Quite thrilling

We will be doubling our garden space this next growing season.

This weekend, we chose a new location - lots of sun with good, dark soil - and our neighbor came over with his skid steer today and broke up the dirt in preparation for next year's planting.

We follow quasi-lasagna gardening methods, but don't have enough compost/cover to start out the recommended way. So, we dig. Or, as it was, the bobcat dug.

Squeeze also assembled make-shift cold frames this weekend made from straw bales and old windows. Our nebulous gardening ambitions are starting to come to fruition.

It is so exciting!

My brother, Bison Brent

My brother was here today, bringing furniture and boxes of books for storage, getting ready to move to Avon, CO this weekend -- four-turned-fourteen hours away from us.

He has lived in the Twin Cities for three years now, in school, studying theology; but now is done and moving on. His plans are to read himself into stupor (whatever he wants!) and work at a steakhouse called The Dusty Boot to pay off his student loans ASAP. From there . . . who knows.

I am really going to miss seeing him regularly; but it will be interesting to see what kinds of things he does next.

Snuggling with Uncle Brent

First snow of the season

Ahhhyes, very amused with ourselves

Mrarrrr

Here, alive, crabby.

That is how I feel today. I think I need a breather?

Squeeze is going to be home for four days in a row this week, thanks to Thanksgiving. (Thanksgiving Break . . . like in school?) I'm really looking forward to it. I want to just melt into one big glop of happy family and feel the freedom of loosening the shackles of the 40 hour work week. I can't wait.

Other than that, we are helping our friends prepare for a move to Portland to live closer to their children and new grandbaby. These guys. I am happy for them, knowing they will be living near the people they love the most, particularly during their twilight years; but I am very sad for our little family. We are going to miss them dreadfully. They close on their house in mid-December and then it will be adios.

The silver lining is that we are, yet again, recipients of a lifetime's worth of stuff. Things we will use -- a car battery charger, yard/garden tools, furniture, books, decorations, plants, kitchen stuff, etc. -- things that they won't be bringing with them due drastic down-sizing. It is comforting, because we will use it and always be able to think of them when we do so.

[This is also how it worked with our lovely neighbor in Minneapolis, Wilburn. He UNLOADED what-seemed-like his entire house on us, and I use things that were his almost every day. It makes me think of him and I like that.]

I'm still really going to miss them, though. And just like Wilburn, they'll join the ranks of my letter-writing rotation. But it just won't be the same . . . They both had such a gentle and calming presence. I really enjoyed them. We all really enjoyed them. Sad . . .

Two quotes

Squeeze: "What's going on, Do?"
Truen: "Don't know, Dada . . ."

- - - - - - - - - -

Diego: "Mama, I am hicking-up!"
Me: "Hicking-up?"
Diego: "Yeah! Hic!"

For the record

I've got a cow tongue boiling in a pot on the stove.

Right now.
In a pot.
And it turned white.

I have an old fear-and-avoidance of cow's tongue, since I was 5 years old, when I saw my aunt pulling it, long and drippy and bumpy, out of a pot of boiling water at my parents' house when she was out for a visit. As legend has it, I had "always liked it before" but wouldn't touch it once I saw it in its whole form.

Therefore, I was reasonably nervous when Diego asked, "What is that?" when I pulled the tongue out of its wrapping today. I made a quick decision and bit the bullet, saying, "It is meat -- the tongue of a cow" and it didn't even phase the ol' boy. He just ran around saying, "Meat! Meat! Cow meat for dinner!"

Okaaaay . . .

Thank goodness he was alright with it. He's only one year younger than I was when I could no longer hack it. My mom was raised on/around farms; she grew up eating organ meat and tongue, so it was definitely something I had "had before". Before seeing it, that is.

But, shoot. I have two in the freezer. I need to use them. And my picky sister tried cow tongue last year (that the same aunt prepared) and said it was good, so I thought I should go for the gold and get over it.

Here's the recipe I'm going to use: Delicious Beef Tongue Tacos

The only thing I'm really not looking forward to is peeling off the skin. Eeeeeegh . . . it gives me the willies. We shall see.

:: 9:00 PM UPDATE ::
Peeling the skin off wasn't so bad; unpleasant, but do-able. I shredded the meat, then chopped what I couldn't shred. The boys yummed it down, Diego said, "Yummmm . . . cow's tongue is tasty!"; I liked it well enough, but faced the familiar old mental block; Squeeze said he didn't care to ever eat it again, though I believe it to be more with the fact that it was a cow's tongue vs. taste or texture.

