December 2019

Ah December.  In some ways, this is a difficult time.  In others, it's wonderful.  The days get shorter, things are brown at lower elevations.  It's cold.  There's kind of an emotional frenzy that happens around Thanksgiving, Winter Solstice, Christmas.  It's an emotional rollercoaster at times.  But where  there are valleys there are peaks, and there were several peak experiences this month 

One was Jeanne's birthday (Dec 4th) trip.  James took over goat/farm chores so we could get down to the San Juans for a couple days.  Jeanne picked what turned out to be a beautiful ski tour for the first day, from near Ridgway to Burn Hut near the foot of the Sneffels Range and back.  It was supposed to rain that day.  Instead, there were beautiful blue skies, and great snow throughout the 10 mile round trip, on a route we'd never traveled.  It was one of those days when you can't stop chattering about how beautiful everything is.  We gained about 1600 feet on the way up to the hut, and had a nice fast run out as sunset approached. 

After skiing, we headed over to Orvis Hot Springs, where we cooked dinner in the springs facility kitchen, and spent hours that evening, as well as the next morning soaking (slept in the Prius).  As usual, we migrated eventually each time to the Lobsterpot pool (110 F), and alternated back and forth between that and the adjacent cold plunge (60 F).  Orvis is becoming a favorite for us, partially because we love hot springs, but also because it is surrounded by some of the most beautiful mountains, hiking, biking and skiing trails, in Colorado.

Back home, there's finally enough snow to explore new ski routes in Gunnison National Forest, below.

 We were both deeply affected by the news that a younger former neighbor of ours passed away mid month after repeated bouts of colon cancer.  Jordan was one of a kind.  He made us, and everyone else he met (as noted in the many Facebook posts and notes on a fund raiser website for his wife and two young daughters), feel accepted and a friend from the moment you met him.  He was extremely creative (as a film maker, musician, a fellow music jam player with Linc), inquisitive, and so full of life.  His passing left a hole in the entire community that people are still coming to grips with. 

Christmas morning, we cross country skied up one of our favorite Gunnison NF routes, took a Christmas picture as the light snowfall turned into a blizzard and skied the 4 miles back down in a veritable whiteout, crashing a couple times at sharp turns looming up out of the blizzard at the bottom of some of the steeper pitches.  Fun!   Then off to a potluck, song circle and dance.

And now, we're catching up on Frugalbundance Farm Blog entries for the year, FIVE MONTHS ahead of when we managed to get to last year's update (May)!  If we're this far ahead, who knows what other things await?  There's still a bigger barn and a larger house to build.  We definitely won't run out of projects.

There is much to be thankful for in this life.  Linc continues to find inspiration in almost daily morning recitations of the Haudenosaunee Thanksgiving Address, alone or with a friend, from the vantage point of a bench situated at a valley viewpoint on the path up the hill behind our cabin.  In the address, all things have instructions and roles to play in life, and all are greeted and thanked, in turn.  The humans are advised to "enjoy and appreciate life", and to "live in balance and harmony with each other and all living things".  Those two phrases sound so easy.  Personally, he finds that at times, embodying either can be quite difficult.  Aspiring to meet those challenges is part of what motivates him.

In our daily farm journal spreadsheet, we keep track of what is harvested each day.  In this blog, we usually list an annual sum of what we, the plants, animals and birds provided for the year as a whole for the year.  This was a really good year, with lots of irrigation water for a good portion of it due to record winter snowfall.  Here goes:

Farm Harvest

Chicken, duck and turkey Eggs - 210 dozen

Goat Milk - 490 gallons

Meat - 13 lbs

Asparagus - 15 lbs

Beets - 118 lbs

Broccoli - 8 lbs

Cabbage - 111 lbs

Carrots - 149 lbs

Corn - 232 ears

Garlic - 391 bulbs

Cooking greens - 228 lbs

Salad greens - 104 lbs

Onions - 122 lbs

Green onions - 31 bunches

Melons - 28 lbs

Parsnips - 206 lbs

Peas - 80 lbs

Peppers - 42 lbs

Potatoes - 91 lbs (blighted again, only planted 2 beds)

Winter Squash & pumpkins - 452 lbs

Tomatoes - 300 lbs

Turnips - 60 lbs

Zucchini - 354 lbs

Garden Apples - 0 lbs

Garden cherries - 4 lbs

Grapes - 0! lbs

Garden peaches - 133 lbs

Plums - 4 lb

Berries - only 4 lbs

Rhubarb - 9 lbs

Hay baled - 86 bales

Total farm product (not all shown above) - 8500 lbs, not counting hay

Market value of product - $23,380

So, maybe we should go back to Physical Therapy and Engineering for a living.  We're not going to get rich homesteading.  But, who knows, maybe someday, being able to grow most of your food will be a really important thing, and many of us will become agrarian homesteaders again.

Either way, may your new year be full of joy.  May you enjoy and appreciate life, and live in balance and harmony with each other and all living things.  We'll keep working on it too.

Have a great year!