This picture was taken during our last snow shoe adventure. I'm currently using it to remind myself of how adorable this guy is -- as I just removed the digital camera from his mouth and he is currently eating copious amounts of wood stove coal.

Aside from these minor irritations though, this morning seems exceptionally hopeful. Over a breakfast of scrambled duck egg (from the best neighbor's duck), whole grain toast and local apple slices we laid out plans for the cottage. The cottage is about half of the size of the current house. This means a lot of purging, which is good, we don't need nearly as much stuff as we have. Plus, the eventual goal is to live in a yurt on whatever farm land we work, so we need the less-stuff living practice. If you've never seen a yurt- here is a link to some of the more popular models (http://www.yurts.com/). Yurts are space/energy efficient, and will allow us to spend more capital on building farm facilities. Plus, they look like tree-houses for grown ups. There are some local builders who also specialize in them, so I'm hoping we will be able to keep the work/materials close to home too.

In the meantime, we are working on creative ways to downsize and create a cozy, efficient home. Under the bed storage, hooks, hanging racks etc. I really like gadgets/organization tools and am looking forward to keeping only what we need. I feel bogged down with so many possessions, mostly stuff I don't use.

The cottage moving date is coming up quick, so much of the next few weeks will be packing. I hate moving, but this feels like such a good next step I can't help but feel giddy. Then, a mere two weeks after we are moved in, my internship starts. Full time farming, a new home, (hopefully with the house being settled), seed and chicken orders... I'm practically bursting.

jinxed.

And, because my previous post was a love confession to the wood stove, I spent all of last night fighting for hours to get it going after it went dead because I didn't wake up to load it.

After the fourth time I got up to try and restart it, in the pitch black (because my girlfriend was in the room sleeping and had the flu), it seemed much less romantic and significantly more like an archaic torture device.

On the matter of wood stoves

Yesterday and into today have brought the coldest temperatures I can remember. This morning the thermometer read -20 on my drive into the cafe. We heat our current house with a wood stove, and it's one of the things I will miss most when we move. (In other news, we took the cabin on the sheep farm, pictures to follow.) Throughout the winter, we can be found huddled around the stove, with coffee, or maybe a glass of wine speaking in soft voices as we warm our toes.

There is nothing passive about heating with a wood stove. You must obtain wood (through gathering or local delivery), stack it for storage in a dry space, bring it into whatever room your stove it, and keep the fire burning. When the temperature falls like it has now, the stove requires constant attendance. For two nights, we have slept on the futon in the living room instead of the bedroom. This way, I can roll out of bed to keep the stove burning, and we don't have to try and keep the bedroom at a tolerable temperature. If the stove goes out, the pipes freeze, we freeze and all of the pets are miserable too. It might seem like a lot of work, but I have no illusions about what it takes to heat a home. There is no magic switch here, and I appreciate my heat on an almost primal level.I like the atmosphere the stove provides, and I pay much closer attention to the weather. Though of course, the draw back is that it's hard to leave the house for many days without winterizing, and even then you have to come home to a miserably cold home and spend hours to get it comfortable again. Still, I wouldn't trade the smell, the heat, or the coziness for the convenience of other heating sources.

Today was a cafe work day, and I ended up having to stay late. By the time I made the grocery store trip (we were out of coffee, a near disaster here) and made it back up the mountain- the stove was at a low burning ember point. This would be fine if the temperature had crept up a bit, but it was still -2 here. The pipes in the kitchen are a bit frozen (only the cold water) which is worrisome. I'm hoping with a hot fire and some tender care, a call to the plumber can be avoided. All of the pipes will be left dripping to try and prevent any further issues.

It looks like we are in store for more snow this week, this winter has been generous in cold and precipitation. I'd really like to call a truce with mother nature though, even if it's just for a week. We braved the cold yesterday for about an hour to snow shoe in the state park. The views were incredible, sparkling ice coated trees, mounds of crystal clear snow, and two dogs marching through like we were on an epic journey. Still, with the weather as it was, we kept it a bit short. A short walk still helped wear down our two seemingly tireless dogs -- thank goodness. They have a bit of cabin fever and spend their days scheming ways to get into trouble. They're lucky they are adorable.

Time to tend the wood stove, and perhaps a glass of wine. It certainly could be worse.

January

It's been snowing for days, literally. And ice, and sleet, and a variety of other winter weather type things are falling from the sky. On the one hand, it's picturesque. On the other, driving and shoveling are epic chores. But I'm planning on going on a snow shoe through the state park this weekend. If you've never tried snow shoeing, it's very helpful to beat winter blues. You're outside, moving and enjoying the weather, rather than just negotiating the complications it causes. Plus, it's great exercise.

We are also in the process of looking for a place a little closer to the farming internship. The current house isn't really close to anything, and it's in limbo- so we've been scouring the ads for small, cabin- like spaces that allow the antics of two dogs and a few cats. Then, hopefully we can simultaneously finish up dealing with the house, and move on. Its looking like we are taking a place on a sheep farm, an itty bitty cabin with a fenced in yard. It's warm, it hasn't a decent sized bathroom, and a gas stove. Plus, it's on a sheep farm. A.Sheep.Farm.

