Manna Storehouse Interview

This is a followup to my past post directed as a general query to the homesteading community readers, asking for confirmation of any details and wanting to sort fact from rumor in the case of the recent Manna Storehouse/Stowers Family foodstuffs confiscation.

In reply to a recent email of mine requesting information from the Stowers themselves about what happened to them, they directed me to the attorney in charge of responding to the public's questions. I haven't had the time to go that route yet, but just got a comment from the Runyons directing me to this YouTube video published on their site.

This is the Stowers' recent video interview. Thank you to Steve and Paula for the heads up!


Following the links in the video will take you to The Buckeye Institute site, where this recent article can be found. Here is an excerpt:

"The Stowers' constitutional rights were violated over grass-fed cattle, pastured chickens and pesticide-free produce," Buckeye Institute 1851 Center of Constitutional Law Director Maurice Thompson said. "Ohioans do not need a government permission slip to run a family farm and co-op, and should not be subjected to raids when they do not have one. This legal action will ensure the ODA understands and respects Ohioans' rights."

Click here to see a pdf copy of the complaint filed against the Ohio Department of Agriculture and the Lorain County General Health District.

First, You Get A Glass of Milk...

...then you make these (here's what I posted today at Women Not Dabbling in Normal)

Then you walk five miles. (Unless your birthday falls in a month that includes the letters "a," "e," or "u," in which case you should eat more cookies and contemplate it a bit longer)

Repeat as desired ;-)

One of Those Landmark Numbers...

down, baby, down!!

(No, I'm not sharing the actual number, but it's one of my landmarks!)

I crossed the boundary of one of those BIG psychological numbers. Got on the scale and am down 2 more lbs...19 total in 2008 so far, wooo!

Have not investigated the posssibility of a broken scale, but HAVE given serious thought to bronzing the thing and giving it its own space on the mantel!

(Again, my little happy place of insensibility. We actually have no mantel...)

:::::::: dancing the happy dance ::::::::::::

I go now to work and to ponder the great mysteries of life. Such as how to lose weight while hormonal, puffy, and having consumed two helpings of home fries earlier this morning....heh heh

I take back all the bad words I've said to my scale in the past. For now...

;-)

Doing Not Thinking Challenge

This challenge originated with Kathie at Two Frog Home, and it's been so neat watching the progress of all the participants!

OK, this one didn't go like I thought, due to my inconsistency. I could have done better. But there have been results! :)

But here's where I am compared to where I was before the challenge...

Weight loss:

I have no idea how much I've lost since the challenge because I forgot my starting number ;-)

And there is NO way that starting number was getting published (ha!)

But I will say this -- at the beginning of this year I weighed 17 lbs or so more than I do right now. As of this morning I'd lost another pound...can we say Yay??? And that's with retaining water and being hormonal the past few days. We've cut out some bread and rice and all pasta as a result of my hubby being told by his doctor to lay off them or else. But we still eat pretty much what we want, just better food since much more of it is slow food cooked here at the casa. I have SO much more to lose. But a journey of a thousand miles...blahblahblah and all that.

Well, Yay!!!

Consistently doing what it takes to locate and acquire our homestead property:

Yes. This has been happening. Evvv. Errr. Yyy. Week. Shall report details when I am able to have good news. It's too much of a roller coaster to give the blow-by-blow and I get too wrapped up in it emotionally, but rolling along it is :)

Saving up loose change for Kiva.org lending program to boost self-sufficiency of individuals in poverty:

This went well. I had a dry spell there for a long time where I was not working outside the home, and so had no cash that I was using other than the tightly-budgeted grocery amount. I cooked at home, so we seldom ate out, and this proved to me how much money we lose the more we rely on eating elsewhere in addition to the actual cost...the change really adds up!

I have at least $20 in change I've collected, though, even then. It may be even more. I hope to apply it before the end of this month and get the ball rolling using whatever coinage is the final count.

Though it's a very small amount, these are micro loans, which makes them easy to give out when a few people pool their resources, and makes them low risk. The nice thing about it is that when the borrower pays it back to Kiva.org, I can just reapply the amount to someone else listed on their site in need of a micro loan. These loans help buy a family goat, or cow, or seeds, or fabric for handmade goods, etc...something less regulated in many areas of the world and able to meet the needs of a family as well as having something for them to sell and make a business from.

The nice thing about having a change jar we've been putting coins into is seeing how it does add up, whether quickly or slowly. Now we can be deliberate with what we use the change for...either more Kiva money or some other modest goal.

I've been bad about not reporting consistently on my DNTC progress. But this is the summary of what the results have been.

Any results are better than none :) So....Yayyyy...some good things got done!

