Relentless Farmward Motion

Steve worked on splitting firewood this afternoon.  Whevever there is some spare time, we often spend it getting winter ready. 

In ultrarunning, there is a saying that is sort of a mantra for those in the sport.  It is this:

                            RELENTLESS FORWARD MOTION

It means simply, keep moving forward.   Even if it is a slow shuffle, its still progress.  Every step is one step closer to the finish line.  Believe me, at mile 80 something of a hundred mile race, you just want to sit and rest.  And it seems those last 20 miles are an insurmountable challenge. But  "relentless forward motion" will get you there.

Similarly, we keep plugging away at all tasks necessary to make this place a farm.  There are some really big tasks, and lots and lots of little tasks.   There isnt much time to relax, or just sit around.  Thats not to say we dont enjoy some down time, but there is much work, and it has to get done.

So I  call this

                           RELENTLESS FARMWARD MOTION

Some of the tasks we worked on this weekend included clearing brush, raking out and leveling ground around the barn, digging out stumps, seeding grass in cleared areas, harvesting veggies, putting up peaches,  and canning salsa.

This is part of a drain and retaining wall on the west side of the barn.  Still in progress.

We re-seeded that bare area with grass seed. It doesnt seem like much, except that before we could rake that area smooth, a large spruce stump had to be removed. It took steve and our neighbor Carl about a half day's work dìgging and cutting, and then, finally, the big backhoe had to come and pull it out.

Similarly, along the stone wall, there were many many MANY roots and stumps and weeds.   After digging those out, with the help of the tractor on one of them, more dirt was brought over, leveled, and weed barrier cloth put down. It will be mulched later this week.  Then grass seed was spread in the bare area.  We had to clear this area because the insurance company requires a fence .

This is part of the 60 pounds of tomatoes I picked.

And here is the beginnings of some salsa from some of those tomatoes.