A Country Christmas and Six-Months Home

The term Country Christmas embodies all of the beauty and sentimental notions and longings I have about the Christmas season. 

I have visions of rustic barns amid snow-covered fields, 

handmade gifts, 

hospitality, 

and decorations that bring the outdoors in. 

But like all idealized things, perpetuated by Pinterest and blogs, snapshots and songs, the season can never fully live up to the ideal. We have the barn, but nary a flake of snow, and I only managed to finish two knit dishcloths for one friend. We felt busy and tired, and at times, grumpy and dull. However, the season was still beautiful and warm, and best of all, real. 

Friends and family gathered, 

our fire blazed warm and bright (even if it is propane), 

we had quiet moments of reflection (at least one that I can remember),

 

moments of excitement and chaos (many, many more of those),

but most importantly, Jesus was celebrated. 

The greatest miracle of all time is that God so loves us and so desires to redeem us that He sent his Son, who is fully God, to put on a mantle of flesh and dwell with us, the Word made flesh, God With Us, Immanuel. 

Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: 

The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, 

and will call him Immanuel.

~Isaiah 7:14

The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, 

and they will call him Immanuel (which means “God with us”).

~Matthew 1:23

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. 

We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, 

who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

~John 1:14

Since Christmas Day is for celebrating miracles, it seems fitting that also on this day we celebrated six-months home with Graham Jeffrey. He woke up a little grumpy, but soon warmed up.

Caleb and I were profoundly struck by how many stockings hung from our mantel this year.  (That, and the fact that we are profoundly outnumbered.) What a sweet love this little boy is. Graham has blended right into our family as though that spot was just waiting for him. I believe it was. He is smart, sweet, funny, and mellow (a welcome trait in a fifth child, particularly a child that follows our Firecracker Rosie). He has grown and changed so much and is finding his two year-old will and voice, which I often must remind myself is good and healthy.  

Next week, new animals are being delivered to our farm and seed catalogs are already arriving in the mail. The hope and promise of a New Year await. 

Giving Thanks (Reflections on Two Years on the Homestead)

Thanksgiving creates abundance.

~Ann VosKamp,  from One Thousand Gifts

Our plum tree bore fruit for the first time this year, and it gave me pause. For the first time I was able to make my favorite Autumn Jam, which calls for pears, apples, and plums, entirely with my own fruit. I reflected that when I first made (and fell in love with) that jam two summers prior we were living in our regular neighborhood house and I had bought all those ingredients at the store. Two years has changed everything.   

Two years have passed since we said yes to the dream that had been tucked away deep in our hearts. Two years ago we packed up our four children, our 13 year-old dog, and more belongings than we realized we owned. We left the house we had designed and built and planned to raise our family in and hoped to grow old in. We drove down the beautiful road that meanders along the river, turned left at just the right place, crossed a lovely stretch of railroad tracks, meandered a little farther, and settled onto a piece of land that God gifted to us. I still marvel at the ways this homestead seems to have been designed and planned with us in mind, including  

the barn of my dreams (we only needed to paint it red),

a shed that perfectly converted to a chicken coop, 

a treehouse with electricity (Yes, it does!), 

a large paved driveway for the kids to ride bikes, skate, play basketball and four-square on (plus two gorgeous Autumn trees), 

a second barn that would perfectly convert to a fruit and vegetable stand (Woops, just dreaming out loud there), and fenced pastures for livestock,

fruit trees, 

 a fully enclosed 1200 square-foot garden

and so, so much more.  

Prior to our move, I had always possessed this vague notion that I should not be tied down to land. Leisure activities and unfettered freedom are often associated with happiness in this American life, and I certainly wanted my fill. I thought that the hard work and time commitment involved in a homestead would keep me from more fulfilling endeavors. But now, this land... my very soul is wedded to it. Truly, no matter the charms of a destination I visit, I soon feel a restless longing to go home - to walk my sod, check my fences, tend my garden, and breathe my sky.  For me, the Good Life is not out there. It is right here.

Historically,  most people did not have the option to be "animal people" or not. Animals were tied to a family's livelihood and sustenance. For most people now, animals are relegated to the role of pets, and upon moving to our homestead, in the whole of my life, I had owned a few cats and the old dog that we brought with us. I was not a lover of animals, and considered them a stinky nuisance. And while they are definitely that, as we seek to live more traditionally, sustainably, and self-sufficiently, they have taken a larger and more welcome role in our lives. We have learned so much, and still have so much to learn. 






























