Dear Friend of Half-Acre Homestead,

Here I am! It feels wonderful to be sending out a post to all of you. For those of you who subscribed to the previous incarnation of my website, this is a new format, where you will receive every blog post automatically. I hope you like it.

For new subscribers, welcome to the homestead. I look forward to getting to know you. I hope you find my musings of interest, and I always welcome emails from subscribers regarding what you would like to learn about.

On the homestead, I have a peony bush at the entranceway. It seems to be a tradition around these parts. Here’s a photo of it from this year:

It’s called Bowl of Beauty. I’ve had a lot of time to think over the past several months about what is beautiful in life: facing health challenges kind of does that.

During this time of difficulty, there have been many blessings. I have received so many messages of support from the Half-Acre Homestead community. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

When I wasn’t sure I would have a garden this year, I persevered and got a bit done. I have to say that my garden this year, despite its smaller size and chaotic nature, is the sweetest one I’ve ever had. The feeling of accomplishment to get my beloved seedlings into the ground, even when the going was tough: well, nothing can beat that.

In the photo below, you’ll see some of my seedlings at the end of April, all ready to go. Onions (featured in my previous post!), kale, cabbage, kohlrabi, and an interloper herbal teasel plant, a gift from a friend. These are only a few of them!

Planting the little lovelies in the ground:

The protective cones were needed at first:

Fast forward 60 days. What a feeling of accomplishment! Here is the garden on June 29th. Carrots on the far left, turnips on the left, three varieties of kale and the kohlrabi and cabbage in the middle and beets on the right:

The kohlrabi did well, despite some early losses with the seedlings before planting. I have eaten one and the other is now ready for harvest. What a delicious flavour it has when sauteed in butter! I kept the leaves in a damp towel in the fridge and ate them over the course of a week in sautees and salads.

My Royal Burgundy beans continue to produce and a second planting is almost ready for harvesting now. I always think these bean plants and their flowers are so beautiful, too.

I drink nettle tea daily made of leaves from my somewhat out-of-control nettle patch. I also dry some leaves to share with herbal clients and for the long winter ahead.

I’m still making kefir cheese, and using it to top pizzas covered in sauteed greens and zukes from the garden. Yum yum!

There’s that saying about whether the glass is half empty or half full. Over the past months, I wrestled with how to be in the midst of a lot of pain and uncertainty. I made a decision to challenge myself to be the best I could: to face my difficulties with grace and some faith.

And most importantly, to acknowledge that my challenges had borne some beautiful fruits: the satisfaction of rising to a challenge, feeling the support of friends, family and the Half-Acre Homestead surround me, watching my life slowly shift into a new direction: focusing on writing as my passion in life and sharing that with others.

So, that takes me right back to the Bowl of Beauty.

Taking a close look at any one of the jagged, irregular white petals in the middle, it would be easy to say, “That one’s not perfect, it’s broken, it should go.” What could happen quickly, with petal after petal on the ground, is to be left with nothing.

Similarly, I’m resolved to move forward in my life with a new perspective, trusting in the “Bowl of Beauty” that is my life, and not trying to take out or reject what isn’t “good” in my view. It could be bringing new gifts into my life that couldn’t have arrived in any other way. As it’s out of my control most times anyhow, I will try to rise up and meet my challenges with the best me I can offer.

Thanks so much for reading!

I can’t wait to share more details in future posts with you about how my late fall rutabagas survived a Canadian winter under plastic to grow this past spring. Here they are on April 6th…they were good eating from there on in….early fresh greens in Zone 5B Canada! It can be done!

I was also pulling viable vegetables out of my “hole in the ground” root cellar until May! Yep, I stored fall harvest root vegetables in damp sawdust inside perforated buckets. It worked like a charm. Here is one photo of the construction showing the clay chimney flue liners I used to make it. I look forward to sharing more about how to do this in a future post.

I appreciate your interest in self-sufficiency and what I do. I look forward to sharing more in my future posts, which I plan to write once or twice per month.

Kind regards,

Colette