Sweet words.....

"You are my mommy so much!"
~Zeke

Fresh Flowers

For probably a month now I've been blessed with new fresh flower arrangements on a regular basis. Kiersten loves flowers and is constantly putting together different arrangements. I love flowers but arranging them isn't my favorite activity. I certainly do enjoy having a daughter that likes to do this, though! Even in the dead of winter she will take a walk in the woods and come back with a beautiful bouquet of greenery (one of my favorite ways to enjoy a bit of the outdoors indoors!).

I'm often amazed at the difference a week can make in the vegetation world! We certainly shouldn't get bored if we pay attention to nature! And there is so much that I don't know about plants growing in my own yard!

I get nervous every year about this time~planting time. I don't want to forget to plant something important. And I want to get enough of everything planted so that I won't have regrets later on. Because, I can't re-do this for another year. It seems so final. Thankfully, there is always next year but next year can seem so very far away when you know you've missed out on something.

So far this season I have planted:
parsley
kale
cilantro
asparagus (Actually, I'm only maintaining what I already have.)
chicory
tomatoes~Aunt Ruby, Jubilee, Ace 55, Beafsteak, Pear, Cherry, Green Zebra
radishes
lettuces, romaine, head, and loose leaf ~ lots of different kinds but I goofed up my markers and don't know what is what
Burgundy okra
bush beans, couple different varieties
arugula
sugar snap peas
Yukon gold potatoes
borage
peppers, banana, sweet bell, and a hot variety that, again, I've lost the label to
Basil, 3 different varieties
chamomile
lavender
common thyme

I've a decent list of vegetables that I'm still hoping to find a spot for! We'll see.....

A New Cookie

I wanted to share this cookie recipe because it was just too awesome to not share! 101 Cookbooks is a great blog! I would love to try most of the recipes that she shares! These Carrot Oatmeal cookies were just incredible! I will say that I didn't follow the recipe exactly. I'm beginning to wonder if I ever do!

Maple syrup has become so out of my price reach that I substituted my own homemade brown sugar syrup, which is simply:
1 part water:2 parts brown sugar, plus any flavoring you want to add, probably vanilla but I have used almond, too.

Oh, and another substitution that I had to make~I didn't have fresh ginger on hand. Powdered ginger worked just fine.

Here are the ingredients used. I won't post the whole recipe as I'm not sure how much is considered o.k. to share when it comes to recipes. But go on over to 101 Cookbooks and you can have fun browsing for hours if you have the time!

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
scant 1/2 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
1 cup rolled oats
2/3 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup shredded carrots
1/2 cup real maple syrup
1/2 cup unrefined (fragrant) coconut oil, warmed until just melted
1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger

Raw Food Week

I enjoy experimenting with raw food. I've eaten completely raw a few times over the past few years, sometimes for a couple months, usually not that long. I always feel pulled in that direction, especially when Spring rolls around. I also turn to raw food when I'm concerned for my health. I know how great I feel when I'm consuming huge amounts of raw food.

For a week now I've been enjoying the raw food way of eating. This time around I'm determined to keep track of the foods that I really love. I'm always trying new recipes but am awful about keeping track of them! I figure if I post them here, I'll have a record. Plus, maybe someone else will see a recipe or idea that they would want to try. I realize this if quite different than main stream food thinking, but that's o.k.! I certainly wouldn't want to be "normal", whatever that is! :)
I've used recipes from and enjoyed perusing the following sites:
Ani's Raw Food Kitchen I happened upon this blog right after preparing a recipe of Ani's that I found in the Tribest catalog. Kiersten and I made Strawberry Parfaits and they were awesome!
I wasn't able to follow the recipe (again) and so I'll just post what I did below:

Strawberry syrup:
1 cup strawberries
1/4 cup raw honey (We have great local honey! ~ Ani called for Agave Nectar.)

