The Big White Farmhouse | intentional living, little by little

September 18, 2023

No.766: Homemaking Notes on a Monday // Vol.47

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The weather outside is //

As I look outside my window // The arrival of autumn is slowly making itself known around here – the leaves on the tulip poplars are falling and the morning air is crisp and cool. We’ve been chipping away at our farm’s winter prep list and the drop in temperatures is much appreciated!

As I look around the house // I’m excited to try out the FlyLady cleaning routine to see if it will help. My poor house has been neglected this year due to all of my other commitments and while it’s not a dump, it could definitely use a deep clean and declutter. I’m hoping FlyLady (in addition to my decluttering list) is the answer! I downloaded her free app (because I didn’t want the constant emails in my inbox) and love and appreciate the direction. Bonus points for the ability to check items off of the list.

Learning // a lot about cortisol and why it’s quite a bit more complicated than originally thought:

Our previous, and overly simplistic, view that “more stress = more cortisol = more belly fat” and “less stress = less cortisol = less belly fat” still holds true in some regards – and reminds us that we certainly do not want to have high levels of systemic cortisol. But our growing understanding of the role of the HSD enzyme in cortisol metabolism within individual cells alerts us to the fact that we really need to be focusing simultaneously on controlling cortisol exposure both outside of cells (blood levels caused by high stress and poor lifestyle) and inside of cells (caused by overactive HSD and suboptimal levels of GH and testosterone). – The Cortisol Connection: Why Stress Makes You Fat and Ruins Your Health – And What You Can Do About It, p.64

I’m not done with the book yet, but this revelation may be one answer to some of my current health issues! Eating foods rich in flavonoids is a natural way to control HSD activity, so I’m going to try to add more of them into my diet. I also need to look into a citrus bioflavonoid supplement, since the most potent is polymethoxylated flavonoids (PMFs), which is found in citrus peels.

On this week’s to-do list //
– continue putting the garden “to bed” (pulling out spent plants, weeding, etc)
– order hog panels for new permanent paddocks
– order straw
– wrap birthday presents
– buy cards for fall birthdays/celebrations
– clean and vacuum out the cars
– sell a few things on ebay/Poshmark/Pango

Currently reading //

Fiction: Trickster’s Point by William Kent Krueger
Nonfiction: We Crossed a Bridge and It Trembled: Voices from Syria by Wendy Pearlman, Cobalt Red: How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives by Siddharth Kara, Land of Hope: An Invitation to the Great American Story by Wilfred M. McClay, and The Cortisol Connection: Why Stress Makes You Fat and Ruins Your Health – And What You Can Do About It by Shawn Talbott, PhD FACSM
Religious: The Catholic Mass: Steps to Restore the Centrality of God in the Liturgy by Bishop Athanasius Schneider

On the menu this week //

Monday: sheet pan roasted chicken with root vegetables
Tuesday: ground beef and gravy over mashed potatoes
Wednesday: homemade pizza
Thursday: chicken fried rice and egg rolls
Friday: breakfast for dinner TBD

September 14, 2023

No.765: Five Good Things // Vol.18

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1 // A FUN “BOOKTUBE” CHANNEL

I recently stumbled upon a new-to-me Youtube channel called Mitzi Reads and Writes. I love her reading taste, her love of vintage books and her sweet Southern accent. She’s a joy to watch.

2 // A SIMPLE WAY TO BOOST MY IMMUNE SYSTEM BEFORE WINTER

My elderberries have been prolific this year and I’ve been working hard to preserve all of the fruit. I’ve already made some elderberry syrup and have frozen the rest for future use. According to WebMD (and plenty of homesteaders and elders too), “the berries and flowers of elderberry are packed with antioxidants and vitamins that may boost your immune system. They could help tame inflammation, lessen stress, and help protect your heart, too.” I’ll take it! Anyway, I purchased some cool pop-out ice trays from Marshalls (these look similar) and froze the syrup into individual cubes. Each morning, I pop an elderberry cube into my water and I’m good to go for the day.

3 // THIS QUOTE

These roses under my window make no reference to former roses or to better ones; they are for what they are; they exist with God today.
– Ralph Waldo Emerson

Like my favorite priest always says, “We should focus on becoming a saint today.” I often get distracted by the past or the future instead of doing my very best with the time God has given me today.

4 // A LITTLE TIP FOR SAVING EVEN MORE MONEY ON PRE-LOVED CLOTHES

I recently purchased a few things from ThredUp and unintentionally found a way to save even more money. At checkout, ThredUp provides an option to bundle, which basically means that you get an entire week to shop and then they’ll ship everything to you all at once. So here’s what I did:

I browsed the website and “favorited” a bunch of items I liked.
ThredUp always has some sort of sale going on (sometimes a new one daily!), so I took advantage of the best deal. (For example, three items were 40% off with a certain coupon code.)
I picked the bundle option, which delayed shipment for one week.
Throughout the rest of the week, I would check in and see if some of my favorites were now on sale. You could use the coupon code of the day and it would still be added to the overall bundle. Another way to save is that I could purchase some non-sale items with my rewards points. As long as it was added to the bundle, shipping was still free!

