Friday, February 26, 2016

Farm Friday

Why hello little one!
We've had a good two weeks since the last "Farm Friday." The gardens are asleep now but we're already prepping for the spring. Bill has several shelves of seedlings coming up under grow lights (this time of year my office doubles as a greenhouse.) We're eating a lot out of the freezer since not much is growing. Bill did bring in some Brussels sprouts today that I'll probably roast for dinner tomorrow night. 

Last weekend was our 28th anniversary - and we celebrated by attending an RV show in Raleigh! One day we plan to just pack it all in and take a nice long road trip. We're looking for a small, lightweight but comfortable travel trailer. (I grew up RVing so I know exactly what I'm looking for.) The RV show was geared to those who apparently really don't want to leave home so they put it on wheels. I can't imagine really seeing the country in some of the vehicles at the show:  entertaining yes, sightseeing no. We saw mega buses with outdoor flat screen TVs and outdoor kitchens that run around $400,000! Can't take those babies on the back roads. Nor can your typical American afford them. When we asked one dealer about smaller travel trailers she said they didn't have the smaller models with them and asked if wanted a small one because we were limited by our towing vehicle. It didn't occur to her that some people don't want a McMansion on wheels.

Not the model I have my heart set on but closer than most
We hosted another successful homesteading/sustainable living group last Saturday. I think there were 21 adults in attendance. Several of our regular attendees were unable to make it this time around. As usual, the food, company, and discussion were awesome:
Our spread of delicious food
I did a bit more thrifting last week. It's amazing the nice wardrobe I've put together from thrift and consignment shops. For example: a J Crew blazer for $9, Ann Taylor silk blouse for $6, a classic dress for $8, a tunic-style sweater for $2. After this year's challenge, I don't know if I'll ever buy new clothes again. If you don't need to have the latest fashions, it's the perfect way to create a nice wardrobe that's easy on the pocketbook and good for the earth. Plus if you buy from an organization like Goodwill, you're supporting a good cause.

Morning on the farm
This past week we had a tornado warning alert. We were fortunate that we didn't get one but we did have high winds. The business that owns the tower that provides our internet through lost power which meant we lost our internet for a while.

I've taken a break from my usual mystery/thriller reading and have been reading this:

One reason I no longer participate in the church culture is the way women have been marginalized. While I don't agree with all of author Sarah Bessey's theology, she acknowledges and accepts the fact that there's a wide range of beliefs within the church - so I know I would like her if I met her. (Many Christians believe that being a Christian means you adhere to their particular denomination's beliefs and have no idea that there are conflicting views within the wider church.) Bessey is very gracious about denominational differences yet stands firm in her belief that the church in general needs to allow women to spread their wings and use their gifts and that Jesus was radical in that he treated women as equal to men. In one chapter, when she describes the typical "women's ministry" that most churches support, I found myself nodding and saying yes, yes, yes!

Since I use so many apps on my phone for work, I've been slowly making the transition from paper planner and to do lists to apps. While I miss paper and pencil, I do find I save lots of time by not having to rewrite the various lists that I tend to keep. I'm still not set when it comes to meal planning so that will be my next project. I read one blogger who created a Google calendar just for that purpose. Something to look into.

It's getting late here so I'll end with this:
My little buddy - and master
Have a great week!

4 comments:

David said...

Cherie, glad to see that goat cuteness still abounds at White Flint Farms. I never really had the desire to travel for the sake of travel and sight seeing. My idea of travel is to get there to do some thing on the other end. Short term mission trips were my thing a few years ago. Now the mission is to help raise a grandson.

I'm glad you missed the tornadoes. It seems that extreme weather activity is on the rise. We have had tornado threats all across the country practically the entire Winter this year. It makes for challenging gardening that's for sure. Are you still planning on having a market garden this year?

I have long since stopped thinking of the church as a denomination. For me denominations are man's ideas of how God wants us to live. I belong to a Interdenominational church of about 3000 attendance on a weekend. Out of eight pastors, two are women. That came about just two years ago and of course those that didn't agree with the elevation of women in the church left to go some where else. I have given up on church politics many years ago. To me church doesn't all happen in the church building. A Christian life should be happening continuously in all that I think, say, and do. No, I don't agree with everything my church does but then if I found the perfect church, I probably should decide to go there because my un perfect self would ruin it. :-)

Even though I started my career in technology repair before it ballooned into what it is today, I find that in retirement, it's not an important part of my life. I started my career right when color TV was becoming popular and way before cell phones and Internet was invented. I watched all this crazy technology grow up into an App for every possible thing a person can imagine. I'm not impressed by it and do have a cell phone but it doesn't do, Apps, pictures, Internet, or any of the other fancy things of cell phone technology today. Talking and texting is all that it can and will do. Friends and family are some what mystified how some one that spent 41 years in the field of technology doesn't have the latest and greatest stuff. It just lost it's fascination over the years.

The cat picture is normally how I end the day. I call it a nap before I go to bed.

Have a great day on the White Flint Farm homestead.

Laura said...

Your goat is so cute!! :) I've seen a couple craigslist ads where they're giving goats away for free and have been tempted to get one as a pet and friend for my dog. Do you think they would make a good pet if they had land to run around? My seeds are starting to sprout too, and as you know, I'm a total newb. I literally screamed I was so excited when they started sprouting! Now I just have to keep them alive!

Cherie said...

David, we do plan to have a market garden this year. Our strategy has changed somewhat with more emphasis on homesteading and then selling our surplus. Of course, we'll have far more than we need but our energies will be on feeding ourselves first.

Cherie said...

Laura, goats can be great as pets and for a few years we had a livestock guardian dog living with our goats. You need to be careful with getting a free goat and make sure you know what you're getting. You want to make sure you're getting a healthy goat (the biggest problem is intestinal parasites that can actually kill them; it wouldn't affect your dog, though) and you want to make sure you have very secure fences. Goats have a way of getting out no matter how large the property. (We have a "hot" wire running along the bottom of our fences.) Not to scare you off, but make sure you know what you're getting into. That said, goats have great personalities - and the kids are like puppies.

Yay for your sprouts! I just noticed that ours are starting to get their true leaves. I'm really missing fresh produce. I've been buying lettuce from a neighboring farm that has greenhouses. Can't wait until we have juicy veggie coming up again.