Wool, Mittens and an Advent-a-Long

(This was meant to be shared yesterday, the first of December ~ sigh.  I always seem to be behind these days!)

I might have shared before my love of knitting podcasts...you know, little snippets of the lives of other obsessive knitters and lovers of fibers?  There are so many really great ones that I find myself having to do a forced cut-back of my time on YouTube ;)  That said, there are three, well four now, that I never allow myself to miss.  My friend Sarah at Fiber Trek, because its all about fiber, knitting, spinning and (mostly) grey wool!  One day I hope to be able to sit down with Sarah in the wilds of Maine, or here at the midwest farm house, I think we could talk for days! The elegant and always inspirational Isabelle at Fluffy Fibers - oh my goodness, I just feel so happy after watching and listening to Isabelle!  And she has a very sweet and devoted house kitty who often makes an appearance on the podcast.  I've recently discovered FO and Dye with Dave and Elly, who are so much fun to watch - their podcast is usually short but sweet, they are adorable and I always finish watching them with a smile (one of these days I'm going to treat myself to some of Elly's lovely dyed yarns)  And Elly has beautiful hair ;)

But there is one podcast that is truly an Event, an epic event at that, and that is Dan and Kay of The Bakery Bears Podcast.  Funny, sweet, smart, down to earth, dreamers, visionary, generous, kind, talented...there just aren't enough words to describe this husband and wife team and their darling little girl!  I get the feeling that there aren't enough hours in the day for all that goes on in the creative minds of the Jones' ;)  Really - treat yourself and stop reading my blog right now and go check them out, LOL!  I'll be right here when you're done...

Anyway, the most recent brainstorm from Kay and Dan has been an "Advent Along" for knitters.  If you're a member of Ravelry, you can find the details here.  I decided to participate by knitting a pair of mittens using random bits of mostly hand spun wool.  I've placed my yarns in some of the little drawstring bags I have that my Mom made for me several years ago.  This makes the project extra special - its been five years now since we lost Mom, and I can think of her each day when I open one up to knit from.  I decided to make myself some stitch markers as well and you can see those below ~

I think the little bead looks like a Christmas ornament!  Anyway, I put all my yarns in a basket (you see them in the first picture above) and Bill is helping me by choosing which bag I'll use every morning.  So far, excitingly enough, the yarn has been first green with some bits of gold angelina and then red - can you imagine?!?  My main color is charcoal grey wool and mohair, so I'm alternating three rows of the "surprise" colored yarn minis with two rows of the main color charcoal.  Knitting top down (my favorite way, now, of making mittens) It really only takes about five minutes of knitting time - it's actually most difficult to put them away and not keep knitting!  I'm going to attempt to post just a little update each day and to cheerfully say hello, so be sure to check back.  And I really don't think its to late for you to join along for a few minutes of "stash-down" knitting between now and Christmas if you wanted to.  I'll probably share a few other knitting podcasts that I don't usually miss.

And finally, during this season of Advent ~

"The Lord GOD will wipe away
the tears from all faces;
The reproach of his people he will remove
from the whole earth; for the LORD has spoken" Isaiah 25

Note: I didn't post links with the podcasts because my laptop is being funny about it.  If you search for any of them by name on YouTube they should be easy to find.

Outlander ~Listening, Reading, Watching...Knitting

I should have learned by now not to say I'm going to do something by a certain time or date, because it just never seems to happen (like the knitting I wanted to share with you).  But finally, here I am...

Last year, as I mentioned, I discovered knitting podcasts.  There are so many good ones, I could never begin to list them all and there are new ones all the time I enjoy checking out.  There are three or four I follow faithfully, but the one that's at the top of my list is Sarah's FiberTrek video podcast.  Where to begin, its just soooo good!  There's Sarah, the host.  She loves wool.  She loves grey wool (maybe not exclusively but best).  She loves sheep and wool.  She lives in a ruggedly beautiful part of Maine and enjoys a wood fire.  And she's made it her mission in life to take others on this almost spiritual journey of wool and its traditions.  I certainly feel like she's become a friend.  She shares lots of things on her podcasts, but there was one thing she shared last fall that started me on a roller coaster ride of fiction and the renewed love of reading I spoke about in the earlier post.  That fiction was the series Outlander by Diana Gabaldon.

