I Love This Simple Life

Recently, I spent hours reflecting upon what I am grateful for in this simple little life we have created for ourselves. As I get older, I see more clearly the value in simplicity, the less is more approach, the gift of daily blessings, and the beauty in the small moments. I can honestly say that I want for nothing. When I look at our life, I feel fulfilled and appreciative. How much I have grown and changed over the years does not escape me. The journey has not always been easy. However, I have finally reached a point where I can say I am content, at peace, and happy. Happiness is not a place or destination. Happiness is something internal that must be cultivated and nurtured. Contentedness is shedding false ideas of what one’s life should look like and appreciating who is with you in this moment, where you have landed, and the joy in what you are doing. Gratitude is a crucial factor in both happiness and contentedness.

In my youth, I was unsettled, restless, and searching. I thought I needed grand things to make me feel successful. I believed that overabundance could fulfill what I was intrinsically lacking. If I had the right job, the right house, the right car, the right clothes, and the right degree, I would be happy, successful, and fulfilled. Instead, the burden of overabundance weighed me down. My home was cluttered and disorganized, which I feel reflects my mental state. Rather than feeling like a sanctuary, home felt heavy and overburdened. I believed I needed to continuously keep moving forward, changing homes, changing jobs, and creating new goals. That mindset is filled with traps and error filled potholes.

As I have moved through various stages of life, I have learned to shed those misconceptions about success, wealth, and self-worth. It was not until the last decade that I realized happiness is an internal choice. Making peace with past mistakes and broken relationships is the road to contentedness. Accepting that I will never be perfect or close to perfect has been freeing. Acknowledging that I can do better today than I did yesterday is satisfying. Looking at challenges as an opportunity to grow instead of a problem to be overcome has changed my world. Living in gratitude for the many blessings I experience daily is a game-changer. Realizing that stuff is simply that stuff and breaking the hold possessions have over me has given me a lightheartedness I never knew before. Being appreciative of the good people who make up my circle brings joy to my heart.

I love this simple little life I have created with my husband and daughter. I would have cynically laughed if one had told me that goats, making soap, farm life, and stewardship of treasured land with history and a family of animals would fill me to overflowing. However, I walk in gratitude and appreciation for what we have, what we do, who we do it with, and where we get to make this life I love so well. I see the simple beauty our life provides. I appreciate the lessons I have learned and, even more so, the strength to weather the challenges. There is indeed value in knowing that one can handle hard things, make changes, face difficulties, and be okay in the end. Shedding the shackles of what life is supposed to be, the misconception of beauty and success, and the idea that more is best have freed me to see the true measure of success. Joy in daily life, answered prayers, peace, contentedness, and gratitude for one’s life are the true measure of success. When I look at what we have accomplished, how we have kept it simple, and live in gratitude and appreciation, I feel more successful than when I was striving for a traditionally successful life.

Our life is not for everyone. It is filled with hard work, long hours, heartbreaking scenarios, and tough choices. Our day does not begin at eight and end at five. However, it is filled with moments of sheer joy, wonder, and so much beauty. I am indeed fortunate to be doing what we do with people I love and admire in a place that brings me great peace. The road to reaching this understanding has not always been easy, but every mistake, shortcoming, and realization has made it all worthwhile. I love this simple life. I am grateful you are part of it. My prayer is that everyone, everywhere, gets to this point as well. It’s a good place to be, and I think I will stay here for quite some time.

On this breezy, overcast day, stay safe, be smart, embrace a simple life, and keep washing your hands.

Tuesday Spotlight: All Things Lavender

Our Lavender and Oatmeal soap, Lavender moisturizer, and Lavender soap are in the spotlight this week. I love all things lavender; lavender soap and moisturizer are my go-to. Lavender is gentle on my skin when I experience sensitive, dry skin. The scent is classic and relaxing, and the benefits of lavender essential oil are boundless. If it includes lavender, I love it. I drink lavender tea, put lavender syrup in my coffee, use lavender buds in recipes, and use lavender oil in diffusers around my home. Naturally, including our lavender products in my bathing routine is my favorite.

We use gorgeous Bulgarian lavender oil in our soaps and moisturizers. I prefer Bulgarian lavender essential oil over French lavender because the scent is softer and more rounded. Our products are gentle, clean, and filled with only the highest-quality ingredients. We use our fresh, raw milk from our very own small herd of Nubian dairy goats as the main ingredient in our products. We then blend skin-loving oils, natural additives like orange peel, poppy seeds, or Tussah silk fibers, and safe, clean essential oils or fragrance oils in our soaps. Our products are a labor of love, and we are committed to creating the highest quality soaps and moisturizers for our soap family.

When The Bean was small, I used our lavender products on her before she went to bed, whenever she had a migraine, or if she felt anxious. I believe the combination of a warm bath, the scent of lavender, and a calm environment helped her to relax and ease her headaches. Now that she is fifteen, she associates the scent of lavender with comfort, coziness, and calm. If she has a bad day at school, feels anxious, or has trouble sleeping, she uses our lavender products during her bedtime routine. I am a firm believer in aroma therapy and its benefits.

