spezzy

Heyyyyy update time! Last week was off work, so I tried my hardest to not open my computer unless I absolutely had to, so I did not update here at all, but I most certainly did stay busy and active. A few updates: FITNESS: I was insanely active every day last week, hitting my highest activity day in years on Fri with 24.5k steps and felt good after. I've consistently hit yoga every single night for a while now. I haven't been counting, but at least since right before I left for vacation. My body was tired and exhausted every night from a good hard day's work outside. This felt great. NUTRITION: I got a basic garden planted. LIFE: We got MOST of the barn built. It needs it's roof finished, some door tweaks, and the fence built, but it's mostly done and I'm feeling really good about that. I learned a LOT about how to use different saws, and make all sorts of types of cuts. For the meantime, the goats are in the "basement". I say that, because it's actually a concrete room under our 3 season porch (with windows) extension, and it will long term be used as a shed for "outdoor stuff" like tools and lawnmowers and planting stuff, so it's actually a really great area for the goats all around for now. They should be out in the main barn in under 2 weeks. We have acquired 3 goats, 2 last week, 1 today. The others will hopefully be coming home Friday. Puppy life is exhausting but good Had a good psychiatrist appointment, am switching up adhd meds I had been trying, and i feel good about that, though there appears to be a shortage so that's fun. I feel like I was able to get some set-ups completed while I was out including setting up my closet finally in a system i think will work long term, and rearranging my office to a layout I really like that allows me to get my treadmill out and use it and put it away easier Photos: Huckleberry, 20+lb already, heading to kindergarten: Basic Garden: Barn progress as of last Wednesday - since then there’s been another 1.5 days spent on it, but came to an abrupt halt when I got a surprise downpour hours before it was supposed to start… so I had 13 minutes to weatherproof as much as I could and I most definitely had to do some of it in the rain, on the roof, which is highly not recommended 😆 . A good dry week will be nice so we can actually finish it and get everyone settled. ps it’s not actually crooked, we were working on the roof at the time of this and the front plate was not in its final spot Goats: Astrid (I *think* for her name). Also considering Annie or Amelie but we'll likely stick with Astrid. Clementine and Rurik Astrid and Clementine. Zora

Today’s win: made a yoga space in our 3 season room. We aren’t finishing that room till fall (when we will replace the windows and then use these for our greenhouse 😍), but no reason I can’t use the space now! I also have a window from my office to this space so it’s a nice reminder at work to go stretch. I have to share with cats but that’s okay.

Okay, deep breaths. 2.5 more work days and then I am on vacation. A lot has been going on. Mostly good, some bad, but as long as for every two steps forward I only take one step back, I'm still moving forward, right? The important thing is the things that need to be happening, are happening (like me reaching out and saying "I need time off asap"), and when I'm asking for help or setting boundaries, it's all been going great. I feel very supported in that way right now, so that's really helpful. Goal updates: --> workouts aren't happening and may not happen until vacation, at least. they MAY get put off until after the goat barn is built. We'll see how each day goes. I'm keeping super active and i'm ending my days sore, so this may actually be a goal I drop for the week of the 5th of june (because my body can only handle so much physical work, and this physical work IS the priority) --> spellbooks - this is going great --> yoga - not happening at all and I'm feeling it, big time. recommitting to this one. --> rowing - again, not happening, the rower scares the puppy but that's not an excuse. I'd like to do this in the morning now that I'm not walking up the hill, maybe after the chickens go out and while i'm getting ready for work - it's a 5 minute task. --> checking items off to do list - this one is also going great. I will share more later on this one.

Thanks! I swear, I've clicked around 100x and still somehow miss some sometimes!

We have a walkout, so thankfully I don't have to take that many trips up stairs, but it is a lot of back and forth, some days farther than others as I'm having them slowly mow the lawn because, well, work smarter not harder, right? 😂 He's definitely struggling in this new sibling thing, too - and with the goats coming. He's been really great about change but this one seems to be hitting him particularly hard sometimes, so I think he'd really like the time. I'm sure some days they'll be frustrating, but thats a part of it, right?

