It has been a bit of a challenge to keep up with dryer ball orders lately. But I'm very thankful for the business! And thankful for great help from Sven. He's always there with a giant smile and a good attitude. :-)
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I love this picture. But it really makes me cringe. Why? I see so much work and so many problems that need my attention. To you, most likely it just looks like a sweet photo of a father and daughter. To me, I see a pot of wilted dying flowers in the foreground and a nice crop of a terrible noxious weed that need many hours and years of pulling, spraying, and burning to eradicate. Sad but true, the farm we are caring for here in Mossyrock needs an incredible amount of TLC. It can be oh so stressful sometimes as we go about our busy days trying to pay equal attention to all the many things that are nearly crying for their lives!
This is me, remembering that all the things can't have my 100%. But that I can give 100% every day, in every area that I am able, and still enjoy the journey. Which things get what percent of our minutes each day will depend greatly on our abilities and priorities in each season of our lives, and that's SO OK. I guess for me, the fact that this picture perfectly shows how everything isn't perfect right now just means that we are real, human, and will always have many things to divide our attention between. And also, it would be easy to miss the most wonderful moments of our lives because...well...something isn't quite perfect in them. I love this picture, because I see a very busy father giving 100% to a little fluffhead who needs his attention more than she needs the weeds pulled, the flowers watered, or the grass mowed right now. "Mom, these chickens will be so proud of us when they see their new house!!!"
Nothing better than a 3 year old's perspective on an animal's thought process. She said this as we were finishing up putting a new coat of paint on one of our three little mobile coops. And it got me thinking...it's been shown that animals are quite perceptive of our moods and attitudes. And for me, little things like a new coat of paint on a structure, wearing a dress and makeup for boring chores, or a neatly organized office space do wonders for my attitude. So, perhaps they WILL notice the paint, as well as my face looking not stressed because I am not worried about their coop rotting in the winter rains. And perhaps all this combined DOES boost a chicken's morale by making them proud to live here. I have a smart little kid :-) My midwife was pretty awesome. It’s been more than three years ago now, but one of the things I learnt during that season of life stuck hard. She said that the more I try to control labor, the more painful it would be; but with a more relaxed state of mind and patiently allowing my body to work, less so. I’ve often contemplated this idea when a situation that at first wasn’t overly painful became more so with “more effort.” I’ve never struggled with hard work, for some reason it’s one of those things that comes easily to me. However, I do struggle with knowing when it’s time to quit...be it a plan, project, or human that really just needs me to walk away. It's like my suburban that needs an engine rebuild every 2 months. It's literally begging me to let it die in peace, but have I let it? NOPE! Knowing when to let go is hard, because...who wants to be a quitter!!!! I'm sure you know how HARD it can be to downsize, to walk away from something or someone, to pray, wait patiently, and let God lead. Downsizing and decreasing aren’t usually applauded in a culture where bigger is better and multiplication = success. We all think we need MORE of everything. And it is so easy to let the difficulty of a situation or endeavor that is clearly not working slow us down, or worse, debilitate us mentally, emotionally, or physically. Especially as moms, business owners, and farmers with very full plates! On a side note, it's funny how this blog was intended to showcase sheep milk soap, sheep, and regenerative farming, But I always seem to get sidetracked by the ethics of why we do what we do. Our worldview has a lot to do with how we operate here. One of my favorite quotes from Jim Elliot sums it up: He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose. Isn't that cool? Can you relate to this? Its so hard to understand why we do what we do unless you see the world from this perspective. If you are wondering what kind of a person would say that sort of a thing, Jim Elliot was a Christian missionary and martyr to the Waodani tribe in the jungles of Ecuador in the 1950's. And its pretty cool, we have special ties to this story since my husband's great uncle Don served on the team that recovered the bodies of the 5 missionaries who were tragically killed there. Uncle Don and his wife were also missionaries in Ecuador for many years, and he owned much of the property our family farms here in Washington today. You can read more about the incredible story HERE
Anyway, back to my original point. Labor still hurt like heck. But I like to think that the reason it was only 8 hours long instead of 20 was my good frame of mind, thanks to my lovely midwife. :-) Whew, July, where did you go? It feels a bit like nothing has happened, and yet everything has changed in the blink of an eye. We drilled for water and came up dry (literally) and the new (old) baler we bought for this year's hay harvest caught fire and is now being completely rebuilt. Small challenges, it seems, to the affairs of the world right now. But surely, disappointing! We hoped to have the farm ready to move in on this summer, but it looks like it will be another year at least. Usually, I am at peace with this, but I do struggle with the feeling that time is being wasted...wasted in trips back and fourth from home to farm and farm to home, wasted in loss of life and vegetable produce since we are not there 24/7 to "police" the sheep and keep them out of our garden (HAHAHA...SNIFFLE) or keep chickens safe from predators. Money wasted renting. Money wasted in burned fuel. Etc. Etc. It's hard, because the farm is where my heart is.
