Sheltered or Hardened Off?

(I've had this in drafts for a while now. The idea was there, but the words weren't quite right. After sitting on it and eventually revising it, it was as ready as it would be for sharing with the world.)

As I was bundled up trying to stay warm at the chef's garden the other day by working with some baby greens in the hoop house, a thought came to me, and it was a rather profound one at that especially considering that it was coming from tending to little lettuces: Being overly sheltered while growing up is the same as not getting hardened off. I'll explain. 

Plants that are started in a greenhouse absolutely need to be hardened off otherwise they fade and wilt when exposed to the full power of the sun, wind, and rain. They don't know how to stand on their own feet because they haven't had to. You give them the best opportunity to thrive by starting them indoors with climate control, mild temperatures, and (filtered) sunlight - all conducive to maximum growing potential. All too soon, they outgrow their pots and might even become gangly if kept inside for too long. It's high time for the baby plants to HARDEN OFF.


There are two options here: plunk 'em in the ground hoping for the best or prepare them for what the great outdoors have in store by acclimating them to those conditions instead of shocking them with everything all at once.

Seeing the same light bulb that I did? How many people just cannot handle what life throws at them, don't know what to do with themselves once on their own, or long for the childhood glory days?

Yes, we want to protect those in our care; we can give them the best start we possibly can. But will your children be ready to stand strong against the headwinds? How do you harden yourself off let alone teach someone else? How do you remain sensitive to others even when you find yourself too hardened? 

Just a bunch of thoughts and questions from the chef's garden. I don't have answers (I'm as single as they come and the only littles I have to harden off are baby plants), and the plants I talk to certainly don't have anything to say. We would have a very different problem if they started talking back. :P 

Until next time,

SG

Homesteading with Health Issues

We all have our own reasons that drive our homesteading passion. Some to become self-sufficient. Some want to have that glorious moment of storing up their own bounty. Some want the higher quality product that can't be found in the store. Some seek the freedom (I use that term loosely) from society's daily grind.  Some night have even just happened upon the lifestyle. Others do so because they have health issues.

Many that I've talked to (or stalked on blogs) have used their land and garden as a place to grow their own food because it's the cheapest option. Food can be used to find health (or at least a lessening of symptoms). The problem, though, is that fresh fruits, vegetables, meat and herbs are not cheap, but if you have the space, you can do it yourself for less than it would cost at the store (in theory anyway). As someone with a chronic illness, the lure of being able to do something for yourself can be thrilling to say the least. There's something that's within your control, right? Wrong. Anyone that has spent any time on a farm or in a garden will tell you that there is always something running amok or it's one problem after another. But you really want to do this. And do it successfully. So here's a quick list of some suggestions that can help you when you're homesteading with health problems.

1. Only take on as much as you can handle

I know that you feel like you want to do everything. I'm in the same boat. I want to have a lush garden, a productive orchard, prolific berries, buzzing honeybees, all the meat animals to supply us for all our meat-y needs, dairy goats, sheep for wool (and to be able to spin all that!), soap making, cheese making, meat processing, all the herbs I could ever need just outside the door, raising elk, a u-pick flower farm, and more. Hey, a girl can dream, right? Ooh, throw in a livestock guardian dog in there too!
Please pace yourself (I'm preaching to myself here too).
Whenever you add a new aspect to the farm, you inevitably have a learning curve to go with it. If you have a chronic illness, there's only so much your brain and body can handle. Instead of diving in full force, try just a trial run at a small scale. This way, you don't invest as much time, money, or energy into something that might not be for you. Another option would be to tag along and learn from a mentor who's entrenched in your interest. You can get a feel for what is to be expected and decide if it will fit with your limitations.

