Scouting

Scouting has allowed my children to learn and grow as well as have some "normalcy" in these crazy times.  

When my son was in 3rd grade, he came home saying that he wanted to try cub scouts.  I was clueless, but went to the information session and ended up signing him up on the spot.  A bit of arm twisting, tear filled eyes (from him), and papers in my lap contributed to this decision.  It was not my choice, but he was adamant to try!  We stumbled through the first year.  New terminology, new activities, new experiences...but Ben and I did it together with the help of many new friends.  I was only expecting to keep him happy not make life changes.  I signed up for a meeting a week to teach him a few things that I couldn't living in a more urban setting.  

The next school year, his brother was in Kindergarten and started the relatively new Lion program.  He has grown to love scouting.  This past weekend, he joined me on a family camp out.  He was the only cub scout, but LOVED being with the bigger "boys".  

Simultaneously, our daughter who is between these two siblings found and joined a Girl Scout group at our local elementary school.  This group of girls are super bright, creative, and fun-loving.  Meetings and events are the highlights that she looks forward too!

Over the past 4 years, scouting has becoming an integral part of our lives.  So when the pandemic hit in March and they declared - NO SCHOOL - NO SCOUTING...I was devastated for them.  March, April, and May were super quiet...no meetings, no running, nothing...

June came and we found that scouting was back in our lives in a variety of ways, but still awesome!

Girl Scouts had an outdoor challenge and then video taped activities for the girls to complete "fun" patches at home.  Bella has worked through about 5 of these.  They are designed for an hour, but she really works on them and adds her own unique details.  This is a positive use of YouTube.  She has done Duct Tape art, Fairy Houses, Pie Making, Upcycled Jewelry, and just started Ice Cream.  This has allowed her to challenge herself to watch a video and complete the steps!

Cub Scouts has returned virtually throughout the summer for TJ.  The regional group has had ZOOM sessions to watch and discuss and learn.  He has done fish, butterflies, bike safety, first aid, and even Zumba!  He looks forward to seeing a few familiar faces and learning something new.  These are like field trips from our kitchen table,

BSA (Boy Scouts) has been huge for our oldest son during this summer.  His small group of 12 has re-united and are having a blast.  They re-created a small summer camp, went canoeing, built cardboard boats, and even did a family campout.  Everything occurs outdoors and 6 feet apart whenever possible but full of FUN!  He needs to see other little humans like himself.  

I know that sports are on and off.  I know that some families are looking for human interaction for their children.  

This is just my personal journey and story...not a paid endorsement.  Everyone needs to find a place in the community to belong.  My family has found scouting!  

We each have to find our ways to survive the pandemic...here is one of the ways that we have stayed "normal".

Ben modeling his new scout shirt

Prizes last night at Peddle Paddle
He peddled 3 miles around Eaton Reservoir on his bike and did a canoe race across part as well! 

Picture from our family campout at Buckaloons

TJ modeling his new helmet earlier this summer

Paper airplanes were a super fun zoom meeting for him

This is how Bella figured out how to roll her pie crust dough out

A complete fairy garden from Bella!  

HERE ARE SOME LINKS FOR MORE INFORMATION:

BSA and cub scouts - start with this website BSA

Here is the link for  Girl Scouts

Elderberry Jelly

Time for me to conquer ELDERBERRY JELLY!  I do not want to lose all this information - so I am putting it here for future reference.

So for 3 years, I have collected elderberries and froze the berries in my freezer.  When we first found them...my husband and oldest daughter dissolved into quoting "Monty Python"!

Here is a meme of the quote:

2 weeks ago - I found canning jars at a local thrift store (new in box). Bonus!  Then I bought pectin sure jell and cheese cloth.  It was time to try some thing new!  

STEP 1: Prepping the berries:

Okay - so I start processing the frozen berries...this means removing stems, sticks, and other bits.  It takes about 3 lbs or 4 quarts of elderberries.  An elderberry is small than an eraser on the end of pencil for comparison!  This was a bit painful since I had just shoved them in a bag over the past few falls since back to school and elderberries overlap.  My husband had tackled a large amount last year which was a great find.

