Rob Kaiser

20201227

Quick update...

It's the first day of the first quarter of 2021.

I opened the new Journal today, for it is the first week of the new year.

I don't know what happened to the last season, the last week, the last month, the last year.

Today, I write this post, relaxing at home, watching a church service on television.

We're still not allowed to attend church services...

...or rather, our congregation has chosen to close its doors until the county is on an orange instead of a red "COVID" level.

It feels strange to do so, but many things feel strange.

In the last post, we were at Episode 34 of the podcast.

This morning, I released episode #71 of the show - we're still rolling with it.

It's raw and unedited, much like me.

Recently, I had another seizure...on December 14.

Took me a week and a few days to recover from this one...

...even though I claimed it wasn't as bad as the one had earlier in the spring.

Idk, I'll be working on trying to identify Q1 goals for 2021 today...

...trying my best to gather myself on this scattered day, month, year.

Making progress with the All Around Growth podcast - we're at Episode 34

https://allaroundgrowth.buzzsprout.com/

Wood stove recently repaired and ready for winter

Current project:

A flip board thing that I can open up and lay out graph paper on with dimensions of my office

I'll cut other graph paper out into colored shapes representing furniture and then will literally move it around on the coffee table to figure out how what to buy / how to furnish

All being done as cheaply as possible

Still need to furnish office with doors, trim, etc

On October 1 - I began a podcast...and transitioned out of the video blogging.

While I still make a video approximately once a week - podcast seems to be the format of choice for my message.

This seems to be a good way to "flesh out" ideas and "talking through" finding my passion / purpose.

Here's a link to those that may be interested:  https://allaroundgrowth.buzzsprout.com/

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Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/all-around-growth/id1484489549

Spotify:  https://open.spotify.com/show/1avOwSaT3lgyVA3eCiNDdQ

What was difficult (and also very revealing) was a conversation I had with a coworker...who's gone part time.

After Labor Day - she came back and we got to talking out in the nursery yard.

She asked me about permaculture and what happened?

What about all the conferences I used to attend?  

(in years past, all the PV conferences, etc)

She told me that I used to be so happy, that I was so passionate about all of it...

...all I could tell her was that I didn't know.

It broke my heart a little bit.

It still does when I think about it.

What happened?

I'm not happy with my day job.  

I broke out a new journal today at home.

That was a change of pace - wasn't really expecting that.

The only constant is change.  I'll get through the day today.

Tomorrow is a new day.

It depends...

What are your goals and objectives?

Be cautious of the need (read: desire) to *do* things.

Many a person has spent time, effort, and energy building hugel mounds, creating swales, and "doing" permaculture...myself included.

Remember that Permaculture is a design science - not a series of techniques that we "do" in order to be a Permaculturalist.

So...where do we get started?  It depends.

Almost everything depends on what your personal goals and objectives are.

Clearly identifying those would be helpful...

...then we've got some idea of what/how/why we are doing what we're doing.

Hope this helps!

Somehow it suddenly became September.  

It's a slow morning on the tree farm / day job this morning.

Thank goodness, because I woke up late at home.  Like literally, one hour ago I was still sleeping.

However, I managed to pull myself together relatively quickly and I only arrived to work 10 minutes late.

Not that I care...or anyone else does.  No one around here really cares about anything, quite frankly.

Because of that - I find the passion that I once had for my career truly diminishing.

I'm grateful for my coworker / office mate.  She helps me maintain a good attitude...

...and I'm learning bit by bit what and why I'm doing what I'm doing.  

Life is weird.

I got into an argument with Dad this morning:  On Scolding My Father



While cleaning up my office in the barn this morning...

...my girlfriend is coming over for a walk and breakfast.

Preparing for my morning date, I got a message from out of the blue regarding my friend from out of town coming all the way here for the farmer's market today!

That's wonderful - except I'm not working the market today.

Plans must change and I'm trying to feel grateful - but I'm in the middle of several projects.

The morning date today was so both my girlfriend and I could address and work on our own various projects later in the day.

Not sure how we're going to navigate this together today...but we'll find out.

I'm not sure why I'm writing here either - but I'll contemplate that also.

Read this post and commented on your website!

Great post!

I’ve grown to love the soil knife over the years after dismissing it as an actual tool…however, my day job has progressed into computer work and less involvement with plants. I long to grow beyond the necessity of the day job and a desire/need to return to the land and begin actively building an income from our own homestead.

We’ll be following your journey as we begin our own!

For those interested...

...I started documenting via video in April 2020:



The video creation is yet another attempt at documentation of what the hell I'm doing.

I had a little podcast project that I enjoyed...and that's where my heart is.

However, I learned that I can extract audio from YouTube videos...

...so - over the winter, I will do so and have a podcast from my videos.

Seemed appropriate to stack functions accordingly.

In years past I've had active blogs, podcasts, and websites.

Now...I'm developing the website robkaiser.me to house *everything*

Stay tuned.