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It is hard to believe that I’m writing this on August 2nd! Where on earth has the season gone? It feels like just the other day we were sticking broccoli and cabbage starts in the field and contemplating starting a fire in the fire pit. Now we’re sticking broccoli and cabbage starts in the field and contemplating jumping in the creek! These next 12 weeks are going to fly by and we are doing our best to cherish every moment we have growing produce for those in our community. (...)
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Highlights From the Farm
We continue to survive the rains! Humorously the rains have invited a family of Mallards to float between rows at the end of our field. We can’t complain, they are great at managing the slug population. Adaline seems to think she is one of the duck’s hatchlings. We’re hoping, however, that she’ll decide munching on slugs isn’t quite her idea of a good meal! ... What’s Happening on the Farm This Week
The past month or so since the last update has been a whirlwind complete with floods and late frost but the veggies are strong and we are so excited to finally start sharing them with you all! First, I want to brag a little on our incredible work-trade crew we have this year. ... What’s Been Happening on the Farm:
This month has been both beautiful & challenging. As two young farmers with two young kids in tow and really big dreams (who might struggle with an itty bitty bit of perfectionism at times...ha!) the reminder Nature gives us to let go of the need to control EVERYTHING and take a few good deep breaths is truly a gift to us. As the spring sun has begun to warm the soil & our newly transplanted baby cabbage has grown strong and the sweet earth-scented breeze rolls over us in the field... What’s Been Happening on the Farm:
This past month on the farm…
 When our family began this 2019 growing season we were pregnant with our second child (a 2nd little girl, due November 9th!) & had no idea this would be the year we became farmers! It has been our crazy dream for several years now to grow food on a community scale (and have the opportunity to share it with others). We simply expected it to be at least 3-5 more years before we could even legitimately start small-scale farming and make the transition from office to field. Boy, were we in for a surprise! ...
Today was a down day in our little garden. No beating around the perennial bush, no flowery intro, just a rough down day. We’ve had about 4 days straight of beautiful gentle rain. Which is wonderful for our thirsty little plants, who went for about a week and a half of beating sun. And it was beautiful, gentle, wonderful rain. And I can’t quite put my finger one the cause of my melancholy mood. It might have been the flat tire on the truck, a truck essential to a few of our bigger garden jobs, mainly hauling gravel. Or perhaps it’s that our spring veggies, cabbage, broccoli, etc are stunted and small and there is standing water 6 inches below the surface in our beds because the clay is so compacted. Or maybe it’s the strange black spots on the underside of our clover, or the fact that the cowpeas aren’t grabbing on to the trellis the way I think they should. Most likely the cause of my gloomy mood is that the garden my family and I put our hands into isn’t the perfect Eden I think it should be by now. I mean it’s been like 60 days, shouldn’t it be a lush and fertile oasis by now?! If I can’t cultivate my front yard how will I be able to farm multiple acres?  But this is a learning process, a process full of frustration and low points, mistakes and errors. Something I have historically not handled well. I want to do things perfectly the first time. But sometimes it seems like ...
