This summer has been hot and dry in our area. Nonetheless, I have been able to grow a garden full of corn and pumpkins, which is not a lot of food for the family, but it is a success in gardening! It is harvesting time, and I hope to get the kids to help with that tomorrow. We only need to take the corn. The pumpkins can come in the next two weeks as the grandkids come to visit next. I figure that between them and my still at home kids, there are two large pumpkins per child. That is extra exciting to me, because this simple item is one of my favorites. Each kid can have a Jack-O-Lantern grown by grandpa, and candled with a beeswax candle grandpa has made, as well. Let them dream of the Will-O-the-Wisp as they drift off on Halloween night. It is my favorite holiday of the year except for Christmas and Thanksgiving, which only get their points because of the family time together. But for style and flare, Halloween has got it.
Farming has not really been a thing on our farm this year. I have been too busy working for money to do anything really with the farm. I got out free lawnmower running, then it stopped again, and I have just not had the time to mess about with it to get it going again, much less use it. So, the grass all around the house has been out of control. That has only added to a state of gloom around here. I have a filter to install on the fuel line, and I think that will help keep it going. I am sure the carburetor clogged again.
Two days ago, on the 1st of October, I had surgery on my neck and am out of commission for a week or two. Maybe three. hopefully not! I am hoping to resume light duty work after the post op follow-up in five more days. The operation will cause further changes as time goes on with my hormones, and things like calcium in my blood. As functions in my body normalize, I hope to be in better shape than I ever have been in my adult life. I don’t know. But I do hope. I am meant to be digesting better, have improved kidney function, and even less brain fog and gloom. Maybe this is all I have ever needed to finally grow up?
Like many others, we are struggling to keep going in this economy. I have been delivering on a food courier app, and with gas prices so high, I have more cost to do business, and people who also have their own tanks to fill are paying less in tips, thus lowering my income from both ends. It is a real struggle. My take home pay has dropped by about close to around 50%. It was tragically low to begin with. There is no excess in our lives right now at all. I say this to state it, not to compare to others and try to be worse off. We are among you, struggling to get by. And we know that we are in so many ways, the lucky ones to have the position we do with a garden to grow in. I recently heard this expression which seems to suit so well. “We are very bourgeoise, for not only do we have a pot to piss in, but also, a window to throw it out.”
I am off work now, which is going to pinch us hard. I will return as soon as I can. But I also need to calculate if there is some way to balance things out so I can do other income earning from things here on the farm, and such. My dream is to do portrait photography, and all the farm and hobby related things on the side, axing the courier work completely, or doing it only when necessary. People need to know we exist here, and what we have to offer. Surely that is only a matter of marketing! Not my forte! And Maybe it is just a matter of getting on YouTube, finally!
And on that note, I did make a new channel. It is The Peasant’s Manor Millworks. I will do everything woodworking there. Next trick is to get any of the channels started!