Plans in motion

My entire adult life has seemingly been a long line of crisis' strung together. Granted, there have been some amazingly good times hung on that line as well, but I have not once had my shit together. I would like to know what that's like. I feel like we have a plan that is a long-term solution, not an 11th hour fix that might make things worse in the long run. We are not running from a problem, as we have tried and failed to do in the past. We are not hiding. We are actually on the upswing, not in the midst of a catastrophe right now. We could probably continue on as we are right now and be back on an even keel in the next 2 months...until the next issue throws us back into the tempest. Fuck that. For real, I can't do it anymore. The next blow might be the one I don't get up from. We have to find a better way. We have to make a deep change and really live it.

All our life together, we planned and the gods laughed. The Hubs and I had a series of loooong talks, followed by a long, serious, and highly emotional conversation with my parents over the weekend. We are going to start back at zero. We are going to carve down our lives to fit into what we can afford and manage, and we are going to keep it there.

What are our resources?

 We have the Vardo. It needs some serious remodeling to be a permanent residence, like a working bathroom for instance, but it is all work that we have the tools and knowledge to do. Until then, it is structurally livable, as long as we have access to facilities.  

We have a bunch of crap. I will be spending the next few weeks ruthlessly sorting our belongings into keep. pitch, sell. There are, really, very few belongings we have that we can't live without, especially when you factor in cost to store it and the odds of us living somewhere we can use large items like our furniture, in the next several years. Better to sell it and put the funds toward the Vardo. By the weekend I hope to have the 1st of several yard sales and have the bulk of our furniture on Craigslist.

We have a cheap place to park the Vardo. My parents have a 1 acre lot, and have graciously agreed to let us park the Vardo on it. We will have sewer hook-up, electrical hook-up, and much to our kids approval, cable. We will contribute to the utilities, and I will happily cook for the whole extended family. We will be close enough to their house to use their shower, (the Vardo toilet works, and the shower might work but it leaks and we are afraid to do more water damage) and their kitchen when I need an oven. The Hubs has a new job, and the 1st week that asked if he could transfer closer to where my parents live. Even if we move before he is transferred, the company will put him up in Safford during the week, they have several drivers who live in the Sierra Vista area, but stay in Safford during the week to work.

We have a fierce desire to abandon almost everything and build a better life from the ground up. The ultimate goal is to remodel the Vardo, and then build a Tiny House. Both of these projects will be done in small bites, as we can afford it. This is the 2nd part of living within our means. We don't want a mortgage for a house we hope we can still afford down the line. We want to build as we can afford it, and have no overhead once they are complete. Once these are done and fully livable, we will find a piece of land, buy it cash, and park our Tiny Houses on it. When we can afford it. Not when we think we have the budget on paper to afford the payment. That is where we fail, time and again. We now accept this limitation in ourselves and are acting accordingly. 

On a more personal note, I seem to be in better mental health when I am in control of my living space. Even when we were squished in the Vardo, with my Dad ranting from his Alzheimer's and me having to care for him (he is fully incontinent, with a Foley Catheter and adult diapers...think of that in an RV) I was happier there. It was paid for. No one could ever evict us from the Vardo. It was mine to do with as I pleased. No matter what else was happening, that is an unbelievably comforting thought and I missed it the second we went back to renting. 

I always wanted to remodel the Vardo, and that plan completely fell away when we moved. We moved into the rental house in all good faith that it would work, we would buy it down the line and make a home and a life here. We just got sucked up in plans, again. We see what could be in the future, and ignore what we should be doing today. Scaling down and making what we have work for us will let us focus on today. What can we do today, each day, to make our life better. We are committing to no longer live a someday life. Someday we will own this. Someday we will be able to to that. I am 38, someday will never come until I decide today is that someday. 

Today is the day I will begin to sort out my life.

Today is the day I will do something to make the life I want happen.

Today I will plan, but I will also DO!

Today I will make my life better, and no longer wait for XYZ to make it better for me.

No-Knead Bread is awesome!

I have been in a baking mood again lately. I made a Sourdough Starter, which I will post this weekend when it is ready to bake with. I did not want to wait for the yummy bread goodness, so I decided to try another bread recipe that I have seen around the internets. Originally posted by New York Times, the no-knead bread method has made the rounds in the blogs since 2008. Is it too late to say I'm jumping on the bandwagon? Probably, since the wagon is parked in storage by now...but I digress. 

