Calluses

I flap my jaws a lot these days about being a farmer, but the past couple of months, working with wood, have compared favorably to farming on so many levels, it bears a closer look. Both professions are physically demanding, both require a fair amount of vision and both allow me to infuse the creative process into whatever endeavors I attempt.

And oh yeah, both produce calluses.

After 35 years of no drawers in the bathroom...
they do not have to be perfect.

With almost everything completed in the bathroom/laundry room renovations, except for the flooring and baseboard trim, and the storage cabinets, I am trying something new. 

I have been assembling a miniature cabinet with six drawers, each only twelve inches by ten inches. Three are four inches deep, and the other three are five inches deep. The project, though challenging, has been quite rewarding, leaving me with the same kind of glow I felt last fall, with the processing of my tomato sauce, salsas and catsup.

I nurtured the tomato seedlings, up-planted them into bigger pots within the greenhouse and then relocated them to their summer abodes. I agonized over the gophers, I rejoiced when the water issues were resolved and I’m doing my best to decimate the supply of preserved goods, before I start the process again in August.

Gluten-Free Mama lists “drawers” on her bucket list, so that’s why I am crafting the miniature cabinet. The wood I am using is repurposed, the result of stripping the aforementioned rooms down to the studs, so there are some inherent challenges present in the project, simply because the wood is 35 years old.

The drawers rest simply on two wooden runners, ripped into three-quarter-inch by three-quarter-inch strips, and I attached some home-grown knobs to the face-fronts, also from the pine that used to serve as interior siding. The siding became dispensable-and thus available-because storage cabinets now conceal the wall behind it, forever. 

The threshold I made from a chunk of old redwood, from the
woodpile over at SmallBoy's.

Repurposing is also a key component to farming, in that I am about to start turning over the compost pile that I have been amassing for the past year. All of the weeds, clippings, dead organic matter from the farm, chicken manure, rabbit manure and everything else that would eventually break down into soil over time, has been added to this pile.

By moving this mountain now, one shovelful at a time and giving it another 45-60 days before relocating it to the beds, I allow the entire shooting match time to heat up and start cooking again, to carry the process forth into the newly-planted beds.

I am starting Ace and Heinz tomato seeds, primarily, though snow blankets the farm, even as I write. Our hoop houses must be attended to frequently, to keep the snow from piling up and crushing them, but snow does not deter forward progress.

All of the pine and redwood in this pic came from
repurposed wood.

When I write that our hoop-houses must be attended to regularly, I mean that the snow must be brushed/knocked  off often enough so that the weight can't damage the structure. 

Needless to say, I am not the one knocking the snow off of the hoop-houses; that would be HeadSodBuster and BossLady.

With my carpentry endeavors coming to a conclusion, for this winter at least, it is only natural that it be time to start the tomato seeds. I can do so, even in sub-freezing weather, if I cover the trays with the plastic covers.

These trap any warmth within the enclosures, to help the seeds germinate. Think of them as mini-greenhouses-within-a-greenhouse. When I complete the turning over of the compost pile, I will commence to work the soil in the orchard with my pitchfork, for planting when June arrives.

I work at my own pace and include frequent pit stops for medicinal purposes only, and drink vast quantities of water. I am grateful that at 65, my knees and my hips still allow me to be so physically active. I know that I am lucky to still be able to form calluses on my hands.

Otherwise, they would undoubtedly be forming on my backside.