All the worlds

In the true millenial way, Rich and I have a history of 'worlds' we've been a part of. To start, we were born into the age of ubiquitous internet, which means that our world was larger than our immediate existence. Beyond our tangible community of classmates,

Inextricable

It's all tangled up. The roads that led us to where we are now, were riddled with clues of what was to come. A book given to me in my teen years,unbeknownst to me at that time, was one of those clues. This New Year's

January-Turn Up the Volume

Looking out over the great unknown of 2025, I can't remember a year during which I have felt more compelled to live loudly. So long as my motivations are born from the deep well of love within, not the dark cavern of fear, it's a year

Happy Holidays

If this time of the year is good for anything it's for cherishing the people who make your world go 'round. And so, I'm writing to tell you that you are one of those people to us. Thank you for reading and for being a

December-We Didn't See It Coming

It's no wonder we found ourselves a quarter of the way into December before I was able to sit down and write my monthly "newsletter" with my contemplation on what's in store. We're a week in already and enough has unfolded to

"Thank You," Said the Crazy Pie Lady

I tucked three large vats of my pumpkin pie filling into the walk-in refrigerator last night to marry flavors overnight and then sat down with Rich to debrief on our day. We have mouths to feed this week, produce to harvest and wash, pies and rolls and breads to bake.

Bump Ahead

I went to a high school where football was more important than history. The varsity coach, doubling as our history teacher, dictated years of world history to us from his yellowed and uninspired notes, then instructed us to highlight which dates and names we would fill-in-the-blanks of next week'

November-Doubling Down

I exercised my democratic right and now I'll wait to see which administration will steer the ship next. But more importantly, I will return to my tangible world that I inhabit to double down on my contribution to it all. Because that, in fact, is within my control.

Something's Coming

The trees lining my ride home from market yesterday were so exuberantly generous in their colorful displays.  How they had anything to give after the punishing weather conditions of the past few months is beyond me.  I thank them for their service as they beckon in the wistfulness of the

October-No Matter

How many weeks did it last? The drought that is...It's easy to forget the drought as Helene came on its heels, ripping through with enough force to erase the memory of it. But we didn't forget. In fact, the first precipitation to fall in earnest

Hanging In

The stress over this drought lived in my subconscious until last week when I started dreaming about it. One dreamscape was on fire, the cornfields to the south of us ablaze, dense smoke obstructing the sun and challenging our breathing. At this day and age, that's someone else&

September-Provided For

These are the months when we provide for our winter selves. Late August always has us feeling high on the hog as our farm cooler and dry storage overflow with a fortuitous harvest. In such a seasonal business, you could think of this feeling as an illusion. For the time

Give Me My Market People

Every Friday we pull out all the stops to reap the rewards of a spring and summer spent seeding, feeding, and cultivating our acres of Brookville Ohio paradise. By evening we are spent, ready for a day of rest. But of course, Saturday follows, which brings a 4:30 am

The Thief is Back At It

An unprecedented time is upon our family. The other day we trucked it down to Cincinnati for a visit to the zoo to make a summer memory off the farm. I glanced at the kids in the rearview miorror to see May deep in a chapter book, lost in another

Gesturing August in

Something rather special happened at the close of July. A friend of ours invited his love to Foxhole under the guise of touring the veggie field. What appeared to be a sweet Sunday afternoon stroll, amounted to one of the grandest gestures of love. At the tail end of the

Bad Friend Summer

It's that time of our year when I find bits of carrot tops adorning the barrel of our washing machine after running a load of laundry. Whether they snuck into our pockets during harvest, or while slinging carrots at the farmers market, they come out in the wash.

We're Much (contractually) Obliged

Well, I signed my name on enough dotted lines to make it official last week. We are in cahoots with the Natural Resources Conservation Service again and we couldn't be more thrilled! Every year we throw our names in the ring for the High Tunnel Initiative which offers

July-Sun Chasers

June, which was defined by a week-long heat wave, came to a close and the kids and I ran away to Lake Huron. As the rule-following farmers would have you believe, we are meant to make hay while the sun shines and to leave summer vacationing to the laymen. Whether

I'm Sleeping In the Field Tonight

It turns out there are such things as ghosts. The ghost of my twenty-year-old self for one, haunts me whenever Rich and I allow a difference between us to fester like an untreated wound. The apparition of young, autonomous (to a fault) Sam calls to mind my life before Rich

Don't Care How

"I want it now!"... Veruca Salt wanted more and more of Wonka's sweet delicacies, and who could blame the gal? I think we all have a bit of Veruca in us. If you get a taste of something you like, the last thing you want is

June-Shedding Our Skin

We will unlock the longest day of the year this month as we kick off our wild and free season of productivity. All at once, the kids came barrelling through the tail end of their school year, and out the other side to summer on the farm, while the farm

May-Act II For Foxhole Farm

A shift is happening here. It's a conscious shift and one which we have been anticipating since starting our farm. Having gotten another farm business off of the ground up in Michigan, we had enough experience to forecast a 'feel-it-out' phase at the outset of Foxhole.

Come Pick Flowers With Me

Every April I commit to wildflower surveillance. It started the year we moved to the farm and a sea of wild violets enveloped the farmhouse. In my nervous anticipation of our tractor delivery, chomping at the bit to break ground before the season would get on its merry way with

A Week Without My Other 3/4

Everything 'they' tell us is true. And we should not take cliches lightly, especially 'you don't know what you have until it's gone'. Fortunately for me, we were only apart for a week. After seven years of no more than two nights

April-Deeply Watered

Since embarking on this pastoral journey we've learned time and again that in order to have the best chance of achieving fruition you must begin with a deep watering. I can hear the voices of those who taught us how to grow plants, "just really take your