Sourdough starter & a few other tid bits 🍞

 

Good Saturday Morning .

I find that I am posting more now that I have switched

my schedule up a bit. Sometimes you just have to try new things.

And by that I do not just mean food or clothing styles.

Sometimes your life is just made better by a simple

routine change.

Summer has a way of doing that in a way no other time of year does.

You have more flexibility with your day.

Two years ago(ish) - I have lost all track of time ....

I fell twice. Once I ripped my knee and the second fall a month or so later 

I broke a rib. So I became leery of doing anything that would make me fall again.

Running, biking etc...

Yesterday was the day that I simply got on my old bike, covered in cobwebs and

rode almost 2 miles. Simple as that.

No overthinking no nothing.

My legs were so happy and safe to say I did not even break a sweat.

I am thinking that this will be a thing now.

Just like changing up my schedule.

On a side not, I so want to start baking my own bread this summer.

However, I was flabbergasted to find out that some products labeled Gluten Free

have wheat in them. I am wondering if some of my inflammation and other symptoms are caused

by inadvertently being exposed to wheat at restaurants etc... even though they thought it was

safe for me to eat.

Look at King Arthur for instance:

It says that it is gluten free when in fact it is made from wheat that has been

heavily processed ( ewwww)  to remove the gluten ( so they say) .

How many well meaning people have been duped by this mislabeling?

I use cup4cup and always have.

( not sponsored )

It is wheat free and most allergen free as well.

HUGE shout out to them and not changing up their recipes for profit.

( side eye at King Arthur 👀 )

I have certain goals.... LOL!

If any of you have any tips for me I would greatly appreciate it!

* Raises hand *

Yep.

And I have been doing this a very long time too!

Like over 40 years.

It gets harder and harder as companies try to eek more $$$ out of consumers

 rather than focusing on  quality.

Shop as local as you can...like your neighbor up the street local.

Alas, we all do not have farmers and producers who live close by

we can ask about how they do what they do.

But we do have regional farms and farmers markets.

I have learned so much about food from the farmers and folks who bring

their wares to market than any online source.

Fun way to bring the family into knowing where their food actually comes from.

Not a store or a restaurant.....

In other random news...

I wasted 18 minutes of my life watching this ( winner was at the 14 or so part) today.

It was silly and fun and just what Summer time should be about in my humble opinion.

Also for you dear wonderful folks who have successfully missed out on last weeks 

dramatics over everything under the sun... congratulations!

It must mean that you are focused upon all of the right things!

Bravo!

While I can't avoid missing out on everything weird and strange, dramatic and ridiculous ,

I can try. It has been one of the best things I have done in a long while.

Oh I hear we are to have the hottest weather ever...like face of the sun hot! _ Go!

stock up on ____________ ( benefits the companies) and be very afraid ( control ).

Or... Breaking! ( I rarely ever read a breaking story now because it is rubbish)

Breaking! - the narrative we talked bout yesterday has changed and now you must

put down your flag to this country and go on Amazon to get the next flag to hang on your

home to show how caring and relevant you are.

All of this is terribly silly.

Anyways....

Please enjoy your days my friends.

Stay in the moment and know that I am always praying for you.

* also, if you get my posts off of Facebook please know that I am having

issues with accessing my pages there. I am in the process of trying to fix it

but in the meaNtime, bookmark this page so you can see a fresh post when

in comes out of the oven.

Thank you & much love,

Raven

xoxo

cowboy caviar..weekly recap...

 

Happy Friday !

Let's do a happy post, shall we?

I have had many moments this week that brought joy.

My chief job was to keep all living things alive in the 100 degree heat.

I rater enjoyed it, sunning myself every day to get in all of that

vitamin D! It was also a great week to do some big projects

like power wash the coops and  replace out some rugs in the house.

But the big deal was finally moving the babies to their

grow out coop. They were so thrilled.

After scrubbing the patio , I found many toads and frogs hiding in

the shade near puddles. This guy was brilliant at hiding... can you see him?

I also had visits from my cousin who brought me back treats from her trip to Ireland

and Scotland... yum! & her photos were lovely.

 I just love hearing peoples trip stories and of course she got me a 

rock :).

Our newlyweds came down from their honeymoon to visit before traveling

back home. We got to meet their new baby... a darling puppy.

Our grandson loved him so much...

( we had him for a few days as well)

To say that my summer is already off to a sweet start& slow start....is accurate.

I have been making time for connection, real connection.

Time for the forest, the river and to just sit in the sunshine.

all 3 images from *lifeonsweetlyfarm*

A slow life is a full life and to be honest I am up at sunrise ( 5ish ) and stay 

outside way after sunset. 

