Sheepish

Homestead weekend

The leaves began their descent to the Earth this weekend.  In earnest.  With help from a strong October NorthWest wind.  Which brings to mind this book - The Little Yellow Leaf by Carin Berger. 

    "A chill filled the air....and the sun sank slow.  Not ready, thought the Little Yellow Leaf as a heavy harvest moon bloomed amber in the starry sky."

And while woodstove fires are now pretty much an everyday event, the reminder was heeded that refilling the woodpile outside the backdoor lives at the top of the weekend chore list. Because it is a bit of a drag when one rises in the morning, attempts to get a fire going BEFORE  her coffee and realizes there is no kindling or wood at hand.  

This was the best of homestead weekends.  With nothing planned off the homestead, the chance to work with intention instead of speed was a welcome change.

Wishing you a wonderful week.

xo 

The End of the Beginning

With the arrival of the first hard frost, all but the hardiest of crops have now been stored away into fridge, freezer and/or jar.  And my first full-tilt growing season here on the homestead winds down.

This process - that of growing things, is as much a part of myself as breathing.  From the planting of seeds to the hauling of spent plant debris to the compost pile.  

If ever there was an occasion to practice mindfulness, surely putting one's garden to bed would be it.  Each pile of spent plant debris moved to the compost pile reminds me of the perfect circle presented by Mother Earth.  Each dried seed head scattered serves as a reminder that all will come around again.  A small blessing whispered to each bulb, perennial and tree as they are tucked in and made ready for Winter's arrival.

Turn, turn, turn.

xoKaren 

Handmade Home

  **  Incorporating handmade into my days is so very important to the functioning of my home.  Each Friday I will be sharing a way in which I honour the spirit of handmade alongside my friend Melanie who blogs at Our Ash Grove. **

Autumn has officially arrived - the season that suits me best.  It is this season that I feel most at home in. And while I would love to say that I am spending time knitting and sewing and making soup, the reality right now is something quite different.  I am trying hard to find my footing - farmhand work, while providing the stability of a regular paycheque does not leave much time or energy for the seasonal homestead prep that I love so much.

I did manage to switch out my Summer books for the Autumn ones.  A truly sentimental tradition.  They don't get much action anymore but are as much an acknowledgement to seasonal shifts as collecting acorn caps, putting up Christmas trees or planting seeds.  A collection of books contributes so much to the idea of a handmade home.  A carefully curated selection of words and pictures that reflects all that one holds dear.  

 With the end of one growing season rapidly approaching, plans begin for next years additions.  A process requiring a firm balance between living in the moment and thinking towards all that lies ahead.  I suppose that at the heart of it all, this is the ultimate benefit of a handmade life.  That of balance.  Making one appreciate those moments of stillness in the frenzy that is often the reality of the everyday.

Happy Friday all.  

xo

 

The pursuit of Handmade

There is life.  And there are often times when it remains simply about keeping ones' head above water.  Times when the extent of "handmade" includes getting dinner on the table. Times when it has to be enough to fall into bed remembering all that has been done and not what didn't.  

In an attempt to keep things light and pretty in this space I feel that maybe sometimes this crucial piece of information gets missed.  The pursuit of handmade is a choice that comes hand in hand with my choice to try and live a life subject to what is important to me.  This step, that of taking time to think and then create allows for a thought process that helps me remain on this path.  It's not that I don't I get waylaid.  

As I mentioned in my last post, this Summer the garden has been the centre of my handmade focus.  And it started in Spring with a fence.  

I am very happy with this fence.  Of the postholes I dug.  And set posts in.  And backfilled.  Many times over.  The wood gleaned from our property...some of it from old falling down fencing, some freshly cut a stones throw away.   I am sure there will be a time in the future when the fence just is and always has been, but for now it is reminder of time spent and grounds me to this place.  The creation of gates lives on the list for next year.  

There is also now at least a small chunk of each day dedicated to LittleWool.  With the impending arrival of my busy season I am attempting to be ahead of the game....even if only for a little while.  

And here we are at Friday.  The weekend presenting an opportunity to create without the distraction of the everyday routine and the necessity of outside the home paid labour.

Wishing you a wonderful day and weekend ahead.

