Picture This...

Okay. You live on fifty acers. You got up and did yoga. Then you went and milked your cows, and fed your horses. You also gathered eggs from the chickens. You've just come inside from picking six pounds of apples off of the trees in your garden. Now you remove the dirty gardening clothes you're wearing, and put on the hand sewn Capri's you made last week. You begin to chop up the apples, after peeling them. You take them and some spices and put them in the slow-cooker you bought five years ago. It's still in good shape, except for where you lost your balance two years ago, and dropped it on the floor, cracking one of the knobs. You look up every so often, to see your six year old daughter playing on the swing you and your husband made. You watch your dog, Spot, running around her. While the apples are cooking, you go out and start weeding the lettuce, stopping every so often to add mulch here and there. When the lettuce is weeded, the sun is begining to get hot. You get an earthen ware jug off the counter, and bring some water to your husband, who's plowing the middle Field, preparing it for planting alf-alfa to feed your cows, Old Bess, and Bossy. When you leave you husband, he's scratching your horse, Pet, behind her ears. You turn to see him climb up an pull the reigns, telling Pet to go to the left. You stop at the barn on the way back, and check that the cows, horse, and chickens have enough water, because it IS a hot summer day. You take a short detour, and look at the Alpacas. You love the furry beasts, even the bad tempered ones. You watch them eat their hay, and remember how last year Yo-yo, the brown one over there, got scared, and ran while you were shearing him, knocking you over, and forcing you to spend a good quarter-hour rounding him up. Yo-yo comes up to you just then, and askes for you to scratch him, bringing you out of you memories. You do scratch him, and the you go back to your home. When you get there, you are momentarily scared when you see that your daughter is no longer on her swing. You run onto the house to look for her. You find her five minutes later, picking strawberries in the garden. You tell her to get a basket of them inside, and you'll make a pie for desert. You go back in the house, and write down what you're having for dinner. You decide on a vegan sheperd's pie and some of the apple sauce you made in the morning. So you start the shepard's pie, and get it ready to go into the solar-oven you made when you built your house. You go and sweep the living room (all wooden floors) and dust off the little barn you made in a pottery class last year. Your daughter comes in then with her strawberries, and you make the pie with her. You tell her that you think she ate more strawberries than she put in the basket, from the juice on her face. When you're done making the pie, you sit down for a moment, ant knit, while whatching the timer like a hawk. When you've been there for fifteen minutes, and it's five 'o clock, you go and put the shepard's pie in the oven. When your husband comes in, you've got things ready to eat. You call you daughter in from the vacant pasture, and tell her to wash her hands for dinner. You put the pie in the oven. You sit down to eat. When you've all eaten, you get your daughter's bath ready, and sit down with your enbroidery next to the bath tub. When you get your daughter to pick up her room, and go to sleep, you sit at the kitchen table and make a list for the next day. You make sure everything is picked up. Then you lay down in bed, feeling that even though it's a lot of work to run a homestead, you love it, and you can't wait to get up and do it again tomorow.



See, that's how I invision it. Now do you understand why I love it? I will do it one day, maybe not like that. Actually, probably a lot differant than that. But I will still love it.


-DarkHawk09

Stuff?...

Okay, I would like to point out that for you people who DON'T have 90 degree weather before Easter, soup is a good thing with that tofu salad. And I ain't kidding about the whole 90 degree thing. It was literally 90 degrees yesterday. I live in the Valley of the Sun in AZ, though, so the rest of you people might have snow still. Anyway, lovely, lovely veggie soup goes great with that tofu salad. Plus, it's a wonderful
I-Want-Something-Light-After-All-It's-The-Middle-Of-Summer meal. Trust me.

So, I've been working on my goals, and am happy to say that no nut job has yet called me a nut job. That's good, 'cause that nut job would find out about my temper. Grr... Anyway, I'm working on the walking goal right now, and you'd be surprised what walking does for ya. Besides making you sleep three hours longer than usual. And make you want to consume ten gallons of water. I've started washing my clothes in the sink, but I still have to use the dryer. I'm pretty sure that's cause we've got an HOA. Please hold, I have a story:

Once upon a time, there was a woman who washed her windows, and set the screens against the wall, in the sun, to dry. She went inside to have some water while the screens dried. Along came the HOA. They saw the screens, and sent a letter saying that the woman must remove the "old" screens from the front yard. The HOA apparently did not notice the window washing equipment in the front yard. The woman finished washing her windows, and when she got the letter, she shredded it to bits.

