2010: We Are Thankful

2010: the year of growing thankfulness. It's been a big year.

I stood on the site of our future yurt and looked up slope (above) and down slope (below).

From the road, other than the collection of white poles in the ground, our farm infrastructure doesn't look much different than it did a year ago.

We happily added a motor home to our assortment of covered living spaces, but no barn or workshop, no greenhouse or large storage shed make us look like "real farmers." And yet.

A year ago, we had a frozen row of almost 80 augured holes, waiting for the ground to thaw enough to plant our trees. That wouldn't happen until March. Now we have about 300 apple trees.

A year ago, we had an overgrown corner of our land, covered with small saplings and a few oaks. Now we have a cherry orchard and peach orchard (above and below).

A year ago, we had two growing pigs. They were delicious. Now we have two new pigs in the freezer, and a gilt almost ready for breeding. She's lonely, and friendly in her loneliness.

We have empty structures dotting our farm. Empty piglet pen, still stuck on the downhill slope, waiting for new residents.

Empty beehives. A very disappointing failure, though we hope that the Queen or Queens have found a suitable place to overwinter, and are happy and healthy, eating their honey stores.

Empty pen-itentiary, waiting for the spring and new chickens, to scratch the soil surface and fertilize the orchard. For all my initial chicken flavor disappointment, I made chicken pate today, with the three pounds of saved chicken livers from my pasture birds. I don't think I would have a more intense, delicious appetizer in a fine restaurant in France. Delicious. I eagerly await next year's chicken growing, when we will trust that half our birds won't die of heat prostration. (Another disappointing failure, but at least it wasn't a total loss.)

We've purchased quite a bit of equipment this year. The cattle trailer brought our five new cows to the farm.

The mill will "soon" mill lumber for our yurt foundation (or cut boards for whatever other project we need).

Little Blue, the tractor, is put to use almost every day, and we are happy to have him.

I had more experience in the garden this year: the garlic that grew turned out well. We enjoyed kale for several months; tasted a BLT with the BLT all from our land. And I learned a good lesson in growing: crops you don't water don't do that well. (It was a hot summer, and I didn't want to go outside a whole lot. Farming: it'll grow your character in ways you might not even want!) My garden today nestles several beds of garlic, and several other beds of motley, frost-bitten root crops. Pulling squishy radishes and grape-sized turnips today pleased the cows. I'll try to be more diligent with my planting next year.

It's been a year of much new life, both new to this earth and new to us. Most happily, our two heifers.

Most appreciated: Bianca, our milk cow.

Most difficult to acquire: Fern (and Babe and Toots), with Phil's mammoth, 27 hour straight drive (with numerous stops in frigid weather in strange gas stations in the middle of the night to try to fix the lighting on the trailer).

And, most masculine: Benny the ram and Beau the buck.

It's been a year of death. We buried Chloe the dog. (And almost every day I think, "I can set this pot down and no one will touch it! Hooray!")

And, much more painfully, beautifully, tearfully, we buried my niece, Gracie Lou.

Through all of this, and much more, the Lord has been faithful.

Thanks be to God.