Join Us
The Kitchens Garden and its farm and its blog have combined to become more than a blog and a farm and a garden. We have become a community. We call that community the Fellowship of the Farmy and I would love you to join us and become part of our daily conversation.
In the age of social media and “sharing” there are a couple of ways you can join our movement towards clean food and strong bodies.
You can join the blog. I post every day at dawn telling you all about yesterday, then I return after milking the cow and doing the chores to talk to The Fellowship in the Lounge of Comments with my morning cup of coffee. This is my treat before I go back outside to get busy on the work of the day. So you, my dear reader, are very important to me and my day.
If you would like to join the Facebook page go here: FACEBOOK
If you would like to join me on Twitter (mostly I Tweet the blog) go here: TWITTER
If you would like to join me on Pinterest (where I try to post my favourite picture of the day – and other weird stuff) go here: PINTEREST.
And now The Farmy is on INSTAGRAM – find me at cecilia_thekitchensgarden.
And most recently I have another INSTAGRAM page for my AirBnB studio apartment called Kitchens Garden Retreat. The instagram page is called kitchensgardenretreat. The retreat is open so if you would like a break on the farm just go ahead and find a date that suits.
Find The Kitchens Garden Retreat on airbnb – HERE.
Thank you so very much for joining me on my quest to grow good clean food and spread the word on how easy it really is to lead the best life you can lead and grow and eat the best food we can afford. Creating our own tiny food revolution. The epitome of grass roots!
Take care.
Your friend on the farmy,
celi
PS. When you sign up (or even if you have been signed up for ages) it might be fun for you to introduce yourself in the comments below. Only if you feel like it though… there is NO PRESSURE in the blog world. I would especially love to know where you come from (just the state or country) we have such a gorgeous range of peoples from different places.
c
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Well I have been ‘joined’ for quite a while now, so hardly a new comer. However I must comment that I can’t go a day without reading this fantastic blog, even if I don’t always make a comment. For those that don’t know me, I am an ex-pat from England, living in Bedford VA, at the base of the Blue Ridge Mountains (Peaks of Otter in my sights). I used to live in NJ, and thought moving further south, the weather would be more settled – huh was I wrong. We get all the extremes here like everywhere else. Although sometimes we are protected by the mountains and some of it goes round us.
Love reading the comments from all the other ‘Farmy Folks’!!
I grew up in central Ohio and moved to southwest Florida 23 years ago. Our weather here is always some degree of warm to hot. We got frost on the grass twice in all the years I’ve been here.
Every morning I start my day with a pot of coffee, my newspaper and my phone where I catch up on my favorite posts. I love following all the goings-on on your farmie! It is fascinating to me and I feel like I know you, even though you don’t know me, since I’m pretty quiet! I so appreciate you sharing your life with all of us!
we haven’t experience that here in African,if one day happen,we all die.we appreciate God for that moderate climate.
I hail from England. I don’t always comment but I always enjoy reading your posts about a lifestyle which is very different from mine. That being said, I grew up in a very rural area and don’t consider myself to be a city girl. I’m somewhere in between city/country, I suppose!
Well, you already know where we are; just outside Apsley, Ontario, Canada. It’s raining here and green has burst all over; it will be cooler tomorrow but sunny. It’s another bake day for me. This is the start of our busy season the May long weekend that signals the start of summer and holidays. My wife starts the local market in town and our bread is ready. Today I’ll be baking croissants and scones, cookies, cinnamon rolls and pies. Have a lovely day 🙂
I’m from a little village called Parham in Ontario, Canada. We’re retired folks in our household and have adopted four donkeys to keep us company – AND to keep us active. I’ve lived and taught in tiny rural communities for almost thirty years. We get the whole range of weather conditions here – HOT summers (wet or dry … changes each year) and COLD winters sometimes with incredible snowy conditions – like this past year! I spend five or six hours working outside all year round and I’m loving it. I also love starting my day by checking in with the critters and people at ‘thekithcensgarden’.
Hello from Mackay, in tropical North Queensland, Australia. Like you, we don’t just have climate, we have Weather. Cyclones. The Wet. The Dry. Everything’s extreme. But mostly extremely hot. Which is why I enjoy reading about the cold; vicarious enjoyment of snow and ice without actually having to freeze my toes and fingers off… Originally, I’m from the UK, the south of England. Cool, but moderate, nothing too extreme in either heat or cold. Then I emigrated to Australia and spent 5 years in Melbourne. Cool winters, and extremely hot and dry summers; on days when it was well over 100F you could feel the moisture boiling off your eyeballs and skin turning to sandpaper. After that, a tiny mountain town in northern New South Wales. Lots of rain, cool temperate weather, tremendous fogs and sharp frosts. Down again to the coast. Subtropical. Banana plantations, mango trees. No frost, warmer, more humid. And then I got married, and moved to north Queensland. I have learned to love the climate, because of what it lets me grow! My 4 square metres of vegie garden isn’t producing yet, but when it does, I’m going tropical there too! The Farmy blog is the last one I read at night, or the first one I read when I wake up at 5.30am. I’d miss it badly if it didn’t appear. It was the first blog I started following when I joined WordPress 8 months ago, and it’s still my favourite. You have the animals I wish I could have, and the life I’d have led if I’d been able to start 10 years earlier. I’m too old and not strong enough for the physical labour any more (cancer’s a bitch that way), so thank you for leading the life I’d have loved and writing about it.
Hello! I read you everyday for the last few months.Love your passion and animals. I live in the burbs. here in very dry Northern California.Thank you for sharing with us.
I too am already “joined”. I am a non-blogger/lurker/sometime commenting sort of gal. I hail from Tuscaloosa,Alabama land of the tornado. You are my morning coffee sunrise blog and I couldn’t start my day right without you. 🙂
I’m from Arkansas. I read daily and really enjoy your blog and the farmy comments. There is lots of knowledge being shared. As a stay at home mom of 3 with a love of vegetable gardening and a variety of our own farm animals I love seeing what’s happening on someone else’s farm. I love to feed my family great home grown food like you!
I look forward to your posts every day! The routine is to tend to my own chickens an then come inside to read about your farm. Lovely.
I have been following your blog for a long time now, and it inspires me every single day. I relax and enjoy it with my first cup of coffee at 5.30am. I love reading about what’s been happening on the farmy, and I love the way you care for all your animals. You have a knack for writing my dear.
I’m originally from the UK, but emigrated to Australia many years ago because I love the sun – and as you know, we get plenty! Greetings from the Gold Coast; it’s actually been raining quite heavy here today – a welcome change!
Howdy Y’all from Haslet Texas – North of Fort Worth but not far. My father raised mules and cows on our 7 little acres growing up. Dad had grown up on a cotton farm that raised chickens, cows and pigs for personal consumption. His uncle owned a dairy that ran 400+ dairy cows! In 1975 he decided it was time for him to try to ‘farm’ in our country (near the city) home. He purchased 3 mules that year and added a 4 the following year. (still do not know WHY MULES) But Ole Red, #4 was BAD news. I absolutely loved all the mules, even Ole Red. Ole Red was raised by a teen aged girl, so he was particularly fond of women. Mom and I could go get him in the field at any time and lead him anywhere. Dad, not so much. They lived with us about 2 years, and then Red hauled off and kicked Dad. That was that! Mules gone – Red Brangus cattle moved in, and have been on the land ever since. Mom is very afraid of the cows, thus my exposure to them growing up was quite limited. Dad runs about 4 to 6 head. 7 acres does not feed very many.
As an adult now, I do try to help him, but MEN are MEN and will NOT ask for help. So my husband and I just show up when Mom tells me he is going to need help.
My dream – to have a few chickens and a bee hive or two. Our current neighborhood had deed restrictions that prevent both…. We live in a neighborhood that all the homes are on 1 – 2 acre lots, which is nice. We grow wild flowers and weeds…. And not a TREE on the lot. Like much of Texas, FLAT and FEW trees, but beautiful land. I love our plains. Texas is home….
I don’t comment much but sure enjoy your posts – especially about the pigs!
I live down the road from you a bit in the small town of Minier. I am a wife, mother, homeschooler and blogger. My hope is that one day I will no longer be writing about my plans and dreams of life on the farm, but will instead be able to share snippets of our own life on the farm. Until then, I read your blog daily and look forward to more visit at the farmy where I can learn and discover all the ins and outs of farm life.
I “joined” a long time ago and now, due to our slow internet in the morning, I check my emails and the farmy when all my chores are finished in the evening.
I emigrated from Essex, U.K., to Sydney, Australia in 1966 as a ten pound pom, aged 21. We came to get more sunshine, being fed up with the cold wet English weather. However, as I am now an avid gardener and hobby farmer, and rely on tank water and dams, there are many times I wish for the rain as we get many extended dry spells. We live in Northern N.S.W. about an hour and a half from the coast, on around 100 acres of hills and dales with a creek running through the middle. We have pets – 8 charolais cows and two new calves, 6 chookies, 6 budgies and 2 golden retrievers, plus many wallabies, ducks and quite often koalas. My husband loves to play tractor (in fact he loves all the big boys toys) and I love to grow things and brushcut. Needless to say, we are both retired from full time work and now spend money instead of making it.
Right now we are heading towards the end of Autumn. It is still quite mild during the day (t-shirts) but the nights are getting colder. However, we rarely need to light a fire. Up here on the ridge there are no frosts, but also the ground dries out quickly.
I hate wind 😦
Love the farmy blog and hearing how other followers are coping in their neck of the woods. Joy
I am from Gauteng, South Africa. The smallest Province in the country with the highest population. Our climate is sub-tropical’ish but maybe a bit more temperate due to higher altitude. I live in a townhouse and therefore live my dream existence, on a farmy with animals, vicariously through you. I read this fabulous blog with my lunchtime coffee everyday. I don’t blog but through the Fellowship have discovered a whole new world of extremely interesting people and lifestyles. Laura
I’ve also been here for a long time, and it’s lovely that I get to start my day here. I have started to recognise some of you farmy friends and love the idea that there might be links for me to get to know more. I’m either in Vancouver, BC Canada, or Northmoor, Oxfordshire UK, (and that is why I usually put cute “s”s and extra “u”s in my words.) 😀
I’m an wise old hippie from the east coast who transplanted to Kansas in my 40’s…. Total culture shock.. And now, I’ve been here almost 30 years!! Unbelievable!!!. But, hey, Bloom where you’re planted! Right? I read your adventures and thoughts from the Farmy every morning and smile…. Life is good! A little difficult sometimes, but, on the whole, good. Thank you so much for sharing your delightful point of view. It’s refreshing and much appreciated..
