Mother's Day

I admit I am a hypocrite.  I never put a whole lot of energy into celebrating mothers, even my own (sorry mom), before I became a mother.  Being a mother is the most incredible, fantastic, wonderful blessing to be bestowed upon me.  I am blessed with two healthy, smart, vibrant children.

That being said - motherhood is HARD and I want to be celebrated!  Not only is motherhood hard, but it is a job that is seldom recognized.  I want this day, I want a day that gets me off the hook.   I don't want things, I want treatment.  As well I know that my children are still very young and a husband can only do so much, so I come up with a few things that seem reasonable.  I also know my husband, along with many others doesn't understand hints or innuendos.  So I made this mother's day easy on him and myself - I made a clear list.  This is EXACTLY what I want on that, my special day.

Here is my list:

1. Sleep in.  I want to sleep in so badly I get a little teary eyed thinking about it.
2. Go out to breakfast/brunch.  I don't want to get up right after having slept in to a hungry bunch that I need to feed, to prepare a meal.  I want to wake up and go have someone else feed my hungry brood and me :)
3. Go to a movie by myself.  Now some may think this is crazy, but one of my favorite things to do is go to a movie by myself.  I so rarely get time alone, where I don't have to be ready at any moment to answer the cry of a child in need, or help someone back to sleep or make a meal or clean, etc.  So these matinees by myself are so wonderful!  This is my greatest gift.   Mmmmm - I can't wait.

When I read it over my list seems doable, attainable.  I look forward to it almost as much as I will look forward to getting home to my perfect family as soon as my movie is over.

Happy mother's day to all you mom's out there!  Make it easy this year for you and your husband make a list and make it attainable  :).  Enjoy yourself on your special day.

Broken Arm

My beautiful, rambunctious, affectionate, extraordinarily physical son broke his arm.  It happened at his pre-school.   Luckily it happened within 10 minutes of us getting there and I was still there.  Imogen was sitting on one of the big rocking horses, having a great time and Gage climbed into the tree house to begin his day at  school.  The tree house that he has been in at least a hundred times.   The tree house that hundreds of children have been in day after day.  It is in a fig tree, a sprawling bush of a fig tree.  It's limbs surrounding the house and create what seems to be a very supportive and safe environment.  Well, safe for a tree house.  But this day, this silly Friday morning like so many Friday mornings before it, this day was different.

This morning Gage, picked up one of the large sticks that lived in the tree house, held it up in the air to began his fight with some imaginary bad guy and stepped back.  He stepped back, as the bad guy must have begun his onslaught, stepped back into empty space.  And he fell and fell and fell.  He fell about 6 feet to the dirt.  One of those falls that happen in slow motion as well as so fast your stomach churns.  I know this because we were about 15 feet away.  I saw and felt the fall.  The sound of his landing was a sickening splat.  I knew from the landing, from the sound more than the sight that it was not a good landing.  Something was wrong.

I sprinted to his still body on the ground as he erupted into screams.  "Don't move!", I instructed.  Let's figure out what is wrong before you get up.  Trying to  remember to breath, to stay calm.  Of course he immediately jumped up and kept up his screaming.  Screams of pain.  I saw a bump on his arm and I knew, I just knew his arm was broken.

After some help from his teacher and her fireman husband we headed off to the emergency room, followed by  Kate another mom who had just dropped off her daughter at the school, was childless and wiling to help with Imogen.  (Thank you Kate!!!)  Again, I remembered to breath, to stay calm as I drove to the emergency room while my beloved first born sobbed in the back seat.  His cries were so sad, filled with so much pain, all he wanted was for me to help him.  "Help me, Mama!" he pleaded "Help me, Mama! - please help me".  The worst thing a mother can hear, help me, when there is absolutely nothing I can do.  Nothing.  I am so sorry honey, so sorry.

