Heritage Harvest Festival

The Heritage Harvest Festival at Monticello was this past weekend.  I talked M. and B., urban-homesteading and homeschooling friends, into going and giving me and my son a ride.  We camped two nights, as they are avid campers and had access to a pop-up.  I am not a huge fan of camping.  M. thought it strange that I want to live off-grid, but find it awkward to cook a meal at the campsite; but it's really more about familiarity and convenience (e.g. having running water at the sink) than the electric stove.  I also find all the packing and unpacking tiresome.

I got to take two brief, paid workshops on herbal medicine on Friday while they watched my son, but on Saturday I didn't get to do much because my son won't stand still.  Honestly, I couldn't stand still either, because it's all so overwhelming.  There are so many things to dream about doing.  Home dairying, fiber production and spinning, permaculture, beekeeping, solar dehydrating, heritage breed pigs, et cetera, et cetera.  I lose focus and end up just wandering around.  Which goes hand in hand with a conclusion I have reluctantly reached; that before we try to go in any new directions, we need to do a better job at the things we're currently doing.  We need to focus more on soil fertility.  We need to slow down, and do the hard and unglamorous work, and prioritize our projects based on real needs rather than shiny temptations.  We need to use the things we've already bought and the skills and advantages we possess.  And we can not do it all ourselves.  I dream of having enough land and freedom to raise all kinds of animals, as many people do.  Every time I throw food waste away, I wish I could have a pig or even some chickens (legally) that would eat our table scraps, and I constantly wish for a dairy animal.  But I also know that there is so much more I could be doing even without that, and land is not the most important limitation.  Child care, or child distraction, is a critical need.  Lack of physical stamina is a close second, if not the primary limitation for me personally; as lack of time is for my husband.  And lack of funds is obviously a concern.  

I'm trying to stick to my no-food-buying challenge, but it is really hard.  We are eating a lot less meat, because my meat stores in the freezer were a bit low when I started this challenge.  This weekend I bought some fast food on the road because we were starving and unable to access our packed food.  The retail farmer's market I buy from emailed me to say they had finally found me some pigs' feet that I had requested a while ago, so I'll have to buy them now.  My spouse is not on board for this challenge; he doesn't get the point of refusing to buy even an onion or a carton of eggs.  A friend wants to can some peaches with me this week and I find it difficult to say no to that, having become somewhat addicted to preserving.  And I still have 3 weeks to go!  I'm going to do the best I can.  Hopefully, even if I don't do it perfectly, I will accomplish most of my goals, and form some good habits like I did with my food preserving challenge.