COMMUNITY OUT OF HIDING.
Well, it just wouldn't be our blog if we weren't talking about exactly what was going on in our lives, and right now we're almost entirely––emotionally and physically––preoccupied with this fundraising endeavor we've embarked upon.It's quite the experience: thrilling and terrifying, stressful, exciting, beyond educational, but definitely, decidedly, intense. We've been humbled by the response, the sharing of the campaign and the contributions. But we've also been overwhelmed by the reality of asking people for money. We lost our money––yes. We lost our investment in the farm and it was devastating. We have practically nothing to rebuild with and although we have land, we need a house. But does that necessarily give us reason to ask other people for their money? I still don't know that answer to that. The closest thing to an answer I've come up with is this: we needed help, put it out there and people have responded generously.Hannah and I have a strong affinity for community––it's a big part of why we decided to move to Bugtussle: to be close to fellow farmers; to start building community of our own. In a community––be it suburban or rural––when a member has a need, the community works to fulfill it. If someone needs help, the community comes together to raise the barn; to build the house; to take care of kids; to feed the animals; to raise some money. We want that security, but we also want to give that security to others. Community is the oldest form of insurance: you invest in the community, and the community makes itself available to catch you when you fall.And then we fell... hard. twice. But when this campaign went live we weren't thinking about community, asking the internet for assistance was a shot in the dark for us. I don't want to call it desperate, but desperation was close to what we felt. We knew we couldn't get our farm back up and running without a house, and we couldn't build a house without help. What we didn't realize, however, was we already belonged to a community, a selfless group of people who have donated enthusiastically, or shared our campaign, or sent us an encouraging note. It's a group we care about, and a group who we've discovered cares about us. However spread out, vague or even anonymous, it's a community, and thus an incredibly powerful entity.I suppose I'd never thought twice about the term "online community" before this campaign, but once it's done I'll definitely never underestimate it again. We have a long way to go yet in the fundraising, but this experience has already done a lot: it's redefined community to us, and brought that community together. And if ever another member should fall, we'll make ourselves available to help however we can, because that's what you do in a community, and that's what community is doing for us.- Jesse
PERKS.
Just a little update....we added some "perks" to our fundraising page. SO - if you have been wanting one or our tote bags, or a taste of Jesse's wine, or even a sketch or painting of mine - check it out!- Hannah.
SWEET POTATO SNEAK PEEK.
Jesse and I have been anxious about our sweet potatoes. Every day we walk past the rows, long and lush and full of wild vines. They look healthy enough - but it is hard to pass them bay day after day, month after month....just hoping that everything under ground is doing as well as the greenery above.We saved sweet potatoes from Bugtussle to use as our slips ( a process you can read about HERE). These sweet potatoes are seriously on another level - neither of us has ever tasted one as sweet as a Bugtussle sweet potato! If our potatoes can even have half of the flavor, we will be proud!Our plan was to dig up the potatoes around the end of September...but we wanted to just make sure everybody was OK down there. So Jesse harvested a little of the row earlier this week....and TAH-DAH! Potatoes! We are pretty pleased with this small sampling. As far as the taste, the potatoes have to cure for a couple of weeks to lose some of the starchiness and become sweet. So alas, we will just have to wait a little longer.- Hannah.
*ALSO* please don't forget to check out and share our fundraising page!
HOME AGAIN.
On Tuesday morning we got up early, took care of the animals and hit the road––off to look at another piece of property. Our destination was a few hours away, and admittedly a little further away than we were typically looking, but among the many wonderful responses we'd received after being asked to leave, it was an opportunity we couldn't ignore.If you ask us what we want for ourselves––where we see ourselves in ten years––we're likely to just say Bugtussle: we want our own Bugtussle. It's where we interned and fell in love, but it's more than that; Bugtussle is our dream farm.We want the off-the-grid cabin, and we want the creek. We want the barefoot children and we want the woods. We want gardens and animals and pastures, but most of all, we just want a homestead among a friendly community of family, patrons and neighbors. After we were asked to leave our farm in August, however, we'd never felt further from our dream––further from Bugtussle. It was sad to lose our farm, but worse to know we were a full year further away from our goal than when we started. But...in case you haven't guessed, Bugtussle was where we were headed last Tuesday.The farmers, Eric and Cher, met us with big smiles and even bigger hugs when we got to their cabin. They took us just up the road to an old homestead site and a small plot of five acres they were offering to sell us. The land was heavily overgrown, but potential was everywhere. With enough work, there were places for gardens, ponds, pastures and more than enough space for Wendell to lord over. We walked around the three barns, two of which would likely have to come down soon (or would just come down on their own), but one barn was restorable and charming. In the large high tunnel––an unheated greenhouse we'd also be taking over––we saw a place we could put veggies as early as, well, now. Most dauntingly, but most thrillingly for us, we studied a weedy plot where there used to be a house, and where we'd likely build a house for ourselves––our cabin––just a few minutes from our mentors and adopted family, the Smith's.So with that, and with overflowing excitement, we're proud to say it's official: the search is over! Starting this winter we're going to be building a cabin and a garden; we'll be restoring a barn and clearing woods, chipping away at our slab, hoping to sculpt something beautiful, or at least something we can call home. It seems we do get to have our own little Bugtussle, and it will just so happen to actually be...in Bugtussle!- Jesse and Hannah