Let the Christmas Season Begin

December 9, 2013December 9, 2013 / handmadebyjo / 2 Comments

Every year we trek out to the power lines with a group of friends to pick out our Christmas tree.

Russell loves loading everyone onto his hay trailer and towing them out through the field to where the trees are. I opted out of the ride this year because in years past it has really scared me at moments. It’s not as if the bales we are sitting on are attached to anything. It looks like a tame ride in the photographs but once you are on the high tension lines it’s anything but.

Bill cut down the first tree he saw that fit the “small” tree requirement. It was also right on the top of the hill so there wouldn’t be any dragging up the steep, icy road.

Everyone fanned out beyond where we left the tractor and trailer. It’s some fairly rough terrain and the tractor was turned around and parked quite a ways back.

The kids were quick to pick their trees and trek back to the trailer. They were all with their babies and the wind had a bit of a bite to it. It’s nice to see them start the same traditions they have had most of their lives.

Finally the people looking for the perfect tree managed to find and cut just that. We harvest our trees on this stretch of the power line every year. The lines are on Russell’s property and if we don’t cut the trees down when they are smaller the power company will cut them down when they get bigger. The trees grow unfettered all along the road and they are as beautiful as any tree you would buy anywhere. I think more so because they just grew, no help from anyone.

Everyone makes the walk back while Russell drives the load of trees to the barn. The walk is one of my favorites, this is such a beautiful spot.

This year the difficulty came in figuring out who cut down what tree. Ours was easy, it was the smallest one. Everyone then goes inside to share a meal and hot chocolate and lots of desserts. I always bring an apple pie warm from the oven and really who needs any other food when you can have warm apple pie?

Little Things

December 3, 2013December 3, 2013 / handmadebyjo / Leave a comment

Every year for the 18 or so years of my daughter’s lives I photographed them around this time of year for the annual Christmas card. It was a personal challenge to send out the best photograph I could of them to all of our family and friends.

In the beginning I owned a photography studio in Enfield and was photographing many, many children – most of them were under 10 years old. There was a decided difference in photographing my own and someone else’s. The easy part is that these girls were conditioned to be photographed. I knew the words and ways to make them smile a natural smile and I had nothing but time to spend doing it. The difficulty came in the fact that they knew what buttons to push.

I would meticulously plan the dresses and where the photograph would be taken. I would dress them and drag them to the desired location and wait for the light to be just so or set up the studio before they arrived. Each session over the years had its problems (as every session always does). It also brought me great memories of the “behind the scenes” kinds of things that went on. They would manipulate me and I would manipulate them as parents and children will always do.

What seemed to every recipient of the yearly photograph to be of well behaved, well dressed little girls really was the product of hours of coercion, bribery, threats. It was also, in the early years, the power of bathroom words. Telling them to say something that they knew was considered a bad word took their minds off of the fighting between the two of them.

It’s this time of year that I look back fondly on those sessions – some great, some not so much. They are the fabric of our collective past and what makes up a little part of who we are now and our relationship to each other. I’m sure their perspective is totally different – everyone’s truth and story is but we are all on the journey together.

As the holiday season is upon us take the time to look at the little things that make up your traditions. Take out those old dusty family photos (God knows mine are) and reminisce about what was important to you then with the loved ones you have now. It can give you a fresh perspective on the journey you’re taking and bring home it’s the little things that really make up who you are.

Remains of the Day

December 2, 2013December 2, 2013 / handmadebyjo / Leave a comment

The Thanksgiving holiday ends when the soup is done. That’s the way I look at it anyway. Saturday afternoon, after guests had had their fill of all things turkey I removed the meat from the bones and made stock in a very large pot. I strained the broth and put the pan in the shed to cool overnight. The temperature hadn’t been above 25 degrees so it’s as good as any refrigerator.

Sunday morning I skimmed the fat and heated the stock. This is where we come to the rest of the ingredients. Everything that was leftover from Thanksgiving went into the pot. Mashed potatoes, squash, rutabaga, gravy, it all went in. Using this as the base for your turkey soup gives it the most wonderful flavor and thickens it to the perfect consistency. Last but not least comes the leftover bird – and this was one wonderful bird from Diemand Turkey Farm in Wendell, MA. I didn’t add any starch because I wanted to keep my options open since it was such a huge amount.

