breastfeeding my brother and I know she didn't follow a limited nursing approach... It seemed as though she was always feeding my brother. A big baby who is now towering over 6 feet. I learned more than I realized though my observations of my own mother and how she cared for my siblings. She was a stay-at-home mother when many women were out of the home climbing the corporate ladder. I have distinct memories of sitting in the rocking chair with her while she nursed my baby brother and read us stories. In fact, I have many memories of her nursing and some even still of her being pregnant and being able to sit a plate of food on her large basketball belly. I saw first hand and was involved on a daily basis in the logistical operations of a bigger than normal family. Not that I run my family in the same exact ways, but the point I am trying to make is that the logistical aspect of the large family home, are not in the slightest shocking to me; overwhelming at times..YES...but not shocking. As a child, my mom bought huge amounts of food, drove a large suburban, always had a massive amount of laundry, had a massive, loud and lively supper table, did lots of dishes, and got the, "Are they all yours" questions when we were out in public. Similarly today, though now experiencing the life of the large family through the parenting role, I buy large quantities of food, drive a big vehicle, have lots of laundry and a huge, loud and lively supper table, do lots of dishes and still get the "Are they all yours" questions when we are out in public. When the time came for me to be the mother, my mother was a wealth of information and support. Though I was, like all new mothers, inexperienced, I was not shocked or baffled when it came to breastfeeding or caring for a newborn. It was not a bit awkward due in part to me seeing how relaxed my mother was when it came to breastfeeding or holding a baby. I did, like all new parents, learn a hard lesson self-less-ness! Even now, when dealing with a wide range of ages, I find myself doing things with my children that my own mother did with us. From story telling to outdoor activities to creative play, many ideas that I have had have been lit or spurred by the memories of how my childhood was. Sure many things are drastically different, however, my overall abilities to deal with certain situations, have been profoundly influenced by how my mother and father dealt will similar situations when we were growing up -- good and bad. Because I have seen how these influences affect the next generation, I believe it is important to look upon my duty not only as a here and now calling, but as a calling that empowers generations. Like all new mothers, inexperience is quickly cured and immaturity can soon be overcome by living a self-less life with caring for and training children. For now, I have identified certain areas of my life where I have struggled and have determined to make efforts to prepare my daughter for these areas of life that she will one day be facing as a wife and mother. Even in those areas where I do not particularly struggle, it is important to pass this knowledge and know how down to her, with the expectation that she will be launched farther than where I am today. I am thankful for Godly parents and grandparents for generations past, who because of them, have made a way for me to grow further in the Lord not for my own benefit, but for the purpose of furthering my children and grandchildren for generations to come.

The Problem with Instruction #3

Bethany — Tue, 20 Jun 2006 17:28:18 +0000

Instruction #3:

"The first day or two, allow baby to nurse the breast only a few minutes, 5 minutes at the most, then gradually increase the nursing time as you have more breast milk."

The first 3 postpartum days, the nursing baby will be getting the incredible superfood colostrum. Colostrum is the first milk. The main problem with instruction #3 is that it is just plain wrong. It is highly important to not set time limits such as 5 minutes but to instead feed often and regularly during the first couple of days. Not only will the baby be eating a highly nutritious superfood that serves as a coating agent for the baby's digestive system, but it also serves as a immune system booster, serves to cleanse and clear the newborn's system of meconium and serves to trigger milk production. One of the main benefits to the mother is the fact that nursing often is vital for the involution (the contracting and shrinking) of the postpartum uterus. Limited nursing increases the risk of more than normal bleeding. There are numerous other reasons such as mother baby bonding and the fact that breastfeeding is a supply and demand relationship. For more information regarding breastfeeding....

simplicity in common things

Bethany — Fri, 23 Jun 2006 20:01:26 +0000

I simplified my life a bit more. The mop of hair these boys had is no longer causing problems. It is amazing how much a few haircuts simplified our lives.

bearing fruit

Bethany — Fri, 23 Jun 2006 20:04:16 +0000

The little, highly productive cherry tree. Children picking ripe cherries. Here we picked about 4 gallons of cherries. After washing them, I used my Food Saver to package the cherries for freezing. I LOVE my Food Saver! My brother and sister-in-law surprised me with this gift and it has been an invaluable asset to our family. I am using it constantly. I separated out the cherries into 2-pie serving size bags. 4 cups of cherries will make one pie. I have a wonderful family recipe for pie crust and was told by my great aunt that I could make up the pies ahead of time and freeze the uncooked pies. What a Great idea!

Innocent Indoctrination: Guarded Media Viewing

Bethany — Tue, 27 Jun 2006 04:03:23 +0000

As if anyone has not noticed, we live in a fast pace media blitz culture. Our children are overloaded with sights and sounds that, even in the most sheltered homes, can be antagonistic to peace and serenity in the home. Like a small number of Christian homes, we do not watch T.V. The media that we do have is screened through a thin filter. One reason we do this, of many, is because of the powerful medium that media holds. Media teaches, indoctrinates, and influences like no other. Are we aware of the anti-biblical indoctrination streaming through the tube that can cause severe cavitations in the souls of our children? For too long, we have approached and viewed media, be it movies, T.V., computer or music, with an unguarded spirit. Many of us have noticed a shift in our own standards as we have welcomed children into our home. Once our baby becomes a young child that can talk and imitate, we suddenly find ourselves more aware of what he sees and hears. However, many times parents still consider most children's media innocent. Be it cartoons, Disney, or PBS, the majority of modern children's media build foundations of anti-biblical thinking and worldview in young impressionable children. We must guard the hearts and minds of our children and give them foundations founded upon Biblical rock instead of cultural sand. There is, however, children's media available for the discerning parent. We are careful to shelter our young children from ungodly influences in regards to assaulting media. It is a difficult task. As these children grow, we do believe our children need to be able to pick out those flaws in media and learn to view everything through a Biblical-worldview lens, and not to watch unguarded. Recently I listened to filmmaker Geoff Botkin. He said,

Even the most shallow film teaches volumes because film is a didactic medium. It is not only influential, it is weighty with lessons. Because it is a preceptive art, it is a curriculum in itself. It dictates the terms of culture and the terms of understanding culture. Every frame influences the mind, illustrates theological doctrines and directs moral or immoral conduct. Every film is a religious treatise. Every film is a theological weapon because it is loaded with aesthetic elements.

For more on this topic: Hollywood's Most Despised Villain In discussing the topic of children's media and the T.V., wholesome media is often something parents can support. To broaden the subject a bit more, I would like to suggest that even good media in excess can be unwise. Children are not made to sit in front of a T.V. or computer for hours on end each day. I believe it dampens their creativity and dulls the mind. If you have not ever conducted a "media fast" in your home, you may be surprised at how difficult it is to go without for a period of time. Here are the how to's on How To conduct a media fast in your home:

1.) Turn off the T.V. - actually..... unplug it. 2.) Do not watch T.V., Videos or play video games for a set amount of time. One week is a good start! 3.) Shut off the computer games and computer video viewing as well. 4.) Tape a list of things to do to the screen of your T.V. -- This will remind you and the children of the fast. It is amazing how automatic it is just to flip the T.V. on just as if you were flipping on lights. It is so ingrained in most people. 5.) Gather the family and explain that you are fasting T.V. and Videos for a set amount of time. Explain the reasons why. Explain what you will be doing instead.

I am not advocating "never watch another DVD again". I do not advocate fasting from reading or looking at books because I believe this sort of media is on a different level from the electronic media. I am advocating guarded media viewing and occasional media fasting. You will not realize how much you rely on "media" until you try to go without it for a few days! Instead, use the time to practice a useful skill, instill creative play or productive work in and with your children.

Momma unable to post

Papa — Mon, 03 Jul 2006 04:16:53 +0000

Momma is down for a short time, recovering from wisdom teeth removal. While she was out, I "cleaned" up some of the web hosting stuff.... oops. That is why there is a missing article and we experienced a couple days of down time on the BLOG. We are back up and running and Beth will be back soon. She says she has an article coming comparing wisdom teeth extraction with child birth! Should be interesting... stay tuned.

Inspiring Creative Play in Our Children

Bethany — Mon, 03 Jul 2006 20:18:51 +0000

I am an advocate of rebuilding and inspiring creative play in our children. There is no doubt that many children simply do not know how to use the creative portion of their brain. Creative play can be encouraged by us in a variety of different ways. 1.) Mental stimulation through stories and games. When reading a story, I pause occasionally to give the children an opportunity to answer questions on what we just read. This encourages listening skills and reinforces what was just read. You may have to define words they do not understand and give "simple version" examples of concepts being taught. Ask them to retell the story after you are finished. Read stories in different voices depending on the character. Act out parts of stories. Make books become alive. My father and grandfather were great story tellers. My husband and I sometimes make up stories to illustrate points to our children or to tell a creative story just for the fun of it. Story telling is a unique way to entertain and expand the mind at the same time. They in turn learn to tell stories, as well as write and play creatively My children love to play a variety of mental games. One example would be, "What animal is this...." One child will describe the characteristics or description of a certain animal while the other children attempt to guess what animal. The person who guesses the animal wins the turn of describing an animal he thinks up. This game is very popular while we are riding in the car. Currently, the 3 year old and up enjoy this mind game. The older children can come up with some really perplexing hard to guess animals, while the 3 year old is still at this point very predictable. 90% of the time he describes a turtle. 2.) Blank paper, crayons, paint, drawing utensils. Drawing is something that can be taught. We highly enjoy the "How to Draw" type books and find that even a 5 year old can begin to learn to draw interesting pictures with simple instructions. Painting is also a great way to stimulate creativity. We paint on everything from large cardboard boxes to painting small beans different colors just for the fun of it. Painting a bean may not sound like much of anything, but I find that it encourages focus, patience and problem solving. Some of the children will pick the bean up to paint it, others will not, others will wait until one side dries before they attempt to paint the other side. Some will dip it in the paint cup. Art, as well as playing music, exercises the brain. 3.) Use "raw" materials for creative play. Children do not need a "play diet" on loud attention-getting, mind dazzling toys. Although we do have a limited share of noise toys (most missing the batteries), children can be content with non-toy items to play. A sheet, clothes pins, couch cushions, and chairs make interesting forts. Not that I am anti-toy, I just believe incorporating boxes, dirt, mud are better than spending massive amounts of money on the latest attention-disorder-causing piece of battery draining plastic. Last week, we were deep cleaning the the house. I removed all of the dining room chairs and put them in the entry way and told the little children that they were going to play in the entry way while the rest of us finished up cleaning the house. One of my sons gave the little boys a ball of yarn. In no time, the little boys had the chairs arranged into a "fort" and had secured their fort by wrapping it with profuse amounts of yarn. They had placed a sheet on top as a roof and called me to come inspect their "spider web fort". It was a sore sight for a mom who was trying to get the house cleaned however, I saw this masterpiece as a very creative piece of artwork that had kept two young boys busy for more than an hour in a single location. I regret that I did not take a picture, but in an effort to put the house back together, the spider web had to be dismantled. One piece of art work I did get a picture of was a tent the boys built outside one day. This project kept them busy for a full day. It is a tent built out of stray sticks for stakes, a piece torn piece of a tarp and yarn to tie the sticks to the tarp. The sticks were hammered into the ground with a primitive hammer they built out of a brick and a stick. (seen here below) They continued to play in this tent for several days until I made them take it down to spare the neighbor further eye soreness upon looking at yet another interesting piece of unconventional yard decor. 4.) Invest in toys that promote creativity. We love Lincoln logs, legos, wooden blocks, trains and tracks, puzzles. Just a few of our ideas to promote healthy creative play.

Wisdom Teeth Extractions and Childbirth

Bethany — Mon, 03 Jul 2006 21:07:31 +0000

I recently had 4 impacted wisdom teeth extracted as well as a 5th tooth pulled that was a problem root canal. Getting your wisdom teeth out is always something on that "Going to Do" list that never gets done, however we finally decided that we needed to get it done. Having wisdom teeth pulled is no small matter, however the older you are the more difficult it becomes as I was warned by the surgeon. I not only had the negative factor of age, but add to that impaction, a bad root canal, nursing a baby and having 7 children: it isn't a pleasant thought. The actual extraction part was easy. I was I.V. sedated, which I highly recommend, and literally woke not knowing that the surgery was already over. The recovery part is a completely different story. I could compare the pain and trauma of my wisdom teeth recovery experience to nothing that I have ever been through. In fact, I am still a bit to traumatized by it to even speak of the exact details. At least today, going on my 4th day of recovery, I can hold my head up and see straight. The massive amount of exploding head pressure and thick head fog are lifting and the throbbing is bearable. The overall pain is dramatically better than the first couple of days. My diet for the last 4 days has been mashed potatoes, soup, mashed avocado, yogurt and applesauce as I can not chew anything yet. My face has swelled up to resemble a fat chipmunk and only today I have started to see colorful bruises in my mouth and on my face. Lovely. Now maybe I wouldn't have had such a bad time if I would take the pain medication, as my husband has wisely suggested. BUT I just can't get past taking MORPHINE and trying to nurse a baby at the same time. So I suffer with the hopes that surly it can't take too much longer before it is all better. I now know why I have never heard a wonderful wisdom teeth extraction story. My final thoughts: Have your wisdom teeth taken out when you are young -- 16 to 18 years old is the best time I am told. Go for the sedation. And one more thought.... Childbirth, it isn't near as bad, at least in my experiences! Sorry, no pictures for this post! ;-)

Alternative Grocery Shopping

Bethany — Sun, 09 Jul 2006 04:25:12 +0000

This year we became involved in a fresh vegetable co-op. Each week I email my order to the farmer and receive fresh-from-the-garden organic produce. I have loved it. It is the next best thing to picking it out of my own garden, which currently consists of two tomato plants filled with unripe tomatoes. Today, I picked up extra produce at our local farmers market as well as some fresh grass-fed beef and pork. Then off to Costco, for which I buy basics that I can't find anywhere else but wonder if it is possible to live without a Costco or Sams???? I have been more convicted about changing the way I purchase food and returning to a more holistic approach when it comes to buying food. Our fast paced modern lifestyle has relegated groceries to Walmart or Albertsons, Costco or Sams, however, there are a wide variety of ways to purchase our groceries instead of feeding the corporate monsters our hard earned money. Some prefer the one stop supercenters, but I find them too busy and impersonal for my blood and supporting a corporate giant is too much for me to swallow. You may ask, "Why all the worry over groceries? It's just food?" Yes, your right. It is just food and maybe it doesn't matter to most. However, I believe that we need to start being a little more aware of where our food comes from and commit ourselves to supporting our communities. For me, my desire to buy the majority of my food locally was stirred again a while back with an incident with a bottle of apple juice. I remember reading the label. It said, "May contain apple juice from China, Argentina and the United States." I became a bit irritated at that. As if there isn't enough from China...Now the Apple juice is from China? or maybe it is from Argentina? Who knows? To add to that : I recently watched SuperSize Me and was completely disgusted. The part about "one burger may contain meat from a 1000 different animals".... Ok..that is just plain sickening. But you see the trend... corporate companies, mass marketing, mass product, mass consumers. Major Centralization even in the food industry. No thanks, I want apple juice from one source, preferably in my own country....and my hamburger... I want the beef in my hamburger from one - normal - cow. So we have made an effort to support our local community and take small steps to avoid the power hungry mega-business monsters. Being where we are, it is a little easier as we are surrounded with food gathering alternatives like pick-your-own farms and orchards, produce co-ops, family fruit and vegetable stands and businesses or family farms raising meat. In our local community, we have a couple of family owned businesses that sell flowers, fruits, vegetables and honey. We try to support these businesses as much as we can. From the Taylor family, I like to buy pumpkins, apples and sweet potatoes in the Fall. Not only can I buy a bushel of apples at a time, but they are much cheaper than the store and not coated with a dozen layers of wax and chemicals and ... not from China. While I was recovering from having my wisdom teeth out, my husband took the children to the Taylors to buy some fireworks for the 4th of July and Mrs. Taylor sent home a bag of peaches just for me. That made my day! These "hometown" relationships are becoming few and far between, but something that we have come to love and cherish. A few more miles away, the farmers market is a gathering place for Tennessee farmers to sell their produce to the local community. One way we support our local farmers is buying produce from them. Although I do not purchase all of my food locally, one of my goals is what I do not grow myself, to purchase from local farmers or at least a large amount of our food. Although there will always be purchases that will not fall into the "local" category, the point is to become more aware of our community family farmers and support the work they do. Support your local farmers. You can search here for your state and local farms in your area: Pick Your Own - Find a local farm near you to buy farm fresh produce, or even to go pick berries or fruit. www.eatwild.com - This site is a great resource for finding things like grassfed beef, poultry, fresh eggs, milk and cheese. Pick Tennessee - We have great support here in Tennessee for bringing awareness to Tennessee products in the stores. We see these "Pick Tennessee" stickers on Tennessee grown products in local grocery stores and it identifies those products that are grown in our home state.

Gold Pumpkins

Bethany — Fri, 14 Jul 2006 03:59:16 +0000

These boys worked extremely hard and long taking dominion over our garden spot. They planted pumpkins (yes, we know...a bit late....) but we figured we would try anyway. Their motivating goal? To grow enough pumpkins to sell, so that they can earn money to buy some gold. 3 of the pumpkin mounds. Wow, amazing work from two young boys.

A Cherry Pie

Bethany — Fri, 14 Jul 2006 04:13:31 +0000

I finally made a cherry pie from the Cherries we recently picked off our tree. Last year, I had the privilege of having my grandmother stay a few weeks with me. One of the many things she taught me was how to make fruit pies. In recent months, her sister also stayed with us and taught me how to make the most wonderful pie crusts using oil instead of that nasty CRISCO. I used a extra light virgin olive oil and it turned out great. I would avoid the heavier olive oils as it would add too strong of a taste to the crust. Beautiful...almost--it was cracking but after it cooled a bit it looked much better and tasted soooo good. For a treat for my hard working men, this was a welcomed dessert served with a bit of cream on top. However, as I was making this pie, I did reconsider the saying, "Easy as PIE...." ???? I guess once I get a few dozen pies under my belt, maybe I will be able to say that but for now....it wasn't boxed cake!

Outside Science Fun

Bethany — Fri, 14 Jul 2006 04:29:44 +0000

Learning is a way of life. Forget summer break. I shot these pictures of them researching a large bug they found. They just happen to carry science books with them just incase they need to look something up ;-) I like this picture mainly because of how clean his hands are. He had been working but took a break to inspect the new finding. I found them outside looking up the strange giant "attack" beetle. Meanwhile, on this sultry summer day, the two soaking wet little boys are experimenting with the sprinkler and plastic cups. They were laughing hysterically as they launched the plastic cups in the air and across the yard using the sprinkler. This kept them quite entertained for an extended period of time.

Pie Crust Recipe without Crisco

Bethany — Sun, 16 Jul 2006 02:54:29 +0000

Crust - 2 2/3 cup flour 3/4 cup of oil (you can use any type of oil but I use a extra-light virgin olive oil) 1 1/2 teaspoon salt 5 Tablespoons of cold water. (add last) This will make enough crust for one pie to have a top and bottom crust. I mix it in a mixing bowl and stir with a large wooden spoon until it gets pliable enough to knead with my hand. I then separate it out in to two equal halves and roll out with a rolling pin on wax paper. If you put another sheet of wax paper on top of the dough it will roll out easier. Roll out both halves.

More Alternative Grocery Shopping - The Art of Couponing

Bethany — Thu, 20 Jul 2006 03:08:36 +0000

I have run into a few people lately who are really good at couponing. While I do use coupons here and there, I have not pursued couponing as part of my homemaking career, however my interest in this art continues to soar as of late. Interestingly enough, a email digest for large families that I receive also recently brought up the subject of coupons and groceries. Several suggestions and recommendations for a unique website called The Grocery Game were given. Reading testimonials of extreme grocery bill savings ignited my interest to the point that I became convinced that I too could save lots of money using coupons. Here are some examples: "I am saving between $90-$120 each week AND stockpiling!" "I have been doing the Grocery Game for 24 weeks and save an average of 50% monthly. I save an average of $100 per week to feed a family of 5 including diapering a baby." Other moms said that it was not uncommon for them to get their paper products and toiletries for free using coupons. One mom said that she never pays for toothbrushes or toothpaste or deodorant or shampoo because she is able to get these items for free using coupons with sales. The goal of the Grocery Game website is to enable a family of 4 to save $1,000 on their groceries in 12 weeks using coupons. I wonder how that would translate with a family of 9? So what exactly is this grocery game anyway??

What is The Grocery Game? The Grocery Game is a fun, easy way to save hundreds of dollars on groceries each month. TERI'S LIST reveals the "rock bottom" prices on hundreds of products each week and matches them up with manufacturers' coupons for the best possible savings at your local supermarket. The Grocery Game has exclusive databases that track manufacturers' coupons along with weekly sales and specials, both advertised and UN-advertised. With TERI'S LIST, the days of time consuming work required for effective coupon-ing are over. The Grocery Game does all the hard work and research, presented in a quick reference format on the internet each week, as TERI'S LIST. Members log in, spend a few minutes with a pair of scissors, and they're off to win The Grocery Game!

To read about the entire system and how it works, you need to read the 'What is the Grocery Game' section on the website. Before I dive into using the Grocery Game system, I intend on growing my coupon file over the next few weeks. This week I asked my neighbor for her Sunday paper coupon inserts if she was not using them and received two sets of coupon inserts. I will keep you posted on future outrageous coupon saving grocery store trips as I delve into the new art of extreme couponing.

Meal Time Rut Rescue

Bethany — Thu, 20 Jul 2006 22:48:46 +0000

Ever once in a while I seem to get into a meal time rut. I usually sit down to plan my meals before the month begins and lately it has been like "pulling teeth" (now that isn't funny to me now) to break out of the meal time rut. I know other mothers experience the same thing. You know what the meal time rut is, don't you?? It is when you can't seem to think beyond a couple of familiar meals and notice yourself cooking meals like old reruns? I noticed this, or I should say my husband noticed this recently when he commented, "We're having spaghetti again????" For some reason "Spaghetti" is a favorite rerun. We like it but not several times a week. One thing that really pulls me out of the rut of meal reruns is to ask other moms what they have had for supper lately. Here are some supper meals that we have incase you are in a rut: 1- Homemade Rice-a-Roni. This is very easy to make and it doesn't have all the preservatives. While your rice is cooking, saute chopped-up spaghetti noodles in a skillet with a little bit of butter. I add my chopped up noodles in over a period of a few minutes so that the first ones I added get really brown but the later ones are barely sauteed. I then pour water in the pan and boil the noodles until tender. Mix the noodles in with the rice. I usually saute some peppers, garlic and onions and cook some hamburger meat. I then mix it all up and add some shredded cheese. 2- Beans and Rice. I love cooking dry beans now that I can. I had some training in the art of bean cooking not too long ago and have been able to prepare some really yummy bean dishes. We had black bean quesadillas that were a big hit. 3- Meatloaf - As a child, I assumed meatloaf was not a good food. However, our family loves meatloaf. In fact...it is probably one of their favorite meals, if not the favorite. Meatloaf goes great with green beans and mashed potatoes with a loaded salad. Sometimes I steam veggies instead of the green beans. Meatloaf also is easy to mix up and freeze as a fast freezer meal on days where you have little preparation time but want a hearty meal and the house to smell as though you have been working hard on supper! What are 3 meals that you have recently prepared to help pull the rest of us out of the meal time rut?

The Art of Cooking Dry Beans

Bethany — Thu, 20 Jul 2006 23:50:38 +0000

In my busy, oft times hectic day, meal times can either be a blessing or a huge burden. I try to stay on top of things and prepare menus and meals ahead of time. I rely on the crock pot as well as freezer meals to make my job a bit less demanding. During this busy summer of children, job changes and moving houses, I have frequently utilized the simple art of cooking beans. I say ART, because I believe that cooking beans requires more knowledge and experience than the average homemaker these days has. I certainly didn't know how to cook a pot of beans. I remember the bean disaster I concocted in my early days of being a homemaker. I am not sure what I did or didn't do, but I remember my husband and I standing over the stove looking at the finished product in bewilderment. He ended up walking the pot of bubbled mush out the back door. After that, I didn't torture myself and attempt to cook beans. However, over the years, I have gained a considerable amount of homemaking skills that I didn't have as a new homemaker. One of those skills is making beans. Most modern homemakers are scared of beans and assume that they are more trouble than what they are worth-- which isn't much in reality as they are cheap and easy once you have a bit of practice! My great-aunt taught me a great deal about beans. She is a bean expert! She can tell you exactly what types of seasoning go with which bean. I have simplified my bean repertoire to black beans, pinto beans and a pinto and white bean that I have yet to learn the name of mix. When cooking beans you must carefully wash them and make sure they do not have any rocks or dirt. I rarely have rocks or dirt but sometimes some bags of beans do contain little rocks and are dirtier than others. Once you have washed and rinsed them really good, soak them in water overnight or the day before. Put a little bit of apple cider vinegar in the water while the beans are soaking to eliminate gas in the beans. If you soak the beans over night, in the morning you will want to drain the soaking water and rinse the beans before adding new water to begin the cooking. I turn my crockpot on high and let them start cooking. A crock pot on a low setting doesn't cook beans very well. The last time I made beans, I did notice foam bubbles at the top, however, I just skimmed them off and added a bit more water. The beans turned out great. I put my beans on in the morning and let them cook the entire day. I add bacon or pork jowl or a ham hock. I do not like using pork but I have yet to find a comparable seasoning for beans. I also add a chopped onion, some minced garlic, salt and pepper. Last time I didn't add the seasonings until the afternoon and it still turned out. Cook the beans down until the water has turned into a thicker liquid and the beans are soft. Serve over rice. Add some homemade cornbread! YUMMY! If you make black beans, these are great with tacos or quesadillas. You can make refried beans out of your black beans or pinto beans by smashing your beans up with a potato masher in a skillet over a little heat.

Grocery update

Bethany — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 15:59:43 +0000

I had a great shopping trip last night. I will soon post my savings as I am very excited about it -- free toothpaste and cheerios for .99 cents a box -- Yippee! I found out that you do not have to build your coupon supplies before using the grocery game system so I decided to sign up for the $1 trial. If any are interested in doing this... you can earn free weeks for the person who referred you. If you are thinking about signing up you may use my address ebay at tretower.com for a referral. I will post more later--- we have a blueberry picking adventure today ;-)

Blueberry Adventure

Bethany — Sun, 23 Jul 2006 03:17:29 +0000

Blueberry picking proved to be fun experience! We visited a good sized berry patch located on the grounds of a country church nestled in the rolling hills of Tennessee. Although a sultry summer day, we enjoyed picking the abundant fruit with our friends. We enjoyed a picnic lunch under the shade of some large trees and enjoyed a nice chat while the children played. We returned home, worn and tired....and hot...but with fresh blueberries from the country side. Here are the large blueberry bushes. Annabelle in the shade of the blueberry bushes. Baby O enjoying a blueberry. We put the babies' quilts next to each other in the shade while we picked close by. Counting or comparing how many blueberries? Baskets with blueberries. I was amazed at how big blueberry bushes are. I expected them to be much smaller. A cold wet bandana on Annabelle's head kept her more comfortable in the heat. Some children ate more blueberries than they picked ;-) Aren't the twins cute!?! More blueberry pickers... I love this picture not only of the countryside but of a momma and daughter gathering berries together. Lunch break for the weary workers under big shade trees. Mid-day nap under the shade tree for the little one. 14 berry pickers with only 13 shown because one certain 3 year old hid behind the tree for the group picture. Blueberry picking tips: Blueberries are a summer berry so avoiding the heat by going early morning would be better and don't forget the bug spray.

Grocery Savings Add Up: $11.34 worth of toothpaste for .94 cents!

