What Did You Learn Today?

OUR morning didn't pan out quite how I planned it today. While searching for a snack, Emma declared with zeal (and hopefully a little exaggeration): "We need to clean the fridge, Mama. It's filthy!" She proceeded to empty all the jars and bottles from the door sections and her toddler brother made a beeline for the chocolate syrup. Trying to look beyond impending mayhem, I played along.

Forty five minutes later Emma was still engaged with the fridge (the door was closed in between). The door shelves had been scrubbed and polished, and the contents had been sorted and labelled in every which way. In lines on the floor according to size and family position (Papa bottle, Mama, cousin, Auntie and everyone down to the dog). Grouped on the square floor tiles by colour. By container - jars, glass bottles, plastic bottles. They were rolled on the floor and Emma noticed that some things roll straight (round jars), some roll in circles (bottles with a neck) and some don't roll at all (square or other shapes). She had asked me what certain things are called in German. And finally, everything was put back in the fridge grouped by flavour and her perception of the things different family members like to eat - the jams, maple syrup and lemon juice went on "Emma's shelf"; various oils and nut butters on "Mama's shelf" and most of the things that didn't look so good to her ended up on Papa's shelf. (Ha!)

Once again I was in awe at the power of small children to learn from e v e r y t h i n g.

Simpler Times: Making Butter

WE haven't had raw milk for a while, so when we got some this week it seemed to be a good opportunity to make butter. First we had to pour the milk into a wide-mouthed container and let the cream settle. Then we skimmed off the cream and put it in a jar with a lid. Next came the fun part: shake, shake, shake then shake some more. Gradually the butter began to form as a yellow chunk, the buttermilk separating out. After rinsing the butter in cold water, it was ready to be eaten. Hmm, needed a little salt for my taste, but otherwise quite delicious, especially with homemade apple butter.

Next time I'll figure out something inventive to do with the buttermilk, and I've heard that a marble in the jar makes the churning go faster.

Spring Cleaning

BEFORE we could prepare for our camping trip by stacking everything in the car port, we first had to sweep all the leaves away. Well one thing led to another and before we knew it, a full-on spring cleaning episode was in progress. Luckily we did still have enough energy for the intended project of the day - and had a clean car port as a bonus.

At one point I heard an excited: "Mama, look at me!" to find Emma up at the ceiling, having climbed up the decorative iron supports. I was impressed at her climbing skills, but since she was up there tried a little reverse psychology to get the cobwebs down too. "I bet you can't hold on with just one hand and dust the ceiling at the same time!" "I can, I can, give me the duster, I show you!" Wily Mama.

Who Needs a Pencil?

RESOURCEFUL to the last, Emma found something to do while waiting for me to shape dough into balls for her to place on the baking tray.

"My finger like a pencil Mama. My no need a pencil."

From CSA to Soup

AH harvest time! Our CSA (community supported agriculture) box has been filled with earthy goodness these past weeks and with abundant crops of the same vegetables, has forced me to get creative with finding new recipes. Here's what we've been enjoying recently:

Baked cheese grits - made from locally stone ground corn
Sauteed radish tops with garlic and a splash of balsamic vinegar, as a side vegetable
Roasted root vegetables - radishes, butternut and acorn squashes, sweet potato and turnip
Turnip and turnip green risotto (described by one reviewer as "a South Carolinan on holiday in Italy" but extremely tasty!)
Caribbean sweet potato and black bean stew
Butternut squash soup with cider cream
Baked butternut squash, apple and dried cranberries
Radish top soup
Baked sweet potato
Apple and pear chutney
Winter vegetable curry
Roasted spiced squash seeds (eat as a snack, like pumpkin seeds)

Farfalle with butternut squash, mushrooms and spinach (I guess I'll substitute turnip greens)

Time to look into some more harvest songs.

Peas in a Pod

I'VE never been a huge fan of southern cuisine, but the exception has to be some of the summer dishes when peas, tomatoes, corn on the cob, zucchini (courgette) and even okra are at their finest. We hold a CSA (community supported agriculture) share, where we pay a set price to a local farm co-op every week and receive a share of the crop. It's kind of pricey, so we actually only do it every other week supplementing with regular old veggies from the shops. But the CSA is all organic, it supports local and small businesses, and the produce isn't ueber-refrigerated and shipped half way around the world. Best of all, we never know what's going to be in our box so it's kind of exciting wondering what we'll get this week!

Purple pink-eyed hull peas. I'm glad that this particular bag was labelled, because I with my urban ways would have probably cooked them as beans and then wondered why they were so tough. Then it struck me that I had never actually shelled peas before. Many a country grandma would have probably watched with a mixture of horror and disbelief as my fingers - so skilled on the computer, so nimble on the piano and so good at shoulder massages - painstakingly pried the obstinate pea pods open. By the time there were only four left in the bag, I had figured out that you just need to squeeze and they pop right out. Sigh... live and learn.

Onto the corn. Ah, a familiar vegetable. Well Emma and I fixed a delicious fresh summer dinner of corn and tomato casserole with peas and bacon. The southern Grandma would have been proud. One of the ears of corn didn't quite make it into the casserole - this is how I found my daughter after I left the kitchen for a moment. Yes, the corn was raw but it didn't seem to bother her.

Back to Basics

AFTER a weekend of fun and adventures, it's nice to have a quiet day at home on a Monday. That's not to say we don't get anything done. But in my quest to show Emma that life does not always magically happen at the push of a button, I do wonder how past generations ever managed to complete all their work without the modern conveniences we enjoy today.

But no stress... we take our time and have fun while taking care of the household. She loves to hang her own clothes on her own little washing line and is getting pretty adept at folding them when dry. Her little Radio Flyer wagon is the perfect size to transport her clothes to her drawers, though she often has to make a stop mid way to change clothes if she spies something in her cargo that might look nicer/fits better/does or doesn't have buttons/is cleaner/isn't scratchy or whatever the reason of the day might be.


We all remember the perks of licking the spoon after helping to bake a cake, but it's so hard to wait until we're actually finished with using the spoon! Even at the grand age of 11 or 12, I remember still being grossed out by the feel of raw egg and hated to crack eggs with my bare hands. But Emma has no such qualms and happily breaks eggs for me (usually with only a few pieces of shell to pick out of the bowl).