Start Now: Plant a Garden (even if it's the middle of Winter)

Okay, it's not the middle of Winter now...but it was when we planted our garden.  January 22nd to be precise.  If you were ever going to plant a garden in the middle of Winter, this was the year to do it!  More often than not, the temperature was in the 50's or higher during the day, and there were many nights where we didn't even have to cover the garden.  I researched cold hardy varieties and we decided to go with the square foot garden method.  John and Tim built the box, and I tracked down compost, peat moss, and a huge bag of vermiculite...in the middle of Winter.

 

We've talked quite a bit as a family about how realistic it is or isn't to do things like growing and preserving our own food in addition to our already full schedules.  One of the best ways to figure out is by trying.  We want to form new habits now, doing everything we can, so that when we do find our new home, we're not changing everything all at once.  Plus, we get to enjoy fresh, organic produce right from our back yard.

If you live in a place that is warm enough (and Oklahoma is warm enough), many things, mostly greens, can grow through the winter if you take care to cover them when it's below freezing.  We planted spinach, 2 varieties of cabbage, kale, arugula, and lettuce.  The arugula, spinach and lettuce did very well, while the other things struggled a little more.  We didn't plant all the squares because the idea was to succession plant.

Things started off slow and then took off as the weather grew warmer, as you can see in the pictures below.  We've enjoyed our greens several times now.

Because we're trying to get ready to move, we haven't made additional beds or planted all of the squares, but I'm looking forward to a permanent place, more space, and hopefully, eventually more time to try more things.

-Kendra

Arugula - 20, 30, 50 and 60 days after planting.

Overall garden - 20, 30, 50 and 60 days after planting.

Pruned Again

It was a couple of weeks after we decided as a family that we wanted to actually pursue trying to find land together.  We had looked at two houses, and I had spent I-don't-want-to-admit-how-many hours poring over houses on the internet trying to find options that would suit us.  Then I found it.  THE house.  I knew the moment I saw the listing that it was perfect.  It was in the area of town that we thought we were going to focus on, it had enough bedrooms and bathrooms for all of us, 10 acres, a barn, the price was right, and...it had a pool.  I was sold.  As soon as we possibly could, we scheduled a visit with our realtor, Randy.  Our excitement only grew as the drive out took less time than Google maps predicted - about 15 minutes.  My mom fell in love with the neighborhood on the drive in, and when we got there, not only did it have a pool, it had a windmill!  Sustainability, here we come!  We then proceeded to pester our poor realtor for any drop of information we squeeze out of him.  You see, the property was bank owned and was being sold using an auction system.  We couldn't just make an offer.  We soon learned that the day we saw it was just couple of days after an auction for the property had ended.  Then we learned that a bid had been accepted.  The house had sat vacant for four years with no acceptable offers.  Then, just a couple of days before we saw it and fell head over heels, an acceptable offer was made before we even had a chance to do anything.  My heart knew that God had saved us from moving somewhere He didn't want us.  My emotions were an.gry. and accused Him of teasing.

At the beginning of each new year our congregation spends a week in fasting and prayer, seeking the Lord for the theme He wants to emphasize to us.  I get to design the graphic, and at the end of the week we have a celebration banquet where our theme for the new year is presented.  It took a couple of weeks, but He was faithful to gently remind me of our theme for the year: God Present: Pruning and Producing.  "He cleanses and repeatedly prunes every branch that continues to bear fruit, to make it bear more and richer and more excellent fruit."  John 15:2b.

Ouch.  We'd been pruned.  

Our appetites had been whetted, though, and we spent the next 3 months house hunting once, sometimes twice a week.  It took 3 months of intensive hunting for us to find another place worth putting an offer on.  This house was completely different but just as exciting to us.  Once again, about 15 minutes away in a part of town we discovered we liked even more.  There are trees!  It was a steel building someone had turned into a home overlooking a stocked pond.  If you know my dad very well, you know what a big deal that is.  We were just as excited about this place as the last place, and we've spent the last two weeks working really hard to get our house ready to put on the market so we could make an offer. There were unique circumstances surrounding this house that made it difficult to sell, so we weren't too worried about time. 

Today we learned that it's now off the market.  We don't know the details yet...our realtor is in New Zealand for two weeks (totally jealous, by the way).

Pruned again.  Pruning doesn't feel good, and no one ever asks the plant if it wants to be pruned...how it feels about being pruned.  The Vinedresser, in His wisdom, simply does what He knows must be done.  

The good news is, there will be fruit.