I loved it!  Fell down the rabbit hole and haven't come out yet ;)  It is not light reading.  It's long; detailed; historic; colorful; funny; loving and heart-wrenching.  A major character, especially in the first book, is the country of Scotland - if you didn't love Scotland previous to reading, you probably will after!  I've enjoyed these books so much.  Although the stories began twenty-five or so years ago, there was a new television series starting up in August (of last year).  This inspired a lot of knitters and yarn companies, so there were Outlander themed colorways for yarn and patterns and knit-a-longs.   Some really neat patterns have come about because of the television show and I've knit a few of those.  Even made mittens of my own design that were inspired by a costume in one of the episodes.  But I've had the most fun seeking out patterns that I already had or already wanted to knit that reminded me of passages from the books.  It's been something like a scavenger hunt!  So while I didn't "knit Outlander" exclusively for the past eight months, it has been a focus.  Those projects are the ones I want to show you now...and dedicate, with much gratitude, to Sarah ;)

Getting ready for some Outlander knitting - books, yarn, pattern, stitch markers, fire in the fireplace...

 
September Simmer Dim pattern by Gudrun Johnson

(You should be able to click on the highlighted title of the projects to see a Ravelry page link with more information about it)  This was the first thing my daughter and I worked on for knit-night with an Outlander theme here at the farm.  It was a nod to a chapter in The Fiery Cross (book five of the series) titled “Summer Dim” in which Jamie (our hero) says to his wife Claire (our heroine) “Ye’ll ken the summer in the Highlands, Sassenach - the summer dim?” She nods and remembers “that the summer dim was the light of the Highland night, late in summer.”  I'd had this pattern in my Ravelry queue and saw it on my friend Lori's blog when she took a trip to the Shetland Islands.  I loved everything about this little shawl and plan to make another, possibly with thicker yarn and bigger needles to get a larger garment.  This one was gifted to a friend. The color is actually deep reds, russets and auburns, maybe a bit of gold.

Gathering Thyme and Black Kirk Cowl pattern by Kalurah Hudson

This pattern was inspired by a cowl worn by Claire in the television series and it's knit on super big needles!  The pattern writer very kindly offered it for free and so I gave it a try.  Very fast, very simple - not flattering to this chubby farm wife at all though, LOL!  I've given both of mine away, but here they are, our October Outlander knitting projects ~

The first (left) was made with bulky, unspun roving but it was very loose and floppy, so I tried tucking it in like a scarf rather than around the neck like a cowl.  Made on the recommended size 50 needles.  For the second one (below), I went down to size 35 needles and held some black Corriedale yarn doubled.  This made for a much better cowl fabric but still made me look like I was wearing a tire around my neck, LOL!

Outlander Cowl by Andee Fagen was our November project and the start of it is pictured at the beginning of this blog post.  I began making it along with a few others while listening to another favorite podcast Disa's Craftwork but I didn't like how it was working with my chosen yarn.  It's a beautiful pattern though, so I hope to start over with it and a different yarn sometime in the future.

Now comes two projects that are still on the needles, in progress, though they were started in December.  First off, a Christmas Eve sock cast-on with the Bakery Bears and Little Bobbins podcasts, these are my Black Selkie Socks , pattern by Alison Janocha.  I'm totally in love with these, even though the pattern doesn't really show in my black yarn.  This is farm yarn, a blend of Corriedale and Alpaca that I had made with my friend Maple at North Star Alpacas.  It's really nice, all natural black and feels so good to knit with.  I considered making this as a mitten pattern, but was needing a new pair of hand knit socks.  I was making great progress, too,  and then must have gotten caught up watching the series because I totally messed up the heel!  Now I need to take that out (not easy with sticky black yarn) and reknit it.  But I will...

The books speak of "selkies" quite often and in reference to Jamie's father, Black Brian.  Its what made me think of these for Outlander knitting.

And then I saw these magnificent mittens!  From The Castle Fraser Throughout The Year The Woodcarving by Aurelie Colas - I knew these had to be an Outlander project!  Bought the pattern, chose my yarn....and could not get gauge, not even close ;(  The mittens would have been the size of oven mitts and its a very detailed pattern, so I didn't feel I could successfully change it to make mittens that would fit me.  I could, however, make a cowl!  So that's the plan for this, a cowl and probably a lined one.  It's in time out right now, though, because it takes a lot of concentration.  My photo doesn't show much, other than some of the colors I'm using for it.

