I attended a great small business workshop this weekend. Hosted by Sylvia of Foundtree and Greg of Farm Food Drink (and assorted companies), we learned about everything from product risks (and how to mitigate and prevent them) to marketing and projections. Sounds super businessy and not congruent with my lifestyle, doesn't it? Well, if you'd described it to me that way, I would have thought so too but it really wasn't.
I think what I appreciated about both presenters is that they're both committed to helping micro- and small-businesses thrive. I know, I know, anyone could say that but really, they've both worked in some big corporate situations and neither of them felt like they wanted to stay there. Much like many of us who returned to rural living, it seemed like they'd both made a lifestyle/values choice about how to do their work. I also appreciated my fellow participants. They seemed like a group of people there with a similar goal to me - make enough money to sustain my lifestyle, hire some people (so, sharing the bounty locally), and contribute to some aid projects or do some good works. It was interest as many of us in the local/small/ag world feel a bit sheepish about profits and making money. What I've realized is that's a bit like being a martyr; no one thinks I'm a sell out when I'm making a professional wage at my day job, after all. In my opinion, it's a bit funny on the face of it. Anyway, I've got a lot of thinking to do (and planning, and scheming), but it's all good and it's all fun. And it's finally spring, so the perfect time for it. ...who is a bit giddy about all of the melting. I should have a pic, I know but I don't. Sorry about that. It's melting so fast I could literally hear the big slabs of snow and ice in the meadow creaking and groaning as they shift.
Spring is coming! Sometimes you realize the direction you're trying to go isn't really the direction you're supposed to go in. You know the feeling right? When you're struggling upstream or feeling abraded a bit? I realize that's been happening to me lately. I've been really stuck on the how but not really feeling it.
I've just had a sense of ease as I realized my focus needs to be more on the why than the how. So rather than how to grow tomatoes, how to trim hooves, how to can, it's more the why. I like the doing and I think when you try to philosophize about something like lifestyle from arm's length, I think it falls flat. You might have some evidence to the contrary but do you think the words of Wendell Berry would resonate so were he not out living on the land and with the land? Imagine Wildwood, had Roger Deakin just sat in an office and imagined, never having rambled or lived outdoors? Consider Anne LaBastille, had she stayed in some safe, suburban existence; would we have had Woodswoman? In all its rawness and grit? Now it's not that I'm comparing myself to such illustrious folks, except maybe by way of my aspirations, but I realize that a collection of how to videos and posts just doesn't grab me. It must be Spring. Change is the air. I'll be heading out to clean the greenhouse which has functionally been a litter box this winter - as it turns out. Now that's a how to video I should share. Well, we had a 24 hour blizzard which wasn't awesome - especially since I had to drive home in the dark during the blizzard. It's usually about 75 mins but took an extra hour because: blizzard. But today, we woke up to no new snow and a light freeze. A light freeze! Not rock solid, not snow covered, not any of what we've been waking up to. And now it's dripping. Like melting dripping. I know I shouldn't care but I really do. And I know there's going to be lots of wet. Lots and lots and lots of wet and mud. For example, this big wad of snow that's encroaching on my deck. You might ask yourself why I'm letting the snow encroach that far onto my deck. I mean really, why not just shovel it off. Well, let's just say that when we built our house, we didn't think about things like massive amounts of snow sliding from the roof and creating huge piles - mountains really - of snow. So without any reference point, it might be hard to tell but that pile is about 6ft high and stretches the length of the deck. So yes, there will be wetness. Lots of wetness. And our deck is a mess - filled with my dye pots and all sorts of things.
