Weekly Update: 3.30.24
In my family, we call the weeks from the end of February to the beginning of April "birthday season." Of the 11 of us living on the homestead, more than half are born during this time. When you add in St. Patrick's Day, Maundy Thursday/Passover, Easter, and Levi and Erin's Anniversary, it can feel like we are being almost overwhelmed with days to commemorate. And this year, seven of these celebrations are packed into the same week. For the last few years, we have started to combine celebrations for everyone's sanity.
So for us, this week began with birthday party preparations. A cold, winter-like Saturday made caulking and applying PVC cement impractical anyway. We ladies spent the day cooking and organizing for the Sunday birthday party, when we celebrated our dad and niece Chloe. We enjoyed showering them with gifts and spoiling them on their party day. Dad enjoyed the opportunity to take a rare day of true rest. The weather was windy but beautiful, and Chloe spent several hours practicing with her new recurve bow.
The early part of the week was either cold or wet or both, so we didn't get as much done on the bunkhouse as we usually do. I had a bad migraine for several days anyway (due to allergy season), so I didn't mind having a couple days inside.
When I felt up to it, I worked on our next Menards supply order. We recently revised our roofing plans, as we decided to add some framing and support for our chimney and venting areas before installing the metal. I ordered some of our chimney components as well as vent flashing.
I also did some research on honey bees this week. We are fascinated with the idea of capturing a local honey bee swarm for our hive. We watched some videos by Ozarks beekeeper Dr. Leo Sharashkin, who runs the Horizontal Hive website. Sharashkin suggests that captured bees are more adapted to the local environment and are, therefore, heartier and healthier. Using his resources, we plan to pick up some supplies over the weekend to build a couple swarm traps.
On Wednesday, the weather dried out and warmed up enough for us to do a bunch of laundry. On the last load, our washing machine decided to finally quit working. We knew the bearings probably needed replaced, as the spinning cycle had gotten quite loud. Since the washing machine had some other issues, we decided not to try to fix it. Instead, we thought we would use it until it died. That death finally happened Wednesday evening. Grace and I had to wring out the last load by hand, and we are now handwashing our laundry. We ordered some more wash tubs, a wringer (something I've wanted forever), as well as a hand agitator. We are just thankful we made it through the winter with our old machine. Once the bunkhouse is finished, we will purchase a new washer -- as we don't want to put a brand new washer on our wall tent porch. In the meantime, we may keep an eye out for a free or low-priced used washer for this purpose.
Levi and Grace continued working on our drain system. As of Friday, they were pretty much finished. We just need to add one more section after we get the bathtub installed.
On the warm days, we spent some time in the garden. Look for an update from Bonnie-Jean later this week.
On Thursday, we treated ourselves to a small hike around our land. We haven't done that since last year, and we wanted to see what spring is unfolding on our place. It felt so good to explore a bit, we promised ourselves we would make more time for walking in the future.
Thursday evening, we enjoyed a traditional seder in acknowledgement of Maundy Thursday. Growing up, we often celebrated Passover. We started it as a homeschooling foray, but we found that it helped us to locate the story of Jesus' resurrection within the larger story of His Messiahship. Years later, we attended a church that held services on Maundy Thursday, the day the Church remembers Jesus' last celebration of Passover and the institution of the Lord's supper. I love this tradition and what it adds to holy week.
We especially enjoyed this Chocolate-Matzo Layer Cake. We have never made anything like it, but we will definitely be making it again.
Today, we will make a trip to Springfield to pick up supplies for our water lines and sleeping lofts, as well as groceries for an Easter/birthday celebration on Sunday. We are hoping to attend a sunrise service in the morning, rejoicing in the holiest of holidays. For Christians, Resurrection Sunday remembers the first day of God's new Creation -- a first step in His making all things new. While we still await His final work in restoring all things, we rejoice in the redemption He is already pouring out through the work of Christ on the Cross. But that is tomorrow. Today -- on this holy Saturday, we are still waiting to begin our remembering.
O God, Creator of heaven and earth: Grant that, as the crucified body of your dear Son was laid in the tomb and rested on this holy Sabbath, so we may await with him the coming of the third day, and rise with him to newness of life; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Collect for Holy Saturday, Book of Common Prayer, 2019
