Saturday Morning Ramblings.

Normally this would be a late night rambling, but as I threw 100 bales late last night, entertained some bikers later into the night, and passed out even later, you get stuck with a midmorning ramble. It might not be as nearly entertaining. I will apologize in advance for that. While I got you here, there is a sleeper blog that I want you to check out, Slowly She turned. Saturday's are coffee pot posts, but I have been reading Laurie for, what has it been now? 5 years?

A post from a fellow blogger has had me thinking. I will not be giving a shout out to the blog mainly because I like this person, and the last time a similar thought came up and I linked to the post such the teen drama broke out that I was pushed to resign from a "club". Though to this day I don't believe I did anything wrong, just disagreed and stated my point of view. I told you. . . rambling. . .

So the thought is. . . is it possible to raise well adjusted children in a public school environment?

I don't shelter my boys. I have rules, but they seem lenient when I compared them with other parents around me. But I am also the youngest parent in the arena. There are no kids in the area Medium or Small's age, only a grandkid that comes to visit. And the children that are Large's age, the parents are 15 - 20 years older than me. Yes Husband and I are the youngest couple out here.

Large's hair is blue. This apparently is an issue. Husband was talking with some neighbors about a mile out and they asked what was up with Large's hair. Husband replied, he is getting into character. I have been trying to think why this is such a big deal. He is young, he wants to play, to be expressive, to get stared at. But he isn't a punk (he's anime, ha!). The boy is a math genius like his father.

Maybe it is because I am so much younger that I don't find a problem with this. My hair has been many many colors. So many and so long in fact, that I forgot what my natural color was. But I grew up with this, and my friends were just as odd. But they were on the debate club, honor roll, track and swim teams and 1 was our Valedictorian. We played D&D and Masquerade. We never got into trouble with the law. But we were ridiculed by our peers only because of how we looked. No one looked at our intellectualness and teased us for being geeks, or the fact that I spent an entire year speaking in Elizabethan poetry form (math was an interesting class. I think the teacher had me answer more questions out loud than anyone else just to see if I could keep it up) We were the outcast because of how we looked.

I warned Large about all this when he first suggested blue hair. ( remember we are rambling here, will get back to the question soon) People would no longer see him as the mathematician, but they would only see the blue. He understood but still wanted to proceed. I have no qualms about it. It is better to do it now and get it out of his system before he gets into the work force.

But something happened, society changed on me. I am the bad parent for allowing it. Maybe it didn't change, maybe my role it it all has. Well of course it has, I am the parent now, not the odd child. But my hair is raspberry color, so I shrug it off. I know what I am and so does my Husband and kids. That's what matters.

I digress, I get reports from other parents. My boys are chivarious ( which we do not find to be sexist in any way) polite, and compassionate when needed. Well behaved to the point that it seems to shock parents. However once home they are spawns from Hell.

I try to give my boys a nice well rounded existence, from pop culture to our laid back homesteading ways. They don't seem to be conflicted about this. They know how to use electronics and machinery, as well as hand and from scratch work. Husband was hesitant about the computer in the beginning, but I explained that I don't want my children to be workhorses, that they should be allowed to experience everything they can so that once older they can decide how their lives will be. With Husband's injuries, he understood and allowed it.

Our pop culture exposes the boys to many things, points of views and the such. We talk about things, they ask about things, and we allow them to come to their own opinions about it. The ages make their conclusions different, but they are becoming their own persons.

We teach them how to do many things with only their hands. Teaching them the benefit of hard work. Medium has decided that this is not for him, and will procrastinate on his chores. He gets punished the most, but I chalk that up to being rebellious. The boys find it difficult to rebel from us. This is one way, and I don't like it. But he will out grow it, like we all have. He will get tired of the punishments and conform to what we expect from him. Once out on his own, he can do what he wishes.

