To Blog, or Not to Blog?

I'm a little fuzzy headed with an oncoming cold today, so I will blame any incoherence in this post on that.

Some of you may have noticed that I have been on vacation from writing for a while.  And today's post is no guarantee that writing will continue; it's more of an experiment.  I suppose the first thing folks will want to know is what's been going on around the farm so I'll start there and see where we go.

We're Jammin'

Bob Marley - Jammin' by Dan_of_the_Land

Yeah, I know, I said I wouldn't be posting here anymore, but two things have me back here.

First, a combination of going through the learning curve with the Groundwell Farm website and the sudden repair of my Blogspot.  And second, the desire to share with you all the latest bounties here at the farm.

We All Had a Hand in This

What comes to mind when you think about pinto beans?  For me there are at least two memories that are pinto related.

First, there was our one-time pastor Van Banks who insisted that, the smell of pinto beans and cornbread cooking, was the smell of hope.  Once you were eating them; that was no longer hope, that was achievement!  Since that sermon I’ve never been able to cook a pot of pinto beans without thinking about hope.

Independence Day

When we left our day jobs at the great Mammoth Cave a lot of people thought we were nuts because in this great nation of ours only one means of survival is considered viable: a good (read high paying) wage earning, job.  We have set out to prove that a beautiful, satisfying life can still be lived without selling our time for less than we believe it is worth.  And, so far, it seems to be working out.  Granted it has only been about a month, but in that month we have made serious strides toward true independence, without depleting our meager savings.  Indeed, our savings have actually increased!

"What is true independence?" you ask, well here at Groundwell Farm we consider independence to be:

Meeting, or even occasionally exceeding, all of the necessities and desires of life through either direct work, or through agreeable trade with people we are close to in everyday life.

The Fruits of Our Labors

We have the tremendously good fortune of having a wonderful neighbor.  Miss Morell is an older woman who has lived an exceptionally hard life (at least on American terms) and she is one of the "givingest" people I know.  On her single acre of land she grows a phenomenal variety of flowers.  There are fruit trees as well, of many different varieties. The greenness of her thumb is beyond compare.  She also always grows a garden that would put the average prepper to shame  Much of what is in her garden she no longer eats. Between ailments that restrict her diet and time worn habit, she frankly subsists on barely any food at all.  But she keeps on growing it all.  I think most of her produce goes out to family members and friends.  Over the years she has given us a great deal of fresh produce.  Sometimes we are blessed with foods that are not our favorites (okra) and other times there are foods that we relish (last year's cushaw squash dividend, a single cushaw is good for several meals).