Getting There

Just a little thing.

Our house has been so chilly the past few days...and I am loathe to turn on the electric heaters, because I know that once I do our utility bill will suddently skyrocket.

I worry about the children though, so I have been trying to make sure everyone is warmly dressed. I didn't have a hat for Amy--I had plenty of newborn hats, but none of them fit anymore. And I didn't really want to buy a hat. I thought of making a cute aviator style cap, with a ribbon tie, but I couldn't find any patterns that didn't look much too complicated for me.

The house was really quite cold yesterday afternoon, and I wanted a hat for her pronto! So I grabbed an old plum coloured work shirt of Chris's that had done that annoying thing that shirts do--become wide and short. I laid it out flat, cut out a rough hat shape (I didn't even bother to draw it first) and then sewed both sides together. It took me more time to find a chopstick to turn the end out than it did to make it, for real!

Amy seems to like it. Now I want to make more hats. It really struck me how easy it was for me to find a solution to the problem at hand (cold, bald baby head) using what I had, without spending a penny. I know I know, it's just a hat, it took zero skill, but a few years ago I wouldn't have even thought of doing that. I would have dragged the baby out to a department store and spent $5 or $10 on a little hat which might have looked fancier but wouldn't have been any more serviceable.

I am inspired. From now on, I will look at every cast-off T-shirt as potential baby garments. I can't wait to experiment!

Unplugged Sunday.

Has anyone seen the blog, Unplugged Sunday? It is a collaborative effort of multiple writers, all on the theme of "unplugging" from electronics and media for one day each week--Sunday.

Ever since I stumbled upon the blog a few months ago, I have been thinking about trying it with our family. I have, in the past, implemented entire weeks with no electronics, and I always loved doing this--I loved the peace and quiet, the time to do more crafts and even cleaning, the artwork the children produced. But unfortunately, I don't think my family would appreciate it very much if I regularly said "no tv this week." Rather to my chagrin, my children really enjoy video games and DVDs. I limit the amount they can play/watch, but I still often feel that they stare at a screen more often than is healthy. I also don't like the fights that video games often seem to produce among them.

So I thought one day a week without technology might be nice. I spoke to Chris about the idea, and he was immediately on board--a gesture which I really appreciated, since he enjoys online games himself! And so this Sunday was our first Unplugged Sunday.

So all day yesterday, the computer and the television were off limits. I even unplugged them so they wouldn't get "accidentally" turned on. Yes, there were a few minor grumbles, but overall we had a lovely family day. We had a relaxed pancake breakfast; lots of reading happened; we made a baking soda and vinegar volcano, much to the delight of all; the children played outside for hours; and perhaps most importantly, the house had a very quiet, peaceful feeling all day. I think Unplugged Sunday will become a regular tradition in our family. For future Sundays, I would like to plan more specific activities to do as a family, such as board game tournaments, nature walks, and holiday crafts.

If anyone else is intrigued by the idea of Unplugged Sundays, here is a list of posts for those just getting started. :)

Thinking toward Christmas.

Last year Chris and I made most of our children's gifts, and we all agreed it was the best Christmas ever. This year, we would like to make gifts once more. So I am trying to get my act together and get some things started. Last year, I pretty much waited until early December and ended up regretting that!

One reason I haven't done anything yet is that still, my sewing machine has been giving me problems. Maybe I am not mechanically inclined, but I seem to have nothing but difficulties with sewing machines! I thought it had been fixed back in the summer, but it still jammed up, and also had a new clicking sound--the repairman that came to our house and charged me an arm and a leg turned out to be rather unscrupulous, it would seem. This time Chris took the machine to a reputable shop and they gave it a complete overhaul. It now runs perfectly (for the first time ever), and no weird clicking sounds. I am so excited about this!

I have learned my lesson. If I ever have problems with it again, I will not mess around and take it straight to the professionals!