Bethany — Sun, 23 Jul 2006 04:07:54 +0000

Here is something that I stocked up on this week: toothpaste And the break down is this: Toothpaste cost was $1.89 each X 6 = $11.34 Toothpaste was on sale at grocery store this week for .99 cents and I had 4 coupons each for .75 cents off and 2 coupons for $1 off. So on two boxes, I recieved a penny back for each box because my coupons exceeded the amount. The rest of the boxes I paid .24 cents per box bringing the total spent on 6 boxes of toothpaste down to a grand total of .94 cents ! Yes, I like coupons now. No, it's not Tom's of Maine but I didn't really care at that price.

Golden Pumpkin Sprouts

Bethany — Thu, 27 Jul 2006 03:53:23 +0000

Shouts of joy and jubilation could be heard 'round the county. Yes, we are proud to announce we have pumpkin sprouts and some very happy children.

Impressive Grocery Savings: more couponing praises

Bethany — Thu, 27 Jul 2006 04:47:58 +0000

I am hooked! I have been trying out the grocery game trial period and I am loving it. I saved over $80 last week by using coupons and store sales. My savings equaled more than I spent and I was able to stockpile a few bottles of laundry soap and some boxes of toothpaste as well. If you have several children, I have a few coupon tips that I have found to be helpful.

1. If you have a large family or you are wanting to build a major stockpile, you need multiple coupon sources. I know of one mom who bought 30 jars of applesauce last week for .50 cents each. Now while the majority of the population would not know what to do with 30 jars of applesauce, I know of 7 children that know exactly what to do with applesauce. 2. Ask neighbors and friends for coupons out of the Sunday paper. I am getting coupon inserts in my mailbox from neighbors. 3. Check out your local newspaper recycling bin for coupons. You can call the paper and ask them where the closest newspaper recycling center is. We hit a jackpot and found lots of coupon inserts. My daughter responded shocked, "MOM, Who would throw away all these tickets!" (She meant coupons!) Today, she asked me when we were going back to the newspaper recycling bin to get more "Cheap-pons"! (No, not cheap-pons...it's coupons!)

Having multiple coupons allows you to build your stockpile. With one paper, I would not have been able to get 6 boxes of toothpaste or the deals on cereal and laundry soap that I was able to get this last week. A couple other examples of my savings have been: I was able to save a great deal on Cheerios. I bought $11.96 worth of cereal for $3.96. Also, today I bought $10.98 worth of laundry soap for $4.98. The downside: I have been consumed with grocery budget management this week. If you aren't into researching and reading about the grocery game system, you would still be able to make an impact with coupons. However, the major impact comes when you can strategically plan purchases around store sales and coupons to synergistically work together to give you a major grocery spending overhaul. While it is true that I would have not bought 6 boxes of toothpaste, extra laundry soap or extra cereal this week normally, the system of strategic grocery shopping by taking advantage of store sales and multiple coupons pays off in the long run. I have found a boat load of information off the grocery coupon message boards. Strategic money saving methods of grocery shopping do take some time and planning, but oh, how rewarding it is! "She is like merchant ships; She brings her food from afar." "She is not afraid of the snow for her household, For all her household are clothed with scarlet." "She looks well to the ways of her household, And does not eat the bread of idleness." Proverbs 31:14,21,27

Out of Service

Bethany — Wed, 02 Aug 2006 16:22:03 +0000

This month we take a huge leap into simplicity with a complicated twist. We are selling our 2480 sq foot home and moving to a very cozy 1050 sq foot country home. As you can imagine, or maybe not imagine, the logistics of large family living in small family quarters has me occupied beyond my normal capabilities. My brainpower has been working overtime. Our adventures to be posted soon! Until then, we have a busy week.

Fruit of the Vine - a look at our vineyard

Bethany — Fri, 04 Aug 2006 05:08:39 +0000

Our vineyard is small and actually only consists of 4 vines. So I guess it isn't a real vineyard, but we like to think of it that way. A while back, we visited a real vineyard and had the opportunity to let the children pick grapes. Although these grapes were not "eating" type grapes, they were used for wine making, we took our bunches home and saved some of the seeds. The children planted their seeds in a planter bucket on our back porch and over time we noticed we had several vines growing. This week we transplanted our small vines.

Labor and Work: Good for the body and soul

Bethany — Fri, 04 Aug 2006 05:39:49 +0000

Even with all our house work (remodel), we have enjoyed working outside on gardens, vines, clearing land, tearing down falling-down outbuildings.... The children have thrived on full days of exercise, mud, working with tools, playing house and building all sorts of interesting things out of wood and nails or cardboard and sawdust. The toddlers "work" in the garden. We recently had a beautiful day of clouds and light rain, which made for soggy, muddy, but happy children. Our future cook, takes a break from garden work to cook up a nice pot of ... locust shell soup. Yum. She was quite proud of herself and we were anxious to get back to work lest she offer a bowl of her yummy delight. We didn't want to upset her creativity, so we thought it best to leave her alone to "play house". Someone hiding while others are working .... or is he waiting for his supper? Won't he be surprised ;-) I will be posting some pictures of our house remodel in the near future.

Grocery Savings Continue to Add Up: My savings highlights for last month

Bethany — Sat, 05 Aug 2006 23:10:36 +0000

Recently, I began my trial period of the Grocery Game (which was only a $1 to try it out for 4 weeks) and since then I have become coupon crazy. I love a good deal and I am such a frugal person that something like the Grocery Game is great fun and excitement for me. Since then, I have started tracking my grocery spending and savings in an excel spread sheet as well as working on an inventory list! GASP!!! I thought I would never do anything of the sort. My husband is the spread sheet person! My goal is to stock my own family store - yes even in a tight space - in an effort to always be prepared as well as to manage our food and supplies in a frugal manner. I hope to curb the last minute dash to the store to get diapers or toilet paper. The goal is to have my shelves stocked with these supplies so when the need arises, the need is met instantly and with out paying full price! In an earlier post, I explained the basics of the game (also look under the couponing category). But to update you on how it is going, I wanted to give a few highlights and tips. I almost didn't start my trial period until I built up my coupons, but because I became so excited about it, I jumped right in without any coupons. Though you can start this way, you would fair even better if you had a supply of coupons to start out with. If you do not want to start the trial, you can always save money using store sales combined with coupons...you just have to keep your eyes open and watch for the deals. Since we are a large family, couponing is slightly different. Because we have many mouths to feed, our grocery and toiletry budget is large. I am always working to remain frugal, yet healthy and wise in this area. We do shop at the major wholesale type stores, yet many times even these stores have certain items that are more expensive than if you would have bought them at a regular store. However, some things you just are not going to find any cheaper than at Sams or Costco--like organic peanut butter or organic jelly at Costco! You will have to identify these items and shop accordingly. For items that I do not purchase at Costco/Sams or locally, like the farmer's markets, I have been using coupons at regular grocery stores. To make couponing successful for me, I have to use multiple coupons to meet the need of my size of family. Instead of buying multiple papers, I have found that the newspaper recycle bin supplies all the coupons a large family could ever want! So here are some things that I have learned: The idea of the Grocery Game is brilliant in my opinion. It is simply taking advantage of store sales and combining those sales with manufacture coupons to equal a rock bottom price on food and products. Some things to remember about grocery stores: 1.) Many stores, even expensive stores, run sales each week as loss leaders. They are willing to take a loss on certain items to get you into the store, knowing that you will buy other products. 2.) Stores run sale items in cycles and most times many sale products are the same from store to store. 3.) Many store sales are not advertised in the weekly flyer. Although having a double coupon store is a bonus, you can find great sales even if your store does not double - although I do prefer double coupon stores. It took me a couple of days to figure out what the coupon policy was for every store (that I was interested in shopping at) in my area. Here are some examples of my savings: A grocery store had the pump softsoap hand soap on sale for a $1.00. It was regularly $1.69. I had coupons for .35 cents off this soap. The store coupon policy was double coupons up to .50 cents. So each of my .35 cent coupons were now worth .70 cents. I bought the hand soap for .30 cents! I bought 4 of them because I only had 4 coupons. Had I 10 coupons, I would have bought more of them and had my stockpile of hand soap full. My store would have been stocked here at home and the next time I need hand soap to put in the bathroom, I would have gone to my shelf instead. Because I am monitoring my inventory, I know when I will need to buy more soap and I will have the ability to wait until the next sale to stock up. Another great deal I came across unexpectedly was clearanced out Infusium hair care products. The regular price on the shampoo was $6.29. The store had a 50% off sale basket with several Infusium products. I had a handful of $3.00 off coupons for any Infusium products which brought the cost down to .15 cents per bottle! So you can see the benefit to having multiple coupons! Another thing I stocked up on was laundry detergent. I had 4 coupons for $1.50 off Wisk 3X Dual Action. It is a newer detergent that is in a small bottle so it is easy to store, but you use VERY little soap for a full load. It is extremely concentrated. The normal price is $5.49. The sale price was $3.99. I had a handful of $1.50 off coupons bringing my total to $2.49 for each bottle. Although it isn't pennies, it is still over a 50% savings. Although I have not learned the Art of Couponing at Walgreens and CVS, - this is where most of these extreme grocery savers rack in the free stuff with money back savings and rebates- I did venture in to Walgreens to check it out. Our total was $23.68 and after I gave her my coupons, which were for free dog food (and we don't even have a dog yet), my total was $3.68. It would have been less but I felt bad for them and bought some juice that wasn't on sale ;-) Another sale I stocked up on was Mott's Natural Applesauce. Although I did not have any coupons for this item, I was wishing I did! The sale was 10 for $10 which is a great deal on the natural applesauce. Although I do not use a lot of cleaning products, I did stock up on some cleaners this week with an amazing sale and coupon combination. Fantastic brand cleaners were on sale for buy one get one free (or BOGOF). The regular price was $3.79. I had coupons for .75 cents and the store I was at doubles coupons up to .99 cents. My .75 cents became $1.50. So since I had two cleaners in the BOGOF deal, I could use two coupons. It ended up being 2 cleaners for $3.79 minus my $3.00 worth of coupons. 2 bottles for .79 cents and I bought 4 of them. (was that confusing?) Now here is a better one: Shout laundry stain remover bottles were on sale: $2.99, buy one, get one free. I had .75 cent coupons which the store doubled to make each coupon worth $1.50. I bought 4 bottles of Shout ($5.98) and the coupon amount ($6.00) that I handed over was greater than the total price of the Shout. I was +2 cents back on that one and have a years worth of stain remover for better than free! When couponing with a large family, you will have to be able to collect multiple copies of the coupon inserts to be able to stock up. Even if you are a smaller family, collecting multiple copies will be beneficial for you in certain products. Although you many not want 30 jars of apple sauce in your pantry, having 4 bottles of detergent might suit you just fine--especially if they were $2! Buying multiple items at rock bottom prices will save you money in the long run. Although I spent almost $10 on laundry detergent last month that I normally wouldn't have spent, I will not have to buy laundry detergent for months. The best part is hearing the total and handing over the coupons!!!! At one store it was $136.56. With store sales and coupons I saved $77.81 making my total come down to $58.75. I expect to start seeing a decrease in my Costco/Sams spending over the next couple of months as I build my stockpiles with these types of deals. For now, I am not seeing an immediate drop in my overall grocery bill yet, but I am seeing a drastic savings on the things I am able to stockpile. Stay tuned for next month's grocery savings highlights.

Grocery Store Paid Me

Bethany — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 05:23:58 +0000

I know the grocery related posts are abundant, however, I am so thrilled about my new adventure into coupon land, it is hard to contain my excitement. Tonight, I saved over $30 on my grocery trip. I was getting some last minute things for our up and coming trip, when I spotted a sale sign on bottled water. Just what I needed! I planned on getting some bottled water for our trip. I was going to freeze the water bottles over night and stick them in the cooler for ice blocks ;-) The deal was bottled water 6-packs, 2 for $3. I had $1.75 off coupons for this very brand and size of bottled water. I used two $1.75 coupons making my coupon total $3.50 for the 2 for $3.00 deal. I bought three 6-packs. Even after tax, each pack of water yielded money back to me but since I purchased it along with other groceries, it was deducted from my total amount. Now I have better than free water that I needed for our trip. I loaded my groceries up in the van and noticed that I had one more $1.75 coupon. I ran back in and grabbed another pack of water and decided to go through the self-checkout lane since that is the only thing I had. I finished my transaction and went to see the cashier to get my change. He looked very confused and finally said, "HMMM, Well, the water is only $1.50 and you have here a $1.75 coupon." I said, "Yes--your right." He says, "Well, you can't do that?" He is still looking very puzzled at the computer screen, the coupon, the water and then back to the screen. I say, "Well, why not? I just purchased 3 other packs with my other groceries with no problem." He says, "Hmmm....Well, ma'm, you see, the water here...well, it is only $1.50 a pack." I say, "Yes, I know. My coupon covers $1.75 off that $1.50 water pack." He contemplates. I couldn't tell if he was trying to figure out the math or trying to figure out how that happened or what, but he finally says, "Well, I guess it all works out in the end anyway, right?" and he hands me change and a receipt and I walk out happy with my water purchase.

Preserving Grandfather’s Story

Bethany — Sun, 20 Aug 2006 05:24:05 +0000

On our recent trip to visit family, my mother and I stayed up very late one evening going through old pictures and papers. I learned many interesting bits of information about my own heritage, but one piece of information especially inspired me. My mother handed me a stack of papers and said that it was a story that my great grandfather wrote. It is the true story of his life. I took the stack of papers and started thumbing through it. I was amazed. Here I held a incredible piece of family history in the form of a small unedited book. As I read, sights and sounds of the past came bursting off the pages. My great grandfather was born in 1886 and in his writings, he tells of a life that resembles something like a Little House on the Prairie story. He tells of his life on a family farm and later of his adventures out west - hard work, stories about Indians, farm life, traveling in a covered wagon and camping under the moon in the middle of the unsettled west, homesteading 160 acres of land. It is a piece of history that I have been inspired to edit and one day publish for my own children. Here is Great Grandfather Smith wearing a Sioux Indian headdress given to him by an Indian Chief. While this his story is inspiring to me, it has also challenged me to continue on in the legacy of multi-generational thinking. Ps. 78 While I knew my great grandfather, my children only know of him through the stories I tell about him. I wonder if he ever thought that he would have 7 great, great grandchildren who would one day hear his stories read to them and be captivated by the wild west over 100 years after the fact? I am grateful for a great grandfather who took to the pen and personally told his future generations about the past.

Grocery Savings Again: the low down

Bethany — Sun, 20 Aug 2006 05:54:40 +0000

10 loaves of bread - .78 cents each 4 jugs of mott's natural apple juice - .70 cents each 10 jars of peanut butter - .44 cents each 2 boxes of zip lock bags - .29 cents each 4 bottles of salad dressing - .29 cents each 8 boxes of cereal - $1 each 8 cans of pillsbury flaky biscuits - .69 cents each 5 cans of pillsbury breadstick dough - .07 cents each --Seven Cents! 6 jars of relish (sweet and dill) - Free -- actually I was credited a penny back on each jar.The breadsticks were normally $2.15 but because of the sale and double coupons, I paid .07 cents for them. The peanut butter was normally $1.99, because of the sale and my coupons, I paid .44 cents. Ziplock bags were $2.19 normally-- a deal at .29 cents! And the relish-- normally $1.59, on sale for .99 cents, was better than free with a .50 cent coupon at a store that doubles to $1! I was able to get other things as well, but spent a little over $50 for a load of groceries saving $90.80 in store sales combined with coupons. I have been finding the best deals at two stores. One doubles up to .99 cents. The other one doubles up to .55 cents. LOVE those double coupons with buy one, get on free sales! The grocery checkout lady wasn't very impressed at first. As she was scanning my stack of coupons she got about half way through and said, "You can't do this. You can't use this many coupons. The computer is going to reject them any minute now." I asked her "Why, does the store have a limit on the amount of coupons you can use in one transaction." (some stores limit how many coupons you can use in one transaction--but I knew this store did not.) She said, "No we don't have a limit..... but you can't do this." I asked again, "Hmm...Is there a reason why?" She kept scanning the coupons waiting for the computer to beep. But it never did. I was very careful to match my coupons up exactly with the products to insure that I didn't have any problems. After the computer totaled my bill, she said she couldn't believe it. She eventually said, "Wow, Have a nice day." And I did.

Where are you?

Bethany — Sun, 27 Aug 2006 01:11:01 +0000

we are really moving this week....... I have gained some thoughtful insight that I do not yet have time to share... --big houses vs. small house living. --just how much junk one can collect? and is it so necessary to clutter our lives with so much stuff!?! --coming face to face with my lack of patience as trials try the character. more to come as soon as the dust literally settles and the paint dries and I find my computer ;-)

Moving update

Bethany — Sun, 03 Sep 2006 04:26:33 +0000

We are still moving.... ;-) I am very busy with limited time. There is so much to do. Our biggest challenge is obviously space. 9 people in 1050 sq ft. of living space has been interesting but fun. We are a closer family for sure...literally. We remind ourselves that large families use to live in one room cabins without modern conveniences of air conditioning or indoor plumbing. That puts things in perspective for sure. There are some changes we are adjusting to. -Occasionally you will see a line for the bathroom. One day when we were getting ready to go out for the evening, I sent the boys outside with a wash bowl and a bar of soap because it was too impossible for 9 people to get cleaned up and ready to go in the amount of time we had. I learned that it is possible for the children to clean-up outside with a water hose and soap. Our 7 year old daughter puts things in perspective, "Mom, if we had a year round creek, we wouldn't need a sink." Hmm... that sounds logical doesn't it? At least in a 7-year-old-Little-House-on-the-Prairie-wanna-be-country-girl it makes perfect sense. As for home management and organization, I am working on shelving in the basement, which although unfinished, it is additional square footage that provides us with storage space. Our current need is to acquire two kittens. We saw a mouse outside in a wood pile. I need some country mice hunters and so I called about some ads in the paper for free kittens. The one lady I reached was quickly offended at my desire to acquire some outside mouse hunters. I asked her if she still had kittens available and she said "No, I have already found homes for them but I still have my adult female cat. She is spayed and declawed and a great cat." I said, "No, I need a female cat that isn't spayed and one that has claws. I need some good mousers for outside." She said, "Well-- I wouldn't have given you my kittens anyway, my cats are inside cats and are only for people who promise to care for them inside.... Good Day." and hung up. So our search for two kittens - outdoor kittens with claws - goes on.

Boyness, Catness, Tall Trees, Snakes and Mom

Bethany — Tue, 05 Sep 2006 05:35:21 +0000

Snakes and Snails and Puppy dog tails. We have everything but the puppy dog tails....however we are grateful to our friends the Carpenters for finding two baby kittens for us. Real live barn kittens with claws, who will be loved nevertheless and much appreciated if they end up being good mousers, even if they aren't indoors -- our cats will be allowed to express their true catness catching mice. (maybe some pictures soon--not of the mice...the kittens) Now these boys at play are also expressing their boyness with not-mother-approved, but father-approved, activities. Climbing trees is one thing... climbing really big tall trees is another. I saw them out the window scaling the trees in our front yard today. Ropes, carabiners, leather gloves, survival backpacks-- they pulled themselves up this tree and back down again many times. Great exercise for two energetic what-can-I-conquer focused boys. Evidently, they built their own harness to aid their tree climbing adventures. They put ascenders on the rope and the harness to allow themselves to go up and down. I know nothing about this sort of thing but evidently it was not just throwing a rope in a tree and climbing up it... Many more exciting things happened today (exciting things: birthday girl, kittens, homemade pretzles), least of which for me and most of all for just about everyone else, was the discovery of the snake in the garden. As I was cooking dinner a handful of children ran into the kitchen showing me the new discovery. My response, "Get the snake out of the house!" "AHH mom, he's just a baby snake. He's nice cuz he's a pink belly" "He may be a baby, but that means their is a momma snake and more babies around here!" Then I hear my 5 year old run out of the house yelling to the rest of them, "She didn't like it!" Moms...always concerned over tall trees and baby snakes.... Instead of expressing my overconcern-ness so much, maybe I should have untied my apron for a brief moment and took a turn swinging in the nifty harness my boys made and maybe I should have held the baby snake and been just as excited as they were over their exciting new discovery? It is so easy to be consumed with being overly concerned and unnecessarily worried and miss out on life's exciting experiences each day.

Like I was saying —

Bethany — Thu, 07 Sep 2006 04:16:00 +0000

Sure it is just a baby snake...... But look what else My snake handling husband attempts to pick up a snake with my plant holder stake and a crossbow gun. A big black speckled king snake that he assures me is beneficial to have around! Crowd gathers with "OOOOO and AHHHHHH and WOWOWOWOW!!!" no response...I can hardly look at this picture to post it. I absolutely hate these things!!! Now, even though the baby snake was a completely different snake than this one... my point was that where you find baby snakes, you will find big snakes---was true! My 9 year old found it in the yard. The kids had collect piles of leaves they were playing in the other day. The 9 year old ran across the yard and jumped over the pile of leaves and saw the snake as he was jumping over it and the leaves. I could not convince them to kill it, so they graciously took it across the road to let it go. That didn't satisfy me completely. In my mind, I kept seeing it slither back across the road to come find me.

Full Days out on a Farm

Bethany — Thu, 07 Sep 2006 04:52:19 +0000

Since moving to our little 2 acre place in the country, I can't remember a more busy time in my life involving multiple activities. I still have the usual laundry and cooking and babies. That in itself takes up more time in the day than there are hours. However, I have discovered that more things can fit into one day. We lay in bed at night exhausted just thinking about all the things we did in one day.Amidst the work of moving and remodeling, we have been trying to ready our garden spot for the winter. Today, I was able to get lettuce, collards, mustard seeds. I still have spinach seeds and broccoli plants to find. This will be the first attempt at year round gardening and I am very excited about it. We are still working on the cold frames but I have a little while before those are absolutely needed. In addition to kittens, we acquired an entire rabbit setup over the last two days. A family gave us the "business" with one small catch -- we had to come out to their farm and catch the rabbits. So that we did. We loaded up and had a wild adventure trying to catch rabbits in a massive barn. While we were there we learned that this barn was built in 1893 and the old farmstead was evidently built upon the same land that was once an Indian camp. The ground is filled with ancient arrowheads, pottery and interesting stones that look like they were used to grind grain or corn. It does not surprise me, the land around is beautiful with fertile land, valleys and hills and flowing creeks. The boys will be taking over the rabbits and turning this into a small business. We will be looking to supply baby rabbits to farm co-op's and pet stores for now. This is the barn where we chased and caught the rabbits. The barn was built in 1893 by the King family in Fernvale, Tennessee, just right outside of Franklin and Fairview, Tennessee. The inscription on a massive beam in the barn says J. D. King 1893, Nov. Lots of arrowheads found on the property. The one arrowhead on the far left corner is broken but it was obviously used for something large, maybe buffalo. The smaller, narrower ones were possibly for birds like turkey. We talked about how these could be artifacts from before our forefathers were even here in America. ok...now back to the rabbit catching..... This is my absolute favorite picture. This was a massive barn so the first thing we had to do was search it looking for rabbits. The kids loved it. After cornering one, we would all work to catch it without letting it get away. They were actually tame rabbits, but had been on the loose for a while so it wasn't easy catching them. After catching the rabbits, we soon loaded up and went home. After hanging the cages in our "barn" like shed, my husband and I tried to figure out how many females and males we had. Ha! Not as easy as one might think. We treated them with some meds and turned in for the evening deciding to revisit that question later. The boys have lots of reading to do but found a great resource in a book on raising rabbits called, Storey's Guide to Raising Rabbits.

.44 cent Cole Slaw Supper Hit

Bethany — Fri, 08 Sep 2006 15:32:07 +0000

One of the interesting things about my couponing adventures is that ever once in a while I will try something new only because I found a great deal. A .44 cent bag of fresh cabbaged turned out to be a family favorite. I normally do not buy those packaged salads, however, on of my grocery stores had a sale on Fresh Express bagged cabbage. It was called Angel Hair Cole Slaw - Fine Shred Cabbage. Nothing added, just cabbage and it was only .44 cents with the store sale and my coupons -- so I thought I would try it. On the back of the package I found a recipe that I thought I would try. It was for a Memphis Style dressing for a really quick cole slaw. Perfect for hamburgers or sandwiches. Memphis-Style Dressing 1/4 cup of mayonnaise 1/4 cup of apple cider vinegar 1/4 cup of sugar ( I used honey instead) 1 tsp. of ground celery seed Pour cider vinegar into a bowl, then add the sugar (or honey for a healthy alternative). Stir. In a separate bowl, add mayonnaise and ground celery seed together. Stir in vinegar mix. Whisk until smooth. Toss with shredded cabbage. I actually added all the ingredients in one bowl together and used a whisk and it worked out fine. I did let mine sit in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes while I finished up supper. My children normally would not eat cole slaw, but being the first time I "home-made" it, it was a big hit. It tasted nothing like what you would get out of a pre-packaged container or at a restaurant. Love the homemade goodness -- and it was quick and easy to prepare! Next time, I will use a head of cabbage and shred it myself unless I can find another deal on already shredded cabbage.

Frugal Fridays: Save HUGE on your Grocery Bill using BOGO FREE sales!!

Bethany — Fri, 08 Sep 2006 16:41:23 +0000

This is my tip for Frugal Friday: Take advantage of Buy One, Get One Free store sales.

Many of you know of my recent dive into coupon land. It is really blessing our family. One way I save on our grocery budget is by using coupons in a very strategic fashion. Here is an example of how you can save big at the grocery store: BOGO Free Sales are Buy One, Get One Free sales that many grocery stores run regularly. 1.) Watch for Buy One, Get One Free sales. Many times these sales are great just by themselves. However, they become even better when you combine coupons with these sales. For example: Last week, a brand name men's shaving gel was on sale for $2.55 Buy one, Get One Free. I had $1 off coupons for this shaving gel. I bought 6 cans and used 6 coupons. The store sale gave me 3 of those cans for free. With the coupons and store sale, every 2 cans of shaving gel cost me .55 cents or about .27 cents for each can of shaving gel! $15.30 worth of shaving gel for $1.65 !!! So, watch for those Buy One, Get One Free Sales and combine your coupons to save big!!!

Fall Gardening with Garbage Plants

Bethany — Tue, 12 Sep 2006 03:51:11 +0000

This year we decided to try year-round-gardening. This past spring/summer, the only things we managed to grow were tomatoes and marigolds and pumpkin plants. Today, I pulled the pumpkin plants we started a month or so ago being that the season has turned and is not providing them with the heat they need to grow. Nevertheless, we have thus far picked 3 beautiful pumpkins from our jungle out back from pumpkin seeds we did not plant. One more pumpkin is ripening on the vine and if we waded in the weeds, we might find more. Today the children and I planted broccoli, cabbage, lettuce and collards. I also have spinach and mustard greens yet to plant. I bought young broccoli and cabbage plants while the rest of the vegetables, I purchased seeds. My 3 year old helped me pick out the plants while the rest of the crew stayed in the van with my husband. It was a neat garden place, complete with a lazy farm cat slumbering on the porch which thoroughly delighted my son. We made our selections and quickly made it back to the van. As he was getting back in the van, he joyfully announced, "We got brock-wee and garbage plants!!!" While some may think cabbage to be a garbage plant, I have developed a love for the unique flavor, texture and versatility, as well as an appreciation for the healing properties of this cool weather vegetable. Everything from cole slaw, to sliced cabbage steamed along with squash, broccoli, and/or carrots, to shredded cabbaged added to salads, to making excellent healing poultices and compresses for infections; cabbage is amazing! While collards and mustard greens will be a new addition to our family meal table, I decided to grow them for the new experience. Tonight I was reading in the Southern Living Garden Guide for Vegetables about collards: "Collards are a traditional Southern garden favorite for fall and spring." I figured that our small southern garden should at least give collards a chance to delight our table and palates and if not.....the rabbits will enjoy them.

