Fully Grown

So, we've gone from this:



to this:



And, it was really, really good.

Positive Press

Gosh, I've been so busy canning tomatoes and peaches that I've almost forgotten we are homeschoolers! Until, that is, I had this amusing chat with Owen's dental hygienist, who thinks that homeschooling is okay, as long as it is 'school-at-home:'

Hygienist: Well, Owen, when do you start homeschooling? Time to bust out the books soon, right?

Owen (with Mr. Thirsty, the little mouth vac, halfway down his throat): Ungh?

Me: When should we count the beginning of our year, Owen? Maybe, the first museum we visit this September? Our first trip to Old Sturbridge Village? Our camping trip on the Cape next month?

As I tick off some of the fun things we'll be doing soon, the hygienist's jaw drops further and further.

Me again: We like to do more experiential learning while the weather's nice.

Hygienist: Well, I guess you do! Owen, it sounds like you are going to have a fun school year...

Owen (nodding, as Mr. Thirsty jiggles up and down in his mouth): Ungh-huh!

After a few months of nobody asking the boys why they're not in school, I got used to blending in; it was something of a shock to realize that soon we'll be standing out again, two 'big boys' and their mom.

But we won't be standing out quite as much as homeschoolers used to - and we have more and more resources to help us along our homeschooling way. My friend Kerry, author of the fun and funny Topsy-Techie blog until last May, runs one such resource, secularhomeschool.com. Recently, Kerry was interviewed by The Detroit Free Press about just this topic; here is the article, More Resources Help Metro Homeschoolers Go Mainstream.

Kerry talks about "accidental homeschoolers... families who never planned on it until a child's health problem, a poor fit with a teacher or a lack of special learning resources led them to try it." This is exactly why we decided to try homeschooling, as you can read here if you'd like.

When we started, I could never have imagined how wonderful homeschooling would turn out to be. Some of my favorite times have been when it was just my 'big boys' and me; other favorite times have involved the large and wonderful homeschooling community we are blessed to live in. Still other favorite times have been totally online, like Jena's Virtual Field Trip. (Isn't it getting on time for another one, Jena? Nudge, nudge? :-)

I am as secular as it is possible to be, and I wake up every morning thanking Goodness for this life I am living, this accidental, crazy, messy, fun life - and the people who make it that way.

8/24/10 Update - I woke up this morning remembering a few other favorite bloggy moments:
Firefly Mom's hilarious chat about the birds and the bees one night at the dinner table (I can't find it, though I have searched your archives - help me, Firefly Mom. You're my only hope!).
9/13/10 - Firefly Mom came through: here it is!
Susan's amazing Revolutionary Road Trip. Favorite bits include Philly, Old Sturbridge Village, and the rocket launch at the Kennedy Space Center. And the desk, of course!
This last one's new, from the blog of my lifelong buddy Shannon, noiselessly forth. Her photography is breathtaking, and - I can't believe I am sharing this - she posted video footage of a bunch of us singing karaoke at a party a few weeks ago. I'm on the extreme right of the video; we sound terrible, but hoo hoo, it was fun! (I can't get a link directly to the video, which may not be such a loss... if you want to see it though, scroll through Shannon's posts until you get to the video marked 'karaoke fun.' Don't say I didn't warn you.)

Our Latest Addition

Oh, made you look!
No, we haven't taken on any new children, or pets or anything like that... but check out this little beauty:



See that tiny round ball in the middle of all the foliage? That's a watermelon, growing in our front yard.
But it's not just any watermelon; it's a seed from one of the best heirloom-variety watermelons you ever tasted, and I've been saving the seed since 2007, waiting for conditions to be just right. This year, for the first time, we finally had three important things coincide: a table in the sunlight during spring, good, deep soil in the sunniest, best-drained spot in the yard, and the time to attend to both the baby seedling and the growing plant.
Also, thanks to our hot summer so far, it's growing like crazy. I'll keep you posted as to our new arrival's progress, and I hope that you are enjoying the summer too.
(I'm back by the way... probably going to be slow on posting for a while, but back nonetheless. Did you miss me?)

When Life Gives You Apples...

... make apple cake!

For the past three or four autumns, we've collected at least two, sometimes three bushels of apples to store for winter. Our favorite storage apples include Crispins and Fujis; we love supporting the orchards right around us and enjoying the sweet, crisp deliciousness of these apples until right about now, when we need to return to supermarket fruit because we have eaten the very last one.

But this year has been a different story. We picked our three bushels as usual - and then we got six weeks of unexpected higher-than-normal temperatures, during which the apples wrinkled and softened. We gave up trying to eat them back in December, and since then have made two important discoveries:

1) They are not going bad.

