Nancy on the Home Front

North Plains, Oregon

After searching for over four months and looking at many, many houses we have finally found our next home in North Plains, OR. When we started looking for a new home we weren’t sure whether or not we would end up in Washington or Oregon. We have grown children living in both states and we decided we would look in both areas. We just didn’t think that finding a new home would take so much time.

This house was our fourth offer and after a good inspection we decided to move forward. North Plains, OR is a small town located just on the northwest outskirts of Portland. It’s about an hour to the airport, which was one of the criteria we were looking for in our next home. The town was first platted in September 1910 when plans were made to extend United Railways there. The city has a total area of 0.90 square miles, not large by any means but very close to everything. According to the Koppen Climate Classification, North Plains has a warm-summer Mediterranean climate. Quite a bit different from the Vermont climate we left behind.

The population is just over two thousand, which makes it a slightly larger town than where we lived in Vermont. However, the total area is much smaller. We will be living right in the center of the town within walking distance to the library, town hall, post office and even the community gardens! We have been told the town has a low crime rate. Many of the buildings in the downtown area have wonderful murals painted on them.

We have spent the last few weeks checking out the town websites and reading about the town plans. For such a small town we were very impressed by the community involvement opportunities. The town is slowly growing and there are a lot of new houses being built. As Portland continues to develop I think more people are moving further out from the downtown area.

Every year there is a 4^thof July parade and an annual Elephant Garlic Festival. After looking around we even found a wonderful CSA in North Plains. We may not have a huge yard for our own large vegetable garden but we can support the local farmers!

After months of searching we are thrilled to have finally found our next home in North Plains, Oregon. We look forward to meeting our neighbors and exploring our new hometown!

Goal Setting Week 18 Update

The move to our new home is currently in progress with the movers coming Thursday to move everything! It’s going to be a busy week ahead with packing, moving and unpacking!

Continue to monetize my blog. This is my ongoing goal. Have you taken the time to check out my page on Amazon? This page is where I put all the items I just love, from favorite cookbooks to gardening tools. Please check it out. Another aspect of this goal involves increasing my readership. If you enjoy reading my blog, please recommend it or share with your friends. I sure appreciate all my new subscribers!

2. Create a cookbook. You may remember this goal was on my list last year and I finally put it aside. My goal for this year is to have my cookbook ready by November 2019. I am so excited, once we are settled in our new home I will have my own office and will no longer be working at the kitchen table. This cookbook is going to be completed!

3. Have 20 minutes of exercise at least 5 times a week. No sitting around this week and we may not be out explorig the great outdoors but we are getting our exercise moving boxes!

4. Explore ~~ten~~ 7 parks or hiking trails in the state of Washington or Oregon! I recently got the new National Park Pass so you can be sure that we will be doing some exploring, just not this week!

5. Incorporate 20 9 new recipes into our dinner plans with the focus on healthy eating. No new meals this week, the challenge will be making healthy choices on the road!

6. Read 35 18 new books this year. Finished my seventeenth book! Finished another book by Elizabeth Berg, We Are All Welcome Here. I have loved reading Elizabeth Berg’s books. That being said this was my least favorite book of hers that I have read. Interesting because the story for this book was actually given to her! It was based on a true story and the woman thought the story should be shared. It is a good story and the ending makes it all worthwhile.

7. Complete ~~Four~~ 1 knitting or sewing projects this year. Still working on my mittens! I finally got on YouTube and look at a few videos on knitting a cable pattern. It’s not difficult – just had to be reminded how!

8. Visit family on the west coast. Heading back down to Portland this week to walk through the house and move our first small load in. Be glad when we are settled and can visit some of the extended family in the area!

9. Explore ~~Six~~ 5 new museums in the area. I wish we could have visited the Tacoma Glass Museum before we moved but it’s not going to happen. Instead we’ll be exploring new museums in the Portland area!

10. ~~Find A New Home~~ COMPLETED! As of last week we are homeowners once again! Now to move in, unpack and get settled!

“Arriving at one goal is the starting point to another.”
John Dewey

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For more information, please see my disclosure policy. Thank you for supporting Nancy On The Home Front.

Packing Again!

