love, saturday

in the interest of full disclosure, let me start by saying that this particular love, saturday primarily features decisions we have come to as a result of things we don't love. basically, there is a rather long list of things not to love from yesterday. this is me making the best of it, looking on the bright side....

love our ponies (aka over winter and mud). since this is the first winter we've had them, this is the first time we've experienced the depressing horror that is being unable to ride them, work them, groom them, or clean their corral due to mud, snow, freezing temps, or wind. next year, if we are still at this location, we will board our horses at our friend's home down south. we'll have more valuable time with them if we drive down there (where it's warmer and clearer) every weekend and they'll be happier in the warmer climate, too. breaks my heart to imagine not seeing them every day. but this is just too icky. we've had no more than a 24 hour break in the weather since january. it's weighing heavily...

love home grown produce and sourcing/pricing our new greenhouse (aka SO over winter and mud). we have looked at greenhouses before, but this winter has officially pushed us past discovery and into action. our road conditions and weather impediments made it impossible for us to get to the store without significant planning last week. (seriously. this is not a joke--we are more likely to be "mudded" in than snowed in and it IS a real problem.) our meals had fewer fresh veggies and produce as a result and, boy, did we feel it! our energy was down, i had headaches from the processed food, we both slept poorly. SO... we have found a 12 foot by 24 foot greenhouse which we will be purchasing next month. we are buying fresh grow lamps to start seeds next week as well. 2010 is truly going to be the year of home-sourced nutrition.

love stash busting (aka embarrassed by the size of my stash). i have committed to not purchasing yarn in 2010. (okay, okay, there are two important exceptions-- travel yarn and yarn required to complete a project using yarn already in my stash...) you can't believe what this decision has done for my knitting productivity and creativity. for one thing, i have finally begun the infamous twisted float shrug using the gorgeous 12-skein hand-dyed wonder i purchased, oh, two years ago...

love finishing what i start (aka i spent how much on yarn for something i haven't even worked on in four years?!). thanks to the aforementioned stash busting, i have completed two projects that were floating on the needles forever--the gathered pullover and the louisa harding cabled pullover (right). i have even frogged the treacherous VD Shrugby and redeployed the boucle yarn. thank goodness the cabled pullover blocked longer than it appeared it would, or it would have been declared a disaster.

love creatively deploying stash yarns (aka loathing variegated yarn, frogging, and boucle). for dishcloths. and bathroom rugs. and fingerless gloves. even an asymmetrical shawl from the boucle yarn i spent four hours frogging...

love knowing when to just let go (and give away. and just move on). anyone want six full skeins of variegated pastel berroco lullaby yarn in the goodnight moon colorway with some leftover berroco plush in orange, purple, ice blue, and pink for good measure? there is easily enough to make an adorable baby blanket. (that's why i had it, after all. see the endora blankets one and two for my results...)

anyone want two rather large balls of remnant variegated yarns from valentina devine? there is actually quite a bit here, i've just used what i needed... the blue and green skein is much darker than it appears here, fyi. the skein on the right is more effectively featured at the top of this page. pretty, no?

i've even got remnants of ultra alpaca (olive/mustard) and other woolens that are perfect for felters. i have genuinely exhausted my uses for them and would love to see them go to a good home...

also, there is a bunch of wool-ease yarn in rust red or oatmeal (4+ rust, 3+ oatmeal). i've officially made all the hats and gloves i can with them. they're yours if you want 'em or any of the aforementioned up-for-grabs yarn lots. just let me know. seriously. i'm happy to pay it forward!

love my husband. so glad he's feeling better after having the ick in the early part of the week. love our valentine's day plans of painting our own pottery, grabbing an indulgent lunch, seeing a movie, and coming home to snuggle up for the evening.

love my life. love my family. learning to love, saturday and mud and winter all the same.

