Icy "Stuff"

I just had to do a quick post about the interesting weather we had yesterday! We went from a high of 85 degrees around 4pm or so down to the 40's by around 9pm and around 30 degrees for the low last night! Amazing!

Here are a few photos of the sleet/ice that came down last night! We had rain and sleet off and on all night..a nice change after no rain whatsoever the past few months!

Thankful.....

This is an awesome video....take the time to watch it and be thankful for all that God has done for us....

Pepper's First Litter 2008!

One of our cats just recently had their first litter of kittens. She is 4 years old and the dad was only about 6 months old or so at the time. She only had one kitten though! Her name is Pepper and the dad is Shadow. You will see a couple of pictures about halfway through the show with mom, dad and the kitten in the box!

This was a very interesting experience all the way around. When we realized that she might be pregnant, I estimated when she might be due based on the "signs" of pregnancy. She ended up delivering about a week and half before I had expected it so we weren't quite prepared.

We also have a situation with this particular cat...she doesn't like to be shut up in any rooms or small spaces! So she wouldn't stay in the areas/box we wanted her to in order to have the baby!

She was in labor for 2 days...it was exhausting as we waited and tried to make sure she wouldn't hide somewhere we couldn't find her, etc. She finally delivered around 6am on August 29th. I had fallen asleep and figured I would hear her making some type of noise to indicate she was delivering, but she didn't! I awoke on the sofa in the living room to the sound of the kitten crying!

Pepper had delivered her under the chair in the living room (which wasn't covered of course--making a big mess). I put her and the baby into the area we had prepared for her..it took a bit of time to get her calm, the baby warm and to get her to stay with the baby and not be freaked out! She finally settled down and started taking care of the baby. In order to get some sleep and keep her from moving the baby, we put her in the playpen we had arranged with her box and everything she needed and covered it so she would stay in. That worked for a bit and then we just put her box in the living room near the sofa so she wouldn't feel trapped.

She did move the kitten briefly into the tiny scratching post. We later moved her and her box into our bedroom so we could shut the door to keep them contained (not hide the baby where we wouldn't be able to find it) and she wouldn't feel like she was trapped. This was also to keep the daddy cat away from them until the baby was bigger.

She stayed there for about a week and a half. We started leaving the door open and she ended up moving the kitten to my daughter's bed! She is on the bottom bunk of their bunkbed. I guess it feels kind of like a box to her but with more room!

They have remained in the girls room through today..and will be for a bit longer. Once the kitten started walking well, we put the baby gate up to keep him (?) in but Pepper can come in and out as needed.

He is running, jumping and playing now! He has even started using the litter box and eating hard food...without us teaching him! He is very cute. He is being called Sam (so it would work for either a girl or a boy), but his name may be changed to Gizmo..because of his ears! We will see!

This is a slide show of the progression of her being in labor (NO gory details), up until today with a short video clip.

This has been a new experience for our family, but it looks like our other cat may also be pregnant! We will see if she will have more than one kitten!

Enjoy!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Worm Composting

I just posted an update about our worm composting project on our homeschool site.

Check it out at:

www.tiwacademy.wordpress.com

Happy composting!

Make Your Own Spirulina Capsules!

A number of months back, I started on the road to learning more about how to use herbs, and how to make them into tinctures, rubs, etc. At that time, I had also purchased several items that need to be encapsulated to be used easily and all the supplies to do it.

Of course, I spent a lot of time make various tinctures and rubs, but didn't get around to trying out my supplies to encapsulate the spirulina and bentonite clay that I had bought.

So, yesterday, in the midst of having 3 extra kids in my house, I decided to try it out. It was actually a very easy process and I will finish filling up my 1000 capsules on a day when I don't have so much going on! Below are some pictures of the process of filling up the Spirulina capsules. I will do the Bentonite clay later also.

You can order these items and so much more at the Bulk Herb Store. The water filter they sell is also wonderful!

I will let you know if taking the Spirulina makes a difference. It is supposed to be very good for you. You can even use it to replace food as it is a complete food.

Here is a link to some information I just found today--it even has a break down of nutrient content if you click on the various links towards the bottom of the page. It is for a different spirulina product than what I have, but should be very similar! What is Spirulina?

I will continue to share what I learn as I go along!

My capsule making "set up".

Filling the capsules.

Capping the capsules.

The finished capsules.


Labeled and stored in a bag for now.

Visitor!

My husband found several small frogs/toads today as he was out watering the yard. Here are a few pictures of the one in the front yard. I need to look it up to see what type it is!

New Endeavors--Studying and Using Herbs

I have recently started a new quest to learn all about herbs, how to use them and how to make them into my own products to use with my family and friends.

I started my journey by visiting: The Bulk Herb Store I purchased a couple of books from them as well as well as a number of herb combination packs and the awesome water filter system they have on their site. Their prices are great and the products are also great! There is a wealth of information in the various articles on the site as well.

The books I purchased, Herbal Antibiotics and Practical Herbalism, are wonderful resources! I am trying read through and learn as much as I possibly can (of course, it is in between all my other "normal" responsibilities).

I also found a great source for containers and other supplies useful in the making of herbal concoctions: Mountain Rose Herbs They offer a large selection of organic products as well as supplies for making soap, cosmetics, herbal preparations, etc. They also have some articles and recipes you can try out.

I came across this site recently, LearningHerbs.com They offer a lot of helpful information on their site. They also have a free ecourse "Supermarket Herbalism" which shows you how to use common items you can find at your grocery store to help your family. They have a starter kit you can buy that comes with instructions to get you started with making your own products---I haven't purchased it, but it looks like a great set.

My assortment of nicely packaged herbal concoctions!

So far I have made several batches of "Miracle Rub" in various forms--a salve/rub, an oil rub and a rubbing alcohol based rub. They all actually work very well!



I have also made a batch each of the Women's and Men's "Jungle Juice". It is basically a combination of herbs to support health in men or women. They are made in a glycerin base.

I have made several other tinctures. They are "Immune Booster" and "Restful Sleep". The Immune Booster is to use when you start to have symptoms of a cold, flu, etc or even just allergies. The Restful Sleep tincture is to help with falling and staying asleep and it can also be used in a smaller dose to help children or adults calm down.



I have just finished making a batch of "The Vinegar of Four Thieves". It is to be used as a natural insect repellent on people and animals. We will see how it works this summer!



It is fun to experiment with how to use herbs. It is amazing how many "weeds" that we try to kill in our yards, are actually beneficial plants! I plan to spend part of the summer teaching my kids more about the herbs, how to use them and how to make herbal preparations to help our family and our friends.

God truly has provided all we would need to keep ourselves healthy and to help our bodies heal in the plants and trees that He created!