What I'm Up To Lately

It may be HOT outside, but summer is almost over! School planning is underway!

Here is my planning list as I get ready for this school year:

• finish organizing the school room/supplies
• make a family schedule
• decide on the curriculum for my co-op Spanish class
• make a syllabus for my co-op class
• purchase our Sonlight curriculum 

Hmmm....probably more needs to be on this list...busy, busy, busy over here (inside the house since it's just TOO hot to be outside!) 

Look for future blog posts on some of these projects! 

Disclaimer: If you click on the links in this post and make a purchase with Sonlight as a new customer, you will receive a $5 discount on your purchase of $50 or more. I will receive points toward a discount on my own Sonlight purchase. If you choose to make a purchase after clicking my links, I sincerely thank you!! :)

Excellent (and Easy!) Mexican Rice

It took me a while to perfect it, but now my husband raves on my Mexican rice and even claims it is the best he's eaten. (Which is a great compliment since he's Mexican!) :)

This is one of the few dishes I make without a recipe. You will have to play around with the spices a bit to get the "feel" of how much to use.

The ingredients are: oil, white rice (I cannot get this recipe to work well with brown rice), tomato/chicken bouillon powder, garlic powder, onion powder, ground cumin, frozen vegetables. In this particular pot of rice, I used peas and carrots. You can use frozen corn, carrots, peas or mixed veggies. You can also use canned. I prefer frozen because while canned corn works well, canned peas can turn mushy and unless I'm making a massive amount of rice, a regular-sized can is too much. You can also use fresh vegetables. I have used fresh carrots with great success. 

Another option would also be to use fresh onion and garlic. You would saute them until soft, along with the rice. 

Start by heating some oil in your Dutch oven over a medium flame. I like to use my cast iron one, but any large pot with a lid will work. You need the oil to cover the bottom of your pan well. Once it is somewhat hot, add your rice. You will need to measure this part. The ratio is one cup rice to 2 cups water. Right now we are only adding the rice. I used 2 cups of rice for this pot of rice. You will want to saute the rice until it is golden brown, but not burned. You have to stir it often to keep it from burning and to ensure even browning. I didn't get a picture of the browned rice. Sorry. Just be patient and keep sauteing until it is a nice golden color. 

Once the rice is nicely browned, add your water. Add it carefully, since there is hot oil in the pan. It will hiss and spit at you! I added 4 cups of water since I used 2 cups of rice. Be sure to measure both the rice and the water since the proportion is key to rice that is not sticky. 

Next stir in your spices. Here is where you have to get the "feel" for how much to use. I usually add 2-4 teaspoons (not measured teaspoons, just regular eating spoons) of the tomato/chicken bouillon powder, and then shake in the rest. Taste test the water and add more if needed. Finally, add your veggies. Turn up the heat to high and bring to a boil. Then put on a lid and reduce the heat to low. Allow it to simmer until the water is absorbed. This is usually around 15 minutes or so, but this becomes something I "feel" as well. I don't time it. 

Don't lift the lid too much and don't stir it!! Check it once, quickly. If there is still water in the bottom, let it simmer a couple more minutes. When the water is gone, turn off the heat. (If your stove is electric, move it to a cool burner.) Be sure to leave the lid on!! The rice may not be fully cooked yet, but it will finish cooking with the steam in the pot. 

It will look like this, with all the veggies on top. Just stir it up before serving. Yummy! :)

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10 Reasons to Keep Chickens

We enjoy our chickens immensely. Even though I grew up in the country and my family always had chickens, my husband and I never had any until about a year ago. We "inherited" 8 beautiful red birds from a relative, along with a small coop and run. Sadly, our dogs were really good chicken-killers. We  had enjoyed the chickens so much, though, that we got rid of the dogs and got more chickens (along with a chicken-friendly pooch.) 

We currently have a flock of 17 hens and one rooster. Two of our hens are setting and we should have some baby chicks in the next couple of weeks. (And by the way, you don't need a rooster to have eggs. Hens will lay eggs even with no rooster around. You do, however, need a rooster if you want your eggs to hatch into baby chicks. :) Just throwing that in because it is a common misconception that hens won't lay if they don't have a rooster.....)

Here are my 10 reasons for keeping chickens:

• It's fun. 

While I don't personally consider our chickens to be pets, they are really fun livestock. We do have a favorite hen. She is the buff orpington (one of the yellow ones) that has no toenails on her middle toes. :)

My girls take great delight in catching grasshoppers to feed to the chickens. They also enjoy letting them out of their pen to chase grasshoppers around the yard. And chickens are amazingly easy to herd back to the pen. And if we turn them out late enough in the afternoon, we don't have to herd them, since they always return to the coop at dusk. 

• It's easy.

Really. It is. We only spend about 15 minutes most days caring for the chickens and bringing in the eggs. (Except those times when I escape to visit the chicken pen for some quiet moments alone. :) Unless I'm spotted by a child or two I may spend quite some lengthy time there all alone just talkin' to the hens. It's usually a very one-sided conversation.)

