Farm Blog

In the years since our hand-harvested food challenge, I notice that I don't have to work as hard to feed myself. I also don't enjoy feeding myself as much as I did when the garden was the only grocery store. I remember my grateful tears at the first strawberry of the season, ambrosia after a winter of shriveled apples and dried pears. There is something about the right degree of hunger that amplifies my pleasure at life. I don't demean the painful, calorie- and nutrient-sh

Daniel and I have taken a mountain trip together every year since 2011. We backpacked on our first trips. Then we went out from a basecamp with only the clothes we wore. Then we made our own clothes from wool and buckskin. So far, we've survived. In fact, the adventures have helped me live more. I remember building a shelter from fir boughs at high elevation. Come to think of it, I really DO want to stay alive. Without choosing to make a shelter, I probably wouldn't ma

Yesterday, Jenn walked out of a chicken house gingerly holding a rat trap. A large rat scurried back and forth inside as I took the cage from Jenn for the next necessary step. "Don't drown it in my bathtub!" called Kevin. He has reason to clarify; we discovered too late that previous rats had met their end in the rain barrel that he uses for his cold baths. I stepped onto the island in the farm pond and set the trap on the muddy bottom of the water. Rats are able swimmers

In October of 2009, I walked into the north pasture and sat next to a four-year-old European chestnut tree. I've been back every day since. I watched this sapling reach towards the sky, skew east to avoid the shade of a short-lived alder, shed leaves, and accumulate rows of scars from a red-breasted sapsucker. The tree is a friend. From the knee-high seedling I planted, it's grown to a sturdy tree that doesn't need goat-resistant fencing around it any more. This year, I s