Gleanings Farm Rides Again!
Sharon September 3rd, 2009
It would be an extreme exaggeration to call it a dark night of the soul, but perhaps an “irritation of the nerves” is a pretty good description for my state in the last couple of months. I tend to be pretty contented, generally speaking, with my state – but not recently. It took me a while to sort out what’s been disconcerting me, but I finally figured out several things.
1. I spend too much time in front of the computer. I don’t like sitting on my behind as much as I do, and I’m frustrated with the projects I’m not able to do, because I’m writing so much. I’m particularly frustrated that we haven’t been able to proceed with a bunch of farm projects, because I haven’t given them my full attention
2. I don’t want to be a person who writes a lot about things she does not do, and I feel like I’m gradually oozing in that direction. More and more things have been put by the wayside for convenience – we are driving a little more because we aren’t planning ahead as well, spending a little more because I’m busier and saving time is more important than doing things ourselves. I’ve done well on some things – the preserving has gone well this year – but not on others that are important to me. I find myself constantly on the horns of the “live it or write it” dilemma, and I’ve always wanted living it to be the priority. I don’t want that to stop.
3. The writing life is fundamentally solitary – I go up in the computer room and am alone with the computer. It is satisfying in some ways to be alone, but I want my daily life to be less solitary and more communal – that is, I want more work I can do with my family. My kids and husband want that too.
4. Previous attempts to find a balance between my writing, teaching, editing, etc… and the farm have failed, in large part because I keep taking on more books. The books tend to be a serious time suck, and there are long stretches where I find myself having to do that, mostly, while also trying to keep up with other stuff. Everything else I can sort of streamline, but I don’t know how to write a book without a long stretch of intense aloneness, to the detriment of everyone around me.
5. By April 2010, I’ll have written four books in just over three years. This is enough for any woman 
. In fact, it is kind of a lot – the books have come out so fast, one after another, that I haven’t been able to do as much promotion of those books, as many talks about the material as I’d really love to. I think I need a break from the books (after the current one).
6. I want my primary job to be agricultural - I want my farm to help feed or supply the needs of the people around me again, and I want to do that work – both for my physical good health (I like being up and moving better) and also for the health of my community. I know I reach more people through the blog, and I don’t want to stop that, but it is important to me that “Gleanings Farm” (our farm name) be more than a name – it needs an identity. I can’t go back to the 22 person CSA – but I want to go forward to a place where my farm as a stronger role in my community.
7. I want to keep blogging, and I want and need to keep offering classes – the former is too much fun to give up, the latter is important to my family’s stability, since my husband’s job is extremely vulnerable. But most of all, I don’t think I could stop writing if I tried.
I’d also like to do more local teaching – on food preservation and storage, of the farm skills we’ve so laboriously acquired. I’m looking at ways of doing that – because I think it would be a pleasure. I’m even debating an apprenticeship program here – who knows.
8. Eventually, I’d like to write a novel – I’ve had one in progress for four years, and made virtually no gains on it, for lack of time. I would like this to be a longer term, gradual project that I enjoy, rather than a frantic mania, like my books have been. I’m not sure I care if the novel gets published – I want this to be fun.
9. I want to work on community organizing as part of my work as well – but I also want to do most of it from home, and I need to enlist other people into this project, because I cannot allow it to take over my life. I credit my kind readership with this revelation – it finally registered on me after the 77th comment telling me not to make myself miserable that there are other people in the world, and I can get help with things, and maybe make it work my way.
10. I love my life, but I loved it more when it was more integrated, when the computer took less of my time and my home and farm took more. I am doing this most of all, not to save myself from the apocalypse, but to get to something better. So I should do that now.
So what does all this add up to? No, I promise, I’m not shutting down the blog – as I say, I enjoy it too much.
But it does add up to this – I am going to be working intensively on the AIP book until late winter, but after that, I’m taking a minimum two year hiatus from books, and after that, if I write any more books, I’m hoping to write a novel. I’m thinking I may begin drafting it online, actually – so that you folks can follow along a bit. I want to have fun with it – to do something that is play, not so serious. I feel like I’ve written a lot on serious subjects, but I’d like to just play with ideas for a while.
