Our farm and business are not yet profitable, and I have spent the summer working off the farm doing DoorDashing down in the local city, which is a university town in northern Utah called Logan. So a lot of what I would want to be posting here has not materialized this summer, especially where it seems to take me seven days a week earning enough to pay most of our bills. Well, that is what it is.
Autumn is upon us, and although the weather has only just begun to change a little, there is something in the air that feels it is here. I can’t quite identify it, but something hits the primordial senses and tells me that it is most definitely time to get ready to batten down for the winter. Is it to do with the pollen in the air, or that ever so imperceptible change in temperature? Our walnut trees know, and so do we all. Everyone I have spoken to about this so far has said they feel it too. Apart from the days shortening a little, I cannot think of anything obvious that gives it away.
One of the kids is borrowing the logging trailer to haul stuff to the dump in this week and says that next week we can dump it on Monday morning then he will go with me to get a long overdue load of firewood after. I will be taking at least that morning off work and going for it. I am going to be checking the weather forecast leading up to it, too. At this moment it suggests that I can expect 84°F for that day’s high.
It doesn’t look like it is going to get anywhere near that today. There are clouds and wind, and the temperature outside right now is 66.7°F. Promises to be a good day today for a day to rest up some. I will be working tonight. But enough about that right now as I have 4 and a half hours to rest up right now! I should also mention that there was a lightning storm last night, and it was bloody marvelous! Well, I barely woke up to notice it, but it was lovely that we had one. It has been so calm here this summer. Maybe winter will make up for it!
So, things are tight right now, and a little difficult. I hear on the news that the whole economy is on the fritz. It looks that way from the prices I see in the stores and at the pump. But then, I don’t spend a lot in the stores. Not because we are as self-sufficient as I would like us to be, but because I just cannot even afford to window shop at the moment. Well, thigs are what they are, and I have no control over any of that. So, we just keep plodding along. That’s all we can do!
Even though optimism is a seemingly vanishing point of view, spring and autumn are seasons of change, and they always bring me a bit of excitement as those changes occur. Spring brings new growth and everything else you know about. Autumn closes in, and then the first snow falls, and the fire in the hearth invites us to gather round and be close. With me out working so much, I think that has an extra appeal to it this year. I really look forward to spending time with my family, enjoying the gathering time as a period of bonding and joy.
We have a few months to rethink the businesses and get them going forward. Maybe this season of change will change our thinking and get us on our way!