Homestead Care Instructions

With dogs, chickens, and worms depending on our care, there is a lot to have in order before we leave for vacation in Massachusetts today. To complicate matters, a friend may stay at our house while we are away. Fortunately, our neighbor and my sister are experienced with the particulars of our creatures and we trust them with the care of the homestead. Animals aside, I am most concerned about two things: my seedlings in the basement and the fruit tree blossoms, like the peach pictured at left. My sister will check on the seedlings and I am fairly confident they will stay alive even if she doesn't share my love for monitoring soil temperature and moisture. We unfortunately have no control over whether a late frost will wipe out our fruit for the whole season.

I thought that some other homesteaders or vacationers might want to read the instructions we left for house guests/caretakers. If you do, feel free to download our Homestead Care Instructions. Edit and use them for your own trips if you wish.

To follow along on our trip to Buzzard's Bay, Ipswich, Dr. Seuss Memorial Garden, Graycliff Estate, Mike's studio, and more, find me on twitter, facebook, or foursquare.

Through the magic of scheduled posting, readers will still see fresh content on Hounds in the Kitchen too. Easter is coming up and I couldn't leave you without some fun egg posts!

Added to Simple Lives Thursdays 39th Edition

Road Trip Treats: Grandma's Ginger Snaps

We are leaving for a road trip vacation to Massachusetts on Thursday. One way we conserve money and stay away from overly processed food is to make our own treats for the trip. Stay tuned for several homespun road trip ideas over the next two weeks.

My grandmother makes Ginger Crinkles, aka ginger snaps, for family gatherings. My dad, his siblings, and their kids (that is, myself, my sisters, and cousins) all love these cookies and have been known to hoard them from each other.

Ginger snaps are the favorite of Dad's side of the family with good reason: they are perfectly spiced, have a delightfully crispy texture, and pair easily with hot coffee, milk or beer.

Making Ginger Snaps

These cookies cook up easily and travel well. Lil and I make them with a single bowl and only dirty a one cup dry and 2 cup liquid measure. No mixer is required. The hardest part of the recipe is getting the sticky molasses out of the measure into the mixing bowl! My trick for this is to measure the oil into a liquid measure and pour the molasses in next so the oil acts as a nonstick barrier.

After they are baked and cooled, I store ginger snaps in a wide mouthed half gallon canning jar or plastic container. They keep this way for...well, I'm not sure. They disappear in a few days around my family!

Substitutions

This recipe is originally dairy free and can be made vegan by substituting flaxseed meal and water for the egg. Follow the link for a thorough post about making and using this substitute by GNOWFGLINS.

I have made this recipe substituting white whole wheat flour for the all-purpose flour. It bakes up fine but the texture and taste is noticeably different. A 50/50 mix of white whole wheat and white is almost imperceptible.

Goofy Tayse girls enjoying gingersnaps at a rainy tie dye party last summer.

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Grandma's Ginger Crinkles, aka Ginger Snaps

2/3 cup vegetable oil 1 cup sugar + 2 tablespoons sugar for rolling 1 egg (or 1 tablespoon flaxseed meal and 3 tablespoons water, whisk and let stand for 5 minutes) 4 tablespoons molasses 2 cups flour 2 teaspoons baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon ground ginger 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Measure flour, soda, salt, ginger, and cinnamon into a mixing bowl. Stir together.

3. Measure vegetable oil, sugar, egg, and molasses into a glass liquid measure. Whisk together until thoroughly combined.

4. Pour the liquid into the dry ingredients and stir together until mixed completely.

5. Drop by teaspoonfuls into a small bowl that contains the 2 tablespoons sugar. Form into balls and coat with sugar.

6. Place on a silpat lined cookie sheet 2 inches apart. Bake for 15 minutes. Cool on a rack.

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My grandmother is a great cook. You may also enjoy Grandma's Rhubarb Crunch recipe.

Added to Hearth and Soul Volume 43.

Earth Day 2011

Earth Day, the annual 24 hour period begun in 1970 to draw attention to environmental causes, is coming soon on Friday, April 22. Columbus Area Opportunities Green Columbus has scheduled a week's worth of activities to lighten up and work towards a more sustainable city. On April 16 and 17, they are hosting work sites around the city. Volunteers who sign up by April 15 will receive sweet perks like swag and a token for free beer or Jeni's ice cream at the April 23rd celebration.

Speaking of the party, all are invited to the Earth Day Celebration at Franklin Park Conservatory's edible garden campus on Saturday April 23 from 11 am to 10 pm. Hosted by Green Columbus and ARTillary, guests will be treated to exhibits, music, children's activities, and more. Food and drink vendors using earth friendly tableware will be available.

Northstar Cafe is again hosting their free veggie burger on Earth Day at all Columbus locations. They've teamed up with the Nature Conservancy's Taste Conservation effort to inform and promote sustainable eating in Ohio.

