Well, That’s Different
After a number of years with just exposed OSB subfloor (and a couple of rugs) as the flooring in my kitchen… It now has (part of) a floor. Do not be fooled by that picture. It is still mostly this… I have
Millions of Peaches
Okay, fine, dozens of peaches, but given this is my first peach harvest and–with all the concern I’ve had over the trees–I wasn’t sure I’d get any edible fruit, this sure feels like millions… (Also, some songs from my youth will literally never
Vineyard Update: Summer 2016
If you asked me to summarize what starting a small vineyard on my property this year has been like I’d say roughly 50% digging holes and 50% crossing my fingers and hoping everything doesn’t die. (So much of life on a farm– when
Orchard Update: Summer 2016
At pretty much any point in my life prior to living on this farm, my thought process around learning and/or doing new things went something like this: Oh, a new thing? I’m going to kick ass at this. On the farm, however,
That Time of Year: Summer 2016
There comes a point every summer when the frantic pace of farm-maintenance and projects I started in spring finally catch up to me. For a while the long summer days–where the sun doesn’t set until after 9– are a blessing. I enjoy
New Additions: Summer 2016
Back in January I had a premonition that I might be new additions of some kind to the farm… Yeah. I even put it on the bigass chalkboard. That’s legit. I thought the new additions might take the form of a couple
Tired, Grateful
I’ve been doing a lot more writing over the last couple of weeks than one would probably suspect given how little I’ve posted to this website. Eh. It’s been a lot of words with what feels like very little substance, even though
Places to Sit
For a piece of property that leaves almost no time for just sitting around, I’ve been oddly obsessed with creating places to sit around the farm this year. First, I upgraded the plastic Adirondack chairs that have been a staple around the
Losing a Little Farm Cred
Living on this little farm is an ongoing exercise in Things I Am Not Prepared For. Or, in this case, Things I Thought I Was Prepared For But, Actually, No. Which is weird because pretty much any time I’m away from the
A Little Greenhouse & A Tiny Pool
Well, it’s been a crazy couple of weeks, but the upside of spending my evenings trying to get that damned vegetable garden under control is that… the damned vegetable garden is kind of under control. Versus three weeks ago? I thought we’d never
That Damned Vegetable Garden
Of all the things I talked about working on over my “break” a couple of weeks ago, the vegetable garden was noticeably absent. Or, as I’ve been referring to it for the last two years, “that damned vegetable garden.” Technically it’s an awesome
Spring Break on the Farm: Part 3
If truck engines and bees, and then planting a small vineyard and a new garden in front of the house weren’t enough… I also celebrated yet another trip around the sun last week. Yeah. That’s a 12:01 AM birthday omelette (with maybe
Weekend Project: Portable Archery & Axe Target
I know some people like throwing horseshoes or beanbags around, but out here if I’m going to throw something at a target it’s going to be slightly more dangerous, and a lot more fun… Like arrows. Or axes. Or knives. The arrows
Spring Break on the Farm: Part 2
The first part of my vacation (well, really just the first day) was all about reorienting myself to what’s been going on around here. Spring is such a crazy time of year on the farm that I’m often just flying from one
Spring Break on the Farm: Part 1
One of my favorite traditions around here–my “gift” to myself, if you will– is that around my birthday I take some time off from my day job, so that I can focus all of my attention on the farm for a week.
Farm Adventures: An Update
A few weeks ago I mentioned that things were about to get real exciting on the farm… One of those exciting things was that I had some fertilized eggs for my one broody hen to hatch. Well, she’s been sitting on 6
Millions of Peaches
Okay, fine, dozens of peaches, but given this is my first peach harvest and–with all the concern I’ve had over the trees–I wasn’t sure I’d get any edible fruit, this sure feels like millions… (Also, some songs from my youth will literally never
Vineyard Update: Summer 2016
If you asked me to summarize what starting a small vineyard on my property this year has been like I’d say roughly 50% digging holes and 50% crossing my fingers and hoping everything doesn’t die. (So much of life on a farm– when
Orchard Update: Summer 2016
At pretty much any point in my life prior to living on this farm, my thought process around learning and/or doing new things went something like this: Oh, a new thing? I’m going to kick ass at this. On the farm, however,
That Time of Year: Summer 2016
There comes a point every summer when the frantic pace of farm-maintenance and projects I started in spring finally catch up to me. For a while the long summer days–where the sun doesn’t set until after 9– are a blessing. I enjoy
New Additions: Summer 2016
Back in January I had a premonition that I might be new additions of some kind to the farm… Yeah. I even put it on the bigass chalkboard. That’s legit. I thought the new additions might take the form of a couple
Tired, Grateful
I’ve been doing a lot more writing over the last couple of weeks than one would probably suspect given how little I’ve posted to this website. Eh. It’s been a lot of words with what feels like very little substance, even though
Places to Sit
For a piece of property that leaves almost no time for just sitting around, I’ve been oddly obsessed with creating places to sit around the farm this year. First, I upgraded the plastic Adirondack chairs that have been a staple around the
Losing a Little Farm Cred
Living on this little farm is an ongoing exercise in Things I Am Not Prepared For. Or, in this case, Things I Thought I Was Prepared For But, Actually, No. Which is weird because pretty much any time I’m away from the
A Little Greenhouse & A Tiny Pool
Well, it’s been a crazy couple of weeks, but the upside of spending my evenings trying to get that damned vegetable garden under control is that… the damned vegetable garden is kind of under control. Versus three weeks ago? I thought we’d never
That Damned Vegetable Garden
Of all the things I talked about working on over my “break” a couple of weeks ago, the vegetable garden was noticeably absent. Or, as I’ve been referring to it for the last two years, “that damned vegetable garden.” Technically it’s an awesome
Spring Break on the Farm: Part 3
If truck engines and bees, and then planting a small vineyard and a new garden in front of the house weren’t enough… I also celebrated yet another trip around the sun last week. Yeah. That’s a 12:01 AM birthday omelette (with maybe
Weekend Project: Portable Archery & Axe Target
I know some people like throwing horseshoes or beanbags around, but out here if I’m going to throw something at a target it’s going to be slightly more dangerous, and a lot more fun… Like arrows. Or axes. Or knives. The arrows
Spring Break on the Farm: Part 2
The first part of my vacation (well, really just the first day) was all about reorienting myself to what’s been going on around here. Spring is such a crazy time of year on the farm that I’m often just flying from one
Spring Break on the Farm: Part 1
One of my favorite traditions around here–my “gift” to myself, if you will– is that around my birthday I take some time off from my day job, so that I can focus all of my attention on the farm for a week.
Farm Adventures: An Update
A few weeks ago I mentioned that things were about to get real exciting on the farm… One of those exciting things was that I had some fertilized eggs for my one broody hen to hatch. Well, she’s been sitting on 6