The Laura Ingalls Way

When I was a kid, I loved "Little House on the Prairie." I loved the tv show, yes, but before that, I loved the books. I loved Laura, and the idea of being a pioneer. In fact, I'm pretty sure I learned the read by reading the Little House Books. I was homeschooled at the time, and my mom would patiently sit down with me and we'd go through "See Spot Run" or whatever and then she'd read "Little House" to me. If I recall correctly, one day I wanted her to read another chapter and she handed me the book and said, "Go ahead and read, I have to go work on dinner." And so I did. I couldn't put it down.

Here I am, all grown up, and still in my little girl heart, want to be Laura Ingalls. To live off the land and make my own food and, well, live simply.

Being a stay-at-home-mom has given me the chance to explore this more. I cloth diaper. I garden. I hang my laundry to dry. I double recipes and freeze the extras. I make Graham's baby food. And I just finally bought all the ingrediants for homemade laundry soap. I'm not perfect or always very efficient, but I like trying and learning. And today I learned something exciting: CANNING!!

My friend Nancy came over to teach me how to can salsa. We thought about trying spaghetti sauce, but it seemed a little ambitious for a first-time canning session. But salsa was soooo fun and really easy. Nancy was a great teacher, but I especially enjoyed her company. She brought her daughter, Amanda over to watch the babies, but lucky us- they slept the whole time. LOVE long naptimes!

Here are a few pictures to document our fun. The results were delicious!

Lovely fresh tomatoes from the garden.

Lots of healthy ingredients. Some came from the garden, some from the store.

Trying to be Suzy Homemaker ;)

Nancy taking the salsa out of the hot water bath.

Finished product! Lots of yummy homemade salsa. Guess what everyone's getting as a Christmas gift?