ALL THE FEELINGS.

We plan to share our whole birth story here someday soon, but for now, I only have the clarity of mind (and the free time!) to share a bit about this past week and our new little family.Our labor was long. It was perfect, wonderful, life-changing, empowering, otherworldly. But also long. And as we were entering our third night of labor, our third night of trying to sleep in 5 minute increments between contractions, Jesse and I were both in a sort of haze of delirium. I found myself on the edge of the end, miles past the line of exhaustion, ready to say out loud what I had started to fear: “I don’t think I can do this.”And through the blur of sounds, the voice of Linus came through on the radio station we had been listening to:"And the angel said unto them, Fear not; for, behold, I bring you tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people... Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger."And that next morning, on Christmas Eve, we had a son.I am feeling all the feelings right now, and have so many things I want to say and people I want to acknowledge and memories I don’t want to forget, so just this:I have never felt such a deep, intimate understanding of the Christmas story.I have never felt so blown away by the miracle of Creation, which is funny because Jesse and I are constantly surrounded by nature and honeybees and sprouting seeds and all the kinds of things that keep you in awe. I guess when it happens inside of you, its just a whole new sort of amazing.I have never felt so connected to so many people - as I labored, I thought of all the mothers in my life, cycling through all their faces and then the faces of their children, trying to draw out strength from them and their births. My own mother, my grandmother, Jesse’s mother, all my family and friends and farmwives and millions and millions of women before me.I have never felt so nourished and supported. In the blur of those few days, there was potato and kale soup and toast, cold blueberries and glasses of milk, daal and frozen pizzas and broth - all of these things brought to us by neighbors or pulled from the freezer that had been stocked by those same friends and neighbors.I have never felt so proud of myself, for what I accomplished, and so simultaneously humbled by all the things I cannot do. I am learning to be gracious for the help, for every offer of kindness, for each gift. Learning to say “Yes, thank you,” and relishing in the luxury of being taken care of.I have never felt so much love for my husband. He is a champion and is doing so much right now, changing all the diapers and cooking all the meals and keeping the fire going and helping me go to the bathroom and feeding the pigs and chickens and cats and dog. I can’t believe how lucky I am, that this man loves me and wanted to start this family with me.But mostly, our son. My son. I have never felt so much of anything. Like I said, I am feeling all the feelings right now. He’s really the best and he’s perfect and I can’t believe it.Thank you for all of the prayers and support that were sent our way over the past week - they were certainly felt and gratefully received. I hope your holiday season is as full of joy as ours.- Hannah.

THANK YOU FOR READING.

This past weekend we saw a lot of people we hadn't seen in a while, and many others we didn't know, who said they read our blog regularly and enjoyed it. And we cannot tell you how nice that is to hear, or how much it means.It's not always totally sane for us to keep up the blog being full-time farmers, living without electricity, but we do it precisely for that reason - to share what it's like to live like this. We like sharing the ups and downs, battles with turkeys, pictures of new baby kittens or piglets or chicks. We like being transparent about how hard it is, too, about our money situations, our fears and our mistakes. But we also love talking about how much we love it, or how we wouldn't do anything else. In some ways it helps keep us going to put it in writing, and forces us to maintain perspective, to realize how fortunate we actually are. And we've always just done it that way not thinking about who reads or why, just thinking that it feels good to do.So it's fun to hear from the people who do read, and learn their reasons. It's fun to hear their stories or how they use our story in their own lives. It's exciting to hear from people who have started farming because of blogs like ours, and we hope there will be more of that. We hope to inspire more farmers, more gardeners, more homesteaders, more small-farm bloggers. This blog has been such therapy for us sometimes, and such a beautiful support system. And for that reason it is absolutely worth every bit of the insanity it adds––when our server goes down randomly, or when we have to spend an extra hour or three in town just to keep it going––if we can occasionally get a weekend like this past one where we hear from people that tell us to keep it up.With that said, no need to wait until Thanksgiving to say it (we would honestly say it every day if we could), thank you all for reading––it truly means a lot.- Jesse.

HERE'S TO NEW YEARS.

We've had a truly amazing 2013 thanks to you folks, these folks, our folks and this folk-way of living we've decided upon (sorry, couldn't help myself). We moved into our cabin. We fell in love with a motley group of chickens. We started our first CSA in Bowling Green. We made some inspiring new friends and we were inspired by our ever-generous, loving and supportive family.New Year's Eve is always a time of reflection and possibility, and the only resolution we are eager to make is to never forget to be grateful for everything that 2013 brought us and everything that 2014 may bring.So here's to the New Year! Raise a glass to a farmer tonight as many of them, like us, will likely be asleep long before midnight. But we'll see you in 2014!- Jesse.

BOXING DAY DATE.

Before I drove home today, Jesse and I had a little day-after-Christmas date using up some of our Christmas gifts. My parents gave me a gift card for yarn, so we stopped by Magpie Yarn in Lexington. Let me just say - as a somewhat beginning knitter, I am often intimidated by yarn stores, sometimes dealing with rude and somewhat snooty ladies who are not super helpful. Anybody else? Anyway, this was by far the NICEST yarn store I have ever been to. Plus, they only carry natural fibers. I bought a LOT of yarn, y'all. We then used a gift from my Dad - a gift card to the always wonderful Alfalfas. It was so nice to be able to spend a little time just the two of us before heading home. Thanks Mom and Dad for the thoughtful presents!-  Hannah.