[Living Sensical] February repeats - warm now, cold later, then...
Again, we have 60's as I write this and it will be below freezing next week. Funny thing is that these are the seasonal patterns - the Ides have it.
Hi,
Despite all the fans of the upcoming global warming apocalypse, our local weather seems to change on the 15th’s of each month every year, polar vortexes included. So, we’re heading into the last cold spell of winter next week…
If you’re getting too many or two few newsletters, adjust your subscriptions here:
Subjects this week:
Farm News - weather patterns, saving hay, preparing for spring, tiny home insulation repairs
Writing News - book nearly complete, request for beta readers, copywriting research
Farm News
The real cold left days ago, balmy again today and tomorrow - cold starts in on Super Bowl Sunday. Cows don’t care about football, just eating.
They like the green stuff. And on warmer days go out to see what they either missed from last fall or maybe sprouted up during the warmish days this winter. Regardless, a day out on pasture means my hay bales last longer.
Let me tell again the fancy way to feed bales and grow better topsoil. Which means growing more grass.
(This was taken after that -12F freeze, where they broke down my in-between polywires. This is what happens when you let them go without bale rings for awhile. Lots more waste)
In short, we cut buy our bales so we can feed them when the grass is too short to eat, In our region, we need to prepare for snowed-in days where the grass is too short to dig down and find below a short snow fall. The tall snow fall is where you want to prepare for. Buying bales is cheaper than the cost of baling your own ground. And meanwhile, you have all that grass to feed 95% of the year.
I feed bales out on a staggered grid so that the wasted hay is tromped into the ground around those bales, then manured and pee’d on there instead of in some feedlot where it accumulates. The cows haul and spread their own manure, not me. And it goes where it can be utilized.
The grid is in alternating sets of two and three, in a long row hemmed in by electric polywire. There’s enough room in between to allow the cows to shoulder each other as they eat the hay through hay rings. The rings keep most of they hay in one spot so they can eat more of it than spills outside.
When they finish off a set of bales, then I take the rings over to the next set and open them up. I’ve found that they won’t finish them evenly, but usually have two or three rings available. (Five rings at a time didn’t work so well.)
Any bales left over are either moved back with the other spare bales, or more commonly left there for next year - and I add to them. The process continues.
Through the year, that 3-5 inches of fertilized mulch is digested by microbes and seeds in it and blown in by the wind will grow new grass and weeds to refurbish the sod. That cycle takes about five years to balance out into quality grass, but produces edible forage meanwhile.
So it’s a strategy to turn waste into gold, and I put my bales out where the topsoil is thinnest. The wealth of any farm is in its soil. And Nature on its own will add something round a half-inch of topsoil in a hundred years, per studies. We humans can’t seem to leave well enough alone…
The old adage is that “Work smart instead of hard.”
Let’s Talk Breakfast.
For years, I’ve had generally the same meal every day. (And you’ll see this mentioned in my Ghost Hunters parables.)
It’s pan bread. Made with 3 farm-fresh eggs, gluten free pancake mix with almond flour. Cooked in a cast iron skillet in coconut oil.
Then I put real butter and home-made jam on top.
It rises nearly an inch and fits a small plate. And that will keep me going past lunch without being hungry.
I eat on the island we have in the main kitchen. Mug of coffee to the left, smartphone to the right to selectively update on the weather, what passes for “news”, and my favorite newsletters. That day of this photo, I had Juneberry jelly.
All before chores, and after some early morning writing.
Tiny Home Tales
Nothing better than snuggling with a certain someone into a cozy, warm bed on cold mornings. Second to that is fresh coffee from just-ground beans in the little kitchen below that loft. That scent permeates the morning inside. Yum.
Today, I have to fix some insulation that’s worked loose. Replace it, actually. Seems the cat and Wilma turned the dropped-down piece into bedding.
A warm, perfect day for crawling in below and doing some stapling. Lucky I have left-over insulation pieces from two years ago when I first installed the stuff.
Windy today, from the south (why it’s so warmish) and tomorrow I’ll caulk/paint some roof leaks on the car port - because it’s above 50F and won’t rain tomorrow night.
That leaves the Super Bowl to arrive Sunday afternoon. My wife is big on sports, and I tend to enjoy what she enjoys. For me, the largish old flat screen fills the available space at the foot of the bed (still letting us get up and down the narrow ladder/stairs) and makes it like being in the stands - only far more comfortable. Again, snugly comfortable.
