“Coming Home” Blog

We just had our 11th annual CiderFest party!*

When I tell strangers about this party, they usually ask if we serve or make “hard” cider. No, this is a family event!  In this instance, cider is what you make when you press apples in a press, sans the alcohol (if you let it sit a few days, you will have hard cider, though!).

CiderFest, for us, started in 2007. We had returned from Thailand and my husband had retired after 20 years in the Air Force.  Our two oldest, having gotten used to having lots of parties during Rich’s service in the attaché world, I suppose, wanted to have a birthday party. They both have September birthdays.

So, we thought. And thought. And came up with an idea. What if we have a joint party that has an educational bent to it (i.e. the guests learn something)? And no gifts…friends coming to spend time with our kids is gift enough. Right?

And who do you NOT invite? Having a large family, we knew the pain of rejection and people not wanting to come over when invited, for fear of having to reciprocate, and have LOTS of children in their homes. So, we invited whole families, just a few.

What did they learn? They brought apples and learned how to make apple cider. 

Why did we choose THIS skill to teach them, you ask? Because…when Rich was a teenager, he worked for a man who had a woodworking business. Somehow the idea of making a wooden cider press came up, and Rich decided he would make one for his family.  Rich’s uncle, himself a woodworker, and someone my husband truly admired, got wind of it, and told young Rich, worried that it might be too much for him, “You can’t do that!”

Did that stop him? No! Quite the opposite…he bought the kit, acquired the wood, and proceeded to build it!  Having someone tell Rich that he CAN’T do something has the OPPOSITE effect on him. He thinks in his head, “Oh yeah?”  Maybe it was THIS idea that he wanted to convey to his kids. DON’T LET NEGATIVITY GET YOU DOWN OR STOP YOU! Listen carefully to the criticism, make any necessary adjustments, but DON’T GIVE UP!

Well, after 11 years of hosting this party, using the press Rich made at age fourteen (a few years ago our daughter Heather made a second one for a 4H project), we haven’t given up!  In fact, this year was our biggest attendance yet, almost 200 people.

Each year, we add something to the event, and usually end up inviting more new people. Over the years we’ve added buttons that we give away that either our daughter Kaity or our sister-in-law Sandi design, a Battleship game (where teams throw water balloons at a cardboard/wooden battleship floating in our lake), canoe/kayak races, tug-of-war, sack races, face painting, and an obstacle course!

This year, the new addition was a themed party. Normally, we have CiderFest the weekend after Labor Day. In the past, this has proven difficult for me, as usually I attend Parents Weekend at USAFA on Labor Day Weekend. We visit our daughter Nikki, who is now a senior (firstie) there. It is also our biggest sale of the year for our woodworking business, so coming back to jump right into CiderFest prep has always been stressful for me. The last couple years, we’ve been having it two weekends after Labor Day, and this has made me much more relaxed.
This year, we could not do it that way. Heather graduated from Basic Military Training (BMT) that weekend. So, we shifted it to the weekend after that, September 22.

We announced this date to some of our friends, and one of them immediately let us know via social media that this day is Bilbo and Frodo Baggins, of Lord of the Rings fame (LoR) birthdays.
Really? Okay…well… we like Lord of the Rings. So, we thought, it might be fun to celebrate their birthdays. And so began the prep work (while also planning Parents Weekend and BMT graduation).

We came up with LoR door prizes. Rich even bought one of those contraptions that spins tickets or balls around.  We announced a LoR costume contest. We changed some of our CiderFest signs to LoR signs. We also started the party a little earlier…11 am, rather than 1 pm (so we could have elevensies, of course!).  And food…more food, since hobbits have many meals. Just a few little changes. We called our event “An Unexpected Party.”

We even had “unexpected guests,” as our oldest son Josh and his wife Emily and kids from Louisiana showed up on our doorstep the night before.  Rich about fell over, and then shouted, “Hallelujah!  More help!”  I was just happy to see them and have some cuddle time with the grandbabies.

Will we do a themed CiderFest again?  Unknown. Will we host CiderFest again? The question of the year. We ask the kids every year, should we do this again? The kids whose birthdays started it all don’t always come, since they are older and live away from home (but they often come back!). Every year fewer and fewer kids live at home. We had mixed feelings this year. We want to do it, but it’s a lot of work. Is it worth it? Some say yes, some no.

But when one of our friends said his favorite part of CiderFest was getting to work with his grandfather on fixing the hand-cranked 5-gallon ice cream maker that was acting up, we think that’s worth it. And this young man is in his twenties!

Or when a new guest says that three of his favorite moments were when three people fell into the not so warm lake water from the rope swing, we think that’s worth it. When we get hand-drawn thank-yous from kids telling us how much they love CiderFest, that’s worth it.

We tell our kids why we do this crazy party that takes a lot of work to pull off…we want to get outside ourselves and bless others. The last of our children are getting ready to fly the coop (or flee the farm!). As they prepare to leave, we want them to learn and know that life is not all about them. Serving others blesses you!

