A Week in Review
Whew! Life around here on Healing Hearts Farmstead has been super busy!
The change of season into Fall is always welcome. My favorite time of year. The short winter months are on the horizon here in the low country. The promise of cooler days to open windows, the end of mosquitoes, pots of soup on the stove with corn bread, slowing down —to rest, to restore and to plan the next Spring season on our farm.
But, first, our hearts and prayers remain focused on the hurricane victims in the paths of Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton still struggling to recover—some even still trying to locate loved ones in western North Carolina.💔
Meanwhile, we attempt to stay focused on our daily lives and fill our thoughts and actions with gratitude for all that we have been entrusted with and to work hard. This is the time of year the lavender is cut back—before the first frost. Roger has spent a good amount of time trimming the plants and weeding the rows as he goes. He has done six of the nine rows (I helped a little!). The last three rows were our first three rows planted two and one-half years ago and show little sign of life thanks to Hurricane Debby and all the rain that followed. We shall see what the Spring brings. 🙏
Our beekeeping friend, Mr. Bobby, had a pretty significant injury when a tree limb fell on him this past Spring. We first met Mr. Bobby, at our local little old-timey hardware store in town right after we moved in. He shared a jar of his honey he had tucked in his truck and we have been buying honey from him ever since. He lives on land that once belong to his great grandparents. The original cabin still sits behind his house. Stories of that time are believable because you can see it in your mind’s eye! I cannot imagine living all of my life on the same piece of dirt when I think of all of the places I have traveled and lived! Deep roots. Anyway, Mr. Bobby called Roger to come help get his bee hives harvested of its honey last Friday. A great learning experience to be hands on as we try to get our own hives started. Heavy, hard work!
For the first time, we decided to raise our own chickens for meat. The Cornish Cross were the first to be harvested this past weekend. The “culling.” My oldest son, Jeremiah, came down to the farm early Saturday morning to help Roger process the birds—18 in this batch. As promised, I had a big breakfast waiting for him—deer sausage, fresh eggs and sour dough toast with Mr. Bobby’s honey. Roger and I had spent time during the week getting the area set up and preplanning the work stations for work flow. Once all of the “processing” was complete, I helped bag up the birds for the freezer.
We still have another 20 to go in a few more weeks. This time broilers. I can still hear and see my granny mimicking how she would “ring” a chicken’s neck to be eaten that day. Granny was a tiny woman and I believed she did just that! A different time then. Me, on the other hand, stayed away from the actual culling. I didn’t think I could handle it.
While the guys were busy outside with that, I got some laundry going and then headed out to the other building where we work with our lavender and hydrosol. But on this day, I wanted to get started on recovering cushions from a vintage wicker set we bought for our new (being built) screened-in back porch! This porch was planned last February. We hit a few rough patches in the process, but it should be finished up in another week or so, and we cannot wait! This house definitely needs a screened in porch!
I also stay quite busy working my remote job as an insurance consultant for lenders of large commercial real estate loans. My workload is pretty full right now which is a good thing! The days go by all too quickly. Suppers around here have been simple, but still made from scratch. I still get the sour dough bread made each week. I never feel like I get everything done that needs doing. I am working on accepting that and not stressing over it. So much more Lavender Hydrosol products in the planning stages. So stay tuned on that!
Thanks for stopping by! 🧑🌾 👩🏻🌾
