A New Space.

 

 

 

We now have a Facebook Page!

A space we can share day to day life on the homestead.

We will keep you updated on products available

And information on workshops!

 

 

https://www.facebook.com/BedrockandBrambles

 

Time to get back on track.

It's been a year since our first blog post.
We've shared a great deal of our life from the past twelve months.
The plan had always been to blog everyday for a year.
And though we have skipped quite a few days over the past month,
we managed to take some time to post about the day-to-day life
on our homestead.
I had often wondered what the next step would be once the year had passed.
Honestly, I felt that we would stop daily blogging and post weekly instead.

Now that the year is up,
it's time to make a decision.

A typical day doesn't provide much time.
Raising three children and building a farm absorb every moment.
It is a truly wonderful way to live.

But managing time can be difficult.
It's not a matter of simple allocation,
but a constant compromise of give and take.
Each day, something or someone won't get enough.
And though our priorities are clear,
the day must remain versatile to make the most of each minute.

Homeschooling has become an important part of everyday
and though in essence it is fun and easygoing,
the devotion of time remains a challenge.
The fact is that sending our kids to school would actually waste more valuable time than there is to spare.
So time spent on education has more to do with the age of our children
than with how they will be taught.

It may seem as though I'm leading into the swan song of this blog,
but that is not the plan.


Even if we can help inspire only a handful of people,
then sharing our experience is worth continuing.


I have always felt obligated to post daily.
Not for the sake of our readers,
but for the neurotic goal of posting every single day.
That's not healthy for me or for our content.
Lately it's been hard to post because of long stretches of repetitive work.
There's always beauty in the fine details,
but kindling inspiration should be natural and cathartic,
and not mechanical and methodical.


The past year has marked a significant change for our family.
It hasn't been a lifestyle transition, but a shift of emphasis.
Homesteading is full time and not just on weekends.
We are still just beginning,
There is a lifetime of learning and experience yet to share.

December was a calamity of falling behind and catching up.
But I'm ready to get back to forging ahead.
That means finishing up old projects.
That means starting new ones.
That means keeping the blog going.


But I won't be posting for the sake of meeting a personal goal.
Most days around here offer great new and fun experiences.
But other days can be repetitive tedium that fail to inspire me.
Upcoming posts won't be daily or every weekend.
They won't be fortnightly or on every Thursday with an odd numbered date.
We need each day to be as flexible as possible,
and besides,
I don't do well with routine.


The good news is that Kira will be posting more frequently.
We are a team after all, and she has a great deal to offer.
Expect more wonderful photography and a sharpened gardening prowess.
The coming year promises to be exciting
and we will post as much of it as we can.

As I look back over the posts,
many of them are simply introductions.
There is so much to build on.
So many details left untold.


And though each day seems too short,
I have no qualms about dedicating every single one to help inspire others to fulfill their own homesteading dreams.
When you don't see a post,
it means we're learning something new,
or working late on a project,
or reaching out,
or just taking some time to refresh so we can keep going.
There is much to do and all of it is important.
That includes our blog,
so stay with us.







 

Shu

I would like to introduce you to my hero.
Though there are many real life people whom I admire,
this character embodies the spirit of resilience that I look up to.

This is Shu from a video game and anime series called Blue Dragon.
Japanese games tend to develop a great deal of depth in their characters,
and Shu is one of the strongest I've encountered.

As we define our lifestyle and our purpose, Shu comes to my mind often;
especially when the challenges become seemingly insurmountable.
His mantra is to not give up, ever.

I'm writing about this tonight because we met someone today who told me the same thing.
As we talked about the goals we have for our family and community,
he said don't give up, ever.

I often wonder about all of the back-to-the-land movements over the last five decades,
and why they seemed to fizzle out and never generate the inertia needed to exact a greater change in our culture.
It's the old story of the hippies who turned into yuppies.
Why did they give up?

