It may surprise you to learn that DIY was around before any of this lockdown and pandemic business. It’s true! People were actually doing things for themselves — FOR FUN, at that! — before they got “bored” at home with all this “extra” time on their hands. With this newfound revelation in mind, let us embark on our monthly speedlink, this time focused on DIY style projects you may want to try yourself.

We start off in the kitchen with Davindra Ramnarine of Goat Roti Chronicles. Many “hip” taco joints have been offering jackfruit as a vegan meat alternative for a while. Davinda takes the unique fruit in a different direction with his coconut jackfruit curry recipe. Since jackfruit is so mild, it’s a perfect vehicle for absorbing all of those wonderful Trinidadian flavors from the curry. The recipe calls for a couple of scotch bonnet peppers, but you can naturally adjust to your heat tolerance.

In an entirely different kind of kitchen, James Smith of SocialDad offers his tutorial for how to make a DIY mud kitchen from wooden pallets. Even if some of the quarantine protocols have been lifted, children will still be spending a lot of time at home this summer. That doesn’t mean they have stay in the house. Let them go outside and play around in the dirt, so to speak, with a mud kitchen of their own.

Speaking of keeping entertained and occupied during these unique times, Rob Reid shares some of his creative ideas on the Movember blog. More specifically, he talks about how he’s keeping busy and “connecting with his friends and family” while still keeping physical distance. This is also about maintaining physical health, as well as “creative positive experiences and memories” with his family. S’mores in the backyard sound wonderful.

Looking to tackle a bit of a home refresh project for yourself? Go the DIY route with some inspiration from Reg Lok of Nourish Through Movement. She offers her insight into how you can customize an outdoor bench to match existing patio furniture. If you follow her on Instagram, then you’ll know that she offers lots of home decor and interior decorating type style inspo. She’s got a great eye for this sort of thing (I don’t). I’ve got to say this bench turned out great! Now, if only I had a proper patio.

Feeling a little crafty? Want to add a dash of melodious color to your life? Stephanie Rose of Garden Therapy has a DIY guide for how to make your own beaded wind chime. You can really customize this to make it your own, including using whatever beads, charms and bells you’d like. I’d also say that finding a unique piece of driftwood (instead of a perfect wooden dowel) adds more personality to the piece.

Okay, to be fair, this last one doesn’t have too much about “doing it yourself” or DIY projects. Not directly, anyway. Instead, I just wanted to point out that Ashley Cau interviewed me recently as part of the “How Does He Do It?” series on Modern Mama. In the interview, I talk a bit about our life circumstances, what my typical workday looks like, whether we have help, and more. This series (along with “How Does She Do It?”) is a great way to see how other families manage day-to-day.

So, what is your big DIY project for the summer? I need to get on preparing for the arrival of Baby Kwan #2! Gah!