Getting There

January Reading.

I have come to love January. It's such a quiet, contemplative time, after the rush and busyness of the holidays. It also feels like the perfect month to spend some extra time on the couch reading. I particularly love to make myself a nice hot tea after dinner (Chris bought me an expensive Thermos mug so my tea can always be hot like I like it) and sit a spell with a good book.

Can I share my current reads?

With Owen I'm reading Little House in the Big Woods at bedtime. Although most of the time he reads it to me. I think I must have read this book at least 6 ot 7 times by now in my life, but it never tires me. The details of the Ingalls's pioneer life in the Wisconsin woods are so fascinating, and often quite entertaining, too. We just finished reading the chapter where in the dark, Ma thinks the bear in their corral is their cow, and gives it a good smack! And meanwhile Pa, who is making his way home through the dark woods, thinks a dead tree is a bear, and gives it a good smack! Ha ha.

We have also been reading a book we got through interlibrary loan - Ingri D'Aulaire's 1946 picture book Pochantas. It's lovely, much better than the overly sentimental and romantic Disney version of the story.

For fun, light reading for myself, I've picked up The Story Girl by LM Montgomery, the author of Anne of Green Gables. I have read virtually all of her books. Although sometimes I cringe at the sheer cheesiness of her writing (she often described it herself as "purple prose"), I love it all the same. I really enjoy the trip to a simpler time and a beautiful place - rural Prince Edward Island in the early 1900s.

I'm also slowly moving through my new cookbook, The Art of Simple Food. This is a wonderful book. The first part has easy to read lessons on every aspect of cooking good, simple food - making your own salad dressing and sauces, roasting meat, baking bread, etc. The second part is recipes. All through the book Ms. Walker gives the simplest possible recipe, then afterward a list of possible variations you could do. She encourages creativity in the kitchen, which is an approach I like. I know this is a cook book I will refer to many times over the years.

Also in the instructional sphere, I'm leafing through a book which is reissued from wartime Britain - Keeping Poultry and Rabbits on Scraps. A lot of the information is outdated, but it's entertaining if nothing else, and I can tell there is some good common sense advice in there as well, since when it was written (in 1941) people were very concerned with not wasting anything, and doing the best you could with what you had. Which is always good.

I'm happy to say that I'm starting to feel more up to extra activities where homeschooling is concerned. For a long time I was pregnant or caring for a newborn, and I just didn't have the energy. But lately I have been able to organize some of the "other" activities that make homeschooling fun - frequent art projects and regular nature walks, to name two. To give me inspiration for our nature study, I have been leafing through The Handbook of Nature Study, which is a classic often used by homeschoolers, originally published in 1911. I also have been reading Discover Nature in Winter, which has lots of wonderful ideas, and Your Backyard Wildlife Year, which is full of ideas for attracting wild creatures to your back yard.

Is anyone else have some interesting reads going right now? Please share! :)

 

A dreary day, saved by Samuel Whiskers.

This winter that is not continues. It rained cats and dogs all night last night - and I live in Canada! Amy is sick with the flu (again!) and was up fussing. Maybe the sound of the storm bothered her, too. I hardly got any sleep. This morning it was still dark, rainy and incredibly dreary.

I naturally slept in too late and was behind schedule. I somewhat grumpily rushed through breakfast and had just enough time to get a quick shower before we started our homeschool lessons (I try to start at the same time each morning). But just I was sprinting for the shower, hoping that this was not going to be One of Those mornings, Jasper tugged on my sleeve and showed me a book he had picked out: The Tale of Samuel Whiskers, by Beatrix Potter. "Can you please read this book to me, Mom?" he asked politely with a smile. My heart flooded with warmth and happiness. How could I refuse? Sometimes it's better to forget about the schedule.

As he often does, this little guy reminded me to slow down and enjoy the moment, and not be so serious! He listened intently to the whole story - he has an amazing attention span for a 3 year old. It's a funny story. After it was done I carried on the rest of the day's activities with a different attitude. And you know what? I notice that when I make an effort to slow down more, and concentrate on each task before me, instead of trying to do many things at once, I actually get more done.

The rain continued all day. The common behind our house is entirely flooded. Really not a good day to play outside. The children weren't quite as chipper as usual, being cooped up inside. So I decided that after lunch, it was necessary to make chocolate cupcakes with sprinkles. That makes sense, right?

I had a helper in the kitchen, as usual...

I am happy to say these cupcakes (topped with ganache rather than icing) were ridiculously good. Maybe some time I'll share the recipe!