Wedding Plaid Mittens by me

January found me still working on my socks, but also a new pair of mittens, something I made up myself.  I wanted to make a pair of plaid mittens and couldn't find a pattern I liked that didn't include either intarsia or duplicate stitch.  So I just used my basic mitten pattern with afterthought thumbs and added some blocks of color.  I intended to line these, but they're just a bit small.  They'll be gifted to my daughter who has smaller hands than I do.

I'm really happy with the way they turned out, even though I made a couple of mistakes in the colorwork (maybe you can spot where in the photo)  One mitten has garter rows on the cuff, the other a picot hem and I like the picot best.  These are meant to symbolize Jamie's wedding plaid from the first book, and the picot hem is the lace cuff of his borrowed shirt.  Now in the book, Jamie's plaid was "a brilliant crimson and black that blazed among the more sedate green and white".  In the television series they went with blues, browns and a touch of red (you can read more about the costuming and see some stunning photos at this wonderful blog.  Really, you should take a look!)  I made the first pair of mittens in "show colors", but the second pair that I just started are red, black and grey so those are my February project along.

But knitting for myself is something I've set aside for Lent, I'm only working on projects intended for someone else.  I'm working on a blanket for my grandson and gloves for my son-in-law (neither of them Outlander related).  A third pattern, though, is a pair of mittens inspired by A Breath of Snow and Ashes (book six)  

All queued up for April, when Lent is over, are two more shawls.  Outlander Hap - Mo Nighean Donn is another pattern by Gudrun Johnson, based on a traditional Shetland Hap.  I've knit a mini-hap for a gauge swatch, color test and I like it very much.  I'm using natural colored brown Corriedale, along with silver, moorit (auburn) and gold.  Fans of Outlander know that Jamie calls his wife, Claire, "Mo Nighean Donn - my brown haired lass" and tells her that her hair is “dark in the wavy spots with bits of silver on the surface…”  The gold yarn is for her "great, gold eyes"  I'm excited for this one, participating in a knit-a-long with Gudrun's Shetland Trader Hap kal on Ravelry .  I was also going to make this my Hap pattern for KnitBritish wonderful Hap KAL (be sure to check out her podcast, its another of my favorites) that starts in April, but now I'm thinking I'll make my second Simmer Dim for that instead.  I have some handspun I've set aside for that and I like the idea of beginning and ending my Outlander themed knits with the same pattern.  What do you guys think?

I hope you've enjoyed taking a look through my knitting!  These aren't the only things I've knit or crocheted this winter, but the main ones and like I said it's been a lot of fun seeking out patterns to relate to a favorite passage or memory from the books.  I hope if you're a knitter you might check out some of these great patterns on Ravelry or even join in one of the knit-a-longs.  And if you're at all interested in podcasts, the ones I've mentioned are truly joyful as well as many others.  If there are any you follow, please feel free to share!  Edited 3-5 to correct some spelling and grammar

New Crop Lambs!

Skirting fleeces has come to a stop ~ lambing has started!  Excitement and anticipation because three new rams were used last year.  "Hannah 223" (a granddaughter of old Hannah VerLee) started us out on Friday afternoon with a text book perfect lambing and gave us this set of beautiful twins, a ram and a ewe, sired by our moorit Corriedale/Bond ram "Killian".  I was taking pictures of our lambing barn set up to share and she obliged by going into labor, LOL! 

That post will have to wait for another day, but I was excited to share this one of the twins with you.  It's an "L" name year for us and in honor of my new knitting friend Leigh, let me introduce "Leigh" the lamb and her twin brother "Logan"!  She's quite photogenic isn't she? Stay tuned for more (we have a large black single ram and another set of twins, wildly colored ewes)  I think there are about ten more ewes to go, and I think you will also see one named for another new knitting friend "Lori"...check back to see ;)  Oh, and one named for "Lona"...the list goes on!

How To Go From A Sheep To A Sock...

A "How-To" post of sorts ;)

I love to make socks, I know I've shared that here before (though recently mittens have been my main focus).  To my way of thinking, there's no sock like a real wool sock and so it  starts for me with a sheep and a fleece.  In this case a lovely little black ewe named Isobel who has a very long staple length and a slightly more open crimp to her fleece than most of our Corriedales, long but very silky - just the kind I like for making hard wearing sock yarn!  She comes from the old Verlee line of Corriedale sheep in our flock and I love their wool.  Both Isobel and her sister (who's called "Sister", hehe) had such long fleeces that we sheared them at seven months old.

