Givers and Takers

Some people are givers and other are takers. It takes all to make the world go 'round. But I sure like being around givers, they seem to be much more pleasant and also cheerful. I truly believe that when people live unselfish giving lives, they make the world and themselves a better place.

For some reason I was thinking this evening about the three major events that have happened in my adult life.

1) giving birth to multiples, which were premature, along with being married to an unsupported (mean) man man at the time who was military and the twins were born Sept 1st 2001. They were ten days when Sept 11th happened. We live off base at the time and their dad wasn't even able to leave base for about a month. I was living in a very small town at the time, I didn't know anyone and had no support. Who came to help me, my mother, that's all. Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful for her support, with out it I may have gone crazy at the time. The funny thing is, she's the family that lives the furthest from me.

2) The divorce (July 2004). Need I say more. I was at risk of loosing my home, I had no job, I had to work with a domestic violence support center and set up and use a safety plan and evacuation to get out of the situation. To make a long story short, who was the one to offer up their house for the twins and I to stay or live at if need be? Again, my mother.

3) Third and hopefully the last, the onset of my illness (Aug 2008). I didn't know if I was ever going to go back to work, some days I couldn't walk or lift a water bottle to drink, I was close to foreclosure, I couldn't drive to the grocery store to get food for the kids. Who called and talked to me daily (until I said I couldn't afford my phone bill anymore) ? Again, my mom. Luckily by this time in my life I had a local circle of support, whom I couldn't have done without. But what about the rest of my family?

My kids are my priority. Their health, well being, happiness, security, etc. Although they aren't spoiled by any means. When I think of my security in the future, it's not how much money I have in the bank, or how much stuff I have, it's making sure my kids are taken care of. I want for them to always have a home and garden to come home to. When/if they ever run into hard times, I/we will be there to help them. Security is knowing you don't have to depend on the government to supply you with food and things. If I keep the home I own in the family and pay it off as soon as I can, along with the garden and all the edible landscaping, my children will never go without. They can choose to purchase their own home someday, but if something happens, they will always have a place to go, and feel welcome!

Thank you to all the givers in this world!! And may your children learn from you!

One cute chick!

Here's Solo, our baby chick. She's an arucana chicken. We call her Solo because she's the only one that hatched out of 12. We were told from a friend that they were fertile, but oh well, we'll just have one spoiled chicken. We all really, really, really hope she's a girl, because we can't keep roosters in the city. And after all this disapointment, with only one hatching, we'de hate to have to giver her away, or worse yet, eat him. So we're hopefully calling her a her.

I think she sort of looks like a baby owl.

This is her campanion, so cute! She snuggles up with it when she sleeps. I had to really sneak in to get this picture when she was really tired. Usually everytime she hears us come into the back room, she perks up and peeps at us.

Gluten free, dairy free, and egg free cake

I've really been challenged as of lately in finding recipes that we can all enjoy but not have any allergies too. When looking at a lot of the vegan recipes they often use wheat flour and/or oatmeal. Well, with Hailey's wheat allergy, I had to keep digging. It's not too bad eating gluten free and dairy free, as we've been doing that for awhile now at our house. But theN to add egg free also, it makes baking anything near impossible. I told the kids they may like a raw dessert, with fresh fruit and chocolate pudding even better then the "want to be" cake.

In doing some research I found that you can mix up ground flax seed (which we already always have on hand) and mix it in with water and heat on the stove top at a simmer for 5 minutes. I added 1/4 up ground flax seed to about 1/2 cup plus 2 T water. I mixed it together, let it simmer for 5 minute and then let it cool. It says that it stays good for up to two weeks in the fridge. You add 1/4 cup of the mixture for each egg in the recipe.

Ok, so the easy thing I did it was to purchase a gluten free cake mix at Fred Meyer. On the box it calls for water, eggs ,and butter. I simply substituted the flax mixture for the eggs and veggie oil for the butter. It turned out wonderfully to all of our surprize.

Now I just need to find some new recipes for dinners that we can all eat and enjoy the taste.

Changes on the farm

We've had some changes here on our little farm. It all started with the results from our allergy testing. Hailey and I got tested for food allergens since we were the ones suffering from symptoms and also have a lower immune system.



