IN DEFENSE OF THE SUMMER BEARD.
A few years ago I decided, being that I was moving onto a farm, I had to shave my beard. Up until that point, I'd kept a beard for most of my adult life, and although I had no desire to get rid of it, I figured it was necessary. I just didn't think it made sense on a farm in Southern Kentucky to have a giant mask of hair on my face. I imagined months of hot days in the sun, suffocating and itching—shaving seemed like the logical thing to do. So I shaved. And it was miserable.I was itchy anyway. I suffered several doses of sunburn and overexposure that year. My face was burned everywhere my hat didn't protect. Although I didn't mind the chore of shaving—despite the fact that it involved heating water on a stove, driving to a sunny spot on the farm and shaving by the reflection in my truck's windows—my follicles mocked my efforts anyway by always reproducing a fresh, irritating batch of stubble within a day's time. By the late fall, I'd quit shaving.Going into the next summer season on the farm I debated shaving again. If the heat was that bad without a beard, I thought to myself, then having a beard was going to be much worse. But I didn't shave. And it was wonderful.What I'd never considered about facial hair was its utility. I'd never thought about the beard protecting my face from the sun or insulating it from the heat, and keeping me cool. I recognize that not everyone can grow a beard (like Hannah, who often bemoans this fact). But if you are like me, or any one of the tens of people who've asked me about farming with a beard, I highly endorse the summer beard. It's comfortable. It requires very little maintenance. Yes, it does occasionally retain some of my lunch or beer, but I couldn't see life without it. In fact, two years ago this week was when Hannah and I first became sweethearts—and I know, because she's told me—the beard didn't hurt my chances any. It might have even helped them a bit.- Jesse.
MORELS, MORELS, MORELS!
Morels are a type of mushroom - and they have been consuming all of our time and energies these days. If you have never tasted one, then you can't possibly understand how these little fungi can distract the attention of busy farmers in the spring. We literally will drop whatever important task we are working on and spend an entire day hunting for them after a good rain - and we have had great success so far this year.
As soon as Ira started finding them in the woods a few weeks ago, Jesse and him have been having a little competition, with delicious results. Last week, we enjoyed a meal of morels, stuffed with freshly ground lamb and asparagus. The luxury of farming at its finest.
- Hannah.
THIS & THAT.
Some random photos from the past week.
Jesse has been finding lots of morels lately! We love mushroom hunting.
A honeybee on an apple tree blossom.
When our milk spoils, we end up baking a lot of corn cakes on the wood stove.
We have been reunited with our chickens - and of course, their delicious eggs!
The black snake that lives in our mulch pile.
Ira and his adopted lambs, Blossom and Bloom.
This little calf is sprouting her horns - and an awesome hairdo along with them.
WENDELL WEDNESDAY.
We have a snake living in our mulch pile, which is an endless entertainment to Wendell. We are pretty sure his curiosity is going to get him a nip on the nose, but we are happy to have it be this harmless black snake who teaches him the lesson, rather than a copperhead or rattler later on.