Spring Break
This past month we had our spring break where we basically just stayed home.
Last spring break, last year, we went to Montreal, which is a five-hour drive from our house. We (barely) spoke French, bought croissants, drank espresso from tiny cups, went to museums and walked on cobblestone streets in the old part of town–a little slice of Europe for those without plane tickets.
This year, we barely left the house, which was actually just as nice.
When we did leave, it was done on the cheap. Here is how we spent almost no money this break:
1. We volunteered at milking the goats with our 4-H club. As you might remember, these boys have been made by me to join 4-H, and (sang in the key of Rhianna): “Ba–by, this is what we came for…”. I never want these boys to lose their farming skills, and to know that milk doesn’t just come in a plastic bottle. Milking an animal by hand is a lost art for most people. I had lamented that we have had so many lost years without goats, but readers, having teenagers milk goats instead of small children is a world of difference–they are natural milkers, fast and strong, much to my relief. Now we just need to get some goats of our own again! (One day.)
2. We also ordered six chickens from our local ag store. Since we had the great black bear eating incident of two years ago, we didn’t get any this last year, but I felt sad without them, so we bought some new kinds with various and adorable speckling; two Americanas, two Cream Leghorns, and two Olive Eggers: ones that lay brown, green, and blue eggs. Also, as I had mentioned the first time, it is more fun having six instead of eight hundred, even if a bear does get almost all of them in the end! (Just kidding, I am sure we are going to fix that problem this year?). Also, tick season is upon us, so having chickens is our yard’s answer to natural tick prevention. Ok fine, these chickens are not free, but they were cheap (cheap cheap LOL!!) (jk) so it technically counts as spending not much money.
3. I worked and made the boys help with the school garden. I wanted to make sure things were all ready for when kids got back to school, so we went over to the garden a few times to prep some beds outside. I had one more bed I wanted to seed inside the hoophouse, which I made the boys do, of radishes and carrots. I actually had remembered something an old-school gardener in Wisconsin had taught me: that when she was young, her family had always planted radishes and carrots together in the same bed, alternating the lines of carrot seeds and radish seeds. That way, weeds are shaded out by the quick growing radishes for the carrots, and since they are harvested after about a month, the carrots are left to still grow for about another month. It is a great way to grow when you don’t have a lot of space. I remember her being shocked I had never heard of this before. She had shaken her head, I am sure sad at the state of lost farmer knowledge and just said to herself, “I thought everyone knew these things.”
4. We had Ostara. I had actually intended to have Passover this year, and also Easter. But then I remembered that I am basically a Pagan Witch these days, so even though I actually like both of those ritual-infused holidays and the food that goes with them, what I really wanted to celebrate was nature and spring and say a prayer to heal the earth. Enter Ostara. Rooted in pagan and Wiccan traditions, it celebrates new life, renewal, and fertility. We painted eggs from the farm here with symbols (mostly plants, flowers, the sun and moon) and yes, I did hide them. The boys also still got an Easter basket–instead of candy, though, I got up early to bake chocolate chip cookies, wrapped them in parchment paper, and put them in two twin baskets I found at the Salvation Army months ago. I also quickly made some watercolor painted cards. We invited a neighboring family over for Ostara brunch, in which I made a quiche with nettles, sausage, and some of our last frozen vegetables from last season. Before our egg hunt and after our coffee, we read tarot cards together and I read a poem about the spring equinox. The whole day reminded me of my Waldorf-y homeschool days, which made me feel slightly wistful, but I also felt accomplished that I am still able, once in a while, to pull something together out of (almost) thin air.
5. We did spend, as I like to say, intentional money; we went to a political puppet show. Bread and Puppet theater is something I have actually wanted to see since high school–but back then, in the Chicago suburbs, my thoughts were basically, “wow, they’re in Vermont–oh well, guess I will never actually see them.” Now we are just a couple of hours of the Vermont border, in a place I never actually thought we’d end up, so I seized the day. They normally do a spring and summer tour, so when I saw they were playing a show a little over an hour away from us in Hudson, New York, I clicked to buy tickets for me and the boys (I knew Alex couldn’t get away at all this break). We bought dinner that the actors made as part of their fundraiser. Bread and Puppet is very inspirational for those that are interested; giant puppets are made by the actors of paper mache and recycled materials and, basically, trash like old cardboard boxes and used art supplies. The show was slightly darker than I thought it would be (a lot of it had to do with ICE kidnapping people off the street, and the bombing of an Iranian school), but it was beautifully done and inspirational and hopeful in all the ways.
6. Lastly, we reinstated our after-dinner walk. I really do think that this has been key to ending our days in better, less stressed-out moods. Lately it has been easier, too, partly because all of the hoophouses are across the street at the farm that Alex has to close up at night, so we can all help with it this way. Walking after a meal helps with blood sugar and digestion. It also is just a reminder for me that the body loves motion, and anytime you can do it, it is a good thing. And since we have been aiming for screen-free weekdays (we have been trying so many things!), dinner together and a walk afterwards at least creates an activity where the boys don’t ask for their phones and actually talk to us (even if it is just a few sentences sometimes. Sometimes they also just walk ahead of us and talk to each other, which honestly is just as good).
Stay tuned for more updates in the next newsletter; I swear, updates are coming!
❤️❤️❤️