We are gardeners, not farmers, and we keep a small variety of family livestock as well. All of what we raise is for our own eating...and still! I read this post the morning after spending over an hour ankle-deep in mud, working to release a pregnant goat that had inexplicably managed to wedge her head into a random corner. Two weeks before it was a family outbreak of poison ivy reactions from the necessary clearing fences after a storm (one, for the record, which brought down trees but gave no rain). We don’t spray our garden, and this is the second year in a row that I am spending near daily time in the garden to do away with the Mexican bean beetles that are in turn doing speedily away with the green beans meant to last us till the following summer. “Idyllic” is not often the word that comes to mind, at least not in terms of what fits nicely into a photo frame.
You get it! It really does just feel like a series of emergencies, but also, maybe that's just life. And livestock just adds a whole other layer to it. Also, Mexican bean beetles are the WORST. Sending you the strength and resilience to keep going this season. 💚
I completely agree! We need to cultivate as much community as possible instead of always trying to simply do it all ourselves. Of course that's always easier said than done, but it is such a worthwhile endeavor that our farm is always striving towards.
On the topic of social media: I posted a picture of something I harvested a couple years back and an artistic friend commented that the dirt under my nails added verisimilitude. I was like, honey, there's just dirt under my nails from spring to fall no matter how hard I try, lol!
Hahahaha! Whenever I post pictures on Insta, I always get a comment or two on how filthy my hands are and I'm always like, that's farming! What on earth do you think happens?! 😂
I think it's not just up to the farmers. Government policy and subsudies, as you know, support certain kinds of agriculture (big, corporate ) and not others. I'd like to see those resources completely reallocated to support small-scale farming, including programs that put land in the reach of new farmers and encourage an influx of new people. There's lots of creative ideas that people have which just don't have the resources to even be tried in the current arrangement.
Yes! Unfortunately, the systems we have in place are not set up to support us and it is beyond frustrating. I wish they would subsidize small farmers, small farming communities and access to land, as easily as they do corn and soy. The only real grants available to small farmers are for 1k to 5k which gets you very little these days beyond a high tunnel and maybe some irrigation. We need to think much bigger picture because the money is there for large scale ag just not for everyone else.
We need communities to become community-based again! Church families, kin-families -- we used to have structured connectors. Now...we try to recreate that with a "following" on social media or Substack, which has its place but clearly isn't the same.
The folks in a town near me have done an amazing job of this. They've converted and restored an old church to create a "Village Hall." They share a monthly newsletter. They have social gatherings with arts-based programs. They have their own, funny little Fourth of July parade. It's really quite magical.
We have the drought too, which thins the pastures and cuts hay production. That came after floods which had us swimming in mud, and hilling the soil to plant any vegetables.
Natural cycles come in various lengths, and there’s little we can do about it. But we should care for the soil everywhere, and allow it to replenish.
(It’s much better to eat the weeds than spray them.)
Oh Natalie- I feeel you! Having once lived that life my body will never forget those long summer days that wring you dry. The relentless tasks everywhere that need more time, more energy and more attention. And things going sideways and in circles, irrigation breaking, backs breaking, animal shenanigans, rain not raining, bug infestations, driven by deadlines, do or die, day after day. And the farm doesn’t take weekends off!
So what minute moments of self care can can you slip into your days? Somethings that are not just another thing to do. Is there a stream or pond to plunge into? A bath or foot soak at the end of the day? Sweet smelling soap for each time you wash your hands. A small glass of wine while you make supper. A candle and soothing music at supper. An essential oil diffuser in the bedroom.
I send you hugs, waves of heartfelt compassion and warmth, and sincerest gratitude and respect for your dedication and idealism. ❤️❤️❤️
All of this is so spot on. Social media has definitely messed with my head on the hard farming days, and I so appreciate your honesty here. To all the challenges and beauty mixed ❤️
Natalie, we can relate as ex-bakery owners. I was just writing something about this, how owning a bakery is so romanticized by white collar workers and it's like...such hard work for sometimes so little money. It used to drive me a little nuts!
I know you get it! Some very close friends of ours own a bakery and the hours are crazy! I don't think anyone can appreciate the work and emotional labor that go into being a small business owner but I feel like it gets even more intense with minimal pay for farmers, bakers and the restaurant industry in general. The margins are so slim and the work is just exhausting!
