I'm back!

2 year olds should not repeatedly press the power button of the computer!

It leads to the family not being able to even boot up said computer. Which means, in this household, that there is no internet, no email, and (most importantly perhaps) no DVDs.

Fortunately we could still play the Wii, so all was not lost. But it has been an odd week.


It started with the death of the computer (long live the computer!). Fortunately we have a wonderful friend who potters around with the actual hardware of such things for fun. So it has been returned to us in full working order, and luckily, with no memory loss! Yay! No catastrophic data loss! It even remembers my log-ins for things - which is more than I can usually do. It only needed a new motherboard, CPU, power thingie... (no, I don't really know what they do - Merl has tried to explain it, but I confess that my eyes glaze over a little).

Then Merl went to Wellington for more work stuff. Inconvenient. He'd only been back for a week, and was requested back at 'head office' again - at short notice (like, a phone call on Friday to say 'be here Monday morning'). Usually we have at least a couple of weeks notice. Anyhow, it was only a couple of days this time - not a full week like it normally is. And I have friends who are raising children all by themselves all the time, so I should just suck it up. But I do miss him when he's gone. Especially at the end of a long day. AND there was no computer to play DVDs for the children at the witching hour, either.

But all was well, as he returned home Tuesday evening.

Wednesday was great - I felt full of energy and pottered happily around the place. We visited my aunt in the morning and had a good natter over coffee while Miss5 hung out with my uncle outside, setting up their bird-feeder. Then we came home to a freshly cleaned house (I am the only full-time Mum I know with a cleaner - but I just can't quite seem to feel guilty about it!) and got stuck into some actual school work! (I know! shock! actual lessons!). Miss2 had found a CD in my 'teacher box' with a fire safety song on it, so I followed their interest by producing the Teachers Manual for a fire safety unit (provided by the Fire Service) and we made a big poster about fire, and discussed safe and unsafe fires, and how important it is to 'Get Out, Stay Out' if the smoke alarms go off, etc, etc. And then after lunch we made bird feeders ourselves, and I re-hung the auto-feeder for the chickens at a better height for them (I will post more about this in a chicken post later in the weekend I think). I even cooked a real dinner! Wednesday was great.

Thursday was a bit different. I woke in a bit of pain - sore lower back, a bit achy, hadn't slept well, that sort of thing. Then the ligaments in my belly were agonisingly sore for most of the morning - not easing up when I lay down or anything. So I spent the morning on the couch with a couple of wheat-sacks, while the kids engaged in 'self-directed learning' with colouring and reading and finger puppets and all sorts of things. I noticed that I was having Braxton-Hicks contractions. On and off. No real pattern. Nothing to worry about. Probably. I'm only not-quite 32 weeks pregnant, so it can't be... It'll be fine... sweetheart, can you go through to Mummy's bedside and bring me the pregnancy books from the bedside table please?

Hmmm. Symptoms of pre-term labour are - lower back pain, contractions (usually falling into a pattern and getting stronger), lower abdominal pain. Hmmmm. I'm probably fine, I say to myself. There's no pattern there.

Later in the morning I notice that I'm having a 30second contraction about every 10 minutes. But after about 5 of them they go away. So that's okay, I say to myself. They've stopped now.

I have lunch and return to the couch. I end up by having contractions on and off the rest of the afternoon - but still no pattern to them - but I'm starting to get a little more concerned - so when talking to a friend in the early evening on the phone I ask her what she thinks.

She, very sensibly, thinks I should have phoned my midwife hours ago. So I apologetically phone my wonderful midwife (who is flying out of the country on her holiday the very next morning). All her back-up people are busy. She sighs and says "you really don't want to be in labour now - they'll ship you out because NICU is full". I say "I know I don't want to be in labour now - how can I make sure that I'm not?" And she says "well, you'd better meet me at the hospital right now."

The upshot being that, I was hooked up to the monitors for long enough for her to decide that I might be in pre-term labour, and go and get authorisation to do a swab-test for it. I never knew there was a swab-test for pre-term labour, but there is. It's really expensive so they don't do it unless they think there's good reason. It's a check for some sort of fetal factor which, if present, indicates that labour is likely within the next couple of weeks. Cool, huh?

And I was 99.4% likely to NOT be in pre-term labour. Which was absolutely wonderful and my midwife and I happily went home at 11pm. (She to do the suitcase packing that I'd interrupted). But she did warn me to take it very easy over the next few weeks because the test does have a small margin of error, and I didn't want to risk anything.

So today was another day on the couch. And, thankfully, we have a computer again and the girls spent the afternoon reacquainting themselves with Asterix and the Berenstain Bears before we tottered out to the library about 4pm.

So that was my week - how was yours?
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This is me, not panicking

By now, if you haven't heard of the imminent swine-flu epidemic, I'm not sure what you've been doing with your internet surfing time, but it hasn't involved keeping up to date with current affairs.

Here in New Zealand we've got 4 confirmed cases, 12 probable cases, 116 suspected cases and 388 people in isolation. Out of a total population of 4 million. Which is either massive or miniscule depending on how you look at it, I guess.

So, naturally, my thoughts have turned to what I can do here and now to prepare for an actual epidemic, should it come to that.

Step one of the flu prep kit

What you see here is the fruit of my first rush of blood to the head.

• 3 weeks supply of paracetamol for 2 adults (each adult may take 2 tablets, 4 times per day. That's a lot of tablets!). Paracetamol is for controlling fever and easing the achy symptoms of flu. If the 'flu comes to our house, Merl and I will need this to make sure that the kids get looked after, food gets organised, dishes get cleaned, that sort of stuff - even when we are sick ourselves.

Okay, sure we probably won't need an entire 3 weeks supply, and it probably isn't good for you to take that much every day for 3 weeks - but I've erred on the side of caution. I'd also hate to need paracetamol for a headache and find that everyone else has beaten me to the supermarket that day.

• paracetamol for the kids.
  

Sick kids are miserable. Ease their symptoms any way possible.

