Pilot - Who's steering your money away

Gas Fireplace

Gas Fireplace pilot (little blue flame)

It is Mid July, is your pilot running?

A lot of houses have some sort of gas appliance like a Gas Fireplace.  Typically these gas fireplaces have a burning pilot light.  Out of curiosity a few months ago I pulled out my thermal camera to look at my fireplace that had a burning pilot.  We only used the fireplace a handful of times this last winter.  Here it was the end of March, it has been months since we used it and my pilot light was still on.  So I shot a picture with the thermal camera....94.1 Degrees! A pilot light will cost you $3-$6 per month.   We only use our fireplace for two months of the year, if I don't shut off the pilot the rest of the year it is costing me $30-$60 in gas.  You have to also account the the additional heat load added to the house that your AC will have to work against costing you more money in electricity.

With just the pilot running...94.1 Degrees

So turn off the pilot lights on any appliance you are not using or do not plan to use for a while.  They typically all have some sort of instructions on how to do so, mine even has little step by step pictures.  I turned my pilot light off and also shut the gas off to the fireplace.  When you go to use it again, it is really easy to start you pilot light back up again.

You might be thinking "It's only a few bucks a month!"  Well a few dollars a month here and a few there start to add up.  Living more Providently includes not tossing money away on unneeded items and also it's about not wasting resources.  There are many small changes we can make daily that can save us a little here and a little there.

Learning a New Skill

Learning to crochet trim onto baby burp clothes.

As a young missionary at 21 years of age I remember sitting in a church meeting where they asked some of the women in the church to volunteer their talents and crochet some items to be used in the Palmyra Temple which was just about finished and would soon be dedicated. I remember thinking back to the few times that I had attempted to learn this art under the tutelage of both of my grandmothers. Our lessons often ended with me in tears and I was never  able to master it. At that moment I really wished that I had stuck with it and learned this skill, because I wanted to offer my service at that time and have the opportunity to crochet an item that would be used in this beautiful, sacred building. I have continued to have the desire to learn this skill as I have watched my Mother and Mother-in-law over the years crochet beautiful blankets, dresses, shoes, etc. for my children. I knew that my extended visit to Utah this summer would be a great time to learn. So this week my Mom sat down and taught me and my little 6 year old to crochet. This time I was able to pick it up right away, with very few tears. I am sure all my experience with sewing helped me to better understand the concept. I am so happy and excited that I can finally crochet, because it is something I have always wanted to learn, and I also wanted to be able to pass this skill and knowledge onto my own children and grandchildren.

My little 6 year old learning to crochet from her Grandma.

I believe that a very important part of becoming Self Reliant and living Providently is learning new skills and always striving to learn new things. Now I am not suggesting that everyone needs to learn to crochet, but I think it is always good for us to stretch ourselves, to increase our knowledge, and expand our talents. I know that our Heavenly Father expects this of us and rejoices with us when we do learn new skills that can help us better provide for our family and increases our capacity to serve others.

How can we teach our children to like Good Things?

I couldn't help but smile as I watched my 13 month old daughter, who had picked up the colander I had been putting freshly harvested radishes in, chomping happily away on her first radish, dirt and all. Not only did she like it, but she went for a second. I was quite surprised that she didn't even put up a fuss about the spiciness of it. She seemed to rather enjoy it.  I have also seen her try with all her might to pull a half ripe strawberry off the plant and when that didn't work she simply leaned down and ate it right off the plant.

There is absolutely no denying the fact that my kids love fruits and veggies. A couple of months ago, Jacob and I sat with our jaws hanging open in shock, as we watched our 4 and 6 year olds, eat a purple cabbage straight from the garden.  It had been growing for over a year and a half and had never gotten really big, but it still had a head about the size of a softball.  I had decided it was time to retire it and make room for something new.  I handed it over to the kids and told them they could eat it.  They snarfed it down like they hadn't eaten in weeks. We have often had to remind them not to pick the baby veggies, but to let them grow big so we can all enjoy them. Much to our sorrow they plucked and ate 12 broccoli plants just as they were starting to flower, last fall.

