Update

Averaged out, each year is better than the last. I'm more gracefully and assertively able to navigate my own life, my own desires, and a variety of environments. I have more faith in myself with each passing year as I continue to show up for myself more often than not, year after year after year after year.

I feel more self-possessed, not in the conventional use but in the literal meaning of the term. I am in better ownership of my self these days, and everything that comes with it.

All that said, these remain hard times. Bathtub Goose died a couple days ago. I planted a Tecumseh plum tree over them, and an Opata nearby. I miss them, they were so snuggly and loving.

Today one of the two new boars plus UV and another gilt of UV's cohort are going to a breeding home. Rounding the last one up yesterday took a ton of work, but luckily the first two walked right into the woodshed. I used a bit of pig psychology for that: I let them out of the pig fence into the yard and the boar went straight into the woodshed. I let him go back out again until he and UV started wandering around together, then he led her right back to the woodshed. I don't think she would have gone on her own-- the other one sure wouldn't.

Now that I know which of the new boars I'm keeping, the other one has revealed himself to be named Oak. I am keeping the bigger-framed one, not the smaller curly one. Interestingly, all my boars have a pretty curly undercoat but I only see it when they shed their bristles so the wooly layer is on display.

I'm putting twinwall polycarbonate on the greenhouse part of the woodshed, it had been plywooded up for last winter. I'm excited to grow in that space next year, and maybe to move the tomatoes into it from my deck this fall for a couple extra weeks of growing time. The twinwall sheets are cheaper (and more delicate than) the single-wall corrugated poly panels I used on the roof. They'll need to be carefully framed so the birds won't hurt them. They have a pretty neat appearance, a little bit like a Fresnel lens, so things are slightly distorted through them.

The americauna chicks are mixed in with the other breeding chanteclers in the henhouse. They're not old enough to breed or lay, but they are well feathered and lovely.

I have several new ducks. Hans the ancona was shooting blanks, or mostly blanks: I put several eggs in the incubator and few to none were fertile. So, I tracked down a new drake who came with the name Romeo and he's in there. The next step is to make sure the ducks are not in with the chickens, since the roosters may be preventing the drakes from mating. But, a couple weeks and I can set those eggs.

I also got a trio of pekins. They are huge beautiful birds and not super smart; they're more similar in size to the Chinese geese than to the other ducks. They've blended in ok, foraging in clover at the bottom of the garden and wandering around with the geese from time to time. They're too young to lay, I believe; I may need to wait for next spring.

The last batch of quail is about ready to go outside. I'd like to set another round of quail, a round of chanteclers (since no one hatched their own eggs this year), and a round of ancona ducks. I'd better get moving because I don't want to be doing that in winter.

It has been and remains very very cold here. It's still in the single digits at night (C), we had hail yesterday multiple times, and now that the incubator is off my house is *cold*. Chimney cleaning needs to go on the to-do list so I can start a fire.

The garden is doing... ok. If we don't get anymore heat the green beans will barely squeak in and the drying beans won't go. I'm starting to get tomatoes off moravsky div and I believe stupice and one of the cherries - maybe sweet aperitif. Cabbages look nice, gaspe corn has ears but I don't know if they pollinated, potatoes are huge and beautiful, zucchini are just starting (!). Beets look great. Raspberries are beautiful bushes and I'm looking forward to the harvest next year - they were just planted last year so there aren't too many berries yet.

Rounding up the pigs for sale also let me confine the pigs in the new field field… oh dear, that's gonna need a better name. The far field? Anyhow, that means their winter area is clear and I can split it in two. I'll need to take down a spruce tree and then I'll have the pig winter field and a field for planting haskaps in. The haskaps on my deck are looking lovely, so they should be good to go in the ground next spring. I worry if I plant them this fall they'll be eaten by voles and frost heave.

Anyhow, then I need a real solid winter fence for the pigs and we'll be good. In winter I can't reinforce the fencing with electric -- I don't get a good ground through 3' of snow -- so it needs to be pretty solid. On the plus side they can't dig under the fence when the ground is frozen.

In other fencing news, I caught the bottom of my 4runner on the slip-wire gate I've been using for a couple years, tore a piece off the car, and distorted the gate badly enough that it doesn't reliably keep the dogs in or out. Given my neighbours, that's a problem. So, proper gates are arriving Thursday and I hope to put them up on the weekend. This is one of the real daily-use life-is-better upgrades since struggling to lever the gate closed a couple times a day wasn't super great.

I think the piece I tore off the car was unnecessary.

So: I'm pretty immersed in my life. It's good. Hope you are as well as you can be too.

