Season of Thanks | November 17

Posted on November 17, 2023 by Laura Lindblom under Agriculture and Ranching, country life, gratitude

Days like this. Goodness, days like this. Up well before the sun and making pie crusts by 6:15, a solid little ride moving cows to their winter pastures, and spending the afternoon baking and baking and baking. Apple pie, strawberry pie, peach raspberry, and wild plum. The house smelled amazing. We had a lovely evening at the Reinholds’ pie auction.

I’m thankful for this life and lifestyle, I’m thankful for family and being able to work alongside my husband, and I’m thankful for ministries like Rainbow Bible Ranch, and being able to play a small role in their work.

And I’m thankful for pie. With butter crusts.

Season of Thanks | November 13

Posted on November 13, 2023 by Laura Lindblom under Agriculture and Ranching, country life, gratitude

Calves shipped today! It is satisfying and bittersweet, sorting and weaning and shipping, seeing a year come to a close, sending off two potloads of animals that have been under our care their entire lives.

I am so thankful for family and community, for good calf prices, for safety working, for beautiful weather and fellowship over a meal afterwards.

Season of Thanks | November 8

Posted on November 8, 2023 by Laura Lindblom under country life, gratitude

I hate watching animals die, or suffer. They don’t have the capacity to understand what’s happening to them, so fear sets in when they are in pain. Sometimes you can help. Sometimes the only merciful thing to do is to end their pain in a very final sort of way, which is a miserable call to have to make.

I found one of the kittens this morning almost unresponsive, limp as a rag, mouth kind of hanging open, with the death look in his little eyes. He is one of the bigger kittens, and yesterday was healthy and vibrant. I ran up to the house with him, got him warm, tried to give a little molasses water, and was afraid I was watching him die.

A little frantic racking of my brain and consulting Google, and he responded almost instantaneously to Caro syrup in his cheek, and quickly was ready for calf milk replacer. A few hours later and you’d never know anything was wrong! The kittens will officially be getting supplemental milk until they take to kibble.

This is one of many times I’ve been thankful for the medical training I have. God’s creation is beautifully organized, and His warm blooded, four-footed critters operate about the same as His two-legged critters.

I hate watching animals die. So I’m thankful I didn’t have to.

Season of Thanks | November 6

Posted on November 6, 2023 by Laura Lindblom under country life, gratitude, Photography

This really is a marvelous time of the year.

Today was one of those rare days where I was able to cook and bake to my heart’s content, write for the Hill City Prevailer, and work cows with my husband and father-in-law. The best of all the things! This photo just tickled me—Dave and Brad and Josie, discussing the rest of the cow work for the day.

Sarge was around to give good hugs, which is always appreciated.

The kittens have gotten cuter and cuter. Yellow Cat has entirely given up her motherly duties. The kittens aren’t suffering, however. Grey Cat is a wonderful little mother. I could listen to tiny kitten purrs all day long.

I baked a traditional kneaded sourdough boule and a loaf of French bread today, something I don’t often do, since I prefer the low-maintenance batter bread recipe I have. But it was so pleasant to knead the dough and proof it and score it, and (imperfect as the boule was, since I’m still learning the technique) it was a joy to take it to our Gideons supper this evening, with a jar of homemade plum butter. I was delighted to see the loaf disappear, as folks went back for seconds and thirds of the bread, exclaiming over how delicious it was!

It was a poignant reminder that if I am failing to be thankful and joyful, it truly is a matter of the heart, a matter of taking for granted the good things I have been given, the good things I enjoy without even noticing.

Season of Thanks | November 3

Posted on November 3, 2023 by Laura Lindblom under Agriculture and Ranching, country life, gratitude

Thankful for beautiful fall days, the days we remember to get us through the winter. Days working with my husband and our dogs. Days working cows. Riding horses. A life that God providentially provided.

If someone had asked me ten years ago or five years ago what I hoped for in my heart of hearts…it was this. Isn’t God kind and good?

Season of Thanks | November 2

Posted on November 2, 2023 by Laura Lindblom under gratitude, Ordinary Joys

This picture says a lot. It says a lot about the kind of man I married, the sort of husband who dismisses his wife from the kitchen on her birthday so she can go read while he makes supper for her family that HE invited over for her special day.