THIS & THAT.

Some random still life scenes from inside the house this week.The trusty woodstove.Our "pantry." The piglets live here when it is too cold outside. The living room.Charlie is a huge fan of messing up my knitting.Our favorite letters on the staircase. 

PLANTING.

We set out some seedlings on Friday (and then on Saturday we heard about the ice storm coming on Sunday...oh well). But they should be well protected under a low tunnel we made out of left-over greenhouse plastic. Hang in there little plants!Here is an amazing old post where we talked about how and why we start our seeds in soil blocks....there is even a baby Wendell cameo!

THE DEFINITION OF FARMER.

If someone asks us what we do, we say we are full time farmers. And although we are rarely asked to elaborate on what that entails, I am often left considering how vague and ambiguous the label of "Farmer" can be.Put simply, a farmer is someone who tends a farm, but because tending a farm can be so varied, "Farmer" rapidly becomes the sum of the many different acts that make up farming. Sure, sometimes farming is tractors and planting and harvesting, but more often than not being the farmer means being a carpenter, constructing and deconstructing everything required to maintain animals or plants or both. "Farmer" can mean bird watcher, hunter, gatherer, shepherd, salesman or simply carrying heavy objects around––the "materials handling business," as our mentor Eric calls farming. I have found in my limited experience, that farmer can mean just about anything so long as it's done in the name of farming.This week, Hannah and I have definitely seen how far the term "Farmer" can be stretched. We have been the carpenter. We have been the veterinarian. We have been the landscaper, the gardener, the salesman, the shepherd, the forager, the chef, the daredevil (see: cabin updates). The surgeon? Check (apologies to Trousers, Gomer and Boris for the abrupt removal of your manhood, er, boarhood). And considering all that, what never ceases to amuse me is how at the end of the day, no matter how diverse said day has been, if someone asks us what we do, we just say we're farmers.- Jesse.

CABIN UPDATE - FINISHING THE SIDING.

With the help of an incredibly enormous ladder borrowed from our neighbor, we finished a major chunk of the siding last week. This is something that has been weighing on Jesse's mind for a long time, and so it is a huge relief to have it done. We had gotten so used to seeing the cabin half-finished and covered in tar paper, it is sort of surreal to have it fully covered, our little sassafras home.- Hannah.