Fall is a time of new beginnings for me. Even though we are learning and schooling throughout the summer, we take time to "finish" one year and "begin the next. At the same time that I plan curriculum for the coming year, I take time to review the rhythm, pace and routines of our lives and make adjustments where necessary. One book I often refer to in my musings is Hearth and Home by Karey Swan. Subtitled Recipes for Life, this book is much more than a cookbook. While I find some of my favorite recipes contained in its pages (and you will see three listed below), I return again and again for the creativity and encouragement woven through each chapter. Karey and her husband Monte were featured speakers at the Christian Home Educators' Association of California's Bay Area conference this spring, and we were able to meet for breakfast to talk about creativity, hospitality, and other homemaking topics close to our hearts. Please welcome Karey Swan.

TOS: In your chapter "Homemade Healthy," you speak of needing to slow down, and to be at home, in order for there to be more than maintenance in homemaking. Let's talk about that decision, and some of the benefits it has brought you and your family.

Karey: After I wrote Hearth and Home, I went through a time when I needed to reevaluate my life. We had been traveling for years - gone a week, home for two - so we would basically be gone for a third of the year. This taught me a ton, and what it did was force my lifestyle. When we stopped traveling, it hit me: I had lived beyond maintenance with Hearth and Home and with our traveling, so I knew what beyond maintenance felt like, and I was missing that. I had to start evaluating my choices so that I could get back to that state again. What I ended up using was the illustration of a jar: The most important priorities are the biggest rocks in the jar, and then the smaller rocks, and then sand, which represents the less important priorities that need to fit around the larger ones. If you don't have a plan, the squeakiest wheel will fill up the jar with good things (all of the gravel, all of the sand) but the best things won't be able to fit if we don't know what they are, and do them first. So, I named the "big rocks" for my life, which was a challenge. Naming them was very hard to do.

My first goal in getting beyond maintenance is creativity. I see that we are made in the image of the Creator, and part of being image-bearers is we should want to reflect that in our lives. In naming all of the different rocks in my jar, I had to learn how to be refueled. Home is my favorite place to be, and creativity in my home keeps me from burning out. I don't want to walk in the door, put another load of laundry in, and just put food on the table. But we need to stay home for a while to get beyond maintenance. I used to suggest that people stay home for five days at a time, but that was too much to ask in our culture. So, I encourage people to lump all the errands and "out" things in as few days as possible, allowing time for creativity to happen at home. If you have soccer two days a week, make sure you do your grocery shopping and other errands on those days so you can be home the rest of the time.

TOS: You speak a lot about having people in your home, or being welcomed into others' homes. Let's talk about the value of being in each other's homes, how to organize life so that hospitality can be an easier task to accomplish, and maybe some suggestions for meal ideas or activities to offer our guests.

Karey: I did make hospitality one of the large rocks in my jar, and it requires that I get beyond maintenance. For hospitality to be possible without a lot of stress, you either need to have a plan of what to bake if people pop in, have things ready in the freezer, or have things simplified. You have to think it through. For years, Travis has brought college kids home so it has become a tradition. When Travis went to college, he was really surprised that so many of the kids had never eaten home-cooked food. They had grown up in the fast-food restaurants and with pre-packaged and pre-prepared everything. With a recent visit, I just bought piles of fruit and veggies and made dips for them. So easy, but these students hardly ever eat fresh produce. So a simple idea can be very successful. Simplifying our methods is important. Paper plates can make it easy, or we can try something as simple as serving food buffet-style. That has allowed us to serve large groups with much more ease.

Remember, your home setting does not have to be perfect. If you would only invite people over when it is perfect, you are doing them a disservice. When things aren't perfect, you can bless someone by showing that you re real. Company is what makes me clean my house, though. It makes me look at my house in a different way.