Fresh Pork Coming
Today at the auction, I’m paying another farmer for raising and delivering a 300-pound pig to the processor earlier this week. We’re paying $1.50 a pound for hanging weight (which is without the skin and anything but usable meat and bones.) That seems high, and is a chunk of money, but evens out when you consider that two families will have more pork than they can eat in a year.
We get hams, sausage, bacon, ribs, and whatnot from all that. All in addition to the beef cuts we have.
Figured we could use the variety around here when a local farmer (the one who sells us our milk) said she had one that was set to go to the processor, but not claimed by anyone yet.
We’ll pick it up Saturday. More news next week…
Writing News
The book is very close now. Tacked on a big “here’s how it all fits together” chapter at the end last night. It’s about 240 pages and is some sort of organized rambling of essays and book excerpts to put all I know about making a decent business from writing.
There’s tons more about the craft of writing that will fill another three books, but I have a few choice essays in there which reveal some basics that aren’t anywhere else. Mostly just how to simply sit down and write, then publish, and market somewhere in between.
Newsletters
I’ve adjusted my newsletter sections this week again. Streamlined them a bit. And wanted to let you know how all the goodies are assembled.
The full list of newsletters is here:
What we’ve got is a section of this newsletter for every main interest I have. And some projects I’ve been working on for awhile.
Living Sensical is the main one - and the rest of these are subsections. This gives you this one newsletter every week on a Thursday.
Friday is Change Your Life, which is regular quotes from Earl Nightingale.
Saturday is New Voices, which is an original fiction work from yours truly every week. We’re going through the collection Ghost Hunters Primer, where I introduce you to the main repeating characters of that series.
Sunday is my day off, which I’m thankful for.
Monday is Writerpreneur OS, where we’re going through the rest of that book, now that we’ve covered the core basics.
Tuesday is Writing-Publishing, where I get to cover other stuff in this area as I keep researching. That is currently where the copywriting articles will be showing up.
Wednesday is Pro Writing, which is mostly excerpting W. S. Campbell to digest his works.
And then you get back to this newsletter again.
I’ve been working to put up Notes and somehow keep track of anything else, just for everything that comes up in the middle of the week. Like a disjointed blog of sorts. Hopefully, that will keep up with my meanderings and “look, a squirrel” moments.
New Book Progress
Still proofing that big Writerpreneur OS book. Just have to keep at it, despite other reasons not to. It’s jumping up and down at around 240 pages.
It’s getting closer. What I’m running into now is needing to shut it off and let it stand on its own. I have a lot to research which belongs in later books.
We’ve got a book on copywriting next in line, then non-fiction, then short stories, then that curious Flywheel Entrepreneur System. After that, a book on Writing Devices and other basics out of what remains of W. S. Campbell by then. And those should keep me busy for the bulk of this year, even though I think we’re going to have to do some more marketing research - but I can slow walk what I find in that newsletter section above as well as the Notes.
And that book with all those notes on social media audience building will probably sit for awhile, as I’m finding more data about how social media should work. (As well, the Twitter-X platform is continuing to evolve, which changes all the “best practices” I’ve found almost daily.
None of the socials are worth my time, though. At least compared to learning about and cross-comparing how Substack works. Because the socials are walled gardens, and I’ve had enough to overfill me there.
Request for Beta Readers
Yes, if you would like to go through this new Writerpreneur OS book and look for errors and as well giving me attaboy reviews, I’ll send you a copy of the 240+ page book as it sits. Both epub and PDF. Just reply to this or send me a separate email.
If you’re reading this on Substack, comment below, and I’ll post a download link in reply. (Unless I figure some other way.)
Thanks again for opening this. And reading these books.
And leaving a rating on the Living Sensical site for the stuff you buy there.
And also leaving comments on my Substack site.
As well as leaving recommendations on Bookbub in addition to reviews anywhere else.
You know, that "paying it forward" kinda thing.
Do keep sharing these books and this newsletter with your friends, too.
I hope your life is not too interesting to be overwhelming, but sufficiently engaging to keep you amused. (Like some of us here...)
Robert
PS. Again, you can always email me about anything.
PPS. Do upgrade to the paid newsletter version. That helps me keep the lights on - so I can keep all this coming to you. As much or little as you want…