safety – Page 9 – Home's Cool!

For Home Educators, Only, Please.

Posted on July 30, 2012November 8, 2013 by Katharine

"Negro mother teaching children numbers a... — Homeschooling– the magnet school for share croppers in Transylvania, Louisiana, 1939. How times have changed!

Note: Please do not read this if you are against home schooling. Thanks.

Should All Families Homeschool?

Our family once celebrated a quarter century of home schooling. I could hardly believe it. The time had sped by so fast – where was it?

I thought about the huge blessing the Lord had given us – He had been so gracious to us, taking us by the hand and leading us in a way that we did not know. We believe that the Lord made all the difference in how our children might have grown up.

Any child’s education is partly dependent upon his micro-culture. For instance, if our children had remained in our public schools, they would have learned things like chewing tobacco, as appropriate behavior for second-graders. I know the tobacco manufacturers would have agreed with me: Giving it to second graders is completely unacceptable. I know it was unacceptable to me, along with many similar ideas. Our home clearly was the best place for our children.

I gave my children the best possible education available to them at that time. If they’d been educated in England, how different their speech would have been! If they’d been educated in a wealthy neighborhood, how different their science courses would have been!

I happen to believe that the home is where all children belong.

Yes, I am one of those who believe that all families should homeschool. I hear you gasping but after I define terms, you might agree.

(There is still time to NOT read this.)

Please understand I have nothing against the idea of schools existing.

I just have problems with detaining helpless Americans against their will in a gun-free microcosm that cannot defend them, indeed refuses to attempt defending them, from physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual attack, and that both proscribes their religious beliefs (but only if they are Christian) and prescribes the superstitions of others upon them.

It just does not fit the American purpose and does not set well with this American.

Participating in such a micro-community should be an act that an informed adult freely chooses. He should be free to attend or to escape, as the need arises. The course content should please him and an appropriate level of autonomy should prevail.

Of course, I define a college or university. Amazing how a little free enterprise can elevate the quality of the goods offered for sale! Paying your own way or earning a scholarship can motivate you to behave and study hard, too.

Although there are degrees of excellence in the public and private colleges and universities, there also is freedom to go where we want, when we want, or to skip it altogether, if we want. That is how it should be.

If you are thinking that is fine for adults but it would be folly to burden children with such decisions, you are right.

That is why schools should be only for adults.

More tomorrow.

Photos, Wisdom

Weekly Photo Challenge: Inside

Posted on July 20, 2012 by Katharine

baby blue birds inside — Baby Blue Birds Inside

I so wanted the birds to peek out from the inside while I was taking this shot. They say the camera makes a sound we cannot hear, but that bothers other creatures. I believe it. These little guys were so cute! But they decided to stay inside for us, at this time. Wise move, I’m sure.

Believe it or not!, Blessings of Habit, Health, Homemaking

Germ Warfare – 2

Posted on July 10, 2012April 7, 2014 by Katharine

Cleaning the Food

Let’s start with root crops.

Ladies, if there is the least, remotest possibility that your potatoes, carrots, beets, etc., were grown in soil fertilized with commercial chicken manure, you really ought to hire the soil tested. The reason is that commercially grown chickens were, in the past, fed arsenic. It is harmless to them, even increases production, passing through the chicken, remaining in the droppings a long time, contaminating the soil.

It is fatally poison to humans. Cows have died from eating grass with arsenic laden soil clinging to it.

“They say” arsenic does not enter the plant, but it is imperative to remove ALL the dirt.

However, root crops will fail in raw storage, if you scrub them all nice and clean. So, do you bring arsenic into your root cellar? Do you scrub and can those veggies? You have to decide. Ask your County Extension Agent for free tests and pamphlets and the latest advice on these matters.

If your soil is O.K., you can do what I love doing—put the perfect potatoes and carrots, unwashed, into root storage and can the strange ones (the two-legged carrots and the potatoes with noses). Then as winter progresses and the cellar storage begins to dysfunction, can the things that are still good enough. You don’t lose as much in root storage, that way, but also don’t waste effort on unnecessary canning.