The first thing I want to make is a quilt for my youngest boy, Jasper. We don't have enough bedding in our home and lately when I tried to look for blankets in the store, I was disappointed to find that bedding made of natural fibres is beyond our price range. My boys sweat a lot when they are sleeping; it seems cruel to wrap them in polyester at bedtime! So I thought an all-cotton quilt would be a nice thing to make for either one of them.

I don't have much to spend at all, but I do have a good quantity of fabric that was given me by a friend earlier in the year before she moved. I looked through the bag, and there are a number of fabrics that would be all right for a little boy.

Yes, it's a bit of a loud combination, but as a simple patchwork it might look okay, and besides, it's what I have to work with. :) I was thinking of purchasing maybe one yard of fabric in a horse print to add in, since Jasper adores horses. I think that would make it special for him.

I found a navy flannel sheet I can use for the back. For the filling, I had a weird idea--somebody tell me please if this is crazy. It's necessary for me to do this as inexpensively as possible. I have a lot of cloth prefold diapers from Jasper's baby days that are not being used. They are quite worn and I don't know if they would survive another baby. So I thought it might be possible for me to sew together the cloth diapers to create a nice warm center for the quilt. Is this a bad idea? I am well aware that it would probably look a bit lumpy, but I don't think my boy would mind. Anyhow, my main concern is to keep him warm, more than anything else, since our house is very drafty and cold in the winter.

I have a small quilting project in mind for my eldest, too--but of course I can't say what it is, because she reads my blog!

That's all I have planned for now. But I will continue to look for more ideas. I have placed a button on my right sidebar for Handmade Holiday 2011, which is organized by Tonya of Plain and Joyful Living. If you click on it you will see a list of blogs that will feature posts this holiday season on making handmade gifts.

Is anyone else planning any handmade gifts yet? Please tell me about it!

Eating my words.

Thanks for everyone who contributed to the recent discussion over the book Radical Homemakers. I decided to take down my review of the book, since it was essentially negative and it just didn't sit right with me that I had published a negative book review. I kept hearing the voice of Thumper's mother in my head: "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all."

I have written negative reviews for books on Amazon before, but somehow a blog post felt different--like I was going out of my way to be unkind.

Probably I overanalyze things too much, but anyhow, the review has been removed. :)

Thanksgiving Weekend.

Happy Thanksgiving weekend to all my Canadian friends!

We had a lovely, quiet family weekend.

For the first time, I made an entire traditional Thanksgiving feast all on my own. I had a few tense moments--such as the one where I was already running late and discovered the turkey was still frozen after thawing in the fridge for two days. Or, the moment where I found the apple pie wouldn't fit into the oven at the same time as the roasting pan! But I managed to bring it all together in time. And although the gravy was too bland, it was a pretty good meal, if I may say so myself.

Also for the first time, we used the good china I inherited from my grandmother. Kira made some cute placecards for us--each had a picture on it of something we liked. Mine of course, was a picture of a book!

Amy was just not content in her highchair--she wanted to sit at the table with all of us. She often feels that way, now. She was happy to sit on my lap and taste the squash and potatoes right from my plate.

We also let her taste a bit of the apple pie and whipped cream I made for dessert--and I was pleased to see she loved it!

Please ignore the random counter debris in that picture!

Today we went on a walk to the park to collect some bits to make a nature table--or rather, a nature corner, because I don't have an entire table I could use. It's small and humble, but I like it.

The mini Indian corn, of course we did not find at the park. :)

And I baked the remains of the squash I cooked for supper yesterday. Look how much was still left! It was a squash my parents gave me, and honestly it must have been the biggest butternut squash I'd ever seen in my life.

The squash I baked today will go towards "pumpkin" pie and "pumpkin" bars, the latter of which is an autumn favourite around here.

It felt nice to have a quiet, lazy day today. Tomorrow is back to business. I will have laundry to catch up on, shop business to do, floors to clean, bread to bake, school work to give...but technically this evening is still the long weekend, so after I set the dishwasher going I think I'm going to sit down and cuddle with the ones I love. I've been trying lately to let loose a little more often--it's not something I'm naturally good at. :)

Thinking about thrifting.

