We took a drive today. Canadian geese were in abundance. This year, unlike others, we have had thousands of geese. I ask myself why and contemplate the why, but I see spring! Lovely, awakening, life giving spring. The beautiful song of the Sandhills Crane will replace the honking sounds of the Canadian Geese. Both are a sign of spring.
I begin to dream of flowers, vegetable gardening and maybe a new flock of chicks. So many things to be excited about. While we still have a few weeks of winter, and yes, we may have snow, hints of spring are all around us in nature and even my soul says, it is time for a new season.
Inside my home, I also feel a sense of renewal. Tidying up spaces, clearing out materials that no longer serve a purpose and adding a few storage items to make things a bit more streamlined and bring about less clutter. Some years ago, I read about Feng Shui. It is a way to arrange our living spaces to bring balance. Wood, fire, earth, metal and water. All of these elements tie together through balance and making spaces cozy and welcoming. It is amazing the changes when one re-arranges furniture in your living space, adding a splash of color with a new throw rug, or repurposing items you have placed in storage.
Spring, a time for rebirth and a time to plant seeds, wether they be seeds of improving your living space, your head space or your heart space. Spring is a time to get back to those things that are most important to you. As the days continue to feel chilly and bring things like snow, pay attention to nature, it is coming! Spring!
A Prayer in Spring by Robert Frost Oh, give us pleasure in the flowers today; And give us not to think so far away As the uncertain harvest; keep us here All simply in the springing of the year.Oh, give us pleasure in the orchard white, Like nothing else by day, like ghosts by night; And make us happy in the happy bees, The swarm dilating ’round the perfect trees.
And make us happy in the darting bird That suddenly above the bees is heard, The meteor that thrusts in with needle bill, And off a blossom in mid air stands still.
For this is love and nothing else is love, To which it is reserved for God above To sanctify to what far ends He will, But which it only needs that we fulfill.
I have told this story every year for quite some time. Honestly, it gets better every year I tell the story. You see, it is one of adversity, and most of all it is a love story. It is about the fate that brought two people together. In the beginning, it was awkward and not a picture that looked like a love story. Sit down with your favorite beverage and listen to the beginning of a wonderful love story.
I was a single mom. Living on a very limited budget, and relieved to be out of a very abusive marriage. I was finding out who I was and I was beginning to love who I was becoming. I was not interested in finding love but I was interested in embracing love and creating happiness for myself and for my two children.
I had a wonderful support system with other single moms who were in similar situations. We looked out for one another, this included in the area of romance. We promised ourselves and each other to not let any of us get into a bad situation. We had already had enough heartache to last a lifetime.
This fun group of moms would go to the local country bar and we would learn how to line dance, two-step, three-step, and learn how to have a good time. On June 6, D-Day, we all went out to dance and have a good time. I was decked from head to toe in western wear. Emerald green boots, matching Roper Jeans and even some fun cowboy boot earrings. I was ready for some country dancing!
I looked over and there was the most handsome, tall, blonde man I had ever laid eyes on! I am not sure what possessed me. I had not had any alcohol to drink, but I felt compelled to ask this tall drink of water to dance. That is just what I did! That particular night, a vintage rock band played old rock and roll. It was a lot of fun, but not line dancing for sure. We danced for a while. I had asked what he did for a living. He said he was a construction contractor and had his own business. I asked him the name of his business and he replied, “Imagine Construction because if you can imagine it, I can build it.” This has come in handy a lot through the years! He built our house and other outbuildings on our 7 acres. The night was coming to a close and he asked me if he could call me. Back in 1997, you used a phone book. I was scared to death of giving anyone my phone number! So, I gave him my maiden name (my divorced name was in the phone book, so I knew he would never find my number). I cried all the way home. Something in my heart knew that this tall handsome man was more than just a guy at the bar that I danced with.
I met up with my husband again in November. It just so happened that he was doing some remodeling in the office building that I worked in. Somehow, he always needed to use my phone. We then ran into each other at the bar that we originally met at. He told me he tried to find me in the phone book but no listing. I took a pen from the bartender and wrote my number on his hand. I guess as they say, the rest is history!
