Homestead Braindump

...because I'm too lazy to make multiple posts outta this stuff.

• When we got home from vacation, we noticed Kung Pao was spending a lot of her time in the nest box. Eventually, we realized she was spending ALL of her time in the nest box.  She got all puffy when you got near (good thing she wasn't a RIR, or we'd never have been able to get to the eggs!), she had plucked all of her tummy feathers and was VERY warm.  From what I've read, the 2 best ways to discourage broodiness are to lower their body temperature and to make them as uncomfortable as possible on the nest.  First, I hoped stealing her eggs would work, then I moved her off her nest several times a day, then I put an ice pack in the nest box, then we started dumping her in buckets of cool hose-water.  Nothing.  She is now quarantined in an elevated dog crate in the yard.  It's drafty, uncomfy and at the very least will hopefully keep the broodiness from spreading.  Although, nick said he spotted another of the girls without tummy feathers.  ugh.  This is definitely affecting egg production.  

Get away from my nest!

Do I look comfortable to you?!?

When Green Doesn't Fit

From it's outset, this blog has always been about my journey to make a positive, healthy impact on my life.  Every time I switch a product or a way of doing thins, I carefully weigh it with what fits into our budget and lifestyle.  Sometimes, that leaves me with better, but still middle-of-the-road decisions.  I'm okay with that.  I never set out to be the ideal greenie, and I never will be.  I set out to make a change.  Sometimes, though, for better or worse, there is no middle road.

Pre-Dawn

The sun has yet to peek over the horizon, but my house is already full of activity.

We woke up to snow this morning (It really wouldn't be almost Halloween without it)

This is What Happens When I Forget My Smartphone

Yesterday, I was talking to a neighbor who told me that there was a winesap apple tree at the park down the street, and that it still had some apples on it.

I know that I said I was done canning, but who listens to me anyways?  And winesap apples are great for canned pie filling.  So off to the park I tread.

I picked about a peck, which was all that was in reach.  I'll hafta come back another day to get the higher up ones.  On my way back, I walked by a tree absolutely overflowing with yellow-orange goodness.  I know from talking to that same neighbor that it's an American Persimmon tree and that you shouldn't eat them 'till you've cooked them. 

Playing Catch-Up By Way of Bullets

•  Cacciatore has escaped 3x since last reported.  She's becoming quite the little escape artist.  

I Am Despicably Unobservant

In my defense, I was simultaneously making these incredible cookies and watching Two For The Money.  However, in the mean time my front yard looked like this:

Vacationing the LFS way

Wow, sorry for the significant gap.  It's crazy how much life gets backed up when u take a break from it for a while.

We headed down to Emerald Isle on Aug. 27, just as Irene was Hitting the Island.  No, we didn't drive straight into a hurricane, we kept a respectable distance... but we DID drive 12 hours from home hoping in good faith that our beach house would still be standing and suitable for human habitation.  We hung out in Myrtle Beach (us poor babies, I know) while the storm passed and by Sunday the Island was open and our place (thankfully) was too.  I'm not exaggerating when I say it's the nicest place any of us had ever stayed (there were 9 of us, so it was huge!).  The first couple days, we had to drive through 6in of water on the road near our unit (good thing we all had SUVs), there were plenty of downed trees and closed businesses but thankfully Irene wasn't quite as strong as originally anticipated and most of her impact on our vacay, slight delay aside, was positive... blue skies, empty beaches, lots of cool shells washing up.

Poor Nick Can't Keep a Secret From Me..

... and he never has been able to.  Even as far back as our first Christmas, he couldn't keep what he had gotten me a secret.  I must admit, I think his transparentness is completely adorable.  Is there any better sign of a completely whipped devoted and honest man?

This evening, I was putting away china.  We'd had dinner guests this weekend and I never pass up a chance to haul out the good stuff.  After all, why have it if you don't use it?  I noticed there were only 3 regular dinner plates in the dining room and went looking for the fourth.  This is what I found in a less-used corner of the kitchen:

This'n'at

Our tomatoes are having the best year they've ever had despite a little more neglect than i'd personally like to own up to.  We never got around to buying cages and they were in some serious need of both weeding and staking.  Nick fed the weeds to the chickens, he called it a salad.  They loved them tho!

Aren't they gonna be tasty when they ripen?

Victory Garden

For those of ya'll who know me, it's no secret that I'm not a big fan of war or the modern american understanding of patriotism.  Knowing that, you'd prolly be surprised about my new obsession.

I was stumbling 'round pinterest looking for ideas for the canning cellar that i'm cooking up when I came across these:

Questions, Questions

Well folks, i've been meaning to freshen up around here for some time.  What do you think about the new look?

This afternoon, I decided to pull out a LARGE slab of bear that has been making me nervous.  It's huge, crusted in ice, and labled "Capicola Ham".  Like the lunchmeat?  Do you think it's already cooked, or will i need to cook it?  If it needs cooked, how on earth does one go about that? How does one slice their own lunch meat?  Is there any other way to eat bear capicola, besides between bread?  The internet has apparently never even heard of bear capicola and can't answer any of my questions.  Oh internet, how rarely you fail me so!  Get ready for an adventure! ...you know, in a few days when it's all defrosted.

