Winter Sunset

Winter sunsets aren't nearly as glorious and colorful as summer ones, but Nathan and I hit the jackpot with tonight's beautiful sunset. We ran around our special place on the farm and played while the sun got lower and lower in the sky, and as the sun sunk past the horizon we ran for a second story deck for the best view of the sunset and surrounding fields.

I caught these unedited photos with my cell phone camera from ground level.  The sky told me it was going to be a good day for photos, even before the sun reached the horizon.

I love the orangey-yellow glow the winter sunset casts on the fields and trees around us.

This is when we hightailed it to the deck for a better view.  The sun was really moving!

The colors got even better after the sun set; oranges gave way to pinks.

Even Nathan was transfixed by the colors, for a few seconds at a time, at least.  I love this one. Do you see the moon, covered by a pink haze?

How I wished I'd had my real camera with me, or had access to a better camera with a panoramic lens.  After the sun set, we had a 360-degree view of pink clouds.  It was breathtaking and glorious.  Definitely a moment for us to soak up and take in.

Happy weekending!

Homesteading on a Farm of Our Own…Someday

A few weeks ago when my car was in the shop, I got a ride in the car dealership’s shuttle to go pick up a loaner car (it was a long eight days without my car!).  It was nice to finally be a passenger for once and to enjoy the rural scenery on our quiet ride.  The driver took me down some country roads I’d never driven before, and I saw some amazing farmhouses that literally took my breath away.  I picked up my jaw from my lap and processed what I’d seen:

Freshly painted late 1800s/early 1990s farmhouses boasted beautiful covered front porches with bright red wooden benches. White picket fences cordoned off the yards from the rest of the farmland around them, and I imagined the beautiful flowers I’d grow in the yard and the rows and rows of crops I’d plant if the home were mine.

And then it hit me.  We’d been so busy living our lives on someone else’s farm, that I almost forgot about our dream of homesteading on a farm of our own—rather, I forgot that my husband is actually into it.  Right now, because of his job as a caretaker, he doesn’t have the time or energy in the summer to help me garden and preserve the food we grow—and we don’t have the room and the storage space to homestead the way we want to here.  I’ve been doing the best I can by myself all along, but it’s just not enough.  We’re not really homesteading the way I want to be.

Before we had Nathan, I tended a 1,000+ square foot vegetable garden and a smaller herb garden on my own and I desperately wanted chickens.  The chickens were out—we’d have to ask permission and it’s just better not to—and I can’t manage a garden that big by myself now with a little one in tow.

I wouldn't mind a view like this from an attic window someday.  This is a photo of a painting hanging my craft room/studio.

I’m so glad for that car ride down an unfamiliar country road.  It reinvigorated me and reawakened my homesteading spirit.  I want it so badly!  And I'm glad to remember that my husband wants it someday, too.  There must be ways for me to homestead more here, on someone else’s amazing old farm, in a home we’re glad to live in but don’t own.  I will find a way.

Gifts to a SAH, WFH Mom

I’m a stay-at-home, work-from-home mom in a rural community.  And as you might be able to imagine (or maybe you’re going through it, too!), I can sometimes feel pretty isolated.  Days on end go by where I don’t [get to] leave the house (or the farm, which feels like the same thing).  Sometimes there’s nowhere to go, or it takes too long to get there in between naptime and dinnertime.  I don't even have neighbors to chat with. 

I get out when I can and go shopping or meet up with a friend, but it’s not as often as I’d like.  Nothing (and no one) is nearby, so everything requires advance planning and extra time for driving.  This is one of my excuses for a gift I just got myself—I call it the gift of connectivity.  Really, that’s just a fancy way of saying I finally broke down and bought myself the new iPhone.

And can I tell you something?  I LOVE THIS FRIGGIN’ THING!  Until now, I’d always scraped by with old, lame, useless phones (meaning, all they did was make calls—hah!).  It’s sleek and shiny and the screen looks amazing.  I can  go on and on about all the features it has that I don’t use… but I’ll spare you.  At first it was a little scary (read: addicting) to be able to so easily check e-mail and Facebook way more often than is necessary, but the newness has worn off a bit and I can really see the value in this phone-that-does-just-about-everything.  I really like having connectivity at my fingertips.  It may sound silly, but it feels good to be able to see what my friends are up to and check on things—including my work e-mail—without getting completely sucked in.

My other excuse for the new phone is to stay in better touch with you, my readers and friends, through my blog’s Facebook page and Twitter page.  Please go check them out and join in on the two-way conversations!

 

The other gifts to myself involve much-needed exercise.  For the past two or three weeks I’ve been waking up in the morning before Nathan to do yoga for at least a half hour.  Yoga leaves me feeling energized and invigorated, and I can already feel myself getting stronger.  Muscle memory is incredible—restarting a serious yoga practice after a nearly two-year hiatus has been easier than I expected it to be.

My favorite, most vigorous yoga DVD so far is Power Yoga - Total Body Workout with Rodney Yee. Some easier workouts that I do in between the harder ones are A.M. Yoga for Your Week (five workouts each with a different focus!) and Power Yoga for Stamina.  I know yoga well enough that I don’t need to follow DVDs or sequences in a book, but my mind often wonders, so direction from Rodney Yee really helps me concentrate and get the most from my practice.  If anyone wants more good DVD or book recommendations, hit me up on my Facebook page or leave a comment here.

I’ve also been going for walks after Nathan’s in bed at night—the epitome of “freedom.”  (You can tell I don’t get out much, and when I do, I’m never alone, thanks to my husband’s job.)  A few weeks ago I took these awesome sunset photos and really felt the weight of my responsibilities lift, just a little, and for just a few minutes.  These walks are the only time I’m truly alone.  It’s relaxing to plug into my iPod (now, iPhone!) and go wherever I want on the farm without a stroller to push or hold me back.

