More about my special assignment below. First, a quick homestead update:
We processed an additional 120 pounds of honey this weekend for a grand total of 560 pounds for the year. I sold 100 pounds to someone who sells at a farmer’s market. My daughter took home enough honey to give her friends a small jar, but there is still 150 pounds in five-gallon pails. I may sell it to another beekeeper who has a large retail base. Selling it retail will earn me $750 more than selling it wholesale, but not selling it will earn me nothing. On the plus side, I have paid off the extractor.
There is a week left in August, but you can feel autumn closing in. Temperatures are dropping. It looks like the early spring and early summer will indeed lead to an early fall. Longer term, it is tough to say what the weather will bring, but because of the Super El Niño said to be in the works, we are preparing for a colder, wetter winter followed by a 2027 that is even hotter than 2026.
Cold is easy to prepare for. We brought in an early load of firewood. With any luck, we won’t burn the first stick for two months. Heat is more difficult to deal with. It makes me rethink the idea of heat pumps. A friend who is a contractor said they are not as expensive as I feared.
Special Assignment
I am going to be a little vague for OpSec reasons, but I have signed up for a ten-week special assignment that will keep me pretty busy into November. This includes a 90-minute drive to and from the city every weekday, and there may be times I stay overnight.
I have commuted via train, bus, subway, and car, but the furthest I have driven to work is 45 minutes one way. I am not looking forward to a three-hour round-trip commute, but I cannot avoid it. Opportunities like this don’t exist on the mountain, and it is something I can’t pass up. I am just happy the firewood is cut and stacked, the honey is harvested, and most of my fall chores are done. My wife will be picking up any slack.
Future Blog Posts
My plan is to keep posting to the blog three days a week, but that’s the goal; practice may vary. Obviously, I will have less time to write. On top of that, I do not know how physically or mentally tired I will be. I suspect my 2 a.m. bedtime will quickly become a thing of the past. That’s a problem, as I do most of my writing late at night. The vast majority of my posts are written within 24 hours of posting, often within three hours of posting.
If you notice a lack of post frequency, shorter posts, or other issues over the next couple of months, it shouldn’t last. I expect to be back to being a full-time homesteader, retiree, and blogger again by year-end. And who knows? Maybe I’ll even be able to afford those heat pumps.
Thanks for your understanding.
