Emplaced
We're far enough from the solstice now that light begins to come golden and sideways again. The aspens are gold. There is a feeling that sometime it may be dark. The darkness actually caught me last night; everyone was making noise out and I went to check on the pigs and the dogs and the birds. Turned out it was a whole bunch of people on ATVs coming along the road, maybe to or from Canada Day celebrations, but I stopped to pick grass for the rabbits and hang out with the dogs in the back field and it was late gloaming by the time I got back in.
The summer barely feels started. It is barely started, I suppose, and maybe 3 months left till snowfall.
Tucker is back in the city. It's been awhile since he's been away for the full week and it was hard to let go, but now that he's gone I find myself expanding into myself so completely that there's no room for anything else. I was going to build the quail aviary this weekend; a wasp stung my lip and I didn't get anything other than the wood stained for it. I buried bodies and planted berry shrubs and brushed Avallu for hours and sold helicopter goose and watered the garden and stacked 202 pieces of lumber and talked on the phone a little and mostly just... wandered, observed, and thought about things.
Should the aviary go in front to screen the nascent seating area from the road or in back by the chicken coop to consolidate the birds?
If in the back, should I do a woven screen around the seating area and if I did that would it motivate me to keep on top of the aspen suckers?
Should I mulch and exclude the seating area now or later?
Should I disrupt nests for the year and take out the old mulch? How many rotten eggs are in that mulch anyhow?
Should I spread the mulch on the haskap exclosure, the apples by the pig fence, or the front yard?
When should I change out the mulch under the front deck?
What colour stain do I want on the front deck, and which of my boards should I use to floor it?
Where are all those wasps living?
Are all the ducklings still here? Chicks?
Should the pigs go in the far field or the back pig paddock next? If the back field, how shall I run water?
How much do I want another greenhouse as compared to a storage shed?
If I put the aviary in back it won't match the single-pitch roof of the greenhouse back there, but if I put it in front I won't come closer to completing the compound; which is more important to me?
Should I solarize the smaller back paddock by the neighbours' house in prep to plant more apples next spring?
Which geese should I keep out of this year's crop, and what is my m/f breakdown?
Can I remember the email of that guy in town who wanted a boar from this litter of pigs?
What should I do with the leftovers from rendering tallow, it'll probably make the dogs sick and I don't want to freeze it for the chickens for winter. Should I bury it?
Am I sure I don't want to make a maggot/gut bucket for the chickens? It would make them so happy.
No, really, where are those wasps coming from and why did it sting me in the face?
Is that a wasp's nest in the duck nest and are those ducks eating the wasps?
When should I let the little chickens out to free range?
Can I even catch these geese?
Should I make slightly raised beds and if so should I make them in a fancy pattern so I can appreciate the pattern from my deck?
Should I move those roses from the holding bed to the front seating area?
Do I want to try and keep only feather-sexable quail?
Are all the ducklings ok?
Should I lock up the new baby chicks or is their mother going to do a good enough job taking care of them?
When should I cull my roosters, if I do it too soon will I loose aerial protection for the hens?
Should I do a run of meat birds and sell them at the farmer's market?
How long will this feed last, and when do I need to get more to avoid having to buy feed-store feed?
Are those aspen roots in my septic tank? The suckers look so green right there.
Which branches should I keep on this plum tree and which should I prune out?
Should I thin my apples this year? Those trees are ridiculously heavy with fruit.
What is that dog still barking at?
It's so lovely to wander around and have my attention caught by one thing after another, to observe and to mess with bits and pieces in my own good time. I'm starting to get a little lonely but I'll be back to work tomorrow and maybe assembling the aviary tomorrow evening (front or back?!). The internet hasn't been good to me lately; it feels othering and hostile. Well, except for the RED gardens project in Ireland, which makes me want to run away and join their intentional community for the entire two seconds it takes for me to realise it's full of, well, people. Neat to see someone who might be compatible to garden with, though
Community is certainly a theme lately. The world wants me to join it and roll around in people for awhile. Some part of me thinks that would be nice. The rest of me is busy enjoying being right here, with my skin stretched out to the fenceline and my entire world inside it. I'm just starting to catch glimpses of how the work I've done in the last two years is spilling into the future; I'm no longer standing outside the project looking forward at it but am now inside it.
