Farm Life

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LostNFound
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Re: Farm Life

Post by LostNFound »

SMILE, dear one.
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Spiritwind
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Re: Farm Life

Post by Spiritwind »

I was going to kick back and watch some videos of interest, on the lost history of the earth, but unfortunately nothing will play for me, which is often the case with our internet out here. So not impressed. I guess I might as well just start writing, as there is not much else I can do. I could take a nap, or read, but neither sounds that appealing. I am watering right now, but that’s almost an all day thing in this current unprecedented (and unnatural I might say) heat wave we are experiencing.

The animals definitely look uncomfortably hot, and are drinking water like there’s no tomorrow. I’m glad they all have some shade. I would even spray the goats down with water, but they don’t like it, even when it is this hot. Maybe tomorrow, though, when it’s hot enough to fry eggs out there. The horse likes it though, especially on her chest. After I spray her down, she goes and rolls in the dirt. Looks pretty funny, as she gets up and shakes like a dog. And the bees haven’t swarmed so far, or bearded, but again, tomorrow may be the deciding factor on that. Even though they have shade, 111 degrees Fahrenheit or higher is pretty darn hot for them.

It is now almost a week later, and I am finally recovering from the intense heat wave we just experienced here in our area, unprecedented, they say. What really did it to me is that even at 9 am it was already 90 degrees F, and then again in the evening, even at 8 pm, it was still 90 degrees, and did not cool down more than about 70 or so at night. So feeding all animals in this was quite unpleasant. I’m not fond of profuse sweating, and not being able to sleep at night. Several of those nights we closed off our bedroom, slept on the sofa bed, and left the generator and air conditioner going all night. We, and all the animals, did survive though. I never wanted to live in Phoenix, Arizona, and that’s what it reminded me of.

We did discover that we could run our air conditioner on our solar system for a good part of the day, which we could not do before. My husband has been very busy this last month or so, wiring up a transfer switch to be able to go back and forth with the solar and generator by just flipping a switch. With the newer charge controller and extra two panels (now 8 altogether & 12 batteries), as long as the sun is shining, we get some pretty impressive output. With the cost of fuel now, it’s a darn good thing!

And...another day has flew by! Yesterday I was struggling with being sleepy all day. Just couldn’t pull out of it, it seems. Plus, this is a busy time of year. After being out here for almost 5 years, I have finally connected with people worth knowing, and sort of have a social life! Tomorrow I’m going to a friend’s home who doesn’t live too far away, and using her detox foot bath. I’m excited for that, as I could use some detoxing. Probably should do a fast, too, but my will power doesn’t feel strong enough for that at the moment. I’m also participating in the Agorist Counter Economy Exchange/Meetup every other Saturday throughout the summer, that a friend and member of a Freedom Cell in our parts started. Really awesome! And today is the big day for my husband and I to do a good hive inspection. It’s getting a little daunting, now that they’ve really got down to business over there. I was worried that they might swarm during the intense heat wave, and I would have just had to let them do it, as there was no way I could stand long enough in that suit to see if there were queen cells, find the original queen, and move her with several frames of honey, brood, and pollen into another hive box. Not even sure I can do that now, but we’re going to go give it our best shot and see what’s happening in there.

It’s not the end of the world if they do swarm. The risk is that when the queen leaves, and takes half or more of the bees with her, the remaining bees are at the mercy of whether the new queen hatches out and survives her maiden flight with the drones, and is viable enough to rebuild the hive with enough brood to get through winter, as well as the worker bees being able to store enough pollen and honey for them. At least I’m far enough out I shouldn’t have neighbors flipping out because they have a swarm of bees in their yard.

I’m also going to finally offload some of these goats soon. Vida and her kids should be going to their new home by the end of the month, and I have another friend coming out to help me get some good pictures and get Fiona, Arya, and kids ready to sell. Then that will just leave me with Swayze, the Nigerian Dwarf buck, and Elvin (the elvinator!), Jewels little buckling to sell. That will be a big relief! Those kids, all 11 of them, eat like pigs! And, they are still getting through the fence and running amok (except for Arya and Fiona’s as I have extra fencing around them). Can’t leave the gates open for even a minute and turn your back, little buggers. They want to come in and eat all the good stuff I have have growing around the RV, like raspberries, blackberries, grapes, and young trees. They ate the top completely off my little chestnut tree. Can’t blame them, but, no.

I didn’t do so hot with my gardens this year. I should get lots of potatoes, some tomatoes and squash, and we’ve been eating the lettuce that came up from reseeding itself. I’m picking raspberries like crazy too, and have a ton of blackberries coming on. But just didn’t get much else going. Not sure about the beets either, as I planted them too close to the calendula I started from seed. I didn’t realize those tiny little seeds would grow into such big plants! Live and learn I guess. I did have a lot else going, that I won’t have next year.

The new puppy, Nahla, is doing well. She’s a smart little thing. We have a little fenced area for her, so that we can keep her in there at night and when we are gone, but....even with the smaller fencing we added to the fence panels we put up to keep her in, she has managed to sort of climb it and get out! She’ll be too big soon, which is good. She gets on well with the older dogs, though, even though she’s a bit frisky for them, and is already following them on the rounds they make around the property. She wants to chase the cats, too, which they don’t think too much of, and, of course, chew everything. I keep sticking her toys in her mouth, and discourage her from biting my hands and ankles. But she is going to grow up fast! So, I’ll just try to enjoy her puppyhood while it lasts.

I could keep writing, as there is just so much going on here, almost daily it seems. But, I gotta get out there before it starts to heat up too much. So will close this segment for now. Nice to see a few people posting here on the forum, besides just myself. I just didn’t have it in me the last couple weeks. One last thing I will comment on, is my mixed feelings about Independence Day, which was celebrated here in the US yesterday. Lots of thoughts there, enough for another post, but, briefly, those who thought they were fighting for our freedom all those years ago are probably rolling over in their graves (war is never what we’re told or think it is). I am free, but it’s because I know that freedom is a state of mind. When I look around, I see that most don’t have a clue what that really means. Truly frightening, when I speculate about what the future holds for us all. But, on the other hand, if it wasn’t for this strange turn of events this last year and a half, I would not have met all the awesome people who are willing to stand up on the front lines when the time comes to defend it with our lives, for ourselves, our loved ones, family, friends, many of whom are still asleep to what is happening. I am not alone, and I am grateful.
I see your love shining out from my furry friends faces, when I look into their eyes. I see you in the flower’s smile, the rainbow, and the wind in the trees....
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Spiritwind
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Re: Farm Life

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Been wanting to write a post for days now, but farm life has been hopping. Maybe I’ll squeeze out enough time this morning to at least get it started. Even today I have a lot on my plate. Hopefully I’ll manage to make both batches of cheese, and cook those potatoes for the potato salad I want to make before it gets too scorching hot. It’s supposed to be a 100 degree (F) day, and over that tomorrow. I’m still doing our little Agorist Market every other Saturday, but I’m not going to lug along all my books I want to off load this time, because my one friend who loves books already nabbed all the ones she wants, and nobody else was that interested.

