Pears & Applesauce

This Tuesday was a busy one, I woke we did school & Devotional and then the kids went to work on their writing projects. I mowed the front lawn, and then prepared bottles for canning. I met with some very energetic ladies who had been canning for 3 weeks! HOLY COW 3 WEEKS! Pears, Peaches, Tomatoes, Spaghetti sauce, salsa, busy busy ladies, I wish I had the produce to be so industrious. But my wonderful garden has not done so well.

Here is a sample of the beautiful pears and the 1/2 gallon jars of Applesauce (since my kids got through a quart at each sitting!)

Madison's new Blog

http://madisonspot.blogspot.com/

Encourage her to write, every day.

Sunday Afternoon

We got home from church today, after a very rough start, and I wanted to document that I had all 5 kids ready and HAPPY to be at church with me!

Here we are on the Porch following services!

Living off Food storage

For the past 4 years we have made diligent efforts to eat and cook from our food storage, this means I store what I eat and I eat what I store.

I have been blessed to find neat resources for our family essentials, in example, I found food grade buckets that hold 75lbs. of Wheat. These buckets stack up to 3 high, but they are hefty, very heavy. I have them filled with: Rolled Oats, Potato pearls, Black beans, Northern beans, Kidney beans, Salt, Hard White Wheat, hard red wheat, Rice white and brown, Dried apples, Refried beans, dried onions,

These are mostly stuff we use on a daily/weekly basis, and it gets rotated rather quickly, then we have canned fruits and vegetables, and dried fruits and vegetables.

then there are the store bought items I store, I try to gauge or calculate how much my family eats in a week/month/year and estimate how much I need to store, I thought that 6 bottles of Maple syrup would be enough for a year (one bottle lasting two months) well I bought the 6 bottles in July and we have already used 3. Oops. I suppose I need to re-figure that one.

We make our bread from scratch, we make our tortillas most days, and of course pizza, rolls, pies, all of our dishes are made or baked with ingredients we store on a regular basis, It has made shopping a rather quick routine, I get the same items, and I get as much as the budget allows. Only occasionally do we have out of the norm items in our cart, special occasions, birthdays & holidays.

I shared a recipe on here a while ago on our bread, and I will have to seek out the bread picture of when Abigel made her first loaf in Alaska.

Train them up....

And they become the indispensable babysitter of the neighbor hood/ward.






Madison has been a HOT item this past 2 months, ever since she has turned 12 she has had to turn down several babysitting jobs, she has been booked most weekends and frequently weekdays too!

We are so proud of her, she is such a hard working, and loving girl, all the kids adore her, including her baby brother & Sisters!

Some photos of the House

Why do we do, what we do?

I have been looked at rather strangely, especially lately, I have 5 adorable children, and one on the way.
I Love being a parent, I would say it is my chosen career path, just as some of you have chosen to become, Doctors, Lawyers, or even Coroners. These jobs are demanding, and time consuming, the training alone has taken years of dedication and you (as the professional) have become very good at what you do. You are accomplished, and you enjoy the hard work and challenge of the day.

Every one enjoys time off, but when we are idle for too long, we crave for the busyness of our career.

This too is how I feel, I enjoy being busy, I love to see my kids create and invent new things, it may be their own fort or hide-away, or maybe it is a nook in their bedroom with books piled high next to their pillows & blankets. It makes me smile to know that they have brains, and they are using them to occupy themselves.

I HATE TV. I enjoy an OCCASIONAL movie, but the idleness and atrophy of my brain and body from watching too much TV (more than 1.5 hrs a day is too much IMO)

Why do I cook the way I do?

In my pantry, I have Whole Wheat, Honey, Grains, nuts and Brown rice. (amongst other items, canned veggies, canned fruit etc...)

I LOVE FOOD. I love to cook and prepare a delicious and occasionally beautiful meal, I enjoy sitting down with my family adding some hot peppers to the dish and eating a meal. Loud and Proud at the dinner table. Sometimes I prepare a meal and eat quietly before I invite others to join me at the table.
Cooking with foods that GOD created are a number one priority for me, I want to offer my body and my family the chance at having a perfectly healthy meal that not only serves our body but tastes delicious as well.

I love to have a clean house, but I prefer to have a learning house, a place where the kids can have their microscope, and books spread out, lying on their tummy's enjoying the day through discovery and intrigue.

Along with this thought, WHY do I have the desire to milk cows, churn butter, card wool and make everything from my own 2 hands.
I did not always desire these skills, as a matter of fact I remember vividly sitting in the "Tiffin Room" in 1999 mocking and laughing at the comment my husband made about the desire HE had to grow and create his own fabric. (grow cotton and raise wool). How CRAZY! Not a chance I laughed.

Yet here I am a decade later, with this same intent, Why would I want this now?

As much as I enjoy cooking a fine meal, and knowing the foods I prepare and consume are entirely my undertaking, I also have the desire for the SKILLS to prepare my own wool,lovingly raising the sheep, shearing the wool,carding, spinning and finally knitting the wool. It is a SKILL I look forward to learning, then if the occasion arrived, I would have the capacity to knit a newborns gown to keep them warm during the Second Great Depression. (if such an event does occur)

I love my family, I had hopes that we would all get together 5 times a year and laugh and talk and bond over good meals. This is not an option, too many issues arise when we meet together and we strain each other through our diversity. I wish we could embrace the differences we have, and enjoy one another uninhibited. but for whatever reason, we are all too stubborn so we get together once a year.

I love my God. he is the master creator, and he is the reason we are all on this Beautiful earth, tested, tried and challenged, to become stronger and endure to the END. I hope to become as loving and forgiving as my Saviour.

I hope that you as my friends that are reading this understand my weirdness, the reasons I do the things I do. I hope you even if you can not embrace my differentness you can at least nod your head in understanding and give me the space I need to grow and develop into the being I desire to become.