But more importantly than the fiction idea, we’ve decided that the farm will be my primary venture, and the writing become secondary again. I’m not going to do more than 3-4 talks a year that involve travelling beyond a few hours distance, and only at convenient times when the farm doesn’t need me. After the book is done, I will continue to teach classes 4-6 times a year, but only one day a week. Two mornings a week, I will get to write and blog- that is, I get 15 hours per week at the computer, divided among 3 days, *period* – no more “I just have to do one thing…” and me disappearing for an hour.
Meanwhile, we’re putting together our plan for Gleanings Farm to open again – we definitely don’t want to run our CSA again – our land is better for grazing and it is enough for us to produce our own produce and some to give away to those in need. We’re going to start a multi-pronged attempt at creating the kind of diversified, low-input, low tech small farm we were on our way to being before I got distracted .
1. We’ll be selling goats – I want to focus our farm livestock ventures on thrifty, small scale livestock suited to urban and suburban culture, and the Nigerian Dwarves are a great start. We were going to have to sell goats soon anyway, as the miracle of exponential goat babies is about to face us, but we’ve decided to focus on milk production genes and thrifty production, breeding goats that do well in a variety of conditions, with small scale husbandry. This is one of those – well, we’re doing this – so what scale do we want to do it on, and how do we want to do it? I think animal agriculture, with its dense calories, is really important in densely populated areas, and small animals are going to be needed there.
2. We’re going to add our own sheep – we have enough pasture to raise a lot of good, grass-fed meat, and so we’re working on a small breed of sheep that does well on grass, has nice fleece for handspinning and weaving and is thrifty and a good mother. We’re debating between Jacobs and Icelandics at the moment (c’mon sheep lovers, make your case for which one – I want to hear it!). We’ve already got Romneys on the pasture (my sheep partner) and a guard animal, but we’ll actually invest more of our resources in fencing and pasture improvement and do better grass farming. The sheep will be primarily a meat project, but I think that wool production has a longer term future in this region, as I wrote in “Bringing the Sheep Back”
3. My experiments with medicinals have suggested that I can produce and sell a dozen or so reasonably high-demand medicinal herbs for direct sale, as well as making tasty and nutritive herb tea mixtures for retail sale in winter. There’s the possibility of selling tinctures – the FDA guy was actually encouraging, and I’m researching the cost of certified kitchens. Not sure about that latter, but this will give me something to sell in winter. I may also do forced bulb pots, since experience suggests I can pull that off easily enough.
I’m also going to be putting in large quantities of wetland woody medicinal plants – crampbark, elderberry, cranberry, wintergreen, bearberry, along with more perennial medicinals. That these are food plants as well for the most part is not an accident . I want to make the best possible use of our damp land without changing most of our basic ecosystem.
4. I will sell bedding plants, emphasizing unusual and heirloom vegetables and medicinal and culinary herbs in spring and early summer at the farmer’s market and direct by subscription (a garden plant CSA? I’m thinking about it). I know I can raise lots of bedding plants extremely well, and without that much more work than my present methods.
5. We’re going to go back to selling eggs, and work on growing more of our chicken feed. The profit margin isn’t huge, but it covers the feed and makes a little money. We have done this before, and I know it is completely viable for us to run 50 layers on pasture.
6. We will continue small scale pastured poultry farming – but I’m finally going to figure out how to get a schochet out here, so I can sell it as pastured and *kosher* – I’m hoping to do the lamb that way as well. I think there is an undertapped market for really good quality kosher meat. I’m working with other people in my area who want this to make it happen – so we’ll sell slightly larger numbers of chickens and turkeys, and probably add small quantities of ducks and geese. I want to keep these numbers manageable, though, and use them in rotation with the sheep and goats, to make best use of our grass. I will do batches of no more than 50 birds at a time, and not too many of those, because I want my birds to have a good life, and as much attention as the deserve.