The soup was simmered for about an hour and then the canner came out. I had to can two rounds because the canner will only do 14 pints at a time. All in all I canned 24 pints. I do pints because many times it’s just one person (or two) opening a jar. If there are more people open more jars. It’s so satisfying to see the fruits of your labor sitting on the counter cooling. Then dream about the soup’s possibilities – turkey barley, turkey rice and I’m thinking dumplings would be a great winter meal.

The biggest treat is tasting this when Thanksgiving Day is a distant memory because this is really Thanksgiving Dinner in a jar – yum!

How We Do It In the Sticks

November 29, 2013November 29, 2013 / handmadebyjo / 1 Comment

One great fire.

Five great kids (and Bill).

You never would have known it was 15 degrees.

The Day After

November 29, 2013November 29, 2013 / handmadebyjo / 6 Comments

If Thanksgiving is all about family then Moonlight Magic (Madness) is all about friends. The day after has always been a day of fun and reconnecting for us with this event. My sister-in-law owns a wonderful little flower shop in the Falls called Plants for Pleasure. For years that’s where the family spent some time setting up the shop for the opening of the holiday season.

Bridge Street in Shelburne Falls is shut down to traffic for the evening with venders on the streets and all of the shops open for business. It seems as though hundreds of people go and many of them we have known most of our lives. It’s a festive occasion and we plan out our eating from year to year strategically. From barbecue to Hager’s fried dough with maple cream there are some spots not to be missed.

Molly Cantor Pottery

Many, many crafters have small shops in Shelburne Falls and this event also acts as an open house of sorts. From glass blowing to weaving to pottery artisans display their wares. It is amazing to me the artistry that is center right here in these small hilltowns.

There is also our visit to the Shelburne Falls Bowling Alley owned by friends of ours from high school. This is really the best place to bowl in my opinion. They have taken the history of this place to another level with the decor and information on the walls from years past. Their bar is fun and the bowling is an experience. This is always on our must do list.

This year the cousins, all adults now, will be descending on the town as well. They love to get together and don’t have as many opportunities as they once did. I’m sure we will run into them multiple times during the evening and all plan to end up in Rowe for a bonfire in the garden. I’m sure it will be cold enough.

This is the kickoff to the Christmas season for us. There is nothing like reconnecting to make things feel more festive. Then to retire to the outdoors in Rowe, looking at an amazing starry sky, sitting by a huge fire, drinking a warmed Grand Marnier surrounded by family is the icing on the cake.

Thanksgiving

November 28, 2013November 28, 2013 / handmadebyjo / 2 Comments

“Gratitude can transform common days into Thanksgiving, turn routine jobs into joy, and change ordinary opportunities into blessings.” William Arthur Ward

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. It has always been about family for us. My extended family is small and widespread but as a child the excitement would build over the weeks before the holiday arrived. Family gathered at Fort Pelham Farm for food and all of the festivities of the season. My aunts, uncles and grandparents on both sides would arrive one after another in the days before Thursday, our 3 cousins as well. There was laughter, food, more laughter. My mother loved this holiday and having her siblings with us.

We would rise early on Thanksgiving day to the smell of Bell’s Seasoning, onions and butter. My mother had risen at her usual ungodly hour and had everything well in hand. My aunt would always bring dates stuffed with walnuts and rolled in sugar. I remember there being a lot of nuts consumed on that day (the only other time we had them was at Christmas or when visiting my mother’s father). We would consume savory and sweet with the Macy’s parade in the background.

An hour or so before dinner was served everyone changed into their Sunday best. It was the one meal a year when we “dressed for dinner”. It seems a little odd to me now but I’m glad we did it.

It is all so long ago and far away now. Most of those players are gone but having had those gatherings every year of my childhood really instilled in me the importance of giving thanks for family and friends. I try to be thankful every day but this day focuses on it.

This year we are having the smallest gathering I can remember. It will be my two daughters, one boyfriend, Bill and I. It seems to be a pattern with many of our friends and family – I think for us it’s about being home. We have given up the long distance travelling. Not so much for getting there but the long ride home.