I missed signing my name! So sorry….I am one of the least anonymous persons I know!!
I am from Wellington NZ, I live in Detroit Michigan now. I have 1 cat and a vege garden. I love reading about your life on the farmy. I would love to have some animals in my large back yard, chickens would be good, but as the local have rules that don’t even allow me to have a clothes line, chickens would definitely cause a riot.
Hi Everyone! Chiming in from Milan, Italy where I read the Kitchens Garden every day and get my “fix” on the natural life that I crave even though here it’s quite the opposite—all urban and cobblestones and Italians chattering and fashion. I’m American and I came here, as many do, for the sake of love, and never went home. Am raising two bicultural girls who also love the blog with my lovely, Italian husband. I’m so happy to meet you all, and enjoy every single comment you all make to Celi’s beautiful blog. Thanks to her and to you!
Also joined a long time ago… Saying hello from Manhattan, Kansas, US of A. A town known as “The Little Apple” 😉
I joined some time ago when I realized how much reading the Farmy news meant to my day! I live in San Diego, in extremely sunny Southern California, currently home to too many fires and drought. I love to read about the rain and cold weather you have, dear Celi, and wish it were easier for you to be there. Love your writing and all the farmy friends. Thank you for sharing!
Hello from Philadelphia! It’s the fifth largest city in the country, so quite a contrast to your landscape. Your blog has long been a favorite part of my morning ritual. Thanks for your stories and pictures and honesty.
Welcome from Pasadena, California, USA!
I am an American…third generation native born western Coloradoan. Love your blog, read it every day and am amazed by the amount of work you have to do. All my grandparents lived on ranches so I am aware of the daily grind of the farm/ranch wife. Keep us posted!
Loving your farmy blog in East Texas 🙂
Hi I joined just over a year ago, and I have to say I love following the farmy and to read all the comments, really interesting, I hail from chorleywood in the UK. We had an awful wet winter this year lots of flooding, but weather is starting to pick up now hopefully, but you never know in the UK, very changeable, being an island I suppose.
Hello. I discovered you the day you found Marmalade. Have been enchanted with your blog and farmy ever since. We are retired and living in eastern Oregon’s high desert, referred to as Oregon’s Outback. We raise sheep, chickens and a steer or two for our use. No neighbors and town is 15 miles away. Very short growing season of only about 60 days. It is a challenge. I read your blog with my morning coffee and that is the highlight of the day.
I discovered your farmy blog while living as an English teacher in China for two years. I was horribly homesick and it made me so happy to read about your day to day life on the farm while I was in a packed, polluted industrial city with hardly any blue sky or nature to enjoy. Your blog was homey, and it got me through some lonely, difficult, often un-beautiful days.
I live in North Carolina now with my sweet border collie pup, with lots of nature to enjoy, and I still visit your blog every day. It’s still a comforting habit and I love keeping up with life on the farmy! Thank you for everything you do.
Have been following your blog for a bit. Love the photos! My children have fallen in love with Marcel and want to bring our goats inside too! We live in East Texas on 26 acres. Been here 4 yrs and wouldn’t trade it for the world. It is a salve for my soul. I raise Dexter cattle, Nubian goats, laying hens and broilers, and we also have horses. I put in a small orchard 3 yrs ago and a large garden when we moved here. I envy you with the bees. I’m terribly allergic and don’t want to push my luck. Fortunately we live in the woods and there are loads of bees for pollinating the orchard and garden here but I would love to get honey and help out with their population. I love to come in after morning chores and read your blog (and comments) to see how everyone else’s day is beginning. Keep up the good work, and oh, I want a “Sheila shirt” when they’re ready!
My hubby and I live on 10 acres a mile from the city limits of a small town in southeast Kansas, tornado alley. I’ve been reading your blog for a long time though only chime in occasionally. It is the first blog I read every day – love seeing pictures of and reading about your animals. I grew up on a farm with cows and chickens but we only have cats and a dog now. I do most of the yard work including flower gardens and a few vegetables so enjoy that part of your blog too. It’s interesting to see where others in the fellowship live/work and to see that I am not the only one from Kansas.
Hello from Carlinville, Illinois…….I’m practically your neighbor, Celi. 🙂 I’ve been reading your blog for several years after I found you on the “Octoberfarm” blogsite. My day isn’t complete until I’ve virtually visited The Farmy!!
My morning ritual is a cup of coffee and reading TheKitchensGarden. I grew up in rural southern Ohio and the weather and the farm is in my blood, even though I now live in the arid regions of central Australia. Many a tear has reached the rim of my eye, and heart has lept with joy from this blog. xxx
From another farmer, who joined way back when you started your blog. I live on a farm in Colorado, on the western side of the state. We grow field corn, alfalfa, and pinto beans. We live in Delta, Colorado and I have a blog about our way of life.
Linda
http://coloradofarmlife@wordpress.com
I’m a retired New Mexico State employee living in the Sangre de Cristo mountains of Santa Fe. I’ve been a lurker for quite a while and enjoy reading about the farm and the comments from the neighborhood. I’m an Army brat and have lived all over so some of the comments bring back fond memories from those places. Tennessee, Kentucky, Oklahoma, New Jersey, Germany, Arizona, Florida, Virginia, Texas and New Mexico.
Greetings from Gig Harbor, Washington~state! I too am a long time follower of the Farmy and the one who calls Cecilia (Cinders) because of one of her blog posts a very long time ago that reminded me of Cinderella…the way she raced back to the Farmy from a wedding in all of her fancy clothes to check on everyone, changing, then racing back!…Cinders, I think you should re-post that one! 🙂
I am originally from the great state of Michigan but migrated here to the beautiful Northwest in 1978. I have 2 wiener dogs, 2 cats, 2 goats, 2 sons and one husband! 🙂
And I also can’t start my day without reading The Kitchens Garden blog! I feel as if I know Cinders like an old, longtime, beloved friend!
I’ve been following and enjoying your blog for years…and making your bangles! I am a farmer/jewelry artist living in Rowley Massachusetts, a small town on the East Coast, north of Boston. In the summer I farm, and in the cold months I teach metalsmithing and stone setting, and sell my work at local galleries. I am fortunate to live on a large piece of land that was my husband’s family farm. Formerly 300 acres, we now have about 90, mostly woodlands. Our three grandchildren are the 7th generation of this family. About 5 years ago, my two sons, their wives and my husband began restoring the farm, growing and selling vegetables anything else we can produce on our farm, and trying to keep this farm a real working farm in an area where real estate gets snapped up and developed quickly. We are right in the middle of our busy season right now, planting and working in the greenhouses. That is why you don’t hear from me very much, but I’m always peeking in on what’s happening on the Farmy. Thanks for your faithful persistence and your wonderful way with words! You are my hero!
Hi Celi, I’ve been following you for about a year. I believe it was a recipe search that brought me to your site and I fell in love with your stories and photos! Chiming in from Bend, in beautiful Central Oregon.
salut super c’est pareil aussi pour moi merci
salut Marinette ,,C’est ton homme Réal…loll
Like many others, reading your blog is an important part of my day. Your world is so different to mine. No snow, milking of cows, raising pigs or capturing minks in my little garden in inner suburban Melbourne, Australia. So that is one aspect that I love to read about, and you write so beautifully. But I also love to read about your love of your land, your care of your animals, and your friendship and support for everyone, both viral and in your real world.
Hello Celi, another devoted follower as well as a resting blogger. Yours is my first stop in the day, and I read it not just for Boo and Tima and Marmalade and Sheila and all the rest of the creatures, but for the love in it… thank you.
I love in a tiny fishing village of just over four hundred people an hour from Auckland, NZ’s main city. Our weather is temperate and changeable, but never too cold not to do an hour’s walk around our tiny beautiful harbour where the fishing boats anchor.
Should have written ‘live in ‘- que sera sera…
I’m a backyard gardener (who knows, maybe someday the front yard will get my treatment, too!) in Raleigh, NC. I have two dogs and foster others for the local shelter on occasion. I love your blog!
I’m a novelist and writing teacher in Portland, Oregon. Don’t tell anyone but sometimes I read your daily post before I do my daily writing! Love reading about your life on the farmy.
Hi Celi, I live in Levin, Horowhenua, New Zealand. I found your wonderful blog just this year and I read it everyday. It’s really choice! I love the kiwiness you bring to your farmy, makes me smile 🙂 So now I’m a follower, cheers bro!
Greetings from the Heart of Iowa (Marshalltown) where my family’s Century farm still produces (alas, not with the help of my own family any more). I love hearing about all the natural, sustainable methods you use, Celi, and your philosophy of nurturing and health. I also love the cant your New Zealander viewpoint brings. Fresh, passionate, real. I’m a fan.
Hello! My name is Alison, and I’ve been a reader for a while now. I read your blog every morning while everyone (fiance and dog) is still asleep and the house is quiet. It’s become my own secret tradition. I was raised in rural Pennsylvania, moved to Tacoma, WA for college, and now live in Madison, WI. Your blog is such a wonderful treat because it reminds me of home. My ultimate goal is to have a little farm some day, out in the middle of nowhere, but that’s a long way off so I’ll live vicariously through you until then! I just took a bee-keeping class though, so I’m getting there. I love your outlook on life and I so appreciate your respect for mother nature and your animals. Thanks for taking the time to blog so beautifully!
I have lived in Texas all of my life. Lubbock, Harlingen, Austin, Harlingen again and now San Antonio. I am three years out from retiring as a school librarian and have so enjoyed reading C’s blog about her farmy. Upon retirement, my husband and I hope to do something very similar in Tennessee where we have ten acres, so I am learning from afar from this blog and others about how to do that. But this blog is more than an informational blog, it is a blog (for me) that inspires and provides balance. The farmy is like its own little ecosystem where each element helps the other or contributes in some way, Sheila being the exception, but we adore her! I love that aspect of it and C’s description of and creation of this ecosystem just fascinates me. Since she has put up the Opportunities page, I can now say how excited I am to be the first person to come visit/help/learn on the farmy and stay in the Coupe. (Picture a sturdy 50 year old woman jumping up and down with glee) I am happy to be a part of this Fellowship of farmy followers. Sorry about that mental picture earlier, so think about kittens and puppies now if you can.
