The Rules
Lately we have had a great number of new arrivals to The Kitchens Garden pages.
So for you I will outline the three simple rules that govern my contribution to this blog. (Mine is only the first wave of this blog – the second wave of words is in the Lounge of Comments when you contribute). These are my rules for me and are the foundation of this blog. They have been in place since Day One almost five years ago.
The first rule is that everything you read and see here today: happened just yesterday. This blog is absolutely current. It is a diary of sorts. A daily journal. I am not here to teach you how to farm or live, I am just writing about what happened here yesterday. (Usually not much).
The second rule is that I will tell you the truth. I will not sugar-coat the tough bits and I will tell you all about the good bits. Of course I do not list everything that happened every day as that would bore you to bits. Just little slices of my life running a small sustainably managed farm that is striving for self sufficiency.
The third rule is that (unless I am travelling) all the images will be from my own little farm. This is my challenge to myself – finding something new and beautiful from my own small acres -right here – every day.
The Fellowship of the Farmy is you. You are the people who read and comment, or who read and like, or who read and Share, or who read.
You may steal any of my pictures anytime without permission. (Though when I have other contributing photographers that rule reverses).
The Lounge of Comments is a gentle and wonderful Lounge for us all. We support each other and feed in information for each other and exchange ideas. The comments section of this blog is a mine of information. But be gentle and kind with each other. Judge not.
I invite you to leave a small description of yourself in the page “Join me” . I love to learn about the readers of these pages. You do not need to leave a link to your blog, if you have one, that is already created when you sign in. Just where you are from and how you came to be here. Little things.
I hope you have a lovely day. I wish this for you every morning.
Love celi
49 Comments on “The Rules”
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You could post picture of pigs everyday and I’d be suitably entertained 🙂
Me too!
you know it was this overalls thing, which brought me to your blog, and I keep following you because I really like your day to day down to earth story about life on a farm in US, which might not be that much different from the countryside here in Western Denmark, with a lot of wind and rain, but also nice soil to plants. We don’t have animals, but enjoy to weed, to plant, to make a new place to sit for the morning sun etc. small things, not expensive, but feels like treasures !
your readership is blossoming..just like the animals and the Farmy and you of course..I am so pleased that your blog has been such a success..it sure does make interesting reading, most times a smile and sometimes a tear….I dont like it when animals have to be slaughtered which as I have mentioned before..is why I would be absolutely useless as a farmer……lots of love and have a great day xxxx
Sent: Friday, May 20, 2016 at 1:27 PM
I’ve enjoyed seeing lots of new names commenting… testimony to your appeal, and reassuring that our need for authentic is undiminished by the efforts of the faceless corporates who would have us buy into their need for profit.
You know I am one of your biggest fans and it is mainly because you are real. No pretense here at all and of course the lovely animal pictures don’t hurt at all. I usually start my day reading The Kitchens Garden and it is the perfect way to start the day off right. Thank you for being so faithful in positing and int allowing us to all be a tiny part of your life.
Having been a member of the Fellowship almost since the start, I applaud your faithful adherence to your stated aims and rules. That is what makes this my number 1 favourite of all the blogs I read and/or follow.
love,
ViV xox
This is why we love visiting you so much. If only the world was run along the same lines as The Farmy and The Blog!
I love reading your blog and looking at your wonderful photos! I live in a city, and farm life seems such an idyllic way of life. Or it’s just different, but you know how that is, grass is greener and all that. I found your blog through Freshly Pressed.
It’s hard to imagine that finding images to share would be a challenge. Every day is new and beautiful.
Yours was the first blog I followed, when I started blogging, and would be the first blog I choose again if I had to start all over. You give us a gentle, generous, truthful yard to play in, where we can admire beauty, respect the power of nature, love our fellow creatures and talk to each other about the things that matter to us in harmony. Thank you, Celi. Good words. Be kind, respect each other, know the truth when you read it. Your gifts to us.
“You may steal any of my pictures anytime without permission” : You are probably the only person in the world who is generous enough to say that. I first read it as “You may not steal…” and had to go back and read a couple of times to get it right…
Love your life.
Hello from Auckland, I lived in Michigan until 5 months ago. I really miss the Mid West. I love the seasons and all the animals. I especially love the food. About 3 years ago a recipe search led me to the farmy. I have a backyard and the beginnings of a garden. At the moment we are harvesting feijoas. I would love to swap some for some warm frothy fresh milk!
I would swap feijoas for some milk in a second – I LOVE feijoa icecream.. c
Hello, I am new to your blog and feel as though I fill my lungs with a big breathe of country fresh air every time I visit. I live in the great mega-lopolis of central NJ. All my life I have longed to be a farm girl, and your blog gives me a sense of what that life is like from day to day; a life where you can appreciate the beauty of the world through animals and nature. Animals have much to teach us about the important things in life. I am a retired school librarian who has now started the last leg of her life in the art world. I am a full time icon painter and docent at a sculpture garden. Its great to meet you.
Oh your bio sounds like mine–right down to having been a librarian too–although mainly an English teacher. I live in Chicago and like you have been an arm-chair farmer all my life. But an honest-to-goodness animal lover. Happy to meet you, njacacia.
You should be featured on this show Celi. http://modernfarmer.com/2016/05/farmher-tv-show/?utm_source=Modern+Farmer+Newsletter&utm_campaign=ae3670535c-Thursday_May_19_20165_19_2016&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_e8a89c7e43-ae3670535c-75671817&mc_cid=ae3670535c&mc_eid=bb01a8e77d
I love your blog and look forward to reading it everyday. Of course holidays get in the way! 😀
You are you Miss C, real and open and honest, and your life and words reflect that. Those qualities are what allow your blog to thrive, I believe, because those of us who join in the Fellowship do not want pretense. This place is safe and welcoming, as are the people who visit. It is no surprise that we grow in numbers and new faces. People everywhere are drawn to genuine, nurturing communities. Your vision and your simplicity have created that for all of us to share.
