Folk Remedy for a Bee Sting or Wasp Sting…

The Little Farmgirl was playing outside a few days ago and she got stung by a wasp.  It was hiding inside the tire swing and she put her hand on top of it and the rest is history…

We had some friends over, so she didn’t come inside right away.  By the time she showed me about half an hour later, her hand was very swollen.  I mixed some baking soda and water and put that on her hand.  Baking soda will neutralize the venom in people who are not allergic to bee stings.  (In other words, if you’re allergic to bee stings, don’t think baking soda can replace your Epi Pen… But for the rest of, baking soda works great in a pinch!)



You’re supposed to put the baking soda and water paste on the sting as soon as it happens.  In this case, she didn’t tell me about it in time and the baking soda wasn’t all that helpful.

But then I got a crazy email forwarded to me the next morning.  I wasn’t sure if it was true or not, but it suggested putting a penny on the bee sting.  Apparently the copper in the penny draws out the venom. 

So we tried it!
 

And it worked!  Who would have guessed?

Breakfast Pizza!

Farmgirl created a “new” recipe a few mornings ago that she wanted to show you…

Here it is!  Breakfast Pizza!

First, she got a waffle and spread peanut butter on it.  (Papa the farmer makes great gluten free waffles!  I keep telling him he needs to write a cookbook!)  Over the peanut butter she put Peach Sauce.  Peach sauce is just my simple way of preserving peaches from our trees… I blend them up, pour the puree in mason jars and voila!  Peach Sauce.  On top of that she sliced bananas and strawberries, then she drizzled a little applesauce over the whole thing (like the cheese on a vegetable pizza)…

She was so pleased with her creation that she asked me to take pictures and share them online! 

Now let’s take a closer look at her handiwork: 

Garlic Spaghetti

 

When I first got married my mother in-law brought our niece for a visit.  This little niece is so super-duper cool that I was pretty much willing to bend over backwards and do anything she wanted.  (Bad aunt!  Spoiling the 7 year old!)  Every night I would ask her what she wanted for dinner and make whatever her little royal highness requested.  (This was obviously in the days before I had children!)  One night she asked for spaghetti.  Easy-peasy, right?  So I cooked the noodles, poured the canned spaghetti sauce over it and served it.  And my sweet little niece looked…. disappointed.  “That’s not spaghetti” she duly informed me. 

Um… It’s not?  Let’s see… Noddles… sauce…  Looks like spaghetti to me.  So she and her grandma taught me how to make “real” spaghetti… And let me tell you… It’s pretty good!

First, you boil the noodles according to package instructions.  Please don’t use plain white noodles… It will taste good, but it will hurt my feelings.  My favorite pasta is quinoa pasta, which is gluten free.  If you must use plain white noodles, would you please mix it half-and-half with multigrain noodles, just to make me happy?  Thank you! 

So, after you drain the noodles, saute some chopped garlic in the bottom of your noodle pot.  Pour the noodles back in and add a little olive oil.  Then add about a teaspoon of salt and a handful of fresh, chopped parsley.  Lastly, add 1/4 – 1/2 cup of Nutritional Yeast Flakes.  Then tell me if this isn’t one of the most delicious noodles dishes you’ve ever had!

Red Clover Drink

I mentioned in an earlier post that we've had a lot of red clover this year.  One of my readers suggested making juice out of it.  We know – from trying the Red Clover Rice the other day - that the flowers are sweet, and my reader said that the chlorophyll in the leaves is excellent and not to be wasted.  So we tried it.  We picked some red clover and washed it, then put the clover in a blender with water:



We added some honey and some lemon juice and blended it all up.  Then we strained all the pulp out of it:



With the right combination of honey and lemon it turned out pretty well… and it was very pretty with the red flowers in it as a garnish!

How to Make Sushi - vegan sushi, that is!

Ever wondered how to make sushi?  Well, here's an easy way!

First I take a sheet of dried seaweed and fold it in half.  Then I bend it backwards and fold it in half again, along the same fold.  This creasing and re-creasing will break it in half.

Then I take a scoop of warm rice and place it on the seaweed.  Seasoned rice is delicious!  In this example I have used leftover red clover rice that was featured in a blog post earlier this week.

 

Then I just slowly begin to roll... The heat from the rice will help the seaweed to stick to itself.  If I wanted to get really fance I could put avacado and vegetables inside like raw carrots, onions, cucumber cut julienne-style....  But in this case, I was hungry and just wanted to eat so nothing fancy here.  Sorry about that!

And before you know it, you're done! 

 

The only problem at our house with making these is that the Little Farmhands really, really love them!  I can't seem to make them fast enough!  In fact, the first "rule" that I had to lay down with they were babies was, "No eating seaweed between meals!!!"  That's probably not typical and I can't guarantee that your children will like seaweed and "sushi rolls" as much as mine do, but at least they can have fun making them!

Clover Rice

Over the past couple of weeks I have been reflecting on our farm's first year.  Life has gotten in the way this week and I won't be continuing the series of articles I have planned.  Don't worry, I'll come back to it (because I still have some fantastic giveaways in store!).  But for now I want to change gears and share some great recipes with you over the next few weeks.  Ok, some of the posts aren't about great recipes... but they're still good posts! 

