First Things First

Before heading to work today I stopped to get some new athletic shoes. I have been walking more and my old shoes... are pretty old. My feet had been getting progressively more painful, to the point where I don't go stocking-footed anymore. I spend most of my day on my feet and the work shoes weren't helping much either, those chunky soled leather shoes are completely flat inside-no support to be found. The new shoes are New Balance (made in the USA) and pretty utilitarian- but function above form any day! I also threw away all the extra Halloween candy. This was hard- I am having extreme sugar craving. But I wanted to start off on an honest and accurate accounting so there was no 'just one taste'. It all got dumped.
Tomorrow AM I will walk. Wednesday AM is a WW meeting. Baby steps.

I almost forgot-Saturday we butchered our buns- they were 14 weeks old. It was much smoother this time. DH used his 22 and I did the rest. I now have three beautiful very thick fur pelts to tan. I believe I will try to make myself a Christmas present (instead of giving my best stuff away!) I am picturing rabbit fur lined mitts. We'll see.

Mmmm, Rabbit Stew

We returned from the farm this weekend with turnips and a couple onions and decided this would be the perfect opportunity for rabbit stew. Very gratifying to create a meal from our own hands. Just the beginning for us I think.

Lipstick on a Pig

The girls and I picked strawberries last week. I was disappointed with the berries-but what should I expect when I wait until the LAST day of picking for this particular farm? They were small, and just average flavor. I guess these berries will be mixed with peaches or rhubarb for jam. I picked up my first hot water canner and funnel, etc. No excuses now!
We processed our 12 week old Florida White meat rabbits. We were down to 2 from 4 in the litter. The tiny runt was given to a neighbor girl for a pet, but it died in our hot spell ( it was truly tiny had a different hair coat and drank ALOT of water-pituitary problems-diabetes insipitus- I'm not sure ). She of course was heart broken and i agreed to let her have a replacement rabbit. Sigh -next time I will know better!
The butchering was not awful- for me it was an anatomy refresher and a chance to look at livers, lungs for signs of disease. There are certainly things we will do differently next time (like skin BEFORE gutting and not using a stump riddled with ants as the execution site) but all in all I thought we did all right. My daughter backed out of the tanning process so I am now in the process of tanning with a kit we bought at gander. I will have pictures to share for anyone who promises not to ridicule me :) If I am going to eat meat, I will use all that animal has to give to me and not be wasteful. Can you say fur lined mittens?
The old farmstead which had such promise from across the lot line is not such a great deal. She has put on a new roof and siding on the house and has really done some nice work on the interior, but the old stone walls in the basement have caved in in one location, and frankly this old farmstead needs someone with either more money or more construction skills than we have right now. You can put lipstick (or siding) on the pig... On to plan B. More about that when I have details nailed down!
Our home is beginning to feel foreign to us, the girls even brought it up. We have been spending so much time on the farm that being at the house doesn't feel like home anymore.

Kris

rambles

This is not a coherent post-just a series of thoughts-jumbles and fragments.

Chickens are better--the leghorns are alone in the 'palace' and beginning to increase egg production-9 hens and 1 rooster -this weekend we were up to 5 eggs/day from that group. now that my 'summer schedule' is starting i would really like to move them 2x daily-they really love the clover and mustard. The banties however are another story... there are 20 (ish) of them and 1 rooster and they were giving us maybe a dozen eggs/day last weekend it was 1 egg/day. ONE. They are in a 1/4 or 1/3 acre fenced orchard with free choice feed. I will send my chicks in there to see if they have found an alternate laying spot-or look for evidence of egg eating.

For some reason my anxiety level is through the roof. Everything sets me off. I was actually thinking about drugs (the Rx kind!!) to help me get things back under control but that's not the way to go. Ive been reading a book called SPARK and it details the connections between exercise and the brain. This book is filled with proof after proof that our brains NEED exercise to function optimally. Did you know that exercise can grow stem cells--create NEW brain cells. And low grade chronic stress actually makes you stupid --as in lose IQ points, as in can't remember new things. This book is NOT riveting reading -it is full of growth factors and study findings but even though it puts me to sleep I will read and probably re-read it. The way to get me out of my cycle of stress= paralyzed into no action= more stress-- is to move! I have started the walk/jog thing in the mornings again and it is BETTER than drugs!