The bird is in the oven, I started my day with Bell’s Seasoning, onions and butter. There are vegetables to be cooked, gravy to be made. The sticky buns are ready to be warmed. Our meals are always the same, they have been for me for well over 50 years. I asked the girls what they absolutely had to have for dinner and am making everything we always have for 5 people. It wouldn’t be a Thanksgiving without the same things we have every year. There will just be a lot of leftovers – never a bad thing.

Today I am thankful that we have good, local food available to us – some grown right here. I am thankful I will be spending the weekend with 2 of my children who I see less than I’d like to. I’m thankful that we are in a huge old house with a cranking woodstove. I’m thankful for the quiet, the snow and the birds that are gracing my feeder.

I am most thankful for the people in my life. I’m thankful I have a new piece of my family returned. I’m so thankful (and miss terribly) the people that are now gone – they made me who I am and made my life richer.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of my friends that read this blog regularly. Surround yourself with the people that are the most important to you, breathe it in, make it part of that collective memory that sustains you.

Helping Hands

November 5, 2013November 5, 2013 / handmadebyjo / 2 Comments

It must look as though all we do is cut, split and stack wood by the numerous posts about it here. This time of year that does seem to be the case. I have to tell you though that this is one chore that I kind of like doing. It is the one thing we do as a little community for the most part. This weekend we went to sister Sue’s to move some of a huge locust tree that came down at the end of the summer. The tree guys cut it up in place and hauled away the sticks and branches (the worst part of the job). They cut the wood to length but it needed to be moved and split. The morning began with the tractor ride to her house, Bill followed with the splitter. A friend arrived shortly after we did and then Sue’s daughter and her husband.

The tree was at the back side of her house so Bill, Rob and Chuck all loaded the bucket of the tractor and the bed of a pick up with multiple loads and brought it to the door of the barn where we had set up the splitter. Sue has a door in the floor of the barn and we split and tossed it through the door into the lower level. This is really an excellent set up. It keeps the wood out of the weather and is attached to the house so in those howling snow storms she just has to walk down the stairs to get her wood. Not ideal going up and down the stairs but much better than keeping it under a tarp in a field somewhere.

Sue and I split the smaller pieces but a lot of it was huge. The splitter can be used horizontally or vertically. The vertical position allows you the ability to split any size diameter wood (you just have to be able to move it around). One large chunk was split into 30 plus pieces – Sue counted. Moving and splitting went on for four hours or so – 3 tanks of gas is how we measure. The wall of wood was a little intimidating initially, they were bringing it up faster than we were ever going to split it. Bill figures they will get 5 cord or more from that one tree.

This kind of work is fun, especially when you have a group of people working towards that common goal. It’s nice to work with people that have experience, a lot can be done without a lot of instruction. Time can be spent working and laughing. And if you’re with my sister you can bet you will be taking stock of what kinds of mosses are growing on any given piece of wood – I did see her set a piece or two aside for closer inspection later.

Days of Grace

October 15, 2013October 15, 2013 / handmadebyjo / Leave a comment

We are into what many people refer to as “days of grace”. This, for us, is after the gardens are done, the canning is finished (for the most part) and we are seriously thinking about winter. It’s the time between the leaves falling and the snow flying.

With that in mind we brought wood in over the weekend with the help of Amanda and Yusuf. We had to move most of what was left from last year out of the way because it is very dry and bring in what we have been cutting and splitting over the past few months. This is when the tractor really comes in handy. The bucket can be loaded and driven right into the shed. The wood is unloaded and stacked at waist height, it cuts down on the bending over which can really save your back.

The project lasted through the weekend, we figure we put in about 4 and a half cord with a little over a cord left from last season. I can’t tell you what a relief it is when that project is over. It’s one of those never-ending things. The seasons are dictated by cutting, splitting and stacking wood. Trees will come down this winter with the brush stacked for burning. The burn season starts in January and runs until May. We usually cut and split throughout the year when the weather permits – it’s not something you want to do in summer heat. With any luck it spends the summer drying out a bit. In the fall it comes in. It will continue to dry until it gets burned.

