The Big White Farmhouse

intentional living, little by little

No.858: Last Week at the Farmhouse // Use It or Lose It

“Return from the fields” by Edouard Debat-Ponsan

This post contains affiliate links, which means I may receive a commission of any sale made at no extra cost to you.

For the past few days, I’ve been online, watching the devastating aftermath of Hurricane Helene.  So many people have lost everything and millions will be without electricity for weeks.  It’s so sad and heartbreaking.  In times like these, I can’t help but think that just because we have abundant technology at our fingertips doesn’t mean we shouldn’t learn “the old ways” too.  If this situation were to happen to us, would we know how to survive without our daily luxuries?

I once heard someone explain that if a skill is never taught, a society will completely forget how to do that skill within three generations.  And this doesn’t have to apply to nineteenth century habits…it could simply be remembering how people lived in the 1940’s (like Grandma Donna likes to practice)!  This is a silly but poignant example: we have a backup camera on our car, but do we remember how to reverse without it?

Below is my working list of skills I’d like to learn, strengthen or pass on to my children.  What would be on yours?

  • how to identify wild plants (which are poisonous and which are edible?)
  • how to identify scat (important to know what kind of wild animal you’re dealing with!)
  • basic carpentry and home repair
  • reading a paper map
  • sewing and mending clothing
  • simple car repair
  • how to grow food and then use or save that food intentionally (canning, drying, etc)
  • writing and reading in cursive

Hoping to document the abundance around me all year long!

Around here, abundance looks like…

+ a week of RAIN.  We were thankfully too far north to feel the worst effects of the hurricane, but it’s still been a lot to handle.  No flooding, but there is mush and mud everywhere.

+ completing the last broiler processing of the season.  Due to weather and scheduling conflicts, we decided to get it done all in one day (vs. our usual two) and took up the offer from a farmer friend to use his covered shelter and machines.  (This was huge because we usually process in our backyard and it’s just a mess right now – see above!)  It took a bit of logistical planning to bring over our birds and supplies, but we got it done!  175 birds makes for a long day, but I’m so thankful for a sunny day, my hard-working family and a full chicken freezer.

+ trying a three week on/one week off grocery shopping experiment.  I’ve been consistently going over my weekly budget (despite my best intentions!) so hoping this will help.  We’ll still need milk and possibly produce, but I’m hoping I can make our pantry stretch during that fourth week.

+ another week plodding along with the Weather the Storm Challenge.  This week, I:

  • used the weekly grocery store ad to buy apples, yogurt and tortillas on sale
  • purchased five items to put back for winter (pasta and pizza sauce)
  • made vanilla granola to eat with the yogurt above
  • sold eggs to friends
  • cooked dried pinto beans and used those to make refried beans
  • paid two bills by check to avoid the online convenience fees
  • made english muffin bread twice
  • restocked my “bag to hold all the bags” to remind myself to use them
  • made beef stew using my homemade beef broth and various veggies in the fridge
  • made elderberry syrup and froze into ice cubes (time to strengthen my immune system again)

+ selling four unneeded items for the Car Loan Payoff Plan: one shirt, a scarf and two books.  After shipping and fees, I made $7.46!  Reselling went on the back burner, so a really slow week.

Reading //

Timour, the celebrated Tartar warrior, after a series of the most brilliant victories, was at length conquered and made captive. Though confined in a prison, whose massive walls and thick iron bars discouraged every attempt to escape, he still strove at each chink and crevice to find some way of escape. At length weary and dispirited, he sat down in a corner of his gloomy prison and almost gave himself up to despair. While brooding over his sorrows, an ant with a piece of wood twice as large as itself attracted his attention; the insect seemed determined to ascend the perpendicular face of the wall and made several attempts to affect it. But after reaching a little elevation it came to the jutting angle of a stone and fell backward to the floor. But again, again and again the attempt was renewed; the prisoner watched the struggles of the insect, and in the interest he forgot his own condition. The ant persevered and at the sixteenth trial surmounted the obstacle. Timour sprang to his feet, exclaiming: “I will never despair, perseverance conquers!”

New Additions to The List // 

Watching/Listening //

Loving //

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

“Peter Walks on Water” by Philipp Otto Runge (1806)

This post contains affiliate links, which means I may receive a commission of any sale made at no extra cost to you.

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 // 

Watching/Listening //

Loving //

No.855: Last Week at the Farmhouse // Diligent Work at Home

“The Maid and the Magpie, A Cottage Interior at Shillington, Bedfordshire” by William Henry Hunt (1834)

This post contains affiliate links, which means I may receive a commission of any sale made at no extra cost to you.

Our home looks like a construction site right now.  As time allows, we’ve been working as a family to remove the wall texture in the living room and it’s been quite the project!  Furniture has been crammed into the middle of the room, lamps and artwork are hanging out in other spaces and watch your step!  Step stools and trash bags and putty knives of all sizes are everywhere.  We’ve done this kind of slow and steady work with the farm and even though we’re living in organized chaos, it is so fun and satisfying to have the same experience inside.