Not in Columbus? Visit the Earth Day Network for activities across the country.

How Hounds in the Kitchen Celebrates Earth Day

Of course, many of us celebrate Earth Day every day. In 2010 I reflected on my mixed feelings about the holiday and listed simple habits to reduce my family's environmental impact.

On Earth Day this year, we will be driving home from our Massachusetts spring break vacation. In the coming week I will share some of the ways we try to stay green when we travel.

How do you celebrate Earth Day?

Talking to Children about the Japan Earthquake

Article first posted as 'Guiding Children Through Tragedy' on Technorati, where it made the Thursday front page! News of the Japan earthquake and resulting tsunami and nuclear disasters is hard to stomach as an adult. Around the world, people are struggling with their feelings of helplessness, insecurity, and anxiety.

In this information age, children are often witness to images from a disaster. Even if parents manage to keep them sheltered from media, kids can sense when their mothers or fathers are worried about something big.

Andy Newman in the New York Times tells of his wife assuring their six-year-old daughter that the photograph she saw of rescue workers helping a Japanese person in visible distress was, "a movie for grown-ups."

This type of shielding does little to actually protect children; it instead can lead to misinterpretations and confusing feelings that the child cannot process alone.

To find another way, I sought out the wisdom of the late Mr. Fred Rogers. He advises parents to explain disasters in an age-appropriate fashion, focusing on the helpers like rescue and hospital workers. Being naturally self-centered, children need to be reassured that they are safe and their feelings are accepted.

On the day of the Japan earthquake, my personal world was rocked. We have very good friends in Japan, including my 'sister' Miyuki who was a bridesmaid in my wedding. I immediately shared with my five-year-old daughter Lil, "There's been a big earthquake in Japan where the ground shook for a really long time. I'm worried about our friends there." Just like Mr. Rogers said she would, Lil asked about herself. "We are safe here in Ohio," I explained, continuing with a little description of plate tectonics.

My husband, a nuclear engineer by trade, and I continue to read the news. We save talking to each other about the tragedy for after our daughter's bedtime.

What I do share with Lil, who visited our friends in Japan at age 1 1/2, are our tangible actions. I reached out by email to our Japanese friends Naoko and Miyuki. When Naoko responded, I read the important parts to Lil to let her know that our friend is safe. I made several paper cranes and they will sit by our dinner candle until I have confirmed that Miyuki too is well. We are deciding as a family whether, where, and how much to donate to relief organizations.

Knowing that natural disasters will continue throughout my life and my daughter's, I wish to give her tools to process her feelings and be safe. Mr. Rogers says it best, "if we can bring our children understanding, comfort, and hopefulness when they need this kind of support, then they are more likely to grow into adults who can find these resources within themselves later on."

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Update #1: Miyuki emailed us on Thursday. She wrote "Everyday all of the Japanese TV program shows only earthquake news now, and I can’t believe this very worst event…

I’m assailed by a feeling of seeing a fiction move…

Anyway, my family is fine, so don’t worry about us, and please pray for all the sufferers."

We are, of course, very relieved to know that our friend is well. Certainly we are thinking of all in Japan and around the world affected by natural and human disasters.

Update #2: The Japanese exchange program I volunteer with is still looking for host families for this summer. If you want to do more than donate to Japanese relief services, consider opening your home to a student. Read about how my family benefits from hosting exchange students or jump to the Ohio 4-H International host family application. Keep in mind that your home must have a student aged 11-17 to be a host sibling for this program.

Thinking of Disasters and Japan

On Thursday night, Alex and I watched the No Reservations episode in Dubai. The excess, building on shifting sands, and rapid multi-culturalism pictured in that show led us to discuss the meaning of our way of life. Is it possible to make a difference on a small scale? Can the world handle Dubai style consumption? How does instant communication affect things? We concluded that it's best for us personally to live our life in a sustainable way, but always be practical and prepared for disasters. We reasoned that natural resources or disasters will likely limit population and expansion at some point, but it's hard to tell how high technology and near-instant communication will affect such events.

At 2 a.m. on Friday morning, Devie wanted to go out and Alex walked her downstairs. He looked at his phone and an alert about the earthquake in Japan popped up. Shocked, Alex shared the news with me.

Our sleep was restless after that. We have people in Japan. We have visited and know the beauty and history there.

We emailed our closest friends, Naoko and Miyu. Naoko responded within a half hour (amazing, technology is!) that she and her family are safe. She wrote "We live on 4th floor,so we shaked like hard rock!!! We are often feeingl earthquakes,now. Dirty water came out from ground." In another message later in our day (her Saturday morning) she answered my questions about the oil refinery fire in her city, saying "My home is near  at the Chiba oil refinery, we can see the red sky. We are worried about air pollution ,because Yuiko can't stop cough.She has asthma ."

