Myths About Large Families - Your Questions, Answered

Dear gentle reader,

Have you ever met somebody from a big family?  Are you from a big family yourself?

There are lots of myths and legends regarding big families, or even just kids in general.

"Kids are too expensive.  We can't afford to have another."

"Have you seen these two bicker?  We couldn't handle having a big family fighting like that all the time!"

"The kids couldn't all have their own room.  Growing up, that was important to me; I wouldn't want to deprive my kids of that advantage."

This, and many other myths, are heard day and night by big families.  I myself am the second of eight - and you know how much that experience meant to me!

My parents have heard it all - every snide remark, every jab, every rude comment.  They take it all in stride as you know, letting the thoughtless and uneducated remarks of the intelligence-impoverished roll of their backs.  But the questions, while sometimes impolite and intrusive, are often simple curiosity or uninstructed ignorance, and in truth they do deserve to be answered.  Who better to answer these questions than my parents, practiced veterans of society's attention and commentary?

And answer it, they did.  Written by my dad, click here to read the answers to the thirteen biggest myths concerning having a large family, and leave your comments and thoughts at the end!

Do you agree?  Do you disagree?

Mrs H

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I Will Never Eat a Florida-Grown Conventional Tomato Again

The Wednesday Review: 

Reviewing books, products and more you may be interested in

Dear patient readers, 

Stop! Put that hamburger down!!

You all know my spiel on eating organic, local food - it's better for your body, it's kinder to the world we are entrusted to steward, it's better economic practice, yadda yadda. 

But what if lives depended on it?

Horrify yourself into investing in local, organic tomatoes with Barry Estabrook's Tomatoland: How Modern Industrial Agriculture Destroyed Our Most Alluring Fruit . (Affiliate link - note cover has changed)  

I was alerted to this book by a thoughtful and somewhat frightening review by the mysterious Mrs S, which you must read if you are considering eating tomatoes again.  Ever.  Get a sampling of what the book will discuss by reading her thorough review.  I checked it out at the library, then we ended up buying it on Mr H's Nook; it was too good to not own.

This book is a one-sided expose on the tomato industry.  Quite frankly, I have no need to hear the other side.  There is no reasonable justification or logic for the cruelty and bad practice engendered by these companies.  I don't care about the bottom of line of the company, the sweet drawings of farms on the tomato labels, the cheap price of the tomato in the grocery store, the wholesome American that wants a cheap, store-bought sliced tomato on their sandwich in winter and deserves to be able to afford out-of-season fruits in any part of the country, keeping burgers on the 99-cent menu for families that can't afford more, the cruel rationalization that we should provide horrific-condition jobs for illegals since they'll come here anyway, or the families of the management that are struggling to pay bills despite their thieving and gross manipulations.

In Search of the Promised Tomatoland, Part 1

How can we justify buying tomatoes that are two dollars cheaper per pound, made possible by costing somebody, somewhere, their life and livelihood?  

We say that organic tomatoes cost an arm and a leg, but we're being figurative. 

Conventional tomatoes are costing arms and legs, but these are real arms and legs.

Children are being born without limbs, thanks to hazardous pesticides akin to Agent Orange soaking the sandy soil of Florida where the tomatoes are grown.  Saturating the men and women working in the fields, filling their pores and lungs with poison.  Most of them illegal in this country, they are powerless against the injustice.

The publisher's synopsis of Tomatoland

Read another blogger's review

How Industrial Farming 'Destroyed' the Tasty Tomato

Americans can't afford to buy Florida's conventionally-grown tomatoes any more.  I will never buy one again.  Not after reading this.  Not if I want to sleep at night.  And if we can't afford to buy tomatoes that weren't stolen by taking the lives of somebody else to produce them, maybe we can't afford tomatoes at all.  

Mrs H
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Refreshing Carbonation: Ginger-Lemon Effervescence

Thanks for reading this post, I'm so excited to visit with you!  

After you've gleaned all the good information you need, visit our new blog platform at www.farmandhearth.com to read even more fascinating tidbits from the kitchen and the fields. 

Dear Lentils,

Did you choose to give something up for Lent?  Perhaps you, like many others, chose sugar as your sacrifice of choice.

Or perhaps you just don't want refined, processed sugars in your diet - we're all the better for that!

I chose to give up sugar for Lent, the period between Ash Wednesday and Easter, although it wasn't really with a spiritual intent in mind (while we're being honest here!).  In truth, it seemed like a great excuse to talk myself into giving up the granules for forty days.

