a crafty mindset

a momentous thing occurred yesterday: cleo has her first wiggly tooth! she has been aching to join the ranks of her toothless cousins and friends and lose that first tooth. she was beyond thrilled to feel that rare twinge of pain and ache that a loose tooth brings. for me those little baby teeth falling out signal the end of an era and so i feel it is worth commemorating in some small way. i want to be ready when that first one falls out and i have noticed a slough of cute little tooth fairy pillows and things in stores and online. i actually went somewhere yesterday to buy something like that for cleo but didn't find anything i liked. then i remembered seeing a super cute tooth fairy bag project from the purl bee. (this site is great if you like to get in there and DIY and get crafty.)

now, let's be clear. i have long thought of myself as a creative, but i rarely get crafty, and when i do the results are almost universally disappointing and non-spectacular. i am not very gifted with patience for finite details, i'm more of a broad swath kinda gal. so let's just say that i was more than pleased to realize that this little bag was absolutely within my limited range of craft ability and know how. and to my utter surprise i even had decent felt in my fabric box that was perfect for this purpose. i was able to bust out a tooth fairy bag for cleo in one night! a personal best for my crafting record. it definitely isn't perfect, stitches are off kilter and different sized, as is my sewing way, but it is cute, it functions, and cleo is thrilled. actually i could be more thrilled than she, but that's the way it is with handmade gifts right? i think they often give just as much pleasure to the maker as to the getter.

this little project was a perfect thing for me to have accomplished on the cusp, as we are, from holiday mania. if the onslaught of catalogs and end cap displays at the stores are any indication, then christmas is next week. (well, it is actually in 6 weeks, but holy crap, that's soon!) i love christmas and i love to be a giver of fantastic gifts. i felt tangible magic around this time of year as a child and every year of my adult life i notice that magic shrinks a little bit more and gets replaced with what i would call a frenetic pressure that exhausts me and make me forget to sing along to andy williams in the gleeful way my sister and i did every single year of our childhood. it doesn't take a genius to realize the reason i feel less magic around the holidays is because i let less magic in....i have replaced the spirit of the season with over scheduling and obligations and frantic buying and not left enough spare time to entice the peaceful, carefree, 'hap-happiest time" (insert jonny mathis voice-over) moments the season was created to entice in our lives.

so maybe one of the ways i can achieve more of these kind of moments this year is by carving out more mindful time at home making gifts for the special people who surround me. this little bag project reminded me just how much satisfaction comes from truly thinking about someone and their needs and dedicating the energy to make something just for them. i don't think every gift has to be handmade to be a good one--thoughtful, perfect buying is an art form too and lord knows there is plenty of great stuff out there to hope and pine for--but in my own experience, the handmade gift is always so full of love, so full of care and attention, it can't help but stand out and be treasured. it is the opposite of generic, it is utterly personal on both sides of the equation and it is as much a gesture as it is a thing. and i think cultivating that during the season that is turning into excess on every front, mindless shopping sprees, and hectic exchanges, is a quiet magic all its own. i can't promise 100% homemade this year, but it is something i'm going to work toward starting now. nothing worse than rushing and feeling pressure over a handmade gift!

anyone else out there need a tooth fairy bag? i'm on a roll!

Nurture Nature

When was the last time you and your family spent time together outdoors? Do you allow your children the chance to play unsupervised outside, whether it is in the backyard or down the block? Do your childhood memories contain experiences in nature? Have you splashed in a puddle or looked at the stars in your adult life? Do your children regularly do these things? Do you take your children to places outdoors besides the park and the zoo? Have you ever been in true wilderness, untouched by man? Do you look out the window when you are in your car? Do your kids?

These questions have been on my mind because of a very interesting book I've been reading called Last Child in the Woods: Saving our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder. Writer Richard Louv makes a strong, empassioned case that today's children (and actually beginning with my own generation of children of the 70s) are disconnecting from Nature because of a steady decline in the amount of time people spend outdoors, and particularly a decline in time having direct experience with Nature--meaning time that you aren't just playing soccer at the park or riding your bike down the block, but truly interacting and engaging with the natural surroundings. Louv cites a lot of reasons our kids are spending less and less time outside roaming free as many generations before did. The top ones are simply having less free time for both family and outdoor play, diminishing access to true "wild" nature as communities and suburbs expand, being literally plugged in more than unplugged whether it is to play stations, tv, computer, or ipods, and of course the modern day fears of letting children play unattended in a dangerous predatory world, as well as the legal/liability fears about children getting hurt while doing something 'dangerous' on community or personal property.

