Time to face facts...

When I started this blog, I was hoping it would be a chronicle of the start of something new and life changing. So far, it hasn't worked out that way. I know it was naive of me to think that I would be able to make a living without having to get a real job. Now I am trying to figure out how to keep  my creative outlets rolling while working a 9-5 job. If I ever get one. I put in a lot of effort to keep my Etsy shop going, but realistically it's a business that has to be grown slowly over time. Selling a bracelet every once in a while is not going to cut it. I have branched out and have begun to sell supplies to make the bracelets and I even put together a kit you can buy with all the "ingredients" to make your own very personal bracelet. I am constantly reading and researching ways to grow my business. It just takes time, which is something I have a lot of, and then again, something I don't have much more of. I need a job and soon.

So, my garden has never come to fruition. All I really have to show are a handful of tiny tomatoes and some peppers that are very pretty but way too hot for me to enjoy. I haven't given up completely, but I know that when I get a job, it's the first thing that will suffer. I forget to water all the time. It's probably the biggest reason my garden is so pathetic, my poor plants are always subjected to drought.

And I've given up the notion of making soap or cheese, at least for now. The soap I could probably get into making. If I took a class to walk me through the process, I would probably feel comfortable and confident enough to try it at home. The cheese making is on hold mainly because raw milk is impossible to find in California. I decided that cheese making would be practical only if I had a dairy animal and consequently my own steady supply of raw milk. So those two "homestead standards" are on the back burner, at least for now. Who knows what will happen in the future? Certainly not me.

The one thing I know for sure that will continue is the backyard flock. As scatterbrained as I can be at times, I'm not going to forget to feed and water my birds. I have been a very responsible farm girl, getting up and tending to my animals no matter how badly I want to sleep, no matter how cold it is or how hot it is. Like they would let me off the hook anyway. Maybe the quail, but the chickens are very demanding and they squawk loudly if I'm not out there early enough with their scratch. They are spoiled. I just love them. I'm sure it's just that they want food and they know I' am often a source for it, but it just makes a person feel good when their animals rush out to see them as soon as they step into the yard. Even if I'm not feeding them, they hang around with me while I do my backyard stuff. I never thought I could be so attached to birds, but they bring a lot of joy into my life. I need that.