My Fall Curriculum, Part 1: Make

As an extension of the kids' school curriculum, I always created family bucket lists for every season of a given year. They mostly listed movies, outings, recipes, crafts, and books that fit into that season, but sometimes they'd include new hobbies or skills we wanted to take up, too. Over the years we've made so many happy memories checking off our bucket list items. 

I also added columns for myself on those lists, noting things that I wanted to work on. Past interests included teaching myself to sew, learning to bake with sourdough, gardening, and improving at photography. I'll admit, the "me" column was historically the most likely to be neglected, but looking back over past lists I can single out 2-3 things that I got to before the next season rolled around.

These days our family can't do as much as a group but we're still making the most of our time together. It often means modifying our plans to include whoever is available at a given time. Jeff and I have also discovered new hobbies we enjoy doing together. 

I'm also doing a lot more solo.  I remember when Jeff saw this season coming years ago and recommended that I develop hobbies that I enjoy doing alone. He said, "You'll feel lost when the kids are grown if you don't find some things you like to do without them." 

Thankfully that change happened gradually, so I was able to ease my way into an empty-nest mindset. Last year, a friend gifted me a copy of Beyond Mere Motherhood and that fueled a fresh wave of enthusiasm for finding productive and new things to do with my time. I like this quote from the book:

"What's a mama bird to do? She is going to go on being a human person in her own right. She is no longer connected to her child by that lengthy umbilical cord. The child is free, but so is she. She must learn to embrace that, and the best way to do that is demonstrate her own joi de vivre in life."

In the book, Cindy Rollins talks about how she continued her own education in the years after she wrapped up her children's.  The chapters, which she divided into categories of learning, delve into her particular interests and details how she sought an education in each. 

As I read, I thought, "This is similar to creating one of my seasonal bucket lists!" 

To grab ahold of some joi de vivre for myself this year, I decided to expand the "me" column and created a personal fall curriculum. I've worked my way through the items since mid-September, which has been a lot of fun and a great daily discipline.

My curriculum has seven columns, each dedicated to a hobby or interest that I want to give attention to. These are: 

As I filled out this blog post over the course of the season, it became enormous. I realized that it would be hard to go back and find one item in the long list of categories and divided the post into three equal parts for easier digestion. 

The first installment covers the biggest category: MAKE. These are the 5-star fall recipes I found as well as crafts and projects that I did. I hope you will enjoy the ideas and maybe find one that you'd like to do as well.

Part I: Recipes

I started writing out seasonal menus about ten years ago, swapping menus every three months. Doing this keeps my current recipes feeling like they are “limited edition” while also giving me something to look forward to unlocking in the next season.

To keep things fresh, I add a few new recipes each year. My strategy is simple: hunt down the top-rated version of whatever I’m craving. I don’t want a “good enough” beef stroganoff recipe—I want the kind that makes my family say, “Oh my word, what is in this?”  That’s the bar. If it wows them, it joins the rotation; if not, it’s a one-time experiment.

I've had a handful of one-time recipes in the past two months, but here are the recipes that made it into the permanent rotation:

Beef Stroganoff -- Natasha's Kitchen

Everyone rated this 5/5. The sauce is so good. Maybe the best sauce ever? Question mark? Make it and let me know what you think!

Recipe notes: 

1. I followed this recipe exactly, doubling for our family size. Next time I will add another 1/2 tsp cornstarch to thicken the sauce more. Not that I minded the texture at all--only that it will keep the sauce in place better, which will make for a prettier presentation.       

2. This recipe is easier than anyone would think! Make sure to have your mise en place all set out before you begin because it goes very fast once you start. 

3. We used 1/2 of a Costco package of Top Round Steak for our family of five adults and had two servings of leftovers, but you could get by with using less meat. Natasha recommends spending the extra money for a good cut of beef, and I agree.

Slow Cooker Pot Roast -- Allrecipes

This is a standard pot roast recipe that we loved because of the sauce. The meat was also incredibly tender. 

Recipe notes: 

Next time I'll up the spices. A lot more of everything! 

Best Sourdough Pancakes -- The Clever Carrot

When I tell you these are the best sourdough pancakes...

Recipe notes:

Make as written, thank me later.

Lemon-Blueberry Tart -- Sally's Baking Addiction

This is a very rich dessert! Several in our family commented on how nice the shortbread cookie crust was.

Recipe notes: 

The recipe says to dollop 1/2 of the blueberry sauce and swirl it into the custard mixture, then reserve the rest for serving. Since there was plenty of room in the pan I decided to dollop and swirl the entire mixture. I'm happy with that choice. We balanced the dense and super-sweet tart slices by topping them with whipped cream. This lightened it up.

Blueberry Muffins -- Culinary Hill

(no photo)

I am not much of a muffin-lover, but these are the most moist and flavorful blueberry muffins ever! 

Recipe notes: 

I made them exactly as written and immediately put the recipe in our family cookbook after tasting.

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Part II: Crafts

I’m not especially crafty. Compared with my daughters, I land squarely in the “efficient but unimaginative” category. Still, I love being in spaces that feel touched by creativity, and every so often I get the urge to cozy up my own. I recently spotted a cute orange garland on Darling Desi's YouTube channel and thought it was a great way to warm up a space. I decided to try it myself:

I’m very happy with how it turned out! Meg suggested I leave it up for winter and style it with pine greens, either woven into the garland or attached behind it—a recommendation I definitely plan to use.

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Part III: Other Projects

One of the chores I'm not very good about is cleaning our *incredibly white* kitchen cabinets. I've never had white cabinets before and discovered something after having them: I'M NOT A FAN. But white cabinets are what I have, so with white cabinets I am content. 

That said, we've been in our home for four years and I have only cleaned them thoroughly a couple of times. That's kind of gross when I think about it, but I really don't think about it much. Problem mostly solved! 

Recently, though, I noticed that they needed some attention. I remembered a Drillbrush Cleaning Set I saw online years ago. You dip the brush in soapy water, hold it up to the cabinet, and squeeze the drill button. No scrubbing! The brush worked better than I expected, getting into all the nooks and crannies easily. Never again will I have to scrub the corners with a toothbrush!

I also used the opportunity (and a sale at Hobby Lobby) to add some greenery on top of the cabinets. Probably need to add a row or two more to make it look fuller, but I think it cheered the space up a bit! 

Our TV has been another trouble spot. Big flat-screens might be practical, but they can feel pretty cold compared to the rest of a cozy room. To fix that, Jeff and I mixed two ideas I found online: a frame and some backlighting. Suddenly, the TV feels like it actually belongs.

After a little Pinterest scrolling, we came up with a plan for the big, awkward wall behind the TV (that’s a later project). Until then, the frame has been a simple upgrade that makes the whole space feel more pulled together.

In addition to these two projects, I also painted my bathroom and organized my laundry room by thrifting shelving and moving other things around. It feels good to be making improvements at home, however small.

With a month an a half of the season remaining, I'm still putting my time to good use. I'm canning garden harvests and working my way through the list of end-of-season outdoor chores--a joy now that we have cooler weather. I still need to prune the trees once they are fully dormant and with that in mind, I'm reading up on winter tree pruning! My fruit trees need to be trimmed back to shape because I wasn't aggressive enough in the past. Hopefully I don't kill anything by trying to wrangle them back. 

I think the magic of a personal curriculum is the intentionality. I'm intentionally seeking out beauty, imrovement, and fun, and have noticed that adding these joyful tasks has increased my enjoyment of all my other work. 

I'll post Part 2 of my fall curriculum next week, talking about the Read, Listen, and Study categories of my fall curriculum. 

Sarah