Buying needed items second hand fits into my philosophy of living a simple, frugal lifestyle, and I try to do it whenever possible. I am currently in need of fall clothes, so I betook myself yesterday to the biggest Value Village in town. The one I went to is quite huge and I hoped I'd get some great deals.

I hoped I'd get some deals even though, I have noticed over the past couple of years that the prices in thrift stores have been rising alarmingly. Granted, the only stores near me are part of this particular chain. Maybe I need to shop around more. But still, there it is. I did buy myself 3 long sleeved shirts, and they were $8 each. In fact, all of the reasonably decent women's shirts were that price. This seems kind of high to me for someone else's half-worn-out shirts, especially once you add in the 13% sales tax, but it's still a little bit cheaper than getting a new shirt for $12 at Walmart, so I paid it, although not without qualms. (There was one sweater I really liked that was $15, which I refused to pay.)

I also got a few other things: a hairdryer for $5, some pajama pants for $5, and a cake plate for $3, since I am planning on making a pumpkin cake for Thanksgiving and I don't even own a plate large enough to put a cake on! I actually wanted to get one of those ones with a glass dome, and they did have one--but the store wanted $10 for it. That seems silly when they are $15 brand new.

One thing I got which seemed like a good deal was two sewing patterns for 69 cents each. One is for a blouse, and the other is for a long skirt, since I can never find nice, plain long skirts in any store, thrift store or otherwise. The skirt pattern envelope says the original price was $14.95. Is that really how much sewing patterns cost new? That seems outrageous, when the fabric and notions still have to be purchased after that! (I don't feel bad now about charging $5 for vintage patterns in my Etsy shop.)

I am planning on making some quilts for my boys for Christmas, and I picked up a navy blue flat sheet for $5 to use as the backing for at least one of them. But after I bought it I realized that it was 50% polyester and the tag says no ironing. I guess I can't use something in a sewing project that can't be ironed, right? I will have to think of some other use for the sheet then, and keep a lookout for something else I can use for the quilts.

My favourite purchase was a sturdy square basket for $3, which I am using to store Jasper's bedtime story books in. Before, they were scattered all over the boys' room and quite messy. Baskets are good for containing mess, I have learned!

So I did make some decent purchases, but long gone are the days when I could leave Value Village with a bag full of clothes for $20. I was thinking on the drive home, is it really worth it to shop there anymore? Because as a homeschooling mother of four, my time is in high demand. Is it worth it to drive there, and then search through endless racks of shrunken and misshapen (and often bad smelling) clothes to find those few nice looking pieces? The line ups are always long too, and the customer service stinks. Maybe it is just not the best use of my time.

(And by the way, the cynical part of me can't help but wonder if stores like Value Village have doubled their prices in the last couple of years--and yes, they have because I have always shopped there often and I remember what things used to be priced at--I wonder if they have doubled their prices because they know that a large part of the population today is really counting their pennies, and needs to buy things second hand because it's all they can afford? And so the stores are taking advantage of this, and pricing things as high as they can and still be less than retail? Although in many cases, things there are higher than retail at a sale price!)

Coincidentally, yesterday evening I read a blog post about thrifting, and the writer mentioned something called "flea market style." When I looked it up I realized that that is my style...I like comfortably old, mismatched things in my house. Even on my back, for that matter. New, perfectly matched things look glaringly...new to me! Also yesterday, at Homesense (do they have that store in the US?) I bought a brand new set of stainless steel salt and pepper mills. I've wanted some of those for a while, and they're nice, but they look so out of place sitting on my diningroom table, since the table came from a garage sale, the plates are mismatched and second hand, the tablecloth was a handmedown, the silverware is thrifted, we use mason jars for glasses...you get the idea.

