Handmade Gifts On A Snow Day

Our Christmas wasn't white but the sky dumped a fine layer of sleet and five inches of snow on the homestead today. We decided not to take the travel risk and drive seventy miles to my aunt's house for a handmade gift exchange and dinner. Instead, we took a snow day.

We let the chickens out to exercise before the heaviest snow fell. They don't seem to mind the cold stuff on the ground but when visibility lessens they run for the coop.

Alex and I shoveled the ice from part of the driveway. Our lengthy drive allows us some privacy but we're realizing that our responsibility to clear it is a bit of a downside. And we're wishing that just one of the three garage bays was organized enough so the car wouldn't be out in this weather. Soon we will get around to unpacking the garage.

Inside, we are enjoying generous gifts from our family. Alex received this clever army guy bowl from one of my sisters and the handmade leather bolas from another. I unwrapped this painstakingly painted birdhouse by Lil.

We also received a dedicated meat grinder, Le Crueset (our first!), books, toys, earrings, food, drinks, and more. Lil's big present was a trip to Disneyland in early January! We'll be accompanying Alex on a business trip and make a trip to the mouse while we're there.

We're discussing where to hang our new handmade artwork. I crafted the bacon and eggs piece from remnant wood in our garage and egg tempra from the yolk of a backyard chicken egg and Alex's home made charcoal. My sister made the Ohio nail art - she says it's not nearly as time consuming as it looks.

While we miss extended family, this day to decompress and enjoy each other was most welcome. How were your holidays?

P.S. I just realized that my comment spam filter was marking all comments as spam. I approved about a week's worth of real comments this afternoon. There could be more that the filter deleted before I could approve them and if this happened to your comment I sincerely apologize. I do appreciate discussion and will be more attentive to the spam filter from here on out!

Seasonal Snaps - Winter Solstice 2012

A friend had a good idea to take pictures from the same angles over time as we transform our property to a working homestead. I decided to start today on Solstice, which happened to include the first snow in our new home. Behold the land of possibilities: From the mailbox looking toward house - we have a swing for the front oak tree

Property line looking at front of the house - we planted the walk with blueberries this week

Backyard as viewed from house - three car garage, lots of trees, chicken coop behind the garage currently

From the back of the property looking forward - biggest tree is four people around and will be site of treehouse and natural playground

Front yard as viewed from inside the house - what can we grow here?

Cyber Bullying in the Neighborhood

The previous content of this post, my narrative about being a victim to a several-year-long bullying pattern of behavior, has been removed in response to written demand from a lawyer representing the other party. I stand behind my story and the truth contained within but have better things to do with my time and money than defend myself from frivolous accusations. However, I will not be silenced about cyber stalking and bullying. These are very real, very wrong approaches to conflict. Adult bullying is rarely written about but its effects can be as harmful and long-lasting to both victim and perpetrator as child-to-child bullying.

StopBullying.org, a program of the US Department of Health and Human Services, defines bullying as a pattern of using an imbalance of power to manipulate others. While this pattern often stops in childhood, it can continue in workplaces and communities.

PBS’ This Emotional Life writes “Research has found that as many as a quarter of American employees will experience some form of bullying at work. Different from constructive criticism or conflict, bullying is persistent, it focuses on a person rather than a task, and the recipient feels powerless to stop it. Worst of all, employees who experience bullying find that it’s just as hard to explain and stop the abuse as it is to suffer through it.”

The Washington Education Association details the potential toll on a bullying victim. “When one person bullies another, the targeted person's emotional strength becomes strained. As a result of this strain, serious health conditions may arise.  Psychological health conditions include stress, depression, and mood swings; loss of sleep and fatigue; feelings of shame, guilt, embarrassment, and low self-esteem. Physical health conditions may also result and include post-traumatic stress disorder, reduced immunity to infection, stress headaches, high blood pressure, and digestive problems.”

I found that adult relational aggression is difficult to address between adults with no clear authority figure. If you find yourself in a similar situation, here are some resources to help:

• Jenise Harmon, MSW, LISW, offers 6 Steps for Dealing with Adult Bullies.
• Jezebel.com, often a humor site, tackles this topic seriously and thoroughly in ‘How To Stand Up To Adult Bullies.’
• Workplace Bullying Institute has guides, offers coaching, and provides timely blog articles.
• If you are a victim feeling very depressed, get help from a mental health professional or the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.

