Piggy Flu

First off, I am not making light of the H1N1 Virus that is running rampant. It is a very serious illness and should be treated as such. Too many people have contracted it and died for my liking. I call it the Piggy Flu because it was originally called the Swine Flu until some PTB's thought it wasn't politically or economically correct to use that term (Swine equal Porcine equals Pork and well....there you go).

At any rate, I greatly fear that dreaded virus as I have young children and my husband and I aren't exactly spring chickens. Because of health reasons, I am unable to have vaccines for either H1N1, Flu or Pneumonia. We looked into getting H1N1 vaccines for my husband and children and guess what - none are available, and none of them fall into the high risk category. I beg to differ - for my husband at any rate. He works with the public, coming into contact with who knows what a thousand times a day. He also qualifies chronologically as a senior citizen (sorry Hubs). However, because he's a healthy Senior, he does not qualify. That leaves my children. Because we home school, they are not considered in the risk category. Forget the fact that all of their friends are public schooled and they are also out in the public. Sure, they are not sequestered in a closed room with potentially 30 hacking and feverish kids, but they can and do catch "bugs" from time to time.

So what's a person to do?
Well we could sit back and just hope and pray we will be fine, we could think egotistically that "that would never happen to us" or we can be proactive.

I choose "proactive". What we are doing may not be the "right thing to do" but it is what we think is best for us and our situation.

First off, we look at where we may get those virulent buggies from and try to eliminate or at least try to stop them dead in their tracks.  Most of my points are common knowledge but should be revisited.

• Hubby works with the public. Judicial spraying of Lysol, use of anti-bacterial wipes and hand sanitizer throughout the day at his place of employment not only might protect him but also his employees and the public as well.
  

• After a day out of shopping or whatever, we wash up as soon as we come home. Trying not to touch our faces or mouths with our hands in the mean time.
•  Keeping the house well aired out regardless of outside temperatures or weather.
• Use of Lysol and anti-bacterial products. Some tout no use of them because the use may actually cause differing strains to mutate but I'm going to be safe rather than sorry later.
  
• Never, ever share drinks, etc. Not even amongst ourselves. That include hands in the chip bag, double dipping, passing a handful of something to another.
  
• Keep up on laundry - The dryer will kill any germs (supposedly) that washing does not. 
• Completely clean all of your dishes. Use a dishwasher if you have one. If you don't, soak your dishes for a few minutes in very hot, soapy water, scrub well and rinse with the hottest water you have. Dry immediately with a clean towel.
  
• Stay current on vitamin supplements if your diet requires them. I push extra Vitamin C regularly because I know we don't get enough in our diet due to dietary likes and dislikes.
• The above takes me to eating a well balanced diet. Avoid convenient foods and go for good old fashioned cooking. You know what you put in it.
  
• Avoid closed, stuffy places. Did you know the most likely place to contract a bug of some sort is your doctor's office waiting room?
• Spray the inside of your vehicle from time to time with Lysol. Not only will it help kill viruses and bacteria it will also make it smell better.
• Get enough rest. Lack of sleep runs your system down and lets you be open to "invaders".
• If someone has a cold or a bug, try to avoid them. Hard to do if the sick one is a loved one but by taking precautions you can still be a loving, caring person.
  

Will all the above keep us healthy? I don't know. I sure don't want to take a chance.
Here's to hoping everyone who reads this gets through this "National Emergency" and is healthy as can be.

Squash - that yummy veggie

We love Squash - specifically yellow summer Squash. I grow it every year and also look for good buys on it at the grocery store. We like it stewed with onions, breaded and fried, lightly simmered with other veggies, just about any way you can imagine.
I recall reading a recipe a couple of years ago for Squash Casserole. I couldn't remember where or even all the ingredients so i winged it one night. Here's what I came up with:

6-8 firm Yellow Squash, cleaned and sliced 1/4" thick (you can use frozen as well, just add more cooking time)
1 small onion, diced
1 TBSP butter
Cheese Crackers (any brand will do)
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
Sliced or shredded sharp cheddar cheese (Can't tell you how much, just follow the directions)
Salt and Pepper

Start by spraying your casserole dish with cooking spray. Quickly saute' the onions in butter until opaque, set aside. Place a layer of squash, a layer of onions, a layer of crushed cheese crackers, a layer of cheese and lightly salt and pepper. Continue building your layers until your dish is full. Once it is full, put a layer of crushed crackers on top. Mix the egg and milk together and pour over the entire dish. Seal tightly with aluminum foil. Bake at 350 for about an hour - add maybe 30 minutes more for frozen squash. Uncover and place cheese on top and return to oven until bubbly and cooked to your likes.