• hand sanitiser (in pump bottle) For when we are out in public - I have sent one of these with Merl to his work and one lives in the car. You're looking at the spare one. We 'wash' our hands when we get back to the car after being in the library, the supermarket, anywhere that people may have coughed or sneezed and then put their hands on what we've touched.

This is a new thing for us. I've never done this before, although I do know people who do this as a matter of course. It has always seemed a little too far toward paranoia for me. But there you go. I must remember to pack some into my tinfoil hat.

• honey, garlic, ginger, cayenne pepper. Ingredients for my kick-a-germ joy juice. I've got lemons on the shopping list. This is good for the early, shivery stages of flu, according to my alternative medicine guide. Fever can be eased with elderflower, peppermint and yarrow infusions, apparently.

Personally, my money is on the paracetamol, but a good strong herbal tonic with honey makes you feel better. And if the swine flu actually does come to town, we'll be fighting it with all guns blazing. We have peppermint in the garden (and I saw some yarrow the other day, too, now that I think of it). Perhaps I should go on a herb gathering expedition this weekend and get some drying in preparation.

• tea tree oil. A decongestant, antiseptic all-round goody. Use for head-pickling or room-infusion.
  

This is fabulous when the kids are night-coughing. I have an old thermal coffee mug that I half-fill with boiling water, drop 3 or 4 drops of tea tree oil onto the top, and leave the mug steaming in their room. Sometimes I'll refresh the hot water in the middle of the night. This really does seem to ease their coughing.

• Vicks vapor-rub. One of those strong-smelling eucalyptus, camphor, linamint rubs for rubbing on the chest.
  

I can't use this directly on Miss5's skin - she comes out in an irritation rash - but I wipe some on a tissue and pop it inside her pillowslip to help her breathing. She doesn't get the chest-warming benefits, but something is better than nothing! Miss2's skin is not so delicate so we can use it normally with her.

In my thinking, there are multiple layers of preparedness for the 'flu.

1. Preventing the spread
2. Dealing with the immediate effects of the 'flu illness
3. Preparing for possible complications of the 'flu itself
4. Preparing for possible social implications of the 'flu

Let's take these one at a time

1. Preventing the spread
For now, I'm happy with hand-sanitizing when we're out. If an actual epidemic is declared, we'll look at keeping away from libraries, supermarkets, swimming pools and the like. In preparation for this, we should check our pantry for essential supplies. Do we have enough of the basics to skip the supermarket for a couple of weeks if we have to?

Also, there may be people in our family/community who need us to care for them while they are ill. How can we minimise risk of catching the 'flu from them and bringing it home? Should we consider face masks? Disposable gloves? For us, this will depend on how fatal this 'flu turns out to be.

2. Dealing with the immediate effects of the 'flu illness
Not much you can do here, beyond what you'd normally do for a 'flu. Stay home, stay in bed, keep your fluids up, take paracetamol.

There is tamiflu, of course, but in NZ at present that's only available over the counter from the pharmacy if the pharmacist actually sees you and confirms you are suffering from 'flu-like symptoms. Or you can get it on prescription, but most doctors are only writing scripts if you actually have the 'flu. Which is all very sensible. The last thing we need is for people to be downing tamiflu like water at the first sign of a cold-virus, and creating the ideal conditions for tamiflu-resistant influenza. Regardless, in NZ just now, tamiflu is available if you have the 'flu - but it's not part of your preparedness kit.

Basically, ease your symptoms, and go to the doctor if you think it is swine flu, or if you suspect secondary bacterial infection, which can cause bronchitis and pneumonia.

3. Preparing for possible complications of the 'flu itself
This is the bronchitis/pneumonia bit. The very young and the very old seem to die of secondary complications of the 'flu. This is why it's important to keep them coughing the phlegm up. The first reason is so that it doesn't sit in their chest and foster infection. The second reason is so you can keep an eye on it to notice if it looks infected (brown or green phlegm is bad - go to the doctor for antibiotics, and really go to town with garlic and tea tree oil).

Oddly, in pandemic 'flu (as opposed to seasonal 'flu) there is often a bunch of people who die at the peak of their fitness, aged 20-40 years old. This is from what is called a 'cytokine storm' - essentially a super-effective immune response that leads to massive organ failure. There's nothing you can do about this except hope it doesn't happen to you.

4. Preparing for possible social implications of the 'flu
This is wide-ranging, and depends on how severe the 'flu gets. If the polio epidemics of my grandmother's childhood is anything to go by, the schools, theaters, swimming pools and all other communal type activities will close down for some months. This wasn't such a big deal when everyone had a huge veggie garden and nobody considered hanging out at the mall a valid social pastime. So at one level, this comes back to making sure you have plenty of food in the cupboards, to minimise those trips to the supermarket.

It also means making sure you have some board games, books, DVDs, computer games, bikes, a trampoline, a deck of cards... whatever it takes to amuse you and your family without leaving your neighbourhood. As home edders, we're pretty used to having our kids around 24/7, but if you're not, you should brace yourself for a couple of weeks for a form of culture shock - as you get used to hanging out with each other a lot more than you have been.

And of course, the darker side could be more job losses than we've already seen (especially if there is a massive shut-down of the CBD), meaning even less money. Meaning a well stocked pantry, a little bit of savings and perhaps some judicious spending before the going gets really bad, could go a long way.

By judicious spending, I mean things like making sure the kids have their winter coats and shoes bought, or putting in a veggie garden. I don't mean replacing the lounge furniture because you don't like the colour any more...

So there we have it - my personal take on the swine flu and what I consider to be sensible precautions.
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lacto-fermented tomato relish

Tomatoes are in season in New Zealand and are consequently very economical. Apparently there have also been issues with exporting them this year, so there is quite a glut of them. All the better to buy up large and preserve them for the rest of the year.

This year I've decided to try one of the Nourishing Traditions lacto-fermented relishes, as well as the usual Edmond's Cookbook relishes and chutneys that all kiwi families know and love.

