carrot soup.

June 30, 2011

I have owned the wonderfully liberating cookbook Nourishing Traditions for a few months now, but it has only been in the last few weeks that I have had time to truly appreciate it. This past week I have made my own mayonnaise and kimchi using whey from my goats milk (and I made some cheese too!).  The thing I really love about this cookbook is that it is more like an educational journey ~ through it I am learning the real basics such as how to make your own nourishing stock and the benefits of fermented foods in the diet. Anyway, tonight I made carrot soup from p.22. It was so easy and cheap (less than $3.00 for the entire pot), and so good for my sniffly/snotty family. They gobbled it ALL up so I thought I would share the recipe here!

Nourishing Traditions Carrot Soup

serves 6

2 medium onions, peeled and chopped

1kg carrots, peeled and sliced

4 tablespoons butter

2 teaspoons curry powder

1 litre chicken stock

1/2 teaspoon freshly grated lemon rind

1/2 teaspoon freshly grated ginger

sea salt and pepper

piima cream or creme fraiche (I used sour cream)

Saute onions and carrots very gently in butter about 45 minutes or until tender. Add curry powder and stir around until well amalgamated. Add stock, bring to boil and skim. Add lemon rind and ginger. Simmer, covered, about 15 minutes. Puree soup with a hand held blender, season to taste. Ladle into heated bowls and serve with cultured cream.

 

Categories: Uncategorized.

learning moments with goats.

June 26, 2011

By raising goats, our children have had the opportunity to learn about so many aspects of life first hand. We have never had to have those awkward conversations about ‘where babies come from’ because they know exactly where the seed is, where it goes and what happens to make a baby goat! The process of reproduction is a natural part of their lives.

They have watched and helped the does giving birth…

and have witnessed how the mothers care for their new born kids…

they have watched as new borns take their first breath…

and cared for and enjoyed them as they grow…

they have experienced having weak kids, and learning how to help them get a good start in life…

and they have learned to deal with death when one or two are lost. They also know that to eat meat comes with a sacrifice. They have learned good stewardship, and care for all the goats equally no matter whether they are for milk or for meat.

By keeping goats, our children have learned and are learning naturally more than I could ever have imaged, and for that I am very grateful.

Categories: goats, natural learning, Uncategorized.

I’m back (I think).

June 18, 2011

It has been 4 months since my last post. Did anyone miss me I wonder? It has been a FULL ON semester at uni, but I am on holidays for a few weeks now and looking forward to recording some learning moments of our life here on my blog again. I have celebrated my return to The Home Truth with a new theme! I thought it fitting as we have also moved to a new property, and in a sense have begun a new chapter in our lives. So, glad to be back and I should have a few posts ready over the next few days :)

 

 

Categories: Uncategorized.

A home among the gum trees…

December 16, 2010

The kids and I have been having great fun listening and learning (and remembering for me!) a few old Aussie folk songs. Thought you might like this one…Jonah loves it because he says its all about our place here out in the bush :)

I’ve been around the world a couple of times or maybe more
I’ve seen the sights, I’ve had delights on every foreign shore
But when my mates all ask me the place that I adore
I tell them right away

Give me a home among the gumtrees
with lots of plum trees
A sheep or two, and a kangaroo
A clothesline out the back
Verandah out the front
And an old rocking chair

You can see me in the kitchen cooking up a roast
Or Vegemite on toast
Just you and me, a cup of tea
And later on, we’ll settle down and go out on the porch
And watch the possums play

Give me a home among the gumtrees
With lots of plum trees
A sheep or two and a kangaroo
A clothesline out the back
Verandah out the front
And an old rocking chair

There’s a Safeways up the corner and a Woollies down the street
And a brand new place they’ve opened up
where they regulate the heat
But I’d trade them all tomorrow for a little bush retreat
Where the kookaburras call

Give me a home among the gumtrees
With lots of plum trees
A sheep or two and a kangaroo
A clothesline out the back
Verandah out the front
And an old rocking chair

Some people like their houses with fences all around
Others live in mansions and some beneath the ground
But me I like the bush you know with rabbits running round
And a pumpkin vine out back

Give me a home among the gumtrees
With lots of plum trees
A sheep or two and a kangaroo
A clothesline out the back
Verandah out the front
And an old rocking chair

Give me a home among the gumtrees
With lots of plum trees
A sheep or two and a kangaroo
A clothesline out the back
Verandah out the front
And an old rocking chair

Categories: country living, family, Uncategorized.

