Showing posts with label blessing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label blessing. Show all posts
Thursday, July 12, 2012
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Friday, March 18, 2011
the blessing of a good friend
It's been a rough week; loosing Coreah was by far the hardest part, then not being able to bury her until the following day, my truck breaking down on the way to see a friends newborn baby goats, Ron's computers hard drive crashed, and even saying that makes me feel awful to even think of complaining. I know it could be worse, I could live in Japan, Libya, Afghanistan, etc. my heart goes out to those people, I cannot imagine the heartbreak and devastation they are dealing with. That being said, I still hurt but I still have so much to be thankful for and will be just fine because I know Coreah is in a better place and no longer in pain. We were able to bury her here on the farm and up near the entrance to the farm to greet visitors (in spirit obviously) as they arrive as she would have in real life. The truck was able to be fixed and we had the money. The hard drive was backed up and a new one will be here next week and Ron (thankfully he's a computer whiz!) can install it and all will be well, and we had the money for that as well. I think it was Flylady that said "if money will fix it, it is not a problem." (If it wasn't her then it was at her website that I first read it.) So I'm good! And once again, thank you for all your kind words and support, it really means a lot to me.
Despite the rough week, it ended on a positive note! It was our homeschool co-op day today and as usual we were running a bit behind schedule; but when we arrived, the friend whose goats I was headed over to see when the truck broke had her son outside the building next to their car and he was motioning for us to come over to the car with a big grin on his face. I hurried over to the car and peeked in only to find two of the most adorable goat babies I've seen, well since Katie and Buckley were born! OH! MY! GOODNESS!!! A little black doe, (which is something I've wanted since I first saw one a few years back, as well as a doe with lots of moonspots, but I digress) and a slightly larger silvery-gray buckling! Talk about cute and I was in the midst of adoring them so much I forgot to take a picture or 20! Can you believe it?! Me, the picture taking fool! My friend walked back out to the parking lot to take in another load of stuff and was ready for the babies to be brought in and adored my me, oh I mean all the kids at co-op. She teasingly asked me what I'd found and I hopped up and down with childish delight.
Mind you this friend of mine has to be just about the nicest person I've ever met! A genuine honest to goodness wonderful human being and as thoughtful as the day is long. She even made a raspberry pie to serve while I was getting my baby goat fix on Saturday, which never ended up happening because of the truck. :-( She made it because she knows I love (that's a huge understatement!) raspberry pie! It's that kind of thoughtfulness that makes me adore her.
I offered to help take one of the goats inside and talked with this friend of mine on the way into the building feeling like a small child at Christmas, knowing she'd gone out of her way to make this happen and the work it took to pull it off. I was so touched I nearly cried. She just knew I'd love to see them and that the kids at the co-op would as well, we all very much appreciated her effort and thoughtfulness. I didn't realize when we joined the co-op last year that I would receive such a blessing from it as well. The blessing of a friendship like this.
When we're having a rough go of it lots of us reach out for that food that brings us such comfort, it might be mac 'n cheese, a bowl of cereal, garlic bread, chocolate cake or what have you. For me tonight it was a stir-fry. This is SOOOOOO delicious and soooooooo comforting, you outta try it.
All you do is pour some oil in a skillet or pan and heat it up, toss in some cubed firm tofu and let is cook. I like to let it get a sort of crust-y thing going on on each side, so I cook it until it does this. I just like a little crunch.
Then I toss in some veggies, tonight I used onions and frozen broccoli. You could use; and I have, snap peas, cabbage, diced or julienne carrots, mushrooms, cauliflower, what have you, mix it up and get creative! Let it cook, covered, until the onions are soft and the broccoli is thawed, firm, and not overcooked but is thawed and has a bit of a 'bite' to it.
Stir it up! Let it cook and get happy!
Add some soy sauce and continue to get happy!
Then add the 'quick cook' veggies and seasonings, like garlic and cayenne pepper. Feel free to mix it up, this is what my family likes, so I go with it. This time I had carrots; purple, yellow and white, so I used them. Can you smell this cooking yet?! It's so easy and so yummy! Stir, cover again and cook until the carrots are slightly limp, just a few minutes.
