Whew, these past few weeks here on Country Wife Chronicles have been a bit heavy, haven’t they?
First, there was grappling with my recent endometriosis diagnosis. Then, last week was Infertility Awareness Week, so I decided to put my brave face on and open up about Wildland Man and I’s struggle to have a baby.
This week, it is time for a change of pace.
So, last week I sort of left you hanging. Sorry about that.
But to be honest, I wasn’t sure how well you’d take this third and final installment of “The Country Wife Recommends…Holiday Baking Essentials” post series.
As you can see by the title, we are revisiting my very favorite ingredients from last week and attempting to healthify them. And usually, for most of us, the holidays aren’t so much about healthifiying. It’s about giving yourself a break and enjoying the holiday season and those goodies that come with it.
However, if you’ve been following along with me here at Country Wife Chronicles very long then you also know that I’m on a bit of a real food for real life journey.
And while I will be baking with the ingredients I shared with you last week, I will also be doing some baking with the ingredients I’m sharing with you this week. It’s about moderation and substitutions where possible. It’s about keeping it simple while choosing health.
The last time I did a “Country Wife Recommends…” post here on Country Wife Chronicles, I was sharing my very favorite Christian marriage resources with you.
This time, we are taking a bit of a change in direction. Today, we are talking all things holiday baking.
Tis that time of year where you take stock of your pantry and start preparing treats and goodies for the masses. You might be planning your Thanksgiving feast or what dessert you want to bring to the family gathering. Maybe you are starting to think ahead to Christmas and wanting to have everything on hand to make treats for neighbors and friends.
This week at Country Wife Chronicles I’m throwing a little country rustic DIY your way.
Temperatures are shifting and the jackets have started to make their way out of the closets. So, a DIY wall-mounted coat rack it is. This one is particularly rustic, because it is actually made from some moulding we pulled out of my grandparents’ old farmhouse.
I can’t take full credit for this DIY, of course, because Wildland Man had an awful lot to do with getting this one done. But I’m pretty confident I could have pulled it off all my by myself if I wanted to. It’s that easy.
So…crafting. Hmmm, how do I explain my convoluted relationship with crafting?
I love it.
I hate it.
I wish I were better at it.
I have great ideas for it…just, zero follow-through.
Until today. Cuz today, I kicked crafting’s butt.
I grew up loving the outdoors, as a child I used to practically live in tree in our yard. It had a perfect little nook where I could climb and hide away. Whether I was watching the clouds pass me by or stuck with my nose in a book, that tree opened the doors to let my imagination run wild!
I’ve shared my love for the outdoors here, here and here.
I’m pretty sure my love for everything in nature was spawned by all the time I spent with my dad outside growing up. I remember riding along with him to fix fence, spending days on the lake fishing, and bearing the cold and snow to scout coyote or deer.
I’m a believer that we all need our own unique connection to nature in order to appreciate it. We all have our own story and our own memories that sparked our love for the outdoors, if we had the chance to interact with it on a deep, personal level.
So, you may recall from earlier posts here on CWC that gardening is not really my thing…I’m just not a gardener.
You can catch up on a little bit of my gardening experience here.
I have to give Wildland Man full credit for any gardening experience I do have and any crops we are able to harvest.
But, I tell you what; I’m learning to like it. Heck, I may even be falling for gardening. Only time will tell.
I liken it to how I became comfortable in the kitchen and began to like cooking and baking.
I guess, now that I think about it, both the kitchen and the garden have always been Wildland Man’s domain. Now I’m encroaching on both. Hope he doesn’t mind.
Waste not, want not. That should really be the title of this post. Because if you’ve been reading along the past couple weeks you know that this DIY Pallet Deck Table is project #3 that we got out of just a couple of pallets.
First, Wildland Man and I picked up some pallets to create herb boxes for our deck railing. You can read about that project in DIY Pallet Planters {Part 1}.
Then, we used some of the leftover pallet scrap to make a large square planter box to put flowers out by our mailbox. You can read about that project in DIY Pallet Planters {Part 2}.
Finally, we used what was left of the pallet wood to construct this little table for our deck.
As a child I used to tend to my mom’s flowers and the few vegetables she had time to plant in the spring.
Well, maybe saying that I tended to them is a bit much. More like watered. Once in awhile. Or forgot and dried up. And probably more like drowned when I finally did get around to watering them. I really wasn’t very good at my job.