Apple Cider and Mama's Civil War Dress

Yesterday Daddy stayed home, and we made apple cider! We got somewhere around five and a half gallons, and it is delicious! Our new cider table worked great, only we had a slight problem with the tabletop coming off on the pressing side. Daddy fixed this defect though, and it works really well now! We also found out that we need not hurry. The disposal will overheat with such constant use, but it didn't do this to us until we were cleaning it out on our last batch! We had two different kinds of apple on hand, so we tried them both. The cooking apple's cider turned out sour, and the eating apple (we're not too fond of this type of eating apple) turned out very sweet. They mix really well. Alone, I prefer the sour one when they are at room temp, and the sweet one when they are chilled.

I have finally gotten to see Mama in her Civil War dress! She looks great in it, but she is going to have a larger hoop than mine. So, until she gets it, she cannot hem her dress. She did finish her hooks and eyes though! Yesterday she got a beautiful piece of fabric at Wal-Mart! We are all surprised because we can hardly ever find anything like that there! She says that if there is enough she wants to make Sense and Sensibility's Regency dress pattern (pardon the lack of a link, I don't feel like putting one in right now).

A Link

Daddy sent me this link the other day. Lovely pictures!
http://www.inaustensengland.blogspot.com/

Short Update

I am happy to report that my hoopskirt and snood arrived yesterday afternoon. A few days previous my cameo arrived too. I decided to get the 90" hoop so that I could still fit through our doors! I am still going to have to make some sort of over-hoop-skirt thing though. I am also going to have to hem it up a few inches (I think I may do it by machine, bad me). Mama is making great progress on her dress; I think she only lacks eight hooks or eyes (I don't know which side she finished already) and the hem. Claire wants short sleeves, and has been researching to figure out how to convert our pattern.

I am looking forward to this cool season. I have more and more ideas as to how I wish to convert my wardrobe into more dresses and skirts. This will really be the first winter that I wear almost exclusively feminine costumes. I have found that the costume patterns we like are, most of the time, meant for cooler weather, and I am looking forward to continuing my study in sewing. I was recently a bit frustrated at how sewing goes: By the time you have the spring and summer's wardrobe finished then fall and winter have rolled 'round! Still, the sewing we did for last winter is very definitely still wearable, and I will actually get to this year! And, perhaps, sometime this winter I will get around to making my newest pattern: Sense and Sensibility's 1910's Tea Gown! I love her Romantic Era Dress pattern (the jumper option really appeals to me)! The other day I saw this lovely medieval dress pattern, but I am just dreaming now so I had better stop!

Well...

Chickens continue to fall prey to some unworthy rascal. We have not seen this naughty predator, but I personally think we need to plan a stake-out some night. It would be progress if we just found out what creature is the culprit!

We have but one laying hen now, and who knows haw she has managed to survive! Something got into the "chicken tractor" last night, and killed four of them leaving us with about 17 broilers to hopefully have at the time of slaughtering.

Any suggestions as to what is getting our birds and how to rid ourselves of this menace would be welcomed. Also any volunteers for a stake-our would be considered. We will, of course, provide room and board, or whatever else is needed for your survival.

Another Broiler Batch

Last night, the Wiggin's brought over the batch of broiler chicks we are sharing. We decided not to use cornish-cross (a.k.a. frankenchicks), but we are doing a couple of different "breeds" of broilers. Right now I couldn't say what birds are what kind! The birds are several weeks old now. The Wiggin's started them, and we are finishing them off at our place so as to have them here for the slaughtering.

I am very satisfied with the results from the cornish-cross we killed. We just had to figure out how to cook them, but the last couple we have had have been very good! I hope these turn out as just as good. I have only been out to the "tractor" once, but I can already tell that they are not nearly as disgusting as the previous batch!

Economics?

I am finding economics to make little or no sense at all! I spent yesterday afternoon watching (really just listening) to a three-part video on the Federal Reserve called "The History of the Federal Reserve." Yes, I spent nearly four hours listening to this, but it was very interesting! By the name of it, I assumed it was governmentally owned and controlled, but it is actually owned by a few very rich and influential people! This and the book Biblical Economics by R.C. Sproul, Jr., explains that we have a form of money that is nothing! How much is that $100 really worth when you take away its buying power? It ends up just being a worthless piece of paper! I thought Mr. Sproul illustrated this well:

If Rip Van Winkle had gone to sleep in 1962 with a fistful of dollars, he would have held in his hands a promise of an exchange for silver. In 1962 the U.S. dollar could be redeemed at anytime for silver. If Rip woke up today and headed to his bank with his old and wrinkled dollars, he would receive only a puzzled look when he asked for silver in exchange. Today our money bears the promise of nothing. Paper money is no longer a certificate of anything because it has no hard value behind it. Rip would now have to accept the payment of his debt in paper dollars.