Two Small Changes

I am delighted to be able to report tremendous success with our one small change commitment from January, 2010. You may recall I promised to use our earth-friendly grocery bags at every visit to the grocery store. There are several reasons I can safely say we kicked butt:

1. I have used our bags for every store visit
2. I have additionally committed to fewer trips to town (thereby reducing carbon footprint, too...), so I have only been to the grocery store twice and therefore...
3. The second visit resulted in a $500 grocery purchase to last us through the month--for which we actually had enough of our own bags!! (The checkout clerk was astonished, frankly.
4. The second visit was undertaken in Zach's vehicle as our road is virtually impassable these days due to mud/snow/ruts. I even had the foresight to transfer the bags to his car before we left and to take them with me when he dropped me off

I am confident that we can continue this one small change into February and beyond. Small though it may be, it feels wonderful and we're sticking with it. I've even put several bags in Zach's car just in case he has occasion to run to the store for us... ;0)

So one small change for January (and beyond) accomplished, which brings us to...

One Small Change for February!

This one begins with an uncomfortable confession. In the month of January, our company conducts "panels" (like committees) to evaluate employees' performance. They typically run for several days and last from 8 AM to after 5 PM. Because we work right through lunch, the company buys us lunch which is delivered by a service to our offices. Now, the driver comes every day anyway because we are remotely located and many employees don't want to bring their lunch. That said, I *like* bringing my lunch. And I am not a fan of high fat, highly processed foods. They are expensive, too. Still, I found myself eating a lot of these lunches because of noon hour meetings or lack of planning on my part. But you know what I really noticed this January? EVERY ONE of these lunches comes in a styrofoam or plastic container! UGH.

For February, my one small change is to bring my lunch, every day, without the use of disposable containers.

This affords me several advantages:

1. My food is of a higher quality nutrition
2. Meals are prepared using my groceries (which are organic or sourced from home)
3. Fewer petroleum products are used to create the containers in which my meals are carted one time
4. No additional fuel is required in order for little old me to have lunch

In order to effectively prepare for the inevitable days where I oversleep or forget my lunch, I have sourced and placed pantry items in my office cabinet. Even if something unforeseeable happens, I'll have a hearty can of soup or frozen leftovers upon which to rely.

I am genuinely excited to be taking charge of my lunch nutrition and shopped with an eye to nourishing myself. It's such a small, simple thing and yet it took a conscious thought to secure it. I'm so glad I've decided to make this one small change for my Self, for the planet.

What will your one small change be?

love, saturday - early edition

love walking under the moon's light and delivering a surprise midnight snack to the horses.


love how frost transforms a landscape's most mundane features.



love the reassuring patterns that can be found all around us.

love forgetting about time and just taking the day in...

love knowing that the day's quiet will be followed by an evening rich with laughter, great company, dinner at a dive, and a ride back from ABQ under the moon's light.

love watching sonora's willow sway in the breeze, its frosted white arms stretching up into the blue.

love putting the finishing touches on my chocolate brown cashmerino sweater. love the cable pattern cyn found me to round out the cuffs. love that i wore at least one handknit item to work every day last week.

love the seeds that continue to arrive by mail. love how they remind me that soon there will be dirt under my fingernails again...

Wow, really?!

Before I formally love, saturday, I need to share some regrettable news: the blog has apparently been discovered by someone who thinks it's fun to post inappropriate comments, most recently with links. Since they were occurring in a foreign language, it was difficult to catch on right away. I've updated blog access and comment security settings as a result.

For those of you with kindness or insight to share, I look forward to sending your comments through to the blog and apologize that I am now required to moderate them before posting.

To the offender, you, your tricks, and your seedy links are not welcome here.

if we were to hypothetically say...

...that this is our draft mission statement, what would you say?

just be farm is a thriving, working, self-sustaining farm that delivers exceptional experiences, nourishing foods, and old world learning for its guests while affording an abundant, joyful, rich environment for its inhabitants. We bring biodynamic principles to bear in our pursuit of a broad range of farm commitments:

Livestock and herd management including grass-fed beef and pork, free-range organic poultry, and small scale dairy and fiber production;
Small-scale agriculture including perennial fruits, cover crops, and intensive row farming; and
Old world wisdom including culinary arts, homesteading skills, handcrafts, and fiber arts.

Collective resources are generously and broadly applied to small batch natural and organic products for local markets that diversify farm income. Our intention is to both teach and learn as we pursue our dream of maintaining a small-scale, self-sufficient homestead that creates more than it consumes, delivers more than it demands, and deliberately moves and grows.

