ANTIQUE FARMING.
"The longer Levin mowed, the oftener he felt the moments of unconsciousness in which it seemed that the scythe was mowing by itself, a body full of life and consciousness of its own, and as though by magic, without thinking of it, the work turned out regular and precise by itself. These were the most blissful moments." - Tolstoy, Anna Karenina
Yesterday, with the garden saturated in another half-inch of rain, Hannah and I spent our day antique shopping. I had one particular item in mind, one I'd seen at antique malls before but always passed on buying: a scythe. We hadn't had much use for one until now, but as we slowly make our way across the garden we've been letting the grass grow up in one half so we could cut it and collect the hay. Instead of bringing in some insane piece of equipment for an eighth of an acre of grass, however, we decided we'd cut it by hand, and that's where our new scythe comes in.
Scything is indeed a magical act, if I may be permitted an understatement. Nothing connects me to the olden days quite like the motion of swinging a scythe crisply across the grass and laying it down in front at my feet, a quiet horizontal pendulum, physical and satisfying. I think of Levin from Tolstoy's Anna Karenina, watching the men scythe proficiently with awe and jealousy. I think of the value people once placed upon tools like this, now easily found under a pile of shovels and pitch forks in an antique mall and sold as novelty––$45. Our scythe is a handsome and well-crafted tool, I can only imagine what it cost brand new, and what it meant to its owner. I joke with friends that we buy our farming equipment at antique stores...but with the addition of the scythe, and another hand scythe we purchased recently, perhaps it's becoming more true than I realize. Since Hannah and I have no real desire to ever be organically certified, or biodynamically certified, or to be certified by anything other than ourselves and our customers, maybe we'll just describe ourselves as antique farmers from now on, breathing purpose back into novelties, and constantly working to reduce, reuse and recycle.- Jesse.
A DAY IN PHOTOS - DECORATE, AGAIN!
We were Christmas decorating once again today! Jesse and I spent the morning doing scary adult things like opening up a checking account together, so we had to follow that with ice cream and a Christmas tree. This time, the decorating involved more John Denver and the Muppets, more old home movies, and much more Barb.- Hannah.
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| our frasier fir! naturally, we named him "niles." |
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| love him. |
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| best kind of lights. hands down. |
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| scaredy cat. |
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| niles looks great! |
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| oh, barb. |
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| pro tree decorator. |
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| nostalgia overload! |
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| hanging her favorite ornament. |
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| everyone needs a little felt church. |
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| beekeeper ornament! thank you, stephanie. |
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| saving this one for when brother comes home. |
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| tah-dah! |
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| merry christmas! |
SIMPLE GIFTS.
Hannah and I now have very tangible evidence as to how lucky we are. It takes the form of 11 acres waiting for us to start farming and we couldn't be more thankful and grateful for her wonderful Aunt Kathy for offering it. We are allowed to live there for free until we have the money to buy it––that is a huge part of what makes this whole thing possible. But Hannah and I have both spent the last 8 months learning, not saving, and a farm doesn't earn you money until you make it a working farm. The nature of the business is that you have to have something to sell to earn money, and right now, all we have to sell is millions of delightful weeds and cockleburs. We plan on starting a CSA next season for our friends and family (details to come). Sometime around May the vegetables, God willing, will start erupting from the soil...but May is a long way off. There is a lot of work to be done in order to make that eruption possible. A garden space has to be cleared, land worked, manure spread, a greenhouse built, etc.. We also want to be able to offer eggs but lack the means to build a chicken coop and nest boxes, while clearing a place to put them. A well and spring exist and we hope to take advantage of those exceptional water sources, but it's going to require some infrastructure. All that, and we still haven't mentioned the cost of seeds (or chickens).This all brings us to the "donate button." Yikes, right? Don't sweat it, we're not going to hound our readers for their money; farming is our choice, and we look forward to the adventure. But we also know there are dozens of our friends and family who are looking for ways to help. This could be that way. Simply click on the donate button (to the right of this post, and also at the very bottom of the page) and it will take you to Paypal where you can donate $1 - $1 zillion. EVERY little bit helps. In lieu of asking everyone to donate a specific tool or packet of seeds, we felt it would be easier to let you contribute a little money and we can buy, say, a shovel in your honor! Conveniently, the holidays are coming up, and a donation made in someone's name would make a great, eco-friendly gift for the organically-minded. We would definitely enjoy providing an information packet about our farm to the recipient's as part of the gift, if you request! Also, so the donate button wouldn't get lonely, we added a button for you to sign up for our mailing list. You can find it at the bottom of each post, as well as in the CONTACT section. Anyone interested in an eventual CSA or in simply getting updates about the farm and blog will get occasional notes in their inbox from Rough Draft. So donate and help us plant our farm, or sign up for the email list to read our blog and give us feedback. Again, every little bit helps!
* UPDATE: Some people have been having trouble with the donate button. We have tried to fix the link, but if it still simply takes you to the "LOG IN" page, you will have to log in to your Paypal account, then "SEND MONEY" and send it to our email address - roughdraftfarmstead@gmail.com If you don't have a Paypal account and still want to support us, please let us know. Sorry about the confusion! We are a little rusty at this whole internet thing!
A LIGHT IN THE ATTIC.
Today, Jesse and I went to my grandparents house in search of some cast iron skillets and a roasting pan for our ridiculously enormous turkey. This adventure turned out to be quite a lengthy treasure hunt through their garage and attic, through old photographs and sleds and books and dollhouses and spider webs. We have been watching a lot of Antique Road Show as well as Hoarders this week, so we felt right at home. Sitting in the attic, looking through an old suitcase full of dresses as Jesse flipped through a box of 45's, I had a secret hope to have such an attic of our own one day: a place full of memories, objects of a life lived, artifacts of a tangible existence. Who might be rooting through our old pots and pans one day?By the end of the morning, we had found our turkey roaster! Hooray for our first Thanksgiving! However, as the supposed cast iron was nowhere to be found, I am happy for an excuse to go back and dig around more sometime soon.- Hannah.
