"Ashokan Farewell" has been, for us, one of the most beautiful, haunting songs we've ever heard. If by chance you're unfamiliar with it, it's from the PBS series Civil War by Ken Burns. Take a minute and click above to hear it playing in the background while the Sullivan Ballou letter is read...I can't express how touching the letter & music are together.
For many years I've wanted to play the fiddle and this song was at the top of my list. But, alas, with kids on the move, a farm to keep up, church callings, and family & friends, it's just one of those things that sat on the back burner...until this past Christmas!
Just look what my family surprised me with!
yes, I've broken a string already...
yes, I'm screeching like a beginner... and yes, I may get my family matching earplugs...
but with the help of this book...how can I fail?
Old-Time Fiddle for the Complete Ignoramus by Wayne Erbsen
(Don't you love that title?!)
While I'm working my way through the book, it'll most likely be quite a long while before I'm playing "Ashokan Farewell"...but I'm on my way. And so, to leave you with a smile...
What's the difference between a violin & a fiddle? Well...a violin has strings, a fiddle has straaangs!
a goat wrangler, chicken whisperer, bee maven, and farmers’ market baker renovating an 1864 farmhouse. I like simple things, old things, old ways. I'm the definition of "homebody" and you can always find me in an apron. Welcome to my world...stick around, I hope you'll find it's fun!
Things I love...
Sunday dinners
tire swings
the laughter of children
cross-country train rides
barn sales & auctions
old farmhouses
small towns
porch swings
country clotheslines
old-fashioned barbershops
John Deere 4020's
farmers' markets
living in the Heartland
twinkling fireflies
simple country pleasures
the comforts of home
Now Open!
fresh from my farmhouse kitchen...simple, homemade, cottage foods!
I cannot conceivably influence the world's destiny, but I can make my own life more worthwhile.
I can give some help to some people, that is not vital to all the world's problems, and yet I think if everyone did just that, we might see quite a different world in our time!"
-Gladys Taber
"It is not the things you have that make you happy.
It is love, and kindness, and helping each other, and just plain being good. "
-Laura Ingalls Wilder
"The ordinary arts we practice every day at home are of more importance to the soul than their simplicity might suggest."
"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do.
So throw off the bowlines.
Sail away from the safe harbor.
Catch the winds in your sails.
Explore. Dream. Discover."
-Mark Twain
"In all of living, have much fun and laughter.
Life is to be enjoyed, not just endured."
-Gordon B. Hinckley
"Life is short,
and it's up to you to make it sweet."
-Sadie Delany
"The real things haven't changed...
It is still best to be honest and truthful; to make the most of what we have; to be happy with simple pleasures; and have courage when things go wrong."
-Laura Ingalls Wilder
"Love is the thing that enables a woman to sing while she mops up the floor after her husband has walked across it in his barn boots."
