So, this interview was so awesome. Not only did Cait pay down her $30,000 in consumer debt, she started to reflect on her spending habits and how easily she impulsed purchased things she didn't need.
I found the interview a bit problematic though. You could tell that Rick Cluff was a bit uncomfortable with her strict adherence to her spending plan. He was glad to hear she hadn't "cut off all of her personal enjoyment". How much enjoyment is there really, in being shackled to debt? It made me realize how normal consumer debt really is. What I really loved was when Cait dug into the why behind some of the purchases - it was about appearance. She talks about clothes that "Professional Cait" should wear, or books that "Smart Cait" should read. It was brilliant not just to hear that she accepted herself but that she also understood what the driver was behind some of the purchases. She's now on a two year shopping ban and not finding it that difficult, it seems, because she's mindful of why she buys things as well as the goal she has for her savings. If you want to read more about her journey - head over to her blog. She has some great links and information, as well as resources to get you started. I love her honesty - that a lot of this debt was consumer. I also loved the part about buying clothes that "Professional Cait" would wear rather than just the clothes she feels comfortable in and building a life that matches that. It's something to think about, isn't it?
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This seems like an appropriate post for Black Friday. She's not abstaining for a day - she's doing it for a year.
Yeah, another Wendell Berry article. What can I say? The man knows his stuff.
Stock. Yep, so glamorous. So this is the result of a chicken carcass and a turkey carcass cooked for two days on the woodstove until this was all that was left. Carcasses + water and that's it. None of the "add carrots and onions" and so on. Just water and carcasses. But when you add the carcasses DO NOT fail to add the skin and fat. First of all, those are not unhealthy fats but even you're adverse to the them, they're where a huge amount of the flavour hangs out. So, cook the stock with all of the bits intact and then toss them after. And you can skim off the fat once it' cooled but again, that's going to impact the flavour. Of course, this not only made for the most delicious, "just add a pinch of salt and you're good to go" stock but also left us with chicken stew and dumplings, many meals for the faithful farm dog, and some love bone ash that's great for the garden and greenhouse. Just be sure you have an epically large stock pot for the cooking. It makes a huge difference to have lots of water and a long, slow simmer. Weaving with Freyja the dog cat in is always an interesting adventure. Fortunately, my healing up dog is always happy to guard the loom. Here's the work in progress - the warp is a random cone of something that feels like it's got mohair in it. The weft is a random assortment of handspun. The finished cloth
So, when you have chickens you realize a few things, some faster than others. One of the things I learned quickly is that, just like people, there are variations in personalities in the flock. This hen: is without a doubt, my favourite. She's a lovely, inquisitive sort with a steady personality.
Today, whilst I cleaned the coop, all of the other curious critters followed me in and scattered when I started tossing the new bedding around. Not this one. As usual she first looked at me as if to advise me I'd disturbed her peace and then went about scratching and pecking around. With the second armload of bedding, she didn't even look up. She just fluffed up her feathers, shook off the random bits that stuck to her, and continued on. So, the very beloved farm dog. LG and I came home midday a couple of weeks ago to find Winchester sitting in the yard looking just off. Instead of his usual bounding over to the car, happily greeting us, he just stay in place, looking flat and off (I know I already said that but it's the word that best describes it). So, we get closer and can see that he's shaking and covered in drool and he's got these expressive eyes that are saying "help" and not really moving. We aren't sure what's happened because he's not talking. Given his, um, impulse control problem with food I'm wondering if he's been poisoned by something he's found or compost or... ? So, then the diagnostics start: head to toe assessment. He's defensive around the face and head, and no we're thinking that he may have been hit by a car. We notice there's some blood in his drool. LG, the ever growing/ever hungry teen goes in to start cooking himself something to eat and I go in to phone the vet to see if they'll fit us in. They tell us to come right away. LG shuts off the stove and, in spite of teen pangs of hunger, helps me lift the injured pup (ok, older man) in to the car. We get to the vet and he's no more interested in the vet (a stranger to him -we'd never seen her before) looking in his mouth than he was me. She's seen a bit of abrasion when she could get a little peek and suggests sedating him to get a better look. Of course, we do that. Even under sedation, he's aware of where we are and if he's people are around. How do I know? He was sedated with his head in my lap, as soon as I moved away, he squirmed and started moving again. I came over and patted him, he'd slightly wag his tail. Vet patted him, no tail wag. That's how attentive he is. Or regular vet leaves the surgery he's in the middle of to help out. Finally we get his mouth open wide enough to see inside and there's a massive tear, at least 4inches long. The theory - he's torn his throat open on a stick. It's nothing that can be mended - to wide, poor location, and not much that can be done. They ensure there are no splinters in the wound (there weren't, thank goodness) and tell us that they can reverse the sedation in about 20mins but there's not much they can do for him. So, we go feed the teen and come back. When we get back there, Winchester is groggy but ready to go and cannot wait to be home. We collect the anti-inflammatories and antibiotics and head home. Now, I'm not a big fan of prophylactic antibiotics but my goodness, I couldn't be more grateful for them in this case. So, we watch him closely the first night (I might have slept on the floor with him). He's pretty tragic: but he's alive. With an injury like that, it's not a sure thing that he would be.
