Today I've been cleaning up in the goat lot; burning brush and raking up the composted remains of the last 3 large round hay bales we fed. I'd love to have a chipper/shredder to chip most of what I'm burning (the big stuff goes for firewood) for composting but I don't, C'est la vive. I have a dear friend who uses the big stuff for firewood, the smaller stuff for campfires and lets the rest of it rot, and that's probably the best option, but something (either neurosis or the ancestral memories of my Eastern European ancestors) makes me want to make it tidy. At least the ashes can be spread to enrich the soil. Once this job is through my next plan is to get a bed in the garden ready using the compost I've collected for planting garlic. The garden year for me seems to start with garlic planting in September or October with August being the Oklahoma equivalent of the dead of winter. This year has been a wet exception, but usually August is bleak.
I've been thinking today about how chores stack up and how we react to it. There are those, like me, who bear the thorn of procrastination. Then once things pile up to the point that action must be taken, we're overwhelmed and disheartened by the fact that we can't get it all done in 2 hours so we don't do anything. I've studied this pattern of behavior, I've reflected, I know all the tricks and techniques, yet time and time again I find myself in the same situation. I think of the Apostle Paul:
"For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do." Romans 7:18-19
Life on the land brings us ever to closer to God, His providence and His will. He made me; He knows me more intimately than I know myself; He put me here on this 40 acres of Oklahoma red dirt. Amongst the many blessing are times of trial and humility. I could analyze it, but I think He'd probably prefer I just get back to my work.
Tidbits:
A wonderful post by Kathi at Oak Hill Homestead about how she and her family bale hay by hand.
Michael Bunker is has started a great new series on his Process Driven Life blog about off-grid living for Christian agrarians.
A good article from the Mother Earth News archives on tanning rabbit skins. I can vouch for the method and it comes to mind for me as I have a freezer full of rabbit hides just waiting on cooler weather.
Till next time, blessings.
Judy
1 comment:
great post and thanks for the links. I am the worst to see all the things that need to be done and sometimes just do the daily have to chores.
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