Little Red Hen Monday

The canning season has hit! 

In some ways I am glad it's here, but in many others I wish it would go away tomorrow...hahaha! I have found some ways to simplify things by using my dehydrator more so that has made quite a difference. Today I have canned 19 jars of apple/peach butter, 11 jars of black bean and corn salsa, and five jars of tomato soup. I have two 5 gal. buckets of canning tomatoes on the way so this was an easy day!

Doesn't this look SOOOOO yummy??

Black bean and corn salsa...all of it came right from my garden, even the black beans!Oh, I know I only have 9 jars in the picture...two more were still in the canner:-)

Apple/Peach butter

Last weekend's food processing was much easier than this weeks...I only had to put up a bushel of corn:-) Easy! LOL! Well, this year it was "easy" so to say. This year I did it WAY different. All I did was shuck it, cut it off the cob, put it in the dehydrator, and whalla! All done!

My bushel of corn fit into a 1/2 gallon jar and one quart jar:-) You want to talk about saving space in both pantry and freezer??? THIS IS IT! Oh, the little bit of dried green beans you see there are about two gallons of beans:-) Those are super easy too!

If you want to use your corn (or beans) simply place the amount you want to use in a bowl, cover with water, let them sit at room temp until they are completely rehydrated, plump, succulent, and ready to cook for eating! The corn tastes just like you sliced it off the cob and the green beans don't have that AWFUL freezer taste or slimy canned taste! They just taste FRESH!

What's really neat about doing things this way is that you preserve the vital nutrients and minerals in the food. Now, some things have to be canned for "survival" food purposes, I get that, but if it can be dried, then by all means, DRY IT!

Since I'm about to wrap up the last bit of canning for today, I have a couple gallons of potatoes that I am going to turn into healthy dehydrated Instant potatoes! STAY TUNED!

Happy Little Red Hen Monday!

16 months old!

"Helping" clean up his mess!

Taking a wagon ride with Addy and CJ

Climbing in his favorite chair

This is truly Caleb's chair! If you're sitting in it, he'll come over and pull on you to get out, climb up and sit down for a minute, climb back out of the chair and go his way. If you sit down in it again, he'll come back, fuss at you to get out of the chair and repeat the process! He has totally claimed it and he's sticking by his guns....lol!

Happy Fourth of July!

Yes, I know...it's not the fourth, but here's some pictures from our fun day!

Swimming pool time!

So thankful the Lord provided something for the kids to cool off in!

Shopping at the Columbus market while the kids played games at the School with the precious people from Crossroads!

Love my farmer friends!

Dad and the blueberry man:-) oh, and his squash "wilson" that a farmer gave him...they even drew a face and hair on him and Dad brings him to market every week! LOL!

JD having fun on the rides!

Audrey, Adalyn, and their friend, Emmalyn "swinging" around!

Adalyn and Karrington are getting ready for the fireworks in Mooresboro!

Late Night = unhappy baby:-)

Enjoying being "mommied" by Kylie - our little mother to all the babies:-)

Mommy and her baby!

Daddy and Caleb sleeping while the fireworks were exploding overhead...men can sleep anywhere, anytime!!

We had a great time and enjoyed getting to have our good friends, The Elliott kids, join us for the day while their parents were out of town celebrating their anniversary! Such a fine bunch of kids and they were such a help and blessing that day! We truly have a great country and I'm looking forwards to studying American History this year with both girls in school using this awesome curriculum https://www.thelearningparent.com/products.asp?cat=27&product=22 called "The Mighty Works of God - Divine Providence, Liberty and Justice for All, and Self-Government". This is something that I can do with both girls and I'm very happy about that!! They will also be using Presidential Penmanship from this same site together as well and I think that they will enjoy learning about their Presidents and Country while perfecting their handwriting skills.

