Busy Hands Homestead

I haven't ventured outside or changed clothes since I got up Saturday morning. Yesterday I went through the annual ritual of cleaning and rearranging the house to accommodate all of the house plants moving back into our living space. By the time I looked at the clock is was 5:30 and I figure I might as well spend the rest of the day in pajamas. The whole point of these posts and participating in the #SNAPchallenge is to raise money for Double SNAP Dollars, which doubles the purchasing power of SNAP benefits spent on fresh fruits and vegetables.  So please, if you have the resources and value expanding access to fresh fruits and vegetables, take a moment to DONATE HERE!   My family has lots of practice cooking on a limited budget, because SNAP used to be our food budget.  These posts might make it seem too easy, but it wasn't.  I am calculating the Double SNAP Program into my daily expenditures, which helps a lot! I also have the benefit of being raised in a fa...

For an entire week our mornings and evenings were filled with the chink, chink, chink of cherry pits. Two cherry pies, cherry danishes , and quart bags of pitted cherries are in the freezer.   Jars of apple cherry jam are on the shelf. Once a year we drive up to Finley Point to pick cherries in the summer sun and then jump into the clear  cold water of Flathead lake.   The silver fruit picking ladder gets warm  in the sun and is almost to hot  to touch against my skin as we move from one tree to the next. The sticky, sweet, dark red juice runs down my fingers as I fill the same basket over and over, carrying it up and down the ladder, and we fill the cardboard boxes we brought along. The kids pick cherries for a while, and then get distracted and sprawl on blankets, eating lunch and running through a sprinkler the owner’s of the orchard left on. Between my feet and the ground, between where I stand on the ladder and where the ...

I have been writing and re-writing an an artist statement to accompany my First Friday show at the Missoula Community Food Co-op. The official event is on April 7th, but my pots will be on display for the remainder of the month. "This will be easy," I thought. After all, the wheat design carved onto the surface of my mugs, bowls and plates is an external expression of a more than a decade long ritual I have created for myself to process the news of violence and conflict present in our world. But still, the words to articulate feelings and motions are hard to construct. I was 18 for 31 days when September 11th became a date marooned in the year 2001 and we entered a pre- and post- world. Slightly tipsy, from my first honey brown beer, at an elevation over 5000 ft, in my best friend's college dorm, I watched bright dots flashing across a night sky and I was struck by the surreal beauty of what could have been mistaken as fireworks on screen but what were in reali...

The sunshine last until late in the evening and greats us early in the morning.  We have been digging in the garden, running through the sprinkler, chasing our adolescent chickens and before I know it, the kids are up too late again and when I wake them up they are grumpy.  On morning like these I have a favorite breakfast recipe: puff pancakes .  I drag myself down the stairs, preheat the oven, melt the butter, mix the batter, and while the pancakes bake I wrestles kids out of pajamas, into clothes and comb sleep tangles out of hair.  When the timer beeps we have perfectly puffy pancakes.  The more often I have made these the more I have explored possible puff pancake combinations and the options are endless.  Here are my favorites: 1. Thin slices of  Apples and Brie added to the butter while the oven preheats.  The results are less puffy, but delicious with a drizzle of maple syrup.   2. A cu...

I have been wanting to make homemade pop-tarts for what seems like an eternity. There is nothing like being confined by freezing wind and driving snow to bring out the baker in me.  "Lets warm up the kitchen and make pop-tarts." To this Ivory promptly responded: "What are pop-tarts?" To this moment it had never occurred to me that she has not experienced a pop-tart, which means that I have no pressure to meet the expectations set by the pop-tarts sold on grocery store shelves. So we started mixing, rolling and cutting. We spread filling into the center of the hears: strawberry butter I canned last summer, slowly caramelized apples that were a bit mealy for eating out of hand and finally a dark purple plum butter that is a reminder of the last warm sunny days of fall.    While snow piled up outside, we ate warm pop-tarts with a side of scrambled eggs and a good strong cup of coffee for breakfast.  It was delicious. To be honest, I don't ...

