I found this post in my drafts. Apparently, I never posted it. It’s 5 months later now, and I’m well settled into my new home at The Wallow. What has happened and what has yet to come? Here’s the draft I wrote back in August:

“I won’t be moving to my new house in Tennessee until October. So much waiting! I’m reading up on bees and pigs in the meantime, as well as prepping for Burning Man and Alchemy, which happen between now and then. There’s lots to do, but I’m spending a lot of time daydreaming away, too.”

Every time Joshua or I makes something homemade (usually Joshua) that I’ve only ever purchased from elsewhere, I am amazed. Every time we go shopping, I buy bagels. I really like having them for breakfast and sometimes as snacks. This time when I went to reach for them, Joshua stopped me and said this would be the week we made them at home.

Moving in at The Wallow involved a bit of reclaiming the house from the nature that had run rampant in the absence of people. The main project was mowing the yard, which had become insanely overrun with weeds. The other thing that turned into a huge project was the fact that woodpeckers were dining on our home.

Now that it’s 2010, I’m thinking towards the year ahead, which always involves a nod back to where I’ve been. The biggest whirlwind of awesome has been in just the last handful of months. In case you missed some posts, here are a few of the highlights for me:

I use washcloths exclusively in the kitchen. Joshua feels strongly about having paper towels on hand for a couple of specific tasks. I feel strongly about paper towels not being visible in my kitchen, so that they do not accidentally get over-used. The end result is that there is one lonely roll of paper towels hidden in a little-used cabinet, but I personally only ever use washcloths.

Originally, this choice related primarily to environmental concern. Paper towels are single-use items, which seems especially grievous for a small task like hand-drying. Over time, I have become less vocal about attributing certain choices to environmental reasons, though. The truth is that I don’t know for certain how this single choice stacks up environmentally. For example, am I wiping out all potential environmental benefits of reusing by washing them in hot water? I don’t know.

Remember the red tree in the now-pasture I mentioned in the Weeds to Pasture post on Wednesday? The quest to identify it (as, I hope, a Black Walnut) has a new development, so I thought I’d tell you the story from the beginning.

I’ve been trying to identify some of the trees and plants at The Wallow. It’s fun to know what’s out there, to know what’s edible, and to give things a name. When I realized there was a tree amidst the brambles in the field, I wanted to save it from the bush hog. There are no other trees in the main part of the field, and it would be nice to give the pigs some outside shade. Of course, I tried to identify the tree based on its leaves.

Becoming a beekeeper is one of my dearest homesteading goals for myself. I’ve long had a fascination with honeybee lore. And while having ready access to honey and beeswax will be a nice side effect, what I truly want is to be a human who has a relationship with honeybees. I want to watch them and understand them and interact with them in ways that are positive for me and for the bees.

In a fortunate little turn of events, the house Joshua and I bought comes with a honeybee colony already installed! The previous owner (a friend of mine) began learning about beekeeping here, and he decided to leave his colony behind rather than try to relocate it.

Ever since moving into The Wallow, I’ve been noticing the little details of nature more often. Are there more spiders in this house? More birds in this yard? More bugs in this grass? Maybe. Or maybe I’m just paying more attention to these kinds of details. In any case, I am happy to be settled into a place where I notice the growth of life all around me.

In the past few days, we have set up most of the rooms in our home, Joshua has tilled three garden beds and built a work bench, I’ve begun building a crafting table, Joshua mowed and we both raked up the grass to become hay for later, we worked on hoeing the weeds off the brick walkways, we ran cable for internet, we’ve grilled out several nights, we sit on our front porch swing and enjoy the view, we’ve met some neighbors, and so many other random bits of this and that.

Joshua picked up because he’s interested in having chickens right away on our homestead. While chickens will not be my main focus, I wanted to have an overview of the topic and so I read this book, too.