Hi Celi,
I’m Kate and I’ve been following you for 2 winters now 🙂 I live with my family {2 gorgeous sons} in Townsville, Queensland, Australia. I love reading your blog and aspire to one day have my own little piece of farmy life xo
Hello Celi! I’m from Toronto, Ontario but sometimes I read and comment from my boathouse porch on Limerick Lake Ontario. I’ve been reading for a long, long time; my blog is about food, restaurants and travel. I’m a city girl through and through (roughing it to me, is slow room service) and I read your beautiful blog everyday in awe. I adore your animals and your photography. For a brief second I was almost inspired to get a pig like Tima, but don’t worry, I came to my senses. I’m so happy to have met you in person last year. It’s my hope to visit you on the farmy on day, maybe even bring my red polka-dot gum boots (from Bath, UK) and stay in your gorgeous retreat to help on the farmy. I may even trim my nails for that! 😉
As you already know, but to make it official, I am just downstate from you in Shelbyville, Illinois! I, too, have a small farm with several animals – but I’m not nearly as sustainable as you. I start my mornings with a cup of coffee and checking posts!
I’m from Ohio but have lived in Michigan, Iowa, and Pennsylvania, too. On the practical side, I read your blog to know what to expect weather-wise the next day, when the weather works as it should. But I love reading about the adventures on the farmy. Many of your tales put me in mind of Christopher Robin and Winnie the Pooh!
Good Morning Celi. I live in a suburb (Duluth) of Atlanta, Georgia, in the USA, where I work as an accountant in a corporate office. So, most of my day is indoors. Yuck! I’m an old-hand at following The Kitchens Garden and feel I’ve survived this terrible winter with you and all your precious animals. Have to say I worried about y’all. I usually read your blog with my morning coffee, but sometimes I read it on my phone during the work day. I grew up on a farm and reading your blog is my nod to that heritage and also a nod to the appreciation I have for folks who help us live a sustainable life. And of course, I read your blog because you are a great writer and photographer!
Oh I joined ages ago, cannot remember when but it seems like years. I am English but I now live in Bulgaria.We have been here nearly 8 years and moved here from Spain where we lived for 7 years. I am 74 years young and just started to learn Bulgarian. My greatest love are my animals, dogs , cats and one husband.. I have 3 daughters from previous marriages, and hub has 2 daughters and 1 son. We have 15 grandchildren and 7 great granchildren.
Oh my goodness – there you are – this blog is migrating soon, to a more robust platform and I am scrolling through making sure I don’t miss anyone who wants to come along for the ride – how are you doing? It has been SO LONG! Pop in – we would love to hear from you!
My husband and I have 5 acres in a small town outside of the KC area called LaCygne. I will retire in a little over a year and we will raise chickens, goats, Dexter cow and we hope to become more like Celi and John and be self sufficient. We already have our big garden planted that I will can and freeze from this year. We love this life!
Hi all! My name is Beth Ann—I joined a while ago but certainly am not among the first readers of this fabulous blog. I currently live in Mason City, Iowa but am hoping for a move to someplace else soon as the hubby got “restructured” out of his job earlier this year and is in the job hunting process. I blog over at It’s Just Life–Finding the Extraordinary in the Ordinary about just that—life! (www.bethannchiles.com) I love animals and have two cats that are spoiled rotten. I am always so inspired when I read the entries on The Kitchens Garden ! Always something to see and of course, such wonderful writing. One of the first blogs I read every morning with my morning cup of coffee. 🙂
I’ve been visiting the Farmy on a regular basis for some time now and like many here make this my first stop in the early morning. I live south of Seattle Washington but dream of life on a sustainable farm through the words and images set down each day by Celi. I smile daily, laugh often, and have even shed tears reading of this commitment made by you Celi, to your farm, your animals and your beliefs.
Still in the dirty jerz. (New Jersey) I see in the comments that some of you have made it out. Way to go!!!
I been a “joiner” for a bit of time, enjoy your daily farmy posts and am delighted to learn where all your blog guests are writing from.
I live just outside of Chicago on two humble Countryside acres of flora and fauna and weeds with a herd of deer (there are 13 doe, some heavy with child, munching on leaves in my front yard right now).
Weather is coolish today and has generally been quite similar to yours all winter long, but, the sun has appeared, the birds are chirping, and I need to go now to shoo the herd out of my hostas. Penny
Greetings all ya’ll! I am in Houston (originally from Calif., lived for a while in U.K.) My husband and I own a small landscaping & design company. We are all organic and while we do traditional work we also do lots of urban orchards and herb and veg gardens! When I started blogging I came across this wonderful blog. I love animals and support growing our food local! I have a small veggie patch and buy from two local organic small farms, that is where I get my eggs too! I love this blog because it is the kind of news that feels real and important. It is how i start my day everyday with my cuppa tea : )
Hello all from (too) sunny Southern California! I’m a semi-retired professor of sustainability and business and passionate promoter of organic and locally grown food. I discovered this blog by way of Charlotte’s blog, The Daily Cure, when she put up a link to a terrific recipe. Having spent part of my childhood on smallish family farms in Ohio and Michigan helping raise goats and chickens and pigs, I was hooked. Charlotte’s mother has been a dear friend for 25 years and I’m a great fan of Charlotte’s writing. I lived in Budapest, Hungary for 10 years and France for another 10, so am still adjusting to life back here in the US.
Greetings from East Tennessee! I’ve followed the farmy blog for a couple of years now, since before Minty and Meadow were born. I’m a zookeeper and a writer, and in my college days I worked on a sheep/pig/cow operation. It was nothing like the farmy.
I have been reading for a number of years, but not yet signed up to “follow!” We have a small goat farm (had wonderful Coopworth and Border Leicester sheep as well until about a month ago) here in midcoast Maine. I am also a teaching young adult librarian for my day job. Love being part of your farm fellowship!
Hello! So I actually found this blog through my landscaper–see Laurin Lindsey above! It only took reading the “about” section for me to know this is a blog I will love! My fiancé and I live in Houston, Texas and bought a house in suburbia this past August. We immediately put in some vegetable beds and have been growing as much of our own organic produce (with varying degrees of success) since! There is nothing more rewarding for me than producing our very own herbs and food for everyday consumption. Hoping to continue expanding our little garden life here and excited for inspiration from you and your readers!
I am a HUGE fan of c’s farmy blog. I adore her sense of humour, her outlook on life, her simplicity and complexities, and I love that her photography often inspires my muse. I live in West Sussex, UK, where I write, bake, cook, garden, talk to Molly (my Springer Spaniel), and cherish every moment of retirement with my husband.
Kia Ora. I live in Whitby, Porirua, Aotearoa (New Zealand)…..about 30kms north west of Wellington. I’ve been reading along for a good while now and love reading Celi’s posts at breakfast time here.
Enjoying the days on your farm for about 6 months now from Oregon … USA. I’m new to farming, and your blog is a great inspiration. We share our lives with a beautiful Great Dane named, Penni, 14 hens, and the real captain of this farm – our rooster gentleman Benedict!
I have been reading your blog for a long time. I start my day with reading a handful of farmy blogs and yours is the first to be read, always. I feel like all of your animals are mine, but you take care of them!
The Hyde family own a dairy farm in the province of Gauteng, South Africa. Jon and I bought the farm 14 years ago, and we have worked very hard to expand it from one cow, a calf and a bull to around 250 female Jerseys. We milk around 150 cows, and we also raise around 250 Holstein heifers for another dairy farmer. We get the Holsteins when they are newly-weaned, we raise and inseminate them and return them to their owner when they are 2 months away from calving. Jon is a systems analyst and farms during week-ends, while I (Dinki) run the farm and also homeschool our two daughters, Firn (17) and Rain (15), who have never been to school. We absolutely love the family-friendliness of the farm life. Our winters are very dry and temperate (our coldest recorded temperature is -9 degrees Celsius) and our summers are hot and wet. Our average rainfall is around 800 mm. Celi, I read your blog every morning around 04:30 while having a cup of our delicious indigenous tea. It is a great way to start my days, which are full and busy, and sometimes very stressful. I admire the way you care for your animals and I feel for you when an animal is sick or when you have inclement weather. My family gets an update from me about the Farmy every day. I think you do an amazing job!
What a lovely fellowship you have grown, Miss C. I’ve been visiting for quite some time from Virginia, USA.
I’ve been visiting for a year or two, and love your blog, especially as I’m also from New Zealand (as you know, but I guess the location idea is for all of us). I’m a writer, who has published books about the seasons, rituals, creativity, midlife, ageing and spirituality. I live in Auckland, close to the sea, and my blog is http://seasonalinspiration.blogspot.com (even though the link keeps reverting to my website, because it prefers to give a WordPress address)
Kaipara Flats – just west of Warkworth, New Zealand. I started following the blog around January this year. I work nights at a bakery and your posts arrive in my inbox around 1am, which coincides with my ‘ morning tea ‘ break. Seeing how the Farmy family are doing always brightens my shift. I live on a 6 acre lifestyle block and I raise a few calves each year for weaner sale. I also keep two each year for our freezer. I am a not very good blogger, most days I forget to do it. I also garden – when I remember.
Mostly I paint and work on my 12th century living history projects.
I live in the city fringe/Inner West of Sydney, Australia with my partner referred to in my blog as the Gorgeous One (G.O.). I’ve been blogging, and enjoying visiting Miss C. and the Farmy for a couple of years, usually with a cup of coffee before my morning walk before going to work at my office job in a high-rise building overlooking the harbour in the CBD. Our aim is to move from our small city apartment to our house in the country village of Taylors Arm, where we hope to at least have a few chooks for eggs, a cat and a dog for company, grow veges and as much as possible feed ourselves. I love being in the good company of The Fellowship in the Lounge of Comments.
Hi Celi, I am soooo late in joining – only recently have discovered your blog after my brother started telling me what Sheila had been up to and I then had to start finding out for myself. I am in southern England, start my day with a walk with the dogs, then out to look after the chickens, afterwards a nice cup of English tea and read up on your news. I love to hear what you and all the animals have been up to, it makes me smile, it makes me laugh, sometimes its sad but then the pictures and the way you describe it all is so lovely. Thank you for bringing us all so much in our day in so many different countries. I haven’t got a favourite animal but I absolutely adore Marcel. Oh and Tima of course. And then there’s Godot, Oh and Sheila and……………….!!! Oh I love them all. Love to you and all there. x
I live outside Washington DC between the chaos of the city and the wine country of Virginia. I teach sixth grade science and am a passionate organic gardener. I read your blog every morning and worried about your animals when it was so incredibly cold. I’ve never lived on a farm but think I could. I’ve been following your blog for a while and also have a garden blog.