Toby Homeschool Highlights ~ week 16

August 19, 2010

This week has seen much farm work happening! With 17 new goat kids we’ve had lots to do! The last doe kidded yesterday – 2 girls and 1 boy bringing the total to 8 girls and 9 boys. What a blessing! Only one doe had twins, all the rest triplets and one even had 5 kids! If you’ve been reading Bridget’s blog you’ll know that we have adopted 2 of those 5 and are hand raising them as they were a little slow on their feet. 6 days later they are both doing very well and although their mother won’t feed them they are back with the herd. So what does all of this have to do with homeschooling? EVERYTHING! This is our life and this is how we learn…we lead an Hebraic lifestyle of learning :-) Here’s a few other highlights from our week:

  • we shovelled 7 wagon loads of manure out of the goats paddock! (and yes, every muscle still hurts!)
  • we cleaned out the chicken coop and today we finally got an egg! Yay! Spring is on its way!
  • we viewed a picture of the actual flag from the Eureka Stockade and discussed what happened in the 1854 rebellion.
  • Jonah and William have been engrossed with paper craft making gun holsters and 3-D tent models.
  • Bridget is reading a Our Don Bradman – the diary of Victor McDonald in the My Australian Story series.
  • We had discussions on buoyancy when Jonah asked how ships float on the sea.
  • We played with some Hebrew words lists on BYKI.com
  • We learned about the ancient Hebrew meaning behind the word Life.
  • and we did a little maths and other book work…and read to each other in bed at night time :-)

That we our week in a nutshell! Blessings to you all for a peaceful Shabbat!

Categories: Uncategorized.

The family; a community of learners

July 30, 2010

I just finished reading this great article about the practicalities of natural learning and was so encouraged I had to share it here. This very much describes our family now…however it has taken us a good while to get here! To read the whole article go HERE. Enjoy!

Natural Learning is not ‘Doing Nothing’

By Susan Wight

Confession time: Sometimes I get ‘the guilts’ and think I’m not really educating my children at all. This feeling usually creeps in following someone’s wide-eyed response when I tell them that I home educate.

“Wow, I could never do that! You must be so organised!”

The overawed responses vary but the words ‘busy’, ‘dedicated’ ‘organised’ and ‘amazing’ crop up fairly often. My guess is you hear this kind of thing too. And then the guilt sets in because these people have entirely the wrong idea about me. They think that I am a super-organised disciplinarian, planning lessons; conscientiously implementing a study routine; supervising progress; correcting work and so on…

I’m not doing any of that stuff! The fact is that most of the time, I’m doing my own thing whilst the kids do theirs. As the clock ticks over 9.00 a.m. here you won’t find me with the dishes and daily washing and cleaning done ready to supervise the day’s school work. In fact it’s quite likely that I am checking my email in my pajamas whilst the kids are still reading in bed. One of them is almost certainly still asleep.

Sometimes natural learning seems to be ‘doing nothing.’

I think the thing is that following a natural learning lifestyle means that the parental role is so different to that of a teacher that even we home educating parents have trouble seeing and recognising it for what it is sometimes. We don’t appreciate how hard we work to help our children learn because we cease to consider it ‘work’ and just think of it as ‘life’. The truth is that natural learning involves much more than ‘doing nothing’ or letting the kids do whatever they want. On the contrary, parents are very involved in their children’s natural learning. Yes, my children pretty much do what they want as long as they are not causing a problem. But what we natural learners find is that, given the chance to do whatever they wish, children choose many activities and pursuits where learning is incidental (indeed inevitable) and that, as they grow older, children choose to learn more overtly in the direction of their own interests and often pursue those interests to a very high level. The child who is still asleep at 9.00 a.m. has often been writing a story or researching until late into the night.

So what of the parents’ role? No we are not implementing timetables but we are very far from being divorced from the process of learning which is going on in our homes. Encouraging natural learning is very much a facilitator’s role. We teach our children how to find out what they want to know. We answer their questions as toddlers and, as they grow older, we show them how to use the index of books, the library catalogue system and the internet but none of this is done in lesson form. It is just ‘taught’ naturally as the need arises. We search high and low for books that will appeal to them – both fiction and non-fiction. We take them to clubs, exhibitions, festivals, sports and activities that will interest them. We stock up on resources – books, art materials, writing materials, board games and so on. We provide the time and the freedom for them to develop their imaginations through long imaginative games. We display their models and artwork. In short, we help them in thousands of ways to actively pursue any interest they have.

We are also the sounding board for many of their ideas, thoughts and imaginary games. We take their opinions seriously. We thoughtfully read everything they write, even their first faltering attempts which we may also join with them in laughing at years later. We comment, correct or proofread as requested. We are the audience for their lounge-room concerts and sit through hours of recitals of their made-up songs and poetry. We preview books that we think might appeal to them. We read everything they recommend and talk to them about what they read. We type up their stories. We help them make signs and props for their games. Sometimes we purchase what we or they can not make – e.g. play money for their shopping games. We make time to explain concepts when requested and to demonstrate skills they wish to pick up. We frequently drop what we are doing in order to respond to their interests, their questions and their pursuit of knowledge. In fact we honour their quest for knowledge and help them to see how important it is.

