April, 2024 | The Big White Farmhouse
These types of posts are probably terribly boring for the average reader (sorry!) but so helpful for me to stay on track. I printed off a copy of March’s post and taped it to my mirror, making sure to look at it at least once every day. The process worked great and I’m excited to see if I can keep up the momentum in April.
A REVIEW OF LAST MONTH’S INTENTIONS
move Max and Ruby onto pasture(they are so happy to be out of the permanent paddock – I am too!)add woodchips to the old permanent paddocks(we have more to do, but got a good enough start)- decide if we want to hire someone to woodchip some dead trees on the property (update: we do want to hire someone, but don’t have the money for it right now)
pull the bins holding chick supplies out of the shed and inventory(all good and we didn’t even need to replace any feeders or waterers!)make a big feed order(60 bags and $1400 later…)set up the baby chick area in the garage before their arrivaldecide how many extra hens we’ll buy for 2024(haven’t landed on a single amount, but we’re thinking 15-20)- muck the chicken coops and duck house (definitely procrastinated on this one…one of my least favorite farm chores)
- amend the garden soil in one part of the garden
clean up the strawberry beds(I moved some runners into a new bed, so here’s hoping we get double the output this spring!)go through the hand-me-down bins for a son who is suddenly growing like a weed!(found a few things!)finish up my February junk journal- teach my daughter how to make homemade bread
get to confessionlist a bunch of items on ebay/Poshmark/Pango(the Summer Vacation Farm Sitter Fund is off to a good start!)wash and pack away all of the kids’ winter gearfinish ordering Easter basket giftsdecide what we’re wearing on Easter Sundaysimmer down on my caffeine consumption(tiny progress! I’m down to 1.5 cups in the morning and a cup (or two) of decaf in the afternoon)
INTENTIONS FOR THE MONTH OF APRIL
- schedule standardized testing for May
- plan out the rest of the school year
- wash and put away everyone’s flannel sheets and heavy blankets
- start packing away the kids’ winter clothes
- put broiler chickens out to pasture
- buy hen chicks
- add woodchips to the chicken/duck run
- muck the chicken coops and duck house
- amend the garden soil in one part of the garden
- plant onion starts and seed potatoes
- transplant the tomatoes and marigolds
- fertilize all of the fruit trees and bushes
- send Max and Ruby to the processor
- move our breeder girls, Sally and Millie, onto pasture
- see if we can find 3-4 new piglets
- order chicken processing supplies (bags, stickers, zip ties, etc.)
- keep listing on ebay/Poshmark/Pango and add to the Summer Vacation Farm Sitter Fund
- start a spring cleaning checklist
- declutter 15+ items in the kitchen (junk drawer, unneeded paperwork, etc.)
“Palm Sunday” by Elisabeth Sonrel
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Last Sunday, Palm Sunday, we entered into the holiest days of the Church Year, the days in which we celebrate the completion of the mission for which our Lord Jesus was sent into the world: His suffering, dying and rising from the dead for our eternal salvation. So singular is this time for us that we call “Holy Week” the days from Palm Sunday to the Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday. Of all the weeks of the Church Year, during which God faithfully pours forth His grace upon us, we refer to one week only as Holy Week, because the source of all grace is found in the events which took place during this week. (by Cardinal Raymond L. Burke, from here)
Alleluia alleluia! Christ is risen, Christ is truly risen! When this post is published, it will be Easter Monday, so the Holy Week readings and things down below will be unhelpful until next year. Mediating on Our Lord’s death is always a fruitful practice, so maybe you could use them after Paschaltide?
Contemplating with Art //
“The Last Supper” by Adam van Noort “Crucifixion” by Tintoretto (1565) “Deposition” by Rogier van der Weyden (1435) “Pieta” by Franz Stuck (1891)
Reading //
- Holy Thursday Meditation on the Blessed Eucharist from Fr. Michael Mueller // “’Who’ asks St. John Chrysostom, ‘will give us of His flesh that we may be filled?’ (Job 31:31). This Christ has done, allowing Himself not only to be seen, but to be touched too, and to be eaten, so that our teeth pierce His Flesh, and all are filled with His love.”
- Stations of the Cross by Saint Francis of Assisi
- Discourse 16. Mental Sufferings of Our Lord in His Passion from Cardinal John Henry Newman // Long but really good.
- Sermon for Good Friday on the Passion of Christ from St. Francis de Sales // “He could have redeemed us in a thousand other ways than that of His Son’s death. But He did not will to do so, for what may have been sufficient for our salvation was not sufficient for His love; and to show us how much He loved us, this divine Son died the cruelest and most ignominious of deaths, that of the Cross.”
- The Charcoal Fire, a poem by Fr. Timothy J. Draper
Watching/Listening //
- the Learning to Look series from Fr. Hugh at St. Michael’s Abbey // Short little nuggets of beauty and wisdom. Makes me want to pull How Catholic Art Saved the Faith: The Triumph of Beauty and Truth in Counter-Reformation Art by Elizabeth Lev off of my TBR shelf.
- Tenebrae with St. Michael’s Abbey // “The liturgy of Tenebrae (Latin for “darkness”), which dates back to the ninth century, is a special expression of Matins and Lauds unique to Holy Week. The psalms chanted during Tenebrae ground Our Lord’s Passion in the context of Salvation History.” There were livestreams to watch on each day of the Triduum. Beautiful.
Loving //
- The Life of Sr. Mary Wilhelmina by the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles // “Sister Wilhelmina understood that true holiness consists not in niceness or pleasant feelings but in a battle of wills; she was determined, at all costs, to surrender her strong will to an even stronger one: the will of God.”