All of a sudden we are packing again! We closed on our new home and went from thinking we’d be moving the end of May to moving May 2ⁿ! The previous owners were going to rent back the house for a month but they found their next home and moved one day after the closing only renting back for two days not a month. To top it off we found a wonderful mover who could fit us into his schedule and move us May 2, so we’re packing again.

Fortunately we only have to pack up our small one bedroom apartment, so I think it is doable. The houseplants are back in their plastic container ready to go in the car. We are eating up everything left in the fridge and the canned food we are moving this time.

When you make a cross country move it is all based on weight. As a result we didn’t move any canned goods with the exception of a few things such as my homemade vanilla.

This move will only be less than 200 miles so we were given a flat rate for the move which included packing the trucks, driving them to our new home and unpacking the trucks. Nothing needed to be packed because the majority of our belongings are still in boxes from the original move!

We are really looking forward to unpacking all of our boxes and settling into our new home.

I have met the owners of a local CSA, which we have signed up for. I may try to join the community garden this year, or I may just concentrate on putting in a few raised beds in our small backyard.

We won’t have a large lot to have a massive garden, but we will continue to grow what we can and preserve the harvest. Follow the journey on Instagram, I will do my best to share photos over the next week of craziness. In the meantime I’m packing again!

Greek Salad with Feta and Artichokes

I love salads this time of year. Nothing like mixing up a big salad that you can keep in the fridge and enjoy for a few meals. Serve this Greek Salad with some cooked turkey sausage or grilled chicken and you have a complete, healthy meal to enjoy! The original recipe was adapted from a recipe I found in a Weight Watchers book. We will be enjoying this salad often this summer!

Greek Salad with Feta and Artichokes

Ingredients:

1 garlic clove, halved
1 tsp. Grated lemon zest
3 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 Tsp. Dried oregano
¼ tsp. Salt
¼ tsp. Black pepper
4 cups sliced romaine lettuce (or other lettuce you have on hand)
2 cups baby arugula
2 cups baby spinach
1 14.5oz can artichoke hearts in water, drained
1 English cucumber, halved lengthwise and sliced
1 small red pepper, quartered and sliced
1 cup grape tomatoes, halved
¼ cup sliced red onion
6-12 pitted Kalamata olives, cut into slivers
½ cup crumbled Feta cheese

Directions:

Rub the inside of a large salad bowl with the cut side of the garlic clove. Discard garlic clove.

Add lemon zest and juice, olive oil, oregano, salt and pepper to the bowl, whisk until blended. Add the romaine, arugula, baby spinach, artichoke hears, cucumber, bell pepper, tomatoes, onion and olives and toss to coat. Sprinkle with the feta cheese and serve.

The amounts of lettuce in this Greek Salad are quite flexible; I didn’t have any romaine lettuce on hand so I used red lettuce. The lemon zest and juice give this salad a wonderful fresh taste. If you want, mix up the dressing in a separate bowl and add just before serving. That way you can mix up the salad ahead of time and store in the refrigerator until ready to enjoy. I cooked up a few turkey sausages and we enjoyed a delicious meal!

Safety On The Home Front

When I decided to write an article on Safety on the Home Front my mind started to go in all different directions. Should I write about the safety of using homemade cleaning products versus store bought? Of the importance of keeping the prong of a garden rake pointed downwards when you garden? Or should I talk about the safety involved when preserving your garden harvest? All of these topics are important, however after much thought I decided what was most important was thinking about what you are eating and growing in your garden!

Where are your seeds or vegetable plants coming from? Are you growing hybrids or heirloom plants? You may not think it matters that a tomato is just a tomato. However these things are important and should be considered when planting your garden.

Heirloom vegetables are not some special species of plants. The term heirloom is used to describe any type of vegetable seed that has been saved and grown for a period of years and is passed down by the gardener that preserved it. To be capable of being saved, all heirloom seeds must be open pollinated. What this means is that the plant is capable of producing seeds that will produce seedlings exactly like the parent plant.

the perks of seed saving, finding gete okosomin seeds

Hybrid vegetables are plants that have been created to have the best features of both parents. Seeds from these plants will not produce seedlings with the identical qualities.