What am I going to do with all those books I have in storage??? Coming up with a big blank there, so far, LOL. The big milestone of our life though, is we finally got the storage building we ordered 2 months ago. Guess they are backed up, because they said it would be done in about 5 weeks. So happy to have it, although it’s been so hot I haven’t been able to move a thing into it yet.

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Plus, I’ve been busy trying to off load some of these goats. As of yesterday I’m down to 20. And that was quite exciting, getting the two older ones onto the milk stand to trim their hooves, then dragging them to her car to put them in the crates. They knew something was up, and resistance was strong. As cute as they are, was happy to see Vida’s two little doelings go, as they were getting into everything, even my garden! And now Vida’s little boy is running around like a little lost puppy. Poor guy!

I have both Arya and Fiona up for sale, along with the four banded boys that need new homes. I’m figuring Fiona will probably end up being another “pet” here on the farm, as I doubt someone is going to want her, since she can’t be bred again. Both these girls have really nice looking udders. It’s a shame Arya is so difficult to deal with. She drug me to the ground the other day when I moved her into a different pen, to separate her from her boys. I got both of the bucklings I need to move on up for sale too, Dotty’s boy and little Elvin. I was going to keep one of them, but another goat friend contacted me, and has a registerable mini Lamancha buckling for sale, and I’m going to go for it. Registered is better, and I just couldn’t find one before (plus she is finally going to have the paperwork for the doe and two kids I got from her last year). I’m hoping that whoever gets Elvin will let me use him one time next fall because....I did pick up Snicker’s little doeling from the breeding with Raven. Long story, but they sold Snickers due to an upcoming surgery, and this little girl is the cutest, sweetest thing, with a personality to go with those looks. And now I’ll have a companion for Dahlia, Dotty’s little girl from this year. Since her mom is a mini Nubian, she’s got airplane ears, and looks like she could fly! Her mom had the most amazing udder ever, too, so a very good milking prospect.

I’ll be keeping Finn, for now, though I was surprised to discover from another goat friend that the reason he can’t be registered is because he has a small amount of Saanen in him. She knows the woman I got him from. Small world! It is kind of funny, because my friend who took Vida and Liberty is going for it because she wants the milk, but her husband is not into it at all. When a woman decides she is going to get goats, there will be no stopping her. And, not sure if I mentioned it, but Liberty is pregnant! Yup, the one day back in April when the boys busted out of the pen one of them must have got her. Probably her grandfather, Raven (you know, the Ravenator). If I was going to do line breeding (intentionally) he’s a good candidate, and she should have some pretty nice looking kids. So my friend is getting more than she bargained for.

I could go on and on with goat antics. It really never ends. I guess I’ll have to pick this up later, for if I don’t get out there early, it’s not going to be fun.

It’s two days later now, and for the first time in I don’t even know how long, we slept in. My husband is still sleeping, and I got up just before 8am. We slept out in the living room, with the generator and air conditioner going all night long. Especially since the cost of fuel has went up so much, this heat wave is getting very spendy. At least it’s going to be a cooler day, by about 20 degrees! Might even get a smidgeon of rain. Everything out here is covered with dirt, and at night if you go outside with a flashlight you can see how much stuff is in the air. It’s bad! And this has been the year of the fly. Every year it’s a different insect that seems to be out of control, and this year they are off the charts. Can’t even sit outside really (gonna get some kind of fly predator for next year). Milking is a challenge too, to keep hooves out of the bucket.

The market was awesome yesterday! We have a new sign for it, made by one of our group, and it turned out awesome.

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Some real inroads are being made with some of the greatest people on earth I could ever want to know. This last year really has had the effect of many of us finding each other, and spirit lets me know all the time that this IS where I need to put my attention and energy. So much enthusiasm amongst this group, and just plain love for life, and freedom! It helps all of us realize that, yes, indeed, we can opt out. When they start putting even more pressure on, as they are already doing in some places, we can say, so what. I don’t need your medicine, doctors offices, and hospitals, and I don’t need your super markets, and I definitely don’t need your entertainment! All of these people are proactive about their health and keeping up their immune system, and are willing to take responsibility and share information with one another. So much wisdom and experience to draw from when we do this. And spiritually, everyone does seem to get that this war on humanity has much deeper implications than just our governments supposed concerns for our physical health. In fact, we know it’s actually the opposite, as is most everything these days. We also know that we need each other in these times.

It is frightening to see how many have deeper control issues, as this phenomenon comes out of the woodwork and people, at least some people, are calling for even stricter measures to get us all to comply. One can see how the public perception was actually shaped to get many to turn a blind eye to the suffering of a specifically targeted group of people during World War II. And, we can see from that example as well, that even those who weren’t originally targeted, also became targets later on, so there really are no winners. Just an elite behind the scenes group that seems to sneakily gloat over our continued demise as they grow fat and even more disgusting with every atrocity and rewriting of history.

Back to the farm, though, I am a little worried about getting hay in this year. The drought has affected so many things, and we haven’t even really begun to see the fall out that is going to cause as time goes on. They have been going on and on about this for years, to where many people don’t believe it can really happened, as it hasn’t really hit us yet here in the US in most people’s lifetime. Most of the depression era people are dying off, and even though there are already certain items that are getting hard to get, I don’t think many are going to be ready. I think “they” (the controllers) want it to be like this. So many dry runs that people just get immune to it, so they do not see the signs when they really are there. And they ARE there now!

But, I am fortunate enough to be in the land of milk and honey. My garden may not have been that great this year, but I will still get a good amount of produce out of it. Gonna drag the dehydrator out and get to work preserving more food. And learn to make more medicine. Someone mentioned yesterday they would have a hard time living without coffee. I grew a bunch of chicory this year and plan to dry some of the roots and grind them up and add them to coffee, so I can get used to the taste. It’s a bit bitter, but I think if I start now, it won’t be such a shock later on. I would miss bananas, oranges, and avocados if I couldn’t get them, but would make do with apples, peaches, plums, and walnuts if I have to. And I got a lot of berries this year! More than I’ve ever had, which is awesome because I love berries. And one last thing before I get my butt out the door. I had someone tell me how much goats like bananas, and I had never even thought to give them to them before. I had a few that were overripe and didn’t feel like making banana bread, so cut them up into several half inch slices, peal and all, and wow! They ate them up like it was candy! Learn something new every day. I could write more, if I sat and thought about what else has gone on, but need to go for now.

For those who are on the same path as what I write about here, just know that WE CAN DO THIS!!! With so much love, until next time.
I see your love shining out from my furry friends faces, when I look into their eyes. I see you in the flower’s smile, the rainbow, and the wind in the trees....
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LostNFound
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Re: Farm Life

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Very nice shed Spiritwind, I imagine you and hubby will fill it with stuff. The heat up there must surely be unbearable. I know down here in Arizona it gets real nasty in the Valley and this year not even as bad as last year up here in the mountains. Although, when it gets up into the high 80's and then drifts into the ninety's it becomes unbearable especially with the humidity clocking in at 200 +. Geez. Goats will eat metal if they think it tastes good. I remember having a goat when I lived in Sequim and rented an old house that had a junk yard attached. That goat would go into the junk yard and rummage through the old cars and find stuff to chew on. Banana's ARE candy. Try other fruit with them. Do they eat your berries?