Keep doing what you do, it is perfect.
After meeting you at “Press Publish” in Portland Oregon where I now live, I had to follow your blog. I was enchanted with your stories about your life and your farm and the way you farm it. I come here first each morning and may not always leave a comment but always find joy in my visit.
My moment in the sun! And worth it to have met you darling girl.. c
I love looking at the farm and animals through your eyes and by pictures from your visitors. It’s nice to visit and then get on with my day. It takes me back to my childhood and memories of living on the farm. Thank you.
Everything everyone has said is absolutely true! I join you everyday while eating my breakfast in central Alberta! I love the peace and the natural life you lead. Good humans do exist! I love that you share your experiences here and also with your people that come and help on the farm. Truly a gift!
The breakfast blog! How cool. c
Your photos are always so beautifully framed with love and care!
The Kitchen Garden and coffee, my morning addiction!
Good bits, tough bits, bored to bits… I’ll take all the bits you’d care to dish out.
I agree with Debra; it would be wonderful to see you featured as a ‘farm-Her’ on that programme. Actually, I agree with all the comments above and it’s all been pretty much said. After reading how there were a lot of new readers to the page I scurried down to see just how many now and was really surprised to see your following is over 5,500! Goodness, seems like no time at all has passed since we were counting till you got to 5k.
Those little piggies are just so precious looking. Hope you have a lovely day too! ~ Mame 🙂
As I don’t have a TV I am not sure what you are referring to – but thank you? c
Debra’s comment above offered a link to a web page describing it… all about lady farmers, referred to as “farm-Hers” 🙂
Wow – I had no idea you’d been doing this wonderful blog – daily – for five years… plus all the other things you do each and every day. I know you didn’t set out to be an example for the rest of us but you certainly are a shining example of what determination and good old ‘get-up-and-go’ can accomplish. And thanks so much for taking us along for the ride!! ; o )
I am a rule follower. 🙂
Just as well Jim! c
I love reading your blog and seeing the pictures you post. My favorites of course are the cats! It helps me escape each day to a calmer place from my hectic office!
The cats are certainly not hectic.. c
I love your blog Celi, and devour it every morning along with my first cup of coffee and my dog lying on my feet, as we both welcome the sun rising over the Pacific Ocean; it’s perfection. You know what they say about Queensland “Beautiful one day, perfect the next”!
Thank you for inviting us into your life on the farmy, you touch so many of us with the daily happenings and we love knowing how all the animals are doing and watching their personalities develop; we feel like we know them all.
Here’s to the next 5 years!
Thank you barb and have a great day!.. c
I make sure I start my day here, reading your words and enjoying your photos. To begin with sanity, beauty and grace helps the day go better. Things have been unsettling lately and look to continue that way for quite awhile yet so having The Kitchens Garden to start things off is a big help. Sometimes at the end of a difficult day I’ll pop in and read the archives, then heading for rest is easier. I like common sense, honesty and beauty, you deliver those daily.
You make me cry darling – kia kaha (be strong) .. c
Back to basics; I enjoyed reading about the principles of your blog. They are so simple, and they hold everything together. I have a rule that I use only my own photos. It’s a good rule, and simplifies things. Sometimes it presents a challenge, but then challenges lead to creative solutions. I love the way you keep your blog so alive. Daily, small observations. There is always something happening, even when it seems there is not.
Juliet HULLO! How is the beach? c
I’m missing it because I’ve had a winter flu and it’s been raining non stop. But I’m sure it’s waving to you – ha ha.
I am missing it too.. c
Thank you so much for your wonderful blog, it is one of the high lights of my day. I have no idea how I first discovered you, but l certainly wouldn’t want to be without you? I live in a small Essex village in the UK, and like so many of your readers baby pigs
Are my weakness. Please keep up your words of wisdom and captivating pictures.
I love that you challenge yourself to view your own farm in new ways for your photos! I appreciate even more your honesty. Recently we have been contacted by local news stations to do a feature on local farms. We have been leary because farming is not the glamorous world people dream it to be. Not that we don’t care greatly for our animals and crops but it is hard, dirty work and those that don’t live a country life don’t always understand.
Thankfully I am still under the radar noone wants to do features on my farm! because news agencies are always looking for an angle and editing can change an ordinary story sinister. This is why I never sugar coat stuff. Best people know that it is not that hard physically to be a farmer but emotionally it is hard to be a good farmer. Being a good honest farmer means we cannot and will not disconnect from our animals and sometimes it is not pretty! Not glamorous at all but Good. great comment – thank you c
Hard to imagine that I didn’t know you just five years ago. You crept into my heart and mind so very gently and swiftly that I didn’t even have a sense of Before & After—just the graceful lapping of your presence on my shore from the first time you stopped by to say Hello on my blog, or I on yours (I know not which by now). That’s such a sweet aspect of this Fellowship, something I never imagined before I was suddenly introduced to it by you (and John, and a very few others), and I thank you. Your presence is a happy constant in my life where I didn’t know I needed one. How lovely of you.
❤
Kath
I did read this post freshly printed on my phone but as the screen is so small I prefer to wait and enjoy the photos full size on my laptop. The day had a mind of its own, so I am now a day late.
What brings me here on a daily basis, the answer is easy:
Buckets of no nonsense honest common sense, layered with beauty of word and picture & most of all your uplifting positivity for each new day.
A visit to the farmy each day (though I’ve been remiss with too many other things yammering for time) keeps me grounded. There is stability there, the working of the land, just as it was intended. Thank you for sharing your life with us.