On Books, Food, and Being Intentional

Pickled Beets

There are a bunch of things I should be doing right now, but my immense talent for procrastination is flexing it's muscle.

It's a cold and rainy day here in So Cal, which is rare and I'm enjoying it so much. I love hearing the sound of the rain pattering right outside the window. I think it's a good day for blueberry muffins.

The last time I went to the library I picked up two books by Sharon Astyk - Making Home, and Independence Days. I devoured Making Home and now I'm doing the same with Independence Days. Two wonderful books that talk about being a less consuming household, more intentional in how you live and your place on the earth, and preparing for emergencies, but not in a doomsday sort of way. Very practical, a little snarky, and delightful.

While Making Home is more about living lightly and intentionally, with a small focus on emergencies and preparedness, Independence Day is all about being prepared (at least food-wise) for whatever life may throw at you. And even though the whole message is "be prepared", she offers it up in a way that makes sense - Don't stock MREs for "the Big Crash", just change the way you buy and cook food to accommodate storing it and having it available if something happens. It makes no sense to just have dry beans on hand. You have to change your cooking to include those beans on a regular basis.

These books have been such a nice reminder for me, and have kind of kicked my butt back to where I was a few years ago as far as buying storable foods in bulk and cooking from the pantry, rather than my fridge (or fast food).

Trying to bet back to making all of our bread.

I'm now working on getting an inventory of what we have, what it would take to feed us for an extended period of time if something happened, and researching my options for buying in bulk again, but this time from more sustainable & local sources.

I began doing this at the beginning of last year a bit, and I'm so thankful I did because we had stores when Ben lost his job. Now it's a matter of using what we already have, and filling in the gaps.

I know it sounds weird, but I've really enjoyed Ben being without a "formal" job. It's been so fun to see how creative I can get again. And it has helped discipline me to get out of the laziness I had adopted so easily. Life is more complicated in some ways - mainly in that more work is required when it comes to growing, cooking, preserving, etc. -  but it also seems a lot more simple now. And I love when life is simple.

Homemade Living: Oatmeal Cookies

Wow. My brain has been so far away from blogging I almost forgot it was Wednesday, let alone my week to post. Between crazy schedules, keeping house, keeping children alive (which has been a challenge this week, just so you know!) and making soap every night of the week, I'm lucky if I remember to put on a shirt in the morning.

Case in point. Yes, that's a picture of a picture from a magazine. Sorry. :/ I was going to make them today and take pictures but I was busy.

These are my favorite oatmeal cookies. They are chewy, but not too soft, and they have that hint of cinnamon that I think all oatmeal cookies should have.

Oatmeal Cookies - Makes about 4 dozen
1 C butter, softened
1 C sugar
1 C packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 C all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3 C quick cooking oats (I always use old fashioned and they're just fine)

Cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, baking powder and salt. Gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well. Stir in the oats.

Shape into 1 1/2 inch balls (or spoon them, if you're lazy like me). Place 2 inches apart on a ungreased baking sheet and bake at 350* for 10-12 minutes until golden brown. Cool as long as you can before you eat them all...

Now for the fun part of my post. I will be holding the first Bumblewood giveaway this Friday! Stay tuned!

Be sure to go visit Staci at Life At Cobble Hill Farm for her Homemade Living post this week! 

Happy Wednesday,
Meg

Homemade Living - Week 4

It's Homemade Living Wednesday! Today these fine ladies are posting - be sure to give them a visit!

Tammy at Our Neck Of The Woods

Daisy at My Maple Hill Farm

Mary at Homegrown On The Hill

Homemade Living Week 3: Making A Simple Quilt, Part 1

Welcome to Week 3 of the Homemade Living Series, hosted by Staci at Life at Cobble Hill Farm.

This week I'm doing a rough and quick little tutorial on piecing a simple, square block quilt. Now, I'm totally not an expert at this (ok honestly this is my first one, haha), but I figure if I can do it then ANYONE can do it because I am so not good at sewing.

Step one: Cut out your fabric! I chose a simple square design, cutting my fabric into 4 inch squares. Make sure they are square (i.e. the fabric pattern isn't crooked).

Step two: Lay all your pieces out on the table or floor in the way you want it to look. Move some pieces around if they don't quite look right. 

Step three: Working in either rows or columns of your layout, place two of your pieces right sides together. I chose to start from the bottom right of my layout and work my way up to the top of the quilt (so that would be column 1). Then sew them 1/4 inch from the edge. Basting stitch is fine.

Make sure any directional pattern is going in the right direction!

Step four: Keep working your way through your pieces, one block at a time, and one row/column at a time. You will add the third block onto the first two you sewed together, the fourth block onto that chain, the fifth onto the chain, etc. I did each column separately. Now, you will have strips of squares and all you have to do is sew those strips together! Face them right sides together and use 1/4 inch seem just like before.