Here is the final presentation - served with Montreal Grilled Chicken and English Peas.


This recipe is so versatile - you can substitute any vegetable and it turns out yummy. Try using chopped cabbage, sliced potatoes, add in diced chicken, you decide.  You could also use potatoes, diced ham or crumbled sausage, increase the egg and make a breakfast casserole. The possibilities are endless.

The Logging has begun.....

The area where we plan to house the goats and chickens is overloaded with small pine trees. They make the area too shady and also house way too many ticks for my liking. I think I counted well over 30 trees to take down. That area has already had about 30 removed over the years. We originally left them so the kids could have a shaded area to play in. We had built a play fort with swings, a sand table, etc. The play fort became the deck to our pool and the sand table finally just bit the dust.

The logging began late this afternoon. We can't just cut down the trees - they have to be limbed from the top down. That means Hubby and son climb like monkeys, hold on tight and start sawing. It's a slow process to say the least. If I hear my husband say "oh crap" one more time while up in a tree, I may just shake him out. We are planning to use the trunks as building logs for the goat sheds. The branches will be burned and the ash used in the compost bin and other areas. There are a couple of young Oaks, a Hickory and I think 3 Sweet Gum that we will leave. My biggest concern is that when we take down all the trees, the barren soil will wash really bad. We'll have to get a cover crop of some sort growing as quickly as possible.

My son and his friends are having a blast helping take out the trees. They love to hack and slash knowing they won't get into trouble. I'm paying his two best buddies with lots of Koolade and plenty of treats. They're happy all the way around.  I figure it will take a couple of months to get all the trees down.

Here's a southern sunset......

Pantry and Stocking Up

When I was growing up, my mom had very little money - divorced mother of 4. She did (now that I look back) phenomenally in providing for us. Of course, as a kid, I bemoaned the lack of money and felt left out because I didn't get the latest craze in clothes and gadgets. Pshhhhhhhhht....I really appreciate that fact now that I have my own greedy little monsters (just kidding about the greedy monster part....maybe). I have the ability to look them in the eye and say "I didn't die without so and so and neither will you".

Once, when I was in highschool, the craze was Reeboks and Izod shirts and button down collar shirts. Those were some pricey items in the day. My mom would by off brand shirts and sew buttons on the collars so they would look the part. I remember she bought me a pair of Asahi(sp) sneakers. I was so proud of them. I scrubbed them daily with a toothbrush to keep them pristine. Back in those days that was a half weeks worth of groceries.

I went to work at 11 in the peach shed. My mom was an office manager for the grower and well....it seemed an automatic thing that I would work instead of spend my summers roaming the streets (which I probably would have done otherwise). I hated every minute of every day but looking back, I am soooooo glad my mom made me do it. It taught me the value of work, the way to save and the ability to stay out of trouble. Thanks Mom!!!!!!!

So, to get back on the original topic. A friend of mine (click the link) jogged my memory about food storage so here goes.
In years past, pantries and stocking up brought visions of bunkers of food stores awaiting the end of the world or something. Years ago, when I heard of people storing food stuffs, I was thinking of the ones who went to the hills awaiting a nuclear war or mass civil war.  Those people weren't too far off the mark, only in regards to putting by and storing for the future. We, today, have learned a lot from what may have been termed nutcases years ago. Those people found out how to store food long term. Those people developed recipes to use that stored food. Those people taught us a whole slew of things that can be used every day by the average person.

Pantry - what is it? It can be your cabinets in your kitchen, it can be a small space or a large space. It can be separate from your kitchen, it can even be miles away from your home. You determine where the best place to store food is. Don't think you have no space to store excess - look to the underneath of beds, that hall closet that gathers everything, make a table with a nice cover draped over a few cases of veggies or bottled water, utilize the top shelves of all closets, slide a case of canned goods under the couch, the possibilities are endless. One friend of mine stores packages of toilet paper in the oddest of places but it works for her. That's what you should look for in your own home - what wasted space you can use and how you can make it work for you.

Now, you may be thinking - why store? Well, you all know how prices are skyrocketing. Have been for months on end and no end in sight. Hit the sales, use coupons, take advantage of BOGO's (buy one get one free sales). What you buy today at $1 may cost $3 in just a few short months. That's my thought process. I'm not thinking world war whatever - I am thinking of inherent price spikes, unexpected job loss, emergencies, etc and how to ease the pain on down the road.

