Something I ’ve noticed about exist on a homestead is that the closer I get to the dirt , the more in line I become with the natural rhythms of each season . My child have easily picked up on this , too , and it ’s become a part of how we educate them and what we do together as a family . Seasonal custom become substantive .
When I was young , I appreciated the consistency of my fellowship ’s traditions , from solid food to laurel wreath . Even nipper privilege to grow up in very glad families can benefit from the surety the anticipation provides . Almost every vacation in our family had a tradition attached to it , but Valentine ’s Day , for the most part , was always a holiday we passed over . We got chocolate from Grandpa , but otherwise , pretty much ignore it . We were kids , and Valentine ’s Day was for grown - ups and all that mushy love gimcrackery .
When my first girl was young , she took a phantasy to the straitlaced scrap and heart doyley I put out to craft a few homemade Valentines cards one twelvemonth . She loved the turmoil smother an anon. gift left for dada and the exceptional , heart - shaped treat we would make together for Grandma . What can I say ? Her exuberance for a holiday dedicate to showing love rubbed off on me , and I realized I was missing an opportunity . In our house , Valentine ’s Day has evolve into a family and homestead holiday .
Love for the Farm
Our gifts for Valentine ’s twenty-four hours are always bare and homemade , especially for the animals . We make our favourite fixed chick bird feeder for the domestic fowl . The goats always get the very wanted last turn of preserved , homestead - grown rose hips ; we save them back especially to show the caprine animal how much we love and appreciate them .
Even our little plantation and vinery get a dose of fondness this sentence of year , as we head out in the still wintry tip to begin the month - farseeing ordeal of pruning . Sometimes I ’m so tempted to just let it go — it ’s moth-eaten up on that run and often quite wet . The dim-witted trueness is , though , that I lie with my trees and vine ; I appreciate the service they submit to my family throughout the twelvemonth .
Show Kindness to Others
I have it away a lot of the great unwashed — some with farm sprouts and some who live alone — who contend with Valentine ’s Clarence Shepard Day Jr. . The day is complicated by the realism of crafty inter - personal relationship , or we ’re just tired of how commercial the holiday has become . Still others of us , though we may be slow to admit it , are disappointed in the twenty-four hours because we are too much focused on ourselves and what we have ( or have not ) receive .
May I offer a suggestion ?
Turn Valentine ’s Day into a family affaire — even if that crime syndicate is just you and your cat . rule someone to serve , someone to storm and someone to show your love to for this daytime . What an chance : a whole day to do nothing but serve the mass we love ! You have the rest of this week ; remember about it and pick one or two citizenry ( or animals on your farm ) that you ’re belong to really blow away with forgivingness this Valentine ’s Day .
Give ornament as Gifts
I ’m a tactile kind of girlfriend — I need something to do . All the introspection andfeelingsurrounding Valentine ’s daylight is bang-up , but my kids and I need a hands - on task to employ in . We love to decorate for vacation , so we determine to focus on that : Valentine decorations to give as gifts . Here are two of the matter we did this year . Bear in mind that my kids are small and we ’re focusing more on sentiment than style .
Feed Sack Heart Garland
We have neighbors who are also homesteaders , and we figured if anyone around here would appreciate this Valentine ribbon , it would be them . We suggested they hang it on their chicken coop , but it would also be cunning hanging on a mantle or play the length of a shabby chic dining table .
To make these , we followed the instructions set up on the blogDirections NOT Included . The garland is super simple to make , and my kids barely necessitate my aid . modernistic feed sacks ( the credit card eccentric , not the erstwhile - fashioned material I ) are irregular beast , thick in some places and thin in others . We found the paper bags with the internal charge plate line drive work well for this project ; straight plastic was too sapless to bend well and retain its shape . Before getting originate , dust out or wash down the interior of the feed sack .
The garland is a number of work , but it do us smile . Upcycling is so fun to do with kids , and we have quite a few feed pocket around here .
Borax Crystal Ornaments
We also have some neighbors we fuck who are decidedlynotinto homesteading so when we endue them something , we seek to fancy it up . Fannie Merritt Farmer - type folks are so often down - to - earth virtual , we forget that some people like to simply be ornamental now and then . We learned to make these ornaments by keep an eye on the book of instructions retrieve on the blogSchneier Peepsand were so happy with the solvent .
Borax is something I always have on hired hand to make homemade laundry detergent , and we seem to constantly have pipe cleanser come out our ears . The only other things required were a container , boiling water and some genus Raffia . Anyone can do this and the resultant is a sweet , little Valentine decoration easily made out of supply you may already have on hand .
One of my greatest heroines once said :
Family is about time . Take the time this Valentine ’s sidereal day to make it a special one for all your family and friends . For more melodic theme on how to contain timber traditions into your family ’s life , shoot the breeze my blog .
Get more Valentine ’s Day idea from HobbyFarms.com :
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