I have lived across the pond in Ireland for all but two years of my life. From birth to late twenties in Dublin, the Capital city of the ROI. I moved for a four letter word, one hundred miles up the road to the top right corner of the map, to Northern Ireland, part of the UK. Same language but very different culture!
I have been a follower of the farmy for quite some time now, so much so that I had withdrawal symptoms over the last ten days, while away on holiday. I love reading & learning about all the residents and what they get up to on a daily basis. Thank you Celi for allowing me to be part of it
Lán grá & hugs,
Grannymar
I read your blog everyday, to get my farming fix. I live in the burbs of Northern VA, commute to DC for work everyday. I have a lovely shady yard, and a garden plot at the local community garden. I like to eat local, and can and freeze all summer long. Learning lots from your blog!
I am not sure why I show up as anonymous! This is a wonderful farm community.
HI Everyone! I just found this site while looking for info on how to best care for my bum lamb. Wonderful site. I look forward to reading over coffee as well. I just went “back to the farm” about a year ago. What a journey from high heels and dresses to muck boots and Wranglers! Love it! I am at peace.
Hello. I’m Sarah from the north western part of the Waikato in New Zealand. When they changed the boundaries for Auckland they left us out, which is just as well as we are smack bang in the middle of dairy country on our 3 acre slice of paradise. I read this wonderful blog every day, because I always think that if Celi can achieve all she does in a day then surely I can do things from my meager list. You are an inspiration and a really hard worker. Just try not to burst a foo foo valve! Take care.
Cheers Sarah : o )
Seems like I have been following your blog forever! I’m more of a lurker than a commenter, but know I am always there. Your photos are inspiring as is your writing style. I feel as though we are sitting down to share a cup of coffee and a story together every morning. Thank you for being a constant in so many lives.
Lisa
Good morning, I’m Kat. I’ve just moved to Western Nebraska about 2 years ago. I’ve been reading your blog for a while (a year-ish) and seldom comment but very much enjoy reading. We have 25 acre chunk of property that we are so very slowly working to turn into a productive piece of property. It is a new-ish place as it is only about 18 years old. Newest house I think I’ve lived in during my married life. We’ve always tended toward old farm houses, even in town. The only major problem with a newer property is that I have no old outbuildings to work with. Then again, I have no old buildings to maintain either. It has its pluses and minuses. We have a garden that gets better each year, started our orchard this year, and are pasturing a friend’s grass-fed beeves for the summer. Right now we mostly have pets. Two dogs, two cats, and two chickens that are more pets than anything else.
I really enjoy seeing what your weather etc. is doing. You generally get our weather (or similar to) a day or so later and it seems to have time to re-build. It is interesting to me to learn about this area they call the Midwest through other peoples’ eyes. I grew up in the West and spent most of my time since school in the Pacific Northwest. This is familiar but different. The weather here is spectacular.
Someday I hope to get my fences in shape enough to maybe have some sheep. I spin wool and would like to have at least a small flock of my own. Although, I am not sure my heart can take the trials of having livestock. I had critters as a kid and I don’t miss the losing an animal part.
Keep up the lovely work. I do enjoy your writing and photos with my morning coffee. Thank you.
Absolutely love your blog!!!!! Love following all the animals and what beautiful pictures you take. I wish I had even half of your energy, I have a small farm in a little town in the Pacific Northwest. There is always so much that needs to be done. My husband works very long hours, so much of the work is left to me. I always think of you when I feel overwhelmed and all that you are able to accomplish!!
What motivation you are! Well my coffee is gone and my critters need to be fed, so I will put on my barn boots and head out to feed everyone. Thank you again for great, great posts.
Claudette
Greetings from Western Wisconsin! I LOVE to catch up with the Farmy news, drool over the stunning photography, and get inspired with Celi’s positivity and kindness. I am just now getting back into my homesteading groove, after diving head first into fulltime farming the past 5 years. I was shocked when this actually started to take the joy out of all the farmy things I love. Celi’s helping me relearn that joy, and as we finally start to make our farm business work, I can get back to doing and APPRECIATING the things I love. Thank you SOOO much!
I met Al the boar some time ago and didn’t like him at all. His name however stuck with me, reminding me of one of my selves (Al the Bore, around my family because I am always talking about things I find interesting), and your site is so fresh & free, so down in the earth where I’d like to be, and dreamed of being at the age of 11 when my dad almost moved us to a farm. Now, 60 yrs later, peacefully adrift in a community outside of St Louis MO, I can live out that dream through your wondrous photographs and lively commentary. I feel as though every being on your farm is a special person, and I so much enjoy visiting with them, and you, every day!
It´s such a gorgeous move to directly speak to your readers, of course I want so say “hi” to you now! I just started following you, my name is Sabine, I´m from Munich in the south of Germany. I´m really exited to learn about your farm life, so “see” you tomorrow, right? Have a great day! Sabine.
You milk a cow, you drive a tractor, you enjoy simplicity- you are speaking my language. So glad I found your beautiful blog.
welcome!! welcome.. c
Hello,I’m so glad that I found this wonderful blog,I’m a long way from you here in N/E Victoria ,Australia but life has it’s ups and downs wherever in the world we live and I am fascinated to read your posts,thank you for the chance to do so.
Cheers
Nigel
Not sure why but for some reason yours posts have not been arriving in my letter box. It did not take me long to realize that something wzs missing.
was it me or was there something I did not knowb about..some vital part of my daily life was missing.
one time I though t that I had solved the mystery but each day came a d wbent without a post. I have finally rejoined..
hopefully this will work and each day I shall received my letters from the farm y.
So sorry about Big Dog and Daisy..sending my love and hugs to you
I just discovered your blog via “My Little Bit of Heaven” blog. I live in a city in California and so enjoy all the animals on the farm and all the activity. I do have a large dog with a big yard ( big for Southern California standards) but the thought of her being able to enjoy farm life is so attractive. I will live it vicariously through your blog. Very much enjoyed today’s entry. Thank you
You are very welcome Delrene. Thank you for leaving a message on the Join Us page, I love to read about the people who are reading about the farm!.. c
I’m new to your farmy brood, but already a loyal fan. I come from Iowa–but was raised in town not on a farm. (My loss.) My mom is a fearless pioneer soul from Nebraska who has grown the largest most beautiful gardens, food and flowers, and taught me how to do the same. A couple of decades ago, I lived on a hill in northern England, across from the Bronte moors, for a year and feel a permanent attachment to that wild, windy, wonderful place. I don’t get back there as much as I used to, but I hope that changes. Now I live on a lake in Minnesota and work as a nonprofit consultant. In spare hours, I cook, garden, blog, make jewelry, hike, read, listen to all kinds of music, and travel whenever I can. Your morning posts are very grounding, reminding us all of what’s real and what’s important…and how to live with as much integrity toward the land, animals, and other humans as we can. I’m truly grateful.
I was the first generation of my family to move away from Upstate NY & become a transplant to the Pacific NW after living in the same area for almost 300 years. It was a cultural adjustment to say the least, butI now consider Oregon my home and would rather deal with rain than be feet deep in snow during winter. I worked in social services most of my career & am had to retire early when I was diagnosed with incurable heart disease. That was when I discovered atThe Kitchen Garden. It is unlike most other blogs I follow because it has a strong community of followers that is supportive of one another & of Celi as she works towards having a sustainable farm. It has opened a whole new world of ideas & alternate ways of living one’s life to me since I have no connections to farms of any kind, but I dp love learning & can relate to the amazing animals, the love of gardening and life in general. Cecilia’s photography is amazing as is her style of writing. Reading her post is a wonderful way to start my day off & has replaced the newspaper with my cup of coffee each day. I do not feel my day is complete without a dose of the farmy & seeing how Ms. C & the animals are doing as well as what the followers have to share You inspire me with the tremendous amount of work you accomplish each day, that you had the courage to leave your home in New Zealand & come to a place on the American Mid-West that could not be more different than you were used to. It as been eye opening to follow your progress as you work making a life for yourself as a farmer in progress & are learning as you live – one step at a time through people sharing knowledge & helping one another along the way. Your blog proves that people have more in common than they have differences & we all have years of experience & wisdom to share.
When I see others struggle & overcome adversity, it gives me the strength I need to live my life to the fullest I am capable of that day. What could be more filled with up & downs than life on a small farm? The times of adversity make you appreciate the things that are going well & the joyous times remind you that there are rewards for working through the rough patches. When you learn about a different way of life it expands your point of view & see tnghat there are many ways to achieve the same goal. That makes me more open to other people ideas & suggestions and less set in my ways, which I do not want to do. I had to retire early when I was diagnosed with incurable heart disease last year. It was very isolating experience to have to leave my career & be housebound much of the time. When I discovered The Farm Kitchen, it allowed me to still have an armchair adventure, learn interesting about someone living a very different lifestyle than I had, but I have also found many people with common interests like animals, gardening, good cooking & followers who have years of valuable experience. I discovered that as long as I could still learn new things & grow as a person, I would be able to get through whatever changes my life was going through. Where else can you get involved in writing part of a unique book, raise funds for a spinster pig named Shelia winter food supply or hope that the Bastard mink will never have a chance to eat another of Celi’s chooks? There are dogs that are nannies in fur coats who love kittens & unruly pigs who plot food thefts and cows with more drama than Downton Abby. I may have a lot of physical limitations now, but The Kitchen Garden & Ms. C have expanded my imagination and sense of humor many times over. Please do not be a lurker, joing the farmy community is easy & rewarding because followers actually support one another. Thank you Ceili for sharing your life, your animals & photos as you go live each day to the fullest. You don’t have to live on a farm or have a barn full of personality filled animals to learn something from every post of The Kitchen Garden. It is about life, learning & striving to do better done with a lot of humor, sometime tears & everything in between. There is no reason not to join the community & you will be welcomed in.
Hello Miss C, I have been a lurker for a while. I originally come from Stoke-on Trent, in Staffordshire, England but since 1996 have been living in the South East of England. I have the privilege of raising 2 daughters with my husband and enjoy reading your blog daily. Keep up the good work you do, if I could pop round to help you I would but alas this is not very likely.
Hello there from Texas!