Update

Averaged out, each year is better than the last. I'm more gracefully and assertively able to navigate my own life, my own desires, and a variety of environments. I have more faith in myself with each passing year as I continue to show up for myself more often than not, year after year after year after year.

I feel more self-possessed, not in the conventional use but in the literal meaning of the term. I am in better ownership of my self these days, and everything that comes with it.

All that said, these remain hard times. Bathtub Goose died a couple days ago. I planted a Tecumseh plum tree over them, and an Opata nearby. I miss them, they were so snuggly and loving.

Today one of the two new boars plus UV and another gilt of UV's cohort are going to a breeding home. Rounding the last one up yesterday took a ton of work, but luckily the first two walked right into the woodshed. I used a bit of pig psychology for that: I let them out of the pig fence into the yard and the boar went straight into the woodshed. I let him go back out again until he and UV started wandering around together, then he led her right back to the woodshed. I don't think she would have gone on her own-- the other one sure wouldn't.

Now that I know which of the new boars I'm keeping, the other one has revealed himself to be named Oak. I am keeping the bigger-framed one, not the smaller curly one. Interestingly, all my boars have a pretty curly undercoat but I only see it when they shed their bristles so the wooly layer is on display.

I'm putting twinwall polycarbonate on the greenhouse part of the woodshed, it had been plywooded up for last winter. I'm excited to grow in that space next year, and maybe to move the tomatoes into it from my deck this fall for a couple extra weeks of growing time. The twinwall sheets are cheaper (and more delicate than) the single-wall corrugated poly panels I used on the roof. They'll need to be carefully framed so the birds won't hurt them. They have a pretty neat appearance, a little bit like a Fresnel lens, so things are slightly distorted through them.

The americauna chicks are mixed in with the other breeding chanteclers in the henhouse. They're not old enough to breed or lay, but they are well feathered and lovely.

I have several new ducks. Hans the ancona was shooting blanks, or mostly blanks: I put several eggs in the incubator and few to none were fertile. So, I tracked down a new drake who came with the name Romeo and he's in there. The next step is to make sure the ducks are not in with the chickens, since the roosters may be preventing the drakes from mating. But, a couple weeks and I can set those eggs.

I also got a trio of pekins. They are huge beautiful birds and not super smart; they're more similar in size to the Chinese geese than to the other ducks. They've blended in ok, foraging in clover at the bottom of the garden and wandering around with the geese from time to time. They're too young to lay, I believe; I may need to wait for next spring.

The last batch of quail is about ready to go outside. I'd like to set another round of quail, a round of chanteclers (since no one hatched their own eggs this year), and a round of ancona ducks. I'd better get moving because I don't want to be doing that in winter.

It has been and remains very very cold here. It's still in the single digits at night (C), we had hail yesterday multiple times, and now that the incubator is off my house is *cold*. Chimney cleaning needs to go on the to-do list so I can start a fire.

The garden is doing... ok. If we don't get anymore heat the green beans will barely squeak in and the drying beans won't go. I'm starting to get tomatoes off moravsky div and I believe stupice and one of the cherries - maybe sweet aperitif. Cabbages look nice, gaspe corn has ears but I don't know if they pollinated, potatoes are huge and beautiful, zucchini are just starting (!). Beets look great. Raspberries are beautiful bushes and I'm looking forward to the harvest next year - they were just planted last year so there aren't too many berries yet.

Rounding up the pigs for sale also let me confine the pigs in the new field field… oh dear, that's gonna need a better name. The far field? Anyhow, that means their winter area is clear and I can split it in two. I'll need to take down a spruce tree and then I'll have the pig winter field and a field for planting haskaps in. The haskaps on my deck are looking lovely, so they should be good to go in the ground next spring. I worry if I plant them this fall they'll be eaten by voles and frost heave.

Anyhow, then I need a real solid winter fence for the pigs and we'll be good. In winter I can't reinforce the fencing with electric -- I don't get a good ground through 3' of snow -- so it needs to be pretty solid. On the plus side they can't dig under the fence when the ground is frozen.

In other fencing news, I caught the bottom of my 4runner on the slip-wire gate I've been using for a couple years, tore a piece off the car, and distorted the gate badly enough that it doesn't reliably keep the dogs in or out. Given my neighbours, that's a problem. So, proper gates are arriving Thursday and I hope to put them up on the weekend. This is one of the real daily-use life-is-better upgrades since struggling to lever the gate closed a couple times a day wasn't super great.

I think the piece I tore off the car was unnecessary.

So: I'm pretty immersed in my life. It's good. Hope you are as well as you can be too.