This year – Christmas 2016 – was the first year for us on our farnch (half farm, half ranch, hence “farnch”). Each of the kids has adjusted well to life at Livin’ the 10 – for the most part. They recognize that things are different out in the country, and we’re helping them to understand the value in self-reliance that you need when you’re out here.
farnch
both a farm and a ranch
Speaking of self-reliance, the value in self-reliance was driven home a few days before Christmas…when the water main running to our house sprung a leak out near the road. We (Melissa and the kids, mostly) dug through muck and mud for three days before we found the leak. It’s a lot of hard work being self-reliant. But the good news is that our kids have a newfound appreciation for plumbers. Iain’s even thinking about taking the odd plumbing job…as long as he gets to play in the mud a bit while on the job.
While we were digging, our first order of Livin’ the 10 ZubieWear T-Shirts and sweatshirts arrived. Oscar Zubiate has been a friend for a while, and he and the team at Zubie Wear did an excellent job on the apparel. As we were groaning and moaning through the muck and mire, we laughed to ourselves that while our overall experience on our property has been a 10, today might be a 9.5.
The roughly one-foot section that we replaced
It could have been much worse, though. It wasn’t a massive leak, so we were able to turn the water on for 15 minutes and run everyone through the shower, flush and refill the toilets, etc. Plus, we saw first-hand the benefits of some of our self-sufficiency-minded “preps.” First, we have a commercial ice maker (I love ice) which holds about 25# of ice. Even though it didn’t produce ice during these three days, we still had ice. Second, because we have many gallons of drinking water stored, we were able to cook and brew coffee and tea, etc. Thinking ahead and having a little extra on hand limited the second- and third-order effects, and turned this into an endurable experience.
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