7. We have proved we can hatch out chicks, and on a small scale, we’ll sell these to backyard chicken raisers – Simon and Isaiah are getting silkies, and want to hatch out silkie chicks, for sale, and I’m going to sell Marans and Buff Orpingtons. Not a huge selection, but then, I don’t want to be a huge selection – but I want to be a local hatchery on a manageable scale. We are already doing some of this, so again, I think it is viable without enormous additional work.
Finally, I want bees and to do some garden expansion just for myself, without any other plans underlying this. I’m also starting my own little Heifer project, trying to bring rabbit raising into urban areas around me. The boys want into these projects – thus, the Silkie chickens, and Simon and Isaiah have plans also to raise angora fiber for sale – don’t tell them that I think that this will have great educational value ….shhh .
It sounds like a lot, but most of it is stuff we’ve already done/are doing, but on the side, around long hours in front of the computer and a host of other projects. The thought of focusing 3-4 days per week on the farm, with the kids with me, just seems like an immense relief, and a lot of fun. The rest will still be there – but it will have to take up less space.
I’ve got a pile of new projects – we need to mow, reseed and perimeter fence the big pasture, I need to move my office to the underused front room, and set up a place for seed starting and simpling and managing the herbs. We need to plan our fall breeding for the goats, and begin thinking of where we will set up buck and ram housing eventually. And we need to look for sheep, and a Livestock Guardian Dog, since Xote the guard donkey goes home with Elaine’s Romney’s every December, and doesn’t come back until after lambing. I’ve got a business plan to write, and my husband’s role in this to map out (he’s actually excited about this, believe it or not, even though it involves more changes, simply because it keeps me more in the thick of things ).
There won’t be any changes in the blog for a while – if anything, there should be more posts as I work out ideas for the book here, or goof off from writing . Eventually, I think I’m going to go down to three posts a week, though, and be off the computer more. I still plan to work on a lot of new projects – but they are only going to be allowed so much space in my life, and the things I care about most are going to get the most, which is as it should be.
Time to saddle up – Gleanings Farm is back in business!
Sharon
- gleanings farm
- Comments(55)
It’s really depressing to see you slowing down like this.
Wonderful. I hope you will consider people volunteering at your farm. I for one would love to come for a couple of weeks and live nearby and just help you so I can watch and learn. I have time every summer because I work in a preschool. I would even pay to learn. I learn best with hands on rather than reading in books.
Karen
This sound much better for you that “I’m going to suck it up and start mdeling community living.” Sounds a lot better for the rest of the world, too.
And I want to seem more novel. Up for reviving POLIT?
Hooray! Just get away from the ‘puter.
Dear Sharon,
thank you so much for sharing your ideas & musings! With this post you encouraged me (a avid reader of your blog & your books) to make a likewise, long overdue decision for myself!
All the best & many greetings form good old Germany,
Regina
1. I spend too much time in front of the computer. I don’t like sitting on my behind as much as I do, and I’m frustrated with the projects I’m not able to do, because I’m writing so much. I’m particularly frustrated that we haven’t been able to proceed with a bunch of farm projects, because I haven’t given them my full attention
You had me sold with your first statement. I’m there myself but have no farm, just our tiny lot, to claim my attention. Since I’m the major employed person in the building, I’ll get to keep sitting on my butt in front of a computer for a while.
But you? Back to the farm with you! NOW!
Glad you’ve come to your senses
Kerri in AK
Agreed, Susan … if this blog is goofing off from writing …
But, yah, the world does need more mini-goats.
I’m always reading about how writers live in between two worlds: the Real World, or Real Life in the present physical universe and the world that they’re writing about. I won’t say its the world they’ve created since I really think it’s the world that authors are “channeling”. Authors always talk about how their characters surprise them or subject matter tells them what to do and write, etc.
Your books are the extensions to the greater world of your real work in your Real Life and so you shouldn’t move too far away from your “roots”! what you have to say is important, extremely important, I think, but 4 books and this blog do a lot to spread the word.
You have to do what you need to do to take care of you and yours, humans and other sentient creatures and we’ll be glad to hear what you h ave to say about it.
