Gonna Get There Someday
So busy! Taking advantage of Boston while I still can.
I know I haven't written in forever so I thought I'd check in quickly.We are making our 3,000 mile move to Idaho in just 24 days! We are both SO excited and happy. It will be great to see my parents again on a regular basis (though we will both miss Todd's parents very much, but they will be coming to visit), and to live on the lake, and relax into a slower pace of life.
Lately I have not been baking bread as much but have been experimenting with a lot of Asian food, which is SO much fun. I go to Chinatown often as it is on the same subway line I live on, a few stops past where I work. There is a fabulous grocery store there that is packed to the brim with all kinds of goodies: fresh fish and crab swimming in tanks, varied and cheap produce (stuff regularly runs $.50 - $2.00 less per pound than at the normal grocery store, and you can get all sorts of exotic things), frozen food, walls of noodles and rice, seasonings and canned goods, and even some inexpensive kitchenware. I got a pack of 15 pairs of chopsticks once for a dollar, and it's also where I got my *huge*, double decker steamer for $15 which I use ALL the time and love. Most things are written in Chinese and everyone speaks Mandarin, only occasionally in English, so there's a lot of guessing involved on my part, but it's fun, and only rarely do I pick something out that I genuinely don't like. I do have a friend from work whose parents are from Taiwan and Hong Kong; she doesn't speak Mandarin herself, but she's grown up eating Chinese food, and comes with me sometimes to point me in the right direciton.
One of my new favorite things to make is a kind of miso soup that I made up: Miso (a kind of soybean paste) and water make up the low-calorie, protein-rich broth, to which I add bok choy or spinach, oyster mushrooms or any kind of mushroom if I have them, hardboiled quail eggs, and udon noodles. Very quick and easy to make, delicious and filling, and inexpensive! A good pint of miso is about $4 and lasts *forever*, and makes lots of soup.
Today for lunch I made up some soba noodles (Japanese buckwheat noodles) and ate them with cucumber, bean sprouts, and rice vinegar. The beauty of Asian cuisine is that it's fast, healthy, and a little bit goes a long way!
Anyway. I'm off to continue packing. So close to the homestead dream!!
A busy kitchen! (or, 'In Which I Geek Out About Bread')
Whew! I've had a lot of stuff going on in the kitchen for the past couple of days. It's been SO much fun - I am so at home in my kitchen, and absolutely love cooking and baking, both old standby recipes and trying new things.Yesterday was a rare Sunday off for me, and after reading most of the morning I went to meet Todd in town as he got off work and we went to Whole Foods together to do some grocery shopping. I was in the mood to try some new things, so in addition to my normal groceries I purchased a few things I've been wanting to try for a good while now, including quinoa, millet, rye flour, and quark (a German-style soft cheese that is the same consistency as whole milk yogurt but has a different flavor). I also picked up some French lentils and Black Mission figs on a whim, to see what I could do with them.
I wanted to use the quinoa (I found out it's pronounced 'keen-wah') for dinner, even though I knew nothing about it, and I am so glad I did! It's an absolutely fascinating grain - when it cooks it turns all translucent and the little germ spirals out around it. I toasted it in a dry skillet and then cooked it with some of my homemade chicken stock instead of water, and then threw it back in the skillet with some chicken, frozen spinach, celery, and a touch of garlic powder, and it was SO GOOD. There were some beautiful leeks at WF that I got as well, which were sauteed and served as a scrumptious side dish. Yum. I love it when meals turn out well.
While all of this was going on, I had a batch of Pain de Campagne - or, less ridiculously, Country Bread - fermenting away. It's a recipe from my book The Bread Baker's Apprentice (awesome, fabulous book that I whole-heartedly recommend) that I have not yet tried, so I was pretty excited about it. Essentially, it's a standard French bread dough that is 10-20% whole grain, depending on the region where it's made. For the whole grain part of mine I mixed in a little bit of wheat flour and a little bit of my new rye. It's also made with a "pâte fermentée", or old dough, which is just a piece of baguette dough that I cut off from each batch of baguettes I make and keep in the freezer until the next time I make baguettes, after which I cut off another piece to save and so forth. The old dough acts as a pre-ferment and is full of good enzymes that help break out all of the natural sugars from the flour and contribute to the deep, slightly sweet flavor of good bread.
The recipe doesn't call for an overnight, slow fermentation in the fridge like many of my other recipes do (a process which slows down the yeast activity long enough to help the enzymes break down the glucose even more) but it was already 10 by the time I was shaping the loaves and I wanted to go to bed, so I threw the shaped loaves in the fridge anyway to complete their final rise. This morning when I got up they were the perfect size so I preheated the oven and baked them and they turned out splendidly. The taste is different from any artisan loaves I have made before - slightly nutty, with a very subtle, base sour quality that is probably a combo of the rye and the fact that my pre-ferment had been sitting in the fridge for several days before I used it. I really want to post a pic I took of the loaves, but I can't figure out how to do that. I've posted pictures here before but it was long enough ago that I have no idea how I did it. Any suggestions?
I used the old dough from this batch to make another loaf to take with me to work tonight (it's Marathon Monday today - the running of the Boston Marathon - and my store is located a few yards from the finish line, so we are INCREDIBLY busy today and I thought I'd bring sustenance for my troops who are working tonight). While that was proofing, I cooked up some whole wheat I'd been soaking from the night before and also some split peas so that I could make a delicious salad that I learned from my mom (my dad is as passionate about food as I am and is the cook and baker in my family, so I particularly cherish recipes I learned from my mom because they were pretty few and far between! :-p) which consists simply of cooked whole wheat, split peas, and ranch dressing - SO delicious.
Speaking of work, I have to wrap this up and head out. Wish me luck - it's going to be a looong night!
Again - if anyone can tell me how to post pictures and make links, it would be much appreciated!! ^_^
Oh the possibilities...
A few days ago at work I was chatting with one of my coworkers. We'd been practicing 'latte art' (a tricky, beautiful skill in which you steam milk in a very specific way, and pour it into fresh, well-pulled espresso with an even more specific flick of the wrist, creating intricate patterns on the surface of the drink such as a heart, an apple, a 'rosetta' pattern with many little leaves, and so forth; here are some examples: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAyQGzD6DtM ) and generally geeking out about coffee together when I mentioned how I was torn over trying to decide between continuing to work at Starbucks when we move to Sandpoint or trying to apply to a 'real' coffee shop (there is a very cool one in town there)."Jen, I don't know what to do!" I said in dismay. "I started working at a coffee shop because I have a passion for coffee, real coffee. The beans, the roast, the grind, the brew. The history. The technique. The culture. I didn't know then that Starbucks is more about customer service than coffee, and now that I do, I'm in too deep! I've gotten so many raises and have been here for so long that I'm making way more than I ever could at an indie place, and I'd have to start all over again. Would it really be worth it?"
Jen, who has worked at Starbucks twice as long as I have and understands the hating-the-company-needing-the-pay situation just as well as if not better than I do, nodded sympathetically as I continued my tirade.
