It would be so much easier to get new posts up if I had a nicer camera.  I always hesitate to post because I dont usually have pictures worthy enough to accompany the story.  But I want to be happy with what I have.  Life goes by too quickly when you’re always thinking it will be better when you have ___________.  And so I’ve loaded up all the pictures to go with the last few posts that are missing them.

The next few pictures are from the party that my sis and I organized and ‘catered’ for my parents 31st wedding anniversary and my mothers 50th birthday

My parents renewing their vows

The party under tent

mmmm

Sunset the evening of the party

Party decor

The day before the party in their natural state :)

And here’s around our property and our goings ons

Sun drying tomatoes

The pumpkins that might not mature before winter!

Elderberries ready to be boiled down

Elderberry/Elecampane ginger honey syrup

Blanching chard for freezing

My unstacked wood pile, slowly growing

Autumn chill is in the air!

Fresh batch of Spring back cream, refer to last post

So theres that.  Today will consist of more of the same, possibly getting to harvest the fruits of a neighbors garden, I wonder what goodies we’ll find?!  This weekend I am contemplating staying home to enjoy a much needed ‘vacation’ while Seth takes the boys to his parents.  I see peach picking, canning and putting up peach liquor in my future!  Perhaps I’ll start and FINISH a knitting project.  And…OOOOH!  I’ll sleep in!!!!  This DOES sound like vacation!

Hello dears.  The end of summer is on fast forward here.  The mornings and evenings are chilled and it will only be a matter of days before we’ll be filling our wood stove with our newly cut wood.  Which is in part to blame for my absence.  I’ve been blanching chard, making and freezing soups, canning blackberry jam, chopping and storing wood, making elderberry syrup in anticipation of fall sicknesses, grinding flour for the baking that will fill the house with good smells this fall and trying to finish up my summer knitting project.

I recently made a batch of spring back healing cream that turned out to be my best one yet.  I added extra helichyrsum, geranium, patchouli, lavender, bergamot, and frankincense to the thick creamy mixture of shea, kokoum, illipee, coconut, jojoba and rosehip oils to make the most delicious lotion.  I cant stay out of it.  I smooth my face with it several times a day, my elbows feel like baby skin and my shoulders are just in heaven.  I made alot of it.  More than I usually make.  It’s just sitting there waiting for someone to enjoy.  Would you like to enjoy some?  You can if you’d like, I’d be happy to send it to you.  I will tell you know that the ingredients are of higher quality and fresher than anything you’ll find in your local store.  This is like eating a carrot straight from the ground as opposed to getting the baby carrots on a veggie tray from walmart.  This stuff is still alive and it meshes with your skin like the ingredients are long lost cousins to your tired facial cells.  They’re invited right in and instantly make your skin happier and more vibrant.

The essential oils that I add to this are worth several hundreds dollars per 5 ml bottle, and I’ve added a generous amount to this particular batch.  You’ll be able to tell the second you open the jar and the scent hits your nose.  I have 2 jars that are 2 oz size, they are $15 a piece.  I also have 2 jars in 4oz size for $22.  Add $3 for shipping to each order.  Leave me a comment and I’ll email you the address in which to send a check and I’ll get your Spring Back cream in the mail so you can enjoy it too.

Cheers to Fall.  My favorite season and the time in which I feel the most alive, vibrant and creative!  I’m sure I’ll be more diligent in posting. 

For 2 minutes the rain graced us with its cooling presence.  I stood outside and let it send chills up my spine as my shirt became soaked.  And then it was gone.

It makes me so look forward to fall.  I woke up knowing it would rain, and I felt anxious and frisky waiting for it to arrive.  It was gone too soon, in my opinion.

I feel a bit oppressed knowing that the heat is coming back this week.  91 on Wednesday.  I just don’t do well with those hotter days.  Oregon heat is a strange heat since it’s usually very humid when it’s hot.

This week my siblings and I put together a dinner party for our parents to renew their wedding vows and honor my mother’s 50th birthday.  It turned into quite the event, including a large covered canopy, candles hanging in mason jars from trees, 40’s big band dance tunes, and a lavish spread of yummy treats.  We served an assortment of cheeses, pickled vegetables, homemade pesto over pasta, salami’s and excellent artisan baguettes. This week we’ll be putting the leftovers to good use.  Tonight we’ll have BLT’s on the baguettes with basil.