I’m glad to hear you’ve come the answer for the question that’s been dogging you, when that is clear it’s always easier to make a decision.
Peace to You and all of us,
Shamba
You have been titled my “favorite blog” over the past two years I’ve been reading your posts. But, I too, have four children and could never imagine how you do all you do (even with a supportive husband). I’m happy to know you are not going to run faster than you have strength so you’ll still have the inclination to keep encouraging us and inspiring us. Thanks for keeping us nameless hearts and minds in your “community work”.
All the best to you,
Johanne
FWIW, An experiment with native herbs: goldenseal (Hydrastis canadensis) has barely survived in a shady part of my yard for several years. It has sent up a couple of short lived babies but endured complete neglect and shading by vigorous wild ginger (Asarum canadensis). Black cohosh (Actaea racemosa) really thrived even after transplanting, and spawned many babies. Are any of these commercially useful to you? I’m in southern Rhode Island, right on the bay, so the climate is probably a bit milder than yours but basically similar. The other herbs I have are mainly European culinary herbs or natives that are of use to wildlife such as Joe Pye weed and bee balm. Hummingbirds love the latter.
It all sounds great to me! I hope you will share some of your practical experiences here. Expanding our small family farm is one of my favorite things to think about and I always love new ideas!
Sharon,
Had you considered a firm window for computer time – say, three hours in the morning? With book projects, probably a five hour window instead. Use a blackboard and notepads to help orient carry over thoughts from the previous session to get started, and when closing down to organize and plan for the next session.
Then devote the rest of each day to family and farm.
I suspect eliminating computer use before meals and before bed will improve quality of sleep and family interactions.
My other thought, is that maybe your wisdom is the contribution your community needs, even more than the fruits of your labors. Perhaps the shift of effort from gardening and farming to writing and spreading the word is a a firm direction being applied to your life.
As your plans and efforts bear fruit, blessed be!
Regarding sheep, I would recommend Cotswold. They are one of the few true triple purpose breeds — meat, milk, and fiber. My friend has three; while the ewes are too young to lamb yet so I can’t speak for the meat/milk, I have gotten two shearings worth of fleece and I have to say, the fleece is amazingly soft — and it grows so fast you can conceivably get two shearings a year from one.
Work, gardening, domestic economy, community connections and inspiration…
It’s always too much. It’s too much to begin with and then whatever you focus on expands.
That said, “there will be enough” is very calming thought. As in, “whatever I have done to be the change I want to see in the world this week, it is enough.” When there is never, ever enough time to keep the garden properly planted with succession crops, much less weeded and looking picturesque, “It’s fine. We will have plenty.” And it has been, despite storms, drought, weeds and a touch of vandalism.
Yup, been there, done that, gotten to the point where the large jam pot of lovingly gathered blackberries burns an inch deep because I forgot to turn down the heat, we run out of bread because I haven’t baked any, and I am doing more talking about what I have to do than doing it.
Actually it’s been worse just recently than in previous years. More day job work is good, more harvest is good, but at some point it’s all too much.
At that point, I have to say that whatever I manage to accomplish is “enough.”
Shira in Bellingham, WA
I was actually just daydreaming about a barter vacation. I have an online friend ready to host me when I wean my youngest. She loves to cook amazing raw food and I don’t mind cleaning/organizing. I think more people are going to be willing to do small intern stints to pick up skills and offer free labor. All of your plans sound wonderful!
Sharon,
I want to farm too.
With Donkey Hote!!!
Sharon, want to NaNo?
http://www.nanowrimo.org/
I do it each November.
Jim
No sheep on the city lot here! But, it seems like all of my friends who are into homesteading and sheep these days love the Icelandics. If/when I get pasture space myself, I’ll probably try them.
I’m partial to Dorsets, but that’s just because it’s the breed we raised back when I was a lamb myself.
