It's that strange time of the year when the seasons are mingling, and I'm just never really sure what to do. There are gourds and a pumpkin from the garden sitting next to impatiens on the porch. The nurseries are selling mums but the summer flowers are still mostly vibrant and clinging on to life. The chilly morning air requires a sweater which is then quickly stripped off only an hour or two later. Time is tugged back and forth between garden preservation and getting on with the new endeavors of autumn.
With two weeks of homeschooling tucked under the belt, we are getting ready to dive into the full swing of fall schedules. Music lessons, co-op classes, art class, community group, and the other activities that fill up our moments. And my yearning for some fiber work has been creeping back in over the last several weeks as the mornings and evenings have grown cooler and the days just a tad bit shorter. I am finding myself scrambling to finish up the few projects I left languishing over the summer so that I can break through into fall with a fresh project. Socks? A sweater? A poncho? All things that have flickered through my mind.
And a tizzy of preserving and canning has had me falling into bed exhausted every night lately. It's a good kind of exhaustion, stemming from long, productive days of work. And that freezer and can cellar is filling up with all manner of homegrown and homemade goodness. And if I shall be frank, this girl here is quite possibly looking forward to the fall and the change it brings. A bit of a break from the endless harvesting and a time to just draw in a bit more and concentrate on some cozier activities.
The garden basket has been full and overflowing the last few weeks. It's been wonderful, and when I have felt myself feeling slightly overwhelmed at the massive amount of veggies and work, I remind myself of the blessing it is to have an abundant garden.
The can cellar shelves are starting to fill up and the freezer is full of berries, and there are still more to be picked and preserved. Simple but busy work to keep the hands busy and the heart full.
We recently returned home after spending about a week in South Carolina with our friends. It was such a refreshing visit, and neither Brad nor I were quite ready to return home. They really are like family, so we always feel right at home when we stay with them.
But alas, here we are and we returned to some craziness indeed. There were various happenings that kept me very busy and a bit on edge, and Lily (who recently started treatment for Lyme's disease) had a bit of a relapse that required an ER visit Sunday night. I had to take Ian to the doctor yesterday to get his finger lanced after he got stung by something in the ocean while at SC and it got infected. It's just been crazy and strange, you guys!
Lily... oh I feel so horrible for her. She's been laying around in bed since Sunday morning, so sick with the Lyme's as well as from side effects of the antibiotics she has to take. It hurts me to see my kids sick, it really does. I'm doing my best, feeding her nutritious foods and loving on her bunches, but she is so nauseated that she basically has to be forced to eat. I called the doctor today and we're going to give it a couple more days before we discuss possibly switching the med. She's on amoxicillin which is actually much milder than some of the other meds used to treat Lyme's. I'm really praying that she begins to tolerate it better so we can stay on course. So for now I'm trying to push protein-rich foods and giving her a daily probiotic.
We came home to a flourishing garden! It always amazes me how much a garden can grow in a week's time. We've been enjoying the bounty of those beautiful plants. Grilled veggies. Blueberry pancakes. Cucumber salads. Bags of berries for the freezer.
I'm also fermenting two jars of cukes. Fermenting is my absolute favorite way to prepare pickles. I throw in a bunch of garlic and some red onions as well as some dill, and the end result is just amazing! Pickles prepared this way never last long in our home.
I've also dove into the world of kombucha brewing. Our SC friends' neighbor brews his own and had some SCOBY's that he gave me to start my own. As with most things, I just jumped right in. I spent quite a bit of our drive home online researching kombucha brewing. The SCOBY is so strange looking. It actually looks and feels like a piece of raw chicken. It's very alien-like!
Today, I'm immersed in laundry (like most days) and preparing for an upcoming yard sale that I'm having. And I'm on my second cup of coffee which hasn't happened in a LONG time. Just need a bit more of a boost today.
Have a good one!
We finished the living room to the point where we could get the furniture all put back in place. We still need to attend to a few details such as face plates, wall decor, and curtains, but I'm giving the paint another day or so to cure. I've learned that lesson the hard way in the past.
We were going to start the kitchen and dining area over the weekend, but we decided to take a much-needed family break and spend some time resting and playing. This week is going to be broken up a bit due to some traveling, so we're going to hit the kitchen hard next week and tackle everything at one time. I'm currently hem-hawing around regarding the paint color of our kitchen cabinets, so I want to at least have that finalized by the end of this week.
The plan for the kitchen is to paint the ceilings and the walls. I'm going to paint the cabinets either a shade of white or possibly a light gray. We bought butcherblock countertop and a white ceramic farmhouse sink (I'm sooooo happy about both of those purchases.) I'm having Brad remove one of the upper sections of cabinets from one side of the kitchen window so we can put open shelving there. And we will be installing a white subway tile back splash.
The weather was perfect over the weekend. We spent time outside. We picked and ate many blueberries straight from the bushes. We spent time weeding the raised beds. We visited with family who were in from Texas. We played with our animals, and the kids visited and played with their cousins and spent lots of time in the pool. We made sushi. I listed a bunch of homeschool material online. I spent some time knitting my shawl and spinning some merino. It was very unusually laid back for a summer weekend.
