Happy Independence Day!

For my entire adult life, I have been proud of my country. I am proud to live in the middle of it all, in the open flat plains full of cattle and wheat fields.

As a child I was taught that one should love their country, and that is is our right as U.S. citizens to question and disagree with our government without fear of persecution. My childhood was odd with a hippie/socialist/feminist/suburban mom straight out of the L.A. ghetto, and a beat nik/ Navy/motorcycle cop father from the Canal Zone of Panama. And even though my mother had gone to jail for fighting the establishment, she still taught me that this country was great. We had the freedoms to tell a cop to go eff himself while pulling out of a rodeo and not fear an arrest. This is freedom of speech.

I have seen what the governments blacklist can do. I have been around people that questioned the government to the point that if it was the 1950's they would have been listed as a Communist. And I myself have fought things that I believe are not right. This is my country, and I will not see it run by a bunch of men that behave as children, and declare mine mine mine over everything they see.

But this is what makes me proud to be a U.S. citizen. Because I can question them, I can argue with them. And sometimes they listen and do what we the people want. And those are glorious moments.

We use to be an independent nation. And we are slowly making progress to be that once again. I am living my American Dream, one that is as old as this nation. And I hope that you too, our living yours.

Be proud of our nation, and our government when it deserves it. (Mark Twain, paraphrase)

I am Irish. I am Blackfoot Indian. I am female. I am an Independent. And I am American.

Let the made in China fireworks fly!

Gender Roles on a Homestead.

Yesterdays post was not meant to be about gender roles. Part of the post however, did bring up an observation that my husband and I have fallen into these roles.

I am not the bread winner, I am the bread maker. These traditional gender roles that our homestead is in was not intentional, it slowly happened. I stayed at home with my children and began homesteading on my own. I was the spouse that wanted to do these things, like several of my readers. It took a little time for my husband to embrace this way of life. I do work a paying job, but from home. And because of this, I sleep very little. My husband works away from home and care giving has fallen to me. If it was the opposite, and I left for work and he stayed at home, our gender roles would not be opposite, just skewed.

Because that has been brought up, I will explore that possibility. While staying at home, my husband would take on all the caregiver roles. But there are many things that I am unable to do as of this moment, that he can. My days off would revert back to me being the caregiver, and he would be the brunt of physical labor. But this is our homestead.

There are many different ways homesteads are tended today. You have the SAHD, you have the single parents, the young couples just starting off, the older generation with foundation, you have christian and pagans, you have lesbian and gay couples, gender roles can be sneaky and you will more then likely find a little of it with each homestead. But this is not academic study, only personal observation. I am too busy to actually set my life aside to watch others. So please do not take my word as gospel.

Gender roles do tend to emerge, not on the pure basis of sex, but at what we find our talents lay. I know nothing about working on a tractor. My husband does. I am not physically even with my husband, so fencing and grabbing cows by their horns is a struggle for me. Because of my limitations, my husband doesn't need to concern himself with basic care giving or smaller projects. But I can tell you that if I died, the homestead would continue to run. Not to say that I do no physical labor. For a homestead to run everyone works, and sweats, and bleeds, or like my case yesterday, vomits from heat stroke.

I have three boys, and they are learning both "women's work" and "men's work." They shouldn't have the limitations that my husband and I have, but they will find what they prefer and go from there. We do not inform them that one chore is gender related as they are not.

Living on a homestead doesn't mean we are forced into traditional gender roles. Just like living in suburbia or in urban areas does. My father cooked, my mother worked and vice verse. Homesteading with marriage means that we find our niche, we must find our niche and continue from there. Homesteading can be dangerous, and that niche can be what saves you. We have to work together in where ever our talents, or lack thereof, are. Bull headedness of something as silly as gender roles might cause pain.

Gender roles happen, sometimes for the best and sometimes not. But my week doing my husband chores has shown me that I am not prepared to take on the masculine role, let alone both roles. I shall continue to be the silly frilly wife...oh I mean the physically tortured...um, no, I will continue to be an equal partner on my homestead, female, and accomplish more things by 8 am then most will have done all day.

Gender roles in homesteading? Yep, but we are still a bad (censor) bunch of women. I dare you to go challenge one to an arm wrestle match.

Married with a Homestead

I'm sorry that I am unable to give proper credit to the person that brought up this topic, I have forgotten.

Someone in another blog asked if we as homesteading wives are painting ourselves into a corner. I found that interesting, and have been thinking on it ever since. What would happen if our spouse should stop homesteading? I know that there are a few of you that read my blog, whose spouse has yet to fully embrace the simple life, and many of you are single. But a significant number of you are married. Has this thought crossed your mind? As uncomfortable of a subject it is, it is one that should be discussed.

One of my main reasons to bring this up is that my husband is working on one of his days off for a local motorcycle shop. He has one day a week to do all his chores. I have picked up the slack and have been doing his chores. I have discovered that on our way to simple living that we have taken on traditionally male and female roles. I cook and clean, garden and can, tend children and animals. While my husband does maintenance, prepares soils, builds needed equipment and out buildings and most of the heavy physical labor. Nothing I think we should be ashamed of, I don't feel this throws the feminist movement back 100 years. And this past week of more physical labor than I have managed to do in years, is showing up on me as scares and fatigue, soreness and depression. But to keep the homestead functional it must be done.

