As if 2020 hasn’t given us all enough strangeness and unfamiliarity, the year is coming to a close with a holiday season that, for most of us, is going to feel anything but normal. We can acknowledge the changes we’re making this year, and how inconvenient and even sad they can be, while still making the very best of it. Continue reading
Editor’s Note: Happy December! As Christmas nears, we’ll be sharing with you some of our favorite holiday traditions. So cozy up with a cup of hot cocoa and enjoy!
Many people have fond childhood memories of advent calendars and candles marking the days in anticipation of Christmas time. A calendar of the month of December was proudly hung in many kitchens and family rooms to share the excitement of the coming celebration. Advent begins four weeks before the week of Christmas and includes two parts: candles and the calendar. Each Sunday of Advent, a candle on a wreath is lit to mark the nearing of the holiday. In some traditions, on Christmas, the final candle in the center is lit together as a family to celebrate the holiday’s arrival. Continue reading
Editor’s Note: With tomorrow being Thanksgiving, we have pie on the mind! Enjoy this sweet photo trip through the apple orchard from Allison Ervin, daughter of Glenda Ervin VP of Marketing. Keep reading to find the recipe she used to make a fresh, homemade apple pie! Continue reading
Important household skills, and the amount of people concerned with learning them, have majorly declined over the past century. Skills such as cooking and baking from scratch, repairing things, growing food, sewing or knitting clothes, and creating goods like candles and soap don’t seem to be on the priority lists of many anymore.
It’s easy to see why – modern times have us distracted with other important things, and to give us more time to deal with these distractions, companies have made much quicker, easier, and more automated ways of getting things done. Continue reading
Each season has its wonderful things about it that make it so great. Continue reading
Sustainability, self-sufficiency, and environmental friendliness has recently hit the younger generations in a big way. All over the internet, thousands of young people are sharing their dreams of one day living a life filled with vegetable gardens, solar power, clotheslines, butter churns, bread baking, and farm animals. Continue reading
In these strange times, we’re all trying to find ways to fill our days and find joy in how we spend them. It’s more difficult now than ever with our options being so limited for how we can spend our time. It’s no wonder that so many people are choosing to take up baking during quarantine! Baking is the perfect way to remain focused and productive, while also taking some time for yourself and loved ones to do something fun. Putting on an apron and getting to work in the kitchen is something the whole family can get involved in. Continue reading
This year has been filled with new and different experiences for all of us. Granted, most of these new and different experiences are ones we probably could have done without. That doesn’t mean that we need to cancel or forget about the events that bring us joy, though. With the coronavirus changing almost every aspect of how we go about our daily lives, it’s important that we take some time each day to do something that makes us feel normal. And with spring having just arrived, one way I plan on not letting the quarantine put a damper on my days is to celebrate Mother’s Day with my mom. Continue reading
Springtime has always been my absolute favorite time of year. Maybe it’s the way that spring marks the end of the long, cold season in Ohio that makes me love it so much. Or maybe, it’s because I celebrate my birthday in May, so springtime is always filled with excitement and joy for me. Or, maybe, it’s how all the woodland animals have their babies in the spring, so I always see tiny ducklings, goslings, bunnies, deer, and raccoons. Mostly likely, it’s all of these reasons combined! Continue reading
About four million people in the world were born on February 29 – Leap Day. On that day, every four years, those people get to do something most people get to do once every year. They get to celebrate their birthday on the actual date they were born.
Having a 366-day-long year is an interesting phenomena that we’ve all grown up with. If you’re like me, you never really questioned it. It has always just been part of life. But, given that this February will include Leap Day, I was wondering why exactly we, as humans, thought it necessary to tack that day onto the year. Continue reading