-Kendra

Experiments in Soap Making: Homemade Liquid Hand Soap Plus an Unexpected Fringe Benefit

I am on a quest to make everything I possibly can - food, cleaning products, beauty products...I've sewn many of my own clothes for years.  I LOVE to learn, and when I get excited about a new topic, I tend to ravenously devour all the information about it that I can find.  This sustainability project has been no exception.  I've been interested in and working toward modifying the way we eat for a long time...years.  But five months ago, I couldn't have cared less about what I used to clean my sink or moisturize my face.  I mean, I cared, but in the sense of what could I buy at the store that would do the best job?  I wasn't interested in natural or homemade.  They used science to figure all that out, right?  All I had to do was choose the best product.

The more I read, though, the more I like knowing exactly what is in the products I'm using, and the more I stop drinking the marketing kool-aid, so-to-speak.

So.  When I ran out of hand soap in my bathroom, I made my own.  I usually dig around on the internet a bit and read what other people have done, glean from those various sources and then form my own plan.  I was able to make the soap from everything I already had on hand - water, liquid castile soap, and essential oils.  I had purchased some Dr. Bronner's liquid castile soap already to make homemade cleaning products as we ran out.  I had also purchased some essential oils for the same reason.  

I simply rinsed then filled my empty soap dispenser 3/4 of the way full of water, then filled it the rest of the way with liquid castile and several drops of the essential oils I had on hand - tea tree oil, peppermint, and lavender.

It's not a perfect system yet, the soap has the consistency of water, and tends to leak out of the pump whenever I touch it.  My intention is to buy a foaming soap dispenser from Specialty Bottle.  The price is $1.16 (plus shipping), but they are out of stock for the time being.

The reason I am not purchasing a foaming soap dispenser full of soap at the store and using it up is because of the unexpected fringe benefit I discovered when I began using my soap.  I am prone to dry skin.  I always have dry hands, but every winter they crack and bleed and my knuckles get crusty with dry skin (ew, I know)...no matter how much lotion I put on.  When I started using my soap, within a WEEK my hands had completely healed.  No more cracking and bleeding.  No more knuckle crust.  My hands still feel slightly dry (which is now easily remedied by lotion, or my homemade moisturizer which I will post about soon), but my skin looks healthy and smooth.  A fluke?  A coincidence?  No.  I recently went out of town for several days, and it wasn't long before my hands were painfully cracked and bleeding again.  Now that I've been home for a week, once again, healed and smooth!

A side note:  I am sensitive about some things, and you can make your own decision about this, but in the future, I will probably purchase a brand of liquid castile other than Dr. Bronners.  The product is great, and widely recommended; the philosophy of the founder...questionable.  You can read the bottle for yourself and decide what your level of comfort is...but like I said, I'm sensitive, so...  I'm really interested in trying to make my own liquid castile soap someday!  But that is another blog post for another day.

-Kendra

This post shared at Frugally Sustainable's Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways #74

Experiments in Soap Making: Laundry Soap

In my pioneer post, I mentioned laughing with (at) us and learning from our mistakes.  Well I have one to share with you now.  A couple months ago when I first became interested in making my own cleaning products, I went out and purchased supplies.  Since then I've been (im)patiently waiting to run out of things.  I was so excited when we ran out of laundry detergent that I'm not sure it wasn't weird.

Slowly but surely I've been building up my arsenal of natural homemade products...with few successes.  A DIYer can't be afraid of failure.  If you're inclined to try any of these things yourself, I don't want to just tell you what works, I also want to tell you what doesn't work.

Did you know that you (probably) aren't buying soap at the store?  Read your labels.  It's not dish soap, or laundry soap, or bar soap.  It's detergent - dish detergent, laundry detergent, or just bar (beauty bar, cleansing bar).  These things can't be called soap because soap only results from the chemical reaction called saponification.  When distilled water, sodium or potassium hydroxide (lye) and fats and oils come together in specific ratios, they saponify, becoming something new - soap.  Detergents are synthetic foaming and cleansing agents that are cheaper to manufacture, hence their widespread use.

The first soap we (my sister and I) tried was laundry soap.  I'm not going to share recipes until I try things that actually work, but what we used in our laundry soap was a combination of grated Fels Naptha, castile, Borax (sodium borate), baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) and washing soda (sodium carbonate).  Sodium, who knew?  Half of those things I had never heard of before and had a bit of an adventure trying to find locally.  Fels Naptha is a laundry bar soap that was developed in 1893.  I probably won't use it again because it contains fragrance and dyes.  Castile is soap that originated in Spain with references as early as 1616.  It is traditionally made from olive oil, but now refers to soap that is made from a combination of olive oil and other vegetable oils instead of animal fats (tallow and lard).  Borax, baking soda and washing soda are natural cleansers, deodorizers and water softeners.  

