Krafty Kitten

Last night we got word that there was a confirmed case of Swine Flu at Notre Dame.  There have also been confirmed cases in Michigan and Ohio.  Check out the Google Live map of the pandemic.  This hits home especially close for me.

1 - I attended and graduated from Saint Mary’s College.
2 - It’s just down the street (semi-figuratively)
3 - The kids attend South Bend schools
4 - I start teaching a class in South Bend on Monday
5 - All my close family lives in Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio

Right now, Little Guy and I are pretty isolated.  With the rain, we haven’t gone outside or talked to many people in person and honestly, right now, I’m OK with that.  Tomorrow, the kids arrive for the weekend and the first thing I am having them do is take showers and get into their clothes from here.  I will be washing both sets of clothing (the ones they wore and the ones they brought) and ensuring the health and cleanliness of everyone in this house.

Overkill?  Maybe.  But better that then a dead three year old.  The swine flu seems to be striking youngsters hardest of all, as with most flus and the kids’ mom works in the health care field.  I cannot and will not put my baby at risk.

 In addition to the immediate cleansing they will receive upon arrival, we’ll also check and make sure everyone is feeling OK, doesn’t have a fever, and is generally healthy.  And then we’ll do a bit of cleaning around the house.  I’m considering not letting the kids go to church on Sunday, but I’ll need to talk about that with Big Guy.  It also depends on whether or not they feel they have the pandemic under control.  One of my big concerns is the large hispanic immigrant population in Elkhart.  If someone has family visiting from Mexico or visited Mexico, there’s a strong chance they’llhave caught something.  Even worse, there is also an illegal immigrant problem.  If they don’t have their papers, they may choose to deal with the illness rather than risk deportation. Understandable, but still risky.

My plan, if this gets worse or begins to seem Captain Trips-like, is simple and pretty much the same as my “zombie invasion” plan.  Head to mom’s.  After that, if things seem to still get worse and it encroaches.  Head north, to the abandoned areas in Northern Canada.  No people equals no illness and no zombies.

If there is one thing homesteading is good for, it’s learning how to live without people.

I’d love to be able to go out and plant but this week has been pretty heavy on the condensation from the sky.  In addition, Little Guy’s developed a runny nose (due to allergies, we imagine) and my leg is still bothering me. We’re also staying close to home and away from people for a while thanks to the swine flu panic.  Someone actually contracted it in town so Big Guy and I are becoming somewhat isolationist, especially since a toddler in Texas died from it.

Big Guy and I celebrated being together for 6 years on Monday.  Most people probably consider it pretty silly that we still celebrate our dating anniversary along with our wedding anniversary, but I would imagine it contributes to keeping the romance alive in our relationship.  I got six roses and we drank flavored coffee, watched some TV, and played video games.

It’s important for us to make sure we express the love we have for each other on a regular basis because our life can be difficult.  It would be easy for us to get lost in the difficulties; the finances, fighting for the kids, etc.  But, because we want our relationship to last and remain as strong as it is, we try to focus on the other person.  We have to come up with cheap and creative ways of doing so and I think it’s become a competition to find the cheapest and most creative way of showing our love.

We had two House M.D.  episodes recorded that I was interested in seeing, House’s Head and Wilson’s Heart.  It lead to some serious discussions between Big Guy and I due to the fact that Wilson’s girlfriend dies over the course of these episodes.  House bears some responsibility in her death and Wilson holds him accountable for it.  Big Guy and I are one of “those” types of couples.  You know, the ones who do EVERYTHING together and whose names are always tied together as one word.  We discussed what would happen if one of us died in an accident and how we would cope.  We really need to sit down and decide how things would be distributed to family if there was an accident.  And who would take care of Little Guy.

I am a big fan of House and also Law & Order: Criminal Intent, in particular Detective Goren.  I blame my mother for this.  Both House and Goren are based on a very famous, very old detective: Sherlock Holmes.

Growing up, my mother taught me to read from whatever she was reading.  So, the first book I ever really read was “The Annotated Sherlock Holmes”.   I have always had a soft place in my heart for eccentric, logical types.  And this has become apparent in my love for House and Goren; both of whom are based on Holmes.  It will be interesting to see if the new detective on Criminal Intent, played by Jeff Goldblum, turns out to be a Holmsian character as well.