Now, two weeks later, he's come through and out the other side. Some things have certainly changed for him, it's clearly still painful to lick and the barking's been cut down to a minimum but he's thriving and mostly back to his old self. Which includes trying to entice us to throw sticks for him (I bought soft frisbees - never again with sticks!). I'm sure, like most of the world, it seems that there's a lot of heart ache and not a lot of hope that humanity can overcome the sorrows it keeps inflicting on itself.
I have been thinking a lot today (and we have been discussing as a family) about the shock of France, the on going sorrow of Beruit and Kenya, and all of the other grief that's out there. And what keeps coming up is that even though it seems like a lot, there's so much more that's not horrible and chronic and shocking. But we don't hear that, we don't have that in our faces all day, every day. So, while you're thinking about the horrors and the atrocities and the sorrow, stand for an equal amount of time in gratitude and honouring. Really feel those things - be grateful for something very tangible, like your comfortable house, your safe family, clean water. So, every time you feel a bit of sorrow or overwhelmed or whatever else it is that sells news, take a minute to counteract that with gratitude. Your brain will thank you. So, here we're in the last gasp of warmth before the real cold starts. We're having fires in the evening and sunny, warm (but dry) days. Confession: I started this post three weeks ago. It's much chillier in the day now! I have been giving a lot of thought to what I'd like for this winter and I would love, love, love to have at least my own greens growing all winter long. I do have seedlings growing in the greenhouse and tall broad bean plants in the garden but they're already seeming to feel the bite of the cold. Why broad beans? They can tolerate some pretty significant drops in temperature. They're not as hardy as kale but they're decent. I may, however move them into the greenhouse or at least under the overhang of the greenhouse to keep them limping along. What else do we have growing for the winter? There's the kale and broccoli that survived the dreaded cabbage moth and is now truly spectacular. Beets And some stunning herbs, as well as seedlings coming up in the greenhouse. Those are collards, more kale, various Asian greens, corn salad, leeks, cabbage, and chard. Maybe there are others but I don't think so.
At this point, I will be ecstatic to have anything that overwinters well. I just love zipping out to the greenhouse or garden for a fresh bit of this or that. I think I'll have to consider hooping over some of the raised beds but maybe not this year. I might just have to make do with row cover. Though a hoop house inside the greenhouse and with row cover directly on the plants... that might be something to consider. If you'd like more winter gardening resources, I really enjoyed these pages: http://www.motherofahubbard.com/10-vegetables-more-cold-hardy-than-kale/ https://littlehouseontheurbanprairie.wordpress.com/ You know those times when you may have over committed? Yeah, I am that person, yet again. In addition to all of the home stuff I do, I also work full time. And I own a small business. And I teach textile things. Oh, and I scaled back my regular job to do more private practice work so I went to part time and added in part time. Sheesh.
I share this not for sympathy but because I'm so often curious about how people who are living this homemaking, sustainable lifestyle pay the actual bills, I thought you might be as well. I know that I often wonder if they know some secret that I don't? I'm here to tell you that there are some who have sold a house in an urban area and had enough equity to make it all work. I know a few people in that category. More often than not, at least one of the adults has an off farm income of some sort to pay things like the mortgage; you know, the things we can't pay for in eggs, or herbs or other such things. Anyway, all of this working off farm work and the on farm work, has meant I've neglected the lot of you and I'm sorry for it. Rest assured, this morning brings with it another big shift that will should mean I'm back on track for regular updates. For now, I offer you this - a kitten in a basket (and yes, drying yarn, and a spindling wheel). |
AuthorI'm a 40-something writer and smallholder living in the wilds of BC with my family, our small herd of Nigerian Dwarf Goats, chickens, ducks, dogs, and cats. Archives
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