Hobby Farm Honeymoon

Seasons (2011) by Mary

I have always lived where the seasons change, and wouldn't want to do without a single one. Now, with a farm, every season seems to be a "getting ready" season. We could certainly benefit from having a notebook that lists all the things needed to be done each month of the year so we will be prepared and not forget something important. At this writing, "getting ready" for winter means gathering in the harvest and enlarging the woodpile. And, I almost forgot that the asparagus and strawberries need to be put to bed with a blanket of straw or compost. The list goes on. We may have conflicting feelings that the work is never done, but at the same time, excitedly looking forward to the quiet of January and February to again search the nursery catalogs and start seedlings in preparation for Spring. The cycle continues, and thankfully there are so many rewards. The one I'm noticing lately is that a good portion of our meals consist of our home-grown, organic food. Larry will ask, "Is this corn, (or butternut or acorn squash) from the farm?" I will answer, "Yes, and the potatoes, too." And dessert might be rhubarb sauce or black berries on vanilla ice cream. At present there are herbs drying in my kitchen, potatoes in the basement closet, black walnuts on the work room floor, green tomatoes ripening in the spare bedroom, pumpkins in the garage, canned green beans in the cupboard, and our little freezer is filled with corn, squash, rhubarb, zucchini, chopped peppers, and tomato sauce. Farm life is good.

Pumpkin patch:

Sunflowers drying.

The chickens will get a summer squash each day.

Nancy has been canning.

Health: The women in our family are inspiring Larry and me to continue our quest for eating healthy food grown and prepared the old-fashioned and natural way. Besides eating Erin's free-range eggs, we now get raw milk from an organic farm. (It has been interesting learning how this family cares for their land and animals.) I make yogurt from the milk instead of eating the sugar and artificial laden store bought, and skim the cream off the top for our coffee and making butter or whipped cream topping.

Homesteading