Solstice Camping

My oldest son W wanted us to go on a group camping trip with some of his homelearning friends.  I've had lots on the go lately and, since W is 15, I thought it would be a good idea to challenge him to get us all packed for this camping trip including our food preparation.  He got a lot done while I was at work and then when I got home we made some calzones together.  This had me remembering all our camping trips when the boys were very little and me trying to madly pack everything by myself - I much prefer this way! ;-)

We'd decided that none of us wanted to cook or do dishes while we were camping so we needed to prepare everything ahead of time.  We wanted to make things we could eat with hands only so we would each only need one bowl and spoon to take care of (for our morning yogurt and granola). 

We made our regular pizza calzones for one dinner.

And then we decided to try making a brocolli, mushroom, potato filling with a cheddar sauce for the next night's calzones (we like to buy something similar to these in our favourite health food store in the town of Paia on Maui - Mana Food's). 

We needed another batch of our latest favourite granola bars too.  I got a recipe from a friend's blog and converted it a bit to suit us (and then have proceeded to make it once a week since).  The original recipe is here if you'd like to try it.  My converted recipe is here.

Easy (and Delicious!) Granola Bars

4 cups old fashioned oats
1/2 cup walnuts
1/3 organic cane sugar
1/2 tsp salt

Put these 4 ingredients in a bowl and mix well.

In small pot put -

1/2 cup coconut oil (that I melt with the peanut butter and honey)
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup natural peanut butter

and melt at med heat.  (Watch carefully so as not to burn - ask me how I know!)

Press into a 10X15 cookie sheet(do use this size pan because if you use too big of a cookie sheet then it gets spread too thin - we know lots about being spread too thin, don't we! and it ain't a good thing!)

Sprinkle 1/2 cup of chocolate chips on top.

     



Bake at 425 for 5 mins turn the pan then bake for another 5 mins.  Keep a close eye on them so they don't get too browned.  Honey browns quite quickly in baking.

Take out of oven and let cool (do let cool first, if you are impatient to eat them - like me- then they go all crumbly and you think that they didn't work well but they do...if patient!) Cut into bars.  Eat.  Make another batch. ;-)
So with all the food prep out of the way there was nothing to do but enjoy -

the lake...

the persistent Columbian Ground Squirrels (which I do not feed but they never did seem to get the message )...

(here he is trying to get into my pack to get my trail mix)

our friends, lots of time to read and....

Hammock Time!  Bliss!

Edited to add (since a few asked about the A Pace of Grace book)-



Yes, I think it is a fantastic read. I had this book out of the library in the wintertime and really loved it. I've recommended it to all my friends (and even a few moms I don't know well) and they've all really loved it too. It is filled with all kinds of thought-provoking ideas and potentially life-changing information. The first time I read it I read it through quickly and didn't have time to do the exercises in it but this time I am making time to do them. One of the first exercises is to consider the questions - "What stresses me?" and "What blesses me?". The book really gets you thinking about what is important in your life and how we can live our best life without spending on energy (and time) on less important things.


I highly recommend it and would love to hear if you enjoy it. It is actually one of those books that I would like to buy (I almost never buy new books) so that I could read it with a highlighter pen and go through highlighting all the especially meaningful bits. ;-)

Radical Homemakers

I have long thought of myself as a homemaker - as in the Maker of the Home - and have been very proud to do so, after all, what could be more important than making a home for my loved ones and I.  When I heard about the book Radical Homemakers I asked our library to buy it so I was very pleased to see it sitting in my library bin last week.  I knew it was my kind of book almost from the moment I started reading it.  Every once in a while I find books that are so good that I don't want to put them down and so with this one I managed to find a way to read it while I went about my daily round.  I even found a way to clip it open so that I could read it while knitting gifts (which I've never been tempted to do before).

It is such a good feeling to come across a book telling about a group of people who value the same things you do.  I enjoyed reading about each person in the book and very much felt a feeling of community while reading.  And, when you choose to live your life outside the norm in our society, it always feels good to hear about others making similar life choices - it is very affirming.  Such a good book!  And so, I think the next time someone asks "What do you do?" I might just say, "I am a Radical Homemaker."  How fun is that?

Crusty Portuguese-American Yeasted Cornbread and...Coyotes.

