We woke up to more snow this morning, and it is starting to feel like an endless winter.
It is hard to believe there is a forecast for 65°F mid-next week.
Yesterday and this morning Boden and I hung some buckets to collect sap for our annual, small-scale spring sugaring rhythm.
Based on the projected temperatures, it will likely be a short (but hopefully sweet) season for collecting sap this year.
I'll keep you posted!
I am finding wild blueberries plentiful enough this year to have some surplus to put on a tray in my freezer to collect for the winter. This blueberry bounty makes me feel grateful we are not in the position where we were last summer with wildfires and drought.
The rhythms of the seasons are persisting and here in July, were are blueberry picking, lake swimming, and ready to embark upon our annual boat camping trip.
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This act of sharing photographs and ramblings of our daily life is a practice in gratitude that brings me joy.
I encourage you to reflect on the good in your life.
What are you grateful for today?
September is here and already the weather has started to shift. Thankfully we have been getting some precipitation that has helped tame the wildfires that have been consuming the attention of our community and keeping hard-working firefighters and all those supporting their efforts in our nearby wilderness areas busy.
August has been a month of wildfire action. There have been clear days with smokey plumes on the horizon from both the wildfires in Canada and a large fire southeast of town. There have also been a few very smokey days with limited visibility and poor air quality. On my phenology wheel, I was not only was also tracking the expanded acreage of the nearby Greenwood Fire, which forced both road closures and evacuations. Thankfully firefighters are making good progress on containment and it is no longer an imminent threat to homes and cabins.
August has also brought garden abundance. And, I must say. I am in a better place with my feelings about my garden space than I was last time I posted. Maybe I just don't enjoy canning pickles as much as I used to. Harvesting and canning garden tomatoes and salsa has been more enjoyable. I have also been enjoying my flower garden. I am happy to be providing food for pollinators too!
These last few weeks of August and the start of September felt good. I am where I need and want to be with my family and I am grateful for that with a new beginning to the school year and I look forward to a few more weeks of the season of summer before the fall equinox.
This act of sharing photographs and ramblings of our daily life is a practice in gratitude that brings me joy.
I encourage you to reflect on the good in your life.
What are you grateful for today?
This garden...
It's August....and that means it's zucchini season!
If you are grating zucchini like I am this time of year be sure to check out this link to the 2018 issue of Minnesota Parent Magazine where I shared my mom's recipe for zucchini chocolate cake for the "In the Kitchen" recipe feature.
Click on the image above to be directed to the recipe.
Read the full issue by clicking --> HERE.
If you try out the recipe, let me know what you think!
Around Here....
We spent a weekend car camping at a family reunion gathering in the Duluth area. It was fun to get together with cousins and family members we do not get to see that often. We also had our first dip of the year in the big lake (Lake Superior), which was a very refreshing way to beat the heat.
.....and after a couple days away we came home to this:.....plenty of garden goodness to keep me busy tomorrow morning!
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This act of sharing photographs and ramblings of our daily life is a practice in gratitude that brings me joy.
I encourage you to reflect on the good in your life.
What are you grateful for today?
Earlier in the week I took a walking field trip to an apple tree a couple blocks away from the school. Each of my kindergarten students got to pick a couple of apples from the tree and we brought them back to the school to make applesauce right in our classroom during the school day.
Click on the image below to read a post where I share the simple instructions to do this at home or in your classroom.
As I mention in the post, I am not sharing this because it is new concept or even a unique, creative recipe. I am sharing this today just as a reminder how easy this is!
Every child should share in the experience making applesauce in the fall!
Let me know how yours turns out if you find opportunity to make some yourself.
These days we are up to our ears in chickens and tomatoes!
chickens
A couple of weeks ago we added 28 cornish rocks to our homestead. These are our "meat birds" that we will butcher at the end of October. Every year a group of friends and neighbors go in together on a large order of birds, we raise them on our own, then get together for a joint effort experience "turning the chickens to meat" butchering day work party. These are meat birds, that will live a good, healthy, but short life on our homestead.
tomatoes
Our garden tomatoes have been extremely bountiful this year. The past couple weekends I have been busy picking and peeling. Last weekend I made salsa. (7 pints) This weekend I had so many tomatoes I made pasta sauce. This was a first for me. I was in the kitchen for a good part of the day, but it was gloomy anyway and I started a good audio book.
I used this recipe and was able to use tomatoes, basil, oregano and parsley from my garden. I was very happy with the results. I ended up with 13 pints!!!
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We are definitely putting a little more work on the front end of things, but the products of our efforts are pretty darn good.
Yesterday was sap boiling day!
Spring sugaring season was long this year, though the sap did not flow continuously. The temperatures here in Northeast Minnesota started poking above freezing during the day early March, but then we encountered another cold snap that halted the flow. So the spiles were in our school-yard maple trees for over a month this season. Friday I collected the last of the sap, pulled the spiles and gathered the buckets with my students. Yesterday, on a warm and sunny day I boiled the sap to syrup at home.
After our long Minnesota winter, spending a warm and sunny day outdoors was absolutely delightful.
I have learned too, over the years, approaching the experience as a hobbyist, that I can boil 20 gallons of sap (or less) in about 8 hours. This yields enough syrup to share with my kindergarten class at our annual celebratory classroom pancake party, and a few pints to savor over the year. More sap would extend the boiling time. I would get more syrup, but it makes the experience more burdensome (boiling into the evening time or night even). I have found my "happy place" with this small-scale approach and I look forward to the experience and products of my efforts every year.
If you are interested in learning more about the process, check out this article that I wrote for mothering.com:
The colors are reflecting the change in the seasons from summer to fall. Our weather has been rather extreme, hot and humid one day, then cold and rainy another.
The garden is producing. We have had a stretch of warm and humid days which has helped to ripen tomatoes. I have never has so many ripe tomatoes in the fall! I have been busy canning tomatoes and making and canning salsa to line our pantry shelves for our family to enjoy.
The bees are hanging in there. The nectar flow has pretty much ceased in our neck of the woods. The warm weather has kept the bees active, but hungry. I made a sloppy candy board with a pollen patty and consolidated the bees into one super recently as I start to prepare and transition them with hope that this colony will make it through our long winter ahead.
Other happenings:
We are keeping busy following our children in their athletic endeavors. Fall extra curricular include cross-country running, a kids marathon race and flag football.
I ran too! I returned to the running scene and completed a local half marathon after having a competition hiatus for the last 13 or so years. It felt good to accomplish this goal.
Since I have last posted we have also celebrated this special boy's 8th birthday!
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Oh how our life is rich and full! This mindful practice of reflecting upon still images serves as a reminder of all of the beauty in my life, especially on difficult days. This simple practice fills me with gratitude and evokes feelings of joy and love. I invite you to play along.