January 13th
Today I finally got to spend a day at home. It looks like I will have to work and extra 24 hour shift tomorrow, but I got enough accomplished today that I don’t feel too about having to work another extra day. Besides, with all the projects we have planned, the overtime pay will likely come in handy.
I began the day processing up a deer that was in the cooler waiting to be cut up and ground. I then went to a local chicken farm and purchased a couple of large fans for the green house. They are much bigger than I expected, so I think we are only going to use one for ventilation. The other couple that we co-oped with to purchase the greenhouses to save shipping costs want one as well, so we still need to take them theirs. I was going to take it yesterday evening, but decided to wait until the weekend. They have already erected their greenhouse and I want to get pictures and see how it looks, in the daylight.
The rest of the day was spent doing laundry and prepping for my 48 hour shift. I managed to get all the Christmas decorations down last weekend, but still need to clean the house after. I found myself procrastinating on that task, so will add that to my to-do list next week. Mr. Fluffy Pants and I opted to kick back in the recliner for an hour or so instead. No matter how much I love my job, I do not always sleep well there and decided that some relaxation time was important for my own sanity. I sometimes feel guilty if I’m not working toward accomplishing something on my time off….but keeping my sanity, on some days, is actually a major accomplishment. Today was one of those days.
We had a great “family meeting” after dinner last night. We discussed more details of our goals for the year. We made some decisions that needed to be made to begin progress on the goals we have set. We made a decision on where to relocate the freezers, allowing for more work area for butchering and other food processing. We made the final decision on where to place the garden, and how to lay it out. We have some prep work to do. We will remove the older raised beds that are falling apart and lay down ground cover before erecting the greenhouse. Jessa came up with a potential great idea for inexpensive raised beds, using recycled food grade IBC totes. The more I learn about her idea and extension of it that is being used, especially in drought ridden Australia, the more I’m loving her idea. It looks great for busy homesteaders that still work jobs off the homestead.
JD is working on a plan for somewhat “portable” railing system for hanging/skinning carcasses when we butcher to eliminate much of the lifting. We discussed ways to change things up to make the future deer processing more efficient and more “family friendly”. Those plans include a way to enclose the porch so that we can have a heat source, preparing freezer meals ahead of time to be able to eat quickly and on time without extensive prep and cleanup, and making sure we have set “stop time” to avoid the exhaustion we all felt during that crazy two week period when we were working from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. The ideas that flowed out of the three of us were so much better than what any one person can come up with. This just reinforces my idea that working together and creating a community is beneficial in more ways than it appears on the surface. While there is something to be said for self sufficiency, I think there is more to be said for helping one another and working together to benefit everyone involved.
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