A head shot of Isobel above and another from this spring

So I have this lamb fleece, black - well, really more of a dark black cherry-cola color - that I'm planning to keep for myself and make my favorite blend for spinning sock yarn of 70% Corriedale wool and 30% alpaca.  I teach a class on spinning for sock yarn and I love showing and sharing how well this blend works for socks, but of course in the end its a matter of personal preference for both the spinner and the sock-wearer!  When I need alpaca fiber, I always go for the best and that comes from the farm of my friend and neighbor Maple at North Star Alpacas.  But this time, a call from a long-distance fiber friend changed the intent for Isobel's fleece!

My friend Susan emailed asking if I had a black or very dark fleece.  She knew it was a long shot because it wasn't shearing time, but it just so happened that we'd shorn those two ewe lambs and I had Isobel's fleece along with another kept back for myself from spring shearing (that was Hilda's fleece, but that's another fiber story - LOL!)  Susan had some alpaca from a farm local to her and she wanted to create a blend for spinning socks.  So even though these were fleeces I'd intended to keep, there's always more for me growing down in the barn and off the samples went to New England for sampling.

Fast forward a short time, a few emails and finally a phone call with a proposal - would I be interested in going together with my (Isobel's) wool and Susan's alpaca and sharing the resulting roving?  Sure I would!!!  So that is how our Friendship Roving came to be and a plan was hatched to do a long-distance spin-a-long and knit-a-long for a new pair of socks.  The alpaca came to Michigan and joined the Corriedale wool for a trip to Zeilingers Mill to be washed and processed.  (A note here ~ quite often when making socks I wash and comb the fleece myself, that really makes a nice fiber to spin.  But for larger quantities like we were doing here, I took advantage of the spring special at Z's and let them do it all!)

I meant for this to be just one long post about sheep to socks, but as usual I'm getting a bit long-winded and also I've been just to busy to sit by the computer for very long, so I'm going to break this up a bit for you...above you see two one-ounce balls of the roving ready for me to do a test-spin and sample for my socks.  I know it looks brown but that's just my camera, its really very dark ;)  In my next post, I'll share a bit more of my method/process for sock spinning.  I hope you'll come back for more!

Sisters of the Fleece

Fibery friends are some of the very best!

Over the years I've met some wonderful people through our sheep and wool, and many times they become treasured friends.  That is truly the case with my friend in New England who has been spinning and knitting with Serenity Farms Corriedale for over a year now.  Recently we joined forces to create a special roving from two of my Corriedale lamb fleeces and some of her local alpaca.  We're beginning a long-distance spin-a-long with a current goal of making socks.  How fun is that?

On Monday, a package arrived in my mail box and I was thrilled to open it and find this wonderful surprise - a little shoulder shawl spun and knit by my friend for me!!!  The yarn is made from Serenity Farms Elizabeth, a rich espresso brown ewe with very fine fleece.  And isn't the vintage pin perfect along with the shawlette?!? I absolutely adore receiving gifts made for me from my own wool, it's one of my favorite treats.

We've nicknamed our new roving "Sisters of the Fleece" and it is a true New England-Midwest creation.  While we can't actually visit in person as we sit and spin away, we are enjoying each others company in spirit... what a blessing!

Chocolate for Birthdays

Chocolate colored sheep that is!

This is "Godiva", one of our young ewes named for her rich chocolate color.  I'm sharing her picture in honor of my friend Joanne's birthday.  We  both had birthdays last week and she got to have Godiva Chocolate cheesecake for hers, so of course I had to mention Godiva the sheep to her...So here you go, my friend!

Godiva is not a Corriedale.  She is a registered CVM sheep from my friend Bonnie at Sheepy Thyme Farm.  She'll be two years old in March and should be expecting her first lamb - I can't wait!  She's bred to Derek, a grey, who always gives us interesting colors and fine fleeces on his lambs.  Godiva's father was moorit (red) and her mother was white so with all those colorful factors combined I'm hoping for something really special.  Actually, I'm hoping for a moorit type color!

So there you go, chocolate and sheep...a very fine thing for a birthday post I think.  Oh and speaking of lambs, we have one girl "making bag" (her udder is starting to fill with milk as her time for lambing gets close).  According to my notes, she should be due around the 5th of February.  It's our little "Bree" - one of the prettiest sheep on the farm.  Here's a picture of her and one of her lambs from a few years ago ~

She nearly always passes on that white stripe on the face of her lambs.

