Chicks and Tiggers

We didn't buy that property we came to see the last time I posted. There were topography and creek issues. We did just move to Missouri though a few weeks ago and are renting a house w/ gorgeous woods and pastures. The heat was pretty extreme the first week and there was no A.C. but that's been fixed. The woods have ticks and chiggers and I guess anyone that has woods and tall grasses are feeling their bite this time of year.

Having ticks is new to me, I didn't have them at my place in Texas. It was hard not to freak out when I saw the first tick on my skin. Now I keep a cup of soapy water and tweasers at the door to pull ticks off the dogs. It's easy to catch the ticks on us before they bite and they go right into the toilet if possible. When I come in from being outside I just really check closely and pick them off with my fingers. There haven't been that many and it's almost getting rare to find one.

Texas had a ton of chiggers though and my first experience with them I had over 200 bites just on my legs and my nephew got eaten up as well. He missed almost a week of school and I was so sick. I felt horrible and guilty, so I read everything I could about chiggers.

I read that they take 4 hours to locate a spot to bite but I can't find that link again. Since I've gone under that assumption however, along with some basic treatment that I'll tell you about later, chiggers don't bother me anymore. I guess everyone knows by now it's not the chigger under your skin that itches. Once you start to itch, the chigger is gone. What causes the itch is the little tube that is left under your skin formed by their saliva that liquefies your tissue and your body's reaction to the saliva by hardening the surrounding area. The itch from this bite can last for weeks and after constant scratching can become infected. I used to use finger nail polish, chiger-rid, the pink stuff, oatmeal baths and anything else I could find to relieve the itching. There is a much better way.

First, the obvious prevention (which I don't really follow anymore unless I'm going deep into the woods) is tucking your pants into your socks (some even add a rubber band around the sock line), wearing mud boots sprayed with Off and spraying your pant legs with off. I don't really bother with that too much anymore.

The trick is the shower. I used to keep several sets of work clothes in the bathroom and would come in every 3-4 hours, throw my possible chigger infested clothes right into the washing machine, and head for the shower. Scrub well with a soapy rag focusing on areas where there were clothes fit tighter like waist, sock, underwear and bra bands and really scrub the belly. That will get rid of most of the problem right there. If you are in a remote location with no access to water, I've read that you can use a dry cloth and scrub down. I usually wear loose fitting clothes, as few tight fitting articles of clothing possible and don't wear socks; that is, again, if I'm not going deep in the woods.

We have gotten a few bites since we've been here but most are from when we first arrived, walked the woods and then just began unpacking the moving truck. I didn't shower till it was too late. I don't think I've gotten any new bites since I make sure to shower after being outside. After the shower I apply Plaintain (Plantago major) salve to any existing chigger bites. That's it, the chigger bites don't itch, they don't get infected and I don't think about them for hours and hours, sometimes all day. When I can feel the bite "waking up", I just put on some more and that's it. I had to fly to NY to pick up the car we left behind and couldn't take the salve with me. The bites didn't itch till the next day and it wasn't even bad! If you've ever had bad chigger bites and tried all the over the counter stuff, this stuff seems truly magical. I made the salve for my dog and had it handy when we first got here. I tried it, but knowing how badly chigger bites itch, I didn't really think it would work. It's almost instant and I haven't had even one episode of crazy itch that chigger bites have always put me through even with all the over the counter remedies.

I had two other bites from when we first arrived, I think fire ant and a giant mosquito or spider bite on my forehead. The salve didn't work as magically on them, but quelled the itching some and all the bites are very tiny now and almost completely healed. I ended up using a poultice on the big bite on my forehead and that fixed it right up.

The salve is very easy and fun to make. It's good to keep on hand not only for chigger bites, but cuts, scratches, aches, burns and I could just go on and on. You almost certainly have Plantain growing nearby. For the bites that the plantain didn't work as well on, a poultice of plantain did work. There are many websites written by people much more qualified than me about salves, oils and poultices. So if you have any interest, do a little research and you'll find so much information.