2. Set yourself up for success

Learn as much as you can from other sources before throwing yourself into the fire. Make sure that you have all the supplies you need before you dive into the project (I guarantee you will need to make an emergency run to the farm store though - it's how life works). Or really think through the entire process and where the hangups might be.
For our family garden, we've never been all that proficient. Yeah, we've had plants that survived in spite of our best attempts to kill them, but at the end of the year, you look at how much effort you put into something and see what you got out of it... Not the best use of energy, resources, or time. This year after spending hours pulling up the morning glory that appeared (that was a frustrating discovery), we finally threw in the towel, laid out weed block, made cedar raised beds, and installed drip irrigation with a timer. The summer garden was for naught this year, but the fall garden is right on schedule. With the raised beds, we have a limited space that requires weeding and can be weeded easily. The timer and drip means we don't have to spend all day watering (okay, I might be exaggerating the time requirements there just a little). It's taken us years to get to this point, but I'm really excited about what all we can do with the space now.

3. Organize like your life depends on it

You might only have a certain amount of time before your body says, 'Enough for today.' Instead of running around getting all your materials assembled or animal feed pulled together or whatever you might have going on, set up systems that make everything easily accessible and found. Keep animal feed in bins or barrels. Have tools all lined up in the same spot nearby where you will be using them. Have files in your desk for each category that your farm needs be it equipment/tractor, veterinary contact info and notes, garden plans and resources, animal information, etc. It will take some time to get this all set up, but in the end, your brain and body will thank you. And you won't have to spend all the your time scrounging around looking for that one piece of paper. ;)

4. Many hands make light work

Do you have friends that want to experience the farm life but don't have the land? Bring 'em on board. You can host volunteer work days in exchange for some product or produce from your farm (many folks would be just fine with a hearty meal). Get the whole family involved in whatever capacity that they are capable. If chicken dander kick off asthma or allergies for some, they can be on the watering crew.

5. Make things easier for your body

Use those tools ergonomically correct. You don't have to prove to yourself that you can lift those heavy bags - let the wheel barrow do the work for you. Use a work bench. Make sure that you stay hydrated. Electrolytes are your friend. Keep your skin protected. Pace yourself and take breaks as needed. This ties into #2.

6. Do things at your own pace

Don't over do it. This speaks for itself, and I can't stress that enough. If your body is screaming at you to stop, then stop. You'll pay for it later if you push your body beyond the limits. If that means only getting a couple of trees pruned or only a single bed planted or only one goat's hooves trimmed, then so be it. You can just keep chipping away at things as you can.

7. Don't kick yourself for not doing everything

As much as I wish I was Wonderwoman, I'm not. You might wish you could be doing more or think that you're not doing enough. Silence those negative thoughts right now; shove them out the door, and don't let them back in. I know that to-do list is every increasing and changing in priority, but you're doing the best you can with the time and energy that you have. You're juggling doctor appointments, family and social life, and all the crazy farm adventures. You've got a lot on your plate, and you're taking things as they come. Everyone is on their own unique path towards health and in their homesteading journey.

8. Let something go

You have a very full plate on your hands, and something new comes up. Be it a new symptom, a new phase of life, a family emergency, you just can't handle juggle anything anymore and something's got to give. Now this one is super hard because it's so closely tied into #1 and #7. You want to do everything but you hold yourself back. When holding yourself back, you feel like you should be doing more. But there are times when even holding yourself back is still too much. Even maintaining the status quo might be too much and make you reach your breaking point. Some friends of mine just had to sell some of their dairy goats because the family's health was needing more attention than they could give. I hurts and it's hard to say goodbye to furry friends that you've bonded with for so long, but making sure that the new home is perfect and maybe nearby so you could pop in every now and again to say 'hi' could help ease some of the sadness.

Do you have any other ideas to add to the list? If so, comment below! We all could use tips and tricks to help us along the road.

Until next time!
SG

Catching up from Spring Term

Where to begin? It certainly has felt like another looong term, but I survived. ;) Here's some shots to get you up to speed. This is a text and picture heavy post, so here we go. 

