Family Farming

"This country needs family farmers-for their work ethic, their independence, their understanding of nature, their neighborliness, their rootedness. Yet farming has been disappearing as a livelihood, a victim of size, mechanization, and capital costs. Fortunately, through ingenuity and hard work, many idealistic people are making small farms viable again."

-Lynn Byczynski, The Flower Farmer

And so the adveture begins.  All together.

To Do

We've got a lot of lists around this place.  It happens with 2 kids, an 86 year old, partially renonvated house, and a {very}small business. (And, admittedly, two type A personalities.)

Here's what the most current to-do list looks like...

Summer Projects 

1. Cut and stack enough firewood to refill the woodshed.
2. Repair rotten boards on garage siding.
3. Add gutters to woodshed.
4. Repair and repaint siding on south side of house.
5. Till, compost, and plant new annual plot and pumpkin patch.
6. Build roadside stand for selling flowers.
7. Build and paint sandwich board for stand.
8. Finish top dressing perennial beds.
9. Finish painting basement.
10. Paint the chicken coop.
11. Caulk and repaint porch stairs.
12. Stain swingset.
13. Sand and repaint the pile of hoarded furniture in the garage.
14. Have a garage sale.
15. Mow field, rototil and plant with cover crop.
16. Sand and paint interior stairs-both sets.

And if we had it our way, we'd probably put our heads down and plow through the summer checking off item by item with a red pen. (Yes, I really do check things off with a red pen.  Call it obsessive, call it compulsive, call it what you want...I call it gratifying.) But there are moments that remind me that the best laid plans aren't really the best plans at all. 

Moments like this...

For the first sunny day in forever, we didn't work on the yard or the garden or the house. Instead we went and explored a trail we've been wanting to check out for a really long time.  Five years, to be exact.  And it was amazing. 

 

Driving home, Eli stated, "That was the best day ever!" Which of course got us to thinking, what are the moments that we really enjoy most?  What is it that we want our boys to remember when they grow up?  The day we finally finished painting the basement?  The day the woodshed got gutters?  How many kids grow up and say, "You know my favorite childhood memory?  It was definitely the day when my mom and dad were stressed out and trying to finish yet another home improvement project!"  So we made a new list...   

Important Things To Do This Summer

1. Go on picnics.
2. Hike at Mt. Baker.
3. Take a day trip to San Juans.
4. Keep fresh flowers on our nightstand.
5. Invite friends over for ice cream-preferrably on a whim.
6. Hang laundry outside to dry. 
7. Skip rocks at the beach.
8. Fish with Papa. (Eli's addition.)
9. Pick strawberries.
10. Pick blueberries.
11. Hike to Little Mountain.
12. Camp at Camano State Park.
13. Camp in our backyard.
14. Go to the fair and eat elephant ears.
15. Visit friends in Chelan.
16. Camp at Swakayne.
17. Go swimming at the lake.
18. Go swimming in our inflatable pool.
19. Stay up late and roast marshmallows. (Eli's addition.)
20. Go to a rodeo.
21. Go to the Arlington Fly In.
22. Go to Chloe's beach. (Eli's addition.)

I'm posting this list right above our "Summer Projects" list. And I'm planning on using a whole lot of red pen on this one.