This picture is so old - 4 years and it feels like it has been about that long since I posted. The new version of this picture would have Beatrice milking along side with me and Baxter holding out a cup to be filled with warm milk.  I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with this little monster of a blog that I created. I tend not to post as I'd rather participate in my life than record it, but then again I have moments when I really do feel that what we do here on the farm is a dying art yet so many people are yearning to read about it and learn more and connect more. So here I am, trying to share.

What does a farm wife do? I ask this question to my compatriots and they laugh at the myriad things on our to do lists.  Here are the things that I've been doing: trips to the dmv to register our new delivery truck, driving our daughter to school & other school things: play and summer birthday celebration, milking a few mornings a week, bringing the kids to the farmers market so they can be good customers for anyone who has any prepared food, trying to get us signed up for a new farmers market, accounting, finalizing csa memberships and tracking membership payments, sending out csa newsletters complete with link to new recipe blog(!), popping in to lend a hand to the crew when I get a chance, hosting a once a week playgroup in our children's garden.... Sitting inside while it is sunny and dry out trying to wrap up computer work when I really should save it for when the kids are asleep. So here I go to get out into that sunshine!
Have any burning questions about farm life? I'd be so curious, feel free to leave a comment.

Welcome Spring

After a long blog haitus during the fall and winter months, here we are again. The winter, however mild it was, has renewed and recharged us for the new season. To be honest I think Dan and I have been getting a little squirrelly without the dirt under our fingernails. Although we've kept plenty busy with the off-season office work, daily chores, seed orders, crops plans and all that it isn't quite the same as getting dirty and witnessing things grow.

Personally, this winter I've had the opportunity to reevaluate where I'm at in my health, my role at the farm and as a mother. Now that Baxter is 3, he is more and more independent on and off the farm. He rambles around always finding a task to keep himself busy - hoeing in the silo garden, collecting rocks, visiting the chickens or snuggling up with the kitties. And of course big sister Beatrice, 6 now, is the queen bee of the farm and if she is not at school she and Baxter are off on their own adventures.

For the past 7 years I've most likely had a baby on my back or on the ground crawling through the rows or toddling around - at each respective age needing to nurse, eat, sleep, be held, be "protected" from farm animals, be carried along the farm paths, have a diaper change. While it has been tremendously rewarding to raise our kids at the farm it can be a bit of a mind meld. Even as a laid back, down to earth mother I have had my share of needing to be "productive". I think I'm getting there - both with opportunities to do physical "real" work and with the patience to find the balance between work and home and kids. Last season I started to see the coming change as I was able to help pack bins on harvest days, hoe a half row of some crop or other or occasionally leave the kids at the farm while I ran back home to catch up on office work.

It can be a real challenge and juggling act to be a work at home mom and farmwife. It isn't always the bucolic dream you might think or as productive as the modern, western, busy work-a-day mind wishes. But at the end of day it is pretty great to be cooking your own food for dinner and think back to the morning when your kid was drinking milk straight from the cow. So here we go again for another farming season, one during which I hope I'll get dirtier than ever.

The Summer in Pictures

Summer has come and gone. With all the activity at the farm along with birthday parties, Uncle T's wedding, new puppy, farm camp the farmwifery blog had a summer vacation. Beatrice is now a first grader and Baxter and I look forward to settling down for the fall.

Late Spring

Early spring had us out on all kinds of adventures. The farm, the woods, wetland or camping....so many adventures, so little time. Baxter's favorite place in the world is sitting and "driving" our kubota tractor.

Beatrice had a rope swing in the greenhouse - before the tomatoes were planted. An aspiring acrobat if ever there was.

Baxter had a weaning party at 25 months. We celebrated with a cake and a new baby doll. Of course he'd rather sleep with his wooden tractor than any baby or soft cuddly animal.
We dusted off the bike trailer for our first ride of the spring. Our road, though impassable most times for cars is just the right ride for Beatrice on her bike. There's always good exploring in the wetland for little ones.

Seeds Arrive, Spring Enters!

The farming season has officially begun. We placed our seed order a bit later than we usually have in the past so we were especially eagerly awaiting the arrival of our seeds. Any day now Dan would say. Until finally two nights ago Dan announced that UPS would be showing up with a big box from Johnny's. Beatrice excitedly awaited the delivery, peering out the window at supper. UPS comes late in the day to our house and Bea and Dan had just climbed the stairs for bedtime when they saw the lights of the delivery truck. Beatrice ran down the stairs exclaiming, "the seeds are here, the seeds are here!" They opened the door as the UPS woman was about to leave, saying "Thank you!" They pulled the boxes inside and Bea asked to open them. Dan refused saying it was bedtime and they climbed back up the stairs for a bedtime story. I listened to all of this from behind the door of Baxter's room where I was nursing him to sleep. I smiled to myself and counted my blessings as my daughter showed such delight in the beginning of spring.

Change of Seasons

We've been having absolutely beautiful fall mornings. Golden sunshine comes over the mountain lightening upon the orange leaves contrasted with blankets of fog in the valleys and crispy white frosts on the ground. We relish these fall days and are outside as much as possible still - cleaning up the children's garden, raking leaves from the maple tree in our yard and collecting all sorts of beautiful trinkets - colorful leaves, acorns, feathers and the like. We are just at the brink of a much anticipated rest as things start to slow down at the farm. Still there are many projects to see to. The projects that we didn't really have time for during the season. These are mostly household chores that need attention and might actually be accomplished now that our time is a little bit more free. And with the school year now in full swing our days will still be full. But we start to shift our attention back to the home and look forward to getting into the groove of fall rhythms.

Down to Earth Summer Camp Part II

What an amazing week at the farm. It was so wonderful to have this bunch of moms (and dad, Evan) and the kids at the farm for the whole week. On day three the children collected rocks from the children's garden, washed them and painted them! The little ones used tempera paints and it was fun to have an all out messy day. Actually we had two great messy days as day four's task was staining our picnic table with beet juice and painting decorations on top of that. But really, where is it more approriate to have messy days than on the farm?

For our final day we focused back on the firepit preparing our finale feast. The children chopped zucchini and put them on skewars and we cooked hotdogs over the fire as well as baked apples! What a feast it was. Here are a random assortment of pictures from the week.