~Ramblings On My Mind~

Proverbs 29:11 says a fool utters all his mind and in the absence of an organized post, I'm uttering mine tonight. At least it will be link filled and who knows maybe you'll find something useful among my ramblings.


I opened a 20 pound bag of rice this afternoon and finally accepted the fact that we have a pantry moth infestation I'm going to have to deal with. I've seen them flying around here and there, but when there is webbing and "dust" and then larvae crawling out of the rice, denial is no longer an option.

And here I was feeling just lazy enough to think I was going to get to skip out on nesting this time around.

The timing is horrible because I was planning on a huge bulk food purchase on Friday so that while my husband makes a transition to a new job in two weeks having food on hand wasn't going to be something I'd have to worry about.

Thankfully, while I'm dealing with the stress of cleaning and purging our pantry, I won't be dealing with homeschooling stress.  Large Family Mothering once again shares wise words encouraging me to keep my homeschool (and family life) simple, joyful, and focused on "things above."

Hopefully, nothing from my pantry that I would need for making whole wheat chocolate chip scones will be affected by the infestation. I made them for breakfast this morning and enjoyed them immensely! I used about half the chocolate chips too and they were still delicious. I ate mine with a bit of butter and as usual never consider whipped cream to be optional. I made a double batch and am thinking about leftovers already.

I wouldn't mind at all however if our sugar is infected. (Which I doubt it is. Even the moths are probably clever enough to know it's not a nourishing food.) It's only Tuesday night and already I'm looking for the weekend. These munchkins are rascally and our "sugar" (I'm talking hfcs, additive, and chemical laden sweets) intake is sporadic enough that I know just exactly what is the culprit behind the whiney, temper tantrum, bed-jumping, agitating, play screaming rascals taking over my home. Gone are the children who combined their efforts to shine up my oven.  Of course, it doesn't help that I'm nearly through reading Health for Godly Generations. Certainly isn't the type of book that one can read without feeling convicted about some of the food choices you're making for your family. (See Homeschooling- How to Reduce Stress above.) Unfortunately, natural sugar alternatives can't be worked into the budget so I'm going to have to stick with reducing quantities in my scratch recipes and completely eliminating those occasional sweet processed junk treats. It's become too obvious what a detrimental effect it has on their little bodies.

Besides our insect infestation, we've been discussing the Back to Eden film lately. In a nutshell, the film promotes a mulching system utilizing various sizes of tree mulch (not to be confused with bark mulch that you lay down on perennial beds every year to freshen up their look) and supposedly eliminates the need for tilling, irrigation, pesticides, fertilizers, most weeding, and improves the soil quality, nutrition, and flavor of the produce.

I know. Sounds too good to be true.

I admit that I was very skeptical at first, but wanted something to watch while working on crocheting in the evening and by the end of the film I was sold. There was one scene in particular that caught my attention where you could see the garden and a portion of the surrounding lawn. What I couldn't help but notice was how beautiful and vibrant the vegetables were and how dead the grass was. That is all the grass except for a few inches that ran around the perimeter of the garden and was no doubt be irrigated by the garden.

I ended up watching it a second time with my even more skeptical husband who is now sold as well and while it hasn't been easy to find a source for cheap, let alone free, tree mulch, today there was one lead that sounds promising.

Since it won't stop raining here, we're also talking about our sacrifice pasture and what on earth we can do to keep our cattle from sinking in two feet of mud (which by the way makes for some very smelly milkers). It's not a cheap fix, but I am highly, highly intrigued by putting down a plastic grid drainage system like this one. I'm very open to any suggestions if there are any ideas about keeping winter pasture dry and relatively mud-free.

Having started my second round of seedlings this week, I'm trying to figure out which type of container is the best fit for my needs. I've been through many including making newspaper pots or ones from cardboard tubes both of which were slimy with mold, dried out too easily between waterings, and didn't break down well in the garden like they were supposed to. Jiffy pots are too expensive and pose the same problems as the homemade pots and considering how easily they fell apart if I needed to handle them once they had been saturated with water, I was surprised how poorly they broke down in the garden as well. Egg shells or egg cartons are too small to meet my needs and I don't want just a large tray filled with soil because I worry about the roots tangling too much and stressing the seedlings when I rip them apart at transplant time. I really had thought that plastic cells were the way to go, but this year I'm not finding them to be as reusable as I had hoped since already both flats I tried to use were leaking. I saw a pin on Pinterest where they were making their own soil blocker and I might just be giving that a try instead of shelling out money hand over fist on plastic cells that I'll just end up buying again next year. That is if I can even find any. Turns out people must not start a lot of their own seeds. Not around here at least.

With my pregnancy winding down, I can't help but be thinking baby thoughts and about what I should be doing to prepare for this little ones arrival.

Mommy guilt once again has me thinking about making dinner time a fast & easy thing for everyone to help me manage. I mean, you've been around the internet. That's just what you do. Well not me apparently. I think about it every time, but freezer meals just aren't my thing and did I mention I'm feeling lazy? I barely feel like putting together tonight's meal let alone a couple weeks worth. Instead, I've been trying to find some slow cooker meals I'd like to try (any suggestions??) which would give me at least a couple hour window in the morning to think of something instead of scrambling at dinnertime like I normally do. By the way, I have a pinboard for that too.

I bought some jersey knit fabric for $5/ yard and am hoping to make a couple nursing poncho's soon. After six babies, I guess I'm tired of hiding every time I need to nurse. (Although I secretly like stealing a little extra alone time with just the baby & me.) I like the concept of the poncho because it will cover your back too and has a more feminine drape and look to it than your typical nursing cover. No offense typical nursing cover wearing mommas :)

I'm also dealing with the residual fear imparted to me by the healthcare system that would have me to believe something will go wrong with this birth. Because birth is dangerous and we can't do it on our own and we need help. You know... we're "not qualified."

Personally, I've been taught that I can't go into labor on my own and once I'm in it, I need help contracting effectively. That's if my uterus doesn't explode now because of the c-section scar. And after Rebekah's birth I now have to worry about nuchal chords.  (Link to an excellent, but graphic blog. You'll be fine on that post, but if you poke around at other content, maybe make sure no little ones are peeking over your shoulder.)

All very scary, huh?

I'm learning how to fight my fear.  (I'm listening over and over. And over. Until it's drilled in my brain.) We all fear something so you should listen too.


So what's on your mind today? Or do you not want to admit you're a fool like me? ;)