No.892: Last Week at the Farmhouse // To Be Like Tasha Tudor

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I’ve recently been on a Tasha Tudor deep dive.  This week, I watched a documentary about her called Take Joy! The Magical World of Tasha Tudor.  (I don’t have Amazon Prime, but was able to purchase it for $1.99.)  There’s something special about learning about a person through their own words, their own stories.  I found her to be eccentric and quirky, but also warm and welcoming and unapologetic about who she is and what she’s passionate about.

The more I reflect, the more I think I want to be a bit more like Tasha Tudor.  I want to pursue my passions of frugality and farming and learning all.the.things without fear of what others may think.  I want to live simply and beautifully, even if that doesn’t look like the lives of most people.  I want to create a home atmosphere of creativity and usefulness and encourage my children in their individual pursuits.

One quote from the documentary really spoke to me so I jotted it down: “Tasha is not escaping from reality.  Rather, she is choosing to create the world the way she imagines it.”  I believe the world is full of the good, the true and the beautiful.  My quest is to intentionally create a life that reflects it.

Hoping to document 52 weeks of good things!

Five Good Things…

1. Stitching every day. // I started a new project called “Seeds of Kindness” by Scattered Seed Samplers and it’s coming together quickly.  I love adding a few stitches here and there throughout the day.
2. Starting the driving school process again. // We have another teenager so close to getting his license!
3. A hardwood flooring update. // The flooring has been purchased, a POD container ordered and the work scheduled.  So excited to get this big undertaking started.
4. Mending my favorite pair of jeans. // I accidentally snagged my favorite pair of jeans on a hog panel and was so bummed.  But then!  Building off of my frugality high, I decided that it wouldn’t hurt to try to mend them before just throwing them away.  Thank goodness for my little sewing basket!  I used these denim iron-on patches (ironed from the inside) and this thread and I think it turned out well!
5. A new project bag. // My “making do” project of the week: I watched a few cross-stitch ladies on Youtube and they all seemed to keep their projects in beautiful fabric bags.  I was about to look for options on etsy when I decided I would try to make one myself!  I used a variety of fabrics (an old chambray shirt, a polka dot pillowcase and a few pieces from my grandmother’s stash) and followed this tutorial.  It was pretty challenging and I made a lot of mistakes but I’m excited to try again soon.

Frugal Accomplishments //

• cut down another one of my husband’s old dress shirts for the fabric and buttons
• listed a few things on Poshmark
• made broth from frozen chicken backs for the pigs
• found a few pieces of clothing for a son in the hand-me-down bins

This Week in the Liturgical Year //

January 27 was the Optional Memorial of St. Angela Merici.

To Read: January Ends with Three Italian Educators

To Add to the Library: The Incorruptibles by Joan Carroll Cruz

To Pray: Litany of St. Angela Merici

 

 

 

Reading //

• Are Social Media Platforms the Next Dying Malls? from Ted Gioia at The Honest Broker // “Not long ago, we hoped that these artificial gathering places could be robust, vital replacements for the neighborhoods we tore down. But what I’ve learned is that you pay a heavy price for replacing a real community with a fake one.”
• Otium Omnia Vincit from Christopher Whittington at On Love and Longing // “I made myself out to be merely a laborer, a body put to work, a ‘Cog in the Machine,’ as they say. A worker, on the other hand, is one who applies themselves, either physically or mentally, to a task for the sake of creating or sustaining beauty. This is not to say that only the artist or poet is a ‘worker’ as such or that they are never laborers, but the privileged vocation of work is reserved for those who persevere in labor in order to sustain a life which partakes in beauty.”
• Simple Acts of Sanity: A Seed Catalogue from Peco and Ruth Gaskovski at Pilgrims in the Machine

New Additions to The List // 

• The Manchurian Candidate by Richard Condon

Watching/Listening //

• Inside Africa’s Food Forest Mega-Project from Andrew Millison // So cool.
• It Is Time To Create More Than You Consume from Rooney Sewing Patterns // I couldn’t agree more!

Loving //

• this volunteering opportunity with Creative Kindness // A really fun way to be creative and spread some cheer at the same time.
• this quote:

from the archives…

WEEK FIVE 2024 // Raising My Ebenezer