I am so glad to see you in an area where you can grow food and live free. I do have a greenhouse and will be utilizing it soon. missed the spring and it is way to hot now to do anything except watch the damn fire ants make giant mounds of pebbles. I spose I could eat the little black "piss ants" or walking pepper as I call them that invade my kitchen every year. Ha ha. As for animals, I have the bigger variety of goats that seem to camp out in my back yard. The deer love to eat the oak brush here and I do have a variety of it on this property. Well there is a good crop of lizards here also.

Yes, I am on the same path as what you write and I do know WE CAN DO THIS. WWG1WGA. Hang in there dear one, It will be cold before you know it.

Just as I turned, the corner caught my eye and that was the moment, I learned, how to fly.

Steven
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Re: Farm Life

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LostNFound wrote: Thu Aug 05, 2021 1:08 am Very nice shed Spiritwind, I imagine you and hubby will fill it with stuff. The heat up there must surely be unbearable. I know down here in Arizona it gets real nasty in the Valley and this year not even as bad as last year up here in the mountains. Although, when it gets up into the high 80's and then drifts into the ninety's it becomes unbearable especially with the humidity clocking in at 200 +. Geez. Goats will eat metal if they think it tastes good. I remember having a goat when I lived in Sequim and rented an old house that had a junk yard attached. That goat would go into the junk yard and rummage through the old cars and find stuff to chew on. Banana's ARE candy. Try other fruit with them. Do they eat your berries?

I am so glad to see you in an area where you can grow food and live free. I do have a greenhouse and will be utilizing it soon. missed the spring and it is way to hot now to do anything except watch the damn fire ants make giant mounds of pebbles. I spose I could eat the little black "piss ants" or walking pepper as I call them that invade my kitchen every year. Ha ha. As for animals, I have the bigger variety of goats that seem to camp out in my back yard. The deer love to eat the oak brush here and I do have a variety of it on this property. Well there is a good crop of lizards here also.

Yes, I am on the same path as what you write and I do know WE CAN DO THIS. WWG1WGA. Hang in there dear one, It will be cold before you know it.

Just as I turned, the corner caught my eye and that was the moment, I learned, how to fly.

Steven
Thank you for dropping by Steven! And, yes, we are filling it up (the storage building)! Picked up a truckload from our rented storage unit yesterday, and going back again today. Fortunately I’ve got a little help. Some of that stuff hasn’t seen the light of day in many years, and much of it is going bye bye. Had a few good finds, buried way in the back against the wall, though. And it’s been a bit cooler for a couple days, which I am very grateful for. I just can’t work like I used to, and neither can my husband. Growing older gracefully is an art I’m not sure I can master!

And the goats! As you know, we have many buildings here still with tarps on them (at least the new storage building has a proper roof!) and some of those tarps need replacing. For some unknown reason, my bigger goat, Dotty, keeps trying to eat any pieces she can reach and I’ve literally had to tussle with her trying to pull it out of her mouth! And, no, even though Bill Gates thinks it’s a good idea, I’m not going to start including insects in my diet any time soon.

And may we all remember how to spread our wings again!
I see your love shining out from my furry friends faces, when I look into their eyes. I see you in the flower’s smile, the rainbow, and the wind in the trees....
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Re: Farm Life

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I have a lot to do pretty much every day now, and today especially, I would love to take a several hour nap. But, I’m going to try and push through it. Much has been happening, and it will probably take me a couple days to write this. It strangely helps me to write it all out, like a form of therapy. Someday maybe I’ll go back and read this thread from the beginning, as it’s getting harder to remember even a couple years ago. Life has been slowly speeding up ever since we moved here and I see no end in sight. I remember I used to complain at how alone I was all the time. Not any more!

With the “new normal” being shoved at us from all directions, the people I really want and need to know have suddenly manifested in spades. Especially this year. At least some of us can clearly see it’s never going back to the way things were, pre 2020, and we best get our butts in gear with no delay. It’s weird when highly independent solution oriented, widely different from each other, people come together with the purpose of not just surviving, but learning to thrive in an otherwise increasingly hostile environment. The Freedom Market is gaining momentum, even if a bit slow. The networking amongst those who continue to show up, knowing that in the beginning its mostly a labor of love, to show ourselves and others how it’s done by doing it, is most inspiring. I haven’t even broke even in my efforts, financially anyway, but it doesn’t matter. Nothing really worthwhile and important is ever easy.

And we have to overcome, most of us anyway, a lifetime of programming and conditioning to operate in a completely different manner. One that has unfortunately rewarded those most unworthy to rise to positions of authority and financial success by exploiting everyone else. Even the value of the things we buy has little relationship to how much we really need those things in our life. We get bent out of shape if we have to pay twice as much for farm fresh eggs rather than buying them at our local supermarket, but have no problem paying more than our entire food bill for a month on a new cell phone. I can tell you the work the individual farmer and gardener puts in is incredibly greater than commercial anything. But buying commercial products has allowed us to become completely separated from how it gets actually gets to our table, which has allowed a completely hostile inhumane corporate mentality to take over the production of most of what we eat. And, has turned our food into poison that is killing us for the most part, or at least contributing to a host of what can become chronic health problems.

Currently I’m making about 5 - 6 batches of mozzarella cheese every two weeks, which is a lot for me. Plus I’m picking up milk from a local farmer a few days a week for a few other folks that also want to make their own cheese. I should put a disclaimer in here, to protect myself. Did you know goats and dogs love cheese? And we have to feed our animals. I understand that for some unknown reason (for our health and safety just doesn’t cut it) they, you know, those self appointed authority figures who like to regulate the fuck out of our lives, have determined that it’s illegal to sell your fresh raw milk for anything but animal use. Of course, what a person actually uses it for is their own business, in my mind.

Anyway, back on track here. I traded an astrology reading for some homemade kimchi and it was sooooo good! I’m going to have to get back into making it myself, because store bought just isn’t close and they just have to put sugar in everything! Our little group is getting better and better at helping one another in community oriented ways that will also help us get more independent of the system. People don’t usually even realize how many useful skills they really have until taking stock of what they can do that others might benefit from. Again, we aren’t programmed to think that way.

We did have an event here last week that was quite tragic, although not entirely unexpected. Our beloved dog Misha, who already had fairly challenged health, up and died on us. She was only 7, and I think the extreme heat we’ve had all summer, along with many days of unfit air quality due to the “new normal yearly fire season” (we didn’t used to have those, all my life, until 2015) caused her to finally succumb. She will be greatly missed. She was a very loving being, who used to hit my hand like it was a pez dispenser, hoping I had a snack for her. She used to squeeze between my legs when we were out chopping wood to where I would have to stop and pay attention to her, and then drool profusely. She was a surrogate mom to Nahla for the short time they spent together, and took her around the farm and showed her the ropes. She did a great job working with Ranger to keep us all safe here. And she liked to eat weed (so does Ranger, LOL). Gone in the physical but never forgotten.

