We've been a bit lax in posting here, so I thought we had better fill everyone in on what's happening around here. We are still contending with new snow on very consistent basis, and to be honest we are getting a bit tired of it. We have heard that the total snow fall for this winter in Jay has been about 130". Last weekend I took a shovel around the back of the yurt so that I could dig out Abrahm's window which was entirely covered in snow all the way past the awning! Our window was not far from that either and even the windows on the south side which are quite high off the ground have snow up to about the middle . As I write this however we are having quite a good rainfall which has knocked down the snow piles somewhat. It's been fairly warm here for a while as well and so we now have the pleasure of dealing with a muddy driveway. We know spring is on the way, but it's a bit hard to imagine at this point. We're pretty ready to be done with the snow since this will also mean the end of snowmobile season. Way to many and way to loud is about all we need to say on that matter.
We have just sent out our first flier for Full Circle Farm which is the name of our place. We'll be offering a few vegetable shares in a CSA setup this year as well as pork and soap shares. We're quite excited about being able to really start farming this spring, but also a bit overwhelmed. The snow of course does not exactly help in spring preparations, but we are lucky in that we will have a bit of established garden space courtesy of our neighbors Leslie's aunt and uncle. We will be working up some more ground as soon as things are dry enough and that is also part of the pork share plan. Our pigs will be enlisted in working up an area of future garden which is quite a handy way to do it, and they are quite good at it!
Leslie is still enjoying school which she finds generally not too difficult, but still a lot of work. She has recently started to do a bit of fiddling (violin) with a friend of ours who has a couple of gigs lined up for the coming months. It is great for her to get back to playing and to have something other than farm or school to keep her creative juices flowing.
I've been in a welding training program since the beginning of February. It has been fun, but also very challenging. I had never welded anything in my life before starting this program. I've learned quite a lot already, but realize that I have much more to learn. It is nothing like woodworking, but it is quite rewarding. I'm quite close to getting my first structural certification, and after that I will move on to pipe welding, which from what I hear is more difficult. I have about six weeks left in the program and then I'm expected to head out into the field and begin work on a huge project for the company I'm working for. We will see what happens in that regard as the job site is about 2 hours away and they are expecting overtime right from the beginning. I've mostly been interested in this program so that I will be able to make repairs around here on farm machinery and the like, but we'll see. At this point I'm just hoping to learn as much as I possibly can from my instructor who is an amazing welder.
Abrahm continues to busy himself with all matter of toy machines from tractors to trains, but he is also developing a great love of books. It's great fun to sit with him and ready book after book. He's still not very interested in talking, or I should say not interested in speaking English. He often keeps up a pretty steady commentary in his own tongue. He is picking up words hear and there and also showing much more interest in mimicking sounds and words that he hears. I still find it amazing to watch him learn and experiment with new things. A good reminder that the world is truly an amazing and rich place. I forgot to mention that he has also started to help me bake bread. He has a great time wearing and apron and measuring and mixing the ingredients. He also has a great time consuming the end product!
Well I think that is all for now. We are looking forward to a trip back to Minnesota in less than a week. Which will be a wonderful chance to relax and reconnect with friends and family.