To can potatoes and carrots, most books tell us to peel them first. I just scrub my own home-grown veggies, because I like to eat the peel and it has many of the vitamins. First use a hose on them outdoors, to get most of the dirt. A patio or sidewalk is good for this. Then use a brush and clean water.

A friend of mine makes a few jars of diced potatoes all ready for quick potato salad or stew. I like mine as whole as possible for grating into potato patties. Canned carrots are best sliced, though I put up a few pints of tiny ones (fingerlings) whole. These I use for gifts or special company.

Wash ALL washable food before using. Think about using a little soap, too. Unscented home-style bar soap cleans apples, celery, potatoes, etc., just fine.

If this idea amazes you, think: who picked, wrapped, boxed, unboxed, unwrapped, and displayed your apple? You don’t know! Did any of these six people have a cold or the flu? Probably! Does the grocery store or produce truck have roaches? Of course!

Ant-climbing-on-apple-flowers__41042 (Photo credit: Public Domain Photos)

Even if you grew the fruit yourself, never sprayed it, and picked it yourself, you can be pretty sure that your tree has ants, roaches, and at least two types of flies. They can spread disease; it’s a fact.

One favorite way to store many fruits is in jams. Apples and pears go into applesauce and pear sauce, which we use like jam, too. (Make pear sauce just like applesauce.) We can a few peaches and pears. Try pears with a 1/4” piece of ginger root in the jar. Pear preserves are a real treat over vanilla ice cream.

Also, freeze a few bags of slightly sugared, sliced peaches and use them for blender ice cream or shakes, which are easy to make with chilled milk and frozen fruit.

I freeze blackberries whole. Just wash, drain, and package.

When you wash small produce, such as peas or snapped beans, use two sinks. Scour sinks clean and fill with water. Add produce to one sink. Stir gently with your hands and then transfer from that sink to the other. Drain and refill first sink while stirring the other. Continue until used water is clear.

While you are transferring, try this method for estimating the jars you’ll need: pick up as much as you are able in a double handful; count it as about one pint.

Before I forget:

Wash greens in the automatic washing machine.
Use Vitamin C for fruit preserver. (One 500 mg tablet per gallon of water.)

Tomorrow: Special blanching tips and RECIPES

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Photo credit: wikipedia

Believe it or not!, Blessings of Habit, Health, Homemaking

Germ Warfare – 1

Posted on July 9, 2012July 10, 2012 by Katharine

She was holding back tears of frustration. It had failed, again.

Every time she’d tried to duplicate her mother’s lemon pie, all she could produce was lemon soup.

She had asked her mother.

The many possible explanations made her head swim.

Were the eggs too small, too old, or too cold?

Was the cornstarch under-ripe, or were the lemons over-ripe?

Was the water filtered? The sugar sifted?

How many times she’d watched Mother make that pie! She mentally ticked off the ingredients, desperate for a clue . . . .

She forgot one ingredient.

No, she did not omit anything on the recipe card. Actually, she forgot to examine carefully one item that she always, unthinkingly, added to her mother’s formula.

Human saliva.

Yes, in her youthful ignorance of scrupulous hygiene, she always sampled the pie filling with the same spoon, several times. Her family often shared apples, ice cream cones, and drinking glasses, she reasoned. No one would care, or even know.

M-m-m! So delicious! Sure hope it sets up this time…

If you have ever fed a child from a jar of baby food and refrigerated the left-overs for later, you may have had the same experience of soupy consistency. The food isn’t exactly spoiled—just somewhat digested. God created the enzymes in saliva expressly for that purpose and they work very well.

Cleanliness in the kitchen is of crucial importance. The lack of it is considered rudeness. In this country, a guest has a right to decline to eat where food is not protected from contaminants. You wouldn’t expect a person to eat a helping of casserole with a fly on it, right?

That’s because of the germs.

The battle against germs must be fought on all fronts, though. The ice-cube that hits the floor, the meat juice on the cutting board, the dust in the vent hood, the film on the refrigerator handle, and the licked spoon are some of the prime targets in this battle.

