Monday, October 26, 2009
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
handmade baby continues to grow
I've got 3 new prefold diapers made! Soft bamboo velour with soaker pads made of hemp terry cloth. They fit him great and will replace some really thin ones that I've been dying to get out of the rotation. They have plenty of room still around the legs and I had to fold them down a couple of inches, so he has growing room in these.
You can see one of my handmade covers under his bum waiting to be fastened. :-D
I've read the Republican Health Care bills
That's right, your favorite little hippy has read the bicameral 130-page “Patients Choice Act of 2009," Sen. Jim DeMint's (R-S.C.) “Health Care Freedom Plan,” And Rep. Tom Price's (R-Ga.) “Empowering Patients First Act,” a 130-page plan, HR 3400.
Some of you may be asking, why on Earth would you do that? Well, I've been debating politics with my elders the past couple of days. And the majority of the elders in my family are Republicans. I mentioned that I hadn't heard about any legislation from the Republicans on the whole Health Care debate My father promptly informed me that the Liberal media have studiously avoided reporting on them, thus giving cover for Obama to make the claim that the Republicans had offered no alternative. He sent me a link that had names for three of the bills, I searched the Government Printing Office's website and found the actual bills the congress-people are working with. Since I'm on extended maternity leave/unemployment and really lacking in cerebral stimulation right now, I actually read the bills. :-D
I thought to myself, self, perhaps there are other people who are curious about what's in those bills. Maybe they saw the republicans waving them during Obama's address, and wonder what they say.
None of them, in my opinion, address the root issues the system faces, some of them have sections detailing that abortions can't be had with gov't money. I was tired of hearing the republicans rant against abortion by the end of Bush's first term, I'm certainly in no mood to listen to it now that the dem's have control. :-P Here's my take on the three most popular GOP bills, put forward as alternatives to the Dem's reform legislation.
I read Sen. Jim DeMint's (R-S.C.) “Health Care Freedom Plan", and all it entailed was a tax credit up to 5000$ per family for eligible health insurance spending, and a section trying to fix the liability problems. I think it was trying to limit the amounts people could sue for, I kinda got bogged down in the legalese. While fixing the liability issues facing doctors is certainly important, and I wish the dem's would do something about that issue, the main section of the plan, the tax credit, does very little to help those American's who don't have health insurance. It also doesn't seem like it helps American's, it just seems to shunt money into the hands of big insurance companies, telling them to go about business as usual, with no motivations for reducing costs or increasing efficiency.
“Patients Choice Act of 2009.” appears to be just Medicare legislation. In fact the whole title is Empowering Medicare Patients Choice Act. The purpose: "To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide for the establishment of shared decision making standards and requirements and to establish a pilot program for the implementation of shared decision making under the Medicare program."
That hardly seems earth moving to me, but I know the GOP depends on the scared old white people vote, so they have to go with their strengths. :-D Although "shared decision making" does sound an awful lot like Death Panels to me. :-D
“Empowering Patients First Act,” is more of the tax credits and abortion limitations. Nothing to help fix the rising health care costs and decreasing satisfaction that excludes so many Americans from health care.
These don't seem like anything I'd waste time talking about in the middle of a debate on health care reform, and I'm not even a Dem. They seem like bandaids, salves that pretend to help Americans but in reality just send more tax payer dollars to big insurers. Although, that one section dealing with the liability issue, that is worthwhile in my mind. That's an actual problem forcing lots of dr's out of practice because they can't afford malpractice insurance. I hope that bit of legislation eventually sees the light of day, but who knows.
Hopefully this sheds some light on the under-reported GOP bills.
Some of you may be asking, why on Earth would you do that? Well, I've been debating politics with my elders the past couple of days. And the majority of the elders in my family are Republicans. I mentioned that I hadn't heard about any legislation from the Republicans on the whole Health Care debate My father promptly informed me that the Liberal media have studiously avoided reporting on them, thus giving cover for Obama to make the claim that the Republicans had offered no alternative. He sent me a link that had names for three of the bills, I searched the Government Printing Office's website and found the actual bills the congress-people are working with. Since I'm on extended maternity leave/unemployment and really lacking in cerebral stimulation right now, I actually read the bills. :-D
I thought to myself, self, perhaps there are other people who are curious about what's in those bills. Maybe they saw the republicans waving them during Obama's address, and wonder what they say.
