"Getting rid of everything that doesn’t matter allows you to remember who you are. Simplicity doesn’t change who you are, it brings you back to who you are."

Monday, January 2, 2012

Get Cracking

We're supposed to get into the low 20's tonight, below 20 tomorrow.  I've left the carrots in the raised bed so far this winter only pulling what I needed at the time.  I'm not sure if I could have left them in ground or not but I felt it better not to take a chance and waste them.

So I pulled what was left of the carrot bed this morning.


10 lb's of fresh carrots salvaged.  Still sweet and crisp! 

Don't ya just love fresh carrots!  And the shapes!  Just look at these "Happy Feet" carrots dancing.


I also went through all the "fresh eating" apples this morning.


The Honeycrisp and Pinklady's had lost their crispness.  The skins were wrinkling.  The Granny's were still firm but were also losing that fresh, crisp taste so I spent all day today making applesauce.  SM observes " That's a lot of applesauce."  I got about 7 quarts out of those soon to be wasted apples.

"Waste not, want not" is a phrase I grew up hearing.  I googled it to find it's been around a lot longer than I have (1772) but I actually like the original phrase better.  "Willful waste makes woeful want" (1576).   Try to say that 5 times fast.

Phrases like that get me motivated.  Sometimes you just need that little angel (or devil) on your shoulder telling you that it's time to get off your sorry butt and get to the task at hand. 



"Make hay while the sun shines" is another favorite.  "Take time when time cometh, lest time steal away." 

(When I was young, I spent a day helping the farmer I worked for bale hay one afternoon.  Why just one day at it?  That was the day I discovered I was allergic to something in the hay.  I had a bloody nose most of the time and was sneezing all afternoon.  I did find the work fun though.  (Hey, I was young and I wasn't a farmers kid so anything different was fun for me.  Plus hay smells SO GOOD and it was fun being a girl out with the guys doing "guy's work.")

So many good sayings out there.  What are some of your favorites?  A story behind it?

7 comments:

  1. The carrots are pretty and tasty too I bet ! As for the sayings...Astitch in time,saves nine ! No story behind it tho. And thanks for reminding abt the freezing temps tonight,now I will bring my turnips in before they freeze,wouldn't want to waste them !

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  2. My favorte saying is one I made up myself. "I'm spending my kids inhertiance and when it's gone they can pay me to stay away."

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  3. We don't have soil soft enough for root crops (yet), so I'm jealous of your carrots!

    As for favorite saying....hmmmmm. Guess mine is "Better than a shapr stick in the eye".

    Nice, hugh? :)

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  4. What a great haul of carrots!

    I guess my favorite saying is one that you already mentioned. "You've gotta make hay while the sun shines:. I come from a family of farmers. So, that's where that comes from.

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  5. The carrots look great! I have a few still in the ground out there but they aren't anywhere near the size of yours.

    I actually loved when it was time to haul hay. I was the 'stacker' on the trailer most of the time. It's enough like a puzzle that it kept my attention (and saved me from having to throw bales up high). I also loved burning off the pastures and feeding bottle calves.

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  6. Your carrots look yummy, and you are making me anxious for my shipment of juicing apples to arrive! I cannot wait to try and make applesauce.

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  7. I'm envious of your carrots--I'd love to have a handful right now.

    My favorite saying: Where ever you go, there you are . My mother used to say it. She meant that it doesn't matter where you move (change jobs, whatever), it's still YOU there, so if you don't like something, start by changing YOU. I like that!

    And the one I tell my doctor:
    Never Trouble Trouble, until Trouble Troubles YOU!
    In other words, I'm not LOOKING for anything. Keep your tests!

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