On Monday, I begin to teach a Composition class at a local community college.  It’s using a new book, so I’ve been trying to buckle down and get a lesson plan going for next week.  It’s going to be interesting for me because it’s not as easily laid out as the old book.  I’m going to have to have them do a lot of bit reading to get through the papers they need to do.

I love English.  That’s why I majored in it in college. 

Big Guy and I went cherry picking with the kids last summer and, aside from a ton of cherry preserves, we made wine with the fruits of our labors.  (Ha ha)

The recipe for the wine is pretty easy, and the reviews sounded like it was a pleasant and easy way of making your own wine.  And, as Big Guy enjoys reminding me, I’m the kind of person who enjoys wines and beers.  We made one batch right away and it was delicious, fresh from the fermenting process.  Sweet and tart from the cherries and sugar and the color was beautiful, a deep, rich red.  We bottled it and what we didn’t give to family, we put in the fridge.  A few months later, we were down to our last jar and it had gotten powerful. It still tasted great but was strong enough to make your eyes widen and take a deep breath after a sip.

After the first batches of wine and preserves, we placed our last pound of cherries in the freezer for later use in preserve making.  We promptly forgot about them until we cleaned out the freezer and found the bag.  Big Guy didn’t want to make more preserves and instead opted for a remix of the wine.  This time around, I added a pinch of bread yeast to see if it would help the fermentation process.

It came out a very delicate and pale pink, only slightly darker than a White Zinfandel.  It also seemed more like cherry vodka than wine.  This stuff is strong enough to take the hair off a gorilla.  However, mixed with Pepsi or Coke, it makes a tasty and intoxicating cherry cola.

The recipe can be used with pretty much any fruit, but, as I discovered with pears, be careful of fruits that contain pectin.  Otherwise your final product is an alcoholic syrup that really is useless to drink.  Brewing stores apparently sell an enzyme you can use to neutralize the pectin during the fermentation process.  However, you need to add it at the beginning of the process.  After the fruit has fermented, the enzyme no longer works.

Cherry Wine Recipe

5 cups cherries
5 cups sugar
1 gallon distilled water
1 gallon jar with lid

Crush the cherries and place them and the sugar in the bottom of the jar and pour the water in to about a half inch from the top.  Stir and mix the sugar in well and then seal the jar.  Open once a day for the next 30 days to stir the mix with a wooden spoon.  After 30 days, it should be good to strain out and bottle.

Sorry I skipped out on y’all yesterday, but I had family things to do.  My mother-in-law’s birthday is today and we had to set up a surprise for her.  Everyone in the family got together and purchased her a Wii and the Zelda game.  And then, my father-in-law took her out to lunch yesterday while Big Guy, his sisters and I set it up.  And then we all went out to dinner.  It was a good day.

Even better, we got home yesterday at 8 PM and I had rhubarb and chives to plant.   Big Guy and I had expanded the garden a bit more so I planted my first garden plants.  We had gotten Little Guy a set of gardening tools so that he could help Mommy.  He brought them to Big Guy yesterday morning: “Want to ‘arden?  ‘ardening toos?”  He tried to help me plant the rhubarb and chives yesterday, but thought it was more fun to pour dirt over mommy’s feet than anything else.

My herbs and strawberries from last year are doing really well.  The strawberries went from thinking about blooming to full blown bloomage overnight.  Yesterday, when I checked them out there was one little tightly closed bud.  Today, there are blossoms galore! Plus, it’s sending off runners left and right and spreading out.  The lemon balm, oregano, lavender and sage have all really come back to life.  And, my meadow sage has returned as well…  I can’t wait for it to bloom!

I think we’re out of the woods in terms of frost, so I should be able to plant my peat potted stuff too! The cantalope, carrots, snap dragons and catnip have all taken off. The lettuce and bachelor buttons started off powerful, but then really fell apart.  I think I am going to have to plant those directly outside instead of in the peat pots.  It was an interesting experiment to say the least.

And, this weekend, we’ll be able to plant the pumpkins and beans.   The kids will be excited, one of the things they have been begging to do is plant their pumpkins.  I’ve also picked up a class to teach which should give us some extra money to pay off the bills and buy some tomato plants and flowers. I also need to find some petunias.  I love petunias.

I think I need a bigger garden.

One final note, 6 years ago today Big Guy and I went out on our first “date”.  I’d totally do it all over again. 

