MommyCoddle

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When life gets full or overwhelming, I find myself continually coming back to the simple comforts in which I find respite from the swirling life around me–watching my hands and fingers rhythmically move with a pair of needles and yarn, measuring and mixing and pouring in the kitchen, pruning and shaping the fruit trees in the orchard that have been sadly neglected by past owners of our home.

There is something special about these processes. Something unique about them. It's the starting with nothing, but a few ingredients–a favorite ball of yarn and set of worn wooden needles, a jar of flour, some spices and cream, a tired sagging tree and a pair of loppers.

It's the ability to start with nothing and produce something. That's the beauty. That's the simplicity. That's where the joy comes from. In creating. In providing. In restoring.

In creativity realizing itself in work.

Of course, you'd have to know that Wendell Berry would provide even more inspiration…from Andy Catlett:

"..the thought has come to me that the old world in which our people lived by the work of their hands, close to weather and earth, plants and animals, was the true world…"

And another that always sits somewhere closely in the back of my mind, also from Andy Catlett:

"The world I knew as a boy was flawed, surely, but it was substantial and authentic. The households of my grandparents seemed to breathe forth a sense of the real cost and worth of things. Whatever came, came by somebody’s work."

Of course there are many things I want to pass on to my children, but if mine were able to reflect upon their childhood and be struck by similar things as these, I would be content.

It's the ability to start with nothing and produce something. That's the beauty. That's the simplicity. That's where the joy comes from. In creating. In providing. In restoring.

In creativity realizing itself in work.

Of course, you'd have to know that Wendell Berry would provide even more inspiration…from Andy Catlett:

"..the thought has come to me that the old world in which our people lived by the work of their hands, close to weather and earth, plants and animals, was the true world…"

And another that always sits somewhere closely in the back of my mind, also from Andy Catlett:

Of course there are many things I want to pass on to my children, but if mine were able to reflect upon their childhood and be struck by similar things as these, I would be content.

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A place for everything…

I promise, I'm not going to talk about cleaning and organizing for the rest of the year, I'm just a girl on a mission at the moment. This weekend, I was once again confronted by the fact that I am very hindered by mess. This isn't to say I have a clean house, it's the daily struggle to get things in their place, put away, cleaned and dealt with that hinders all other aspects of my life, especially my ability to be ready for anything, ready to jump into a project or activity with my children. If my kitchen is messy, I don't want to bake cookies. If the living room is messy, I don't want to go in there and teach you how to knit. I have to clean first. It's pretty pathetic, I know. Especially when I feel like I'm never completely on top of the cleaning, so it is a daily struggle.

This weekend, I spent a good chunk of Saturday morning cleaning and putting away things in the kitchen. Things that had been sitting out on the counters, things on the shelves, dishes that needed to be moved to a giveaway box, etc. And having a clean kitchen got me excited to be in there–I baked, I made a good dinner, I even broke out the dehydrator–something I've been wanting to experiment with for awhile now. (Dehydrated apples? Big time, yum. Before you know it, I'll be dehydrating their lunches and storing them in airtight bags.)

As I cleaned on Saturday, an old saying came to mind: "A place for everything. Everything in its place." It's our new family theme, I've decided. Our mantra. What we're talking about this week in school. What I'm reminding myself and my husband.

In the meantime, Emma and I embarked on a little experiment this afternoon. We wanted to figure out which would freeze faster–salt water or fresh water. Our discussion about fresh water (lakes, ponds, streams) and salt water (oceans) made me realize that Emma has never been to the ocean, though we live just a few hours away now. She tells me she'll never swim in the ocean–the sharks, the jelly fish, how deep it is, and now that she realizes it's full of saltwater, it's even more reason for her to turn up her nose. Just wait and see, Emma…

With the absence of two thermometers we had to modify our experiment and began checking our water samples in the freezer every ten minutes. It was a great excuse to use my new TimeTimer, which I love. The visual aspect of the countdown is so helpful for children. Especially my daughter, who needs to know how long until every next event in her near future. "How many more minutes until my riding lesson? How many more minutes until lunch? How many more minutes until Daddy gets home?" The concepts of minutes and hours and seconds have always been difficult for her to understand. But I'm thinking this nifty little timer will help with all that. Plus it's just plain fun to turn that big red dial and watch it disappear.

So the experiment was generally a success. The freshwater froze first. Elizabeth drank the saltwater and spit it out all over the kitchen floor. And tomorrow we're going to race to melt ice cubes with the salt shakers.

Sounds like a good time.

If I can just get the dinner dishes cleaned up. Kidding.

(kind of.)

Sounds like a good time.

If I can just get the dinner dishes cleaned up. Kidding.

(kind of.)

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animal kingdom / DAILY FARM LIFE / home / knitting / link love / LIVING WELL / MOTHERHOOD

a morning routine

It used to be that I would have a "make up" day when it came to house cleaning and laundry–a day when my sole purpose in life would be to make a dent in (notice I didn't say finish) the laundry, get everything put away properly, things wiped down and mopped, and prettied up. I was making up for all the previous days when I ignored the spaces and piles around me.

But I'm realizing lately that my time is not completely my own. I can't put things off for tomorrow or let things go so easily as I used to. It's taking more of a daily effort, little spurts of cleaning and puttering when I can find them. I'm trying to streamline, especially my time in the mornings. There are things that need to be done: the chickens and guineas fed, children fed, a run of the dishwasher, a load of laundry, a quick tidy, things watered and picked, before I thrust myself into the meat of my day.

I read a post on Simple Mom about your morning five. Making a list of the five things you need to accomplish each morning. (At least I think I read it on Simple Mom. Am I making this up? Nope found it here.) The recommendation is to have five things you do the same every morning. Your routine. I love this idea and I need to really put what's swirling around in my head into a tidy list on a piece of paper.

I love routine and crave it more in my life. Living on the farm with my grandmother the past two and a half years has made me realize how much wisdom and peaceful simplicity there is in routine.

Of course, all work and no play makes Johnny a dull boy. Or me a frazzled, weak, tear-stained pile of stress on the floor.

Enter my sweet little bag of knitting. Knitting is bringing me more comfort and peace these days than it has in a long time. Not only does it calm me, I find it also calms my children. When I sit myself down in a comfy chair in the living room to work and be still, my children seem to always wander in to the same room and find a place to play. They pick up a book and climb under blankets and pillows on the sofa, they lay on their bellies and disappear into a land of make-believe with their toys.

As much as it is important for them to see me as industrious and organized, caring for our home. It is important for them to see me still and quiet and creative. It's an equally important memory and "skill" to pass on to my children.

How are you finding stillness and quiet these days? Are you knitting something? Sewing? Reading? I'd love to hear how you find your peace each day…

Postscript:
And just another word about SimpleMom….if you're not subscribing to it, you're missing out. Every blog post that shows up in my inbox is something I find practical and helpful to my every day. Be sure to take a moment to visit.

And another (shameless) thing…if you happen to click out of your feedreader and actually visit my blog today, there's a little button over there on the left-hand sidebar to vote for my blog. It was nominated for "best parenting blog" in this year's Blogger's Choice Awards. And I have only one vote. And I'm pretty sure it's from my sister. Vote here.

I love routine and crave it more in my life. Living on the farm with my grandmother the past two and a half years has made me realize how much wisdom and peaceful simplicity there is in routine.

Of course, all work and no play makes Johnny a dull boy. Or me a frazzled, weak, tear-stained pile of stress on the floor.

How are you finding stillness and quiet these days? Are you knitting something? Sewing? Reading? I'd love to hear how you find your peace each day…

23 Comments