Ohio Thoughts

FALL BARN PARTY

2011-11-17T12:06:00.014-05:00

Fall Barn Party

Although we have been spending 12 hour days working on our new little farm, we decided to go ahead with our annual fall party.
We had very limited time to prepare and it would be a rush job, but we decided to have the party in our barn.
I started out by downloading free halloween label templates from the internet to dress up a few wine bottles.

There are many websites offering free printable labels. After finding ones I liked, I copied the labels, added a little yellowing or aging effect, printed and then glued onto the wine bottles.
I also tied a little raffia, added a spider and spider web to a few.

While shopping for decorations I could use for the party I came across this black metal cupcake stand at Target.

Because of the simple wrought iron like design, I will be able to use this stand for various holidays.

Desserts at Thanksgiving,
cookies for Christmas,
appetizers on New Year's,
you get the idea.

We also wanted to keep it simple this year so used bales of straw for seating around the campfire, which works great.

The bales help provide enough seating, were comfortable and helped keep small children back from the fire.

A campfire at our fall party has always been a must.

Here is another great idea for a fall party or any party really. A backdrop for photos!
I found an idea I really like on a Blog about Rustic Fall Parties. The backdrop could be anything really, but something to go with the party theme. I made a backdrop of sorts: Cornstalks, pumpkins, mums and a store bought banner kids.

I also found photos of a backdrop I just love on Flickr. The photographer's husband made this backdrop and tree for his school's fall carnival. This appears to be made by painting a sheet and cutting the tree out of cardboard, add a bale of straw and a couple of pumpkins and you have one unbelievable backdrop!

Although it has been awhile since I saw this at a fall party, I could not resist.

Our barn came with a few old buckets when we purchased it in August, so I put one to use for Bobbing for Apples.

The kids mostly just played in the water, but it makes for a nice fall photo.

Because apples are less dense than water, they will float at the surface. Players (usually children) try to catch an apple with their teeth. Use of hands is not allowed.
A more sanitary variation of the game now exists, so no "germs" are shared, with the apples hung on string on a line, rather than in a bowl of water.
Maybe I will hang them from a beautiful fall tree next year.

More Barn Pary Ideas
Our party was done at the last minute and without much time for planning. If you think a barn party might be something you want to do, here are a few websites to check out:

Happy Fall and Thanksgiving,
Elizabeth

"Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns."
- George Eliot

"The leaves fall, the wind blows, and the farm country slowly changes from the summer cottons into its winter wools."
- Henry Beston, Northern Farm

2011-11-15T14:39:00.011-05:00

Lynch's Mt. Horb Farm

Oh my gosh what a year! My husband Bill and I sold our house in June 2011, but could not find a home we wanted to purchase.
We have had our hearts set on buying a small farm, but could not find just the right one.
We decided to put almost everything into storage and move into a duplex. Bill and I did not want to feel pressured into purchasing something that wasn't exactally what we were looking for.
2 storage units and a pod later Bill and I, our son Daniel and his girlfriend, our 2 wiener dogs and a cat, all settled into our little humble abode, all 550 square feet of it.
The tight living quarters was difficult at first but we managed to adapt being in the same room together, haha.
After looking at about 100! houses for sale since March, we finally found our new home, a small "farmette" as my sister Kathy calls it.

A beautiful 1960's custom built ranch style home with 4 acres, 2 pole barns, a small building for a chicken coop, 2 nice pastures and LOTS of room for my dream garden.
To say I wanted to purchase this home just to create the garden I have laid out in my mind is not far from the truth!
We wish to raise a few beef cattle and chickens, have a large organic garden and be a little more self sufficient and live a little healthier lifestyle.
The last 3 months have been spent updating the interior of the house, including electric, floors, walls, plumbing and baths.
My daughter Alexis, nephew Adam and a couple friends spent a few weekends cleaning out the main barn.
This barn has 2 horse stalls, water, 2 huge sliding doors, electric and access to both pastures. We will be using this barn for beef cattle come spring.

The second pole barn is slightly smaller than the main barn and needed lots more repair, the tin replaced on t

the roof and a major clean out.

My nephew-in-law Rodney used hundreds of barn roofting nails to refasten and replace some of the tin roof, then used a tin roof coating paint to seal it. We will use this barn as our storage barn for hay and straw, our ATV trailer and maybe down the road a tractor.

The transformation of this barn was amazing!

To see a few more photos of our little farm go here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/shutterfool/sets/72157627902910877/

Pumpkin Arbor

2011-11-10T15:08:00.020-05:00

Pumpkin Arbor (July 2010)

I love pumpkins. They are just a beautiful fruit, can be used in many ways and are edible. The bright orange color of pumpkin is a dead giveaway that pumpkin is loaded with an important antioxidant, beta-carotene. Native Americans dried strips of pumpkin and wove them into mats. They also roasted long strips of pumpkin on the open fire and ate them. The origin of pumpkin pie occurred when the colonists sliced off the pumpkin top, removed the seeds, and filled the insides with milk, spices and honey. The pumpkin was then baked in hot ashes.

Pumpkins are cucurbits, the fruit of a herbaceous annual plant of the gourd family that thrives in hot, dry conditions and includes squash, melons, watermelons and cucumbers.

This year I decided to construct an arbor for pumpkins and gourd vines to climb over. (Photo above right is before arbor was built) I first saw an arbor similar to the one I had in mind while visiting a farm market outside Chillicothe, Ohio last fall. That arbor was made with metal pipes and square angles and used metal fencing.
Then while visiting my daughter in Texas this April, I saw a rounder shaped arbor in a garden in Fort Worth, Texas.
I have had arbors of one sort or another in my garden for years, but mostly over gates and covered with flowering vines.

My pumpkin arbor is in my vegetable/ herb garden. The back part of my house is shaped like a "T" with my patio, pergola, hot tub, fire pit, etc. on one side (and the entrance to the 3 seasons room and kitchen) and the vegetable / herb garden is on the other side of the "T" The vegetable garden goes around the corner of the house by about 10 to 12 feet.

There is a gate with a wood arbor facing the street. I built this pumpkin arbor from that gate and back 8 feet. You can see the gate and wood arbor from the street, along with the vines, but can't see the fencing or metal posts. Putting the vegetable garden in this spot near the far side of the house, leaves my back yard free for flower beds and just enjoying.

Constructing the Arbor:
First I used a tape measure to hold up and bend in the shape I wanted the arbor to be, to get the length I needed to purchase the fencing. Since the metal fencing I purchased was 4 foot high, I decided I would use two pieces wide and make the arbor "tunnel" 8 foot long. The fence (cattle or pasture type fencing) comes in a roll, so I had to be unroll and unbend it to cut. I decided to use 6 metal posts (if this works, next year will be a stronger frame), 2 on each end and two in the middle for support. My husband helped me pound 6 - 8ft long metal stakes into the ground with a sledge hammer.

I placed the first piece of fence against and on the outside of 2 end posts and the two middle posts and wired in place. (The wiring took the longest to do; I wanted to make sure it was well fastened and that no wire ends were sticking out to poke me later).

I overlapped the second piece of fence on the first piece and made sure it was against the middle and that it was lined up with the second set of end posts, then I wired into place. I have raised beds on each side of the arbor. The pumpkins plants I started indoors so they would be ready for planting. I planted them very close to the fence, and checked every couple of days to train them to climb onto the arbor.

The vines have now completely covered the arbor!
Over the years I have planted the pumpkin vines and let them cover the ground. I have always had a problem with pests such as cucumber beetles and squash bugs eating the leaves and (last year was the worst ever) my vines had a powdery mildew on their leaves. By end of that season I only had two small pumpkins. (Powdery mildew is a fungal disease)

I tried treating my pumpkins but with no luck. And I wasn't the only one with pumpkin growing problems.
Last's year's harvest of pumpkins was terrible for everyone. There was even a pumpkin shortage! By harvest time late last summer 2009, after three growing seasons with too much rain and not enough sun, there was just not enough pumpkins. Well before Thanksgiving of 2009, companies had dispatched their last shipments, causing a second year of shortages, with 2009 being the worst. Most major brands grown and processed ran out!
Trying to head off another shortage, Libby's, a subsidiary of Nestle responsible for 87 percent of the canned pumpkin sold from September to December, has added crop acreage this year. Spokesperson for Libby's, O'Hearn said she expects the company's canned pumpkin to return in September, "as long as Mother Nature is cooperative."

