In the online world of social media and blogs, it is always easy for the author to put their best side forward, conveniently hiding the, umm, not so pretty side... Well, I won't lie, it has been tough this Spring. German blood runs strong through my veins. Order. Cleanliness. Efficiency. Ja! Throw all of that out the door and you have me, right now. Unorganized and chaotic.
Now, add a few homesteading failures throughout the Spring and early summer to the current disorder that is our garage and house.... Breathe....
- Honey bees... DEAD, assuming a combination of cold winter and high humidity in the hives took them down.
- We lost a couple of goat kids to the brutal cold Spring. Our still unfinished barn was certainly a contributor to their demise. A first time mother that didn't look the least bit pregnant and who abandoned here twins after birth on a chilly February day didn't help either.
- Baby chicks... 2 DEAD. Drowned in the cow water trough.
- Blown battery on the garage solar system. --Replaced defective battery with reputable name brand...
- Tractor is still suffering from some mysterious hiccup that time has kept me from properly tending to..
- We had to replant most of our garden starter plants because of some "cheap" potting soil we purchased that molded shortly after our seeds sprouted, killing off most of our young plants.
- We lost 36 of my 40 grape vine cuttings that I propagated this Spring after the ducks discovered the moist wet soil they were growing in, in the planters. To salvage the remaining four, I had to get them in the ground.
Then, add in the clawfoot tub shower faucet that decided to crack and spring a leak, leaving us with an operational bath, but no shower option until the new faucet arrives next week. How about the injection pump on my car that needs to be replaced and the $1600 of repairs we just paid out on our Tahoe. Lawnmower...
Want me to go on? I could, really! Dead, dead, broken, broken, dead, broken, broken, broken...
I don't bring these problems up to harvest sympathy or pity! Not at all! I list them here to highlight the proof of my own homesteading failures and challenges. As mentioned earlier, it is all too easy to highlight the advancements and successes that we have made on our homestead. It is tempting to cover up all of our failures and attempt to paint a pretty, peachy picture. A quaint and romantic life on the farm. How is that for quaint and peachy?
Not all is bad news on the homestead though! There have been bright spots this Spring too! We have an operational hay elevator!
I installed the new (to me) motor on the elevator and greased up all the moving parts. It is a little rough around the edges, but it is operational and all ready for the next crop of hay!
Speaking of hay, we cut our first crop a few weeks ago (with our fine neighbors) using our newly acquired haybine! Could this be the first year of not needing to purchase hay off-farm?
Completely unrelated to hay... I put together two Adirondack (Muskoka) chairs from scratch. Eh, why not, it is not like there is anything else more pressing to complete around here... [read: sarcasm]
And two beds...
It is possible I may have a touch of ADD.
Whoa, what is that shiny, smooth, soft-on-my-feet surface?
We have started tiling our kitchen, bathrooms, and mudroom! Yay!
The old, temporary kitchen cabinets are out and I have begun building and installing our new ones (because I like to torture myself and because I am unwilling to pay $10,000-30,000 on kitchen cabinets). I even brought the remaining dishes into the house that have been sitting out in the garage since we moved here, way back in 2015! No cabinet doors yet, but... do I sense some order?
You can't forget about some re-purposed barn wood. Here, I used linseed oil to seal the wood, rather than contemporary polyurethane. The 1/2 gallon mason jars are perfect for dry goods storage and organization. I also think they compliment the barn wood fairly well.
I might be traveling through a bit of a valley right now, but even the valleys can be beautiful. Eventually, I'll get back my order, cleanliness, and efficiency. For now, I'll just have to try my best to enjoy the journey.
-Jeremy