I actually managed to mail out Valentines on time - last year .    I think it might have been a fluke...   This year, like most years, I am behind.  There are neat rows of heart shaped bird seed cakes sitting in my dehydrator - waiting to be shipped to loved ones across the country.  We will get them mailed eventually.  Just making the cards and bird seed cakes for Ivory's kindergarten class took a dedicated session of card writing after school each day - and she cut and wrote and decorated each card on her own, diligently crossing off each of the twenty names on the list.  The night before we stuffed them into Ziploc bags and I added a cautionary DO NOT EAT tag.  This treat is for the birds.   The morning of, Ivory asked to be woken up early, so that I could French braid her hair into... .... the shape of a heart. Ivory: "oh. Mama.  You are bringing Vegetables to my Valentine's Day Party?" Ad...

November and December flew past. There were two craft fairs, an ambitious kindergarten wide art project and a Christmas show that needed a back drop. After these I scrambled to finish a few handmade gifts....  all of which were (or are) admittedly late. There was a lacy pair of knitted socks for my mom, a pair of legwarmers for Ivory I finished last night and sent her to school in this morning and a pair of socks for Adam that are at this moment only a few rows on a set of double pointed needles.  (More on all these projects coming soon.) Through it all I have been on a mission: to bake a  pretzel roll. Why? The Lowell PTA was having a bake sale and I wanted to contribute something savory. Sylvan and I practiced. Sylvan, his little friends, and I practiced. We tried all white flour and partially whole wheat pretzel rolls. (See the difference in the picture above?)  Rolls without butter and milk.  Rolls with butter and milk.  Rolls with p...

Stitch by stitch the blue yarn is becoming a blanket.  It covers my lap, warm and soft. We have had a lazy Saturday and a slow Sunday. The kiddos are on a train ride to California.  Every chair in the house in a straight line.  Lamb and Tiger, doll and bear, Ivory and Sylvan passengers in one giant adventure. Sylvan drives. Ivory serves tea. Ivory drives. Sylvan is the caboose. I knit. I dream. I observe. I think. I remember. I picture myself crouched down, peering into Ivory's face, my arms wrapped around a tiny Sylvan and scolding her: "When someone tells you that your hair is pretty, you say thank you.  When somebody says Hi to you, you say hi back.  You are being rude when you just ignore people." She looks back at me with tears in her eyes: " But Mama, I'm shy." I was exasperated.  I couldn't imagine that my little girl who seems to have no problem approaching strangers, dominating other mother's laps and leading gangs of child...

Dinner is in the oven.  (By oven I mean the toaster oven I have had set up on the porch all summer to avoid heating up the kitchen when baking smaller items.)   We are having a zucchini dip that tastes similar to spinach artichoke dip and was a raving success with the whole family a few days ago.  So I am making it again.  The kids are at the park with Adam.  I am supposed to be working on this:  I am trying to finish this small quilt for Ivory's first day of school tomorrow. Between our morning WIC appointment and our dentist appointments this afternoon, I have been stitching the details onto the little girl walking a path of hearts to her home. My baby is going to school and I want her to know that my heart will be with her, wherever she may be. The little girl on the quilt is almost done. All she needs are eyes. Then the batting needs to be cut, the layers pinned and quilted and binding stitched all around the edges. Crazy, I ...

Finally. Our trip home took longer than we could have ever imagined. We were supposed to arrive Thursday.  We drove into Missoula Sunday evening.  Monday it was back to work and there was not a moment to settle in. Until today. Today I weeded the garden (or a part of the garden to be exact), admired the fat heads of broccoli, the tiny green tomatoes and marveled at the runner beans that in the past two weeks have almost grown to the top of our porch roof. I rode my bike around town, kids in tow.  We sat in the shade of  trees and watched kids play in the splash park.  I picked lettuce, chard, kale, whisked up a salad and cooked our first dinner in the aftermath of our amazing adventure in Oklahoma.  Bread baked in the oven while I cleaned the kitchen and the kids played with Legos while listening to the Incredibles.  I even managed to unpack the suitcases. Today it feels real. We are home.

