A friend of mine recently reminded me that, back in October, I announced a new type of post – an end-of-the-week roundup of random stuff I’ve been thinking about. He gently pointed out that one post does not a series make.
Fair point.
This week: seed catalogs, minding your own business, Alan Watts, the pleasure of simple food and more.
1. What I’ve Been Reading
Seed catalogs! What can I say, it’s that time of year. The table closest to my favorite spot on the couch spot is piled high with seed catalogs and some of my old garden book friends. (Here are some of my very favorite gardening books.)
I’m hoping to get a copy of Carol Deppe’s seed list this year and maybe even get my hands on her line of Sweet Meat winter squash. Here’s Deppe’s 2015 seed offerings – definitely worth a read if you’re a Northwest gardener interested in the homestead calorie crops – but I warn you that website design is obviously not a priority for Ms. Deppe.
2. What I’ve Been Eating
Simple, simple food. After the giant holiday binge of 2015, food that any peasant would recognize gets the big thumbs up from me.
I really enjoyed this simple beef broth I made from the scraps and trimmings of our Christmas beef roast. With just a bit of salt and a handful of chopped green onions from the garden, it was perfect.
3. What I’ve Been Struggling With
Warning! Navel gazing ahead!
Honestly, I’ve been struggling with what to do with this-here blog. My regular readers will have noticed there hasn’t been a lot of regular writing over the past…uh…18 months.
I was ready to shut the whole thing down there for awhile. I would open my computer to write something to you, type like 5 words, realize I had absolutely nothing to say, close my computer and go make a sandwich instead. I did this over and over and over.
Eventually I decided, “Well, that’s it, then – I’m done. I have no more words. I used them all up.”
I pay good money for blogging tools that remind me weekly when I suck.
Burnout is really common after bloggers write a book. I personally know several bloggers who wrote a book and soon after shuttered their blog. The Blogger’s Book Curse, it’s called. Or it should be.
The last couple years I’ve been writing in these massive chunks where I turn out like, 4-5 big, meaty posts a week for a while, (or, you know, write a book), but then I go hide for months.
This cycle isn’t the best for me, or for you guys. Writing consistently is the best way to be able to write consistently. And I’m a blog reader too – I know we all want at least semi-regular updates when we take the time to read someone’s blog.
The lesson for me is to do less, but do it more consistently. With the book really, truly wrapped up, I have high hopes for better balance in 2016.
I also want to get back to the more personal-type writing that I did in the earlier days of this site. I love a good tutorial post, but I’ve been less open in my writing lately because I just haven’t had the emotional energy to deal with the inevitable blowback that happens when you have an opinion on the internet.
I think I’m up for it again. Maybe. Fingers crossed.
4. What I’ve Been Watching
Alan Watts videos on YouTube. This guy won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but if he’s yours, you’ll know it pretty quickly.
I recommend starting here:
If you like what you hear, his more mystical/woo-woo lectures are available. YouTube channel Tragedy & Hope has a lovely selection of Watts’ lectures set to background images and music.
5. What Quote I’ve Been Holding In My Head
Eric Hoffer wrote, “A man is likely to mind his own business when it is worth minding. When it is not, he takes his mind off his own meaningless affairs by minding other people’s business.”
My take-away? Fill your head and your life up with interesting things that engage you, heart and brain. When your own life is full of awesome things, there isn’t space to give a damn about Kim Kardashian’s ass shot or the latest round of media fear mongering.
If you’ve fallen a bit too deep into the 24-hour-news-cycle, tragedy-wanking to the latest outrage or clicking through galleries of red carpet celebs who show side-boob, maybe it’s time to let the things you really value shove that other crap out of your head.
I’ve been overly invested in world events for the past several months (I was pretty much on WW3 watch for awhile there). It’s time for me to return to a low-information diet. Time to fall back in love with my own life. Time to focus on making my own business more worth minding.
That’s my Five Things Friday – but what’s been on your mind this past week? Leave a comment and let me know.
1
Hey Erica,
I think Adaptive Seeds is carrying Carol Deppe’s Sweet Meat.
https://www.adaptiveseeds.com/product/highlighted-varieties/certified-organic-seeds/winter-squash-sweet-meat-oregon-homestead-organic/
Now back to reading the rest of the post. 🙂
Barb
Thanks Barb, that’s wonderful! I wondered why I wasn’t seeing a 2016 seed list!
Just a seed company I stumbled upon when I waited to long to order Garlic a year ago and finally found some there.
