Starry Sky Ranch

For love

“Why do farmers farm, given their economic adversities on top of the many frustrations and difficulties normal to farming?

And always the answer is:

"Love. They must do it for love."

Farmers farm for the love of farming.

They love to watch and nurture the growth of plants.

They love to live in the presence of animals.

They love to work outdoors.

They love the weather, maybe even when it is making them miserable.

They love to live where they work and to work where they live.

If the scale of their farming is small enough, they like to work in the company of their children and with the help of their children.

They love the measure of independence that farm life can still provide.

I have an idea that a lot of farmers have gone to a lot of trouble merely to be self-employed, 

to live at least a part of their lives without a boss.”

Wendell Berry

 

I shared elsewhere an interview with Rory Feek which prompted questions by those who were not familiar with him.  He truly embodies this quote and the values that figures like Berry and Joel Salatin and others espouse.  The story of his family is told in the documentary To Joey With Love  and his book This Life I Live where he writes about living with conscious awareness of the 'extraordinary ordinary" which is pretty much my entire life's theme. The story of a homestead built with love here. 

 

“My life is very ordinary,” says Rory. “On the surface, it is not very special.

If you looked at it, day to day, it wouldn’t seem like much.

But when you look at it in a bigger context—as part of a larger story—you start to see the magic that is on the pages of the book that is my life.

And the more you look, the more you see.

Or, at least, I do.”

November

 

“November is usually such a disagreeable month...as if the year had suddenly found out that she was growing old and could do nothing but weep and fret over it.

This year is growing old gracefully...just like a stately old lady who knows she can be charming even with gray hair and wrinkles.

We've had lovely days and delicious twilights.”

LM Montgomery

Pantry Refresh

It has not been that long since we painted and set up the current pantry but it has already needed to be reordered and straightened up more than once, thanks in part to bulk food stocking. We also cleared, sanitized, and reworked a garage shelving unit and defrosted the big freezer.  This fix has solved many little problems and the spaces are working well again. No more giant brown bags of rice and oats and flour rolled up and spilling for one thing.

 Covid lockdowns and grocery store outages caught us unprepared last year but I feel better now having built our usual stock back up.  It's not going to last through a straight up Armageddon scenario but most minor crises could be weathered now. 

I have researched different pantry systems but landed on sorting by type of item and similar container sizes as opposed to this sort of zone system. We apparently use the same items for multiple things so it was a mess trying to work it the other way. I would love to have designer baskets and cereal dispensers and any number of fun containers but our bargain dish tubs and Dollar Tree containers are working great.  We have a good back to front system now so the oldest food doesn't languish in corners. 

Like all homemaking chores this is not a once and done.  All systems require continual maintenance and upkeep. The key is not overloading any given space.  More can fit INto a space than can be easily taken in and out of a space on a regular basis.  Easy access is really essential wherever you are storing frequently used items.  This was our problem -  more stuff crammed on shelves than we could work with easily.  That wasn't by choice.  There was a real problem getting food and supplies at different times, but here we are in a better place again.  

Life is that way - the ebb and flow of challenges and solutions.  

 

Rubber Chicken, a penny pincher

photo: foodnetwork.com

The food budget gets away from me if I am not vigilant about it.  I have making an effort to be more proactive once more.  Recipes abound in fall/winter for all the holiday meals that happen this time of year.  You know what else appears?  Cheap turkey.  You can often find it less than a dollar a pound. If you have the space, grab an extra or two.  If you have not read the Rubber Chicken story, hit that too.  

The idea of the rubber chicken is a multi day process that begins with a roast chicken dinner on day one.  The next day you clean the leftover chicken off the bone and add beans/rice/cheese or whatever else makes for a great burrito dinner.  Day three you put the carcass in the crockpot with veggies and a spoonful of vinegar to pull the minerals out of the bones.  You are rewarded with a collagen rich broth to freeze or you can add noodles and make a hearty soup.  For larger families, the Rubber Turkey works in the same way.  