So, I have been pondering this idea of how we really get our children to like "good" things and things that are "good" for them. I think one of the important things we have to do is first expose our kids to good things. If we want our kids to like a variety of veggies then we need to provide them with the opportunity to eat a lot of different ones.  We were at the store this past week and my 4 year old son spotted a big carton of mushrooms, "Mom", he said, "what do mushrooms taste like?"  Well, that is a very hard question to answer. So I said, "Well, let's buy some and you can try them." He was so excited about it and also very willing to try them because it was his idea.

The second thing we need to do to help our children to like "good" things is to give those things value and importance. We often talk at the dinner table about the specific nutrients we are giving our bodies from the various things we are eating.  The kids are very interested to know that a carrot helps them to have strong eyes and that potatoes give you energy to help you run fast. We remind them often as they are playing outside to not step in the garden beds and not to pick anything with out checking first. We also let them work along side us to help us plant and weed and water the garden. They take great pride in knowing they helped the things we are eating to grow. We also let them participate in the harvest at the appropriate time and help them to share their harvest with one another.

It seems that as we do expose our children to good things and help them to see value in them that they begin to develop a love for them.  Now, that doesn't mean that my children absolutely love everything that I put in front of them at the dinner table. My oldest child detests lettuce and doesn't care much for beans.  But I have also noticed that as I continue to serve these things to my family and we continue to talk about how "good" these things are for her the more willing she seems to try them. Plus she is watching the rest of her family enjoy some of the things that she has shied away from. She has never really liked lettuce and yet just last week she decided she wanted to try some lettuce on her hamburger.

As I have thought about this concept of getting our children to like good things in terms of veggies and other healthy foods, I have realized that these same principles really translate over to other aspects of life as well. For example, if you want your child to love t.v., let them watch a lot of it and sit down and watch it with them, or if you want your child to love reading, then read to them, provide them with good books, and let them see you reading and talk to them about the importance of reading. If you want your child to love God and attend church and keep the commandments, then you need to take them to church, teach them to pray, read the scriptures with them, and share your testimony with them. There are endless examples that I can think of where this idea holds true.

So, How do we teach our children to like good things? First we expose them to good things and give them plenty of opportunities to partake of those things that are good. Second, we give those things that are good value and importance. When our children know that we value and love those things that are good they will begin to follow our example.

In a PIckle. . .

We are a pickle loving family. Even our 15 month old loves them. This year we planted pickling cucumbers so I could restock our supply of canned dill pickles. We grew some really beautiful cucumbers that were perfect to make dill pickle spears with. Today I am going to share with you my method and recipe for making dill pickles.

Loosely pack clean cucumbers into clean quart jars, leaving about 1/2 inch headspace. I did pickle spears, but you can also do whole baby cucumbers or slice them into chips.

Into each quart add:
1 tsp. Dill Seed
1 tsp. Mustard Seed
1 to 2 Cloves Fresh Garlic 
This year I also added some Ball Pickle Crisp that Jacob got a great deal on awhile back. I have never used it before, so I will update you on how it works.

Next make a brine by combining:
2 Cups Water
1 Cup Cider Vinegar
1 Tb. Pickling Salt


You may need to increase or decrease the amount of brine you make according to how many quarts you have, but do not change the ratio of ingredients. Bring the brine to a boil.  Slowly pour the hot brine over the cucumbers, leaving 1/2 inch of headspace. Clean jar rims and put lids on jars.

Process your pickles in a boiling water bath for 20 minutes (or adjust the time according to your altitude).  Remove from heat and allow them to cool for awhile before removing the jars from the canner.

I also made beet pickles this year, which I love. To make beet pickles follow my directions for preparing your beets, found here. Once your beets are in the jars replace the hot water and salt with the same brine you used for your dill pickles. You can then process them in a hot water bath just like your dill pickles. I did mine together in the same batch.

