Lazy W Marie

Carpeing all the diems in semi-rural Oklahoma...xoxo

friday 5 at the farm: snapshots of life lately

What a week! Starting with last Sunday, which was refreshing and restful in many ways, this past week ran the gamut. We experienced so many highs and lows, worked so hard, and loved so intently that as I type this early Friday evening I’m feeling kind of amazed. Amazed that we made it unscathed. Amazed by how surrounded we are by goodness and how perfect God’s timing is. Amazed that springtime has finally won the tug of war with winter. There’s a metaphor in all of that, I’m sure.

It’s Friday, so how about five snapshots of life lately?

Monday around lunchtime Jocelyn texted me, asking was I busy? Never too busy to see her. I cleaned myself up and drove to the City. We spent several hours talking, shopping, and drinking these drinks you see below. She is a boba tea devotee, something which I feel only “Kids These Days” really understand, and I enjoyed a viciously strong iced coffee with a not skimpy amount of real cream. Monday happened to be her last day in Oklahoma for a while, so we soaked each other up. (I didn’t even cry!) She brought a friend to the farm that evening for dinner, and all four of us laughed so hard and so much that a big grin was plastered on my face the rest of the night.

Sidenote: Handsome had just endured a ridiculously difficult day at the office, so a night of good food, hard laughter, and face to face time with our Girl was the perfect antidote. xoxo

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I mentioned that Spring has sprung. The best evidence of this is how sheddy the horses are. A few weeks ago I could brush the loose hair off of their ample bodies, but now a light breeze cause great drifts of it to float away, and by the end of March we will once again look like the tribbles from Star Trek have invaded.

f5 chanta C

Our evening meals all week long have been to die for. Handsome and I both feel so much better when we eat “well,” which means some thing slightly different for each of us. After many consecutive but worthwhile days of feasting with family around the time of Grandpa’s funeral and then celebrating my birthday, both of us were happy to settle back into a more deliberate eating routine. Our bellies just needed a little break. My faves, as always, are big bowls of leafy greens topped with roasted or raw veggies (currently obsessed with radishes and cucumbers) and whatever protein we have available. In this photo I also topped my giant salad with one sweet potato, cooked to perfection in the air fryer. Love that gadget. Zero oil needed.

f5 food C

Don’t you love how once the landscape wakes up, even shrubs and trees that had been more or less green all winter, suddenly look vibrantly green? Check out this unruly beast behind my metal rooster. Those tendrils grew several inches this past week, as they will continue to do all the way up until about Thanksgiving. And the color! Like someone turned on a light bulb inside the branches. I love it.

f5 rooster C

Sewing! I have spent a couple of days in the Apartment this week getting reacquainted with my sewing machines. That’s been fun. Watch for a big Mother’s Day event soon!

f5 apron C

We have been aggressively thinning our decorative and collectible hoard, which feels wonderful. Every day I continue work on manure/compost and take a long walk to see what is growing (nearly everything). We’re so happy the hens are laying again, and with enthusiasm. And of course so many interesting beekeeping jobs. The Lazy W Honey-makers are doing so great, I have a lot to tell you soon.

Ok, that’s it for now! We are off to relax for the night and are excited for a hiking and car show event with friends tomorrow. Then more running, eating, romancing, farm working, and keeping the stress demons at bay.

Wishing you the best weekend ever!

“Misguided urgency can be the enemy of progress.”
~The Minimalists Podcast
XOXOXOXO

 

friday 5 at the farm: green goose garden goals

Hey friends, I cannot BELIEVE it’s Friday afternoon! Like not at all. I fell ill sometime Tuesday and have been in such a weird feverish daze ever since. It truly feels like I lost a whole week of life. Thank goodness Monday was crazy productive and that my husband is amazing. He did all the animal feeding and dishwasher loading Wednesday and Thursday and stocked us up on groceries and medicines, too, after some hellish office days. All I had to do was try to sleep and fight off coughing fits and not complain too much about sitting still. Pretty sweet deal.

