"Do or do not...there is no try." -Yoda

Sometimes, 

things don't turn out how we plan.

Chef Anna Olson's Strudel

My first attempt at Strudel

I'm sure I'm not the only one who has had the experience of seeing something done and saying, "Hey, I could do that."  We have in our head this vision of a perfect result.  But when we try our hand at it, something goes wrong, and we end up with something that doesn't match up with our expectations.  What then?

That's when we decide what kind of person we are.  Do we live the motto, "I tried that and it didn't work"?  Or maybe we're more the, "I'll try again, but..." kind of people.  That seems just about as doomed to failure as the first.  I'd like to think I'm the, "Failure is not an option" type of person.  I'm not a Star Wars fan, but I do like this quote:

     Luke: All right, I'll give it a try.
     Yoda: No.  Try not.  Do...or do not.  There is no try.

This isn't to say we have to succeed on the first attempt, but it's the sort of resolve that circumstances don't change.  No one expects to become the greatest at something without practice.  We have to practice at life, too.  The key is to learn something from every experience.

I think my sister said it pretty well.  When I pulled the "murdered" looking strudel from the oven, we all stood around staring at it for a moment, then she said to my son, "Well, one thing's sure.  Your mom will never make a strudel this bad again!"

How much we learned from the past seasons will determine how we handle the challenges is the coming ones.  I'm looking forward to it!  ...And to some good strudel.

Frost!

People often ask, "How's the farm?"  The answer varies a lot, as anyone who's worked a farm knows.  But for the last couple weeks, my answer has been the same each time.  "It's frosted!"  There's so much wrapped up in that simple statement.  That means everything we've raced to get done all summer has come to a screeching halt - racing to get the raspberries picked, racing to pull weeds that grow inches a week, racing to pick bugs off our plants faster than they can reproduce, racing to finish the baking before market - it's all come to an end.  And like the changing seasons, life on the farm keeps moving on.  Field work has been replaced with teaching "reading, writing, and arithmetic".  Vetting lambs has moved on to breeding season again.  Farmer's Market has ended and Holiday baking has begun.  I've never enjoyed the changing seasons so much as I have this year, watching all the changes around the farm.  Every season has it's thrills and threats, and on with the game of life we go!