As the New Radicals sang:
Don’t give up
You’ve got a reason to live
Can’t forget, you only get what you give.

Last week we discussed the importance of balance within yourself, today we’ll examine the balance of life itself.  Most religions have a sense of this balance.  The bible tells us: “Do unto others as you would have done unto you.”  The Witch’s Rede states that what you do will come back to you threefold.  Most people refer to it as karma.

I try to let my belief in karma guide my actions and make me a better person.  I realized exactly how far I had come in following that path when I stood across from someone who wants nothing more than my abject misery and destruction, and has stated so, and was able to behave in a civil and cordial manner.

Finding the ability to follow a peaceful path is extremely difficult.  On more than one occasion, I have found myself making mean or hurtful comments about someone or something and have pulled away from that edge, reminding myself that by saying those hurtful and painful things, I invite that bad energy into my own life.

Finding your center enables you to maintain the balance in the rest of your life.  In doing or wishing harm on someone else, you invite harm to happen to you.  Living by the Threefold Rule/Golden Rule enables you to be a happier person, knowing that you have lived your life the best that you can.  People who wish to hurt others tend to be unhappy themselves and really deserve nothing more than our pity and sympathy.  And those who wish to hurt you should not succeed in dragging you down to their level.

Yesterday’s blogging efforts were cut short due to the end of the year program Crazy Girl and Smarty Pants had at their school.  I was so proud of my girls, Crazy Girl performed a Spanish Dance with her Spanish class and Smarty Pants played the part of the villain in a play and was incredibly good at it.  Smarty Pants is also a buddling little dictator, I mean director and was able to “guide” people to exactly what they were supposed to do.

But, I digress.

The suggestion that you lose a lot of comfort by homesteading is a myth and no longer has to be true.  Right now, I am looking at the potential of installing a house on some land that my mom owns because it is close to my family and the country is really where I want my kids to be raised.

Ironically, I’m looking at purchasing another, larger “manufactured house” (trailer) to put on the land.  I’ve discovered that manufactured housing offers more options than modular housing. And it also appears to be more cost effective.

In addition to being able to “bring it with you” in terms of the comfort of your housing, your costs for food will be cut drastically with your ability to grow and raise your own food and potentially create your own clothing.

And if you are searching for entertainment, aside from satellite television and high speed internet, I hear discarding the remnants of winemaking efforts on your compost heap and then discovering that your chickens enjoy eating fermented fruit, resulting in drunk chickens, is pretty funny.

Honestly, the differences between country life and city life are immense.  Particularly factoring in terms of peace and quiet, fewer threats of violence, fewer worries of burglary, gangs or drugs.  In the past, before I became a mother, the idea of leaving a neverending nightlife was horrendous.  But, as Little Guy gets older, I tend to view the world around us with more and more suspicion.  I want what all good parents want for their kids, for them to grow up safe and loved.

I also want to maintain a certain level of comfort while doing so.  And, luckily, with all the advancements that technology has made, I am able to do so.

I’m writing this with Little Guy plastered to my body, so if there are some misspellings or odd hitches in writing, please excuse me.  He’s decided today is ALL about Mommy day, and while I cherish those days, they do make it hard to get necessary things done.

One of the things that tends to hold many people back from following their homestead dreams is the idea of losing some of the more material creature comforts.  Moving from the city to a rural home will require some adjustments.  But, life on a homestead doesn’t mean having to give up all the perks you enjoy.

I admit, I love my cable television and my high speed internet.  It’s a definite benefit and connection to the world at large.   However, this is one of the easiest obstacles to overcome.  Direct TV offers both a major package for TV that can easily compete with cable as well as high speed internet through your receiver.

Houses out in the middle of nowhere still get electricity, water, and sewer (sort of).  Your water will be pumped to your house from a well underground and will flow through your faucets just like city water, only without all the chemicals added to it.  You will probably want a water softener to get rid of any residual minerals in the water.  Growing up, our water had such a high iron content, it tended to turn my hair red.  The “sewer” will be a septic tank that you’ll want to have pumped out ever few years. Instead of paying someone monthly to get rid of your poop, it will be saved up for a few years and pumped out.