So.  We grated the soap.  Tim almost ate some, thinking it was cheese.  We melted the grated soap in purified hot water, whisked in the "dry ingredients," then slowly added an additional 2 gallons of purified water while continuing to whisk.  It's supposed to thicken overnight to a gel-like consistency.  What we ended up with was a 2 inch thick disk of rather stiff foam sitting on top of soapy water.  Going back to the comments on the blog I was using as a resource, I realized that where we probably went wrong was the whisk.  She uses a stick blender.  I didn't have one of those, but I do now, and I am once again (im)patiently looking forward to running out of laundry soap.  Our foam/water concoction still cleans, but it's a bit of a pain because you have to shake it well before use and try to get an appropriate ratio of foam/soapy water.

I love to learn.  I love to make things.  I love knowing exactly what is in the soap that is cleaning my clothes.  I also love saving money.  I spent about $15 for all the ingredients.  Our first batch made roughly 3 gallons of soap.  I have enough bar soap left for another 3 gallon batch, and enough of the other ingredients for several more batches.  We're talking pennies a load. 

I'll keep you updated on our progress.  Next time I'll try the stick blender.  After that, I'm hoping to try making my own laundry bar soap for the recipe, but that's another blog post for another day.

-Kendra

Start Now: Making Our Own Bread

I started pulling the thread.  Now the proverbial sweater that formed my worldview concerning food and health is rapidly unraveling.  I researched ethanol.  I read articles about soy.  I watched Food, Inc.  I became someone who reads blogs.  I became someone who writes a blog.  I realized that if it's manufactured and marketed on a staggeringly massive scale, it's likely that big money is behind it, and big money is more concerned about big money than it is our health.

I eagerly anticipate the day that we can move onto some acreage with our own well water, raising our own chickens, and growing more of our own food.  I daydream about someday possibly growing my own wheat to be milled into flour and then made into bread, sweetened with honey from our own bees - as much for the health and taste benefits as for the satisfaction of having produced it myself from start to finish.  But I don't want to just dream.  I don't want to "If only..."  So I'm starting now.  I want to start making all the changes I can right now, in this urban context, to reap as many benefits as I can as soon as I can, and to prepare for the transition to rural, sustainable living.

If you want to learn more about what may be in your supermarket bread, you can read this article: Why I Never Eat Commercial Bread.

If you are concerned and want to do something proactive about your health, you can try making your own bread.  If you want to rediscover and preserve a lost art you can try making your own bread.  If you just enjoy baking...try making your own bread.  

As much as I enjoy cooking and baking, I had never made bread before.  Bread intimidated me.  Kneading, rising, temperatures, yeast...it had an air of mystery and peril about it.  Then I tried it and it wasn't so bad.  I did what I often do when I want to make something I've never made before.  I went to food.com, searched whole grain bread, sorted by rating and chose the recipe with the best ratings.  I was very pleased with the result!  It was delicious and easy!  If you want to check out the original recipe, it can be found here.

I don't knead this bread, and it has a longer rise time which is supposed to neutralize phytates which are a source of debate as to their healthfulness.  Plus, it makes it super easy.

The first two times I made it, I used a fine flour and got light fluffy loaves.  The third time, I used a coarser, stone ground flour and it yielded heavier, heartier loaves.  Next time I run out of flour, I want to try purchasing wheat berries and grinding my own flour.

What you'll need:
 
2 ¾ c hot water
1⁄3 c olive oil, any oil is fine
1⁄3 c honey
2 T molasses
1 T salt, sea salt is good
7 ½ c 100% whole grain wheat flour
2 T dry active yeast

 

What you'll need to do:

Place the first five ingredients in the bowl and mix.

Add 2 c flour to cool the water and end up with warm dough 

Add 2 T of dry active yeast
 

 

Add 4 c of flour.  Mix until the consistency is somewhat even. If necessary, slowly add flour 1/2 c at a time until the dough quits sticking to the sides of the bowl. It should be tacky to the touch. The trick is to have enough consistency to stand up with the least amount of flour so the bread will be fluffy. It will most likely be 6 1/2 cups but in any case do not exceed 7 1/2 cups of wheat flour. Don't over mix or the bread will be tough.

When your dough is finished, cover the bowl and let it rise for about 30-45 minutes. The dough will be larger but it doesn't need to double.

 

Grease two bread pans with shortening.

