Day 314

One of the joys of having a successful garden is plentiful amounts of food. We were blown away with what our growing garden produced this year. We spent way more time than we imagined picking the fruits of our labor. Of course, this also means plenty of food to prepare. I am blessed to have a wife who knows her way around the kitchen. She is also well-versed in canning and food preservation. Every fall, Grandma comes for a full day of food fun with my wife. The ladies spend an entire day (and sometimes more) preparing tomatoes and pears. A bookshelf is stocked with an assortment of deliciousness including but not limited to tomato sauce, salsa, canned pears. While the time it takes to prepare the food we produce is something that takes her away from other things she’d rather be doing, her passion for feeding her family is very much appreciated.

I, on the other hand, am not blessed with a breadth of kitchen skills. I get by, but gaining skills in the kitchen should become more of a priority. It's not for a lack of creativity. I did try to wow her once with a pasta sandwich. She was not wowed.

Though it is early, it looks like our children might follow her lead and be successful cooks. They love helping out, even if it takes a bit more time and creates more of a mess. Whether it is preparing pancakes, creating personal pizzas, or cutting up vegetables, they are also eager to help most of the time. They may even occasionally squabble over the opportunity to help in the kitchen. My wife and I joke that we wished they showed this same enthusiasm in helping keep their rooms clean, chores completed, and backpacks organized.

As time has passed, their enthusiasm has actually started to pay off. They are becoming much more independent in preparing their own food and helping out with more difficult kitchen tasks. They still want to bite off more they can chew when it comes to what they can do to help, but I’ll take an over eagerness to assist over a reluctance to pitch in any day.