In Which Dawn is very Busy and Cannot Find Time to Write the Blog, so Decides to Let Faithful Followers Know that She Has Not Forgotten, but is Just Busy and Will Get Back to Writing the Blog Eventually.
But rest assured, the layer hens are producing lots of eggs, have not bust out of their new fencing – yet, and the honeysuckle is reviving but at a pace I can cope with. The new brushcutter is a wonder, and I have cut huge swaths in some brambly areas. Today is the last burn day until October, but things are too wet to burn, so we are now relegated to making piles of cut brambles ready for that time, unless our friend Mike has time to do some chipping for us (he’s an arborist) before then. The Veg garden was tilled last week by Hay Guy, and I’m hoping to be ready to plant peas and potatoes tomorrow – a little late for both, but not by too much, I hope. Onions and tomatoes are in seed trays, basil too. Speaking of Hay Guy, he cut some hay across the road last week as well – the earliest in my memory – I think in his too.
One teen is back from her Spain/Italy trip – loved it, despite the rain over there. Barcelona and Pompeii were definitely highlights. She is gearing up to stage manage the upcoming school musical, among other busyness, and is thoroughly enjoying her Chemistry class. The other, finished university for the year, and soon to be no longer a teen, is heading to China with a friend in a month, so is also fairly busy pulling together last minute details. Hubby’s business is booming, and he is looking at hiring yet another team member this year.
Pigs are supposed to arrive the end of May – maybe I’ll be able to squeeze in time for a post then, and broilers some time after that. This is a year in which the focus is to maintain the status quo. I have moved to a full time position in a larger branch of the library, just a short commute down the highway from here. Not as close as the small local branch I’ve enjoyed so much this past year – but – full time. I couldn’t pass it up. Double the pay, full pension. You know.
So. Working full time and farming full time is not as easy in my fifties as it might have been had I been twenty years or so younger. I’m not totally sure how I’m going to manage everything when I already found myself fairly stretched last year, working part time. And it’s not like I farm at a scale even approaching what most would consider full time. We’ll see. I have the younger teen on hand to help out, unless she gets a better paying job elsewhere. It seems obvious that I need to spend my “spare” time carefully – and screen time, even in the form of blogging, may not be my best choice. I have more than once this past month caught myself passing up family time to sit in front of my computer screen, and that’s backwards.
So this is just to say, we’re still here, still doing our small farm thing. Among other things. I just won’t be posting about it very often, at least for now.
I hope you all have a great summer/winter (depending which hemisphere you’re reading in). I do check all your blogs pretty regularly, but I may slow down on commenting (maybe that”ll be a good thing for some of you!). I look forward to hearing about winter in Christchurch and Melbourne, summer in northern BC, Ontario, Washington, Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, Virginia, PEI, the UK and France.
P.S. I tried to find a classic Pooh image of the “Gon Out. Bisy Back Soon” quote, but couldn’t find one I liked. The Disney version gets the point across well enough. Here’s an image of the classic version to satisfy my Engilsh soul.
Sailors Small Farm 
Bisy indeed! Every last one of you. But it sounds like a good busy. Spain, China, booming business and the new full-time position! Congrats to all of the Sailors – well done! No wonder you haven’t had time to blog.
I hope you strike a comfortable balance with more hours at work/less time on the farm soon – but don’t forget to squeeze in some “you” time too. Is bringing in a farm intern or a WWOOFer a possibility?
I will still look forward to your posts (no matter how infrequent) and will appreciate even more (than I do already) your visits and thoughtful comments on our blog.
Take care
Meeting Khaiti’s sister Melanie did put the idea in my head of maybe a WWOOFer someday…I’m not enough of a farmer to be able to train an intern. Not enough farming either. But yes, maybe WWOOFers sometime. Accommodation is an issue, though not insurmountable. I’m still kind of adjusting to the new normal, so it’s hard to think past this week, let alone next year. Thanks for you kind words. I’ll be here, just maybe not as talkative as usual :).
You have so much going on in your life that just reading about it makes me feel tired! All best wishes as you navigate it.
I certainly understand. I woke up this morning realizing that over the next couple of weeks I’m going to have to edit a lot of screen time out of my life too. We’re entering our busiest time and I need to reserve an hour to wind down with a book at night. And as busy as things are getting here, they’re not as busy as your life right now. I must admit though that I am looking forward to seeing your pigs, so I hope time will permit a post after they arrive. 🙂
I think it’s wonderful that your children are traveling. Exposure to other cultures is a great form of education and helps equip a person to make better decisions and form better values, in my humble opinion.
Thanks Bill. I’m always in awe of your daily posting habit, and look forward to it in my daily email check in. I frankly think you’re probably a lot busier than me, what with acres of market garden, all those goats, more pigs than I raise, and at this time of year, getting ready for market, but I am frankly busy enough for me. Yes,my husband and I both believe the old adage that “travel is broadening”, and have endeavoured to give the girls as many opportunities as possible to experience other regions, countries and cultures.
As long as you’re still out there in the blogosphere, we’re happy. Congratulations on the new job and also on the decision to hang out with the family instead of in front of the computer. Love to you all from the Homestead 🙂
Thanks. I’m still lurking on the net for a few minutes in the evenings or mornings, enough to catch up with what all my favourite bloggers are up to – but I’m trying to limit my time at this to just that – a few minutes. I’m a fast typist, but not a fast thinker, so commenting often takes me more time than it really should – I’m very prone to shooting my mouth off without thinking (at least verbally), so one of the advantages of the screen for me is that I can edit what comes out of my head – but it is time consuming. Yours is probably the one blog that the rest of my family looks over my shoulder to read, so you can bet we’ll be keeping up with Homestead doings. Love to all of you too.
Oh yes…we have very much in common. Isn’t it wonderful to be able to read and retract/edit before delivering.
We’re very honoured to attract the interest of the entire sailorssmallfarm 🙂
Ditto
Yeah, I knew you’d relate. I planted trees yesterday. Hopefully they’ll be growing big and tall and fruitful while I’m out there being bisy backson.
I’m guilty of disappearing from my own blog for a good while now, and loved the opportunity to hear about your life and what you’re juggling right now. They all sound like tremendously good reasons for not being ‘here’ so much! That’s wonderful news about the library position, but I can imagine it’s adding complexity that will take some getting used to. Good luck with the good nuttiness of it all, Dawn. Love the Pooh quote and your own spin on a classic Milne intro!!
Thanks. I thought of you and your blog and busyness when I was writing this post :). The new job is wonderful, I’m really enjoying it. The veg garden is going gangbusters and will probably get away on me, but kids are helping to water and weed, and the younger one has built a raised bed to grow flowers in. We planted some fruit trees on Mother’s Day, and when I say we, I mean all four of us. So yes, I think I am enjoying the “good nuttiness” of it all. Seasons, right?