I watched a documentary recently that touched my heart, and I wanted to share it with you. Claire – The Documentary is one of those things you watch that will always stay with you.

I felt inspired by Claire’s heartfelt message to the world. She shifts perspectives on living with illness, and talks about living with purpose, and for something bigger than yourself.

She reminds us to give something of value to the world.

While watching this movie, I cried (a lot) and I laughed. I came away feeling grateful for the reminder to live each day to the fullest, and to be grateful for every day.

Rather than share too much about it, I will let it speak for itself. If you feel like checking it out, you can watch the movie here. I’m grateful to Claire for inspiring us all with her words, and her incredible spirit.

The weather has been going back and forth between cold and rainy, and hot and sunny. We just had several days of rain and everything is looking quite green and lush. The garden is growing like crazy. Jeff stays busy keeping the garden watered on the hot days, and then the rainy days feel like a mini vacation of sorts with the entire garden being watered for us.

So many daisies are blooming right now. They make me smile every time I see them. These were the daisies we collected that had fallen over in some of the heavy rains we had. Usually our vases of flowers will have a daisy tucked in here and there, but a whole vase of daisies is quite a joyful sight, isn’t it?

{Picture from 2016 of a batch of Blackberry Applesauce we canned that year.}

We had two weekends in a row with some rain here. With so much planting and garden work to do this time of year, and my time and energy needed outdoors, I wanted to make the most of the rainy days to focus on some indoor projects.

The main indoor project I wanted to focus on was cleaning out the freezer. And by cleaning out the freezer… I mean processing food!

In the fall we were overwhelmed with everything that needed processing all at once, and we put some things in the freezer to process later. I intended to process everything in the freezer during the winter (we did get the extra tomatoes made into sauce), but it felt like I blinked and somehow it was late spring (almost summer!) already.

With berry season beginning, it gave me the push to do some freezer clean out. Our family wants to start freezing some berries, and we need our freezer space available for this year’s harvests.

And so… To the freezer I went!

First, taking stock of everything that still needed processing, and then deciding what to do with it all.

At the top of the list was apples. We don’t normally freeze apples, but we did put some bags in the freezer in the fall to make into applesauce later. We also had some frozen pears, with plans to put that in the applesauce as well.

I had planned on making jam with the blackberries we had picked last summer and stuck in the freezer, but when the applesauce project got rolling decided to just add them to the applesauce (with the seeds strained out) rather than do a separate project.

We’ve made many batches of applesauce over the years, but I’m used to making applesauce in the fall- it was the first time that I remember making applesauce in May! We ended up making our applesauce with apples, pears, and blackberries. It’s a combination we’ve made before, and a good one.

And with that… I put jars of applesauce into the freezer. Because, you know, the freezer had so much space in it and all. (haha) I did find it funny to be putting things back into the freezer in the midst of my clean out project, but the jars of applesauce took up a tiny fraction of the space compared to the bags of fruit. Progress was being made!

Plus my main goal was to process everything in the freezer that needed processing, that way anything left in there would be ready to use. I also took stock of what we still needed to eat up that was already processed in the freezer- pesto, tomato sauce, and a few jars of chia jam. (By the way- a friend told me how delicious applesauce is when you take it out of the freezer, and eat it before completely thawed when it’s still partially frozen. I tried it and they were right- it’s really good that way!)

We had harvested some ducks last year that we raised here on the homestead, so I got some of the parts we had frozen turned into broth. More progress! Gotta celebrate every little thing we get crossed off the list, right?

And now we come to… Eggs! Eggs in the freezer you ask? Yep. Last year we had a handful of weeks when we were collecting more eggs each day than we were eating. We eat a lot of eggs around here, and some go to our friends, so we usually keep up pretty well, but at the time we had extra to save for later.

I heard about freezing eggs in muffin tins, and decided to give it a try. I figured that we would appreciate the extra eggs come winter when the laying decreased. However, the ducks laid well through the winter (which was great) and we didn’t end up using the frozen eggs for winter baking like I expected.

We also baked and froze winter squash because we didn’t have a good place to store it where it would be at the right temperature for long term storage. We sometimes add the winter squash to soups, or just heat it up and eat it with some butter. (Yum!) One of my favorite ways to use winter squash is to bake muffins. I love to make big batches of muffins and freeze the extra, that way anytime we leave the house for a busy day, we can grab some to thaw out and bring along with us.

