The Party's Over

My house is a disaster area.

The burnables bin and compost bowl are overflowing. The recyclables bin is full, even though I took the recyclables just two days ago. There are bits of paper and packaging all over the living room. I continue to find half empty soda cans, water bottles, smudges of blue icing, and dirty napkins, around the house, on the porch, out by the grill. And my children are still high on a total sugar overdose.

I honestly couldn’t be happier.

We just had a gathering to celebrate the end of summer and for my oldest son’s 8^th birthday. While we missed some friends and family who couldn’t make it for various reasons, it was delightful to spend time with those who were able to come. I’ve even reached out to a few who couldn’t make it to make plans for another get together sometime soon. There were food and drink and laughter in abundance. I felt truly connected with people I love for the first time in a long time.

When I first uninstalled Facebook and social media apps from my phone, I feared that I would be disconnected, that I would miss out on important milestones from my friends, family, and former colleagues. I felt a tug to check my phone regularly despite not having the apps to click.

Since uninstalling them, I’ve come to realize something critical to my well-being. When I had constant access and “connection” I felt less connected with people and a near constant level of stress. There was a nagging portion of my brain worrying about what people might be saying or debating, arguments that might be occurring, important business that I might miss. This took me away from my children, away from my husband and parents, and away from the homestead, in ways I failed to recognize.

On Saturday during our party, I was able to enjoy myself and enjoy our guests fully for the first time since we started throwing these shindigs about seven years ago. I wasn’t worried about taking photos and videos to post online. I wasn’t distracted pondering strange comments or interactions with people I knew decades ago. I wasn’t overwhelmed by the happy stress of hosting due to the underlying toxic stress from social media. The house may be a mess, the party over, but I am deeply content and certain that I’m getting a fresh start on a brave new take on life.

Groceries for the big day. I'm finding it easier at WM
to use the self check-out with my reusable grocery bags.

A friend commissioned a tres leches cake from
the Guatemalan pasteleria down in N. Phila.

Sometimes when you're turning 8, you just have
to have a piñata shaped like a game controller.

Nothing says happy birthday like beating on a
shaped paper something until candy falls out.
Yay for piñatas!!!

Special thanks: 

• to all our friends and family who made this gathering so amazing!
• to our Canton and Tracylandia family for making the trip down/over/up!
• to my pal A.N. for singing the piñata song, because I STILL don't know it!
• to my big brother, my husband, and T.E. for photos and videos - I was having too much fun to take pictures!
• a nuestro amigo A.H. por haber traido el pastel tan hermoso y delicioso!!!

A Day in June

SO on with the show. I had hoped to post this on June 14, but a once a week habit will have to do for now. Life being what life is – complicated!

In June I took some photos during a typically busy day here on Shepherd’s Flock Farm. We were in the midst of harvesting Music garlic, playing (I have two sons), and making hay. My oldest son noticed ripe wild Black Raspberries on the bushes, so I had to transition to harvesting the berries despite having laid other plans. We call that “Farm Time” around here. Sometimes a happy occurrence like ripe berries shifts your focus for a time. Sometimes a storm knocks a tree down across the road or a neighbor’s driveway, and that has to be dealt with before moving on to other projects. To live in close communion with nature means you will be kept on your toes with regularity.

Garden (west) - the rain has made for
healthy weeds in the garden this year

Garden (east) - regular weeding of beds
to rescue overwhelmed desireable plants helps

Garlic Harvest - I use a spadefork to loosen the
Music Garlic and then gently pull up each bulb for drying

Garlic Harvest - I borrowed Mom's cart to
haul garlic up for bundling/hanging out to dry

My boys have a garden bed dedicated to play

Occasionally they find tiny friends in the garden.
We examine them and then let them go.

Making hay - the activity for the afternoon

Making hay - Papi used a square baler to make hay on our
south field. Some of our friends and neighbors came over
to help out.

Some long, hot, sunny days have sweet endings.
While everyone else went to the barn to unload the hay bales,
I stayed and harvested wild Black Raspberries from
the perimeter of the field. Delicious!!!

