ubiquitous non sequitur

(almost) wordless.

2012-02-16T09:51:00.000-05:00

Lake Cammack at twilight

Happy Valentine's Day.

2012-02-14T07:33:00.000-05:00

Happy Valentine's Day!

Abundance

2012-02-13T09:25:00.001-05:00

I have been in a bit of a mental pickle recently - I am feeling torn in many directions, and hoping like crazy that it all works out in the end. Granted it's an ongoing process, and it's not like the journey stops. So trying to hope like crazy that it all works out...during the process. You know. From time to time.

And in thinking about all I am lacking, I am reminding myself of all that I do have. Because I do have. I have a lot. And as many circumstances that I have that I would like to change, I am trying to be OK with the fact that there things out of my control, and there are things that I just have to make the best of, and circumstances that I have to deal with so that I can have other things.

That said, there are things that I have that others don't. Or can't. I have made trying to make our little plot on the earth produce enough to feed us, at least through the bountiful spring/summer/fall months. I hope for us to be more and more self-sufficient as time goes on, but baby steps :)

And I know that every so often my gardening friends/family have an abundance, too. Extra produce that maybe you don't have the time or resources to put up. Extra zucchini that you're tempted to sneak into your neighbor's unlocked car as they stopped answering the door when you ring the bell. Ahh well - there's an organization for that. I am thinking about starting a local group myself here in the Burlington area. We are in such a rich agricultural area, and I don't want to see anything go to waste. We also have some of the poorest communities here and it just seems like the natural thing to do! If we've got enough to share with our neighbors, then we have enough to share with the other members of our community that we may not know personally. Things are rough for me at the moment with being behind getting this place going, being broke, not being able to be home with my family, but this is something that I feel is important. A minor way that I can contribute to the community as I don't feel that I am at the moment. And being connected with the community goes hand in hand (for me, at least!) with being connected with the land.

So if you've got time, money or produce to spare, check this organization out: www.foodpool.org.

(almost) wordless.

2012-02-11T09:50:00.000-05:00

sunset, actually

(almost) wordless.

2012-02-09T09:48:00.000-05:00

The moon.

And Here We Go...

2012-02-08T11:55:00.001-05:00

I finally got my seeds started this year. I am about 2 weeks behind for my brassicas, but so be it. Last year I had a whole big elaborate table dedicated to seed starting with fluorescent lights hung from the ceiling and blah blah blah... and this year I have a shelf on a mobile greenhouse inside the barn with a light. Singular. *sigh* But it's on a timer! That I found out doesn't work... *double sigh*

The good news, I suppose, is that I have my vegetable beds planned out, and am (more or less) set to go. And it's been such a mild winter (so far. Crap. I just jinxed it.) that a lot of my will-they-or-won't-they's did manage to overwinter (so far!) just fine. Ah. We shall see how it goes!

Yes. I am still addicted to various imaging effects on my iPhone. Sorry.

Plastic trays this year instead of peat pots. My seed starting mix is also peat free. (next year I hope to make my own)

In a greenhouse, but inside...

The plant labels are made out of a yogurt container...

(almost) wordless.

2012-02-07T10:18:00.000-05:00

I love walking through the woods and stumbling upon things put up by my great-grandfather. Or my dad as a kid. Or his (now sadly gone) cousin. I guess I will never know who put these up. Or when.

Egg Color.

2012-02-06T21:14:00.001-05:00

People often ask me chicken questions. (Which is good because I HAVE chickens. People used to ask me parenting questions, and I didn't have kids. This at least is a bit more ... umm... in my field of experience?) All sorts of questions. Health related questions, feathers, behavior... but more often than not it's about that mysterious thing that they have and we don't... eggs. Egg size, shape, color...shell thickness, size, color... egg color...

People seem to be most curious about egg color.

Growing up we ate whatever color eggs. I don't know that my parents had *too* much of a preference, although I remember a lot of brown ones when we were living in the states, and white ones when we were in Japan.