It's Always Something

First I wanted to say hello and Welcome to all of you who are new visitors to the farm (well, to the blog anyway!) who found us through Maple Valley Farms - it's great to have you here and I hope you can stay for a cup of coffee or tea and a visit with the sheep and the family ;) But I don't want to forget old friends and followers, too. Grab your mug out of the cupboard and let's catch up on farm news!  You're going to have to follow me around the kitchen and to the barn, though.  Life has been incredibly busy the past few weeks and shows no signs of slowing down.  In my dreams, I write incredibly lovely and poetic and informative blog posts about sheep and spinning and knitting and cooking here at Serenity Farms.  I share some of my daily visits with God and how He leads me through the day.  Yes, in my dreams....

Well, while its true I have my daily visits and He leads me - more often than not He is the parent and I am the toddler who continually veers off path, grabbing at every bright and shiny penny that comes along to distract me ;(  Sigh...does God ever tire of saying "No, no Cary, don't touch that - it's hot...It will burn you.... Don't run, you're going to fall down and hurt yourself...Come back over here and sit down for a minute"

Does that sound familiar to anyone else?  I'm sure it does.  And just when I think I have my days all planned out nice and neat, someone else's schedule changes and I'm at the mercy of it.  I think I have things settled in the house and something happens that alters the course of the day.  This morning I am feeling like that ship going up and down, and up and down, and up and down on the waves.

Dear God, I need that cup of coffee with You this morning...

Encouragement and endurance

The sunlight streaming across our yard as I prepared to leave for my friends farm

God says, in His Word (Hebrews 12:1-3 NLV) "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.  Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.  Consider Him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart"

I heard these words at church last week and it was like hearing them for the first time - they replayed in my head over and over again.  And one of the things that I kept thinking of is that sometimes we need encouragement and confirmation from others when we are trying to "run the race".  It has particularly been on my heart recently for other farm wives, mothers, grandmothers, daughters who sometimes face discouragement and opposition - especially those of us with small farms or farmsteads.  I've been praying about it a lot!

Yesterday, I was able to spend some wonderful fellowship time with just such a farm woman.  And even though we are fairly new friends, it seems like we have known each other forever in the things that we believe and love and care about.  I came away so refreshed and encouraged, I will treasure this memory for many days to come and hope we will have many more!

Thank you, my friend, for the joy of good food; gracious and energetic children; special farm animals and just the gift of our time spent together!  Yes, definitely you have to come this way next time ;)  Oh and tell the girls that next time I am your way, I am bringing my pitchfork (lol...I have my own personal pitchfork, a long ago engagement present from my dear husband!)

A recently finished shawl, handspun from our Corriedale wool, warm as a friends hug!

Gradual Change

Gradually we change, just like the autumn leaves

Thank you, everyone, who sent us your kindness and prayers either via the internet, phone or in person as we let go of one piece of our lives.  We can never, ever tell you how much it meant to us!  The sale is behind us now (and let me tell you, that was a very surreal experience - at least it was for me) and while we wait on paper work and transfers, etc. we gradually adjust and move on.  Move forward, I hope!

The sheep, their pasture, third cutting hay and beyond that a beautiful red maple tree and blue October sky!

As we sat on the back porch, looking out at this lovely view that we still enjoy, I said to my husband "Why don't we just imagine that we are a newly married, newly retired, newly somthing couple just coming to this farm and the acreaage we have left and make plans for it according to how we are farming now?  What would suit our program best?"  Its rather an exciting thought! 

When he moved here fresh from college many years ago, starting his career and raising horses and a family, he needed it to be one way.  Nearly twenty years ago when he married me, retired from his business and began farming and driving horses full time, he needed it to be another way.  Then when he became disabled, we sold all of the horses, I started staying home full time and we began raising sheep full time - well, now we need things to be changed again!  We have been functioning basically as a horse farm that had sheep on it (before the horses, this barn had been a dairy...then a sheep....then a horse barn again! Some things go full circle, don't they?)  Now we need to consolidate, rejuvinate and relocate things to make it more practical and more functional for what we are doing today.   Smaller, but (hopefully) more efficient ;)

Sheep following me to pasture

Won't you follow along and see how we do?  We'd love for you to join us!