It is mind-boggling to realize that it is July 9th and that our school is is quickly approaching AGAIN! We're going to do things a little differently this year with our school calendar. We're going to revolve it around the Harvest/putting up food season this year to make it a little easier for Momma to do both:-) We'll start school in August and go straight through until March and then stop for Mar. April, and May to do planting and take any little trips that we can before the spring butchering comes. Then start school again in June and go till August when all the tomatoes and stuff come in, resume in September, and then go from there! Just something a little different this year, so we'll see how it goes! Caleb is a little more flexible now that he is walking everywhere so he's more content to entertain himself than before:-)

Speaking of July, it's now "CHRISTMAS IN JULY" in this house! We start listening to our favorite Christmas CD's (which my husband so sweetly loaded into Media player so that I can listen all day!!) and planning our Christmas Cards and making our lists to begin working on our Christmas gifts! I know people think it's CRAZY to think about Christmas in July, but when it's been nearly 100 degrees all of June and all of July so far, thinking about Christmas just makes you feel cooler, SO I DO! LOL! September through January are my absolute most favorite months of the year! I LOVE winter!

I hope you all had a great time of fellowship together this Fourth of July and we must not take that privilege lightly! Our current Administration has shown quite well that it is against anything that promotes "Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness" and we must NOT take what we have for Granted! My husband and I spent time reading the Declaration of Independence and thanked our God for those men who were willing to pledge their lives, families, and fortunes for freedom for ALL men, even freedom for men to oppose their beliefs. All but two of those men died penniless and many of them lost their entire families as well. Such sacrifice! I am thankful for them and I hope and pray that if the time comes again for such sacrifice that we, as Americans, will have the same courage to do the same! God Bless America!

It's Summertime! What are you putting on your skin?

http://www.lavera.com/education/ingredient-watch/synthetic-sunscreens
Check out this site! I don't use commercially made anything on my skin or on my children, but this site provides some additional information that I did not know about! When my kids go outside, I just slather them with raw coconut oil (SPF of 10) and make sure they stay hydrated! I did find a site http://frugallysustainable.com/2012/03/a-recipe-for-natural-homemade-sunscreen/ that has a wonderful homemade sunscreen that I can use (and that I AM going to make and use:-) on all of us that will give excellent UVA/UVB protection when we need to be out in the sun for longer periods of time. The sun is not a bad thing! We get our Vitamin D from the sun and we need that desperately! What we don't need is sunburn:-) A poor diet contributes largely in one's sensitivity to burning as well, but that's a whole "nother" story:-) The key is to choose your going out in the sun time carefully, stay very hydrated and use some healthy oils on the skin to protect it from the inside out!

There is just too much stuff in US Cosmetics and body care products that is cancer-causing, endocrine disruptive, and damaging to the nervous system for me to even use it a little bit. Did you know that there are currently 10,500 ingredients used in the US cosmetic industry and only 11% of those have even been tested for safety?!!! YIKES! These toxins are messing with our children, causing them to have health problems and reproductive problems that they should not have!

Does your child have a continuous runny nose, cough, watery eyes, or skin rash? Might want to check your labels on products that you are using! I know that I'm going to be even MORE diligent in checking ingredients of the things that I use. I buy only organic shampoo, but I still read the label very carefully, but I now know the names of more toxic chemicals so I need to go back and read again:-) I have found that RAW COCONUT OIL is pretty much a cure all for anything skin related. We use it for dry skin, bug bites, stings, sunscreen, cuts, and also use it in our hair so we don't have to use highly toxic conditioners that bind to our hair shafts, seeping sulfates into our system on a daily basis.

I am always excited to find more information about what's being used in either food or body products and I think I stumbled upon a good one! This particular company, Lavera, has very good reviews on Skin Deep for their products. So go out there, enjoy the sun, but don't get sunburned!!!

Need I say...OUCH?

Well, today it finally happened. 

The day I've been working so hard to avoid finally got here.

I picked up Caleb and weellll, his weight and my rib problems did what I've been trying to avoid.

SNAP!