Egg color is determined by many things, but mainly chicken breed. Each breed has the color it basically lays, and then each hen has her own shade of said color, with or without speckles, splotches, streaks, stripes, and bumpies. I posted this picture before, but all of these eggs came from 2 types of chicken, and one breed is derived from the other:

Our hens don't vary much in size, and the size of the chicken doesn't seem to make too big of a difference in the size of the egg. The chicken that laid the lightest and hugest egg is the same size as everyone else. But they do have a tendency to lay more or less true to their own pattern...Cindy has a tendency to lay large beige eggs consistently, and Henrietta usually lays a medium egg of a light brown color. One of the Hampies lays the rosy tinted one, and the other lays the light speckled one. I love this shit.

The two main egg colors, white and brown (even though 'brown' is the understatement of the century on this one... ) are nutritionally the same, taste the same, and you can NOT tell by the color of the chicken's feathers. You can (most of the time) by the fleshy bits that are their earlobes. So cool. My chickens do not stay still long enough for much of their bits to be admired, especially not the small ones that are their ears.

Anyway...I came across this post, and so egg color and formation has been on my mind. This is an awesome and super informative post regarding chicken eggs, and I highly encourage you to check it out should you feel so inclined. I have to say that egg color was pretty much on the bottom of my priority list when choosing chickens last year, but I think that this year I do want to add some easter eggers. Because dude. A chicken that lays blue or green or rosey colored eggs is just kinda cool.

But regardless of the color, a chicken is super proud of her accomplishment every time she lays an egg and loudly announces it to the world. After some extremely loud squawking, she leaves the nesting box (you hope she was on the nesting box, and not on the damn couch), her internal egg clock resets, and she forgets the whole thing and goes off in search of the next shiny object or juicy worm to hold her flighty attention.

(almost) wordless.

2012-02-04T10:13:00.000-05:00

Helping their floofy selves to leftover peanut butter sandwiches. Off the floor of my car.

This Year's Garden.

2012-02-02T09:50:00.000-05:00

I know I know. I have said before (and I'm sure I'll say again) that this place is a farm.

Well. Almost. I figure in the sense that we've got a lot of things growing, we are. But that's close to about it.

My manfriend and I had talked long and hard about tilling and planting the 'upper' (or big) meadow this year, and putting the garden there, with a more permanent irrigation system. Keeping last year's beds, mind you, as the herb/seed garden. He tentatively tilled a swath just to see what we've got to work with.

(gasp! You haven't done soil tests? What?!?!?! No. No I have not. Grasses grow very lushly on that meadow, and little baby volunteer trees are springing up from deer poo, so no. I didn't test anything. It's viable.)

About a third of the upper meadow, complete with volunteer cedar.

Pickup sticks. Wait. Is that not how it's played?

What we've got is great topsoil in an area where most of the soil is hard (and in our case yellow) clay. Better than the blue clay I had in Japan, but still a pain in the butt. But the meadow had been used oh so many years ago to grow hay for the neighbor's cows, and has been mostly left alone since, with a bush hog coming through and cutting down the grass and shrubs (or in last year's case, me on a riding mower) annually, and a cover crop (read: the neighbor's leftover clover seeds) thrown on it every now and again.

But alas no, we will not be planting the upper meadow this year. It is too high a rise from any water source, and it would mean a substantial pump and crazy water system to make it happen. It doesn't mean it won't ever, but not in the near future.

So instead we will be clearing out some more trees (if we go a year without cutting down trees out here it means I'm incapacitated and most likely in a ditch somewhere), and expanding the current garden. Which means more raised bed building for me! But only about 2 or 3. We are also tinkering with putting a rainwater irrigation system in - the rise from where our buildings are to the garden is only a couple of feet, and we can manage to procure a good pump capable of handling that much.

And that also means that the nice topsoil gets another year (or 5 or 10) to rest and enjoy being a lovely green place. Before I come up with some crazy scheme for orchards and goats.....

Future farmhand, off to gather leaves for the chicken coop. (the future is now!)

I was informed that this is the only way you can make sure that no more will fit in the wheelbarrow. I trust his overly-wise-for-seven-years-old judgment.