There was still a few meltdowns and tense moments today, and naps were taken...but all in all I think this day was much better than it could have been. :)

A lesson learned.

I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas. I'm happy to report that although it's been warm and rainy all week here in Southern Ontario, it is actually snowing this morning! We'll see how long it lasts.

Our Christmas was nice, although unfortunately we all had a light touch of the stomach flu all week, which meant we couldn't visit with family, which was disappointing.

We had another disappointment, one which taught us a lesson. Regular readers of this blog will know that we love handmade gifts. We try to make them, we try to buy them. And we sell our handmade toys on Etsy. Handmade gifts are, in my opinion, better quality and almost always more special.

However, there are times when it seems that a store-bought gift would fit the bill. This Christmas, for example, we bought a remote control monster truck for Owen. Now, we normally don't buy toys like this, especially ones that require constantly buying new batteries. But our son had been asking for one of these for quite some time now. So we decided to buy it, and felt pleased when we imagined how happy he would be on Christmas morning.

We should have known better, of course. I thought that spending $60 on a toy would mean it would be decent quality...but this thing was total junk. It broke literally within minutes of being taken out of the box--it would go forward but would no longer steer side to side. It's going back to Sears; Owen is understandably upset. All the more so because last year the small remote control truck my sister bought him also broke on Christmas day--it literally fell apart, the wheels fell off and everything. That one was much cheaper though, so I thought we would be safe this time.

We are really disgusted that even a $60 toy can't last a single day, even a single hour without breaking. But lesson learned. We are going to be much more careful about what goes under the tree next year. Every Christmas, we try to squeak through just one or two toys mass-produced in a factory overseas, and every time the item has ended up breaking within a week. (The only exception we have found are the metal Thomas trains, which actually hold up well to extended play. But the important thing to note is they are not plastic.)

It's really sad, because I can imagine how many little children across North America are heartbroken already because their new Christmas toys broke immediately. And all of those broken toys will end up in a landfill, after having served no purpose but to disappoint a child (and to make profit for someone somewhere.) Chris and I both agree that it seems unfair to the children of today. When we were growing up back in the 1980s, toys were much better quality and our Christmas presents could be expected to last.

I don't want to be too negative--we had a lovely Christmas, we ate a lot of good food and laughed a great deal too. I just wanted to share this lesson about consumer goods that we apparently needed to learn one more time!

I was surprised with a handmade gift I was not expecting - Chris made me a maple cutting board with a trough, for carving roast meat. I was so pleased! I have wanted one like this for some time, and this one is so thick and sturdy I imagine it will last forever.

I know I've said this before, but I'm so glad I have a husband who is a woodworker! :)

I also was blessed with two books which I enjoyed from the public library, and wanted to add to my own shelf: The Self Sufficient Gardener and The Art of Simple Food. I'm so happy about both of these books, which I love.

(Please, no one notice the crumbs on that chair...)

Today, it feels like Christmas is really over because Chris is back to work. I'm going to spend the day cleaning and putting things back to rights. Perhaps that doesn't sound like too much fun, but I'm looking forward to it!

Warm holiday wishes to all my readers around the globe...

Book Review: Mrs. Sharp's Traditions.

Mrs. Sharp's Traditions: Reviving Victorian Family Celebrations of Comfort & Joy is a book originally published in 1990 by Sarah Ban Breathnach. Some might recognize her as the author of the bestseller, Simple Abundance: A Daybook of Comfort and Joy. Simple Abundance was written later--Mrs. Sharp's Traditions was her first book.

Writing in the voice of the fictional Victorian homemaker and mother of 12 Victoriana Sharp, Ms. Ban Breathnach takes the reader through the year month by month, and describes in detail the type of customs, crafts and celebrations that families in the late 1800s enjoyed. Short essays on the history of different holidays are included, as well as a special poem for each month. Delightful illustrations from the Victorian era decorate each page.

Although this book may catalogue the traditions of times past, it was written by a modern author with the goal of providing inspiration to modern families. And that is exactly what it does. Not only was this book a joy to read, it gave me many ideas for new traditions I would like to include in our own family holidays. The book also contains many lovely ideas for family traditions and rituals that are carried out all year round--for example, the author details how to plan a weekly Family Night, how to create calming bedtime rituals, and how to make outings in the country memorable for children.

Where holidays are concerned, the book deals with all the ones we are familiar with in North America (including Jewish holidays), as well as several European holidays we may not be familiar with, such as Michaelmas, All Soul's Day, and St. Lucia's Day. The changing of the seasons are also talked about--for example, she includes some nice ideas for making crafts with nature's bounty in the autumn.

