the minivan voorsts.: what's up weekly. (beef, canning, and a family reunion.)

Well, hello there, friends!

Long time no chat, am I right?

Last week was a book club week, so I didn't show my face around here because I ran out of time and energy. But look at me now, full of time, full of energy, so let's jump right in!

Lots has happened, starting with a trip to Columbia to pick up our order for a half beef! This is our first time purchasing meat in bulk, and so far I'm loving it. It is much higher quality meat than what I can find (or afford) at the store. I love knowing that my money is going to a Christian who is producing an excellent product, and that our food is grown nearby, keeping our supply chain short. I like personally knowing folks that are actually producing food, so that we depend less and less on whatever the grocery store can get its hands on at any moment. I like knowing we actually wouldn't even have to go to the grocery store for months if it came to that. I anticipate learning more about how to cook different cuts of meat I've never tried making before. And honestly, it just tastes amazing. All in all, it has been a great experience.'

So far, I've canned about thirty pounds of ground beef, and I hope to get some stew meat preserved pretty soon. I'm hoping to primarily just have steaks and roasts in the freezer and have the rest of it ready for use on the shelves. In the meantime, though, we bought a second freezer, since the other deep freeze is full of pork, chicken, bread, and a stockpile of raw butter from the Amish. I'm basically a homesteader now.

I also finished up canning those 50# of potatoes I bought from Azure a while back. I ended up getting 38 quarts of those on the shelf. I've been keeping a canning journal this year, tracking how much canned food I get per pound of fresh, how much I'm paying for ingredients, and calculating how many quarts of each item we actually end up using over the course of the year. All those preserving guidelines tell you to start by calculating how much of something your family uses, but the stupid thing is that I am never really sure. I'm going to try to change that this year.

A canner load of potatoes, and a couple canner loads of chicken broth.

Okay, I get that not everyone is thrilled by food storage the way I am, so I guess I can find something else to talk about.

Okay, what else?

We've been hitting a lot of milestones, such as this one...

...and this one...

Yes, that's right. Atticus is as tall as Todd, and if you'll notice, Todd is wearing slippers while Atticus is barefoot. He has slightly surpassed Todd. This is a weird stage of parenting.

As a punitive consequence for growing too quickly, he now has to give Todd allowance.

...and this one.

This may not be quite as obvious a milestone, so let me clarify. We have been spending so much more time playing outside without coats or sweatshirts; I think we are finally headed into spring. Our neighbor said that it will be about two more weeks of up-and-down weather and then we can consider ourselves out of the woods.

I have been spending an inordinate amount of time dreaming of where I'm going to put some garden beds, and flower beds, and fruit trees on our property. I also am dreaming up what I want to plant in our weirdly bare front planting beds, which I'm sure you have already guessed is making me want to paint the whole house a different color. Obviously, because that's how my decorating plans spiral.

The painting will probably need to happen at some point since all of our siding, other than the stone on the front, is wood and it is starting to chip and peel, but that won't be for a while yet. This year I will be happy with a little tiller action and a few plants. So I tell myself. My brother-in-law and sister said they will come and help me with some of that for my birthday, so I'm excited that there is actually a plan in place. I am great at dreaming, not so great at executing, so it's always helpful to have doers-of-things on my side.

Speaking of Lauren and Austin and family, they made an impromptu visit this past weekend and it was so wonderful. We usually only get to see each other when holidays or birthday parties or some other kind of event is happening, so it's rare we get to sit down and just catch up and let the kids play. So this was just the best opportunity to spend a lowkey day or two with nothing on the agenda. They came Friday evening, and stayed through Sabbath dinner on Saturday before heading home.

Why am I always so bad at remembering to take photos with friends and family? This was literally the only photo we got together.

I love that our house has enough room for more than one table.

I made a pretty salad and I would like to immortalize it, thank you very much.

We will get to see them again tomorrow, since it will be Finneas' birthday on Monday and we'll celebrate in Des Moines this weekend.

Other than that, our week has moved along nicely. We wrapped up our last week of school before Spring Break, and are officially free as the wind blows once read alouds are done this afternoon. Then Todd and Atticus will head to Kansas City this evening for a Beer and Books gathering with the men from church. I think next week is going to be super fun - I will try to get Mommy-kid dates on the schedule, we have a playdate with a family from church, Finneas' birthday and birthday meals will be the highlight of Monday, and I think the weather is supposed to be sunny, if not particularly warm. Our neighbor, a massage therapist who works at a spa/salon, has offered to pierce Ophelia's ears, so that might finally happen. (I have never waited past seven months of age to pierce the girls' ears before; I'm bummed for Oey's sake that she is older. Please be praying it goes smoothly.) It should be a pretty fun week! (For everyone but Ophelia, that is.)

And other than that, all I really want to show you from the week is Atticus' art setup. He is ever and always Very Atticus.