A Lost Summer? Hardly.

There have not been many Instagram posts lately. Or blogs. Or videos. Or anything on the internet related to DeLeon Homestead. There is no dramatic reason for this – our family is growing and obligations, both homestead and non-homestead related, continue to stack up and time is in scarce supply these days.

Of course, if you didn’t know – we welcomed a baby girl in April. She has been such a wonderful addition to our life and our family. It’s been five months since she was born and it’s been a whirlwind. With the boys being considerably older, Sasha and I have both needed to re-learn many of the skills required to care for newborns. But the old skills came back quickly enough and, while our daughter is rather demanding of her parents during these first months, we’re happy to supply all the time and energy we have on her.

But that does mean there isn’t much time or energy left to make videos or push forward on homestead projects, though we are inching forward on a number of fronts. To some reading this, it might seem like this summer was a loss – down to three chickens, no other livestock in the pasture, no new products made or participating as a vendor in farmer’s markets, the garden was completely eaten by deer…twice, we still don’t have a greenhouse, the shop is still a mess, and we lost a couple more fruit trees to the summer heat. Stacked up like that, yeah, it was a rough summer for moving the homestead forward.

But on the other hand, we’ve given our pastures time to regenerate, mowing and mulching and allowing the bees to pollinate all of the wildflowers. We don’t really want livestock at the moment – we have enough mouths to feed as it is! The deer don’t like chives, sage, or basil, so we had lots of great herbs to add to our meals. Sasha wants to improve the recipes on nearly all of her products, so we get to enjoy what stock is left of her soaps and candles. Before the first major rain of the fall, we all went outside together (supervised by the baby, of course) and bucked and split firewood for the coming winter. Having that done was a major accomplishment for us, and we all felt good having that checked off our list.

Just yesterday, Landon and I spent much of the afternoon mowing everything one more time before the thirsty grass gets more rain. Everything is turning green again when it was so brown since June – the sign that the summer really has come and gone. Sasha and I both are surrounded by projects either unfinished or not even started. But we need to remind ourselves that there’s no rush. And so our days are spent enjoying the country property as it exists today. 

You know summer is over when the oak leaves start to change.

This is all to say that we are still here. We’re still trying to figure out how to make it work out here, how to begin a transition from working a full time day job to a living that can make income and help build resilience for our family, friends, neighbors, and community. We’re still in the beginning stages, but our daughter is here to help now…when she gets just a little older.

The whole family!

Thanks for reading.

-Danny