Homesteaders Club

My family loves a good board game. A typical good time at my parents' house includes hours of cooking, eating, many bottles of wine, a veritable sit-in around the dining room table to see who can tell the funniest story, and the conclusion is a rousing game (accompanied by beer and salami). My nephews, August and Isaac, are getting to the age where they want in on the action so we have introduced the all-ages game starting today. 
We played a game called "Camp," it was terrible so don't buy it. I will not go into detail about how poorly conceived it was but I will say that it involved nature trivia questions. I am continually impressed with the fact that my parents seem to know nearly everything about the natural world. This might seem like a gross exaggeration but it actually isn't. When we are outside together they can name what seems like every tree, plant, bird, mushroom, and can go into detail about their particular function in the ecosystem. It kills me. They also have this amazing skill set: knitting, stained glass, baking, wood working, blacksmithing, knife making, building, gardening, the list goes on and on and becomes even more frontiersy. I am 28-years-old and I still feel like I have only learned 2% of what they have to teach me. 
I would like to increase that percentage starting this weekend. I've decided that tomorrow will be my first wood turning lesson. Here's hoping I return to Chicago intact.