My days are full.

When you keep your eyes on your own paper and focus on

your own life rather than whatever everyone else is doing

it reminds you of what is important.

I have been trying new ( old) recipes.

I vaguely remember my mom making this

back in the day.

Different take on salsa and stands up at a picnic .

Simple...yummy even all of these years later.

( this is from the '70's)

To live a simple life in a world where chaos and confusion is the norm, and where people

   chase the trend rather than think for themselves.... is brave.

I am learning every day how to navigate it all while finding joy

in the every day. There is always something to grateful for.

And no, that does not negate whatever difficult moments you are having,

rather it empowers you to find the positive and rewards you with a good life.

Happy Friday my friends!

xoxo

Raven

Permission granted .... with homework :)

 

Good Morning.

Did you know that you have the power to change your life

by understanding this one thing?

 never make yourself small for anyone.

It is okay to want more.

It is okay to heal with nature and not Rx.

You want to drink raw milk? Go for it!

It is okay to work hard for  the lifestyle that makes you happy.

It is okay to want *the fairy tale*

It is okay to eat the foods that make you healthy & happy.

It is okay to believe something or not believe something.

Go on.... take the trip.

Wear the thing.

Because the ones who judge you hate you.

Why would you ever listen to anyone who hated you?

It is just that simple.

And once you realise that, well.... life is much easier to manage.

It is not your job to make others feel comfortable either.

It isn't.

This is your permission slip to just stop caring for those who never cared for you.

The people in your life who are meant to be there will be.

The folks who are still maturing will hang around the fringes

waiting for you to fail.

Ignore them.

It is time to unlearn everything you were told that

had you believing that you were unworthy or unloveable

because it does not align with their beliefs.

Who cares?

Listen, if you are not an ax wielding unaliver who hates kittens

and drives in the left lane going 55 and has a moral compass that relies

not on your own volition but something greater....then  we are cool.

No matter how weird, strange, different, broken, I will

respect you and defend your right to that weirdness, strangeness unpopular opinion.

But if you start telling me how I must behave, act, comport

myself, how I must agree with you or be called childish names

then I will think of you as a fool and ignore you.

My unlearning about bullies came when I started to push back.

Push back.

I choose to find joy in my day.

I choose to belong to a system of living that understands common sense and

that people are delightfully complex.

I choose God.

I choose believing that I am enough.

So the lesson here today is to start putting the focus upon

how much you allow others judgements to affect your choices.

How to never let them matter.

Remember, if they are judging you they hate you.

Live life as the most true form of who you are.

That is freedom.

Your people will find you.

Eat the foods, take the trips, believe better for yourselves.

Let your intuition guide you into healthier relationships.

Once you allow yourselves to never be made small

you will never want to ever let anothers judgements affect who you are.

I have homework for you.....

Now is the time to fill this list  out.

You can not advocate for yourselves without knowing

the playing field first.

This list may have changed.

It did for me.

I actually have written this out 4 times in just the last month.

Growth is like that.

My hope is that it will help you as much as it has for me.

I hope that you have a wonderful Wednesday.

It will be hot , but folks I hate to tell you- it is Summer and in a few short weeks

the evenings will be darker...nights cooler.

I will be entertaining today & keeping animals alive

in this heat.

Bless you.

Raven

x0x0

Just a reminder that you are worthy, always were...always will be.

 

Summer.

Day 2

Car show.

Ah! That brought back so many memories.

I adore cars, especially muscle cars of the 70's.

I found a close match to my baby...

Not quite the same but close enough to bring back

the summers past to my mind.

Racing on back roads.

Summers at the beach.

Old loves.

Boy I had the bravery to not fear most anything back then...

Fearless.

'72 grand Torino ( mine was a fastback) 

For much of my life I have always put everyone ahead of me.

I lived my life being graded by others like a student with her teachers.

AND I listened to them ... crazy!

But back in my Torino days I was not about that.

I was me & free.

Much like I am now, again.

With God, I was always worthy, I just started to listen to the world and not Him.

There will always be those people who criticise you.

Their thoughts rattling around in your head for decades...or maybe even

days. They never appreciated you, your fire, your story.

Whatever they wanted you to be that fuelled their selfish  emptiness,

 was crushed by your pure soul.

I am not talking random folks or disappointments of romance,

I am talking of people who come into your 

 life with an agenda...perhaps they are jealous or they secretly hate you.

The Jenns, Scotts, Emilys... everyday folks from work or some such

place. They have secret agendas  ~ always self serving and always

malignant. They want no-one to be happy or shine because they can't.

