Month: January 2017

Borracho Beans

Good borracho beans are a staple in all good Mexican (or Tex-Mex) cooking. We make a big pot, the use the leftovers to make refried beans, which we can to have on hand for tacos. You can use bacon, which in the THM world would make these a delicious on plan crossover, or you can use your leftover ham bone with all the fat trimmed off for flavor, and to keep this in E territory. The alcohol (which cooks out) is optional, but in order for them to truly be “borracho,” or drunken, don’t neglect the beer. Also, this is an instant pot recipe, but they can be made more traditionally in a pot simmering on the stove all day, if you prefer.

View the recipe on PepperPlate.com

Ingredients
6 to 8 strips diced bacon, or ham bone
1 onion diced
1 can diced tomatoes
1 lb pinto beans
4 cups water
1 bottle dark beer
5 to 6 garlic cloves or greens, diced
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon chipotle chili powder
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon oregano
1/4 cup pickled jalapeños
1 bunch cilantro
Instructions
1. Soak beans for a couple of hours or overnight, or use the quick soak method. Dice bacon and veggies.
2. Turn Instant Pot to sauté add bacon and crisp. Add onions and garlic and cook until transparent, add tomatoes, add 1 cup of water and remaining ingredients except beans, mix everything while in Saute setting for 5 minutes. Add the beans and remaining 3 cups of water.
3. Set the Instant Pot on the Bean/Chili setting and close lid use the natural steam release when default time is done.

Mulching the Garden 

We are fortunate to live in a county that will bring it’s residents free truckloads of mulch, which we plan to use in abundance in our gardening. Recently, we got 2 dump truck loads, which we spread thick on land we had lined with cardboard to keep the weeds from coming up. We plan to let the mulch cure a little before we plant in it this Spring.

Mulching the garden will help our plants stay hydrated during the draught like summers that we get here in Texas.  It will also provide a habitat for the beneficial insects that we want in our soil. Naked dirt is the most unhealthy dirt, so we’ve provided a nice Winter ensemble to clothe our garden plot. Fallen leaves are currently blanketing the mulch, adding to the ground cover. As our crops die, we will chop them and drop them in place to continue the mulch cycle in following seasons and years. As the organic matter breaks down, compliments of those beneficial bugs and microbes, it provides nutrients for our future seasons, as well. While our mulch is sitting, the chickens are scratching though it, eating weed seeds and insects, and providing fertilizer. Come spring time, it will be ready to start our food forrest. We’re very excited!

Raising the Metal Roof

After a few back-and-forth’s with the delivery guy, and after a few weekends of rain…drum roll please…we have a metal roof! To my surprise, it was easier than I thought it would be. Of course, that could be due in part to the fact that Melissa did a lot of the work. Melissa and I got nearly all the panels in place in a single day.

We ordered panels from a guy we found on Craigslist. His prices were fantastic – just about half what we would have spent at McCoy’s, Lowes or Home Depot – plus, he included the screws. As I mentioned, there were some delivery delays, but everything worked out.

The roofing guy fabricated the panels so that there would be a single panel on each side of the peak. Each of the 12 panels is 20′ long and roughly 3′ wide. And man, let me tell you, them suckers is heavy! To get them on the roof, we first lined them up on the ground. Then, lifting them over her head, Melissa climbed the ladder to get the edge of the panel up on the trusses. Then I walked the panels up the roof – one of the few times my 300-plus pounds was actually a benefit. Melissa then climbed into the rafters and secured the peak edge while I held things in place. Once she secured the peak edge, I secured the drip edge, and we were off to get the next panel. After they were all up, Melissa went back and screwed down the panels into the furring strips every foot or so.

Bill Hancock – who has been a tremendous help throughout the project – appeared once again to help with the cuts around the pole (for rural internet) as well as the ridge cap. You can see Bill and Melissa below prepping the peak edge for the ridge cap.

God’s Canvas

We have the most beautiful sunrises and sunsets out here at Livin’ The 10 in New Berlin. Truth be told, it’s pretty much the same sunrise and sunset that you get in San Antonio…but there’s just something different about the view of God’s canvas from out in the country.

Above, the sunset bounces off the bottoms of puffy clouds. And although you can’t see it in the picture, it continued all the way to the eastern sky. Below, a fiery sunrise outlines the trees as the donkeys enjoy a morning stroll in the front paddock.

Above, a cloudless sunrise. Below, an eastern sunset reminiscent of a chalk painting in pastel shades.

Above, one of my favorite fiery sunrises, bursting on the horizon, tossing deep purples on the clouds. Below, one of my favorite “tequila” sunsets, as the setting sun casts warm oranges on the wispy clouds. Yes, they’re actually Agave plants, but “Agave sunset” just doesn’t have the same pizzazz.

Above, an incredible sunrise of deep reds and purples. Below, another sunrise of bright oranges and yellows.