This year my pumpkin vines are doing great, there are many pumpkins, all are growing big, and I have yet to see the powdery mildew like last year. My son helped to pollinate the blossums by hand, which helps produce more pumpkins.

Tips for Growing Pumpkins
Here are a few tips to get you started on growing your own pumpkins next year:

1. Pumpkin is very tender. The seeds do not germinate in cold soil, and the seedlings are injured by frost. Do not plant until all danger of frost has passed, and the soil has thoroughly warmed. Plant pumpkins for Halloween from late May in northern locations to early July in extremely southern sites.

2. Vine pumpkins require a minimum of 50 to 100 square feet per hill. Plant seeds one inch deep (four or five seeds per hill). Allow 5 to 6 feet between hills, spaced in rows 10 to 15 feet apart. When the young plants are well-established, thin each hill to the best two or three plants. (Because I used the arbor, I did not need as much ground space, so planted 5 to six plants on each side of the arbor, which seems to be working very well)

3. Pumpkin plants should be kept free from weeds by hoeing and shallow cultivation. Irrigate if an extended dry period occurs in early summer. Pumpkins tolerate short periods of hot, dry weather pretty well. And remember; Bees are necessary for pollinating squash and pumpkins and may be killed by insecticides.

4. You can expect your pumpkins to be ready to harvest anything between 12 to 20 weeks after sowing, depending on the variety. Be sure to pick them before the first frost arrives.

I store my pumpkins in the coolest location in my basement until cooler fall weather.

A family favorite pumpkin dessert my daughter makes every Thanksgiving:

Pumpkin Cheesecake with Gingersnap Crust

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups of ginger snap crumbs
3 Tbls melted butter
3 - 8oz pkgs of cream cheese, softened
1/2 C. sugar
3 large eggs
1 ¾ C. Libby’s pumpkin pie mix
2 teas vanilla
1/2 C. heavy whipping cream
1 ½ teas pumpkin pie spice

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, with baking rack on lowest level.

Mix cookie crumbs, melted butter and sugar together with a fork in medium bowl until crumbs hold together. Press crumb mixture firmly into the bottom and 1 to 2 inches up the sides of a 9-inch round tinplate or steel (not nonstick) pie pan. Bake 6 to 8 minutes until crust is set. Cool and set aside.

Beat cream cheese in bowl on high speed with hand mixer until smooth and creamy, about 1 minute. There should be no lumps.
Add additional sugar (if desired), pumpkin pie mix, whipping cream and pumpkin pie spice. Blend well. With mixer still on medium speed, add eggs, one at a time. With mixer on low, add cornstarch until just blended. Pour batter into prepared pie crust.

Bake until edges are cooked and center jiggles slightly when side of pan is tapped, about 50 to 60 minutes. Do not overcook or cheesecake will crack.

Cool completely on cooling rack, about 2 hours, Cover with Saran Wrap and refrigerate for at least 3 hours or overnight. Cheesecake will keep in refrigerator for up to 3 days. Keep chilled until serving.

Pumpkin Links:

How to Grow Pumpkins

10 Steps to Growing a Giant Pumpkin

Pumpkin Recipes

101 Things to Do With a Pumpkin

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Family Log Cabin

2011-03-16T10:33:00.017-04:00

GRANDMA LUCY'S BIRTH PLACE

A month or two back my sister Beverly posted a photo she had taken in the 1980’s of our Grandmother Lucy Curtis’s birth place. A log cabin somewhere near Chillicothe. My Father’s father and mother, and grandparents, were from Chillicothe.
My older siblings had taken the drive with my father I believe, a time or two to look at the log cabin.

I was so thrilled to finally see a photo of Lucy’s homestead; I didn’t think I would ever even see that. I asked my sister Beverly if she could remember where the cabin was located or if she could remember directions. Her directions were as follows:

Beverly: “You get off the highway going into Chillicothe where the high mountains are (that are supposed to be the ones in the Ohio seal) and instead of turning right, you go left and then turn left on the winding road on that mountain on the other side of the freeway into Chillicothe. There was an old store there we passed. It was on a back road and they made hay I think in that field. "

1980's photo

Not much to go on and there are dozens of winding country roads, and now 5 Chillicothe exits off Rt. 23. The “mountains" she spoke of ARE the mountains in our Great Seal of Ohio, and they run for quite a ways along Rt. 23.
According to historical lore, the seal was based on the eastern view from Adena, the home of Thomas Worthington near Chillicothe.

Not thinking we would find the log cabin, I just figured it would be a fun adventure day, we really had little chance anyway, the cabin would most likely have been torn down by now, or collapsed and lying in a rotting pile.

But I am always up for an adventure, (some of you know this) and I find the most interesting things on day trips around Ohio!

And what a day it was! My nephew Adam has Thursdays off, and we had been talking about driving to Chillicothe to look for the cabin for a few weeks, but mostly we just wanted to see what we could get into and do a little “ploring” as we sometimes call it. My daughter Alexis came along too. It was a chilly rainy day, but that did not dampen our exploring spirit.

I had been thinking long and hard about Beverly’s directions and tried to match them up to the 1980’s roads and exits, not the ones that are there now.
Our father took us on drives to Chillicothe a lot and I remember the exit that was there when we were little, the Main Street exit.

As Adam, Alexis and I neared Chillicothe they wanted to turn off at different exits, but I let them in on my reasoning. And, I said: "if I’m wrong, we can turn around and try another exit."

We took the Main Street exit, and when we came to the light we turned left, going away from Chillicothe. So far so good. We crossed the bridge going over the Scioto River, and immediately there was, you guessed it, a winding country road. We turned left, mostly because it ran next to the river, which was swollen huge and nearly over its banks. We had already stopped at road closed signs earlier in the day, and hiked back to look at the flooding in other areas and to take a few photos.

As we were all staring and commenting on the flooding to the left, a huge bright yellow sign caught my eye to the right. It was a sign announcing SEYMOUR Rd coming up to the right. We all starting talking at once and agreed we MUST be on the right track. The road went thru a tunnel under a hill and opened up into a beautiful valley. We drove slowly back until the dead end, and then up and up a sloping driveway to an old farm house and barns. I decided to knock on the door and find out if there were any Seymours in the area. My maiden name is Seymour; my grandmother Lucy Curtis married my grandfather Alonzo Harvey Seymour. Our quest on this day was not to find the Seymour family markers or home but the Curtis’s, this was just an added bonus.

As I approached the wrought iron gate I noticed on the fence surrounding the old farm house a sign. It was metal and the letters were cut out which said W. SEYMOUR. I was ecstatic! (Alexis says I was “all jacked up”) And the view from this hilltop farm was amazing. You could see the entire town of Chillicothe. We knocked on the door of that house and 5 others in that valley until finally a man came out of a pole barn. I told him who I was and what I was looking for. He told me,
“Well everyone in this valley is a Seymour."

Wow! Were we in fact related to these Seymours? Could they tell us where Lucy’s birthplace was?
Oh my gosh!

He took me into the pole barn to talk to his wife, who did a lot of Seymour genealogy, and Adam and Alexis came along.

We talked to for maybe 45 minutes to an hour, going over family trees, trying to describe the cabin in the photo and who it was that was born there, and how they were related to me. At some point I remembered to tell them about the old store that was supposed to be near the road we needed.

Finally, a light went off or so it seemed and he said “I think I know what cabin you’re looking for, it’s not much to look at, but it may be it.” There was a store, he said, made in an old house, but it burnt down several years ago. A new store was built in its place.

We saw that store right before turning on the road near the river.
What a stoke of luck!

