13 Life-Changing Homemaking Secrets from The Secret Garden

13 life-changing homemaking secrets i learned from the secret garden [Music] hi everyone jennifer here and welcome back to the daily connoisseur i have a new homemaking video for you today and this one is very special i'm going to be going through the 13 life-changing homemaking secrets i discovered while reading the secret garden i did this with the little house on the prairie series and if you miss those videos i will leave them linked down below so after we read little house on the prairie we jumped right into the secret garden by francis hudson burnett this was my favorite book as a child and in fact this particular copy was given to me by my parents on my 11th birthday it was very special for me to read this book to my daughters and we all absolutely loved this wonderful incredible book the secret garden is a transformational story and it shares the story of mary lennox who is an orphan and she was raised in a very wealthy household but she didn't have any love and because of that she's a pretty terrible person so the book starts off she's rude she's terrible she has awful ideas she acts deplorably but as the book goes on she awakens her imagination her sense of love and understanding and there's a major character transformation by the end of the book for not only mary but her cousin colin so the book is really remarkable and the transformation takes place in the secret garden so in this video i'm going to go through the 13 homemaking secrets that i derive from this book you don't normally think about homemaking when you read the secret garden but of course i view the world through homemaker's goggles so i see little bits of inspiration everywhere i look and there actually is a lot of homemaking inspiration in this book i have a mixture of both homemaking inspiration as well as parenting advice because of course the book deals with children so there's actually a lot to be learned for us parents as well as always i will have library cards down below as well as time stamps in the description box so you can feel free to reference this video if you need to after watching it so i hope you'll make yourself a cup of tea get cozy and let's dive into the secret garden life-changing homemaking secret number one is that an excellent home life can be lived on any budget being wealthy does not necessarily equal an excellent home life we see the examples of both mary and her cousin both from wealthy families mary had everything at her disposal she had maids she had nannies everybody just did whatever she wanted but the one thing she did not have was love and a comforting home life also her cousin colin lives in a 100 bedroom mansion he lost his mother but his father is very distant he has maids he has nannies he has everything that he needs but again he does not have an amazing home life but when you look into martha mary's maid and her family you get a totally different depiction i'm going to be reading to you from chapter 6 there was someone crying and this is on page 49 in my book so mary is talking to her maid martha and martha is describing her home life stories that had been told to her by her aya when she lived in india had been quite unlike those martha had to tell about the moreland cottage which held 14 people who lived in four little rooms and never had quite enough to eat the children seemed to tumble about and amuse themselves like a litter of rough good-natured collie puppies mary was most attracted by the mother and dicken when martha told stories of what mother said or did they always sounded comfortable so we can see that even though mary grew up in the lap of luxury she is intrigued by comfort and the idea that comfort could even be found in a family with 14 children living in a very tiny moorland cottage in four little rooms and it even says they never had quite enough to eat yet these stories that martha is telling about her mother susan sowerby actually evokes feelings of comfort from mary you think that mary who lives in the lap of luxury would not think that an overcrowded little moreland cottage without enough food would actually equate comfort but as we discover comfort is so much more than luxury mary's parents and collins parents tried to buy them comfort so comfort as we will see and hear more about throughout the lessons is something that cannot be bought life-changing homemaking secret number two we should actively cultivate the characteristics of a successful homemaker now what constitutes a successful homemaker well in the chapter called the key of the garden martha who is mary's maid is describing her mother and we're going to see throughout this entire book that the ideal mother the ideal homemaker is found in susan sowerby martha's mother so martha says and i'm not going to try to read her yorkshire accent because i cannot do it so i'm just going to paraphrase in my own american accent if that's okay she said well she's that sensible and hard-working and good-natured and clean that no one could help liking her whether they'd seen her or not when i'm going home to her on my day out i just jump for joy when i'm crossing the moor susan sowerby is known by everyone in the town as having these admirable characteristics rich people poor people everyone knows her by them and it even says in the book no one could help liking her whether they had seen her or not so her reputation goes far and wide and everybody knows about her so what are her good characteristics so she's sensible hard-working good-natured and clean so these are not necessarily attributes that our society appreciates sensible hard-working good-natured clean think about the real housewives series what type of attributes do people look for in those women they look for beauty fame money everything that comes with wealth that's sort of what our society applauds these days but sensible hard-working good-natured and clean are not things that we really think about but susan sowerby was those things she had those characteristics as this excellent homemaker and she was known far and wide for them so we should try to cultivate those particular characteristics for ourselves life-changing homemaking secret number three has to do with attitude so when you are feeling like complaining as a homemaker ask yourself this question how do you like yourself yes so martha is