Great (or not) musings

Pretend there's a picture here.

My camera is seriously sick after having been in a tropical storm. I think there's sand in the works. I miss it dearly, after having spent 2 months seeing life thru eyes that wanted to document every step of the way. The mechanisms grind painfully, as the lens comes out, then back in, then out again...finally the screen instructs me to turn the camera off then on again. Each time it's the same.

These are not complaints (altho I am really saddened and look forward to the day I can afford to take it in and get it fixed), rather an analogy of the state of both my home-garden and the Costa Rica project. Plans for both have come to a grinding hold. Neither forward, nor back, just....there.

So. What would the picture be, if it were truly there, at the head of this post? Lots of brown. A late-blooming spring hasn't been as difficult on me as it has on the good people of Alberta, who've toughed out this particularly long, cold winter. The extended cool weather has allowed me to continue to think about what I'll do with my poor yard, which was purposely neglected last year (much sadness ensued, after the decision to scrap the CSA). Now, with the remnants of weeds in every bed, threatening to take over again, it's easy to feel a little overwhelmed. Randy insisted that if I were to pursue the new, revised, Permaculture/CSA/retreat/learning facility vision I have for our place, I must give it one year of TCOB ie: putting a new coat of paint on things, fixing the broken, eliminating the unused. There are trees ordered for a wind row, and we've started discussing where we'd house chicks, and goslings during the colder part of the season.

The picture, then, is one superimposed on the actual one. Yes, there's brown weeds now, and sucker trees where we don't want them, and some outbuildings that have become mouse and Dove infested (actually, they are Pigeons, must dispised, but they are the same animal, just Dove sounds better). With the green that comes, so, too will the hard work of tilling the gardens, building raised beds, tree planting and a snow-fence to protect them next spring, which might just double as a goose enclosure (what to do about the Lily-dog?? she's such a herder! will the geese hold their own?). The overview is one of green. Multi-layered, intertwined function, this is the year to throw things out there, and hopefully, make many mistakes so that I can know what will work here and what won't.

Fact one about having any kind of food farming business is that I can't do it alone. Obtaining volunteers is key, and so lodgings is another area where I need to focus. Plumbing is a big problem, as it can cost a bundle, especially with updated laws about having a field, so I'm thinking about getting a couple old trailers on the place for WWOOFers http://www.wwoof.org/

Costa Rica is simmering on the back burner, waiting for some good ideas to come along. In my thoughts: funding for transportation and subsistence, land on which to focus my attention.