Life With The Crew

Bye-Bye Benjamin

In one week's time we adopted a rabbit and gave a rabbit away.  Maizie, our free ranging house rabbit did not take too well to Benjamin being here.  Since I had never seen Maizie spend much time in the sunroom, I didn't think that he would care that Benjamin was there.  However, Maizie turned that area into his own potty area in attempts to mark his territory and make his feelings known.  He even went so far as to pee on my husband when my husband was lying on the sofa.  Since the sunroom is one of the only nice rooms in our always under construction home, we couldn't afford to wait several weeks to see if Maizie would adjust.  There was no other place in the house for Benjamin to go.  I have never given up a pet before, but since I hadn't been looking for a new rabbit and took him just because he needed somewhere to go, I didn't feel so bad about it.  And then it turns out that is was meant not to be anyway!  His previous owner missed him so much that he wanted to take him back, so back Benjamin went.  

A sign of mutal affection - these two love each other.

Not so much love.

So today I wanted to do a serious cleaning of the room, but it was a bright sunny day and I got a bit distracted by all of the pretty light.  Here are some photos from my productive morning.

The light was making beautiful shadows with this basket.

Even a utilitarian item can be beautiful when it isn't made of plastic.

And of course the little babe was scurrying around helping and doing her thing.

I just love the rich, warm palette of color in the slate.

And the bright light showing off the texture on the aloe plant.

A clean room.  Ready for squirrel watching and a cup of tea.  Or in my little babe's case, a game of count the poker chips.

Hope you can leave the stress and worries of the week behind you and start your weekend off fresh.

 

My Own Lip Balm

I am one of those people who NEED lip balm.  My lips are continously chapped, which my husband says is because I use lip balm - it throws my lip's natural moisture out of balance.  I don't care what he says because having dry flaky lips is really uncomfortable and that is how I spend most of the winter even with the lip balm.  I just have extremely dry skin and we heat with a wood stove.  Blah.  So I always have at least one lip balm in the house and one in my purse.  The one in the house got eaten by a dog several weeks ago and so I was left with the one in my purse.  It has been wearing down for a while now and it was time to buy a new  one.  However, since we are trying to be frugal, I just didn't want to spend the $3 on an organic lip balm.  I have been wanting to make my own and just never took the time to do it so I decided that now was the time.

I decided to keep it super simple with only three ingredients.  Coconut oil for all of its good properties and natural beeswax to firm it up a bit.  The peppermint oil just for fun.  I had everything on hand so I didn't have to spend any money.  There are a gazillion recipes for making your own lip balm, but since I only wanted to do it on a teeny tiny scale, I just threw mine together without following a recipe.  I figured I wasn't going to kill myself with lip balm gone bad.  

I filled half of a 1/3 cup measuring cup with coconut oil, then loosely filled the rest of the cup with beeswax, which I flaked off the big bar with a knife.  We had the beeswax bars left over from when we were making candles to sell at the farmer's markets.  

I then put that in a metal can in a pot full of boiling water, double boiler style.  I used the metal can because beeswax does not come off of things and I just recycled it when I was done.  It only took a minute or two for the oil and wax to melt together.  I then added a drop of peppermint oil.  We have actual plastic lip balm stick containers, but pouring hot liquid into plastic is not my thing.  We also had these small aluminum tea light containers and I thought they were the perfect size.  The amount I made filled three of these.

Cooling down.

They were almost completely cool within 15 minutes.  The red tint in the one container must have been from the metal can - it had held pureed tomatoes.  Oh well, lycopene for my lips!

The combination that I used turned out just right.  The only problem is that I don't have lids for them, so for now they are on the kitchen counter covered with a bowl.  I'll figure something out.  But at least my lips feel better and I didn't have to spend any money.  Plus, it was good for the environment because I didn't buy another plastic tube.  Think of all of the lip balm containers that get thrown away - they just sit there forever.  All in the name of kissable lips.

 

I shared this post on Living Well, Spending Less for Thrifty Thursday.

Reconnecting With Nature - 2.26.14

I am joining Chrisy at Living A Good North Coast Life for her "Reconnecting With Nature" series.  As we bloggers sit around connected to our computers, it is a great way to force us to step outside and maybe notice something new in the natural world or just appreciate something that we see every day.  Read more about the Reconnect with Nature - one photograph at a time idea here. 

