The more folks you have in your family, the more variables there are. Three toddlers increase the odds of being late to church more than one toddler. Three boys sharing a room create a higher likelihood of finding crusty dried critters under the bed than one lone boy. Life is like this.   In some ways the variables make life easier. Finding a good bargain on jeans, you readily buy, knowing that, "It will fit someone". There are other challenges, however, that come with the variables, no matter what size your family is. Appetites, growth spurts, and meal planning can at times be more art than science.   Children go through growth spurts in an unorganized fashion, on again, off again, in an altogether unpredictable manner, their hunger drive paralleling their growth. Since I never quite know if they will be ravenous or disinterested for a particular meal, nor which child (or children) will be sprouting up this day, I always go with the more is better plan. Hence the leftovers.   Throwing leftovers out just goes against my tightwad, cheapskate nature better judgment. It is not just about the wasted food, but the wasted  W-O-R-K for me, so over the years I have developed a mad scientist approach  knack for making leftovers interesting. At least most of the time.   We call leftover meals "Live It Up Meals". Since leftover concoctions masterpieces are never the same twice, you only get to enjoy it or, conversely, only have to force feed yourself once. Just this morning we had oatmeal apple fritters and "western omelet" for breakfast.  The oatmeal apple fritters were originally leftover oatmeal and fruit salad. The omelet was originally leftover fried potatoes, corn, a smidge of green pepper and onion, and the last of a jar of salsa.   If you love it, live it up...it will never taste like this again.   If you hate it, live it up...it will never taste like this again.

• Comments (2) • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link

I could not very well leave it sitting there taking up space-especially as bulky as it was. When you're trying to live simply, there is just no room for extra stuff clogging up life. Everything in our life has to pull it's weight in some fashion. Each item has to serve the family, serve God, or feed the spirit through its beauty. 

I was attached to it in ways that did not fit the definition of useful. It was not being used in any way, so it served no one. It had long since left off being beautiful. Yet, I was unable get rid of it, either. Everything about it reminded me of Her.

As a child, my family lived intermittently with my paternal grandparents. Their home being tiny, I shared a bed with my grandmother. During a traumatic childhood, my grandmother was a stable always-there-always-the-same influence from my child-sized view. That old white comforter always brought memories of the safe, cozy feeling I had slumbering in that high bed of hers.

Many years ago, the white comforter was fluffy and full, with the daintiest wide eyelet lace around the edges. Not able to bear parting with it, I determined to remake it. It was threadbare inside, and needed mending anyway, so I used it to make a "new" comforter for my girls' bed. Although I cut off the wide eyelet lace to make the girls  "new" petticoats, the memories stayed firmly attached. 

The girls shared a double bed, which slightly cut down the size of the queen sized cover. Even in its diminutive state, I would remember my grandma every time I cuddled in their bed and read to the girls. When I tucked them in at night,  I would wonder how she would have doted on them.

My ladies used it for many years until we moved them into twin beds. The comforter went back to the linen closet, with only brief service in the guest room. It still did not fit the definition enough to justify keeping it, yet I still could not say goodbye.

Years and use have been unkind to my grandma's old white comforter, but the entrance of our third daughter has allowed the comforter a third life. It has been remade again into a comforter for our littlest lady. The batting that had worn out around the edges has been cut off, and it has shrunk to a twin size now, but it is still beautiful to me.  

In its next life, it will probably be two crib comforters for the twins my children keep wishing on me.

• Comments (1) • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link

It is a fact. Life is not predictable.  The weather doesn't always do what I would like, nor does the IRS. Diapers flood on the way out the door, and children don't always grow at the rate I expect. Growth spurts happen typically when I least expect them. The first evidence of their arrival is an increase (sometimes exponential) of a child's appetite. 

Likewise folks sometimes come over without warning. And they are usually hungry. In the South, where I have been raised, it is downright rude not to feed folks when they show up. It matters not that they have been discourteous in arriving hungry without an invitation. A good Southern woman feeds everyone in her path.

