It’s officially mid-way through the month and I’m officially into the third trimester for baby #2. Thank goodness we’re not stressing about harvesting, canning, preserving and all the other ‘ings’ that typify this season…instead, there’s just the pesky detail of moving farms across islands to contend with.
Between the two of us, I’m certainly more of the planner but by no means do I have it all worked out. However, with the various intricacies and pieces that need to fall into place at specific times…so far, I’m feeling rather proud of how we’ve been able to rise up. Myself as the planner/coordinator extrordinaire and Scott for endlessly putting up with my stage direction while simultaneously spearheading the layout and design of our initial homestead clearing.
Plus my sister for never batting an eyelash when we hand Isla over for the minute/hour/day so we can contend with one of the many tasks at hand as a team.
Taking each day as it comes, trying to pack in as much as possible while also pacing ourselves with everything else going on (parenthood, work projects, the rare get together with friends before we leave one island for another)…it’s not been without it’s challenges and moments of desperate “we’ve made a horrible mistake…this is never going to work…” anxiety.
And then I look at this spot. This clearing. This space. And it all matters again. The dream doesn’t feel so much like a dream and more like a mission, a project that will have some semblence of a completion date (at least, phase 1) before we welcome a new person into the world and spend the winter quietly celebrating our little family, getting to know the land and tending to our many farm animals.
We’re half way there.
We have a site for our home, spots picked out for various sheds and shelters, a culvert purchased to complete the driveway and final plans (almost) locked down to put the finishing touches on the land before construction begins.
Tents have been picked up. Fencing has been purchased. I’m the proud owner of a shiny new livestock gate.
Several kilograms of clover mixed with grass seed will be spread out across this beautiful, miraculous plot of dirt this week.
Four truckloads of stuff (if you have livestock, you know what I’m talking about when it comes to ‘stuff’) will be ‘home’ by Wednesday, then we start to tackle fencing so the animals can move, we can (finally!) move and our current home can be cleaned up and readied for the end of the month.
It’s going to be down to the wire, not for the suspense and intrigue here, but because trying to take on this big of a challenge in 30 days basically comes down to a great deal of coordination, planning plus even more luck and a lot of help from family and friends.
I don’t say this frequently or lightly…but boy are we ever blessed.
8 Comments
Congratulations! Such a huge accomplishment already!
Things are getting there! I keep bracing myself for all our luck to implode…but so far, everything’s moving along!
Wow Rachel, sounds like it is all coming together for you. I’m so happy for all of you. Beautiful land by the way. Since you do not currently have a “roof over your head” by the sounds of it, where do you plan on living in the meanwhile? I just can’t imagine you knitting but good for you. Enjoy the solitude and the wonderful world and land we are blessed to live in. Will be thinking of you and looking for more posts. Take care. Hugs.
We juggled going back and forth between ‘town’ (Campbell River) and camping on the land for a few weeks – by the end of this week (and embarrassing month later in my reply!) we’ll have the wall tent up and woodstove heating the place so we can comfortably stay there for the winter to cozy up with the babes and all the animals. 🙂 xo
Indeed you are blessed ; ) My son and his wife would love to be in your boots
We’re loving watching your progress from afar. We don’t plan to move to our permanent farm for three more years, yet. Seeing your progress here is very encouraging. Where we are now we only keep around ten Nigerian dwarfs. They graze the open areas, but we haven’t yet utilized the wooded acres for browsing. I was curious if yours will eventually be on your newly seeded area or in the woods?
In the woods – as much as possible! They love the fern, salal and various wild berry bushes. The grass seed is mostly to hold the soil over the winter…since we really don’t know what we’re going to do with this clearing in the long term (likely the tents will move and the dairy will be constructed here though.
I always debate whether or not to comment and then I never do. But I am so proud and happy for you two. I check in every now and then, last time you were pregnant with Isla. Crazy how time flies. But I’ve been reading since this all began and I am so glad you two have stuck with it. Tell Scott I said hi. I am just an old friend, but he may remember me from 12 years ago.