sistermama gets real

My great grandma's rhubarb custard pie

My great grandparents' wedding picture

Oh, I adored my great grandma Mary Lucy Rolley.  Her coal town Karthaus, PA home was old and full of things wonderful to little children.  A water hand pump in the kitchen, a washing machine with a manual wringer, huge braided wool rugs with a scrap pile contanstly going for more, bats on the back porch, an old playground across the street.  She taught me how to make meatballs, fried me up scrapple for breakfast and handed me jelly beans out of her change purse during church.  

Mary Lucy on the right. Another great grandma, Mary Agnes, on the left.

 I don't remember her ever making this pie for me, but I've heard others tell about it and I found the recipe of her's among my grandmother's (her daughter's) collection.  It is so good.  

My grandma, Isabel Salene, is the little one on the right.

The last time I made this pie it struck me how little is actually needed to make most pies - some flour, a little fat, some fruit and a little sugar.  Cakes with their milk and eggs are for good times.  A pie you could pull off even in lean times.


Great Grandma's Rhubarb Custard Pie 

rhubarb, chopped (enough to fill your plate)
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 Tbsp flour
lemon juice
1 Pie crust

Put crust in pie plate.  Toss rhubarb with sugar and put in crust.  Whisk together eggs, flour and lemon juice.  Pour custard mixture over rhubarb.  Bake at 350 degrees for 45-55 minutes until custard is set and crust is nicely browned.  Serve at room temperature.



 

 

Food swap or loot gloating (whichever you prefer)

I read on the From Scratch Club website that swap items were often more popular if prettied up a bit, so I printed up some tags and little recipe cards.  Looks pretty cute, right?  And, yay, my soup was popular so I was able to swap for just about everything I wanted.  Except for the fabulous blueberry basil jam.  I can't wait to make some for myself in a month or two.

The swapping process is difficult to explain but easy to do once you are actually doing it.  


I am so pleased with my swaps - fig/orange goatsmilk soap, rhubarb curd with muffins, honey from right down the road, fabulous capponata, curried hummus and homemade Bailey's irish cream.  I realized when I got home that I had selfishly swapped entirely for myself and that I hadn't brought anything for Jack and Lu.  Oh, well.  I told them that they could make something good next month I would bring it along and swap for them.  

I'm definitely swapping again next month, now what to make?

Swapping Sweet Potato, Corn and Kale Chowder

I went to a food swap tonight and made this super yummy soup.  What's a food swap? Maybe you have one near you.  It was my first time, and I'm excited about what I came home with.  I'll share more about that tomorrow.  

The chowder is based on a recipe found in The Whole Foods Market Cookbook (as in the store, not Whole Foods for the Whole Family).  

Isn't that a great recipe card template? I found it here.  If you click on the recipe card you'll be able to read it larger and print if so desired.

Good night, loves.  I"m off to sip freshly swapped homemade Bailey's Irish Cream.  Yum!

Where We've Been

I've had a rough spring.  Rough as in some major depression for the first time in years.  Rough as in I don't really want to talk about it.  I've been cocooning as much as possible. I may not have been here, but life did go on and we had plenty of fun times as well.  

Lazy Link Friday

As in, I want to post but don't feel like thinking too hard.  So, from the top of my bookmarks:

Memory System - we don't memorize scripture, but we do work on poems and verses.  I love this idea for retaining things memorized in the past.

Lent and Sacrifice - I'm planning to write about Lent soon, this gave me something to think upon!

Twin Cities Headband - my head totally cannot pull off a headband.  But isn't this lovely?

Homemade Dishwasher Soap - my next DIY project.

Canning Tomatoes - great suggestions for tomato varieties.

Slow Carb Foodie - glad to find a few new recipes here.

TGIF!!!  We are off for our weekly all family friend visit, so plenty of knitting, laughing and general all round homeschooling mama support.  I think we both need it this week. (Okay, be honest, I need it every week!)

Jump Rope Games

I've got a post up today at the Homespun Waldorf Winter Carnival.  Do go check it out!

Garden Dreaming

I had planned to post on Lent today.  Our family has never really observed Lent but this year we are starting to.   I'll share more about it later.  I've just ordered my garden seeds and my head is caught up in the imagined smell of tomato vines and the feel of sun on my back.  

Gardening absolutely does not come easy to me.  Quite a few things do, and it is normally much more like me to stick to the things that I'm instantly good at, rather than persevere to gain skills.  BUT I didn't move out to this 7.5 acres to watch it grow nothing but hay.  I also find the sheer amount of gardening advice to be completely overwhelming.  So I have pretty much stopped reading anything about it and instead look up specific issues if needed and go with trial and error.