Mix the dough again just enough to knock it down to close to the original size.

Drop the dough on a floured surface so you can work the dough and shape it. Shape it with your hands to make a nice ball, getting enough flour on it so it isn't sticky. Divide the ball in half and do it again. Shape the loaves by turning the dough under it's self over and over. When the dough is shaped the sides and ends will be sealed and all you will see is a nice oblong shaped loaf with smooth sides and top. Drop the loaves in your bread pans and let them rise until almost doubled. 

Bake in a preheated oven at 350 for 35 minutes. Loaves should be slightly browned and sound hollow when tapped.

When done turn the bread out of the pan to a rack to cool. 
Don't wrap it until completely cooled, as condensation will make it soggy.

Enjoy!!


-Kendra

A Paradigm Shift

Thanks, Linda for inspiring my next blog post!  I want to talk a little more about our vision.  The prevailing cultural paradigm about growing up is that children turn 18, go to college, and then make their own way in the world...perhaps never to return.  

Our multi-generational vision is a little different.  "Generational transfer" is one of the terms frequently used in our network of churches.  We believe in multi-generational families building a multi-generational church.  In fact, that was what our sermon was about just this morning...fathers raising sons who become heirs, becoming fathers who raise more sons.  It's a pattern we believe in.

It's not that we don't believe in college or leaving the nest.  I am a college graduate and the three oldest children in my family have each lived on our own and in other parts of the country separate from the rest of the family for a period of time.  Those were important times.  But ultimately my vision for my life is bigger than myself.  It includes my parents and my future grandchildren and beyond.  I "feel called" to build generationally with my family.

Lest I wax too philosophical, what does this mean for us when we house hunt?  I said in my first post that the goal was to live all together in one house.  Well, this is one of multiple options we are considering.  Basically we're looking for the situation that is right for our family's needs...whether that be two mobile homes, a house with a garage apartment, or one house that's big enough for all of us.  We don't know exactly what it will look like.  We're just trusting that whatever it is, we'll know it when we see it.  

These options are also the immediate goal as a means to an end, not the ultimate goal.  If we can live together sustainably and be prudent with our spending now, it will expedite the ultimate goal which is having enough land that all the sibs can have our own space and build our own homes someday...still ultimately living and working together.

I think we each have a sense that this is rare and special - that we like each other enough to want to live together...long term.  It's evidence of a generational blessing in our lives.  We as children get to reap the benefits of parents and grandparents who have served the Lord and sacrificed for the benefit of future generations.  We're grateful to reap the blessing and desire to continue serving and sacrificing for generations to come.

-Kendra

Hi, we're the Cunkles and we like to party.

From left to right that's me, my brother Tim, my Dad and Mom, my sister Larissa, her husband John and their son Samuel.

There's more to our family, but they have chosen not to participate in the family experiment at this time.  I'll introduce you to them anyway.

To the right is my brother Jeremy with daughter Ryann and son Alex.

To the left is my sister-in-law Jennifer.  She's usually doing whatever she's doing there or behind the camera taking awesome pictures like the one to the right, so that's about the best I could do for a picture of her. 

So what is this family experiment exactly?  Well, the goal is to live together.  In one house.  On some acres.  Getting out of debt and trying and learning to do things that we've never done before (or only on a very small scale) and don't know anything about - like raising chickens.  "Processing" chickens.  Raising goats.  "Processing" goats?  Milking goats.  Drinking goat milk.  Making goat cheese.  (Why goats and not cows?  Ask my brother Tim.  Maybe eventually we'll have cows.)  Growing and canning our own food.  Making our own soaps and household cleaners.  Owning fewer cars.  In short, a journey toward sustainability.  Why?  We believe in God.  We believe He designed and created an amazing earth and asked us to steward it.  We're concerned about some of the poor stewardship practices taking place - like factory farming and manufactured chemical products that you buy at the store.  We also realize that the only thing certain about the future is uncertainty.  We don't live in fear, but we believe that the more sustainably we are able to live, the more prepared we will be...for whatever may come.  So we're on a mission to turn our lives radically upside down. 

Where are we in the process?  The very beginning.  We still live on our quarter acre lot in the middle of the city with a cabinet full of store-bought cleaners and a freezer full of name brand chicken.  We've begun, though.  I'll tell you more about our beginning steps in posts to come.

I wanted to start this blog, if nothing else, as a way for our family to look back and remember our journey.  If this sounds interesting to you, you're invited to come along - to laugh with us and learn from our mistakes, rejoice in our successes, and perhaps even to be inspired to make some changes of your own.

-Kendra