They gave us directions to what they thought might be the log cabin, and told us it was owned by the family next to it. We exchanged email addresses, thanked them and we were on our way: back down though the valley, through the tunnel under the hill, out onto the road near the river.

When we reached the store, we turned left onto the road near the store and then into the parking lot. We went in for salami, cheese, ham salad, corn chips, drinks, one slice of peach pie, candy bars for Alexis and Adam (he has a weakness for it) bought a box of caramel corn.
You knew there was going to be food somewhere in this narrative, didn’t you?

On with the story. With our bellies full, we turned back onto the road and drove until we came to a T in the road, and turned left. We passed many side roads and forks in the road but wasn’t sure which one it was. We could have been driving forever! One of the roads, for some reason I thought it might be it, I remembered some of the details of where to turn. The kids said "NO, keep going, that’s not it.” We drove for another 2 or 3 miles and I said “I’m turning around, I think that road was it”. We went back.

My nephew and I, March 2011

2011 Photo

After about 1 mile and a few bends and curves in the dirt road, there was the log cabin, the cabin in Beverly’s photo! We decided to turn around and go back to the house next to the cabin and ask permission to look and take photos. I knocked on the door 5 or 6 cute little doggies came barking and the owner opened the door about 2 inches and asked me to come in.
I told him who I was and that the log cabin was my grandmother’s birth place. He said he had a bull and cows in that pasture and could I come back another time, once he moved the cattle.

My old black pup

We talked for 40 to 45 minutes, some inside, then moved outside. He told me his father purchased the land in the 1930’s, and that he had just lost his son in 2008. We had shared grief having lost a family member, his grief much more than mine. He told me about his cattle, that he raised a baby calf recently when its mother died in birth, and that that calf didn’t want to be with the other cows, but wanted to be where he was. He told me he has all the little doggies because they are rescue dogs, were abused so he and his wife took them in. He also had a really old dog outside, with arthritis, that so reminded me of my old black pup that it brought tears to my eyes, and does while I’m writing this.

He told me he gets lots and lots of people claiming that the cabin is their family birth place. He asked and I again told him how I was related to Lucy and that her last name, maiden name was Curtis. He stopped and looked at me, then told me there is a grave yard at the top of the hill behind the cabin, and all the names on the tombstones are Curtis! Goosebumps.
He believes the house and graveyard are historical landmarks.

He said when he was a young boy he and one of the Seymour boys, Jean Seymour, who is gone now, would climb over Seymour Hill to play together, that their fathers were both farmers.
I’m sorry, I said, did you say that one of the Hills is named “Seymour Hill?

The surprises just keep coming!

He told me that the guy who owns the new little grocery store came by one day and told him the cabin is his birth place. I said, well could be, if he married into the family, but I would say it is the Curtis homestead since it is their graveyard that is on top of the hill.

He told me the graves are from the early, mid and late 1800’s. My great grandparents could be buried there!
We agreed I would call him in April when the weather is warmer and he has a chance to move his cattle.

I can’t wait!

Elizabeth

March 2011

Kids are such a pain, they insist I add that my husband Bill called me a couple of times to talk and I may have missed a road because of it,
God knows they don't know where in the hell they are, lol

Note: I have removed the names and street locations in the story for privacy.

The Declaration of Independence

2010-07-01T23:44:00.002-04:00

IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America

hen in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.

— John Hancock

New Hampshire:
Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton

Massachusetts:
John Hancock, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry

Rhode Island:
Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery

Connecticut:
Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott

New York:
William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris

New Jersey:
Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark

Pennsylvania:
Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross

Delaware:
Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean

Maryland:
Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton

Virginia:
George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton

North Carolina:
William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn

South Carolina:
Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton

Georgia:
Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton

Where is the original Declaration?

The original Declaration is now exhibited in the Rotunda for the Charters of Freedom in Washington, DC. It has faded badly, largely because of poor preservation techniques during the 19th century. The document measures 29-3/4 inches by 24-1/2 inches.

What's on the Back?

People who watched the popular movie "National Treasure" want to know. On the back, at the bottom, upside-down is simply written: "Original Declaration of Independence / dated 4th July 1776." Regarding the message on the back, according to the National Archives, "While no one knows for certain who wrote it, it is known that early in its life, the large parchment document was rolled up for storage. So, it is likely that the notation was added simply as a label." There are no hidden messages.

Do we have unalienable or inalienable Rights?

In the final version, we have unalienable Rights!

What happened to the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence?

Five signers were captured by the British as traitors, and tortured before they died.

Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned.

Two lost their sons serving in the Revolutionary Army; another had two sons captured.

Nine of the 56 fought and died from wounds or hardships of the Revolutionary War.

They signed and they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor.

What kind of men were they?

Twenty-four were lawyers and jurists. Eleven were merchants, nine were farmers and large plantation owners; men of means, well educated, but they signed the Declaration of Independence knowing full well that the penalty would be death if they were captured. Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader, saw his ships swept from the seas by the British Navy. He sold his home and properties to pay his debts, and died in rags.

Thomas McKeam was so hounded by the British that he was forced to move his family almost constantly. He served in the Congress without pay, and his family was kept in hiding. His possessions were taken from him, and poverty was his reward.

Vandals or soldiers looted the properties of Dillery, Hall, Clymer,Walton, Gwinnett, Heyward, Rutledge, and Middleton.

At the battle of Yorktown, Thomas Nelson, Jr., noted that the British General Cornwallis had taken over the Nelson home for his headquarters. He quietly urged General George Washington to open fire. The home was destroyed, and Nelson died bankrupt.

Francis Lewis had his home and properties destroyed. The enemy jailed his wife, and she died within a few months.

John Hart was driven from his wife's bedside as she was dying. Their 13 children fled for their lives. His fields and his gristmill were laid to waste. For more than a year he lived in forests and caves, returning home to find his wife dead and his children vanished. So, take a few minutes while enjoying your 4th of July holiday and silently thank these patriots. It's not much to ask for the price they paid.

We must always remember: Freedom is Never Free!

The New Dr. Seuss

2010-06-27T11:24:00.002-04:00

This is going around in emails, just too funny not to post!

A new, updated, Dr. Seuss book.

I do not like this Uncle Sam,

I do not like his health care scam.

I do not like these dirty crooks,

or how they lie and cook the books.

I do not like when Congress steals,

I do not like their secret deals.

I do not like this speaker, Nan,

I do not like this 'YES WE CAN.'

I do not like this spending spree,

I'm smart, I know that nothing's free.

I do not like their smug replies,

when I complain about their lies.

I do not like this kind of hope.

I do not like it, nope, nope, nope!

Homemade Jam

2010-06-13T22:04:00.027-04:00

I have been going to the same farm for strawberries for years, but the last couple of trips there the farm was unkempt, strawberries were bad, little or non-existant, and the people running the farm store were very unhelpful and unfriendly.
I decided this was the year to find a new farm!
I favor the "Pick Your Own" style farms, but have, at times, when short on time, purchase already picked fruit and vegetables.

I started canning (or preserving food) when my son Daniel was little, he is now 18, so about 16 or 17 years ago. This photo shows him about 2 1/2 years old, so this was taken in early 1990's.

One of the first things I made was Strawberry Freezer Jam after a visit to my sister Kathy's in New Jersey one summer. She made the jam and gave me a jar to take home. It was wonderful! I looked the recipe up (at that time I think in a book not the internet) and gathered up the needed supplies. It has been the only jam we have eaten since. There's been a time or two in the early years that I had to purchase a jar of "store bought" jam, in the beginning when I didn't make enough to last until the following June when strawberries are ripe. But the kids, husband, nor I could stomach the taste or texture! I now try to make sure I have enough homemade jam for our family and enough to give out as gifts through out the year.

The second thing I started preserving were tomatoes. They are pretty easy to cann, not many steps involved and can be used in soups, sauces and a large variety of dishes. And you get the fresh tomato flavor without all the additives and preservatives found in a lot of commercial products. Mine are just tomatoes, a little salt and lemon juice.