By the way, I can’t believe it was way back in October when you announced your weekly round-up. Oct-Dec just seems to fly for me. If I have to wait a bit for another lovely post of inspiration from you, I can. Its like the good friends that you only get to catch up with every now and then. Just because you don’t see them or talk to them very often doesn’t mean that their company is any less enjoyable.
Barb
Carol’s 2016 catalog is up on her website now, if you haven’t already seen it.
I can relate to the whole “dang, I haven’t written a blog post in like HOW LONG?” thing (which I have done), and I can’t even blame it on writing a cookbook (which I haven’t done). Several months ago I started the blog, but since then…sigh. Gah.
Yeah, you can tell by this post that I’m destined to be a writer.
Actually, I AM a writer for my put-a-roof-over-my-head-and-food-on-the-table job, but it’s technical and follow the rules type of writing, not fun, creative and what I’m passionate about writing. I’m just having trouble identifying which way I want to go with my blog (and do I even want a blog? I know I want a web-based presence, but not sure what kind of presence I want it to be.)
As I said, yeah.
My favorite poet, Dorothy Parker, wrote: “If you have any young friends who aspire to become writers, the second greatest favor you can do them is to present them with copies of The Elements of Style. The first greatest, of course, is to shoot them now, while they’re happy.”
When people ask me about blogging, I usually reference that quote. 😉
Excellent return! Keep up the good work. I’m really enjoying the Alan Watts link. You are no longer “Cloud Hidden, Whereabouts Unknown”!
Thanks Anne!
I love #5. A great reminder for us all (no pun intended).
Also, is it just me or did the soup recipe from yesterday disappear?!
Ooh, thanks Nicole! There’s a complex system of check boxes that ensure the posts show up in the right place. I had neglected to check one of them so that post wasn’t showing up on the front page. Thanks for pointing that out – should be all fixed now.
I love Allan Watts – been reading his stuff for many years. Nice to know that there are youtube videos of his stuff. No, wait, youtube really doesn’t work for me because of my slow internet connection. That’s a blessing and a curse, especially in the face of what you write about the 24-hour news cycle. I’m glad I live in the wilderness without TV and with slow internet. It’s so tempting to get sucked into all the bad, dramatic news out there, especially if you have access to watching the latest over and over and over.
Keep blogging, girl. I know it’s easy for me to say – I’ve only done it for three years, and so burn-out hasn’t it (yet). But I know that I inspire a lot of people with my homesteading blog, and so do you! It’s worth keeping going, don’t you think?
Thank you Corina. I’ve moved from just YouTube vids to listening to the Out Of Your Mind audio book of Alan Watt’s lectures and it’s been so great. Really enjoying it.
The burnout aspect has never been about actual readers so much as the accessory stuff that goes along with blogging – social media, promotion, dealing with my own reaction when people read just one post, talk shit and leave…some of that I can’t control, but some I think I can be more careful about. And I can make sure that I’m writing in a way that continues to make me happy, not just Mr. Google and Ms. Virality. That’s one of the things I like about these 5 Things Friday posts – I feel like they are a space to write about all the “off topic” stuff I wouldn’t want to make into a full blog post.
I say keep blogging too! I started following your blog to see and hear garden updates, photos of what’s in season and especially interested in your backyard fruit trees! I appreciate hearing from you
Thank you Katrina! Everyone wants an update on those fruit trees! I need to do that this spring.
Really enjoyed that article on the low information diet, we ditched cable 2 years ago and now have access only to a limited version of the BBC . It was the best decision we’ve ever made (with the exception of church and our baby girl ). We are so much more relaxed, happier and productive! And now I’m inspired to add once a week Facebooking to my new years resolutions.
I really enjoy your blog and I didn’t realize you had written a book, I’ll have to check that out !
Thanks :),
Linda
Right on Linda! If you can keep to once a week on the Facebook – you’re my inspiration!
The tutorials are nice and I have definitely benefited from them, but I really enjoy the little snippets about running your place. They are inspirational and usually get me thinking about what I need to be doing out in the yard. What about updating some old projects? How did the planting fruit trees in close quarters turn out so far? Has the pond held up well? How did that plum cider turn out in the end? What isn’t working and has to go?
But really, each post doesn’t have to be perfection, no matter what all the various blogging tools tell you. Blogs that develop a corporate feeling and always meet standards X,Y, and Z seem to quickly fall off my reading list. Give me imperfection. I’m really imperfect; I’ll take someone else’s imperfect blog any day over something that is ticking all the boxes.