Lots of life lessons learned from this birthday bash-turned huge event of the year for lots of families…

1. Never give up, no matter what people say
2.  Do something bigger than yourself
3.  Serve others (thank you Rich, Jarod, Kaity, Chris, Mimi and Sandi for all the prep work you did; you are amazing! And Abdel and your friends…you worked behind the scenes, and we weren’t even there! Great bonfire!)
4.  Make mistakes, but learn from them (every year after the party we have a big “hotwash” meeting, where we talk about what we liked and what we need to change or do better)
5.  After hard work comes fun
6.  Get people to help; it blesses them (we love all the people who pitch in and help!  Grosses, Thackers, Gulicks, Baxters, Swensons, Betty, Stocksdales, Katzes, Philip Tinge and the Philzharmoniks…I’m sure there were some I missed…thank you all.  It was also fun to hear of and watch our son Chris getting young people involved to help, as well as watch him in action…thanks!)

I’m sure there are many more lessons. I think we’ll be doing this again. Are you free next September? Wanna help?

*R & R Woodcrafts and Graphics is the sponsor for this event.

“Oh, wow, Mom and Dad, that sure is a lot of junk mail,” says our son as he walks in the house.  We prefer to call it Mass Mailing.  The technical term for it is EDDM (Every Day Direct Mail).

We are trying out a new (for us) way of advertising.  We’re sending mailers out to all the post office boxes at the Air Force Academy.

The fun part was coming up with what to say to hopefully entice the cadets to consider buying a saber and a display case.  I got to use all my college training in English!  And my husband did all the formatting to make everything look snazzy.  We added all kinds of fun flyers and even a special “treat.”  Then we used a focus group (our adult kids) to give their inputs.

Then there were the hours and hours of printing, folding, stuffing, and sealing.

Everyone helped, and I think we put together a good product.  The proof will be what results we have.  Now we have to wait patiently and see…

Hopefully many of you will have these packets in your post boxes soon…check out our BIG SALE for Parents’ Weekend!!!

We made our annual trek to the USAF Academy for Parents Weekend.  For us, this trip is two-fold.  Firstly, we have a daughter there.  This year she is a Firstie (a One Degree or a Senior)!  This is our last year to visit her for this event, kind of bittersweet.  Secondly, we come to see all the parents who converge on Colorado Springs to see their kids!

Parents Weekend is a common event at many universities and colleges.  For some, it is for parents to see their babies (Frosh or Freshmen) who have just recently gone away to school!  For those with children at a military academy, this is very emotionally important, as they have not been allowed to communicate or see their child (except for handwritten   letters) for several weeks!

I’ve heard that at the Naval Academy, they only have one Parents Weekend during the whole college career of a student.  One mom told me that her daughter was upset that she had told her dad several years before that he HAD to be sure and get off work and come to her Parents Weekend.  He was not able to! 🙁  I think originally USAFA’s Parents Weekend was for freshmen or 4 Degree parents, but now lots of parents come every year their child attends the Academy.

During USAFA’s Parents Weekend, there is an informational fair called the Info Fair.  Many rows of tables are decorated with colorful tablecloths and covered with memorabilia such as hats, bags, shirts, and other items for parents to buy.  Parent Clubs and local vendors man the tables.  We, however, are not local, but have been doing this for many years, since we offer a service to the cadets and their parents…an heirloom quality display case in which to put the saber that symbolizes the 4 years of blood, sweat and tears that they put into their education.  My husband graduated from USAFA in 1986, so it has a special place in our hearts.

I love meeting all the cadets and their families, and sharing with them about how important a saber and case is.  Usually one or more of our children come and help me.  This year was my husband Rich’s first time to come!  He wanted to bless his daughter by meeting her teachers and advisors and just spending time with her.  What he hadn’t counted on was how fun it is to interact with all the parents and their children!

We have our biggest sale of the year at this time.  And even if you didn’t make it to Parents Weekend, or you or your child are affiliated with a different school, you can still take advantage of our sale!  Be sure and put the sale code in at checkout PW2018 to receive 8% off your saber case!  Or, if you like our new service, Glass Etching (we etch your class crest or other graphic on your glass cover, on either the right or left side), you get 1/2 off the price of this service when you type in PWGlass18 at checkout.  You can use one or both codes.

And DD, if you’re reading this, we love you and are so proud of you!

1. 

Mmmm…the taste of a ripe tomato fresh from the garden!  I had one today, and it took me back to when I was a kid.  My mom had a huge garden that took up a quarter of our little suburban backyard.  I loved to go out, pick a tomato, bring it in the house, sprinkle salt on it, and munch away!

My mom also canned our vegetables so we would have them in the winter.  I remember going into my brother’s bedroom.  He had two closets, side by side, with shelves that connected them.  One side held his personal belongings, the other side had rows and rows of homemade canned vegetables.

She sewed our clothes when I was a kid, too.  She taught me how to crochet.  I was about as crafty as a rock; about all I could do was make a long string of crocheting!

