one acre

1.05 acre in Springfield, IL, never built on, never farmed- connected to an unnamed woods with an unnamed tributary with an unrecognized yellow-colored liquid dripping down one slope into said unnamed tributary and eventually down into the cement overflow structure that leads deep under the surface of the land.

OK, so the good part is there is tons of space to grow food and medicine and trees, plenty of open space and wooded space within the acre M will own officially in a few days. It's exciting! We have a cherry tree, a pear tree, a crabapple, a hickory tree, and I don't even know what else because all the leaves have fallen, and my tree identification skills are limited. It's exciting, though, as it's near to some of our dear friends with whom I am very excited to better develop relations. It's also exciting because it does back up to the woods with a water source running through, with owls, birds, possoms, foxes, rabbits, cats and dogs, PLUS. I suspect it will not be hard to draw people to the scene to help and enjoy our quiet, end of the road location. It will definitely be a project in permaculture, considering we don't entirely plan to build a home there. M is excited to put up a storage shed/birdhouse with open space, and I keep thinking how great the wood-fired hot tub will be. I imagine prairie and flowering trees and shrubs all along the road, with more fruit and nut trees and so many haws!

In any case, this is the update. We'll be heading to FL early next week with a stop at our buddy's place in Birmingham- exciting! I'm happy to see my folks and grandma and sisters, and the weather just turned November yesterday. It was a happy accident that we were able to pick up two truck loads of composted manure and unload them on Saturday when the weather was balmy and hard to believe. Now it is icey-cold rain and greygreygrey skies. Yay snowbirding!

with love,
Abigail

Medicine is Magic

As reminder to myself:

Magic is transformation, and in that sense our food is medicine and therefore magic, and all the air and water and emotions and electronic radiation are all medicine/magic/transformative. The words we speak effect our bodies and the bodies of other critical beings who comprehend and utilize the words as triggers and instruction for transformative acts, consciously or unconsciously. In this thinking space, the Good Word takes on an entirely new meaning.

puppy and change of plans

Today M and I drove outside of town to a conglomeration of farm houses and every kind of animal milling about- peacocks on the porch, chickens in the drive, goats and cows munching on maturing thorn apples, and kittens lurking while a family of blue heelers panted around, going from one person to the next to be petted and loved on. We went all the way out there because, well, the other night we were drinking a bottle of wine in our bedroom suite here (it was so rainy and dreary, and you can't watch episodes of this American Life every night). Well, so, then we started looking at photos, banksy graffiti, and a tent overflowing with polyurethane foam as an art piece, etc, when I decided I wanted to look at craigslist in the farm and garden section. Turns out we got the last pup in the litter born on August 9, so he's been weaned and socialized out on the farm with mom, dad, and a year-older sibling. His mom is from Australia, has a naturally bobbed tail, and this may be his 12-year old dad's last season. The old farmer guy selling them has been raising them for a long time, and his daughter and granddaughter were there helping us out, granddaughter remembering when they last were wormed while grandpa remembered wrong. He's a beautiful little puppy, 12 weeks old today, so he got a lot of good farm time in. He's like a little little kid, hasn't slept all day, keeps waking himself up and grumbling at me. He likes to be physically connected, and he won't take his sleepy head off the crook of my arm. :)

He's our Halloween dog. Maybe we should give him a name reminiscent of the occasion. It's hard to name another being, and that's the first thing you're supposed to do for training I guess, and everyone asks that first. Blue Heelers are so sweet. They're super smart, love working and playing, have tons of energy, are super friendly, and they're cute as a button I think. This guy likes to be outside (duh), and he LOVES eating. and not once has he nipped at anyone.

On to the change of plans- well! The boy and I are leaning toward a little house of our own in the ghetto of Springfield, right between our friends at the real Little House ( lhintheghetto.blogspot.com ) and our newest Springfield friends, a couple who are really interested in living more sustainably in their $2000 tax-auction little house. That would mean a whole community of folks within a few blocks, including the guys formerly haunting the main LH and now living it up a couple blocks away. I don't know anywhere else where you can pick up a $6000 house in the middle of an OK and mostly habited neighborhood and be spitting distance from plenty of friends. It's like a little village in town. Besides, the pup needs a yard to run around, and we need a space to plant and tend chickens. M's pretty excited to have a footprint in his hometown, besides. I think that's really what made him want this pup so bad.

So, yeah, still heading down to the FL for the warmth and holidays, looking forward to that. The plan to move to NC is still tentatively on for a slightly later date, it's just important that we throw down some roots and make a place for ourselves here, since we end up here all the time. It will help my sanity here. :)

with love, and help me think of a good puppy name,
Abby