A Very Manly Birthday

2012-02-01T08:55:00.002-05:00

A Happy Birthday to the Manfriend!

Poor guy. Last year he got an awesome (ifImaysaysomyself) Zelda cake that shall go down in the Stoneyhaw annals of cakes as legendary.

This year he got responsibility, work, and no cake (yet. Jury's still out).

When I was little, birthdays were magical things. Mine happened to be at the end of the summer, and my parents usually took the opportunity to throw a big party and invite all their friends and co-workers (I remember the year I was old enough to think "wait. What?! It's MY birthday! Why am I only allowed 5 friends?!?!"). There was always grilling, beer, outside running around, and general fun. My seventh birthday was 'at the farm' at The Forman School, and I got a kitten, and there was volleyball. Seventh? May have been sixth. I forget. I was itty bittier than I am now (please no short jokes). And that was just the birthdays we were in town. More often than not we were off on a (camping) trip somewhere on the east coast... Anyway I digress...

I never did understand why my parents didn't make a bigger fuss on their own birthdays. Birthdays are magical! was about as far as my little brain got. And while I still fundamentally believe that, it gets harder and harder every year to get excited about my own birthday, and easier and easier to give in to being too tired or broke or disinterested to do anything.

I felt bad as I sent my sniffly man off to work this morning on his birthday, with him not quite feeling himself and me not quite feeling myself, although mine was due to my lack of having done much special for him.

I told the spawn this morning it was his Daddy's birthday (see? more ineptitude...should have had a secret plan. ugh. I'll get there...) and his eyes lit up. Possibly not for quite the reasons I was expecting:

"February 1st is my dad's birthday? Woohoo! It'll be MY birthday soon!"

"your birthday is in 5 months, little man"

"5 months and 7 days, hippie!"

And then he proceeded to stare off into the not-as-distant future presumably imagining the magicalness of his coming birthday. Good grief I love this kid.

And despite my ineptitude at having David-involved birthday-related activities planned for him, I do sincerely wish my man a very happy birthday.

Family walk to the pond in the sunshine.

Henrietta's Day Off

2012-01-25T09:46:00.000-05:00

I was at work. The manfriend sent me a txt simply saying 'Henrietta's sick'.

My heart stopped.

They may just be chickens, but they're MY chickens. And I do love them so. And this wasn't just any chicken, but Henrietta. The prodigal hen.

I got a hold of the manfriend and he filled me in on the deets. She was lethargic, off her feed, and had gone pale in the comb and wattle. I had him palpate her belly and vent, check her airways, feel her crop, listen to her breathing.... nothing. I also told him to give her a bath. To his credit, his only response was 'a bath? Like hot water and soap bath?', when I responded in the affirmative, he said OK, got off the phone, and got to it. And boy would I have liked to have seen him lathering her up and then blow drying her fluffy feathers.

Henrietta spent the day at home with Mike, sitting on the rubbermaid tub we use as a side table and really not moving much. Mike spoon-fed her water with honey in it, and hand-fed her feed.

Sleeping chicken

When I got home, I gave her a once over and noticed that she is growing in A LOT of feathers. As in a large percentage of the feathers on her body are new. It's her first year and we haven't noticed her losing any, but it's clear that she is growing a bunch. Which would seriously explain her being so tired and off. It takes a lot of energy to grow feathers. They're mostly protein, after all.

She felt like a fluff-covered porcupine

See? They grow in with a sheath, and then it gradually falls off to reveal the floof.

Kinda reminds me of those hair wraps that were big in the 90's...

And when we got home from going out to eat (at our favorite place in Burlington), Henrietta was looking a fair amount better and started showing interest in food again. Read: she obligingly ate all of my leftover shredded lettuce. Like a champ!

She's much better and off with the flock, although still not quite up to 100%. I did give everyone a boost of ACV in their water, and yesterday before I wet to work I made them a smoothie. Yogurt, garlic & banana. Oh my!

Enjoying a morning smoothie.