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And, on a more positive note, a couple things happened in goat land. One, is with a friends help, we got Arya up on the milk stand and trimmed her hooves. With 2 people it wasn’t hard. By myself would have been another story, but it was a major success to me. And, I might have someone who will take both her and her sister as weed eaters. Sorta pets too, though they are not exactly where they should be in that department. But, I might be letting them go for free, so they get what they get. They are beautiful girls, and with work I’m sure would improve, even if they are never super friendly. It’s a friend of a friend, who just got property. I don’t want to feed them this winter. With the drought its already not looking good there.

Then yesterday, my other friend helped me get Jewel on the milk stand. I had just separated her boy the night before. She’s the one who has drug me around, and to the ground. I was about to put her up for sale too! But, I milked a whole cup out of her not really trying that hard, she stood great for me, and was easy to milk, so there is hope for her yet. I got her on there again today, by myself, and she did pretty good again. Amazing!

Also yesterday, that same friend went with me to another goat lady’s property, to help me get the paperwork I needed to register Rhiannon, finally, and also bought a registered mini Lamancha buck, who is just a couple weeks younger than Finn. Crazy, I know, but registered goats do sell better and for more. I’ve got Dash and Elvin up for sale since I definitely don’t need that many bucks (they can’t be registered). A week from today, if all goes well, I have someone who will be getting my last two wethers. I’m still shooting for a limit of 12, and if all of them sell that are supposed to, I’ll be down to 11. I am determined.

The garden areas are doing okay, with the buttercup squash, just 2 plants, having at least 14 good size squash on them. Can’t wait to dig up the potatoes and see how many I got, but they look like they are still growing for now. The zucchini didn’t think much of the extreme heat, so it slowed down. Blackberries are getting ripe, and the raspberries are putting on a second crop and looking good. I didn’t plant as many tomatoes this year, but still been getting enough to eat, with some yellow cherry tomatoes coming up from seeds I didn’t plant from last year. They are actually quite loaded, surprisingly, even though a little late in the season. And, I’ve been dehydrating stuff too, as food production worldwide has not been good this year, for a variety of reasons, primarily weather, and the plandemic affecting production and distribution as well. We haven’t even seen the full impact that is going to have, yet. I figure anything I can dry to enhance a daily diet of beans, rice, and pasta, is good. And lastly, on the subject of food, I bought a non electric grain grinder. I’m hoping I never have to use it, because grinding your own grain is a workout, especially if you have arthritis in your hands, but it’s definitely better than using a mortar and pestle.

Before I end this post, I must make honorable mention of our new storage building. So nice to have gotten everything out of our storage rental. It’s the first time in probably 14 years we haven’t had one, and it feels downright good to throw some of that crap out. I even went through my many books and cut loose with probably 2/3 of them that I have been dragging around from storage to storage since 2007. I’m sure all my friends who’ve helped me move over the years wished I had done that a long time ago. I got rid of all the paperwork I had been hanging on to from the store we had many years ago too. No need to hang on to it anymore. My husband has boxes and boxes of paperwork that he will probably NEVER go through. He says he will, but it’s not likely. After over 20 years of being with him, I can truthfully say that’s just not something he is ever going to willingly do. But you never know. It would be okay if he proved me wrong, LOL. I understand, it’s generally not anyone’s favorite thing. And, lastly, I went through all my photographs and sorted them out, and got rid of anything that my kids or anyone else wouldn’t even be able to identify after I’m gone. I even separated them into groups of events and time periods, and made a pile of baby pictures for each of my kids. I’ve been there, going through pictures of people and places that have no meaning to anyone anymore. Also not my favorite, but feels good to get it done.

That’s another part of my increased work load there, too, as all of our containers that we’ve had since we’ve moved in here, can now be sorted out, labeled, and put in the storage building, hopefully in a way that I don’t have to wait years to find it! A few treasures I hadn’t seen in many year, some I even forgot about, were found. That’s always kind of cool. Energetically being more organized feels fantastic, and worth the effort. You wouldn’t think it was such a big deal, but it’s another milestone here on the farm. It’s good to stay busy, anyway, as it helps keep my mind off of things I have no control over.

Oh, and one last thing I will mention. My grandson, the one who is almost 14, surprisingly chose to give up sports because he doesn’t want to get the jab, as well as enduring the wrath of his other grandmother for not doing it. I’m proud of him for being able to stand up for himself, even though it meant giving up something he dearly loves. His step dad may lose his job because he won’t get it. But, he has done the research, and has decided the risks outweigh the benefits. I respect each persons right to make their own decision, but that’s not what’s currently happening right now. Increasingly, they are trying to wrest the rights to our own bodies away from us, and that’s simply not theirs to take. I already drew that line in the sand. And no amount of shaming, guilt tripping, and threats are going to change that.

A strange place to end, but I’m out of words. Until next time.
I see your love shining out from my furry friends faces, when I look into their eyes. I see you in the flower’s smile, the rainbow, and the wind in the trees....
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Re: Farm Life

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I’m out the door in a few minutes, but will start this now anyway. There’s a lot to write about this time. Not even sure where to start. A week ago Sunday we drove an hour away into Idaho to meet a woman from Montana who bought Swayze, one of our last two Nigerian Bucks, and the other 4 Nigerian does we had left all went to their new home on a couple days ago. That was a hard one, as I let my two older does go that I was just keeping as pets. But, they wanted them, and took the two wilder ones too. I know they will provide a good home for them, and having the two friendly ones sweetened the deal.

The whole ordeal illustrated the difference between the way women do things, and the way men do them. Quite funny in a way. So, after trying to get the torpedo (Danae) in the back of their pickup, which was quite high off the ground, the men (both in their 70’s) decided to back up to an area where it would be easier to lift them in. Unfortunately it was quite far from the barn, and a long way to go with two wild goats. Fiona wasn’t so bad, but the last one out, Arya, literally took me for a ride. I went down to open the gate in the barn, and she bolted out like a wild bull. I tried to stop her between my legs, but she pushed me back and knocked me down, and of course got away. My husband just about had conniption fit watching it from a distance. We managed to get her back in where I could get the leash on, and literally had to drag her all the way. I ended up with a sore bum, but not too worse for wear. And now all we have left of the smaller goats is Bob Dean. He will be going to goat heaven next month some time. I hate to do it, but at 7 years old with a bum leg I can’t sell him, and he is only going to get worse. Right now he is in with our new little guy, Millie Man, but soon that won’t work either. It’s the rutting season, and he will not be able to hold his own soon, won’t do well all alone, and the cold won’t be good for his leg. Don’t want to see him suffer. So we’ll fork out the money to have the vet come and put him down. Most people just shoot them, but can’t do it. He’s been a good boy, fathered many beautiful kids, and feel in my heart it’s the right thing to do. Hard though.

