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About a year ago I got a lot more serious about developing my homemaking skills. Something about hitting 38 and wondering what I had to show for the past 15 years of homemaking woke me up to the continued need to apply myself and learn. So over the past year, I’ve wanted to do a photo-rich, seasonal “homemaker’s journal” here on the blog to share what I’m learning and putting into practice. Here’s the first installment.

Hopefully you’ll enjoy taking a peak into how I manage my home—and find some inspiration for your own.

It’s late July August. And I’m rather tired but satisfied.

“To the Limit” seems to be an apt summary for this season. Whatever I’ve set my hand to this summer, I find I’m running at capacity and bumping up against the boundary of what I can actually accomplish with the resources I’ve been given. The garden border, the size of my kitchen and pantry, and my health and energy reserves—these things all provide limits. And I’ve pushed up to them (and perhaps at times past them) this summer.

And that has provided some great life lessons. One of them being what a doctor told me at an appointment mid-summer: “You are a young lady…” (he was being kind, wasn’t he?) “…who doesn’t take care of herself like she should.” Oh. Ouch. (More on that in a bit.)

Garden

The garden is indeed full-to-bursting (at least it was in late July when I began writing this—it’s still full, but some things, like cucumbers, are nearing the end of their productive season…or else they are in the middle of my back-to-school-season, which really means the beginning of garden-neglect-season). We’ve used up almost all of the available space, and I’ve kept up with it much better than I have in past years (for reference, this is our 8th year gardening—I’ve grown a lot with the garden!).

Here are a few pictures of God’s good provision in our garden.

Kitchen

And here’s a bit of what I’ve done with that provision. Canning is still fairly new to me, but I’ve gotten a lot more comfortable with it this year.

About a year ago I started making bread more regularly (I had done this way back when my boys were small, so this is me picking it back up again). My parents gave me a stand mixer, which I have never had before, so I’ve had some fun learning how to use it and finding it to be a huge blessing (especially since my hand-me-down 20+ year-old bread machine bit the dust).

As I’ve tried to make new things and see just how many things I can whip up in an afternoon, I’ve found my limits. My kitchen isn’t tiny, but it is small. Counter space is at a premium. In order to make four loaves of bread and can pickles in a single afternoon (which I did successfully), I had to think very carefully about each step so that I knew I had a place for all of my tools, ingredients, etc. Let’s just say that without the kitchen table that afternoon would have been a nightmare.

I did buy two more bread pans so that I could make four loaves of bread at a time since my stand mixer can hold that much dough and my oven can handle four loaves. That has worked out well. But some things don’t scale up as easily. There isn’t space for making as many things in one session as I might like. And time is a limited resource that fills up quickly with piano lessons, doctor’s appointments, church and homeschool activities and responsibilities, etc.

But I am producing where I can. I am growing my skills and my husband and boys are enjoying the fruit of my labor (and I am, too).

I’ve enjoyed (and you can see in my pictures) the French loaves, rustic artisan Dutch oven bread, and maple oat sandwich bread recipes from The Prairie Homestead Cookbook. This is my go-to baking book in the past year.

I’d like to learn the art of sourdough soon in hopes of being able to enjoy eating wheat bread again and being able to share the same bread with my family.

Health and Energy

“…A young woman who doesn’t take care of herself like she should.” I honestly can’t argue too strongly with the doctor’s assessment. Except maybe the “young” part. Getting-close-to-40 seems to push the limits of the definition.

I’ve been sick probably more often than I’ve been well this summer. We’ve had four rounds of fever in our house since May (I’ve had three of them and the fourth may be coming soon). I had a month of congestion that just wouldn’t go away. Been on two rounds of antibiotics and even some steroids since natural remedies weren’t cutting it. My congestion problems are beginning to settle down with some appropriate treatment, and I’m trying to learn to pause in the afternoon to lay down or otherwise rest before making dinner in the evenings. The only days I’ve been down-and-out have been fever days. Otherwise I’ve pretty much been trying to keep up with all the things. Aaand that’s perhaps how one finds her limits. Just because I feel like I can plow through doesn’t necessarily mean that I ought to. Rest is necessary. I can trust the Lord that He will keep the world spinning, that He will provide. It doesn’t all depend upon little ol’ me.

But it’s tempting to fret like it does, isn’t it? Why does pride look so attractive to us when it rears its ugly head?

Learning to rest in Christ while I work, and rest in Christ while I rest…that’s what makes for long-term faithfulness, not the fits and bursts and busts that come so naturally.

So much of homemaking involves resource management. And wiping things. All the time. But really, resource management. It turns out my body and energy is my most constant physical resource that the Lord has given to me. It is mine to steward well—to care for, to be thankful for, and to use in His service. I hope to continue to grow in this area. And I imagine it will become ever more important as the years roll along.

How do you pace yourself in your homemaking? In what areas are you bumping up against your personal limits? In what areas might you stretch yourself? I’d love to hear about it.

Inspiring Ideas

In my effort to expand my skills in homemaking, I’ve been slow reading through Cheryl Mendelson’s Home Comforts: The Art and Science of Keeping House. It’s not a Christian book, but it is an extremely well thought-out and extensive overview of what it takes to make a house a home. And while I think author is probably a feminist (or at least more so than I am), she has an appreciation for the real work and dignity of homemaking–and the impact that the loss of these skills has had on modern American life and culture. Here’s one quote that I have found inspiring.

Her real secret was that she identified herself with her home. Of course, this did not always turn out well. A controlling woman might make her home suffocating. A perfectionist’s home might be chilly and forbidding. But it is more illuminating to think about what happened when things went right. Then her affection was in the soft sofa cushions, clean linens, and good meals; her memory in well-stocked storeroom cabinets and the pantry; her intelligence in the order and healthfulness of her home; her good humor in its light and air. She lived her life not only through her own body but through the house as an extension of her body; part of her relation to those she loved was embodied in the physical medium of the home she made.

Cheryl Mendelson, Home Comforts: The Art and Science of Keeping House