No.755: July in Review & Goals for August 2023

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FIVE THINGS I LOVED

1. fireflies at dusk
2. trips to the used bookstore with the whole family
3. afternoon sun showers
4. spending time with my sister-in-law
5. learning how to milk a cow!

FIVE LESSONS I LEARNED

1. I finally understand how the Tour de France works. // In a wonderful example of serendipity, I picked up the book, The Black Jersey, at the same time the 2023 Tour de France began!  Inspired by the book, I learned so much about the sport and even picked a favorite racer while following along each day.
2. There are four countries that start with V. // Can you name them?  They are: Venezuela, Vietnam, Vatican City and Vanuatu.  (I’d never even heard of the fourth one!)  A good piece of trivia to keep in your back pocket.
3. Don’t waste the abundance. // Praise God, the garden has been really successful so far this year!  The motto I keep repeating to myself is, “Don’t waste the abundance.”  We worked too hard to have food rotting on the vine!  My days are full of deciding dinner based around what is freshly picked, making lots and lots of sauce, dehydrating, freezing, giving extras to the animals, etc etc.  All in an attempt to intentionally use this huge gift we’ve been given.
4. “In 1986, NFL owners were bootlegging a daunting statistic that they knew but didn’t share: Though the average game lasted more than three hours, the ball was in play for just about eleven minutes.” // “The rest of the time was parceled out to commercial messages during time-outs, to halftime, and largely to the pace of the game itself, in which significant play was maddeningly and microscopically episodic.  Between seconds-long bursts of action, there were endless shots of men tearing themselves off the turf, men standing around, men walking back to the huddle, men in the huddle, and older men pacing sullenly on the sidelines, looking aggrieved.” This quote was from One Day: The Extraordinary Story of an Ordinary 24 Hours in America (p.264-265).  Who knew?
5. Culling animals might be the hardest part of farming so far. // We had to make hard decisions this month.

FIVE “LITTLE PEOPLE” WE SUPPORTED

1. Farm goods from a farmer friend
2. A birthday card from EIGHT21 Studio
3. Books for the kids from a seller on Pango
4. Books from a local used bookstore
5. Ice cream from a local ice cream shop

FIVE GOALS FOR JULY REVIEWED

1. Continue our “tour” of local ice cream shops. // Counting this a kinda/sorta success?  Since we are pretty rural, the local ice cream shops in our county are spaced far apart.  The closest one is only 15 minutes away and everything from the ice cream to the fried food is delicious.  We went multiple times this month!  Hoping to get to a couple of the others before school starts, but they’re a trek.
2. ✔ Clean and pack away all of the broiler gear after processing. // We are done with chicken season 2023!  So happy to have a full freezer and less chores.
3. Learn how to can homemade tomato sauce. // I haven’t started canning yet, but I did make batches of marinara and pizza sauce.  Both were delicious.
4. Get our master bedroom fan replaced. // Nope.  This keeps getting pushed off due to time and money.  We’ve been making do with desktop fans on our nightstands.  Hoping for August or we’ve completely missed the hot weather window at this point.
5. ✔ Wean the piglets off of Mama and get her out to pasture. // I planned the process out in my head for a week ahead of the big event, trying to predict everything that could go wrong and how to avoid that.  And…we still had a few shenanigans on moving day.  Oh well, it’s done!

FIVE GOALS FOR AUGUST

1. Get the 2023-2024 school year planned out and books purchased.
2. Cut and stack firewood.
3. Start filling the permanent paddock with woodchips.
4. Drop off donation bags to Goodwill.
5. Start jotting down my Super Duper Task List for autumn.