Quote of the Day: J.R.R. Tolkien
“If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.”
Food – good, healthy, real food, is something that I value above many other things in life. There are a lot of things I would give up if needed in order to afford good food. There are a lot of things I don’t do so that I have the time to cultivate some of my own food in the garden. I’m willing to pay my local farmer’s more for their products because they’re better and healthier than their mass produced counter parts. In my life, food is high on the list of my priorities – maybe that’s one of the reasons our home is such a merry one.
What’s high on your priority list?
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Quote of the Day: John Steinbeck
It was late in the summer,
so of course there were no shoes to bother with.
John Steinbeck (The Red Pony)
One of the things I miss greatly in winter is the ability to go barefoot. I certainly have been enjoying feeling the grass and the earth under my feet. There is a name for this, it’s called “Earthing” – connecting to the earth through our skin. If you read about it, some people say it’s healing to the body because of the electrical energy of the earth. I don’t know if this is true or not, but it certainly makes me happy all summer long. You’ll find me going barefoot as much as possible until I have to put on shoes.
What about you – shoes or no shoes in summer?
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Quote of the Day: Ralph Waldo Emerson
“That which we persist in doing becomes easier,
not that the nature of the task has changed,
but our ability to do has increased.”
It never fails that people often wonder how I know how to do so many different things. It’s not that I was born with the skills to do everything I do – I’ve spent a lot of time and effort learning. Just like you, when I started doing many of them, I had no idea what I was doing. It took much longer and I made mistakes. Sadly that’s where many people stop. They meet one failure or think that it will always take a lot of time and they abandon their efforts. The thing is, if you persist, eventually it will become second nature. It’s not that you won’t ever make mistakes, but you develop a proficiency for that task and you will be able to complete it with less effort, fewer mistakes and a better final product.
Cooking is a prime example. I’ve been cooking for so long that it’s second nature to me, I don’t have to think about what spices to add to the chicken I’m roasting. I know that thyme and lemon will be really great, or sage and butter would also work well. When I make beef, a healthy dose of freshly ground pepper and salt is usually all I add if it’s good pastured beef. When I’m cooking tougher cuts of venison, I usually braise them in wine or bitter beer to enhance the flavor. When I make bread I know what how the texture of ciabatta dough differs from regular sourdough or a sweet roll dough. It’s not that I always possessed these skills. I baked a few sourdough bricks and ciabatta with no holes until I got a feel for the dough. I had some OK chicken until I discovered what ingredients work best. It takes time, it takes persistence, it takes the willingness to try again and again after defeat, and it takes observation to notice the small differences.
The longer I persist in doing these things, reading and trying to learn how to do them better, practicing and learning from my failures, the better I will get. I will most likely never: take a photo with the skill of Ansel Adams, cook a meal as delicious as Ina Garten, paint something as beautiful as a Monet, bake a loaf of bread as good as Peter Reinhart, have a garden as beautiful at Longwood, or write as well as Ralph Waldo Emerson – but that’s not going to stop me from taking photos, cooking, painting or writing. I won’t let the fear of not being great steal the joy of the creative process, the growth that comes from learning and the contentment that comes from being proficient. I believe that our minds are like a pool of water, if we keep them active they stay clean, clear and able to support life, if we stop learning we become stagnate, murky and devoid of life.
What new skills have you been working on or what are you planning on learning soon?
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Quote of the Day: Vita Sackville-West
“The man who has planted a garden feels that he has done something for the good of the world.”
I really enjoy visiting beautiful gardens like Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello in Charlottesville, VA.
P.S. DuPont’s Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, PA.
F.A. Seiberling’s Stan Hywet in Akron, OH.
There’s something quite inspiring about these old gardens that have survived for years. My gardens will never be this vast or ornate, but I can glean interesting details from them when I visit. I certainly appreciate those that spent some of their fortunes building gardens that we can still enjoy today.
What’s your favorite garden to visit?
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Quote of the Day: Dr. Joyce Brothers
“When you come right down to it,
the secret to having it all
is loving it all.”
Earlier this week, Mr Chiots and I were talking about how blessed we feel. That’s not to say our lives are easy, that we don’t have difficulties and that we have everything figured out. I think it’s more a matter of being content with what you do have and the situation that you’re in. It comes from living within your means and having clearly defined goals to work toward. Sure it would be great to have extra money, be able to work fewer hours, cultivate a larger garden, and many other things – but in reality we have food on our table, a little plot of soil to grow things in, a roof over our heads and we have each other. We could spend our time longing for more – but that would only take the joy from what we do have.
The older we get, the more we strive to simplify our lives by getting rid of the unnecessary. We have learned to love simple food, our small home, our jobs and our community. The more I try to cultivate the simple life, the more fulfillment I find in my life, even in those simple mundane tasks like cooking or cleaning. Perhaps it’s because I’m finally figuring out what things bring me true joy, or maybe it’s about learning to be satisfied with what I do have. Learning to be content no matter what our circumstances are truly makes life more enjoyable.
What things in your life are you blessed to have at the moment?
