Making a salve…

This week I spent some time making a salve for our stand at the farmer’s market.  This salve is a great all purpose salve for bruises, minor scrapes and pains.  Herbs such as comfrey, plantain, calendula make this salve also great for bug bites, dry skin, eczema and other skin rashes as well.  Tea tree oil and lavender give it soothing and antibacterial properties. 

 

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Remember we’ve moved!  Please click here to continue reading on the new site and please remember to update your bookmarks and follow the new site, Knittingprose.com

 

-knittingprose

A giveaway at knittingprose.com

We’re celebrating the move to knittingprose.com with a great giveaway!  The folks at the Bulk Herb Store have graciously offered up FIVE copies of  Making Herbs Simple Vol. 1 to give away to five fortunate readers. 

I got to review my own copy and I must say, I was impressed.  Come join us at knittingprose.com to learn more about the dvd and herbs.  Plus you can enter the giveaway to win your own free Making Herbs Simple dvd.

I’m packing up camp…

Well, it’s official.  Knittingprose.com is up and running.  All my blog posts from the Homestead Project have been moved and everything’s settling in nicely.  I hope you’ll follow and subscribe to the blog there.  Having my own domain will allow me a little more freedom in posting things like giveaways, videos, categorizing content … all kinds of things. 

I look forward to the conversations we’ll have and fun projects we’ll get into here.  In 2011 you can expect to see more posts about paper crafting, herbs, gardening, simple living, cooking, fiber crafts and my faith.  Lots of this will be similar to what you’ve already seen here at the Homestead Project, but some of this will be new territory.  I’ve very excited to share it all with you.  If you wanna keep track with what I’m up to on the blog, visit me there and subscribe or follow knittingprose.com. 

Things are still coming together over there, so excuse the mess.  Thank you for being patient with me during this transition. 

-knittingprose

a word about marriage and an exhortation to wives…

My husband and I had the sweetest conversation last night.  What began as a few contemplative thoughts on traditions and holidays slowly evolved into one of those timeless moments when hearts are laid bare, as pure as they can be this side of heaven.  These conversations are the ties that bind my heart to his.  Our hearts meet there on unexpected occasions and only the Lord knows what’s taken place.  I pray you experience these times in your own marriage as they truly are some of the most precious little gems I have. 

Marriage was the topic we settled on and began reflecting on some of the lessons the Lord has taught us over our thirteen years together.  It occurred to me as we studied the various marriage relationships we’ve observed that there’s really two main things that make a marriage successful or dismal. 

#1 approaching your spouse with love

This may seem very silly but I bet you don’t even realize how unloving you can be.  Now that may seem harsh but bare with me here.  While this applies to men, I’m going to assume the majority of you reading this are women and, as a woman, I can only speak from my experience as such.  Don’t feel picked on, ladies. 

Manipulation is the art of woman and too often we use it for evil and self-gain.  Now we don’t call it that, but that’s really what it is.  With a biting remark here, a jab of guilt there, we beat our husbands into submission or rage, damaging our marriages – all too often beyond repair.  We’ve excused these mean and hurtful attitudes with lame reasons such as fatigue, personality differences or hormones.  Let me remind you, ladies,  there is never a reason to be hateful to your husband.  Here some of you might say, “you have no idea what I have to put up with!”  And to that I say, “I don’t care.”  You still have no reason to treat your husband with disrespect and hatefulness.    This leads us directly to the second item.

#2 responding to your spouse with grace

We women love to be victims.  It’s apart of the manipulation.  When our men screw up we are too quick to point it out; too happy to say, “I told you so.”  And if a man has directly hurt his wife, she’s too willing to play the victim.  Creating guilt becomes our ‘free pass’ for a bad attitude.  It would be good for us wives to remember that it’s our job to love not to judge our husbands and more than offending us, they’ve offended their God when sin has ruled them.   It’s not that we want to be hateful, we’re just very often too lazy and too self-loving to put more effort into loving and respecting our husbands the way Christ requires.    When sin abounds in our husbands, grace needs to abound in us.  

I know this all sounds mean and harsh but society has allowed us as women to walk all over men with no repercussions.  Unfortunately, we’ve been completely duped.  There are consequences to every action.  Our freedom to berate and emasculate the men in our lives has given us men who have no interest in leading their families or being loving to their wives.  More often, they become men who stay boys well into their thirties (and sometimes beyond!), playing video games and skirting anything that resembles work or responsibility.  Men who are constantly nagged and disrespected will get tired of trying and will eventually give up.  The curse in Genesis 3:16 was for all womankind.   When the scriptures say “your desire will be for your husband, but he will rule over you” it’s easy to misunderstand what’s being said.  Your desire will be to rule him, to be in charge and boss him around.  “But he will rule over you.” 

