My twelve year old looked me in the eye, a look of curiosity on her face.
“You sound like an old lady, Mom. Things are getting weird.”
(Psh. Frankly, I think that's a bit harsh.)
I had just been boldly laying out my plans for the seasons ahead to her – which may have included bat houses, hatching monarchs, more bird houses, a meadow of wild flowers, and…. perhaps sheering some sheep and learning to spin their wool.
Perhaps my current hobbies of cleaning the house, tending the garden, baking bread, ironing linens, hatching eggs, researching local birds, and watching YouTube videos on spinning wool may seem a bit old fashioned to a twelve year old, but I take no issue with it. In fact, the deeper I dive the more pleasure there is to be found.
One thing I know for sure: the answer isn't out in the world.
But don't worry, I'm not a hermit either. I interact regularly with normal people. Namely, the many people in my church, my extended family, close friends, and various community connections and activities. I get out of the house plenty (for my taste). I can talk to people and act normal. But…
…when I get home, I'll happily research citrus varieties for greenhouse growing and ways I can bring hummingbirds into the garden.
Frankly, I think this is a huge part of the reason that February can tend to be so hard for me. There's a lot of work to do for me as a homesteader in February, from rotating storage crops, to preparing for lambing and calving, to organizing and preparing for seed sowing. I have to spend time thinking about the seasons ahead but I can't quite get started yet. It's a time of tension. Of split tasks and divided attentions. Of not here and not there yet.
Biting off more than I can chew is inevitable. It's the crippling weight of being a dreamer who jumps in the deep end – of being a “cowboy” as my husband calls me.
The world needs cowboys.
I've been a gardener for many, many years now. As a young girl, I convinced my mom to let me plant and tend to one of her garden beds – my mother always had beautiful gardens. I remember what was planted where – almost to every detail. It's funny looking back now at how much I was always this way. Because of this, I still hold a soft spot for variegated irises, lily of the valley, succulents, and sunflowers.
This many years into being who I am, I know that I'll regret every life decision I've ever made in late August when the weeds win, the gardens are crispy, the produce is overrun and overwhelming, the flies attack me while I milk the cow, and the lambs are grown and acting like stupid teenagers. Oh, and my friends are at the lake for the day.
Still, here we are. Charging forward into the oblivion of the season that awaits with the enthusiasm of a cow when she discovers the gate's been left open.
(Have you ever seen a family cow when they escape? They're hilarious, jumping around, kicking up their heels, and feeling quite proud of themselves.)
Each day I spend on the farm, I seem to fall further in love with God, the ultimate Creator and Great Artist, and what he has given us to taste and enjoy here on the losing side of Glory. It's all touched by sin, by a fallen world, but it's still so telling of the God we worship.
I don't just love bats, hummingbirds, zinnias, pumpkins, soil, snow, or bulbs. I don't just love these things for what they are. When I'm outdoors – whether it be attending a lamb's birth, planting garlic, or listening to rain – it's like getting to spend time in God's playground. A museum, a shop of curiosities, an art gallery that sparks my creativity, fastens my faith in His hand that sustains it all, and gives my heavenly thirst a drink of cold water.
God created the crab apple blossom, the woodpecker, the sunrise. All held together by the perfect conductor.
Can you even imagine what the news heavens and the new earth will be like. My God, how I yearn to see what nature will be like in glory!
For now, I will settle for flowers that die, bugs that bite, and trees that get diseases because I hold on with faith that this isn't where it ends. This is simply the invitation to a Great Feast, our spots at the table secured by Christ, and yet even still here we still get the blessing of crops that grow and the warmth of sun on our faces.
The feel of a lovers hand.
The taste of a summer strawberry.
… there are signs of God's Glory everywhere.
Maybe that means I spend a bit more time meditating on the crimping of a lamb's wool or work hard on planting flowers that brings more critters into our little pocket of earthly paradise. But it's because there's beauty and glory to be found there.
… in which case, I'm totally fine being weird.
And Amen.
Great job on this one, friend! It touched my heart…
Glory to God in the Highest flowing through Shaye Elliott! Thanks for these moments of worship!
Wow….Sigh…
That…was so… Lovely!
Amen, Indeed!
Thank you, for being who God created you to be and seeing His world, in such a beautiful way.
Thank you for keeping on with the blog. I’m always moved in special ways by your words.
Beautifully said…thank you for writing this as my eyes and ears needed it.
Beautifully written. I too feel closest to God and most happy, grateful and content when I’m going for a hike in the woods or tending to my garden and watching day by day as the fruits ripen.
I just planted my carrots, onions, and strawberries! It’s starting to get warm in NC. {I know. It’s February. We’ve had a weird winter.}
I enjoy all of your weirdness. (Not weird at all)
Oh, my! My daughter thinks I have totally lost my mind most days! But someday she will understand.
