It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas!
Wildflower Farm House Dressed For Christmas.
Some things people may not know, if you ever want an accurate weather report, turn off the TV and look for sea gulls, if I see them around here we are doomed. If I see them at my dad’s we should expect snow but not much to worry about, if seen at the beach good weather. The further they go from their natural habitat as a sea bird, the worse the weather will be if their direction is inland. Snow, has a smell…. It is one of the earliest memories, learning to smell snow as a very young girl. I also recall learning to read a sky, children in NE learn these things along with how to smell the ocean. These are very New England things to do. When you smell the snow, it’s time to get ready…. A festival of lights arrives with the snow…. This is New England….And so when the smell of the snow reached a fevered pitch, and the cold began to set in…. We got our tree. Next up, deck the halls. This post is about that. Decking the halls. Christmas ornaments are symbolic. They symbolize old friends, long past loved ones, good times, happiness…. They represent the unasailable human spirit. The light of love that never goes out gifted in fun ornaments and other home adornments along with the warmth that makes a new england winter bearable.
Some like it hot.
Some, like Dr. Farmer Moomin, like it cold, while others like Pikku, like it hot! As for me, I just like the memories each ornament offers. I like treasuring each one and each item, as I set it up to decorate for the festival of lights.
In the hall
We try to deck the halls at least in some small way in all the public areas of the house.
The Hall
Wildflower Farm Christmas
Christmas at Wildflower Farm
Oh Christmas Tree!
Christmas at Wildflower Farm
Christmas at Wildflower Farm
We typically try to stick to old fashioned, rustic, and primitive decorations as we find our old style farm house lends it’s self well to those….. We have a big dinner between decorating, and often a friend, or family member is kind enough to pull out all our treasures for the holiday. We drink hot drinks, decorate by the fire and remember when with every ornament we hang on the tree. Our hearts are happy, and the best is still yet to come. But for now we are satisfied, to bask in the lights and decor that leads up to that most bright moment, Christmas, Hanukkah, or any other festival of lights that falls in this season. We treasure them all in NE. We have to. Because the sun sets at 3 pm. The lights and this festival save us. So we go to great lengths to make the most of such bright momentous occasions.
Christmas at Wildflower Farm
My mum, was kind enough to join Dr. Farmer Moomin, and myself. We laughed, we chatted, we ate, we decorated, we remembered the loved ones past and present spread around the world who won’t join us this year except in spirit. We wished them well, and finally we turned in exhausted but feeling a warm glow.
Christmas at Wildflower Farm
Thank you dear reader, for coming along with me….
Into the heart of a New England Christmas time set up.
Merry Christmas, and happy holidays.
Remember in this season, all of us are the light keepers and every home is a light house.
A beacon in the dark cold that we all steer by.
Your friend
Amanda of Wildflower Farm
Tags: agro, airbnb, B&B, bed and breakfast, Christmas, colonial christmas, farm, farm house holiday, farm wife, farmer, farming, holiday, homestead, homestead blog, homestead christmas, homestead farm, homestead farmer, homestead wife, homesteader, old fashioned christmas, primitive christmas, rustic christmas, wildflower farm, wildflower farm christmas
Wildflower Farm, is a small New England homestead, B&B and AirBnB, in the Baystate. We came out here 7 years ago, when we returned from the better part of 10 years as peripatetic aristotelian nomads, for my husband's post docs. Upon our return, we had a plan. We had a lovely home. Everything was so clear. Then, I got sick. Things I used to eat all the time during our travels elsewhere in the world and even here before I left almost 10 years earlier made me ill. It took a couple trips to the ER and a trip to specialist... It became clear, something had changed in the way food is processed in this country since last I lived here. Some off label things was inevitably going to be my demise.
My husband and I looked around to see the clear path we were on, had exploded in front of us. We decided we had to create a new path for ourselves. We put children on hold. We found a small piece of land with a house we loved in a rural suburb in a right to farm area. I began researching how to do it ourselves. Grow it ourselves, make it ourselves, survive on our own as much as possible. We bought the property, and began plotting a new course. One that didn't involve off label chemicals. Closer to nature, with a lot more DIY, gardens, and animals for the products they provide. We created a life we loved though it hasn't always been easy and has of course come with compromise with each other, and even with ourselves.
Our family thought we had lost our minds. What were we doing leaving the city? We had no idea how hard this would be. They thought we would be back in 6 months. That was over 7 years ago, now. We have been making it work. They were not wrong, it isn't easy. But has anything worth doing ever been easy? And for us, avoiding as much store bought food as possible was simply necessary so I could live given how sick I was getting.
Then Covid hit.... We were lucky to have this place. It has allowed us a lot less need for public use territories which has kept us a lot safer and spared us much of the risk others face daily. This place, has given us a privilege through this of great meaning to us. To be of use in a difficult time. We have been able to help friends family and even strangers in need when things couldn't be found on store shelves. Or money was tight due to not working, rent being due and a child at home, or some other draining situation. We are so very grateful to have been able to not be helpless like so much of society through this miserable time. Our families, got used to it some time ago, us being out here. They made peace with it the day there was no bread and they had to ask me for some. Or when fresh vegies were rotten due to supply chain issues but they could find plenty in my garden.
Wildflower Farm, was a place I dreamed of. One of those sweet pastoral dreams a city dweller grows up knowing will never come true, that became unavoidable when I became ill. I never expected to get to do this. I never thought I had what it takes to make this work. I have learned pacing myself is important, compromise is critical, hard work never ends, burn out is real so breaks are just a necessary evil.
We are not fully self sufficient, but we work hard in that direction as we create a new path through life for ourselves, always reaching to do even more ourselves and to get closer to the ideal we envision. We are however far more self sufficient than many in this world. 7 years in, we continue to learn and grow in this homesteading lifestyle. We welcome comments and advice and ideas and questions.
We welcome visitors from all over to our home with strict covid policies in place. We spend our time learning to live all over again in a more environmental and sustainable way though even there we are far from perfect always learning and growing doing better as we know better.
This little homestead farm is a magical place named for the New England wildflowers that grow all around. A place where a physicist, watches the night sky on clear nights with the aide of mirror and glass, and a woman, works endlessly in the gardens, the kitchen, and a variety of projects to create and to keep a very unique life style running and functioning. Wildflower Farm, has become so much more than simply a piece of land we can grow a few vegetables on. The longer I spend here, the more alive the land seems, the more I learn about it's function and the more meaning it has. My place in the universe and the next steps on our new path become ever more clear.
We welcome you on this journey with us.
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