That's a tall list in my book and all of those reasons are things that I contend with when I think about why my own children don't spend more time out-of-doors. I feel a sadness that the current generation of children doesn't have the access to wide open space and the freedom to roam that I did as a child. I really do notice a difference. I know the world is a busy place and our private lives are busy too. But it seems crazy to think that there is no place, no time in our lives for Nature anymore. I just don't believe that can be true.

So what are children (and we adults) losing if they don't spend time engaging with the natural world? Louv, and a rising number of psychologists and educators, believe that by losing touch with Nature, children are losing touch with a vital source for a huge array of skill sets. Playing outdoors provides access to hands on, direct experience and generally experiences that engage all the senses--something plugging into a screen can never hope to do. Nature play encourages attention to detail and the sort of unstructured playing that fosters creativity and intelligence.(Studies have linked ADHD with Nature Deficit as well as Nature as a remedy for increasing children with ADHD's capacity to maintain attention.) Children who spend time in Nature glean basic knowledge and understanding about the natural sciences and the process by which life grows and changes. They develop a bond with their surroundings that can naturally bring about an understanding of the need for wilderness protection and conservation. And of course as anyone who has watched children running around in the wild knows, playing outside without fear of strangers, cars, or safety builds a child's sense of wonder and delight. It is endlessly entertaining and I think really cathartic for kids. It gives them a chance to blow off steam and be truly free of agenda.

I feel really connected with this line of thinking because in my own life, and in my life as a mother, I have seen the transformative power of Nature to bring focus and mental and emotional clarity, and to provide endless teachable moments and endless streams of questions. The environment around us was the original thing we humans had to figure out to survive and I still think there is a yearning deep inside each of us to continue to uncover it. Maybe part of the modern day depression epidemic is that we have begun to deny ourselves this most basic desire?

Nature can't help but be fascinating. There is so much there, so much at a glance that we don't immediately understand. This is just as true for adults as it is for children. I think of Nature as being the most direct empirical evidence we have for something bigger than ourselves; the perfection of it, the majesty, the absolute diversity of creatures and climates and details. It is astounding and it makes sense to me that if we don't encourage ourselves and our children to spend time being outside then we risk alienating ourselves from what makes us tick. We are a part of the landscape even though we try very hard to deny this.

Though I think my children are lucky to have already spent a good portion of time outside hiking, camping, and playing, this book has been a very nice reminder that it will take commitment to keep this as a continued goal in my home, particularly as my children grow and undoubtably become more and more plugged in. I agree with Louv, a relationship with the outdoors shouldn't be an elective course in childhood. It is something we need to nurture and allow.

We live in one of the most beautiful countries on Planet Earth. I'm almost certain that there is something beautiful to see and discover around every bend and in every town. And unlike a lot of the modernized world, we still have some open space to explore. We still have true American Wilderness. But even if we can't always jet off to Yosemite or Alaska or manage a hike, there are so many ways to encourage an awareness and a love of Nature in our lives. I have been making a little list of some of the things I do in my house to help make Nature accessible to me and to the kids and thought I would share, but I think the most obvious one is the most important..> JUST GO OUTSIDE!

-Encourage collecting: leaves, shells, acorns, rocks, bugs, berries. Kids are natural born collectors and this teaches them to take note of the little things and see that Nature is the sum of its parts.

-Have a nature table or spot where nature collections can be displayed inside. I use simple glass mason jars for Cleo's collections.

-Clip flowers and leaves from the yard or a walk and display them in a vase. Give Nature pride of place.

- Plant seeds together and watch them grow. Garden!

-Let your kids work in the yard with you and talk about what you are growing or why you are raking, weeding, etc.

-Go outside, even in bad weather. Taking a walk in the snow or in blustery wind and rain engages the senses and makes it an experience instead of just a walk down the block.

-We love the park and zoo but I try to sometimes offer other outdoor settings-hikes in the mountains, arboretums, throwing stones in a nearby river, etc. One of the great points Louv makes is that Nature happens in the edges, in places between places. If you have a usual park, try going off the path a bit into the bushes or under the trees instead of hitting the playground or grass.

-Mix it up at the library and try to find good nonfiction books about Nature. Subjects like weather are fascinating to kids and I have found that I'm pretty rusty on these subjects too and end up learning a lot myself! We also love field guides about bugs, birds, plants, and animal scat (poo!). It is pretty empowering to be able to name what you see.

-Install a bird feeder in your yard and watch birds.