We have no structure in a school sense but in a very real sense our whole lives are structured to aid, assist and encourage our children to learn and to love learning.

Categories: Uncategorized.

Blog face lift.

June 23, 2010

it was time for a change of decor. Do you like or not???

Categories: Uncategorized.

Just wanted to share…

May 22, 2010

that I am leaving facebook. Phew! and concentrating my limited online time to my blog and my blogging friends whom I love very much and don’t get to interact with enough because I waste all my online time on facebook. So soon I will be around here much more :-)

Happy Shavuot everyone! (whenever it is that you may be celebrating it!)

Categories: Uncategorized.

I just really like this…

January 7, 2010

‘Saying one’s prayers isn’t exactly the same thing as praying,’ said Anne meditatively. ‘But I’m going to imagine that I’m the wind that is blowing up there in those tree-tops. When I get tired of the trees I’ll imagine that I’m gently waving down here in the ferns – and then I’ll fly over to Mrs Lynde’s garden and set the flowers dancing – and then I’ll go with one great swoop over the clover field – and then I’ll blow over the Lake of Shining Waters and ripple it all up into little sparkling waves. Oh, there’s so much scope for imagination in the wind! So I’ll not talk any more just now, Marilla.’ 

‘Thanks be to goodness for that,’ breathed Marilla in devout relief. 


~ Anne of Green Gables, LM Montgomery

Categories: Uncategorized.

sigh…

November 17, 2009

today I am dealing with an entire plague of tiny bugs IN and COVERING my entire house. No. It is not fun. The bugs are 3mm x 1mm and there are millions of them. Millions. And no matter what we do, they won’t go away!

But…I’m sure that they are not here…

and even though it is 400km away, I’m consoled that this place exists, and one day I might be one of those people in this picture!

sigh…

I really miss the beach today :(

Categories: Uncategorized.

Guess what I’ll be doing next year.

October 8, 2009

I am going to university. What???

Yes, that’s right. I am going to do a BA majoring in Ancient History and World Religions.

HOW???

Distance Ed, through UNE.

An interesting twist of events :) Comments appreciated!

Categories: Uncategorized.

what is really in our food?

June 22, 2009

I have never paid much attention to those little numbers listed in the ingredients on the packaging of food. I don’t have any (known) food intolerance, and neither do my husband or my children. So it’s never really been an issue. Once in a while, I will look at ingredients; maybe during the feast of unleavened bread, for instance, to make sure there is no yeast. And if I am taking food to my neighbour who has a child with food intolerance. From time to time I wonder about all those numbers, but not enough to make me do any research.

That was until I had a dream about something called ‘Prawnola’.

In my dream I was defending my obedience to the food laws of Torah. (Leviticus 11). Someone I know was telling me how ridiculous and naive I was because ‘they’ put prawnola in a lot of foods, and I am eating it without knowing.

The next day I told my husband about my dream and he said, “well actually, that’s a good point, maybe some food additives are derived from unclean animals”. So, after doing some research, we found that although there is no such thing as prawnola (thankfully!) some additives are in fact derived from what Yahweh declares unclean and we may have been eating them unaware.

As well as this, we found out A LOT more about the things that are in our food and what they can do to us. Mutual Benefit Marketing is FULL of essential information about what is put into packaged foods. I highly recommend visiting the site.

This ‘obituary’ is from their website;

Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape.

He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as knowing when to come in out of the rain, why the early bird gets the worm, life isn’t always fair, and maybe it was my fault.

Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don’t spend more than you earn) and reliable parenting strategies (adults, not children, are in charge).

His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place. Reports of a six-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition.

Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job they themselves failed to do in disciplining their unruly children. It declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer Panadol, sun lotion or a Band-Aid to a student but could not inform the parents when a student became pregnant or wanted to have an abortion.

Common Sense lost the will to live as the Ten Commandments became contraband, churches became businesses, and criminals received better treatment than their victims.
Common Sense took a beating when you couldn’t defend yourself from a burglar in your own home and the burglar could sue you for assault.

Common Sense was preceded in death by his parents, Truth and Trust; his wife, Discretion; his daughter, Responsibility; and his son, Reason. He is survived by three stepbrothers; I Know My Rights, Someone Else is to Blame, and I’m A Victim.

Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone.

If you still remember him, pass this on. If not, join the majority and do nothing.

