The Backbone of Homemaking
The Backbone of Homemaking, sharing some insight into the core elements of homemaking and the importance of relational influences over productivity within the home.
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The days are getting longer, warmer and a new excitement builds as the time passes. A break from school is on the horizon. Another summer here in our small farmhouse in the city. A place that I can only tell you has become a world of its own. Peacefully tucked away, I stand here in our kitchen laboring over handmade pasta. A special request I don’t mind filling. It is quite literally a labor of love as I was unable to find my pasta maker and so the dough needs to be rolled out by hand.
The Backbone of Homemaking
I realize that it might not be an efficient way to spend an afternoon. An entire meal being made with such painstaking effort when several could have been prepped for the week with the same dedication.
Some might say that time management is the key to running a home well and though that has its place, I wonder what things we give away at the cost of productivity?
What does it cost us when we constantly trade availability for efficiency?
I would say, some of our greatest moments.
I don’t know that my daughter would remember each time I cleaned out our fridge or wrote down the meals for the week or vacuumed the floor. As a homemaker, we know these things are important in a practical sense. But they are not the backbone of homemaking.
What Is?
Creating a home, giving it life through love and offering up our time to things that aren’t necessarily productive but still worthy. Like having the windows open, laughing with flour on our hands and preparing a meal together. To sit and enjoy it afterwords and to let the time pass together.
These are the very best homemaking moments of my life and what give real satisfaction to the work I do for the sake of our home. This might not seem like homemaking but anytime you can bring joy to an otherwise ordinary task or create beauty within your four walls, you are in fact, homemaking.
The relational influence within our home is powerful and having that be a part of your homemaking is what makes a home feel like, well, a home.
Gardening and Other Joys
On this particular day, after our meal, we headed out to the garden to officially plant our summer vegetables.
I don’t know how successful this year will be with the amount of pests I have contended with so far. But I am nowhere near giving up. Having an organic garden can prove to be a challenge all in itself. If you have dared to have one yourself, I would like to share some of my best organic gardening tips with you. Unfortunately, this list does not include gophers and I am at the mercy of professionals.
With so much of the planting put off, my seedlings began to die and I have had to replace them with plant starts. My favorite things to grow are eggplant, cucumber, tomatoes, herbs and squash.
All things I love to cook and have regularly.
Planting a garden always feels therapeutic to me. No matter what is happening, being out in it provides a peaceful calm to my day. Like anything worth having it takes a constant effort and in the months to come, I hope my efforts are rewarded.
Other Joys
I won’t say that everyone has a gardener within them. This might not apply to all but it certainly is a good place to start. Whether we are talking about having a garden, sewing or making jam, the same rules apply.
It is about finding joys and activities you can share with your loved ones that then become apart of your home life. Even if they are not practical. And even if it is something as simple as creating a standing tea time every afternoon.
The point is, make the time. It will one day pay off in ways you never expected.
What am I getting at exactly? I suppose mostly that these things matter just as much as the washed floors and clean laundry.
If you are in a phase of life where moments like these seem like a luxury, and you are struggling to get any form of homemaking done. Let alone adding to your list of things to consider. Trust me when I tell you, that phase does not last long.
Let us come alive to the splendor that is all around us and see beauty in the ordinary things.
Thomas Merton
Children grow fast and enter new phases to enjoy. Before long, they will live life right along side you. That is where a day of pasta making or digging in the dirt matters most.
On the days when you decide to leave the chores for a few minutes and enjoy just being in the moment of something life-giving. Let it be enough. One thing that has always rung true was that there would always be dishes or laundry to fold.
Encouragement For Younger Homemakers
So let me encourage you as a woman whose been homemaking for two decades with a daughter about to graduate from highschool.
Our tea times mattered more than when the laundry basket was emptied or my weekly bathroom scrub-down took place. As I write this, I can’t help but share our tea time with you. Memories like these are treasures in both of our hearts and as such the direct result of dedicating my time to being available to the people in my care.
So as you look ahead at your homemaking week, I hope you will consider adding availability to your list of importance. After all, the dishes will be there when you’re done.
Have a blessed homemaking week!
I hope you have enjoyed today’s The Backbone of Homemaking post and video. For more homemaking inspiration check out our Homemaking Playlist.
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