The lean, green cleaning machine

So, after my last post, I decided it was time to switch the focus of my efforts.  The weather is not cooperating much for outdoor garden work anymore, and the veggies coming in are storable in their original form (winter squash, potatoes, carrots, garlic) or ready to be eaten right away (cold weather greens).  Unfortunately, my dancing girls keep me hopping to dance practice several nights a week, so my time to get organized is still minimal.  So, I talked it over with my super fabulous boss (hi, Deb!) and set aside this weekend as an extra long weekend away from work.  Today is spent with family, being thankful for what I have.  Tomorrow, my oldest daughter's birthday, will be a mixture of family and planning.  Then, for the next 4 days, I have non-stop plans to declutter, organize, and clean.  I want this house whipped into shape before I head back to work on Wednesday.  I want to come home and have a space to relax in that isn't strewn with endless amounts of papers, unopened books, and little tiny pieces of toys.  I want LESS STUFF!  Really.  Of course, the buyer in me still read all the black Friday ads.  I decided that the only things worth getting were the storage tubs, so that must really mean I'm ready to do this!  (And, no, I will not be at Walmart at 3am for a storage tub...not even if it is less than half price!)
So, with a bottle of all natural cleaning spray and a few empty boxes under my arm, I'm off to see what I can free myself of this weekend!
(P.S. If you have any mad cleaning or organization skills, feel free to give me a call!  I can use all the help I can get!)

Being simple is not always simple

I haven't posted anything in over a month, and it's not that I've deviated from my path.  I just became overwhelmed and a little disillusioned by what my daily life had become.  My passions are the same.  I strive to feed my family on pure, whole foods.  I still maintain a large garden (two actually) where I produce bowls of salad and fresh veggies every day.  Those foods that I don't grow myself, meat, eggs and dairy, I find from local sources so I know the farmers that produce them and the standards from which they came.  My problem is that I have a serious lack of time in which to do anything with these glorious foods.  I love the gardening season in which I dig my hands into the rich earth, seed my heirloom veggies and watch the grow.  I love the early stages of the harvest from late spring to mid summer, when I base our meals on what is ready for harvest in the garden. I started getting more than a little overwhelmed this fall when I had a massive bounty in both my backyard and from the farmers in the area.  I just couldn't pass up the veggies that were arriving and I had plans to fill my deep freeze with bags of flash frozen veggies for use all winter.
There were a few weekend that I did nothing but stand in the kitchen all weekend and wash, chop, and blanch vegetables all day.  I made sauce, I prepared salsa, and we ate many fresh from the garden meals.  The only problem is, this is my side venture.  I still have to work Monday through Friday from sun up to dinner time.  The only time I have to do all this work is on those precious weekend days.  When I started this endeavor, I worked night shift 12 hours.  I had 3-4 days off each week to spend doing these tasks that can take up large chunks of time.  Now I have a few hours.
I am still glad I did what I did.  We have veggies to last for months.  Everything is healthy...grown locally, preserved with no added ingredients, and without pesticides or hormones.  We will continue to eat well for many months while snow blankets our upstate NY land.  Sadly, though, I feel that it came with a price.  Not monetary, in fact we saved a great deal of money this summer.  But, I feel that I missed a lot of time I could have spent with my family.  My oldest one morning asked me why I liked cooking better than her.  That was the last weekend I spent in the kitchen all weekend.
So, the challenge this winter is to figure out how to make a compromise.  It's fine to say you want to live a simple life, but when it makes life more challenging at the same time, is it worth it?  I'm not willing to give up my lifestyle principles of less stuff (which, if you saw my home you would know is my biggest hurdle to a more simple life) and more local support.  I'm also not willing to give up my job to be home more (my job requires the hours that I work and I'm lucky to have a job that I really really enjoy...even on those tough days).  So, how do I blend the two and not lose my mind or the time I have to spend with my family?  I have my mental work cut out for me this winter while I figure that out.  In the meantime, I'm going outside to enjoy the sunshine and then find one of those yummy bags of produce to heat up for dinner!