I made that sound incredibly confusing, but I promise it’s not. With a little patience, I was able to purchase a few more pieces for my family at even better prices. In these inflationary times, that means a lot! (P.S. If you’ve never shopped at ThredUp before, you can use my code for 45% off plus free shipping on your first order. I hope you love it as much as I do.)

5 // A BETTER BOOK FOR OLDER, STRUGGLING READERS

If you have a struggling reader who isn’t into those “baby readers” that most Kindergartners use, Yak Pack Comics might be a solution for you. We are using Book 1 for my dyslexic reader and it’s just what we needed: easy enough to gain some confidence, but definitely not babyish. He really likes the way the story is presented in comic form.

September 11, 2023

No.764: Last Week at the Farmhouse // Little Efforts

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Little duties, little efforts, the better for being seen by no one, except by Him in whose eyes nothing is little. – a quote I loved from The Secret Diary of Elisabeth Leseur, p.157

What a week! We started with boiling 90-100° weather and ended with a severe thunderstorm downpour. Our area has been in a moderate drought this year, so that rain was so welcome!

Torrie recently shared her minimalism goals and I was super inspired by the way she broke down the areas of her house into tiny sections. I’d like to do another declutter this fall and this was just what I needed to get started. I made my list and began with the school room bookshelves. In just an hour, I had tidied and organized, tossed a ton of used workbooks, and was even able to find 35 items to donate or resell. I felt very accomplished and excited to keep going.

We had another fun week in science. The little boys are learning about rocks and minerals and we dove into this rock and mineral kit. So fun. My fifth grader read a book called The Secret Life of a Snowflake: An Up-Close Look at the Art and Science of Snowflakes, which was so interesting! The author is a scientist who photographs snowflakes under a microscope. Each one is completely unique. We’re already praying for snow this winter, so we can see this for ourselves, ha!

New additions to my mother culture book stack: Cobalt Red: How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives by Siddharth Kara, The Collapse of Parenting: How We Hurt Our Kids When We Treat Them Like Grown-Ups by Leonard Sax, MD, PhD and The Cortisol Connection: Why Stress Makes You Fat and Ruins Your Health And What You Can Do About It by Shawn Talbott, PhD, FACSM.

September 8, 2023

No.763: Homeschool Curriculum We’re Trying for the First Time in 2023-2024

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The fall is here and so is new homeschool curriculum! Here are five new-to-us pieces that we will be trying in the 2023-2024 school year:

SIMPLY CHARLOTTE MASON

For years and years, I’ve cobbled together my school curriculum, planning lessons and searching for just the right books. But since my life is so full right now, I decided that I needed to take some things off of my plate. I needed someone to do the heavy lifting for me! After a little research, I decided to try Simply Charlotte Mason. We are using the “Modern Times & Epistles, Revelation” history/geography/Bible curriculum plan for my youngest four children, along with the corresponding Individual Study plan for each. Not a perfect fit, but good enough. I’m confident that I can make some easy tweaks if necessary.

AMERICAN ART HISTORY

Art has always been an important part of our family culture. After years of basic art lessons, I decided to change course a bit and try something different! This year, we’re using the American Art History book along with the Drawing American Art Volume I. We are already a few weeks in and loving it.

GUEST HOLLOW’S GOVERNMENT AND PERSONAL FINANCE

For my junior, I found a high school level Government, Economics, & Personal Finance Curriculum from Guest Hollow. I love how she uses a wide variety of books and I can pick and choose what works best for my son. The workbook she created is also incredible and very well done.

TYPING CLUB

The Individual Study plan for my 5th grader (see above) included typing. I looked around for something easy, engaging and preferably free and TypingClub fits all three!

MOVIES AS LITERATURE

My freshman loves movies so I am hoping this Movies as Literature course will be a natural fit for him this year. The course uses seventeen classic movies (like Rear Window, A Man for All Seasons and Raiders of the Lost Ark) to introduce and study literary elements. He will be watching each movie a couple of times through and then writing a paper answering one of the essay questions. Really looking forward to our discussions.

Update from last year’s post: Spelling You See was ultimately shelved, but is getting a second try this fall. We LOVED the birds study and are continuing on this year. Apologia’s Human Body was good and got the job done. My kids LOVED the first Legends & Leagues book, but interest fizzled with the second. We also LOVED Simple Spanish and will be continuing this year too.