Here I sit in one of my favorite office spaces otherwise known as the front porch. And I'm thinking about things like, "why can't I just find a comfortable position for this damn leg?!" "What makes me think things will get better soon or even not-so-soon?" "Maybe if I go inside and sit at the table.... " "then I'll miss the miracle (some people called this the sunrise)...." "I love this place." "damn cats" " I hate blogging about some of this shit" "It's called staying alive sweetheart" "you know it is cathartic as hell" "but never enough..."
...but never enough.
Story of my life.
and the beat goes on.
What if.... (jumping tracks again).... what if, we, collective we, everyone reading this, my Circles friends and facebook friends and my family or at least my family-of-friends, what if we all shopped local and supported each other this holiday season? What if we swapped goodies and inventories and helped each other succeed?
I have some friends with bees that I'd love to swap tiedye shirts for honey. I mean, how cool would that look at your booth?! Your yellow and black shirt? Add your own graphics and boom. uniform. I'd totally trade tiedye for honey.
I don't know. Or cards. I could swap some "bee...." cards for honey. or whatever.
Lately things are pretty weird around here. Apparently I missed an important deadline because there are no food stamps in my near future and I should have a notice saying that there are pending benefits. This sucks big time. Receiving food stamps is what keeps us afloat. But as some of you may know already, I suck at deadlines. Like big time suck.
Suddenly I have been awake and unmedicated too long. The thing is, getting back to a certain level of comfort is uncomfortable. So now I grit my teeth and wait for meds to kick in. And over and over my brain says, "why? why does it hurt like this? why?" Which I want to shout at my brain, "Dummy! It's because you had major surgery!" "You are the one who didn't set alarms to take meds and opted to sleep all night instead of stay ahead of the pain...." "Why even ask why?" "choose Bud Dry" which I've never drank. I don't even know if it is still a thing and I don't think it became a thing until after I quit drinking. But their marketing works! I'm betting there is only a narrow band of boomers (am I a boomer? '68), that even know what I'm talking about here....
Jadyn says, "yeah, but we're making it..." Are we though?! We don't know if some kind soul will be paying our Evergy bill this month. Do we? Just because we've received a few gifts and were able to buy the basics like dog food and chicken feed and cat food and a coke at Kwik Shop, that doesn't mean we are making it. But on the other side of that, it does feel less tight, less dire. Thank you friends who have purchased cards or tiedye and thank you to those who have gifted and over-tipped. It makes a difference. It really does.
Oh, weird little side note.... ALL our ducks are in molt. I was getting 2-3 dozen duck eggs a week and now I'm 0-1 a day. Yesterday the egg I got was gorgeous. I think maybe someone coming out of molt laid it. So maybe that last hold out that was still laying went into molt now because I still only got one egg. Duck eggs I see for $4/dozen. It's not a lot, but most of my friends give me $5/dozen anyway and 2 dozen eggs = $10. $10 is not nothing. I know because I have nothing. If you do not have nothing, if you have anything, $10 is sneezeable. If you do not have anything, $10 is something you can work with. Strange how that happens.
So we have always had a little hobby farm goal in mind and I have about a million other ideas every day for this place. But we've talked about it in earnest lately and with the whole not driving thing for the Punky, we are figuring out what we want for the future.
So homesteaders we are. What does that change? Not a lot on the surface. It changes everything in attitude. I now have an 18 year old business partner and a fledgling start up business. So as of now, everything falls under the umbrella of Hippie Chick Farm. Hippie Chick Creations... division of HCF. Tie Dye For.... HCF. Poultry? Dogs? Cats? HCF. HCF. HCF.
Speaking of cats... we have some (five) that need new homes. There is nothing wrong with them! They are sweet pets and good hunters. They would easily potty train since they were potty trained once as kittens. Whether you need a barn cat or a house cat, I have you covered.
 |
| Bandit! He is sooooo handsome. |
 |
| Tiger. Also commonly called.... Tigey-wigey. lol. He is super sweet. |
 |
| I'm holding Sissy. I call her "lil sis". She has a special in my heart. |
 |
| Tiger again. Cuz.... he's Tige. |
 |
| Here Sis is helping me with my field glasses. She's so helpful. lol. |
The animals are ALL catching moles right now. I wonder just how many moles we have?! I see 2-3 new dead ones every day. I watched Rosie eat the head off of one this morning. I guess she things she's Ozzie?! She left that gift in mouse form for Jadyn the other day in the house. Thanks, but....