And two years, 
Four cows, 

Two goats,

too many chickens,

an additional dog,

and a daring cat (who's down to at least 8 lives now) later,

I can honestly say that our lives have been deeply enriched by them. These animals bring such life, vitality, and often hilarity to our land. I'll never forget sitting on my driveway watching Caleb and the kids lighting  Fourth of July fireworks, when I glanced over and saw our crab-apple trees bobbing up and down, being pulled at and eaten by the cows. I thought, "Hmmmm.... I didn't know the cows could reach those trees from over the fence." And then I stood up and saw that the cows were actually not in the pasture, but standing in our yard. If you could have seen Caleb, Britton, and I trying to herd\force\lure these two 1000-pound animals who are not halter-trained and pretty skittish back into the pasture, you would have laughed heartily. And that was Act II. Not ten minutes before, Digs, our cat, had run right through the firework excitement with a rabbit in his mouth. He dropped it and we all cheered for the rabbit as Digs chased it in and out of pasture and bush. We thought the rabbit had escaped, but alas, we discovered Digs feasting later that evening. There is never a dull moment around here. 

These animals have led me to praise their creator over and over as I marvel at His designs. I have not bought eggs in 18 months and have provided many friends with fresh, pasture-raised eggs, as well. By the end of this week we will have filled our own, and many friends' freezers with healthy, humanely-raised, grass-fed beef. I have planted, grown, and harvested food that will feed my family all the year long.

It is the Land that has made these miracles possible. How can I not feel tied to it? And a sweet bridling it is. 

Most mornings when I walk outside to let the chickens and goats out and I see the sun cresting over the hill and feel the wind swirling against my face and listen to the blessed sound of silence, I can do little but whisper a feeble, "Thank you." 

Autumn, Squash, and Pumpkins (Oh my!)

I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.

~Anne Shirley

The rapture over Autumn seems to have ramped up in recent years, what with Pinterest Printables and Pumpkin-Spice Everything. It's to the point where it seems almost cliche to declare one's love for it. But I really and truly do adore it, to my very core. I even bestowed Autumn to my daughter as a middle name, though she was born in March. 

Elisabeth Autumn: not afraid of patterns

Do you believe me now?

Of course, an obvious symbol and byproduct of Autumn are Pumpkins. Last year we had so many pumpkins that we did not even visit a pumpkin patch or purchase any at the store. It was very satisfying to carve our own pumpkins and decorate with our own Jack-be-littles and small "Sugar" pumpkins. But this year, the "Big Max" variety I planted did absolutely nothing. In fact, all they produced were two weird, gourdy, warty, pumpkins and it made me think that something was wrong with the starts I bought. So, a trip to the pumpkin patch was definitely needed to obtain carving pumpkins. 

Carving pumpkins is one of those traditional activities that Caleb and I dread each year because of the parental-labor involved. Often you'll find us October 30th frantically carving because we've realized we cannot put it off any longer. But this year, we put Graham to bed, so right away we were down to four. Britton was finally old enough to carve his own (see the Minecraft Creeper below) and we only allowed Rosie to get one big enough for eyes. That left us with really only two that we had to carve, and by "we", I mean Caleb. But I was on guts-duty and spent an hour sorting and washing pumpkin seeds to roast, so I think the division of labor was fairly equal. 

I've realized the key to perfect pumpkin seeds is delayed gratification. We always want to roast them the night we carve, but they need to dry for at least two days. Otherwise they will not crisp up. 

Our favorite pumpkin seed recipe:
Rinse 4 cups pumpkins seeds and lay to dry on a wax-paper lined baking sheet
Stir together:
4 Tbs melted butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 Tbs worcestershire sauce
1 tsp garlic salt
Pour over pumpkin seeds, stirring to coat
Bake at 300 for 45-60 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes


What I did manage to grow this year was a nice harvest of Butternut Squash and Sugar Pumpkins.

Butternut Squash are a winter squash and so can be stored for several months.
In July I actually just used the final squash from last year, though the texture was a bit spongy. It was still useable for pureeing. This year I picked 20 beautiful squash.