And now I have to go pick up milk, come home and take hay to a friends. I don’t know when I’ll be able to finish this, but will come back when I can.

Well, I’m back. Life is strange, and sometimes even though I think I’m pretty tough, I reach a limit in my ability to deal. I often wonder how raw, how real I should be here. You know, almost no one ever is. Real. Like, you know, this is how life really is. It’s not all peaches and creme, no matter how much one may try to keep a good attitude, and I do, there are times when I just kinda break down. I get over it, maybe cry a bit, but then move on, get back into solution mode, and find a way through. This is one of those mornings.

I went to start the pickup after feeding everyone, and the truck would not start. Thing is, it’s not just the truck. We have 3 vehicles, and all three need front end work. The primary car also now needs front brakes. The pickup is full of hay, 12 bales around 125 lbs each. I was supposed to deliver that hay to a friends today, who doesn’t have a pickup, and got a few goats from me this summer. She is a new goat owner, and I’m trying to encourage people who are trying to get more self reliant, and she is also a very hard working nurse with two small children. Everyone needs to be able to help one another, when building community, so that all may prosper. Anyway, my intentions are good.

Sometimes life crashes in and I can’t always follow through on things. I get the milk because I want to make cheese and help our community see that many things we’ve relied on the system to provide can be obtained in other ways. It’s a small thing, but also a big thing. I want to help others to survive what is coming, and it IS coming, there is no doubt in my mind. So I am practical. We need to eat, stay warm, communicate, and have access to things that might otherwise be hard, impossible, or too expensive to get. Food and medicine are primary concerns. But today, I cannot go deliver that hay or get milk.

We knew we needed to get some work done on them, but the need to get hay has been pressing in as it will be impossible to find in a couple more months due to the extreme drought we had this year. It just didn’t grow. I had to hire a guy (friend of the lady I get milk from), to come with his truck and trailer and pick up 6+ tons of hay and bring it to our property. He broke down just a few miles from our place, and that took about 2 hours to fix. His son had tightened down the lug nuts too tight and the weight sheared them off. What a deal. Spent twice as much this year, and I was lucky to get it. The bales on average were 125 lbs. Very interesting long day, with unexpected help, and help I had asked to be there. I watch the guy where we get the hay from load bales, and he’s not all that young, either. But he is in very good shape and makes it look easy. Even with 5 of us getting them off the truck and stacking them, it was one hell of a work out.

Then today after I realized I couldn’t go anywhere, and that not only are all three of our vehicles on the fritz, three of our generators don’t work (out of 4 we have now), the inverter to the solar system blew up, and we now how no money to fix any of it, I did something I could do something about. So, at 5’ 2”, 105 lbs, I went down and wrestled and stacked about 30 bales of hay. Now I have blisters on my hands, and my back really does hurt (wasn’t so bad even after yesterday), and I am too tired to worry about anything. I did cry, for a bit, as it does feel a bit much, but I also reached out, some more, to see if I could find anyone to help get the work done on the vehicles for a reasonable price. We have most of the parts. I’m hoping something comes together soon, and I believe it will. My husband has done most of the work on our vehicles up until recently. It’s hard to accept limitations is what both of us are learning. But we just can’t physically do all the things we used to do.

I did surprise myself today, though, that I even stacked these bales three high, and I learned how to do it by leveraging the weight around and using my knees. Before, I thought I couldn’t do it. It turns out I could. And that’s one other thing that I have strongly become to realize. We are what limits us in life.

I believe we are going to have a early winter, and my husband thinks it’s going to be a rough one. Much I haven’t got done yet, but I do have help lined up for that. The neighbor farthest up the road from us drove by with a tractor a while back. When he slowed down a couple days ago when driving by I went out and talked to him. It turns out it is his tractor, and he was totally willing to drive it down here one day soon and let us use it for a couple projects. I was ecstatic over that. I need to clean up the horses are really bad, and cannot shovel that by hand (okay, maybe I could, but I’m not willing to). He’s a really nice guy, and we exchanged phone numbers. I had traded goats to the young woman with kids I mentioned above for the use of her tractor, but unfortunately we will not have the vehicle or trailer to bring it over. I’m happy we now have a chance to get those jobs done anyway.

Even getting the hay in, though exceptionally spendy, brought people together who probably would never have met, and it was fun. The driver was just an awesome person, who was delightful to meet, and lives not that far away. I hopefully paid him well enough he would consider helping us again. If we get lucky, we’ll get our truck fixed up better and buy a trailer by next year to haul it ourselves. That would be ideal. Something to shoot for.

We are not going to have everything done on the other RV by the time my son comes home, so he’s going to have to help finish it up. Everything has been difficult, when it should have been easy. Hot water heater wouldn’t shut off, and it happens to be the most expensive part, and the propane heater has something bent that’s making it difficult to get to and take apart. Very frustrating. At least the refrigerator works good, and the water lines have no leaks. We still need to seal both of the RV roofs. Time is running out....

And the bees. I’m going to start giving them sugar water tomorrow and take the top box off. I have some one who is hopefully coming soon to help me do an full inspection, smoke them with something for varroa mite treatment. There are many different approaches. Hard to know what’s best. It’s almost time to zip it up for winter. I learned a lot this summer, but it’s always uncertain whether they will make it though the winter.

I went and picked mullein flowers a couple weeks ago at some friends that have a large group of them growing in the back part of their property. Even with three of us picking I only got about a cup and a half. The blossoms open slowly and very sporadically over a period of time, so very time consuming, but it’s just what I need for the ear oil I’m making. It’s almost time to harvest most of the buttercup squash. On just two plants that grew incredibly large and spread out, I’ll get at least about 16 good size ones. Not bad. Have no idea yet on the potatoes, beets, and carrots. Didn’t thin the carrots out good like I should have, so not expecting much there. And I’m behind on picking berries. Oh well. At least I kept everything watered up good. What gets done, gets done, and let the rest go. Most of the time it’s not an emergency, just an inconvenience. I remind myself daily how lucky I am just to be where I am. My back is hurting more by the minute. Might be ibuprofen and a short nap time. I’m outta wine. Probably a good thing.

I didn’t write about the Freedom Market, but I’ll have a lot to write about on that next time. The next one may be the last for the season, that I go to anyway, and it’s scheduled to coincide with a local vaccine mandate protest that’s happening at the same location (we were invited). Could be thousands in attendance, so should be interesting. Not sure if I mentioned getting Shady. Yes, I did get another goat, same time I’m letting some go. Cheap, beautiful, registered mini Lamancha that might have ended up as dinner was the motivating factor there. It happens. She’s sweet as can be, and hangs perfectly with Airplane Ears, otherwise named Tiny Dancer. I’ll meet my goal of 12, which is pretty good, all things considered. And now I shall end this segment. Until next time....
I see your love shining out from my furry friends faces, when I look into their eyes. I see you in the flower’s smile, the rainbow, and the wind in the trees....
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Re: Farm Life

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I started another post, but gonna switch gears and work on a farm life post. Since this has become kind of a journal, of sorts, I don’t want to get too backlogged with things to write about, and it’s been a very busy few weeks. Not even sure where to start.

