How We Made Strawberry Lemonade Together to Embrace Slow Living
In our modern social media world, everything seems to be going by at double time. Most people are glued to their devices, where their attention is held for about 8 seconds before something new and exciting is on the screen. This constant change and short attention span, combined with the always full schedules and social calendars makes everyone so busy they miss out on the little things. I think that’s why slow living is becoming so trendy. Strawberry lemonade was one step closer to slow living for us this week.
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What is slow living?
Slow living is term recently coined by online authors that represents a lifestyle full of intention. It describes an ideology that aims to slow down, enjoy the moment, be with family and friends in a genuine way. I also believe it’s a desire to disconnect from the information overload provided by the internet. According to slowlivinglsn.com, slow living is a mindset with a history rooted in European cultures over the past 50 years or so.
Intentional slow living in an overloaded lifestyle
Our life is busy and full with ministry, a large family, homeschooling, running several business, and always attempting to create additional income. With everything going on, it’s easy to neglect the things that are most important- our children, our relationships, our home. But with the slow living mindset, we can transition to more intentional life where we purposefully choose our activities.
The Busiest Season means we NEED slow living more
Summertime on the homestead means there is always something to do next. There is no shortage of projects or chores. It also happens to be the busy season for both of our businesses. Everyone is out in their RVs enjoying the weather which means things are breaking. The phone rings off the hook every day with people looking for mobile RV repairs. And with kids out of school across the country, go karts are definitely a huge hit. The karts we sell, the parts we sell!
Convenience isn’t always the best choice
In the midst of all the busyness, it would be so easy to choose convenience. To send the kids to watch a movie instead of helping to pack parts order. Thankfully we don’t have the option of any sort of food delivery, or else I would probably cave to that on a regular basis. I love cooking, but the kitchen is so hot and time consuming! And how easy would it be to just buy the little jar of pink lemonade powder and mix up a gallon for my kids?!
We intentionally chose homemade, fresh squeezed strawberry lemonade for this summer. With a great deal on both lemons and strawberries and a day set aside to just hang out, I know we could make this delicious treat. Plus, Strawberry lemonade always tastes better when it’s made with love by tiny little hands.
Preparing Ingredients for our Strawberry Lemonade
The project started with a case of lemons from Azure Standard. My old year old took the job of slicing the lemons in half, then squeezing all the juice out of each piece. We use an antique cast iron citrus squeezer that a dear friend gave me. She knew that I love cast iron and picked it up at an antique shop as a gift for me. Every time I use it (and that’ s a lot), I think of her and it feels like a little hug from a thousand miles away!
The 4 year old had to be on the table, of course. He switched between dumping the lemon seeds out of the strainer and picking up strawberry leaves to add to the chicken scraps. It took all of my self control not to make him get off the table- but he would have missed all the fun if he couldn’t be up there in the middle of everything!
Zero Waste Choices for our Lemonade
Meanwhile, the 5 year old was taking the used up lemon peels and stacking them into a half gallon jar. As they stacked up, he would take the wood rolling pin and smash them down really well. Once the lemons reached the top of the jar, he would fill the jar up with vinegar and add a lid. Instead of wasting the peels, we are making a huge batch of cleaning vinegar. Yet another intentional, conscious choice that makes up part of our slow living mindset.
The Strawberries for Strawberry Lemonade
Of course, so far we have only talked about the lemon portion, but this article is about Strawberry Lemonade! The 11 year old rinsed the strawberries well, cut off the leaves, and diced the berries to fit into the blender more easily.
Slow Down and take lots of Pictures
Once everything was prepared, the kids were so excited to take a break for a photo shoot. Then we had to clean everything up. Cleaning with kids isn’t always easy-they tend to make more messes. It’s hard to watch and takes a lot more time than just doing it yourself. But I was already fully committed to our day of slow living and spending time with my children with purpose. We got everything cleaned up and got some adorable photos. I believe memories were made in that moment!
Finish the Lemonade Concentrate
While the kids played outside in the water hose for a bit, I blend up the lemon juice and strawberries. After a couple hours of squeezing lemons, they just needed a break! I added the blended juice to a large, heavy bottomed pan and stirred in lots of sugar. The only saving grace in my mind is that it was organic cane sugar. I prefer to make diet decisions with the mindset of “mind over matter”. In other words, if you don’t mind, it won’t matter. There is some science somewhere that backs up my idea that how you think about your food affects how your body receives it. I won’ t list all of that here, but you can research it!
Can the Concentrate in Jars, or make it fresh for the fridge
Once the sugar was fully dissolved, I prepared jars and my water bath canner. I was able to fill 6 pint size jars with concentrate, plus make a half gallon of strawberry lemonade fresh for the kids to enjoy. I processed the jars for 15 minutes. Once I was totally done with the canning process and had my mess tidied up again, I divide up the lemonade into some swing top jars to m make for a fun experience.
How to Make Strawberry Lemonade from the concentrate
This concentrate makes it super simple to make a half gallon of Tangy strawberry lemonade. One pint of concentrate plus 3 points of cold water makes the perfect serving for about 8 glasses of lemonade. We mixed ours in a half gallon mason jar, which would have been a great way to store it int he fridge. To make our more fun, We portioned our strawberry lemonade out into 8 one swing top jars. I haven’t tried it, but I’m thinking you could add whey, water kefir, a ginger bug or some kombucha at this point. You could leave the jars on the counter with the swing top sealed and add some probiotics and carbonation!
Results of making Strawberry Lemonade with a bunch of kids
The strawberry lemonade turned out beautifully! The kids thought it was delicious and we proceeded with another photoshoot! By the end of the day, we were all worn out and enjoying our cold strawberry lemonade. This is definitely a recipe we will make again and again over the coming summer months. And thankfully we have 6 servings put on the shelf for days when we can’t enjoy slow living and need convenience.