Thank you Kyle – If you want imperfection, you’ve come to the right place! I have it in spades. 😀 Seriously, I appreciate the reminder, and you’re right of course.
The “what happened to” type posts are some of my most requested. Everyone wants to know about those fruit trees. You know what? I don’t think it worked as well as planting on normal spacing. But I keep putting it off another year because I want to be sure before I discourage people. Maybe this is the year I finallt declare that experiment done.
It’s interesting that you use the word corporate (I always laugh when people email me asking for the marketing director of NWEdible – as if it’s ever been more than me with periodic help from Homebrew Husband). One of the things I’ve done this year is remove sponsorships from my site. I love all the companies that have sponsored me in the past, but it’s a business management task to maintain, bill, and ensure that the company gets enough exposure to make it a fair relationship for them. And then if I fall off the writing wagon I feel really terrible, like I’m not delivering to sponsors, even though my site traffic isn’t really dependant on daily posts. So I just decided blogging would be simpler if I didn’t do that right now.
It’s a very difficult line to walk, and one I’m still figuring out, because my blog is too big to be a hobby, but I am unwilling to do what it takes to have it be a proper, paying job. I’ve been singing this song for 4 years now, and I’m still figuring out the best way forward. BLAH! More navel gazing. Sorry!
I have three degrees that would allow me to reap a very big paycheck and may have just lucked my way into a couple of bartending shifts to add to my various sources of income because I, too, just won’t do the proper job thing. I’ll work very hard and have lots of jobs and hats, but it has to be on my terms. And I’d rather work odd hours and have the middle of the day for me. I get it!
Daryl and John said it best in the fade-out at the end of “Method of Modern Love”: “…don’t mess with imperfection…”
*Reboot your podcast* – whispers the person who really wants more gardening podcasts and started her own because she wanted more gardening podcasts. 😉
Also, don’t feel guilty about not writing. I had a baby in late 2014 and my 5-7 xs a week blogging went downhill fast. If I blog twice a week I’m good. Plus, I don’t have the readership you have…so it doesn’t worry me nearly as much.
Ditching FB in late April has been a sanity saver, but I picked up IG in July when I joined the smart phone world. At least IG is pretty and well curated instead of the FB barf fest. 🙂
I luuuuuuve podcasting and listening to podcasts in general. Podcasts are so much f’ing work. This was me, overwhelmed by the whole write-a-book thing, “Oh, instead of writing posts that take hours and hours, I’ll just have a podcast. And that’s just like…50 minutes or whatever. That’s a GREAT idea.” 26 hours of work later for one podcast: “Well, that took more time than I expected.” 😀
If I can get to the point where I can just, like, chat for a half hour or whatever on a topic I know about, and not be such a flipping perfectionist about everything, I think I could do it though. And I do guest spots every other Friday on Jack Spirko’s The Survival Podcast, if that’s something you listen to.
IG is a million times more civilized than Facebook (except for my Facebook page which has only the absolute most wonderful people on it). 🙂
We miss you! But it’s understandable. Love the quote… I better get off the interwebs and go do life 😀
Thanks Sarah! I’m about to go garden myself!
Erica, please keep blogging. I have learned so much from you, as well as being inspired and motivated. I miss you when you don’t post!!
I love your book!
You are awesome!
Thank you Janet! You’re such a sweetheart!
The most interesting parts about gardening (to me) is the variance from season to season, and any interesting trials of varieties. These posts write themselves…except for the photo editing, which always bogs me down.
Wait, is Fertile Valley not doing seeds this year? Or just not yet? Bummer. I was going to get Sweet Meat and the Kapuler line of Amish Paste from her for sure.
Let’s not even talk about photo editing. 🙂 Every single picture passes through like 4 different applications before it makes it on the blog. I haven’t seen any sign of a 2016 seed list from Deppe, but I’ve emailed, so I’ll let you know if I hear anything. Interesting that you are going for Deppe’s seeds, even though she’s not breeding for your area. Have you found her lines to be standout performers in your non-pac-nw garden?
Oooh, please do email me or drop me a line if you hear back from her. I’ve wanted to try Sweet Meat since reading about it. It’s hard for me to find space for something like that but I want to make it work. Long-storage winter squash is literally something I CANNOT buy in my area. No one grows it, save one farmer I found that had a few Hubbards. And with other varieties, right about now, their flavor is starting to decline so I’m mass roasting, pureeing, and throwing in the deep freeze for late winter/spring.
