And Now For Something Completely Different

Obviously I abandoned the whole "30 Days of Thankfulness Challenge"... again... but at least I wrote more than once this year! :D Let's take a moment to celebrate the joys of underachievement.

The reason I stopped posting, however, (other than the fact that I was traveling... and folding laundry... and, okay, mostly procrastinating...), is that I'm working on some long-overdue updates for this blog and making a plan for posting more regularly in the new year. Here's to fresh starts, and I hope everyone is having a wonderful Christmas season. :)

30 Days of Thankfulness – Day 11

Every morning, I’m thankful for coffee. One of the most bewildering discoveries I made after moving here was that the nearest Starbucks is about 40 minutes away from our house. This seemed inconceivable after living in a college town with at least five Starbucks locations. Was I even in America? How would I get those delicious salted caramel mochas and gingerbread lattes? How would I know Christmas was coming without those cheery red cups? What would I do when I needed some of the ‘Bucks?!

Thankfully I managed to survive after I got over the shock, and when we do swing by Starbucks after market every month or so and share the biggest, most seasonal coffee we can buy, it’s such a fun treat. When my wonderful Mom even brought us a pack of “Via” pumpkin spice latte mixes when she visited last month, I was pretty much in heaven.

However, most of the time we survive on brewed coffee from home, and besides saving a ton of money (I was a bi-weekly offender), it’s super delicious. Our current favorite is Leelanau Coffee Roasting Company’s “Foothills Blend.” We picked some up when we were visiting Sleeping Bear Dunes with my parents, and it is seriously the best coffee I’ve ever tasted.

Not that I won't be heading to Starbucks for a peppermint mocha in the very near future. Shh.

30 Days of Thankfulness – Day 10

Today I went on a “Grocery Date” with Will. We drove to Ludington together and then while Will made some farming-related purchases at Lowe’s and Tractor Supply, I shopped the deals at Meijer. I was lured there by the promise of Will’s favorite brand of canned tomatoes (now that I type that out, it sounds weird, but they really are tasty). The bad news is, they were all out of whole tomatoes (devastating!). The good news is, they had plenty of crushed and diced, so I stocked up. We are serious about our canned tomatoes around here. (Probably this is the point where all three readers of this blog die of boredom and abruptly stop reading). Call me crazy, but planning meals, stalking coupons, and hunting down deals at Meijer on my bi-monthly shopping trip is one of my most thrilling activities these days… I give up. I'm crazy.

Besides the amazing canned tomato saga, after Will ran his errands and rejoined me at Meijer, we swung by the cereal aisle and bought a box of Oatmeal Squares as a treat, which we promptly went home and devoured. (If I was actually the tribal hunter I delusionally think I am while grocery shopping, this would be the equivalent of eating the heart and other desirable organs first in celebration of our victory). A successful grocery date that ended with bowls of tasty cereal to munch on as a late-night snack? I’m thankful. :)

30 Days of Thankfulness – Day 9

Will and I drove to The Big City (otherwise known as Muskegon) after dinner to attend a free financial seminar about basic small business accounting. It was rainy and wet and neither of us really wanted to venture out, but as dull as “financial seminar” sounds, we actually really enjoyed it. Listening to the lecture while quietly taking notes at our tables felt kind of like being back at college to me, except I was holding hands with my best friend under the table, and there were no tests, grades, or piles of homework (definitely a win-win… win… situation). We also got some helpful example forms to get us started keeping records of our own small business finances and my inner nerd gets excited about neat little columns where numbers add up at the bottom. I was pretty gleeful by the end, and Will was envisioning how, if we could just persuade my inner accounting nerd to focus, maybe we could keep much neater records of our farm finances.

