Living With Handmade

Thank you all for your speedy recovery wishes last week, they indeed made me feel better. Whilst I'm not quite back to my hale and hardy self just yet, I am feeling loads better and am mostly upright.

During my lay in, I had a few moments to think about this "challenge of the utmost kind" I'd gotten myself all mixed up in. I realized I never told you about my reasons for doing so. I got to thinking that I should, I should tell y'all why.
I'm not generally a 'Joiner', which has a little something to do with the way I was brought up, and a lot to do with the whole 'Columbia House Debacle' of 1982.

Still, I have been trying to open myself up a bit, the blogging community offers so many worthy 'Join In' opportunities. So, sign up and commit I did (after giving it some thought in my favorite thinking spot). And I do have reasons.

But today, I am going to address only one - and that is: Handmade
I'm for it!
We are definitely a handmade family. History is in the handmade. Certainly, we have all received something handmade at one time in our lives, that we did not fully appreciate (I'm thinking of one bedazzled pink sweatshirt in particular). Still, there is something pretty amazing about things made by hand. They just seem to have more 'soul'.

I started looking around my house and noticing just how much we live with handmade. Things we use everyday, that are integral to our lives that have been handmade by us, or others. These are things that I cherish, that seem to have a longer, more meaningful life in our home. Much like the pile of quilts made by many hands.

Small things - like our cloth napkins that we use everyday. Though they don't look quite so pristine anymore.

The beautiful TV and stereo cupboard that my very talented man made.

My pottery that has been in constant use since I took a class some years ago.

These are but a few of the things in our home that I see everyday that are part of our handmade life. I read somewhere about some ladies in the States who were hand crocheting bandages for lepers in a distant land. When asked why not just buy some gauze bandages and send them over, they explained that in practical terms - the handmade bandages were stronger, lasted longer and could be sterilized and re-used (unlike gauze). The part that got me though was this...the lepers believe that the karma of the makers are in the handmade bandages and that this helped heal. I can believe it.

So, buying handmade and making myself, yes. I am also thinking that this challenge might spark some creativity as yet untapped. Encourage me to make even more for my home. Things that have lasting integrity and meaningfulness.

Long post I know, hey I've been kinda quiet during my sickness so...
Happy Monday all, I will be back with more handmade news and hopefully a shop update!

Penny Wise

Upon discovering the sad little balance in our bank account, with a week before payday, I quickly commenced a campaign of the utmost frugality. What that means dear friends, is a long day in the kitchen. There were some lovely peaches that begged for a pie. Two loaves of bread, one whole wheat sandwhich loaf and an egg bread for morning toast and jam (the jam is stocked in the basement from the summer berries). Then there came our famous Pot-O-Beans, simmering for hours on the stove.
Fortunately, we seem to have moved past the heat wave so that a hot kitchen was not too miserable.

As I cooked and baked away the day, I was reflecting on how fortunate we are. Mr. Nova has a secure job, we have a sound roof over our heads, and we are in relatively good health. So many people I know are going through some rough times right now and my heart goes out to them. I was also thinking about simple living, something I believe in but, what does it mean really? Let's see...we make most of our food from scratch, we grow a good garden, we are raising chickens, we make the most of our environment and surroundings, we reduce, re-use and recycle...
There is more to it than that, how to explain it? Well, lets just take a trip over to Wikipedia to see what it has to say about Simple Living, hey that's pretty good for a start.

We have our luxuries to be sure, we splurge on good coffee beans, organic produce and the occasional treat. We live well and I feel so blessed and grateful for my beautiful family and our little cottage.

I am also immensely grateful to have my grandmother's gorgeous old canning jars full of dried goods lining my kitchen shelves. For the lean times, these lovelies are great bounty. Treasure that needs only a little imagination and seasoning to shine, to sustain and to remind us to keep it simple.