If we were having coffee…

If we were having coffee…

I’d greet you with a great big hug and tell you how wonderful it is to see you!

I’d thank you for meeting me and we’d order the beverage of our choices before taking our seats in the cozy, comfy chairs in the corner of one of my favorite Coffee Shops (there are errands to run and parties to attend this afternoon so yes, out and about it is on this Sunday despite this being quite out of the norm).

If we were having coffee…

I’d ask how your Thanksgiving was and whether or not you hosted?  Then, I’d want to know all about what was served 🙂

This Thanksgiving marked the 17th year I’ve hosted and it was absolutely perfect. . .I couldn’t have been happier with how it all turned out for the nine of us.  There was cranberry sauce and herbed biscuits, salad and copious amount of potatoes in addition to the turkey (obviously) and pumpkin pie.

Despite the love and festivity that surrounded the day (including the arrival the night before of my very best friend in the world!), which has always been my favorite part of my favorite holiday (yummy food, family, and friends = perfection) I absolutely admit to holding those in Standing Rock in my thoughts and prayers and reflecting on our mess of a history here in the US (as well as in my home state)

winter-delight-pie-pumpkin

If we were having coffee…

This may now lead us into a conversation about politics and the state of our country. I’ll admit to pulling myself in and not engaging in such conversations on a day to day basis in an effort to maintain a bit of sanity despite the sadness, disappointment, and fear I have for us all over the next few years.  Everything from LGBT rights to the future of Agriculture to climate change to women rights to education and beyond will no doubt face some serious challenges in the coming years and yet. . .

 

my-desire-to-be-well-informed

And yet, I am really struggling to even have these conversations. . .still. . .despite the necessity of keeping it all from falling into the background. . .because now, more than ever, is the time to speak up, to stand up, to not be silenced in any way.

And I trust that our wounds must be uncovered before they can be healed, though the process of it will undoubtedly be quite painful.

: : : sigh : : :

And so, how are you doing in the face of such upheaval?  How do you cope? Practice self-care? Stand up in the face of chaos? Do you do so quietly or loudly?

If we were having coffee…

I’d ask if you’ve been to or heard of Meow Wolf (The House of Eternal Return)?

It took us forever to get there (much later than seemingly everyone else in Santa Fe and beyond) but man, what an experience it was!  While Jacqueline was in town we took the opportunity to get out and about a bit more than we normally do and Meow Wolf was one of those expeditions (in addition to watching Fantastic Beasts and The Arrival. . .both of which I highly recommend)!

If you’re ever in Santa Fe check it out…but give yourself plenty of time and if you bring your kids prepare to simply chase them around like a crazy person to ensure they don’t get lost 😉

It’s a trip. For real.

And now, given this visit, I’m currently contemplating starting (again…for the 5th or 6th time) House of Leaves.

We’ll see if I can muster it this time.

us-at-meow-wolf

If we were having coffee…

I’d share my disbelief with you that, with the arrival of my 4oth birthday, I am officially old 😉

OK, maybe not old. . .but holy moly. . .40?!

I’m actually quite psyched about it!  With my 20’s being quite crazy (single motherhood is rough, as is trying to figure out who the hell one actually is) and my 30’s being pretty damn awesome (soul mate, Ember, total career upheaval, homestead madness…), I’m ready to tackle my 40’s and excited to see what’s around the bend!

I’ve set the intention to practice more self-care in the form of meditation and hydration (really) and asked for a Tarot deck to help guide me on my spiritual path.  (Remember my gifts? Yeah…time to get on top of those bad boys before they try to drive me absolutely batty. . .again.)

I chose The Wild Unknown‘s deck because it has called to me since I first saw it on Instagram and just love the artwork.

And so, on my Birthday I laid out the Year Ahead spread for myself and intend to look back on it monthly to help guide my path.

The daily use of the deck is yet to be known, but I trust I’ll find my groove with it and my meditation as I settle into this intention.

the-wild-unknown-tarot-melissas-40th-year

WooWoo aside, my birthday (weekend) was full of movies (see above), nail painting, gift receiving, food (french fries and milkshakes included), and lovely time spent with family and friends.

