You can make that? Kombucha!

I make a lot of stuff at home. Some of it is crazy. Some of it is just plain ordinary. When it comes up that I make a particular thing (i.e. yogurt) most people are awed and think I have some amazing talent or tons of time. Neither is true :) I've just learned a trick here and there, and enjoy going back to the ways of old, home cookin'.  

Because I really believe most things I make "from scratch" are so simple, I've really been wanting to share some of them here on the blog.  Maybe some things will be obvious, maybe some will surprise you. If you try anything yourself, let me know how it goes! If you start with just one thing at a time, you might get hooked. :) My goal is to write a "you can make that?" blog any time I make something that I think might be interesting to someone- that way you can kind of see in "real time" just how little time it takes up.

For my first entry: Kombucha!

(what on earth?)

I know. I'd only heard of it recently. But after three batches, I'm sold. And it's not even summer yet! Imagine how good this is going to be in the heat of summer!

Okay okay, on with it!

 Kombucha is a heath drink. In a nutshell: fermented sweet tea. But it tastes more like apple juice than tea. (and slightly beer-like.)

Here is a better description than I could give you, from passionatehomemaking.com
"Wonderfully fizzy and slightly sweet tasting, Kombucha is a great way to improve your health. The Kombucha culture, often referred to as a “mushroom”, is a probiotic colony of friendly yeast and bacteria. It acts on sugar and tea to produce acetic, lactic and glucuronic acid. Kombucha is great for detoxification, boosting metabolism and assisting digestion. It is rich with antioxidants and amino acids, namely L-threonine (supports healthy protein balance). Kombacha is loaded with enzymes and healthy bacteria thought to enhance the digestive process. It has been used to prevent post-meal heartburn, acid reflux and has even been used as a cure for cancer."


There is a LOT of info on the internet if you want more :) I'll just give you a quick how-to!
First of all, the hardest part of making kombucha is finding a mother. And if you know me, that's going to be very easy. Just ask :)
1-boil 3 quarts of water
2-dissolve 1 C sugar
3-add 4 tea bags (i've been using black, but you can use green)
4-let it cool to room temperature. In my kitchen, this takes about 2 hours. Remove tea bags.
5-add 1/2 cup mature kombucha
6-place the "mother" scoby on top (scoby stands for symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast)
7-cover your GLASS container with a towel, and leave it in a dark place for 7-9 days. You'll know it's done when it no longer tastes like tea at all, and you have a "daughter" scoby formed on the surface.
8-pour it out, which I think should probably be done gently...

 there they are! mother and daughter.

Bottle it up, and reserve 1/2 cup kombucha for your next batch. I've just been putting it in a jar, which is fine. It looses it's fizziness though, and that's half the fun. So I'd like to eventually get some better bottles for storage. (oh, and store it in the fridge. You can look up flavors to add and a double fermentation method with juice added on the Internet. Since I haven't tried any of that yet, I'm not going to include it here.)

 add the new, cool sweet tea to your (hand-washed) jar

place either the mother or the daughter on top, give the other one to a friend (you can store it in 1/2 C kombucha in the fridge until ready to use)

tadaa

cover it up and start again!

Cost analysis:
glass jar: $6.99 if you don't already have one. One time cost (i read somewhere that a 1 gallon bowl is better than a jar, actually, the kombucha thrives when the depth is less than the width. I didn't read that until after I bought the jar. we'll see how it goes.)

tea: varies. I bought a big box of lipton, though some will say you must use organic tea to avoid fluoride. go with your gut on that one. My math worked out to $0.11 for the four bags.
water: don't make me figure that out. I'm gonna go with "free" even though I know technically it's not
sugar: $0.26

Total: $0.37 (after making up the cost for the jar!)
if there are 12 cups in 3 quarts, that's $0.03 per cup. Wow! Talk about an affordable, tasty, health boosting beverage!

Springtime Activities: terrarium, nature walks, spring books, and a big paper tree

hooray, it's Spring! It's still cold and not much has changed, but it IS staying lighter after dinner, and there ARE pink blossoms lighting up the trees! Reason enough to celebrate for me. :)

I haven't been taking many pictures of our springtime activities. Oops. For starters, we've been on a few walks. We talk about the Spring things we hear (birds chirping, frogs croaking) and see (blossoms on the trees, daffodils) and it's fun seeing Rowen aware of so much more this year.

