The countdown is officially on! Against all odds, Luke and I have decided to go on a spring break vacation this year- we are roadtripping down to Key West with four of our close friends, and we are incredibly excited.
A very affordable and fun RV trip to Key West?! Sounds like an easy decision to make - yes, please! However, for Luke and I, deciding to take vacations that we go together is difficult. Vacations on are own are easy to decide - I went to Seattle last year, and am going to a week-long teaching convention this summer! Luke will also be taking this Memorial Day weekend to backpack and canoe in the Boundary Waters. Why is it so easy for us to decide that we want to spend an entire week without each other, one of us away from the farm? Because when only one of us leaves, we know that the other person is there, making sure that everything on the farm is going well and nothing is dying.
But its not the best circumstance though! That means that everything we do to get away, we are doing ourselves. We don't get to take a vacation together. While our honeymoon went pretty well (except for the 3 of the 6 days when Luke had the flu), he was constantly thinking about the farm - did the market go well? Were all the CSA bags delivered? Was there a late frost and the tomatoes didn't get covered? A million questions going through our minds when we are supposed to be enjoying our vacation.
So, how and why did we decide to take a week away in March? It wasn't an easy decision to make - the week we are going is immediately after we will have planted our tomatoes in the greenhouse. However, the decision was easier to make. First - for our own sanity, we need a vacation. Second, we have a wonderful employee who has been with us for almost a year now, and he is able to watch over the farm for us and keep everything going. And, we are blessed with parents who are willing to come to our rescue, water the sprouts and care for the chickens so that we are able to enjoy our time away.
Thus, we were presented with an opportunity that was hard to turn down, and I am so excited to say that we are heading down to the Florida Keys in a little less than three weeks. I'm sure the departure won't be easy and Luke will be a little stressed, but I can rest assured that Austin will take wonderful care of our house and our farm, and our parents will fill in as necessary. So I can't wait to throw our inhibitions to the wind and party hard down in Florida. Okay, well, that's not that likely, I'm still me and Luke is still Luke - but I guess we can get excited to enjoy some Florida sun and spend some quality time with each other and friends.
Monday, February 20, 2012
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Don't Even Try to Give me that Monopoly Money!
We had the best winter farmer's market that we ever had about 2 weeks ago! It was incredibly busy, and people were buying like crazy! There was a lot of excitement in the air and people were in very good-natured moods! I was enjoying selling our local goods, and I was also enjoying seeing individuals that I had not seen in awhile. A CSA customer from this fall stopped by to see how we were doing, and he gifted some presents to us. He gave us a fresh-baked cheesecake (yum), and gave us a book called "The Dirty Life," which I am super excited to read! He gave us the items as a token of appreciation for all the delicious veggies we have given him. It was really warming to have someone bestow that generosity upon us, and it was nice to be appreciated.
As I said, we were moving through our food like crazy! I sold 3 jars of pickles in 45 minutes - I have never sold canned goods like that - but it made me feel like all the hard work this summer had paid off! Next market I am going to bring even more - maybe I'll have some returning customers.
Well, at this market, it seems that everyone walks around with $20 bills. They don't have singles, fives or tens, they are just carrying the big bucks! Luke and I were quickly running out of change - we didn't have any singles left, and a handful of 5's and 10's. Normally you just have to roll with it and someone will give you the change you need, but there can be some dicey moments. My parents were on their way out, and I asked if they had any singles. They only had 2 - so I gave them 2 gold coins in exchange for the singles. My dad gave me a confused look, and said - "Well these are worth a dollar, why can you give these to people?" I explained that for some odd reason - even though it is still money and has the same value - people really hate getting those coins.
Which leads me to the monopoly money component of this! A while later, a woman bought a pound of carrots, which costs $2.50. She handed me $5, and to my dismay - we only had 1 single left! I gave her 1 single, 1 gold dollar coin, and then 50 cents. When I handed her the money - she looked and me oddly and said "What in the world is this?" I explain that it was a gold dollar and we had run out of singles, and because she was packing up her wallet (so I thought), I moved on to help another customer. Glancing down at this woman, I noticed she was shaking and yelling at her husband. I overheard the words "You need to help me, I am being forced to take something I don't want."
I went over by the lady and said "Is there something wrong mam?" I guess that opened the door for the blow-out - she went off on me about how I am forcing her to take something that she doesn't want, and that she didn't even know what it was. She told me that I needed to figure out a way to make the "proper change" and if I didn't, she was just going to return her carrots and get her $5 back. I tried to politely explain again that it was still worth a dollar and that I didn't have any other singles. Her husband, in a rough voice, spoke "Just give her 4 quarters - at least it is money we understand." I obliged, trading 4 quarters for the gold dollar, and they marched angrily away.
My goodness, I couldn't help but chuckle about the idea that I was passing out fake money - its not like it had the monopoly man on it and was worth $5,000. I guess some people don't know what a gold coin is - what are they going to do when the government switches over to gold coins and no longer prints dollar bills?
Regardless, the market ended fantastically, Luke and I were so busy we could barely keep up! Our greens sold out in no time - I truly believe that in the grayness of winter, the greens and purples of the lettuce greens really excites people. I know it makes me feel better when I look at it! If this market is a glimpse of what 2012 will be, I can say we will have an exciting year ahead of us!
As I said, we were moving through our food like crazy! I sold 3 jars of pickles in 45 minutes - I have never sold canned goods like that - but it made me feel like all the hard work this summer had paid off! Next market I am going to bring even more - maybe I'll have some returning customers.