Step 1 - gather your ingredients. In the photo above, you see
1 Capsicum, or Bell Pepper. Recipe said green, but I used an orange one, then photographed a red one. This needs to be seeded and chopped. i.e. cut it open, throw away the bit with the seeds, and chop up the skin and flesh.
5 Tomatoes. Recipe said 4, but mine weren't very big. Skin them, remove the seeds, and chop.
1 Tablespoons Salt. Recipe calls for natural sea salt. What I have is iodized table salt with anti-caking agent. The purists will throw their hands up in horror. Go ahead.
2 Chillies. Recipe says fresh jalapenos. I have dried chillies of indeterminate species, harvested and dried from a chili potplant I was given. Remove the seeds and chop, being scrupulous about washing your hands afterward. Chili juice burns like fire.
4 Tablespoons Whey. Mine is some liquid strained from homemade yoghurt. Recipe says you can omit this and add more salt, but doesn't say how much more salt.

Then I went for a walk in the garden and gathered 3 green/spring onions and a few leaves of vietnamese coriander/cilantro.










These were also finely chopped, and everything was mashed together in a glass bowl, along with 1/2cup of water. (Tap water. I can hear the screams of purist agony from here).

The mix was then poured into a large preserving jar, tightly sealed, and placed on the bench for a few days (2 to 4 depending on how warm your house is) for those friendly lacto-fermenting bugs to do their thing. Then place it somewhere cool for storage.

Traditional Sauerkraut is probably the most widely known lacto-fermented food. I've not eaten ordinary sauerkraut, but have enjoyed Kimchi, the spicy Korean version. When cabbages are plentiful in my garden, next year sometime, I'll give that a go too.
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kereru, bruised ribs and puppets

All features of this last week, which has been moderately eventful, as these things go.

For a start, I spent the latter half of last week waiting to discover whether I had Shingles or Pneumonia. Turns out it was neither (thankfully). I had a bad cold and extremely sore ribs on one side - couldn't cough, laugh or even breathe deeply. Went to Dr who sent me off for a chest x-ray and started me on antibiotics in case of pneumonia, but said he suspected shingles, but wouldn't be able to tell until the rash came up. Spent next couple of days in pain and feeling unwell. People from church prayed. X-ray came back clear. I no longer feel the slightest bit unwell. But ribs are still very sore.

Yesterday I recalled being viciously (albeit accidentally) jabbed in the back by a small person's elbow about the day before my mysterious rib pain began. That sort of thing happens all the time so I'd forgotten all about it. Bingo. So I had a cold and injured my rib-cage. Still, at least I've had the x-ray now and know there's no rib cracked or anything. I'll just need to be careful and gentle for the next few days. Yay for a husband who loves to stay home with the kids! He was great - took most of last week off so I could sit/lie around doing nothing while he took care of the offspring. Good stuff.


On to the kereru (native woodpigeon). These were quite common to see in our neck of the woods when I was growing up, but then almost vanished about 10 or so years ago. Well, they're back, and this pair were spotted in the gum tree in our neighbours house. I love them. They make cool "whoo whoo whoo" sounds with their wings as they fly, they try to land on branches that are ridiculously inadequate and fall off, and they're altogether lovely.

I hope they stay and the gum tree doesn't get cut down this year (or ever). There's a couple of neighbours who hate it with a passion as it shades their sections quite thoroughly even in summer, drops gum leaves every where and threatens to 'self-lop' one of its great branches into their section. I can understand all that - gum trees aren't really great in suburbia (they also don't like other stuff growing near them and inhhibit healthy growth of other plants), but they provide great nesting sites for these beauties. And they suck up huge volumes of water each day. My section has kinda soggy bits all through winter so I'm happy for the gum tree to be taking what it needs.

On to our third, unrelated topic for today. Puppets.

I handed Miss4 a book of 100 things to make with paints and paper and suggested she have a look through for something to do today. She decided to make a 'dancing dollie'. She drew and coloured the picture of the dancer, and showed me where to cut the holes for her fingers. Then she cut out around the dancer and voila - a dancing puppet.

I unearthed a discarded wine cask box from our craft supplies stash and improvised a wee theater using the craft knife, and she was quite taken with it for about 20 minutes this morning.


It's fun introducing her to new ideas - she's seen puppets before, and played with our wee finger puppets that you can see in the photos - but we've never taken the leap to staging a puppet performance ourselves. I'll raise it as an idea tomorrow. The usual pattern is that she'll be uninterested in something when I first mention it, but after it rolls around her mind for a while (and this could be a long while) it may pop back up, seemingly out of nowhere, as a full-fledged interest.

I'd also like to get hold of a prism in the next week or so. We're reading the Magic School Bus Color Day Relay chapter book, and there's an explanation of white light being fractured by a prism, but reading about it, hearing about it and even seeing it on YouTube (I haven't looked, but I'm confident its there) doesn't compare to actually holding the thing yourself and seeing it happen in real life. Read more...

frugal ice blocks

And I mean super frugal :)

Somehow or other my kids have developed a taste for plain water ice blocks. Yep, just frozen water. They actually prefer them to sugary flavoured ones. Which is awesome on so many levels.

My sister in law bought us an ice cube try similar to these last summer.


It had sat there utterly unused until Miss 4's tonsillectomy. She really wanted cold drinks, and ordinary ice-cubes won't fit into a sipper bottle. But these do!

And then Miss1 wanted in on the act. She is currently teething (in a continual, no end in sight, sort of way). Chewing on these ice sticks was her idea of a super-duper treat. Which made Miss4 think she was missing out on a super-duper treat...

So now, almost every day, I wrap one end of the ice sticks in a little cloth and both girls happily slurp and chew their way through a stick of frozen water. I get little updates from Miss4; "Look what I did to it now!" "See how pointy it is?" "Hah! You didn't know I just bit it off, did you?". Miss1 will finish it up then tap me on the leg (tap tap tap) and direct me (using a no-nonsense finger point) back to the freezer to get her another one.

On the other hand, the home-made frozen-yoghurt and peach ice-blocks that I made specially have been taste-tested and rejected. C'est la vie. I'll get to eat them myself. Read more...

We have our little girl back!

Miss4 is bright as a button and full of energy. I have not seen her looking this well for a very long time. Removing her tonsils and adenoids appears to have improved her overall health immensely. My guess is that she's sleeping better because she can breathe more freely, and being properly rested is flowing on to being generally very well.

