This weekend was both peaceful and productive. In reality, I went from having 0 jobs to 3 jobs. I worked heavily the beginning weeks of the world health pandemic worried but motivated to do what I had to. Fast forward 3-ish weeks and the dreaded email came.

However, I’m choosing not to dread this “season” at all. The birds are chirping 3 feet from my open window as I sit and write this post. I can look to my left and see grass that is turning more green every day. My belly is full of berries from this morning’s breakfast and just beyond the meadow stands a strong, able-bodied husband working on lawn chores.

Life is good.

God is good.

I’m a big believer in perspective and how small nuances can lead to major life alterations.

As I said in my “Waste Not, Want Not” post, i’ve already made a few changes that hopefully have profound impact on our ability to sustain us through this time.

I’m heavily convincing myself that I loooovvvveeee leftovers and I am not at all mad at myself for not knowing how to craft sushi. I miss sushi truth be told but my bank account is grateful for less frivolous spending. Whatever gets us through, right?

Anywho, as I was saying, my weekend was exactly what I hoped it would be.

To start, I made jam because I bought way too many strawberries and I started fearing they would ruin.

Can I just say that you have not lived until you have had homemade jam. Store bought jam and jelly doesn’t stand a flying chance against this gem of a treat. I mean, have you ever licked a spoon filled with warm strawberry jam? You melt right then and there into a satisfied pile of goodness.

In other news, our chicken coop construction is still truckin’ right along.

The Hen Pen got a fresh layer of stain along with my hands, shoes, and shorts. *sigh* I’m terrible with anything paint/stain related. Whilst I stained away on each board, my husband worked graciously on brick stepping stones so “my feet don’t get muddy when I get eggs”. He is the purest soul I’ve ever met on the planet.

Things are very much still a work in progress but I am quite liking all that we are learning together. Also, as of now 12 chicks are still alive and well. I make this point because we were told we would inevitably lose a few.

I’m praying this is not so and doing everything I can to make sure it doesn’t happen. We even have a few named. I couldn’t help myself. So far, we have a “hay hay”, “Penny”, “Nuggs”, and “Annie”. These are the most distinguishable of the flock at this time. I’m loving every minute of it.

There were also lots of doggie adventures. Between trampling parts of the garden, destroying brim beds, and many MANY walks; I would say our pups had the time of their lives.

Side note: all of our dogs LOVE to fish. We holler “fish on” and the race is on for them to stop whatever they are doing and come check out the prized catch mom or dad just reeled in.

And this girl loves to nap with momma.

When I wasn’t building things or being a dog mom, I found myself getting reacquainted with my sewing machine.

Because most stores are closed for the time being, I couldn’t go buy yards of fabric for anything big so instead I sewed hair scarves of all different lengths and stitch types.

I’m really into hair scarves for this summer season as I can’t decide whether to chop my hair 3 inches or just let it grow until motherhood finds me. Which could be years and I could look like rapunzel. Who knows, ya know?

Either way, hair scarves are a super simple, cute way to just tie the mess back.

Then, there was my time in the garden.

So, a little back story: I did a clinical rotation for Occupational Therapy at a rehabilitation hospital (which I LOVED) where I overheard a doctor talking about how healthy it is for dirt to get under your fingernails as the micronutrients from the soil actually absorbs into your body and provides a multitude of health benefits.

Now, I have done 0 research to see if this is factual but the statement has stuck with me ever since. In turn, I love digging and planting in the garden where I fight every urge to immediately wash my hands until absolutely necessary.

I also rather enjoy the earth-rich smell that comes from freshly tilled soil. Not as much as fresh cut grass, but ya know it’s pretty close.

Here stands marigolds in hopes of deterring pests and other insects from our tomato plants. I think the pop of yellow adds a nice touch being as though there is not much height to our crops right now.

I hope you all had a weekend full of life’s simple pleasures. I would love to see your own gardens and activities from this weekend in the comments!

With love, Liz.