On My Desk for May 2011

What's on my desk for May?

Daily Duties: Sweeping

Daily Bread: Sprouted Grains

In the Kitchen: Soup

The Sewing Room: Simple Summer Dresses

Health Made Simple: Parasite Cleanse

Simple Fun: Pondering Pudding

Homestead Helps: Feeding Poultry on the Cheap

Daily Duties: Sweeping

Sweeping, it's not one of my favorite chores, but it is quite rewarding to see a shiny clean floor when I'm all done. Having lived off the grid for the first 14 years of my married life, I learned all the "ins and outs" of how to sweep effectively in a short amount of time. Your tool, the mainstay of every homemakers cleaning arsenal; should be chosen with great care! Depending on the surface you are cleaning, different brooms do a better job.

When we lived in our cabin, we had this really thick red and orange shag carpet throughout the living/dining room area. We couldn't vacuum unless we had the generator running, and it was an old "Onaan" from the 40's which didn't have much life left in it when my soon to be husband purchased it to build the cabin. It ran when it felt like! So, I did the next best thing--- I used the biggest, stiffest, corn straw broom I could buy. It would do a great job for a few months, then the ends would get all nubby and frayed, so my husband would give it a "hair cut" and trim all the bad ends off. This worked for about 3 trims, then the broom got retired to the shop!

On hard wood or linoleum, you want a softer broom, the kind with synthetic bristles. They too get frazzled ends after a while, but they still do a pretty good job of sweeping up dirt and pet hair from hard surfaces.

Look for quality brooms that are well put together. Bargain brooms are not a bargain if you have to replace them every month! Aluminum handles that are made too thin will bend and become useless, except as a hand duster type broom.

I love the wooden handle corn straw brooms, and I collect old ones when I find them at yard sales and thrift stores, if they are in good condition. They just don't make good brooms like that any more! I look at my daily house hold chores as my "homemaker aerobics" and don't shy away from a good hour or two of cleaning my floors every other day or two. In the country, dirt just refuses to stay outside where it belongs, and rather than get frazzled like the ends of a well used broom, I try to look at it as a few more calories burnt off for the day!

Happy sweeping!

Daily Bread: Sprouted Grains

Ah, where to start? This is a brand new topic of interest for me. I have been stumbling upon an increased number of articles concerning "gluten intolerance" and how it affects one's health. But there is growing evidence that some may not actually be gluten intolerant, but actually have problems digesting grains that have not been soaked or sprouted to release the "phytic acid" that is present in many grains. Not only that, by sprouting grains and legumes, you release enzymes and nutrients that our bodies are unable to utilize in the grain or legume's unsoaked form.

Janie Quinn has some excellent books on the subject of cooking with sprouted foods.

I've experimented with a couple different recipes, but have not found a sandwich bread that I like yet.... I will post my "keeper recipe" here when I find it, and I will find it ----- a weeks worth of going "no wheat" (at least no wheat that hasn't been soaked or sprouted) has proved to me that I am indeed suffering from digestive issues that could benefit from learning to eat grains and legumes that are soaked and/or sprouted. Look for some yummy recipes to come in future months!

In the Kitchen: Soup