Everybody (at least in the Northeastern part of the US) knows that seeing a robin is the first sign of Spring.  People make a big deal about it because it means that the birds that migrated south in Autumn are making their way back north, and robins are the first birds to return.  Or are they?  The whole "first robin as a sign of spring" belief is actually a myth because not all robins migrate!  They can spend the entire Winter in the Northeast, without migrating at all.  Some do, some don't.  But this myth is so ingrained in our culture that we probably have even seen robins in the Winter without even noticing them.

I learned several years ago that they do not all migrate and that the saying was not true, but I still thought they were solitary birds and that is why we saw "the first robin of spring", not "the first flock of robins".  Just last week I had this discussion with my husband who said that he had seen flocks of robins.  I disagreed saying I had never seen them.  Then, lo and behold, today I saw a flock of robins!  I was in my office and just happened to look out the window and there were several birds having a grand time looking for insects in the pine needles and grass.  I realized one was a robin, then another, then another, and all of them were robins! 

When I was doing my researching, just to confirm that yes, robins do stay here all Winter, I found this really good article.  It goes into a little more depth about the robin as a sign of Spring myth.

So not very exciting pictures this week, but at least you learned something new.  If you live in a cold climate, hope you are seeing some signs of Spring!  It is on its way - I saw my flock of robins! :)

Giving Birth Alone

Since today is my blog's 6 month birthday, I thought this was an appropriate article to share - No Birth Should Be Left Up To Chance by Carolyn Mile, President and CEO of Save The Children.  She shares one Nepalese woman's story about giving birth to her child alone.  ALONE.  I cannot imagine doing it alone.  One of the reason's that I chose to have a natural childbirth with a mid-wife was because that I knew that millions of woman around the world do give birth every day without the "help" of pain drugs and unnecessary hovering, tests, and interventions by nurses and doctors.  If they could do  it, I thought I could do it too.  And I did.  But once is definitely enough for me and I am lucky to be able to make that choice.  And I am lucky that I had the choice to give birth in an informal home setting, but to still have a qualified mid-wife to assist me.  I would never have chosen to give birth totally ALONE.  What a terrifying experience.

Millions of woman do not have the choice.  Birth is a part of life and their lives do not involve high tech hospitals and on-call physicians.  But they do need basic medical assistance so that birth does not become death.  You can help Support Save The Children in their campaign to make sure that all births are attended by a trained health worker.

 

Special Blog Anniversary Give-A-Way!

Today is the six month anniversary of my first blog post!  I spent some time looking through my old blog posts.

When everything is covered with the cold white stuff outside, it is hard to imagine that the same landscape can produce beauty like this.  And my chickens were definitely happier here, but each day now the snow is receding a bit more in their coop.  And it is fun to see how my little babe has grown just over this short period.  I can barely button this vest around her big belly now!

I want to say thanks to all of my wonderful readers and people who support this newbie blogger.  Since it is February, the month of sweets, I was looking on Etsy for some good organic chocolate to share as a give-a-way.  I saw these and thought sweet - these look delicious and they are organic!

Then I looked at the shop name - The Bow Wow Dog Barkery - and I laughed and thought, well this is even better!  What could be more appropriate for a blogger with a sweet tooth and 6 dogs - Carob Covered Peanut Butter Dog Treat Truffles!  So folks, wipe away your drool and show the computer screen to your dog.  These have a creamy peanut butter center and are covered in melted carob, then topped with chopped peanuts.  So you could share them with your dog.  They come in a box of four, so two for you and two for him.

Amanda, the baker behind The Bow Wow Dog Barkery, has always loved baking.  Then she got Maggie, her good old-fashioned mutt.  She started reading the list of ingredients in Maggie's store bought treats and was upset by the amount of additives, by-products, and fillers.  All unnecessary "stuff".  So The Bow Wow Dog Barkery was born.  Amanda makes beautiful looking dog treats, like these Carob Bowwownie Bites.

She also makes these Breath Busting Parsley Cookies, to help with that doggie breath we all know (and don't love).

To enter the contest to win the Carob Covered Peanut Butter Dog Treat Truffles, simple leave a comment below.  The contest will be open from now until Friday, February 28th, at 7am.  And if your dog has been extra good lately, or you just want to brighten up his day after he patiently waits for you to get home from work, check out the other great treats in The Bow Wow Dog Barkery.

**all photos courtesy of The Bow Wow Dog Barkery

CONTEST CLOSED

Thankful Tuesday - 2.25.14

Today I am thankful for...

