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7  days a week.  week days mostly in the afternoons till dark,  weekends, all day.  They work.   A steady pace.  Making decisions as they go,  finding sometimes that things need to change,  changing,   all at a steady pace.  Every day.  Here, they are hauling this tarp stacked with poison oak vines.  They are separated from branches of trees.  It's possible that some of those branches can be burned at some point, maybe,  but the poison oak can't.  Will need to be hauled to the dump.   Only around the home sites and where Goat fencing needs to be placed….but it's a Huge undertaking.   They had all the Goat areas fenced,  but the next property over….2 wolf hybrids…and their owner not liking the "smell" of the bucks,  so…all that to change.  It's a long story and i have tried to post it twice,  but at the end of those long posts,  found that the internet had disconnected and the words were gone.  So, it's still awkward and the internet remains ify.  Alyssia found a way to go into my pics and adjust the definition and post them here for me. Am trying this….coming back in and editing…adding words.  If this works,  and i'll find out in a minute,  I will go forward with it….

 

 

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47 responses to “Every day”

  1. Michelle in NYC Avatar

    What dog is that?
    Lots of work and they look so fine.

    Like

  2. jude Avatar

    redefining women’s work.

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  3. Tina Avatar
    Tina

    I still can’t get over it … Grace you did it … you all did it! I am just so beyond thrilled. Woohoo!

    Like

  4. Liz A Avatar

    The land … I love the land and the working of it …

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  5. Deb G Avatar

    Love seeing this…what a wonderful adventure for you all.

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  6. cynthia Avatar
    cynthia

    we are encased in ice..i love not only the peeks into your world..well really i should have written i am thrilled by the peeks into your world..but i also simply love looking at the grasses …knowing the scents of a california january and seeing the how the work will not fall only on your shoulders ..knowing that a flu would not find you alone in the winter…knowing what a huge amount of adjustment and change..but still thinking of the cloths..oh gee it is such a gift to start my mornings here again..gentle day grace

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  7. Marti Avatar
    Marti

    I’ve used the phrase, “Si Se Puede” (Yes We Can) for political thought, for personal beliefs but here, in this place of woods,hills and trees, seeing this leveled ground, the tarp with cuttings, knowing the hard work that continues, I can only say that this is “Si Se Puede” at its most basic, at its strongest, in action. A dream, a goal, a going for it, the family, together, creating a life/lives, close to the bone, to the heart, to the land.

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  8. Nancy Avatar

    This new land…so very different than your old land!

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  9. joanne Avatar
    joanne

    Reminds me of the years of clearing here in Maine. The two of us pulling a tarp loaded with branches, leaves or whatever needed to travel to the back of the 4 acres. Now he drags with a second hand riding mower. Looks wonderful to me–here in Maine all is WHITE and COLD.

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  10. Mo Crow Avatar

    ah you remind me of the constant road maintenance living in the bush our road in was 1 km (app 1/2 a mile) of dirt track so whenever we had visitors we would spend a morning gathering good flat rocks from the creek to fill in the wheel ruts on the road

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  11. Nina Avatar
    Nina

    It looks beautiful! I love the thought of your whole family working together to make this happen. Hope the goats are loving it!

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  12. grace Forrest Avatar

    dog is Zoey, Alyssia’s. More work than is imaginable.

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  13. grace Forrest Avatar

    an interesting thought….

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  14. grace Forrest Avatar

    was going to say that it’s still surreal, but really
    it’s another life entirely

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  15. grace Forrest Avatar

    i am longing for the cloth work, not yet…

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  16. grace Forrest Avatar

    the difference is truly OtherWorldly

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  17. grace Forrest Avatar

    love that you know tarp hauling….so basic a way

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  18. grace Forrest Avatar

    there is all this…the road….drive Up, but all the clearing of brush…for Goat Fencing, for minimizing, as much as possible, fuel for fire. The Fire Marshal will come to check.

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  19. grace Forrest Avatar

    it could not be more perfect for the Goats….i love it that they can RUN…like full out…they can RUN

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  20. jaime Avatar
    jaime

    i think this works. on a lot of levels.

    Like

  21. Joy Avatar
    Joy

    Change and adventure is invigorating. I’m glad you made this choice Grace. You’re going to be with family who loves and will care for you. Re: ‘Women’s Work’. Once while watching an old ‘The Waltons’, one of the grandsons balked at doing ‘women’s work’. The Grandmother chastised him and stated, “Work is work”! I’ve done work like that since a little kid, and I still do. it’s no big deal. Many hands… I know the cloths will come in due time and I think they will be more beautiful than ever. I really like the stark beauty of New Mexico, but I am loving the green here!