Last winter we (ok, not me – it was Papa the Farmer) planted crimson clover in the vegetable beds as a cover crop.  So right now we have an abundance of these beautiful red flowers!  I know just enough about herbs to know that I have something really special here, but I wasn’t quite sure what to do with it. 

So I did what any modern, self-respecting Farmlady would do.  I posted the question on Facebook!  And here are some ideas I came up with:



Red Clover Rice:
I was a little bit unsure about this, but It turned out really good!  It was a bit sweet and it would make an interesting breakfast dish.  First I put a pot of brown rice on the stove to boil.  (I used 6 cups of uncooked rice and 18 cups of water).  In the meantime I went down to the garden and picked red clover blossoms.  (Note to self:  Good thing I had a visitor here to turn down the stove!  It took longer in the garden than I expected and I could have had a big mess!)

When the rice was almost ready I added 1 1/2 cups of olive oil.  I think I probably should have added half that amount… or maybe even just a third or a quarter of that amount.  Anyway, I also added 3 tsp of salt.  Then I just poured the flowers in the pot:

and stirred…

The flowers got soft and sort of broke apart, but it gave the rice a lovely, slightly sweet flavor.  We ate the rice as a side dish the first day…



The second day we rolled it up into sheets of seaweed  and made “sushi.”

In a few days I’ll be posting instructions on how to make your own sushi, so be sure to check back!

Living The Dream Part 1: Setting Goals

To celebrate the Good Old Days Farm’s 1st Birthday I have been writing about how we decided to leave corporate America in favor of farming, and the spiritual journey I have taken since we made this decision.  
 
But a spiritual journey is never without its practical implications. 

Our farm’s first birthday is a good time to evaluate how far we’ve come and where we want to go.  I’ve been thinking a lot this past week and I have some exciting surprises up my sleeve!  While I work at getting those ready for you, I am going to be posting a series of articles on some of the practical steps we have taken to bring us where we are today.  These steps have been so helpful to us and I know they could help anybody!

My life changed dramatically when Papa the Farmer came home.  Suddenly I went from being a housewife and mother to being a housewife, mother, homeschool teacher, FarmLady and student!  (I had realized that with more knowledge and skills I could really help to support Papa the Farmer’s dream and so I signed up for some fabulous courses in Nutrition, Herbalism and Holistic Health!)  With all this going on, I needed to get organized!  After all, a big goal in having a family farm was to simplify our life… and for a while, my life wasn’t feeling very simplified.

Over the past year, Papa the Farmer and I have gone crazy reading and studying about how to take a crazy idea and be successful at it.  This coming week, I would like to share with you a little of what I have learned. 


#1 – Set Goals.  Write them Down.  Be Detailed about HOW and WHEN You Will Achieve Them.
If you don’t write down your goal, the 3D’s will hit you:  You’ll get distracted, you’ll be derailed and then you’ll be discouraged.  The mere act of writing your goals down on paper cements them into your brain.  Life will throw distractions your way, but it will be easier to get back on track if you have taken the time to think through your new plan.

Being detailed about how you will accomplish your goal makes the difference between having an achievable plan and having a pie-in-the-sky plan. 

One of my goals is to raise Godly children.  Ok, that’s a great and lofty goal, but how am I going to actually do that?  Well, I have a basket prepared for our family worship times.  Each morning I sit with my children and we study one page from a book (with accompanying flashcards) called Proverbs People (by Rick and Marilyn Boyer).  My Bible is in the basket too, so it is handy for reading the passages in Proverbs to the children.  The other thing we keep in our basket is our family’s Blessings journal so we can discuss what we have to be thankful for and record it together.  By putting everything in one place I have set myself up for success!  We won’t get distracted by looking for the book we need and a pen that writes….  it’s all in the basket!  I have also made a commitment to myself to only discipline after I have consulted a book called For Instruction In Righteousness.  This is a book that helps me to direct my discipline to the specific area that I am trying to correct.  I don’t keep this book on the bookshelf, where it will get mixed up with other books.  Instead I keep it inside one of my kitchen cupboards where I can grab it quickly and easily.  You see?  With an actual plan to implement, each day I am able to take another little step closer toward reaching my goal!

Papa the Farmer used to be good friends with Kalpana Chawla (the astronaut who died when the Columbia exploded.  For a neat YouTube video about her life, click here).  She would always tell people “Reach for the stars!”  Now there’s advice from a lady who knows what she’s talking about!  Who would have thought that a little girl from rural India really would grow up to realize her dream of flying through the stars? 

What are your goals?  Do you have a plan to achieve them?  Please leave a comment telling me about it!  Hearing from you would make my day!

One Year Later: Reflecting On Our Story Part 2

Earlier this week I began writing the story of how we made the decision to leave corporate America and start farming.  Even though it took me a year to warm up to the idea, making the initial decision was probably the simplest part of the process…


Once we had decided that this is what God is calling us to do, Satan got busy testing us to see how serious we were about keeping Papa the Farmer closer to home. 

Well, I don’t know if it was Satan.  God allowed it all.  Maybe God wanted us to see what kind of level of commitment we would need to stick this thing out.  Maybe Satan wanted me to get so frustrated with this whole experience that I finally gave up and begged my husband to go back into software (which we were already sure is not God’s plan for our family).  Whoever was responsible, there were many, many times that I did want to give up.  Many, many times that I wanted to yell in frustration and go running back to the nice comfortable way that my life had been.  Many times that I wanted to scream at the world, “This is NOT MY dream!!!”