Actually, once you have your set-up, it really is easy. There is the initial time and money investment of building them a shelter and pen, but once that is done, the maintenance is minimal.

• It's educational.

Our kids have learned a lot by having chickens. Not only about chickens, but about all sorts of things. We learned to build a fence and to build the roof on our dog-kennel-turned chicken coop. We also learned what J-clips are (very useful little things!) and that chicken wire is NOT fun to work with!

• It can be done almost anywhere.

We live in a rural area and have plenty of space for lots of chickens. But you can have chickens even if you only have a small backyard. You have to check your local laws (some cities don't allow chickens; some only allow a certain number of hens) to be sure you are in compliance. There are many different ways to approach it. Just a couple of hens can provide you with a dozen eggs a week. You can find LOTS of information and coop designs on Backyard Chickens.

• It can be done fairly inexpensively.

Once you have the initial investment of a pen or run of some sort and a chicken coop for shelter (and of course, the birds themselves), you really only have the cost of chicken feed. I don't think we are actually saving a ton of money by not buying eggs since we now have to buy chicken feed, but the experiences our family has had and the enjoyment we get out of owning chickens certainly makes it worth it! Plus, my daughters really enjoy selling eggs to their grandmother which allows them to have a little spending money of their own! :) 

• It teaches kids responsibility.

My children are learning to care for living creatures. 

• Eggs, eggs, eggs.

I typically get 8-12 eggs per day from my 17 hens. It is enough that we almost never run out of eggs and my girls sell 1-2 dozen per week.

And if you've never had a farm-fresh egg, you really don't know what you are missing. They are so much yummier than store-bought eggs! The yolk is rich and golden. MMMM.

• Surprises 

And sometimes you get a surprise in the nest box!

That top egg is a whopper! I found it just a couple of days ago. The middle one is a normal "medium" egg. The bottom is a bantam egg. I usually get 1 or 2 of those a day from our 3 bantam hens. But the top one is something that only shows up occasionally. Notice how much it sticks up in the egg carton! I'm guessing this one is a double-yolker! :)

• Baby chicks are cute.

• Life-cycle learning.

But it's not always fun. We lost our cute little baby chicks after just a week. To this guy. 

He had eaten lots of eggs and 3 baby chicks. But I couldn't seem to find him. I'd been told that ceramic eggs would kill a snake because they eat the eggs and then can't digest them. He ate 2 ceramic eggs the night he got the chicks. Well, the eggs didn't kill him. But he did spit them out of his nest, leaving a tell-tale sign pointing us to him. His reign of terror is over. The kids have learned that loss is part of keeping livestock. They have learned that part of keeping livestock is protecting them as best we can from predators. 

Overall, we LOVE having chickens. Perhaps you'd like to have some too?

Here are some books that might help get you started.

           

Link-ups:  Far Above Rubies, Growing Home, Deep Roots At Home, Raising Homemakers

Terri's Granola

We visited a pastor and his family in another state a few years back. His wife served us the most wonderful granola for breakfast. She also shared her recipe! It is so easy to make and all the family loves it!

Here's what you need.

Old-fashioned oats, coconut, nuts, oil, honey, sunflower seeds, and raisins. This recipe can easily be adapted. This time I used peanuts, but I usually use mixed nuts. You could use whatever nut you like or leave them out. I also used raisins, which I've found to be our favorite, but I've also used other dried fruits. If the fruits are large, such as apricots, I will chop them into bits. 

The original recipe didn't have sunflower seeds, but I bought some for salads and we've found that we really like them in the granola. I use sweetened coconut, but my friend used unsweetened coconut. 

We have always used honey for the sweetener. The recipe gives the choice of one cup honey or 1/2 cup honey and 1/2 cup brown sugar. I've not tried it with brown sugar. 

I'm sure you could also stir in just about anything else you like! :) I love a versatile recipe!

Another plus for this recipe is that I can stir it up and cook it all in the same dish. I use this large roasting pan because I double the recipe. I used to oil the pan prior to baking, but one time I forgot and found that the granola actually stuck less when the pan is not oiled. There will still be some sticking, but I just fill the pan with water and soak for a while and it comes out really easily. No scrubbing required. 

First I measured in 20 cups of old-fashioned oats. (Remember I doubled the recipe.)

Next I added 2 cups of coconut.

Now my 2 cups of peanuts. 

Followed by 2 cups of oil and 2 cups of honey.

Finally I added 2 cups of sunflower seeds and stirred it all up.

I baked it for 15 minutes at 375 degrees F. 

Upon removal from the oven I added 2 cups of raisins.

Stirred it up and let it cool. 

I like to store this in my Tupperware cereal storer and use a scoop to serve. (The cereal storer doesn't quite hold the doubled recipe, but we ate some for dinner and it held the rest.) We really enjoy this with milk. I'm sure it would be yummy with vanilla ice cream or yogurt as well! 

