Independence Days Challenge, In the thick of it all.

Well, Friends, I would like to share that we are at the moment in our move where something that we needed in one house was at the other house. I would like to say that this marks the half way point of our move but alas we are slowly moving our belongings into the new home. My work schedule fills 4, sometimes 5 days a week. On very warm days we only work half days. We are trying to get out to the new house every weekend and one or two days during the middle of the week. To say that we are busy seems like a quaint idea I ponder sometime in January when cabin fever sets in. This life we are leading now is some other thing.

This is not to say that we are not accomplishing what we need to do. Mark is rebuilding a bathroom wall before we install the bathtub. Tristan is dismantling an old shed so we can re- use the wood to construct small temporary shelter for the sheepfor the winter while we ponder the design of the barn we will build next spring.. I am cleaning many years worth of spider's webs and mouse poop.

I am unpacking many boxes that were packed over a year ago. Feels like Christmas as we unwrap ceramic crafts from Tristan's early school years, unpack boxes of books I have missed dearly, reconnect with some teacups that were my grandmother's. All these things were packed away when we put our house on the market a year ago, in order to make our home as generic as possible for potential buyers. While sorting and unpacking, I am also finding that I have the chance to really get rid of stuff I no longer need. Our old home was small, our new home is small too but is designed in a way that the space can be used more efficiently if I can keep the clutter to a minimum. Tristan has captured the spirit and has decided to pack those things from a younger age away into storage.

Evan, on the other hand, is struggling a little with the pace. Everyone is busy, there is confusion over which house is home. Mark is going to take him to the library story hour tomorrow and then visit the beach at Sebec Lake. He needs a day off...Come to think of it..we all do.

Onto the update...

Plant: nope, not yet

Harvest: swiss chard, basil, garlic, raspberries, eggs

Preserve: 5 quarts of raspberries, 5 quarts of peas frozen

Local food systems: Well, I would like to say that I am supporting my local food systems but really it is supporting me right now. The farm I work shares excess. So one week I was given a large quantity of broccoli, another week I stayed late and picked 4 quarts of raspberries for the farm and four quarts of raspberries for my freezer. It is nearing the end of the season for early peas and I was given a large paper bag of peas for free. I am so grateful for this bounty as my own garden is woefully neglected. I have nearly reached a financial goal so that I can buy a csa share at a local organic farm at the new town.

Eat the food: Most of our meals consist of sauteed veggies and pasta these days. It is quick filling, does not heat up the house too much. Given the lack of cooking zeal I am experiencing I have not had any troops revolt at the dinner table yet. I would also like to add that because of the heat we are cooking many foods on the grill. Last week Mark made meatballs for spaghetti on the grill. Adds a nice flavor.

Waste not: Big de-clutter effort. I am using the boxes from moving to kill the sod and sheet mulch new garden beds at the new house.

Want not: Mark is scything the area for the new veggie garden patch. I am sheet mulching where we will have a perennial and herb garden. We are saving the wood from the old shed and the bathroom redo for temporary animal housing. I am researching plant guilds for fruit trees as a method to reduce the work and chemicals needed in orchard care.