It’s been a long time since I have felt these soft keys beneath my fingertips, mesmerized by my laptop’s glow, accompanied by the gift of falling snow. This winter brings record amounts of snowfall, indolent moments, and an air card! I’m hopeful this equates to a sporadic if not somewhat normal posting routine for me again. Let me not get carried away though, today’s post for now.
I have undergone a burgeoning during the last seven months of our off-grid homesteading endeavor, in some ways more than I could have imagined. I’ve always loved being in the woods but never had I really experienced nature as I now do, everyday. I have a greater sense of being in this calm wood, feeling more in tune with my surroundings than ever before. I’m alive with thoughts of the beauty around me. How we got here… How lucky we are to have come here… Sometimes I think myself a steward of this land but really I feel this is my duty, a reciprocation for my life here on planet Earth, my gratitude. Aside from the whining of the chainsaw, cows on a farm over the hill, an occasional baying hound, or a vehicle cruising through the valley below, there is an abundance of something very wonderful and scarce these days, quiet. No noise. I live for these moments. They empower me and keep me going.
I stated above that I’ve grown. We’ve grown and our inventory of building supplies has grown too. We do have power tools now, very few, but I wanted to note some of our upgrades since my last post so there is no confusion.
I rise early each day even if nothing begs for my attention, stirring me from my slumber. I’ve never been a voluntary early riser but here I anticipate the morning natter of the birds in the trees and eager to feel the crisp air on my skin. The air is always crisp here in the morning, even in the thick of the summer. It’s clean air too. I take a deep breath, face east, relish the sunrise over the massif, releasing any worries into the slow fogs that roll over the mountainsides with each exhale -I know what it is like to live in the clouds. I usually have my family, toast, and my cherished butterfly mug filled with green tea or Teeccino (Six containers worth of thanks to nothoney for the Christmas gift!) with me during my morning meditation, adding notes to my growing to-do list throughout the morning. If the weather is unpleasant there is always a trusty book or seed catalog or magazine to start the day with.
I listen with a rapt ear to what the mountain has to say. My ears capture sounds they have never before noticed like the chest thumping grouse resonating through the woods. The clamorous lone coyotes banished from their dens begging for a welcome home in the night or a pack that hurriedly traverses the property, high pitched yips quick in passing. In the early morning and late afternoon are sounds of the faithful flapping of a hummingbird’s wings during her commute from the rich red ‘Empress of India’ nasturtium (Tropaeolum), to the bright purple ‘Moon Shadow’ hyacinth bean (Dolichos lablab), and then onto the next fountain of nectar. The shrills of red-tailed and red-shouldered hawks riding the currents above. And the evening sounds are just has alluring. Owls are my favorite. The alerting hoot from the barred owl and the cry of a screech owl joined by a choir of insects on a warm summer night is a pleasing organic orchestra.
Daily hikes with the dogs around the property allow me to take in a visual account of how the mountain is doing. I now can identify quite a few of the tracks (and other traces) left behind the four-legged mountain inhabitants, locating their paths, and taking notice of the plants they nibbled on during their travels. The arable hillside is covered with brambles and from summer to early fall, never can one pass by without a quick pick of the tastiest of mountain victuals. Wild ginseng (Panax quinquefolius) patches are scattered throughout our woods hiding and thriving amongst the lush green flora. In September the red berries are candy for the eyes, almost seeming to glow. Here is a bit of interesting Chinese lore in one of my older herb books, “Growing & Using The Healing Herbs” by Gaea and Shandor Weiss.
[...in ancient China, where a special guild of ginseng hunters called va-pang-suis searched for the plant at night with tiny boys and arrows. The plant, it was said, emitted a light of its own, and moved around at night. It was only with the tiny arrows with string attached to them that the hunters were able to catch the roots. James Duke, a researcher at the USDA Economic Botany Laboratory, challenged the Chinese belief that ginseng moved around at night. Doubting such a claim, he planted 100 ginseng plants in an experimental garden. When he found that the next morning nearly half of the roots had moved (or been moved) out of the hole, but were uneaten, he replanted them. Again half the plants were disturbed during the night. Dr. Duke now professes some credence in "Chinese sayings that are difficult to believe."]
