Don't deprive your spouse

The last few days I have been pondering and praying about how I should write about the subject matter of physical intimacy in marriage. It is not something that I generally have conversations with others about. However as I talk about having Godly Marriages I don't think this subject can be ignored. In fact I think it is pretty important!

  Not only does the Bible specifically talk about this issue but if you are involved in a marriage or have done any reading on marriage you will realize that it is important. God has specifically made the males to need this in their marriage (women do as well but they don't generally feel the need as much) and how we deal with this in our marriage can do a lot to strengthen or weaken our relationship.

  The verse that I find to really speak strongly to this issue is:

  "The husband must fulfill his duty to his wife, and likewise also the wife to her husband. The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does; and likewise also the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. Stop depriving one another, except by agreement for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer, and come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control." 1 Corinthians 7:3-5

I guess what I would like to suggest is that each of us read those verses and really ask ourselves: "Are we doing what that says we should do?"  Are we giving of ourselves fully to our husband or are we saying "I'm to tired", etc. and in that way depriving him?

 Let's work at glorifying God by following His word!

List of Homesteading Skills

Below is a list of various homesteading skills. After writing my post about homesteading yesterday I then saw this list on another blog that I visited and thought it was neat how well it fit along with what I had blogged about. I first saw it at the blog A Separate Path and then I copied the catorigized list from Northern Home Gardener.  It is rather fun to read through and think about how much you already know and notice the things you might like to work on. Each of us are different and have different desires and goals (for instance I doubt I will ever know how to maintain a tractor!) and so don't feel bad if you don't know how to do much of what is on this list but if you do see things you would like to do then maybe you can set a goal to work on it. You might be surprised with how many things you have done too.

Below I have bolded and changed to green everything that I have done. I have also written some comments in purple. I have also tried to add a few links in to posts where I have written more on that subject. If you think it would be fun feel free to grab this list, copy it on to your blog and make it so the things that you have done or know are bolded. Then if you would let me know in the comments that you have done it I would love to come see it!

 

Food

Know how to cook 10 basic meals from scratch.
Make broth.  
Bake Bread. (recipe)
Grind wheat into flour.
Basic home canning and food preservation.
Make butter.
Make soft or hard cheeses. (instructions)
Make sausage. (I have never made it and tubed it but I have seasoned meat and made little sausage patties.)
Cook on an open fire.
Make vinegar. (my story)
Purify water.
Gather edible wild greens and prepare them.
Catch and care for wild yeast for bread making.
Cook on a wood-burning stove. (Not lately however - I would love to!)
Use a smoke house.
Render fat. (instructions)
Ferment foods. (I helped my parents make Kimchee and Sauerkraut)
Make noodles. (Simple instructions)
Know and gather wild mushrooms. (I  really want to get better at this!)
Store food in a cellar.

Food dehydration.

Garden

Plan, plant and grow a vegetable garden.
Choose a location for a vegetable garden or orchard.
 Save open pollinated (non-hybrid) seeds. 
Make and use a hot bed or cold frame.
Frost protection.
Grow everyday kitchen herbs.
Start your own seedlings.
Read the weather. (To some degree anyway, I am not sure how much they mean here.)
Distinguish healthy plants or animals from unhealthy plants or animals.
Know the difference between trees and the unique properties of various types of wood.
Know how and when to prune grapes and fruit trees. (I am trying to learn but I'm not there yet.)
Break ground and plow/till. 
Use ground cover like wood chips.
  Plant a tree. 
Graft trees. (I've only watched so far.)
Build a compost pile.  (things you can compost)
Use a pressure tank garden sprayer. 
Hand thresh and winnow wheat or oats and other small grains.
Know how to tell when winter is over. (I think so :-)
Grow and use medicinal herbs.

Keeping warm  

Light a fire indoors or outdoors. Use a wood stove and bank a fire. (I have done it but I am not sure how good I would be at banking a fire currently.)
Safely use an ax and hand saws. 
Split firewood and kindling.
Stack and age firewood.
Build a wood burning stove
 

Clothing

Hang clothes on a clothesline.
Use a wash tub, hand-wringer, and washboard.
Use flat cloth diapers and wool soakers.
Crochet. 
Knit.
Darn knitted or crocheted items.Basic sewing skills.
Sew your own clothes with simple patterns.
Make laundry detergent.  
Make soap. (On this years list!)
Dye yarn or cloths.
Use an awl and basic leather repair.
Patch pants.
Remodel Clothes.
Sew your own underwear.
Use a treadle sewing machine.
Spin wool, cotton, or flax into thread or yarn on a spinning wheel or with a drop spindle. (It was a long time ago and I am rusty.)

