Aack! Falling off the Blog Wagon....

OK.  I am starting my New Years Resolution today, which is to be a more frequent blogger (not that I actually make NY resolutions, but...).  I will say to my credit, however, that harvest time is a busy time for everyone--particularly the local foods people I would like to be interviewing.  And then there is my own garden to consider.  Two words:  green beans.  Good lord.

I also need to get over my blogging perfectionism--there is no grammatical firing squad with itchy trigger fingers waiting for me to click "publish post."  I vow to stop being so neurotic and start just writing and sharing what's going on in my world.

Applesauce!  Canned!  Woo hoo!

I have been busy with all sorts of tasks and visitors, whether homesteading-related or not, and I am leaving this afternoon for a week-long residency for school.  This is the last big event on my calendar for a while, thankfully, and I can't wait to be back and ready to dive into the many projects sitting around our house in various stages of completion.  The interim chicken coop will be replaced by the permanent one.  The cold frames will be built.  The berry bushes planted, and the saved seeds stored away for the spring.  I will be better about taking pictures during these projects so you can see my processes.  My nonprofit interviews will be scheduled--in ink--and the related blog posts will ensue.  I will build a picnic table, and the rain barrels will be completed.  The crawl space will be converted to a root cellar.  The knitting and Christmas projects will commence.  And, damn it, I am going to make cheese.

What?  Um, well, of course.  Yes, there is a good chance that life will get in the way of a few of these projects.  I can still dream, right?

The temporary coop--gotta love pallets!

 I will say, however, that I have been quite successful in some arenas around the house, especially in the kitchen.  I have virtually stopped buying bread products and am instead baking them at home.  Sandwich bread, hamburger and hotdog buns, flatbread, tortillas, and crackers--and yes, organic, whole-grain homemade is cheaper and wonderfully better.  Even better, I am continually improving my management of the refrigerator--the amount of food that we throw away or compost has significantly decreased, a feat of which I am quite proud.  It is such an awful feeling to buy healthier organic (and pricey!) items and then find yourself throwing them away, intact and moldy, a week or two later.  I am beginning to feel as though I am truly managing my household, rather than having it manage me.  My house and I are developing our rhythm.  Progress!

I have also become a Craigslist and Freecycle enthusiast.  [A more limited income pitted against unlimited projects requiring raw materials will do that to a girl!]  In the process of meeting and swapping stuff with these strangers, I find myself delighted and reassured that people are basically good, kind, and worthwhile--something I easily forget.  How, after all, can we sustain consuming less and fighting the environmentally-good fight if doing so results in feelings of isolation and insurmountable odds?  People do care...and then they give you free lumber for the chicken coop and cut you a fabulous deal on berry bushes.  We shall overcome.  Never fear.

And so, off to school I go.  These residencies never fail to grace me with a renewed sense of purpose and a deep gratitude for the opportunity to know these people, learn these beautiful concepts, and be given the chance to go out and put it all into action.  How good to know:  I am where I need to be.  (And I come bearing very tasty crackers!)