About Tricia

I am Tricia. Momma of nine, homeschooler, artist, foodie and maker of all kinds of things. It's a pleasure to share here our family homesteading adventures, the things we make, and what inspires our days. Read more about my family and work here. Thanks for visiting!

Author Archive | Tricia

The rhythm of our week. Tuesday: Sewing day

By on September 27, 2011 in Rhythm, sewing

I’m feeling much better today!  I have been juicing and drinking mostly veggies and fruits and I have lots more energy today and whatever flu bug it was that was trying to get me is on its way out.

I love sewing day.  I love coming out with a final product or getting farther along on a project. Today my mending pile was falling over so I had to work on that : (  It is not as much fun but it benefits my family so there is much worth in it.

I had to repair Livie’s favorite dress and some culottes for the girls (they tear their playclothes up pretty bad).

As I was working I thought maybe I would share my sewing space with you. I used to have our loft upstairs for my sewing/creativity room but last year I gave it to the boys so my oldest daughter could have her own room. Sigh…. I have now been banished to the garage which is the only space big enough to fit all of my shelves, sewing machines, cutting tables as well as the girls sewing machines. I am hoping next year we will put in nice floors and make it feel like a real room but for now, here are the areas that are not too messy to share with you hee-hee.
my mending pile is pretty big right now.  You can also see Poppas shirt on top.  He got a little bleach stain in it and so it is waiting to be turned into a dress for Livie.
my cutting table, it is chock full of baskets of yarn and fabric underneath
more fabric.  This is an antique gun case which I put shelves into years ago and thought I would paint it white….yeah its still waiting for me to paint it.  Maybe now that I have admitted it I will get it done…
wool dryer balls and ready cut squares for a quilt.
What did my old sewing loft look like?  Check it out.

 my old sewing loft
How I miss this space but my boys need it more than I do.
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The rhythm of our week. Monday: Baking day

By on September 27, 2011 in Recipes, Rhythm

Work is love made visible

I am feeling under the weather..
We are out of yogurt and bread.
We are always out of yogurt and bread by Sunday.
Into the kitchen I go.

I will be posting, God willing, my rhythm for each day this week.  For an explanation on rhythm click here

I only made yogurt and bread today, I reflected on the women in the prairie who did this wether they wanted to or not because they had to feed their families.  I am sure on a regular day they were more tired than my sicky, tired self is feeling today.  With that in mind, I pulled out the grain mill and my supplies and made our favorite bread.

Thick and filling Oatmeal honey wheat bread
(makes two loaves)

2 c water

1/2 c honey

1/3 c butter

6 cups whole wheat flour

1 c qiuck cook oats

2 tsp sea salt

4 1/2 tsp dry active yeast

5 tbsp olive oil

Heat the water, honey and butter until they reach about 120 degrees.

In a large bowl, mix the oats, salt, yeast and 5 cups of the flour

add the honey mixture and mix on low for a minute

 if the dough is sticky, add the remaining cup of flour little by little until the dough clears the side of the bowl while being mixed. It is now time to knead the bread dough.  You can knead it by hand (its supposed to be therapeutic) but I use my dough hook and turn the mixer on speed 3 or 4 for about 2 minutes.

 I then take it out of the bowl for a second, grease the bowl and pop it back in.  Cover it with a damp kitchen towel and let rise until double (this will take about 1 hour). During this time I am making yogurt or something else that needs to be done during my baking break.

 Punch it down, divide it into two pieces and rolleach out into a rectangle, then roll it up jelly roll style and put into greased bread pans.

 Let it rise until double and then bake it at 375 for 20-25 minutes. This bread is so good, it is by no means empty calories.  I eat two slices with jam or nut butter and I am good for a long time. 

Enjoy!

Stay tuned for the rest of the week, I will be posting my rhythm for each day of the week. Here is a little poem I wrote to remind my family of what each day is for.

The rhythm of our week
written by Tricia Gaitan (Crunchy Catholic Momma)

Monday kneads the water and flour, bowls of dough hour by hour

Tuesday pulls the needle and thread, to sew the blankets for the bed

Wednesdays linens washed and sunned, till all the clothes are clean and done

Thursday stop to search and look until you find the perfect book

Friday works the soil by hand, to weed and plant the good Lord’s land

Saturday time to plan ahead and gather the grains to bake the bread

Sunday comes to give us rest, Thank the Lord for our little nest.


 If you have a rhythm for your week, please post it in the comments so we can all learn from each other.

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