One of the best things about the little seminar was that after it was over we got to drive home and eat ice cream. I didn’t even really like ice cream before I married Will, but, unfortunately, Country Dairy has made me a convert. Nutty Java Moo has even brought me to the point that once I took a spoon and furtively treated myself to a delicious bite of cold, creamy goodness straight from the carton in our freezer. That may not seem too terrible, but a secret spoonful is a slippery slope to bowlfuls and then cartonfuls and then before I know it I could end up in ice-cream-aholics anonymous, so I try to keep such episodes to a minimum. Will trustingly leaves that ice cream with me when he goes to work, and with great power comes great responsibility. I had better stop before I get any more over-dramatic... writing about all this ice cream is making me hungry. Anyway, on this particular night we broke into a carton of "Mookies & Cream" that Will had brought home earlier in the day as a special treat, and we decided unanimously that it was one of our new favorites. I’m thankful for nights that end with ice cream.

30 Days of Thankfulness – Day 8

One of the things I have been really thankful for since moving to rural West Michigan is the local library. For one thing, Michigan has a great library loan system called MelCat – the selection is truly impressive and I have had so much fun requesting books that I never was able to find at the local library back home. Getting the call that our books are in is always exciting. :)

Another great thing about the library is that it has internet. There are some things that are great about not having internet at our house… namely, that I get a lot more done. It’s amazing how much harder it is to procrastinate or get distracted without YouTube or Facebook hanging out nearby (unfortunately, I’m still a pretty creative procrastinator without their help). However, I still think the internet is a great tool (and sometimes just plain fun), so a couple of times a week I go to the library and check my email, clip Mperks coupons and plan my next shopping trip, check our banking, read a few friends’ blogs, or (most recently) upload the latest posts I’ve written. My favorite stop is (I admit) Pinterest. I held out a long time before I joined that site, but it’s so useful, and kind of a treat too. I love finding new recipe ideas there, and I save a smattering to my computer to try throughout the week. Will’s dinners would be decidedly less varied without the magic of Pinterest. There are lots of fun ideas on there for other things too, if you sift through the impossible and sometimes ridiculous.

Yet another thing I like about the library is how cozy it is. On days I am feeling a little isolated out in the corn fields with the chickens, it’s so nice to be able to drive a few miles down the road into the local “village,” walk into the local library, and peruse the shelves for new books or look at pretty homemaking ideas on Pinterest, and listen to the quiet, cheerful murmur of the librarians and patrons. There's even a fireplace. A fireplace! Sometimes it's hard to drag myself away.

Tonight after Will got off work we met at the library for a little “Library Date” to use the internet and look at books together at one of the little tables. We had so much fun on our little “date” that we decided to make it a weekly visit, as our schedule allows. After we got home I cooked up some Winter Veggie Soup with Bacon Avocado Grilled Cheese Sandwiches on the side. The soup was very delicious, but was even better the second day. Here’s the recipe, in case you too are feeling a hankering in your soul for some hearty veggie soup. I threw in a few more spices and added a bit of bacon that I had fried up for the sandwiches (because Will doesn't believe in meals without meat).

Winter Veggie Soup

recipe adapted from Butterflyfood

1 tbsp olive oil

4-5 strips of bacon (cooked and chopped into 1 in. pieces)

1 onion, chopped

2 cloves of garlic, chopped finely

2 stalks of celery, chopped

3 carrots, chopped

1-2 tsps fresh thyme

assorted spices

sea salt and fresh ground pepper

1 28-oz can of crushed tomatoes

3 pints of water

1 cup of pasta (your choice - I used ziti)

In a 5-quart dutch oven over medium heat, add the olive oil, onion, carrots, celery, garlic, thyme and salt and pepper and cook until veggies are just soft. Add the bacon, tomatoes, and water and simmer for 15 minutes. Taste, and if necessary, throw in other spices with wild abandon (I recommend a bit of oregano, basil, cayenne and cumin). Add the pasta and cook for another 8-10 min. Serves 4-6.