I came from a very liberal family. Very few rules. I did pretty much what I wanted when I wanted. Husband however came from a very strict family. I rebelled and freaked out young, while Husband did after he turned 18 and moved out of the house. By the time I was 18, most of it was out of my system. No more drugs, and I was fine with settling down with Husband. Husband, who is 5 years older than me, still was rebelling. He was 25 before he cleaned up his act. And that was only because of Large's birth. Husband and I have decided to attempt to find a happy medium. Which is better, being strict and sheltering, or free and accommodating? We try to find the balance between both worlds. It isn't easy.

Homeschooling isn't for us. I m sorry, but we tried. Our public school system isn't the greatest, however we have had only a few problems, (and Small's situation has been rectified, though I still have issues with the bully policies). My boys interact with a wide variety of individuals. Their friend list seem eclectic to me. Not something that in my schools days would have happened. Jocks to stoners can be found playing D&D at my home. And no, I don't believe that Large is smoking. In fact he has got a couple of kids to stop. He has dreams and aspirations and so far has chosen not to disrupt them.

Some of these kids that come around are punks. Straight out punks. Disrespectful and possibly criminals. Their parents seem oblivious to this fact, and claim that Large is the bad influence. My child doesn't have a juvenile record like yours. But that doesn't mean Large didn't convince them to do something. I am not stupid, my children are capable of anything, and I wouldn't put it past them. I will never deny or lay blame on someone else if they end up doing something bad. However in the instances so far, Large is not the person that is the problem.

So my boys are indeed in the public school system. However I do not leave their education completely up to them.

Will the public school system corrupt my boys? Indoctrinate them into 1 way of thinking? It could if I allowed it. Parents really ought to be more involved. If a parent isn't very interested in their child's life, then the cliques will become that child's family. I know from experience. I was too free. But if a parent is too strict the child will end up rebelling to dangerous levels.

I do think that you can raise a well adjust child with in the public schools system, as long as you keep involved. But I guess only time will tell and prove me right or wrong.

Enjoy the ramble. . .

(this was not in any way an anti homeschooling post)

HAY HAY HAY!

We got 100 square bales coming! It is only 2 months worth, but that is 2 months more than I had!

The cows are so very happy.

clicking on pic will take you to the sunglass seller that sponsors this cow

THE SKY IS FALLING!!! THE SKY IS FALLING!!!!

Just felt like saying it, I haven't used that line before. It has to be much better then the post title of "Then we slice and dice and carve in pretty pictures" or "some day we will take the body parts and place them on the wall" (I wonder how many of you would dare click on those titles)

Large had a wax works project at school last night, he was John Brown.

We worked on turning his hair white. It didn't work out as well as we had hoped. Using baking soda and enough peroxide to make a paste, we painted it on.

They don't mention how messy it is.

Here is is being John Brown. He did well. There were about 200 students doing the wax works. They had little green stickers on their hands. You would walk up and push the button and they would tell you about their historical figures life. One of Large's friends was Marco Polo, he resisted the urge to show in a bathing suit and blind fold. One of his male friends was Princess Diana. He was very pretty.

We have a couple tons of mulch sitting in the yard. We agreed to allow a tree service company to park their truck in our yard for a couple days while they were in the area, and in return they dump their mulch here. Wonderful! I love free mulch.

I got hit on by a 15 yr old. That was odd. I asked him if his mother knows he talks to old ladies that way. I just got a look. Then he turned his attention onto another mom. ~sigh~

I came to the decision that only 30 of you actually read this blog. You are my chosen few. Only you will be allowed into the homesteading utopia. Feel special?

~maybe I spoke too soon. Read comments, if you can. it crashed earlier. People clamoring to be included in the utopia~

FDA declares it no longer needs credible evidence to seize food that may be contaminated

Thanks to Self Sustained Living for the heads up on this one.

From Prison Planet:

A few hours ago, the Food and Drug Administration declared it no longer needs credible evidence to seize food that may be contaminated. Ignoring the Fourth Amendment entirely, the FDA claims that based on mere suspicion that a food product has been contaminated or mislabeled, and that serious illness or death will result, it can hold the food for 30 days while it then looks for evidence. It claims this power under the Food Safety Modernization Act, which President Monsanto, I mean, Obama, signed in January.

