Journey To Simplify-Part Seven

I had been making my own bread by hand for years but had kind of slacked off when we were busy living today's lifestyle. I had always purchased the flour, but now I started grinding wheat for flour and making bread again. I had learned that most of the nutrients have been lost within just 72 hours after grains are ground and I wanted my family to get all of the nutrition and the fiber from whole grains. I sewed clothes for my family and myself and planted a garden. The man that owned the property saw that we were digging a garden spot and said that we would never be able to grow anything in "all that sand". We brought in river bottom dirt and aged turkey and chicken manure and dug it in. We used the double-digging method so we dug it in two feet down. He was pretty surprised when he saw the garden. I also planted an herb garden with medicinal herbs and edible flowers. I dug a garden pond to sit by and stocked it with water plants and pretty fish. We planted some apple trees, including a Wealthy apple tree. I had bought this kind of apple years before from an older man that had an orchard, and had made LOTS of applesauce, pies, jelly, turnovers, and anything else apple. That kind of apple makes the BEST pies and applesauce! It used to be very popular and was Minnesota's state apple.
We made our holiday celebrations more home-centered and held boat races in the irrigation pond. There were different rules for the races each time but they always had to be homemade. It was amazing what people came up with! Everything from robotics and model rocket power to rubberband power. At times we would put a limit on how much could be spent on materials and other times the boats had to be made from materials that were already on hand. It was such great fun! In the winter we would build a bonfire by the pond and go ice skating. I remember jumping in the pond to swim in the summer and feeling all of the day's stresses and pressures fall off of me. We enjoyed watching the Kildeer pretend to be wounded to lure us away from her nest, the Blue Heron that would come each year, and the white Pelicans that were oh so beautiful as they flew over together in the most graceful patterns.
To be continued.....
Nancy