This will be my third year with a garden.  The first year was disatrous.  I was working and spending all our free time at the lake. Wow!  Weeds sure do grow fast!  We got lucky with zucchini and sungold tomatoes that year, and that was it.  Last year I stopped working in June and had more time for the weeding.  It was easier and better than the first year.  

This year, I'm trying out an online garden planner from Mother Earth News.  The best part about it for me is that it tells you when to start seed, direct sow and plant.  I plant a main garden somewhat near the house and lots of herbs in pots on the porch.  New for this year I'm planting a pumpkin / winter squash plot out behind the chicken building.  Left by the house's former occupants we also have a large rhubarb bed and several small asparagus beds.  Here's the plan so far for my main garden.  Note where it says "rhubarb" is acutally "rhubarb chard", "corvair" is spinach and "mowing" is lettuce mix.  If you double click on the image you can see a larger version.

Spring Swap

Its not too late to join in the spring swap I'm hosting.  Fill those Easter baskets with sweet mama made goodness or have a stock of little surprises set aside to welcome spring!  

Details for the spring swap:

Please make 5 items (out of natural materials) that would be fun in an easter basket or as a spring treat. Each item should have an etsy value of $8-$10. You may choose to make 2 sets (10 items). If you choose to take two slots, each set needs to be something different so it would be 5 of one thing and 5 of another. Each item should be labeled with your name and forum user name or website. Please make sure your item isn't really large/long, heavy or strangely shaped so that we can keep shipping down. 

Items must be mailed to me by Friday, March 16th. I'm really going to be a stickler this time, it makes it stressful to me to be waiting for late shipped packages. I will then mail packages back to you by Friday, March 23rd. You will pay for return shipping to me through paypal. Please include in your package a piece of paper with your name, email address, your address, what your item is and the age and gender of your children. 

International shipping welcome, but please have an idea of how long it will take a package to get from you to me and back again.

Comment below if you want to participate and I'll email you  my address.  This will be the only email I send this time, so please be sure to note the dates and requirements above.  Comment below with any questions and I'll respond.

 

40 Bags in 40 Days

Have you heard of this idea to get rid of 40 bags of stuff from your house over the 40 days of Lent?  I'm not sure where the idea originated, it's all over the blogosphere.  Part of last year's process:

Basically you recycle or throw away 40 bags of stuff from your house.  Pick a size of bag (grocery bag, kitchen trash bag, lawn and leaf?). I use a kitchen trash bag size.  You can get super specific and say how many bags you're going to clear out of each area.  That's a little to "planny" for me but maybe it will work for you.  instead of counting the bags as I go, I'm going to pull out 40 bags and put them somewhere separate so I can see clearly how many I have to go.  I end up with a mix of trash and donate, so I make the donate bags apparent by tying bright yarn around each tie.  At least once a week I load up the car with donate bags and drop them off somewhere.  I don't want those accumulating around for more than a month!

I'll be doing my whole house this year, but my main focus will be the basement.  God help me.

Do you want to join in with me? Imagine how easy spring cleaning will be after you take 40 bags of stuff out of your house!  I'll be updating my progress on Fridays.  

The Bliss Filled Mama

My long time forum and blogosphere friend Kathy has just published her first ebook, The Bliss Filled Mama: Self-Care for Soulful Mothering.  She is a breeze of joyful, kooky inspiration on many a dry day of mine.  If you read her blog, Bliss Beyond Naptime, you probably feel the same way.

The concept of being "bliss filled" actually makes me feel a little uncomfortable, because I am not, by nature, a blissful person.  "Contented" is kind of more my type of thing and exuberance doesn't come naturally to me. Maybe I can work my way around to aiming for bliss...  Anyway, part of becoming a Bliss Filled Mama is identifying those things that recharge your batteries.  Here are some of mine:

 

-Laughing hysterically with my sister or friend

-Knitting, alone or with a companion

-Reading and posting at the Homespun Waldorf forum

-Making my neice laugh

-Taking a long "reading" bath

-Reading on my couch in the afternoon when the light comes through the window just right

-Being up early in the morning and miraculously no one else is up yet

 

Kathy is giving away a free copy of her ebook.  Simply share, in the comments below, one way you take care of yourself and you'll be entered.  Comments will stay open until Wednesday night, and I'll announce and email a winner on Thursday.