Novice

The company my husband worked for closed for good this fall. We had planned for a winter without regular work anyway, and now that it's here - with no certain starting date for a regular income in view, we're beginning a new aspect of our homesteading life. Ideally, I would love to avoid the regular work-life for our family in the future. To continue a simpler, more intimate domestic monastery..with my husband painting and drawing, selling his work, and occasionally doing side work building chimneys or painting houses for our neighbors and friends.

But that sort of life takes something I don't have a lot of yet: self-discipline and a love of simplicity. I struggle with those. I still have the suburban-ever-present desire for more, and training myself to want less, to reveal in true simplicity, and not merely the trappings of simplicity is hard. 

I'm working hard to build that inner richness this Advent. My husband is working hard to create beautiful pieces of art and then find homes for them in ways that support our family finances as well. I love watching him work at this! I love seeing the lovely images in his mind take shape on wood and paper. I love having him home, giving him the chance to participate more in schooling Yarrow and shaping our days. And I'm learning to say no to myself. To purge out the unloved things without replacing them. To love discipline, consistency, and not run always toward the new and shiny things of the world. 

It's hard, but the payoff is amazing! A husband who can be home more, creating more, living more. And a healthier soul for me as well. I'm still a novice regarding simplicity. But I do think I'm learning and growing stronger each day. And if you want to help my learning curve at all..my husband's Esty shop is Paperwine Industries. 

Quotidian Notes

Our snow turned to freezing rain last night, and now we're sitting in a 'wintery mix'. Precipitation can be overwhelming sometimes. The wintery mix is my least favorite of all February's offerings - it's so unpredictable. So messy.

one last look at blue-skies!

We have all our seeds picked out for Springtime. March is almost here, and then April! I'm hoping we'll be able to plant in April. March is the Lenten month, and the maple-sapping month. We have about 7 trees close to the house, and in the sunlight, that I'd like to tap. I'm hoping for enough to forgo maple syrup altogether for maple 'cream'..a richer, soft, spreadable version of maple-syrup - cooked down a bit more and then whipped. I absolutely love it!

March is also my husband's birthday month. This year, Lent is late enough that he gets to celebrate outside Lent! I'm planning a meat-filled, sugar-laden, three day celebration, but my family know all too well that I'm an absolute failure at gift-giving..and birthdays in general, so pray for me, I need all the help I can get.

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Haley, over at Carrots for Michaelmas, has selected one word for 2014 - I loved her article, and the idea itself. Reading her reflections, I found my own word, Balance. It's a word I rarely apply to my own life, and one I'd like to know better. My life, in balance has less uncertainty, more intentionality; fewer distractions, more play; more tea, more prayer, more slow walks down the lane..

It's an older post, from the beginning of February, but the year is still young and fresh, we can still apply it. And the time before Lent is ideal for plotting improvements. 

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My dear friend, Christie, at Everything to Someone has a interesting discussion going on this quote from G.K. Chesterton:

               

The quote itself is not my favorite (actually, nothing from Chesterton would fall under the label 'favorite' for me..) but Christie's response to it certainly is! Her absolutely beautiful reflections left me with more love for Chesterton than his own writing ever does.

      It's very telling that after a century of liberation, women are choosing to go back to 

      the professions (oppression?) of their great-great-grandmothers. Instead of being 

      taught in an unbroken chain of mother-to-daughter lore, they're having to re-learn

      many of those skills that made suppressed women so dangerously skillful. I suppose

      the feminist movement was necessary because it helped us understand. For now we

      have the double benefit of having the freedom to choose and choosing not to be 

      'free'.

Oh, Christie, would that I could write like you! I'd love to read my own reader's reactions to Chesterton's words, and Christie's reflections, if you're interested..either on Everyting to Someone, or right here.

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My husband's vacation time is giving him ample opportunity to create more of his beautiful cards for Paperwine:

As well as a chance to work up some fantastic cocktails inspired by (nerd-alert) our favorite Firefly characters!!! Kaylee's drink will go up first, on Cyganeria, sometime this evening (and Jenna, it is absolutely drinkable - even without a bohemian's liver!) I have plans to make Seth into Cyganeria's resident bartender - crafting drinks for all of our beloved books and movies.

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Luba exhausted herself yesterday, playing Wild Thing of the Wooded North, she's spending the morning on the couch, begging with her eyes; while Yarrow and Seth read books and I attempt to line up guest posts..all while drinking the absolute best chai tea with raw honey and cream..