Sunday, December 11, 2011

OK, so it's been a while ......

....but it is that time of year when nothing much is happening on the Urban Farm.  

This urban farm took a decidedly rural turn this morning though.   I was in the kitchen, beginning to put together some breakfast, when I looked out the window and saw a COYOTE trotting down the street!!!!!  Granted, my townhouse neighborhood is on the very edge of town, with a big meandering lake and farm fields beyond, but this was startling!    I ran outside to get another look at it, and make sure I wasn't seeing things.  Nope, definitely a coyote, trotting down the sidewalk. (so much for the stray cats that have been around for weeks)  A neighbor was just pulling in, and looked at me with eyes and mouth wide open.  "Was that a ...."  Yes!  He said he grew up on a farm, knew exactly what it was, and couldn't believe what he was seeing.   One more reason I'm glad all my livestock is inside!

I still have kale and brussells sprouts in the garden.  The sprouts weren't big enough for Thanksgiving.  Christmas maybe?  They are completely unprotected, so I can't expect them to grow much.  I'm just amazed they have lived this long.

Mostly my interests have turned indoors, though.  I dusted off the spinning wheel (literally) oiled 'er up and did some spinning, and I have also pulled out another winter pastime, jewelry-making.  It's so easy, everyone and their brother can do it, so it's not much of a 'sellable' item.  It has to be something really special and priced for the average person to afford - not an easy combination to achieve. But I enjoy choosing components, making, then wearing something - much as with making a garment from fiber.

The auction house I went to so frequently for a while has moved to different nearby town, and and changed the times of their auctions to the middle of a weekday - when I can't go.  That is NOT a bad thing for my purse, but I do miss the fun of finding something I love for just a few dollars.   Perhaps sadly, I have renewed my relationships with Ebay and Etsy.  With my newly-discovered Scottish heritage in mind, I bought a couple of charms on-line for my charm bracelet:


A thistle - the national symbol of Scotland

....and a 'croft' cottage. 

This one has several meanings for me.  Scotland, and small-space farming of course, and it reminds me of a blog-friend Homeschool on the Croft, who lives and farms on a modern-day croft (what we would call a small farm) in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland.   Most importantly though, it reminds me that big things can come from small beginnings, and God answers prayer.   In the 1940's, two women in their 80s, one totally blind, and one crippled with arthritis, lived in a tiny stone cottage on the Island of Lewis in Scotland, just a few miles from where Anne of the homeschool croft lives today. They despaired of the next generations ever finding a realationship with God.  The churches were emptying, and the young people were just not interested.  As they were prayer warriors, they held their concerns up before God.  It's a long story, but you can read about it here (The Hebrides Revival) and other places on the internet.  God's presence came down on the islands of the Outer Hebrides, and it was one of the most exciting moves of God of the 20th century - the results of which are seen today in Anne's deep faith, and that of many in her community.    All because two crippled, old, poverty-stricken women prayed.