Leadership and Change

Those who have never loved and been loved by an animal, have a part of their soul yet unawakened. - Unknown

This past week, I had been selected for one of the highest honors at my workplace. I was selected to spend a week at Leadership Training Institute. I and seventeen others began the week learning about change, how to institute it and how to manage it, and then went on to learn team building, leadership and other motivational things. I met some very interesting people, and some of us decided we would maintain the friendships we built. Others of us will be meeting to continue to mentor each other.

One of the most fun facts for me was that I was the only girl there. Those of you that know me, know how much fun that was for lil ol hyper-competitive me.

Oddly enough, one of my favorite things I pulled away from this was that I was witness to five amazing smiles. Yes, honestly, it was the smiles that I remember most as I sit here re-living it in true Pisces form.

And I'll tell you why. Smiles define a person.

5. We have one man, who had a serious look as he tried to pay attention to the material, and then would see the humor and let out a burst of air and then a smile would break out. As I watched him, it seemed that the smile often surprised him and that was half the joke.
4. We had one man who I work with frequently, and is just known as a nice guy. He's always smiling, and everyone always loves him who meets him. You don't even have to get to know this guy to know he's just a NICE GUY. You know? He has a young baby and life is good for him, and I pray for him that nothing ever changes, and that life continues to bring him good fortune and joy.
3. The man who brought our food and took care of us had an amazing, brilliant smile that lit up his face. He loved his family, people, and his job. As one instructor mentioned, sarcasm is our number one export in New England, and this man had it in spades. He didn't even know me but instantly saw in me another sarcastic, full of life person and we spent the week getting to know each other and ribbing each other. His favorite moment, I bet, was when I was trying to get out to explore the gardens and he had to explain how to open the door. Oh, boy, was that a trip - don't ever ask a sarcastic man how to get out of a building.
2. There was a man there from Hong Kong and Thailand, although he himself was Vietnamese. He sat next to me on the first day and said at the beginning of the week that his goal was to get to know each person in the room. And he meant it, not just their names, but who they were. He started each day SHOUTING into the mirror "Have a happy day" and explained that a good day was not good enough, he needed to have a happy day. When he smiled, his whole body vibrated with energy just looking to get out and hit you with positivity. He loved people and loved meeting them and it showed, and you couldn't help but love him. He was my second favorite character from the week.
1. My favorite man and also my favorite smile was a Scotsman, and an amazing man. He was so, so serious, and then suddenly and surprisingly, this 1,000 watt smile would break out and I would just feel the joy rising in me from my gut, and I would have to smile with him. When I did, the joy I felt was just completely throughout my body. He had smiling eyes, like we Irish like to talk about, and I never did quite figure out what color they were. :) I found myself hoping and wishing that he would speak more often just so I could hear his melodic accent. (Which was not Scottish, by the way)

I was impressed with him for many reasons, but one was because one of my main drivers in life is continuous self improvement. This man in the short week I got to know a little about him shared a few "faults" about himself in an honest and refreshing way. He was there to learn, and he did not accept mediocrity. Some of the others seemed to want to allow it in during some of the exercises for the sake of simplicity and ease. He is a more surprising and interesting individual than I believe he gives himself credit for. Although I bet his wife is fully aware of how amazing he is. Of all the men there, I found myself continually noticing the many similarities between us, and perhaps that's why I liked him so well. Don't we typically get drawn to those who are most like us?

So, perhaps I'll post some lessons about leadership some time soon. Right now, I have to walk my dogs and then go on a huge, long bike ride out in the woods of New Hampshire with friends to try to burn off some of those calories from the amazing quantities of food they shoved into us this past week.

I'll post the pictures of the event when I receive them.

