Mother Culturing: Third Quarter 2025

What we need is a habit of taking our minds out of what one is tempted to call “the domestic rag-bag” of perplexities, and giving it a good airing in something which keeps it “growing”… Is there, then, not need for more “Mother Culture”?

“MOTHER CULTURE” PARENTS’ REVIEW – VOLUME 3

O hushed October morning mild,
Thy leaves have ripened to the fall;
Tomorrow’s wind, if it be wild,
Should waste them all.
The crows above the forest call;
Tomorrow they may form and go.
O hushed October morning mild,
Begin the hours of this day slow.
Make the day seem to us less brief.
Hearts not averse to being beguiled,
Beguile us in the way you know.
Release one leaf at break of day;
At noon release another leaf;
One from our trees, one far away.
Retard the sun with gentle mist;
Enchant the land with amethyst.
Slow, slow!
For the grapes’ sake, if they were all,
Whose leaves already are burnt with frost,
Whose clustered fruit must else be lost—
For the grapes’ sake along the wall.

October by Robert Frost

And here we are at the end of another quarter!

In July, among many other things that happened, the members of the CMER planning team finally took our own retreat in the mountains, which has been a goal for us for a few years now. I always feel so blessed to be among these women. All four of them are such an inspiration to me, and the fact that they call me their friend is nothing short of amazing to me. I am thankful for them.

The second of August found my son and I waking up at 3 am and driving 2 hours west to climb up 1,981 feet in 2.5 miles to the top of Mount Sherman, one of Colorado’s 58 “14ers” (14,043 feet, to be exact). We debated it for a while before I offhand mentioned that B should do a 14er while he was still 14 and that struck him as a good idea. It was an awesome experience and I’m so glad we did it!

August also brought the beginning of our school year and B’s first year of high school. I decided to start us a little earlier this year as the last few years, the end of our school year has been a mad dash to get everything done before our annual horse camp in June. This year, I decided I didn’t want that stress, so we began a week earlier than usual. This also gave us a chance to ease into the school year before our various activities started, so I think it was a very good decision.

And then, just a few days into our school year, B turned 15. 🥺

In September, I turned 45, which is somewhat mind-boggling. That seems pretty old to me. But I also feel like approaching this semi-milestone age has been good for me. Coupled with a lot of things that happened over the summer, it made me think quite a bit about changes I need to make in my habits, how I interact with others, how I think about things, and what my priorities should be. I made the decision to cut back on posting here so I can focus on other things, and I’m trying to make other healthy decisions overall. Always a work in progress.

This was a challenging part of the quarter, but there were good things too. This school year is going relatively smoothly so far considering the big changes we’ve made. I wrote more about that in my planning posts. We have a lot of activities with friends which makes things feel a little chaotic, but it is also something to be very thankful for as we have definitely gone through seasons when we felt quite alone. I am looking forward to moving into the colder and maybe quieter months, but I think I say that every year and then it doesn’t end up being as quiet as I expected. Such is life.

And now on to the culturing!

Read (or Finished Reading)

For Me

The Rescue Artist: A True Story of Art, Thieves, and the Hunt for a Missing Masterpiece by Edward Dolnick. (Read for the Art Book Reading Challenge.) I enjoy art controversies, especially cases of fraud and theft, so I’ve had this one on my TBR list for a while. It was interesting to read about how art theft is even possible and the criminal minds and reasons behind it when it just doesn’t really make a whole lot of sense to steal a famous painting for monetary purposes.

The Nature of Rest: What the Bible and Creation Teach Us About Sabbath Living by Eryn Lynum. Eryn was kind enough to send me a copy of this earlier this year when it was released, and it gave me many good ideas and reasons for taking a Sabbath rest each week. I love pretty much anything that takes allegories from nature, so this was right up my alley. I’m still not to the point where I plan enough ahead to take a Sabbath each week, but it’s still a goal, and this book was so encouraging in that regard.