I’ve been using the frozen winter squash since last fall, but there’s still more to enjoy and use up. My clean-out-the-freezer task now is to bake lots of muffins, which will use up the frozen eggs and the frozen winter squash at the same time.

Progress has been made on the freezer clean out project, and there is more progress still to be made. It feels good to be a little more organized and have a better idea of what we have. When we grow the food ourselves, so much work goes into it that every single berry or tomato feels precious. We don’t want anything to go to waste!

Whether we grow it ourselves, or purchase it at the farmer’s market or grocery store, someone worked hard to produce that food. Food can also be expensive, yet another reason not to let anything go to waste. It’s so good when we go through our freezers, pantries, and cabinets regularly to remind ourselves what needs to be eaten up, and what we already have on hand to add to our meals!

Would you like to join me in doing a Freezer Challenge? What do you have in your freezer that needs to be processed? Or eaten up? Leave a comment and let us know. We can share inspiration with one another- giving new ideas on how to use things up!

There are times when something beautiful makes me stop and pause.

I’ll be going about my business, focused on getting a task done, and suddenly I spot something that inspires me to slow down for a moment.

Recently I was headed to the backyard with the wheelbarrow when I looked over and noticed afternoon light shining through the forest on the ferns next to the pond.

I’ve always loved the way the ferns unfurl and have those spirals, and the golden light shining on them was so beautiful.

I stopped what I was doing long enough to go inside and grab my camera because the ferns were calling! I was drawn to the beauty, I wanted to look at each spiral and admire each emerging fern.

I feel that way when I see a flower in bloom, a bird in the yard, honeybees on blossoms, clouds lit up by the sun…

You just want to stop everything you’re doing, and appreciate the beauty.

That’s when we’re present in the moment, feeling most alive with the wind on our faces.

There are things in nature to fill us with awe all the time.

All it takes is for us to slow down for a moment and notice them.

The day after Bee Day was sunny and beautiful. Like last year, the apple trees were in bloom when we brought the bees home. For me, apple blossoms and honeybees go together now. They mark the season, and when I think of that time of year, that is what I think of.

That morning Jeff and B headed out to the garden while I was busy in the kitchen. B came running inside to tell me that honeybees were all over the garden and I must come see!

One of the plants the bees seemed to especially love in our garden were the Goumis. The cream colored flowers were covered. (We pick red Goumi berries in the summertime. We purchased our Goumis from One Green World.)

Last year we didn’t see the honeybees in the garden very much, so we were excited that on the very first morning we were already seeing them all over the garden this year.

I watched in awe as the honeybees visited flower after flower, savoring the warm sun on my face, and smiling. B and I stood side by side watching, and we were completely delighted.

It’s hard to describe how I felt then. With the sun shining and the birds singing, being able to watch the bees felt like witnessing something truly sacred and magical. I felt so much joy in my heart watching those little bees!

The feeling I had was like joy bubbling up inside of me and a lightness… and I felt like laughing.

I don’t even know why I felt such joy over such a simple thing, but I did.

There are plenty of things in the world that weigh heavy on my heart, things that make my heart ache with the suffering. I know you see many things as well, and feel the heavy loads too.

And then I ask myself- how can I be standing in the garden, in the morning sun, feeling bliss simply watching honeybees… while there is so much suffering in the world?

And here is my quiet answer.

I have come to feel that the world needs our JOY. The world needs our love.

When there is so much fear all around, and so much suffering, it seems that embracing the moments of joy and surrounding ourselves in love whenever we can, makes it possible for us to shine more love and do more good.

All the things that make us laugh, and lighten our spirits… they give us more resilience, and in that way we can be of service more.

I intended to come here today to simply write a blog post about the honeybees, but sometimes I sit down to write and something unexpected comes through…

My message to share today is encouragement to let that joy in, however it finds you. Let it permeate your being like feeling the warmth of the sun in your whole body, and give you strength. Let yourself laugh, and let your weary heart lift and lighten.

Your light in this world matters more than you will ever know.

April 20th was an important day on our calendar this year.

We had been preparing for awhile, counting the days until… BEE DAY!