Here is what I did though. First locate the plantain (Plantago)not the banana looking fruit. It will be where you walk a lot and it's nick name is "white man's walk". Don't pick plantain that has been sprayed with pesticides, near the road or has possibly had a car parked over it. When I've pointed it out to people they almost always say something like "that's just yard junk" or "that's just a weed." It's one of the easiest plants to identify. In most photos of it online, the plant is big with a seed stalk. However if you mow your yard, the leaf will be much smaller. This is a nice plantain patch at our new rent house.



Make an infused Oil -
Pick the leaves on a dry day and don't wash. If there is dirt, you can scrub off with a brush. If you just have to wash, you can get a shallow bowl and lightly swish the leaf in it a bit, but that's not preferred. I've read to semi-dry the herb and I've read to put it in the oil fresh. I like to leave it out for a day or two on a towel, but I think I won't do that next time. Coarsely chop it up and put in a completely dry glass jar, I use a quart mason jar. Poke it down (I use a chop stick) and add olive oil to the top. Label it and let it sit room temp for 6 weeks. Write on the label when the 6 weeks are up. Strain small batches through a cotton cloth and squeeze to extract any oil. Let the oil sit a few days and see if there is any water separated from the oil. If so, carefully pour the oil into another container and discard the water. You can use the oil at this point. Store in a cool room.

Salve
Warm (plantain infused)oil to 150 in a double boiler. To approx 6 parts oil, add 1 parts beeswax. You can also add 5 parts vegetable glycerin, but I haven't done that yet. It takes quite a bit of heat to melt beeswax and I did it on the woodstove. When the beeswax has melted into the oil, pour into your container (I use short glass wide mouth jars) and let it sit to cool. When I've put it near an open window to cool quickly, the center tends to cave in (which is fine, but a gift I didn't like the appearance). After it cools, if it's not stiff enough, heat it up again and add more beeswax. If it's too stiff, heat again and add more oil.

Poultice
For the bites that the salve wouldn't work on (or if you don't have salve), the poultice did work wonderfully. Find the plantain, chew it, spit it out onto your hands, put it on the bite or sore, and cover with a band aid or somethign to keep it from falling off. The first time I did it, of course I had to wash the plant and barely chewed it with my front teeth thinking it would be gross. I waited for the gross taste to kick in and it never did. It was good, like salad, and I ate some more just for the heck of it. A wet, well chewed gob makes the best poultice. You might think having green spit on you is disgusting, but when you get total relief from a bite that is driving you crazy from a plant that tastes like salad; it's not so disgusting anymore. Stop buying that pink stuff.

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In the evening, the babies and I have been sitting outside in some shade. The tail gate of the truck makes a nice bench to see a patch of phlox and tiger lilies in full bloom growing near by. The kittens run up and down the trees and when the sun is setting they try to catch the fireflies. Dorothy the Queen cat perches royally nearby on the trailer observing all the nonsensical play, but lately she's just happened to sit in the grass close to the kittens who have included her in their play. I think she must be enjoying herself, but would never admit it. Lucille, Lollipop, Barney, Vincent and the neighbor's dog John John that we are babysitting, sit in the shade with me watching the kittens play and sometime Lolli just can't help herself and will run after them stopping short before they whack her.

Rufus the pig sleeps under the deck in a cool bed of sand with some straw placed where he wants it. It's right under our bedroom window though and he snores. So that's been funny on some nights.

Since we've been here, very close up I've seen a fox who paused on the path to look at me and a falcon that swooped down. It's so beautiful here.

On a sad note, my most special cat companion Mazie Grace died the week before we moved. She was hit by a car. Her death has been the hardest to cope with and I'm still in the "it's not fair" and "why her?!" mode. She was my walking buddy and I imagined her and I walking the woods at our new place to find plants . When I go walking the other animals come, but it's just not the same without her. She would sit behind me in the evening and "groom" this spot on my head that always feels weird and would bury her face in my hair. Her twin brother Eicky is a constant reminder that she's not here.