If you want a milk sheep, the Friesians or Friesian X Dorsets are supposed to be good. Our friends who have Friesians are happy with them, too, although IIRC they tend to want a bit more grain vs. pasture than the Icelandics.
peace,
Zach
I have a jacob that I love. She is extremely friendly and they are supposed to be pretty hardy on pasture and lamb easily. I know people who say they have a good fleece. They are a smaller sheep so I’m not sure if they are the best choice for meat. But I’m sold on them.
Cheers to Gleanings Farm! (We all have glasses of homemade elderberry wine, right?)
Dear Sharon — Your discomfort could be sensed across the many miles, and I am so happy you have returned to putting your needs and desires at the top of the list. Here again, you inspire us. I’m thinkin’ that your 7-mile library walk the other day was part of that longing to clarify your priorities!!
Good work. And by all means, please be continually proud of all you have done to help the rest of us deepen our involvement, whether on the home front or in the larger community backyard.
For your info, I’d be ever so thrilled to have the privilege of a burst of training at your farm. I’d packed my satchel, hop on the bus, work well and hard, eat crumbs and sleep & snore behind the barn door!!!
Not sure it should happen, sadly, because of distance.
In any case and in every case:
~I thank you today.
Warmly,
~dc
Simmerin’ Southwest
Sharon and Sheep!!! Woohoo! (yeah, I’m a shepherd, can you tell?)
First, thanks for not quitting the blog. I’d miss you so terribly, as, I’m sure, would many others. But yeah, we understand that you gotta live the life you write about, too.
Now … the sheep thing. I could barely finish reading the post, as I had to reply about the sheep!
Icelandics! YES!
We started out with a mix of breeds, but we’ve settled on the Icelandics and just brought in new breeding stock and (sadly) culled everyone else (although, to be honest, they did turn into lovely garlic sausage).
Why Icelandics?
Well, the fleece is wonderful – I’m a spinner/knitter/weaver (rookie all around, but totally addicted) and really enjoy working with the Icelandic fleece. It felts if you look at it funny, which is a feature, ’cause you can make really awesome felted stuff from it … unless you’re trying to wash it before spinning … then it’s a problem, but since you don’t NEED to wash it first, it’s really not a big issue. It spins quite nicely in the grease, with a minimum of prep (i.e. you can get by quite nicely with a set of minicombs, and you don’t need a drum carder, although you’ll want one anyway, ’cause fibre toys are just like that). They come in great colours. The fleece actually sheds in the spring (really and truly it does – my son and I ‘sheared’ a ram lamb in about 10 minutes by just pulling the loose wool off of him this spring, it was cool!). The meat is delicious – very mild tasting, which is good for people who think they don’t like lamb – it has very little “lamby” taste, so it’s easy to use as a substitute for beef (we make “lambacos” all the time with ground lamb), and even older sheep don’t have a strong muttoney taste. This would be a downside for Brits, who really LIKE the strong taste of lamb, but for most North Americans, unused to lamb, it’s a feature.
The biggest reason we have Icelandics, though, is that they suit our management style, which is something close to ‘benign neglect’.
They are seasonal breeders, so you don’t have to worry about them getting knocked up early and lambing in the frigid February snows because you didn’t get the ram out of the pasture … they lamb around Easter time (umm, sorry, Passover!), when it’s starting to get nicer outside. They come from a place in the world where there *is* no grain, so they do really well on grass only (we do grass-fed only around here, we use alfalfa/beet pulp pellets for bribes and supplements, but no grain). They don’t need help lambing very often – unless the lamb’s stuck, they do just fine, even in the cold … those babies are up and trying to nurse right away, and are born with enough wool to keep them warm even in Alberta ‘spring’ weather. Compared to the Hampshires we had, the lambs were *way* easier to deal with, they required very little help at all.
Your climate is not so different from ours – a bit more of the damp cold, a bit more wet, but you have real winter and real summer, like us, and they do really well with our climate. They need shade and protection from wind and sogginess, but that’s all. They will lay outside in the snow, with it piled on top of their backs – not melting – because the wool they wear insulates them so well. They haven’t got a strong flocking instinct, so you wanna bucket train them, but they’re not huge, so they can be handled by a regular sized female person (such as me) fairly easily, and although the horns look scary, they don’t seem to use them as weaponry like the goats do.
