Reflecting – Life and Lessons From the Country – 9

Well, Hello! I know, it’s been over 2 weeks (ok, 2 weeks and 1 day, don’t go crazy) and after consistently writing for 8 weeks in a row, I dropped the ball. I am letting myself off with a warning because as of now, I am not being paid for any of this and life is too short to beat yourself up for not writing a blog post. Am I right? Country life can be busy!

A Reflection

Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards .~Søren Kierkegaard

I’ve been doing a bit of reflecting lately. Quite possibly because I am in such a happy and content place and I often look back to trace the journey of how I’ve gotten here. Was it luck? Fate? No, friends, it was hard as hell work, lots of planning and a vision of where we wanted to be. And did I mention hard work?

It’s difficult to remember that 27 years ago, Harry and I were just married and within a few months we were struggling to pay our $450 rent and ended up moving into a trailer park. We had our daughter there and then decided we wanted a better life. We worked 2 sometimes 3 jobs each. We took classes, improved skills, became the best at whatever job we did (I served a hell of a cup of coffee to my boss). Our life zigged and zagged over the next several years. We moved to Georgia for a promotion Harry was offered. We had our son in the peach state and met some of the most incredible people I’ve known. A little over 4 years living almost 1000 miles away from our families, we took an opportunity to move home, back to the Northeast. We bought a house on an acre of land and that’s when I fell in love with gardening, the outdoors and animals.

The housing market was booming and after putting a lot of work into our little home on the acre of land, we decided to sell and  move into a neighborhood. Twice as much house, a quarter of the land. What did we do? I realized after about 3 years that this 4 bedroom center-hall colonial would not be our forever home. When our daughter graduated highschool and our son entered 9th grade, we started planning for our future.

The Reality of Now

Fast forward and here we are almost 7 years later. Living a content life in the country. We work hard. We have full time jobs, a list of projects to be completed (both inside and out) animals to tend to, friends and family members that we worry about. Life is not always rainbows and butterflies. We struggle with balance. We eat dinner at 8:30 p.m. on many nights. We know how fragile life is and that tomorrow isn’t promised and at any moment the world, our lives can change.

So we purposefully savor each and every day. We find at least one moment where we look around or look at each other and appreciate where we are. We may not always say it, but we know it when it’s happening. A small smile, a cheers, a squeeze of the hand. We’ve crafted this life. It did not happen by chance. I cringe when people tell me we’re “lucky”.

I’ll close with quote from Jack Canfield, “I believe that people make their own luck by great preparation and good strategy.” Now go out there and get lucky!

So What’s New?

Not much. Seriously, not much. The fall season is slowly pushing out end of summer heat and humidity. Mums and pumpkins are making their way to a porch near you and the trees are hinting that they are growing tired as the leaves are tinged with the faintest of fall colors. I’ve always hated saying goodbye to summer, but this year, I’m embracing it.

What’s Growing?

Yes, we are still harvesting from our garden! It’s that time of year when you’re still harvesting but the garden is looking a little haunted. Leaves are turning brown, vines are shriveling and we’re slowly pulling up spent cucumber plants and zucchini bushes. But there is more to be had! Our jalapenos are finally making an appearance! It feels late in the season, but I’m learning that peppers prefer cooler weather, so we should have a few ready to be picked in the next week or so! The one pepper that “fell off” the plant a couple of weeks ago (eh-hem, thank you Elvis, our 10 year old golden retriever) was very hot! So we’re excited for more!

We have about a dozen butternut squash that are ripening nicely. I wasn’t sure when they should be harvested but found a great youtube video explaining when to know. Check it out here! It’s a little long, but for me taught me everything I needed to know.

Here are just a couple more photos I took this morning while checking on progress.

How are the Girls?

The girls are alright! We are still getting 2 eggs consistently every day and anticipate more any day now. We have 3 that are showing “signs” of getting ready to lay. Head over to the post where I talk about how to tell if your chickens are getting ready to have their first egg, HERE! Oh, and check out our new egg holder (affiliate link – see disclaimer) that is filling up nicely.

I’ve been supplementing store bought eggs with our fresh ones (we go through a lot) but am hoping that we’ll have to do that less and less as the weeks and months go on.

What’s Next?

A trip to West Virginia! You heard right, we are headed to the Mountain State to visit family and have some fun at Railroad Days towards the end of October…lots more to come on that so stay tuned for what is sure to be a fun filled adventure.  It will be hard to be away from our homestead for almost 2 weeks, but here’s where the balance comes in.

Love,
The Cohns