by Tessa | Homemaking
It has occured to me how complicated we can make our effort to living simply. We feel that we need to do it all and then some. We read blogs and books and feel like if we aren’t growing everything we eat and making everything we use, we must be doing something wrong. This revelation came to me when I was reading an article on how to simplify your DIY.
Or maybe I’m just talking about myself here. I know that I have a tendency to over complicate things. I have a wonderfully annoying habit of researching the pants off of anything and then trying to dive in head first. I really should remember what my goals are for changing our lifestyle.
I have a number of reasons: frugality, health, appreciating the simple things, teach my kids the importance of work and more. But, when I dream about my goals for my life, I don’t picture money in the bank, or being superfit/healthy. I picture being able to take the time to enjoy my family. Working alongside them without being tied down by the craziness of this world. Slowing down. Peace.
Now I need to ask myself, will what I’m doing lead me to that life? I’m pretty sure that, if I attempted to learn and do everything at once (garden, canning, herbalism, soap making, cheese making, weaving, knitting, sewing, building and wood working and the list goes on) that I would just burn out. We are not designed to do it all. And very few people are able to dive in head first without drowning. That doesn’t sound very peaceful to me.
So, instead of my grand plan for our garden this year, I managed to move one step further than last year. The only vegetables I planted were tomatoes and carrots. Oh, and onions because I saw an idea on pinterest and thought it would be a simple way to use up the space where I planted my chamomile (that didn’t come up). I planted in containers because I figured it made sense to have a portable garden due to our impending move. I watered with a bucket from my kitchen sink because I have no faucet on my house. And I watched and waited. I did very minimal weeding (one of my favorite parts of container gardening) and only a little bit of fertilizing.
My garden took about 10 minutes to care for every couple of days and I didn’t lose my mind. I learned a lot about growing tomatoes and carrots. I didn’t get a huge and bountiful crop this year but I did manage to learn enough to point me in the right direction for next year’s garden.
Next year my goal is small: plant enough of a garden so I don’t need to buy veggies through the growing season. If that goes well, the year after next I’ll plant enough so that we can store some for the winter.
But, for now, 10 minutes extra into my schedule is simple. Because simplifying should be simple to do.Another couple great posts that I have recently read that are great grounders when you’re feeling overwhelmed or like you’re not doing enough:
How Do you Know When You Are Natural Enough? (Cheeky Bums Blog)
dear sweet mom who feels like she is failing (Finding Joy)
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by Tessa | Homemaking
Have you ever heard of a Manitoba Maple? A lot of people look at it as a weed because it throws off seedlings like crazy. A wonderful thing about Manitoba maple trees is that they grow in Alberta. The best part: you can tap them!
I would love to make enough syrup every year for my own family. I think it would be a fun experience for us, plus I have a feeling it would be absolutely delicious. However, I have done a bit of research and Manitoba maples take about 25-50 years before they are large enough to tap. Even when they are large enough to tap, you need to harvest 40 liters of sap to make 1 liter of syrup. They should be at least 8 inches in diameter and the average (which is usually larger that 8 inches diameter) will yeild about 56 liters. So that means one tree will yield just over 1 liter of syrup.
I have recently discovered I have about 4 of these trees growing in my front yard. This is my family’s 5th summer here and I have just discovered what kind of trees they are. I wish I had discovered this sooner. Perhaps in February or so. That would allow us time to prepare to tap them.
Now we are moving.
I have found some of those seedlings and I plan to take them. Did you know that fall is a good time of year to transplant trees? I do believe that will work. And then I’ll wait for 25 years until they grow big enough to tap. Do I need the syrup? Obviously not. It will be a labour or love. Because in addition to providing delicious syrup, Manitoba Maple trees are deliciously beautiful!
My boys have dubbed this hollow between the trees, “The Cave”
by Tessa | Homemaking
If this is the first time you’ve have heard about the news I’m about to share, I apologize. I wish I could tell everyone personally instead of having them find out in such an impersonal manner. But I can’t and the deadline is coming closer. So here’s my big news:
We are moving.
We are moving about 3.5 hours away but we have family, friends, and other ties to our current area so we will be back on a pretty regular basis. We bought a farm and are doing some barn renovations down there so things have been pretty hectic lately. Lots of trips down there to arrange renos and prepare the farm for animals and much more needs to be done. So there is a lot of work to be done and I’ve been doing what I can to prepare my family.
