Hey Alan! (and all friends who stop by here)

I just have not had the time to keep up with all my favorite blogs. It feels like not seeing good friends for the very fact that a lot of bloggers out here in the blog-o-sphere have become just that...friends at a distance, but very much in mind and heart.

I'm making a change in my job, and we've tweaked some things largely this year that used to be the very foundation of this blog. But since this blog is a journal about The Journey, it serves our life instead of our life serving the blog.

But just to clarify...because there are some newer friends who stop by here who weren't here back in the days when this blog first began...our goal is to have a homestead.

There have been a lot of "in the meantimes"...and it proves that homesteading is a learning experience, a way of life, a path, a mindset, and creative adapting in place...or getting the heck out of Dodge, depending on what's called for in a particular circumstance.

We've had SO many departures, and so many setbacks I don't even write about here, but mainly because I view setbacks differently now (I see them as "it's just not the right time yet so keep on learning new things till it happens") and also due to the need for a little bit of privacy.

The path, for Jack and me, (he's 59 now and I'm 44) is to build a homeplace (whether staying where we are and the building being adapting it to ultimate usefulness and fruitfulness right where we are, or going elsewhere and having perhaps a few more options) with all the quirky, experimental, bounteous, creative, and maybe even Off Grid (if we can make that happen) elements we are continually drawn toward.

This year we haven't gardened. That's not to say we don't have a dozen moringa trees we're pollarding/coppicing and learning to harvest the leaves for our own medicinal benefit. The same with the overgrown (read "neglected") corner of Gynura, which has taken to our climate with no fuss and readily come back from the roots each year from the spring freezes. The false roselle, same way. The pumpkins (calabazas) may or may not make it, but so far our throwaway seeds from the ones we ate last year have made nice vines with some blooms, so we'll see. All this without putting in a garden...ha :) We now have about 14 or so papayas...from the seeds simply thrown onto the ground. Some herbs soldier on and we're learning to gather a few forage greens, though the spring produced the best quality of those so far, not so much the hotter months.

I've taken a very relaxed approached to the ol' blog here of late, but that's how it's going to be...I have a terrific goals list of what I hope to get done by the end of this year, and just don't do the "rigors of youth" project stacking like I once did...just too relaxed and ENJOYING my hubby! So I take a couple at a time and chip away at them till they're off the list and on to the next thing. I've been polishing up some recipes lately, trying old ones with innovations and new ones for some variety. Indian food has been figuring in for the first time...hooray!

Also, the writing is relaxed but overall making far more progress this year than in the past (meaning writing towards the goal of authoring books).

On all our lists, the biggest goal that must be crossed off before any further large transitions transpire is Getting Out of Debt. It's an ongoing process and very slow, in our case. But the progress is still there. It's just I'm not going to fret during the LONGGGG waiting process, but instead be productive in other complementary areas.

And making my husband happy (well, he already is, but making sure he stays that way, ha!) is (for me) the point of all this anyway. Whatever happens, I want my life to be with this man, and to LIVE it, right in the moment.

The good, the bad, the learning, the waiting...all gifts. It's like coffee...just wouldn't be worth anything if there weren't some bitter right in there with that fabulous aroma...the combination is to be savored. Our life's that way. I can feel very BLAH in some areas and where it counts still feel like the most fortunate woman in the world.

One question I'm turning over and over is how to best be available to help others as the economy tanks further. Being part of community is definately the other part of the equation...a big part of the Why of all our endeavors.

I can't help but be excited that these years of growing in self-sufficiency, and being connected to so many great people here who are doing the same their own unique ways, is such an empowering thing and is for sharing.

That's all for now...got food on the stove and want to try out a new blueberry bar recipe to see if it "works" :) I'll try to post a few pics soon...been clicking a few now and then but just haven't put 'em up yet.

Hope you are all well!