Doing the renovation ourselves brings me back to 2008ish and that period of the Great Recession.  I was a newly married, young mother of very young children.  As a family just starting out on one income, we didn’t have much money and I was so inspired by the surge of DIY projects and money-saving ideas on the internet.  Sadly, as the economy recovered, a rise in fast consumerism occurred and those do-it-yourself tutorials seemed to fade out of popularity.  And what a shame!  There’s something about doing diligent work yourself, learning new skills and trying new things, that just can’t be compared!  And that feeling of pride in a job well done?  Priceless.

Hoping to document the abundance around me all year long!

Around here, abundance looks like…

+ continuing on with the Weather the Storm Challenge.  (As a reminder, the goals of this challenge are to reduce debt, add to our food storage and save money.)  The biggest change I’m seeing may not be the vast amounts of money I’m saving (I wish!) but the confidence it is creating.  I’m constantly thinking of new things to try, new ways to stretch what we have.  It’s intoxicating and exciting!  Anyway, this week, I:

  • used the weekly grocery store ad to buy grapes, tuna, and panko on sale
  • used a coupon to try a new tikka masala sauce kit for free! (I saved $5.50)
  • purchased five canned goods to put back for winter (mixed vegetables for chicken pot pies)
  • sold eggs and chicken to friends
  • made beef bone broth for the first time
  • froze that broth into Souper Cubes (to stockpile for beef stew and french onion soup)
  • found a sweatshirt for my son in the hand-me-down bins
  • used up a free laundry detergent sample
  • made english muffin bread
  • learned from my son how to cut up a whole chicken into parts (he works at a farm and is a pro)
  • made chicken broth from those carcasses (I’m on a roll!)
  • listed a few items on ebay/Poshmark/Pango

+ selling eleven unneeded items for the Car Loan Payoff Plan: seven books, one textbook and three pieces of clothing.  After shipping and fees, I made $91.35!

Reading //

  • How Many People do we Need in Our Lives? from Edwin Leap at Life and Limb // “We all need connection. We need our own clans. Our own groups. Our own churches or synagogues, mosques or temples. We need deep relationship. These things can go a long way towards helping and comforting the lonely. They can make hard times better, hopelessness hopeful. They can protect against danger, hunger, disease and abuse by simply showing up and standing by those who are frail and powerless.”
  • No, you cannot have it all from Jim Dalrymple at Nuclear Meltdown // “…you can’t have it both ways. You can’t be a self-centered individualist right up until the moment you need people. By that time the trade-off is made, the deal is done.”
  • The Mother’s Gauntlet from Lane Scott at The American Mind // “One might object to the idea that homemaking requires an almost superhuman amount of self-governance. After all, isn’t it mostly about keeping the kids alive, fed, and your home kind of running on a basic level? That can’t be that hard. Yet it is precisely because the standards imposed externally are so low that the job can be so unsatisfying. The stay-at-home mom unconsciously applies her own standard, above and outside of the rest of society. Despite any protestations to the contrary, she knows her job demands more than subsistence. Her household has set aside the life of an entire adult, and all the income and aspirations she could have chased, so that she can raise the children. That sacrifice demands a thriving family, not a family that simply survives. The stakes are unbelievably high.”  Interesting thoughts here.
  • Forming Human Persons in a Digital Age from Shannon Donald at Nota Bene // “I sometimes wish I could roll back the clock and do things differently. I like to think I would have kept digital technology out of my children’s lives for much longer, and that I would have endeavored sooner to break free from my own digital chains. But we can only ever learn and move forward, striving to become a little more human every day.”
  • ‘Art Will Touch Lives’: An Aging Farmer Adds a New Dimension to his Ministry from Max Heine at Front Porch Republic // What a fascinating person.
  • the comments under Grandma Donna’s The Bumpy Budget post // I sometimes feel like I have more in common with older retirees than I do my own generation.  They tend to avoid debt and are more content to live within their means without all of the unnecessary luxuries.  To read about their struggles in this economy both buoys me (we’re not alone!) and leaves me so, so sad.  God help us all.

New Additions to The List // 

Watching/Listening //

  • Millennial Stone Cleaner // I’ve been enjoying this Youtube channel.  This is the first video in a series where he restores and conserves an abandoned cemetery in Des Moines.

Loving //

No.854: Last Week at the Farmhouse // The Power of Silence

“Silence” by Wilhelm Kotarbinski

This post contains affiliate links, which means I may receive a commission of any sale made at no extra cost to you.

The painting above is a little blurry and the exact details are unclear (is that a woman?  is she in a cemetery?), but I felt the emotions evoked deep in my soul this week.  It’s that “fall on your face in front of Our Lord” exhaustion where you’ve clawed your way to the weekend!  Anyway, it is done, we survived and God’s mercies are new every morning.

I’ve been slowly reading The Power of Silence: Against the Dictatorship of Noise by Cardinal Robert Sarah and this piece of advice seemed timely for me:

The silence of everyday life is an indispensable condition for living with others.  Without the capacity for silence, man is incapable of hearing, loving, and understanding the people around him.  Charity is born of silence.  It proceeds from a silent heart that is able to hear, to listen, and to welcome.  Silence is a condition for otherness and a necessity if one is to understand himself.  Without silence, there is neither rest nor serenity nor interior life.  Silence is friendship and love, interior harmony and peace.  Silence and peace have one and the same heartbeat. (p.32-33)

Here’s to finding little pockets of silence in the midst of this loud and messy life.