You were cursed from the get-go ladies, so this is something you have to work at.  No, it’s not easy and no, you may not see much fruit from your labors.  Nevertheless, you are called to respect your husband and he is called to lead you.  When you don’t fulfill your role, it becomes nearly impossible for him to fulfill his. 

You see, as a submitting wife, you really do have much power in your marriage.  You don’t have to take it by force.  Your commitment to loving and honoring your husband as the God-appointed leader of you and your home is an extremely powerful tool to wield.  (forgive my geekiness here but) It’s the lightsaber of marital, spiritual warfare – “an elegant weapon for a more civilized age.”  With precision, goodness and little struggle you can control the direction of your marriage.  Why would you so quickly lay it down for a clumsy, random blaster like nagging, manipulation, or meanness?  These point-and-shoot weapons lack accuracy and often backfire.  They don’t give desired results because they do too much damage to the target. 

When your husband fails to love you – this is when it’s most important for you to respect him.  When you fail to respect your husband – this is when you will most need his love.

I’ve  found that when a marriage is successful this trade of grace is always present.  Not every marriage is alike and not every husband is the perfect mate to every wife.  If the Lord has given you a husband, trust that the Lord is wise and good.  He knows that you need the sort of grace your husband is capable of giving and your husband needs the grace the Lord has equipped you to give. 

Be willing to love your husband… especially when he fails.  This will make your marriage fruitful.

 -knittingprose

Garden planning begins…

It’s snowing like mad today but I’m inside thinking about seeds.  I’ve spent the last hour pouring over my Baker Creek catalog and paring down the list for this year’s plantings.  It’s always so difficult to not go overboard.  They have such wonderful heirloom varieties to choose from.

After looking over the results of last year’s efforts, we’re making a few changes.  For the most part, everything grew well.  Our biggest mistakes were of our own making.  The plants were wonderful!  For instance, the cucumbers – oh my word.  They grew so abundantly we couldn’t keep up.  The Pink German Tree tomatoes – well, there’s a reason they’re called trees.  The plants grew so large we couldn’t get to the fruit.  I had planted them at a pretty normal distance from each other, but that’s not far enough for a tree. 

Our other big challenge was the rabbit and groundhog community.  Apparently, they assumed I planted the broccoli and calendula for their personal feast.  Um, no, Mr. Groundhog.  I didn’t. 

The black giant tomatoes were definitely dark but not quite giant.  They also cracked at the tops badly.  I may do one plant this year but that’s it.  Garden space is too precious. 

We’re adding a couple new varieties of tomatoes – Amish Paste and Bonny Best.  I’m thinking the Amish Paste will be good for making ketchup.  The Bonny Best are supposed to be a top notch canning tomato.  I really hope so.  We use a ton of canned tomatoes throughout the year.  We ran out well before Christmas!  Between these two varieties there should be plenty for canning.

 

Celery will be a new crop for us.  I’ve never grown celery so this will be a whole new experience.  Watermelons and Pumpkins are on the list – mainly for fun, for the kids.  We don’t have a really great place for them to be planted but I’ve got one spot in mind that might work.  There’s a small mound of dirt piled up next to the shed.  It’s leftovers from digging out the raised beds.  I think this little hill is our best bet for getting the melons to grow. 

Just for kicks, I ordered some gourds.  With the new farmer’s market across the street, the gourds could be a source of pocket money for the kids.  They will be able to make dippers from the dipping gourds and little tops with the Tennessee Dancing gourds. 

Speaking of the market, we hope to make a decent showing this year with some of our homemade goods.  Gardener’s salve, liniment, lip balms.  Of course, we’ll offer produce we grow in the garden.  I’m thinking this could be a great homeschool experience for the children.  My plan is for each of them to find something they can make and market.  We’ll see how that turns out though.  Plans are often as fragile as a pie crust around here! 

Either way it all turns out, I’m ready to start planting. 

-knittingprose

A good pot of soup…

Here in the midwest you never know what kind of weather you’re gonna wake up to.  Fourteen years ago, just before I permanently moved here, I remember waking up to snow covering everything when the week before it had been 85 degrees out.  St. Louis weather is never a disappointment when it comes to variety.  Today we’re looking at a typical winter day.  When I woke up this morning it was 9 degrees – a perfect day for a big pot of soup. 

I’m pretty sure my love for soup began with my great aunt Thel.  Thel made the absolute best pot of soup in the whole world.  When I was a child, every summer we travelled to the hills of eastern Kentucky for a few weeks to stay with my great aunt Thel and uncle Dewey.  They lived on ‘the ridge’ where the water ran only in the sinks, lighting came from oil lamps and going to the bathroom meant a trip out back.  Pray you didn’t have to go at night!