30 Days of Thankfulness – Day 7

I’m thankful for Mondays. I love the weekends and the extra time I get to spend with Will, but often they’re quite busy and by the time the weekend is over our house sometimes looks like it was hit by a category 4 hurricane. Because of farmer’s market and Will’s job, Saturday is often still a work day or spent running errands, and Sunday is our day to go to church, visit with family, or curl up at home with a book and leave the dinner dishes in the sink for once.

I enjoy the adventure of Saturdays with Will, and I love getting to rest together on Sundays, but Monday’s are comfortingly quiet and unscheduled, a day to return to the comfortable, everyday routine of housework and bring the weekend chaos back into check… to wash the leftover Sunday evening dishes, to throw in a load of laundry, to plan meals for the week ahead, to manage mail, and to straighten up the house until I can sit down for a moment with a cup of coffee and just look happily at the clean kitchen sink.

So oddly enough, I'm thankful for Mondays.

30 Days of Thankfulness – Day 6

I’m really thankful for my family. Will and I had so much fun when my parents visited us last month. It was wonderful being able to explore more of Michigan together, to share our home with them, and even to spend a day butchering chickens together. However most of the time we’re separated by 951 miles of road, and I often miss morning coffee with Mom or seeing my Dad when he gets home from work.

I’m truly grateful for Will’s family and how welcoming, warm, and encouraging they have been. Sunday, after church, they invited us over for lunch, and we had so much fun sitting at the long kitchen table, eating lunch and talking and laughing. It’s been so nice to know we have Will’s parents nearby, and although sometimes I still forget to call them mom and dad, they treat me like one of their own daughters and I feel so blessed and overwhelmed to have two pairs of such loving, Godly parents in our lives.

I’m so grateful for both of our parents, and how they call to check on us and love and support us throughout each and every week. I’m thankful for our brothers and sisters – Sean and I were co-conspirators and best buddies growing up, and I never dreamed the joy of having eleven more siblings one day. I am thankful that God places the lonely into families, and how our family in Christ is always growing.

30 Days of Thankfulness – Day 5

The market manager took these pictures a few months ago.

Today was Saturday, and so, in usual Saturday morning fashion, Will and I drove down to the local Farmer’s Market (about 40 minutes south) and sold pastured chicken for a few hours this morning. It was a chilly day, but the building we have market in during the winter is nice and toasty, and it always feels so festive with the bustle of vendors and customers, and all the colorful tables of fresh veggies, flowers, cheeses, breads, natural meats, honey, maple syrup, soaps, aprons, etc. It’s fun to see the community of the market, how it’s a place to bump into friends, share stories, swap recipes, get advice, and of course, decide on what to eat for dinner (Will always recommends pastured pork or chicken).


My favorite part, however, is getting to work side-by-side with Will and see him enjoying work he loves and is gifted at. Sometimes (especially on cold mornings) I contemplate pulling the covers over my head and going back to sleep rather than getting up at 5am to fill coolers with meat, but by the time we climb into the car I’m always grateful for the time I get to just chat and laugh with Will on the drive down, and the merry hours we get to spend together talking to people and selling something we worked hard to produce. Will is really in his element at market, and it always renews my admiration for him.

30 Days of Thankfulness - Day 4

Today I'm thankful for Christmas music. I know it may be considered too early by many, but as far as I'm concerned, September 1st heralds changing leaves, scarves, Christmas anticipation, and pumpkin spice from then on out. When I was smaller, Christmas seemed to stretch leisurely across several months of cookie-baking, tree-decorating, and gift-making. Unfortunately, over the years  it seemed to get suspiciously shorter and shorter until I found myself in college, where by the time I emerged from the exam-week coma of studying and classes there was only one week left to celebrate. The horror! Therefore, I feel no shame in marginally celebrating Christmas all autumn. When it's cold outside and the days are dark and overcast, washing dishes and folding laundry are far more festive when Harry Connick, Jr. is singing "Let it Snow." Christmas music can make the greyest of days cheerier, and always makes me want to bake something hot and spiced, start working on Christmas gifts (which, with my penchant for procrastination, is much needed), or wish I had an open fire to roast chestnuts on. What about y'all?