Well, at this market, it seems that everyone walks around with $20 bills. They don't have singles, fives or tens, they are just carrying the big bucks! Luke and I were quickly running out of change - we didn't have any singles left, and a handful of 5's and 10's. Normally you just have to roll with it and someone will give you the change you need, but there can be some dicey moments. My parents were on their way out, and I asked if they had any singles. They only had 2 - so I gave them 2 gold coins in exchange for the singles. My dad gave me a confused look, and said - "Well these are worth a dollar, why can you give these to people?" I explained that for some odd reason - even though it is still money and has the same value - people really hate getting those coins.
Which leads me to the monopoly money component of this! A while later, a woman bought a pound of carrots, which costs $2.50. She handed me $5, and to my dismay - we only had 1 single left! I gave her 1 single, 1 gold dollar coin, and then 50 cents. When I handed her the money - she looked and me oddly and said "What in the world is this?" I explain that it was a gold dollar and we had run out of singles, and because she was packing up her wallet (so I thought), I moved on to help another customer. Glancing down at this woman, I noticed she was shaking and yelling at her husband. I overheard the words "You need to help me, I am being forced to take something I don't want."
I went over by the lady and said "Is there something wrong mam?" I guess that opened the door for the blow-out - she went off on me about how I am forcing her to take something that she doesn't want, and that she didn't even know what it was. She told me that I needed to figure out a way to make the "proper change" and if I didn't, she was just going to return her carrots and get her $5 back. I tried to politely explain again that it was still worth a dollar and that I didn't have any other singles. Her husband, in a rough voice, spoke "Just give her 4 quarters - at least it is money we understand." I obliged, trading 4 quarters for the gold dollar, and they marched angrily away.
My goodness, I couldn't help but chuckle about the idea that I was passing out fake money - its not like it had the monopoly man on it and was worth $5,000. I guess some people don't know what a gold coin is - what are they going to do when the government switches over to gold coins and no longer prints dollar bills?
Regardless, the market ended fantastically, Luke and I were so busy we could barely keep up! Our greens sold out in no time - I truly believe that in the grayness of winter, the greens and purples of the lettuce greens really excites people. I know it makes me feel better when I look at it! If this market is a glimpse of what 2012 will be, I can say we will have an exciting year ahead of us!
Friday, December 30, 2011
Reflections...
As 2011 wraps up, it is interesting to reflect on where we have come as a couple and as farmers in this past year. To call it a rollercoaster would be cliche, but also remarkably accurate. I read through some of my past blog posts, and reflected on those things that I did, and did not cover. A lot of the positives I didn't take the time to write down, and some of the hardest moments I didn't write about because some things are simply too personal and hard to share. And other stuff, I was simply tooo busy! When it comes down to it, no one really understands our life except for Luke and I, but that's okay, because when it comes down to it, I wouldn't trade this life for anything. Maybe people don't understand why we would want to live this way - I hear that all the time, but it is a great and complicated life, filled with stories, tears, and bliss. Before I reflect on that, let's reflect on some of the things this year has brought.
1. Banjo and Murtle!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Such amazing contributions to our farm life - these cute little kittens have grown into large outdoor cats who greet us as the door in the morning, and jump on the hood of my car when I get home from work. I typically say that I hate cats - then why do I like these two? Because they are more like dogs!!!!!!!!! They greet me all the time, they love affection and people, and they go on walks with us! Yes, when we take Tobshu on a walk around the tree farm - they trail behind us closely and cautiously - Tobshu gets a little aggressive out there. But they tag along - and I love it! They are so friendly - during Christmas tree farm season, Murtle even hopped in a customer's vehicle! They had driven for about 10 minutes only to discover a cat in the car - thankfully, they turned around to return her. These two were one of my most spontaneous decisions, but they were also one of my best!
3. The large walk-in refrigerator! We went from the refrigerator crisis of June, to having our very own walk-in fridge in July! And thank goodness - we needed it. I remember in the blistering heat of the summer - when it was 95 and muggy, Luke and I would dart into the walk-in fridge and shiver in there - but it felt so good. Now, it is ironic that when Luke and I are packing for market early Saturday morning and we are shivering - we go into the fridge to warm up! Luke's like it is multi-functional for cooling/warming.
4. The chickens. We have chased countless chickens this year - now we don't even bother to chase them when they escape - they make their way back to the coop! Not only have we chased countless chickens, we also butchered 100+ chickens this year!! That was quite the experience. I can't even tell you what it was like to look outside, see Luke butchering a bird, and then bring it in to me to cook up - while it was still warm! Odd, but delicious when it was all said and done!
5. The floods. In the course of the greenhouse project, we had over 100 dumptrucks of dirt brought in (thanks to the Pulaski round-a-bout project) but it tore up our yard! Literally, a dirt mess. Then, a few downfalls that delivered a couple inches of rain brought us to flood city. See below - we didn't put a pond in - it just appears that way. Muddy, wet, mess. Well, we have a dog - and he loves to play in the water. I think I had to give him a bath every day for two weeks straight. I guess it was worth it because we have the awesome greenhouse now, and I guess Tobshu had fun, but man, that was a pain!
So, we head into 2012. Luke and I said that in 2012 we would take a two week vacation, buy some cool toys (like a new vehicle or something of the like), will fix up the house further and make progress on our yard.We were dreaming big, and after a year's worth of reflecting, its easy to make change some of our 2012 thoughts. Some things we have already accepted won't happen - like the big vacation. Luke and I will never have the lifestyle or the money to do that, and when we finally do, we will want to have children - we already talk about that like every other week! But that's okay, because we don't need to travel to have crazy experiences. We have every kind of moment right here in our very own yard. We might get another dog, and we might venture into the world of turkeys. It will always be an adventure out here, and I can't wait to see what 2012 brings. Maybe I will finally talk Luke into that pool I've been wanting...
One things for sure - I'm going to try to make an effort to blog more frequently - so stay tuned!
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