Climate here is different but not too different for main season tender crops. Cool, wet late springs and early summer, followed by hot, dry late summer and early fall. We’re just a bit hotter. So the vigor and taste selection should map okay.
The Amish Paste line I can get via the Kapuler seed companies if need be. The way she wrote about them in the Tao book had me piqued. I can get decent paste tomatoes at market but I enjoy growing tomatoes, so I’m trying to find a line that works (mainly struck out with last year’s trials). The original Amish Paste genetics are from WI so a better maintained line should work well here.
Actually, FWIW I noticed that she didn’t post her seedlist for 2015 until 1/25 so I’d just wait a couple weeks. She only takes orders for about 3-4 months.
I can relate to all-and-then-nothing patterns. It’s how I can, garden, clean, and do pretty much everything. Why shouldn’t it manifest in writing, too? Don’t get me wrong. Your blog? I would read it five times a day if I could. It’s one of only two blogs I follow, and I miss your posts when you take a break. I happily binge on your old posts. But frankly, the message I get when it’s a month between your posts is that you are attending to life. And I’m reminded to get off the Internet and attend to mine, too. I would rather have quality than a lot of repitition since I’ve been reading your blog for years. There’s only so many times you can give me a list of what to plant in June.
Thanks Becca. I get tired of writing those posts, too. 😉 Another thing I’m doing to try to streamline and simplify is moving to a static to do post by month. I’ll get em all done, then have a perma-link on the home page, and people can get them whenever. I can easily move the appropriate month’s post to the “top of the stack” and reshare when it’s time, but I don’t have to pretend I have some mind blowing new insight to THIS PARTICULAR JUNE or whatever.
I’m so glad to have this conversation with you and other readers. It really reminds me of the core reasons I have enjoyed blogging in the past. The fact is, the world of blogging has moved on a ton since I started 5 years ago, and most of the conversation has gone to FB or whatever. This makes it a lot harder to “see” the real community, in many ways.
I know there is conversation on FaceBook, but I like it better here. It’s more permanent, or it seems that way. I suppose nothing ever really goes away on FB, I honestly don’t know enough about it (I post maybe twice a year).
I love your “voice” in writing, and I enjoy reading it. If you just put up the occasional short post updating us on things you’ve covered before, that would be peachy. The Muse will not be coerced. Do little things, and let inspiration come when it may.
(My favorite author has kept me waiting on his third book for, coming on 5 years this March. Good writing can not be forced.)
Ditto all the above… I knew you were up to your neck, but would return to at least give us some final gifts… like the above five. Sooooo glad to hear I can buy Carole’s seeds directly FROM HER! I love her books. (I did suggest she lighten her name on the website lol! 😉
I was reading Alan Watts in the 60’s…and have just discovered the joy of audio books…so your recommendation is another perfect gift!
I’d love to just hear from you when you have an idea or experience you’re excited about (like my excitement for box wine bladder possibilities 😉 – no pressure…. or even just a reader’s question or two you’d like to answer. Or, to help with the ‘perfectionism’, just a ‘don’t do this … it didn’t work’ (as in your spud bag and quartet fruit tree testing … INVALUABLE info 😉 I’m thinking you learned a thing or two from your charcuterie marathon back when … ? 😉
I love whatever/whenever you share… your next book ? (gardening, I’m guessing 😉 … and I can do FB:) Zen out with Alan and see where ‘whatever is bigger than us’ leads you. Just leave your posts here archived…they are another amazing gift… you make it Christmas! Thanks a bunch 😉 (We aren’t happy if you’re not happy 😉
This is me lately: Alan Watts in the headphones, puttering in the garden, letting life more drive writing. It was all the other way round for a while – writing driving life. That’s not nearly as fun, I’ve learned. 🙂
Thanks Nancy, I’m so glad you are here. And I love your “fill the wine bladder by submerging it” trick. 🙂
Hi Erica,
I’m a longtime reader of your blog and it’s one of my favorites. One thing I really love about your book is the practical guidance on creating and maintaining a productive home — it’s been a big help to me as I work on putting all of those pieces together. I would love to see more posts/advice on HOW you keep all those plates spinning — like, logistically. How does someone go from standard-American-consumer to radical homemaker? I’m somewhere on that journey but I have no idea what I’m doing! Would you ever consider helping us newbies out a bit?
