Greetings! We (Katie, my wife, along with Doug and Molly Wharton) decided that if we were going to be writing about our farm in a blog form that we should start by introducing ourselves with an individual write up. First off, I don’t like writing about myself but I will give it a whirl.
Let’s start with some baseline info. I am 36 years old at the time of this writing, soon to be 37. I have no idea how I am that old. My wife, Katie, and I have been married 12 years and we have two children, Naomi (5) and Breece (2). I currently teach elementary art away from the farm but I try to keep my hands dirty with farm work when I get home, on weekends, and all summer long. Much of my time these days is working on the digital aspects of the farm. I do the design and web work for the farm as well as any other technical/nerdy stuff that needs to be taken care of.
In 2011 we moved to a little parcel of land outside of town to start a small homestead. There wasn’t much land but we had what we needed. There was a large space for the garden, an old spring house, unused outhouse, fruit trees, and quiet. It was wonderful. We raised chickens, rabbits, and kept bees. When we could, we made or produced most of our food. I built an outdoor oven, cut firewood, learned how to butcher pigs, cure and roll pancetta, and sharpen knives so well that I could shave with them. I don’t shave though. The whole process was life giving and abundant. I am not so naive to think our little farm was perfect but it offered a way of life that was full and I loved it. Our friends, Doug and Molly, were right down the road the whole time and we shared much of our life with them. Over the course of a few years we started rounding out thoughts about taking our families to a bigger space to farm more intensively. I brought up that my grandmother had property and it was just being rented for corn and soy… maybe that would work?
