Sam Wickham

What in the CSA?

Years ago Rich and I managed a farm on the tip of Michigan's thumb.  Being in a seasonal lake town, we got to know the year-rounders pretty quickly.  You were part of this 'tough enough' club if you stuck around the lake when inches and then

Our 1st Debt-free February

How are you? I've been asked that question so often lately, it seems the universe is looking me deep in the eyes...now is the time to answer that question.  Don't even think about mindlessly spitting out a "good" and moving on.  It'

Coyotes in the Kitchen

In contrast to the crash and burn of our summer evenings, Rich and I find ourselves awake in the twilight hours this time of the year.  Whether we are reading or writing from within a nest of blankets, indulging in Sailing La Vagabonde (the number one reason for turning on

Our Mighty First Generation Farm

This is our first publication to be published in the Foxhole Journal!  Newsletters will remain free for anyone to access.  Future weekly writings and how-to's will be available to those subscribed to the Foxhole Members and Sustaining Members only. It might have been the morning when I was

January 2022- Going with Grace

Like folks flooding out of a subway car, through the turnstile and up the chute of a stairway to spread out into the light and space of the cityscape world above, we made our way through the narrowing pass of 2021 into the new year. :) Happy New Year :) Let me

December: Forgone Forks in the Road

This Thanksgiving we traveled way way back in time. All four of us packed into the car, dropped the farm dog off at my parents to realize her dreams in the suburbs, and headed east. We traversed the Allegheny Mountains, following signs for New York City. This is the drive

November: Preparing for Torpor

TORPOR...that phenomenon that I am so fascinated by.  It’s a state of existence that mice and other animals engage in to survive the cold of winter among other stressful times. When mice torpor, they go into a deep sleep in which their respiration and heart rate slowwwwww, conserving

October: Renewed

Did that change in the weather last month breathe new life into you like it did us? Last month proved to be quite metamorphic...I might remember it as the September of deep slumber. As I see it, we all shoulder our share of burdens. The last thing I want

September: Where Are We Going?

It’s about this time of the year when we set our plans in motion for the overwintering of the farm.  Now is the time to seed and transplant the last outdoor rotations and to ask ourselves…where are we going? It’s been an unprecedented year for us.  One

August- A Love Letter

Dear Friends, I’ve been steeped in a pool of love this month.  A few of our closest friends got engaged.  And while basking in the goodness of it all, a sacred feeling bubbled up in me…one that I had when Rich and I decided to commit to each

Summer-A State of Mind

From the day it all began Yeah, you were there, you took my hand And when I hurt a bit too deep You watched me as I fell asleep And when my head was in the clouds You found a way to pull me out You picked my heart up

June…the Plunge

June is the month where we go all in.  Full farmers market swing, sheep to move, pasture to mow, plants growing in all directions, deliveries all over town, phone calls from new places around town, kids keeping cool in the showering irrigation, or better yet, evening trips to Mimi’s

May: The Dream of the Planet

Have you ever read The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz?  It’s a book that Rich and I both find ourselves pulling from the bookshelf periodically for a mental refresher.  In the first chapter Ruiz discusses the “dream of the planet”.  His interpretation of life is that we are

April: Growing Pains

I’ve referred to the births of our family and Foxhole as synchronous experiences.  These past three years Rich and I have poured ourselves into two interwoven ventures…so much life and dependency and new energy and exhaustion.  Those same times that parents speak of…losing themselves in the beginning,

March's Spring Wind

Springtime is the land awakening. The March winds are the morning yawn. -Lewis Grizzard There comes a week in the first quarter of the year when the spring wind blows in and everything suddenly feels different…loud.  I think of it as the sounds of the greatest waking up of

February 2021. We’re Awake Now

FOR A SEED TO ACHIEVE ITS GREATEST EXPRESSION, IT MUST COME COMPLETELY UNDONE. THE SHELL CRACKS, ITS INSIDES COME OUT AND EVERYTHING CHANGES. -Cynthia Occelli OPENING OUR EYES Jack and I took a walk down the bike path that runs alongside the south side of the farm this weekend, January

January 2021: A Time for Renewal

Happy New Year :).  We’ve made it around the sun again.  Isn’t it calming to think of ourselves as earthlings?…It simplifies it all a bit.  We are here to live… follow the sun, shelter from the cold, feed ourselves, wake up to do it all over again.  The

Sayonara 2020

2020 CHANGED THE GAME That it did.  On a personal level and a collective level.  January Jack lit up our sleepiest month of the year.  We reflect periodically on how pleased we are that he was born before the world changed.  We got to focus on his arrival without the

November 2020

“Oh, it's a long, long while From May to December But the days grow short, When you reach September. When the autumn weather Turn leaves to flame One hasn't got time For the waiting game. Oh the days dwindle down To a precious few . . . September, November

October-It's Time to Look Through the Fall Lens

It’s when the summer heat starts to back off and the goldenrod is blooming in the field that we breath a little sigh of relief.  We are still bringing in fall crops, but all of the squash is harvested and stored and we are preparing for the inevitable first

September…PUSH…PUSH

Let’s Keep Those Heads Above Water IF I HAD AN ORCHARD, I'D WORK 'TIL I'M RAW IF I HAD AN ORCHARD, I'D WORK 'TIL I'M SORE I remember listening to this Fleet Foxes song called Helplessness Blues when we

August-The Sounds Of Summer

IT’S THE TIME OF YEAR WHEN WE ARE FLOWING FROM ONE WEEK TO THE NEXT. IT’S LIKE THE COMPOSITION OF A SONG STRINGING THESE WEEKS TOGETHER. In the beginning of our week it’s the quietest as we regroup from the weekend markets.  If anything, Rich and I

July! The Heat, The Bounty

IT’S GO TIME The farm is producing…despite the extreme heat and the dry weather we have had in Brookville, it’s all growing so fast.  It’s the combination of the long daylight hours and the warm night temperatures that have plants growing at a rapid pace.  Can

June-In The Thick Of It

MARKET SEASON IS UPON US Farmers markets start this weekend! Oakwood Farmers Market (22 Orchard Street) Saturday’s from 9-1 This Old Farmers Market (3930 Dayton Xenia Rd, Beavercreek) Sunday’s from 12-3 We are impressed by how both markets are being managed to address this ‘new normal’.  With booths

That Sweet Month of May

Announcing Online Ordering We bring this newsletter to you a few days early to tell you that we have joined the online ordering game! If you are a 2020 Foxhole csa member, you will get an email sent to you each Tuesday this month, offering you a day’s head