We finally got to the emergency and got the relief that I could not give, morphine.  Aw morphine, my son changed from a screaming mess of pain, into a personable, friendly patient.  "thank you for helping me", he says to the nurse post-morphine.  The x-ray showed a buckle brake.  A very common brake for these young people, whose bones are so flexible.  Instead of braking or fracturing, his bones compressed.  The x-ray shows a bump on either side of the bone where the break took place.  A buckle brake.

Here is my doped up son just after getting home

For about two days he needed to have ibuprofen somewhat regularly, but after that no pain.  He was soon climbing, running and falling on his arm with no apparent repercussions.  Soon the biggest irritant was the sling he had to wear with his splint.  The splint they originally put on to give his arm room for swelling.  He shed the sling whenever he could, even to read to his sister.

10 days later he got his cast.  A glow-in-the-dark cast he is incredibly proud of.  So in love with the cast that he won't let anyone sign it.  :)

Poor Yoko

I came home today from a fun filled play date with our friends Kirsten, Avi and Eli to find a very annoyed husband.  "One of the chickens got into the neighbor's yard and their dog got it, the red one." he says to me with more than a tad bit of anger.

"Dead?" I ask.

"No, OK it is back in the chicken yard"

I go out to check on the invalid and find her strutting around with her sisters, missing most of her tail feathers.  Bare skin flashing.

I haven't gotten the rest of the story, seemed the wrong time to ask.  But I plan on taking a gift of a wine and a dozen eggs to my neighbor tomorrow for her trouble.  :)

Hopefully the silly chicken will now realize how lucky they are, how good their lives are and how dangerous the neighbors dog is!

Charlotte

We have a new member to our animal family.  She won't be with us long as she has a very short life span, but we are enjoying her efforts so far.  She lives just outside our front door and keeps the bug population down.

I know there are many out there that are squeamish about spiders, but our little Charlotte is wonderful.  I asked Gage what he wanted to name her and he came up with Spidey, as he is currently in a Spiderman faze. I overrode him.  Charlotte seems so much more fitting.  Especially after the egg sack arrived.

We are waiting for the eggs to hatch, however sad we will be when Charlotte's time comes to an end.  Making babies and eating bugs is her purpose and she seems to be getting tired.  So we'll see how much longer she will guard our entry way and keep us safe.

Long live Charlotte.

Luxurious Lotion

If you spend some time looking at the labels of lotions you will probably become more cautious about what products you are using on yourself and your family.  When you start to research the topic in more depth you may never want to buy lotion again.  Take a look at this article by the environmental working group Know the Ingredients in your personal care products - it may send shivers down your spine.

What more reason do you need to began making some of your own body products?  If you need them, I can give you a few:

1. It is fun!
2. You have complete control over what ingredients you use
3. Be creative, you can create whatever scents and styles you desire
4. You have control over how creamy, thick, etc your lotion is
5. Most importantly you know you are putting a safe product on yourself and your children.

The following recipe is from Rosemary Gladstar's Herbal Recipes for Vibrant Heath, a wonderful book if you'd like to try making more of your own body care products.  Here is what you need to began.

Waters:

• 2/3 cup Water.  distilled water will do, but try  some different hydrosols to add a delicious scent and the benefits of the hydrosol.  I love rose hyrdrosol, which is renown for it's benefits for aging skin.
• 1/3 cup Aloe Vera Gel
• 1 to 2 drops Essential oils if you'd like.  But do not use if you are planning on putting your lotion on babies and small children
• Vitamin A or E for a preservative

Oils:

• 3/4 cup Olive, almond, grapeseed or apricot oil
• 1/3 cup Coconut oil or cocoa butter
• 1/4 tsp lanolin or 1 T shea butter
• 1/2 to 1 ounce grated or pastilles beeswax

I get all of my supplies from Mountain Rose Herbs an incredible company, that practices ethical harvesting of endangered herbs and organic herbs and supplies.

