A rambling update...

So even though I have not been blogging here regularly I have been very busy on the homestead. Our computer is still on the fritz so it will be a while longer before I can be in this space on a regular basis. But while I have the time now I will let you know the many things we have been working on here.

Most recent and most exciting is the open house and lacto -fermenting workshop I participated in this past weekend at Koviashuvik Local Living school. It was a very inspiring weekend. The school itself is just a wonder; with an earth bermed root cellar and green house, amazing compost bins, awesome garden, solar dehydrator. I left the open house thinking that moving off grid does not have to be all that complicated if you just keep your systems simple. Food for thought. The class was great, in that, it answered some questions for me about long term storage of fermented veggies. The ease of this method of food preservation is going to find its way in to my food preservation regimen for the simplicity and low energy technique it provides. Lacto-fermented foods are also really good for you and do not rely on many outside imputs such as vinegar and sugar. Just salt and a few good sized jugs and I will be good to go.


This summer has given our family a good chance to relax after the last couple of busy summers. Each morning I go out to collect some wild foods, herbs from the garden and summer produce. The garden is not as bountiful as I hoped this year. I think it may be a matter of building up fertility. It is our first year in the space so it may be a matter of investing labor and good portions of compost. I just heard on the radio yesterday that Late Blight has appreared again this year so we will be keeping a close eye on our potatoes and tomatoes for any sign.I have hedged my bets with a CSA share this summer to make sure that we put up enough food so that we can cut our grocery bill in half by fall. We have ordered broiler chicks and they should be arriving soon. Our thinking is that we can grow them quickly and feed them with a lot of the by product from the garden.

Last week a friend invited a group of us over to make mozzarella cheese. We each brought our gallons of milk. Mine survived the the curdling but would not pull together. It was still good for putting on homemade pizza. Now that I have worked throught the process I plan to try again soon. I will use the recipe from "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" by Barbara Kingsolver. This should save us a good amount of money. The cheese weighed nearly a pound and cost about 5.00 to make. Much cheaper than a pound of mozzarella at the supermarket and made from mostly local ingredients.

The cupboard shelves are filling up. I find myself with a good rhythm. Each morning I fill the dehydrator. There is plenty of chicken stock, jams and dried kale. I have begun planting my fall garden. There is more broccoli, chard, spinach, beets and carrots in the ground with more spaces to fill with spinach. My favorite new crop to grow are shallots. I love planting 10 seeds and getting 50 shallots in return. I can save some of these for planting next spring. Also the shallots last longer than keeping onions so will be the last onion we eat before spring onions are planted. A good crop for closing the loop.

Evan is 5 years old and we were on the fence about whether to homeschool him or not. We have decided to homeschool him and take advantage of music, art and gym at our local school while we get our feet under us.

Finally, the knitting needles took their summer hiatus during the height of gardening season but I have picked up the needles to finish a few projects. I have not forgotten about the Plant A row Challenge. I hope to be back on line by September to hear how everyone has done with their gardens. I hope you are all well.

Peace, Karin

Independence Days Challenge: Dust Bunnies and Weeds.

We have had a few days of rain here after a bit of a hot spell. It has been a good time to catch up on the work that should be done on the inside of the house; stuff like housework. In the meanwhile the weeds have had the opportunity to take over. Dust bunnies and weeds. This time of year it is hard to keep a balance between the two.

Life is pretty good right now. Mark finishes the school year this week. Evan has his first fishing pole. He caught his first fish this week. A little perch. Tristan is finishing up his GED and looking for work. This is not an easy proposition. Many of the jobs that used to go to teens are now being taken by those who were unemployed and needed any kind of job. He has managed to find some work with an organic farmer.He will be helping with haying. But the planting season got started a little late this year; so, the farmer is not ready for him.

However, another opportunity has presented itself. We have met a family through our homeschooling network. They have been going through a bit of a hard time lately and are planning to move. They have asked Tristan if he can do some work around their place. The work would include mowing the lawn, some heavy lifting with the move and filtering cooking grease for their 5 grease cars. They have limited funds and would be willing to barter a grease car for his labor. Tristan just got his permit and hopes to have his license by this fall. He will have a full education of grease cars this summer. And his mother will have significantly more gray hair as she takes him out on the road.