She made homemade bread until one day, as she tells the story, she broke a nail and it got kneaded into the dough!  At that time, she gave the job to my dad (who had been a cook in the army).

Even though he worked hard all day running his construction company, he found time to make crusty loaves of bread, and juicy peach and apple pies.  He often woke us up on Saturday or Sunday morning to homemade biscuits!

My parents are pretty awesome!  I guess a lot of people did that kind of thing back then; it’s harder to find people being self-sufficient nowadays.

My husband and I want to remind people of what we call “the lost arts.”  Soap-making, candle-making, churning butter, etc.  That’s one of the reasons we have a farm.  The longer we run our farm, Buttercup Ranch and Creamery, the more we realize there is to learn, and how much we don’t know!

But that’s okay…it’s fun to try to do things yourself.  Will you make mistakes?  Yes, lots of them!  Is it messy?  Yes, but you just clean up afterwards.

Our garden teaches me lots of lessons.  When our kids were small, we had a huge garden.  Now, kids are growing up and leaving, and we have a lot smaller one.  It’s more manageable, but still gets out of control.  I am trying to be consistent (my lifelong struggle!) and go out and weed, water and harvest a little each day.  Today I weeded a large patch that had gotten out of control.  It was very satisfying.  When I stepped back and saw the garden as a whole, it still looked like a mess.  But parts are getting under control.

Just like my garden, is my life.  I’m trying to have consistency in lots of different areas.  It’s tough!  But I just have to keep plugging away every day.  Some days will be great, others will be lousy, but it’s okay.  Or maybe one day we just slow down and talk to each other and sort out some issues that have been brewing below the surface for a long time.  Maybe some stuff will not get checked off my “To Do List,” but so what?  Some things are more important.

And tomorrow, I pick back up and start over again.  It’s okay.  It’s good.  Life is good.

How about you?  Do you struggle with consistency?  Or maybe you need to relax and put away your “To Do List”and just “be.”  Be with your friends, be with your family, nurture relationships.  Or just be with yourself and have a little “you” time, working on a hobby or passion.  Either way, “pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and start all over again.”

I’m going to go brew a cup of mint tea (with mint leaves from my garden!) and read a book.  

Did you know that the national flower of Scotland is the thistle?  Noooo…..

My husband has been doing research on his family history and has traced his ancestry to a town in Scotland.  This past Spring, we visited Edinburgh, spending most of our time at Edinburgh Castle.  Such fascinating history!  Now that we’ve discovered the town my husband’s ancestors came from, we hope to go there next year.

While there, we realized that the national flower of Scotland is the thistle.  Thistles are a pesky weed that we fight on our farm!  I guess the thistle is very persistent, and so are the Scottish people!  We want to be persistent in all we do and encourage our children in that way.

So, this year, we pulled out as many shovels as we could find so that everyone had their weapon!  Each family member was given a certain section of our farm and had to dig up every thistle they could find, no matter how big or small.

The plan was to start in one corner of our section and dig up every thistle in a row across the area.  Then we would proceed on to the next row.  When we look behind us, we should see no thistles!

The technique:  stab your shovel down into the dirt, a few inches away from the plant, then dig down, getting hopefully under the root.  Take that shovelful of weed and dirt and dump it to the side.  Pick up the plant by the root (wearing gloves, as thistles have painful prickles).  Shake the dirt off, throw the thistle into a spot where you will put all the thistles (later all the thistle piles are collected in the tractor bucket to be dumped in a huge pile that will be burned).  Shovel the displaced dirt into the hole you have created, and then tamp it down.  On to the next thistle!

I am OCD, and I found it helpful to count my thistles as I dug them.  In a three-day period, I dug 1,180 plants!  Some were very miniscule, and some were monstrous!

It was interesting to watch how each family member tackled the problem.  Some of them would not follow the rules but want to do things their way (hmmm…. sounds like a song…).  They would sharply stab the shovel right close to the plant and flick it out of the ground.  Of course, this way would leave the root in the ground!  Or they would dig a thistle here, wander over there, dig another one over there, and wander back to here.  If they had looked behind them, they would see patches of thistles!

In a previous year, one family member decided that the fastest way to rid their designated patch of thistles was to mow it!  Sure, their patch quickly looked nice while the rest of us were sweating and struggling with thistles.  But this year?  That patch was my area!  So, I had lots of work!  This person saved themselves time and work but made more for the next person.

In the process of digging thistles, I see many life lessons:  1) Do a thorough job so that when you are done, you can look back and you don’t have to go back and do anything over.  2) Do your job well, and don’t make work for other people by your laziness or shortcuts.  3)  Be diligent in the small things so that the small things don’t become big things!

While digging thistles has taught us many life lessons, we’ve discovered an easier (hopefully) way to combat them…a high potency vinegar!  This will be a natural way to treat the problem without harming the environment.  Because of its strength, we must be careful and wear gloves, and only spray it on the thistle, as it will kill everything!  We’ll see if this new treatment works, and there might be some new lessons learned with this new method.