 

A day in the life of a Homeschool family

Once you decide to homeschool, the first thing that you need to decide is what your day is going to look like. A schedule is important, but so is flexibility! Our educational adventure started a little over 8 years ago, and in that time, we’ve always tried to have some sort of schedule, but as life happens, we’ve adjusted our schedule to adapt to our lifestyle. My   schedule needs to change again, but as it stands right now, this is what it looks like:

Daily Schedule
7:00 Wake up! Care for animals
7:30 Chores
8:00 Breakfast
8:30 Gardening- Plant of the week
10:30 Check animals, Break
11:00 Lunch
11:30 Cleanup Lunch, Start Dinner
12:00 School activities
1:00 Architecture of the Farm
3:00 Check animals, Break
4:30 Food Project
6:00 Dinner
6:30 Cleanup dinner, showers
Dusk Secure animals, then free time
8:00 Reading and Bed

 

 

School Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday
Eryk Reading, Writing, Math Biology, Chemistry, Earth Science, Astronomy History, Games & Puzzles COOP Art, Signing, Spanish, Music
Iain Biology, Chemistry, Earth Science, Astronomy Art,   Signing, Spanish, Music Reading, Writing, Math COOP History, Games, & Puzzles
Macy Art,   Signing, Spanish, Music History, Games & Puzzles Biology, Chemistry, Earth Science, Astronomy COOP Reading, Writing, Math

There are two schedules there; first, our daily schedule, then, our school schedule. You’ll notice we do very little “school” work, and that is because during our gardening time, we are learning biology, botany, phytology, environmental sciences, meteorology, herpetology, entomology, and almost every other “ology” you can think of. During our food projects, we get chemistry, fractions, conversions, ratios… plus delicious food! People joke with my kids when they see them out that they have a break, but the truth of the matter is, we don’t take breaks, life is learning! The school rotation ensures that we cover all the bases, but it is truly a very small part of raising a child into a well rounded human.

What do I like about this schedule? Well, it gives us plenty of time to get into our projects, whether planting or brining, mucking out stalls or clipping flight feathers. It also offers a variety of different things to fill our days. What do I not like about it? Well, with my kids always wanting to use the same manipulatives during school time, I decided to try letting them alternate days so that they didn’t have to fight over the bead frame or the microscope.  But I think I’ve lost far more opportunities for them to learn cooperation and sharing, as well as the missed chances for them to teach each other, which I find highly valuable. So I will be working on transitioning them back to a simplified school schedule, where we will all be working in the same vein of study each day.  See? Flexibility, experiment, and learn!

So you may not have calves to bottle feed, or a need for a two hour block of time to repair fences. Fill your schedule with all the things that you need to get done, and involve your children in the process. Learn how to do something new, and teach them how to do it in the process. Next week I’ll give you a peek into our school lessons.

Iain’s Poison Pot Pie

Iain adores the Rutabaga The Adventure Chef series by Eric Colossal. It’s a graphic novel type book, where the main character, Rutabaga, mixes the stories of his journeys with recipes that he makes along the way. It has inspired him not just to read, but also to get in the kitchen and have some adventures of his own. The recipes have no measurements, and are filled with fictional ingredients, forcing creativity when trying to reproduce them. This is Iain’s take on Rutabaga’s Poison Pot Pie. Watch out for the “poison” bean! Iain’s friend, Alexis, was the recipient of the bean when we shared this with our friends. It was great fun for the kids, who happily gobbled down all their veggies. Whomever gets poisoned get to do the dishes!

View the recipe on PepperPlate.com

Yield 1 large or 4 individual pies
Active Time 15 minutes
Total Time 50 minutes
Categories dinner, s, chicken, casserole

Ingredients
For Filling
1 small onion
1/4 cup butter
2 tablespoons flour
1 cup chicken broth or stock
8 ounces mushrooms, sliced
2 carrots, chopped
1 cup chicken or turkey , diced
1 lima bean, or other bright green colored bean
For Crust
1 can large biscuits, we use flaky

Instructions
Melt butter over medium heat in a large skillet, and add the chopped onions. Sauté until the onions are translucent, then whisk in the flour; cook for two minutes, stirring constantly. Whisk in the broth, then add the rest of the filling ingredients, stirring to incorporate. spoon into 4 oven safe ramekins, or 1 pie plate. Cover the pie or pies with biscuit dough, leaving some holes for steam venting. If you like a thin crust, separate the layers of biscuit dough before stretching over the filling. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 30-35 minutes, until crust is lightly browned.

Notes
You can also use an additional can of biscuits to line the bottom of the pie plate, if you prefer a bottom crust as well.

Onions Gone Wild

While out harvesting the last of this season’s chili pequins, we got curious about the long green shoots from the ground. Having previously unearthed some tiny onions after moving the earth in preparation for the car port, we decided to investigate. Digging with our hands proved useless, we broke the greens before we were able to break the ground up enough to reach the bulbs. But once we employed the use of a spade, we were quickly able to unearth these tiny beauties. French Onion Soup for dinner!

