by Krista | Jul 17, 2017 | Winter
It’s quiet and peaceful on our farm today. The harsh cold of winter has been replaced by sunshine so warm it feels like a hug. Soft breezes rustle gently through the gum trees, lulling animals and humans alike into cozy sleepiness.
Bear and I have done a lot of resting the past week. The previous six months were full of stressful situations, some hard, some good, but all tiring to body and spirit.
Camping medievally for 8 days was wonderful, giving us a chance to get away from everything and just be. We had such a nice time hanging out with each other, reading aloud at night by lamp light, building fires to make cuppas, taking afternoon naps, working quietly on different projects then coming together for meals to chat all about what we’d been up to.
It was good. So good.
Now we’re home and it’s a different kind of good as we let go of the craziness of the first half of 2017 and settle into our new normal, embracing new routines, figuring out a new rhythm.
We’ve transitioned from a goat farm to a small hobby farm with an assortment of animals. We loved our goat farm experience, but we’re so happy about this change. It’s much more manageable for us and gives us time to pursue other projects that are important to us.
I’ve transitioned to full-time freelance writer/photographer/artist. It’s been a scary and daunting process, but I’m in a good place now and loving it so much. It gives me such a thrill to wake up each day and know I have work ahead of me that will provide for our needs and give me an outlet to do the work I enjoy and am good at. It will take more time to be at the place I need to be, but I’m so close now and that fills me with hope. Looking back, seeing how far I’ve come, we’ve come, gives me courage to press on.
I’ve also shifted to a new place in my healing, and I think that is the most precious thing to me. To look at my mind and heart and see peace and courage and hope and confidence where once there was so much fear, pain, grief, and anxiety, well, it makes me tear up with happiness and gratitude. I will be healing and growing until the day I die – I know I’ll never arrive at some magical All Done Now place – but I’m taking time to celebrate these moments of recognition, where the Now Me is braver, kinder, stronger than the Old Me.
These days I’m really loving being home. Before, home was my escape, my place to hide while I healed, but now it’s my haven, my place to love and be loved, to create and build and thrive. Bear and I had to have a teary-eyed cuddle about that this morning as we reflected on how much has changed since I first showed up at the farm gate nearly six years ago. I’m so thankful.
So today I wandered around this haven of ours, with all its messy bits and projects waiting to be completed, and basked in the feeling of being truly at home, no more hiding, no more fear.
I led our last six goats to their new pasture and walked through the trees with them. I fed the pigs and hung out with the dogs, picked peas in my garden and harvested pineapple sage and hung it up to dry. I took cuttings from the elderflower hedge and put them in water along the kitchen window sill to give them a chance to root before spring.
Now it’s time to work. A bowl of peas beside me for snacking on, sunshine streaming in the window turning the old wood floors a burnished gold.
It’s good to be home. xo
by Krista | Jul 15, 2017 | Winter
Medieval camping is one of the great happinesses of my life. Building a little world of canvas tents and wooden furniture held together with dowels instead of nails, dishes of clay, wood, and silver, food made in traditional ways with smoke and fermentation, and the unique array of spices, vegetables, and fruits that were available during those days – I love it so much.
There’s something grounding about such a life where nearly everything is made by hand, and everything you touch is natural – wood, linen, cotton, wool, fur.
I love lighting candles and heating up water over the fire for dishes and laundry and making our 12th century bed with linen sheets, wool blankets, and a quilt modeled after a 10th century design. I like spreading hand-woven Bedouin rugs on the ground, smoking homemade cheeses, and sitting down at night with a pewter cup of homemade strawberry liqueur. Such rituals calm and settle me.
Such experiences do not come easy, however. It takes a massive amount of work to create a small medieval village for our group, Blackwolf. We erect three large tents with wooden tent poles, steel pegs, and hemp ropes, then fill them with beds, chairs, tables, shelving, storage boxes, rugs, lights, and all the bits and pieces needed for everyday life. Then we sent up two market tents where we demonstrate medieval processes for making linen, coffee, ale, medicine, and tribal food, and, last but not least, a covering for our campfire to keep us protected from sun and rain while we cook over the fire.
Phew. Needless to say, it would be easy to get run down if we weren’t careful. So we make sure to arrive early to events and pace ourselves with plenty of breaks in between pounding in pegs and putting furniture together.
