The Learning Curve

By now I had hoped to have baked many loaves of bread from my successful wheat growing experiment. We cut down the beautiful hard spring red and kamut wheat and I winnowed some.

Then stored the rest to process as time allowed.

In the barn.

 Bad idea.
 BAD, BAD idea.

 It seems that all the mice in Page County heard the news of my novice mistake and had quite the grand feast. No doubt laughing at me while gorging themselves silly.

 

So with just few cups of kernels to mill into flour, I decided to wait for just the right moment to bake my lone loaf of bread. Bitter cold temps predicted for the week seemed like that perfect moment.

 

Enter mistake # 2.

As I was showing visiting friends my lovely jar of wheat, we noticed moth-like critters flying and crawling around through the glass.  

 

 

 So bird feed it will be.

Still lots to learn it seems.
I will try again.

 

And keep at it until I get it right.

 

This incident reminded me of the first adult sized sweater I attempted to knit. I was so proud when I finished that second sleeve. Couldn't wait to try it on. Then came defeat and tears when I realized this:

 

Not only is the length off, there's a good two inch difference in the diameter of each sleeve from top to bottom. HOW did that happen???

 

 

The sensible thing to do would have been to rip out the offending sleeve and re-knit, but I was so disappointed and embarrassed with the error that I shoved the whole thing in a dark corner. After a time, when the sense of defeat subsided, I picked up the needles again and went on to successfully knit many, many sweaters, learning a little bit more with each, getting better with time and practice. I've kept the lopsided cardigan as a reminder that mistakes are nothing more than opportunities to learn.

 To try again.

 

It's a good thing to pull and error out of the dark corner of a room, or a barn...or the mind.

And smile at the gift of perseverance and second opportunities.