Wintertime is really difficult for me this year, with the strong possibility of a huge move to Alberta early in the new year, I find it difficult to think about doing any gardening. And a lot of my seeds are now going on 2 years old, I really feel the need to start growing some vegetables, herbs and medicines. I've got a compost pile, but I'm thinking in terms of moving things, can I grow things that will be ready in the possible late spring? So maybe I should go ahead and read this little book Winter Seed Starting by Sara Chodl and start what I can in the mini milk jug greenhouse system she uses. If I do grow anything it should be in grow bags so I can move them for sure. And, I don't know if I can take a compost pile with me anywhere, but maybe I could start a worm farm, I could do that and take the worm farm with us. I guess it's just a matter of now looking into which things will be ready in the mid to late spring.
Since getting started is the hardest part of anything it seems, perhaps what I should also do is determine which plants I've got seeds for, are to be direct seeded, seed started and which months each can be started so which ever month we actually move, if we actually move...I'll know exactly which ones I can work with. And I should probably figure this out for both Calgary and Langley, just in case we don't actually go anywhere.
I pulled out my grain mill this week and cleaned out the mold that had been growing in it since before we moved into this new place we're in. And I just got finished doing a couple of cups of brown rice flour and oatmeal flour this afternoon.
Yeah, this is our Wondermill Junior Deluxe. Love this little piece of homesteading practicality. The thing to know about using it to make "Bobs Red Mill fine" flour straight from whole grains though is that depending on the size and hardness of the grains, you'll have to run those grains through anywhere from 2 to 6 times before getting that level of fine-ness. The brown rice for example had to go through 3 times, when I make corn flour, I've got to put the kernels through 6 times, the rolled oats however, which are already semi processed and soft anyway, had to go through only once, .
My kids hate brown rice, but if I grind the stuff up to make gluten free brownies they'll eat it, that's my only tried and true recipe using brown rice anything right now when it comes to something they'll actually enjoy or even just tolerate eating. There's got to be something else out there too though, I'll just have to keep looking.
My kids are really picky about food however, they don't even like sourdough bread unless it's mostly made out of white flour. Now the way I've been keeping my starter in the fridge and just taking it out to pull out half the starter I need (and putting an equal combined amount of flour and water back into the starter) and just proofing that just out of the fridge starter for my new batch of bread, has resulted in my sourdough not being so sour.
I think I better take it out a day ahead from now on, see if that doesn't bring that nice 'sour' taste back into the bread. One thing about the white flour in the sourdough however, is that it does seem to get puffier than the all whole wheat sourdough. I don't really like the taste as much because it no longer reminds me of the old fashioned rye bread I grew up with.
I try to get my little Ezra involved when I have to make bread or cook stuff in the kitchen because it makes for some great cognitive therapy and developmental exercises for him, it isn't always easy though, like when he doesn't want to let me finish the pretty good job he's done...
I've tried to make some Asian style dishes the past little while too, using some new and some not so well liked ingredients (to make use of some sushi ingredient left overs). Tried oyster mushrooms for the first time in my life, the kids loved it and the ingredients looked so pretty I had to take a shot...
And it was fairly simple seasonings I used too, didn't look half so pretty when I was done cooking it, but it was delicious all my kids enjoyed it. Praise God, that was a win!
Then I tried a new technique of preparing ramen because I wanted to use up a pretty red pepper and leftover package of imitation crab sticks and along with some other typical stir fry ingredients, cooked the ramen separately then put the seasoned stir fried veggies and crabsticks on top of the noodles in everybody's bowl, so beautiful. Alas though, most of my picky bunch didn't care for it at all. I loved it, I'll try again without the crab sticks next time, maybe they'll like it then. Some kids don't tolerate crab sticks except in sushi.
A homesteading tip I'd like to share with you guys is bulk pie crust preparation. There's nothing like saving time by making 8 or more pie crusts at a time, rolling them out on parchment paper separately, then stacking them on a pizza tray and putting them in the freezer. When it's pie making time, I'll just take 1 or 2 out, or if I'm making two top crust pies, I'll take 4 of these sheets out and get my pies done in record time. (The kids are super surprised when they wake up to fresh apple pie in the morning!)
Now as some of you may know, my little Ezra is autistic and I'm always trying to find something to gently and safely aid / improve his brain function so the teaching and therapy activities will have as much impact as possible to help him. And I have started to give him several things that seem to actually be helping. So he's got a lot of frustration, anxiety and even depression issues going on, so I realized one day he could probably use a few adaptogens.
The other things get added to his drink is 1g of lion's mane mushroom powder, this stuff is incredible and seems to be a real aid in assisting him with making those connections between different kinds of logic and things he needs to do to complete a task or understand something. For example, since I started giving this to him, if I ask him to get me something, he's now understanding me better and many times will actually get the item I ask for, like his oat milk I need to make his drink earlier.
And I also give him about 150 - 200 mg of ginko biloba 2 - 3 times a day in his juice that I give him as a bit of an anti-depressant and another aid to brain function. With this, I also mix a little Plexus pink drink in to help keep his blood sugar levels down. this stuff is terribly bitter though so that's why I have to give him just a tiny bit in his juice.
God is so good in how He provides us with all these blessings and ways to help each other and do things. I enjoy looking for ways to more perfectly worship Him. When we pray for example, you don't just want to ask God for the help we may need, we also need to ask God to forgive us our sins, thank Him for all the things that He's blessed us with, pray for those we know need help and His guidance and then make our personal requests of Him. Well, aside from just listening to my audio bible more and doing my regular prayers, I had the idea one day to keep a Sabbath prayer diary, where I just sit down and write out all of my prayers.
I did this last Saturday for the first time and it was quite a beautiful experience. I'm glad He gave me the idea. It helped me to just settle down and deeply focus on my prayer instead of it just being a "light" gliding over of important things I mention to the Lord. It also helped me remember to pray more during the week too. I suggest you give it a try too.
