Bloggers block over, retirement a work in progress

Not sure why it took me so long to write again.  Adjusting to retirement, I guess.  Besides getting back into the blog mode, I also started walking today after 6 months of telling myself that today is the the day, then tomorrow is the day, then.........So this retirement thing is a whole new world.  My life no longer revolves around weekends.  Except for those days that I substitute teach, I can actually plan on doing things on a weekday!  After almost 30 years of structuring everything around weekends, it is a very liberating feeling.  AND my blood pressure has gone down 20 points since I retired (although when I think of the financial problems that could happen because our income is now somewhat reduced I am sure it could go back up again).  So, I am doing a lot of more writing (working on sort of cookbook and a book of family stories to pass down ), more rug weaving, more knitting, more time to plan next years garden with my husband and dreaming of the new TroyBilt Pony Tiller with electric starter that is coming my way before spring, and more time to study traditional and new uses of herbs for cooking and medicine (began with my grandmothers' knowledge and just went from there).  All kinds of ideas to raise more for the farmer's market.  This fall when the major part of the garden work is done, I am going to create a website to sell my rugs, knitting, soap, etc.  And now I have the time to do it. 
     My sister and I were at the Tri Kappa Craft Show on November 8 at the Attica High School.  It was well attended and there were a lot of vendors.  A lot of talent in our area!  Since it was our first public show, we didn't become rich, but we learned a lot and got to visit with friends.  Dale is a sewing machine wizard as well as just plain spectacular with her handbags, baby accessories and much more.  Amazing!!  I brought my soap, knitted items and rag rugs.  Looking forward to doing it again!!
         Hope everyone saved their turkey carcass from Thanksgiving.  I put the carcass and a chicken carcass in the stock pot a few days ago along with a few raw carrots, a large onion (cut in half, skin and all) and a few peppercorns.  Add enough water to cover the chick/turkey bones, etc. Do not add salt.  You can add that later in the whatever foods your are preparing with this.  Let it come to a boil, reduce heat to simmer, let cook 4-6 hours, strain, put in quart jars (I got 7 quarts of stock from this).  See a previous blog for a more detailed description of the process.  Nothing less expensive of better for us in the winter than good homemade soup or vegies cooked in stock.  Lots of flavor and nutrition for pennies.
     Yesterday I made a batch of soap to start curing (2 months) for us and for the farmers market.  In a month I will make another batch and continue through the winter.  Too much to do in the summer to stop to make soap and I want to be sure my customers and family have enough.  Chickens still laying well so noodles will also be in good supply this winter.  
     I am going to take some time as soon as I sign off here to cut up some fabric squares that we use for 'paper towels' now.  I now have the time to make a real dent in our ecological footprint.  We are gradually getting rid of paper products and commercial cleaning products and replacing them with handmade simple products made with non-toxic ingredients. More on that later.  
     

RAIN, RAIN GO AWAY....

Yes, when it rains it pours—every day for a few weeks it seems.  We may begin to rival Washington State as a rain forest if this keeps up.  Of course, better now than when harvest comes.  Trouble is, it doesn’t follow our wishes.  It is, after all, the weather.  And there are still those out there that tell us that we haven’t caused these weather extremes along with ‘the world is flat and only 6,000 years old, you can grow a snake with a long horsehair in a dish of water, etc.’ Anyway, we need to really keep on working on solutions to climate change that last—wind power, water power, nuclear (carefully), and certainly solar.  And that means paying for what we have done—can’t avoid it just because it is going to be hard and take sacrifice. 

     Just finished a big batch of noodles for the farmers market and orders and they are in the kitchen drying on the racks.  Will probably make almost 6 lbs. dried which uses 2 dozen eggs.  Lots of eggs right now and if you are going to stock up for the holidays/winter at the Attica Farmers Market, I will take orders for noodles that I will deliver locally during the month of October.  5 lb. minimum order.

     Had my first day of substitute teaching on Monday.  I used to do that about 30 years ago and I am delighted to be doing it at the same great school that I went to and that my children also attended.  Big advocate of the small school and certainly public schools.  Not so keen on home schooling.  Not sure what information parents want to keep from their children and I certainly know that very few parents have the skill and training to prepare their children for the world today.  I substituted for 2^nd grade and WOW do those kids have energy and imagination—2 things that add to their ability to learn.  A subject we talked about that had to do with a few pages we were reading was animals.  We talked about how it takes all of an animal’s time to do survival tasks—hunting for food, water, shelter.  When I began to compare that with the human animal (us), I had several children express shock that we are animals too!  That erroneous thinking can lead to a lot of complications, and one little girl said that we couldn’t be animals because animals don’t go to church!! Another little guy said that we were descended from dinosaurs! Hope we never stifle imagination, but we do have to make sure they have accurate information.  Long way to go, but they are only 2^nd graders!!    