What do you store? No one can tell you. Sure, everyone can tell you about the basics like flour, sugar, salt, oil but......
You have to do the thinking and it's fun, well at least I think it is. Here's what I do. I keep track of what I buy on regular basis - those are my basics. Then I think about our special treats - you know - the ones that are a tad bit expensive but oh so delightful. I look around for the best buy, sales, use coupons if I have them, check the clearance bins, etc. My kids love, love, love Little Debbie snack cakes. I know I can make my own and do. However, they become special treats for them and so I look for bargains. When I find something that is part of my equation (price+satisfaction vs my making it myself)) and find it's a good deal I go for it. Only buy what you know you and your family will eat. That really rock bottom deal on asparagus won't do you any good if no one will eat it.It doesn't take a lot to start your stocking up. If you normally purchase 2 cans of one kind of veggie a week, increase it to 3 or 4 each week. Buy 2 bags of flour instead of one. You don't have to do it all in one week. Set aside $5-10 extra a week and use that.

How do you store? I've already mentioned canned goods - any nook and cranny works. The rest - well they require a bit of handling to store. All of my dry goods get transferred to storage containers. I buy food grade ones from here - Big Tray . All pasta, rice, flours, sugar, beans, dried corn and bulk dehydrated food goes into 4+ qt containers . The initial cost may be a bit high but the reuse is well worth it. I bought my containers about 8 years ago and they are holding up very well. I also save jars. A cleaned out glass mayo jar can store enough dried beans for one meal for my family.

Take a look at what containers you would normally throw away. Those screw top cap spice jars can be cleaned and sterilized to house more home grown and dried herbs. They are also great for nuts, bolts, nails, etc. I routinely use quart and pint sized canning jars to store stuff in. Also, Rubbermaid trash cans with food grade liners work well if you want to store a large amount of flour, rice and sugar.

No matter what you store or how you store, please be sure to date everything. A sticky note taped to a jar or a sharpie marker on a lid or can. That way you can rotate and use up the oldest first. If you utilize a freezer separate from your fridge, be sure to keep an inventory sheet so you know at a glance what you have and not waste the cold air digging around. Mark all of your freezer items with description and date as soon as they come out of the shopping bag or the kitchen pot. I hate defrosting a container of what I thought was leftover stew only to find that it's leftover UFO.

With the flu season hitting everywhere, it makes sense to stock up in the event you can't get to a grocery store. Having food in the house, ready to use means one less thing to worry about.

Weekend Fun

This going to be a rambling post. No rhyme or reason.

For most people, the weekends mean catch up time at home, doing laundry, grocery shopping, getting out and about. All the things you didn't get done during the week gets done on the weekend. For us, this time is usually our down time. We do devote some time to chores that require all 4 of us to complete.

Friday afternoon was one of those days. My husband and son climbed on the roof to clean the chimney. I would have gone up there but ladders and I do not mix well. My nickname is Princess Grace. After that was completed, Hubby started splitting some of the wood we have stored. Most of it is small enough that one whack and it's done. 30 Minutes later and we were carrying in wood for the small rack that my husband made to hold the wood by the fireplace. Why buy something fancy when you can make your own? I don't need BH&G worthy, I need practical and cheap. It holds enough for 2 days. We settled down to a big pot of beef stew and biscuits for dinner and lounged the rest of the evening.

Saturday was a yucky day - cold, rainy, I don't think it hit 50 degrees. Supposed to be in the 30's tonight. The dampness in the air and the low temps (for us) meant I had to have a fire. Our first for the year. Something tells me this winter is going to be a tough one for us. I got the fire lit and going well, walked away for a minute and what do I come back to? My big old dog hogging the heat. He and the cats played roulette all afternoon. It was rather comical.

Because the temps were supposed to be low Saturday night, we had to heat the greenhouse. We lit an old camping oil lamp, along with making an air exchange vent in the thing. The air temp outside was 40 and the inside of the greenhouse was 65+. If it weren't so damp in there, I'd sleep in it

Sunday was a low key day, nothing big going on. Made a trip to the library and almost went fishing. I say almost because we were all too lazy to get off the couch and go.

Sunday night brought us our first frost. About 3 weeks early for around here. We need to add another lamp when the temps get lower. It's just a matter of time before the leaves fall from the trees - yay more compost material! The wooded area we leave alone but the rest of the working areas, we clean and keep neat and tidy or at least we try.

A couple of weeks ago we added to our family - a stray kitten my son found wandering the fields. He's a cutey. We haven't had a kitten in the house in almost 5 years. It took over a week for the dog and cats to accept him but now it's one big happy fur family. Peanut (right) is snuggling with mean "Mommy" Shadow.

Why The Name Choice?

