Homemade Vanilla

No, she hasn't been in the vanilla.  She's just a bit odd.

Thrifty, but meaningful Christmas gift idea #1:  Homemade Vanilla Extract

Yummy and SO easy.

I actually shouldn't be posting this because I've given vanilla to friends and family as Christmas gifts and now they'll know that, even though it was a delicious and thoughtful gift which they loved, it really wasn't a whole lot of work on my part.

This Vanilla is not your usual grocery store variety of Pure Vanilla Extract and the only thing it shares in common with Imitation Vanilla Extract is the word "vanilla." (And the word "Extract" too, I guess, but it sounded so much better just having one word in common...)  By the way, did you know that "pure" vanilla extract sometimes has extra stuff like corn syrup in it?

No, the Vanilla I'm showing you how to make actually smells and tastes like vanilla.  It's just amazing!  You'll love what it does to your baking.

It is a useful gift, too.  Those who receive it, unless you give some to your college aged brother or something, will love using it to make those they love happy!  It's a gift which keeps on giving.  They won't ever have to dust it or decide if they should keep it or send it to the thrift store 5 years from now.  That's my kind of gift!



All you need to make Vanilla

 To top it all off, homemade vanilla is easy on the budget.  There are 2 ingredients in Homemade Vanilla Extract - vodka and vanilla beans. 

You don't need expensive vodka.  To be honest, I don't know if expensive vodka makes it taste better or not.  I've only used cheap vodka and have loved the results.  In fact, I've never actually paid for the vodka used in my vanilla.  Around the holidays, the liquor stores in our area all have vodka with manufacturer's rebates which make the vodka free!  A 1.75 litre bottle of vodka will make about 60 oz. of vanilla and costs less than $10.00 or $1.33 per 8 oz.  Pretty cheap!

I've now typed the word "vodka" 8 times in one paragraph.  Pretty sure this about 7 more times than I've ever typed that word before.  Don't tell my Grandma.  I'm not sure she'd understand.



Vanilla pods with ends cut off

I've bought all my vanilla beans off Ebay.  You can get anything on Ebay.  This year I bought 40 organic Madagascar vanilla beans for about 12 dollars including shipping.  They came from France, which was an added bonus because the Young'uns love seeing the French postage stamps.  From all I've read Madagascar beans are best for making extract, but if you want to do some research of your own, go for it.  Google is a good thing.  It takes 2 beans to make 8 oz. of vanilla.  So, the beans cost about 60 cents per 8 oz.
One word about vanilla...technically, you don't buy vanilla beans.  You buy vanilla pods.  They are long, thin, dark brown and wrinkly.  They should be a bit moist and flexible.  The vanilla beans are INSIDE of the pods.  If you cut open a pod, it is filled from top to bottom with very tiny little black dots - these are the seeds.  The seeds can be scraped out and used in your baking and cooking.  I like eating a little taste by itself.  I'm a sucker for vanilla anything!

Are you doing the math?  $1.33 (vodka) + .60 (vanilla beans) = $1.93 for 8 oz. of REAL Vanilla Extract.  This is a steal when compared to buying it in the store!

About 5 years ago, I bought 8 oz. amber colored glass bottles from the Sunburst Bottle Company.  I bought a few cases and gave Vanilla as gifts that year.  I also saved some of the bottles for myself and have reused them every year since.  The bottles cost about $1.75 each including shipping.  This seemed a bit steep for a bottle, but they looked great and made the gift!  Even with the bottle costs, each gift still cost under $4.00.

If your vanilla will be a gift for someone, make a cute or cool label (depending on if you lean towards the cute or cool side) to stick on your bottle.   I wish I still had a copy of the one I made on my computer.  I must say it was cool. I'm not real computer savvy.  So, you can make an awesome one, I'm sure.

Just making vanilla for you own personal use? You can make your vanilla in any old glass bottle you want.  An wine bottle or vinegar bottle that's been well cleaned will work!  Just make sure it has some sort of tight lid because there's some shaking involved.

Homemade Vanilla Extract

2 vanilla beans per 8 oz. of extract you wish to make
vodka (there's that word again)



Beans in the bottle



Cut ends of vanilla so that they fit into your bottles.  I usually have to cut off about 1 inch of the beans.  Place 2 beans in each bottle.  Fill bottles to near the top with vodka.  Place on the lid and let it sit in a cool, dark place for at least 4 months.  6 months is better.  Try to give your bottles a shake every few weeks.  (I told you it was easy.)

I have read about people who cut their beans into small pieces before they put them in the bottles.  This might make the vanilla permeate the vodka a bit more.  I'm not sure.  I don't do it because you'd have to strain your extract before using it if you did it this way.  Otherwise, there would be lots of little black vanilla beans in your extract. 

