I did it, I do it every year, I get so excited by the brilliant warm sunshine that I go whole hog working all day in the garden, then a swim in the pool to cool off and I give little care to the largest organ I own...my skin.  Then, when the fun is over and the day is worn down I head in and am usually a bit taken aback by the bright red hue my skin has taken on.  OUCH!  I came across this concoction that I have tweaked a bit and it works really well for soothing red and angry sunburnt skin. Bonus- the moisturizing base has helped keep me from peeling!

If you are curious as to why it works, here is the breakdown...

Lavender soothes skin (burns, abrasions, irritations)
Melalueca heals skin (antibacterial and antimicrobial)
Peppermint cools skin (optional)
Witch Hazel reduces redness, is an astringent and skin soother
Fractionated coconut oil will moisturize the skin (less peeling!)
​

I have a 3 oz spray glass spray bottle that I fill half with the fractionated coconut oil (you can also try grapeseed or even olive oil in a pinch but fractionated coconut oil is by far my favorite.  I then fill the other half with straight witch hazel which is fantastic as an astringent and skin soother.  I then add 20 drops Melalueca (tea tree oil), 20 drops Lavender and if you want the cooling sensation you can then add 10-15 drops of peppermint essential oil (caution don't use the spray near your face/eyes with peppermint in it).

This is my go-to soother all summer long.  I use it on myself, hubby and the kids and it can be used as often as needed, win-win!

​ (if you are curious about which essential oils I feel are the best to use, please contact me I would be happy to chat!) or feel free to click here.

Its been a busy week around here so I thought I would just share a few pictures from around the farm and what we have been up to.

We started building the chicken coop as the brooder is getting overcrowded at this point.  It is always an adventure in building when you have so many helping hands.  I am so excited to get the coop done and be able to at least move the ducklings out to the coop, then the laying hens and 4H breeds in a few more weeks.  They will have so much more space and when Mr. Incidental isn't training bird dogs they will be free ranging on the farm.

The meat chickens are getting SOOOO big and were in need of some fresh air, grass and bugs to eat so they took a trip out to the chicken tractor on a few of the sunny warm days this week.  This makes for a two-fold benefit.  The chickens are getting fresh forage and they are also fertilizing my lawn as we move the chicken tractor around, not to mention less mess for me to clean up!

The ducklings are getting sooo big.  We had a bit of a tragedy this week as our Mallard rescue decided it was time to leave.  I think she just knew she was meant to be wild and she took off, we gave a little chase but decided that she was old enough to fend for herself and needed to be wild.  The other three ducklings were ones we purchased from a hatchery when we got our chickens, I think we are going to call them Huey, Duey and Louie.  They are all doing well and are definitely more tame than the rescue we were helping.  Right now their favorite thing is playtime in the outdoors with a swim in the pan.

Our back field was getting very out of control, without the horse to eat the grass down it grows up VERY quickly.  Mr. Incidental was having trouble seeing the dogs he trains for the long grass and the boys were playing lots of lion hunting games, but were also coming back with ticks and chigger bites.  So out came the bush hog to make short work of the tall grasses.

We also took time for a homeschool field trip to a Robotics Manufacturing company.  This was a really cool experience for all the kids as we witnessed automation and STEM learning at its finest.  The company we visited did a fantastic job providing detailed information and allowing the kids some hands on experiences as well

One of the coolest parts about the field trip was meeting a young robotics engineer who also was homeschooled and couldn't say enough positive and encouraging things to our students!

We got the garden tilled, attended an end of year homeschool ice cream party, opened the pool and still managed to keep the chaos to a minimum...bring on the holiday weekend!

I have been at this homeschooling thing for 5 years now and I have learned a little along the way.  Here it is, I can tell you how I can totally wind up with a day that makes a mama wish she had made other educational choices, or maybe just a list of things that I try my best to avoid.

#1. Wake up late.
This may not be universally agreed upon but at least for me, this will wreck it.  I find that on the days that I sleep a bit too long (I'm not talking till noon here, just even till 8 or a bit after when kids have all started to wake) I start off the day behind and I feel like I am playing catch-up for the rest of the day.  I do so much better when I make myself get up, get my first cup of coffee, read my bible, blog, start a load of laundry and have a few moments to myself before our crazy whirlwind begins...I'm better for it and my kids find a much less frazzled mama.


