belated updating

I know, I know, it’s been forever again since I’ve written. But I am keeping busy. Sadly the UK CSA season is over and I spend most days indoors, fast becoming a pansy in the cold. It’s one of the most difficult adjustments, though there are many, this whole being indoors all the time thing. It feels so unnatural, so small. My eyes haven’t had to see beyond the distance of a few blocks in far too long. I miss the space on a farm, and being able to see such great distances, across the landscape during the day, into the sky at night. But, complaints aside, “home” is the often intangible, but very real place I have built with Josh, and the infrastructure grows more solid by the day. Ever tried to put a nail into an old barn door? Very difficult, that’s the strength I’m talking about. Forgive the ogling, I’m just so freaking happy with him.

Though we have left the country, we have not left our homesteading education and continue to practice every day; for the health of our bodies and the savings in our pocket books. We’ve begun getting real milk again and are turning a gallon a week into butter, yogurt, cheese, and maybe a cup or two of cocoa. I’m trying to move away from refined sugars and gluten, but that’s a story for later. Our greatest success lately has been an incredible batch of super spicy kimchi and a very beety batch of sauerkraut from produce from the farm. I absolutely love making this stuff, and raving about its healing properties, but I’m preaching to myself as much as anyone because I have such a difficult time eating it. The kimchi is too spicy for me to eat, just a sniff makes me cough, and though kraut makes me feel amazing, it’s still such a foreign taste! My days of living solely off of mac n cheese, cheerios and bread are long gone, but that comfort with blandness still defines so many of my food preferences (I have found home style mac n cheese to be a great canvas for the sauerkraut, by the way) I’m just a ways behind Josh, who will eat any fermented product alone by the forkful. He started another three crocks of much milder kraut the other day, just for me, so I’ll have to get into that soon.

The majority of my time is not spent in our kitchen, but at school and work. For the few that don’t know, I’m studying to be a Licensed Massage Therapist at LHAA. And I’m very much enjoying it! I’ll have to write more on it another time, but I will say it’s amazing how something I had no plans for turned out to work so well for me. As for work, well yes I do have a town job, no need to run on about how it’s going; once you’ve worked for yourself anything less is pretty disappointing. While chatting with my mom awhile back about said job and its annoyances I told her it was like she raised us kids to be continuously discontent, and she said, “Well, yea!” And, realizing it was silly to complain about having the ability to understand you’re worth something, I had to thank her. She expressed similar feelings about her job before starting her own business, and has since turned into a serial entrepreneur, as well as “totally unemployable” Ha, so great, I’ve got this wellspring of pride and desire to do great things, just not the cash flow to get them started. Well, hopefully it’s only a year until I can really get some big bites taken out of my loan debt. Josh and I are tracking our income and expenses religiously, with the guidance of Your Money or Your Life. We stay afloat and keep up, but getting ahead-actually towards something (land!)-will take time and greater income. So I am very much looking forward to being an LMT. Graduation is December 2012, inshallah, so we will be living in Lexington at least until then.

This blog will go back to being written from my perspective, not from our business, but a word on Josh now anyhow. He’s is doing very well too! He has been hired on for research work in the six high tunnels at the same farm as the UK CSA. He’s also in the process of applying for the Teach Kentucky program, which is majorly exciting, and so fitting.

That’s all the blathering I can muster for today, maybe I’ll update again soon, maybe not. I hope you all are well, enjoyed Thanksgiving and look forward to more holidays.