Categories: Uncategorized.

i’m having a hard time with the wind.

February 16, 2009

Wind.
It’s so windy.
It’s been so windy for at least a week.
Before that it was a heatwave.
In between we’ve had a couple of huge storms.

Extreme weather out here.

But the wind is really bothering me. I can’t think straight. The kids can’t go outside for too long. The goat’s shelter blew down. I can’t even hang the washing out because it will blow away. and so will I. When will it end?

There, that’s my whinge and now it’s done.

Here are a few words about wind from the Creator of the wind.

Praise the LORD from the earth,
Sea monsters and all deeps;
Fire and hail, snow and clouds;
Stormy wind, fulfilling His word….Psalm 148:7-8

He sends forth His word and melts them;
He causes His wind to blow and the waters to flow. Psalm 147:18

Who has ascended into heaven and descended?Who has gathered the wind in His fists?Who has wrapped the waters in His garment?Who has established all the ends of the earth?What is His name or His son’s name?Surely you know! Proverbs 30:4

Categories: Uncategorized.

our beach holiday

February 7, 2009

We just spent the last 5 days at Ulludulla on the NSW South Coast, and had a fabulous time! Here’s a few pics, more to come soon!

Categories: Uncategorized.

thankyou, Mama

February 2, 2009

The dress and hat that Mama sent look really beautiful! Thankyou also to the Helyards, the Guys and Grandma and Grandpa for the gifts Bridget received in the mail. Many blessings to you all!

Categories: Uncategorized.

happy birthday, bridgey

February 1, 2009


We had a really nice time at the pool with our friends….Praise God! Happy Birthday, our 11 year old young lady.

Categories: Uncategorized.

various images and a brief update

February 1, 2009
We took a trip to Canberra on thursday…this is taken outside the War Memorial.


The temperature of the last 5 days has gone like this ….39, 40, 42, 40, 42….hot hot and more hot. It has pretty much kept us indoors until about 5pm when we chuck some sausages and salad in a bag and head to the pool for dinner and a swim. This is a very intense game of ‘racing cars’ with daddy that went on for quite awhile :)

Dinner at this great little pizza place in Yass….


The view from our bedroom window….

Categories: Uncategorized.

my beautiful bubby in the bath

January 23, 2009

my wonderful almost four year old who has almost no more baby left in him….when did that happen? This boy is such a joy to us, what a wonderful blessing…thankyou my Yahweh. may he bring glory to you though his life.

Shabbat Shalom.

Categories: Uncategorized.

our school :)

January 20, 2009

see….if I can homeschool, anyone can!!!

“The Library”
what our homeschool/dinner table looks like straight after dinner. I think that the toy car on the right is a nice touch…oh, and the piece of chicken there in the middle.

I write memory verses here. Jonah memorises the verse and then ‘reads’ it from the board. I figure that he is associating the words. He just started doing this on his own this week. I’ll test this theory later in the week by showing him some of the words in a different context….stay tuned.

This is my desk. Actually, it’s really just the general dump area and holding zone for anything to do with school books. And teddy bears, toy cars and stray video tapes.
“Now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus our Lord, equip you in every good thing to do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.”

Categories: Uncategorized.

1 hour at the pool

January 19, 2009

with our new computer came the restoration of our camera! Here’s some shots from our afternoon at the pool….

Categories: Uncategorized.

juggling homeschooling and moving

November 8, 2008

Recently I found this GREAT website. They offer free testing in maths and reading and a tailored course of study for each student. Amazingly, Bridget actually looks forward to each lesson, and she can complete the set work on her own. Brilliant for times like this when I need to pack boxes and get everything ready for the move in 5 days! Jonah is doing a sheet a day too which only takes about 10-20 mins. Apart from maths, english and Bible, everything else is on hold, although they are actually doing alot more violin and piano practice, and reading to each other while I’m packing boxes, which is marvelous. 5 days to go….

Categories: Uncategorized.

we were expecting to stay a little longer….

November 2, 2008

but it wasn’t to be, and we can see the Father’s hand in this move. Being closer to the friends that we have made here means more opportunity to share and learn together. The only down side as far as we can see is that the house is a bit smaller, but we’ll adjust. After all, this time on earth is only temporary, and it is important to remember not to get too comfortable and forget that our home is actually in ‘another country’. I love this war time analogy from Catherine Booth;

A barracks is meant to be a place where real soldiers were fed and equipped for war, not a place to settle down in or a comfortable snuggery in which to enjoy ourselves. I hope that if ever, they, our soldiers do settle down God will burn their barracks over their heads!

Father, help us to remember that our true home is with You.

Categories: Uncategorized.