Of course I realize that woman had more roles on a traditional homestead then most people give them credit for. And yet these things were not a typical day for them. They had their female roles and would take the place of their husband's when the need arose. But what about us? The spoiled females of the new millennium. Do we step into those roles willingly? Readily? Maybe.

Being married with a homestead causes a sense that more things can be accomplished. Of course this is truth, because there is two of you. But what would happen if suddenly you were alone? I already throw tantrums like a two year old when the cows decided not to listen to me. Will I have the time to do everything that I did before? Of course I will not have the time, and I would need to rethink my plans.

Maybe it is time for all of us that are married with a homestead to step out of our traditional roles for a few days. To tackle both our own chores and our spouses and quickly answer these questions. I am doing so now. And have discovered that I need my husband, and I need him to show me how somethings are done so that if something should ever happen, I can continue to live this way with fewer obstacles.

Ladies and Gentlemen. Start Your Burners!

Yesterday canning season began her on the homestead. I have a love/hate relationship with canning. I hate the heat, I hate the way it takes out an entire day, I love that I am putting food by and I love that I can can (get those old west hookers out of your head) my favorite recipes. Gourmet in a Jar?

Yesterday's count: 5 quarts o Kale soup. 7 pints of plum jam. 2 quarts of leftover Cajun soup. 3 quarts of Alfredo Sauce.

You want recipes, don't you? ~sigh~ you know if I start this, this blog will become about food again. This canning is a beast that takes over everything in your life, there is room for nothing more once the water bath or the pressure canner touches that stove. You become a slave to the jars, and obsessed with the chtchtcht noise. But you will take your chances with it, won't you?

ok, ok.

Kale soup with Italian Sausage
1 1/2 lb fresh Italian sausage
1 lb fresh kale, washed
1 lb. all purpose potatoes, cut into quarters
1 cup fresh yellow onions, finely chopped
1/2 cup carrots, freshly chopped
4 to 6 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
2 Tablespoons olive oil2 Tablespoons butter
2 quarts chicken broth
2 1/2 lb. red tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped
1 1/2 cups of kidney beans, cooked or a 16 oz can of prepared kidney beans.
Black pepper, freshly ground
Pinch of salt
anything that says chopped, I put through my food processor during canning season

Remove the steams from the Kale. and chop up you veggies. Cover and set aside. Cook you sausage (a little water and a covered pan will do the trick) remove from pan and slice 1/2 inch thick, set aside.
place your butter on oil into a skillet, and saute you carrots, onion and garlic together.
Add all ingredients into a large stock pot and heat through. Don't worry about cooking your potatoes through as we are canning them. Evenly distribute the soup in hot sterile jars. Pressure can for 15 minutes at 10pounds. (remember cooked meat doesn't need to pressure can as long as raw, so please no more comments about how stupid I am)

Cajun Soup
Ask the neighbor across the way.

Plum Jam
4 lbs of ripe plums
1 pkg pectin
8 cups of sugar

Pit and finely chop unpeeled plums (food processor again) mix in a large stock pot with the pectin. Bring to a boil stirring constantly. Quickly add the sugar, ALL the sugar. Mix and boil for 1 minute. Pour into hot sterile jars and process in a hot water bath for 15 minutes.

Alfredo Sauce
4 pints of heavy whipping cream
1 stick of butter
16 oz of shredded Parmesan cheese

In a large stock pot heat butter and whipping cream. once butter has melted add cheese and stir until heated through. pour into you hot sterile jars (it will be runny like soup, but will thicken up later) process in a pressure canner for 15 minutes at 10 lbs.
(yes, the tops of the jars can brown, it doesn't effect the flavor)

Hope you enjoyed today's canning recipes, more to come. And I do hope you like Kale, because there will be a lot of that.

If you want to see photos of the Wamego trip, click here.

I'm a Rock Star!

Or at least felt like one.

Friday afternoon my mother picked me up and we drove the 2 1/2 hours to Wamego, Kansas. I have never been there before, let alone heard of it. Whirled was having her Fiber Tasting, at her new store, Settler's Farm. The trip there was gorgeous. We went through the Flint hills, everything so green.

The town itself is tucked back in a valley. Small town with an Oz Museum! Mom and I agreed, we should have left earlier in the day to have time to roam around this town.

We drove straight past the shop, and had to turn around. There seems to be a church on every corner. We walked into the shop, and one woman was standing talking to a customer, another came out from the back. "Are you Whirled?" Yes, she replied staring at me. "I'm Phelan." She still looked at me confused. "A Homesteading Neophyte" this is where I began to feel like a rock star. Oh oh! She shook my hand and looked over at the other woman and asked her if she read my blog. The woman said no and Whirled said that she should. Apparently I have another reader in the area, because Whirled mentioned that she would be disappointed that she missed me.

It was a great visit. I mentioned that my mother wanted to learn how to spin. Whirled took time to show her how it is done. We got pictures on my mother's camera. We bought fiber from Whirled's Daisy, and some already spun wool. I bought combs for my wool. My mother is going to purchase a spinning wheel from her. And when she starts classes, we plan on heading back up that way.

Before we left, I got another rock star moment, when pictures where taken. Then a long drive home.

It was a great day. I loved meeting Whirled, and getting out of my house.