Whether it was God or Satan, this has been the most difficult year of my life.

We have had an extra member of the family living with us.  I don’t write about him much, but his name is Murphy.  You may have heard of him.  He is famous for “if it can go wrong it will” and this year he’s been living at our house.

Murphy broke the washing machine.

Murphy broke the fridge.

Murphy broke our kitchen table.

Murphy broke our dishwasher.

Murphy burst the pipes under the house.

Murphy burst a water pipe out in the field and caused a really expensive flood.

Murphy caused a problem with the propane tank that took weeks to get fixed.  (See that picture of our supper cooking on the woodstove?  That was not something we did for fun!)

Murphy broke the telephone and computer and messed up the Internet connection and that took months to get fixed.

Murphy killed a lot of the vegetables in our garden.  He killed some trees in the orchard, too.

Murphy dislocated one person’s shoulder and was the reason for another family member’s visit to the after hours care clinic. 

Murphy has been busy.  These are just a few examples of the tricks he’s been up to.  Every week this year – sometimes every day – Murphy has made his presence known.

So imagine my complete surprise the other night when Papa the Farmer said, “This has been the best year of my life.” 

I just looked at him.  I didn’t know how to politely say, “Umm…. Have we met?”  Who was this stranger climbing in to bed with me?  Obviously he was not somebody who had just lived through the same year that I lived through.

So he explained.  “Yes, this year has been hard and we need to make some changes for this upcoming year….  but at the end of my life, I will never regret that I spent so much time with the family this year, especially while the children are little.”

Well, that’s true.  His handyman work has allowed either him to come home for lunch or us to go meet him somewhere for lunch most days.  In the past 365 days, we have eaten at least two meals a day with him.  When he was a software engineer we only ever used to eat with him on the weekends.

And it has been a blessing to see the children “working” with their father.  I recognized that even in the very earliest days of our farm… back when I was secretly hoping this would only last a week or two.
I remember one day when we were all out in the yard working.  FarmBoy was only 3 years old, but he had his little shovel out and was busy working alongside Papa the Farmer.  FarmGirl was already 5 years old and she was helping to haul leaves and branches in her little wheelbarrow.

We were together.  We were working.  And we were happy.

I thought to myself, “What a great day this has been!  Someday we will look back on this and remember, ‘Wasn’t it great?  The children were little and we got to spend that time together outside.’  These are the days that we will look back on and say ‘Those really were the good old days…’”

And that was the moment that we named our farm.  We chose “The Good Old Days Farm” as our name because I never want to lose sight of the fact that even though sometimes everything around me feels like it’s falling apart… these are the days that I am going to look back on and smile… so I need to enjoy them… today.  Right now.

So, yes, Murphy has been busy. 

But God has been busy, too.

God provided us with an amazing deal on an almost-new washer and dryer set that works way better than the old one ever did!  He also led us to a great deal on a new fridge, helped us find a propane company that has better prices and better customer service than the old one, helped us find the problems with the computer, telephone and internet and inspired the water company to cut that outrageously sickening water bill (from the flood) in half.

God didn’t fix our dishwasher, but he changed my heart about washing dishes by hand and now I almost enjoy the process.  (Almost.)

God gave us a new-to-us kitchen table for free (!) that looks like it was built to live in my kitchen.  It has hidden leaves that make it expand into an extra- huge size which will be perfect for the cooking classes we plan to teach.

He also sold the old table to an antique restorer for $40.  So we got rid of a nasty table, acquired a beautiful new table and came out $40 ahead in the process.
God provided a scholarship for me to take courses in Holistic Health, Herbalism and Nutrition.  That is an avenue that I would not have imagined myself pursuing a year ago.  But God opened that door and I am excited about walking through it!  (Yes, we plan to teach courses in these areas after I graduate!)

God has kept our family safe and healthy.  I know of people whose children are sick or have died this past year.  God has put these people in my life over the past year and it has forever changed the way I parent.  For that I am deeply humbled and grateful.  (**Hugs** to the parents I just linked to!  You are a daily inspiration to me and your influence makes my family’s life better in a very real way.  You have demonstrated to me how God is in control of the most difficult parts of our lives and gives abundant grace to fill our need.  You personify abundant grace to me.)

God has also blessed me with the most incredible group of women in the form of a Bible Study.  During Papa the Farmer’s software years, he was gone so much that I could not join a Bible Study.  For most of those years we were a one-car family and because he took that one car to work, I hardly ever left the house after I had children.  Those were very lonely years.  I spent years praying that I would find friends (more than 1 or 2) in Texas.  This year I have been able to attend a weekly Bible Study of homeschooling mothers.  These women inspire me.  I love that we laugh together.  I love that we cry together.  And most of all, I love that when I get convicted that I should do something that I don’t really want to do, they kick me in the backside and tell me I’d better get to it!  I truly could not have made it through this past year if God had not put these women in my life at exactly the right moment.  (By the way… If you are wondering how you can find such an amazing group of women in your community, the answer is prayer!  I found this Bible Study by randomly meeting a lady at Walmart.  God can use any circumstance to guide us to where we need to be.)
So, this year has been horrible and wonderful, all at the same time.  I guess the best word to describe the past twelve months is “intense.”  My spiritual journey this year has been… intense.  We have been looking to God and He has fulfilled our needs in every way.  If I have had a theme song this year, it would be this one that I learned as a child….

