Time to Relax?

A week ago (or was it two?) We had our local harvest festival. It's actually more of a big picninc with everyone from our hamlet bringing a dish to pass around. Theoretically all the harvest is in and people have a chance to breathe. The weather was great and the beer and sake were flowing, but I was having a hard time relaxing. Unlike last year's harvest festival, where our biggest worries were to get the house cleaned up (still not done), this year my head was filled with a mile long to-do list, and knowledge that winter would be here soon.

Somehow we have managed to stay ahead of the wave, but it feels like it is crashing down soon. The snow starts in less than a week and we are still working on getting the fire stove installed. I have been spending almost every day cutting wood from a recently demolished house down the road, but we have no where to put it. Our yard is a mess because our house was not built with farming in mind and does not have that much storage space. I'm sure our neighbors are glad that we moved in. Which reminds me - I have to find someplace to store nine bikes for the winter because the bike shack I built last spring is in an avalanche path. And, oh yeah, we had hoped to get chickens this winter so I have to find someplace to build a chicken coop that will not be demolished by the snow.

On the One Life Japan front, I have to get that website updated before we are featured on a popular travel program next week.

We are making progress though. We finally got our sorghum relatively cleaned up and ready for storage, our rice is all taken care of and, and our green tomatoes and zucchini are pickled. With dad's help we have added a little lean-to to the back of our house to keep our rice-straw relatively dry through the winter. We probably have enough wood already to keep us for the winter, and may have enough time to get more (if, that is, I have not broken my neighbors chainsaw - 50% chance)