Feelings of excitement flash around me as I prepare to breach the laws of the physical world and make my neon green scarf vanish into thin air! From my 11-year-old vantage point, I see my audience is enthralled with my latest magic show given by me and my string puppet sidekick named Louie. Who doesn’t love a good physics-bending show and a two legged blue creature who sniffs your toes, tries to dance, and gives you hugs with his fuzzy legs wrapping themselves around your neck?!
As the show continues, I stuff my regular old neon scarf into a regular old clear cup and, after much anticipation, toss the cup and scarf into the air and voila! One second you saw it and the next (with a gasp from the limp-jawed spectators) it was gone! I’m sure everyone could see my 11-year-old heart hip-hopping happily as my ears turned the color of a juicy beet.
Magic is so much fun! You take something normal and make it extraordinary.
It seems that a lot of “magic” will either make something appear, or it will make something disappear. I have yet to visit, but I’ve heard of a show in the Dells that will shock you by making a car or a helicopter appear on stage. While I think that’s pretty cool, he has yet to see my 11-year-old self make a stuffed bunny appear out of nothing with a flourish and an abracadabra!
My wife makes magic with our taste buds. She’ll say, “Just so you know, we don’t have any food in the house.” Then 15 minutes later we’re all gathered around the table with hungry tummies filling and taste buds that aren’t complaining.
I’ve also seen how a kiss on a scrape or a bump can magically make the tears dry up. If correctly executed, a smacking kiss on the side of the neck can even cause the appearance of a smile.
Every once in a while, we will get an idea that camping might be fun. Somehow setting up a tent, fighting the bugs, and pretending to be homeless while trying to sleep seem like a good idea. The real magic might be how glad it makes you for your bed when you get home.
Laying out a tent feels a little bit the same as laying out my wing before takeoff. The fabric feels very similar, they sound similar, and they smell similar. However, one makes me soar like an eagle and the other makes me sore like a stiff board. I think I enjoy the magic of liftoff and soaring through the sky much better.
The Okie Dokie Brothers have a song that attempts to ease the sore camping back. It goes: “Campin’ is fun, campin’ is fun, if you say it enough, campin’ is fun!” How about that for the magic of delusion.
There’s everyday magic of appearing and disappearing here on the farm too. Every morning there’s a messy barn to be cleaned and I look back with pride at the perfectly scraped, shiny floors. Then in the evening there’s just as much manure to clean as there was in the morning. The neverending, always repeating, need to do it again. My growing crops are telling me that spring is already half gone! The days are disappearing like magic and suddenly my kids are tall!
If you go through the dairy section of a grocery store, you’ll see the words Real Milk on all of the products worth buying. I think we should call it Magic Milk! There’s nothing comparable to the taste, nutrition, and benefits that come from dairy. And let me tell you a secret; kefir is the rockstar of dairy if you’re interested in probiotics, gut health, your immune system and ease of making at home. It even has a twinkly effervescence to add to the magic.
You, Mom, can do magic and make your children feel loved by that look on your face. You, Dad, can do magic and build up your children by telling them you’re proud of them. You, wife, can do magic by telling your husband why you respect him (even when he doesn’t always deserve it). You, husband, can do magic and show your wife you love her by stepping into the house and acting on one of those things that, you know, makes her feel special. Abracadabra! Results are based on your actions, not your intentions.
You want to know how that neon scarf vanished? Let me whisper the secret… NOT! Magicians never share their secrets.
Meet your farmer – Jonathan Gerdes. He and his wife run a farm-to-table raw milk dairy in Caledonia, Minn. If he isn’t in the barn, you can find him dating his wife, playing with his kids, leading youth group, or flying in the sky. Visit gerdesfreshfarm.com for more info.
The Best Lemon Curd
6 large eggs
1 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 cup granulated sugar
Zest of 6-8 lemons
½ cup butter unsalted
¼ tsp fine sea salt
Place the sugar in a medium sized pot, and over it zest the lemons. Rub the sugar and zest together between your fingers; this helps release the oils. Pour the lemon juice into the pot and gently stir it into the sugar.
In another bowl, crack all the eggs and add the salt. Using a fork, beat very well (try to break up as many white bits as you can). Pour the eggs into the sugar and whisk well. Set the pot over low heat.
Cook, stirring constantly until the curd thickens and registers 170 F on an instant read thermometer (or until it coats a rubber spatula).
Slice the butter and set it in a bowl. Place a sieve over it. Pour curd through the sieve into the butter to remove zest and any egg bits. Stir until butter is thoroughly melted.
Pour the curd into an airtight container and store in the fridge. It should keep for about 2 weeks, longer if frozen.
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