Hoping to document the abundance around me all year long!

Around here, abundance looks like…

+ working together (multiple times) to get a silly pig back into her paddock.  I swear…with every turn of the season, pigs always decide to get a wild hair and run amok around the property!

+ learning a tip for keeping sweaters looking great.  I wish I had saved the Youtube video, but the woman basically shared how any sweater made with acrylic or nylon or polyester will quickly look worn out.  She said your best bet would be to look for 100% cotton or wool because they hold their shape longer and are less likely to pill or show wash wear.  Two of the three sweaters that I just purchased on ThredUp were 100% cotton, so I’m anxious to see if this tip holds true this winter.

+ completing more small tasks for the Weather the Storm Challenge and feeling more motivated than ever.  When we were getting gas one afternoon, we overheard the gas station owner warn that we could see another $1-$1.50/gal increase by the end of the year.  This would be pretty devastating financially for us (as we live in the country and my husband has quite a work commute) so I’m already thinking of ways to get ahead now in case the owner’s prediction comes true.  This week, I:

  • used the weekly grocery store ad to buy peaches, blueberries and russet potatoes on sale
  • purchased five canned goods to put back for winter (diced tomatoes and soup)
  • sold eggs to friends
  • counted up and wrapped change to deposit at the bank
  • fixed a small crack in my dustpan with duct tape
  • listed a few items on ebay/Poshmark/Pango
  • cooked two whole birds for dinner and then used the carcasses to make broth
  • froze that broth into Souper Cubes (creating a stockpile for winter soups and stews!)
  • added food scraps and toilet paper rolls to the compost pile
  • turned off the A/C and opened the windows

+ getting paint on the back hallway walls.  After a ridiculous amount of research, I decided to go with Benjamin Moore’s Simply White for the trim and Ballet White for the walls.  I had them color matched at Home Depot and spent most of Saturday getting to work.  The walls themselves aren’t perfect and I already know I need to re-sand a few places and repaint, but…progress!

+ selling seven unneeded items for the Car Loan Payoff Plan: seven books.  After shipping and fees, I made $15.84.  A slow week.

Reading //

  • How to begin a letter-writing habit from Shannon Hood at Of Permanent Things // “We are drowning in electronic communication–much of it is meaningless, and very little of it is of lasting value. None of it is tangible. I write letters because they embody all of the best aspects of communication. Letters are meaningful, intimate, private, tangible, and worth holding on to.”
  • It Pays To Be Cheap from Addison Del Mastro at The Deleted Scenes // Food for thought and the comments are great too.
  • The Prophets of Technocracy from Dr. Ben Reinhard at Hearth and Field // “I suspect that the difficulties encountered by educators can be replicated, with small modifications, in every profession and every state of life: rejecting, as far as we are able, the empty glamours of the technocratic age, asks more of us than we might suppose. It does not mean returning simply to the status quo ante of 2019, or 2010, or 1993, but a radical re-examination of what it means to be fully human. In pursuit of this, every moment, every action, every thought clawed back from the reign of the Machines is something to celebrate; every moment yielded to them should be an occasion of regret, if not outright repentance.”

New Additions to The List // 

Watching/Listening //

Loving //

P.S. Something seems to be wrong with my posts being delivered to email inboxes.  I’m looking into the situation and may have to find a new program.  So sorry for the inconvenience.

No.851: Last Week at the Farmhouse // Ordinary Days

“A September Day” by George Henry (1935)

This post contains affiliate links, which means I may receive a commission of any sale made at no extra cost to you.

I’ve been really interested in current economic news lately, but this week I decided to turn off most of the noise.  I’ve got a handle on the problem now – I don’t need to beat a dead horse over and over again by scaring myself silly with worst case scenarios.  It’s time to get to work and carry on with my ordinary days!

And in a world where some new catastrophe happens almost daily, ordinary days at home seem like a privilege and a gift.  Some ordinary things from this week:  A slight chill in the air as we go out for morning chores, hinting at autumn hopefully just around the corner.  Homemade bread made on a regular rotation.  Refereeing sibling squabbles.  Stacks of freshly folded laundry.  Weeding my overgrown jungle of a garden.  A fun and productive school week.  Climbing into bed at the end of the day with a good book.

Hoping to document the abundance around me all year long!

Around here, abundance looks like…

+ creating a DIY Anne Shirley “boxed set” of books for my daughter.  A brand new set would have cost around $60 so I scoured the used book sites to cobble together a matching set for less than $25!

