A couple weeks ago we had a storm come through, nothing out of the norm for this time of the year. Our power was off for about 12 hours, again, nothing new. But this time there must have been a surge and a component on our deep freeze was fried. Our freezer is in the basement and since I haven't been able to do stairs well, I didn't even realize it wasn't working until almost a week after the fact.
Much as I'd like to be able to describe the smell, there are no words. Just none. A week after emptying it and multiple bleach episodes, we are still trying to get rid of it. But the loss of all the homegrown stuff turns my stomach so much more. Several rabbits, chickens, turkeys, and goat cuts gone. Just gone. I can't even begin to guesstimate how much all that meat was worth in dollars, let alone all the time, sweat, and tears we put into it. I still can't find a way to relay that feeling of loss we experienced while holding our noses and pulling bag after bag after bag of rotting meat out and tossing it into the trash. (And thank goodness for whoever invented contractor bags- what a helpful thing!!!)
Today we are looking toward the future optimistically. We picked up the replacement part for the freezer and this week we will work on moving it to a location where I can keep a better eye on it. We have 7 rabbits in a grow out pen, a hen setting on 7 eggs, and a goat who has almost reached butchering size. The garden fence is finished and the chickens are able to free range again. I've learned how to handle grocery store meat sticker shock. This trial has been a lesson and now we begin again. Again.
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| Freedom! |
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| 2016 Garden and fence! |
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| The grass is always greener.... |
