Framed

 The recent weather has been kind to us and we are making steady progress forward. At least now it takes less imagination to see the future building

Greek Progress

We continue to make progress on the new packing shed. All the posts are in and the first roof truss is in the air, though not quite in its final position. This shot really gives an idea of the scale of the new building compared to the existing one. Somehow it reminds me of the Parthenon in Greece. Must say, trying to get that first truss in place was interesting...the first one is always the hardest (I hope!)

Building Again

I've been neglecting the blog for the past few weeks, but now with a big new project on the ground, I'm back with updates and pictures featuring the stars of the show: namely Dad, Sean, Blue, Luci and the all-important skid-steer!

If you've been to the farm, you've likely seen the "character-filled" little building that we used as the packing shed, wood-fired boiler room, workshop and general storage catch-all. It has served us well for the past 6 season, but we've finally outgrown it so up and out we go! Since we are still using the building for a variety of purposes, we couldn't just tear it down, so we are building around it, and then will "deconstruct" it from within the protection of the new structure.

First post going up!

The ground is thawing and it is a muddy mess! But 3 posts are up!

Three sides done, amid a change in the weather...6" of fresh snow, now melting.

The original building never seemed all that small, until we started surrounding it with 22' - 24' posts. As of today all of the posts are up and tomorrow we will start installing the girts. Supposed to be 50°, so some welcome weather and lots more mud!

Winter Wonderland?

After a barely productive and somewhat comic trip out to the timber to cut wood today, I caved and ordered my first pair of snowshoes.

We'll see if their arrival functions like the groundhog and his shadow...either an early spring or plenty of practice opportunities??  Hmmm, wondering what OSHA says about snowshoes and chainsaws??

Chicks with Fiber

The chicks are now a little over 3 weeks old and don't seem to mind sharing their space with some freshly-dyed Shetland fiber.

They are now starting what we refer to as the "baby dinosaur stage". Their legs stretch out and look too long for their bodies. Many of their feathers have come in, save those on the head which are still downy.

They are now rather scruffy, awkward-looking little birds that look like nothing more than miniature prehistoric creatures.

Community

Community was a concept we were very interested in when we first moved to the farm. I thought when we first moved here we would get a visit from the area "welcome wagon" and maybe someone would stop by with some banana bread or some other treat, shake our hands and introduce themselves.
Um yeah, that didn't happen. Not to say we didn't have support, my family is the most supportive group you can imagine, and there are so many of them nearby, that maybe folks just figured out who we were through the rural grapevine and didn't feel the need to know more. Regardless, before too long our theory that we were pretty much out here on our own, (socially, politically, culturally) felt pretty well confirmed. (in all fairness, we didn't go out of our way to introduce ourselves to many of the neighbors either, figuring that local grapevine had already taken care of it.) There were a couple of exceptions here (thank you Ruth family!), but not too many.

It took a couple of years really, to start meeting some slightly more distant neighbors who were a little more like us. Doing more alternative agriculture ventures and conversant on subjects that we were excited by. This was promising! We have learned to stretch our physical concept of community to include not only the people with whom we share a mail carrier, but to all edges of the state and beyond to anywhere the internet can connect us with other like-minded folks.

Enter the Blogosphere! Through writing this blog and following the blogs of so many exceptional people we have become connected in a very real way to people whom we might never meet in the corporeal sense, but who undoubtedly know us better than many of our neighbors. We have learned new methods of gardening, cooking, animal husbandry, fiber processing, beekeeping and I could go on and on and on. It is so very exciting, and yet it has become so ingrained in our daily lives that we have started to take it for granted. (until the power goes off or it snows hard, since we are on satellite internet).

I was just reminded of this wonderful phenomenon by my amazing friend Cathy who did an interview for a local magazine on just this subject. You can read the story here. And thank you again, Cathy for including us in your list : )
The networking that occurs through these online communities is simply amazing. How all of these connections are made between this crazy electronic maze of people from all demographic genres is really rather mind-boggling. I think it was best summed up by our dear friend Malinda who said (in absolutely the most positive way possible), "Freaks Flock." And so we do!

Chicks Worshipping the Sun

No really, no skin shots, no skimpy bikinis, no tanning oil. Just two-week-old chicks, silhouetted in the winter sun. And boy can those chicks revel in the sunlight!
: )