I like to find a shady spot in our tent and settle into my comfy chair with my feet up on a stool, a blanket in my lap, and a good book and cup of tea. It’s so nice to sit quietly surrounded by medieval things with a book that takes me into the past and teaches me more about how things were. I always have so many questions: How did they harvest things? What did they use spices for? If they got a burn or arrow wound, what did they do? How did they store things so bugs and mice didn’t ruin them? So many questions.
Other times I step away from medieval life entirely, and lose myself in gorgeous images of France with its stunning castles, gardens, and restaurants. Europe holds so many precious memories for me, and looking at pictures of places that inspired me years ago renews those feelings of peace and utter joy. Sipping red wine at the same time is always a good idea, and does wonders for soothing muscles that are aching from shifting boxes and tent poles. With my soul restored and filled up to the brim with inspiration, I’m ready to get back to work.
Today I’m home again, emptying boxes of medieval gear and getting everything put back where it belongs. There are spices to pack away, cheesecloth to sterilize, mountains of laundry to wash, and so many dishes to dry and tuck away into boxes for next time. So I’m making sure to take breaks again – a leisurely breakfast, time in bed with the next chapter of a book, walking up to check on pigs and goats.
When you’re working on a big project, what do you like to do on breaks to refresh your spirits? xo
by Krista | Jul 14, 2017 | Winter
The farm is dark and quiet this afternoon with thick clouds overhead like a muffling blanket. It’s a day to stay warm inside with hot mugs of tea, cups of smoky ham soup, and writing projects to keep me busy.
I’m home again from Abbey Medieval Festival where we spent 8 amazing days living in our medieval tents, cooking over the fire, and visiting with dear friends by lamplight. These events are always a lot of work, but those moments with loved ones are precious indeed, and make every late night and early morning well worth it.
One of my favorite parts was having the time to make medieval medicines and medieval nomad food over our camp fire, feeling like a proper witch as I stirred big pots of healing concoctions with long handled wooden spoons.
I simmered elderberries with cinnamon, clove, and star anise to make an immune-boosting cordial, and boiled hawthorne berries into a strong syrup sweetened with raw honey from our own hives. I made Bedouin wheat stew with slow-cooked meat and wild onions, smoked cheeses, and brewed yarrow tea to soothe aching heads. I foraged plantain leaves from the Abbeystowe grounds and mashed them with a mortar and pestle for a poultice and steeped jasmine flowers to calm rattled nerves.
I sipped and sniffed and tasted, adding a bit more honey here, an extra spoonful of dried herbs there, until everything was just right. Then I decanted and bottled and poured into bowls, getting it all on display for my demonstrations on medieval folk medicine and medieval Bedouin food and cheese-making.
It was so much fun and I loved every bit of it.
My newly printed books arrived in time to sell, and I loved sharing them with so many people eager to learn about the past and experiment at home making things to feed and nourish their families.
It was especially great meeting people from all over the world – Iran, Romania, Egypt, Germany – and hearing their stories of the foods and remedies their ancestors passed down through generations. One lady even brought me a bottle of one of her healing drams – ginger, calendula, and other herbs steeped in port wine. So delicious and soothing to my throat that was downright weary from two days of talking.
Now I’m home and ready to share my books with you luvs, too. You can order online directly from me through my Etsy shoppe here (worldwide shipping available). If you would like a signed copy, let me know in the note who you would like me to address the signing to, and I’ll be sure to personalize before I ship it.
Wishing you a beautiful weekend with your loves. xo
by Krista | Jun 14, 2017 | Winter
Our little house is quiet and still tonight after days of rain and wind. Bear and I had a big day working with our animals, weeding the carrot patch, and tackling a pile of work projects, and it was lovely to finish everything tonight and have corn chowder and grilled cheese sandwiches and just rest a while.
We’re still unpacking from a wonderful medieval event over the weekend. Wood smoke has permeated all my clothing, and it makes me smile to catch whiffs of it as I sort through boxes and baskets of cloaks, medieval garb, and linens.
It’s always so good to get away to these events, to get our medieval tents set up, make our beds with linen sheets and wool blankets, and light a fire in the campfire Bear modeled after one in the Bayeux Tapestry.
The fire is the heart of our medieval life. It’s where we gather before the sun is up to heat water for coffee, waiting to wrap cold fingers around a steaming hot brew.
