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.

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

7.17.12 Life & Dreams


I can’t believe July is already half over. This year has gone so quickly, time seems to be burning up along with the Earth herself.

It’s actually been much cooler here this week and last. The highest was 99, compared to 108. Our average here was 106 for over two weeks and we have a good accurate digital thermometer.

Tho certainly not as bad off as the farmers and large growers, I have lost, and will continue to lose, a large portion of my income, which relies on what I grow and wildcraft. We’re already feeling it. Everything is dried and brown. That on top of the loss of internet (business) as made life very hard again financially. We’re fine but it gets scary.

I think we’ve probably lost about half of all the fruit and nut trees and bushes we planted last Feb. We haul water down to them but it’s not enough and we’re so tired. One tree drinks 2 to 3 gallons of water and the ground drinks up the water before it’s finished pouring. I have hopes that some things that look gone might come back if we do get enough rain soon.

We’ve been blessed with rain tho and I’m so very thankful. Every bit helps although it’s often just enough to make it humid.

I got the new electric bill today and it’s 20.00 more than last month because of using the a/c. We try to use electric very carefully and meagerly but it was 97.00,  a huge bill for us but probably a lot lower than many people. The bills are off by a few months and the next one may be for the heat wave which will be even more. When it was in the 100’s I  kept the a/c on all day, set at 82 which keeps it around 84 inside. Thankfully it doesn’t come on as much as I thought it would in the heat. I think the stones help a great deal in keeping the cottage warmer in winter and cooler in summer. Not as well as the earthberm did but much better than I expected or have experienced in an above ground house.

We have so much to be thankful for. Even during a heat wave and drought.

The hammock job is going wonderfully! I made my first one here yesterday and it took me much less time. I worked outside, which I love, and find the weaving meditative and peaceful. I need to be able to come up with some more spools tho, so that I can make more hammocks per week.

We lost 2 of the RIR pullets. Something got into the barn and killed them in the stall. They now sleep in a large crate at night and we’re leaving the barn open at night for Nemo to get in. I feel bad but I hope Nemo gets the culprit soon.

Except for the expensive loss of 2 little hens, the animals are all doing well. One of our rabbits gave birth July 4th,  I’ve was worried about her and the baby buns in the heat but they all did just fine. Walnut, the pig, is doing well and will hopefully have her piglets soon. I wasn’t sure if she was pregnant or just fat but she’s started to make milk so I’m going with pregnant.

Mr Pig disappeared months ago and hasn’t been seen since. We’ve searched everywhere and neighbors have kept a watch but no sign at all. He did this last year and was gone for weeks but then turned up again. This time he’s been gone for months and I’ve given up hope. I find pigs very hard to keep and I’m not sure we’ll keep them after this.

The plan for poor Walnut is, after her babies are weaned and sold, she’ll be fattened up and taken to the processor. It’s a good plan but may not be easy to carry out. One of the reasons to try potbelly pigs is that they could be processed here if needed. I could do it if people were starving but ….

We took some time off from working in the woods but we need to get back on it. My sister is to arrive next weekend.

The dreams …..

I’ve been having dreams again and seem to be having 3 each night, including some new reoccurring dreams. I’ve had the lemming dream twice more since the first one.

The second lemming dream was very much like the first except that a lot more lemmings turned red and got out of the stream of brown lemmings.

The third lemming dream was a bit different ….

This time I was not a lemming at all but in my own body standing up on some rocks, looking down at all the lemmings. Many of the brown lemmings were turning red and climbing out. Occasionally one red lemming would get pulled back in by the brown ones and this frightened me. But worse still was that a few of the red lemmings turned back to brown and willingly jumped back into the surge. I don’t recall seeing the blue lemmings in this dream but the yellow ones were there, floating in and out of the surge.

I had an interesting salt dream the night before last. In it there seemed to have been some event. I was in a city I didn’t recognize and it was largely abandoned and somewhat destroyed. I felt like I needed to take care not to be seen, as if there were bad people or something about. I was searching for salt, nothing but salt, and only particular salts. I was looking for salt in rough, large granules, rocks and blocks, not table salt, more like sea salt and large salt rocks and blocks without iodine. I searched everywhere and, although I didn’t feel like it was frantic or an emergency, I did feel like it was very important and that I needed to find more.

I actually found quite a bit and realized I had my Go bags with me but they were empty except for a little food and water. I was putting all the salt I found into them. I was finding it in bowls, bags, blocks and pieces of blocks. Not often but enough.

Soon I heard noise and came upon a friend I know in waking life, she was also searching for salt for her group. That’s when I realized that I had a group somewhere too. The thought surprised me outside my dream and I woke.

I’ve also had an old reoccurring dream twice lately. I’ve not had it in quite some time. It’s always basically the same. It’s very cold and very dry. I have a tent structure, attached to a smallish old building. Inside the tent part I have fires in trash cans and old crates etc to sit on around large wooden spools and the like. A sort of post-apocalyptic café. I have a little food, coffee and tea that I barter to patrons for canned food, or whatever they have. Everyone is layered in bits and pieces of clothing, a foot thick in some cases. It’s bitterly cold outside. This tent café is on a an often traveled road, leading to and coming from where, I do not know. My hair is very white but I feel strong and healthy in the dream. We have a water source out back that is guarded with armed people. There’s more to the overall dream but these parts were all that were in the latest dreams.

The dial up modem went out on the laptop and we’ve had no way to communicate from home again. We’ve had so much trouble with communication since last fall. Modems going out, phones going out and not getting reception, computers going out …. I can’t think of any reason that should keep us from communication from home but I believe there is something.

Oddly, I was working on my desk top again, I work on it every once in a while just to see what I can find, and I was able to get aol browser up and running again. So, for now, we have internet at home again.

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