Karen
 

 

 

Handmade Home

 **  Incorporating handmade into my days plays a vital role in the functioning of my home.  Each Friday I will be sharing a way in which I honour the spirit of handmade alongside my friend Melanie who blogs at Our Ash Grove. **

For as long as I can remember I have allowed space for handmade in my days.   To my way of thinking the term "handmade" can be applied to anything created by hand.  And while it typically gets used to describe articles in the crafty realm, in my world it's reach extends far beyond that.  Cooking, gardening, homesteading, sewing - it's all fair game.  

Summer finds the majority of my handmade pursuits taking place either in my garden or kitchen.  At the moment it's all about the tomatoes.  Roasted (recipe found here), salsa and sauce. For the first year ever I will be using only the produce grown within my own garden fence - a fact that blows my mind and makes me crazy with thoughts of the possibilities for this spot we now call home.

It has been months of produce-centred making.  Yet, there is an undeniable current of change in the air.  The arrival of September's cool nights and shorter days sweeps me in and thoughts of warm and cozy are beginning to take hold.  

Until next time.

xo

 

  

Bringing in the Peas

While thoughts of my grandmother regularly enter my head when spending time in the garden, it is perhaps the task of harvesting peas and beans that her memory becomes palpable. As a city kid, spending time on my grandparents farm was a jackpot of different things to do.  The garden work was something done after the chicken wrangling and before the walk to bring the cows home.  Likely, my adult brain has worked on the memory of being a kid picking and shelling peas with her in the heat of Summer.  Any remembrances of the negative variety are gone, replaced by all the good feels.

 Sadly, the same cannot be said for her method of choice in preparing said peas.  And beans.  And brussels sprouts.  And carrots.

I have nothing but love in my heart for my grandparents and their life experiences.  I feel they played a big part in the formation of this dream to homestead and the fact they didn't live to see it come to fruition is something I think of much too often perhaps.  However, I will say without any hint of hesitation that mushy peas are not for me.  I prefer them raw.  

The longest day

The longest day passed without much celebration around these parts.  In fact, zero time was spent doing Solstice-y things yesterday.  I did manage to take a bit of a walk around with camera in hand.  Despite the obvious lack of rain, things are alive and in some cases growing.  

As school days (Hazel) and work days (me) days wind down I am excited about the prospect of no routine for at least a couple of months.  A whole lot of nothing lies in front, a reality that fills me with a sense of freedom like nothing else can.   

xoKaren

Tea Leaves

Time has a funny/annoying way of changing the familiar when it comes to growing little humans.  On this, my third time around I have accepted it as fact.  And while I am still rendered a bit (okay, a LOT) sentimental about the whole process,  I have learned that while some truly loved routines fall away there are also some that stick. In terms of  how to predict which will survive the pressures of time, the only thing I can say is that it is never the thing I would expect to make such an impact. Doesn't that figure?

Case in point - the making of Sun Tea.  While all three of my girls have taken the title of Sun Tea Maker on, it is Hazel who has carried it into a second and third Summer season.  I provide nothing but the materials and she handles the rest (even the stinging nettle - thanks to her Forest School days).  So.  I indulge.  And I plant.

(Stinging Nettle)

(Lemon Balm)

(Camomile)

She harvests, washes and prepares all that will become the tea, then sets it all in the sun to steep.  For this, I am glad.

xo

In the garden

It is with only a slight intake of breath that I can say things are well and truly underway in the garden.  The fence is kind of mostly finished.  And while I would never presume to think that my talents in the fence building department are honed, I do believe that the completed fence panels "should" keep the overnight feasting by the furry set to a minimum. Maybe. 

 All four raised beds have been topped up with manure and topsoil and consequently planted in.  So far only kale, chard, peas and radish have shown themselves.  To be followed at some point soon by beans, beets, spinach and various members of the squash family.  With a severe shortage in the rainfall department, watering has become the marker to the end of my day.  Hauling water from inside the house (rainbarrels empty added to no faucet outside) in watering cans over and over again gives me time to wonder what kind of a growing season we will have this year.  Anyone who has any control over this sort of event, please send rain asap.

 

For as long as I am allowed to get away with it, I can be found here.  Blocking out thoughts of the wood in need of stacking, and foundation work that needs doing.

xoKaren

Outside in May

May.  The month in which colour returns to the world outside my window.

And the balance of time spent inside versus outside tips happily over to the side of the latter.   An awareness of this grace period - these perfect moments lived with intention, before the arrival of all manner of stinging insect.

xoKaren