For Friday 5 this week, I ran across this old snapshot that inspired a short list of gardening things on my mind. The little girl there with the round bare belly is me, having just harvested fresh carrots from my Mom’s garden in my childhood home. Those boys were neighborhood friends. And yes, for sure, in addition to gardening I have been hooked on patchy jeans and bleach blonde hair ever since. Also flip-flops.

baby gardener C

 

The 2017 Green Goose Gardens are already in process:

  1. Wider curving herb bed near the kitchen window, to accommodate multiples of each herb.
  2. More organized composting system (we finally have a grip on manure management).
  3. Three Sisters will grow out front along with watermelon, pumpkin, and sunflowers.
  4. I’m building a modest shade garden near the pool house.
  5. Overarching goal of producing all our own edibles plus lots of certain things to sell at the local market (Saturday mornings beginning in June). 

Number 5 is really the kicker, and of course it cooperates with all the rest, especially number 2. We have all winter been plotting and planning and setting aside both space and funds to make these things happen. I have been gradually relocating compost, one wheelbarrow at a time, from the middle horse field to the front field, with the goal of improving the soil texture there (right now it’s mostly sand). Handsome has been scheming fence reconfiguration, ordering seeds, and designing me a three-bin compost box. I have been reading and pod-casting up a storm, getting my brain filled with other people’s good-experience wisdom for small-scale, high-yield market farming. It’s so exciting.

What makes all of this seem more possible in 2017 compared to years past is a beautiful alchemy of life changes. One key element is that I have greatly reduced my outbound volunteering. I rarely leave the farm now to do anything other than errands for us, and I like it. I am more focused, my housework stays up to date (except when I am sick, like this week), and I have far more hours now to dive deeply into making this place more than nine lazy acres. We feel like the W will be coming into her own soon, and it’s thrilling.

Yay for so many mild January days that gave us a head start on spring! Looking at this list of five garden goals, I am so happy to know that each of them is well in motion. Oh and I started some lettuce trays today, so watch Instagram for seedling updates!

Happy weekend to you! Stay healthy! Grow something green!
XOXOXOXO

 

friday 5 at the farm: snapshots of this week

Hello, happy first Friday of the brand new year! This weekend on which we are about thrust ourselves is already much appreciated. And waking up to a thick, glittering snow quilt certainly makes the single digit temps more bearable. As soon as the sun comes up, Klaus and I will be outside, making tracks and checking on animals, breaking ice and having fun. Maybe we’ll see how adept his big paws are at building snow men? At least he should be able to swish a pretty great looking snow angel. If that happens, I’ll post it to Instagram for sure.

To kickoff Friday 5 at the Farm for 2016, here are five photos from this past week. They are just snapshots languishing on my cell phone but actually represent some great memories.

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#1. Engagement Party! A couple of months ago, our friends Tami and Jason flew to Italy for a romantic getaway. While there, Jason surprised Tami with a wedding proposal! They were in Venice, on a traditional gondola, and he was nervous and not even sure she’d say yes. They are madly in love of course, but marriage had not been on the table, so to say the least she really was shocked. I loved watching them as they recounted that memory. It is one of the best, most romantic stories I have ever heard, and it’s real.

Handsome and I were happy to attend their recent engagement party and are so happy for them! This photo is blurry, but can you see the giant decorative “diamond rings” hanging from the light fixture? The party was a lot of fun, the hostess so sweet and gracious. We met lots of new friends and had a great time. Nothing quite like marinating in an atmosphere of love and romance.

I do sort of regret not eating one of these magical looking cupcakes.

f5-engagement-cupcakes-c

#2. A Man & his Dog & my Lost Redbud The photo below is my strong, hard-working guy and his faithful assistant working at our bonfire pit. The tree stump there by the metal birdcage was a mostly rotted Redbud tree, which we chopped down and burned just as year changed. We made this task a bit ceremonious, which helped because I was sad to lose this beautiful thing. I love Redbuds in general (our state tree), but this particular one just kept hanging on, year after year. It was where I had hung that cotton wedding chandelier, it was an anchor for a string of twinkle lights, and even in its decline it bloomed profusely every spring. It was just special, and I was sad to see it go.