Well this year I pulled up a few farms on the web, found a good website: Pickyourown.org. Your can search your own state to find produce farms near you too. My search gave me lists of farms in my area of Ohio, and after map-questing a few, I spent a Monday driving around to 3 or 4. I looked at their fields and fruit and talked to the people running the farms. I was looking for many things in choosing a new farm to buy produce from, but here are a few.

The first one is I really wanted an organic farmer. I've had enough of commercial food laden with chemicals from grocery stores. I am thinking the more I preserve my own food, the healthier my eating will be, or at least a little more natural. I have a small vegetable garden and lots of flower gardens and do not use chemicals on any of them.
Only once have I broken that rule, when my beloved pumpkin vines had wilt and powdery mildew. I sprayed them with a commercial product to save them, but it didn't help much and they only produced four small pumpkins. That was in 2009. I have since learned that pumpkins had it rough every where last year! There is even a pumpkin shortage and there has not been Libby's pumpkin on grocery shelves for months now.

The second thing I was looking for is a " clean" farm. Clean as in old farm equipment setting around for looks or the "farm feel" is great, wonderful even, but broken down junk and parts and trash, no, can't do it. I am a little OCD, so think; If it looks this "trashy" or unkempt, what are they doing or not doing to their produce?

And three: This may not be important to some of you, but I want to "like" the people I am buying produce from. I plan on picking and purchasing many things, so will be back at their farm a few times a year. It is a relationship of sorts, so I want it to be pleasant and friendly. I have had enough of mean people, people who hate their jobs; I can go to the grocery store for those people. Or the bank, or the post office, you get the idea.

The two farms I chose, yes two, are these and I like them both for different reasons.

At the first one we picked red raspberries, which was Jacquemin Farms. They have strawberries, red raspberries, other berries, vegetables and pumpkins.
They are located at 7437 Hyland-Croy Road, Plain City, OH., but are really close to Dublin.
It is a very clean farm, well kept and the ladies running the store are very helpful. The owner was even present, and she too was very helpful.
This farm just seems (or feels) like more of a "city farm", I suppose because there are housing projects all around and a few truck companies can be seen from the fields. They're also a little more expensive than the farms that are located a little farther out in the country.

We picked 6 quarts of red raspberries and made 24 - 1/2 pints of raspberry jam. Here is the recipe I used:

Raspberry Jam

Recipe from the book, Blue Ribbon Preserves

Before measuring the raspberries, sieve about 3/4 of the crushed fruit to remove the seed or the jam will be mostly seeds. (I like the seeds so I do not remove mine) While fresh raspberries usually make the best jam, frozen berries also produce a very good jam. A 12 oz bag of frozen raspberries will yield about 1 1/2 cups of crushed fruit or about 1 cup of seedless pulp.

4 cups crushed, fresh ripe raspberries
1 tablespoon of strained lemon juice
6 1/2 cups of sugar
1/2 teaspoon unsalted butter
1 (3-ounce) pouch of pectin

In an 8-quart pan, combine the raspberries, lemon juice, sugar and butter.
Over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, heat the mixture until the sugar is completely dissolved. Increase the heat to medium-high and bring the mixture to a full rolling boil, stirring constantly. Stir in the entire contents of the pectin pouch. Return the mixture to a full rolling boil, stirring constantly. Boil stirring constantly, for 1 minute. Remove the pan from the heat. Skim off any foam.

To prevent the jam from separating in the jars, allow the jam to cool 5 minutes before filling the jars. Gently stir the jam every minute or so to distribute the fruit. Ladle the jam into hot jars leaving 1/4 -inch head space. Wipe the jar rims and threads with a clean damp cloth. Cover with hot lids and apply screw rings. Process half-pint jars in a 200°F (93°C) water bath for 10 minutes, pint jars for 15 minutes.

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The second was Hann Farm. We picked strawberries and they were sweet and delicious. Hann Farm will also have many vetegables in season. Hann Farms is located at 4600 Lockbourne Road, Columbus, OH. It is a clean "real" farm, has barns, lots of fields of vegetables and even horses. They also have a pumpkin patch in the fall which I will of course visit. I was impressed by the neat well kept rows and farm market store. This has a real farm feel about it, and for that "real farm" feel, while we were there, an older gentleman in bibs came by the rows of strawberries driving an old tractor pulling a manure wagon.

We canned 42 1/2 pints and below is the recipe I use:

Strawberry Freezer Jam

2 cups crushed strawberries
4 cups sugar, measured into separate bowl
3/4 cup water
1 box SURE.JELL Fruit Pectin

RINSE 5 (1-cup) plastic containers and lids with boiling water. Dry thoroughly. Stem and crush strawberries thoroughly, 1 cup at a time. Measure exactly 2 cups prepared fruit into large bowl. Stir in sugar. Let stand 10 min., stirring occasionally.

MIX water and pectin in small saucepan. Bring to boil on high heat, stirring constantly. Continue boiling and stirring 1 min. Add to fruit mixture; stir 3 min. or until sugar is almost dissolved. (A few sugar crystals may remain.)

FILL all containers immediately to within 1/2 inch of tops. Wipe off top edges of containers; immediately cover with lids. Let stand at room temperature 24 hours. Jam is now ready to use. Store in refrigerator up to 3 weeks or in freezer up to 1 year. Thaw in refrigerator before using.

You will not believe the wonderful strawberry flavor!

Been wondering what pectin is? It isn't an animal by product!
"Pectin is a natural carbohydrate that is extracted from the inner peel of many fruits; it is most commonly extracted from lemons, as well as limes, oranges and grapefruits. The peels are washed, ground and processed to extract the pectin. The pectin is then refined, vacuum-dried and ground."

Here are a couple websites to help get you started canning.

Home Canning: http://www.homecanning.com/

Fresh Preserving: http://www.freshpreserving.com/pages/home/1.php

Sure Jell: http://brands.kraftfoods.com/surejell

Enjoy,

Elizabeth

ST. PATRICK'S DAY

2010-03-11T10:37:00.006-05:00

St. Patrick's Day is celebrated on March 17 every year. St. Patrick was a real person and we celebrate his religious feast day and the anniversary of his death, which was in the fifth century. The Irish have observed this day as a religious holiday for over a thousand years. On St. Patrick's Day, which falls during the Christian season of Lent, Irish families traditionally attend church in the morning and celebrate in the afternoon.

St Patrick is known as the patron saint of Ireland. True, he was not born Irish, but he has become an integral part of the Irish heritage, through his service across Ireland in the 5th century.

Patrick was born in the later half of the 4th century AD. There are differing views about the exact year and place of his birth, it is said to be in either Scotland or Roman England.

Patrick was the son of Calpurnius, who was a Roman-British. He grew up as other normal kids in Britain. However, one day a band of Irish pirates landed in south Wales and kidnapped Patrick along with many others, who were then sold into slavery in Ireland. Patrick was in Irland for 6 years, mostly of that time spent imprisoned. This is the time it is said he dreamed of having seen God. Legend says, he was then dictated by God to escape Ireland.
Patrick did finaly escape and went back to Britain, and onto France. There he joined a monastery and studied under St. Germain, the bishop of Auxerre. He spent around 12 years in the study of religious faith and God. He later became a bishop and dreamed that the Irish were calling him back to Ireland to tell them about God. The Confessio, Patrick's spiritual autobiography, is the most important document regarding this. It tells of a dream after his return to Britain, in which one Victoricus delivered him a letter headed "The Voice of the Irish."

Following God's request, Patrick returned to Ireland with the Pope's blessings. There he converted the Gaelic Irish, who were then mostly Pagans, to Christianity.

"So, how is it that in Hibernia, where they never had any knowledge of God but, always, until now, cherished idols and unclean things, they are lately become a people of the Lord, and are called children of God; the sons of the Irish and the daughters of the chieftains are to be seen as monks and virgins of Christ."

