Our Hair Gel

I have always admired Mama’s natural curls. Curls fascinated me and she has always taken good care of hers and they are quite beautiful. I never really thought my hair was very curly until several years ago, after I donated twelve inches and gelled the length that was left, it curled! I was so excited!

 

Of course, with natural curl, there are some good days and not so good. You may have heard that curly hair requires a lot more maintenance, but for me it seems to take little effort to keep in order. I have not used a brush on my hair in years, never use a curling or flat iron, and rarely use a blow dryer! Wash once or twice a week, finger comb while it is wet, gel, scrunch, air dry, style. It is generally French braided or pulled up to the top of my head to sleep. We have tried several hair gels, but my favorite is the kind we make at home.

The main ingredient of our gel is brown flaxseed, also known as linseed. These small flat seeds are native from the Mediterranean to India, but are also farmed in Russia, Canada, and China. Flax contains a rich dose of omega-3 fatty acids, which supports scalp health. Another important ingredient is marshmallow root, and it is known to reduce inflammation of the skin and is used in many hair products. Marshmallows, the confection we all love, were originally made from the root of this plant. It helps boost the slippage that the flaxseed provides. Also necessary to the gel is the Vitamin E and glycerin as they are conditioners. Honey and xanthan gum help increase hold and thicken to the right consistency. Citric acid is a preservative and essential oils add a pleasant smell.

Flaxseed Hair Gel:

1/3 c. flaxseed

2 T. marshmallow root

2 c. water

Boil these ingredients in small saucepan for five minutes. Strain through a nylon stocking adding ½ c. cold water to ensure all the gel has gone through. While in a bowl, add the following ingredients.

Vitamin E oil (small drizzle)

Vegetable Glycerin (small drizzle)

1 t. Honey

Xanthan gum (Add approx. 1\2 tsp. slowly while beating with eggbeater, otherwise it will clump.)

10-20 drops essential oil (Citrus scent lends itself well to this gel.)

This gel takes about half an hour to make and lasts for about a month. It does require refrigeration and can also be frozen in ice cube trays and thawed when needed. We have a lot of curly hair in our family and this gel is perfect for all natural curl types.

      

Our own hair gel is my favorite, as it holds curl the best of any gel I have ever tried while remaining soft, light, and voluminous. It has been a joy to make and use this gel. It is completely natural and makes for healthy, happy hair! Natural curls will thank you for this flaxseed hair gel!

~Jayla

Warm and Toasty

A few days ago, Dad bought some fire bricks for the wood stove. A couple of the old bricks lining the back that were cracked were missing, and they needed to be replaced. A fire brick is made of clay, alumina or mullite, and a lot of other ingredients. Fire bricks are used in wood stoves to protect the inside, and to reflect the heat back into the stove which helps it hold a lot of heat.

Before we put in the new stones, the old ones had to come out. I got a flat headed screwdriver and a hammer. Then I started working on taking them out. It was a lot harder than I thought, because the rocks were broken, and hard to get the screwdriver underneath to pry them up.

After getting all the broken pieces out, I cleaned out the ashes that had fallen into the crack along the back and pried out little pieces of rock that were jammed in between. After cleaning the crack out, I inserted one of the new fire stones, and it slid right into place.

The metal rack which held the stones in place had gotten bent down, this made it too hard to slip the fire stone into its spot. We heated the bent metal with a torch till it got so hot the metal turned red. Then we took a pair of pliers and bent it back into its original place. We placed in the new rocks, and they fit in perfectly. We had only one left over.

With the new stones, the stove will put out a lot more heat. When winter temperatures come, the house will be toasty and warm. I am very thankful for our wood stove and the new firebrick that will keep us safe and sound.

~ Jonah

Experiencing Hot Pot

Have you ever experienced a hot pot meal with a few close friends? We recently were invited to share hot pot with Mark’s niece Jesseca and her fiancée Andy, while visiting in Ohio. Andy is from China and has fond memories of this traditional Chinese communal meal. It was an honor and blessing to participate in the event.

Entering Adele’s kitchen, where Jesseca and Andy were preparing the vegetables for the meal, I anticipated jumping in to assist. To my delight, Andy welcomed my help. While he chopped and diced, he explained that enjoying hot pot was primarily an experience mutually shared, as it was both prepared together and eaten together while both food and fellowship were enjoyed. While we worked, Andy related his memories of family hot pot and the history behind the practice. Its Chinese name literally translates into “Firepot.”