The End

Okay. If you didn't know, the woman is my mom. Yeah, true story. Sort of. I put in the whole shredded it to bits thing. Anyway, I am going to start playing tennis with my doggy (Raider is his name, fetch is his game). That means I'm gonna smack the tennis ball as hard as I can, and Raider's gonna chase it until he thinks he's done. In which case, I will drop his ball into the dog water,(it's a 15 gallon container) and then he'll stick his nose down in the water to get it. And then he'll drop it in the mud. And then I'll pick it out of the mud, and lay it in the grass. And he'll steal it, and run away to hide. Unless he is having a heat stroke. He IS pretty furry, you know. Then, I'll brush him until he has all the fur that a parrot does. Which is none. They have feathers. I know I'm not funny. Just ignore my feeble attempts at jokes. I'm currently working on my sewing. I sewed up my pants last night, (they had a big hole along one of the seams) while I watched (listed to, more like) Lord of the Rings. I would have done yoga this morning, but I didn't, and I have no reason why. I was lazy, and I got on the 'puter instead. I probably should have gone for a walk, but I woke up late, (remember the whole "make you sleep three more hours than need be"?) and it felt like it was a billion degrees outside. So I dumped my goal. Plus, I'm having softball today, and that is a killer. I will come home after that, and shower, and listen to TSO. I must go do something. I forgot what it was. I'll notify you if I remember. I'm brain-dead.
Bye-Bye!
*laughs like a maniac*
Uh...
*Clears throat*
See ya...


-DarkHawk09



I am becoming ambitious. That's good.

Goals.......

Okay. I have started to make goals. I have a list. And I WILL follow through with every last one of them. Even if it kills me. (I'm kidding).

Goals:

1) Walk for one hour every day

2) Do a half-hour of yoga every day

3) Work in garden every day

4) Sew my own wardrobe

5) Knit socks

6) Make vegan cheese

7) Publish a book

8) Spend less time in front of a screen killing off brain cells

9) Be in charge of the kitchen one day a week

10) Walk/run with my dog

11) Learn about Zen

12) Become a raw foodist (?)

13) Wave bye-bye to all my anger

14) Ignore goal 13

15) Keep and learn to control anger

16) Make my blanket

17) Stop giving free reign to my emotions

18) Get rid of TV. Live with that.

19) Learn to trim trees

20) Get my marshmallow arms to become muscular

21) Be slightly more trusting

22) Quit lying to myself

23) Get organized

24) Stop having Anne of Green Gables type mishaps

25) Acquire a home library (when I get my own place)

26) Start doing laundry by hand

27) Spin most of my yarn

28) Live in a condo

29) Get my own place (farm land)

30) Get it ready to live in

31) Make more goals


The End

Remember, they're not necessarily in order. But I WILL do these things, and I don't care if the whole world thinks I'm a nut job. When I'm done with all these things, if anyone says I'm crazy, my exact response will be:

"You know what buddy? I worked for this, and I strove for it, and if you think it's crazy, then leave ME alone, and go bother someone else."
I don't care what anyone thinks about this. If you don't like it, that's your problem. Sorry. I have strong opinions.
*waves meekly*
I'll just leave you alone. Then you can ponder my insanity. But I will stand by what I believe in. And that's final.


-Girl-Who-Cares-About-Her-Future-And-Wants-To-Live-One-With-Nature

aka,

-DarkHawk09

Tofu, Tofu, Tofu *shakes head*

Okay. Here's another recipe. Tofu salad. I swear, you'll love it. Maybe not the first time. Or the second. But eventually, you'll love it. (Did you know, you have to try something fourteen times before you know if you like it or not?) Ooh! I've got proof. My non-vegan/ non-veg dad looks forward to it. So all you "normal" people might like it, too.



On a healthy/tasty scale of one to ten, this is an easy fifteen:


Ingredients:

1 package of tofu (use the leftover from the burgers),
Salt free seasoning
Vegan mayo (Vegenaise, by Follow Your Heart)
Mustard


Instructions:

1) Squeeze the liquid out of the tofu. Crumble the tofu into a bowl. Add the mayonnaise, (it doesn't have to be vegan) and mustard into the tofu. Mix with a plastic spoon. Add the salt free seasoning to taste, and stir. Add more mayo if it's too dry.

2) Cover with saran wrap, and put in the fridge to marinate. Let sit until you're ready to eat. The longer the better.

3) Toast your bread, butter it (not necessary, but good), and spread the tofu mixture onto the bread. Eat. Argue with family about who gets the rest for lunch :)



Okay. That recipe was varied for our tastes. You can put whatever you normally put in egg salad. Just use tofu instead of eggs.


