My loves

Snow day

First winter cuts

 

We are hiring for 2014!

 Bluebird Meadows is currently hiring for the 2014 farm season!!!  We are looking for 2 full time workers to start in early March and probably go through to November, possibly later.  

Please spread the word and email us if you are interested!  

email is:  bluebirdmeadowsnc@yahoo.com

House of Flowers

 I've been thinking a lot about death lately.  Fear.  Worrying.  I don't want to fear death, I want to embrace it.  Lately when I go to sleep I've found myself alone on an ocean shore, just looking at the horizon and listening to the waves, comtemplating whether or not I want to die there, to dissolve myself as I look at the ocean, to become the ocean.  It's not really cerebral thinking, just a passive way of wondering.  If it gets too cerebral it loses it's beauty and appeal and fear begins to creep in and I must desert this place of solitude before my mind ruins it for me.  I want it to be a safe place if this is where I'm going when I die.  Flowers do that for me, they take me to a place of safety and beauty; they are a living art that nourishes.  I've been thinking about an art project I want to do sometime, it might have to wait until the girls get a little older, but I want to start trying to dye pieces of wood with natural dyes from plants from the farm and make a collage, then seal it with beeswax, keeping it a pure process with as little off land input as possible.  I'm searching the libraries and internet for information, but so far haven't found a great deal on dying wood.  For now I'll have to be content with our flowers and my vision of death's enigma to keep my soul at rest.

Winter sets in.

 Feels like winter around here, winter with two little ones and a farm to run.  Short days going by in a blind fury like I'm caught in a blizzard of time and so much action out of my control.  Everything I want to do stays just out of reach, a peripheral sighting of sanity just at the edge of my vision.  It's amazing the strength it takes to breathe deep these days and remain calm.  I'm trying my best.
Despite my mothering mania and perpetual lack of sleep, our farm is doing well.  We are in the midst of deciding how we want next year to go.  How much we want to plant, how we want to change things.  I'm so, SO happy we got a perennial section in, even if it all dies.  That was our fall feat this year, especially with the ridiculously wet season we have had.  We had a record rainfall yesterday in our area.  All the fields around here looked like ponds, including ours.  We made it into the December edition of Our State Magazine.  Awesome picture of our booth, makes us proud.  And we even got to go for a pleasure walk at Ayr Mount with the family.  Love that place.

We Live!!!!

 That's right everyone, we live.   Just been a little busy having a new baby, Maeve Ellery Bain White, born September 1st, 7 lb. 6 oz., two weeks early and just a day after her big sister Ruth's birthday.  Crazy times in the White household!!!!!  I was having contractions on Ruth's birthday but Maeve held out for her own day.  The garden has been super steady and beautiful, thanks to our amazing crew.  We actually need to give a shout out to Emily for these beautiful pics as once again our camera has died to overheating one day in a hot truck.  Thanks Emily, great eye!!!!  We have the nicest carrot section we've ever had.....in some sections in our new field we are leasing the soil is deep and loamy, like a freshly baked cake.  It's hard for me not to take mouthfuls and go swimming in it, but instead we sowed carrot seed and a little magic and VOILA, carrots so sweet and so bountiful it feels like were dreaming as we walk through the patch.  Okay, I have so much more to share, but as I'm writing one handed and nursing time is almost up and the grocery store trip beckons, I'll leave you for now.  Hopefully to return soon!

Let's Dance

This has been a wet season.  Dramatically wet.  Rain everyday for a over a month.  It's easy to make an analogy to dancing when it comes to how we work with the weather, but this year the dance has been taken over by a solo-performing-rain-making fool that just likes to watch himself parade around the dance floor and not care for a partner.  It's finally dried out enough for us to do some tractor work, possibly enough for us to plant some poor rootbound plants that have been camping out on the start table for a month too long.  We've moved on with the attitude of better luck this fall and winter.  The good news is that we picked an almost 3 1/2 lb tomato!  We made a crew lunch with it, bacon sandwiches with huge thick slices of the beast.  The sandwich will not be forgotten anytime soon it was so good!  

  As for the pregnant flower lady.....things are alright I suppose.  My belly is tight and this baby moves around 2-3 times as much as Ruth did.  I'm ready to hold the baby in my arms instead of my belly, but I have 8 more weeks to lug it around and deal with rough back pain.  I'm trying to propagate dahlias so I can have an amazing flower display in early winter, but it's proving harder than I thought.  Wish me luck, I could use it!