News from the Homestead: R-E-S-P-E-C-T

Since moving to Wittbrich Acres one year ago (yup, September 30 marks our one-year anniversary!), I’ve come to a new level of respect for things I sadly never gave too much thought to before uprooting and embarking on a completely different (and wonderful!) lifestyle.

I find I respect things differently than I once did. Here’s a short list that the past 12 months have helped refine and reframe in terms of my respect: farmers, bees, poultry, career changers, food, money, time, death, loyalty, freedom, labors of love, gratitude, nature, and so very much more.

It’s been a year of triumphs and tribulations, of many joys and–thankfully–fewer sorrows. It’s been a time of learning, laughing at myself, experimenting, failing, succeeding, praying, crying, and waking up every day with a grateful heart to tackle some new and wonderous adventure.

Gaining a New Appreciation for Farmers and the Food They Provide 

Now as I go about chores that I once thought were unsurmountable, I allow my respect to feed my soul and nourish my being. I offer audible gratitude for our farmers and farm workers without whom we would not eat. I honor how hard they have to work and how very smart they have to be and I admire their resilience, patience, and fortitude in providing for others. I don’t have that kind of grit (or talent, as I discovered this season!).

Harvesting Highlights

While accepting that farming is best left to the hands of those who know what they’re doing, I am grateful to have harvested several bushels of pears and completed the task of making pear preserves, bandied pears (yum!), and pear butter with those gifts of nature. My research into medicinal applications for plants resulted in a stockpile of teas, tinctures, and salves from my prolific goldenrod and galinsoga plants. I harvested elderberries and made a good supply of elderberry syrup to help boost our immune systems throughout the winter. I’ve only just begun my learning and my respect for those who have a mastery in homeopathy has grown tenfold.

Eggs, Honey and Humbling Lessons

I respect my much-loved livestock (yes, chickens and bees are considered livestock…because they are, well… live stock!) for which I have accepted responsibility. Every egg collected, every ounce of honey harvested represents hard work and enviable societal structures I had no concept of one year ago. I’ve tended to their physical needs and they’ve fed my intellectual ones, as well as stocking my shelves.

While we’re on the topic of livestock, I’m pleased to report that I extracted about 90 pounds of honey from my three hives. While I don’t yet have a baseline of comparison, I’m pretty pleased with that yield. Every golden drop is like a liquid reward for a summer of hard work by more than 70,000 residents of Wittbrich Acres. Now that extraction has been completed, my next tasks in the apiary is preparing the hives for the many threats that could jeopardize them during the next five months. My Queens are busy laying winter bees (which are different from summer bees) and the workers are going about their various duties to ensure the health and well-being of the collective. I am in awe of how the hive works together and have wished more than once that humans could learn a few things from their social structure of cooperation.

Protecting the Flock – and Feeling the Loss

The chicks we brought to our hen house last spring have started laying eggs. They are small and delicate at first and grow in size and strength as the hens’ reproductive systems kick into full gear. Sadly (and traumatically!) we experienced our first overhead predator attack on our flock this month. My roosters Colonel, Norman and Bingo defended their hens as best they could, but little Lovey was beyond their ring of protection and she fell victim to a neighborhood hawk. We lost our old blind hen, Delores, that same day. While losing hens has become something we’ve adjusted to, each one still hurts and I now respect and understand at least a little better the suffering of friends upon the loss of a well-loved pet.

Growth, Gratitude, and the Gift of Respect

I have dozens of other examples of how I’ve come to respect certain things differently. And that in and of itself is a tremendous gift at this life stage. It shows me that people of any age can learn to respect things they may not understand by being open to learning and experiencing them. I’ve learned that true empathy comes from respect for things outside of our own worldviews. I’ve learned that in big things and small, respect is nurtured with sweat, labor, worry, compassion, learning, patience, and endurance. What a wonderful takeaway that is!

In respect for your time, I’ll end this update here with my thanks and appreciation for your comments, questions, suggestions and supportive notes! I keep them all in a special folder labeled “ideas from friends.” Thank you for reading!

Until next month, be well, be happy, be grateful and remember, R-E-S-P-E-C-T is a gift to the giver and to the receiver.