My husband is most certain he saw a flying squirrel one evening on his way up the mountain. It coasted directly over his head, landed on a tree to his left, and then scurried up the trunk exactly as a squirrel would do. My encounter with an adult sized bobcat (smaller than our Border Collie mix dog, Soul Sister) is one animal I shall never forget. What excitement to stare into the eyes of such an elusive creature. I’m sure to be still when admiring the deer only to move once they’ve disappeared into the woods. Even the motionless body of a deer hunkered down on the forest floor is fascinating. We are privileged to have an abundance of deer on the property. This land is a sanctuary for them.
A true pleasure of ours is the late evening sky which is much like our television that we tune into after a long day. Sitcoms full of shimmering stars, the moon unfolding against the sky’s dramatic backdrop continuing its month long saga, and the meteor showers are the precious movies that enrich our soul. We siesta in the hammocks on the warmest summer days and catch glimpses of breathtaking sunsets during our evening walks. While hiking we discover many mountain treasures such as the tasty wild Maypop or Passion Flower Vine (Passiflora incarnata) growing amongst the other wildflowers. We located a mass of summer blooming Yellow Lady Slipper orchids (Cypripedium calceolus), which are listed ‘infrequent’ in one of my wildflower books. The yellow typically growing in an oak forest floor while the pink is more commonly found in a pine forest. Sadly the logging company that logged this land before we purchased it left us with but one pine which stands tall near our creek. (We had Pink Lady Slipper Orchids (Cypripedium acaule) in the woods of our old house.) I do not think us lucky but observant, spotting patches of ginseng and rare orchids. A few of the folks from town have told us about the Morel mushrooms (Morchella) which grow near our creek in the spring. Last spring we did not have this pleasure of mushroom hunting… Ready the baskets!
Growing our own food has been an enlightening experience. To clip fresh herbs and throw them in a pot of fresh Roma tomatoes sauteed with our home grown garlic and onions to make a delightful pasta sauce is quite rewarding. In the winter our dinners are created on our cylinder wood stove in the tent. There is always a kettle on the warming tray and pleasant earthy smells from the garden filling the tent and tempting our stomachs. During the summer we cooked over an open fire and usually in hot coals in our cast iron dutch oven. Two dishes that stand out from our summer menu; Walnut-Apple Crumbley and Cheater Baked Beans. The dessert is from “101 Things To Do With A Dutch Oven“, by Vernon Winterton, tweaked to vegan perfection and the baked bean recipe is from “Veganomicon“, by the Vegan culinary goddesses Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero. Our winter indulgence is our summer canning of apples, relishes, tomatoes, and pickled green tomatoes which not only helps lessen our trips to town for groceries but also grants us the memories of the garden, warming our hearts. Receiving the highest marks was the Indian Relish from “The Joy Of Cooking“, by Irma S. Rombauer and Marion Rombauer Becker. YUM! Using native plants like the Paw Paw (Asiminia triloba) and the Jerusalem Artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus) creates a sense of history about the garden. I made a wonderful herb sangria this past August and every herb came from the garden. I have always wished to have an herb garden and now I have one. My mom loaded me up with some hand-me-down baskets which helped during our harvests. The first meal entirely “mountain sourced” was a colorful garden salad of ‘Romaine’ lettuce, ‘Black Seeded Simpson’ lettuce, ‘Thai’ and ‘Sweet Genovese basil’ leaves, nasturtium leaves, chives, tomatoes, topped with a garlic flower garnish. Exquisite. Retrieving our potatoes from the earth was a confirmation of farm life. My husband and I felt at that point, everything we had done in our lives had prepared us for this lifestyle we adopted.
I’ve learned to cope without electricity. But don’t let me mislead you, we have power just not all the time. Soon we will have our alternative energy sources (wind turbine and solar panels) installed but until then we’ll be using our Honda generator for nighttime power use only, as we have done for the past seven months, unless an emergency should arise. For obvious reasons it runs longer in the winter months, about six to eight hours. During this time we charge our cell phones, laptop, rechargeable batteries, etc., while bathing in the soft glow of CFL’s in our fixtures, allowing us normal function in the tent during the evenings. Going an entire day without electricity isn’t so bad in fact, I rather enjoy it actually. We were fortunate to have many of those days during the summer, enjoying the silence. In the summer we were usually exhausted from working all day so the quiet was a reward and let us know it was time to relax. We shower in the tent in a baby pool with our two gallon hand-pump shower that we heat on our wood stove. (In the summer we shower outside since we are still constructing the outhouse.) And if any water splashes on the floor, no bother, the tent will dry in less than twenty minutes! There are advantages of living in a tent. Same goes with the kitchen sink. I have three tubs; a wash tub with soap, a rinse tub, and a second rinse tub to finish them off, accompanied by two drying racks. It’s modest but it does the job. I used to hate doing dishes by hand but now I enjoy it, knowing that we save so much water and don’t generate extra heat when drying.