I'm a better person to tag here Can you shoot me a DM and let me know what buttons you're pressing that are putting your challenge in the wrong places? I'd love to update it and fix it, but I can't find it

Alright, so first - I’m glad I didn’t have anything in the ground, we had a late season frost last week which was surprising but also confirms the may 31st as a good safe planting date. next, I had also kind of accepted in my brain that gardens weren’t going to actually happen this spring and I’d just get a potted few things and worry about fall, but as a part of another project I have to clear away large piles of manure that’s been sitting for years. So might as well put that dirt to good use, if I have to move it anyway. and so - I now have a garden bed! it needs some work and one piece is still open so I can wheelbarrow more dirt in this week, and then I’ll close it up and shore everything up better. it’s just with the first tree I cut down (!!!) and some other storm branches that fell and I had cut down already, so all I had to do was put them in their spots I’ll probably use some long screws to hold a few spots in place a tiny bit better but it’s pretty sturdy!

Hello I have grown 2 whole stalks of asparagus I am a master gardener 😆 Miiiight be keeping this little broken down garden bed after all!

So one experiment I've been doing is that in the morning, instead of forcing my walk to be a walk where we all leash up, go down the street, up the backroads, etc., to have it be 5-10 minutes of stomping around the woods behind my house + morning chicken chores (right now it's setting up the chicken run, and carrying all 18 chickens out 2 at a time to the run from the basement, since the coop needs some work + we need to build a predator proof run still, they're sleeping in the basement, so that takes a good 10-15 minutes. So I'm getting 20-30 minutes outside in the sun every morning, it's just not as walk focused. And I think that's okay. I've been trying to figure out how to fit in morning walk + morning chores + workout + work + life + evening chores and it doesn't all fit. Also, Huckleberry can't walk on the main road, so I have to carry him, and he's squirmy and getting big (he's 16lb already, up from 9 when we picked him up). He's also just learning how to walk on a leash, so every single walk is a training session. That's fine, but that does NOT fit in with my goal of a relaxing morning (yes, chores do). The purpose of my morning walk is to get outside, mental health, get in the sunshine, and to require me to get out of the house first thing, so this feels like it still fits the bill. And I have a walking treadmill so I'm getting in a lot more steps at work, so the actual walking aspect is less important. I also am struggling with timing for my adhd meds because if i walk before i take them, i end up taking them too late (they last a long time) or forgetting to take them at all, and if i take them before my walk without eating I get physically ill, so I can start taking them with an apple while I walk around the yard and check on the animals. So it's feeling like long term this could be a good alternative that saves time and gives me the same result. I AM considering giving Felix a solo walk 1x a week, though, that's maybe a bit longer (like maybe we go to the top of the hill we used to go to!)

Yeah, and a lot was just that we planned using different factors, like both of us being healthy or not getting 32" of snow at the end of march, so my plans that felt realistic are now not. So I'm okay with accepting it, I just wish the year had gone a bit different! I haven't had a consistent gym routine since early 2020 because of the illness stuff (+COVID), so I'm a lot weaker than I used to be, and I've lost significant amounts of muscle. I'm still strong, and now really in different ways, but I'd like to be back to where I used to be at least. I actually haven't had a week of vacation with no responsibilities or a major illness thing happen in over 12 years. I actually took my first week off in 10 years in May of 2021 when nf figured out how to add a coverage system into our coaching. One of the big excitements about not moving for a while is that I can stop using days off to move, unpack, set up, etc. I can actually start using days off to do hobbies and relax and things I want to do. I have a week off the week of Memorial Day, but that's for farm stuff. I'm actually excited about doing those things, though, and that's what I want to be spending my time doing. Yeah, I've seen that, too - dog school with Huckleberry is actually my first actual activity that I'm participating in post COVID (except for Camp NF, but that was really work). I haven't been able to bring my pre-covid life back at all, and I won't ever be able to, so I know for me it's also the exhaustion of also figuring out what this new life looks like and how to make that work. It's okay, I don't want that life back, but everything feels like i'm learning how to do it for the first time again. I think because so many of the things tie in to my long term goals and building the life, I want to rush them and get them done sooner - like I feel like we've been moving so slow the last few years, I just want to finally get to my destination. But I can't speed it up at all. I've cut out a lot of things similar there. no more reddit, no more news, no more random scrolling. Nothing good ever comes from it!