Today I said that I hoped that our family would persevere and see our goals through to the end.
Our guest told me not to hope.
Hope is for people who look wistfully at an unknowable future.
To act is to transcend hope and forge the future rather than allowing it to unfold without you.

Against all odds you make the future.
Not only do you actualize yourself but your environment with it.
Shu knows that.

It's how I feel everyday.










 

The Simple Life

One of the many lures of homesteading life is the simplicity.

The focus is on providing food and shelter with less interest in accumulating wealth and material goods.
 


I don't think very many people imply that 'simple' translates into 'easy', but it may come as surprise to eager new homesteaders that the financial cost is high and the challenge of striking it out on your own, without a community to support you,
is a tough one.

There is a foolishness to the way we have done things here.
We're isolated and remote despite being within an hour of a large city centre.
The isolation comes from tackling an alternative lifestyle without being part of a kindred community.
Sure there are lots of people doing what we are in the same general area, but everyone is spread out and most folks keep to themselves.
Much of the reason homesteaders don't reach out more is that it becomes tiresome after a while when your lifestyle is viewed so frequently with disdain.
Also, it's great to find likeminded spirits to ease the feelings of isolation, but when it comes down to sharing and helping with the workload, everyone is too busy. Most homesteaders will give help when asked for it, but many don't ask for help knowing that others need their valuable time for their own goals.

The romantic ideals of barn raising and knitting bees comes from tightly clustered communities of large multi-generational families.
In fact, many of the difficulties associated with contemporary homesteading stem directly from the dissolution of the traditional family and the wide dispersion of the homesteads.
There are simply fewer hands to share in the work.

This problem is well recognized and as a result there have been many attempts at developing intentional communities throughout the country.
Unfortunately, municipal by-laws are set up to prevent such 'communes' from arising.
Perhaps due to complex logistics or maybe a carryover attitude from the Cold War.
Also, property has been developed with an eye for profit and not for community building.
Seldom seen are large tracts of developed land severed into 5 or 10 acre lots suitable for small scale farming.
There are farms of several hundred acres and there are subdivisions comprised of lots of less than an acre.
The developers carve up large properties into the smallest possible denominations to ensure the greatest profits.
It is my view that community leadership is more often conducted with self-interest in mind rather than with forward thinking intentions for the long term welfare of the communities themselves.

Making the choice to lead the homesteading life may not be as it seems.
Our culture has not prepared the land and our social fabric for homesteading.
In fact, there has been a steady exodus from that kind of life in exchange for the simple urban life.
The urban life where all you need to worry about is going to your job for five days a week and using that pay to buy whatever food and shelter needed.
In return for simplicity, however, one must endure the 9-5 grind or worse.
It is living for the weekend for most of your life until retirement, upon which time you reap the great reward of chronic illness and an underfunded standard of living.
Homesteading is not really a simple life, but one of greater intrinsic value.


Those who have chosen to go back to land find a depleted infrastructure where tools and expertise have been lost, farmland marginalized and spent, and a lack of coherent community that is so crucial to the success of agrarian life.
One of our most poignant questions is why so many well-intentioned people give up on homesteading and return to the mainstream?
Part of the answer lies in the heartbreak of trying to forge a new lifestyle in a typically forsaken cultural landscape.


Upon deciding to take the challenge on, homesteading needs to be understood as both a compromise and a sacrifice.
The compromise is exchanging the simple and well organized urban lifestyle for a complex and rugged agricultural life offering values that transcend the worthless drive for financial and material wealth.
The sacrifice is for your children and their children.
We have the opportunity to rebuild a future that provides them with a clean environment, strong health, freedom from slavery, and values that reinforce a connection with the land and each other.
We are not homesteading to live the simple life.
We are homesteading to build one.







 
 
 
 
 

Quiet Confrontation

 
I had posted earlier in the year about comments.
Our blog works best when our readers participate.

Since then, many people have left their opinions,
but for the most part, our comment section gathers dust.

What's odd is that many of my posts are controversial, opinionated, and sometimes offensive.
The intention is not to cause trouble but to start debates and bring certain issues to the forefront.