The No-Knead method is very appealing to me for several reasons. 

1. It requires more time than actual effort, which works well for me. 

Time does all the work here, all you really have to do is remember when to mess with it. It took like 2 minutes to mix the dough, cover it with plastic wrap, and tuck it on top of the fridge. 

2. It is ridiculously cheap

And will be even cheaper when my Sourdough starter is ready to use and I won't even have to buy yeast! I estimate that there might be $.50 or less in this loaf of bread, depending on the flour you use. I happened to have bread flour around, but all-purpose is fine also.

3. It's delicious! Crusty on the outside, chewy and tender on the inside, with a deep, yeasty flavor that cannot be matched in bread with shorter proofing times. It really has that boutique bakery taste and texture.

4. It makes you look like an awesome, Hipster, Artisan baker!!!

You can totally make your friends and family think you are a master baker when you whip this loaf out for dinner or bring it as a Hostess or house warming gift. It looks rustic and awesome, smells amazing, and tastes even better. 

The Basic No-Knead Bread Recipe

3 cups flour plus more for flouring work surfaces

use what you have around. Bread flour is good, but all purpose works well. If you want to use whole wheat, mix it with white flour 1:2 ratio. The white flour "ferments" better and will develop better taste

1/4 teaspoon instant yeast

1 1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups purified water

Only use tap water if you are certain it has no chlorine. Chlorine inhibits bacteria growth, and we are going for optimum yeast development here

a cast iron Dutch oven or other high-temp safe vessel with a lid to bake it in. This is an important step! I said above that time does most of the work, well the Dutch oven does the rest of the work. I have an awesome cast iron Dutch oven that was my Dads. It is a no-name brand, but has been seasoned by years of camping trips!

A cotton towel 

plastic cling wrap

cooling rack

Whisk together dry ingredients in a large bowl, then mix in water to form a "Shaggy" dough. It should not be liquid, but it should be too sticky to handle well.

Cover the bowl with cling wrap, and stick it in a spot where the room temp is consistent. I always use the top of the fridge for proofing dough. It is warm and out of the way. Now the waiting begins. Let that dough chill out for around 12-18hrs. I live in a hot climate, so I waited about 15 hrs so that I would not have the oven on at the hottest part of the day. 12 seems to be the minimum of consensus, but I did see a blog that the blogger got by with 8 hrs. Just make sure the dough has at least doubled, and looks bubbly and loose.

Scrape the dough out on a WELL floured surface. You will need to use a dough scraper or spatula. It will stick to the sides of the bowl.


 Flour the top of the dough and your hands, then gently spread the dough into a rough rectangle. 

Fold the dough on itself in thirds

Then in half

Cover loosely with the cling wrap and let rest for 15 minutes.

Lay out a clean, cotton towel and flour a spot for the dough very well. Cornmeal can also be used, and if you are super-fancy you can use a proofing basket. I tend to avoid single-job kitchen equipment, so I opt for a well-floured towel.



Once the dough has rested, tuck the seams under and put on the floured towel, then flour the top of the dough and wrap in the towel. Let the dough proof for 60-90 minutes. Again, super hot here so I waited an hour.

15 minutes before baking time, pre-heat the oven to 500 and put the Dutch oven in to pre-heat as well. When it is time, carefully remove the Dutch oven and remove lid.  It will smoke when you take the lid off, this is normal and means the pot is hot enough.Turn the dough out into the bottom of the Dutch oven, and give it a shake to let the dough settle on the bottom. The seams will be up now, and will act as "scoring" since the dough is too soft to actually score. I did not take a pic of this step, as I had a dog, 2 cats, and a child trying to "help" me and I was nervous someone was going to get burnt. Slap the lid back on and bake for 30 minutes. Then, turn oven down to 450 and remove the Dutch oven lid, bake for 15 minutes. Then remove the bread from the Dutch oven and on to a cooling rack. Let cool completely before slicing. This is the hardest part, by far, because it smell like heaven!

Just a note: There are lots of cool baking gadgets like sold HERE, but as I stated I don't like one-job equipment. I also like that this recipe is simple for the novice, home baker with amazing results. Whether you are a dedicated baking nerd with half of the items from the above shop in your kitchen, or this is your 1st loaf of bread, a little patience is all the skill you need for this bread to be in your belly!

Anticipation

I am not a patient woman. I never have been. It is a virtue that I am trying to cultivate, though I sometimes feel it is a futile endeavor.