All the Little Projects

We jumped right into making our new house a home by checking off some little projects that needed to be done:

• removed carpet downstairs to reduce my allergies to dogs and dust mites
• installed a tie-out for the dogs until fencing can be completed
• hung bird feeders to begin to understand who lives here
• planted tulip bulbs, Lil's first part of her flower garden
• installed a mailbox and post because the old ones were knocked over before we moved in
• put together a cart to hold the mailbox and post and tools
• assembled Twitter-found bed frame and stainless kitchen work table
• re-installed smoke detectors (there were none!)

There are many more little and big projects to come:

• Find the box with my socks - seriously, I've been washing and wearing the same three pairs for over a week
• Fence a dog yard
• Replace leaky kitchen faucet and maybe the sink while we're at it
• Replace incandescent lightbulbs all over the place
• Paint and furnish Lil's room per her specifications, a bribe we gave her to get through the moving stress
• Replace dated hardware and fixtures
• Finish removing carpet tack trips and staples, oh goodness hundreds of staples
• Plant cuttings I took from plants at the old house
• Plant orchard so trees can get established before the spring
• Locate and begin a compost bin
• Make kitchen more workable with shelving, maybe new cooktop?
• Tons of tree work
• Which will inevitably lead to installing a wood stove

Tomorrow I'll post something non-house related and a recipe post is coming soon.

What little (and big) projects are happening in your world?

New Homestead: First Look

We're all moved in to the new homestead!

Our new place is a large Cape Cod house on almost two acres right in the middle of Columbus. The lot has several very large Burr Oak trees and lots of open space to garden.

Austra and Rosetta, the chickens, are living in a new coop that will offer protection from the hawks and other predators abundant on our lot. We also saw our first deer hanging out in the back yard tonight.

There is plenty of work yet to do - the kitchen is full of boxes but lacking in counter space, our homeschool room is a wreck of furniture, and we don't even have a mailbox installed. We're exhausted from moving but excited about the labor to make real the potential we see in this homestead.

What I'm Up To... {Friday Five}

...other than writing Hounds in the Kitchen. I feel like I've been neglecting the blog recently, but it's all for good reason. Here's what is taking my time: 1) Volunteer work with Ohio 4-H International Program and Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Association - both have heavy summer seasons and in the last month I gave over 40 hours of my time to volunteer opportunities

2) House showings - we are cleaning and vacating for potential buyers every few days but we don't have an offer yet. Any help you can offer in sharing our listing or making house voodoo magic would be much appreciated!

3) Castles, zoo, parks - to ease some of the house selling stress, I am taking extra care to treat Lil to outings around our city.

4) A special opportunity - I was invited to be part of something big and exciting to be revealed very soon!

5) Planning fall classes - In addition to what I already have scheduled on the events calendar, I will be offering two new types of classes at new locations. I'm still nailing down the final details, so look for an announcement about when and where next week.

What are you up to?

Bathing the Little Hound {Wordless Wednesday}

Low to the ground, the little hound dirties quickly. Fortunately, our deep numerar sink contains her for baths followed by baby bunting towel wraps. We love a clean Hawise!

It's That Time Again

I am surprised every summer when I become so busy I can scarcely think. But here I am again, surrounded by the bounty of the growing season and the resultant canning projects, classes, tours, and events. Check out this week:

Saturday (yesterday): Work at Clintonville Farmers' Market, attend Veggie U Food and Wine Celebration Sunday: Visit Eshelman Farm, process some of their peaches, plums, and apricots Monday: Begin sustainable pork tour Tuesday: Continue sustainable pork tour, begin volunteer leadership role at Ohio 4-H International Program Orientation for 100 Japanese youth and adults Wednesday: Orientation all day Thursday: Alex's Birthday! Orientation in morning, work at New Albany Farmers' Market in afternoon Friday: Homeschool evaluation, can peaches (I hope they last this long!) Saturday: Work Clintonville Farmers' Market, celebrate Alex's birthday Sunday: Visit Ohio State Fair for 4-H International Day

I have taken and will continue to snap lots of pictures but barely have a second to check email and work for clients, let alone write a blog post. They will come - inspirations from the Veggie U event, a review of the orchard, pictures of the adorable Japanese youth, and impressions from the pork tour. I hope to finish and introduce you to a recipe index soon too.

If Henry David Thoreau is correct that “success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it,” you will see me make it big soon.