#2 Don't have a dinner plan.
Ummm.  As I type this I realize that I don't yet have a dinner plan for today.  At our house with my crew, this is pretty crucial stuff.  If I do not plan what to do at dinner time I end up at 4 o'clock tired, a bit frazzled and with no plan of action.  We would then either end up eating cereal (hubby is not a fan of this- lol) or I would desire to grab something that would either cost more than I wanted to spend or something unhealthy...so excuse me while I throw something in the crockpot.


#3 Don't Get Dressed.
 I am a firm believer in getting dressed whether I am actually planning on going somewhere or not.  I also make my kids get dressed, its just me but I think we do better when we don't sit around in p.j's all day.  That doesn't mean that in the dead of winter I don't allow for an occasional splurge of jammy time, but not on a regular basis.  Oh, and for me, I make sure that by the time hubby gets home from work I have on makeup, hair has been brushed and at least pulled into a neat ponytail...I know he appreciates not coming home to a wife in yoga pants and a baby drool stained shirt.


#4 Spend the Day Wasting Time On Social Media
This can be a hard temtation especially with smart phones.  I can find myself periodically checking emails or facebook status in between grading math problems and teaching science and lets face it, that can suck a gal in so I really try to limit this to only early a.m. before we start school and afternoon when littles are down for a nap and the rest of my crew is finishing up.


#5 Take Phone Calls and Texts
Most of my friends will tell you that I try not to take phone calls or answer very many texts during school hours because it gets me off track and trust me, my kids can tell when I am not fully present because I am distracted.  For the most part (unless it is daddy calling) I do not answer the phone during the a.m.  Not trying to be rude, I will call people back but I can't take the constant distractions.  I gotta unplug.


#6 Run Around
I am part of some great mom's groups.  I am also a part of some great homeschool groups.  Truth be told there is always something super exciting and cool to be doing, a field trip, a cool outing, a class for this or that...but I find that if I do not stay put and work on school stuff for the majority of our schooling, it is way too easy to get sidetracked, I mean who wouldn't rather go to a museum one day, an art show the next, hiking another and maybe a cooking class too? ME! ME! ME!  Again, I can get off track so we have such better fluidity when we stay home and only indulge occasionally in these things.  Now, as I say this our current semester is jammed with 2 literature classes we go to on different days, karate, volleyball and a college class one of my children takes...whew!  That is why we have had to forgo several other fun field trips to work on just "regular" school.


#7 Compare Myself to Other Mamas
This can be true for so many things.  As it applies to homeschooling if I constantly compare where my kids are in school, how they are learning, what other moms do, I can begin to feel like a failure.  I assure you that no one has my children's best interests at heart like I do, No one.  That being said there is always some mama that looks like she is doing a better job at homeschooling, she is better organized, more creative, has more patience...etc.


There it is, That is how I can ruin my homeschool day.  How about you?  Do you have other things you would add to this list?  Leave me a comment below...

This is SOOOOO good.  I mean that, really, really, really good!  The recipe I am sharing only makes 1 loaf, as  you can see I made 3 and they disappeared COMPLETELY!!!  If you wanted you could add some chopped cranberries for an amazing cranberry orange bread

RECIPE:

2/3 cup softened butter (the real stuff only!)
1-1/4 cups sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup vanilla yogurt (can use plain too)
1/2 cup orange juice (I use the frozen concentrate mixed up and have some for breakfast too!)
2-1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

GLAZE:
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2-3 tsp orange juice
1 tsp vanilla

Step #1: Cream butter and sugar then add eggs, yogurt and orange juice.  In a separate bowl combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt then add to creamed mixture.

Step #2: Pour into a greased 9x5x3 loaf pan and bake at 350 for 55-65 minutes.  Let cool before removing from pan

Step #3: Combine glaze ingredients and drizzle over cooled bread.
​

​

Don't blame me if you just happen to gain weight just by smelling it, or if you get trampled as your family stampedes into the kitchen to gobble it it.  Yes, it is that good!

