The wheel turns.

As I lay flat in my living room, I can see just on the other side of the baby gate, the chaos of the end of 2013...The toys from Christmas are blown across the floor, Sharon's craft stuff taking up the table, and the general debris from the whirlwind of having 2 boys.

The debris signals the end of a chaotic year.  From leaving our jobs and a move to the country, to the trials and tribulations on the farm and finally the loss of our loved Stepdad, Tom.  It has really been a tornado of an ending. But now we must pick up the pieces and continue forward.

This year the solstice passing was symbolic in so many ways.  The winter darkness came, as it does, and so it did in our lives.  With the injury I had I could not go down to mom's for our seasonal celebration, reminding me to cherish my strength because it can be gone so quickly.  But the celebration was different this year, and for our family a difficult, but known end, had finally come.  Tom Cissell, my step father, finished his fight with Cancer the day before Solstice.

I think he came to love the holiday that Mom started to celebrate, in order to see the grand kids and share the holiday season with the other 2 sets of Grandparents.  It was really something he understood. The seasons passing. Big Tom was a farmer at heart, and I think the season turning was an important thing for him.  He understood the cycles of life from his years on the farm, and understood the time to rest and I think in the end he knew it was his time to rest.

The wheel turns.

The winter is here.  We lie quietly and reflect as the cold days keep the birds puffed up and all of us bundled in the house.  The crackle of the fire in the kitchen stove reminds me of the amazing kindness that comes from other's hearts and I am relieved to remember that the world is a good place full of good people, to cherish the families we create, the ones we are given, and that together they provide us with the village that keeps us warm, fed and loved.  I will never have enough words or the right ones for the village that has taken care of my family in our time of need, so thank you, thank you, thank you.  We are forever appreciative of the time you took away from your family to help mine.

With the year setting behind us we look to the horizon, where our new life and adventure begins.  Soon our first quail babies will hatch and our latest addition to the farm will be peeping in the tool room.  We will be out in the greenhouse and thereafter the garden.  The llamas are healthy and seem to be ready for some long walks and hikes.  As Spring approaches we will have our hands full of chores and although we know it will be difficult, the feeling of the soil in our hand and the smells of spring in the country will fill our souls.  We are excited to go for it!

There is nothing stopping you from moving toward your dreams but yourself.  So I encourage you in the New Year to go for it too!

Love and best wishes for the New Year from the Rowland's

Downs with big ups

It's been a trying couple months for us.  As you may know, I hurt my back way back before we got the Llamas.  It was just starting to feel a little better when the pain moved into my hip.  I have had to see multiple doctors, been into urgent care for pain and nothing has seemed to help.  I am on Vicodin and muscle relaxers, so forgive me if this post gets weird or mooshy.

Sharon is an amazing woman.  She has taken on all of the chores, takes care of all of the boys(me included), deals with the animals, makes and sells her jewelry, gets the groceries, chops the wood etc etc.  Before last week I was still doing some chores but just trying to take my time.  Now I can barely do that even, I guess I have something going on in my sacroiliac joint and muscles keep spasming.  Boo is all I have to say about that.   I am hopeful things will change soon.

So thats the downs, But the Ups are much better!  I think that's the key sometimes, The ups.  My favorite book as a kid was called Great Day for Up

 

 It is always better looking up then down, so the best thing about these last six weeks is all the time I've gotten with my family.  My boys are growing up.  They are becoming beautiful, compassionate humans and I am getting that snuggle time that will be gone before I know it, so I thank the universe for giving me(forcing me really) this time with them.  I have gotten to watch Sterling get excited about school again, make friends, and love the experiences he is getting from 4H!  Laird is blossoming into quite the adventurer, you gotta watch the door now or he may just go for a walk on his own!!

The farm is quiet now.  My favorite saying, that I once used as a metaphor for reflecting and resting during this time of year, "Let the fields lie fallow"  is now also a truth.  Our veggie garden is actually lying fallow, the birds get fat on seed, the chickens are super puffy and the llamas are doing some serious hair farming.








Meanwhile arts and crafts and warm fires turn the farmhouse into a snuggly place. Although you can feel the wind blow thru the old glass and doors, it just gives an excuse to huddle near the fires bundled up under really heavy and comforting quilts.

Brothers play together and wrestle in the purple dragon tunnel, Sterling reads Porky Pig to Laird and Laird loves the time that his "Brudee" gives him.

Sharon's arts and crafts time and my "time-lapse a day" creative challenge keep us busy as the days grow short and the weather frigid.  The ponds and crick are frozen and the extra cold chore of defrosting the animals water, and the wildlife is added to Sharon's long list.