"But when Todd starts his teaching job, he'll have the health insurance, and will be making more than he is now," I continued. "Maybe I could afford the pay cut. And it would be so worth it to not feel a little guilty, like I'm fudging the truth, when I call myself a barista when I all I really do here is press buttons. They do their own roasting in that little shop! And it would be so wonderful at last to learn a proper tamp and pull and to talk coffee with people who are really interested, you know? But I'd feel like I'm abandoning the company... I've already put the poor manager at the Sandpoint Starbucks through so much trying to secure my transfer. Ugh! But-"
Jen cut me off. "Sarah, think about this - how much longer are you going to be doing this, anyway? You're not going to work for Starbucks, or any coffee shop, forever, you know!"
I blinked in surprise. "Well, yeah," I admitted. "I guess I just assumed I'd be doing this until I had enough kids to need me at home full-time, and that would be it, I'd never have to worry about a job again. But then, knowing myself, I'd probably go crazy at home without something job-like to do, and it would certainly be helpful to have more than one teacher's salary... there's always that silly little dream Todd and I have talked over, you know, opening our own bakery or something. But it seems so outrageously impossible to do something like that that I never considered it any further than that, a little dream. You need so much money to do something like start a business! And I don't know the first thing about permits or business taxes or - or anything..."
Jen shook her head. "You're over-thinking it. Start small. Don't think in brick-and-mortar terms, first of all; you don't open a whole bakery and wait for customers, you need the customers first, and maybe a bakery follows. People are doing things on the web these days - start a website. Get yourself known. Sell two loaves at a farmer's market. You don't need to start a national chain. This IS possible."
I was quiet for a moment as these new ideas tumbled through my mind. She was right - it is certainly a realistic idea for someone to go to a farmer's market and sell bread; after all, there are bakers showing up weekly at thousands of markets across the country, right? And the only start-up cost is maybe ten bucks for a couple bags of good flour, three for a pound of good yeast, both of which are readily available to me. My family's beach house that Todd and I are moving to used to be a restaurant, and has a commercial-sized kitchen with three giant ovens, walk-in refrigerator, massive chopping-block counters with plenty of work space. The inland northwest has a farmer's market for every little town, and there is no shortage of customers in search of good bread. I truly have a passion for coffee, but a lifelong career as a barista, while fun and exciting, isn't something I necessarily want, and doesn't fit in at all with my plans for having a farm and a nice big herd of children to stay at home with, both of which are seriously full-time occupations. Baking bread, on the other hand, fits the latter two life situations like a glove, and comes with its own set of wonderful, very genuine rewards.
I ruminated on the idea a few more days and discussed it with Todd. He was encouraging, and we both began to get a little excited. It really is a perfect job: I love bread even more than I love coffee, and being self-employed would allow me to keep my kids with me (I could even see them running around at a farmer's market with other vendor's kids, having a grand time!), so I could still be a stay at home mom like I've always wanted to be. Who knows - if the Lord were feeling so inclined, maybe it really could turn into a bricks-and-mortar bakery someday (that idea still scares the pants off me, but whatever happens in the future happens, and I'm not going to get worked up about it yet), or maybe I could start a home-delivery baking service and make rounds to my customers' houses, or something. Maybe I could eventually throw in some eggs and produce from our future garden/farm. The possibilities grow every time I think about it!
Bringing myself back to the present, I'm currently trying to take stock of my options and come up with a very, very basic game plan, a way to test the waters a little bit. I looked up farmer's markets permits in Idaho, and for items like bread they are not difficult to obtain at all. I wouldn't be able to start selling bread at market until next summer, so in the mean time perhaps I really could start a little website, just introducing myself and my craft. Perhaps I could put up some articles on baking and yogurt-making, a few recipes, photos, stuff like that. I don't care about making money from the website at this point, I just want to put something out there and see what happens.
Who knows what will happen. I don't know if anything will, but it is kind of exhilerating to think that what I originally pawned off as a pipe-dream could actually be a very real, very workable possibility in the future! If the Lord has something else in mind, cool beans, I'm game for it. But if this dream is a door that He is opening, I'm super excited for the opportunity!
Thanks for bearing with me here, I know this was a long post. But I wanted to get some of these thoughts down in word form, and share them with you!
Changes
I must say, I've always loved the feeling of being on the cusp, of those few months of biding time before your life changes in a major way. This is definitely one of those times!First of all: God is great! I don't understand how I even remotely deserve all that I have right now, but I certainly am SO thankful. Aah. I'm something of a baby Christian right now; I don't know very much, just that I know that I need Jesus in my life, and this understanding is a pretty recent development. I've been trying to find a church to go to, but it's hard; besides the fact that I usually work Sunday mornings, all of the churches around here take place in giant, 18th- and 19th-century buildings filled with intimidating organs and robed choirs with lots of pomp and circumstance, which is intimidating and makes me feel uncomfortable. I know I shouldn't be picky - church is church, I guess? - , but I want to learn about the Bible and what it means to be a Christian, and I so far haven't learned much of anything from the types of churches I've found so far. Just standing and sitting and a few Bible readings whenever the congregation isn't politely listening to the singing of the choir. I know when we move to Idaho I'll be able to go to my parents' church, where they have bible studies available and such, but I don't want to postpone getting to know God until August! :-( Who knows, maybe I'll still find something here, or an online bible study or something. Does anyone know of some kind of internet bible study for new Christians (or, as is more my case, people who were raised Christians, left the church when they left their parents, and then realized they never truly knew anything about Christianity to begin with and really, really want to now)? But regardless of my struggles to find other Christians I can talk to, I am so happy just to have finally found what I have been missing all my life.
Second of all, and speaking of God: So, we'd decided to move to Idaho regardless of what jobs were available, on faith that we'd get by, somehow. Todd floated some applications to some of the public schools in the area, knowing full well that they weren't hiring and his chances of finding a job were slim to none (he graduated last year in Music Education, and wants to be a band teacher), but thinking it couldn't hurt. A couple of weeks after we returned to Boston after visiting my parents in February, I got an email from a friend of my old choir teacher, mentioning that the charter school there in Sandpoint was considering changing things up a bit next year: in addition to adding a ninth and tenth grade (they are a middle school right now), their current band teacher, who is actually a social studies teacher, was playing with the idea of going back to teaching social studies instead of band, but of course that was problematic because they would then not have a band teacher. The sender of this email told me that of course this was all just discussion and nothing solid at this point, but perhaps Todd should send an introductory email to the principal, just in case.
Many phone conversations, reference-checkings, and hopes later, the school decided to offer Todd the job!!! They are going to write his contract in May once they get their budget squared away for next year, and he will start work August 17. AUGUST 17!!!! He's going to be a REAL BAND TEACHER!!! We are just SOOO excited. Ack. Everything about the move is falling so perfectly into place, and our dream of Todd teaching for real is actually coming true (and at a time when teaching positions in the arts aren't exactly growing on trees!).
