More than just chickens

It's probably time I introduce myself. I've got a lot on the go, and I thought the best way to describe myself was to illustrate it. The idea came to me in a flash, then of course I spent loads of time making the idea real into an infographic (I may have got carried away because it was fun, and spent too much time placing the eye on that chicken).

My FARM - not just chickens, also bees and summer pigs and gardening and a pasture and an ancient apple orchard. The chickens do get top billing, because they're just so funny and entertaining.

My WORK (my business) is producing audiobooks. It's awesome.

The farm is also 150 acres of FSC certified WOODLOT. Woodlot management is brand new to me.

I'm a bit obsessive about all things ICELAND. I feel powerfully connected to the place and decided I should learn the language- one of the world's most difficult to learn. Good thing I'm dogged.

Speaking of LEARNING, that's a lifetime project. There's very few things that I have no interest in, so everything that rolls across my feed is inviting, and all the books in the world call to me, and I can't read them all! I have fascination overwhelm.

Alas, I can only read about 100 BOOKS per year. I'm a fan of Goodreads, and if you're on there, friend me! I consume most of my books by ear these days, while walking, working, or gardening.

That's stacking, a PRODUCTIVITY technique, a topic I can't get enough of. When I was 13, I read a book called "Do it now!", an early productivity tome that A) may not have been the best tool to put int eh hands of an already high-achieving teenager, and B) relied heavily on Postit notes for...everything. 'Plaster every surface with Postit notes and you'll get more done', I think was the central theme of the book. There, I just told you something about MY HISTORY, aka "the past" :)

I don't have so much time for crafts per se anymore (my box of Icelandic wool awaits), but I sew and draw and write letters on paper sometimes, and build. Quite a bit of building; that tends to never end. I like to MAKE THINGS WITH MY HANDS; I got it from my Dad, a builder turned inventor.

Ah, the DESIRE FOR THINGS TO BE DIFFERENT. In my life, in the world - there are so many things I want to be different. In general I abstain from carping at other people for their choices; we are all only responsible for our own, and I'm doing some of what I can. I'm a vegetarian, in a tiny house, living frugal and lawn-free and raising ethical pork. I drive a car and wear leather and buy yogourt in plastic tubs and I haven't written the grocery store customer service to ask why the organic produce tends to have twice as much plastic packaging (why?!).

Being pure and clean in every ethical aspect is a near impossible ideal, I think, not to mention no one wants to hang out with that person. Or is that the compromise cop-out? Can't save the world, why try? It's a STRUGGLE. Am I doing all that I can? Really? Sometimes it all just gets REALLY HARD to absorb, to endure, to carry on, let alone stay peaceful and keep physical and mental HEALTH.

On that note...!

I've spent a long time compartmentalizing these themes, and writing only farmy stuff on my farm blog; I wanted to draw them all together and give myself room to share about whatever is lit up for me at the moment. It won't interest all the people all the time, but there will often be chickens:)