The content you’re looking for is no longer here. We’re finally beginning to shut this blog down, to remove old content.
We’ve chosen to start with essays that are available elsewhere. Specifically, this article has been edited into our book, Sacred Coffee: A “Homesteader’s” Paradigm. The book is available in print, as an audiobook, and in several eBook formats. It contains edited, improved, and expanded versions of essays that used to be available for free on this blog, and new material as well. You can learn more about it, and order it here in your preferred format.
I’m so happy to see your family also sits down at a table and eats comfortably. We have noticed in recent years that some families that do eat together do NOT have a table or flat surface, so after the mom scoops the food direct from the stovetop on to a plate, she hands the plate to the family member and he/she stands up, balancing a plate “in front of his/her nose” eating bite-for-bite; no napkin, no water, no extra utensil, no sale & pepper, no relaxation, etc. But, for the sake of the family, they are eating together!
Wow, that’s determination! When we have company, we often have to eat elsewhere than at the table, sitting in chairs or on the love seat (ironically, we refer to this as “family style,” because of its informality). Our table seats 6, but our room isn’t big enough to accommodate that many at the table comfortably. We have a set of wooden, fold up tables, what we used to call TV trays back in the ’60s. Those help a lot, as well as coming in handy for all kinds of other projects.