+ chipping away at tasks for the Weather the Storm Challenge and feeling happy with the results so far!  I keep telling myself that small steps eventually lead to something bigger, even if it doesn’t feel that way in the moment.  This week, I:

  • used the weekly grocery store ad to buy mandarin oranges, fresh mozzarella, and trash bags on sale
  • made multiple loaves of homemade bread
  • sold eggs to coworkers
  • made more granola (with a little less brown sugar this time…you couldn’t tell the difference)
  • listed a few items on ebay/Poshmark/Pango
  • logged into my local trash nothing group to see what was available (nothing useful yet)
  • picked up a special laundry detergent for my boys’ athletic wear to keep them fresh and in good shape (thanks for the tip, Torrie!)
  • re-instituted “Refrigerator Cleanout Night” once a week to use up all the random bits/leftovers
  • used up a container of instant coffee and a free shampoo sample
  • ordered a few sweaters and fall/winter dresses during a sale on ThredUp
  • saved the ThredUp tissue paper to reuse for my reselling orders
  • researched high yield savings accounts

+ being a team with my husband.  What a blessing to know that in times of feast or times of famine, we’re a united front against this crazy world.

+ trying out new curriculum and so far, so good!  I’d planned to write a separate post about this weeks ago, but time escapes me.  Instead, I’ll just list them here:

+ selling nineteen unneeded items for the Car Loan Payoff Plan: fifteen books, three pieces of clothing and a piece of homeschool curriculum.  After shipping and fees, I made $75.67!

Reading //

  • A Divine Comedy We Can Feel in the Pulse from Jason M. Baxter at First Things
  • Beatrice and the Siren from Kyle Janke at Memoria Press // “Should pleasure define our sense of beauty or should beauty define our sense of pleasure?”
  • Strength To Stay from Carla Galdo at Hearth and Field // “It’s not being strong to run away from the things you don’t feel like doing. Actually, it takes more strength to stay, to do what you’re supposed to do — especially if it’s small and insignificant, especially if you can think of a million other things you’d rather be doing.”
  • Capturing the Light of Christ: A Picture Study from Denise Trull at Theology of Home // I LOVED this.
  • Locusts from Haley Baumeister at Ekstasis // “even darkness is not dark to you, even locusts cannot ravage all, covered in that merciful radiance, we will never be put to shame”
  • Italy is a hotbed of volcanic activity from Devika Rao at The Week // Have you heard about this??

New Additions to The List // 

Watching/Listening //

  • Planning and Storage when you only shop 6 times a year / every two months – Off Grid Australia from Our Small Footprint // Love listening to the different ways people shop/save money.
  • Tim O’Brien interview at National Endowment for the Arts // “So the goal of The Things They Carried is to- in large part, is to make readers feel something of what I felt all those years ago and after returning from the war, in a way that a 30 second clip on CNN can’t and doesn’t aspire to; the way a newspaper story is not going to make you feel what it is to be frustrated by never being able to find the enemy and man after man die and another man die and another man lose his legs and you can’t find anything to shoot back at. And you don’t believe in the war anyway. There’s a feeling of frustration and where’s God and why am I here? That goes beyond argumentation and it goes beyond nonfiction. It goes to our nightmares and our human both our human aspirations and our human fears.”
  • Mike Rowe & Scott Mann: No One Is Coming To Save You | The Way I Heard It // The conversation around storytelling was surprisingly and wonderfully similar to Tim O’Brien’s thoughts in the interview above.  So good.

Loving //

  • these sketch books // Great quality and they come in a pack of three.
  • glazed cinnamon scones // My daughter whipped these up – delicious!
  • the art of Fritz von Uhde // from the article above by Denise Trull: “He created several unique paintings where he placed Jesus physically, and quite naturally, within the domestic lives of poor and humble people. What would Jesus be doing if we could actually see him there among us?”
“The Mealtime Prayer” (1885) by Fritz von Uhde
“Woman, why are you crying” by Fritz von Uhde

No.849: Last Week at the Farmhouse // Hard Times Ahead?

“Soup Kitchen in the Monastery” by Heinrich Bürkel (1864 – 1865)

This post contains affiliate links, which means I may receive a commission of any sale made at no extra cost to you.

For the past few weeks, I’ve been on a economic deep dive and the consensus is very disheartening.  Words like recession/depression, job loss/unemployment, housing market correction, small business closures, massive credit card debt and inflation are all spoken about.  Regardless of who becomes president in November, this problem will not suddenly disappear…so what to do?  Even though it all seems overwhelming, I think a return to the “old ways” seems a prudent course to take.

I’m calling it the “Weather the Storm Challenge” and am focusing on debt reduction, food storage and saving money.  Those seem like big goals to accomplish all at once, but my motto has always been “little by little” – every day, we do one small thing to get us closer to our objective.  A few things I’ve accomplished this week:

  • started a gratitude journal to remind myself of all the good things in my life
  • made broth from chicken backs (when we cut up our birds for pieces, we bag up and freeze the backs for just this purpose – nothing goes to waste!)
  • gave myself a hair trim
  • made granola to use up Greek yogurt we still had in the fridge
  • sold eggs to friends
  • inventoried the pantry and made a list of items to stock up on for soups and stews
  • started using up some instant coffee that wasn’t my favorite but is still drinkable
  • made banana bread from overripe bananas
  • listed a few more items on ebay/Poshmark/Pango

So many are just one job loss away from being in dire straits (I’ve thought often about this documentary, shared a few weeks ago).  I hope we can work together to avoid that hardship for all of us.

Hoping to document the abundance around me all year long!