On May 4th, the FDA stated:

Previously, the FDA’s ability to detain food products applied only when the agency had credible evidence that a food product presented was contaminated or mislabeled in a way that presented a threat of serious adverse health consequences or death to humans or animals.

Beginning July, the FDA will be able to detain food products that it has reason to believe are adulterated or misbranded for up to 30 days, if needed, to ensure they are kept out of the marketplace. The products will be kept out of the marketplace while the agency determines whether an enforcement action such as seizure or federal injunction against distribution of the product in commerce, is necessary.

Credible evidence no longer applies, it seems.

The Fourth Amendment states:
“The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”

Please read the entire story here>>>

Remember this is the same agency that says that You have no natural right to food in legal documents.

This means that private family farms and CSA will be seeing even more raids. We have changed the past before with consumer outrage, remember the USDA organic standards when they said that GMO's and sludge were ok for organics. The USDA had more letters and calls about that then anything else they have done in history. We changed the standards. Let's change our food rights.

Those of you that support local farms, those of you selling your eggs, and don't forget their stance on raw milk. This pretty much assures that those that sell raw milk, even though legal in your State, will get raided. . . all of us will be affected badly in this.

Please pass this info along

We are in drought

Here in Kansas we are facing our worst drought in 40 years. Making our lives difficult to say the least.

We are affected here on the homestead as in not being able to find hay to feed the animals. We are on our last bale. I have been searching for weeks. Last night Husband chased down a man with 7 bales on his truck. It was the last of his round bales, but he did have some squares left. Husband offered to buy out the remaining stock. He is going to count them and give us the price. (ie deal for buying it all out)

Please let it be enough to make it until our hay guys Tiffany grass comes in. If not, we will have no choice in the matter. We will have to start butchering out the cattle. We will not be able to sell them off as there is no hay available to feed them. No one but the slaughter houses will want them.

With no rain means brome and wheat will not grow.Wheat prices will increase. Not only that, but when it comes to prairie hay and brome, when it does come in we were told to expect to pay double and possibly triple for it. Prairie hay was $35 a round, brome $50 a bale. Now triple that and add in gas prices. Here's a paper bag, breath in it slowly.

By now we usually have the cows grazing. But no rain, means no grass. Our fields are almost barren.

So many fellow Kansas are happy that we have not had a severe storm season this year. Tornadoes are the price we seem to have to pay for the rain we so need. While east of us is dealing with flooding, we sit idly by and watch the dust storms brew up. It was so bad here the other day that I had to wear a bandanna over my mouth and nose to do the chores in 40 mph winds.

Please let us make it.

Here is some local coverage, and you can see for yourself how bad it really is.

EO(S) Deviled Eggs with Redbuds

Hey, they are high in Vitamin C

Pickled Redbud Buds

2 cups flower buds (remove stem)

1 cup cider vinegar

1 tbl. sugar

1 tsp. brown sugar

1/2 tsp. canning salt

1-one inch long cinnamon stick

1 whole clove

Combine all. Bring to just boiling. Add to your sterilized jar. Refrigerate until use

Now to the Deviled egg part. I used my Deviled Egg with Ham recipe that can be found here. You can omit the dill if wanted. Carefully fold in your redbuds, the amount is up to you. Or you can garnish with them, substituting them as capers.

The Rules

KoЯn, no I mean Corn

Choke choke again, I thought my demons were my friends. . . Sorry I have the song stuck in my head. It was on Large's MP3 player. I'm trying to hold it together. . .

I get feeds from several groups. A couple of natural and organics food news groups and no GMO gardeners club. And the uptick of the anti-corn establishment has greatly increased over the last few months. Not only are they saying to stay away from HFCS and GMO corns, but all corn.

My favorite catch phrase has got to be "Corn has no nutritional value". Replace corn with KoЯn and I would agree with you.

It can be a bit difficult to get the truth about corn. I have seen several sites claiming that corn has B12. However it lacks that vitamin. It also does not block B12. Problems with over eating corn have been linked to malnutrition in countries where maize has been introduce. Corn tightly binds the amino acids lysine and niacin so they are not readily available. Native Americans noticed an issue and began mixing their corn meal with lye. Hello Hominy! How ya doing Grits?

