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

Well, summer has only just begun, but these weeks have been busy. In between travel and work obligations I finally made a primitive shelter for my bee skeps.

There is an old tradition of telling the bees of what’s happening in the household — especially when there has been a death — and I had a lot to tell mine. Yes, there have been some losses here at the farm. More on the in our time together.

But as I was making my bee shelter, I realized what had been weighing me down for so long. I realized I have been carrying around what experts call “anticipated grief.” Yes, I have been fearing tomorrow, expecting the worse, weighting for the other shoe to drop. That is not a way to live.

And so, I invite you to join me as I share with you a bit of an old folk tradition of talking to bees and how I have found talking (and praying) through the fear to be healing.

What are your ways of coping with a changing world and ridding yourself of the fear of tomorrow?

Comment, like and share this time together with others! Blessings to you!

Turn Out Days have come to Vermont — the time in late spring when farmers set loose their cows into the greener pastures filled with tall grass and wildflowers. I have been seeking my greener pastures lately — praying for God to set me loose into the lush new field of peace, joy, contentment and where I can feel that I truly belong. Well, I have finally found some peace — and an answer as to what my next step will be. And it came in a very surprising way! It was an essay I wrote as a teen about how you really can’t have it all. Wow! I really did write that so many years ago. My younger self came back to remind me to focus on one thing and not seek to have or do it all. Rather, embrace the path God is revealing that leads to the green pasture. So come, pull up a chair and join me! Leave a comment as I love talking with you. Make sure to press the like button. And share with a friend. I would love to know how God has been revealing your “turn out” days…those holy moments when your path becomes clear! Blessings!

Well my friends, the rooster problem here at the farm has found a peaceful solution. Yeah! But I find myself still at the crossroads of life, deciding on what to let go of in my busy schedule. It’s been a particularly tough week that, honestly, if I truly “listen to my life,” it is clear what life is trying to say! Should I stay or should I go? Before I make any final decisions, I need this rainy spring day to listen to the God messages all around — and to make a batch of cookies my mom always made when I was feeling unsure about anything in life. It’s amazing how warm, molasses crinkles can help you untangle the knots in your heart. What used to make you feel loved and safe as a child? I would love for you to share in our time together. So pull up a chair, make sure to comment, press the like button and share with a friend! Blessings to you!

Happy Eastertide! Yes, we are in the season of Easter but honestly it has been a difficult start for me here at Old Stone Well Farm.

The joy of new life has been shadowed by decisions that I have had to make, one of them involving my feathered flock of friends. As I worried and fretted as to what direction to go in, I remembered that the only true decision I need to make is how I want to live: In the spirt of the tomb or in the spirit of resurrection? I know want the promise of Easter’s new life.

And so, I remembered that with prayer, tough decisions can lead to blessed solutions. So come, join me as we share together the God moments all around and remind one another, once again, of how we never have to tackle life all alone!

Pull up a chair, press the like button as you watch, leave a comment and share with a friend! I can’t wait to hear from you!!

Blessings!

The days leading to Easter have been full of pondering, prayers and preparing as I embrace new traditions filled with great meaning here at Old Stone Well Farm. So come and spend some of the holiday with me as I make a Polish Easter basket and create an Easter prayer vigil…and share with you a saying a friend used to repeat when life got too much for her. Hint: It has to do with the empty tomb and Resurrection Sunday! Before I go to finish coloring the eggs, let me know what are some of your Easter time traditions? Drop me a note, comment, like and share our time together with others. Blessings!