Alright, happy Sunday y'all. This last week has been a blur, I legit flailed in everything I tried. The good news is, by today, I feel like it's brought some serious clarity. Two big things: Rurik's back going out, to varying degrees, has slowed down the entire ship. We got him to the doctor today and he's on the mend and everything's going to be fine, but it's made me realize that I'm not as physically strong as I'd like and I need to be. I can go into this more later, if anyone is interested, but really strength needs to be my number one priority. Next, I'm tired. I need to figure out how to take some things off my plate, either by outsourcing or putting some things on the back burner. I'm still working on figuring out exactly what and to what degree, but I need to slow down a bit. I'm not happy about this but 100% willing, if that makes sense. I also need to stop doing some really dumb things (like working till almost 5am two nights this last week) and just acting like an adult. Focus for this week outside specific goals-->

I've had a reply post in the works all week, but for now, an update: This week kicked my butt puppy ife is exhausting but awesome more woodchips delivered which is great didnt get any workouts, but spread some wood chips (we're talking truckloads, not a small bit) spent a lot of time outside with the chickens had important conversations at work 2 nights working till 430am then sleeping late (want to get back to normal for next week, taking the next few days to shift) I think my old dog (madi) has found a home which is a huge relief but i'm sad because that means i'm never going to see her again and it's been a few wee got to play some zelda tonight so that was good super busy weekend of lots of physical stuff so bigger update soon!

Heyyy look what magically appeared in my driveway yesterday. thank you, tree company! …now to get to work 😳

fixed! may take an hour or two to show up.

Great questions. My goal is to be growing 25% of our own food by next year, so I'd like to get started enough that I'm not behind for that goal, if that makes sense. I don't need to be growing 25% of my own food now - this property is too much work for that to be realistic, and 25% is an arbitrary number I made up. The property here is a bit odd where we have the wetlands, but we also have a lot of land that was under water for a few years about 5 or 6 years ago - some beavers moved in, flooded the property, and then My Mom had to go through a whole bunch of hoops to get the conservation committee to approve of them being removed. Since then the water has retreated back down to original levels, but we have a bunch of land that's kind of half land - it's either still a bit wet and soggy from its wetland days, or there are entire areas where the otters tried to pull up the grass to create a pond, so it's just a mess. I made a video that ended up way too long but I tried to fill it with pet tax 😂 There's a bit of the property that is always dry, but there's a lot of usable land in the "sometimes wet" or "used to be wet" sections. So because of this, In addition to growing our own food, our longterm goal is to build in hugelkultur along the wetlands as a dual garden and stormwater management and start to build the land back up - she had also started doing something similar and it's been discussed with the environment/stormwater people as the best idea, so we're going to continue. We have a ton of sticks between the storms and the beavers so that helps, but I definitely can't have those ready until fall or winter, because they are a lot of work. So I was thinking that for this season it would be starting to build up the garden in one little section that has always been dry. So an overview pic - the pink squares used to be garden beds, surrounded by cinderblocks. The land between the green and the blue lines is sometimes good land, and sometimes mushy land, but never super wet. It does flood 2-3x a year, though. So I'm thinking put the garden on this silly steep hill this year: pink arrow is the edge of the cinderblock beds from the last pic. I realized I didn't include it in the video, but we also have a bed that's built up against the house that's full of construction trash and not dirt, so I can either empty that out and use it, move it, or whatever. I have a few areas of the yard that have some piles of rabbit manure that has had a few winters since it was created so should be some great stuff, but will definitely have to bring in some soil at some point This is actually really intriguing and something I hadn't thought about. I like the idea of being able to move everything, especially this year where we haven't done a full season with the flooding ourselves, so we're going with some info from my Mom. And then we could empty them wherever we wanted at the end after we have a bit more info and were ready for something a bit more permanent. I had thought of just getting some potted veggies and using the big pots she has and just doing bare minimum, but this seems like a much better idea. It looks like we could even use old grain bags or other things that we could either salvage or get for close to nothing. We could also move them for a day or two if we wanted to put the goats in that area of the yard to "mow" without being worried the goats will eat them. So yeah, this could be a really great option!! I'm kind of leaning towards a combination - straw bales on the hill (because I can level them easily), and then containers down in the wetlands area. Rurik actually got us 2 loads of free wood chips recently, and the company said they'd bring more over the next few weeks - we've asked them to just leave it when they have it so I'm hoping more comes soon! SO M UCH WORK to spread them, though. We're using them for our walkways and driveway, too, so that's gonna be an ongoing project for a long time. Interesting, I hadn't thought to call around to riding stables or anything like that. Almost all of the farms around here sell manure, [[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[{{”Ú—‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚‚ (I'm not sure what that means but Jazz the cat thought it was very important to include it) - but maybe if we were willing to drive a bit we could get it for cheaper. This is what I've been going off of --> https://joegardener.com/podcast/gardening-in-straw-bales/ They recommend 18 days of lead time, which if I got them this weekend could potentially mean out by the 1st of June, so it may not be as far off as I thought. We can get pallets for free fairly easily here, which is fantastic and where we're planning on sourcing a lot of materials for things from them for sure! Such a great way to get wood for free, and I've seen a bunch of tutorials on YT on how to make beds out of them. My biggest issue with raised beds right now is that in order to put them on the hill I want them to end up on, or down in the "wetlands" where my Mom's beds used to be, it's just gonna take a lot of work to do them right because everything is in such poor condition right now, so that's why I've been thinking something a little less permanent (or I could get up and running in a day or two). I have the materials and can build them on my own, it's just time restraints, and that most things are so overrun that it takes a few days of work just to get it to a point where you can start building things on it. I know the biggest issue is that I have other priorities that HAVE to come first (like the goats and chickens and puppy), but also want to prioritize this - so I know I'm going to have to scale way way back somehow. Yeah, we have a few branches (this made me lol because we have SO MANY BRANCHES 😂 ), and have an entire area of woods behind the house that we can start pulling from for more - I'd loooooove to build things like this using the materials we have long term, I've never made them but I've been trying to figure out how to do things like this because I think it looks so cool. MY HEAD IS SPINNING WITH IDEAS THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!!

