Gardening, NAIS and the Gospel of John

I haven't had any epiphanies this morning, so thought I'd just talk about what's going on here on our homestead. We looked over the garden today. There are baby brussel's sprouts all over the plants. This is our first year to grow them and I'm looking forward to seeing how a "real" brussel's sprout tastes. Another new winter crop for us is kale. We also have cabbages, broccoli, onions, garlic, peas and turnips still growing. One advantage of gardening in the south is that we can actually have produce all winter. It's one of the things I'm currently working mastering to increase our food production and self-sufficiency. I picked several Black Spanish radishes. They're really a neat looking radish and huge. I tried sauteing some in butter with a bit of Spike (a natural all-purpose seasoning) and found that cooking takes the bite out of them. It makes them taste a bit like turnips, only better in my opinion. One can only eat so many pickled products. I'm also told that they are great candidates for root cellaring. Along with the radishes I sauteed up a few Jerusalem artichokes. The key to them is to take them off the heat the minute they're fork tender. We also like them mashed like potatoes. Be careful, though, because to put it indelicately - they'll make you fart.

I've noticed many news articles lately regarding the USDA's decision to make the NAIS (National Animal Identification System) completely voluntary. Along the same line, I've got some wonderful southern Oklahoma land for sale, complete with ample rainfall and a gentle climate. You'll find no sighs of relief here. We don't buy it and are insulted that the powers that be think we would. We encourage all readers to go to NoNAIS.org where they are doing the good work in getting out the best information about this unprecedented intrusion into our way of life.

I'm currently reading in the gospel of John. It's such a beautiful book, and it's easy to see why it's recommended as the first book for new Christians. I did the walk down the aisle in my teens, but was never discipled. Fortunately, even though I didn't know what being saved meant, God did. In my early 30's I sat down and read the gospels for the first time. I remember walking into the living room Bible in hand and asking my dear husband in amazement, "Do you know what this says? And you didn't tell me!" Let us not forget to share the Word with others.

Blessings, until next time.

Welcome to Tabletop Homestead

We are Christians. We are homesteaders. We make no apologies.

We are moving this newly created blog from another site and will begin by sharing the few posts we've accumulated.

Thanksgiving
We had our family Thanksgiving yesterday. My granddaughter asked me why we didn't celebrate for 3 days like the Pilgrims. I told her I really didn't know, but it sounded like a wonderful idea to me. Maybe a plan for next year. We had goose and smoked brisket, cornbread dressing, mashed potatoes, grean beans with lemon butter sauce, giblet gravy, pumpkin casserole, salad with homemade dressing, homemade cranberry sauce (my granddaughter has determined it makes a great peanut butter and jelly sandwich), whole wheat rolls, chocolate and pumpkin chess pies, pineapple upside down cake and peach cobbler. Today I'll take the leftovers and make a mineral rich broth from the goose carcass along with goose pot pie with the meat, gravy, beans and mashed potatoes.

I love to cook and find myself more and more giving advice to younger women. How sad that we're raising a generation that by and large has lost the art of good cooking. If I had one piece of advice to give beginning cooks it would be that you can't go wrong with quality ingredients. I'm not talking about spending a fortune at the gourmet food store, but in taking the time to seek out the best quality fresh locally grown food you can find and afford. In the priceless verses of Proverbs 31:10-31 the lady who would make Martha Stewart look like an amateur is described as seeking the best for her culinary efforts. Growing your own is the optimal choice. What you're not able to grow, buy from local farmers. Don't settle for margarine that's one molecule away from being plastic and instant soup that's full of unpronouceable chemicals. Learn about the wonderful qualities of real butter, homemade bone-based stocks, vegetables that haven't traveled thousands of miles. I told a group of young women the other day, I don't cook with anything that won't decompose.

We at Tabletop Homestead are thankful for the bounty of our farm, for the quality food that we're able to feed our young ones. We're thankful for the land that God so graciously allows us to steward. And, despite the uncertainties we face trying to live slowly and simply in a fast and complicated world, we're thankful that God is still, always has been and always will be in complete control.
9:09 am cst

Thursday, October 5, 2006
Changes
Yesterday, my dear husband brought home some of the propaganda, for want of a better term, that the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture in cahoots with the USDA is distributing regarding NAIS - the National Animal Identification System. Although I'm quite familiar with this program, it hit home as I was readinng the material. I literally became nauseated. Last night I had a rough night, awakening around 1:30 with much anxiety and spending almost an hour in prayer. I made some decisions. I can't advocate a lifestyle that requires licensing by the government. I've got to start looking for alternative ways to provide protein for my family besides the traditional keeping of livestock, as the USDA is determined to take that away from us. Tabletophomestead.org will change, although it breaks my heart to do it. Please be with us and pray for us as we work through this and check back frequently as we revise our life and our site.
2:33 pm cdt

Friday, August 26, 2005
Fall Gardening and Greenhouse Planting
The last few days we've been busy planting the fall garden and praying for rain. We've planted cabbage, broccoli, brussel sprouts, kohlrabi, spinach, lettuce and a fall crop of basil. Whether or not we have any luck is now in the hands of God and the Oklahoma weather. We've also done fall cleaning in the greenhouse and have planted several varieties of perennial herbs to overwinter for setting out in the spring. A few of the things we planted were hybrid (from seed that was given to us), but the majority of our garden consists of open-pollinated and heirloom varieties. Many people don't realize that we now have only a fraction of the vegetable varieties that were available even 50 years ago. Gardening, while certainly important on the ladder of self-sufficiency, is only part of the equation. Without seed-saving you're almost in the same boat as the person who relies on the grocery store for all their food needs. So - plant a seed, grow a crop, save 2 seeds (one for next year and one more in case of a crop disaster.)
8:08 am cdt

Saturday, August 20, 2005
Fall is in the air
Yes, it's still August and unseasonably humid, but you can feel a hint of fall in the air. The light's a bit different and if you're very still you can feel just a touch of cool on the breeze. It's a little early this year. Usually fall begins to tease us right about the first of September when dove season starts. Fall means thinking about cutting up the trees we downed last year for firewood, butchering pigs, gambling on an end of season garden, cleaning up around the homestead in preparation for winter and getting ready for hunting season. We burned a large brush pile yesterday and I'm thinking it would be a lovely site for a new herb garden.
11:12 am cdt