Third of all: As I said above, everything is falling into place. In addition to Todd having secured a job, my own job is going to transfer, which is a real blessing. I've been on the phone with the managers of the Sandpoint Starbucks and they are excited to have me on board and more than willing to make a place for me in their stores. This is great because I've worked hard to be at the position I'm at in the company and don't want to lose my benefits and stock and all the raises I've received over the years. So we will have work. We also have a place to live! My extended family and I all own shares in a beach house that we have on the lake there, which includes on the property a building that used to be a motel, which we now keep as rooms for when we have guests in town to stay or if one of us needs a temporary place to live while we are moving or something. Todd and I get to stay there virtually rent-free (just utilities and the like) for as long as we like!! We don't want to stay out there very long because it is far away from town and because we don't want to wear out our welcome at all, but we are going to take advantage of staying there for a few months so that we can buy a car and pay it off entirely, since we won't be paying any rent and will have tons of extra money therefore. We also want to knock off as much of Todd's student loans as we can, which is the only debt we have right now, so that we can be as close to debt-free as possible. I can't believe how lucky we are to have this opportunity to start our lives out financially on track. We have NO desire to be wealthy, but there is nothing good about being in debt, and to pay that off while we are still in our early twenties would be so, so wonderful, and having this place to stay really helps us out with that.
With finances and jobs set, this paves the way for starting a family sometime in the next year!! Todd and I love being our own little family and are having a great time together as a couple, but every time we see a baby we just look at each other and melt. We've started buying one or two cloth diapers a month so that we can hopefully build up a nice collection of them and be prepared by the time there's someone around to use them (cloth diapers are crazy expensive if you buy forty of them at once!!), and when the public library has its book sale every two months, I pick up as many children's books as I can, as I can get them two for a dollar there instead of $15 for a single brand new one at a book store (and they are in very good shape). We talk names. We dream about the hikes and trail rides we'll take with our future brood, and the chores we'll assign them on our future farm. :-) My mother has pledged her babysitting services. Todd will sometimes do this thing where he pretends he is cradling a baby in his arms and make faces and cooing noises at it, which I cannot handle because it is SO cute. I know I sound completely ridiculous going on and on like this, but we want soooo badly to be someone's mom and dad! And we are VERY excited about the fact that circumstances are turning out to be so conducive to that. God seems to know what he is doing. :-)
So. We have jobs, a place to live, a support network. We are going to buy plane tickets as soon as we get our tax refund. We have a plan. We have each other. I am SO EXCITED. Boston has been a fantastic chapter in my life, but it is coming to a close now, and I am certainly okay with that. The next one is looking even better!
Quick update
01:53, Tuesday, February 10, 2009
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Hooray, we're in Idaho for our visit! I just spent the most wonderful morning with Todd and my parents. I have to rush off and take a shower and go do stuff right now, but I will write a longer entry when I get the chance.
It is SO GOOD to be back!!!
Idaho. Also gardening.
Todd and I have decided we'd like to move to northern Idaho this summer, where my entire extended family lives and where I was raised. I've loved living on the East Coast, but I must admit that I'm waaay excited to move back - I miss the country, the space, the fresh air, and the mentality of the Northwest, which is very different from the Northeast, especially in urban areas. Our main reason for moving is so that I can have my mom around when we have kids. I love Todd's mother dearly, but she's just not the same as my own! Living 3000 miles away has made me realize just how much I really do love and appreciate my parents, in a way I couldn't fully grasp when I lived with them. I suppose that has a lot to do with the maturity I've gained in the past two years, too, which comes from moving so quickly from adolescence into adulthood. (I'd never been to the East Coast before when I moved to Boston a few weeks after my eighteenth birthday, and I didn't know anyone or have a job, and the only city I'd ever been in before was Seattle. I'd say a surefire way of growing a kid up is to put her in a situation of total self-dependency in a completely foreign environment thousands of miles away from home! Things like taxes, managing finances, getting married, and learning to cook have only hastened the process of becoming an adult. I know I'm only 19, but I think I qualify as an adult now!) Anyway, it will be really wonderful to have my family around again, especially for the support we'll need when we do start our family.Our plan right now is to stay with my parents for a couple of months so that we can save up to buy a car and all of the downpayments that come with moving into a new place. They are super supportive and *so* excited that we're moving to Sandpoint. Though it would be nice to find a rental in town close to my parents and my aunts and uncles, our homesteading dream would be much closer to actualization if we were to find a place outside of town, with an acre or two. Happily for us, the cost of living is drastically cheaper in ID than MA, so we could probably afford such a place. Even if we don't find a place with that much land, all houses in that part of the world have yards, and we could at least establish a garden. Wherever we end up, it will certainly be an improvement on our current inner-city-apartment situation, and we'll be happy. That's another thing that living here has taught me: appreciating how I was raised, and where!
Todd is super excited. He's only been west of New England once in his life, and that was in July when we went to Sandpoint on a visit. His second time will be Monday, when we go for another visit to stay with my parents for a couple of weeks. I can't wait to take him to Montana and British Columbia and show him the mountains and the plains and the buttes and so forth - he's never seen anything like it! (They do not have mountains east of the Mississippi. Believe me.)
On a closer-to-the-present level, my new year's resolution for this year (besides not biting my nails, which is ever the raging battle, sigh) was/is to grow at least two edible things on our porch this year. This will be quite the experiment as I have NEVER GROWN ANYTHING IN MY LIFE and KNOW ABSOLUTELY NOTHING ABOUT GARDENING. Nothing. Homesteaders, I'm going to need your help!!! What is something easy and smallish that I can grow? I have a book called 'The Urban Homestead' that recommends Tom Thumb lettuce, so maybe I'll try that. I was also thinking pole beans since they can grow up the porch railings, but I don't know when they are harvestable - since we are moving in August, anything I grow needs to be picked and eaten by then. Carrots? Peas? Seriously, give me suggestions. Besides type of vegetable, I need to know when I should plant it, how I should plant it, what I need for it, what kind of soil to use, and care. Something relatively foolhardy would seem prudent. Let it be known that I have been able to keep an edible thing living - a few weeks ago, I put some sprouted garlic from the pantry into a potting-soil-filled-plastic-yogurt-container-with-holes-hacked-in-the-bottom and watered them and they then proceeded to rocket up beautiful, SOOO delicious garlic chives with great pomp and drama (involving Todd, me, and our roommates crowding around the container going 'ooh! they're groing!') before finally shriveling up and dying a couple of days ago - so I'm sure I can grow *something*. Right? Help!
Okay, I'm too cold to write anymore, and must go start dinner for when Todd gets home from work. It's nice to be back in the HSB community!!
I'm still here, I promise!!
08:15, Wednesday, October 29, 2008
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I haven't blogged in what seems like centuries... argh! It's so easy for time to slip away. My life the past few weeks has been very full of learning all about Indian cuisine and cooking (which includes hunting down Indian spices all over the city... such fun!), which has been SUCH a blast - I love cooking!!!! I've also been working, as always, and doing research at Harvard with Todd, and continuing my riding and French lessons (I have a riding lesson today, actually, that I have to leave for pretty soon here). But no blogging! :-( I have no excuses - as busy as I've been, I still have plenty of time at home and on the computer. So I promise I'll kick it up a notch in the coming weeks!In which I make yet another batch of YOGURT!