Then open the cover take a deep breath and enjoy. This can be eaten with brown rice, quinoa, or by itself. It's the perfect warm bowl of comfort; a little greasy, a little spicy, a little salty, a little crunchy, a whole lotta YUM!
Despite the rough week, it ended on a positive note! It was our homeschool co-op day today and as usual we were running a bit behind schedule; but when we arrived, the friend whose goats I was headed over to see when the truck broke had her son outside the building next to their car and he was motioning for us to come over to the car with a big grin on his face. I hurried over to the car and peeked in only to find two of the most adorable goat babies I've seen, well since Katie and Buckley were born! OH! MY! GOODNESS!!! A little black doe, (which is something I've wanted since I first saw one a few years back, as well as a doe with lots of moonspots, but I digress) and a slightly larger silvery-gray buckling! Talk about cute and I was in the midst of adoring them so much I forgot to take a picture or 20! Can you believe it?! Me, the picture taking fool! My friend walked back out to the parking lot to take in another load of stuff and was ready for the babies to be brought in and adored my me, oh I mean all the kids at co-op. She teasingly asked me what I'd found and I hopped up and down with childish delight.
Mind you this friend of mine has to be just about the nicest person I've ever met! A genuine honest to goodness wonderful human being and as thoughtful as the day is long. She even made a raspberry pie to serve while I was getting my baby goat fix on Saturday, which never ended up happening because of the truck. :-( She made it because she knows I love (that's a huge understatement!) raspberry pie! It's that kind of thoughtfulness that makes me adore her.
I offered to help take one of the goats inside and talked with this friend of mine on the way into the building feeling like a small child at Christmas, knowing she'd gone out of her way to make this happen and the work it took to pull it off. I was so touched I nearly cried. She just knew I'd love to see them and that the kids at the co-op would as well, we all very much appreciated her effort and thoughtfulness. I didn't realize when we joined the co-op last year that I would receive such a blessing from it as well. The blessing of a friendship like this.
When we're having a rough go of it lots of us reach out for that food that brings us such comfort, it might be mac 'n cheese, a bowl of cereal, garlic bread, chocolate cake or what have you. For me tonight it was a stir-fry. This is SOOOOOO delicious and soooooooo comforting, you outta try it.
All you do is pour some oil in a skillet or pan and heat it up, toss in some cubed firm tofu and let is cook. I like to let it get a sort of crust-y thing going on on each side, so I cook it until it does this. I just like a little crunch.
Then I toss in some veggies, tonight I used onions and frozen broccoli. You could use; and I have, snap peas, cabbage, diced or julienne carrots, mushrooms, cauliflower, what have you, mix it up and get creative! Let it cook, covered, until the onions are soft and the broccoli is thawed, firm, and not overcooked but is thawed and has a bit of a 'bite' to it.
Stir it up! Let it cook and get happy!
Add some soy sauce and continue to get happy!
Then add the 'quick cook' veggies and seasonings, like garlic and cayenne pepper. Feel free to mix it up, this is what my family likes, so I go with it. This time I had carrots; purple, yellow and white, so I used them. Can you smell this cooking yet?! It's so easy and so yummy! Stir, cover again and cook until the carrots are slightly limp, just a few minutes.
Then open the cover take a deep breath and enjoy. This can be eaten with brown rice, quinoa, or by itself. It's the perfect warm bowl of comfort; a little greasy, a little spicy, a little salty, a little crunchy, a whole lotta YUM!
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
because my darling, you're getting a bargain
I love my sister, I really do, even when she gets annoyed with me because in my life it is so hard to make plans for pretty much anything. I'll admit, I've never been really good at planning or much of a planner but know that sometimes having a plan works and is a good thing, like getting out of debt, it's a great plan, and we're getting there. She's a planner to the nth degree, I respect that, I get it, but even when I try to make a plan it's likely to be unattainable, for example the past 24 hours... grab a cup of your favorite beverage and settle in, you're in for a wild ride!
