Paul D Jorgensen

Today we went hunting.  We were hunting the rare and obscure “perfect tree”.  We didn’t find “The One”, but we were able to fill our tags so to speak.  I personally like the Noble Fir.  This variety has a nice contrasting grey and green.  The needles are erect and well spaced and have the nicest smell to them.  We will spend a little time decorating this beauty and will be happy with its appearance as is.  I’m a minimalist when it comes to decorating trees, no tinsel, not too many lights, just the right amount of decorations, and I’m happy.  What really gets our juices flowing is when the pile starts to build under the tree.  My kids are putting little envelopes and hand made items under there saying “I made this for you at school, or here’s your present.”

My family has a large number of members, I’m the eldest of seven kids, there are fourteen grandkids, so far….  We’re (my closest siblings in age) waiting for the rest to pick up the torch and add to the number, but nothing yet.  When we get together for any occasion whether it’s Christmas or Thanksgiving or just a birthday we are a noisy, boisterous, happy crowd.  My parents usually host these events as they have the house that raised most of us and therefore have the room.  We will celebrate with great revel, but we are also cognizant of the Reason for our celebration.  We are a family that recognizes that Jesus Christ is the cause, the source, of our time of celebration.  That and that my father has a birthday on Christmas Eve.  It’s more important to me to have my family together to celebrate, than to receive a present or any gift.  Our time on this earth is limited and we’ll be here for just a spell so it’s the time together that seems to be appropriate to me.  That is my idea of a perfect gift, family, together.

I’ve been listening to different podcasts while I drive to work every day.  Some of these are geared towards the more self sufficient minded people.  Subjects like farming, stocking up, and having multiple income streams are pretty common.  Another subject that I heard about is permaculture.  I like to think of myself as an informed person, but this word has brought more study, confusion, and time invested learning about it than most of my other interests.  I have come to learn that the  concept came out of the observation that our methods of feeding ourselves on this planet have caused greater harm than most people realize.  Before anyone writes me off as a environmentalist wacko, let me be clear.  I’m not saying that harvesting trees or anything that comes out of the air, soil, or water is inherently bad or wrong.  It’s just that if you look at our farms and fields you see a method of production of food that has no real hope of continuing it’s path indefinitely.  Here’s a thought, how much fertilizer, irrigation, tillage or other interactions does it take for a hardwood forest to grow in the wild?  How often do people need to prune or graft or do any of the things that need to be done on a domesticated farm/ homestead?  The very simple answer is not much.  Now a caveat here is when humans do get involved they stand to increase the potential yield of said forests to quantities that modern day people just don’t understand.  In the early days of our country there were stands of trees like chestnut, hickory, oaks, and pines that fed entire communities of people.  These people were able to increase the yield of these forests by burning out areas to control undergrowth and sickly specimens.  The overall productivity and health of the forest and glades was positively affected by human interaction.

Fall is here, and we’re taking care of the aftermath of summer.  Sometimes it is good to reflect on what results have come from what seems to be a perpetual experiment.  We put in a rather smallish garden this year only thirty tomatoes and twenty or so  peppers.  We did beans and peas earlier, but they didn’t do really well for some reason.  The pumpkins and winter squashes were plentiful.  We had some really decent garlic and onions.  Brassicas were hit with aphids pretty bad, but we were able to enjoy them until the bugs got too thick.

 

We got some pullets in August, they will be a nice addition when they start laying in the Spring.  I tried breeding our sow, Susan, and one of the gilts, Bella, with artificial insemination back in July.  We’ve had poor luck in the past with the process, but this time we were fortunate enough to have both of them take.  It’s a happy occasion when there’s new baby animals on the farm and we were blessed with seven little pigs between the two of them.  It’s not as many as we were hoping for, but as my wife says: sometimes raising animals is like gambling.

 

I am starting this blog to use it as an outlet for some of my ideas.  I have spent countless hours reading, browsing, and listening to others to develop my skills and thoughts.  I am someone who is actively searching for  ways to accomplish the many things that people need. Things that enable all of us to do those tasks which must be done every day.  Have you ever wondered how something worked or what tasks went into a certain job?  Hopefully, many such posts can be written as I satisfy my curiosity and am able to elaborate on each new discovery.