Growing Up

The time has come that my little girl is leaving home. Later this morning we leave for Ft. Wayne, Indiana where my parents and sister live. We will spend the night there and tomorrow morning we will head to the Indiana/Michigan border to take Mary to her summer job training. She will stay there until Sunday and then head to southern Indiana where she will live and work for the summer.   I am excited to see her take this new step in her life but sad at the same time. The time has gone so fast.

Yesterday, she said to me, "Mom this will be the last day I live at this house. From now on, I will be a frequent visitor." I think the enormity of this day has also somewhat sunk into her. As I have said before, she has grown into a wonderful young lady and I look with anticipation with what she will do with her life. Yet, in the meantime, she will always be my little girl. Even good life transitions can be hard. Wish us all luck as we embark in this new phase in our lives. 

Berries and Birds

The annual battle of the birds has started at our house which amounts to trying to get the berries before the birds pick them clean. We do not seem to have that much problem with the strawberries. They are near the house and there are not a lot of places to perch. The cat spends a lot of time guarding them each year. I have never really had much problem with them. The raspberries on the other hand are a whole different thing.

We have had raspberries for years. We have had very few crops. The birds seem to get to them before we do almost each year. Unfortunately none of the measures which keep our strawberries safe are available for the raspberries. Our patch is in the back of the yard. There are plenty of perching places for birds to land. There are also lots of hiding places so it is harder for our cat to chase them away from them. Today, we spent the morning cleaning out all the weeds, tying the canes up and then netting them. We will see if we have anymore luck with this method. We will keep you posted.  

Refurbishing Landscaping

My sister moved into her new house over the weekend. I have spent the weekend getting her garden in the ground and planting her annual flowers and herbs. In addition, I have already started scoping out the future relandscaping of her yard. The owners before her did a great job and so it is a matter of dividing and redoing a few things.

The first thing I recommend to people when they move into a new home is to not do a whole lot the first season. Take note of the different plants and flowers over the different seasons. If there are plants you do not know, research them and find out about them. Look for places that need improvement. Do areas need to be thinned out or are there sparse areas? Do the plants seem to be planted in the best area such as shade plants in shady areas or sun plants in sunny areas?

The next step is to make out a long range plan. What are the most important areas that need to be done first? Are the beds easy to maintain and mow around? What kind of projects do you see in each area? What of your current plants can be divided and added elsewhere? Are there family or friends who may have plants they would share with you? Write down these plans and then decide a budget for each year. Do the project that your budget allows. Always start with the highest priority. (What area of the yard is the most important to upgrade or fix?)

Upgrading or relandscaping a yard does not have to be expensive. It just takes some long range planning and use of the resources at hand. 

Busy Times

The past week has flown by here at the Webb Homestead. Last weekend, Mary's graduation and party went very well. It was fun to share it with our friends and family. Makenzie and I spent a couple of days at the beginning of the week at Cincinnati Children's Hospital for some EEG monitoring to tune up her seizure regimen. Then, we came home and caught up briefly here at the house. Since Friday, we have been working on getting my sister moved in and unpacked in her new home here locally. She has been transferred to Lexington and this will be our first time in 23 years to have family in the same city. We are so excited about having her here. We have also slipped in two graduation parties of friend's families. The next two weeks prove to be just as busy but then things should slow down for a while. Will catch you as I can until it does. Hope you are all enjoying your summers. 

Seasoned Salt Recipe

A couple of years ago I found this seasoned salt recipe substitute. It rivals the taste of Lowry's but is cheaper and probably a little healthier. I keep it mixed in one of my empty spice bottles. Use the same amount you would use of store bought seasoned salt in your recipes.

Seasoned Salt Recipe

2 Tbls salt

2 tsps sugar

½ tsp paprika

¼ tsp turmeric

¼ tsp onion powder

¼ tsp garlic powder

¼ tsp cornstarch (this helps keep it from caking together)

Mix all ingredients together and store in airtight container.

Baby Chicks-1 Month Old

Last night marked another milestone for the baby chicks. They spent their first night in the dark. We let them get all cozy in the coop and then shut the heat lamp off for the first night. They cried a little bit but not too much. At 1 month old, they are fully feathered now, love perching on the bars we put in the run and are eating bits and pieces of table scraps. From the looks of the yard they are in I would say they are also learning how to scratch up the dirt to look for bugs. It has been fun watching them develop over the last month. For the next couple of months they will mostly change in their overall size. I think they will be excited about being on a full grassy area here in a couple of days. 

Home Schooling Completion

This weekend my oldest daughter graduates from home school high school. When we embarked on this journey, we were going to try home schooling for a year because our school system had all day kindergarten and our daughter, Mary, at the time was still taking a 2-3 hour nap in the afternoon. We floundered our way through the first year and started finding some home school friends and groups. We enrolled her in way too many extracurricular activities to make sure she developed "social skills". By the end of Kindergarten, Mary had taught herself to read. Our parents and friends still worried if she would be social enough and if she learning what she was supposed to be learning.

