High Anxiety to Silver Linings

My anxiety level has been really high this week. If ignored it usually leads to a deep depression, so I have spent a couple of days looking for the good in everything, the silver lining to the gray clouds in my mind. Here are some of the things on my homestead I have found to make me happy.

My daughter is at work so I got dog duty. But her dog plays catch which mine won't.

The blackberry vines have gone crazy with all the rain we had this year, they are growing into and over everything, I have spent hours cutting them back. But they are loaded with fruit which means free food for the family and the animals. And some will go into my first attempt at making wine.

I found this downed fence this morning, I had to take the time to fix it today instead of going back to bed as I wanted to do. But at least I know now how the goats keep escaping. And the physical activity helps to keep the anxiety at bay.

A couple of weeks ago this little momma hen came walking out of the bushes with five babies in tow. Having chicks this late in the season means five little mouths that won’t be able to forage, five little mouths I will have buy feed for and get no return (if they are girls, they won’t start laying eggs until January or February.) But I also get several weeks of fluffy cuteness like their first dust bath. That colorful guy you see at the beginning of the clip is Leo, a mille fleur bantam rooster. Fully grown at 18 months, he likes to hang out with all the new chicks because they are closer to his size. He gets a little confused when they grow up bigger than him, so he then “adopts” the next batch of chicks. He makes me laugh.

The sound of flowing water. The pond is functional but not finished. I will be spending the next year or so adding rocks, plants and fish. But now I can sit by it, close my eyes, listen to the water and imagine it in its finished glory. And relax.

Although I didn’t have much time to garden this year, some of last year’s plants came back on their own.

And finally, my mason jars. I have always loved these jars, I don't know why. But now they remind me that despite any setbacks, I am living my dream, growing my homestead, learning to be self sufficient. I am so far ahead of where I was seven years ago when I hated my house, my job, my life. Happy times are here.

8/18/2017