Crunchy Momma Takeover and Why We Use Cloth Diapers

In the months since I last posted, life has changed rather dramatically. A new tenant has taken a room at the Townhouse Homestead. Now six months old, she shares a name with a famous First Lady. Our own First Lady, Abigail,is now six months old.

We've always tried to live a green life, and we have found that our goal has become even more important to us now that Abby is in the picture. (And such a cute picture it is, taken by Melissa Keys of Keys Photography).

The biggest step we have taken is using cloth diapers instead of disposable diapers. At first, it seemed really intimidating. I was stunned to find out the changes that have been made since I wore cloth diapers as a baby. Pins have been replaced by something magical called a Snappi and that's if the diaper even uses pins at all! There are all kinds of newfangled diaper gadgets, which I will get into later.

So, why use cloth diapers?

1. For us, we started looking into cloth as an earth-friendly option. A child will go through about 6,000 diapers before being potty trained. That's a lot of waste to sit in a landfill.

2. Cost was another huge factor. Remember those 6,000 diapers from a moment ago? That can add up to $1,500 thrown in that landfill.

After we had already decided on cloth diapers, I learned that there were many other reasons: fewer occurrences of diaper rash, fewer blowouts, and earlier potty learning, just to name a few. Plus, many of them are super cute.

At this point in Abby's life, we have just about broken even on our up front investment* (as in what we have saved by not using disposables). And, as cloth diapers have great resale value, I have even sold two diapers for 80% or more of what I paid for them brand new. We also have the satisfaction of knowing that there will be very little cost to diapering subsequent children. Try that with disposables!


Tune in for our next entry to learn about how we cloth diapered our newborn.
*As for those who will argue that we would have an increase in our utility bills, there has not been a noticeable difference.

In Defense of Dads

I just went on a rant on my Facebook, and realized that I had a lot more to say than I could put into one status.

DH is not a daddy yet--he's still got about one month to go. However, I'm already feeling defensive on his behalf.  There is a war in America right now: a war on dads.  I've heard it mentioned that it's because they are the last "safe" group to mock.  You've seen it: the idiot dad in commercials on TV or the condescending baby gear. Yesterday, I was picking up a few last minute things at Buy Buy Baby, and saw a onesie that was labeled as "Daddy Proof" with arrows indicated which hole was for which body part, and that the bottom should be snapped.  It probably will not come as a surprise to you that DH dresses himself every day with no assistance from me, and in fact, he is not confused when his clothing fastens with snaps.  Yet, I saw a graphic on Pinterest with the caption: "Marriage is just a fancy word for adopting an overgrown manchild who can't take care of himself."

I stopped.

I stared.

Now, I like a good joke. Even cynical jokes with enough truth in them that they make you wince a little even while you're laughing.  But I stared at that graphic and wondered if there were people that found that truthful enough to laugh it.  There is nothing about DH that makes me think he can't take care of himself.  Perhaps he is a "manchild" because he likes Legos and playing video games.  But he also holds down a steady job to support our family, helped me make it through graduate school and the loss of my father, spends a great deal of time and energy on home improvements, and regularly dresses himself and feeds himself.

I've seen other blogs and videos that address the issue of the "Idiot Dad."  Heaven forbid we moms should leave our children alone with them.  They might not know how to change a diaper or they might buy an inferior product.  They don't know how to eat healthy (of course the wives always know how to eat healthy and satisfy their cravings for junk food by eating cereal or yogurt). Ok, I'll admit it.  DH does have a deep abiding love for Pizza Bites and Jalapeno Poppers.  But if I'm around, he has to be alert or they'll make their way onto my plate.  He also enjoys salads even more than I do.  It's also true that he has never changed a diaper.  He also has limited experience holding babies.  Yet, when our baby is born, I am 100% sure that he will know to hold the baby the right way up and support its head.  I also have complete faith that I will show him how to change a diaper one time and he will do it correctly. In fact, he is perfectly capable of figuring out that task on his own.  I would never hesitate to leave our child under his sole supervision because he is not an idiot.

My DH is no exception to the rule (although I do find him quite exceptional across the board).  My dad raised me nearly solo from when I was 3 until I was 9.  It's true that occasionally my sisters had to brush my hair, but that was more because he was an absent-minded professor. He wasn't an idiot, he just had more important things to think about than personal appearance.  He fed me extremely wholesome, home-cooked meals, comforted me when I had nightmares, took me shopping for clothes, and made sure that I always felt safe and loved.