I have manifested parts of this system with my hands. It's beginning to look like the inside of my mind, and will continue to do so more and more with every passing year.
I'm so happy here. So happy, I can't tell you. This was the thing I needed and I have it.
I'm home.
The summer barely feels started. It is barely started, I suppose, and maybe 3 months left till snowfall.
Tucker is back in the city. It's been awhile since he's been away for the full week and it was hard to let go, but now that he's gone I find myself expanding into myself so completely that there's no room for anything else. I was going to build the quail aviary this weekend; a wasp stung my lip and I didn't get anything other than the wood stained for it. I buried bodies and planted berry shrubs and brushed Avallu for hours and sold helicopter goose and watered the garden and stacked 202 pieces of lumber and talked on the phone a little and mostly just... wandered, observed, and thought about things.
Should the aviary go in front to screen the nascent seating area from the road or in back by the chicken coop to consolidate the birds?
If in the back, should I do a woven screen around the seating area and if I did that would it motivate me to keep on top of the aspen suckers?
Should I mulch and exclude the seating area now or later?
Should I disrupt nests for the year and take out the old mulch? How many rotten eggs are in that mulch anyhow?
Should I spread the mulch on the haskap exclosure, the apples by the pig fence, or the front yard?
When should I change out the mulch under the front deck?
What colour stain do I want on the front deck, and which of my boards should I use to floor it?
Where are all those wasps living?
Are all the ducklings still here? Chicks?
Should the pigs go in the far field or the back pig paddock next? If the back field, how shall I run water?
How much do I want another greenhouse as compared to a storage shed?
If I put the aviary in back it won't match the single-pitch roof of the greenhouse back there, but if I put it in front I won't come closer to completing the compound; which is more important to me?
Should I solarize the smaller back paddock by the neighbours' house in prep to plant more apples next spring?
Which geese should I keep out of this year's crop, and what is my m/f breakdown?
Can I remember the email of that guy in town who wanted a boar from this litter of pigs?
What should I do with the leftovers from rendering tallow, it'll probably make the dogs sick and I don't want to freeze it for the chickens for winter. Should I bury it?
Am I sure I don't want to make a maggot/gut bucket for the chickens? It would make them so happy.
No, really, where are those wasps coming from and why did it sting me in the face?
Is that a wasp's nest in the duck nest and are those ducks eating the wasps?
When should I let the little chickens out to free range?
Can I even catch these geese?
Should I make slightly raised beds and if so should I make them in a fancy pattern so I can appreciate the pattern from my deck?
Should I move those roses from the holding bed to the front seating area?
Do I want to try and keep only feather-sexable quail?
Are all the ducklings ok?
Should I lock up the new baby chicks or is their mother going to do a good enough job taking care of them?
When should I cull my roosters, if I do it too soon will I loose aerial protection for the hens?
Should I do a run of meat birds and sell them at the farmer's market?
How long will this feed last, and when do I need to get more to avoid having to buy feed-store feed?
Are those aspen roots in my septic tank? The suckers look so green right there.
Which branches should I keep on this plum tree and which should I prune out?
Should I thin my apples this year? Those trees are ridiculously heavy with fruit.
What is that dog still barking at?
It's so lovely to wander around and have my attention caught by one thing after another, to observe and to mess with bits and pieces in my own good time. I'm starting to get a little lonely but I'll be back to work tomorrow and maybe assembling the aviary tomorrow evening (front or back?!). The internet hasn't been good to me lately; it feels othering and hostile. Well, except for the RED gardens project in Ireland, which makes me want to run away and join their intentional community for the entire two seconds it takes for me to realise it's full of, well, people. Neat to see someone who might be compatible to garden with, though
Community is certainly a theme lately. The world wants me to join it and roll around in people for awhile. Some part of me thinks that would be nice. The rest of me is busy enjoying being right here, with my skin stretched out to the fenceline and my entire world inside it. I'm just starting to catch glimpses of how the work I've done in the last two years is spilling into the future; I'm no longer standing outside the project looking forward at it but am now inside it.
I have manifested parts of this system with my hands. It's beginning to look like the inside of my mind, and will continue to do so more and more with every passing year.
I'm so happy here. So happy, I can't tell you. This was the thing I needed and I have it.
I'm home.