Do they EVER cook from scratch? or garden?

[rainbowbubbles]

I certainly agree with those above who have stated that gardening isn't as easy as it first appears but, as a lifetime gardener it also isn't as hard as all that either.  One can successfully raise some basic staple veggies (potatoes, beans, carrots, onions, garlic, etc) with little effort.  As for the amount required for a family that size combined with that many different palates, just let the kids pick from a list of easy to grow items that they like! Especially if the child in question is unsure if they would like the veggie of choice.  Kids are more apt to try and enjoy a new flavour if they grew/prepared it themselves.  My parents did that with  my siblings and I.  We lived in a small house with a small yard but somehow we managed to grow enough veggies to put up for the winter as well as eating fresh all growing season for 8 people.  You can purchase cheap soil test kits at many of our stores where I live (Ontario, Canada) and is easy to adjust to what is required.  The ONLY excuse they have for not doing this, in MY opinion, is simply laziness.  

[quiverofdoubt]

5 hours ago, samira_catlover said:

*whimpers softly*  You ARE kidding about a DuggarDrought on books, right? (Remember, I've seen only a couple episodes, tops.)  How the heck do you keep kids amused, or backup just about any kind of skills teaching, without plenty of "print" material?

<snip>

I didn't watch the most recent seasons. But I've seen just about all the earlier ones. Never saw a kid just holed up reading somewhere. Never saw a book shelf, or book case, or a book on a night stand. They do a tour of their house, i think you can access the pics or a video on their blog. They talk about it's construction in one of their books.  No mention or picture or film of a bookcase, nevertheless an actual library.  The little kids have phonics and basic math workbooks, and they always have bibles around.  They did a q&a where they were asked what books they suggested for homeschooling.  the answer: a show case of the older girls talking about their christian "wait for mr. right" books.  That was about it.  I've been planning on homeschooling for a long time, and I pay attention to these things. 

Michelle doesn't teach skills, so no need to back them up. the wisdom booklets are enough.  The children seem to amuse themselves by roughhousing on the furniture.

[paganhomeschooler]

I agree with it's really not that hard to garden, at least to supplement your diet.  We had a small garden on a small city lot at our old house, and we put up quite a bit of tomato sauce for the year, as well as having all the fresh veggies we could eat in the summer for our family of 6.  Our dirt was horrible.  It was completely filled with clay.  We built some simple, inexpensive raised beds and added "organic" dirt from the local big box store.  (That was my Mother's Day gift one year.  Hubby is the one who got suckered for the more expensive dirt.)  We had our compost bin there, as well, which helped supplement the soil.  

Now that we have 3/4 of an acre, we massively increased the size of our garden.  We've got sauce, salsa, peppers, etc. to last us for months.  Even with the harsh, dry summer we had this year, we still had all the peas, green beans, tomatoes, peppers, and zucchini we could eat. No one's cucumbers did well because it was just too hot.  We even got a small watermelon.  

We always used the garden in our homeschool curriculum when the kids were still out of school.  Science, history, math, PE all wrapped into 1.  The kids are always free to choose some veggies they'd like to try.  

My grandparents had a garden the size of ours and put up enough for a year.  That's our goal.  We're hoping to finally hit it this year.  

I bet my kids could out-housework the Duggarlings with their eyes closed.  My girls can adequately cook, they both do laundry.  My older son is at the age where I'm ready to teach him to do laundry as well.  All 3 of the big kids know how to do dishes.  They've all been taught to crochet and/or knit.  My oldest is quite an accomplished seamstress and had runner up for our county in 4-H.  

[DuggarsTheEndIsNear]

59 minutes ago, paganhomeschooler said:

I agree with it's really not that hard to garden, at least to supplement your diet.  We had a small garden on a small city lot at our old house, and we put up quite a bit of tomato sauce for the year, as well as having all the fresh veggies we could eat in the summer for our family of 6.  Our dirt was horrible.  It was completely filled with clay.  We built some simple, inexpensive raised beds and added "organic" dirt from the local big box store.  (That was my Mother's Day gift one year.  Hubby is the one who got suckered for the more expensive dirt.)  We had our compost bin there, as well, which helped supplement the soil.  

Now that we have 3/4 of an acre, we massively increased the size of our garden.  We've got sauce, salsa, peppers, etc. to last us for months.  Even with the harsh, dry summer we had this year, we still had all the peas, green beans, tomatoes, peppers, and zucchini we could eat. No one's cucumbers did well because it was just too hot.  We even got a small watermelon.  

We always used the garden in our homeschool curriculum when the kids were still out of school.  Science, history, math, PE all wrapped into 1.  The kids are always free to choose some veggies they'd like to try.  

My grandparents had a garden the size of ours and put up enough for a year.  That's our goal.  We're hoping to finally hit it this year.  

I bet my kids could out-housework the Duggarlings with their eyes closed.  My girls can adequately cook, they both do laundry.  My older son is at the age where I'm ready to teach him to do laundry as well.  All 3 of the big kids know how to do dishes.  They've all been taught to crochet and/or knit.  My oldest is quite an accomplished seamstress and had runner up for our county in 4-H.  