Special dance for a guest caller that came to the area

Practicum harvest

Turkey poult

This picture has a bit of a story with it... It all started with my car not starting when I was running late to class. Phooey. Thankfully, I had another car option to get to class. I didn't have time to deal with the problem until the next day after classes.  

It took all afternoon, but I finally managed to orchestrate a tow truck that was 'approved' by the insurance company to get my car to the mechanic. They took one look at it, and said that the only problem was some corrosion on the battery terminal. Seriously?! I looked at that and didn't think that it was that bad. Apparently so. $40, a bunch of phone calls, and an afternoon later, my car was doing just fine. Thankfully, everything worked out well, but it was still a hassle. My classmate the next day asked what was wrong with my car, and after explaining my tale of woe, she said 'Well, was the mechanic cute at least?' 'Uh... yeah...' '!!! When's the next time you get to see him?' "I don't know; next oil change maybe?' The next week, apparently word got around about the 'cute mechanic' and some others were asking if I had asked him out yet. 'Nope.' 'Well, when's your next oil change?' 'A long while.' And this is after I was already convinced that my car was playing match maker because she kept coming up with all these random little things that needed to be checked. :face palm:  

Anyway! Continuing on! My fun class for the term was kitchen herbs. I honestly didn't fully know what to expect from the class, but I knew I wanted to take it. I walk into class to find out that it was a cooking class! Booyah! We've been learning how to grow all this fantastic food, now it's time to learn how to use it! From mocktail sangria, branch dressing, melon mint salad, green bean radish and basil salad, warm maple rosemary sundaes, and much more. Can we have more classes where we eat our way through to earn credits? I guess that would involve going to cooking school. Never mind.

Even with work and classes, my sister, a friend, and I still managed to squeeze in a fun concert one evening. Djangophiles were fantastic, and they have my sister convinced that I need to learn to play the upright bass. To humor her, I looked up the prices for a bass... Yeah, not going to be doing that anytime soon. 

 

I brought in the peonies before it started raining. Love the giant, luscious blooms!

I can't resist the words: free plants

Moving meat chickens out to pasture

Needless to say, these shoes look like something you would find in an archaeological dig after I was through with them.

My red legion poppies started blooming on Memorial Day weekend. Rather fitting, I thought. 

After her yearly adventure where we don't see her for a couple of weeks, she showed up at the back door, wanted food and water, and then curled up in the nearby basket and slept. You crazy kitty. 

A local farm had early ripening blueberries. Nomnomnom! 

That's all for now! I'll post some pictures from work later.

Until next time! 

SG

Somber Thanks

In Flanders Fields 

By Lietenant Colonel John McCrae

May 3, 1915

In Flanders fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row,

That mark our place: and in the sky

The larks still bravely singing fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the dead: Short days ago,

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

Loved and were loved: and now we lie

In Flanders fields!

Take up our quarrel with the foe

To you, from failing hands, we throw

The torch: be yours to hold it high

If ye break faith with us who die,

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flanders fields

Source

Red Legion Poppies in the garden that started blooming on Memorial Day weekend

Many thanks to those that gave the ultimate sacrifice to protect our freedom.

Until next time, 

SG

Winter Term - A Much Needed Update

This term at school has been a long-haul and a whirlwind. Even though I only signed up for 10 credits, the homework load seemed bigger, days longer, and really in depth projects. 

Just a few of the resources that I listed for one of my projects

It also didn't help that one of the classes, which was required for my certificate, had long-winded curriculum, an indifferent instructor, could have been entirely online without the unnecessary class lectures, and didn't have any material applicable to actually doing anything in horticulture or agriculture. (/rant) It's almost done, and I won't have it hanging over my head.  

Sunrise on my commute to class

My fun class of the term was herbal products. The instructor sure packed in a lot of material in the three week span of the class! 

Snippet of the syllabus

Distillation and essential oil demo using Douglas Fir 

 On top of classes, I started a new job. Yep. I'm crazy. The beginning of the year involved my last day of my job at the farm store (that I couldn't get to because we had freezing rain), training for the new job, and classes starting. That was quite the week. . 