The next year we decided to continue home schooling Mary. We started a home school co-op where I taught elementary science on a trial basis. That year we decreased some of the extracurricular activities because we realized she was getting plenty of social time. She started reading chapter books and did well in all her subjects. Math, though seemed to be hard for her. We found that this lifestyle fit our family well. We turned our vacations into educational field trips. We discovered as most home school families do that schooling our child reached way beyond our school time. We incorporated math, science and other subjects into our everyday routines as well because we knew what they were working on each day in school .

We kept saying we would put Mary back into school during middle school. Then, Out of the Zone, classes came into our lives. When high school decision making time came, NHA found us. It is a small co-op of mothers who worked together to educate their high school children. We decided to give high school a try. We then found out about dual credit through our local community college. We found a small private college that let seniors take one free course a semester their senior year. We learned together about testing and getting into college. Then this year, the senior year arrived. Good news kept coming. Three of the six students, including Mary, received full scholarships to universities. Most of the others received some kind of merit scholarship. They all had developed deep relationships with their friends. They continued their very active home school social lives.

I tell you a brief history of our home school journey not to brag or say this is the best way to educate your child. That is up to each individual family because they know their children and family structure best. I tell you this that if you are considering home schooling, give it a try. Find a local support group or co-op. You do not need to commit for your child's whole school career. Tell yourself you will try it and see where it takes you.

Mary graduates in a local home school graduation ceremony on Saturday morning. There will be 54 participants in this years program. We will meet our daughter with pride in the center of the stage to present her with her diploma from our school. She is a well rounded young lady with a good head on her shoulder. She has many dear friends and a very active social life. During her home school high school career, she has attended basketball and soccer games, participated in musicals, gone to prom and the Christmas dance. She does not feel like she has missed anything by not being in a more "traditional" school setting like many of her friends. She will attend Morehead State University this fall on a full scholarship that covers everything. I feel home schooling her was a good decision.

Happy Mother's Day!!!

Rhubarb Bread

Here is a recipe I have probably shared before but is worth repeating. My rhubarb lovers love this bread but better yet my rhubarb haters like this bread when I don't let them know there is rhubarb in it.

Rhubarb Bread
1 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup oil
1/3 cup applesauce (oil can be substituted for this)
1 lightly beaten egg
1 cup buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour (white flour can be substituted for this)
1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups chopped, raw rhubarb

Put first 6 ingredients in a medium size bowl and stir together. In large bowl, add rest of ingredients except rhubarb. Stir these together. Add first bowl with wet ingredients into larger bowl with dry ingredients. Stir just until combined. Fold in rhubarb. Bake in 325 oven for 50-60 minutes or until browned and center is set. Cool, enjoy!.

Rhubarb Crunch

The other day a friend gave me a bunch of rhubarb. I was able to get several loaves of rhubarb bread of it and finished it off by making rhubarb crunch. The recipe is fairly simple but delicious. Here is the recipe.

Rhubarb Crunch
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour (or white)
3/4 cup uncooked oatmeal
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup melted butter
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
4 cups rhubarb, chopped

Combine the first 6 ingredients and pat 1/2 the mixture down in a sprayed 9" x 9" pan. Layer uncooked rhubarb on top of crumbs. Set aside the pan and other half of the crunch.


In a medium sized saucepan, bring to boil:
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
2 Tbls cornstarch

Add:
1 tsp vanilla

Pour over rhubarb mixture in pan. Layer remaining crumbs on the top. Bake 350 for 1 hour or until rhubarb is tender.

If you like rhubarb, I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we did.  

Dad's Favorite's Deli

We have sampled and bought many of Dad's Favorite Cheese Spreads here at the Farmer's Market. These are homemade cheese spreads made with real ingredients minus the normal fillers you will find in other commercially prepared spreads. They are all delicious. When we were there the last time, we found out that they had opened a small sandwich shop for lunch in Lexington. Yesterday, the girls and I decided to check them out.

The shop offers sandwiches and soup. All of them are homemade. Sandwiches were all $5 or $6,. For a small additional charge you could order chips and a drink or soup and a drink. As you can see the prices are very reasonable and the sandwiches were nice size. The taste was unbelievable. We had the Swiss and Country Ham Melt and a grilled pimento cheese sandwich. They were by far two of the best sandwiches that we had ever eaten. The best part is all of the products served are from local sources as much as possible.

