Chainsaw Parties 2013, a year ago this week

  Tim, Gus, Dave, and Alicia

Hello, all!
You and your families are invited to:

Chainsaw Parties
March 9 and March 16, 2013
10 am- 3 pm
Come help us cut down and de-limb trees in preparation for our new orchard.
Once the last dozen trees are down, we'll be moving logs into place.

If you have a chainsaw, pulleys, heavy duty rope/cable, and other tools for pulling, limbing, or cutting- bring them!

 

This was the humble invitation I sent out wondering, "If a tree doesn't fall because a chainsaw party is thrown and no one comes..."

But people came.  Chainsawing is addictive.  Can't stop with just one.  People who have a chainsaw quickly cut down everything chainsaw-able of their own and are delighted to be invited on a warm March day to come and chainsaw some more.

This was us a year ago today.  
Here's the orchard today.  You can see the downed trees lying perpendicular to the slope in the foreground.

Farming games

Tim discovered European style games a number of years back, introduced them to our family, and now we play regularly.

Several of have settler/farmer themes- Puerto Rico, Settlers of Catan, and Agricola. 


 

Although we first played them exclusively for enjoyment, Agricola especially is applicable to our experience of farming.

So, if you like thinking games and are curious about the balancing act and trade-offs involved in farming, give Agricola a try.

stories

I love stories.  I read, listen to, and watch tons of them.  Fiction, non-fiction, autobiographical, historical, science fiction, mystery, on CD, live and in-person, on YouTube video, hardbound, paperback- love 'em.

Lots of different stories of lots of different kinds have informed our journey. 

Hope you're inspired in your story!
Enjoy.

Transition to creative sustainable farming

• Greenhorns: 50 Dispatches from the New Farmers' Movement, Zoe Ida Bradbury
• The Land Stewardship Project, newsletters, Farm Dreams class
• Living on the Land class, U of MN Extension

Hunter-gatherer life before agriculture

• The Clan of the Cavebear, Earth's Children series, Jean M. Auel

American pioneers and homesteaders

• Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman tv show, kids and I watched, especially early episodes of her transition from Boston to rural life
• Little House on the Prairie series, Laura Ingalls Wilder, kids and I listened to CD's in van, best homesteading books from kids perspective I've found
• Anne of Green Gables series, Lucy Maud Montgomery, CD's in van, best rural community books from kids perspective I've found

Moderns who lose technology and recreate a low-tech society

• There Will Be Dragons, The Council Wars series, John Ringo
• 1632, Ring of Fire series, Eric Flint

Practicing farmers who share their stories

• La Finca CSA, my favorite CSA
• Pastures a Plenty, our pork and beef suppliers when we lived in the Cities
• U of MN Extension Small Farm Hotline, practicing farmers return calls
• 4H, got to go in person and hear these stories, nicest families around
• Rural Renaissance Network
• Emmanuel Farm
• Sustainable Agriculture Project videos
• Modern Homestead, Harvey Ussary, an early find which influenced our thinking on permaculture and sustainability
• Best permaculture YouTube videos
• Sepp Holzer youtube videos, follow links for additional parts
• Sepp Holzer's Permaculture and Rebel Farmer books
• Seed Savers Exchange, wonderful heirloom seeds and stories of the people who grow and contribute them
• National Geographic Food Ark article, July 2011- see especially the cautionary tales of the potato famine, the seed guardians who died of starvation, and Jemel Mohammed- these are the stories of hard times which inspire me
• Eat Local Farm Tour
• Farmacology: What Innovative Family Farming Can Teach Us About Health and Healing, Daphne Miller, MD 

Other non-story resources

• Small Farm Library
• Center for Rural Policy and Development
• Permaculture Research Institute, Cold Climate
• Ecological Gardens
• Natural Capital Plant Database

fundamental nature

What do I do when my fundamental nature has taken me as far as it's going to go?

Try something completely contrary to my nature.

The question came two years ago in my kitchen in Minneapolis.
Here I am.

Homesteading 2012-2013- Looking back

I've been playing chicken with myself about this blog for months.  Approach-avoid.  Approach-avoid.

Overwhelmed.  Exhausted.  Embarrassed.  
Those are the feelings at the top of my queue about last year right now.
I burned through my enthusiasm sometime in the fall and it hasn't re-sprouted yet.

How can I possibly sum up the learning of a year of preparing to homestead in 2012 and our first year of homesteading in 2013?  
Do I have the heart-strength to remember?  
Do I want to look? 

This morning I do, at least enough to put the title out there and consider what I'd like to write about. 

• A year ago this month
• What worked, what didn't work, and what we can do to make it better this year
• What were our goals, what actually happened, and what are we aiming at now

Maybe if I take time to remember, I can laugh and feel some pride in where we've come from instead of only frustration in how far we have to go.

Maybe if I learn from the burn-out, I can pick a more sustainable pace for creating a sustainable life.

Maybe.

Hey, stranger things have happened- sledding with chickens, deer wars, and sweet broccoli, for example.

And I was granted the adventure to be there when they did.

Alright, strap yourselves in.
Let's take a look.

Gorgeous

Our front yard

After a foot of snow

The driveway

Photos by Anjali

Too polar to bear

Title credits to Anjali.  Nice one!

We've had 6 snow days this year.

When I was a kid, not only did I walk 10 miles to school barefoot and uphill both ways, but I got one snow day per year if I was lucky.  Maybe I got 2 once in my life.

But, six?!?  We're going a little stir crazy. 

Here's what we've been doing to keep from losing it altogether.

Mark invented this sport by sledding down our unplowed driveway with my favorite rooster Regal on the first day it was 25 degrees below zero.  It was such a hit (with Mark anyway) that he now takes the chickens sledding regularly, at least the ones he can catch.  Anjali's even gotten into the act.

I'm pleased to say that no chickens and no kids have been injured in the making of these videos.

"Whooo-whooo!  It's like the log chute ride for chickens!"
-Mark, age 7

Mark and Regal, first chicken sledding run