Pinterest can be my worst enemy. Pictures of lovely architecture, House Beautiful-worthy living rooms free of clutter and toys. Clever organizational tools put together from thrift store finds. And all this from home educating moms of seven kids who seem to be able to do it all. Seriously, Pinterest is not the website for the insecure.
Our living room is cluttered – painfully cluttered. The girls don’t seem to understand the basic concept of “pick up after yourself when you’re done.” It gets cleaned about three times a year. Other than that, though, I think we are doing well. I never really expected to be doing anything like homesteading. but over the weekend, I was told that I am enviable. OK. That’s pretty nice, though I never expected to be.
We had another weekend of glorious productivity. It started with restocking these beer soaps. On the left (the greyish green) is all natural basil and lime. Essential oils of Thai basil and lime blend together in this delightful blend with notes of licorice, pepper, and lime. The tan soap is Sweet Cinnamon & Clove. This was the first beer soap I ever made, and these bars go quickly.
These are just a few of the cucumbers that came out of our garden. We ended up harvesting about twelve pounds of cucumbers, all of which became delicious bread & butter and dill pickles.
After the cucumber harvest, my youngest daughter and I harvested the first batch of basil for homemade pesto. This was so fabulous on chicken and pasta, topped with home-grown tomatoes!
A friend of ours hooked us up with a lime basil plant. I thought, What in the world am I going to do with this? I was looking up basil recipes online and saw one for strawberry basil popsicles. A local indie popsicle business makes something similar, and I thought the lime take on the basil would be delightful with the strawberry. I blended in a bit of vanilla yogurt, and wow!!! It’s like a virgin strawberry daiquiri on a stick!
And no weekend would be complete without a visit to the kittens. Momma Cat is doing great, and my kitty co-parent/friend and I were both surprised to discover that she tested negative for FIV, Feline Leukemia, and worms, which is quite miraculous, considering that she was a completely outdoor cat until three weeks ago. The girls and I placed a few kittens on the bed to give the tiniest one of the litter a chance to nurse without “the chubbies” pushing her out of the way.
I don’t consider myself as that enviable. I am simply a woman who enjoys playing in the kitchen when I’m not making soap or enjoying kittens. Cooking, like soapmaking, is sweet alchemy – taking a variety of different ingredients and putting them together in fun, creative ways to make something new. It’s even more enjoyable when I can make something completely new to me, stretching my skills.
The next post will contain suggestions for making DIY easier and doable. I’m not selfish with my recipes, as most of them come from outside sources. Comment if there’s one you’d like.