-Take the time to comment about Nature to your kids...if you see a beautiful sunset or flower, tell them!

warning: winter ahead

it has been the most beautiful weather weekend. the temperature was perfect and the fall leaves are at their peak. i think it was the last "transition" we will have before it gets truly chilly and turns to winter. i love fall but i have to confess to a feeling of melancholy about it this year. i don't think i was ready to put my garden to bed or say goodbye to long evenings out on the deck. there is so much futurity, so much growth, so much to look toward in springtime and summer. it is a busy time, full of activities, but somehow it never feels hectic to me, just ultra fun. i'm already getting that hemmed in winter time fear...the what will we do to stay sane and entertained riddle.

to combat this, i came up with a big list of little plans i have for the long, dark winter days ahead. the ideas, so far, are:

+take up cross stitch/embroidery and start a sewing basket for cleo with beginning hoop and tapestry needle and get this nifty little starter sewing deal for flynn.

+have craft play dates frequently with cleo and her little friends. i love to watch what kids can create with minor instruction.

+make big batches of stock and read up on good soup and stew recipes. i love hot soup and fresh bread as a winter time meal.

+perfect roasted chicken. this recipe for cooking the whole bird in coconut milk sounds like a good start!

+brew beer with jaren and seth.

+have weekly reading night with the kids where we read a big stack of books or a bunch of chapters and then listen to a book on audiblekids.com

+eat by candlelight

+take lots of baths. and freeze treasure cubes for the kids.

+enjoy our fireplace and start to teach cleo and flynn about the art of building a good fire (lucky she has two fire masters in her life...grandpa and dad.)

+prepare some special celebration for winter solistice, longest night of the year on december 21: a fire pit, staying up late, and mulled wine will have to be involved.

+organize my iphoto and make more photo books to thumb through and enjoy. warm myself by the light of the mac!

+go through and purge my backlog of magazines once and for all!

+go snowshoeing, maybe even by moonlight, something i've always wanted to try.

+ski at least 5 times. a pretty silly goal considering i live 15 minutes from world class slopes.

+convince someone that they need to take me to hawaii, or other warm locale during slushy grey yucky phase of winter. taking children, optional.

+order specialty plant seeds from seed savers and day dream about spring!

THOSE are my best laid plans. How will you brave the long, cold winter? Tips, tips, pass them my way please!

Canning 101

I don't really do how tos on this blog because I don't feel qualified to give instructions on much! But there is one subject that I feel might warrant a half witted tutorial: canning. I think canning is one of those things that has gone by the wayside needlessly. Canned goods from the store quite simply bear no resemblance to things you can yourself, especially if the things you are canning are fresh and ripe from the garden.

I hestitate to call canning old fashioned because I hate to think of something so smart and sensible as being passe. Before I did any canning, I remember thinking what an arduous process it seemed....behemoth pots of boiling water, submerging something as fragile as glass jars down into it, and then doing something mysteriously called "processing". It seemed complicated, intimidating, and completely unnecessary. I'm happy to report that I am in my third year of canning and I couldn't have been more wrong.

Canning actually is a very simple process and the pay off is huge both in terms of the personal kudos you get when you show up with a jar of homemeade something something at a party, but also in terms of your own family's food supply. When you can a quart of peaches rather than go to aisle 11 for a can of Dole, you are controlling what you and your family eat. If you grew your own peaches, then you are putting the bounty of your harvest to work and creating something that will give your tastebuds immense pleasure in the barren stone fruit winter months. And if you simply bought the peaches at the market, then you are still one upping the Dole variety because you have bought those peaches in season and at their prime, and hopefully supported a local farmer in doing so. The actual peaches you make at home contain less preservatives, less sugar, probably fewer chemicals if said peaches happen to be organic. It's a serious boon to the pantry shelves too. Suddenly you have storehouse shelves worthy of a Martha Stewart set. Pretty little jars all in a row, only instead of being cutsy, these jewel toned concoctions gracing my shelves are pratical too, waiting for the blahs of winter to brighten my spirits and my tastebuds.

The biggest requirements in canning are patience and a chunk of time. But not as much as you'd think. Give a day over to it and you can put up a surprising amount of food. And since it's basically a mindless task once the food you are canning is actually made, I find it to be pretty relaxing, and even better if you have invited a friend to share the time with. One of my favorite canning traditions is to spend a day making and caning salsa with my friend Sally, someone I seldom see. At day's end, not only do we both net a great amount of delicious garden fresh salsa, we have chit chatted the day away and spent quality time together.