I’ve been following this blog for a long time, but have never posted on this page. So Hi! everyone, and Miss C, thank you for providing this girl-in-the-suburbs with a surrogate farm life. I’m a wife, a mother of three grown-ish kids, also a happy caretaker of 3 retired racing greyhounds and a couple of rescue cats. (nothing like your flerd but boy we have a lot of pet hair everywhere-ha!) I’m a writer–in fact my first novel, The Art of Crash Landing, is coming out in September 2015, published by HarperCollins. (Whoop!)
Most mornings I just read your post while drinking my coffee and then get on with my day. But even though I rarely have a comment worth leaving, please know that I love your blog and appreciate the love you send out to all of us every day.
Hi, I’m Audrey, a writer and photographer blogging from southeastern Minnesota. My roots, though, lie 120 miles to the west on the Minnesota prairie, about 25 miles from Walnut Grove. Yes, THAT Walnut Grove, Minnesota childhood home of author Laura Ingalls Wilder.
I grew up on a dairy and crop farm and every time I read C’s posts, I am reminded of those seventeen years on the farm. Thank you, C, for taking me back “home” so many days.
My writing reflects my love of the everyday, of the land, of the simple joys in life. Think scent of freshly-mown alfalfa, laundry on the line, apple crisp warm from the oven. I pen poetry, too, which has been published in numerous places from anthologies to billboards.
In short, writing and photography are my passions. I’d love to meet you in the comments section of my blog, Minnesota Prairie Roots.
Hello from Central Texas (west of Austin). Originally from the Kansas City area. I’m Carla. Married with 3 kids and 1 perfect granddaughter.
Grew up wanting, but never receiving, a pony for any gift giving occasion. Suburbia does not support pony living quarters.
Hubby and I bought 4 acres 14 years ago and we’ve never looked back. I finally got my pony. He and I got into a terrible accident that left me bruised and broken and afraid of him. A year of training together did nothing to make me less fearful of him. He moved in with a lovely family of 4-H children that adored him and gave him a job he loved–eating and not going on trail rides.
However, that opened the gates to having chickens and donkeys. Both are friendly, funny animals with personality to spare.
I have my own little farmy! I only wish I could grow vegetables like I did as a child. Central Texas water, wind, heat and horrible soil are against any effort I have ever made regarding growing my own food. 😦
Howdy from Oklahoma!
I have been following this blog for a long time, and somehow missed posting to this page. I grew up a farm girl in Nebraska but always yearned for warmer weather, so I moved south to Oklahoma in 1990. I am an at home wife looking after 10 acres; half pasture and yard, half woodlands. I garden and harvest. I have chickens. I have three rescue Japanese Chin who are seniors, so much of the time it’s like running a little nursing home! I am a licensed wildlife rehabilitator, occasionally taking in orphaned or injured mammals and birds (sorry snakes and lizards!). The little orphan that changed my life was Daisy deer. Much of my blog writing is a result of following her and the local deer herd. Observing the deer people and all of the critters of the woodlands has truly changed my life. I have discovered many messages and miracles in the woodlands and beyond. I loved you Celi… and thekitchensgarden from the first time I read your words. This fellowship is an amazing group of people. Support, encouragement, compassion and inspiration are just a few of the words that describe what I get here on a daily basis. Reading this blog is as important as that first cup of coffee – I just gotta have it!! 🙂
Hm, it looks like I, too, have not fulfilled my promise to post on this page. I’m in Kansas, not farming or even gardening (though my sons do) but instead working two library jobs and keeping an eye on Old Jules (www.sofarfromheaven.com). Sometimes I blog on http://www.jeannekastenstudio.com but lately I’ve focused my creative efforts on an artistic journal of sorts. I’m very glad to be here and would never miss a post! I feel very much a part of the “fellowship” and have enjoyed reading other blogs from people I’ve met over here. We are all connected, although we don’t always know it. Thank you, Celi.
Most of my mornings begin by connecting with this blog and all the farmy friends. Cecilia is a great storyteller who has a kind and gentle heart for all creatures including those who follow her. I love her outlook on life with all its ups and downs.
I was born and raised on a self-sustaining farm in Germany. I moved to the United States and first lived on the East Coast before I moved to California. Now I live in Santa Cruz in a beautiful coastal town south of San Francisco. I love to cook for my friends and family and I love to travel. Whenever I can, I like to visit my family in Germany.
I am from the northwest part of Missouri, just outside of Kansas City. I work downtown in a technical profession for a banking institution, but my husband and I have a place north of town we call Strawhouse Ranch on several acres where we live in a contemporary straw bale home in the middle of wildgrasses and native plant life and the rolling northern Missouri hills, tending to chickens, two horses and a mule, struggling with keeping bees, have numerous adopted cats, and three great dogs. We strive to keep everything as organic as possible. I have been following your blog for quite awhile, and came upon it through a link about beekeeping when you were feeding your pigs old comb. Then I saw the post about hanging a feedsack in the tree for your cows to wipe the flies away, and immediately applied it to my equines. After that I was hooked and check in with you every day, usually only a few moments after you’ve posted, since we are in the same time zone, and I’m up before the chickens as well. If I comment after this, it will be under PaulaB, to save keystrokes. Have a wonderful day!!
Hi, I’m Anne. So pleased to have found your blog through Press Publish, Cecelia. I live on the Scottish Hebridean island of Skye. I’m not a farmer, or crofter, but a recently retired primary school teacher. I’m also a writer of women’s fiction and a wife, mum and grandma. I describe myself as a subversive old bat with a kind heart.
Hi. I’m Taylor. I grew up in Illinois where my family still lives. I’m a writer and in my constant search for all things farm-ish by which to fuel my novel set in 1930 Nebraska, I came upon your delightful blog. So excited to read about your experiences; although farming has changed a lot since 1930, I’m sure certain things remain the same.
I am located in Albany, NY. I found you through the blog “A Winsome Journey”.
Good morning Cecilia, and everyone else of The Fellowship — I am finding my voice 🙂
I have been reading your wonderful blog on a daily basis since someone recommended it the day Tima and Tane (did I get that right?) found their way to the veranda, early this past winter; it is the very first thing I read each day and when I have been unable to I miss it terribly. You have always kept the tone upbeat and your photos are simply stunning. Right from the beginning I have felt we were old friends — funny, isn’t it; you never meet a person but they touch your heart and you immediately feel a connection. And, as well, I feel I know many of your regular contributors well: Kate and Deb, Audrey and Granny Mar — and, of course, Miss Whiplash, along with so many others. I think it has taken me so long to find my voice because I didn’t want to interrupt the wonderful back and forth comments sent by folks with whom you seem to have an obvious connection, although I have often found myself with a lot to say… hehehe
I live in a rather large city — Toronto, Canada — but did live in a rural area for many years before finding my way back to the city to be with my daughter and her small family. Blood is thicker than water, so it is said, and being close to a grandchild growing up has pulled me back to my roots although I do dreadfully miss the pastoral life at times. I am rather ancient (closer to 70 than 60 years, these days) and now retired from not so fulfilling jobs as a bookkeeper. I neither have a blog nor run a farm, large or small; I just simply love reading yours and look forward to your superb photos each day. Sometimes I laugh out loud, sometimes I mop a damp eye and then there are those days, like yesterday, that keep me sitting here thinking long and hard. Yes, yesterday’s (returning home from Portland and considering the difference of city life v. life on the farm) was so wonderful to read — your insight was marvelous. So thank you for your blog and, if I may, I would love to ‘hang out’ with you all 🙂
Good morning Cecilia, and everyone else of The Fellowship — I am finding my voice 🙂
I have been reading your wonderful blog on a daily basis since someone recommended it the day Tima and Tane (did I get that right?) found their way to the veranda, early this past winter; it is the very first thing I read each day and when I have been unable to I miss it terribly. You have always kept the tone upbeat and your photos are simply stunning. Right from the beginning I have felt we were old friends — funny, isn’t it; you never meet a person but they touch your heart and you immediately feel a connection. And, as well, I feel I know many of your regular contributors well: Kate and Deb, Audrey and Granny Mar — and, of course, Miss Whiplash, along with so many others. I think it has taken me so long to find my voice because I didn’t want to interrupt the wonderful back and forth comments sent by folks with whom you seem to have an obvious connection, although I have often found myself with a lot to say… hehehe
I live in a rather large city — Toronto, Canada — but did live in a rural area for many years before finding my way back to the city to be with my daughter and her small family. Blood is thicker than water, so it is said, and being close to a grandchild growing up has pulled me back to my roots although I do dreadfully miss the pastoral life at times. I am rather ancient (closer to 70 than 60 years, these days) and now retired from not so fulfilling jobs as a bookkeeper. I neither have a blog nor run a farm, large or small; I just simply love reading yours and look forward to your superb photos each day. Sometimes I laugh out loud, sometimes I mop a damp eye and then there are those days, like yesterday, that keep me sitting here thinking long and hard. Yes, yesterday’s (returning home from Portland and considering the difference of city life v. life on the farm) was so wonderful to read — your insight was marvelous. So thank you for your blog and, if I may, I would love to ‘hang out’ with you all 🙂
I’ve been reading and commenting for a while now, and I don’t think I’ve ever gotten around to this part. Apologies for my late entry, but better late than never. Let me start by posting my official bio, and then we’ll make fun of that a bit:
“Whitney Brown is a dry-stone waller and folklorist based in Greenville, South Carolina. She spent her twenties bouncing between UNC and the Smithsonian, North Carolina farms and commercial kitchens, and hillsides and blacksmith shops in Wales. She wrote about Southern foodways and agriculture for her MA (UNC, 2010). Her current focus is the renewed interest in and revival of traditional craft, and in addition to running her own stone masonry business, she continues to pursue independent documentary projects in the US and Wales.”
So I spent a lot of my life in dirty Carhartts, heaving stones here and there, drinking lots of tea, admiring the scenery. I still do fieldwork as a folklorist, talking to people near and far about their work and hobbies and creative projects. I love to sail. I love to wander rugged countryside on foot. I love an after-work beer more than just about anything… Except maybe long, rose-scented baths. In other words, I lead a fairly self-indulgent but very hardworking life. I love animals and agriculture, too, but because I’m on the move so much I have to live vicariously through Miss C. (Bless her for this DAILY dose! I envy her discipline… I am not so consistent on my own blog.) So happy to be here amongst this crowd of warm, enthusiastic, generous people! You are my kind of folks. So, hello, everyone!