Think you had a bad day? Homeschooling mom of 12 in Germany Imprisoned

Bethany — Fri, 15 Sep 2006 02:59:02 +0000

Germany Imprisons Mum. Dad and Kids Flee to Austria. Since Hitler banned home schooling in Germany back in 1938, many Christian families have been persecuted on their Biblical stand of home education. I have a great amount of admiration to these German families who have stood for what it right and still will not bow their knee to the State and its anti-Biblical law. We need to be praying for these German home schooling families who literally are fleeing the country or are being jailed and persecuted for educating their children in their own homes -- These heros who are saying I will Obey God, rather than man.

Save Money With Grocery Rebates

Bethany — Fri, 15 Sep 2006 03:33:31 +0000

Another money saving idea I have been using to save our family more money on our grocery bill is taking advantage of grocery rebates. Many times manufacturers will offer special rebates as an incentive for people to buy their product. Sometimes these rebates can save you money or provide products for free.

I took advantage of a rebate offer today. After reading the "rules" thoroughly, I decided that this rebate would be a worthwhile deal for our family. I was already planning on buying a large amount of this product because one of my grocery stores had these vegetables buy one, get on free. The rebate called for 18 products to be purchased to receive a $10 rebate by mail. Normally the deal would not have been as good as it was, but since the products were on sale for buy one, get on free -- this deal was Very Good indeed. I planned out exactly what I would be purchasing, to avoid any confusion in the store. I purchased my rebate items on a separate ticket for my own simplicity. The total cost for these items was $18.06. With the store sale the total was now $11.06. With my rebate, my total cost for $18.06 worth of food is now $1.06! For a few extra minutes of your time and the cost of a stamp, rebates are an excellent way to save even more money off your grocery bill.

Real Homegrown Pumpkins and Barn Cats

Bethany — Fri, 15 Sep 2006 05:19:34 +0000

There are still things in life that are real. I laugh when I read something on a food label that says something like "made with real cheese" or "contains real blueberries" -- as opposed to made with "fake cheese" and "fake blueberries" -- ohh wait, that is possible right! Well, these are our real pumpkin beauties that we accidentally grew in our back woods. They are beautiful and we admire them daily not just because they are bright orange pumpkins, but because we "home grown'em" right here in our own dirt.....on accident. We have a few more on the vine that I noticed the other day, so hopefully we will be able to get a large pumpkin family for our porch this Fall. Finally, a picture of our real live barn cat. We have two adorable kittens; Adam and Eve we call them and they think pouncing on crickets and climbing the barn pole is a more fulfilling life than laying around a house stripped of their catness. Currently, the cats and the rabbits like their new home and we like them. The young broccoli plants out in the garden. The cooler temperatures and rain are perfect for them. The young garbage...I mean...cabbage plant out in the garden. I planted lettuce seeds all around it. The garden - looks quite barren now, but hopefully as the young plants grow and the seeds sprout and grow into plants, it will quickly flower into a thriving household asset full of fresh greens throughout the winter.

Building My Own Store At Home and Grocery Tips

Bethany — Wed, 20 Sep 2006 13:06:31 +0000

My daughter and I strategically planned out our grocery gathering outing and had a fulfilling time gathering groceries for our large family. Highlights: Oatmeal canisters on sale 10 for $10. I had .50 cents coupons that were doubled to $1 making my oatmeal purchases free. Electrasol dishwashing detergent - powerball dissolving soap kind $3.69 buy one, get one free. My .75 cent coupons were doubled making it .69 cents for 2 boxes. A huge savings! Cereal for .50 cents a box. Scotch-brite cleaner mop thing? -- regularly priced at $11.99, on a clearance rack for $3.00. I just so happened to have $3.00 off coupons making these things free. Cream Cheese for .29 cents a bar. Enormous jars of natural pasta sauce for $1. Bottled water for .25 cents a 6 pack. 4 small bags of cat food and 7 peanut butter to-go packs were free as well. My home store is beginning to look like a nice well-rounded stockpile of groceries and supplies. My goal is to continue to grow my stock and have a well-supplied home store from which to pull. Over the years I can not begin to count the number of times that I have been out of items and purchased them at regular price just because I was unprepared and needed it. Currently I am working on building a stock of items that I regularly keep at home to avoid those panic times of being out of necessary items like baby diapers or bathroom tissue. It is a "Think Ahead" strategy of always being prepared that has escaped our modern mindset of always thinking it-will-be-there-when-you-need-it. Not only am I wanting to stock up when a product goes on sale, but I am wanting to have a cushion supply of items for those rainy days. Tips: 1.) Start collecting coupons for items you use. If you have the time, collect coupons for things that you would buy if they were outrageously cheap or free. 2.) Learn the coupon policies for the stores in your area. 3.) Watch for store sales and trends. Even without coupons, store sales are an excellent way to stock up. I recently purchased 5lb bags of potatoes for $1 a bag. This week they have a sale on bags of onions for the same price. Being that the cooler weather is moving in, root vegetables will keep for longer periods of time in a basement or in a garage. 4.) Be prepared to brush up on your math skills: Math problems such as: Yogurt is on sale 10 for $5. I have a .50 cents off 6 coupon. Coupons are doubled at this store. What is the price of each yogurt container if I get 6? or this one.... Yogurt is on sale buy one, get one free at .69 cents. Your coupon is for .75 cents off 6 and the store will double each coupon. If you use 4 coupons, how many cups can you get and what is the price per cup? What is your total coupon value? and What would be the regular retail value? Also show yoursavings in percentage? Cans of beans are on sale 5 for $5. I have many coupons for .50 cents off 2. Coupons are doubled. The store also has a $5 rebate off 10 cans. After my coupons and after the rebate, what is the cost for 10 cans? Diapers are on sale for $4.99. I have a $2.50 coupon off one. The store has a $4.99 mail -in rebate on the product as well. What is the final cost? I should write a math book for homemakers in training?

Baby Diaper Low Down….

Bethany — Thu, 21 Sep 2006 19:25:57 +0000

Moms know that baby diapers are more valuable than most think. Just ask any mom who has run out of diapers when it is desperately needed! I don't know any mom with diapered babies who doesn't get excited about finding diapers for a really good deal. While I love cloth diapers, there is nothing that compares to the ease of a disposable diaper. While Costco or Sams can be a great place to find a great deal on diapers, in my area the wholesale stores are more expensive when it comes to buying diapers in bulk. So what I have I been doing? I contacted the major brand diaper companies and asked them to send me diaper coupons. I don't know if it is sympathy for me having two babies in diapers at the same time or the fact that I have been buying diapers for the last 11 years straight, but I have been able to regularly receive diaper coupons and samples in the mail from a variety of different companies. There are several ways to sign up for a Pamper's or Huggies newsletter. I normally get mailers from these companies with coupons and an occasional diaper sample. Several children ago, I did have some issues with the Huggies diaper tabs ripping off easily. I contacted them and told them about it, I soon received some very good coupons $2.50 off and a free replacement package. It might be worth a call to customer service to telling them that you buy lots of diapers and would like to see if they could send you out some coupons. While you will occasionally find a outstanding deal on diapers, normally you will only be able to find a "good" deal. The trick to saving big on diapers is to always watch the sales trend in your local grocery stores. For example, I know that my local Food Lion grocery store puts Pamper diapers on sale about ever 4 to 6 weeks for $7.99. It is not uncommon for me to get a store coupon catalina for $3 off Pampers diapers. Catalinas are those coupons that print out with your receipt when you check out. Catalinas are coupons you can use at that specific store only unless another grocery store specifically says they will take other stores coupons. With that $3 off catalina, I can stack a $1.50 off manufacture coupon from Pampers. Stacking is when you can combine store coupons with manufacture coupons. Be aware that some stores do not allow this, in fact it is common for stores not to do this, however, my worst coupon store here does allow this which ends up saving me the greatest on diapers. If you do not know if your store stacks store coupons with manufacture coupons, you can either ask or just try it out to see if it works. So if you take the Pampers sale of $7.99. Take away the $3 catalina and the $1.50 coupon, your total price for the bag of diapers ends up being $3.49!!! Even if you are only able to get $1 off coupons, which are very common, your total would be $4.99 with a $3 off catalina! Catalinas are triggered based on similar products you buy using your grocery savings card. Now, while I am not able to get a pack of diapers for $3.49 all the time, it is nice to know that occasionally, it is possible to get an incredible deal on diapers. My $3 catalina store coupons do expire quickly, however since I am aware of my stores sales trends, I usually can time it so that I can buy several packs of diapers with several catalinas that I have saved up. Another recent diaper deal that I found was this: The Mega packs of Pampers diapers on sale. They normally were around $15 something which I thought was high for even a normal price. With the store sale and my coupon, I was able to buy the mega pack for $7.99. I am not a brand loyal diaper shopper. I have found that many store brand diapers are very comparable if not the same as expensive diapers and if I am in need of diapers and do not find a great sale, I will usually opt for the good store brand diaper. A little while ago, Kroger had their store brand diapers on sale for $5.99, buy one, get one free. This was an excellent deal! On the other hand, some store brand diapers are really not worth the hassle of trying to save a few extra dollars. You just have to be aware of which store brands are acceptable and which are not. Any moms with diapered babies have any other diaper tips?

Cheap Toddler Entertainment - Make your own spider web…..

Bethany — Sat, 23 Sep 2006 22:50:35 +0000

I can't complain. Since moving out to the country, the children have been in heaven with endless things to do and see. Not only have they discovered mysterious bugs, crystals and fossils in rocks, multiflorous plants but at the same time, pestilential vines and bugs, the joys of working the land and caring for animals, as well as learning some valuable lessons. The adults have too had their fair share of character building opportunities and fire forgings. I believe many times children exhibit certain behavior issues because of shear boredom. I am not saying that our job is to entertain them and excuse that bad behavior, however, I do believe when they are busy and productive, the instances of mischief and strife and boredom are greatly lessened. Yes, we still have the normal toddler whine, cranky cries and general nit-picky things children, eventually with our guidance and discipline, with God's Grace will overcome. We deal with over-tiredness and impatience too. However, the amount of time spent hovering at my ankles wondering what they can do is an obsolete thing of the past. Currently, the biggest issue is cleaning them up, dealing with the tiredness at the end of a long day and trying to fill their hungry bodies which seem, at this moment, bottomless pits! I snapped this picture: A 3 year old spends over an hour making himself a spider web complete with a well pump. I wasn't following his reasoning for the well pump, but it was perfectly logical in his mind. Later on I noticed him sitting in the middle of his spider web tree as if he were a spider resting from a days work of web building. Even if you live in a neighborhood, a cheap roll of yarn and a poor backyard bush might lead to hours of creative spider web building ! Keeping their minds engaged, their belly full, and restful sleep can do wonders for children! This time of year, I also found that sending them outside to eat lunch on a picnic sheet under the peach tree made for some happy children and saved me the lunch time mess cleanup indoors.

Doomed to a Life of Chicken Obesity

Bethany — Sat, 23 Sep 2006 22:56:51 +0000

We received an early morning phone call that the package we ordered had arrived and was ready for pickup. Yes, there are some things the postman will not deliver and live baby chicks happens to be one of them. My husband had ordered a special breed of meat chicken to raise. It is a mixed breed that is doomed to a life of obesity and death from the moment of hatching. The fact is if all goes well with his life and he is not eaten by stray dogs, he only has this to look forward too: he will die in about 8-9 weeks either from broken legs induced by obesity or by the butcher knife. Such is the life of this breed of chicken. This mixed breed chicken is really a true meat chicken. It gains weight at an incredible rate and if it is not processed at around 8 to 9 weeks old, its legs will break from the shear weight of the body and it will die. My husband is smart about these things and while I would not venture into raising free-range organic chicken meat by myself, he has..... and thus the 50 chicks in the basement under a heat lamp,the 300 square feet of electric fence netting in our yard and a automatic chicken plucker he ordered off ebay. Me, on the other hand, I prefer to stick to gardening.

Homemaking Rethought

Bethany — Tue, 26 Sep 2006 05:04:25 +0000

The feminist movement would have us believe that the life of homemaking is only for uneducated, low achieving, lazy women who do not have any ambition to do anything profound with their lives. In reality, the mother and homemaker, who do in fact throw themselves into the high calling of home, are far from uneducated, low achieving and are sure not lazy. For it is the most profound, fulfilling achievement of womanhood, that of wife, mother and homemaker. No other job on earth will provide the fulfilling completeness of the female sex as God designed. As we have all be saturated in this anti-home culture and are familiar with the effects of abandoning home, as Godly women, we must remain vigilant to not only be content with our noble vocation in life, but be completely satisfied and fulfilled. I found it rather interesting that today, Monday, September 25 is in fact Family Day. Several grocery stores in our area published a reminder in the local sales flyer to "Remember Family Day": A day to sit down and eat together as a family! It went on to list the facts about what eating together as a family can do for children and why it is so important. Yet the feminist philosophy would say this is hogwash because that would mean that poor woman would have to be relegated to a real kitchen at home to cook something. I recently read something where a woman was lamenting the fact that she was forced to cook at least 3 times a week for her family. You should be able to hear me laugh out loud about now. Only 3 times a week?!? Forced?? What drudgery!?! I have yet to see the facts supporting the evidence that women who abandon home and hearth are good for society. It is quite the opposite, the facts are that homemakers and mothers play a key role in the overall positive and successful welfare of civilization itself. It has been said, "The hand that rocks the cradle, rules the world..." and that becomes all the more apparent when one looks at the condition of our Nation. The home has been abandoned and we are seeing the effect of mother being absent. Women who hold the full time job of homemaker and mother are in the minority and it isn't any wonder that many of us feel alone and unprepared for our job. We are told through media and culture if we are at home, that something is wrong with us. However, few understand the incredible genius required in the field of homemaking and few are prepared or encouraged in this influential vocation. However, the field of homemaking is not for the weak hearted. The management of a family system requires a meticulous multitasking mind and a bold, creative spirit which seeks to further the vision of her family by supplying them with those Proverbs 31 attributes that quickly put any feminist to shame. We are the home maker, the overseer, the manager, not an ornament of stagnant beauty sitting around wondering what to do each day. To Be Continued: I intend to write more on the requisites for managerial homemaking including some interesting reads that I have run across, as well as practical advice on homemaking for wives and mothers.

Requisites for Managerial Homemaking: Meals

Bethany — Thu, 28 Sep 2006 04:23:22 +0000

No intelligent person would say that the care and feeding of a family is a small, insignificant job. It not only takes time and work, but careful thought out planning and preparation. It is to be expected that the homemaker is a meal maker extraordinaire. Be it a humble supper or gourmet meal, it need not be an elaborate display to qualify. Often times, with little ones in the home, the simple meals become necessary in such a busy season of life. 1.) I couldn't do it without a crock pot. These little devises are amazingly handy to busy homemakers, especially if you have several little children running around. I use my crock pot many times each week. It will lift a huge burden from your shoulders. I usually use a crock pot on those days where I am either really busy, (which is actually a lot) or when I am having to run into town or on Sunday. It is very nice to come home to a inviting aroma of a home cooked supper when you have had to run errands or grocery shop. I highly recommend the Fix It and Forget it books for crock pot cooking ideas or look on the internet for a gazillion crock pot recipes. They are quick and easy and inexpensive. 2.) Freezer meals. With little children, having some planning and thought for freezer meals will save you the last minute out to eat decisions that eat up money. I have found for us that having already prepared spaghetti sauce in the freezer allows you to literally have a meal on the table within minutes. You may research some other meals that you can quickly prepare in a pinch of time or when something unexpected comes up. For us, when all else fails, spaghetti and salad! 3.) My great aunt told me that she ALWAYS started supper at 4 pm. She taught me the time and focus that is put into a meal is never wasted or unimportant. While at this season in my life, I can not make from scratch rolls and dessert fresh for every meal like she did, I can put time and focused effort on insuring that meal time is important. Modern homemakers have so many unique little devices and aids making meal time preparation a much easier process than in times past. It is necessary to put time and thought into planning and preparation. At this season in my life, it is very rare that I plan out an extensive gourmet meal that I am unfamiliar with. I keep my meal complexity within reason according to my family situation. With many babies and toddlers, I have to arrange and manage these additions as well as the meal. Some times have been more difficult than others and yes, often meal disasters, yet the goal is to have a well managed home complete with inviting meal times (even if it is an occasional peanut butter and jelly) to be enjoyed and remembered for years to come.

Training Future Homemakers: Transferring the Culinary Art Skills to the Next Generation

Bethany — Sat, 30 Sep 2006 04:34:54 +0000

Meal planning and preparation is certainly an art as well as a science. I have been reading about sourdough bread and the science of the process was quite interesting. I have trying to make my own breads and with that in mind, I started with making homemade tortillas, now I am ready to move on to other rolls and breads full time. We always make from scratch pancakes and waffles but just recently have I been researching how to make my own sourdough breads and am ready to take the plunge into that. Little by little. Over the years it has been a step by step process. Now being that we are a large family, it is possible at times for me to get overwhelmed with all the "things" that need to be done or the things that I want to do and it is important for me to manage these things in order of importance. It is my job to prioritize and delegate. It is not me personally that makes all the pancakes, tortillas and bread, in addition to all my other duties; this would be impossible. I have help. I have been training my 7 1/2 year old in these arts as well and she is very capable of cranking out 3 batches of tortillas without me lifting a finger. Yesterday, she brought me a hot fresh tortilla while I was giving a spelling test to one of my children. My older ones love to mix up pancakes and make them by themselves. This is a huge blessing to me! This week we have been learning about the fermentation process, commercial yeast vs.. home grown wild yeast, good bacteria, rising and more bread making terms. I fully expect that she will be well versed in sourdough bread making within the next couple of months as we work on this together. (Making her sourdough starter) The important aspect is that she is learning at a young age one primary requisite for homemaking. The meals and meal time are so very important. Not in what you make, but in the overall atmosphere of what meal time denotes. It is the heart of the home. The kitchen, the meals, the preparation, the cooking, the meal times. The spiritual and physical impact that these things have on each individual in our family is a powerful influence and life-long message. My hope is that I am able to prepare my daughters for these duties by allowing them to learn by serving their family now. Too many times, we do not allow our girls to learn the arts of homemaking when they are young because we get caught up in "trying to get it done" or we do not see the importance in that training. I have caught myself many times getting to hurried, instead of focusing on the real need of the hour, which many times is the training of my daughters. As girls grow into their little girl years, 5 to 8 years old, they need to be spending a lot of time learning the things that mom does. In their toddler years, you may have them experiment by playing with dough or helping you stir, or just playing with pots and pans on the floor, but it is in these little girl years that their interest in the feminine homemaking jobs is high. They love to make cookies. They love to crack eggs or pop popcorn. They love to dish out the ice cream and top it with whip cream and a cherry. They love to make their siblings snacks and play tea party. They love pretty aprons and putting a pretty table cloth on the table. Some tips for instilling homemaking meal skills in little girls: 1.) It is not unreasonable to teach them to set the table for meal times. Little girls always like the special touches of a vase of flowers or a candle or a folded napkin for a supper meal. Encourage these things and do not see them as a unnecessary waste of time. 2.) Cooking a baking simple things is taught starting young! At 7 years old she may be able to make a complete salad, make homemade dressing, make simple breads, decorate a veggie or fruit tray, make simple desserts, make tea, make tunafish sandwiches but the training started at 5! These are some examples, however she will need you to train her in the younger years. You may deem appropriate activities according to her abilities and age. At 5 or 6 years old she can make peanut butter cracker snacks, cream cheese and celery, pour drinks, set the table, help with dishes, peel an egg, crack an egg, beat an egg. At 7 and 8, they are really starting to pick up on their skills and able to do a considerable amount of kitchen related things. I have seen 12 year olds complete a meal and bake incredible things by themselves and know how to clean a kitchen when they are finished. 3.) If you are training a 5 year old, you may have her stand in a chair beside you while you are baking something. Tell her exactly what you are doing and why. Have her pour, dump and mix. Do not be concerned if a puff of flour is spilt on the counter or water is splashed on the floor or egg is smeared on the counter. These are opportunities for you to point out to her things to watch for. As they develop, they will regain better coordination and abilities to for see situations. For example, she may not realize that if you pour 3 cups of flour into a beating mixer all at one time that most of it might end up right back in your face and all over the kitchen. Your gentle guidance will assume that she does not know these things and you can teach by example. 4.) Expect a mess but don't train a mess. Training is dirty work. I do not expect a completely trashed kitchen, but I do expect a mess and I do expect extra time. However, the time will be well spent because as the years go by, one day the kitchen will be filled with the aroma of home baked cookies or Sunday roast that you played no part in except the years of training when she was little. It is truly exciting to see these womanly skills and arts take off in our young children

Culinary Arts: Daughters in Training Share How To’s of Sourdough

Bethany — Sun, 01 Oct 2006 04:14:49 +0000

We started by reading all about sourdough. Ever wonder what homemakers did before baking powder and commercial yeast? Sourdough would be the answer! By mixing flour and water and letting it ferment in at least 70 to 80 degree temps, you will be able to grow your own wild yeast. You may use potato water if you wish. You may also make a grape sour dough starter by adding slightly mashed grapes to ferment with your flour and warm water. First, you slightly mash 2 cups of grapes. You want the grapes to ferment in your flour and water in a warm spot for a few days. Add your grapes to the bowl with two cups of very warm water. Do not use a metal bowl for growing your starter. Yes, you can eat some of the grapes. Add two cups of flour. Mix it all up. Still mixing it up. She is not liking what it did to her grapes. Here are our sourdough starters. We let them ferment for about 3 days. Each day we feed our new pets. We say pets because we are growing live yeast and good for you bacteria. These are kitchen pets. We feed them by removing some of the mixture and adding 1/2 cup of flour and 1/2 cup of warm water and mixing it up again. With our grape sourdough mixture, we let this one ferment for a couple of days by itself and then strained out the grapes. I made a sponge out of some of my starter after it sat for the proper amount of time and will let that proof (sit or ferment more) for many hours before I make our first loaf of sourdough bread. Stay tuned for the results!

Sourdough Bread Results

Bethany — Tue, 03 Oct 2006 03:46:25 +0000

The first batch was edible. In the midst of a busy house, I accidentally skipped a step and added some ingredients when I should have let it proof before. But even with a major mess up, it actually turned out to still be bread. It was very dense, not very pretty but still tasty I learned it is hard to really mess up sourdough---it still was good. The second batch of baguettes turned out wonderful. VERY tasty, perfect texture and went great with supper. Two more loaves rising and two more about to be mixed up and me trying to figure out how to make the sourdough bread system work for a family that eats the bread up about as fast as it comes out of the oven. The first change will be doubling the recipe now that I know it works ;-) Next, I will probably figure out how to make up the dough and freeze it in loaf sizes ready to be thawed and rise in a loaf pan when needed.

The Bread Baby

Bethany — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 13:27:44 +0000

The sourdough operation around here is bubbling, literally ;-) I made a minor change and increased my starter so that I would be able to make more loaves of bread at one time. I highly recommend the silicone baking pans. They have made making bread even easier. Now I want to find silicone muffin pans for sourdough rolls.

Upcoming New Release: The Homemakers Guide to Extreme Grocery Shopping

Bethany — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 05:23:47 +0000

Over the last month, I have been working on writing a book called, "The Homemakers Guide to Extreme Grocery Savings: Guaranteed Money Saving Tips That Will Put Money Back In Your Purse!" Once we work out the quarks, we will have it available. It is a basic guide that will introduce you into the world of extreme grocery savings with practical how to's. If you are interested in learning how to buy hundreds of dollars worth of food and household supplies for a fraction of the cost, you will find these tips helpful. I included lots of information for homemakers of larger families. Just exactly how do you get 12 canisters of oatmeal for free or 18 bottles of laundry detergent for $1 each? I was able to share some helpful information on just exactly how you use coupons to build a big stockpile and supply the huge needs of your family. I am excited about it, as it has been a fun undertaking that I know will bless many homemakers.

Unique Clothing

Bethany — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 11:02:27 +0000

I recently read about a woman who created her own line of clothing she characterizes as "beautiful clothes for every day." She states,

"Some of my favorite dresses are those that truly look as if you just rolled in off the farm. I love mixing ....layer cotton dresses with silky slips, tough denim, textured stockings, stripes, dots, florals. It can all work gracefully together."

She launched a line of unique clothing inspired from the 1930's and 40's farm dresses. I would personally put some more layers on some of her outfits for the sake of modesty, but I love the idea of unique feminine dress, beautiful fabrics and creative layering of vintage styles that are not tied to an ever changing style. The creative idea of expressing femininity and personal creativity is intriguing to me. I find something very freeing in not caring about today's high maintenance fashion industry. After all, we only have one life to live and why waste that time following a fashion empire and their agenda? I have come to the conviction, that clothing is to be first a reflection of distinct femininity and modesty as well as your own creative expression without caring about what the world thinks.

Sourdough Recipe

Bethany — Fri, 13 Oct 2006 17:28:30 +0000

I love making sourdough bread! I am getting into a rhythm and have been averaging making two loaves a day. Over the weekend, I made extra so I would not have to make any on Sunday and it worked out great. I expanded the sourdough operation by attempting cinnamon rolls which were in fact very tasty. Here is the recipe I use for our regular bread loaves: 5 cups of flour 2 1/2 teaspoons of salt 1 1/2 cups of starter 1 1/2 cups of cool water. After I mix this up. I go back to my starter and feed it so it continues to grow or else I would quickly deplete the starter. I put the starter away and tend to the bread dough now. For the bread dough - Mix in a mixing bowl and kneed into a soft ball. I let mine rise in a well-oiled bowl (not a metal bowl). I also pick up the dough ball and put some oil on it as well. I wet my hands with water and glaze the top of the dough until it is moist so it is able to rise properly without drying and cracking. I also cover my bowl with plastic wrap. The oil on the dough will prevent it from sticking to badly to the top of the plastic once it has risen. Depending on the temperature, you will need to let it rise for several hours, up to 12 hours until about doubled in size. Punch it down and separate it into two loaves (however, I think I might try separating into 3 next time.) Let that rise -- about another 5 or 6 hours. (although in a warm place it has taken less time) The trick is to get the process going so that you always have bread which means you will need to always have your starter ready, dough rising and bread as to not lapse and have to wait hours for more bread to rise. I bake mine at 350 for about 25 minutes but depending on your oven you might have to adjust. We use this bread for sandwiches, butter bread for supper, toast and French toast. The recipe I use comes from this recipe...I have just adjusted mine a little. For information on making your own starter, I used this one: Grape Sourdough Starter Here is another informational on growing your own wild yeast and sourdough bread making: Sourdough Baking - The Basics by S.John Ross

Pantry Building: Grandmother’s idea

Bethany — Sun, 22 Oct 2006 04:55:16 +0000

The grocery and household supplies spending for large and medium size families doesn't have to be huge though the food and supplies are. And building a pantry for these supplies doesn't have to be difficult. I think that moms with just a few children can benefit from learning some shopping tips as well as stocking their home with supplies and food to serve their size family adequately. The frustration levels and stress that a mom deals with when the pantry is bare, the kids are hungry and the husband is about to walk in the door is draining. Having that area of our life prepared and taken care of lifts a huge burden. I have started building my pantry and we have been reaping the incredible benefits of returning to the idea of "grandmother's pantry". I have cleaned up some shelves that now house laundry detergent, stain cleaner, toothpaste, toothbrushes, razors, shaving cream, shampoo, diapers and other household and personal supplies. The kitchen pantry is also being built with the same purpose: buy multiple quantities on sale with the goal of limiting immediate need buying. I was reading an article about building your pantry that mentioned the old time custom of Grandmother's Pantry. It said:

Your grandmother surely had one; your mother probably did, too. But as a contemporary cook in a contemporary home, you may not have one at all. A pantry—that is, a "room or closet, usually near a kitchen, in which food, silverware, dishes, etc. are kept," as Webster's puts it. That's a shame. Keeping a pantry is an honorable custom. Your grandmother's pantry was likely filled with jars of fruits and vegetables, maybe even some she put up herself......