The one thing that will change drastically is the ease and convenience of stores and entertainment.  Depending on where you choose to live, the nightlife can change drastically and you won’t be able to drop everything and go to the movies or out to dinner.  It will require some planning and preparation.  But, planning and preparation are something you’ll be great at if you make it out to your homestead.

In 1969, Gaylord Nelson, a senator from Wisconsin, recognized the perils facing the Earth and suggested an environmental teaching day.  On April 22, 1970, Earth Day was celebrated by over 20 million people in America.  Today, the holiday is celebrated in 175 countries by more than 500 million people.

So, what’s the point of Earth Day?  Well, it’s a day for us to recognize the troubles facing our planet as well as celebrate the wonderful things (like air and life) that the earth provides us.  And there are plenty of things you can do to alleviate some of the strain too.  Some examples are:

• Keeping the heat down to 65 during the winter
• Buying clothes from thrift stores and consignment shops
• Recycle! Make sure those milk bottles and tin cans get out to the curb
• Make sure you turn off all lights when no one’s in the room

Homesteaders and urban homesteaders can carry it a step further.  You can:

• Compost
• Grow your own fruits and veggies

• Reduce electricity even further (indoor camping anyone) or even go off grid
• Make some of your own clothes

And there are plenty of ways you can get kids involved too.  Lesson Planet has plenty of Earth Day and environmental lesson plans available for homeschoolers and teachers.  Have your kids build gardens and teach them about recycling.  Reuse old egg cartons as starters for outdoor flowers and plants. Teach them how to be good caretakers for the planet and encourage them to come up with creative ways to conserve energy and reduce waste.

And, for today, enjoy the Earth and the gifts she gives us.

My slipper attempts have been paying off and the first one is just about finished.  I just need to trim off the cuff.

That picture is from the very early stages of the slippers, it looks much more slipper like now.  I’ve already got people interested in purchasing a pair, which is awesome.  If you would like a set of super fuzzy slippers, contact me and let me know!

Last night, I made an awesome goulash type of dish for dinner that was quick and easy too.

Super Easy & Filling Goulash

1 lb ground beef
1 can diced tomatoes with chiles
1 can tomato sauce
1 bag wide egg noodles
liberal ground red pepper, adobo seasoning, cilantro, chili powder

Brown the ground beef with the seasonings in a medium sized sauce pan; drain the fat.  To the meat add the diced tomatoes and the tomato sauce.

Get the noodle water boiling.  and boil the entire bag of egg noodles for 10 minutes while the sauce heats through. Drain the noodles and return to the pot.  Add the sauce to the noodles and mix thoroughly.

I’d recommend serving with shredded chedder cheese.  It’s delicious, filling and warming.  Little Guy loved it, I could tell because he had three helpings and was smeared in tomato sauce.  He looked similar to this:

The spicy warmth of the noodles, despite all indications to the contrary, we desperately needed last night.  Today, it’s supposed to snow.  This is seriously disturbing, considering the trees are only just beginning to get their leaves. In addition to that, I still haven’t planted my peat potted things because it’s too cold.  I’m seriously annoyed.

We’re heading into MAY. I know this is Indiana, but it’s supposed to be warmer than this.  How can I get my fruits and veggies if I can’t even get the plants in the ground!  My cantaloupe are going to start flowering indoors soon!

In a 12 step program, there’s a point where you have to start off by admitting you have a problem.  This is NOT one of those posts.

I admit freely, that I love yarn.  I am probably addicted to the new yarn smell.  Then there are the colors, the feel between your fingers, and, of course, the sheer potential that a skein of yarn embodies. It could be anything; shawl, afghan, slippers, toy.

The colors are the best.  I choose mostly multicolored yarns and fuzzy yarns because I prefer the tactile sensations and interesting colors.  I probably do need to stock up on more normal, single color yarns for large projects, but for now, I need to finish some of the projects I have going.  For my own sanity, and that of Big Guy’s.

He’s stopped complaining when I bring home yarn, which is probably a good thing.  At least I don’t have to hide my addiction from him.  Plus, he gets enjoyment out of the things I make and sell .   I have a fellow addict, my enabler and yarn shopping partner, my mom.  I think it must be a genetic condition since she is also my fellow fabric addict and enabler.

I also get my writing skills from her.

Hmmm.

In any case, I have a wonderful stash of yarn and am a firm believer that you can never have too much yarn. With a little ingenuity (and a lot of yarn) you can do pretty  much anything.