We Made It

Big Ag is currently getting over being sick, so we've been around the house this weekend.  This has allowed me to get caught up on projects (including what had been turning into the Perpetual Marmalade Project, as you saw yesterday).  This morning we were sitting at the dining room table with our mugs of hot coffee and I paused for just a moment and looked around.  In the kitchen was my big stock pot, still out after canning the marmalade with it yesterday.  There were several bottles of homemade carrot wine sitting next to it on the counter.  And while this was happening, we were having a discussion about where to buy feed for the goats and lambs we'll be getting within a few months.  

And I realized we've done what so many people have as their goal....we started as urban homesteaders, and are now we're actual farmsteaders, living on acreage and able to construct this part of our lives the way we want.  

On Friday night, we went to a party in the neighborhood and got to know some of the folks who own property around us.  Some have planted olive trees and are bottling their own olive oil for sale.  Others are growing grapes and making their own wine.  But the interesting thing is, almost all of them came from urban areas (mostly Los Angeles and the Bay Area).  All wanted another kind of life, and did whatever it took to make it happen.

And so this morning, as I was hanging wash outside in the cool breeze and looking over our land, I realized we've made it to our own promised land.  It doesn't mean it will be perfect, or that we'll even be able to bring all our plans for the land into reality, but it means we're here, right now, and should always be conscious of that, and what it took to get here.

The freedom to add another pear tree or three to the orchard, or raise livestock, or just live close to the land is such a dream for some people (us included).  Today I am thankful to wake up in that reality.  I may not be going to church today, but it doesn't mean I'm not celebrating God with every shovelful of dirt I dig and every load of wash I hang against the cobalt sky.  

"For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land; a land of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey."  Deut. 8: 7 - 9 (abridged)

True.

Planting an orchard

Today we are planting our orchard on the south side of our property.  We have a variety of fruit trees suitable to this climate, and are hoping everything takes off this spring.  Whatever does not will be replaced, until we have a full complement of trees in that area. There is something immensely satisfying about beginning to put this land of ours to good use. I was totally intimidated by it when we moved in here this summer.  I would go outside and look down at it all, then quickly avert my eyes towards something that seemed more....workable.  Like a small bed for my irises, perhaps. But in the last seven months or so, this land and I have gotten acquainted, and it's finally no longer scary to plan out what we want to use it for. I like permanent crops because they require no tillage and few soil amendments, so they allow the majority of our topsoil to remain in place, but of course there are lots of other uses for it as well, since we have almost two acres.  

We've pretty much decided that half what we've allotted for growing space will house fruit trees and the other half will house vines and berries (yum!).  The rest of the acreage will be split into thirds and we will graze goats, sheep and possibly even beef on it.  We'll seed it so we have healthy grasses to crowd out the weeds, and use fencing and rotational grazing to make sure our animals don't overgraze the whole thing, as has happened with so many of our neighbors around here (especially those who keep horses.  I've learned nothing is as tough on native grasses as free-grazing equines).  And as we're on a hill, we need to stay mindful of erosion and the possibility of mudslides.

It feels so rewarding to finally be putting this land to what I really feel God called us to do with it.  We're responsibly stewarding it.  As Deuteronomy 8: 7-9 says, "For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of ...vines and fig trees and pomegranates; a land of olive trees and honey."

All those apple pies, peach cobblers, blackberry pies and homemade wine definitely make this a good land, to be sure.