STEP 2: Finding a recipe...

First, I do not have a fancy canner and have NEVER done this...so I reached out to my facebook family and friends.  Thank goodness for lots of great ideas and recommendations :)  I used mixed of many ideas out there!  Pinterest was overwhelming me!

Plus I found these two recipes online plus the ones my friend's posted:

https://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/elderberry_jelly/

https://www.myfoodandfamily.com/recipe/060866/surejell-elderberry-jelly

STEP 3: JELLY MAKING

First I brought about 3 lbs of berries to a boil from frozen.  I mashed with a potato masher (found that at the Dollar Tree yesterday) and then simmered as directed in the links above.   I used the bag of berries that my husband processed last fall!  I still have more in the freezer plus they are almost ready to pick this year.  So I am hoping for a second batch soon.

Here are the berries after I boiled, smashed, and simmered.  Hanging out in the strainer/cheese cloth!

The elderberry juice

Next was the "scary" part.  I had to follow the recipe and work with jars and actually "can" the jelly.  

To make the jelly, I began by combining the pectin, juice, and lemon juice in a stock pot.  They warned me that this can get frothy.  These were brought to a BIG boil then we added the 4.5 cups of sugar from the recipes and a bit of butter.  Again get it to a BIG rolling boil for 1 minute.  We then moved it to our table to make it easier.  

My friend, Jamie, gave me directions on canning without a canner.  Here is what she said "We did not do the Water bath any longer when we make jelly. Follow the recipe on the Sure-Jell package for sugar lemon juice pectin and berries bring to a boil skim off the foam. Keep jars hot in oven set at 200°. Pour hot jelly, into hot jars. Sanitize lids, dry, put on jars, put on rings, tighten, flip upside down on towel. Leave set for 15-20 minutes. Flip over and check for the seal by pressing on center of the lid. NO NEED FOR COLD PACKING"

So here is what we did!  Hot jelly on the table on a towel still in the pot...jars in the oven on a cookie sheet...lids in a deep skillet in boiling water.  I grabbed a hot jar out of the oven carefully.  Handed that to my husband at the table. He added the jelly.  While he did this, I got the seal part out and DRIED (it is the flat part of the lid).  Handed it off then I went back for the ring and dried it off.  He put on the seal and lid then flipped them over. 
Repeat....

Here are the cute little jars!

YUM!

Tips that we learned.  Fill the jars fuller than you think.  Okay - I am corrected - you have to lead some "head" space.  There is a "neck" on the jars to fill up to.  I think that we guessed about right! 
Two adults working together worked well.  Any that don't seal, you put those in the refrigerator first and use them up!  Mine all seemed to have sealed!!!

So hopefully, I inspired you to try a new recipe or process.  It seems to have worked! Even my non-jelly liking husband tried a bit.  

Updates:

My grandmother made jelly with me when I was 5....I wish that I had a memory or a picture of this experience!

Plus I noticed that it was time to start the process over again - back to picking!  I decided to not just freeze a mess but actually process after picking.  I am up two out of the need three pounds already and the trees are super full of more berries.  You want berries to be closer to a deep purple than a light green!

Some of them off the branch!

Clipped off tree

The Digital Librarian's Survival Guide

I have never written a book and really do not consider myself a writer.  So somewhere in the chaos of Covid and online teaching, I decided to join a group of librarian's to write a crowdsourced book.

This was a moment of growth and learning.  The original deadline was June 10.  My section was originally entitled "Building your Tribe", but for cultural sensitivity it is now called "Connecting Through Social Media".  My next fun was taking screen shot videos using LOOM and Screencastify.  The day that I planned out was right after the riots in May.  So find not culturally sensitive posts on social media on that Sunday?  Good luck!

The deadline was extended for sharing it out to allow for additions and editing and ON SATURDAY AUGUST 15 it is now officially LIVE for you to read!

Here is the link to the book.  This allows the creator and mastermind to keep data!

The Digital Librarian's Survival Guide

It was a collection for any teacher, educator, librarian, and even parents.  This book showcases the possibilities in digital learning, but no educator can do it ALL!

Leave a few comments here on what you think!

Here is the cover of the book: