No Average Mom

As I type the rain is pouring down. This is a much needed break in the weather in our area. I will gladly slip on my rain boots if it means cooler weather. The temperature inside my house has hovered around 85 degrees for the last several weeks. It has been almost unbearable at times. Tomorrow we should be able to relax for the first time in quite a while. I intend to make use of the cooler temperature to work outside and complete some projects that have been on hold due to the heat. My children need to get outside and play. They are cranky and fighting with each other because of all this pent of energy they have. When the temperatures are this high no one wants to be outside and being cooped up just makes them irritable. I cannot convey how much I am looking forward to potentially needing to wear a sweater when I head out in the morning to run my errands.

The gardening season is just about done here in the northeast. It is now time for me to start planning next years garden and to reflect on this year of gardening. I consider this year to be a part of my learning curve when it comes to gardening. There are several things that we grew that were tremendously successful and a few things that were complete failures. For next year we intend to double our garden size and yet reduce the variety of crops we try to grow. I attempted way too many things this year that were a waste of time to grow. It is all well and good to grow broccoli if your family eats it but mine does not and growing it made no sense. I have decided to focus on a few types of things that my family loved and grow more of those items next year. For example we love carrots and I found out that I didn’t plant nearly enough of them. There were other things that I planted that we loved but just didn’t produce enough food to justify space in my small garden. I can cheaply buy organic peppers in bulk at the farmer’s market. Buying the plants at my local greenhouse and only getting a couple of peppers per plant just isn’t worth the expense. Tomatoes on the other hand grew really well in my garden but I didn’t plant enough of them. Next year I will double or triple my tomato plantings.

For a very long time I have always felt that my husband looked a good 10 years younger than he really is. Yesterday for the first time I have to say I think he is starting to look closer to being the 40 year old man that he is. Around his eyes I am beginning to see a few creases. I would never tell him that he needs to use eye cream but it looks like a little bit wouldn’t hurt. I love him no matter how he looks and find him as handsome as the day I married him. It is comforting to know that at long last we look closer to the same age. I am quite sure many people, who didn’t know we are the same age, have thought I married a younger man. The older I get the more I believe that men really do age better than women. Time just isn’t as kind to us as it is to them. I for one will be making use of every lotion and potion I can get my hands on to beat back the effects of time on my face.

Yesterday my mother came to my house to use my stove. She has a newer stove that does not allow her to use a pressure canner to can food. My stove is older and I offered her the use of my kitchen. My mom has canned food her entire life. What has become evident to me, in my short time, canning is that the rules for canning today are not the same as they were when my mother learned to can. I have tried repeatedly to gently tell her what things are recommended today to ensure that canned food is safe to eat and she refuses to listen. I finally has to exit the kitchen and leave her to her work because I couldn’t watch it any longer. I have to wonder if all of the various flu like illnesses that she and my father get over the year are not is some part the result of the canned food they consume. Food poisoning mimics the flu to a person who is not familiar with the differences between food poisoning and a true flu infection. I warned my husband not to consume any canned tomato products while at my parents since observing her canning practices.

Our growing season is coming to an end in our area. I have completely enjoyed my first year as a gardener. This is due largely due to the fact that the majority of our gardens thrived and produced a bountiful crop. There are just a couple of things left to be harvested and put away for winter use. These include apples, tomatoes, and pumpkins. As much as I have enjoyed learning to garden and can my own food the truth is that I am ready for a break. The idea of curling up next to the electric fireplace to read a book sounds really good right now. After spending just about every day this summer in the hot sun gardening or in a hot kitchen canning the idea of cold weather sounds really good. It will be nice to look at my nice full pantry when everything is finally done and know that my work is done for the year in regards to putting away food.

Yesterday one of the news headlines was about a recall for tainted eggs. These eggs were produced and distributed from a factory farm somewhere in the mid-west and distributed to stores across the country. Millions of eggs were effected by the recall. When you consider this it is kind of mind boggling to think how many people could be sickened by this recall. One thing it did bring home to me was how sound my decision to keep a couple of chickens in the backyard is for our family. The cost of feeding and housing a couple of chickens is probably about the same as “cheap” eggs from the nearest grocery store. I don’t happen to buy cheap eggs but instead get my eggs from a local farmer for about $3.00 a dozen. They are incredible eggs and organic/natural. You can absolutely tell a difference in these eggs as opposed to the watery and very old eggs from the store. I love that I will be able to have control over the handling of my eggs and that the cost will be so low for such great quality.

I have spent many nights fretting about what our neighbors might say if they noticed that we were keeping chickens in our backyard. Finally we decided to just break down and ask one of our neighbors what she would think of the idea . She said she had no problem whatsoever with us keeping a couple of hens. This was a big relief because she is the neighbor that would be closest to where we would house the chicken. Knowing that she is fine with the idea and that we are within the scope of the law makes it so much easier to move ahead with our plans. I can not start looking through a slideshow I found that features various coop plans and find one that is perfect for our situation. I think it will be a good experience for our children and the fresh eggs will be really nice to have. We are planning to make a trip to a hatchery a couple hours away and pick up the chicks ourselves. This should make the process much more educational for the children and ensure that we get nice healthy chicks from the start.

There are many things that my husband and I enjoy doing together. What is funny is that the one thing we both had to learn to enjoy was getting rid of stuff. Over the 20 years we have been together we have moved a dozen or more times. For a long time we simply packed up everything and lugged it along to the next place where it would sit in boxes waiting for the time when we “might” use it. After a while this got to be pretty old and we started parting with stuff. It has now become a ritual that takes place in our home a couple of times each year. Today was one of those days. We spent the day looking around the house at the stuff that was just taking up space and deciding what should stay and what should go. Two van fulls of stuff went to Goodwill and several large bags of stuff that can’t be recycled will go on the curb. The van is not sitting filled to the brim with all the cardboard that we have been saving for several months and it will go to be recycled. I like the feeling of spaciousness and I like not having to wonder where something is amongst stacks of stuff or boxes packed away somewhere. It feels good to know we might be helping other people somewhere down the road.