Yesterday we went to a local farm and harvested 5 buckets of strawberries. It was the perfect weather to be plucking berries and we enjoyed being in the strawberry field with the sound of happy birds singing. The berries had just been washed by the rain and were bursting with delicious sweet flavor! They were at the peak of red ripeness and we felt blessed to arrive at the patch at such perfect timing! It’s so much fun to be down on your hands and knees in a tiny jungle world of bright gem berries and sparkling drops of water. It’s such a gift to eat fresh berries and I savor every bite, knowing it will be another year before we eat freshly picked strawberries again. We filled many bags in our freezer and will appreciate eating them for a long time to come!

Yesterday morning we found two chickens dead outside their yard. Now we are shutting the chickens in the coop again at night and turned the motion activated light back on (it turns on if something is moving outside their coop.) We don’t know what got them, but will be doing some fence mending and more work in the yard and coop tomorrow. They enjoyed eating the green tops we removed from all the strawberries and are starting to eat scratch now.

It’s amazing to think that Sunday will be the first day of Summer! The garden is thriving, the woodshed is already full of wood for next year (the earliest we’ve ever had that done, which feels great!), the chickens and baby goats are growing fast, the cats and dogs are all doing well, and Jeff & I are grateful every day for the abundance all around us.

I’ve learned that there are always blessings in our lives, it’s just a matter of noticing them. Every night, before I go to bed, I take out my journal and write down 10 things I’m grateful for from that day. It always makes my heart feel happy at the end of the day and it makes me look forward to what the next day will bring.

Remember hearing “Count Your Blessings” throughout your life? Well, there is a lot of wisdom in that saying!