Cream sauce:
1 cup soaked walnuts (Ani calls for cashews which I do think would probably work better but not a must!)
1/4 cup coconut oil, liquid
1/4 cup filtered water, as needed (I used more than this and my cream was still quite thick.)
(1 Tbsp. vanilla extract ~ the recipe calls for this but I didn't have any.)

Topping
1/2 cup sliced strawberries or more

1. Buzz the syrup in your blender.

2. Buzz the cream in your blender.

3. Assemble. Cream on bottom. Syrup on top with strawberries topping it all off. Ami garnished her parfaits with mint. Not sure why I didn't. I have tons of it growing right out my back door. Next time.....

Navita's Naturals I've never ordered from this company but they appear to have a lot to offer.

Raw Royalty Just a new-to-me raw food blog.

Today, I had the most wonderfully refreshing lunch!~~~Vegi Wraps
The wrap itself was a romaine lettuce leaf. I spread this with some Raw Cheddar Cheese Spread I'd made earlier in the week. Next I put a hand full of shredded carrot and zucchini down the middle of the wrap and then topped it off with homemade fresh salsa. My salsa was ultra simple. I chopped up lots of cilantro (from my garden) sweet onion, and a Roma tomato. Oh, yum!

I've enjoyed raw fruit shakes of all kinds, many wonderful salads with incredibly tasty home made salad dressings, and I've enjoyed nuts, raisins and dark chocolate for my snacks. It's been a great week!

I almost forgot! For Easter lunch I made a Raw Strawberry Pie. I've enjoyed every last bite!

Toddler Reading and Play

Here are a few library books that Zeke and I have enjoyed this week.
Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson
All of my children have enjoyed the Harold books, especially my oldest. Simple, fun, and sweet.


I Like it When.... by Mary Murphy
Zeke really like this book. He's begging to keep it at his house. "We really have to keep it at our house." The first page says, "I like it when you hold my hand." I would read this and then he'd respond, "I like it when you hold my hand, too!" We took a long walk on Friday and did just that!
I'll probably try to get this book from Paperback Swap.



Hugs and Kisses by Christophe Loupy and Eve Tharlet
Sweet and innocent with pretty illustrations.




We also recently made this great play dough from Simplicity Soup! By the way, play dough isn't just for toddlers!!!

Play Dough

2 c flour
1 c salt
4 T cream of tartar
2 T oil
2 c water

Stir until smooth. Cook over low heat, stirring rapidly (to avoid lumps) until it forms.

Scrape out of pan onto flat surface. Knead a few times, cause it’s fun when it’s all warm and it helps get the sticky out.

Mommy Power

Today has been a very windy, beautiful, sunny day. We've had our windows and back door flung open wide! While eating a simple lunch of banana/berry/kefir shakes, toasted long-ferment bread with butter and raw honey, and kale chips, a big gust of wind blew in ruffling papers and blowing the calendar off the wall. Zeke (age 3) very calmly and sincerely turned to me and said,

"Mommy, can you turn the wind down?"

How does my garden grow?

My bed of kale is really paying off, finally! I planted it last fall and it survived the winter just fine, but it didn't do much growing until just recently. All winter it stayed around 3 inches tall. But now that our days are beginning to warm up it is growing like crazy. We've harvested a couple pounds and we've hardly made a dent in the bed of greens! And 2 pounds of kale is LOTS of kale!

We've enjoyed the kale sauteed in olive oil with onion and garlic. I like wilting it quickly in bacon grease, too, with a sprinkling of garlic salt, but real garlic is always best. As soon as I find the time I want to prepare some "kale chips" that I've read about on a raw food website. As soon as I find a decent avocado again, I'll make the raw kale salad that we enjoyed earlier this year.

We're also enjoyed our first asparagus, green onions, garlic tops, cilantro and parsley. The cabbage, a few lettuces, sugar snap peas, and arugula are looking promising! Oh, and my mint is growing quite happily, too! In about 3 weeks I'll be able to plant to my heart's content. I can hardly wait, but until then, we'll putter around the gardens getting the soil prepared, feeding the chickens the few stray weeds (which I actually found to be edible~hen bit and chickweed) and harvesting every bit of produce that we can!