My kids are still pretty young to be able to hang with standing next to a pot of boiling water all day but I can see that down the line, this will be a fun family tradition. All of us dicing and slicing and listening to the satisfying pop of jar lids. Come to think of it, a family canning tradition has already been started. For the last two years my Dad and I have made jam with his gorgeous wild plums from Spring City and then give them as Christmas gifts. It is so much fun and we've even started getting a little crazy with our recipe, including hot peppers in this year's version just to make it interesting.

So if you are interested in trying canning, the equipment needed is manageable and pretty low cost. The most important thing you need is a large size pot so you can create a water bath to sterilize and process your jars. Though you can use whatever huge pot you have, I would recommend spending the $30ish to get an actual canning pot because it comes with a metal rack with handles that fit down inside the pot and holds the jars all snuggly and allows you to lift them out of the hot water easily when the jars are done. If you don't want to buy a canner then ask your grandmother if she still has one on the back shelf, or check the thrift stores. (Maybe it is because this is Utah, homeland to food storage afficionados, but I reguarly see canners and lots of jars at thrift stores in town.) But canners are readily available from just about any online retailer you can think of. Once you've got the canner all you need are glass jars, metal jar rings, and a fresh pack of jar lids which contain a wax seal that when heated adheres to the top of the glass jar and seals in all the foody, fruity goodness of whatever you are canning. A funnel or a plastic measuring cup with the bottom cut out is also nice to keep spills at bay when filling the jars. And if your canner doesn't have a rack a jar lifter or sturdy pair of tongs.

In a nutshell, here are the basic steps for canning:

1. Prepare the food, fruit, or jam recipe as directed.

2. Fill canner about 3/4 full with water (or enough so that jars will be submerged and covered with an inch or two of water) and crank the heat up until it comes to a boil.

3. Sterilize glass jars you plan to fill either by submerging in boiling water in canner for 15 minutes, then fill, or run through a quick dishwasher cycle and then use the jars directly afterwards while they are still hot from the drying cycle. This prevents the glass from cracking when you fill the jars with hot stuff.

4. Fill all jars with your chosen yumminess (use little funnel apparatus to prevent major mess) and then wipe rims of jars with a clean, damp towel.

5. Put on lids and then twist metal rings on tight.

6. Fill metal canning rack with jars (or strategically stack loose jars in pot so they don't bang into each other and break.) Lift rack into canner, set timer and process jars for recommended time. I use Ball's chart in the Ball Blue Book to figure out exact times and then I tack on an additional 15 minutes because I live over 6000 feet. I periodically double check the water level in the canner to make sure all jars remain covered by at least an inch of water.

7. When time is up, remove rack carefully from boiling water (or remove jars with a jar lifter or tongs) and line up jars on counter until cool. Listen for the lovely popping sounds the lids make that indicate they are properly sealed and will keep your food fresh for at least a year or more!

There are so many great online resources for canning instruction as well as recipes. I was excited to come across this awesome site called Canning Across America with super cool tagline: JOIN THE CANVOLUTION that has great recipes and resources and even sponsor events around the country like demos and home canning parties. I love the thought of a home canning party. I may just have to have one. Maybe you should too?

homecentric

there is no doubt about it, having a home is better than not having one. we have been experiencing a week of impromptu homelessness thanks to some floor refinishing gone awry, resulting in our house REEKING of toxic fumes for nearly 7 days. i hardly have room to complain, i know, since we do in fact have a house to call our own and the problem was of our own making. but nonetheless, i've been moaning and groaning and a tad ornery because the whole deal has been pretty trying. we have been lucky to have had other places to land (thank you Bev and Nile and Dad!) but i've felt a real sense of purposelessness without my home. i think so much of what i'm about these days is tied to embracing being home and relishing the comforts and sense of daily routine this creates. i would go so far as to say that my current philospohy about simplfying my life and my wants could be summed up as being homecentric. i differentiate this idea from being an agoraphobe or a misanthrope because the desire and urge to be home has nothing to do with avoiding other people or society at large but more to do with me taking control over my own time, my values, and my daily schedule.

