Hello all,
Time sure does fly by! I have been wanting to write an update for a while now and looked back at the last post and it was a month ago. We have been pretty busy here in Oneida.
When we returned from South Carolina, we had an important appointment for Henry. It was a milestone type appointment that would either require he obtain services to speed him up to his age level in movement and communication. I have always felt he was about 3-4 weeks behind because he was forced out of the womb at 37 weeks. He wasn't quite cooked yet!
We settled in after returning from SC and everyone but Rick got sick. Laura got it first, then Lisa got sick and then I got sick. Laura and I were freaking out thinking we got COVID, but it was a cold. They do still exist. The symptom difference is that with COVID, you get a severe deep cough, a fever and rarely nasal issues besides a loss of smell. We had sinus infections or something nasty. We survived!
Henry's appointment went well. He was put through a bunch of physical tests by a PT and Laura and I talked with a speech therapist about his communication abilities and answered questions from objective questionnaires. Our pediatrician felt that Henry was a little behind during his appointment prior to us leaving on vacation and ordered Early Intervention for him. We both took this pretty hard because we felt he was doing okay, just a little behind.
Driving across country when he was four months old, likely was the culprit for his delay. Mixed with him not being ready to join us, I think he was delayed. Since we have returned and after his appointment mid-summer, he's made leaps and bounds of development.
He went from being somewhat unstable sitting to sitting unassisted and rolling around everywhere. His gestures increased and he began eating more and more. He also grew a bunch of little teeth! Now he is crawling and pushing up into a full hand/foot plank and doing a little bear crawling back into sitting.
After his evaluation, the PT and speech therapist determined he was not in need of services. Essentially, he made up for his delays in about two months or so. We were relieved that he was now "normal".
The parenting life is challenging but it is very rewarding when we connect with Henry. He's the sweetest little person I've ever known. I have only been around a few kids as an adult and I am sure those feelings are quite common for all parents. It is exciting to know we are setting up a fun life at our new farm which is only a few weeks from becoming a reality.
About a week after Henry's appointment, we checked out the Oxbow disc golf course and hit up a cool car show in Canastota. We then went camping with Laura's friends Bridget and Isaac. It was a fun trip and only 20 minutes from Oneida. The camp is called Delta Lake State Park. We stayed for a couple nights then came back for a night in Oneida then ventured to Letchworth State Park.
Letchworth was short lived but beautiful. It is known as the Grand Canyon of the East. Next year, when Henry is older, we will take him back so we can go hiking in the canyon. The mosquitos there are thick and poor Henry got bitten up all over his head and face. He wasn't having it so we left the day after and returned to Oneida. We forfeited two nights at the park but that is fine.
Mud Creek Farm - Brewery and Acres of Fun (maybe)
We have been toying with names for our farm the past week or so and hadn't quite landed on the right one. Laura wanted to find a name that made sense for the area our farm is in and around Oneida, the only thing that is quite apparent, as far as lifestyle goes here, is farming and grassroots blue collar work.
I began looking at the geography on google maps and saw that Mud Creek completely surrounds the property. It only made sense to use that as our name.
Our plans are starting to develop for the farm. I am focusing on getting a small scale brewery and tap room potentially. In New York, you have to get approval from the state to do all things. Apparently, you can build the brewery first, then get approval. As far as the county/city goes, I can only imagine there will need to be approval first before any building occurs. I'll be looking into this further in the coming weeks. I haven't decided if a tap room is a good idea or not. If we commit to this, it will require us to be there all the time to run it until we can afford to hire help. If I am good enough at brewing, we may scale it up a bit and just brew there and sell it to the market.
I am quite sure that the city of Oneida will approve a farm brewery. There is a huge lack of establishments like this in our area and our farm will bring tax revenue to them in a fun way. I think the city will adore our farm brewery and with our goal of bringing in a disc golf course, cyclocross events and a cross country skiing venue, the community will enjoy all we have to offer. All this will require the local Native American land owners to develop a road adjacent to our property on the west. If that happens, we can build an access point further into the property so people stay north in our property.
First things first are to renovate the farm house. We've been spending time cutting and prepping wood floor boards out of plywood. I rip them with a circular saw and sand them with 80 grit then 200 grit and pass them to Laura to stain. Laura and her mom, Lisa, found that staining with a transparent gray color, then Bombay Mahogany stain, makes the wood really pop. Originally, Laura wanted to go with a driftwood look but decided it looked like it belonged in a barn, so she switched to a mix which looks really nice. You can see pictures of them below and our progress thus far.
We decided that we will be putting carpet in the bedrooms upstairs versus wood. The prep for these floors is quite daunting. The cost is a little under $2.00 a square foot, not including labor to prep them all. Up to this point, we've prepped around 900 square feet. The farmhouse is 2,500 square feet in total. Carpet is around $3.00 a square foot, so we felt it was a wash, being we have structural work to do on top of floor prep that will demand our time in a couple weeks.