My 15 year old daughter and my 10 year old son decided to show chickens this year at 4H.  I have always wanted some fancy ornamental breed chickens so what better time to check out some new fun breeds?  I mean to tell you that you can find more breeds of chicken than you ever knew existed when you start looking, but we ended up ordering from a hatchery called Cackle Hatchery where we found a few breeds that piqued the kids interests.

 The above pictures are actual photos of our chicks, the below photos are some that I found of adult versions of the breeds we purchased.  My children each got 3-5 of each type of chicken (mostly because you have a minimum you have to order when shipping chicks) and they will grow them out and then decide which ones have the most "show-ability" for the 4H season.

The Polish Chickens are full sized breeds and the others are Bantam sized.  It is really neat watching them start to feather out at this point and change from the cute little fuzzies you see above to what will someday look similar to these pictures below.

The other morning I got up only to realize that a trip to the grocery would need to be in my immediate future.  Hubby loves a big breakfast, he loves eggs and breakfast meat.  We were running low on the eggs, out of the meat and down to the last of the last.  So, what do we ladies do?  We whip something up and hope it turns out good!  This time it did (I have had plenty of failures doing things this way too).  It was actually so good I wanted to share.  You could certainly add meat to this recipe and I am sure it would be divine too, I will probably try that this weekend, but here is what I came up with on the fly, we've repeated it twice so far and it has gotten rave reviews!

Quiche (Man Pie as hubby calls it)

RECIPE:

6 eggs
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
1 cup shredded cheddar
1 can potatoes grated
1 sliced onion
dash of salt and pepper
oil to grease pans

I first turned a skillet on to medium high and tossed my onion rings in to carmelize, once this step as almost complete, I then added the shredded canned potatoes (don't try to shred a regular potato for this unless you want to spend a lot longer cooking, the canned potatoes are already boiled so they cook very quickly). 

Once potatoes and onions are done I whisked the 6 eggs, salt, pepper, and cheeses together in a bowl adding the potato mixture last.  Pour into a greased pie plate and bake at 350 for 30-45 minutes.

This also reheats VERY well!  Enjoy!

**NOTE** I just made this same recipe again this morning but this time I browned 1/2 pound of sausage and did not cook the potatoes, just shredded them, I also omitted the onion...it was FABULOUS!

I often tout the amazing ability of our grandparents and great grandparents to cure what ails you with simple backyard medicine.  The truth is there was also a HUGE market for salves, liniments and all matter of ointments and cures as well.  I recently sat with my mother who shared some memories of some of these such things, complete with the old bottles she has collected and saved in her stash of antique memories.

The Rawleigh company was founded in 1909 and by the time my grandmother and mother would have been familiar with the Rawleigh man, this company had become the forerunner for direct sales and door-to-door marketing.  What began as a dream in 1889 for an 18 year old boy from Wisconsin developed into a piece of nostalgic American History.  Rawleigh left his childhood home with only 4 medicines and a spirit of tenacity to sell to people, what he ended up with was a very large company full of direct sales "Rawleigh Men" and hundreds of products ranging from medicinal, to household and kitchen flavorings.  You can still find these items online, I have never personally tried them but I have to admit curiosity for a company who has lasted this long! (website here)

​

Lydia E. Pinham tablets, a well known to ladies of days gone by.  According to Wikipedia: Lydia Estes Pinkham (February 9, 1819 – May 17, 1883) was an iconic concocter and shrewd marketer of a commercially successful herbal-alcoholic "women's tonic" meant to relieve menstrual and menopausal pains.  What really interested me about Ms. Pinkham's tonics and pills is that they are forerunners with many of the homeopathic pills and herbal supplements for women on the market today.  Just look at the ingredients of one of her most popular tonics for women: The original recipe for Lydia Pinkham's Vegetable Compound is as follows:

Unicorn Root (Aletris farinosa L.) 8 oz.
Life Root (Senecio aureus L.) 6 oz.
Black Cohosh (Cimicifuga racemosa (L.) Nutt.) 6oz.
Pleurisy Root (Asclepias tuberosa L.) 6 oz.
Fenugreek Seed (Trigonella foenum-graecum L.) 12 oz.
Alcohol (18%) to make 100 pints