We cleaned rice by washing and repeating until the water ran clear. I had never washed rice so extensively but enjoyed the sensation of the grains passing over my hands time and again. Andy said that washing the rice was often his job when he was a boy. It was an important task, as properly cleaned rice was a necessity in Chinese custom. Washing the rice removed excess starch, as well as any dirt or impurities. It was essential in allowing the rice to be fluffier when cooked, rather than gummy, and gave it a shinier appearance.

I was enamored by the colors, textures, and pleasant varieties of fresh vegetables. I even learned how to properly cut bamboo shoots. I giggled at the beautiful enoki mushrooms as we pulled them apart into small bundles. Their small, shiny, white caps on lengthy threadlike stems were a new delicacy for me. Everyone worked in unison to assemble the meal ingredients, including shitake mushrooms, mustard greens, and bok choy. Protein ingredients included thinly sliced brisket, sliced beef tongue, and cubed tofu. Tomato based broth, spicy Sichuan broth, traditional herbal broth, and Andy’s special broth bubbled and simmered on the tables while the vegetables were being prepared.

In a hot pot meal, a large pot of broth is shared at the center of the table to cook the bite sized pieces of meat and vegetables. Each participant uses their own chopsticks to deposit whatever is available to their liking into the pot to cook. It is a versatile, satisfying way to please several people, as there can be something for everyone in a hot pot meal. When it is finished cooking, the food is removed with chopsticks and deposited into your bowl to eat. Individual dipping sauce bowls are close by for personal use. The idea was to dunk the newly cooked hot pot ingredients into the sauce before eating them.

Directly, our fresh meal ingredients were positioned ornately on the tables, filling the area and making for a bountiful looking feast. The pots were bubbling, the places set, and we were ready with our bowls laden with beautiful, shiny, rice. We were set to experience the meal portion of hotpot. Using our chopsticks, we placed items into the broth to cook. It was easy to lose what we had put in, but Andy said that it didn’t matter what we ended up taking out, even though we tried to diligently watch what was “ours.” It wasn’t as easy to withdraw the ingredients with chopsticks as it was to place them in! There were tongs available to fish items out, but we all wanted to realize the full Chinese experience and remained with our wooden utensils! Surprisingly, it didn’t take but a minute or two for the ingredients to cook. As the meat required less time than the vegetables, we put it in right before the vegetables were finished. As per traditional Chinese cuisine, we enjoyed dumplings with our hotpot.

Camaraderie was woven into our hotpot meal. The cooking experience was practically effortless, and we repeated the process several times throughout the course of the meal. While we leisurely discussed the history and technique of the meal, the broth became richer and more flavorful. You could watch it change as we exchanged family stories and added and extracted more items to and from the pots. The end of the traditional meal finished with drinking the full-bodied savory broth.

We are thankful for the experience of sharing this special intimate meal with Jesseca and Andy. Our hot pot was more than a meal. It was a participation in something bigger than ourselves. It was a look into a different culture. It was a moment in history where we shared in others’ stories. Our lives intersected and like the broth, we are all the richer for it.

- Rhonda 

Cutting the Deck

Earlier this year I was wondering how to cut a deck of cards with one hand. So, Mom and I looked it up to find out how. It looked like it would be hard, but now after I have practiced, it is easy.

The first step is to take the deck of cards in between your pinky and your pointer finger. Your pointer finger holds the deck on one short end, while your pinky holds it on the other short end. 

Then you place your thumb about in the middle of the long side of the deck. Then you let half of the deck drop into the palm of your hand while the other half is held in the air between your middle, ring, and thumb fingers. 

Using your pointer finger, you push the lower half of the deck up. Continue to push the half deck up with your pointer finger until it’s vertically standing on its side. 

Once the lower half clears the upper half, allow the upper half to simply fall into your palm. 

At this point, use your thumb to release the original lower half onto the upper half which has now fallen to the bottom. 

The top and bottom halves of the deck have exchanged positions, and the deck will be in the position where it was to begin with, ready for more.

The first time I saw this trick was on a show called The Virginian. The Virginian is a western television show from the 1960’s set in Wyoming during the late 1800’s. Ryker, the sheriff, performed this stunt while playing cards with his friends. I thought that it was impressive. Now I can do it too, and it is fun. There are other tricks that I would like to learn like springing the deck, and a ribbon spread and flip. First, I would like to perfect this cut.

Cards are fun. You can do lots of things with a simple deck of 52 cards. Not only can you play games like hearts, but you can do magic tricks or learn flourishes like cutting the deck.