I haven't seen her this... I guess 'vital' is the best word... for probably 18 months. When she was two she had this high energy enthusiasm and glowing good health, but she has been just 'run down' for so long I had forgotten. Yay.

The grommets have done a good job too. She wasn't completely deaf but she was missing the ends of words sometimes so it will be good for her to hear properly.

We are very very pleased we did it.

In other news, Grandma (Merl's Mum) arrived for a surprise visit this weekend! It really shouldn't have been a surprise but I completely neglected to write it down in the calendar when it was arranged and it had slipped my mind. Still, no harm done. She texted me as she got into the airport shuttle so I was still able to have morning tea with Dad and make it home to clear her bed off before the shuttle arrived - we're always among the last suburbs they deliver to since we're not really on the way to anywhere else. A good weekend was had by all. Miss1 didn't have any period of shyness with her Grandma this time and launched straight into her charm offensive, and Miss4 was, naturally, over the moon. Lots of good family time. Read more...

water fluoridation - a believer turns against it

The question of water fluoridation has arisen again in our city. Most New Zealand cities fluoridate their water. The vast majority of European cities do not. I found the following article to be extremely thought provoking. I've just copied in the opening paragraph, to get the full article, follow the link.

WHY I CHANGED MY MIND ABOUT WATER FLUORIDATION

John Colquhoun © 1997 University of Chicago Press

Former Advocate

To explain how I came to change my opinion about water fluoridation, I must go back to when I was an ardent advocate of the procedure. I now realize that I had learned, in my training in dentistry, only one side of the scientific controversy over fluoridation. I had been taught, and believed, that there was really no scientific case against fluoridation, and that only misinformed lay people and a few crackpot professionals were foolish enough to oppose it. I recall how, after I had been elected to a local government in Auckland (New Zealand's largest city, where I practised dentistry for many years and where I eventually became the Principal Dental Officer) I had fiercely — and, I now regret, rather arrogantly — poured scorn on another Council member (a lay person who had heard and accepted the case against fluoridation) and persuaded the Mayor and majority of my fellow councillors to agree to fluoridation of our water supply...

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Kick A Germ Joy Juice

"Elephant Garlic de Placitas" by Linda Heath

I found a "Kick A Germ Joy Juice" recipe in a Permaculture recipe book yesterday, 'You can have your permaculture and eat it too', by Robin Clayfield, which I'm borrowing from the library.

Since we have all had a terrible phlegmy cough and the kids have just wanted to sit around and sleep on the couch for stretches of the last few days, I thought we'd give it a try. I didn't inflict it on Miss1, but Miss4 sipped at it in widely spaced sips before finally and conveniently spilling it on the couch... She did better on the batch I made today - without the cayenne pepper, and with more honey :)

Before sharing the recipe with the world, I googled to see what came up and there are about a billion different recipes with this name (okay, maybe a dozen), all variations on the same theme. So here you have a version of Kick A Germ Joy Juice. I must say it tastes mighty fine - I personally much prefer it with the cayenne pepper, but I quite like a bit of a burn, if it's the right sort of burn (and this surely was).

juice of one lemon (or lime or orange)
clove of garlic, finely chopped (or equivalent amount if using fabulous elephant garlic, as we were!)
1cm grated fresh ginger
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
mix together in a small jug and pour hot boiled water over the lot, dissolving
1 teaspoon honey
into it. Cover and leave to sit for 10-15 minutes before drinking.

I made about 1 1/2 cups with the above recipe and strained it through a tea-strainer (small sieve) as I poured it into the cups.

Very warming, and it makes you feel like you're doing something about the germs, which I'm sure is at least half the battle :)

A visitor yesterday happened to remark about the strong garlicky smell in the house, so perhaps use with discretion if the odour is repellent to you. I guess you could leave the garlic out, but I think it likely that the garlic is the most germ-kicking bit in the recipe, so probably not recommended if you actually want to fight off a threatening cold or flu.

Sláinte! Read more...

where is all the food?

I went to the supermarket today. This is kinda unusual for me, because Merl has "Daddy-daughter time" on Saturday mornings with Miss4 and they go to the various veggie markets and the supermarket for the food shopping then.

This past Saturday the weather was utterly filthy and we decided to have a day inside looking out the window at sleet and snow.

The up-shot being that we ran out of bread. I did bake, but I forgot the bread was in the oven and it got more than a bit over-cooked. Now, we don't mind crunchy crusts, but it'd be nice if we could actually cut the bread. So. The supermarket.

Usually when I go in, I have a specific purchase in mind, find my way more or less directly to the aisle, select the best value for money and, having (usually) refused a plastic bag, make my exit.

Today, Miss4 and I pushed Miss1 in the trolley up and down all the aisles, as we had a small selection of things on the mental list. I was struck the vast quantity of "not-food" that was for sale. Aisle after aisle of food-substitutes. Jars of brightly coloured corn-starch goop (also known as 'simmer sauces', 'pasta sauces', 'stir-fry sauces', to add to your frozen packets of pre-chopped veges and pre-chopped meat, to serve up on your boil-in-a-bag white rice. A vast array of muesli bars/snack bars/fruit-squeezy things, each claiming to be more healthy and a more complete breakfast/snack/meal-substitute than the last. Chippies, of course. Not-Chippies (apple chips, puffed grain chips, reconstituted potato chips). Biscuits. Not-Biscuits (aka crackers). Chocolate. Boiled sweets. instant soups. instant noodles. instant gravy.

Of course, none of this is actually new to me, but I was struck by the strangeness of it today.

If the average trolley leaving the supermarket reflects the average shelf-stocking of the supermarket, then what on earth are we eating??

Why are so many 'foods' being touted as low in calories? (okay, I know the answer to that one). But really, if a food has no calories, it is not actually food.

I don't know what it is, but it isn't food.

And all these not-foods are really expensive, compared to, say a bag of potatoes and some salad greens.