If you get a chance, give them a try. They are open Monday through Friday 11 AM - 3 PM. You can also find their cheese spreads at some of the local grocery stores. On days they are at the Farmer's Market, they give out free samples if you would like to taste them. Here is a link to their website if you would like to check out their cheese spreads or deli more. Dad' Favorites  

Baby Chicks

Buff Orpington Chicks-3 Weeks Old

Our baby chicks are now 3 weeks old and have turned into awkward teenagers. They love being outside and have figured out how to go into the coop at night without assistance. Yesterday, I fed them a few table scraps-strawberries and whole wheat bread. They looked at it kind of funny and then a few brave ones pecked at it to see what it was all about. At this age, I only feed them little bits of table scraps. I do this mostly to get them used to them. They need lots of protein at this stage to grow so I do not want to supplement their feed much at this time.

The most fun thing to watch in the last week is them learning how to perch. When we put the run up, we added a few 1/2" diameter dowel type rods in several places in the run. Last week, a few brave ones would jump on it and then immediately fall off. By the end of the week, we noticed several of them could jump on them and stay briefly. This week the perches are the hit play toy. They are spatting with each other about who gets the perches. At any given time now you can look out the window and see several of them huddled together on the perch. We do this so it is an easier transition when we get them into the coop. The egg laying chickens we want to sleep on the perch at night versus in the nests. This keeps the nests clean for the eggs they lay.

It is fun watching them grow up. They are so big and have changed so much in the few short weeks that we have had them. It will not be long before they are off the patio and in the back part of the yard. 

Sharing

I have spent the afternoon cutting up rhubarb and making it into various goodies. Monday night, one of my friends from ballet brought a bunch of extras that she had at her house. She also brought in some lettuce. My Mom is going to bring me some extra flowers that she has from dividing her plants this spring. We also often share extra can goods with each other. I frequently share extra can goods, eggs, plants and garden produce with friends and family. My point in all of this is that we should share the extras we have with others. There are only so many of each thing that you can use. I have been on both ends of receiver and giver. I think this is a small way that we can make the world a little brighter and friendlier for others. 

Tomatoes

Saturday, I bought most of my tomato plants and over the weekend I have been putting them in the garden. I always buy several varieties of mostly heirloom tomatoes. I have been doing this for a  couple of years and I find this mixture of flavors makes my canned goods have a richer flavor to them. Combining all the subtle differences of tastes together really gives your taste buds something to think about. I buy my tomato plants from different farmers at the farmer's market who have grown them from seed at their farms. This way I know they have been well taken care of and where they have come from. The added bonus is I save on transportation fuel and support our local economy at the same time.

I plant my tomatoes in raised row beds about 3 feet apart within the row. This gives me plenty of space to pick them each year. I put the cages on them from the start. If I don't do this, I find that this task can get away from me and it is hard to put cages on a larger plant and not break off leaves and stems. The cages were made by a local farmer and are very sturdy. You can also stake tomatoes but I find the cages easier for me.

Our clay soil is acidic but tomatoes like a neutral to basic soil. After I plant the tomatoes, I then carefully sprinkle a little lime around the base of the plant. This will seep down into the ground as it rains or the garden is watered. I will repeat this procedure on a monthly basis until the end of the growing season.

I do not fertilize my plants with commercial fertilizers. When I prepare the garden soil I add a large amount of our compost. This conditions the soil as well as fertilizes it. I have always had beautiful tomatoes and plenty of them to use. Although, I rarely have a lot of pest problems, I handpick off any pests which get on my tomatoes and feed them to my chickens. Good companion plants for tomatoes are the onion family, nasturtiums, marigolds, basil and peppers. Several of these assist have the added benefit in repelling pests in your garden.

Tomatoes are my favorite crop in the garden. I look forward to eating the first ripe tomatoes each year and enjoy all the tomato products that I can from them year round.  Growing tomatoes is an easy task and very rewarding  They can be easily grown in flowerbeds and large pots. Almost everyone can find space for one plant. You will be glad that you did. There is no comparison in taste to a freshly picked tomato. 

Baby Chicks

Yesterday, it was so warm we had turned the heat lamp off in the baby chick coop and let them outside. We had a function to go to last night and were in a hurry getting ready to get there. We came home after dark last night to find the baby chicks all huddled in a corner outside in the run crying because they were scared. In my hurry, I had forgotten to tun the heat lamp back on for them. They were scared of the dark so would not go back into the house and then it also got dark outside. Needless to say I felt really bad.

When we found them, we turned on the heat lamp but they had already settled down for the night so would not go inside. We finally had to lift the top for the run and gently put them in front of the door. They finally figured it out and all went inside. Needless to say I will not be making that mistake this evening.

One thing that we have had to teach the baby chicks each year is not to be afraid of the dark, Because of the heat lamp, they have light 24/7 for the first few weeks. The first night without light, they usually cry because they are scared. After a few nights, they are used to it and become pros at sleeping in the dark. The joys of being a substitute chick Mom.