We get lots of time with the proverbial fields lying fallow now, chilling out but keep our minds active with thoughts of what chickens and turkeys and goats and and and…whatever Sharon comes up with, to purchase for next year, along with how we are going to build our new place, what the new business is going to look like and how to build hot tubs out of rocks and chicken manure.  The last may just be a Vicodin fogged brain's idea.  But as we near the solstice we find comfort with one another and enjoy making each other smile and laugh and create our own sunshine in our family life even if the sun is taking a break.


We have made friends with a family here through 4H.  We invited them to come cut a Christmas tree at our property.  They really helped us out by cutting and stacking firewood with Sharon and Sterling.  It is amazing to find people so willing to help when your down a family member for chores…They are truly great friends by giving us their time to help keep us warm and lessen the chore load on Sharon.  Thank you Swanberg's!!   It was a beautiful day and we found some trees, they turned into some Charlie Brown looking trees, but the memories of our first Christmas in Sequim have now been securely planted and the new traditions are going to echo into the lives of our children and our children's children.

  

 So as the darkness of winter closes in, I won't let the downs keep me down but only let the ups lift me.  In the end these memories will be the ones I will reflect upon when I ask myself if I have had a good life.  It certainly won't be me saying "Boy I really wish I would have worked that Overtime and an 80 hour week." HA!

We send you love and wish you happiness this holiday season.  Find your time to reflect, cherish your friends and family, and let your fields lay fallow, whatever those fields may be.

Love,
The Rowlands

4Hin' it

Tonight was Sterling's first night of sewing through 4H.  He was beyond excited.  He had been asking for a week or so when sewing class was going to start.  This kid loves all things crafty.  Shoot, if there had been glitter fabric his head may have exploded.  His glitter obsession shall be saved for another post.

We had the car loaded with my sewing machine and all of our supplies.  We arrived a few minutes late due to swimming class, which was just fine.  We were able to jump right in.

The woman leading the class was from WSU.  She is a volunteer with part of their extension program.  She was fantastic.  The first project that she had the kids work on was a tree ornament.  Sterling was so excited he could hardly sit still.  He was able to get the machine threaded with a little help from mom.  Let me tell you when his lead foot hit the foot controller the fabric went a flying!  Whoa, whoa, whoa.  We gotta slow down here.  I had visions of his 16th birthday and his lead foot hitting the gas and taking off down the road.  Hopefully this kid will not have the same love affair with muscle cars as his mama. Fat chance.  Any of you that have seen his hot wheels collection know that his obsession with cars goes beyond his mamas.

Marilyn, the instructor, took care of things quickly.  She placed a shim in the foot pedal in order to keep ol' lead foot at a reasonable pace.

Sterling got his tree done and was ready to trim his threads.  Lets just say thankfully mama still has both eyes after this evening.

He was ready to move on to the next project.  A very cute travel tissue cover.  He carefully picked out his fabric and thread.  He wanted to make sure the thread matched as the instructions suggested.  In this project he was required to use the iron.  Again a little scary.  Good thing his teacher taught the kids about fire safety at school today.  We needed to go over that once again when it came to the iron.  I just kept reminding him it was similar to the glue gun.  VERY HOT.

All in all it was a successful evening.  The teacher said he was a very good student and looked forward to seeing him in two weeks.

Sterling is also in a 4H group called Adventures in Family Living.  This class offers a lot of variety.  Each meeting the kids have a different project they work on.  It can be anything from cooking to making bird houses.  This past class the kids worked on felted balls.  The basic idea is to make a wool yarn ball, shrink it in the washer and dryer, and then needle felt designs onto them.

4H has been a great experience so far for all of us.  We have met some really nice people and Sterling really loves it.

The Llamaleers

So many things to talk about...I guess I'll start with the Llamas.  Bolt's foot is healing, he has been happy to have the dry stall we made, but hates being apart from his buddy Cody.

Although I have no idea why you would want to hang out with a guy who constantly spits in your face. 

We've been taking Cody on walks without Bolt, which has been nice, I finally am starting to "get"these animals.  It's like having a cat that doesn't really care about you other than you feed him, but then it's kinda mixed with a dumb dog cluelessness.  Cody bounded around like an idiot anytime I got too close for awhile and I just would try and ignore him, he kinda spooked Sharon because a 350lb animal jumping around can be a little intimidating.  Apparently they can sense when people get nervous and tend to feed off the energy.

When we separate them they do what is called a "hum".  It's kind of a weird grunty whiny sound, like they are worried or constipated or something.  It doesn't sound like a hum that I would think of.

