Monthly Archives: January 2010

Babywearing–In the winter

It all started shortly afer Proeun and I married a little over 6 years ago. We were at his insurance agent’s office making the necessary changes. It was taking awhile so I decided I would walk down a few doors to an interesting looking shop I saw on the way in, Peapods. As soon as I walked in I was amazed at the array of natural toys, baby care items, and wonder of wonders cloth diaper. My mother had used these on me, as had my grandmother. Though I hadn’t started thinking about babies yet it just made sense to me. My sister-in-law was pregnant with her 3rd so I bought a dozen prefolds and cover for her. She never used them, but a few months later I was pregnancy with my first and knew I would.

Peapods became a frequent stop for me as I stocked up. I was so excited to find there was still a demand for cloth diapers and they had actually improved over the years. I asked the store clerk if there were any parenting groups he knew of and he referred me to Attachment Parenting. Through them I learned about the family bed and “babywearing.”

When my first was born I had a couple baby carriers ala Target with snaps and clasps and all sorts of impractical things. Soon I experimented with soft carriers. I now have a Kangaroo Korner fleece sling which is my favorite for when baby is young and ease getting even older children in and out but for comfort it is my mei tai all the way. Of course I have to wait awhile to put baby on my back, but when I do it really frees up my hands.

When my 2nd was born a carrier was essential to keep up with a busy 2 year old. Now I am carrying my 3rd. I absolutely love wearing my babies. I even have an evening wear carrier. But winter does present some interesting problems–mostly how you both stay warm. My husband bought me an oversized coat but that means I have to carry the baby on the front. That is when I found this pattern

This is from Little Turtle Knits (I also use and love their diaper cover pattern, particularly the hybrid wrap). It’s relatively easy to make and can be customized to your measurements and yarn choices. With the almost spring thaw type weather we are having it is time to get out and about again after a week of sub zero temps. Today we went around our neighborhood passing out flyers for our CSA. Just have to make sure I don’t slip!

Creative Ninjas

Parenting stretches us in ways we thougt unimaginable mentally, physically, emotional, spiritually the list goes on an on. For me one way that I wasn’t really expecting to be stretched was creatively. Tonight something sparked an interest in ninjas. Well we actually have a prepetual interest in ninjas, and knights and soldiers or warriors of any kind. Two decided he wanted to be a ninja. But how?

I remembered the playsilks I had made when Two was younger. I had read somewhere that these were good toys for kids but other then the occasional cape or ghost costume I honestly wasn’t sure what to do with them. Then I had an idea. Here’s the costumes I came up with.

                            

                            

Even Mavis wanted to get into the act with her own sword and cape. For a solid 15 minutes I was living in fear of those wooden swords. Luckily their attention span didn’t last long.

 

Seed Catalogs

I am really enjoying the seasonal life. Normally January would be a really depressing much but not so when you have seed catalogs coming in the mail. Each day I wait eagerly for the mail and hope for seed catalogs. Here is one of my favorites

                      
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I love the classic look of it. I feel like I am taking part in a tradition that goes way, way back through my generations, which actually is exactly what I am doing.

Of course seed catalogs like any other catalog are designed to make consumers buy something, and that is exactly what I want to do when I look at them. But rather then purchase some ready made item produced in a factory some where I am purchasing something to add to life.

This year we are examining the Slow Food USA “Ark of Taste” and selecting some varieties from there. I can almost taste it now!

I am still waiting for some of my favorites– Johnnies, Seeds of Change and Seed Savers Exchange.

What to do when your child hates you

As a parent I think one of the hardest things is when your child tells you they hate you. Especially when they do it over and over again. My children have been able in most instances to tell me when something is wrong and they are not feeling happy. For Avril though that usually comes out as “I hate you.” She is my middle child and balance is always a problem with 3 young children. Mavis the baby of the family is teething and learning to walk. She has been very demanding on my time, especially at night, leaving me exhausted.

