Am I Earthy?

Recently my Dad told me that I was kind of EARTHY. I have to say that I cringed a little. When I think of earthy, I picture tie-dyed shirts, dreadlocks, and maybe unshaved pits. THIS is not me. THIS is not what my Dad was referring to.

He was referring to the fact that my latest idea is making my own soap so I can cut down on the chemicals in our life. The fact that I think one of the most romantic things in the world is making your own cheese. I dream of making all my own food and never having to go to the grocery store.

Which I know is a dream that could not realistically ever happen. There are some things that we eat that I just can't grow here. But walking into the grocery store to buy only a few token items sounds magnificent. I recently read about a girl who graduated several years ahead of me- she's making her own cheese, growing her own food, and living off the land to the best of her ability. And I thought, "Wow!" She's living the dream. Well, my dream, at least. :)

So I guess if earthy is wanting to live a simpler life, desiring to be healthier, and trying to save money while doing it- then, yes, I am EARTHY!

A Tech-Challenged Girl in a Tech-Savvy World

Might I first say that in general technology kind of stresses me out. I don't like things that seem overwhelming and that I will never understand- the ongoing barrage of changing technology on the internet is one of those things. My friend and I once made a home video spoof on getting your license for my husband. They had this archaic computer- one of those really huge, old dinosaurs that was destined for the junkyard and in the video I repeatedly hit the thing. It may have fallen on the floor- I really can't remember. If it didn't, it should have.

For me this reaction is really not too far off base. My husband got me a Cricket (cool scrapbooking machine) a few years ago (in reality maybe like four), and I have just recently began using it because all the buttons overwhelmed me.

So having a blog is a little over my head. Thinking about helping my husband create a website for his business kind of blows my mind. I consider the fact that I recently listed something on Craig's List amazing!

I do have goals concerning technology. I need to figure out how to get my husband a website for his business, and I need to get him a Facebook page for his website. But despite these goals, I don't see myself jumping fully into this tech-savvy world. I don't have texting and can't picture myself ever reading a book off of a Kindle.

I do currently type my books instead of handwrite them like I did in high school, but reading off the computer screen kind of drives me crazy, and I actually print the pages for editing purposes. And even though I plan on figuring out how to self publish on the internet, I don't think I'll feel like I've actually published something unless I can hold the book myself.

I'm not saying there aren't things I don't love about technology- there are. I have recently become addicted to checking out other people's blogs- all of which are way cooler than mine. But basically, I'm using their blogs to find out how I can do things simpler. Go figure:)

When It Rains It Pours Blueberries

Last night, I finally made some lavender room spray and some disinfectant spray (At least according to a blog I read, my husband is more skeptical. I'll have to do some more research.) So I was feeling pretty fantastic this morning- spraying them all over the house and cleaning.

Then it happened. Little Man had some bumps crop up yesterday. First thought- mosquito bites. Which was disturbing, but I mean what do you do? Then my Dad came over, and he said they looked like flea bites. I thought, "No, way." We don't have pets in the house.

After my Dad left, I found a very small flea. On Little Man!

Well, I researched online and found out that you don't need to have indoor pets or even pets to get fleas in your house. That's just one of the perks of living in the country. Apparently, the flea can jump really far, snag onto you, and follow you right into the house. So there they are- unwanted and uninvited.

I have to say that panic was my first thought, and it was probably mostly due to my scouring of info from the web. I had this picture of a huge infestation of fleas in our home that I would be unable to control. One site suggested putting baking soda or Borax on your carpet, leaving for several hours, and then vacuuming. I had both (the only reason I have Borax is because I'm getting ready to make my own detergent), but I chose to use baking soda, as I have more of that.

While I was in the midst of going crazy, I heard a strange clinking noise- I checked on Little Man happily hanging out in his high chair eating some blue cheese and then kind of just went about my business. When I went back into the kitchen a few minutes later, I found out what that noise was- frozen blueberries tumbling out of a bag that I'd forgotten on the counter. And now they were all over the floor. Ugh. What a mess!

After that (thankfully, only one carpeted room in the house), vacuuming all our furniture, cleaning up my blueberry mess, and washing all bedding/getting rid of all laundry in the hampers I am happy to report that Little Man has not had any more bites.

Top Ten Reasons I Should Live in the Tropics

1. I would like to be able to wear a flower in my hair and not be considered eccentric.
2. I love light, airy, floral dresses.
3. Aerobics classes on the beach!
4. I am on island time (Translation- I'm constantly late).
5. It would be semi-acceptable that I have been wearing my swimsuit for the last three days and only actually swam one of those days. :)
6. Honey crop all year long.
7. The ocean is actually warm and enjoyable.
8. Fresh pineapple is the best.
9. My legs get pretty pasty in the winter and maybe that wouldn't happen if I lived somewhere tropical.
10. The music!