Other projects on our list are re-glazing windows. Tightening things up in the house. We are considering a small wood stove for the kitchen in the ell but we will have to see what the next few weeks bring. A little more insulation in the attic over the kitchen would probably go a long way toward keeping it warmer.

The one other vital thing to do is put the electric blankets on the beds upstairs. There has never been any heat up there (except the bathroom) so if we don’t want to sleep under 10 pounds of quilts electricity must be used. There is nothing better than getting into a nice warm bed in the dead of winter.

This time of year always has an anticipatory air to it. There’s pressure put on whatever time you have. Once the temperature plummets, the snow is on the ground and the wind is blowing the mood changes. We are doing things indoors. We spend more down time. This is when my time is spent on handwork. There are so many crafts that I do in cooler weather because they are just too hot to do any other time of the year. I will be finishing up a couple of hooking projects and I will be weaving. Yes . . . lots and lots of weaving.

A Side Note on Shared Experience

October 1, 2013 / handmadebyjo / 1 Comment

I had to post this, especially after the Nature vs. Nurture thing. This is one of the experiences that is mentioned to me the most by my father (and probably sister and brother as well). My father thinks it’s funny that Sue thought we were going to fire her out of the cannon. As you can see she doesn’t look thrilled. This was taken at Fort Ticonderoga around the first of July 1964. Forts were another of the “must see” on our family vacations. What I remember is the cannon was HOT. “Let’s sit the kids on the cannon in the midday July sun”. Probably had third degree burns but never complained.

It’s amazing how this one event has been talked about for almost 50 years – by all of us. These are the things that make us who we are.

Nature vs. Nurture

October 1, 2013October 1, 2013 / handmadebyjo / 1 Comment

Joseph’s Coat

I have been thinking about my family (my mother, father and siblings) for the last few days. How we interact with each other, our senses of humor, our interests. I have always thought that people are who they are because of the lifelong bond they have with each other. The shared experiences. My sister, brother and I can relate to so many things because of the memories we have of situations that closely relate to what is happening now. Or how we saw our parents and grandparents react in different situations. We use our past experiences to make decisions on events or to figure out the social protocol within our social sphere. We also have the same sense of humor. It’s really more than that though, our minds all work alike.

My two daughters grew up spending most of their time with my husband’s side of the family. They have a lot of cousins their own age and we all spent most weekends together. They grew up with cousins as best friends. That’s not a bad thing. My sister has two daughters around the same age as mine. They did not spend a lot of time together because of the distance between us or later because of time constraints. It’s not like they didn’t know their cousins, they just didn’t have the same intimate knowledge of one another as they did with their father’s side of the family. They didn’t really know their aunt and uncle on my side well at all – only because every holiday we all spent with our respective in-laws.

A couple of years ago one of my nieces was home for the holidays. We hardly see her now – she’s lives on the other side of the country. My sister’s family came to spend the day with ours. They brought their dogs. We spent the entire day laughing. Once everyone had left my younger daughter said, “I’ve always felt as though I didn’t fit in, now I realize I was just hanging out with the wrong family!” She had found her place. The place where you really understand your roots, or why you are the way you are.

This was the beginning of realizing that who we are may be more genetic than environmental. For years I tried to fit into my husband’s family but they are not who I am. What we have in common is our children.

Since my son and I have reconnected this realization comes home so often that it is fact to me now. He has never known his biological family until this past spring and we did not know him. The first things noticed were the physical attributes but the subtle, personality traits showed up almost immediately. The day he met my daughters was really a whirlwind but after he left everyone was in agreement – he is one of us. It all fit. For us this has been easy, a delightful revelation each time we get together. We gather him in and never seem to get quite enough, the visits end too quickly, there is so much of us to share. At the same time I wonder how overwhelming we might be. How much do you really want to know about a past that never existed until last March?

Since those first few meetings I’ve learned many things about him, about me. Some things can be looked at as bizarre coincidences but the reality is that we are who we are born to be, not who we spend our lives with. Our interests, how we communicate with others, our spiritual selves, those seeds were planted at our conception and we in turn pass them along to our children. My children just happen to be the ones that have made this so abundantly clear to me.

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