ALTERNATIVE CANNING.
Jesse's latest article for Sustainable Kentucky is up! Head over here to check it out. It is basically an experimentation in fermentation....a different way of canning your extra tomatoes that saves a LOT of time and energy. While you're there, you should also read the last in the Young Farmer Series about Good Life Ranch, another young farming couple doing some seriously unique stuff! Here is the link.- Hannah.
MOVING FORWARD.
First of all, I know a lot of people are waiting anxiously to hear some news. But basically...I've got nothing. Although many more opportunities, offers, and suggestions have come up, we haven't yet made a decision. We have spent the past few days keeping up with the farm chores, researching, and making a big ol' list of PROS and CONS.But on another note: Jesse is currently reading The Dirty Life by Kristin Kimball (I just finished it: it is wonderful). This morning, he was reading the chapter where Kristin is starting to get the impression that no one in her new community thinks her and her husband, who have just started an organic farm in upstate New York, are going to succeed. When her doubts begin to get the best of her, she asks her husband about it: "Of course we had a chance, he'd say, and anyway, it didn't matter if this venture failed. In his view, we were already a success, because we were doing something hard and it was something that mattered to us. You don't measure things like that with words like success or failure, he said. Satisfaction comes from trying hard things and then going on to the next hard thing, regardless of the outcome. What mattered was whether or not you were moving in a direction you thought was right."As Jesse and I ate our lunch today - juicy, purple slices of heirloom tomato on warm bread with our own butter and slivers of spicy garlic - I was stunned with the simplicity of it, the perfection of its smallness. And I reflected on these last 5 months - what all we have accomplished. We have eaten so many meals like these, beautiful meals with the food we grew. We have fed others, many loved ones and friends. We have slept most nights with the tiredness and true rest that can only come from devastatingly hard work. And so, as I feel words like "failure" start to creep in...I try to focus on this: On a tomato sandwich, on the positive words and support from our friends, and on the excitement and possibility that lies ahead as we continue to move forward. And that feels pretty successful.- Hannah.
COMMUNITY SUPPORTED INDEED.
In the last few days I've written what seems to be dozens of blog posts, infinite musings on the pain and frustration Hannah and I have been through this year, and reflections on what it's like to feel hopeless in your garden, the one place where there usually exists almost nothing but possibility. It's nice to write in the voice we've adopted for our blog, the one who talks openly and shares their story with numerous, faceless people. It feels like therapy: even if no one reads all those posts I've written, I've written them to someone who listens and I'm left feeling better.However, I have no ambitions to update with another sad post about our predicament when so many good things are coming from it. We visited a farm around Berea yesterday and spoke with a great family whose enthusiasm and generosity was refreshing and exciting. The CFA people have been wonderful, actively and aggressively sending us different leads and ideas––including the Berea farm. Our friends and family have been sharing our links; we're getting in touch with random people who've heard our story; tens of dozens of notes, comments and suggestions have flooded our inbox and thousands of views have come to our blog over the last few days... People, in short, are doing what they can and what they're doing is inspiring. Community is a vague concept sometimes until it unites, at which point it seems to become an army.We're weighing all options and opportunities and possibilities and we're starting to feel as though, no matter what happens, we'll come out on top. If you still have ideas or suggestions, even if they're small or ridiculous, please keep them coming and know that not one ounce of your support is going unnoticed or unappreciated. Not an ounce.- Jesse.
A LITTLE HELP WANTED.
It's been a couple days now. Although we're finally coming out of the understandable funk losing your farm will render, we're also finding ourselves a couple days closer to having to leave. We have to make a decision soon. Decisions, however, require options and we're writing this in hopes of finding a few more.As hard as it is to ask for help sometimes, we thought it couldn't hurt to see if perhaps one of our dear readers could help. Maybe they have a piece of property not being used, or know someone who'd be willing to owner-finance a few acres––something they don't need and would like to see farmed and farmed lovingly. We hear a lot of stories of small farmers finding their land this way, and thought we'd be bold and go ahead and put it out there...SO, If we had our druthers, things would look like this: We'd love to owner finance / lease-to-own a small piece of property, 5-??? acres, with some kind of water source, tillable land and a small farmhouse. Preferably this place would be within an hour of Lexington, Bowling Green or Louisville. We really like the Danville area, but we would look at just about anything anywhere. Beggars, as the saying goes–––though I prefer the term financially disabled––cannot be choosers. We might be able to borrow enough for a small down payment, if that helps. Again, though, we are considering all ideas, any opportunity, the simplest advice.We have already been presented with a very generous, god-send of an offer, but since it's another piece of land we may never own, we are at least taking a moment to explore some other options. As these friends know, our ultimate goal is to own land, and though we know we'd love it there, we're understandably a little hesitant to get ourselves into another temporary situation.If you have any ideas, any at all, please do not be shy about sending them along. Hannah and I are doing fine, but we're not in the most creative of mind states. Everything is moving slow right now, and we're trying to snap out of the shock, which we must do quickly, but it's hard. Our email is roughdraftfarmstead@gmail.com, if you have any leads or if you would just like to drop a line please feel free. You all will never know how much your flow of support has kept our little boat afloat.- Jesse.