Around here, abundance looks like…

+ all hands on deck to get farm projects done.  We put broiler chicks out to pasture, hauled woodchips to the permanent pig paddocks, weeded the garden, moved pigs to new pasture and started the prep work for chopping firewood.  Many hands make for lighter work!  We also talked about hard decisions for 2025.  As of right now, I think we’ll be taking a break from broiler chickens (for a year) and focusing instead on pork production.  Feed is just too expensive and our sales are too unreliable to take on that expense.

+ sharpening a ton of colored pencils.  My kids like to draw and we’ve acquired quite a few colored pencils over the years.  And while everyone loves a brand new set, we still have more than enough to use up.  I spent a looong time sharpening by hand…just a little more to go.

+ neighborly generosity.  Our neighbor has been so amazingly kind to us.  In just the past few weeks, he caught the pesky fox that has been killing our chickens and he stopped to help my son replace a tire (after being driven off the road by a construction truck!).  We brought over some of our chicken/pork as a thank you and came home with his venison and cucumbers!  What a gift.

+ selling eighteen unneeded items for the Car Loan Payoff Plan: 14 books, two pieces of clothing, a piece of homeschool curriculum and an educational puzzle.  After shipping and fees, I made $69.02!

Reading //

  • One Dozen Eggs Please from Grandma Donna // “If we stop listening to that negative person in our head that makes us worry, and find something that is so interesting that we cannot stop reading, or do some genealogy and get on a trail that we don’t want to stop researching, or become determined that we will learn to make a pie crust and find that it was so simple that we cannot believe that it was so simple, or sing a song to a bird or frog or any kind of creature and not care if anyone can hear us. Then we will have found our way to to contentment instead of worry.”
  • The New House, The New Life from Anthony Esolen at Front Porch Republic
  • Towards Full Enjoyment: Use the Nice Dishes from Patricia Patnode at Theology of Home // “Nice dishes were meant to be used, to hold the meals that nourish family connections. Yet they spend most of their time hidden away, protected from the wear and tear of daily life. But what good is a possession if it’s only admired from afar, tucked away for fear of a chip or a crack?”
  • A Stalled American Dream from Chris Arnade at Chris Arnade Walks the World // So very, very sad.

New Additions to The List // 

Watching/Listening //

Loving //

  • this air-dry clay // Great price for five pounds of clay and surprisingly easy to work with.  We made prehistoric “tablets” in history and will be using the rest for volcanoes next week!
  • this memory game // Working on our recall while learning the names of dog breeds too.  (Adding memory practice to our school week was inspired by the articles linked in this post.)
  • pizza puffs // My teenage boys have made these multiple times and they are delicious.
  • this quote from The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien:

That’s what stories are for.  Stories are for joining the past to the future.  Stories are for those late hours in the night when you can’t remember how you got from where you were to where you are.  Stories are for eternity, when memory is erased, when there is nothing to remember except the story. (p.36)

No.848: Last Week at the Farmhouse // Back to the Books

“The Country School” by Winslow Homer (1871)

This post contains affiliate links, which means I may receive a commission of any sale made at no extra cost to you.

Monday began our eleventh homeschooling year and it marked a bittersweet moment: the last first day of school with all six of my students.  (My oldest is a senior!)  Sometimes I just can’t believe we’ve reached this point already.  The days are long, but the years are so short.

Anyway, we began the year with our traditional cinnamon roll breakfast and were back to the books.  Things went smoothly for about three days…and then the wheels fell off the wagon.  Most of my kids got sick, my pigs escaped their paddocks and frolicked across the property multiple times, we had an issue with our freezer… I had to laugh because man, this is the life!  If this is any indication of how the school year is going to go, we’re in a for wild ride.  Bring it on.

Hoping to document the abundance around me all year long!

Around here, abundance looks like…

+ a new-to-us toaster.  My oldest son was visiting a friend’s house and overheard that they were getting rid of their toaster because they upgraded to some sort of an all-in-one appliance.  He asked if he could take it and they agreed!  Our two-slice toaster had recently had the handle ripped off (thanks, boys) so this was great timing and even better: it was a four-slice version!

+ purchasing a new dryer after two months without one!  It’s been so frustrating to have appliances wear out so quickly and not be able to fix the problem long term.  I was committed to air drying our clothes until we hit two criteria: pay cash and wait for a sale.  The stars collided this week with enough money in the bank and $200 off the sticker price.  We jumped on it and they delivered the next day!  I have never been so grateful for a piece of modern technology.

+ selling twelve unneeded items for the Car Loan Payoff Plan: eight books, three pieces of clothing, and one textbook.  After shipping and fees, I made $52.42!