The new job is at a chef's garden, and I'm loving it. 

Here's just a few of my pictures from the garden

That's a lot of micros.

Celeriac floats

Romanesco Cauliflower

Mustard Micros

 I only had about 4 days on the new job before I was left to fend for myself for a week and a half. My coworker/supervisor went on vacation while I held down the fort praying that nothing in the garden died on my watch. The kitchen would make requests, and I was supposed to get what they needed. My coworker also left a list of things to work on weather-permitting. Nothing out of the ordinary, just routine. But it was all new ground for me. I'm glad to report that everything survived (including yours truly). My coworker says that she left things in good hands, but I was feeling woefully awkward and unsure of myself. It took me longer than it should have to find that tatsoi to harvest the raabs. ;) In my defense, it was hiding in the tubs on the other side of the greenhouse. 

Even with all that going on, I was still able to get to the OSU small farm conference, a few concerts, a dance, and a soap making class.  

Honey and goat milk soap! 

 Looking at all that, it's no wonder I'm so tired. 

Until next time!

SG

Where Have I Been?

Hello everyone! Sorry I haven't been around on this blog lately. Things are relatively quiet on the farm this time of year, and there just isn't a whole bunch to post about. Unless you want to talk about all the seed and chicken catalogs that arrive by the truckload or making sure that the row covers in the garden stay on the frames or mucking out the chicken coop or the horrifically dry winter we've had so far. Then we could talk all day! Besides all that action, I've been able to really work through my herbalist program (getting close to completion!) and get some sewing done (okay, a lot of sewing). While we're on the topic of sewing, that's where my writing attention has been focused. I've been working to get a sewing blog up and running! You can go check it out here: http://pintucksandpinafores.blogspot.com/

Until next time!
SG

Grass-Fed Butter

When you're reading through healthy recipes and cookbooks, you can usually find the little phrase 'grass fed butter' on many of the ingredient lists. I always chuckle when I see it because my imagination likes to take it a step farther. Hence this quick sketch. 

Baby Butter: Will I become a trans-fat when I grow up?
Mommy Butter: Of course not, Sweetie! You're saturated through and through. 

"Farm Girl Fancy"

Picture from here

Life on a farm equals a life of dirty fingernails, poop on your boots, slobber on your pants, hay in your hair, and a light spray of wet dog on your shirt, with a few flecks of mud on your face if it's been an especially productive day!:) 

Once you head indoors you can replace that mud with dough from kneading bread, strawberry jam instead of wet dog, and flour instead of hay. Phew! What a day!

It's very easy to NOT want to put too much effort into your personal appearance with a farmgirl's daily routine. What's the use?

Well, we owe it to ourselves and to our husbands to keep a little pretty and femininity in the barnyard! Just because our days are not glamorous doesn't mean we have to be as unglamorous as shoveling manure is!

I wrestled with this problem recently. I found myself living in t-shirts, jeans, and muck boots. How was I supposed to be feminine and still collect eggs, clean the pig pen, weed the garden etc. etc. etc. in a skirt or a dress? Sounds like a whole lot-a trouble to get all gussied up just to visit the animals.

Skirts and dresses has never been my thing to begin with, but I really felt the Lord leading me to strive to be more feminine in my dress. 

I gathered inspiration to help me be a more feminine farm girl from around the web.

If your a farm girl desiring to be more feminine in your barnyard and in the field here is some farm girl fancy inspiration............

Source

Source

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From The Fancy Farm Girl, petticoats and aprons!

This post is quoted directly from The Chick 'n Coop:

http://thechickncoop.blogspot.com/2013/06/farmgirl-fancy.html

Overalls vs. Diploma?