Laura has been working on her baking skills recently as well. On top of me brewing beer, she wants to offer people bread, sauces and other crafty things. My grandpa Spangler used to say, "busy hands is a busy mind". He was a man that always tinkered and stayed busy doing all kinds of things. Practice makes perfect and practice is our only way to perfect our crafts. My grandpa was one of the best craftsmen I've ever known. He passed this onto my father - he too was an excellent craftsman.
The lifestyle of physical work is the only way I know that is uncomplicated and entirely innocent. To be better at something takes work and when I think about my son, Laura and myself, I want that for us.
Our lifestyle in Boise was somewhat a craftsman way and ramped up a little before learning about Henry. It has always been in my blood and it is the only lifestyle that gives me the most joy in life. To pass this along to Henry, will be a true blessing.
In Boise, besides the clinic vision, we lacked a family vision. We were spoiled in a way that allowed us to be lazy whenever we wanted to. We ate out every single day minus a couple days a week eating at home. It became somewhat boring living like this because nothing changed and nothing was forcing us to change. We lacked discipline and we both knew big changes were needed in order to have a healthy future for ourselves as a couple and now our son.
My unhappiness in Boise was soothed with filling the void with "friendships" that weren't real. Many were real but the ones I sought after were those that somehow helped positively grow my businesses. I knew many would go away the minute I left Boise and sadly, they did. My only way to grasp that reality is that you cannot find true friends unless you are truly happy in all realms of life.
I do feel fortunate to have had the opportunity to meet the best and worst people in Boise. Every hardship has helped me grow and losing business from "friends" is okay now. I like knowing that the feelings were mutual and I can see how I was being selfish and protective of what I had built. Perhaps, the loss of "friends" was due to this? Owning a small business is very difficult, confusing and time consuming. It is a weird balance of who you can trust and who you cannot.
When you achieve a level of success in business, people get jealous. The weirdest thing about it is what some think the word earning actually means. I think many people want to be successful but they aren't willing to achieve it honestly or they lack the ability to take big risks. I also think some people act out against those who have achieved it by intentionally trying to hurt them to bring them down to their level. I've always acquired business in an honest way. Either through reputation, outreach or purchase of clientele. It takes time to earn success. Diligence is the only way to get there and bravery to take on the risk of failure is a must. My skin is thick but it blows my mind to think there are such people walking among us. Be aware. Tangent over.
Having an honest staff working for Trailhead and Myofly is such an amazing thing. Everyone at each clinic is so phenomenal. They are truly, the best that Boise has to offer. They are all uniquely good people and they have such amazing skillsets. The vision for the clinic remains alive and both clinics are growing and evolving. The patients and clients are happy. The staff is happy and motivated. Everyone is happy. That makes me happy. Eventually, I will sell the two clinics to fully invest in our farm. This will take time but it will only be to a person or persons that will continue-on Trailhead's vision.
To continue to provide care in the clinic I built is a real honor. I am very proud of Trailhead and Myofly.
In the coming weeks, we will finally close on the Peterboro farm. Speaking for both Laura and I, we are very excited to begin this new venture in life and cannot wait to share it with you all.
Until then, know that we miss all of our true friends and family in Boise. Those of you that have kept in touch in one way or another, thank you. You are truly missed.
I was planning a trip to Boise for end of September but watching the COVID crisis in Idaho makes me think twice about taking that trip. I finally got my first dose of the Pfizer vaccine a week ago and the second one comes in two weeks.
As a pro-vaccine person, I can only say that my delay in getting it was because I was scared of such new technology. I worried about getting sick from it somehow. After seeing loved ones get COVID and suffer from the virus, I decided (with Laura's help) that it's worth having some antibodies to fight it if or when we get it. If either of us were hospitalized due to COVID, the reality is that those unvaccinated have a higher percentage of death from it. Those vaccinated can fight it more successfully. If you are not vaccinated, you'll likely get antibody infusions and worst case, end up in the ICU that is overrun with COVID patients currently.
The symptoms I felt from the vaccine were pretty mild. I felt fatigued and a little delirious. I had significant arm pain from the shot but within a couple days, I felt normal. Onward we go. Travel is shelved anytime soon and my hope is that people decide to get vaccinated to end this awful pandemic. It'll be two years since it began and I feel it will level off if we all take precautionary responsible steps. That's a big bag of worms that I won't venture into from here. Food for thought though.
Lastly, I've been thinking about launching a YouTube channel for our farm at some point. I think it would be a fun way to share our progress and challenges as we move into this new lifestyle. I'll post access to it when we are ready to share it. There is lots to do and that is good.
Thanks for reading.
Nate
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