OMG I can relate to this post on every level, Natalie!!! I can't count the number of times someone has wished for my life. Equal to the number of times I have bit my tongue, lest I give them a full download of what life is *really* like on the farm!
And this hear and humidity are a killer. I never loathed July and August till this year. I'm over it.
But thankful for tomatoes!!!
Sending love and good juju to a fellow lady-farmer in the trenches!🙌
Thank you! Sending you strength and resilience as we make our way through July and August! I just keep reminding myself that all this heat and humidity produces awfully good tomatoes. 😂
I wish I still lived on the Eastern Shore and could get a box of produce from you. You wrote ‘I'm wishing that the governments and systems we have in place would wake up to the fact that our earth is overheating and the humans that dwell here are in trouble’. YES. I’m not sure how much more evidence they need.
Ahhh where did you used to live? I can't imagine how different the weather must be where you live now! I hate all the heat and humidity but it does grow some good tomatoes!
Outside of Salisbury in the Maryland part of the peninsula. Used to teach at the local university…I recall excellent vegetable gardens, but yes, heat and humidity and the need for AC. Here it is about 70 degrees…we have had a gloomy summer and lots of rain (more than usual for sure), but August may be warmer. There is a lack of sunshine in the winter, so I take vitamin D.
I have many good farmer friends in the Salisbury area! I keep having to remind myself that we live in an ideal agricultural growing zone but boy is that hard to remember in July and August!
Yes. That all said, I loved the pick your own farms when I was there. There was a particularly nice one called ‘How Sweet it is’. Good luck and let’s hope the weather cools down for you.
FAKE NEWS
😘
We are gardeners, not farmers, and we keep a small variety of family livestock as well. All of what we raise is for our own eating...and still! I read this post the morning after spending over an hour ankle-deep in mud, working to release a pregnant goat that had inexplicably managed to wedge her head into a random corner. Two weeks before it was a family outbreak of poison ivy reactions from the necessary clearing fences after a storm (one, for the record, which brought down trees but gave no rain). We don’t spray our garden, and this is the second year in a row that I am spending near daily time in the garden to do away with the Mexican bean beetles that are in turn doing speedily away with the green beans meant to last us till the following summer. “Idyllic” is not often the word that comes to mind, at least not in terms of what fits nicely into a photo frame.
You get it! It really does just feel like a series of emergencies, but also, maybe that's just life. And livestock just adds a whole other layer to it. Also, Mexican bean beetles are the WORST. Sending you the strength and resilience to keep going this season. 💚
I've done a lot of farming and my response to this essay is just, "Ain't that the truth!"
We need agriculture to become a community-based activity again so there's not so much pressure on individuals.
I completely agree! We need to cultivate as much community as possible instead of always trying to simply do it all ourselves. Of course that's always easier said than done, but it is such a worthwhile endeavor that our farm is always striving towards.
On the topic of social media: I posted a picture of something I harvested a couple years back and an artistic friend commented that the dirt under my nails added verisimilitude. I was like, honey, there's just dirt under my nails from spring to fall no matter how hard I try, lol!
Hahahaha! Whenever I post pictures on Insta, I always get a comment or two on how filthy my hands are and I'm always like, that's farming! What on earth do you think happens?! 😂
I think it's not just up to the farmers. Government policy and subsudies, as you know, support certain kinds of agriculture (big, corporate ) and not others. I'd like to see those resources completely reallocated to support small-scale farming, including programs that put land in the reach of new farmers and encourage an influx of new people. There's lots of creative ideas that people have which just don't have the resources to even be tried in the current arrangement.
Yes! Unfortunately, the systems we have in place are not set up to support us and it is beyond frustrating. I wish they would subsidize small farmers, small farming communities and access to land, as easily as they do corn and soy. The only real grants available to small farmers are for 1k to 5k which gets you very little these days beyond a high tunnel and maybe some irrigation. We need to think much bigger picture because the money is there for large scale ag just not for everyone else.
We need communities to become community-based again! Church families, kin-families -- we used to have structured connectors. Now...we try to recreate that with a "following" on social media or Substack, which has its place but clearly isn't the same.