(almost) wordless

2012-01-22T18:00:00.001-05:00

Diversity.

Breakfast for Dinner

2012-01-20T08:56:00.000-05:00

Even though the chickens have slowed down a bit in their laying, we have managed to amass 2 dozen eggs. I don't get enough reliably to try to sell any, but with our oversleeping and not being home for breakfast a lot recently, we have a big of an excess. And while fresh eggs last a loooong time, real estate is at a premium around here so they must get eaten.

And sometimes breakfast for dinner is awesome. But I wanted to get in some veggies. So I made a compromise and made a frittata (of sorts) with spinach and peas in it...with a side of hash browns and pork jowl bacon. So happy!

Eggs. I ended up using 8. I adjust according to how much filling I have.

Even with crappy lighting, you can tell these eggs are beautiful.

Grating.

I finally learned how to make them well. Thanks for the inspiration Indy!

Spinach, peas, onions.

Frittata, hash browns, jowl bacon. Yum.

January!

2012-01-18T11:22:00.001-05:00

Last year, winter sucked. It was cold, frozen, snowy, and really really cold.

This year, we are having a bit of a respite from the whole 'winter' thing, and even if I have just jinxed it, we have had such a mild time thus far that I am grateful. And as it's mid-January, we only have so much more to go!

(and cue panic! MUST GET SEEDS SOWN!)

The sun is shining, giving the illusion that my laundry will dry quickly:

Right?

And the DAFFODILS are coming up:

It's like this all over the property...

...with more on the way!

And I must say, the chickens are LOVING the nice weather:

Red. Posing. It's his new thing.

New Year's Resolution

2012-01-18T07:40:00.000-05:00

Most years my New Year's resolution is a resolution NOT to make any. For if you don't make any, you won't break any. But 2011 was an odd year for me, and let's just say that with the amount of responsibilities I managed to take on, one little resolution shouldn't be TOO difficult...

I do have a tendency to go on and on about said manfriend, but in all seriousness - nothing out here would work without him. And since he is so pulled in many directions and does many things for so many people, I figure he should have ONE thing done for him - consistently.

Dinner. I settled on dinner. I will make dinner for the 3 of us, everyday. I had already been doing it more often than not, but with my working nights 2 or 3 nights a school week, those days were up in the air. Now I make sure that there is something on the stove or in the oven or something for when he and the spawn get home and I'm not here.

What I DIDN'T count on was how this would benefit me. (This is, after all, supposed to be about the manfriend). When I work nights I often bring something home with me - soup or a salad or something - and I don't usually end up eating what I've left for them. But. Working nights means I'm home in the mornings...and soups/stews are the easiest thing to reheat and get better with time (not to mention being seasonally appropriate). And so I end up eating the leftovers for breakfast. And I think I might be getting the better end of the deal here ...

Split pea and ham hunk soup. With Rye toast. For brekky. On a day where I had more energy, there would be a fried egg on top. But that might make the boys *too* jealous.

Maybe next year my resolution will be to make my own chicken feed...

Chicken Update

2012-01-17T09:15:00.001-05:00

First we weren't going to do chickens last spring. And then we did. And then we got more. There was the chicken palace, the multi-media chicken tractor, and a winter coop.

And now yours truly is absolutely enamored and addicted to chickens. I can't help it. Their antics are fantastic, they're useful as a food source, and they make great pets. You may think that coming home to a dog is the epitome of pure joy at your arrival. Well, having a whole flock of chickens come running up to the car when you arrive home AT TOP CHICKEN WADDLING SPEED is an absolute sight to behold (never mind that they mostly expect treats out of you). I love it. Can't get enough of it. And I was planning on getting a few more chickens next year.

And then I read this book.

And now I have an excuse to triple my flock next year - so we can use some chicken labor in the garden, get more eggs next year (I would like to be able to sell some), and have enough meat to limp through the year with fewer shopping trips for other meat.

We will be doing straight-run purchase. Unless I'm buying a grown bird from someone face-to-face, I will be sticking to straight-runs.