Our composting toilet is on its way to a springtime finish. Winter came early this year October to be exact, and it’s sticking around for a while. I mentioned above the record snowfalls. Of course the year we set out to live a life off-the-grid is the same year this area endures the most severe winter in years. I suppose it wouldn’t be as fun without its challenges. So we have no walls constructed as of yet, we have only the toilet itself finished. When the weather breaks we will begin construction on the walls. We have a tent covering it for now however, the tent has taken repeated ferocious beatings from the strong mountain winds and is in pitiful shape. Currently there is no comfortable headroom. It’s rather comical, this most simple act of relieving oneself. We can’t wait until spring! When not building, my husband is usually constructing rock walls and pathways, weaving them in and out of the garden beds and large specimen trees and shrubs. He maintains the larger plant material like the fruit trees and evergreens. We’re also busy collecting and staging our rocks for the rubble trench foundation. We’re using materials from the mountain when we can. The rocks here are incredible, some massive and others sculptured by the elements.
I am at the most fit of my life now, more than when I played sports in my youth years, worked out religiously on the spin machines at the aquatic center, or ran three miles every other day, combined. I appreciate that I don’t have to make time for a workout as I used to, everything I do now is a workout. However I do enjoy a sequence of asanas which aid in my mental health. I thank my dear friend and virtual Yoga Instructor Jenny. I’ve hand tilled most all the garden beds with a pickax myself. Pulling weeds is a never ending chore and the brambles and grasses take over if not tended to often. Watering is an extensive process in the heat of the summer. We have several rain barrels for collection but need to construct a cistern elsewhere on the property. I did all of my watering this past season by hand. Next year I plan to have more plant material so I’ll need to devise a better watering system. I have some old soaker hoses from years ago I can hook-up. I like these because I can open the spigot and do a gradual watering while I tend to other areas of the garden which also saves on water. We’ve been preparing timbers of assorted hardwoods that we have collected from around the property. The logs have to be seasoned and before that the bark needs to be stripped. We remove the bark with a drawknife. This job allows for much meditation and one that echos in your muscles days after. Clearing the property of felled trees from previous loggers is a constant chore. Gathering, loading, hauling, and stacking of firewood is hefty work -my husband does the splitting. It’s very rewarding to see your future fuel stacked so perfectly, log ends jutting from beneath the blanket of snow. I hike down and back up (to get to the vehicles) our 800 vertical feet about three times a week to go to work (on my friend’s farm near town) and run other errands. I cross country ski on our property when the snow conditions are amicable and my husband and I try to get to the local ski resort to snowboard which is about a 20 minute drive whenever we can. This is a luxury that allows us to blow-off steam, relax, grab the local paper, and see other humans. Just kidding. We do get out, just not daily. I noted in my journal that my longest stint was nine days without having left this Wonderland. I’ve just received snowshoes for a birthday gift so that will add to my list of snow activities. When we have our house built we’ll be able to enjoy summer sports off the property like kayaking and mountain biking. I love the energy I have found here.
I’ll dither again another day. Bye for now.
When trying a new mushroom, we like to saute them in a little olive oil and some fresh onions from the garden (whites and greens at the end of cooking) to enhance the flavor. Too bad everyone batters and deep fries EVERYTHING around here, they sure do have a pleasant and unique flavor all their own. My husband and I both agree, these are some of the tastiest mushrooms we’ve ever had, with a pungent smell and strong pepper flavor. The locals harvest them by the feed bag full and dry them for use throughout the year. This winter I hope to add some Bradleys to my clear broth soups with leafy greens…
I am content yet my seed ordering this year has left me a bit exhausted. In years past, I’ve ordered without giving it much thought other than, I want that. (Flashback to Napoleon Dynamite…Uncle Rico is selling a Tupperware-like product to a couple in their kitchen… This scene always pops in my head… Heh.) But those days are long behind me and now my focus is purchasing local organic seed which can be saved for the following growing season. Out of the dozen catalogs I had to choose from -serious deliberation- I narrowed it down to five. This was extremely tough given some items I could only find from one company but said company was all the way in Oregon which is far from West Virginia. 