I was skimming a money/stocks sort of magazine the other day before it was sent out to the barn to be used as chick brooder bedding, and something caught my eye. There was an article about what jobs will be available in the near future, blah blah blah... but the only word that stood out to me in the entire thing was 'farmer.' Now why would a publication such as this be talking about farmers? I was intrigued. Then I got a bee in my bonnet. In talking about getting a fancy degree so you can sit at a desk job in front of a computer for the rest of your career, they lumped farmers next to burger flippers. They then proceeded to say how farmers and burger flippers didn't have any sort of education, and those jobs didn't require it.

...must...resist...urge...to...rant...

Pshaw! Where's my soap box?

It's this very sort of mentality that has gotten us into the pickle that we're in! Our health as a nation has declined. Our food is nowhere near as nutritious as it used to be. We have this massive disconnect when it comes to how our food (if you can call it that) reaches our plates. Our farmers are aging, and the young folks who want to farm are discouraged from their rural dreams and sent to the city to make their living. The wisdom of tending the land is being lost. And we wonder why we're so sick.

Farmers are not some dumb hicks out there tossing feed out to the chickens every now and then, chewing on a piece of grass, and maybe considering mucking out the barn before someone reports them to the sheriff for the bad conditions that the animals are in.

Every farmer that I've met is a genius in a very special way. Each farmer has his or her niche that they specialize in. Whenever I meet someone who's in the business, I just have to pick their brain for tidbits of wisdom to help tackle whatever is going on. Farmers have countless hats to wear: midwife, botanist, biologist, mechanic, geneticist, veterinarian, secretary, CEO, manager, glorified gardener, food preserver, seed saver, construction worker, machinery technician, etc, etc, etc. You must be aware of what's around you at all times, be it while on autopilot during regular chores, while working with heavy equipment, or surveying your piece of land. Some even have the energy to branch out in other creative outlets (e.g. writing, music, art) that share their small rural world with everyone else. This is all just the tip of the iceberg. To be a farmer you've got to have the creativity, know-how, resourcefulness, energy, and passion to just make it through a basic day.

Being a farmer is a high calling - it's your job and responsibility to make sure that all the food you produce is nutritious and safe. God's first job for man was tending His creation, and He's blessed every farmer since then with a piece of His earth to be responsible for. Now, I can't attest to how well they did their job; different conversation for a different time. The food needs to be clean (although a little dirt never did hurt), every bite that you serve needs to be packed with as many nutrients as possible. The health of the consumer and the integrity of the environment you're in are both in your dirt-covered hands.

:deep inhale:
I'd like to see whoever wrote that article take care of a farm for a week. Just a week.

Edit: I haven't quoted the the article mentioned for two reasons
1. My point of writing this wasn't to completely dis on the magazine. It's to address the attitude that was oozing from it.
2. The article ended up as chicken bedding before I could find it again to correctly cite it...

Farm Girl Fashion

 Or 'lack there-of' is more of what I should say. Just humor me for a moment - think of all the things that are fashionable or in style. Could you walk out to the barn in those cute heels without making a llama look at you funny? Could you climb the barn ladder in that adorable dress? Are you able to easily move around and get work done in skinny jeans? Are the chickens chasing you around trying to peck at those manicured nails? (PS - red is their favorite color)

Photos courtesy of Christi

Needless to say, I think you're right to assume that 99% of my wardrobe is purely practical.

- Thrift store denim. Even if those $60 jeans fit perfectly and look simply amazing, I can't justify spending more than $10 since I'm just going to have them completely worn out and stained in a week... I just filled a bin with jeans that I've destroyed. I'll have to come up with different uses for all that denim.

- A lot of old t-shirts. And new t-shirts. But those become 'old' very quickly. Have you noticed how flimsy t-shirts have become lately? They're already thread bare before they even hit the store shelves!

- Every farm girl needs a canvas coat. I've killed countless other coats and sweatshirts, but my old faithful Carhartt has yet to give up on me.

- Boots. Not the fashion boots either. I kinda need my footwear to have tread so I don't slip in the mud and muck. ;) I've got leather boots, muck boots, rubber boots, slip-on wanna-be-boots...

