homemaking

This Week

/ makingofahome / 3 Comments

This week I will remember…

~eating fresh asparagus from our garden…in March!

~listening to local farmers speak so passionately about being stewards of the land.

~tiny hands cutting fruits and vegetables.

~sweating, while in a sleeveless shirt, pulling weeds in my garden…again, in March!

~bird song drifting through my windows.

~raspberry green sun tea.

~eating outdoors for the majority of our meals this week.

~sharing a meal with my family at an amazing restaurant that serves delicious local food. Yum!

~searching for a great new read.

~my girls, sitting in their own petite rocking chairs, reading books for over an hour.

~exciting new changes coming about for our family.

I hope all of you had a great week!  Enjoy your weekend!

Rhubarb Goodness

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As the rhubarb in my garden continues to flourish (despite the fact that it is only mid-March), I was reminded that I still have a bit of rhubarb frozen in my freezer from last spring.  Last night I decided to make my all-time favorite rhubarb dish with some of last spring’s left overs.

This is an old recipe of my mom’s.  I believe it is adapted from a recipe taken from a church cookbook of some kind, and it is just the most yummy dish imaginable!

Rhubarb Squares

2 cups flour

1 cup butter (softened)

1/2 cup sugar

Blend well and press into an ungreased 9 X13 pan.  Bake at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes.

While that is baking, mix

2 eggs (beaten)

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/2 cup flour

1/2 salt

3-4 cups chopped rhubarb (depending on your love of rhubarb)

Once the crust is done baking, spoon this mixture on to the crust.  Bake for another 35 -40 minutes.

I hope you enjoy this delicious early spring treat!

Industrious Minds

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It never ceases to amaze me what games and activities my girls come up with when left completely alone, without any direct instruction from adults. From imaginary play, to art, to “work,” their minds are constantly striving to create new worlds, new projects, new concepts.

Yesterday I made it my goal to not get bogged down with the items on my to-do list, and instead to silently observe my little ones throughout the day. It was astonishing what those girls accomplished when their minds were able to run free!

Reminiscing

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This morning I am sitting at my computer with the windows open wide to the morning. It is still dark outside, but the sound of the birds in the trees can be heard over the soft hum of the breeze blowing through the screens. It is indeed a wonderful morning. I push the thoughts out of my mind that question why it is so warm on this day in the middle of March where I find myself sitting in a shirt that bares my arms, the window open and a glass of iced tea by my side. I replace those questioning thoughts with ones of remembrance and gratitude.

The weekend was a great one. One in which we were able to see, and spend quality time with, each and every member of our extended family. My girls were able to play outside, and eat just about every meal out of doors. The tiny asparagus shoots and rhubarb that I planted last year began emerging from beneath the soil and I felt great relief knowing they had made it through the winter. We will indeed have some of our own homegrown food very, very soon.

Over the weekend my husband and I were also extremely lucky in that we were able to attend an amazing local food conference hosted by our state university extension office. I loved attending because of the discussion local food, but also because the seminar was hosted at the forest preserve where I attended residential summer camp so many years ago.

As we neared the lodge where the meeting was to be held, I saw the flag pole where each and every morning we would gather to raise the flag and sing songs. I noticed the path to its right that led us deep into the woods for our many adventures with with nature: hiking, tracking, cooking over an open fire, swimming, canoeing, even repelling. (Yes, the girl who is deathly afraid of heights repelled down a rock cliff! That just shows you how deeply I enjoyed being at this camp.) I took a deep breath in and realized that despite all of the years that had passed, it still smelled familiar.

We entered the lodge and the fond memories continued to flood my mind. Out of the corner of my eye I spotted the dormitory where we spent so many nights chatting about our amazing adventures and snuggling beneath the blankets on our bunks, anxious for the new excitement that would greet us at our rising. My husband and I then walked into the dining hall, where many were gathered for this local food discussion, and I was reminded of the meals I shared with friends in this space. The sense of community I felt as we took turns passing food around the table, and learning about stewardship. We only took that which we needed and learned not to be wasteful because the earth was what gave us this bounty, and we must show gratitude for that which many are unable to consume.

While the discussion of local food was a fabulous one, a great learning experience, and a chance to connect with other like-minded individuals; these memories made this day a special one. I am reminded of those moments in my life that brought me to where I am today. Those little experiences, that we may not view as important at the time, mold us into the people we will become later in life.

I hope each and every one of you has a wonderful Monday and an amazing week!

Gratitude

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This week I am thankful for
~the warmth of the sun’s embrace.
~giggles, dancing and music.
~green growth rising from the soil.
~qualities of leadership manifesting in a five year old.
~the warm breeze blowing through clean clothes.
~time.
~cool iced tea.
~walks with little ones.
~hours spent with multiple generations of family.
~tiny ears truly listening to the sounds of nature.
~hours of playtime.
~a quiet evening of celebration.
~positive energy.
~new opportunity.
~seeds of change.
I hope all of you have a wonderful weekend, filled with much that you can be thankful for!