Pantry building is a foreign concept in today's society. We are very dependent on the stores being open and readily available when ever we have a need. Most families are extremely dependant on a weekly basis. In times past, this shopping style was not common practice. As I started to build my pantry, the first thing I realized was how incredibly vulnerable I was. Say a huge snow storm shut the town down for a couple of days or something happened on a national level, we wouldn't eat! I ran a instant consume pantry. Over the last few months, I have put much time and effort into building my pantry. I have my basics: pasta, rice, beans, canned tuna and chicken, oats, grain. I am adding other items and rotating my supplies as to not buy and let sit. For example, I have been buying juice on sale over the last couple of months. I bought 6 jugs of Motts Natural Apple Juice several weeks ago. Recently, I bought 12 more on sale for about .57 cents each. I will put my new jugs in the back and move the rest of the jugs forward. The key is to rotate your supplies. Another example: I bought 20 cans of organic diced tomatoes last week. The sale was .77 cents buy one, get one free. I had ten .40 cent coupons that were doubled, allowing me to "buy" those 20 cans for free. Another one of my pantry building deals was using a $10 rebate on Delmonte canned fruit and veggies, combining that with coupons and sales to not only benefit my pantry, but saved a lot of money as well. This month I also bought 50 lbs of grain from a natural food co-op and figured out that 50 pounds isn't going to go as far as I thought it would. I will need to adjust for this miscalculation and buy more next ordering time. To begin Pantry Building: Spend some time planning out what sort of pantry build you want to implement. A month? Three months? Six months? What types of basic items do you consume and how much of it will you need? List out some basics: beans, rice, pasta, grain, flour, oats, salt, sugar, oil etc. What types of flavor builders can you use with these foundations? canned tomatoes, canned veggies, cream soups, variety of spices, oils and vinegars, canned milk. What types of refrigerator and freezer items do you use and need to have a stock of? butter, meat, frozen veggies, frozen fruit, condiments. What types of household supplies will you need? After you have developed a pantry list, you may have to take some time to pay attention to the amount used during a typical month. I have recorded several usage statistics on different items in our home. For example, I know about how long one tube of toothpaste lasts or how long it takes to use up a roll of toilet paper, a pack of diapers, a box of 4 sticks of butter, a bottle of laundry detergent etc. I use a sharpie pen and mark the date on the bottle or package or make a note of the date and from that am able to figure out how long it took to use it up. I then multiply that by how long I want to store it for and determine about how many of each I item I need. I stock up on items when they are at their lowest price and try to stock the amount I need for the length of time I have determined, although many times it takes several weeks or months to do this. The first step is making a list. Eventually, I want to implement several freezer building days into my work week. I have experimented with making and freezing bread dough and cookie dough with excellent results. I know it is probably my overworked mind, but I literally dream of a freezer with neatly stacked and labeled bags of homemade pizza dough, bread dough, and varieties of cookie dough. Pantry building is one of the wonderful managerial opportunities we have as homemakers to provide for our family.

Blogging changes coming 2007!

Bethany — Thu, 26 Oct 2006 05:53:22 +0000

I lament to my husband frequently that there are never enough hours in a day and that if only I could go without eating and sleeping, I could get much more done! Maybe I am a hyperactive housewife? I just don't think those extra things are extra. What's baking bread or growing a garden in the middle of winter? Those things seem like givens to me. I would love to add goat milking and chair upholstery to my list. The only problem is my hours run out before I am finished working. I hate that. It seems that daily there are stories, happenings and events, lessons learned, successes and failures, many accomplishments and many must do's. Life on this small rural piece of land provides many opportunities for learning and growing in unique and simple ways. I fall in love with simplicity by just hearing the cows moo, the birds sing, the trees rustle. Many times simplicity is never simple. The work involved in merely raising a handful, or two handfuls of children is far from simple, however, many simple things have blessed me in my complicated simple life. My writing continues, be it a slow pace, at least it is some pace. My motherly and homemaker duties are so consuming as I believe mothers should be peacefully consumed with good hard work of their children and homes. It is fulfilling. As the year is beginning to come to a close, I have begun to think about the goals for this year as well as next. In an effort to redirect some of my energies to other pursuits I am wanting to do, my plans for my journal blogging have become this: At the end of the year, I will be compiling my blog over the last year and a half into a booklet for my children and turning this blog page into an archive for past posts instead of regular blogging. Until then, I will continue several updates on our farm life as well as some other homemaking ideas I have come to love. While the thought of blogging is not that important to me, the art of journaling is. That will be something always important and a discipline I wish to maintain. However, to catch updates for our family, practical homemaking ponderings and other interesting topics, I plan on posting to my website instead of a daily blog (which has never been daily!) Any thoughts?

Seasons

Bethany — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 11:02:18 +0000

If there is one principle I understood almost immediately after our family moved states, it was a clear understanding of the word seasons! We actually now have real live dramatic seasons. Beautiful but cold winters with some snow and ice. Beautiful spring weather and outstanding trees and flowers. The greenest summers I have ever seen. The Fall weather is my favorite with incredible brilliant colored foliage and cool brisk weather. Just as the seasonal weather patterns change, so are the seasons in ones life. A home filled with little babies and toddlers will not be in the same season as the home where children have already been raised. Many of us moms with many young children are in a strenuous season of hearty work completely consumed with logistical aspects of homemaking and mothering. We need to expect to work hard. I may not be able to homeschool like other mothers with older children or mothers who have a less amount of children. Our homeschooling season matches our abilities and should not look exactly like the other moms. Each mother may have different abilities in the kitchen and depending on the season of life she is in, she may be able to cook from scratch all day long or may be struggling just to open canned soup at lunch time. While we all have the biblical standard we need to be following, the outworking of how seasons of life affect each individual will vary. It is important to recognize seasons in your life. Some of the seasons in my life are:

Never expect the laundry room to be empty because the laundry will never be all done.

Expect missing shoes and socks no matter how organized I am.

Buy massive amounts of food and always cook extra.

Expect one thing right after the other and then some more.

Hard work is good for me.

I expect people to stare and ask me questions when I am out in public.

My kitchen is supposed to be a well oiled machine. There is always something cooking, rising, fermenting, needing to be washed, needing to be put away or needing to be swept. RELAX, so what if it is never perfectly cleaned, I use my kitchen.

Sleeping through the night is not possible.

Toddler and baby diaper and potty accidents will happen often and at the most inopportune times.

There is ALWAYS something to do so plan the day. Practice doing what I can and knowing when to rest. Never give up.

Farm Boys Raising Chickens

Bethany — Tue, 31 Oct 2006 11:11:55 +0000

Raising meat chickens has been a great experience for our whole family. At first the care consisted of keeping them in the basement (NOT FREE RANGE) under warm lights and changing out their bedding a couple times a day. Quickly they were ready to be moved to the barn to a bigger chicken box. After couple of weeks or so in the barn, they were finally ready to free range in the chicken yard eating bugs, grass and scraps from the kitchen in addition to their feed, which by the way has increased greatly as the weeks have gone by. These birds are really strange. Because they are cross bred, they are designed to be meat birds. They are lazy, eat constantly and many times have to flap their wings just to balance themselves when they run across the yard. The boys have had a disciplined routine of feeding and caring for these chickens for the past many weeks. We have had a few predators but because of all the time and effort going into these birds, the final weeks bring anxious anticipation and watchful eyes insuring that nothing gets to these birds. Last night, the older boys slept in their tent on the deck outside overlooking the chicken yard, armed with bows and sling shots just in case a opossum or stray cat came preying upon their chickens. So far, we have decided that raising meat for our family will be a yearly event although we will be switching to spring raising rather than fall due to the weather. More updates on our home grown meat operation in a few weeks...

Sourdough Saga

Bethany — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 19:13:42 +0000

Here is my sourdough starter. The brown liquid is called hooch. Hooch is the watery layer that contains alcohol. It smells beer like because it is a bit like beer. I read that some people use to drink it...however until you have made your own sourdough hooch, you will never know how disgusting the thought of drinking that stuff is. It doesn't hurt your sourdough starter. Before using it, I would just stir the starter to blend the hooch with the flour mixture. However, this particular day, I have too much hooch, so I would drain some of it off before stirring. Through this Sourdough learning process I have come to learn a few vital things about myself. One is......if we were immediately required to live a 1800's life, we would die because I am homemaking challenged ;-) I started out with regular bread flour and had the process running smoothly UNTIL I decided to switch to whole grain. I had ordered 50 lbs of grain and once it arrived I gradually started switching over my starter. Well, that didn't work so well. My bread immediately went flat and gained a stronger sour flavor. I have since learned that you are NEVER supposed to switch food on your starter. If you start out feeding bread flour, don't switch to another type of flour. With that, I am trying not to despair. I have since made wonderful sourdough pancakes out of my starter, however I think I will start a new starter just on bread flour again since I know that works. I need to do further research on freshly ground whole grain sourdough and which type of grain would work best besides the recommend Rye grain.

One other home making challenge….

Bethany — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 19:28:39 +0000

Gardening, along with bread making, is easily passed by as something those other people do, or use to do. I realize now that much hard work went into gardening not as a hobby, but a vital part of family life that determined if you ate or starved. I talked to a grandmotherly woman recently and she was telling me that when her 5 boys were young and at home, she grew a 1 acre garden for her family! Wow, that amazed me. Now my garden is nothing massive and doesn't even come close to feeding us, however the thought of gardening enough food to feed my family is very much what I want to do. First though, I must figure out what I am doing before I attempt anything more. So far broccoli and cabbage are doing great with the cool weather. The lettuce is not growing like it does in the spring, however this week I did pick a bunch of it to add to a salad. This morning the plants looked a bit frigid, if you can imagine what a cold plant looks like ;-) I am hoping that they do well with the cold temps.

God’s Beautiful Creation and the Morning Hike

Bethany — Fri, 03 Nov 2006 11:48:32 +0000

I finally figured out how to get back in shape. We have a beautiful sprawl of wooded acres behind our house and now that the temperature is cool and the leaves are falling the threat of snakes is behind me, I promised the children a hike in the woods. Last night I mentioned that after we got things going in the morning and breakfast cleaned up that I would take them on a hike.This was all they thought about...so when morning came they were exceptionally helpful with breakfast and clean up! One of the boys came in from feeding the chickens and said their water was frozen. GREAT!!! Nice morning to take a hike right! It was cold outside for sure, however it was just what I needed. A cold brisk morning hike in the woods perfect for getting the blood moving! Fall and Winter time is a highly anticipated time of year because that means hiking in the woods! As we were getting dressed, their giddy excitement was making me laugh. I think my children think we live in the Hundred Acre Woods with Pooh Bear. You know how when you were little and everything seemed bigger than what it really was. They talked of fighting off bears and using their sling shot to shoot the attack buck were it to jump out in front of us. So off we go: The first obstacle was going between the chicken fence and an old barbed wire fence. Some passed with flying colors. Others didn't fair so well. Now that we are all up on our feet again.....onward we go, down the hill. At the bottom we found some interesting things. Here the boys inspect a squishy tree. It was a fallen tree that had been there for quite a while and was decomposing. After all the rain it felt like a sponge. They uncovered big rocks that had carpet layers of brilliant green fuzzy moss. We also found all sorts of strange looking mushrooms growing off trees. (no never eat the wild mushrooms--they hear that thousands of times) As we headed back up the hill, the 4 year old gets a "great idea" to use the turkey call he brought. We do occasionally see wild turkey, but with the noise we were making, I am sure we scared everything off. He was hopeful though, however the only thing he managed to call was a howling dog. Back up the hill. Now here is the part about getting into shape-- a great workout that just might become part of the morning routine.

Tips for Hospitality

Bethany — Tue, 07 Nov 2006 05:46:17 +0000

We love the Hospitality command! Over the weekend we had company stay with us over night and for several meals. In the midst of our busy weekend, I was given very little notice of this quick company stop off, however, it was a wonderful time of fellowship with some old friends! I tested several "expecting company" tips that I thought worked well. 1.) The day before they arrived, I quickly made out meal plans for supper, breakfast the next morning and lunch. My goal for the meals was simple hearty food, nothing elaborate and time consuming. I also made sure I had sheets washed and extra blankets the day before. Supper - We had already planned for another family to eat supper with us before we knew about our incoming company...so we had 20 people for supper! I made a big pot of venison chili, a pot of rice and and 2 pans of corn bread, a large chocolate sheet cake, a smaller chocolate cake. The chili is easy to make and works great if you let it simmer a good part of the afternoon. Not only do you not have to worry about cooking, but it makes the house smell really good! No recipe, just put in a little of this and a little of that until it turns out to be a big pot of chili ;-) I made the sheet cake the day before. Overall, my supper prep time was very minimal and consisted of mainly of whipping up the cornbread and the smaller cake and letting it bake. 2.) In preparation for breakfast, I took a few short cuts that really ended up saving me a lot of time. Breakfast needed to be enough to feed 13 people a meal large enough to do some "farm work" on. Because we were going to our friends house later on that day (with our company) to help with processing their chickens, I planned a big country breakfast. I did as much prep work as possible the day before. Thaw sausage - I laid out 2 sausage rolls to thaw in the refrigerator the day before. Whip up eggs - I cracked and whipped up over 2 dozen eggs and put them in a plastic container the day before the breakfast. The morning of the breakfast all I had to do was heat up the skillet with a bit of butter and pour the eggs in. They were done very quickly without the added prep time. Premake pancakes - The morning before I also quadrupled my pancake recipe and cooked a ton of pancakes the day before. I wasn't sure how the pancakes would do, but they ended up being very tasty and worked great! I heated them up by placing them on a cookie sheet and with foil wrap over the top while I was cooking the eggs and sausage. I quickly cut up a fruit salad as a last minute thing. However, you would be able to premake some of the salad by cutting the oranges and grapes up. I would add the bananas and apples just before serving or else they will brown. Mix Juice the day before. 3.) Now moving to lunch. Tomato soup is easy to make and it was a big hit on a cool fall day. I did not premake it but in the future this would be something that could be pre-made. A large can of tomato juice will make a very large pot of soup. I use a big can, enough milk to make it a creamy coral reddish pinkish color (really have no idea how much...just eye it and add more if it doesn't taste right ;-) I also add heavy whipping cream and about 2 Tablespoons of butter, a couple of teaspoons of salt, grind some pepper, crush a small clove of garlic, add some parsley. The MOST important thing when making tomato soup is to add the tomato juice first and then sprinkle some baking soda BEFORE adding milk or cream! If you do not do this your milk will curdle. You have to neutralize the acid in the tomato juice before adding the milk. Also do not let your soup temperature rise above a simmer, heat slowly and use whole milk. I cooked the grilled cheese and then placed them in a covered cookie sheet to stay warm. I have been told that making a bulk amount of grilled cheese in the oven is a easy time saver as well. I have done this in the past but didn't think of it then. Overall, with a little prep work the day before, hosting and feeding guests can run even smoother. Any other ideas or tips? After all this, we were quickly off to our friend's house to help them stock their freezer with their home grown chicken.

Almost Had Us A Turkey, Mom!

Bethany — Wed, 15 Nov 2006 04:23:27 +0000

Our version of a Where's Waldo Thanksgiving picture? A flock of turkey spotted in our yard as we were eating lunch --- The boys immediately scramble from the table telling everyone to BE QUIET BECAUSE WE BETTER NOT SCARE THEM AWAY! The turkey wander around for a while eating and gobbling. Excitement in the house is now uncontrollable. Thanksgiving is next week.....Lots of turkey in our back yard. Within minutes the boys look like this: slingshot, bag of rocks, bow and arrow and a turkey call. They spent the next 4 hours in the woods trying to get a turkey for Thanksgiving. The entire flock of turkey unfortunately flew away after they tried to outflank them. One boy went sneaking up behind them with the bow, while the other boy army crawled across the field with a sling shot. Even though they came back empty handed, they were completely happy with their afternoon of hunting.

Importance of Thanksgiving

Bethany — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 04:32:49 +0000

Like many things in our culture, the Providential hand of God in the founding of our nation has been forgotten. For our family Thanksgiving is quickly becoming an important celebration that we plan on expanding to a 3 day celebration as we return to the focus our forefathers had on the first Thanksgiving. It isn't just about turkey! In our homeschooling these days, we have been studying God's Providential hand in the Thanksgiving story. Thanksgiving isn't a localized event in history. It isn't just about pilgrims and Indians, but about God's sovereign hand leading and guiding his people throughout history which extends to us and the part we have to play in history. Here are some talking points of discussion we have been studying:

The founding of Jamestown; the first permanent English colony in North America
Pilgrims and their Christian Character
Tracing the link of the providence of God through the Protestant Reformation (the Reformation study is mainly done in October for Reformation Day)
Holland as a place of refuge and the reasons why they ultimately left Holland for America.
The Mayflower Compact
God's preservation through Squanto
The first Thanksgiving
50 years of peace with the Indians
Bradford's Of Plimoth Plantation
Instrumental men: The Rev. Brewster, William Bradford
Advancement of the gospel and evangelization of the Indians.
Our part to play in history. God's providential hand upon our lives. Our lives are His instruments to use at His Will for His Glory.

So Busy……Even Had Time for a Chicken Harvest!

Bethany — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 04:33:09 +0000

We just returned from Thanksgiving break spent with my family. I love having a big family...so many people to see! We had a rowdy good time around the family meal table laughing and talking about good times with brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, cousins, grandma's and grandpa's. Our trip was short because of our responsibilities back here at home. Having animals to care for several times a day puts a damper on us just getting up and going to far away places for any length of time. However, thanks to family and friends here at home to care for our animals, we were able to get away for a few days. Today was an eventful day. We were able to process some of our biggest birds but because of the weight not being what we desired, we decided to hold off for another week to process the rest. We invited over several families, some experienced and some first timers, and had a grand time putting chicken in the freezer. It wasn't that processing the chicken was all the fun, but the community effort and fellowship was what was so great. Afterwards, we enjoyed fellowship over chili with cornbread and some hot apple cider. I used my food saver to package the chicken and it did a wonderful job of vacuum sealing whole chickens. We are grateful for our friends who came out to help us today! God Bless You!

Cold Frame in a Hurry….. Winter Time Gardening

Bethany — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 04:23:38 +0000

Although we have had temps drop below freezing already this Fall, we have not yet needed a full time or mostly full time cold frame. Broccoli, lettuce and cabbage are doing very well here thus far. I have tiny broccoli heads on my broccoli plants and am anticipating fresh home grown broccoli soon. Today my husband and sons work on a more useful cold frame in preparation for the freezing weather this week. Below is useful son #4 taking a break on his toolbox. Scrap wood pieces from the house we are remodeling were used to build a rectangle frame that he will staple plastic to. I have seen a variety of cold frames made from different items....old windows can be attached to wood frames with hinges with the ability to be propped open during nice winter weather and closed for freezing weather.

4 boys, a large box of leaves and a little creative imagination…

Bethany — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 04:24:12 +0000

4 boys standing on the deck of their fort peering into a large box of leaves.... Can you guess? They take "jumping into a pile of leaves" to a whole new level....

When It’s Cold Outside and the Natives are Restless….and other winter ramblings

Bethany — Wed, 06 Dec 2006 05:45:12 +0000

It is cold outside. Winter is definitely here. A mass amount of leaves are resting on the ground. The chill is in the air. 9 of us in a small 1000 square foot house - housebound because of the cold... This begins to bring the reality of just what kind of woman am I? Am I really as patient as I thought I was? I am not, as I have found out. For me, extensive character refinement is my life these days. Days when we are tripping over each other and having to elevate our voices higher and higher to hear over the crowd of conversation mingled with baby and toddler noise.... It usually crescendos to a " OK--EVERYONE QUIET! " Ahh, peace again...at least for a few seconds... In our family, the quiet game is a real game that we play often ;-) I keep perspective by thinking about women like Corrie Tin Boom or Christians who are in prison all over the world and the trials they are enduring. When I think my day is bad, I just pray for persecuted Christians in China and my trials seem like fluff comparatively. It reminds me that I need to welcome my trials and hardships with a grateful heart, knowing that God is refining me. I heard a man say once that if life is easy and you haven't any problems, you should be on your face before God crying out, "DEAR GOD, What's the Matter??? Don't you trust me!?!?" I read a book about Suzanna Wesley once in which it mentioned that many times her only times of peace and solitude where when she would pull her apron up over her head and pray quietly to herself in the middle of her busy household. This week that has become all the more real to me as I think I can relate to her a bit more. Although, different from me, she birthed 19 children and lived without the modern conveniences I have. I am finding that it becomes vitally necessary for me to manage my time and children more strictly and creatively in these smaller quarters than it was in a big house. Before, it was easy for me to send the loud, energetic children to the playroom which was located upstairs at the other end of the house-- conveniently out of sight and mind! However, now, there is no other room and outside time is not like it was in the spring, summer and fall. We all have been learning how to work with one another better. We constructed a family schedule that has been working quite well. I am challenging my self-discipline skills, but so far, we have a morning routine that is working well. When the natives become restless, it becomes necessary for some physical exercise that consists of lots of running for the boys! Sometimes it is just worth digging out all the coats hats, gloves and even some days the snow suits and wearing them out with a game of freeze ;-) tag! After that, it is usually no problem to finish school or get a few moments to finish lunch or supper without interruptions. What is it with the energy levels in males, anyway !?! I often humor myself with wondering why there isn't a off switch or a mute button? I try to remember that our boys are warriors. We are raising Godly Reformers and leaders. God gave them this fire and energy for a purpose. Our job as parents is to discipline, direct and train that energy and fire for Godly purposes. Interspersed with the cold days, we have had some wonderful crisp days that give us a break from the house. Today was one of those beautiful crisp days. The boys learned how to chop fire wood for the heater in the basement. (an excellent energy expenditure) They worked on replacing the old rusted out stove pipe and fired up the heater this evening. Hopefully, the old wood burning heater will help out the ol'electric bill.

Home school at my house today……

Bethany — Tue, 12 Dec 2006 06:29:10 +0000

I am so thankful for good friends! Today we had our chicken harvest and had a wonderful time of fellowship and ...hard work! A couple of weeks ago, we put off our chicken harvest because our chickens had not reached the weight we desired - that meant another couple of weeks of feeding and caring for them. Finally, we planned a harvest for today and the weather was absolutely beautiful. Our friends came to help us out... Out of the 27 people... 21 of them were children ages 15 and under. Lest you think this ended up being a big disaster, we actually had a great home schooling day! The girls were great helpers with the babies and alternated babysitting with being bucket runners; carrying the chickens from the outside processing area to the kitchen where we were waiting to clean up and package them. Actually, many of the young ladies skinned and cleaned chickens as well. The boys were chicken catchers, the young men were in charge of the killing, and a handful of others were assigned to gutting and skinning. Several weeks ago, my husband asked two brothers if they would like to figure out how to turn our powerless chicken plucker into something a bit more powerful. These young men rigged up a powerful chicken plucker using a weed eater! I might have to interview them for a guest blog post on just how they did this. Very ingenious work! We skinned most of them because of time, but plucked several. It is much faster to skin them. This morning at breakfast the children were talking about today being our chicken harvest day. Everyone was excited that this day had finally come. My oldest son says to his sister, "You will need to keep your kittens on the back deck today." To that she says, "Why?" He then replies, "You have to make sure they do not get off the deck because I don't want them to eat my live' in." He has worked too hard to see his "live' in" go to the cats so he was making sure that all details of the day were covered to insure a successful harvest. This being our first experience as chicken farmers, I watched the children suddenly become aware of things that they had previously never thought to care about. They were aware of the cold temperatures and what we might have to do on very cold nights to protect the birds. They monitored feed intake and learned about different kinds of feed and ingredients that were necessary for growth and health. They cleaned the barn on many occasions and learned about composting old hay and waste. What can you compost and what not to compost? What is composting anyway and how does it work? They became very aware of predators and built traps to catch troublesome ones. They caught escapee birds with their hands and put them back in the fence. Here is the trap they made for the troublesome opossum out of scrap pieces - metal, wire, springs, latches etc... Here they explain how their spring-loaded-trip-wire cage works. They researched what food would be good for bait and gathered cat food and marshmallows because I was fresh out of raw fish. They propped the cage door open with a stick that is standing in oil. The idea is that the opossum will want the bait and walk past the trip wire triggering the stick to slip and slam the lid shut and lock the latch. Through the chicken butchering process, they learned how to process a chicken from beginning to end. They learned to identify the parts of a chicken and check the liver for discolorations or spots which would render the bird not consumable. They saved certain organs for fish bait and packaged them in little to-go type containers for fishing trips. They realize that raising and growing food is a lot of work, but also know the rewards. Now that our first family meat raising project is over, we have more than a freezer full of organic home grown chicken. It is a great feeling knowing that we raised these birds and processed them ourselves. We are so thankful that God blessed our efforts with a bountiful harvest. Our children have learned many valuable lessons of hard work and perseverance. It has been so rewarding watching the children as we raise these birds. This entire experience has matured them in so many ways and has knit our family together in ways I can't describe. Strange as it may sound! I love that "going back to the land" way of life!

A True Liberated Woman…

Bethany — Sun, 17 Dec 2006 16:28:13 +0000

One of my favorite things to do is read and study about great women of the past - Those women who are truly liberated in Christ by fulfilling the role He designed for women to have. Anne Bradstreet is one of those women I enjoy reading about. She was a puritan wife and mother who gloried in her femininity. Anne Bradstreet, "a model Puritan woman whose soaring spirit, zest for life, intense love for her husband and children, and beautiful poetry refute the false stereotype of Puritan." She left England with her parents and sailed for American in 1630 during the great migration with other notable founding families. She married at the young age of 16 and early on in her marriage she was saddened by the fact that she was unable to bear children. In Gods time, she bore 8 children! Not only did she endure the hardships of bearing 8 children, but she considered it a blessing to serve God with her life that was filled with repeated illness as well as the hardships of settling in early America. Shortly before her death, she wrote this for her children that gave an accurate account of her spiritual journey,

"upon this Rock Christ Jesus will I build by faith, and if I perish, I perish, But I know all the powers of Hell shall never prevail against it, I know whom I have trusted, and whom I have believed and that he is able to keep what I have committed to his charge."

Anne reminds me that life on this earth is not about me, myself and I. So many times we get caught up in our wants and desires and our selfish mindsets of convenience and comforts. She was sold out to God, desiring to bring children into this world that would do damage to the kingdom of darkness. She, like many Puritans, desired to pass on a Christ honoring legacy. One way God used her was through the pen. She published a book of poetry. "Many of the poems were lengthy, poetic treatments of learned subjects, such as the ages of men, the four monarchies of Daniel, and the seasons...they are scholarly poems in a formal style such as one would expect more from a poet at a European court than from a woman on the American frontier." I am challenged by the caliber of womanhood she represents. In expressing her love and devotion to her husband she writes,

If ever two were one, then surely we. If ever man were lov'd by wife, then thee; If ever wife was happy in a man, Compare with me ye women if ye can. I prize thy love more than whole Mines of gold, Or all the riches that the East doth hold.

One this day, I remember again the providential hand of God moving in my life, yoking myself with a man whom I am proud to be his helpmeet, visionary support, life bearer and co-laborer for Christ. I am a truly liberated woman and loving it! (quotes taken from Christian History Institute's the Chruch Across the Ages. Anne Bradstreet: A Puritan Wife and Mother)

The last week of the year 2006!!!

Bethany — Wed, 27 Dec 2006 18:46:04 +0000

It is an exciting time as we head into the new year. Before January 1st, each member in the family (who can write) will list out this years accomplishments as well as write out goals for the new year. In the area of goals, not only do we list things we would like to accomplish, but we encourage setting character goals. I have a certain character trait that I will start to focus on. I have also identified some other character or obedience issues in some of the younger children that we will focus on as well. As a family, we also look at certain aspects of family life that we would like to improve upon. It has been rewarding to look back over the years of accomplishments and goals for each person in our family and see the growth and maturity. As we remember God's providential hand in each of our lives as well as in our family, we are filled with overwhelming gratitude. So what am I working on:

1.) Meal planning for the month of January 2.) Our 2007 Home School outline...Since we do not follow the regular school schedule, the new year brings a new home schooling outline. I have just written a syllabus for my boys, ages 9 and 11 to encourage and promote their education to be distinctly male. I think it may help with allowing them to exert that boy energy while at the same time learn necessary skills and educational facts. I will be working on a similar syllabus for the girls. Education should not just expand the mine, but should promote and build Biblical roles in our girls and boys. So many times we, even home school educators, pattern our schooling after the public education system and neutralize our boys and girls. 3.) New chore list to correspond with the ages of the children and chores that need to be done in our home. 4.) Goals for the new year for myself and a list of accomplishments from last year.