A few days ago I thought I would try two more recipes from Kneadlessly Simple, I chose the recipe for Crusty Portuguese-American Yeasted Cornbread (because it sounded too good not to try) and San Francisco-style Sourdough bread (this time made with yogurt and vinegar because I've just started the sourdough starter recipe from the book).  I baked the cornbread one after dinner and we ate half of it for a bedtime snack, the rest we saved to eat with our dinner the next night - it's delicious with chili.  I'm so delighted with how well these breads turn out and how simple they are to make.  I'm looking forward to tasting the sourdough loaf, it is waiting in the fridge to be baked with tonight's dinner. My  sourdough starter will be ready to test in a week and I'm looking forward to loaves of bread that remind me of a long ago trip to San Francisco when S and I were newly married.

On Saturday morning E, our spotter of all things animal (if there is a creature of any kind in range he will spot it), vegetable (he is always the first to find the wild berries), and mineral (beautiful stones and...coin - if there is money on the ground he Will see it) noticed a coyote outside.  We  all looked outside and saw three of them.  We watched them for awhile and then, it seemed, they left.  Later that morning we let one of our cats out and, after a bit, I noticed that she was crouching on the deck in her "stalking" position.  I looked out and we saw the coyotes again, one of them was just below the deck staring up at us (or more likely, her).

I opened the patio door and she zipped in the house, still down low to the ground.  She raced through the living room, up the stairs to our bedroom where I thought she went under the bed.  When I looked up I spotted her here...

high up on the window ledge of the highest window - watching the coyotes from a safe spot.

Summertime Feasting

We've been eating straight from the garden and enjoying it so much.  I love eating at this time of year...well, I love eating all through the year but I love the freshness of this time of year.  Some meals we've been enjoying the last few days are breakfast burritos (for dinner, though).  We saute new potatoes with garlic and herbs until they are browned and cooked through. Then we put them in tortillas with eggs that we've scrambled with sauteed zucchini and red pepper.

We top that off with homemade salsa, tomatoes and cheese.  This cheese in one of my favourite ones from Gort's Gouda - they're all good and W would tell you that the Cumin gouda is the best. I like the smoked gouda with  Habanero peppers because the smokey taste is delicious on burritos or nachos.  This is VERY hot though so we just use a bit.  We learned a lesson about habaneros last year when W put some from the garden onto a batch of chilli cheese fries that he was making - let me just say there was nothing "chilly" about them. 

I've also been trying more zucchini recipes.  We made two Impossible Zucchini Pies from Simply in Season. 

I think next time I would halve the recipe and make one so that we wouldn't have leftovers.  We preferred it hot out of the oven.

We've been enjoying buckets of beans - so far mostly made my favourite way but last night I found a new recipe that we all loved so now we will be having that a lot as well.

And we've been gorging on tomatoes - greek salad, tomato pie, tomato sandwiches, cheese tomato buns under the broiler and we've been using these...

to make platefuls of this - slices of tomato, olive oil, salt and pepper, fresh mozzarella and fresh basil.  So good.  S ends up eating so many that he barely has room for the rest of dinner.

And we're eating buckets of cherry tomatoes...just as they are.

I feel very blessed every time I go to my garden.  Life is truly abundant and gardening is the perfect medium to remind me so each and every day.  The other day I was feeling very stretched with some aspects of our life just now, I knew that I needed to get into the garden and just be.  It only took an hour of working in the garden to have me back feeling peaceful and choosing joy over choosing frustration.  The garden is magical that way too - a place to feed soul and the senses as well as hungry tummies.

Between Gardens

The other day I was searching the library website for a book I read some time ago when I came across one called Between Gardens: Observations on Gardening, Friendship and Disability.  Between gardens, I thought, that sounds interesting (since I consider myself between gardens right now)  but I didn't put it on hold because I figured I had enough books and projects on the go.  Later that day I was in the library picking up holds and absent-mindedly looking at the shelves while the boys chose some books when I saw the same book on the shelf.  I'm a fan of serendipity and so I decided to take the book home to read when I got a chance.  I started reading the first couple pages that afternoon and decided I needed to finish it the next day so that I could take it to my friend to read, I knew she would enjoy as much as I was. 

It's a wonderful book.  I would highly recommend it as a read for any woman, gardener or nature lover - as a woman, gardener AND nature lover I found it very moving and insightful.  I'm so glad it found me at the library. 

Boymade Onion Bread

One of the things that has always been very important to me is that my boys know how to take care of themselves.  They both love to cook (and eat) and so, along with learning to grow their own food, they've also learned to prepare it.  This morning W was looking through his Country Wisdom and Know How book and decided he would make the onion bread recipe.

