Weekly update - September 15, 2023

I'm tired. I think I am as out of practice with our regular schedule as my children are, who were also exceptionally tired this morning. 

• We tried one more attempt at finding an orb this afternoon, but no success. 
• The weather has been absolutely gorgeous. Not too hot, not too cold, and lots of sun.
• Our new trees are still alive and appear to be doing well. L. has been very good about helping to keep them well watered.
• As I was walking outside I noticed this growing on the side of the creek near the road.

It's kind of pretty, huh? It's actually a huge patch of deadly nightshade which is also known as bittersweet. There's more than one reason we named the farm as we did, and this is one of them. Don't worry, this isn't anywhere a child or animal could accidentally eat it.

• Now that I'm done with my all-consuming planning, it would be good to remind myself I have a business with bills to pay and start networking again. 
• The past couple of weeks, I think the horses have been like, "Huh? Who's that again?"
• The baby chicks are still on the young side. They look more like adult chickens now, but they still peep like chicks.
• I'm also thinking that getting them is going to turn out to be a good thing after all. Our older hens have really dropped in egg production. For the first time in non-winter weather, a child couldn't find an egg to eat in the kitchen. 
• R. has been having some good days. I'm starting to see glimmers of where she was right before the bottom dropped out of life last November. Today I had read her a story and later in the day she was telling us about it. It's been nearly a year since we've seen that level of engagement outside her narrow range of interests.
• Under the category of frivolous desires, I opened my email the other day to an add from a fiber store selling this bundle.

I don't know what it is about this, but I think it's gorgeous. And cashmere and camel hair. It looks like so much fun. But truly, another pound of fiber is the absolute last thing I need. I just keep the email because I like to look at it. (It's Napa Valley Fiber in case I have any spinning friends reading here.)

• Aldi's supply issues seem to be getting better because there were only a few things on my list that I couldn't find. It's an improvement over a third of my list not being there.
• And one brief advertisement. Feel free to share my websites. Without my constantly working on getting clients, the past few weeks have been a bit thin. And I had that load of hay delivered... 
• Bittersweet-farm
• Xanthos