Okay. So, we are buying groceries with worthless wads of paper? We are trying to budget our "money" so as to be out of the red at the end of the month? We are buying with and selling for a green piece of paper that literally has no intrinsic value. This does not make much sense to me. Why can't we go back to the old method of barter where the exchange was for the good of everybody involved? Alright, Mr. Sproul explains that too:

Although barter was a great breakthrough in the production of wealth, its power and scope were limited. One had to find someone who not only wanted what the first had, but also had what the first person wanted. The hunter grew tired of trading for spears. Sometimes barter could be arranged through three parties: The skinmaker wanted meat, the hunter wanted a spear, and the spearmaker wanted a skin. The hunter couldtrade his meat for a skin, then trade his skin for a spear. Everyone was happy, but the transaction took a great deal of time and energy.

Besides, barter neared its limits in the three-way deal, since it was almost impossible to come up with four or more producers with compatible interests and the time or desire to arrange such a complicated deal.

So barter may not be the most practical method of exchange, but is a worthless monetary system in the hands of a few rich folks any good either? or a monetary system in the hands of the government for that matter! What about gold and other precious metals? Do they have any true value? If we have another Great Depression or one even worse then gold and silver would not be of any worth. The most valuable things would be food, water, and a roof over your head. Gold, silver, and precious jewels have no value to the cold and hungry. How is it then, that we as humans place such value on truly worthless items? I don't understand it, and I probably need to stop thinking about it or I will only get more muddled!

I appologise if my thoughts are unorganized. I think they probably are, but I have no desire to go back over and fix them at this moment.

Slight Correction

I have a slight correction to my last post.

I guiltily admit that I left out a couple of families. It was not done purposely! The Lovett's and the Stouffer's also stayed a little while. Because the men had a meeting one night, Chris Stouffer kindly led our families in worship.

The only thing wrong with last week was that it was not long enough! Nobody stayed long enough! COME BACK Y'ALL!!!!!

This Past Week

This past week we spent with some very dear friends, the Brothers, who finally made it up after promising to come since December!





We had a lot of fun!
We also worked hard with them putting up a fence in our field. We are looking forward to helping them with their fencing!

The Lingo's made their way up Wednesday in time to help us with the fence, but we don't have any really good pictures of them.
Batman descended on us, too!
"Intelligent Batman!"
Hmmm...no shoes.
Batman to the rescue!
The next day we all enjoyed lunch in Columbia, Tennessee.
And dinner along the Natchez Trace.










After a rather late start, the men got back to work on the fence. Thanks so much guys!













Can't... quite... reach... it!
Thank you, Mr. Brothers!
Go, Jacob!
That evening, our barberess, Claire, cut Daddy and Elijah's hair, but we didn't get any pictures of Daddy.
Mrs. Brothers taking over to get the "sissy hairs."
Kyle was last. He just loved it!
All done!












We had a great time everyone! Y'all come back now, ya hear!

We do have Batman's knife which we will try to remember to get to him this coming Lord's Day, but you may only get it back by coming up again!

All pictures courtesy of somebody else. I take no responsibility for the quality or angle of the photos published in this post!

A Dilemma

Anybody who knows please answer the following question!

How do you keep chickens alive???????!!!!!!!!!!!?????????

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We are having quite a time with these brainless creatures. Seems our losses are averaging a bird a day! Down to seven now, we are. A certain group of people I know who are coming to visit had better not expect scambled eggs as second breakfast, possibly as first.

Last night we decided...

...that it might just be possible that I might be addicted to a delicious food that goes under the name of Chocolate! (how ever am I to be saved?!) I do know that my choclate addiction is not so bad an addiction so as to make me worship it. We also decided that Daddy really cannot agrue against my favorite food because he also has an addiction (stronger than mine!)...to coffee!

Q. So, what am I to do about my addiction?

A. Go get more chocolate!!!

Yesterday's Work

Wednesday afternoon we kids and Mama went and picked four bushels of apples. So, yesterday we had to do something with some of them. We decided to make applesauce and freeze it. Once we got the apples peeled, cored, and sliced (done with that great invention appropriately named the Apple-Peeler-Corer-Slicer) we cut the apple in half, added crystalline fructose, and cooked them in the microwave for approximately fifteen minutes. Once we determined that the apples were soft enough we ran them through the food processor. We went for more of a smooth consistency so the food processor part took longer that it might would have had we gone for lumpy applesauce. We filled ten pint-sized freezer boxes.
By this tome we were getting dangerously close to lunchtime, and we all needed a break. However, as was quoted several times yesterday, "No rest for the weary." We rather suddenly decided to can some! We gathered up all our quarter pint jars from every corner (we found around twenty-six of them), and started washing and boiling as fast as we could (the apples were nearly ready to be put into the jars). As usual, our propane burners came in handy, but we did the water baths inside. We were able to fill up twenty-one quarter pints with our last batch of apples. Thankfully, we had them in the water baths before twelve o'clock (strictly lunchtime). Unfortunately, we always forget to put some baked potatoes in the oven on canning day. It would make lunch so much easier, and cut out the "What on earth are we going to have for lunch!" We managed with cheese, crackers, peanut butter, bread, leftovers, etc. The water bath timer went off right as we sat down, but all we had to do was get those little, bitty jars out and set them on a prepared surface. Since they should not be bothered for at least twenty-four hours, they are still sitting there as I write. What a sticky kitchen we had though! And we are still not done! I am not sure we did even a whole bushel!