He has made bread in the bread machine before and made buns and bannock but I can't recall him making yeast bread completely on his own with no help before.  Off he went and sometime later he brought E and I a slice to sample.  It was really delicious!  And since we have a rule about not complaining about something someone else cooks (which is mostly followed) I didn't even say anything about the fact that he used the white flour usually reserved for pizza dough.

Happily for an ever-hungry teenage boy the recipe made enough for two loaves so he has a whole loaf left...I expect it will last for another hour or so.

How to be Happier Day by Day: A Year of Mindful Actions

How to be Happier Day by Day...for only one thin dime.

What?!?!

My lovely husband found a book shop run by The Friends of the Library while we were on holiday. (yes, we are addicted to the library and everything to do with it)  The next time we were headed that way he took me to the shop to see what I could see.  I found all sorts of goodies and you can imagine how pleased I was when the gentleman minding the shop told us the books were 10 cents each unless otherwise marked, not including the free books outside.  Well...need I say more?

Anyway, out of the books we came home with this one is my favourite.  I read it in its entirety that night and the next day instead of reading only one section daily.  It is just one of those books that is fun to have close by - uplifting, inspiring and motivating.

Enjoying...

An excellent documentary on good food.

A really great DVD to watch and especially fun for me because much of it was filmed in this province, with two of our favourite farm markets (in B.C.) shown.

An excellent book on friendship. 

Such a moving story and so worthy of telling - forty years of friendship amongst women.

A CD full of lovely, fun music...

and, since I haven't driven the boys mad with my singing along yet I picked up this one from the library too.

If I can't drive them crazy with my singing The Lonely Goatherd or Do-Re-Mi then I likely will with Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious (although...I've heard them both singing bits of My Favourite Things!).  Is it even possible to listen to these songs and not sing along??

Now...since I picked up this book from the library on Friday I just need a little time for some crafting. ;-)

The Self Sufficient-ish Bible

Sometime ago I asked our library to purchase this book and then was thrilled when it showed up on my hold list.  I picked it up the other day and am really enjoying it.

I think a lot of it I like simply because it is nice to read about other people doing things such as not using shampoo, eating nettles and other wild plants, making their own herbal medicines and more...it helps me to feel that I'm not really that weird. (plus I can use it as written evidence to show my husband that there really are lots of people eating nettles and not using shampoo) ;-)  Seriously though, it is just packed with loads of good ideas...simple ideas for helping one along the path towards a more self sufficient lifestyle.

W really loves the layout of it and the way it is illustrated, he has been reading it too and has already found something he wants to make as a gift. (for me, I think but shhhh)  And I can't wait to try making nettle beer, I knew there must be a way I could get S to enjoy nettles and surely this must be it.  This book also makes me really, really want to find our next home so that we can get on with our gray water system and a proper rain water collection system.  I find it quite inspiring.

The Self Sufficient-ish Bible.  Love it.

The Stinky Cheese Man

My boys LOVED this book and so I thought I would mention it here in case you've never heard of it (I hadn't until I saw it at our library and knew, by the title, that my boys would like it).  According to all the males in my family it is a must read.  The sort of book that one can barely wait to get home from the library to start reading and, once reading, one can not be induced to get off the couch to help the mama with anything at all until one is finished reading it at least once, even if the mama wants help unloading the groceries.  The sort of book that, said mama wanting help really cannot get too annoyed about not getting any unloading of groceries help because she keeps hearing gales of giggles from the direction of the couch and she does so love the sound of giggles.  So...The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales...you've been warned. ;-)

Living, Learning and Loving

I recently found out about a wonderful little gem of a book written by Leo Buscaglia. I was reading Personhood: The Art of Being Fully Human and was reminded just how much I love Leo Buscaglia's writing, I decided to see if he had some other books I hadn't yet read and came across The Fall of Freddie the Leaf: A Story of Life for All Ages.

This is such a good read and it really is good for any ages. E isn't feeling well so yesterday we sat out on the deck, cuddled up and read this book and then had a good chat about life and Leo. I love reading his books because I feel his light-hearted, open-minded spirit just pours out of the pages of his writing. I find him to be very inspiring (in his encouragement to people to take responsibility to live your own best life) and I wanted to share some of that with E.

