What was suppose to be a quick morning trip to the blueberry apiary to pick a few buckets of berries and support our local farm turned into a 5 hour slog. It involved them not taking interact, out-of-order ATMs, massive road construction delays, long drive, more road construction delays, 2 trips across a small ferry and back.. But still, worth it to support local food producers. I'm hot and tired now, got nothing else done. Tea time. In future, I think I'm going to just use more cash.

#LocalFood #CountryLife #SmallFarms #Apiary

Bears will be waking up soon in many areas. Remember, closing up backyard chickens in secure housing after dark, protect your livestock, which includes bees, inside of grizzly-rated 4 or 5 wire electric fencing and never leaving your garbage outside are essential ways of protecting the bears and your community. Being responsible for not only your own spaces but the surrounding wildlife is the right way.

#homesteading #gardening #livestock #SmallFarms #Bears #Grizzly #BlackBears #RuralLife

There is so much anxiety, stress, despair and hopelessness out there, especially among lower income, younger, or marginalized people. But a very interesting thing I've noticed is that the yt channels such as one out of Azerbaijan with zero talking, just cooking, country farm life and rural living are growing viewers constantly. They started in 2020 as a way to make a living when the pandemic started. They now have well over 5 million subscribers.

What I'm seeing here is that people are yearning for this simple, stable lifestyle with fresh air, good food and tradition. For some people, it's only a fantasy. For the folks that make these videos, it is actually their life. They are showing the skills they have and their journey. The homesteading, old fashioned skills, bush craft, and gardening videos have exploded in popularity in the last few years.

(And I'm not even going to go near the "prepper" videos, many which are exploitative and full of scare mongering to make sales of their products.)

But these other typically wholesome videos are giving a lot of people hope, inspiration and ideas to stay busy, get creative and learn lots of cool stuff. Many are religious which doesn't resonate with me, but still have good information on growing, harvesting and preserving food. Some also have great info on beekeeping and other long-term sustainability projects. I've learned so much from other everyday people that have learned how to do things really well and are willing to teach it.

If you are finding yourself struggling to find purpose, stability, or wondering about your future, I suggest finding some relaxing and inspiring stuff to watch instead of only doomer social media. The world is crazy bad right now, but there are wonderful people doing wonderful things out there. Some of these channels are my anti-depressant at the end of the day.

#gardening #cooking #sustainability #FoodSecurity #homesteading #SmallFarms #conservation #ecology #HomeRepair #ArtsAndCrafts

If you want eggs from miserable caged hens with zero quality of life, go ahead and bitch about the price of eggs while searching for dollar-a-dozen ones.

If you want eggs from hens that have names, a big yard to scratch and explore in, fresh air, sun, and hen friends for security and comfort- pay the damn price that small-hold farmers and backyard chicken people need to get to keep the chickens in the first place.

#FoodSecurity #SmallFarms #RuralLife #sustainability