Things at the Zorora Ranch Homestead have been so busy these last few years. Since my last post I attended a Permaculture Design Certification (PDC) course; the experience was life altering. I took the course in San Diego with the  San Diego Sustainable Living Institute and am grateful every day that I made the decision to invest in myself. Since my PDC we've added beekeeping, a rabbitry , and Hogs to our homestead, as well as increasing our production of fruits and veggies that we grow for ourselves. I joke with people all the time that between working full time, being a mother to two bright and energetic daughters, and running a farm there's no time left for anything else, it would be a funnier joke if it weren't so true. Th funny thing is I'm the happiest I've ever been. There is something to be said for producing something of value, even if it's only for your family, and knowing that when it comes down to it  taking care of our selves and reviving skills that people have used to survive for centuries is worth every minute. That's not to say that it isn't exhausting, it is, and difficult, it is, but the intrinsic value can't be matched by anything else I've found.

Todd has also been attending courses, one at UC Davis for mead making, and most recently a class on harvesting pigs through The Farmstead Meatsmith who have also recently begun a podcast called "A Meatsmith Harvest" I very much recommend this podcast if you're interested at all in raising, harvesting, or even just preserving meat in a sustainable way. In one of the podcasts they compare dry curing meat to writing a Shakespearean sonnet. Now, I know that isn't everyone's cup of tea, but I'll explain why it spoke to me so clearly. in Permaculture there is a saying that the more restrictions a designer has the more elegant the resulting design will be. San Diego's climate is one heck of a restriction for so many things, plants that make it 10 months will wither and die in 2 days of August heat, as will rabbits. We  have no winter so to speak of, which is great for gardens, and terrible for fruit trees which need a certain amount of chill hours to produce fruit. Knowing these things and building a design that accounts for these things is the trick. Similarly with curing meat, temperature, humidity and time are all part of each recipe. The use of the word recipe even is a stretch because for the most part it's apply salt and time to meat and wait, so simple and so complicated, particularly in our fast pace want it now culture. Historically these methods were used because they were absolutely necessary, now they are only used by a few who recognize that the old way, though difficult and time consuming, are better tasting and healthier. Shakespearean Sonnets, like designing a landscape with many restrictions, or curing meat where your temperatures and humidity are beyond your control, requires the writer to fit their message into a very concise, package. So much can be said in those 14 lines of verse, but the trick is the structure. each line must have exactly 10 syllables, they should sound a certain way too, but I find when I bring up iambic pentameter people let their eyes glaze over, so I'll leave it at 10 syllables, and there is a very specific way your rhyming words fit into the poem. To me these three things, landscape design, curing meat, and sonnet writing are all the same, the structure and restrictions challenge you and force you to create something better than you would have without the restrictions.

All this lead up to say I was inspired, while listening to that podcast and tried my hand at a Shakespearean Sonnet, about curing meat. I haven't written poetry in a long time and it felt really good. I'm hoping to start doing it a little more often, maybe I'll put them up on here sometimes. sharing poetry is always a little nerve wracking, but I'm going to do it today. If you're interested it's below. You can also see all of our homesteading stuff on Instagram ZororaRanch or tandmpalmer

Surfeit, in Death’s penchant for rot, mocking

The Meat-Smith’s imperative to harvest.

Lest ruin this succulent flesh, wasting

All that we Artisans needs must divest.

With haste, root out the way to halt Decay.

Betrayed by moisture, you must desiccate;

Withdraw that which robs delight. With salt stay,

Cure waste. Let Time’s artifice permeate.

Matured with time complete, we devour

Fine Charcuterie. Imbued with motive,

Lofty dreams our triumph, we omnivore;

Sustaining abundance our narrative.

Unctuous delight nearly sacrament,

Prosciutto, a work of art, transcendent.