Indeed, Patrick was quite successful at winning converts. Through active preaching, he made important converts even among the royal families. And this fact upset the Celtic Druids. Patrick was arrested several times over the next 20 years as he had traveled throughout Ireland, establishing monasteries across the country. He also set up schools and churches which would aid him in his conversion. He developed a native clergy, fostered the growth of monasticism, established dioceses, and held church councils.

By the end of the 7th century Patrick had become a legendary figure, and the legends have continued to grow since then. There are many legends associated with St Patrick. It is said that he used the three-leafed shamrock to explain the concept of the Trinity; (this is one of my favorites) which refers to the combination of Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. Legend also has that; Saint Patrick drove out all the venomous snakes in Ireland into the sea where they drowned.

Patrick died on March 17, AD 461. That day has been commemorated as St. Patrick's Day ever since. The day is to celebrate the universal baptization of Ireland. Though originally a Catholic holy day, St. Patrick's Day has evolved into more of a secular holiday. Or, rather, 'be an Irish Day '. And the Irish has borne it as part of their national tradition in everywhere they populated and prospered. The Catholic feast day for this most loved of Irish saints has become a holiday in celebration of the Irish and Irish culture. The leprechaun, a Celtic fairy, has become entrenched as a chief symbol for this holiday, as is the shamrock. Other icons are the green color, the leprechaun, the pot of gold and Blarney's stone.

May you live to be a hundred years

With one extra year to repent.

May those who love us, love us

And those who don't love us,

May God turn their hearts

And if he can't turn their hearts,

May he turn their ankles

So we will know them by their limping!

As you slide down the banister of life,

May the splinters never point in the wrong direction!

May luck be our companion

May friends stand by our side

May history remind us all

Of Ireland's faith and pride.

May God bless us with happiness

May love and faith abide.

Leprechauns, castles, good luck and laughter

Lullabies, dreams, and love ever after.

Poems and songs with pipes and drums

A thousand welcomes when anyone comes.

That's the Irish for you!

There's a dear little plant that grows in our isle,

'Twas St. Patrick himself, sure, that sets it;

And the sun of his labor with pleasure did smile,

And with dew from his eye often wet it.

It grows through the bog, through the brake, through the mireland,

And they call it the dear little Shamrock of Ireland.

May your neighbors respect you,

Troubles neglect you,

The angels protect you,

And Heaven accept you.

All these blessings I wish you and more,

Elizabeth

Ash Wednesday: Significance and History

2010-02-17T09:49:00.020-05:00

Ash Wednesday 2010
is 17th of February

Ash Wednesday History
‘Remember O’ man you are dust and to dust you shall return’ (Genesis 3.19)

This Biblical quotation adequately captures the essence of Ash Wednesday, also known as dies cinerum, the Day of Ashes. Ash Wednesday falls on the first day of Lent, on a Wednesday, after Quinquagesima Sunday. The season of Lent is a forty day period of abstinence and fasting which culminates in the feast of Easter.

The Ritual of Ash Wednesday
On this Ash Wednesday, a Mass or services of worship are held, wherein the faithful approach the altar to receive the application of the ashes. The officiating priest applies the ashes in the shape of a cross on the forehead or on the tonsure of the clergy, while reciting the litany ‘for dust you are and dust you shall return’. The applying of the ashes reminds the believers of their inherent mortality and transgressions and that repentance is essential to become one with God. The cross symbolizes the Crucification of Christ, and through him salvation is possible. The ashes are obtained by burning the palms, blessed on the Palm Sunday of the preceding year. In the blessing of the ashes, four ancient prayers are invoked. The ashes are then sprinkled with holy water and sometimes smoked with incense. The penitents allow the ashes to remain till evening before washing it off.

On Ash Wednesday the penitent fast from food and meat, as fasting increases the resolve of a person to abstain from sin.

The imposition of the ashes is hypocritical if there is no corresponding change in behavior to renounce sin and repent. The applying of the ashes, fasting and penance must also be accompanied by gestures of peace and solidarity with the poor and suffering and a resolve to refrain from sinning. Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of repentance, penance and a spiritual flowering of the spirit with the aid of absolution and confession.

Historical Significance of Ash Wednesday
The ancient texts and spiritual books speak of the rubbing of ashes as a mark of penitence. The earliest mention of Ash Wednesday can be traced to the eighth century and in the earliest copies of the Gregorian Sacramentary. One of the most scholarly mentions of Ash Wednesday is found in the Lives of Saints, the work of the cleric Aelfric (955-1020). He mentions that in the books of the old Law and the New Law the penitents sprinkled ash on their heads and wore sackcloth. He continues that, on the first day of Lent, let us repent by strewing ash on our heads to signify inner repentance. He goes on to mention that a man who refused the ashes was mysteriously killed a few days later in a boar hunt.
In the Old Testament, in the book of Job, who confesses to God that he despises himself and would repent in dust and ashes.

Daniel prayed with fasting and ashes (Daniel 9.3) When Jonah predicted the Judgment of God against Nineveh, the pagan King and his subjects fasted as penance and the King wore sackcloth and sat in ashes. (Jonah 3.5-10)

The Jews and Mordecai tore their clothes and wore sackcloth and smeared ashes when King Ahasnorus ordered all Jews to be put to death. (Esther 4.1-3)
Jeremiah and Ezekiel mourned with ashes (Jer 6.26 & Ez 27.30). Jesus berated Korozain and Bethsaida saying that had these miracles been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented with sackcloth and ashes. (Luke10.13 & Matthews 11.21).

Ash Wednesday – Present

How did this practice become such an important part of the lives of so many believers? Who came up with the idea for this rather odd ritual? How do we explain the popularity of smudging our foreheads with ashes and then walking around all day with dirty faces? Those who do not share our customs often make a point of telling us that we have something on our foreheads, assuming we would want to wash it off, but many Catholics wear that smudge faithfully all day.

The 40 day period of Lent signifies the wandering of Christ, and present day Ash Wednesday is celebrated as a day of repentance and penance, humility and a return to the humble life of Christ.
Due to its emphasis on repentance, penance and sins, it is an effective deterrent to some who do not believe that faith can be trying. The Eastern Orthodox Church does not observe Ash Wednesday. The Western Christian Churches like the Roman Catholic Church, the United Methodist Church, the Anglican/Episcopal Church, The Church of God, Church of Nazarene, and the Lutheran Church all celebrate Ash Wednesday.

Ash Wednesday Dates

Since Lent culminates in Easter, and the feast of Easter depends on the lunar calendar which is not fixed, Easter is termed as a moveable feast. Ash Wednesday is also hence not a fixed day celebration; it traverses from as early as 4th February to as late as 10th March. This year, 2010 it falls on the 17th of February, and in 2011 it falls on 9th March. Ash Wednesday though never occurs on a leap year day, i.e. 29th February.

Thinking of Spring Already!

2010-01-08T15:17:00.032-05:00

Well it’s January.

We just got a pile of snow dumped on us here in Ohio, and although I love snow, January and February always make me long for spring.
This time of year, I began to look longing at gardening magazines.
I sketch my raised vegetable beds on graph paper to make sure I am making the most of my space.
I daydream about the seed packets and start making lists of supplies I will need to germinate the seeds indoors.
I stand for long periods of time looking out my window at my bare cold garden, trying to image it with vines full of tomatoes, onions pushing though the soil and wondering what I did with the longer handled shovel I love best, not the one with the thicker handle that just doesn’t seem to fit my hands as well.

I live in a town,
not in the country.
In a community,
not on a small farm or large parcel of land, although (fingers crossed) that will change in the next year or two when we sell our house.

Our children are all nearly grown, with the last one graduating from high school this year.

It is a very sad time for us, we love children and family, but it’s also a new phase in our lives. We no longer need to worry about being in an area with the best schools, walking distance to playgrounds and the library and making sure there are other children in the area for ours to play with.

The decisions we've made over the years were all made with the kids forefront and their best interest at heart, but now we can select our home with only us in mind and us alone, although that is never really true is it?
Our decision will still be based on being as near to our children and grandchildren as they will allow, (smile).
And I will want to make sure we have lots of extra room, so they will stay overnight with us whenever they feel like it. But mostly I want more land for a bigger garden!

