So, so good.

November is trucking ahead and so are we! With the barn loaded with hay, the wood pile now at 3 cords, a full larder, AND the mortgage only one month behind…. It feels good. It feels so much better than this time in previous years, where something was always missing. I’d have the hay and wood secure but me farther behind in bills. Or I’d have bills and hay figured out and wood still being delivered into December. But this year, before the first real snowfall, we have managed as a team to figure out things far better than just me balancing on branches into Autumn. I’m so grateful to have her beside me, planning and farming and hoping. Still a lot of shit to get together around here, but I see a lot more light going into 2021 than I did going into 2020! (Literally, Shannon has set up so many lamps.)

And acquisitions aren’t the only news. My girl has taken on some light construction work around the farm, including part 2 of the chicken coop renovation! It is almost ready to rehouse the entire flock (currently either sleeping in a smaller coop near the house or in the barn). When it is ready it’ll be a fully functional multi-flock coop with areas for brooding chicks, roosting layers, and a floor space for geese. While she’s been working on that I have been ramping up soap and design/illustration work as much as humanly possible for the holiday season. Selling my mint chunky bars into Yuletide means taking orders now and making, packing, and mailing every day. If I am lucky with sales and keep pushing them on social media I may be able to make a payment before end of next week. Not ideal, but going into December only owing November is a huge milestone for me. I can’t tell you how many Christmas seasons have came and gone with me gulping as the clock turns to month twelve and I still owe the October house payment. I’ll take whatever small wins I can get, and they are only possible with a second person here. At least for the energy 2020 has in me. It’s been a hell of a year.

Also, Madam Vice President sounds so, so good!