He owns the cattle on a thousand hills, The wealth in every mine; He owns the rivers and the rocks and rills, The sun and stars that shine. Wonderful riches, more than tongue can tell - He is my Father so they're mine as well; He owns the cattle on a thousand hills - I know that He will care for me.

 
Thank you for bearing with me as I have reflected on the past year and the events that led up to where we are now.  Coming up in this series are some articles that you will find to be much more practical!  Stay tuned for those and don’t forget that we have some giveaways coming up to celebrate the Good Old Days Farm’s first birthday!

One Year Later: Reflecting On Our Story Part 1

Yesterday I wrote about the huge pile of mulch that is sitting in our side yard right now.

That picture, looks suspiciously like the picture from my very first post on this blog.  Except that pile was 16 yards of composted horse manure.

I am learning that farming is cyclical.  Everything changes, but it all comes back again.  The same, and yet different.

This June marks one year since Papa the Farmer received his final software paycheck.  I think now is a good time to write about this past year.  It’s good for my soul to write about it, and it will bring those of you who have only recently found this blog up to speed about our story.  So let me start at the very beginning….

A few years ago our life was very different from how it is today.  We had long felt that God wanted us to raise our children in the country.  We started looking for our country home when I was pregnant with our first child.  Every weekend we would go out driving in the country looking at houses we had seen on real estate listings, or just driving down country roads looking for a “For Sale By Owner” sign in a front yard.  We toured hundreds of houses.  By the time FarmGirl was born we still had not found our home.  But the day I brought her home from the hospital was the same day that the water company started construction on a water treatment plant right across the street for our little house!  The very same day.  God was telling us, “MOVE.”  So we intensified the search.

We continued to live in that little house for another 18 months still searching and searching for our country home.  In the meantime, the construction on the water treatment plant progressed steadily.  Every day we watched dumptrucks and bulldozers, caterpillars and backhoes going back and forth doing their work.  We had a great view from any of our front windows!  FarmGirl learned to take her naps through the infernal noise involved in building a water treatment plant.  I got used to the weekly inconveniences of having the electricity turned off for an afternoon or the water turned off for a day or the telephone turned off for a week…  And everyone just learned to live with the way the house would shake from the vibrations of the construction.

And then one day we found it!  A little house in the country on 5 acres.  It didn’t have most of the features we wanted.  There was no dining room, no laundry room, no storage space, no homeschooling space, a strange layout, no useable workshops, both bathrooms needed extensive remodeling, the kitchen was decorated in a terrible pink and silver color scheme and it was a 1 hour commute to work for my husband… but it had a great front porch, it was on 5 whole acres and the instant we walked in we knew it was home.  After two years of looking, this house just felt right.

So in June of 2006, we bought it.  Now we only had the minor detail of trying to sell our previous home.  It was a cute little house, but it was now directly across the street from a water treatment plant.  I mean, really?  Who would want to live there?

We moved into our current house that August on faith, knowing that God wanted our children to be further out in the country.  Since God wanted us to move, He would have to sell the other house.  We listed the house in October and then we waited.

On Christmas Eve we got a phone call.  There was a family en route to Texas from California.  They would be arriving that night and they needed a house to live in.  Could they buy ours for full asking price sight unseen?  Oh, and could they move in that night and rent it from us until we could get the deal closed?  Oh, and one last thing… Could they also buy the sofa, chair, fridge and baby crib that we hadn’t moved yet?  (We said “no” to the baby crib because FarmBoy had just been born, but “yes” to everything else!)

Now, isn’t it just like God to sell our house AND our extra furniture on Christmas Eve? 

I admit, I was inclined to wonder…. Who in their right minds would want a house right across the street from a water treatment plant that was also near a noisy railway exchange station?  Would this family spend a week in our house and then change their minds?  No.  Our backyard backed up to the purchaser’s brother’s home.  Before the real estate deal had been closed, the two families had already torn down the fence between the properties and installed a gate so that all the cousins could run back and forth…

God had put both our families right where we needed to be!

A few years went by.  Papa the Software Engineer left home at 5 am every morning to go to work one hour away in the city.  He got home around 8 pm.  I kept the children up late so they would see their father and our schedule was not what it should have been.  Our family was living in the country like we felt God wanted us to, but Papa the Software Engineer was really living in the city and only sleeping in the country.  Sometimes he would go for an entire week without seeing the house in the daylight.  It was dark when he left and dark when he came home again.  Sometimes he would go for a day or two without seeing one of the children.  Everyone was asleep when he left and the baby might have fallen asleep before he got home again.

One day when I was about 7 months pregnant with FarmBaby, Papa the then-software-engineer dropped the bomb.

“You know what I want to do with my life?”

“This.”  I said.  I knew our life wasn’t perfect, but whose life is?

“I wanna be a farmer.”