As an aside, I am not averse to using the odd packet of instant gravy, and in fact bought 4 tins of condensed tomato soup today, because they are so handy for making a quick meal, or flavouring a pasta sauce, or making butter chicken (Mmmmmm, butter chicken). I've just been thinking a lot lately about what food is, what we eat food for, and planning my garden around providing some of the essentials - carbs (potatoes), proteins (peas and beans), vitamins and minerals (coloured veggies and fruits), and of course flavour (herbs and fruits).

Modified corn starch doesn't appear anywhere on my list of essential food groups, but is present in large quantities in almost every pre-prepared food around. gross.

aside #2 petrol went up to $2.19 per litre today for unleaded 91octane. A litre is about the same volume as a quart, for the north americans among us. ouch. Read more...

Marigold tea

I was reading a wee Herbal the other day. Which has gone missing now that I think about it, last seen being 'read' by Miss1. Hmmm, that will bear some investigation. Anyhow, was reading this Herbal and learned all about the wonders of Calendula officinalis (pot marigold), some of which was new to me. I had known that it was good for soothing skin complaints, but apparently Calendula has been used as the cure-all for pretty much everything. Wouldn't surprise me if there had been someone, somewhere crediting it with healing them from the Plague.

Still, making marigold tea felt like a lovely sunshiny thing to do, and the sun was surely shining. So I put on my purple woolly hat, and dashed out into the cold to harvest some. Fortunately Calendula grows like a weed and there were 2 plants in flower. Back inside in the sunshine and out of the wind, I roughly cut the flowers up with a veggie knife and steeped them in my coffee plunger. It looked so pretty I just had to share it.

I'm sure that for any medicinal effects I'd need more petals than that, but the sight of it in the sunshine was tonic in itself. The tea itself was very nice with a bit of honey. And if nothing else, the honey was soothing to my sore throat. Read more...

Sprout Bread, and review of Sproutman's Kitchen Garden

Sprout Bread a la Sproutman

Well, we baked it and ate it. Verdict: edible, unusual, tasty, but probably not going back for seconds.

The basic recipe is to take 2 cups of whole wheat berries, sprout them the same way you'd make your own mung bean sprouts or whatever, but when the shoot is not quite as long as the length of the berry, puree them to a paste in the food processor. Then shape it into little roll-sized loaves and 'bake' at 125degC for about 3 or 4 hours.

The flavour is quite sweet and malty, because when the wheat berries sprout their enzymes all kick into action and produce a fair amount of maltose. So that's quite yummy. And the sprouts are way more nutritious than straight wheat flour. I think the flavour would go better in a biscuit (what the North Americans would call a cookie). There are recipes for such in the cookbook, and I'll try them next. Just think, cookies with no sugar, no wheat flour, no baking soda etc etc. Good stuff.

It's funny, but despite the Sproutman being a near Vegan, there is a whole lot of cross-over between the recipes in his "Kitchen Garden" book and those in Sally Fallon's "Nourishing Traditions" book (fan review here), who is a confirmed meat-o-saurus, and whose book we now own because I thought it was so good. The cross-over comes because both authors/food philosophers believe strongly in reducing the 'processing' of food to almost nil, in maximising the enzyme content of your food, and have a strong emphasis on lacto-fermentation. Most of the recipes in the Kitchen Garden book would not be at all out of place in the Nourishing Traditions book.

All in all, I recommend the book, but not, perhaps the bread :) Read more...

A day in the life...

...of a full-time Mum.

3.30am - aware of Miss1 grizzling. Check to see what problem is - she has kicked off all her blankets and is now too cold. Fix. Check Miss4 - also half out of her bedclothes. Fix. Aware that house is probably too warm for comfort. Turn off heat-pumps. Go to back to bed.

5am - aware of Miss1 banging on the side of her cot and chatting away to herself. Ignore. Attempt to go back to sleep.

6am - alarm clock goes off. Earlier than usual because Merl needs to be out the door to catch the bus at 7am this morning. Despite not being a morning person, I was relatively cheerful as grizzly toddler and Miss4 crawl into our bed for our morning family time.

6.45 - Merl gets himself breakfast and feeds Miss1 out of the same bowl. Usually we all eat porridge together, but I don't eat before about 7.45am, and this morning was a special "pyjama breakfast party" at kindy for Miss4. All good so far.

7am - Merl heads out the door and I turn my attention to getting our morning routines done - clothes on bodies, laundry in machine, that sort of thing. Miss1 looks tired (unsurprisingly), Miss4 walks into about 4 different pieces of furniture, adding weight to my working theory of her ears being blocked again. Retrieve the clean pairs of pyjamas from the drier. (Yay for flylady - without her I would never have remembered to plan for the pj party last night). The pair that Miss4 had gone to bed in met an unfortunate urinary accident about 11.30pm last night, so a clean set for kindy were a must!

7.40am - Miss1 still looks hungry, and Miss4 can't wait for kindy, so we all have a piece of my fabulous fruit bread (toasted, Mmmm) for breakfast.

8am - get text from the leader of our Mainly Music group (preschoolers music group hosted by our church). She is sick and won't make it, would I be able to help things go smoothly. "Sure!" I reply. She says another Mum has offered to lead in her place, I'll just need to help things along a bit. No problem, I say

8.15am - get a call from Anna to see if I can take JB to music this morning - Sure, I say, I'll use the car, drop Miss4 at kindy, come pick up JB and be at music about 9am. Perfect.

8.25am - Everyone into car, along with nappy bag and stuff to take to Mainly Music that I forgot to take last week.

8.26am - tick tick tick tick tick. That's the only sound I hear when I turn the key in the ignition.

tick tick tick tick tick

8.27am - Everyone out of the car. Miss1 into stroller. Hats on. Coats on. Walk to kindy (fortunately just around the corner from us). Safely deposit Miss4.

8.45am - Back at home, phone Anna and explain situation, we cancel. Phone another Mum from Mainly Music to give her a heads up. Fortunately she is one of those Mums who just takes it all in stride and nothing is a bother. Yay.

9am - Phone Dad to ask whether to phone the Automobile Association or if he has any other ideas. He says he'll be up in an hour with his jumper cables and charger. yay. (we do have jumper cables, but Dad loves to do that sort of stuff, and would prefer to use his own tools anyway). I give up on making it to Music this week. Oh well.