Oh milanta... what a learning experience this is being!! HA!Yogurt batch #3:
Didn't follow a recipe, and this is basically what I did: Heated 2 cups of water mixed with 1 cup plus a little more of powdered milk and 1 teaspoon-ish of pectin to 185' or so. I let the mixture cool to 105', and then I added three heaping tablespoons of plain whole milk commercial yogurt. Mixed well. Poured into clean tupperware. Set to incubate.
I used Frankie's heating pad again, but instead of covering it with a towel I placed the tupperware directly on the surface. Then I heated a metal mixing bowl by filling it with steaming water and then emptying it (didn't bother to try it, just shook off the excess water), then inverted it over the tupperware and wrapped it in a towel. I did this around 7pm last night so I set the alarm for 1 am to check on it. When the time came I got up, fumbled around, and carefully brought the tupperware into the kitchen, my heart pounding... did it set? Was it successful? Did the pectin work? Did it get too hot? So many questions were flying around! (Yogurting is a very dramatic experience, I've found.) I flipped on the light, gave the tupperware a tilt, and... LOVELIEST! The yogurt didn't run at all, save for a tiny bit of whey on the surface. At all! Nearly leaping with joy, I put the container in the fridge and went back to bed. I wanted to wake Todd up and tell him, but when you are my husband and you are awoken in the middle of the night and spoken to, you do not comprehend language, and after making several grunting noises you return to slumber. So I had to wait until this morning to surprise him with yummy thick yogurt for breakfast.
The yogurt was indeed good, but its consistency ended up being not just thick but basically custard-like: it could hold up a spoon on end! >.< Methinks too much pectin was the culprit this time. I think I'm on the right track, though - next batch I will add just the tiniest sprinkle of the stuff and then work my way up from there. After stirring Batch #3, it softened a *little* bit, but is now somewhere between glue and jello, or a little of both in different places. Sigh. At least it tastes good.
Behold mine efforts (I've never added a picture here before, so let's hope it works!):
It doesn't look as ridiculous in the picture as it actually is, but I assure you, it's REALLY thick. I guess I wanted thick yogurt, so that's definitely what I got! X-D Maybe I'll use this batch to drain out the whey and make Greek yogurt or spread, although I've never tried that before and I don't know what the pectin will do.
This is SO much fun, you guys. I love learning stuff like this, and knowing I'm not only saving tons of money (Todd and I are huge yogurt fans and go through it like mad, and I have a feeling any and all future Nichols will be the same way) but am able to choose what goes into what we're eating (it would be nice if we could use fresh milk instead of powdered, but we'll get there someday - the first thing I'm buying when we get onto a piece of land is a milking goat!).
Has anyone made bagels yet? How did it go? I'm thinking about trying an Egg Bagel recipe that I found online when I get the chance.
This is SO much fun, you guys. I love learning stuff like this, and knowing I'm not only saving tons of money (Todd and I are huge yogurt fans and go through it like mad, and I have a feeling any and all future Nichols will be the same way) but am able to choose what goes into what we're eating (it would be nice if we could use fresh milk instead of powdered, but we'll get there someday - the first thing I'm buying when we get onto a piece of land is a milking goat!).
Has anyone made bagels yet? How did it go? I'm thinking about trying an Egg Bagel recipe that I found online when I get the chance.
Bagel recipe! Also, more yogurt misadventures
Here is the website where I found the recipe for the bagels I made the other night:Bagels for Beginners
Note: I didn't use the bread flour called for; I used half all-purpose and half whole-wheat, and they turned out fabulously. I'm sure bread flour with its higher gluten content would simply be more fail-proof and perhaps have a slightly different texture.
The bagels are amazing! I cannot WAIT to make them again. Actually, I'm home alone tonight so I may go bake to keep myself occupied. I want to try cinnamon raisin! MM! Also, the recipe uses a surprisingly small amount of flour (4 cups made 8 or 9 smallish bagels). I'm sure if I wanted to use less yeast, too, I could let it work overnight, which would probably yield something of a sourdough taste. I'll have to experiment. If anyone makes these, let me know! I'm pretty much ridiculously excited about it. (Can you tell? X-D)
My yogurt efforts, however, are still not doing very well. >.< I tried another batch with a different recipe, and this time let it incubate on a towel-covered heating pad under a glass mixing bowl with a sweater over it (as I was setting up this contraption, both my husband and my hedgehog were giving me very odd looks), so I know it was plenty warm. The results were almost identical to my first attempt: definitely yogurt, but in liquid form, with no body to it to speak of. GRR.
However, I refuse to be vanquished. When I was glancing at the ingredient list of the cup of commercial yogurt I was using as a starter, I noticed the one ingredient I lacked in my own yogurt: pectin!! I wonder if this is the missing link in my quest for perfect, thick yogurt? I have no experience whatsoever with pectin, but I figure now is as good a time as any to learn. Is it heat activated? If so, I imagine I could just toss some in when I'm heating the milk and see what happens. Worst case scenario, we just have funny-tasting milk over our cereal tomorrow morning. :-p
Other quick updates: Franklin's foot is healing nicely; he has a follow-up vet's appointment this Thursday to make sure that everything is going as planned. He finished his antibiotics, for which we are both grateful (there's nothing quite like wrestling a *hedgehog*, of all creatures, into letting you stick a syringe in his mouth and squirting sticky pink stuff down his throat twice a day. Ouch!).
Also, Todd and I are continuing to work on that research project at Harvard, the one for his uncle's book. We haven't had much time yet to really devote to it, but this week we are going to crack down and put in some good library time (our main project is tracking down letters exchanged between Theodore Roosevelt and one of Todd's uncle's ancestors over a twenty-year period, bringing them into the best focus possible on the microfilm machine, and then burning them to CD). It took us most of this time figuring out just how to get into Lamont Library, since technically only Harvard students and faculty are supposed to be allowed into the Harvard libraries, but we did it! Since the TR letter collection belongs to the government, they technically had to let us in if we wanted to see them. I felt so sneaky running around that library when we were there yesterday. :-)
Alright. I think I'm going to putter around online a bit longer and then go make BAGELS! Yay!
A homemade yogurt experience!!!
I had so much fun last night - I made bagels and yogurt!The bagels were an absolute snap to make - I had no idea it was so easy. I make all of my own bread so I'm sure it was easier for me than it would be for someone without that experience, but still, it took only a little over an hour (including rising! Part of it is that they don't really rise, just rest). And it was so much fun to roll them and get creative with toppings (I dipped some in cinnamon sugar, some in cornmeal, and made some plain), and they were SO. SO. DELICIOUS. I would recommend it for anyone! Probably the best part, though, was seeing the look of amazement on the faces of Todd and my roommates and hearing them say, "Bagels!?? Don't you need a factory to make those?" X-D Hee hee!
