tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-74060816796407350072024-03-04T23:41:01.352-05:00Fleecenik FarmFleecenik Farmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08106921810537649303noreply@blogger.comBlogger422125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7406081679640735007.post-13027031064857280802019-02-19T08:36:00.001-05:002019-02-19T08:49:59.406-05:00In the Deep MidwinterSome winters are long. The measurement of the days extend beyond solstice to equinox. The season is marked on the calendar at "first snow" and ends with" road graded". In between these two points I walk about a quarter mile from where my car is parked in the winter to my front door. This year winter began in November. First snow was enough to make the probability of driving out without Fleecenik Farmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08106921810537649303noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7406081679640735007.post-43185536052618029532019-02-16T10:26:00.001-05:002019-02-16T10:43:22.530-05:00AwakenAccording to the date of my last post it has been a few years since I have checked in here. Life has moved forward, as it does.
I have decided to revive this dusty record of this quiet life because I have exciting news to share. I have been accecpted into Goddard College in Vermont to finish my bachelors degree in creative writing.
But let's catch up...
The last time this blog was active I wasFleecenik Farmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08106921810537649303noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7406081679640735007.post-70138241840581196532015-06-10T09:34:00.001-04:002015-06-10T09:34:08.465-04:00Wow!So the sporadic and sometimes rather long absences of this blog does not mean that I am not writing. Life has become so busy. Work, children and my somewhat vain attempts at putting in a garden do not mean that I have abandoned all writing hope.
To the contrary.... I am blogging at the Huffington Post!
Hope to see you there!Fleecenik Farmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08106921810537649303noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7406081679640735007.post-17280841644416183612014-10-25T16:36:00.002-04:002014-10-25T16:36:32.479-04:00Eating on the Fly: Recipes for Survival!Harrumph! This is what you think you hear as you watch me collapse into the chair at the end of a hectic day. If perchance you were an outside observer of my days.
I am still trying to find healthy wholesome meals to put on the table without too much effort. I remember ( now ashamedly) trying to dispense advice on this blog about wholesome cooking on a budget when I was a stay at Fleecenik Farmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08106921810537649303noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7406081679640735007.post-54353928500225868422014-09-25T09:44:00.000-04:002014-09-25T09:44:06.499-04:00ProviderKale provides life lessons. Before it has sprouted it is just a pretty picture in the Johnny's seed cataglog. So much promise and youthful adventure in such names as Toscano, Russian Red. First romance comes to mind in the Sunrise variety. All those glossy photos show what kale can be; unblemished, blight free.
This year I planted too much kale. This happens in spring we make promises that we Fleecenik Farmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08106921810537649303noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7406081679640735007.post-4147881636567997752014-09-16T09:45:00.000-04:002014-09-16T09:45:38.099-04:00Handling Abundance
The kettle is on. First thing in the
morning, it heats the water for my one cupper coffee filter. The fuel
that gets this mama moving. This mama is always moving these days.
Work is busy with college students buying books, planning author
events, front list (new books) being released in greater numbers as
the calendar creeps towards Christmas.
Home is busy. The school schedule Fleecenik Farmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08106921810537649303noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7406081679640735007.post-83210978009187941442014-09-10T13:58:00.000-04:002014-09-10T13:58:09.868-04:00I paint my door red
My new door. That something like a new door should carry such weight in my world may seem a silly thing to some folks but it signifies a lot to me. Last winter was brutal. I have objective proof of this all around my home. The roof caved in on the wood shed. Snow fell off the roof and blocked our windows. Tristan was outside three times in one day just trying to keep the snow that slid off Fleecenik Farmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08106921810537649303noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7406081679640735007.post-31211948387339883392014-09-09T09:41:00.001-04:002014-09-09T09:41:14.312-04:00Food for Thought
It is nearing dinner. After piano
lessons, we go home; hopefully to be there by 4:45, and then I will
have to answer another one of those grand illuminated questions of
life, “ What is for dinner?”