This includes things like figuring out internet, grocery stores, mail, banking, church information, kids activitiesc and mommy groups. I’ve also been trying to visualize how we will live in the new place. The house we are going to live in down there has about 200 square feet less space than here. Not a big deal for bedrooms but the main floor of the house is something else. It’s proving to be a tough layout to work with. For example, the “coat closet” is inside the bathroom and the space for the fridge is in the laundry room. I think that we have figured out how we can make our belongings work and I know that God will provide the peace and patience we need to live in that house for the time being. Due to the down sizing, we have had to make some tough decisions. We won’t have the space or storage that we do in our current house (there are only 3 closets in the whole house) so we are getting rid of stuff.
It is amazing how much stuff a person can accumulate. I filled a garbage bag with toys to donate and I packed some of the less popular toys. The boys haven’t missed them. They are actually sitting in a clear plastic bin on a shelf in the playroom and neither boy has asked for them to play with in the whole 6 weeks they have been packed. I may have to donate them as well. I have noticed that since I packed up a good number of toys (the boys play outside most of the time anyway) that I don’t have nearly as many issues getting them to clean up. I’m not tripping on toys the way I used to either. I like that!
I have also taken this opportunity to simplify other areas of our life. I packed about half of our dinnerware. I do still have extra plastic plates/bowls for snack times but we mostly haven’t missed the extra dinnerware. I have been doing way less dishes. I have a dishwasher but I used to wash all the plastics and pots and larger items by hand because the dishwasher was always full with plates. Now I can fit nearly every dirty dish and pot into the dishwasher and just run it every other day. It takes me 20 minutes to do dishes and clean the kitchen in the morning instead of 1.5 hours. The only issue I’ve run into with this is that my husband was upset that both large coffee mugs were dirty and he didn’t want to use a medium one so he didn’t drink his coffee one day.
Things I have already packed/donated: DVDs (we watch Netflix once in a while but that’s about it), books (just kept a couple out that I will read before the move), baby gear (lent it to my sister actually), all of the kids’ clothes that they don’t currently wear (plus most of what actually fits them too – less laundry!) and a lot of my clothes (sad yet freeing to donate all my nice business clothes I used before I became a SAHM, they can bless someone else).
Next areas to simplify/pack: towels (probably leave 1 towel per son, 1 for me, and 2 for hubby), computer gear (we have extras of nearly everything), some fabric (I have to face the fact that I won’t have time to sew it all before the move).
So preparing to move has given me a great opportunity to live with less. It has shown me that we really do have an abundance of “stuff” that we don’t really need. I’m not at the point that I could get rid of it all but I certainly am looking at things differently. I still have a bin with clothes that fit my boys because I know that they (especially my 4 year old) will wear out a couple pairs of pants before they outgrow them. I can just go to the bin to grab a “new” pair. I know that we will eventually have company over for dinner and will require those extra plates. So I’ll just go to the box to grab them. But the won’t go into my regular rotation because I don’t want to be a slave to my stuff. I don’t enjoy dishes or laundry so I’m going to keep it to a minimum.
Less stuff really does translate into more time!
Is there an area in your life and household that you can simplify? Ask yourself, do you really need that stuff or can you do with less?
by Tessa | Motherhood, Personal Development
I have been battling with depression for a long time. I know for sure that I was depressed at about 15 and it has been a thorn in my side ever since. Sometimes I’m winning the battle and other times I need to be reminded that the battle isn’t my own.
After a nasty bout of post partum depression last year, I wanted to share some words with those who are currently in the thick of it. I know that I have a number of friends who are there right now so this is for you:
Dear Friend,
I want you to know that you’re in my prayers. You always are (in case you didn’t know) but particularily at this moment about the emotional roller coaster that is your life right now. One thing that I used as a reminder of the light at the end of the tunnel was putting a few Bible verses on index cards and putting them in my chore card box so I could read them every day (or at least every day that I remembered to open my box!). Even if I didn’t do the chore cards, I felt better just reading my verses out loud. Here are the ones that I found regular strength and comfort in:
I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you. Psalm 32:8
Look to the Lord and His strength; seek His face always. Remember the wonders He has done, His miracles, and the judgements He pronounced. 1 Chronicles 16:11-12
My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. Psalm 73:26
So do not fear, for I am with you; Do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous hand. Isaiah 41:10
No matter how bad I felt, whether it was last year with my PPD or the worst year of my depression 8 years ago, I always had that Light at the end of the tunnel. The promise that this valley would end. And it will. You’re not going to just “snap out of it” and you’re not going to find a miracle cure (though if you do then you have to share with me!!!!) but you will slowly build things up again. One step at a time. Until you get to the point that you can look back and realize that it’s been a while since you had a bad day, your only goal is to survive. Like that popular poem says, “rock your babies, because babies don’t keep.”
