Pinewood Derby: Part 1

I am calling this post part one because hubby says that more pictures should be coming from others in the pack.  Hubby, big sis A, bros M & S, all went first thing in the morning to the church where the pack was racing the cars. Their was some question about whether magnets and batteries were allowed to be used as weights.  (They were allowed). Little sis and I arrived around noon, in time for the sibling car races.

They raced each car seven times, once on each lane of the track, and then the average was their score.

 The clock showed how many miles per hour the cars were going.  The fastest ones clocked in at 200mph.

 They had runners bring the cars back up to the starting gate after each heat.

 I believe big sister A was 6th of 14 overall, brother M was 5th of 14 overall, brother S was 7th overall, and little sis came in 8th of the sibling group. 

Farm Fresh: Herb Gardening

Years ago I told Hubby that my retirement dream was to have a little apothecary shop with a big herb garden in the back and a workroom/classroom upstairs.  As preliminary steps toward that future goal I need more hands on experience with growing herbs and using them (medicinally and culinarily).  I grew comfrey, sage, oregano, basil, tansy, yarrow, mint, and elder last year.  This year I have about 30 more varieties in the works.  First off - lots more comfrey! 

 Echinacea, lemon balm, yarrow and of course tons of onions (they are truly medicinal).

Leeks, anise hyssop, feverfew, purslane, nettles, mullein, skullcap, elecampane, and some others that I am forgetting are already planted and mostly sprouted.

 I expanded my grow-light set-up -- currently at 4 (4ft by 2ft), one is a stand alone light on the other table, and one more hanging light coming in the mail this week. They are daisy chained on a timer so I don't have to turn them on and off manually... yet.  Despite having 4 more lights than last year, I probably will AGAIN be rotating plants under lights to grow the maximum numbers of starts.   We are going to sell some of the starts at local fair/farm stands and see how that goes.  I have already started selling comfrey starts on craigslist.

If you are interested in medicinal herbs or the many overlaps between medicinal and culinary uses of herbs, here are some of my favorite books on them:

1. Rosemary Gladstar's Herbal Recipes for Vibrant Health: 175 Teas, Tonics, Oils, Salves, Tinctures, and Other Natural Remedies for the Entire Family
2. Juliette de Bairacli Levy - she is one of the original herbalists and gathered folk recipes in the  1930s and 40s before people forgot them in the age of antibiotics. 
3. Alchemy of Herbs: Transform Everyday Ingredients into Foods and Remedies That Heal
4. Recipes from the Herbalist's Kitchen: Delicious, Nourishing Food for Lifelong Health and Well-Being

To make room for the grow lights, I moved a bunch of our dry food storage over to these new shelves that our friends gave us. We intended to start our "No-shopping quarter" (3 months) from Dec 1st, but house guests, birthday dinners, and a baptism party led to a few trips to the store... I would say we are about 6 weeks into no-shopping quarter.   The cereal shelf that once had 30 boxes is looking mighty skimpy with only 4 boxes left. We have been quickly working our way through things I canned over the summer.  The tomatillo soup I made up with all those extra tomatillos has been a hit.  Chili, chicken noodle soup, and chicken broth have all been used regularly.  Minestrone has been my personal favorite of the bunch. It is so adaptable.  Add noodles or rice, add meatballs or no,  or with cheese and bread cubes. It was a great way for using all the veggie odds and ends.  Definitely a keeper. 

More Snow, New Truck, Pinewood Derby Preparations

Hubby finally picked out a truck! My brother L sent him the link to it. He went to Virginia to check it out, brought it home for a test drive, and for me to test drive. He took it back to the dealership, considered a few more days and then we went to buy it right before a snow squall came through. 

 It is almost time for the Pinewood Derby.  The pack has a course for siblings so everyone is making one.

 Temperatures dipped into the single digits for several days this week.  Perfect timing for another scout camp-out! Hubby said that sleeping in a tent when it is 7 degrees was not bad at all.

 Mystery of the week: weird wet patch in one corner of the basement ceiling- where there are no pipes running and no bathrooms above?  No kids dumped buckets of water in that room (the library) and no water dripping from gutters on the outside of the house. What could it be?  It was just a steady drip drip drip.  We went away for an hour or two and it was still going... Ready for the wild answer?

 The pipe BELOW it, that connects to the water neutralizer (acidic water here) has a tiny hole in it that was squirting water UP about 5 ft to the ceiling above it. Unreal. You can just barely see the little stream squirting up in the upper center of this picture.  The joys of home ownership.

Cub Scouts Klondike Derby

This weekend big sister A and brother M had a long cold day of klondike derby.  They dressed warmly! I made them wear their snow pants. Temperatures were in the 30's and they were outside from 7am-2pm. 

Big sister A is in the Webelos:

 And brother M is in the Bobcats:

 All of the activities were winter activities reminiscent of things that would have been done during the Klondike gold rush. Cross country skiing together.

 Fishing with nets.

 Sticking together and finding their way through a blizzard.

 Crossing rivers.

 Panning for gold.

 Making a fire with flint and steel.

 Sawing logs.

M's Baptism Day

Another batch of wonderful pictures from my dad's photography company - Clockworks Photography.

 It was a beautiful day for M. Grandpop gave a great talk about baptism and our friends (M's primary teachers) the Espinozas gave a great talk together on the Holy Ghost. They gave M a flashlight and a warm blanket to remind him of what the Holy Ghost does for us. Big sister A did the opening prayer.

 

 

Uncle Danny's Passing

We went up to our ancestral farm this weekend to celebrate the life and mourn the passing of my Uncle D.  His daughter A was my "best cousin" growing up and I stayed with them a couple of weeks in the summers. My mom found this old picture of the annual Christmas eve cousin gathering, circa 1996. 

 Here we are in the same kitchen with my grandpa, my best cousin and our kiddos together.  I am glad to have been close enough to attend in person and support my cousins and grandpa during this sad time. It was so good to see them. We all agreed that we need to get together more often.

We stayed at a hotel with a pool so the kids could get their wiggles out after hanging around my uncle's house. 

Happy Birthday to Little Miss L

Miss L was spoiled with gifts and breakfast in bed on the morning of her 4th birthday.  The siblings planned and carried out the breakfast in bed all on their own. 

 For her birthday dinner Miss L chose ice cream. We walked all around the store looking at things and she did not want any of it until we reached the frozen desserts. Such a sweet tooth. We made her eat some pizza first and then had this ice cream cake. 

 She also really wanted to try these toaster strudel that big sister A told them about. Big sister A had had them at Uncle P's house.

 We saved them for breakfast the day after her birthday.