They have become so bitter they hate the light bringers.

Ultimately, they reveal who they are....

Those types of people are not important.

You will never understand them because your kind heart would

never act the way they do.

Truly insignificant they exist to remind you to never give away

pieces of yourself to people who do not deserve you.

Your Grace and magic is who God made you to be.

And at any age you can just say. * no, I refuse to give away parts of

myself to make others happy*

And * yes, I am worthy of that*

Summertime reminds me of this.

It reminds me to return to parts of myself I may have given away to

undeserving people. Take it back.

You no longer need the validation of people.

You were born with the spirit of a beautiful free soul.

Taylor once said, * People throw rocks at things that shine*

Yep.

Vintage, modern day...whatever.

Let your light shine.

Besides, vintage stuff is just cooler anyway.

And I have since met other Jenns, Scotts & Emilys who proved

to be good as gold.

xoxo

Our characters , our experiences and our stories make up a wicked great life.

This is your reminder to cast off any voices of people who never, ever mattered.

Live you beautiful life as big and as brave and as free as you were born to.

This came across my memories from 10 years ago.

10.

Wow.

I wonder where that sweet baby girl is now and what she is doing

with her life.

I am so grateful or these moments.

Now I am a Gaga with my own babies to love again.

Life is a wonderful gift!

I am reminded that we all have been through so much and many are living

stories right now that are hard and heartbreaking.

It is neither the time for division nor strife.

Really, it isn't. Try and be the light. Be the one who brings attention to

our common interests more than our differences.

I am hopeful.

Happy 2nd day of Summer friends.

Raven

xoxo

Welcome Summer!

 

Good Morning!

Happy first day of Summer.

I have been up since 4am...after not entering bed until well

after 10pm.

I wanted to be in the element, in the moonlight & with the wild

things as it turned Summertime.

6  hours of sleep is no good for me, but once in a while now,

not so bad at all.

After all, it is the pick of the season, when everything is starting

to grow wildly. We are expecting HOT weather for a few

days and my job will be to help keep

the chickens from keeling over & my gardens from wilting.

I am honoured with those tasks.

My habit is to delve deeper into the forest when it gets that hot.

The downstream river is still cold, so it is my favorite place to escape to

on hot days. I also close my curtain early in the day to keep the sun out.

But I do not skimp on my daily dose of sunshine.

I am trying to build stores for the winter.

8 am sunshine for 30 minutes is fine for me.

I also tend to eat when I am hungry but also fast more.

I am happy with great big juicy tomatoes for lunch or some

beautiful seasonal berries in a smoothie.

I may add a bit of raw cheese or some greek yogurt.

But I do eat lighter while it is hot.

Oh  I make the best sun tea!

I make a deep brewed batch of it ( my favorite is either blueberry herb

or mint ) and sip on it all day.

My mint patch got a slow start this year, but this heat should bring it around.

Supper is usually protein grilled & veggies or a cold platter.

Tuna salad, egg salad, grilled bread & veggies & fruits.

My focus is nature, what is done in the wild I try and emulate.

They rest during the day in shade.

Early morning & evenings they come out to eat and move around.

I get all my outdoor chores accomplished by 9 am.

This means hanging laundry, sweeping the patio, tending the chickens & gardens...

Inside, I tend to things that need my attention first.

I do not overdo it, I drink water but I also add salt & electrolytes .

( One without the other is useless)

I read, I listen to podcasts, catch up on tiny tasks.

Today I have my grandson and will for a couple days.

He keeps me on my toes!

Splash pads, ice pops and afternoon story times under homemade tents...

I am excited every morning!

Leaning back...taking in these preciously rare days of Summertime

is at the heart of Slow Living.

You may hear the catastrophe of the worlds loudest voices...

but pay them no mind. For if you have not realised it, you have survived

every day they have predicted doom and peril.

I have lived through 100 degree days, so have you I bet.

No matter the terrible events of the past, most of us are here.

Scarred but not broken.

Ignore it all.

Protect your peace.

If peopling is your jam, them do it freely and with joy.

Avoid dividers, agitators and freaks of the narratives created to confuse and 

cause emotional harm.

Live wildly.

But remember to live.

Oh did we get ice cream on the eve of Summer?

Yes, yes we did!

AND I received this sweet gift from a lovely soul in the mail!

Thank you!

I suppose I could call myself a New England Fairy!

Part of the lore... :)

This summer fairy will now be making peanut butter waffles for a special boy!

Enjoy your Saturday friends.

I am praying for you & hold you so close.

Remember to Slow down and enjoy this season!

Raven

xoxo