Yep. I've had a problem since his pregnancy with a rib that dislocates periodically and it had been giving me trouble this last week and I did not go have it adjusted.  Well, I can now not move my left arm more than an inch or so away from my body because the muscle tension from the shifted rib caused something to pull from my hip clear up to my collar bone! 

Doesn't that just sound fun! It has swelled up like a balloon and I had to resort to taking Ibuprofen. I HATE medicine. It makes me loopy....yes, even ibuprofen. Disgusting stuff. It was either that or go to bed due to not being able to coherently function with the pain. And we all know that mothers cannot go to bed when fathers are not home from work yet...well, and hardly even then!! lol!

Oh the joys of motherhood:-)   

So, my challenge for this week will be...how to do everything with my right arm...hmmm...how does one pick up a 23 pound 15 month old with one arm?? LOL! What a week! YEEHAW!

Well, I guess I'll get some "ebaying" done that I've needed to...lol! Happy Day!  

Faith is the evidence of things not seen

I was reminded of this principle in Scripture last Wednesday on a new scale. I speak for myself when I say that I struggle when it comes to trusting things I cannot put my hands on. 

I am self-sufficient by nature:-) That is my personality:-) I've been through many different things in life and God has always brought me out so many times that I sometimes fall prey to self-reliance. I feel confident in things around me whether they be man or God-made. 

God shook that up a little last week:-).

Out of the blue *literally*, Caleb woke up early Wed. morning last week unable to breathe. He sounded like he was blowing bubbles in his lungs. We rushed him to Valdese first thing in the morning where he was diagnosed with an acute asthmatic bronchitis attack. We either had to have a steroid shot immediately or admit him. We felt the single steroid shot was the LEAST invasive compared to what we knew would happen if we took him in. His doctor knows my stance on drugs and such, but we all felt this was the best way to go first. I firmly believe that we should "First Do No Harm". The steroid shot would buy us 48 hours to see drastic improvement. If not, then he would have to be admitted. 

I felt helpless. I had never encountered any type of this with my girls. I think the worst they've ever had is a runny nose! This was different. Way different. This was scary. Caleb was literally gasping with his entire body for every breath he could manage. 

You know what the scariest moment was in all of this? Just a brief one, but still scary...I went to God first. I had a few moments in the car ride home where I wrestled hard with the "socially acceptable way of treating this" versus God's way. My mind knows what God's way is capable of doing, I've seen it work in me, in others, and my other children. Yet once again God was calling me to trust Him first. You see, I like to trust in things that I can see. The Doctor in his expertise, the sterile office, the prescriptions, the medical instruments are all things that I can see. They look so safe and the words are so promising, but is it what is best? God says to come and He'll give rest, to knock and the door will be opened, to call and great and mighty things will be shown to us. What is the key to making the right decision? 

FAITH.

Faith is blind. It cannot see the tangible. It is not human. It is Divine.

We got home, began the treatments that I know how to do with what I had on hand and began to pray. God opened a door by allowing my MD friend to be at home that evening. She assisted me with dosages of certain herbs that I am familiar with, but not dosage amounts. Within two hours of beginning the herbs, Caleb's breathing began to return to normal and he fell asleep for the night, waking up only twice to eat a little bit. The next day he was pretty perky and Thursday night he slept all night waking up only once. In a weeks time he is now back to his normal self other than an occasional wet cough. Nothing strenuous, loose, and non painful. This is good because I had bronchitis as a child, went the typical route with it, suffered tremendously, and still have problems with it occasionally now as an adult. I KNOW how bad bronchitis can be. You don't sleep, don't eat, wracked by coughing that cannot be stopped, you gag and choke on mucous, and are in awful pain for several days. 

Where am I going with this? Well, I shared this because I want others to see that faith in God's way works. I want to share how God grew my faith again through yet another trial. He says in James 1 that "the trying of your faith worketh patience...let patience have her perfect work that ye may be perfect and entire wanting nothing." Many times God's way doesn't have immediate effects like it did in Caleb's case this time. Maybe it takes a little longer, but the Great Physician knows the timetable. He has the perfect cure. What does He require? Faith and the willingness to do things His way. 

