Advent Calendar Sans CANDY??!!

Well, not quite.  But for the past couple years, I've been looking for a reusable Advent calendar that I could fill with whatever I wanted, be it candy or redeemable coupons for kid-size salads at dinnertime, seasonable veggies, etc.  You know, because I'm a fun mom like that.

So last year I got an unnatural urge to hit a post-Christmas sale and came out of it with this:

Pretty cool, I think, and so do the kids.  This will be our first year using it, and as I was racking my muddled brain for WHAT to fill it with, a friend of mine suggested using scripture...specifically, Biblical prophecy of the birth of Christ.  Of course, that led to a Google search, and I found a site called Teachingmom.com.  It's a couple years old, but the webpage on advent calendars can be found here, and if you scroll down, she has two links to Advent verse chain links for a 23-day Advent.  (You can fill the extra days with candy.  Or redeemable coupons for plain yogurt).  I'm thinking of printing these out on some red and green paper and making the actual chain link so we can add a bit of Christmas cheer to these plain, white, to-be-painted-someday walls.  And I'm excited that the kids will get to see the amazing accuracy with which the Old Testament prophets told of our coming Savior!

And the redeemable coupons for healthy food?  I'm kidding...I think.

Green Acres Weekend Update

What a whirlwind break this has been for the homeschoolers and the public schooler!  Here's a rundown of all the sustainable (or not) things we did this week.  And Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Monday: Breadmaking "class" for my sister-in-law, Dawn, and a friend, Katey.  They came over for the morning and in between guiding them through making two loaves of sandwich bread, a hearth loaf, and a batch of dinner rolls, we policed seven kids and made several runs out to the back fence row to make sure my niece, Ellie, wasn't snacking on any of the foliage.  The day was beautiful, fun, and the bread turned out well!  And I hope it was a good learning experience for Katey and refresher course for Dawn.

Tuesday: School, milk run, ballet, Byron almost shot a deer but it ran into the woods.  We ate some killer venison steak...no pun; I'll have to post the recipe for the marinade.  Akea came down with a nasty cold.

Wednesday: Byron's break from school began with a mad dash to Other House (almost a two-hour drive) to retrieve Christmas stuff and other stuff and to rake leaves.  Nice chat with our neighbors, Doug and Jenn.  We miss them.  And Lord, all I want for Christmas is a CONTRACT and a CLOSING DATE!!!

Thursday: Thanksgiving at my parents' house.  Very relaxed...we ate, Byron snoozed on the couch, my parents played with the kids, and I worked on some online Christmas gifts.  I think there was a football game on. Thanks, Mom and Dad, for a relaxing time!

Friday: Click here to see what we did on Black Friday!

Saturday: I put up the Christmas tree, retrieved the cat from stalking the new chickens, retrieved the cat from stalking the Christmas tree, Byron spent all day building a movable chicken house, and I used my (no so) mad geometry skills.  That's right, put that architecture degree to work, girl!  But Byron came up with all the really good ideas.  Lots of photos to come!

And today (Sunday):  We'll see, but we really need to work on that "day of rest" thing...

Black Friday Gets a Whole New Meaning...

Well.  I did some shopping today, sort of.  When I got up, I ordered some Christmas gifts online, including a couple audio CDs from Greathall Productions, a company owned by children's storyteller Jim Weiss.  Check it out if you like classic tales re-told by one of the most talented storytellers of our time.  Anyway, later in the morning we all packed into the car...but we weren't exactly headed to the mall, thank God.

This past summer, Byron and I contacted a farmer in the area who raises pastured poultry, and we somehow ended up as part of a chicken-butchering assembly line.  Said farmer, Jeff Adams of Walnut Hill Farm, called Byron a few days ago to see if we'd like to come help butcher chickens on Black Friday.  Oh, how apropos!  This time, however, he wasn't going to only butcher meat birds (chickens raised only for meat); he also had eighteen "spent" egg-laying hens whose time was up, too.

Egg-laying hens, such as the Barred Rock variety that Jeff has, produce well for about two years, though they can live up to six years.  They're hardy and rather gentle, but when they're too old to lay eggs anymore, farmers have to decide whether they're going to become pets or profits.  Jeff - as would any farmer - chose profits, and graciously offered them to us for $3/bird.  Not per pound, per bird.  And the reason they're less expensive than younger chickens raised for meat is because they're a bit less versatile in the kitchen and have to be slow-cooked in a crock pot (we've heard they're delicious, too).  But that's not why we went; we value the education we get at Walnut Hill Farm, grisly though it is.