- Everything in the closet is fair game for working outside. You never know when something might happen, and you won't have time to change out of your 'nice' clothes. ;) Heck, I've been out there checking on meat chickens in the field in my pj's. I've been picking out dry grass particles ever since.

- I just got my annual pair of flip flops. My impractical chore shoes that I treat like they're indestructible  Can't wait for the warmer weather! Once the sandals decide to go belly up, summer is done. If they don't last that long, I blame the manufacturer for making them cheaply and buy another pair from the clearance rack.

What about the last 1% of my closet? Well, after that shpill, rant, whatever you want to call it, I have something to add:

I. Love. Dresses.

I even have shoes to go with those dresses that make getting from the house to the car  a tripping hazard waiting to happen. I will pull the 'I can't check on the critters right now because I don't want to get my clothes dirty' card.

So, yes, even if most of my clothes make me look like a tomboy, there is still a girly-girl in me that loves feeling pretty and feminine. Maybe it's because the rest of the week I look like I live in a barn. And that's not very far from the truth. ;)

Bucket Hoarder

Picture stolen from here

Something about being on a farm...
You tend to collect stuff.
A lot of stuff.
Tools.
Implements.
Out buildings to store implements.
Scrap wood.
A shed to keep the scrap wood dry.
Pallets.
Mismatched dirty socks.
Bills.
Duct tape.
Saw blades.
Broken things.
Sputtering things that won't start.
Fencing supplies. Or at least enough supplies for part of the job.
Old cats.
...
Buckets.

Yes, dear reader, buckets.

There are a thousand and one uses for buckets!
You can haul feed, carry water, collect water from a down spout, drill a hole at the bottom to water baby trees, tote all the supplies for a project to the site, put extra milk in to clabber for a chicken treat, trap a mean rooster when you are otherwise defenseless, loading up with garden bounty, soaking bare root trees until you can get them in the ground, empty out an aquarium, contain the snake when cleaning the tank, soaking grains, sitting on it, contain paint, collect rocks and treasures, use as a hat, catching a drip, berry picking, 'bucket listing,' keep compost contained until you get it to the pile, etc, etc, etc. I'm sure I'll forever be adding to this list.

But you can't do all these jobs with one bucket. Eww. That would be rather unsanitary. So you amass enough to equip an army. It doesn't usually all happen at once - slowly, slowly, you gather some for this job, when they're on sale, or just cause you feel like you don't have enough. But then your neighbor brings down a pickup truck load (not exaggerating here). He bought them to water his baby Christmas trees, but purchased too many. So he gave the left overs to us. He said something about us being able to use them. ;) We can haz buckets now. If you ever have a job that needs a bucket, I think we've got that department covered.

It's All Done...

All the hype. All the planning. All the preparing. 

And the harvest party is over in an evening... 

Everything is put away. Everything's all cleaned up.

Right down to the dust on my boots. 

I guess I can get started  on planning next year's party. ;)

Some last mental notes:

- Apple pies make excellent thank-you gifts. The receiver will quickly put it in a very safe place for a later, solitary  indulgence. 

- When the neighbors call the next morning to tell the barn owner that the party had awesome music, well, that's music to my ears.

- Make sure you bring more water cups than you think you need.

- Move the hymn sing to an earlier slot in the party schedule; more people could participate in a really cool part of the evening.

- Spreading out all the working/decorating load over the course of a couple of days is genius. I don't think that I've ever been so relaxed before hosting a party as I was this year. 

- Take a mallet to hammer in signs. (But you don't 'mallet a sign.' You 'hammer.' Mallet isn't a verb... That's my defense anyway) My brother almost broke his hand from hitting it with the hammer, yet he danced all evening and didn't complain at all. I guess you could see him grimace every time there was a left-hand turn...