Heading out

We may have found a place in Missouri and it's time to go see it and finalize the contract. This weekend we had a garage sale and are packing as much as we can into our vehicles so we can head out on another long road trip. We're going to leave what we take in storage until we get back next month for the official move. Unless this place has wild zombies roaming freely and toxic waste bubbling up from the ground, I think we'll take it.

We brought back 2 kittens with us from South Carolina that needed a home. They have extra toes! Their names are Bin and Bon.

Gravy

Here are photos of my niece and nephew. My nephew caught his first fish. Aren't they beautiful?

I got an email the other day from a recruiter looking to fill a position. It was a form letter and different categories relating to a job were answered yes or no. This was the first half of the form letter. I believe I could do this job!

Ability to Follow-up No
Ability to meet deadlines No
Ability to Work Independently No
Ability to Work with Others No
Analyzing and synthesizing qualitative data No
Communication Skills No
High Level Analytical Ability No
Multi-tasking No
Team Player No

Since my last post, we went to Missouri to look for land while Jeffrey worked. Then a few weeks later he had to go back out to work and looked again. We haven't found anything yet. Plus, but the sale on our property here hasn't closed. Any day now the lawyers say.

Crazy maple syrup time is over. It's not hard, but it has it's moments of being time consuming. There are a lot of amber bottles back in cold storage that made it all worthwhile. It hit while Jeffrey was away working, so I was a little pooped. That should keep us for a while and a few gifts to boot. I want to re-write the maple syrup post because it's hard to follow and I've found a few ways to simplify it. I was able to make more this year and I was by myself.

The good thing about maple syrup sugaring time is that it's SPRING. Holy cow this has been a long cold winter. Someone said the 12th worst on record. At the end of sugaring it was raining and wonderfully warm. All the windows were open with towels underneath catching the splashes. Sometimes the heat from the wood stove and the cooler outside air would swirl by independently and was a treat for the face and feet. I tried to keep it under 76 in here but it was hard when it was 50 degrees outside and the woodstove was going all day.

We've been making a little money these last few weeks selling our stuff. Buying all our furniture cheap and used (but nice) and selling it for about the same or more is a great system. That's free furniture and it gets better. The stuff that doesn't sell, I donate, photograph and write it off later on my taxes as charity. I love resale shops especially Thrifty Shopper in Cortland (though not for their furniture, we've gotten all of that from other resale shops).

I'm trying to find ways to simplify my day, I'd like more time to read. By about 8pm the eyes are crossing and it's very hard. The life of the self-sufficient should also be about more time for leisure. I think the area I could cut the most in is the amount of time I cook. I do make big meals so we'll have left overs, but I'm still in there too much. I really like to cook, but I could stand to streamline it a bit. So I'm going to work on that.

I know a woman that cooks once a month. She comes up with several recipes that use the same base ingredients or stock. For me that would be beans, rice and vegetable soup. I want to come up with a list of recipes for the month and try it out. Take a day and go shopping early, come home and cook all day or till I get done. I guess the recipe sheet will need a summary of about how much quantity I'll need.

I hate frozen soup , but I could easily can it. A good base soup can be vegetable soup one meal, a different type of veggie soup another meal with the addition of a few more veggies and some left over rice or pasta, for another day add a tablespoon or two tom yum paste and you have a wonderful Thai soup; a few tablespoons of miso paste and there's your traditional Japanese soup with healthy fermented soy. Miso is on the list of things to make at home one day. Greens like Collards can be chopped and heated 5 minutes with the soup.