So after thinking about it, I came to the conclusion that yes, it is worth it to continue shopping at thrift stores even if sometimes the deals aren't that great. Because sometimes I do find good deals, and it's important for me to use our limited funds wisely.  I like the look of previously used things, and I like owning things that are unique. Getting things secondhand is good for the environment. And lastly, it is rather fun searching through all the junk looking for a treasure. I just think that I need to find other places to buy secondhand things--Value Village is too expensive anymore.

Where do others like to buy secondhand things? Do tell...

Healing Salve.

I finally got around to making up my healing salve. I had already made plantain salve a few months ago, for itchy bug bites. Although I was pleased with the results of my first salve, this time I did things a bit differently--I used olive oil instead of coconut oil, so that instead of "cooking" the herbs in oil on top of the stove, I could infuse the oil gradually, in a jar in a warm sunny window. (I suppose I still could have used coconut, but it is solid at room temperature so I wasn't sure if it would have worked as well.)

So I took a mason jar filled with chamomile (for soothing), calendula (for healing), and plantain (for healing, and to stop itch and pain), filled it up with olive oil, and let it sit for about a month, shaking it up every few days. Probably it isn't needed to let it sit so long, but I was in no hurry!

Also different this time was that I used dried herbs. When I made my plantain salve I used fresh herbs, but I have since learned that this isn't really a good idea because the moisture from the herbs can spoil the salve.

Today I took the oil and strained the solid material out. A cheesecloth lined strainer would be perfect for this, but as I was out of cheesecloth, I used a (clean) old scrap of flannel. This didn't work very well and I don't recommend it! The oil went throught the cloth very slowly, and it was difficult to squeeze the remaining dregs through the cloth.

I cut up some beeswax into small chunks--instructions always say to grate it but that's really hard work and I don't find it to be necessary!--and added it to the measuring cup of oil until it looked like I had added the right amount. Usually, it's good to use about 1 part beeswax to 4 parts oil.

Then I took the oil and placed it in a small saucepan. A double boiler is recommended, but I didn't bother this time. I heated the mixture over low heat, stirring often, until the beeswax was all melted. This took less than 10 minutes. I removed it from the heat, and added a healthy squirt of Vitamin E oil, since it is not only a preservative, but healing to skin.

Then I poured it into some little tins--which I ordered from Mountain Rose Herbs, and let it cool. It hardened within only a few minutes since my house is rather chilly today.

I have yet to try it out, but it looks lovely. My only complaint is that the scent of this salve is rather overpoweringly olive-y. Next time I make a salve, I will not use extra virgin olive oil, but will probably go back to coconut oil. I did like infusing the oil in a jar, instead of over heat, because I didn't have to worry about frying the herbs (not that I've ever done that, of course). 

I enjoyed experimenting a bit with salves and tinctures this year. Do any of my readers make their own herbal creations? If you've blogged about it, please do comment with a link. I'd love to see what others have done this year with the herbs from their garden. :)

Apple Picking.

I've been itching to take the children apple picking lately. Last year, we didn't go until mid-October and it was disappointing trying to find decent apples on the well-picked trees. But throughout September I have been hesitating because we've been having so much rain. Every day I keep thinking either that it will rain, or that it will be too wet from the rain we had the day before.

Then yesterday I was reading in Mrs. Sharp's Traditions (a lovely book about creating family traditions and memories, which I will review soon) a page on family outings. The author was talking about how important it is to sometimes surprise children with a spontaneous outing, and I thought to myself, enough worrying already, let's just go!

Chris was agreeable, since worrying about the weather is just not something he does (I could learn a few lessons from that man). So this morning we were off...and wouldn't you know, that the day was just about perfect! Cool but not cold, breezy, mostly sunny...it started to sprinkle just as we were heading towards the van for the return trip. And the orchard itself was quite dry.

The farm we went to is a bit of a drive away, but it's so nice there.

They have a hayloft absolutely stuffed with straw where the kids can play...

And a little shop selling caramel apples, muffins, sausages and of course, apple fritters.

The trees were very heavily laden--we certainly had no problem finding enough apples this year!

