Time or Money

Well, it’s getting on toward the end of April and it snowed today. Thank goodness this global climate business is all an elaborate hoax. Still, it was a good day. Quiet. A music-focused weekend for Mark and a wish-we-had-a-woodstove weekend for Dylan and me. Movies and books and a lot of talk about the weather.

It’s also Earth Day today, perfect with the snow in April. The Farmers Market was buzzing w/climate-focused tents and children building birdhouses for sale. I checked out Seabreeze’s usual gorgeous display of gourmet what have you and tried to talk a little meat w/George but he seemed somewhat unhappy I’d brought the subject up. I went my way, further convinced that our local success story was definitely a businessman first and a community advocate way down that list.

I’ve been thinking about money a lot lately. Wondering if we can make it on this one-salary business long enough for the farm to start being a contributor to the family income or if I’ll have to work full time again to make the money to put aside to support the farm for a while. Sigh. Time or money. Time or money. Can’t have both. Sometimes can’t have either. Life costs a fortune.

I’ve been thinking of ways to make the farm more of an enterprise. I keep coming back to how much people like being here. What we have here, here on an island in the middle of the Sound, tucked between 2 major cities, is different. It’s special. More than any one product, I keep coming back to the experience of the farm itself as being really what we have to offer people. I always thought that, and my vision has always been to eventually run an upscale B&B-type thing, but now my horizons are broadening. Workshops, Harvest Dinners, Shearing Days. I dunno. There’s got to be some other ways of entertaining people in a way that is profitable and feels good to all sides.

It’s late now, after 10PM, and it’s been a good day. The lambs-in-the-mudroom is beginning to lose its charm. Given that they’re in a playpen, they are up close and personal with their own waste quite a bit and this means they’re pretty odiferous and less cuddly every day. The good news is that Tammy’s goat milk has done wonders for them and they’re growing bigger and more rambunctious all the time. We’d have thrown them out to the shed already, but with snow in the scene, it seems obvious to keep them in the house, at least at night, a few more days. I’m ready for them to cease being entertaining pets and begin their lives as livestock. Our house stinks. The incessant “baa’s” stopped being cute a while ago, and I worry about their ability to transition into being part of the flock.