**Disclaimer - If talking about breast feeding and booby milk isn't your cup of tea, then you might want to skip this post.  However, I do include some cute animal and baby pictures to make it easier to swallow.  No pun intended, but then it did make me laugh.

-My health, because I have lost it for a while.  This may be too much information, but I am still breastfeeding my daughter and I developed an awful case of mastitis (infection of the breast).  Just writing it makes me feel like a cow and that is before I mention the several pints of chocolate ice cream that I am consuming because I cannot swallow pills and have to put them in ice cream.  10 days of antibiotics, 4 times a day.  Even I may get tired of ice cream.  Then I developed an extremely stiff and sore neck, somehow related to the whole body infection thing.  It has been a very painful experience.

So I have been stuck in the house with flu-like symptoms and a very sore "booby milk" dispenser.  It was a beautiful day on Saturday - blue sky with mild temperatures and lots of sun and I was upset that I couldn't be outside.  But there was some beautiful light inside too.

-I am also thankful for my little babe, who was an excellent sport and read lots of books on the sofa and in bed with me.  She also entertained herself quite well.  She has lots of friends to help.

-I am also thankful for my wonderful husband who took good care of the little babe and animals.  I also want to give him a shout out for his rye sourdough bread, made from a homemade starter.

And some interesting facts about treating mastitis naturally:

-Eating raw garlic will help battle the infection.  (I just can't stomach this.)

-Echinacea will help with boosting the immune system, so I am drinking lots of echinacea and elderberry tea.

-Apparently cool raw cabbage leaves help to relieve swollen breasts.  So for mothers that are dealing with weaning or mastitis, grab your bra, grab some green cabbage, let your partner laugh, and then let nature provide some relief.  By the time I read this, I thought I was too far gone and so did not try it.  I actually asked the doctor for the antibiotics, when I don't even normally take Tylenol.

   I welcome other bloggers to leave a link to their Thankful Tuesday post in the comments section below.  Your posts do not need to be as revealing and embarrassing as mine.

 

Manic Monday Morning

Because mornings with one little babe, 6 dogs, 4 cats, 1, no, 2 rabbits, and 9 chickens isn't crazy enough, today was even worse because I am recovering from an infection (tune in tomorrow to get the nitty gritty on that) and the right side of my neck is extremely painful and stiff.  Oh, and my husband had to leave the house at 7:45 today.  He was very nice and kept an eye on the babe so I had my 45 minutes of computer time in bed.  He also got the woodstove cranking, let out the chickens, and took care of his own lunch.  Then he left.

This is a normal morning routine.

I have to put the little babe in her high chair so she doesn't take the dog's bowls.  Then I sweep the laundry room and cat room floors, which have hay, rabbit pellets, and cat litter on them from the previous night.  Then I feed the cats, close the cat room door, and let in one Corgi who has to eat separate from the rest because she is a nasty you-know-what when it comes to food.  Next I have to pick up the old Corgi and stick her behind the baby gate in the office because she is half senile and just hops all around knocking into things and being in the way of everybody, other dog's included.  Then 6 bowls to gather, dry food to dish out, heavy bowl of wet food from the fridge to dish out, meds for some, water in bowls for some, and finally they all eat.

Then we wait.  And wait some more.  Because everybody has to wait for Wallace, my large Romanian dog because he is the slowest eater in the world of dogs.  You would think a former street dog would scarf his down like nobody's business, but nope, Wallace is the only one who actually lies down to eat.  One dog will walk around him to go outside, but the other two loose ones crowd him like vultures and won't go out until they can finish off his bowl.  The two that are locked up have to wait because they'll cause a fight.  And then there is the little babe, who hopefully is patiently eating something and watching the routine which she probably knows by heart.  At this point I normally get my granola ready because I like it to soften up before I eat it.  I also prep something a little more substantial for the little babe like yogurt with flaxseed and maple syrup or quinoa with maple syrup and raw milk.

