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 itself ignited with life in high maintenance fashion earlier than ever. Like a kickstart to the season, summer conditions descended, allowing the opportunistic insects, which rode through a mild winter, to flourish and proliferate. Cultivated crops and intruding weeds alike grew gangbusters, spurred on by unseasonally high overnight temperatures and generous precipitation, endowing us with a rainforest worth of green. It's both high farming and parenting season. Good thing we are shedding our skin once more to rise to the occasion.
Snakes shed theirs to start anew, to grow and to free themselves of any parasite which might have clung on for the ride in their last evolution. We are adopting this reptilian mechanism ourselves this late spring as we anticipate a great, big summer of life at Foxhole. Just yesterday our friend rehomed the last of our sweet Katahdin flock. Shaggy-doo and her twins joined a flock of sheep on his farm, where they will live in harmony with cattle among rows of trees and hills of pasture. I'm not sure about the other animals in the kingdom, but for us, shedding the skin has its discomforts...growing pains perhaps. Jack's crocodile tears engaged my processing of the end of our chapter with the sheep. All the while we held each other, listening to the pitter patter of the lamb's cloven feet on Ben's trailer floor. Ben invited Jack to visit anytime he wanted to, and soon enough he was distracted by his three rough and tumble farm farm boys. Jack joined in their romping around the farm yard and life without the sheep began. He doesn't know it but he's learning that with or without you, life goes on. And I can tell he is harnessing the ability we all have to move with it into the next season.
In parting with our flock, we have committed more fully to the vegetable field. After a few good seasons we have been able to invest in a walk behind cultivation tool for field maintenance. That deleterious parasite which seasoned farmers warn us about: overtapping our bodies in the young years...we feel as if we have shaken it off of our backs. Rather than weeding manually with hand tools, we are able to conserve that energy and time for other tasks on our plate, and more importantly for intermittent rest and play. I am proud of what Rich and I were able to accomplish with babies on our backs while we made our way to this investment in the farm. But I am so relieved that we will be farming smarter and for our longevity, less worried about the chronic pain from overextending our bodies. This is the first spring that my wrists haven't woken me up in the night from pain and Rich has avoided debilitating achilles pain. No more. I think we really are growing now.
In fact, the farm is. This is the most we have had planted in the field by the end of May in the history of the farm. And more importantly, it is the most we have had planted which is also maintained, both irrigated, and free of weeds. All the while, we have had less late nights in the field than other years. While the farm matures, so do our sweet tots. In reality they're not tots anymore, but inventive, blossoming children who achieve a bit more independence by the day. Though on certain moody days it may feel like it, we aren't parents of teenagers yet. The kids really need guidance at these stages. They are not yet prepared to be thrown to the wolves to fend for themselves. We are tasked with the challenge of balancing our farmwork and our mother/father roles. It's made easier by the fact that being a mother to the farm and these kids fulfills two of my great desires in life, stoking my inner fire.
I buy into the snake's idea, or rather its faculty, to shed its skin and to make more room to grow into the next phase of life. In practice exfoliation really rejuvenates the body and mind. For wherever we are going next, we are lighter for sloughing off those burdens which weigh us down and which require too much of us. We are more available to be better farmers and parents too. Who knew you could learn so much from the way of the snake?
Farm Updates:
-Farmers Market Season Begins: Finally! Oakwood Farmers Market begins this Saturday, June 1st. The market runs from 9-noon. We will continue to offer online ordering for pick up at our booth on Saturdays. If you DO order online, remember not to wait in line, but come to the front of our booth to grab your bag(s).
-New Restaurant Partner: We continue to find inspiration in our wholesale partners: Dorothy Lane Market, The Last Queen, Jollity, Old Scratch Pizza, Ray's Wine and Grill, Little Fish, Salt Block Biscuit Co, etc. We just started a new relationship with Silver Slipper Wine Bar in Dayton and are proud to work with such creative minds. Check them out!
-DLM Local Garden Box: We are working with our friends at Dorothy Lane again as they offer a subscription "garden box". If you sign up for a box, you'll receive the best of local produce and goods curated by DLM. Our goods will be among those in your box :).
-Keep on Keeping On: Summer has begun, with kids on summer break, farmers market season beginning, and the field keeping us on our toes. I always joke that when Memorial Day hits, I won't REALLY see you again until October. We are here :).
Thank you for reading :).
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