We have yet to hear from Miyu. She does not live very close to the epicenter, so I imagine communications are slowed from overuse and/or power outages.

Fortunately Japan is well prepared for earthquakes. It looks like the death toll was limited by strict building codes. The strong Japanese economy and government will easily manage rebuilding.

Even when we are worried about them, we so appreciate our ability to make and visit friends around the world. Foreign friendships provide the context to internalize world history and care about far-off disasters. We hope to revisit our Japanese friends in person in 2012 when the earthquake will hopefully be a distant memory.

Bring the World to You: Host a Japanese Exchange Student

We have 'people' in Japan. People who have lived with us, vacationed with us, and treated us to tours of their home cities. We have people who mothered me during my pregnancy and attended my wedding. People who were foreign exchangees and are now family.

We met our people, Miyu, Naoko, Kaoko, Kristiina and more, through the Ohio 4-H International Program. Ohio 4-H has been arranging exchanges between Ohio families and a Japanese English language learning program called Labo for over 30 years. In 1993, my parents hosted a Japanese student for a month and went on to host several others, including Miyu for a year of her high school. After Alex and I were married and settled back to Ohio, we hosted three adult exchangees.

The benefits to inviting exchangees into your home and having friends-like-family around the world are enormous:

• World news and conflicts are viewed in a broad light.
• Communications, during the homestay and after, must be creative to overcome the language difference.
• Exposure to new games, ideas and foods make us grow as a family.
• Our daughter is growing up with a global awareness borne of genuine concern for her friends in other countries.
• Visiting local places with a foreigner allows you to experience them in a new way.
• We have friends to visit in their homeland.

The Ohio 4-H Program is looking for families who can host students ages 11-17 this summer. The 4-H program provides training, support and some activities during the homestay while the host family supplies a bed, daily meals, and a host brother or sister of a similar age. All the details are on the Ohio 4-H International website.

Apply to be a host family today and bring the world to you this summer!

Liquor Cabinet & Homestead Log: March Challenges

March is coming in like a lamb this morning. Sun is streaming through the windows, I hear birds chirping, and I see the green tips of daffodils poking through the soil outside. Before the heady gardening month of April, we are challenging ourselves two ways in March.

Liquor Cabinet Challenge

I'm issuing our family (well, Alex and I) a new twist on a pantry challenge this March: drink only what is in the liquor cabinet as of today. Like January's pantry challenge, this one has two purposes: reduce grocery bills and cull the dozens of jars in the liquor cabinet, tucked into other cabinets and overflowing onto the counter. It really looks like we have a drinking problem around here!

Our count at the beginning of the month is as follows: 28 bottles and jars of strong drink. 10 of these are handmade infusions and liqueurs. All of the handmade ones are unlabeled and a few unidentified. We'll be making some mystery cocktails!

We will not buy beer or wine for home consumption, as we have 2 kegs of home brew, many bottles of miscellaneous beer, seven liters of hard cider and several bottles of wine on hand. Non alcoholic mixers may be purchased during the month. Restaurant drinks are not included in the challenge.

Homestead Log

When we travel and hike, I always bring along my field log. I record wildlife species, the weather, and locations. Initially a project for a high school class, I have been keeping such logs for over a decade. They are a fantastic reference of places we've been and things we've seen.

I pledge during March to begin the same type of record keeping for our homesteading activities. I bought a new Moleskine notebook in which to record a daily log of the planting, harvest, canning, pressing, wood chopping, travel and events of our lives. I hope this will become a useful planning reference in years to come.

What are your plans for March? How are you challenging yourself?

Not a Meal Plan January 31, 2011

Towards the end of last week the antibiotic bugs had beaten down the tonsillitis bugs enough that I had just enough energy to participate in the family again. I even felt well enough to visit Glacier Ridge Metropark yesterday where the icicle picture was taken. I did not have the endurance to steel myself against Alex's departure for a business trip in California this morning. Yesterday afternoon was a roller coaster of emotions as I suggested Alex check for frequent flyer tickets for Lil and I. They were available. We considered our family budget, my health, the hotels and locations. Alex was generally against us tagging along and I was for anything to get me out of this house and the Ohio winter.

But we dithered too long and reasonably timed tickets were gone by dinnertime. I cried. I looked at the weather forecast for Columbus for the next week and cried some more.

By 9 pm Lil spiked a 102 degree fever, so the travel temptation was for naught. I didn't cry about her being sick because she is generally a sweet and easy patient.

I know that I can handle Alex being away. I am well practiced at the temporary single parent thing and have family and friends aplenty. I am simply unprepared this time.

So there's no meal plan. There are no plans at all. We will cook what we have and go where we need to go and collect eggs and build fires and plan a trip for somewhere warm soon.