This morning I woke up to snow outside, and my relentlessly blooming Hibiscus gazing out the window, as though it was longing for summer, not unlike the rest of us. It’s May already, and Mother’s Day is tomorrow.
Fortunately the snow dissapated quickly – by the time I sat down to eat around 11 am, it was gone and the sun was shining, but there’s a frost warning in place for tonight, which meant we needed to cover up our delicate baby fruit trees and flowering shrubs. I brought in firewood and sent my wonderful husband to the hardware store to get something to cover the garden beds. We spent about 45 minutes tacking plastic over the trench bed, the front garden, and the baby snap peas and lettuce in the gardens, as well as covering our fruit trees. It wasn’t work I planned today, but I’m grateful if it keeps my gardens safe.
This past week found me overwhelmed a lot. Between work, kids and life in general, plus the fact that my energy levels nearly 5 weeks after last feeling truly ‘sick’ are not back to normal. I have the energy to walk in the mornings, but after work and dinner, I’m wiped during the week. I needed a reset. So on Friday after a couple of morning meetings, I called it, signed off for the day, and proceeded to spend some time doing non-work things like housecleaning and spending time with the family.
This morning I woke up refreshed, and decided that I needed to better plan to get more control over my time and energy. Key to that is a meal plan.
I made a menu through next Saturday. I tried to focus on the things we have, but even then I needed some additions. So then a grocery list, and even found a store with a pickup window for this morning. I’ve been experimenting with delivery, as well as going to the store, and drive-up-and-they-put it-in-trunk style grocery acquisition, and I have to say I like that last one best. I’ll still need to go in stores occasionally, but the combination of meat and vegetables delivered every few weeks plus a few trips out seems to be keeping us well-stocked.
And honestly, while I don’t want to over-buy and reduce what’s available to those that need it, making sure our pantry, refrigerator and freezer stay full is part of my plan now. We are in uncharted territory from an economic and disease perspective, and I am behaving as though an abundance of caution in almost every aspect of our life is necessary. We are in for a long road, and my eternal optimism is becoming tempered. Food, we will spend money on. The garden too – we planted 2 cherry and 2 apple trees this year, and Mulberry and Witch Hazel trees are both on the way. Add to that my lemon tree, which I will work to keep alive during winters in the house, the existing fruit trees, chickens and the garden, and we start to become just a tiny bit more self-sufficient every year.
To our Walden Local Meat subscription, as well as Misfits Market, we now get bread flour on subscription too from One Mighty Mill. Sustaining a more local food supply is necessary, even as we see more and more supply chain interruptions. True, it can be expensive, but right now it’s an expense worth extending for. For those of us who can afford to weather the storm right now, local food and farmers are great places to put dollars. I don’t like to indulge in fear-based thinking, but I also don’t think there’s a fast path out of this. None of us will be unscathed at the end.
But if this is a long-haul situation, anything that gives a sense of control is good. And to that end – the meal plan I mentioned. It helps in myriad ways – I can do food prep early in the morning to ensure that food is ready at dinnertime, just as I am wrapping my work day, rather than stepping away from my desk and staring vacantly into the fridge, as if hoping that amongst the peppers and tofu is a tiny, chilly Oracle with an idea of what we should eat. It means that we’re typically eating healthier, as from-scratch food is almost invariably healthier than packaged. And it means we’re working our way through the vegetable drawer, which is critical to conserving dollars and preventing waste.
So what are we eating this week?
Tonight, a pot of chili, some popovers, and veggies.
Tomorrow my husband is in charge of food, with me trying to do as little cooking as possible
Monday through Wednesday it will be just Eli and I, so one night we will have fish with tumeric-roasted cauliflower, and another night sticky chicken meatballs and sauteed veggies with salad, and then a bbq chicken Cobb salad saved for whatever night is warmest
Thursday and Friday will be kid-friendly, with spaghetti and meatballs taking center stage one night, and homemade pizza another. Either Friday or Saturday we’ll do our once-every-few-weeks takeout. So far, Indian food is the greatest hit, but we also got all the ingredients to make Onion Pakoda, and we’ve mastered butter chicken and saag already so maybe we’ll opt to skip the taking out.
In a world where every choice we make is possibly deadly to our loved ones and to our wallets, simplification is important, as is controlling what we can.
May you stay safe and healthy.
Little House on the Fairy Hill 