December 7 was the date we set to meet at a local restaurant. I should have canceled as I had an awful cold, but I was so nervous I decided that I just needed to get this over with. We had a nice dinner, he had a lot of drinks. When the dinner was over, he suggested we go to another well-known bar, but he wanted me to drive as his truck was having some issues. I reluctantly showed him the way to my car and off we went. Same thing, different venue, he had a lot to drink and of course I did not have any to drink as I was taking medicine for my cold. Through the whole thing, I scolded myself for having gone out with someone. I just knew this was not going in a good direction. I was so happy when the night came to an end. I got my date back to his truck. He leaned in my open window and said, “I had a lot of fun, we will have to do this again soon.” NOPE no thank you, I said goodbye, and off I went. I promised one of my single mom friends that I would call and report. I told her it was the worst possible date ever! She told me to slow down and not be so judgy about the whole thing. After all, he was a bachelor in a small town compared to Las Vegas that he came from, so maybe give it one more try. Well, the rest is history!
December 7, 2021, we are celebrating 25 years of the anniversary of our first date. We have two grown kids who have given us a lot of joy. We have 7 acres, chickens, a fruit orchard, two beloved dogs, and a lifetime of happiness. So much has changed in those 25 years, but one thing has never changed, the tall, handsome, blonde man I call my husband, had a positive effect on me from the very first time I saw him at that country bar. Just like his favorite band The Beatles, All You Need is Love!
My favorite Mother’s Day gift was a flock of chickens. We had no idea the first time we had chickens what we were getting into! We have learned a lot since that first flock. The best part about raising chickens are the wonderful fresh eggs. We raise our chickens solely for eggs. You will want to check out other resources if you are wanting to raise birds for eating purposes.
Here is a list of things I wish we had known before diving into raising chickens:
1.Select the breed of chickens and stick to one type, do not mix breeds We started our flock with 4 different kinds of birds. We ended up with some that were dominant and they would peck at the other birds. We learned the true meaning of “pecking order”. You can find a lot of information on line. The sites for hatcheries are very in depth with descriptions of birds.
2. Before you purchase your birds, have everything ready. You will need a heat lamp, a place for the chicks to be, the one option a farm store gives you is a cardboard fence. We have gotten creative and we have an old bath tub. In the early weeks of the chicks life you need to be sure to have bedding so that they do not slip while walking and maim themselves. You will need a waterer and a feeder. A lot of what you need will depend on how many birds you plan to have. Chicks will need to be in a small area with a heat lamp until their feathers begin to come in. This is typically around 6 to 8 weeks of age, so the area you have for them should be one that will work for a while.
3. When purchasing your chickens, decide if you want to do so locally or through a hatchery. Either option is ok. We purchased our birds this year from a hatchery for the first time. You will need to be sure that you can pick them up from the post office as soon as possible the day that they are delivered. If you do buy from a local farm store, examine the birds to make sure they are healthy. We have two options in our area. I appreciate the handling of the one store over the other. They make sure that employees are the only ones to handle the birds whereas the other store allows children to pet them. Baby chicks are fragile and over handling causes a lot of health issues.
4. Have a plan for extra eggs or have just enough chickens to keep your family in eggs. It can be challenging to sell eggs. A few great ideas are to sell them at your local farmer’s market, advertise on social media for customers and if you know of a local café, they may be happy to take extras from you. Should you need to be away from your flock, be sure to have someone on call to watch over your chickens. They need to have food and fresh water. It is also important to gather eggs everyday. This reduces the incidence of eggs breaking.
5. If you plan to let your chickens free range, be sure to protect them from predators. You will need to train them to come back to the coop. You can do this by routinely going out to the coop in the early evening and call them with grain. It will take some time doing this but eventually they will see you providing grain and they will come into the coop. Typically, birds will not roost until dark. This is when we lock them into the protective coop so that it keeps animals out. Also, you may want to have chickens stay in the coop area for a few hours in the morning so that they lay their eggs in nesting boxes. This will avoid looking for eggs all over in your range area.
