Wild Moon Cottage is a small working homestead in the pristine Ozark Mountains. We have dairy goats, poultry, organic herb and vegetable gardens, a start of a tiny fruit orchard, several black walnut trees, wild berries and fields of wildcrafting goodness. We raise our own milk, our own eggs, much of our own medicine and food. I do laundry by hand, make my own vinegar, candles, soap, bread, cheese ........ For a living I am an artist and herbalist. My goal for myself and our homestead is to be as self sufficient and self sustaining as possible.

Thursday, October 2, 2008

10.02.08 Woodsmoke Morning

It's very chilly this morning :) so chilly I'm wearing sweat pants with my sundress. Someone has lit their fire and the smell of woodsmoke is drifting into our window.

I heard owls last night. I hadn't heard them in a while and I lay in bed smiling at the sound of them. One night a few years ago, they came right to the edge of the forest and then up into our yard. 3 or 4 huge horned owls, maybe males wooing their Queen. One stayed in the tree by where we park and I was able to go out and stand very near it for a long time. I was quiet and just felt it's energy and listened. It was so loud when it called out I had to cover my ears and it seemed to stay long after the others had all gone. I would like to think it stayed just for me and maybe it's the one I heard last night, come back for a visit. Regardless, I smile every time I remember it and I remember it often.

I'm not sure what we'll get done today aside from regular things. The battery on the drill went dead again and has to recharge for 24 hours. I need to check into getting another and having a backup would always be a good idea. I use it very often and tho I could build with nails, screws hold it so much tighter and with the storms coming more fiercely, things need to be as strong as they can be.

Seeing the huge gaps in the warped wood of the henhouse made me long for Kuzco, the Llama, again. He was very sweet and gave us wonderful llama fur for winterizing many things. Llama fur is a perfect natural insulation and last a very long time. Except the hens will pull bits out for their nests :) and llama poo is wonderful for the garden !

We did get the roof mostly secured. I'll be doing more filling on the Frankenstein cottage then anything I've ever built or lived in. But in the end it will do it's job and keep 32 chickens and 3 ducks safe and warm thru the winter.

Today I do plan on going thru things in our side of the cabin (the other side is rented to someone). It's a terrible mess and we can't get to anything, including Yule decorations and tree. I also need to go thru more canning jars and try to figure out about how many of each size lids I need. Mostly the standard size but there are some wide mouth and tiny mouth jars too.

I won't be canning anything this year, I didn't grow enough and still don't have a pressure cooker. Our blackberry patch had been picked clean when we checked it this year and isn't very big anyway. My dream garden includes a big blueberry bush, a strawberry patch and a couple of dwarf grafted fruit trees with apples and pears. If I ever have more space I'll dream alittle bigger :)

I would actually like to turn every square inch of yard into edible or medicinal garden. I love grass and it is both edible and medicinal but it's pretty easy to come by and there are so many things I would rather have.

Last night I dreamed I was in the FBI *o* and was wearing my sisters' hat. I didn't realize I was wearing any hat until a couple of people said "Hey, you're wearing Becky's hat".

This morning, when I'm done here, my plan is to bundle up on the futon and read until the sun comes up :)

I hope everyone has a wonderful day !

5 comments:

oldcrow61 said...

It must have been wonderful to see the horned owls and get so close to them.

Peggy said...

we have 2 owls that call to each other. I like sitting on the back porch and just listening to them. Like you we have one that sits in the big oak tree near the house and the other is in the woods behind the house. I just love owls!

Phill said...

Isn't Fall glorious? I think owls and Fall go together beautifully. Good work on the Frankenstein Cottage - I know it will be big help for you. I'm starting to think about my Yule decorations too!

Joan@CopperCreeker said...

I've been catching up on reading your blog. That is a wonderful Halloween poem!
It was really cool here on The Creek last night... I think around 48deg when nights have been being on low 60s and mid 50s.
We want to make more of our acre+ but our dirt is dusted rocks pretending to be dirt ; )
We're working on it though.
We all need to keep working on our dreams!

Granny Sue said...

Your chicken house will do what it needs to do, so who cares if it's pretty? Not the chickens! I love reading your blog because you are so in touch with the importance of simple, everyday things. Would that more people would cherish the simple things in life.