7:Working in the Background
My profile has looked a bit like the Marie Celeste for some months. I haven't been working on WA learning, but I have been writing about my homestead animals and the garden, taking photos and doing videos of anything from seasonal changes in the fruit trees, to how to harvest bananas, or how to skin a squirrel and cook it, and photos of some sick chicks, including one that died of Runted Stunted Syndrome. And, yes, that last one is as awful as it sounds.
I know it's hard for everyone, in different ways, to find time to work on their WA training. People have jobs, children, studies, obligations... In my case, I have the family, and then the homestead with a lot of animals (and then there's the homeschooling...) And, as someone once said very appositely, 'If you have livestock, then you're going to have deadstock.'
When you have a lot of animals, you are constantly dealing with sicknesses and, often, death. Not because there's anything necessarily wrong. It's just because animals, especially chickens, goats, cats and dogs, don't live as long as we do. And so I spend a lot of my time as nurse and doctor to our animals, as well as midwife and hospice angel. And 2013 was a heavy year, including the loss of Uri, our fourteen and a half year old Rottie mix. She was as old as my marriage... A severe blow, that.
So, during those busy months when I couldn't make time for WA, I resolved to try to keep records in the form of notes, photos and videos, of what was going on in the barnyard and garden, as illustrations for blogs and pillar articles I was planning, so that once I got a chance to do the training videos here about how to actually make a website, I'd have something to put on it.
Now I'm finding I have a little time to do some training, and I have been. And it's very exciting to think that my months of solitary work may soon be published, and will finally be helping people who are trying, like me, to raise their own food in their backyard.
And now I've just looked at the clock and realized it's almost 11pm and I haven't done the chores yet. Heigh ho, heigh ho, it's off to the goat pens we go....
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Running a homestead like that takes a lot of physical work. Apparently it also can take a toll on you emotionally. I love animals and have lost a number of them over the years. We are looking forward to reading about the results of your daily "research". Take care.
Yes, it is a lot of work, and people often say that to me. But I feel that's a bit like saying 'Being a parent/ wife/ friend/ good human being is a lot of work.' I think we all work hard on whatever we're doing or on living whatever life we're living, if we're really alive and engaged with life. My life just happens to be involved with the backyard and animals. If I didn't have them I'd doubtless have a lot of work doing something else, you know? Life has a way of just pouring into our free time! :oD
Wow, sounds like you have lots of great material to develop. I'm assuming some of that "research" will be for your site. You will have lots of first hand knowledge to share.
Thank you Rick! Yes, that's the idea. If I'm ever stuck for anything to write about, I just go and hang out with the animals and within five minutes I'll have my next article inspiration... Why is that chicken almost naked? Oh yeah! She's molting!..... Hey, that goat is biting the turkey's tail feathers!... Why aren't the chickens laying in the nesting boxes anymore? Where are all the eggs?..... So I just make some notes, and take a photo if it's appropriate or needed and put them by.
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Looking forward to reading how you turned misfortune into good writing material.