movin' on out

We're in the final stages of moving out, so work can get accomplished on our house (for  more details see: The House that Apollos Built).  It's crazy, and hectic, and nuts, and you probably get the point by now. What would make it even more stressful? A huge custom order. 
I've been working on expanding the tiny bit of sewing for profit that I do.  In fact, I even set a monetary goal for myself, for the year.  $365, or one dollar a day.  So far, I'm no where near that goal.  In steps my friend's husband.  With a request for alterations on his uniform, 2 undershirts, and 2 new coats for his reenacting hobby.  I'm excited, and nervous at the same time.  Honestly, I think I'm more nervous about getting this order right for him, than when I sewed her wedding dress!
Back to the moving out topic.  We're trying to keep the amount we take with us minimal.  Then this order comes in, on top of the work I had planned on doing while we were staying at my in-laws.  So now I'm bringing one plastic tote of projects, a sewing machine, a serger, my knitting, AND having fabric shipped to their house.  Oh, and I need my reference books.  I'm a compulsive researcher.  If the littlest thing strikes my fancy I can spend hours reading up on it.  So, here are my research books I'm bringing with (I have other ones waiting for me at the library in town)

Home EC...homesteading economics.

I'm starting an on-going challenge to post tidbits and how to's on the how what and whys of homesteading.  Despite growing up in the country on a 'farm', I feel like I've had a ton to learn, and still have miles to go.  I'm also going to be hosting guest bloggers on this, since I am, admittedly, not an expert in much. 
So...here is the first tidbit:

When it comes to being a woman, but having to break open livestock water in the winter, don't do it the way men do.  Men go out with their BFH (big friggin hammers, for those of you who didn't grow up in the Midwest) and bash away.  That's how I've been doing it.  Until today that is. Today I had to shovel a foot of snow off the top of the water before breaking it open.  Rather than walk the extra 10 steps back to a scoop shovel, I grabbed my garden spade.  Turns out it works great for breaking ice up.  In fact, it works better than the sledge.  I was able to break more ice open than in the last couple weeks, and then scoop the ice out of the water as well. 

It's the little things...

Jenny

Attempting gluten.

Now that January, and my attempts at limiting foods are over, I'm going in the opposite direction. We've been gluten free for 10 months, and Paleo for about 9 of them.  I'd like to try reintroducing grains into our diet again, because we miss breads.  I'm still very cautious about gluten, as they led to stomach upset and cavities for Braeden last year. 
The cavities are healed (another post is coming on that subject), but the stomach upset still lingers.  Grains don't affect him nearly as bad as soy does, so we're experimenting with reintroducing soured and sprouted grains.

 I made a sour dough starter with the flour from my cupboard, so it's definitely not fresh.  I've been experimenting with biscuits and pancakes.  I'm slowly getting my chops back when it comes to baking with gluten, however Braeden's stomach doesn't seem to be appreciating it.  My wheat berries are sprouted, and going in the dehydrator today, so hopefully some freshly ground sprouted, and then soured grain will sit better with him. 
I also still have spelt and rye flour in the pantry to experiment with.  I'm hopeful we can find something that his gut will tolerate, so we can have 'normal' baked goods now and then. 
Jenny

Happy February and a Giveaway!

HAPPY FEBRUARY!
I am so excited that it's February, and we're that much closer to Spring and warm weather.
To celebrate I'm having my first give-away! 1 pair of felt cupid wings, just in time for Valentines day!
Each person to enter will have their name written on a piece of paper and thrown in a bowl. The drawing will be next Saturday, February 8th.
 I have a couple ways to enter:

1.Share Spruced Corner's facebook page on your wall.
2. Have a friend 'like' our page and comment on our wall about who sent them. (Both you and your friend will we entered this way.)
3. Follow us on Etsy at :https://www.etsy.com/shop/SprucedCorner?ref=shop_sugg
4. Follow one of our blogs: (or both for two entries) http://sprucedcorner.blogspot.com/ or
http://apolloswilliamshouse.blogspot.com/ If you already follow both blogs, comment on a post and let us know you want to be entered!

That's right, there is the potential to get entered 5 times to win a set of wings for your little one!

The wings you'll win!

Color sorting, Cursive letters, and Japanese

The other day Braeden had a bit of cabin fever, and Kelan had a cold.  I didn't like the idea of dragging Kelan out into the below zero wind chills so that Braeden could burn off energy.  Instead I thought up something to occupy his mind for a little while after nap.  I combined color sorting, cursive letter recognition, and Japanese.  I wrote both the color names in romaji, so that anyone can pronounce it, and katakana so he can see the symbols.  I feel equally rusty in writing both cursive and katakana. 

 

I started off with a pile of pompoms, an empty egg carton, colored pencils, scissors, glue, and construction paper.  I had 8 colors of pompoms, so I cut off two rows of the egg carton.   

 

To close up the egg carton, I cut off the top with an approximate extra inch and a half. 

Cut two slits into the top, folded them in and taped it.  

 

 Cut the center out of each of the bottom sections next.  This egg carton was set up perfectly to accommodate this.    

 

Each section was then covered with a color of construction paper that coordinated with the pom poms. I glued the papers on, then reopened the holes.  Doing it this way ensured that I wouldn't make the holes too big.  

 

To make boxes I cut rectangles from the construction paper, slit the corners about 1 inch in, 

 

glued each corner, 

 

and patiently held them until they were dry.  

 

On more construction paper I wrote the color in English cursive, romaji which is the romanized version of the Japanese language, and then in katakana at the bottom.  I glued each of these sheets onto the bottom of my boxes and filled them with their coordinating pom poms.  

I managed to get it set up just before he woke up. 

Here he is after he matched all the colors, sorting them back into their boxes to start over. 

Gardening in January, or I feel overwhelmed.

It was going great.  I had my Baker Creek catalog, http://www.rareseeds.com/, and had picked out this year's garden seeds.  Then I drug out the seeds left over from last year and the feeling of overwhelm struck.  Braeden had explored my seeds, without my knowledge.  Now I have quite a bit of mystery seeds to sort through, an order to adjust, and garden plots to write out.  However, spring is coming, so all is well.  

A substitute for oatmeal

This time of the year I crave warm carb laden comfort food all day long.  I attempted to make a paleo friendly substitute for baked oatmeal the other day.  The photos aren't that great, but it was late and I was in a hurry to get it in the oven before Kelan woke up.  I also didn't measure anything but one ingredient.  It's all 'to taste', or 'looks about right'.

 

I started with shredded low fat coconut flakes.  It's what I had in the pantry.  Ideally I would have had full fat coconut flakes.  You know, the big kind?

 

I added one can of full fat (bpa free) coconut milk.  And a lot more coconut.  I then added a little water until I got the consistency I liked.  

 I transferred it to a baking dish, and added ginger and allspice.  Tasted it, and it wasn't quite what I wanted.  So, I added 8 oz of no sugar added applesauce and cinnamon.  Then I stuck it in my convection oven, set to slow cook, and went to bed.

 It was pretty darn tasty! All the males in the house liked it.  It would even work as a crust for a pie.  Best of all, I didn't need to use a ton of eggs like I have to with coconut flour.