This is a wonderful resource for families of young children who would like to add some new rituals and traditions into their life. I highly recommend Mrs. Sharp's Traditions to any mother who would like to make next year's seasonal changes and holidays a little more special and memorable for her children.

Book Review - The Rhythm of Family: Discovering a Sense of Wonder through the Seasons

For those of you not familiar with her blog, Soulemama, Amanda Soule lives in the Maine countryside with her husband Steve and their five children. I enjoyed her first two books, The Creative Family and Handmade Home, so when I knew she was coming out with a third, I made sure to request that my library ordered it. They did, and I was first in line to have a peek.

I must say, it's a lovely book.

This time Amanda and Steve joined forces to write the book, which is divided into the 12 months of the year. For each month, there is one essay by "Mama," and one by "Papa." These essays were well written and a pleasure to read. In them, the Soules share moments in the life of their family, which have to do with the unique mood of each month.

After each month's two essays, there is at least one "Make" activity and a "Do" activity. The Make activities are some kind of seasonal craft, and the Do ones are simply something you can do with your children. For example, for October there are instructions for making a banner with homemade leaf prints, and then the suggestion of taking a "season's walk" with the children on a favourite trail to observe the changes there since last season.

The book contains quite a wide variety of crafts, recipes, and activities. All of them are pleasingly doable--even the knitting project looks like something I might be able to handle. I have not had a chance try anything yet--and sadly, I need to return the book to the library tomorrow!--but I will certainly take it out again and give some a try. Some activities I'd love to do: Double thick homemade hankies (with a special bag to store them in), herbal throat lozenges, oat bread...I love her tips on taking a family picnic and celebrating the winter solstice. Especially appreciated by me, bookworm that I am, is the extensive booklist at the back on topics such as gardening, natural healing, and whole foods.

This book does not deal with religious holidays, but rather the changing seasons of the natural world, and in this way it is appropriate for everyone, everywhere. If you are like me, and you'd like to do more with your children to mark the turning of the seasons, but lack the creative energy to think of something to do, I recommend picking this one up. I personally would love to have it in my permanent library, but as our budget can't currently handle that, I'll have to be content with borrowing it from the library. (Have I mentioned lately how grateful I am to have a beautiful public library only a few blocks away from us?)

Book Review: The Fat of the Land

One of my favourite books on homesteading and simple living is The Simple Life and How to Live It, by John Seymour, who was often called "The father of self-sufficiency." Sprinkled within that text are fascinating excerpts from an earlier book he wrote, entitled The Fat of the Land, in which he told the personal story of the homestead he and his wife created back in the 1950s on a rented property in the UK.

The Fat of the Land seems to be difficult to come across--print runs are few and of limited quantity--but last year I did find a new copy on Amazon. I enjoyed reading it very much. While some of the information is dated, and while many of the British terms Seymour used were incomprehensible to me (those pertaining to money and measurement especially), overall I did get a lot out this book.

I liked the way Seymour showed how their homestead grew gradually over time. When he and his wife first moved into their remote cottage, which they rented for a mere 25 pounds per year, they had been living for several years on a boat. They wanted to settle down because they already had one child and planned to have more. But they hadn't planned on creating a homestead in the least--it just evolved over time, as one thing led to another.

For example, they started out by getting some ducks and geese to save money on meat. Then, a cow, because it was too much work to walk a mile every morning to the nearest neighbour to pick up their milk. They then had more milk than their young family could use, so they purchased pigs to consume the excess milk--then, with all the manure from the cow and pigs they decided to increase their gardening. Then, because they then had so much land under cultivation, they bought a horse to help with the work. And of course then they needed to improve their grassland for the horse...and so on.

I liked the way he showed that while producing your own food is an economical, healthy, and satisfying thing to do, it does take a lot of hard physical work. He doesn't gloss over the amount of work that goes into a homestead, or romanticize anything about this kind of life. In fact sometimes he is rather blunt about various elements of country living. But he is enthusiastic about fresh air, unadulterated food, and hard work as an effective means to achieve good health to an old age. (And in fact, Seymour did live to the age of 90, staying active until shortly before his death.)

There is a section at the back, written for a later edition, where he gives specific advice for those wanting to start their own homestead. He is not optimistic here that many of us can do it with rising land prices, and praises the idea of communal living.

Overall, I think The Fat of the Land is a worthwhile read for those starting on their own homestead, or just dreaming of it. It will give the reader a good understanding of the way plants and animals on a small family homestead exist interdependently as part of a whole, and will also perhaps diffuse some of the overly romantic notions a few of us have about life in the country.

