Updates from the Rancho

The other morning, as I took kitchen scraps to the compost I glanced down the hill to the to the west and could see a few pronghorns grazing in the morning sun.  Tonight, like most nights spent on the homestead, I spent some time admiring the planetarium that I live in.  

After spending three years living in an RV and traveling to 40+ National Parks, it is really wonderful to live in a nature preserve with no monthly expenses (except trash).  The closest National Park to our land is the Petrified Forest and we find ample evidence around us of the ancient forest that used to flourish here. The Ancient peoples who called this place home left their artifacts and teach us that we are all just passing through while Mother Earth endures.  We seek to leave a positive imprint on this piece of nature and are proud that while the average American household uses around 877 kWh, this homestead uses around 150 kWh each month (~17% of what most American households use).  

In new news, we added a shipping container to the homestead which serves as a garage for our two vehicle.  A month ago the rodent activity was very high and we saw evidence of the critters in our vehicles.  We are really happy with the sealed indoor space and the rodent problem has been eliminated.  We like the container a lot and are actually considering a second one....I've been reading how people make greenhouses in them!  My container garden was utterly devastated by the wildlife.  Next year I need an indoor grow space for veggies.  Outside we want to start planting an orchard, but we need to fence in our property to keep cows and pronghorn away. 

In other exciting news, we had our wood burning stove installed!  We have been chopping wood in preparation for winter (it's a work in progress, we need a lot more).  The weather has been very warm for October - today the high was 84.  Even with lows in the 40s we are comfortable inside without the stove at this time.  

Sister has cowgirl boots - they are good for playing in the sand and exploring the high desert! Brother is growing his hair long - he wants to be able to put it in a ponytail.  Homeschooling is going well, we are in a comfortable routine.  When we are here homeschooling works well, we have more room to spread out.  We are thankful that Verizon has expanded coverage to this area.  The hotspot data works pretty well.  

For the past three years (while living FT in the RV) we rented a 5x5 storage space - the rest of our stuff has been stored here.  This past weekend we finally cleared out the storage and brought the rest of our property here.  While we are still tied to the valley (we stay in the RV), it is nice to see things that were boxed three years ago - when we moved from our 4000 square foot house - unboxed and put in their new places!  

Tonight, on solar power, we are listening to vinyl!

Husband installed a security system with multiple cameras that are motion activated and connected to the internet.  When we are in the valley we can monitor the homestead in real time and receive notifications if anyone is on the property.  This gives us a lot of piece of mind when we are away.  

In many ways the pandemic, while terrible and terrifying, ironically has allowed us the freedom to finish this long work in progress.  Working on our homestead has also been a great source of comfort and has been really good for my mental health.  A self-sufficient debt-free existence has certainly been a worthwhile pursuit on many levels.  Here we have created the systems upon which we rely - instead of being subject to the fallibility of end-stage capitalism.  Each day there are projects and tasks we have set for ourselves as we build into existence the the ideas of yesterday.  

Nature is profound and near here.  We are the minority infringing on the sacred spaces which belong to the critters.  

The darkness is a force, the phases of the moon are a part of our day - the full moon cast shadows from the trees and none but the brightest starts are visible.  In the new moon the deafening silence of the milky way transports the thoughts to infinity.  

Early September Moonrise

This is how we are supposed to live.  The city is sick.  It dulls our senses with consumerism and noise. Here we are free.  Here we live with the patterns of the sky, not in defiance of them.  We cannot trap ourselves indoors; we are forced to reckon with the elements.  This world is all we have, we owe it our lives.  We can be good stewards or we can greedily swallow up more and more until we are fat and sick and we have left destruction in our wake.  There are cycles that continue to exist even if they are ignored - best we open our eyes and learn to live with the cycles to avoid becoming victims of our own hubris and greed.  Nature out of balance is a force that will knock us down if we cannot cooperate. Have we not learned from the past?  We must rediscover that which was known by the ancient peoples - that Mother Earth is not something to be taken for granted - quite the opposite! She is sacred.  We do not own Mother Earth, we are owned.  We are animals pretending to be gods.  We must change course.  We must remember.  We must be stewards.  What can you do to bring balance to that which is so terribly tipped?