What to do with the Boys? Saving Our Boys From The Feminists!!!

Bethany — Thu, 28 Dec 2006 16:02:28 +0000

Ask any mother who has boys and she will tell you a tale that is sure to dazzle you....a true tale of the mysterious wonder of what we call.... a boy! The simple fact is boys are different than girls no matter how loud the feminist scream! They act different. The learn different. The play different! They are not girls and neither should we try to put them in the "girly box". Having 4 boys of my own...and 4 very male boys, our life is full of interesting twists and events. I grew up in a family of boys so my experience as being a mother of boys is only a sweet continuation of the antics and experiences I had as a child. I love boys and their energy and vigor for life. I love the creative zeal and though I don't quite understand how their brain functions, I appreciate the incredible vastly different set of wiring bestowed upon them. Looking at the biblical roles of a man, you can see all the more clearly of why boys are the way they are. The are leaders, protectors, providers, dominion takers. They solve problems and fix things...They are aggressive...They are rough and tough...even at 3 years old. All this for a reason. Feminism has sought to wage an all out attack upon our boys from the church house to the school house to even the home. Kevin Swanson has a must read article on "The War Against Boys" in which he states,

"Today we sit in a "gender blender." For parents with vision, for parents who take the raising of their children seriously, we must go back to the Owner’s Manual and define a vision for raising our sons and daughters."

Mr. Swanson also has an online audio interview called The War Against Boys. Kevin Swanson interviews Christina Hoff Sommers author of The War Against Boys: How Misguided Feminism Is Harming Our Young Men. If you have a boy, you need to listen to this interview. So how do we protect our boys from this perversion? The family is the greenhouse for young children to grow and mature. Father and mother both play vital role in teaching boys. For the first several years, young boys generally spend most of their time with mom, however, as they get older, they need to spend more and more time with dad learning the ways of manhood. We know many home educators whose boys are completely home schooled by their father once they reach a certain age. Even in the home school setting, it is important not to neutralize the home education of our children. The focus of education is teaching them the ways of the Lord and His design for their lives. Everything else flows out of that premise. In relation to boys, we use lots of boy related books and activities that promote healthy, moral boyhood and water the appetite for good literature and work. While many subjects and activities can be done with both girls and boys, I think that it is important to gear most of a boy's home education from an approach that engages his masculinity and promotes his manhood from a Biblical perspective. In the same way, a girl's education can easily be distinctly feminine. Some ways to cultivate role distinctiveness in home education: "How to" books are excellent for boys. Currently, the boys are working on making batteries from lemons, coins, foil and wire. They enjoy Henty books, books about catapults (thanks to this book we have three catapults in our woods), mystery solving books. Boys are interested in how things work, the nuts and bolts of something, in big bugs and mysterious animals. They thrive on adventure and conquest and dominion. Logic and solving problem books or activities inspire them. Creative play with legos, wooden blocks and lincoln logs; simple things like ropes and sticks or more complex things like electronic or science kits are excellent for a boy's mind. Our newly 6 year old built a house out of wooden blocks and wired it with scrap wire. He inserted a small flash light light bulb and attached it to a battery and wire to produce a house with a real working light. Boys will learn far more from this sort of play learning because it engages those boy brain functions that are dulled or lulled to sleep in a feministic environment. In addition to the normal handwriting, phonics, spelling, one other way we promote education for our boys in a way they can thrive in, is by "Man School". We started "Man School" in an effort to further promote healthy boyhood and education at the same time. We took the strengths and interests of boys and how they are naturally wired and tried to put together activities that they would not only love, but would learn from. "Man School" is not for babies or girls (the girls have Lady School). "Man School" is just for boys - energetic boys that are bursting at the seams to do something! "Man School" may be sending the boys out to the back to work on their catapults they built in the trees. They have various "weapons", i.e. junk, they have collected that sit disorderly around the launching site: A old cooking pot, a engine belt, a brick and about 10 other various items. In "Man School", I might tell the boys to go out and work on the catapult but here are their assignments. I hand them a paper with these problems.

Write down each "weapon" you fire from your catapult.

What is the weight and shape of each "weapon"?

Write down which "weapon" went the farthest and why?

How many feet did it go? How many yards?

Write down the "weapon" that was the most ineffective and why?

Measure the length of distance each "weapon" went in feet and yards.

Other various problems may include measuring the circumferences of the trees in our yard and locating the biggest trees, drawing maps of them, calculating heights, identifying types and estimating age. Another "Man School" activity may be to measure the perimeter of the garden and to double and triple the perimeter by staking out their calculations using flags. "Man School" may be as simple as going to a business meeting with dad or working on a business plan. We are working to identify a host of other projects and activities that engage and challenge boys. Boys that work on this type of thing need not be drugged because they are forced to sit in a feminized classroom talking about how they feel about the rain forests. Our goal is to produce powerfully effective manly leaders who understand their roles as men from a Biblical perspective, who protect women and children, who honor their elders, who fight for what is right and who despise wickedness and seek to do much damage to the kingdom of darkness. These are real men. Real men are not produced in the government feminist factories, they are produced, with God's grace, by mothers and fathers who follow God's pattern for the education of their children. For further study on boys: (These are all web audios) Created for Work interview with the author Bob Schultz (who has written a number of books on raising boys.) We are reading his book, Created for Work, to our boys and it is an excellent resource for encouraging the biblical work ethic. Teaching Boys to Delight in Work - Applying knowledge to real life -- something schools do not do! The Youth Fetish and the Myth of Adolescence - Interview with twin 18 year old young men who run the website www.therebelution.com

Last moment reflection of 2006…

Bethany — Sun, 31 Dec 2006 16:35:37 +0000

As we are in the last minutes of 2006, we have been gathering, as a family, today thanking God for His kind Providence on our lives. We rejoice for a well lived year in 2006 and are grateful for all the abundant blessings and trials! We look forward to a new year in our Lord, 2007!!! Proverbs 16:9, “A man's heart plans his way, But the LORD directs his steps.”

New Year….

Bethany — Fri, 19 Jan 2007 04:06:13 +0000

...brings new changes. Although I had already intended on having my blog readjusted by now, the duties of a stay (that means work) at-home mom are never ending and growing. The cold winter days are trying our sanity at times but brief jogs around the yard or a trip to the library have been welcomed life savers. We have been spending a lot of time on getting our house organized with some days being productive and other days wondering where the show is for the work we did. Today was one of those productive days. My laundry mounds are now under control and the kitchen was finally lassoed in today. Some deep cleaning made my day complete with much satisfaction. My children produced some excellent work today in the areas of Bible memory chores, music practice, and schooling. My oldest son spouted off an untold amount of ocean animal science facts to me all day in between serious reading marathons of reading a book called "Dangerous Water Creatures" from the Encyclopedia of Danger. He ended the day by announcing that he was completely resigned to never stepping foot into the ocean again. He is also currently reading an interesting book about a submarine in the Great War. Supper time conversation:

All day today...these are the types of sentences I was bombarded with......Did you know that an octopus doesn't have bones. Did you know that a sea urchin can go through steel. Did you know that a swordfish can sink a ship..... At supper he says...Dad, Did you know that some fish are toxic.... Dad, did you know that a cone shell is worth thousands of dollars but it is fatal if you touch it! HEY, Did you know that a Weever fish stung a guy's finger and he had to amputate it because the pain was so bad!!" The 6 year old loudly chimes in, "Amputate means he had-uh cut off his finger with a knife." Around the boys, you start to hear multiple conversations about cutting off fingers, blood, fish bites and stings...etc....etc....etc... I say....Ok..boys -- NOT supper time conversation.

Obviously the book has captured their interest. And for their sister, who disallows them to use words such as dinosaur or dragon in her presence after 12 noon, she was not thrilled at such "interesting facts". So, for the mean time, I am much overworked and haven't the time for computers. Late Breaking News and Updates: 1.) We all celebrated with much joy and anticipation as we harvested our first bites of BROCCOLI from our winter garden. It was the best tasting broccoli, not only because our broccoli is organic, but things always taste better coming out of your own garden -- hard work tastes so goooood! 2.) I discovered how to make mouth watering biscuits the other day and will be posting the easy recipe discovery. You do not know how exciting this news is, as I have been trying and failing to make biscuits for a long time. 3.) I have some other announcements, articles and pictures but will be posting more later....

Management Tool For House Chores

Bethany — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 17:40:29 +0000

At the beginning of the year, we implemented a new management tool for keeping up with daily household chores. We have a list of daily chores that must be done in order to operate around here. For reasons of lack of space on the chart, personal chores such as making your beds and delivering your clothes to the laundry basket and putting away your clean clothes are not listed. In an effort to teach responsibility, I assigned Managers and Trusty Assistants. In the beginning, I had intended on changing the names around weekly, however it is working better for us to keep the same jobs for the month. I will switch them up next month. My daughter, however, holds the slot of cooking assistant as a permanent job. The boys do get in the kitchen occasionally, but cooking is not a regular chore for them. Other chores such as feeding the animals, chicken barn cleaning, composting -- the boys take care of these chores daily and we do not have a chart for that. The children like being "Managers" of a certain area and calling their helper a "Trusty Assistant" makes the job all the more exciting for the little ones. Although this does not guarantee a put together house at all times, it puts order to household chores that can become overwhelming at times with this many people. When it is time to pick up, clean up or eat a meal, everyone can go to their stations and know what to do.

Our Trip to the Deep South…

Bethany — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 17:40:30 +0000

We spent a wonderful weekend in Mississippi with comfortable January weather. No, not warm enough to swim..... While my husband and father were in meetings most of the weekend, we took rides up and down in an old elevator, dinned in a fancy hotel restaurant and afterwards went back to our room and practiced how to eat in a nice restaurant ;-) We also went on walks, visited Target's clearance sections and played in the room with play-dough, Thomas trains and read books. We also visited the capitol building, memorials and read historical plaques. In the capital city of Mississippi, Jackson has a beautiful monument dedicated to the Women of the Confederacy; the Confederate wives, mothers, sisters and daughters. It is a very impressive monument that stands right in front of the capitol building. Beside it also stands a replica of the Liberty Bell. Just like the papaw's Bell.... Also a stunning site is the memorial to the unborn. The Baptist church has a very impressive monument that contains 50 million pennies representing each child that has been aborted in America. We also saw several beautiful Ten Commandment stone tablets that were standing out side of churches and even a local business. My husband is putting together photos from around the nation of monuments and buildings that acknowledge God. In our nation, who is quickly scurrying to remove any resemblance of the acknowledgement of God, he is documenting though pictures of our nation's capitol buildings, war memorials, Founding Father and national memorials, congressional and court buildings, that this nation is founded upon the Law of God. He will be launching this project very soon to where others can send in their photographs of things they have found that acknowledge God.

A Family Store

Bethany — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 17:44:47 +0000

One of my goals this year is to build a family store. Instead of buying out of need, my grocery shopping has been turned into buying items on sale to stock our family store. My shopping list every week for need items has been dramatically reduced. I do buy weekly fruits and veggies that are usually in season on sale items. There are a few items that I buy no matter the cost like avocados and bananas (lots of bananas--wish we could grow them here). Some deals last week were: Oatmeal: Sale was Buy One, Get One Free for $2.19. I used .50 cent coupons that were doubled to $1 off. I used two of these making the final cost of the oatmeal about .10 cents each. So I bought 20 canisters. Black Beans were .60 cents instead of $2.39 a can. Juicy Juice was .90 cents a jug. Grapes were .99 cents a pound. Instant oatmeal was .49 cents a box. Free chili beans and free rice.

Weekly Tally on Groceries

Bethany — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 12:05:15 +0000

I read about a lady that keeps here weekly grocery totals on her blog so that she can keep a record of her spending. Although I probably won't pick up that habit, I thought it was a good tracking tool. Store 1: 11 bags of cat food 10 boxes of butter 24 boxes of cream cheese 3 huge red bell peppers 5 lbs of organic carrots 8 bags of cheese 8 packages of cookies 8 boxes of crackers Total paid: $34.95 Before Coupons: $177.04 Store 2: 11 lbs of bananas 6 boxes of tea 3 containers of sour cream Total paid: $6.19 Before Coupons: $16.66 Store 3: 4 loaves of bread 11 boxes of tea 6 bottles of cayenne pepper liquid sauce 2 large bags of York mints 8 cans of soup 2 cans of Rumford baking powder 6 avocados 10 lbs of potatoes Green leaf lettuces 4 boxes walnut brownie mix Total paid: $22.63 Before Coupons: $71.39 Grocery total for this week Total: $63.77 Before Coupons and Sales: $265.09 For those who are thinking that those items aren't much to make a meal out of, consider that the previous weeks I purchased items that enable me to put together meals that are normal. Previous weeks, I may have purchased apples by the bushel, or 15lbs of onions. One week recently I bought 23 packages of bagels and 8 dozen eggs (since our hens are slackers). Several months ago, I bought 30 packages of whole grain pasta that actually tastes good but am now watching for a sale because I am down to 4 packages. I haven't bought meat since Fall because of our meat chickens and two deer (not two full ones now) in our freezer. We have lots of salads with our meals, even if I have to pay full price on lettuce, I will use sales to determine what types of salads we are having. Last week cucumbers and tomatoes were on sale, so we had cucumbers and tomatoes in our salads. This week, red peppers are on sale, so I cut up red peppers, broccoli and crumbled feta cheese for our salad tonight. Several weeks ago, I bought a fancy feta cheese with basil and dried tomato for pennies. It lasts a long time and adds a bit of snazz to a mundane salad. A warehouse type grocery store has bulk packaged lettuce, like the romaine hearts that keep longer than a week in your refrigerator. So my meal planning has changed a bit, I am pulling menus from what items I have in our family store and based on what items are on sale. I am finding that this is a much cheaper way to feed a large family and still maintain a bounty of healthy foods. I started writing a book about grocery shopping and the large family in October. I have since revised the direction of the book to specifically target large families and real tangible ways to cut the grocery bill while still feeding an army and it is very close to being finished. I am so excited about this project, and have been working on it in my "free" (ha, ha) time. If you have a question that I can address in the book regarding grocery shopping, grocery bills, feeding several to lots of children, please send me your questions.

Saving Our Boys from Feminism, part 2

Bethany — Mon, 29 Jan 2007 18:29:34 +0000

Several weeks ago, I wrote a post about Saving Our Boys From the Feminists in which I discussed the "gender blender" society that we live in today which seeks to feminize our boys and suggested some practical ideas we can do to encourage gender distinctives in our home schooling. We seek to give our children first and foremost a Biblically distinct education that centers around home life; the Hebrew model of education of walking, talking and working along side our children. In that distinctly biblical education, we believe that our boys and girls each have equal value and worth as God's children, but are different in role and function. Egalitarianism and Feminism? What's the problem? Read more about these issues in the comments sections on this post...

Take a Trip with Us Grocery Shopping…

Bethany — Mon, 29 Jan 2007 18:37:46 +0000

Everyone stares, talks and points at us like I must have two heads and green children. Recently, I did take all of my children grocery shopping with me. It isn't a normal occasion, however, my husband was doing some consulting work from home and we decided to run some errands. I had my grocery lists put together so I figured it wouldn't be that bad to take 7 children in a grocery store. It actually wasn't, but if you haven't been in a grocery store with seven children under the age of 11, you should try it some time. So here are some grocery shopping tips for you to consider:

The first thing you do is give a STERN talking to about how if they do not obey...this...this and that will happen...

You praise their good behavior before it even happens and show overwhelming confidence in them.

You explain the strategic plan of exiting the vehicle to prohibit looking like a circus car with 32 clowns exiting out the window.

Locate two grocery carts, put baby number 1 in first cart seat and toddler number 1 in cart basket. Put baby number 2 in second cart seat and toddler number 2 in cart basket. If you have lots of groceries you will have to utilize a 3rd cart pushed by the 2nd oldest child because the first oldest child is pushing cart 2 and mom is pushing cart one. The remainder of the children are walking very nearby.

Check and make sure there are no dirty diapers before leaving the vehicle and loading up in the cart.

Check for keys, bag, and phone before locking the door.

Once in the store, gather the troops and explain the brief plan of action that you just explained before leaving the vehicle. Say no, once more to the request to switch buggies and explain to them that you understand the plastic race car carts really are more fun but just not practical for this trip. The moment they start making large family plastic van grocery carts, you will be glad to push that behemoth around the store because you love adventure.

Stop and threaten one especially active toddler that if he stands up in the cart or pulls items off the shelf again, the big man with a green vest and squeaky shoes will not like it one bit and will come find us!

Start finding the items on your list. Use this opportunity to interject math facts, explain quantities and measurements, explain why we just don't buy what we want all the time, point out good deals.

Inform son that coupon blinkie machines are not to entertain children.

Stop in the cereal isle and watch the stock man rip open a box of cheerios with his very desirable box knife and fill up the empty shelf. Ask the stock man to explain his job. Where do the cheerios come from? Quickly move on when the child says, "Do you just fill up shelves all day......that's all you do??"

Remind the oldest child who just read a book about dangerous sea creatures and what they can do to human flesh not to talk so loud.

Remind smaller children that if their hands want to pull things off the shelf, that they better hold their hands tight so they don't get away from them.

Quickly move to the next isle and remind the free children to mind their extremities because glass jars could go crashing to the ground and shatter. (I remember things like this happening when we went to the store with my mom as children and didn't realize that it was most likely our fault--I just assumed that jars broke and apples stacked on an incline regularly fell to the ground at a grocery store!)

Down the produce isle now. We make this fun. I ask what certain fruits and vegetables are. They shout (softly as possible) what they think it is. We saw soybeans, brussels spouts, hot peppers, sprouts, artichokes and I got a laugh at what the toddlers thought different produce items were. No, ginger root is not drift wood!

Don't mind all the people staring at you. You probably made them smile for the first time today.

Last stop. Free cookies for kids. Don't feel guilty about causing the bakery lady to go through a pack of cookies. They should make packages with more than 6 cookies anyway. Gather seven cookies, be sure to say , Thank You Maam.

Answer the 11th question of, "Are they all yours?" again and be amused that the bakery lady walks to the back to get her co-worker to show her ...us... They talk a while about how they can't believe it.

Listen to the elderly man tell you that he is the youngest of 13 children and watch him smile at the babies while he remembers his younger years.

Quickly head to the check out before the cookies are eaten.

Educate the children on the self-checkout scanners. Remind them, again, not to lean on the weighted scale because the lady is getting a little irritated at us because she has already reset the machine 8 times.

Finish up and head out...watch for cars, quickly load up, buckle the babies, get the groceries loaded and carts put away and head home pondering how rich of an experience grocery shopping with 7 children can be.

Questions about coupons and big box stores …

Bethany — Wed, 31 Jan 2007 12:16:38 +0000

Charlotte asked, "I would love to know where you get all your coupons. Do you buy any?

I do not buy papers. I get my coupons from various sources. I happened to pull up behind the newspaper man at the recycling center one day as he was unloading his truck of leftover papers and asked him for all his Sunday papers. He told me that he puts lots of Sunday papers in the newspaper recycling bin on a certain day of the week and I usually get those inserts each week. I also can recommend The Coupon Clippers as a good resource for bulk coupons. You can not sell coupons, but you can sell your service as a coupon clipper, which is what this home schooling family does. I ordered 60 coupons, all the same coupon, to use on a big ta-do sale this week. I will update on this big deal later on in the week. You may also ask different stores what they do with their old Sunday papers. Some stores throw away the papers, in which case you could ask to come by and pick them up. Many stores sell cheaper Sunday papers during the week. Many other stores will have the paper delivery man come by and pick up Sunday papers on Sunday night. For our family, I need a lot of coupons. For a smaller family, I think it would be worth it to buy a paper and gather coupons from family and friends. I try and have at least 10 copies or more of each coupon insert in order to stock a pantry and freezer.

Next, Jillan asked, "Do you think it is worthwhile for a family who is only blessed with two children (11 and 13yo boys) to sign up for a big box store membership, for groceries, etc.?"

They have great buys on many things, however, I have cut my spending at these stores by shopping grocery store sales with coupons and finding a greater savings on many items that I use to buy there every month. However, many items you just can not find anywhere else for a better deal than at Costco. Cream, Eggs, Milk, Butter, Cheese -- Costco has cream around $2 and some odd cents for a quart of cream. Grocery stores carry this for $5.xx. Costco has excellent prices on eggs, especially the good for healthier eggs. We usually get the 7 1/2 dozen large box of eggs and that equals out to about .77 cents per dozen. Good prices on milk, however store sales on milk are comparable. Good prices on butter and unless a store has a great sale on butter, I always get butter from Costco. This month, I found it on sale at a grocery store for less than what I pay at Costco. So I stocked up. Cheese is usually a great deal at Costco, however, after this week, I don't think I will have to buy cheese for a very long time. Getting it free at the grocery store is a better deal for me this time. Baking items -- Costco has the absolute best real vanilla extract. If you bake, you must try it. I love it! I also buy olive oil and some spices there. Occasionally olive oil is a better deal at the grocery store. Produce -- usually have great prices on produce, however, if you do not eat a lot of produce it will be hard for you to eat a package of 6 romaine lettuces before they go bad or 15 lbs of onions. Our large family finds the produce prices and quantity the best around except for a really great sale at the grocery store and family markets I buy from. Meat -- I do not buy meat at the grocery stores or Costco/Sams so I can not offer much on meat prices and quality. Except Bacon...they have the best bacon deal. I have only once found bacon cheaper. Bread -- The large bags of rolls are a good deal, however, I have not been impressed with their bread prices. I always find bread cheaper at the grocery store on sale or make my own. Cans -- I think the canned foods you have to watch out for. Many times these are not cheaper than the store. However, the larger cans are usually great buys. I do buy the large can of tomato sauce for around $2 and make homemade spaghetti sauce with it. I also buy the large can of pineapple, baked beans, black beans and chopped tomatoes. Frozen Food -- They have a lot of frozen food but I only buy the frozen veggies if I am in great need of them. Usually I stock up on frozen veggies using a grocery store sale and coupons. You will have to compare ounces and price to figure out if the big bag at Costco really is cheaper than buying several little bags. One thing I absolutely love is the Costco brand frozen cheese ravioli -- great price and very good. Other household goods -- I always get cleaners, paper products, cat food, soaps, toothbrushes etc. at the grocery store on sale with a coupon for way less than Costco. I will buy trash bags there. Laundry soap is usually a good deal depending on the brand you get. The store brand is hard to beat price wise, but you can quickly figure out mathematically what your price needs to be to beat the Costco laundry soap. I stock up on laundry soap at the grocery store when it goes below my Costco price and so far I have not had to buy laundry soap at Costco. I know many smaller families that use Costco/Sams and love it because they can buy items that last for a really long time. One box of oatmeal may last 6 months or more for you. If I did not use coupons like I do, I would definitely shop at Costco for most items. After speaking with several of my family members who use Costco, I can tell you that there is a huge difference between Costco stores. My Costco store doesn't have near the items for the prices that my sister-in-laws Costco store has. If I had her store near me, I would be more likely to shop there more often. One thing I will say about Costco, is that they carry a large variety of organic or whole food, natural food products for WAY less than a health food store. They also have organic coffee and organic frozen foods, organic cereals, organic peanut butter, hormone free chicken meat for very good prices. For our family, because of my coupon deals, I am now able to get out of Costco without dropping $400 each trip. I spend way less there and buy products that I can't get anywhere else for the price. Can you get a pass to check out the store and compare prices and products?

We’re Finally Getting Texas Weather

Bethany — Sun, 04 Feb 2007 04:19:39 +0000

The beginning of February and we are finally getting some winter weather. It had been freezing cold rainy dreary muddy stuck inside wishing for the warmer weather so the kids can go play outside. I think if it is going to be 9 degrees there better be snow on the ground, however it doesn't work out like that normally. The snow mover and his driver She didn't like it. It wasn't warm and didn't taste like momma's milk. She loved it! This was her prized snowball that daddy threw at the tree when they came inside. I think she is still holding a grudge. Here's wishing they had cleared some brush for a sled hill. Actually, we tried sledding but the snow wasn't good sledding snow. Snowball fights were good enough though.

Updates on a Winter Garden

Bethany — Sun, 04 Feb 2007 04:20:46 +0000

This is my first try at winter gardening. So far, it isn't by any means feeding us, but is a hobby that reminds me of how scary it would be if I was responsible for actually growing all our food. Here is my one cabbage. In the fall, I planted lettuce around it. Now it is sitting under one of those plastic tubs acting rather nicely as a cold frame. It allows the sun in, well that is if the sun ever comes out, and keeps the freezing temps from killing my plants. Here is what it looked like in the earlier months. Inside, the cabbage is finally getting bigger and forming a ball. Here is the broccoli cold frame. Being the inexperienced winter gardener that I am, I didn't pick the broccoli soon enough and some of it started flowering. I was expecting the heads to look exactly like those in the store. Silly me, what was I thinking?!? They looked similar but were greener and a bit smaller. So I snipped the heads off and we have since been getting smaller off-shoots which I am adding to our salads. Next year I would love to plant 3 times as much broccoli and stagger plant it so my plants were producing at different times. Here are the headless broccoli. Smaller lettuce plants are growing underneath. Next year I will revise my set up and build a more functional cold frame that is easier to get into without having to unwrap the plastic. Maybe something with a hinged lid. Actually I would love a greenhouse ;-)

Supersized Kroger Deal Last Week

Bethany — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 12:12:04 +0000

Here is my latest super sized grocery deal for the large family. Kroger had a product promotion sale in which the store offered an instant $7 rebate when you bought 8 Kraft / Nabisco participating products. The only limit was that you could only get one $7 rebate per transaction when buying 8 products. So I ended up doing multiple transactions. After finding out that the sale was valid for an additional week, I decided to order an additional 60 coupons from the coupon clippers website and really stock up before this sale ended. Actually, with my coupons the Kraft cheese crumbles ended up being completely free with some overage going towards the tax. Here are my totals: 3 visits with 21 transactions (No problems whatsoever.) 36 bars of cream cheese 24 boxes of triscuits crackers 8 boxes of cookies 100 bags (various crumbles, shredded, cube and block) 8 bags of additional cheese for free because I found the manager and asked him if he would check in the back for more crumbles because the ones on the rack were out of date. FREE BAGS just for pointing that out to him!! Total paid $42.61 Regular price $431.68 Some of the cheese was already in the freezer when I took this picture. The cheese crumbles and shredded cheese freeze well. I did find out that cream cheese is good for 2 months past the expiration date as long as you do not open the package. Cream cheese will freeze, however, it does alter the consistency a bit so it would not be good for spreads but still good for baking. Though it may seem like a lot of cream cheese, I should have bought twice this amount. If we have a breakfast with bagels, it takes two packages of bagels and 1 package of cream cheese to even start to feed us. Last month I stocked up on 23 packages of bagels, which doesn't last long around here. I have to get my brain thinking in even bigger stock quantities!