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  22. Mo Crow Avatar

    Hooray! so good to see your words illuminating what’s going on in the photo, hard work but so rewarding!

    Like

  23. johnson.mixedupmedia.margaret@gmail.com Avatar
    johnson.mixedupmedia.margaret@gmail.com

    Working hard together, as a Family, makes it all worhtwhile. So glad you are all together..love and hugs from Marg…oxox

    Like

  24. julie Avatar

    Jenny has your face, the fierceness just below the surface.

    Like

  25. Angie Avatar

    Love….in so many forms!

    Like

  26. cynthia Avatar
    cynthia

    words and thoughts…it is amazing..i know it was a lot of work on your end..but the simply joyful surprise of clicking back to he image one more time and finding words..works wonders to /for me..gentle day grace

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  27. LAB Avatar
    LAB

    How is Tey? Change is difficult on many levels. Good for you and yours, I only hope that as I continue to move through life that all is good, no matter the challenges.

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  28. Patricia Avatar

    Perseverance furthers! I say this because I have been looking for you and for weeks when i googled windthread, all that came up was your old blogspot. But today, finally, here you are. All of you. All working hard, persevering, manifesting your dream. I feel like a missing piece of myself has been recovered. Slow time here. Week 5 living with a new knee—a titanium insert where before was only tendon, ligament and bone. And so I just go…doing what I must to regain the often unappreciated ability to walk w/o pain! But…. big but…I’m still able to muster up[ the ability to send strength fortitude and humor your way. Love you grace.

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  29. Martine Bos Avatar

    Grace………….

    Like

  30. Linda Avatar

    It’s so green. I love that you are there.

    Like

  31. saskia Avatar

    I am so glad to see you(‘re back online)

    Like

  32. grace Maestas Avatar
    grace Maestas

    yes, many levels…many. the working together, the caring for Emrie at the same time…the older kids, sometimes helping, and me, just taking it all in….
    All this, from something i did when i was in my 20’s…how it has brought me to this moment, this place, all these
    beings.
    I like it best when we are all working, when Emrie is in her mountain bike like stroller, watching. How she takes it in too.

    Like

  33. grace Maestas Avatar
    grace Maestas

    wishing that the words and pics could be easier, but theyre
    not…but maybe soon enough

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  34. grace Maestas Avatar
    grace Maestas

    long reply to this that i somehow lost, but, yes. Work.
    This is the gift to the kids. Seeing it. Watching it happen, sometimes being a part of it. Many hands.
    I look forward to the cloth
    I will never stop loving N Mex

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  35. grace Maestas Avatar
    grace Maestas

    sometimes it’s crunchy, but we learn eachother as we go

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  36. grace Maestas Avatar
    grace Maestas

    she does and now, her fierceness is dominant….she is fierce. She, more than any of us, feels time passing.

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  37. grace Maestas Avatar
    grace Maestas

    it works wonders for me…to speak and have it “go through”
    oh so Gentle Day back to you

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  38. grace Maestas Avatar
    grace Maestas

    oh how great….you show up. Was talkng to Alyssia about who comes here, what it means to me, and you came up as an example….and here you ARE!….wouldn’t you know.
    Tay is Great. She RUns and she lies so gentle among us. She goes in with the Goats and remembers her lineage. Tay is just so so Great

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  39. grace Maestas Avatar
    grace Maestas

    i send all Good for your knee. Alyssia has one of your baskets….Emrie wants it.

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  40. grace Maestas Avatar
    grace Maestas

    yes. ….. back

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  41. grace Maestas Avatar
    grace Maestas

    they keep telling me how this in winter, the drab time…but to me, so much more green than i’ve seen in years….green. So so green,

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  42. grace Maestas Avatar
    grace Maestas

    yes, and how all the forms need to remain fluid, changing as we go

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  43. grace Maestas Avatar
    grace Maestas

    it’s frustrating…a lot of it. All the charging of things, cell phone, this lap top thing, and the big charger that sits on the table that does the work. That too has to be taken to someone’s house in Chico and charged there. There’s two of them that alternate. But it allows this much and for now i need to surrender to that.

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  44. joanne Avatar
    joanne

    Grace so many comments–we have missed you so much!!!
    Your letter arrived today–I am sending a long letter back to you tomorrow.

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