Now this is the point in the story where some of you might not believe me.  I get a lot of emails from my blog readers saying that I am living their dream…. but it is not my dream.  Let me tell you, there was some yelling in our house that night.  Words like “crazy,” “responsible people don’t do this!” and “midlife crisis” definitely spun around our kitchen.  I begged him to not do anything rash or crazy like quit his job.  I was convinced we were going to starve to death.  I emailed other local farmers and they all said the same thing:  That this lifestyle we were about to embark on was crazy, there’s no money in it, you probably can’t support a family and they love it.  So Papa the Farmer and I agreed that he would not do anything until after the baby was born. 

By the time the baby was born, Papa the Software Engineer was involved in a big project at work.  I breathed a sigh of absolute relief, sure that this passing flirtation with a mid-life crisis was over.

Wrong.

A year later another round of layoffs came.  He told me, “If I don’t get laid off this time, I’m going to ask them to lay me off and let somebody else stay.”  It was time for a change.

So, we started farming one year ago. 

Check back later this week for Part 2 of our story!  I will also be hosting a very special Giveaway at the end of this series of articles so be sure to stay tuned for that too!

A whole blog post just about Mulch!

A few days ago, this came rolling up my driveway:

Not once.  They came about 5 times.  That is a picture of the guys who trim tree branches away from the electrical lines for the electric company.  So guess what they brought us.

Yeah.  Mulch.  A lot of it.  Normally, they pay to dispose of it somewhere, but if they can find an enthusiastic farmer with an unsuspecting wife, that works out better for everybody!

I don’t think pictures can adequately illustrate just how much mulch can fit in 5 truckloads.  Somehow, it just looks bigger in real life.

There is a lot of mulch here.  (Did I say that already?)  And it is decomposing.  Because that is what branches do when you cut them off a tree.  Decomposition creates heat.  (How did I get a degree without ever learning that?).   One day shortly after they brought all this mulch it rained:

And our mulch pile actually started producing steam!  Which is great, because we homeschool and we love volcanoes!  But I really wasn’t hoping expecting to have a volcano of our very own in the side yard.

Of course we all had fun digging holes and sticking our hands down there!  It was surprisingly hot!

Papa the Farmer and I have a bargain.  I agree to let him do this crazy farming thing and he agrees to keep my pretty yard from turning into an eyesore.  I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again….  I think he’s not keeping his end of the deal!

 

Fine Print:  Don’t worry!  This was not dangerous or a fire hazard.  This was steam, not smoke.  Everything was wet, and necessary precautions were taken in case something were to catch on fire… Like, if somebody thought it was a good idea to come over and smoke on mulch pile or something.)  =)

For Instruction In Righteousness - Review

You all know me as the Good Old Days Farm lady who raises herbs and fruit and vegetables… but the most important thing I do here is raise children.  So I would like to take a few minutes today to share with you my  
#1 All-Time-Favorite Parenting Resource.
If you can only buy one book (in addition to the Bible) in all the years of raising your children, this is the book to buy!  No, I don’t get any commission or benefit of any sort by telling  you to buy this book.  It’s just that this book has completely defined the way I parent.  When a Little Farmhand misbehaves, I don’t need to think to myself, “I can’t believe you are behaving this way and completely embarrassing me!!!  What is wrong with you???  You must get this from your father’s side of the family!!!”  This book gives me all the tools I need to deal with sin in my children’s hearts in a way that honors God, respects my children, and keeps me from going crazy.

Doesn’t that almost sound like magic?  So what is this wonderful book?

For Instruction In Righteousness by Pam Forster

Pam Forster, seasoned mother of 6 children, has put together this wonderful resource!  It’s 366 pages long, so before you get intimidated by its sheer size, let me tell you… this is not a book for reading!  It’s more like a concordance for parents.  Here’s how it works:

An Example From Our Home:

One day we were celebrating the birthday of one of the Little Farmhands.  We went to the zoo and had a wonderful time together!  When we got home, everybody was tired including (or maybe especially!) we parents.  Papa the Farmer was going to make his special gluten free rosemary pizza for us and he asked one of the Little Farmhands to go out into the garden and get some rosemary.  Now this particular child has done this many, many times before.  This is not a difficult or unreasonable task.

But the farmhand did not obey.  This child just looked blankly at Papa the Farmer.  Between him and I (not realizing the other parent had already asked), this child was asked to go pick the rosemary three times, and still didn’t move.  It was definitely time for some discipline.

Now, remember, we were all tired.  But still, tiredness is not an excuse to disobey.  So, instead of getting upset and yelling, “We’ve already told you three times to go!  How come you haven’t gone yet?  How many times do we have to tell you? Yada yada yada” (which would have resulted in the child thinking we were crazy…) here’s how we handled it:

I pulled out my copy of For Instruction In Righteousness and found “Disobedience” listed among the 52 sins commonly found in children.  Disobedience is listed under “Sins of the Heart,” but there are several other categories covered in this book as well.  Here’s the Table of Contents for you to peek at:

 

I turned to the section on Disobedience.  There are 8 pages devoted to this one topic.  I am not going to go through everything about disobedience in one sitting.  So for the moment I just scan the list called “General Information and Commandments About This Sin” and pick one main point to share.  On this day I chose to read Hebrews 13:17, a verse that points out that we should obey the authorities put over us, because they are watching out for our souls.  (Pam Foster lists each verse along with a summary of what you will find in that verse when you look it up in the Bible.  How handy!)

