Five years ago today....we bought a farm and had a baby on the same day.

Good morning Friends of North Mountain Pastures,

Five years ago today, we bought a farm and had a baby on the same day.

(I wouldn't recommend it.)

Here we are, 30 minutes after the birth of Leila, signing the closing documents with our attorney.

We had waited many unsure months to close on this farm, and felt that we just had to do it when it was scheduled. I thought that the stress of buying the farm would somehow protect me from having the baby until after we closed. Never did I guess that I would go into labor at midnight the night before the closing!

So then, suddenly, we had this:

and this:

and there was lots of this (makeshift sheltering and fencing):

and this (garden plowing by pigs):

There was also suddenly the need for lots of this (trenching):

more trenching:

and this (more trenching):

We also had to get started on this (gutting the old farm house):

And so much more of that:

I should look at these pictures when I feel like the house is too big of a mess:

Progress was made on the house, by Brooks with some help from others, in chunks and spurts in the evenings and late evenings and late late evenings (spray foam insulation):

Walls were knocked down, and spaces changed:

Eventually, me and the babes could help a bit:

Meanwhile, farm production, farmer's market, and CSA deliveries continued despite the chaos:

Oh yeah, and that was also the summer that we had SIX weddings (only in 3 of them):

And then just for fun, some of this:

and squeezing things in during this:

There was lots more of this:

And soon enough, the house looked more livable:

We moved in 5 months to the day that Leila and the farm were born. The house was far from "finished" (and still is), but we had hot running water, electricity, and clean floors.

Then we felt like this:

This is the first time I've written about it. I definitely didn't have time or energy to stop and write about what was going on back then. It was overwhelming and scary, so for the most part we just kept plugging away at what needed to be done. It was an intense time. I am happy and grateful to say that even though things are still often crazy on the farm, we are no longer under quite that level of stress.

We also didn't do all that by ourselves - we are grateful to all of our friends, and the serious help we had on the farm: Brad, Mike B., Mike N., Mike V., Jonas, Isaac, Skyler, Katie, Meg, Brandt, Bryan, Luke, all the volunteers on our house chinking party, and anyone else that we're forgetting.

And a huge thank you to you, all of our customers who stuck with us through those difficult times when our customer service availability was at a low point.

So if you don't mind associating with crazy people, Sign up for the meat CSA!

Thank you for supporting local food and the farmers that work so hard to grow it,

Anna

Happy birthday Leila and the farm!