In order to store Butternut Squash, they must be cured. This concentrates the fruit's natural sugars, making them taste sweeter and also reducing the chance of rot. Curing is done by picking the squash and then allowing them to sit in a warm location with good air flow. Caleb built me this frame and I put it in our garage, which gets pretty warm on those Indian Summer days we had in September.

After a couple of weeks, I then move them to the unfinished part of our basement which stays consistently cool and doubles as my root cellar.

We have two favorite ways to use Butternut Squash. We simply call this first recipe "Winter Soup" and it is a cool-weather staple in our house. I serve it with bread, sometimes broiled with cheese on top, and it is pure comfort. 

Golden Winter Soup (from Cooking Light Magazine)
Ingredients
2 tablespoons butter 
5 cups (1/2-inch) cubed peeled butternut squash (about 1 1/2 pounds) 
2 cups (1/2-inch) cubed peeled russet potato (about 12 ounces) 
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 cups sliced leek (about 2 medium)
4 cups fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth 
1 cup half-and-half 
3 tablespoons chopped chives

Preparation: 
1. Melt butter in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add squash, potato, salt, and pepper to pan; sauté 3 minutes. Add leek; sauté 1 minute. Stir in broth; bring to a boil. 
2. Reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes or until potato is tender, stirring occasionally. Place half of potato mixture in a blender. Remove center piece of blender lid (to allow steam to escape); secure blender lid on blender. Place a clean towel over opening in blender lid (to avoid splatters). Blend until smooth. Pour into a large bowl. Repeat procedure with remaining potato mixture. Stir in half-and-half. Cover and keep warm.


Secondly, I have tried many homemade mac and cheese recipes, but have struggled to find one with a smooth texture that was not overly rich. Surprisingly, pureed butternut squash lends perfect texture, gorgeous color, delicious taste, and unsurprisingly, a boost of nutrition to this classic dish.  

Creamy Macaroni and Four Cheeses (from USA Weekend - an unexpected place to find such a keeper of a recipe)

1 (16 ounce) box elbow macaroni
2 (10 ounce) packages frozen pureed winter squash (I roast and puree my own, which is about one large squash)
2 cups low-fat milk
1 1⁄3 cups grated extra-sharp cheddar cheese (4 oz)
2⁄3 cup grated monterey jack cheese (2 oz)
1⁄2 cup part-skim ricotta cheese
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1⁄8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 tablespoons plain breadcrumbs
2 tablespoons freshly grated parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon olive oil

Cook macaroni according to package directions.
Drain and transfer to baking dish.
Place frozen squash and milk in a large saucepan and cook over low heat, stirring and breaking up the squash with a spoon until it's defrosted.
Turn heat up to medium and cook until mixture is almost simmering, stirring occasionally.
Remove pan from heat and stir in the cheddar, Jack cheese, ricotta, salt, mustard and cayenne and stir.
Combine bread crumbs, Parmesan and oil in a bowl.
Sprinkle over top of the mac and cheese.
Bake until the cheeses are bubbling around the edges, about 20 mins, then broil for 3 mins so the top is crisp and nicely browned.


Out of my whole garden, I think the think I was most excited about was the 16 Sugar Pumpkins I harvested. 

I grew them last year too but was disappointed in myself for letting them rot before I had done anything with them. For some reason, making my own pureed pumpkin always seemed intimidating and I had only ever used store-bought, canned. But this year I was determined not to be wasteful and reading this post from Oh She Glows gave me the confidence to try it. It is so simple. Each of my 3-4 pound pumpkins yields about 4 cups of puree, roughly the same amount as a large can of pumpkin. When I consider that one of those cans is $3, and I consider that each of my pumpkins also yields seeds that we roast for a healthy snack, and delicious innards and skins that our cows, goats, and chickens love, I feel very satisfied. Pumpkin cannot be safely home-canned, so I simply freeze the puree in one and two cup portions. We use it in just about everything, from waffles to oatmeal to pumpkin bread to an amazing Pumpkin Turkey Chili, which is our traditional Halloween dinner, which incidentally is today.

Tomorrow we will welcome November with all the Holiday anticipation and excitement it has to offer, but today we will savor one last day in this glorious month.

