Cluttered Brain

During the past couple of days I have had so many posts run through my mind. There is so much going on inside of my brain that I don't even know where to start. I think I'm going to go the list route. Yeah, a list sounds good, complete with pictures of course.

This is kind of old news, but our coop is finally complete! I am so proud of my husband for creating the plans and constructing this masterpiece single hand-idly. Built out of 90% (free!) up-cycled materials - f yea!

 


The St. Louis Zoo opened their new seal exhibit, it was pretty sweet.

 

 


S is walking with his little walker toy that Old Grandma Lila got him from a garage sale at the farm. I am so happy she found it! S just pulls himself right up and away he goes.

 


The child LOVES to swing. I mean, I think he would stay in that thing all day. It's funny because he hated his swing when he was a baby......as if he isn't a baby anymore ;)




He has five best friends. He chases after them until he gets a few good pets in. He thinks they are hilarious.

 


We got our first eggs!! What an amazing feeling it was to open the latch and see 2 little eggies waiting to be collected.

  


And last but not least, our FREE chair. Found it in front of someone's house while taking a walk with S and the baby I nanny. It was covered with a sheet and had a sign that said "take". Don't mind if I do!

 

For the Love of Rain

 
Evening, Independence Day at the farm

Lately I have been confused, wondering if I live in Death Valley or not. These past few weeks have been extremely hot and dry. The grass is crunchy and the crops are sad.
Our local farmers are truly taking a hit. 4th of July firework displays were canceled all over the region in fear of the fireworks starting wildfires. It has been extreme to say the least.

Last night was the first time in four long, tired weeks that the rain decided to shower down on this thirsty land.  I can truly say this - it was the most beautiful rain I have ever experienced. It was spiritual. The ground, the trees, the flowers, they all gulped it up with such eager mouths. I put myself in their position and allowed myself to take it in from the vegetation's perspective. I breathed easier. I inhaled and exhaled with such a tender, sweet sense of relief. I imagined steam rising from my whole surface.

As we drove down that 2 lane highway I stared as the sinking sun put on a mystical display of thick yellow and pale blue alternating rays. The rays seemed as if they were growing among layers and layers of different types of clouds, its soil - fog.

We gained miles while the sun quickly dipped and a dusty rose reflection beamed off the glossy black interstate. I was in a trance.

It really is amazing how we are all connected, humans, plants, insects, animals, land and water.

The Power of Song and Dance

Lately we have been listening to a ton of music, all different genres. It keeps us moving throughout our day. If there is a strange funk, we just turn on Pandora and dance it out. 

It's amazing how much influence music has on S. Now that I started turning on Pandora, S plays independently while I have a moment to clean. If he fights his sleep, we just turn on a fun dancing song and dance around the living room until he tires out. Works every time.

 Today, Miike Snow saved the day.

 

How I Became a Stay at Home Mom - Part 1

 


Ever since I found out I was pregnant, I knew that I had to stay at home with my baby. I knew that time with him would be my very top priority, along with quality time with my husband. After S was born I dreaded going back to work, but I had to. We needed to pay the bills. Every single day I would brain storm ways to be able to stay at home, you could say I sort of became obsessed.

After 9 months, we finally decided to make the move. Our plan is this - I would nanny a couple days a week, give swim lessons here and there and stay at home the rest of the week. This would give me more time at home to save. Here are the ways we decided to stretch our money. 

First, we decided to get rid of all unnecessary bills. The only extra bill we had was our $8.00 a month Netflix bill (I know that sounds so cheap, but hey, it adds up). It was an easy decision. We already don't have cable. Jordan and I feel that our time is better spent when the television is off. We also do not have a home phone, cell phones only, which brings me to my next tip.

Cell phones. We keep it simple, never had the urge to get the latest and greatest "phone". No internet, no unlimited data; just a little text and talk plan. Jordan has an old school flip phone and I have a one of those fancy phones that slide open ;) For some reason we don't feel like we need the world at our finger tips at all times; we need the ability to get a hold of each other, our friends and our family.  I like the feeling of being "unplugged" it feels free. Paying for the internet at home is enough for us.

Food. This is a big one for us. With both of us working, we'd spend an ungodly amount of money on food. I worked in the Central West End, a trendy area in the heart of the city, and would go out for lunch every day. Not only would I buy lunch, but I would buy breakfast from the little cafe down the hall from my office. It was much too convenient. Jordan would do the same. We would both get home from work late and not feel like cooking and cleaning up the mess. Naturally, we would choose to eat out (most of the time). Now I have time to plan meals and grocery shop. We also hit up Soulard Market (a huge semi outdoor farmer's market with great prices) on Saturdays and get our farm share every other week. We use what we buy and Jordan brings his lunch to work.

(Soulard Market)

Cooking and baking from scratch can really save a ton of money. Not only do you save money, but you know exactly what you are putting into your body. It makes me feel great knowing what every single ingredient I am consuming is, makes me feel even better knowing that it counts - well, most of the time anyway ;)

English muffins are a hot item in our home. Instead of spending several dollars on them every week, I am now spending pennies by making them from scratch. I will post the recipe soon. We do not eat many loaves of bread, but I bake them as well.

All of our baby's food is hand made. He usually eats a mashed version of the veggies we make ourselves for dinner. Sometimes he even eats it cut up in pieces. For breakfast he eats a bit of fruit from our farm share and some rolled oats. I buy a big bag of Bob's Red Mill organic rolled oats for $4.00 and make about 1/3 of a cup a day. It lasts a long time and keeps him full and energized. We also buy steel cut oats and make them on occasion, but they take about 20 minutes to cook. Quick oats are what we stay far away from, especially the individual packets - way too much sugar and artificial flavor AND they are way overpriced. Now that I am finished with my oat tangent I will move on.