The efforts and time spent have been paying off—I’ve already lost 2.5 pounds!

A mom deserves some gifts to herself every now and then.  I hope you moms out there find the chance to do the same.  I think I'm going to find other ways to "give" to myself, similarly to how I give my all to my family every day.

Living in the Country

There are times when I get frustrated and slip and start dwelling on the downsides of living in the country.  It seems to happen more and more often as the inconveniences pile up and I let the disruptive business of being a caretaker’s wife get to me.

It only took a walk on the farm this weekend to remind me what we have here and the reasons we wanted to move to the country all those years ago.

Lots of open spaces.

Remnants of what this old farm used to be.

Wildlife everywhere I look.
 

Peaceful streams and lakes.

Milkweed in the wild areas and the butterflies it attracts.

Shaded paths less taken.
 

A boy with a sweet face who I hope will love nature just as much as I do.

Fun in unexpected places.

Wild flowers and bright blue eyes.

Have a lovely week!

The Green in June

So often I’m inspired by nature—for crafts, cooking, knitting (believe it or not), baking, activities, decorating, the colors of my blog—you name it.  It’s no wonder I love living seasonally—each season brings so much to look forward to, and when you get bored with the status quo, the season is most likely just about to change.  What variety!  Come to think of it, the changing of the seasons is probably the only form of change I embrace.

In summer, I love how I’m surrounded by the most awesome shades of green on this old dairy farm.  Green is my favorite color and right now it’s everywhere I look.  (Hopefully we won’t have a drought this summer and it’ll stay that way.)  Green grass, green fruit trees, green farmer’s fields, green Indian Cigar Trees, green wild raspberry bushes, green wild and weedy areas, green kitchen garden, green, green, green.

Here’s a glimpse of some of the green in June on this old farm.

Oops, how'd that get in there?

An Outdoor Rural Kind of Life

After a few whiny complaints about rural living, I’ve been meaning to write about the benefits of rural living.  Truly, there are many.  And after a full day of outdoor fun—I have the gritty, sunburned skin and Nathan has the red-stained lips to prove it—it’s high time.

When I think about the pros of rural living I can’t help but think of the cons, too.  It’s time for me to shut out the negative and breathe in the glory of a rural kind of life.

This morning we gardened…well, I gardened while Nathan played with toys in his baby jail…and finally finished planting my kitchen garden.  (Side note: We don't have a fence and have ponds nearby, so the politically correct baby corral keeps him safe—read: alive—when I need to look away for more than 10 consecutive seconds.  I know people scorn the baby jail concept, but it's a necessity in my neck of the woods, and I use it judiciously.)  Despite getting my garden planted later than usual—several weeks of rain really slowed me down—it still feels like an accomplishment.  And I forgot to take pictures while I was out there. 

Try to imagine… two neat, long rows of zinnia seedlings, freshly watered and weeded.  Six evenly spaced tomato plants with stakes at the ready.  Zucchini and summer squash seedlings with growing buds on them.  Morning glories winding haphazardly up curved bamboo stakes.  It doesn’t look like much now, but in time my gardens will be bursting with blooms and fruit.  I can almost taste the flavors of the fresh herbs and see the fresh cut flowers in vases throughout my home.  I’m so grateful to have all this space for gardening…even if I can’t farm it garden like I truly want to.

In the afternoon I took Nathan out on his mom-powered trike and cooled down afterwards with some ice pops on the deck.  (It was the very short-lived photo shoot for my May socks.  Very short-lived.)

And then we went strawberry picking at a nearby farm with some friends.  I love this local farm, and love that it’s so close by.  (One of the few useful businesses nearby, really.)  This boy loves his strawberries, and I just realized that he must get it from me.  Strawberries just started ripening in this area, and my radar picked up on it right away.  I love berries so much I’m designing my July socks after them; July is when our wild raspberries ripen.

The strawberries were the best I’ve ever tasted, and I think they’re the best ones Nathan’s ever had, too.  The farm is on the edge of the river, between the river and the canal, and it is the most fertile soil around.  And it’s fun for little boys to play in, too.  Good thing he wore his “Dirt Magnet” shirt.

The sweet boy in the black t-shirt is my friend’s son.  I love that boy.

Lookit all the berry juice on this little boy’s shirt.  I couldn’t keep him from eating the berries.  I’d hear him go mmmmmm and before I could turn around another strawberry was down the hatch.  I hope he didn’t eat too many, because in my friend’s words, we want the farm to like us.

We picked more berries than we could reasonably eat in such a short time frame, so after Nathan was in bed—despite how tired I felt—I baked Strawberry Summer Cake.  It was baking in the oven as I typed, and just came out.  Just look at it.  My husband is too full from dinner and Nathan is sleeping…so I’ll just have to enjoy it…all…by…my…self.  Be right back.

******

I’m back, and man, was that good!  Pardon me for not taking any pictures of the cut cake or the slice…ahem, slices, I put on my plate.  I didn’t wait for it to cool very much in my haste, so the slices broke up a bit on their way to my plate.  And I scarfed them down way too quickly for photos.  I don’t need the roof of my mouth, anyway.  It tastes really, really good still hot from the oven.  I didn't even bother with the whipped cream -- it doesn't need it.

Maybe I’ll give Nathan a sliver after his breakfast tomorrow morning, while the cake is still really fresh.  He deserves it after all the berries he picked.  It’s hard work being a boy and living an outdoor, rural kind of life.  I don't know about him, but I'm exhausted.