Raising chickens is a fun hobby and in return you get wonderful eggs. It is fun to watch them in your backyard during the day. There are so many resources online to make your experience one of ease and pleasure. Enjoy some pictures of our current flock and the five hens they are joining. The large hens are Asian chickens and our little ones are Cinnamon Queens (cross between a Red Leghorn and a Wyandotte. )
Babies on their first day! The bathtub makes a great home for them.It is now June and we are bigger and need a view! Old oven racks work great for this!
Our new home, we are a little scared! We have a divider between the little chicks and our 5 hens. We hope to gradually have them get to be friends and live together soon!
It is that time of year! Time to get busy planting seeds in my green room for the garden. I find it relaxing to dig in the dirt and plant small seeds, water and nurture them and suddenly, you have a sprouting plant. A plant that produces produce in the months to come. Sometimes we have a fruitful garden and other times, well we chalk things up and plan for the upcoming season.
My first task will be to clean out my green room. It is filled with last years container and some that I have found here and there thinking I will be using them. Then, I will take stalk of the seeds we have saved from last season and decide what we need to add with seeds that I will find locally. The seeds we save always produce the best produce. I remember we had my husband’s mom in the nursing home for 5 years after she had a stroke. I noticed one of the residents had a Grsit magazine. He began to tell me about saving seeds. It was the best conversation ever as we have worked hard to do this every year. Leo explained to me that the seeds you saved have acclimated to your exact climate. He further explained that you can go two blocks down the road and the rain gage there will have either more or less moisture than what you have. That plant begins to grow according to the moisture, the heat and the cold that happens in the ground right where it is at. By saving the seed from that plant, you have a better chance of having a plant that produces really good produce. Science and from a seasoned Gardner. For more information on saving seeds, take a look at this resource: https://extension.unl.edu/statewide/dodge/saving-seeds/
Seasons, on our acreage, we have certain things we do each seasons. I tend to clean my flower beds in the spring. The planting beds are cleaned and chicken manure is added and worked into the soil. It just so happens we have chickens so that part is easy. You don’t want to add a lot as your soil will be too high in ammonia nitrogen levels. For more information, a great resource is “Rodale’s All-New Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening”
When you think about gardening, remember, you can make it simple. Planter gardens are a wonderful way to make gardening easy. Lettuce, herbs, tomatoes and even squash work ok for planters. Your local nursery can also direct you to plants designed for planters.
Planter made from Protein Lick Tub for Cattle, holes drilled in bottom, gravel, dirt and 6-8” of potting soil on top.
What are you waiting for? Get busy and spring into gardening season!
Wait, don’t check out! This is so important and I know that some may react to this with a huge pile of negativity. Everything from, I have no time for what I am already doing to wanting to scream at the writer of this. All the negatives you are thinking, I have embraced them.
In my early 20’s, the over used terms about your personality was if you were a type A or type B. Type A are those who are high achievers, in motion all the time and prone to lots of stress. Type B personalities are easy going, patient, not tied to time frames. I often say I am a reformed A that is constantly going to the edge of the slippery slope that is engulfing me back into the fire. The fire that says I have to climb the highest mountain and along the way make a mark on each item I check off on the “to do” list. I would love to tell you that I am completely reformed but I would be lying to you and to myself.
At this point, I am sure you are wondering, ok so really what does this have to do with self-care? Funny you should ask! If you are running on fumes all the time, and you are climbing endless mountains with no rest, your body finally gives out and says, ok I am done! It shows up in issues with your mental health, it can show up in stress related health issues such as high blood pressure. Great you may be saying, it does not take away all the “have to’s” on my list. I get it, I really do! Here is the thing, if you don’t take care of you with consistent self-care, who will pick up the pieces? Will it matter if you are in the middle of climbing the mountain and an un-foreseen avalanche covers you? Yes! You may be setting yourself up for a situation that you can’t get out of by continuous movement. There is hope, you can make it a habit to take a little time for you.