Most basic ingredients can be bought and stored a long time in bulk like beans, rice, wheat berries (cook like brown chewy rice or grind into flour), a variety of grains, flour, sugar, salt, and oil etc. It really reduces trips to, money and time at the grocery store. My once a month cooking would include mass quantities of beans and rice that can be turned into all sorts of things. I think I've posted before about bulk buying from health food stores. You don't have to join a bulk club to buy in bulk and it's easy to find locations online. There are wonderful books out there on food storage but to start, for just rice and beans all you need are a couple of metal trash cans. It's also nice to have emergency food on hand.

I've debated about posting this for a while. A lot of people are hurting financially right now and this is a great way to save money for those of you that use flea drops and heartgard type medication. There are a lot of alternatives like pyrethrum powder, marigold spray, and additions to their diet. Check out www.petshed.com and www.equine-megastore.com for flea drops and heartgard (I used the generic heart medication. It's not in a chewy treat, but it's cheap.) You don't need a vets prescription either. I'm don't remember where petshed is located, but I know equine mega-store is in New Zealand. On equine megastore, the money is in Australian Dollars with the U.S. dollars showing. When you check out, your total is in A.U.D. and you'll think for a moment you have just paid way too much. They have a conversion table, so don't panic. I used both of these companies for years and I'm not getting paid by them. They are the cheapest I've found anywhere and you get your orders very quickly.

For vaccines, except for Rabies, I used Omaha Vaccines. This was a few years ago, but when I needed help learning how to do it; the company vet called me and walked me through it. I ended up talking to her 3 times. By the last call I know she thought I was a big dummy, but I did it. You can even get the little vaccine card and use them when the animals go to the vet. The vaccines come in little ice chests and are still cold when they arrive. I re-used the igloos camping for tent air conditioning and all sorts of things. Tent A.C. is a story for another time - but basically cut notch in the top, fill with chest w/ ice, insert fan in notch, rock on lid, instant A.C., brrr turn off fan.

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Tempeh "tips" and noodles

We're getting off of tofu, soy sauce and any other non-fermented soy products because of health concerns. Here's another link. The link was easy to share, but most of the herbalist I've been working with and books I've read state the same concern. One of my favorite meals that my mother used to make was beef tips and noodles. She helped me change it around so that it's vegetarian and I used tempeh. It was delicious. You can buy tempeh in the store or make it at home:

I didn't make nearly enough gravy the first time, so last night I made the gravy again for another recipe and doubled the water. That was enough gravy.

Marinade:
1/4 C Tamari (or soy sauce)
2 Tbl lemon juice
2 tsp chili powder (or Cumin or both)
2 tsp Olive Oil (to start, keep the bottle handy)
1/4 tsp black pepper
couple dashes liquid smoke
1-2 garlic cloves minced
1-2 Cup of liquid (I used broth). 2 cups of liquid if you want a lot of gravy

Cube Tempeh into small pieces and marinade 30 min - 2 hours
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Onion
Marinaded Tempeh
1 tsp Gravy Master
Flour
Egg Noodles
oil

Start water to cook Egg noodles. Cut up 1/4 - 1/2 onion (I like purple). Saute onion in oil with salt and pepper. When onions are translucent remove to a plate. Add more oil to pan if necessary and put tempeh in, use slotted spoon or tongs to remove from marinade. Save marinade to the side. Dust tempeh while in the pan with flour and fry 2 minutes on one side. Flip over pieces and dust the other side w/ flour. Fry 2 more minutes, adding more oil if needed (I use a ton of olive oil and freely dump in more as needed). Add some of the reserved marinade to keep moist. Remove tempeh & put on plate with onions.

Gravy: Add more oil to pan if you need it for gravy (I like mine oily) and put in 2-4 tablespoons of flour. Stir till lightly browned. Pour left over marinade in the pan and stir. Let it cook slowly till gravy is desired thickness.

When done, I put the onions and tempeh back in the pan with gravy to heat and mix it all up. Serve over egg noodles.