Anyway, this farm thing. Between J and I, we think we can make things work for us. But there's so much we want/need. Trying to find the things we can go ahead and start on while we are yet THIS BROKE, is difficult. I think we're going to make some chicken tractors for grass feeding. Sounds like a valid use of the windows are have at our disposal. And a small green house. The person I got the windows from said she had visions of a spectacular greenhouse she wanted to make with them. For realz. I could build a giant greenhouse with the number of windows we have!! I got them on the cheap because, well, because this is one of those people who loves me and wants good things for me, and I think I can make something out of them that other people will want/crave/rave about. I also think there are enough windows to craft, make the greenhouse of MY dreams, and make one or two decent size chicken tractors. There were 63 of these windows, and more than half of them are big. They are oh-so-cool, let me tell you. Or actually show you. I'll show a couple projects for house that I've used them for.
 |
| Stairwell gates. I had already made the lower gate, and it keeps the dogs out of the attics. We had an extra cat here last week, and we attempted to gate this off completely. They can still squeeze through, but it is a cool contraption. The window lock rotates around a little piece of whatnot that I put on the wall to secure the gate shut and you can turn it from either side, so it is functional and old school and just plain coolio! |
 |
| Here's the close up of it. I left a glass pane in the middle in order to paint it up really cool, but put chicken wire in the other 2 panes so there'd still be adequate airflow. I used screen door hinges and the old handle is still on the window, so a person can just grab it and swing it shut and latch it when needed. |
 |
| This is called "the gate in my doorway...." I can't have a closed door because of airflow. Heat and AC and whatnot. And it keeps the dogs out. Or in, whichever is appropriate at the time. It does nothing for the cats who jump it like it's not even there. But I can keep the pretty princess in my room at night and know she's not wandering the house and still point a fan straight at my room and get some air. |
Now.... thinking about John Q. Public and these treasures. Well, I don't really know him all that well. I know my quirky side and I have to assume (pardon my arrogance) that everyone thinks the things I design are cool and there will be a demand for them. But I like them not re-painted. Not modernized. Not decor-themed. They are authentic and raw and have a story to tell. So I'm creating a wall hanging and we'll see what other people think. Or will we? lol. sometimes I don't actually know if someone likes my stuff and I don't have a lot of friends who know the compliment sandwich rule, so I maybe can't hear some things at some times. So she shrugs her shoulders and goes.... "I dunno....."
And back to HCF. We want to make this a working farm that keeps us alive and afloat. Growing, breeding, selling, planting, harvesting. And there are two dreamers here now, so nothing can stop us. Except us. and well, we can do that very well. unfortunately. Last night the reality of how seriously without resources we are overshadowed the dreamers and they succumb to fear and depression. Was it a lack of proper nutrition? Maybe. Lack of sleep? maybe.
OOo. OOo. side note. Kid thinks we are just going to magically get this revenue to cover this somehow. But she's miserable in her bed. beds. The full size mattress was a bust. So we got out the twin sized bed. And she is super uncomfortable. She is searching for the cheapest mattresses on walmart.com and thinking I am going to magically generate $100 in some sort of sales to cover this. This is sweet and naive and dreamy all at once. But it's that thing about.... $100 is not that much. But if you have nothing.... its out there a ways. Because next card sale we rake in buys dog food and cat food and I hope we get a tip so I can actually buy both of those things..... *sigh*
The goodness of others. I don't grow tired of it. I feel like *should* be somewhere else in my ability to pay back to self-sustain, but I'm not. I know God will take care of us and I know it will come through kind hearted people, some maybe even strangers.
And I'm back around to grateful. I am SO grateful for....
- the high-quality people in our lives
- the magic of miracles
- the farm-stead we live on
- the animals we lucky enough to take care of
No comments:
Post a Comment