This week, exclusively online, you can save 25% on bars and jars of Lavender soap, Lavender and Oatmeal soap, and Lavender moisturizer. No promo code is needed to save; the savings will be applied at checkout. On this gorgeous sunny day, stay safe, be smart, enjoy the savings, include luxurious, natural products in your routine, and keep washing those hands.

Save On Lavender

The Man Blog of June

This past month, with the start of the market season, we started our annual adventure of not being on the farm every single day. I must admit that I am out of practice peopling and could easily slip into a hermit-like existence without any regrets. I realize that it is all me. The older I get, the more I find a change of any sort less than desirable. I thought it was utterly savage when I was younger to hear my grandfather say that when he was young, folks ate in their home and left the house to use the restroom. Now, the world has completely turned upside down.

I always knew someday I would find myself getting older and out of shape, so using a rotary phone would make me winded. Now I have to explain what a rotary phone is and explain that everyone had one. Yes, there indeed was a cord. No, there was no caller ID, so you just had to answer and find out who was calling. You did indeed have to write down a number or memorize it because you could not add them to your contacts. If the line was busy, it beeped, and you had to call again. There was a pad of paper by the phone to write down a message if the call wasn't for you. Yes, an entire family shared a phone. Yes, the good old USA was still considered a first-world country with those barbaric standards.

There was a time when fast food was fast and cheap. Heat lamps were set up for premade burgers left under the lights, ready to go as soon as you ordered. It checked all the boxes that fast food should check: fast, cheap, and technically edible. Now, it is less fast, has less food, and is anything but affordable. My "old man complaining" always wants to kick in when we are short on time and do the dreaded food-in-a-sack routine. For the love of everything sacred and holy, the entire fast-food industry has made it a point to tell us that raising the minimum wage forced them to increase their prices and automate. They have automated and cut down the serving sizes but still need to hike their prices. I understand that the cost of everything under the sun has increased, but I haven't heard of premium Wagyu beef being used for a McTasty. There was a time when the Sunday special at McDonald's was a forty-nine-cent hamburger or a fifty-nine-cent cheeseburger—mentioning that out loud puts you into the category of the folks who say that grocery stores used to throw out chicken wings in my day.

We had a small selection of channels to choose from growing up. It was whatever came in with the antenna. Why in the world would anyone pay for a satellite when we could get what we needed for free? The entire family was forced to share one round screen that could get as many as six channels on a clear day. Everyone's early years were spent watching Sesame Street. I am somewhat confident that few people in my generation can refrain from counting to twelve without having that song stuck in their heads for the rest of the day and picturing the pinball video. It is good that we can count. Perhaps some of the world's problems would have been solved if there had been a time when anyone on the show thought about a bit of help for old Oscar. Seriously, he is in a constant state of grump and lives in a garbage can. Not once did Bert, Ernie, Big Bird, or Mr. Snuffleupagus get their heads together and try to see if there was anything that could be done to help Oscar help himself.

I don't believe I will live long enough ever to forget my dad's reaction when he first discovered my tattoos. His words were, "For God's sake if you were born with a mark like that, you'd spend good money to have it taken off. Those things are for the military and ex-cons." Now, it seems out of place to see someone without more inked skin than not. Someday, everyone working in a nursing home can tell that the women with "tramp stamps" were born between 1976 and 1984, much like the guys with tribal armbands. The thigh tattoo ladies and full-sleeve guys are younger.

We had a little terrier dog, Fido, when I was growing up. Fido was an outside dog. That meant Fido never wanted to enter the house unless it was cold. He would get a bath in the fall or whenever he played with a skunk or anything rotten, but for the most part, he preferred to wander around and come and go as he pleased. We didn't celebrate his birthday, nor did we know exactly how old he was. Now, you are flirting with animal neglect if you don't buy a birthday cake and have the pup in a climate-controlled environment at all times. I believe the dog food we now buy our boys is slightly less than fillet mignon, but at least for now, they can drink water from the tap, not imported glacier meltings. I was thinking about how spoiled everyone now has their pet dogs while I was giving our geriatric goats their daily medicine and standing between them while they ate. That is the only way old Red gets her share without being pushed out. It only makes sense that we start making a goat's milk pet shampoo. It has been made and will be available online and at Ligonier Country Market this week.

Not every change is bad. It is good to get back in the world and see some folks we haven't seen. It made my day to see my little buddy Josephine this Saturday. Even though a bald round guy in bibs can be a little scary for her age group, a couple of goat stickers and some soap sniffs made me not so frightening. So far, I have learned some sign language from her and her family. Thank you, you are welcome; pierogi and smiling goat are as far as I have made it. I will try to make it a point to learn a bit from YouTube to surprise them the next time I see them.

Until next month, stay safe and wash on.