Post 200

This is my 200th post. This is what's on my heart today.....

It will be found an unjust and unwise jealousy to deprive a man of his natural liberty upon the supposition he may abuse it. -G.Washington

A few thoughts on dyslexia

"When we look at highly successful dyslexic individuals, we see that they succeeded by following their substantial gifts, not by focusing on their difficulties." - Thomas G. West, In the Mind's Eye, Thinking Like Einstein

I am a faithful reader of the blog Eide Neurolearning Blog. They consistently post scientific information about the brain that interests me. The above quote resonates with me, in that I need to take heed to it! I tend to want to "fix" things in those that I teach. Actually, I need to make more time for their "gifts" to flourish! This isn't the first time I've come across this advice. I also like the following quote from their post today:

If a child has trouble in core school subject such as reading, an equally intensive search should be made for a child's strengths and interests, remembering to specifically set aside time for gift/talent development.

And I really think this would apply to all people, not just those that are struggling in a core subject. Of course, we can all work hard at mastering different skills (not just the ones that come easily to us) but should we not strive to use to the utmost the gifts that God has given to us as individuals?

A few Quotes

America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter, and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves. ~ Abraham Lincoln

The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help. ~ Ronald Reagan

When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty. ~ Thomas Jefferson

Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both. ~ Benjamin Franklin

Arkansas State Capitol

My children and I were blessed this week to be able to visit our beautiful
state Capitol!
Arkansans can be proud of this incredible building that holds so many
symbols of our history!

Beautiful architecture!

Mike Huckabee's Portrait
(our previous Governor)

This sign above both the House and Senate doors.
It was also found in stone monuments on the grounds of the Capitol.

Our Representative, John Burris.
My children prayed this man would be elected and now we pray
for him by name quite often. I was able to share this with him.
He seemed, I'm not sure, maybe surprised, but thankful.
So far there are several things I appreciate about this young man.
Chiefly, he personally responds promptly to any e-mail I send to him.
He has also worked on the new law to make partial birth abortion illegal in Arkansas,
even if our federal government reverses this law.

So Simple, Incredible Soup!

Simple Cauliflower Soup

There is no way for me to describe how wonderful this soup was! Just amazing! I will make this again and again! It takes mere minutes, uses only a few ingredients, all of which are very good for you! What could be better?

Treat yourself!

Daniel Boone

I find our current read-aloud, Daniel Boone by James Daugherty, quite fascinating, as do my children. Here's a couple quotes:

Being good members of the Quaker faith, the Boone family gave and took among themselves and their neighbors with an easy kindness that brought a quiet sweetness to the stress and strain of heavy tasks. Out of the ponderous Bible they daily read and listened and believed, striving to walk with a wise and gentle God in love and truth.

Father and Mother Boone with their eleven children were an average-sized American family of that day.....

Raw Kale Avocado Salad

We love the salad! And I'm so glad. I plan to grow lots of this stuff this summer and I'm so thankful we've found a way that we can eat *lots* of this green, raw!

Sara at Happy Food has a great post about this salad, along with a video that will even show you how to make it!

This is what we put in our salad. I think next time I'll cut back on the lemon juice a bit. Zeke said, "This is spicy!" I think he meant very tangy! :) All of the kids agreed that it was good.

• 1/2 pound baby kale
  
• 1/2 cup tomato, chopped
  
• 1/2 avocado
• 2 tablespoons olive oil or hemp seed oil (go for less if you can)
• Juice from 1/2 lemon
• Real Salt sea salt, to taste (1/4 - 1/2 t)

Grocery Cart Challenge ~ Share your recipes here

First Harvest

I picked half a pound of kale today. Doesn't sound like much, but that is a big bowl of kale! I'm so excited to be trying a new kale salad for supper. I'll let you know how we like it.