I have five sisters, all of whom are married to intelligent, capable men.  When one of them became a dad at 28 years old, he took to it immediately.  He adores his two daughters and has an extremely close relationship with them. It's Daddy that puts them to bed each night while Mommy does the dishes. My brother also has two daughters as well as a son.  He's gentle but strict with them, and he and his wife share parenting duties.

In fact, as I write, I keep trying to think of anyone in my life who fits the "idiot dad" stereotype. I can't think of a single one.  That's not to say that all the dads I've ever met are perfect. All people are flawed, and some dads aren't good dads.  But you know what? Some moms aren't good moms. And usually it's not because these people are idiots. There are other character flaws that make them less than ideal parents and spouses.

But let's hear it for the good dads, the capable dads, the loving and involved dads.  Because I know quite a few.

Grilled Salmon Salad

I love to eat out.  Part of it is the food, part of it is that I love being waited on and not having to do dishes.  I also love getting ideas for my own kitchen, particularly salads.  I love a really good salad, but always feel like mine are a little lacking in creativity.  Great American Restaurants, however, make a salad that I love so much that I hardly order anything else.  Coastal Flats, Silverado's, Artie's, and all the others all have a variation of this salad.  It's the Short Smoked Salmon Salad. Obviously salmon is the key component: a nice fillet right on top of a bed of field greens. I also always opt for the fried goat cheese for an additional $1. This brings the salad to about $17.  Last night, I decided that it was time to create my own version.

I went to Wegman's and picked up salmon. Since we don't have a smoker, I decided to grill instead (or rather, have DH grill for me).  I picked up french cut green beans and pee-wee potatoes.  Our salad greens came from the farmers' market (we buy a big bag each week).

It was beautiful.

It was also delicious.  Depending on which restaurant, sometimes it comes with asparagus, sometimes it comes with green beans.  I made the decision based on what looked freshest.  Sometimes it also has tomatoes or grilled onions. I kept it pretty simple, to let the salmon and goat cheese shine.

Serves 4.

Ingredients:
4 salmon fillets

She's Back!

It's been quite awhile since I posted in this blog, but a lot's been going on around the Homestead.

Most importantly, DH and I are expecting our first child at the end of August.  Although we're planning on delivering in a hospital, we're going for an unmedicated, natural birth. We were surprised to find out that under 5% of the births in our area are unmedicated.  Then again, with the number of people telling me to "take the drugs," maybe I'm not so surprised.

Because I'm currently seven months pregnant, and knew I would be limited in my stooping abilities and desire to work out in the heat and humidity this summer, we've scaled back the garden.  We're still growing tomatoes, five plants total. There are three sad looking butternut squash plants, a cucumber plant in a hanging pot, lots of herbs, hot and sweet peppers, and strawberries that I started from seed last year.  We're also taking full advantage of the farmers' market for good greens and fresh fruit.

I love the first day of the farmers' market because it's the first day that I can get strawberries. I know that I can get them at the grocery store, but after getting them straight from the source, Safeway's just can't satisfy me.  We buy quarts and quarts of strawberries.  Some are just for eating, some are for desserts, some go in salads, and some end up in jam.

Here is a strawberry almond tart:

This came from a recipe I pinned on Pinterest.  Here's a link to the original. We made this for Mother's Day and it was a big hit.  Just behind, you can see homemade whipped cream.  

So go ahead, enjoy that fresh produce!

Gourmet Dinner

The Husband and I started a gourmet dinner group back during the winter, and we take turns hosting each other for dinner and inviting extra guests along for the ride. Last night, it was my turn. Although we don't always have a theme, I'm a sucker for themes, so I decided to go local. I wanted all of my main ingredients to be local ingredients.

Here is the menu:

Local chevre and Grayson cheese

Tomato Mozzarella Tarts with Garlic Basil Crust

Trio of Soups: Cucumber, Peanut, Crab

Roasted Corn Salad

French Potato Salad

Lamb Kebabs with Mint Pesto

Peach Crisp with Maple Cream Sauce

Trio of Herb Ice Creams: Lavender, Basil, Mint

The Ingredients:

The Cheese

The chevre and Grayson came from Whole Foods. Gotta love that they label what's local. The Mozzarella came from the farmers' market across the street from our house.

Dairy

Our Whole Foods sells dairy products from a local creamery that I love. We always buy their creamline milk, and I was happy to branch out and use their buttermilk (for the cucumber soup) and heavy cream (for the soups and ice cream).

