Mother's Kitchen

Hello friends, I've been rather neglectful of this blog lately. Summer is a very hectic time for us and leaves little time for virtual reality when concrete reality in the form of produce makes faces at me everyday begging to be put in jars. We're complying at a breakneck pace but still, some days it feels like drowning. Things will settle down around October and then I can engage in other pursuits like sewing and knitting. On especially stressful days I try to remind myself to be doubly thankful for so much food and for the ability to preserve it. Some people just aren't able to put the harvest by and have to rely on grocery stores. That's a picture of my canning shelf (square nailed and mustard milk paint, Tiff :D) it's loaded with: blueberries, dark sweet cherries, light sweet cherries, peaches, rhubarb, Cowboy Candy, mulberry/black raspberry jam, blackberries, pineapple, mulberry/apple jam, black raspberries, peach jam, Lemony Sticky Sour Cherry Jam and blueberry/candied ginger jam. It's only a fraction of what we have canned and an even smaller fraction of what we will can. All of the canned dry beans, corn, green beans, carrots and most pickled things are stored elsewhere. I look at it and I feel rich. :-) I know that we will eat well this winter regardless of what happens with the economy and that gives me a peace.
We have many things that grow wild here and I feel obligated to preserve them since God has provided them. We have an abundance of mulberry products because we have mulberry trees, the black raspberries grow wild as well so they get put in jam, we will have chokecherries that will become waffle syrup and maple trees to tap in the spring. If I would neglect to take care of what has provided for us for free, then how could I ever complain about God's provision for us? If it's here and I'm able, then it goes in a jar. Our Forefathers understood this principle, that we must labor in season to provide for ourselves out of season. Modern dwellers have become accustomed to relying on an outside entity to maintain life, that's risky business in this day and age.
Take care, I hope you're enjoying your summer!

The Song of the Needle

Methinks it is a token of healthy and gentle characteristics, when women of high thoughts and accomplishments love to sew; especially as they are never more at home with their own hearts than while so occupied. ~Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Marble Faun, 1859

After an 8 month hiatus I have returned to the sewing machine. It all started innocently enough, I was thinking about Zoar and who will be there this year and then I thought about the daguerreotype that we had taken of Asa and Katie. And then I thought about having another taken this year to commemorate him turning 2 and became more and more enthralled with the idea of childhood milestones marked by wet plate images. However, having a wet plate image of all of the children really, really appealed to me and now boom! I'm back sewing. We had our own version of The Great Try-On and I found that Aleks and Levi have trowsers and vests, but no shirts and Micah has nothing. Katie is all set but the other 4 girls need dresses as does Asa. I've ordered Asa's fabric and will begin on his when it arrives but in the meantime I've begun a gown for Abigail.
I had the bodice and sleeves already cut for somebody, but I can't remember who. Elisabethe maybe? So I rewashed the pieces and trimmed some bodice length off for Abbie. I finished the neckline this afternoon and want to cut new sleeves out this evening. Hopefully it will be finished before the new fabric arrives. It feels good to have a needle in my hand again, I think I must have missed it. I have approximately three and a half months to get everybody ready and that seems somewhat daunting, but I keep thinking of the image that will preserve the memory. I'm thinking a full plate will be necessary, maybe a 3/4 plate? I don't know, that's nine people to fit in. I'm full of anticipation.