Monthly Archives: November 2013

My Farmgirl Farewell

As most of you know (those of us that have a few decades behind us), we spend our lives periodically reinventing ourselves. Life kind of requires it and, in my opinion, you’re better off if you go with the flow of stretching yourself to fit into the new you whatever that might be. That said, here I am again … percolating on some new ideas.


Continue reading

Chickens!!

I knit, sew, and craft; I recycle, grow organic herbs and veggies, and flower garden. I do canning, bake bread and make just about everything from scratch. I crave the outdoors.  But there was something missing…something that would make me feel like a real farmgirl… having chickens!  Backyard chickens have been my dream forever, having even blogged about “chicken envy”! Now I’m crossing “chickens” off my bucket (pardon the pun) list.  As a new “chicken mom” of four adorable chicks, I’m elated. Feed stores in Connecticut don’t sell chicks this time of year. How these chicks came to be is an interesting tale….

Continue reading

Beauty, Comfort and Peace

Dear Sisters,

What is it about late fall that gets us farmgirls feeling so darned sentimental? Maybe I’m just getting soft the older I get. I turned 52 last week for heavens sake! Perhaps it has something to do with the leaves on the trees popping all around us like fireworks sending tracers of burnished red, harvest gold, brilliant yellow and deep purple slowly to the ground where they’ll lie until someone comes along with a rake and scoops them up into a pile. Or maybe it’s because we’ve finally succumbed to trading in our flip flops for fuzzy sox, swapped out the BBQ for the crockpot and tucked the garden in for a long winters nap. I like to think it has something to do with the beauty,comfort and peace another holiday season promises. I’m feeling festive already just thinking about what’s to come and grateful. Very, very grateful…How about you?

Continue reading

Winter Beginnings in the Yurt

Since my last post about cravings, several have been satiated! Evan and I went out for some delicious Korean food, I skyped with my nieces, got our very first electrical outlet in the yurt, and…it SNOWED! Hooray! Winter is here, and the yurt is treating us well so far. I’d like to think it’s because we are treating the yurt well…It’s a symbiotic, mutually beneficial type of thing. We are good to it, so it is good to us.

Continue reading

Turkey Day Fowl

A declaration was made in my house by my daughter: no turkey for Thanksgiving dinner. Dag-nab-bit. She has become such a poultry lover since we moved to the farm and got baby chicks. Little fluffy, precious, peep-y baby chicks. So what shall we have for a main dish? That remains to be seen. She recommended that we make a tofu dish and shape it like a turkey.
Continue reading

Savory And Sweet

Is there a season of thankfulness? Shouldn’t they all be? I guess it is good that we emphasize it even more now. This IS the season to put ourselves in heightened gratitude mode, getting good & stuck in the groove of gratitude. The best part of being in the thick of thankfulness is that almost by magic it multiplies. How sweet it is!

Continue reading

Fox Frenzy!

Every generation has “fads”.  I still can’t look at a Rubik’s cube without an instant migraine.  “Beanie Babies” induce feelings of extreme guilt.  This year, kids everywhere are trading bracelets created from little rubber bands, similar to rubber bangles I traded with friends when I was a sixth grader, that matched all of my neon eighties outfits {shudder}.   Fads can be fun, especially for kids. Right now, my home is also abuzz with another current craze… it’s “Fox Frenzy”!

Heading to a slumber party in fox shirt, with fox stuffed friend

Continue reading

Sweet Serendipity

Dear Sisters,

Have you ever wondered what life would be like without the occasional visit from Sweet Serendipity? I don’t like to thing about it for too long. Serendipity is what makes life more magical, mysterious and just plain fun!  It’s what turns and ordinary day into an EXTRA-ordinary one. It touches our hearts and strengthens our faith because it always seems to come when we least expect it! It could be a simple as a phone call from an old friend who you don’t speak to very often and you just happen to be home to get the call. Or maybe while you are out doing errands a perfect stranger says the exact thing you needed to hear to help you solve a problem or situation you are dealing with.

My all time favorite is when you see words (or an entire phrase ) printed in bold letters on the side of a truck or building that ring so true you know in your heart they were meant for you! Has this ever happened to you?

I had a MAJOR sweet serendipity moment this week when my mother- in- law ( mum ) came for a visit! I can’t wait to tell you what it was, and what she brought with her! Here’s a hint. It has something to do with another sweet serendipitous moment I wrote about in my last post. Curious yet? Come on in for the rest of the story…

Continue reading

Cravings

crav-ing (noun): a powerful desire for something; an intense, urgent, or abnormal desire or longing;

Once in awhile, we all want something so badly it is hard to get off of our minds. Sometimes, these come out of nowhere; other times they are fueled by seeing or smelling something that we just can’t forget. Sometimes, it feels like we need these items or we won’t be able to go on. Obviously, these cravings are generally not a part of our hierarchy of needs and we would survive just fine. However, our sanity might take a hit.

One of the most common questions I get asked as a pregnant woman is “do you have any crazy cravings?” Generally, the answer to that is, “Not really…” I crave ice cream and chocolate sometimes, but I think I always crave ice cream and chocolate. Sometimes I crave green things like kale and Brussels sprouts, but I sometimes crave green things when I’m not pregnant. So, while I don’t have any “crazy” food cravings, I am way more apt to give into my food cravings than I was before. I’m generally just a lot more insatiably hungry!

However, I’ve also been taking note of some of life’s cravings that are not food centered.

One of my cravings stems from this beautiful–yet snowless–November in Alaska scene…

Continue reading

Favorite Farm Day

I received the sweetest email from Tracy in Florida. Shall I spare you the flattery contained therein? (Flattery gets you everywhere.) Well, maybe for the beginning of this post. Further on, well, no indeed, I shall not spare you. I shall boldly and unabashedly and without humility, BASK in the flattery. Cause I love it.

But for now. Let me just share with you the question she asked that really really really REALLY got me to thinking.
Continue reading