'Straight-run' (in case you don't know, and if you do please disregard the upcoming rant) means that the chickens haven't been sexed. Ie, you get a mix of male and female. In theory it should be around 50/50, but I do think you end up with more roosters than hens, a fact that doesn't bother me particularly as that means meat for my table.

So, if I am able to purchase female day-old chicks, why don't I? Have you ever wondered (most likely not, unless you're as chicken obsessed as I am) what happens to the less-desirable male day-old chicks? They more often than not don't make it much further than that in life. Unless someone wants to buy a batch of male chicks (which you would really only do for the meat, and if you were raising chickens for meat you most likely wouldn't be buying a breed that is dual-purpose or egg-laying. Which are the males we're really talking about here, let's be honest), they mostly get culled. As in put to death for being roosters.

And cost-wise, it really doesn't cost much more to buy twice as many straight-run chicks as female chicks. So. With cost and morality on my mind, I stick to straight-run. I guess the main downside is you don't know *exactly* how many hens you will end up with. But with predators and heat, you don't really know anyway, so lay down your control issues and let's move on.

Long story short - I am having a really good time fantasizing about what kinds I want to get next year. I will be sticking to heritage breeds (even though my feed store mass-produced chickens have worked out wonderfully) next year. Wyandottes? More Dominiques? Easter eggers (not really heritage, but fun!)? Only time will tell...

Class of 2011

Henrietta. Posing.

Red. Guarding the canoe.

Free. And Ranging.

Dexter. Look at those Sickles!

Winter Hibernation

2012-01-16T09:33:00.001-05:00

Does not exist in this dojo. Or rather it does, but I really can't afford it to. With our plans of expansion and the need to get things rolling out here and in our own lives (something has got to change - soon!) sitting back on our heals wrapped up in the coziness of the past year sipping on the hopes and dreams of the upcoming one just doesn't cut it.

So, you may ask, what are you doing? Mostly hanging in bed with a cold. Which is really serving two purposes:

#1 - letting me ruminate on all that I have to get done and giving me ample time to freak out about it and my current situation, and

#2 - reminding me that, in fact, hibernation is necessary - me, my family, my man, my animals, my extended family - we all need this time to let our last year's achievements catch up with us, and to form a game plan for this coming year. Because whoa. We have plans.

Red. (the until recently unnamed New Hampshire Red rooster)

Road Trips, Snow, a Wedding and a Happy New Year!

2012-01-04T12:00:00.001-05:00

I have been MIA for a little while. But with a very good reason. For the first time in a LONG time, I left the 'farm' to go off on a hiatus/adventure. I used to do this sort of thing all the time. And then I came out here on my very big adventure and the little adventures fell to the wayside. And this was a well-needed break from my job and from my 'farm' (love it as I may!).

It started with a trip up to New Woodstock, NY to see the grand-parentals. I haven't seen them in a shamefully long time, and it was a much needed visit. Growing up in Japan, being a poor college student in MN, being a poor cook in CA, and now being a poor deli counter minion/farmsteader in NC...all of these are my excuses for the inexcusable fact that I really didn't see my grandparents enough growing up. And I don't see them enough now. Too late to fix, I suppose, but it's importamt to try!

My mom was already there, and while in NY I also got to see an even less visited over the years aunt and cousin. We had oodles of fun involving art, food (oh yeah Green Jello Salad!), beer, apple pie (oh yeah Grammy's Apple Pie!!), and beer can luminaries.

First things first, I took breakfast supplies with me.

View from their deck.

More view.

Luminaries in the snow. They were very pretty - especially after they sunk down into the snow a bit.

Yes. Beer can luminaries.

Then it was time for the happy happy joy joy (reference anyone? anyone?) portion of the trip - my sissypants' wedding at Toronto City Hall. In Toronto, Ontario. Into the car the my mom and I went, and off to the great white north we went.

Rainbow Bridge. Waiting to get into Canadia.

The weather got even better on the way into Brantford, ON. All nice and icy and snowy and ridiculous.

We lit a sky lantern the night before the wedding.