Here is a link to the video of us getting the Llamas! (since I can't get Blogger to post the video)

The Llamaleers

The Moberly clan came up for an early Thanksgiving.  It was great to see everyone!  Sharon's brother, Dean and I went for a little Thanksgiving Hunt.  I had him walk on one side of the pond while I snuck up the other.  We could see the ducks in the pond and got excited, Dean got closer and closer and then CRRRACCK he fell thru the ice...not in the pond mind you but in the mud pit right next to it!

At the gravel pit, they wash the gravel and then pump the glacial flour (mud) up to the settling ponds and then the silt settles out and the wash water feeds the pond.  Well, I forgot to tell Dean what to look for, because it looks like solid ground unless you know the tell-tale signs from growing up, and playing in them every summer for 20 years.  So Dean and I didn't get any ducks, I laughed for about 20 minutes, then stood up and laughed some more while I pulled him out, and then laughed some more on the walk back, then while he washed in the creek, and at dinner.

At least the first Thanksgiving in Sequim we made some good stories and had some laughs!

Don't you hate it when your car breaks down...

It's kinda like that with owning Llamas and, well... I guess animals in general...The vet bills alone this week were like the time when the car breaks down, right when you thought things were shapin' up...

Bolt kicked a hole in the floor of the van during transport from Salem, it happened to be right behind the rear right wheel well.  Well, That so happens to be the same place that, directly below, is the exhaust pipe.  It seems as though he kicked thru and put his foot on a hot tail pipe from a long drive.
We figured this out after a week of detective work; and learning not only how to deal with Llamas, but how to deal with an injured one and how the hell it got injured.  The vet agreed that our theory seemed to be consistent with the injury and the healing.  It took us awhile to figure out why he hadn't bled at first, then we realized he probably sloughed off the blistered skin which is why he had a bloody foot long after he was limping.

This happened right as we turned off the highway into Sequim.  Bolt kicked in the hole and got pissed, which pissed off Cody, at which time they started spitting at each other, which also happened to be when Sharon was filming and laughing because I was yelling at them to knock it off...Ahh, the thrills of livestock...

On the plus side, I haven't spent a dime on materials for building the chicken coop, the Llama corral, shelter or stall.  I have been saving up all the random gate hardware and nuts, bolts screws and any kind of fastener that one tends to acquire when you build stuff.

My dad and stepmom were in town this weekend!  It was great to have the help, Dad helped me get the roof on the shelter, chopped wood, pulled nails out of old barn and deck wood, and helped build a stall for the Llamas inside of the big barn.  Whew!  Since the Vet has been by, we now know Bolt needs to stay in and chill for at least 7 days, so the stall was priority.  It was a huge help to have extra hands that didn't have a squirmy, wiggly 1 year old preoccupying them.

Sharon and I cobbled together a chicken coop out of pallets, Pallets are amazing things, I have so far used them for stalls, chicken coop, the barrier between the Llamas and us on the ride up, A hay feeder, different gates, they have really been useful, not the prettiest things but utilitarian and free.

It feels good to be back at it.  My back is still super tender, but I can finally get working again.  I just have to choose my chores carefully and spread out the physically hard stuff over a longer period.  On one hand that kinda sucks because its getting colder every day, but on the other hand, what the hell else am I gonna do with my time.  Everything seems to get done one way or the other.

I think I'll go shoot some time-lapses tomorrow and give my back a sleepy afternoon on some hill somewhere.  Hopefully I won't get too wet.

Ta Ta

Pugs are NOT farm dogs...

My suggestion to those who move to the country with pugs, is to not bring them.

Pugs are dumb.

Mine specifically are really dumb.  They resist leashes to the point that they will pull against you into the road, Barking bravely at gravel loaders is sure to make a pug pancake and not the kind Sterling likes me to make, and chasing and yiping at the bald eagle circling the fields will certainly bring a panicked scolding from mommy.

Yesterday was no exception to their stellar intelligence.

Pugs are famous for snarfling.

snarfle; To put your ridiculous face to the ground sniffing and eating everything that: smells good, stinks, makes you throw-up, poop or is chewy.

Yesterday, Izzy and Precious' snarfling got them a night at the B&D spa for dogs!

At the B&D(Barf and Diarrhea)the specialty menu consists of activated charcoal, and spa treatments include things like shoving tubes down your throat and cold things in your a$$.  You get to go home with really expensive food and a super thrilled mommy and daddy, a night for 2 at the B&D is a mere $1499 plus tax.

It turns out that yesterdays Mushroom hunting was a success for all of us.  I found some beautiful Shaggy Manes and Shaggy Parasols,

also some of these beauties that I wasn't sure of, so I didn't pick,

Preshy and Izzy just loved eating whatever LBM's they could find.  Little brown mushrooms are all very similar looking and you could have anything from a night of deliciousness with the fairy ring mushrooms, or a trippin' night with some potent psilocybe, or finish it up in the grave with Deadly Galerina.  It should be noted that most of the random LBM's out there's bad side effects are, getting the trots and vomiting, which is what Izzy and Preshy got to enjoy all night at the B&D.