Making a Dandelion Tincture.

One of my goals for this year was to become greater acquainted with the use of herbs in general. I plan to grow and dry a large amount of culinary herbs, but I also am determined this year to learn how to make some herbal medicines.

One book on my shelf which covers this topic is The Herbal Medicine Maker's Handbook, by James Green (link for this book is at the left of the blog). I really like this book--the author has a great writing style, and the book is just packed with detailed and practical information. In the first chapter, Mr. Green suggests that a beginning herbalist should start by creating a dandelion tincture. Tinctures are easy to do. And not only are dandelions easily available to just about everyone, but they are a very healthy plant. Dandelion is an excellent overall tonic which detoxifies the blood and liver. All of us living in the modern world could use some detoxification. The tincture can also be used to relieve gas and indigestion. Dandelion is a gentle laxative and safe, highly effective diuretic.

Sounds great, right? So after studying Mr. Green's instructions,  I went into our tiny yard this afternoon, armed with my trowel, and dug up all the dandelions I could find.

I didn't want to take any dandelions from the common areas of our neighbourhood (we live in a townhouse condo) because I couldn't be sure they hadn't been sprayed with pesticides, or by a dog for that matter.

I took the bunch of plants and washed them very well in cold water, being careful to remove all the little bits of sticks, yellowed leaves, and bugs.

Then I chopped them into little bits on a cutting board. I discarded the stems and flowers, because although I could have used them, the roots and leaves contain the most medicinal substances. I stuffed the chopped parts into a mason jar, and covered with vodka. I used the strongest kind I could find at the liquor store--45% alcohol. You want to have a strong alcohol base because it's the alcohol that acts as a solvent to draw the compounds out of the plant material. Also, the stronger alcohol, the less chance of spoilage. A tincture made with 50% alcohol will supposedly keep for years.  Never use rubbing alcohol to make a tincture, as it is toxic when ingested.

All the instructions I've seen say to cover the plant material completely with the alcohol. I had a problem with this, because the bits seemed to sort of float. I'm going to assume it's not a big deal though. After pouring in the alcohol, I put the mixture into the blender for a few seconds to get the dandelion into really small bits, to maximize the surface area. I poured it back into the jar then and screwed on a lid.

After labeling it with the contents and date, I'm going to store it in a cupboard and shake it up every day. I noticed some little scraps of leaf sticking to the inside of the jar--I suppose this is okay since they have been coated with alcohol. If anyone knows otherwise, please let me know. :)

Apparently a tincture can be strained and used after a minimum of 2 weeks, but it's better to wait for 6 weeks or even longer. When my tincture is done, I'll write another post about it.

Tinctures can be made from dried herbs, too. Here is a nice video that shows you how to make a tincture from dried herbs.

My collection of antique cookbooks.

Ever since I took my first rather clueless steps into homemaking and cooking at the tender age of 19, I've been an avid collecter of cookbooks. I need all the advice they contain! At first I was happy to add just about any cookbook to my collection--but over time I began to get rid of the more modern, faddish ones, and the ones that tended to use a lot of pre-packaged ingredients, and tried to find more books that featured tried-and-true, old-fashioned recipes. The old style of cooking tended to use simple, whole ingredients and be more focused on good taste and presentation than on satisfying a certain diet fad.

For this reason, I  love very old cook books. And I have started a collection of antiques, which sits on top of a cupboard in my kitchen where little hands can't reach them.

(The bright green one, being from 1966, is hardly an antique, but it's old enough I prefer to keep it safe here as well.)

I do use the recipes in these books sometimes, but what I like the most is the charm of another era that spills from the pages. In the past, homemaking, housekeeping, laundry, and cooking were seen as related skills, and so old cookbooks often contain a great deal of advice for the housewife in running her home. This advice is (as you might guess) sometimes quite amusing to us today, but sometimes helpful as well.

I found all of these at my favourite local used and rare bookstore (see previous post). The first one I found was a 1906 copy of the Boston Cooking School Book, by Fanny Farmer. (This book was originally published in 1896 and is considered an American classic.) This is my oldest book, and it's such fun to look at, especially all the ads in the back featuring everything from corsets to pineapple juice.

There is a dash of green marker on the spine of this one, put there by a little person soon after I brought it home. I wasn't very happy about that, but then I noticed that another little person (likely many, many years ago) had written "Danny" in black ink on the bottom of the book...some things never change!