It’s where we stand at every meal to fry up sausages and potatoes, flip pancakes, or simmer big pots of homemade soup, curry, or stew.
It’s where I boil more water to brew my medieval medicines and heat up whole milk to show people how to make cheese.
And it’s where we linger at night, huddled close in our woolen cloaks, clutching drinking horns or cups filled with mead, wine, beer, or homemade liqueurs, talking for hours with dear friends.
It’s those connections I treasure most, listening to outrageous stories, sharing heartaches and happinesses, looking around at beloved faces glowing in the firelight. Sometimes I stand back in the darkness and just watch, smiling at the cozy warmth of the scene, fixing it in my mind for those days that need a bit of warmth and light in them. I feel so lucky to be part of this crazy tribe, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything. xo
by Krista | Jun 2, 2017 | Winter
Winter arrived in a flurry of wind with a dusting of frost, turning lush, green eggplants into crunchy, brown bushes overnight.
Other tender plants, nasturtiums and horseradish, didn’t fare too well either, their leaves looking freezer burned. But so many other plants are flourishing, and it seems the frost gave them an extra kick. Red cabbage and kohlrabi, rainbow chard and mustard greens, leeks and turnips, they all look healthy and vibrant.
Some plants defied nature and instead of looking shriveled and puny like their other warm weather friends, they look great. The elderflower hedge continues to produce flowers, asparagus keeps popping up despite numerous cut backs and a heavy layer of compost, and capsicum and tomatoes keep flowering and fruiting. I don’t mind, not one bit. They’re a lovely addition to our winter menu.
This week, after letting the goats glean in the hay barn, I shoveled out most of the leftovers, filling wheelbarrows with mounds of old lucerne, sorghum, and goat droppings. Then I spread the mixture in thick layers over pathways to keep the weeds down, and in thinner layers as mulch around my winter veggies. It’s so lovely looking out over golden paths and garden beds shimmering in the late afternoon sun.
I’ve also been working in the orchards, harvesting the few precious citrus fruits that miraculously survived two hail storms – Tahitian limes, grapefruits, lemons, and lemonades – and getting ready to prune and transplant now that cold weather is finally here.
Since our orchards are mostly comprised of mystery trees and seconds that nobody wanted, it’s been fun to see what survived and what gets chopped up to be used for smoking hams and sausages later this winter.
The nut trees did not fare well in this years’ horrendous heat, so I’ll be replacing them with hardy plums, apples, and pears that seem to totter along no matter what the weather does. The figs, pomegranates, quince, and olives did splendidly, and they’ll be getting a good layer of compost and mulch for the winter. The apricots and peaches came through as well, and they’ll just need a good pruning, along with the apples, pears, and plums, to make a good start in the spring.
The summer and autumn herbs I harvested and hung to dry are now ready. I’ve been stripping the leaves into fragrant piles and storing them in glass jars where they’ll be ready to be used in herbal teas and medicines this winter. They look so beautiful to me.
I started a new job this week and am really enjoying it. My colleagues are good people, comfy to be around and savvy and professional in business. I know I’m going to learn a lot.
I’ve also been expanding my wood-burning, designing new cutting boards and cheese boards, cutting them out, sanding and shaping, getting them ready to be burned. I love working with wood.
Although I’ve been concentrating on prepping my gardens for winter, I’ve still been harvesting, collecting snow peas and sugar snap peas, turnips and eggplants, chilies and rainbow chard. One day I hope to get to the place where all our vegetables and fruit come from our gardens and orchards, but for now I’m happy to have these delicious and healthy things ready for picking.
Soon it will be time to taste-test the apple and banana wines I made last year. They should nearly be ready for bottling and drinking on cold winter evenings. I still have a few bottles of mulberry liqueur and strawberry liqueur, but I’m saving those for later winter when we need reminders that spring is coming.
I feel ready for winter this year, needing that time of hibernation and reflection in my life as I decide what to hang on to and what to let go of. I’m looking forward to cold mornings huddled in bed with hot chocolate and my journal, taking the time to process what is happening around me, and what my role in it is. I’ve got stacks of books piled by the bed, books of thoughts to think, places to see, things to make, and I’m enjoying these shorter days and longer evenings when I actually have time to read them.
What’s your favorite part of the season you’re in? xo