This is the reason that our current course of action is hard for me. I don't mind the tight quarters here in the Vardo on the whole. There are times it drives me nuts, but they pass. On the whole, I feel very positive and in control of our situation.

Until yesterday.

We have been working with a small, local company to repair our credit and buy a home. We have a 6 month plan at the moment. Our credit is very near where it needs to be to get a loan, and we have both a home and a few undeveloped properties on the wish list.

The home we want we looked at back in January. We actually spent about an hour and a half touring the home and property, as well as just having a lovely visit with the home owners. 

So, when we began to get our ducks in a row and were asked if there was a house we were interested in, we put that place at the top of the list. The gentlemen we are working with even went to look at it to buy it so we could rent it until we could buy it from them when we get to that step. (That is how the program works. We don't pay them anything, but sign an agreement that we will buy a home from them of our choosing at the end of the program)

All was well. Then the home owner called us. They remembered how nice we were and how much we loved the house and wanted to give us one last shot. They offered to sell it to us owner carry. They offered to work with us. One way or the other, the place feels close enough to touch.

This makes me impatient. I don't want to wait 6 months. Veruca wants it now, Daddy, NOW! It's my Hippie dream home and it is a fucking solid possibility. This makes me insane with wanting...and it also makes me scared.

I have had the rug, hell the whole floor, pulled out from under me so many times. I am terrified by the invigorating hope that is bubbling in me, in us. It's heady, and amazing,  and it makes my heart race with both anticipation and terror.

I want to be positive. I want to just think that even if this one gets away, there is an equally delicious fish waiting to be hooked, but I am fragile and my hopes have been crushed so many times they don't go together smooth anymore. 

And so now I'm trying to be patient, trying to keep hope afloat, and trying not to be afraid of possibility. 

FREE entry into National Parks!

I Stumbled across this on my FB feed this morning and got super excited! We live near some pretty awesome places here in Eastern Arizona that we have yet to visit. Where will you go?

FREE ENTRANCE DAYS FOR NATIONAL PARKS!

Update on the Allegro

We have now been living in the Allegro for a little over 2 months. I still love it more than I dislike it, but when  the weather is bad or my Dad is having a bad day as far as Dementia, it gets pretty small. Even though we are making plans to move Dad into a Memory Care facility (This is the result of MUCH convincing of me by the nursing service that I have done all I can do and it is in his and our best interest. More on that later.) in the near future, we are still crowded, but determined to see this plan through

I have begun to call it The Vardo. This is the Roma name for the Gypsy wagons the Roma used to live and travel in. Because we are looking to potentially be here for six months while we go through the process of cleaning up our credit and get a loan to buy land and/or a home, my Mom came down two weeks ago and helped me spruce things up.

If you did not see my earlier post about it, here is what it looked like before.

Have I ever mentioned that I hate paneling? Yeah, it's a deep-seated hatred. So with it's nickname of The Vardo in mind, I set my plan in motion. Both my Mom and The Hubs thought I was nuts when I showed them my paint choices. They are bright and gaudy and awesome. If I'm gonna do a thing, I'm gonna DO IT! Their doubts were assuaged by the 2nd day when what I was seeing in my head began to take shape. A modern twist on the decadently garish Gypsy style. Love it or hate it, I present The Vardo

Not much altar space, but a Mason jar terrarium and my Buddah fit in the corner.

We put up a curtain as a "door" to separate our bed and the bathroom area to give the illusion of privacy.

I added more plants since. I put up coat hooks and hung the plastic buckets by one handle

Kind of hard to see, but I covered the mauve upholstery on the seat cushions with blue twin sheets. I secured them with sheet straps, crossed over, underneath. They stay put when going up and down between table and bed. 

This wall is right at the entrance. I used stencils.

Obligatory Instagram shot. I plan to hang two more curtains, one on each side, across the front to hide the "cabin". I really hate the mauve curtains, but the front faces more or less South and they are blackout curtains. They keep out a lot of heat and blinding light from the Arizona sun. 

What you cannot see is that we organized each overhead cabinet and it was amazing how much stuff The Vardo can hold and still be relatively neat and organized. I say "relatively" because I have 2 kids and 2 dogs...something is always messy.

I still have to finish the bed/bath area, but it is such an improvement! I love it even more now. 

