Tell me what do you do all day?
Busy, I am, but listen pray!
MONDAY is my milking day
TUESDAY skimming off the cream
WEDNESDAY's when the butter's churned
And packed away each THURSDAY
FRIDAY's when I bake all day
SATURDAY is market day
On SUNDAY off to church I plod
Thanks be to Thee, Almighty God.
- 'Around the Year'
That poem is one of my favorites. It speaks of the weekly rhythm from a simpler time many years ago. It is amazing to me that rhythm was a part of life for everyone back then. Every single chore literally took up most of the day so they needed to schedule days for each and every thing.
Speaking of machines...
In our modern society we have so many conveniences and everything is done by machine so it seems we no longer have the need for this, yet our lives seem more chaotic than ever. Why is this? That is something I ponder quite often. Do we need to give up all of our modern conveniences? I personally don't think we do, unless we prefer to (I do prefer to do quite a bit by hand most of the time). To me one of the answers that comes to me over and over, is that we just simply need rhythm of some kind to keep everything going smoothly.
I have mentioned a few times on here that Monday is our baking day. That is probably the favorite of our weekly rhythm days for K and C, but I admit it is both the best and the worst for me. Don't get me wrong, I love to bake (and more importantly love to eat what we bake), but there are some Mondays when that is the last thing I want to do. When I am having one of those Mondays we will usually bake something really simple, like a loaf of bread in our bread maker. Yes, that is cheating a bit, but this way I am not breaking our rhythm, or the girls' hearts while still keeping my sanity.
Gotta love the 'bed head' here!
Our baking days start in the morning. The girls and I usually bake a loaf of bread right after breakfast so it is ready by lunch time. Bread is actually made about two to three times a week, so not just on baking day. We go through it pretty fast. With all of C's food sensitivities and our strict vegetarian diet it's just easier for us to make our own bread, plus it's healthier and we know exactly what ingredients are in it.
After we make our bread we make something sweet, this way the girls get to enjoy it for dessert after lunch. Cookies and muffins tend to be our 'go to' recipes but we have created quite an assortment of sweet things over the past couple of years. K gets really into every little detail of baking wanting to help with every part while C just wants to eat it all, but I have a feeling C will be a little baker just like K when she gets a bit older. I capture the two of them in the sweetest moments, watching K teach C how to roll out dough, or pour in the vanilla and I just melt.
I just hope they remember this time when they are older...
Yes, we love our baking days, and I am so grateful for them. I hope someday my family and I can have the simple life like they did many years ago. We have a dream of owning a farm and living off the grid (our Frontier Dreams!) but until then at least we can have our own small daily and weekly rhythms to keep us going.
Wishing you all the calmness of a simple life.
24 comments:
Yes, our modern day does have its blessings, and to balance it with things done by hand....baking with children is such a wonderful thing. your children are so lucky!
our post made me smile (love all the photos, such a story of your day!)
Living on a boat -- more so when the boat is on the go -- one completely gets back to that natural daily rhythm. I remember how it would take ALL day to get fresh water. AL day to do laundry. ALL day to get food (either fishing or stalking the mail boats or local markets). And usually a couple of days to fix anything. Now tied to the dock for the short while, each task is more like half a day :)
I love that verse as well. There is much to be learned from going through those motions rather than buying your bread and butter at the big box stores. Your kids are so sweet, Nicole! Happy Monday baking!
They look like they are having so much fun with their baking, adorable photos...and your children are so sweet!
Simple is so beautiful in my opinion!
I think it's wonderful that you have a baking day, and stick to it even on days when you don't feel like it. I have been toying with scheduling a day for it, though I'm not sure if I could stick to it. Perhaps I'll try and see if it works for us.
We were doing baking day on Thursdays but it fell off the grid as the holiday craziness came upon us. I need to start it again though. The girls loved it so much.