Plant: More tomatoes, more squash. A friend gifted me a mint plant. Feverfew.

Harvest: beet greens,spinach,lettuce, burdock leaves, lambs quarters, basil, parsley, sheep sorrel, french sorrel, swiss chard, rhubarb, chive blossoms, chives, scallions.

Local Foods: Local milk, local meat from the feed store. Local apple cider vinegar.

Preserve the Food: Chive blossom vinegar. I used the local vinegar for this. Dehydrated Strawberry leaf, dehydrated raspberry leaf. Chicken stock.

Eat the food: Mixed greens salad. I peeled and chopped the stems of burdock leaves to use like celery in come crab cakes I made this past weekend.

Waste not: The sheep are still eating the lawn. This means we have not had to really mow the lawn much. I do take the push mower out and mow in front of the house. I used the grass clippings on a sheet mulched keyhole bed that I have as my herb garden. We are replacing the screen in some of our windows. The house needs some new windows but we are not ready to do this yet. So we bought a roll of screen to fix the screens we have. I plan to take the old screen and use them for several other projects we are working on. One is a sifter for the compost bin. Our wheat will be ready for harvest soon. I will also make a screen box for winnowing. I also plan to reuse the screen to dry the sheep's wool after it is washed.

Want not: Mark picked up a 50lb pound bag of spray malt for making beer this summer. Mark has found out that he is lactose intolerant. This runs in his family. We are learning to adapt to this change. One thing he can eat is yogurt. I usually make yogurt using dehydrated cultures. But I have been experimenting with taking a little bit of yogurt from a prior batch to make the next. I have read varying recommendations about this. One source, Wild Fermentation by Sandor Katz, tells of a yogurt culture that has been kept alive for 100 years. But I have heard of other folks who found that the quality of the yogurt degrades over many uses. Yogurt was made before the age of commercial cultures. I think this will take some further research. I started a new sourdough starter. The last one was killed when life got really busy. I hope to put keep one going in the kitchen but put some away in the fridge if the kitchen starter should be neglected.

Tristan turns 18 today. 18! How does something like this happen?

Today he is spending the first of what he hopes to be many weekends at the New England School of Metal work. He is taking a blacksmithing class to make some of the tools he will need to use while smithing. He has been busy writing an essay and filling out scholarship applications to the school so he can perfect his skills. He is looking at some community colleges so he can get welding certified. He is in the process of getting his GED so he can fulfill the welding goal. He also wants to take a metal sculpture class at the Maine College of Art.

When he gets back we will go downtown to get him registered to vote and get him registered for selective service. We waited for him to get his license until he was 18. So this week he also needs to take his permit test.

This boy is going places. I could not be prouder.

There were times during our homeschool adventure that I was not sure if it would all fall into place. He is a quiet kid. His math skills could be stronger. On the other hand when he seizes upon something he wants to learn he tries to learn everything there is to know about it. To see him when he is at work at the forge and to see how his skill has grown over the last year, I am confident that he will do okay with whatever he wants to do.

Having said all this I have to share a story...

This weekend away from home is the first weekend where he is responsible for himself for the complete 4 days. He has gone away to camp and stuff but that was with adult supervision. The school has a dorm with a kitchen so he can prepare his own meals. So he had to write a grocery list for himself and go shopping for what he needed. I paid for it but I thought I would leave it up to him. I did offer guidance in terms of thinking about what he should have on his list. Stuff like oh, I don't know ...vegetables, easy to prepare meals, since it would probably just have a small kitchen and he would be sharing it with his classmates. So the other day we head to the grocery store. He picks up a small basket and starts wandering around the store. I catch glimpses of him reading labels, putting things in his basket. We meet in the dairy section where I find that his basket has a fair assortment of healthy food. But when I asked what sort of green vegetable he got he showed me some celery;) When I pointed out that although it is green I was not sure if I was sufficiently green enough to constitute a green vegetable.

