Deep Sighs

Damn, only two posts ago I was talking about the spring task list, and no here I am with the pre-winter essentials stretching out in front of me. It has been a very busy spell, but the focus has switched to off-farm work for both of us since the early summer.

Jane is working fairly full-time for the Mersey Tobeatic Research Institute (MTRI) creating a group of owners of woodlots certified to FSC standards. I think she's enjoying it, doesn't talk about much else now anyway! I've been working with webprogrammingsolutions.com providing web build and programming for design agencies, primarily on the US west coast. You might think that LA, San Fran, Palm Springs and Seattle would be hoaching with programmer types, but apparently designers have trouble finding folk to do the work accurately, on time and in budget - we're probably mucho cheapo too :-)

In fact, this is the first time I feel like I've had time to draw breath for a while. There has been so much that I could have reported on over the summer, Cam's first place in Provincial 4H woodwork, and Breagh's 2nd in photography, my return to cycling and success in the scything competition etc.

What's on my mind a lot though, is this balance between income generation and the rest of life. We had to to earn a bit more cash, but now, we're both working full-time, and we won't be able to run a market garden next year. Is that really what we're here for? I'm back to sitting in front of a computer for 12 hours day and I haven't been out in my canoe all year. I think we came to the decision that really, until the kids leave home, we have to concentrate on earning a living, hope to put a bit of cash away, and chip away at the infrastructure. The alternative is to live cheaply and work less, but that isn't the kids vision, it's ours. With hindsight, maybe we should have bought a house in town and stuck at good paying jobs, then bought a big woodlot with lake frontage and room for a cabin as a weekend retreat and 'retirement' destination... on the other hand, maybe we just need to work at balancing work and income, chores and recreation, and enjoy the farm!

On the upside, we managed to cut, split and stack firewood for the year in a couple of wonderful days in the wood. We have poured a concrete floor in one stable, made 30lb of sausages, 2 full sides of bacon and the freezers are stuffed with pork, beef, chicken, fruit and veg. Beer brewing, we're just about ready for winter... bring it on!