The Burning Barrel Farm

Sometimes I wander through our house aimlessly.  Most of the time, it is because I forgot where I was going and why I was going there.  Alex says I have way too many tabs open all the time.  Maybe he is right.  My mind is forever racing with thoughts and things that must be done daily.  I like to think I am on a mission to get something done.  The truth of the matter is I steal moments from my daily schedule to look at the pictures of our kids sitting on the piano or in a photo album on the shelf.  I will find myself reminiscing about when they were little and the funny things they often did.  Like the time when Emily was about five, and she had just learned to read.  She came running into the kitchen and jerks open the silverware drawer to get a spoon for her dinner, and says, "Don't make me b!tch slap you."  Naturally, I looked at her and said with a very elevated tone of voice, "What did you say, Young Lady?"  She looked at me wi...

In my last post, I mentioned that everyone's journey is different.  Our journey began in childhood and has been tumultuous at times and smooth at other times.  It isn't easy.  I don't think anyone's journey is easy, whether they are farming, working in the corporate world, or have a blue-collar job.  All jobs are worthy of respect, and the recognition that they require effort and gumption.  The point is there is a story for every person and that story would be very boring if it were written with the same plot for the main characters (or protagonists).  In mine and Alex's story, we have quite a bit of rising action and many climactic scenes that keep leading up to a great falling action, and finally a resolution.  BUT, we are not quite ready to reach the end of our story.  Our short story turned into a novel somewhere along the way.  In this novel, we have lots of plot twists and some pretty great supporting characters to make this story go fo...

  Have you ever wanted to explain something, but cannot find the words to sufficiently describe what it is you want to tell?   Well, that’s me right now.   I wanted to do this long blog piece on how Alex and I got to the point we are right now (mostly because we have had a lot of people ask us), but I have so much to say that I completely stumble over exactly what it is that I want to say.   So, I guess I can start by saying that anyone can fall into a more simplistic lifestyle, but how you get there is something that is entirely your own journey.   Our journey began as children.   Alex’s childhood was filled with fond memories of playing outside, sports, and visiting his grandmother in Floyd County, Virginia.   All these things shaped Alex into a young man who loved to be outside and was independent in his actions and in his viewpoints.   He was a thinker and a problem solver (and still is).   As Alex grew older, he began to realize the im...

Before we had children, we were able to come and go as we pleased, eat out when we felt like it, go on random vacations, etc.  Times changed and we welcomed four kids in four and half years.  Originally, there were supposed to be only two.  Once we figured THAT ONE out, we (more like me, Amy) quickly called the urologist and set up that dreaded "V word" for Alex.  I thought it would be a great Christmas gift, which is why I chose Christmas Eve to do it (insert evil laugh).  Alex didn't see the humor in it.  Oh well, more than nine years later, we have not had any more pleasant surprises and I like to praise that urologist for his incredible work.  Alex feels sort of differently and no longer enjoys frozen peas in quite the same way. After those babies started rolling out, the real work began.  The easy part was the nine months in the womb.  The incredibly hard part was the moment they entered the world.  It was constant maintenance...fee...

We like to think we are the bosses around our farm, but in reality, we are far from in charge.  Years ago when we started this journey, we had one goal in mind...self-sufficiency with a more wholesome lifestyle.  We never imagined we would take a few detours along the way.  Our homestead grew a little quicker than we wanted.  It got to the point of needing to find balance and we needed a little extra income to help with the increased costs to feed our animals and build the appropriate shelters.  We were also struggling with trying to teach our children to the level of our personal expectations and goals.   That is when we came up with the idea of our kids taking control of their own learning and needs with regards to our homestead.  We also wanted to make sure the kids were a part of the growth of our little farm and had some type of investment in it (other than the daily chores).  That's when we decided to try some baked goods and viola!...

 I'm not going to lie, I like to get ideas from other people and try them out.  One idea I want to follow through with is the idea of beginnings or origins.  How did we get to where we are? Where did two city people get an idea to start a farm and have absolutely no previous knowledge of how to run a farm?  So that is where I will start... Alex and I grew up in suburbia where everyone mows their lawns on the same day and grills out on Saturdays.  Every summer, we went on vacation to the same place and fought with our older siblings.  Our idea of farming was watching our parents garden and listening to our grandparents' stories of the "good ole days."  We spent summer nights outside and fall weekends building forts in the woods.  Little did we know how much of an impact that would have on our adult lives.  All that time crafting our skills at making lean-twos and exercising our small bodies racing through the neighborhood on our bikes was shap...

Today is a day worth mentioning.  All over the internet, there has been so much chatter about it being International Women's Day.  It is a topic that has really nagged at me all day.  It is also a topic that deserves recognition.  Sure, all women deserve recognition and women are incredibly empowering "creatures."  The term, "creature" is so important here.  It connotes the idea that women are adaptable and incredibly resourceful, like most animal creatures.  Living on a farm only proves this.  Let me tell you about one of our incredible creatures here on our farm: our female Rouen duck.   Not too long ago, she hatched out these two beautiful little ducklings.  It was the most amazing experience to see here because it was such a shock.  Alex went out one morning to feed the animals and here was this momma duck with her two babies following her around.  It was incredible to see.  We had no idea she was even sitting on ...