Since then I’ve discovered the wonders of soup of all kinds.  Chicken soups, stews, minestrones.  Once I grew ill from eating tomato-based soups every day for my school lunch.  It’s no fun being allergic to your favorite food when you’re a kid.    Thankfully, I grew out of that and tomatoes make it to our plates (or bowls) at least 4 times a week. 

Recently, I was asked for my recipe for vegetable soup.  As I thought about how I would write it all down, I realized I don’t have a recipe for vegetable soup.  I have a formula.  Amazingly, no matter what I put into the mix, it comes out tasting roughly the same every time. 

So here I share with you my formula for vegetable soup – as it was scribbled down by myself for a good friend this morning.

 

this is for a regular size batch. you can double and triple for large groups if you need to. When doubling, you don’t really need two big cans of tomato juice. Just add extra water and maybe a little can of tomato sauce instead. remember it’s just a formula so add or subtract whatever you need to as far as veggies go. I’d say the potatoes, carrots are your mainstays, but everything else is up to you. You can add a good dollop of butter at the end if you want a smoother, creamier flavor. Just taste it first to see if you really want it.
1 lb. ground beef
1 lg. can of tomato juice
1 28 oz. can of tomatoes, whole or diced. (if you have real canned tomatoes, even better!)
1 onion, chopped
1-2 heaping tsp. minced garlic (if you don’t have it just dust the meat with garlic powder)
salt and pepper, to taste (really to smell. after you dust the meat with it, jut smell the pot to know if its enough. same with the garlic, really)
1 15ish oz. can each of whole kernel corn, green beans, peas, black-eyed peas
about 5 medium potatoes, diced large (yukon gold are really good and buttery) don’t dice em too small or they’ll all turn to mush. leave the jackets on them.
about 6 med. – large carrots, sliced kinda thick
1/2 – most of a head of cabbage, chopped (if it’s a small head you’ll probably use most. cabbage gets much smaller as it cooks so don’t be alarmed when you throw it in the pot)
dried parsley
celery seed (if you got it)
1) brown the ground beef and drain most of the juice. leave a little in for seasoning. just tip the pan sideways and let what’ll come out, come out. whatever’s left just leave in. Add your chopped onion, minced garlic, salt and pepper to the meat. Cook til the onions are clear.
2) add in the carrots and let cook for a few minutes. then add the rest of the canned veggies, tomatoes and juice. when you start to boil, toss in the potatoes. Oh, you’ll probably need to add water once you add all the veggies. Just take your big can and fill it with water. You want to have about 1 1/2 to 2 inches of liquid over the veggies in the pot. You can let that simmer as long as you want to, but if it’s gonna sit for more than an hour I would wait to put the potatoes in. If you’re an hour or less away from serving, add them then. You can add the cabbage then too. Give the top of the pot a good dusting of dried parsley, about 1/2 the top with celery seed.
3) once everything is in and boiling, turn it down to a simmer. Stir it ever so often so nothing gets too hot and sticks. Especially if you add noodles!!! They WILL stick if you don’t watch them.
*a couple notes about noodles – I almost always add noodles to my soups. Usually either spaghetti noodles, quartered or shell or macaroni noodles. Noodles are a great way to add volume to your soup without costing you a ton of money. this is great if you’re feeding a bunch of people. also I never add cooked noodles to the soup. If you just add extra water to the pot, let it get to boiling and then add your noodles, they will take on the flavor of the soup – SO much better tasting. When you first put them in, stir them constantly. They will stick most at the beginning. Scrape the bottom of the pot cause they WILL stick there when you first add them and they won’t go anywhere unless you get ‘em up.
How to save a ruined soup:
too salty – throw in a large peeled potato and it will soak up the extra salt. be sure to take it out before serving.
if you burn the soup (it smells smoky): #1 rule DO NOT scrape the bottom of the pan! Stir very gently and you can maybe salvage it. Sometimes, the smoky smell/taste will dissipate if you don’t disturb the burnt stuff on bottom.  Just let it sit for a bit with the lid off.  If you need to reheat it I would transfer it to a clean pot. 

Don’t forget the cornbread!

–knittingprose

a new baby…

Seventeen days ago, at 10:10 am, our Talitha Rose was born.  It’s been a crazy, emotional two and a half weeks. (Aren’t they all that follow the birth of a baby?)  I can’t help but laugh at the way God demands our reliance upon Him.  Having birthed four children and feeling very confident that we’d figured it all out, the Lord must’ve been compelled to help us remember our frame – that we are dust. 

Talitha was born with little surprise or complication.  It was actually rather bittersweet in the operating room.  The man who delivered all of my children was at that moment delivering his last baby by c-section.  The nurses were quietly offering their well wishes for retirement and telling of the privilege it’s been to work with the doctor.  Then little Tali offered up her first cries of life and the room filled with joy and excitement.  She was perfect.