Animals

Basic firearm safety and gun proof.
Keep bees. (Our story)
Catch and keep a swarm of bees.
Catch a fish without expensive fishing gear.
Fillet and clean a fish.
Raise a chicken, duck or other poultry.
Hatch out chicken, duck, or other poultry eggs.
Set and bait traps for unwanted vermin and predators.
Set an ear tag or tattoo for animal identification.
Determine an animal’s age by its teeth.
Train a working cattle or sheep dog.
Shear a sheep.
Milk a goat, sheep, or cow. (I have done it in my lifetime but I am not proficient at it and I have allergies that prevent me from trying it more.)
Use electric netting or fencing. (This has been a bit of a trial for us.)
Trim the hooves of goats or sheep.
Castrate livestock.
Graft baby animals onto a foster-mother.
Butcher small livestock like a chickens. (But I have never done the head chopping off part and prefer not to.)
De-horn livestock.
Euthanize large livestock.
Skin a furbearer and stretch the skin.
Deliver a foal, calf, lamb, or goat.

Transportation

Drive a standard transmission vehicle.
Drive a draft animal.
Replace electrolytes in a battery.
Charge a battery. 
Change a car tire. 
Repair a tire.
Do an oil change in any vehicle. (I have done this before but not for ages and I doubt I could do ANY vehicle.)
Basic tractor maintenance.
 

Tools 

Use a handsaw, hammer & nails, screw driver, wire cutters, and measuring tape.
Sharpen a tool – knife, axe, hoe, chisel etc.  (My Dad does this for a living but I have never learned how - I just take them to him- I think learning how would be a good goal for this year!)
Jury-rig anything with duct tape, baling twine, and whatever is on hand.
Use a scythe.
Make and use a bow and arrow.
 

Building 

Generate electricity for home use.
Make a candle. (Simple method without expensive equipment)
Dig and properly use a shallow well. (Not yet but I have been researching it, have all the supplies and it is on the list for this summer.) 
Refinish furniture. (a simple method)
Build a cellar. (I helped to make a root cellar - does that count? - I want to do it again sometime, here at our place.)Erect a fence. Hang a gate.
Change all light bulbs – household and vehicle.
Prime a well pump.
Thaw out frozen pipes without busting them.
Know basic plumbing and how to sweat copper pipes and joints.
Build basic homestead buildings (sheds, animal shelters, smoke house, ice house, etc.)
Lay basic brick or build a stone wall.
Cut and glaze glass.

Simple Living

Live beneath your financial means. 
Make long-term plans for the future – plan an orchard, a livestock breeding program, or plan for stored energy sources. 
Entertain yourself and live without electronic media. 
Swap, barter, and network with like-minded people. (How bartering has worked for me)
Manage human urine and feces without plumbing.
Use non-electric lighting.
Realistically deal with life, death, and failure.
Know when to ask for help. 
Know when it is more economical to buy something ready-made or when to make it yourself.
Make a Quilt. (instructions for a simple quilt)
Make a Rag Rug. (more info)
Make our own deodorant, lip balm, lotion, toothpaste and hair cleaner.

Make and use herbal tinctures, infusions and other herbal remedies.

(Credit for original list goes to: Granny Miller)

 I would love to hear about the homesteading skills that you enjoy. Is there anything missing from this list that you think is important?

Figuring out ways to maximize our place's homesteading potential

 With another snowstorm currently dropping snow at a rapid pace we aren't ready to do any work in the garden or any other outdoor homestead projects but that doesn't mean we haven't been thinking about them! In our current world situation it just seems to make a lot of sense to us to learn how to provide for as many of our needs as we can be ourselves (or find somebody local to buy from or barter with). So with that in mind we have been thinking about the ways that we could maximize the use of the 1.1 acres that we own.

