No More Grocery Store

The wind is whipping around this old farmhouse as the sky lightens. There is no sunrise to see this morning, but rather fat flakes of cold white snow, and whirling clouds of woodsmoke blown this way and that. We are waking up to a cold and blustery day! Monday is traditionally my one day a week where I take my grocery list and head out to get food for the whole week. After the grocery store, I drive to a local Organically Certified farm and get our weekly cow share milk, 2 gallons to drink and turn into homemade cheese. This morning is so cold and snowy I was thinking that it should be a 'No More Grocery Store' day. Really, what do we need? Tissues??? Dish soap??? I have literally baskets and baskets of homemade soap scraps and we have hankies that can be washed. There is milk still in the cooler and almost 2 bushels of organic cabbage sitting next to about 10 bushels of apples and 2 hams that were given as gifts by hunter's at Christmastime. We have wild hickory nuts waiting to be cracked, cheese ripening in the cooler and kale that is still green, though cold and icy, under the snow. There are jars of organic Rye, Wheat, and Kamut sitting next to me on my bread table as I type and barrels and barrels of our own honey sitting out in the honey house. If I had a sack of coffee beans and my own little Jersey cow in the barn, I would not need to venture to town until spring. What a lovely hermit-like thought, huh?

So, I think today will be a No More Grocery Store day. Instead we will read books out loud, practice our hand stitching skills, fill the wood stove full of split wood and brew a huge pot of homegrown herbal tea! This is just the day to stay home. Please join me in slowing down and enjoying the day.