Relaxing Weekend

We left last Friday night to head to the country house. We weren’t able to get out of the city before 5:30p & it is about a 3 hour trip so it is dark by the time we arrived. We usually go ‘the back way’ because we have come to loathe Interstates, too many close calls in too short a time period.

Not that accidents can’t happen anywhere but I swear people are just idiots on the Expressways. I remember waaaay back when, you could trust the semi-truck drivers the best because they had the most experience & knew what they were doing.

Not so much anymore. The new drivers are let loose well before they are fully trained & even though they are responsible for many more tons that a regular vehicle, they TEXT. Yep, one almost ran us into a guardrail about a year ago. We were in the left (passing) lane on a three lane highway with a car in front of us that decided they were no longer in the mood to pass & had slowed down & another car behind us so we had nowhere to go. The semi, in the middle lane, just kept easing into our lane. I looked up & he was texting, not just reading a text but actually typing. We were just inches from the concrete guard divider, honking the horn, me flailing my arms. He finally realized & jerked back into his lane. A couple more close calls & we decided to find a different way to go. We did & now we avoid the interstate altogether. It is much more pleasant & a much less stressful drive.

We got the truck unloaded & made an adult beverage & sat on the back screened porch listening to the quiet. So very quiet. Off to bed early with not much to do the next day. I did a couple loads of laundry & hung them on the clothesline & clothes rack & piddled in my raised beds. Otherwise, just kind of took it easy . all . day . long.

My niece & a friend were coming to spend the night on Saturday but didn’t get in until around 6:00. Greg fried the last of our Mayport shrimp & we had cheese grits, broccoli slaw, sliced tomatoes & hush puppies.

We had started our first fire of the season earlier in the afternoon. After supper, we sat by the fire & looked at the stars. It is so remote that you can see millions & millions of them. We turned off the porch & flood lights so all you saw was sky. Absolutely beautiful!

The next day we drove over to a local Goat Farm. The people that own it are friends of friends of ours. When we told them where we were from & where our country place was, they asked “Are you MT’s cousin? We heard about you. Are you going to raise for personal use or with the intent to sell? Don’t go buying this or that without checking with us, it’s possible we already bought it to experiment with & had to upgrade & can sell it to you a whole lot cheaper than brand new. Etc.” Gotta love being in the country.

I didn’t get any pictures but they are just getting started, after many years of planning & getting inspections & finally approval, they are now licensed to sell & are just getting underway. They sell milk, about 8 different kinds of cheese, soap, honey, etc. Super nice people, I asked if I could help out a few days a week, once I’m retired, so I can gain some hands on education before I actually jump in the livestock wagon.

We got back to our place just as my niece & her friend were leaving. We packed up & went over to see my Dad & his wife since they were up as well. They had been on vacation in the mountains for a couple of weeks & instead of driving on to Amish Country, which my Dad loves, they decided to take the rest of their vacation at “The Farm” which is what my Dad & his brothers & sisters call the property.

Oh well, just wanted to document our weekend, we sure do live an exciting life huh?

Lessons Learned

Well, I made it to the retreat & home again w/o incident. A good time was had by all.

I was a bit worried before I left for several reasons but one of the main ones is that I don't get along well with many women. The women I've met though this blog are the exception ... I guess it's because we are all discussing like minded goals & aspirations.

I do have close friends & family whom I love, & the women that I have come to know through this blog are amazing. So, I don't dislike women, I am just not drawn to them. My husband is my best friend & I wouldn't change that for the world.

Also, I am not a chit chatter, especially about mundane crap like shoes & purses & other silly things. I dress nice, when I have to, wear makeup, when I have to & mind my manners.

I also must mention that I don't have a whole lot of patience either. If someone annoys me I walk away rather than say something 'not nice'. And, I get annoyed easily, especially the older I get.

This past weekend was a test for me. There were 61 attendees at the retreat, 57 of them women plus an additional 10 or 12 instructors or moderators. The age range was 23 - 70, with the median age around 50. I was prepared to pretty much stay to myself if I found that I couldn't tolerate ... whatever. I was pleasantly surprised that for the most part, everyone attending was as focused as I was on learning the things that were being offered.

There were 4 or 5 younger women (age 23 - 27). Each had come with a mother, or were there w/a friend who had come with their mother. They were lovely young women & truly interested in all the activities. It was very refreshing & gives me hope about the future. They even put their iPhones down while eating & during conversations!

Yeah, there were a couple of Hazels in the crowd, but for the most part the others were easy to talk to & not overbearing with their opinions. I just steered clear of the Hazels. My cabin mates were an eclectic mix with great personalities to match. I even met a couple of women that I think will become long term friends, we had much in common.



Sleeping quarters

I guess what made me open up my mind while there, was the side conversations you would hear while going through the day. Simple things like, types of goats, whether you milked, types of chickens, cows, gardening topics, etc. Talk even turned to WTSHTF, how many months of food were stored, Bug Out Bags, etc. There was also conversations about concealed weapon permits & types of guns.  Hmmmm, I thought.

There was plenty of discussions about books, excercise routines, sewing & other things like that, as well. But it all seemed, to me anyway, that it was centered around one common goal & that was Self Sufficiency. By choice now & necessary when the time comes.

It was a bit surreal knowing you were pretty much surrounded with that many like minded strangers individuals in a foreign setting. It felt good.

I learned a LOT & what I liked about this specific retreat was that the classes were taught by real women. Some had been doing whatever they were teaching, for years while others were fairly new & were just good at it. Also, for the most part, it was hands on which is what I was looking for.

I helped make apple butter, biscuits & pie crust. I learned what I was doing wrong w/my biscuits (cutting them too thin). I hope to never buy another can of biscuits or pie crust again.

I have dabbled in dehydrating, water bath canning & pressure canning, but I needed to make sure I was doing it right by actually participating, while a knowledgable person looked on. So I took  dehydrating & pressure canning classes. I felt reassured & most certainly learned many new tips & techniques.

I took soft cheese & hard cheese making. I didn't learn much in the soft cheese class, as I had already made mozarella using the same recipe, but learned a lot in the hard cheese class. I plan on making Romano as soon as my husband builds me a cheese press.

I loved the bread making class & I hope to never buy dinner rolls again. Another goal is to cut down on the amount of bread we buy.

But, I think my favorite class of all was the Goat Husbandry class. The teacher, Shelley from Twiggity Dairy Goats, has been doing this for a couple of years & you could just feel her excitement & love of her goats. She & her husband brought 2 Nigerian kids, 1 adult kid & a Mini Lamancha. We loved them all. We learned how to select a good dairy goat, preventative maintenance, how to look for signs of trouble, how to administer shots, how to trim hooves & how to milk!! Shelley is an excellent speaker & you could really tell she loves what she does. They also brought Cheddar & Queso cheese as well as samples of milk to try. It was wonderful!

We ended with a party at the CITR farm on Sunday afternoon. I've been following this blog since the beginning of the year & it was nice to see all of the animals & understand the layout of the farm. There was a swap table, coffee roasting, yarn spinning & soap making demos, lots of food, hay rides & pony rides. The weather was perfect! With a glass of wine in hand it was a lovely way to spend the afternoon.

I had a great time & the lesson I learned was to keep an open mind, you never know who you might meet & what you might learn.

WV sunrise on my last morning