Mid-Week Musings

Off to Darryl Lanning, my accountant, today after school. He is a retired business teacher who does my taxes. They are due on March 15, a month before regular returns. I make a little bit of money, thank the universe, but I have way too many deductions due to the fact that I raise my own fiber. Hay being the biggest one, followed by other feeds. I like to know where my yarn comes from. When you buy commercial yarn it usually comes from dead sheep. Who knows what misery they have endured before they gave up their coats? Many are put on ships for a terrifying trip to the Middle East to be sacrificed in religious rituals in Mecca. Every Muslim who obeys his commandment to travel to Mecca once in his lifetime has to sacrifice a sheep while there. I'm not going to subsidise that practice with my yarn purchases. Many artists buy white yarn, dye it, and sell it as artisan yarn. Doesn't ring true to me. Dyeing it isn't enough. You need to raise the fiber to truly call it your own. According to Darryl, the Feds won't let me run at a loss forever. Why not I ask? The US government runs at a loss and has been since George Bush took office 10 years ago. We borrow money from China for goodness sake, and many other people in better shape than we are. I don't borrow money from anybody. I make a little money then buy what I need to feed the animals and make some things for the next show. I don't even have credit cards. Not one. The only farm subsidy I have is my teaching salary, which keeps my farm going. More and more I think about retirement. When I got into Maryland, after applying for so many years, with all the yearning, wishing and hoping, I thought I had finally arrived. I'll always do Maryland and Rhinebeck, even when I'm a little old lady sitting in the booth with my tote bags, soap and yarn. But will I haul all my stuff to the Farmer's Market every Saturday, and book more shows? Don't think so. I want to knit cute little baby sweaters like Gretchen is doing and be Mia's nanny when she has little ones.