Or is it? Sometimes small scale farming can be a really difficult job to see any success in. Really long days, (like, 5:30 AM to 9:30 PM most days) and a lot of physically challenging work. As a family we love it, are good at it, and thrive on it. But I can also be very good at putting my nose to the grindstone and plugging along, trying to ignore little feelings of frustration with how little progress we seem to make with our little piece of heaven in the hills, until it all bubbles out in tears one day. But then, I am so thankful for God's gentle reminders that my heart is His...and therefore I would be remis to put my treasure and trust in two of the three English noun categories (you know, places and things, lol) As much as we may want or think we need something RIGHT NOW, it is humbling and comforting to be directed, and see doors open and shut. And I hope that with every new development, my heart will stay focused. I REALLY don't want to be remembered for my hard work, where I lived, how much, or how little I had. I want to be unmentionable, in that way. Because honestly, everything good has been given to me by a loving and caring Father. Not because I deserve it or earned it, but because He is so, so good, and loves to give his children good gifts in his perfect timing. Sometimes it's hard to understand why things happen the way they do, but in the end, I know there is a reason and a plan! Matt 6:19-21 Hi, I'm Lydia! And I'm really not sure why I am taking the time to write here...as time is rather limited these days! Mostly, this is going to be a space to share the overabundance of pictures from our little farm on the hill in the beautiful rural town of Mossyrock, WA. I think. But perhaps this will also be a place to share our journey...from our marriage in 2012, to the battle we fought with stage 4 cancer the same year, to the blessing of a beautiful, incredible Snowflake baby in 2017, to the acquisition of our beloved family farm in 2020. To put it lightly...it's been a WILD ride...and raising our chickens, cows, dairy sheep, and making lots of soap and dryer balls has definitely been part of my mental health plan, ha! (And for Richie, making lots of hay and driving his tractors!) It's been 8 years of leasing and renting, learning, striving, hard, hard work, and doing our absolute best to cherish each moment for what it is...a precious, precious gift. Perhaps this will be the only post I ever put here, because I'll get too busy and the novelty will have already worn off, lol. Our passion has always been for farming. I don't know why or how or what caused us both to be so "into" the land and growing things. One thing is certain though…through it all, God has been so faithful and so good, and his abundant love is overwhelming! Perhaps no one will even see these posts...and that's fine too. At least my Facebook friends won't have to put up with so many lamb pictures if I mostly put them here ;-) |
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HELLOI'm Lydia. Mom to one wild barefoot fluffy headed toddler, a herd of cows, flock of sheep, a group of too many chickens and a neglected garden that against all odds, survives. Married to a wonderful husband with an equal number of titles and jobs...Dad, bro, (also as in, "bro, get over here gimme a hug") hydro-electric power plant mechanic, volunteer firefighter, fixer of all things with wheels and engines. (Ya, I'm proud of him.) Farm life, family, coffee, and Jesus make my world go round. Archives
August 2023
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