Laundry, tidy up, wipe bathroom ceiling (black mildew - ick)

9.45 - Miss1 to bed - earlier than usual, but I can't blame her for being tired. Aren't we all?!

9.50 - what's for dinner? how about crockpot Lasagne? Perfect. Start assembling.

10am - Dad arrives

10.15am - jump starting failed, so we push start on our hill. Car eventually kicks into life and Dad drives off in it to charge the battery.

continue with dinner prep, folding yesterday's laundry, hanging today's on line. Also sit down for a cuppa for a few minutes

11am - Dad arrives back. The car had died. He'd needed help from passers-by to get it to the side of the road out of the intersection it had died in. Then he'd had to slog it up our hill on foot... Have a sit and chat with Dad for a bit. He suggests going back to his place, waking my brother (who works nights) and seeing if he can give us a hand to tow the car (Miss1 is still asleep - I can't leave the house while she's sleeping!). Sounds good to me. I suggest towing it straight to my mechanic, who is not that far from where the car is (I know the battery is flat - but why it wouldn't keep running once started confuses me). All good.

11.20am - Dad leaves, I phone mechanic. Get the answerphone. Leave long pathetic rambly message.

11.30am - Miss1 wakes up. Change gross nappy. Feed/eat lunch.

12noon - Dad and my brother arrive, having deposited car at mechanic. They will phone when they know what the problem is. Have coffee with family. Miss1 still eating. Dad and brother both express 'concern' at our decision to home educate offspring. Spend 15 minutes discussing pros and cons of various methods of schooling. Was interested that neither Dad nor brother were concerned about academics - was the old bug-a-boo of socialisation, and access to competitive sports teams. Responded that there were ample socialisation opportunities, especially with the local homeschooling group, that meets weekly so the kids can play together etc. Regarding sports teams, if anyone shows inclination/aptitude for competitive grade sports, then there are plenty of club teams around for kids - softball, cricket, soccer, rugby... Also assured them that we wold take it on a year by year basis and if at any point we thought that the school system offered more than we could that she would be back in school like a shot. Also reassured them that I was fully aware of homeschooling disaster stories, but reminded them of formal schooling disaster stories too.

12.25pm - 'bye to Dad and brother. Miss1 into pushchair, and off to kindy to collect Miss4

12.45pm - 2pm You know, I can't really remember. Miss4 spent some time without trousers on, but I can't remember why - I suspect that she couldn't have told you herself - she just wanted to. Miss1 and I spent about 20minutes hanging more laundry on the line before Miss4 put her trousers back on and came outside. Kids happy outside (This is termed "unstructured play" in educator-speak), quite a warm afternoon - comparatively, so I grabbed some secateurs and did some hack-and-slash gardening. Cut back the hydrangeas. Miss4 alerted me to another icky nappy. Change it.

2pm - 2.30pm - Reading books, playing with jigsaws, conflict mediation. Miss1 to bed again.

2.30-3.30pm - Look up 'dolphins' on National Geographic website for Miss4. We have a home-education group field trip on Monday to the Aquarium and will hear a talk about Hector's Dolphins (NZ native, very very endangered), found cool video and sound clips of dolphins herding fish and talking to each other. Read stories. Do some 'writing'. A favourite book at the moment is 'The Hungry Coat', where Narettin Hoca says "Eat, coat! Eat!" multiple times, so I suggest she writes down "Eat, coat! Eat!" in her writing book - this is the first use of the 'writing book'. I write it down and she copies it. A little cubist/modernist in her approach to letter placement, but if you know where to look, the words are there. Miss1 wakes from her little nap.

another icky nappy. What did I feed her yesterday??

3.30-4pm feed both children afternoon tea. yoghurt, pretzels and sultanas. Leave Miss4 in charge of feeding Miss1 her yoghurt while I go whisk the washing in off the line before it gets any colder and damper (I can see the sea mist rolling in). Wipe yoghurt from Miss1's hair, send Miss4 to the toilet 'just in case'. Put coats and hats etc on for a trip in stroller to the Doctor. (Thank goodness our local GP is in easy walking distance. I set up this appointment yesterday, before we had any inkling of car troubles!)

4.20pm - Arrive at doctor. Persuade Miss4 to keep in her pocket the pile of road stones she has collected on the way, not sprinkle them on the carpet. Take off hats and coats etc. Read story in waiting room.

4.30 - appointment time. I love having a small local doctor who keeps to her appointment times. It feels like a luxury. Our last GP in Palmerston North would be running 45 minutes late by 10am some days. Anyhow, yes, both kids are full of the cold, yes it is probably viral, yes Miss4 has blocked ears, but can probably still hear out of one of them, would we like to try a nasal spray (yes), if still blocked in a few weeks we'll send another letter to the ENT and look at having those adenoids out (this is good news - from what the ENT said last year, with her super-sized adenoids we can look forward to a deaf child every winter until she's about 8 unless we remove them. I believe him - I had the same problem as a child, but a GP who was very non-interventionist. I am consequently less non-interventionist than I might otherwise have been). Miss1's ears okay. good.

4.40 - hats, coats etc back on, cross road to the pharmacy (which Miss4 repeatedly called the 'cemetery', for some reason - I guess it has 3 syllables, and kinda rhymes), filled 'scripts.

4.45 - walked home past mechanic - car still where Dad left it with the hood up. Didn't bother the busy men - there were at least 30 cars in their yard, and ours was an unexpected arrival mid-way through the day. Shall give them a call mid-morning tomorrow if we haven't heard from them before then.

5pm - Home again. Out of coats, hats etc. Another Icky Nappy! Blow up balloon Miss4 was given at pharmacy. Negotiate balloon truce, by pointing out another balloon behind the living room door. Put on Computer so Miss4 can write a 'Monk-e-Mail'. Start chopping broccoli. Take Miss1 away from computer and restart it, finding the Monk-e-Mail for Miss4 again. Make mental note that Miss1 is now dragging small chair across the room to climb it to reach things. Bring Miss1 and small chair into kitchen while I finish putting broccoli into steamer and start it cooking. Shut curtains around house. Sit down, read stories. Miss1 is particularly in favour of Hairy Maclary today.