The yogurt recipe is one I got from one of my favorite, FAVORITE websites, hillbillyhousewife.com (if you've never heard of it, please go there IMMEDIATELY!). You can view the recipe here. I've never made yogurt before, so it was definitely a learning experience!! I followed the directions to a tee and set up the batch to incubate in our toaster oven overnight. The lowest setting it has is 200', so I set it halfway between OFF and 200', right when the light clicks on. I'm not sure it was actually making any heat, however. :-S In the morning, I definitely had yogurt - it tasted like yogurt and was a bit goopy. However, it hadn't set up. :-( It wasn't a total failure, as it did in fact have the taste and basic texture, it was just quite runny. Todd and I mixed it with frozen berries and wheat germ this morning for a *splendid* yogurt drink. MMM.
Overall, it was a fun experience and I can't wait to try it again! I am determined to become an expert on this homemade yogurt business. We love yogurt, so it will save us a good amount of money, and I thought it tasted fabulous - very sweet, with just a hint of sour. I like the sour yogurt from the store, but I love this one, too. Does anyone know why it didn't set up, though? Do we think it was too cold? I know it didn't overheat, because I was careful about that. I didn't kill the bacteria, because it did in fact turn into yogurt. What's the difference between runny yogurt and thick yogurt if it's still yogurt? I don't fully understand the science yet.
Any comments and critiques from experienced (or beginning!) yogurt-makers would be most welcome!! What other incubation methods should I try? I have a heat pad for our hedgehog, but I don't know if it would be too hot. I think it hangs out around 120 degrees. If I put a towel over it, the yogurt on that, and a bowl over the whole contraption, would the heat be less concentrated and more even?
(My next project will be to see how many times I can use the word 'yogurt' in just one blog post... >.<)
Sorry for offending everyone.
09:04, Friday, October 10, 2008
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Dear bloggers,I am sorry I so offended everyone with my last post. I don't know what to say. I'm sorry my wording didn't come out the way I intended - I wrote it at 4 am and was just thinking and wondering. I'm kind of in shock. I have been extremely misunderstood.
I guess I did not make clear in my last post that I have been disillusioned by both homeschooling AND PUBLIC SCHOOL. My post was written with the hopes that someone could help me in deciding how my own children should be schooled when they come along. Instead, I was ridiculed and made to feel like a complete scumbag. I am not judging anyone here!! I am asking people for PROS on public or homeschooling. In my EXPERIENCE, neither worked out for me, and I'm sad about that. I want my children to have a better experience in school than I did, be it in public or home school. I'm not lying when I say that the homeschooled children I grew up with had a hard time socially. That doesn't mean that that's true of all homeschoolers, or that I think that! I was hoping for positive stories that would help me lean toward homeschooling without the trepidation I have now regarding it.
Ugh. I feel sick. I'm really sorry. Please forgive me. I didn't mean any of that last post the way everyone thought I did. I just wanted to hear people's opinions and feel better about my childrens' options for school, I guess. I don't even know now. This is a nightmare. I love this website and the people here and I'm so ashamed that I've gone and made everyone think I'm a basher or something. I'm not! I was ranting about my own negative experiences with school and hoping that someone could tell me some good ones regarding theirs or their childrens'.
I'm going to bed.
Thoughts on homeschooling?
06:09, Thursday, October 9, 2008
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So I was reading a quick post over at morningsunshine's blog regarding homeschooling, and found myself with varied emotions over the topic. I don't have the energy to go into the whole rant again, so I'm just posting the comment I left over there here:Honestly, I don't know what I think of homeschooling. I really don't! The public school system definitely failed me academically, there's no denying that; I spent most of high school barely passing my classes because I was too busy studying in my own time all of the interesting things my school didn't offer. Can you blame me? Who wants to learn what a verb is as a HIGH SCHOOLER (!) when one not only already KNOWS that but would rather spend one's time studying linguistics or something. A couple of my friends and I were taking a college-sophomore English class online because we weren't being challenged in our senior AP English then, and even the online class was mind-numbingly boring and pointless (the reading was excellent, but the lack of interesting, thought-provoking discussion and the abundance of demeaning questions shadowed that for sure). Public schools seem to think that if someone is under the age of 22 they need to babied, talked down to, and not entrusted with any sort of responsibility unless it involves pages and pages of repetitious homework requiring time, not thought, that will get you a failing grade if you don't complete it. Bah.
However - the part of homeschooling that scares me is the lack of socialization. My mom tried to homeschool me when I entered the seventh grade, and it was a total failure - I loved learning, but as an only child I lost interest when I had no competition or fellow students with whom I could have a sense of teamwork or camaraderie. On top of that, I became *incredibly* lonely, even though I had plenty of neighbor kids to play with when they got home from school. Lastly, when I went back to public school the following year, I found I'd really missed something: the last time I'd gone to school, in 6th grade, my classmates and I were children. Now, in 8th grade, I found that everyone around me was much older, not nearly as innocent, and entering full-blown adolescence, a world I knew nothing about. It was an almost traumatizing experience; I felt so out of place and confused! I tried homeschooling again the first semester of ninth grade, this time with a small co-op of ten kids in a class taught by the moms. It was a little better, but I still had a hard time, and because of the 'class' setting I still couldn't really go at my own pace. Even if I'd stayed at home and *gone* at my own pace, my mother would never have been able to keep up with me, and I didn't have the discipline to teach myself (what kind of kid does without some kind of influence, like a parent?).
Not to mention, of course, all of the homeschooled kids I've known over the years who don't know how to chat with people, who are painfully shy and can't make friends, who don't know how to brush their hair or dress nicely, who are just plain awkward to be around, who are afraid of anyone outside of their family and church group. How are these kids going to make it when they go to college, or try to travel, or get a career? I am NOT trying to make an attack on homeschooled families, please hear me; I've met a few well-adapted homeschoolers whose schooling has been magnificent for them, as well. It's just that those kids seem to be in the minority, and I know my own experiences with homeschooling were painful at best.
Sorry for the long rant - I got carried away! This should have been a blog post, but it's also directly tied to yours, and I'm anxious to hear what others have to say about it. I really, really want to believe in homeschooling, but I've seen it fail so many times that it's really hard. :-( But I don't think public school is the answer, either.
So yeah. Thoughts, anyone? I know most people here probably lean toward homeschooling; are there any proponents for public school out there? I am eager to here both sides, as I am currently extremely disillusioned with both.