 We finally got some rain this week. I should be happy about it. And I suppose I am. Our home garden loves it! And the Farm at Junebug needed it. However, I also have felt a little bummed and I am reflecting during this quiet time of toddler naps on why... We started this summer knowing that Kyle would be busy learning lots of new skills and forming a knowledge base around a whole new area of work (namely: farming and growing food, among many other skills). We (I) knew that he would often be working or at internships for long hours and that even though we could usually pack up the car and go see him more than when he worked at the office...it would still mean he would be away from home as much or more as when he worked in the office. I knew that it would be a whole new world. And I was pretty sure he would enjoy it... What I did not anticipate was how much he would love it. And how much he would want to be there even on days where he would not be faulted for taking the day off (like a rainy day). We don't need the money although I am positive he feels some pressure to "provide" in that way. But, he is also just incredibly loyal and a monstrously dedicated worker. I have never before ran into the feeling of him possibly wanting to be working on his "work" even slightly more than wanting to be at home... home: where the work is a lot slower, more messy, and likely not as exciting. I'm not really complaining. I love that he loves this whole new world. I love it! I wish I could be there working alongside him more... And he HAS to if that's what we are considering building our future around to any degree. He loves working outside. He loves doing physical labor. He loves being part of a team. He loves the feeling of knowing he is doing a good job. Like a REALLY good job. He is really good at this kind of work. So why am I here all melancholy on this overcast but beautifully rainy end of the week? When I know that he though he really probably could be home, he can also legitimately find work to do at Work and has joy doing so. Sure, we have stuff to do here around the house and property and being pregnant can't be my excuse for everything. But, I just miss him. And I know our daughter does too. (We get to visit him at work and stay all day if we want. This was something we would never have been able to do while he was an engineer). We can also actually get out in the field and HELP him at work on the farm (up to the limits of toddler endurance that is)... ...And maybe that is part of it as well.  I recently read a post by a mom who is a also farmer. Her husband snapped a precious photo of her nursing their youngest in the shade of a large tractor parked in the middle of a half-tilled field. She expressed her thoughts and emotions related to her years of strong primary identification as a farmer before other roles in her life and how recently she has been accepting and truly embracing her role as a "grower of humans" (a mommy) as well as a grower of food. This struck a sore chord in my heart I hadn't realized was even there! I think more than even missing Kyle...though I SERIOUSLY DO...and I really was super bummed all day today wishing he would just let the rain chase him back home! ...I think... just maybe... I might be jealous? Jealous. Yes, maybe...Or something of that general color and angst. I have felt the very real "pull-back", the sense of being "held-back" by motherhood only VERY rarely. I never truly felt it as a nurse. I love that career and will do it alongside whatever else I do as long as I can, however, it does not make my soul ache to any unbearable degree to step away from my nursing career while I stay home to be a full-time mama in the various capacities I have done so over the last 3 years. However... Having to leave the field while the men "get to" (in my mind) do all the farm work so that I can follow my toddler to the stream or the playground... and knowing that with pregnancy (and the impending delivery of a tiny new human) I will be essentially resetting this type of restriction on my freedom to get my hands in the dirt in the focused way I want to... it kind of sends waves of something close to my own type of toddler fit through my system. As of right now, for us (and maybe also for other homesteaders out there), the reality is that I AM the primary "human grower"... that is my primary crop. Kyle is VERY much a dedicated co-farmer on this project, but whether either he or I like in (both of us bump up against our own unique frustrations with this reality), he is literally FREER to do "other work"... and I am not. Especially while pregnant or nursing. This is in part because we have chosen this to be the way we want to raise our children. And we would not change that core decision despite emotions that buck against it at times. We want there to be a least one full-time parent with them and not put them (or us) through the various stressors of daycare. Kyle has historically made the larger paycheck