When I think about how much mental
space is consumed with this question every single day I think, “Gosh
imagine the empires conquered, the great art that could have been
made, the good Fleecenik Farmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08106921810537649303noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7406081679640735007.post-516403519692799602014-09-06T08:45:00.001-04:002014-09-06T08:45:39.181-04:00Catch a breath
Pacing. Some days;
despite my best intentions, there is just chaos. Yesterday I woke at
a little later than intended. I wrote for a while, got ready for
work, swept the living room floor, prodded Evan to get ready for
school. I left the house at 8:20. I thought I would have enough time
to pay the after school care person, put Tristan's bike in the car so
I could take it to Fleecenik Farmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08106921810537649303noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7406081679640735007.post-5591834163621993452014-09-05T09:39:00.002-04:002014-09-05T09:49:05.148-04:00Dust to Dust
For a just a few minutes I stand in
the middle of my house and say.” This is good.”
The afternoon sun shines through the
living room windows. The house plants are plump and healthy looking
from their morning drink of water. I walk across the floor and do not
feel grit on my bare feet. In the kitchen everything is in its
place. It looks ready for cooking. No smells of dirty socks, Fleecenik Farmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08106921810537649303noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7406081679640735007.post-54783564601899374382014-09-04T09:54:00.001-04:002014-09-04T09:54:13.261-04:00What is enough?
I dreamt last night that I had a large
sum of cash; so big it would not fit in my hand. I remember feeling
anxious that I did not know what to do with it. It sorta flopped all
over the place in the way I imagine such a volume might. Bills
scattering around my feet. I felt clumsy with so much. I know I had a
conversation where I told the nondescript presence that I did not
need this Fleecenik Farmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08106921810537649303noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7406081679640735007.post-10713271243298057622014-09-03T21:28:00.000-04:002014-09-03T21:28:07.744-04:00First Day of School
I was awakened at 2 am by a cat who
thought this was a good time to eat. The simple act of removing his
loving, purring ,annoying body from the room so that I may get back
to sleep has insured that I will be awake for a while.
The alarm goes off at 6 am. This was
going to be the day to start the new writing regimen. Wake at 6
before everyone else. Get at least a cuppa coffee and a half an Fleecenik Farmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08106921810537649303noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7406081679640735007.post-82059812409240065562014-09-03T21:03:00.001-04:002014-09-03T21:03:20.238-04:00How to be a single parent
How to be a single parent? Well; by fate, circumstance, death, your own dysfunction, someone else's dysfunction, that special stew of dysfunction you shared with your former partner, you find yourself the only parent in your home responsible for the little people that reside there at least part of the time. Statistically speaking the majority of single parent homes are headed by women. A largeFleecenik Farmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08106921810537649303noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7406081679640735007.post-54138283348826783372014-04-09T11:00:00.000-04:002014-04-09T11:00:38.942-04:00I Dwell in PossibilitesI dwell in possibilites... I love this idea. It is not just an easy play on the simpler notion of hope. It seems concrete. It means that you can accept that anything is possible.
In this vein it has finally arrived...that moment when what I hoped would be a balanced life that allows me to live on my land, work enough to avert financial disaster and provide some security in the form of, if not Fleecenik Farmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08106921810537649303noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7406081679640735007.post-7735972217597738602014-04-03T11:53:00.002-04:002014-04-03T11:53:46.947-04:00On food, balance and mushrooms
The following is my homework this week. How cool is it to take a class that asks you to think about goals to establish around food?
I have been thinking a lot about food lately. As a homesteader food is primarily what encompasses most of the work I do on the homestead. I was a stay at home mom. I grew a 600 square foot garden, boiled maple sap down, grew meat birds and layers, chased sheep,Fleecenik Farmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08106921810537649303noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7406081679640735007.post-21543994258694134472014-03-26T11:42:00.001-04:002014-03-26T11:42:42.225-04:00I'm gonna Soap Box!Grr...I just had a job interview. It was actually a job I would love to do. I probably could have it if I wanted it. But as is the trend these days it is only part-time and it pays 8.00 an hour. But part-time is 4 days a week and it would be mostly weekends. There is so much about the job that would be great. It is in a greenhouse, the people that run the business seem pleasant. I Fleecenik Farmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08106921810537649303noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7406081679640735007.post-47825007869405597882014-03-18T18:04:00.000-04:002014-03-18T18:04:34.306-04:00BalanceIsn't this a funny word? In one respect it can mean that something is in equilibrium and in another respect is can can be easily thrown out of whack. It doesn't feel solid to me; a tipping of scales in essence puts one out of balance. And then there is the holy grail...trying to find balance.