It's not so hard for me - virtually every food we buy is between one and three ingredients anyway, so it's easy to check foods as they come in the door; and we hardly incorporate sugar in our regular diet at this point, so I just wanted to see how I felt if I really ensured sugar truly didn't go past my lips for all of forty days - even though it meant freezing the beautiful, fat, gorgeous heart-shaped peanut butter cookies my dear friend made me for Valentine's Day!!!

The following recipe is a refreshing - and detoxifying - drink that you might enjoy in place of sodas or sweetened drinks.  I'm sure we all know the evils of soda here, but I myself love carbonation so I'm always eager to find new (and cheap) ways to enjoy seltzer!  We came up with this on a perfectly sunny morning when we were hungry for something cool and fizzy, but not the dead sugars that usually accompany such drinks.

This drink is even more fun, because it has health benefits!  Raw ginger is said to contain anti-inflammatory phenols, as well as an anti-inflammatory enzyme called zingibain.  Raw ginger also aids in fighting rhinoviruses that lead to cold and flu, and can help relieve the cold or flu if you've already contracted it; it can help with coughs, constipation, indigestion, menstrual cramps, laryngitis and sore throats.  Or do you suffer from motion sickness?  Research has found that ginger works just as well as motion sickness drugs.

The carbonation may help soothe pregnancy hiccups (it did for me!) and the ginger can help calm a queasy stomach during morning sickness.

My husband enjoys carbonated drinks as much as I do, and he was enjoying this sparkly beverage when I mentioned there was no sugar in it.  "Really?!" he said.

I got the same response from my friend - who loves sweets, and generally asks me to add a little sugar to the drinks I make.  "No sugar!?" she said.  She also gave up sugar for Lent, and is enjoying herself immensely!

A home carbonator makes this easy!

You can strain it all at once, or make individual servings. 

Ginger-Lemon Effervescence
Using lemon juice not from concentrate will make a visible difference in your drink: it's a little thicker, darker and more potent.  However, you can use any other lemon juice, or fresh-squeeze it yourself.  To serve, either carbonate the water yourself with a home carbonator, or use mineral water, club soda or seltzer.  Tonic water, which is not the same as club soda, has quinine dissolved in it which may not be what you want.  

Two knobs ginger root, peeled
12 ounces organic lemon juice, preferably not from concentrate
Optional: 1 teaspoon to 1 tablespoon lime juice
Optional: Generous pinch of lemon zest for extra punch
Carbonated water

Shred the ginger on a lemon zester or another fine grater.  Scrape and pour all ingredients into a pint jar, cap it, and shake well.  (Maybe pulsing it in the Vitamix on high would extra-blend the flavors?)

Let sit overnight or for 24 hours, or use immediately if you just can't wait.

To use:  Pour liquid through a fine-mesh sieve.  I reserve the shredded ginger and use it again - this is up to you.  Bottle or re-jar the strained liquid.  Add approximately a tablespoon of the ginger-lemon concentrate to 20 ounces of water, or to taste.

Continuous serve:  Strain individual servings one at a time as desired, and keep topping off the jar with lemon juice as you go.  The ginger will go quite a distance, although the strength of flavor will be up to you.

Note: It's hard on your teeth to sip acidic, lemony drinks all day, so make sure you clean your teeth after enjoying this drink!

(This is the Sodastream we use) (affiliate link)

Take the bubbly to the park, to work, on the road or just have a few bottles available for quick drinking - I use old glass bottles to mix up a few ready-to-go drinks, and store them in the fridge! 

New wine in old skins? 

Effervescing,

Mrs H

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Fair Careers: Why I Work Full Time

Dear ladies and gentlemen,

Some months ago, I was speaking on the phone with a family member who lived far away and I hadn't spoken with for a long time.  As we were catching up, he asked if I had a job.  Thinking he must have forgotten, I laughed and said, "No, I'm pregnant!"  He scoffed and said, "Don't give me that!  Don't be one of those pregnant people that uses it as an excuse!"

I realized he had missed my point.  I didn't mean I was pregnant, and thus physically incapable of working.  What I meant was, I was pregnant with a child. A child that I was going to raise.  In person.  With my own two hands!

My husband and I have a covenant agreement between us.  Commonly, it is called a marriage.  A marriage is intended to be an image of the redemptive work of Christ and the Church - Christ loving the Church, the Church loving Christ in return and both operating in their separate, dynamic roles to bring forth fruit.

Children.

As a part of our covenant, my husband and I have mutually agreed to carry out separate and distinct roles in the marriage.  We each do what we're best at.  Since we don't have farmland to sustain us, he works for somebody who will in exchange give him money to buy what we would in another day raise on our own.  He is skillful in his work, and his achievements and hard labor bring him more profit for his time spent, and more satisfaction.  He brings into our home sustenance from the outside, and weaves a web of spiritual and physical protection around me and our child and our home.