His response, " Green is green"

Okay, so, now I know that in future care packages that I send him he will require some kale:)

The beginning of the ending of a long journey...

Tristan is in his final year of homeschooling. For me this has been a time of reflection. The time where I find out if the rubber meets the road or hydroplanes into a ditch. Oye!

I began homeschooling Tristan when he finished kindergarten. The year of Kindergarten was not bad, but it wasn't ideal. He went to a public school, a block from our house, for 1/2 a day. A couple of afternoons a week he would be picked up from an after school program while I worked. I was a single mother at this time. I worked in a hospital on day shift. I volunteered in his class once a week.

While sitting in his class I saw little kids who came to school without coats on really cold days. I saw 5 year olds with really bad bottle mouth and no snack at snack time. I saw kids hitting each other over and over again without adult intervention. Meanwhile, there was my quiet little guy not getting any attention from the teacher and her aide because they really had their hands full with the other kids who had much greater need. I can really see how kids can get lost in a system.

Tristan's Dad and I discussed options at the time. There was an alternative school inside the city school system that was more child focused, multi-graded, arts based. They chose students by lottery and Tristan was accepted. However, they would not bus kids who lived out of the district and we did not have a car at the time. I could not figure out how we could manage the transportation piece without starting our day really early on public transportation or ending our day really late for the same reason.

Another consideration to this possible arrangement was that I would never see my son. I would have to stay on day shift at the hospital in order to get Tristan where he needed to go. He would still spend every other weekend and a couple of afternoons with his dad during the week. What time we did have would have been spent shuttling him somewhere, a couple of tired dinners and bedtime and every other weekend. Ultimately, I realized that whether he went to the school down the street or across town I would have every other weekend with him and a couple of evenings a week. I wanted to be the one to raise my son. I wanted to teach him the values that are important to me. So we decided to homeschool. I switched to evening shift at the hospital so I would be home with Tristan during the day. I had a babysitter for those evenings he was not at his dad's. Life slowed down.

I am not going to sugarcoat the travails of those early years of homeschooling. One of the challenges that I faced early on was Tristan's dad. To say we have a history is an understatement. The relationship ended with me calling the cops on him. His issues of power and control have been a part of my life for a long time. First, he agreed to homeschool and then he didn't. We ended up in court and I was given full parental rights on matters of education. It was a long and drawn out process. I know that it affected my approach to homeschooling because I was always fearful that if Tristan and I did not have "paper" to prove he was being schooled then I would be back in court.

As for the learning it happened. I would have liked to unschool those early years but we didn't. Instead, I used a variety of subject curriculums. Tristan learned to read when he was 8. He explored sharks, insects, pyramids, dinosaurs, Greek and Roman Mythology. He took swimming and ice skating lessons, Art camps at the Art Museum and art school, summer reading programs. He had a group of neighborhood friends. Tristan and I spent many wonderful hours reading a great many books together.

We moved north in 2003. At that time we still used a variety of subject curriculums. He joined a 4-H group for homeschoolers, he took archery lessons and our new local library had many great reading programs for middle school aged kids. Eventually, as he grew older, I loosened the reigns until by the time he was in highschool he was unschooling. I am not going to pretend that he would get stellar grades on a standardized test. He is not very strong in math. I know that there are some holes in his learning if he were compared to someone going to school. But homeschooling for us was never meant to be just like school. My ultimate goal was to raise a lifelong learner; someone who enjoys learning and knows how to seek the resources for gaining the knowledge he wants.

And so here we at the the last year of school. At this point I am solely a facilitator ( or taxi driver).Tristan is excited by the blacksmithing he has done this year and is pursuing this knoweldge by being a member of the local blacksmithing association where he gets plenty of open forge time. He also gets to demonstrate his skills at local fairs and living history museums. He will be taking a classes at the New England School of Metalwork starting in January. He is taking a welding class through the local adult ed. He is working with a metalsmith at local jewelry store. He is trying to find a job. He is pursuing his GED where he is going to get some of the math he missed. He is an avid photographer and an avid reader.

