Encounters with Sustenance: Everything else!

Ok, 5 posts in just over 24 hours. Here I go! Here's the combo post of everything that didn't fit neatly into the Luca post, the PA trip, Kali's bday or Aunt Eleanor's visit! I might be feeling a little bit like Terah as I start this post - a little jumbled up and not sure how to get right side up and moving forward on sharing all the things that have fit into the cracks of the last two weeks (which is exactly how long Kali's been home for).

And this week I've been feeling some indescribable feelings, most closely akin the the wandering feelings associated with grief or just a load of emotions that makes my body feel full to overflowing. It just so happens to be orientation week at CJP and the first fall orientation that I'm not a part of. I'm truly glad to be going through August on the farm without simultaneously going through August in academia. These things never paired well and I don't really know how I did it for so many years - I guess the last 6 months have been a testament to what it took out of me to accomplish it! So canning during the daylight hours is a relief for sure. But I also am still figuring out who I am without that aspect of my identity and where I will plug in with my gifts and skills going forward... For nearly the past two decades, August has been both exhausting and exhilarating in the culmination of many months of work and getting to meet a whole cohort of new students - I only really miss the latter!

On the home front, it's been pretty thrilling to have an additional daughter in the kitchen with me sometimes. The times when we've all been chopping, peeling, mixing, washing, canning together have been really lovely for me! That said, I also have company when I'm physically alone in the kitchen. I seldom work in silence and am immensely grateful for the learning and unlearning and healing I'm experiencing through the mentors and teachers I'm listening to. There's so many, but I'll share the most recent two as a sampling!

In the last few days I've listened to Melissa Toler a whole lot and I'm a big fan. So many of us need her voice to cut through the mess we are in as a culture laden with weight stigma and fat phobia. I took in both her 3 episodes on Christy Harrison's podcast Food Psych and then from there to all but one episode of her podcast Hearing Our Own Voice. That last episode is likely on the docket tomorrow!

And then How to Keep House while Drowning by KC Davis. After listening to the whole audio book in one afternoon, I did my first little organizing project with the things I had learned in mind and it was a game changer...and, bonus, I had Terah's help!! Terah and I cleared some piles off my desk in the kitchen and cleaned out two drawers and a cupboard in the bathroom. And we did it just for us and to make our space more functional. It felt so different than doing it to meet some external standard or moral code. Here's a few teasers of some of my favorite takeaways from this book and then we'll get to ducklings and flowers and beautiful skies!

You don't exist to serve your space, your space exists to serve you.
Care tasks (e.g. cooking, cleaning, laundry, hygiene...) are morally neutral!
Connect with the FUNCTION of a space and of care tasks and strip them of moral virtues and value messages.
Thinking of cleaning/organizing as "resetting the space" for it to function for you.
No one does all the good things all the time... Imperfection is required for a good life.
I am allowed to be human.
Rest is not a reward, it is a right.
Those who work in shame, rest in shame.
The goal is not to make the work equal but the rest fair!
Closing duties (things you might choose to do at the end of the day) are a way of being kind to future you.

We plan to listen to this out loud as a family starting maybe as soon as tomorrow evening!

And now in other news:

Ducklings: they are growing up! Still so cute! Their mama hen is ready to let them be independent, so there may be some reconfiguring happening in the near future now that they are big enough to not physically need her for brooding.

Chickens: The very last clutch of eggs for this years breeding will hatch soon. And then the broody pens will sit empty until next spring. The new little fluff balls are a welcome site as we deal with the sadness and disappointment of some ongoing predator pressure, especially from foxes. A mishap the other night (one coop door left over) led to the loss of several hens and a chick, including Alida's pet hen Lilly. She is especially glad now Marigold, a younger hen she has been taming and who most recently hopped/flew up onto her shoulder surprising her.

Garden harvests: the brown beans have been cut (thanks to Jason) and threshing is on the docket for him tomorrow afternoon.

We are already starting to get into some of the fall crops. Cucumbers and watermelon are out and carrots have been seeded. We seeded them with crickets hopping all around us, so aren't feeling overly optimistic about those little seedlings getting past their hungry chompers! Delicata out, turnips in.

I'm not sure we have ever had such lovely elderberries! So glad for a friend who can use them, as I am running out of surplus food processing steam, especially for things that aren't yet familiar and routine for me.

Can you guess what this is?

Beautiful scenes: Wowzers!!

The way the light changes the mountain never ceases to amaze me!

The other morning I woke and our room was glowing pink. I got up and went outside to this:

I've gotten to enjoy just a couple walks up to Hensley's Pond recently. I love catching the ironweed blooming!

Fun times: I think the recent swim with the girls was fun. It was SOOOOOO cold!

Kali has officially had her first meal since coming home a few days back, and another one since then. In the Philippines it's a meal if there is rice. Without rice, it's a snack. She's been doing a lot of snacking since arriving home, but we are sprinkling in some real meals now here and there!!

We had fun hosting Jonas and Ivy for a birthday brunch for Jonas (complete with introducing him to shoofly pie). And then surprised Ivy (and Jonas) with an impromptu sleepover invitation for Ivy with her cousins. Both gladly accepted and Ivy went strong until she finally gave in to sleep a few hours after her normal bedtime.