Make a salad. Use red lettuce, green leaf lettuce, and spinach. Dice up whatever veggies you have around the house, and throw them in there.
MAKE SURE YOU WASH IT!!!!
I'll show you a pic next time of our sink after washing a mountain of lettuce, and then you tell me if you'd want to eat it before you washed it. Make sure none of the veggies/lettuce are slimy. It will go bad within a couple of days if anything in there is slimy.


Slice up an apple or two, and put them on a plate. Put the plate on the table.

Then you've got: Tofu Salad, Vegetable Salad, and apples.
If you feel right for soup, well, it's lovely with tofu salad.
There you have it.
Okay. The recipie was from "How It All Vegan". Oh, yeah, one last thing.

You might want to make double. :)


-DarkHawk09

I have two seconds!

Okay, I have, like, literally two seconds to type this.

First: The burger recipe below uses 4 oz of tofu, whereas tofu comes in 16 oz packages. I will be putting a vegan "egg" salad recipe on here next time, to use up all the extra tofu. It's good, so don't shy away from new things!

Second: I will be explaining more about homesteading later, in a couple of posts, though I have described it a little in my first post (Labeled "Homesteading"), but I didn't go into depth. So I'll do that next time.

{Sigh}
Okay, I'm officially done now.

Bye,

-DarkHawk09

P.S., I'm currently reading a biography on Juliette Low, (Founder of Girl Scouts), and it's really good. I was surprised, I don't normally like biographys, but this one is good!

-DarkHawk09

Untitled

Recipes. I am now putting recipes on the blog. Full meals, so it's not like, I type a recipe for vegan chili, but no cornbread. Anyway, most of these recipes are vegan, but some of them are veg because I've only been vegan for less than a year, and I can still taste the lovely spinach pie. Our spinach pie recipe uses, like, five cups of cheese. I'm only slightly exaggerating. If any one knows a vegan spinach pie recipe, please drop a line! Anyway, the recipe I'm typing today is vegan veg burgers.
A little involved, but tasty. All of you non-veg/vegan people out there might want to try this. I promise, they taste sooo unbelievably good. But they won't be firm like the ones you can get at the store. They are still delicious, though. Now, to flip through my cookbook (Kids Can Press The Jumbo Vegetarian Cookbook) and find the correct recipe.


You will need:
1 cup water
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup bulgur, cracked wheat, or couscous (We use couscous :)
2 large carrots, shredded
4 oz firm tofu (The firm part is important)
1 egg (We use egg replacer, or flax seed)
3 Tbsp chopped fresh mint or parsley
3 Tbsp finely chopped green onions
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/3 cup dry bread crumbs
1/3 cup all purpose flour
2 Tbsp ketchup
2 tsp mustard
2 Tbsp olive oil


Instructions:


1: Put the water and salt in a saucepan. Bring water to a boil. Add couscous and shredded carrots. Remove from heat. Cover pan, and let stand for fifteen min or until couscous is soft and the water has been absorbed. Drain mixture in a sieve.

2: Put tofu in mixing bowl. Mash it with a fork until it is crumbly. Add the couscous mixture, egg, mint, green onion, and cayenne pepper. Stir well. Add the bread crumbs, 1/4 cup of the flour, the ketchup and mustard.

3: Heat the oven to 400 F. Divide the mixture into 4 equal parts. With your hands, make each part into a patty about 1 inch thick.

4: Put the remaining flour on a plate. One by one, place the patties in the flour and turn over to coat both sides.

5: In a large nonstick frying pan, heat the oil over a medium heat. Add the patties. Cook for about four min. on each side or until nicely browned and a bit crusty.

6: Using a spatula, transfer the patties to a non-stick cookie sheet. Bake for five min. or until heated through.



Okay, that is the recipe, but I have a few things to add.

1. If you make the patties a bit smaller,(okay, a lot smaller) you can make like seven instead of four, and they are still huge. Plus, you don't have to use the oven, just the frying pan.

2. We never use the mint/parsley.

Alright, now a home recipe:

ROASTED POTATOES

You will need:

4 to 6 potatoes (red, and/or purple potatoes are good, and a nice change)
2 to 3 tsp olive oil
1 to 2 tsp garlic (Optional)
salt to taste

Instructions:

1: Chop potatoes into about 1 inch pieces. If the eyes on the potato are sprouting, then peel. If not, than wash off the dirt, and try it with the peel. (It's good!:)

2: Pre-heat oven to 425 F.
Put potatoes in a mixing bowl, and sprinkle olive oil and garlic onto them.
Mix well. Put salt in the potato mixture.