I use an organic olive oil as my carrier oil  of choice (other options are olive, almond, grapeseed or apricot).   To get my oil ready for making lotion I fill up a ball jar with my soothing skin herbs of choice.   I always use calendula, an incredible skin herb, I add a mixture of comfrey, yarrow and lavender to name  a few.  Than fill up the bottle with your oil, place it in a sunny windowsill for about 6 weeks and it will be ready to use in your lotion.  Every time I make lotion, I fill up another jar, place it in the windowsill and when I am out of lotion and ready to make more the oil is ready.

When you are ready to make your lotion, you simply pour out the oil into cheesecloth to strain out the herb and  it is ready.   The herbs can than be composted.

Step 1:
Combine the waters in a glass measuring cup.  Set aside.

Step 2:
In a double boiler over low heat, combine the oils.  Heat them just enough to melt.

Step 3:
Pour the oils into a blender and let them cool to room temperature.  The mixture should become thick, creamy, semisolid and cream colored.

Hot oil

Room temperature oil

Step 4:
When the mixture has cooled, turn on the blender at its highest speed.  In a slow, thin drizzle, pour the water mixture into the center vortex of the whirling oil mixture.

Step 5:
When most of the water has been added to the oils, listen to the blender and watch the cream.  When the blender coughs and chokes and the cream looks thick and white, like buttercream frosting, turn off the blender.  You can slowly add more water, beating it in by hand with a spoon, but don't overbeat!  The cream will thicken as it sets.

Step 6:
Pour into cream or lotion jars.  Store in a cool location.

Now you have this wonderful rich lotion that goes on smooth and doesn't feel greasy, and doesn't leave you feeling dry either.   Wonderful!  Enjoy

Oh and hopefully your baby will look like this during the entire preparation :)

First eggs!

Yes, our girls have started to lay!  I was so excited to see an egg in the nesting box when I checked this morning.  A small brown, perfect egg.

I assumed it was Boulder who laid the egg.  She has been doing the rooster dance for about a week now, and spending time in the nesting box.

But, after we brought in the egg and began to fry it up, I heard the egg laying squawk outside.  I hustled back out to the coop which Boulder was just exiting.  She was the second layer of the day - so who was the first?  Hmmmmm  . .

Our little pullet egg, was slightly smaller than a normal egg.

Gage (um, I mean superman) and I decided to fry up our first egg, while it was still warm.  We fried it up by itself so we could truly appreciate the taste of our first egg.   I held the camera and Gage got to work cooking the egg.

The yolk broke slightly from its long decent into the frying pan.  But it was a beautiful orange yolk, firm enough to sit up and smile at you.

So much prettier, tastier and healthier than eggs from confined hens.  Hens that spend their lives inside, in cages or not.  Being inside all of the time makes for unhappy hens and unhealthy eggs.   There is a huge difference in taste as well as nutritional value between fresh egg from a free range hen and confined hen's eggs.

Eggs from hens raised on pasture have:

• 1/3 less cholesterol
• 1/4 less saturated fat
• 2/3 more vitamin A
• 2 times more omega-3 fatty acids
• 3 times more vitamin E
• 7 times more beta carotene
• 4 to 6 times more vitamin D

So if you haven't tried them, find some real free-range eggs from a farmer or friend and try them out.  YUMMY.

Yogurt

Making your own yogurt is one of the easiest and most satisfying things you can do.  Yogurt made at home is creamy and fresh, filled with great living probiotics for your family and sugar-free.  Most yogurt purchased at the store has a lot of added sugar.  When you make your own you can add a little sugar, honey or maple sugar for sweetness and whatever fruit you prefer.  We love berries in our yogurt and fresh nectarines off of our trees.

