Trampoline Restored

Saturday morning, after I had nicely planted my blackberries the evening before, I awoke to find that the pigs had come through, and, apparently, were not interested in blackberries solely for their milky root systems, but liked blackberries just because they liked them. Or some part of them—I was able to recover every one of the plants they dug up, so why did they? I have no idea.

Phil fixed their electric line, and they are again contained.

The sheep then escaped on Sunday night, but Phil and the boys and I corralled them, and they, too, are again contained.

Phil is getting ready to start sawyering again. We are in need of lumber for finishing the greenhouse, so he got the sawmill down to the lower pasture, where we have plenty of logs to cut up. He didn't start today, though.

We spent the morning having a "Holistic Management" discussion, in which we tried to crystallize our vision. That was intense, but good, and I felt like we were able to talk our way through some differences we've had in the past. Vision-related things, being so near the heart, can feel really contentious at any point where there's not total agreement.

In the afternoon, Phil put the new battery in our little Corolla, filled up the tires, and test drove it. We're hoping to sell that nice little car in the near future.

Then, Phil thought he would do something nice for the boys. We had the trampoline set up most of last year, on the sort of flat section right in front of the motor home. But mostly flat is still rather tilted, and we took the trampoline down last winter.

But we have a tractor with a bucket, and Phil has a pretty good idea of cut-and-fill (where you cut the upper slope and use that dirt to fill the lower slope), so he spent about an hour and made a perfectly level pad for the trampoline (yes, using the level and everything). I was surprised that the uphill slope was cut about 18", and so the lower slope was probably about 18", too, which means that the trampoline must have been much more sloping than I realized!

After we celebrated with jumps by all males, Phil was walking by the large commercial freezer. It had been making a louder sound than normal today, and he glanced at the temperature gauge. It was reading the in the "refrigerated" zone, not the "freezer" zone. When he opened the door, he found the sausages thawed. And the pork chops, the roasts, the spareribs, the bacon.

He almost threw up. Almost 300 pounds of meat which needs to be used up in the next three to five days. Five hundred dollars for processing alone so we could sell it legally, not to mention the price for the special soy-free, organic feed.

And it was now 5pm. How do we disperse that much meat, tonight?!

After a brief, frantic period of research to see if we could salvage the situation, we decided the best and only way to salvage the situation was to give it away. While Phil drove up to our church's parking lot (a local school), I called and emailed everyone I could think of. So he is there now, handing out pork.

And, you know? That's not the worst thing that's ever happened to us. From his occasional calls, he's had fun handing out delicious meat. After the initial shock, which left me crying and shaking, it became yet another challenge to be weathered.

Had we not discovered it until it went bad—that would have been an absolute disaster. This is a deep, deep disappointment. Another financial blow in a year that seems positively littered with them.

But we carry on, with hope and perseverance, and trust that the meat will nourish and bless our friends and community.