spring’s arrival brings a subtle shift in routines and methods around our homestead. many things factor in to these changes and while some are apparent and abrupt (does freshening, no more fires in the wood stove) others are subtle (gradual increase of sunlight early in the morning and later in the evening, no thanks to daylight savings time which i loathe with all my being).
with does freshening brings the routine of milk. at first, i milk them once a day but as the babies are weaned or bottle fed if we are feeling up to it, i shift to milking twice a day. this must be done no matter what…my life must revolve around milking for the goat’s sake and the milk’s sake. the milking brings the routine of using the milk. some is bartered or sold in shares. the rest goes to making yogurt about once a week, kefir almost daily (to feed our smoothie habit), mozzarella weekly and ricotta weekly. plus, there will be times we’ll make ice cream as well and hopefully with milking more goats, i’ll be able to make some butter as well. i so do love fresh buttermilk for making pancakes and biscuits! if there’s not enough cream in the milk, i may purchase cream from a fellow local homesteader who has a dairy cow.
the lack of a fire in the wood stove brings a new method to cooking as well as a shift in the routine of preparing daily meals. i’ll be dusting off the solar oven very soon, it’s actually overdue since we are only sporadically building a fire anymore. using the solar oven means i’ll need to prep dinners first thing in the morning and get them in the oven by 10 am so i have the day to slowly cook using the sun’s heat. that also frees up a bit of late afternoon from dinner prep to do other things outside.
homeschool routines will shift from late morning when sage is napping to early morning before he gets up (hopefully). barring that, i will be attempting to do it in the morning anyway, trying to distract him with muzzy or sesame street. we’ll be outdoors more helping to keep the house a bit neater so less time will be needed to straighten it up. nature walks are a daily must as well as weeding and planting and translanting seedlings as they are ready. while we’ll still homeschool 4-5 times a week formally, the focus here will be on food.
sowing, weeding, harvesting, starting are all on ours minds right now. while we won’t be harvesting for awhile, planting seeds and coaxing seedlings forces us to dream about the not too distant future of reaping the rewards. windows start to open and close daily, letting in fresh air. the stagnant smells in the house go away. it smells alive and fresh with the intoxicating breathes of spring…lilacs! roses! rain! soon we’ll be hunting for morels, making dandelion mead and jelly, violet jelly and chickweed pesto. greens will grow and be ready to eat, the first peas of spring will be eaten. potatoes will be sprouted and planted, and before we know it, strawberries will be bursting from the beds!
oh happy day, spring is here at last! all too soon, the heat of summer will force us to change this routine to opening windows at night and closing them in the morning.
this changing of routines in the spring is one i look forward to every year. winters are so long and dreary and sunless that i feel exhausted just trying to stay alive it seems. the return of listening to the peepers through the open windows while feeling the gentle breeze, the endless watching of the barn swallows’ dance through the air (which i am eagerly anticipating the return of and watch for daily) and the blooming of green and other color to the landscape signals the end of the dreary routine of winter and the beginning of the living routine of spring. it’s the rejuvenation of a routine that i crave all winter long.
That sounds like a lovely change. I long for the days to leave the city and I have to deal with these kinds of changes 😀
Since no one else has commented on this post after several days, I want to offer some constructive critisim here, and hope it will be taken in the spirit in which it is given.
I have returned to this post several times, because I really would like to read it. But I cannot bring my self to try to follow it because of lack of paragraph spacing, lack of capitilazation and what appear to be run on sentences, but might not be since all I can see is one huge gasp of air expelled as all of this information was spued out.
Please reconsider and use the standard language and writing parameters when posting. There’s a reason they were invented: it makes one eager to the read information, it’s easy to follow and fun, as well.
Sincerely submitted and thanks for listening.
I agree that at first glance it is a bit hard to read. However, the writing style captures the feeling that comes over a farm when spring arrives. There isn’t time to even breath, let alone worry about paragraphing, punctuation, and the like. I would hope that readers could find the poetry in the style as well as the message in the content. Tansy, you may want to look at readability, but I hope if you change it you don’t lose the poetry.
clare – i apologize for the lack of paragraphing…the post originally had paragraphs and it seems wordpress jumbled them all together when i pasted the post into the entry. i was in such a hurry the day i wrote it that i neglected to view the site to make sure it posted correctly. that is resolved now.
as for the lack of capitalization, for the past 4 years, i’ve mostly written while juggling a nursing baby or toddler and am generally typing one handed (as i am at this moment) so capitalization went out the window as it is too hard to shift and type letters with just one hand. i know that annoys some people but it’s either type this way or not type at all (which may be the better solution!).
cooperii – thank you for your perspective on the post as well. the lack of paragraphing was an accident, all long time readers know i always have paragraphs (and not seeing them there bothered me too when clare pointed it out to me and i looked at my post) but i really enjoyed your take about the feeling of being too busy to even worry about paragraphs and such. that is so the truth!