You might also like to know that anytime Handsome is working outside or (especially!) when he is using our black pickup truck, Klaus wants… no, NEEDS… to participate. This big dog knows the words “truck” and “chores” and has no fear as long as his Daddy is in the lead. It makes me deeply happy to watch them together.

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#3. Exhausted Lusty Pup Who Thinks He is Still Tiny Following our traditional first bonfire of the year with friends, Klaus was completely spent. Some of our friends had brought their dog to the party, a pup named Champ, and he and Klaus became fast friends, sort of. They spent several hours in feverish chasing and wrestling, nervous dominance/romantic attempts, and a pitiful, whining separation when the chaos became too much for us humans. Anyway. Late that evening after the farm was empty of beloved fire-watchers and marshmallow roasters, Klaus pinned me on this couch. He laid exactly on my shoulder and belly, stretched out along my legs, and passed out cold. He snored contentedly. I was helpless and in heaven.

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#4. Afternoon Sunlight Magic & the View from my Kitchen I adore this exact vantage, from which I see so many things I love, at this time of day especially. It’s right around the moments the sun begins to surrender, when it slants across from the south and hits a disco ball perched on our dining room table. Everything glows and sparkles for a little while. Klaus is usually asleep now, because he’s been playing so hard and doing his dog chores (very important stuff). I am showered (finally) and cooking dinner. Chances are good that my guy is about to text that he’s coming home. Afternoon is blending into evening at the farm, and when it’s too cold to walk outside and see the sunset, this is a beautiful consolation.

f5-kitchen-view-sparkly-afternoons-c

#5. Greek Meal I Cannot Stop Craving. This past Monday evening after a surprisingly difficult and truly exhilarating aerial yoga class with friends, we all stopped at a nearby Greek restaurant for a nice, late supper. So European of us, right? I was quite hungry, having made a point to arrive at the “silks” on a perfectly empty stomach. You guys, this meal was amazing. I ordered it expecting that a traditional Greek garden salad (with olives, feta, cucumbers, etcetera) would be topped with grilled chicken strips. What a treat to instead see it crowned with this big scoop of saffron chicken salad! It also had some kind of tangy, creamy sauce I forgot to identify, and every detail of it was so good. The small, warm pita triangles and layer of fresh, cold tabbouleh. Yyeesss. More of this please. If I do sign up for weekly aerial yoga classes, this salad could make regular appearances in my life.

f5-greek-salad-c

 

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Okay, thanks so much for touching base at the digital Lazy W! We are making slow but steady progress on new market gardening projects, so stay tuned for details on that. I am beyond excited.

A new Marathon Monday post is coming too, about the benefits of training for a race but not running it.

Happy, cozy, loving weekend to you! Enjoy the snow, Oklahoma! Carpe the diems.

“Exhaust the little moment. Soon it dies.
And be it gash or gold it will not come 
Again in this identical disguise.”
~Gwendolyn Brooks
XOXOXOXO

friday 5 at the farm: nourished

Hi friends, happy Friday! Lots has been happening, as always, and I am remiss in sharing a thousand great stories and photos with you. Life continues to be full to bursting with beauty and surprises around every corner.

For now, for Friday, let’s pause to notice the things that have been nourishing us, the features of average daily life that keep us going day to day, task to task. Are you game? Here are five of mine, lately. I would really love to hear what has been fueling all of your grand adventure and such, too. 

1. SOUP. I am really in deep over soup right now, maybe even more so than salad, which is saying a lot. My favorite ones to make at home involve lots of chicken broth and chicken and maybe lentils, some raw kale, a squeeze of lemon, twist my arm over half an avocado why don’t you. My favorite ones at restaurants lately have been this chicken Florentine potion (So creamy! So much celery!) and one gloriously plain and satisfying cauldron filled with clam chowder. Here in Oklahoma we are barely cold enough for soup yet, really, but every chance I get it’s happening. Makes me feel so great deep in my bones.