5.45pm - Merl home. 'Yay's and clapping hands all 'round!

6pm - Dish up dinner while listening to details of Merl's day. Eat dinner, sharing details of my day. Miss4 shares all about having breakfast at kindy in her pyjamas.

6.20pm -time to turn the shower on and get the baby bath filling up. (we have a wet-floor shower. No tub. We are still using the baby bath - both girls like a turn sitting in it!) Time for kids to do mad running laps of the house (up the hallway, around the corner, through the lounge, through the dining room, through the kitchen, up the hallway...), in various states of undress. I don't know when this tradition started, but it is now a fixed, nightly event. Daddy gets the final Icky Nappy of the Day! Mummy sneaks 10 minutes on the internet while kids are in shower.

6.45 - out of shower! towel dry, into pyjamas, Mummy dries Miss4's hair with the hair dryer, administers anti-fungal cream, nappy rash cream, garlic oil into ears, and Vicks as appropriate.

7pm - To bed! Oh wait, Miss4 needs fresh sheets. Daddy reads bed-time stories and evening devotions on couch this evening, while Mummy makes up bed. Miss4 into bed. Miss1 into sleeping sack. Prayers, Bed-time song, BED for both kiddlies.

7.15pm Merl off out the door to a Children's Ministry meeting. Fortunately this is at a house not far from us, because he is, in the absence of the car, walking. I take a look at the wheat sprouts (that have been rinsed during the day too - but I couldn't tell you when!), and make the sprout bread (more on that tomorrow when we find out how it tastes).

8.30pm Bread into oven. Oven set to turn itself off at 11pm. Sprout bread is very different to 'real' bread.

Mummy gets a turn on the internet!

9.40pm Mummy gets off internet to go finish cleaning up kitchen and get the jump-start on tomorrow.

About 10.30 I will get Miss4 up and sit her on the toilet, then climb into bed myself.

I am tired just reading it... Read more...

wheat sprouts

I am sprouting wheat at the moment. I have two jars on the windowsill of the kitchen with 2 cups of wheat berries between them, all starting to poke their little sprouts out.

weird huh?

The idea is to try some of Sproutman's basic sprout bread. I will post more about it when I have tried it and can give you a verdict. Read more...

no-knead wholemeal fruit bread

After reading this post on Planet Green, I thought it might be a nice idea to bake bread at least once a week.

I found myself on Wednesday trying to remember to write "fruit bread" on the shopping list, as it's a good thing to have sliced in the freezer as a good snack for the kids (and myself) for morning or afternoon tea. Very nice toasted with butter. Mmmm.

Then I had a light bulb moment, and decided to bake my own. I've made variations on this recipe on and off for years - we found it in an old fund-raiser recipe book for La Leche League, that Merl's Mum had. It is excellent - just mix it in a bowl, stick it in the loaf tins, rise it and bake it - no kneading! Also, much cheaper and more nutritious than store-bought bread.

Here's the basic recipe. To make fruit bread, add 1Tb cinnamon and 1Tb mixed spice or garam marsala to the dry ingredients, and about 1 cup raisins (or other dried fruit) to the wets.

"Pat's Bread" - La Leche League NZ Mothering Time Cookbook, 1977

Yields two moist nutritious loaves - particularly delicious toasted

1. Put into bowl

• 1 1/2 pints (900mL) warm water
• 1 Tablespoon dried yeast
• 1 good dessertspoon treacle or molasses

and leave to stand for a few minutes.

2. Put into a large bowl

• 2lb (910g) wholemeal flour
• 1 round dessertspoon salt

3. Grease two one pound bread tins well with butter. (Very well - I line mine with baking paper)

4. Beat the liquid with a rotary beater and pour into a well in the flour and salt. Mix togethr and put into the two tins.

5. Leave in a warm place to rise and then bake about 40 minutes at 190degC (375degF).


The bread turned out even better than I remember. Highly recommended!
, Read more...

sick and tired

I remember someone saying years ago that if you find yourself saying repeatedly (or, in my case, thinking it) "I'm sick and tired of..." then that's probably exactly what you are; sick and/or tired.

In my case I think more tired than sick, but either way, it's time for me to have an early night tonight. Too many nights of getting up at least once to either the teething one or the "Mummy, I've just wet my bed" one.

night night Read more...

Surviving the 'flu

No, sorry, this isn't an exciting survivalist post about equipping yourself to outlast your neighbours in a bird-flu epidemic. I haven't even got my standard 'earthquake kit' organised in this house yet - I had one in Palmerston North (where, admittedly, it was far more likely to be needed) - but dismantled it when we shifted. So no, not a super-girl-scout be-prepared post at all.

My advice for 'flu survival is - have paracetamol on hand. Have more than you think you need. Because you will run out of children's pamol. Luckily we ran out the day after Miss4's awful fever and chills etc - but this time last week I'd have said we had heaps of the stuff.

2 kids needing it around the clock for a couple of days can really put a dent in your supplies.

And then, just when you think you've made it - the kids have had it, you've had it (and coped with a lie down and some adult paracetamol), your husband reckoned he'd had it, but very mildly, since he wasn't feeling all that great early last week - you get a phone call from said husband at 2.30pm on a Tuesday and you have the following conversation:

"Urgh, I feel really awful. Just horrible. Please could you come get me? In, say an hour?"
"Oh no, not feeling well? Sure we can come get you - we could do it now if you like?"
"No, I think I've got one more thing I'll need to do. Better make it an hour."
"Sure, we can do that."

5 minutes later the phone rings again

"I've changed my mind - could you come get me now?"

And so, with a detour to the pharmacy to get some Codral 4 Flu, my hubby falls into bed at 3pm and has only surfaced once since then for some water and more drugs.

Luckily this one only seems to last 36 hours or thereabouts - at least, that's how it was for me and the girls. Now I just hope we haven't spread it to all our nearest and dearest. My MIL has probably carried it back to Petone with her. Oh dear. Read more...