None of them, in my opinion, address the root issues the system faces, some of them have sections detailing that abortions can't be had with gov't money. I was tired of hearing the republicans rant against abortion by the end of Bush's first term, I'm certainly in no mood to listen to it now that the dem's have control. :-P Here's my take on the three most popular GOP bills, put forward as alternatives to the Dem's reform legislation.
I read Sen. Jim DeMint's (R-S.C.) “Health Care Freedom Plan", and all it entailed was a tax credit up to 5000$ per family for eligible health insurance spending, and a section trying to fix the liability problems. I think it was trying to limit the amounts people could sue for, I kinda got bogged down in the legalese. While fixing the liability issues facing doctors is certainly important, and I wish the dem's would do something about that issue, the main section of the plan, the tax credit, does very little to help those American's who don't have health insurance. It also doesn't seem like it helps American's, it just seems to shunt money into the hands of big insurance companies, telling them to go about business as usual, with no motivations for reducing costs or increasing efficiency.
“Patients Choice Act of 2009.” appears to be just Medicare legislation. In fact the whole title is Empowering Medicare Patients Choice Act. The purpose: "To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide for the establishment of shared decision making standards and requirements and to establish a pilot program for the implementation of shared decision making under the Medicare program."
That hardly seems earth moving to me, but I know the GOP depends on the scared old white people vote, so they have to go with their strengths. :-D Although "shared decision making" does sound an awful lot like Death Panels to me. :-D
“Empowering Patients First Act,” is more of the tax credits and abortion limitations. Nothing to help fix the rising health care costs and decreasing satisfaction that excludes so many Americans from health care.
These don't seem like anything I'd waste time talking about in the middle of a debate on health care reform, and I'm not even a Dem. They seem like bandaids, salves that pretend to help Americans but in reality just send more tax payer dollars to big insurers. Although, that one section dealing with the liability issue, that is worthwhile in my mind. That's an actual problem forcing lots of dr's out of practice because they can't afford malpractice insurance. I hope that bit of legislation eventually sees the light of day, but who knows.
Hopefully this sheds some light on the under-reported GOP bills.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Still learning
Well, fall is officially here. The days are now shorter than the nights, and we had our first brush with frost last night. I visited all my garden plots yesterday to square things away for the potential frost. I picked the last of the purple green beans, covered the row of fall greens with some row cover, and generally made sure things were squared away. My fall greens are really going gang busters! I got a handful of arugula, kale and spinach for a little salad yesterday. I'll have 4 butternut squashes and 1 last cabbage head to harvest in October. My fridge is stuffed with carrots and kohlrabi and green beans, I have a box full of onions and garlic, and I've got a few tomatoes on the counter still. Not too shabby.
This summer really flew by. I don't know if it was Baby, or being jobless, or the cool weather, or what, but I just don't remember a summer going by this fast before. I learned a lot though, and did things that I've never done before. My first try at pickling went really well, despite the lack of cucumbers. :-) That zucchini relish has been a hit with everyone who's tried it. The potato trial went well. I'll fix the last of those potatoes this week probably. I still need to figure out how to grow more and have enough to eat on for more than a month plus enough to plant out next spring. But, baby steps. :-) My spring planted garlic turned out surprisingly well, with full heads on all of them, and no difference in taste that I can tell. I made some grape juice with my mother this weekend from a friends grapes that were about to ferment on the vine, and that was a first. It's pretty tasty, and I'll definitely do it again if I get the opportunity. I canned corn and carrots this year, both a first for me, and I doubled the amount of tomatoes I canned. I actually ate my kohlrabi and cabbage this year, another first. I don't know about anyone else, but I have this weird thing where the first year I grow something, i.e. kohlrabi, I'll grow a small bit of it, harvest it, and then watch it decompose in the fridge. Maybe try it cooked in one dish, but half the time I mess that up so bad it just ends up in the trash. The second year I'll actually grow enough of the veggie that I'll have a good batch to work with and I'll try lots of things, and then it actually gets eaten. Maybe that's normal omnivore behavior, I don't know, but it's something to think about. Yea, I knew how to deal with a bushel of tomatoes and I had experience with bags of green beans and okra. However, learning dishes to do with 2 dozen kohlrabi bulbs that wouldn't upset my husband and young child was a whole 'nother level. I'm really glad I started my gardening before I found myself unemployed with a small child and trying to actually feed my family with the produce.