I first came across his writing when I read Living, Learning and Loving (which you will notice is one of the labels on this blog and how I prefer to refer to our way of learning). I saw the spine of this book on a table at a library sale and thought - Living, Learning and Loving?!? That's what we do!! (and then, of course, I wrote a blathering post about it) ;-) Since then I've been enjoying his work.

On the end pages of Freddie the Leaf there is a quote that was found on Leo's typewriter the day after he died. It reads, " Every moment spent in unhappiness is a moment of happiness lost." I love the simplicity and the clarity of that thought and I think he was a very wise man, indeed.

Things I am grateful for...

Things I am grateful for....

a library chock full of all sorts of good books.

(am currently enjoying this one very much)

An orchard full of organically sprayed cherries where we can go and pick (as many or as few as we like) for only 90 cents a pound. I didn't miss my cherry trees at all because this was so much simpler than caring for my own cherry trees (and having to pick every single cherry on them).

And this summer I am extremely grateful for the efforts of other growers and for local farm stands and farmers' markets. It is taking some getting used to to have to go out and buy veggies instead of trolling round my own garden getting inspiration for dinner. I feel very blessed to live in an area full of good, locally grown produce (and also for generous friends willing to share their produce).

I feel especially grateful for this after spotting this visitor on the Sunday (and again a bit closer yesterday afternoon).

Tomorrow on As the Garden Grows -

Will Heather have a garden left after she returns from holiday? Will the deer munch with zest and zeal on her little zucchini plants that are just growing tiny little zukes? Will they trample her much-loved tomatoes? Stay tuned...

;-)

Little Felted Animals - a penguin

This is the time of year when the boys and I get to settle into doing crafts, reading books and taking our time baking good stuff to eat. Well, normally we do...today I decided to dung out the year's accumulation of clutter in our spare room (and by that I really mean yeeeeaaars of accumulation). Not fun!! But, the other day we had some fun doing some needle felting. We had a needle-felting class with some friends last year and enjoyed it very much; my boys especially loved making gnomes.
Our library just bought this book and I couldn't resist making something from it right away.

This is my first attempt - a little penguin. ;-)

Next I might try the mouse. The book has 16 different critters to make and the instructions (with photos) are clear and easy to follow. It's a great book, well worth buying...but since the library already has we don't really need to. Have I mentioned before just how much I love our library? ;-)

Pioneer bonnet

Part of our homelearning has always included learning about the pioneers. I have a huge respect and admiration for these people. E and I have been reading A Pioneer Life (an excellent book) for the last while (W and I read it some years ago when he was younger) and E absolutely loves this book. It is a great one to read if you are also reading the Little House series because it has all sorts of drawings to really show the details of pioneer life as well as lots of fun activities - like making butter.He is fascinated with every last detail of pioneer living and it must be said that I am fascinated too. I think my love for that time started with Laura Ingalls. I have a photo (that I just came across recently) of myself at my fifth birthday party wearing my Laura Ingalls outfit - complete with bonnet- that my mom had made me. Last week I decided that it was high time I had a new sun bonnet and found a pattern on Mother Earth News website.This is my first attempt. I made it out of some plain unbleached cotton that I had on hand from making shopping bags years ago. I just wanted to make sure that I liked the pattern so now I will make a few alterations and then make one out of some floral fabric that I picked up at the thrift store.

The Well-adjusted Child

My kids have always learned at home, so with my oldest being 12 I feel like we have been at this for awhile. Whenever someone new to homelearning has asked me about it I always suggest that the first thing they read is Marty Layne's treasure of a book. Reading it really gave me a sense of how I wanted our life of learning to look and, more importantly, how I wanted it to feel. When I read her book I felt as though I was sitting down for coffee at the kitchen table of a wise friend, someone who was able to gently guide me to where I wanted to go...even though I didn't even know that place existed yet. She gave me a real insight to how gentle, loving, fulfilling and natural learning at home could be...for my kids and for myself.

A couple weeks ago I ordered The Well-adjusted Child: The Social Benefits of Homeschooling from our library and now, whenever someone new to learning at home asks me for some book recommendations, I will tell them about this one as well. What a fantastic book for someone new to learning at home... and also for someone who has been at it for years. I think it covers every cause for concern someone (or someone's relative) could ever have. It is a very empowering book, it gives all kinds of supportive information in a very straight-forward, clear manner as well as lots of stories from homelearners themselves.

One of my favourite parts is the story the author tells in the introduction, it starts out "Once upon a time, all children were homeschooled." Something that our society seems to have forgotten.