Cheers

I have said before that I semi-retired last year, after working for ten years as a fast-food pizza manager. Not quite, but it's an easier explanation than saying I'm homesteading as a career choice. Today's American doesn't understand it. You're doing what?! You have a degree, why don't you use it? Well I say you've got a life, why don't you live it?

In the picture below, you see my new tattoo symbolizing my change. A couple of years ago, I fought my way out of $30,000 of irresponsible credit card debt and rewarded myself with an epic 2 month roadtrip to Alaska. In that trip, which I took alone, I re-found my way. That tattoo reminds me daily of where I came from, and more importantly, what living life is really for.

The picture above shows some rewards to this better life. Eggs (and meat) from our own-raised chickens, homemade beer and wine, 4 year old sourdough starter (with tarragon biscuits), dried homegrown herbs (basil here), jars of roasted red peppers in oil, dried jalepenos and elephant garlic, pickles, sun dried tomatoes, lavender syrup (and dandelion, and violet), blackberry cordial (and cactus pear), pickled baby corns, sweet potatoes, shallots and red scallions out of our garden, and brussels sprouts, shittake mushrooms, red russian kale, collards, broccoli, cauliflower, and beets from Crabtree Farms, the organic, sustainable and educational farm where I began working part-time this year.

And as I sip some homemade booze, stir a pot of wild chive soup on my wood-burning stove, and think of doing another batch of spicy chicken sausage for that jar of sauerkraut, I can't help but smile on this career change.

Here's to a new year.