I have a nice veggie garden but small, and one cherry tree, I want even more fruit trees for preserves. I also have a nice herb garden, but that too I wish to enlarge.
My goal is to be able to can and preserve enough fresh fruits and vegetables to last us a year with enough extra to give as gifts.

I am a lover of trees. I just adore them and find it very difficult to cut one down. In every home we have owned I have planted trees. But each year as I look at my flower, herb and vegetable beds, some of my trees lose more and more branches to allow for more sunlight.
I NEED to move before I am compelled to cut down one of my beautiful pine trees or the huge Japanese maple that continues to shade a large part of my garden!

Each year I perserve more and more of the vegetables I grow, trying out new things and even purchased a pressure canner in 2009!
(Unless you have canned your own green beans, you have no idea how wonderful they taste!)
I started out making strawberry freezer jam years and years ago, after tasting my sister Kathy's jam and have added something every year or two to my list.
I found Canning tomatoes was a great second choice to learn, very easy and so versatile. I use them in chili, spaghetti sauce, stew or stir in with chicken and noodles.
I also make and can salsa and spaghetti sauce from my garden tomatoes.
The best part about home canning besides the taste is that I know exactly what's in each jar, I put it there!
If organic is what you're after, this is one way to ensure there are no chemicals or additives in your food.
The canned jams also make excellent gifts.

For Christmas I received a gift card to Barnes and Noble bookstore (thanks honey) and selected the book:
“The Backyard Homestead” (Produce all the food you need on just a quarter acre) edited by Carleen Madigan.
So far I am really enjoying it and find it encouraging, very easy to follow and full of easy to use and follow tips to get started.
Last year my daughter and husband gave me a book I thoroughly enjoyed: The $64 Tomato
A very funny read about a man who spends a fortune trying to get the “perfect” garden.

There are numerous books on the subject, I already have my eye on another: "Homesteading" by Abigail R. Gehring. All are very useful if you’re thinking of starting your own patio or backyard garden or just wish to expand your garden as I am now.

I have my own trials with my garden, last year trying to keep our Doxie from digging up everything was more work than stopping the bunnies from eating the tops off the new sprouts! Even a fence around the garden did not detour our Doxie, she found holes in the fence slats that were wide enough for her to pass though, lol

Are you thinking of starting a garden?
If you already have one, what was one of your gardening "adventures" from 2009?

Happy gardening, Elizabeth

REAL GREENIES HAVE MANURE ON THEIR BOOTS!

2010-01-01T09:58:00.008-05:00

I couldn't have said this better. I am irked daily to see people “confessing” to be green who haven’t a clue of what real love and respect for this earth is. They have rarely walked a quiet woods, planted a tree that produces food, tended a garden to feed their family, composted for the soil sake, recycled to reuse or anything of that nature. I believe most professed “city greenies” don’t even know how or what it means to be self sufficient!

Could I do more, do you ask? Why yes, of course! But I am not preaching “green or die”; I am not condemning everyone to a smog hell who doesn’t ride a bike to work!
Below is pretty much how I feel, just could never in a million years put it into speech as this blogger has done!

Elizabeth

Real Greens Have Manure on Their Boots
A shovel-ready test to separate the authentic environmentalists from the phonies.

December 30, 2009 - by Mary Grabar

Every time I see former Vice President Al Gore and current POTUS Barack Obama waxing on about global warming, I wonder if they’ve ever stepped into a pile of cow manure.
No, this is not a joke about a pile of you-know-what, but a sort of imaginative test of their real environmental awareness.

A truly environmental lifestyle would involve the kind my parents brought over from their undeveloped Slovenia in the late 1950s. My father continued what he had learned growing up and taught it to me as I helped him dig compost and cow manure (when he could get it) into the garden of our tiny city lot in Rochester, New York. My parents, through this little garden, as well as fruit trees and grapevines (from which they produced wine and the fruit brandy called Slivovitz), offered a glimpse in miniature of the lifestyle of my relatives still in Slovenia that I would see when we visited in 1969. Riding bicycles or walking, pumping water from a well, and using no appliances, they led a hard life with never a day off from milking or taking care of the animals. My cousin who is only several years older than I told me about hoeing in the fields as a teenager and wishing she could sit down and read a book.

But they — and nineteenth-century Americans — left a very light carbon footprint.
Not so the Botoxed jet-set eco-celebs who lecture to us peasants about “saving planet Earth.” In fact, last spring when I looked at the photo of Michelle Obama in her gardening outfit of fashionable black knits and boots that looked more like something someone would wear to Starbucks if she wanted to pass herself off as a poet or playwright, I thought to myself: only someone from Hollywood, Washington, New York, or academia would believe that this would be proper farmer attire.
But the apologists at the New York Times will make excuses for the need of those like Mayor Bloomberg to fly to the climate summit in Copenhagen and in the process consume 37 times more resources than flying commercial. For example, Jim Dwyer chides the hoi polloi with: “It is probably not a good idea for the rest of us to look down our noses at people who cannot resist such temptations until we can afford them ourselves.” That’s right: You should first walk a mile in my shoes — or more appropriately, fly four thousand in my private Gulfstream — before you criticize. None of the lawnmower-like cars for the bigwigs who are escorted around in armored SUVs and limousines that idle, keeping temperatures constant as they wait for the honored guests. No bundling up in jackets and sweaters if you are the green U.S. president, as Obama demonstrated by keeping the heat up in the White House last winter so he could work in shirtsleeves.

Our self-evaluated B+ (“No, no, you’re too kind to raise it to an A+ … but, okay, after all, I am a Nobel Prize winner”) president declares victory at Copenhagen, but has no qualms about spewing tons of carbon to get himself and his retinue there.
Fortunately, nothing binding came from the excursion (except for a pledge of $100 billion of our tax money). But if anyone has any doubts about the real agenda, one needs to remember Hugo Chavez’s comment there about the “silent and terrible ghost” of capitalism in the room, a comment that reportedly brought thunderous applause.

Going overtime on his speech, Chavez then continued on about the other ghost in the room, of “socialism,” which, of course, will help “all people.”
It’s the Green Party message, one I remember being surprised by in my politically naive days when I went to a meeting thinking that the environment would be at the top of the agenda.

The Green Party would not adopt free market solutions to environmental issues even if they did save “planet Earth,” for the environment is simply a pretext for ushering in a new international socialist order. We saw that with ousted green jobs “czar” Van Jones, someone who would not know what to do with a shovelful of manure.

In fact, socialism harms the environment. No more glaring examples of environmental devastation are to be found than in the former Soviet Union and in current communist China.
Certainly, free market factors will serve to protect the environment better than the kleptocracy that we’re heading toward. Green is a commodity people will pay for. Wooded lots increase property values. People do not want to live in smog-filled cities. And the market follows suit. More will be able to afford to shop at Whole Foods (vilified by the left for the owner’s objection to government-run health care) if we get the economy going again.

Cutting back on welfare programs and wasteful public school expenditures will cut down the income and property tax burden and allow small farmers to keep their farms. Perhaps the accountants and attorneys that work at corporate farms devising ways to get federal crop subsidies would instead go and live a more Jeffersonian lifestyle. That would cut down the incentives for illegal migrant workers crossing over and leaving environmental pollution in their wake. In fact, we should eliminate farm subsidies, especially subsidies for such products as sweeteners, which artificially lower the price of sugary drinks and foods and encourage obesity.
Speaking of sugar, no one seems to remember the deal that Clinton/Gore made with sugar plantation campaign contributors in draining the Everglades. Gore then touted himself as an environmentalist as the federal government (read: your tax dollars) “reclaimed” the Everglades.