When we get somewhere more permanent, The Vardo will become either an actual camper for trips, or a guest house, depending on how expensive making it road worthy will be. Until then, it's our little Home Sweet Home.Gypsy Junkies Axel Caplet Boxy Long Sleeve Tee at Free People - Black (Google Affiliate Ad)Cotton Tale Gypsy 3-Pc. Wall Art Set (Google Affiliate Ad)Gypsy Junkies Mimi Tunic (Google Affiliate Ad)Gypsy Junkies Mimi Tunic (Google Affiliate Ad) 

Feathering the nest

Here we are, day 4 in our tiny new home, and it's the first day that the Hubs went in to work and left Mojo, the dogs, and I here to really settle in. Yesterday Hubs and I fixed the leaking water line, and so we had the place completely torn apart. We could barely walk around, let alone get anything organized. So, today I put everything away, and threw out or rearranged the things left by the former owners. I found a spot for everything we brought, and cleared out spaces for more of our stuff to come out of the storage unit where it is now.

It has been extremely calming to me. I feel very in control of my little corner of the universe. Everything is clean and put away, and I could get up and put my hands on anything in 30 seconds. I pulled all the crumbling wallpaper off the walls in the bathroom and kitchen, and am hoping my Mom and I can paint when she comes up here this weekend. 

I am actually dreading going back to Hereford next week. It's like I have a little bubble of safety here and am afraid to go back to my Mom's where I have less control. We agreed that it will be best for Mojo and I to go back and forth until Jilly finishes school, but I am not feeling it right now. Maybe when the novelty wears off I will feel differently, but I have already felt the positive mental shift I was hoping for with downsizing to the RV and I am clinging to it for dear life.

Yesterday was rough, because of several reasons that include the place being torn up and having no where to really go to get away from it, and not really eating because I couldn't get to the "kitchen". There was also issues with having to move my Dad into a new Memory Care facility. Melted down on a nuclear level.The best hour I had yesterday was spent in the laundry room at the club house, enjoying the quiet and reading magazines.

But for now I am sitting in my comfy little nest, listening to the light rain and looking at the mountains that surround the Gila Valley.

Allegro Adventures

OK, I think we have gone off the deep end.

As you may have read, we hit some severe bumps in the road the middle of last year and are just now getting  our heads above water. The Hubs is in training for a job, but has been living in a hotel up there during the week, then driving back to us on the weekends. Well, kids, this is an example of why it's expensive to be poor. 

He couldn't get an apartment because he did not yet have a pay stub proving he was employed, and so we were spending what would amount to rent on a Studio apartment for a week in a cheap hotel. Add food and gas to that, and we were killing ourselves to get through till his first good paycheck.

My answer was we should buy an RV and he could park it up in Safford. I have been fascinated for quite a while by the idea of downsizing drastically to the Tiny House style of living. I also have wanted desperately to own something, anything, as far as housing that was ours and could not he taken away. He could stay there, with the girls and I splitting our time between there and Hereford until Jilly was done with school. Then we would all cram into it for as long as possible until we got a nice little nest egg saved up and were able to buy either a house or some land to build a house. Even this plan seemed unattainable for a while, until we found it!

Not only was she cheap, the former owner let us have her with a handshake and a payment plan!

We drove her up to Safford yesterday and planted her on a nice corner lot in a lovely RV park.

This is a great view of Mt Graham we have sitting outside.

This is a shot of the interior before I really got going unpacking and making it homey.

 I wanted to make the girls a nice little area to play, I think it turned out cute!

 Kitchen mid-unpacking

Malcolm made himself sight at home on the couch. It folds out into a bed for the girls.

View through the kitchen back into the bed and bath

All in all, I am so super excited! I don't know if this makes me financially smart, or just White Trash, but I'm happy, and for the first time in my life have something that is mine to call home that no one can take away! We are going into what will be the most profitable career the Hubs has ever had with the least amount of bills we have ever had. I will take being a little crowded in exchange for that.

Getting Crafty

I have been feverishly crocheting lately for two big reasons. 

1) Yule and Christmas are super close and I'm broke. These facts mean those near and dear to me are getting handmade gifts wether they like it or not

2) It's cheap therapy and good busywork to keep my hands busy and my mind blank as I crawl back to normal

This being the case, I see this blog moving more toward being a craft blog written by a Pagan than a Pagan blog written by a crafter .

