



Every year we have wheat fields to walk and combat our nemesis known as rye. It waves, delighted with itself, a bit above our winter red wheat. We are not so delighted. If left, and consequently run through the combine, it will multiply in staggering amounts thereby consuming our clean wheat fields.
Last October, we had the misfortune of acquiring seed wheat, promised as clean, yet, unfortunately, contaminated with rye.
When our wheat fields began to grow and green this spring, the infection of rye was soon apparent. It was sprinkled through every acre we farm.
We always have a few hotspots, but this meant walking every single field.
Overwhelming and disheartening were shadowy unwelcome visitors.
For several years, we’ve assembled a rye-pulling crew comprised of young teens, young adults, friends of our young adult children. They create a lively troop, spotting rye and making short work of it. They’ll pull for a few hours in the evening and congregate back at our basement patio for food, drinks, games, laughter, and an occasional campfire.
I began sending out texts…a little like an urgent SOS from a sinking ship.
Willing hands, walking feet, and eager helpers arrived for several evenings. Let’s just say a number of evenings more than we are used to. Life. It happens. 😉
Walmart’s sales of bottled drinks increased exponentially as I trekked back and forth with groceries and supplies to feed and hydrate our crew. We ate ham and cheese sandwiches and these yummy French Onion Beef Sliders For a Crowd. I baked Texas Chocolate Sheet Cake and added peanut butter and this Fudgy Frosting on top. We had mac and cheese and Chicken Dip and Corn Dip. One evening Casey’s pizza and a conglomeration of candy bars were devoured delightedly. We had green beans and breakfast casserole and Cinnamon Toast the Right Way. Strawberries and watermelon and blueberries. Donuts. A slew of chips.
Oh, I might add, I’m simply typing out different foods as I remember them and this is not a listing of menus.
Thus, we soldiered through. Much was the gathering of rye and the walking of acres and the cooking and consuming of food.
Much were the bags of rye burnt and much was the gratitude of my good farmer man, who had quite beat himself up for this, as he saw it, catastrophic decision on the acquiring of seed wheat. The farmer’s wife tried to persuade him otherwise with statements like “You didn’t know” and “You wouldn’t have used it if you thought it wasn’t clean” or “Life always has the less-than-delightful parts in it”.
Rye pulling accomplished. Wheat harvest upon us.
This year is a less-than-average year, as the rains skirted around us all winter and spring.
Still, the earth produces and we give God glory for every bushel we’ve gathered in.



DELIGHTFUL INCIDENTALS

{affiliate links in this post, comrades.}
Seeking beauty always. All the summertime blooms brighten the world.

Love, love, loving this Stanley 40-ounce insulated cup!
Also, love my leather Birkenstocks.
And my Instant Pot for hardboiling eggs. I’ve been making salads for harvest suppers in the field.
These tea towels at Emily Lex are adorable. No two ways about it.
The DIY June flexi is super fun.

BOOKS
- Beautiful People Don’t Just Happen by Scott Sauls
- The Good and Beautiful You: Discovering the Person Jesus Created You To Be by James Bryan Smith
- A Curious Faith: The Questions God Asks, We Ask, and We Wish Someone Would Ask Us by Lore Ferguson Wilbert
- The Wishing Balloons by Jonathan D. Voss

SUBSCRIBE

GRATITUDE
What ordinary-turned-extraordinary-when-we-pause-and-wonder did you find along your pathway today?!
On an ordinary Thursday, I’m savoring delight in:
T ~ tortilla chips w/chicken dip
H ~ happy laughter
U ~ upstairs organization
R ~ ribbon wrapped around bookmark gifts
S ~ Spotify playlists
D ~ daylilies waving lemon bright
A ~ Amazon arrival
Y ~ yucca bed weeded
Your turn! 💛
//follow the way of delight//
I spray cleaner on our shower for the third morning in a row. Perhaps, today, I will actually scrub it down. It needs it desperately. Has for too long.
Ceiling fans make lazy circles and the air conditioner hums comfortable temperatures through the vents.
Bills and bookwork bellow from the basement office.
A pork roast waits preparing to slow cook all day in the red four-quart.
My farmer left, latte in hand, an hour ago.
A shower of rain shut us down early last evening, but the sun shines bright this morning.
Flowerpots beg for an early morning drink and perhaps a bit of a catch-up against heat and wind.
My orange sprinkler is missing and I know I put it in a “good” spot at the end of last summer. My tired brain can’t recall where and I feel fussy about it.
I listened to Emily P. Freeman read Psalm 91 yesterday morning and I will listen again this morning.
Life has been unsettled, unsettling. Hope, requiring hard work. Questions, abundant. Doubts, present.
Showing up, doable.
Seeking beauty and truth, and noticing gratitude in the ordinary, necessary.
Understanding more about borrowed prayers, about writing out prayers, about the name of Jesus IS a prayer.
Dishes lounge in the sink, awaiting scrubbing.
Laundry wants folding. Yard wants mowing.
I think about my Disney playlist and these words from Circle of Life:
“From the day we arrive on the planet,
And, blinking, step into the sun
There’s more to see than can ever be seen,
More to do than can ever be done,
There’s far too much to take in here,
More to find than can ever be found,
But the sun rolling high,
Through the sapphire sky,
Keeps great and small on the endless round.
It’s the circle of life,
And it moves us all,
Through despair and hope,
Through faith and love,
‘Til we find our place,
On the path unwinding,
In the circle,
The circle of life.”
The rhythms. The routines.
The dirt and mess.
Despair. Hope. Faith. Love.
Circles of trust with Jesus as our center, no matter the questions or unsettling.
He has place for us.
And perhaps today, my shower will sparkle. If not, well, there’s more to do than can ever be done.
May your day have unexpected delight in it, comrade friends!
