Country Mouse

Sometimes I feel like the character in the fable about the City Mouse and the Country Mouse. Clearly we are the Country Mice here in our mountain paradise. But living here comes with a lot of hard work - especially this time of year, when, in addition to regular chores like fixing fences and maintaining 16 acres, there is hay to buck, food to preserve, and wood to cut. (And if we do all of this, the horses can eat, we can eat, and we can be warm this winter. Oh yeah, and we can save a TON of money on board, food, and electricity.)

We've made pretty good progress this year. Half the hay is in, and the other half will be ready to be picked up in a week or two. I've made two batches of jam (strawberry and raspberry), picked 20 pounds of blueberries and frozen 3 flats of strawberries. I also spent last weekend canning 48 pints and 7 quarts of green beans. The apples are almost ready to pick, so I have another fun weekend ahead making gallons of applesauce and apple butter (mmmmmm....). Plus I plan to take advantage of the neighbor's bumper crop of zuchini and make some more zuchini bread, and freeze some shredded for sauces and casseroles later.

Tyler has been hard at work with the wood. Most of the wood we burn is from windfall - and there was quite a bit of that last winter. The rest comes from dead trees. This year, there was a trio of really big dead trees next to the graveyard. I was really proud of Tyler's ability to fell all three trees exactly where he wanted them to go - it was pretty crowded in that part of the woods, and he cut them so there was minimal damage (and no downed power lines!).

It seems like a shame to use this good, straight wood for firewood this year!

The boys have been great helpers, too (really!). When we went to get hay, we didn't have a third adult (usually helpful for one to drive, one to stack, the other to pick the hay up from the field and throw onto the trailer). So... we moved Glen's booster chair to the driver's seat of the truck, put it in 4WD low, and told him to steer between the bales. He did a great job, and loved helping.

Both boys were big helpers with the beans, too. Glen actually got to use a knife and cut the beans this year (he was very careful, and very proud), and Maddox helped to pack jars (one bean at a time - ask how long THAT took). They both picked blueberries (although they ate more than they saved), and will help with the applesauce and stacking the firewood.

I love this time of year, because it feels so satisfying to see the fruits of our labor (sometimes literally), and know we are ready for the season ahead.