I leave you with one of my favorites. Enjoy. And then try not to go bake some gingerbread.

30 Days of Thankfulness – Day 3

Today I’m so thankful for rainy autumn days. Michigan is always pleasant and lovely, but in autumn, the land is wildly, strikingly beautiful. Everywhere I go I see soft brown and crimson hills sloping into mist, crowned with feathery woods of burnt orange and bright gold. The colors stand out even more richly on grey, overcast days of steady autumn rain.



I’m also thankful for fresh eggs. We ordered chicks in May and have been raising a little flock of 30 assorted laying hens all summer. Just last week they started laying and it has been so much fun to hunt around for a hidden brown egg or two each day when we move their pen to fresh grass. Today, however, we were excited to find six eggs, including a sea green one courtesy of one of our Ameraucana ladies.





But most of all, I’m so thankful for a quiet evening with my best friend, eating black bean chipotle chili and Cornish pasties for dinner on this cold, rainy evening, and then snuggling up to watch The Emperor’s New Groove. (Grown-ups do that, right?).

30 Days of Thankfulness – Day 2

Today I’m thankful for the bountiful supply of Michigan apples which Will and I have been enjoying this year. I’ve never really had a taste for apples before, even when my family lived in Washington state and they were readily available – I didn’t have a wild dislike for them really, but I usually got bored halfway through eating one. I’ve never really understood why that tempting forbidden fruit that Eve tasted was always depicted as an apple, or why you’d call a loved one the “apple of your eye,” or why Hera wanted Hercules to steal the apples of the Hesperides. Okay, well... I guess that last one I can understand, the apples in question being all golden and mysterious and guarded by a dragon and what-not. Still, a golden pineapple would have been much more impressive. In short, my relationship with apples has always been apathetic at best. However, living within a few miles of more family-run apple orchards than I could shake a stick at (however many that mythical number may be), I’ve begun to see the appeal. I never knew there were so many unique varieties, or how crisp and refreshingly tart-sweet a newly-picked apple can be.

Will and I have been enjoying munching on Crispins and Ginger Golds, but I’ve also been enjoying finding other uses for them. I made a few pies with our Ida Golds, and tried my hand at apple butter for the first time today. We had an overabundance of Cortlands, so I tried this recipe. It was super convenient in that it practically cooked itself all day while I worked around the house and ran errands with Will – all I had to do at the end of the day was heat up the canner, spoon the finished apple butter into jars, and process them for 10 minutes before I went to bed. The best part was how the delicious scent of simmering apples and spices filled up the kitchen all day. It made our home feel like such a cozy oasis, especially with the bright gold and orange of the leaves outside the kitchen window and the patter of cold rain on the panes.

Photo via allrecipes.com

All Day Apple Butter
Adapted from allrecipes.com
Prep Time: 30-90 minutes*
Cook time: 11 hours
Ready in: 11 hours 30 minutes
Servings: 128 (fills about 3-4 pint jars)

Ingredients

• 5 1/2 pounds apples (peeled, cored, and finely chopped)
• 3 1/2 cups white sugar
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions

1. Place the chopped apples in your crock pot. In a medium bowl, mix the sugar, cinnamon, cloves, and salt. Pour the mixture over the apples in the slow cooker and mix well.
2. Cover and cook on high for 1 hour.
3. Reduce heat to low and cook for 9 hours (longer if necessary), stirring occasionally, until the mixture is thickened and dark brown.
4. Uncover and continue cooking on low for 1 hour. Stir with a whisk, if desired, to increase smoothness.
5. Spoon the mixture into sterile containers, cover, and refrigerate or freeze. I spooned mine into warm, sterile canning jars and processed them for 10 minutes in the canner so I could store them in the pantry.

