Picking up the threads

I have not been blogging for a while, but as the season turns, I feel the urge to pick up some long neglected threads. One of them is this blog.
 

I think the stirrings of the increase in energy in the natural world around me are "at fault", or to be thanked, depending on point of view. It has been a very hard winter and is not yet showing any real signs of change. The brake job on our truck, Artie, which was the first of a handful of repairs -- for which we have the parts --stopped due to colder weather and Tractor Guy's slowly failing health and energy. Artie still is partly jacket up, half in and half out of the garage, awaiting warmer weather and hope of more energy for TG. If we can at least make him drive-able for a few miles, we can get him to a real mechanic. Hopefully the young man will be willing to work with our supplied parts and can be paid with the CarCare line of credit. But for now, we continue to be thankful for friends willing to carry us to town for food, feed and occasional fun.

Meanwhile, the ol' homestead is limping along. We wintered over only a handful of laying hens, TWO of whom gifted me with eggs this morning. They must have felt the change in the energy 'cause through the winter I had found only one per day, at most. The poultry freezer is still mostly full --including most of the fowl I

harvested for Thanksgiving. I posted Tom the turkey to offer him to someone for eating or breeding and he as gone off to be a yard ornament/pet. As much as I love turkeys, I think I will stick to chickens and add ducks back into the mix. Khaki Campbells are my breed and I will soon be looking for some, hopefully locally. I really miss having a couple of goats (can't have just one!) but not sure if I have the energy to milk twice a day any longer, or to move electric fence in the warm months.

Seed starting season is at hand and actually I *should* be making soil blocks and seeding onions today, but I had not been planning to plant any this year. But I put an order in to Johnny's for storage onions and, for TG, some scallions. I have never had luck with them direct seeded. This year I seeded them into the little soil blocks as well. Johnny's orders are always the fastest to arrive of the local seed companies I patronize so hopefully starting will not be delayed much. We still have a lot of veg in the freezer too. Getting used to the reduced food requirements now that we both seem to be eating like old people is, I think, even harder than when I went from cooking for a family of 7 plus add-ons to just me.

Meanwhile, I continue to love to spin, and to knit and crochet as well... but not nearly fast enough to
use up the yarn I make! I do not want to sell yarn, even if I were to label myself as the "rustic, backwoods spinner." I am self-taught and do not care to try to make my yarn resemble the stuff from the store, even remotely. I love texture... visual and physical... as evidenced by the hat I knitted myself this winter.