Well good morning friends! This week has certainly flown by in a big blur. I don’t even know where the time goes sometimes. It was also a week of contemplation, wasn’t it. There’s so much going on in the world that it’s easy to bury our heads and just ignore it. But I don’t think it can be ignored this time. There are people hurting. People are being killed. Discriminated against. People are fighting. People are dying. All for various reasons: pandemic, riots, protests, discrimination, racial profiling. And, I know for me, I sometimes sit in my comfy house, with my comfy life, and don’t think about it. But I will. I am. The hardest part, for me? Not knowing ‘what is right’, ‘what to do’. It seems that on the one part, everyone is screaming to do ‘this thing’ and then the other half is screaming to do the opposite. It gets so confusing. But my takeaway from all of this? Be the best person you can be. Every single day. Love one another. Help one another. Don’t just sit idly by when someone is saying or doing mean things. Be the person who stands up for one another. I’ve always been that person. Believe me, sometimes I jump in and say things when it is very uncomfortable and causes hurt feelings. But I don’t like people being treated unkindly. Or unfairly. I don’t know if I can make a global impact, but I can certainly try to make a local impact within my own little world. I have always tried to do that and I will continue to try to do that. I hope you will do the same. But ultimately, let’s just all be kind to one another, m’okay? I know I’m preaching to the choir here, but I just feel it needs to be said.
In other news, I’m not sure much has changed from my last homesteading update. I’m still working on the garden. Hopefully today we will get the last garden bed built and then I can take my time over the next few days to get it prepped and then planted. I am going to do one whole bed of tomatoes. We usually can 100 pounds of tomatoes each year that we get from TN. But I’m not sure that is going to work out this year so I’m trying to ensure that we get somewhere near that amount from our garden. My dear friend gave me a lot of tomatoes that she had started, plus I purchased some. Right now I have 2 beds with tomatoes but they are interplanted with peppers. The peppers were planted from seed and I haven’t seen anything poking up from the garden bed yet. But I’m hopeful they will! I still have some pots that need to be planted too. I have an herb garden growing on the back porch and I should have marked everything because I can’t remember what I planted in which pot. But I know I planted: marjoram, basil, sage, thyme, rosemary, cilantro, salad mix, tarragon, and chives. I’m not sure of what else I planted. It will be a surprise soon enough!
I also have some flowers on the front porch. It doesn’t get very much sun. There are some very big maples in the front yard that keep that part of the house shaded most of the day. I’ve also cleaned out some of the front flower bed. It’s looking way better. I dug up some ferns and replanted them in one part of the flower bed. There are also some bulbs (I can’t remember what) and some hostas. But I also like to put some flowers in pots on the front porch. I have some mums (from last year. Hopefully they’ll come back this year), dahlias, and geraniums. We spend a lot of time on the front porch now. It’s so cozy and really it’s kind of hidden (I guess it won’t be now that I’m telling everyone where we hang out! LOL). I’ll take some more pictures of it now that I’ve rearranged it even more (and since the last time I posted pics of it).
We’ve had a lot of cat naps lately! HEEH! See what I did there? There are lots of pictures of Corny napping. It must be exhausting running around all day doing nothing. The cats are enjoying being able to hang in the back window/door. Our back door is a sliding glass door with a screen. I keep the screen door open if the weather is nice. If it’s hot outside (which is was last week) I keep all the windows closed and curtains closed as well. Anyway, the boys (Bobby and Corny) love sitting in the back door watching the birds and chipmunks, and the chickens too, I’m sure. But you can see how exhausting it is from the pics above.