   We have a lot less land then many homesteads and a lot more land than many urban homesteaders or people that would like to be homesteaders. In this post I thought it would be fun to share briefly some of the things that we have done to try to help us "live off the land" and some things that we realize we could do (and for the most part would like to do soon) and I also hope to encourage anybody, even if they are apartment dwellers, to maximize their homestead.

Food Production
So far on our place we have a large fenced in veggie garden (we have a lot of deer in the area so the fence is rather necessary), 2 apple trees, 2 cherry trees, 2 plum trees, a strawberry patch, 2 bee hives (honey), some wild foods that we eat, a small raspberry patch, a rhubarb plant, a grape vine and an herb garden.

Here are some of the things that we would love to add:

• Laying Hens. We are really hoping to get everything figured out for raising laying hens this year. Generally my parents have kept us supplied with eggs but they have others that they could help out in that way instead and sometimes we have had to buy some to have enough so we would like to try raising our own. We are also planning on getting chickens to butcher but after discussing things with my Dad we decided it would make more sense for them to live at their place as they have more space and that is where we want to butcher them at anyway.
• Turkeys. We are hoping to try just raising a couple of them this year in hopes of having a completely homegrown Thanksgiving meal.  :-)
• More fruit trees. This year we are going to try to add an additional 10 apple trees and I am also hoping to find an elderberry. To keep things economical I am planning on buying hardy crab apple rootstock and then my Dad who has a large orchard will graft on some of the yummy varieties that he is raising. Eventually I may figure out how to add some other fruit trees too but we are having to think creatively concerning fitting in the trees with what we already have here while still having a large open yard for our family to play in.
• More Raspberries. My parents have a huge patch (that I helped to plant when I was a kid) and so we can get free starts from there. Another year I would like to try adding blueberry plants to our place again (my first try several years back was not successful - I believe because I didn't prepare the soil good enough and maybe not enough water).
• More rhubarb. I would like to get more of that started here at our place.
• Maximizing garden production through enriching our soil with compost and manure, weeding well and mulching well. I do already use the wide row planting method which allows me to get more "bang for my buck" are far as garden size is concerned.
• Adding edible plants to additional places around our property. I have already started to do that some - adding in some cabbages to the flower bed, planting a few things in pots on the deck, etc. but I am hoping to do that even more this year and continue to make progress in that direction.
• I would like to add Hardy Kiwis to our property as well as more grape vines. Again we should be able to get starts from my parents so we won't have to spend money to do that.
• Keep working on learning how to grow things inside - currently we have tomato, peppers and lettuce growing slowly inside, I know it is possible to grow those things year round inside with production. I hope to get to that point in the near future. We are also growing a miniature banana tree inside and I plan to figure out how to best take care of it so that it will actually produce.
• This year I did try overwintering a bee hive, I am not sure if they are alive or not as it has been to cold to check them. If they are still alive I am considering still buying 2 nucs of bees which would then cause me to go up to having three bee hives. This should up my production enough that I would better be able to share and still have plenty to take care of nearly all our sweetening needs and maybe also have enough to be able to barter a bit.
• We also are really hoping to up our usage of edible wild foods this year. Mara has really been studying up on the subject and I have been doing some reading as well and hopefully with both of us working together we can have wild foods frequently.
• This year we are planning on upping or amount of drying corn that we grow (that was a successful venture last year and so now we have our own corn to grind rather than needing to buy any) and we also bought seeds for dry beans something that I have never grown before.

That is what we are hoping to do, but how about if you have an even smaller are than we do to work with? Here are some suggestions for still raising food in small areas:

• Grow sprouts to eat. You just need the extra space for a jar! They are easy and yummy and it is fun.
• Grow plants in pots - either inside, on a patio or in your yard. My brother who travels around the country in a camper still grew tomato plants. He had them in 5 gallon buckets and moved them from place to place.
• Landscape with edible foods. My sister who lives in the middle of a big city on a very small lot still grows a fair amount of food. She has mixed tomatoes, lettuce, broccoli, herbs, green beans and the like in with her bushes all around their house and though it isn't enough to live on completely they still have fresh homegrown veggies to eat. They also in the middle of the big city have found wild blackberries to pick that grow in a woods near the train track.
• Raise rabbits for meat. They don't take much space and are very quiet.
• Raise bees. They don't take much space and help to improve your garden production and also provide honey. Some cities don't allow this but many do. I have seen set-ups where the hives are kept up high like on a shed roof to better utilize space.