I get asked all the time why I chose the name I did for our tiny little homestead. Some chuckle, others scratch their heads in bewilderment.
Here's the scoop - Thor's Hammer - here's what Wiki says about it :
The Prose Edda gives a summary of Mjöllnir's special qualities in that, with Mjöllnir, Thor:

... would be able to strike as firmly as he wanted, whatever his aim, and the hammer would never fail, and if he threw it at something, it would never miss and never fly so far from his hand that it would not find its way back, and when he wanted, it would be so small that it could be carried inside his tunic.^[1]

Thinking of our endeavors brought the hammer to mind. It's strong, never failing and always returns. I'm hoping it's a good omen to use that name.

Cold, Rainy Days of Fall

This time of year, we never know what the weather will be like. One day it can be 80 degrees and sunny, the next it can be 50 and rainy. I recall a saying from the New England states - "don't like the weather, wait a few minutes". Down here in the south, things are done slower, be it speech, chores or well...even weather. Except for the hot dog days of summer, each day is like a rollercoaster.

I like rainy days. They get me in the mood for cleaning, baking, all the things that make the house smell wonderful and cozy.
What I don't like about rainy days is the mess it creates. Mud tracked everywhere. We have to make sure the goat is high and dry and snug and fed, the outside dog must be fed and cared for, the outside wild cats have to have food as well. The inside dog allowed out for his potty breaks and run. All that means trekking through the sloshy, muddy yard. "Some people" forget to whisk their shoes off and take them off in the laundry room. It's a good thing my husband still has his commercial carpet cleaning equipment left from our first business venture years ago.

Rainy days also tend to be more "computer" days. Once the chores and lessons are done, we all jockey for computer time. Play computer time. I'm hooked on simple games online like popping balloons and scrabble type games. I've also been spending a lot of time exploring ways to generate an online income. I do surveys, etc. I am also using this blog to be an affiliate for certain chosen merchants. Those that meet my criteria and offer what I use and think others reading  my blog might use.

I predict the smell of wood fires in the very near future. The weather here is being very wonky and unpredictable. Gotta get on the roof and clean the chimney. When we moved in here in February 12 years ago, the heat pump had not been installed yet. It was raining to beat the band and all we had was very soggy and wet deadfall to burn for heat. Those firelogs you can buy just about anywhere never did seem to offer as much heat as a good oak blaze does. So we planned much better afterward. Spring and early summer finds us getting the wood box filled and in the dry for winter. We still have more to cut up but we are ready for the fireplace season to start. Chimney safety is a huge priority here. Every fall we clean everything, inspect for cracks or holes or looseness in the insert. An investment of about $20 for a chimney cleaning kit has made that very easy for us. Plus, we can clean the stack several times during the winter without having to wait for a sweep to be available. If you don't do the sweep yourself, please remember to have it done before lighting your first fire of the season. Also now is a good time to check those fire extinguishers everyone should have.
Daylight Savings time ends on November 1st. Mark your calendars to change out your smoke detector batteries.

More about Thor's Hammer Farm

I've received a few private emails asking for more information about my little "homestead".
Because of privacy issues, I won't go into too many personal details but I will share what I feel is "net safe". This blog will most often be one of willy-nilly thoughts and ramblings. There is no rhyme or reason to my posts - they just get posted as the thought hits.

I live in South Carolina on about 1 1/2 ares of danged hard red clay. I've been in my little corner of the world for almost 12 years. My area is rural/urban, which means look one way and you see farms, look the other way you see strip malls. Originally the plot of land I purchased was deed restricted - meaning nothing other than your typical neighborhood with picket fences and flower boxes. That changed very quickly. Covenants are no longer enforced (or held up in legal venues) and a good many places around here have been deeded back to agricultural tax bases.

What does that mean for me? Well, it means I can do what I wish as long as I am not a public nuisance. The most logical choice for me was to go more towards agriculture. Pull up in front of my house and you'd never know the back acreage contained a mini-farm in the works. That will change once the front portion is fenced and I rotate the eventual goat herd hither and yonder. My opening picture is of my one and only goat (for now) - a part pygmy nanny that found us to be suitable as a home.

We have built a small greenhouse. Inside houses a few tomato plants, some plants that are squash, pumpkin or watermelon - we won't know until they grow a bit - invaders from the compost heap, Basil and some flowers. It's an experiment. If it works and we are able to maintain through winter, then it will be expanded next year. It was built using old flexible fiberglass tent poles, bamboo, wire and sheet plastic.