In many cases, I incriminate myself by talking about subversive activism,
anti-government sentiments,
and supporting good judgement in place of the rule of law.

This blog is a public account of our private lives.
We try to exist below the radar and out of the watchful eye of government,
but it's challenging to keep secrets when you write about everything you do on a public forum.
Some people think that my honesty will cause me problems down the road.
This is probably true.
But I won't live my life in fear when the truth is so important.

We are very passionate about our lifestyle and our choices.
Not just at night on the blog, but during every moment of every day.
There is more to lifestyle than simply method and routine.
Consequence follows every action; both good and bad.
Inertia propels us but also acts against us.

I posted recently about being caught by the township, building our schoolhouse without a permit.
Though many people would sympathize with us,
others feel strongly about a country built on the rule of law and strict adherence to those laws.
It was someone we know who informed government.
The concern was that we are building over the property line,
though no one approached us in person about the issue.

Had they done so, I would have shown them a well marked property stake (proven by my other neighbour's recent survey),
and a line that we have obviously not crossed.
Perhaps by confronting me, they feared finding themselves in the wrong and making an unjustified accusation.
I would prefer to face my accuser.


Instead I received vitriolic comments on the blog.

In truth, it's better than silence.
I've been waiting for some confrontational commentary on our activities.
This isn't the subject I'd hoped to open up, but we're still just starting out.


To be fair, I insulted the head of a very large family.
Not without just cause, but disparaging none the less.
I stand by my words however.
And I will stand my ground.


We write and express our life through our own experience.
I don't like to be intentionally offensive, but a spade is a spade.
There's a weakness in our society when we turn on each other.
We've been conditioned to use the law to settle disputes rather than solving or preventing issues through good faith and open discussion.
The internet has now opened a new way of striking out at each other in lieu of standing up to a person face to face.
I may be just as guilty of that through our blog.


So once again, if you feel strongly about something I say or do,
if you don't want to confront me directly, you can leave a comment on our blog.
I don't even mind if the comments are anonymous.
It's better than silence.









 

Shifting Gears

I had originally intended to offer more do-it-yourself posts in this blog.
Aside from being busy getting things done, I often change my mind about what our readers want to learn about.
The feeling I get is that people want to know about the gardens, the simple life living, and honest posts about parenting and rural life.


Now that the growing season is over, we are beginning to work on building and preparing for the coming year.
That means getting into the gritty technical side of building a farm.
And so we are going to spend more time sharing our knowledge with you.
Our methods are not the only way to go about homesteading, but this journey is for learning as much as it is about sharing.

Our blog is less about self expression than it is about showing the truth behind back to the land living.
There is beauty in the lifestyle, but there is also beauty in the relationship that we forge between ourselves and our environment.
It is easy to show the beauty in a well tended garden or in the simplicity of country life.
More difficult to show is the beauty of engaging ourselves with the skills inherent to farm life.
That may be part of why many skills have been eroded from the common memory.


We're not going to exclude the posts about great food and the wonderful experiences we have with our children.
But it's time to show the behind the scene work that keeps it all going.

Rock Rose Garlic

The country around here is full of surprises.
Sure there are the usual lakes loaded with boats and cottages.
And there are the towns driven largely by tourist dollars.
But there are back roads too, and they are an endless source of interesting stories.

We are beginning to plan for next year's plantings.
Many crops go into the ground in the fall.
Garlic is one of them.
Not having enough of our own, we needed to find some seed garlic.

Our search didn't take long as we contacted a local grower with whom we had spoken earlier in the year.
Rock Rose Therapies is an alternative healing center in Haliburton county.

Located on a remote and quiet farm, they provide a variety therapeutic treatments.

They also grow quite a bit of garlic.

I was fortunate to have a tour of the farm and talk about the usual;
growing food and changing the world.
Lynn Deringer showed me around their well kept farmstead.
There is a great mix of cleared land and healthy hardwood forest.

