Work, Work, Work… FUN!

We have been pretty busy while living the “simple life.” Farm work never ends, there is always something to do. Besides the obvious planting and harvesting of yummy veggies, we have had the pleasures of learning some new skills such as preserving and storing what we harvested (cabbage, carrots, turnips, potatoes, beets, beans) for the winter in the root cellar. Whether it be freezing, pickling, canning, we are doing it. We have also started fermenting as a way of preserving and creating some new ways to enjoy the vegetable we harvest (ie. making sauerkraut from cabbages). We have also been making kombucha and hopefully will ferment some other yummy beverages in the future.

Just up the trail from our cabin sits our wonderful outhouse (humanure) where we do our business, cover it with sawdust, which eliminates odors, and then add it to a compost bin for future use in gardens. Composting poo makes for great soil, very rich in nutrients! It’s a beautiful cycle, from the earth, to our bodies, back to the earth!

Other than the farm work, we have both been searching for some paid jobs to generate income. I (Jon) have picked up a couple of odd jobs here and there. These jobs included helping fill a barn with hay and helping another local gentleman with his tree business by digging up some evergreens and rapping the roots in burlap to be later sold to a nursery. Amy is very looking for body-work clients as well as offering up her child care and nanny skills to the local communities.

We are still trying to volunteer and lend a hand where we can. Vermont seems to have a great sense of community and it feels great to help out while meeting many great people while we work. We joined the co-op in Hardwick and have volunteered to help out at the Hardwick community dinner that takes place every week. We are currently (as I type this) volunteering at Montpelier’s first yoga festival in exchange for some inspiring classes including Qi Gong and Yin Yoga.

So it seems we are pretty busy these days. Hopefully we will get some paying work to help us along this fall and winter. Until then we have countless number of projects to keep us busy, including writing this blog.

Thanks again for reading! View more photos of our time on the farm and in Vermont on our Flickr page!