Farmers markets will be closing soon in the northern half of the country, make sure you stock up on your favorite goodies. :-)
This summer really flew by. I don't know if it was Baby, or being jobless, or the cool weather, or what, but I just don't remember a summer going by this fast before. I learned a lot though, and did things that I've never done before. My first try at pickling went really well, despite the lack of cucumbers. :-) That zucchini relish has been a hit with everyone who's tried it. The potato trial went well. I'll fix the last of those potatoes this week probably. I still need to figure out how to grow more and have enough to eat on for more than a month plus enough to plant out next spring. But, baby steps. :-) My spring planted garlic turned out surprisingly well, with full heads on all of them, and no difference in taste that I can tell. I made some grape juice with my mother this weekend from a friends grapes that were about to ferment on the vine, and that was a first. It's pretty tasty, and I'll definitely do it again if I get the opportunity. I canned corn and carrots this year, both a first for me, and I doubled the amount of tomatoes I canned. I actually ate my kohlrabi and cabbage this year, another first. I don't know about anyone else, but I have this weird thing where the first year I grow something, i.e. kohlrabi, I'll grow a small bit of it, harvest it, and then watch it decompose in the fridge. Maybe try it cooked in one dish, but half the time I mess that up so bad it just ends up in the trash. The second year I'll actually grow enough of the veggie that I'll have a good batch to work with and I'll try lots of things, and then it actually gets eaten. Maybe that's normal omnivore behavior, I don't know, but it's something to think about. Yea, I knew how to deal with a bushel of tomatoes and I had experience with bags of green beans and okra. However, learning dishes to do with 2 dozen kohlrabi bulbs that wouldn't upset my husband and young child was a whole 'nother level. I'm really glad I started my gardening before I found myself unemployed with a small child and trying to actually feed my family with the produce.
Farmers markets will be closing soon in the northern half of the country, make sure you stock up on your favorite goodies. :-)
Monday, September 14, 2009
Fall gardening
Remember a couple weeks ago I mentioned getting your garlic seeds squared away? This weekend I got notice that some of my favorite suppliers are sold out of varieties. There's still time to find some if you're still looking, but don't delay!
Are you remembering to grab seed while you're out in the garden? Green bean pods should be drying, lettuce heads should be drying, if you have split tomatoes you can't eat fast enough, ferment them and harvest the seeds.
As predicted, the full moon sprouted my seeds and now they are busy putting on true leaves. I have Beets, Arugula, Kale and Spinach planted. The lettuce mix I planted to the East of them hasn't sprouted yet, but the Hairy Vetch seed I broadcast is just starting to.
Are you remembering to grab seed while you're out in the garden? Green bean pods should be drying, lettuce heads should be drying, if you have split tomatoes you can't eat fast enough, ferment them and harvest the seeds.
As predicted, the full moon sprouted my seeds and now they are busy putting on true leaves. I have Beets, Arugula, Kale and Spinach planted. The lettuce mix I planted to the East of them hasn't sprouted yet, but the Hairy Vetch seed I broadcast is just starting to.
Preserving the last days of summer
It's always sad to see the lengthening shadows and creep of autumn's brown. Luckily there's so much preserving to do it's easy to find ways to not dwell.
My mother brought me over a peck of apples last weekend. And this weekend I found a really good deal on some tomatoes so I had my work cut out for me.
The apples were mostly seconds, I expect she spent between 10 and 15 bucks for all of them. I made an apple pie, and I filled up my dehydrator with apple slices. Tonight I'm going to make applesauce with what's left and I'll freeze up part of it as baby food.