We did it! One down, one to go.

I'd do it again.

Circular rotation

Truen's three favorite questions right now are --

1. "Wha' daaaaat?"
2. "Wha' 'appennned?"
3. "Whyyyyyy, Maaaammmaaa?"

Etc.

Because I never have enough time to write a well-thought-out, revised-to-my-standards post these days, I'm going to make a list of my current thoughts and activities.

I would like to post more often than I actually do, but such is life.

In stream of consciousness style . . .

• We just started reading By the Shores of Silver Lake this afternoon before naptime. In the second chapter, Jack the beloved bulldog dies - and I could barely read through my tears. Diego simply patted me and asked, "Are you going to be okay, Mama?" His sweetness is my weakness. Oh . . . and my tender heart.
• Speaking of crying . . . we butchered our cockerels two (or was that three?) weekends ago. Ourselves. All of Squeeze's family came for the event and we took care of 15 chickens in 2 hours, start to finish. We put them in killing cones, upside-down, and cut their throats. Watching the lifeblood pour from them was sobering, to say the least. I do believe I was also the only one to cry, out of 8 adults and 12 children. I only watched the first round of four and then I never went back to the killing cones. I didn't want to see it again. We then scalded, plucked, eviscerated, and put them on ice. Dealing with whole chickens is very familiar to me, so that part was cake. The killing? Not so much.
• Questions it brought to my mind: This is how we get our food? What would it be like to watch a more intelligent animal, like a pig, being butchered? How do I ultimately feel about the reality of eating meat? What thoughts (if that is even possible) were going through their minds?
• The butchering experience made me even more committed to locally produced foods.
• We saved all the hearts, livers, gizzards, and feet -- the first three I will grind up and incorporate into meatloaf, for I am not brave enough to do otherwise (yet). The feet, I will put into chicken stock - they make it extra-rich and gelatin-y. Very delicious (mineral-licious, too).
• I am revelling in darkness by 6:00 PM. I have honestly never looked forward to the winter months like I am now. In fact, I used to dread them (post-college, in the drudgery of work-life). Why? Because, finally . . . we can't work outside. We can actually relax and hang out together, enjoying each other's company. The evening meal is at a reasonable time -- 7:00-ish vs. 9:30-ish. It is delightful and I am SO GLAD I have many more months to go. You can quote me on that when I'm complaining about being stuck inside come February.
• We are [finally] watching old seasons of The Office and I'm telling you, I think that show was written for and by people in their 30's. And I get every single sci-fi nerd joke they toss out: Dumbledore Calrissian? Yeah, I know him.

Heartstrings

This is a terrific post, written by Carrien at She Laughs at the Days. She gets right down to the marrow of what haunts my mind on a semi-regular basis. How much can I give? Is needing time for myself selfish? How can I waste these precious moments?

Etc.

Please, proceed.

Blahblahblah

I was just going to post on how I noticed this morning that I am most pleased with life when I am intellectually or emotionally stimulated, but then it stuck in my craw that this is how everyone must operate and that stating this on the internet would be painfully over-obvious and silly.

And so on and so forth.
I wonder?

Mwrah

Where does the time go?

-- Little Trubies turned two the week before last --

Happy LATE Birthday lil' Pumpkin

Two days old

Two years old

(Sorry for the blurry picture, but I scanned the entire month of October and I couldn't find one good picture. They were all smeared or he was en route with his back turned. Does that say TWO, or what?!)

From one mama to another: book recommendations

My friend Suzy Popchicks (not her real name) asked me if I had any book recommendations for a potentially-pregnant lady. Wellllll, yes. Of course, I took it over-seriously and hashed out an entire list of recommendations.

BABIES & PARENTING:

1. Natural Family Living: The Mothering Magazine Guide to Parenting - Peggy O'Mara: It has been awhile since I looked at this book, but I appreciated it for its "natural" and holistic look at parenting - from childbirth and nursing to night waking and first foods. She also talks about "alternative medicine", which not many parenting books cover. I especially appreciated that at the time.
2. The Baby Book: Everything You Need to Know About Your Baby from Birth to Age Two - Dr. Sears: As an overview to babies and parenting, I thought this book was very good. Helpful and extremely thorough.
3. The Happiest Baby on the Block - Harvey Karp: There were a few things that I didn't agree with in this book (an example: the author claims that babies should never be nursed lying down - pshaw, what a laugh!) but overall, I found it very insightful. Both my boys, but especially Diego, loved being swaddled as babies - it really calmed them down. The 5 S's - Swaddling, Side/Stomach Positions, Shushing, Swinging, Sucking - helped me gain a greater understanding of how to soothe my babies. I didn't have it from experience, but I learned quickly with a jumpstart from the information in this book.