We were all set to head out the door to go to the feed store, grocery store, errands and to pay some bills yesterday afternoon when Andrew ran to the bathroom with a bout of "intestinal distress" so we decided to forgo the trip to town and stay near the toilet, er I mean home. Not a huge deal right? I decided I could just go tomorrow and it wouldn't really be an issue, so that's what I planned to do. At some point during the afternoon I think to myself, 'It's been a while since I did any knitting, I should try to finish up that second sock tonight.' I'd been reading and getting some things that needed being done on the computer which is much easier to do with the new laptop I might add, which hadn't left a lot of time for knitting so I planned to get to that after dinner and evening barn chores. When we got the the chicken coop we found a hen in obvious distress. She was separated from the rest of the flock and very droopy. I scooped her up and brought her into the house. I noticed she was as light as a feather; quite literally, and set her in a cat carrier until I finished the barn chores and could get to her. When I came back in I palpated her abdomen to see if she was egg bound but quickly discovered that was not the case. Leghorns; as she was, are not known for being especially winter hardy for this area, but it's not unheard of to have them in a laying flock here and we have two others that are doing just fine. I whipped up a batch of the only thing I could think of to get into her; warm water, sugar and a dash of salt, which is what I'd had success with in the past with a couple chicks we almost lost. I also made a batch of warm oatmeal, chopped apples, flax seed and apple cider vinegar. I'd read recently in a Mother Earth email where that worked for another flock keeper especially with the colder temps we've had recently, I figured I'd give it a try. So when the oatmeal was ready and cooling I took an eyedropper and tried to get a bit of warm sugar water into her as she would not drink it on her own. She was not interested in the oatmeal either.
Some may say I spoil my animals, and to that I say, "Well, that may be how you feel and that's fine, but as a caretaker of creation I feel it's my job to do what I can for the animals entrusted to my care. Besides, they spoil me with fresh eggs every day!" My gut told me that we would lose this poor girl but still I tried, sliding my fingernail against her beak to open her mouth and get the liquid into her, she swallowed, opened her eyes, looked at me and shut them again. Several times we did this but it was no use, she passed sometime in the night. I stayed up with her for a while and had her wrapped in a towel to help keep her warm. Needless to say, I did not get to the knitting last night.
When I woke up this morning I checked in on her and found her gone and felt sad because I couldn't 'fix it.' Later I headed out to the barn for morning chores, rolled back the door, looked down and saw water, quickly thinking it was strange to see that there as it hadn't started thawing yet, then looked down the rest of the isle and was devastated! The pipe had burst in the barn and was spewing water everywhere and obviously had been for sometime! It's an odd time for the pipe to have burst as we've not been using it since sometime in December, but it happened and now I had to deal with the issue now at hand. I ran back into the house and shut off the main water supply as it was the only one I knew where it was, I looked around for the barn shut off and could not locate it then went back to the barn to survey the damage come up with a plan.
Garlic peeking his head inside the barn trying to figure out what happened and why it is interfering with his breakfast! The center isle of the barn was completely flooded as were all the stalls! Standing water mid calf deep in some places!
At some point I went back into the house and called Ron, not expecting him to wave a magic wand from his office to make it all better, but just to have him listen for a minute, I was stressed! (Afterward I felt like an idiot for calling him at work because I didn't want him -or anybody for that matter- to think I couldn't handle this...) Then I quickly called my mom because I needed to laugh about this, before I cried. I detest crying! We had a good chuckle too!
I fed the animals outside in the paddocks instead of the stalls and once they were fed they seemed not so worried about the whole flooded barn thing. Then the kids and I grabbed buckets and started bailing the water out bucketful by bucketful.
