2014 Themes

family photo 20132013 was a wild busy year that ended on a sad note when Devie died. Our family is completely ready to embrace the next year. Instead of setting goals, this year we're going to try to focus our activities around two themes. We want to:

Reduce

  • weight (Alex)
  • commitments that interrupt family time
  • jumping on aunties (Lil)
  • waste
  • consumption

Strengthen

  • muscles so the spring farming rush isn't a shock to our bodies
  • family bond
  • individual relationships
  • commitment to cooking with a kitchen renovation in mid spring!
  • satisfaction with what we have instead of what we want

What are your goals or themes for 2014? 

2014 Themes

family photo 20132013 was a wild busy year that ended on a sad note when Devie died. Our family is completely ready to embrace the next year. Instead of setting goals, this year we're going to try to focus our activities around two themes. We want to:

Reduce

  • weight (Alex)
  • commitments that interrupt family time
  • jumping on aunties (Lil)
  • waste
  • consumption

Strengthen

  • muscles so the spring farming rush isn't a shock to our bodies
  • family bond
  • individual relationships
  • commitment to cooking with a kitchen renovation in mid spring!
  • satisfaction with what we have instead of what we want

What are your goals or themes for 2014? 

Devorguilla, The Original Baying Hound {Obituary}

dog obituary Devorguilla, a.k.a. Devie, our blue tick coon hound mix, died today, December 29, 2013. She was approximately thirteen years old, having been adopted as a young adult at the Capital Area Humane Society in January 2002. She is survived by little hound Hawise, cats Moonshine and Nightshade and people Alex, Lillian, and Rachel.

Despite our attempts at training, Devie was a headstrong troublemaker. She bayed at everyone who entered, stopping only when she was ready. Barking was how she related to other dogs and while we understood her noise to be playful, most other hounds cowered away from her. She surfed counters, scavenged floors, and ate anything possibly food-like. In her twelve years with the Tayse Baillieuls, she consumed the following in addition to regular meals: human birthday cakes, six packages of raisins to include packaging in one sitting, several bronze ring nails and the plywood they were attached to, boozy fruitcakes, chocolate truffles, a sheet pan of cookies, compost, a bag of flour, trash, and countless breakfasts, lunches, and dinners left unattended for a few seconds. Devie's stomach of steel allowed that these indiscretions were uncomfortable for her but didn't results in messes for her family beyond the missing food.

hugging devie

While she was difficult to live with, Devie was easy to love. Friends and neighbors who understand hounds carried on howling conversations with her. Many admired Dev's unflagging devotion to food, annoying as it was.

She was extremely gentle, especially around Lillian. Devie not only tolerated but seemed to enjoy being dressed up and always won 'cuteness contests', Lil's habit of dressing up pets and stuffed animals for fashion shows. Devie's coloring was beautiful and inspired our first business name, the Baying Hound. After losing an eye to persistent infection in 2010 she became even more striking.

We noticed Devie slowing down this autumn. When she stopped enjoying food, her one true love, this week, it was our signal that organ degeneration or cancer had progressed enough to severely affect her quality of life. We made the difficult choice of euthanasia. She was buried at home.

Rest in peace, Devorguilla. You will be missed.

Winter Solstice 2013 {Seasonal Snaps}

winter flooded homestead On the first day of winter 2013, central Ohio was subject to flood watches. Our property developed two temporary ponds and two whole acres of mud as several inches of rain melted four inches of snow. One of the ponded areas is where we plowed about a quarter acre of lawn for planting next year. The plan is to till it and fill in low spots with additional soil when the land dries but does not freeze. We may be waiting until spring for that chore.

homestead plow

But the sun shone and heated the air to nearly 60 degrees during the afternoon. The sky was BLUE and the air felt like April. I was happily barefoot most of the day with windows open to air out the house. Thanks to the thawed earth, I was able to pull five pounds of sweet, anise-y parsnips to serve for Christmas Eve dinner. What a precious reprieve from the typical winter ick!

shadow backyard trees

Alas, because of the long very cold spell in early December, the hoop house is nearly empty. A few plantings of greens are hanging on but not growing much. There are peas in the center I hoped to harvest; even though they aren't producing food, I'm leaving them as a green mulch.

hoop house december 21

I started the Seasonal Snaps project one year ago for Winter Solstice 2012. Our homestead isn't nearly grown to where I envision it but you can see some of the major changes. Our small orchard is planted, we have a hoop house for growing, the mudroom is built and insulated, and we're working on a bigger better vegetable plot.

