A Taste of Spring

Last night, Michael and I (and Peanut, of course!) were sitting on the back porch getting our first taste of spring. It was 65 degrees and as we watched the sun go down, we admired and envisioned the yard we were about to sink our feet into.

We saw the bees that we worked so hard to get established last year. We sadly lost one of our hives over the winter, which was somewhat expected. They had not been as productive as our other hive during the fall, most likely due to swarming when they first arrived. A home is ready and set for another set of bees that we will get in a month or so.   

We next saw the four newest members of our family... four Plymouth Barred Rock Chickens. We have had them for about 2 weeks and have already gotten over two dozen eggs from them. Their eggs are amazing! The yolks are a bright orange and their whites are thick and translucent. Nutritional differences between fresh, farm-raised eggs and eggs from the grocery store soon to come... You will see below that we started with five chickens. The night before we became chicken-parents, one of the ladies got bit in the bottom by an opossum. We happily took her, thinking we could nurse her back to health. After about 5 minutes in the coop, she adopted the beloved name of "opossum ass." Not great... I know, but hey, we had to find some humor in the situation. About 2 1/2 days later, she went to a better place. She is no longer in pain and the other four are much more active and productive. Our first taste of farm life... burying a chicken in the dark, wee hours after the Super Bowl.

Lastly, we gazed at the garden that is soon to be sowed. We are going to expand the garden in the coming weeks to just about double the size we are able to plant. It looks a little barren right now, but as we sat on the back porch and talked about what all we wanted to plant this year, we saw the tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, beans, broccoli, zucchini, squash, herbs... and hard work to come!

As I type, Peanut is sitting on my lap and is a little jealous that all the other animals got a picture in this blog. So in his honor... (here is my happy baby!)

We'll see you in the dirt...

Welcome to Our Home(stead)!

What do you get when you mix an engineer, a nutritionist and a small plot of land?

Precision... Logistics... Obsessiveness... Creativity...? Your guess is as good as mine. We are about to step foot on an adventure that will promise to take us in more directions than we can image. Let me introduce ourselves...

I'm Madison. I'm a nutritionist and food scientist by trade but have found a (third) love in local food and sharing with people ways to increase nutrition through consumption of local food. My first love is my husband (and partner in crime), Michael. Michael is a biomedical engineer by trade that does accident reconstruction/forensic engineering (which funds our farming adventures). He grew up on a small family farm and now that he has land of his own, his passion in "getting back to his roots" has begun to shine. He loves getting his hands dirty and watching things grow - no matter what it is. The second love of my life is our beloved beagle, Peanut. As you will soon come to find out, Peanut is the child I never had. He is the first to want to go outside and the last to want to come in. He is at our feet every step of the way, wanting to help in every way he can.

This blog serves multiple purposes. Not only it is a way for us to keep record of everything taking place on the farm and an account of all that we do (plantings, animals, etc.), but it is also a place for us to share produce, recipes, successes and failures.

Hand in hand (and paw in hand), we take our next steps into our farming adventure. We hope that you will share in any and all part of our journey... and that you find it as humorous and joyful as we do. All we know is that our coming adventures will continue to help us find out what you get when you mix an engineer, a nutritionist and a small plot of land.

We'll see you in the dirt...