As much as I miss Hyacinth I'm so glad that she was not here for this, I cannot imagine how horrible it would have been for her to have had to deal with this! It was at that point I realized the grace and mercy I was seeing and that was the beginning of my thankfulness. I was thankful Hyacinth was not here, she would not have been able to escape the rising water the way the other goats did. I was thankful I hadn't thrown hay down from the loft last night like I needed to. I was thankful I hadn't made it to the feed store and had had bags of beet pulp, grain and alfalfa cubes that would have been ruined. I'm glad the other goats had deep bedding that made an island type situation to keep them out of the water. I'm thankful if wasn't more water that had spewed out. I'm thankful I'd put a raised floor in the chicken coop instead of them being on the dirt floor where they may have drowned if they hadn't been able to get up to the perches. I'm thankful for the flat edged cat litter buckets which made bailing the barn easier. I'm thankful that I'd purchased a new muck bucket a few weeks ago so we could throw all the soaking wet hay into and lug it out easier; the metal one we used to have rusted out a while ago, and for the new muck fork Ron gave me for Christmas. Thankful for the tall rubber boots all three of us had so we could work and not have soaked feet. Thankful for the thin wool socks I'd knit last year to wear in those boots! Thankful that it wasn't a barn fire, just some flooding!
I was feeling so blessed that I was not expected at a j.o.b. somewhere and could deal with this situation and not feel like I might loose that j.o.b. because of it. Thankful that I had the kids to help me get the barn bailed out. I was thankful for so many things today and saw the mercy of God and His protection in all of this.
How does that saying go, 'work at doing something you love and you'll never work a day in your life.' or something like that. I don't know who said it but it's very apropos to today. We were in the barn cleaning up from the flooding for most of the day, and though it wasn't the most fun task I've had to do on the farm it didn't seem like work either. Andrew loved it though! It also got me thinking about small farmers, like myself (some people may not consider me a farmer and I'm ok with that, I've never lived my life by someone else's definition and I have no intention of starting now. Incidentally I believe these people would also say I'm spoiling my chickens.). Thinking how much of what we as farmers do is a labor of love and how we choose to live this life because we cannot imagine doing anything else or want to do anything else. How many people do you know would want or choose to spend a day in March (read really cold day) in Maine bailing out a barn that is completely flooded? How many would feel happy doing it because it means you are exactly where you were meant to be and doing something you love and cannot fathom doing anything else? See what I mean, a labor of love? I'm so thankful that I do not have to do Ron's job, I've peeked over his shoulder a couple time when he works from home, he's tried to explain what he's doing and mercifully stops when I start twitching and I shudder to think about having to do that. I'm so glad he enjoys his job and loves doing it but am thankful I do not have to do it, on the same hand I think he's glad he does not have to do mine.
I was watching a news clip recently about the struggling dairy farmers here in Maine and one farmer was interviewed and talked about how he didn't think that many people knew how little farmers make, what they actually live on. He said his farm yearly took in over $750,000.00 but netted around $20,000.00 that's what he and his family live on. Would you choose that? What would you do if you had to live on that or provide your own food? Would you consider paying a higher price for a gallon of milk, a pound of bacon, or an ear of corn a bargain of it meant you didn't have to invest your time in it? Why should a farmer (or soldier for that matter) work so hard and have to live on so little? What is the cost of that bargain? I am fortunate that Ron's job is what we live on and it has good benefits but I would like to get to the point of... well honestly I'm not sure, just further along that where I am with the farm currently.
Ron surprised me midday by coming home to help and with the help of a water pump he just picked up at Tractor Supply. I mentioned above that I think he's glad he doesn't have to do my job, farming is not 'his thing' which made his effort and willingness to help even more appreciated. His damsel was in distress and he was on his way. He changed out of his work clothes and put on some clothes to work in. Took the pump out of the car, read the instructions and lugged it to the barn to fire it up. Ron is a rule follower, me not so much, which makes the fact that the pump would not stay on even more frustrating, he followed the instructions to a t and every time he got it started and it was sucking water it would just die. Needless to say it'll be returned tomorrow. So I continued to use the buckets to bail the water out, knowing the weather was to turn very cold tonight, like -2! I had to get it done.
And we did! Then I decided to figure out what happened, which is when I discovered the burst pipe. (no idea why this is suddenly underlining itself.)