Rain---yes!!!!

As I write, I note that my internet connection is very slow this a.m.  so I will publish this when that is available—hopefully later this a.m. 

    Good weekend---it rained!!!  Still raining a bit this a.m.  Now maybe our watermelons and muskmelons (ok, cantaloupe for all my non-Hoosier readers) might plump up now.  My middle daughter and her partner are off to Tennessee for a few days so we have the ‘granddogs’.  Very small and so far happy in their portable dog kennel.  Got to see Shanna Schneider on Saturday.  She and her family (which includes a new one, Harold—beautiful little boy with smiles all around) had moved to Iowa recently after she had been a vendor for the last few years at the Attica Farmers Market.  Very happy in Iowa. 

     Spent yesterday afternoon rejoicing for rain and cutting strips of fabric for my next 2 weaving projects.  Have another order for placemats (just finishing a set today that was ordered in April!) and I am starting on a full size rug to build inventory for the Tri-Kappa Craftacular in November that I have mentioned before.  Would like to take 4 full size rugs to the craft show and we are getting down to a little less than 3 months to go.  So, during all my cutting yesterday, my Scissors finally started squeaking and getting really stiff.  Olive oil to the rescue.  Worked some into the screw area that holds the scissors together and now as good as new!  I would have reached for 3-in-1 oil only it was upstairs in my sewing machine supplies and I was too lazy to run up there. 

     This morning I was going to make noodle dough to rest overnight and do the rolling and cutting tomorrow morning, but my husband told me I had 5 more lbs left in the barn freezer so I guess that might be enough for next week’s farmers market.  So I am putting noodle making off until next week.  Trying to find as much time as possible to weave and knit to get ready for a craft show.  My sister Dale and I are sharing a space and it will be exciting to see what she brings.  She is an absolute wizard with a sewing machine and does incredible stuff.  Her handbags are incredible as well as anything else she makes.  I think she is working on some baby accessories with an owl motif which is popular right now.  Hope to have my daughter there with some organic lotion bars that she has been working on.  My granddaughter has started working on some paper beads that are just beautiful. Maybe some of those elastic bracelets that are trendy right now.....becoming a family affair.

One month into Retirement--Loving it!

One month into retirement.  As I have heard others say, 'How did I have time to work'.  I am sure they meant 'how did I have time to work at 'other' employment' because I am certainly still working, --still need to make money, but more of a choice of more creative ways to do it.  Yesterday, I took my granddaughter to two doctor's appointments to get her ready for the new school year (don't even get me started on how early in the summer that kids go back to school--maybe that helps the less than honest unemployment figures since they hardly have time to get a job).  Anyway, between appointments we had time to go shopping.  Not my favorite thing to do, but Liberty makes it fun.  Hope she liked it to.  (Went to Salvation Army--what a great place to shop.  If you have not donated or shopped there, give it a try.  You will be pleasantly surprised.  Many times we forget that we should look for and buy used clothing, etc as a way of recycling.)   So, I got to spend time with her, kept my daughter from having to take time off from work, and made sure Lib got the appointments done before school started.  That's what grandparents are for.  Too bad so many children grow up with grandparents that are too far away.  We do have a significant role to play in the raising of our grandkids.  And what fun!!!
     Recently received my Indiana State Substitute Teacher certificate so I am ready to do that for 2 elementary schools in the county.  Would like to do that a few days a week during the school year.  Lots of plans for next spring with meat rabbits, chickens, and milk goats. 
    Farmers Market continuing.  Knitting and weaving like mad for the Nov 8 Tri Kappa Craftacular in Attica.  Made another batch of soap last week to be sure to have enough inventory.  My soap is aged for 2 months before I put it out for sale.  Cucumbers are ready to crock for pickles, sunflowers are 7 ft high (the seeds are super protein for our chickens--part of the reason our eggs are so healthy) and winter squash vines showing tiny baby squashes under the blossoms--another source of good food for both the chickens and ourselves.  Swiss chard prolific as always.  So glad we decided that chard is a much better route to go instead of spinach.  Tastes like spinach (both raw & cooked), but just produces and produces all summer long and well into the fall.  Both Chard and Kale have immense vitamins and minerals.  From reading everything coming out about Kale, you would think it had been newly discovered.  England and Europe have been growing it for hundreds of years for its ability to last almost all the way through the winter and provide them with the only 'green' during those months!  As they say 'what's old is new again'. 
   Off to my loom. 

