Well after a month I make a return to the computer. And what a month it has been. After the birth of kids the whirlwind begin. Two kids were rejected by mothers meaning bottle feedings multiple times a day. They are all nearly two months old now. And unfortunatley with a hay shortage I will have to ween them instead of letting them do it on their own. Not much hay, especially alfalfa hay means less milk. The kids drink alot and so there is less for us and we really need it right now. The two girls are hopefully going to be sold as will one of the boys. I am still hoping to keep two for draft training but they may end up goign as well if we need the money and cannot afford to feed them.

I am also trying to finish upgrading the chicken coop for the chickens. All that is left is to finish the wire inside and outside of the coop. It is hard to find time to work on it there is so much else to do around here plus actual employment. The cross rocks will have to be butchered in less than two weeks... something else I MUST make time for.

I have finished tilling the garden. After three years the ground is still hard as rock in the lower section. I have decided to improvise some beds down there using three very long pieces of plastic cut about 4 feet wide. This means ALOT of shoveling. IN order to avoid the hard pan and make them raised beds I am shovelling out the good soil in what is to be my paths I am also moving a couple of inches of the hard pan as well, and putting them into the new beds. This is back breaking and slow work. The final results should be 6 ro more inches fo good soft dirt in the beds and a hardpan path that should be very weed resistant espcially after I bury it in 4 inches of mulch.

I have also cleared away new ground and installing a new berry patch( black raspberries, blackberries, and wineberries so far.) That is more or less complete at this point. The ground there was not so hard but full of roots and trash left by the previous owner. Everything is doing well there. We will most likely not get any berries this year as it wil take most of the season for the roots to really get established.

We were also forced to get a new truck. The transmission blew on our old one. Money is always tight around here so we new we had to go cheap and fuel efficient we found an old 84 ranger on Craig's List that fit the bill fine. Get it road legal was another story. We got it in North Carolina and I live in Virginia. This proved to be a nightmare at DMV. And since we have a more rigorous state inspection on vehicles it will not pass inspection till I do some work to it. Mainly the exhaust system.

Then we got a dog a very nice looking Austrailian sheperd. We decided on this because of of its ability to herd, loyalty to owner, and it was also free on Craig's List (I love that site!) But since I work, I am away from the house and he has bonded with my wife and son, but does not much care for me. This is causing no end of problems. The only way to fix it is to spend time with him but I have no time for him.

Spiritually I have not been doing much in the way of ritual or formal spells, I am sad to say. But I am feeling more recharged than ever, so much so I think working these long days trying to keep everything together, that my spirituality is the only thing keeping me going. I feel it is driving me to make all these improvements to my land, steering to sustainability and giving me the strength to endure the hardships till I reach it.