The tomatoes were all either small or spotty or both, it's been a rough year for tomatoes. But at less than a buck a pound, it's hard to say no. 10 bucks later and I have enough for a pressure canning batch. Most of them went into my much loved Roasted Tomato and Pepper sauce.
Cut up a bunch of tomatoes. 4-5 lbs per 9x11 pan. Quartering is fine, no need to dice. Make sure there's at least an inch to the top of the pan, fresh tomatoes are going to make lots of juice while roasting down, and if you put too many in one pan you'll just f*ck up your oven when it boils over. Anyway, I used ~9 lbs of tomatoes and filled two 9x11 pans.
Cut up onion, about 1 per pan. Cut up peppers, about 2 per pan. A word on peppers, last year I used bell and they were wonderful, this year there are lots of gypsy peppers at the market so I'm using those instead. Don't be afraid to use what's fresh and local at your market. The roasting caramelizes the peppers, which makes them sweeter, so you can even pick up some peppers that are usually too spicy for your palette. Cut up garlic, about one head per pan. (1 head of garlic should be 6-10 cloves) Toss onions and peppers and garlic in with tomatoes in the pan(s).
Drizzle olive oil over veggies, about 2 tablespoon per pan. Salt and pepper to taste, a handful of basil.
Roast for 1.5 hours at 450, stirring occasionally.
After roasting there should be nicely burnt/caramelized bits and the whole thing should be cooked down significantly.
At this point some people blend the whole mess into a smooth consistency. I don't, I prefer to be more honest with my vegetables. The sauce is good either way.
2 pans made me 3 quarts of sauce.
I made another 3 quarts of whole tomatoes with the best 2-3 lbs I had set aside from the initial tomato pile.
All 6 quarts went into the pressure canner, 15 minutes later at 11 pounds pressure and I was done. :-)
Enjoy!
My mother brought me over a peck of apples last weekend. And this weekend I found a really good deal on some tomatoes so I had my work cut out for me.
The apples were mostly seconds, I expect she spent between 10 and 15 bucks for all of them. I made an apple pie, and I filled up my dehydrator with apple slices. Tonight I'm going to make applesauce with what's left and I'll freeze up part of it as baby food.
The tomatoes were all either small or spotty or both, it's been a rough year for tomatoes. But at less than a buck a pound, it's hard to say no. 10 bucks later and I have enough for a pressure canning batch. Most of them went into my much loved Roasted Tomato and Pepper sauce.
Cut up a bunch of tomatoes. 4-5 lbs per 9x11 pan. Quartering is fine, no need to dice. Make sure there's at least an inch to the top of the pan, fresh tomatoes are going to make lots of juice while roasting down, and if you put too many in one pan you'll just f*ck up your oven when it boils over. Anyway, I used ~9 lbs of tomatoes and filled two 9x11 pans.
Cut up onion, about 1 per pan. Cut up peppers, about 2 per pan. A word on peppers, last year I used bell and they were wonderful, this year there are lots of gypsy peppers at the market so I'm using those instead. Don't be afraid to use what's fresh and local at your market. The roasting caramelizes the peppers, which makes them sweeter, so you can even pick up some peppers that are usually too spicy for your palette. Cut up garlic, about one head per pan. (1 head of garlic should be 6-10 cloves) Toss onions and peppers and garlic in with tomatoes in the pan(s).
Drizzle olive oil over veggies, about 2 tablespoon per pan. Salt and pepper to taste, a handful of basil.
Roast for 1.5 hours at 450, stirring occasionally.
After roasting there should be nicely burnt/caramelized bits and the whole thing should be cooked down significantly.
At this point some people blend the whole mess into a smooth consistency. I don't, I prefer to be more honest with my vegetables. The sauce is good either way.
2 pans made me 3 quarts of sauce.
I made another 3 quarts of whole tomatoes with the best 2-3 lbs I had set aside from the initial tomato pile.
All 6 quarts went into the pressure canner, 15 minutes later at 11 pounds pressure and I was done. :-)
Enjoy!