*Note: The original recipe stated that prep time should take about 30 minutes. It's very possible that it might go that quickly if you are using large apples, or wrangle up a group of friends to help you, or are simply an apple chopping maniac, but it took me quite a bit longer to peel, core, and finely chop 30 apples or so. Plan accordingly. :)

30 Days of Thankfulness – Day 1

Every time I sit down to write a post, I can’t decide where to start, so I thought this might be a good exercise to get myself posting again. After all, there is always something to be thankful for. :)

I am so thankful for William. Life with him gets sweeter every day, and I am so grateful to have such a cheerful, kind, funny, thoughtful, generous, hard-working, faithful, Godly man as my best friend and beloved. I’m thankful that he is so encouraging and cheers me on in even the smallest of successes, and that he is firm in his leadership and willing to confront me in love when I am stubborn. I am thankful for the way he treats every outing as a date, even if it’s just grocery shopping. I’m thankful for Will’s spontaneity and joy of life. I’m thankful for the hilarious things he says in his sleep at 2 am. I’m thankful for his special talent at making the most delicious fried chicken hearts you’ve ever tasted. I’m thankful that he’s never embarrassed to be caught belting out snatches of country songs I’ve never heard of. And most of all, I’m so thankful for all his tenderness, care, and love, and for the way he portrays Christ to me every day.

I could never have imagined the way in which we met, so I am also extraordinarily thankful that God brought us together in the first place. After I graduated from New Saint Andrews college, the one friend I stayed especially close with was the lovely Karyn. I even flew up to visit her in Michigan during September 2011, to celebrate her 21st birthday. While I was there, one of the adventures she had planned for us was to go bowling in Grand Rapids with some friends of hers who had been home-schooled and went to a sister church. She said she thought I might hit it off with the oldest girls especially, so I was curious to meet them. At the bowling alley we met the four oldest siblings: Beck, Will, Grace, and Joe. We had fun chatting and bowling for a few hours, then decided to go get some dinner. We walked around and popped our heads into various places before stopping at an Indian restaurant which turned out to be a little overpriced and had a gigantic tv playing distracting Indian melodramas right next to our table. Still, we had a nice time chatting over dinner. I sat near Beck and Grace and mostly directed my attention to them, since they were the ones I was apparently supposed to be meeting. I also decided that this would be a perfect opportunity for Karyn to meet a nice, local, Christian guy, (after all, their birthdays were one day apart! What else does one need for marital felicity?), so I craftily attempted to give Will and Karyn plenty of time to talk to one another. When we went home after dinner, Karyn asked me what I thought of the family, and Will in particular.

“Karyn, I thought you said there weren’t any nice reformed guys around here for you to meet! What about Will? He’s like-minded, interesting… kind of cute….” I gave her an encouraging smile.

Karyn quickly assured me that Will was not her type and that she didn’t really see herself marrying a homeschooled farmer, but didn’t I think he was nice? I did think Will and his family had seemed rather nice, and that we all might have been friends if we hadn’t grown up in completely different states, but I airily dismissed the whole thing, reminding her that there was no way I would probably ever see them again. I had no idea that, a month earlier, Karyn had told Will at a church picnic that I was coming for a visit and that she would like him to meet me. We both were interested in animals and farming, and we were both homeschooled, reformed, and (strangely enough) receptionists, so she thought we might hit it off. They planned the whole bowling trip and Will brought his siblings along to keep things comfortable. I never suspected, and (perhaps partly because I managed to foil the whole plan by closeting myself with Will's sisters) neither of us came away from our encounter with any definite impressions about the other.

About six months later, in March 2012, I found out that it was possible to keep chickens in our neighborhood, and knew exactly what to ask for my birthday. As my Dad and I built a chicken coop in the backyard and I researched chicken varieties, Karyn teased me that I should really ask William about my endeavor. The things I mostly remembered about Will from our brief encounter were:

1. He raised chicken and sheep on his family’s farm and sold the meat.
2. He was working as a receptionist at Holiday Inn Express at the time.
3. He did not like Taylor Swift music.

