What have we been up to all winter?
I hadn't even been over
here to check comments for months --- sorry to
leave so many of you dangling in moderation, especially when you were
all so thoughtful and kind. Rather than answering you individually,
here's a holiday-letter type of rundown from the last three months.
Most relevantly, we sold
our Virginia farm. It was a bittersweet moment,
but we're glad of the time and money freed up as we move on to new
adventures.
Mark won a $100 voucher
for our local 3-D printing workshop, but he
hasn't used it yet. He also finished up an ultra-short documentary
about our new stomping grounds and was pleased to have it chosen for
our local community film festival. He continues to take one class per
semester at the local university and to help other students with their
films while he scratches his own creative itch.
In December, we
celebrated our 30-40-50 birthday parties with my
cousin-in-law, in from Europe for the occasion.
Then we repainted the
living room wall and turned it into a Star
Wars
zone in honor of
Mark's new decade.
It snowed and snowed and
snowed and snowed, and the neighbor kids helped
turn the white stuff into sculptures.
They also helped sweeten
the fact that someone kicked in our trailer door two days before
Thanksgiving and stole our new chainsaw and
two heirloom shotguns. So we replaced the door and installed a fancy
security system...not
that we
have anything else worth stealing. (We haven't replaced the chainsaw or
guns...so please leave our poor door alone!)
I broke Mark's truck...
...and he now cooks all
the lunches. Our relationship is really very
even...I promise.
(Yes, the truck is now
fixed, just in time for hauling manure for the
garden.)
We got to see a real,
live fox at the library...
...and visited a Native
American petroglyph, both of which fed into my
fiction writing.
I started broccoli and
parsley inside then gambled and direct-seeded early peas and lettuce.
Many more crops are on the agenda for the months ahead, of course.
And I went on hikes here,
there,
and everywhere.
Until the next time I'm
randomly called to upload photos...happy adventures!
Or explore more posts by date or by subject.
About us: Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton spent over a decade living self-sufficiently in the mountains of Virginia before moving north to start over from scratch in the foothills of Ohio. They've experimented with permaculture, no-till gardening, trailersteading, home-based microbusinesses and much more, writing about their adventures in both blogs and books.
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Glad to see the update but sorry to hear someone else felt they had a right to your things. I guess it's part of moving back to "civilization". You need a big dog or two. That is as good a deterrent as the security system. Anyway, glad your doing well. Post when you can because it's always a welcome sight.
It is nice to hear from you again.
Also it is good to hear you've sold your farm, both financially and as closure.
Like you, I've had my house broken into once so I sympathize. It made me feel unsafe for some time afterwards. On the other hand, stuff is just stuff. The best heirlooms are your memories, and those can't be stolen.
Up to now I've refrained from commenting on your blogging vacation, because I was ambivalent about it. I have enjoyed reading and commenting on your adventures. But I can imagine it can be stressful. As an introvert myself I'm not sure I'd give the whole world such a detailed peek into my life! So if you continue blogging or not, you have my respect and thanks either way.