Three Day Weekend

The past few days have been full, and during it all I'm finding myself with a heavy, pondering spirit. My heart is still hurting for my friend who lost her mom this past week.....and of course something like that makes me think about life. It's strange how time just keeps going. I'm more aware of that now than when I was young. I might be grieving, hurting, or unwell, and I still have little bodies to feed and little spirits to guide. Life just doesn't wait for hurts sometimes. Somehow though, it is more okay now to hurt and still carry on. I can't really explain it, but I think it's just that I know that God is taking care of things for me. And I trust Him to do His best even in a really hard circumstance.

This weekend we were really busy with life. :) It was butchering weekend. Remember the chickens that we raised? They turned out really well this year. See?

Hmmmm.....delicious!

and

Today, Owl and I made sun tea.

I also made currant blackberry jam. And strawberry jam too. (the honey sweetened freezer jam style) This year I opted for freezer jam because I am trying to spend less time on preparing food, so that I can actually be in the garden more! (and outside playing too)

And today, J had the day off, so I went to see my new friend with the goats. I'm so excited to be getting fresh, raw goat's milk!!! And even more excited to be bartering for it. Any little way that I can help provide for us so my J doesn't have to work so hard is awesome! I am exchanging fresh baked goods (from freshly milled organic flour) for milk. Her place is so beautiful and she has so many things growing there. She is also going to give me some of my own kefir grains so I can learn how to make my own kefir. Hurray!

homemade whole wheat rolls

It was so good to have J home on a weekday today. He originally took the day off because we thought we'd be busy butchering all weekend, but our friends homemade chicken plucker made the job so much easier and faster!!! They made the contraption out of a washing machine drum and other parts. It is really amazing....or perhaps I just think that because last year I was the one who plucked them. (well, we all did really) Last year one chicken took about an hour to pluck by hand. Yeah. Not fun. This year it took about 2 minutes. :) We put in another order for chicks today. There is also some talk about getting a few turkeys. Wouldn't that be fun?