Ch. 4: In which spring festivities are had & little gifts abound
Monday, April 21, 2025
I went out of town to visit family this week, so there was not much opportunity to churn out homemade goods, but I still managed to squeeze efforts into the margins.
We were running short of snacks and breakfast last weekend and I was determined not to make a trip to the store right before leaving. Luckily, we had just enough neglected bananas, so I made a loaf of chocolate chip banana bread.
Snack: check!
I had already made a quart of yogurt before realizing the pantry was running dry. That covered breakfast—almost. We ran out of granola. So, last Saturday morning I cut some corners on a recipe (which I did not have all the ingredients for) and made something boring but edible. The boys said it was the best granola they had ever had (far from it), so I’m starting to believe that everything homemade really does taste better. It must just be an inherent quality that kids can taste the difference between hard work and UPF.
Just kidding, I made that up.
At any rate, baking from scratch got us through a bottom-of-the-barrel weekend.
Little Parties, Little Gifts
While away, my sister threw me a tea party and invited some of my closest friends to celebrate my birthday. A charcuterie spread, a cake, the works! With tea, snacks and good company, it was positively hobbit-like, only with more flowers than I imagine hobbits prefer.
We went shopping at our favorite antique mall where I found a lyocell maxi dress and a real braided leather belt. Does lyocell qualify as a natural fiber? I’m still trying to figure that out. It’s made from natural materials, but then the process it takes to make the fabric makes me think not. I’ve been working on naturalizing my wardrobe piece by piece. At any rate, I decided as a thrifted piece it qualified and Mom bought them both for me as little birthday gifts!
You can’t stick it all at once
I was also able to stop in on my friend, Denisha, who also surprised me with a birthday gift! (I told you I have great friends.) She makes cozy gift baskets. I’m featuring one of them here because, what I love about them, is that she sources from local vendors and small businesses! And just like the thrifted basket and plant clippings I was gifted last week, these small delights qualify as things that make my life more slow and handmade. I love that.
When she handed it to me, telling me about her local sourcing, she said, “It’s my way of sticking it to the man,” and with the other hand she placed an Amazon package I had just handed her off her porch down on the counter. “I say that as I’m holding this Amazon package.” I shrugged and responded, “Well, you can’t stick it all at once,” which I think nicely sums up what this journal is all about.
I didn’t think to snap a picture of the basket she made for me before opening it to wear the socks included. But below is a picture of a similar basket available in her Etsy shop!
Home Again
I came home to an empty fridge and an Easter dinner to plan. I decided to keep it simple—mostly because I am literally required to prepare simpler meals at this point with all the baking involved. But that’s okay. Somehow food comes alive again when you are heavily invested in it.
So, I made a simmer sauce, threw in some stew beef from the freezer and we had pulled beef sandwiches. The ketchup I used in the sauce and the corn served on the side were both homegrown from my parents’ garden.
And if you try this Mennonite hamburger bun recipe, which comes together in only about an hour, you may never feel the need to buy them again. (Depends on whether bread making is one of your “stick it to the man” undertakings at this point or not. You can see that making my own mineral water with a twist of lime is not on my “stick it to the man” list yet.) My gosh, they were sweet and delicious and there were no leftovers.
Homesteading with the Zimmermans Mennonite hamburger bun recipe
And knowing we needed a little treat at the end (because we don’t do candy, egg dying, Easter baskets, etc.), we ended a week of spring festivities with a batch of from-scratch chocolate chunk cookies, which my husband says were the best he had ever had. And that one, I believe.
Weekly Inventory
1 loaf of chocolate chip banana bread from scratch
1 sheet pan of granola
1 quart of plain yogurt
Approximately 20 tomato plants transplanted
From-scratch hamburger buns
2 batches of balsamic simmer sauce (1 for the freezer)
A baker’s dozen chocolate chunk cookies
A basketful of locally-sourced goodies
A thrifted maxi dress & leather belt