Farm Season

Now, where was I? Oh, right - I was on a rant about my neighbors...snapped a little... Since then, the guy next door (same apartment of said rant) drop kicked a kitten into the yard after fighting with his girlfriend. My boys happened to see the kitten hit the ground, or it may have been just after it hit the ground, twitching and dying. He did it in an angry moment, and he apologized to me and my wife, who upsettingly let him now how horrible his action was. The kids were upset, and so was Shelby. The police were called, but of course the neighbor fled before they got here and the sister's baby daddy refused to help - he is now (legally) banned from the apartment. The guy next door eventually came home, and he is in jail. Lesson: killing is killing, and death is death, animal or human, angry or not. The abandoned apartment next to theirs is squatter free, for the most part, except I know that people have been in there, to sleep or hang or whatever. Animal control will be in to gather the cats that are left there (neighbors gave a few of them a home), and hopefully the lock will be changed soon. Also, hopefully, the rest of the people in 2A will leave, also - eviction or otherwise. There is a point where you have to say "enough is enough", and this is it. The line is drawn...either they leave or we do. Either that apartment empties and I spend some time working to cleanup the mess others have left behind (because apparently people think it's ok to leave their trash, unwanted furniture, and nastiness behind when they flee), or we spend that time finding some temporary apartment to live in until other things get rolling. I was going to say "until fate kicks in", but maybe that's what this is. I don't want to move right now, but we will. I can't stand being uncomfortable in our own yard and being afraid to leave our windows open, especially with the beautiful fall weather is here. So that is where we are at. If nothing else, we have plans for the immediate future :)

Now for more positive stuff. I love this time of year! The weather is awesome and there are so many things to do that fit our family. We drove to Kidron, Ohio yesterday, at the crack of dawn, to visit Lehman's sale and festival and to drive through Amish country. We had the six of us packed into our van, enjoying the great weather and beautiful scenery of rural Wayne county. Totally worth the drive, and a great experience for everyone. If I can relate to any religion, it would be the Amish (and Native American, but that's a different story) - so in touch with nature and family. Very simple living and very kind, generous people. Today we are going to the Wool Gathering event at Young's Dairy, to learn about sheep and eat ice cream, of course! I think we will have at least one sheep on our farm, so that we can gather our own wool and make our own yarn. Sounds tedious, but winter can be long and we'll need something to do :) Next weekend is date weekend...well, really a work weekend for Shelby in Pittsburgh, but I'll be going along and Kait took off work to be with the kids, so...date weekend! AND I won tickets to the Mother Earth News Fair very near Pittsburgh, thanks to The Unusually Unusual Farmchick! There will be so many things for us to see and visit to get ready for our farm - we're both SO excited! This week we will narrow down the seminars we want to see, and make a plan for the weekend. I love these kinds of events that keep our dream of farm living alive. I get excited thinking about buying oil lamps, wood stoves, and farm tools. The idea of growing with our family on a farm that sustains us is such a fulfilling and exciting dream that I can't imagine how we went this long without it. I guess that part of the reason that these events are so rewarding is that we get to meet the people who are living our dream. Canning, farming, gardening, raising animals, sewing, some untethered from others' supply of electricity and/or water, and very happily doing so. From these people, along with the blogs, articles, and books that people write, I know that our dream will be a reality someday. That community is now part of our family because they are giving us knowledge, walking the walk, and helping us to get ready to live our dream.

Cora's many hats!