I feel anxious for the fall, but I also feel so unprepared.  I want to do so much still.  I have tomatoes to dry, since I don’t have enough to can this year.  I need to go out and pick peaches and preserve them.   Blanch and store chard and kale, harvest amaranth and elderberries, get my rain barrel collection built, finish my layered composting on next springs garden and get my cold frames built.

And then.

Fires in the fire place.

pumpkins and soup.  Sorry.  Is it too early to be talking about these things?

knitting.

baking.

And finally getting to those indoor projects that have been put off since we moved out here in June.  The craft room still needs attention, the shop and garage organized, and finally.  FINALLY.  I will focus on learning the art of a sewing machine.

Oh wait till you see what I snagged at a yard sale this week.  I’ll get it set up and take a picture for you for my next post.

My dear sweet hubster hugged me when he saw my find, and said, ‘ I don’t understand you, but I love you even though you can be such a silly girl’.

Thank God he puts up with me and my compulsive ideas!

Something worth noting is this.  Dreads and brambles do not get along.  I am still pulling bits of blackberry bush out of my hair, and little stickers have decorated a few of the locks.  It was worth it though.

My sis and I went up for a quiet evening of blackberry picking out in the hills overlooking vineyards, wheat fields and filbert orchards.  I can hardly do the scenery justice by trying to describe it to you, and I forgot my camera to try to capture it on film.  It’s stunning.  The air was heady with the scent of dirt, sun baked wheat and the aroma of crushed berries under our feet, crickets were quietly chirping in their monotone way, a pack of coyotes sang us a sad song from across the valley.  The sun was crawling over the dark green hills casting a magnificent golden glow over the wheat field directly below us.  We hardly spoke, for fear of shattering the perfect calm.  So we picked and picked.  Huge fat perfect blackberries, occasionally pricking our fingers and becoming entangled by the brambles.  We would quietly mutter made up cuss words, and then laugh at each other.

‘Bramble-mother-flipper-fangle!  Ouch, that really hurt.  Oh, look at the little chickadee, Lindsay!’

‘Poop-soup-chipper-dip!, hehehe.  Oh wow.  Check out this huge bumble bee right next that amazing clump of berries.  Bugger.  They’re just out of reach.  Why did I think a tank top was apropriate blackberry picking wear!’

‘You must have been confused with blueberry picking’

‘Oh, have you ever cherry-picked?  You could do that in a dress.  Well, you couldn’t, you find a way to dirty ANYTHING you wear’.

And so our quiet banter went.  Barely above a whisper.

The drive back was filled with that summer smell at dusk.  The smell of hot pavement, the mist rising, hay fields and orchards mixing to smell like the anticipation of pie and cobbler, the dank smell of gulleys and marshes, with a touch of sweat and sun kissed skin thrown in the mix.

There was a moment, as we drove down the country road, the bluegrass music turned low when I looked at my sister and I knew that split second would be a memory I would conjure up again in my old age.  Perhaps while telling my grandchildren about how I grew up, I’ll remember everything from the smell to the sights and sounds, the taste of blackberries still sweet in my mouth and the feeling of the warm evening wind blowing our ratty hair across our faces.

Now I’m enjoying the perfect end to my weekend by starting a knitting project, Coachella, drinking a beer and preparing myself for another week of heat and being creative with things to do indoors until the sun begins to set.

Please share some of those perfect memory moments with me!  I know some of you are having experiences that I’ll never have, and I’d love to have a bit of insight into those moments.

Cheers and may you find time to just be still.

I am thankful for so many things right now.  There are of course stresses and worries.  But what is life without those things?  For now I am focusing on the things that are right and good and worth dwelling on.

1. Chocolate Sourdough Cake.

Love. It.  I would even say O.M.G.  I have never typed those words before.  Which of course means ‘ Oh Mother Goodness’.  Right? :)  It was a wonderful way to put my sourdough start to use, and I was pleased to discover that my stomach actually loved the tangy-ness of the sour and it digested happily.  Thus I consumed alot of it

2. Chilly Evenings

Outside of the city and the concrete jungle, it cools down considerably at night.  The earth soaks up the heat and in turn brings down the temperature.  For which I am extremely grateful, because I sleep so well out here.