Yea, but your older children aren't raising your younger children and your younger children aren't be raised by children themselves. That's an unfair comparison.

Also, as I've said before, supplementing with a few people is easy. Supplementing with a crowd of 21+ isn't. I don't care if they have more hands, it's still more work and it's still a much higher chance of failure, especially if you have no idea what you're doing and you're not taught to discover the answers to anything. 

[sorchah]

They wouldn't even have to do their own gardening to get fresh and local produce. I'm sure they could set something up with a neighbor or a local farmer. My dad had an enormous garden when I as a kid, and it produced far too much food for the four of us. By July we were swimming in peppers and peaches and tomatoes and corn, and in the fall we had buckets of apples sitting around everywhere. We were able to preserve a lot, but we always had a surplus. And we also had extra land. So if the Duggars struck up a "friendship" (let's be real, they make friends with non-fundies only when they think they can get something out of it) with someone like my dad, they could trade a few children weeding for a few hours each week, or compost, or work out some other trade. The Duggars are just lazy and stupid.

[quiverofdoubt]

15 minutes ago, DuggarsTheEndIsNear said:

<snip> especially if you have no idea what you're doing and you're not taught to discover the answers to anything. 

Yes they have. Sheesh. The answer is Jesus. Or to pray. Or God. But mostly to pray to our god jesus. How is that not finding an answer now? hmm?  

[QuiverDance]

I have a friend who has a bunch of chickens in her backyard "for eggs."  

Some damn expensive, stinky, chicken pecking eggs.

[SassyPants]

Those older girls only started eating more healthy- it seems they all become more nutrition aware when the 2 started courting. Jessa lost a great deal of weight before her wedding. She was never super thin before Ben arrived on scene.

[SilverBeach]

2 hours ago, quiverofdoubt said:

Never saw a kid just holed up reading somewhere. Never saw a book shelf, or book case, or a book on a night stand.

 I was holed up reading for quite a bit of my childhood, loved it! My mom was an avid reader, we always had books, magazines, encyclopedias, all of that. Can't imagine a home without reading material. Yet another reason to pity the Duggars who know nothing of the joy of reading.

[DuggarsTheEndIsNear]

18 minutes ago, SassyPants said:

Those older girls only started eating more healthy- it seems they all become more nutrition aware when the 2 started courting. Jessa lost a great deal of weight before her wedding. She was never super thin before Ben arrived on scene.

That's not entirely true. They're more open about it now, but I definitely saw all of them opting for healthier foods back when I ised to regularly watch, which was more than 3 or 4 years ago. 

[Jucifer]

3 hours ago, quiverofdoubt said:

I didn't watch the most recent seasons. But I've seen just about all the earlier ones. Never saw a kid just holed up reading somewhere. Never saw a book shelf, or book case, or a book on a night stand. They do a tour of their house, i think you can access the pics or a video on their blog. They talk about it's construction in one of their books.  No mention or picture or film of a bookcase, nevertheless an actual library.  The little kids have phonics and basic math workbooks, and they always have bibles around.  They did a q&a where they were asked what books they suggested for homeschooling.  the answer: a show case of the older girls talking about their christian "wait for mr. right" books.  That was about it.  I've been planning on homeschooling for a long time, and I pay attention to these things. 

Michelle doesn't teach skills, so no need to back them up. the wisdom booklets are enough.  The children seem to amuse themselves by roughhousing on the furniture.

Kind of ironic that a book they owned and lent to a "friend" was partly to blame for Josh.0 becoming public knowledge.

[OnceUponATime]

16 hours ago, PennySycamore said:

  Butter yields a tender, somewhat crumbly but still flaky pastry while lard yields the flakiest of crusts.

You can alter the amount of flakiness by adding more dots of butter and more folds when you roll it out. If you want it more crumbly you put a higher ratio mixed in the dough to the dotted butter when rolling (if i remember correctly). I've never seen lard  in a supermarkt. i should look someday. Prepackaged pastry here tastes weird in a salty/chemically way. I want a pastry cutter though, those things are so handy (currently i use a fork/knife)

 

11 hours ago, ALM7 said:

Hum... Perhaps Josie should be assigned another job, not involving food prep. If I remember correctly, she's a little licker.  She could wash the pots!

umm no. Just imagine her licking a pot clean, putting it in soapy water and licking it dry.

[Arete]

The one supermarket I have seen lard in is Whole Foods.  They also carry duck far and schmaltz starting right before the Jewish High Holidays in the Fall and through about February in my area.

[justoneoftwo]

7 minutes ago, AreteJo said:

The one supermarket I have seen lard in is Whole Foods.  They also carry duck far and schmaltz starting right before the Jewish High Holidays in the Fall and through about February in my area.

