A lot of work to live here.

 We recently attended a beautiful wedding on a farm.  So lovely.  And good friends were here too talking about moving here!  So exciting!  But our friend Ben did pause at one moment and say, "it seems like a lot of work to live here."  And I guess I can appreciate how he feels that way.  When I lamented to my mom this week how tired I am of food preservation, she said, "well that is a choice, you know."  But you know, for me it doesn't feel like a choice.  If I spent my energy on things other than raising my children, growing and preserving the food that nourishes us, building our house around us, splitting (Raph) and stacking and moving the wood to keep the house warm, it seems to me I would be spending my energy in the wrong places, since I don't believe there is more important work. 

And so here I am with jars of saurkraut fermenting on the counter, jars already cooked in cold storage, tomatillos waiting their turn, sauce on the stove, the freezer absolutely FULL of frozen berries, sun-dried tomatoes, greens and zucchini, jars of rose hip, peach, blueberry, concord grape, strawberry-rhubarb jams, zucchini and beet relishes, pickles and chutneys lining the pantry shelves, sweet potatoes curing in the greenhouse with more to be harvested in the gardens, grapes literally rotting as they wait to be turned into something yummy (once-in-a-lifetime year for grapes apparently!)  And yes I am sort of tired.  But I am also exhilirated by it all.  Because in a way, we are part of a revolution here. 

I read an article recently by a new face in our life, Chris Knapp of Koviashuvik Local Living School (more about that later), in which he said, "As I listen to the presidential hopefuls make optimistic promises for social health, job security, and economic prosperity, I think 'This is beyond the scope of your work.  Only people can create healthy communities, stable jobs and dependable food sources.  This is our work, to be accomplished in countless daily interactions with each other and the land.'"  And I get shivers from thoughts like that.  And I get renewed energy for that pot of sauce to be canned, the ground hog that needs to be addressed, the final beautiful blooms to harvest, and well I'm going to learn about harvesting acorns this season!  Bread from acorns!  Cool, huh!