And if you think your hands are pretty clean, I challenge you to try this for one day: rinse them a little and then dry on the same white towel each time you begin to work in the kitchen.

The importance of cleanliness skyrockets, though, with the added factor of food storage. I mean, why bother to preserve dirty food? It is especially important to realize the part that germs, enzymes, etc., can play in the failures experienced in dry storage and raw storage. Uncooked food stuff can save your life or kill you, depending on its quality.

Generally, home dried food that is quick-dried and then stored frozen is safe. Some of it is delicious. Peaches are superb. If you dry food out-doors, though, do use netting to protect it from insects and do not choose a day when dust is blowing everywhere. If you use a mechanical dehydrator, clean it between uses. Check it for six-legged occupants. In fact, if you know that your house is not bug-free, you should clean every utensil you need for each meal.

When you prepare foods for storage, clean your kitchen counters and tables first. Use an ammonia based spray, dish water, baking soda, or vinegar. Any of the extreme acid or alkaline substances usually does a good job of killing and removing bacteria, etc. Then spread clean towels over the work surfaces you plan to use. I use towels from garage sales and bleach them often.

Next wash the utensils. The colander is dusty, the tongs are rusty, and the cutting board is musty!

I hope you have a wooden cutting board because they are the most sanitary.

Wash the jars, carefully. Hold them up to a light to check for little bits of last year’s food. Wash the bands and flats. (Especially the flats, because they have direct contact with the food, just like the jars. They can have metal filings, stray bits of rubber, mildew and roach hairs on them. Ick.)

Tomorrow, the food.

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Photo credit: David Maddison

Good ol' days, Health, Photos, Who's the mom here?

Weekly Photo Challenge: Movement

Posted on July 6, 2012July 7, 2012 by Katharine

When it is really hot and dry outside, children can suffer from lack of sunlight and exercise.We want them to enjoy fresh air and full range of movement, daily, but of course, no one sends them outdoors to play, with the goal of heat exhaustion!

We know how water helps, yet, not everyone can afford or even wants a facility for swimming. This is when a small wading pool serves best.

Children playing in water are cool enough. And in this small water element, these large children will not drown.

Although we might predict these children, who know how to swim, might find such a puddle boring, I remembered the fun I had in my childhood and decided to give it a try.

Success! They completely emptied it three times before they tired of this game of splash. They were pleasantly tired and satisfyingly rosy-cheeked when they clamored at the back door for some lunch. They even napped afterward, at their age!

When I have no small visitors, how easy to empty and dry this pool for storage!

At $10.00, it was a great bargain.

Why would anyone want to surrender this moment to someone else? Home’s cool!

Believe it or not!, Inspiring, Scripture

Sunday Scriptures – Fleeting Moment

Posted on July 1, 2012July 10, 2012 by Katharine

Listen, I tell you a mystery:

We will not all sleep,

but we will all be changed —

in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye,

at the last trumpet.

For the trumpet will sound,

the dead will be raised imperishable,

and we will be changed.

— 1 Corinthians 15:51-52

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photo credit: Wikipedia

Believe it or not!, Inspiring, Photos

Weekly Photo Challenge: Fleeting Moment

Posted on June 29, 2012 by Katharine

DIGITAL CAMERA — This is how it is around me.

A Fleeting Moment On the Street is the challenge for this week.

I do not spend much time on the street, but while I covered news for our local newspaper, I did cover a proposition that involved the street, itself, as a fleeting moment.

First , you see the sign for a “fleeting moment” street, for those who can read.

As you can also see, it engenders wrath.

Next is the multi-cultural sign, which includes the non-reading culture, of course. And you also see folks around here have no trouble respecting that one.

Isn’t that how we always are? We resent what we do not understand and accept the easier stuff?

Yep.

And do we want to understand? Not always, if it means we might have been wrong. Admit it. We all do this.

However, quite often, those who put up warning signs are among those who know what’s coming and only hope, for a fleeting moment, to awaken us to dreadful possibilities, to protect us from our own mistakes, should we continue.

How kind!

How needed!

How I want to be like that!