Hybrid plants are not bad and should not be confused with genetically modified plants. GMO’s according to About.com’s Biotech Guide can be any plant, animal or microorganism, which has been genetically altered using molecular genetics techniques such as gene cloning and protein engineering. Plants like corn that has the pesticide Bt engineered into its genetic makeup to make it resistant to certain pests are GMO crops. Bt is a natural pesticide, but it would never naturally find its way into corn seed.

I want to encourage you to avoid any foods that might contain genetically engineered ingredients. Evidence continues to emerge about the dangers to human and animal health from these foods and feeds. The risks of contamination of non-GMO crops are already widely known. Contrary to industry claims, herbicide application has increased with the introduction of GMO crops, leading to the predicted rise in glyphosate resistant weeds. Read all your food labels carefully. If corn, soy, cottonseed or canola or any of their byproducts are listed, and the food is not certified organic, simply don’t buy it. Best of all grow your own food and or get as much of your food from the farmer you know.

As the number of seed varieties diminish each year in the seed catalogs our only option is to grow heirloom plants so that we can save our own seeds. Or purchase seeds from a local seed saver. Heirloom varieties have exceptional taste and are often more nutritious than newer varieties. When you select and save seeds from the most successful heirloom vegetables from your garden, the more reliable those vegetables will become year after year. Not only do you get a better, locally adapted strain of a variety when you save you own seed; you also save money because you don’t have to purchase new seeds every year, as is the case with hybrids. Heirloom varieties are less uniform than hybrids, which mean they often don’t all ripen at once. This is a great advantage to the home gardener. You will be able to enjoy your harvest over a longer period of time.

As our society has become addicted to produce that is inexpensive and uniform in appearance, fewer and fewer varieties of edible plants are eaten by people today. We are eating only a few kinds of vegetables, fruits and cereal grains. So when I think of Safety On the Home Front I think about what is growing in my garden and how that plant will taste and how it will affect my health and the health of my family. I want to have a large variety of plants in my garden. The loss of genetic seed diversity facing us today may lead to a catastrophe far beyond our imagining. I want to insure that I can continue to grow healthy organic vegetables and enjoy a bountiful harvest.

Goal Setting Week 17 Update

The biggest goal of the year has been accomplished! We have a new home! As of Saturday we are now the owners of a new home in Oregon! Over the next two weeks we will be moving in! Looking forward to unpacking everything! Probably won’t be having a large vegetable garden at our home as it is a small lot however I can walk to the community gardens!

Continue to monetize my blog. My ongoing goal. Have you taken the time to check out my page on Amazon? This page is where I put all the items I just love, from favorite cookbooks to gardening tools. Please check it out. Another aspect of this goal involves increasing my readership. If you enjoy reading my blog, please recommend it to your friends. I sure appreciate all my new subscribers!

3. Have 20 minutes of exercise at least 5 times a week. We are back to packing up our small apartment so no sitting around! The first load was delivered to the house this week. We’ll be moving in mid May!

4. Explore ~~ten~~ 7 parks or hiking trails in the state of Washington or Oregon! Explored the Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge in Olympia, Washington. This refuge is located on the Nisqually River Delta in Southern Puget Sound and consists of three thousand acres of salt and freshwater marshes, grasslands and mixed forest habitats. We were blessed with a beautiful day for the hike.

5. Incorporate 20 9 new recipes into our dinner plans with the focus on healthy eating. Made a delicious Greek Salad with Feta and Artichokes. So good and made enough to last for a few days. I’ll be sharing the recipe next week. We’ll be enjoying this salad again!

6. Read 35 19 new books this year. Finished my sixteenth book! One of recently discover authors is Elizabeth Berg, I have read other books of her’s and this week I finished The Art of Mending. It is the story of three siblings (I can relate) and the memories they share about their childhood. What do you do when one of the siblings has very different memories? do you believe her?

9. Explore ~~Six~~ 5 new museums in the area. Beginning to wonder if the library really has this pass as it is never there! We have two weeks to secure this pass and visit the museum before we move to Oregon, then we’ll be exploring museums in the Portland area!

10. ~~Find A New Home~~ COMPLETED! As of Saturday we are homeowners once again! Now to move in, unpack and get settled!