Malia & Matt's wedding was awesome. Beautiful, spiritual without being religious, and full of joy, laughter, and brevity. Quite nice.

My sissypants is SO pretty!

Following the marriage ceremony, we took a short walk to an Italian restaurant and proceeded to gorge ourselves on great food with great company.

Presents!

I glossed over the walk. It was EXCRUCIATINGLY cold...900 meters down Bay street in the icy blasting wind. The air temp was -6C. I don't even want to know what the windchill factor was that day.

On the way back to New Woodstock my mom and I stopped for a well needed walk and photo-op at Niagara Falls.

Still awe-inspiring. Regardless of how many times you've seen them. Or Superman.

I left on Christmas Day and returned on New Year's Eve... that week has always been a bit of a lost one to me. New Year's is always kind of anticlimactic, yet it's always held on such a holiday pedistool. Maybe because after Thanksgiving and Christmas we can't bear the thought of going back to our normal lives...maybe it's because we're in the habit of having another holiday just around the corner... Regardless, it's always a weird week that always turns out slightly awkward. This trip seemed a fitting way to wrap up the tumultuous year for me. While it was a lot of driving (1,930 miles in just mapped routes - never mind the extra jaunts to the store and whatnot), it was worth every mile.

Happy Christmas

2011-12-23T09:18:00.003-05:00

When I was little, one of my favorite activities around the holidays every year was making oodles of Christmas cookies to give away to friends/family/neighbors/co-workers. (except for that one year we made the salt dough Christmas ornaments with the alphabet cookie cutters in everyone's initials. That beat cookies). My mom would spend HOURS with the three of us making dough, cutting out the shapes, baking and decorating the cookies... gobs of confectioner's sugar everywhere and food-coloring stained little kid hands. Sprinkles, silver balls, Christmas carols.... culminating in cracked out cranky kids, an exhausted mom, and a bunch of curly-ribbon clad cookie pacages. That my mother would then make us deliver with her. Thankfully we lived on a prep school campus, and most of this could be achieved by walking.

This year I coerced the Spawn into making Christmas cookies with me. He was a little trooper and put up with my Christmas cookie shenanigans replete with carols playing, and plastic cookie cutters. I am very thankful to the Spawn for letting me have that day of Christmas cheer (he got to play a fair share of videogames, too, so I know he stayed happy), and happy for us not ending up cracked out or cranky.

Granted we would have been done a lot faster if I could get more than one 15x10 cookie sheet in the oven at a time. Someday!

Roll and flip. Roll and flip.

Cut out those shapes - as close together as you can!

Ready to go in the oven.

Color Mixologist.

Decorating.

Ginger cookies. Notice the Airstream Custom oven. Teensy yet effective.

Drying*

My fave**

*They got 3/4 of the way dry and then it started raining BUCKETS. Since the Airstream is a tin can, not much of the humidity made it back outside. Most of it got sucked up by my cookies. Only the few duds I had set aside for family consumption (another family tradition) survived the great humidity of 2011.

**even this one bit the dust. >sad face<

Comfort Food

2011-12-19T11:20:00.001-05:00

Don't mind the dirty dishes. Feast your eyes on comfort food, Stoneyhaw style. This is how we do things around here.

Chicken Saddles

2011-12-16T09:49:00.002-05:00

So. If you know me well, you know that I am against clothing on animals. Abhor would be more like it. I don't abide by dogs wearing cute little coats, and all that. My puppy agrees, and the one time she had a costume on (in obedience class. The one I HAD to take to be able to adopt her...the instructor put a princess costume on her...), she patiently waited until he had finished and turned his back before she shredded it into itty-bitty bits of pink confetti... but I digress.

My chickens now wear saddles. What is a chicken saddle? It is basically an apron they wear on their backs to protect them from the amorous yet less-than-gentle attentions from the roosters. Some of them have had most of their central back feathers torn out, and a few of them have had their sides scratched up. Big Bunny, our main rooster who gets the majority of the hen riding time, doesn't really have his spurs yet so it's really just his nails that have managed to inflict this much damage. And since I don't want to get rid of any of my three roosters (for quite a few reasons...), this is my current solution. I have 3 of the hens outfitted so far (turns out you can get about 4 out of an old pair of jeans), and will outfit two more... Waddly Wanda doesn't need one. The roosters leave her alone as she's currently not laying.