- A change of shoes would be a good idea. Especially since the boots aren't completely broken in yet. ;) 

- Clustering the paper lanterns in 'strategic' places makes a much more festive atmosphere, instead of putting them all up all over the place. Then you feel like you're being smothered with paper lanterns. 

- Flapjack flipping is hard. Next time you make pancakes, you can see how far you can flip those goobers with a pie pan. It's harder than it seems. Chickens love the leftovers.

Gorgeous

Blue skies. 

Fluffy clouds. 

Fields of crimson clover. 

Lush green grasses. 

Orange poppies.

Flowering trees.

Mountain views.

Winding back roads.

Rocking the bling-y sunglasses.

Shorts and flip flops.

Country music blaring and singing along. 

Windows rolled down. 

Warm sunshine.

And a sun halo. 

It's a good day.

Raiding the Fabric Stash

 A lot of love went into that gift. Many hours. Plenty of brain power. Stumbled upon inspiration. And a well stocked fabric stash. Yeah. It was a labor of love. And a near miracle that I was able to finish it on time (my sisters can attest to that - I still haven't finished their projects)

My dear friend is getting married, and I had no clue what to get her. Yes, her registry was very diverse and varied, but I wanted to give her something a little more personal and from the heart. But what could I give her? I've known her for years... you would think that it would be an easy choice, but no. The date for her shower as coming up and I still had no idea.

Then I came across this tutorial: granny square quilt. Ooh.... Hmm... That looks simple enough to try. How would I manage to fit that into the kitchen shower theme? I really don't know what path my brain took, but somehow a table runner came to mind. Her kitchen colors are blue, white and yellow? I think I have a bunch of those colors! Boy howdy, I did! Actually, confession time - I didn't have to purchase any fabric for the entire set. That's how much fabric I've collected over the years.

After I finished the main table runner, I had quite a few 2.5" squares left over. I could do something with those too! :makes hot pad: Wow. Still have a lot of pieces left. I think I was a little over-zealous with the rotary cutter. I was starting to be done with granny squares. Yeah, they're simple and go together fast, but you can only make so many before you need a change of pace. What else does a table setting need? Place mats! Do I have enough for two perhaps? Oh, and the math worked out perfectly? I think I might have actually had my brain turned on while I was doing that... o_O 


In the process of making all these quilted items, I realized how much I despise making binding. How can I cheat my way through that one? After some thought and sleeping on it, aha! Extra wide, double fold bias tape. Now, I love sewing on the binding. Just do the hand sewing while 'watching' tv, and you have yourself a gorgeous, almost flawless binding! I almost did the happy dance when I looked at the finished product. Okay, I lied. I did do that happy dance. 


But I couldn't stop there... If I do something, I tend to go all out. I dive in head first and fearless. The assembly is not complete until I say it is. And it was missing something. Then I went through my Sugar n' Cream stash. Lo-and-behold, there was blue and yellow yarn. I can hardly knit, let alone show you how to do it, but I can make dishcloths without paying attention to what I'm doing, therefore, I like making dishcloths. Just don't knit while watching an intense movie; you will break your yarn and kick yourself for it. So, I continued my evening projects, curled up in my fleece blanket and knitting away. 


As I was going through the craft closet, I came across a set of coasters that I had made years ago. Conveniently, they were in the same fabrics that I had been working with. So into the gift bag it went! 


That is the story of my creative adventures as of late. I couldn't watch my friend open the gift  because I knew that I would start crying (I kept myself busy. It's easy to look busy if you really want to). I even played with the idea of having her mom give it to her after the shower, but that idea was eventually thrown into the mental trash can. 


I kept asking myself, 'Why are you putting so much into a gift? You have a basket full of unfinished projects yet you focus on this one?' The only answer that I could come up with was that this was my therapy. With every stitch, I was closer to accepting the fact that my friend was getting married. She's not going to be living 5 minutes down the road... (/selfish rant) She's entering a new chapter of life. My time will come, but for now I'm still single. I have the time to put into a gift like this. And I'm happy to do it.