Week One, Day One! I've taken the last week off of even thinking about challenge related things - normally I use zero week as a head start but it was kind of nice to just not. Especially with the puppy, and work was absolutely insane last week, I barely had 2 minutes to myself. I built a chicken tractor on Saturday and worked on clearing away the space we're going to be putting the goats out, and we also shaved Felix because the ticks have been dumb, I've taken hundreds off of him in the last few days (Saturday night I deticked him for about 2 hours and lost count around 50 at the one hour mark). https://www.instagram.com/p/CsAJVr7Ax2Q/ Between the puppy and my insomnia, I have been getting maybe 3-4 hours of sleep most nights, so just struggling a bit but I'm here and feeling ready and up to start this challenge. Spellbooks planning was good tonight and I think we're starting to figure out some stuff around scheduling and house/task management which is nice and should help with the overall overwhem. spellstrike (strength training): 2x/week rowing: 7k/week yoga: every night terrain mastery (walking): ✅ spellbooks (nightly planning): ✅ progress towards one thing off the to do list daily: ✅ More tomorrow, sleepy now, but trying to actually update more!

I come seeking advice! With all of the stuff with going all in with the goats, the puppy, and rurik's health being up and down, we haven't been able to build the garden like we wanted to yet, and it's crunch time. My property is half in 5b and half in 6a, so I'm thinking go with 6a numbers across the board. (And yes, I have the maps that show this, and yes, sometimes it snows on half my property and not on the other half. It's WILD.) Our last frost date is listed anywhere from May 8-31st. So anyway, I have nothing built except for a single raised bed, that is currently full of construction trash and not dirt. I have a lot of plans for long term that I can be working on throughout the year for next year (including a greenhouse!) or for the fall planting, but I need to get the garden in quickly and efficiently, and I'm a bit overwhelmed with ALL of the information out there. So - if y'all were me, what would you do for a basic set up? I was originally thinking the straw bale method but I'm thinking I might be a little late now? We're on wetlands and some of the property floods - the bottom part of the area we can use for the garden floods a tiny bit, but my Mom had raised beds in that spot in the past and they worked well (they're just destroyed from not being used/kept up). I'd like it to be something I can do by myself if I have to - or do with the help of my Mom who is in her 70's - Rurik hurt his back and is fine, but I want to be able to allow him to properly rest it so it actually heals. Budget wise I'm willing to spend for convenience, but I'd like to still be as thrifty as I can (like I've been planning on buying starters all along, for example, or reusing as much materials we have around the property as we can).

Do you take payment in the form of video?

this is what happens when we get a new puppy the day before a new challenge goes live 😆 fixed!

Thank you!! Studying my spellbooks has always sounded so much more fun and keeps it so much more motivating!!

Week Zero, Day One. Huckleberry is settling in quite well. We picked him up at 10 on Saturday morning, so we're going on to our third full day tomorrow. Today we had my first work day since he got home, in his playpen, and he did quite well sleeping most of the day and only having a few small accidents (and not even in the playpen): I've been doing our morning walks carrying him, as he's 8 weeks old and has 0 shots yet, so I'm not sure what I should or should not be exposing him to. He has a vet visit tomorrow so I'l have a clearer picture of exactly what he can do when over the next few months, but I have a feeling I'm going to be carrying him the next few weeks! I had a longer than usual work day due to taking more of Friday off than planned to drive up to visit one of our goats and just had to catch up a bit. That's okay, that's a perk of a flexible schedule. Rurik picked up my meds for me today so I can officially start those tomorrow, so feeling good about things starting to fall into routine tomorrow!

