Working, Playing, Exercising

Today I was outside a lot, like most days. But today became a particularly beautiful day, and not just the weather. All day I was hoping to go for a bike ride in the afternoon.

T eah and I learned how to tap a maple tree to extract sap and make maple syrup. Today was our day to try it out ourselves at the farm in Garfield. On Monday I had already tapped one tree, but wanted to take the kids up to tap the second one. I really don't know if we'll harvest enough to make much syrup, but we'll try. I at least think I've developed a pretty good little system using pex pipe from Home Depot, a small pex fitting and a five gallon bucket with a lid. Really simple, but I think it'll work really well too.

Later we came home to unload the farm's pick-up truck of firewood, hopefully our last load of the day. It took about a half hour, both kids helped, without my asking! They're still young, I know, but it was fun to have help. While unloading and stacking the wood I realized it was getting late. My bike ride was quickly going out the window. As I worked to stack all the wood I realized it was a sacrifice on this beautiful day. It was a sacrifice that included me spending time with my kids, while working at home and at the farm, it was a sacrifice that was saving us money through the firewood. It was also a sacrifice that was allowing me to get exercise, enjoy the outdoors, just not on my bike. While I'm not going to give up biking, something I love, I know that living into this lifestyle we've chosen demands a lot of time and work. Fifty or a hundred years ago people didn't "exercise", they worked. I guess we're living into an older way of life while hoping to live a more environmentally sustainable and intentional life. I'm happy with that. Maybe I'll have time for a bike ride tomorrow... maybe not. Hopefully I'll be able to keep up with the guys later in the spring. Either way, today was a beautiful day.