Frigid Flurries

This week's reading: 12 Ways Your Phone is Changing You - Tony Reinke (and catching up on podcasts ;-) )

Our weather has taken an even more frigid turn as Daisy's new habits demonstrate. She lingers long in bed and then steals my electric heating pad as soon as I stand up. But really, how can you say no to such sad puppy eyes...

After last week's post about almost stealing bricks, a co-worker let me know that she had bricks that she needed clearing off her parents' property. Nathan and I braved the rain while Daisy supervised our work. Then the following weekend my parents helped us load up another load to add to our stockpile. These vintage bricks will make for a lovely path in our backyard. Thanks Renee!

After church on Sunday, we went up to Black Mountain visit my grandmother, father, and uncle for lunch. The wind was furious and the flurried snow was blown so hard it couldn't even land on the asphalt. We grabbed a bucket of friend chicken from Ingles and hurried on our way to my Grandmommy's snug house for the afternoon. Post-lunch we learned that Nathan was a wee bit tall for one of the pans in the kitchen. hehehe

This past Monday the library was closed for MLK Day, which afforded me time to sit and finish a knitting project for a friend's little one due in March. It turned out super cute, and I plan to keep this design in my stash for future gifts!

Traditionally on MLK Day I would share a quote from him on social media, so I'll do that here with one that has resonated with me for the last few years. Words that still need heeding more than 50 years later. Last year (and continuing into the future), we focused on trying to purchase what we could fair trade, "green," or locally with a focus on the people who raised, created, or produced said item rather than saving every last penny for my wallet and seeking the comfort of my own convenience. Not an easy task, we succumbed to convenience many times, and we couldn't find some items fair trade at all which says much about our society. We did discover several new-to-us companies/stores that helped us along the way. and we hope to continue to find new sources in the future!

Our chickens continue to be as entertaining as ever. Stella has taken to trying to sleep outside the coop and we find her settling down on the gypsy wagon most nights as the sun sets. Silly girl needs a haircut! Hoping we can trim a few feathers to help her see better. Also, I finally got a photo of the entire flock! Usually hard to get them all in one frame, but breakfast worked like a charm.

This past weekend, we went to the SC Farm Bureau's Young Farmer and Rancher conference down in Columbia with Chris and Jenny. We had a good time visiting with each other, making good business connections, and learning about a few opportunities for the farm. On our way into town on Friday, Nathan and I nabbed some cupcakes at the Chocolate Moose's sister store. So. Delicious. The first night there after dinner they had a "casino night" where Nathan tried to lose at Blackjack so he could get his sleepy wife to bed and he kept doubling his giant risky bets! Chris didn't last much longer despite his blue steel pose. Event staff also had set up a virtual photobooth where we had some fun putting props on each other's faces (see evidence below).

The second day at the conference we divided and conquered several classes--one of which was butchering a half hog and chicken. Learned quite a bit about where what pork cuts come from where and the butcher was very entertaining. Sample quote: "Higher being above made chickens much easier to cut up. They come perforated!"

Before dinner our last night we took a quick tour of Ezekiel Farm Ministries in the heart of downtown. Their mission is to help inner city youth acquire life skills through their farm. The following morning we attempted to go to Trinity Episcopal, but it turns out they had a special service that day and we showed up ridiculously early to hang out for 2 hours, so we headed back to Greenville to pick up Daisy and hang out with my parents.

One of the books Nathan and I read together recently encouraged the activity of writing out one's family culture. We spent a few days mulling over it and will probably edit/add to it some more, but for now this captures us in the present and some of what we want to grow into better over time. I know we already want to add hospitality as a value. :-)