“This One Step – Choosing a goal and sticking to it – changes everything; ”
Scott Reed

This post may contain affiliate links. These affiliate links help support this site.

For more information, please see my disclosure policy. Thank you for supporting Nancy On The Home Front.

My Transplants Made It

Before we left Vermont you may remember I took cuttings from my favorite houseplants so I could bring them with me. I also dug up a few of my favorite day lilies and a miniature Hosta which traveled with us as well. The good news is that my transplants made it!

The day lilies were given to me years go from a very dear friend. They would bloom early in the season and had the most wonderful sweet smell. I am so happy they made the journey and are growing well. It will be nice to have a small patch of day lilies in our new home to remind me of the garden I left behind.

The miniature Hosta was purchased on one of our annual nursery trips the same friend and I used to take each year. I will certainly miss exploring new nurseries each year with my dear friend. However when I look at my miniature Hosta I will remember all the good times we had.

The various houseplants I moved with me have also done extremely well despite not having a bright sunny window to live in all winter. Our new home has several south facing windows so they will be happy there.

Our oldest daughter is also a lover of houseplants; I think she has over 100 in her home! She takes good care of all her plants and has given me numerous cuttings. So what started as a small collection of houseplants, which moved with us, has now grown to quite a collection of houseplants!

Moving houseplants is relatively easy or at least it was for us since we drove our car across country. It is much easier to take cuttings of your favorite plants rather than try to move large potted plants. Before moving check the rules about brining in plants from out of state. Some states are stricter than others. I’m glad that my transplants made it and our new home will be able to have a reminder of the gardens and house plants we left behind!

Turkey Ricotta Meatballs

I’m always on the lookout for good meatball recipes, especially if they are made with ground turkey. A friend of mine gave me this recipe for turkey ricotta meatballs over a year ago and I finally had a chance to try it out. It’s a winner! I served it with spaghetti squash and a little marinara sauce and it was delicious!

Turkey Ricotta Meatballs

Ingredients:

1 pound of lean ground turkey
½ cup part skim ricotta cheese
½ cup Italian breadcrumbs
1 egg
¼ cup chopped fresh basil
2 Tbsp. Chopped fresh parley
¼ tsp. Salt
¼ tsp. Black pepper

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.

In a large bowl combine the ground turkey, ricotta cheese, breadcrumbs, egg, basil, parsley, salt and pepper. Mix all the ingredients together and form into 18 -24 meatballs.

Heat a non-stick pan and spray with cooking spray. Brown the meatballs for a few minutes on each side; you are not cooking the meatballs just browning them. Transfer the meatballs to a baking sheet that has been sprayed with cooking oil. Bake the turkey ricotta meatballs in the oven for about 15 minutes or until done.

Serve these ricotta turkey meatballs plain or with marinara sauce. We ate them with spaghetti squash which I had baked in the oven. Serves 4.

Goal Setting Week 16 Update

As we get ready to celebrate Easter I am so thankful to be living on the same coast as all four of our grown children and our three grandchildren, what a blessing. I also realized that last week should have been update #15 so we’re back on track this week with update for week 16!

Continue to monetize my blog. My ongoing goal. Have you taken the time to check out my page on Amazon? This page is where I put all the items I just love, from favorite cookbooks to gardening tools. Please check it out. Another aspect of this goal involves increasing my readership. If you enjoy reading my blog, please recommend it to your friends. I sure appreciate all my new subscribers!

2. Create a cookbook. You may remember this goal was on my list last year and I finally put it aside. My goal for this year is to have my cookbook ready by November 2019. This is going to be a long process and I hope you don’t get tired of hearing about it. I promise you when the cookbook is finished it will be worth it! Working on putting all my recipes into a document, slow process but we’ll get there.

3. Have 20 minutes of exercise at least 5 times a week. Been getting a lot of rain lately so when the sun does shine we take advantage and head outside! This week we explored Wapato Park in Tacoma, nice walk around a small lake. Even saw two young bald eagles!

4. Explore ~~ten~~ 8 parks or hiking trails in the state of Washington we now call home! Explored Wapato Park (see above). I also recently purchase a lifetime National Park Pass, now that I am a “senior” it’s a great deal and good for the rest of my life! Look forward to exploring as many National Parks as we can!

