Weekly Update: 10.14.23
It's been a beautiful week full of productivity. The dappled Ozarks October days have provided the perfect backdrop to the longer hours we can now put in. We had a fire several nights this week, and I have to say -- waking up to the smell of woodsmoke is one of life's greatest pleasures.
The change in seasons has ushered in a welcome change in habits. The nights come earlier, which means we (attempt) to get into the tent earlier, which means we have (a little) more free time in the evenings. The summer days were so long, by nightfall we tended to collapse into bed and sleep. This month, we have actually enjoyed some reading or TV. We also had time to try an overnight breakfast recipe -- Pumpkin Overnight Oats from Well Plated by Erin. We made a double batch, and it turned out delicious. We plan to make it again soon.
The cold weather has made an increase in our hot beverage consumption, and we have been having a mug shortage for the last couple weeks. Part of the problem is my little nieces breaking mugs while helping wash dishes (the girls are newer to the chore), but partly we are just using mugs more often. My mom found a good deal on a case of basic white mugs, which finally arrived yesterday. We have been making good use of them already.
On almost every Sunday since moving out here, we have made homemade ice cream. We tried a new flavor nearly every week, sampling everything from cherry-nut to banana to chocolate. In honor of fall (and the last warm Sunday in the forecast), we made pumpkin-pie ice cream (as always, no-sugar-added). It turned out delicious. Our ice cream maker has been sounding like it was churning on borrowed time, and during the last batch, it finally quit working. It was an affordable, Walmart purchase with plastic gears. By next summer, we hope to fix our antique hand-crank ice cream maker, which is of course made entirely of metal and wood. The pumpkin ice cream felt like the end of an era, which it was.
All of our work days ran together this week. I worked on cutting rafters most days, taking breaks to cut blocking and sheathing. It's a tedious job, so I wore earbuds -- often listening to the news, podcasts from the Daily Wire, the Bible, and a good chunk of George Eliot's Middlemarch.
Our method for installing rafters is putting up sections of the half-wall as we go, adjusting the walls plumb. It has continued to be slow-going, but we are pleased with our progress, considering we could only install rafters in the evenings when our brothers were off work.
Grace made progress in the white-washing project, finishing the rafters and moving on to our roof decking. We will be using plywood siding for our open-rafter ceiling (a concept we saw online). We have continued to use a whitewash mix of 1-part-paint-2-parts-water, and the wood is turning out beautifully. The whitewashing has taken longer than any of us thought it would, but it doesn't matter, since the rafter installation process is even slower. Bonnie-Jean worked wherever she was needed, moving heavy boards, taking care of the dogs, and helping with the multitude of camp chores that always need to be attended to.
In other news, a cat family joined our homestead this week -- either temporarily or indefinitely. Last Saturday evening, a new cat showed up at dinnertime. Several strays have lurked around for months, but they always keep their distance. This cat was different. She waited by the grill, begging politely for scraps. The next morning, we saw her again -- this time with two kittens. They seemed to be sheltering under our tractor. When it became clear over the next days that they weren't leaving anytime soon, Jeremiah converted our rarely used doghouse into a cat shelter. The mama and the black kitten are friendly, but the gray kitten is very skittish. We have been feeding and trying to socialize them while they are here. We don't know if the cats are strays or if they were dumped. It's also possible they are visiting from one of the many nearby barns. We aren't getting overly attached, since the cats may move on. But if they stick around much longer, I think we will have to name them.
One Wednesday this week, when all the men were scheduled to work and Erin and the kids had some errands, we sisters (along with our mom) carved out a little time for some self-care. While we keep quite clean out here with our gas powered shower, it is difficult to do any deep primping. Our mom spoiled us with ordering supplies for a fall foot soak and spa. We filled steaming buckets of water with mulling spice and Epsom salt, and we sat in the woods and just enjoyed a quiet moment. A summer alternating between work boots and flipflops had done a number to my feet, and I almost didn't recognize them when we were done with the treatment. It was a delightful experience.
It's been a good week for us. It has been a calm, study progression forward. I feel like the rich blessings all around us are thrown into relief against the onslaught of sad world news this week. It has been heartbreaking to hear of the atrocities committed against Israel -- our prayers are with the country as a whole and the broken families in particular. Within our own borders, the culture war continues unabated, as our nation drifts further and further from the Judeo-Christian ethics it was founded on. Out here away from everything, it could be too easy to turn off the news and forget. And I have to be honest -- one draw of country life is getting a little distance from problematic social agendas, supply chain issues, and even threats of terrorism (I'm old enough to remember 9/11). But as a Christian, I can never forget the lost I am called to help.
By getting some distance from these issues, we are choosing a lifestyle where we can not only survive but thrive -- so that we can continue to be lights in the world (Matthew 5:14). I've written elsewhere about Rod Dreher's The Benedict Option. Dreher called for Christians to follow the example of St. Benedict and other believers who preserved Christianity during dark times. Choosing to limit our exposure to the world in favor of surrounding ourselves with a nature that declares God's glory can be a vital part of that goal (Psalm 19.1). Just this week, I listened to a Jordan Peterson podcast where he referenced the healing power of working hard physically in the outdoors. By homesteading, we are forging a path back to our natural habitat as human beings. For millennia, the vast majority of people lived agrarian lifestyles. It's only in the last couple centuries that we decided we could try something else -- and judging by the state of our country, the experiment doesn't seem to be going well.
Choosing to say no to urbanization seems like a step toward a lifestyle in keeping with God's very good creation (Genesis 1:31). By choosing to have some space from the chaos of the world, we allow ourselves not only room to heal from our own hurts and grow through our own issues, but we also cultivate a vantage point from which to offer hope to those who need it. For us, homesteading isn't about fear. It's about rediscovering the good life God gave us and showing others that they can do the same.