So many times I know that I've come to God as a last resort. I've tried everything else, I've worked it and worked it, I've rearranged and rescheduled, but it just doesn't work! Then it hits me. I've gone to myself and others first, not God. God allows little things to come into our lives, not to frustrate us or wear us out, but to draw us to Him in faith! He has the answers. He IS the answer!! His way is perfect. He did not leave us Comfortless, spiritually OR physically. As a Christian I understand that God has given us His Son to meet our spiritual needs, but I think many times when it comes to our physical bodies we see God as our "genie in the bottle".  When all the human doctors run out of ideas and don't have any more answers, rub it and maybe God will work a "miracle". 

Now, this does not mean that I do as I please to my body and then come to God and say "alright God, I'm having faith, I'm not taking any legalized drugs, so heal me!". Nope. Doesn't work that way either:-) God made a way for our bodies to heal themselves and we must follow that way, so that when we do get sick, the remedies that He has provided in nature will be able to work synergetically in the body. 

I witnessed something last week that I've not seen before. I saw God's way begin to heal in a matter of two hours. It helped me to understand the importance of developing the immune system and when that immune system is fed and maintained in the right way, herbs work! It was truly an amazing experience (well, on this side of it;-) It was scary when we were right in the middle of it!) 

I think I will begin a little journal of making remembrances of these times of faith so that as each new trial comes I can look back, see God's hand, and be encouraged to have faith to do things God's way. Let go. Let God have His perfect way. Have faith as small as a grain of mustard seed and God will move mountains. We pray "God, give me faith!", yet when it comes to our bodies we trust in man, not God. I'm speaking for myself on this:-) The more things that God allows to come my way, the more I'm learning to trust. He is my Father and has not left me Comfortless!

Farmers Market Goodies and Family Fun in GA!

These Cabbages weighed nearly 6-7 pounds a piece!!! INCREDIBLE! And you know what makes it even more incredible??? They only cost *gasp* $2.00 a piece! Now, that's some bang for your buck! I love the farmers market:-) I dont' look forwards to dragging myself up and out of the house early on Saturday mornings and make the drive over the Shelby market first to pick up some stuff and then drive over to the Columbus market for my vegetables. There is something about driving around in the mountains in the early morning hours that is just almost magical. The air is so crisp and clean, there are few cars on the road, and there is still that calmness that only comes with first light and nightfall. I love it! Maybe one day I'll be waking up to that right on my own farm:-) But you know why I go through so much "trouble" as many people tend to think??? I love my family. I love helping them stay healthy. I love meeting new farmer friends. I love how I meet the farmers need by buying his produce and he meets mine by growing good produce and how this relationship is instantly formed and doors of opportunity to share other aspects of our lives are immediately thrown open. I love knowing that my food is NOT grown in my next door neighbors toilet refuse, well, in toilet refuse in general! I love knowing that what I'm eating is really what I'm eating. I love keeping the money in my local community...lower prices for everybody! Most of all, I just love knowing that I am taking care of the four people God has entrusted me with and that my sacrifice of personal time to do it all is daily worth it as I watch my children grow into strong healthy individuals who will, Lord willing, be able to outlive me in God's service

I wanted to share all these pictures because I wanted people to see what I bought for $65. Now, all this fed a family of 5, plus seven more on vacation, with some leftover to put up for the winter. I made casseroles, started sauerkraut, we're still eating on the cucumbers:-), still eating on the cabbage, and used some of this to put into this.......

THIS is chicken stock that I have been slowly simmering for three days. I have the bones and skin from two chickens, vegetables, garlic, onions, and eggshells (they provide lots of calcium!!) and once it is finished I will let it cool, strain off the cooked stuff, and I will have delicious healthy chicken stock to add to my soups and broths!! So so easy and so so cheap:-)

Now, here's a few pictures from our little three day excursion to the GA mountains with my family!

My camera gave out while we were there, but I got more on Audreys camera...I hope to get those up later!