My role is not the same as his.  I don't work for another man outside the home, bringing in sustenance from outside; I work from within the home.  I take my job at home seriously, and dedicate myself to it in the same way that some women can dedicate themselves to their job outside the home.  I spend my hours working to improve and protect our home from the inside out.  My role as a spiritual nurturer expands as children join us; I will tutor and train them in skills that will make them producing, pleasant members of society.  And I pour my hours into maximizing and stretching the dollars that my husband brings home.  I hunt for deals, I preserve good food when it is in season and well-priced, I plan balanced meals and I clean, wash, sew, and nourish us daily from within the home.

I don't consider my role inferior to my husbands' role.  I find my role complex, challenging, and in fact incredibly ill-suited for him.  I could never take on his job - physically, it would be too demanding, mentally, it would exhaust and drain me.  And he could never take on my job!  I enjoy canning, washing laundry, scrubbing counters and dishes and making laundry soap.  Those aren't things he necessarily enjoys - for him, it would be a drain, a bore, as mentally exhausting to him as his job would be to me.

I challenge any feminist who thinks a keeper at home has an inferior role to try to achieve the efficiency and production that I can in one day!  That same woman might be begging for a soft office chair and a little collateral carpal tunnel syndrome just so she can relax.

The fact that we carry these different roles are what makes our marriage so inviting for the fruit of children.  I am home, prepared to provide, to teach them the skills they will need.  My husband is protecting and providing, the dollar amount hardly mattering because with my full-time job assignment being to figure out how to creatively stretch and spend that dollar, we have no need of want.

My emotions and energies are not expended outside the home, and so full capacity is available to pour into my children and husband.  I have not already exhausted my resources and social drive working for somebody else.  Our home is safe, spiritually covered, we know what comes in and out of it and we have control of what enters both our home, and our children's minds and bodies - from media to high fructose corn syrup.

My husband trusts me with his paycheck, and I trust him with the task of finding, acquiring, and keeping jobs outside the home.  I trust him to manage his own time, his resources, and I don't need to manage him.

We are equal, separate, and both vitally necessary to the longevity of our family in our respective roles.  How could life be more perfect than this?

Mrs H

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As seen on Encourage One Another, Marriage Monday

How to Add Powdered Green-Food Supplement to Your Smoothie (and not gag!)

Thanks for reading this post, I'm so excited to visit with you!  

After you've gleaned all the good information you need, visit our new blog platform at www.farmandhearth.com to read even more fascinating tidbits from the kitchen and the fields. 

Dear blends,

I love smoothies, as you probably well know.  Click here for a fun tutorial on smoothie-making by SuperSkinnyMe, and read their 18 [Smoothie] Recipes to Make You More Awesome.  

Now that I have the Vitamix, I don't make smoothies using my immersion blender any more because the Vitamix is just faster, stronger, and easier for me to clean and operate with one hand (a.k.a. while I hold young mister).  

I love using raw milk, fruit I picked and froze in season, different flavors of Spiru-tein, and adding Organic Maca Powder, Bee Pollen, liquid Coconut Oil, and Organic Hemp Protein to my smoothies.

To include phytonutrients, superfoods, and probiotics in my smoothie, I add a few teaspoons of Garden of Life Perfect Food Super Green Formula.  You can find these in local health food markets, supplement stores, or probably in Whole Foods (although I choose to support the small business, first, when given a choice!).

I recommend this supplement to everybody, but especially if you are pregnant or breastfeeding, very athletic or active, on a diet, or studying in college and need to keep your brain functioning well!

Since the Perfect Food (or any green food powdered supplement) doesn't particularly taste "good" - it tastes like grass or hay to me, not foul, but not appealing - I don't mix it throughout my entire smoothie.  Instead, I make my smoothie, pour almost all of it into my glass, but leave about a half-cup in the blender.  I add the Perfect Food to the blender and turn it back on for a few seconds.

I drink the small amount of grassy green drink first, then enjoy the rest of my delicious smoothie slowly!

Resting after a job well done,

Mrs H

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Monday Menu, Hurricane Sandy and a Chlorophyll Smoothie

Mr H is still home for a few more days.  Our neighbors are all cleaning up from Hurricane Sandy; fortunately for us, our house is untouched!  The sight of fully loaded dumpsters in the street and the sound of roaring fans parked outside of basement doors reminds us that we have much to be thankful for.

Clean-up time

Certainly a different view than the one we saw just a week ago ...

