The rain falls on and on!

The sun was out yesterday but not enough to dry the ground enough to do much farming. We need a few dry days to make the hills less slippery.

Despite my success with tree crops, perennial cucumbers, yams and local grain corn, I have been less than happy with the yields on my pumpkins, sweet potatoes and beans. In fact, the beans have almost been complete failures, with the exception of the bush type yard-long beans I planted down the hill. Those produced, though not well.

I visited the pumpkin patch two days ago. It’s giving up now and most of the area has been non-productive. My bet is that over the roughly 3/4 acre I planted, we’ll only get about 100lbs of pumpkin total. The fruit have been smaller than they should be, when they produce at all. The insects have been ravenous as well.

What I really need is some land to improve long-term. Composting, chop and drop, biochar, animal grazing and those sorts of good things.

Unfortunately, the price of land and homes here is too high for us. Another problem I’ve faced is the lack of a good work space for my writing and recording.

One of my side businesses has been voicework and audio production. Since moving here, it’s been impossible to do any voice work. There are no windows on our house and there is no quiet corner where I can record. Beyond that, where we live in the mountains there is absolutely abysmal internet. I’ve been trying to get the local ISP to run a new line since we moved here. They make promises and set dates and claim things are in progress… but nothing ever happens. Meanwhile, I’ve been losing money for almost two years.

Even writing this blog is almost too much for the slow internet connection. I often have to wait while a photo uploads. Sometimes my posts freeze as I’m writing them and the connection is lost. I tried to write posts yesterday but had to quit and do something else as the internet phased in and out.

After that, I decided it was most definitely time for a change. We’re looking for a new place to stay now. Our current farm is wonderful for the children and our landlord is great; however, it’s terrible for getting work done. And getting work done will get me the money I need to buy my own place again.

If I have to rent in town for a while and garden on a balcony, that will be fine. I’ll just use the experience as fodder for posts on container gardening – and maybe even a book.

I’m praying something opens up as even rentals are expensive here.

Right now we’re just going through a rainy season. Things will clear up.