2. NATURE, always and forever, especially views like these…

view

lily-lake

3. TIME with my people. Romantic getaways with Handsome, quick caring afternoons with girlfriends, nighttime walks and long sunshine talks with my daughter, Face-timing with my sister-in-law and newborn nephew, meaningful conversations with my best friend (Handsome again), extended cuddles with my dog. (Yeah for sure he counts as one of my people.)

hike-w-joc-bridge-lily-lake-nov-2016

4. STORIES like that of Jesse Owens. Have you seen the movie Race? Friends, it’s so great. In fact, may I strongly suggest that you watch it with your family this holiday season. We all need some balm on our hearts. Agreed? His story is told beautifully in this film. And not for nothing that it’s about running, okay?

5. THANKS and all the amazing energy that flows from the giving of it. Gratitude is a trans-formative force, lest we ever forget. I have lately been enjoying a ribbon of happiness thanks to, well, thankfulness. The more you rest your mind on your blessings, the more you show your appreciation, the more you mean it, the better. I think soup helps with this, as does spending time in nature and with your people. So do great, inspirational, true stories; they give us hope on so many levels.

Pretty great little cooperative effort we have here.

What is nourishing you these days?

“I consider that all which lives must feed itself and nourish itself
in a manner suitable to the way in which it lives.”
~Giordano Bruno
XOXOXOXO

friday 5 at the farm: random updates

Hello, and happy November! We are on the verge of the first weekend of a brand new month. How are you spending it? Around here we have been waist deep in another round of farm improvements ranging from interior paint and clutter management to relocated fences and garden editing. The to-do list seems to regenerate overnight, growing longer and more urgent all the time, but so do the rewards. The fruits of our two-person labor are more luscious and nourishing all the time. The Lazy W feels more and more like ours every season.  

moody-sky-novemebr-2016

How about a quick and random update before the sun comes up?

  1. Shoulder Chicken is growing her feathers again. I am so happy about this, because she has a beautiful soul and deserves to have the outer beauty to match. Also, one day this week she bolted out of the chicken coop to sit calmly next to Klaus, who (much to my absolute shock) sat calmly next to her. They both just looked at me, him giant and hulking, terrified of gazing downward, and her microscopic next to that big dog, yet afraid of nothing. I scolded her gently, to which she cocked her pretty head and scampered back inside the coop yard. Silly chicken. Klaus was visibly relieved to have the temptation removed and also overly proud of himself for not accidentally murdering anyone in that moment.
  2. We are due for a winter stock up of hay for the horses, and they are letting me know. Last night Chanta nibbled my ponytail until he fell asleep on the back of my neck. Should I take this as a comment on the abundance of my split ends?
    chanta-ponytail-bites
  3. Moody interiors are my favorite lately. I have been organizing books and rearranging artwork downstairs and kind of groove the interim feel of everything propped against the walls or stacked in cozy piles on the couch. The vibe is definitely “mysterious elegant French Quarter book store.” It begs you to brew some dark coffee, sit among the pillows, and write. 
  4. The gardens are cleaned up and ready for fall plants, but it just does not feel like fall yet. So I have waited not just all of September but also all of October and not added so much as a single pansy to our dirt. What remains is still fluffy and colorful (all hail lantana!!); but I do crave some autumnal details. One of my tasks today is to buy some little treasures to go with my one container of ornamental cabbages, a hostess gift from our friend Ashley. 
  5. The Apartment is once again serving well as the sewing room! I have my sewing and embroidery machines dusted off and humming, and a pile of fabric is washed and pressed and ready to be transformed into fun new garments or aprons. If you try hard enough you can find a “shop” page here on this blog, but it’s vacant so far. As I finish more products not spoken for I will work on making that easier to navigate and let you know. These textiles make really nice gifts!
    apron

Lots more is happening, including plenty of interesting stuff at the Commish and in the beekeeping world, also I might have strep throat?? but those things deserve their own posts. And anyway the sun is up now, time to get going. I wish you the most beautiful Friday and a happy, productive, or restful first weekend of the new month… Whatever you most need it to be!

“It’s time to start living the life you’ve imagined.”
~Henry James
XOXOXO