Saturday is our baking day, but I need to remind myself to slow down, as I am often rushed and let the boys help just a little. I have good memories of baking as a child, maybe that's why I love to bake today. Beautiful post-
Devil's Advocate here... if by "simple" you mean "saddled by the heavy yoke of daily, back-breaking labor necessary to even survive," then you can have your simple life. I'll keep the modern conveniences, thank you. Have you seen photographs of those poor women on the frontier? They were old ladies at 35! I think it's important not to fetishize the past. Life has always been hectic, although the reasons may have changed. Enjoy what you have right now-- you have so much! This is your life. Try not to pine for "someday my life will be perfect". It is what it is & that is what it is. ;)
Carry on. The pics of the girls are always a joy!
what a great part of a rhythm! I tend to bake when the mood arises, maybe I should shift it to a specific day. Love the pictures... they look so into the baking.
I agree, sometimes it would be nice to get back to the simpler things, although I have the utmost respect for the challenges that came with life back then as well.
We too have a Monday rhythm in our home, it is laundry day. My big boy helps me separate the clothes and put them away. Not as lovely as baking but it just feels right each monday to wake up and begin the weekly laundry.
Thanks for sharing, I always leave your blog feeling energized and more ready for my day and inspired to try new things.
sweet moments with your littles! thanks for sharing this. :)
I love this post..and your blog in general! We are working to get our rhythms established and DS is just starting to want to help me in the kitchen with the baking. Thank you for the wonderful inspiration!
Enjoy your baking days They won't last long, one day it will be just you in the kitchen while they're running off doing other things, or it'll be them in the kitchen while you're resting, or you'll all be off in different places ... or your kids will be older and less active and so need to eat less muffins and cookies ... I loved our Monday baking mornings, and I love that we don't do them anymore too.
(I used to make my bread by hand, no machine, so maybe that's why I don't miss it so much, lol!)
Reading your blog gives me modern day support that women long ago didn't have -- so simple yet so good.
Thank you.
L, N
Just came across your blog - gosh how lovely it is. Can't wait till I have a long evening with nothing to do to read it all. Lots of the things you do remember me so much of my german background.
Oh how I hear you Nicole! Baking day is the same for me, the best and the worst! We have to be so on top of it when we bake with little ones! If I can remember to have fun and to not worry too much about the mess (and the amount of dough left to do the actual muffins - they love uncooked dough so much!), it's a success... but as soon as I get stressed out and start being a control freak, the baking session is out the window! That last photo is so sweet!
I love this post. We used to bake on Tuesdays but after we found out my then 18 month old had Celiac (she was the size of a 9 month old by that time because she stopped growing and it took that long to realize what was going on) and that kind of sucked the joy out of baking(I am not much of a baker to begin with). I am looking up gluten free items to make right now. I didn't realize how much I (and probably my two littles) missed this!
Your words echo my own thoughts exactly! It really can be so difficult to go against the general stream and stick to a simpler life and rhythm. My daughter is 18mths and just beginning to help with food preparation and cooking. I can't wait to have our own baking day - you've really inspired me (great timing!)
that last photo is priceless... bake on!
sweet baking girls!
i love the balance of modern with appreciation for back-to-basics. sometimes i think i was born in the wrong era, but then there are days when i realize how much i appreciate my washing machine (among other conveniences).
nicole, you are among a lovely community of parents who appreciate and apply so many of the loving crafts by hand. lucky girls!
nicola
http://whichname.blogspot.com
Thank you, thank you everyone! I apologize that I can't respond personally to all of you right now, but thank you for sharing your thoughts and wisdom!
Michelle - ALWAYS play devil's advocate! <3
"I love to bake (and more importantly love to eat what we bake), but there are some Mondays when that is the last thing I want to do. When I am having one of those Mondays we will usually bake something really simple, like a loaf of bread in our bread maker. Yes, that is cheating a bit, but this way I am not breaking our rhythm, or the girls' hearts while still keeping my sanity."
thank you for this. this is just beautiful.
xo
~erin
Oh Nicole...this is our dream too. A little plot of land, chickens, goats, huge garden, sunshine, snow and love. Want to be our neighbor?
I think I forget about the children's rhythm as they get older and older. My daughter recently started up a new tradition of having a proper "tea" when she and her brother arrive home from school. It might be nice to add baking on Mondays. Your photos are so beautiful, especially the bottom one.
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