I heard Alan Watts describe the Taoist concept of Wu Wei, roughly translated as “Not Forcing,” as learning to sail as opposed to rowing; living life more like floating downstream instead of trying to force one’s self against the current. This past year was our final exam in preparing the boat to sail and casting the ores into the sea so we can float on the waves and let things lead where they may. We did it. It is hard to believe that we have been at the farm now for 11 years. Zina and I did the counting (being the counters that we are) and found that she and I have been urban homesteading, farming and living a self-reliant life for around 17 years now. I went a bit farther and found that even though I was raised in a city and worked partly in a city, I have been a rural boy for over half my life. It seems that she and I are the Wise Old Sages of the modern homesteading movement now. My sister would call me (and has) the Old Curmudgeon of a self-reliant life, a moniker I happily wear given what it took to earn that medallion.

As we posted over this past year, the winter and spring of 2022 and 2023 kicked our butts. The weather came in around November of 2022 and stuck around like unwanted relatives until this past summer. We both decided that it was time to power down a bit because if we had to go through that again this year, it would be almost more than we could handle. At 10 years, some of what we had built early on needed repairs. We had livestock that needed to be processed and because of early extreme snows we couldn’t get to it. We ended up feeding not only through snow drifts and sub-arctic temperatures, when spring arrived and the rains came, we slogged for weeks through 6 inches of water just to get to the goats. The farm wife and grumpy old farmer husband are now into our 60’s. We said that our sacrifice for this kind of life was that we gave our 50’s to its build out. We aren’t going to do that with our 60’s as well. We knew that we had our work cut out for us this past year to get things down to a manageable level and that is what we set off to accomplish. There has been kind of a vision of wanting the farm to transition to a place of crafting and creativity while having the infrastructure in place to keep the Orcs at bay that have become, as far as we can see, what lies beyond our gates.

As of this writing, we have the livestock processed, and on the 15th of this month, two more pigs go off to freezer camp, leaving us with 2 down from 9 (Keep in mind that we started with 9, the girls all had babies, so we went to 30, got rid of all of those, which left us with 4, and now we will be down to 2). So for this winter we will only have our layer hens and our goats to really tend to. Of course, because we make cheese and soap, 4 of our does are pregnant, so around February/March, we will be dealing with our annual kidding season (Babies!) and then milking starts a couple of weeks later. We were also able to get all of the gardens put to bed this year, something that didn’t get done properly last year. A friend brought me a dump truck load of compost and I took the tractor and covered all of the raised beds with a couple of inches each. We had to have fresh compost delivered for the first time in 10 years because of all the weed growth that happened from all the rains. All 3 of my compost piles are just loaded with weed seeds now. It will take a season to get them all out of the system before I can use it again. The winter snows and spring rains will help to wash the organic matter down into the soil to help rejuvenate it.

In the past month, we have switched over to getting the house buttoned up. Virtually all of the work here has been on the farming and self-reliance aspect of things. This old dilapidated house was, and is, in need of upgrades. The first of these has been the replacement of all the windows and doors on the main floor. New blinds are due in soon as well (its a good thing the neighbors are a quarter mile away so we don’t have to worry too much when getting out of the shower with all of these uncovered windows!) So all in all the place is pretty well put to bed for the winter and we are looking forward to whatever one would call a sense of normalcy. I call it hibernation.

2023 has been a year of extreme transition. In September, I was actually able to get out of here for awhile and go visit mom at her place. It was the first “vacation” I had taken in 12 years. It was very nice to get back. As with most things though, it was nice to see that nothing major had changed. We got to drive around and see the sights in Michigan’s little finger. I was pretty awestruck by just how green that place is compared to we plains dwellers. I made fun of the fact that there are so many trees up there that you can’t see anything when you go on a drive! She has a beautiful canopy of hardwoods. I was able to do some herb foraging too as she has a White Willow tree, the bark of which can be used like aspirin. Our place, by contrast, is miles and miles of grassland and big sky. I even got reacquainted with rain!

Upon returning, it was time to start getting things ready for the cold that is sure to come here shortly. We heat primarily with wood now, so we had to get the 11 cords that we had delivered all stacked and ready to go. Just like clockwork, we were burning by Thanksgiving weekend.

One success and thrill that we had this past summer had to do with our first ever apple harvest! We have a dozen trees in our little orchard. It is very difficult to grow fruit trees here and this just put another feather in the farmer’s wizarding hat. It takes 5 years for an apple tree to finally start flowering. In past posts, I told the tale of our neighbor’s goats getting onto our property and killing half of our trees because goats LOVE tree bark. These trees were into year 3 of 5 when it happened so I had to plant half the orchard over again just before having back surgery. It was quite a heartbreak. But as with all things homestead and farm, the watchword is perseverance. We were surprised to see in the spring, that most of the trees had finally blossomed! It didn’t all go smoothly as we had one tree get snapped off at the graft during a windstorm, and because we lack pollinators out here, not all of the blossoms got fertilized (note to self to do it manually next time with a toothbrush). The last issue – which was aggravating and humorous at the same time – is that our nut ball black lab puppy, Pepper, decided that because the apples were the same size as tennis balls they must be toys. She proceeded to pull them off the low branches of the trees and scatter them about! So next spring we will put some temporary fence netting around the area so that mizz brainless can’t get at them! All in all we got a couple of smaller bushels of Jonigold apples, and as with every other kind of produce grown right on the farm, the flavor is unlike anything you can get in the store. We even have some freeze dried for snacks this winter. We gots this desert farming down!

This past year, as with all the years here it seems, was another long list of adventures. This time though, our inner children are now in control. While we still have to do all of the “adulting” things that life throws everyone’s way, they now have a safe, self-reliant playground on which to play, craft, create, relax and live in a way that had been over-shadowed by careers, construction projects and horrible world events that show no sign of abating. When we first looked at this place way back in the summer of 2012, we sat on the front porch surveying the monstrous amount of work that lay ahead. I wasn’t even sure that I had the stamina to do it. We were then consumed with career work, building this place over a decade, and helping Aaron get to his goal of being an engineer. Now here we sit, looking back over all that we survey. My back is fused, my knees worn, both rotator cuffs thrashed and just very tired. But it is a tired with an immense sense of satisfaction. At least all of the bodily wear and tear was caused by a very unique set of circumstances. It is a very happy anniversary this year in that we have accomplished all of the tasks we set out to do. The Shire of the JAZ Farm abides.

So looking forward to 2024, despite the Goblins and Orcs of insanity that seem to have overtaken any semblance of decency in our world, we have a place we feel safe to really be ourselves; to live out our years authentically and unapologetically. We have turned our sights on making the place a cozy refuge and a place to pursue our goals and creative endeavors, and if we so choose, just sit and navel gaze. I don’t know of many people who have worked this hard to create a place to hunker down in, but it gives me hundreds of stories to reminisce about while I weave, cook, garden, and just sit my old butt down by the fire. “Now, youngsters, gather ’round and let this old coot tell you about the time that …..”

Just so you know……. JAZ Farm is insanely cool. Unless it is involuntary, we will never leave this place.