How is this little homestead farm going to survive? Basically with not too much problem. We have plenty of food, though certain items no longer grace our table. But between what I grow and what is at the local farmers market, plus fish that a good friend brings me, we are eating just fine. We've been making lots of meals out of the freezer, so by the end of May I should actually be able to clean my freezer and start over again! Defrosting that freezer is way I overdue, so something good is coming out of this extended lockdown.
So food is taken care of, what about supplies? Again, mostly not a problem. I stocked up on most things, actually overstocked. But I'm seeing a few things running low. Mostly it's cat food. Buying cat supplies was hubby's duty, and he only laid in a month's worth. He was far more an optimist than I was, which is very strange. You see, he's a pessimist and I'm the optimist in this partnership. Anyway, it means that I'm going to have to breakdown and buy several bags of cat food before the end of May. Two other things I hadn't foreseen being all that important -- bleach and alcohol. I still have a gallon of bleach left. Plus I'm now using swimming pool chlorine tables for the catchment water in order to save the bleach for other sanitation issues. And alcohol--- luckily I had several bottles stockpiled. I still have 1 left which I hope lasts until alcohol returns to the stores. If not, then I'll be distilling my own. (ps-- I found bleach at the Ace Hardware today. I had to go in a buy a can of spray paint for the Wednesday market and was greeted with a shelf full of bleach jugs. With joy, I added a gallon to our supplies. I feel confident I have enough to make it comfortably to June.)
We're not in isolation here. We need to leave the farm daily in order to feed the feral cats in town, plus to check on some housebound seniors. I'm often bringing food to those seniors, making trips to the pharmacy and banks for them, taking their trash to the trash transfer station. While out and about, I pick up gasoline for my farm equipment and milk for us. I take care to pick a time when there are few if any customers.
The other day "M" asked me about getting garden seeds. Apparently there has been a mad rush on seeds lately. Gardeners either can't get them or they are in short supply. This little farm is just fine. I got my main seed order in before the epidemic hit. Plus I already grow my own seed for certain crops. And being a farm, I was able to order seeds for "M" with no problem.
The one thing I've had my mainland friends complaining about is lack of out-of-the-house entertainment. Honestly, it's not that a big of a deal for us. I tend to stay at home working on the farm during normal times. And our nightlife means being asleep by 8. Oh, we're missing a few things, like meeting friends weekly for coffee or a meal. That is something we really miss, but it's tolerable. Also I'm not driving to South Point every week anymore in order to beachcomb and relax. Nor spending an hour at Honuapo shoreline like I'm used to each week. Yes, I miss that. But it's not horrific deprivation. And since we never spend time at the bar, go bowling, play golf, watch movies, go partying ----well --- maybe we're just dull people. We don't miss that sort of stuff.
The bottom line is that we are doing ok. As long as we don't catch coronavirus, we will come out of the lockdown just fine. But it will mean we will have one helluva big shopping trip to restock the pantry in order to get ready for hurricane season....and the fickle volcano that we live on. Gotta be prepared. This lockdown was an excellent test to see how well prepared we were. And I think we have done fairly well. It just was difficult to foresee the need for so much alcohol and bleach.
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