Hi Amy – thanks for reading. I hope you got a chance to check out my Flexible To Do list post. It’s pretty much how I keep the plates spinning around here, I hope it helps you!
Oh, also – no one ever has any idea what they are doing, not really. Once you think you’ve figured out one thing there are 5 more things to learn. So try not to worry – just jump in start. You’ll be fine. 🙂
I did read it — thanks! It was so helpful. Also helpful: knowing that everyone else is just trying to figure it out as they go too. 🙂
I’m pretty sure your blog was the blog that got me reading blogs in the first place! The Terrible Tragedy of the Healthy Eater was my gateway post. Seriously though, I really have enjoyed following your work over the last couple of years. It has encouraged, motivated and guided me as I have moved incrementally toward my own suburban permie homestead.
Of course, taking care of yourself is important. If you need a break take a break! By all means. But also know you are doing great things in this space, helping and encouraging many. We’d love to have you back 🙂
Thank you so much, Ravenna! I wrote in another reply but I think it’s all about letting life drive writing instead of the other way round. 🙂
Yay for you, and yay for putting Carol up here! I may only stumble over to find you here infrequently to see what’s up — but must say I’m impressed (and a little envious) by all the work and energy you’re willing to put into this.
It’s a big part of my life, now. 🙂
Just putting my two cents in, but if you’ve got it in you at all, there are many of us who really like reading your work. (I was going to say adore, but didn’t want to be too stalkerish.) I don’t live in your area, but I love reading your gardening stuff. Like love it so much I wish I could find someone who is as cool as you who lives in a more similar zone. But all of your homemaking and DIY adventures are so helpful and down to earth and doable and I love it. I vote yes to some updates if you are asking, including one on your half assed permaculture bed. (Brain isn’t working to type the h word correctly.) Your books is awesome, as I finally read it I can finally comment on that. You blog is awesome. But you are also a wife, a mom, and a busy person gardening and cooking and such so I am content with what you can do and are willing to do here. No guilt! But know if you are willing to keep going I’ll be here reading.
Erica – ditto Heather’s response. I wish you were MY neighbor. I feel like I learn so much from you – and your blogs have inspired me to go beyond making the most of my mostly-shady yard to attempt to score two community garden patches this summer. I’m happy with whatever you post – you could literally shoot unedited photos of your resting winter garden and your chickens and I would still enjoy it :-). But you need to take care of yourself and your family – just know that many of us are such fans that we’ll be happy with whatever you have time to offer!
Thank you Heather and Melinda! I feel refreshed, I really do. I think this ol’ space still has something left to offer, and I didn’t feel like that for a long while. Thanks you both for understanding that life ebbs and flow and so does my time and energy. 🙂
I think the best thing about January is reading all of the garden catalogs that start to roll in! I have a stack of about 6 or 7, and they have been flipped through, and read with items circled and post its showing what I really want to grow if I had a limitless budget. It is so nice to be able to dream of spring!
I also followed your gardening tip from earlier this week, and combined a bunch of past their prime lettuce seeds that I had in a bin and tossed them into a clear spot in the garden that tends to get a lot of sun. If they work, I’ll have fresh salad greens some time in February. If they don’t, well, at least the birds will eat well!
Try not to get down on yourself for burning out. It happens to everyone from time to time. i think you are taking the right approach about getting back into things though, and I look forward to continuing to read your posts through out 2016!
Thanks Stephanie. Good luck with the “kitchen sink” mix – I’ve gotten a few early stands of salad greens that way! Thank you for reading. 🙂
I would be very sad if you stopped blogging altogether! I have your wonderful book and while there is a lot of stuff I’m going to try, it hasn’t nearly as much cool stuff as your blog. I have so much still to learn here I would hate for it to disappear! For every post, I tend to get ‘lost’ clicking on a dozen others and I still haven’t read everything here. Even one post a month would keep me going for ages!
I don’t know how you deal with negative garbage in your comments. My mental tricks for dealing with a jerk of a (former) husband is to imagine his face behind bars when he spewed ugliness at me. Some days I would think him in prison, others he would be in a zoo. Or I would mentally put on a plastic suit and picture the words hitting it, not me. Or I would make like a sailboat and fold my sails so the wind could just blow past. Or I would imagine a chest of drawers and me folding up beautiful delicate lingerie (my feelings) and then closing the drawers so they would stay undisturbed. Then there is imagining revenge: pulling weeds (hair), chopping veg (fingers), hitting the lettuce (head) on the counter to dislodge the stem…
Hope you don’t decide to divorce all your admiring blog readers!
