Cooking in the West

Teacher Appreciation Week is this week, and there are not enough words in the English language for me to express my appreciation for not only teachers, but the paraprofessionals, administrators, school staff members, janitors, bus drivers, and lunch ladies who have survived Covid and now face another pandemic--lack of respect for educators. Just a couple years ago, we were in Covid lockdown and suddenly parents developed a new respect for teachers. Two years later, educators find themselves under seige because of national media attention regarding topics like the teaching of Critical Race Theory, gender sensitive curriculum, and other controversial topics that just do not exist in our state. Even though our schools have been in person for all but the last couple months of the 2019-2020 school year, educators in Montana have been castigated because teacher's unions in liberal states wanted to keep school remote and/or require masks. In my 41 years as an educator, I have not witnessed anti-teacher sentiment at the level that exists today, and it is primarily fueled by negative national media coverage.

I would like to roll the clock back two years during the Covid lockdown when this was the type of respect teachers received on social media: “Dear Teacher, Next year, I don't care if you make the student supply list ten pages long. I will get whatever you ask for. You want eight dozen pre-sharpened Ticonderoga pencils? They're yours. You want 27 single subject notebooks with real dragon skin covers? I got you! Fifty bottles of hand sanitizer? Seems reasonable. A baby unicorn? I'll make it happen. Whatever you want. Let me know if you have any food restrictions, because I am hiring you a personal chef. Do you want a masseuse to rub your shoulders while you grade papers? Because I can make it happen for you, My Queen!

These kids are rotten. nerve-wracking little monsters! These angels that God sent us to educate our children are rock stars, and we do not give them enough credit... or money. They should all be driving Bentleys or better yet a Rolls-Royce with a driver. They should be living in 5000 square foot mansions with swimming pools. So, teachers, thank you. I know I gave birth to them, but you are going to have to come get your kids before I lose my ever-loving mind! Sincerely, A Mama Who Has Had Enough of These Little Heathens.

I myself was tasked with educating my three grandsons at home, and these were my thoughts regarding teacher appreciation during lockdown: As we head into our sixth week of Covid-19 school closure, I am pretty sure a lot of parents are praying that schools will reopen sooner rather than later. Teacher Appreciation Week is this first week of May, and I have a hunch there is a whole lot more appreciation for teachers now than there has been in the recent past.

Here in our home school as the weather warms up, we are shifting a bit from home crisis schooling to trade schooling. Last week, we took field trips to the barn to clean calving pens, and we did a landscaping lesson as we raked the yard and cleaned the flower beds. We also had a brief lesson in First Aid treating the blisters that popped up on their tender little fingers fairly early in the landscaping lesson. To make up for last week's rather unpopular and slightly painful field experiences, this week we have a field trip planned to a fishing hole, because we can justify it as Alex will be missing the annual fourth grade Daly Lake fishing field trip. We are also averaging baking five batches of cookies per week so we can surpass the crisis school Family Consumer Science baking standard for comfort food.

We have been exploring the sustainable organic food procurement curriculum without excellent results. When we ventured to Murdoch's to buy baby chicks, they had sold out in the first few hours. It has been 25 years since we raised chickens, but I thought it might be fun and practical for the boys to raise some layers and some fryers. Then we did a real life math lesson, and we figured that if we bought one of those cute chicken coops, the feed, the feeder, the waterer, the heat lamp, and all of the necessary equipment to raise 5 fryers and 5 layers, it would cost us $32.96 per chicken if we had zero death loss. On the bright side, we would lose less per chicken than we do per head of cattle that we raise.

The boys suggested that we could try milking one of those non-profit cows. I suggested that would be a good project for them to pursue with Grandpa. Grandpa suggested something that is not really printable in response to that suggestion. We did buy some cream to make ice cream and butter, but that was about the extent of our practical dairy exploratory lesson.

Meanwhile, we continue our attempt to master the technology required for crisis schooling.There are a lot of amazing apps that allow teachers to connect with and even assess their students. Our elementary music teacher uses the Seesaw app to reach out to her students. For my grandson Alex, who is a fourth grader, she presents a recorder lesson on a video, and then the students are supposed to record themselves playing the lesson in response. In a perfect world this would be idyllic. In the real world, the student watches the video, tries successfully to wrestle his recorder away from his five year old brother, practices a few times, and is ready for the recording. Grandma counts down, pushes the green record button, and Alex begins to play F sharp, F, F sharp, F, just as his five year old brother grabs an oversized red plastic baseball bat and proceeds to attack a spider on the wall directly behind the recorder playing child effectively photo bombing and loudly interrupting the video shot. At least part of this chaos is captured on the video before Grandma pushes stop, and the video is shipped via the magic of the internet off to the teacher. Who knows what Mrs. Terland thought when she received Alex's video. Fortunately, she has three small children of her own, so perhaps she won't judge us too harshly.

So if you appreciate your child's teacher and other school staff members, please consider giving them some extra appreciation this year, because in general educators are not feeling the love right now.

This week, I am sharing my grandson's approved favorite cookie recipes, because cookies cure everything--even blisters!

Cherry Chocolate Shortbread Cookies:

1 C. softened butter

1/2 C, powdered sugar

1/2 T. vanilla extract

2 C. all-purpose flour

1/2 t. salt

3/4 C. maraschino cherries-chopped(spread cherries on paper towel to drain well or you can use dried maraschino cherries)

2/3 C. chocolate chips

Mix flour and salt, set aside. Cream butter with powdered sugar; mix in vanilla. Add flour and salt mixture and mix until it starts forming larger clumps. Mix in chocolate chips and maraschino cherries. Form the dough into a log and press it well or it will crumble when you slice the cookies (the log should be about 2 inch thick) Wrap it in the plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for at least 1-2 hours. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees and line the baking sheet with parchment paper. Cut the log into 1/4 or 1/3 inch thick slices (if the slices crumble, press it back together with your hands) and place them onto a baking sheet with one inch of space between. Bake the cookies for 10– 15 minutes (until they just start to turn lightly golden brown on top). Let them cool for 5 minutes on a baking sheet before transferring them to a rack to cool completely.

Grandma Carol Metcalf’s Heath Bar Cookies:

1 C. butter

1/3 C. white sugar

1 beaten egg

3 C. flour

1 t. soda

1/2 t. salt

1 t. vanilla

6 Heath bars, chopped

Cream butter and sugar. Add egg and vanilla. Mix in flour, soda, and salt. Fold in chopped Heath bars. Chill overnight or for a few hours. Shape into a roll and slice 1/4 inch thick. Bake at 350 degrees for 9 minutes.

Grandma Florence Roberts’ Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies:

2/3 C. sugar

2/3 C. Crisco shortening

2 eggs, unbeaten

1 C. ripe mashed bananas (about 2)

1/3 C. milk

1 t. vanilla

2 2/3 C. flour

2 t. baking powder

1/4 t. soda

1/2 t. salt

1 bag milk chocolate chips

Cream Crisco and sugar. Add eggs, milk, vanilla, and bananas. Stir in flour, baking powder, soda, salt, and then stir in chips. Drop by teaspoon on a greased cookie sheet. Bake for about 10 minutes at 350 degrees. The bottom and edges should be light brown. They will remain light colored and moist. Be careful not to overbake them!