Ours

It's happened so frequently lately.  It's ours. All ours. From the veggies to the herbs to the eggs to the milk to the cheese.  So many combinations are possible. This is what I dreamed when I started this journey to all homegrown 11 years ago. It feels weird, good, humbling, out there, exciting and right. Mostly right.

Decor

"Decorating for the holidays" is their favorite plan of the day as of late.  They spent all this time coloring bits of paper as black cats, ghosts and bats and hanging the paper around the house for Halloween.  Today they wanted to add beaks and legs to painted rocks so they'd look like turkeys. Friends came over and we made more fall decorations, which Adrian declared was the "Specialist part of his day" and Audra loved doing crafts with her "best friends" (thank you!).  And then there's talk about those pumpkins and redecorating them. Glad we didn't carve them, as this will be the third go around. Wash and repaint. Why not?  Tis the season to get decorated anyway.

At play

Goodness, how they play. It's so different. He organizes everything.  Here he collected some of his cow possessions and set up a store. I can buy whatever I want, only all I can do is hold it for a little bit of time before I have to give it back.

She is entirely different. She likes to heap things in the center of the room to what looks like a colossal mess to me.  She then creates something elaborate and wonderful out of the chaos.  Here she had all of her children she was caring for, she was the mama.

Reminds me of this quote: "You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation."

I just love how their personalities are so different and they each create some wonderful play how they know best. No way is better or worse, but each is entirely perfect for them. 

Children need the freedom to play and adults need to look in and smile at their creations.  It does a heart good.

Gardening 2015: Update 9

Gardening 2015: Take One
Take two.
Take three.
Take four.
Take five.
Update 6
Update 7
Update 8

Onto the final update.

It is so crazy that this garden looked like this August 8th.

And now, slipping into the Maine tundra time, it looks a bit more barren.

 Every couple of days, I've been adding another wheelbarrow of manure to it.  Plus I let the cows out there to graze.

 

 

No gardening year is without it's share of headaches/trials, but all in all, it was a pretty good year.  Last year with the junky soil and not dedicating too much time, I stopped weighing the produce when fall hit, at 250 pounds. 

This year, after 7 truckloads of horse manure and four truckloads of grass clippings as mulch, I more than doubled the yield.  I stopped counting at 700 pounds.  That's 700 pounds of food that I have brought from the garden to my kitchen for preserving/canning/consuming.  Might not seem like a lot to some folks, but it is a celebration to me.  I'm a day job working, farming, hand milking, homeschooling mom of two and I managed to grow (mostly from seed!) 700 pounds of food that directly feeds my family.  Feels a bit victorious.  

Still growing out there are collard greens, a whole bunch of volunteer plants.
 Plus volunteer peas.  Probably won't end up with any peas before the snow, but it's fun watching something grow out there.

 Plus lots of kale. And parsnips. I love parsnips. Brussel Sprouts too.

 

Most things have been pulled. It's crazy that the compost on the left looked exactly like the one on the right last year. That whole pile broke down to just that much soil.  Pretty remarkable, isn't it.

Oh, and there's Zip. He seems to be doing AOK. I love his company in the garden.

 Another project is the hedge. I want to clear it back so I can put a permanent fence along the line.  There's years of growth. The goats are helping.  not sure if I'll ever get there, but I'm trying!

 

 Between the orchard and the brambles and blueberries and the garden, it's fun to dream about what this space will look like in the next 5-10-30 years.

Growing

Hmm...

Looks like the dogs are the same size.

The one on the left is Holly, the surprise my husband brought home.  The one on the right is Kammie, our girl who turns a guesstimate of 12 this week. Holly is definitely growing, she will be towering over Kammie soon.

Although the puppy in her has chewed so much, I've cleaned the messes she left from getting into the trash more than I care to do and I've wiped up accidents more times than I'd ever want to do....she's   not only growing, but growing on me.

As she sits on my feet, snoring her big snores, it's true that I do have a special place in my heart for her.

That Holly...she's a keeper.

Home Sweet Home

To think that yesterday, I was so frustrated with this homestead that I cried my eyes out. Today I think home sweet home is the most relaxing place to be. What  a range of emotions over the weekend.

I'm up too late, cleaning a kitchen that is bound to be a disaster in no time tomorrow.  The to do list to get ready for winter is longer than my brain can be at peace with. Given commitments and work schedules, it feels unlikely to be completed anytime soon.  My kids' cooperation (or lack thereof) tells me they have been too scheduled as of late. I have so many sewing projects I really want to finish. Clutter is accumulating faster than I get at it. I had a really rough day with the menagerie of animals living on our farm.
 
These thoughts, they really pile up, don't they? I'm usually the eternal optimist, but sometimes it's unfortunate those gloomy thoughts sneak up and multiply.

And so, in my moments of weakness, I bought a frozen pizza.  My mind was on rapid fire as I gave myself the guilt trip for such an unnecessary purchase.   It's not healthy.  We just had Halloween, we don't need more junk. I can make it for cheap and it would be healthy if I made it. We have so much homemade cheese that needs to be used up...

Yet I put that pizza into the cart.

Why do I put so much pressure on myself? Why do I allow that guilt to set in?  A pizza is such a silly thing to feel guilt over. But no matter who you are, the feelings of negativity and guilt surface at times and are hard to squelch.  They just creep up and linger.
Sometimes I forget my mind is stronger than all that negativity.

So tomorrow, I'm going to decide to change it up. I'm changing everything, starting with my thoughts. We're staying home. We're only doing the to do list if we feel like it. We're going to craft. We're going to eat frozen pizza, maybe even on paper plates (gasp).  I'm staying out of the kitchen. We're going to use that extra hour to make us feel more grounded, a peace and content. 

 

Sometimes my bounty is 100% homemade/homegrown.  Sometimes it's not.  Sometimes the bittersweet from our woods and the other half gorgeous store bought daisies blend together perfectly. . Sometimes just going half the way is enough.  And sometimes just 'enough' is really okay.