3.  The moon and stars.

I can actually see them again!  After living right in town for the last 3 years, I had almost forgotten what it is like to look up at the night sky and be in awe of the beauty.

I sort of feel like this guy when I am just overwhelmed by the beauty that surrounds me out here. Minus the tripping on drugs part.

What does it MEAN?!  It’s so beautiful!

4. Dirty food.

And by dirty, I mean food that I’ve pulled right out of the ground.  Food that still tastes alive.  Beets that taste like sweet earth.  Blackberries that taste like sunshine and  the dust of a wheat field.

Amaranth leaves that taste like vitality and strength.

And Tomatoes that taste like everything summer should taste like.

5.  Gray Skies.

For the last few days we’ve had wonderful clouds.  I know I’m crazy, but this pacific northwest girl grew up in the San Juans north of Seattle.  We never had more than 2 weeks without rain, and it’s been 2 months.  The charcoal clouds in the sky are refreshing and I feel more energetic on the mornings that are slightly less bright and warm.  Besides, freshly roasted coffee from one of the locals is much more enjoyable when it’s a bit overcast.

6.  Evening Campfires.

Remember this?  I have been getting great use out of my Mother’s Day present. Several times a week Seth and I enjoy a quiet evening fire after the boys go to sleep.  We talk and laugh and sit mesmerized by the flames.  We’ve decided that our favorite date nights have been around that fire with a few beers, Avett Brothers playing in the background (whom we recently saw in concert, they are so fun to watch live!) or the quiet sounds of night.

7. Can Can Can you do the CAN CAN! I CAN!

Yesterday some friends graciously helped show me how to preserve food by canning.  We put up 5 small jars of blackberry jam.  I have read the instructions, and I have memories of watching my mom put up jams and jellies growing up, but it was helpful to watch someone do the step by step of it.  I feel confident to try it myself now!  I have aspirations for plum jelly, peach preserves, freezer jams, chutneys, canned beans, tomato sauce, pickles and soups, and whatever else I can CAN.  I am anxious to continue learning the art of fermentation as it applies to preserving food too.  I have 2 small cabbages in the fridge that are begging to be turned into sauerkraut.  Using fermentation means no need to seal the jar with heat as whey acts as a natural preservative and keeps the food clear of harmful bacteria.  Of course raw whey is best.

8. Baby Steps

Kai took his first steps in the garden while we were harvesting shallots.  And when I say we, I mean our neighbor Jennifer did most the work and the boys and I just got in the way as much as we possibly could

9. Hand milling flour.

It’s hard work.  1 hour of continuous milling results in about 4-5 cups of flour and alot of sweat.  However, the food I’ve made with it is definitely better than that made with store bought flour.  It tastes heartier and more flavorful.  It’ also more nutritionally dense than flour that was milled months ago.  Flour loses it’s nutrition almost overnight after it’s been milled.  Especially if it’s milled at high speeds as it heats up the flour as it’s processed, furthering the nutritional loss.

10. Messes.

We have been quite the sight this summer.  The boys are only ever clean right after they leave the bathtub, and within moments they’ve found ways to dirty themselves again.  With all the cooking and baking and food prep my kitchen counters are usually stacked with dishes, food scraps and spills.  The house is in a continual pattern of disarray.  Our office/creative room has turned into the ’shove-it-in-here-so-we-don’t-have-to-look-at-it’ room.  Clothes are scattered from the clothesline to the bedrooms.  I am learning to accept the messes because they mean we are living.  We are home much more these days, the boys are busy playing and we spend a good chunk of our day outside, which means the cleaning is left to be attended to for another day.  We have had several days where we collapse in a heap amidst clothes fresh off the line, dishes left in the sink, the boys put to bed with dirt smeared cheeks, and toys strewn throughout the house.   But I go to bed feeling like I have LIVED my day and not just endured it.

Blessings to you all.  What Simple thing are you thankful for RIGHT NOW?