Transportation. Right before our little guy was born we decided to trade in my old gas guzzling Blazer for a *used* Ford Escape Hybrid in great condition. We live in the city so this was a super smart move for us. Those who do not do much city driving wouldn't benefit much from this, mainly because city driving is what saves you. Our Escape also has a 5 star safety rating so that helps on insurance costs. Jordan drives a Jeep and a motorcycle that is more like a street legal dirt bike. The Jeep is not doing so good so our plan is to sell it and become a one vehicle family. That will save us tons of money on gas and insurance. We live several blocks from Jordan's work so he has been riding his bicycle on the cooler days and motorcycle on the super hot days. So far, so good.

Clothing. Never ever ever buy something for the full price! It will go on sale. Everything I own was either given to me second hand or bought off the clearance rack for 50% off. Now I'm not super trendy or overly concerned about my clothing, but I do like to look cute. I do so living by this essential rule.

I will not pay over $7.00 for a clothing item for the baby. I simply can not justify it. He just grows so fast! Carter's always has amazing sales. All of his brand new clothes are bought from Carter's for under $5.00 an item. Just can't beat it!


I have many many more ways that we are saving money. They tend to be a little more on the crunchy side and I'm sure there are people who would never go this far, but it totally works for our family. I will be posting more about this next week. Keep in touch!

Tree of Life

 

This year was my first Mother's Day and a beautiful one it was. It was pretty laid back for the most part, but I had one thing I was determined to do.

 
 



Before I jump straight to it, I'm going to explain. While pregnant with S, I explored my options regarding my placenta. Our plan was to get it encapsulated. It sounded like the best option for me considering it helps with milk production and the baby blues along with many other benefits. Well, his birth came and went and the placenta remained in our freezer. I thought about it countless times. As the weeks passed, it no longer seemed necessary to have it encapsulated. Months past and it was still hanging out in the freezer.





As Mother's Day approached I finally had my mind set on what I planned to do with my beloved placenta, my tree of life. I couldn't imagine just throwing it away. Letting it rot away in some land fill next to garbage. I decided to plant it under a baby peach tree. This amazing organ that my body grew then housed and cradled my baby boy was now going back to the Earth. Back to the Earth to fertilize the soil and give back to us for years to come, in peach form.


 


So on Sunday we woke up bright and early to pick up the tree before Jordan headed off to work. S and I spent the day livin' easy. Took a long walk around the park, S napped, nursed and napped again. Once Jordan got off work we headed to GG and Paw's (my parent's) for a Mother's Day dinner. Before the sun set we headed home to dig, plant and water.


 


When the hole was ready we placed the placenta at the bottom then topped it with the tree. S was getting really tired at this point and was just ready to go to bed.


  


We mulched the tree and gave it a big long drink then headed in for bed.

After S was snuggled in our bed, I sat on the couch and remembered how I wanted to plant a tree for him, his birth tree. I envisioned him watching it grow as he, himself grew too. I envisioned him playing under it, climbing it, kind of like a close friend. Ended up killing two birds with one stone, so to speak.

It was the best Mother's Day I ever had ;)

Time Well Spent

This is how we cook.

Actually, this is how we do everything. S in one arm while we juggle our daily tasks with the other. He loves to be held and we love to do the holding. He doesn't like the sling, or any other carrier for that mater, but he sure loves to be in our arms. It's probably that he feels included in what we are doing, instead of sitting on the sidelines. Honestly, we wouldn't do it any other way. We could have him sitting in the other room on the floor or in the kitchen sitting in his bouncer, but we all like to be in on the action. He sure isn't to young to start helping! Maybe the more his is involved in the preparation, the better the eater he will be. He might enjoy the chickens a little more because we included him in the interaction at an early age. What I do know is that I am happy we choose to do this. This won't last forever. These are times we can never get back and we are making the absolute most of them.  I'm happy he enjoys being in our arms, time well spent. 

Homemade Yogurt

 A couple of weeks ago my sister-in-law gave us a huge jug of raw cow's milk. I am not the biggest fan of drinking milk so I had to come up with something to do with it. I gave a portion of it away, Jordan used some in his coffee and the rest was turned into yogurt. 

Our process is actually quite simple, just keep in mind that *I am not an expert*. We do not own a yogurt maker so we do it the good old fashioned way.

First, make sure you have everything together:

raw milk or any milk, really (except ultra pasteurized)

sterile jars

food thermometer

large pot

plain "starter" yogurt with live cultures, 1/4 cup per quart (I used Stonyfield) - you can also save some from your homemade batch to make the next batch

There is the low-temperature method and the high-temperature method. I used the high-temperature method.

Get your jars together and make sure they are really really clean. They must be very clean because we plan on fermenting the milk and don't want any bad bacteria to get in the way.

If you are using raw milk, make sure you skim off the heavy cream so you can turn it into butter or whatever you prefer.

Next, pour the milk into your pot. Heat it to 180 degrees over medium heat.


 


Once your milk reaches 180 degrees, remove the pot from the heat and allow to cool down to 110 degrees. You can do this quickly by submerging the pot in iced water.

Now, add your starter yogurt and stir well.

Transfer yogurt to your clean jars.


  


Now, cover your jars with a towel to ensure that your milk remains between 80 and 100 degrees and let it sit for 10 to 24 hours. I made mine on a warm day that our air conditioner was off so I could just cover it and leave it on the counter to ferment. A couple other options are to turn on your oven and leave the jars in there or place your jars on a heating pad and cover with a towel.

Refrigerate before eating.

We use our yogurt to make salad dressing, to bake with and to eat with fruit and granola.

I hope you enjoy!