Farm postings. There is no shortage of internship or education opportunities, that’s for sure!

This past weekend I went to the annual winter conference for NOFA-NY. Last year was my first time at the conference. I was lucky enough to receive a scholarship this year, and as long as I remain in this area, I plan to go each winter.

In two-and-a-half days I learn so much stuff that come Sunday afternoon I am forced to pass out for several hours. Seriously. My brain has been bouncing from cover crops, to pests, to beer making, to botanical drawing, to herbs…and on and on.

I am always amazed most by the people there. I see familiar faces of seasoned farmers who are still trying to learn. This is exciting and reassuring. It means there will always be something new and interesting to learn with farming, and that no matter how long I do it, I’ll never know it all.

It’s great to hear veteran farmers talk about things they screwed up, or new things they just figured out, or issues with land and/or water. It makes me feel less alone and less frustrated.

I also love to see the range of ages. There were some teenagers there, up to people probably in their 80s. In one session I sat next to man about my father’s age who was dressed very well and said he was a gardener who went a little overboard and ended up starting a CSA. That is damn impressive!

There are people who are just barely dipping their toes into the water of farming. Even though I feel really behind the curve, I realize I’m not. I have some land, and some knowledge, and a lot of gusto, and I think that’s what counts the most.

Being there also gives me a lot of hope. It’s so easy to get negative about the current state of food and farming but being surrounded by over 1,000 people who have their lives invested in turning things around makes you realize that all is not lost. We will eventually right this ship.

Swing your partner round and round!

I got to try contra dancing for the first time too. I’ve done Zumba before, but contra dancing seriously whooped my butt. I was sweating like crazy and it was a heck of a good time.

I’m planning my seed order now. I’m still going to give it a few weeks though. It’s hard to keep myself in check though and not get overly ambitious. As soon as the weather starts to look a little less bleak I’m going to go out around my property to scope out some new growing spaces.

It looks like I’ll be growing mostly greens and herbs. I will expand my bees as well. If you are interested in following along with any of it you can “like” the farm’s facebook page.

Jack and I made Lembas or Elvish Waybread and then wrapped it in paper Mallorn leaves.

We got Jack all three Lord of the Rings movies for Christmas. I had only seen them in the theaters and it was so much different to watch them each a day apart. The story is so good. I love, love, love big epic stories of good vs. evil.

I think what I enjoyed the most is how in the movie there are many grey areas between those forces. Sam, the kindest of all the characters (in my opinion) must slay orcs in order to save Frodo. Gandalf, a “good” wizard, must also fight in many battles, and kill many.

The Ring itself pulls the worst from those who possess it.

I really liked that. I fancy myself a kind person in general, but I have my moments of lesser character. Also, the older I get, the more I realize how much grey there is in the world, and how little black and white. There are no simple answers when it comes to “good vs. evil.”

There was one part in each of the films that resonated with me deeply, and I wanted to put them down here so as not to forget them.

Frodo – “I wish the ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened”
Gandalf – “So do all who live to see such times, but that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.”

“Frodo: I can’t do this, Sam.
Sam: I know. It’s all wrong. By rights we shouldn’t even be here. But we are. It’s like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger, they were. And sometimes you didn’t want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it’s only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something, even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn’t. They kept going. Because they were holding on to something.
Frodo: What are we holding onto, Sam?
Sam: That there’s some good in this world, Mr. Frodo… and it’s worth fighting for.”

Frodo- “How do you pick up the threads of an old life? How do you go on when in your heart you begin to understand there is no going back. There are some things that time cannot mend. Some hurts that go too deep that have taken hold.”

I hope to think on these as we enter the new year.

Ok, my 2012 resolution is basically done. I wanted to run five 5ks and the Warrior Dash. I ran in 4 different registered 5ks and I did the Warrior Dash (2nd year I’ve run it, both times completely by myself). The problem is the run that happens here on NYE is sold out! I can’t even believe it, I didn’t even know that could happen.

Yes, I could just show up and run it, but I feel like a jerk doing that. I did run a 5k on my own Thanksgiving morning (because I really didn’t have the time to do the Turkey Trot), and I may try to actually run on NYE in my neighborhood anyway.

I’m glad I did so many. Even without a lot of training or prep I managed to get better with each one. At the last one, two friends even came out to cheer me on, and then we went for brunch.