Like us, they are experimenting with a variety of crops and growing techniques.
This land is rugged and the soil is sandy.
It takes extra care and innovation to grow food.
But the abundant gardens are a testament to their tenacity.

Doug Smith has been working on this land for more than two decades.
I didn't get to meet him today, but I expect to cross paths with him before too long.
One of the features is a stone circle built by Doug over the years.
The circle is a perfect place to center oneself and find perspective in the peaceful nature of isolation.

Along with 12lbs of garlic, I also picked up some rutabagas.
They're not a usual staple for us, but it's nice to try something different.
Everything here is grown organically.
But it's not a selling point here; it's just the way all food should be grown.

One of the best parts of the life that we lead now is the people that we meet.
We never know from day to day who we may encounter.
Searching for products and knowledge leads us to new places.
And always to people who share our love of the land,
and concern for the future.

What a beautiful adventure.





 
 

Six Years, by Kira

Today is our six year anniversary. How did we spend it?

Outside play,

Building,

Pesto making

Enjoying the cool breeze and gentle sun.

Fall Colours,

Sushi and beer,

Time together.

Quality of Life.

Canadians are supposed to have a high standard of living.
What do they mean by that?
And who are they?
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Thanks to Everyone!

I never used to participate in social media, even as it became popular.
There was this feeling that an electronic relationship simply isn't worth cultivating.
Those times are behind me now, along with many of the opinions I held.
Also in the past is a decade of feeling isolated.


Kira is home from the hospital now.
She has recovered enough to wait at home until her gall bladder is to be removed.
It's a good thing too; I make a lousy wet nurse.
We have been granted some time to prepare for another stay in the hospital.
For that, I am thankful.


I am also thankful for all of the support we received.
Last night, when I had a few moments, I published a blog post about Kira's emergency, as well as making sure some information about Kira's health was posted on Facebook.
Not only could I keep family notified, but it only took a few sentences to inform almost everyone.
What I am most impressed by is the relationships that have been cultivated almost exclusively on-line.
Within only a few hours, we had offers of help and messages of support from so many people.
Some people, we have never even met in-person,
yet they are willing to extend a helpful hand.


It's said that blood is thicker than water, though I question that wisdom.
Those of you who read our blog and keep up with us on Facebook,
are the people who are genuinely interested in our lives and are concerned about our well-being.
Of course, family is almost always around when there is pain and suffering,
but it is equally important to share in the milestones and victories.
The connection is really indivisible.
In this case, all of the people who share our day-to-day trials and tribuations,
were the first people to know that Kira fell ill,
and also the first friends and family to come to our side to help out.
That kind of 'whole' relationship is very important to me.


Today, more than ever, we feel the strength of a vast safety net cast out beneath us should we fall.
And though we pride ourselves on our independence,
we are getting over that.


Thanks so much from Kira and I to everyone who is part of our lives.
And I mean everyone who follows along with us, regardless of how far away you might be.
It may be an electronic realtionship,
but when there is trouble, we can count on each other for real help.
I know that now.
And for that I am thankful.

Civic Correction

Within every community,
there are individuals who take it upon themselves to foster positive change.
Not content to sit by and watch, those who participate often do so against resistant attitudes and hostile bureaucracy.
Walking into a losing battle is not an easy step.
But, without passionate hearts taking action, change would take place in favour of the greedy and powerful;
driven by lust instead of altruism.

There have been many movements in support of major changes to civic design.
Throughout the better part of four decades, compassionate voices have been calling for organizational amendments to better suit the majority of the population.
That majority includes future generations who will be compelled to suffer our failures.
As the end nears for timely reform, it has become abundantly clear that past strategies for invoking real change have failed to catalyze a revolution.
Enacting legislation to protect the oppressed is a noble goal.
But, legislation can be repealed, or have the impotency of a toothless tiger.
Within a democratic society, it is the thoughts and actions of it's citizens that determine the priorities of the administration.
However, "Top down" politics have proven that citizens are vulnerable to manipulation by authority.
Instead of constituents dictating the nature of legislation, the bodies of government develop policy and law and offer it up as representation; to be given proxy of approval every four years.
Revolution is a correction.
As government withdraws from the democratic process, the votes of individuals are supplanted by pressure from lobbyists, and corruption.
Revolution is necessary to shift control away from self-serving, minority interests.
History is clear on that subject.

