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Hi Everyone,
My week started out on the brighter side for me—I could dream again. I have learned that the ability to dream is a gift from God—and recently I have learned that two things can bring our dreams to a halt: sickness and fear. Some sicknesses stop you in your tracts and you cannot dream about tomorrow, because you do not know how you will make it through today. Sometimes fear grips you and you cannot dream because you have no idea what the future will be behold. The cure to fear is trusting God and sickness just takes time. I am not 100% well yet from my recent sickness—but I am able to dream again! When I talk about dreaming I am not talking about the dreams you have when you are fast asleep, but the dreams you have when you are fully awake. Some people only dream and some people make their dreams come true—and sometimes God steps in to direct our dreams in a different direction. Dreaming is good—if the Wright Brothers had never dreamed of flying there would be no airplanes and if Edison hadn’t dreamed we would have no light bulbs. Clothes are designed by dreamers, and gardens are planted because someone spent time dreaming of what to plant where. Creative juices flow from a mind that has already visualized the finished product.
Mama has been able to work in her Courtyard Garden of late—slowly bringing her gardens dreams to life one weed and flower at a time. Last week she moved her birdhouse from up close to the house to the middle of one of the garden sections—because the new fence and bell pole were blocking its view. Yep, we finally got our old school bell hung back up. We had it on a big 6 x 6 posts—but after replacing it two or three times because it rotted in the ground we figured it was time to hang it on a metal pole. Then Mama weeded around the roses and moved some daylilies around and composted, fertilized and mulched the area. In the middle of the courtyard over by the fence stands a lady—her name is Jane Crow! Her job is to look pretty and hold a lantern for a little nighttime charm. Jane Crow gets a new wardrobe a few times a year—and it was time for a new one. When my sister was visiting she helped Mama pick out some clothes (a knit dress, a jacket, a scarf, and a big straw hat) at the local thrift store. Since my sister hurt her foot and spent her time on the sofa—they never got around to changing Jane Crows clothes. So last Monday Mama and I tackled Jane Crow. I usually put a large piece of cardboard under her knit dresses to give them some fullness—we don’t want everyone to know just how skinny Jane Crow really is! This time Papa suggested a hula hoop—and the knit skirt wrapped around the hula hoop perfectly. When it is not raining it swings in the wind—but the rain makes it heavy and it drags the ground.
Tuesday was a crazy day. Wayland came in early to get his field chores done before he headed out to an appointment (he left at 9:30). Papa was out doing his chores and Mama and I were milking the cows. Sunday night the hay man called to bring us more hay, but Mama told him to wait until Thursday so that Papa could clean out the barn. While we were milking the cows Tuesday morning I told Mama that it was supposed to rain on Thursday and that Papa should have cleaned out the barn on Monday and the hay should have come on Tuesday. She decided to go inside and call the hay man to see if he could come that day (Tuesday). He told her he would be there at 10:30—it was 9:30. Mama gave Papa 30 more minutes to do his chores and then she went to tell him the not so grand news that he had 30 minutes to clean out the barn before the hay was delivered. Papa had to finish his chores later. When Mama and I finished milking the cows there was no one to bottle the milk—Wayland was gone and Papa was unloading hay and stacking it in the barn. So Mama bottled the milk and I bottled the kefir. Papa was almost done with the hay when Mama was done bottling the milk and she asked him to come and transport it to the walk-in cooler. When I finished washing the kefir dishes I headed for the house—and I was very thirsty. I noticed that the diesel can was sitting on the sidewalk—and I noticed that another load of hay was coming down the road. Papa was in the cooler so I went and asked him if he needed diesel before he could do anymore hay—and he said yes. I asked if he had enough fuel to start—and then I could go get him the diesel. He said yes so I headed inside to get the keys and my purse. Mama said she would go with me—of which I was glad. Just as we were leaving Wayland got back from his appointment and Shayne showed up for work—how grateful we were that they could wash up all the milking equipment. We weren’t sure if Wayland was going to be able to make it back—so we were glad to see him for Papa really didn’t have time to wash the equipment. When we got to the gas station we couldn’t get the lid off of the diesel can—so I walked around the parking lot until I found a “strong” man. He opened it for us and we continued on our mission. When we got home I was so ready to go inside and get me some kombucha—but Mama realized that the calves were still separated from their mamas and I needed to go put them in with their mamas and bottle feed Leeann and Emmy (our two bottle fed calves). When I got back I was finally able to quench my thirst! We ate lunch and then Papa had to finish stacking the hay in the barn and go finish doing his morning chores—even though it was now about 2:00 in the afternoon.
One of the things I almost quit dreaming about when I was sick was our next Farm to Table Dinner—but last week I finally was ready to plan (to dream again). We talked with the chef on Wednesday and it looks like we will be having a five course dinner: appetizer, soup, salad, entrée (pizza) and dessert. It will be Saturday, November 7—so keep an eye open for an email with all the details!
Friday was a little too busy for my recovering body—but I figured that out by hindsight. We milked the cows first thing, and then at 11:00 Wayland and I headed out to the East and West Gardens to work at cleaning it up. Mama hasn’t been able to mow the grass in months and it was two feet tall. We couldn’t open the gate to get in, nor can I open the doors into the gardens. Wayland used the push mower, and I pulled up the Spanish needle. Then his time was up for the day, and Shayne showed up for the afternoon. I took over the mowing, while Shayne racked up the grass and loaded it into the back end of the truck. Wayland was a much better mower than me. Since the grass was so tall you had to go very, very slow—not my cup of tea. Wayland only had the lawnmower stall on him a few times—it probably stalled on me about 50 times. I finished mowing about 12:45, and then I had to teach Shayne how to put woodchips in the walkways of the Market Gardens, and then at 1:15 I headed inside to get a shower, a bite to eat and make a batch of yogurt before a friend showed up a little after 2:00 to help us can a pumpkin. Shayne finished picking up the grass, put away the tools, mulched a few walkways in the garden and then packaged the eggs—so that I could focus on canning pumpkin. I have learned that unless I set a “date” and “time” to can our harvest it isn’t going to happen. So I asked a friend who wants to learn how to can if she wanted to come and help—and she said yes. I had a 20 pound pumpkin to can, and having “company” made it enjoyable and made it happen. If you want to learn how to can—let me know and I will gladly invite you over the next time I need to can. It was a challenge to get the pumpkin cut up—but we accomplished it and in the end we canned 12 quarts of pumpkin. That means that one pumpkin will give us 12 meals of pumpkin pie, pumpkin muffins, and pumpkin soup!
Since Friday I have done my fair share of resting—and now I must go to bed and get some more rest for I am up way past my bedtime.
Serving you with Gladness,
Tiare