IMG_9015

Rain, snow, and sunshine all contribute to the food forest we tend. We are again thankful for the turning of the seasons that hearkens us to look back at where we've come and set our intentions for the future.

Announcing City Folk's Ground Swell!

CFGroundSwell_Horz_250w_transI'm excited to spread the news about a project that's been simmering for more than six months. Shawn of City Folk's Farm Shop* approached me in the early spring about an idea to create a 'school' of sorts for homesteading. We worked on the concept, recruited a few other experienced homesteaders, and came up with City Folk's Ground Swell. Ground Swell will be a nine-month long project to inspire and educate a small group of mentees running February - November 2014. Our goal is to expand the homesteading community and recognition for efforts towards sustainable living in central Ohio.

Mentees will take classes at the shop (also open to the public), participate in group discussions, and work on special projects with the mentor families. In exchange, they will receive guidance from mentors, discounts at City Folk's, and the opportunity to re-skill themselves in keeping house, growing and preserving food, and weaving a sustainable community.

seedlings in hoop house

Our family is part of the mentor team alongside Joseph and Jen of Swainway Urban Farm, permaculturists Milo and Elizabeth, and Blue Rock Station's Annie and Jay. We're participating because we want a bigger community of serious gardeners, pantry-fillers, and eco-friendly folks to share and learn with.

We're looking for mentees who want to be part of the inaugural class of City Folk's Ground Swell. I know Harmonious Homestead readers are people who have what it takes to challenge themselves with the support of the mentor team - learn more and apply to be a mentee! Applications are due by January 30.

 

*Full disclosure: I help Shawn with social media, communications, and occasionally work in the shop as a paid consultant.

On Gift Giving

Our family often touts homesteading as a way to experience an authentic life, one filled with real food and real work. We like to spend our time making and doing, not accumulating. But this time of year, the winter holiday season, we struggle the most with balancing thriftiness with giftiness, like so many people. Even though we don't subscribe to cable TV, newspapers, or magazines, we feel inundated with the advertising message to 'buy, buy, buy'. Lil, who only knows TV shows on Netflix and PBS, can still somehow sing a dozen current advertising jingles at any moment.

Consumer Counter Culture

Alex and I see through the commercials that equate stuff to happiness and we help Lil investigate ads. We talk with her about how a house filled with stuff is not necessarily a house of fulfilled people. We evaluate our own desires carefully - do we want new clothes because everyone else has them or because there's something ill-fitting or worn with our current clothes? Do we need a particular item or do we just want it because we heard about it somewhere?

Choosing to surround ourselves with good folks who share our anti-consumer ideals is the biggest threat to the Consume More Monster. We exchange, borrow, and barter with friends who do more with less. We frequently allow our kids to hear about what we're saving for and our tirades about inappropriate and ineffective advertising.

Gift Giving Alternatives

2012-11-22 14.38.05

We could opt out of gift giving entirely, but that's not our family's way. We cherish the opportunity to think about what a person would really love. So how do we build our gift giving list?  We focus on what a gift recipient might use and appreciate in their day to day life. According to a recent survey by Kenmore,  '79% of Americans prefer a practical gift that they could use in their home over a trendy novelty gift'.

Most of our gifts this year are homemade and will be eaten, drunk, or otherwise used until they disappear in a few weeks or months. Does that mean the recipient will forget about our appreciation of them? We hope just the opposite - they will think of us every time they use spice rub or cocoa mix until the jar is empty. If all goes according to plan, we'll reconnect over a meal to exchange the empty jar for a full one, a true 'gift that keeps on giving'. Handmade gifts say "I thought about you while making this."

Another focus of our gift giving is experiential gifts - paper promises, games, trips to a special place, and memberships. The Kenmore survey also found that '85% of Americans have avoided making a certain food because of the cleanup associated with it' - maybe a gift certificate for party cleanup would fit someone on your list? Experiential gifts communicate "I want to spend time with you, not spend money on you".

Last Minute Gift Ideas

There are still ten days until Christmas during which you could can some apple butter or craft a handmade stainless steel straw or even make a quick liqueur. But  holiday gatherings and work projects to wrap up can limit gift-making time. Instead of shopping for stuff, consider one of these experiential gifts, local to Columbus though your area may have similar options:

How do you handle gift giving in our highly commercialized consumer culture? 

