Looking Forward

       I don't often post more than one time in the same week but there is a lot that is happening on the farm. We were sitting on the patio tonight having dinner and as we ate I looked over at the onions and noticed the top were starting to turn brown. While Kathy was making dinner I had taken a quick tour of the gardens and also noticed that the potato vines are quickly dying off which means potatoes must be harvested soon. Yesterday we picked almost two pounds of green beans and have many yellow squash in to fridge that need to be blanched and frozen this weekend and, of course, more green beans will need to be picked over the next few days. I also will be having rotator cuff surgery in twelve days which will severely hamper my contributions to the farm so looking forward to paramount. I will be focusing on harvesting as much of our produce and freezing what I can. I have trained our middle son Justin to process rabbits but I will do this last group myself but as I look forward I will have to trust him with the next group, under my watchful eye of course.
     There is so much more that needs to be done on the farm as we look forward. We'll need to plant kale once the potatoes are harvested and I'll need to clear an area for the chickens to live. My brother in law will be coming over soon to check over what branches can be cut from our huge Noway maple tree to give more light to the front gardens and afford our future honey bee hives a better take off spot all of which requires more planning, more looking forward. We have so invested ourselves in this project that we must look forward or we will fail or at best sink into a mediocre attempt at our stated goal. Looking forward involves planning and heart, it's not for the faint of heart or easily discouraged because there are so many failures that lay ahead. We can't be discouraged by the fact that failures will occur but only be resigned to learn from them and improve upon our last effort.
     The best thing about our looking forward at the moment is that it is short and medium term right now. The short term involves all the harvesting and preserving that must be done. The medium term involves making space for chickens, clearing a spot for honey bees and planning for sun chokes to be ordered for fall planting. I still want to make cheese and this may or may not happen. I will still get hunting and trapping permission slips signed so that I will be able to deer hunt and fur trap should be shoulder allow it. I know that hunting and trapping doesn't seem to be part of farming but it is part of self-sufficiency. I can save a lot of money on our meat bill if I can bag two or three deer this year. Trapping will provide a bit of money that will go toward buying seeds, plants, and gear for next year. If we don't look ahead with hope we will certainly  look back with regret.