Whether your garden is in full swing, your CSA is keeping you busy, or you are frequenting your favorite farms, it is time to start thinking about canning & preserving this season's harvest for the future. For an overview of what we can in an entire year, check out our Annual Canning Plan. Dehydrating We have a dehydrator and it is currently sitting on the counter working on our recent harvests. Over the course of the year, we use our dehydrator to preserve herbs and dark leafy ...
Victory Gardens for Today
Victory Gardens have a place today just as they did 80 years ago during WWI and WWII. Everyone can grow their own food - in full or in part - no matter where you live. Whether your garden consists of a series of planters on your patio, raised beds in the backyard, or a tilled plot of earth, take the time to plan your garden, grow what your family eats, and then share with your neighbors. What is a Victory Garden? During World War I and World War II the government rationed foods like ...
Encouraging Kids In The Kitchen
From the time my children were little, they have been with me in the kitchen cooking, baking, and preparing meals. I have many friends who can not cook and rely heavily on their spouse to prepare all meals or else its all about convenience foods. While one member of the family may take on the primary cooking responsibilities, it's important to have these basic skills so that you can take care of your own needs when the time arises. Growing up, we had home ec. My middle ...
15+ Resources for Teaching Literacy
In the '80s, I was an elementary school student. In kindergarten we learned our letters and numbers, very basic sight words, and spent most of our half-day of school learning through play. Being a nun was the only requirement needed to teach in Catholic school. That nun told my parents I wasn't good a student and I wasn't meeting the academic expectations. Needless to say, I was only in Catholic school for first grade. Second grade. I ...
Our Favorite Preschool Resources
My baby is not a baby anymore. At 4 years old, he has been asking to start school, so this year we are homeschooling preschool. This has been a bit of a culture shock for me. We started our homeschool journey with kindergarten and first grade, but we were part of a cyber school so I didn't have to think about curriculum. With 4 years of homeschooling and more than a decade in public school teaching under my belt, this was my first time looking for preschool ...