Little bit of this, little bit of that

Snowstorm!! It's pretty much been snowing all day. I've just been down and shovelled some of the snow in the back yard - as we are 1/4 of the house, 3 or so cars have to fit down there. It's lovely and fluffy and white, so much of it. It's heaped up to one downstairs window and along the dividing fence.

Temperature here: -10 to -15 degrees C.
Temp. at "home" in L.B.: max 9 to min 7 degrees C. Not minus. Plus.

Aaah.

I've been reading "Living the Good Life" by Helen and Scott Nearing, a very.. strict? austere? disciplined?.. couple who moved from New York to Vermont during the Great Depression. They bought a farm, built houses of stone, and generally did the whole homesteading thing - they grew about 80% of their own food, in a climate with perhaps 3 frost-free months.

Pretty inspiring. It's made me look for land, earnestly and urgently, again. It's a tough call - land can be cheap here, with a hundred acres of bush in northwest Quebec for $25,000; a hundred acres of farmland 1.5 - 2 hours from Ottawa for $60,000, or something like 6 acres for $60,000 within 30 - 45 minutes of Ottawa.

I don't need to live close to Ottawa, but.. my wife does. Or, I think I might not need to, and she thinks she probably will.

The Nearings had no such split loyalties (or, if they did, they didn't talk about them in the book). They were hardcore to the extreme - earning what money they absolutely had to have (for taxes, petrol, etc) making maple syrup, and bartering for the rest.

I want to be hardcore. I want to do it and make it work. The year ahead, during which I will work as a web guy, will provide us with some capital with which to purchase some land - but, oh my, I want to get my hands in the earth - hear the bees.

Well, not much bare earth, nor many bees, around at the moment - I should be hibernating!