Tada! You have a quilt top. (Mine's not done or I would show you... *ahem*)



Be sure to check out the other girls participating this week!

Staci @ Life At Cobble Hill Farm
Amber @ Making A Home

Happy Sewing,
Meg

Homemade Living - Week 2

It's Homemade Living Wednesday! Today these fine ladies are posting - be sure to give them a visit!

Tammy at Our Neck Of The Woods

Daisy at My Maple Hill Farm

Mary at Homegrown On The Hill

Happy Hump Day,
Meg

Homemade Living: Week 1

Welcome to Week One of the Homemade Living Series!

First, a little explanation of this new endeavor! Staci has invited five of us ladies to participate in this new series with her all about Homemade Living. Once a week, half of us will be posting anything that has to do with that idea - craft how to's, recipes, what's going on at our homesteads, etc. On our off weeks, we'll be linking to the other half of the ladies, so you won't have to miss a thing! Make sure you follow along with every to see what they are sharing.

Staci @ Life At Cobble Hill Farm
Tammy @ Our Neck Of The Woods
Daisy @ My Maple Hill Farm
Amber @ Making A Home
Mary @ Home Grown On The Hill

Now, as I sit here with a cup of green ginger tea, and I try to rescue what's left of my sanity after a day of crazed boys and a wild puppy.... Let's get on with the show!

This week I wanted to share a recipe for Zucchini Pickles. Since I'm sure everyone is probably drowning in zucchini by now! (Oddly enough, I'm not. I planted two zucchini plants this year and have hardly gotten anything. In fact my entire garden has hardly given me anything. I'm a little miffed. But I digress...)

These pickles are really good! They taste exactly like a Bread & Butter cucumber pickles, but are not quite as crisp. I've enjoyed them on buttered saltines for a snack, or with a bit of cheddar cheese.

Zucchini Pickles - makes about six pints
14 C zucchini, sliced at about 1/4 inch
1/2 C pickling salt
Cool water
6 C white vinegar
4 C granulated sugar
4 tsp mustard seed
2 tsp celery seeds
2 tsp ground turmeric

In a very large stainless steel or glass bowl layer the zucchini with pickling salt. Cover with cool water and let stand at room temperature for 2 hours. Transfer to a colander and drain, then rinse and drain again thoroughly.

In a large stainless steel or enameled pot, combine the vinegar, sugar, mustard seed, celery seed and turmeric. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring to dissolve sugar. Reduce heat and boil gently for 5 minutes. Stir in the zucchini, remove from heat and let stand for 1 hour.

Meanwhile, prepare the jars and canner - Wash jars, lids and rings with hot soapy water. Place the lids in a saucepan, cover with water and bring to a simmer. Place jars in the canner, add enough water to cover by at least one inch and bring to a simmer. Keep jars hot until read to fill.

After the hour is up, bring the pot of zucchini to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat and boil gently for 5 minutes until heated through.

Pack zucchini into hot jars to within a generous 1/2 inch headspace. Ladle hot pickling liquid into jars to cover vegetables, leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Remove air bubbles and add more liquid if necessary to keep 1/2 inch headspace. Place lids and rings on jars.

Process in water bath for 10 minutes. 

Staci and Amber are also posting this week! Be sure to visit them!

Staci @ Life At Cobble Hill Farm
Amber @ Making A Home

 Happy Eating!
~ Meg

A New Addition, and A New Series!

We've added a new little one to our household today...

Fell asleep on my lap after a bath and a brushing!

Meet Anna, our nearly 8 week old Black Lab/German Shepard mix. She is the sweetest little thing. I found her through an ad on Craigslist and we picked her out from her brothers and sisters this evening. I'm so excited to have a dog! She is WONDERFUL with the kids. She chases them in the appropriate puppy fashion, but is gentle (even her nipping is gentle - she hasn't bitten very hard at all). Munchie has tried to pick her up by her head and she doesn't even fuss. He has also stuck his hand right in the bowl of food as she is eating and she doesn't growl or bite, she just moves her little head over to get away from his hand. Very good signs!

She came from a family of 3 kids, and mama (lab) and daddy (german shepard) where there. The dad was so beautiful, and big, and sweet. He came running out and right up me and started giving me kisses as I was playing with one of the pups. And the mom was a good size, and very nice as well. So either way, she will either be a good size, or a big size, which is what I wanted.

And now, I'm very excited to announce that Staci is at it again! She has put together a new series that will be starting next week entitled "Homemade Living" - stay tuned!

Happy Wednesday (thankgoodnessthisweekishalfwayover!),
Meg