Blessed are the cheesemakers; or Confusion embraced

OK, so that last post was a bit bitchy, I recognize that. It had been hanging around for a couple of weeks and I finally decided to touch it up and just get it out there… or at least out of my head. And hey, I tried to put a positive spin on it towards the end…

Once upon a time, back when I started writing this blogthing, there was sort of a theme… a very loose theme that did not really last very long, but whatever. Point is, I was writing about my life and at that time there was a major focus on the work that I was doing while pretending to try to build a new cabin/house. Well that did not go very far really and a whole lot has happened since then (made for some good blogposts though…). Realistically though I guess the main theme is still here in that I am writing about my life… for good or ill. The recent business with the job thing is just the most current iteration of that I guess.

Anyways. The Wife and I are essentially all moved in to the new house and are really looking forward to doing more with This Land, once winter lets go anyway. Well, there will be much more to do once that happens at least. For now there is a lot of prep work going on. She has been writing about that in her own blogthing and should you be so inclined you can check that out here. This makes us a three blog family right now…

We keep throwing the word “homestead” around a lot lately. I was very interested in that word when I first moved to Alaska, but with a very different understanding of it. Back then I was drawn to the idea of being able to acquire a remote piece of land, mostly on the cheap, building a cabin on it and disappearing from view. Foolish, idealist, vain and youthful preconceptions. Given the opportunity I probably would have gone “Into the Wild” and ended up the same way.

Now however the word has a much different meaning. Oh, there are similarities to be sure, but only vaguely so. The connotation now is more on self-sufficiency, but not in some weird disappearing act separatist way. Rather, the intent now is to learn how to provide more and more for ourselves…at least where food is concerned. Gardening, animal husbandry, canning, preserving, etc.

The catch is this sort of thing takes a bit of work…and time. Hence one side of the previous post. But, in pondering this all the past few days the thought that keeps coming up is that there is much more than me involved now and really that was another side of the previous post. Once upon a time, if I were feeling that way I would have just up and split; changed the game, done something different. That sort of knee-jerk reaction behavior is no longer an option…thank goodness. No, now the change has to be more subtle, more intentional, more planned and persistent. One has to analyze the confusion, take it apart and figure out what makes it tick. Then decide how best to address it, make a plan and work to initiate some sort of change. We are wanting to start a family and being at home — with intent and purpose — is a big part of how we think about that idea right now.

There will always be confusion as there is no roadmap to life, anyone who says differently is selling something. And as we all know, the large print giveth, the small print taketh away.

So I am we are going to learn how to make cheese. And yogurt. From goat milk, as we now have a consistent, fresh, local source for it. Eventually we will have our own goats… and chickens (these hopefully sooner than later). And big gardens (in stages). For now though it is the learning and the slow, intentional forward movement. Make a plan, learn the skills, and control the direction at least of the confusion. Oh, and wait for winter to move along. For now though we mind the seedlings, clean out the old goat barn in order to reconfigure it as a chicken coop, acquire books and equipment that will be needed and do what we can to prepare. The adventure is in the journey. Without some confusion it would just be a commute.

Littledog, helping with the “Spring” cleaning.