Yesterday started out innocent enough but after nap things started to go down hill. We had had a particularly strong battle at nap time but I didn’t really think anything of it because we normally have battles at this time. Two wanted to visit his cousins so we prepared to go, that is when Avril said, “I want to live with Oom (Cambodian for Aunt) Luoth, I love her. I hate you.” It continued all evening, even at Luoth’s. For awhile I was able to keep positive and remind myself,

1. I am an adult and she is 3
2. She is not responsible for my feelings
3. I don’t have to listen to my feelings
4. She didn’t mean it
5. She was probably feeling bad about something that I needed to address
6. I am her mother and I should help her out of these negative feelings

But I was battling my own negative feelings. When we left Luoth’s I wanted to go home, put a movie on for the kids and go curl up in a ball and cry. Instead I talked with her and I said
“Why do you hate me?”
“I hate my family.”
“Why do you hate your family?”
“Because they hate me.”
At this point I said a quick prayer and said, “That is a lie Satan wants you to believe. Your family loves you and you know it. You don’t have to listen to Satan. Let’s pray and ask Jesus to help you.”

I said a prayer outloud for her and another quiet one for me so that I to could chose not to listen to Satan and my negative feelings. When we got home I was still feeling bad, but then I remembered how powerful hugs are. Even though I didn’t feel like it, I walked into the living room and asked Avril for a hug.
“I love you .”
“Why?”
“Because you smile and laugh and are a good big sister and a wonderful helper for me and you are mine.”

This time she chose to believe the truth. She said, “I love you” and has since acted like nothing happened. I was still exhausted so I made a batch of cookies and ate half of them. Cookies always help.

Recipes: Chicken Style Seasoning

One of the most useful items in my pantry is a good sized jar of homemade chicken style seasoning. Bouillon cubes have a ton of salt and depending on brand food coloring. If you have the time to make homemade stocks and keep them on hand great, but it is hard to keep just the right amount. What has been a lifesaver for me is powdered seasoning I can mix in the right quantity. Some recipes only call for a 1/4 to 1/2 cup of broth others much more, with this you can easily mix your own. Also you don’t have to wait for the bouillon cubes to dissolve. I sometimes even add it to chicken soups to enhance flavor.

Chicken Style Seasoning

4 cups yeast flakes (nutritional sometimes called brewers)
3/4 cup onion powder
3 TBSP garlic powder
1/2 cup plus 2 TBSP salt
1/2 cup Italian seasoning (may use basil)
1/2 cup succanat or other raw sugar
1/2 cup dried parsley

Mix all ingredients, may blend for a finer powder. This will give you roughly 2 quarts of seasoning. I usually keep one and give the other to my mom. It will last you several months. To mix use one rounded tsp for one cup water, more if stronger broth is desired.

From The Best of Veggies, by Mary Bernt

The Homestead Pantry

When you are living on a tight budget and saving for a farm there are a few things that can really help a busy family get by. One is a pantry. About a year or so ago I was reading an article in Countryside Magazine about having a pantry. The article recommended a book from Backwoods Home Magazine called Self Reliance:Recession-Proof Your Pantry. Though money was tight I promptly ordered it and got started. The book has great tips for how to get started.

The first thing I did was buy an industrial shelving unit at Sam’s Club. I have since discovered you can get really high quality shelving at Menard’s and the like.

I belong to wholesale buying club that buys natural and organic food bulk called Country Life Natural Foods. Every four weeks we purchase grains, beans, dried fruit, pasta, oil, honey, maple syrup, etc. Of course we don’t order all those things every month and now I am looking for more local options for things like honey and maple syrup. We purchase jasmine rice in 50 pound bags at our local Asian store. With our staples purchased once a month we try to go to the grocery store no more than once a week or every other week if we can last. Here we purchase fresh vegetables and fruit and some of our meat. We are hoping to raise our own meat chickens this year but that is another story.

Here is a picture of our pantry
                
                                                              

It includes some both home canned and purchased canned food. The bins on the bottom shelf hold 5 lb bags of beans, dried fruit, nuts, and some flours. We also purchase and keep on hand extra oil, maple syrup and honey. For the Asian tastes in the house we have cans of coconut milk, Pho broth and sardines in spicy tomato broth.

What is great about having a pantry is it allows you buy food when you have the money and store it for when you don’t, like this week. I discovered we have less then $100 to live on until the next pay day, over 1 week away. Oh did I say the car needs gas. But even with this extremely tight budget we have the pantry we can eat out of. There are multitudes of options with dried beans (my favorite) pasta and rice. We have eggs steadily from our chickens now and some meat in the freezer. We have plenty of canned fruit, pickles and tomato sauce.

