A moment of peace
One desperately needed! The Girl is making dinner. The Man is supervising. Jerusalem Artichoke Soup from the Jerusalem Artichokes harvested from the edge of the corn field by the girl at a moment of independence. Those moments are coming more and more frequently these days. She is only 2 months from becoming a teenager (TWO MONTHS… ONLY!) She pulled them out of the ground a few days ago. She failed to consider that dinner plans were already made and in the works! Man, I remember being that age… I’m sorry mom! But we have four cooks in the family. That’s four out of four! That is awesome. The boy can make some mean scrambled eggs… you know, a few shells that bite you back when you take a bite! No, actually, he is pretty excited about his new skills and being able to cook over a flame instead of in the microwave.
But it’s been a day. A pretty normal one actually, filled with eye rolling, sibling rivalry, frustration that “mom’s making us do school”, and “how come the third grader gets to do easy math?” from the seventh grader. “Um, well, do you want to go back to third grade? It could be arranged!!!” Anyway, I am thinking about the years to come and how excited I am that they are both getting more independent. And also that they are young and think it is such a treat to cook dinner for the family. It is so nice to spread out the work load!
So, since we moved to this house and are turning it slowly into a homestead, I am realizing that my posting is going to have to include more of my other projects besides sewing. Last fall I took time out to can tomatoes and make pickles and debated about posting that stuff, but it just didn’t seem as interesting to me as the other projects I wanted to work on and post. But it’s sugaring season here and the maple in front of the house has 3 taps in it. There is another bucket around the back.
Tuesday, the sap was overflowing and we got a few jars. Today I got four and a half more. These are shots shamelessly stolen from The Man who said, “Hey, I thought you had a craft blog!”
So far we have bottled 3 quarts of maple syrup. I still feel shocked when I think about the fact that you can get that much sweetness out of an old tree in the front yard. It’s amazing!
6 bottles of maple syrup never looked so good. Your photography makes your life look beautiful, which, I know, it is. Great to see that your life is rich in the simple ways.
Crafts are nice, but only a part of your life. I like pictures of everything! These are wonderful! did you cook down the syrup before bottling it?
I love the pictures Bethany. How amazing to have your own tree that produces such beautiful “juice”. =)
(I can’t believe that Ariana is going to be 13 already!)
I’ve no idea what real maple syrup tastes like, but the color is worth keeping on the shelf. Great photo!