Catching Up

So finally we are moved. Our long travel from last fall to this coming school year is complete...nearly. There is still some flotsam at the old house, strings that need to be tied up with the old house, boxes to be unpacked,but, in time, it will all be settled. In the meanwhile we are discovering our new community, making plans for the new home, settling the kids with classes, playtime and swimming lessons. We are reaching for new healthier routines. We are enjoying our time together without the concern that when school starts we will not be together at dinner time.

It would be easy to take the calm that has descended over our life for granted at this point. No longer do we have to worry about the politics of private road maintenance, the worry of what games really bad neighbors will play, the angst of family separation, the rush to get things done in the limited time before Mark heads off to work. Everyone in our home seems relaxed, at ease...finally.

So our tale..

So, 2 weeks ago the finally haul of stuff was crammed into a U-Haul truck. The week before we had moved the sheep. The week before that, we dismantled and salvaged the wood from the old tilting pole barn that was on the property, to make sheep sheds for the winter. Mark made 2 trips with sheep in the back of our farm vehicle...a 96 Subaru legacy. The car still smells of their earthy, wooly goodness (a euphemism for sheep poo and hay). Reports from the driver and a friend who witnessed a hatchback full of sheep suggest that it was a comfortable ride. All the ovine arrived to enjoy a good munch in their new pasture. The chickens were donated to a kind neighbor at our old home. We hope to build a fancy chicken coop and start a new flock by the time we go to the fair. The cats, in true dramatic fashion, had a rougher ride but are settling in well and have cornered a mouse of two. Our prior rodent problem is no longer a problem:)

Our new home has needed several improvements in order to make it comfortable. We have installed the claw foot tub. We need to connect a shower head eventually but for now we enjoy deep warm bathes. We bought a new-to-us cookstove for the kitchen but waited to hook up the propane line until yesterday. This as been a great lesson in adaptation. We have used a small alcohol stove for heating up water. We have cooked many meals on the grill and we have a small electric griddle that has been my trusty kitchen companion for quick meals. But I am finally enjoying the luxury of the cookstove. We made homemade pizza last night. I was able to can some roasted tomatoes and tonight I will be able to bake bread and biscuits. Our diet has been heavy on foods that although easier to cook has been neither from scratch nor as local as we have been accustomed to. I can now get back to putting food by for the winter.

I have been transplanting perennials from the old garden to a new sheet-mulched bed for the winter. Yesterday we staked out where the new veggie garden will go. Mark mowed it down to a pretty close shave and was going to use the tiller to till it up a bit before I pulled out all the roots from the sod and planned where the permanent garden beds would be put. That was the plan until he tilled up a hornets nest. For now we are pondering our options. There really is no other really good space for the garden at this point. But eradication of the nest might take a while until the weather is cold enough. We also need to explore options for non-toxic to soil pesticides...ahhh a learning experience. Meanwhile I have to think of another way to get my fall spinach in the ground.

So this is where we are. Here, not there. We are embracing the work of the season, canning, putting wood up and getting ready for the school year. We are unpacking, cooking, knitting and writing. I have missed writing in this space and look forward to sharing with you all that we are discovering about our new home and community. I don't have internet service at home yet and when I do it will only be dial up. But I do have pictures to share..of course the cord for the camera is there, not here..such is moving:)