I didn’t want to make one that had something to do with weight loss or exercise or anything. Truth be told, I can really only exercise when the mood hits me. I also hate doing it outside when it’s cold out. We’ve already drastically reduced our wheat consumption over here though, which is something we are going to keep up in 2013.

For homeschooling: I might try out a new writing curriculum with Jack, not positive yet though. I do want to implement a minimum of 30 minutes private reading/day, and another 30 where I read to him each day. And this leads to the next resolution….

The main thing I want to focus on this year is reading. I’m amazed that even though I majored in English there are a bunch of classic novels I’ve never read. It’s shameful really. (I may even try to read Pride & Prejudice, because I refused in high school, but we’ll see….)

Each month I am going to read a different novel and I’m going to read a different one to Jack. Just yesterday we started reading The Hobbit. Yay, a few days ahead of schedule! I am going to begin with A Hundred Years of Solitude because I’ve owned it for a million years, and still haven’t read it.

I have a loose list in my head of some of the others. I think I’ll finish up all of the ones I’m sure of first, and as others come along I’ll add those to my list.

What’s your resolution?

the last of the rum balls

As usual, I gave a lot of homemade gifts this year. I started planning for this early….very early. At the end of summer I did a whole bunch of canning, which helped immensely this winter.

I love putting up food, but have realized I’m awfully bad about actually consuming it all. So I made certain things I knew would make great gifts. I made some jams, mustards, relishes, and ice cream toppers. I also started some vanilla extracts months ago, but they still seemed fairly weak for now, so I only gave away 2 jars.

Chris makes some excellent beef jerky, so I gave little baggies of that to my meat-eating friends. I even wrote up the recipe over at From Scratch Club too, in case you want to make some for yourself.

I also wanted to do a few non-edibles. I used this tutorial to make some whipped body butters, and I got a few items from Mountain Rose Herbs to make salves.

I made some close friends and family knitted items as well. Those really need to be started in November, at least for me, to make sure I finish them in time.

For Jack and Chris I’d say we spent a little more than usual (which by traditional standards is still pretty low), but I feel really excited about all of the gifts I bought for them. Chris has been planning out some elaborate gift for me too, and I can’t wait to see what it is.

Plus we are gifting each other tattoos in the new year, since the last time we got them done was when we lived in Washington, over 4 years ago!

Now that we live somewhere with a lot of friends, all of the advanced work really made a difference. I was able to give to more people than usual this year. Next summer I’m going to keep this in mind as I work my way through gardening/canning season.

What homemade goodies did you give or receive so far this year?

shale

petrified algae

tree transport

ready to come home

the helper elf

I have so much to be thankful this year, it hardly seems fair. I hope you have a lovely day of feasting and friendship today.

In much of my adult life I’ve had an interesting series of Thanksgiving meals with friends, since we don’t live near family. They’ve all been lovely.

I’ve had vegan Thanksgivings, Friday Thanksgivings, one where I was already so tipsy on red wine that I scorched the mashed potatoes, and tomorrow will be the second I’ve had with a turkey from the farm I work for. And this year when Chris pulled out the innards I actually knew what the gizzard was, and wasn’t freaked out.

I am shocked at the love and gratitude and great friendships I’ve had as a grown up. I’ve lived lots of places and it just seems highly unlikely that I’d be at such a wonderful place in my life surrounded by so many amazing people.

Like my friend Paul used to always say….”You are like a cat, you always land on your feet!”

Indeed.

Spirit of Life, Saratoga

Almost 4 years ago we moved from one coast to the other and our lives changed in a lot of ways. One was a huge cut to our overall income. This put us on a different path, and I honestly feel like we are much better for it.

It is easy from time to time to get off the path. Sometimes less important things or people creep in and cause a lot of distraction and I forget the end goals.

Recently I joined a discussion group on Voluntary Simplicity organized by Jillian. She wrote a great post about it which I strongly suggest you read if this sort of thing strikes your fancy. I had to miss the first two meetings but I have done all of the readings and really like the course so far.

Week Three’s topic was work. Just in our small group I realized that I am in a minority (I think) when it comes to how I view satisfying work. To me work is very physical. If I’m not manipulating things it doesn’t seem very gratifying.

Most of my “work” now belongs to the things I do at home. It isn’t necessarily the most fun, and I’m certainly not getting evaluated on it or anything, but it’s important and I take pride in it.