the last 9 months have taught me that for the most part staying in seems to breed contentment. my kids don't seem to miss being shuttled to and fro and they get lots of free time to play and create. my bank balance is happier when i don't go out and shop needlessly and this in turn makes my marriage more peaceful. the physical home around me looks better because i have more time to keep it tidy and organized. i feel more creative because i make the time to write, read, and work on projects. my family eats better because i cook more and eat out less. i feel better because i'm spending the kind of quality time with my family that i think is key for happy little souls and minds and this makes me feel like i take the job of being a mother and a partner seriously and i like that. becoming homecentric has been a huge epiphany for me over the course of the last year and something that this week away has laid plain all over again. though the week has been a tough one, i'm grateful for the reminder that home is where i want to be. especially a home with shiny, glossy, luscious new floors!!

swooning over art & ideas

I love, love, love the artist, designer, and person extraordinaire, Maira Kalman. When I lived in NYC she was one of the people I got to meet via my job at the Museum. She was amazing. Her work wowed me then and wows me now. Her children's books are genius-written equally for the child and the adult, and she has done a lot of memorable covers for the New Yorker. Her illustrations always hit a very unusual mark for me in terms of art. They are whimsical and sweet yet sophisticated and smart.

I am thrilled to discover that she is doing a monthly visual blog on the NY Times website called "And the Pursuit of Happiness" exploring themes of America and American democracy through her quirky mind. I am loving it! All the entries are extraordinary but this one called Can Do about Ben Franklin and American Invention-ism made me swoon. Check it out. It may be a little off topic for me, but I think this piece and Kalman in general is a great nod on the side of abundance; in spirit, in deed, and in your heart. Hope you enjoy.

bring it on, cornucopia!

i have a confession. for all my good intentions my garden this year turned out pretty pitifully. i had grand visions of wading through row after row of over flowing tomoato, zuchinni, peppers, and eggplants; everything green and the vegetables luscious. it was our first year with a true vegetable garden and i think, like so many beginner's pursuits, the mind's eye and the actual reality had very little in common. rather than lush plenty, i pretty much have patchy anemic plants in dry, stale soil. sounds like eden, right?

it feels like pretty much everything that could go wrong did. the summer here in salt lake started out slowly with an unseasonably cool and rainy june so other than my spinach and lettuce crops, my early summer plantings all pretty much flunked. things were yellow and mottled and not great garden material. i seriously think i had something like 8 pea pods to show for my efforts. it was pathetic. the birds successfully stole every ripe strawberry we had. then there's flynn who at 2 years old is my garden's greatest enemy. he picked every single blossom off my cucumber plant and then ended up just having his way with it and pulling the whole thing right up out of the ground. he regularly picks all the tomatoes off the vine green or red, and he has stepped on my dear beets to the point of bruising. poor garden. i didn't pay enough attention to the tomatoes climbing up and up and nearly every plant has overrun their cage and are tipping precariously back over on to the dirt. but the biggest error of judgement was that the garden site just doesn't get enough sun. our yard has lovely huge pine and aspen trees and even though we removed a few pine behemoths last fall, we still didn't get enough golden rays to make things thrive.

i'm terming this year our guinea pig garden year, and because of our failures, i think we learned a lot. i think next summer we're ready to commit. no more pussy footing around and half heartedly growing stuff, we're going to get in it to win it! next year we will be siting things differently; pulling up grass and moving the garden to the only completely sunny patch in our yard. i will start my seeds for cold crops like lettuce, peas, spinach, and beets a lot earlier and hope that i can get a second round in again in the fall. i will water everything more and be vigilant about weekly fish emulsion fertilizer. most of all, i just want to make sure i spend the time out there taking stock and being attentive. i think truly great, productive gardens must take a lot more will power and hours than we were giving to ours.

all this being said, i am enjoying the bounty of the end of harvest season and am relishing the few garden triumphs we had. we have had many a good B.L.T. in the last couple weeks with our black master heirloom tomatoes. and i really am not lying when i say that the exactly 12 peaches that came off our little spindly peach tree were the sweetest, juiciest, and, dare i say, ambrosial peaches i've ever encountered? they were heavenly and made me seriously want to turn every inch of backyard into a peach orchard so i can share the gospel. after a rough start, the basil has finally matured and is now so prolific i've been making and freezing pesto like a fiend. i've been canning fresh salsa to make use of some respectable looking jalapeno and serrano peppers we grew.

and i know i'm not the only one with great, home grown food on my hands. i've been getting lots of nice fresh produce care packages from people...zucchini bread, potatoes, apples, beets....so much bounty. this is such a great time of year. the food couldn't be more prime and fresh or the light more golden. i feel lucky that i'm not trying to survive off what i grew this summer. we'd starve come october. but i feel even luckier still to have a little plot of earth to call my own, a place to reap what i sow. it's worth the weeds and the smack of failure. there's always next year, right?

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