Guess I’ll start with this last weekend, as it was quite monumental in terms of what we accomplished. In fact, I can’t even remember it all, but the highlight was our neighbor bringing over his tractor for the day. I managed to rustle up three people to help, as well as each getting some compost to take home for their gardens next year. We’re all kind of recognizing that by next garden season, we’re all going to have to garden like we mean it. We managed to get both large goat pens done, as well as the horse’s area cleaned up. Even with the tractor it was still a lot of work, but it would have darn near kilt me trying to do it alone with just a shovel and pitchfork. Plus, I wouldn’t have had any energy left to do all the other many projects that need to be done before the snow flies. So, it’s a major relief!

My composted goat poop/hay mixture is selling itself here lately, when people see how much can be grown in minimal space and little attention other than weeding at the beginning of the season and keeping it watered up. Actually, the two buttercup squash plants spread out over a huge area, trying to do a complete takeover. Out of two plants, I will have ended up with about 20 squash. And in the approximately 4 x 16’ area, I got about 150 lbs of potatoes. That’s more than my husband and I can eat this winter by ourselves. It felt awesome to share! Although I’ve made a funny observation about men eating squash. Personally I love squash, but the guys I offered to give some to are not fond of squash, and it seems men in general are just not that fond of squash. Too bad. They don’t know what they are missing!

In goat world, there are changes on the horizon. Big sigh, there. It’s almost time to start breeding for the season. A friend and I just helped the milk lady that I get the 6 gallons a week from, move to the guy’s property who brought us our hay. Long story, but she’s making a monumental change, which will ultimately benefit every around her. Not easy to do though. And she is downsizing her goats. Which, in the current hay climate (there won’t be any soon), does not bode well for the many people who are having to make tough choices as we approach an early, probably harsh, winter. Animals that go to a stockyard will most likely be dinner for someone. So, even though I was close to hitting my goal, I’m getting one of her goats. When Bob goes, and I hopefully sell Finn, I’ll still be at 12, so not too bad. But it doesn’t end there. My friend who helped me move her is one of the two people I am getting milk from her for. She wants to move to a rural location, but presently isn’t sure when that will happen. There is a strong possibility she is going to sponsor two more of the milk lady’s goats, and keep them at my property. She’ll buy them (we’re getting a bargain price on all of them), and buy the extra hay I need to feed them.

We both get a good feeling about doing this, because I already have at least one person who will want to buy a couple goats from me next year. So, even if my friend decides not to keep them down the road, they will find a good home. All of them are great producers (and friendly!) and I’m not sure, but at least two out of the three are part Guernsey. It’s a rather rare breed whose milk tends to produce more cheese than other goats. And demand for goats milk is on the rise. People tell me they love the cheese too! Since it’s getting fairly obvious where we are headed with the shenanigans our respective governments are up to (and the unseen presence that’s not that hard to find who stands behind them all), it’s shaping up to be a dark winter, indeed.

Which brings me to the Health Freedom Rally I attended weekend before last. Close to 4000 people were there according to mainstream news. They might have that right, but basically all three local channels that covered it, all skewed how people perceived the event (who weren’t there to see and hear for themselves) by only mentioning one of the speakers, who has been accused of being a terrorist, and not mentioning many, if any, other speakers who presented. The doctor that spoke was particularly informative, and I can see why they didn’t mention him. Can’t let any pesky factoids out that might sway people’s opinion of what’s really going down. They also didn’t focus on the fact that most of the people there either had lost their jobs, or had friends and family who lost their jobs, because, even though they worked on the front lines throughout this entire fiasco of the last year and a half, they were suddenly okay to throw away. They also didn’t mention anything about why, if you already had antibodies, you even needed the damn thing. Which is exactly why so many are saying no. It flies in the face of everything most of us have been taught our entire life, about the way our body and immune system works.

Oh yeah, back to the milk lady. She’s also the snake lady! I think she has around a dozen, and I transported about 8 of them in the back of my car in big plastic totes to where she was moving. Not to be weird, but, even though I’m not really a snake fan, they felt strangely benevolent, energy wise. And a few of them were very colorful and beautiful. She got into it a while back (not sure how long ago) as a way of reducing stress. She found that handling them was a calming experience. I admit, though, I would never have imagined myself transporting a car full of snakes. Never say never, LOL.

It feels good to engage in people helping each other. With the market idea starting to generate more interest, I’m excited to see where it goes. There were many vendors at the protest (rally, whatever you want to call it) who also networked with each other, thus attracting more people to our market. All can see the handwriting on the wall. The guy who was the spokesman for the event was told by the city that he couldn’t get a permit, because we were going to allow vendors and have live music. I don’t know if he got the permit or not, but we had both, and it went off without a hitch. They had about half a dozen bicycle security personnel and some police officers walking around, but no incidences occurred that I know of. I’m guessing they must have closed off the street when they marched downtown. I didn’t participate in that, as my husband really couldn’t have walked that far. His knees are trying to take a hike on him, as far as doing what they used to (like, hold him up and be able to walk much).

And, yes, he did go with me. He was worried for my safety, and he knew he couldn’t talk me out of going. They did have a drone overhead, presumably filming us. But it was inspiring seeing so many people in support of one another. Good to know there are so many forward thinkers and doers too, as food and medicine are going to become of primary concern to many, soon. Sooner than most are ready for. I’m glad I quit listening to the media and government sanctioned news some long time ago. I’m glad I built up a lifetime of experience in learning to trust myself, and not needing acceptance. I just have to remember that I was not always where I am now, and to be kinder to the old me. Many are like the old me, even the majority I would say. If I can’t be kind to the old me, how will I ever be kind to those who are just now waking up, or may never wake up. I guess I just have to keep working on it.

And the goats milk I brought for my friend ended up being in high demand (she didn’t get any!). I was shocked as people brought back the empty quart containers and wanted more. Who walks around and just drinks a quart of milk? As I said earlier, it’s catching on....

I plan on making some comfrey mucilage tomorrow, and giving it a try myself, as well as sharing it with a friend who has no insurance, and wouldn’t step foot in a doctors office anyway, but definitely needs some help. I’m finding if I eat certain things, my digestive tract takes a big hit, and I have to work to repair it. I have other tricks up my sleeve, but this recipe I have from a book I have that is now out of print, is one I’ve been wanting to try for some time now. It’s time I spent more energy trying various plant remedies that I haven’t tried before, to get more familiar with each of them, and be able to verify for myself how well they work. The plant kingdom is starting to reactivate a love affair in me, that I’ve had off and on for years.

The natural world, and nature herself, I believe, holds the keys to our survival, and our potential future ability to thrive in a world gone mad. If you suddenly woke up, and 3/4 of the world’s population are suddenly turned into zombies, what do you do? I’ve often wondered at the popularity of zombies in recent years, as they love to do predictive programming, but anyway, I’d like to perfect my ability to become invisible. Like, it would be wonderful if someone could walk right by our property, and not see us at all. Might be a stretch, but ya never know.