The gravy was so good that I might use it for enchilada sauce. I made the gravy again to serve over Polenta and I just loved it. I had never had polenta before and it couldn't be any easier to make. Its just corn meal, water, salt and butter. Here is a nice video and recipe. This is another great staple that I'm going to try to find more ways to use. After I made it and it cooled, I tasted it for the first time. It was bland, but satisfying. I ended up nibbling through 2 slabs of polenta while preparing the rest of the meal, it was addictive.

I did not use the tomato sauce and cheese like this recipe recommends. I cut 1/2" slabs of the corn polenta shaped by the buttered bread loaf pan, fried them in olive oil and poured gravy over it. How much more American can you get?

P.S. from my friend Garo:
Home made vanilla extract, how cool is that!

Dorothy bored on a cold day

This afternoon Jeffrey took me to a banjo concert at a library about an hour away. The weather wasn't that great and snow was coming down, very overcast and thick out. The scenery was pretty much the same the whole drive. Two lane winding county roads; up, around and over hills; snow blowing like powder over the tall snow banks lining the roads, snow covered fields with the tops of dried yellow corn stalks lined up in rows sticking out, old farm houses and barns, some falling down. Then BAM! Out of no where a giant, slow-turning blade filled the entire windshield and all of my vision. It must have been 15 stories tall and looked like it was right on us. We were passing a wind farm and the massive blades were down enough on a hill that when we were close enough to see them through the snow, they were eye level. The visibility was so bad we didn't see them till the last second. "Oh Lord!" I hollered. I told Jeffrey I thought we were about to be abducted by aliens or a plane was about to crash into us. They were so tall, looking at them made me think about dinosaurs.

We got a signed contract about a week and a half ago, and the earnest money on the property. I think it's been about a month since we put it up for sale. So far we have a pretty good record of being able to sell properties pretty quickly. We just use Craigslist, local papers, and for two of our sales - one month of Land and Farm. I setup a free blog site and posted all the good pictures from all the different seasons. The times to the airport, stores, and gas stations, along with photos of the area were posted. I kept deleting and re-posting the Craigslist ads every few days to keep it on top. Soon after the Craigslist ad was posted and people saw the photos, we got a lot of interest from all over the country. The only thing that held anyone back from coming to look at it for two weeks was the weather.

When I'm not selling everything I can to get ready for the move, I'm spending a good part of my day looking for land in Missouri and now know why we got so much interest in our property. There is only a dribble of information on these properties and any land you have even a faint interest in requires an email, phone call or in the worst cases, having to register at one of their sites to contact them. Is this top secret information? How much money do you get paid to post 5 words and no photo on an ad to sell a piece of land? A few places will have one photo, but it's usually just from the road. Most ads have very little information. A few ads had several photos, but even those for the most part still had little info. I would guess on about 60 properties, maybe 3 or 4 have a decent ad. It has just been such an unnecessary waste of time. There should be at least a minimum amount of information and photos for each property with a brief description.

I had to call most and ask my list of questions. The first is always, is there a creek or a spring? Then, are there woods, if so how much? You would not believe how many of these properties have year round springs and are not advertising it. I still have a stack of properties I emailed for info on and have no response after days. It would just seem that they'd be a lot less busy having to return phone calls, if they'd spend the time up front putting all the detail they can about properties online. They probably answer the same questions about the properties over and over, what a waste of everyone's time. Urgh what a game.

I think I've been through every online real estate site and online news papers for Missouri and have found 5 places that look like they might work. They're in our price range, have a spring and woods. It would be good to have fresh water and firewood on the land.

A shocking number of properties have just been cleared by people selling their timber before the property sells. Is this normal? I get this image of massive swaths of Missouri being cleared as we speak. Maybe these properties are routinely timbered, this has happened for years and are set aside for it? It's just been very sad that so many of the properties that would otherwise be perfect have been cleared of all their timber.