For more inspiration of what people can do on a small amount of land visit the Urban Homesteader. They harvest 6,000 lbs. annually from 1/10 of an acre.

Daylilies are pretty in the flowerbed and you can also eat their buds or dead flowers.

Other Homestead Goals to help us Buy Less

I think a major homesteading goal for many of us is to majorly reduce the stuff that we need to buy. We would rather grow it or make it ourselves if possible. This is something we have done for many years with things like from scratch cooking including breads, some cheese, yogurt, pickles and such, a lot of making over/repurposing of clothes and other things, quilt making, rag rug making, line drying of clothes (which makes it so we don't have to buy as much electricity), lotion bars, lip balm, candles and much more but here are a few new things that we hope to embark on this year:

• Soap making. I have made plenty of laundry detergent by mixing together various ingredients I have purchased but so far I have never made soap in a kettle from oil and lye. I have all the ingredients on hand now however (I have tallow from our beef and I did buy lye this time though I want to learn to make my own!) and so soap making is a project planned for this Spring. I want to make it outside to avoid any possible fume problems.
• Building things with wood. Ken has done some of this and I have helped a little but I would like to do more and the boys would like to join me in that. My dream is to make quite a lot of things using pallets. My brother that works at a lumberyard locally is able to get me as many pallets as I can use and so we have some big dreams in this area. First up is flooring in the boy's room. We shall see how that goes! :-)
• Spinning yarn. I don't know if this will happen this year or not but it is a dream for sometime. I do know some people with sheep and I think that I could quite likely barter for some wool. I have a drop spindle that I would like to get good at and then eventually I would love to get a spinning wheel. Another dream is to eventually get angora rabbits so we could raise our own fibers. We do also have flax growing and I would love to grow more of it (as it is beautiful) and I think it would be fun to experiment with turning it into yarn but I believe it might be pretty challenging.

Some other homesteading things that we have been thinking about or working towards are:

•  Digging an additional shallow well on our property this year. I purchased everything we need (a hand pump and pipes and such) so as soon as the snow melts and the ground thaws we will be ready to go. I want to have water available without the use of electricity. We do have our own well already and I thought about buying a hand pump that can go on an existing well but our pipe wasn't large enough. The method of simply digging a new well (by hand) is cheaper  for us anyway. We did also buy a Berkey Water Filter as well so we can purify snow water or rain water if needed and also if our shallow well water ends up not quite pure.
• Finding ways to earn more money while working at home. The kids and I have been working towards opening an Etsy shop and also selling various hand made items locally.
• Getting an emergency back up wood stove and stacking up some wood to burn as well. Ken (my insurance agent husband) doesn't want to actually install it currently but wouldn't mind having it on hand just in case we should need it for long term heat without spending money. We are also looking into a generator for short term emergencies.

There are many ways that people at any location or station in life can learn more to help them live a homesteading lifestyle. Find various skills to learn and start doing it!

   For me the homesteading lifestyle isn't simply being prepared for emergencies but also just the joy we get from living a life where we know where our food comes from, we know the sources of many of the things we use. I doubt that this life is for everyone but personally I love it!

What does your family do to maximize the potential of your homestead? I would love to hear about what you are doing. Advice and tips are always appreciated and if you have any questions feel free to leave those as well!

I am linking this up with the Homestead Barn Hop

Jesus showed us what Unity really means

Jesus prayed:

 "I do not ask on behalf of these along, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me." John 17:20 & 21


Jesus demonstrated a Unity with His Father that He wanted Christians to have with each other and with Them. When we are a Christian we are part of One Body with Christ as the head. We all have different talents and skills and backgrounds which we can use together to accomplish great things for God. If we fight, have jealousy or envy or decide that we don't feel like being a part of things then we mess up how things should be. And we make it much harder for the world to believe in Jesus Christ.

   Unity in Christ's Body is something I would guess many of us need to work on. Let's Fix our eyes on Jesus, strive to love one another, focus on the truth of God's word, get rid of the pride in our own lives and learn to work together so that the world may be won!!


 

It is still Winter around here

Megan and Aunt Molly Bea

 Spring may be coming soon (at least according to the calendar) but for now Winter is still hanging on around here. That is okay! We are enjoying it.

