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- 169 Pinoy Foodie Blogs
- Recipe Index, In Progress
- Homeschooling
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- Paco’s Curriculum and Book List, 2007-2008
- Migi’s Curriculum and Book List, 2007-2008
- Music Schedule
- Free Flashcards for Latina Christiana I
- Aisa’s Curriculum and Book List, 2007-2008
- Online Resources
- Unschooling / Relaxed Schooling Helps
- Filipino Homeschoolers
- The Plan for Art
- How to Homeschool
- My Favorite Books on Books
- Towards *our* Philosophy of Education
- Yena’s Booklist 8/07-7/08
- Paco’s Curriculum and Booklist, 2008-2009
- Migi’s Curriculum and Book List, 2008-2009
- Yena’s Booklist 8/08-7/09
- Aisa’s Booklist ’08-’09
- Plan for High School, Paco 2010-2011
- Books We Love: Science
- The HHS Mandate and The Catholic Response, A Compilation
From the monthly archives: October 2007
It embarrasses me to be so uninvolved right now with this “movement”, but I’m hoping my fellow Pinoy foodies understand. (Family and homeschooling commitments and all.)
Announcing late (my forever theme, I’m afraid) — but today is the last day for entries to Lasang Pinoy 21: Cooking for Heroes. Oscar/Bryan of Fire Water Husband is hosting. Oscar will be doing the roundup in a few days. Here’s the official announcement from the Lasang Pinoy site.
Sixteen-year-old dd alerted me to this post by Courtney on Hitler and Abortion; it’s a MUST READ. (We found Courtney’s blog through fellow homeschooling folks.) To say we love Courtney’s blog is a major understatement. Just the day before I had alerted 16-yo dd to this post: A Poem About a Kick. If you’ve got Google Reader or Bloglines or some other similar service, you have GOT to add her blog to your lineup. She’s one awesome writer (and apparently an awesome dancer as well). I’d love to get inside her mom’s head and find out how she raised Courtney. I can only pray we do half as good a job with our own kids.
Valereee of Cincinnati Locavore started an e-list a couple of weeks ago, open to farmers, consumers, etc. and we’ve been getting lots of good information. Folks that grow veggies year-round, sources for goat’s milk, raw milk (shhh), local cheese, etc. I *love* that we now have a list where we can ask all our questions, like:
- Where do we get locally-farmed, eco-raised fish?
- Where can we purchase unadulterated, free-range poultry?
- Who raises gourmet lettuces year round?
- Is there organic honey available locally?
- Where can I buy pastured pork? Hormone- and antibiotic-free beef? (We’re not big lamb fans but lamb is available too!)
and there are usually people who have the answers. One of the members started a database listing farms in the area — it’s up to 57 now. Quite a resource, and even better than the LocalHarvest search feature, which was my favorite reference, until now!
Most importantly (to me anyway), we can ask farmers firsthand about their practices and other concerns we have as consumers. And I think it’s a great way for local farmers to find new customers and hear/read what they really want. Win-win!
Now, if I can find someone who will grow Asian veggies year-round, I won’t have to grow them myself. But until then….
Wanna join us?
Forgot to mention that DD16 and I attended the symphony last week. Loved the assistant conductor. He was weird and funny and utterly fascinating all at the same time. Had the baby shower for B&E Saturday.
Co-op pickup today. My favorites this month: Aura Cacia’s Candy Cane Essential Oil — I don’t know yet what I’ll do with it, maybe use it when we make candles…. or blend it into my homemade all-natural spray cleaners…. It smells so good!!! And a bargain at $2.99. That, and the natural cooking twine and cheesecloth that were both on sale at the buying club. I just wish some people would order some organic dried cranberries as dd16 loves them so much and they are much too expensive to buy 25# all by ourselves.
Yesterday placed our order with Becky Hill at Pat’s Pastured Pork — yay, the healthy stuff. I get the lard too if the processors won’t put anything in it. I asked for everything FRESH so I can do my own curing of hams, bacons, sausages, etc. So I get it a bit cheaper too. I haven’t made ham in a while, and I’ve never made my own bacon, so this should be fun. And oooh…. lard for hopia…. yum. Maybe even a lardy pie crust for a black walnut pie….
Speaking of which…. the kids gathered up 200+ black walnuts from the yard today. With the help of the neighbors’ kids too. Heee…. I told the boys they couldn’t play until they did that chore. 