giving more advice and we find that martha the maid is really the mouthpiece for wisdom in this that she gets from her mother so martha grinned a little as if at some homely recollection i'm reading from the chapter called the key of the garden mother said that to me once she said she was at her wash tub and i was in a bad temper and talking of ill of folk and she turns around and says to me thy young vixen there that stands saying that doesn't like this one and that doesn't like that one how does that like thyself it made me laugh and it brought me to my senses in a minute i really like that so this can be applied to homemakers when we are having a bad day and we're complaining maybe about our family maybe we're thinking uh my husband did this or my children do that they won't stop talking they won't do this so what we could do is instead of focusing on what other people are doing to annoy us we can ask ourselves how do i like myself it's kind of like pull the log out of your own eye type thing so i actually really like that and i think that that could help me when i start to grumble as a homemaker about other people well how much do i like myself is there anything about myself that i can change to better this situation that's what i pull from it [Music] life-changing homemaking secret number four good homemaking is joy and wellness listen to how martha is described after she leaves her post at misselthwaite manor and is going to return home to her family it says she went away in high spirits as soon as she had given mary her breakfast she was going to walk five miles across the moor to the cottage and she was going to help her mother with the washing and do the week's baking and enjoy herself thoroughly there is so much to unpack in this paragraph first of all martha is a made by profession so she cleans up after people she looks after people mary in particular also colin and she takes orders from people she is essentially a paid housekeeper so you think that somebody who does that for a living and has a particularly difficult time you know at the house she's not exactly treated well by mary or colin that she is jumping for joy that she gets to go home and do this at her own family home that she doesn't even live in so she's looking forward to helping her mother bake and she's looking forward to helping her mother do the washing and the weeks baking and it says she's going to enjoy herself thoroughly so homemaking really is joy and wellness for these characters you'd think that on her day off martha would just want to relax and do nothing maybe read a book or go out in the garden or see a friend but she's actually looking forward to doing the homemaking found at her home but this can really aid us as homemakers as we check our attitudes and check our perspectives even martha looked forward to walking five miles to continue her homemaking tasks to help serve her family she enjoyed it and homemaking was truly joy and wellness for her life-changing homemaking secret number five the week's baking was done once a week in that very same passage it says that she was going to help her mother with the washing and do the week's baking and enjoy herself thoroughly they referenced this a few other times in the book but susan sowerby bakes once a week for her family it's kind of like the freezer cooking idea or just the batch cooking or meal prep but they bake once a week and then they are able to enjoy those breads muffins treats and goodies all throughout the week until it's time to do it again and i really want to implement this because i believe we discussed this as well in the little house on the prairie series but once a day baking whether it's cookies or breads like pumpkin bread zucchini bread banana bread or even just making your own sourdough or sandwich loaf i love the idea of having one baking day tip number six is more of a parenting tip than it is a homemaking tip seeing as how most of us are also parents i think that this is a really good tip to implement in our lives so tip number six is that boredom awakens children's imaginations i'm going to read to you from chapter 8 the robin who showed the way living as it were all by herself in a house with a hundred mysteriously closed rooms and having nothing whatever to do to amuse herself had set her inactive brain to working and was actually awakening her imagination there is no doubt that the fresh strong pure air from the moor had a great deal to do with it this is just so applicable to our modern age when our children are bored a lot of parents just hand them a screen or turn on the tv at the first sign of boredom and mary had been like that of course without screens they didn't exist back then but back when she lived in india if she was bored her aya would entertain her she would be always entertained always get what she wanted but now she was left to her own devices in this 100 bedroom mansion and going out in the more all day and notice what it says it says uh it had set her inactive brain to working and was awakening her imagination i'm a huge believer in this i believe that boredom is good for children because it forces them to use their imagination it awakens that part of their mind so i don't believe that we should set something in front of our children every time they're bored and and solve that problem for them that just kills creativity so notice that it also says that fresh air is good for children to stir the blood and the mind so if we're able to send children outside to play allow them to go outside in nature this is a huge facet of the charlotte mason homeschool philosophy with the nature study go outside and observe nature so whenever they're bored tell them to do that go observe nature awaken your mind and your imagination and we as homemakers can also take this as well i know that i'm guilty of this not that i'm ever bored but if i ever have some down time i will sit in front of a video or i'll surf the internet or something like that but we should mix it up as well as homemakers by stepping out in nature or just awakening our imaginations in other ways life-changing homemaking secret number seven was that a cozy home full of nice smells from cooking and baking is good enough for a king in the chapter called the robin who showed the way martha comes back and she describes her day off to mary so listen to what she says she was