I’m truly counting my blessings.

If we were having coffee…

I’d ask what is keeping you busy these days (beyond Holiday shopping, of course)?

I’d admit that things are slowing down a bit around here and that I am so incredibly grateful for that which is allowing me more time to crochet which is my favorite way to relax 🙂

I kid you not, though, I finished my Gingerbread C2C Christmas Countdown project on November 30th at 11:45PM.

Just under the wire.

Whew!

With the garden (completely abandoned long ago) sleeping and the animals settling into their cold weather routines (sleeping/cozying up in the straw and shelters, following us around asking for treats, laying very few eggs, being crazily in heat hoping to make Spring babies) I’m in some serious reflection mode about what we should/could do with the property in 2017.  There is a part of me that wants to scale way back (like, not even planting a garden next year) and part of me that wants to scale up (like, take up a real farmer on his offer to work our field in trade for half the produce (the other half he’d sell at the Farmers’ Market).

Obviously, I (and we) still have some thinking/reflecting/debating to do.

However, seed catalogs are arriving and one of our local farmers has some amazing beans and seed corn (blue corn!) for sale that just might have to make their way into my hands one of these Saturdays. . .

Ah…but there’s time and energy and sanity to consider first!

muscovy-duck

If we were having coffee…

It’d be time to say goodbye and head our separate ways for the day!

I’d thank you kindly for sharing your time with me and squeeze you big!

I’d wish you a lovely day and month of December and ask that we meet again soon. . .as soon as our schedules again allow 🙂

xoxo,
M

Linking up to the #weekendcoffeeshare

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Written by Melissa @ Ever Growing Farm

9 Comments

    1. Melissa @ Ever Growing Farm

      Ha! Thank you, Corina! I know I have miles to go, and some days I feel like a Young Woman…but some days I feel like I’ve had my ass handed to me 😉 I guess it’s all part of the journey, ha?

  1. Linda

    Oh happy birthday to one of my most favourite bloggers!! Happy 40th Melissa 🙂 I’m 41 now, 40 was actually ok! Beware of the body changes though…for me menopause is slowly starting, and stuff is happening to my body that I’m like….Really?! I thought we had a handle on all this lol

    I loved seeing your gifts, as well as the happiness that surrounds your life. What a wonderful life you have!! Enjoy your tarot deck. I embraced much of that in my 20s. I think I still have a deck and many other things around somewhere. I love the artwork on your cards. I hope you find the deck a good fit with your intuition 🙂

    As Aussies, we dont celebrate thanks giving, my take on it is similar to our invasion day celebrations….somehow the bad stuff has been forgotten :/ I like the concept of being thankful though, but take time most days to meditate on this anyway. From where we stand, we see thanks giving followed by the Black Friday madness….that makes me feel sad 🙁

    But not as sad as your current political climate! Oh my, the disbelief we still feel here! And we aren’t living it…. I tend to avoid all the news, all the reporting, all the information and focus on as much positivity as I can for all of you. I have a very dear friend who lives in the states, she often talks about moving to Australia now and camping in my garden with her family. I don’t blame her!

    For us, our year is at an end. My kids had the last riding therapy day last week, so we decided our homeschool year has finished officially….but as unschoolers, they just keep on learning…my 9yo seriously in to stop motion movie making, my 13yo continuing to work on her poetry book and stuffing her head with all facts equine. In the new year my almost 6yo will be officially homeschooling!

    The end of the school year though doesn’t mean we’re stopping….we spend most days at the horse agistment place, when we’re not there, I’m spending all my time keeping up with our home stuff. We finally moved our baby chooks ( 14w now ) in with the big ladies. It went well! The top rooster was severely put in his place by most of the girls, and their mum who raised them didn’t even recognise them as her babies…funny stuff!

    Finally we’re keeping busy remodelling our back yard. We’ve decided free range chooks are delightful, but some grass would be nice, so they now have a giant third of the yard, veggies in another giant third, and the rest is being re grassed and then the big summer project of digging out an area and paving it! Means machinery hire woohoo!

    Thank you for sharing the updates on your life and all things farmy. I’m excited to see what direction 2017 will take you!