Raising Your Own Meat - For those that have asked…

Bethany — Sat, 10 Feb 2007 22:30:34 +0000

If you stop in for a visit around supper time, most likely I will feed you something with either chicken or deer (unless you are my sister-in-law. I wouldn't do that to her and am warning her that she might want to skip this post altogether.) We raised our own chickens this fall and processed them the first week of December. We have friends that have been raising their own meat for years and have taught us many valuable skills. This Fall was full of learning about growing and processing our own food; from our backyard to our freezer. If you are wanting to raise your own meat, the best advice I could give is to find a family who has already done this before and have them teach you! We learned by helping and watching friends of ours who showed us "how it is done". When it came time to process our own birds, we knew what to do. If you haven't followed the chicken raising experience, you can check out the Family Farming section of my blog. Where to get birds: We ordered our chicks from a man who owns a small hatchery in Kentucky. Our chicks arrived early one morning and my husband and boys went to the post office to pick them up. What Kind: We ordered a cornish rock cross which means that his parents looked something like Rocky on Chicken Run and his mother looked something like the round fat cornish hen. In fact, with this bird, they grow to be so overweight, that their legs will break just from the weight if you do not process them within a 7 to 12 week time frame. They are true meat chickens. There are 3 different types of chickens: Meat birds, Layers, and Dual Purpose. If you are wanting to raise a bunch of birds at one time for meat...you would want to get meat birds. However, this spring I will be ordering a dual purpose bird mainly for eggs, but after the egg production lifespan is over, it can be for food as well. How many: We bought 100 birds and spilt half of them with another family in our church. Where to keep them: In the beginning, as baby chicks, we kept them in a warm pen with straw and a warming light. It is best to have a pen that does not have corners, octagon or circle shape is best. When bigger, we wanted our chickens to be able to forage for bugs and grass, however we didn't want them running around the yard at will. We had predator concerns with dogs and opossums so we kept ours in an electric fenced area. Ideally, next time we will build a special chicken tractor to keep them in that will protect them from predators but also enable us to move them around the yard to eat bugs and grass. What to feed them: In the beginning we fed them a high protein chick feed. As they grew, we changed the feed to meet their protein requirements. They have special feed at farm co-op stores just for meat chickens. Next time, we will be buying a bulk amount of ingredients to mix our own feed. Work involved: It is a daily job caring for these chickens. In the beginning, cleaning out their pen and providing them with fresh straw is easy. As they grow, the work grows, however, it was a perfect job for two of our young boys. At 9 and 10 years old, they were great chicken growers! Final Thoughts: Would we do this again? Absolutely! Actually, we are seriously considering raising turkey not only for our own family, but for others as well. Once we are to a place where land size will permit cattle, we will also venture into that. Once you have raised your own meat, food takes on new meaning. I am mindful every time I cook a chicken of all the work that went into this bird. I know what it ate and I know it is a clean safe, healthy food product for my family. I would recommend Joel Salatin's books and website. We went to a conference last year and heard him speak about family farming. I thoroughly enjoyed his presentations and my boys absolutely were inspired. For further information on family farming, I would recommend his book Family Friendly Farming. Although this book does not give the specific 1, 2. 3's of how to raise your own chickens, it is an excellent book. His other books are more specific.

Holy Cows and Hog Heaven - The Food Buyer's Guid To Farm Friendly Food
You Can Farm - Talks about what it takes to establish and run your own small scale farm.
Salad Bar Beef - How to raise grass fed beef.
Pastured Poultry Profits - How to raise poultry for profit and yourself
The Polyface Farm DVD - Shows exactly how to implement the techniques Salatin talks about.

You can view an online clip of how they raise Turkey in the Gobbly Go as well as view other short clips on the family friendly farming techniques. Joel Salatin also has how-to tapes on raising chickens, rabbits and other farming interests. Speaking of Turkey..tune in soon for my next blog post.

Speaking of Turkey

Bethany — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 12:31:41 +0000

Some husbands bring their wives cut roses and chocolate, my husband brings me wild turkey. After years of marriage and many children, he still impresses me. A flock of about 40 turkey were in our side yard garden area. A few minutes later he walks in with a present for me. He actually spared me the dirty work and when I returned from running some errands, he had a turkey ready for me in the refrigerator. When we returned, I put the kids to cleaning it up a bit. After several good scrubs and rinses, it was ready to go. My daughter made stuffing and stuffed the bird. After several hours in the oven wafting smells of Thanksgiving were in the air. After supper, I thought, "Maybe we wouldn't starve after all....."

How to Make Salsa…

Bethany — Wed, 14 Feb 2007 02:31:22 +0000

We love fresh salsa. I make it often using my blender and various salsa making produce. I don't use a recipe really....I just add what I have that would be found in salsa. This time I added a bunch of cilantro, sweet red pepper, green bell pepper, 3 cloves of garlic, a small onion, tomatoes, 1/2 of a unknown hot pepper. I bought a bag of hot peppers at the store for $1, so I came home and made salsa. The rest of the peppers, I washed, sliced and froze in freezer baggies for next time. I blend on low until it looks just about right. I do not like to leave salsa in my blender for very long because I make fruit smoothies and protein shakes in it as well and do not want that hot garlic peppery smell in my smoothie. If I have a lot of salsa, I will put it in those ziplock containers with screw on lids to store in the refrigerator. It doesn't last long around here so I don't worry with is spoiling. I have frozen it before, but it took on a more watery consistency and I am not sure if that is normal or if it was just what I made it out of that time. Time for the taste test..... She didn't know what she was getting herself into! This batch was not really that hot so I let her eat some. After the first initial taste of it, she loved it so much that I had to make her stop eating it. I added a spoonful of salsa to each of our soup bowls and it turned an ordinary but tasty chicken soup into a delightfully, spicy, different meal.

Is Convenience Food Costing More Than Just Money?

Bethany — Fri, 16 Feb 2007 18:46:16 +0000

Has anyone taken notice of the new generation of convenience foods that we are seeing surface like wild fire? If you told the modern woman that store bought bread, dry pasta or dry beans were actually once considered a convenience item, they would think you had fallen off the wagon 1,000 miles ago. While we all have differing standards of where we stand on convenience food products and how we use them in our homes, no one can doubt that we are a lazy generation that has been spoiled with ultra-convenience. I was in a wholesale grocery warehouse the other day and was struck like never before that the "convenience" food industry and our mindset we have towards convenience food is costing us more than just money! The mass marketing and availability of ultra-convenience has enabled home makers to become unskilled and unproductive in the area of cooking and baking. No wonder why most women haven't a clue about how to cook. Everything is in a jar, cardboard box or plastic bag. The basic skills of the home maker are being handed over to Kraft and Oscar Meyer but not without a cost. If my great grandmother could stroll the isles of the modern grocery store, she would not believe the insane amounts and types of convenience foods on the shelves. Let's take a look at some of these new generation, ultra-convenience foods: Oscar Meyer Fast Franks. Now this is an interesting new ultra-convenience, marketing scam item that I am still wondering about. Pre-packaged hot dogs already in the buns? I can't help my sarcasm over this item. Oscar Meyer wants to make you believe that making hotdogs just became drastically easier, as if it was difficult before. In fact, here is what Kraft foods says about their new product,

"It’s mouthwatering to imagine -- a tasty, hot and juicy Oscar Mayer hot dog wrapped inside a soft and warm bakery-fresh bun. And now imagine only having to wait thirty-five seconds for that first delicious bite." "Preparation is easy, and there’s no cook top mess or boiling water!" "By leveraging proprietary dough technology, Oscar Mayer Fast Franks have made hot dogs easier to enjoy than ever before."

(I am left wondering what "leveraging proprietary dough technology" is exactly?) Instead of walking to the hotdog section of the store and buying a package of hotdogs and then having to walk all the way over to the other side of the store and pick up a package of buns and then going through the tedious process of having to make the hot dog, Oscar Meyer has made life easier by making the hot dog for you! Now you can buy pre-made, several-layers-of-pre-packaging packaged hot dogs in buns. You can even choose from two types of hotdogs: Beef Franks and Meat Franks. Hmmm.... I predict that the Fast Franks of the next generation may contain hotdogs that are pre-filled with ketchup and will instantly heat when you snap them like a glow stick. Next item on the list is the bag of pre-peeled, pre-boiled eggs. I stopped and starred at the large bag of pre-boiled-peeled eggs for a few seconds in disbelief. Now boiling water is too much of a hassle and heaven forbid you ever have to peel another egg! I was expecting to see a "Food For Dummies" label anywhere on the package, but instead I found directions for how to use this new convenience food as if the consumer would not be able to figure it out. Or maybe the average consumer does need directions for how to use a bag of pre-boiled-peeled eggs? Evidently because of declining egg consumption and falling egg prices, egg suppliers have been working on innovative ways to boost sales. Thus the idea of the pre-boiled, pre-peeled egg was born. Homemakers aren't buying normal eggs. I am not surprised actually when I consider that modern homemakers do not cook or bake with eggs any longer because they are buying so many pre-packaged convenience foods that do not require the usage of eggs. The only good thing I can say about this product is that it is a real food, unlike the fast frank which contains the mysterious "proprietary dough technology" that seems to me to be code for "legal poison". Next item on the list has baffled me as well. It is the pre-cut apples. The only positive aspect I can see with this convenience food is that at least there was a thought given to a food that was actually healthy, however, I am positive that all the preservatives that are dumped on that pre-cut apple can not be good for you. When I saw the pre-packaged, pre-cut up apples on the shelf, I couldn't figure out why in the world such an item existed and who, in their right mind, would buy a cut-up apple that was 3 times more expensive than the whole apple displayed 3 feet from it? Then I remembered that in this culture, if a 2nd grader takes a plastic knife to school, it is cause for suspension. So what's the connection? These pre-cut apples are hot items for school lunches. Dole solved this problem by cutting up apples for over worked moms and has enabled a well loved fruit, the apple, to be easily sent (without a knife) in little Billy's lunch sack , even if it is laden with chemical preservatives that cause cancer. We all are familiar with the more common convenience foods. They have been popular for years. Most of us have used these products at some time or another. However, I have to wonder if many of the more common convenience foods used to be as outlandish as the pre-made hot dogs are today? If we are too busy to cut up apples or wash salad, it seems to me that we are too busy and maybe we should reorganize and reevaluate our priorities. I am not bashing all convenience foods. Some convenience foods really have enabled the homemaker to have more time and for busy homemakers that is a blessing. However, as homemakers, I believe we must be very careful not to relegate our skills to corporate giants who, in turn, dumb us down by enabling us to be cooking and baking illiterate. Most home makers depend way too much on convenience to run their homes. We need to recapture the lost skills of home making and stop being so dependant on the grocery store to hand us over pre-packaged, prepared, pre-cooked, pre-heated, pre-made, pre-cut, convenience foods. Our great grandmothers knew the arts and skills of cooking just about anything. Their kitchens were well used. Their minds were filled with the arts and sciences of cooking and baking. They could make a delicious meal from the basics. They wouldn't dream of buying pre-packaged scrambled eggs. Our grandparents' generation thought the new store-bought bread and already ground flour were huge leaps towards the direction of progress, although they still made cakes and gravies from scratch and knew how to cook a tender roast. Sunday dinner at Grandma's house invited us with fresh baked pie, turkey and mashed potatoes and of course, sweet tea. Our parents' generation did not prepare dry beans or make bread and relied more heavily on convenience foods. Box cake mixes, canned soups, sugar cereals and sports drinks, gravy mix and multi-purpose baking mixes were all the rage. The stores became filled with the latest and greatest convenience package. At least they used eggs and cooked their own bacon, cut up their own apples, roasted their own turkey and made our birthday cakes. Our generation buys pre-made everything. This is an instant gratification, need it now, convenience based generation. If really in the mood to cook, packages of pre-made dough already cut in the shape of a cookie are available at any store. This is a fast food and out-to-eat generation who spend a considerable amount of time out of the kitchen and away from the family meal table. This generation can recognize advertising slogans and can name off the .99 cent menu at various fast food establishments. They can not follow a recipe in a cookbook unless it lists "cake mix" as an ingredient. This generation is sorely uneducated about cooking, homemaking, health and home management. The next generation of homemakers are not going to know how to boil water and it is looking as though there will no need for that room we call, the kitchen. The convenience craze is also picking the pocketbook. In an article entitled, Time Saved Money Wasted, Cathryne Sykes, exposes many convenience foods and their costs. She says,

"A friend of mine, for example, bought pre-marinated, individually vacuum-packed chicken breasts for $1.67 per four-ounce portion. It never occurred to her this is $6.68 a pound! Boneless chicken breasts were selling for $3.29 a pound. If it takes 5-cents worth of seasoning and one minute to season a pound's worth (do it in the morning and leave it in the fridge to marinate), you pay $3.34 per minute for this "convenience" or $200 per hour!

In another article called "Nutrition researchers gauge the true costs of convenience meals", I found that unless you buy shredded cheese during a mega sale, you will be paying a great deal more than if you just bought a block of cheese and shredded it yourself.

"The group determined that the consumer was paying the equivalent of $80 per hour for the convenience of buying shredded cheese, $75 per hour for sliced gala apples, and nearly $50 per hour for pre-cut celery."

I do enjoy many conveniences that we have, however, while convenience is not in and of itself a bad thing, I am reminded to consider the effects of ultra-convenience on my own home making skills. I want to expand my culinary skills and fill my mind with knowledge that once was common place in the field of homemaking. I love the move back to simplicity and enjoy the age old pleasures of the arts and sciences of cooking, baking and making of the home.

1940’s Cooking Instructional Clip

Bethany — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 05:32:43 +0000

Our friends over at LAF have posted a very entertaining homemaking clip made in the 1940's entitled "Cooking: Terms and What They Mean" I thought this video clip was fitting to follow my post on ultra-convenience foods! When I have time, I will post the actual video clip to my site. My daughter enjoyed watching this clip over and over. I enjoyed watching it for different reasons as it proves to be a very telling paradox to where we are today in a nation of illiterate home makers who could care less if their husband came home to a made-from-scratch chocolate cake!

Remember ever being bored…

Bethany — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 05:53:41 +0000

I can not rack my brain to retrieve even a slight, faint memory of what boredom is? I am not sure. I secretly think that if I didn't have to eat and sleep, I could get so much more accomplished, but thankfully that is not possible and those breaks for nourishment and sleep are much appreciated short reprieves from constant work! In my life, there is always something to do and to remain sane, I have had to give up many of my ideals to even exist. Ideals such as a perfectly in order house or spotless laundry room or a kitchen that stays clean for more than 3 minutes. Remember those times when all the laundry was caught up and put away? Remember when the house cleaning was finished and there was absolutely nothing else to do? I don't remember those days but maybe they once existed? Currently, I have had to accept the fact that laundry will not be completely finished and put away. I rate my laundry not on if the room is perfectly clean or not, but rather how tall the pile is. I try to keep it under two feet. Laundry is an ongoing process and a daily fact of life. I also have to accept that my 1000 square foot house will look like 7 children live in it. Why burden myself with impossible visions of a perfectly manicured home. We live in the country. It's muddy and 99% of the time there is chicken manure on the front porch and most of the time at least 4 of the children manage to step in it on a daily basis. I just expect the children to come inside thoroughly bathed in the sights and smells of small country life and currently that consists of mud and leaves until the grass grows thicker in the spring. Of course in the spring, I have new sights and smells to deal with, namely one called poison ivy. I am tempted to become overwhelmed at all the commotion around here but at the end of the day when I pray over my sleeping children, all that commotion, mess, noise and work somehow slips to the back of my mind as a distant burden that can't compare with the invaluable sense of accomplishment, completeness and love I have for those 7 sleeping little children. For now, I am learning how to let things go. I am constantly grasping for what is important. I am striving to maintain a happy, peaceful home and accepting the fact that I may have several piles of laundry on the couch and a basket of dumped out toys on the floor, and homeschool books scattered all down the table. More than that, add the bustling atmosphere of learning and love. How much more important are these than the materialistic looks of a sterile home that has been disinfected of all real living! If only I could remember that every time I am tempted to become overwhelmed. (No, I don't know what he was attempting to do and NO, Those are not play clothes!) I want a real happy home with thriving children that are taught of the Lord, loved by a momma that has real peace with the place God has put her and doesn't stress over dirty laundry. Real living, real messes and real noise. I have to remind myself on a daily basis of what really matters.

Persecution of German Homeschooling Family

Bethany — Tue, 06 Mar 2007 16:13:06 +0000

I have been following this story for a while. It is a must read if you are not familiar with this situation. Police State, Germany Homeschool Family Told To Give Up 5 Other Kids; Officials suggest breakup would solve dispute over daughter's home education. Some may remember a story I posted about another German homeschooling family where they put the mother in jail for homeschooling her children. Like I said before, we need to remember these families in Germany who are enduring horrible persecution for the sake of standing for their Christian beliefs that the family, NOT the STATE, is responsible to train up their own children and educated them with a distinctly Christian biblical worldview. Let us not become lax, lazy Americans and deceive ourselves into thinking "that could never happen here"!

Moving on…after our house remodel

Bethany — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 04:33:53 +0000

Spring cleaning and gardening are two items on my "want to do" list. However, we are in the process of buying a farm a bit farther out in the country and so many of my "want to do's" have been put on the back burner. More on this later. Many know that we remodeled a 1978 ranch style home over this last year with the intention of selling it when we bought it. Over the last couple of years we have been making our way out of corporate america work and transitioning to self-employment and going after our desire to live debt free on a working family farm. We have juggled jobs and houses around over the last couple of years to enable us to work from home and move to a farm and God has blessed us in the process. One of our transition projects has been this little farm house we bought specifically for the purpose of fixing up and selling. We found something that was a under priced, cosmetic update-type remodel, although we did end up knocking out some walls and doing a bit more than cosmetic work on it. It was an experience for sure, one we will always remember and one we learned a great deal from. When we walked into this little house it smelled like a nicotine factory. The house was dark -- dark brown paneled walls and dark cabinets and dark brown cheap doors, dark brown windows. It was a good solid house, just terribly outdated. We torn into 3 layers of outdated linoleum, updated lighting and faucets, installed wide planked flooring and added modern paint colors and crown molding. We took down the dated brown paneling and replaced it with sheetrock. We even put central heat and air in the house. Our major focus was on the kitchen and bath. We tore these rooms down to the studs and completely refaced the entire room putting in new everything. We took out a staircase in the kitchen and expanded the kitchen to be a nice big open work space. Finally, we are down to minor finishing touches like trim and caulk and some paint. Outside, we will be landscaping the flower beds and painting the door and shutters. We are pleased with how the little house has turned out and pray it will be a profitable conclusion as we move to put this house on the market this spring. Here is the kitchen before: Here we knocked out the staircase: Another before picture: Here is the remodeled look of the new bigger, better kitchen. Pick what doesn't belong. I have since replaced the yellow stove with a stainless matching oven/stove. It looks much better. Actually, you can sort of see a picture of what the new stove is like in this post of my muddy boy. And another view of the kitchen now: Here is the old dining room and the gutted bathroom: Here is the new dining room: For now, this little house has served us well by giving us plenty of opportunity to bring to surface character flaws and sins we have had to deal with. It isn't easy remodeling a house with 7 little ones, while my husband was working full time in a corporate job and working part time on remodeling a house. Once we finally moved into this small house, we found out that we had new character flaws. It also isn't easy living in a 1,000 sq. ft. house with 7 little ones! However, this transition was necessary to launch us into the self-employment work as well as transfer out of our big house debt as we awaited finding our farm. As the pieces of this maze begin to wind down, we are all excited to see where God is leading our family. With the final finishing touches of paint and trim still to go, we are excited that this project is almost completely finished. A lot of hard work, a lot of mistakes but a lot of learning and experience now too.

Rocks and More in my Dryer….

Bethany — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 03:01:38 +0000

I have always intended to take a picture of the things I collect out of the washer and dryer each week. Here is my running list of things that I have pulled out of the washer or dryer over the last several years of having boys:

part of a bungee strap with hinge.
miscellaneous scrap metal pieces from who knows where. This week I found a small copper pipe?
crayons - several times this has happened. Most of the time I catch them before the dryer, once I did not and if you are wondering if it ruined the clothes...yes, it did and the dryer as well.
candles - i caught this one before the dryer.
rocks
springs, nails, screws, nuts and bolts, staples and various other tools and tool parts.
pocket knives - this is a regular
compasses and tape measures - also another regular
wallets and money
legos, lincoln logs, toy cars and various other toy parts
and last week a large real looking and feeling fake plastic snake that I think stopped my heart as I screamed and nearly fell back over my pile of clothes. To make the story more interesting, when I bought this life-like snake for my 4 year old, the young guy said, "Now, you need to remember you bought this because it is liable to scare you real bad late one night!" Imagine putting your hands (working in very dim light in the unfinished basement which made it worse) in the washer to scoop out wet clothes and feel a slimy, wiggly thing that wraps around your hand and all you can see is a black snake like thing amongst the clothes that you can't get away from fast enough. I think I took 3 years off my life with that experience!
once living real red worms that son #4 put in his pockets last spring
a once living real blue belly skink lizard that son #2 put in his pocket and forgot about. Afterwards, I called upon the guilty son to retrieve the dead lizard out of my washer and he tried to convince me that his lizard was only half-choked because of swallowing too much water. I assured him that his lizard was fully choked.

I threaten to charge a nickel for everything I find in their pockets and a $1 for all living or once living creatures, but in all my spare time I haven't managed to put together a tally chart with each boy's name on it and items I need payment for.

Review on the Christian Homemakers Conference

Bethany — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 21:48:08 +0000

We thoroughly enjoyed the Christian Homemaker's Conference last Saturday even amidst the technical difficulties and the fact that we heard and saw very little of it! A group of ladies gathered in my area at a friend's home and spent the day fellowshipping with other likeminded women. Though we were unable to see and hear the majority of the conference, we were thankful and inspired by what we were able to hear. In the down time, we decided to engage in our own made up version of the conference and talk about applicable things relating to Christian homemaking. Such topics like, "What to do with toddlers when you are trying to home school your older children?" I enjoyed Mrs. Jennie Chancey's talk on "Gaining Vision: Why full-time homemaking isn't about high heels and pearls". The parts we were able to hear were excellent. She clearly laid out that our view of the ideal homemaker should be shaped by what the Bible says and not what culture dictates. She also talked about how we should fear nothing but God and be happy to embrace hard work. There were many things that I found encouraging and inspiring but one thing that stood out to me was the fact that we, as Christian homemakers, have to have a clear vision of why we work within the home. We serve the Lord with our lives and honor Him through our obedience. Though our culture attacks the home maker from all sides, we can stand knowing that it isn't culture, but Christ who defines us. Jennie Chancey has an excellent website at http://www.ladiesagainstfeminism.com/artman/publish/ . The other talk we were able to hear was from the Botkin ladies on "Training daughters to be competent and visionary keepers at home." This talk was outstanding! I may post more on this talk later this week. I took pages of notes and am anxiously awaiting being able to obtain the CD's of all the talks given. If you missed it you can order these CD's. Here were the titles:

"Gaining Vision: Why full-time homemaking isn't about high heels and pearls" (Jennie Chancey)
"Homemaking 101: Help! How did my grandmother know how to do all this stuff?" (Kim Brenneman)
"For Busy Moms of Little Ones: How to avoid growing weary in well-doing" (Jennifer McBride)
"Training daughters to be competent and visionary keepers at home" (The Botkin ladies)
"Why teenage rebellion isn't inevitable and how you can avoid it" (Lydia Sherman and Lillbeth Humphrey) For more information: http://www.christianhomemakingconference.com/index.htm

Time Management for the Homemaker

Bethany — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 03:06:40 +0000

Our family just finished a training series on time management. It was a course that my husband went to when he was working in the corporate world and said that we would be going through it at home as a family with him. At first I was having a very difficult time relating the information to my own life because home life is nothing similar to corporate life. However, as we were finishing up the course yesterday, I had a light bulb moment and was able to sift through the corporate junk and relate some important time management truths to home management. Here is what I came up with: Most everyone has heard of the time square quartered into quadrants.

Quadrant 1: Important/Urgent, which is the quadrant of necessity.
Quadrant 2: Not Important / Urgent, which is the quadrant of leadership.
Quadrant 3: Important/Not Urgent, which is the quadrant of deception or distraction.
Quadrant 4: Not Urgent/Not Important, which is the quadrant of time wasting.

Ideally, I want to spend my time in Quadrant 3, important but not-urgent. This is where the planning, prevention and preparation activities take place which will help prevent the excessive amount of Important and Urgent tasks, as well as discourage the non-important and non-urgent time wasters. When I find my self too often running in the important and urgent category, I burnout and become overwhelmed quickly. Obviously, quadrant 1 is also going to be a big portion of a mothers life, however, the goal is to prevent as much as can be. Can you imagine if you never had to worry about supper? There seems to be a breakdown time every day and for our family it is around 4 to 5 pm. Just when I am preparing supper. I am tired. I have been going all day and am ready for a break. The babies are whining and difficult. The toddler boys are rowdy and literally bouncing down the hallway. Sound familiar? However, many of these scenarios can many times be prevented by taking some time in the meal planning department. If you had supper in the crockpot or just had to pull it out of the freezer and pop it in the oven, life automatically becomes much easier and peaceful. I would say that one of the greatest helps to a mother of several or many young children is to put some time and effort into meal planning. It is amazing how much this one area, once well organized, contributes to a peaceful home. Here is a look at what I came up with when applying time management to home management:

Grocery Highlights

Bethany — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 17:13:02 +0000

Here are some highlights from my favorite trips this month: Trip one: Spent: $11.79 Coupons and Store Savings: $50.89 I also sent in my receipt for a $10 rebate. So my total for this trip was $1.79! Because of this trip, I am stocked on trash bags for a long time. Trip two: Our small town grocery store ran a .10 cent sale on produce. Each item was .10 cents and here was the breakdown: 10 grapefruit 20 oranges 20 apples 5 lemons 20 red potatoes 50 potatoes So for a little over $12 I was able to get loads of fresh produce. I saved over $67 that trip. Unfortunately, that produce didn't last as long as I thought it would. I've decided that we need a greenhouse in addition to a big garden. I was reminded of a conversation I had with an older woman a while back. She told me that while she was raising her 5 boys, she planted a 1 acre garden every year to supply enough food for them as well as provide food for canning. I was inspired by her wisdom and reminded that this type of gardening use to be norm in our culture. I am looking forward to dropping my grocery bill even more with gardening this spring and summer but more than a grocery bill savings, I am wanting that fresh, organic, natural, local food.

Speaking of Gardening…

Bethany — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 17:30:32 +0000

Over this next month, our family will be preparing to move to our farm. My computer blogging time is limited, but after we get settled and my quadrant 3 activities are organized (Ha), my blogging format will be changing. You will have to stay tuned to see what we have up our sleeve. However, in the mean time, blogging will be sporadic. Ok... Speaking of gardening... Because of our soon to be move, I have not planted anything in the ground. Actually, it is too early still to plant summer plants with our start date being April 25th. Being a Texas girl, after we moved here, I thought people were nuts around here when they would tell me that I needed to wait until the last frost date of April 25th to start my garden. My first garden here, I planted before I was supposed to because the weather was so nice. That next day it snowed all day...in April! Of course it didn't stick, but I learned that I should trust the locals. Now that I am starting to feel like an adopted local, I stick to the the "cool weather plants and warm weather plants in their proper seasons" format. Currently spring is springing and we are seeing more and more flowers and leaves pop out each day. It makes the gardener in me want to plant something! Last week, I started seed trays so that when we get moved, I will have some good size starter plants to plant in the ground. I planted squash, cucumber, more lettuce, and some herbs - sweet basil, sage, oregano, cilantro. I would like to try some staggered planting this year. The idea is to plant in stages to maximize your quantity and length of harvest. If you were to plant 10 plants, the fruit would be ready approximately at the same time. However, if you planted 5 plants and then 3 weeks later plant 5 more plants and then 3 weeks later plant 5 more, you can control your produce to work for your family. It works well on things like lettuce where you can have a consistent harvest of lettuce without it all turning bitter before you can eat it all. For now, I am enjoying reading gardening and herb books and finding experienced gardeners from which I can learn from.

Homeschool Blog Awards

Bethany — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 20:18:37 +0000

I am a little late on the latest news in the homeschool blogsphere. However, the 2006 Homeschool Blog Awards are here...