I leave my pods in the bottle even after I start using it.  When the bottle is empty, I put the pods on the counter to dry out and then stick them in a bag in my freezer.  After I've collected several pods, I stick 4 in a bottle and add some more vodka.  This gives me one more bottle of Vanilla without buying more pods.  Two soakings seems to be about all each pods can take.

This was a very long post for such a simple idea... Enjoy!

Thrifty, but Meaningful, Chirstmas

I know it isn't actually Thanksgiving yet and the Christmas season has NOT begun despite what every retail establishment has been telling us for weeks.  However, over the past couple of weeks, I've been in some conversations with friends about Christmas and Christmas gifts and how it all goes around here on the Farm.

A few of the conversations went the way of "Christmas is so crazy with all the gifts and stuff and running and blah, blah, blah.  I'd love for it to be simpler so the true reason for the celebration isn't lost."  A couple of others were more along the lines of "How do you get gifts for others and your passel of kids without breaking the bank?"

I've opinions on those questions to fill several blog posts, but here's my short answer.

In order to keep Christmas about Christ and his gift, you and your spouse have to think and talk about it now.  It's not too late, even though all the stores have been proclaiming Christmas is here already for the past month. In your talking and thinking, you need to decide what the holiday will look like for your family.  Not your neighbor's family or your sister's family...just YOUR family.  Remember you have your OWN ruler.

When you've got that vision...stick with it!  If you decided to get one gift for each kid, get one gift and don't be tempted by all the great deals on other things your child would like, too.  If you decide five gifts works for your family, just get five, not ten.  Maybe it's one family gift and a few smaller gifts for each kiddo.  Or, gasp, one family gift and no individual gifts.  Just decide and stick to it.

We tend to lean towards the one larger, which is a very relative term, gift for each Young'un with a few smaller gifts thrown in for fun and good measure.  It is such a JOY to give good gifts to our children.  I love it!  However, the joy of the giving would be robbed for us if the gifts we gave threw our budget out of whack and put financial strain on our family.

As far as giving gifts to extended family and friends, things lean towards small, meaningful or unique and sometimes homemade.  Again, giving brings us joy and we try to make up with thoughtfulness what might be lacking in the cost of each gift.

My plan is to share some of our ideas with you in the next few weeks.

Stay tuned for the Thrifty, but Meaningful, Christmas

And Now She is Three...

Today, the youngest Young'un turned three years old.  What fun! And whew!  Birthdays are work, but it's good work. 

Elaborate gifts are something which doesn't usually happens here on the Little Farm.  Mostly this is an economics thing -  5 kids x cost of elaborate birthday gifts = a big hole in the family budget.

We try to make each child's day special in other ways.  Afterall, it's not all about the gift when you get right down to it.

Young'uns here get to choose the menu for breakfast and dinner on their special day.  We also decorate the dining room where we eat these meals and we tend to linger over the meals a bit longer, too.  Oh yes, the birthday guy or gal also eats their meal off of the "You Are Special" plate.  If I forget this part, one of the kids remembers every time!  Apparently, the plate is a big deal.

At some point during the day usually during a meal, the Big Guy and I recount the "Day You Were Born" story.  Even though it is pretty much the say each year (the details don't change after all), they all love it!  I love hearing what the older kids have to add to the stories of the younger ones.  It's fun hearing their versions of when I went to the hospital and what they did while we were gone or what they thought when they first saw their new sibling. 

I chose the breakfast menu this morning because Abby would have picked sandwiches.  Call me strange, I just have trouble with sandwiches at 7:30am.  We had chocolate chip pancakes.  She had one in the shape of a 3 with a candle in it.  She was completely enamored!

Abby's dinner choice was...hot dogs. 

"Do you want anything with the hot dogs?" I asked.

"No thank you.  Just hot dogs," she replied.

We had hot dogs with a few side dishes and she was very happy.

For the most part, everyone gets a birthday party each year between ages 4 and 10.  Their party is part of their gift for us.  Again, nothing elaborate, but still fun.  We've had army, Lego, tea party, spy, Star Wars and pirate parties.  We've had parties where guest spent the whole time cutting out and decorating (and eating) sugar cookies or making structures and weapons out of duct tape. The whole family gets into the planning and preparing.  It's good stuff and we do it at home.

Everyone gets to put in their 2 cents about the cake on their birthday also.  I've made the Millennium Falcon, a army battle which took place on a camo cake, a pirate ship complete with an island and about 25 lbs of cookie dough.

This year has been the year of the dog cake.  Ellie, our oldest daughter, turned 7 earlier this month.  She had an animal party and wanted a dog cake.  Apparently, this dog made an impression on Abby because when asked she wanted a dog cake too.  Ellie's cake was a brown beagle looking sort of thing.  Abby wanted a pink poodle.  Hmmmmm....