But still.... it's melting I'm happy about that. I'm so ready to get to gardening. I think I've been too busy to really appreciate the winter so that's on the list to shift as well - I don't want to be so busy that I just grumble about the mud. And truly, I'm making myself so busy I'm back in the "chasing my tail" frame of the modern mind. It's silly because I know better and I help other people know better. Just shows how insidious it is, doesn't it? Hmmm. More (internal) work needed! That's from yesterday. There's even more this morning but it's too dark for it to be really visible so far. I do mostly try to just accept winter, really I do, but when I'm looking back through the farm journal and at this point last year my greenhouse was in full swing and the garden had plenty of hardy greens growing in it.... it's a bit of torture really. So what can you do when the weather has you foiled? Well, we've been having weather extremes up here on both ends of the spectrum. And truly, I find the cold weather ones a little easier to manage. After all, when the weather is cold, there's knitting and textile things to be done, or you can sit curled up on the couch in your favourite sweater, a mug of tea to hand and a good book (or reading for homework). In the summer you still can't go for a walk in the sweltering heat and when it cools off, the mosquitoes come out to torture you. There's no cozying up with a good book and a mug of tea in your favourite sweater. And I certainly don't like to play with wool during the summer. So I'll adopt a Nordic attitude. If it works for them, in a place where winter is much longer, much darker, and much more intense than ours, it's got to have some merit. I'll have gratitude for all of my comforts, the fact that my house is warm thanks to the hard work of my family last year. I have gratitude that we have enough to eat and enough for our animals, that for my very long commute each week I have an understanding supervisor who doesn't want me to drive in extreme conditions. I enjoy my tea and dream of spring. And as I look out of the window, I appreciate the beauty of the snow covered trees, the flakes falling as the light comes up, and I remember, in no time we'll be at the season of mud which is slightly better for growing things (ok, it's a lot better) but treacherous and comes with it's own challenges. So for now, I'll grab my tea and my homework, and sit by the fire and read. This is, quite possibly, one of the most beautiful (though I can't yet articulate why) articles I've read... ever, really. Perhaps it's because it's so poignant and so accurate? Perhaps it's just the beauty of this old, gentle way of life. And no, I'm not romanticizing. I've raised sheep, I know there's plenty of not gentle woven into the raising of any animals. I also know that a smart shepherd is mostly gentle when working with their animals or it just doesn't go well.
Anyway, I would urge you to read it. If you don't, just consider this: "The future we have been sold doesn’t work. Applying the principles of the factory floor to the natural world just doesn’t work. Farming is more than a business. Food is more than a commodity. Land is more than a mineral resource." Click on the excerpt to get to the full article. Good morning. I have had wise people messaging me about this year's crop of goat babies.
Sadly everyone, this is a non-breeding year for me. If we decide to bring in a buck this autumn, I'll be sure to let everyone know. Do contact me if you have breeding/baby questions and I'll do my best to answer. There is a fine soft snow falling and as much as I'd like to complain, or perhaps feel I should, it's incredibly beautiful out. And maybe we'll have reduced risk of fire this year because of all of the snow pack.
I do think it might be time to dust off my knowledge of weather Deities and do some offerings. Well, winter came back… again. I’m not sure how much more of this I can take. I know, I know, I don’t have many choices, do I? I would just like to be able to go for a walk without being thigh deep in crunchy snow. It’s the worst kind - granular and crusted over. It seems like you’d be able to walk on it and then you fall through. J thought we should have left with our snowshoes on but I wasn’t (and am still not) convinced. It’s one of those days where you’d hit a spot easily on them and still slide through so you have to pull out your snowshoe too. And, we have tonnes of little trees etc for a snowshoe to get caught in. Extra fun! The hardest for me is that so much of what usually helps just didn’t. I cleaned out the goats, which was ok because I got to it early enough. The chickens and ducks though! Sheesh. The manure was frozen so solid there was no way I was getting it out. I have been procrastinating adding bedding because I know what it’s going to mean if I just add more on top (a much bigger job when it thaws). But, it was so manky in there, I just couldn’t leave it any longer. So, I covered up the frozen, gross mess with new bedding and left, feeling resigned to a tougher job in the thaw.
After that, I definitely still needed to recharge so I thought to take the dogs on a walk which is usually an easy recharge for me. But not this time, not even a bit. Because the snow is so tough to manage right now, I often opt for the logging road. People have been up and down it to get firewood, to dump garbage (sad but true), and for snowmobiling. The snowmobiling, however, is so off putting. I’m sorry if you’re a snowmobiler and you love it. For the people who have chosen to live in the middle of nowhere, the sound of your wailing two stroke engine is far from soothing. After that I had no choice, I threw myself into baking. That helped some but I just feel so stuck right now -and yes, I do understand that might be a metaphor for other things :) . It’s just one of those times where you put a bunch of irons in the fire and see what materializes. It’s just tough to juggle all of them. The good side of that is that I’ve been creating. I have seeds started (though brutally leggy thanks to the low light), I’m getting caught up on spinning (very important given that I have a huge amount of Icelandic likely to arrive here next month), and painting/mixed media art making (here’s a piece in progress:) So all in all, I can’t really complain. I do have good things going on and if the worst is that winter appears to be never ending well… I can manage. |
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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