For my next party trick I am considering investing in a pressure canner. (All American seems to be the front runner with friends.)  The freezer has a finite amount of space and is not terribly user friendly.  We will continue to make good use of it for sure but the idea of having prepared meat and beans is super appealing.  You can then take great advantage of these seasonal deals and stock your shelves for weeks or months to come.  2020 just reminded us why this is still a good idea in our modern age. 

 

September Planning I

Quick share of my September BuJo pages. Still going strong with the bullet journal planning system. I have settled into a daily format that has worked well over the past two years and am now changing up and incorporating more trackers and extra things.  My penmanship leaves a lot to be desired and I am not an artful journal keeper by any means.  This has worked very well as both a planner and a record of days so I am not judging myself too critically.   Hear me well:

Done is better than perfect.

September bare bones...

Eyeing up some Cloth&Paper office supplies like transparent dots, sticky notes, and page flags next.  I may or may not jump over to their ring binder next but for now I am determined to finish this one out.  

But, those neutral post-it's y'all....must have. 

 

helpful thought from Simple, Slow, Lovely:

The Pantry Project

After months of climbing over food storage and bulk packages of dog food and paper towels our 1990's pantry was in a state to say the least. When we moved in last summer it had damaged walls, a peeling wallpaper border and stained shelves.  We were short on time at that point and a space with a door that closed was not making pressing demands on us.  

Enter Covid. And food shortages. And lockdown. And 8 people working and learning from home for months. It wasn't pretty y'all.  Not pretty. 

We took the plunge this past weekend and just finished moving everything back into place. 

First up was wallpaper and hardware removal and drywall repair from decades of random hooks and nails and bumps. Then we moved the lowest shelf to the top of the closet to make room for five gallon buckets to store bulk dry goods and dog food.  

The ceiling and trim and shelves got a coat of bright white paint. And Contact shelf paper.  So much shelf paper.  I will be having shelf paper nightmares tonight.  

I liked this color palette from Restoration Hardware.  Our kitchen walls are a similar flax color and we have trim in that darker brown.  We chose the chocolate tone for the pantry and will use it for the laundry room when we get to that room.  These are all from my cell phone so the colors are not exactly true, but the RH swatch gives the accurate tones. 

I had an inspiration picture from Pinterest of a pantry with white storage. Most of that room came from Ikea.  I decided to drop into Dollar Tree on a whim and cleaned them out of white storage containers which were very similar but much cheaper. The half gallon canning jars hail from our ranch when we were milking.  I had white plastic dish pans already which work great for bulky items. The wire wall rack came from Home Depot and made great use of space.  We also replaced the lightbulb with higher watt cooler temperature bulbs which made an incredible difference.

It is mostly restocked now except the buckets which are on order. After years of having groceries and appliances stuffed into closets and garages in various homes it is such a treat to have a fully functional pantry off the kitchen.  

a fair chance

 

"The parlor at Green Gables was a rather severe and gloomy apartment....but it is wonderful what flowers can accomplish if you give them a fair chance." - Anne of Avonlea

May Daybook

Wearing:

Athletic wear.  Does this make me an athlete?  You decide.  (pssst...no)

From the kitchen:

Kitchen-ing has been a challenge with local food shortages.  I have just begun curbside pickup at Walmart and it is a game changer.  SO much more efficient to sit here and "shop" then send someone to quickly grab the order outside the store.  No crowds.  No lines.  Also not much meat yesterday, however.  

Tess made her first yeast rolls this past weekend.  There were pumpkin muffins with mini chocolate chips using our old favorite recipe below.  Geesh. If the condition of those notes is any indication, we have used this one an awful lot.  

Creating:

The girls pushed me way out of my comfort zone.  They were determined to sew with knits.  My sewing experiments have been hit or miss over the years.  They pushed forward despite my reservations and purchased four different knit fabrics.  I tapped a friend's brain and we jumped in.  As it turns out old dogs can learn new tricks.  Our first efforts were successful and I am inspired to try more.  Highly recommend this tutorial. It included all the templates and instructions we needed. 