HEALTH & WELLNESS:

1. Vaccinations: The Thoughtful Parents' Guide - Aviva-Jill Romm: Out of everything, this is the book I wish I would have read before giving birth. Vaccinations are heralded as all-important in our society. But the truth is, there are a lot of extremely complicated factors that go into the decision to vaccinate. Contrary to how vaccinations are presented, you, the parent, actually have a choice in this matter: whether to forgo, go with a delayed schedule, or pick and choose what is right for your child based on your own research. You will be pressed from the very start to begin vaccinations (I'm not kidding: it will be immediate. It starts with the Hepatitis B vaccine the day or day after the babe is born in a hospital-based birth). Romm's book was the most balanced presentation of the history of vaccinations, pros and cons, and most importantly, the choices we have as parents. In my opinion, it is best to go into the decision to vaccinate with eyes wide open.
2. Naturally Healthy Babies and Children - Aviva-Jill Romm: I reference this book regularly. It really helped qualm my fears of, "What do I do when...?" It has an A-Z listing of ailments with practical advice on how to deal with it. I cleared the only ear infection we have ever had in this household (a double, at that) with garlic oil and hot compresses. A fever needs to be assisted, not quelled; and so on and so forth. It has empowered me to take my children's health in my own hands, with a great sense of peace.

PRE-PREGNANCY, HEALTH & NUTRITION:

1. Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats - Sally Fallon: If only for the general nutritional overview at the very beginning, this book would be very good to check out. For the first time in my life, a nutritional paradigm made sense to me -- I feel like it gave direction to my already-existent "whole foods" outlook. Plus, with little ones, you are entirely responsible for their health and well-being. Kids don't have to live on chicken nuggets and mac'n'cheese (and other "food-like substances"). Introduce them to a wide variety as wee ones and they'll eat what you eat. The "kid's menu" at most slow-fast food restaurants? Total junk.
2. Taking Charge of Your Fertility: The Definitive Guide to Natural Birth Control, Pregnancy Achievement, and Reproductive Health - Toni Weschler: If you haven't already learned about all your female reproductive organs and how they work, do it now. It is fascinating. I was angered (though 'anguished' might be a more apt term) by learning "everything" at the ripe age of 31. Things would have made so much more sense if I had "only known". Sheesh.
3. The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding - Gwen Gotsch: I haven't actually read this book, but have heard a lot about it. I imagine it is a very good introduction to breastfeeding for the otherwise uninitiated.
4. PUSHED: The Painful Truth About Childbirth and Modern Maternity Care - Jennifer Block: This book is fascinating and particularly important for those who don't feel "quite right" about the current medicalized model of birth. I had inklings before my first babe, but didn't have any direction or true experience until I was thrust into it. I honestly don't know if it would have resonated with me pre-babies, but when I read it in the spring of 2008, it struck many-a-chord. A very important read. I was unimpressed with her comparison of birthing rights with access to abortion at the very end, but otherwise her observations throughout the whole of the book are extremely astute.

Root Cellar 2009

From top to bottom:

Squeeze's homemade wine, tomatoes under paper

grape jam, tomato sauce, salsa, fermented veg

(salsa, cukes, sauerkraut, pickled beets)

apples, apple sauce

apples

Another view

Top shelf:

tomato soup, tomato sauce, misc.,

another wine rack

A view from the back:

carrots, cabbages

potatoes

Wenk's Yellow Hots (hanging)

And a bonus shot:

Our basement wood burner,

which is hooked to the forced-air heating system

Notice the straw-filled nest in the window

(Squeeze loves his kitties)

* * *

The basement has a chute to toss the wood down

vs. hauling it in and down the stairs

The square piece of wood is packing wood (oak!) --

a business Squeeze goes to discards it almost every week

MAY 2016 EDIT:

This post gets a lot of hits. (Hooray for root cellars!) (They are the greatest.) Click on the years below to see more recent pictures of our root cellar.  It has gained in stature quite a bit in the last seven years.  Though I see I haven't posted pictures since 2013.  Goodness.  That was the year that I really caught my stride.

2011

2012

2013

My food preservation notes. (Though now I would put almost everything in the freezer section over to the dehydrator.) (I love-love-love my dehydrator.)

