Today’s blog post is a photo dump of an ongoing project that has been underway since Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson got Covid. Do you all remember those bleak days of March 2020? Our son Walter and his partner Heather had been forced to return from jobs working at an eco-village in Thailand. As the four of us sheltered in place at Laurentide, we would take breaks from our rectangles of doom and walk around the perennial fields thinking, “Can we eat irises?”
Read moreInstasham!
Everyone has an opinion, ya know? Recently, our third son Atticus (pictured above), critiqued our Instagram content. “It’s getting stale,” he said in that blithe manner typical of an apartment dweller with three houseplants. “No interesting stories,” he said, “and you posted four photos of Heather in a row.”
Read moreOuttakes from our Salad Event + Best Summery Salad Dressing Recipe
Today on the blog I’m sharing Laurentide’s most popular lemon honey salad dressing. Scroll down to the bottom of the post for the recipe.
Read moreToday's Crop: A Branding Package
It’s been nearly two growing seasons since we named our farm Laurentide, after the prehistoric ice sheet that sculpted this valley more than 12,000 years ago. Since that naming, we’ve talked about a brand identity that could elevate our farmer’s market stand and our website.
Read moreEat Lettuce with Us!
I cannot describe to you the way we feel about salad. We’re mad to grow it, mad to eat it, and mad to talk about it. Every night, one of us walks down the basement stairs to the cooler and fills a bowl with fresh greens. One of us throws some oil, acid, salt, and mustard into the Vitamix. One of us roasts some nuts or blasts some chickpeas. One of us chops some veggies. And every night, there is not enough salad.
Read moreLearning from Lucy
In the episode “Lucy Raises Chickens,” Lucy and Ricky, new residents of Westport, Connecticut, find life in the country to be pricier than they expect. Their electric bill is $18.75, ‘splain that if you can! But this is 1957 when fresh eggs are going for 75 cents a dozen, so the Ricardos decide to raise chickens to defray costs. Fred is hired as the chicken tender and all seems perfectly normal. Then silly Lucy impulsively orders 500 chicks before the coop is ready, and hilarity ensues.
Read moreMuck and Mire
Two years ago, when my father-in-law got in trouble with a knee replacement, we found ourselves making frequent trips to visit him. We had closed on this agricultural property by then but hadn’t yet made any concrete plans for the future. You can imagine how we suddenly paid very close attention to all the farms we passed en route through Iowa and Illinois. We wondered about furrows, and the uniform distance between them. We noticed flags on the sides of some Harvestores, but not others. We took note of fencing and pole barns. But mostly, we stared at the miles of farmland underwater.
Read moreTorn Between Two Houses and Feelin' Like a Fool
During this work-from-home year, we have had the great good fortune of living in two places at once. Our farm is only thirty-five minutes from our suburban home, so we commute back and forth a lot. There are advantages to both. Here in the suburbs, I love chatting with Stacy next door. I appreciate the convenience of a garage, and of course the array of nice shoes, high class chapstick, and probably a thousand books. Not to mention the biggest perk: television!
Read moreThe State of the Blog 2020
“A married couple, mid-fifties, responsible community members, believers in recycling, pinewood derby, and gluten-free book drives, take leave of the suburbs and stick their shovels into a country farm. It is not what they expected. The work dulls his mind. The lack of company sharpens her temper. The chickens never shut up shut up SHUT UP.”
Read moreRIP Sweet Chicken
Our most proper Henrietta has died. She who once ruled the roost became sick last summer with an infection that would not heal despite the medical attentions of the vet, of Dona, our resident chicken expert, and of my father, a retired pediatrician. She spent her last weeks in the glass house (above) where she reveled in the warmth, ate lots of mealworms and tomatoes, and really seemed to get better. Then she got worse.
Read moreBig Country Christmas at Laurentide
An old farm. New owners. A pandemic. Boxes of vintage lights. Acres of evergreens. No place to go . No where to be except right here. End result: boy oh boy have we enjoyed decking these halls!