I did 11 quarts of dill pickles and 4 quarts of beet pickles, yum!

Harvard Beets

In the last post I shared my method for canning beets, so today I thought I would share one of my favorite beet recipes. I hope you enjoy it.

Harvard Beets

2 Tb. Butter

1 Tb. Flour

1/2 to 1/4 Cup Sugar (depends on how sweet you like it)

1/2 tsp. Salt

Mix together in saucepan. Begin heating on low. 

Gradually stir in:

1/4 Cup Vinegar

1/4 Cup Beet Juice or Water

Cook on low stirring constantly until clear. Add 1 can (1lb.) beets and heat through. 

This recipe comes from Sister Rivard, who I met while serving my mission in Palmyra, New York. She fed me many meals while I was a missionary. I loved all of them, she was a great cook.

Canning 101: Beets

We harvested about 20 lbs. of beets from our garden near the end of May. I really wanted to can some beets this year, so we planted a bunch. I was able to can both regular beets and beet pickles. Below is the method for canning regular vegetable beets. I will share the beet pickle recipe in a future post.

 I started by cleaning and trimming off all my greens. I did this outside so I had less mess in my kitchen. I had two little helpers munching away on beet greens the whole time. Not only did we get a lot of beets but we also came away with several bags of greens. Jacob and I have really grown to love beet greens. Once you have all your beets cleaned stick them in a stock pot and pre-cook them for about 15 to 25 minutes. You want to be able to poke a fork in them, and the skins will slip off easily. They will undergo further cooking when you pressure cook them.

You also want to make sure to leave about an inch of stem on the top and about an inch of the root. This makes it so your beet doesn't bleed out. :)

Once your beets are pre-cooked dump them into a colander and allow them to cool until you can handle them. As you can see from the photo the skins slip right off. Peel and trim your beets.

 Then dice or slice your beets however you like them, into clean jars. I did some diced and some sliced into circles. I will usually peel, trim, and then dice each beet into a jar, so I am only handling them once.

Once your jars are full of hot beets add 1 tsp. of salt per quart (if desired) and then fill the jars with fresh hot water, leaving 1 inch of headspace. Wipe bottle rims and put on lids and rings. Beets must be pressure canned because of their low acidity. Click here for appropriate pressure canning times and weights for your altitude. Be sure to follow the instructions for your pressure canner. To the right are my newly canned beets. From our 20 lbs of beets we got 5 pints of regular beets and 4 quarts of beet pickles, plus we had beets for dinner that night. Yum! In the next couple of weeks I will be posting how to make the beet pickles and also sharing one of my favorite beet recipes so be sure to check back.

Fresh Salsa

Oh, my we have had a lot of tomatoes from our garden and we are loving it. I have been canning tomatoes like crazy! One of the things we always enjoy with garden tomatoes is fresh salsa. Several years ago before I met Jacob I worked at the VA Hospital in SLC. One of my friends there made the best fresh salsa I have ever eaten. We always made her bring it when we had potlucks. It is so yummy and we have made it several times already with our bountiful harvest of tomatoes this year. So I am sharing this amazing recipe with you today. I hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

Fresh Salsa - Recipe from Shaun-ta's friend Ashley

1 Can Mexican Style Tomatoes
8 Large Tomatoes
6 Roma Tomatoes
1 Sweet Onion
1 Bunch Cilantro
1 Clove Garlic, Crushed
3 Jalapenos
Garlic Salt and Salt, to taste
Juice from 1 Lime
1 or 2 diced Avocados (optional but very yummy)

Chop everything and mix it all together in a large bowl.
This recipe makes a lot. When I made the above pictured batch I didn't include the can of Mexican style tomatoes and we didn't grow Roma's so I just put in about 16 tomatoes from our garden. It turned out great! It is delicious and smells amazing. Would be a great addition to your upcoming 4th of July BBQ's. We hope everyone has a wonderful holiday.