Busy Hands Homestead

I have been wanting to make homemade pop-tarts for what seems like an eternity. There is nothing like being confined by freezing wind and driving snow to bring out the baker in me.  "Lets warm up the kitchen and make pop-tarts." To this Ivory promptly responded: "What are pop-tarts?" To this moment it had never occurred to me that she has not experienced a pop-tart, which means that I have no pressure to meet the expectations set by the pop-tarts sold on grocery store shelves. So we started mixing, rolling and cutting. We spread filling into the center of the hears: strawberry butter I canned last summer, slowly caramelized apples that were a bit mealy for eating out of hand and finally a dark purple plum butter that is a reminder of the last warm sunny days of fall.    While snow piled up outside, we ate warm pop-tarts with a side of scrambled eggs and a good strong cup of coffee for breakfast.  It was delicious. To be honest, I don't ...

The raindrops are hanging from the flower buds on the maple tree. The snow is still collected in patches on the mountains that are disappearing into the clouds. Suddenly the chill of winter is gone and the promise of a new season is everywhere. Remember when our entire world covered in snow? When we spent the after school afternoons sledding? Was it really just last weekend that temperatures dipped low?  That schools shut down and traffic was suspended? That wind made our floors creak and blew snow into the cracks of our home? A winter storm, fierce and quick, that moved mountains, changed lives and made us hold our loved ones just a little tighter.  A feat of weather that magnified fears as well as joys. A winter storm that changed the parameters of our yard into a winter wonderland, leaving in its wake giant drifts needing to be dug, explored and conquered  We dug trails and a snow cave, shaped slides and benche...