Time for substitutions
The past several days in the kitchen has left me scrambling for substitutions: applesauce for oil, honey for sugar, and a knock on the neighbor’s door for an egg. I am out of milk too, so my mind wanders off to a country home with a goat in the pasture. “Yes, then I’d always have milk…” But then I remind myself that I’d probably be out of feed for the goat too.
While they are good in the kitchen, substitutions are not fitting for the task of raising children: full-time daycare in exchange for mom, “quality” time for quantity time, and regular drive-thru trips in place of lingering around the table at home. I was reminded of this fact by two things. The first was that I just finished reading Home by Choice, a book extolling the research on the significance of mothers raising their own children. It is a sad commentary that a book like that must be written, but today’s modern culture demands it.
The second reason I was pondering this idea was that I daily engage myself in the battle of… The Mess. With a houseful of children underfoot all day, the second law of thermodynamics is readily in effect all day long: Energy spontaneously tends to flow from being concentrated in one place to becoming diffused or dispersed and spread out. In other words, the house deteriorates all day long. The train mess in the living room diffuses to the hall and morphs into a greater mess on the floor in the kitchen. And then you find a train track in the dryer days later. If my husband were here to ask, he’d probably tell me that this isn’t the truest meaning of the law, but nonetheless, I think it’s an application a mother can put her brain around. Similarly, the first law of thermodynamics states that you can’t destroy energy. Any mother of a boy already knows this.
But I digress. Time is the only thing I have with my children. The Battle of the Mess will go away, and I will wish for it when I am old. (So the aged women counsel me.) There are no substitutions for time with my children. This morning while the older three were on break from school, they found a snail to rescue from the monsoon pouring outside. They made a home for him. They punched holes in his home so he could breathe, and gathered wet leaves so he could eat. They have given him the name, “Mr. Snail”, and they asked if he can sleep in the guest room.
For now, the Battle of the Mess will wait. I will sign off and find an extra good spot for Mr. Snail in the guest room.
Preferably a place where he can’t escape.
* Postscript: If you tell the kids that lunch will be served after clean up, your house will look spic-and-span in five minutes flat. It just won’t stay that way…
Tip of the day: when you run low on feed for the goat, make him a free range goat and he’ll eat grass. Just tether him or make sure there are limits to his wanderings. :) Good post again, Amy.
Hey Paula,
I assume goats just eat grass too, but I read somewhere that the milk won’t taste as good unless you feed her some feed. The writer said the milk tastes “goaty” unless you give her feed. I don’t know if that’s true or not.
Maybe if KSMilkmaid reads this, she can give me the definitive answer!
Thanks for reading, Paula!
This is so true, hunger is a big motivator! But it does give them MORE energy, lol!
That snail will start to smell up the guest room in no time flat. Trust me. I have 5 little snail resuers! Those critters can put out the STINK!!
I tried the whole “Clean up, then we’ll have lunch” thing, and it didn’t work. I learned that my daughter, while she seems to have a tapeworm that needs to eat every 10 minutes, she can put off eating indefinitely if it saves her from having to clean. I don’t know where she gets THAT from. *scratches head*
You think snails stink up the guest room. You can’t imagine what goat babies and small calves do to the house. Then of course, we have had a chicken or two in the house as well. I have pics for those who may not believe me on my blog titled “Toys who needs them?”
Tis true. Goats need more than just grass. They need grain. Not sure if it is a flavor thing as much as it is a milk producing thing. They need the extra to give milk. Course, I do know all grass cow dairies and some report a wang to the milk. So maybe it is a flavor thing too.
Loved the post.
How funny…I read your post right after telling my kiddos to clean up their playroom if they wanted any dinner…
We’ve had a pet snail for a long long time and it doesn’t stink at all. Perhaps we picked up the non-scented kind? ;)
I see my future, and it is quite messy :)
About the all grass fed cow milk – it really is quite tasty, not cowy at all (raw), but I did have some free range goats’ milk (raw) and I found it to be a tad goaty.
Ah, this post rang so true in our home with 4 boys here (and one girl!). I find that the legos and hotwheels cars are absolutely eveywhere….among other things! I had several children fold 4 loads of laundry and put it away in about 20 minutes the other day :)!
I used to buy goat’s milk for my daughter who has a cow’s milk allergy. We had to stop buying it after a short while because the smell reminded me and my poor daughter of a petting zoo. I just felt too guilty trying to make her drink something I couldn’t even stomach. I was buying the kind in a carton at my local grocery store, but since then I’ve heard that fresh goat’s milk (i.e. straight from the goat) does not have the awful smell.
Kids, goats, snails, housework, husbands, milk……..all tend to go ferrel on you if you let them go unattended for too long:rolleyes_wp:
Re: Post-script
It’s amazing how far a little incentive will go. Often, in my house with my special needs sons, it goes much further than punishment (though, we have that here, too!)
Best wishes,
My mother raises goats. I don’t know whether a goat needs to be on grain if it is being milked. I suspect that the higher calories any mammal needs to lactate might make that true, although no one gives the wild ones grain. Regarding the smell: milk absorbs odors. The “goaty” smell comes from a dirty milking parlor, or barn, or animal. Period. Diet things that will affect the flavour or scent of the milk are things like wild onions or garlic, things with a super strong flavour. My mother’s goat milk normally tastes absolutely fine, but if she lets the barn get dirty you can tell from the milk right away. I wouldn’t drink store-bought goat milk, because I have heard from many people that the flavour is so strong. That tells me it is being milked in poor conditions, and even if it’s pasteurized I still wouldn’t want to drink it. Just a little FYI. :-)
My mother raises goats. I don’t know whether a goat needs to be on grain if it is being milked. I suspect that the higher calories any mammal needs to lactate might make that true, although no one gives the wild ones grain. Regarding the smell: milk absorbs odors. The “goaty” smell comes from a dirty milking parlor, or barn, or animal. Period. Diet things that will affect the flavour or scent of the milk are things like wild onions or garlic, things with a super strong flavour. My mother’s goat milk normally tastes absolutely fine, but if she lets the barn get dirty you can tell from the milk right away. I wouldn’t drink store-bought goat milk, because I have heard from many people that the flavour is so strong. That tells me it is being milked in poor conditions, and even if it’s pasteurized I still wouldn’t want to drink it. Just a little FYI. :-)
Aw, Amy…
You are a sweetie pie.
Forget the snide tulip remarks, ok?
*grin*