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Winter Manifesto

By Tricia on February 11, 2016 in Family, Farm and Garden, Uncategorized

I am a slow turner. Indeed it takes me a while to get situated and used to new things and I truly love my world and routine. Leaving it is not something I do voluntarily very often.

Then fate took this momma and her crew all the way to Kentuckiana and I was invited to break out of my cozy shell and made to grow somewhere other than the land we knew. For the most part we just rolled with it but oh the winter. The first was challenging. Last winter was a bit better but I did escape back home to Florida quite a few times (thanks to friends who stepped in to take care of our animals so I could stay a bit longer than I planned). This fall I decided that it was just time to embrace it and I imagined myself living back home where we mostly only have two seasons. I didn’t like that thought. It turns out that I do love the seasons and winter with it. I realized that I would feel a bit lost without the seasons to tell me that its time to change what I am doing.

So early winter one day I came up with a winter manifesto.

Be thankful to God for this beautiful time to withdraw inside of our home, of ourselves and a slower time to work on inside things.
Enjoy this time to plan for spring
Get outside everyday even if for just a little while
Knit, sew, paint, crochet
Remember that without this time, berries won’t grow on vines, maple sap won’t run to be collected, apples and fruit will not happen properly. So much to dream about and look forward to.
Make time to sit by the fire
Find the sun and if it comes out, so do we
Keep the soup pot busy and the bread pans full

Not sure if it is a coincidence, though Poppa says I am just getting acclimated but I have not had a day this winter that I have not loved it. We are a little cold but it has not bothered me. Even the chickens seems happy and if they are then it can’t be all that bad.

The kids have never minded it one bit. I have heard many prayers for snow these past few weeks and a few times their prayers have come true. I for one love the feeling of sitting up in bed to see white on the ground outside my bedroom window knowing it was not there when I went to sleep.

It is magical and lovely and I have truly embraced it. I do need to make myself a hat and that would definitely be a great addition to my winter. I know I have time to accomplish it before I won’t need it on my head anymore and I am enjoying everyday that winter apparel is necessary. Speaking of winter apparel, lots of wool slippers have been in my knitting basket made from my pattern (have you been here long enough to remember these?) and all the girls will soon have toasty warm feet. My boys seem to like socks and past attempts to get them to wear slippers have been mostly futile.

Looking outside at the snow is somehow also a weird reminder that it is time to get some seeds started. I know that magical feeling of spring will be coming soon and it gives me goosebumps just thinking about it so I should probably have the boys bring one of my seed starting shelves inside and see how much germination I have from last years unused seeds before I finalize my already late seed order.

Yesterday, as we began lent and we also add in our lenten rhythms, including our Lenten Jar, as we spend these next 40 days preparing for the Easter season. and we will be outside as long and often as we can and I hope to find time to come back to this space as it is one of my lenten goals to keep track of our comings and goings right here at our families journal.

And all the while we will enjoy this time together, inside or out, and mostly by the fire.

Farmish Momma snow day

Comments { 6 }

this summer

By Tricia on September 14, 2014 in Family, Weekly Journal

Oh goodness! So much to say and it should start with a thank you to everyone who has left me messages, comments and well wishes. This summer was wonderful and hard and beautiful and sad and every other emotion that is available to the human experience.

So many time I have wanted to sit here with you and tell you that we have been through some things but have come through the other side. So many things I took pictures of and did not share and then eventually it became too hard to share those things without sharing the one thing that sits in my heart. Even my camera seemed too much, something that usually feels right at home with me where ever I go.

I had a wonderful little secret, we did, all of us here. We only told a few friends and not even my parents or Poppa’s parents. A beautiful little secret growing in our hearts. Then one day the secret was no more and we could not tell anyone because we could not share our sadness. On Mother’s Day, no less, we lost a baby… Those are the words I just could not share but recently a friend told me that I really needed to. I was 15 weeks along. Just far along enough to feel that we were safe. I truly was happy with our 9 and then we were blessed with a new soul and losing him or her has been hard. Hard on this momma’s heart. I threw myself head first into the next thing to do, the next place to go. Something, anything. I did not want to share my sad news with anyone. First because it makes it all the more real, second because I can’t deal with the person who may decide to remind me that I have 9 children as if they are interchangeable. Well, this is me being vulnerable so if you have thought just that, then please do keep it to yourself.

This summer we tended the garden, we played, we sang, we learned together, we traveled. We had to because life goes on as many of you may know. And then a few days ago I pulled out Matthew’s birthday crown and there it was, right on his crown. That rainbow I put on everything that is his because he is a rainbow baby and he is God’s promise to me that all is well. That rainbow which means hope and promise also means that we have to look past the clouds to find what is behind it. You never see the rainbow while it is storming but it will be there and so now you know. My absence. I apologize really. If you were called to pray for us, unknowingly, I thank you.

I can’t really tell you everything we did but I do have a few pictures. I knew writing this would be the road block to my blogging and that until I wrote it I would not be able to share anything else. So, I am here. I miss sharing our little life with all of you. I am in the process of going through all the comments now and the emails because even that was just too hard.

We are enjoying today which seems very cool out and I see the occasional leaf fly by here and there as I await for the colors on those leaves to start their turn to fall beauty. We are pulling the summer garden up slowly and preparing to plant for fall. This summer was everything it was supposed to be but I know summer is almost passed and as fall approaches I try to find space in my heart to hold all that happened this summer.