An interesting blog post ...

Earlier this evening, I came upon a blog called The Contrary Farmer.   I read and enjoyed the three most recent posts.

From the post entitled "Abandoned":  "In case I sound overly-romantic or sentimental, what I remember best about our farmstead was that even when my mother was heavy with child and carrying a heavy bucket of water from the windmill pump to the chicken coop, she was singing. I see Dad hurry to her and, scolding gently, take the bucket from her. She had a hard life in some ways, so, I ask, why was she always singing?"

His statement on finances was equally interesting to me.  "The only way to starve out such a self-sufficient homestead was by way of paper money and usury which in one guise or another is often what happened."

I plan to do more reading there.  I might also look up his book called "Small-Scale Grain Raising".