The barn water hose after the heat tape (which had stopped working), insulation and (burst) pipe were removed. It was tough because the temperature was dropping and everything was all wet which made our fingers freezing cold! I'd been through three pairs of gloves already! Ron and I muscled the old pipe off so I could take it to the local hardware store to get a replacement, because if we didn't get this fixed we had no water in the house until we could get a plumber out here to fix it!
Ron put the new pipe back on and I wrapped the heat tape around it and insulated it and we were good to go, hopefully not have to deal with this again for a while, or at least until we get a frost free hydrant!
We came in from the barn, thawed slightly and I cooked a huge pot of quinoa, stir-fried some veggies to add to it and looked forward to eating it. On one of the trips inside to the bathroom, or to get a drink, to warm up or something today, I ran to the basement, grabbed a frozen chicken from the freezer and stuck it in the crock-pot with a little water and an onion. It wasn't fancy, or the best thing I've ever made, but it was warm and there were a few other things that needed some serious attention.
So there you have it, another day in the life of this small farm farmer. A day for me that is not really unlike any other day really. I didn't go looking for a handout, grant, bailout, subsidy or any other 'out,' most small farmers I know don't. We just do what needs doing because it needs doing; so please remember that next time you're at a farmers market, joining a CSA, or stopping at a farm stand. The farmer may sell eggs for 4.00 a dozen or a pound of meat may very well be 7.00, the CSA share might run a couple hundred dollars and there is a reason for it. The reason is my darling, you're getting a bargain!
We were all set to head out the door to go to the feed store, grocery store, errands and to pay some bills yesterday afternoon when Andrew ran to the bathroom with a bout of "intestinal distress" so we decided to forgo the trip to town and stay near the toilet, er I mean home. Not a huge deal right? I decided I could just go tomorrow and it wouldn't really be an issue, so that's what I planned to do. At some point during the afternoon I think to myself, 'It's been a while since I did any knitting, I should try to finish up that second sock tonight.' I'd been reading and getting some things that needed being done on the computer which is much easier to do with the new laptop I might add, which hadn't left a lot of time for knitting so I planned to get to that after dinner and evening barn chores. When we got the the chicken coop we found a hen in obvious distress. She was separated from the rest of the flock and very droopy. I scooped her up and brought her into the house. I noticed she was as light as a feather; quite literally, and set her in a cat carrier until I finished the barn chores and could get to her. When I came back in I palpated her abdomen to see if she was egg bound but quickly discovered that was not the case. Leghorns; as she was, are not known for being especially winter hardy for this area, but it's not unheard of to have them in a laying flock here and we have two others that are doing just fine. I whipped up a batch of the only thing I could think of to get into her; warm water, sugar and a dash of salt, which is what I'd had success with in the past with a couple chicks we almost lost. I also made a batch of warm oatmeal, chopped apples, flax seed and apple cider vinegar. I'd read recently in a Mother Earth email where that worked for another flock keeper especially with the colder temps we've had recently, I figured I'd give it a try. So when the oatmeal was ready and cooling I took an eyedropper and tried to get a bit of warm sugar water into her as she would not drink it on her own. She was not interested in the oatmeal either.
Some may say I spoil my animals, and to that I say, "Well, that may be how you feel and that's fine, but as a caretaker of creation I feel it's my job to do what I can for the animals entrusted to my care. Besides, they spoil me with fresh eggs every day!" My gut told me that we would lose this poor girl but still I tried, sliding my fingernail against her beak to open her mouth and get the liquid into her, she swallowed, opened her eyes, looked at me and shut them again. Several times we did this but it was no use, she passed sometime in the night. I stayed up with her for a while and had her wrapped in a towel to help keep her warm. Needless to say, I did not get to the knitting last night.When I woke up this morning I checked in on her and found her gone and felt sad because I couldn't 'fix it.' Later I headed out to the barn for morning chores, rolled back the door, looked down and saw water, quickly thinking it was strange to see that there as it hadn't started thawing yet, then looked down the rest of the isle and was devastated! The pipe had burst in the barn and was spewing water everywhere and obviously had been for sometime! It's an odd time for the pipe to have burst as we've not been using it since sometime in December, but it happened and now I had to deal with the issue now at hand. I ran back into the house and shut off the main water supply as it was the only one I knew where it was, I looked around for the barn shut off and could not locate it then went back to the barn to survey the damage come up with a plan.