Excuses, excuses...

I realize that I really have NO excuse for neglecting this blog so terribly, but I will posit that it is hard to chase around your nearly two-year-old while in Peru AND post to the blog.   In lieu of a better explanation, I will try to placate you with a few picture of our trip to Camana, Peru.   We were away for five weeks, and Nana and Papi held down the fort at Shepherd's Flock Farm while we were away.  

Thanks for your patience, and we'll try to get this blog back up and running soon here!!!   Sorry!

Kate and Khalil in the desert north of Camana

A papaya tree in the huerta (garden) of Don Francisco

Vegetable stands in the open air mercado in Camana

Potatoes, onions, ajis, sweet peppers, tomatoes, lemons, and 

green beans in our favorite veggie stand

All righty, more soon in the form of photos and an update on Shepherd's Flock Farm.   We were at the Carrollton Farmer's Market this past Saturday, so I'll post pics and share a bit about our experience thus far this season.   Thanks for your patience!!!   Gracias!

Thanks be to God

It’s Thanksgiving Day again here at Shepherd’s Flock Farm, and I have to admit, I’ve got so very much to be thankful for this year.   I’ve been reading a lot of great online material from the Polyface Henhouse gals to some of the urban homesteading greats over at Root Simple, and I’m drinking in every word.   To be sure Shepherd’s Flock is squarely somewhere in the middle of these two self-reliance worlds, so I also enjoy Mother Earth News, a publication that has a bit of something for everyone.   As I sit here smelling succulently roasting turkey and freshly baked double chocolate layer cake, I can no longer resist the urge to sit down and dabble at writing something of my very own to share this wonderful place with the folks out in the blogosphere.   

When my folks purchased this piece of land some fifteen or so years ago, I have to admit I think we all thought that it would be a vibrant business just a few years into the experience.   For a time they had things really cooking, with pastured poultry and a large hand-tended vegetable garden.   Between the local farmers’ market and a co-op up in Canton, it seemed like the business was well on its way to being a complete success.   I was off on my own adventures in Delaware and then Massachusetts (with some time in Perú for spice), and the folks seemed to be happily living out their dream.   Despite appearances, smooth sailing was not to be had, with my Grams suffering through a battle with cancer and moving in to assisted living, weekly trips to the farmers’ market were quickly replaced with many, many trips (and tanks of gas) to visit with her or to talk with doctors at the hospital.   Grams is a fighter, and my Aunt Jobie was in many ways the hero of that tale, keeping finances and documentation in order and visiting Grams daily.   All the same being away from the farm still took its toll on my folks’ ability to keep things rolling here.

Grams is doing pretty darn well now and living in a facility closer to Aunt Jobie’s home, so on that front things have quieted down a bit.   My husband Jhan and I have decided to move to this area and raise our son Khalil in this rural, simple home, so together with my folks we’re embarking on a wondrous, strange, and new adventure in homesteading.   In many ways, this is why I think it so important now to reach out and connect with other folks who have a similar love and appreciation for living off the land while not entirely rejecting modern amenities.  

I find myself thankful that my folks, now in their sixties, are no longer alone on this land, that they can share in the simple joy of my son’s discovery of the world or laugh when he throws tantrums, that we can work as a family to open new spaces for growing veggies and tending flocks of broilers and laying hens and maybe even some goats, pigs, or cows, eventually.   I am thankful that we can sit down to an awesome, delicious meal together on an unseasonably warm November day and that we can drive just an hour away later this evening to share dessert with my brother, his wife and kids, and our extended family.   I am thankful that the greenhouse-hothouse is nearly finished save the plastic skin that will zip it up tight for the first flurries of winter and that the garlic is planted and the main garden is put to bed.   I am thankful that the Lord has blessed us all and brought us together, and right now I am thankful for this opportunity to share it with you, whoever you are out in the world reading this.   Hope you’ll stop back soon to check in on our progress, and I hope you’ll share your thoughts, triumphs, failures, and joys with us.   As we launch into yet another holiday season, may the Lord’s peace be with you and His grace bless and guide each of your footsteps.