2) They are great in apple cake.

Ever since, this treat has become kind of a staple around here. It is great to have on hand, it freezes well, and it makes a nice treat to bring to a party or to a friend's house, or just have for dessert.

So, here is the recipe in case you want to try it, too.

Fresh Apple Cake

2 cups sugar

½ cup butter, softened

½ cup applesauce

2 eggs, lightly beaten

3 cups flour

3 cups diced apples (about 4 whole apples)

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

2 tsp cinnamon

Powdered sugar (optional)

1) Preheat oven to 350; grease a bundt or tube pan.

2) Cream sugar, butter, and applesauce in a mixing bowl. Add the rest of the ingredients, in order, mixing after each addition. Spoon batter into prepared pan.

3)Bake 60-65 minutes at 350; cake is done when a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Invert onto wire rack and cool completely. When cool, sprinkle with powdered sugar if desired. Soooo good!

August and Blogging Don't Mix

To do:

Friday - Make giant batch of granola and then eat some for breakfast. Go with relatives and friends to best blueberry place ever, hands down. Pick 3 pounds blueberries. Swim with kiddos in pool. Finish drying 1/2-bushel of peaches purchased earlier in week. Stay up way too late, unable to put down Harry Potter #4 (third reading in as many years).

Saturday - Return to blueberry field and pick another 7 pounds berries. At favorite farm stand, put in order for another 1/2-bushel of peaches; while there, ask about 1/2-bushel of tomato seconds. Take home said 1/2-bushel of tomatoes. Cook down into tomato sauce. Swim with kiddos and hubby. After kiddos are in bed, can tomato sauce, interspersed with reading HP#5. Stay up way to late again reading HP#5. Swear that tomorrow night will be different.

Sunday - Wash large load of laundry and hang on line. Pick up peaches ordered yesterday. While there, notice a lonely-looking 1/2-bushel of tomato seconds; take home. Take laundry off line and put away. Prepare for and host afternoon pool party. Drink beer and eat cheez doodles and Adele's awesome blueberry pie. Swim, talk, laugh. Make sauce while hubby puts kiddos to bed and then slices peaches for the dehydrator - thanks hubby!. Make yummy fruit roll-ups for dehydrator. Stay up way too late reading HP#5.

Monday - Wash first load of laundry hang out to dry. Continue cooking down last night's sauce and prepare canner and jars for processing. Teach yoga class. Take down first load of laundry and hang second load on line. Can tomato sauce. Swim with kiddos. Get some dinner on the table. Take down second load of laundry and put into dryer, because clothes are not dry due to excessive mugginess. Forget about them until tomorrow. Read HP#5 well into night. At 1AM, smack forehead and SWEAR that tomorrow night will be different.

Tuesday - wash and hang laundry. Make giant batch of waffles with Owen. Grow crystal experiment with Owen. Read The Indian in the Cupboard with Owen. Notice that Owen is attached to right hip today. Swim with kiddos. Take down first load of laundry and put up second to dry. Swim with kiddos and hubby. Make dinner - Spaghetti Bolognese made with extra tomato sauce, love the leftovers! While hubby cleans up from dinner and takes care of chickens, slice peaches for the dehydrator. Read more Indian in the Cupboard to Owen before bed. Make more yummy fruit roll-up for dehydrator, this time in a pleasing peach-and-blueberry stripe. Write blog post. Finish HP#5? (Probably... will most likely stay up way too late :-)

Harvest Season in the Life of an Almost-Locavore

Here's the thing about summer and fall, for a blogger and her family who eat mainly locally: they are really, really busy times of year.

So, when faced with the choice of getting on the computer or canning jam, shredding squash for the freezer, or drying fruit slices at 10PM, I gotta go with the food.

In truth, I love that the year has this rhythm, that, for 3 months of the year, so much takes a backseat to food. I never enjoyed the humid, sticky New England summer as a young person - but as I approach middle age, I find that I do enjoy it. I love the smells, sounds, and sights of summer now, probably because I can appreciate how fleeting they are; as my Dad sometimes says, "Nobody wants to swim in the pool after Labor Day."

Anyway, for the next few months we here at The Stone Age Techie will be making hay while the sun shines, as the saying goes, and spending an insane amount of time in the garden and the kitchen in order to have food for winter, which means I won't be able to post 5 days a week.

At the same time as that's a reason to look forward to October, I know I'll enjoy the fleeting days of summer - and all the harvesting, standing over a boiling canning cauldron, and the delicious results as well.