I feel like I am always trying to find balance. In my mind this is a threefold goal of having Fleecenik Farmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08106921810537649303noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7406081679640735007.post-90040231000026692422014-03-11T09:43:00.000-04:002014-03-11T09:46:58.850-04:00And in other news!I have an article published in the Daily Bulldog! Trees are tapped, seeds are planted in little pots, and we are going to get another 17 inches of snow this week! Spring will come..spring will come...spring will come...
Fleecenik Farmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08106921810537649303noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7406081679640735007.post-58362038209193509082014-02-13T11:14:00.000-05:002014-02-13T11:14:36.416-05:00Some of this and some of thatWe are getting ready for another storm here. I feel grateful that I do not have to be to work today. I plan to spend some time baking, maybe some handwork and some reading and some homework for
my class. Tomorrow I will have to find my way to work in the snow. But today is yarn, tea and bread...yum!
Last semester I took a class in Organic Vegetable production. As part of that class I Fleecenik Farmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08106921810537649303noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7406081679640735007.post-40111874981829519792014-02-06T09:39:00.000-05:002014-02-06T09:39:09.845-05:00By Design part 3
In the By Design Part 2 I shared my observations of my homestead. My goal in this post is to look at ways I can close the loops between coop, compost bins, gardens and house.
Why would I want to do this? It seems like it could be a lot of work. One of the promises of permaculture is that the initial investment of sweat equity helps to create self-sustaining Fleecenik Farmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08106921810537649303noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7406081679640735007.post-68268001492847647722014-02-04T09:31:00.000-05:002014-02-04T09:31:07.622-05:00There is observing and then there is OBSERVING
In my last post I shared my observations in terms of understanding how systems work within my homestead and I thought before I continue with an understanding of the interdependence of these systems I would take another stab at observation. The observations of the last post were what I see with my eyes; observations I've gleaned from working with this land over several years now. But this Fleecenik Farmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08106921810537649303noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7406081679640735007.post-67480739709354320892014-02-04T09:28:00.001-05:002014-02-04T09:28:38.839-05:00By Design Part 2
Permaculture design is a whole system approach to design. In order to understand the whole system one must observe what occurs within that system. If I were to look at the homestead only as its individual corners I would miss connections that could be made between each corner. For example, lets look at four key areas to the homestead, the chicken coop, the compost pile, the garden and theFleecenik Farmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08106921810537649303noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7406081679640735007.post-67576935530432168912014-02-02T15:24:00.000-05:002014-02-02T15:24:22.682-05:00By Design Part 1
The idea of design is an interesting one for me at this juncture in my life. First it implies creativity. Homesteading is an inately creative pursuit. When the idea of homesteading first sparked my interest it was in my little 5'x 10" community garden plot in Portland, Maine. While my initial interest in gardening sprouted from the ability to grow fresh food for Tristan and myself and save someFleecenik Farmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08106921810537649303noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7406081679640735007.post-39859248957364328932014-01-31T12:00:00.001-05:002014-01-31T12:00:10.128-05:00Many hands...
My family has been through a lot of changes over the last year. A person who had the knowledge of some of the tools and chores around the homestead no longer lives here…along with some of the tools he used. I have had to find work outside the home whereas I used to be a stay at home mom who knitted all our hats, mittens, socks and other wooly goodness. I used to grow and put up most of Fleecenik Farmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08106921810537649303noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7406081679640735007.post-4308514327779823722014-01-30T12:36:00.003-05:002014-01-30T12:38:19.515-05:00From this day
This is a problem mind map that I made. It is an exercise from a class I am taking in Permaculture design through the small farming and sustainability certificate at Umass Amherst. This is an eye opening exercise for me. Permaculture design has always intrigued me. I practice some of its principles on my homestead but felt like there were some elements to its overall implementation that IFleecenik Farmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08106921810537649303noreply@blogger.com0