Dont you think the title is kinda clever?  I sorta chuckled to myself as I typed it.

OH…. sometimes, I think I’m funny.

Anyway, I used to work out alot.  Like every day.  In highschool I would workout before school, have weight training class, swim team practice after school and then stay and workout after that.  It was unhealthy to say the least.

I also worked at a stable/ barn/farm establishment and I spent countless hours shoveling, hauling, dumping, pushing, scraping, riding, running, chucking haybales and anything else that needed to be done.  I loved this sort of workout way more than the ‘gym’ kind.

I love the endorphines that are released as sweat pores down your brow into your eyes, your chest heaving and you can look at something you’ve accomplished.

Since high school ended and adulthood began, I’ve been trying to figure out how to schedule my workouts into an grown up-married with kids-life.  When I was first married, before kids, it wasn’t too hard, I just had to be disciplined enough to go regularly.  After children…well.  It’s been so much harder.  I went back to work as a personal trainer after Caleb was born, and figured it would force me to work out since I was already at the gym.   After being away from my family for 6 hours of work, I felt the need to rush home and skip my workout.  After Kai was born.  Well.  my workouts have been sporatic at best.  My time in the gym felt sort of wasted and mundane.   More pointless even.  I started to wonder WHY was I working out?  To be in shape.  For what?  Sure, there were diapers to change, kids to run after, floors to sweep.  But why was I trying to be in athletic shape for all that.  I wanted to USE my body.  I wanted to have a reason to sprint and push and pull and lift and feel the sweat drip down my back.  I felt like I was training for a marathon I would never run.

Today after a rather trying morning with my boys, I had an hour to slip outside to the woodpile.  Axe in hand I split wood until the sweat poured down my face, my arms shook, my chest heaved and my mind felt clear.

This new gym has no walls.  No ceiling.  No crazy techno music (although there’s a time and place for crazy techno music too)  This new workout has no reps or set weight.  I don’t have to change into special workout gear, drive to the gym, put my headphones in, follow my routine for an hour, cool down and drive home.  This works seamlessly with our life.  Actually, it IS our life!

I’m working out for a purpose now.  I want my body to be toned for chopping wood, hand milling flour, weeding gardens, kneading bread and eventually for milking cows and WHO KNOWS what else.

Now I can do yoga and hoop for fun, and I don’t have to worry about making sure I do them so I burn some calories each day.  I can enjoy my food without thinking of how I can burn off the calories.  I also sleep so well after working so hard.

The hoops are getting quite a bit of use these days!

Living simply, means living more free!  Free of a packed schedule, of so many separate activities.  It means more time for family, friends and laughter.

I thought you might enjoy this.  This is my husband (in the light tan t-shirt) and our friend, Mark.  They put together a little hoop routine for Jenny (my good friend) and I.  Sadly I think they have more skill then we do

I like burgers as much as the next person.  Every once in awhile I get a hankerin’ for a juicy charbroiled burger with cheese oozing down the side and crunchy lettuce and sweet tomato making a little party in my mouth and tummy.  I’m not talkin drive thru burger.  Or even really classy burger-joint burger.

I’m talking about my stuffed burgers.  I use local pasture raised beef that is naturally red and full of excellent omega 3&6’s.   I pack them full of fresh cut herbs, spices, stale homemade bread, freshly made paneer cheese (or whatever cheese is in the fridge) onions and fresh garlic.  Topped with a slice of aged white (cause that’s what color cheese is) cheddar, some greens from the garden, and SOON…. a fresh tomato!

Here’s my favorite combination thus far, all the ingredients I used were as fresh as I could get them and as high quality as I could find.  The better the ingredients, the better the burger!

Lacey’s Favorite Stuffed Burgers

• 1 lb pasture raised ground beef (or turkey, lamb, buffalo…..)
• .5 walla walla sweet onion
• 2 eggs (I just used the yolks for this)
• 1 Tbs cumin
• 2-4 cloves of fresh garlic, crushed
• small handful of fresh cut and chopped parsely
• 3/4 cup torn up stale bread (I used a rye that I made last week)
• 1/2 cup cheese (feta, cheddar, chevre, paneer, queso blanco, or whatever you have on hand!)  I used homemade paneer and mozz
• medium grain sea salt (I like it kinda chunky) add according to your taste
• pepper

Mix in a bowl with your hands (not for the squeamish!) until well mixed through.  I added a bit of olive oil to help it really stick together.