~Isaac

A Wonderful Way To Entertain

I like to entertain all my little nieces and nephews. They like to hear the stories I tell them during their stay at our house. My idea of the best way is by using puppets or stuffed animals to amuse them.

I make the puppet shows, and they love it. I just come up with the shows. I don’t do anything special from a story book, but when I get better, I think it would be fun to start to do it that way.

To make it even cooler, I attempt to make my mouth not move. I can convince the younger ones, but the older ones are uncertain and merely just go along with it. I need a lot more talent and skill to convince the older ones. They know that I’m making the sounds from my own mouth.

Did you know that puppets have been used since the earliest times to animate and communicate people’s ideas? Puppetry takes many types, but they all act out a story by making the puppet look like it comes alive.

Mom gave me a sheet of words to practice ventriloquism. Ventriloquism is when someone doesn’t move their mouth so that the puppet looks like it’s talking. You can see the puppeteer and the puppet together. The person really is talking without their lips moving. He moves the head, arms, and mouth of the puppet with his hands, which makes the puppet look more real. I hope my nephews and nieces do not see my mouth move! Mama told me that I was doing a good job talking with my mouth closed and that I might enjoy practicing the sheet of words. I completed all the words and performed the one skit that was on the paper.

I practiced more and more, and the more I practiced, the better I progressed. I am hoping to make my next show for all of my nieces and nephews. This time, I hope they all will be convinced. Isn’t that a wonderful way to entertain?

~Unique

Family-fest

Dad had his sixtieth birthday celebration on October 13 of this year, and since the family was in visiting, he decided to host his own birthday fête by having a family prairie-fest. 

Prairie-fest was an event hosted here at a Providence Prairie years ago. The entire clan would pitch in and help set up old-fashioned pioneer type activities and games, dress in period style clothing, play music, give demonstrations, hold contests, and help guests enjoy themselves. It was a time of roasted hot dogs and burnt marshmallows, hayrides, and potato sack races!

It was exciting bringing down all the old equipment from the haymow in the barn. Most of it hadn’t been pulled out and used since our last Prairie-Fest some six or seven years before. 

Stilts were leaned against the hitching post, the water pumps, washboards, and clothesline were positioned in the driveway, a group of corn gatherers set off for the field to get some of the unharvested cobs for the corn sheller, a small corral was set up for the pony-hops, two-man and cross-cut saws were placed by logs to saw on, and a bonfire was started in the fire ring in the center of the drive.

The barnyard took on a whole new look, as games and old-timey stations were set up here and there.

Many of the nieces and nephews didn’t remember what Prairie-Fest used to be like, since some of them were toddlers or babies, and the rest hadn’t even been born yet. 

They were excited at all the preparations taking place and looked with wide-eyed wonder at all the things they didn’t even know existed here at Providence Prairie!

When Tuesday, the day of the party rolled around, everything was ready. The rest of the family arrived late-morning/early afternoon. In the end, thirty out of thirty-one members of the family were able to make it. It was such a fun day! 

We started off by roasting hot dogs and munching on other goodies that everyone had brought or made, then it was on to the activities. 

Some were on stilts, others jumped rope, there were cross-cut sawers, and races on the pony hops, games of graces and corn grinders, water pumpers and laundry doers!

In the middle of all the festivities, who should appear but Prairie Man! The mysterious unidentified visitor of all our family-prairie get-togethers. Swooping down from a roof top, he glided through the crowd, his cape blowing behind him from the speed of his movements. There were knowing smiles on older faces and looks of amused confusion on the faces of younger ones, who had never seen Prairie Man before. 

But he does not stay long, one kiss for his lady and he vanishes. A few minutes later, our oldest brother Trey arrived, disappointed to have been absent during all the excitement. He misses it every time!

Later on, we set up the game stations. Each adult supervised a different game and gave out little prizes to the contestants. There was an obstacle course, ring the bottle, duck bobbing, can toss, put the chicken to sleep, and others. Mama handed a number of tickets to each of the children and it was cute to see even the littlest ones pull their tickets out of their bag whenever they came to a new station!

Towards evening we once again roasted our supper over the open fire and then enjoyed the cakes made for Dad’s celebration. As the darkness settled, there were stories and laughter around the fire and singing by the initial McDaniel family singers. It was then time for some to return home, so the barnyard was picked up of anything that couldn’t stay out for the night. It had been a day full of fun with so many memories made. It was truly a family-fest.

~Halayah