Here is the result.  She was very happy!

Not exactly a poodle...but she isn't too picky.

So, it was a good day.  When I tucked her in, Abby declared this the "best birthday I ever hadded."  She's only had 3 and I'm pretty sure she can't remember either one of her 2 other birthdays, but I'll still take it.  Abby Grace is ready to take on the next year.

I'm feeling a bit sad, however.  At some point today, I picked her up and she took my face between her hands as she does several times each day to give me a kiss on each cheek.  (There's a whole French thing going on here...we've no clue from whence it comes.  Odd.) 

When she grabben my face, I realized there's been a change in her hands.  They felt more like thing little kids hands and less like chubby toddler hands.  Sigh.  I've seen this happen four times already, but that doesn't mean I have to like it.

The red thing in her hand is a pack of gum.  HER own pack of gum which she got for a gift.  She tried to go to sleep with it.

Welcome to 3 Abby Grace!  We can't wait to see God work in your life this year.

Happy Half Birthday!

Here on the farm, we celebrate 5 birthdays and 5 half birthdays each year. Would that be 10 birthdays or 7.5 birthdays total? I haven't figured out the math on that one...I just know it requires a lot of baking. Let me tell you how this craziness all began:

Somewhere around the time our oldest son was almost 6 months past his 5th birthday, he heard me tell someone he was almost 5 and 1/2. He was fascinated by this idea. Lots of discussion ensued. He came to think that 5 1/2 was an actual age and that the day he turned this new age was his Half Birthday.

We only had two kids back then and I wasn't really thinking about the consequences of my actions, but I made him a half birthday cake on the day he turned 5 1/2. I was such a rookie back then. It was a cold and dreary end-of-January day. The 2 boys were taking naps. Making a cake sounded like a great way to help perk things up a bit around the farm.

So, I whipped up a round cake with the yellow cake recipe in my trusty Betty Crocker cookbook. I turned it out onto a pretty plate and let it cool. I frosted the whole thing and then cut it in half, placing one half on top of the other.

What I ended up with looked like a layer cake that had been cut in half - a HALF birthday cake.

A tradition was born on that late January day.

Now we celebrate every child's half birthday. Nothing big and fancy, just a half birthday cake, a partially burned candle (a half candle...see the theme?) and our family singing half of the birthday song. No presents or decorations or guests, just the 7 of us celebrating one of the amazing and precious lives God has blessed our family with. The WHOLE tradition is a good thing.


The photo is of Ellie who recently celebrated her 6 1/2 birthday. You'll notice the cake is chocolate and a bit crumbly...not my usual Half Birthday cake. Ellie LOVES to bake cakes from mixes and she can do so all by herself, so I let her. It was a big step for me because I like things to look the way I like them to look, if you know what I mean. Sigh. I've come a long way...

Forced Family Fun

Forced Family Fun. Yep, you read that right. We force our family to have fun --together! We are that mean and unreasonable. Shocking, isn't it?

Forced Family Fun isn't a regularly scheduled thing - sometimes it is planned, sometimes it is spontaneous. The Big Guy and/or I will decide that all the Farm inhabitants (except the dog and chickens) need some time together to laugh and just be. You know those days when everyone seems just a bit out of sorts and a tad bit grumpy? Those are perfect days to force your family to have fun!

It probably sounds odd saying that we need time together. I mean we homeschool for pete's sake. The kids and I are together A LOT! Thankfully, the Big Guy is around lots, too. The 7 of us eat almost every meal together actually. That's some together time.

Forced Family Fun is a different type of together. Let me explain...

On any given night, Big Guy will announce at dinner that we'll be having Forced Family Fun at, say 7 pm. All of the kids start clapping and laughing joyfully. (Not. The older guys will maybe roll their eyes just the tiniest bit because some part of their plans for the night just put off for a while. The younger kids DO get excited.) We'll get dinner cleaned up and then at 7 pm gather in the living room. Once there, the plans for Forced Fun are announced. The Fun is often a game or a book, sometimes a board or card game, but more often than not we play charades.

How's that for some Forced Family Fun? Charades!

Truth be told it is a great game to play in a family. Lots of other games are very age specific. Take Candy Land (PLEASE take it from my home!). The 6 year old would love to play Candy Land, but the older boys would rather sort socks or turn compost or, well, you get the idea. Everyone in our family can act from the littlest on up the line. What kid doesn't like to act?

Usually, the Big Guy writes down a bunch of books, movies, characters, animals, "things," people, even sayings that can be acted out and hands them out as we go along. Sometimes, the older kids make up their own. I give the Big Guy his assignments. We've taught them the basics of the game like how to indicate that the thing to be guessed has two words in it. Sometimes we get very fancy and break it down into syllables. Yes, we're crazy around here. It doesn't take long before we are all laughing and yelling and enjoying the gift of each other.