When the day finally arrived, we drove to town to pick up our bees.

This year we ordered our bees through Down To Earth, and picked them up at Glory Bee. We decided to order more, and to order a different kind of bee this time. Last year we purchased our bees online, and ordered one package of Italian Bees. This year we ordered two packages of Carniolan Bees.

We appreciated being able to pick up our bees locally. We weren’t expecting cute, little hitchhikers on the outside of the containers and we had no bee gear with us, so we had an eventful drive home where I got a play by play of what the bees were up to. (For the most part the hitchhiker bees wanted to hang out on the outside of the container, and it was fine.)

In the weeks before, we had been preparing the homes for the bees, and put up a second hive this year. We had a whole family assembly line going, putting lots and lots of frames together. We have so much practice at this point, we could go into business assembling frames. (Not really.)

(Pictured above you can see the blue box that a friend painted for me for my birthday years back. I love it. The cedar box below it has an opening that Jeff put a plexi-glass cover on so that we can have a view inside the hive, which we all enjoy immensely.)

The day we brought the bees home it was overcast and a bit rainy, which worked out well for getting them settled into their new homes. One queen cage was placed inside each hive, with a gummy bear, so the bees could eat their way through it.

B has learned a huge amount about bees, so he explains a lot of the process to me. Apparently you want the bees to smell the queen, without being able to get to her right away. They need a slow introduction. It’s like a dance. It’s all very interesting to me, and I love watching the bees and being around them.

A few of you have reached out about blog posts I’ve written about bees. We love hearing from you and everything you have to share. We’ll keep posting here- it’s fun to share as we go along.

Here’s to another year of beekeeping adventures!

B got a new hat! He was overdue for a handknit hat from me, having outgrown the other hats I had knit for him.

As you long time readers will remember, there were years when I was knitting regularly, always seemed to have a project on the needles, and was getting a lot of projects finished. The last few years that has not been the case for me, I really got out of the habit.

When I picked up my yarn and knitting needles after what felt like much too long of a break, it felt so good! It’s amazing how much my body instantly relaxes the moment I start knitting. I hadn’t realized just how much I had missed it until I had yarn in my hands again.

Knitting is so wonderful in so many ways. To me it feels comforting, calming, and soothing. I swear it makes me breathe deeper! And then- as a nice little bonus- you get a handknit at the end!

I didn’t finish this hat for B to wear throughout the winter, but with the very rainy spring weather we’ve been having- he has had lots of opportunities to put it to good use. It makes me happy how much he likes it.

When I asked him what color yarn he wanted, he said Forest Green. He picked out this skein of yarn for his hat, and it felt so perfect! I really like the color. He is my nature-loving forest kid, and this hat suits him well!

……….

Knitting notes: We picked up the yarn at Cozy yarn shop. The yarn is Scout (DK weight) by Kelbourne Woolens, in the Juniper Heather colorway. (I didn’t see that colorway listed on their site.) I wanted to make B a simple hat, nothing fancy, but was not having much luck finding a basic hat pattern with DK yarn when I did a quick search. I ended up just following the instructions for the Anders On Top hat (which I’ve knit a few times before.) I cast on 96 stitches, did the ribbing for a stretchy edge for about 1.5 inches, began straight knitting (skipping the colorwork in the pattern), and later did the rapid decrease as in the pattern.

I originally wrote this and posted it here in 2016. Here’s an updated version. This message has been in my heart lately, and today felt like the day to share it.

Someone once said to me what a grateful person I was. I wasn’t sure how to respond to it, really… I guess because I’ve never thought of myself as a “grateful person.”

Sometimes I just don’t feel very grateful. Some nights I go to my journal to write ten things I’m grateful for from that day and it’s noisy… and I’m completely exhausted… and I can’t think… and my mind draws a blank.

But then I sit with the blank page open and my pen in my hand and something always comes. Always.

And then another thing pops into my head.

…B wrapped his arms around me in a big hug… Our family listened to the frogs croaking outside… Someone told me they loved me right when I needed to hear it most…

And before you know it, oftentimes I’ve written more than ten things, even when I wasn’t feeling particularly grateful that day.

I don’t think certain people are just born being grateful or that it’s a magical trait that some special people possess, I believe being grateful is simply a choice and then a habit.