Goal Tracker: spellstrike (strength training): 2x/week goal: ⭕️⭕️ rowing: ⭕️⭕️⭕️⭕️⭕️⭕️⭕️ yoga: ⭕️⭕️⭕️⭕️⭕️⭕️⭕️ terrain mastery (walking): ⭕️⭕️⭕️⭕️⭕️⭕️⭕️ spellbooks (nightly planning): ⭕️⭕️⭕️⭕️⭕️⭕️⭕️ progress towards one thing off the to do list daily: ⭕️⭕️⭕️⭕️⭕️⭕️⭕️ ✅ for completes!

Thank you!! After wanting to be back in the country for a while, this work is very much welcomed, at least Now if it would only stop raining! Housebreaking a puppy is hard enough without having to convince him that he needs to poop in the cold AND the wet 😂

This year's challenge theme has really been about respawning and rebuilding: challenge 1: spezzy wakes up in a forest - finding clothing and a weapon challenge 2: spezzy picks up a stick - learning to use the weapon and improving on it And that's been going pretty well, all things considered. Except one big complication. Or, more like 24 big complications. Over the last 2 months, I have purchased 18 chickens, 5 goats, and 1 puppy. We've decided to go *all in* on farm life, so that means that instead of focusing on training as my number one this challenge, I need to focus on building out the homestead and get everything the new family members need set up and ready to go. So instead of turning the stick into a sword, I'm gonna use the stick to... build a house for a lot of goats? 😂 Anyway, once the animals are all set I can focus more on actually training more again, but I'll be getting plenty of activity and strength work building stuff, so I'll probably end up stronger this way anyway. I'm going to aim for maintaining my fitness focused goals I've been working on (strength 2x/week, rowing 7k a week or 1k/day, 5 min nightly yoga/breathing). If the row takes 4-5 minutes, I do 5 minutes of yoga, and 2 strength workouts, that's about 2 hours of fitness stuff each week, which feels the max that's realistic to aim for right now. I'm also planning on keeping up my morning walks, but I consider that mental health more than physical health, and those are a non-negotiable for me anyway. Outside of that, I'm going to focus on a combination of quality of life improvements that I haven't prioritized yet (like we got here last june and I haven't even gotten a dresser yet 🙈 ) and building out the farm. So here's what's coming up this challenge: We brought home a new puppy yesterday. He's 8 weeks old and fitting in quite well so far - but we are basically on puppy time this challenge. we I'm starting a new med regimen for my adhd that I'm really hopeful about goats. starting mid to late may. we need to build their enclosure and fence the yard. chickens need to go into the yard and get out of the basement. Their enclosure is 80% done and then i'm building a chicken tractor for them that will work until i can get their run complete (trenching in our yard to bury hardware cloth has posed some challenges, so this is taking longer than expected.) The good news is that puppies need routine, and I thrive on routine, so win win. Okay, so. Goals! spellstrike (strength training): 2x/week rowing: 7k/week yoga: every night terrain mastery (walking): every morning spellbooks (nightly planning): every night progress towards one thing off the to do list daily: even if it's 5 minutes. I could make this more complex, but really, that's what needs to be done. a little progress towards one of the things each day, and I can decide what that thing is and how it fits into the day the night before reviewing my spellbooks. and that's it! good luck y'all!

Hello hello and welcome to our fourth challenge of 2023! Thank you everyone for filling out the survey last challenge and giving such fantastic feedback! We're working through the results and hope to make some improvements for next challenge! If this is your first time, welcome! Please don't be afraid to ask questions or for help below where you need it! This is a wonderful community full of super helpful folks. This thread can be a great place to get advice for trying to figure out what goals to work on, too! If you are a returning challenger - welcome back! You can check your coat and gear at the door, come and make yourself comfortable and let's start getting ready for an awesome challenge! Some helpful links: Challenge How-to (Updated 2/6) Guild Chat and Discussion Threads Adventure Parties and PVP Challenges 2023 Challenge Dates See you out there! *5 weeks, not 60 seconds 😬