Cindy

Cindy got the prototype, and it's gathered at the top as it's held together with a button. Subsequent versions have the straps just sown on, and don't bunch. Still working on the right pattern, but so far so good!

See the dark grey on Henny Penny's back between her back feathers and tail feathers? That's down that wouldn't be visible if she weren't missing back feathers...

Currently they're all being made out of an old pair of jeans, but somehow I see camo chicken saddles in the future... oh boy.

The Circle of Life

2011-12-09T08:00:00.000-05:00

This is a serious thing. Something that I think about a lot. With the chickens that I use for eggs, meat, and laughs, the deer meat I get from neighbors and friends, the animals around me....the seven year old I am watching (in awe!) grow... the man I love dearly...

You may remember that one of my chicks didn't survive more than a few days when we first got them. I felt an overwhelming sense of responsibility and remorse for that little guy. I felt responsible for putting him through the trauma of travel by mail...

And yet I eat meat. I feel responsible for every part of whatever meat comes through my home... and while I shouldn't feel any more or less responisble for meat that I purchased rather than raised/killed, but I do feel a difference.

I have linked to this guy before, but there was a GREAT post the other day On Killing that I read, and that is essentially all I have ever really wanted to saw on the subject, but waaaaay better and more eloquently written. I love this guy.

Holiday Gifts

2011-12-07T10:59:00.001-05:00

Holiday gifts are important to me. I know they are important to most, but I feel like by the time we get to the end of the year we're all a bit raggedy and the effort to do something for others is weightier than it would be in say, May. Which makes it all that more important methinks.

So. Take that giant amount of effort and add thoughtfulness to it. (bear with me here) Yes. You could make a list of people you want to give gifts to - you could even go so far as to add what you want to give them next to their name - and you could go to the mall - or a megastore - and buy it all at once. At which point you absolutely deserve the latte you would buy yourself on the way home. Go you! And your recipients would be happy that you thought of them and all is happy and merry and bright.

-OR-

You could make a list of people you want to give gifts to and add what you want to give them next to their name. And then take a good look at that list. You're gonna want to do a few things from here, all of which most likely (especially if you're me) involve the interwebs. Because you see you're going to add thoughtfulness to the mix. Which doesn't need to be exhausting. It can be fun, relaxing, and in my case (because I'm also slightly insane), cathartic. And by thoughtfulness I mean the majority of people on that list are going to get something handmade.

Thoughtfulness goes both ways. It's a two-way street, it's a dynamic duo.... insert twosome analogy here. If you can make everything on your gift list for all of your recipients, than you are a hero, you are awesome, and you are way above reading this little blog. Or you are a hermit who knows no one (which is scary). But you can get a gift for just about everyone on there that's handmade. You can do this by spending a quiet afternoon in your PJ's with a computer and a credit card, or you can support local businesses, artists, and crafters by going out in your community and doing your holiday shopping with a little extra thought. (and chances are your handmade item will be higher in quality and artistry than what you'd find at a megastore...)

Yes. Shopping at local businesses and buying your gifts from crafters and small businesses can be more expensive. But you are supporting your community and you can offset some of the costs with some of the homemade gifts you give.

You might think the recipient of your gift might not notice, or might not care, but they will more than you'd think.

So I have made a pledge to make sure that at least half of the people on my list get handmade gifts. Possibly by me, possibly by a talented crafter on Etsy, or I can find someone here.

End sanctimonious rant. Comments welcome.

Holiday Greetings

2011-12-07T09:52:00.000-05:00

'Tis the season to be merry & bright, bake & eat too many cookies & sweets, sing songs at the top of your lungs & off-key, to act like a kid & enjoy it, and to cut & decorate a scrawny-ass tree.

Charlie Brown has got nothing on Stoneyhaw. Booya!