What I've been up to

• Reading to myself.
• Reading aloud to Diego -- the Little House books (we are Farmer Boy right now, which is the 3rd book) and I am enjoying it as much as he is! Squeeze even listens and relates it back to his remembrances of the television show. Trubies usually nurses or runs around and plays while we read.
• Attempting to keep myself in the groove of forced organization and scheduled tasks. It is getting harder, though I am committed to sticking with it.
• Enjoying snuggling at nap and bed times.
• Organizing two Friends of the Library fundraisers two weekends in a row. My organizational skills - which come naturally in part, but which I was also able to cultivate during my 6 years at Wells Fargo - come in very handy for mobilizing volunteers and all the ensuing details of fundraising. I'm proud of myself.
• We've raised $2,000 in less than a year -- not too shabby.

And now, to my books.

Robot pumpkins unite!

The boys were thrilled to carve pumpkins this year

Squeeze's pumpkin was yet another

--- ROBOT ---

(getting his bum tweaked)

Mrrrrrrrrreeeeee!

Beep

Boop

Bop

ggg ggg ggg

I think mine looks rather quaint and happy-go-lucky

Which, in turn, makes me smile

Truen has been talking in his sleep --

• "Food ready, Mama?"
• "More raisins . . . more raisins . . ."

From the middle of nowhere, straight from my burning heart

The pain of a new idea is one of the greatest pains in human nature...after all, your favorite notions may be wrong, your firmest beliefs ill-founded.

~Walter Bagehot

This quote struck me square in the forehead this past summer. How true. I have noticed it in my own life, observed it in others, and can sense the undercurrent of it running throughout society.

But honestly, we all base our opinions on what we know from how have lived: the people we know, how we grew up, what we have experienced, and the environment we are surrounded by - be it social, physical, or intellectual. Is it any wonder that, collectively, we have strayed so far from "ideal"? Nay, that there has never been an Ideal.

We are all so different - even in our sameness, i.e. "culture". No one will ever agree. I don't believe it is possible to be on the same page. We must all agree to disagree and simply respect human life for what it is: valuable. Everyone else is as special as I am. As you are.

So why is this so hard to reconcile? The world is too big.

Deo for my BO

I actually had time last night to do a non-food and non-kid related activity:

I made my own deodorant.

I've been using this particular deo for the last year; it was a gift from my SIL. When it ran out, I wanted more. The recipe is very simple. (While making it, I felt amazed and actually thought to myself, "Lookie at what I have time to do!")

Homemade Deodorant

1/4 cup baking soda
1/4 cup arrowroot powder (or cornstarch)
5 TBSP coconut oil
essential oil to scent to your liking (I used lavender)

• Mix the baking soda and arrowroot powder (or cornstarch)
• Add the coconut oil and mash until well blended
• Add the essential oil and continue to mash
• Store in a covered glass container

And there you go -- deo for your BO.

Snapshots from the Harvest

• Vats of applesauce
• Scads of potatoes (115 lbs) - the fingerling, La Ratte!
• Tomatoes up the wazoo - sauce, salsa, soup
• Green tomatoes under paper in the root cellar
• Shelling the dried beans from the dried-up pods
• Sore wrists and fingers, work-worn
• Shorter days and a frenzied pace to get everything done before cold weather
• 9:00 pm evening meals
• 5 quarts of salsa fermenting on the counter
• Tru-babes potty-training all the while (it is going so well)
• Sweet Diego helping, and being of actual assistance, on the potato dig - so sincere and happy in his efforts (with the added joy of finding worms)
• A slowly-filling root cellar, the scales balanced with a steadily-emptying garden
• The feeling of true anticipation for winter -- snowed in with nothing to do
• Looking at the root cellar and feeling a sense of accomplishment and pride
• Happy, the end (not really)
• 1 more month to go!

Queen Victorious

After a pleasant work day with a friend - with an evening break for berry-picking - 60 lbs of tomatoes and a variety of peppers and garlic and onions became 16 quarts of salsssssssa and 3 quarts spicy tomato juice. It pretty much rules.

Needless to say, I am very pleased with myself.
Now . . . shower, and bed.

But it was so fun

Did I really just spend over an hour perusing Facebook while my children were sleeping when I should have been hanging laundry, making breakfast, and prepping for salsa-making?

Oh yes, I did. And that, my friends, is why I only go on Facebook once a month. It becomes my own personal black hole.

Harumph!