It’s been a busy few weeks leading up to Christmas here! We’ve had most of our shopping done since the beginning of the month, but we’ve had much more to complete. Each boy got a hand knit sweater for Christmas as well as a hand knit hat, and we’ve dabbled in making a few homemade Christmas dishes that we haven’t before, including panettone (a traditional Italian yeast-cake), fruitcake and mincemeat pies. While I’ve always liked panettone, I’ve always had a…
Not long ago we decided to do more crafts with the kids. As homeschooled students they don’t have an ‘art’ class, so it’s up to us to find ways for them to express their creativity. The thing is, we’d also hoped to find activities that didn’t make crafts that cluttered the house. Firstly, our house is small and there aren’t very many surfaces for displaying projects. Secondly, there’s only so much you can do with popsicle sticks and glue. Candle…
About a year ago, I bought the cookbook “Twelve Month of Monastery Soups” secondhand in one of my homeschooling groups on facebook. It seemed like a good idea because (a) monks eat healthy food (b) monks eat inexpensive food (c) monks make food that is simple and easy and (d) we are always looking for inspiration on food that is healthy, simple and inexpensive. Naturally, it sat on a shelf for about 10 months. It probably would have been fated…
“But don’t they just fly away?” We field a lot of questions about homesteading, and this is one of the more common answers when people ask about the poultry. The answer is that they can, so we clip their wings to keep them in their pen. Most people understand what wing clipping entails, but others wince, not realizing that clipping a bird’s wings is no more painful than getting a haircut. And, if you want to keep your birds out…
Well. It’s happened. Rachel: “Next year, we’re getting a buck.” While I’ve definitely talked about how we go back and forth about whether or not to get Shetland Sheep, we’ve also gone back and forth on whether or not to have our own buck goat to breed our does. It’s been a discussion that we’ve been going back and forth on for awhile now, and up until this point we’ve decided against it. It’s quite a commitment to house a…