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Carry On, Mr. Bowditch

As my girls and I work through finishing up our Sonlight Curriculum Core D this summer, we came to a read-aloud called Carry On, Mr. Bowditch. Now, this is my second time through this core. I read this book to my son a few years back. I must have forgotten just how wonderful this book is, because when the girls saw the cover and said, "Ewww......", I admit that I secretly thought the same thing. I even contemplated skipping over it and moving on. I'm so glad I didn't!

We LOVED this book! In fact, it is scheduled to be read over the course of about 3 weeks, but we finished it off in about 6 days!


Summary: This is the story of Nathaniel Bowditch, author of The American Practical Navigator (also known as "the Sailor's Bible"). Nat was a self-taught scholar in post-Revolutionary war America. After having been indentured as an apprentice at the age of 12, he thought his education was over. He soon discovered, however, that by determination and perseverance, he could learn on his own. He was a mathematical whiz and eventually even learned several languages on his own. At the end of his apprenticeship, he signed on to sail and there discovered that the formulas in the book used by sailors had many mathematical mistakes. He took it upon himself to correct this and thus was born the idea for his book. He also spent much time teaching the common sailors how to navigate, something they weren't expected to understand. Many sailors were able to move up in the ranks because of his teaching. 


This book is very well-written and interesting. It is also easy to follow. It does have a lot of nautical language that sometimes we didn't understand, but we either looked up what we needed to (and Sonlight gives great notes!) or we just read through realizing that sailors have their own "language". I did have to stop a couple of times to explain what was going on, but in my opinion that only enhances the educational value of the book. 


This was such a winner with my girls that Daddy heard all kinds of "Nat Bowditch" stories at the dinner table all week long! :)

Carry On, Mr. Bowditch

Link-ups:

Thankful Homemaker, Far Above Rubies, A Wise Woman Builds Her Home, Deep Roots At Home, Raising Homemakers

Vlog: How to Stuff a Rita's Rump Pocket

After sharing my favorite cloth diaper pattern, I thought it may be beneficial to some if I share how I stuff mine for use. 

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One Year Ago....

I've never shared a birth story before. Since today is my baby girl's first birthday, I will share her story today.

With my 3 previous pregnancies, I had contracted a lot, only to arrive at the L & D with very little progress happening. The difference this time was that I wasn't contracting as much, but I was much more uncomfortable. I chalked it up to being pregnant in the sweltering summer heat. (Last year was that terrible drought with extreme heat....ugh....) I pretty much just sat around trying to stay cool.

At my 37 week visit I was dilated to a 3. I was pretty excited since I had told myself to expect a 1, maybe a 2. At the next week's visit I was a little deflated to hear "No change." I resisted the urge to cry. I was soooo miserably uncomfortable. So a week later when I went to my check-up, I did prepare a little "just in case", but was not really letting myself get my hopes up too high. To say I was excited would be an understatement when I heard the doctor say, "You are a 5. How about you stick around and have a baby today?" **YAY!!** (No wonder I was so incredibly uncomfortable!)

So the hubby loaded the kids up and took them to their grandmother's house and then hurried back. (We have a history of quick labors!) I had my son send out a status update on my facebook from his ipod before he left the hospital and lost the wi-fi signal.

Meanwhile, I got checked into L & D and had all the usual poking and monitoring going on. I did have a few new "procedures" because this was baby #7. I found that quite interesting.

Shortly after I arrived and got checked in it was time for shift change. I was pretty excited to discover that my fellow homeschooling mama (who is a L & D nurse by night) was just arriving and would be my nurse. As she was leaving for work, her daughter said, "Hey, Mom, Mrs. C. is in labor!" (She had just seen my facebook update.)

I was a little nervous about a friend being that "up close and personal", but when it was all said and done, it was wonderful to have her there! She was a SUPER good nurse and took excellent care of me!

While Josue was still gone with the kids the doctor stopped by to check on me. He asked how long it would take Josue to get back. (He was there for the previous 3 quick, quick deliveries.) Then he broke my water to get things started.

My mom showed up and so did my husband. Things were starting to happen, but not really quickly. The nurse checked my cervix and told me I was a 6. I was slightly disappointed by that since I was starting to feel things pretty good and I didn't want them to put me on Pitocin. She left the room to call the doctor to report my progress. I decided to take a bathroom break when she left. Boy, did that really make a difference! The combination of gravity when I stood up combined with the bladder being emptied out of the way really caused things to get moving.

I urgently pleaded for my husband to get the nurse back in. She was still on the phone with the doctor. When she got there, she found that I was now a 10 and the baby was coming. (I had already told her that!)

This was the first delivery that I felt the baby was coming and there was no stopping her. I began to plead with her to not try to make me wait for the doctor. She told me to try not to push, but to also not try to hold the baby in. "If she comes on her own, let her."

The doctor did make it, but only barely. Once he was there, I pushed twice and my sweet baby girl was born.

Happy First Birthday, Esther!!! 
(My "Day-Late" Firecracker Baby!!)

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