Thank you Kathie for facilitating this!

Update. Beware of Cranky.

I'm content. And I'm cranky.

Not blah exactly. At the moment.

There is an entire sub-story here running parallel with what I'm free to type about, only I'm NOT free to type about it yet. It involves the process involved with securing our homestead. It is long, long, and long. It requires weekly followup in many different areas, which both Jack and I quickly do.

Someday I will tell that part of the story, but it's just not the right time yet. When that someday comes, it will be easier to understand the delay in sharing all the details. It does involve a lot of anticipation, planning, researching, doing whatever the next step is, and waiting to see what the results are, and then going forward in like fashion again to the next leg of all that doing and waiting, etc. We've had some major setbacks, some things I'd call challenges, and some great open doors. Much for which to be thankful, even for the closed doors. I would so love to know when this chapter will come to a close and the next one will begin. Some of the bends in the road as far as progress seem daunting to me. I'm having to coach myself not to get into anticipation mode for too long till the fat lady sings...there are just too many variables yet. I'm sooooooo THERE in wanting this to come to fruition. Well, enough said on that...

I got out today and toppled the enormous moutain of poo...the free horse manure/straw/wood shavings, all three trailerloads. SO happy to have it. I'm just spreading it with a shovel and hoe presently, wanting to take advantage of the rain showers we are having now and then. As I was standing next to one of the Matterhorns, nearly knee deep in manure even at the edge of it all, it occurred to me why blue jeans originally were called DUNGarees...ha :)

I started back to work last week, and today was my first day off. I truly miss being at home, but am getting my mind in gear for the task at hand. Which results in slight crankiness ;-) Jack was going through some sort of Not Feeling So Hot on his off days this week, and so did a lot of sleeping in, which is understandable given that his knee is still healing. He did a lot of helpful things around the house, which were much appreciated.

I'm cranky about our eating fast food several times this week, as I didn't stop and make much from scratch. There were things already cooked, sitting in the fridge, but Jack doesnt have the same ability to look at them and visualize them as particular meals he can assemble himself, other than such things as frozen fish and such. So I feel we've been wasteful and much less healthy in our eating in the past few days, and I was being so careful with that before. Which made me slightly crankier. I've been SO SO careful about our grocery budget and now with that and the gasoline for the commute, I'm probably developing an indelible frown line across my forehead. The good part is that I can see how much our mindset has changed this year, which is progress. I just don't want to slide back away from that progress.

I'm feeling blank about what to journal here...I'm feeling quite boring.

In contrast, I'm missing my daughter while enjoying the quieter privacy in the house. Ever missed the noise of a loved one while not missing the noise of a loved one?? Told you....Cranky.

I don't know how Jack deals with me sometimes. I'm terrible at prolonged waiting, and this is the scenario we're in presently. SO much to be thankful for, and we are!! Sooooo cranky about certain areas being fraught with Waiting.

I know what I'm going to do this afternoon. I'm going to put some potatoes to bake in the oven, chop some veggies that will get steamed or sauteed just before serving time, and set the table for Shabbat. THEN I will shower and get into THE most comfy bedtime clothes I can, even though it's wayyy before bedtime. And I will slip under the covers till about 30 minutes before Jack gets home from work. Then I'll put the fish in the oven, finish the veg, make some refresher kombucha, and call it a night. Light the candles, put Jack in charge of making sure they don't burn down the house, and crawl into bed for the night.

Working nights messes with my bod during my off days. And that's how I justify pajamas in the afternoon ;-)

Am I hormonal? I'm 42...whadda I know from hormones? (said in a Linda Richman Coffee Talk voice)

I don't have much time here, and I have yet to answer some of the wonderful comments. I lack the time to visit other websites much at all, which frustrates me somewhat.

I'm delighted with how many online friends came together in behalf of our mutual friend in an emergency...that was a high point of the week :)

I learned how to knit a brim for the round loom caps...thanks to Angie at Children in the Corn (see blogroll on sidebar for link) for showing her great successes teaching herself knitting, and inspiring me to try this...it has been fun!

I'm behind in getting out holiday cards. (Some would say years behind, as this happens to me annually and most years they never get sent, ha!)

Jack's knee is a lot better, SO much better than two weeks ago. I'm relieved about this, and thankful.

I'm slowly getting an area at a time within the house straighted and organized. I'm swapping some household items for my daughter's mattresses and bedframe, since they are quite new. She bought a larger size and seems happy we'll be setting her bed up in what will now be a guest room...first time we've had a guest room since we moved to Florida, woo :)

If we had a swimming pool, this is the perfect time I'd want to jump in (ok, yeah, except that it's winter and all...details...) I so love swimming and rarely get to do it. I love the feeling of swimming along the bottom and looking all around and the sounds being distorted, sort of like music, and gliding along through liquid blue. I especially love it when my muscles are tired...it's so relaxing.