Another big change is potentially on the horizon, for me and my husband personally. It could be looked at as threatening, and possibly bad, but even then, maybe a blessing in disguise. I won’t say too much about it yet, other than to say I’m very happy we accomplished what we have this last year and a half, and that I planned way ahead on some things. It looks like it might pay off. As anyone who actually reads here might remember, I used to complain about being alone all the time, and how hard that was for me to get used to. This last year has been the complete opposite, with me having to stretch myself to handle more interaction with others than I’ve had in years, and a level of production I’m still stretching to get used to. I’m also glad I’ve learned to follow my hunches, about what I should be doing and how I spend my time. Sometimes, logic falls short of where intuition, along with some critical thinking out of the box can take you. It has served me well, and imagine it will continue to do so.

I’m sure there is more I could write about, but the sun came out, so I should get out there and try to get something done. Vehicle problems are still abounding, but we’re working on it. And almost time to close the hive up for winter, though there are a few things I still need to do. I’ve generally had to intuit my own way with the bees, as everyone seems to think their way is the only way, and everyone so far does something different. All I can do is the best I can, then it’s up to nature, and the bees themselves. Either way, I’ve learned a ton. I remind myself all the time, that even the most experienced aren’t always successful, and I do factor in the spiritual nature of my relationship to the bees. I see them as one of nature’s many teachers, about how life works. I believe it helps me to become more aware. Can’t believe we’re coming up on five years here. It truly has been a transformative experience, and I am grateful.
I see your love shining out from my furry friends faces, when I look into their eyes. I see you in the flower’s smile, the rainbow, and the wind in the trees....
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Re: Farm Life

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There are many things I should be out doing at the moment, but just had breakfast and not quite ready to jump yet. I need to find our little stand alone propane heater, that seems to have disappeared into the vast expanse of our storage building. I already looked once, but gotta look again. It has to be in there. A couple of boxes of apples from a friends tree will be staring me in the face when I open the door. I’m supposed to dehydrate some, and make apples sauce out of the rest. I just made cheese yesterday, but already need to make more so I have room in our refrigerator.

Much happening in goat land. Bob, the older buck with a leg problem, is still here. We found out that the cost to have them come and put him down was twice what we thought. Taking him to the vet would be a very stressful thing for him. This leaves us with a very hard decision to make. And we’ve already made it. I’m not going to watch him suffer through a long cold winter. And it looks like we’ll be taking 5 bucks through the winter as it is, because the one I was going to sell, has three competitors that look almost just like him already up for sale by others on Craigslist, and they haven’t sold yet after a few weeks. He’s way too sweet and good looking to take to the lady who auctions them off. And Rollo. That’s a whole other story I won’t go in to right now, but for now, he’s staying here too.

My husband is losing his job, as the hotel he has worked at for a number of years now is being torn down. The costs of trying to repair it just kept rising, and the final straw was the company that was to come finish raising the building doubled their price. Another casualty of this last couple years nefarious roll out. We’re seeing that it could be a good thing, but it will still reduce our income drastically at a time that’s not great for implementing solutions. But we’re good at it, so solutions will indeed manifest for us. It does mean that a serious cinching of the financial belt is due. Again, I’m glad I planned way ahead.

It’s a few days later now, and I’m finally able to pick this up. It’s been an interesting morning so far. Since we still have Bob, my idea of using his pen as a breeding pen is not going to work out. And when I went down to feed everyone this morning, I saw that Branwyn and her mother, Rhiannon, are both in heat. I was looking for a mid March birthing time, which means now is when I need to be breeding them. So, I let them both out, and walked Millie Man down to them, and just letting them go at it. I hadn’t milked the other two girls yet, so that was kind of interesting. I didn’t get much out of Isabella, but possibly drying her off soon anyway. She is one of two goats my friend bought and is keeping here. Her original name was Itsy, but she didn’t like it so renamed her.

Itsy is a big goat, Alpine, Lamancha, and a bit of Guernsey, and has been milking straight through for a year and a half. Not sure if it’s my technique, but she has had little specks of red material in the strainer when I strain her milk. She seems fine otherwise, no heat or hardness in her udder. And this morning the two girls I had out to breed with M & M just had to try and jump up on the stanchion the same time I was milking her. As a result, I didn’t get much milk. That’s okay, because the one I got from the milk/snake lady is making up for it in spades. Phoenix has an udder to die for. She’s got a nice soft udder with good size teats and orifices, and she’s a dream to milk. Good thing, since I plan to milk her through the winter. And I’ve been getting over a half gallon a day from her. We’ll be picking up Isabella’s daughter this week, who was just bred to a gorgeous looking buck.

One very interesting thing about making cheese from Phoenix’s milk is that it doesn’t seem to want to stretch and hold together as well, although it’s still super good and quite creamy. I’ll have to investigate why that is more. I’ve made several batches now, and have followed the directions to the letter, so it’s not that. And I’m going to have to get creative with milk and cheese deliveries this winter, since my husband won’t be at the hotel anymore for pickup. My refrigerator fills up pretty fast now too. I hope I’m up to the increased production, especially through the winter. Might as well get used to it now, before it’s an absolute necessity. I’m figuring getting products from rural folks with some to spare is going to get quite popular as time goes on. So I’m willing to take this on, as one small thing I can do to make a positive difference in the rather grim outlook ahead for us collectively.

Don’t know if you’ve ever had the experience of spending a whole day trying to fix something, only to find it was a complete fail. That was the experience my husband had this weekend. Our propane heater in the RV decided to quit working on us again, and wouldn’t you know it, there was a mouse that had gotten caught up in the fan and wore out the bearings trying to keep running with it in there. It’s possible if we’d figured that out sooner, we could have removed it before it quit working. Anyway, the heater in the other RV was the same make, and so my husband spent the day putting the new motor he had for that in there. But, it was slightly different and only had one speed instead two like ours has, so didn’t work. An entire day gone, and no satisfaction at all. So we’ll have to buy a new one, and in the meantime we’re just using the wood stove. Fortunately it’s not been freezing at night lately, yet, and it hasn’t been that bad. Because no one wants to get up several times in the middle of the night to keep the stove going. It’s always something, ya know.

I’m happy to see that our new dog, Nahla, who is only six months old, is already doing an awesome job here patrolling with Ranger and keeping everyone safe. She might even get bigger than Ranger, seeing as how she is not far from catching up to him already. I just wish she would quit chasing the cats. She won’t hurt them, but if they run she just can’t seem to help herself, even when she knows she’s in trouble. Sure glad we got her now, because I probably would not have had the money for her if I had waited, not to mention we would have only had one dog going in to winter now. It’s definitely a two dog job out here.

