Boys & Home Ec

Many moons ago, when dinosaurs still roamed the Earth, I was sent to middle earth, ehm.. school, somewhere near the Pennsylvania Grand Canyon. Or somewhere east of there...


Back in those early days of civilization, me being of the gentle persuasion, I was tasked to learn the gentle arts of tending a home; Shearing sheep, carding the wool, spinning the wool into thread, weaving it into material to be made into clothing, curtains and carpets... Along with the art of learning to clothe my future family, I was tasked with learning how to properly feed them; Growing vegetables, tending chickens, plucking chickens, making fire, and how to set a table. Those were the days.... (All due respect Mrs. Lynn! I loved your class and your Early American Club!)



My girls have grown and now are tending homes of their own which finds me now in a home with two men. The oldest (my spouse) has realized that he wasn't taught these skills back when he was a youth on the farm. Back then, the woman (his mother) tended all these needs. The younger male has also been reliant on his mother for years, too! This is a situation we are working to rectify. As mom, I'm also learning new cooking skills to do away with the ancient practices taught to me that have now been shown to not be oh so healthy, too.

If you have been following our life saga and unschooling journey, you know my son has been diagnosed with Crohn's Disease. At first we were a bit freaked out and then we came to acceptance and now we have moved into learning coping skills which include learning how to eat, proper nutrition, and exercise.

This journey has included reading many books and trying to find the doable, sane, common ground, ways to eat clean and healthy. The other day while following a clean recipe for beef stew, my oldest daughter pointed out that one of the ingredients for the stew is a known gas producer so it should be left out of the recipe. And this is where one comes to realize that food preparation is truly a science not to be neglected.

I'm not going to list out any links nor books as I can't truly recommend any particular one at this point. There are many excellent resources and there are many that will steer you off the right track. We are still working our way through weaning items off our grocery list and finding doable alternatives.

Currently, after a hard workout, protein shakes have been a Godsend for my son. They are something that his system can tolerate and take the edge off. He has been learning to cook so he, hopefully, will never have to rely on fast food when he is grown. We will be working on learning all we can so all of us can live a long and healthy life.



George after earning his first belt in Brazilian Jiu-jitsu.
Ossss!