And he is a pretty cool kid:)

Independence Days Challenge..forward HOE:)

Well, phew! Life is getting busy, busy, busy! Mark finishes school this week. We are moving stuff to the new house and working on things there. Tristan and I start our new farming job this week. And I am filling in at the bookstore for a couple of days.

And Tristan is finishing his blacksmithing class. He hopes to take advantage of the open forge day they will have there every week this summer. This is a skill and art he is really excited about. This fall he plans to attend the local tech school to get some welding experience. He wants to work as well so he can save his money for this very COOL school that he is interested in attending. As a homeschooler who is not really thinking of college, it is exciting for him to find an avenue of study that fits his learning style; which will provide him a skill. I will confess to moments of concern this past year when it seemed he was drifting and did not really have any focus on anything. This is not to say that he does not enjoy many hobbies but, in terms of transitioning to adulthood and some of the responsibilities that come with it, he did not seem to be following any path that would lead him in this direction. But I should remember the lesson of homeschooling that I am taught repeatedly during this venture: when he is ready he will learn it. Thank goodness:)

Meanwhile, the Independence Days Challenge is keeping me on track with the work of the season. It would be so easy to get waylaid with everything we have going right now.

Plant: pole beans in the old garden. We are putting in a small raised bed at the new house. My intention at first was to duplicate plant veggies that would be coming into season at both places at the same time so I could have beans, zukes. I went to the farmer's market in Farmington and met our very local organic farmer. She had seedlings; buy 4 get one free, so I found tomatoes, basil, leeks and kale. I was so grateful for the leeks and kale because we did not plant those this year and we really enjoy these. So we will have some at the new house. I did not think we would have basil either. I was planning to buy crates of tomatoes for canning but now we will have some fresh toms for our plate. I planted at these seedlings at the new place and also planted some acorn squash. I planted pole beans at the old place.

Harvest: spinach, scallions, yarrow, irises chive blossoms

Preserved: chive blossom vinegar, tincture of yarrow,frozen spinach. Still have a bit of spinach left to pick.

Support local food systems: Went to the farmer's market. I also found out that our local farmer attends a market in our new town on Saturday mornings. I bought garlic scapes from her as well. She has a CSA where we can buy shares in small increments throughout the season which will work well for us while we are moving. Dropped teen off at work for his first day of work at local farm. I begin on Wednesday.

Eat the food: Meat loaf from local beef. Salads.

Waste not: the usual composting, recycling, dropping stuff off at the thriftstore

Want not: A local thrift store is closing in Farmington. They were having a 25% off sale the other day. I found a couple of yards of cotton fabric and a skirt pattern. Canning jars and an old milk crate. I use the milk crates for storing canning jars. During canning season the jars have a way of multiplying and spreading over every surface of the kitchen. So, at least during the season there is one container that is easy to get to when something is ready to be canned or is easy to put away when not in use.

Stacking wood

Today the weather is warm and sometimes it seems the sun does want to make an appearance. As I write this, the clouds are moving in.

This morning the wee one and I were left to our own devices. Most of our day is geared towards Thursday. Housework needs to be done. Clean the bathroom, clean the kitchen, tidy up our small cluttered home, hang the laundry up on drying racks. Outside is a big pile of wood that hubby chopped this weekend which beckons to be stacked. I would like to get some bread and muffins baked, instead I follow the siren call of the island of wood in the drive.

One morning, I received a call from a farmer friend who knew someone with a couple extra cord of wood that he would be willing to deliver for a 100.00 each. We have our wood up for this winter. Our plan was to get another cord of dried wood for the end of the heating season which would be 220.oo for a cord of dried wood. So 2 cord for less than one seemed like a good deal. It came in 4 foot lengths. Hubby fired up the chainsaw a couple weeks back and cut up half of it.