I enjoy baking bread and making our Christmas gifts and sewing Halloween costumes. In a minute I’ll start working on chicken pot pie for dinner, but I already made the crust this morning with Jack. There will be something more special about dinner, because I made it myself. I put time and energy and thought into it, and to me that’s valuable work.

In the course of the discussion I mentioned skillful work and that I think it’s important for everyone to have some form of skill. You should have something you are good at that you could use to help you trade for some other good or service, if necessary.

Oddly, when I brought this up a woman in the group said, “Whoa this is sounding a little bit Tea Partyish if you ask me.” Whoa. Ok, I know not everyone has the same perspective as me, but when I think Voluntary Simplicity I think of living with minimal inputs, closer to nature, low tech.

People seem to forget that our “modern” way of life has been very brief when you look at the history of humans over time. It is amazing and interesting to be alive during this area, but there’s no way to sustain it for the long haul.

I want to put forth the energy and the time to learn skills that should not have been forgotten in the first place. I don’t choose to learn chicken butchery because I think it’ll be as fun as a walk in the woods. I do it because it empowers me and it adds to my own ability to sustain myself and my family.

Voluntary Simplicity, to me, is living with technology and modern life in a way that is fulfilling, not all encompassing. To be thankful and grateful for all that the modern world can do for us but to still be able to put up your own food, whether you choose to or not.

I’m not sure exactly how that has anything to do with people who can’t understand why we need taxes for roads and fire departments, but I guess everyone is allowed to have their own opinions.

(The course is through Northwest Earth Institute if you want to check it out.)

We have had back-to-back evenings filled with government and history this week, and it’s only Thursday.

Monday we went to our friends’ farm for Guy Fawke’s Night (also called Bonfire Night). Our friend is English and so is one of our neighbors. I rode up with our neighbors and there was another English couple at the party too.

The other couple and my neighbors both made parkin, which was really good, and we also got to try treacle toffee. Since I love molasses both were a winner for me.

Jack and I talked about effigies earlier in the day and made some of our own. We talked about who Guy Fawkes was and about plotting against a government. Then we talked about what it means to be drawn and quartered and that when a person was quartered their body parts were brought to the four corners of the country. Pretty gruesome but interesting nonetheless.

Jack and his devil.

Tuesday was the election and we discussed how only white men could vote originally. He was confused and asked why I wouldn’t have been able to vote. I told him that among other things, they thought women weren’t smart enough to be able to have that responsibility.

Then he looked at me and said, “People used to be mean.” I asked what he was talking about and he said, “Well they used to cut people up and not let people vote.” I informed him that in many places people are still very mean, and that many people still can’t vote in other countries. Pretty mean indeed.

Then I stayed up until quarter after two to hear all the speeches after the election. The results of this election gave me hope that we are all becoming less mean. There are more women in elected office now, people who had said horrific things about women were voted down, an openly gay Senator was elected, and several states let voters choose if homosexuals had the same rights to get married as heterosexuals…and those voters said, “yes.”

There is a long, long road before us, but I feel like progress is being made.

I’m just glad I have a kid who knows when it’s a proper time of year to eat tomatoes, that homemade bread tastes better than store bought, and that being mean isn’t right. Yep, I call that progress.

our altar

Today is Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead. I enjoy celebrating this as it reminds me of growing up in the Southwest. I’ve always loved Mexican folk art as well, and really love the ideas behind this holiday.

Jack and I made Pan de Muerto last night, which you leave out with other goodies for the spirits who come to visit, on this day when the veil between our world and theirs is lifted. It’s filled with orange and anise, a little sweet and a little bitter, just like life.

On top you can make a skull and bones as well, and that was Jack’s job this year. He made a pretty awesome skull, although the little bones sort of slid down the sides as it baked. It’s still delicious!

We also left out pumpkin tea, Mexican chocolate spice cookies, Jack made a special bowl of his leftover Halloween candy (he even unwrapped them so the “good spirits” specifically could get at the sweetness), he also put out coins and I added a squash, some candles, the sugar skulls Jack made in art class, and this cool little Our Lady of Guadalupe light I got ages ago in Phoenix.

This year I was especially glad we did this. Chris and I both lost old friends who were very young and died suddenly. Just this week a good friend of our family passed away as well. In some odd way it comforts me to place these ofrendas out for them. It makes me feel like the distance is less, like those spirits still walk among us.

Even if those spirits are really just memories, I’ll take it.