We're Not Ready for this

February 5, 2025

I have really enjoyed writing these journal style entries as it is cathartic. I am an external processor so it helps me to get out my thoughts on the day here. I also thoroughly enjoy your feedback in the comments. What’s interesting is I don’t always love comments on our short form videos on places like Instagram. If you leave them, please keep doing so as it is good for engagement. I think it’s because short form video shows such a tiny portion of what we are doing and who we are. But if you are interested enough to read about our day to day life here, then you get it. You’re invested. Even when people leave nice comments on Instagram, it feels off because I feel like whatever is shown is not worthy of the praise. Our content is authentic everywhere we upload it, but it’s simply not a full representation of everything we do. I don’t know if that makes any sense at all. So if you’re reading, thank you for being here.

It is dark outside and I can hear the sound of a power drill because Savannah is still out there working her heart out. She made a lot of progress on the greenhouse with a teensy bit of my help. We got all the siding up and installed the door Savannah made. The doors look so good, and I can’t wait for you to see them! Savannah spent 2 days building the doors out of 2X4s because that’s all we could afford. We don’t build all this stuff from scratch because we like the challenge. We would gladly buy premade doors, but they just aren’t in the budget. We definitely do like having skills and there is a ton of value in having them, but all of the skills we’ve acquired have come from necessity.

While I was outside helping Savannah put up the siding on the front of the greenhouse, I noticed weeds growing everywhere. Last year the weeds took over- specifically dandelions. I am vowing to keep the weeds under control early in the season so they don’t continue to spread. I pulled out my favorite weeder for pulling out dandelions and pulled up a bunch. Some were blooming already! I can’t believe it- in the beginning of February. We also saw a wasp for heaven’s sake! We are definitely not ready to already be dealing with wasps and weeds. And the next 10 day forecast doesn’t have any of our day time temps getting below 40 degrees, so I don’t think they’ll be going anywhere.

I feel like I always yak about the weather in these updates, but when you live off grid & homestead, your life is tied to the weather. It’s been so warm we haven’t started a fire in our wood stove for 3 or 4 days. The temperature & the conditions will determine how we spend the day and what is prioritized. We have many times tried to make a schedule for the week but the weather often has other plans. We started on a HUGE project this last fall that grinded to a halt because of multiple days of rain. Then it got too cold and so it’s been put on hold until the spring.

What have/are we eating today:

Breakfast- breakfast tacos with bacon, eggs, cheese. I add salsa. Sav adds hot sauce.

Lunch- Sausage & instant mashed potatoes. Yep occasionally we eat crap like instant mashed potatoes. Should we have added a vegetable? Probably. But this was quick and easy so we could get back to our respective projects.

Dinner- Brisket Nachos. We bought a huge brisket at Sam’s the other day and cut it up into 4 smaller pieces. We also got a bag of stew meat and a gallon bag of fat out of it. We will render the fat down for beef tallow at some point, but for now it’s in the freezer with the rest of the meat. Savannah put one of the briskets in the crockpot first thing this morning. We’ll keep some of the cooked brisket in the fridge for a meal tomorrow and then freeze the rest. Having pre-cooked meat is so helpful!

That list above is probably the most vulnerable thing I’ve ever shared on here. But maybe it will help you? Idk. Let me know if you care about this stuff. Maybe it will inspire us to eat more veggies :) We do eat them, but it’s easier in the summer when they are in season and are growing right outside our door.

Thanks for stopping by!

Casey