No, definitely not filing for divorce (although I’ve run into one or two commenters who probably should have been put in a zoo! ). Just, maybe the occasional solo vacation to keep things fresh. 😀
Please, please, please don’t delete your blog… Even if you only post once or twice a year, the content you already have is golden. I read old posts all the time–refreshers on recipes, reminders on gardening. As a fellow mom, your post of side-dressing kids and plants has resonated with me since you wrote it and inspired me in my own parenting.
Your book is awesome and I love it; I totally understand burnout after such an endeavor. Take your time, relax, come back refreshed. And if you decide to shut it down, if that’s the decision that’s tight for you… Please warn us, I want to archive some of the posts that I would miss greatly if they were to vanish.
Cheers to a more balanced 2016!
Oh, no! Even if I stopped writing I wouldn’t delete it! It doesn’t take too much to keep a static site up. The expense is mostly in better quality hosting, mailing lists, various tools that make it possible to share stuff on social media – that kind of thing. But don’t worry, it won’t just go off the air one day! 🙂
Hi Erica. It’s good to see your posts again.
I wanted to let you know the Good Earth Home Show in Eugene is coming up in a couple weeks. That’s where I met Carol Deppe 3 years ago. She did 3 hours of presentations that year. The next year she did 4, and last year she did 5. I’m hoping she’ll do 6 this year. She talks for 40-45 minutes, then signs books and sells seeds for 15 or 20 minutes until the next seminar. She’s a real corker.
The show is great. They have 3 or 4 classrooms scheduled with a steady stream of seminars from Friday evening to Sunday afternoon. Most of the time there are 2 or 3 different presentations I want to see at the same time so it’s hard to pick which one to go to. Parking and admission are free (they ask for canned food donations).
Here’s the link to the seminar schedule. They haven’t posted this year’s schedule yet, so it’s still showing last year.
https://eugenehomeshow.com/our-shows/good-earth-home-garden-living-show/seminar-entertainment-schedule/
I live near Portland but I get a hotel and spend the weekend in Eugene every year. It’s a great kick-off for the garden season.
Marc
Checked out the link. Woah. I would LOVE to go to that. Assuming this year is similar to last, what awesome seminars. I’m gonna have to see if the schedule allows it.
You should think about being a presenter. I don’t know if it’s too late for this year, but definitely for next year. Great place to sell your book!
Thank you for 5 things Friday and the Alan Watts video. Just what I needed to gather myself to make some important changes. I’m almost 70 – if I am EVER going to do the things that I really love, I need to start NOW!
I love your blog, read it every day and understand completely when you just can’t write. I just look forward to when you can. Love the book – made several of the cleaning products for Holiday presents and we all love them!
Grateful for what you do, when you can do it!
Thank you so much Merrilee – and yes! Do what you love! You’ve earned it. 🙂 Thank you so much for reading, and for your support. XOXO.
Hi, I’ve been reading your blog for a few years now and am glad you’re planning on continuing. Ironically, I didn’t find your blog through any gardening searches, etc. but through a post you had written about your son being a horrible sleeper. I was going through a similar situation with my oldest and was desperately looking for online stories that matched up with what we were experiencing. Your post so perfectly encapsulated what we were going through and was so honest. It was so nice to know that we weren’t alone in our struggle. If one more person told me to just let him cry…..that doesn’t always work people! I started following/reading from then on and this is definitely one of my favorite blogs. Love the book too :o)
Ha ha ha! Oh, yes – helpful advice when you are sleep deprived can be…well, less than helpful. 🙂 I hope your kiddo is sleeping now.
Just grateful that you kept going back to the computer after a wrestle with writer’s block! This year is off to a great start! You continue to be an inspiration. Have the garden mapped out and the first round of seeds ordered from High Mowing. Canning jars are inventoried and dwindling lids & other supplies reordered. Eating down the freezer and larder stock and using up the leftovers. Life goes on and glad to be heading onward with a community of kindred spirits.
Cheers!
<3 you Marilyn. Grateful readers like you understand when I disappear for a bit.
I’m getting caught up on your blog and I’m so happy that you mention Carol Deppe! This is my first year of growing her seeds, but I’ve devoured her quirky, scientific, and inspiring books for the past year or so. Although you two seem like possible opposites I can’t wait to hear more about your Oregon Sweet Meat experience!