We have lard in the walmarts around here, I wonder why the difference.  On the other hand, no one carries anything for Jewish holidays (well one store, sometimes)  

[PennySycamore]

My grandmother always had lard in her kitchen. I think it was in plastic pails, but I'm not entirely sure.  (It's been years since my grandmother died.)  I usually see lard in the grocery store near the vegetable shortening.

McDonald's has traditionally put beef tallow or suet in the fat for their French fries.  It's one reason that they are so tasty.  The Joy of Cooking mentions using beef tallow for the best fries.

[Arete]

41 minutes ago, justoneoftwo said:

We have lard in the walmarts around here, I wonder why the difference.  On the other hand, no one carries anything for Jewish holidays (well one store, sometimes)  

Most of the Walmarts in my area of NJ do not have a fresh food section.  Not sure why, other than most of them are over 20 years old.  Targets are much younger here and do carry fresh groceries, though I have never seen lard, duck fat, or schmaltz.

[MatthewDuggar]

1 hour ago, PennySycamore said:

My grandmother always had lard in her kitchen. I think it was in plastic pails, but I'm not entirely sure.  (It's been years since my grandmother died.)  I usually see lard in the grocery store near the vegetable shortening.

McDonald's has traditionally put beef tallow or suet in the fat for their French fries.  It's one reason that they are so tasty.  The Joy of Cooking mentions using beef tallow for the best fries.

I worked there in the late 80's/early 90's when they stopped doing that and changed to 100% vegetable oil.  Many people were upset about the change in taste.  Somehow they managed to get them back to tasting very much like how they did when it was beef fat.

[Valerie3kids]

I just can not imagine life without books. A lot of books. I read several books a week and sometimes one a day depending on how interesting it is. I used to ride my bike to the library and bring home a basket of books each week. (Yes, back when bike riding was ok and it was a long time ago!)

I just can't imagine how some of those people in that house haven't just curled up in boredom. I wonder if any of them suffer from depression. I do believe Mechelle may have some going on but if it is ever addressed in another story line period. JB probably feels sex is the answer to anything.

No books. That is just blasphemy.

[DuggarsTheEndIsNear]

7 hours ago, Jucifer said:

Ugh I'm sorry I have to post this because the reply to thread post won't let me do anything else. This is not in reply to anything Jucifer said, nor is this a quote from Jucifer. This is a frustrated response to a glitch of some kind.

 

1 hour ago, AreteJo said:

Most of the Walmarts in my area of NJ do not have a fresh food section.  Not sure why, other than most of them are over 20 years old.  Targets are much younger here and do carry fresh groceries, though I have never seen lard, duck fat, or schmaltz.

It's not just fresh foods. Some Walmarts carry different things than others, even if you'd think they'd be staples. Like, none of the Walmarts near me sell grains (like wheat berries) in any amount, but my friend can buy up to 50 lbs and as little as 10 oz of grains in the grocery section of her local Walmart. 

8 minutes ago, Valerie3kids said:

I just can not imagine life without books. A lot of books. I read several books a week and sometimes one a day depending on how interesting it is. I used to ride my bike to the library and bring home a basket of books each week. (Yes, back when bike riding was ok and it was a long time ago!)

I just can't imagine how some of those people in that house haven't just curled up in boredom. I wonder if any of them suffer from depression. I do believe Mechelle may have some going on but if it is ever addressed in another story line period. JB probably feels sex is the answer to anything.

No books. That is just blasphemy.

There was a time I would have agreed with you. But I've gotten to a point where it's hard for me to find books I like anymore. But, then, I always have the option to read. The Duggars don't. That's terrible. 

[Chickenbutt]

I go onto Amazon and type in free books and download as many books as I want to my iPad. If I don't like them, then I just delete them. No loss since I didn't pay for them in the first place. I can find "good" books, educational books and trashy novels (some people call it mommy porn).

[Bad Wolf]

I download from the library. Also free, but you have to return them.

[DuggarsTheEndIsNear]

2 hours ago, Chickenbutt said:

I go onto Amazon and type in free books and download as many books as I want to my iPad. If I don't like them, then I just delete them. No loss since I didn't pay for them in the first place. I can find "good" books, educational books and trashy novels (some people call it mommy porn).

I hate ebooks. I lose interest in them so fast. It doesn't even matter how much I'm into the book, it just get distracted to easily if it's electronic based. I have to hold an actual book to keep my interest level where it should be. Lol

[Chickenbutt]

I took awhile for me to get used to them. I still prefer a book I can hold. But I am getting used to the ebooks. Having said that, ebooks will never replace a handheld book.

[DuggarsTheEndIsNear]

20 minutes ago, Chickenbutt said:

I took awhile for me to get used to them. I still prefer a book I can hold. But I am getting used to the ebooks. Having said that, ebooks will never replace a handheld book.

I'm just terribly distracted by screens. Like, I was just working on my cover letter. And somehow I ended up back here. I'm not even on the same device anymore. lol 

[HarleyQuinn]

I've been on the waitlist at my library for months for a book, and I was just informed the book is now missing so the list is void.

Fuuuccckkk you, book loser.