Being grateful is something to practice, and something to choose, and then repeat over and over.

Gratitude is something that is within our power to cultivate within ourselves.

We can’t feel true joy without also feeling grateful. A joyful life comes from living in gratitude.

We can all choose to find things to be grateful for in our daily lives, no matter how small.

We can all choose to make it a daily habit, even when it stretches us. Especially when it stretches us. 

Some days or periods of time may be particularly challenging for us to feel grateful, but there are always things to be grateful for. Always. 

Gratitude is not simply reserved for those times when it’s smooth sailing, it’s something to practice every single day. We can’t wait until all the pieces of our lives are lined up just so, it’s up to us to choose to be grateful today. Right now. 

Being grateful is what makes it possible for our lives to improve because the more grateful we are- the better our lives get, simply because we are looking at our lives through the lens of gratitude. 

Gratitude reminds us to look at all the blessings in our lives and not just the things we want to change.

It reminds us to see the beauty in what we’ve already created in our lives, even when what we want to create has changed.

Am I a grateful person? I’m not sure about that (maybe I could feel I earn the title with many more years of practice.) But do I practice being grateful? Yes, every day. Even when it’s hard.

Who are the most grateful people you know?

I guarantee you that they aren’t the people who have had the easiest go of things, or the most money, or were born into the ideal circumstances.

In fact, some of the most grateful people I know are the people who have had incredibly difficult lives.

But they went through challenges and they came out the other side with an abundance of gratitude, and it made their lives richer and their hearts more open.

They are the people who have a positive outlook, who move gracefully through the hardships, and seem to attract good things into their lives again and again.

These people are on to something because they’ve learned what’s truly important in life, and being grateful is right up there.

I’ve mentioned mason bees here on the blog many times over the years. We love them! We’ve raised spring mason bees, as well as summer leafcutter bees. They are both such adorable little bees, and we get so excited every time we spot one in the garden. (I asked a friend if it was weird that I want to hold and cuddle them every time I see one!) 🙂

They are also amazing pollinators! I will write more about that in a bit, but I will say that we notice an increase in productivity in our garden when we grow more food for pollinators, and introduce more native bees in our yard.

We were delighted when we first learned about raising these bees in our yard, and since that time I have seen the awareness about these little bees grow like crazy- it seems the houses for them are now for sale at every garden center I visit, which is wonderful.

The bee house pictured above is a really simple one we had up in our yard years back. (I love seeing all the tubes the mason bees filled up!) Since that time, we started putting a cover over the top of the bee house for better protection from the weather, but the wood overhang we had it under did a good job of that as well.

Though I’ve written about mason bees here quite a few times before, I felt inspired to share about them again today because I want everyone to know about them!

It’s currently April, and lately we have been checking the mason bee house each day and delighting every time a new tube has been packed with clay. (That’s why they are called mason bees.) Each spring we provide a house for them with tubes to nest in, put moist clay out for them, and then set the cocoons on top of the tubes for them to hatch out. This has become a joyful part of spring for us, and feels like a spring blessing on the garden each year.

I didn’t intend to write today’s post as a guide on raising spring mason bees, but simply wanted to plant the seed of inspiration (or give the reminder if you already know about these amazing bees) and provide some great resources to get you started!

This year, when we went to get our mason bees from Down To Earth, we picked up this Native Bee Guide by Crown Bees. (We’re grateful they sell mason bees, and so many other great things. If you live in the Eugene, Oregon area- Down To Earth is one of our very favorite stores. From gardening and beekeeping supplies, to everything you need to get started fermenting in your kitchen- it’s such a great place, and full of inspiration!)

Back to the Native Bee Guide. When we were first learning about mason bees and leafcutter bees, we discovered Crown Bees online and it was a great source of information! I was so glad when I saw they had this booklet available. It’s a good resource to have on hand, and to be able to refer back to anytime you need to. The guide introduces you to the world of gentle solitary bees- Spring Mason Bees, Summer Leafcutter Bees, and Wild Hole-Nesting Bees. Here are a few quotes from the beginning:

“Did you know that about 90% of the world’s bee species are solitary bees who live on their own?”

“Without a hive to defend or feed, solitary bees are not aggressive and don’t make honey.”