Jeffrey has to work in Missouri in March so we're going to drive out together. I called a farm sitter from an ad I've had on the fridge for probably a year, called her references and we're all set up. I'm so nervous about leaving the animals, but I get to take little mama Lucille with me. This will be the most excitement she's gotten in a while. She hasn't been able to go to the property with us when we take the dogs because she's only about an inch off the ground.

While he's working there, I'll try to find land. The area we've been looking in will have good soil I think, but I'll poke around in the dirt when I get there. I looked at tornado maps and these properties aren't in the high or highest danger zone.

There are a few things we have to work on to get ready for the trip and to sell the house. Jeffrey's been working on finishing up the remodeling so we can put the house up for sale. Since I lost my job, we aren't able to fix it up the way we wanted to. We're just trying to finish it as cheaply as possible so we can sell it and go. The money we have to buy property and build a simple house is very fixed. The homestead we are going to build has to be our top priority and we can't eat into that money. Still though, the bathroom looks great so far.

We're getting ready to go for sugaring season too. This might be our last batch of Maple syrup. I will really miss these beautiful old maple trees. We only do 3 taps in two of the giants in the backyard.

Since the property search is mostly done, I guess I'll get back to the stone building books. Right now, I"m on the highly recommended "Build your own stone house" by Karl and Sue Schwenke. So far so good! I got so side tracked with the Missouri move, that I let the house building project slide. It'll be good to get back on track. Doing everything we can to quickly get a small, efficient house built and gardens going is the top priority. I don't know how reliable money in the bank is, but a roof over our heads and the tools to put food in our belly is something we can put our hands on.

On a completely unrelated note, I was unfortunate enough to watch an episode of Survivor recently. I think that's the wrong name for the show. To win the first trial, they had to very quickly unload supplies from a truck and walk miles and miles to a camp. They were to immediately cast someone out of their group before ever speaking to them, though the whole point of the game is to get rid of everyone. That sounds more like a Victim than a Survivor. For supplies and other rewards, they participate in games, running like rats in a maze for a piece of cheese and cast a ridiculous shadow on some of the most pristine places on earth. They are out in the middle of the beautiful jungle in Basil (I think it is) and are running over man-made dunes to get blue puzzle pieces on floaties out of the water to build a hulking puzzle bridge. The whole while, they are making fake alliances and seeing who they can remove next. In my opinion, what a waste of breath and energy.

For a show about survivors highlighting different places on the planet, why not take them there and let local people teach them to survive in their environment for a week or so? Show them surviving through knowledge of the environment and building a community. Reward points on who finds the most edible roots for the tribe, have competitions of who can gather the most water for everyone and build friendships. Wouldn't people like to know how to survive without supplies out of a truck and eating cold termites, maybe how to build a self-sustaining community?

I read a very interesting article recently that said

"Most people in society today live in artificial worlds defined by indoor lighting, air conditioning, processed foods, chemical medicines, artificial wood furniture, television programming and online social networking. None of these have anything to do with reality.

Reality is the soil, the rivers, the air, sunlight, plants and seeds. It is found in the animals, microbes, forests and aquatic ecosystems. Reality cannot be negotiated with, nor bargained with, nor put off. Reality is shaped by our decisions and actions, and what we see unfolding in the world right now -- global warming, chemical contamination, depletion of fossil fuels -- is merely a reflection of the destructive actions being mindlessly taken by people living today."

Sorry, more snow photos

Sorry to post more snow pictures, I've just never seen this much snow. For perspective here is my dog Barney, though he is short and the swing set out back. The snow is level with the lowest swing and just goes forever in every direction. Notice the 3 colors of old paint on the swing seats! The creek looks like a dent in the landscape. The bent fence photo is the small raised bed garden. It looks like a snowy cemetery and some of the beds can't even be distinguished. The fence was just temporary chicken wire to keep Rufus out (he doesn't challenge fencing) and wasn't really attached to the posts in many places.