Interesting week
03:54, Tuesday, October 7, 2008
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WHEW. I promise I have plenty of good reasons I haven't posted in five days!!Thursday night of last week, right after my aunts and uncles left and Todd left for work, I ended up having to take our little hedgehog to the animal hospital emergency room by myself, which was SO scary. Augh. I still hate thinking about it. Long story relatively short, I guess he got a piece of hair wrapped around his foot which cut off the circulation, and then the whole foot got horribly infected; by the time I realized something was seriously wrong, one of his toes had fallen off and he was bleeding *everywhere* and then he bit me pretty badly (understandably - I was hurting him!) and then *I* was bleeding everywhere and panicking and didn't know what to do. I put cornstarch on his foot to try and stop the bleeding, but I couldn't tell if it had stopped it or just slowed it; finally getting my whits about me, I remembered that there is a large animal adoption and medical center on the bus route I take, so I finally got poor Frankie packed into his carrier with blankets and a hot pack (it was FREEZING outside and hedgies can't get too cold), threw some paper towels around my hand, and headed to the bus station and then to the hospital. They people there were SO nice, but I was terrified - alone, afraid for Franklin, missing Todd. They took us into a small, sterile exam room where the vet tried to look at his foot (not easy - hedgehogs ball up and get very prickly when they aren't in good moods!), and then they took him into the back room so that the exotic tech could look at him. I waited in that little room for 40 or 50 minutes, alone and not having a clue what was going on, which was SO scary. Ugh. At long last they did bring him back and hook me up with plenty of antibiotics and painkillers and sterilizing solution, and I got home about 3 hours after I'd left (the worst part, I think, was that I was so shaken up when I got home that I tried to go into the wrong apartment and pounded on the door and started crying because I thought I was locked out... mah! :-S). I know a lot of people think of animals as just animals, which they are, but Franklin is our baby right now and just because he's an animal doesn't mean I can't love him and take good care of him and make sure he lives a good life - and he has SUCH a unique personality and is adorable and wonderful and makes us laugh.
He's doing fine, for which I'm infinitely grateful, but it's been tough; I was worried sick all weekend, since his foot still looks pretty bad as it's trying to heal, and I've had to force feed him oral syringes of antibiotics and painkillers twice a day every day. He's an angel during the whole process, which makes me feel even worse; he has no idea why I'm torturing him like this, and yet he accepts it nonetheless!
Definitely makes me feel for any parent who's had a sick child. If I feel like this for my *hedgehog*, what am I going to be like with a child? This whole concept added to my worries, too; I don't want to be one of those moms who worries constantly about her children even when they're perfectly fine. That's not healthy. Todd tells me all the time what a great mom I'll be, but I'm not so sure. I want children *so* badly, but can I let go and relax enough to raise them well? :-S Ack! So many thoughts and worries. Sorry if I sound a little scattered - I feel very scattered these days!
***
On the good side of things, however, my weekend was great. I had Sunday off for the first time since March or so!!! I've been trying to go to church with some friends of mine for ages now, but again, have always been scheduled for Sundays so it just hasn't happened. Finally, I had a free day, so I got to attend the service. Best of all, Todd has the day off as well, so he got to come! My friends had never met him before, so it was exciting for them to meet. They have seven *fabulous* children whom Todd simply adored, as well (he LOVES children, and is much better with them than I am, I must admit. Then again, that's why he's the teacher, and I'm not, haha!). They went to Greece for the summer so I hadn't seen them in several months, and all in all it was a nice little reunion. Best of all, I found out that my current house is much closer to them than where I lived before!! For some reason I thought they lived much farther away than they do, but it's only a fifteen minute drive or so, maybe an hour walk - hooray! I hope I get to see them much more often. They are a great family. Georgia, the mother, taught me how to change my first diaper (cut me a little slack - I'm an only child. I did grow up with my 11 first cousins, but I was the second youngest!), her husband Phillip is a wonderful conversationalist, and their older children (all girls) are smart and fun to be around, while the younger kids (all boys) are too cute! ^_^
After church and lunch with this family, Todd and I were walking around and discovered the Arboretum that we live next to. We knew that the Arboretum was around here somewhere, but what we didn't know is that it's about a two minute walk away! I'd had no idea. It is FANTASTICALLY gorgeous, especially now that the leaves are starting to change. I can't believe it's so close to our house - I can't wait to go exploring with him! To top off a fabulous day, I made delicious fried chicken without a recipe and we cuddled and watched an episode of ER on DVD. I love days off with my man! We have such a good time together.
Tomorrow I have off for my commute to the barn, riding lesson, and commute back - I'm excited! The evening is free, so maybe I'll have some more time to blog and read here on HSB. It's nice to have a little down time.
Company's coming!
08:19, Thursday, October 2, 2008
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I'm excited! Two sets of my aunts and uncles have been on a cruise of the northeastern seaboard and today they have a port of call in Boston! I don't usually get to see my side of the family since they all live in Idaho, a good 3000 miles away, and plane tickets are *so* expensive these days. They've all been to and seen Boston before, so they'd rather spend the time with me than doing touristy things, and I want to have them over for lunch. Right now I'm trying to piece together what I'm going to serve - I love being the hostess. SO much fun.Stil insanely busy... what a week! Yesterday I had a very intense riding lesson, went to the fabric store, and then worked the closing shift until midnight. >.<
Busy busy week!
08:47, Wednesday, October 1, 2008
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Haven't had time for a decent entry this week - it's been so busy! Ack! Between work, commuting, riding lessons, French lessons, cooking and keeping house, and sleeping, my life is normally busy enough, but to top it all off, Todd and I got hired to do a research project at Harvard for the book that Todd's uncle is writing about Teddy Roosevelt and we're trying to work fast, so we're spending all of our free time traveling to, being at, and traveling back from Cambridge. Insanity! Super fun though.I'll post more - and comment on others' blogs! - when I have some time. I miss HSB!
A very fulfilling weekend!!
05:48, Saturday, September 27, 2008
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I so loved having Friday and Saturday off - I got SO much done!!Friday was cleaning day. I let myself sleep in until 7 since it was my day off (I work at a coffee shop, so I'm usually up by four or four thirty and out the door at five), had some tea and cereal while the hubby slept, and read a little bit, enjoying the morning - I LOVE mornings. I am so a morning person. They are beautiful and calm and so full of possibilities!! I eased into the day, spending time on the computer and lounging about until about 9 or so when I started cleaning. The kitchen, living room, and dining room of our apartment generally stay very tidy since it is common space between us and our two roommates and both parties are neat people, not to mention the fact that it is easier to keep something clean when you do it out of respect for someone else's living space. However, I did spot-clean the stovetop and microwave and organize the fridge and freezer and swept a bit. I'd wash the floor but right now don't have a mop and don't have the rags to spare for hands-and-knees-cleaning. The main cleaning project I tackled that day was our bedroom, which has been cluttered ever since we moved in; we have a very tiny closet and no other storage space to speak of so there were a couple boxes of stuff just sitting pushed up against the wall that didn't have anywhere else to go (we don't have a bed frame yet, so we can't store stuff under the bed). The desk was filled with papers and cords and random things.
(Side note: Todd just fell asleep in the chair in the corner while cuddling Franklin - his head is drooping on his chest and I just have to take a moment to squeal a little over HOW IMPOSSIBLY ADORABLE HE IS! I love this man.)
So anyway, I took several hours tackling all the junk, finding places for it in drawers throughout the house until further notice and finding a new organization system for the desk so that more stuff is stored beneath it and out of sight and there is plenty of clean, open space on top that's nice to look at. I try to find lots of pretty decorative boxes to store stuff instead of plastic storage containers, and they look so nice on the desk now without all of the clutter.
