apple chip love

We have harvested the last of the apples from the trees.The counters sit filled with apples so red that I keep envisioning Snow White sneaking in to steal a treat. I have so many apple recipes that my head spins and my imagination is full to overflowing with what to do with all these goodies. And while I am delighted by recipes for pies and cakes and breads and unique treats to be made, sometimes it is the simplest treat that catches my fancy the most.

I am forever trying to find ways to make the stuff in life that we need and be far less dependent on the stores or outside sources. My motto is, "if I can make it I can't buy it" (at least not unless I want to support a small farmer or hand crafter that I really admire!). There is nothing more satisfying than making something that you and your family can enjoy. There is a certain pride to be taken from the DIY lifestyle. This time around I made baked apple chips. It is one of the simplest recipe I have made. It requires very little prep time and few ingredients but the end results are very satisfying and delicious!

Baked Apple Chips

What you will need:

An apple corer (I used my peeler and it worked out nicely)

Cinnamon

Nutmeg

Ginger

The steps are easy as pie (actually easier)!

1. Preheat the oven to 250 degrees.

2. Rinse and core the apples.

3.Slice them into thin-ish circles.

4. Put the slices onto a cookie sheet.

5. Sprinkle with the cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger.

6. Place into the oven and bake for 2 hours (or until the apple chips are the texture you want them); check them at the one hour mark and turn them over so that they bake evenly.

Raise or lower the temperature of your oven as needed to get the best results.

abundance

It is often that I sit back and take in that which I have been blessed with in my life. The wonderful children who are so smart and sweet, the beautiful home (until I buy my forever home), the bounty always set before me even when times are lean. I have been gifted with abundance in my world. And I am so grateful for it all!

There is nothing like the thrill of getting the first red tomatoes from your garden (even if the plant was dying and they were all picked green). The joy of climbing an apple tree to get the gorgeous red fruits! Our apple tree is small and wonky but my what a producer! We have pulled 6 bags of apples (maybe more) from this one little tree and yet it still yields fruit fresh and sweet and as red as Snow White's own apple. I don't think I have ever purchased an apple (they are Gravenstein) quite as sweet or quite as satisfying as the ones we grab from our own little tree. We have even been lucky enough to have another tiny tree that gave us perfect little kid sized Golden Delicious apples; officially my favorite! Amusingly enough, apples have always made me feel slightly sick before (when purchased from the store all not ripe and sad) but this fresh plucked bounty has never caused me a moment of anything but glee.

It is in the midst of this yummy happiness that I have even more joy to behold. My Loki (all of 8.5 now) has taken to sewing like a fish to water. I actually had to drag him away from the sewing machine yesterday to go play outside for a little while. A mothers pride glowing out of the top of my head! My little crafting boy. He is such an inventive soul in every way already (he can't get enough of technology or science which is thrilling) I can hardly wait to see all of the fantastical creations that come from within him.

My youngest Bodhi, loves to take part in the household antics. He is the best helper (for a 2 year old) and always comes barreling through the yard when it is time to pick apples or water tomatoes or check on the thyme. He takes great pride in his findings of ripe foods. And if many of them have tiny nibbles taken out of them well those will be pie or apple sauce! He is simply sampling his wares. My littlest blessing (especially after all that we have recently been through) we are more than grateful for the life we live!

And though this year we only managed to get tomatoes and apples from our little 1/2 acre, and while the coop is about to be pulled apart and rebuilt for the umpteeth time (my plans were less than perfect but hey I am new at this...at least the girls aren't laying yet  *fingers crossed*), and though the gophers and moles are making it difficult to figure out how best to utilize our sweet little piece of land (we have decided not to kill any of them because as Loki says they have as much right to be here as we do...point well taken) the abundance that comes from the little we have (and shared gifts from the bounty of the gardens of friends) we have more than enough.

the day to day

The freshly torn stash for rag rug creation!