Next I found a 1930s copy of Mrs. Beeton's Everyday Cookery. This is a "modern" edition of British housekeeping manual, first published way back in 1861, which means it contains a lot of information about managing the servants! It's quite a thick book though, with loads of simple recipes and household tips.

The other day I found Good Housekeeping's Book of Menus, Recipes and Household Discoveries, published in 1922. I just love this one--it contains a lot of good recipes, but in the back is a section called "Household Disoveries" which features tidbits of advice sent into the magazine by readers. There are sections on laundry, sewing, cooking, decorating, etc. As a bonus, stashed inside the front cover were a stack of lovely little booklets of Jello recipes--copyright 1924.

Every time I go back to my book store, I find a "new" old cookbook. I look forward to adding to my collection over the years. Do any of my readers have any antiques sitting on their cook book shelf?

I feel a change in the air...

We're well into March now, and perhaps it is purely psychological, but the air feels different to me.

With less than a month to go to my due date, my energy is returning, and I suddenly feel an urgent need to organize the house even more than before! I have already washed and sorted all the baby clothes, and I have even laid out an outfit for either a girl or a boy. (We are expecting a girl, but hey, you never know.) It's nice that we have a collection of newborn clothes and receiving blanekts stored away for either gender, so I don't have to buy anything new for this baby.

Seeing those little clothes sitting there on the change table, I can't wait to meet our new little one.

I've gotten extra organized with homeschooling, so that things won't fall apart when the baby arrives. I have been working hard planning out the reading schedules for the rest of the school year (we use a literature based curriculum), and I have even planned out the booklists for next school year, so I won't have to do this in the summer. Yesterday, I popped into my favourite used book store, Juniper Books, and picked up a stack of children's books for a good price to add into our studies--some Newberry books, a lovely old illustrated book of Bible stories, and a bunch of science books. (I also got myself a really cool old cookbook, but I'm saving that for another post!).

Owen has already read all of these science books over and over. I wish now I had gotten more, they were so cheap. He's just a little sponge and soaks up all the science facts he can. It's so much fun to watch him grow into such an inquisitive little fellow.

Another thing I've done is ordered some herb seeds from Mountain Rose Herbs. I can't wait to get them and start some seedlings in our back window like last year. I'm ready to see some greenery!

It is not only the impending arrival of spring and of a new baby that has put a change in the air around our house. I haven't talked about it much, but we've really been struggling financially lately. And we cannot qualify for government benefits because we own a small business (I guess they figure that makes you wealthy, har har). But earlier this week, just when we were feeling that our situation was truly hopeless and that we might have to just shut down our beloved family business in order to qualify for assistance, a phone call arrived that changed everything. Chris is going to be starting a new job on Monday! After months of looking for employment with no luck, this is wonderful for us. Not only is it a job, but it's with a growing company that we know has excellent benefits, so if he does end up getting hired permanently it could be so good for our family. Please everyone, keep your fingers crossed for us that it works out.

I'm sure we'll get more snow, and spring isn't quite here yet. But today a gentle rain is falling, and I feel content about all the changes that are coming.

Winter Cocooning.

It was -18 degrees Celcuis when I woke up this morning. That's about 0 Farenheit--fairly cold for this southern part of Ontario, although it does get colder. February weather! (Below is a view of our street from the upper storey.)

This time of year, the children and I just don't go outside very much. It's too cold, and Jasper never keeps on his mittens, and refuses to wear boots (opting for running shoes instead)...so we have been cocooning a lot inside lately. And really, it feels right this time of year to just stay safe and cozy and restful inside the house while the icy wind whips around the house outside. Especially when I am pregnant, and still recovering from illness.

Even without much time outside, we can all find plenty of enjoyable things to do within the warmth of the house.

Lots of reading goes on at all times of day.

Playing with paper dolls--these ones are based on Little House in the Big Woods.

And crafts. Today the children and I made a Valentine's Day mobile while we listened to some lovely music by Vivaldi, which is the composer we're currently studying for school.

After supper each night, I've been enjoying a nice hot tea and reading a thick, meaty novel--The Count of Monte Cristo (which, by the way, is a deep and fascinating study on human character, and nothing much like the movie at all). Later at night, when the children are tucked into bed, Chris and I have been sitting and chatting while we each do some kind of hand work. I recently picked up an old cross-stitch which I had abandoned years ago, and I'm truly enjoying working on it again. The movement of the needle in and out of the cloth is so soothing.
It's a pleasure to have this time of quiet work and rest at this season of the year, before the busy activity and excitment of spring arrives.

What sort of indoor activities are my readers enjoying right now?