After much anticipation, last week we began work on our school garden! Today I am thrilled to take you on a quick tour of our progress thus far. So strap on your garden boots, here we go…
We have a bit of structural work to complete this week because we are hosting a “School Garden Kick-Off Festival” on Sunday, where there will be garden tours, local farmers and a chef…oh my! We then hope to get the kids planting next week. I cannot wait!
If you are looking for something to do this evening, join me at the Rockford Holistic Moms Network Meeting tonight at Just Goods in Rockford at 7 PM. I will be presenting at tonight’s meeting, and I would love to see some of you there! At tonight’s meeting, I will be discussing the ways in which my family has tried to create a “Suburban Homestead” of sorts, and how we try to create a means of food security for our family. It is sure to be a wonderful night. For more detailed information, visit our chapter Facebook page.
Holistic Moms Network is “a non-profit organization connecting parents who are interested in holistic health and green living. We encourage moms to trust their instincts, parent from the heart, use their innate sense of what is best for their children, live in balance with the Earth, and learn about the pros and cons of all healthcare and parenting options.
No matter where you are on your parenting or holistic living journey, you are welcome at HMN! We are a diverse and open-minded community, a place where your choices are respected and where you can learn and become informed! “
I hope to see you there!
Well, my stint as a junior high math and science teacher ended mid-week last week, and our household has slowly moved back to its normal rhythm. I had a fun post in mind for today featuring a new soap recipe, and homemade deodorant and lotion. But then I woke up…to snow.
It doesn’t show up wonderfully in this photo, but there is quite a bit of snow falling in the picture. This winter landscape outside my front door led me to think about the strangely warm spring we had last year, and the stark contrast to this morning’s weather.
March 18, 2013 (Today)
March 18, 2012 :: This picture is from my blog post on this day last year.
Huh. Now that is what I call a doozy of a weather shift.
I hope all of you are enjoying this Monday morning, no matter the weather. And you can bet that new soap recipe will be the feature of tomorrow’s post 🙂
Just as we were nestling in for the night yesterday evening, there was a knock on our front door. There stood our mailman with a small box tucked under his arm…Our 2013 seeds had arrived.
So, our dinner table found itself scattered with those many seed packages, and tiny hands eager to sort them by vegetable, color and shape. We had such fun, we completely forgot about the steady snow falling silently outside our window. Spring is on the horizon.
Local watermelon. As strange as that may sound, yes, for dinner last night we feasted on local watermelon we put by way back in early September, and let me tell you…It was delicious!
After reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle several years ago, I longed for the days of “looking at all [those] jars in the pantry [giving] me a happy, connected feeling, as if I had roots growing right through the soles of my shoes into the dirt” that Barbara Kingsolver so eloquently describes in her amazing piece of writing. And today, many years later, I truly believe I can confidently make that statement with my head held high. We have established food security for our family.
Our dinner last night was a reminder of this. With a lovely beef roast from a local grass-fed cow that was processed in October; green beans hand-picked by two adorable Fagan gals, bread and butter pickles made with cucumbers from one of my favorite farmers, pickled beets featuring the dazzling brilliancy of the Chioggia beets pulled from our very own dirt in the backyard, and who could forget that locally grown watermelon frozen in a bit of water and local honey. Every element on our plate last night came from a place I know and from people whom I trust.
All of those hours spent hovering over the hot stove, in the sweltering heat of this past summer, seemed worth it when all I had to do was head to my basement last night, grab some meat and veggies from our freezer and a few jars off the pantry shelf. Since beginning our journey toward sustainability, I am filled with an extreme sense of gratitude that I never thought possible. It seeps into every one of my pores and I can feel it in every fiber of my being. The Earth has provided us with so much, and by harnessing these gifts in a conscientious manner, we have been able to provide food for our family, even in the dead of winter. God is good.
It is hard to believe that this blustery day in February marks the one year anniversary of Making of a Home. Thank you so much to all of you who have been following my musings over the course of the last year! I am deeply grateful for each of you.
Today I would like to share with you some of my favorite (and your favorite) posts from this past year. Thank you again, and be on the look out for some new and exciting changes and additions to Making of a Home over the course of the next year.
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The week of Thanksgiving, we abandoned the warmth of our kitchen to do a bit of gardening. We recently acquired asparagus and rhubarb crowns, and wanted to get them into the ground before the first major freeze of the season. So, we took advantage of a seasonably warm afternoon, stepped into our gardening shoes, and dug our fingers into the cool, damp soil.
First on the docket was to sort through our worms from our compost. The girls and Tyler picked out each individual wormy (as the girls like to call them), and placed them into a fresh compost bin that would be moved inside for the winter. Then the amazing, black gold was used in the trenches that would house the asparagus roots.
The girls then helped me to separate the asparagus roots, which we concluded look just like how we imagine aliens to look, and placed them deep beneath the surface of the soil. We did the same with the rhubarb crowns, burying them underneath the black earth in hopes they will produce delicious spring vegetation in a few months.
On this sixth day of November, the day greeted us with the first signs of yet another change of season. The first flurries of the year fell from the gray sky, melting into ice old pools of water in the garden, school parking lot and curbsides.
Although it is quite nasty outside, when we peered under our temporary greenhouse we found it teeming with life and vibrancy. We do plan to eventually put in an actual hoop house, but for the time being our little makeshift project seems to be doing just fine and is supplying our family with fresh verdigris for our dinner this evening. I do believe I see a fresh arugula salad with dandelion vinaigrette dressing in our very near future 🙂
This past Saturday, we made a family pledge to unplug and reconnect with one another. That meant no email, no texting, no movies, no computer. We are definitely not the crazy techie-types who constantly surround themselves with a barrage of technology, but we had been finding ourselves in front of the computer more, and spending less time with each other and the tactile activities we so dearly love.
Saturday found us surrounded by puzzles and pencils, leaves and s’mores. And most importantly, we happened upon a day filled with the enjoyment of each other’s company, free of all the noise that seems to consume our lives so often these days.
This past Sunday, we spent the day in the warmth of our kitchen’s arms, making Italian antipasto with my husband’s grandmother. There were a lot of veggies, and even more chopping, but the best part of our afternoon was spending time with Grandma. These are the moments that I hope my girls carry with them throughout their lives. Moments when they are home. Surrounded by family. Learning lessons passed down from one generation to the next.
Making of a Home 