Seed Swap Party

My lovely friend Kimberly planned a fabulous seed swap party. 

I love heirloom seeds for many reasons and fortunately some of my favorite people share the same love.

It was Wonderful to go to a party that didn't involve any guilty feelings or pressure to purchase items that are overpriced.  I seriously have a great dislike for all those Tupperware, Pampered Chef, Mary Kay, and Etc. Parties. 

I always feel like I Should go and then If I go I feel like I must buy something and then I feel guilty because I really Should spend more and I really don't want to.  I just HATE it, it is a big ball of guilt and pressure and it is just not my cup of tea.

But this, oh my this was so different and so absolutely fun in every way!

We all had a great afternoon swapping seeds from our gardens and telling stories and trouble shooting together over garden problems and pests, and generally enjoying each others company and the lovely drinks and desserts that Kimberly prepared for us.

I brought home a awesome variety of seed and I can't wait to try them.

• Early Purple Vienna Kohlrabi
• White Dutch Cabbage
• French Red Rock Cabbage
• Yates Blue Curled Kale
• Extra Dwarf Bok Choy
• White Hailstone Radish
• Baby Lima
• Poinsettia Cucumber
• Mexican Sour Gherkin Cucumber
• Black Turtle Bean
• Popcorn - NonGMO
• Harvest Decorative Corn
• Purple Sicily Cauliflower
• Calabrese Broccoli
• Long White Bunching Onions
• Prescott Ford Blanc Melon
• Sleeping Beauty Cantelope
• Golden Honeymoon Melon
• Green Globe Artichoke
• Hyssop
• Caraway
• Blue Larkspur
• Red Star Hibiscus
• Mixed Hollyhocks

Some of the seeds I shared were:

• German Pink Tomato
• Banana Cantelope
• Red Dragon Carrot
• Feverfew
• Amish Neck Pumpkin
• Chinese Purple Foot Long Bean
• Red Clover Cover Crop

All the kids (except the babies) occupied themselves outdoors while we chatted and swapped.  They had a great afternoon, too!

But of course, we made extra certain not to leave any of them behind.

I love this sign!  Just because I do, and partly because it is on Steve's barn which makes it even funnier.

Before we headed home we all went out to the garden to look at some particular problem that seems to be plaguing some of Kimberly's squash plants.  I love the Three Sisters planting that she did this year!  Beautiful!

And of course to admire the animals, too!

I am so grateful for such wonderful friends.  I love you guys dearly and I look forward to our next seed and plant swap.  Cheers!

A Farmette in Need of a Name

 I picked up our new geography book and began to read the first lines to the boys, and then I laughed out loud and read them again.  



"Once in a while you find yourself in an odd situation.  
You get into it by degrees and in the most natural way but, when you are right in the midst of it, you are suddenly astonished and ask yourself how in the world it all came to be."
 - Kontiki by Thor Heyerdahl


Heyerdahl sums up my feelings about our farmette better than I could for myself. 

We really need to name this little farmette! But we haven't hit on the perfect name and we have been at this naming game for over a year.  


But the game must stop and we must land a name for this little portion of terra firma.


We joke about naming it
Google Farm - because we google everything and most of what we know we have learned through this medium. 
But what if one day we needed to label a product with the name of our farm?
No, it simply will not do!

I need to make business cards to leave in strategic spots and hand out to unsuspecting friends in hopes that I might be able to sell a few of the oodles of eggs and gallons of milk that are overrunning us.

But it isn't like naming a farm is the only thing I have to do right now.  There are berries to pick

a garden to weed. Oh, please don't come look at all my weeds, it is truly dreadful this year, and I am mortified. But the tomatoes are lovely!

(No, we don't grow Math-U-See cubes, though sometimes the kitchen floor looks like we might be growing them. Haha!)

We have also been Loving our Heirloom Dragon Tongue and Empress Beans.

and the Fresh Purple Stripe Garlic is absolutely amazing!!!!

Anything we don't want to eat will always be welcomed by Mama porker and her babies.

But a name? 
We simply Must have a name (and it cannot have our last name in it, for various reasons). 


Barefoot Ridge
Farthing Place
Ridge Croft


Do you have a suggestion?

8 months old - Already?

These guys make me smile! 

Yes, they made me smile even when there were three loads of laundry on my living room couch and a mound of green beans on the kitchen table waiting to be snapped, plus dirty dishes on the counters.

I was having one of those moments of intense frustration, and feeling so very behind in absolutely everything. I went in search of boys for chore assistance and this is what I found. 

It just made me laugh, this combination is really to funny for words.  

Are you smiling, too?

If you have a good caption for this photo, please do leave it the comments.