sheet pan shakshuka

This week, I’ve been in 100% mom mode.

Due to a chaotic combination of my son being on summer break from preschool, my husband Matthew out of town for work, and our beloved part-time nanny going on vacation meant that this week I was singlehandedly taking care of two rowdy toddlers, our fluffy goldendoodle, and a vegetable farm. Oh, and just to make it more interesting, this whole week we were in a legit heat wave, with heat indexes in the triple digits every day. Cool cool cool.

Was this week exhausting and hard and sweaty and did it test every ounce of my patience? YES.

Was it sweet and silly and make me love my two wildly different, wildly blonde children even more than I thought possible? Also yes. We spent the week playing with trains, swinging and sliding (and sweating) at the park, picking tomatoes, going for walks on our country road, building forts, swimming in a tiny blow up pool in the backyard, and watching Curious George while cuddled up on the couch. (To be clear, we also spent the week having epic meltdowns, fighting over toys, falling and scraping knees, refusing to take naps, and generally being a bit grumpy).

All that said… I really love being a mom. My kids are genuinely my greatest joy in this life. I’ve been super intentional about scaling back the farm these past few years so I can focus on our family, and I know that I will never, ever regret stepping back to take this fleeting time with them. And I also know that my work – farming, teaching workshops, writing this newsletter – fuels me in a different way and pushes me to be the best version of myself and the best mom for my kids. So I’ve also had to be intentional about carving out time in my week to work outside in the dirt, develop new recipes, and to write my little heart out.

Speaking of which… bless Matthew for knowing that I desperately needed some peace and quiet, so this newsletter is being written today purely thanks to the fact that he threw the kids in the car and went on an adventure this morning. (FYI, the “adventure" was our son’s favorite activity, which is visiting our local John Deere store where the