First fun project: we built a terrarium!  I've had a bottle of soda (gifted to us at a potluck last summer- or the summer before?) that I finally decided to dump down the drain for this activity. We cut off the bottom, and I let Rowen scoop in the soil from a bag of potting soil. I let him poke his fingers in, count the seeds, drop them in his finger holes, and bury them. I shoved the bottle top back into the bottom (trickier than it sounds!) and we squirted some water in the top with a squirt bottle!

 tada.
I actually have pretty low expectations for this minute bottled garden. (radishes. they're the hardiest thing I could think of.) as Rowen immediately shook the heck out of it. We'll keep you posted! So far he's looked into it a few times a day. Hopefully something will sprout and grow into a learning experience!

 To bring a little spring inside, we decided to built a tree with some pretty pink spring blossoms. Ro did great with his kid scissors (finally, an art project he can get into!) but also did lots of tearing. He really liked using scotch tape to put the pieces together.

 I cut a whole bunch of shapes out of pink tissue paper (triangles, ovals, circles, squares and rectangles) which he identified, squished, and stuck in the glue.

 yay! (yes I know, the top is naked. He got bored, but lasted much longer than I thought he would! Maybe we'll add some more "blossoms" later.

 We went to the library and picked up some Spring books. This was much more effective than my pathetic attempt at St. Patrick's Day books. (Have I mentioned how much I love the library's online request system? I can request a bazillion books while sitting at home, and then they'll email me when they're ready. I walk it, pick them up off the shelf filed under my name, and check out. Saves SO much time and chaos!) Anyway, the biggest hit is "Kevin Discovers Spring" by Liesbet Slegers.

Time Budgeting

I have so many things milling around in my head these days... but I can only blog so much. So I'm starting with time budgeting.  I've been messing around with schedules and things for a few months now, (really some form or another for a couple years) to pretty much no avail. I'm always wondering where the heck my time goes. I'm a stay at home mom- doesn't that mean I should have an amazing dinner ready every night, a spotless home, fun activities planned with my kids each day, time for exercise, and profound daily quiet times?
yeah. right.
Anyway, I was thinking about budgeting the other day and a thought occurred to me. There are only so many minutes in a day. (I know, shocking, right? who knew?) Just like there is only so much money every month. I'm an avid budgeter. If you follow Dave Ramsey at all, I'm the "nerd," not the "free spirit." I love excel. (well, I'm a Mac user- so it's actually "numbers" that I love.) Anyway- I've been fanatically budgeting since high school. (yes.) I love knowing where every penny goes. (nope. I don't round up. every penny.) If someone were to ask me how to get started in budgeting, I'd tell them to save all their receipts for a month and to enter everything into a spreadsheet. To try not to change your habits that month, just to be aware of where it all goes. It can be shocking. So while I was thinking about this and how it relates to the time in a day, I thought I'd start recording all my minutes. Just how DO I spend my time? Should I feel guilty about not spending enough time with each kid, doing fabulous things? How much time DO I spend in the kitchen? Should I feel guilty about how untidy my home is in this crazy season of life? And really, how much time DO I spend on facebook? The endless life-sucker that it is... because frankly, when I "waste" my minutes rather than being intentional with them, I rob other areas of my day of much needed time.  Things I'd rather be spending my time on.
So, that's my project for the week. Time budgeting. Hopefully it wont take up so much time by itself as to throw off my observations. ha! Actually, I'm committing to not adding anything up until a designated time. In a week, perhaps I'll enter it into a new spreadsheet and look at percentages. Maybe it will help me to see areas that I need to change. Like I was wondering how much time I spent making lunches. Would I spend less time "packing" lunch for everyone the night before when I pack my husbands', even though the kids and I eat at home every day? Hm. Anyway, if I can make my life more efficient, great. If I can just be aware of how I spend my day, honestly, I think it may be eye-opening. Perhaps not. But worth a shot.

St. Patrick's Day Activities: round 5!

