Involve the kids for
Christmas holidays are exciting but it’s undoubtedly a high pressure time of year, too. If you’re spending more time than usual around home with family and friends, it’s easy to wind up stressed and feeling as though you’ve swapped your regular job for cook, cleaner and caterer. Some organised folk will have spent weeks on their planning and prep, freezing dishes in advance.
How do other people navigate this time of year?
Transform drudgery into festivity
Angela Clifford, chief executive of Eat New Zealand and coowner of The Food Farm, a small organic farm in North Canterbury, has an impressive bio that includes knowing ‘‘how to milk a cow in a paddock, gut a chicken, find porcini and grow field tomatoes’’.
As a mother of three, she also knows a thing or two about how to survive the summer break.
Her advice is to adopt a positive approach that includes the whole family.
‘‘Food prep is something everyone can be involved with,’’ she said. ‘‘It’s all about being together as a family, connecting and having good experiences and not being too stressed about what’s getting done and what’s not getting done.’’
Most children will enjoy picking fresh fruit and veges from the home garden, or a pickyour-own outing to a local berry farm or a scout-your-own expedition to a local farmers’ market.
In North Canterbury, there’s even a local harvest market coming up where you can dig your own spuds and pick your own peas.
‘‘It’s good to get the kids out and being part of the solution. For us, collecting the ingredients