Reading //

  • Rethinking Childhood from Mary Catherine Adams at The Interior Life
  • The Transformed Child from Katherine Johnson Martinko at The Analog Family // “Your screen-addled child is a very different child than your screen-free, or even “screen-lite”, child. So, while your screen-addled child will most definitely be at loose ends initially without their device, they will not stay that way. They will undergo an inevitable transformation, as one does whenever a lifestyle change occurs, and you will soon have a different (read: easier) child to contend with, one that is slowly developing the skills to entertain themselves without a device in hand.”
  • How a Kansas humanities program shaped a generation of Catholic leaders from Perry West at Catholic News Agency // “The overarching theme was to immerse the students into the good, the true, and the beautiful, so that we might ask the big questions: ‘What is life all about?’ ‘What is death?’ ‘What is eternity?’ ‘What is evil?’ ‘What is good?'”
  • Disabusing the Most Abused Question in Schooling: What Am I Going to Use This For? from Aaron Ames at Circe Institute // “…when you limit education to the knowledge needed to make a living and for mere survival, you limit the meaning of life itself to these things. But surely no one actually lives only to make money. Love, friendship, beauty, laughter, family, faith, these are the things that make life worth living. These are the things that give life meaning. And the true purpose of education has everything to do with the meaning of life.”
  • Inside the New Wave of Old-School Education from Julia Steinberg at The Free Press
  • Project 333 Challenge: 3 Methods To Help You Get Started // Thinking of doing this challenge for autumn.

New Additions to The List // 

Watching/Listening //

Loving //

No.847: Last Week at the Farmhouse // We Are Not Machines

“Crossbow Machine” by Leonardo da Vinci (1481)

This post contains affiliate links, which means I may receive a commission of any sale made at no extra cost to you.

A theme I keep coming back to in 2024 is the idea that despite what society tells us, we are not machines.  Have you ever noticed the language we’ve adopted that is completely technology/machine-focused?

  • well-oiled machine
  • a cog in the wheel
  • pulling the plug
  • brain download
  • run out of steam
  • push someone’s buttons
  • firing on all cylinders

I am not a machine.  I am a human person.  This revelation (and what a crazy revelation to have!) has transformed my expectations for myself and my children.  Our value does not come from what we do or accomplish, but who we are fundamentally: souls made in the image of our Creator.

Being in the image of God the human individual possesses the dignity of a person, who is not just something, but someone. He is capable of self-knowledge, of self-possession and of freely giving himself and entering into communion with other persons. And he is called by grace to a covenant with his Creator, to offer him a response of faith and love that no other creature can give in his stead. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, §357)

So in that light, I’ve been pondering how to proceed with the upcoming school year.  This time always feels like a mini New Year, a time for re-orientation and new focus!  Here’s what I’ve got so far:

For my little boys: I’ve been heavily inspired by John Senior and his Integrated Humanities approach to education.  While these boys may have reading challenges, that does not negate their ability to engage with good ideas!  I want to increase their exposure to good things, both in the physical world and in story.

For my middle kids: This is a a transitional time of maturity.  I want to help them understand the complexities of growing up, teaching them discernment and prudence.  They also should be intentionally exposed to good things, especially outside the tempting realm of technology.

For my high school kids: As these boys grow older and more independent, I want to focus on relationship and life skills.

And for myself: I no longer want to live a stress-filled life.  It’s not a healthy behavior and I certainly don’t want it to be my legacy.  Instead, I desire an increase in discipline and wisdom.  Two mottos to repeat often: “one task at a time” and “does it ultimately matter in the eyes of eternity?”

Hoping to document the abundance around me all year long!

Around here, abundance looks like…

+ receiving a ChipDrop!  We use woodchips in many areas around the farm and I’ve waited patiently all summer for a delivery.

+ using my “New Walls Fund” to pay for renovation supplies.  I mentioned last year that I was saving the cash back from our credit card rewards program to eventually hire a professional to fix our walls.  Fast forward to today and I’m DIYing the walls myself!  I was able to use that savings account to pay for putty knives and painting supplies, making the project “free.”

+ rain from Hurricane (Tropical Storm?) Debby.  SO MUCH RAIN.  We even had a tornado warning with an actual on-the-ground sighting about 45 minutes away from us!

+ selling thirteen unneeded items for the Car Loan Payoff Plan: two pieces of clothing, nine books and two pieces of movie memorabilia.  After shipping and fees, I made $75.37!

Reading //

  • Home Is Where the Welcome Is from Gregory Thompson at Comment // “For my entire life I craved these moments with desperation and, when they came, experienced them wistfully as mere fleeting reprieves from the howling loneliness I believed to be the inescapable core of my life. But what I could not see—not until I was invited to see it—is that these were not, in fact, transient aberrations in a life of homelessness, but were, to the contrary, fixed and constant invitations to the reality of home. They were reliable witnesses to what I most longed for but least believed: that the story of my life is not a story of unwelcome, but of welcome. And that this welcome will be found not simply in one, but in a thousand shining doorways.”
  • The hidden economics of kinkeeping work from Jim Dalrymple II at Nuclear Meltdown
  • Resisting the ‘Machine’: An Interview with Peco Gaskovski from Jonathon Van Maren at The European Conservative // A new dystopian novel to add to the list!
  • St. Michael’s Lent from Around the Year // Starts August 15!
  • Quality Against The Machine from Hadden Turner at Over the Field // “The ultimate question, therefore, seems not to be ‘how can the Machine be defeated?’, but ‘how can we develop habits of healthy disengagement?’, ‘How can we become expertly attuned to recognising when the costs of utilising the Machine outweigh the benefits?’, and ‘How can we reflexively turn it off when the Machine starts to erode what is good?’. The success or failure of our modern age may well be hinged on how adept we all are in answering these questions — and how steadfast we commit to our costly and difficult conclusions.”