Not that I won't get back to those posts, just that a big part of my day at the moment is crafting, mostly crochet , and if I don't blog that I'm not left with much .

For you non-crafters, keep checking back, I will get back to posts about Pagan topics as the meat of the blog as soon as I am able.

Until then, enjoy the scarf I made for my step dad!

Much love, Hippie Witch
                                     

An update on my sudden relocation

Spray Cleaner Tutorial

Processing Pumpkins

We got exactly one pumpkin out of the two patches we planted, thanks to the squash bugs. We were pretty on top of it until our trip to Kansas, and they took those four days to complete the destruction. Our buddy Stubby saved the day by bringing over two sugar pie pumpkins from his garden. I processed them this morning and they are in the freezer, waiting to become yummy pumpkin pie next month!

 Cut each pumpkin in half and scoop out the seeds. I kept about one half of one pumpkin worth of seeds for next year...and will hopefully not lose those pumpkins to squash bugs too.

 I roasted them for 45 minutes, cut sides down, at 400 degrees. This made the flesh soft enough that it fell right out of the skins, and got a little nice caramelization on the bottoms.

 I threw it all in the food processor, added two tablespoons of pumpkin pie spice, one for each pumpkin, and pureed it all up.

 The Hubs helped me bag it up, and it's all ready for me on Thanksgiving!

Extreme Couponing?

As I may have mentioned, my family is broke as a joke, and that was before the Hubs had his work accident and has been home for 2 weeks. I have been obsessed with the TLC show Extreme Couponing for a while now, but have been too overwhelmed to really get a start at it. Now I am so overwhelmed by the fact my slowly growing grooming business is our sole source of income that I feel like I HAVE TO start NOW so I can make sure I can feed us all and pay the bills. 

I really feel that each year we get a little more frugal, a little more self sufficient, but the reality is we kill ourselves to break even every month, which most people do, I know. I'm pretty sure we are all in the 99% around here. The bottom line is, I want to be working out of my home, homeschooling my kids, with the Hubs right there with me. I put in an application to go back to Petco in a moment of desperation this morning after learning we will, in fact, have to get a lawyer and fight for the Hubs workman comp claim. Not that Petco isn't a great place, I sure loved all the people I worked with, but it would kill me a little to go back to working for someone else again.

So, after 5 hours of lying in bed and crying (as I mentioned a few days ago, I am not exactly on firm mental and emotional ground) I got up, showered, dressed, and helped the Hubs on the several ideas we have in the works for work at home income and to get more business in the shop. We figure if we get enough little trickles of money coming in from places, it will fill the bucket as fast as a soul sucking job outside the house. 

Enter Extreme Couponing. I must figure it out. Now. Today. The freezer will be empty next week and I need to fill it up as cheaply as possible. So if anyone reading this has suggestions, tips, sites...anything PLEASE comment. I need all the help I can get.

Apple Butter

Apples were on sale last week at my neighborhood market, so I grabbed 4 bags of them and tried out apple butter in the crock pot, and used my new canning skills to preserve it.

Luckily for me, a friend of mine has one of those peeler/corer things and let me borrow it, saving me probably an hour peeling and slicing. If I continue to make apple butter, I must buy one.

I also got to use my mortar and pestle for the first non-spell time to crush the cloves. I have had it probably 6-7 years and have never used it in a cooking capacity!

Here is the recipe:

Fill a 5 qt crock pot to overflowing with peeled, sliced apples sprinkle over 4 c sugar, 2 t ground cinnamon, 1/4 t ground cloves, and 1/4 t salt

put lid on and cook on high for one hour

(if the lid wont fit on tightly that's ok, it cooks down very quickly)

after an hour, stir and turn down to low for 9 hours

(leave lid off for the last hour for thicker apple butter)

ladle into 4 pint jars, lid and refrigerate if using right away, or boil in a water bath canner for 10 minutes to preserve.

Super easy, super delicious, and great as a gift! My sister had English muffins waiting when I brought her down a jar.

H.W.

Welcome to Hippie Witch!

Hello out there! I am a 34 yr old Pagan, mother, wife, and beginner urban homesteader. I am little by little turning my life into living with earth, not just on it. I am just getting rolling, changing things I and my family are doing to create habits and lifestyles that are more sustainable and ecomomical, while living more gently with the earth. Join me, let me know what you are doing and come learn from me and others who will join me as we relearn how to live like those of past generations hand in hand with moving forward to a better life!