Nominations will be accepted from March 26th- April 6th. Voting for these nominations will begin on Friday April 9th. They have added a bunch of new categories this year. Be sure to read the rules first.

Sprouts of Real Food

Bethany — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 02:57:24 +0000

After paying $5 for a small bag of red onions, all I could think about was, "I can't wait to start my garden!" (butterfly pollinating our cherry tree) A garden not only provides a large family with a bountiful harvest of fresh fruits and veggies, but it does wonders for saving a large amount of money. Over the winter, I experimented with winter gardening and was pleased to find out that it was not as difficult as I thought it was going to be. No, we weren't by any means living off our winter garden, but I was pleased that my plants didn't freeze or die. I was encouraged that it is indeed possible to grow food in the winter. We ate some of our broccoli and I harvested a very small cabbage of which I was very proud of. Most importantly, I learned a great deal of what to do and what not to do. It was a nice start. However, this spring and summer, I am getting serious about big time gardening. It is becoming a necessary part of life! In a few days, I have finished off that $5 worth of onions. It takes no time at all to plow through the produce. I don't skimp on produce because I believe that it is vital for keeping my children healthy. Yet, at the same time, the amount of produce this family can use is astonishing and if I were purchasing it via the grocery store on a regular basis, it is foolishly expensive! The benefits of a productive garden:

Lots of vegetables and fruits available to you at home, not shipped from China or travel over many miles...
Nutrient dense foods.
Because of the bounty of fruits and vegetables, I will utilize more of these healthy foods in our diet. If the produce is around, I can use it. This adds huge health benefits.
Huge savings on the grocery bill. Even a small garden can save a lot of money. I cringe at paying $2 for a head of lettuce when I know how easy and inexpensive they are to grow.
Having food that is without harmful pesticides.
Protecting your family from GM (genetically modified) foods that are greatly increasing in the market. Labeling of these genetically modified foods is also not mandatory so in many cases we do not even know what has been altered. In the coming years the GM issue will only become a bigger issue and the importance of pure, heirloom or non-hybrid seeds will become even greater.
Work - The work and labor of producing food is a greatly rewarding experience. This is the deterrent for many...the work and time involved. It does take work and time. God put Adam and Eve in a garden to take dominion and rule over it and to work. We need to embrace our work and expect some things to just be....hard work. Work is good.
As home schoolers, we use the garden, as we use many things, to expose our children to real life. Many times "education" is so sterile and useless. Because we are whole life homeschoolers, we use life as the school room and utilize every opportunity we have available for a learning experience. I heard my 6 year old tell his 4 year old brother, "Come on, let's leave the bees alone, they're not done pollinating." So while my kids may be working with me in the garden during "school hours", we count that work and learning far more beneficial to them than learning about a garden from a workbook in a fluorescent lit classroom with 30 other foolish peers.

Garden Starting Tips:

I highly recommend checking out the book Lasagna Gardening by Patricia Lanza
Use non-hybrid seeds.
Try gardening in large planter pots if you are limited on space.
Try culinary herbs. I grew a pot full of chives and it lasted for 4 years until my cats dug it up recently. Chives repel pests and they will come back for years, so they are low maintenance.

(pictured above are some of my seed trays -- I have various herbs, squash, cucumber, lettuce and brussel sprouts. I just purchased a large amount of heirloom seeds that are awaiting my attention.)

Free Gardening Supplies Tip for Frugal Friday

Bethany — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 17:00:18 +0000

Here is my money saving gardening tip: I need more seed starter trays. I acquired two tray flats last week from our local farm co-op, but need at least 25 more. So I began trying to figure out how I could come up with some of these trays and flats. Idea number #1: I called a large flower landscaping company and said: "Hello, I am hoping you can help me. We are homeschoolers and in need of some seed starter planting trays.... the plastic pots and trays that landscaping companies usually throw out or recycle...." He says, "Yes...I know what you are talking about.... hold on just a moment." He comes back to the phone and says, "If you can come by the 1st week of May, you can have thousands of them...all sizes and shapes. We throw them away anyway so you are more than welcome to use them." Wow! I am so excited! So if you need any seed starting trays, call a flower landscaping company!

Organic Gardening Composting and Pest Control Tips

Bethany — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 12:00:19 +0000

I will add some of my tips to this question:

Wow, I am so motivated to begin a garden, something we’ve wanted to do for a long time. We did try to grow some tomatoes and carrots once, but failed due to positioning of the garden. I will get the book you have recommended. Do you make your own compost? I love the idea of making my own, but had been afraid of having a compost pile in my small backyard UNTIL I saw one of those big plastic barrel “things” that you simply add to it and give it a spin. Also, what are your tips for organic growing, but keeping away the bugs? Thanks for the much needed encouragement. I’ll be waiting for any additional tips you may have. Candace in San Antonio

I am not an expert gardener. I still have a lot to learn, but what I have learned, I don't mind sharing. My husband and I planted a small garden the very first year of our marriage. We put some tomatoes, okra and squash in our flower bed in the back yard. While we were the only people to have corn growing along our fence line in our little neighborhood, we were proud of that corn. I was able to stock my freezer with corn that lasted us for a very long time. In fact, we had so much squash that I gave it to my neighbor. She was an elderly lady that came over one day and said, "What's a matter..Don't you know how to eat squash?!" I actually didn't know what to do with it. She wrote out a recipe for squash casserole that I still use today. It was a great little start. Every year since then, we have grown some sort of garden something...but nothing huge yet, because of space limitations which will no longer be a problem. I have learned a lot from trial and error. I have made so many mistakes! I really believe gardening is a art form that can be learned and improved. Compost: Yes, we make our own compost. When we started composting, I became keenly aware of how much we waste! Composting, for me, became sort of a necessary part of life. I no longer had a garbage disposal and was forced to come up with alternative ways to dispose of items. I compost tea leaves, tea bags, coffee, coffee filters, some paper and cardboard, lots of leaves, small twigs and plant clippings, kitchen food scraps that are veggie and fruit related, egg shells, ashes, rabbit manure, old barn hay, grass clippings. I do not have a container for it, but when we move, I would like to build a composting area out of wood pallets. Right now our black gold pile is behind the barn and the chickens are constantly scratching through it. Ever so often, I put the boys to work turning over the pile to aerate it. And...Yes... we will be taking our compost pile with us when we move. For other kitchen waste, such as scraps from plates after supper, left over oatmeal, and other food that you would not want to put in the compost pile, we feed to our chickens and they eat every bit of it up like it were candy! I also recycle glass jars, plastic jugs, tin cans, paper that doesn't go into the compost. One of the biggest changes I have noticed is that our garbage outage has dramatically decreased! Garden Pests: Chemical pesticides are toxic and dangerous, but not only that, they do nothing to add anything beneficial to the plant or soil, so I do not spray my plants. Organic gardening benefits the plant and soil, as well as people, by using natural, God-given, substances and techniques to help keep the plants and soil healthy. You will not be able to rid your garden of all bugs. Bugs are everywhere, however, you will want to watch out that certain bugs do not develop a liking for your plants and feed on them. Some of the best pest control tips are some of the most over looked:

Handpicking - One time I asked my grandmother what I could do about some bugs that were on my garden plants. She said, "Well, I always just pick them off and kill'em." Hmm... now that was a simple remedy that many never even think about! Hand picking is an old fashion effective way to control many pests.
Water - sometimes a good spraying will get rid of some pests. Soapy water is also a cure that I have found to be useful. I have a spray bottle of water and hand soap. I spray it on affected plants in the early morning or late evening with focusing on spraying the ground around the plant with the soapy water. Bugs do not like soapy water.
Herbs and flowers that repel bugs. Plant lots of marigolds in and around your garden. Other herbs like chives, horseradish, mint, lemon balm, lemon basil, citronella type plants keep bugs away. Huge varieties of these plants are available and very useful in your garden.
Kelp - Although I have not personally used this yet, I am reading about using Kelp in my garden. Kelp is highly beneficial to the soil and helps your plants develop resistance against common pests and diseases. It is sort of like building up your immune system so that you can fight off sickness. The idea is to build nutrient rich soil so that you will have strong plants. Composting is also a great way to build healthy strong plants so that you will have less problems with diseased and pest ridden plants. Chemical toxic pesticides only create bigger problems with pests and disease in the long run.
You may also use other things like barriers, traps, reflector tape, shinny things etc. to deter pests like birds, moles or deer.
Diatomaceous Earth - We use this with our animals as well. It is microscopic crushed sea shell that literally mechanically kills pests by cutting them up and causing them to dehydrate and die. You can research this organic multi-useful ingredient by searching for Diatomaceous Earth organic pest control. This is amazing stuff!
Lime, sulphur, baking soda, vinegar, salt, flour and other natural compounds also can be used.

With all the variety we have to kill harmful pests, harmful pesticides are not necessary. We just need to be re-educated and learn how to use these natural, non-toxic remedies. I still have much more to learn to even claim to be a gardener. For now, I am using gardening as a wonderful way to expose my children to a variety of practical life applications. They are learning everything from how deep to plant certain seeds, to healthy soil composition, to caring for plants and learning a variety of organic pest control techniques. Gardening offers children a huge learning field! Don't feel bad if you skip on the bookwork and spend a lot of time outside in the dirt! As we have embarked on learning how to garden, we have come to a greater appreciation for all the beauty God has given us. So many times, we are too busy to stop and look at our world around us and see how abundant and beautiful it is. Fast paced industrialism has jaded our view and sometimes all it takes is stepping out into the back yard to watch a hummingbird sip his nectar or a bee buzz around a patch of spring flowers to remember the simple, natural aspects that make up life.

Companion Planting: Another Natural Pest and Disease Preventative

Bethany — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 03:59:45 +0000

I have been learning many new natural biological control methods (using a natural predator to control pests) and companion planting tricks to use in my own garden. I just finished reading an article about the how to's and why's of companion planting in your garden. Companion planting is when you plant an arrange combination of plants for the benefit of one another. It could be planting two plants next to each other or four plants. The point is to utilize the specific qualities of each plant for the benefit of the other. Just like peanut butter and jelly or chips and salsa, radishes and spinach compliment each other. Here are some other plants and their compliments: Cabbage and Rosemary and Mint: Rosemary, as well as mint, distracts the cabbage moth from laying its eggs on the cabbage. Tomatoes and Marigolds: Some plants emit smells or insect repelling natural chemicals through their leaves or roots which kill or deter pests. This is the reason why marigolds are so beneficial to your garden areas. Marigolds secrete a substance through their roots which control microscopic soil pests called nematodes. Dill, Basil, Marigolds and Tomatoes: Dill weed is not only a wonderful herb to grow and use in the kitchen, but it is a beneficial pest deterrent. Dill is supposed to keep the tomato horn worm away. We had an awaking with this pest. They show up out of no where and can eat a full grown tomato plant before you know it. I keep my eye out for this pest and use the old-fashion hand picking and destroy method for control. Basil also repels the tomato worm as well as deters mosquitoes and flies as well as increases the flavor of tomatoes because it conditions the soil with certain beneficial nutrients. This year, I am planning on experimenting with these combinations of tomato companion planting. Garlic, onions, chives planted with tender greens: Some pests locate their food by smell. By planting onions near tender lettuce greens, pests are overpowered and repulsed by the smell of onions or garlic. Chives near rose bushes: I absolutely love chives. Even if you do not like the taste of chives, the plant is a beautiful, hardy grass that blooms the most wonderful purple flower. Chives are strong plants that deter pests that seek fragrant roses. There are a hundred different combinations: Basil - keeps away flies and mosquitoes. Horseradish - repels the potato bugs. Catnip - Help stops flea beetle. Mint - keeps away white cabbage moth, ants. Nasturtium - keeps away aphids, squash bugs and pumpkin beetles. Marigold - keeps away asparagus beetles and tomato worm Peppermint - keeps away the cabbage butterfly. Rosemary - prevents cabbage moth, bean beetles and carrot fly. Sage - keeps away cabbage moth and carrot fly. Thyme - deters the cabbage worm. Wormwood - keeps away animals from garden, like cats. Leeks and carrots repel each other's pests. Tomatoes, beans, peppers, carrots are mutually beneficial to each other. Indians practiced companion planting by growing what is known as the "Three Sisters". Corn, beans and squash are companions in these ways:

Corn grows into a tall stalk that provides a natural pole in which the beans may climb.
Bean plants put vital nutrients, nitrogen, into the soil for the enrichment of the plants.
Squash leaves spread large and wide providing shade for the soil and thereby keeping moisture in the soil. Squash plants also choke out large weeds.

Amazing how 3 simple plants, planted in combination together can produce benefits for its plant neighbors! Then, of course, we all have heard about the composting skills that the Indians used -- that of teaching our forefathers how to grow corn by composting dead fish in the soil before planting corn seed. You may also experiment with planting certain plants together to maximize space. This winter I planted broccoli with lettuce underneath after reading about this type of companion planting in a gardening book. There is a wealth of knowledge to learn about just in how to plant deep rooted plants next to shallow rooted plants or how to combine shade loving plants with taller sun loving but shade giving plants. Just as important, it is beneficial to know which plants not to plant together. Jodi Torpey says in her article "Sow Happy Together":

"While some plants do better when grown together, other plant combinations don't work as well. Their root systems may compete for moisture or nutrients, or their chemical makeup may inhibit the other's growth. Carrots' growth will be stunted if dill is planted close by, for example. Beans don't grow well near any member of the onion family such as chives, shallots, or garlic."

An interesting and vast subject for sure. The point is, creating a symbiotic relationship between a variety of plants is an art and science that has been long neglected. Were it not for massive chemical companies that produce products like round-up and off! --we may be more knowledgeable about how to use plants for our benefit. I am just getting into the fascinating facts about using plants for bug repellents instead of products that contain harmful ingredients such as deet. The companion relationships between different plants can be used to increase yields in your garden as well as increase plant and fruit quality, provide natural pest control and disease prevention and maintain healthy soil. Using plants in symbiosis is a very natural but powerful approach to gardening that recognizes the wisdom of our Creator in providing us with plants that have distinct unique characteristics. Isn't the design of the Creator marvelous?

More information than you probably want to know…

Bethany — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 04:52:22 +0000

This upcoming week is going to be a busy week for our family --actually, the next 3 weeks. We will be preparing to move to our farm and as you can imagine, this long awaited moment, is producing great amounts of joy and anticipation from the oldest to the...well...next to youngest. Yesterday, we spent a large portion of the day out at the farm visiting with previous owners. It was a cool, rainy day, yet the guys were able to learn how to drive the tractor and check out other things on the land. We learned more about the house and spent some time getting to know some of the animals -- for those of you who do not know, our animal ownership more than doubles -- which is causing quite a stir around here from the children who have been discussing who is taking care of what animals. The girls want to be the goat, garden and flower farmers, the older boys want to be the cow and chicken farmers. The 6 year also wants to be a dog farmer (ha!ha!). The 4 year old is insistent that he is going to be the pig farmer --which is fine with everyone since we don't even have pigs. The 2 1/2 year old argues with everyone every time they mention an animal by saying, "NOOO, ME! I do it!", which is all the more funny when you know that she is terrified of the animals anyway. My oldest son's solution was, "We just need more children, because we have enough work for more helpers to be involved." All the children agreed with their oldest brother's solution with a unison verbal agreement and the nod their heads. I kept working on breakfast for an army and enjoyed listening to their planning talk over the kitchen table while they were waiting on breakfast. Yesterday, I took home some "how to" milk goat information and just finished reading a book entitled, "Raising Milk Goats The Modern Way". While I learned a wealth of information that I am sure multiplied my brain cells, or maybe fried them out???, I learned a slew of information that had me making out loud groans and moans along with detailed facial grimaces and contortions. Believe me, I had no idea! I can officially say that I have the book knowledge on how to disbud a goat and can tell you in detail how to castrate a buck; the burdizzo method, the good ol' fashion sharp knife method or the handy elastrator tool method. You pick method, all can be done at the family farm! You may grimace at that, but you should have read the book! Coincidently enough, I became first hand acquainted with the metal elastrator tool the day before I read the book -- the previous owners were kind enough to leave a box of useful and necessary farm supplies for us! For that we are sincerely thankful for their help in our transition, I just realized that my "country girl" skin isn't thick enough yet! I expect that to change very soon, since I am married to a husband that can do anything and who believes in giving me the opportunity to do things that I don't want to! Back to the book: More interesting to me, was the actual information on the milking part of raising dairy goats. Being a breastfeeding mom, I was, as first, becoming a bit concerned on how much I could relate to the information being presented. Engorgement, let-down, supply and demand, regular milking, problems such as mastitis....sounds familiar right??? I am actually very excited on learning about these milk goats and how to use the milk for our family. As we busy ourselves with connecting loose ends here, we will soon be back up and running...although running a bit differently. For now, your irregular and sporadic blogger friend who confuses her readers with her wide rage of non-related post topics....

Ramblings out from under the cardboard boxes…

Bethany — Mon, 07 May 2007 20:10:22 +0000

To sum up my life lately.... I am not completely unpacked although I am functioning and I found my computer. I have been consumed with our new endeavors of farm life and am loving every minute...almost...of it. Soon, I will post some pictures and maybe give a virtual tour on life around here. For now, I have learned that:

We are definitely south of the gnat line. Flies and gnats are a normal part of life when you live next to cattle farmers.
Cows don't just moo....I can't even begin to describe the sounds of a herd of cattle during a rain storm. African Elephants come to mind.
NEVER buy just one baby turkey. After trying to figure out what was wrong with this bird who was constantly distressing with loud continuous peeping sounds, we read, "Never buy just one baby turkey....they don't like being alone." After a few days, this turkey successfully gave me a headache and irritation that made me want to return him back to the Farm and Feed store. My husband said absolutely not...we would be known as the "new people who returned the turkey because they didn't know what they were doing". I thought, "Well, at least we aren't known as the people who asked the sheep farmer about buying some of his goats" (...That is a true story that happened when we bought our little fixer upper house several years ago. At least now we can tell the difference between a goat and a sheep.) So after I came back to the house one day and found the turkey out of his box and wondering around my house....he soon found a new home in the shed.
My boys didn't think twice about bringing a sunfish they caught in their trap into the house and making him a new home on my kitchen counter. Needless to say, he didn't survive the attempts of 4 boys to make him a new, better home in the house and died the next day. My oldest son buried it in the garden and planted a bean seed on top of him. We recycle around here.
Snakes and ticks are a part of country life.....at least in the south. We have some guineas incubating at a friend's farm and will be soon releasing guineas to hopefully help control the tick population.
I do not like pigs... They are feisty and unpredictable, but very fascinating to watch them use their nose to plow up the dirt -- but more entertaining than that is watching your children chase the escapee piglet around the yard with a large fishing net trying to catch it. It didn't work. They eventually decided to trap the pig using their opossum trap. That, however, did work and the pig was returned to its pen after they repaired the problem spot in the fence. It was two days before he got out again.
Dogs like to tear clothes off the clothes line and run away with your laundry.
I love gardening. Even with the rocks and weeds, I love the work of cultivating the ground and watching little plants grow and produce fruit. It slows life down and causes me to think about important things.
My little boys are more entrepreneurial than I thought. They have been collecting "critters" around the farm to sell at the farmer's market on Friday. So far they have 2 tree frogs, 1 ring neck snake, 3 butterflies, a couple of bees and two salamanders that just escaped.
My first milking experience lasted 5 minutes before I gave up and headed back to the house. My husband met me at the door pretty impressed at my milking skills until I told him it wasn't possible to milk that goat. He headed back out the door with me so we could "try again". With his help, we were able to get a whole 6 ounces of fresh milk. Just enough to be proud of and make banana bread with ;-) More on that fiasco later. If you have ever seen The Fox and the Hound movie, the scene where the fox disturbs the cow, upsetting the milk pail, sending the chickens flying up into the air and knocking the poor old woman off her milking stool....well, that was a close representation of what happened.
Every day is a stark reminder that, as a culture, we are a pampered, lazy people that depend on fat corporations to to take care of us. Were we forced to live pre-industrial revolution lives, many of us and our children would die the first week because we have sucked off the teat of convenience, material possessions and a life of ease for far too long, which has turned us into a bunch of lazy, ignorant saps. I am speaking to myself really. I can't tell you how many times I have said, "I can't believe we are so ignorant" and then think "Wow...I can not believe how much work this is." Right after that thought comes the, "Wow, I am such a wuss." I have running water, a bathroom, a dishwasher, air conditioning, a refrigerator...... We have it so easy. I caution myself almost everyday to not become so comfortable in my ease, that I magnify idleness. I challenge myself to love and embrace work. Work is good for the soul and body and brings me closer to God as I draw upon His strength instead of doing "things" in my own power.
Pioneer women deserve our utmost respect and the more I think about what my great, great, great grandmother's did, it inspires me.

Though we are far from growing our own food and living a life of family interdepenence, our goals are to be more self-sufficient as a family. Our desire is build a family that is a light in our community. We desire to communicate the old fashion idea of the importance of family and community, which has been lost in our mega-society of mass corporations and fragmented families who can't live without them. We are excited about the beginnings of the local farmer's market here and while our family won't be making a showing with tree frogs and butterflies, we soon hope to be taking some produce goods from our farm to sell in the community market. Last week, I bought some fresh mixed lettuce and spinach that were absolutely wonderful and I didn't worry about whether or not it had ecoli. Another friend gave me a loaf of her home made bread that she baked in a ceramic pot. It was delicious. We are anxiously awaiting the garden produce that will soon be showing up at the market from various farms around the area. While we all do not have access to these avenues for supporting sustainable agriculture or the local community economy, I have found that there are a lot of people looking for this. Even if you live in the city, it is not impossible to arrange for your meat to come from a farmer that grows pasture fed cows or chickens even if you can not grow your own. It is exciting to see people starting to research and change how they eat and what kinds of food they buy. It won't take too many more food recalls before we all are seriously considering abandoning the globalized markets. I am already there, however, still reliant on way too many things. Now that I have rambled on and used up my computer time for the week, I will close with saying: I completed our new working schedule this morning and only allotted 1 hour of computer time on Monday. My husband said I should add more time, but I couldn't pull it out of the days yet, so for now, I plan on posting a journal update each Monday.

Country grocery shopping…

Bethany — Tue, 15 May 2007 05:00:44 +0000

Living over an hour from a Kroger or almost 2 hours from a Costco or Sams, our methods of gathering groceries have changed quite a bit since moving out to the farm. In an emergency, I can be at a Sav-a-Lot in 15 minutes, but I enjoy the local markets around here more. Once I get a bit more settled, I am going to pick back up on my couponing for certain items in a modified way (toothbrushes, razors, toilet paper, paper products, some food products, etc). In the transition, my food stockpile was a great blessing to me. I still have a good stocked pantry of basic supplies that have been an invaluable resource from which I have been pulling from. Because of the availability of bulk supplies like grain, local honey, local vegetables and seasonal fruits, I am taking advantage of my proximity to these items. I found a wonderful country store that I have done my shopping at and while it is nothing compared to a conventional grocery store, it provides us with fresh good food for a good price. It has the added bonus of me not having to worry about getting the children dressed in something other than overalls and rubber boots as well as, not worrying about all the strange looks and stares. So while I did not have to give my "grocery shopping with 7 children speech" when we exited the vehicle, I did give the "Don't ask me to buy any more animals...even if you have the money for it...we aren't taking home live animals today..." speech. We took a picture to compare the differences in what the food from a country grocery store looks like, compared to what we are use to shopping at. Here was our haul today: 6 loaves of fresh baked sourdough (about $2.50 each) 2 gallons of fresh milk ($3.50 each) with the added bonus of fresh cream. Lots of sausage patties ($2.xx a pound) 2 lbs of sliced farmer's cheese ($3.25 a pound) 5 1/2 dozen fresh eggs ($1.49 a dozen) 1 peach frozen ready to bake pie (it was very good too!) Fresh picked sweet strawberries And for the ride home --water and cinnamon rolls -- for a total of $50 Last week, I purchased a bulk amount of raw sugar and local honey, fresh milk, grain berries, sourdough, onions

You know your at a real country store, when they have live animals outside for sale. Last week, we saw a rabbit in one of the cages with a sign that said:

"$6 for Live, $8 for butchered"

My children pulled the stray dollars and change they had in their pockets and bought the buck rabbit --alive--to breed to their does.

Farm life and home schooling: one thing leads to another…and more things you never expect to read about…

Bethany — Tue, 22 May 2007 04:27:35 +0000

I have been amazed to see how farm life has affected our home schooling these days. I am still unpacking boxes of books. We have more books than anything else and it seems that we are still digging book boxes out and are shortly about to run out of book shelves. However, I have yet to unpack my homeschooling books so the children have had a nice reprieve on any sort of written book work for weeks now. Not that we did a lot of written book work to begin with, however, I do feel it is very important for my children to know how to write well so we do spend focused times on this important skill. The only written work they have done is making garden plot plans, recording rabbits and breeding information, business ideas and figuring out how much they need to sell and of what items at the farmer's market in order to make a certain amount of money. Not your typical A beka type handwriting drills or math problems...but it works just the same only they are more motivated and interested in figuring those types of problems compared to a workbook. But for now, in addition to lots of reading, other projects have been taking up their time and attention. Recently my older boys have been working on building a poultry tractor for their guineas and turkey as the baby birds are ready to graduate from being in a smaller cage to a real tractor that will be moved around the yard. This is sure to supply them with a generous supply of bugs that we are hoping will soon be a distant memory. Once the guineas are a bit bigger, we will release them to free range around the property. In other happenings, we have been learning so much about the simple things most farmers take for granted. While we were not intending on being pig farmers, my husband received a real live baby pig for his birthday (from his nephew) So we were sort of thrust into learning all about pigs in a short amount of time. The pig is a very interesting creature and from what we can tell--this pig is very smart. He has escaped a couple of times, but the boys have risen to the challenge and figured out ingenious ways to catch him. Looking out the back door, I caught two boys running around the yard with a very large net. This was the first attempt at retrieving him. Since his little operation(of which I am getting ready to tell you about)...he has been much more content and happy in his little home eating lots of leftovers and scraps from the kitchen. The net didn't work. The boys eventually had to trap the pig in their possum trap. After repairing the fence...they put him back in his pen. We found that those heavy plastic dog houses work great for pigs. He needed a place to sleep up off the ground where he could be warm and dry from the rain. We were told that our pig needed an "operation" ...the kind to render him sterile and secure his life as that of a meat pig. If you aren't aware, pigs need to be castrated if you intend on raising them for meat for several reasons. 1--big male hogs that are not castrated are aggressive and dangerous and 2-- those hormones affect the taste and quality of the meat. Unfortunately, we found out that you are supposed to castrate male pigs when they are about 2 to 3 days old---our pig was 10 weeks old and quite a bit bigger than a baby piglet. My husband spent a short amount of time reading about how to do this procedure himself and when fully confident, he called the 11 year old, the 9 year old and the 6 year old boys to come with him to the barn and told them the short story of what they were going to do. "Patrick...you sit on the pig and don't get up--- Pierce, grab one leg, Peyton, you grab the other leg and don't let go." My husband quickly made the cuts and did the job and I stood on the porch listening to this pig screaming like nothing I have ever heard. It reminded me of the scene in the movie, "The Princess Bride" where the farmer boy is in the pit of despair getting his life sucked out of him. All is well, however, and the pig is now well on his way. The boys grew up a lot that day and are all the better for it with more conversation fodder for me to watch out for the next time we make it into a grocery store. To make the day more interesting, my 9 year old had the great idea that only a male mind would think: he suggested putting the pig testicles into their trap to see what they could catch. My husband, being the adventurous guy that he is, agreed with the idea and they set the trap in the woods. The next day, they went to check the trap and to their delight, they had caught a possum -- a possum with 9 babies crawling all over her. Needless to say, we did not keep them as pets but they provided another interesting learning experience for the kids! You can imagine how excited the boys were catching 10 possums at ONE time with two pig test...well..you know. I couldn't catch their excitement and wasn't thrilled with it in the least. I finally went inside the house when talk started about "Hmm...I wonder if the cat will adopt the baby possums and nurse them?" Can we please move on...One thing has already led to another...let's not risk something else happening and force me to blog about something even more strange than pig bait. We did finally move on and with much more excitement I was able to finally plant some potatoes and make some progress in the garden.