After they are all outside, which involves carrying one and a chase around the table for another, I still cannot sit down to eat my granola.  I have to open the cat door back up, then feed the rabbits.  Sometimes I now also go outside to let out the chickens and give them water, which in Winter involves filling up a plastic gallon milk container at the kitchen sink and carrying it out.   Hopefully it is not a day that I have to fill up their feed, because then that is an additional trip to the shed and back.  Back inside, I have probably been heating some tea for myself (we don't own a microwave) and now I can start eating my granola.  And I should emphasize START.  Because now over the course of 15 minutes I will have to open up the back door about 6 times.  One for each dog that wants to come in.  During this time my granola will have moved from nicely soft to basically soggy.  I will also be trying to feed the little babe, who will be acting like she is tired (after only be awake for an hour and a half) and does not want to eat the healthy food that I just made.  So I give up on her, get up yet again to clean her up, and then try to finish my darn bowl of granola.  And it is only 8:15!  Whew.  

So after letting her down this morning, I look up from my soggy granola and see this.

I did not know that she could get up there by herself and she would not be able to unless she stood on the little blue rocking chair.  A chair that rocks, on slate tile, so not the safest thing to be doing.

So of course I had to leave my granola and go join her for a little bit of chicken watching and "Where's Callie?" playing.  (Callie is the half-senile Corgi who frequently gets stuck in snow drifts.)  Then my nose realized that the reason the little babe went down there and was now sitting kind of funny on the bench was because she pooped and it was leaking through her pants.  Oh, and I forgot to mention that when I cleaned her up from breakfast (the event that took place just 10 minutes ago), I had to strip off her pajamas and get her dressed right away because she had banana smashed all over it, including her butt, and I didn't want that all over the house.  So then we had to do the whole poopy diaper ordeal and ordeal it is.  20 minutes later, second set of clean clothes on, she is getting tired and cranky, I have just taken the last bite of my mushy granola milk, and am attempting to hang some laundry.  Yeah, something else I did - ran a load in the washing machine and put a load into the dryer for a couple minutes.  When I look into the sunroom at Benjamin's cage, where the big drying rack is also, I see a fresh puddle of rabbit pee on the floor and rabbit pee sprayed all over the stairs, wall, carpet, and drying rack near his cage.  It is from Maizie, the free ranging house rabbit, not Benjamin.  That was the last straw.  The little babe is manically trying to grab and get into everything, I have to roll up the big carpet, try to scrub everything down before she steps in it, I can't really turn my head to the right because it is so stiff and painful, and then the little babe starts crying and flipping out because she needs a nap right then.  AAAHHH!

Just when I finished the floor and thought all was lost, help arrived.

Yes, the Green Goddess herself, delivered by my shining knight.  I hate that I am addicted to this sugary hormone-filled non-organic milk corporate giant beverage.  And I love that my husband feels the same way, yet was having an equally rough morning of his own and knew that it would make his day better and mine too.  

So I'll raise a grande non-fat, no water hot chai latte to:

-Sugar making most stressful events better

-Husbands who treat their ladies right

-Little babes who are growing so fast and need their beauty sleep RIGHT NOW

-And the gift of a fresh start every morning to make it better than the one before

 

What makes your Manic Monday Mornings better?

**Unfortunately, I cannot say that this a sponsored post by Starbucks.

Snow Day Pantry Pictures

One day this week we woke up to the third or fourth snow storm in a week.  If you've been reading my posts, you know that I don't mind.  I am loving all of the snow that we are getting - it is beautiful, the dogs love it, and it is fun pulling my little babe on her sled in the snowy woods.  When my little babe went down for her morning nap, I could have sat and worked on the cowl that I am knitting for myself, or I could have read one of the three books that I got at the library last week (wishful thinking).  However, for some strange reason, I felt like decluttering and reorganizing something.  Maybe there was a whiff of Spring in the snowy air?  I wanted something quick that would make me feel productive in a short amount of time, so I decided to clean the pantry shelves.  Who knew that there could be so many pretty pictures in a pantry?  If you don't feel like cleaning yours out today, you can just take a peek into mine.  

Look what I found - old, slightly musty lavender that I dried and was saving for something.

I hate throwing things out, but if we haven't used this in two years, I think it is time, even if it is organic!

Does anybody know what these little seeds are?  My husband buys these things to use in one recipe and then they sit here forever.

Aren't these spices beautiful - the colors warm you up just looking at them!

When you look at the shapes and textures up close, they are really interesting.  And some people think chickpeas and lentils are bland and boring!

The pistachios have been here for a while - good intentions to buy them in the shell because they are cheaper, but they are a pain in the butt to get out!

And there it is - my little pantry.  We have not done any canning in the past two years, so we don't have anything of our own except the dog treats.  However, they are pretty shelves (made by my brother) filled with natural healthy foods (for the most part).  Enjoy your pantry and cook up something good today!

