It has been a rough week.
The bills have rolled in from haying/baling/etc and it feels like a repeat of this spring, when all the planting costs came in and it was only by the grace of God Almighty that every debt was paid. Which is a good thing, because I know my God will be beside us in this, that He never fails, and yet, I struggle to turn my worrying “monkey mind” OFF. Walking in faith is a beautiful challenge.
The nice thing is He always provides, and the fruit harvest has really come on in full to distract me. (Lol.)
I have been busy picking the pears, the heirloom prunes (off a tree from the turn of the century... yes, prune not ‘plum’! Haha), and the produce from the rest of the garden. The pears were smaller this year than we’d like, but we have still been able to sell them, and people have been interested in the squash and prunes. It has been a whole new experience figuring out how to market, price, and sell fruit. I like to do my best to be fair, but it can get tricky when the customer wants what you have, but they don’t want to pay what you’ve determined is a fair price for your labor and maintenance (water, etc). 😕 I had an uncomfortable discussion with a customer over this, but at the end of the day, we are a small farm, we can’t offset production costs as easily as larger, commercial farms can. I had to stand by my price.
It has been really dry and hot as of late. We were refilling the cows’ 1500 gal water tank every two days, which is crazy-often, but it is what it is. They’re having to work, now, for forage, because everything is so dry. Wheat harvest starts for my husband’s job this week, so I can’t do my booty-shaking rain dance ( 🤣) just yet, but we are in need of some moisture. I am hoping our pasture lasts for another month, preferably another month and a half which is until we can do our autumn roundup and wean the calves. Right now it feels touch-and-go, especially as two days this week I had cows waiting for me at the gate. They’re getting antsy, too.
But the hot weather has been good for spending time at the creek. I found that little piece of porcelain with such an interesting cosmic message on it (!) the last time I was out there with my oldest. My oldests’ imagination has really taken off since we have ditched the TV, and he is learning by scary leaps and bounds. I have been considering home-schooling him, which feels seriously rebellious of me since both my husband and I are products of public school... but I have been increasingly fed up with what options are available for my boisterous, impetuous, voraciously curious learner. My early years teaching music (mostly to young children) and my time as a youth librarian has afforded me insights into learning styles and our local school system, and I worry my son will be the type that “falls through the cracks” around here. I want to do what is best for him, and I’m not entirely convinced that is public school.... Thankfully I have time, still, to come to a decision.
Out of desire and necessity, I have been upping my baking and culinary skills. That has become a satisfying and beautiful part of the struggle to transition from a working, career woman to a stay-at-home mom (and the financial constraints thereof). When I worked in town, I never had time to do much cooking. I had a few dishes I could whip up, and a couple specialties, but not much else. We ate out a lot. As our finances have become constrained, we eat out less, spend our money on supplies, and I have been learning to cook and bake more things from scratch. I am finding I really like being able to feed my family good-tasting, wholesome meals utilizing the things we grow (vegetables, fruit) or raise (beef, pork). This last week I finally had bread-baking success (I’m normally bread-inept...)... zucchini bread. 🙂 I found a way to cut down the amount of sugar in it, and it turned out great. The whole family loves it! I love having some for breakfast with my morning cup of tea, and that it is a more healthy substitute for breakfast cereal.
I am looking forward to a quieter week, and praying to see some success with sales to ease my “monkey mind.” I am also looking forward to playing music this week for a local ladies’ luncheon — it should be lots of fun!
I hope you are having a lovely week as well. 🙃