Go Local

He who gathers in summer is a son who acts wisely, 

but he who sleeps in harvest is a son who acts shamefully.

~Proverbs 10:5 

One blessing of living in this lush, fertile valley is that whatever we don't grow ourselves, due to lack of space, lack of energy, or a failed crop, is almost always available locally. We have been unsuccessful with blueberries. We will keep trying, but in the meantime, one mile down the road from our house is a blueberry farm where we picked 45 pounds of blueberries this summer. I froze them on cookie sheets and then loaded them into gallon ziplock bags. We will eat them in smoothies, pancakes, and as a plain frozen snack all year long. 

Our strawberries completely failed this year, whereas last year we had a bountiful crop: plenty to eat, plenty to can, and some to freeze. (We have some work to do this winter to get them going again.) Fortunately, we were able to pick at a farm a short drive from us and freeze 20 pounds for the coming year. 

We would like to plant peach trees, but have not yet, so are at least several years out from having our own peaches. Every summer we drive twenty minutes to a local farm and pick by the basketful. 

This year we left with 65 pounds. I canned a bit of peach jam, we made homemade peach ice cream, and ate many plain. But the majority I sliced and froze, with skins on (hate to peel off all those nutrients), to be used in smoothies throughout the year. 

Our favorite smoothie recipe (I triple it for the kids and I):

1 banana
1 sliced peach
1 cup blueberries
1/4 cup plain greek yogurt
1/2 scoop vanilla whey protein powder
1 Tbs almond butter
Almond milk as needed to thin if fruit is frozen

Graham ate his first peach here and is definitely a fan!

At the peach farm, in this very rural location, I was surprised to see an Asian woman on the little wagon taking us out to the orchard. (The orchard owners tired of cars running over their irrigation pipes and so require us to be transported.) She kept staring at us and smiling and I was fairly certain she was Chinese. When we got off at the same stop to pick the same variety of peaches she asked if my children were Chinese. I told her they were and then she hugged me and said, "Thank you." She had a thick accent, but her English was good. We proceeded to have a pleasant conversation in which I discovered she has been here in the States for 6 years and married an American. She hugged me and thanked me no less than three times in our short five-minute conversation. I stressed what a blessing our Chinese children are to us, but she was clearly moved by what we had done. I am always equally moved when Chinese people, who truly understand the desperate plight of the Chinese orphan, share their feelings about our adoptions with us. I believe this moment in a peach orchard in rural Oregon was a sweetly ordained moment by God. 

Though we have six apple trees, we had a very small crop this year. The two that appear to be Gravensteins have only every borne a few apples each season, and the other four (two Golden Delicious and two Red Delicious) were either not pruned enough, pruned too much, or pruned too late in the season. I could tell by the scarcity of blossoms in Spring that we would not have many apples. We also did not follow the prescribed organic spray schedule as we had planned to, so the majority of the apples we did grow were scabby and wormy. Biting into one them was like a game of russian roulette. I would not recommend it. I was able to cut away the yuck and make a fair amount of apple butter, and a few of our Golden Delicious were beautiful for eating. But for the remaining dozens of quarts of applesauce and pints of apple butter, we returned to a place we had not been in a few years: our favorite apple farm, Beilke Family Farms.   

We picked about 70 pounds of Gala, Fuji, and Granny Smith. They were gorgeous. I'd risk biting into one of those any day!  

Last weekend, I got to work, after a welcome month-long break from canning:

I don't think I can adequately express how much of a joy canning on my new stove is, compared to my old, small, ceramic-top stove with a broken large burner, where it would take an hour just to bring my pot to boil.

I wrote last year about my favorite applesauce and apple butter method and recipes and also about the amazing Kitchenaid attachment that makes perfectly textured applesauce. 

We feed the apple scraps to the cows and goats and it feels very satisfying to know absolutely nothing is going to waste. 

I had several quarts of applesauce left from last year, but I opened the last apple butter in July. We shall now make it through another year!

We are very thankful to live in a place where we can so easily live out our beliefs that it is best to buy local, both to support the local economy and also to buy food with the highest nutritional quality (so much is lost during transport and on store shelves) from people who we know are farming their land responsibly. In our VERY modest foray into growing our own (both plants and animals), we are in awe of people who do this for a living. We love Oregon and our local farmers!