Adding these factors into the equation, it becomes necessary for a homemaker to have a backup plan. I can get over the house not being "just so" after a few minutes of visiting, but I can't make food appear out of thin air. Those times when there isn't enough prepared food to meet the apparent need,  creativity is earnestly needed. In our home this creativity is actually a learned skill. We call it Loaves And Fishes-making the available food feed the present mouths (or appetites). 

While understanding the difference between mincing and dicing, frying and sauteing, boiling and braising are all important, they are skills not used nearly as often as Loaves And Fishes. In our home, Loaves And Fishes is viewed as the single most important kitchen skill to learn before leaving home.

We know not what a day may bring. Where we will live, what types of food may be available, and our budget are all variables that we cannot presume. But an understanding of how to make food stretch can always be useful.

There have been times when I have dumped the contents of a casserole back into a bowl and added more vegetables and sauce. Still not enough casserole? Serve it over rice. For a pasta meal, more pasta can be quickly prepared. Bread is a great filler of bellies-especially homemade. More lettuce can be tossed in to a salad, along with other miscellaneous refrigerator items. A few lonely boiled eggs? Throw them in. Stale bread? Make croutons and throw them in.  Everyone knows that soup is great for using up small bits of leftovers, but what about quiche? Quiche is a great user-of-leftovers. We toss in bits of meat, small amounts of vegetables, some cheese, and pour on top a mixture of one egg for every quarter cup of milk. It doesn't even need crust-just throw it in the oven and bake at 375' until set in the middle.

Truly, the method is not as important as the mindset. Feeding hungry folks is very rewarding. Just remember that good company makes the food taste great. So, the next time you have an unexpected blessing of company, think Loaves And Fishes.

The next time your twelve servings don't make it past your eight year-old son, think Loaves And Fishes...

...and be ready to buy him some new pants.

• Comments (4) • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link

It is official. Today, in one fleeting instant, I became a redneck. I was aware that this possibility existed, and even that the metamorphosis was more likely to occur in a homesteader. I never once believed that it could happen to me. However, the events of the day testify to the truth of my newly discovered nature.

It all started when Uncle Bill became an accidental gardener here at the farm. Backing out of the driveway one night, he uprooted one of the shrubs flanking the front sidewalk. Initially annoyed, I grew enthusiastic as I remembered how much I detested the placement of those shrubs. They were obviously planted without thought to their full-grown size. When we moved here, they were taller than me, and completely blocked the sidewalk. My opportunity for their relocation had arrived!

Gardening cheap is (among other things) using  what you have in creative ways, moving things around to make them more visually appealing. My plan was to use these irritants to cover an eyesore in another area. The back door, everyone's favorite entrance, is flanked by the heat pump, the generator, bare ground, and miscellaneous globs of chicken manure, without a redeeming planting to be found.  This was the target location for the shrubs.

One shrub was resting on top of the ground, courtesy of Uncle Bill. The other would take more digging than a woman this pregnant should attempt. I joked that it was too bad Uncle Bill couldn't come over to take out the other. My dilema was solved and my new title earned in the same act.

I wrapped a chain around the shrub, and fastened it to the trailer hitch on my fifteen passenger van. Although not the typical vehicle used in these type activities, it served well, and sure enough, the shrub was jerked airborne. That was too easy, I thought, and mental wheels turning, I immediately began to postulate a further list of "Things-To-Root-Up".

Back to gardening cheap. I had Mr. Visionary and the boys dig proper planting holes and get the shrubs settled in their new neighborhood (after having them dig them up again and rearrange them once).  I then began scouring the property for other unsuspecting victims  volunteers to be planted near the shrubs. Scattered about, I discovered irises, lillies, and some Kiss-Me-By-The-Garden-Gate. I relocated those near the shrubs as well, and now have a lovely back entrance, all at no cost. Unless of course, you consider the cost of my social standing in becoming a redneck.

But then again, in the homesteading community, my standing may have just gone up.

• Comments (7) • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link