Saturday, August 29, 2009
In spite of blight
Well, I harvested the last of the potatoes today. They were the little red ones, about half of the bushes were still green when I dug the main crop, so I left them and they plumped up a lot.
My neighbor had a large crop of green tomatoes last week, and with the past 3 days of rain she now has a large crop of split ripe tomatoes. I got a basket of beautiful yellow and red tomatoes, to help save some from rot.
Cold and damp is never a good recipe for tomatoes. This year has been pretty bad, luckily I only had 6 plants this year, so I didn't waste too much garden space on them. But, the ones I have harvested have been wonderful, all juicy and sweet. That's something at least.
The butternut squash vine is quickly taking over the empty potato row and the cucumber hill. I'm glad I allotted a lot of space for it, as it is I've had to loop it's tendrils back in a circle. I've got a few good looking squash on the vine, so I'm excited to get them ripe and seasoned and ready to eat.
The purple green beans are still chugging away. I have a good bunch of seed pods set and drying for seed, and I'm getting more new pods set every time I pick. I'm going to make up some baby food from some today I think.
I was a really good girl and I got some seeds planted for fall last week.
In the empty onion patch at the Franklin plot. I hoed the weeds out and loosened things up. Then I leveled out a bit and I planted little 1 foot rows a few inches apart. I have beets, arugala, kale and spinach seeded. The past few days of damp followed by the waxing moon should have them sprouting this week. If it stays damp and chilly until fall these crops should still produce pretty well. If the goddess decides to toss 90 degree weather at us for a couple of weeks I'll have to provide them with some shade so they don't die. If I'm really on the ball I will plant another little bit next weekend to increase my odds of a good harvest.
Tis the season to be considering garlic crops for next year. Start getting your bed prepared, get your bulbs ordered, or picked out of your crop from this year. They'll need to go in sometime in October. I've picked out a few heads from this years crop to replant. It won't be as much as I'd like to grow, but I think it's the best balance I can do right now. They are safely in a little paper bag, clearly labeled with "Garlic Crop 2010." Covered and enclosed in something is important to keep them dry and dormant and at their best for planting. (And uneaten :-D )
Enjoy the last few weeks of summer, even if they are chilly.
My neighbor had a large crop of green tomatoes last week, and with the past 3 days of rain she now has a large crop of split ripe tomatoes. I got a basket of beautiful yellow and red tomatoes, to help save some from rot.
Cold and damp is never a good recipe for tomatoes. This year has been pretty bad, luckily I only had 6 plants this year, so I didn't waste too much garden space on them. But, the ones I have harvested have been wonderful, all juicy and sweet. That's something at least.
The butternut squash vine is quickly taking over the empty potato row and the cucumber hill. I'm glad I allotted a lot of space for it, as it is I've had to loop it's tendrils back in a circle. I've got a few good looking squash on the vine, so I'm excited to get them ripe and seasoned and ready to eat.
The purple green beans are still chugging away. I have a good bunch of seed pods set and drying for seed, and I'm getting more new pods set every time I pick. I'm going to make up some baby food from some today I think.
I was a really good girl and I got some seeds planted for fall last week.
In the empty onion patch at the Franklin plot. I hoed the weeds out and loosened things up. Then I leveled out a bit and I planted little 1 foot rows a few inches apart. I have beets, arugala, kale and spinach seeded. The past few days of damp followed by the waxing moon should have them sprouting this week. If it stays damp and chilly until fall these crops should still produce pretty well. If the goddess decides to toss 90 degree weather at us for a couple of weeks I'll have to provide them with some shade so they don't die. If I'm really on the ball I will plant another little bit next weekend to increase my odds of a good harvest.
Tis the season to be considering garlic crops for next year. Start getting your bed prepared, get your bulbs ordered, or picked out of your crop from this year. They'll need to go in sometime in October. I've picked out a few heads from this years crop to replant. It won't be as much as I'd like to grow, but I think it's the best balance I can do right now. They are safely in a little paper bag, clearly labeled with "Garlic Crop 2010." Covered and enclosed in something is important to keep them dry and dormant and at their best for planting. (And uneaten :-D )
Enjoy the last few weeks of summer, even if they are chilly.
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