born imaginative.

Mama Made: Button Down Shirt and His Presentation

So, there's quite a story behind this. At our homeschool co-op, there's a presentation day when kids get the chance to present whatever they want in front of a pretty big audience. Adrian never has done any public speaking before, so I suggested a 'show and tell' of maybe his feed bag. As in "Look what I made, any questions?".

"No mama. I'm a farmer. I want to teach everyone about cows."

I tried to convince him otherwise, suggest other ideas. You know, a smaller project to start out.

"Mama. People need to know about cows. I'm a farmer. I'm going to teach them so they know."

"Okay, but if I sign you up for this, it's important that you work hard and practice. If you are going to pick something hard, you are signing up for hard work. We're not going to sign up and quit."

"It's okay mama, I'm going to do it."

Hard work he did do. He spent an ENTIRE week making this elaborate poster. He was cutting things out right and left, gluing things here and there. The poster was mostly him, although I did guide him in labeling categories so it was more organized.

He did practice too. For four days before the presentation, I encouraged him to practice. He had different (family) audiences at the time, which was trickier than practicing just for his parents and sister.

On go-day, he was nervous in the morning, but so excited. He was super enthusiastic about setting up and loved standing up there...until it was go-time. And he didn't say a thing. I reviewed what he worked on and he stood next to me. Of course told him that everyone loved his poster.

Then when we got home, he was so sad. "But mama, I just got scared and now no one even knows about farming."

I assured him it was okay.

It's hard to wrap my brain around what a mama should do in that circumstance. I mean, it was his idea, he wanted to work hard and although I felt he was successful with making the poster and practicing, it was hard on me that he didn't feel successful on presentation day. But, we had an idea and made up for it. He was stressed that no one knew about cows and I suggested we video and share the it so many can learn about cows. That was even better than presentation day sharing, as more could learn. Turns out, he loved that idea. You can watch that video here. Also, on Thanksgiving, he did give the presentation in front of a big crew. They had a long question and answer session and Adrian knew almost all the answers! They couldn't believe he could spout off the names of the cow's stomachs. His interest is so intense.

Anyway, here's the shirt I made for the big day.

Here he is with the outfit he chose for presentation day. Mama made cow undershirt, cow buttondown shirt and cow hat. He was rockin' the homemades.

And here he is ready for the presentation. Click HERE for the youtube video of his presentation.

Gather

Fact: We have a lot of milk.

I've decided I'm not selling it. There's so many rules and regs and investing in this and that for approval. I'm not going through all that red tape and I'm not taking the risk of just selling under the table. I never set out to be a dairy farmer. I only have wanted to provide for my family.

While I have gifted milk and milk products here and there, I have adopted an even better idea than that to use up the milk.

Gatherings.

Why not share our bounty, our land, our home and our time? Foster a community who enjoy spending time together enjoying simple pleasures.

Even before we lived here, I always had this vision that this house would be a perfect gathering spot. A great place for kids to frolic, learn and grow and for people to come together.

The necessity of using up this milk before it spoils encourages me to say "Come". (Which happens to be my resolution anyway, read about that here.)

And when I say "Come" and we gather here, my heart feels so full. This place is meant to gather. These are the memories children will have for an eternity.

And so it goes, no one minds being force fed homemade chocolate chip cookies anyway, so the milk is used up mighty quickly.

Everyone wins.

New Resolution #2

I just chatted about my resolution #1 (here), "Just come".

I've been collecting stuff for resolution #2. (Which my resolutions have nothing to do with New Year's. Just when my brain is ready to think about one more thing. Right now I'm working on four new resolutions, so far that is).

Resolution #2: Soapmaking.

Never done it before.

I've been collecting for the last few weeks. Collecting buttermilk in the freezer (I throw in the towel...we cannot use it all to eat! I've been gifting but I want to figure out how we can use it for different things in our own family). Also collecting supplies. I'm pretty stoked about my treasures so far. A gift certificate for the book, a few dollars here and a couple quarters there for some supplies. I love the pot and the vintage molds best I think. I ordered lye and am trying to figure out what else I need.

Any experience out there? Hints would be good! Recipes appreciated! Encouragement may be needed! I can learn this craft, right?! The most overwhelming part is finding all the stuff I need without spending hundreds of dollars (which would totally be possible if buying new).

I have no deadline in getting the ball rolling, but sometime before summer would be nice to get started. Might take me that long to collect all the thrifted stuff I need to get the job done. Which is okay, as this homesteading thing is a process I've been committed to for over a decade now. Learning the homesteading art is definitely at crockpot speech, not microwave speed, for sure.

Holding my breath....

You know, I think I went the whole afternoon without exhaling.

Because of this random cat that showed up nearly a year ago. Zip.

He was outside all summer long (This pic is from warmer days). When it got cooler out, Miss Audra started toting Zip inside. This fall, we had that scare that he could hardly breathe. We took him to the vet, inconclusive results. Verdict was he probably wasn't going to make it. Well, he made it, much to the vet's surprise. The best guess is he was hit by a car. A miracle cat.

Today, he scooted outside first thing. He snuck right around the waters I was carrying out to the animals (No running water in our barn. Boo...) The wind was howling and catching momentum from all that open field, snow was being whipped this way and that. Bitter cold. Zip definitely prefers to go to the bathroom outside, but he was no where to be found to come in after chores. I hollered and hollered. Nothing.

Usually my husband is home with the kids while I work on Wednesday mornings. However, due to an uncooperative snowblower, my family had to go to buy a part. If Zip came to the door to try to get inside, there was no one.

When I got home from work, I hollered again and again for Zip. Nothing. So cold, so windy and a tiny little cat who didn't even have breakfast out there. A cat who already had breathing problems.

Got me feeling guilty for being frustrated with the little guy for breaking two of my eggs this morning before chores. Knocked them clear off the counter. (Dogs were happy!)

9:30pm, thought I'd try again. Said a little prayer. I went out to the barn and hollered.

I found him.

Oh goodness, relief. I scooped him right up, popped him in my coat and snuggled for a few moments before bringing him inside. He probably couldn't hear all my cries for him with the noisy wind blowing my voice in the wrong direction.

He's home now. Safe and sound. Having his 3rd dinner, happy as can be. He'll be snuggled in the most inconvenient spot momentarily.

Hope that wasn't another of his 9 lives. He's going through those lives too quickly, my heart needs a rest.

Thrifted.

Christmas around the world coloring book. ABC sticker book, Usborne craft book. THREE pairs of sized up boots, three music books, warm socks, brand new Melissa and Doug watercolor book. $3.50.

Brand new cutting/pasting book (my kids LOVE cutting EVERYTHING out with scissors.), books. Long chain with hooks on each end. Heavy rooster trivet. Wooden spoon (so pretty and colorful!). Bennington potters oval baking dish from Vermont (Retail $36!!! Reference here.) $5.00 for all this, Score!

Milk. Cheese. Butter. Yogurt. Repeat.

I *just* made 2 pounds of butter on Thursday. It's Tuesday night and there's another two pounds of butter hardening in the fridge. Plus 4 gallons of milk were turned into cheese tonight. I just made cheese couple days ago too.
I tell you, it's time consuming. My kitchen is forever a mess. But...I'm getting this milk using down. My goal is to use it all myself to feed our family throughout the year. My freezer is filling up! Still so much to learn, but I call it a success having a few recipes memorized. I'm getting there!