A DAY IN PHOTOS - OUR VALENTINES DAY.
Greetings from New York City! Yep, Jesse and I hopped in the car yesterday and headed north. It was COMPLETELY spontaneous! I am writing this from Park Slope in Brooklyn, just having devoured my first authentic New York bagel. This is Jesse's old stomping ground, so I am excited to be here with him, meeting all his friends and learning about this part of his past. But more on that later.First, some photos of our Valentine's dinner. It was very simple and homemade. Jesse surprised me by making potato gnocchi, which is my favorite! I wanted to bake a Red Velvet cake, as I have never had one and it seemed appropriate for the holiday. I am highly allergic to red food coloring, so I used beets! We also each made gifts for each other, which was pretty sweet. What did you guys do for Valentines?- Hannah.
PLANTING A FARM.
Lately, Hannah and I have been eager to update everyone who has donated to us as to what we've been able to do with your generous contributions thus far. Although we haven't yet bought the Donkey named Clementine (emphasis on the yet––we have the money set aside! Thanks KJ!), we have been able to purchase all of the seeds we will need for the year; we've bought asparagus crowns and strawberry plants; our soil-block maker arrived two weeks ago with seed trays and we're going to be fencing in the garden we've been working on real soon. You might have seen that a greenhouse is going up, but what you haven't seen is the broadfork and collinear hoe we ordered. This is what you've done for us, and we are forever in debt for, and truly thankful to, our beautiful family of supporters.- Jesse.
So this is for you! As we carry on into the season, know that we are only able to do so because of your help. You, friends, have effectively planted a farm, and
ALSO......our wedding is being featured today on a website called Intimate Weddings. It is wonderful to see so many people being inspired by simplicity and small celebrations! If you aren't tired of us yet, head on over to see the lovely write up.
VALENTINE-ING.
I have been doing some serious crafting, sewing, and painting lately. Valentines Day is a wonderful excuse to pull out all the stops: hearts, sequins, glitter, the works. Since Jesse and I are trying to have a low-budget dinner at home this year, I have gone a bit overboard with the homemade decorations. A lot of what I have been working on is a surprise for our dinner, but this garland I made was so easy and so adorable I had to share. A great project for the upcoming holiday.I made my garland using different colors of construction paper, but you could just as easily use felt or fabric. Using the construction paper was the easiest and fastest...it probably took me about 15 minutes!
Cut out a one good heart. I just sketched one, but you could find a pattern and print it out or use some random heart-shaped object if you want it to be just so.
Use the pattern to trace out as many hearts as you like. I made two garlands, each about 5 feet long, with 15 hearts each.
Sew the hearts together into a long strip. Seriously. It is that easy!
Such a simple project. You could make the hearts into different shapes and colors to suit the occasion. But as for Valentines Day, I'd say this is pretty perfect.- Hannah.
SETTING UP SHOP.
When starting any business, there are going to be a fair number of things to be done before you can open the doors to the public. For a farmer that can mean plowing a garden (or cardboarding one, respectfully), building fences, fixing buildings or all manner of digging, hauling, heaving and pulling. With the warm, Spring weather quickly approaching, and hopes to offer a CSA this year, Hannah and I have been in somewhat of a dash to get ready for the season.We have multiple projects in the works, but the most pressing as of late has been the greenhouse. A greenhouse is not a necessity, but it definitely helps to get your garden going sooner. You can start seeds in small blocks of soil and let them mature until they are ready to transplant into the garden. I know farmers who don't use greenhouses at all, preferring rather to place the seeds directly in the soil in lieu of the young starts. However, they have to wait until the soil is warm and dry enough to do so which in turn pushes their season back later. Or there are gardeners who buy young plants from markets and place them straight into the soil. For our farm,we're interested in enjoying early crops from the garden, and if we want to start eating fresh food in May, we need to have seeds in the greenhouse in March. But first...we need a greenhouse!This morning we dressed warmly (including our slick new coveralls), gathered our tools and headed out to the farm for a little lesson in carpentry. By the end of the day we'd finished most of the frame - not bad for a couple of beginners on a cold, Kentucky afternoon!- Hannah.