I've been going through everything we own and making more cuts. Our small seed room is about 1/2 full, I hope it all fits in the car. Every move I seem to sell or donate a huge amount, so how did I still have so much to give away this time? I guess I bought some winter clothes from resale shops here, my favorite being Thrify Shopper in Cortland. We probably go every time we are there. We don't always buy something, but we have stuff we are always keeping our eye out for and sometimes we just find it there. I was watching the morning news the other day and they had some guest on talking about thrift store shopping, they had 2 kids up there that looked great. There are a lot of people out there who have known about the great stuff that others throw away for years. If you are patient and keep a wish list with you all the time, eventually you will probably find most of what you are looking for in a resale shop. Good quality and sometimes old made in the U.S. stuff. Sure there is a lot of junk and a billion yellow shirts; but we've found most, if not all, of our furniture and clothes through resale shops and I think it all looks pretty good.

For anyone with the password to my photos link (look in the right margin), I've uploaded more pictures.

whiteness

(Can you see Dorothy kitty looking out the window at the snow?)

So there's nothing but whiteness outside. It's so white and bright that you have to sort of stare at the ground to see it 3 dimensionally. All angles are rounded and all pathways hidden again. We are above the ice line so just a lot of other types of white crunchy precip is coming down.

There are several people interested in the property we've put up for sale, a lot more than we expected. The weather has really been a hindrance though. No one wants to get out in it and neither do we. The one day it was above freezing, I took the dogs over there, but I'm so out of shape that I was really out of breathe after walking with them through the snow. They were pretty pooped too.

I got this great email from a friend and thought I'd share:

A boat docked in a tiny Mexican village. An American tourist complimented the Mexican fisherman on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took him to catch them.

"Not very long," answered the Mexican.
But then, why didn't you stay out longer and catch more?" asked the American.
The Mexican explained that his small catch was sufficient to meet his needs and those of his family
The American asked, "But what do you do with the rest of your time?"

"I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, and take a siesta with my wife. In the evenings, I go into the village to see my friends, have a few drinks, play the guitar, and sing a few songs. I have a full life."

The American interrupted, "I have an MBA from Harvard and I can help you! You should start by fishing longer every day. You can then sell the extra fish you catch. With the extra revenue, you can buy a bigger boat."

"And after that?" asked the Mexican.

"With the extra money the larger boat will bring, you can buy a second one and a third one and so on until you have an entire fleet of trawlers. Instead of selling your fish to a middle man, you can then negotiate directly with the processing plants and maybe even open your own plant. You can then leave this little village and move to Mexico City, Los Angeles, or even New York City! From there you can direct your huge new enterprise."

"How long would that take?" asked the Mexican.
"Twenty, perhaps twenty-five years," replied the American.
"And after that?"
"Afterwards? Well my friend, that's when it gets really interesting," answered the American, laughing. "When your business gets really big, you can start buying and selling stocks and make millions!"
"Millions? Really? And after that?" asked the Mexican.

"After that you'll be able to retire, live in a tiny village near the coast, sleep late, play with your children, catch a few fish, take a siesta with your wife and spend your evenings drinking and enjoying your friends."

And the moral of this story is: .........
Know where you're going in life... You may already be there.

Movin on

(photo from http://www.flickr.com/photos/tristanbrand/)
I'm not a political person, but was excited to watch the inauguration. I couldn't quite make out the words to the last speaker during the inauguration, we were getting ready to take Jeffrey to the airport and running around. The little parts I caught were beautiful I thought. I found the transcript online. There were pieces in Dr. Joseph Lowery's Benediction that just sparkled. The phrases rolled and landed perfectly. I wonder if he wrote the first part himself or if he was quoting, I thought it was the most beautiful. It hasn't mattered enough for me to research it though.

"God of our weary years, God of our silent tears, thou who has brought us thus far along the way, thou who has by thy might led us into the light, keep us forever in the path, we pray, lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met thee, lest our hearts, drunk with the wine of the world, we forget thee. Shadowed beneath thy hand may we forever stand -- true to thee, O God, and true to our native land."

