by Krista | Jul 24, 2017 | Winter
You know it’s cold when you can see your breath in the house. Brrr! Thank goodness for warm woollies and hot cups of tea and luscious winter sunshine streaming into the kitchen.
On Saturday, our lovely Canadian friends, Sallie and Marshal, came over to help us rob our remaining beehives. It is always way more fun doing big projects with good friends. We had a splendid time visiting as we cut caps off the bee frames, spun them in the spinner to get all the honey out, then tucked them back in the beehive so our bees could get back to building again.
We ended up with heaps of honey and mounds of honeycomb. It’s so cold that it’s taking ages for the honey to filter through cheesecloth, but it’s going to be gorgeous when it’s done. I love filling clear glass jars with our honey, lining them up on the counter, and watching the late morning sunshine turn them into luminous, rich gold.
After a warming lunch of Sallie’s grandmother’s famous soup, we headed out to the orchards armed with 6-foot crowbars and shovels and dug 24 holes and planted 24 trees. Phew! We laughed how we all sink our teeth into a project and don’t let go until it’s done – even when we should! We hobbled our way back to the farmhouse wondering how on earth we were going to move for the next two days. We’ve been nursing bee stings (Marshal seriously looks like a Klingon after a particularly nasty sting on his forehead) and monster blisters (me, good heavens, my right hand looks like it’s been through the wars) and aching muscles (every last one of us), but boy are we happy with the completed orchards.
In years to come we’ll harvest pears and quinces, plums and peaches, apricots and olives, pomegranates and apples and figs, and all sorts of citrus varieties. When that happens, all our aches and pains will be distant memories.
In a couple of weeks, we’ll head to Sallie and Marshal’s to help them build a sauna and put in their spring garden. Life is so much better when you can share the workload and support each other in achieving dreams and goals that are much more feasible with many hands pitching in to help.
Yesterday morning I went out and watered all the trees, making sure they had a good soaking in as they established roots in their new home. Then I checked on our established trees. I was astounded to see the apricots already in bud, ready to flower any day now. Winter is flying by, and before I know it, spring will be here.
After all that hard work, we were ready for a rest, so yesterday was spent in comfy chairs watching movies, in bed taking naps, and tucked under a warm blanket reading the next few chapters of a good book.
This week is all about writing – travel pieces, picnics and tea parties, magazine features, my weekly self-sufficiency column, and putting together the outline for my next book. It feels great to tackle each project then send it off to my editors, done and dusted.
What are you working on this week? xo
by Krista | Jul 20, 2017 | Winter
After weeks of mild weather, winter returned with a howling fury this week, sending temperatures plummeting and frigid winds sneaking down collars and up pant legs to chill us to our bones. Brrr. We’ve been wrapping numb fingers around cuppas each morning before bundling up and heading outside to work on the farm.
In spite of the cold, it’s a great time for working outside. Hauling fruit trees, digging holes, and pruning trees are splendid ways to get the blood moving and warm us from head to toe.
And the early morning light is pure magic.
I love walking over the farm before starting work. Watching the sun rise over golden fields, illuminating each petal and leaf as it inches higher, is balm to my soul. My thoughts settle, breathing slows, and whatever the day holds is much easier to navigate.
The last 5-6 months have been intense, and I’ve had little to no time to focus on farm projects. I missed it dreadfully and am so glad to be in a new season where I can focus on our home and farm again.
This week I’ve been in the orchards and my tree nursery getting over 30 fruit, flowering, and palm trees ready for planting.
Palms, magnolias, and Virginia Creeper are going in around the chook palace to provide both beauty and shade. Later I’ll under plant with mint and lavender to deter mice and rats.
I planted elderflowers in an old duck pen with a lovely fig tree, a bush lemon in another, and a Green Horse Perry Pear, Granny Smith, and a crabapple in the Chook Orchard.
Today I went to the nursery and weeded all the trees that were waiting in pots and bags to be planted. I hauled them to the Chook Orchard and Big Orchard and got them set out on the spots where they’ll be planted. There are sugar plums, red blood plums, and mystery plums, peaches and snow apples and Old World breed apples, cider pears and cider apples. I’m so excited to see them in a few years covered with gorgeous fruit ready to be turned into delicious preserves, ciders, wines, and desserts.
This afternoon I grabbed our big branch cutters and shears and started the massive task of pruning all the fruit trees. After several devastating hail storms earlier this year, there was a lot of damage to be pruned away. They’re looking rather pitiful at the moment, but after pruning for a couple of years now, I know that a good pruning will result in better growth for the tree and better fruit production. They’ll be back to their dignified selves in no time.
Tomorrow I’ll be back to digging holes, armed with a 6-foot crowbar, sturdy shovel, and muscles that are feeling much better after a day off from digging. I can’t wait to get the last of the trees planted, watered, and ready to flourish this spring.
Now it’s time for a hot shower, a glass of cherry liqueur to warm my bones, and a book to read while Bear watches footy. 🙂
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
_logo.svg){kind=logo}