    1. Melissa @ Ever Growing Farm

      WoW! What a full and busy life you’re leading these days with continuous learning, so many critters, and your new garden plans! How wonderful it will be to have your yard work all done…it sounds like a divine plan!

      And how fun to know we’re the same age (ish)!

      Know that I am constantly tempted to dump it all here and run away to your neck of the woods 😉 And yes, I’m only half kidding given the continued evolution of ridiculousness here in the US. I mean, really?!

      I hope you’re enjoying December and practicing some awesome self-care! Thank you for being such a faithful reader and commenter! I love hearing from you!!!

  2. Amie Stanley

    Happy birthday! I am 42 so I understand that turning 40 thing. It is a great time of life, though. Sounds like you had a great birthday weekend. I agree with you on the political front. The conversations are hard and I am still not ready for them. I have been practicing selfcare as much as possible but dreading that day in January.

    1. Melissa @ Ever Growing Farm

      Hi Amie! Thank you for taking the time to comment 🙂 I hope you continue your self-care and have a lovely week ahead!

  3. Shan Jeniah Burton

    We go out to a buffet place for Thanksgiving – a tradition that started when my chef husband and I wanted traditional foods our kids didn’t enjoy. We don’t get a lot of chances to all go out to eat together (chef husband!), so it’s something we all look forward to. No prep, no cleanup, and it’s economical.

    What’s been occupying my time is – homeschool reporting (a quarterly price to be paid for the incredible life we live), resetting my writing goals post NaNoWriMo and pre-end of the year, and a lot of Hamilton-related exploration that makes me glad to be an upstate New York native with access to so many relevant sites, especially since my daughter wants me to write her a story, so this is homeschool and writing research, as well as feeding a passion.

    That’s a lot of how I’m getting through this. Holding to my beloveds and my passions. Learning. Reading. Paying attention, and renewing my commitment to be the best version of myself that I can be, despite who is “leading” our country. Celebrating the decision regarding Standing Rock, and hoping it will be permanent.

    Our local YMCA is taking steps to help folks cope. Sunday, I attended a free meditation workshop – the first in a series of three. On Wednesday morning, I’ll attend a workshop on having difficult conversations.

    I want to be in control of my own responses and reactions, to be as peaceful as I am capable of, and to learn how to be even more peaceful than that. I want to be able to have those hard talks, so that I can begin to understand what motivates people, what they want, what they need…WHY this happened.

    I’ve got a feeling that there are people who thought they wanted this who will soon find out that they haven’t gotten what they were told they would get. I don’t think it would help if I’m gloating and saying, “I told you so,” in the face of betrayal and pain. Better to understand that they might be feeling what I did the day after election day, when the kids and I had been up all night seeking to understand, and, grieving,I couldn’t sleep.

    It wasn’t a good feeling, and it won’t be for those who become disillusioned at what they thought was an answer, if it turns out to be a very different one than they thought.

    May you find a balance and a path of action you can find peace and joy in! Maybe new seeds and tending your brood will help?

    1. Melissa @ Ever Growing Farm

      Welcome and thank you for taking the time to comment!

      A buffet Thanksgiving sounds nice 🙂 Especially the no clean up part!!! I get needing to appease multiple tastes and consider myself very lucky to have a fairly easy crowd to prepare for each year!

      Thank you for talking to me a bit about your processes for dealing with some of our current political and social problems. I love that your local YMCA is being proactive! What an amazing gift to offer such trainings as well as the community of fellow learners you’ll gain!

      I am slowly finding a balance and allowing for the ebb and flow of it all. I think we’re in for a bumpy ride over the next few years and hope to practice enough self care and full awareness so as to be present with myself and those around me no matter what happens <3

      Hope you have a lovely week ahead!

  4. Betty Louise

    First have a great birthday 🎂 and many more. Your Thanksgiving sounds grrat. I agree with you political. I need to back off to keep my sanity but we need a 🚺🚺Political Action Group. There are one for almost every thing else. Trump’s election brought back memories of sexual harassment over my life. There are other things we need to watch what is happening with our so called officials.

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