For those caring and motivated individuals working to improve civic responsibility,
working within the system has consistently consumed their good souls.
Decade after decade, proponents of change have been beleaguered by the overwhelming will of power and greed; a classic battle.
It is clear that corruption is well entrenched.
Not because our society is inherently flawed, but because the efforts to impose conformity have succeeded.
Unwilling to step beyond the safety of the average lifestyle,
Canadians are particularily vulnerable to manipulation; especially when the belief was that smaller government would return authority to the people.

And so, how do we cultivate positive, altruistic change?
Through protest?
Through private member's bills?
Through lobbying our representatives?
Through awareness campaigns?
By voting?


History is clear on this subject too.
We need only look to the past to see the most effective solution.

New Language

 
I have always enjoyed learning new languages whenever I could.
Unfortunately, I have never mastered any; just enough to communicate.
It's fun to get to know someone when there's a language gap.
The effort involved in bridging expression promotes a deeper, more meaningful relationship.
 
Not all languages are like that however.
Computer language may be fascinating for many people; but not for me.
I learned some programming code when I was in school, but whatever I learned is simply nostalgia now.
My interest in language is rooted in the need to communicate with another person, and the interconnection that exists between cultures.
Computer's don't have culture.
I get to know a computer so I can use it as a tool; not for cultural exchange.
 
Here's an early announcement.
We are building a website to help promote our blog,
and more importantly, our business.
Without revealing too much, too early, the business will be an education centre focused on what you have been reading about in this blog.
Neither the website or the business will be going before the end of July (2012),
but we'll be sure to make a formal announcement as we go forward.
 
In the meantime, there will be a new learning curve to ascend.
In order to keep costs under control, we will be assembling and maintaining the new site ourselves.
To be sure, we do have an IT man to help support us.
Mike is already renowned for his supporting role at the Feather and Anchor website.
He will be picking me up when I fall.
 
Aside from inexperience and some hardware limitations,
I expect to pick up the new language despite the lack of heartfelt interest.
The website itself will be fun to create and will be yet another form of expression for us.
However, the nuts and bolts of it all can be tedious and frustrating.
I know what I want to do, but I often find restrictions that require some fairly complex understanding of computer language to overcome.
 
Having grown up in the computer age,
my expectations of computer and software performance are somewhat high.
When I was boy, I could handle staring idly at the screen while the disk drive loaded up a program.
But now, I expect that fifeteen years of progress should abolish the wasteful act of screen hypnosis.
It has not, and even now, I watch as an upload is wretchedly slow and probably won't work after it's done.
Not unlike the days of Five and a Quarter inch floppy drives.
 
We will be working hard to offer up a great website that will encompass the full scope of our activities here.
And though it will be handmade with love,
I will have some good help.
 
 

Elegant Simplicity

Rye bread from the woodstove.

There are many reasons that we have chosen to share our lives in such a public way.
The most important reason is to illustrate the elegance of simple living.
While many people know that there needs to be a major lifestyle change in western culture,
the direction in which to go is not as clear.
There is no one way of life for everyone.
We have chosen our path, and our hope is that many others will choose a similar road.

Simple, may not be the best description of homesteading.
Frugal, is also a questionable way to understand living closer to the land.
In some ways, homesteading is very complex.
In other ways, homesteading is very expensive.
There must be a different style of accounting for value;
for we strive to live according to our Values.
Values that are common to most everyone, but may be hard to realize in today's culture of living.

The freshest herbal tea you'll find.