Haven’t had the grandsons out for a while. They were both sick a week or so ago, and even though they had the same thing, only one tested positive for the big C-V. All I know is it now gives me even more ammunition to keep their mom from making either of them get the jab. It’s a no brainer that you don’t get an injection to prevent something you have already had. At least, that was how it was when I was growing up. If you already had the chicken pox, you didn’t need the immunization, because your immune system was already primed to respond. Of course, that’s when people still believed in the immune system. I still do, but evidently I’m a minority. Although, the tide does seem to be turning a bit, and there’s more out there questioning the narrative than it at first seemed. Otherwise there wouldn’t be so many people willing to lose their jobs over it. I’m already bracing for the fallout from that, as we move into snow season and there aren’t enough employees to drive the snow plows. At least the boys are now cleared to go back to school, and I’ll get to have them out again soon.

As usual, I could probably go on and on, but think I’ve written enough for this installment of farm life. Besides, I need to go out and see how the lovers are doing....
I see your love shining out from my furry friends faces, when I look into their eyes. I see you in the flower’s smile, the rainbow, and the wind in the trees....
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Spiritwind
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Re: Farm Life

Post by Spiritwind »

I’m going to try once again to write a farm life post. I wrote a partial one last week, but it seems to have disappeared. I don’t remember deleting it, but the last few weeks have been kind of a blur. Fairly certain I didn’t mention it already, but my 7 year old grandson, who already had the fight of his life just to be here, having been born 3 months early, is undergoing surgery today. Long story in itself there, but briefly, he had an area of inflammation and pain on his collarbone. When x-rays were first taken, they feared it was what is called a Ewing’s tumor, which is fairly rare, and they usually recommend the usual chemotherapy and radiation. After more tests and a biopsy, it was determined that they may have been a tiny bone fracture, that became infected. Today, they are going to remove the area that is infected, and treat vigorously with antibiotics.

What I just wrote above sounds straightforward enough, but actually engenders what would amount to pages of feelings, if I were to write about them, and would likely veer into topics not at all farm related. So, maybe another time. For now, suffice it to say, I am experiencing some inner turmoil. The intense pressure everyone now, including children, are receiving to get the vax, is sometimes weighing very heavy on me. I could also write pages on that, but again, I will save that for another thread and time.

In the meantime, I will keep doing what I am doing out here, with special emphasis on winter readiness. I’ve decided, as of last night, to go ahead and bring my 2 1/2 crates of potatoes I have in the laundry room, into the RV. I’ll store them beside my bed like I did last year (coldest place I have), along with a half dozen or so buttercup squash. The rest of those I plan to take to the food bank later on today, as there is no way I will eat them (or process them) before some go bad. We were going to try and keep the laundry room from freezing, and store the produce in there. But, with our areas often unpredictable weather, it’s too easy to get caught unawares, and potentially very costly in an extra cold winter to keep it from freezing. It did a big sudden dip last night, which is why I’ve decided to change course a bit there. Might even have to go to the laundromat some this winter, if we have a prolonged cold blast and have to turn the water off to the washing machine.

Yes, for about four months out of the year, we do winter, a rather extreme sport as it turns out. I get to go out and deal with fairly solidly frozen water buckets. And looking at the forecast, we have snow coming later on this week.

Ok, well, it’s the next morning now, and snow is in the forecast for today. Long day yesterday. Both me and my husband seemed to have picked up my grandson’s cold, which I haven’t experienced in a very long time. I’ve been hitting it hard with everything I got to get over it quickly. I spent two hours online yesterday, trying to help my husband apply for unemployment benefits. Not sure if he will be eligible, and it turns out he has to call them to apply after all. It doesn’t help that the last employer that he can draw from is over a year and a half ago, plus has changed his business name (probably due to all the law suits that ensued).

I did manage to bring in most of the produce, and am already enjoying climbing over it to get out of bed! Definitely going to have to come up with a better food storage system. Maybe the root cellar will happen this next year. And...now it’s the next day. Having a hard time finishing this post! It’s just one thing after another. We went to the city yesterday, because we knew it was going to snow. It did snow about 5-6 inches last night. And we are both still recovering from this cold we picked up. First one I’ve actually had in years. We did pick up the sheet of wood we needed to repair the area above the bed, and Carl finally managed to get the heater motor out of the other RV, and fixed our propane heater in this one. Sometimes you have to go a long ways to come back a short distance.

We have possibly 5 goats that will be kidding this spring. I wasn’t going to breed Dotty yet, but couldn’t take her continuous crying for three days straight every 3 weeks anymore, so let Rollo out with her. Once again, it’s going to be an exciting spring. We should have plenty of milk if I can handle it. My hands have really been giving me trouble, so I’m definitely going to have to start using the milk machine. I’m not sure if I mentioned it, but Phoenix is a dream to milk. Still, going out twice a day for the winter months is looking less appealing all the time, so here pretty soon I’m going to go down to once a day. And we did make the decision to let Isabella dry up for the winter, so we can breed her in the spring. Milking one goat is enough for now. Still stuck with 5 bucks! Every year I seem to do something kind of stupid, and this year is no exception. And I don’t have the heart to take any of them to the lady who takes them to auction. Finn, unfortunately, has three other goats that look just like him up for sale on Craigslist, that haven’t moved in weeks. Bob did get put down, and it was really hard, but also kind of a relief. At least all the does we have either are or will be great milkers and friendly. So much for my magic number of 12 or less.

I’ll try to wind this up here, and just mention a couple more things. I am going to the Freedom Market tomorrow, and much is at work behind the scenes there, in a good way. It seems the idea is catching on. I paid for a membership at our local grange, and there are some new freedom minded people connecting with our group out here, so maybe more action will be happening closer to home. I’m excited about that. And my husband has been asked to do his solar presentation this next spring at the grange, which is only about 4 miles away. This time we’ll make sure he doesn’t take any questions until the end. And I need to scramble and make more cheese for tomorrow’s market, so busy busy.

Me and a couple other women are starting to meet once a month to do spirit journeys together. We did one already, and it was awesome. Everything IS alive, and the world of nature is more than willing to work with us. I have been kind of doing this solo for a long time, but it’s good to learn to work in a group. What I’ve noticed, especially with independent freedom minded people, is that it’s kinda like herding cats. We all know how to work on our own really well, but working together as a community is going to take some effort. As many are starting to discover, you still have to have some loose agreed upon rules and goals, and some consensus on how to achieve them.

And, from my experience, some trust, faith, and a certain degree of commitment is fairly important too, as there are forces much greater than ourselves at work here, and they are willing to help if we are willing to listen. One last thing I will mention is my dismay a couple days ago, upon going outside to see that the big wind storm we had completely blew the tarps off of one of our haystacks, as well as almost trashing the shelter I built over the bees. Don’t know if they are going to make it through the winter, but I’m pretty sure we have it tied down well enough now, unless it’s extreme. I was shocked! And we really can’t afford to lose any hay this year, so I guess I’m lucky we didn’t have a torrential downpour after the wind. After many bricks and tie downs, I think we got that pretty well squared away too. I guess we’ll just keep on keeping on. I’m sure there’s more I could write about, but think I will call this good for now. Until next time....
I see your love shining out from my furry friends faces, when I look into their eyes. I see you in the flower’s smile, the rainbow, and the wind in the trees....
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