Rainbows! Rowen's really not much of an arts & crafts guy. Sorting, however, was a big hit. A couple days ago, I soaked some round noodles in food coloring water, and then let them dry. The next day I dumped 'em into a bucket, with some other random "rainbow" colored things I could find. He enjoyed sorting them into different little tubs!When he was through, he wanted to find MORE things to add to his "rainbow."
love him!

and.... just 'cause she's cute :)

St. Paddy's Day Activities: continued

kefir+spinach+banana+a bit of pear puree for sweetness= shamrock smoothie!

mmmmm....... green goodness!

grabbed a pack of 8 glitter glues at the dollar tree. toddler fail. You have to squeeze them from the bottom in order to get the glue out. (Toddler wants to squeeze the middle, of course!) Eh, what do you expect from the DT anyway?) :) He has the most fun with the caps, anyway.

These are shamrocks cut out of the papers he "stamped" yesterday. I learned from one of our library books that St. Patrick used the shamrock to explain the Trinity to unbelieving Ireland. Three leaves, one leaf... cool, huh?

left over smoothie? smoothie pop. oh yeah!

The Ladies: 1.5 weeks

I propped a stick in the brooder today for a roost- they had a jolly old time picking at it all morning. They enjoyed either eating or playing with all the lichen and moss but that's about it. I think big blackie has been wanting to roost (especially on top of the waterer, if only she could get up there!) I tried propping up a crepe spreader (seriously.) for a few days, and she kept stretching one foot up on it, but never attempting to perch. I figured it was too thin. So, a bigger stick was in order :) Big yellow (Miss Bossy) tried it first, but didn't stay. Big blackie is quite pleased. (no, they still don't have names. I'm starting to think it's for the better, though.) We'll see :) She's pecked at a couple of the other girls who've looked interested. "this is MY roost!"

They're hilarious. They play "keep away" with any pine shavings that they find that are slightly different. They peep all day (and night) long, but it sounds like spring time. Like a tree just outside your house has a flock of birds flying back home from the south. So far no stink, which is a perk. Just waiting for that one :) They're getting their feathers in- you might be able to enlarge the picture to see but I haven't checked. But the tail feathers crack me up.

That's all for now!

St. Patrick's Day Activities #2 & 3

yesterday was too busy for blogging, so today you get two activities :) First up, a shamrock shaker! Rowen enjoying pouring in the soap, water, food coloring (for heavens sake, they're for crafts, not for FOOD!), beads, glitter, and little shamrocks. Nice fine motor work!

Momma glued the cap on- and.....

Sister's really enjoying playing with it! I forgot how much fun Rowen had with these when he was a baby. We'll be making more in the future :)

Activity number two! Potato stamps. What's more irish than a shamrock stamp made out of a potato for Pete's sake? (or uh... for Patrick's sake?)
we left one an oval and carved the other into a shamrock. It was good fun for oh, five minutes. My little boy. SO not a crafter. Oh well :)

St. Patty's Day Touch Tub

Thought we'd have a little sensory fun and switch out the touch tub with a little seasonally themed fun! We went to Winco and the Dollar store and found some goods :) So far, I've been rewarded with a peaceful quiet morning!

Honestly, I'm not obsessed with St. Patrick's Day. I can't even honestly tell you the real story of St. Patricks Day, though I know I've heard it many times. I'm telling Rowen about Leprachauns and Shamrocks and pots of gold and he's got this glazed over look on his face... I think we need to hit up the Library after nap for some colorful books. :) But yes- I don't care that much about St. Patrick's Day. I just want to be more intentional with directing his play. I think I may homeschool eventually. And if I'm cut out for that, I'd better be cut out for a little child-directed learning. Which includes actually planning activities for him to discover and grow with. So, I happen to be starting the week of St. Patrick's Day. So if I'm a good little girl and actually follow through with my plan, I'm going to post a bunch of fun activities (or not so fun!) and I just needed to get that little disclaimer out of the way first :)

The Chicks are Here!

The Chicks are Here!

Aren't they sweet? Just peep-peepin' away... learning how to eat and drink... takin' a little snooze here and there. Rowen LOVES them, and Charlotte was pretty entertained as well. They've been home just over an hour... more to come! (photos & stories, that is. not more chicks. four's it!)

Four chickies! Two barred rocks, two orpingtons. Though one looks a little different than the other, I may have grabbed a new hampshire instead. Hoping for pairs, though!

(Rowen is showing them where the water is. About ten minutes later, he was reading them a book.) :)

Name suggestions? We're thinking.... Nugget, Potpie, Tetrazini, Noodle, Stirfry, you get the idea ;)

8 months

My sweet baby girl is 8 months old today!

That means she's been out as long as she was in. It's going by so quickly... and I just love her!