No.856: Last Week at the Farmhouse // Be Not Afraid

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I knew it would happen eventually.  I’ve been burning that proverbial candle at both ends for awhile now and I finally hit the wall mid-week.  Thankfully, a two-day forced rest helped immensely and I was able to rally enough to celebrate birthdays by the weekend.

All that to say, I had planned to write about my thoughts from an article I read titled, “What Pope John Paul II can teach us about moving beyond fear” this week.  Being sick, that never came to fruition but I hope you’ll still read it and find encouragement like I did.

I plead with you–never, ever give up on hope, never doubt, never tire, and never become discouraged. Be not afraid. – JPII

Hoping to document the abundance around me all year long!

Around here, abundance looks like…

+ celebrating birthdays!  I have two children whose birthdays are five days apart and they wanted to celebrate together.  My husband and I took them on a “shopping spree” to a few stores and they found a handful of great treasures.  We finished up with lunch at Buffalo Wild Wings and then had cheesecake at home.  A great day.

+ continued diligence with my Weather the Storm Challenge.  I felt a little discouraged as this work feels somewhat inconsequential, but I know it’s building the virtues of perseverance and patience…so we keep going!  This week, I:

• used the weekly grocery store ad to buy peaches, applesauce and shampoo on sale
• purchased five canned goods to put back for winter (diced tomatoes – also on sale)
• made cinnamon applesauce muffins using some of that applesauce above
• sold eggs to friends
• started air drying about a third of our laundry loads (which should save a tiny bit on our electricity bill)
• used a spatula to get the last bit of peanut butter out of the jar
• made english muffin bread twice
• picked tomatoes from my dying plants to throw to the chickens
• accepted two packs of fresh slider buns from my son’s work (delicious and free!)
• made more chicken broth, using up the last of the celery/carrots/onion in the fridge
• purchased next year’s birthday wrapping paper on clearance

+ selling fifteen unneeded items for the Car Loan Payoff Plan: six books, five pieces of clothing and four dyslexia workbooks.  After shipping and fees, I made $149.31!

Reading //

• “Screen Sober” from Meredith Hinds at Still Today // “That said, ‘it is lawful to amuse yourself…’ but what are the limits? Discerning that means contemplating the difference between ‘doing the thing’ and ‘caring for it.’ And a helpful question to me in that line of thought is: are the stories I’m watching getting in the way of the stories I want to live?“
• Finding The Seam: How Small Farmers Can Thrive from Lenny Wells at Front Porch Republic // “But one can still be a farmer and care for the land without relying solely on the business of farming to support a family. In fact, most of them do. As of 2022, around 84% of farm households have off-farm income. Some would call what I’ve described above as a hobby farmer. I don’t. The fact of the matter is that if the average person wants to farm nowadays, they need an off-farm income.”
• The Hungry Years: A Narrative History of the Great Depression in America by T.H. Watkins // Really interesting so far.  One quote:

If the politicians and the pundits felt confused, others felt betrayed.  Perhaps the most fully deceived were those hostages to a middle-class dream gone bad – salesmen, promoters, businessmen, brokers, boosters, middle-management executives, Rotarians, Lions, Toastmasters.  They had all played by the rules, had joined enthusiastically in the great game of consumerism and limitless potential.  Now there was nothing to sell, nothing to boost, nothing to dream on.  “The kind of readjustment they are called upon to make is heroic,” Episcopal Bishop John Paul Jones observed in the pages of the Survey Graphic in 1933.  “Vast multitudes of them have lost financial security forever.  In bewilderment and bitterness they will seek a sign of hope, and no sign will be given.  Some will give up and end it all, but a great majority will go on living some kind of broken and frustrated lives.” (p.54)

New Additions to The List // 

• The Overstory by Richard Powers

Watching/Listening //

• How to Declutter your ENTIRE Home in 30 Days! from Clutterbug // Thinking about jumping in on this challenge soon.
• I tried “Swedish Death Cleaning” and it CHANGED EVERYTHING! from That Awkward Mom

Loving //

• this homeopathic cold medicine // My go-to when I’m going downhill.
• this Vitamin C tea // A new product in my wellness arsenal – I liked it a lot!
• the Megan Follows version of Anne of Green Gables // I bought this for my daughter and she loves it as much as I do.  SO good.