Many of these herbs are recommended by midwives even today.  No for the Doan's tablets.  I find it so very interesting that many of the commercial substances we now use had their roots in homeopathy and natural medicine.  It appears that Doan's  pills (which you can still buy today) began no differently:

According to snippets of history published in company advertisements, in 1832 the formulation of Doan’s Pills “was the secret…of an old Quaker lady,” and “was kept a secret for years in a good old Quaker family.  The neighbors all knew about it and many a time had reason to be thankful for its existence.  Its fame spread and strangers who heard about it wrote for information concerning it, sometimes tried its virtues, and sometimes put a trial off for a more convenient season.”  “It was given to the public by James Doan, a druggist, and is now known and recommended the whole world over.” “James Doan was a great Doctor who lived in a town called Kingsville, in Canada, in North America. Sick people took journeys of many days to go to see him, and to get his medicine. He was a doctor who excelled in his neighborhood, because he prepard his medicine with his own hands, so he knew it was well prepared, and good.  He used to make it with shrubs, and roots, and herbs, which he gathered in the woods and veld near his home. He made many kinds of medicine; but the most excellent is that which is called Doan’s Backache Kidney Pills.”  -courtesy RayCityHistory

Doan's is now commercially produced (NSAID) made with the active ingredient Magnesium salicylate.  But it did have its beginnings elsewhere!

Phillips Milk of Magnesia- Charles Henry Phillips (1820 – 1882) was an English pharmacist who is universally known for his invention Phillips' Milk of Magnesia.  This one does not appear to have ever been plant based, but since it was developed so very long ago and is an integral part of many OTC care plans to this day, it is interesting.

Tholene salve marketed by the Rosebud Perfume Company-

The business began in a small drugstore located across the street from what is now known as the Rosebud Building in Woodsboro, Maryland. Friends and customers suggested that he (Dr. Smith) prepare for them a family salve that could be used for various minor skin irritations. With this as a challenge, Dr. Smith formulated a product known as Smith's "Balsam of Rosebuds" which was later renamed Smith's "Rosebud Salve." Realizing its local popularity, Dr. Smith decided to advertise his product in country tabloids, and within a few years he had organized one of the most unique mail order businesses in the United States. The mail order business offered four major brands for agents to sell door to door. They sold Rosebud Salve, Tholene Mentholated Salve, Rosebud Perfume, and Vivian Perfume. - Courtesy Rosebud Perfume Company

What is very interesting about this product is that is is still sold in upscale cosmetic and trendy clothing stores across the country having developed a bit of a cult following.  The ingredients are only listed as: Pure White Petrolatum (Surgical Grade), Cotton Seed Oil, Trade Secret Blend of Essential Oils, Botanicals.

Hill's Cascara Quinine: Interestingly enough quinine is the drug listed as treatment for malaria and according to Wikipedia: Quinine was first isolated in 1820 from the bark of the cinchona tree. Extracts from the bark have been used to treat malaria since at least 1632. It is on the WHO Model List of Essential Medicines, the most important medications needed in a basic health system.  So what were these pills marketed as? According to the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History it was:

 Recommended for the relief of the following discomforts usually associated with colds: nasal stuffiness and discharge, headache, muscular aches and pains, neuralgia and neuritic pains, constipation, and that hot, flushed feeling

Again based in plant medicine as Cascara is also a bark based plant medicine.

Mercuro Chrome

Few under age 30 have ever heard of this stuff. In 1998, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration declared that Mercurochrome, generically known as merbromin, was "not generally recognized as safe and effective" as an over-the-counter antiseptic and forbade its sale across state lines. A few traditionalists complained: Whaddya mean, not generally recognized as safe? Moms have been daubing it on their kids' owies since the Harding administration! (the straight dope)

Luckily no one in my family ever died of mercury poisoning (at least to my knowledge) but that was the main concern that led the FDA to remove this from the GRAS (generally recognized as safe) list and ban it in the late 1990's.  Many a grandmother swore by the stuff and used it liberally.