Self-care is my new found habit that I began at the end of 2020. I realized that if I mapped out even 15 minutes to just breathe, it allows me to rebuild the necessary energy to keep moving. I also have realized that self-care comes in a variety of things you can allow to happen during the day. It could be watching a favorite new series on TV or your favorite streaming outlet, it may be reading a book, it may be soaking your feet in lavender salt and the list can go on from there. The real key to this “self-care” is to find a variety of things that you have NOT been doing that give you joy.
John Lennon said this, “Life is what happens when you are busy making plans.” His message was simple, you need to take in the small moments, the small moments add up to a beautiful life that you experience as you move through life. There is a time to plan but there is also a time to just enjoy the very moment you are in.
Here are five things I am doing on a regular basis that I consider to be self-care. What I am finding is that the days that I make sure to fit in at least one self-care element, are the days that I journal about having a joyful happy time and not how stressed out I am.
1. Podcasts: I have a variety of motivational topics that I enjoy listening to.
2. Listening to music while riding my stationary bike
3 Reading: I am combining journaling into this as well.
4. Writing about subjects that matter to me.
5. Soaking my feet in lavender salt water. I have a wonderful foot massager that I dusted off and have began using it a few times during the week.
Self-care is also nurturing those important to you in your life. When work is done, stop. Turn the day to the home page and engage with your family. Don’t forget to connect with your besties who have been with you through good times and bad. COVID has made all of this a little tricky so now more than ever, put yourself first and take care of you!
As the year ends, it is hard to draw out positives. The negatives were many and we are still in the midst of a pandemic. This is the way we are pre-wired, somehow we are motivated to look at the “ain’t it all terrible” and not the wonders of things that happened in the middle of the mud and the muck of life.
March found us locked down in our home. Work and home collided. At first, the transition was not fun and I did not seem to find happiness. We moved through month after another and it was obvious that we would be here a while. I set about dusting off the desk that I have used for many a year for our home business. The business of two cafes and the acreage where when the year is bountiful, we have sold apples to locals. It has taken a while to arrange it in a fashion that works and is comfortable. Just yesterday, I took on the task of going through each drawer and each file. Systematically storing old financials that we still need to keep and setting aside a huge bag of papers to shred. I finally feel at home.
I am finally feeling at home in my own home, now there is an oxymoron! Truly though, the feelings of “will they know I am really working?” have finally settled down. Honestly, I have come to like my home office space. What I miss is teaching, what I miss is seeing the “ah ha” moments as I am teaching a new class and we are preparing a healthy entrée for the very first time! I miss planning meetings with agencies, I miss having lunch with professional friends and dear friends. I miss hopping in my car and driving here and there. When I drive now, I feel exhaustion. Did my mask work? Did I remember everything so I don’t have to take another trip? Did I run into anyone who had COVID? Mentally, it is scary to leave the shelter of my warm, cozy and safe existence in my house.
Setting all of the worry aside, I am hopeful for a new year, one that will end up being COVID free. One that provides us with adult leaders who will help us revitalize and live once again.
The best things from 2020 have been adding a new puppy to our fold, spending a lot of time together as a family, paying more attention to my gardening and the house plants are thriving. I even have air plants and they are so much fun! I know, how are plants fun, well they just make my soul happy!
Santa brought me a brand new electric range with a convection oven. My goals for this blog will be to resume bringing you simple, healthy, down to earth food preparation from my home to yours. Until then, “May your days be Merry and Bright, and may all your Christmas’s be white!” Snow, snow but snow when everyone is home safe and sound.
From my home to yours, remember the wonderful things about 2020 and let the bad things go!
“Maybe Christmas doesn’t come from a store. Maybe Christmas is a little bit more.” Dr. Seuss. Maybe 2020 did not go as planned, but lessons were learned and the big pause that we had allowed for a lot of time to just breathe.