They were very tiny, we decided to let them grow a little more before harvesting again, but whether or not they will get any bigger is yet to be seen. They are everywhere in the backyard, so even if we don’t get bigger onions, we still have a good smattering of them to keep us supplied with onions until we get some going in our garden.

If you think you’ve found wild onions, it’s good to do a little research before you consume them. There is a mildly toxic plant that resembles the edible onions, and may upset your stomach if too much is eaten, so it’s always best to do your homework!

An Inventure

From the Summer of 1984 to the Summer of 1987, we lived on the campus of Bethel Seminary in Arden Hills, Minnesota while Dad completed his Masters. We knew we weren’t well off, but I didn’t realize until a while later that we lived those four years right at – or possibly right below – the poverty level for a family of four in the Twin Cities. But from my perspective, those years were some of the best years for our family. Looking back, I think one reason for the fondness of the memories is that not having a surplus of cash naturally led us to be creative and collaborative when doing things as a family.

One Christmas was a particularly inventive one – born out of, well, not much. An envelope tucked in the tree was the final present for my sister and me. In the envelope was a $1 bill…and a clue. I don’t remember what the clue was, but I do remember that it was a forced, cheesy rhyme – the kind you can’t not laugh at. The clue led to another envelope, this one with two $1 bills, and another clue. This continued for about four or five envelopes, for a grand total of $15 or $20 for each of us. “The Christmas Game” was an instant hit, and became a longed-for family tradition for many years to come. When our kids were old enough to read, we began that tradition with them. But this year, things were a little different.

For this years’ Christmas Game, Melissa and I decided to take full advantage of the six-and-a-half acres here at Livin’ the 10. We started off with an envelope in the Christmas Village on top of Grandma’s piano in our living room. From there, as you’ll see in the videos below, the kids traveled around the property “on an inventure,” as Iain put it. When they finally found the prizes in the popup – a Kindle Fire for each of them – they literally squealed and screamed. Later, after things settled down a bit, they each recounted how much they liked their new tablets – but they were emphatic that “the inventure” was what made it special.

inventure

an adventure that you invent for yourself,
your friends and/or your family

In fact, this year’s Christmas Game made such an impression on Iain that he spent over an hour putting together an inventure for Eryk and Macy. And as I sit here typing this, Iain told me that he and his siblings are going to put together a special inventure for me and Melissa tomorrow.

Enjoy the video…and here’s to your own inventure!

Christmas Decorations

This was our first Christmas on our new property, Livin’ The 10, and there were some changes in store for us this year. First, our house is 1,000 sqft less than where we were last Christmas. Plus, our entryway isn’t a sprawling gallery with 20′ ceilings and a balcony overlooking the 10′ Christmas tree.

But nobody missed any of it. In fact, as nice as our old house was, we’re so much more content out here. More importantly, we’ve relaxed…and we enjoy the simple things in life again.

 

This was the first year that the kids did the decorating for Christmas. In addition to having all sorts of fun, we (the adults) didn’t have to do any (well, didn’t have to do much) work! I think I feel a family tradition coming on….

They had loads of fun stringing lights on the front porch, tossing garland here and there, and hanging ornaments in all sorts of interesting places. They’ve done a great job of turning the front yard into a South Texas Christmas Wonderland.

Why Homeschool?

One of the first questions home educating parents get asked is why did you choose homeschooling as opposed to government school. Every person who has broken from the norm has their why; for some, it was a traumatic event in the system that pushed them or their children from it, others, not trauma, but neglect drew them away. There are still others who never even chose to give the system a chance to mold and direct their children. We fall mostly into this category.

It was the act of becoming a teacher that cemented my resolve, and ultimately our family’s decision to not expose our children to the ugliness and culture of ignorance displayed by the up and coming teachers. We all know the phrase, “It takes a village…” I’ve seen the village, lived in the metaphorical village, and quite frankly, I don’t want it anywhere near my children, let alone raising them.  This doesn’t mean, as some believe, that we are raising or educating our children in isolation, on the contrary, we are building a new village! Instead of an individual who’s eyes glaze over when given a math lesson to present (almost every “teacher” I’ve encountered), my kids get math they can see and touch, that has value to them in a concrete sense. Instead of an adult who has to consult a teachers manual before answering a question, we find experts and engage them in conversation, usually learning not only the answers to our questions, but discovering cool tidbits that we wouldn’t have even thought to ask. Instead of being taught grammar and sentence structure by someone who speaks and writes in “text speak,” well, you get the picture…

I don’t know everything. My children know this about me, it takes humility to give your child, who thinks that you do, access to that information. But they get to see me learning, they have my life long learning process as their example. They, in turn, learn every day. There is no summer or Christmas break, there is no weekend; learning happens every day, for all your life.

So can you do this?