From: "Lynn Wigglesworth" <lynnw1366 AT hotmail.com>
To: <homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: [Homestead] Farm Update
Date: Fri, 2 Oct 2009 11:09:14 -0400
Well, we've gone from a cool and rainy summer to a cold and rainy fall. I've
had the stove running on and off for a couple of weeks already, so maybe I
didn't get enough firewood. I think we had our first frost last night; the
tender plants like winter squash look dead. It looks like there were more
squash than I thought hiding in there. I don't know how ripe they are; if
it ever stops raining I'll harvest them.
The farm, as a money-making entity, was a complete failure this year. For
whatever reason, people just didn't come out to buy. I barely made back the
money I spent advertising. On the other hand, as a homestead, the farm did
well. I have 2 freezers full of meat and vegetables that I couldn't sell.
Canned fruit has overflowed from the pantry to the other cabinets, and I
still have 50# of pears to deal with (the smaller fruit...they will become
pear/ginger butter). I have quite a bit of free hay in the barn, both what I
cut with my scythe from around the yard, and what my neighbor gave me (not
good enough for his horses, fine for my cows).
So I still have bills but have no money except child support, and raising
two teenagers costs every cent of that, and then some ("Mom, I need $38 for
my trip, plus money for lunch"..."Mom I need $15 for new band
shoes"...that's just this week). I can't find a job. I have a Master of
Library Science but the library won't even interview me anymore (I've
applied for 4 different positions in the past 2-3 years); they tell me that
I'm over-qualified for an entry-level job (I think it's that I have a better
degree from a better school than the library director...she thinks I'm after
her job), so I remain over-qualified and unemployed. I've dumbed down my
resume (took off my MLS and BA...they are a detriment in a really rural
area) for every other minimum wage job, but there are few jobs, and at 53 I
can't even get an interview.
But I worry less about that all the time (senility maybe?). I'm ridiculously
satisfied with what I have.