September-In Sickness and In Health

We're wed to this place. In both the good and the bad times, we rely on it for much more than one might imagine. For as independent as I am, I really enjoy companionship and maybe that is why the binding nature of farming is appealing to me. The vulnerability of a party of two leaning on each other, when well balanced, also lends to great stability.
I lean on the farm like I would a good friend, retreating to the northern field, away from the world, when overwhelmed with the responsibilities of a young mother and farmer who is also a citizen of this crazy world. I allow myself to be swallowed up in the arms of our tomato plants on days when my mind is particularly busy, comforted by the cathartic maintenance that they respond to, putting out more and more fruit clusters in response to my attention. Could we be considered co-dependents? Bird song and crickets, the wind in the big willows, toads and tractor are my white noise. The swaying of the sunchokes and the fluttering of the leaves in the layers upon layers of fruiting plants and pasture grasses are entrancing in their oceanic gestures. This place is one big blanket for me.
When my mind, body or heart are ailing, this place is antidotal. And once my health is restored I find myself wanting to give to the farm, wanting to meet some of its needs. There are times when drought, flooding or oppressive weather conditions take their toll on the farm and we feel inclined to tend to the cultivated space and creatures, and wild space alike...providing water, rest, rescue harvests, shelter, and helping to design the property to hold water and build resiliency to absorb the shock of extreme weather.
This relationship is dynamic and we are grateful and pleasantly surprised by how much the land has born for us and for the community we feed. In times that the land is sick or stressed, we are able to understand that it struggles to give. A gap week or two for salad at market can be explained by an excess rainfall followed by unseasonally high temperatures. If only the frustrated woman from that one market in July could see what we see, she may have been more accepting that we didn't have salad to offer as it lay stunted in the field, just trying to survive oversaturation and scorching heat. And incredibly, two weeks later, it gave us one of our biggest cuttings from a single bed ever.
I owed that understanding to the field. For when I neglected my post a few summers ago, struggling with debilitating autoimmunity, the cultivated veggies battled the weeds, bearing enough fruit for us to get by until I recuperated in the relief of our slow winter season. What a welcome sight it was to start anew the following spring, back on my feet in the trenches with Rich.
The best times of all are the times the field and our family are in good health. It feels like we could coexist this way forever. I recognize that it feels this sweet because of the bitterness of our trying times. This sugary sweetness is not to be taken for granted.
The sweetness goes like this...In the middle of a summer afternoon, Rich got a call from our neighbor to let us know he noticed a bucket stuck on one of our lamb's heads. The young ones always get into these slapstick binds. The simplicity of our life here couldn't be more charmingly apparent than in such phone calls. Or in the bicyclists who stop on the bike path to watch the little comedians bound around their grassy paddock. Or in the monarch caterpillars which Jack tracks on the milkweed stalks we've allowed to grow where they may throughout the veggie field. Right now two of those caterpillars are in a makeshift home on the kids bookshelf, nestled in their chrysalises, just a few days from emerging. Magic lives here.

It's a good time, in a series of good and bad times that make up our lives. For richer, for poorer, till death or another great adventure in life do us part, we take this farm from this day forward :).
News from homefront:
-Market season continues: Oakwood Farmers Market continues! Last day is October 14th. Each week is getting better...honeynut winter squash starts next week...ginger too!
-DLM Market Boxes: We continue to grow our relationship with Dorothy Lane Market here in Dayton. This was the first year DLM tried to run a csa made up of a collection of goods from the various farmers who contribute to their shelves. We have been a proud contributor almost every week :).
-Restaurant Partners: It's been a great year working with some of Dayton's most lovely restaurants and cafes. We have been delivering a variety of our produce and granolas to Rays Wine and Spirits, The Last Queen Pub, Little Fish Brewery and Restaurant, Jollity, Salt Block Biscuit Co., Tony and Pete's, Old Scratch Pizza, Ghostlight, Val's Bakery, and Sueño. If you need a good spot to eat...highly recommend any of the above!
-Let the School Year Begin: the kids have begun their school year. Jack is trying out preschool this year. He feels he is a big kid now, going to school like his sister. A lot of new songs and stories are brought home throughout the week :).
-Fall Plantings: We have been seeding and transplanting like crazy to head into a strong fall season on the farm. We are looking forward to a great fall and winter here on the farm.
Thank you for reading :).
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