Pulled out the tomatoes today. And the basil, which looks like it may survive indoors this winter. Will see.
DD16 helped me with the garlic and onion plot; she put the rest of the organic soil in. I planted 56 garlic!!! Tomorrow I’m doing the onions, and the kids will help with the Princess Victoria tulips, the Sarah Bernhardt peony and the leftover daffs and tiger lilies. I’m also getting an ivy plant from Freecycle that I’ll try to raise as a houseplant. It’s about time we got some green in the house again. I haven’t had a proper houseplant since
Another question: Why do people buy Jaguars and drive at 30mph on a 45mph speed limit street, on the left lane???
Last question: When did “dogma” become a bad word? Or “religion”, for that matter?
At the writing class our coach brought a humongous artichoke as our first “subject”. My first thought was “this must have been shipped in from California!” But I wasn’t prepared to write a lengthy piece about fossil fuel and eating local, so I wrote instead on the difficulties of growing artichoke from seed. And about finding baby ones in Rome and taking them home to the castle/cottage to cook them, deep-fried in olive oil, and sprinkled with some lemon juice. Carciofi alla Romana…. Yum!!
I’ve got my garden plan in hand and wondering… Should I try again? We love artichoke too much not to. At least I found some encouragement on the ‘net:
Globe artichokes are started from seeds. In most northern temperate zones they are treated as two season crop because they take two seasons to reach a size to produce useable flowerbuds. Since they are hardy to zone 9 only, the plants have to be overwintered indoors in zone 6. You dig them after the first frost, place them in barely moist peat moss and keep at 5 to 10 degrees Celsius (40 to 50 degrees Fahrenheit) over the winter. Do not allow to get dry and replant after all danger of frost is past. Keeping the plants in deep pots and moving the pots to a frost free, cool place for the winter will work even better.
Recently the director of the Devonian Botanic Garden in Edmonton, Alberta, in zone 3, told us that he has been growing globe artichokes reliably for over a decade as a single season crop, not as a two season crop suggested in the previous paragraph. The key is to start seeds early indoors (he starts them in January or February) and to provide ample direct sunlight so that the seedlings can develop to a good size by the time it is safe to plant outdoors in May. Outdoors, the plants get rich soil, full sun, and ample water.
- from richters.com
I grew this plant for several years (zone 6/7). Each fall, cut foliage to ground and mulch heavily. Did not do too well, produced few artichoke buds of edible size – may need very rich soil, more feeding to flourish this far north.
- Greenknee at davesgarden.com
- see comment at end of http://urban-agrarian.blogspot.com/2006/07/artichokes-day-118.html
- and http://www.coldclimategardening.com/2005/10/30/artichoke-question/
A greatly improved variety that is vigorous and prolific Perennial, but produces the first year from seed, so is good in cold regions (Zone 6 and colder) where artichokes should be treated as an annual or the roots dug and stored for the winter like flower bulbs. Huge silver leaves with deeply cut margins make it one of the best ornamental edibles, with any uneaten buds opening into thistle-like blue flowers. Medicinal: detoxifies liver, gallbladder etc
- from bountifulgardens.org
This is the one I want to grow!:
Violetto Artichoke
From the north of Italy we bring you the artichoke of aristocrats, Violetto. This violet-bracted ‘choke has small, oval, slightly elongated flower heads that measure 3 inches wide by 5 inches long. A bit later maturing than Green Globe, Violetto will produce abundant crops of mouthwatering artichokes for at least 4 years. Divine when served with melted butter or plain yogurt blended with a touch of mustard. Hardy to zone 6.
The question really is — should I start it now or wait to wintersow? If my efforts fail, I do have a backup — a nice little company I’m keeping secret for now. Heeee….
Got this in my inbox today. Very timely. The weekend is looking quite stressful already with things and commitments piling up that need to be done, attended to, accomplished, finished, blah blah blah… so I’m taking this time to remind myself to calm down, and OFFER. IT. ALL. UP.