On this visit, I took some non-grisly photos of the butchering process, but if you have a weak stomach, you can click here to read my post on how to have a very cheap Disney Princess party.  Or, if you have no cause to throw a Disney Princess party for yourself or anyone else anytime soon, you can click here to see what was hiding under our dining room for almost 150 years.

Still with me?  Great.  This is how pastured poultry is humanely butchered, minus the act itself.

Byron holds a Barred Rock hen before placing her in a "killing cone."  It was truly a Black Friday for 59 chickens: 18 "spent" Barred Rock hens and 41 Rhode Island Red "meat" birds.

The "killing cones."  A chicken is placed in a cone, its head removed (some farmers sever arteries in the neck without removing the head), and then the next bird is loaded. 

Chickens go from the killing cones into the scalder, which is set up on an automatic timer.  This process loosens the feathers.

No more old-fashioned plucking!  Jeff places a chicken from the scalder into the plucker.

The plucker spins as water washes the loosened feathers away.

Seconds later, the chickens look more like something you'd eat!

The eviscerating table, like all the processing equipment, is made of stainless steel.  You can see the chill tank in the background.

Yup, that's me.  I'm the eviscerating girl.  After going through the plucker, the feet, oil gland on the tail, and the "insides" of the chickens have to be removed.  The chicken is then placed in the chill tank.

I should mention here that Jeff's equipment is top-of-the-line stuff that for his scale, is necessary.  He sells his chickens and a variety of other meats at farmers markets and even has a store at his farm that he opens on weekends.  For the small family farm, however, all the equipment isn't really necessary.  When we raise our own chickens for meat, we'll look into building our own small-scale equipment or possibly renting Jeff's for a day.  And of course, I'll post plenty of information on anything we build!

Wait!  Is this a LIVING Barred Rock hen???  Why yes, it is, and it's in our backyard, along with four of its closest friends!  Stay tuned to hear more about our Black Friday...

Update: Want info on Walnut Hill Farm?  If you know me personally, you can leave a comment and I'll e-mail you.  If you're visiting my site, I am thrilled you're here and am working on setting up contact information!  Thanks for being patient!

Got a Blog? Get FREE Holiday Cards from Shutterfly!

Thanks to Varunner at Two Bears Farm and the Three Cubs for giving me a heads up on this one!  Shutterfly is offering 50 free Christmas cards to anyone who blogs about this fantastic offer!  So if you have a blog, consider jumping on this deal and getting a head start on the holiday craziness.  I had planned on just mailing out store-bought cards this time around, but I'm thinking those are going to collect dust for another year.  All you have to pay is shipping and handling, and signing up takes like two minutes.  Interested yet?  Good!  Click here to sign up.

In the past, I've banded together with my three sisters-in-law to make wall calendars for the grandparents through Shutterfly, and we've always been beyond pleased with the product.  This year, they have new desktop calendars, which you can check out here.  And at the moment they're 30% off!  (Attention Grandparents: I know you want one this year, too!)

Anyway, I've always thought about doing photo Christmas cards and am excited that I'll actually be sending some out this year.  Any friends who have been following this blog don't really need a Christmas letter anyway.  As for designs, choosing one will be the hardest part because there are 803 of them!  I like this one for a photo collage.  This card would look great with a single black and white photo, this one would look great with a sepia tone photo to set off the blue, and I love the simplicity of this card.  Choosing from these designs may be the toughest decision I have to make for Christmas purchases this year!

P.S.: These cards are sustainably forested, and I like that!

Green Acres Weekend Update

I really can't remember what we did this week.  I know it was the last week our chapter of Classical Conversations met until January, when we'll be up for another 12 weeks of making our children memorize things like the pronoun order, the associative law in math, and the various leaders of World War II.  To songs, of course.  Or if there is no song, I get to make up things like cheerleading chants to grammar facts, which is okay because I teach all girls, but a little ironic since I'm the anti-cheerleader.  Wait, wait, wait!  I have nothing against cheerleaders; my best friend was a cheerleader!  I'm just so dreadfully not into things like football and doing cartwheels in front of people (mainly because I'm comically horrid at it) that I can't believe I came up with the idea in the first place.  But the girls love it.

Okay, let's see.  Last Sunday, we joined the church we've been attending since moving back to this area, and I went to a caregroup meeting later that week.  We really love the people there because they love God and genuinely care for one another.  Like if I had a new baby next week (which would be physically impossible...bear with me and no, I'm not pregnant), they'd bring meals.  I know several of them have been agreeing with us in prayer that Other House would sell soon.  And almost two years ago, when my dad had to have emergency open-heart surgery, the pastor came to the hospital to pray with and encourage us.  And I think that's pretty cool.