This is the framework, minus the sheet plastic. The heating will be using buddy burners - small cans filled with corrugated cardboard and paraffin, lit like little bunsen burners. It's a small one - you have to stoop to enter but it seems to be doing well.

Summers here are hot as Hades so A/C is a necessity. I wish we had other alternatives because of the sheer cost. Winters verge on mild - we do get snow and ice from time to time but some years we never see a flake. Other years we get monstrous icestorms that knock the power out for a while. We heat mostly with the fireplace but back it up with the heat pump. Our firewood is gleaned from deadfall or free wood we find via word of mouth. Having a wooded section does provide some firewood. Below is our most unusual snowfall in March of '09.

We home school 2 children - a son - almost 14 and a daughter 11.  That's a journey all it's own. We started almost 7 years ago and it's definitely a work in progress. My son is set on a military career (it's in his genes and by osmosis - he comes from a military background - Dad Army, grandfathers Marines and Navy, great grandfather Navy, uncle's both Navy and Marines) and my daughter on a Culinary path (I guess she gets it from my scientific kitchen experiments). My daughter drives me to cook more, bake more and create new recipes. My son drives me to get up, get out and "do". Day by day is my mantra. Both children have a love of animals (we have 4 cats, 2 dogs, a goat, several wild cats that feed here, a raccoon and a possum) and family and enjoy the the way we live. That's my reward.

This is our classroom. Just the sit down area. The world is really our classroom.

I think that setting out on our journey is because of our children. Yearning to get back to basics and teaching them that the latest and greatest isn't always the greatest. I'll be content knowing my husband and I have set them on a path of self exploration, enjoying the basics that life has to offer and just looking around in nature to find something new to excite them.

Bread....Glorious Bread

One of the things I am trying to do more of is cook from scratch. Cooking that way can sometimes be labor intensive and time consuming. I am always looking for faster, yet healthier ways to feed my family.
One of those ways is a fast bread. One that requires no kneading. I've tried all sorts of "quick breads" but they don't give me that good old fashioned flavor that true breads offer. Let's face it - who doesn't love fresh baked bread?
I found this article and recipe in Mother Earth News. It's called a 5 minute bread. (Follow the link to the article and recipe).Now, that doesn't mean you have fresh bread in 5 minutes. It means you can have fresh bread in the time it takes to pull a hunk of dough out of the refrigerator and shape it - that's the 5 minute part. There is no kneading. It takes all of 5 minutes to mix the ingredients together to get the dough ready to rise.
Give it a try. I'd be willing to bet you'd like it with the Chocolate Butter that is posted on my Sweet Mississippi friend's Fun and Frugal Living blog listed below or follow this link. This stuff is scrumptious!!!!!

I baked a loaf for dinner tonight. A small one. It doesn't look as good as the stock photo from the recipe link (probably because I am not a photographer and I forgot to clean my baking stone of crumbs and cornmeal). I have to say, this is a very dense bread - not suitable for sandwiches but perfect for soups, stews, chili's, etc. It's got a very crusty crust and the inside is moist.  Very delicious and well worth the minimal effort to make. I would suggest a longer "french bread" type loaf instead of the round, but that's just me.
BTW - half of that small loaf was scarfed down using the Chocolate Butter I made this afternoon.

Welcome to my SC "farm".

Many years ago, I picked up a magazine off the rack and started reading. I must have been about 20 or so. That magazine was Mother Earth News . That was all she wrote. I decided I wanted to live the simple lifestyle, get back to nature, do things the old fashioned way and just enjoy life.
It wasn't until I was in my mid 30's that I bought land and a home. I live on about one and a half acres now. Adding in kids and work to the mixture meant I didn't live my dream of the old fashioned lifestyle. I kind of worked at it but not very hard. I've always had a garden, and tried to do the 3 "R's" - reduce, reuse and recycle. I got into the tightwad, and Be Prepared mode thanks to some wonderful friends I met on AOL and private message boards.

2 years ago, at the age of 12, my son came home carrying a pygmy nanny goat. That started the ball rolling.

Our goal is to have more goats (around 6 or so) and also laying hens (maybe a dozen). Both will provide us with meat, milk, cheese, soap, and eggs (and a small extra income). By expanding the garden and greenhouse, we hope to greatly increase our produce output. The fruit trees are finally at bearing age and we have added a 100' row of Muscadine to the berry production.

This blog has been created to chronicle my family's journey. Also included here will be many other topics such as the frugal/tightwad lifestyle, cooking and gardening. You never know what may pop up here. I'm never satisfied with how this thing looks so I may change it frequently. Check back for surprises.

All comments are welcome. Ideas, articles, whatever - just send them my way.