The next section is entitled “What Happens, or Should Happen, to the Disobedient Person?”  I really like this section because it helps me develop a punishment that “fits the crime” instead of just being a crazy lady who doles out random punishments all the time.  In this case, I chose 3 Bible verses to share with my little one.  Proverbs 2:22 says that the disobedient will be “cut off from the earth”, Proverbs 10:27 says that the years of the wicked will be shortened and Proverbs 10:28 says “expectation will perish.”  So, by combining these verses, the punishment that we developed was that the child who had disobeyed would have to be “cut off” from the family by going to bed early (“shortened days”).  Since the child had not done their part in helping to prepare the Happy Birthday supper, their expectation to enjoy the meal was not fulfilled.  We allowed the child to eat something simple, but it wasn’t fun birthday food.  (Ok, we did show grace and mercy by waiting to eat the special birthday dessert until the next day.)

Wow!  What an extraordinarily effective punishment this was!  The child’s comment while lying in bed before everyone else had gone to bed was “It’s so hard to stay in here!” I have also noticed that all the children have been extra mindful to obey after seeing this mini-drama play out. 

The next morning I pulled out my book again.  A list called “The Blessings of Obedience” helped me to share with my little one that God promises that the obedient will be happy (John 13:17), will have a long peaceful life (Proverbs 3:1-2, Exodus 20:2) and it will go well with him (Deuteronomy 5:16).   There are also Bible stories about the blessings of obedience that we can choose to read if we want and even a list of memory verses specifically dealing with obedience.

Can you imagine how much time I would have to spend with my concordance to come up with that all by myself?  Hours and hours!  But with For Instruction In Righteousness I am able to pull all this together in just a couple of minutes!  If my children disobey again, there is still so much information that we didn’t cover so we can come back and have another lesson about obedience with all new-to-us examples from the Bible!  (And another lesson… and another lesson… and another lesson…)  And we can do this for any sin in my children’s lives!  (Or any sin in my own life.  Ouch!)

Which edition?  The New or the Old?

Doorposts originally printed this book in 1993.  Since then they’ve done a bit of updating and have now published a new “updated” edition!  On their website they say that if you already have the old edition you don’t need to upgrade to the new edition.  I didn’t believe them, so I went ahead and upgraded.  I figured that if $33 spent on this book can help me set my children’s feet on the right path, then that $33 is an investment in eternity and well worth every penny.

The fact is, they were telling the truth.  I really didn’t need to upgrade.  The new version covers everything the old version covers.  Nothing has been taken out.  There are a few items that have been moved to a different, more logical section of the book, and a couple of Bible verses have been added here and there.  Fonts have been changed and there are 14 pages of appendix that have been added.  (The new appendix covers "Helping Your Child Learn from Scripture,” “Using For Instruction In Righteousness for Life-Changing Bible Study,” and “Thoughts on Rewarding Children”.)

Here is a side-by-side comparison of the two versions:

The old version is on the left and the new version is on the right.  You can click on the image to enlarge it.  Any verses that appear to be left out of the new version have actually just been moved to a more logical spot a few pages later.

Here’s the long-and-the-short of it.  Either book is a great investment!  I’m glad that I upgraded, because the new version is mildly easier to use and now I have an extra copy to share with friends!

How can YOU get a copy of “For Instruction In Righteousness”?

Easy!  Just go to www.Doorposts.net to order it!  The new version is being sold for $33 right now and it is well, well worth every penny!  And while supplies last, they are clearing out the older edition for only $23!  Either one is a great buy if you just want a little help raising children in a Christ-centered, Godly way.

Baby Bird Notebooking Pages Winner!

Our little baby cardinals have left the nest, and the Giveaway is now over.  Honestly, the enthusiasm generated by this particular giveaway was a little underwhelming.  I thought everyone would be as excited about it as I was!  But I suppose baby birds on a blog are not as exciting as babies in your very own tree!  But, I know that the winner will be very excited, because these are really great notebooking pages!

Karen is our winner!  Congratulations, Karen.  The files will be emailed to you!

Baby Bird Update – Giveaway ends on Wednesday!

Do you remember the baby birds we found about a week and half ago?

Well, we haven’t been able to check on them lately.  You’ve probably heard in the news about all the tornadoes in this area of the country.  We haven’t had any tornadoes, but  we have had storms.  It has been too wet to go down into the area of the yard where the birds nest is.

I was finally able to get down there a few evenings ago to peek at our baby birds and this is what I found:

As you can see in the photo, it was getting dark and I had to look twice to make sure that I was really seeing what I thought I was seeing:  An empty nest.  Both babies are gone!

At first, I thought the parents must have moved the babies.  After all, this nest was not exactly undisturbed.  First, Papa the Farmer accidentally knocked the nest out of the tree and onto the ground when he was cutting the grass with his tractor.  (That’s how we found them!)  Then, three little farmhands dragged a step ladder down to the tree so that they would be able to peek at the babies (and “check on them”) every once in a while.  Then some really strong winds and storms came and shook the tree so hard that one of the baby birds fell out of the nest again!  And finally, some crazy lady with a camera kept going down to take pictures (something about a blog and a giveaway…???)  So, if the parents had decided to move to a quieter locale, I would have completely understood…



But I did what any modern homeschooling mother would do:  I pulled out my 900+ page “Handbook of Nature Study” by Anna Botsford Comstock and did a Google search!  Apparently our birds did not leave for lack of privacy.  We know that these babies were cardinals because we were easily able to identify the parents. 