So there you have, a trip down memory lane for some, an education in historical medicines for others.  I find it all so very fascinating and I am always intrigued by how some of the big Pharma companies (Merck, Eli Lily, Pfizer, Glaxo Smith Kline) who have picked up drugs over the years were able to mimic and patent what nature provided for years for free.  By isolating active chemical compounds in plants and making synthetic versions of said compounds, patents can be made and drugs produced, I still wish for the most part (save when antibiotics are VERY necessary) that we were able to rely on the knowledge of those who knew all about the plants, barks, seeds and life around us in nature.

Take a look at what is going on at the incidental farmgirl's place.

Let me start off by saying that these are NOT my laying hens.  These are Cornish Rock Cross meat birds and they grow exponentially faster than any chicken that I have ever known.  This is our 3rd time raising these birds to fill the freezer and though I very much enjoy the end product, getting there is quite interesting.  

You see, these birds were specifically bred to eat to the max, grow exponentially fast, and have the largest breasts you have ever eaten.  Now, before you go off calling me on GMO or other Frankenstein breeding practices, this is a well recognized breed. I didn't come up with this breed and there is no more genetic manipulation going on than when one breeds a specific dog for certain desired traits. (Think of a Dalmation, you want spots, right?)  So here they are a week in.

These birds will reach butcher weight in 9-10 weeks. Yes, you read that right, less than 2 and  1/2 months till full broiler size of 6-8 pounds each.  I know, I know, many of us are so far removed from where our meat comes from that you might say, "I would never be able to raise and butcher my own meat." Let me tell you, I said the same thing several years ago.  But these particular birds go from sweet, cute fuzzballs to ginormous and kinda gross birds.  I say gross because they grow faster than their feathers do so they look rather funny.

These chickens will all be heading outside to an outdoor pen when they are ready to come out from under the heat lamps.  They will have access to fresh grass, bugs, water, sunshine and non medicated feed while they are growing.  What that means for my family is that there are no factory chickens being raised in filthy conditions here.  No chickens being stuffed full of antibiotics to ward off the inevitable diseases that come from too many birds being packed into hoop houses or barns that are overcrowded, under ventilated and disease ridden.  These birds will be raised in a humane, clean, natural environment and I will know exactly what went into the food I am feeding my family.  

At this time we raise about 25 of these Cornish Rock Cross Birds at a time, if we eat chicken once or twice a week, this will last our family of 7 for 3-5 months.  We may do another round of chickens in the fall to store before winter as well.

I will keep you all posted on the exponential growth rate, and current food cost breakdowns for these meat birds in a few weeks. Right now the chickens are eating 2.5 quarts of non medicated chick starter a day, and drinking about 4 quarts of water as well.  Stay tuned!

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Waking with the chickens took on a whole new meaning this morning when my phone rang at 5:30am.  It was the post office calling to let me know that my chicks were in.  I knew to slate the entire day off for the pending arrival of my chicks but I have to admit I was surprised by the post office calling so early, they weren't even open yet but advised me to come to the back loading dock and pick up my peepers.

As I groggily rose out of bed to head to the post office I found myself grateful that I already had my brooder all set up and ready and all supplies on hand.   This kind of phone call would otherwise be a bit on the stressful side!  

So what do you need to have in order to care for new chicks?

A Brooder Area
A Heat Lamp
Water Source
Food Source
Litter (not cat litter, not sand, think straw/hay or pine shavings)
​
First and foremost your chicks need warmth.  They are packed into a very tiny little box, not unlike sardines, for the temperature factor, they need to be warmed.  When they arrive you need to be sure to keep them under heat lamps to ensure that you won't have loss due to temperature regulation problems.

When you order chicks from a reputable hatchery they will send along a detailed list of instructions that can make your head swim.  I have always subscribed to the common sense way of raising chicks.  I don't keep a thermometer in the brooder and I don't worry about decreasing the heat by 5 degrees daily after 7 days or any of the other meticulous details that are sometimes contained within the written instructions...it just seems a little to complicated to me.

I rely more on the chicks behavior and mannerisms to let me know if they need more or less heat.  The common sense country way says that if all your chicks are huddled together under the lamp, they are too cold.  If they all are scattered to the edges of your brooding area away from the heat source, they are too hot.  Like I said, common sense chicken brooding.