I'll have to post pictures of the shower later - it was a lot of fun and I loved how everything turned out!

So long for now!

You're a Character.

Well, aren't we all? A character that is. I'm sure that there is a part of you that would certainly make an... interesting... persona in a novel of some sorts.

Then you start looking at yourself. Oh my. I can identify with parts of characters in books and such, but never have I related to an entire personality. Does that make me a character? What about my family? Those are both a rhetorical question by the way.

I'm sure people look at us (the whole clan) and say, "Wow. Those crazy G's. There they go again! What are they doing now?!" We stop to ask the tree trimmer guys working on the trees that have encroached on the power lines to see if we can have the wood chips. We can thoroughly pick apart your choice of a fancy car while crushing your ego in the process. We clear an entire area to build a shed that has a tall face. We usually have the same thought at the same time and then continue to say what we were thinking, at the same time. We haunt Craigslist for chicken butchering equipment. We tease each other relentlessly but never take it to heart. When we clean, it's usually cleaning the entire house in 5 minutes before company arrives. We can't fence to save our lives even though we have a lot of it in the 'dream farm' plan. We can quote movies out of the blue - we can even hold a conversation using movie quotes. We 'garden' if you include growing a jungle of weeds. We can even be seen chasing various animals around the property, be it fearless coyotes (I'll have to tell you that story later. I'ts  actually kinda funny), a tank of a goat (we no longer have goats, but maybe with some back massages, that will change), the 7 year-old puppy, maybe even a herd of llamas. And I'm talking about getting into rabbits. I'd love to see the scene of trying to chase a renegade rabbit! " 'No, you idiot! My hair is in your machine!' 'Oh, we only have rabbits in here. You'll find that the hare is a much larger mammal.' " - Curse of the Were-Rabbit

What inspired this post? We started describing a neighbor a 'character' and then the thought came to all of us in the car - we're characters, too, aren't we? Then Mom had Dad pull over to ask the tree trimmer dudes for their wood shavings. Yep, we're characters!

~*SG*~

{inspiration}

Technology

 Oh, the bane and temptation of my existence! Why is our world so interconnected now? Thank the invention of the interwebs. The source for all the great gossip, coot kittehs, pop culture sensations, annoying ditties, stalking your friends and staying up to date on just about everything else going on in the world at that very moment that you had never really paid much attention to anyway.

I've had enough. My brain is loud enough without all the extra distractions. Honestly, it's really noisy in there all the time; my 'mindless' thing to do is listen to music. I have plenty going on and don't need to fill any extra time blocks. Those have been taken already. My brain is on overload, and things need to quiet down even just a little bit.

So, that's why I'm seriously cutting back on facebook, gchat, etc. Cutting back even more than once a day. I'm too ADD to handle all this. I don't hate you; I'm not avoiding you. If I feel a need to electronically connect with friends, I will log on. I'm realizing how much I relish the opportunity to have a real face-to-face conversation with someone. I won't be deleting accounts because that's how I'm able to get a hold of people about events, pictures and such. Email is still a viable form of correspondence as well. I'm still going to there in your computer, there will just be much less of me haunting the pages and connections of your world.

I'm also realizing how much privacy has become a nostalgic word. There is none of it in this overly-connected world. I can be having a private email conversation, and the ads pertain to what is in the email. Doesn't that raise some red flags? That annoying 'ticker' thing in the upper right-hand corner on Facebook? Do you really need to be able to see how your friends are interacting with their friends. You don't even know who they are, and you can see their lives per Facebook  Viruses, hackers, malware are all out there to get personal information and make your (electronic) life miserable.

Laptop, you are hereby exiled from my room. No more sitting there ever so slyly on my desk right next to my bed. No more shall you annoy me with your 3 AM installations of the latest Windows updates that you decided that I needed. Text speak? Puhlease... Use correct grammar and punctuation in all forms of communication - your future employers will thank ye.

No, I won't shoot the computer - yet.