We bundle up in our "work sweaters" and our "see-me blaze orange hats" and our muck boots. We follow the bleat of sheep to the barn and give them their morning hay. We fill the kindling bucket from kindling we put aside in old feed bags. Then we tackle the wood pile. The wee one is very willing to help out with this chore. Everyone in some way touches this wood before it finds itself piled up next to the stove. Even the Wee one.

With the perspective of having homeschooled one child who is nearly to adulthood, I realize that one of the best lessons to teach the second child, I hope to homeschool, is to let him be my shadow. So today, Wee one is helping me stack wood. He takes the smallest split logs and carries them over to the stacked wood. He climbs upon the wood to be stacked and perches himself like some Wizened old elf. I think, " Who needs a back yard playground? I have a wood pile!" For every 4 logs I take to be stacked he takes one with pride that he is a "good helper". I listen to his chatter about how many small logs he thinks he can carry, which log is a good log, and which way the log should go on the stacked pile. I listen to him count the slats on the pallet that we will make another stack on," one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight." Finally he says, "Mom, this is fun" as he put another log on the stack.

Finally, I can see that his attention is waning and we walk to the mail box, say hello to the sheep. We have made a good dent in the wood pile. I might try to finish it when he lays down for his nap...or I might clean the kitchen.

Maybe he will find mopping the floor fun:)

Independence Day Challenge Year 2, The 18th week

The school year has begun. In this house it means that hubby is renting a room ,two hours away, five nights a week, until we can figure the housing thang'.

It also means that the Teen ponders what sorts of things he will like to do this year. This fall he will be taking a photography class at the Maine College of Art's highschool program. If we are where we hope to be by January, he is going to take a stained glass class at a local gallery. He will continue his art classes here until he can't. He will help out with critters, firewood and wee one baby sitting for cash until we get settled. He will read everyday and is contemplating an online course through MIT open courseware. Teen also has the opportunity to hang some of his photos at a friend's Burrito shop.

Wee one will be my shadow in the garden and in the kitchen. We are learning about butterflies and catapillers right now. There is one jar with a chrysalis in it sitting over the kitchen sink. As the weather cools and the season's chore subside, I would like to get crafty with the wee one. I have some ideas for some projects that would be fun. We will also be attending story hour at the library every week and return to the open gym time that we went to last winter, until we are all living under one roof again. At which time, I'll find something else for him that will get him some free play and exercise time with other kids.

And all the while the work of the season continues...

Plant: nothing.

Harvest: cucumbers, tomatoes, zucchini, cabbage, kale, carrots, beans, peppers.

Preserve: 5 pints salsa, 7 quarts of chicken soup, 13 quarts of potatoes for homefries,1 quart of dehydrated kale, 1 quart of zucchini.

Prepped/ manage reserves: I found 6 quart jars at the thrift store. Sorted out the wee one's dresser drawers and brought out the long pants and long sleeved shirts. Picked up some sheep mineral from a friend for our critters. I am putting the chicken soup in this category as well. Hubby will be away during the week, so I am going to can up soups that he can eat while away. I also want to keep some soup in the back cupboard for cold and flu season. In case the chief soup cooker is ill;)

Local foods: I went to the farmer's market in Farmington and got some tomatoes to supplement my poor tom harvest. I found out that one farmer will have elderberry this season, I want to make wine,jam, syrup and extract out of it.

Eat the food: chicken soup made from our own bird and veggies from the garden. Last night we had rutabaga and cabbage from the garden with barbecue chicken legs, purchased at the farmer's market. The weather cools and there is alot more baking going on. Yummy!

Reduced waste: We are reducing the waste of money. This week we begin our new money management plan. Because hubby will be away during the week we wanted to make sure that, in essence, two households did not know what the plan was for the week. So we sit down every Saturday evening, plan whatever grocery shopping needs to be done on Sunday. Then, figure how much cash we might need for the week. We opened a new account with a credit union that services both regions, but did not get debit cards. Instead we just use ATM cards. This will prohibit those spontaneous purchases that whittle away at the balance. It seems more intentional for us. It is not really a budget. But I think it will be easier for us to reach our long term goals if we don't nickel and dime the bank account.