We are living in some scary times! I know that I have said this over and over since the emergence of COVID 19 became real! I am scared about so many things. I am scared that someone near me will die from this. I am scared my family will be affected either health wise, financial wise or a whole other ton of what if’s. I worry about my daughter who is a CNA. I worry about my son who works at a retail store in Cheyenne WY. I worry about my husband who has heart issues. The list goes on and on. One thing that is a joy, Sunset! It is still there, ready for the soil to be used for plants, ready for the blossoms to fill the fruit trees. Ready for us to be good stewards.
Planting seedlings this past Saturday was joyful and hopeful all wrapped into one. I always look forward to planting, this year added a layer of feelings. Feelings of this being critical for survival. What? No longer a hobby, but critical. Through the mindfulness of planting the seeds, I warded off feelings that we don’t have enough. What if this is our only food, is this enough? Can we go to a store and find more seeds? Should I order seeds? All of this but as I poked the seeds into the soil, I reminded myself that we are going to be ok.
Mother Nature will begin to warm the earth. Blossoms will adorn the fruit trees. Our baby chickens will mature and give us eggs. The earth will be on its axis again and we will survive.
If you don’t have a garden plot, think about starting just one outdoor pot with a tomato plant. You won’t be sorry! It is so peaceful to watch a plant grow with your care and love. There is something amazing about getting your hands deep into the dirt and out of that dirt a plant comes and graces your table with something delicious to eat.
During this time, make the most of the pause we are taking. Plant a seed, play a board game and reach out to someone you have not talked to in a really long time. This too shall pass!So many lessons come from times of challenge and strife. What are you learning? We should learn something new everyday!
While this is a small something, I really do hope that all of us will stay healthy and peacefulduring this challenging time. Best wishes from our home to yours.
May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face;
the rains fall soft upon your fields and until we meet again,
Fall, a time to reflect on the harvest. Sadly, summer was the most challenging season of perhaps my entire life. I began spring with hope, along came summer with floods and new health issues to deal with. I literally found myself out of breath.
Life on an acreage can be filled with abundance and beauty. Just as it can be the best, it can also be the worst. July 8 was not unlike any other day. Towards evening, we began to have a little rain. I went to bed and was shaken out of my slumber with my son telling us we needed to get our belongings up high, we are flooding. I really thought this was a bad dream! The kids had rescued our kittens and were worried about our possessions. My husband and I came downstairs, we looked outside, yes there was water flooding our private road and driveway, but we thought we had a ways to go before our house was in jeopardy. 10 minutes passed, and we began to take things upstairs. Family pictures, papers, anything that would be destroyed by water.
I began to pray. I remember thinking about the verses from Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven. A time to be born and a time to die. A time to plant and a time to harvest. A time to kill and a time to heal. A time to tear down and a time to build up. A time to cry and a time to laugh. A time to grieve and a time to dance. A time to scatter stones and a time to gather stones. A time to embrace and a time to turn away. A time to search and a time to quit searching. A time to keep and a time to throw away. 7A time to tear and a time to mend. A time to be quiet and a time to speak. A time to love and a time to hate. A time for war and a time for peace.
I began to bargain with God. Please, just this one time spare us from this destruction. My heart can’t bear to lose our home and our belongings. At the end of the storm, the sun did shine. The water receded. Prayers answered. Our home was spared. I felt like a band of Angels had formed a barrier around us and kept the water from our home. We lost a lot of things in our garage, but we were all OK.
The clean up was hard. It left an aftermath of things like less gravel on our road. A glean of oil on top of the water. We scrubbed, and we took things to the local landfill. All the while, we did our best to remember that there were people who lost everything. We are strong, we are resilient, we will be just fine.
My positive spirit was dashed when I was struck with a chronic cough. I now have asthma and I am doing my best to remind myself, chin up, things really could be so much worse. I am read for a new season. A season to be born again. A season to rebuild and replant. A season to find joy, to dance. A season to prepare for the next and help keep waters away from our home. A season to reflect, a season to love and a time for peace.
Sunset: Local Food & Healthy Living 