3: Spread potatoes out on an oiled cookie sheet. Bake for 15 min, or until golden brown.

4: Remove from oven, and put on a plate layered with paper towels, to blot off the excess oil.

It's very good with ketchup! (You might want to make extra; there won't be leftovers, I guarantee!)

Info tidbit: Roasting veggies brings out the natural flavor, brings all the sugars to the surface, and is much healthier than deep frying them!
You can roast just about anything, potatoes are obvious, but one can also do broccoli, parsnips, radishes, sweet potatoes, apples, asparagus, zucchini, cauliflower, green beans, mushrooms, rutabagas, summer squash, and beets are just a few options. (My fave are sweet potatoes and apples :)

Okay, for your meal, you've got veg burgers, and potatoes, chop up an apple, or an orange and set it out on a plate with the rest of your dinner. I personally enjoy baked beans with this particular meal. We get our baked beans out of a can, the SAY vegetarian on them, but they ARE vegan. Soy milk is a good choice for a drink, or water. I normally have juice with dinner, but be careful; you should only have 1 serving of fruit as a juice.

So, there you have it! One dinner! Involved, yes, but a whole lot better than a
"Big Mac"!

Peace out,

-DarkHawk09

Random Randomness

I learned how to spin on Saturday, at a knitting group called the "Yarn Yankers". I can knit, and now I can spin! You know, spinning? Like on a wheel? Ooh! Like, um, what's her name? That princess or whatever, uh Sleeping Beauty, um, Briar Rose right? Okay, so I'm not all that big on princesses, but anyway, I learned how to spin on a wheel like that, and a very nice lady,(Whose name I will not put here without permission) let me borrow one of her spinning wheels so I could practice. She is extremely generous, and also let us borrow a big bag of alpaca fiber. Well, what else do you spin with? Cotton? Well, that might work, except that I was only able to grow one cotton ball off of my sickly little plant :(
You might be thinking "Why don't you just use cotton balls from Wal-Mart?" I will answer: Because they are not cotton balls, they are:
Chemicalized-Junk-Some-Poor-Delusioned-Person-Thought-Was-Cotton. Well, a lot of them are! Plus, I'm into organic, and most cotton balls that I see are FAR from organic. Organic, for those of you that don't know, means pesticide free. That is a good thing.

I also made a decision. I am going to do "Attachment Parenting" if I ever have a chance. Basically, you hold your child 24/7. They sleep in the bed with you, and everything. There are these special pouch type things, so the baby is hanging on to you, like, while you are, I don't know, doing dishes, on riding you bike, or whatever. Or in my case, writing your poetry. And working around the farm. Hm. Dangerous sounding? Yeah, farm work is a very dangerous thing. So, maybe I should keep my baby away from that? But "Daddy" and I could take turns, so it might work out. Right? Wrong?
{Sigh}
*Grabs head and sits in universal defeated position,*
{Sigh}
*Then comes up with brilliant idea, and sits up*

I know! No! No! No, I just lost it. But I'll tell you when I remember...
It's raining right now, and I'm glad my weensy little cactus is in the house.

You know, mom says I might publish a poem book before anything else. I don't know...
I do have a lot of poems though. Hm.
Anyway, I really need money to pull this homesteading thing off. Maybe publishing a book would be a good start? We have like two neighbors who need babysitters, but they both have happy-to-babysit-grandparents in the area. I can't exactly make over two million by selling lemon-aid. Believe me, if I could, I would. Yeah, two million. I could be totally of my gourd, but I think that is the amount I'll need to get a decent chunk of land, and have enough to do whatever fix-ups needed. And still be able to eat. Because, I'm also planting a garden as my main food source, but it will take a looong time to get decent soil around here. So Again, I might be totally crazy, but I want to be doing this by the time I turn twenty. I'm twelve. And eight years really isn't all that long to do all of this. It might seem like it, but it isn't. So if anyone has useful suggestions, be my guest.
{Sigh}
I don't even have a garden right now.
Oh yeah, one more thing, there is a family living down the street from us, and they have horses, (We all live on one acere horse property. Personally I think that is to small for the comfort of the animal, but whatever)
and I was thinking of asking for some of the manuer for my compost. It really isn't disgusting, I promise. I'll explain about compost later, like next time I come on. I really have to get off now.

Bye!

-DarkHawk09