From the learning room:

Textbooks are getting finished and I am shifting emphasis back to our morning basket reads.  We are taking this time to brush up on logical argument and the rules of debate.  A few resources I have enjoyed:

How to Evaluate an Argument (video)

How to Spot Bias Excellent discussion with helpful illustrations. I have printed and posted these at home. Well worth our consideration! We also discussed control of media and censorship because those are real too.  We shouldn't check our brains at the door though.  Thoroughly vet all sources of info.  

and these wonderful Logical Fallacy graphics here

 

In other news it is delightful chatting with my sons around the kitchen island late in the night.  They don't all read voraciously but at least are familiar with things they ought to read.  We were teasing one boy a bit for confusing The Inferno with a  popular modern work.  Another son dug out the book and showed him an illustration of the rings of hell.  The conversation eventually morphed into the river Styx, the goddess Styx, and the rock band Styx.  And that might be all you need to know about how things work around here lol.  

Watching:

All the Jane Austen adaptations we can get our hands on.  I am SO thrilled my second set of daughters are willing and interested in exploring Jane.  I am convinced her novels are excellent preparation for adult life.  In the past week or so we have enjoyed BBC's Sense and Sensibility series immensely and the Kate Beckinsdale version of Emma.  We finally viewed the newest Emma and while it was amusing at times (hurray for Miranda Hart)  it was largely a spoof and a disappointing one.  

Listening:

The guitar.  Tess and Asher play often though never enough for me. I love it!  The guitar is a rental from the school and will be returned soon.  A new one will need to be sourced.  The ukulele had a fatal accident, having been left on the floor near the sofa one movie night.  A new one is en route.  We are looking at some crafty repurpose projects for the old instrument.  

Towards wellness:

The boys have been holding their workouts in the garage and now out onto the turf field since the weather has warmed. They were doing sprints out in the culdesac the other day.  Oh, what the neighbors must think.  

Should I be out there with them?  

Yes.

Am I sitting here typing? 

Also yes.  

Around the house:

This time at home has furnished me with the opportunity to tackle some big organization projects.  The oomph was not easily come by.  I needed a lot of prodding.  Truly it can be overwhelming to sort years of family memorabilia as well as figure out new systems for things we use daily.  I found my organization books and frequently refer back for inspiration. Favorites right now -

Beautifully Organized by Nikki Boyd (website here)

The Complete Book of Home Organization 

Asher is making progress sanding down the old patio table.  

Big thought: 

When you find your heart growing sad, divert yourself without a moment’s delay;

make a visit, enter into conversation with those around you, read some amusing book, take a walk, sing, do something, it matters not what, provided you close the door of your heart against this terrible enemy.

As the sound of a trumpet gives the signal for a combat, so sad thoughts apprise the devil that a favorable moment has come for him to attack us.  - St Francis de Sales

Diversion is especially essential during times of crisis when we are prone to obsessing over things.  We do best to figure out the next right thing and not to overthink dark possibilities.  People will encourage us to do that. Try to resist.  It is better to keep busy, be peacefully productive, and to turn the focus off others (that's never fruitful) and onto improving ourselves, our children, or our home in some way. 

 

 

 

 

 

Safely in His Hands

 

“Restlessness and impatience change nothing except our peace and joy. Peace does not dwell in outward things, but in the heart prepared to wait trustfully and quietly on Him who has all things safely in His hands.”
― Elisabeth Elliott

Flea Mart Finds

Since the main floor of our new home is all done in warm neutrals I decided not to commit to a specific color scheme but rather change with the seasons. This vintage chocolate print barkcloth was a great find locally.  There was a caramel color micro suede table runner nearby which I also snagged.  All for less than ten dollars.  There will be pillows and valances before long.  God willing and the creek don’t rise...

I couldn’t pass up the Gallo filigree crucifix either.  Absolutely love it.