New Additions to The List // 

Watching/Listening //

Loving //

  • this household planner // I’ve tried many different homemaking plans and this one is my favorite.  I’ve used it off and on for years and while it’s no longer a free download, I felt it was worth the investment.  Right now, it’s 50% off and goes until December.
  • Samplize // I purchased a handful of samples last year during a sale and with the wall project now in full swing, I’m finally able to use them!  Decisions, decisions…

No.845: Last Week at the Farmhouse // Could You Survive?

“Woman Hanging Her Laundry” by Jean-Francois Millet

This post contains affiliate links, which means I may receive a commission of any sale made at no extra cost to you.

Thought experiment of the week: If your ability to purchase things using debt disappeared tomorrow, could you survive?  If you had to see your purchases not as affordable “monthly payments” but the whole bill, could you afford it?

I listened to quite a few financial podcasts this week, pumping myself up for another intense season of debt reduction.  The financial forecast is pretty dire and most of the advisors believe that some sort of correction is coming.  In one of the podcasts, I heard a version of the question above and it really made me pause.

Like many Americans right now, we’re not in an ideal financial position and our answer to that question is no.  But we want to be!  We definitely desire to free ourselves from the stress and bondage of debt.  So instead of wallowing in frustration and despair, we’re ready to work intensely to get our house in order.  The goal seems significantly harder than four years ago, but we’re ready for the challenge.  Little by little…it all counts.

I loved and appreciated Grandma Donna’s sage advice (shared in the post below): “Get out of debt so you don’t have to pull that ball and chain around anymore. Some people get full of guilt or blame someone else when they find themselves in a financial crisis. We have to forgive ourselves for our mistakes in life. So we need to work on that and forgive ourselves for our financial mistakes so we can move one and get out of debt. It is difficult to look at the numbers when you are in debt but once again if you have to do it over again, forgive yourself and move on, it is going to be okay.”

Hoping to document the abundance around me all year long!

Around here, abundance looks like…

+ making a simple chicken and potato salad dinner using ingredients we mostly grew on the farm. So satisfying!

+ elderberry season!  I picked a bunch before the birds got to them and then made my annual batch of elderberry syrup.  I like to freeze the syrup in ice cube trays and pop a cube or two in my morning water.  COVID is apparently making its rounds in the area again so I’m upping my immune system strength a bit earlier than usual.

+ selling fourteen unneeded items for the Car Loan Payoff Plan: nine books, a binoculars case, a purse, two dresses and a pair of sneakers.  After shipping and fees, I made $74.91!

Reading //

  • The Deceptive Rose from Grandma Donna // “Okay, I just wanted to make you think for a bit because the more I read the newspapers through these years of history studies the more I have understood how we were prodded along to change. It did not matter that the change they were doing most often caused debt. The pressure to change was mighty and so many people started living beyond their means and still do today.”
  • 1940s Capsule Wardrobe & What Clothing Cost from Vintage Dancer // Super interesting!
  • August, 1940 … ish from Grandma Donna // Lots of great advice here.
  • I Will Work Harder? from Rachel Woodham at Circe Institute

New Additions to The List // 

Watching/Listening/Playing //

Loving //

  • my new mop system // An investment for my cleaning arsenal!  I love this thing.

No.843: Last Week at the Farmhouse // We Were Made for More

“The Nap” by Gustave Caillebotte (1877)

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Vacation has a way of making you see life in a different light.  I took a much-needed break from technology that week, leaving my computer at home and my phone mostly in my bag.  It was wonderful!  I was immersed in real things, real conversations, real memory-making.  It was just the reminder I needed that we’re made for so much more than the technological prison we put ourselves in.  I felt the freedom and I wanted more!  

Fast forward to being back home and life is back to breakneck speed: kids here there and everywhere, a husband working long hours, a neglected farm that needs constant attention, school starting in just a few weeks…  Technology is needed for so many important day-to-day things but I’m also guilty of using it just as a mindless escape.  I need to carry the peacefulness of vacation into this messy reality at home!   I’m still in the brainstorming phase, but I’ve nailed down five “micro goals” to keep that mindset going:

Put your feet in the grass.  Get off the screens.  Sit in the sunshine.  Chat with the people around you.  Be a creator, not just a consumer.

It’s a start.

Hoping to document the abundance around me all year long!

Around here, abundance looks like…

+ LAUNDRY.  So much post-vacation laundry.

+ getting back to work on the farm.  Our second batch of 175 chicks arrived, I picked overripe vegetables for the animals, and I got a small start on the massive weeds invading the garden.

+ starting a biiiig project, one tiny section at a time.  I’ve complained about my first floor walls for years at this point.  They have a textured surface and are impossible to clean.  I thought the only way to fix the problem was to skimcoat over it and I had resigned myself to years of saving for a professional. ($$$$)  BUT!  One road trip conversation and a Reddit post later, I realized that I could just remove the texture with a putty knife!  A putty knife!  I started with a wall by my back door (in case I messed up) and it worked beautifully!