I’m starting my new make along next week. I’ll get all those details firmed up today hopefully. I spent yesterday in bed all day. I was so dizzy when I got up yesterday morning. I think I was very, very tired and dehydrated. So I spent the day resting and drinking lots of water. But I lost a day of ‘doing’. Which was okay. I needed the day to rest up and rehydrate. Of course I woke up at 4:30 this morning ready to go! I have some housework to take care of. I went to my Mother in Law’s again this week and got another load of stuff. Most of it is ready for the trash, but I did get my rain barrels. The Mister will set up some sort of system in the garden for collecting rainwater. I did get to see hayfields being mowed. I even took the extra time to take pictures. I so wanted to be out there helping!! But I think they had it covered. LOL.
Speaking of projects, let’s go through my (mental) to-do list. We still need to build that other garden bed mentioned above. Then I’ll prep it and plant it. I did get the garden space cleaned up though. And a table and chairs hidden in the back of the garden so I can just sit and enjoy the garden. I’ll do a tour of the garden very soon, I promise. I want to start doing some more videos and that’s a good place to start! Anyway, the to-do list. We still need to hang the feeders and waterers in the chicken coop. I think we might be doing that today. I need to organize some stuff for the garden. I’ve slowly been moving all the gardening stuff from the house to the garden area/pool house. I’m going to finish that up today and then this weekend while I’m working in the garden, I can get everything nice and organized. Oh. I put out a call on Facebook for anyone local who has some extra stuff lying around that I could use for my make alongs, and one of my friends said to stop by and go through the stuff she was getting rid of. One of those things? A bakers rack! I’m not sure what I’m going to do with it yet but I have it up at the garden! I’m hoping to figure out a way to use it as a plant holder. She also gave me some ideas for a greenhouse. Maybe that will be added to the list for this fall!
Anna and I have spent a lot of time in the woods lately. I’m still looking for morel mushrooms, but so far I’ve found almost every variety of mushrooms except the morels! But we’ll continue to walk and look. It’s nice being out there especially in the mornings when you can hear the birds. Anna wears a cowbell on her collar to help alert any big critters (think mama bears) that we are around. She hates it but she’s always been a sensitve girl (just like her mama bear! HEEH).
Okay. I think that’s enough for now. I think my next update will be on the house and how our redecorating/minor renos are going. I need to go clean up now so I can take pictures for y’all! I hope you all are doing okay! I haven’t heard from a lot of you in a long time. I presume everyone is facing their own struggles with what’s going on in the world. But I’m here. And I’ll continue to be here. I do hope you’ll drop by soon enough.
’til then
-k
xoxo
Daenel T
I think your approach is the best approach. You take steps in your community to make things better. History talks about the loud people, the protesters, and the marchers, but it doesn’t talk about the people who affected change one step at a time.
I love your photography and wish we could drink coffee and go on a photo walk together.
Sending love your way.
chickenlibrarian
Thanks Dani. It’s so hard to know what to do in this situation, or any situation where people are hurting. I’m guessing hugs probably aren’t the solution but boy, I’d like to give everyone a hug. Everyone is hurting, there’s no denying that.
Thank you for your kind words about my pictures. I love your photography! Always have! I would love to have coffee and then go on a photo journey with you too. One day we might just make that happen. Until then, hugs and love from me, always.
xoxo
Deborah
I resonate with you so much about knowing exactly what to do. So many voices and so many opinions of what is “right.”
Being the best person you can be sums it up so well. I agree.
I’ve been asking myself this question recently “How have I added beauty to the world today?” I started a journal list of little ways to remind me of all the mundane acts that matter a great deal after all.
Your flowers and hostas and ferns sound so lovely! I have hostas around a tree in our small backyard area. I always add a few flowerpots on my porch and patio. I love the cheeriness they add…….though it’s a struggle {for me, anyhow} to keep up with watering against the Kansas heat and wind. 🙂
chickenlibrarian
Thanks Deborah. It’s a very trying time right now, on so many levels and the world seems to be angry. But progress is being made. I like your idea of how your are adding beauty to the world. That’s a great place to start. And sometimes it can be as simple as not thinking negative thoughts. And looking at things from a different perspective. I’m feeling much better these days (I took this week as a chance to slow down and take a look around at the things that matter and the things that I’m accomplishing. But I still love your idea of having some quiet time to reflect and write things down. I don’t journal per se, but use my blog as my journal in some ways).
