Monday Musings ~ Simple Things
Happy Monday, friends!
I hope everyone had a good weekend.
We finished getting my flower beds cleaned out and ready for a load of dirt. Once again I feel like I am going to be planting late but I am just so darn happy that The Farmer and I decided to give flower farming another go that I don’t care. (Much anyway. I was hoping to have blooms by Mother’s Day but I don’t think that is going to happen.) Y’all just know that in a few months I will be peddling bouquets of beautiful flowers and will be shamelessly encouraging you to buy them.
I also spent some time in the kitchen and had some successes, some almost but needs a little more work successes, and a complete and utter failure. It’s all part of the process. My little home bakery has done well and king cake season was a real corker. Thank you to everyone who ordered them from us and we hope to see you again next year!
As we move forward we are trying to find the right business model, or mashup of models, that best suits us as well as our customers. I would love to hear your opinions on that, by the way. Should we just publish a weekly menu and have one or two pickup days? Do we just direct you here to our website and encourage you to just order from the baked goods page? Do I just bake up items and announce availability on social media? How do y’all feel about a farmstand stocked and ready to go on certain days? Your input would be very much appreciated!
As we moved into the Lenten season I am thankful for a new book that gives me daily readings to follow. I readily admit that I am woefully lacking in understanding this part of the Church calendar and I think this devotional is simple and a good way for me to start participating. The emphasis is on the seven deadly sins and their corresponding virtues. It is not theologically deep but it guides me into thinking more deeply and focused on the subject.
Last week I read this and I’m still thinking about it, “Gluttony tells us to forget this simple goodness. Gluttony whispers the lie that if something is good, more would be even better ~ and if God were truly good, he certainly wouldn’t deny us more of something good, would he? Humanity has heard this whisper from the beginning.” On a subsequent day the author went on to talk about temperance and the moderation of our attraction to good things and asking God to help us find satisfaction for enough in both quantity as well as quality…the point being satisfied with the simple as well as the more elaborate things in our life.
In God’s providence I also am reading selected pieces from CS Lewis right now and wouldn’t you know I just happened to be reading a section of Mere Christianity on temperance? I love his definition too because I think we tend to connect temperance only with alcohol consumption and he points out it is for “…all pleasures; and it meant not abstaining but going the right length and no further.”
Our society spends a lot of time talking about simplicity, simplifying life, etc. but typically only insomuch that it makes life easier or less cumbersome. Nothing wrong with those but I think we fall short if we stop there and don’t travel further on and connect it to being satisfied with enough and not being pretentious and what that means.
It’s a big topic to contemplate but worthy of our time, I think.
Tomorrow I plan to share a recipe for a simple well loved side dish but one that takes you the right length without being fussy. With the weather warming up and barbecues and picnics on the horizon you do not want to miss this slightly elevated but better than average serving of mac & cheese.
C’mon back tomorrow and check it out. And be sure to chime in and share your thoughts on the home bakery!