I am trying to remember that if people are staying for more than one day, I don't have to entertain them the whole time. Maybe they need some time for solitude. So, I try and keep living even though there are extra people underfoot. It does alter my days, though, especially with kids in the house, because they are always hungry. Since I don't want them rummaging through the cupboards, I need to plan for that. I have a snack "table" like a dry sink thing that has various jars to stock with healthy snacks like nuts, non-hydrogenated pretzels, dried fruits, etc. People love it, they say.

TOS: Can you talk of the importance of traditions and celebrations in your family?

Karey: God tells us countless times in the Bible to remember. Our family stories tell us that God is in our midst, so remembering them is important. During a dry time in my life, I read Reaching for the Invisible God by Philip Yancey, and he said that knowledge of the past gives us hope for the future, and strengthens us for living well in the present. I just knew that I wanted to live well in the present, and I see celebrating as part of that. I ended up researching the past so that I had a stronger foundation. We celebrate not only holidays but family milestones, history, events as well. Then our children see and value our family's story as being a part of the bigger story that God is telling. They are secure. That is what I want my children to know.

Whole Wheat Thins
Crackers and cheese is a great snack for hungry teens, and making your own makes them a healthy and affordable option as well. They are healthy because they're non-hydrogenated with is the bad "trans-fat." Lately, I've been making them with Kamut flour which everyone likes the best.

3 cups whole wheat flour
1/3 cup olive oil, blended well with:
1 cup water
1/2 tsp. Salt

Mix all ingredients. You could add other spices and herbs. Kneed as little as possible to make a smooth dough. Roll very thin on ungreased baking sheets. Cut with pizza cutter (I use a fluted-edged roller) to the size desired. Prick each cracker a couple of times with a fork. Bake at 350° for 30-35 minutes or until crisp. I usually remove the outside edges and return the cookie sheet to the oven to let the center brown.

Basic Whole Wheat Bread
Bread, rolls, pizza, cinnamon rolls and more can be made from this dough.

Place in bowl:
6 cups hot water (92-110°; can be low especially when using the warm fresh ground flour)
1/3 cup canola or olive oil
1/3 cup honey
2 Tbsp. Instant yeast
(1/4 - 1/3 cup pure gluten)
6 cups whole wheat flour

Mix together. Let sponge for 10-15 minutes til bubbly.

Add: 1/2 Tbsp. Salt

Enough flour to clean the sides of bowl. (I never count. I think this recipe uses around 13-14 cups of flour in all. Each baking day can be different as far as moisture in the flour or moisture in the air.)

Knead for 5-6 minutes (or 8-10 minutes depending on the type of flour used). Place in 4-5 larger pans or 6 medium pans. Let rise until double. Bake 25-30 minutes at 350°.

You can use this dough for pizza using 1-1/2 lbs., or take 2 lbs. dough for cinnamon rolls. Roll into a 12 x 18-inch rectangle. Spread with filling of your choice. Roll of jelly-roll-style and cut with dental floss. Let rise until double and bake at 350° for 20-25 minutes. Remove from oven and let stand in pan for 5 minutes. Turn out of pan to cool on a rack placed over a cookie sheet. Or your filling could be along the lines of pizza toppings but baked in a pan like cinnamon rolls.

Reminder: Karey is using a Bosch. Learn your own machine's capacity.

Chicken Pot Pie
I consider a good pot pie to be true comfort food. Karey's is simple, with a great blend of spices. Yum!

Line a large pie dish with pastry. Shred one pint of chicken in the bottom.

Layer: 3 potatoes, very thinly sliced (3 layers) and 2cups frozen mixed vegetables (2 layers)

Sprinkle each layer with flour, salt, pepper, garlic, and onion.

Sprinkle on spices:
• 1-2 Tbsp parsley
• 1 tsp chervil
• 1/2 tsp coriander, ground

Pour over all: 1 pint chicken broth

Put on top crust. Bake in 400° oven for 45 minutes - 1 hour.

First and foremost a wife and mother, Karey Swan was born in Salzburg, Austria, but raised in Denver, Colorado and Tucson, Arizona. The simple lifestyle she has described in her book allows her time to be a conference speaker, concert musician and a writer.