Through hard work and efforts, many people seek a life of luxury.
We desire rewards for a grueling work week.
Meeting basic needs no longer brings the same satisfaction.
There is a feeling of entitlement to basic needs as if they are a human right.
Therefore, hard work is directed more towards achieving financial goals that provide us the freedom to consume luxuries.
The word 'luxury' is generally understood as being the fine things that we are not entitled to, but may buy if we have earned enough money.
The word actually refers to excess.

In the search for luxury, I feel that we have lost sight of what is truly fine.
The fact that luxury is, in fact, taking more than you need, precludes it from balanced living.
That doesn't mean that we need to live without elegance, style, and quality.
It also doesn't mean that we abandon comfortable living.
The goal is to live within our means and not consume more than our share.
Knowledge, insight, innovation, ingenuity, and creativity are great gifts that we are all capable of.
By living according to these attributes, we are able to discover beauty and elegance within simplicity.
By applying the best of our nature to the business of living, we may ease the burdens of labour.

Toothpaste

Economically speaking, luxury is further out reach for many more people.
Too many people, taking more than they need, has led to a state of division.
The implicit nature of luxury is the desire for something out of reach.
Yet, our culture is constantly yearning for more than we will ever achieve.
The solution is to abandon luxury, and evaluate Values.
A self-reflexive question to clarify our priorities and our true goals.
Simple living may have what we desire; those fine things in life.

What is truly important to you?
What do you expect from life?
I believe that most people, answering thoughtfully, will have similar values.
A comfortable home.
A safe place to live. A safe place for our children to play.
Food. Good food.
Health of body and soul.
Time to spend with friends and family.

We use photo effects instead of fertilizer for green grass.

The greatest challenge is to break free of the regimen into which we have been enlisted.
Government and media is constantly telling people what they should want.
The barrage of market advertising is virtually constant.
Most of the motivation is based on achieving luxury; meaning somebody is looking to get some of your share.
The notion that hard work and enterprise will guarantee wealth is misunderstood.
In the context of a typical life in our market driven culture, it is a falsehood.  
When the idea is applied to achieving our needs and values, wealth is no longer associated with money.

Simple living can be many lifestyles.
Simple is really just focusing on what is important.
Our simple life can be challenging and frenetic.
But we enjoy an elegance, and style, and quality, that are found only in simple things.
And so we share our experiences as we learn to change our lifestyle to better suit our values.
This, in the hope that others may enjoy what simple living has to offer.

Homesteading

We never really had the chance to choose the homesteading life.
It chose us.
We didn't consider the lifestyle changes that we would make.
They just went along with the vision.
This path has been a series of natural steps, each leading to the next.

There is a certain level of commitment required.
One that cannot be easily withdrawn.
The animals need to be cared for, the family must be kept fed and warm, and the near future must be well planned.
There are many experiences that seem overwhelming. There are failures and setbacks.
There is precious little time for rest.
Yet the rewards are that much greater.
Success is more fulfilling.
The food is the best there is.
A sense of pride and accomplishment accompanies each and every day.
Even the challenges that are lost stir emotions of a battle well fought.

As the kids get older, they are beginning to take advantage of the space available to them.
Homesteading of this sort requires space to work and grow. And so, there is an abundance of open air. As we expand our activities deeper into the woodlot, the kids' comfort level widens. Of course, so does their range.
(I just need to get the pigs to follow that example.)

If there has been any disappointment, it has been that there are few families taking a similar path.
We struggle to make connections with people that share our interest in self-sufficient living.
One of our goals is to encourage more families to settle some land and take control of their food, shelter, and nurture.
That is not to say that we haven't met anyone.
We have made new friends traveling this road. Each one having brought a new perspective to our lives.

There are many circumstances that determine how people chose to live. Not everyone is suited for life on the homestead, nor should the choice be taken lightly.
People should, however, consider how they feel about their lives and the direction in which they are being taken. 
There are important issues at stake.
Regardless of lifestyle, acting in accordance to one's own beliefs sets a standard of integrity for our entire society.
We all have a purpose, even though it may not always be clear.
If you have heard your calling, answer it.
Time is too precious to wait.