We went to the St. Paul Children's Museum last week and had a very good time. We bought a membership there this year and it's been absolutely worth it. We all ran around like hooligans and then went home for a relaxing nap.
Things are going well for us, lately. Skydive Twin Cities is closed for the year, so we are taking up our winter routine and adjusting to a different tempo. Eric is home more with Leo and I have started school with the Land Stewardship Program. I'm taking their Farm Beginnings class this winter and with one class session under my belt I can already say that I have learned a lot and am excited about the whole process.
Firstly, it's great just to be in a room with 30 other people in it who don't look at you like a horn just grew out of your head when you tell them you want to be a farmer. That word comes with so may assumptions it's hard for me to even use it in conjunction with what I want to do and I have to resist the urge sometimes to gush out a bunch of conditions when I'm trying to express my vision to people who don't understand or can't relate. But the important part is that I do have a vision and I feel like I'm really on the path towards it. Eric is going to help a little this year in my garden on his Grandpa's farm and I have a couple other people I will tap into for part time help. We're going to keep the CSA part of the business to 12 shares this year and I decided I don't think I want to do Farmer's Market next year for a couple reasons. So instead I'm going to look into other places nearby to sell, like maybe Jerebek's, the popular coffee shop next door to our house, or maybe the retirement community where my mom lives, or even one afternoon/evening a week at my office job at the South Saint Paul airport.
I am involved in a holiday gift sale next week that I'm pretty excited about, selling my hand dyed clothing. I've changed my style a bit and hope it sells better than it has in the past. Eric is doing some residential window jobs this winter and might be traveling down to Colorado from time to time to work with his friend and old boss on some bigger siding jobs. He's officially on unemployment right now so thankfully that gives us a lot more breathing room than we've had in past winters.
Leo is doing really well and turning into such a big kid. He loves reading books at dinner and he was recently given a new video that he loves-it's Sesame Street characters flying airplanes, so combining his two loves. He took some longer plane rides this summer and did really well, so I'm hopeful that when I get my pilot's licence finished up he'll be OK with flying places some more. I think he'll like our next venture-I take a class next week on the ins and outs of urban poultry, so I hope we can have a few chickens for eggs soon. Lot's of our neighborhood kids hardly ever get around nature or animals, so I'm sure it will make for some interesting conversations 'over the fence'.
Otherwise that's it, we're just really enjoying each other and the slowed down time of our year. Eric and I are getting a weekend to ourselves the 20-22 of Nov. We aren't going anywhere, but we are going to both nights of the Banff film festival at Midwest Mountaineering. It's an awesome movie both nights of winter/'extreme' sports and flying and every combination imaginable, so we're excited to have time to hang and pal around like we used to in the pre-kid era.
Our best wishes to everyone and we hope your fall is full of smiles and laughter.