The bulbs are quite old. They’re from a box that was purchased at Bower’s Hardware Store in Murphysboro, Illinois, back in the 70s.
Read moreMaking the Move to the Farm
Sometimes. as I open my eyes in the morning, I’m not sure where I am. That’s how often we are back and forth between the farm and our suburban home. My sleepy mind can’t always keep up. If my toes land on hardwood, I know that I’ll need my warm bathrobe so I can go feed the chickens.
Read moreKeeping It Clean at the Farm
Look at this pretty man bathing in the nice water. Can you smell the soap? Can you hear him singing the Three Dog Night song? “Wash away my troubles, wash away my pain, wash away my sorrow, wash away my shame.”
We’ve installed a new outdoor shower here at Little Laurentide. It is beyond description to stand on the flagstone in bare feet after slaving in the garden.
Read moreAn Episode of The Bachelor at Little Laurentide
A couple weeks ago, some irresponsible stranger dumped a couple of rooster brothers on our lawn and sped away. The pair hung back for a couple days, too shy to meet the hens, and roosting in the trees at night.
We did eventually catch them. Our neighbor, Dona, who helps out here, took one of the roosters home with her – the troublesome one, so we thought. But once again, we are greenhorns in these matters and Dona’s rooster is superior to ours. By superior, I mean that he is so meek, so trepidatious, that she has named him Wimpy. It took him a week to work up the courage to sleep in the coop.
Read morePull Up a Chair Why Don't Ya?
We purchased this farm back in 2018, but rented the place to the previous owners until July of 2019. Which means we are now one year in, on our own, and little Laurentide is home. I’ve shared some pics of the new kitchen, but you will see from this post that I’ve feathered the outside of the nest as well. After all, what is a bit of grass other than a carpet? A flower a painting? And the sun a giant chandelier? I have enjoyed searching every antique shop and rummage sale in the tri-state area for perfectly weathered perches to furnish these outside rooms.
The bench above was a retirement gift to my father almost twenty years ago, a thank you from his grandchildren for the excellent medical care he gave them. It is situated outside the fence of the new vegetable garden, which I will be posting about soon. But for now I will crow that my son has earned my deepest admiration for what he has accomplished inside this fence in the course of a few short months.
Back to the myriad of seating options. I hope you’ll join me on a virtual walk of our place, and then in the comments, let me know where you would like to park your tush here at Laurentide. Shall I be bringing you a lemonade or a gin and tonic?
Read moreFire Sale at the Farm
Good Morning! We are halfway through July and we find ourselves with a bunch of extra annuals. We’ve decided to offer these for sale, with 100% of all proceeds going towards Feeding America.
Read moreFarm Texture
A photo blog of the last month here at the farm.
Read moreA Good Morning to You
Here we are, the last few days of May, and we are sore, both my husband and I, to the point that it is difficult to sleep. I see some dried blood in his ear. My clawish hands couldn’t open a spice jar today.
Read moreIn the Parlorette with Paige
A couple nights ago, I had the pleasure of joining my friend, designer Paige Lewin of Tess & Ted Interiors, for an Instagram Live interview as part of her new series #MyFavoriteSpot. I shared a tour of the tiny room at the farm that we affectionately call the “parlorette.” I would have greatly preferred being in the same room with Paige and if you watch the interview, you’ll see why. She’s an artful conversationalist, very genuine, and the kind of person you want to know better.
Read moreA Misdemeanor on the Moonshine Porch
The Facts of the Case:
I own a wicker couch with blue and white floral cushions and pillows. This couch sat outside, undisturbed, at my farmhouse on what is colloquially known as the Moonshine Porch. In the spring, I discovered not twenty yards from the porch, a hole in the ground, belonging to a woodchuck and around which was scattered the remnants of cotton batting. In addition, a torn blue and white floral pillowcase, empty of its batting, was discovered strewn to the side of the hole. As they say in the law, res ipsa loquitor, or in layman’s words, the thing speaks for itself.
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