On the fly here — I need to clean my house and get ready for Thanksgiving! And so do you! There must be something in my genes or upbringing that prevents me from realizing something big is barreling down on me. Every year I get to October and sort of stall out! As I’m 64 years old, I don’t anticipate changing, much as I would want to, I guess.
Anyway, over the years I’ve developed a few strategies for dealing with my need to think ahead without really wanting to.
Read about how to do it here — a timeline for the remote prep and the immediate prep and how to do it with a lot of kids including nursing baby!
A quick announcement: I have so many emails and messages to deal with from readers and I’m so behind… a little thought about when you message me: if it takes me super long to answer you, it’s either because it’s a heavy topic and I need to find time to sit down and give a good response, or it’s something I’ve posted about and you need the time to search for it 🙂
If you have a particular question it’s fine to ask me on social media, and then I can usually give a quick answer. But know that if you DM me on Instagram with something global and heavy, your message might slip down and be lost.
Sourdough Corner
This week, pay careful attention to how the dough feels at the various stages. Can you make it without the recipe — just by noticing where the ingredients come up to on the bowl?
Do you notice a difference in how it turns out, depending on how you shape the final loaves?
Have you tried doubling the recipe?
The School for Housewives
Just to keep you updated, over at The School I’ve started a tutorial about the Four Cardinal Virtues along with the practical posts. We’re up to Justice.
I think it can change one’s life to think and pray about the virtues in this ancient way: the Four Cardinal Virtues and the Three Theological Virtues: respectively, Prudence, Justice, Temperance, and Fortitude; and Faith, Hope, and Charity.
It’s a good way to purge ourselves of the relentless focus on our feelings! Feelings are fine and can be good (they can also lead us astray). They have to be reined in by reason just the way horses are controlled by the charioteer. They can’t guide us or there will be mayhem in our souls!
This Substack is my little project of short, near-daily messages about the importance of making the home and how to do it. So far it’s pretty successful, despite my abrupt and unplanned start, what else is new! Some seem to appreciate the voiceover, which does make it take a bit longer to produce, but is probably worth it.
Maybe there’s someone in your life with whom you could share it? Someone who likes that approach. I would appreciate it if you could send it to one or more people on your list!
On to our links!
bits & pieces
- A really beautiful and paradigm-shifting way of looking at the cosmos: Why the Sky Is Blue. As I commented when I shared it: “If we pull things apart and then ascribe to them the most reduced possible explanation, we will miss their true meaning. Yet it’s right there for us to see! Be like a Medieval!”
- Reclaiming Our Catholic Schools. I know that many of you are involved in Catholic education in the parishes or in the new initiatives for private schools. I consider this effort a logical outgrowth of homeschooling.
I’m sure the books mentioned in the article are good. I also suggest that anyone and everyone read this important encyclical: Divini Illius Magistri by Pius XI: On Christian Education. You can do it! It would be a good book-club read.
As Peter Kwasniewski says, “All educational theories, congresses, reforms, programs, and budgets will be fruitless until they recognize this elemental truth about man’s nature, fashioned after the divine image, fallen into misery, restored to grace by Jesus Christ.”
In this article, The Three Necessary Societies, Russell Hittinger brings out and elaborates on the depth of the encyclical, which in the course of teaching about Christian education, explicates a vision of political philosophy informed by theological realities:
Our framework in social matters should be the three “necessary” societies—that is, societies necessary for human happiness. They include domestic society (marriage and family), polity, and Church. Pius XI, who developed Leo’s vision, states: “Now there are three necessary societies, distinct from one another and yet harmoniously combined by God, into which man is born: two, namely the family and civil society, belong to the natural order; the third, the Church, to the supernatural order.”
The encyclical also addresses important practical matters, often overlooked by eager moderns anxious to start an institution. Do we think about the harms of co-education? Pius XI explains why separation of the sexes in the higher grades is crucial to the healthy development of the child. He also firmly rejects sex education. I highly recommend it from all points of consideration, and any educational theory should begin with a strong signal that it has been read and understood.