Today, we planted more peas, sugar snap this time. We still need to plant the plain old garden pea. While cleaning out a bed and raking up the leaves I found 5 beautiful romaine lettuce plants that had self seeded. I did a happy little squeal an dance. And then explained, "I'm so excited." My soon to 13 year old smiled and said, "We can tell!" I loved that red speckled romaine that I had last year. I've already started some in flats here in the house but it was a great surprise to know that I have some a couple of inches tall already in my garden!

We're debating whether or not to till up a "field garden". I've told so many people that I'd never do it again, but I'm wanting more space. I'd love to plant long rows of peas. We can never get enough of them, even from the Farmer's Market. I often buy everything the man brings and we go home and still eat them all raw. My poor husband never gets to enjoy any of them. They are like candy to the kids and I. I've heard gardeners say they are their appetizer as they stroll through the garden.

I'm looking for wonderful ways to eat kale raw. Do you have a favorite way? I enjoy it stir fried but I really hate to do that if I can find a way my family will love it raw. Why cook it? We like a little bit of it in salads but not a whole salad of just kale. Actually the recipe I'm trying tonight is
made using kale as the only "green". I'll let you know how it turns out.

Do we need another reason?

For years we've tried to eliminate high fructose corn syrup from our diet. We don't purchase pancake syrup, sodas, or baked goods that contain this ingredient. (I won't say that we *never* do. But it is certainly not the norm in our house.) We already have many reasons. Now, there is another.

• Coca-Cola Classic
• Hershey’s Chocolate Syrup
• Smucker’s Strawberry Jelly
• Nutri‐Grain Strawberry Cereal Bars
• Hunt’s Tomato Ketchup

The above list of products was found to not only contain high fructose corn syrup, but also mercury! You can read about it at Small Notebook.

One Million Pounds

Path to Freedom is hosting a challenge and we're going to participate! Want to join us?! You can find all the information you need right here. Together can we grow a million pounds?

I agree with this man, again.

Ron Paul spoke in Congress on something I'm passionate about. Might seem silly to many or even scary (why, I'm not sure) to some, but to me it is just "freedom" and common sense.

Statement of Congressman Ron Paul

Introducing Legislation Allowing Interstate Shipment of Unpasteurized Milk

January 29, 2009

“Madame Speaker, I rise to introduce legislation that allows the shipment and distribution of unpasteurized milk and milk products for human consumption across state lines. This legislation removes an unconstitutional restraint on farmers who wish to sell or otherwise distribute, and people who wish to consume, unpasteurized milk and milk products.

My office has heard from numerous people who would like to obtain unpasteurized milk. Many of these people have done their own research and come to the conclusion that unpasteurized milk is healthier than pasteurized milk. These Americans have the right to consume these products without having the federal government second-guess their judgment about what products best promote health.

If there are legitimate concerns about the safety of unpasteurized milk, those concerns should be addressed at the state and local level. I urge my colleagues to join me in promoting consumers’ rights, the original intent of the Constitution, and federalism by cosponsoring my legislation to allow the interstate shipment of unpasteurized milk and milk products for human consumption.”

When to plant?

I'm getting very anxious to put some seeds into my gardens! Yesterday I purchased some seed potatoes along with some red and sweet onions. Mmmmm... makes me hungry just thinking about it.

Today, I found this great resource concerning planting times.
Outdoor Planting Table
You can personalize it for your own zip code.

Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company has a wonderful website with very informative forums. Their seeds are awesome and their newest catalog just beautiful! Order one if you haven't yet!

Stonewall Kitchen

I've always enjoyed flipping through the Stonewall Kitchen catalog. I've never placed an order, everything seemed very much out of my price range! Browsing always inspired ideas of what I could do in my own kitchen, though.

Well....yesterday at one of our favorite discount stores (Duffy's, if you are from around here) I found Orange Zest Pancake and Waffle Mix from Stonewall Kitchen for 89 cents, plus I had a 20% off coupon! This morning we enjoyed a big batch of these pancakes. And they are very yummy! I'm continually amazed at all the good things God gives for me to enjoy!