Zeal Without Burnout: Seven Keys to a Lifelong Ministry of Sustainable Sacrifice by Christopher Ash. Our CMER team leader, Dawn, brought copies of this book for all of us at our retreat in July, and we began reading it together during the trip. When we started it, I realized that between this, The Nature of Rest, and another read from earlier in the year (Sarah Clarkson’s Reclaiming Quiet: Cultivating a Life of Holy Attention), a pattern was beginning to emerge. This is when I really started thinking about cutting back on Everything (as I mentioned above). All three books combined really sent home the message to me that rest is important.

The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 1 by Beth Brower. If you haven’t heard of this series, you might not be in the Charlotte Mason homeschool mom world because these books are being mentioned EVERYWHERE. I wanted a fluffy read over the summer and this fit the bill. Though I wasn’t quite as excited about it as I feel like I should be based on all the rave reviews, I’m assuming it gets better as you move through the series. I may pick it up again at some point in the future.

What the Robin Knows: How Birds Reveal the Secrets of the Natural World by Jon Young. I picked this for our homeschool group moms to read, and had some regrets about that. While it was interesting and I learned quite a bit, it was challenging to get through.

Persuasion by Jane Austen. (Re-read for the Tea & Ink Society Classics Challenge.) Always five stars. I have such a hard time deciding if this or Pride and Prejudice is my favorite Austen novel. They’re both just so good.

Fearfully and Wonderfully: The Marvel of Bearing God’s Image by Paul Brand and Philip Yancey. I am putting this in the “For Me” category even though I started it last year for B’s eighth-grade year. It’s just so good. So, so good. I’m so glad we didn’t skip this one as I had originally considered.

For (or With) the Kids

The Great Good Thing by Roderick Townley. A fun little diversion I read with C. She enjoyed it very much.

Imaginative Prayer: A Yearlong Guide for Your Child’s Spiritual Formation by Jared Patrick Boyd. I could also put this in the “For School” category as it was part of our Morning Time routine beginning last school year. I think it was good and I enjoyed beginning our weeks with one of these prayers as a way to have some quiet, calm time and set the tone for our school week. I also appreciated how it encouraged them to think about prayer differently than just words being spoken. We didn’t really do the activities or extra discussion topics suggested in each chapter, and I think that’s okay.

For School

I managed to get a few books pre-read for Year 9 this summer which has made my prep work each week so much easier! I will write more about these in my school year-end post next summer.

The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia by Samuel Johnson.

She Stoops to Conquer by Oliver Goldsmith.

Founding Father: Rediscovering George Washington by Richard Brookhiser.

Benjamin Franklin’s Autobiography by Benjamin Franklin. (Also read for the Tea & Ink Society Classics Challenge.)

Currently

I’m currently reading Austen at Sea, Metabolism Repair for Women, Triggers: Exchanging Parents’ Angry Reactions for Gentle Biblical Responses, and The Raphael Affair. During my Morning Liturgy, I’m reading The Poetry of Robert Frost and Life Without Lack: Living in the Fullness of Psalm 23. With my son, I’m reading The Two Towers, and with my daughter, I’m reading The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.

Reading Challenges Progress

Commonplaced

Some favorite quotes from this quarter’s finished books:

Zeal Without Burnout

Fearfully and Wonderfully Made

Made (and Working On)

Food

As with the second quarter, most of my making for the last part of the summer and into the fall had to do with food. We are continuing to harvest vegetables (so.many cucamelons and tomatoes) from our garden and trying to find creative ways to use it all up and preserve it. A friend also gifted us a box of apples from the tree in her yard, so we were able to make apple chips. Over the summer, I also embraced Cook Once, Eat All Week, and for several weeks, the kids and I spent some time in the kitchen each Monday prepping three meals for the week which was so, so helpful as we adjusted to this new, much busier schedule. I’m back to making meals throughout the week, mostly from Nourishing Meals (I’ve been enjoying trying her meal plans) and Real Food, Whole Life (great for slow cooker meals, which we do at least once per week), but the process of doing the meal prep inspired me to see how I can work that into our tried-and-true favorites and be more creative with our meals.