Preparations are well under way for our yearly corn roast so stay tuned to hear more about that too.

I Discover Awesomeness for $3.49

For those of you that haven't noticed, I can't really sew.  Sure, I can reattach a lost button if you give me an hour or so but i'll probably never be caught making my own clothes (which isn't to say I don't wish I could).  That being said, I do know my way around the fabric store.  I just usually use my fabric in conjunction with a staple gun.

My great-grandma is coming to visit this weekend.  In addition to being a font of knowledge and an incredible human being, she was something of a house flipper in her youth.  She saw my house a few weeks after we had purchased it, but I don't think she's seen it since.  The difference is huge and she's been dying to see it.  I think she's been living vicariously through the pics my pap prints off of Facebook for her.  As I understand it, she's quite tickled about my mason jar chandelier.

Food Revolution Review

If you haven't seen Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution, I recommend you take a peek.  There is no streaming TV in my house, but thankfully you can watch it the next day on hulu.

Last year, Jamie took on the processed food and obesity crisis in Huntington, WV (my mother-in-law's hometown) both in the community and the school lunch program.  His mission is to get real, non-processed food into every home and school in America.  This year he's taking on L.A, though to even more resistance than last year.

The two things that stood out to me:
1.  His demonstration on Pink Slime, an additive/filler in most ground meat products in the U.S. that used to be used solely in pet food but then they figured out how to wash it in AMMONIA and serve it to humans.  The truly crazy thing is that they don't have to label the use of the product, or even the ammonia.  the FDA has declared it a process, not an ingredient.  It makes me glad I haven't bought ground beef in quite a while.

2. Jamie, in an effort to healthy-up a fast food restaurant decided to try to replace the ice cream in the milkshake with greek yogurt.  The owner said it was a wonderfully tasty smoothie, but that you can't call it a milkshake.  Here's the thing: I kind of agree.  Now, I would disagree with the fast food owner in that I see nothing wrong with replacing the milkshake with the smoothie, especially if its tasty and comes in classic milkshake flavors, but it's NOT a milkshake without ice cream.  In the same way, Miracle Whip is NOT Mayonnaise and if you replace the butter in a hollandaise sauce, it's just not hollandaise anymore. I don't think Jamie would be doing anyone any favors by refusing to call a spade a spade.  Just like i think Mrs. Seinfeld's hiding veggies cookbook doesn't do us any favors.  Because, if the "milkshake" at Jamie's place is OK, then all milkshakes are OK, right?  I think we'd do better to just teach an appreciation of veggies and healthy eating habits, than hiding wholesome foods like they're something to be afraid of.

Dust to Dust

Ya'll may not know this about me, but I can be a morbid sort of person.  I sometimes think about my own death.  Not in a creepy or suicidal way, but i do recognize that death is an inevitable part of life and i'm okay with that.  I think about how i'd like it to go (i'm a super planner, after all).  I wanna die peacefully in my sleep.  Old, but not so old that my faculties have started to decay.  Pipe dreams, I know.  We don't get to choose our own death.  We do, however, get to have some input on how we are laid to rest, or so I thought.  When a burial request comes to my mind, I make it known to my husband.  I figure he'll be in charge of planning my funeral (did i mention that i wanna pre-decease him?).  I realize that, looking back on what I just wrote, I must sound kind of creepy but this isn't a regular occurrence in my house or anything.  Maybe 4 or 5 times ever.  My two biggest requests are to be buried in a specific cemetery in my hometown where most of my family and friends are buried and to "be treated like compost".  I just wanted to stay chemical-free and be buried in a something that’d decompose; nothing terribly crazy, and still respectful and fairly traditional, but also low-cost and green.  Hanging out at the funeral home last month (mostly an observer of other's grief), I realized that it probably wouldn't be that simple.

More Pictures Than Words

It was 60+ degrees yesterday (and today).  In February.  In Western Pa.  I soaked it all in as best I could, knowing it could be a while before spring actually rears it's warm, sunny head.

I walked around my yard and inspected it for the first time since fall.


The cherry & peach trees are starting to get their leaf buds.

Resolutions

Every January I sit around and watch people make their New Year's Resolutions.  I consider making one for myself, and the first thing that comes to mind is "Loose Weight.  Lots of it."  Then I remember that, in order for it to truly be maintainable, a goal has to be measurable.  Ok , "loose 100 lbs."  I'm a tubby little greenie (woah, did anyone else just think of oompa loompas?) and could really use it.  But you see, a. that seems insurmountable and b. I love food and hate excercise.  Bad combo for loosing weight.  How did you think I got this way in the first place?

Needless to say, I have a bad relationship with resolutions but here I am (almost into February) laying some out anyways.  Hopefully this'll help get me out of my snowed-in blues.