After the bedroom was neat as a pin and gorgeous, I set a giant batch of bread to rise (I bake all of our bread since it is far cheaper, and better for us, than buying it at the store. We go through it pretty quickly even for just two of us, so I make a bunch at one time and freeze it) and then took a break to read. After awhile, I started a new project: rolling all of the change we've collected, which is quite the task. I only got about halfway through the change, but have $30.50 rolled, which is awesome - it feels like free money! And there's probably a good twenty bucks or so left to do. Quite exciting.
Dinner was a rather sorry affair since I was exhausted when hubby came home after cleaning all day; I felt very bad for Todd. I myself had a headache and didn't really feel like eating, but I wanted him to have a hot meal, so I threw together some stir fry from hot dogs and frozen veggies that were soggy and kind of gross, and a homemade stir fry sauce that was a little too sour, which I put over noodles for him, and just had some noodles and butter for me. He ate all of the stir fry and even had seconds, admitting that it was a little sour but saying that he liked it, which I appreciated. He eats just about anything, which is nice. :-)
Today I read, facebooked/emailed/blogged, went into town for my French lesson and then picked up Todd from work and we went grocery shopping. When we got home we played with Franklin and taught him to eat cheerios (he's very picky about what he eats) and now we're waiting for dinner to finish. I'm making up for last night by serving some delicious lemon-and-dill baked cod with steamed broccoli and carrots and some of yesterday's bread (which, by the way, turned out to be magnificent: I tried the recipe on the back of the whole wheat King Arthur's flour bag the first time and heartily recommend it to everyone!!!)
I feel so satisfied and happy and my home is sparkling and smells fabulous. I wish I could stay home every day!!!
Thank you all!
09:18, Friday, September 26, 2008
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I have today and tomorrow off - hooray!! Hubby is kindly and patiently waiting for the computer since I've been on it all morning, so I don't really have to time for a post now, but I'll get in a longer one later. I mostly just wanted to thank everyone for how nice they've been to me in my first week at homesteadblogger!! It's so wonderful to meet you all and learn a little bit about your lives. Thanks for your support and comments!
- Sarah
Work issues
03:54, Thursday, September 25, 2008
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Just got home from a long day at work. :-S Bleh. I'm tired.I've been working full-time at a Starbucks in downtown Boston for quite awhile now. When I moved to Boston at eighteen, friendless and jobless and not knowing anyone, I jumped to work there since they were the first employer to call back on an application, and I've been there ever since. The pay is fabulous, especially now that I'm in a supervisory position, and the benefits are also great. The hours are incredibly flexible, my cooworkers great. The job itself is disheartening, though: in essence, what I do for the majority of my time every day is give to demanding people who don't care things they don't need but think they do. It really, really sucks. The customers at my store generally fall into three categories: snooty, high-powered corporate business people who think we are mindless, soulless members of their personal waitstaff; brainless, overweight college kids with their ears plugged with headphones and cellphones glued to their heads who don't tip; and tourists who don't speak English, have no concept of moving through a line, and don't tip either.
Oh, and homeless people who steal from us, sleep and/or pee and/or commit *extremely* inappropriate acts on the furniture, die in the bathrooms (oh yes, that's right), and throw things at us while shouting unspeakable (sometimes downright sickening) obscenities when we politely explain to them that no, we can't give the coffee away for free just because they can't pay for it, sorry.
Perhaps I sound like I'm being unfair and ungracious toward my fellow man, but one can only see so much and take so much urban-foodservice-abuse before one leans a bit toward jaded bitterness toward strangers. Blah.
Oh, how hard it is to walk out my door every morning to go to that job. My heart aches every time I kiss my sleeping husband goodbye (he has curly golden hair and looks like an angel when he sleeps) at 4:30 A.M. and sometimes don't see him for the rest of the day (he also works for Starbucks, at a different store, and frequently works the closing shift when I work the opening shift, so we go the entire day without seeing each other on occasion). My days off are magnificent: I'm so at peace baking our bread for the week, doing laundry, cleaning, organizing, planning surprises for him, singing while I work, taking a break to read or crochet. Oh, how I hope and pray that Todd makes enough someday for me to stay home and raise our family!! He wants it just as badly as I do, too.
It's not that he doesn't provide for us, because he works very hard; it's just that Boston has an extremely high cost of living and a two-person family simply can't subsist on one income, especially when we have to pay for things like public transportation and student loans (thankfully, Todd's loans are the absolute *only* debt that we have) and exorbitant rent. He went to school for music education, but has to take one more class his college didn't offer before he can get his official degree, so instead of actually teaching his own classes this year (he graduated this spring) he's planning on substituting, to get some experience for when he does finally start job hunting for real next year, after he *does* have his degree. It's taking awhile to get all of the paperwork and so forth done to be a sub. Happily, everything should be complete and he should start getting calls to sub sometime in the next two weeks or so (SO exciting!). And who knows, if he's making enough doing that (Boston has TONS of schools, so there's a very real possibility he could be subbing almost full time), I might be able to cut my hours at Starbucks back a bit. Even thirty hours would preserve my sanity just a bit longer and allow for some real homemaking, which would be MAGNIFICENT.
I'm somewhat troubled because I know I should be content where I am no matter what the circumstances, but it is SO hard sometimes. It's almost physically painful to have to leave for that job sometimes. Sigh. Am I not being grateful enough that the rest of my life is basically perfect? Maybe. There's plenty of room for character building here, but it is SO HARD.
So anyway, I'm tired. But I'm home. :-) I have some chicken and dumplings simmering on the stove and a magnificent hubby coming home soon to cuddle me. ^_^ And good books to read and an adorable hedgehog to play with. My life really is pretty good, even if I don't have that farm yet or those goats and chickens. It's hard to remember that when I'm being snapped at rudely by a bone-dry-cappuccino-drinking executive, but that doesn't change the fact that it's true, right? As long as I have Todd and can remember that this is only temporary and we will in fact get to our dreams someday, I'll be fine, and I can enjoy the other aspects of my life that are so splendid.
Back In the Saddle Again
08:34, Tuesday, September 23, 2008
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Whew... I'm a little sore today! I had my first real riding lesson in a good four or five years yesterday. I rode daily when I was younger, doing the Pony Club thing and a local show here and there, but once I hit high school and didn't have horses anymore it became harder and harder to ride. Moving to downtown Boston where you only see horses on TV or beneath mounted policemen furthered my distance from the riding world, but after a year here I decided to stop waiting around for a horse to wander into my apartment and actually *do* something about it all. So, I found a barn relatively close to the city, made a call, and set up lessons.It felt SO wonderful to be on horseback again. Not just horseback, really - I've done a trail ride here and there in the past few years, but that doesn't cut it for me - but *riding*. Working at it. Riding is SO much more than just staying on and telling the horse where to go; people don't realize how hard it is even at a walk to have perfect position and exercise correct cues and aids. I could tell I was a little too dependent on my stirrups at the post, pivoting more at the feet than the knee, which was frustrating, but understandable after no riding so long. I was surprised to learn that my hands tend to actually be too low, but not surprised that I had a hard time maintaing a good contact with the bit - years of Western riding were telling my hands to stay the hell away from that horse's mouth! :-p We worked on bending on an indirect rein, my seat, my posting, my hands, maintaing contact, leg pressure and leg aids, and cantered a little, but didn't do much work at the canter, which was fine by me! Next time. Anyway, I had SUCH a good time. My instructor, Bailey, isn't too much older than I am and very nice. The horse I rode, a grey named Frosty, was very patient, which was nice of him; I'm pretty sure he had no idea what I was doing up there when I was trying to focus on my reining and leg aids *and* seat all at once, hee hee.