“Do you find that you are making no progress in prayer? Let it be enough for you to offer to God the prayer which our Saviour makes for us in the most holy Sacrament of the altar, using His fervent offering to make reparation for your own lukewarmness. And whenever you do anything, pray in this way: ‘My God, I am going to do this or endure that in the Sacred Heart of Your divine Son and according to His holy intentions which I offer You to make reparation for whatever evil or imperfection there may be in my own deeds.’ Continue in this way in all circumstances of life. And whenever anything happens to you that is painful, hard to hear or mortifying, tell yourself this: ‘Accept what the Sacred Heart of Jesus sends you in order to unite you to Himself’” (St. Margaret Mary Alacoque).
HT to the Adore-L list
Last night and this morning was VERY refreshing: Q&A with our parish priest at the homeschooling parents’ meeting, then the field trip to the county airport this (beautiful) morning. Now I just need the Lord and Mama Mary to carry me the rest of the way….
This week we are listening to Edvard Grieg’s Peer Gynt.
Though I am not particularly enamored of the Peer Gynt story, I have always loved the music!
Some ideas to enjoy Peer Gynt:
Start out your morning by playing “Morning”. Have the kids imagine a sunrise scene, while listening to it — better yet, wake the kids early enough to watch the sun rise!
“Morning” is also a great piece to play if you happen to be learning about Creation.
Arabian dance is also a fun wake-up, get-up-and-go early-morning piece!
Try to figure out what instruments are playing; play musical statues.
Another great one for dancing: In the Hall of the Mountain King – or make gnome puppets/beeswax figures and make them “dance” while listening.
Beethoven’s Wig Vol. 2 has “It’s the same every verse” in the tune of “In the Hall of the Mountain King”.
The faster songs are great for frog-hopping, and the slower songs for pretending like you are leaves falling from the trees in autumn.
The older kids may want to do a reading/dramatization from Peer Gynt — or do a simplified version of the story and let the little ones join in.
Locate Norway on the map, where Ibsen and Grieg are from. Read about Norway and its mountains and talk about how its landscape inspired the story and the music. Have the children close their eyes and imagine what Norway is like based on the music. Is it warm or cold? Do you “see” mountains or plains? Can you see the ocean, or the forest? Which pieces sound like “daytime”? Which ones sound like “nighttime”?
Listen to Anitra’s Dance, esp. the strings and the woodwinds, and then watch for the triangle — it sounds like a little bell! (This is my personal favorite.)
See how many sad faces you can make as you listen to Solveig’s Song.
An all-in-one album to listen to is “The Stories of Schumann and Grieg” from the Vox classical collection.
And don’t forget Classics for Kids.
There’s also a short bio of Grieg in “Fun with Composers”.
My 16-yo was laughing her head off watching this last night, passed on by her friend. I reminded her that it IS true, even with her. She had to nod “yes”. What’s sad is, this is also how some adults speak these days. Yes, I haven’t been 100% immune either.
In case you hadn’t realized,
it has somehow become uncool
to sound like you know what you’re talking about?
Or believe strongly in what you’re saying?
Invisible question marks and parenthetical (you know?)’s
have been attaching themselves to the ends of our sentences?
Even when those sentences aren’t, like, questions? You know?
Declarative sentences – so-called
because they used to, like, DECLARE things to be true
as opposed to other things which were, like, not -
have been infected by a totally hip
and tragically cool interrogative tone? You know?
Like, don’t think I’m uncool just because I’ve noticed this;
this is just like the word on the street, you know?
It’s like what I’ve heard?
I have nothing personally invested in my own opinions, okay?
I’m just inviting you to join me in my uncertainty?
What has happened to our conviction?
Where are the limbs out on which we once walked?
Have they been, like, chopped down
with the rest of the rain forest?
Or do we have, like, nothing to say?
Has society become so, like, totally . . .
I mean absolutely . . . You know?
That we’ve just gotten to the point where it’s just, like . . .
whatever!
And so actually our disarticulation . . . ness
is just a clever sort of . . . thing
to disguise the fact that we’ve become
the most aggressively inarticulate generation
to come along since . . .
you know, a long, long time ago!
I entreat you, I implore you, I exhort you,
I challenge you: To speak with conviction.
To say what you believe in a manner that bespeaks
the determination with which you believe it.
Because contrary to the wisdom of the bumper sticker,
it is not enough these days to simply QUESTION AUTHORITY.
You have to speak with it, too.
This week we’re listening to Mendelssohn’s incidental music for “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”.
There are many Shakespeare-inspired or Shakespeare-related music you can listen to if you don’t have this particular album. Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet, for instance, or Verdi’s Othello.