Lazy Days of Summer

Forgiveness is the fragrance the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it - Mark Twain

Sometimes when you think your problems are so great, something happens and you realize how small they are. My farmer friend has been working for two years on a dream house on her 200 acre property, only to have it hit by lightning and burn to the ground. Each month, she sends out a newsletter, and in true fashion, she sandwiched that devastating news in with the other news she had to report. Baby lambs born, turkeys taunting the coyotes while her useless but cute dogs sat at the house just watching from afar, her son winning game ball for the Jimmy Fund, oh, and my house burned down. While my friends and family are amazed at my chipper attitude and ability to take life in stride and keep on going with a smile on my face and a bounce in my step... I think if my dream house burned down, I'd have to have a little bit of a meltdown.

Well, the yard is quieter and getting cleaned up and built up again. Next on the list of items to address is a chicken aviary to keep them confined most of the day, to keep my yard from being their dirt bath haven. LOL. I have plans for some top soil to be delivered at the end of August, which gives me a strict deadline to get it done. I'll post pictures of that project. If anyone has plans, feel free to send them along.

School is starting soon for myself and the children. As usual, it will be a challenge to get it all together, but so exciting at the same time.

Well, I know that wasn't too exciting, but I just really wanted to put a post up here soon. I'll make the next one more thought out and exciting, I promise. :)

The turkeys are gone!

The turkeys are FINALLY GONE!

I can finally regain my yard. I'll be going out with a new friend to the farmer's market this weekend where one of my farmer friends will be bringing me new herbal plants to begin the long, hard process of bringing my yard back to the lush, green, peaceful place where I can lay in my hammock, drink beer and listen to the birds sing rather than take a dust bath every time the wind blows.

Those of you with poultry know what that means. :)

I'll also be heading to another friend's farm where they have allowed me to have full range of their 100 acres to roam and search out wild food. I'll be teaching as I go, so it will be fun to pass along the information to other people besides my very attentive husband.

And good news! I'm heading back to school again. Finally going to finish my pre-med degree so that I can begin the long process of applying to medical schools. Things have suddenly turned around! Thank you to my angel for offering to pay for my last three classes. I'm the only biology and chemistry tutor at my school that has been attending classes and honor society meetings for TEN YEARS. LOL

That's all folks. Keep those neural pathways exercised.

Regaining control of my yard

The turkeys have eaten everything in my yard. Gobs of medicinal and culinary herbs painstakingly gathered through my travels and inquiries over many years. My family garden where I planted all the favorite flowers of those loved ones both here and gone on. It's time to regain my yard, and control of my sanity. The turkeys will be gone and eaten up this week, as long as the heat holds off so I can butcher them in relative comfort. I will have to can most of them, since the freezer space is at a premium.

While working on my yard and landscaping, I will be building a chicken aviary with the help of my friend, a woodworker. Thank you to his wife for loaning him out to me yet again. (Good friends are like good books, you keep going back to them. This same friend will come over this weekend to help me change my brakes since my car is desperately in need of stopping power and I haven't maintained my own vehicle for 10 years or more.) Remember, ladies, every woman should know how to change a tire, and check their oil. Real women know how to change the oil and reset calipers.

Once the poultry is gone and transformed into eatable form, I will attempt to regain my yard. It's hard work and I feel for those single women out there, I know how they feel - to work a sixty hour week, come home to make dinner, clean up, drive the kids around, play games with them, help with the homework, take care of the pets, and then stay up past everyone else's bedtime to clean and try to get ahead on tomorrow's meal preparation. I will miss my stepkids desperately this summer, but it's good for them to get away right now to get away from their pain, and it will be good for me to get caught up on the deferred maintenance around here.

Stay tuned everyone. I will be taking on chores this summer such as putting on a new roof (yes, all by my lonesome... anyone want to volunteer to help me?), powerwashing the house and deck, building a new deck, building an aviary, planting a new lawn (Lord, please help this one stick), and renewing and reclaiming my gardens. Not having to worry about cooking and picking up after anyone (well, other than my other two teenagers, DSS20 and husband, of course) and shopping for food will do wonders for my to do list.

Wild foods season is here

I'm back. Took a long time off. Sorry all.