+ planning for the new school year.  We hope to begin in mid-August, so lots of preparation to do.

+ selling fifteen unneeded items for the Car Loan Payoff Plan: a card game, three pieces of clothing, three books, a Bible, one pillow insert and six reusable produce bags.  After shipping and fees, I made $57.95!

Reading //

  • Let Them Be Born in Wonder: How the brief life of a storied liberal arts program changed lives the world over from Fr. Francis Bethel at Comment // “Senior devised a formula to synthesize these first two steps, which especially brings out the central emotion to be cultivated at each level: gymnastic begins in experience and ends in delight; music and poetic education begin in delight and end in wonder. Delighting in reality, wondering at its mysteries, with a healthy imagination, a memory full of stories, songs, poems, experiences, one would be ready for life and eventually for more elevated, abstract studies.”
  • Your Boyfriend Isn’t Your Camera Man from Freya India at After Babel // “I don’t think it’s trivial, for example, that we’ve been conditioned to use the person we love as a tool—a tool to gain approval from an audience that most of the time we don’t even like or care about. I don’t think it’s trivial that the compulsion to document the perfect memory can degrade the memory, turning it from that time we watched the sunset together on the beach to that time we argued after I demanded Instagram photos and you couldn’t get the angle right. I don’t think it’s trivial that some people sacrifice their real-world reputation to improve their online one. These things matter.”
  • America’s Mental Health Crisis and the Loss of Meaning from O. Alan Noble at The Dispatch // “And this is the fundamental challenge for modern people. To live the good life requires reflection on what the good life is and resonance with the real world.”

New Additions to The List // 

Watching/Listening //

Loving //

It usually starts taking shape
from one word
reveals itself in one smile
sometimes in the blue glint of eyeglasses
in a trampled daisy
in a splash of light on a path
in quivering carrot leaves
in a bunch of parsley
It comes from laundry hung on a balcony
from hands thrust into dough
It seeps through closed eyelids
as through the prison wall of things of objects
of faces of landscapes
It’s when you slice bread
when you pour out some tea
It comes from a broom from a shopping bag
from peeling new potatoes
from a drop of blood from the prick of a needle
when making panties for a child
or sewing a button on a husband’s burial shirt
It comes out of toil out of care
out of immense fatigue in the evening
out of a tear wiped away
out of a prayer broken off in mid-word by sleep
It’s not from the grand
but from every tiny thing
that it grows enormous
as if Someone was building Eternity
as a swallow its nest
out of clumps of moments

No.840: Last Week at the Farmhouse // Little Moments of Delight pt.4

“Sunset at Eragny” by Camille Pissarro

This post contains affiliate links, which means I may receive a commission of any sale made at no extra cost to you.

Bringing back this prompt once again.  (Here’s part one, part two, and part three.)  I love that it reminds me that there is much to love, even in the everyday minutiae.  Here’s my list:

Teenage boys and their pull-up challenges.  Watching how much Sammy (our Great Pyrenees) loves the baby piglets.  Getting so much out of The Divine Comedy!  Little brothers playing happily together.  Eating “pink lemonade” blueberries right off the bush.  Shady spots outside during boiling hot days.  Rain.

Hoping to document the abundance around me all year long!

Around here, abundance looks like…

+ the terribly unbearable heat!  It has been SO hot lately.  Our days have been focused on keeping the pigs cool with splashes of cold water, mud wallows and frozen foods.

+ selling two unneeded items for the Car Loan Payoff Plan: one reusable shopping bag and a shirt.  After shipping and fees, I made $8.14!

Reading //

  • LOTS of new information in Nuclear War by Annie Jacobsen, including this (less scary) fact:

In the 1950s, President Eisenhower created the U.S. highway system with this kind of dual-use in mind.  He modeled America’s original “National System of Interstate and Defense Highways” after “the superlative system of German autobahn,” he wrote in his presidential memoirs.  Not only could U.S. highways facilitate large-scale evacuation of cities in a nuclear war, but the broad, flat interstate lanes could be used as runways for takeoff and landings on bombing runs.  For setting down a helicopter in the median strip, or along the side of the road in the grass.  This is how many of America’s mid-century transportation systems were designed. (p.100)

  • What City Kids Learn on My Farm from Larissa Phillips at The Free Press // “Here are some things I have taught the kids who visit my farm: animals don’t care about your feelings, and sometimes we kill them to eat them. It doesn’t matter how desperately you want to find more eggs, the hens don’t lay on demand. Tomatoes aren’t ripe in June. The stalls aren’t going to clean themselves. Cuts, scrapes, and stings aren’t really a big deal. And there will always be poop.”
  • You Don’t Need To Document Everything from Freya India at Girls // “Influencers are of course the most extreme examples—but this impulse is so ingrained in everyone now. This pressure to post everything. And I think it’s a massive cause of anxiety for Gen Z. There’s a sense now that something didn’t happen if you don’t share it. There are young people who wouldn’t understand going to an event, travelling somewhere, being in a relationship, if they couldn’t post about it. They would not see the point. They simply cannot conceive of a life that exists without an audience consuming it.”

New Additions to The List // 

Watching/Listening //

Loving //

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