Clean.

Blueberry Picking.

 

Most of you were right about our plans for yesterday's mystery field trip. We went berry picking! Each berry season is so fleeting. Abundance one day, out-and-out over the next. Since I refuse my children out-of-season berries (and many other fruits and veggies) during much of the year, we have to get while the gettin's good.

And yes, we have company coming tonight and we should have been home cleaning the house but we went picking instead. (Truth be told I am one to avoid the "shoulds" every chance I get. Because "should" rarely means "I really want to". And there's just too much should and too little joy in the world if you focus only on what has to be done. But back to the berries.)

As for the surprise or mystery element of the day, I hid the baskets from Sage (he's too sharp and would have figured me out before we pulled out of the driveway) but Lupine told him in the car that she "saw a clue" and together they figured out where we were going. We picked for a couple of hours and brought home pounds and pounds of berries for freezing, fresh eating, and jam. Sage worked out some math at home and determined that our $25 worth of berries turned into $75 worth of jam and frozen berries had we bought it at the coop. Even figuring in $5 for gas and $5 for other ingredients, we still came out way ahead - and that's without adding value for the fun factor.

So the pantry is stacked with 12 half-pints of blueberry and honey jam, two gallon bags are in the freezer awaiting winter smoothies and muffins, and everyone has blue teeth this morning from the last of the fresh eating. Not bad for a day's work.

(The beautiful Amish baskets were all a generous gift from some farmer friends whom we adore.)

 

Homeschooling Adventures: Today is a Mystery

Today is Mystery Thursday (formerly know as Mystery Wednesday when our rhythm was a little different).

It is arguably our favorite day of the week. Because - who knows? It's going to be fun, but the kids have no idea exactly what kind of fun. City? Country? Water? Woods? There's just no telling.

I think I value this day so much because we just go. We leave the house - the phone, the computer, the laundry, the dishes - for hours on end, and get lost in the joy of now. There are no distractions, just the three of us on our weekly adventure. It is a great balances for the kids and I, regardless of what the first part of the week has been.

This morning, like always, they know nothing except what to bring. Their instructions today were simple:

On your feet: tennis shoes or sandals.

Clothes must be "rough and tumbles" (code for "Lupine, please don't wear a tutu.").

And bring three things: a basket, your sunhat, and water bottle.

I have packed us a picnic lunch (Okay, and an iced latte for the drive.) and we'll be taking the car.

Any guesses as to where we're headed?

Rhythm of the Home Blog

Come visit me over at Rhythm of the Home's blog today where I am guest blogging on imaginative, natural play. See you there!

Rachel

The Simplest Cheesmaking.

Cheesemaking has fascinated me for years. It is much like soapmaking in that you take simple, basic ingredients and with a bit of chemistry transform them into something exponentially more wonderful than what you began with. My soapmaking fascination has led to my soap business, leaving my cheesemaking interests unfulfilled. And yet I check books out from the library and dream of the day I'll commit some time to learning about cheese.

And then there are the happy accidents. Like when you set out to make something else and find you've made cheese. Yup. I made cheese. Completely by accident.

(Worth noting: as a child I was fascinated by the serendipitous kitchen discoveries that our ancestors made. I heard a story of how bread dough, accidentally dropped into boiling water was the first noodle and I seriously thought of that with awe every time I ate pasta for years. Total bliss to have my own kitchen accident and "discover" something myself, new or otherwise.)

It started like this: Each week the children and I make a pound or two of butter from local grass-fed cream. (It is one of my favorite parts of our putting-food-by rhythm.) The nutrition this butter provides is far superior to that of non-pastured or winter butter and because of our family's history of tooth decay I view summer butter as something as important as others might view fluoride or medicine. 

A gallon of raw cream will yield about 1 1/2 pounds of fresh butter to freeze and leave me 2 1/2 quarts or so of sweet or tart buttermilk - depending on if I cultured the cream or not - to determine a use for. Because we don't eat grains, baking with it was out. And really, how much salad dressing can one family eat? So I resorted to giving it to a friend to feed to her pigs rather than dump it down the drain. I wasn't very inspired by buttermilk. And because I sometimes don't culture my cream before making butter (my kids prefer it that way) the buttermilk - rather than being thick and tart - it more like skim milk. Not inspiring for culinary creativity.

Last week I decided to culture the buttermilk post butter-making. (What can I say. It was an afterthought.) I began to gently warm the buttermilk on the stove with the intention of heating, cooling, and inoculating with yogurt culture to see what happened. But as the buttermilk heated, suddenly curds and whey separated and I was left with cheese. Whoa. Now what? Faced with the choice of dumping it or eating it, I was hoping it was palatable.

I hustled to the computer and googled "heat buttermilk make cheese" and sure enough, I had just stumbled upon one of the simplest incarnations of home cheesemaking. After straining out the whey through a cloth (the whey I then fed to my garden plants) I refrigerated the cheese and discovered to my joy that the kids could not get enough of it. It is creamy and crumbly, mild, and delicious. And ridiculously easy to make.

To enjoy your cheese, lightly salt and serve as you would any soft young cheese, or drizzle with a bit of honey and server with fruit.

Today we'll be making another pound or two of butter. And yes. More cheese!

Note: For GAPS friends, you would need to do a 24 hour culture of your cream to make this cheese GAPS legal. Just an FYI. We have decided to allow raw dairy or home-cooked raw dairy again because of our tooth decay history.

Time Alone.

 

Solitude.

What a radical concept it turned out to be. I was flying solo for the first time in recent memory from Wednesday until Saturday while Pete and the kids enjoyed their papa-cation. Just me. And the cat. (Even the dog was away.) I was truly immersed in solitude.

Truth be told I felt fairly lost after their departure. A mixture of sadness and elation, I wandered from room to room, starting and abandoning project after project until I realized that I needed to sit and simply be in this foreign silence to get to know myself again.

I found a comfortable spot to let go of my thoughts in meditation. It wasn't long but it created such calm and clarity. (I would love to establish a regular practice of finding silence in my days through solo walks and meditation. It would serve us all.) That silence of meditation brought out the post I shared with you on Friday which has resulted in more tear-filled comments and visitors to my blog than in its history. I had no idea how resonant those words would be to you. I feel such gratitude for how you embraced that heart-felt essay.

While I was in the quiet solitude for those three days I gardened for hours in silence, talked uninterrupted with friends, slept long and deep, sewed without distraction, wrote from the heart, and made pickles, butter, yogurt, kefir, and cheese.

I put myself first for a few days and came out on the other side more focused, patient, committed to rhythm and simplicity, and ready to dive back in to family life with a new found clarity.

Who knew that time alone could be so nourishing?

Today we're back together setting out to have a normal, wonderful, magical day together. My intention today is to be truly present with my family. And because my cup is full I have so much more to give.

Seek beauty and presence today in your world. It will transform you.

Love,
Rachel

Thank you.

Your comments and various methods of passing around links to my post regarding motherhood yesterday were very moving for me.

Thank you.

For your kindness. Your acceptance. Your honesty. Your words. Your grace.

From my heart. Thank you.

Love,
Rachel