A Quiet Start to Autumn at Home

As the weather turns colder, Mariam uses a quiet day at home for ordinary homemaking rather than a big cooking project. She refreshes a shaded garden bed with compost and a slow-release fertilizer, plants spinach and a small lettuce from seed strips, and trims back mint that has gone dormant.

In the kitchen she slow-cooks a lamb roast on low for about seven and a half hours and makes a small batch of mashed potatoes with warm milk, butter, salt, and cheese, including cheddar. She keeps the potatoes thick rather than runny. Dinner is the lamb with those potatoes and steamed frozen string beans. She also hangs stained kitchen towels and baby clothes in the sun, boils a washed cheesecloth, and builds a simple arrangement from cut supermarket flowers.