enabling me to naturally (and willingly) be the primary stay-at-home parent. Now with Farm Work and various "big chores" related to our homestead building Kyle is the man, stronger, and much more able to work outside for 8+ hours of hard labor per day. I will readily admit that pregnancy also turns me into a floppy, wilty wimp! (I am only a feminist up to the point of reality and personal willingness... ;p). In all reality, I would not WANT to work 40+ hours doing his work right now. I have never been good tied to a typically scheduled 40-hour work week. AND, I'd really ONLY want to do the Farm Work anyway! Not the large swaths of exhaust stinky, sticky, hot lawn mowing...or the setting up chairs for the wedding venue...or moving heavy equipment... or really, even the tractors are not my favorite. I am simply running up against my own impatience. AGAIN.  Yep. I want us to have our own land NOW. I want us to already have our own FARM now. I want to be able to tell my compliant 6 year old to play well with my compliant 3 year old (3 more years to this ideal and possibly unrealistic dream) while I work alongside Kyle tending to our large 1/2 to 1 acre field of food and flowers and permanent beds that require no large tractors. I want to be able to go inside at lunch while Kyle finishes up our current project in the greenhouse and make a large vegan meal for our family and our small crew of dedicated and wonderfully-hearted workers and interns. I am impatient and now that the dirt is literally within grasp (and all over Kyle), I feel deep emotions that are manifesting themselves in strange broody ways. I do miss him. And I do wish he would have stayed home today while it rained. But maybe even more, I grieve a little for what I am restricted from doing (and what we are still waiting for) right now and kind of want his simple comforting presence more than anything (he is good at that too). Being pregnant makes one emotional, but am have never been of the sort to just write my emotions off as illogical. There's a reason. Many really. They are real and likely not to be fully resolved any time in the present. They all require patience. WHICH IS THE THEME OF MY LIFE IT SEEMS... it all comes down to learning to be patient and honing my own Presence. Right now it is right for Kyle to be free and flourish abundantly in this new atypical work (according to our overriding culture of money security first...and a little of our parents sensibilities too). It is good and truly what I want for him. To feel freedom internally and externally to explore. To try his hand at something NEW and be free of pressure to provide or fit in a traditional career mold (I can't totally help his own internally imposed ones). I want him to feel affirmed and feel joy. ...And, if anything, I truly know that beyond our own ability to be "good listeners" to the still, small Voice guiding us along this unknown road we are walking, somehow we are still meandering in the right direction (possibly a bit drunkenly...but meh, whose really watching that matters other than those who really love us anyhow)! I am where I am supposed to be. These roles we have chosen are truly of our choosing. My actual ones are are as important as any I could wish upon myself. Kyle's are also right and good and in God's timing. We are walking together along this road. As a mom and a wife I am strong and capable and more than able to grow magical things right where I am--both human and edible! My passionate (sometimes tending toward impatience) and Kyle's loyalty (sometimes tending toward rutting) are two of our greatest mutual assets. We are where we are supposed to be. ...Let these thought be a prayer when the rain seems oppressive instead of life-giving. 
I wrote a message to a friend on Instagram this morning and it was a great summary update on us so I thought I'd post that while I work on a more in depth blog post: |Spring 2019|Kyle parted ways with office work at the beginning of this growing season and is now working for a local organic vegetable farm and wedding venue/Airbnb (LINK). He absolutely loves it and cannot imagine going back to the office. He will stay there through the winter and into the next growing season next year when he and whoever is on his team will get about 30,000 sq feet of field to farm (they have about 15k right now). It's a beginning farm (the wedding venue is their primary business) so they are totally non-dependent on the outcome of the farm so Kyle and his crew basically get to farm totally risk free and creatively. It's an incredible opportunity! Otherwise, I'm continuing to bake our second little sour dough bun and our 3 year old is loving the idea of being a big sister! We plan on trying our hand at vegan cheese this month with the help of Miyoko's cheese making cookbook. I'm excited about that. Our garden is starting to take off and I love that people here in WNC (Western North Carolina) think that 80 degrees is hot...lol!!!! 🤣 I'll take it!