new and improved sewing education zone

not quite completed clothes for the shop

the coop base makes for great car driving terrain 

Being mama is a journey, an adventure, and a joy! There are new experiences constantly with my kids growing and changing and learning and unlearning the world around them. Each new experience is something for my soul to feast on. As the seasons shift to chillier days, inside of our home we are shifting to cozier activities. Many projects lay in wait for busy little hands and happy imaginations (theirs and mine)! Strips have been torn for future rag rugs, clothing is midway through being designed or sewn and making ready to hit my Etsy shop (click on the word etsy to go check me out), and my son (who hated crafting and would cry if I asked him to draw with me) has recently told me he wants to learn the fine art of Arts and Crafting! He wants to make a comfortor for his bed, and candles and gifts for friends and family and my heart is just full to bursting!What's an excited mama to do? As we live the unschooling life we are also busy with the seasonal life stuffs of picking, cooking, canning, and eating many many apples, making, pickles, finding new classes to take (swimming in the fall maybe), finishing up our coop, slowly creating our dream yard (so much yumminess to plant for next season), and just getting into the slower smoother, family flow.

And while we do all of this, in the background, there is much business to be done...

My not for profit is a dream moving swiftly towards realization with the business plan written and looking pretty solid. My clothing is slowly but surely getting created for the shop in the midst of life being lived. Our first print copies of Sacred Pregnancy Magazine have gone out for sale (oh happy days) and are looking oh so beautiful and are filled with some of the most amazing articles! (feel free to click on the words sacred pregnancy to go purchase your very own copy of this glorious magazine!) My first book, "Front Porch Summer Camp", is coming along beautifully and I can hardly wait to have it available to shop to publishers. Oh the sweet joys of the hyperactive and super ambitious heart!

What is going on in your world on your day to day dance? Let me know; I love to hear from you!

that fall feeling

Fall is in the air, in the changing of the leaves, in the breeze brushing by my sun drenched shoulders bringing on a small shiver. And I in all of my Fall loving frenzy could not help but to make a pumpkin pie to celebrate the shift. I know my excitement is a bit early.And no the pumpkin did not come from the garden (organic canned). But it was the right yumminess that we needed to cozy up with yesterday. With my yummy cinnamon and nutmeg whipped cream on top I must say it was a tiny bit of heaven!

And to add a bit of seasonal frenzie to the day the weather report said we would have some thunderstorms. So out we went, after our pie, to wrangle in all of the chickens, put away toys and bikes, and cover up building projects not yet finished (the coop but that's for another day!). And in the midst of our flurry I lost the key to our storage shed...oh mom you fuzzy minded girl! But the mad dash of it all was a sort of game and we all were deeply amused searching for moms lost key; which we never did find. So with chickens and children all snugly set to their happy areas we waited for the storm. And don't you know after all of that nothing happened. No rain, no booms, no lightening to ooh and ahh over.

But even though we got no rain and no grand storm we did get the gift of an amazing night sky. Pink as a rose petal in some places, orange as the summer sun in others. The purple around the edges made me feel like we had fallen into a painting. And the awesome to top the cake...an amazingly large rainbow!

This day was definitely a good one! And so onto new projects; blankets to be made, costumes to be created, baby clothes to be knit! Oh I love this time of year!

mission birth

So today I am deviating slightly from what I normally write about. As, some of you may know, we are in the process of expanding our family...yay!!!!! In our quest for a midwife, we have come to realize that the hopes of a homebirth can be extremely expensive, and for some of us even financially unattainable. As birh and the work surrounding it is one of my great passions, I felt that something needed to be done to take some (if not all) of the strain off of families trying to birth in their truth...how it is right for them. In my quest, I found nothing...no sites, no funding, nothing to help families looking to birth at home. So I feel it is one of my missions to create just such a venue! After many nights trying to figure out how to start, what to say, I came up with Project Access Homebirth. Please go check out the blog at http://projectaccesshomebirth.blogspot.com/

Share the link with your friends! Let's make this flow into hearts world wide!

