Koi Flag

I forgot to mention in my last post the 4 foot long Koi Flag Chance put up for us. I found this treasure at the Goodwill bins and could not believe my luck.He is in really good shape ,he is brown and white that has not faded. I went online and looked up the meaning of these flags and it fit what we are doing so well it seemed like a message.
In Japan the flags are used on "Boys Day" which I did not read up on.But what I did read said the flags are a symbol of Perseverance,Strength and Swimming through life's struggles. How very true of the things we all need right now.With the world turning upside down and the need to redefine how we all look at everything.Seeing the Koi flying in the front yard I feel like we are saying to the world,"We are moving forward and we can be victorious in life"
Here at Hrafinstaad we have been looking closely at our life and our footprint upon the Earth.Over the past few months we have asked ourselves these questons:
What can we do to reduce our waste? We are hard core about recycling around here.If it can compost it gose into the compost.We do save half of these things for the Hens. The Dog gets the protien scraps. It takes us a month to fill the garbage can because we put so much into the recycling bins.We also refuse any extra packaging when posible.It is easy to say "No,Thank you" to so much. Reuseables are reused or given away.
How can we reduce our spending? That one is simple for us.Since we have lived on tight budgets for so long not spending is not to hard. We also tend to question each purchase.Do we really need this? Can we buy it for less or borrow it? We are big fans of thrift stores,even our teenaged sons will egarly dig around to find what they are looking for.
Our biggest and exciting money saving purchase.....A $4 Pressure Cooker/Canner. We will have to buy some new seals and pressure gage for it,this will run about $35.Still a big savings since a new one would have cost us nearly $200.Now we can, can even more things for next winter.Orginally we were hoping to borrow one and make a trade for the use.Now we have our own to share.
We have been also asking ourselves, "What about our community? What can we do to help others through these tough times?" The plan is to donate extra food from the gardens as more and more folks are looking to the food pantries for help.We are also working on pooling skills,materials,tools and anything else we come up with. Trading hours of help for what ever someone else can trade for is already working.Handyman work from Chance for a list of skills to chose from traded with a friend. No money put out and everyone is happy.
The weather here the last few days has been energizing. Warm sunny days really lift the spirits.The seedlings are growing like mad.I swear they all grew half an inch over night if not more. The Hens are laying daily now.We get 3 eggs a day until the young ones start to lay this summer. I planted the potaoes yesterday,I am praying we are past any harder frosts.The weather has been so odd this Spring I can only hope.
I was able to get my neighbors to order their Tomato and Pepper plants from Eve and Brian. All total we have an order for 30 plants.I will be placing the order today.I am sure Eve and Brian will be pleased.Being able to do this for them is just one more way we have been able to help our local community.
I had hoped to post a picture of the Koi Flag for everyone to see but we have had a light wind here,Koi would not hold still for a photo.Seeing him flying out the window makes me happy.There is something charming about him.Our young neighbor who is almost 3 loves the Koi. "See the Fish! Chance and Rois' Fish!" he crows with glee.
Enjoy your days, work for pleasure and learn something new.
Rois