I'm humbled by how lucky I am. Yea, there is a long way to go to owning my own farm. But in just a few months we've moved to a year long internship on an organic farm, and potentially a new home on a farm as well. Plus, I'm not trying to reach this goal alone. I've got someone who shares the vision, and wants to work with me to reach it. That's invaluable and rare.

Alright, now to bring up some wood for the stove, it's chilly in January.

Hi, Can I help you?

To take the edge off of the unemployment situation (and pass the time while anxiously awaiting my internship), I have been working at a great cofffee/sandwhich cafe. I like cafe work, it's usually pretty fast paced, the customers are interesting, and I can drink all the coffee I want (until I'm properly jittered).

I like it. It's the perfect part-time gig, and it's helping us make ends meet. The people are great. The food is good. Am I convincing you yet?

Sigh. The truth is, I'm terribly impatient. I want to be three months down the road, in our new, affordable housing, working on a farm. I don't want to pass the time slinging coffee, or walking dogs (my other job). I'm so grateful to have these income streams. But there are days, today in particular, where my gratitude is tainted with this severe unrest.

It took me a long time to figure out what I wanted to do and who I wanted to be. Now that it's (more) clear, I just want to be there. But alas...there is still much to be done.

I emailed a credit counselor trying to figure out this housing situation. I'm trying not to completely destroy my credit, which is proving difficult. We're going to look at places to rent this weekend, which is exciting. Of course, with the two dogs and cats, it's going to be hard to find the perfect fit. But I'm really looking forward to finding a place that isn't tainted with history-- though I'm certain that all of this has helped me grow up.

I guess what it comes down to is- I'm ready for the next chapter but the pages are stuck together.

Muffin-Cake

One of the many repairs that are on hold due to the recession budget is the oven. The range works fine, well 3 of 4 burners at least, but the oven has ceased to cook anything. There's a chance that my mother will be donating her old stove, but in the mean time we are praising the invention of the toaster-oven.

This of course, is irritating to someone who enjoys cooking. But I'm determined to not let it be more than a minor set back. So today, when I realized that the muffin pan did not, in fact fit in the toaster oven- I decided to make a muffin cake. The result was pretty delicious, kind of coffee-cake like and really easy. I've provided a recipe for you below:

1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/s teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 tblspn vanilla extract
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg, slightly beaten
1/2 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup crushed walnuts

Mix the dry ingredients other than walnuts in a medium size mixing bowl. Then, mix the wet in a separate bowl. Pour the wet into the dry, all at once, while stirring. Now mix in the walnuts. Spread the VERY thick batter into a greased cake pan, and bake at 375 degrees for about 10 minutes. At the ten minute mark, add the topping below:

1/2 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup flour
1/4 cup softened (not melted) butter
Mix with a fork until crumbly (like a strudel topping)

Bake for about 5 more minutes.

Enjoy!

Fast Forward, Rewind

Alright, so there was a brief hiatus, without warning- on keeping this blog up to date. I'm going to try and avoid this in the future.

There has been some very positive motion since the last time. But first, a quick recession-budget friendly holiday gift wrap-up. Obviously, this year was pretty tight with the unemployment, but even in more prosperous years, I tend to make almost all of the gifts I give. Sure, it takes more time, and isn't always less expensive- but they tend to be more personal and being a control freak- just the way I want them. I'm lucky that I have an exceptionally indulgent, and equally crafty girlfriend, so together we were able to give folks what I think were great gifts.

First, canned goods! The garden was abundant this year, especially in cucumbers. Sweet pickles, dill pickles, relish, honey spice peaches, jam, rhubarb con-fit- delicious, useful, and easy to make ahead of time.

Next, we recycled tee-shirts bought from good will stores with good designs on them and made hand bags using a pattern online with some modifications. They would made great grocery shopping bags, and are much better looking then the store-brand ones you buy for a dollar.

Deciding tee-shirts were this years theme, we also made some stenciled tee-shirts. We cut out designs and taped them to the shirts. Next, we mixed a 50/50 bleach solution, and using a small paint brush, created negative-space images. This worked best with really simple designs, and we tried to be unique about stencil placement too.

We rounded off gifts with handmade ornaments, chocolate pumpkin fudge (made ahead and frozen), knitted hats and candles we purchased. If you want more info on how we made any of these things, leave a comment and I'll provide some step-by-step instructions.

Next- INTERNSHIP SECURED! Beginning in March, I will be working on a 600 acre organic farm. It isn't a CSA (community supported agriculture) model, but it's a well-known, exceptionally successful livestock and veggie operation. The moment I stepped on site, I really loved the vibe from this farm. It is a family run farm, and speaking with the farmer and his farmer sons was refreshing. They were dedicated, down to earth and excited to meet me. I was fortunate enough to get an offer that same day, and now we're just working out details. More on this in an additional post soon!

In the meantime though, the house I'm living in/own still hasn't sold. This of course, is causing some serious financial maneuvering and the anxiety I feel about that is a constant struggle. I'm doing everything I can to try and mitigate damage, and I picked up some part-time cafe work.

Right now, I'm counting the minutes until the internship, and simultaneously crossing everything hoping for a buyer on the house. The balance between the excitement and stress is a little taxing, but the excitement keeps winning out. I think that's a sign that we're heading in the right direction.