Freezer Meal Friday

Freezer meal Friday is a good thing for me for a couple reasons....a day out with mama's in the winter when park day is on hold for our normal homeschool crew, meals in the freezer for when farm life gets busy and frozen pizza would be the usual.

 One great thing about the group is really the space. Abby has a HUGE kitchen with lots of light and counter top and an even bigger playroom for the kiddos to run and play and imagine and make messes and.....and Abby just lets us all in to create 36 meals and chaos.

That's right. 36 meals. 6 for each family. Whew we do a LOT of cooking! We share with each other cooking and spicing techniques. I learned last time how to best mince a garlic clove (and work out some aggression to boot). We've shared recipes and heartbreak and ideas and joy. Check out the awesome apron Sarah R. has on while she rolls the Burek.....Abby made it!

A couple years ago I was in an interesting place. I spent some time last week reading early blog posts of mine. Our journey from urban pioneer to actually working the farm, our journey from one child to two, the journey of homeschooling......not everything was easy.  Finding our place, our calling was tough. Really coming to know my own heart was harder than I ever imagined. Through the grief and heartache of losing one friend, I found several new ones that form a community, share my values, and also challenge me to be a better person, to learn, and to continue my journey well equipped.

Sarah D. and her daughter are making calzones. We had extra eggs and so we brought them! Sarah and I were pregnant with our youngest girls at the same time, almost at the hospital at the same time. She checked out as I checked in.

Quite honestly, the answers to my heartfelt prayer during that difficult time. I prayed to find a friend or two that would value me, that I could confide in, that I could dream with, that I could be inspired by, and wouldn't mock me. Everyday I find new reasons to be thankful for the blessing that these ladies are in my life. Thank you God! Pictured below is Ebersole beef. I met Shanen last year at a cloth diaper group. I still have no idea why I went, I really didn't need a support group to diaper my baby, but I met Shanen! She's cattle rancher extrodinary, and her beef is amazing!

This time is good for my girls too. They get to play and to help if they want. They get to see healthy relationships that we work hard to grow and they model their own after our examples. I don't have a picture of her on here, but new to the Freezer Meal Friday is Diana. I met Diana in birthing class when I was pregnant with Blueberry. Years before we moved to the farm!

I wanted this post to just be a picture essay, but I got a little carried away. I am just so incredibly thankful.

Snowed.....

We have a lot of snow and to be perfectly honest I don't mind most of it. The snow in the driveway is what I have issue with. That snow sprained my ankle, iced and was responsible for 2 yucky falls, my truck with boom lift getting stuck, and then my car getting so stuck Dearest had to tie a chain to a tree across the road and wench it off of the ice berm created by the snow plowed off the road.

And when it all melts it will flood. It is predicted that most of Iowa will be under water if the melt happens too quickly. We're high enough up I think to not worry about our house and our road is an official detour during floods, but a lot of area around us is a flood plain and a marsh designated for the purpose of flood basin. The ground will be saturated for Spring planting. These things are all issues that will affect our farm.

So much snow. More on its way. Last year we maybe got 2 inches TOTAL accumulation. I could have swept the driveway with a corn broom. This year? I broke the 4WD going in and out of the freaking driveway. So all my cheery, "I "heart" the snow!" bit me in my cheery cheeks. Thanks karma. You know what? I still love the snow.

I love the view from our living room windows. I love tromping out in/through knee deep drifts to gather half a dozen eggs and feed my layers. I love the feel of the winter air on my face and the depth of the stars at night. I love that we can eat snow and not worry so much about auto pollution that the city snow came down and through. This winter has had its hardships, but that is life.

 

The drifts are ridiculous in some places. So are the plow banks. They had to bring a special machine onto our road to widen the lane and it made the banks even higher. It's like driving inside a giant snow maze.

 

Beauty is in the Eye of the....

 

Lil'Bug's first punk rock hair cut. She wanted to dye it black but settled for stripes of dark brown. You know, some things are tricky- like me dying my hair. I was worried about how dying my hair red would be taken by our neighbors and extended family, never really considering the little ones at home. She confessed to me after the beauty day that she was sad that I dyed my hair and that's why she dyed hers too. We have the same natural hair color, why doesn't mama think that it is pretty? 

Yeah. Broke my heart. At five, a simple act of cosmetic drama, hurt her self esteem. We talked about it, but nothing I could say changed how she felt. I have a lot to think about before the next time I get my hair done.

I think that sometimes, especially when a child looks like a parent, that so much of the child's self view can be affected by the actions of the parent. If the parent doesn't self value, then neither will the child. Just like the billboards up all around Des Moines say, "Children live what they learn" or is it, "Children learn what they live"? So when a child sees their parent worrying over looking fat or putting on make up, all of those things hit them where it counts. It is a delicate balance though, if a parent says to the child that they do look just the same but they really don't, the child can start to self doubt too. I had a relative who was overweight constantly tell me we wore the same size dress and it made me doubt what I saw in a mirror. I weighed 85 lbs at the time. 

On the other hand, I really like dying my hair red. Working on the farm is hard and dusty. A little bit of colour cheers me up. I don't wear make up of a lot of jewlery, so this was a little bit of fun. I do wish that mattered to my kid's broken heart though. It doesn't.

I also think her stripes are really cool. I told her this. I think she may be having salon regret, but the change will grow on her. She can always decide to grow it out or do it again. It is her choice and I think that is a valuable lesson too.

Everything in Exclamation!

 

"Here's how to do this Blueberry!" and, "I will read to you!"

  

 Dancing and Singing!

  

 Dancing!

  

Eggs! The first green one since before Christmas! Spring surely must be on her way!

 

Exclamation!