I Think I Need a New Food Dehydrator

So one of the beauties of the juicer/steamer that I forgot to mention is that after you make the juice you are left with all of the fruit that didn't make it through the colander for your juice. It was a very satisfying feeling. It kind of made me feel like I was getting double use out of my fruit.

The directions to my juicer/steamer suggested making fruit leathers. And I thought this is fantastic. Soon Little Man will want to eat some fruit leathers. Well, they've been in there for two days and still some aren't cooked all the way through. And the ones that are cooked through are tough as boot leather.

I did forget to add applesauce. I thought they were two direction options instead of one for some reason. That could account for the toughness, but I wouldn't think it would take this long to dry it. The dehydrator was a hand me down so maybe it's just done.

The directions told me to set the dehydrator to like 140 degrees. Well, my dehydrator has two options- on and off. It may be a little outdated. :)

Ode to My Juicer/Steamer

I tend to get a little fanatic about what I deem as amazing appliances, so brace yourself. I should probably do an Ode to My Vitamix too:)

So after the ladies at the grape stand told us about the juicer/steamer, I got one for Christmas. A few years went by and then this year I decided that I needed to make juice for Little Man. Ninety pounds of blueberries later, I was ready.

Can I just say that this thing is absolutely AMAZING! I felt like Wonder Woman when I was canning juice. You put the berries in the top level of the pot (a strainer), under that is an empty level when you first put it on the stove (it's where your juice will gather), and the last level is your boiling water. It's kind of like a double boiler in triple:)

There's this little hose attached to the second level and after about 40 minutes of processing time (changes- depending on what you're juicing) out comes your juice. The clamp on the hose is pretty hard to use, but my husband says he can order me a new one out of one of his bee catalogs for like $1.50.

I just kept stepping back and staring at my canned juice. It looks (and smells) fantastic. We had some fresh juice, and I got 52 pints of blueberry juice for the coming year. I think I will do apple juice and maybe blackberry juice too.

We have tons of blackberries at our house, but picking them is a real pain. And Little Man might be more squirmy this year than he was last year.

I can see why those ladies acted like canning juice was a cinch and there was no other way to do it. I also noticed that I had difficulty finding info about canning juice online. It's probably because everyone's given up on it if they're still using cheesecloth to do it. I really appreciate the simplicity of it after the disaster with the grape juice:)

I do have to say that is one (ever so tiny) glitch with the juicer/steamer. You can't let it boil dry, and it's really hard to get the top levels off to add more water if you're by yourself. You can also accidentally get juice over into the bottom level if the juice level in the second layer gets too high. This doesn't matter at all (aside for lost juice- which probably isn't much, if you're paying attention to the levels) unless you boil the bottom pan dry. Which you guessed it- I did. Oops.

The strange smell of the boiled over juice was what tipped me off. Thank goodness, I guess. Now I see that I will just have to unload it every time I start a new load and refill the water. So besides scrubbing the burnt juice off the pan and a small amount of juice that I think tasted like smoke, but my husband drank fresh anyway, I have to say it was still a great experience.

Just when I start to think I'm too amazing something like this always happens to me. I think it's God's way of keeping me humble:)

Juicing Grapes the Hard Way

Okay, a few years ago I got the bright idea to make grape juice, and so my Mom and I scoured the county for a place with u-pick grapes. We finally found one. How weird, right? Doesn't anyone else want to u-pick grapes anymore?

So I called my Grandma before we went and asked her if I needed like a knife to cut the grape clusters off. The extent of my knowledge of picking grapes was from the movie A Walk in the Clouds. They used a knife so maybe I needed one.

My Grandma said, "No. When I picked grapes they came off very easily."

We get to the field, and I start to feel overwhelmed before we even get to the vines. The rows have not been cared for- to say the least. Grass as tall as me is growing in the middle of the rows, along with wild blackberry bushes. Once we brave our way down this ridiculously long row, I realize two things.
       1. There are not many clusters of grapes
       2. They are not coming off easily at all

Well, we'd already driven all the way out here, and by this time we're so far down this row that honestly it seemed pretty overwhelming to try to go back. So I start using my keys to try to saw off clumps of grapes. It was awful! All I could think the whole time was- Obviously my Grandma doesn't remember this clearly at all.

We finally get back to the fruit stand (After falling in holes, getting stuck in blackberry bushes, etc.) and buy our grapes. All like 20 lbs. of them for all that work. And the people at the stand begin telling us about the juicer/steamer. We were intrigued. Everything I'd every read about juicing involved a cheese cloth, and seemed pretty overwhelming.

We were sent to Bi-Mart, but they were out of this beautiful machine so we decided to tackle juice making without it. Big mistake. It took forever, didn't yield much, and we weren't satisfied with the finished product.

There was a lot of sediment in it. I guess we needed to do more with the cheesecloth. Really, the only person happy with the juice was my husband. And he is not picky, so that's not saying much.

Fast forward a few years, and my Grandma gives me a juicer/steamer for Christmas. Coming soon- "Ode to my juicer/steamer."