My friends, a quick summer check in as I am on vacation this week. But I wanted to send my love and my greetings and share with you my latest adventure: I’m taking a course on how to build a fireplace and bake oven! It’s hard work, but this is how I relax and find peace for my soul (which I needed as I was so tired all the time and fed up with everyone and everything!).

Where do you find peace? What is your path to joy? How do you spend the dog days of summer? And for those of you where it is now winter…tell me how you are spending your days!

I recently took a wonderful class at East Field Village in New York on how to use primitive tools to process flax and spin its fibers into linen thread. I also got to learn how to use a hand spindle!

It was an eye opener, especially when I realized how the very pounding of the flax plant was what was needed to soften and ready it to be made into something beautiful.

It’s a lot like life, isn’t it?

When we are pummeled about and beaten up and put through the wringer, we have an opportunity to learn, to grow, and to be transformed.

It is in the challenges we discover who we really are, what we are made of, and decide finally the life we really want to live.

And so, I share with you the holiness of a homespun life, along with some interesting history on flax, spinning during Colonial America, which became an act of revolt, and a heartwarming story about a flax plant’s journey that was written in the 1800s by Hans Christian Andersen.

Pull up a chair and join me on my latest adventure here at Old Stone Well Farm! Together we will find the hope we need for this day and the strength to face our tomorrows.

And remember, invite a friend! Share the link. Make sure to press the like button and leave a comment. I might be a bit slower these days in responding, but I will do my best to get back to you.

Blessings! Pastor Donna