   Last night I loved seeing the sparkle of the new and falling snow as I had to drive through it (we got a couple of inches or so yesterday) and last weekend we had a church rally here which brought a lot of friends and family coming to our area and we had a lot of fun enjoying the snow with them. We felt a bit sore afterwards (summersaults and crashes while going down a fast sledding hill tend to do that to you) but it was a lot of fun.

  It is nice having a bit warmer weather (the temperatures below zero aren't so common this month though it did drop below zero once this week) to enjoy the snow in. Here are some pictures of our recent winter fun:

 Some sweet little boys enjoying the sledding. We enjoyed having them stay with us!

 Unfortunately my pictures seem to rather "flatten" the hill but the truth is it was nicely steep and we could go pretty fast.

 Besides sledding we also had fun going ice skating with our Louisiana (though Jason and Michelle- the parents- used to live up here so they are used to cold weather) company.

 During our church rally there was an afternoon break to play some broomball. I was a normal mom and didn't play this time but my kids did and I have had fun playing it at other times this winter.

Are any of the rest of you still enjoying Winter or have you moved on to Spring?

Menu planning helps me be more organized.

One organizing "trick" that I have used for many years now is Menu Planning.  I will admit sometimes I will go for periods of time without making one but I always end up regretting that as I end up feeling more stressed and thinking I don't like to cook. Making a menu does take a little bit of work and thinking but I think that in the long run (over the course of the menu) you end up saving a lot of time.

 

My method for Menu planning includes drawing a calendar on a piece of paper (They are also quite easy to find and print out) usually to last a month of longer. Then I usually take it to a meal with me where my family and I will start brainstorming about what we want to eat. Sometimes I feel that my family can only think of about 5 different meals (as they certainly have there favorites!) but still it is nice to hear what they do like so that I can include it (just because it is suggested doesn't mean that we will eat it but generally their requests are pretty easy and normal) and then I start thinking through my what I like to make as well.

 

  When considering what I am going to put on the menu I think about these things:

• Does it use things we already have on hand? Since we stock up on most things well ahead of time (through growing or buying in bulk or buying quantities of loss leaders) This is an important consideration for me.
• Will it go along with what is already planned for that day? For instance for Sunday Dinner I want something that can either be fixed very quickly or can roast in the oven while we are at church. If I know I teach music lessons late that afternoon then I plan an easy supper.
• Are we having a variety? I like to rotate the various meats (Beef, Chicken, Fish, Pork, etc.) and the different Carbs (Potatoes, Breads, Rice, etc.) and the different fruits or veggies so that we don't eat the same things back to back.
• Will we be having company or will we be gone? Important things to consider when making a menu.

If I have trouble coming up with ideas then I will pull out cookbooks and look through them for ideas, I have also looked at old menus and once in a while I will look at other peoples menus online. I have found however that generally my style of cooking, what I have on hand and what we like never quite matches up with anybody else.

 

  On our menu I write on Breakfast and Supper Menus and with the only lunch menu being on Sunday. The other days of the week we try to eat leftovers for lunch unless we are having company - If we have company for lunch I generally make soup.

 

 I don't always get the full menu filled out immediately, often I will leave some of the last ones blank as I haven't thought of something for them and then I will fill them in later on when I think of something or if we end up using something written down further up (for instance if we go some place else for a meal or if I end up making something else at the last minute).

 

 I love using a menu as a tool but I don't feel tied to it. If an evening comes and I am inspired to make something other than is on the menu or if something in my fridge needs to be used up then we will make a switch.

 

  When planning a menu it is important to be realistic. It is fun to look through cookbooks and find all sorts of new meal ideas but unless cooking is a really fun hobby for you it is quite likely that you will get tired of always making something new and will wish to go back to some easy old standbys. I know that because I have done just that before! Now I try to through a few new recipes in there but for the most part I stick to the tried and true.

 

 Menu planning is very helpful when you are trying not to grocery shop so often. I try to only grocery shop once a month (or even less- but not counting quick stops to get milk) and this way I can make out my menu -using mostly things I already have on hand- and then go shopping later where I can pick up a few things that we may be lacking.

 

 Here is a link to an old menu plan I did (a 6 week rotating menu that we no longer use as I got tired of it and we have change to a healthier diet) some time ago in case you want an example.

 

Do you use a menu plan? I would love to hear your thoughts on this!