Today is Lughnasadh ( loo-na-sa ) an ancient Celtic fire festival marking the beginning of the harvest season.

We are busy harvesting, preserving and filling our bellies with goodness. I smell like the earth and I have dirt between my toes.

I work along side the bees and other critters and my fingers are stained red from working with cherries and beets. My life is not what most would consider normal but oh my goodness, I am actually happy. Who wouldn't be happy when they can fill their bellies with freshly ripened sun kissed blackberries?

May your harvest be bountiful and sustain you through the cold winter months ahead. May the love of friends, family and the Goddess warm you always.~ Lughnasadh Blessing

I thought I would show you some of the world around me today but first I wanted to give a little update on the forest situation I wrote about recently.

I finally met the forest Assassin ...Oh .. I mean Logger / Forestry Industry Worker.

He showed up at our door today. He didn't have tentacles for arms nor did he breathe fire but I knew it was him all the same. He has an old piece of red tape in his hands from one of the trees.

He immediately asked to SPEAK TO MY HUSBAND and only made small talk with me. A woman does not warrant an introduction, eye contact or handshake in these parts. I was very polite. We don't want to make them grumpy or hostile towards us that would only serve to make matters worse.

He told us he was here as a courtesy to let us know what was going on. He alluded to the fact that in past years they failed to do this and it caused them problems with the neighbouring properties. He wanted to avoid that.I do appreciate that he made the effort. It is something and far better than nothing at all. He has explained his intentions. Knowing is better than speculating and worrying.

• He has marked along our property where they believe the property line is. If we want to argue/contest this we need to get on it. We are taking the few documents that we have to walk the line and see what we think.
• He wont cut within 20 feet of this line. I am sure this covers them from any errors in marking and provides a reasonable buffer.
• They aren't clear cutting but a lot of trees are going to be hauled out. They are in for the trees that will make them money and they plan to be working for a year. A YEAR?!!
• He noticed some of our big trees were broken and we can talk to them if we want them taken down. Not sure if he was offering to buy them, haul them away or charge us for cutting them ... didn't ask.

Anyhow, we'll be keeping a very watchful eye on things. It is putting a damper on Mischa's life. She is queen of the forest and we are afraid to let her go running during work hours because she does not know to stay within the boundaries. To her a forest is a forest. She can be mouthy when she thinks someone is intruding and we don't want her to get in trouble or hurt.

Lets get back to the highlights and views around the homestead

The bumble bees are busy loving on all the plants. There are hundreds of them around here. It's sort of awesome.

I decided to make a summer wine. This is a newly concocted recipe. It contains raspberries, blackberries, fireweed, rose petals, rhubarb and clover.

We tasted the Ethiopian lentils for the first time today. They taste a lot like peas. We are excited about how drought tolerant and easy these are to grow.

The frog pond and dog cooling station is surrounded by herbs, sunflowers and all kinds of wild stuff. The water turned a rusty colour the other day.

The herb spiral is doing well. Mischa climbed it the other day and started digging for something but it wasn't too badly damaged.

This is my office. Not bad. Not bad at all.

beautiful blackberries. They are starting to spread suckers everywhere. Our world is going to be wild with berries in the coming years.

I was going to chop down the buckwheat today but the bumble bees had other ideas. They were having a party in there.

We have a small patch of corn planted. I think there are four varieties and one of them is that super cool multi coloured variety. This was a test bed and if it does well well plant a lot more next year.

And here's to tired and happy puppies! Mischa had a haircut today because she had burdock burs wound up all over her fur. The spirea does not like sharing this spot with her but I've given up fighting it. This is Mischa's spot.

We ate meals today that came entirely from our land. I forgot to photograph our food today but we had potatoes, salad with 10 types of greens, raw beets, peas, herbs and juice made from the berries. It felt great to eat this food.

The kitchen is a busy place. We have canning equipment out, the dehydrator is running and there are jars of food fermenting here and there. Even so, I felt like today was a day to focus on being outdoors.

We are happy today at the walkerland homestead and very optimistic about life here. Blessings to you all ~ wishing you a bountiful harvest.

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[@walkerland ]
Building a greener, more beautiful world one seed at a time.
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