In the Garden…

Bethany — Tue, 29 May 2007 01:21:30 +0000

Besides getting bit by bugs and kissed by the sun...working in the garden is pure joy for me. I love the sweaty work of cultivating earth and shaping it into something fruitful and then trusting God to bless the work. My garden is off to a slow start but it is moving along even if at a snail's pace. I have to reign in anxious thoughts and not let them overtake me with dissatisfaction in small beginnings. For now, growing in my raised beds are brussel sprouts, marigolds, cucumbers, beans, squash, several types of tomatoes, jalapeno peppers, purple sweet peppers, yellow banana peppers, habanero peppers, potatoes, mint and some other herbs. I bought heirloom seeds this year along with several heirloom plants that I planted with the intention of saving the seed for next year's planting, however, I already messed that idea up by planting several different kinds of heirloom tomatoes too close together. If you intend on having heirloom varieties for the purpose of saving seed, you need to space your heirloom plants a certain amount of feet apart from other heirloom varieties or else your seeds will be cross pollinated with the other plants and not be pure seed. I guess I could save the seeds of my plants and just see what happens when you cross a Cherokee purple tomato with a Brandywine pink tomato? However, I figured that at least this year I was able to get the seed and plants in the ground-- next year, I will work on my heirloom seeds and garden layout to insure pure seeds. At least learning from my mistakes will benefit me for next year's plantings. In another raised bed, my 9 year old planted several rows of corn and okra. We are excited to see the baby corn and okra plants popping up and are hoping that they will grow big and tall without incident. Our small asparagus patch is doing well in another small area. There is nothing quite like fresh young tender asparagus. I have been lightly steaming it or adding it to stir-fry but unfortunately I am not getting as much as I would like. Again, not despising small beginnings, I am hopeful that next year it should produce even more. Here the boys are laying out several layers of newspaper and spraying it down with water. Yes, the water did get out of hand and the boys ended being a nice mixture of wet barn hay, cow manure and mud. The 6 year old is inspecting the strange seed potato trying to figure out how it is going to produce potatoes. Hopefully our wet paper hay combination potato planting will work. I, too, am wondering if it will actually work. At this point, even if the entire garden were a failure, I would walk away from it with many lessons on what not to do for next year. Working the garden has been very healthy and beneficial for the children as well. They have seen their tiny seeds grow into small plants which has produced much anticipation and excitement. That at least is successful in more ways than one.

New film: Monstrous Regiment of Women

Bethany — Tue, 29 May 2007 13:56:54 +0000

I can not wait to review this new film.. http://www.monstrousregiment.com/index.htm

Large Family Pancake Recipe

Bethany — Wed, 30 May 2007 03:48:17 +0000

This is a pancake recipe that we sorta made up from a combination of recipes. The idea was to create a simple pancake recipe that the kids could remember and whip up if I needed them to. In our house, the children over the age of 8 can whip this recipe up with relative ease. Large Family Amount of Pancakes 4 cups of flour (I use freshly ground wheat--we like the prairie gold) 4 teaspoons of baking powder 1 teaspoon of salt 4 cups of milk 4 eggs 1 teaspoon of vanilla 1 stick of melted butter (you can use a 1/2 cup of oil instead) 1/2 cup of honey Mix up in a large mixing bowl with a whisk. If you have an electric griddle --that works best, however we are griddle-less since we wore ours out. I use a griddle pan that covers two burners and another large skillet on another burner to make pancakes. Feeds my 7 children (ages 11 and under). Next time we make them, we will count how many pancakes it actually makes. If you have older children or more children, I would suggest doubling it. I recently doubled this recipe when we had two families over for a breakfast supper. We had scrambled eggs, sausage, pancakes and fruit. With the pancakes and scrambled eggs used 42 eggs that night.

Where Is Vaughnshire?

Bethany — Thu, 31 May 2007 02:46:26 +0000

Vaughnshire is our family website located at www.vaughnshire.com We are working on posting articles specifically related to the farm, agrarian living, escaping from the corporate american rat race, reviving local community, and raising a large family in an anti-Biblical culture. We are just getting this site started and for now I am posting my articles about farm life over on Vaughnshire as well. My husband is also posting...but we have very little spare time to revamp the site yet. We are hoping to add lots of pictures and a detailed account on our exit from the regular ol'corporate american job to working from home on our farm. As we are still in the process---lots more to come. We hope to use the site as a journal for our children to be able to look back on with much laughter and praise to God for sustaining us through the good times and the bad.

Boyhood Work

Bethany — Thu, 31 May 2007 04:04:46 +0000

At the end of a long day, my 11 year old announced, "I just had the best Monday of my life..." What, you may ask, was so great about Monday? He, his brothers and dad worked out in the hot sun all day and plowed a 60X20 garden plot. In addition they also laid some water line from the overflow tank at the spring and shoveled out mud in the pond to hopefully prepare it to be a gravity fed spring pond that they can stock with fish. During supper, our 9 year old commented that "it seems like working and playing are the same thing!" I have made many interesting observations about boys over the years, but one striking observation is that boys need lots of work and productive outlets to focus their mind and energy on. Not only do bored, unchallenged boys end up in trouble, but they develop a lazy attitude about everything. Besides, work doesn't have to be drudgery all the time. In our home, at 6 years old, a boy graduates from being a playminded little-responsibility momma's boy to a worker boy. It isn't a magical immediate switch from toddlerhood to worker-boy-hood. The change is gradual and we have many ups and downs in our training progress. However, we have noticed that not only do they desperately need to be given more responsibility, but they need to be given work and chores that challenge them to step up to the plate and encourage them to be a worker boy. Here are a few things that we have identified as important aspects of boyhood work: Physical Work -- Boys need to use that energy God gave them to physically work hard. Depending on where you live and the opportunities available, a boy's work will greatly vary from place to place. The important thing is that boys need to work. The day my boys plowed the field, it was hot, sweaty, smelly work! But they loved it. I love making them a big glass of ice water with lemons or sweet tea and taking it out to them while they are working hard. It makes them feel like a man. Responsibility -- Young boys need to be given responsibilities. Whether it is taking care of a animal or a section of space or a specific chore, boys thrive on having something to be responsible for. Recently, we handed over the pig feeding assignment to our 6 year old. Every day he is responsible for getting the food bucket off the kitchen counter and walking it down to the barn and dumping it over the fence to the pig. He then gathers eggs and brings the bucket and eggs back home. He has thrived with his new job and we have seen a big maturity growth in this boy. Everyday, he gives us a report on how the pig is doing. He knows what the pig likes and what he doesn't like and reminds me not to put orange peels into the pig bucket because he doesn't like them. Of course, as the boys grow, the responsibility increases. Accountability -- As parents, part of our job is training our children how to work. We first teach them to do all their work heartily as unto the Lord. We strive to cultivate a heart of humbleness, diligence, excellence and thoroughness in their work. They know that we are there to help them, but also are there to guide, correct and train them in how to work. We also have a deep desire to teach them how to work with their siblings. Rewards and job well done incentives -- Many times we hire our children to do a job. I recently hired my 4 year old and 6 year old to move dirt from a dirt pile, to the garden. I paid them .10 cents a load. They worked hard and received payment for their work. The older children work different jobs around here and are paid accordingly, however, not everything is a paid chore or job. Some things you have to do just because you live here. We do not promote "free-ride or free-parking" living around here. Vision for future work -- At 4 years old, don't be discouraged if they are still whining a lot and attempts to work become flustered because they are prone to distraction. Training during these early years will eventually pay off. Starting out early and starting small may not seem important but it is vital to begin at 2 if you want a worker boy at 10. We want to lay out a vision for the future and give our boys goals of things they can achieve in regards to work. We have been encouraging our boys in entrepreneurship. This type of work excites them very much. They have made plans for selling things they make and grow. Our oldest son has several invention ideas that he is planning on experimenting with, with the hopes of marketing a solar / hydro gardening device that will grow pre-flood sized plants. Even if his overenthusiastic idea is a flop -- the point is that experimenting and dreaming up ideas is always better than being cemented to conform to a pre-determined mindset of normality. As bad as I hate to see some of the boys "experiments" or "contraptions" laying around the yard, I have to tell myself that "It's really not junk...It just looks that way..." Another interesting observation I have made about raising boys is that when we promote healthy physical work, responsibility, accountability and a vision for future work, a boy's mind is stimulated to think, solve problems, invent, and lead. He begins to think beyond himself and starts to see the world through the perspective of the creature God created him to be. A creature with a dominion mandate. Many wonder about how this applies to girls. I will elaborate on young girls and work next.

Young Girlhood Work

Bethany — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 16:30:17 +0000

One thing I have noticed about the job I now have, that of a wife, mother and large family homemaker is that this job requires an enormous amount of multi-tasking, problem solving and ingenuity. I actually did not realize that being a mother of many children would take so much work. My mom made it look easy. It is a massive job not only in the physical sense of the drain of it takes from your own body, but the mental work of handling all the household logistics on a daily basis with two handfuls of children running around. It is huge. Because of this, I have been teaching my daughters a few things in preparation for when they become wives and mothers. 1. Multi-tasking -- I remember being a newly wed and standing at my stove watching my supper cook. I had several burners going at one time and the thought actually crossed my mind, "ARRRRRGGGHHH, that is way too much activity going on at once...I can't handle that." Yeah...that "too much activity" was having a small sauce pan of green beans boiling, a small sauce pan of water boiling and a small casserole in the oven. Way too much activity to handle at once! Now I regularly juggle all 4 burners and two stoves going at once with two different timers, a baby on one hip, a whining 2 year old on my leg, while settling an argument with a 4 year old and a 6 year old and answering another "how-in-the-world-do-you-come-up-with-that" kind of question from my 11 year old. Never mind the other hundred other thoughts zooming through my head like laundry, planning tomorrow's meals, going over a mental pantry list and other household needs. Training our girls to multi-task is a vital tool they will use everyday as a mother. Not just for the benefit of handling more than one thing at a time, but to train her to recognize when the craziness starts and how to delegate and calm the rising tidal wave. The goal is not just to handle a bunch of things at one time, but rather to manage the things. The best way I have found to teach my daughter these practical skills is having her be my right-hand assistant. Most of the multi-tasking skills comes with just everyday experience. Often I give her several things to do at one time. For example: She may watch her 2 year old sister and fold clothes at the same time. She may also set the table for supper while also watching a pot of beans cooking on the stove making sure it does not boil over. Age appropriate multi-tasking practices are highly beneficial to young girls and they love the challenge. 2.) Teach them to embrace hard work -- Around here, the girls and I work outside a lot. We pull weeds and dig in the dirt to plant seedling plants or flowers. We cook large amounts of food and wash enormous mounds of laundry. We scrub bathtubs and floors and 15 passenger vans. The work seems endless and overwhelming, however, teaching our daughters to embrace work will protect them against idle high maintenance lives. Girls are wonderful house cleaning and baby/toddler assistants. They can be taught to dust and vacuum. They can be trained to be detailed cleaners at a very young age. Our girls start performing beneficial jobs like, dusting, cleaning windows and mirrors, straightening, folding laundry, doing the dishes and laundry, cleaning bathrooms and bedrooms at the ages of 6 to 8 years old. These years are crucial training years. They may not be able to clean a bathroom like I can, but they can be trained on how to clean a bathroom. After I have taught my daughter how to clean the bathroom, I will then let her have opportunities to clean all by herself. I will inspect afterwards and give glowing reviews on what a great job she did -- even if there are smears on the mirror and I wasn't fond of her redecorating touches. She will grow and mature and so will her cleaning skills and decorating tastes. The point is training her, giving her the opportunities to practice what you have taught her and then giving her responsibilities to help you around the house. Let go of perfection and let her help you work instead of you doing it all. 3.) Responsibility -- There are a variety of ways that a parent can encourage responsibility in their child. We hold our children responsible for a variety of different tasks...some little and some large. You can start with something small and work up to bigger responsibilities as the child grows and matures. For a 6 year old little girl, you could give her the responsibility of making a snack for her siblings. You may start out with having her peel bananas and place on a paper towels on the table. You can work up to her making peanut butter sandwiches or crackers for her brothers and sisters. At 8 years old, she should be well versed in the kitchen preparing a variety of foods. I love smelling something wonderful baking in the kitchen and it isn't me who is doing the baking. It is a wonderful feeling. I look forward to the years ahead when my young daughters are excelling at cooking and baking. That is something I am very thankful to my mother for. She didn't shy away from letting me bake and use her mixer at an early age. I loved that. 4.) Knowledgeable -- I once heard a mother of many children say that by the age of 7, the child should know how to run the household. While my 7 year olds aren't running the house, I have tried to teach them basic how to's and what ifs on running the house. For my daughter, that means teaching her how to run every kitchen appliance in the house and other home making important how to's. Though she may not be able to use them, she knows how to turn it on and off and the basics of what it does. I have also found that we need to be constantly talking to them about what we are doing...whether that be when we are cooking or cleaning or taking care of a little one, explaining what I am doing and why I am doing it is very beneficial for her training. Another important aspect is giving young girls opportunity to problem solve and find ingenious solutions and how to resolve failures (like baking failures in our house can always be given to the pig). I should work on a practical chore list giving some advice on age appropriate chores since many mothers wonder what they should expect from their children. Quickly, I will give you a list of some chores the girls do. 8 years -

dishes
some baking, cooking and food prep.
very helpful cleaner
cares for kittens
laundry
my assistant with the babies
changes bed linens and makes beds
dusts and vacuums
writes grocery lists for me and helps grocery shop
gardening chores

(She is not responsible for all these chores all the time...but she does work doing these things in our home on a consistent basis. At this point we are still in a training stage for many things. We have many friends that have proficient 12 and up year old daughters who are very beneficial, productive, young women and great assistants to their mothers.) 2 years -

puts shoes in basket
puts baby dolls in the baby bed
laundry helper
picks up doll house
lots of training at this point and very little help ;-)

2 year olds can pick up things with your supervision. They are not responsible beings. More time is poured into them at this point with very little productive return. Hang in there, it will soon pay off.

Guest Blogger

Bethany — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 16:31:31 +0000

I will be posting a guest blogger post soon entitled "This Is The Way We Wash Our Clothes". I intend on having this blogger write other homemaking how-to's in the future...so stay tuned...

Drought…

Bethany — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 16:37:10 +0000

Our state is experiencing widespread drought. The worst it has seen in a decade. In a normally, very moist, green, overly-grown beautiful environment, we are experiencing the sights of yellowing grass and the appearance of cracks in the ground. Those sights were normal sights in my childhood Texas summer days. I had just assumed all places had cracks in the ground big enough to trip you when walking. Brown grass was a normal summer color and leaves fell off the trees in summer not just fall. I didn't think it was abnormal to carry a pair of gloves or a dish towel to the car during a hot August day just so you could open the door, touch the steering wheel, start the engine and buckle your seat belt. However, though it is not that hot here...the dryness is normally far from the case here in the state of Tennessee. I am missing our frequent rains and remembering that this unusually hot and dry season is yet another reminder to me of the faithfulness of God. Life is not always full of plenty, full of abundant growth, full of ease nor is it always a rosy picture of perfection. Times of drought, times of thirst, times of struggle are normal parts of life. They are meant to draw us closer to God, to cause us to worship still His faithfulness and to show more powerfully His mercy and loving kindness. Too often I take the little things, like rain, for granted. I am reminded that His Grace is sufficient for me even during those times of drought in my own life. For now, during this weather season of drought, I am thanking God all the more for the beauty in the simple things such as shade that the trees provide, music that the birds sing, a house that provides us protection from the summer weather and a harder than normal time gardening this year (because it only makes me more thankful) and all the times in our lives that we have been blessed and just not realized it. Embracing the difficult and giving thanks in the trials not only refines our character, but allows us to live self-LESSly and in awe of the Creator.

Gardening with little ones…

Bethany — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 16:46:02 +0000

Many have asked me how in the world do you garden with babies? I hadn't thought about it much and like many things I do, I often don't consider the fact that maybe what I want to do isn't possible because of having so many little ones. Many times it does get me in way over my head. When I find myself carrying a baby on the hip and a shovel and rake in the other hand while trying to pull a wagon load of rocks with a bucket of seeds and a two year old sitting atop and yell across the yard at the 4 year old to stop throwing the kittens-- I sometimes get a clue that maybe I am trying to multi-task just a little to many things at once and need to utilize my helpers and implement some tools to help me. However, just because something is a bit complicated, doesn't mean it shouldn't be done. Gardening is very important to me and our family, so we garden with little ones and use a variety of tricks to make that possible. 1.) Garden during nap time. I can get lots of gardening work done when the little ones are napping. My baby girls are very dependable nappers and when they nap--lots of work can be accomplished. 2.) During other times, I use a large yard gate outside near the area I am working in. The babies play near me, yet can't run off or get into things they are not supposed to. I put interesting toys into the yard gate that they don't other wise play with normally. A shallow tub of water with cups and containers keeps them busy too. Yes the protest the monkey gate, but it's part of their training and keeps them safe. 3.) The young boys work near me with their dump trucks. I often hire them to remove large rocks from the garden spot we are working to move piles of rocks to spread out in the bottom of a dry creek bed. They earn .10 cents a dump truck load. 4.) Involve the children in your work. Yes, it takes more effort and more time, but it leaves lasting memories and invests in something more important than speed and efficiency. We planted several rows of corn, beans, squash and okra several weeks ago. My 18 month old was very interested in watching us put the seed into the ground. I handed her a seed and made an impression where she could plant the bean seed. She very thoughtfully placed her seed in the ground and watched me pat the dirt around it. We took another step and I made another impression for another seed. She held out her tiny hand for the bean, took the bean from me and placed it in the ground, patting the dirt. Again and again she repeatedly took beans and placed them in the ground. Yes, it was a slower process, but gardening isn't all about speed and mass production. The fact that my 18 month old was planting seeds was pretty exciting to me. Older children can be more involved. The 8, 9 and 11 year old can pretty well garden by themselves, knowing how to prepare soil and plant seeds. They produce a lot of good hard work, making gardening a lot easier for me with the little ones. Now that the larger garden is plowed, planted and now growing, we are not working in it as much as we did the previous weeks. The main work now is routing spring water gravity fed lines and setting up rain barrels (which do not have rain water in them yet) to supply our garden with much needed water.

Guest Blogger Post: This Is The Way We Wash Our Clothes

Bethany — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 03:26:39 +0000

Laundry Day

I am doing laundry for my family today. I am teaching my younger sister how to do the laundry. The first thing I do is start the water. I set the machine on super plus because it was a full load of jeans. Next I checked to see that the water was on cold/cold.

Next I turned the knob to heavy wash time and showed my sister how to put the soap in. We then loaded the clothes.

My sister and I carried more clothes to the laundry room from each bathroom. Then I taught her how to separate the clothes. And then I had a pile of white kitchen towels in the kitchen floor and I tested her to see if she could put the white towels in the white pile in the laundry room. She put all the towels except for one in the white pile.

My sister and I are taking clothes off the line. We brought them in and we put them in the living room floor. We dumped out the clothes and started folding.

I trained her how to fold towels and wash cloths. After that we put them away.

I am putting away towels and my sister is putting away wash cloths. Next we started a new load by taking the wet clothes to the line to dry and washing more. We help mom do laundry almost every day except for Sunday. My mom sometimes helps me but she is training me to take over the laundry and to teach my younger siblings. M.V. -- age 8

In The Garden update…

Bethany — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 12:30:33 +0000

While we have been in a season of drought, watering a garden has been a concern and priority. Our water supply here on the farm is from an abundant spring. We have two holding tanks and overflow on each tank that has been up until this time just overflowing on to the ground. The boys have been working on utilizing this overflow by redirecting it by using water line pipes aimed at the garden and large barrels. They have a few more things to do before the lines are properly working. Until then they are filling up barrels of overflow water and have been siphoning out the water into the garden. It is a long complicated process to explain and if you could see the lay of the land and the set up, you would understand better than what I can explain. Ideally, the overflow spring water will be continually watering our gardens in the future through soaker hoses. Until then, lots of learning and trial and error. It has been a great homeschool project. My bean plants are really taking off, however, I have been finding holes in the leaves with no sign of a pest. I think it is slug or caterpillar related, possibly some bean beatle. Since we are gardening organically, I had the kids sprinkle flour on the leaves to deter the pests. So far, I am unsure if this is working completely, but am positive that it isn't getting any worse. Entire leaves aren't vanishing. I also put crushed garlic shavings on the ground around the plants. If I continue to find pests, I will have to resort to some other organic remedy that I will share with you. The corn that our 9 year old planted is thriving and growing rapidly. We are all so excited and awaiting the first fruits of this heirloom variety of corn. This is my first try at inter-planting or companion planting. Basil is supposed to be an excellent neighbor for the tomatoes, however, I do not have near enough basil planted and only have it around these few plants. We will see how it does. Remember the experiment with planting seed potatoes on wet paper? I was very unsure if the technique I read about in the Lasagna Method gardening book would work. However, over the last week, we have been seeing little potato plants pop up out of the straw. We are so excited! It is actually working.

Garden Helper

Bethany — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 04:28:14 +0000

She is my garden helper and today she learned the art and science of old fashion hand-picking pest control. Although she had her own way of disposing of the pests....a big slap between her hands, I still prefer stepping on the pests with my shoe. At any rate, we accomplished the same goal---ridding our plant of a few beetles that decided to have our bean plant for lunch.

Garden Weeds…

Bethany — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 04:29:53 +0000

Today, I picked the first fruits out of our garden and while it was a small amount...a handful of different hot peppers, it was exciting and increased my anticipation of soon gathering more fruits from our garden in the very near future. As I have mentioned before, we have a few gardening areas this year. One raised bed is home to a variety of veggies and herbs that was prepared using the lasagna method of layering composted type materials: old barn hay, compost, potting soil, peat moss etc. Another one of my raised beds was tilled up by hand using the dirt already in the bed. Our next garden spot is a larger row garden the guys plowed up with the tractor. Garden 1: Very maintainable with very little weeds. We occasionally pull up a immature stray weed. Overall the soil is easy to work and the plants are growing great. Ideal and one I will be duplicating. Garden 2: Lots of stray weeds that are easy to pull up, but is harder to keep weed free. Actually since I have corn and okra growing in this bed, it isn't a priority to keep weed free since corn does fine with some weeds. Garden 3: In our large garden, we are growing nice green grass and rocks along with our veggies. The row garden is 100% more difficult to groom than the lasagna layering bed. However, it is the first year we have worked this space so we are hoping to add lots of compost to it over the winter and prepare it for a nice big spring planting with less weeds. I do have a natural herbicide recipe that my friend let me know about, made with vinegar, soap and canola oil that I am planning on experimenting with, until then, are garden days are on Wednesday morning and I will tackle the weeds then... In the future, a well worked row garden spot and lots of lasagna beds would be ideal.

Time Mangement for Homemaker: Meal Prep Tuesday

Bethany — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 00:13:42 +0000

It was once common place for homemakers to have certain chores or activities set aside for a certain day of the week. For example, Monday was wash day, Tuesday was mending...etc. I have adopted a similar time management system for our home in order to take control of certain activities or chores and relieve my mind of other chores that seem to endlessly hang over my head...like house cleaning. Here is an example of how you can assign days to your chores: Here is a look at how our "Tuesday is Meal Prep Day" went. On Tuesday, we spend a large amount of time in the kitchen preparing freezer meals, preparing snacks and other food items that will aid us in a smoother, less complicated week in the kitchen. I cook every day of the week, however on Tuesday, if I can get a head start on preparing food, it saves a lot of time and energy. For example, today we:

cleaned out second refrigerator.
made two gallons of blueberry tea for the week.
filled a large container with chopped carrots, celery and cucumbers.
prepared a large bowl of peaches and pears for lunch or to be served with breakfast.
Chopped several lemons ready to go for our water and tea.
turned 4 packages of crackers into peanut butter crackers for snacks.
made a squash casserole that can be heated for supper one night.
baked 5 dozen cookies.
filled a large container with chopped onion to be used in the meals throughout the week.
made supper before noon- chicken pot pie and green beans
cooked a whole chicken to be used on meals during the week.
made chicken broth for later on in the week.
put beans on to soak for a meal on Thursday.
created a "hawk food" container for the bird and put all the unused meat scraps that were getting old into that container.
provided the pig with lots of scraps.

Much of the prep work was done today, which will save me a lot of time throughout the week. Next week, I hope to start incorporating some larger freezer meals into our Tuesday prep day. The first, most important step to having a successful meal prep day is to arrange for the little ones to be entertained for a while. The eight year old worked hard all morning and baked the most wonderful chocolate chip cookie I have ever tasted. I was so proud of her...not only of her baking skills, but the fact that she was learning the arts and sciences of how to manage a large family with little ones literally under foot while at the same time attempting to quadruple a cookie recipe she had never made before and keep up with the long list of meal prep to do's we had hanging on the kitchen wall. We checked them off the list as we completed them and at the end of the day we had a great sense of accomplishment and work well done even with the dips and bumps in the day.

Life With Boys and Ballantyne

Bethany — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 00:15:11 +0000

We have a handful of boys running around here and they always amaze me with their unique boyness that still baffles my feminine mind. The way they look and smell...and dress is uniquely different...at least around here. The camo hat and pants, the pockets full of....well, junk, the million questions I don't care about, the things they find funny and entertaining.....well, they just aren't me. That's ok...that's why I enjoy them so much. They are full of busy, boy energy. We recently purchased a hardback book series written by the author R.M. Ballantyne who wrote a series of Christian adventure books for boys. A quote from one of the books:

Boys [should be] inured from childhood to trifling risks and slight dangers of every possible description, such as tumbling into ponds and off of trees, etc., in order to strengthen their nervous system.... They ought to practice leaping off heights into deep water. They ought never to hesitate to cross a stream over a narrow unsafe plank for fear of a ducking. They ought never to decline to climb up a tree, to pull fruit merely because there is a possibility of their falling off and breaking their necks. I firmly believe that boys were intended to encounter all kinds of risks, in order to prepare them to meet and grapple with risks and dangers incident to man’s career with cool, cautious self-possession.... R.M. Ballantyne, The Gorilla Hunters

Two of my boys just finished The Gorilla Hunters and have been talking about it for days. They each revisit parts of the book that they found thrilling and engage in animated conversation over the adventures that Ballantyne wrote about in the 1850's. The only caution I would give is that these books will inspire your boys... not only in conversation....but after your 10 year old reads The Gorilla Hunters or The Pirate City or The Young Fur Traders and has just memorized a deck of survival cards....don't be surprised if you walk in your kitchen one morning and see something like this appear on your kitchen "What's For Supper?" board: My daughters comment as she was starring at the kitchen board was "What is wrong with them?" She further added, "I would never write anything like that mom..." The "turtle blood" had me asking "...drinking turtle blood??? Where did you get that idea???" My 10 year old left the room and came running back with a deck of survival cards and pulled out the turtle card...promptly turning over the card he read...."Edible...if water is unavailable, you may drink turtle blood to maintain hydration until water can be found..." Just another, "Hey.....Mom....did you know....." statement I can see us having at the grocery store one day. Maybe since the turtle blood was dealt with at home, some poor elderly lady in the grocery store won't have to worry herself sick that she passed cultists in on isle 7 and save me explaining that it was just the survival cards they were reading.

Announcement: Vaughnshire Introduction

Bethany — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 04:13:36 +0000

Our family website is up and running! My husband and I will be blogging in one location from now on and all new posts and updates will be posted on Vaughnshire Over the next several weeks, I will be transitioning a lot of my posts over to Vaughnshire and any new posts that we make will be there.... See Vaughnshire for more details....