Hello from a New Zealand farm. Living here doesn’t make me a farmer, just as you wouldn’t want me in the operating theatre if I’d married a surgeon. But I love country life and living on a farm with a farmer does influence what I do. When asked what for my occupation I say I’m a bitser – I do bits of this and bits of that. Among the bits are writing (I’m a journalist by training though only sporadically now in practice, and a regular blogger); I’m on a couple of boards and there’s all the things that fall to your lot when you live with someone who lives on the job. We farm sheep, beef and dairy cattle and the wee picture which accompanies this is the view from my kitchen window.
Hello from the UK. I’ve been reading your blog with an afternoon cuppa for a little while now, though not yet stopped by to comment. I’m a programmer by day, but the husband and I often fill our free time with working on our house, cooking, growing veg and stopping our two hens squawking at passing cats and annoying our neighbours. We sometimes dream of a small holding in the country. Maybe one day….
Hello! I’m embarrassed to just now discover this lovely introduction to The Fellowship. So fascinating to discover Cecilia has half the world covered–from Bulgaria to Australia.
I am an arm-chair farmer and have been reading this blog for at least two, maybe three years. I wouldn’t miss it for the world.
I’m a retired English teacher. Taught in Chicago’s inner city and Washington D.C.’s, but my obsession is animals, especially dogs and cats. This blog has expanded my love of animals to include farm animals. Very strange to love learning about animal husbandry when I have absolutely no hope of ever putting it to use. But there you are. I simply admire and adore Cecilia.
Hi there fellow Fellowship-ers and C. I’ve only just now learned of this intro page but have been reading for awhile and commenting for a little while. I grew up in the Pacific Northwest of the USA in both towns and in the country (with sheep and then vineyards.) I now live in Central Texas suburbs and grow food organically as best I can in my spare time (which isn’t very plentiful.)
I thought the map covered in pins sounded like a lot of fun! I started an online map, if anyone wants to pin themselves. Just go here: http://j.mp/1OjwptE and go to “Additions” and “Add Marker.” You don’t have to login or anything and can add as little or as much detail as you’d like about yourself.
Such a good Idea. Thank you for doing this. I’ve marked myself in.
Me too!
Hello from the Coromandel Peninsula in the North Island of NZ. I live in the smallish town of Thames, but come from farming families (my father was brought up on a farm and made sure we always kept our links with the land). I don’t think I could ever do what Miss C is doing, but I love the idea and I love reading about it! I can be an armchair farmer.
I am Kristin from Nebraska. I’ve been reading for about a year and a half, but am not much of a commenter. The first post I read was about Boo and Marmalade when Marmalade was a baby. With that post about a dog and his kitten, I was hooked. This blog is such a great place to spend a little time every day. I am only a gardener for now, but I dream of having a little farmy of my own. I don’t think I could do what Miss C does, but I would like some more farmy things in my life. For now I will watch along with all of the others and cheer on all in the farmy.
Hello Cecilia! This is Stacey from Michigan – I had the pleasure of sitting next to you on the airplane a month ago! And as much as I would love my life to be slower and simpler, I am just now getting around to your website and saying hello. Meeting you was such a blessing. Beginning to browse through your blog has been another! I look forward to reading your daily posts and sharing with my farm enthusiast 9-year-old daughter. I am sure she will be requesting pictures of pigs. We will try to arrange a visit to your farm NEXT year for sure!
I’ve been following your wonderful blog for awhile now, but didn’t introduce myself by joining. I’m a 63 year old grandma settled in Arkansas by way of several states. My Daddy was a road construction worker and we moved a lot, which I absolutely loved, but think I’ve finally gotten the wanderlust out of my system.
I do have a garden but no farm animals, just my cats. We are blessed to have friends providing housing for us in our retirement years in exchange for us helping out with lawn mowing and upkeep of their property. We get to enjoy their horses. Living way out in the country is so peaceful and beautiful. I love it.
Thank you for the posts that start my day off every morning. The beautiful photos of your place are such a joy. And, of course, I feel like I personally know each and every one of the farm animals, as well as you yourself.
Can’t wait to follow your awesome life!
Good morning! I have been reading your blog now for some time, but never realized til today that I should introduce myself! Born in Brooklyn, moved at the age of 10 to the Bay Area of California only to move to Oregon when I went to college. I lived in the Portland Oregon metro area where I raised my children, as I was a single mom for awhile, worked for the phone company for over 20 years and after living there for almost 50 years my lovely husband and I moved to the very small town of Weed California. We are just 70 miles south of Oregon, but it is definitely different here. It was a huge adjustment for me, but my sweetie adapted immediately as he jumped feet first into one building/remodeling etc project after another. Now after a bit more than 3 years we have found our niche and have lovely new friends and are busier than ever with hiking, our local library, gardening, enjoying our home and just being on top of our 10 acres that the deer and all the other animals share with us. I so enjoy reading your blog every morning and your photographs are exquisite.
Good morning!
As I sit here on this blessedly dark and rainy morning, I am being introduced to your blog through a link on ‘Down to Earth.’ I am entertained by your stories, intrigued by the week’s opportunity to retreat from the world (I’ve long needed it), and reminded that the dream you are living was once my dream – before illness and the tedium of life swerved in front of me. Now on the road to recovered health, dreams are reawakening and nudging at the back of my mind once again. My husband and I know that we are not where we’re meant to be, and so we plan, talk, gather information, work the numbers, and set goals. Thank you for reminding me of dreams I once held dear, and I look forward to getting to know you.
Have a lovely, rain-soaked day. I intend to enjoy every drop after this long, dusty dry spell.
Shani
Illinois (mid-state)
Hi! Sunny from Oakhurst, CA (originally from Portland, OR) Love your descriptions, Celi! We have a smaller but just as riotous a farm between our chickens, kittens, the neighbor’s horse, another neighbor’s alpacas, another’s goats, and the multinational variety of wildlife that tromps through our yard! I’ve been trying to figure out how to comment and how to order your book. Nice to meet you and the other ladies on your blog!
Submitted on Dec 06, 2015 from chris John.
Just discovered your great blog and had to join. I am originally from Cape Town, South Africa now living in rural Dordogne, south west France in a beautiful 18th century farm house. I have lived in Paris, Copenhagen and 17 years in Los Angeles. My husband, Stuart, and I moved here 6 months ago after we fell in love with the house on the internet. We took very early retirement and here we are, in the depth of the French countryside, loving every minute of it. I am and always have been a passionate cook and teach cookery lessons from my kitchen.
Do look at my blog: http://www.maisontravers.wordpress.com
Nadia – Welcome. i will come across and look at your blog right now! Anything to keep me closer to the fire just a little bit longer. Have a gorgeous day! c
My son, Aaron will be joining you on your farm in a few weeks when you return from your trip. I have enjoyed following your blog for the past several weeks and I am so excited for Aaron’s adventure. I wish I could come along too. 🙂
Welcome Aarons mother! how wonderful that you are reading! I am looking forward to meeting your son – we will have lots of work to do when i get back.. c
I’ve journeyed here via one of my new followers, the Turtle. I live in New England at the southern end of Rhode Island (the Ocean State). But in my mind I live on a farm in the Berkshire Hills with my feral kitten, ZuZu. I created the farm in a book I wrote called A Berkshire Tale. But now I find I can come to visit a real farm. Ceci’s Farm and that had made me quite happy. I’ll be getting to know the cast, both past and present, in the following weeks. That is, when I’m not editing my newest book , a murder mystery, which is set in my own home town. What a pleasant surprise. Hello, Ceci and thank you Turtle! Clare Oh, my blog is called Around ZuZu’s Barn http://aroundzuzusbarn@wordpress.com
I need to correct my site http://aroundzuzusbarn.wordpress.com ( I placed the @ sign in by mistake Sorry! Clare)
Hi! Now you have a follower from Greece! I’m Marina, I live near Athens on what used to be a farm until Athens grew and surrounded it. We still have some land and keep chickens and grow veggies but the cows and pigs are gone. We have plenty of olive trees, though, and produce our own oil, as well as citrus and pomegranate trees. Will be an avid follower from now on. Hi to everyone.
I just signed up and plan to enjoy your blog. I live in a condo in North Carolina. My view is my outdoor space. I have a porch that faces woods and a stream.
I am a quilter, knitter and reader. I belong to a great book club. I teach quilting and knitting in my bonus room. …all women younger than me. I want to pass it on. Lessons are too expensive, besides I enjoy the friendship.
Blessings all around, Lee
Thank you for your wonderful blog. I enjoy your perspectives and photographs. I grew up in town, but got called to help on Grandpa’s vineyard after storms. Growing up, I also irrigated alfalfa and bucked hay for Dad – usually under challenging conditions. I thought the farm life wasn’t for me until my career path was established. I am now retired to a half acre lot in the not so rural Town of Apple Valley out in the Mojave Desert of California. I have 5 chickens, a relatively small vegetable garden, a native ornamental garden and a “fixer upper”. I also went back to school to study construction technology. Yup. It really is a fixer upper. I am learning a lot from blogs like yours. Thank you so much for sharing.
Hello, my name is Simca and I am a fellow blogger, farmer and I live in Florida. I stumbled upon your blog by visiting Applewood farm blog. Wow, I love this and a post every day! I must step up my newbie game! Looking forward to learning from you and your readers! We have chickens, rabbits, a pig a horse and a few thousand bees.
My blog is farmskitchen. com, check it out if you have time.
Happy farming.
Hi, I’m Kimberly. We have a 10-acre hobby farm in western Wisconsin and have a little herd of Herefords. I also love gardening and cooking. I just started my blogging journey and your blog was recommended to me. I can definitely relate to many of your posts.
I am Laura from Catalonia, I live in a farm located at 1 hour drive from Barcelona city. I just started blogging about my life in the countryside with my 2 little children. ❤️ Great blog and very inspiring! Congratulations C 👌
Hello! I “followed” today. From a city in Massachusetts, and, no, not Boston, so I never got to have a farm and I’m not sure I’d fully love living in “the country.” But I’ve turned my postage stamp size yard into a garden and I’m learning! Your blog spoke to me about the value of simple and gentle.
I just found your blog, I absolutely love it. I love your work. I aspire to have a small farm one day, just self sustainable to feed my family and community. Thank you for all the work that you do. We do not appreciate our small famers enough and your animals are absolutely glorious, down to the orange tabbies.