This last part of his poetic prayer, conjured images of childhood day-dreams of a perfect world and summed up perfectly what the majority of people on this planet want in their hearts.

"Help us then, now, Lord, to work for that day when nation shall not lift up sword against nation, when tanks will be beaten into tractors, when every man and every woman shall sit under his or her own vine and fig tree, and none shall be afraid; when justice will roll down like waters and righteousness as a mighty stream.

Lord, in the memory of all the saints who from their labors rest, and in the joy of a new beginning, we ask you to help us work for that day when black will not be asked to get back, when brown can stick around -- (laughter) -- when yellow will be mellow -- (laughter) -- when the red man can get ahead, man -- (laughter) -- and when white will embrace what is right."

That same above link also has the lyrics to the song that the very last part was taken from. Some friends are elated and some I know said this was a depressing day for them. I don't put my trust in any politician and we'll have to see what he's able to accomplish - if he's a walker or a talker. But his speeches were inspiring and I hope he's able to help the country even some. So many people were happy and have felt hope for these last two days. People cried, danced, sang and celebrated; one big world wide party. Like a wedding, there will be a honey moon phase and right now so many people are in that euphoric state. Like any marriage, lets all hope that things work out for the good like they sometimes do. Shouldn't it make everyone smile a little more, even for one day, that so many people around the world feel happy and hopeful? Being negative about this day, is like being "depressed" that a tsunami of happy was rolling around hitting millions. I enjoyed watching the happiness of others and wonder what changes are coming.

Like Dr.Lowery said in his benediction, we're trying to find our vine and fig tree to sit under. Since I lost my job, our perspective on money has changed proportionally. With a job, our taxes didn't seem that big of a deal. As we worked on the house building project this winter, we made it as small as possible for our needs to keep the taxes lower. Then the tax bill came just for the property and we looked at what we owe for January 31st. We can pay the bill, but suddenly it just seems so high now. I have indirect income in the amount of money I save us, but that's all we might have from me for a while.

Jeffrey works in Missouri a few times a year, but could pick up more casual income if we were closer. We're still going to focus on gardening and building a homestead as our primary "income". So for fun we looked at the property taxes there in an area that was a few hours away. They were less than 2% of our current taxes. Plus the growing season is longer and I'd cut my commute to family and friends in half which means no more airplanes! It made sense to look into moving. So we've worked on that the last few weeks.

During that time the winter has gotten hard. Some days are better than others, but Rufus (the pig) refuses to go outside. He's miserable and grouchy. We'd turn the garage heater on for a little, while he ate on the coldest days. But the propane tank keeps freezing up this week so that's out now. He'd be much happier in a warmer climate and we sure would get outside more. After about 30 minutes working in this, no amount of thermal keeps my toes warm. Jeffrey's mother will be living with us when we build and it'll be easier on her. The locals are a little sick of this too and everyone is hoping for a January thaw soon.

As an added benefit to moving to Missouri, the price per acre is less. I really missed living in the woods too, so we're going to find a place that is at least partially wooded. The icing on the cake is that the building codes are much more flexible there and we won't have to make as much of a case, if any, to code enforcement. We're still going to get an engineer to approve it first though. We've never designed a house before and need one more set of eyes.

We had so much fun here in NY, met some cool people and learned a lot more about medicinal herbs, gardening, self-sufficiency and building. 2008 was one of the best years of my life. But we are flexible and if it makes more sense to go somewhere else to live simply and affordably; then that's what we're going to do. I also have an uncle there and a friend we met here that is probably going to move there one day.

It's not easy to move and it sure makes you examine your load. Every move I get rid of more and more stuff. That's what I'm working on this evening, sitting quietly going through old things and smiling at the happy people in the world. So I will say goodnight. To all you happy humans out there, smile on.