Why I Can't Wait For Spring

You know, on the whole I'm a Fall/Winter kinda gal.  I love the leaves and smells of autumn and the light of winter.  I know, it's odd to associate light with the darkest time of year, but there is something so cheerful about light bouncing off of the snow.  Also, as much as I like to be outside, I really HATE warm weather.

Given that, you can imagine my surprise when, staring out at the beautiful falling snow this afternoon, I found myself wishing for spring.

I want to be out in my yard.  I want to plant a garden and reap it's fruit.  I want to fix my fence.  I want to watch Nick cut the grass.  I want my chicks to get here so they can start laying eggs for me.  I want to finish painting the trim on the house green.  I want to stop struggling to find things to put on my blog.

Yup, It seems like winter is construction time here at living from scratch and summer is greenie time.  We have started to map out next year's garden so hopefully I can share that soon, but other than that I'm at a loss.  Does anyone out there in cyberland have any snowed-in greenie tips? I love feedback!

Living Room to Parlor

 

This is my Living Room When we bought the house. 

 

This is that same space at present.   It's a big difference, but it obviously looks... severely unfinished.  We haven't fixed the baseboards or re-installed the shoe molding from when we did the floors.  There are paint swatches on the wall.  That love seat is the result of a bargain my mom and I made while I was in college (she would buy me a real piece of furniture if I quit making them haul the busted bench seat from an old pickup truck to Grove City and Back every year). It has looked almost exactly like this since last January.  It's shameful, really.  After Christmas, this is going to be our BIG project.  Why after Christmas?  Well, for one, I hate trying to decorate a construction zone for the holidays (which are quite busy enough) and for another...I'm asking everyone for Lowe's gift cards for Christmas.

In preparation for this HUGE project, I've been gathering all of my ideas into a mood board of sorts for the room (though I'm not terribly accomplished at this).  But first, you should know: I have a small obsession with Victorian fashion and culture. 

That's my Senior Prom Picture.  We hired a seamstress, purchased a corset (which BTW did some lasting damage to my ribs), the whole deal.  Sorry about the picture of a picture but I don't have a scanner, so there's gonna be a few of those tonight.

The top left are mostly the fabrics I have used (except for the stripes, those are a new thought).  The Right and Right-Bottom are my existing furniture.  The bottom left is my inspiration.  To it's immediate right is the yard sale Picture frame Nick & I bought that I'm determined to frame my TV with, like artwork.  The picture with the little girl is from an article on wainscoting, with a tutorial.  It's probably what we'll do. 

This is the current wall the Fireplace is on.  I plan on building the fireplace up so it looks a little more like it belongs there and so I can accommodate my plans to hang the TV more securely while disguising it as art above the mantle and hiding the wires first behind the wall, then under the floor, so that the DVD player and sound system and such can be placed on the Bookshelf on the opposite wall.  The area to the left should be exactly enough for an upright piano, and to the right to comfortably open the door.  Perhaps I'll put a small table and mirror there too.  (What is a front door if there's no mirror nearby?)

This is the opposite wall, shown with blinds down (though I always keep them halfway up).  I don't know why I thought I'd make the under bookshelf cabinets so tall.  They won't actually be that tall.  These drawings are a year old but so very little has changed I didn't bother to redo them. Under the window will be a window seat, and the wall will be covered with bookcases with cabinets underneath.  I was really hoping for arches on the bookcases, but I think that will be outside of our abilities. 

These two walls will stay basically the same, plus wainscoting.    Eventually, we really should get rid of the 60's "3 stepped little windows" door, but I'm not saying that's happening this winter. 

I'm going to be one of THOSE mothers...

... who lies to her children because it's convenient.

How do I know? Well, I was making meatballs this evening. Bear meatballs, because i'm cheap and refuse to buy beef until the bear is gone, and that could be a while. Sadie was following me around begging like mad. She's always been a moderate begger (a fact for which i am thankful cuz she'd be a force to be reckoned with if she were a severe one) but tonight she was putting on her best pouty face. Why? Because, for some primal reason, game meat appeals to her 10x more than domesticated animal meat. So, covered in raw meat, I look down at her and say "I'm sorry Sadie. I just can't give you any. Some dogs are inexplicably allergic to meatballs and YOU are one of them". I assume I said this because it's what I say to her when i'm making chocolate chip cookies (though in that case it's true). It is also true that my meatballs contain breadcrumbs, presumably from yeast bread, and you shouldn't give dogs yeast products. That's quite the stretch though. The fact of the matter is that (despite my hubby's best efforts) I try very hard to not give her people food. It is both unhealthy for her and only encourages the begging behavior. But is that what I told her? Nope. I lied to my DOG, who can't even understand me, out of convenience. I fear that bad habit may get worse when I have a young & impressionable audience who actually understands me.

Etsy Shop

Well folks, I'm stuck here without my beloved laptop (typing to you today from my ancient and tiny Grove City TC1100) BUT I finally got my Etsy shop up and running. I'm starting really small and easing in to it, so i know it isn't very impressive right now, but maybe someday it will be.