Create a patty by rolling app .5 cup meat mixture in your hands into a ball and then patting down gently, but not till it’s flat as a pancake or it will fall apart on the grill or pan.  Stuffed burgers are a bit more stout.

Place on well heated grill or cast iron skillet and allow to brown both sides.  It helps to add something heavy on top of the cooking burger to cook through and flatten a bit.  You could use a plate, or another small skillet… just something heat resistant!

if you’re going to top with cheese, do so after you flip it the first time and allow cheese to melt on the top.

Eat it.  Don’t even try to keep your eyes from rolling back in your head with sheer delight.

I like topping my burgers with a bit of greens, slice of tomato, some mayo and maybe a spritz of stone ground mustard.  I don’t want to overpower the flavors of the burger.  Oh but caramelized onions are always welcome.

I’m not an expert at parenting.  Most the time, I feel like I’m just barely treading water, keeping myself from drowning in anxiety as my children dance around me wildly, oblivious to my state of mind.  Sometime’s not so oblivious as I bury my head in a pillow and mutter inaudible curse words and sounds of complete exasperation.

Since moving out to the ‘Sticks’, I have been struggling in a new way.

I have dreams.

I have goals.

I have a plan.

Each morning when I wake up (recently Kai has made sure that I rise at 5am!) I have an unwritten list in my head.

It might look something like this:

Breakfast, feed the sourdough, brew more tea for kombucha, hang laundry, water garden, go gather berries, garlic, calendula, gather sticks for bentwood art, try my hand (again….) at making mozzarella, work on knitted sweater for Kai (it was supposed to be done for his birthday, oops) prep dough for second rising, switch laundry over, pay bills, read a chapter on cold frame construction, dinner prep, weed and water the gardens again….

You get the idea.

No where in there is there room for my children, whom inevitably want to be fed, changed, cleaned up after, played with, read to, taught to spell new words, fed again, put down for naps, changed, butts wiped, the occasional melt down…

Again.  You get the idea.

I am not the kind of mom that puts alot of energy into figuring out fun crafts, or silly stories, or elaborate lessons on the earths rotation around the sun.  Maybe I will be someday.

So my plan of attack has been distraction.  Find a way to keep them appeased.  Put on a few shows.  Put them outside with some sidewalk chalk.  Put food in front of them.  Turn on the sprinkler.  TRY (unsuccessfully) to give them each a toy to play with, without them tearing it out of each others hands. Drag them to the garden and tell Caleb to run around the field while I weed and water.  I would try to place Kai on a blanket with a few flowers and grass to occupy him for 5 minutes, until he would cry and try to crawl to me.

This was not working.  I want desperately for there to be a flow about our days.  For my children to settle into this new rhythm and feel like they’re part of it!

By the end of the day I was disgruntled and tired and had gotten 2 things done on my list halfheartedly and with multiple distractions.

Then a light went on.  I’m not sure where this revelation came from, perhaps it was something someone told me ages (or weeks ago…my memory is in a sad state) ago, or perhaps I read it and I had internalized it until now, but either way… I was struck by a thought.

If I want my family to act as one organism, or a unit that works together, than I have to view it and treat it as such.  I realize that each person wants to be valued.  Everyone wants to contribute, and be appreciated for their input.  This works in the workplace, on a team, in a marriage…. and with CHILDREN!  Man.  Sometimes I am amazed at how much I complicate things sometimes.

My kids don’t want to be pushed to the side, with their own mundane activity.  They don’t want to be segregated.  They want to be included and know and learn about what I’m doing.  They want to be part of what Seth is doing.  What we’re trying to accomplish as a family.

Yesterday I decided to test out my new theory.  I asked Caleb to help me teach baby sign language to kai.  So we watched a few youtube clips together, and I asked Caleb to remember the signs and help Kai with them.  He did them all. day. long.  He asked me to push his carseat next to Kai’s as we drove to the farm to pick up milk.  They giggled and signed and held hands the whole way.  Caleb would feed him snacks and water and try to console him when he was upset.