Why the picture of Einstein? Dunno, it fits my mood, and it's always made me smile. Or maybe I included it because feeling oddly disjointed, typing incoherently, and craving salmon sushi and a very hot bath are signs of genius?? (not holding my breath on that one ;-))

Well, this happy yet slightly cranky gal is going to call it a day and wind up what I need to get done before night is near.

I hope you've had a wonderful week! And if it's not been wonderful, I hope you survived with your head held high, lots of hugs, and something to warm you in the chill. Thank you for what you add to my world :)

Blog is closed till after sundown tomorrow...

Shabbat shalom!

Some More Caps!

This picture isn't too close to the real color...more a pine green than it seems here. The first few caps I knitted on the round loom by looping one single row of yarn loops over another single row of yarn loops (I'm not a real knitter, remember? I totally cheat with the round loom, and yet, success!!) I noticed that this produced a light sort of cap with a lot of breathing room ...spaces, if you will...in the finished products.

I wondered what would happen if I did two rows of loops over two rows of loops instead? I had to relax the tension as I went, or they wouldn't reach when I tried to ease the bottom loops over the top ones. What it produced was a much thicker cap, with a nice squishy thick feel to it...not as easy to expand. It held its shape well and the ridged pattern that happens was better defined.

For some reason this dark green cap just gave me a lot of problems. I had to take it apart a couple of times and this was the first cap where I tried making the rim, or band, or whatever it's called. But hey, I did it! When at last it was about finished and I was pulling the final piece of yarn drawstring-style together to finish the top, I heard a slight (and sickening) pop, and there were all the little loops sticking straight up, not held together anymore. I had pulled the drawstring too tight, and it had popped in two. I gingerly took the yarn hook and threaded it through the exposed loop ends and then went through the painstaking process of picking through every single one of them and pulling a thicker piece of yarn through each one. I took my time. Finally finished! And then I found that when I gave the cap to Jack to try on, since the yarn was thicker, there wasn't as much "give" as with the single-looped caps and it felt tight on his head.

I told him his head must have grown and that's what he gets for having the big head, ha! Ah well shucks, I was really wanting this one to be for him. Time to pull out the Big Head loom I guess? heh heh

This one was fun! It was my experiment with alternating colors to create stripes, and these were the only two colors I had left. I like it! I used two loop over two loop for the blue and three loops over three loops for the thinner brown yarn. Because the blue had more stretch to it, it's a nice flexible cap. I had fun with it :)

Not sure why, but this one was my favorite this week. Maybe it's because it's my first time trying this "fat yarn" but it's likely the muted colors that for some reason my eyes kept going back to. I love the way the rows stand out...on this cap I used two rows of loops over two rows of loops and got a very thick cap. There's not a lot of stretch to it, but the up side is that it holds its shape really well and is one of the neater looking rolled edge caps I've made.

Again, I can't believe I'm making anything real so soon in this process. Yay for the Knifty Knitter round looms! If I can make this, a five year old can!

Anyway, thought I'd share these pics. My daughter is making off with the final goods so I got some shots while I could :)

I find it really relaxing to work on these while relaxing. They are easy to do with other distractions going on around. In fact, I think knitting with the round loom actually helps me relax. It might be time soon to save a few nickels and check into the other handheld loom that makes scarves and rectangular shapes so I can knit up some matching sets, woo!

Now all I need is about two dozen cats, some little lace doilies, and a sturdy pair of house slippers and I can be the crazy cat lady who knits and talks to herself, ha :)

Homesteading Mafia, Unite!

;-)

If you are part of this extended online community loosely termed "homesteading," please take just a second to read this post at Monica's site. (It loads slowly) It's about a friend near and dear to us all, Phelan at the A Homesteading Neophyte blog, and about how we can be a part of something very necessary...now. We're most of us having a hard time with this economy, and working hard to hang on during it. One of the most necessary parts of homesteading, however we may define it, is being the old-fashioned hands-on definition of a good neighbor.

Phelan is one of our neighbors, and also a teacher to many of us. So many people, including myself, have gained a lot from what she's shared on her blog for a long time. I believe there are times to honor our teachers, and there are times we neighbors can facilitate helping each other through community. I can't say it better than Monica did, but I can ask that we weigh in as friends. Phelan's own post about the situation, as well as a tip jar she reluctantly included at the end of the post at her many commenters' insistence, can be found here, though she only included it by coercion :)

I thank you!

(Secret mafia handshake and high five to ya!)