We call ourselves American Saints because we use the New Testament definition of saints, referring to a disciple or follower of Christ.
I have a rule, I don't make New Years resolutions. The reason for this is that I cannot adhere to these because I am insufficiently invested. In my opinion, this is why most New Years resolutions fail.
That said, I love to make goals and have a plan. I wander through planning methods, sometimes sticky notes, sometime lists, sometimes planners... I use whatever works for me the time and keeps me progressing. In the last few years, I have made my own planners using a binder and designing and printing my own sheets. Some topic-specific pages were borrowed from other planning systems. Homemade planners work great for me, because I can adapt it as my needs change.
This year, my husband got me a Commit30 planner for Christmas, along with lots of accessories. Looking through the planner, its methods are based on tried and true productivity science, so I am enjoying diving into it. If you are new to planning and have goals you need to get done, Commit30 planners are great for walking through a structured planning process and keeping you on track all year long.
This topic might be little esoteric, but I wanted to get my first video completed. I decided to do a video on our wellhouse to add to the Rumble library. One of the drawbacks of Rumble is that you can't search on any topic and find a bunch of videos answering your question. This is my contribution to cover a gap.
also available on Rumble at https://rumble.com/v1wapy2-wellhouse-basics.html
While Jerrie was cooking ribs on the Big Green Egg (which were awesome), I made a plum cake in the camp oven. I chose this recipe because I had extra plums to use up and also because this recipe was a more traditional cake recipe and I thought it would be successful. And it was!
This 10" camp oven was perfectly seasoned, and I lined the bottom with parchment so I didn't have to use too much butter to keep the cake from sticking and I could ensure a clean release. Other than that, I followed the recipe.
Halfway through baking, we were invited to friends for dinner so we took it along. It got rave reviews from everyone.
Mille Fleurs are commonly broody, like Chloe. We hatched some chicks in the incubator, but the babies left with their mother had a much happier early life and better integration into the flock. We separate the hens and chicks out to allow the chicks to hatch safely. Thomas, our rooster, would watch over them to ensure their safety.
Its July, and I finally have all the iris in my yard dug, divided and given away. It's a joy to be able to share beautiful things with friends, especially when its easy care and they will most likely also have success. One of my church sisters offered to share a pink crepe myrtle with me this fall, so I am looking forward to that.
I love being able to share the blessings of my farm with friends. There are a few families that we give eggs to from our family chickens. We are about to start producing eggs to sell. It will be interesting navigating a change in mindset on our farm from producing strictly to bless others, to producing for profit. I will have to cognizant not to let the good work I do now get crowded out by the busy-ness of business.
We have a donkey, Ellie (the black donkey), that we got from Peaceful Valley Donkey Rescue to protect our property from coyotes. She is a very good girl and is very friendly. We had goats, but she was lonely and we decided to get her a buddy. I looked around for a while and found Daisy (the white donkey), on Facebook. We went to pick her up on a weeknight and got home around midnight. We decided to drive the truck into the pasture, open the trailer doors, and let her come out on her own. Then we went straight to bed. Admittedly, this was not the wisest plan, but it worked out. We got up in the morning and went straight up to the pasture to move the truck out, put the trailer away and check on the donkeys. They had found each other during the night and were SOOOO happy to know each other.
I am reading the book of Exodus and it strikes me how much The Lord well and truly burned the bridges between Egypt and the Hebrew. It reminds me of Sun Tsu, where he recommends cutting off any chance of retreat to make your forces fight harder. Similarly, the Lord cut off the connection entirely so his people could not go back to their comfortable lives in Egypt. They were forced to move forward and follow Moses and the Lord to the promised land. Not only were the miracles/plagues designed to inflame the Egyptians, but they were meant to teach the Hebrew about the power and love of the Lord, a lesson they were slow to learn (aren't we all).
This makes me ponder the times that the Lord has ended things in my life. While fiery ends have taught me powerful lessons in life, I am grateful for the gentle endings too. The opportunities that endings create for new beginnings are amazing.
