Accessing

We have had a strangely short, warm winter, but today it is the normal cold of January.  Depending on where you are at in Iowa the temperatures vary from 6 to 11 degrees F.  With wind chill, it is more like -1 to 6 degrees.  It's the kind of day that causes me to curl up and become useless.  It's a day that I just sit and think.

I have pulled out all of my farm lists.  Things I want.  Tasks to accomplish.  Money to raise.  Actually, it's a bit depressing.  The only thing I accomplished last year was getting the chickens.  But then again, I have made gains on quite a few projects.  I have been accumulating supplies for  building my tiny little hay barn.  I have picked up a couple of things that will go into my horse playground.  I only need to finish up the roof of the greenhouse and then it will be ready for plastic.  The spruce windbreak on the west side of the property got a few more trees last year.  Just another dozen or so and I should be done on that side.  I have been collecting seeds and nuts and as soon as the greenhouse is finished they will be started.  I am hoping to be able to start more of my own plants, then my money will go towards plants that I can't acquire locally.

A fifty pound bag of orchard grass is ordered and paid for.  A half pound bag of buffalo grass is ordered and paid for.  I need to buy more blue grass but it's not on the shelves yet.  That's an improvement.  Last year grass seed was just a twinkle in my eye.

Fence continues to be my greatest challenge.  Everyone expects there to be a norm.  This is how you do fence.  This is what it is going to cost.  And it's just assumed that you have that kind of money.  After all, if you moved to the country and built a house, you HAVE to have money.  But I have spent a great deal of time on permies and I think I have some ideas to avoid spending a great deal of money.  Then yesterday, I got lost on another site that was nothing but fencing.  It was handy.  I found some answers. And, I have more ideas. It's such a relief to have ideas and a plan.

Today, I will spend in the house.  I will combine all of my many to-do lists.  The "I Want" lists.  The goals and the business plan will be updated.  Then I will clean the bathroom.  Mop the floors.  Get the laundry done.  Tidy the kitchen.  Then tomorrow I will go out with the truck and start picking up tree debris from the woods.  The debris will get taken to where I plan on building up fence and to every place where I think I might want to try doing some hugelkultur.  Who knows, maybe I will even get the flat free tire for my wheelbarrow put on and I just might even get some manure tucked in amongst the rotting logs to get the hugels started.  Maybe, just maybe, this could be the start of a productive year.

Louie