The folks in a town near me have done an amazing job of this. They've converted and restored an old church to create a "Village Hall." They share a monthly newsletter. They have social gatherings with arts-based programs. They have their own, funny little Fourth of July parade. It's really quite magical.
That's encouraging to hear about!
It’s something special, for sure. Fortunately, we have many friends there so we participate in some of what’s offered. We are welcome interlopers!
This was the most lovely post.
Thank you so much!!
Beautiful
Thank you, Sharon! I know you get it 💚
How about those ticks?🤣.
We have the drought too, which thins the pastures and cuts hay production. That came after floods which had us swimming in mud, and hilling the soil to plant any vegetables.
Natural cycles come in various lengths, and there’s little we can do about it. But we should care for the soil everywhere, and allow it to replenish.
(It’s much better to eat the weeds than spray them.)
Ticks just add to the fun of farming, right?! 😂
Especially the ones that are barely visible, hard to pull out, and cause hellacious itching. 👍
Oh Natalie- I feeel you! Having once lived that life my body will never forget those long summer days that wring you dry. The relentless tasks everywhere that need more time, more energy and more attention. And things going sideways and in circles, irrigation breaking, backs breaking, animal shenanigans, rain not raining, bug infestations, driven by deadlines, do or die, day after day. And the farm doesn’t take weekends off!
So what minute moments of self care can can you slip into your days? Somethings that are not just another thing to do. Is there a stream or pond to plunge into? A bath or foot soak at the end of the day? Sweet smelling soap for each time you wash your hands. A small glass of wine while you make supper. A candle and soothing music at supper. An essential oil diffuser in the bedroom.
I send you hugs, waves of heartfelt compassion and warmth, and sincerest gratitude and respect for your dedication and idealism. ❤️❤️❤️
All of this is so spot on. Social media has definitely messed with my head on the hard farming days, and I so appreciate your honesty here. To all the challenges and beauty mixed ❤️
Social media is the worst, it truly is! I know as a fellow farmer, you get it. 💚
This just soothed my aching farming heart 💚 thank you!
💚💚
Thank you for your service. (And I hope those with military connections won't be offended by my borrowing that phrase for you.)
💚💚💚
Natalie, we can relate as ex-bakery owners. I was just writing something about this, how owning a bakery is so romanticized by white collar workers and it's like...such hard work for sometimes so little money. It used to drive me a little nuts!
I know you get it! Some very close friends of ours own a bakery and the hours are crazy! I don't think anyone can appreciate the work and emotional labor that go into being a small business owner but I feel like it gets even more intense with minimal pay for farmers, bakers and the restaurant industry in general. The margins are so slim and the work is just exhausting!
OMG I can relate to this post on every level, Natalie!!! I can't count the number of times someone has wished for my life. Equal to the number of times I have bit my tongue, lest I give them a full download of what life is *really* like on the farm!
And this hear and humidity are a killer. I never loathed July and August till this year. I'm over it.
But thankful for tomatoes!!!
Sending love and good juju to a fellow lady-farmer in the trenches!🙌
Thank you! Sending you strength and resilience as we make our way through July and August! I just keep reminding myself that all this heat and humidity produces awfully good tomatoes. 😂
I wish I still lived on the Eastern Shore and could get a box of produce from you. You wrote ‘I'm wishing that the governments and systems we have in place would wake up to the fact that our earth is overheating and the humans that dwell here are in trouble’. YES. I’m not sure how much more evidence they need.
Ahhh where did you used to live? I can't imagine how different the weather must be where you live now! I hate all the heat and humidity but it does grow some good tomatoes!
Outside of Salisbury in the Maryland part of the peninsula. Used to teach at the local university…I recall excellent vegetable gardens, but yes, heat and humidity and the need for AC. Here it is about 70 degrees…we have had a gloomy summer and lots of rain (more than usual for sure), but August may be warmer. There is a lack of sunshine in the winter, so I take vitamin D.
I have many good farmer friends in the Salisbury area! I keep having to remind myself that we live in an ideal agricultural growing zone but boy is that hard to remember in July and August!
Yes. That all said, I loved the pick your own farms when I was there. There was a particularly nice one called ‘How Sweet it is’. Good luck and let’s hope the weather cools down for you.
Magnificent and raw and honest as ever 🌻