Last Weeks Work

It was busy, it was frantic, it was fun and it was productive!  I can't say enough about our wonderful family and friends who joined in to help Bill and me with some fall farm projects...we really, really are blessed beyond measure.  We got to visit, we got to eat and we got to work and see some pretty great results (I get excited about a clean barn.  Wish I could say the same about a clean house!)

So, I'll just share some random photos from those lovely days.  They probably won't mean much to anyone but me, but it is another look at what happens around the small farm - at least around our farm ;)





A lot of thought went into making these old box stall areas more functional for sheep.  I couldn't be happier with the changes and I think it will be a lot easier to work with



The ducks were quite unsettled by all the activity and kept watch from a safe distance

Small trains, small tractors and small boys were everywhere!  Our fourth (and future) generation of farmers ;)



Emptied compost piles....

New manure piles (with grandsons shown for scale)....

All add up to a fresh clean barn for winter!

Of course all good work begins with planning and strategies, right?  And we had plenty of that going on...

Actually, I think this may have been football talk ;)

The "compost committee" (hmmm, might have been football talk as well! Go Steelers!)

My Dad and my Husband, working on making my barn work a lot easier!

Our thanks and love to everyone who helped out again....Dad, Michael, Devin, Mark, Nakia, Mason, Elliot, Eric, Wayne, Bryce, Austin, Laurie, Dakota and Jim.  Alex is usually here to be part of the "fun" but he is busy with college life now.  Also thanks to Randy for the use once more of the skid steer and Mary for the great barbecue meatballs that added to our lunch!  We just couldn't do it without you guys!!!

Sunday afternoon found us finishing up the weekend in a special way that served as another reminder of all we have to be thankful for.  Daughter Patty had asked Bill to be part of her 4-H group meeting, being held outdoors at the Burnham Farm near the Round House.  They will be doing a special project this year about "barns" and Bill was going to talk about the history of those two special buildings...

Grandson Dylan and several neighborhood children are part of this 4-H group!

The great orator sharing history and memories

It was beautiful and somewhat poignant to sit in the shadow of a great oak tree, the silhouette of the Round House and the shelter of the giant but tired old Burnham barn.  Our own farm days are changing and there is that sense of time rushing by, probably much faster than we want it to.  But at the same time as that change there are moments like these and many others we were able to share over the weekend that remind of how much in life is unchangeable - at least in our hearts and memories.

Barn Raising? Barn Cleaning! And Breakfast...

Most mornings for the past week, breakfast has been a succulent and delicious Brandywine tomato from the garden.  Sometimes I might slop up the juices with a hearty chunk of homemade bread, toasted.  Two nights of frost here in mid-Michigan have pretty much brought this to an end and Wednesday afternoon Elliot and I picked all of the tomatoes from the garden.  Yesterday morning I was up at 4 am, canning!

This weekend will be a wonderful, busy and tiring time of barn work!  Bill and I will have a houseful of grandkids, children, nephews, friends and even my Dad to help us get the barn ready for winter.  I will be running back and forth between the barn and the kitchen ;)

I will be back here (hopefully) on Monday to share some of the work and good times.  We hope you have a great weekend, too!

Taking A Day Trip

To nearby Maple Valley Farms for a Farmgirl Frolic! 

Cottage window charm at Maple Valley Farms Cottage

With the hay finished here on this side of the farm, the farmer who partners with us made the wise decision to wait on cutting the other farm because it rained for two days.  I hesitated when Angie made the invitation, but my dear husband thought I should go ~ and I'm so glad that I did!  A small group of us made our way to a flea market and then shared good food and fellowship at The Cottage.  It was so good to see Homemaker Ang after the long winter (if you have never visited before, be sure to check out her amazing family farm blog at the link above!)

These were my flea market finds/purchases - a set of wooden platters with the flower detail you see above (a set of four for $2 and the vendor threw in a second set for no extra charge - I didn't even have to ask, LOL!) plus a lovely new Martha Washington geranium and several scented geraniums as well.

A very good day.  Thank you Angie ;)

The Gate, the Door, the Year

~ THE GATE OF THE YEAR ~
by Minnie Louise Harkins

I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year
'Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.'

And he replied,
'Go into the darkness and put your hand into the hand of God
That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way!'

So I went forth and finding the Hand of God
Trod gladly into the night
He led me towards the hills
And the breaking of day in the lone east.


