The Beginning

Tonight I'm setting aside my newest foray into the world of crochet to start up my very own blog. I'm falling into a niche only the 21st century could produce--the intersection of internet connectivity and "back-to-the-land" homesteader's ideals.

My husband and I have moved with our one-year-old daughter to a family farm in the Mid-South. We're now living in and caretaking for a classic farmhouse built by my husband's family in the early 1800s. The house is updated with bathrooms and a kitchen, rich with history, and truly beautiful... but it's still large, creaky, rather drafty, and in need of some serious love. The surrounding land was a dairy farm until the 1980s, and the outbuildings are all still extant, though in various states of disrepair/destruction.

When we first moved it was the height of canning season. My husband's grandmother planted fig trees around what is now the henhouse, my in-laws' garden was in full swing, and my husband's closest friends from high school/college had orchard connections. For me, this whole thing began with a canning fascination. In short order I had put up three shelves worth of peach jelly, fig jelly, fig preserves, apple cider jelly, and (my personal favorite) jalapeno jelly. I now have a shelf in my fridge that holds a jar each of my five successful first attempts. Five Jars--it seemed like a fitting name for another experiment. This time I'm jumping feet-first into blogging... I'll learn as I go. It's how I operate best. Which is good, because right now I have alot to learn.

My husband and I both live at the cusp of academic and applied social sciences. My husband is still in graduate school and I recently graduated with a master's degree. We came to our new home with the lofty dream of creating a sustainable system on this farm that will bring us the income and sustenance we need to live comfortably without falling into the traps of Big Ag on the one hand or poverty on the other. I'm now trying to balance a 40-hour-a-week day job with keeping chickens, being a hands-on-mother, and trying to break into the mix of homemade and cutting-edge media that are the worlds of Etsy and Artfire. And I'm happier than I've ever been.

It is incredibly important to me to be anonymous, so that the life we lead here will be protected. You won't find pictures of my kids or my family on my blog. You may see photos of the farm, of our animals, of schematics on how to build a henhouse... but my family and our location are our business. It's a delicate balance that this generation is the first to strike. The new level of interconnectedness we face is both a blessing and a curse. I want to balance being a contributor to the blogosphere with protecting our personal privacy. Call it an experiment. Help me make it a successful one.

When you break it all down, we're a couple learning how to be married and how to be parents, as we go about trying to live in the world in a way that is acceptable to our consciences, our responsibilites, and our spirits. We are entering the next phase of our lives. I invite you to join us on the journey.