Five days later, we came home with a jaundice baby girl and, I, with post natal hypertension.  *smile*  This is the part where God says, “Hello, remember me?  I’m the one in control here.”  With moments of panic and sometimes despair we learned all about hypertension and how to control it (and NOT) during breastfeeding. 

A week after the baby was born, a medication for the hypertension began to dry up my milk supply and once again panic ensued.  It’s so hard to NOT panic!  Even though I know the Lord is in control of all things, knows what’s best for His children and will do what’s good for them, I continue to worry over such things.  But through all the worry, we remained in prayer, trying so hard to understand.  I feel I must take a breath and ask, “what is God teaching me here?” in these moments when nothing seems right.  In the eye of the storm, no matter how big or small, it’s never easy to see its size or scope – where it’s headed or even where it’s been.  All too often, it’s only when we’re sitting in the rubble of the aftermath do we realize what’s hit us and where we can find any hope. 

Well, once the winds had passed and we were left with just a drizzle overhead, I began to look a little further than myself to see His goodness.  He really is good. 

Meet Talitha Rose.

 

-knittingprose

A good deal for mamas…

Here’s a good deal for all you mamas, mamas to be or friends of new mamas!  How about 100% OFF a new baby carrier from Seven Slings?  These are the same folks that gave us Udder Covers.  (yes, I know it’s a rather unfortunate name, but they really are adorable!)  I have a Laila gift set from them just waiting for the arrival of little Miss Tali.  You can check it out at the Udder Covers site.

Back to Seven Slings – I’ve been wanting to try out a sling but, goodness, there’s so many to choose from!  When I received the promo code for a free sling + shipping, I decided to give it a try.  My sling is in the mail and on it’s way as we speak.  I ordered the Black Magic style, by the way. 

If you’d like to get your own sling (or better yet, get one as a gift for a new mom!) just use the PROMO code “THANKSGIVING” during checkout.

Go to www.sevenslings.com, click on “Shop Now” and select the correct size sling or gift set you would like (be sure to visit the sizing page for instructions on how to select the right size carrier for you). Once you have selected the sling or gift set you would like – enter the promo code Thanksgiving into the promo code box and click “Apply Code”. This will bring your total from $39.00 to $0 for one of the carriers or from $44.00 to only $5 for a 3-piece gift set – all you are required to pay is the shipping fees!

This promotion code is valid once per transaction! You can use it more than once –you just have to open a new window to do so.

Let me know which one you order and what you think of it once it arrives.  I’ll be sharing my thoughts after Tali has an opportunity to try out our new sling and cover.

-knittingprose

Catching up to rest before the rush…

Here we are, six days away from having a new little baby in the house.  It’s been six years since our last little baby came home from the hospital.  Where does the time go?  The thought of a baby in the house has everyone all excited and it’s neat to see the kids bubble up in anticipation.  They are all old enough to really understand and look forward to the joyfulness a new family member brings.  In the past, our oldest was still only 5 years of age when the youngest came along.  Now the youngest is 6 years old and the oldest is into his 11th year!  Our house is just bristling with an energetic spirit that seems to increase each day. 

Life has taken a snowball’s pace while we’ve prepared for the new birth.  The garden suffered a bit of inattention due to vacation and just flat out busy-ness.  Most everything is overgrown and purged of all it’s fruitfulness.  We did manage to pull up some nice big carrots last week.  I was so surprised to see them do so well this late in the year.  The fall batch of salad greens only lasted a couple weeks.  Seems they bolted at the first hint of daylight!  I thought for sure they’d do much better than the spring crop but the weather stayed rather warm for much too long, I’m afraid. 

The task of ripping out old plants and vines has begun and pretty soon we’ll have a nice layer of compost and goodies all laying up nicely for the winter.  Unfortunately, being 9 months pregnant makes me largely useless for this job.  My husband has been left to most of the work alone.  He does it with a smile, though.  : )  There’s not too much that’s more enjoyable than a nice cool day, the smell of fresh dirt and a profitable task accomplished. 

With all this activity it’s easy to forget that we’re on the brink of the holiday season.  Thanksgiving is tomorrow.  I have zero responsibilities (a nice bonus of being 9 months pregnant) so it’s not really sunk in yet.  It doesn’t quite feel the same without all the fuss over linens and table settings, etc.  But I suppose it’s good to be thankful for the rest.  I doubt we’ll be getting to much of that after next week. 

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.

-knittingprose

Back to School Prize Pack giveaway WINNER!

Thank you to everyone who entered the Seventh Generation Back to School Prize Pack giveaway.

My husband randomly picked commenter #4, Denise!!

Congrats Denise, email me at knittingprose @ gmail.com with your address and I’ll pass it along to the nice folks at Seventh Generation.

Thanks again everyone and have a great holiday weekend!!

- knittingprose