Status Report: August 2024

Sitting: Inside with all the windows open and the AC off.  While I'm ever thankful for the air conditioning on those sweltering hot summer days, it's sure nice to be able to turn it off and just enjoy the fresh breeze coming in the windows. 

Been busy with: the garden always keeps me busy but my current (ongoing) project is beautifying the cottage space. When I had it built a few years ago the intention was to have it be dual purpose. A garden cottage to store all my garden supplies as well as guest cottage bunkie.  We did have a surprise guest for a week long stay a couple of years ago and I quickly turned it into a bunkie with an inflatable bed, night table, privacy curtains, lamp, fan & charging station. After seeing how cute it looked with a very rushed "hurry, turn that into a bunkie!" job, I'm even more excited to see how it will look once it's all done. There is much work to do from insulation, sheetrock, better lighting, additional shelving, building a small storage loft & probably 10 other things I haven't thought of yet, but it's a project I'm very pleased to be working on. I'm enjoying watching the YT channel Made by Mick while he renovates a storage area off the side of his house, turning it into a small apartment for his daughter. Getting lots of ideas on how to translate some of his techniques to what I'm aiming for in the cottage.  

Re-evaluating: the garden for next year.  Every year I dial it in just a little more.  I've had a lot of fun growing experimental items and I do dedicate a small space every year for that but I've toned that down the last couple of years to spend more time growing what grows well here, and what grows well for me. Also re-evaluating raised bed areas for spots that currently don't have them. For my piece of land, raised beds tend to produce much better results than in-ground planting so I'm planning on adding at least 4 more for next growing season. 

Feeling: Kind of sad that the growing season is coming to an end in a few short weeks. Technically, my growing season is from mid May through mid October, so there's roughly 7 weeks left, before we're looking at the first frost of the year.  Although there really isn't much time to be sad, since fall zips by faster than it should, and between mulching all the falling leaves for free garden bed mulch, there are roughly 32 million things to take care of to put the garden to bed for the winter.  My carrots are doing amazingly well this year and I've decided they'll be the last to harvest, after the first hard frost.  An old time farmer told me they're ten times sweeter if you leave them in the ground until then, so I'm taking that advice as Farmer Gospel. 😊

Looking forward to: The next round of canning!  On the list to finish out the summer will be zucchini bread jam, Cowboy Candy, and my world famous homemade ketchup.  Okay maybe not world famous but my kids & grandkids, in-laws & outlaws all love it, so, that's good enough for me. 

Well, that just about does it for this month's Status Report. 

Thanks for stopping by and checking in! 😊 I hope you have an incredible day. 

Status Report: July 2024

Many years ago when blogging was popular, a lot of us Christian women bloggers wrote a monthly post called a Status Report.  More or less what it was, was several blog posts rolled into one, under specific categories as you'll see below.  It was just a simple way to share our thoughts about several things without dedicating an entire blog post to each thing. The last one I ever did was the last week we lived on the farm, before we bought a house and moved to the city. 11 years ago!  

I have lots of thoughts on all the things, so...I've decided to resurrect the old monthly Status Report. 

So here we go! 😊

Sitting: inside with the AC on. I'd like to be sitting outside and taking advantage of it being summer, but the Lord has chosen to keep the heat turned up, and bring in tons of rain. Folks may not like it, but many people's gardens are doing fantastic for it. Other than my cucumbers, my garden is certainly being blessed with the current weather, even if I can't sit outside. I really can't complain.  

Been busy with: Canning season!  Indeed canning season has begun with seasonal fruits and veggies in abundance. This past week I've been able to put up a batch of garlic dill pickles, bread & butter pickles, pickled carrots and a batch of raspberry jam (none of which have made it to the shelf yet). Along with the canning I've been busy tidying up and organizing the the canning shelf. It's more or less just been "put it where it fits" for the last few years so, time to get my act together. 😄 

Feeling: Happy that it's canning season again. 

Wishing: The growing season was longer in my area or that at I had a decent greenhouse to grow year round.  That would be so cool. What a fantastic way to stay busy and active, growing your family's groceries.  

Thinking: about a post I saw on social media regarding motherhood.  Actually several posts lately from various folks discussing aspects of motherhood.  Specifically, Christian, biblically defined motherood.  The post I saw today was essentially this question: If you've always wanted to be a stay at home mom, what was that decision or that goal driven by?   I thought that was a great question.  I've always wanted to be and thankfully am a stay at home mom, and one big part of what drove that for me was not having one when I was growing up, and then seeing examples of what that looked like in my friend's homes. By the time I was 3, my mom was single and had to work outside the home to raise her family.  Most all of my friends though, did have a stay at home mom, and almost all of those moms were happy people (at least as far as they let on), so I was blessed with seeing what that looked like. More or less I just saw amazing examples of what that life was like and it left a permanent impression on me.  

Wondering: what planet I'm on where John Rich goes on Tucker Carlson and tells him the teaching of a pre-trib rapture is a lie. 😳

Looking forward to: when the US Presidential election is over. 😉

Excited about: hearing lids pop when you've taken your cans out of the canner and sat them on a tea towel on the counter. 😍

  

And that will wrap up this Status Report. 

Thanks for stopping by, and have an amazing day.  😊