full of stories of the delights of her day out her mother had been glad to see her and they had got the baking and washing all out of the way she had even made each of the children a dough cake with a bit of brown sugar in it i had them piping hot and when they came in from playing on the moor and the cottage all smelled of nice clean hot baking and there was a good fire and they just shouted for joy our dickens said our cottage was good enough for a king so here is the picture of a poor family in a crowded cottage yet the children felt that they were living like kings why because of the atmosphere their mother had created the atmosphere of the homemaker the scents from the baking and from the cooking that created that feeling for them so these children did not feel that they were lacking in fact they felt as rich as kings [Music] life-changing homemaking secret number eight is that children were taught the value of cleanliness this parallels what we learned in the little house on the prairie series as well and uh you know you you see how parents raised children back then and it has changed a little bit this is from the chapter might i have a bit of earth and mary is about to meet her uncle mr craven for the very first time so it says she said nothing while her dress was changed and her hair brushed and after she was quite tidy she followed mrs medlock down the corridors in silence so this is just an illustration but there's a few other parts in the book as well where it shows that children had to tidy up in order to see mr craven or in order to do various things that it was important for them to take pride in their appearance as well even as children so this is something that laura and mary were also taught these are very old-fashioned values and i think as those slip away and people are just more relaxed and casual with how they present themselves that is also shown in how we parent our children and teach that lesson to them life-changing homemaking secret number nine has to do with another parenting tip and that is that children need liberty to cultivate their imaginations this is in stark contrast to modern helicopter parenting tactics that you see today where the child's every single move every minute of the day is scheduled by the parent with lessons online classes play dates um you know activities that they're doing so sometimes children need just a bit of liberty in order to blossom so in the chapter called might i have a bit of earth mr craven is taking the advice of susan sowerby so again here mr craven is an incredibly rich and powerful man yet he's taking advice of susan sowerby who is the poor lady with 14 children so like i said everybody admired her and wanted to hear what she had to say so listen to uh the advice that susan sowerby gave mr craven he says give her simple healthy food let her run wild in the garden don't look after her too much she needs liberty and fresh air and romping about mrs sowerby is to come and see her now and then and she may sometimes go to the cottage liberty here is a concept that shows that that is freedom from an overly packed schedule so they're determining whether or not to give her a governess at this point and she could be in the type of family where she has a governess and a nanny and all day long is scheduled with lessons and uh activities and this and that but susan sowerby says no don't do that let her have liberty let her have freedom let her run around that is going to be where she grows and that truly is the reason why mary blossoms in this book and why colin does as well tip number 10 they drank beef tea to calm down and feel better i am fascinated in literature reading about how people drink different things in order to feel better so we learned about the cambric tea and little house on the prairie and now we're reading about the beef tea and this is in the chapter called a tantrum it says the nursery made the tumble bed and shook and straightened the pillows then she made colin a cup of beef tea and gave a cup to mary who really was very glad to get it after her excitement so i had never heard of beef tea before i assumed that it's more like beef consummate or maybe a bone broth and i asked ben about it too to see if this was an english thing and he said the same thing as me he said he thinks it's like a bone broth so i did some research about beef tea and it says here here's what i found broth aficionados swear that the drink provides them with a laundry list of health benefits including increased energy better sleep plumper skin stronger joints and improved immune system the majority of recipes for beef tea from the early 1800s call for a cut of rump meat it's always rump meat boiled down for roughly one to two hours with water and maybe a sprinkle of salt by the 1860s though recipes began to add textural components and mild aromatics including slivers of butter button onions or pearl onions clove and a pinch or two of salts for good measure and that is from an article on eater so i do like to learn those secrets to wellness life-changing homemaking secret number 11 is that a homemaker wakes up early to be truly inspired in chapter 21 ben weather staff it reads one of the strange things about living in the world is that it is only now and then one is quite sure one is going to live forever and ever and ever one knows it sometimes when one gets up at the tender solemn dawn time and goes out and stands alone and throws one's head back far and looks up and up and watches the pale sky slowly changing and flushing and marvelous unknown things happening until the east almost makes one cry out and one's heart stands still at the strange unchanging majesty of the rising sun now that's a very poetic way to say that if you want to wake up early you will get inspiration and of course this is true as a homemaker wake up as early as you can before your family to be inspired however that will work for you whether that's the time when you exercise or do your devotions or just get your chores done in peace and quiet life-changing homemaking secret number 12 is that successful homemakers are true problem solvers listen to what dickens says about his mother in the chapter called let them laugh and i'm not going to do his yorkshire accent i'm going to say it in my american accent i can't do this in this part of the chapter mary and colin are planning