So heart be still!
What need our human life to know
If God hath comprehension?

In all the dizzy strife of things
Both high and low,
God hideth his intention."


With reflections of the year past and faith for the year forward....welcome 2011!

Lamplight

Brrrr...it really is cold outside today! Almost like the "brain-freeze" you get when eating ice cream, the wind hits you in the face when you step out the door no matter how bundled in layers of wool and carhartt's and boots you might be.



I am thankful that we didn't lose power in this storm. I suppose we still could, the wind is gusting. I have water drawn in the house and hot coffee in the thermos and laundry and dishes are all done up. The other thing I have is plenty of oil in the oil lamps and extra candles on hand if we should need them. A few weeks ago we lost power unexpectedly right before dark fell. Luckily I had finished chores and supper, so Bill and I settled in for a time of him reading and me knitting. Reading only requires light from the oil lamp and spinning and knitting don't really require light at all. It was peaceful and refreshing and quiet.

Since then, I have been reminded of how much less we really need to exist than what we have (and those of you who know us, know we live pretty simply!) I have even been enjoying some evenings with oil lamp light just because of the mood it puts me in. I have spent several lovely evenings reading or spinning or knitting or even doing some housework by this light. I was dusting the mantel a few nights ago and the soft light on these old books (some of our favorites) seemed beautiful to me:


(Okay, my family and friends who know me can stop laughing now and pick yourselves up off the floor at the thought of me doing any kind of housework, let alone dusting!)

When the electric bill comes in the mail or the propane truck delivers fuel for the furnace and hot water heater and leaves a bill that takes nearly one-quarter of our current monthly income, I get even more serious about wondering how much more we can live without!!! Now of course, we need heat and water...but what do we need beyond the basics we already have?

I am grateful for all that we have...all of the needs that God supplies. But I have been spending considerable time in thought and prayer about how we could live more frugally and self-sufficiently. Even in our already simple life here at Serenity Farms, we are wasteful. And that could change. It will change, in both big and small ways, over the coming year. Maybe you would like to follow along here at our blog to watch our changes, struggles and joys?

I have been inspired by a new friend and her family for most of this past year. If you have never visited the Maple Valley Farm blog, you really should! You don't have to aspire to be a farmer, or to live more simply, or go off grid as this family has to enjoy their love of God, family and farm. In our time, Bill and I have come across lots of folks striving to change their lives in a similar way. Sadly, sometimes it is as much a marketing plan as it is a life plan. Matt and Angie are not that way at all. They are honest, hard-working, humble, gracious and real in what they are doing! Most likely their successes are due to their love and faith in God and belief in their family. I am so blessed to have been able to spend some time with them and if you are ever able to, please do so. You won't be disappointed I'm sure! Stop by their blog or facebook and say hello. Angie had a funny post about losing power that actually inspired me to write this post.

Jesus said "I am the Light of the world"...John 8:12

Now we aren't planning to go as far off grid as the Maple Valley Farm family has, lol! But I really would like a working windmill (the old fashioned ones, not those airplane propeller looking modern ones!) to supply water. That part is probably a dream, but it does seem like this old farm could supply a lot of wood for a wood burning fireplace, and maybe even make use of the wood cook stove at the Round House? What about utilizing the gravity fed cistern and connected water lines at the barn? Hmmm...lots of ideas! Do you and your family have any ways you are changing or hoping to change to be more self-sufficient? I'd love to hear them!

Prettiest Place...

This post is for any of my new friends from the farm tour who might be checking in to the blog. I talked about the Round House and the sheep and and my husband and his horses....some of these photos have appeared before here at the blog, but I thought it would be nice if you were able to just look real easily on your first visit ;)





The first photo is the Round House with just a glimpse of the big Burnham barn in the background. In the next picture you see my husband, taken a few years ago, driving out of the woods and into the lane with a team of Percheron draft horse mares (and notice the wagon loaded with fence building supplies near by!) You see what I see when I step out the back door at our house in the spring time...ewes and lambs on green grass! And then another photo of the Round House and Burnham barn in winter.

What do you think? Aren't these places beautiful to look at? They are a certainly a blessing and a joy for us to live...We hope you can all visit us in person one day soon! I hope to post some photos from our trip to West Michigan here in the next day or two. I had a wonderful time and enjoyed meeting each and everyone along the way...now we all need to get some sleep ;)