Daily Blog - Farm Food, Flowers, Camp

Farm Food:

Every morning before the sun gets too hot, I go to the gardens to pick what will be needed for the day.  Everyday since the first week of June there has been lettuce.  Yesterday I harvested some baby carrots, and another handful of garlic scapes to go with our lunch to go with our dinner.

Our lunch of spaghetti topped with garlic scapes and onions, a fried egg and lettuce.

Flowers:

A fresh bouquet for our table - cosmos, bachelor buttons, black eyed susans and tansy.

Camp:

We were supposed to go see our oldest daughter's staff dedication last night after she finished her week of training at a nearby summer camp, followed by icecream and fireworks.  Abe and Emily were so excited.  But, when we went to start our van, it was obvious very quickly that the alternator was going.  I am thankful for a neighbor/friend that lent us their car so Mike could go pick Abby up and our pastor is here early already this morning to take Mike to get the part.  I am so thankful we didn't break down at 10:00 pm on the side of the road on our way back home if we had gone last night.  The children's disappoint has mostly passed and today we are thankful for all of God's provisions.  After we sell our house, we are going to take a bit of the money and buy a second used car, probably a subaru outback or forester because our one car is nearly at 200,000 miles. 

Wishing you a beautiful day!

Warmly,
Tonya

Daily Practice

When we lived off grid in an old mobile home with five children and then for a year with our sixth baby, practicing gratitude became a habit for me.  I just knew that God had a plan for us and that He would not give me any more than I could handle.

So while carrying water from one end of the mobile home to the other to wash dishes or while scrubbing clothes by hand in the wash bucket or filling our "refrigerator" with a bucket of snow, or wondering how we would ever manage with yet another baby, I had a choose to either embrace what I had or be miserable.  I did often come to God in tears, but through it all, giving thanks daily and often became a habit.  I would thank God for the food we did have to eat, the clothes I was able to wash, for my husband and children, for a roof over our head, and so on.

Now that our lives are truly much more comfortable, I don't have to be working from the time I wake to the time I go to bed just to meet our family's needs, and now that our business is providing for us plus, now that our home has ample space for all of us, running water, electricity, a washing machine - it is so much harder to remember to give thanks continually - to remember that all comes from God.

I bought this book this past summer and have read it once, but pick it up often to re-read sections and now with the near year, I have begun my own thousand gifts journal.  I need to do this to remind myself of how much I have been given but even more so I need to do this to be reminded of how much I have to give.

"Feed the hungry, and help those in trouble.  Then your light will shine out from the darkness, and the darkness around you will be as bright as noon.  The Lord will guide you continually, giving you water when you are dry and restoring your strength.  You will be like a well-watered garden, like an ever-flowing spring."   --Isaiah 58:10 - 100--

Warm wishes and blessings as you begin the work of a new week,
Tonya

(Ann Voskamp, the author or One Thousand Gifts, has a wonderful blog - A Holy Experience.)

Full Again

At this moment ~

All of the children are home again and the laundry is piling up, the sink is full of dishes,
the table is full of work, the oven is full of bread and cookies, the house is full of noise (voices and instruments playing), and I am full of gratitude ~ thanks for each of them and for their safe return.

Warm wishes,
Tonya

Morning Chore

Each morning in the winter, when the temperatures are very cold, I take over Abby's morning chore, and head out the door with a warm pail of water and some grain for the chickens.

Here is the view as I walk out the front door, this morning the sun was rising.behind the evergreens.

I am still in my flannel nightgown with long underwear and wool sweater under my barn coat.

The fresh cold air feels refreshing as I listen to the crisp crunching as my boots step on the snow.

As I walk toward the chicken coop, and look to up to the left ~

the beautiful morning sky is turning blue with the moon still bright.

 and I enjoy a brief visit with the  chickens.

What a blessing that I get to experience this each morning, even when, like yesterday, the wind was howling and the snow was falling down my back - I rejoice about the amazing gift we are given to live on such a beautiful earth.

Warm wishes,
Tonya



Thanksgiving

As the day winds down I reflect about the beauty and joys the day has brought.

It was with much satisfaction that most of our food was either grown in our gardens, our neighbors gardens, or bought local.

We had our own butternut squash, local organic carrots, the potatoes we dug ourselves and purchased from our neighbors.  I bought stuffing. (in a box... I know... uggg).  Next year my goal is to make my own.  I also purchased canned jellied cranberry sauce.  (again, double ugggg).  Dear husband loves this, but next year I am going to at least buy organic and see about buying some cranberries and making my own.

Our pumpkin pie came from our local pumkins with whipped cream from a farm in our town. 

The turkey was fresh, 23 pounds and also came from a farm in our town.  We are planning to raise our own next year if we can hire or barter with someone who will help us with the processing.

cutting the turkey

pumpkin cooking

finished pies

our table with birch bark napkin rings and birch branch candle holders

I couldn't resist these two wines with the chicken and rooster labels.

It was special visiting with family.



dear husband with his father and brother

As I was washing dishes, I started to get a bit sad thinking of how much we have and of those who do not.  We had just shared in an amazing meal, are warm and have the joy of being surrounded by family.

On my way to town the other day, a church had a quote in their sign that read
"Gratitude is saying thanks and sharing the gifts with others."

Happy Thanksgiving.
Warm wishes, Tonya

Thank You

to Amber of the wonderful blog, Oak Moss, for her generous giveaway that I was so very blessed to win.  I don't enter many giveaways, generally just when a blog that I regularly visit offers one.

I won a whole medium flat rate box filled with soaps and candles from her shop, Oak Moss.

The candles are a soy, beeswax blend with essential oils for fragrance and the soaps are also wonderfully natural.  Amber packages everything in an eco-friendly manner, including the brown tape to seal the shipping box.  (Something I need to research for our business.)

If you have a few minutes stop by her blog as I think many of you will appreciate her simple and gentle ways.

And if you have a certain someone on your holiday shopping list that you have run out of time to make handmade, maybe you might want to consider something from Oak Moss.   

(One thing the world of blogging has affirmed for me, is that the world is full of beautiful, kind people.)

I will be offering a series of giveaways soon as I make visits to our local artists and food producers within our little town and share a little handmade or homemade something from each of them as well as a bit about their family business or art.

Warm wishes, Tonya