Know Your Source

I'm on a bit of a soapbox today. In spite of the fact that I read the news and listen to NPR daily, somehow it still escaped me that the Supreme Court has decided to allow major corporations to donate big bucks to individual political campaigns. (Thank you, Facebook?! Oy.) I realize that media is flawed, but I don't get how this couldn't be the top story of the day--days even. Weighting political campaigns via corporate financing has such huge implications for our economy, health care, educational systems, our very lives, that I am beyond miffed. This news is as good as promising that our ballot votes no longer count. I try not to tell people what to do or direct individual freedoms--especially because I know I could always do better with my own--but I can't NOT say something here... Our votes with our wallets have never mattered more!

People, it's time for us to aggressively withdraw our financial support of corporations that do not reinforce our values or support a sustainable future for all living creatures.

This isn't going to be easy. It's not as simple as buying organic. Or buying locally. Or making your own. It's about understanding the holistic circumstances surrounding the creation of the things we consume, purchase, or invest in.

Organic has advantages, but what of the mass-produced organic macaroni and cheeses coming from Kraft? If you think they're investing the money you spend on their organic products on sustainability in agriculture, you're kidding yourselves. Organic produce has become so heavily and inappropriately regulated that it is prohibitive for many farmers. (Many small scale farmers are choosing to fore go organic certification altogether--while continuing to honor organic growing practices--in order to keep the government out of their farming practices. Yay, them!) Organic produce, while better than conventional farming, is still often done on a macro-farm scale, up-ending the balance of the soil and draining it of its live-giving properties, requiring organic chemicals to restore balance to the ecosystem. Much organic produce is still shipped from across the country or even the globe. The hidden costs of mass-produced organics can often outweigh their perceived benefit to the consumer. Which is depressing, I know.

Local has advantages. Reducing the carbon footprint associated with food delivery makes an enormous impact. Knowing your farmer has distinct advantages, too. Being able to dialogue about growing practices and new things you'd like to see at market is invaluable. (Imagine asking for organic endive and getting organic endive. Pretty simple, no?) But even "local" can be deceiving. Some locally grown and raised items are not endemic to their environment, requiring significant "artificial" support. Consider meat raised "locally" but on a mass farm scale: in a tight barn, consuming feed from hundreds or thousands of miles away. There goes that carbon footprint reduction, not to mention the quality of life of the animals...

Growing your own has distinct advantages, too, but I know from firsthand experience how tricky that can be, too. If you don't have appropriate soil, sufficient water, appropriate climate, you have a whole new set of challenges to meet. And then there's the not-so-little problem of seed-sourcing. I can't begin to describe my horror when I decided to do some homework on the seeds I had purchased from a well-known and well-reputed seed supplier in Oregon. (That would be Territorial for those of you keeping score.) Imagine my disgust at discovering that seeds they had marketed and packaged as their own were sourced by none other than corporate giant Monsanto. When I challenged them, they unapologetically stated that "quality seeds were scarce." Uh-huh. I buy from a local, organic, non-GMO seed supplier now; they proudly and transparently share their seed sources with their buyers. (And the resulting produce is even better than that resulting from Territorial's seeds.)

I'm not suggesting that this post includes anything approaching a solution. I only know that we can no longer afford to take shortcuts as we make our decisions at the supermarket, at the farmer's market, in our gardens. Please, friends, know the source of your food, your clothing, your medicine, your seeds. Do your homework. Make wise choices on behalf of our children. Employ alternative healing and natural medicines where you can. The Supreme Court's ruling changes everything as it severely limits our ability to have our ballot votes count; we have to begin voting in new ways, with new determination, discipline, and commitment. I know I am bringing a renewed level of ownership to our consumption. I hope you'll consider doing the same.

