UPDATE

I started this post more than a month ago. Today is actually November 23rd. I've neglected making entries for more than a month now. There are a lot of things keeping me busy and I'm not disciplined enough to document as I go, though I know reflection and documentation are processes that would enhance efficiency and actually save time over the long run.
Last month, besides canning food I began winterizing, beginning with the animals. I took on the most unpleasant task first, goat poop. I spent about 8 hours on Thursday, Oct 16, shoveling, wheelbarrowing and spreading the...wealth. I fertilized all of the trees in the orchard, 30+, dug a five foot deep pit and filled it plus I spread some around the grassy part of the goat pen. The neighborhood had a distinctive air about it for a couple of weeks. I also finished my grape trellis which will support two-three new grape plants. I'm not sure why I need more grapes, I guess it's just that they grow so well and perhaps a red grape will give a new flavor to next years juice.

The bees are doing EXTREMELY well. they are consuming 4-5 gallons of syrup a week and should winter well. Next Spring I'm going to split my hives which will give me a total of four. I was told by a local expert that I could probably set up to forty hives, yikes. He said that the usual harvest per hive is 35 lbs and the fact that I averaged 60 per hive was pretty...cool.

I am considering ending the chicken enterprise, not that it ever yielded much. I'm space poor and we have neighbors who have chickens and may be willing to trade for milk. The section of the shed I'm currently using for chickens would be converted into a greenhouse of sorts. I've needed an area for starts for the garden and I think it would be a much more efficient use of space. Nothing set in stone on this.

The goats are doing fine. The young one is now pregnant, I hope, as is Pinky. I'll have to dry Pinky up here in a month or so. Come Spring there will be a lot of milk. Spot, the third goat, will have to "fall in love" in the Spring which will give her a break over the Summer and even out the milk flow. That will mean 2-4 kid goats in the Spring and 1-2 next fall. I spent almost the entire month of October procuring hay from four different sources. I hope there will be enough. The price of hay has dropped a little bit this year.

That's it for now. Needless to say, I'm getting deeper and deeper into the sustainable model, intellectually if not in practice. I'm also forging some spiritual linkages, not only with nature but with my own tradition, Christianity, particularly Mormonism. I've always felt there was an affinity between eastern religions and nature and it's been enlightening to make new and familiar connections.