The flower pots are so cheerful! This is the first time I’ve put some out with spring/summer flowers. I usually just dress up the front porch for the fall. But this year I went ‘all out’ and have it decorated for the summer. Water is always hard to keep up with, even here in the northeast where it doesn’t get as hot for as long.
Thanks for stopping by!
xoxo
Tracy
….and this post I didn’t see until today! Your photos are amazing. They make me want to come visit. (Don’t worry, we are trees. Rooted, so we don’t travel much.) 😉 But I do love your photo posts, Kristin. You and Posie Gets Cozy are my favorite “eye candy” blogs. Although, Arlene Giddings weaves in lovely text with her photos, too. Okay, so there are a bunch of wonderful bloggers out there who are also great photogs! (But you’re my fav. Shh!) 🙂
Re the beginning of this post. Someone once said to me, when you think you can do nothing, change nothing, make no impact: “Model the behavior you want others to display.” Also, let me share a quote attributed to Michelle Obama that hangs on my fridge: “I have learned that as long as I hold fast to my beliefs and values – and follow my own moral compass – then the only expectations I need to live up to are my own.” I really like that, and when I first read it, I thought, wow, what a powerful philosophy, how empowering. I’m not going to change the world, but I can certainly be the best human I can be. I have no more wisdom that that.
Be careful when you are “mushrooming”! I have always wanted to learn how to forage for wild mushrooms (like, learn from an expert and go on a field trip with them), but Mr. Gordon pretty much forbid me (hahaha… he’s so funny… thinks he can forbid me…) from following through on that one. I can’t count how many times I’ve heard the “every year, there is a family in the news who thought they were picking safe mushrooms and they all got sick…” or died speech, dependent upon which lecture he’s inclined to give. 😉 So, I’m of the “not a hill I’m going to die on” type of person, so I just said, fine. No mushroom foraging.
Our tomato seedlings thing year… ugh. They did not do well. So far the pepper seedlings are thriving. The hot weather this week helped. I’m looking forward to seeing photos of your flourishing garden! 😀 May we all grow a lot to eat, put up, and enjoy throughout the year!
chickenlibrarian
HEHE! You can come visit anytime! We have plenty of room!
I am happy to be in such good company as Alicia Paulson and Arlene Giddings! Fantastic! I’ve worked so hard on my photography these last 5 years and finally feel like I found my ‘voice’ and style. So that’s nice to hear that someone (other than me) enjoys my photos! You should also check out Small Things (Ginny Sheller). She’s been one of my favs for a long time too. I’m trying to think of who else you might enjoy. There are so many fantastic photographers and bloggers out there. I’m just happy to finally feel like one of them.
I’m currently listening to Michelle Obama’s book ‘Becoming’. It’s really good. I like the quote that you shared. I listen to her book when I’m mowing since I have a few hours of solitude to do so. But you’re right. We need to follow our own moral compass and our own expectations. Not other’s. I think that’s my biggest issue. Trying to live up to other people’s expectations and not my own. I guess that happens sometimes. But when I really keep it in mind (be yourself, do your thing) then I feel happiest. When I let other people and their hang-ups starting encroaching on me, then I lose my balance. I was actually just going to write a blog post about this same thing recently and then decided not to. I don’t know why. I guess it seemed so personal.
As for mushrooms, morels are the easiest ones to forage for. There aren’t any others that look like them (which is why I was so eager to find some). But alas, my morel mushrooming days will have to wait until next year. I’m sure it’s already coming to an end for the season. Although I might get in one more walk before the end of June. We’ll see.
As for seedlings, not a single pepper grew! I guess that’s okay. Everything else is looking good. And enjoying this early heat that we seem to be having lately. And cheers to a successful growing season!
xoxo