The only thing I would do different is I would have canned more diced tomatoes. I started the winter with 28 pints of diced tomatoes. I thought that would be plenty. But home canned tomatoes are soooooooooooooo much better then store bought I didn’t realized how often I would use them. Proeun and I used to struggle with heartburn every time we ate canned tomatoes, not the case with our home canned, certified organic, heirloom tomatoes. I only have 5 cans left. Can I possibly eat store bought tomatoes?  Next year I will have to do more.

Favorite Books–Harry Baerg

I was born into a family of readers. My favorites gifts growing up were books. Now I am happy that it appears I am raising 3 readers (well at least 2 of them show that inclination and the other likes to be read to). What a treat it was for me to find this trio of books by naturalist and illustrator Harry Baerg at the local bookstore. I grew up with these books as did my mother and now they have been reprinted again for my children!

Each of the books follows the main animal through a year. Humpy the Moose does go through a life span. They are illustrated beautifully and the kids love them. They are Two’s favorite. They are a bit long but they make a special treat for long cuddling and stories. I have also found that they really get me in the mood to go outside at least, camping at best. We still haven’t gotten up to the Boundary Waters but that is one our to do list for sure. There is a very visible beaver lodge on the way to our favorite camping site. It’s wonderful to learn more about the animals around us.

A word of caution though, these are realistic books. They handle the subject of mating and death very well but it is present. In my opinion these type of topics are not something to run from but an opportunity for parents to teach children about life cycles. A return to the land necessitates an understanding of these.

Sibling Rivalry?

Way back when I was taking Early Childhood Family Education Classes with Two the instructor insisted that young children do not play together, they simply play side by side. But I am sure that Mavis plays with her older siblings. Today they took an ordinary roll of tape and were rolling it back and forth to each other. Mavis was monkey in the middle happily going back and forth.

A day or two ago Two and Avril were playing hide and seek. They would go stand against the wall and count. Mavis hadn’t joined yet but when the opportunity came up she went to stand face to the wall and count.

My favorite thing to see is Mavis scoot over on her butt to one of her siblings and stand up and give them a hug. We are a hugging family if you haven’t figured that out.

                             

  

It was a major goal for me to raise children that love each other and enjoy spending time together.  I firmly believe that if you cannot get along with your family you have missed out on the greatest blessing in life. Afterall the Lord designed families to live together and even the solitary will be placed in families in the Lord’s ideal. 

From the time I discovered I was pregnant with my 2nd child I wanted Two to feel that this baby was another gift to our family from God and not going to replace him. 

Later when I was pregnant with my 3rd I decided to step up my efforts a notch. I was introduced to an amazing book–Making Brothers and Sisters Best Friends. The book is actually written by  the 3 Mally siblings. This book opened my eyes to the roll our siblings play in our lives and that good relationships with siblings are possible especially when the members of the family see the highest duty of life as serving. With sorrow I realized as the oldest sibling all the opportunities I missed with my sister and the damage I had done to her life simply by always focusing on making myself happy. If I was generous it was only because I felt good about it. I didn’t realize the duty we as Christians have. When I apologized to her she said, “Oh you were just a kid,” But I replied, “even a child will be known by his actions.” 

I purposed to avoid silbing rivalry at all costs. Luckily I am blessed with children that enjoy each other. Rather then avoiding each other and choosing other playmates they love playing together. Of course there is the occasional scirmish but when I see them playing together laughing and joking it makes my heart sing. Now instead of having children upset about new siblings coming to take the attention from them I have a 5 year old boy who says, “Mommy I want you to have this many children,” While holding up both hands, “but you can have them one at a time,” and a 3 year old girl who says, “when the next baby comes can I hold it?”

Even our Brittany Hiro loves to play with us. Later in the day the request came for me to play with them as well. I am trying to spend more quality time playing with the children and avoiding electronic media so I knew I needed to jump in. It didn’t take long for Hiro to decide he wanted to play to. Two is the photographer in the below pictures.