“These hole-nesting bees are gentle, easy to raise and you don’t need protective gear to take care of them.”

“Mason and leafcutter bees are hole-nesting pollination super-giants who help North American orchards, gardens, and farms grow 2-3 times more food. They are 100 times more effective pollinators than the well-known honey bee due to how they carry pollen loose & dry on their hairy bellies.”

“Traditionally, we’ve viewed the honey bee as the sole agricultural pollinator, but more evidence is highlighting the role native bees have played all along. A powerful solution to increasing food production is to improve bee diversity. A study by Dr. Lucas Giribaldi showed that a diversity of bee species on a crop can increase yield by an amazing 24%.

We can improve bee diversity by raising a variety of bee species and supporting native wild bees with flowering cover, untilled ground, and nesting habitats. Bees native to your bio-region are best suited to bring more food to the table.”

At the end, they say: “We advocate for bee diversity in our gardens and farmlands because our ultimate goal is to help grow more food for more people.”

I highly recommend this guide if you are interested in raising these bees in your yard!

Be Kind To Yourself

You are amazing, and you deserve it.

Life can be hard, ease up on yourself.

There are different seasons of life, and you do the best you can in the one you’re in.

Remember that all the people you see online who look like they have it all together- you are only seeing a small glimpse into their world.

Your path is uniquely yours and it is full of beauty.

Surround yourself with love. Even in the smallest ways each day, it can make such a difference.

Today might have been my last time going to Diess Feed and Seed in Eugene, Oregon. They are closing their doors, and I wanted to walk around the place and appreciate it another time before that happened.

I’ve been a customer there for almost as long as I’ve lived in Oregon. (19 years now.) From the early days of raising chickens and goats… from before our son was born… there have been countless visits over the years.

Diess had the kind of charm you just couldn’t find in a big box store. A place where strangers would instantly start chatting about their animals and gardens. The owner would recognize my voice when I called with a question, and most everyone there could guess what I came in for before I even started to speak. I love the old building it’s in. And the jokes posted on the board out front by the road? I always sent those to my dad.

Our son has been going to Diess his whole life. He has lots of fond memories bringing home chicks and ducklings. When he was really little, there was a dog there who would take your money and bring it to the cash register. He was too young to remember that, but recently a sweet dog named Jo has been carrying on the tradition! (We are delighted every time we hand our money over to her, and just shared a video of it over on Instagram, I felt like sharing a bit of the magic about the place.) ❤

I should add that though I’m sad to no longer be shopping at Diess, I am glad for the owners who are very happy to retire. A big thank you to Diess (and all the people behind it) for serving the community for so many years!!

Every year we look forward to the trillium blooming. The first ones we usually notice are the flowers that bloom along the driveway. They let us know it’s time to do our spring walk around the woods to admire all the beauty.

This year I kept telling B that we would do our walk “soon.” Each day felt too busy for it. I’m grateful for the way that he helps bring me back into the present moment and reminds me of what is really important. My to-do list had all sorts of things on it, but you know what was most important that day? Our annual Trillium Walk!

If I was “too busy” every day to do it, we would miss the magic and have to wait another year for the trillium to come again. They do seem to bloom for awhile, but it’s amazing how days and weeks can fly by seemingly in the blink of an eye, and before you know it all the petals have faded away. We didn’t want to miss it.

We walked around the woods together, and I marveled at how a rainy overcast day makes the stark white of the petals so pronounced along the forest floor. The darker skies made the trillium flowers look like they were glowing all around the woods.

I share pictures here of the trillium every year, and I talk about it being magical, but I really mean it. That day in the woods it looked as if someone had sprinkled white glowing flowers all over the place, like something out of a fairytale.

I feel like the pictures never do them justice, can not fully capture the magic. I feel that way about nature’s beauty all the time. I will see something so beautiful, and grab my camera to share it, and feel like so much of what I am seeing and experiencing at the time doesn’t come through to the picture.

I’m sure there is plenty I could learn in the world of photography to help with that, but there is also an appreciation of beauty in the moment and an experiencing of something truly awe-inspiring and magical that isn’t captured in that way, but felt. I will do my best to keep sharing the magic anyway- through pictures and words- because this world is filled with so much beauty, and it’s a wonderful thing when we stop to admire it, even briefly.