Here’s what I learned about baby cardinals:

• Mother cardinals make nests and stay in the nest long enough to hatch the eggs.  The nests are usually well-hidden in low branches of evergreen trees and according to Comstock, “It causes these birds great anguish to have their nest discovered.”  (Oh dear!  I wish I had read that before going down there to take pictures so often!) 
• The father bird feeds his “wife” and sings to her while she is sitting on the eggs.
• Once the eggs hatch, the mother cardinal leaves to build another nest and the father cardinal takes over most of the work in caring for the babies.  (That explains why I hardly ever saw the mother, and usually only saw the father cardinal!)  This way they have multiple broods each summer!
• The babies do not develop red feathers until they can already fly.  Instead, they are a dull brown color that helps them to blend in with their nest.  This protects them from their enemies.  If the baby boys were bright red like their father, it would be too easy for their enemies to find them and they probably would not survive.
• Cardinals do not migrate, so now that they’ve established themselves in our yard we will hopefully be seeing more of them!
• The babies leave the nest when they are only 9-14 days old!  They hop on the ground and in lower branches for a few days until their wings are strong enough to fly.
• The babies stay with the father while the mother is hatching the next set of eggs.  In the winter, lack of food often causes all the babies and the parents to stay fairly close together.

So I’ll be keeping my eyes open this winter… maybe I will see my little baby birds again!

In the meantime, what about the Giveaway?

Since the babies have left the nest, I’m going to close our Baby-Bird Giveaway.  In honor of our baby birds, Debra, from NotebookingPages.com has generously agreed to give one of my readers a set of her wonderful North America Birds NotebookingPages.   You have until Wednesday at midnight to click here and enter.  On Thursday morning one winner will be randomly selected via random.org!

Scatter Vegan Sweets – Review & Giveaway!

Did you know that in a previous life (a life before marriage, children and gluten-freedom) I used to be a cake decorator?  It’s true!  I even made and decorated my own wedding cake. 

 

My wedding cake was vegan.  No milk or eggs in it.  After I got married, I discovered just how bad sugar is for you so I started making cakes without milk, eggs or sugar.  Then I learned that baking soda and baking powder isn’t that great either, so I started making cakes without milk, eggs, sugar, baking powder or baking soda.  Then my family went on this gluten free diet and that is when I quit making cakes.  When you’re making cakes with no milk, eggs, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, or wheat… Well, it’s really not cake any more. 

I didn’t just quit making cakes.  I quit baking altogether.  I don’t want to complain, but between you and I, the worst part about being gluten free is having to eat what passes for gluten-free desserts.  People use rice flour, millet flour, potato starch and other creative concoctions to replicate wheat in recipes and just between you and I, the results leave a lot to be desired.  I mean, if it’s full of MILLET, it’s just not a donut anymore!

Then I got an email from one of my blog readers.  (Hi Nicole!)  She said, "Recently, I purchased an inexpensive cookbook that is whole foods (no raw sugars, no oils) that is vegan and gluten-free.  I think you will really enjoy it and benefit from it.  I absolutely love it and it has been such a blessing to our family.  No longer do we say, ohh that is good for gluten-free, we just say “Wow that is great!”.  It’s called “Scatter Vegan Sweets”.  The lady who authored it sells it from her website I believe, her name is Wendy Gabbe Day.”  In another email, she said, “I’ve tried MANY of the recipes and have had great success with every single one of them.”

Now, if you’ve ever tried gluten free desserts before, you’ll know what Nicole meant when she said “No longer do we say ohh that is good for gluten free.”  If you don’t know what she’s talking about, consider yourself blessed!

Needless to say, I was intrigued.  A recipe book of vegan, gluten free desserts that actually taste good?  Personally, I doubted it, but I thought I’d give it a try! 

But actually, I am not going to be able to review this cookbook.  Here’s why:

Over the past month, we’ve had a lot of visitors.  Over 30.  Almost all of them have stayed overnight, so it’s been crazy-busy around here!  (Which is why I haven’t been very active on the blog over the past couple of weeks.)  What a perfect time to review a new, fabulous, cookbook, right?

Well, maybe not.  First, I made a bowl of pudding.  I put it out on the counter, came back a little while later and all that was left was an empty bowl!  

**sigh** So I tried again.  I made brownies this time.  By the time I could take a picture, here’s what was left:

I confess to eating the crumbs (but not the brownies!) and they were pretty good!

But I still didn’t have a picture for the blog, so I tried making a cake.  Here’s the picture I ended up with:

Time and time again I would make a recipe and it would get gobbled up before I could get the picture taken!  Granola, granola bars, scones, cookies, puddings, muffins… let’s just say that someone in this house has been eating pretty well lately (and it hasn’t been me!).

Well, it’s not quite fair (or accurate) to say that nobody left any for me.  There was this one time…

(I’m pretty sure a short person who I gave birth to might have been responsible for this!)