I've also been thinking about this blog, and what I need to be writing about as we head into winter sans garden (for obvious reasons) and sans animals.  One friend suggested I do some product reviews of grain mills and things of that nature that may be of interest to the home cook/baker.  I've touched on this a little bit here, but like the idea of giving it more attention.  I also want to write about the little things we do to conserve water and energy around the house.  For instance, did you know there's such a thing as "phantom electricity?"  That means when you leave something plugged in, it still uses a bit of electricity, even if it's not running.  So we unplug small appliances in the kitchen, specifically, and things like CD players when we're not using them.

To everyone's relief, Byron has stayed away from saws and pear trees this week, but I will be writing about pruning fruit trees in a coming post.

Oh!  I took some fall photos of the kids, and will post those soon.  We do this every year and use them as Christmas gifts for the family because I never did like studio shots very much.  In fact, I have a few ideas for fun, homemade or locally made Christmas gifts.  Update: click here for inexpensive gift ideas!

Pumkin Chocolate Chip Cookies Are the Best Cookies Ever!

I don’t know what it is about pumpkin and chocolate. The combination is possibly one of my favorites in all of cookie-dom, that imaginary kingdom that reigns over the holidays. And pumpkin and chocolate are the Romeo and Juliet of ingredients...they love each other irrevocably and after you taste these, you'll understand that they just can't survive without each other.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
Adapted from Allrecipes.com

Ingredients
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil (I use applesauce; see my notes)
1 egg
2 cups flour (freshly milled works fine!)
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon (see notes)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon milk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips (see notes)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Directions
1. Combine pumpkin, sugar, vegetable oil, and egg. In a separate bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, ground cinnamon, and salt. Dissolve the baking soda with the milk and stir in. Add flour mixture to pumpkin mixture and mix well.
2. Add vanilla, chocolate chips and nuts.
3. Drop by spoonful on greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for approximately 10 minutes or until lightly brown and firm (see notes). Makes two dozen.

Notes:
1.I've always used applesauce in this recipe to cut down on fat content, and it works beautifully.  My friend, Jenn, tried making them both ways, and said that when made with oil, they're a bit more crispy, and when made with applesauce, they're more cake-like.
2. I love chocolate, but have never used two cups' worth.  I usually use about a cup.
3. I had more success baking these for 10-12 minutes at 365 degrees.  Odd number, I know, but so far it's worked in two stoves. 
4.  I like to add a pinch of nutmeg and cloves
5.  Since this recipe only makes a measely two dozen, I recommend doubling it.  Or tripling it.  Two dozen last about twenty-four hours around here.
6. You can store these in the fridge, if you wish.

Green Acres Weekend Update

Okay, so I sort of like this weekend update thing.  Again, not sure how consistent I'll be yet (it is Monday morning, after all), and I still am going to write some more detailed posts, but it gives a bit of structure to the blog.  And it's nice to have some structure these days!

The most important event of the week was this:


All I want for Christmas are my two front teeth!

I also spent my evenings mudding the drywall in the parlor instead of folding the four+ loads of laundry I did last Monday.  I actually sort of enjoyed applying the joint compound, but I can honestly say I HATE sanding it down...and I've always had a hard time with detail work, which probably partially accounts for my love of set design because the audience simply can't see any tiny imperfections!  And despite wearing a mask and goggles, the dust somehow still sneaks into your digestive system! 

I applied three coats to the walls, but a seam on the ceiling required four because the old drywall and new didn't match perfectly.  I also found that it's important to apply thin layers as opposed to thick, because the joint compound tends to crack otherwise.  This Youtube video was helpful (I told you I went to Youtube University)!


Aunt Dottie, this is the best picture Byron got of me.  I promise!

We also worked on pruning the pear tree, which hasn't been touched in about twenty years.  I'll do a longer post on this process, but you can see from the photo that the upper portion of the tree (which is about 40' high) still needs some work.  And just imagine the lower part as "hairy" as the rest of it.

I did most of the pruning, and Byron helped me saw off a dead branch that I couldn't reach.  It was braided with two others and a little tricky to remove, as proved by this:

 

A very handy and very nasty saw!  Byron probably should have gotten a stitch or two on one of the puncture-like wounds, but he likes to be his own doctor.  Did I mention he's a history teacher???

I also squeezed in a batch of pumpkin chocolate chip cookies!  Byron and Charlie went down to Other House on Thursday to rake leaves and make sure everything was in order, so I wanted to make a treat for them for sacrificing their day.  Update: the recipe is posted here!

Pumpkin chocolate chip cookies are The Best Cookies Ever!

And click here for homemade granola!