Love ‘em. Love ‘em. Love ‘em. There’s stuff on my blog about ‘em. Email me if you like, too, of course.
Blessings on your farm!
Sharon, I just want to say “Thanks a million” for all the hope, all the ideas, all the encouragement that I have recieved from your writings. You are terrific. I think this current idea is full of potential good for you, your husband, your kids, and the lucky people that live close to you. Girl, you gotta do what you have to do. You have spread tons of seeds of hope in my direction, and by the comments I read I am not alone. Your work has spread green little oasis of caloric potential from coast to coast and beyond. Once again thankyou so much. steve from NorCal
*Doing* rather than writing or talking about doing. Yes, that’s what we all need to do more of.
Blogging is a curse, really, and I’m going to be doing less too – you have made up my mind for me. Time for a lot more direct action, as well as keeping going with the growing and making.
I think you should get these kind of goats:
http://www.facebook.com/ext/share.php?sid=123138307234&h=Iigh0&u=0Eu5c&ref=mf
You could totally sell tickets.
Sorry about that last link. Try this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=we9_CdNPuJg
Hi Sharon…
Dog for your farm… Maremmas
Google
Coon Ridge Goats.
Totally free range endeavor
She makes the ultimate CHEESE and has for
years.
grace, New Mexico
I, too, hope you’ll consider short-term volunteers, say, WOOFer style.
I’d love to learn hands-on about farming, small livestock, and bee-keeping from someone like you!
Good luck!
Thanks for this posting – it helped me to see that I spend too much time reading and writing on the little white box in front of me versus the heavy-lifting of AIP. Perhaps it is cultural programming, or the reality that despite many of the worries I have about the future (oil, water, food, etc.) since they are not yet at the door I indulge this habit a little longer.
Perhaps these virtual communities are all destined to end at some point, as they slowly fade in the frequency of postings, and in the interim they only represent a denial or escape from the local AIP environment. Without blogs, would we revert to newsletters, without comments, would we revert to written letters? I’m not so sure. Sort of a virtual Jevon’s Paradox – my little white box, an internet connection, makes it so easy to read and write that I spend more time doing these things to the detriment of other activities.
Sharon – consider this carefully: drop the blog, and focus on books. Your books are relatively permanent in the event of reduced access to the internet in the future, they are portable and readable in many different environments, can be easily shared locally, and are more adaptive to your individual readers to read at their pace. Your blog, although a source for your writings, may run you into the virtual ground, but your experience and practices at your farm could easily compensate as source material.
I dunno what FDA guy you talked to, but their new good manufacturing practices for supplements (which tinctures count as) were literally designed to shut down small businesses. You have to have post-production identity testing if methods exist (which could mean hundreds or thousands of dollars’ worth of chemical tests for every batch) and whatever you do, a second person employed to stand around documenting that you did it. Not to mention the self-closing restroom doors and all that good yack. They’re generously going to “exercise enforcement discretion” where herbalists making remedies tailored for individual clients are concerned (otherwise each bottle of tincture would have to cost thousands of dollars) but if you are selling to people other than individual clients, like people on the internet or even at a farmer’s market, you’re on the hook. And you no longer have to sell interstate, according to them, to have their foot fall on you. If I were you, I’d wait until someone else wins a lawsuit over those GMPs.
I speak about 10 times faster than I write, and often more lucidly. Years ago I tried to dictate what I wanted to say in print, and have a professional transcribe it.
Didn’t work, for me- because too much of it is biology, with technical jargon no secretary could recognize. So my re-writing and editing wound up taking at least as much time as writing it myself; not to mention the expense of transcribers.
But; you might give it a try. It might work for you.
Sheep- still leaning strongly toward Icelandics here. Not tempted by Jacobs- too many of those horns are straight, and look like good spears to me. Other than that, not too sure why, they just creep me out. Like the larger size of the Icelandics, I guess; more products. Also like the long long history of severe selection- Jacobs have a bunch of quirks in their history that include being kept as pets or zoo animals; not going to help their genetic consistency.