The bunnies were weaned last week and mom bred back. We have 3 nice sized babies and 1 little guy. He/she is less than 1/2 the size with a very fluffy-fuzzy coat; he also drinks alot of water. He is very bright and active though-always the first to look for handouts! We will probably let them go to 10 or 12 weeks of age.

The girls are done with school today and my 4 day 'weekends' start this week. I have decided to just hire a handyman type person to finish the projects we need to do to get 'for sale' sign in front of house. We have the money right now just no time--or more acurately the time we have is not being spent in town -we are actually trying to have some fun and relax.

happy summer -maybe we will break into the high 60's this week!!
kris

Livestock in the Yardstead

We have some new 'livestock' at our place.


The worms are settled into a bin in our basement.



We had a litter of 4 Florida White bunnies on Monday.

I have unloaded 4 yards of composted manure into the garden at the farm.

Things have been moving forward but I am feeling strangely in limbo. In between.

The View From Here

My distance vision is very poor in the left and below average for the right, I believe the optometrist used words which sounded alot like, um, legally blind... Never the less I rarely use my glasses for anything except driving, or as an accessory if I wish to look more intellectual. In town this has not been an issue for me, as things which affect me happen close by. Visiting the Farm, my narrow zone of vision becomes glaringly obvious. Distant objects, animals, and cloud patterns are vital (not to mention beautiful!) and I am missing them because I am so near-sighted. The zone of interaction/field of view is so much larger out there.

I thought this was an interesting analogy to near-sightedness in the non visual sense. Some people go through life legally blind, oblivious to events which effect them even from a far off distance. If only it were as easy as pulling out the old eyeglasses to see things more clearly.

I would be much happier if my eyes could see the far away things more clearly, but lately I wish that my other 'vision' was a little near sighted. I see so many things out there that are frightening. But at least I can see them coming.


These are the views of and from my house as of today:

I love this yard, it is on a hill with many mature trees, but I have alot of different 'zones' to work with. Good neighbors, low crime and only three miles to work for both of us.


South East corner, slopes toward road, full sun, we cut down cedar bushes as old as the house last fall from the front of the house-this spring we will get the roots!



View from deck towards North East corner-big maple throws shade from noon onward, sloping away from house. We have two baby Mulberry trees planted out here.



View from South West of back yard. swing set, sand box and our best (almost) flat ground. Baseball and kickball field for now.



View from deck to North West corner -two bunny cages, compost pile, tin shed and a fire pit! Also partially shaded, stays wet since it is at the bottom of a hill. The apple tree is down to the right along with rhubarb planted by previous owner along the alley.


Kris

Detoxification

I need an intervention! I don't like how run-down I feel. I feel closer to 68 instead of 38. My brain is foggy, I often can't find the words I am looking for, my memory is poor (this is NOT a new symptom). I just feel so tired and numb 50% of the time. I know I feel better when I exercise and stay away from simple carbs completely along with limiting even the whole grain carbs. I also feel better with a chance to play and unwind each day. I have gotten into a bad rut-and the difference between a rut and a grave is the depth of the hole!

Long story short-I have 5 days off for spring break and I would like to seize this time to perform some detoxification. I realize that the detox may only be in my head, that there will be some placebo effect gained by the effort of taking control back into my own hands. But rituals are very powerful things.

I am considering a raw food only, limited fast. Any suggestions out there? My herb craft is very rusty, I will be doing alot of research into any suggestions made-no following blindly! I plan to reduce my caffeine and refined foods intake over this coming week leading to my 'spring break'.

In other news-I (minimally) pruned the apple tree, no luck yet in an organic dormant oil. My seeds finally arrived, mostly from Baker's. I will start the tomatoes, peppers and cabbage this weekend (about 9 weeks from our historical frost free date). The solar hot water class is next weekend. Our bunnies got some lovin'. We should see a litter in 30 days! No luck yet on the Silver Fox doe. I also resisted the impulse to buy a new car. My (paid for) 2002 Saturn will do just fine for us for a while longer. I was almost seduced by the new car tax breaks and the hybrid tax credits until I did the math on monthly payments. Told you veterinarians are cheap!! I'll keep putting the payments into savings.