The last one, I am afraid to report, made me nervous as I may or may not own several of her cds. I was also still oblivious to the hidden agenda of the failed bowling scheme. In any case, when Karyn and my brother joined forces in encouraging me to ask Will’s advice, I finally gave in and sent him a message on Facebook, which he had just recently joined. Will was very helpful and after we exchanged email addresses I submitted several quandaries about the care and keeping of chickens, to which Will courteously replied. We didn’t write for about a month, but when Will finally checked back in with me on the status of my chickens in late May, our emails puttered back into existence with a few polite questions about our families’ health and the habits of chickens. A few weeks passed and Will told me the story of how his family got into farming, and asked why I had chosen to study nursing. I wrote and explained how I was interested in biology, liked caring for people, and thought a four-year degree might come in handy if I ever got the chance to homeschool my own kids one day. Will promptly asked what class size I would prefer to be blessed with. (so subtle… I love that guy). I was a little taken aback to receive such a personal question, so I told my parents, who knew I was writing Will about chickens, that the emails seemed inexplicably to be drifting off the subject of chickens. About a week later as Dad sat down to breakfast, he informed me that Will had written and asked if he could court me. I nearly choked in astonishment (the good kind of astonishment).

Will courted me for the next few months by email and three-hour-long phone calls, and somehow between Will’s busy work schedule and my first semester of nursing school we managed to visit four times. On December 12th I flew up to visit Karyn as we celebrated the end of the semester. The next evening Will picked me up and drove me back over to the west side of the state, where we had a very delicious dinner at a beautiful Italian restaurant before returning to his family’s house. I spent the night in their pole barn (fitted out as guest quarters), where a crackling fire in the stove and a very sweet letter on my pillow awaited me. I scrambled out of bed before sunrise on December 14th (because of my nursing school schedule, we got up every morning between 4 and 5am to read the Bible and pray together over the phone) and got dressed, and at 5am Will entered bearing a tray of beautifully displayed coffee, grits, and dried fruit. He built a cozy fire and we had a little coffee “tea party” and had a wonderful time laughing over breakfast and exchanging Christmas gifts. After breakfast Will took out his Bible to start devotions, but instead of our usual Proverb, he began reading specially chosen verses alternated with certain meaningful emails he had written to my Dad about me. By the time he got to Proverbs 31 and a last note written just for me, he was tearing up (and so was I), and out of nowhere a beautiful diamond ring appeared from the pages of his Bible and he was on one knee asking if I would be his wife.

I said yes.

Sometimes I wonder… what if my family hadn’t started going to the CREC church-plant in NC where one of the couples recommended that I look into NSA during the very year I was applying to college? What if I hadn’t gotten a scholarship which allowed me to return to NSA my sophomore year and become good friends with Karyn? (We hardly spent any time together at all during my first year). What if we hadn’t kept in touch after we graduated? What if Karyn hadn’t met Will once or twice through church, decided we had a lot in common, and suggested that he meet me? What if I hadn’t realized I could keep chickens the very next year? What if I hadn’t written Will to ask about them? In theory, I was always one easy circumstance away from never meeting Will at all, and that is why I am overwhelmingly, joyfully thankful for him, and for how God works in mysterious ways His wonders to perform, and we can do nothing in our own strength to bring about one jot of it.

Begin Again

Once again, a lot has happened since my last post. I started nursing school, raised chickens in my backyard, quit nursing school, got married to a man more wonderful than I could ever have deserved or imagined, moved to Michigan… it was a pretty full year, to put it mildly. :) I am so overwhelmed by God’s provision and blessings that are far more unique and wonderful than I ever could have dreamed in my wildest imaginings, and His mercies that are new each morning as I stumble and learn each day. :)

As usual, I am also full of good intentions about blogging regularly, and probably as usual will fail miserably. However, in the meantime I will try to make a merry mess of it. Hopefully some of it will be of interest. Here we go…