<3  Sending Down Our Mountain RootsIn June we made our final move for the year of 2018. We are finally beginning to feel settled for the first time all year!Appalachian Mountains. North Carolina. (Pronounced- App-uh-latch-in) As many of you know, Kyle and I have been on a journey of growing a dream for our family; mountains, a space to be wilder & closer to the land (and each other) & for community are at top of our list of goals. On Thanksgiving of this last year our little family took a last minute trip out here to Western North Carolina with Kyle’s parents to look at a possible piece of property to buy. Kyle had also landed a rare job interview with a structural engineering firm in downtown Asheville at the same time. He interviewed on the Monday after Thanksgiving Day (which we spent eating veggie burgers at a local pub) & got a job offer during the interview! After a lot of thoughtfulness we decided to accept Kyle’s job offer and make the big move from Kansas City (our sweet 750 sq ft home, our irreplaceable friends, our family and years and years of familiarity and memories) to the wild and unfamiliar Mountains of North Carolina. January 1st, 2018 marked our first day in our new homeland as a family! It was the coldest day of the year and we were outsiders as we pulled up with our U-Haul but the day was sunny & bright and our hearts were brimmed with peace and joy. Our first home here was a room-for-rent in an urban intentional community in West Asheville. It was a safe and affordable place to rent and it kept us together (the alternative was Kyle renting on his own and me and Adaline staying with his parents near the coast). It wasn’t an easy living situation because of some strained roommate relations but we were endlessly thankful to be together and wouldn’t change that decision even in hindsight. We learned a lot in that community and grew a lot as a family. When it came to moving into our current home (and our own space to regain our familiar family rhythms) we were ready and deeply thankful for new perspectives we had gained in that first chapter of this year. In June we moved into a beautiful semi-rural home in Candler (about 20 minutes from downtown Asheville) in a small wonderfully wooded neighborhood with amazing neighbors. We had searched weekend after weekend after weekend (after weekend...after weekend….) with Kyle’s parents to find this home. This will be their retirement home (unless we can convince them to build on our future land! ;p ) It was wonderful to finally have our own space AND to get ALL our doggies back together (we were only allowed 1 out of our 5 while in our first rental). The others had stayed with some incredible & loving friends and family those first 7 months. Since our move (and real settling in has begun) we have enrolled Adaline in a great Forest School twice a week and we continue to attend a parent/toddler class once a week. We visited the Biltmore this past Spring and spent a wonderful week at the beach with Rick, Patty, Charlotte, John and Carter. It was such a joy to be together, play at the beach and see the cousins play! We have been on more hikes this year than the three previous years combined. We carved a medium-sized terraced garden into our front yard which will continue to thrive this coming Spring with our continually growing compost pile. We plan on expanding the garden as we grow our skill as food growers. Our goal is to grow 90% of our own food. We also plan on learning more and more this year about preserving and other forms of “putting up” our food. We lost my Mazda in the summer due to failed breaks (thankful we were all okay!). We bought another car and then both our cars got crunched by a huge pine-tree branch. We finally have both cars almost 100% fixed. We liked our rentals but they aren’t AWD and in the snow that wasn’t fun! We made it through our first major mountain snow storm. Power was out for about 16 hours and suddenly a wood stove and a 4x4 truck made a whole lot more sense!! We also became a refuge center to Rick and Patty during Hurricane Michael. That was an intense time for people on the East Coast in this area. Many lives were lost, both human and animal. We were grateful for the minimal impact here in the mountains and Rick and Patty’s home by the coast faired well. I (Athena) took a nursing job at the local hospital this winter. It is a great job on a wonderful, dedicated, kind-hearted unit that serves only women’s surgical patients (no male patients). Kyle has been super busy with a BIG job this year which has meant many LONG hours but he is content and happier than I have ever seen him with his job. For that I am willing to give up some hours at home together. He is learning SO much and growing by leap and bounds as an engineer and each hour is an investment in our future! We deeply (and daily) miss our Kansas City friends. Building community is high our list this next year now that we are more settled in and have a place to send down our roots. We continue to work toward learning necessary homesteading skills (growing food, building, preserving food, etc) and continue to post updates on Instagram and our blog (less frequently at the moment with mama working!). We are always casually looking for land while aggressively saving toward our big-dream land fund. This coming year we are looking forward to more bear-sightings, farmer’s market and CSA connections and, of course, TONS of hiking, camping and outdoor adventures this year! We are always have an open-door for friends and family who’d like to come visit! All seasons are beautiful here but Summer, Fall and deep Winter are the most beautiful of all! With love ALWAYS! From Our Homestead to Yours, <Kyle & Athena>
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Kyle and AthenaWelcome to our Farmstead Journal. We warmly invite you to read along as we share our journey as we learn and grow more authentic is our care and honor of the earth and all our fellow inhabitants, as we pursue our search for our own land and explore the meaning of homesteading and growing within plant-based/"veganic" principles. We seek deep authenticity, true peace, sanctuary for all and simplicity as our continual journey of learning and growing as a family. Archives
August 2020
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