Farming in the shade

I know this is a far-away picture. I paused from my running to snap a photo. Does that give you a hint as to what is wrong with this picture? This is a freshly planted rye field. Those little white blobs in the distance are sheep. The sheep are NOT supposed to be in the rye field. That was yesterday. Today the other sheep were also on the lam. All of this escapism started with a dream I had Monday night. It was a dream about chasing cattle that turned into a dream about cattle chasing me. It's no wonder I'm tired.

We Plough The Fields And Scatter We plough the fields and scatter The good seed on the land, But it is fed and watered By God's almighty hand: He sends the snow in winter, The warmth to swell the grain, The breezes and the sunshine, And soft, refreshing rain. All good gifts around us Are sent from heaven above; Then thank the Lord, O thank the Lord, For all his love. He only is the maker Of all things near and far; He paints the wayside flower, He lights the evening star; The winds and waves obey him, By him the birds are fed; Much more to us, his children, He gives our daily bread. All good gifts around us Are sent from heaven above; Then thank the Lord, O thank the Lord, For all his love. We thank thee then, O Father, For all things bright and good, The seed time and the harvest, Our life, our health, our food. Accept the gifts we offer For all thy love imparts, And what thou most desirest, Our humble, thankful hearts. All good gifts ar...

20 years ago we moved to this farm. We raised our kids, working alongside them and our parents. We saw sights like the above many, many times. We sweated, bled, and cried when things were hard. We jumped for joy when all that blood, sweat and tears produced a crop. I am thankful for this place.

Though the fig tree does not bud  and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails  and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen  and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord,  I will be joyful in God my Savior.  --Habakkuk 3:17-18 Gratitude is partly just watching for the gifts around us. It's a focusing on what is positive, rather than what is negative. Ann Voskamp started me on the gratitude journey, and she described it once as looking through the lens of a camera--framing just what you want to see. In the picture above, taken by our daughter, there is much that is missing from the picture. We see only feet, legs, corn and dirt. But it's a striking photo, partly because of what is left out. It matters what you focus on. I want to focus on the positive. Not because I'm wired that way, but because I'm not. And because when you focus on the negative, it's a spiral. Today, I am t...

"Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." --Phil. 4:4-7 Whether or not you are a Christian, focusing on the good and being thankful is a good idea. This week, will you join me in thinking of a few things each day for which you are grateful? Feel free to add them in the comments below, or not. I'd love to read them, but I understand if you'd rather not share. My list for today (and I plan to do this all week): 1) A walk in the woods with a friend. This picture is from a couple of weeks ago, and the memories make me smile. 2) Sundays. A change of pace, family time, and an opportunity for a nap. 3) Central heating. It's been a bit cold in...

I haven't woven in weeks, keeping busy with other things more pressing. Soon it will be too cold in my workshop to spend time out there. I keep telling myself that there are seasons to life... The following rugs will be among those available for purchase at the Kerstmarkt. It's unfortunate that the busiest time on Etsy is also the time we have all our items at and our energies focused on the market. What this means for the local buyer is that you will have opportunities to buy things at our booth that will never even be seen on Etsy. This one is made from various plaid flannel shirts. And this one from solid and plaid flannel sheets. This is an assortment of cotton dress shirts. And the final one is flannel also--both sheets and shirts. Weaving is my therapy, and I'll be glad to get back to it. Not sure when, but I know the looms will be waiting for me when I'm ready.

Some of the projects we've been involved with over the past few weeks have taken away from my blogging time and motivation. Our beans will be featured in the Grand Rapids Magazine's December edition. At least that's what we've been told. When we were interviewed, we realized that we really can't put off having a real website much longer. So we've been working on that, with the great help of our daughter and her co-worker. Whatever "works" about the website is because of them. Whatever is clunky is probably where you see my fingerprints. No, we're not unveiling it just yet. It still needs a little more spit-polish. For a couple of weeks there, this blog's future hung in the balance. Why not just incorporate the blog into the website itself? Have everything look uniform, streamlined, less cluttered... But I just couldn't leave it behind. So, while I may rearrange the furniture a bit sometime this winter, I'm sticking with the blo...

Maple Baked Beans 1 pound Jacob's Cattle or Jacob's Cattle Gold beans 1 large onion chopped 2 cloves garlic, minced 1 bay leaf 3 glugs of maple syrup (about 1/2 cup) 3/4-pound chunk of bacon 1/2 teaspoon salt 2 teaspoons dry mustard The night before, pick over beans, cover generously with cold water, and set aside. The next morning, drain water, and add fresh water to the beans. Bring beans to boil. Reduce heat and simmer until just tender--about 2 hours. Drain beans; put in slow cooker on high. Add onion, garlic, bay leaf and chopped bacon. Add maple syrup and enough cold water to cover beans. Stir beans from time to time and add a bit of hot water if necessary to keep the top layer just nicely submerged. Mid afternoon, stir in salt and dry mustard. Remove the lid for the last hour of cooking so the beans thicken.