The first things I would recommend is to start with organic whole milk.  I know we live in a culture that views fat as the enemy, but fat is so important in the flavor and consistency of yogurt.  Low-fat yogurt has added thickeners to make it firm and palatable.  If you try to make it at home with out all of those yucky additives you will most be likely unhappy with the results.  We should always go organic when it comes to dairy products, as they have the some of the highest quantities of pesticides as well as growth hormones and antibiotics.  Too many bad things to mention.  But organic, particularly grass fed dairy is a good addition to our diet (unless, of course you are lactose intolerant).

To get started all you need is whole milk and some plain, organic yogurt with live cultures.  You can buy yogurt starters as well.  That can be a good way to start, especially if you are looking to have a particular style of yogurt.  Different yogurt starters can give you more creamy, thicker or tangier yogurts.  Here is a website with some yogurt cultures http://www.cheesemaking.com/.

All you need to get started is a double boiler, a thermometer, a spoon and your culture or plain yogurt.

I ran out of plain yogurt, so I used the "plain" part of this strawberry yogurt.  Hey, sometimes you just got to use what you have.  :)  I love the book Nourishing Traditions, it has a yogurt recipe as well as many other useful recipes and advice.  It is definitely a worthwhile book to add to your cook book library.  We get raw milk in these glass containers, I find that raw milk yogurt is the best.  

Place 4 cups whole milk into the double boiler.  Gently heat the milk to 180 degrees and allow to cool to about 110 degrees. 

Once the milk is 110 degrees stir in 1/2 cup yogurt or yogurt starter.  Pour into a glass, enamel or stainless steel container - I use a ball canning jar.  At this point you need to keep your yogurt at about 95 degrees for 8 hours.  The easiest way to do this is in a dehydrator.  I love mine and use it all of the time.  If you don't have a dehydrator you can cover the container and place it in a warm oven for 8 hours.  If it is a hot sunny day, cover it and put it outside out of the sun for the 8 hours.  The other option is to get a yogurt maker.   These range in price from $20 to $60, you can get them at Target or Amazon.  They are an affordable and provide an easy way to make yogurt regularly.

After the 8 hours you should have a firm, smooth, yummy yogurt that you now put in the refrigerator.  Because there are no additives to your yogurt you will see a slight separation of the whey.  The clear liquid can just be poured off before you eat the yogurt or stirred in.   

Yogurt is a fantastic treat to have with fruit or granola.  It may disappear as you make it.  But if you find  you have some left over, try this recipe.  It is my favorite yogurt recipe. 

Brown Sugar-Yogurt Tart in a Nut Crust 

from Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone by:  Deborah Madison (Awesome cookbook!  highly recommend)

Nut Crust:

1/2 cup almonds, pecans or walnuts

3/4 cup white or whole wheat flour

1/4 tsp salt

3 T light brown sugar

5 T butter, cut into small pieces

1/2 tsp vanilla mixed with 2 T water

Preheat the over to 350 degrees.  toast the nuts on a sheet pan until they smell good, about 8 minutes.  Cool, then chop half the nuts finely and the other half coarsely,  Toss all the nuts, flour, salt and sugar in a bowl, then cut in the butter using your fingers or two knives.  Add the vanilla-water bit by bit.  Use your hands to bring the dough together into a ball.   Line the dough into a 9 inch tart pan or shallow pie pan.  Refrigerate until firm.

Tart:

1 1/4 cups yogurt, preferably whole mik, drained*

2 eggs

3 T butter, melted

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

2/3 cup dark brown sugar, packed

2 T Flour

Whisk together the yogurt, eggs, butter, vanilla and sugar, then stir in the flour.  Set the shell on a sheet pan, pour in the batter, and bake until set and browned, 30 to 35 minutes.  Serve warm.

*(Stir yogurt until smooth, than pour it into a strainer lined    with a double layer of cheesecloth.  Fold the ends over the top and set the whole unit over a bowl to drip.  Let it drip for about 25 minutes to lose a good portion of the whey)

This is a fantastic and relatively easy tart.  A great use for extra yogurt.  Enjoy!!