Kristina

love, saturday

even though i love being snowed in with the critters, i love the thaw. winters feel longer and colder than ever before in santa fe. the longer days and warmer temps warm my heart.



love baking organic biscuits for the dogs. i used to do it all the time, but, after sonora passed, i couldn't bear it. (the last batch was baked for her and buried with her, rubber-stamped with words like "love," "peace." she hadn't eaten for three days and then i baked her biscuits, and she ate them. it broke my heart...) i finally found the courage to bust out the cookie cutters and go for it. love how overjoyed imara is that i am baking them again. she melts me.

love being able to look to our farm for more and more staples and delights. love lavender, pickling spices, and chamomile from our back yard. love breakfasts with home-raised eggs. love being able to recognize which hen laid each and every egg.

love baking: artisan sandwich loaf, banana bread, dog biscuits, organic rolls.

love, love, LOVE the robins, indigo buntings, chickadees, and thrushers that delighted us for hours by eating every last olive from the russian olive tree at our front door. at one point we counted no less than fifty birds in the one tree--all dashing and diving for the last of the olives. the tree was heavy with fruit at 9 AM; by noon, the tree was completely stripped.

love farm "chores" like feeding, grooming, washing, folding, mending, sweeping, knitting, planting, planning.

love realizing that my beloved husband is sitting in a sweater i made, wearing pants i mended, eating eggs from chickens we know and love with homebaked sourdough toast and homemade raspberry jam, with a haircut i gave him.

love creating an action plan for our farm, our life, and our vision:

• a thriving sustainable, biodynamic farm that celebrates balance and harmony.
• a homestead that serves as a restorative gathering, learning, and celebration destination for family, friends, neighbors, community, and strangers alike.
• acreage that effectively serves as a proof source for our dreams, our lives, and our values.

love just be farm as she exists today. love imagining and building her tomorrow.

love, saturday.

One Small Change.

I often find inspiration from my beloved friend Catherine over at yogurt and granola. Most recently, I absconded with a link for Hot Bliggity Blog which delivered the fabulous new background shown here featuring none other than our wedding flower, the Black-Eyed Susan. I love it so much I am almost not embarrassed by my otherwise shameful copy-catting of Catherine's idea.

Today, I found yet another inspiration from Catherine: One Small Change. I am not only jumping on board, I am changing retroactively, too, since my change can (also) go back to January 1st and directly impacts our planet.

My one small change? No more plastic bags at the grocery store.

I already do this on the one hand. I own quite a few cloth/recycled grocery bags. And I use them as much as possible. But. I too often forget my bags in the car. And that's the rub. It's hardly "as much as possible" if the cloth bags are ALWAYS in my car and I NEVER turn around to get them. All I have to do is remember to BRING THEM into the store. Or pull my cart over and go out to GET THEM as I get ready to pay. Seriously. You know what's even worse? I grocery shop once per week, very deliberately, with a list. Why don't I write the damn bag reminder on top of the grocery list so I remember to get the bags from the car before I have perishables in my cart? Ack. It's unforgiveable.

I haven't gone grocery shopping yet in 2010 thanks to a well-stocked pantry and a week-long business trip. That means I can start this change fresh. And I'm changing this one small thing starting now.

What will your one small change be?

Whole Lotta Knitting Going On...

...and weaving in of ends. And seaming. Seriously: today is my single most-knitting focused day *ever*!

First, I completed knitting the large, back piece of the Hanne Falkenberg DaCapo sweater. Marked stitches accordingly and put it in a bag where it will sit until I finish some of the other, closer-to-done projects. COnsidering the back curves around to the front and is knit on size, oh, THREE needles ending with almost 400 stitches, I'm pleased with this accomplishment. I am now ready for a short break from garter stitch rows on small needles, thankyouverymuch.

Next, I completely finished Zach's sweater. Which was supposed to be David's sweater. But then David, uh... how shall we say? grew? The size originally designated for him became somehow less than ideal (even though I got gauge...) So. Now it's for Zach. This 85% wool, 75% mohair sweater is blocking and drying in the back bedroom. That's right, that's an FO. The first in 2010 if I'm not mistaken. It is actually quite lovely. Don't mind the apparent line through the chest: that's just a fold in the towel beneath it.

Next, I cast off, wove in ends, and felted several new panels for our new bathroom rug. This is basically an inspired way to:

• dispose of our dilapidated, boring bathroom rugs
• avoid buying something new
• aggressively use up stash yarn; and
• add color to our bathroom.