One week into retirement.  Do I miss being at the University yet--No.  Do I miss the great group that I worked with, the faculty/staff/students--you bet!  Will stay in touch since they were my department family for many years. 
     Lots to do on the farm this time of year.  Weeds, weeds, weeds and then it rains.  Probably will be droughty in the next 2 months, so shouldn't complain.  Fountain County Fair coming up beginning this Friday when my granddaughter shows her rabbits and chickens.  This takes the whole day and it is a day Mike and I really look forward to. 
    Working on projects for the Craftacular Craft Show that Tri Kappa is having on November 8 at the Attica High School.  Should be a lot of crafters there and a great day for everyone to shop for one-of-a-kind handmade holiday gifts.  My sister Dale and I will be bringing handbags, maybe aprons, knitted items for all ages, handmade rag rugs, placemats, etc.  Not sure if I can sell my handmade noodles there, but if I can, we will have that also.  If my granddaughter has time to work on them, she will be making beautiful paper beads to put together those trendy elastic bracelets to sell. 


The Craftacular will benefit our local food banks, which is certainly a great cause.  Don't get me started on how absolutely barbaric it is that we should have to have food banks for our hungry, especially for those who fall through the cracks and earn too much for food stamps and not enough to keep good food on the table.  Shouldn't be happening in this country.  Till next time.

Retirement plans, update on DIY paper towels, chard & greens

It has finally come--my retirement from the University!  I have just 6 working days left and I am absolutely ecstatic!!  I have been preparing for this for years.  So much to do and now the time to do it.  A few of my plans: 

• my youngest daughter is helping me develop a website to sell my handmade rag rugs, rug frames, knitting, noodles and soap. We probably won’t have that done until the end of the year—have to get enough inventory on hand—which is hard to do while I work on the rug orders I already have! Will certainly not turn down orders, though.
• Next spring, Mike & I will begin raising rabbits and chickens for our own meat and acquire 2 nanny goats for milk and cheese.
• more time to study medicinal herbs and to catch up on my writing and blogging, & genealogy.  A Farmers Market cookbook definitely is in the plan. 
• Continuing with the Farmers Market in Attica in a bigger way.
• Opening another garden just for chicken feed for our hens and meat chickens.  As we are finding more and more inferior grain (% of protein down, pesticide & herbicide use escalating), we are going to grow sunflowers and pumpkins to take advantage of their high protein seeds. 

Cherry tree loaded.  Our granddaughter will be helping us pick on Sunday if it doesn't rain.  We are definitely sharing cherries with the birds so I hope they leave some for us! 

Update on making using your own 'paper towels'.  You may recall that in a previous blog entry that I said that we were no longer using paper towels, but were repurposing squares of flannel sheets instead.  Well, the result has been great.  I do have a few rolls of paper towels on hand to clean up cat's hairballs or other disgusting things, but overall, we are using our flannel squares with very good results.  However, if you are going to drain bacon, or anything greasy & oily, you really need to discard those cloths after that use since it will not be good for the rest of your wash load to have oily rags in the load.  No guilt throwing them away though since you have already recycled them once and you are saving $$ and paper products.  

Farmers Market tomorrow.  Bringing lots of swiss chard since it is growing like crazy and will continue to do that all summer.  We do not raise spinach anymore due to its intolerance of heat.  Chard tastes like spinach raw or cooked.  It is very mild and it grows through spring, summer, and fall.  So, we have introduced chard to a number of farmers market customers and many come back for more.  If you have garden space, put out a 15 foot row (we have 60 feet!) and that should take care of you and your family through most of the year.  Kale is also a good crop.  A bit more substantial than chard with a huge amount of vitamins and minerals and the all-important fiber, in many places in the US kale will winter over and begin to grow again as soon as the sun warms the earth in the spring. It is hailed as the new 'superfood', but many of us have always eaten it. Always amazed at the number of people who do not know about or have not eaten kale, chard, turnip greens, etc.  There is more to grown in the garden than corn, tomatoes, green beans and lettuce.  Try greens steamed with butter, a bit of vinegar, in casseroles, whatever  BUT EAT YOUR GREENS.  Your grandmother knew what she was talking about.