And yes, to all this! Beneficials, (mine is weaving), citrus, research! And yes, to trying to accomplish too much in one season! But I wouldn’t have it any other way. And by fall, I think of all the things I wish I had added.🤦🏻♀️
One of my sincerest prayers for the new heaven and new earth is that God would continue to allow me to be a gardener. ❤️
My husband, who is a pastor, and I are both avid gardeners. He is used to me crying over how beautiful nature is while simultaneously weeping at its brokenness. My husband always reminds me that the one God-given task commanded before the Fall was for Adam to tend the gardens and for Eve to be his “helpmate”. He assures me we can expect to all be tenders of God’s New Creation in the resurrection. (Which i translate as I’ll get to grow roses and grapes that don’t struggle with blackspot or powdery mildew!)
Thank you, Shaye, for your commitment to channeling your energy where you’re needed most. Your faith, your family, your farm and then all the countless homemakers, like me, that have been inspired by you. Because of your work we have also learned to channel our energy into our faith, families, homes–where it’s needed most. While giving glory to God you have done your work for the betterment of society. For sure my own family has grown in the last three years with me being inspired by your podcast with better (not more), skilling up in the kitchen and being an all-around intentional homemaker instead of resenting the work. My deepest and most sincere gratitude to you. Greetings from Vancouver, Washington.
Amen to all of that. I appreciate your perspective. I have also been inspired by your blog and podcast the last three years. It has been an encouragement. Don’t underestimate your work!
Thank you!
Amen to all of that. I appreciate your perspective. I have also been inspired by your blog and podcast the last three years. It has been an encouragement. Don’t underestimate your work!
Thank you!
https://notsoadventures.blogspot.com/?m=1
This was my first blog post to read (of yours). Loved it! We, too, have a small acreage and I wonder how people have time to play on the weekends, ha! But the beauty, the smells, the sounds, it’s all worth it.
Yes, we must look around and see that God is good ALL the time, no matter what. And I can’t even imagine but oh, I can’t wait to be astonished by all that is to come. See you there!
Wow. I think I need to re-think my priorities! Thank you for all you do.
This article blessed me so much! Thank you so much😊
Your winter garden is lovely!
Love the way you count your Blessings!
As I sit here in our cozy cottage in Maine while the wind is blowing and the sun is shining and the temp reads 21 degrees and dropping you have encouraged me to continue “looking up”. ( Luke 21:28)
Even at 76 years of age I can see spring just around the corner. All to His glory.
Thanks, Shaye
Yes and yes! My granddaughters think I’m so weird for going on and on about delicious, nuturing (and homemade) food, about gardens and tending animals and all things simple and outdoors and God-breathed…but I know I’m not only planting seeds in the ground, I pray I’m planting seeds in their little hearts and that someday they will have even a little bit of the same appreciation for doing this work and the discipline it requires and the rewards it can bring. Wonderful post!
Hi! I was browsing your new online store. You mentioned the items are made in the USA. Are the materials (cotton) grown in the USA or imported?
AMEN! I Live in Hawaii, the Big Island looking at the ocean and hearing the
waves crashing and I too appreciate God’s Goodness to us in this special place
and I too can hardly imagine what what He has prepared for us on the other
side. God is so GOOD!
Even as our todays temperature is 58 degrees, our area is expecting tomorrow – snow.
Preparation has already begun inside our custom enhanced Mulberry Greenhouse my husband and I, built in parts by instruction booklet, with added design for rainwater capture and solar energy strategizing in the summer of 2021. Excitement of self-sufficiency, the joy of growing our own foods all within the urban-rural countryside lot in which our home stands, is personal therapy, love of being outdoors and the closeness of nature.
This will be our second actual growing season year as the build took place in mid-July of 2021 and continues on as the adding of grow lights (February, ’23) currently lend assistance to early root growth of our radish seeds and three varieties of lettuce planting where the stronger sprouts will be transplanted into newspaper folded rectangles of soil compost mix to pots to grow stronger as we approach in-ground plantings come late March-early April.
In 2022, grown were salad herbs, green vegetables, tomatoes, bell peppers and strawberries, blueberries and blackberries.
All this to say, We too, are grateful in appreciating the bounty that beholds us, when we see the Almighty Hand of GOD in our toil!
First time on your site, reading your Blog and in agreement with the excited endeavor leaning Into GreenThumbGrowing As WE Seek The Benevolence of GOD and HIS Blessings Of 2022 Bounty!
I look forward to your future blogs!
Thank You! ~Terri L. Metzler
Couldn’t have said it better! As always, your writing amazes! As for hummingbirds in the garden, plant scarlet gilia. It is amazing in hot dry desert climates and will bring in the hummers! They love it.
Thank you thank you 🙏
I so agree with everything you said and think the exact same things all the time. God our Fathers blessings my friend 🙂
I don’t ordinarily comment but I just wanted to let you know that your words are always a balm to my heart. I find my self saying “yes” and “amen “to so much of what you say. I can’t tell you how your podcast and Instagram photos have encouraged and exhorted me. If you lived nearby I would invite you over to my homestead for a cup of coffee in a heartbeat. Thank you for sharing your heart, photos, artwork, and life with the greater world.
And Amen
(and notice how much nicer people are here than IG🧐)