Drum Roll Please...

Ladies and Gentlemen, Friends from all places, I'm writing my first sentence in my very first blog post!  



Manifesto may seem like a heavy term to title my blog, but I nixed "memo" as terse, "memoir" as lofty, "musing" as fluffy, and simply got stuck with the idea that I needed an "M" word in the mix.  To me, "manifesto" had the capability of being serious enough to be sincere, thorough enough to stay interesting, and silly enough to make it all worth it (c'mon who really says "manifesto" these days?).  I pictured my arms outstretched with the grandeur of a circus ringmaster saying, "MAAAANIFEEESTO".  Perhaps there's an elephant out there somewhere with that name. Seriously though, "manifesto" is dictionary-defined as a statement of opinion, intent, objectives, and motives.  So, it seems like a perfect fit.


I'll be completely honest that over the past 6-8 months I've struggled with whether or not to launch this blog. Depending on the day or the weather I could easily flip from one view -- YES, I'm blazing a trail (albeit my own), enjoying the journey, and I love to write...why not have more listeners than my dog and my husband?!?   To the other -- NO WAY, who wants to read as I jabber on about yeast not rising, chickens not laying, my knitting looking more like a diaper than a dishcloth, how I pinch my pennies, and what I did to make a pair of earrings from beads of older jewelry for my sister's Christmas gift.  Besides, even if they were reading it, why would I want to open myself to the pressure of what other people think about it and when will I ever have the time or inclination to write back to them about their scrutiny?!?   (I don't like to spend lots of time on the computer and no, I'm not on Facebook.) Obviously, the former view won out.  


I'm still undecided as to how this will all go; but I'm certain that I want to write my stories and perhaps help others put into words or practice what they've been meaning to in their own sphere.  At the minimum, there's a heck of a lot of hilarity in my life and hopefully someone will get a good laugh out of it. I mean really...I'm an ambitious suburbanite born and raised in Connecticut, with a college degree in cultural anthropology (photojournalism track), and a decade-plus career as an independent nationally-touring musician who moved at the age of 24 to a very rural county of Kentucky where it's been both a complete culture shock and a surreal homecoming-like experience where I've grown into my skin more than ever, embarked on a quest for responsible consumption & simple living, fell in love with homestead farming, met & married the man of my dreams (a farmer and a southerner! ...never in my wildest...), and am living (quite happily) to tell the tale.  Wait 'til I tell you about the first coon-hunters club meeting I inadvertently attended... 


My present version of life happened in a whirlwind that's lasted four years.  I'm not sure the dust is actually settling, but I am more settled in what I'm doing.  Over time I hope to share snippets from that whirlwind and the climate of my life prior to then.  In the mean time, I'm living one day at a time in a rented home (not for too much longer), on a beautiful bit of land, with a dashing husband named Weldon, and an adopted genius of a beagle-hound named Watson.  I have quite a few hundred more dependents in the cow, swine, sheep, and poultry varieties (and an occasional neighbor, nephew, niece, sister, or apprentice farmer).  The more the merrier at my table.  


Speaking of food, I'm intrigued (borderline consumed) by the soil-to-table continuum of raising, foraging, producing, and processing my own food. I'm on a quest to not only know where my food comes from, but to have a hand (literally) in the vast majority of what I ingest.  My husband and I grow, raise, can, dehydrate, ferment, and forage what we eat.  We barter, scavenge, "steal" (I mean purchase on the cheap or used end of the spectrum), and buy the rest, food or otherwise.  I'm both very practical and very creative when it comes to my home, business, and kitchen. I'm the kind of gal that makes simple, rustic home-grown food with a gourmet flair, not the other way around.  I love a great flea market find, but I have refined tastes and generally work from a pretty minuscule budget. 


For now, please know that I intend to write what I'm living and learning, be it food, family, garden, livestock, philosophy, sustainability, business, homemaking, recycled building, heritage arts, crafts, health, and the list goes on...


Thanks for reading!  


P.S. Don't be scared of my previous statements about receiving comments. I'll do my very best to read and respond as often as I can.