It's fall now...

And it's a time to take a deep breath; first one in the past six months or so when this crazy whirlwind called summer started.

I've done a lot. It's been fun and hard. Lots of gardening, and building and working for money and bits of this and that.

The trailer house has come along very well. We're not quite done yet, but we live in it anyway. It's dry in there and warm and some things have a place to go while others are piled in as unobtrusive a fashion as possible. There's no sink or water inside, but a hose and a shallow pit do the trick for now. The woodstove got fired up the other day, and it has been drying our clothes and our mushrooms. The shed roof on the north windowless wall is keeping the firewood and the tools and the freezer dry. By winter there may be a fully functioning kitchen. The insulation of the floor might wait till next year.

The garden was great. We had the first season in our new plot of dirt a short 25 minute bike ride away. The soil there never dries out completely, despite serious drought. And things grow like gangbusters without much effort by way of fertilizing... all in all it's the lazy man's garden and boy did we ever get away with some garden neglect. it was great. and we have lots of food to eat all winter. We kept it pretty simple out there, just the basics.

I've been doing a bit of salmon fishing lately. It's fun.. but a lot of work. Caught a few pinks.. no cohos.. I'll keep trying. been casting from shore on the campbell river.

Hoping to do some deer hunting and goose hunting this fall.

Moved from the ol' farm there down to where we've got these goats with a few other folks. That's been fun and challenging. the goats are great, our new lord and lady are great, the location is great.

the goats take a lot of work. we have to walk them a couple of hours everyday that we milk, which is twice a week usually. And then there's the milking on top of that. all in all it's about 3 hours be gallon. not the greatest return.. so there are some doubts that this is an efficient way to get food. We'll see what kind of a hunter I am.

I've been on the board of the friends of Cortes Island for a year now, without really doing much.. but it has been interesting to see the comings and goings of a tiny commmunity NGO.

Did a bit of carpenter's helper work for a while. We saved the community hall from collapsing due to water and ant infestations. And we built the first in a series of composting toilets at the venerable Channel Rock.

That's the main drag of my life in the last half year since I've last written. I'll do some e-thinking this winter and come up with some real deep shit, instead of just journaling, which is kinda lame.

check this out: goingferal.wordpress.com

oh. and I got this truck. It's awesome.

L!fe is good.