I think if I asked most people where their meat comes from they’d say ‘the supermarket’. That’s fair enough and when people lead such busy lives with so many demands on them, sourcing food any other way can feel like a huge hurdle. But raising our own meat has driven home something that we already ‘knew’ but didn’t know, deep down. Our meat comes from a living animal. When we eat that meat we eat what has been a living…
How’s the weather where you are?
It was bliss. Plenty to eat, much of it from our own farm, time to play, time to rest. We’ve really been enjoying our family time, even managing to squeeze in some quiet hours for Mummy and Daddy while the children play. Tomorrow the snow is coming in and I have a special project in mind; another day of just being together with no special plans. What could be better. Merry Christmas and a peaceful holiday to you wherever…
We started the day with bacon sandwiches (our home grown bacon), watching the snow falling heavily outside. It has continued to fall through the day, the edges of the world becoming plump and round and the thick flakes snuggle on top of one another. The day is slipping by in pleasant normality, not an apocalypse in sight. This is our second December living here, but to me it feels like the first. On days like this I’m grateful for many…
The last few days we’ve been at home with a poorly little boy who needed lots of love and attention. We’ve been up and down these last three nights, sometimes hourly, tending to him as he fights off a bit of a virus. Though I can’t claim to enjoy waking up 10 times a night or having a poorly child, I have, in my heart, simply felt lucky to have the opportunity to hold him close. I’m seeing life through…
I have no words that can make sense of the madness that happened yesterday, no one does. I feel, like everyone does, shocked, horrified, saddened and angry. I feel like I was in some kind of accident and my nerve endings are still buzzing with the shock, my mind is a little numb, a little slow. I find myself having to step away from it a little, I am grateful that I can. When I think like that I feel…
I’ve been re-reading the excellent book Radical Homemakers by Shannon Hayes recently, I’ve read it before but that was prior to us moving here and doing some more of the activities she talks about in her book. Reading it with fresh eyes (and with the perspective of new experiences) gave the book a much sharper resonance for me and has brought up questions that I have no real answers to but still can’t shake off thinking about. One of the…
This week has been a funny one, it seems to have been a split of relaxing and being slow with rushing and being busy! Some of it is great busy like our lovely science club, some of it is necessary busy with dentist appointments, hair cuts and errands. Overall, though, I feel that we are generally winding down towards Christmas. There is less ‘work’ on our calendar and more events, a christmas craft day with friends, an outing to a…
On Thursday night I was out and about, picking up a gift that I’d found on kijiji (such a great resource for me this year!) when I decided to buy a bath mat. A simple enough thing to do one might think. And there was a shop called Bed, Bath and Beyond nearby so I stopped in. About 15 minutes later I left, with a bath mat, but in the throes of a panic attack. Now I’ve never been a…
For the past month, I’ve been trying my best to get everything ready for winter. I’m not exactly sure what that really means in the country, but I’m pretty sure something important needs to be done. Back in the suburbs it was taking down the mosquito screens, tidying up the garden a bit and getting the furnace checked. Out here, I’ve got a gargantuan pile of uncut wood stacked accusingly beside the house which despite my fervent expectation, hasn’t been…