Welcome, and thank you for visiting this brand-new blog! If you are a city-dweller who loves the idea of living on some land out in the proverbial sticks, I’m your woman. Read on.
I am full-throttle into a mid-winter rhinovirus. My nose is running, my throat is sore and I keep almost-sneezing, which to me is about the worst thing in the world. I am not a process-oriented person, and the suspended animation that results as one battens down the hatches to sneeze (if you sneeze like I do, they are not petite little interludes that can be suppressed), and then … nothing? Ack.
I set the tone for Get Your Pitchfork On! in the introduction but, in case you haven’t read that yet, it boils down to this: my husband and I had to sell our farm in 2009. Not wanted to. We would have overcome the physical and social challenges of rural living, but we ran out of money. As you may recall, there was a recession going on.
We are currently in exile in Portland, in a beautiful, quiet neighborhood that is within walking distance of most of Southeast and within biking distance of nearly everything else. But we don’t really want to be here. We are renting, so we’re not compelled to invest any time or energy into the house or landscape—and that means no garden. The homeowner refuses to let us have a dog. We are happy enough, enjoying what Portland has to offer (employment, friends and good restaurants), but also totally disenfranchised.
People still occasionally ask us, “Are you loving Portland?” And they look surprised when we say no. No. Portland is great, but we were bitten by the country bug and won’t be happy until we are sitting on at least an acre and have smoke rising from our chimney.
Achoo! Thank god.
So, I would love to blog about planting peas on President’s Day, and when the chickens kick back into spring production after taking a winter hiatus, and stacking wood on the front porch, but I would be making it up or, I guess, writing from past experience rather than present.
Rather than pretend I still live in the country or complain about my current fate, I will share any related activities I can, such as hanging out with country friends, traveling to give readings, and so on. Also, and especially, I would love to hear from you! Please send questions about my experience, or yours—I will gladly tell you what I know and also tap a few experts as well. You can contact me at kristy@kristyathens.com. Please include your first name and where you’re from.
I’ll say more about the experts in a future post.
Back to bed for me …
getyourpitchforkon 