on surprising his father with colin's transformation and so they're trying to trick the staff into thinking that they still don't have an appetite because they've been cultivating an amazing appetite since they've been outside and they think that if they eat really hearty meals and they finish all their food that the whole staff will be talking and they're going to spill the secret to mr craven beforehand so they are trying to pretend to not have an appetite and so mrs sowerby dickens mom is in on it and she has been making them some fresh buns and giving them milk so she says nothing is so good as fresh milk and bread and so that's the plan is to sneak in food so that they still are able to eat but they're not giving away the secret so dickens says here eh mother said dick and admiringly what a wonder you are that always sees a way out of things they were quite in a pother yesterday they didn't see how they was to manage without ordering up more food they felt that empty inside so dickens says you always see a way out of things so homemakers are good problem solvers if they sense a problem they think about how they can solve the problem and this can be especially applied to organizational things in our home but just parenting things issues related to cooking or cleaning good homemakers are good problem solvers and dickens says what a wonderful mother you are because you always see a way out of things [Music] and finally life-changing homemaking secret number 13 has to do with parents and this is so important but the secret is to care about what your children care about so in the chapter called it's mother mrs sauer becomes to meet mary and colin for the first time it says each of them kept looking up at her comfortable rosy face secretly curious about the delightful feeling she gave them a sort of warm supported feeling it seemed as if she understood them as dicken understood his creatures she stooped over the flowers and talked about them as if they were children so colin and mary both they do not have a mother and even though they have every comfort in the world they are fascinated by this susan sowerby they can't stop looking at her her comfortable rosy face she's a pleasant face they were secretly curious about the delightful feeling she gave them so just her presence gave them a delightful feeling this is a homemaker that everybody wanted to be around and she gave them a warm supported feeling so of course as mothers as homemakers this is the feeling that we want to give our family members we want to give them a warm supported feeling we want them to be delighted when they are in our presence because these are the memories these are the feelings that our children will take with them long into their adulthood and after we ourselves are gone we want them to look back fondly on us and the memories and the feelings that we evoked from them and if we're able to do this and and convey this in their childhood they'll always stay with us they'll always want to come to us for advice and be near us for comfort so that is what i took from this and susan sowerby is the hero of this video obviously and we have so much that we can learn from her and i'm very curious to see uh who the inspiration was for francis hodgson burnett um i i want to do some research about that about what that character was really based off of before we end i wanted to read a little bonus clip for you here and this describes their meals i love any descriptions of meals you know i loved describing them in farmer boy for example but this is a description of their breakfast that was made for them colin woke up every morning with an amazing appetite and the table near his sofa was set with breakfast of homemade bread and fresh butter snow white eggs raspberry jam and clotted cream mary always breakfasted with him and when they found themselves at the table particularly if there were delicate slices of sizzling ham sending forth tempting odors under a hot silver cover they would look into each other's eyes in desperation this is when they were trying not to eat even though they were really hungry so they would be able to keep the secret and then reveal it to his father about colin's good health so anyway they were living the lap of luxury their breakfast was delivered to them um with silver covers on just imagine that but then here is a description of what susan sowerby made them which was equally as good full rich new milk with cream on the top of it and a clean blue and white napkin buns so carefully tucked in that they were still hot there was a riot of surprise joyfulness what a wonderful thing for mrs sowerby to think of what a kind clever woman she must be how good the buns were and what delicious fresh milk magic is in her just as it is in dickens said colin it makes her think of ways to do things nice things she is a magic person tell her we are grateful dicken extremely grateful so they had fine dining from the staff at mistlethwaite manor but also dickens mom with her homemade bread rolls tucked into that little cloth napkin and the fresh milk was equally as enticing the main homemaking secret that i take away from this is that good solid homemaking is something that is available to everybody no matter what your budget is and just because you live in a lap of luxury doesn't necessarily buy successful homemaking that can be found in presence and care and attention in liberty in home cooking good attitude and bringing out the joy and the wellness of homemaking i hope that you enjoy my homemaking series if so share this with a friend who you think would benefit from these videos thank you so much for watching i look forward to seeing you next week on the daily connoisseur goodbye everyone [Music] you

Channel: the Daily Connoisseur

Views: 56,000

Rating: 4.9567308 out of 5

Keywords: The Secret Garden, Homemaking, homemaking tips, little house on the prairie, cleaning tips, cooking tips, homemaking 101, homemaking motivation, homemaking skills, homemaking routines, homemaking inspiration, cleaning motivation, old fashioned homemaking skills, homesteading family, homesteading lifestyle, English lifestyle, extreme clean with me, cleaning tips for mommies, do it yourself world, little house on the prairie season 1, Daily Connoisseur, Jennifer L. Scott

Id: l1hW48SCu8w

Length: 27min 39sec (1659 seconds)

Published: Thu Nov 19 2020