The summer solstice & full moon are Monday and the 2016 growing season is well underway. This is our first summer “farming with a baby” and we are learning how to be good parents and reconfiguring how we get things done on the farm. Each farm season is an evolution.
The first full rainbow I have seen in awhile.
Today it is raining. It has been raining on and off this month which has been an AMAZING GIFT compared to the parched soils last summer. The rain gives me some breathing room because I am not panicked about irrigation. In fact, as I type this post on a soggy Saturday, I have time to sip some lukewarm coffee and watch our now 11-month old daughter nap.
Waiting for the baby last year–one of 2 full moons last July.
It has been almost a full year since my last blog post when I was anxiously awaiting our baby. It was SO hot and I was SO pregnant this month last year. At that time, I was also reflecting on important changes in the world. The celebration of marriage equality, finally. The Pope’s stand on climate change and our responsibility to the environment in his Encyclical Letter.
Today I am a mix of emotions, struggling with the senseless deaths in Orlando, reading about the largest ever dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico attributed to corn fertilizer runoff and trying to avoid the vitriolic election rhetoric.
Tensions are high, its easy to get down on things. I am trying to focus on gratitude. Gratitude for this land, for being a part of a loving community, for the opportunity to be a good mom and raise another woman. For good food.
June Helen at 8 months
I am thinking about what I want June to learn as she grows up. That a woman can run this country. That she has the right to speak her mind without fear. That love really does win. The vital importance of tending and caring for our precious Earth. Things I am still learning.
Our lovely ewes, keeping me in line.
So onward into summer. This upcoming week will be a mess of harvesting, speed weeding and organizing for our Good Agricultural Practices audit. I hope to be posting more regularly. Look for upcoming posts about my writing adventure in VT, herb & sheep musings, fiddling on the farm and exciting NEW farm plans to share!
We are not doing workshops in 2016 as we have our hands full right now, but 2017 plans are underway and I will write more about those updates soon.
Thanks for reading and for all the support over the last year!
In harmony,
Jessica