summer’s here
Even with summer solstice half a month away, we definitely feel like summer is here. We’ve been under an excessive heat warning with temperatures up to 105 in our area, so we hunkered down inside with box fans, popsicles, and the blinds drawn against the sun. This season is always a bit of a struggle for me. It’s easy to feel trapped in the dark house because of the extreme heat: outdoor playtime is usually only possible between 7 am and 11 am, and the house gets too warm if we leave the blinds up to let light in. Cooking…
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maker’s chronicles
Well, Jake is fully in busy season: his work hours have been intense. He comes in from his office to spend dinner and bath time with Michael, and then heads back out til late at night. Pray for him as he slogs through — we’re hoping the craziness ends soon. It’s crazy for me in a different way: it’s part solo-parenting, part-bachelorette life. My parents have been exceedingly helpful with Michael when things get overwhelming. And most evenings and weekends, I find myself with alone time on my hands instead of a husband to hang out with while our toddler…
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june miscellany
June has felt like a jumbled trinket box. So many mismatched, beautiful things tumbling around, difficult to organize or describe. Instead of trying to sort through all of it, I’ll take you through the whole trinket box with me. It’s cherry season, and most of the orchards that surround us have already been harvested. There’s always some left over to glean, and the farmers don’t mind if we go through and take the fruit that was missed. I canned up six pints in light syrup so we can have cherry cobbler in the winter months. There’s nothing better than warm…
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living presently
This homestead update will be a little different than usual. First, I wanted to share an article that unsettled me and pierced me with conviction regarding my technology usage. From Feeding Moloch to Digital Minimalism by School of the Unconformed. I strongly encourage you to read it. The statistics she quotes are harrowing: enough to make me look at my toddler and realize he watches me stare into my phone much more than I would like. I think of the technological landscape he’ll have to navigate as he gets older, and I realized my modeling isn’t setting him up to…
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spring has sprung
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…
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my perfect dishcloth
How do you know you’ve truly reached adulthood? You get really excited about new kitchen dishcloths. More accurately, I’m really excited about THESE dishcloths: I finally came up with the perfect combination for my kitchen needs. Most people are already familiar with the “grandmother’s dishcloth”: knit on the bias with a little lace around the edges. I’d knit several of the basic dishcloth using this pattern I found on Ravelry (linked here for those interested), but it wasn’t my favorite. For one thing, it had a tendency to warp and not be square after a few washes, which drives me…
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handspun
If you follow me on Instagram, you already know: a few weeks ago, my amazing husband surprised me with a belated birthday/Valentine’s Day gift: A spinning wheel. We had talked about it before, and I’d told him my dream wheel as we discussed future purchases and goals in the upcoming months and years. So imagine my shock and delight when he came in from work with an Ashford Kiwi 3 in his arms. He even spent his evening assembling it for me while I watched YouTube videos on using a spinning wheel for the first time. I’m absolutely in love…
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my anti-minimalist home
The storms have rolled out and the sun has come back to us. It feels as though there is a whisper of spring on the air. Just a whisper: we still have a frost layered ground in the mornings and chilly evenings with a fast-sinking sun. But the whisper has sparked something in me, and I’ve been planning and preparing my garden, eyes fixed on spring. Does anyone else get a burst of pre-spring cleaning energy in January? I’ve been on a great purge and cleanse, going through each room of the house ruthlessly and bagging things for the thrift…
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storms and gardens
Storms continue to rage through Northern California for the second week straight. They are pretty intense, including a tornado warning for our county and some of its neighbors. Pray for safety for us and for our neighbors! We’ve had power outages on and off all week due to the gale and flood warnings. It’s been an exercise in flexibility for our family. We never know if we will wake up warm with the preprogrammed coffee pot brewing, or to a dark and chilly house with no running water. It’s been pretty stressful, especially with a rambunctious almost one-year-old. Both Jake…
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repair
We have power! It returned to us late Monday night (hallelujah) and is still running (praise God). The high wind and rains continue into next week, so we’re preparing for the worst and have our bathtubs filled, candles ready, and generators gassed just in case we lose power again. Now that we have power, I’ve been able to focus on other things: specifically, putting up the Christmas decorations and preparing for Michael’s first birthday party. I initially wanted to have it be a large party with friends from all over, but another nasty bout of illness has been jumping between…
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five acres four generations 