Of course, such politicians are abetted by gazillionaire movie stars who also fly around the world raising environmental awareness about the loss of rain forests and other natural habitat.
Why do they not buy up some of that land and maintain it with their own fortunes? Why not buy some in the U.S. and set up a camp for city kids?
These children could be taught valuable lessons about hard work on a self-sustaining farm. Maybe after spending a day out in the fields hoeing they’ll appreciate sitting down with a good book. Maybe they’ll learn something about self-sufficiency and gain self-esteem. They could read Wendell Berry and the politically incorrect
Southern Agrarians and be persuaded that an independent cultured existence close to God and nature is preferable to the degenerate lifestyle of the currently rich and famous, like rappers, rock stars, politicians, and rich community agitators like Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson. They should also learn to distinguish legitimate science from fraudulent ideologically driven science as the exposure of email exchanges on global warming has revealed.

Ah, yes, the contemplative life, with the ability to weigh evidence, to appreciate the written word, to be able to analyze current events in the context of history. That is what the advances of the West have brought to more people than ever and that is what the eco-propagandists have set out to destroy, beginning with scare tactics in the classroom by those like Al Gore willing to destroy the environment for political power.

Mary Grabar earned her Ph.D. in English from the University of Georgia and teaches in the Atlanta area. She is a Pushcart Prize-nominated poet and published fiction writer. Visit her website and get on her mailing list at MaryGrabar.com. Mary blogs at the TheLiterateCitizen.com.

http://pajamasmedia.com/

2009-12-22T12:32:00.002-05:00

Wishing you a wonderful happy merry Christmas and hoping your 2010 is fantastic!

Elizabeth and Family

Froehliche Weihnachten und ein glÃ¼ckliches Neues Jahr!

Nollaig Shona Dhuit Bliain nua fe mhaise dhuit

Uwotlvdi Danisdoyohihv, Alihelisdi Itse Sudetiyvda

Feliz Navidad Féliz Año Nuevo

"The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree: the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other". ~Burton Hillis

"Our hearts grow tender with childhood memories and love of kindred, and we are better throughout the year for having, in spirit, become a child again at Christmas-time." ~Laura Ingalls Wilder

"Christmas is forever, not for just one day,
for loving, sharing, giving, are not to put away
like bells and lights and tinsel, in some box upon a shelf.
The good you do for others is good you do yourself"
~Norman Wesley Brooks, "Let Every Day Be Christmas," 1976

"Fail not to call to mind, in the course of the twenty-fifth of this month, that the Divinest Heart that ever walked the earth was born on that day; and then smile and enjoy yourselves for the rest of it; for mirth is also of Heaven's making". ~Leigh Hunt

"May the spirit of Christmas bring you peace,
The gladness of Christmas give you hope,
The warmth of Christmas grant you love".
~Author Unknown

"I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old, familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet
The words repeat
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!"
~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

"And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so? It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags. And he puzzled and puzzled 'till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before. What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store. What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more". ~Dr. Seuss

The 12 Days After Christmas

2009-12-16T15:48:00.009-05:00

I always liked the original version to The Twelve Days of Christmas song:

"The Twelve Days of Christmas is an English Christmas carol (Roud # 68) which enumerates a series of increasingly grandiose gifts given on each of the twelve days of Christmas. Although it was first published in England in 1780, textual evidence may indicate the song is French in origin.

Twelve Days of Christmas are:
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Twelve Days of Christmas, and the associated evenings of those twelve days (Twelve-tide), are the festive days beginning the evening of Christmas Day (December 25) through the morning of Epiphany (January 6). The associated evenings of the twelve days begin on the evening before the specified day. Thus, the first night of Christmas is December 25-26, and Twelfth Night is January 5-6. This period is also known as Christmastide.

But when someone sent me this version, I just had to laugh! Not sure where this new one with a twist came from or who wrote it, but its funny!

THE TWELVE DAYS AFTER CHRISTMAS:

The first day after Christmas, my true love and I had a fight
And so I chopped the pear tree down and burned it just for spite
Then with a single cartridge, I shot that blasted partridge
my true love, my true love, my true love gave to me

The second day after Christmas, I pulled on the old rubber gloves
and very gently wrung the necks of both the turtle doves
My true love, my true love, my true love gave to me

The third day after Christmas my Mother caught the croup
I had to use the three French Hens to make some chicken soup
The four calling birds were a big mistake for their language was obscene
The five golden rings were completely fake and they turned my fingers green

The sixth day after Christmas, the six laying geese wouldn't lay
I gave the whole darn gaggle to the A.S.P.C.A

On the seventh day, what a mess I found
all seven of the swimming swans had drowned
My true love, my true love, my true love gave to me

The eighth day after Christmas, before they could suspect
I bundled up the eight maids a milking, nine pipers piping, ten ladies dancing, eleven lords a leaping, twelve drummers drumming (Spoken: "Well, actually, I kept ONE of the drummers" ) and sent them back collect
I wrote my true love, " We are through, love! "
And I said in so many words,
" Furthermore your Christmas gifts were for the birds! "

Many many wishes to you for a Merry Christmas full of love and of course laughter!

Elizabeth

Individual or Mini Pecan Pies

2009-12-04T11:12:00.011-05:00

One of our favorite Holiday desserts, whether for Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner is pecan pie! About 3 years ago I decided to use the same pecan pie recipe I always use, but with a twist: As mini or individual pies! Most years I use a ready made pie crust, (I’m all for ease and time saving methods), but this year I decided to make the crust from scratch.

Either way, these are delicious and much easier to wrap and store. And the best part: if only one person wants pie you just take out one and add your favorite topping!

I have always used the Karo Syrup Classic Pecan Pie Recipe, but you can use your favorite recipe with similar results.

Classic Pecan Pie

Ingredients

• 1 cup Karo Light OR Dark Corn Syrup
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1 teaspoon Pure Vanilla Extract
• 1-1/2 cups (6 ounces) pecans
• 1 Pkg ready made pie crusts
• Preheat oven to 350°F.

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.

2. Cut and insert pie crusts into mini baking containers. Mix corn syrup, eggs, sugar, butter and vanilla using a spoon. Stir in pecans. Pour filling into pie crust.

3. Bake on center rack of oven for 50 to 60 minutes (see tips for doneness, below). Cool for 2 hours on wire rack before serving.

4. RECIPE TIPS: Pie is done when center reaches 200°F. Tap center surface of pie lightly - it should spring back when done. For easy clean up, spray baking dishes with cooking spray before placing pie crust in dish. *If pie crust is overbrowning, cover edges with foil.

5. NUTRITION TIP: To reduce calories, substitute new Karo® Lite Syrup for the Karo® Light or Dark Corn Syrup.

6. High Altitude Adjustments:
Reduce sugar to 2/3 cup and increase butter to 3 tablespoons. Reduce oven temp to 325°F.

Enjoy and Happy Holidays!

Elizabeth

YES VIRGINIA, THERE IS A SANTA CLAUS!

2009-12-03T12:33:00.011-05:00

In 1897, eight-year-old Virginia O'Hanlon wrote a letter to the editor of New York's Sun and Newsman Francis Pharcellus Church wrote The Sun's response to Virginia. The quick response was printed as an unsigned editorial Sept. 21, 1897. The work of this veteran newsman has since become history's most reprinted newspaper editorial, appearing in part or whole in dozens of languages in books, movies, and other editorials, and on posters and stamps.

Virginia's Letter:

"DEAR EDITOR: I am 8 years old.
Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says 'If you see it in THE SUN its so'. Please tell me the truth. Is there a Santa Claus?"

"VIRGINIA O'HANLON.
"115 WEST NINETY-FIFTH STREET."

The Editorial:

VIRGINIA, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except [what] they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men's or children's, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

Yes, VIRGINIA, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! How dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no VIRGINIAS. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, and no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.
Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that's no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.

You may tear apart the baby's rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, VIRGINIA, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.

No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives,
and he lives forever.
A thousand years from now, Virginia,
nay, ten times ten thousand years from now,
he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.

Merry Christmas everyone, I wish you faith, love, peace and happiness this Holiday season! And may you know the true meaning of Christmas.

