Homesteading

Month 2: I was back at the general store today looking for provisions. They haven’t restocked yet. There are still tools, and I’ve spotted fuel for cooking or heating if needed. Good to know. Food remains mostly in good supply, with a few exceptions. Smaller trips to keep replenishment up while access is ok, or fewer bigger trips to minimize exposure. Unknown. There were not too many traveling today. More today than last week. The town may recover. The town seems to be making do even with everyone still uneasy from the outbreak. 

Back on the homestead, we trust the roof we’ve found, but it hasn’t been tested. I probably should get up there and test it before the winter storms come. Better to know now and fix it ahead of time, instead of being surprised, and it causes more damage. The fences needed mending. They were falling down. We couldn’t stably maintain our boundaries and security. Mended now. A group from the South that moves around for work came through. Using them was more expensive much much faster, and probably sturdier. The fences are now mended, though we need a new gate still to keep the livestock secure. Cooking is impossible. We’re making do with foraging the area or cooking outside. By winter we should have a cook station functional. The means to store more food, perishable and dry. The means to cook better indoors, and many other modern conveniences. Bedding down will be ready by winter too. A large dry space for both of us. Probably not as nice as what we left in the city, with its views, but that’s the sacrifice made to make a new life. The crops need work. Much of what was left before needs work and isn’t high value. Much time will be spent working the land to make it usable. Space for the community, and importantly room to grow crops for sustenance, sustainability, and interest. 

The room to stretch and grow on our new frontier was what we were looking for. The city has its conveniences like sports events, and it’s wholly functional beer halls. It’s exotic food.  But the noise and the dust and the crowds have become too much. With the outbreak, a renewed focus on what is important was highlighted, and what’s important is that growth. That life change. Some people seem happy in the city. Maybe they don’t know better, maybe they are happy, or maybe they have no other choice in many cases. Or something else. Who knows, for us, it was time to get out and try our hand at this. 

That being said, being a frontiersman is a lot of work. There’s always something to do. There’s also something to fix. There’s always something to check. There always seems to be something to buy. Maybe that gets better once we’re settled for the season, but I suspect not. There’s always more to learn. How do I do this? How do I take care of that? How do I fix this? Plus the neighbors on other plots. They’re more settled surely, so we look to make allies, alliances, and understood.