Finding Joy

Tasha Tudor is one of my favorite authors, gardening gurus, self reliant persons, etc. etc.  So when Cocoa "assigned" (just like homework, huh?) the topic of Joy, I immediately thought of Tasha Tudor and her Take Joy video.

Tasha says that her life's work and focus is based on one quote by Henry David Thoreau:

"If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours."

She built an old fashioned house in the hills of Vermont and lived the way she wanted to live.

I can drool over pictures of her gardens for hours.  In fact, she has a whole section in her gardening book on her crabapple orchard, which inspired our farm's name.  (well, that and reading Trixie Belden when I was little...)

So here are a few of my favorite Tasha Tudor quotes on three things that bring me joy; canoeing, being outdoors with my family, and being a "housewife."

"There's something wonderfully primitive about a canoe, like the sounds of loons calling."

"Oh it was wonderful!  We used to take picnics and have a bonfire and make tea.  It was so much better than sitting in a classroom!"

"I enjoy doing housework... whenever I get one of those questionnaires and they ask what is your profession, I always put down housewife.  It's an admirable profession - why apologize for it?  You aren't stupid because you're a housewife.  When you're stirring the jam you can read Shakespeare. 

Next time you're at the library check out the Tasha Tudor section and let me know what you think.