The past few weeks have brought us a few unexpected sources of income, too. It's been weird. And perhaps we haven't made much from these new efforts, but it's a little something to help us work from home in the future.
So, Charles uses a pacifier. For a while, it spent about as much time on the floor as it did anywhere else. I couldn't find a pacifier clip anywhere so I ordered one online. I was seriously disappointed. The ink on the ribbon started to rub off. Any of you have one of those kids that shoves EVERYTHING in his mouth? 'Cause I do. Obviously, we had to toss the clip. Before I did, though, I snipped off the end with the clip. On a whim, I knitted a strip of fabric, stitched the clip on one end and stitched a loop onto the other end. Voila! Well, people have shown some interest in buying them! So that's cool.
We also made some money by selling lumber to the local lumber mill. Admittedly, harvesting those logs was slightly more labor intensive than my knitting project. We have a neighbor that did a lion's share of the work on our property. He's had some equipment failure and the project has caused him a fair amount of stress. Andrew has done his share as well, but we have determined that we will refocus our wood harvesting energy on firewood alone. But it was an excellent learning experience.
Also, my mom has a dozen chickens that have stopped producing eggs. She has asked us to slaughter them for her in exchange for the meat. Fair enough!
These things are as much a part of homesteading as the garden or the livestock daydreams. So far, it's been about working hard with what you've got. I guess we have to learn to work with what we already have before we begin adding more to our home.
Although, the one thing we DON'T have is time. Charlie is obviously our number one priority and he has become very needy lately. He's begun teething and has stopped sleeping very well. It takes a very long time to get him down for a nap and won't nap alone. I can knit or read while he sleeps, but I can't leave the bed. I suppose many parents go through this. It certainly has forced us to become creative with what time we have. I'm typing this with one hand while he sleeps in my other arm.
Andrew is still working full-time until I go back to work. I have to get things done as soon as he gets home and can hand off the baby. For example, I jumped in the kitchen and made pickles last night before putting Charlie to bed. Tonight I'll have to run out into the garden to complete a few chores and blanch and freeze the last of the pac choi. It's the most productive time of the year for the garden, so I'll probably be focusing more on food storage than actual meal preparation in the weeks to come. Oh well. It's all in a day's work!