I ordered some Icelandic roving just this morning for charity projects
Good luck with the increased farming and decreased internet!
Too much time in front of the computer? Hmm, not like the rest of us
Seriously, if you did have some kind of apprenticeship program, I would pack my bags in an instant. There is sooo much to learn and so little time, especially if one is starting from ground zero, as I am. And think of the advantages — you would be training others who could go home and train still more. You would be bringing in additional income, and you would have more hands, albeit inexperienced ones, to make the work lighter. Hope you decide to make it happen!
Sharon,
You go!
Devin
Sharon,
For a certified kitchen, you might look around to see if their is one you can rent. In the county just down river from here is a health department certified commerical kitchen which is rented by local people wanting to legally can jellies, vegetables, fruit, etc. It saves buying expensive equipment, not to mention the space that would be taken up by such a kitchen. Just an idea.
All the Best,
Barry
Sharon,
Since discovering your blog and your classes, knowing you are also writing books, raising children and being active in your community, I have been wondering how in the blazes you manage to do it. I know I couldn’t, but then I am becoming increasingly more mortal every year.
Just a thought on certified kitchens because this is the way another person I know does her stuff and how I am planning to if/when that time ever comes is to check with schools, churches and community centers. These places are often willing to make mutually beneficial arrangements especially if their certified kitchens don’t get lots of use anyway.
Best wishes to you!
Oh, and you can count me into your next class if you have any space. I’ll be doing some volunteer work in town on a regular basis for sometime to come and will have online access.
Thanks
Hooray!!! You are in the cycle of rejuvenation and renewal. We all go through this and sometimes we emerge with a refreshingly new perspective; and sometimes we get stuck. Sounds as if your personal/productive priorities have surfaced through the renewal…………..new ideas, new approaches. You go, girl!!
And when the cycle hits again, your inventory of what you will have accomplished will amaze you and everyone else.
Thank you for your honesty and openness!!
I read your blog regularly but not daily. And my favorite posts are the practical ones–passing on the wisdom. I really hope you keep those up! I would love to hear about the sheep adventure. I’ve thought about it, and also a couple of alpaca just for household use but havent taken the step. I also really enjoy when you talk about aspects of your faith and how it applies to your daily life. There are many folks who blog about Christianity but I find your posts more enriching and thought provoking..
I am glad you have decided to spend more of your energy in real time. It’s much healthier in the long run. Perhaps you could save the blog for musings on your activities and work. And installments of the novel.
Deb in Wisconsin
I LOVE your blog. Skim it most days. Like you, I sort of resent the time I spend in front of the computer. Shorter posts would be GREAT!! Happy farming!
Yesterday I was hanging towels out on the line. It was one of those days when I felt like I was just running from one job to the next, and you popped into my head. And I told myself to suck it up and get busy, ’cause there’s no way that I pack into a day’s work what you do. I can’t even wrap my mind around writing books and caring for four little boys (I do have a 7 year old daughter, but she’s old enough to be quite a capable little helper) AND run a farm (we just have a dozen hens, some cats and a couple of large friendly dogs). So I do thank you for inspiring me, and I’m glad you’re getting back to what you love!
Random thoughts:
My children respond to the call, “Troops! Saddle up!” in Old English.
My Cinnamons are thriving. I have a litter of 7 kindled two days ago, and another litter (with different parents, not too closely related to the first) due in 8 days. They’ll be here when you’re ready for them!
I think, maybe, I’m going to be able to take only two classes this semester, and those both on Thursdays! Of course, having asked to be room mother to all four of my children’s classes might suck up all that otherwise-free time….
I’m branching out, rabbit-wise, into American Blues – the most endangered breed of rabbit in the US. I should have a trio/quartet here by mid-November, all from different bloodlines from all over the nation! *squee*
I think that’s it
I vote for Icelandics (b/c I’d rather felt than knit any day, and icelandic wool felts almost instantly). Or, hair-sheep. Hair-sheep don’t require as much work as wool-sheep. You don’t have to dock their tails or shear them. They grow well on grass and are excellent meat producers. How about Katahdin sheep?
