Tonight, I’ll let the flowers speak for themselves. I know what I need; I hope my flowers can bring you some of what you need. I’ll see you in the morning.
Sarah’s Choice for food support today:
Old El Paso Traditional Canned Refried Beans, 1 Can, 160z Pack of 12, $15.48.
Del Monte Fresh Cut Diced Potatoes, Canned Vegetables, 12 Pack, 14.5 Oz Can, $17.88.
Plus, an innovative and urgently needed kitchen shelf is coming. “The shelf will have kitchen utensils that people seeking food – including those facing food emergencies – will see added to the pantry,” says Sarah, who is always listening to families in need and learning how to help them in new and innovative ways.
She is expanding the food pantry idea and widening the support and understanding of how people in deprivation support, dignity, and proper knowledge and tools.
These innovations spawn health, pride, and confidence. They remove some stigma from being unable to feed one’s family and provide the tools to be healthy and optimistic. I’ve seen Sarah as a humanitarian working to create a model food pantry, one of the most innovative and empathetic food pantry facilities.
It’s exciting.
(Waiting for the weekly food truck from Albany.)
_______
I am very proud to support her in this new and groundbreaking work. I would appreciate your help moving forward. Those who support this pantry are doing much more than just putting meat on the table.
This new support aims to expand in small but important ways, helping people with hunger issues regain their independence and live without fear, with a sense of power and being heard.
And, as necessary, a life without shame.
I am 100 percent supportive of what she’s doing. She’s added some new items to her Wish List to support a Kitchen Shelf. The idea is to lift people to independence, not shame or ignore their wishes and needs.
Here’s what the new program will look like. It will also be on the wish list, which it already is.
Sarah plans to launch the new Kitchen Shelf in early January. I’ll let you know if you don’t mind. You can check out the above items any time, day or night, and even purchase some early. We’ve brought women’s needs, dental supplies, diapers, and vegetables to the shelves. Sarah is just getting started. You have made this possible. Let’s keep going.
This is another groundbreaker. Anything you can offer can help with the food challenge here and nationwide. The other pantries are watching.
Donors purchasing Amazon items also send messages from Amazon(available on their checkout pages) thanking the pantry volunteers for their work. Sarah is pasting the messages on the wall; I’ll paste them here. It means a great deal to the volunteers.
Getting older is a time of gain for me, not just loss. I wouldn’t be taking flower photos if I wasn’t older, and I wouldn’t be sitting by our feeder window learning to be still and patient. A bitter cold is a good time to meditate on birds, and they drop their shyness and head to the feeder. I’m learning how to do it and am already hooked. There is something very calming and soothing about it.
When the temperature falls below zero, it stops being quaint and beautiful and starts getting serious. My new friend, the Weather Channel, said it was colder than – 7 before we got up. All animals respond to that kind of cold, and so do we.
Farmers are used to that and worse. We are used to it also now.
I’m not supposed to go outside in that cold, certainly not in a bathroom and slippers. I ignore those restrictions (the heart has to work harder in that cold, so it becomes dangerous for people with heart disease). It’s good to be cautious, and I am mainly keeping my time outside within five minutes when it’s this cold.
After that, the heart can tire. So, I was in and out in five minutes with my camera and felt fine—it was exhilarating. Maria also set up her iPhone to yell at me to get inside. I listen to Maria; I don’t mess with sub-zero weather. Taking pictures is one way I can participate. I can also toss some hay around.
It can get colder up here, but zero is a benchmark, meaning we should consider the animals and give them what they need.
Maria was cold this morning; I could see it on her face. But she has a very high tolerance for cold, loves being outdoors in any weather, and has an insatiable appetite for physical labor. We both feel close to nature. There is nowhere we would rather be.
Zip (this morning), as always, surprises. The heated cat house is warmed up and plugged in.
He spent much of the night in the big barn (which is oddly warm, perhaps because of the hay), but he slept in his raggedy old dog bed when we looked.
As soon as the sun rose, he greeted his many animal pals and slept on the back porch in his new leather fleece blankets. He seems bewildered and perhaps annoyed that I’m not coming out to visit with him, take photos, or scratch his neck. He gave up waiting and is now sound asleep. He pays no attention to the weather except when it slows down his hunting. Nothing phases that cat.
_______
The animals all react differently.
The sheep and donkeys are sheltered in the Pole Barn but are edgy and hungry. We feed them second-cut hay, which is more nutritious and warming. Our water tank is connected to an electric warming device to keep them warm.
We feed them more hay which also warms them up, and they all turn sideways to the sun; when it appears, all their coats are warm, and they soak up the sun. Donkeys, sheep, and some dog and outdoor cat breeds have acclimated to the cold since birth – Zinna, and almost any barn cat – don’t seem to mind it.
Given warm alternatives – like our heated cat – they don’t go in. Some more domesticated cats and dogs prefer warmth and indoor living.
People forget that sheep and donkeys are desert animals; extreme cold and heat don’t bother them.
In sub-zero weather, I overexposed my first photo to capture the feeling that cold generates when I look at it.
In single-digit weather, my study gets company until Spring – Cacti. Maria has had some of these cacti since before we married; she takes excellent care of them. They get sun when it’s out, enough warmth, and water when needed. Her succulent plants stay on the windowsills; they have no trouble.
The only animals that are different are the birds and the chickens. The birds have full feeders until the end of May. The chickens come out of their roost in all weather but snow. They won’t come out of the roost until they can see the ground.
We’ve placed a heated water bowl inside the roost, changed daily, and a daily feed.
The usual rules continue. No human eats until all the animals are checked and fed.
St. Joe predicts cold to New Year’s.
It was – 7 this morning when Maria went out to take her video, and I went out to help feed the animals ((in my bathrobe and take a few pictures. Maria stayed a lot longer. It was cold, but I got inside quickly enough to warm up. Zip and Lulu (above) work on their friendship. Zip is like Maria; the cold is just part of life, and I remember my first day at the first Bedlam Farm. A blizzard from Canada, -30 one night..