Suggested reading: Chapter 10 of Young People’s Concerts by Leonard Bernstein
Ah, Music! by Aliki
Mendelssohn and Shakespeare has been the topic at 4Real several times. Here’s a related thread you can peruse for more ideas.
St. Luke the Evangelist, Fra Filippo Lippi
Reading:
The Christmas Story by Gennady Spirin
Loyola Kids Book of Saints
Attended tonight Yena’s first Little Flowers Girls Club meeting. Our LFGC leader G was just awesome. She was wonderful with all the kids. They made Little Flowers bags, read aloud a book on Faith (the virtue we’re studying this month), had a mustard-seed hunt (Matthew 17:20), learned about St. Catherine of Siena, and said a decade of the Rosary together. I’m already loving it, and wish we had this for all of the kids. I’m thinking of doing the Blue Knights program with the boys, even if it’s just us at home, since they’re already busy with Scouting.
And then I got home and while the kids were playing at the PC, I got to chat with my old friend B whom I’ve missed so much — we’ve lost touch through the years and I’m so happy we’re finally in touch again.
Thank you, Lord, for blessings.
Bulb day tomorrow. Garlic, Dutch iris, Narcissus, Princess Victoria (for Yena, whose full name is Yelena Victoria) tulips, Anemones, Tiger Lilies and my favorite Sarah Bernhardt peony (one of whom I left behind in our previous home in PA) are all going in the ground. It will be a busy, sweaty day. Maybe I’ll start the fall crop of greens too, if I find the time.
I better get the kids for bed. Paco’s working on a “composition” on the piano and Dad’s already sleeping.
Catholic comes from the Greek word katholikos, meaning universal. St. Ignatius of Antioch first used this in his letter to the Christians of Smyrna, saying, “Where there is Christ Jesus, there is the catholic church.” All Christians, in the first 1000 years after Jesus’ death and resurrection, identified themselves as being members of this Catholic church. It was in 1054 that the first schism occurred.
On his way to Rome to give up his life as witness to Christ, St. Ignatius wrote: “I am glad to die for God, provided you do not hinder me. I beg you not to show me a misplaced kindness. Let me be the food of beasts that I may come to God. I am his wheat, and I shall be ground by the teeth of beasts, that I may become Christ’s pure bread.”
The times call upon thee to pray. For as the wind aids the pilot of a ship, and as havens are advantageous for safety to a tempest-tossed vessel, so is also prayer to thee, in order that thou mayest attain to God. – St. Ignatius, in letter to St. Polycarp
Read today from I Sing A Song of the Saints of God.
For older kids, there’s Junia: The Fictional Life and Death of an Early Christian by Michael Giesler
An excerpt:
“Ignatius was the bishop of Antioch and very outspoken in his faith. He had refused to offer incense to the Emperor’s statue. When they brought him to Rome, he was over eighty years old. You should have seen him, Junia. He was so courageous! Just before they sent him to the lions, he prayed for his executioners, and he said a prayer that I will never forget.”
I just a found a really nifty online helper that generates sight reading sheets. For those of you teaching your kids music at home, this is a great tool I’ve noticed my kids need this badly, as do I. And while I could write my own sight-reading sheets, I appreciate the convenience that this provides.
For my younger one who doesn’t do the really high notes yet, I ask him to simply label the notes that appear within each staff.
Practice Spot.com/SightReading
I have leftover musical manuscript notebooks and blanks from college that I use with the kids, but here’s a bunch to print out, to suit all kinds of needs:
Music paper
or a nicer, more interactive one:
Blank Sheet Music.net
“Behold this Heart which has loved men so much, and yet men do not want to love Me in return. Through you My divine Heart wishes to spread its love everywhere on earth.” – our Lord Jesus Christ, in a vision to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque
Traditional Irish Prayer to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus
Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on me.
O God, forgive me for all the sins of my life;
The sins of my youth and the sins of my age,
The sins of my body and the sins of my soul,
The sins I have confessed and the sins I have forgotten,
The sins against others in thought, word, and deed,
My sins of omission.
0, my God, I am sorry for all my sins, because you are so good;
And I will not sin again with the help of God.
God be merciful to me, a sinner.
Divine Heart of Jesus, convert sinners, save the dying,
Deliver the holy souls in purgatory.