The Vegetables

The tomatoes came from three places: my garden, my friend Crystal's garden, and Mount Vernon's extremely prolific cherry tomato plants. The cucumbers also came from my garden. They were huge! They were as long as my forearm! The peanuts were purchased at Total Wine, but they are Virginia peanuts from the Peanut Shoppe in Williamsburg, VA. The roasted corn salad had corn, of course, as well as yellow squash, red onion, bell peppers, and tomatoes. All of those veggies except for the tomatoes came from the farmers' market. The onions and peppers for the kebabs were also from the market. The potatoes were grown at Mount Vernon. The peaches were from the farmers' market.

The Herbs

The herbs came almost exclusively from my garden. I'm throwing garlic in this category, and that came from the farmers' market.

The Rest

The crabs are from the Chesapeake Bay, and I bought them at Slavin's Fish Market in Arlington, VA. There was honey in the peanut butter that I made for the peanut soup, and that came from a local farmers' market, although I can't remember which one. The flour was ground at Mount Vernon's Grist Mill, and was probably grown in Lancaster, PA. All of the beer and wine we served was from Virginia.

If I can brag for a moment, I think dinner was a hit. We served the soups in shot glasses with demitasse spoons, and that presentation went over very well. I think people were surprised at how much you could do shopping locally, which was the point of the dinner aside from just eating good food.

Grow, Baby, Grow

Due to circumstances beyond my control, I haven't been able to get much in the ground yet. This past weekend, I finally came home to the frame for a raised bed, but haven't been able to get the soil for it yet. I did plant a lemon thyme border around the patio today, planted a bay laurel in a very large pot, and sowed three types of beans, Japanese climbing cucumbers, rainbow swiss chard, and lettuce (yes, I know it's late, but I didn't have the bed until today and it is heat resistant lettuce).

In other news, I learned how to wash wool this weekend, as well as watching a sheep shearing, at my new place of employment, Mount Vernon. So now I'm up on the processes of wool...processing...from washing, to carding/combing, to spinning, to weaving. I skipped dying, but we'll do that in a couple of weeks.

I'm very in tune with all of the fields at Mount Vernon, even the ones that I didn't have a hand in. I was happy to see the potatoes finally poking their topknots out of the soil after a great deal of delay, and the flax and the buckwheat are certainly flourishing. A few plants even made it home with me: horehound, feverfew, and caraway. I'm hoping to score a few tobacco plants just for decorative purposes as well.

New Job and the Garden

I was a history major in college, and have always been semi-obsessed with history. It's partially how I ended up so interested in homesteading, along with wanting a more sustainable way of life. And so, I ended up with a summer job at Mount Vernon, George Washington's home.

I'm now a week into the job, and I have turned two massive piles of compost, planted a wheat field, made fish nets, filled a raised bed, and cooked with wild chives that I picked on the estate. Quite the skill set, I must say. We have four acres that we're working on, as well as a gristmill about three miles down the road, and we do every step of the process. Come July, we'll harvest the wheat and start treading it in the barn, then take it over to the mill (the mill cheats a little bit and supplements with purchased grain). We're also growing potatoes, corn, oats, buckwheat (which will just be plowed under as green manure), cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, herbs for different uses, and also cotton and tobacco (mostly for demo purposes). Right now, everything that needs to be in the ground is already planted, without much need for maintenance, so we're making fish nets. We'll hopefully be going fishing in the next couple of weeks, wading in the Potomac. We may or may not just do catch and release.

Next month, we'll be shearing the sheep, then washing, combing, dyeing, and spinning. I think the weaving comes in September. I'm pretty excited, and hoping I can score some of the reddish brown wool from some of the Hog Island sheep. I made friends with one of the rams yesterday. They may be dumb, but they are cute. They're just so wooly this time of year! (This hasn't diminished my taste for lamb one bit).

In my own garden, things are starting to happen. I have lots of small seedlings that I'm hoping will survive: Arkansas Traveller tomatoes, Old Virginia tomatoes, Rutgers tomatoes (all heirlooms, and the first two are supposed to do well in heat and be split-resistant, a big problem here); red and white cabbage; marigolds, nasturtiums, and tansy. I also had a great big shipment of plants come yesterday, a bunch of culinary herbs and creeping thymes for a border, as well as kale and leeks. I'm pretty excited for the bounty of the harvest both here and at work!