Elizabeth

Breast Cancer Screenings

2009-11-23T08:53:00.003-05:00

Here’s a subject that is very disturbing to me. My family has a history of cancer so I was very concerned and frighten even to read that our government's Health Care Bill will mandate that insurance companies will no longer pay for women to have mammograms in their 40’s.
What?!
All studies on the subject suggest that some of the most aggressive forms of breast cancer a woman can get is while she is in her 40’s. I have also read articles that suggest one in every 2000 (some say it's 1 in 1000) women will have some form of breast cancer.
I think our Government and our Doctors need to remember that there are lives to be saved. Each 40 something women Doctors face in their office is potentially that one woman.

What is a Mammogram?
Even the American Cancer Society, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the National Cancer Institute said they have no plans to back down from their current guidelines.

American Cancer Society Statement on Mammography Guidelines

Response of The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists

And according to the National Cancer Institute, breast cancer is the leading cancer among women of many Asian and Pacific Islander groups in the U.S. Many women do not know they have breast cancer until it is advanced.

Also, something that I see missing from all most all reports and articles I have read on this subject, the Elephant in the room: These studies were done in Sweden and England; and where the poor analysis of these mammograms studies originated.

And what of the women like Beth Thompson, 44, a mother of four who lives in the suburbs of Baltimore, Md., who was first diagnosed with breast cancer following a mammogram at the age of 40.

"I had no risk factors and no family history," Thompson told ABCNews.com. "Under the new guidelines I wouldn't be screened. That's why I'm so upset about this. I firmly believe I would not be here today if I had not had a screening mammogram at 40."

And because this Study suggest that women between 50 to 74 year old benefit more from breast screenings than 40 to 49 year old women means we throw the 40 something women under the bus? How crazy is that!? If your mother or sister age 45 has cancer and it could be detected, it does not benefit you or her MORE!?

So what our Government is saying is these women are expendable? Or not worth the cost of a mammogram?
And why is our Government using findings from another country against what our Doctors working with women, our Cancer and Research Centers, etc. are recommending?
When most doctors feel that early detection tests for breast cancer save many thousands of lives each year, and that many more lives could be saved if even more women and their health care providers took advantage of these tests?
And what of the women who can not afford a Mammogram when insurance will no longer cover them?
Where are the women's groups? Why are they not speaking out in outrage and anger at such a blow to all women!?

I fear this is only the beginning......

Can you say "death panels"?

Elizabeth

Bedbug Epidemic, Yikes!

2009-11-17T09:26:00.021-05:00

Don’t know about you, but even talking about or looking at a photo of certain bugs and I start to itch and think they're crawling all over me. Bedbugs are one of them. I heard a disturbing bit of news on the radio so decided to "Google" it. Seems there is nearly an epidemic going on concerning bedbugs of all things. Supposedly nearly 70% of local hotels and motels here in the Columbus, Ohio area have had bedbugs, wow!
www.dispatch.com

The Ohio Department of Agriculture has even gone so far as to ask the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for an emergency exemption to allow the use of Propoxur on these little pests. Propoxur is used in commercial buildings, on crops and in flea and tick collars for pets. More than a dozen other states are in the same boat and backing the request.
According to reports, Pesticides drove bed bugs from the U.S. in the 1950s, but they've scuttled back in with international travelers. Introduced in 1959, Propoxur was removed from home use in the 1990s under a law that sought to reduce people's exposure to insecticides.

This is National problem with many cities reporting a problem. Earlier this month there was a first-ever bedbug summit hosted by the Environmental Protection Agency and there is even a “Bedbug Task Force” (no joke).

What can be done? There are websites and brochures available for tips and ways to eradicate these unwanted sleep mates. Bedbug Brochure

The Central Ohio Bed Bug Task Force Web site has photos of bedbugs and some of their tell-tale signs, and it also has links to additional brochures and fact sheets with photos and information. OSU’s Extension fact sheet on bedbugs is available on the
OSU Extension's Website

Think it can't happen to you? Think again!
Who Gets Bedbugs?

Gota run, taking a hot shower and stripping everything in my house, just to be sure!
Elizabeth

Cranberry Sauce, Finding a Good One

2009-11-14T20:24:00.013-05:00

Well it's that time of year to dig though all my recipes, try to find the perfect ones to make for Thanksgiving Dinner!
I keep notes each year of recipes used and food prepared and pencil in tips to myself such as "fantastic" or "this was really yummy" or "not so good".
We have all the traditional food: Turkey, dressing, yams, green bean casserole, pumpkin pie, etc. And I always have cranberries. But each year it seems many dinner guests do not like cranberries, and won't even put them on their plates!
In recent years I have been experimenting with different Cranberry Sauce recipes and came across this one in 2007. It was a big hit that Thanksgiving and also in 2008. I hope you enjoy it!
Elizabeth

BASIC CRANBERRY SAUCE

Make this tangy-sweet sauce up to two days ahead, and refrigerate it.
Can be served with turkey or any bird.
________________________________________

Ingredients
1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/2 cup fresh orange juice
1/4 cup water
1 1/2 tablespoons honey
1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
1 (12-oz) pkg fresh cranberries (I also have used canned)
1 (3-inch) cinnamon stick

Preparation
Combine all ingredients in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 12 minutes or until mixture is slightly thickened, stirring occasionally. Discard cinnamon stick; cool completely.

Yield
14 servings (2 tablespoons)
CALORIES 54 per serving

Thanksgiving Friday

2009-11-11T11:01:00.009-05:00

Thinking of the Holidays coming up, Thanksgiving in particular, and I am quite excited.

I love this time of year! We usually share our Thanksgiving meal on a day other than the actual Thursday. Why, you ask?

I am selfish!

We don’t like to share my family and friends with their other friends and relatives! Seems if I have our dinner on the actual day that has been set aside, I must share my guests, them staying only an hour or two, then off they run to visit someone else on their list.

If I have our dinner on the weekend before or even the Saturday after Thanksgiving, my guests can come early, help with the cooking or just sit and enjoy the aromas and conversations before dinner. There is also not the need to run off so quickly after eating, and many times we have had our guests spend the entire evening with us or stay the night.

All of which I think is the real meaning of Holidays, spending time with our loved ones!

Wishing you all the love, warmth and gratitude of this Thanksgiving Holiday, Elizabeth

Thanksgiving websites I like:

History: http://www.history.com/content/thanksgiving

Plimoth Plantation: http://www.plimoth.org/features/village.php

Day Of The Dead Bread

2009-11-11T10:20:00.002-05:00

Day of the Dead Bread

So I get an email from my nephew-in-law Ben, saying he made "Day of the Dead" bread and had an extra loaf and would I like one.
Well as some of you may know, bread is my friend. I was super excited but hadn't opened the email until late so had to wait an entire (eternity) day to pick it up.

Let me give you a little info on Ben: He is a wonderful cook, has he's own cooking website and a great photographer. I had, up until trying his home baked bread, only salivated over his dishes via his website.
Anyway, I arrived at his and Jon's house to pick up the bread yesterday and upon entering his house immediately became brain dead.
Yes that's right.
The aroma of his house, the smell of fresh baked delicacies, thrown in with a little cinnamon, my mind caused me to utter intelligent phases such as ' I love bread"
Upon viewing the wonderful little loaves of bread my hands began to shake and my mouth watered against my will.

Ben told me a little more history of "Day of the Dead" in Mexico, and sent me off with a pat on the head with my wonderful loaves of bread.
Embarassing as it is, I must admit, I wasn't even off his street before I tore into the bag to see what was making my entire car smell of a bakery.
The bread (yes, be jealous) is sort of the color of potato bread, with just a slight taste of orange zest, and is covered in finely ground sugar.
Heaven!
If you passed me while I was sitting at the stop sign, I apolozize if I scared you with that dazed look on my face and sugar down the front of my shirt.

Oh, and sorry Ben for my zoning out at your house, I will try to control myself next time, I am your food slave..........

Elizabeth

Ben's website: http://whatscooking.us/

Info on Day of the Dead: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Day_of_the_Dead