Eventually, I learned a thing or two and I did manage to take a picture of this plate of cookies immediately after it came out of the oven.  (Good thing I took the picture quickly, because these cookies didn’t last long either!)

So, that’s why I can’t review this cookbook.  I really have no idea how everything tasted.  I’m sorry, but if you want to know whether or not these recipes are any good, you’ll just have to make some of these recipes yourself.

How can you get a copy of Scatter Vegan Sweets? 

Well, you can head on over to Wendy’s website Veg Food & Fit where you can purchase the softcover version of her book for only $10.

She also sells the e-book version for $5.

But we’re having a Giveaway!

How do you enter the giveaway? 

Mandatory:  You must, must, must go to VegFoodAndFit.com and email Wendy.  (Her address is on the contact page!)  Tell her I sent you and that you would like a free copy of the ebook version of “Scatter Vegan Sweets.” 

And she will send it to you!  It’s really that simple. 

That’s right!  This is a giveaway where everyone is guaranteed to win!

It was Wendy’s idea that everyone should win a copy of the ebook! She is such an awesome Giveaway hostess!  It is not required, but it would be very cool if you would head over to her Facebook page and “like” her as a way of saying “Thank you!”

How to Fold A Cloth Diaper

One of the questions I am asked most frequently when people hear about our lifestyle is, “HOW do you fold cloth diapers?” Just today a dear friend called me with a newborn and the same question.  I tried to walk her through it on the telephone and I don’t think I was very successful… so Mrs. T, this one is for you! 

When Farmgirl was born I was very new to the cloth diapering world.  I didn’t realize that there are fancy cloth diapers that you can get, so I bought plain old rectangles from a Mennonite company called “GVS” (which is short for “Great Value & Service… And they definitely live up to their name!).  These diapers were a great investment!  I spent less than $100 in diapering supplies (including covers, which I bought elsewhere) and this stockpile has lasted through 3 babies.   (Papa the Farmer says the next baby definitely gets its own new diapers.  Some of the diapers are getting pretty worn out… But still… $100 to diaper three babies is pretty good!)

(GVS does not have a website, but call for a free catalogue!  They have lots of neat stuff, not just diapers!  Their number is 1-800-398-2494 and their email address is sales@gvsdis.com)

I fold my diapers in two different ways, depending on the size of the baby.  The first way I will show is the way I fold the diapers for the littlest babies.  I think I folded the diapers this way for about 3 months with Farmgirl, but only for about 6 weeks with FarmBaby.  (He was much bigger)…

So here it goes!




How to fold a cloth diaper for a little baby (approximately 0-3 months)

First, lay the diaper out in front of you:


Next, fold the diaper in half by matching up the two short ends so you have something that resembles a square:
 

Then you take that square, and fold in half one way, and then in half the other way (so you just folded it in quarters and now you’ve got another, smaller square):
 

Now is the tricky part (but it’s not too bad, I promise!).  Slowly, lift one corner of the diaper…


Now watch as I do this…  Continue to lift that corner and pull it across the diaper, and then several inches off the diaper, forming a triangle.  Did you see how that worked?  The corner that I lifted in the photograph above is the corner that is now the upper left tip of the triangle in the photograph below:



There!  That’s the hardest part!  The rest is easy!  Now, simply flip the whole thing over so that your triangle is now beneath the diaper:
 

The square part that is sticking out to the right is going to be the absorbant part of the diaper.  Start folding it over.  Here’s the first time I folded it:
 

And here’s the second time:
 

Ta da!  Diaper is now ready for Baby!  My baby is too big to model this style, so my favorite baby doll agreed to model it for you instead.  (Yes, I still have my original cabbage patch doll from 1984!  Her name is Amy, if you’re wondering!)

The diaper in the picture above is technically upside down, so just rotate it around so that the long side of the triangle is at the top.  This is the part that will wrap around the baby’s waist.  Next, lay your baby on top the diaper.  The rectangular part comes up between the baby’s legs:
 

Next, simply bring each side piece around the baby’s waist and pin it to the part in the middle.  Usually you only need one pin to do this.
 

And you’re done!  See?  That wasn’t too bad, was it?

Now, what if you have an older baby?  Well, then it’s even easier!




How to fold a Diaper for a Larger Baby (3 months - 2+ years)

As before, you lay the diaper out in front of you and then you fold it in half.

Next, fold it into thirds:

 

Now, take the upper corner and fold it out.  Depending on the way you folded it, your diaper may need to be pulled out to the left or the right:
 
Repeat this step with the opposite corner:
 

And ta da!  You are ready to put a sleepy, cranky baby in that diaper!

 

 

As before, the long, rectangular part comes up between the baby’s legs and the “wings” on the side wrap around and are secured with a pin.

Then, I put a diaper cover over the whole thing.  Personally, I really like ProRap diaper covers!  We’ve had several diaper covers over the years and these ones have held up really well through literally thousands of washings!  They're inexpensive (only about $7 each) and they also have great little leg gussets that help prevent leaking!  Click here to Search Amazon.com for Prorap

By the way, in a pinch, you can use a T-shirt to fold either of these diaper styles.  (Please don’t ask me how I know this.  Let’s just say I’ve been diapering steady for almost 7 years now!)  Just fold the sleeves in so you have something that looks like a rectangle and follow the steps above!

                                                                        Happy Diapering!