 
Amy slept soundly the whole time. Have I mentioned that she is a whole six months old already? She looks huge to me, sleeping there in the stroller...times goes too fast.

It was a beautiful day and a lovely outing. I'm so glad we went, and made some new memories, and I didn't listen to my silly fears about mud puddles. As a bonus, when we got to the farm we met another homeschooling family, also with four children, who were just leaving, and we chatted with them a few minutes. It's always fun to meet other homeschoolers.

I have to say, having our children home with us all the time provides such a great opportunity to beat the crowds and do outings like this when all the other kids are in school. We have been to this same farm before on the weekend and it was rather crazy...but today it was downright tranquil.

Next to the eating area there was a bin filled up with cut apple wood, which I assume was going to be used for somebody's wood stove or fireplace. As I passed by it, I got a sort of shivery feeling all over...I know, it sounds a bit melodramatic, but--that bin of firewood seemed to represent country life to me, and for an instant I pretended that I was in our own yard and that bin of firewood was for us. And I thought of how right that would feel, to be storing up fuel for the coming winter.

Living in the city, having only one vehicle and limited funds, I don't get out into the country nearly as often as I'd like. But each time I do, I am reminded that yes, that is the life that I want. Someday....

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?)

This year's "harvest."

I couldn't help but put quotation marks on the word "harvest" in the title of this post. Last year my efforts at being an urban homesteader were very disappointing--I couldn't even manage to grow a few potatoes. So naturally I figured this year would be better...but I'm not so sure it was!

We did grow some string beans along the fence that did pretty well--we got enough beans for about 3 of our family meals. That's good, since I used leftover seeds from several years ago. And I have left many pods behind to dry out so we can have seeds for next year (although as I'm not sure what kind of seeds they were to begin with, I don't know if they're really sprout. I figured it was worth a try since it would cost nothing.)

And I did get a good amount of calendula for my healing salve. I filled a jar of extra virgin olive oil with dried calendula blossoms. It's been sitting in my back window for a couple of weeks now, and I think it looks so pretty and golden! I have some plantain leaves drying too, and once they are dry I'm going to top up the oil and add them, too.

I planted a number of chamomile plants but the harvest here was pathetic to say the least. I was hoping I would get enough to make tea for the winter...not quite! I think the chamomile must have loathed the damp and shady conditions in my back yard, because I only picked about a hundred tiny tiny straggly little blossoms...so after I dried them I added them to the oil for my healing salve, since the plant is known to be soothing to the skin.

I did make one single cup of weak tea, using a handful of chamomile and some lemon balm leaves...I found it funny. Some day I will do better than this! Some day I will have a lovely sprawling herb garden bursting with bountiful tea-making ingredients...just not right now.

My yarrow plant didn't get big enough to blossom, and my lavender died outright while it was still tiny. We only got 2 miniscule and sickly looking sunflower blossoms from the seeds we planted--so much for the cheerful bouquets the seed packet promised me! My stevia plant grew in leaps and bounds, but now I am not sure what to do with it because the word on the street is that the dried leaves taste terrible...

I am now working on drying some sage, basil, rosemary, and oregano for winter. I would have loved some thyme (which is delicious in my favourite winter meal, beef stew and dumplings) but couldn't find any plants this year. Maybe next year I'll order some seeds.

I planted four parsely seedlings, and they stayed ridiculously tiny! So much for that...

And then, for the pièce de résistance...behold our 2011 tomato harvest in its entirety:

Since the weather has gotten colder and frost has become a possibility, I picked these green, and tossed the plants (with disgust) into the dumpster.

Needless to say, seeing pictures of other people's enormous harvest of juicy red tomatoes has got me feeling a little jealous!

But I know it will not always be this way. Some day I will have a "real" garden...I just have to acquire a much bigger one so there are bound to be at least some accidental successes. We are hoping that maybe we will not be here in this virtually yard-less house by next year's growing season...So I will just keep hoping and praying, that this will be the last year I will have to try to grow things in a shady patch the size of a postage stamp.