Lately

So I’ve been sort of quiet here and over on social media lately. I think mostly I’ve been busy with projects, plans, and the weather was nicer that I just didn’t have the desire to stop and blog or post over on social media. But I’ve been taking lots of pictures with the intention of posting! So here I am today editing pics, uploading to the blog, and writing lots of blog posts (don’t worry, I’ll schedule them so you don’t get them all at once!).

So basically I’ve been planting seeds, hanging with the chickens, made a trip to Brooklyn, and have decided to start making and selling knitted hats. I have a separate blog post on seeds and the trip to Brooklyn so I won’t cover that here.

As you probably know I’ve been trying to figure out what to do with myself. I applied for a job at the school and interviewed for it but because I’m not certified they hired someone else. That took up a lot of my time-trying to figure out how to get my certification and if I needed it asap or if I could wait. Since they hired someone else, I’ve decided to not pursue my certification right now. I’ve got some time now to really investigate the best way to do that and I think I’ve figured that out. But I won’t start that until the fall if I do decide to go that route. It’s hard to justify the expense when there are no job prospects.

So instead of being a school librarian, what am I going to do with myself? I have no idea. I do have this ideal of being a homesteader and learning all things homestead and then teaching others how to do that. But that will take some time. I have some possibilities on doing some classes this summer here at the fishing lodge. I might do that. But in the meantime I thought I could knit up a few hats and try to sell them. I have 3 hats sold right now so I invested that money into some more yarn that I can dedicate solely to these hats rather than using the yarn that I have dedicated to other projects. I really like Quince & Co yarn for these type projects. Their yarn is all wool, grown, processed, and dyed in the USA. And they have some really fun colors! So it’s a win-win. I get to use yummy yarn to knit some hats that hopefully people will want to buy. And the yarn is Bobby Jack approved!

My instafriend Mandy sent me some yummy essential oil called Joy. I have been wearing it daily. It smells so good and really makes me feel good. I don’t really know a lot about essential oils and I know they are really big with a lot of people doing the natural/alternative thing right now. I don’t have a lot of extra money to invest in essential oils but I think I need to figure out how to get my hands on more of this Joy. It’s a really good reminder to just be happy. No matter what. I need that reminder. A lot.

A few years ago I stumbled upon a ‘reality TV’ show called Dangerous Grounds. It was about this guy, Todd Carmichael, who travels around the world sourcing the best coffee from some of the most dangerous places on Earth. I’m sure some of it is dramatized, but I really liked it. Unfortunately it only lasted 2 seasons. I bought both seasons on Amazon. This past winter I binged watched both seasons. Now I’m obsessed with drinking good coffee. Anyway, Todd has a company called La Colombe. His company started making these cold pressed, ready-to-drink coffees in a can. I knew they were out there but I hadn’t ever seen one. Until last week. I stumbled upon these coffees at the grocery store and they were on sale. So I had to try one (or 2)! They are reminiscent of the Starbuck’s coffee you find in the refrigerated section of stores except these are not nearly as sweet. I liked it. I got my coffee fix without all the added stuff. And since then I have seen the La Colombe coffee everywhere. When I was in Brooklyn over the weekend, the coffee/ice cream place we stopped at used La Colombe coffee! Awesome!

I was able to spend some time with the girls outside over the past week or so. The weather was just gorgeous for about 2 days. Today it’s snowing and cold but last week was really nice. Almost too nice! But I’ll take it over this crazy snow in mid-April. Gertie helped me plant seeds (actually I had treats with me and she was the only one that figured it out!). She’s so smart!

I have a couple of homesteading books I’ll be reviewing soon. Stay tuned for that. We’ll get completely caught up on the topics listed above and then I’ll work on book reviews. I don’t know how active I’ll be over on social media now that I have a focus and some plans for the next couple of months. It takes a lot of time to update social media (not that blogging isn’t time consuming…I’ve been working on the pictures alone most of the morning) but I like the blog platform. I get to share everything in one post where on social media people really don’t like it when you share a ton of photos at once or even during one day! Oh well. We’ll figure it out.

I’m working on branding the homestead (actually my graphic design friend is working on that!). We’re working on canning labels, business cards, egg carton labels, blog redesign, and much more. I can’t wait until it’s all done and we can do a BIG reveal!!

I think that’s it friends! I can’t remember what else I’ve been up to! Oh! In case you don’t follow me over on social media, that cute rooster pic is from my middle nephew. Isn’t it the cutest and sweetest?? And that beautiful card? It’s from my friend Cindy over on instagram (her husband took the photo that is featured on the front of the card).

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