That brings me to the brooder.  I have used everything from a 20 gallon fish aquarium for just a few chicks, to a livestock feed trough fashioned with a hinged frame covered in metal mesh wire.  I have friends who have used plastic totes with screen on top, and currently I have the Cadillac of chicken brooders courtesy of some plans I saw a friend use for her brooding pen.  My point is that it doesn't matter so much what you brood your chicks in as long as they can't fly out, they can get adequate ventilation and a heat source is not a fire hazard.

Next you need litter.  You should not use kitty litter, sand or other small granules.  You can safely use hay, straw, or my medium of choice, pine shavings.  Pine shavings offer a clean smell and are a great addition to your compost pile once cleaned out of the brooder (just remember that chicken manure needs to season for at least a year before adding to your garden to prevent transmission of diseases)  Pine Shavings are also very cost effective when purchased at a feed supply store.  I use 1-2 bags a month depending on how many animals I am using it as bedding for and it costs less than $6 a bag.

Next you need feed and water containers.  For brooding boxes I prefer these little inexpensive ones from Miller manufacturing that you can purchase on Amazon and attach to pint or quart sized mason jars (I have lots of those!).  Know that chicks drink LOTS of water and they need it to be fresh so plan on changing the water at least 2x's a day.

Finally, you will need food.  I have this thing about medications in our food supply so I always purchase non-medicated chick feed.  I don't find that I have any more loss than my friends who purchase medicated chick feed and I am not introducing more medication into our food sources than needed (Chickens are for meat and eggs for our farm so we want them as medication/chemical free as possible).

Once your chicks have been with you a week or so you will start by moving the heat source a little further away from them to decrease the temperatures.  The best plan is to brood chicks when the outside temp is also warming so that hopefully by the time they are getting bigger, your outside temps are increasing as well which aids in reducing the amount of time that your chicks have to remain under lights.

A few tips you might find helpful

1. Don't handle your chicks for the first day or so after they are shipped to you, they have had a stressful way to go and you want to let them get well acclimated 

2. Give your chicks room temperature water to reduce the problems of ingesting too much cold water which in turn can further lower body temperature of new chicks

3. If chicks won't drink you can add a dash of sugar to the water to help for the first 24 hours

4. If you notice some stuck substances at the chick's vent you will need to help remove this with a warm damp towel, this problem is caused by stress (pasty butt) and can resolve itself within a few days if you continue to remove the crust

5. If you have a sickly chick, you can remove it from the rest for 24 hours and see if it improves, if so reintroduce it to the rest.

,Related Stories...
How to order baby chicks,
​Raising meat chickens

Its a fact really, boys and dirt go hand in hand.  I had girls first, they were not quite like this.  My girls didn't mind getting dirty and playing outside, but they did eventually want to come inside and clean up.  

Not my boys. The dirtier, muddier, and wetter the better.  

Clean up? No problem, half the time I find their discarded clothing (my littler ones that is) because if the clothes got too dirty or too wet to impede exploration or play, they just toss the offending article off to the side.  This has led to many a laugh when mom is gardening and in the toss of a shovel of dirt I will turn only to find a partially or totally nude toddler running across the grass.  There I go chasing boys again, at least trying to civilize and clothe them.

I think at its root little boys need to get dirty because they need to explore.  They need to see how things work, they need to dig in the dirt, they need to look under rocks, they need to conquer the great outdoors, or at least leave a valiant effort in their wake while trying.

I also think that little boys are better for the ability to be able to get dirty.  I once had a friend who never allowed her son to get dirty.  He always had the cutest clothes, the nicest shoes, but frankly...I felt so sorry for him.  He wasn't allowed to get dirty.

So while I may cringe at the mudstained knees, the cocoa colored bath water and the constant grass stains...Little boys need to get dirty.

There was a time, not even 100 years ago, where most people could remedy common problems with the knowledge they had and some weeds they foraged. Grandma's medicine cabinet was much simpler than ours today, and with far fewer side effects too. My grandmother tells stories of the fern-like plants that flowered tiny white flowers with yellow centers growing by the outhouse in her childhood, when there was a stomach issue she was to eat 4 yellow centers of the flowers, not more than that, and the stomach and bowel issues would be put at bay.
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This knowledge seems to have been lost in the proverbial cracks of time as we have moved forward, industrialized, and become far removed from not only our food sources but also our ancestors’ ways of living and caring for our bodies. This is knowledge we should seek and hold tight too, there was a reason that grandparents and parents taught it to their children, we just have to look a little harder these days as many of those readily knowledgeable sources didn’t impart the knowledge because they saw that people afforded little value to it in modern times. It's time to get back to knowing our weeds.