Good Enough & Latkes {Recipe}

hanukkah meal with latke recipeAt the beginning of November, I made a goal to post once a day for National Blog Posting Month. You could say that I failed, because I only wrote here eleven times in the last thirty days. One of the reasons I couldn't find the energy to post more often is that Lil is struggling with self-confidence and decision-making, requiring intense parenting effort. She's a smart, active only child in a family of first borns. And while some people think the effects of birth order are debatable, Alex, Lil, and I embody the typical characteristics of first children - we are all fiercely independent folks with perfectionist tendencies. When things don't go as we expect, we become frustrated. Alex stomps and slams, I give up and stew, Lil cries.

To help Lil, and ourselves, we're all working to adopt an attitude of 'good enough', especially about things we can't control. The library didn't have the book she wants - what's available that is 'good enough'? Wood isn't dry enough to reliably start a roaring fire - what can we use to make a 'good enough' blaze? My vision of a dyed silk scarf* didn't turn out - how can I over dye or embellish to make a 'good enough' piece?

In the new light of 'good enough' I recognize that my eleven blog posts in November is almost twice as much as my monthly posting average for first ten months of 2013. I may not have met the goal, but I feel successful because I published eleven articles.

I hoped to cook, photograph, and write our latke recipe in mid-November so that you might be inspired to make them for Hanukkah. We're four nights in now, but that leaves four more nights for you to consider making potato pancakes - the timing of this recipe is 'good enough'.

latke mix pan fried latke recipe

We've been making latkes during Hanukkah for several years now. The crispy, savory cakes require no special ingredients beyond what most home cooks keep stocked in the pantry. We pan fry ours in about an inch of oil which is neither as messy or greasy as deep frying. Latkes are traditional during the Hanukkah season because the oil honors the eight nights of lamp oil that the Maccabees considered a miracle, but there's no reason not to make these at any time of year.

hanukkah latke recipe

Homemade Latkes

Makes: 3 dozen Time: 45 minutes

1 large sweet potato 8 russet potatoes 2 medium onions 5 large eggs 1 cup flour 1 teaspoon kosher salt + additional for dusting 10-20 grinds fresh black pepper 1-2 quarts olive, canola, or other frying oil applesauce and sour cream, optional for serving

1. Peel sweet potato. Shred russet (peel if you like but we don't), sweet potatoes, and onions with a box grater or food processor. The food processor creates lovely long shreds but our model has a bunch of safety features that make the process lengthy. Reason number thirteen that I dislike the food processor. If you want to do this ahead of time, place shredded potatoes under cold water for up to eight hours. 2. Pour off any liquid. Press and pour off more liquid if possible. 3. Whisk eggs until foamy. Mix in flour, salt, and pepper. Pour over potatoes and onions and stir until combined. 4. Meanwhile, heat 1 inch oil until one string of potato sizzles and fries to golden brown in a wide, heavy-bottomed pan. 5. With your hands, press approximately 1/2 cup of the potato mixture into a disc. Place gently in the hot oil. Cook for two minutes and then flip. Continue cooking until bottom is browned. You may cook multiple latkes at once but do not crowd the pan or oil will cool and latkes will become greasy. 6. Remove from oil and drain on a wire rack over a cookie sheet. Dust with salt. Place cookie sheet in a 200 degree F oven to keep warm while frying further batches. 7. Serve warm with traditional accompaniments of sour cream and applesauce if desired.

*I'm leading a silk dying workshop this Tuesday at City Folk's Farm Shop. Please join me to learn simple techniques to custom color handkerchiefs, playsilks, and scarves while making a sample to take home.

Thankful

crows in trees  

The first thing I see every morning is this tree. I look out the window upon an oak that was large before I was born. The oak stood tall before my house was built. Estimated to be at least 150 years old, our oak towers over all the trees on the street. I am thankful for a stunning view.

The oak is home to countless critters including the murder of crows at the top in this picture. Last year the crows gathered on the first night of Hanukkah, causing Lil to name the event 'Cronukkah'. Alex and I chuckle when we talk about Cronukkah because the phrase sounds a little like a holiday Snoop Dog might celebrate. I am thankful for a loving, laughing family.

My daybreak reverie with the this tree reminds me that our family is but a tiny thread of the web of life. Yet our thread is significant. We must use our energy to enjoy and protect treasures like this tree. I am thankful for all the wondrous and mysterious ways of Mother Nature.

What are you thankful for this year?