Weekly Update: 6.8.24
As we planned for the coming month, we decided to focus on finishing up our various ongoing projects. The bunkhouse has become quite cluttered with everything from half-finished bee hives to plumbing supplies. There are stacks of outlet boxes and spools of wire next to totes of PEX accessories. A small animal pen of kittens takes up one bedroom, and cucumber plants outgrowing their pots another. Working in there often feels like one of those old sliding puzzles -- to do any one thing, you have to move any number of other things.
On a personal level, a small mishap ended up coloring my week. When we were putting in our tomatoes last Thursday, I did something to my wrists. They were sore that morning -- but I'm used to pushing myself and not worrying about a few aches and pains. By that night, though, I knew I had made a mistake. It appears that I'm having a carpel tunnel flare up -- something my grandma frequently dealt with. After a week of spending hours daily digging rocks out of the garden, I had simply pushed my wrists a bit too far.
So instead of enjoying my typical active routine, I have been nursing my wrists, usually wearing a brace on at least the right arm. Of course, I found plenty of light work to keep me more than occupied -- cooking, light cleaning, and assisting with the plans for various projects. But being restricted put a damper on my morale, and I found myself confessing a poor attitude more times than I want to admit. I know God's ways are higher than my ways, and I take responsibility for the poor choice to push myself. I trust God's plan, as my mom reminded me this week of what feels like our life verse out here: "Unless theĀ LordĀ builds the house, those who build it labor in vain," (Psalm 127:1, ESV).
Though I was slowed down, as a whole, we still got a lot done this week. We tried to get our remaining beehive and frames finished. We didn't quite meet our goal, but we made a lot of progress. Levi and Dad cut and prepared the stock for all the frames, and Grace helped with assembly. Levi and Jeremiah have been clearing an area at the edge of our woods that will become our permanent apiary. Hopefully we will have everything moved and set up by early next week.
In the garden, we are clearing ground and preparing shallow raised beds for the cucumbers and squash. All able have taken turns breaking up the sod. Thankfully, we finally made it to where we already cleared rocks last year, so the work is going to go much more quickly now. Jeremiah has been scouting trees to cut for the raised beds. Bonnie-Jean, Grace, and Erin assembled two of the beds yesterday afternoon. Hopefully, they will be planting the cucumbers today.
Our kittens are getting so big that they need a better place to grow and play. Growing up, our farm kittens always roamed -- but here, with the lack of outbuildings, we let them be born inside the bunkhouse. Now, though, it's time they become "real cats" and get acclimated to outdoor life. We set up our dog-turned-cat-house inside their pen under a canopy outside. We moved the pen into a spot inside our garden fence, as the larger fence will deter our dogs from pestering the cats. This new setup worked splendidly -- until this morning, when one kitten scaled the pen and showed up on our tent porch. So now we are scrambling, trying to think of a place to put them where our Jack Russells, Dolly and Rascal, won't terrorize them for the next couple weeks. Starting in two weeks, we will be looking for new homes for them.
Speaking of the dogs -- they have been doing their best to keep our rodent population down, often digging holes in the most inconvenient places. While it is a little sad, we are thankful we will have fewer moles and rabbits fighting us for our garden produce.
On Friday, we celebrated our brother Levi's birthday. As the only man off work for the whole summer, he does a lot around here -- including putting up with all five of the women. We all spoiled him and gave him a very rare day off of everything.
All things considered, it was a productive, well-rounded week. We are making progress on several fronts -- and though it isn't as much progress as we might want, we are at least moving forward. June is unfolding full of beauty, with new wildflowers blooming every day. Our first cicadas have started to appear, though their song is still rather quiet. The fireflies come out each evening to turn our woods into an enchanted forest, as they dance along the ground and up into the trees. The beauty is rejuvenating, even when discouragement from setbacks threatens. God knows what we need -- even if that is just a new patch of Black-Eyed Susans.