Hello! My name is Melanie, and I live on a farm in the beautiful Winelands area of Stellenbosch, South Africa. I want to become more self-sufficient, so am happy to have found your blog! It’s truly inspiring.
So nice, I remembered all about my moms farm. We had so much hard under the sun and even if it’s raining. I know how’s the life in the farm. I love your page
What a wonderful blog! I live on 14 acres outside Sioux Falls, SD. I am a Family Physican, mother of three young girls and enjoy living off the land (and not going to the grocery store!) My motivation has been inspired from my under-resourced patients whose chronic health issues stem largely from low quality foods and lack of meaningful interactions within the community. My blog is very new but seeks to be more like yours- gleanforgood.co. Thanks so much for inspiring us!
Thank you for reading Elizabeth. Your food has such a huge impact on your health. I agree. I hate the grocery store too – Hate it!! c
I am glad this has worked out for you. You seem to have a passion for your role. I tried it for 5 years: kids born on the farm; building up a dairy goat herd–with a bit of an old Macdonald’s farm on the side (not quite the variety you have though); used equipment; jury rigging stuff; fixing stuff, and so on. It was not fun after awhile.
Oh well, I made a good go of it for a city boy; born and raised. My parents were what I called hillbillies from Nova Scotia. Down to earth brutal european honesty and all. My mother told me, after we declared we were going to leave our “successful” yuppy lifestyles in the Toronto, “you’ve got rocks in your head!”
Anyway, good for you. The photos evoke lots of memories for me.
I joined you recently.
I am from India, and although I am city bred, I can relate to many of the farm-stuff you write about because when I was growing, we had cows and hens, farmers and what not in our neighbourhood (yeah, in the city).
Love your lifestyle.
In my native language (Tamil), we have a literary work that dates back to 500 BCE called Thirukkural where there are 10 couplets dedicated to the farmer. My all-time favourite is one that goes “Only the one who makes food lives. The rest follow his footsteps”
Wow! that is a tremendous line. I might share that line with The Fellowship in tomorrows post. is there more? c
The translation of the ten couplets are as under:
1031
Howe’er they roam, the world must follow still the plougher’s team;
Though toilsome, culture of the ground as noblest toil esteem.
1032
The ploughers are the linch-pin of the world; they bear
Them up who other works perform, too weak its toils to share.
1033
Who ploughing eat their food, they truly live:
The rest to others bend subservient, eating what they give.
1034
O’er many a land they ‘ll see their monarch reign,
Whose fields are shaded by the waving grain.
1035
They nothing ask from others, but to askers give,
Who raise with their own hands the food on which they live.
1036
For those who ‘ve left what all men love no place is found,
When they with folded hands remain who till the ground.
1037
Reduce your soil to that dry state, When ounce is quarter-ounce’s weight;
Without one handful of manure, Abundant crops you thus secure.
1038
To cast manure is better than to plough;
Weed well; to guard is more than watering now
1039
When master from the field aloof hath stood;
Then land will sulk, like wife in angry mood.
1040
The earth, that kindly dame, will laugh to see,
Men seated idle pleading poverty.
My name is Kelly. I am from a small town in Alabama. Originally, from a larger town, but after I married I moved to the countryside. My family is slowly trying to transition to a more self sufficient lifestyle. I am new to this blogging site, but I stumbled upon your blog and knew that I could probably learn a thing or two. I enjoy your daily posts.
Gosh, I have come to ‘Join Us’ at least times and each time have gotten so involved in reading about the farmy fellowship that I didn’t have time to post a word about myself! Such an interesting group we are, and from all over the world! I was fortunate to have your blog recommended to me by a mutual friend, and have been reading for five years now, beginning when my husband and I bought land in the Ozark Mountains in Arkansas to also create a self sustaining small farm. We quickly found that this was not an easy plan, as we had to begin with growing the soil before we could get any delicious fruits or vegetables. We are doing well now, but still working toward sustainability. It’s been wonderful sharing succeses and challenges on the blog, and getting great ideas from others. The blog is a daily treat I look forward to first thing every morning! Celi, thank you for being a very special part of our lives!!!
I just recently found your blog through the WordPress Discover feature. I grew up in Germany on a farm (small farm, mostly to have food for the family, though grandma did sell eggs to locals) and I miss it so much at times. I now live in a small but thriving city in the US with no farm life, but a pack of dogs and one stubborn cat, pursuing my passions in science. I am an avid reader and knitter and sometimes I even rock climb or run. Most of the time I eat. I own a small house with some land and I try to at least grow some veggies ever year. I have several berry bushes and some grape vines, which remind me so much of careless summers back home. I am looking forward to getting to know everyone on here. I do dabble a bit in blogging about the books I read. Feel free to check my site out.
I haven’t signed into this page before, but will do it now after your mention in today’s blog, Celi. I’ve been reading for some years, not long after your beginning & have commented a few times, & been moved to tears & laughter out loud many times. I love animals & have since receiving 2 kittens for my first birthday in my hometown of Harrodsburg, Ky. It’s the oldest permanent white settlement west of the Allegheny Mtns. in the heart of the beautiful Bluegrass region. I never lived on a farm but could visit & stay & play on several in my childhood, where I experienced the magic of the countryside & the inside of barns. I am an artist living in Asheville, North Carolina. I’ve lived in South Florida, Near North & Old Town Chicago & North Shore suburbs, & one year in Paris. I lived in an old cabin in the Blue Ridge Mtns for a dozen years with goats, chickens, geese & guineas, & many cats & dogs, an unforgettable experience. Some of my paintings from those days are posted on my facebook page: Judith Cheney Artist. I have a part time job at The Colburn Earth Science Museum, soon to become The Asheville Museum of Science, when we move to a larger location later this summer. I have a small garden, a dear old dog & two chubby cats. I read Celi’s blog first thing every morning with my Darjeeling. The Farmy & it’s creatures & inhabitants are very real to me, as are members of The Fellowship some of whose blogs I also read & enjoy regularly. Thank you one & all for sharing.
Hello Miss C. I never did introduce myself here and with your recent invite I will. 🙂
Most of the internet calls me Mouse. I live in Northeast Ohio, not very far from Lake Erie. I have a quarter acre property in a fairly nice middle class suburb. Most of the houses in the area are small, and the lawns tend more towards postage stamps. Most livestock would be illegal in my area, but my property is large enough for me to keep rabbits and chickens, including a rooster. (And even, perhaps, someday a VERY small goat?) It’s not the type of area most people think of for farming.
I grow a pretty big garden and it’s been expanding each year. I have a huge knack for animals but gardening is something I’m still learning. I’m slowly turning my thumb from black to green.
I’m also working on a rather large project to found an Ecovillage with several other people. It’s a huge undertaking. But we’re hoping to make the world a bit more sustainable in the process.
Thanks for writing Miss C. Your photos and words are always inspiring to me. Someday I hope to be able to feed as many people as you do!
Former farm boy from western Illinois. Now in Iowa. Taught high school physics 38 yrs. Still teach online at How I See It. Can’t get it out of my system. That’s ok. Proud to be a teacher.
I’ve been reading your blog for four plus years but somehow missed this page. I live in Northern California on a small (8 acre) ranch. I have a small garden and orchard (still working full-time as a contract negotiator so don’t have the time I’d like to devote to both of those). We have horses, donkeys, goats, chickens, a dog and a barn cat. I love to cook and prefer to buy local, organic produce and meats whenever possible. I’m a regular at the local farmers market. I enjoy your unvarnished portrayal of farm life and I admire your approach to raising animals; they have a good life (short as it may be). I also enjoy your photography and your outlook on life. I’m in my late 50s and much of what you write about resonates with me. I have a blog, focused on the horses primarily, http://aspenmeadows.blogspot.com/.
I just started following your blog. I live in the Cleveland area of Ohio. Right now I am in an apartment saving for a house and I have two cats, a dog and a sugar glider. My dream and my boyfriend’s dream is to eventually own a small farm where we rescue all types of animals and adopt all the old shelter dogs that no one wants because of their age so they can live out the rest of their life in happiness. 🙂 I don’t know if I will EVER have the money to even purchase the land, but I can dream. 🙂
I live in Cape Town, South Africa, and have been following you for a few years now. As soon as I get to my desk in the morning I read your blog while I sip on a cup of hot rooibos tea. I love all the characters and never fail to learn something new. Yours is my favourite blog and the one I never miss catching up on. Also really love your photos but wouldn’t be able to choose a favourite between the cats, dogs, pigs and cows. I love them all.
Dear cecilia,
I read your blog and I am very impressed on how naturally you wrote, and also how you feed animals
I would like to join you and fight again poverty and hanger in the world, but I am limited because I do not have any training to experiment it in Africa (Cameroon).
Could you please give me some advices or redirect me to someone who could help me?
I am also passionate about food processing as there are a lot of row foods that can be transformed going to trash being everyday in Africa.
Thank you.
https://tropicalsweetness.wordpress.com/
Hi, Tropicanaenjoy!
We used to live in Liberia in the rain forests. So beautiful and lush, but we had so much trouble with the bug-a-bugs, there was a lot we couldn’t grow, so I understand your plight and frustration. Something needs to be done quick quick! I know there are projects, so it is coming, but soon enough? Good luck, my friend!
I’ve been following and occasionally commenting for quite a while now – a couple of years? – but I don’t think I’ve introduced myself before. I am a lone woman with a tiny shack in the rural center of Massachusetts, where I raise cashmere goats, and hens that lay organic eggs. And I try every year to raise more vegetables than the year before. It’s not easy; my land is mostly rocks with little bits of rusty soil in between. But I try!
Hi Celi
I’m happy to have found your blog, I think I stumbled upon it when I was searching the topic sustainability. I’m enjoying your posts and the animals and your photos are quite nice too.
I’m Aimee and also blog about my everyday life except I live in the suburbs, although the first ten years of my life we had a tiny farm. I have great memories of it and your blog helps me relive some of those. Happy to meet you!
Hi my name is Cheryl I am from San Antonio Texas ,Thank you for letting me follow your blog
I love reading this blog every morning. I’m from Massachusetts but I just moved to Louisiana, where my husband grew up. We’re currently living in Baton Rouge so I’m satisfying myself as best I can with a city yard. We’re allowed 3 chickens so I’d like to get those eventually. But before too long, we want to move back out to the country and I’d like to have a farm. So I just love reading about the adventures and experiences on your farm – and I love to look at the pictures!