​PLANTAIN (Plantago major)
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If you subscribe to avoiding Monsanto’s Roundup and all other chemical treatments, you likely can find this in your backyard or growing in the cracks of your walkway or driveway. Usually considered a nuisance plant, it wasn’t until I saw firsthand what a poultice of this plant can do for wasp stings to a 3-year-old that I was SOLD! This weed can be used successfully for scrapes, cuts, burns, stings and even for relief of poison ivy. It works as a drawing agent and is fantastic for skin. In a pinch, since it is edible, you can chew it up and apply the chewed leaves to a sting for fast relief (as in the case of my son and the attack of the wasps).

​LAMBSQUARTER (Chenopodium album L.)
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Another pretty easy one to locate, this one aids significantly with inflammation and can be used similarly to the Plantain, or even in conjunction with it for added relief.
Another one to chew, totally edible and compared and likened to spinach in its edibility department. Made into a poultice and applied to the body, it also aids in insect bites, minor scrapes, inflammation reduction, and even sunburn. Used as a tea, it is reported to be beneficial for diarrhea, stomach upset and even the occasional loss of appetite. (Just be sure to strain the leaves as they can irritate the throat)

​MALLOW (Malva parviflora)
Another one that favors cracks in walkways and gardens, all Mallow species (over 3,000) are edible, medicinal and totally devoid of any harmful properties one is rich in a sticky mucilage often extracted from the flowers, leaves, stalks, seeds, and roots. This can often be made into a medicinal vinegar to sooth sore throats, constipation, food poisoning and all around stomach upset. This is another one that is also useful for stings, bug bites and skin irritations.

DANDELION (Taraxacum)
A diuretic that is often used in treating liver disorders the common dandelion can be eaten in salad greens, cooked with and even made into wine. This common weed can also be used to treat mild constipation.



​With any luck, your interest should be at least slightly piqued. When we look to the old ways of doing things, it is often so very simple that we feel slighted that we didn’t see some of the ease of information available to us. Your yard is likely a plethora of medicinal value, as long as you aren’t killing off all that free medicine with synthetic weed killers. Go outside and see what you have on the shelves of your medicine cabinet!

I remember well the first time I went to my husband's grandmother's home.  She lives in southern KY and is a good down home cooking kind of grandma.  We woke in the morning to a full on breakfast with homemade biscuits, bacon, eggs and this sweet smelling, rich looking brown "gravy" that I saw hubby ladle all over his warm butter crusted biscuits.  I was intrigued and he nonchalantly told me that it was his grandmother's chocolate gravy.  

I had never heard of such a thing, I, being like any woman, (a chocolate lover) was curious, I quickly ladled myself some of this delectable deliciousness and it was game on.  I spent years trying to get the exact recipe from grandma, but alas, just like my mother-in-law, she uses no recipe.  Its just all in the "feel" of the sauce.... well and good unless you are trying to learn to make the stuff!

I have played with this over the years and made some good, some not as good batches.  I too rarely use a recipe these days, its all in the "feel" but I did pay close enough attention when my daughter began asking how to make this goodie so that she was able to re-create it as well.
 
Here is the coveted Chocolate Gravy:
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1 can evaporated milk (can sub whole milk or cream but it won't be as rich)
2 cups sugar
1/4 cup baking cocoa
dash salt
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 T real butter

The trick is to heat the milk very slowly so it won't curdle.  This is a labor of love because the longer it takes to make the gravy, seriously, the better it tastes!  Allow at least 45 min for good gravy.  First add the milk, sugar and baking cocoa, heat slowly then increase heat until a low boil for 3-4 minutes.  Slowly cool down at at the last add a dash of salt, the tablespoon of butter and vanilla.  Be sure to start this process ahead of the waffles but stir often!

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There are a billion waffle recipes out there, this is just the tried and true simple one that I use for every day, it works for us.