Livestock–Chickens in the City

About 2 years ago I heard about a growing movement referred to simply as “chickens in the city.” This movement was of urban families keeping chickens in the backyard. I knew there was at least one rooster in our neighborhood. My first interest was as a writer. The Hmong people I knew personally and through work would be really interested in this I thought. However in the course of studying up for my article and interviewing the then leader of the movement I became hooked. In April 2008 we bought 4 chicks at a local feed store–a Rhode Island Red, Patridge Rock, Blue Cochin and Americana. I didn’t know there were breads of chickens!

We brought them home (no cats at the time) and let the kids play with them. I was completely fascinated as well. I loved the way they walked and watching them for any signs of change. As their feathers started to change from down to their adult colors I finally got to see what they would be like when were older. Oh and when they laid their first egg I had to call everyone and tell them.

One day my big tough brother-in-law was over. By now the chickens were in a coop behind the house. He dared Two to go get a chicken. Two walked over grabbed one and brought it to his uncle, who immediately changed his tone and said, “I don’t want it.”

I do have to admit there was a turning point for me as well. The bigger they got the more nervous I got. One day when we had them in a pen on the porch waiting to transition to the outside world I went out to feed them only to discover they had escaped and were perching on the side of the pen. I had a momentary panic attack and was ready to go get Proeun to put them back when I realized, “if I am going to live on the farm I have to be confident handling the animals. I can do this.” And so I did. Now I am the primary one to handle them.

It is hard though to care for only 4 chickens. Most books about housing and such are geared at least towards a hobby farm with more space then we have. The other “chickens in the city” folk view their chicken different then country folk. We are having negative temperatures here and have had them for about a week with no end in site. We did go buy a heater for the coop but last year we used only a 100 watt lightbulb for heat during the day. Others on our google list advocate bringing them indoors as according to them chickens can’t handle the cold. However the main concensus is that they are doing just fine.

Also we had a period from October to December when 2 chickens were molting. They don’t lay when they molt. The 3rd one was not  laying either whatever her excuse was. So we had only one chicken laying and she didn’t lay everyday. We were in conservation mode. Finally I had to buy a dozen eggs. Now luckily they are all laying again even in the cold weather. One nice thing about having different types of chickens is you can tell what eggs have been laid by which chickens. Here is a picture of our bounty.

                      
 

Soule Bags

                                            

A few weeks ago I got a couple books by Amanda Soule from the library–The Creative Family and Handmade Home. I had found them on Amazon while doing a search for homeschooling books. I got the books and was immediately inspired. I was on fire to go create things. Then I tried and human nature kicked in. It seemed like I was having a hard time finding time or energy to create and when I did I felt I was neglecting the children. When I tried to create with them someone ended up in tears or bored and asking to watch TV. Pretty soon I was disillusioned. Why couldn’t I be like Amanda Soule? Why wouldn’t my children sit and draw or make up their own games? I was reminded that we are not to compare ourselves to others. I can not look into the Soule family home. All I can do is the best I can with what the Lord has given me. Furthermore my children do play and make up their own games, I just have to work harder to give them the opportunity. So I decided not to stress out about it.

On Saturday things started to turn around. Proeun gave me a little time to myself to read and journal and I even had time to cut out this bag, a pattern from Handmade Home. On Sunday I got a repeat and was able to finish it. I had the fabric on hand. The outside was part of a smaller piece I got as a wedding present. I wasn’t really sure was it was intended for since the fabric was not suited for a towel. In any case I loved it but didn’t know what to do with it. Now it is intensely useable as a “Soule Bag” as I call it. The inside is left over from the first dress I ever made all by myself. How appropriate it was for my first daughter.  She doesn’t wear it but that is another story.

Anyway you really can’t have enough of these fun, unique bags. My aunt Patty gave each child each a handmade bag with their Christmas gifts inside. So I got a trio of them for Christmas.

          

Avril is housing her shell collection in one. My knitting is in the other and the 3rd has become the “sock bag.” It is great to have fun, unique, handmade and beautiful things around the house especially to be used for really practical things. But honestly the sewing didn’t go so well for me, I spent just as much time fixing as sewing. One thing I learned from the experience is there are many ways to be creative. For me I think writing is it, plus cooking and knitting first–sewing occasionally.