I am insanely pleased by how the panels are coming out so far. They are much deeper and richer in color than they appear here. Also not obvious here? How soft and thick they are. Yum.

Next again, I wove in ends and did some seaming on the much maligned fuschia sweater from the Fall 2007 Vogue Knitting. There is still work to be done here, but I am closer than ever before to "finished." Only another hour or so before some of the biggest work is done. See the ruffle at the bottom? I remain undecided as to whether or not to add this to the sleeves, too. Other knitters have reported taking off the ruffle at the bottom and the cuffs. I'm just not sure. Something tells me it could be kinda cute, but...

Finally, I felted and placed our new red tablerunner. It protects the table from scratches and salt/pepper debris while adding a little color. Charming, no? You'd never guess this was supposed to be a panel for the bathroom rug until felting made the otherwise rich red become more muted and brick-ish. It started out garnet red and became kinda barn red. It dragged the color in all the other panels down a notch. So now it's a tablerunner.

What is that? Five knitting projects in one day? And it's only 2:30 PM? Pinch me!

love, saturday

love my friends, who remind me that where i am is exactly where the universe wants me to be.

love my family: the eckers, the jensens, the bauers. love their generous love, their kind support.

love our horses. love eli, the one-ton love muffin. he looks like fabio, cuddles like a kitten, and plays like a puppy. love how he walks up to me and gently asks for attention (and next demands it) if he's in the mood.

love the big, green ball. love how it brings out the playfulness in all of our horses. love cochise, our spooky, sweet appy.

love my beautiful seraphina. love discovering last night that my "original" name (jennifer) is a different version of her original name, guinevere. we were both delivered to and adopted by the perfect homes for us. she's no gwen. i sure as hell ain't no jennifer. thank you, universe, for seeing that and intervening on our behalves.

love working with sera, teaching her new tricks, watching her learn.

love that our chickens come running to me when they hear my voice or my footsteps.

love planning our garden knowing that this year we'll have time to tend it. love ordering over a season's worth of only organic seeds from seeds of change with mostly heirloom and biodynamic varieties among them. love that they are local to us. love creating a garden that will sustain us for most of this year--and build our pantry well into next. love deliberate living that is high touch, high feel, and low impact on the environment. love including a ton of perennials like blueberries, blackberries, asparagus, rhubarb, and grapes on this year's list so there will be even more fruits from which to make jams, jellies, syrup, and more.

love finally finding the perfect pattern for m-i-l's hand painted baby alpaca laceweight yarn: juno regina. bee-yoo-tee-full. love five projects in my knitting basket, each within less than one hour to completion. love that one is for zach, the rest are for *me*!

love making plans that will make 2010 our best year yet.

love fat tuesday and five blissful years together. love my husband. love my life.

New Year, New View

Resolved:

That 2009 is over. All associated stories, complaints, and grievances are hereby retired. I ain't talkin' about "it" no more. Can't make me.


Resolved:

That I shall blog often this year. Joyfully.


Resolved:

That I am on a yarn diet until I am down to one Rubbermaid tub. (From, er, three...) Only travel/gift/exchange yarn allowed.



Resolved:

That variegated yarn is RIGHT OUT. I shall not succumb to your wily ways this year, you colorful balls of eventual stripey horror. Ho no.


Resolved:

That we will mark this year with fewer projects--but more enjoyment of said projects. Screw the greenhouse, the root cellar, the second bath. Give me instead a new, simpler corral, improved horse turnout, a trunk freezer, and MORE TIME WITH OUR FARM.


Resolved:

That I am unapologetic in my desire to be a 21st century homesteader. You can keep calling me a hippie, a hick, a country bumpkin, a crunchy granola type. I am none of these things. (You know who you are; you're only saving me time by going there. Now I can get back to making cheese.)


Resolved:

That this year we will give more than we take, create more than we consume. We will close the year having reaped more from our garden and our hands than ever before.


Resolved:

That 2010 shall be my best year yet. I turn 40 this year, y'all. I love every minute of my life. Even this one, in San Diego. On a business trip. Go figure.


Resolved:

That my life is ripe with accidental miracles, though they grow more deliberate every day...