Waffles:

3 eggs
3 cups flour
2 and 1/4 cups milk
3 T sugar
6 T melted butter or olive oil
3 T baking powder
1 and 1/2 tsp salt

Mix all together and pour by 1/2 cup measure into hot waffle iron.
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There you have it, your kids will definitely be happy, sugared up for sure, but happy!

​The verb “homesteading” leads us to conjure up images of roosters crowing, the smell of freshly cut hay, jewel toned mason jars lining shelves stocked for winter, fresh juicy fruits dangling from a front yard orchard tree, and of course the quintessential porch adorned with rocking chairs to sit back and enjoy the country life.

Though this may be the ideal that we have in our minds, possibly crafted from one too many country lifestyle periodicals, homesteading can actually look quite different indeed. According to Wikipedia, Homesteading is defined as:

“A lifestyle of self-sufficiency. It is characterized by subsistence agriculture, home preservation of foodstuffs, and it may or may not also involve the small scale production of textiles, clothing, and craftwork for household use or sale.”

Far too many of us have a desire to homestead. However, lacking the rolling hundred acres that we have ideally tucked into our minds, we observe others and discount our own self-sustaining efforts. Let me suggest that anyone can homestead, or at least begin that journey. If you live on a smallish plot, in a more suburban area, on a few acres or as first generation farmers jumping in head first to the lifestyle of our ancestors, you can be a homesteader.

I actually began this journey about 15 years ago when I planted my first garden, in my first home. The string of years that followed caught me learning the skills of bread making, home canning, sewing, seed saving, dehydrating, and from scratch cooking. I still didn't consider myself a homesteader. We had expanded from a 900 square foot home on a tiny little lot, to a larger home on exactly 0.64 of an acre. I still didn't consider that I was on the road to homesteading; after all, we had no livestock, no rolling acres and no front porch rocker.

Fast forward a few more years and we were able to move out a little ways. Our small farm is just shy of 6 acres. Though I was aching for those rolling pastures, we purchased what was in our budget. That homesteading ideal was still eluding me, I wasn't feeling self-sufficient. Though cooking most everything from scratch by this point, I had shelves of those jewel toned morsels in mason jars waiting for winter. I had learned the art of saving heirloom seeds and growing a garden from seeds instead of nursery plants. I could identify and use a number of easily procured medicinal herbs and weeds. I could make most anything I needed, including laundry soap. I finally got some livestock in the way of chickens and turkeys, but I still felt vastly inadequate when I looked around at what others were doing.

We began harvesting and butchering our own poultry, purchasing our pork from friends, and drinking raw milk whenever we could get our hands on some. We made butter, yogurt, and sauerkraut. We learned more about food sources, cleaned our diets and introduced fermented foods and drinks. I also began blogging to teach others some of the skills I had learned. I still didn't feel like a homesteader, though I desperately wanted to join that ever intangible, seemingly exclusive club.
It was only recently that I realized that it was my ideal, or definition, that was holding me back from recognizing all that we had accomplished in the way of becoming more self sufficient, more sustainable. I was looking at others and comparing what our family did not have mastered and sustained, instead of accepting that we had come a very long way from the days when I fed my children macaroni & cheese with hot dogs for lunch and had no idea how to even cut up a chicken, let alone butcher one.

I stand amazed at the journey we have had to get to our homesteading nirvana. I may not have all that my neighbor homesteading on 30 acres down the road has, but I am learning daily and each season we get just a little closer to being less dependent on others and more dependent on ourselves and God's provisions.

If you are one of the voyeurs just lurking and wishing you could live the homesteading life, get started where you are. Plant some herbs in a window sill instead of buying them, teach yourself a new skill, and research some aspect of homesteading that fascinates you. Learn from another's mistakes and don't compare yourself to someone else, there will always be someone further along the road to total self sufficiency than you are. That someone will have a more well equipped greenhouse, more renewable resources, a larger scale livestock operation, and more country know how than you.

Don't let other homesteaders hamper your curiosity driven desire to get back to your roots, take off learning new skills so that you too can look back and see just how serendipitous your journey has become, and how you too are actually homesteading. You’ll be able to do just that, all while sipping a sweet tea from that quintessential rocking chair on the front porch.