- I’ve been trying to warn of the dangers of IVF. This article is dense and will take some time to read, but I encourage you to read it. There is a reason God made us so the child would be conceived in the intimacy of the marital act, in the deepest recesses of the mother’s womb. In His plan, He provides the greatest protection for the least and weakest of creatures. We are venturing into a place more dangerous than the most evil one imaginable when we venture there. We have to understand it because it is absolutely coming up in conversations with people and in policy decisions. Our reactions must be firm, visceral, but also highly informed. There is no “accompanying” or false charity in this matter, which is one of standing up for our very existence and its meaning.
from the archives
- Elderberry Cordial — a nice tonic for immunity this season
- The moral life of the child and how to nurture it (Part 1 of a series)
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Visit me at The School for Housewives and recommend it to your young friends!
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There you will find the weekly podcast done by Phil and me, called On the Home Front. Do let us know what you think!
My book, The Summa Domestica: Order and Wonder in Family Life is available from Sophia Press! Also in paperback now! All the thoughts from this blog collected into three volumes, beautifully presented with illustrations from Deirdre, an index in each volume, and ribbons!
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I love the cheeriness of your green mudroom and the red door! It would make me happy to walk into that each day!
Keep speaking about IVF. It is so important. Like abortion, it is like a black box of vague terms in the messaging- “helping couples build families,” etc. No! It is exploitative on every level, and not even very effective.
So true re: IVF. I try!
I do love the mudroom! It’s not the easiest to take a picture of, because it often just looks a bit flat, colorwise, when really, the green is just my favorite!!
I benefitted so much from your practical advice about preparing for Thanksgiving when I was a new mom! Planning it out in advance and keeping it simple but still homemade and delicious is such wonderful advice. So realistic, so helpful. It always felt like such an accomplishment to be able to put on a festive holiday meal in the midst of all the lots-of-small-kids-and-no-big-kids chaos. Thank you so much!
You are so welcome!
The peek of red/green in your entryway is so very Carl Larsson! I love it! (You introduced me to him many years ago and now when I’m stumped over paint colors I always get down one of his books to remind me of what I ACTUALLY want…)
Oh, that’s high praise!!
It’s completely serendipitous, because that’s the outside door color. It just happened to be warm enough the other day to open it — and the mudroom was relatively clean enough for me to take a picture!
But now you have me thinking… maybe one reason I don’t like how pictures come out is that my trim in there is White Dove, and it’s just maybe too white.
But I hate painting, so maybe I won’t do anything about it LOL
Love it!! I’ve always wanted a red door. Whites are so hard…I love painting but not enough to redo trim that’s not literally flaking off…
I have a sourdough question. I usually make my bread with about 3/4 whole wheat flour. I can get the sourdough to have a decent texture up to a little less than 1/2 whole wheat flour, but anything higher becomes super dense. Any suggestions? Thanks!
I am not sure about this. I did just make an excellent couple of loaves that were about 1/3 rye and 2/3 einkorn, and they were very moist and light.
We can experiment!
Try making a scalded flour addition: take 1/4 cup of the flour and pour boiling water over it in a bowl, whisking. Deduct the water from your recipe — probably about 1/2 cup. Then add another 1/2 cup of water to bring it up to lukewarm — also deducted from your recipe.
When you mix the rest of your levain, flour, and water, add the scalded mixture and the salt.
Add 2 T of molasses.
Do some gentle stretch and folds at the first part of the bulk ferment. Then let it rise.
Put it in the fridge when it is quite risen (probably not double, though) and let it rest there overnight.
Tip it out and gently shape it, dividing into the number of loaves you are making, folding them using your bench scraper, being careful not to de-gas.
Put into your shaping baskets or bowls and let rest again in the fridge.
Bake as usual.
Let’s see how that does!
Will do – thanks!
You da best!!🥰🤗Love you so much!
🥰