Homemade Pumpkin Dog Treats

Having six dogs, we go through a lot of dogs treats.  When we had dogs that needed to be crated, we really used a lot, since the dogs received a treat every time they went in the crate.  A long time ago when we only had two dogs, I bought fancy organic treats - sweet potato treats, non-wheat treats, pure free range chicken treats, etc.  Then as we started adopting more dogs and using more treats, we just couldn't afford to buy them.  I bought a cookbook that had dog food and dog treat recipes in it and started making my own after I realized that dog treats are not anything special - they are just blander, salt free versions of treats that you might make for yourself!  I have made apple oat treats and cheese treats, but peanut butter treats are my go-to because we almost always have peanut butter in the house.  However, since some veterinarians do not recommend giving peanut butter to dogs, I thought that I would share this recipe for pumpkin oat treats.

Pumpkin Oat Dog Treats

1.  Combine 2 cups of flour, 1 cup of rolled oats, 1 cup of pumpkin, and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon.

2.  Add 1/2 cup of water and stir until a thick dough forms.  It will be very thick and stiff.  You can add a little more water if it is too dry and crumbly.

3.  Spread some flour onto a flat surface and knead the dough several times with your hands to make it more pliable.

4.  Then use a pizza cutter to cut the dough into small squares.  I used to use a bone shaped cookie cutter to make cute treats, but then realized that I was wasting a lot of  time and my dogs did not care what they looked like.  So now they get simple squares - bonus - the squares fit better in the mason jars for storage.

5.  Combine the edge scraps back into a ball and roll out again until you use up all of the dough.  Place them on a cookie sheet.  They do not typically stick to my tray, so I do not use parchment paper.  

6.  I baked these at 350 F for 45 minutes and they were hard, but not crunchy.  The pumpkin makes them puff up just a smidge and keeps them softer than the peanut butter treats I make.

7.  Let them cool, then call your dog over to test one.  Store in an air tight container.  This recipe makes enough to fill a quart size mason jar plus a good handfull.  You may have to put a label on them so that your partner knows they are for the dogs, not for dessert!

 

I shared this post on Living Well, Spending Less for Thrifty Thursday.

Hump Day Give-A-Way 2.19.14

Welcome to Wednesday's Hump Day Give-A-Way!  You've made it halfway through the week and halfway through February - yeah!  For all of you that have been wishing for Spring and are getting tired of the snow or never ending rain, I have the perfect give-a-way for you today.  

Two adorable handmade wooden rabbits - Peter Rabbit and Benjamin Bunny.  

Photo courtesy of mamaroots

Don't they just shout "Spring is on the way!"?  They are hand carved and painted by Chris - aka mamaroots, who sells them on Etsy.  Chris also writes a great blog of the same name.  She is a mama to two boys and she makes these Waldorf inspired wooden toys by hand, using certified non-toxic watercolor washes and 100% natural beeswax polish.  mamaroots is a registered Small Batch toymaker with the CPSC, and member of the Handmade Toy Alliance.

Along with the wooden figurines, she also makes sweet little journals like this one.

Photo courtesy of mamaroots

And I love her idea of pairing a vintage book with a matching wooden toy.  Makes reading more interactive for children, as they can act out the story.

Photo courtesy of mamaroots

To enter today's contest to win the cute duo of Peter Rabbit and Benjamin Bunny, simply leave a comment below.  The contest is open now until Friday, February 21, at 7am.  Starting at the top of the comment list, I will assign a number to each comment and then randomly draw a number.  

I thought this would be a good time to introduce the newest member of the Life With The Crew clan - our very own Benjamin Bunny!

No, I did not name him that - he came with the name.  He is a 3 year old male Rex, who needed a home with more stimulation.  Well folks, he came to the right place!  Within half an hour, Maizie had already discovered him.  I'm not quite sure what the verdict is, but they will not be having play time together for a while.  He'll have enough company with the cats - his cage makes the perfect place to watch the birds and squirrels at the feeders.  And it is my little babe's favorite poker chip playing area, so I'm sure she'll give him plenty of attention.

So to get your very own (wooden) Benjamin Bunny AND Peter Rabbit, leave a comment below.  And stop by mamaroots on Etsy to check out the other adorable wood figures.  They'd make a great gift for an Easter basket or first day of Spring celebration.

CONTEST CLOSED