It's elderflower fritter time. I have been searching out the best bushes for years now, and I have them recorded in my GPS device so I can just find them when I need them. Doing that with all my wild foods.

1 C flour, 2 T sugar, 1/2 t baking powder, 3/4 c milk, 2 eggs, beat all together, dip flowers, fry. Make sure not to eat the green stems.

Also, milkweed flower buds can still be had. Daylily flowers, pickerel weed, ramps, yum yum yum. Cattails are coming soon. Sadly, Japanese knotweed is past. However, the daisy leaves are still good and you can still get some salad greens such as stinging nettle or goosefoot.

I'll start posting again now that the season is here and I have more time.

Getting to look a lot like Thanksgiving

First, let me start by saying, happy birthday Mom.

Well, it's getting late in the year now. My camera has been broken (never let a child take it to school with them for ANY reason) so I can't post pictures of the birds.

I had a nice long conversation with my cousin this week. He's making cheese, and I have all the ingredients, but not the time. I have another crazy weekend this week, so no good then. However, I was hoping to make a wheel or two very soon. Maybe by next Christmas we'll have a bunch of aged cheeses to hand out.

Michael has made his liquid dessert, which is a dark porter with chocolate and vanilla. Can't wait to give some of that away, it's always a hit.

Tonight I will begin to make the starter culture for my ginger beer. I failed last two attempts, which I blame on the house being too hot in the summer. So, we're going to try again now.

Speaking of which, I haven't spent too much time talking about our other livestock - the bacteria. Right now on my counter is a neglected and forlorn SCOBY (a symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast) which is used to make a great drink called kombucha. It's a cultured tea that's been drunk for thousands of years as a health tonic. It's cleansing to the liver, but the kids just call it yummy. I'll make up some tea tonight to give it a start again.

Also on my counter is another type of mother culture, kefir grains. That makes yet another yummy, healthy drink. Another mix of healthy, beneficial yeasts and bacteria, kefir has been credited with curing everything from A to Z. I'm giving it to my oldest dog right now, as I believe she is coming down with a slight case of cancer. So, we shall see if this helps her at all. Again, the kids drink it up and adore it in their morning shakes.

As it's getting cooler, it's time to culture more on my counter. I should have a batch of sourdough starting soon, and a friendship bread also. Likewise, a batch of sauerkraut (or five) and kimchi.

Folks, if you are not making your own cultured breads, vegetables and drinks, now is the time to start. What can I say, but it's easy, packs a powerful, nutritional punch, and is associated with long, healthy lives. Oh, and it's so tasty - YUMMY, getting hungry.

Blessings all as we prepare for our winter, I pray that you are all warm and comfortable and not affected by the storms blowing outside all of our doors.

The first snow is falling

Last night I went to bed with flakes falling, and this morning they were still falling. Not heavily, just a dusting, just enough to say that Samara has seen her first snow. The turkeys are huge, the ducks are ready for slaughter, and I still have yet to build the plucker.

Life on the farm when you have to work full time as well.

The goal, I suppose, is to get debt free and quit my day job. The goal seems far away. The first step is to write down the goals, place the steps in motion, and declare them. Stay tuned.

We have stopped fostering for the rescue we were with, there was too much drama. I don't need drama, I just wanted to help dogs. Life goes on, and the dogs will find another home, I suppose.

My next door neighbor has shot the fox, the wife called to let us know. Brandi's response was "oh, is he OK" and she reportedly replied "No, honey, he's dead." LOL - growing up in the country.

I am in the process of cooking down some pear butter, and the kids went wild for the carrot cake jam out of the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving. I'm probably going to make seconds of that. I have half a bushel still to can up and they're getting soft.

Here are some pictures of Samara to share. She's a big girl now. Whenever we let Zen out with her happy mask on to spend time with the family, Samara gets all gooey, bowing and prancing and just making a fool of herself. Zen has yet to play with her in the house, but she's shown signs of thinking about it. She's a big girl, and just a joy to have, despite her constant chatting.