Next lesson is next Monday - I can't wait!!
To start with
06:36, Sunday, September 21, 2008
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All right. After ghosting around on pretty much every homemaking site and blog on the web for a ridiculous amount of time now, I figure I'm past due for my own little corner of musings and ramblings. Voila - a blog!
As my About Me will tell you, I live in urban Boston with my husband and our hedgehog, Franklin. (Yes, hedgehog - Todd adores them and has collected stuffed animal hedgehogs since birth, and he got me started; we brought Frankie home a little over a month ago and he is marvellous!! Forget every cliche about hedgies you think you know, as they're only prickly when they're scared, they're tiny, they are NOT rodents, incredibly smart, and extremely cuddly!) We live in a three-bedroom apartment with our two roommates, which sounds strange for a married couple, but it's a reality of being young and living in the city; to give you an idea, the rent on our apt is $2300 a month. Yep! Split four ways it's entirely manageable (Todd and I pay a little bit less than they do since we share a room), but living on our own just isn't an option right now. Oh well. We'll get there someday - hence the name of this blog!
I grew up on farms in Idaho and Montana, raising sheep and goats and riding horses bareback for hours in bare feet and shorts. In Montana we lived off the grid and used kerosene lamps and propane stove and fridge when the generator was broken, which was often. We didn't have plumbing the first year there - yay outhouses! We grew pumpkins and potatoes, slept by the wood stove in the winter because there'd be ice on the walls in our bedrooms, and went on logging expeditions with my dad, who was a self-employed logger at the time and sold cord wood for a living. We lived at the base of "The Mountain", which was actually made of many mountains filled with the kind of people who sit on their porches with shotguns and have huge packs of dogs and chickens and children running around, and so we were kind of the main hub before one headed up into the hills, and we lived closest to the road. As such, church on Sundays was usually held at our house, which was an all-day affair: the men would take turns preaching every week, and there'd be plenty of guitar-backed singing, and the kids would be expected to participate in the lesson just as much as the adults were. The rest of the day would be spent eating whatever was cooked on our large and complex firepit and, for us kids at least, playing and hiking and riding until well past nine or ten when everyone went home.
So as you can see, I'm no stranger to the homesteading lifestyle - and oh, do I MISS it!!!!!
Granted, my childhood memories exclude most of the hardship my parents endured, since children just accept whatever their lives are like as normal and keep on playing. I'm not saying I necessarily want to go back to exactly the same lifestyle, but I'm dying for a return to the same simplicity - Todd and I so badly want a little farm where our kids can learn to ride and hunt eggs and go exploring in a land without locked doors. As for me, I positively ache to stay home every morning I leave for work; my happiest days are my days off, when I can have time to make Todd's lunch for the day and bake our bread for next couple of weeks and cook a nice dinner for us and clean the house and go to the library and read and crochet. Aaaah. Again, gonna get there someday!!!!
So. I'm not exactly a homesteader right now (although I do plan to grow a teeny garden next spring on the porch that we have at our new apartment, which is glorious - an entire porch to ourselves!! We don't even share it with any other apts.), but my husband and I are headed that direction, and *so* excited about it. In the meantime, I do as much homemaking as I can after work or on my days off, and try to make the best of it.
Speaking of work, I have to run off and get ready for it (yes, I work on Sundays. I'm trying to change that, but it's not easy!). I'm excited about my little blog - I'll share more when I get the chance!
As my About Me will tell you, I live in urban Boston with my husband and our hedgehog, Franklin. (Yes, hedgehog - Todd adores them and has collected stuffed animal hedgehogs since birth, and he got me started; we brought Frankie home a little over a month ago and he is marvellous!! Forget every cliche about hedgies you think you know, as they're only prickly when they're scared, they're tiny, they are NOT rodents, incredibly smart, and extremely cuddly!) We live in a three-bedroom apartment with our two roommates, which sounds strange for a married couple, but it's a reality of being young and living in the city; to give you an idea, the rent on our apt is $2300 a month. Yep! Split four ways it's entirely manageable (Todd and I pay a little bit less than they do since we share a room), but living on our own just isn't an option right now. Oh well. We'll get there someday - hence the name of this blog!
I grew up on farms in Idaho and Montana, raising sheep and goats and riding horses bareback for hours in bare feet and shorts. In Montana we lived off the grid and used kerosene lamps and propane stove and fridge when the generator was broken, which was often. We didn't have plumbing the first year there - yay outhouses! We grew pumpkins and potatoes, slept by the wood stove in the winter because there'd be ice on the walls in our bedrooms, and went on logging expeditions with my dad, who was a self-employed logger at the time and sold cord wood for a living. We lived at the base of "The Mountain", which was actually made of many mountains filled with the kind of people who sit on their porches with shotguns and have huge packs of dogs and chickens and children running around, and so we were kind of the main hub before one headed up into the hills, and we lived closest to the road. As such, church on Sundays was usually held at our house, which was an all-day affair: the men would take turns preaching every week, and there'd be plenty of guitar-backed singing, and the kids would be expected to participate in the lesson just as much as the adults were. The rest of the day would be spent eating whatever was cooked on our large and complex firepit and, for us kids at least, playing and hiking and riding until well past nine or ten when everyone went home.
So as you can see, I'm no stranger to the homesteading lifestyle - and oh, do I MISS it!!!!!
Granted, my childhood memories exclude most of the hardship my parents endured, since children just accept whatever their lives are like as normal and keep on playing. I'm not saying I necessarily want to go back to exactly the same lifestyle, but I'm dying for a return to the same simplicity - Todd and I so badly want a little farm where our kids can learn to ride and hunt eggs and go exploring in a land without locked doors. As for me, I positively ache to stay home every morning I leave for work; my happiest days are my days off, when I can have time to make Todd's lunch for the day and bake our bread for next couple of weeks and cook a nice dinner for us and clean the house and go to the library and read and crochet. Aaaah. Again, gonna get there someday!!!!
So. I'm not exactly a homesteader right now (although I do plan to grow a teeny garden next spring on the porch that we have at our new apartment, which is glorious - an entire porch to ourselves!! We don't even share it with any other apts.), but my husband and I are headed that direction, and *so* excited about it. In the meantime, I do as much homemaking as I can after work or on my days off, and try to make the best of it.
Speaking of work, I have to run off and get ready for it (yes, I work on Sundays. I'm trying to change that, but it's not easy!). I'm excited about my little blog - I'll share more when I get the chance!
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