Garlic peeking his head inside the barn trying to figure out what happened and why it is interfering with his breakfast! The center isle of the barn was completely flooded as were all the stalls! Standing water mid calf deep in some places!
At some point I went back into the house and called Ron, not expecting him to wave a magic wand from his office to make it all better, but just to have him listen for a minute, I was stressed! (Afterward I felt like an idiot for calling him at work because I didn't want him -or anybody for that matter- to think I couldn't handle this...) Then I quickly called my mom because I needed to laugh about this, before I cried. I detest crying! We had a good chuckle too!
I fed the animals outside in the paddocks instead of the stalls and once they were fed they seemed not so worried about the whole flooded barn thing. Then the kids and I grabbed buckets and started bailing the water out bucketful by bucketful.As much as I miss Hyacinth I'm so glad that she was not here for this, I cannot imagine how horrible it would have been for her to have had to deal with this! It was at that point I realized the grace and mercy I was seeing and that was the beginning of my thankfulness. I was thankful Hyacinth was not here, she would not have been able to escape the rising water the way the other goats did. I was thankful I hadn't thrown hay down from the loft last night like I needed to. I was thankful I hadn't made it to the feed store and had had bags of beet pulp, grain and alfalfa cubes that would have been ruined. I'm glad the other goats had deep bedding that made an island type situation to keep them out of the water. I'm thankful if wasn't more water that had spewed out. I'm thankful I'd put a raised floor in the chicken coop instead of them being on the dirt floor where they may have drowned if they hadn't been able to get up to the perches. I'm thankful for the flat edged cat litter buckets which made bailing the barn easier. I'm thankful that I'd purchased a new muck bucket a few weeks ago so we could throw all the soaking wet hay into and lug it out easier; the metal one we used to have rusted out a while ago, and for the new muck fork Ron gave me for Christmas. Thankful for the tall rubber boots all three of us had so we could work and not have soaked feet. Thankful for the thin wool socks I'd knit last year to wear in those boots! Thankful that it wasn't a barn fire, just some flooding!
I was feeling so blessed that I was not expected at a j.o.b. somewhere and could deal with this situation and not feel like I might loose that j.o.b. because of it. Thankful that I had the kids to help me get the barn bailed out. I was thankful for so many things today and saw the mercy of God and His protection in all of this.
How does that saying go, 'work at doing something you love and you'll never work a day in your life.' or something like that. I don't know who said it but it's very apropos to today. We were in the barn cleaning up from the flooding for most of the day, and though it wasn't the most fun task I've had to do on the farm it didn't seem like work either. Andrew loved it though! It also got me thinking about small farmers, like myself (some people may not consider me a farmer and I'm ok with that, I've never lived my life by someone else's definition and I have no intention of starting now. Incidentally I believe these people would also say I'm spoiling my chickens.). Thinking how much of what we as farmers do is a labor of love and how we choose to live this life because we cannot imagine doing anything else or want to do anything else. How many people do you know would want or choose to spend a day in March (read really cold day) in Maine bailing out a barn that is completely flooded? How many would feel happy doing it because it means you are exactly where you were meant to be and doing something you love and cannot fathom doing anything else? See what I mean, a labor of love? I'm so thankful that I do not have to do Ron's job, I've peeked over his shoulder a couple time when he works from home, he's tried to explain what he's doing and mercifully stops when I start twitching and I shudder to think about having to do that. I'm so glad he enjoys his job and loves doing it but am thankful I do not have to do it, on the same hand I think he's glad he does not have to do mine.