I bend down, look into the fridge. I close it and step out the back door. I scan the garden beds - back to the fridge. It is June and I am in love with this time of the year. The meal planning gets looser...  instead of having solid shopping lists and a specific plans for each and every item purchased, I step into the garden and ask: "What are we having for dinner?" The truth is, that even though it is June, there are not many things to harvest. There are radishes (and their greens. delicious!), spinach, sprigs of dill, almost ripe strawberries and a mounding rhubarb plant.  All other plants are still tiny - promising more later in the summer. I snip Spinach leaves. They mound up in my basket. I snip a few sprigs of dill. We are having Pacific Rockfish for dinner and these garden additions will be perfect. I look down at my pan and realize that this is the first of  this year's dinners that has a substantial garden contribution.  Sure, I have been usi...

Half-awake I stumbled down the stairs early this morning with Sylvan on my hip.  He had requested a trip to the bathroom.  As much as I wanted to just roll over and tell him - "You are wearing a diaper.  Just pee in it." - I figured that would counter the daytime potty training efforts.  So I stood up, picked him up and we went to the bathroom.  He went right back to sleep and I stared at the clock: 4:30.  I might as well get up. By the time the Ivory and Sylvan both joined me down stairs I had put the finishing touches on G is for Garlic , and was tediously painting rows of kernels on I is for Indian Corn . By 9:00 we were mixing up our second batch of Whole Wheat Pretzels and were two loads of laundry into the day. By 11:30 I was parking my bike under the tree and Ivory helped me unload the groceries (WIC run!) out of the bike trailer. By 1:00 Sylvan was down for a nap, my list is half checked off (the laundry is hung) and I am trying not to...

I remember walking the home from my first WIC appointment. I felt happy and proud. I had taken the initiative and was contributing something to the well being of my family.  Over the next two years we have walked through the tunnel or over the pedestrian bridge to check in, say hi, weigh the kids, annually measure iron levels and print out new vouchers.  I look forward to the visits - because - I get to chat about kids and food with folks that deal with kids and food. I don't feel that using the vouchers is difficult.  I just try to come up with a way of using this resource in a manner that is compatible with the nutritional goals that I have established for myself and my family. (No Corn Syrup, No Hydrogenated Oils, as much real, unprocessed food as possible)  Along the way I have tried many different things. Some of those things I have not repeated: African Ground Nut Stew for example - good - but we have some peanut butter based recipes that h...

I have two children on the WIC program between the ages of 2 and 5. Every month, per child we receive: 3 gallons of skim, 1% or 2% Organic Milk 36 ounces WIC Breakfast Cereal 2 64 ounce Plastic Bottles of Juice or 12 ounce Can Frozen Juice 2 16-14 ounce Whole Grain Choice 1 16 ounce Package WIC Cheese 1 18 - 16 ounce jar WIC Peanut Butter 1 dozen large "A" or "AA" White Eggs $ 6.00 Fresh Fruit and/or Fresh Vegetables and/or Frozen Vegetables Before Sylvan turned two he was allowed no peanut butter (he had the dry legume option) and whole milk.  I wish the whole milk was allowed for older children, especially since there is established research linking lower fat content in milk to higher rates of obesity on children . My solution - I allow the kids to add half and half to their milk on request. I always get the 8.9 ounce box of cheerios, and the regular size of rice chex and corn chex.  It used to take me half and hour to select cereals.  But af...

While Sylvan napped Ivory cut the butter into pieces and dropped them into the mixer. Yup - she is making the icing for Adam's birthday cake in a velvety unitard.  It is  An Almond Torte .  A ridiculous cake really - 18 eggs, a pound of butter, cocoa, espresso, chocolate covered coffee beans.  We creamed yolks, whipped egg whites and baked the tree layers early, early in the morning.  (I tried to get up early enough to do it alone, but instead I had two enthusiastic helpers for the whole process.) Adam's other gifts: a Stag Horn Fern and an Orchid I miss Adam....  and creating an elaborate cake is one way to make the missing him fun.  I can't get away with making a cake as elaborate as this when he is walking in and out of our kitchen, opening the fridge, and snooping around.  How often do I get to make an entire dinner that states it is better if made a day ahead?  The day before he comes home - that's when - and...