Hi! New follower here, all the way from England. Looking forward to reading your blog every day 🙂
I myself have just started a blog focussing on cooking (mostly baking) throughout history 🙂
Hi, Celi! I’m delighted to have found your blog. My husband and I have a five acre farmlet in Eastern Washington. We have beef cattle, egg chickens, two lazy horses and way too many dogs. I so, so, SO much want to develop our home as a place where we can be more self-reliant – at least as regards food! But my word it’s hard work getting everything in place! I’m looking forward to following your adventures and, I hope, learning from you.
Hi Celia, thank you for leading me to your blog! I had a most pleasant browse around and love your photos. You are certainly able to capture the great characters of your happy animals. Thanks for stopping by and leaving a kind comment on my blog and I look forward to more of this! Xo Johanna
I am loving your daily insights since discovering your blog and love to look back on occasion.
I’m a Brit who moved to Poland, my wife’s birth place, to follow a simpler life. So far so good, but it can be a steep learning curve on occasion 🙂
I loved your post. I am an immigrant as well and have felt like one all of my life.
Hi Cecilia, thanks for stopping by my blog. What a great site you have. I live in the rural desert and my patch of land is dry and sandy. I would love to learn how to be self sustainable, grow my own food and not have to drive to town. I make jewelry and accessories, and would also like to “till the land” and grow some vegetables. I admire folks that can do that. 🙂 I’m interested in homesteading, gardening and everything about self sustainability.
I’m a longtime reader (since the days of Charlotte the pig) but haven’t signed up to comment until now. I live in a city (St. Louis) relatively close to the Farmy, but my world is as far away from the Farmy as those on other continents. I love your optimistic, caring approach to this farm adventure, while still facing the hard truths. Reading your blog and the Lounge of Comments has become a morning ritual that I never miss. Thank you.
Hi my name is Bacon. I’m a miniature pot-bellied piggy with lots of talent. I live in Riverdale, Georgia with my mom June at the Hotel Thompson. Okay maybe it’s not a real ‘hotel’ per say but it is our casa. I also live there with my dad Jim and my siblings Hemi the cat and Houdini the Yorkshire Terror – yep you read that right TERROR – but don’t tell mom I said that okay – snorts with piggy laughter. And my talent – I write my blog with the help of my mom at times. Currently I’m up to 24 hpm (hooves per minute). I write out about all kinds of things that happen at my crib – you never know what I might be writing about next. I’ve been reading the blog here for some time now… cause secretly I have a crush on Sheila. She is some pig and all woman! Hubba-hubba. Thanks sweet friends – have an awesome day ❤ XOXO – Bacon
Greetings from Kansas. I just discovered your blog and am eager to start reading.
I’m new to blogging. And very new to your site. I love the idea of community and connection. Will look forward to reading your posts.
Just started following you and I’m so glad I did. You have lots of great content here and I look forward to future posts. My husband and I purchased 7 acres in Southern Louisiana last year. We are acquiring animals along the way and enjoying every minute of it. The pigs you raise are something we are interested in as well. So happy to meet you!
Hi! We live in Minnesota, almost in Iowa (as the name suggests). My wife is from here, I am from The Cities, it is a constant source of aggravation between us – which we soothe with humor. My blog is mostly humor and mostly about the humor found in very simple things.
Hello, Ceci and all!
I’ve been a reader of this wonderful blog for quite some time (signed up by my dear friend, Gayle Hoover), but just didn’t know how to introduce myself – NOT computer savvy!
I’m Sunny Scroggins (female ‘Sunny’) from Central California about twelve miles south of Yosemite National Park. We have a small chicken farm for egg production – supplied some of the local restaurants here until the FDA came through – so now we do neighborly trading – veggies for eggs, baked goods for eggs, etc. It works out beautifully!
I was raised on a farm in Oregon (Cottage Grove) where we had a kitchen garden (corn, cukes, melons, tomatoes – the gamut, various fruit trees, grapes, cows, chickens for eggs and eating, piggies, and grew and harvested wheat. Very self-sustaining farm.
My hub, Bill, and I are getting on in years a tad, so puttering around up here at our own pace is wonderful!
Thank you so much for letting me into your corners of the world! Life is so interesting and fun! –Sunny
Oh Sunny. Your puttering around sounds wonderful. At one time my late husband and I decided to leave the city but I quickly realised I’m a city slicker at heart so after he died I moved back to Wellingtpn which according to the Lonely Planet is the best little Capital city on the world. Going over to look at your blog to see what you two are up to now.
Sunny! I am going through my list (we are changing to a new site soon ) and I realise I have not heard from you in the longest time!
How are you dear?
Cecilia from The Kitchens Garden
Hi Celi. I followed the blog for several years but only today after reading Chris’ post at http://bridgesburning.wordpress. on did I realise I’ve fallen off. So I’ve rejoined your busy group.
A little about me? I’m a 79 year old Grandmother living on the other side of the world, but a country you know well, being a New Zealander too.
There isn’t space to tell you of my adventure in life. Suffice to say I married my Dashing Young Scotsman at 19. We lived in London and Kirkintilloch a small village north of Glasgow and then to Takapuna in NZ as my husband was transferred. Two years later and we’re off to Montreal. After a couple of years on that cold place we decided to return to NZ.
I write about my moves with 2 young children, growing up in London during and after the war, my long and happy life with my soulmate, the sadness at his sudden death and then some 15 years later, the joy of finding a new love with whom to share the rest of our lives. But this was short lived as he died 23 months after we got together. I wrote about an adventure in Florence and about my two sisters, one in London in the UK and one is Los Angeles.
So you see Celi there isn’t enough room to tell all. It’s all in my blog. JX
Hi Cecilia and all! My name is Mo and I live in Toronto, Ontario, Canada! I am a budding urban gardening – I live on in a high rise condo in the city and my balcony is my garden oasis. I try to live a minimal and frugal life. Looking forward to getting to know you. 🙂
Hi Cecilia. My name is Stacey and I live in Fraziers Bottom, West Virginia. I just found your blog today, someone else shared it with me. I do not farm, but I do love reading about other folks’ farming adventures! I live in a very rural state though. Once it was full of farmers. I used to run a senior center, and my goodness how I loved talking to the old farmers about their work. Farming is a tough way to make a living, but they all seemed to love it. 🙂 Me, I like to quilt. I have a quilt blog called staceyholleyquilts.com. I like to tell stories and relate the stories to my quilts, my life. I also enjoy meeting people through the comments. Looking forward to reading more of your stories. Peace -Stacey
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Thank you so much – can you tell me a little more about your tours?
Happy Spring, I live in the heart of the Ozarks. Me and my life partner live on a small farm, raising angus cattle, a couple of min donkeys, 4 dogs, 2 cats. We have several raised beds for gardening. We use to have several large gardens, but we both have a town jobs and could not keep up with gardens and hay fields ( not to mention thistles ) at the same time lol. Love ur blog
Hi Leona, I am going back through my old messages – we are migrating to another site soon so I am checking to see how everyone is. (especially you quite ones) Do you still have those miniature donkeys?
Hi Cecelia — my name is Kim. I came across you randomly, but so glad I did. I love your photos to start with, and I know there is some good reading ahead. Me — I live on a Bribie Island, which is connected to the Australian mainland by a bridge. As an amateur photographer, I have a lot of opportunities to capture all kinds of scenes. I started blogging a lot of years ago — mainly so that I could record my experiences when I went to live in your country in 1996. Much easier to write a blog post than email photos. These days, back in Australia, I don’t post as much as I used to. Maybe you will be the inspiration I needed. Cheers from down under! 🙂
Cheers! To you! You know I am from New Zealand right? I live in the States but my country is New Zealand- I will
Pop over and check your blog! Thank you!
Hello, no I hadn’t realised that. Just came across you, liked what I saw and coming back at a more respectable time to read. 1am here, so off to bed for me. Cheers!
Hi Kim – last I heard from you – you were in isolation on the island – this blog is migrating soon to a more robust platform and I am scrolling through making sure I don’t miss anyone who wants to come along for the ride – how are you doing? Are you still taking photographs?
Good Morning! I enjoy reading your blog and about your life on the farm! I absolutely love your pictures of your cows and such. I live in East Texas. Thank you for sharing your world.
Hello again Cecelia. It’s been about 8 months since I first commented and at the time it was very hard for me to type. Since then I have learned to live with the pain and am slowly getting back into blogging…well, commenting on others’ blogs just for now. I see you have expanded out and just now I have gone and followed you on various platforms. I hope springtime on the farm is going well. Cheers! Kim.
It is very wet! Well done you for working on the management of your pain. I am sure it is hard to dominate and takes sone pretty rare daily fortitude – great to see you out and about on the inter webs!
Hello Cecilia,
I’m from NC and enjoying the follage right about now. I am very new to this. Blogging, or is this just commenting? LOL! I enjoyed your blog very much. Also your photos. Your words of encouragement are so uplifting. I look forward to following your page. I will check out FB to. Have a great day new friend.
Donna
Hi Donna, this blog is migrating soon, to a more robust platform, there is still a lot going on – it is spring after all, and I am scrolling through making sure I don’t miss anyone who wants to come along for the ride – how are you doing? Pop in – we would love to hear from you! Cecilia
Hello Cecilia,
I am from Iowa and have been following for a long time. I just wanted to stop by and give my opinion on some advice you took years ago that I didn’t think much of. If I remember correctly, you were advised to not add a picture to your title that shows up in the reading list on blogger. I always liked being drawn into your blogging with a picture. When I look at my list to read, the pictures quite often are what catches my eye even before I read the title. Just thought I would pass my thoughts along.
Karen aka grannie_m
How odd. Because I always do add a picture. It is called the featured image.
My blogging is really all about the pictures. When I think about it. Do you not see my lead picture when you look at your list?
Thank you so much for reading for so long. And remembering bad advice from so long ago!
No. On my list there is only a title with no picture, but other bloggers on my list will have pictures. Your lead picture quit showing up back when you blogged about having an expert give you advice on how to improve your blog.
That really is weird. Because I always have a feature picture. In my feed there are often three or four of my pictures shown. I wonder why you are not seeing that image.
We need to ask others if this happens with them.
But a lot of my features on WP have broken as the blog has gotten heavier
When we flip to the new platform check in and let me know if the images are showing? If they are not I will get Duane to look into it – thank you for letting me know. Because there is always a lead image. Unless I am in a terrible hurry and forget ( which has happened).