When we got home, I sat kai on the lawn next to me while Caleb and I stripped plum shoots of their leaves.  We gave the leaves to Kai to play with and then I made a bentwood fence around my herb garden with the branches.

The hideous dry patch behind Caleb is where I’m prepping space for my garden next year with Coffee grounds, clippings, mulch and such.

At one point Caleb decided to go pretend he was a warrior with a sword and protect our lawn against bad guys.

I fought the urge to tell him to finish helping me, but I want him to be a willing participant in this family.  Not forced. And I realized that he would rather go play and be  imaginative on his own, rather than have a set time for ‘creativity and outside play’.  The kids played with a branch for 30 minutes.  Caleb sat and ‘read’ a book silently on the couch for 1 hour while Kai napped and I climbed the plum tree out front to collect plums and branches.  He played chase with Kai for several minutes while I got dinner ready.  They played with chalk on the patio while I hung laundry to dry.  Occasionally Caleb would ask to help, and I would oblige.  Within 15 minutes he would become distracted from his task and want to go play.  I didn’t have to TELL him to go play!

As he gets older, I’ll expect him to finish tasks and have his own set of responsibilities, but for now, he’s not even 4 yet!

I realized that this means I will have to sit on the floor and help him fold his clothes, rather than ask him to keep out of the laundry basket as I try to put his clothes away.

It means I will have to stop and show Kai how to stack tupperware (yes, there is still some plastic in my house) instead of groan with frustration and pick up each piece as he throws it out of the drawer.

I am going to have to slow down as I walk through the field to show Caleb different plants, tell them their names, spell them out, explain their purpose and why we value them instead of yell back at him to hurry up and keep up with me.

It means my life is going to be messier and more unorganized, but I think it’s going to work better this way.  Rather than fight against each other and have separate activities all the time, we can work together and at the same time learn from one another.

Of course, I don’t think it’s wrong to plan and set aside activities for them.  I just think that should be the exception and not the rule.  At least in this house!

I feel that each day, my children teach me more than I will ever be able to teach them.

As I’ve mentioned in other posts,  this has been a time of learning for me.   Every day I go to bed, my head feeling full.

Some of the things I’m learning are things that I might have known before, but I’ve forgotten since being out of touch with the seasons, the plants and wild things.  Many of the things are brand new to me.

I’ve been learning of the new plants that grow wild in our area.  Currently our field is brimming with Queen Anne’s Lace. 

See the little purple bloom in the center?  There’s apparently a little story as to how this plant was named.  I find it charming.  It appears that this ‘weed’ has many uses and medicinal values, but I’m not comfortable to start experimenting with this one yet, since there are so many precautions.  But contraceptive, aid?!  Might be worth looking into!

I’ve learned of many little plants that grow on the ground and what many consider weeds, that are very edible and actually pretty good!  My favorite is Sheeps Sorrel.  It has a tangy lemony flavor and it’s a bit crisp.  I enjoy grabbing a handful while I’m out near the garden and munching on it while I tend to our plants.

Picture Source

I found that day lilly buds can be quite tasty too!  Although bland, they’re crunchy and a nice little snack.

Picture source

I missed out on the fiddle head ferns this year, but I look forward to them next spring.  They’re so good sauteed with garlic and some country fried potatoes!

Most of these little tidbits are excellent sources of vitamin c or a as well as iron, potassium and a bit of protein too!  You can have a salad of foraged delights!

I learned of purselane last night, while weeding in the garden with Jennifer (my neighbor and farming partner) and right before I pulled one up, she informed me of it’s high omega 3 virtues and that we would be wise to let it grow.

Which brings me to another thing I’m learning about gardening.  All things are not weeds!  If it’s growing wild in your garden, you might find that it’s as helpful as the tomato it’s growing next to.  As long as it’s not choking out your plants, it might be edible, or perhaps attract helpful bugs, maybe it repels harmful parasites or helps keep your garden beds from erosion.  These are things I’ve never considered!!