What does Forced Family Fun accomplish? I just told you... "It doesn't take long before we are all laughing and yelling and enjoying the gift of each other."

Try Not to Forget

We try to always be memorizing something around the Farm - scripture, poetry, lyrics to hymns, lists of prepositions, where the dirty clothes go - it is all a possibility. I keep a 3 ring binder of the things different kids have memorized so that I can recycle it amongst the others. It is such fun to hear lots of our family reciting something in unision.


Memorizing scripture is, of course, important! However, we've found that hymns and even silly poems are great and fun ways to stretch our brains, too. Memorizing helps increase vocabulary and gives kids a greater understanding of how words fit together. Besides, think of all the useless stuff that gets put into littles ones brains all day. I have no scientific study to back me up, I like to think putting in good stuff helps to crowd out the bad.


It also keeps my old brain going. I'm amazed at what I've learned along with them.


I thought I'd share one of my favorite poems that our youngest kids memorize. Ellie is currently working on it.

Our Home

by Dorothy Brown Thompson

Our house is small -
The lawn and all
Can scarely hold the flowers,
Yet every bit,
The whole of it,
Is precious, for it's ours!

From door to door,
From roof to floor,
From wall to wall we love it;
We wouldn't change
For something strange
One shabby corner of it!

The space complete
In cubic feet
From cellar floor to rafter
Just measures right,
And not too tight,
For us, and friends and laughter!

I love this poem! Our house isn't shabby - well, we try keep it from being so. It isn't the nicest or largest house. However, it is "precious, for it's ours!" From the uneven walls to the floors upon which spills take off in odd directions, it is full of lovely memories of family and friends. Who knew when we came to look at it in 1998 that God had prepared it just for us and our family? We've sought to use it for His glory and our favorite times are when it is full of those we love, but I digresss...

Even if you don't have kids at home for school during the day or all your kids are grown, find something to memorize...and don't forget it!

Gifts on the Cheap...I Mean Frugal

Tonight The Big Guy and I stopped at Menards (a Home Depot-like store here in the mid-west) because we wanted to pick up a birthday gift. We were on a date...don't you always go to the hardware store on a date? We bought a great 20 inch hand saw and MADE $7.45! Yep, we made money buying a gift.

Here's how:

The saw cost $10.55 with tax. I had a $8.00 merchandise credit or rebate from a previous deal. When we applied the credit, we paid $2.55 for the saw. However, the saw was a rebate item and we'll be getting another merchandise credit for $10.00. So, we made $7.45! There is a little bit of paperwork involved, but it is worth it.

Here's why:

Having 5 children, 9 nieces and nephews and 2 god daughters (not to mention my children's friends) means that we give lots of gifts each year. I love coming up with gifts they, hopefully, enjoy. However, because we do our best to live within our means, I don't have a great deal to spend on gifts. What I can't spend in money, I try to make up for in creativity and thoughtfulness. Hopefully, none of the above gift receivers read this and protest. I may come up short at times, but it isn't for lack of trying.

One of my favorite things to give our kids are gifts they can use both now and later. (My friend, Lisa, my creative Mom hero, gave me this great idea years ago.) Starting at age four, we give each of our sons a tool and each of our daughters a kitchen "tool." I use the quotes because some people don't consider them tools - they're wrong!

So, when our first son turned four, he received a REAL toolbox - the kind that men walk out of Home Depot with. It was a load for him to carry but he loved it. He also got a tape measure that year. The next year he got a hammer and some nails. The following year he was the recipient of a saw. And so on...


When our first daughter turned four, she received a Rubbermaid container and some rubber spatulas and wooden spoons. The next year we have her measuring cups and spoons. You get the idea.


The purpose of these gifts are two-fold. First of all, they give our kids a chance to do some real work while they are young. They learn useful skills and have fun doing it. These gifts also give The Big Guy and I the opportunity to spend time teaching them to use these gifts. Second, when our kids leave home, they will hopefully have a box of tools they can use to take care of themselves and their families.

I appreciate these gifts for a number of reasons. They don't cost an arm and a leg and keep us within our gift budget. I love seeing what my children can do with their tools. They are very proud! These gifts don't clutter our home with toys that make noise, have lots of small pieces or get lost over time. I also don't have to spend lots of time thinking about what to get them - it's all planned out for 14 years.


We do get our kids another gift to go along with the tools, but they really do like the tools.


I like the thought of one of my sons reaching into his toolbox when he is 25 and taking out the hammer we bought for him. The thought of one of our daughters using her tools to make a great meal for those she loves makes me happy. We pray they can use these simple gifts to bless others!