To all my friends and family out there, I am on a mission. A mission of love, charity, and birth. It is my goal to create a non profit donation site for women- like myself - who wish to have a homebirth but do not have all of the financial resources necessary to make this dream a reality. I believe that every woman has the right to birth in the way she believes is best for herself and her baby. For some women, this means preparing for a hospital birth where all of the details are dealt with and mom can rely on the staff to make things happen. For other women, this means birthing in the comfort of home surrounded by loving friends, family, or simply her partner. It might even mean birthing with no one but the midwife beneath the tree with a cool breeze as the only witness. I feel that no matter what the choice of birthing venue is, every mother has the right to birth in her own way. 

With insurance being how it is in this day and age, though, many mothers are forced to accept hospital birth as their only option. Even if a birth center is available, the insurance may not be a match. Seeing as the government will not be making the decision to put midwives on the payroll anytime soon, I believe it is up to each of us as individuals and as a community at large to take our mothers under our wings. Yes some families can afford to birth with a midwife and it does not affect them financially. This is wonderful! However, there are many, many more families who work hard and while they can afford the day to day life stuffs, the cost of a homebirth is simply more than they can generate. Through Project Access Homebirth, I am working to bring the ability to pay for a midwife to all women.

Through the generous donations made by those of us in the community who can afford to give, the gift of a sacred birth experience will be given to women who truly desire it. It does not take a huge donation to make this happen. Even $5.00 can make a difference. Think about it; if 100 peole donate $10.00 each that is $1000.00 in donations. What is $10.00 really? Two organic smoothies or maybe two gallons of gas? Do you believe that helping a mother (and family) have the birth of their dreams is worth blending smoothies at home for two days or riding your bike to the park instead of driving the car just once? I do! And I know that many of you out their believe this as well. For those of you out there who can give more, 10 people who donate $100.00 can generate that $1000.00 with lightening speed. It is within our power to take care of each other. 

While I am one of those mothers who is in need of a bit of a financial boost to make my dream of homebirth into reality, I did not start this fund for myself alone. This is simply a small part of a much larger dream for me in bringing loving life support to each and everyone of us in the community who might need it at one point or another. But for now, I ask you all to look into your heart and find the ability to donate to Project Access Homebirth. Together, we can work Miracles!!!

{this moment}

{this moment}- A Friday ritual. A single photo- no words -capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor, and remember.
If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see. (Inspired by Amanda Soule of Soule Mama)

*********

{this moment}

{this moment}- A Friday ritual. A single photo- no words -capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor, and remember.
If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see. (Inspired by Amanda Soule of Soule Mama)

************

alone with the camera

I love when one of the kids secretly gets a hold of the camera and begins to experiment with their inner photographic artist. Sometimes the results are artsy, or curious, hilarious or deep. But always when I find these secret little pictures hiding among my photographs the results are always guaranteed to be precious!

I think this one is my favorite!

Big brother getting in on the act

Over at Sacred Pregnancy online...

Over at this beautiful magazine I am chugging away.

Birthing new thoughts and reworking old ones.

Sharing my love of being a mom, my love of pregnancy and birth, my love of being a woman with the world.

Here are two of my recent articles...

Enjoy!

Mommy Fever

http://www.sacredpregnancy.com/mommy-fever/

Toddlering and Pregnant

http://www.sacredpregnancy.com/toddlering-and-pregnant/

(beautiful photography courtesy of sacredpregnancy.com)

these days of change

As I sit here and wonder where to start, words move slowly to me.

There is great stage of transition going on and I hope you will hang in there.

At a glance I am...

Adding a new addition to the family...yup number 5 is on the way!

Recreating my blog and content

Assembling to become certified as a birth educator!!!!! A soon to be Sacred Pregnancy Group Leader!

Homeschooling, learning, growing

Working at writing a book that I hope you all will love!

Redecorating the house

Building a chicken coop/ aviary for our 7 lovely ladies

Getting the garden ready for Fall goodness

And finally writing for Sacred Pregnancy online and soon Print!

While I figure out how to get all of this into a smooth rhythm I will be here in fits and starts

But I WILL be here

Because this space is special to me

It brings me closer to the greater world beyond my reach and lets new friends in

It is a gift to me and I hope it is a gift to you

So while I adjust this world of mine I just want to say thanks for understanding

We are UNDER CONSTRUCTION!