If you know about what we've been up to, you'll know that we have been looking for the right goat to have and breed, with the ultimate intention of having a milk goat. One of the main reasons besides being more self sufficient was the fact that my daughter and I didn't do well with cows milk, and goat milk to purchase is so expensive. We've also been working on growing our small chicken and duck flock. In fact right now we have a chicken incubating 2 fertile eggs and then the cousins are using an incubator to hatch the remaining 10 eggs. Our goal, more eggs, more affordable and healthy protein for the family.



Ok, so what's the change? Well, lo and behold, guess what Hailey's allergy test showed. A high reaction to chicken eggs, soy beans, chicken, and turkey, along with the ones we already figured out, cow's milk, cheeses and gluten. And here's the kicker, she's also allergic to goats milk! As for myself, I also have an allergy to milk, gluten (although not as severe as Hailey's), peanuts, beef and chicken eggs. Yikes!



So we had to sit down and really think if it was still worth it to continue on our path of owning a milk goat for just two people. Right now we do rice milk, and probably only spend at the most $10 a month on a case of rice milk. So, it looks like we'll be turning our goat pasture into a large garden next year to expand what we already have and be able to sell and can more produce. It will also save us a lot of time and money on goat feed, housing, etc.



As for the chickens, we won't be getting rid of them. We'll be able to sell more eggs and we also really like how they do a great job eating our food scraps and the chickens also provide a lot of entertainment and companionship.



Now to figure out if the family will be eating two separate meals or if we'll all convert to vegans. I'm all for the conversion to a mostly vegan RAW diet. But's it's easier for me to do it, since I have health issue, which makes for motivation. It will be interesting to see how the meals all work out. The boys sure like their meat!

What we're up to this week

We went down to the Ape Caves (Mt St Helen's lava tubes) this weekend. We had a great time visiting with family and friends that joined us, and had a blast exploring the dark lava tubes underground. We camped at a camp ground along the Lewis River. Of course we had to go play in the mud.

After quickly packing up camp this morning we headed home to meet with the man who was buying our untamed and horned goats to eat down the brush on his property. I September we'll be started over in our goat endeavor with two new, tame, and de-horned goats.

Then we spent all the extra energy we could muster to can up two batches of tomatoes. Hence the reason I'm still up this late. Only the die hard caners can when it's 95 degrees outside! When it's that hot we use the propane burner outside on the side of our BBQ.

Beard, here and gone

For family who wanted to see.
Here's Keiths 5 week old beard. We shaved it off today. I think it looked good on him, but the owner didn't like the feeling, and feeling good about how you look is more important. So off it came. I'm proud of him sticking it out for a full 5 weeks. I'm sure thankfull I don't have facial hair to shave off every day, what a pain! If I were a guy, I'd probably have a beard, just because I would be lazy.

Thankfulness

Sometimes I feel like I get so far off track on life. Why? Who knows how or why I do it......all I know is that I feel like sometimes I just wake up and shake myself back to reality and wonder where I've been lost.

Yes, I blog for myself, if others read it and they get a smile or a kind reminder about life, then that's wonderful too. You never know where my blog bantering may lead. :)

Sometimes I get lost in the world of "I wants" and "if only I had this" and "someday I'll have ____ (deck, patio, nice yard, more time, more money, you get the point)"
Then I wake up and look around me and think to myself how blessed, lucky, fortunate, and most of all grateful I am to have what I do have. Boy am I blessed! Life really can't get better.

I struggle sometimes with contentment, I always strive to improve my surroundings, yet I don't try to live like the average American ie large house, fancy car, designer jeans, etc. It's an odd combination. Sometime I just get in a funk and get tired of things being unfinished in the house, unfinished in the yard, etc, etc. Life's the jurney, not the destination, right? After all, once all my projects were finished, I'd just make up more. I'm a dreamer, what can I say. :)

When it comes down to the important stuff I have all I could ask for......above all, God's grace, a wonderful family, a roof over my head, food in the garden and in the cupboards, a car that drives, a job, and improving health.

And when it comes to the important things, what I really want more time for is.....time with my family, time to be in God's word and time outside in God's marvelous creation.

Note to self.........life is much happier when you look at the things you DO have and not the things you don't have.
Live a life filled with thanksgiving and gratefulness, it's a lot more fun that way!