I was watching a news clip recently about the struggling dairy farmers here in Maine and one farmer was interviewed and talked about how he didn't think that many people knew how little farmers make, what they actually live on. He said his farm yearly took in over $750,000.00 but netted around $20,000.00 that's what he and his family live on. Would you choose that? What would you do if you had to live on that or provide your own food? Would you consider paying a higher price for a gallon of milk, a pound of bacon, or an ear of corn a bargain of it meant you didn't have to invest your time in it? Why should a farmer (or soldier for that matter) work so hard and have to live on so little? What is the cost of that bargain? I am fortunate that Ron's job is what we live on and it has good benefits but I would like to get to the point of... well honestly I'm not sure, just further along that where I am with the farm currently.
Ron surprised me midday by coming home to help and with the help of a water pump he just picked up at Tractor Supply. I mentioned above that I think he's glad he doesn't have to do my job, farming is not 'his thing' which made his effort and willingness to help even more appreciated. His damsel was in distress and he was on his way. He changed out of his work clothes and put on some clothes to work in. Took the pump out of the car, read the instructions and lugged it to the barn to fire it up. Ron is a rule follower, me not so much, which makes the fact that the pump would not stay on even more frustrating, he followed the instructions to a t and every time he got it started and it was sucking water it would just die. Needless to say it'll be returned tomorrow. So I continued to use the buckets to bail the water out, knowing the weather was to turn very cold tonight, like -2! I had to get it done.
And we did! Then I decided to figure out what happened, which is when I discovered the burst pipe. (no idea why this is suddenly underlining itself.)
The barn water hose after the heat tape (which had stopped working), insulation and (burst) pipe were removed. It was tough because the temperature was dropping and everything was all wet which made our fingers freezing cold! I'd been through three pairs of gloves already! Ron and I muscled the old pipe off so I could take it to the local hardware store to get a replacement, because if we didn't get this fixed we had no water in the house until we could get a plumber out here to fix it!
Ron put the new pipe back on and I wrapped the heat tape around it and insulated it and we were good to go, hopefully not have to deal with this again for a while, or at least until we get a frost free hydrant!
We came in from the barn, thawed slightly and I cooked a huge pot of quinoa, stir-fried some veggies to add to it and looked forward to eating it. On one of the trips inside to the bathroom, or to get a drink, to warm up or something today, I ran to the basement, grabbed a frozen chicken from the freezer and stuck it in the crock-pot with a little water and an onion. It wasn't fancy, or the best thing I've ever made, but it was warm and there were a few other things that needed some serious attention. So there you have it, another day in the life of this small farm farmer. A day for me that is not really unlike any other day really. I didn't go looking for a handout, grant, bailout, subsidy or any other 'out,' most small farmers I know don't. We just do what needs doing because it needs doing; so please remember that next time you're at a farmers market, joining a CSA, or stopping at a farm stand. The farmer may sell eggs for 4.00 a dozen or a pound of meat may very well be 7.00, the CSA share might run a couple hundred dollars and there is a reason for it. The reason is my darling, you're getting a bargain!
Monday, September 6, 2010
what a gift!
My husband has an Aunt who is a quilting extraordinaire, seriously, she makes beautiful quilts. She has a fabric stash and quilting room that would make most quilters drool, cabinets lined with fabric, and color coordinated. Oh to have a room like that! Well, now I do! She knows that I enjoy quilting and decided my sister-in-law and I would be the recipients of a recent purge! There is nearly 70 pounds of fabric on the table and I had to take a picture because it was so beautiful! I'm itching to start about a thousand projects with it but need to finish up some other projects I'm currently working on first. I know my husband would appreciate that. Besides, having all that fabric, which looks like my own personal fabric store, makes me a little giddy! My sister does not get it, she thinks it's beautiful all right but it's not her thing. Mom on the other hand totally gets it! She's a fellow quilter and appreciates what a wonderful gift this is. It's getting to be that time of year when I start thinking about Christmas giving and am pretty sure there is a major quilting bee in our future. Last year we pulled off three quilts in the fall and the fall before was a huge undertaking for my Grandmother's bed. We made a Christmas quilt, (she LOVES Christmas) it was a ton of work and lots of pieces and a very happy Grandmother. I wonder what is in store this year.... I know one thing, I cannot wait to start!
Thank you so much Aunt Judy, what a blessing you've given me! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
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