Did You Miss Me?

Einkorn Sour Dough Loaf.

Well, that was some time. I have missed this blog. We had some technical glitches that Dr. Farmer Moomin, doesn’t often have time to fix for me. Plus, writing about Covid, had become as bad or worse than highly depressing. Yes, even here in a beautiful, reasonably safe situation…. The long monotonous Covid quiet life sometimes takes it’s toll. I finally decided I missed humanity so much I would get scrappy, get this blog working again and start writing about life and this amazing life style I am so truly privileged to live. Maybe those reading will reach back across cyber space and we can be less alone here together. It does get hard. Even for those somewhat more accustomed to it than most.

Whole wheat pasta, in the new pasta machine I was given at Christmas.

Quotidian life continues… I am usually chained to the kitchen. The snow is melting… But Friday they say we get more… I have reached the yuch phase with winter.  So this brings me no joy. Winter during covid on a small homestead farm… The work load never ends. We make it work. Dr. Farmer Moomin, has been helping with the animals so I can make as much inside as possible through the winter months.

The Herb harvest I had planned on writing about but never got to.

Good news! Joe Biden, was elected. I am kinda a Bernie supporter so I am less than thrilled, but nothing can be as bad as Trump. I would be smiling if we had President Mitt Romney right now. We had an insurrection at the capital. Which has caused me to wonder why we pay so much to the military industrial complex when they failed so miserably and it was dumb luck that kept the coup de tat from succeeding… Some say the elections weren’t fair. Reality seems to indicate something different though. There is an argument to be made for a certain degree of conservatism. I really hope they start making that argument again rather than wasting time being over concerned with the lizard people. Because, it is truly the best thing. We can’t find the middle with a flash light if one party refuses to make a coherent argument for conservatism. There is a void now where there should be a party. I miss John Mccain, and Huntsman… We had some serious differences of opinion, but wading through them was productive and could take this nation to where it needed to be. So I am sorry for the void. They are finally helping the most disenfranchised economically with a relief bill. Thar makes me happy. Because compared to so many, I have had a very easy and ideal situation through this. It has been such a difficult time. Watching everyone suffer has been… Depressing. So that is why I left. I came back cuz I could, and because, distance isn’t what I want right now. It allows me too much space for my own misery at the situation. But I want to end on a positive. We now have a vaccine!!! Which means our days of this are numbered. But I think a new normal will be what we all return to.

The bookcase Dr. Farmer Moomin, built for us.

Now, related to farming…. I have been busy here. I have taught myself to make toothpaste powder, and mouth wash, more cleaning supplies,  and I have become consumed by sour dough bread. I have invested in some einkorn and will likely begin sharing some recipes soon among other things. We tapped our maple trees this year in a test run. Next year we will try to do the whole process. Christmas came and went. I don’t want to talk about it. I will share some pictures because the house was beautiful in another post later. But we saw not one single family member. Same for thanksgiving. The dogs are well, so are the goats, and we even got some new baby chickens who should be laying well before the fall. I am beginning to panic about the spring. I don’t know how all alone I can do the gardens, the animals, and keep up the house. It’s just too much for one person all alone. I have always done a lot of it. As much as possible, but I still hired some seasonal help not a lot most years. So it may be a severely scaled down garden this year.  Dr. Farmer Moomin, continues working from home with no end in sight. The dogs like to hang out with him laying around on the queen bed in the guest room he co-opted into an office some time ago now. We finished the pantry, and we built some shelving for the library space in the house.Put up better lighting in there. We have been watching too much tv and eating too much. And life here continues on. Mud season has hit early though, it also has been a more snowy mud season than usual. New England has five seasons. Mud, spring, summer, autumn, and winter.  We will be in mud season till May. Spring will be short. Summer hot, and beautiful, autumn comfortable and positively glowing with color, then winter will hit again and the cycle will go round yet one more time. We harvested herbs, drank hot spiced cider, and gloggi. Continueing on as we have always done.  And so we will continue. Because I have not survived this long to have a stinking virus destroy my life. The wheel will keep turning. And I will keep on keeping on. I hope you will too. As depressing as it all is, we must not let it weigh us down like a cinder block attached to our ankle in a lake. We have to keep swimming. An end is insight.

Baby chicks.

I hope my next post will be more poetic and entertaining. Just wanted to do a quick run down and also to discuss the state of the world right now. This is a homestead journey, stinking covid is part of that journey.

Thank you for reading this less than stellar post. I hope to stay away from politics more going forward. But I didn’t study archaeology for a while so I could shy away from things of historical significance.

We hope you will get vaccinated. I know this is not going to be popular with the homestead community and those that dream of the ideal life homesteading provides, ultra healthy and all that.  The dream is beautiful. The reality, is we rely heavily on science. The same science that gave us a vaccine. We rely on science to plant in the ground and grow our food, chemistry in making household cleaners and personal care products, biology in animal care….. This way of life is all science, just like the vaccine. Please be part of the solution. Be a homesteader, take the plunge, get the stick, risk it, be a trail blazer, stand your ground against this virus. Over 500 thousand are now gone.  We love the dream of homesteading and the romance and it has it’s moments, but without science…. We couldn’t do what we do.  Living this way means living every day relying on nature and science. That is homesteading.

Mr. Darcy and Pompom Head.

Thank you for reading
I plan to see you next week with better material to share.
Amanda Of Wildflower Farm

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