5. Incorporate 20 10 new recipes into our dinner plans with the focus on healthy eating. I have been making some delicious salads lately also made a loaf of Shredded Wheat Bread, while it may not be the healthiest recipe it makes the best toast and is so delicious!

6. Read 35 20 new books this year. Finished my fifteenth book! Was in the mood for a suspense novel this week so I read The Woman in Cabin 10. A good page turner and finished it in two days!

7. Complete ~~Four~~ 1 knitting or sewing projects this year. Still working on my mittens! I keep forgetting to review how you make a cable! We’ve made several trips down and back to Portland and I bring my knitting only to remember I haven’t reviewed how to knit a cable! Determined to move on this week!

8. Visit family on the west coast. Another trip down and back to Portland!

9. Explore ~~Six~~ 5 new museums in the area. Beginning to wonder if the library really has this pass as it is never there!

10. Find a new home. We went down to Portland again for the inspection which went well. Just a few issues which we are working out. While we were there we took time to visit a local farm which offers a CSA. If I can’t have my own big garden I can support the local farmers!

“Most “impossible” goals can be met simply by breaking them down into bite size chunks, writing them down, believing them, and then going full speed ahead as if they were routine.”
Don Lancaster

This post may contain affiliate links. These affiliate links help support this site.

For more information, please see my disclosure policy. Thank you for supporting Nancy On The Home Front.

Getting a Good Night’s Sleep with Essential Oils

As I’ve gotten older I’ve found that I often have a hard time getting a good night’s sleep. Despite following the recommendations of having a night time routine and enjoying a cup of Sleepytime tea before bed I often find myself tossing and turning. A little over a year ago I was introduced to essential oils and decided to use a diffuser in our bedroom and see if it made a difference.

One study found that lavender oil aromatherapy calmed the nervous system, lowering blood pressure, heart rate and skin temperature as well as changing brain waves to a more relaxed state. The first oil I tried in my diffuser was lavender and I did indeed find myself relaxing and falling asleep rather quickly.

Since then I have been using several essential oils in our diffuser at night and have found all of them effective in helping both my husband and I in getting a good nights’ sleep. In fact when we travel and don’t have our diffuser I miss the wonderful aromas that I’ve become used to.

Here are my top six combinations that help me sleep.

Drool on the Pillow

3 Drops of Lavender Essential Oil
3 drops of Peace and Calming Essential Oil
3 Drops of Cedarwood Essential Oil

Sleepy Time

3 Drops of Lavender Essential Oil
3 Drops of Vetiver Essential Oil

Peace Out

3 Drops Patchouli Essential Oil
2 Drops Orange Essential Oil
2 Drops Frankincense Essential Oil

Good Night

3 Drops Lavender Essential Oil
5 Drops Peace and Calming Essential Oil

Sleep

3 Drops Peace & Calming Essential Oil
3 Drops Frankincense Essential Oil

End of Day Bliss

2 Drops Lavender Essential Oil
2 Drops Vetiver Essential Oil
2 Drops Marjoram Essential Oil

Why do these essential oils help? I mentioned above why Lavender seems to help in promoting a good night’s sleep. Cedarwood helps to create a relaxing, calming and comforting atmosphere when diffused. Orange essential oil can help you to relax, perfect to combine with other essential oils in a diffuser. Marjoram essential oil is known for its ability to relax the mind, but its sedative properties can also help promote a proper night of sleep.

Peace & Calming is one of the most popular essential oil blends. It has a calming, sweet aroma when diffused, perfect for supporting a good night’s rest. Patchouli also has a calming and relaxing aroma when diffused. Vetiver is one of the lesser-known essential oils, however, when used in a diffuser it can help improve your breathing patterns. Vetiver oil increases the quality of exhalation and decreases inhalation. This could mean vetiver it could help people who snore heavily. My husband is a heavy snorer; perhaps this is why I get such a good night’s sleep when I diffuse this oil!

If you are struggling in getting a good night’s rest I strongly encourage you to buy a diffuser and experiment with diffusing essential oils. Make sure your essential oils are of a good quality and pure. I strongly recommend Young Living as a reputable company to purchase essential oils from. If you have any questions feel free to ask me.