We are happy they are home even though they are sad little pigs who have curled up next to the heater in the mudroom because we don't need to step in any more surprises this weekend.

Another week at the farm...

Keeping warm

Becoming acclimitized to chores on the farm has been a challenge for Sterling, well for all of us really.  Things that used to be solved at the push of a button are not always so easily solved here.

For instance, when we were cold in Portland we would push a button for heat. Here at the old farmhouse, this is a huge undertaking.  To stay warm we have to build a fire in the potbelly in the morning or fireplace in the evening, I know I know, you are thinking, easy just build a fire.  Maybe it would be if the wood was delivered.

First pack up the chainsaw, a can of fuel and some chain oil.  The chainsaw has become probably the most valuable piece of equipment here on the old farm.  Then you head to the woods, look for the old deadfalls, old is best because wet wood doesnt burn well.  Then you "buck" the timber into 16" pieces.  Then you load up the wheelbarrow if its close, or the Llamas if its far and haul the wood back to the wood shed.

Next you buck the wood into 8" pieces for the potbelly, since it is the main heat source in the house.  You do this by loading the bucking cradle up and then use the chainsaw and cut the wood in half.  Then with the second most important tool, the axe, you split the pieces into less than 5" diameter wedges so they fit thru the potbelly door.

After that you load up the outside woodbox,

Load the inside woodbox, empty the ash collection tray, open the flew and now you can build a fire.

I know from experience now, that you should always be doing one or more of these steps per day.  Because once you throw out your back and you are down for a week, the wood storage gets low quickly.  I know why farmers would have lots of kids...Sterling will take over this entire job as he gets older.  But currently he loves being the one to fill the wood boxes, he sees he is a vital contributor to one of the most important aspects here.  He looks forward to being "upgraded to a level 2 woodsman".  Thats when he gets to chop wood he informed me.

In the meantime we will all have heated discussions(no pun intended)about who gets to sit in the hot seat! But I guess we will have to fight the animals for it first!

Mutant apples and making butter

Sharon and sterling are making butter today from the raw milk we buy down the road.  Also the last of the apples are proving to be most gargantuan!!

Jumping off the cliff

I know this is old news to a lot of folks but for those of you just now reading along, we moved to the country.  We moved because we were tired of our life in Portland.  We moved because I had a bad job situation.  We moved because of Portland's terrible public school system.  We moved to start our dreams of living in the country.

I started documenting the entire leap on video and I was watching some clips the other day and I think maybe someday people will want to see it.  Not because I think it is some great or original story, but because I think a lot of us don't know where to start when we want to follow our dreams.

We have only been here 2 weeks, and the only reason I am starting the blog now is because I am layed-up from throwing my back out while clearing the llama pen.  It's kind of a "bring you back down to earth" kinda day.  Injuries on the farm are never awesome.  Especially since I am the strong back around here...but I guess we all need to take the time to heal instead of pushing constantly.  I think that's something everyone needs to do no matter where they are or what they are doing in life.  Thats why I am here after all.

Part of my dream up here is to make a retreat.  I want to make a place that people can come to and reflect on life.  Heal, sit in hot tubs, look at the Olympics and breathe.  I want people to take the time for themselves.  There's too much input bombarding everyone constantly, it lends to stressful days from the moment you get in the car and fight traffic.  Everyone has a reason to unplug and relax, whether it is the work, school, or family stresses.  So I plan to provide a place for this to happen.

In the meantime, we are trying to figure out how to make a living on the land.  Sustainability for my family is really important.  So we are trying to figure out what to farm, how to farm it and what else we can do here.  Some of the ideas are having events, Llama pack trips, Olympic adventure outfitting, in addition to our old income sources like Sharon's craft and jewelry and my video and photography stuff.
The hardest part of this whole thing was jumping off the cliff.  What I mean by that, is saying screw to the bosses, ignoring the naysayers and just going for it.  Granted the old house up here was needing a renter and the family farm has been here, slowly falling down, but here.  But by saying fuck it to everything down there, we were able to sell our house, get completely out of debt and be able to buy another place if we choose with a good down payment.  Our original plan was to buy an hour outside of Portland and do the same thing with our dreams.  But we were lucky enough and brave enough to uproot and go long.  It is a hail mary in some aspects, but we feel it is a safe play regardless because in the end, we are financially free and our boys will grow up free to roam and have a good school system to be educated from.

So now the adventure continues and this will be our forum to share our experiences and learn from!