Looking Back at 2011

This time last year, we were in the middle of our year at the Farm School.  We hadn't been to Italy yet, we hadn't endured lambing season, hadn't cut the umbilical cord of a new calf and hadn't watched the first plants of the season sprout in the greenhouse.  A farm of our own was just a few notes on the back of a piece of paper and something Theo and I wondered about.

Fast forward to now, and we're living in our farmhouse, anxiously awaiting the arrival of our first chicks and piglets and planning the crops we'll grow for our first season.

The road here hasn't been all that smooth.  As of August, our house that we were supposed to move into was completely gutted and we needed to be living there at the end of October.  Those days were hard, long and stressful.  I was commuting over an hour to my new job as an elementary school teacher and Theo had an equally long commute to the new house.  Why wasn't I writing about this grand adventure of plumbing mistakes, lack of dry-wall and no heat?  It was bad enough to go through those days once and at the end of them I certainly did not want to relive them through writing.  Then, a week before we were supposed to move, and New England got dumped on by the first storm of the season, our house wasn't done (think no toilet, no kitchen, no walls, no heat, no running water... the list goes on), our truck was broken, which was impairing our ability to even move out of where we were currently living (and each day was closer to the end of that lease) and this guy, the one in the back, didn't come back inside one night:

Talk about a stressful, sad and pretty horrible weekend.  It was times like those that the great parts of the fall shone through: my best friends dropped everything to help me search the woods for Hobbes, who never came home again.  My mom came down to the new house and helped us get it ready.  Theo's parents, who live in Montana, sent us a set of power tools which were invaluable.  During that weekend, we received our first email from someone we didn't know and hadn't met who was interested in our lamb and chickens.

Eventually, we did move.  With one last, long look at the woods behind our old house, hoping that Hobbes might appear, we drove to the new farm.

What comes next?  Ordering seeds, putting the final touches on our new home, planting flower beds and waiting for spring.  What have we learned over the last year?  Not to let the cat outside.  Continued thanks to our family and friends who have been nothing but supportive as we begin this great adventure.  We've had lessons in perseverance, tenacity, hard work and that the days march on, no matter how great or how bad they might be.  Hopefully I'll write more, especially as the season gets started and we're doing more exciting things than installing a shower and wiring lights.

We hope that 2012 will be kind to us as new farmers and that the good times will continue to outweigh the bad.  We're getting a dog soon, so that might fill a bit of the emptiness Hobbes left in our lives and our home.  We can't wait to see how this year goes and to look back at it in twelve months with all that we've learned and all the experiences we've had.

I hope all of your New Years are happy and hopeful as well!

Graduation!

Let's start with the sad part: the tomatoes just couldn't handle all the rain. They are ghosts of their former glory. It's kind of ok at this point, because with Fall coming I'm excited for some pumpkin soup and roasted winter squash. That is the joy of seasonal eating.

There was a huge party at the farm with all our friends and families for graduation. My Mom and Dad and Rebecca and Anthony all came to help us celebrate. We kicked off the afternoon pressing cider in the orchard.

Mom helped take the leftovers down to the pigs. They were so excited! (And huge!)

I think the most amazing skill anyone has learned this year is the rare ability to levitate pitch forks. Theo is obviously a master.

We all sat on hay bales (and were given the above pitchforks as a present) for a wonderful ceremony full of poems, thank yous and a violin duet by Emily and Rebekah.

We made Sara a cake for her birthday on Tuesday.

I put a rabbit on it in honor of the angora rabbit she has taken care of over the last year.

Post graduation on the tractor!

With Maggie's Field in the background.

And our diplomas!

And the best graduation presents ever! Sweatshirts for our new farm. I'll post more about this soon, I promise!

Dad, who used to be a welder, checking out my fire cube with me.

And finally, the T-Rex that Betsy and Sarah gave Theo as a graduation present with the Prosecco from Rebecca and Anthony. You can also see Theo's bingo card from Thursday night with Josh, Stephen and Justin on the coffee table as well.

Thanks Patrick!

This was operation 'borrow a truck and heist a washer, dryer and my old bike from my parent's house. Though I'm afraid that now I'm living with my own washer and dryer I'll be spoiled for life and never able to live without them.

Moving Day!

Going

Going

Gone

Oh, Joy

Dear Car,

Next time you break, please don't pick North Philadelphia on the day we're moving, right before we drive you 300 miles to New England.

Thanks,

Ellie and Theo

Dear Philadelphia

Dear Philly,

Remember when it was FALL and you decided to be 90 degrees and incredibly humid? Remember how I'm moving away?

K, thanks, bye,
Ellie

Moving

I've been trying to think of something meaningful to say about moving and transitions and new chapters in life but really, as excited as I am for the Farm School, this kind of sucks. Every day I have less time here and we're closer to packing even more stuff and saying goodbye to everyone. Luckily my last week is filled with seeing lots of friends and a relaxing week of no work before we head out next Tuesday.

One Month!

One month until we leave Philly for Massa-moooo-setts. So sad to leave our friends, city and apartment and yet so exciting to begin the next part of our life.

Birthday Adventures!

Well it's still technically over a month until we move, but we started this past weekend by taking two huge suitcases up to Newport. We met up with some friends for a delicious birthday dinner and the Opera House Cup. We sailed to Nantucket on Friday and spent Saturday eating a huge breakfast and practicing in the afternoon. After all those tacks and jibes, I'd say we were doing pretty well. Unfortunately, the wind died during the race on Sunday and we didn't do too well. Still had a great time, though, and ended the weekend at a party where we ate our weight in oysters and mussels. Yum!