It’s been an interesting week. A few days after Pascha ended, we got hit with another cold — worse than the others we’ve weathered this April. Two weeks later, we’re both still popping cold meds like candy to get through the day. The amount of cough drops and tissues we’ve been through is ludicrous. We’re hopeful we’ve finally hit the tail end of it.

Then last weekend, I had a nasty fall over a dip in our gravel driveway — while holding Michael. Thankfully, Michael walked away with a single scratch on his arm, and I took the brunt of it. My legs and palms, however, are a different story. They’re pretty gnarly-looking. I’ve gotten some concerned looks when I wear shorts or skirts in public.

So because of all these things, it’s been a different type of week. My body is healing from the fall and my mind is fuzzy from the headcold. I’ve still been moving forward with homestead tasks, slowly doing my spring cleaning and reorganizing while my knitting and spinning are on hold.

Our little cottage had its HVAC system installed, and just in time for some 90 degree weather. It’s been oppressively hot the last few days, and the new air conditioning system keeps our cottage a little oasis.

The warmer weather has turned my focus towards the tasks that prepare for the bounty of summer. Spring cleaning is in full force: so far I’ve organized and deep cleaned our garden shed, the fridge, the closet in the guest room, the master bathroom, the laundry room, and several cabinets in the kitchen.

The biggest task so far has been organization. Our storage is pretty limited, so I’ve had to get creative with the ways I organize the kitchen and laundry room to make room for the canned goods I hope to preserve this summer. It’s a goal of mine to have a robust, shelf stable pantry that I’ve put up myself.

My garden is set up to help me achieve this goal: I’ve got a handful of tomatoes, zucchini/summer squash, strawberries, and pepper plants happily soaking up water and sun. I’m hoping to add cucumbers and beans shortly. I know I’ll also be able to take advantage of the bounty of my parents’ fruit trees to make jams and sauces.

I have big plans for the garden eventually — but the most pressing thing right now is controlling the native ground cover plants that threaten to choke out my garden beds. You can see them in the photo above. While the wild look is endearing in its own way, I desperately need to borrow my dad’s weedwhacker.

I grew up processing tomatoes and apples with my mom in the kitchen with a water-bath canning method. I pressure-canned for the first time, and I’m absolutely obsessed. I make chicken stock from the carcasses of any rotisserie chicken we get for dinner, and I was tired of it going bad in our fridge before I could use it. So I faced my fear of the pressure canner, watched some YouTube videos to figure out how it works, and now I have two beautiful quarts of shelf-stable stock. It will be perfect when soup season rolls around again.

Also, inspired by my cousin and one of my favorite YouTubers, I’ve started to brew my own kombucha. I drink enough of it that it makes sense to start making it instead of buying it, plus it seems like a good place to start exploring fermenting. So far my scoby seems happy enough, but only time will tell.

Knitting and spinning, as I said, have been mostly on hold. However, the warmer weather and Michael taking longer naps (2 hours!!) gave me some inspiration to sew a few quick garments. I updated an old maxi dress I never wore to a midi skirt I love, made an airy blouse, and finally finished a skirt I’d had on hold for a while (no photo of that one yet).

Even though the past two weeks haven’t been what I’d planned or expected, I’m still grateful for the different ways spring has entered into our lives, brushing out the last of winter’s cobwebs. I hope however your spring is going, you get the chance to spend some time in the sunshine, or feel some dirt beneath your hands, or make something beautiful.