You are a fabulous mother and your children know how much you love them. They will never forget that no matter how out of control you may feel. Breathe in, breathe out. And cry if you need to. And always remember that there is a Light. Let me know if you need help finding Him!
Love always from your friend who has been there and survived.
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by Tessa | Homemaking
I am not a conspiracy theorist. I do not believe our government is purposely trying to poison us or that our schools are trying to brainwash our children or that our doctors are purposely trying to make us sick (though I do believe some decisions they make have that side effect but that’s a whole different story!). I do wonder about dentists sometimes though.
While I was growing up I was meticulous about my teeth. I brushed at least twice a day and flossed a few times a week. I thought all my hard work was paying off when my siblings and I went to the dentist and only my sister had cavities. I figured it was because she ate too many candies. Because candies cause cavities, right? My brother didn’t have any in spite of the fact that he was not as meticulous about his dental hygiene as I was. I figured he just got lucky (he figured it was because he chewed a lot of gum).
A few years later, with no change in my dental routine, I came home from the dentist with about 3-4 new fillings. So much for my perfect dental routine! I have since learned that cavities are caused by bacteria, not sugar. Bad bacteria plants itself on your teeth and feeds off sugar to multiply so leaving sugar (natural or artificial) on your teeth certainly isn’t a good thing, but sugar in itself doesn’t cause cavities. With my dental routine I had been fighting the sugar, not the bacteria.
Interesting fact: we are not born with this bacteria. It is given to us through someone else’s spit, usually before our second birthday. Usually by our mother. Not on purpose but through loving actions such as sharing utensils or food or spit cleaning a pacifier. (I can’t remember where I read that but I believe it was in one of Dr. Sear’s books)
So, back to the dentists. I have a theory:
- Toothpaste is supposed to help prevent cavities.
- Dentists promote certain brands of toothpaste.
- Dentists make more money when people have cavities than when their teeth are healthy.
- It would make no logical sense for a dentist to promote something that would put him/her out of business.
- Therefore those toothpastes probably don’t do what the advertisements and packaging claims. In fact, they may be part of the problem.
Is it a conspiracy? Maybe not. But it certainly seems like a conflict of interests.
I have eliminated chemicals in a lot of areas of my life so it would make sense that the toothpaste had to go. I haven’t brushed with toothpaste in almost a year. My cavities haven’t magically healed themselves (darn!) but they haven’t gotten any worse either. The good news: my teeth feel great! They seem to stay clean longer and my breath is still fresh. I also don’t have to coax my son to spit out his yummy bubblegum or fruit burst flavoured toothpaste because it is too dangerous to swallow.
Here’s what I use:
- Coconut Oil: antifungal, antibacterial, and helps stop tooth decay
- Peppermint Essential Oil: antiseptic and minty fresh
- Bentonite Clay
(a recent addition and not neccesary): mild abrasive, detoxing agent, and has been said to help remineralize teeth
I have found many different recipes online but a lot of them are way to complicated for me. I know people use plain baking soda but, to be perfectly honest, it tastes really gross. It’s also quite abrasive and it is not usually recommended for daily use so I certainly don’t want to use it for my little men.
So I have just been using coconut oil with peppermint essential oil. Simple. I like simple. If this is all you have then it will work perfectly fine. Just mix together and dip your toothbrush in to brush. The hardest part is realizing that it is still cleaning, even if it’s not foaming. I also found that I didn’t have to rinse after brushing (helpful when you have little people that want to splash as soon as you turn on the tap!) so you can brush without water.
My recent addition of the Bentonite Clay is because I’m going to try my hand at remineralizing my teeth. I’m taking cell salts (Calc Fluor
and Calc Phos
), in addition to brushing with clay and coconut oil, and I’m hoping it helps. I brushed with it for the first time today and I can’t even explain how good my teeth feel right now. More than just clean. They feel soft actually. The toothpaste felt strange while brushing but I think it is just a new texture to get used too.
So there is a very simple toothpaste recipe that is safe and gentle enough for a child! C will be very happy to brush his teeth tonight because he was looking forward to being done our baking soda mix too.
Linked up at: Frugally Sustainable
Edit: People have been asking me about the quantities of each: I use about two parts oil to 1 part clay. Then essential oil to taste (my jar took about 10 drops). But you can experiment and mix it until it is a consistency that you like.
Also, for the first photo my house was too hot for my coconut oil to be solid. By the time I had mixed it up and moved it to my bathroom the cool night air solidified it again. But because the clay was mixed it I still find that, even at solid state, it is the perfect consistency to use.
Hope that clears some things up!
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