Syrup is now on Sale!

Rory has everything lined up. Our Maple Syrup is now on Sale! Click here to order.

It really is fun to have come to this stage of the syrup making process. Especially after watching Rory stand by a fire for twenty-some hours this spring, often in the rain. I'm happy to have my large pots and pans back for my own kitchen use and excited to get to share all of this sweetness with you. Enjoy!

celebrating maddie!

My niece Maddie turns 21 this week. So to celebrate, her folks invited the family out to Radison Blu where in some fantastic twist her hair matched the curtains. It was awesome. And the night was incredible. We celebrated Maddie and her style, spirit and enthusiasm for life. She was given gifts and then we each had a turn to ask her one question to answer. The night was hilarious and sweet. She cried a few times and the whole night was a joy.

I'm so sorry I didn't get a picture of my end of the table, but I was down at this end by Kirby, Toby, Ruby, Troy, Rory and Jack. I laughed the whole night long. My cheeks hurt on the drive home. Sitting with my nephews is the new hot spot at family gatherings. It's like being at a family function and inviting mystery science theatre to come and comment on everything that happens. Jack is basically my personal Jim Carrey. Today at Mother's Day lunch Rory was all like, "Jack! Jack! Come sit by us! Now be funny!" My nephews kill me and I can't wait to continue to watch them come into their own. And hear what comes out of their mouths. I do believe the gentlemen pictured below have something to do with their humor...quite the role models.

Maddie has style unending. But she seems to still accept me in spite of my many target cardigans. I remember even when I first was dating Rory being overwhelmed by her sense of style. Which is so funny, because if this was ten years ago then I was feeling fashion pressure from an 11-year-old. So glad I'm over all that, and so glad Maddie is exactly who she is. She is joy, fun and makes me want to air punch.

Love you, Maddie. (And I have no recollection of what we are doing in this picture. In particular, Rory and his elbow.)

Maple Syrup for sale on Monday!

I took this picture last spring, as we got ready to sell our maple syrup. But I wasn't happy with the label on the syrup. Thought we should print something a bit more professional. And we talked about it a lot. And a lot more. And then later about how those labels really were stalling out the process. And finally about how it now felt too late to sell our syrup...we had waited too long to create the perfect labels. And we never sold a jar. We ended up giving it all away...all 43 jars of it.

Well. This year the lack of a label isn't going to slow us down. This year Rory is ready. And though we have way less syrup to sell, we're still going to give it a go with the hopes that we might recoup our costs.

So this is a heads up! On Monday we will be selling our maple syrup on the grovestead blog. We have no idea who might be interested in buying our syrup. It might be three of you. It might be a lot more. We're excited to find out. And if you're not into buying things online you can just email me and we'll fill your order that way too. So get excited. We are! Monday is the day! It's our first attempt at grovestead retail :)

...and it probably won't have a label. But it will still taste delicious on your pancakes!

this week at the grovestead

At least we're not bored.

Saturday night, after Mara's birthday party I raked out the lilies, while Rory prepped the potatoes. Then he went to the compost center in town and shoveled a truck load and brought it home. While he and Ivar emptied the truck bed, I pruned the raspberry canes. Sunday picked up with a delivery of wood chips, Rory building another raised bed, I sawed branches off of trees in our overgrown grove and Dean came with his tractor to plant our field.

Monday was our first planting day. Lisa, our above-and-beyond sister-in-law brought her mom and pulled Josie from school to come and plant blueberries and potatoes. She worked like a machine. Elsie and I got sick that day, which was unfortunate, and was so grateful for their help. I LOVE that Josie got out of school to help plant a field!

Tuesday Rory woke up at 6 to plant more potatoes and to work until his 11 am meeting in the cities. He came home at 5:30 and got back on the tractor and we worked until the sky was black. I gathered pine needles and put those around our blueberries and Rory moved wood chips around for the pathways.

There is always something to do. It's exciting and exhausting. I have been feeling gross most of the week, which is hard to schedule in. But all in all, we're not bored. And we're having fun. (oh! Elsie's new goal is to ride Vernon. Which is super funny to watch. And Velma caught that mouse! And then she would let it go, giving Thomas and Percy a chance to catch it on their own. It was like a little life-skills lesson, happening right in the garage. It was terrible to watch, and fascinating. And sad. And amazing. And awful. And I took a picture...)

day dreaming about our day-to-day

My mom took these pictures a few days before Easter as I was trying to figure out what Elsie was going to wear. The upper left is a dress I wore when I was little. The lower left is a dress Mara wore on Easter when she was little. The lower right is when the fashion show ended.

***

My Uncle Mark was here this weekend. He sits on a board for a private school in St. Louis and always brings interesting insights on education and children. When he was here we shared a great conversation about the uses and abuses of technology and he asked pointedly, "do your kids see you read every day? do they see you with a book in your face for extended periods of time?"

And the answer is no. Reading feels like a luxury at this point in my life. Or at least that's what I tell myself, but I know that isn't actually true. If I had a book in front of my face as often as I have my phone to my face, I'd have read through the local library by now. 

It got me thinking. When can I have this built-in reading time during my day? Which led me to think about how tired I've been lately. How I seem to be fighting low energy daily. Which  made me think about my late bedtime and how it's just not sustainable. 

So I spent some time today day-dreaming. Dreaming about my day-to-day. Writing out a little mock schedule with an ideal bedtime, and the things it would take to lead me to get into bed at that time. I wrote out what an ideal morning would look like: up at 7, shower, contacts and coffee by 8. Bible reading during breakfast. Everybody ready for the day by 8:30 or 9. I decided I sleep best after a hot bath. So a hot bath is scheduled each night at 10 sharp. Bedtime at 10:30. 

The schedule feels doable, and feels healthy. I have a list of things I want to fit in to my days, if possible: reading time, time for art, time for blogging, play dates, individual play time, day adventures. I made a list of things that don't fit into my day: facebook and other distractions. I'll save most computer stuff for after the kids are in bed. I took instagram off of my phone.

The schedule will serve as a rough guideline. I know some days I'll pull it off, and other days I won't. But it was so empowering and luxurious to sit down and think carefully about my days and how we spend our time. I even made a list of adjectives describing how I want our days to feel and what I could do to ensure each day feels that way.

It was a great practice and I highly recommend doing it for yourself. But now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go get in the tub. And read a book. It's on the schedule.