Miss4 okay again

She woke up this morning ravenously hungry and has been outside riding her bike.

go figure.

It will still be an early night, methinks. Read more...

Petrol with your caviar, anyone?

Today's petrol prices are:
Unleaded (91-octane) = 188.9c/L
Unleaded (98-octane) = 202.9c/L
Diesel = 156.9c/L

For you North Americans, that is $7.15, $7.68, and $5.94 per US fluid gallon, respectively. And you'd call it "gas" I believe :)

$NZ - but then, we're earning $NZ.

[For a price comparison on other stuff, a cup of cafe coffee costs $3-$4, an 'average' house $350,000 to buy, a month's electricity bill about $100-$250 (summer to winter - that's what we pay, anyway), a salary of $100,000 is considered high/upper management, a salary of $30,000 is considered low/labourer/new graduate.]

Ouch

On other news:

• My ankle is very much improved. Thank you for your thoughts/prayers/general good-vibes. I may be able to begin gentle stretch and strength type movements on Monday or Tuesday!
• Miss4 got the flu today and has spent the morning running around madly and crashing into things, insisting she is not tired, and the afternoon sleeping and shivering and sweating and burning with fever. Am dosing her regularly with paracetamol and keeping a close eye. Fortunately my MIL is an extremely competent Nurse. If she's no better in the morning we're heading to the after-hours doctor. (It is always the weekend when kids get very sick!)
  

Read more...

I hurt!

I have given my ankle a mighty twist, and it is very sore!

I was wheel-barrowing the leaf-mulch stuff from under our newly-trimmed hedge (thanks Dad!) around the house and dumping them in the garden, when I stepped down a step and into a hole.

I have carefully avoided that hole every time I have used our side gate for the last 15 months, but not this time.

So I am thankful for several things
- I am thankful that my Dad has titanium knees and therefore a ready supply of walking-canes. He delivered his tallest one up yesterday morning
- I am thankful that he also gave my kitchen a thorough clean yesterday morning, while I sat and put my foot up
- I am thankful that Merl's Mum is here to stay until Monday. She has been wonderful - doing laundry and all the other stuff that is very difficult to do one-legged (and one-handed - since my left hand is holding onto my cane)
- I am thankful that it appears to be not too severe a twist. The tendons are definitely damaged, but there's not significant swelling or bruising and much better mobility today than yesterday. (after my home-group members prayed for healing for it last night). Read more...

The wonders of garlic

Warning: This is a long rambly post about health complaints. The upshot is that garlic-infused olive oil has successfully treated bacterial infections (like boils) and glue ear in our house. Keep reading if you're a sucker for too much detail...

Miss4's body has always seemed to be badly affected by stress. Even as a wee baby she would come out in eczema whenever teething, and her immune system would just collapse - ringworm and earache etc etc just from the usual teething routine that every child goes through.

When I took her to the doc to confirm the ringworm, he looked sadly at her and said "that is one stressed child!", before waltzing out of the room to do something else. Which made me feel like a terrible mother - babies shouldn't be feeling stressed! Fortunately we had a very stable living arrangement, a rock solid daily and weekly routine and very loving home relationships. I shudder to think what the poor child's body might have done if anything else had been going on.

Which brings me to more recent developments. With the return to kindergarten (in New Zealand, kindergarten is like a preschool which kids may attend when they're 3 and 4 years old), Miss4 has started pulling out her hair again. This is a sure sign of her being overtired and overstressed - it happened for several months when we moved to the South Island, and it happened again for a couple of months around the time my mum died in November last year. Her immune system has also packed a total sad. A month ago we were dealing, simultanously, with candida, boils and warts - yep, fungal, bacterial and viral infections. At the same time.

Now, I am a biochemist by training, but even without all those years at varsity, I would probably still know that if you treat the boils with antibiotics then your thrush is going to get worse. And the thrush wasn't responding to the anti-fungal creams we tried anyway.

If we let the boils run their course, they became large and painful and lasted over a week before bursting and draining of their own accord. All the modern literature advises not to burst or lance them yourself - to let nature take its course. But she was in pain and feeling miserable the poor thing, so I wanted to find something to do to help.

So. What to do?

Last winter, when dealing with glue ear and a child who was stone deaf for several weeks, I infused some olive oil with garlic, to try dripping some warm oil into her ears (I was desperate - 2 months of antibiotics was achieving a big fat nothing and my baby couldn't hear). A friend swore by warm garlic oil drops, the internet seemed to give it the cautious nod (apparently it's a very common treatment in Europe), so I tried, three times a day - By day 2 she could hear! This was the child who if you stood right behind her and shouted her name, would give no indication of having heard you. She had a hearing test at kindy - a tympanometry - flat-lined. And two days after starting olive/garlic oil drops she was hearing again. I was ecstatic.

The olive/garlic oil has been sitting in readiness ever since.

In thinking about the candida infection, I had a vague recollection of advice to try oil, even just as a soothing agent while the body caught up with the infection (we had tried topical yoghurt, but Miss4 said it was too stinging and flatly refused to cooperate. She already eats a pottle every day). So I tried the olive/garlic oil - just to see - it could hardly make the situation any worse. And while I was at it, I anointed the two boils that were on the increase at the time.

The thrush is an ongoing thing. The oil seems to help keep the irritation down, which is good, and things are improving, but slowly. But the amazing thing was the boils! By the next evening, they were less red and angry looking and Miss4 reported on them being not as sore. I continued to oil the boils twice a day and within 5 days they were what I would call 'healed' - they hadn't progressed and burst, on the contrary they had just gotten smaller and gone away. I kept the oil treatment up for another 3 or 4 days, and all is still well!

Yay for garlic. Good for ears, good for bacterial infections, good for cooking! Could there be a more perfect food :) I will definitely keep this one in mind and see how it works on things like infected hang-nails and that sort of thing.

p.s. We have dropped the number of days that Miss4 is enrolled at kindy. 5 whole mornings is clearly too much for her, so during the winter terms at least, she will be at kindy for 3 mornings and home for the other 4 of the week. A 4 year old should not be desperately hanging out for the holidays! Read more...