With anything else, moderation is more than just essential. Having a well balanced diet is key to health.

So all these groups are warning off people from growing their own corn. Sad really. A juicy cob of corn with a decent bbq is a treat to say the least. And if you are warning them off of corn, you really should warn people off soy. GMO is a GMO after all. People rarely talk about the evils of soy GMOs. Let's switch our milk! bah humbug. Grow your own soy if you want to eat it, just like corn.

Confession time, I have corn syrup, I use corn syrup. I make candies and pies that my children eat out of corn syrup GASP!!! Not only is the syrup I use made in the US, but it is organic and GMO free. It isn't completely evil, as long as you use restraint and use it moderately. I am a little uneasy about people clamoring for others to use their influence to force themselves to use their own self restraint and their own brains.

I digress, back to not growing your own corn. This would make sense if you only have a small garden and eat lots of processed foods. You are eating a lot of corn that way. But if you grow the majority of your own food, or you rarely eat processed foods, then neglecting this cereal is doing yourself a misfortune. Let us proceed with the ravings of corn.

Sweet yellow corn, nummy, the joys of. . .

Vitamin A 355IU 7% DV
Vitamin E (Alpha Tocopherol)0.8 mg 4% DV
Vitamin K 0.5 mcg 1% DV
Thiamin 0.6mg 43% DV
Riboflavin 0.3 mg 20% DV
Niacin 6.0 mg 30% DV
Vitamin B6 1.0 mg 52% DV
Folate 31.5 mcg 8% DV
Pantothenic Acid 0.7 mg 7% DV


Calcium11.6 mg 1%DV
Iron 4.5 mg 25%DV
Magnesium 211mg 53%DV
Phosphorus 349 mg 35%DV
Potassium476 mg 14%DV
Sodium58.1 mg 2%DV
Zinc 3.7 mg 24%DV
Copper 0.5 mg 26%DV
Manganese 0.8 mg 40% DV
Selenium 25.7 mcg 37% DV

Now it does contain 606 calories per 166g, and 7.9 grams of fat (good for you fat) but it also contains 48% of your DV fiber. Yellow corn also contains carotenoid lutein, a phytochemical with antioxidant properties that can lower the risk of age related vision loss. Not nearly as high as that in green leafy vegetables such as spinach, but is still a decent source. Corn has a high beta – cryptoxanthin content, high levels of dietary beta-cryptoxanthin and were associated with reduced risk of lung cancer.

As for Maize (which several of us homesteader grow) as an energy source, it compares favorably with root and tubers, and it is similar in energy value to dried legumes. It is also excellent source of carbohydrates and is complete in nutrients compared to other cereals.

Another worry is soil depletion. Most people by now have heard of crop rotation. What one plant takes away another can give back. With corn, sorghum or soy works well in rotation.

Corn is not the end all of evil.

Growing and/or eating it is completely up to you.

I choose to grow corn, and to use a non GMO corn syrup for that special occasion treat.

This post brought to you by Phelan and her 2 cents.

Had a great weekend

Nothing productive mind you. Just a great weekend with my boys.

Medium and I worked on his moon phases project. It is very cool. We made the phases of the moon using coffee grounds and rye seeds.

Large and I went anime. giggle. you'll just have to wait and see that one.

Small taught me how to ride really fast on his bike. I played along wonderfully.

Today I get Husband all to myself. I am sure he will put me to work.

If you haven't seen it yet, Lisa, of The Dilletane Proprietor, wrote about her gorgeous fencing solutions over on GgT

It has been too cool here to put out tomatoes or peppers or any other warm loving plants. The cool weather has push tornado season back, which is the plus, the negative is that we have had little to no rain. I am not use to watering this time of year. Hopefully May will be normal. But western Kansas has been having below freezing temps overnight. I really hope those don't push their way this way.

More than likely I will have some homesteading topics for you tomorrow, once Husband is done with me.