Soft Spring steps get us closer to warmer weather days (today’s likely last Nor’easter, notwithstanding; we’re hoping those deeper in much wellness and safety). The pussy willows have bloomed and the buds on the forsythia and honeysuckle are swelling – the grass is greening up! I can see the bee balm creeping across the whole front garden (fine by me! but interspersed with peony and orange day lily shoots and unfurling hollyhock leaves – I love my black hollyhocks) and patches of early cleavers spreading in corners of the yard.

I’ve managed to get the peas and sweet peas in and the garlic is shooting up nicely in their bed. We’re not doing potatoes this year (which makes me a little sad but our beds need a potato break) but we are putting in a couple of sizeable patches of purple and black barley which we are excited about. The greenhouse babies are exploding – I’m trying to keep up but eventually I run out of room and 2 out of 3 coldframes failed this Winter so my extension spaces are limited. I’ve likely planted more than I need so hopefully we can share with others who might have the same sort of sense of humor I have when buying seeds (ha! yes, I did buy all purple plants at one point, and quite the variety of medicinal herbs that take a couple of seasons to come to fruition).

The last of the syrup is finished (yay, Josh!) and the chickens are being tractored around the garden (due to the rash of avian flu right now, my poor free range girls have to be a bit contained). The crocuses are popping up all over and the daffodils and tulips are trying (on the other side of the street they are bright yellow sunshines but they will take a bit longer here). D is making nature treks almost every day right now to collect mica, wintergreen, and various faerie house making supplies. It’s a lovely soft step into Spring!

What have we been up to? With the fresh Spring weather being well, Spring-like – we took advantage of some gardening cleaning and repair (moved flower boxes which lead to rose bush trimming, a new gutter for the outside of the heat pump house that hangs over a flower box that needed desparate repair, raking of beds, getting the pea bed ready, and cleaning up the driveway cottage garden – I like to leave all the tall stalks of seeds – after saving some of my own, for the overwintering birds and such) and due to the national rash of Avian flu, the girls are being moved to and from the chicken tractor which is now in a couple of old beds to be renewed in the garden (double duty). Though it will still be too early to plant alot of garden friends for a month, getting all these beds cleaned up this early is a gift (normally we are scrambling around the leftover snowpiles trying to dig in potatoes or peas). And if we’re lucky, all this rain will curb the Browntail Moth infestation that wants to impair me from leaving the house.

The babies in the greenhouse (or rather, my poorly used front porch) are growing nicely (though, late, as usual but stronger this year thanks to newly learned suggestions from both Eliot Coleman and Deb Soule books). And I finally took some time to try a new seed organization – piling them all in baskets and seedstarter lids wasn’t amazingly working – for both my addiction to buying seed packets and saving my own.

Josh has been finishing up the maple syrup (all boiling outside is officially over and now it has been refiltered and in the finishing pots, it’s likely we’ll get about 12 gallons which makes sense since we did less trees this year) – beautiful dark slightly smoky syrup – that’s how Josh likes it, just like him – with lots of character. And his new Polenta Green Chili Bread is divine – lots of flavor and texture (though I think he might change the scoring next time) and we are suckers for New Mexican green chili (when we lived there – in season, the whole town smelled of roasting chili – Josh got to relive that last year when he helped a local farmer roast his own – and he was paid gloriously in chili).

Meanwhile, Duende has been the ambassador for all things appearing – pussy willows, watercress in the creek, spring peepers, honeysuckle buds, and emerging crocus and other bulb shoots. There has already been an uptick in outside games – frisbee, badminton, and yes – wagon riding.

Let the Wild Rumpus commence!

What is a homestead, anyway? A patch of grass to call one’s own(ish)? A bevy of small animals to round out a sense of self-sufficiency? Or growing and tending to absolutely all of one’s own needs from one’s own tiny bubble? As you can see, I am perhaps not tied to any of these descriptions. A homestead to us is a place where you feel you are taking responsibility for your actions and your place in the world. That can, frankly, be anywhere but for us feels more solid in this place where we feel we have enough room to take that responsibility in the actions we find necessary and pleasurable.

Don’t get me wrong: I love self-sustaining systems, feedback loops, and reliance on positive action but I think that they can come about in many different fashions. First, I don’t think that everyone has to make everything for themselves or they are a failure (I don’t even really use the ‘F’ word for anything, it’s not a useful word, unless it’s funny). Second, I think the key element is personal responsibility (yes, yes I do contribute certainly -more significantly than I would like to- to the landfill. We try and try to lessen our garbage impact but it is a constant struggle. The weight of our stuff -people- is more than the weight of the world, which is not even counting our garbage!), in whatever way it needs to be expressed and accounted for. And third, I do think there should be an ecological concern or even morality involved with homesteading (of any kind, anywhere) – what kind of world are we making? But all of those parameters I hold onto are my own – and you need to make your own. Every day is a new day to start again.

Today, the lovely baker got up early and baked amazing breads (and took care of the chickens, which technically is the child’s job – somedays she’s good at it, somedays not). These breads take days in advance to make – not only must the Sourdough Starter (her name is Doris) be fed and maintained but once the orders are taken, the process of building her up for those orders begins. Then the breads are portioned, proofed, shaped, and proofed again overnight. And then they can be baked, packed, delivered, then enjoyed. We’re not a process facility – we’re just a kitchen, with one baker (I’m ornamental until we get a commercial kitchen – then my Kimchi, Fresh Ricotta, Jams, Pickles, and random what-nots can return). After he bakes, he delivers to the Portland area then back up to the Augusta area where he will also visit the Farmer’s Market, then return home to check the maple taps and collect sap. He will likely boil tomorrow and for the next three days while trimming more browntail moth nests and chopping wood. Then the bakery process begins again.

The start of Spring (technically) brings about a lot of indoor work for me. The end of Winter mending and making household textiles will move into starting seedlings and preparing garden beds while I continue to write my neverending (though I might be seeing an end in sight this year) dissertation on ‘intentional living’. We are embarking on some more business shifts, TBD, which will hopefully help us into a new phase of homesteading – cultivation of community.

It is so nice to see some ground these days, though it is still chilly – it feels like gaining ground. Maybe that is a new view of homesteading , a ‘gaining of ground’ in whatever way moves us forward.