July-The Craft of It

A few weeks ago, I headed to a little cottage on Lake Huron with our two babes. Running off to the nostalgia of coastal Michigan...a place where Rich and I hatched a farm, setting our creative energies free for the first time in that way...it stirred up my sentimentality and had my heart aching...sweet and sour memories of how we have built what we now have. Mainly sweet...but some having me wishing I could hug our younger selves: it's hard work, but your hearts are not leading you astray.
I sat on the wooden staircase to the brown sands licked by our favorite, cold blue Great waters. Jack snoozed inside, soft creamy curtains swaying in the breeze, the white noise of the lake like a sleep tonic pouring into his room. May, sandy-bottomed, tooled around with the wet sand rather pointlessly until she grabbed onto an idea. She worked for half an hour as I wrote off and on checking on Jack and enjoying the lake, mounding the wet brown sand into a hill, clearly driven by the pursuit of her own idea...changing her method as she learned the ways of sand construction. She used a stray piece of driftwood to smooth the sides and I stilled my pen to enjoy the catharsis of her labor. She ran to the waters edge for smooth, bitty stones to adorn this edifice of hers. Lastly it was time to bore a hole at the crest of the mound. Suddenly she sat back "it's ready for the lady bugs'. As it turns out, it was winter housing for when the beach turned to tundra again. 'All the Michigan lady bugs can have a winter house now'. Seemingly content with this finished project, she splashed back into the water to play and swim.
The writing in my lap was a reflection of our time spent learning by doing. Trying and trying again to grow in the sandy Michigan soil and unrelenting winters. And when I look back at the photographic evidence of this project, we have so much to be proud of. We brought to the table a financially viable farm business, feeding the summer folks and the year-rounders alike a plethora of colorful produce, pastured chicken and eggs. We delivered to Detroit restaurants, two farmers markets, and our favorite restaurant in the Thumb called The Farm. We formed relationships we miss dearly...and we got pregnant with May, one of two of the best things we've done since joining forces.
It hurt to write...hands swollen from neuropathy that creeps in when I overwork them with repetitive motions of hoeing, harvesting, and baking. Why do we do what we do? It is hard work...particularly in this high season. And it's a wonder we don't tire of some of our more mundane tasks...packaging shoots every week...same place and nearly the same time. But we don't tire. In fact I find that we both mention our gratitude for this way of life more and more often.
With May's creation sitting in front of me, Rich back on the farm working away, and memories aswirl...a light flickered on. It's the pursuit of refining this craft which keeps us inspired to wake up bright-eyed and eager. Like our friends the Daults, who widdle away clay with their hands and small tools to ultimately pull a set of apparently identical bowls from their kiln, each with a kiss of character left by the glaze...we are working our land to pluck colorful, sunkissed fruits from our plants. And each season is another opportunity to refine our practices and chip away at that unwieldy block of clay to shape something out of Foxhole that makes us proud.



It's easier to be proud of what we did up in Michigan, as hindsight is much clearer. But stepping away from Foxhole, missing Rich who was home tending to the fields and the animals, but savoring the two humans we have introduced to the world, hunting for Petoskey stones and playing pirates in the water, finding the joy that's there for all of us to find in life, I felt so fulfilled. Proud.
And as we gravitate toward purifying our craft, we'll see less emergencies on the farm, my hands will swell less and less, Rich will reach his wit's end more infrequently, and we will get Rich to this little cottage on Lake Huron when we find ourselves caught up in the field. It's what makes us tick...not being the best we can be quite yet. But knowing we are onto something great.
Updates from the Farm:
-Oakwood Farmers Market: It's been a great year at OFM...record-breaking for which we are grateful in this expensive day in age. Come and see us every Saturday from 9-1.
-Field update: The field is in great shape. Rich, the field manager has been on his game! Tomatoes are on the market table, garlic is being pulled this week, and we didn't lose anything to the heat waves that have been coming one after another...thank goodness. Do occasional rain dances for us :). Irrigation hardly replaces good rains.
-High Tunnel Application Update: We got word that we didn't receive funding for a second hoop house...though there is a chance that we get delayed funding by September. (Less funding was available this year...as you can probably imagine.) Fingers crossed! If not, we are gunning for a second hoop and are just going to farm and bake harder to get there.
-Tony and Pete's: A new awesome grocer and deli opened in downtown Dayton called Tony and Pete's. You can now find our salad, shoots, microgreens, and granola carried there :). It's a sweet spot so you should definitely check it out!