My first comment after 2 years of dedicated (obsessive?) reading of your blog and your books. First of all, PLEASE continue your blog if you can. You inspire so many of us. Not just your readers either. I’m sure many others, like myself, share ideas of yours with nonreaders so the circle is much larger than your “hits.”
An idea I’ve had for some time – wondering if there’s a way you could easily sell a print compilation of your blogs. The “2005 blogs”; “2006 blogs”, etc as different compilations. I know there are web based services that let you print your own WordPress blogs, but I don’t know if there’s a way that we the readers could do that. I would LOVE that. Despite having read every single one of your postings, and spending WAY too much time reading farm blogs instead of dealing with the pears covered in fruit flies on my counter, I would love to have a print version.
That way – you would still be “writing books” and could keep up the blogging. I’d very happily pay $$$$$ for this. Please consider.
I AGREE with Kirstie above…
grace, New Mexico
Awesome! Sharon’s good sense strikes again, and sends waves of delight over the net.
Thank you for everything. I am finally storing food, and it would have been a lot scarier to begin if it were not for your encouragement.
You go grrl!
I have been wondering how, exactly, you manage to be wonder woman!
As for #7 – teaching others about food preservation, I must suggest that you have a chat with your ag. extension (I actually work for our ag extension office teaching nutrition to low-income school kiddos); There aren’t a lot of “master preservers” out and about, and that would be one way you could really help out a lot of folks – and earn some $$. Granted, some of it is basic stuff like calibrating pressure canners, but really, when someone has a question that the Ball Blue Book can’t answer, and gets mixed reviews on the net – where do they go – the extension! Our extension also has classes (that the extension staff is paid for…) on all sorts of stuff – for the public… I could keep going, but I think you get my suggestion! Check out your Cornell Extension! (That goes for all you commenters too!)
Congratulations on your decision!
–Erika
Hi Sharon. Just to let you know that a number of us involved in peak oil are feeling the same way. Almost burned out, wanting to reassess where we put our energy.
It takes a while to figure things out, so be sure to give yourself enough time and space.
The good news is that altogether we have published a TON of good stuff that’s going to come in very handy as the price of oil starts going up again. And you have written some of the best pieces.
Bart / Energy Bulletin
Icelandics. I have a small flock.
Easy keepers, eat lots of weeds, easy lambing.
Good with a breed where you can tell individuals apart easily.
Sharon, you need to do what you need to do to keep yourself happy, productive, solvent (!!!), and sane. That you have shared so much of yourself already is awesome; I’m glad you are going to continue the blog, even if at a slower pace, and get back to growing things. Many of us need your reflections and advice, but not at the expense of your mental health and the well-being of your family.
I think most of our lives would be vastly improved by less time spend on the computer/on the ‘net, so I heartily approve of that goal!
And I for one would certainly pay to print out a coherent collection of your blog posts. The only thing is that I learn as much from the comments as the posts sometimes, and the rights issues for printing them would be an absolute *nightmare*.
Good luck with the sheep!! And more goats. I have no opinion on the sheep as I’ve never owned any, and indeed do not live close to any sheep farms (I don’t think), but the ones I encountered at the State Fair this year made me think “good grief, sheep are bigger than I think!”. Something of a manageable size is my opinion. Multi-use is also good in my opinion. I’ll be waiting eagerly to hear which you decide to go with!
It looks like you’ve got another potential income generator as a farmstay business. Plenty of volunteers willing to come and hug your goats!
I am usually behind on reading your blog, at any given time, so I rarely comment on your posts. I think for you and your schedule, (and selfishly, mine) 3 days a week sounds perfect. I still have not finished your book that I purchased and started a few months ago; should not expect to read much during gardening/canning season anyway.
So, if you cut back on the blog, I probably will not have to miss parts of your musings, since I have to skip some now, in the interest of time. The intention is always to go back and catch them later, but reality is that this just never happens.