Valley Girl

Saturday, February 16, 2008

Tiny Notes for Today (from The Simple Woman blog)

I am THANKFUL...for a glorious day - cold but clear.
I am WEARING...jeans, a henley and Acorn thick socks.
I am READING...Job 14, Romans 1 (following God's Word For All Nations, a Bible reading plan by J. Delbert Erb), and volume 1 of the Charlotte Mason series.
I am HOPING...that we will be able to homeschool full-time next year.
I am SEEING...the forest and the trees on our little mountain, with the sun just starting to come up and illuminate them.
I am GOING...to the National Zoo and/or the Natural History Museum today with my son and his friend. An adventure!

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Friday, February 15, 2008

Lenten Practices

During Lent, I've often followed one of the following lectionary cycles for my daily devotions:

http://www.missionstclare.com/english/index.html (Anglican/Episcopal)
http://www.universalis.com/ (LIturgy of the Hours - Catholic)

The lectionary helps me focus and not get bogged down in the details and questions of what to read. I teach full-time now, but a short break in the day is enough time to pause for prayer or a scripture reading.

I'm also reading "Embrace Your Renewal: A Thought a Day for Lent" by Harold A. Buetow. He has a kind, anecdotal style, but doesn't shy away from the purpose of the season: committing ourselves anew to the Lord.

Giving-ups for Lent: meat; complaining. So far, I'm doing better at the first than at the second.
Intentions: more meaningful family times together.

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Friday, February 15, 2008

Barack Obama at Ebenezer Baptist Church, MLK Day 2008

Mr. Obama gave this speech at Ebenezer Baptist Church. Atlanta, Georgia the Sunday before the MLK holiday in January 2008. At points, I was in tears. He explains his vision of hope, and I pray he can bring it to fruition.

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Sunday, January 27, 2008

The Cost of Food

I revisited the Salon article on food and food stamps, reading the comments this time. It's a very disheartening activity, for the most part -- a lot of compassionless comments, though there are some compassionate and thoughtful ones.

The discussion on the cost of groceries -- healthy versus junk -- and grocery food versus fast food got me thinking about the cost of our food: we try to keep under $600 a month for groceries, which is always challenging. I've not been a good budgeter/tracker of expenses, so one of my goals is to improve in this area. Frankly, I don't know how often we keep within this amount!

DH and I talked about inventorying our pantry after he'd forgotten we had a *case* of grape jelly. So that's added to my goals, too.

I'm teaching full-time at a nearby high school, and I have three classroom observations tomorrow, so these projects are in queue for next weekend. I hope I can juggle all this until June!

In the meantime, here's the cost of today's breakfast and lunch, and a start at our monthly food expense:

Breakfast
eggs, blue corn waffles and pancakes:
Frankferd Farms' mix in 25# bags: about 15 cents per batch
4 eggs (organic, fertile brown eggs): about 28 cents each, $1.12 for four
milk - about 50 cents for mixing and drinking (figure $4.00 a gallon now)
maple syrup - the expensive part - now $17.50/gallon at Costco: so probably $1.00 a serving.

Lunch: pb&j and oranges, and milk
bread that DH baked yesterday: cost per loaf:
white flour (Swany White organic, in 25# bags): 66 cents
wheat flour: 25 cents
a bit of butter: 5 cents
A loaf of this bread doesn't stick around much longer than a day!
Once Again organic peanut butter (bought by the case): about 50 cents
Oranges from Costco: this time, $12.99 per case - about 70 cents each.

For three of us, then, about $4.00 for lunch ($1.33 a person, $150/month) and about $2.00 for breakfast ($65/month). We do the same lunches (packed) during the week, though we do often use the prepackaged pineapple containers -- which increases the lunch cost to about $5.00 for all of us. Weekends are often soup, too - so add $2.50 for a can of Amy's organic veggie or tomato. That brings it to $160/month, unless we get fancier. Breakfast is about the same as today, too -- we get up early enough for eggs and pancakes from scratch during the week. So - about $210-$225 a month for breakfast and lunch.

Our costs go up when I can't deal and we do a frozen/prepared lunch like Amy's pizza or enchiladas: then we're at about $8-10 a lunch for three.

The comments on the food stamp article discussed the cost of fast food versus grocery food. My last Taco Bell meal was over $7, so grocery is definitely cheaper. We buy mostly organic (except for the Costco produce), and avoid the center aisles in the grocery store mostly (except for tea and coffee). Our staples we order monthly from a grower/distributor in PA, and that runs about $400/month (including a case of pizza and enchiladas and soup for those days I can't face the kitchen!).

Peace and blessings,
campergal

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Saturday, January 26, 2008

Food and Politics, and "tax relief"

Two articles on food and politics:

How We Eat (Harvey Ussery on his TheModernHomestead.us site)

No More Food Stamps--You've Eaten Enough (Andrew Leonard in salon.com, 25 January 2008)

Andrew Leonard points out that the Bush stimulus plan left out any increase in unemployment benefits or food stamps. So, this plan offers no long-term changes that would help struggling families -- just some cash that the administration hopes will get spent - quickly.

Some things to consider doing with the "short-term tax loan:"
-put it in a savings account (especially if your saving rate is low)
-pay down any debt you have
-donate it to your area food bank
-use it as seed money, literally: start a community garden
-use it as micro-loan funds: help a teen you know to start a business

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Saturday, January 26, 2008

From one valley to another

Welcome! From Valley Girl to homesteading and homeschooling in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley - with all the cultural shifts along the way. We are moving from a two-income to a one-income family, and from public school to homeschooling again. After a semester of public school, my ds is ready for homeschooling again. Hope to share some thoughts on homeschooling, homesteading, self-sufficiency and life out of the mainstream.

Peace and blessings!
campergal

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