I haven't left the small radius of house and barn for 5 days now. This has brought a couple of unexpected blessings my way. The blessing about barn and kitchen chores is that your hands are busy, but your mind is free to ponder, plan, and dream. And the nice thing about a small Christmas (whether it is by choice or not) is that a lot of the frantic-ness of Christmas is taken out of the mix. Since I committed to consolidating trips this week, to save our ancient vehicle, I had to wait until today to head to town (oldest child's dentist appointment). We have been running out of the easy food, which means I have to cook from scratch - no canned beans, so using dried, no milk, so ditto. Stretching chicken feed with guavas and kitchen scraps. Making cookies nearly every day with what's left of the butter and sugar so the kids still feel a sense of celebration.
If I succeed in making this small plot of land more self-sufficient, there will be times when the cupboard will look like this - no tomato sauce because I got a total of 5 tomatoes this year because of rain, or some such situation. I imagine there will be other times when I have a bumper crop of eggplant or cucumbers and have to think of what to do with them. This week was a small glimpse into thinking differently and not relying on a grocery store down the street.
It's been a rough year all around, in lots of ways. There have been many blessings, too, of course. Sometimes, they are small ones, like becoming creative with what's in an increasingly bare cupboard and feeling good that you drove that much less in a week. Sometimes they are big ones - like rediscovering old friends and making new ones.
I hope, in the coming year, that some of the less tenable aspects of our lives can be resolved - that my husband doesn't have to commute so much to Oahu, that I can increase the sheep grazing area so I don't have to feed them so much alfalfa, that I can build a greenhouse so my tomatoes don't rot, that I can find that way into my most struggling students' minds and spirits so they can learn their best, that we can find abundance in the work of our hands and in the love in our hearts.
3 comments:
The challenge of eating what we grow is a big one. We are all so spoiled in our time and culture. Usually we are not only able to to eat more than what we really need for basic survival, but we generally can choose from an abundance of foods from all over the world and all seasons.
I forced myself this year to eat more of what we had grown. It's so easy to treat it as a hobby and let things go. But there may come a day when I wish we had practiced this even more, when it was easier.
It sure takes a lot of experience to be able to grow a wide variety of things in a good balance. We've all eaten way more summer squash than we've wanted to. ugh. It's a good thing I love it.
Many blessings on you, my friend! Thanks for all your ideas and experiences shared on your blog.
~Faith
Sometimes I get frustrated that I don't have the knowledge that my grandparents did, but even they had a grocery store nearby! (Well, except, I don't miss the bathing suits made from upholstery that Grrandmom made....nope, not at all).
WE would have starved this year if we had to make do with our own lack of abundance. Hopefully next year the sheep and goat poo will improve the soil to we can get a bit more from it.
Merry Christmas!
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