See more flood pictures

Noms This Week
Burek  |  We sauteed a heap of chopped swiss chard and tatsoi with coarse salt and garlic, and then cooked a large pan of ground beef, ground turkey and a mix of various spices, including salt, chili powder, and everything else that smells good, mixed all of this together, and layered it with butter and fillo dough for a variation of Miz Carmen's scrumptious take on this Bosnian dish.

Sweet Potato Casserole  |  Miz Carmen once made this decadent casserole along with a roast goose dinner for Mr H to thank him for building a chicken plucker for her chicken plucking machinations (as it were).  We both loved it and were tickled sweet-potato-peel-pink to see it on her blog.  Instead of using sugar in the sweet potato puree, we added a little honey for sweetness.  Happily Hannah was devising devilry in the kitchen and sprinkled cinnamon on the potatoes before adding the topping, much to the benefit of all involved.

La Belle Verte Smoothie  |  A larger version of Brendan Brazier's smoothie in Thrive Foods, this refreshing chlorophyll, iron, potassium, omega-3-packed drink provides nutrition as well as flavor for a cold drink.  This recipe is great for pregnant women, breastfeeding women, athletes, hyper-busy folks, and kids. The apple (or pineapple, your choice) makes it so sweet you do not taste the kale or parsley.  If you are worried you won't like it (or think the kids won't), just add more of the sweet fruit, or use both apple and pineapple.  

1 - 2 cups water, 1 pinch sea salt, 2 tbsp ground hemp, 

3 dates, 1 cup parsley, 3 large leaves kale, 1 apple (quartered) 

or 4 chunks pineapple, 2 frozen bananas (or fresh bananas and 3 - 4 ice cubes).  

Place ingredients in blender in order listed and blend until smooth.  

Use tamper to adjust during mixing.  

Serves two, or one very hungry person.  

Vitamix: Sweet Potato Rolls  |  Using my Vitamix to mix and knead dough for a tender sweet potato roll?  I think yes.  The talent of this kitchen gadget knows no limit.  Find Vitamix recipes here!

Red Lentil Stew  |  I made a stew from this book.  Try this book.  Love this book.

Seriously? I could talk all day.

No joke that I could eat this lentil stew for a week and be happy.
Mr H and I tend to share a bowl (as you see here) because it saves
on dirty dishes - you see how lazy I am?  Heh, heh.  

In the Kitchen

Mayonnaise  |  Mayo in the Vitamix?  A thousand times yes.  I made a loosely-doubled batch, using fresh, free-range, organic-fed (non-pasteurized) farm eggs.  I recommend using a combination, or any of, the following oils instead of vegetable or canola oil: olive, expeller-pressed coconut, walnut, sesame.  For variation, I also made a batch of mayonnaise and pureed parsley into it.  Any herb or flavoring can be added for your own delicious spread.

Mayonnaise and Relish  |  Mix the two together for a simple sandwich spread (preferably homemade of both, for satisfying, rich flavor).  I even eat this on rye bread with nothing else ... oh, it's good.

Sweet Potatoes in the Fridge  |  Instead of peeling and steaming a small batch of sweet potatoes each time I wish to use this delicious seasonal treat, I just peel and steam a whole pot (I have two bushels on my dining room floor ... they won't last nearly long enough to satisfy MY cravings!).  I mash them all and put them in a container in the fridge to use throughout the week.

Sweet Potatoes in the Freezer  |  Sometimes, in a spurt of zeal, I will steam and mash a lot of sweet potatoes, then freeze them in containers in the freezer.  Once they are solidly frozen, I take the containers out and remove the frozen block-o-taters and put it in a vacuum-seal bag, seal, and return to the freezer.  As this involves two hard-to-find ingredients ("energy" and "time" if you've heard of them or perhaps even had them yourself!), I don't get this done often.  Most of our sweet potatoes will end up canned in chunks, because freezer space is limited.

Sweet potato blocks

You may need to run some warm water over the containers
to dislodge the blocks - or you could just wait a few minutes
(I am not a very good waiter ... or so they tell me in the restaurant biz)

Crop Circles

Kale  |  Hurricane Sandy didn't drown my kale!  Hurrah, hurrah.

Everything Else  |  She did, however, drown everything else - the pepper plants, basil, and mint.  Oh well; I wasn't expecting them to last much longer anyway, hurricane or no hurricane.

Driving around to see flooding

Loving the sheep auntie sent him!

It's time for some winter wear!

The boys suit up for a November stroll
(yes, we both have a white hat ... how did that happen?
Don't ask me! )

True to her name, Sandy left us with a few reminders 

We watched city workers shovel this scoop ... by scoop ...
It will take a while to clear this all away.  

Mrs H

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