Project 333

From not wanting to spend any money on clothing for myself as well as weight fluctuations over the last 15 years, my wardrobe has been a sort of Frankensteined jumble of random clothes that fit, some that didn’t, some I had never worn, some I wore all the time because they were the only thing I liked and were comfortable, and nothing that really went together well. I also hate shopping, have zero fashion sense, and don’t keep up on the latest trends, so I’ve tried a few clothing services over the years as well. StitchFix never worked for me, but I did have better luck with Short Story Box (and it helped me realize that the proper size really does matter). Still, it was more than I wanted to spend, and I’m picky when it comes to fabrics.

So just before my birthday, I decided to overhaul my wardrobe, but with a minimalist approach. I heard of Project 333 (33 items for 3 months) a few years ago, and chose to use that as my guide. I found this helpful post about capsule wardrobes for stay-at-home moms and used it to make an action list:

1. analyzed how to match my wardrobe to my lifestyle
2. made a list of my practical constraints and preferences (which I’ve never even thought about before, e.g., loose-fitting clothes, natural fibers, washable, etc.)
3. figured out my seasonal color palette (cool summer)
4. looked through the outfit guides I’ve purchased in the past for ideas

I also found these videos very helpful for pieces to consider and general inspiration. Then I went through everything I owned, got rid of the things that don’t fit or I’ll probably never wear even if I’ve barely worn them, and made a list of items to fill out my wardrobe that I’ll actually wear and that fit into the Project 333 guidelines.

Then it was time to shop. In the past, I’ve generally gone to thredUP to get clothes, but in recent years, they’ve made changes to their return policies that make it expensive and somewhat challenging to get a refund if I simply don’t like an item I bought. I’ve also had issues with clothes not being in the condition they’re listed as. Instead, this time I went with Pact and Quince (both companies offer organic and natural fibers and have ethical manufacturing practices), as well as Sierra, and I’m slowly building my collection of Xero Shoes. I got several items that I’m really happy with for this season and will continue with this plan when it’s time to build my winter wardrobe!

Moved

Since reading Move Your DNA by Katy Bowman last summer, I’ve been trying to incorporate much more movement into my life. We haven’t gotten to the point where we no longer have any chairs in our home, but I do sit on the floor a lot more often than I used to, especially during school time, and have tried to incorporate other ways to move more (much to the amusement of my family 😊). The book convinced me that, when it comes to movement, “use it or lose it” is very true.

I’ve also been walking around 1.5 to 2 miles, fairly consistently, most mornings for over a year now. This was a goal I had for many years, and I’ve been so happy that I finally found a way to make this work. And, of course, we also have our weekly hikes with our homeschool group which usually average about 2 to 3 miles (though sometimes longer). Another thing that has also helped is being around other people who look for opportunities to walk as well (which is something I didn’t really think about before I met them). During my daughter’s weekly PE class, two of my good friends (who also have kids in that class) and I usually walk as much as we can while we chat. Movement and friends are such a blessing!

I started keeping track of all of my walking/hiking activities on my phone over the summer (also inspired by the aforementioned good friends), so I plan to start sharing my progress in my Mother Culturing posts as that is a way I am growing myself. I didn’t think of this until I sat down to write this post, so I don’t have any stats for July and August, but this is at least a start!

On the Blog

New in the Shop

Nature Sightings

I’m making a minor change to this section as well, as the same aforementioned good friends (they are also very good influences on me!) inspired me to start a “Lists” book, so I’ve been keeping track of the birds and wildflowers I see on walks and hikes. I started it in the spring but fell off the bandwagon over the summer when life was exceptionally busy, then picked it up again at the end of the summer. I’m hoping that posting it here will hold me accountable!

And a few pictures from the birdfeeder camera to wrap up this quarter!