Ode to Autumn

I have not been on to do any new postings, we were very busy in the homestead kitchen. We have been busy putting up food from the garden, and taking breaks to have fun, this summer. It is not a job that is for the faint of heart, I tell you. When the spring begins and I see that freshly plowed ground and think of all the beauty and bounty that will come out of it, I can't wait to tackle that earth again. Then as summer goes on and the heat is searing, my garden is starting to go through it's life fazes and is not quite so pretty anymore, and I have canned the 200th jar, I start to think "why do I do this to myself year after year?" It reminds me of pregnancy. You love getting yourself pregnant, but when you are about to deliver you are thinking, "Why do I keep doing this"?
But just like any pregnancy, it does come to an end and you look at that bundle in your arms and it is all worth it. It is the same with my gardens. I passed by my pantry and looked in the freezer, and I saw all that food for the winter. We will have variety because of our work. Any amount of Independence I can have is also a reward. Not being a slave to the economy....pure bliss.
So anyway, I wanted to say "Cheers!" to the coming of Fall. To the last planting of the year, to the final harvest and the beginning of school. To the cooling of the weather and the final culmination in the Rosh Hashanna and Thanksgiving celebrations that signal our time of rest. May God bless this final faze of the year.

parenting

Parenting is hands down the hardest thing I have ever and will ever do in my life. Running a home and gardening is nothing compared to the mental work that is done in creatively not sending your kids into the world with a chip on their shoulders. I am constantly beseeching the Lord for wisdom to know what each of them needs-or doesn't need for that matter. I am looking for constant council as the leader of my children. Sometimes I think, "shouldn't I know this stuff?" But there was not one class in all of my lower education in 'Child Training'.

I spent my whole childhood learning how to add, subtract and multiply. How to do science, reading, and history. I know why the earth has seasons, how many planets are in our solar system, but I lack the basis in how to raise a child in "the way they should go". What is wrong with this picture. (though in this aspect I should be glad I had all those exercises on deductive reasoning.)

Spirituality was far under emphasized in my childhood, though I got a lot of lectures on how not to behave. I would like to give my children the type of spiritual  training that might help them avoid this stumbling block as they raise their children, but I am lacking in earthly influence to know what exactly that would look or sound like. I know God can teach me all things, to bring me into the wisdom of truth. And maybe in some way this post is doing just that. I just sometimes wish my children had come with an individualized instruction guide, complete with trouble-shooting manual.