Let Them Read

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Three and a half years ago my family and I moved into a new home. While selecting paint colors and sleeping assignments, we also made the decision to not place a television in any of the main rooms of our home. This was a deliberate choice on our part because my husband and I both thought of this move as a turning point in our life and a paradigm shift in our lifestyle.

Who would have thought that such a decision would cause such an outcry from our friends and family. Yes, you are reading that correctly. People who do not even live in our house were upset that we were not placing a television as the centerpiece of our home. The responses varied from the comical, “What will all of your furniture face towards?” to the shocking, “I would rather lose my house than loose my T.V. and cable!” I was utterly flabbergasted by what I was hearing.

When did we get to this point in our culture when people cannot imagine living their life without the constant hum of a television in the background? Now I am not that old, only thirty-one for that matter, but I remember going to my grandparents’ house and walking around outside and looking at all of my grandfather’s flower beds and his enormous vegetable garden. I can call to mind sitting at the dining room table with my parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins playing cards after a big family meal. I recollect playing for hours in the playroom with my sister, not once thinking of the television, but instead being fully engrossed in the imaginary world we created with our dolls. So why then do people look at me cross-eyed when I say that I don’t have a television in my family room?

Now this is not to say that my children have never spent a moment of their lives in from of a television. We have Friday night movie nights in our basement each weekend. We make homemade pizza, pop popcorn and veg out for a couple of hours, watching our favorite princess movie. This week my girls had their first cold of the winter (Not bad, seeing as it is March!) and they spent some time snuggled up watching PBS shows that we have on DVD. But my point is this: Our lives do not revolve around an electrical box that sits on a shelf or is mounted to the wall.

During the day we find ourselves busy with projects and learning, and our evenings are filled with games and reading. And the reading is what we love oh so much! There is truly nothing I love more than to burrow under a hand-made quilt with my girls and venture to a far off land filled with energy and adventure! These are the times that memories are created. These are the times when much is learned. These are the times when I am so glad that my furniture all faces toward a bookshelf, instead of a television.

I leave you with an excerpt we just read a few nights ago from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (My girls are on a Roald Dahl kick these days.):

The most important thing we’ve learned,
So far as children are concerned,
Is NEVER, NEVER, NEVER let
Them near your television set–
Or better still, just don’t install
The idiotic thing at all….
They sit and stare and stare and sit
Until they’re hypnotized by it,
Until they’re absolutely drunk
With all that shocking ghastly junk.
Oh yes, we know it keeps them still,
They never fight or kick or punch,
They leave you free to cook the lunch
And wash the dishes in the sink–
But did you ever stop to think,
To wonder just exactly what
This does to your beloved tot?
IT ROTS THE SENSES IN THE HEAD!
IT KILLS IMAGINATION DEAD!
IT CLOGS AND CLUTTERS UP THE MIND!
IT MAKES A CHILD SO DULL AND BLIND
HE CAN NO LONGER UNDERSTAND
A FANTASY, A FAIRYLAND!
HIS BRAIN BECOMES AS SOFT AS CHEESE!
HIS POWERS OF THINKING RUST AND FREEZE!
HE CANNOT THINK—HE ONLY SEES!
‘All right!’ you’ll cry. ‘All right!’ you’ll say,
‘But if we take that set away,
What shall we do to entertain
Our darling children? Please explain!’
We’ll answer this by asking you,
‘What used the darling ones to do?
‘How used they keep themselves contented
Before this monster was invented?’
Have you forgotten? Don’t you know?
We’ll say it very loud and slow:
THEY…USED…TO…READ! They’d READ and
READ and READ, and then proceed
To READ some more. Great Scott! Gadzooks!
One half their lives was reading books!
The nursery shelves held books galore!
Books cluttered up the nursery floor!
And in the bedroom, by the bed,
More books were waiting to be read!
Such wondrous, fine, fantastic tales…
So please, oh please, we beg, we pray,
Go throw your TV set away,
And in its place you can install
A lovely bookshelf on the wall.
Then fill the shelves with lots of books,
Ignoring all the dirty looks…
Fear not, because we promise you
That, in about a week or two
Of having nothing else to do,
They’ll now begin to feel the need
Of having something good to read.
And once they start—oh boy, oh boy!
You watch the slowly growing joy
That fills their hearts. They’ll grow so keen
They’ll wonder what they’d ever seen
In that ridiculous machine,
That nauseating, foul, unclean,
Repulsive television screen!
And later, each and every kid
Will love you more for what you did.