Taking a Day Off
Things have been a bit crazy around here lately with working on the house, starting seeds, and taking 4 days this week to head up to Maine to go house shopping (we arrived home LATE last night). I was too busy to write much this week, you’ll hear all about the houses/trip next week I promise. I decided to take the day off from writing a blog post (except for this one of course). Never fear, as with all my other days off, I’ll leave you with a photo of our cats, who are experts at taking time off to rest.
This is Soafie (gray) and Samson (orange). They were rescued 8 years ago in Cincinnati and are brother and sister. My mom also has one of their brothers.
As always – thanks so much for stopping by to read & comment. Enjoy your day and hopefully you can get a bit of rest too!
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Just Go Out and Do It
Life on the Maine coast is hard, but it is a good life, a quality life, a way of living simply in troubled times. When Scott Nearing was ninety-five, I heard him give a lecture at the Common Ground Fair in Litchfield, Maine. He talked about gardening and homesteading, and concluded by telling the audience, “If you want to have a garden, just go out and do it. Just go out and do it.” I’ve often heard those words as I think about taking on a new project or expanding the gardens. Despite any divergence from Scott’s philosophy and practice Lynn and I have taken as we made the Maine farm ours, that too would be my best advice to anyone thinking of creating a new life for themselves: “Just go out and do it!”.
Stanley Joseph from Maine Farm: A Year of Country Life
I read this book a couple years ago and have been meaning to buy it. I actually forgot the name of it and had trouble finding it again until a few weeks ago. It was written by the couple who took over the Nearing homestead. When it arrived in the mail, Mr Chiots decided to read it. One evening, while we were sitting in the living reading, he said to me, “I just flipped to the afterward of the book to see where they are now and listen to this…” He then continued to read the quote above.
He continued to talk about how this was exactly what he needed to hear as we think about starting a new chapter in our lives. We’ve spent the last month or two looking at houses in Maine, Vermont and a few other New England states. After choosing a location we thought would suite us perfectly, we called a realtor, rearranged our schedule, and set off to Maine. Today we’re on our way home from this journey, with a lot to talk about during the 12 hour drive. You’ll be hearing all about what we saw and experienced over the coming weeks (perhaps a poll so you can help us choose which house to purchase).
This quote really resonates with us right now. You see, we’ve been dragging our feet a little, reluctant to give up the comfort we’ve achieved here for the unknown. Our reluctance is starting to turn to excitement, even though we know we have a lot of hard work and long days ahead. I have no doubt the future will bring many rewards and we’ll never regret just getting out and doing it.
Do you have something that’s been nagging your mind that you need to just go out and do?
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The Right Time of the Night
Sunsets again become events worth noting, and can be noted, for in February they begin to occur not while we are still absorbed in our daily work, but after, in the peaceful time when dinner is being gotten ready.
Joe Eck & Wayne Winterrowd in Living Seasonally: The Kitchen Garden and the Table at North Hill
Every now and then, I look out the window, and it’s the right time of the night. Earlier this week, a winter storm rolled through and plastered everything with snow. While I was cooking dinner, the skies cleared and the sunset was perfect.
I enjoy sunset more than sunrise. This is probably the case because I have no windows on the eastern side of our house and cannot see the sun rise. The sun sets on the side of our house with the most windows and I find myself often working in those rooms when it is on it’s way down. As a result, I love the sunset and the golden glow that it provides while I’m cooking in the evenings. Perhaps when I have a house with easterly windows I’ll enjoy the sunrises more than the sunsets, but for now it’s the sunset I love.
Which do you prefer, the sunrise or the sunset?
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Lightening the Load
Every winter, I spend time going through all the rooms in the house getting rid of stuff. It all goes into a pile in the attic for a yard sale. It’s amazing how many things can accumulate even when you don’t shop or buy things. Most of these items were purchase long ago and have simply been gathering dust.
Six years ago, Mr Chiots and I decided to go one year without buying anything we didn’t need; that year was a turning point for us. We quit accumulating things we didn’t need, we saved a ton of money, and we set off down the path to a more simple existence. Ever since, we have done a pretty good job at not bringing extra clutter into the house and we’ve been able to simplify our lives even more by getting rid of lots of stuff we didn’t really need.
Every two years we have a yard sale with some friends. If you’ve never had a yard/garage sale I’d encourage you to have one. There’s nothing more eye opening than seeing a garage full of things you spent money on being sold for pennies on the dollar. I used to just have a goodwill pile in the basement that would be donated every few months. In my experience, saving it all up is a great incentive to buy less because you see it all in one HUGE pile. If you want, you can then give the money you earn at the yard sale to charity, put it in savings, or pay down your mortgage. Do something proactive with it.
The more we simplify our lives, the more stuff we realize we can live without. We have also learned to focus on buying items that will last for the rest of our lives and items that can be repaired. As a result of our efforts we were able to pay off our house a year and a half ago and achieve financial freedom. Being debt free is so much better than having a house full of stuff that doesn’t get used!
Have you ever had a garage sale? Is getting rid of stuff easy or difficult for you?