We also took some time the other day to check out a local farm that raises Dexter cows.  We were hoping to glean a bit of information regarding this particular breed, any complications, milking…etc.  What we came away with is that this particular farmer was bent on convincing us to buy a goat instead.  And despite her opinion, I don’t think that goat milk and cows milk taste the same AT ALL!!  So we’re seeking out more local dexter farms and their wisdom in hopes to obtain a milk cow of our own next spring.

I’ve been skimming through a few bread making books as well, and have been completely in awe of these bread artisans and their lives work toward perfecting the art of nutritious bread.

A few of them are Laurel’s Kitchen Bread book, The Bread Builders, Bread Alone, and  The bread apprentice

I cant figure out my amazon associates widget link thing, and I don’t really care to make money off my suggestions, only that you’ll at least look into them!

Jennifer and I take turns milling flour with her hand mill, and I tell you what!  You sure do appreciate the final product after cranking out 6 cups of flour by hand!  I think I burn as many calories as I consume, which works out well…. especially for this bread lovin norwegian.

Other things I’m learning is that little boys are happy when they’re dirty

And mostly naked…..

And collecting bugs

This has truly been a summer of gifts.

A home warming gift from our former housemates who now live in Arkansas.

Le Creuset Spoon holder and trivet

Antique Cast Iron Candle Lantern

The Lantern was given to us me by my mother for Seth and I’s anniversary.   She’s had it in her barn for years and I make note of it often and she winks and says I can have it when she’s gone from the earth.  She caved and decided it would be a perfect ‘chandelier’ for my covered patio.

One of Seth’s clients at his previous job gifted us with 5 old antique windows which I will use to make a cold frame to keep a few vegetables growing late into the fall and begin early next spring.

A friend was offered a cord of wood which he could not use, so he offered it to us.  We have a beautiful wood stove that I’d like to use exclusively for heat this winter.  Recently we were offered another 3 cords.  We are set for the winter.

Other things have been a gift of eggs and berries by our new landlords the day we moved in, organic coffee grounds for my garden, a free CSA share from the same farm I get our raw milk from, the use of a neighbors cider press this winter, free lessons in meat curing and mushroom hunting…..

More than any other thing though I am most grateful for my husband of 7 years today.  He told me before we got married that he didn’t care what phase or trend that I went through, he would love me the same.  He told me fat or skinny, pregnant or old he would see me as the most beautiful women on earth.  The other night he told me that each day he chooses me.  He makes a decision every day that I am the only woman in his life and that the beauty in other women doesn’t attract him because he knows that love comes with the whole person, the laughter you share, the memories you have, the hard times you endure, the special moments that are only yours, the physcial attributes that make a person unique….

I have a wonderful man.  He is my most precious blessing, the greatest earthly gift I have and I treasure him.

I am overwhelmed with gratitude.  What a wonderful season.  I do not expect all of life to be so sweet.  I know that hard times will come again, but for now I soak it up and I know I did nothing to deserve these things.

A few weeks ago, a message spoken at our church gathering really struck me as profound.  We often feel a sense of entitlement to ‘gifts’ in our life once the initial gratitude wears off.  If someone gives us $1000, we tend to feel like we deserved it and it should be spent on ourselves.  If we are given a car, we have a hard time lending it out.  When we are given blessings of people or children, we are angry when they die or leave or choose different paths.  In the last case I don’t think it’s wrong to be upset for a season.  But we should strive to come to peace and be thankful for the blessings.  I was struck by this message as I mentally looked around at what I have.  So much has been given to us.  Yet I struggle to hold it with an open hand.  Especially Seth.  It is so easy to feel like I own him at times.  But he is not my possession.  I do not control him or his choices.  By trying I only frustrate him and create tension between us.  He is my partner in this journey, and I am his.  I often want to dictate his schedule, determine his hobbies and profession, choose his wardrobe and friends…. but that isn’t marriage, that’s ownership and ultimately I would be discontent to rule over him.  In this next year, I am focusing on learning to be more encouraging, a better listener, a closer friend and confidant, and to hold Seth with an open hand.

Seth never reads my blog, but if he did, I would say Thank You for the gift of the last 7 years.  Onto new adventures!