Oh Christmas Tree!
Christmas Trees at Indian Head Farm
I am so glad to have a new and functional blog. I have missed this…. This is why this post too is a bit behind schedule. Good news, we are almost caught up now!
My husband, “Dr. Farmer Moomin,” and I have been getting our tree from the same local farm right up the road now for the last several years. It is just tradition each year to head to Indian Head Farm right down the street to pick up a really amazing tree. They also offer berry picking when in season…. yums…. Gotta love Indian Head. It is another 6th generation Wheeler family farm.
This whole little town was largely founded by Wheelers and Sawyers, both are still present in the community. Some remained attached to their family’s historic farms. Others do other things now…. The two families intermarried too over the generations…. Then in more recent times, people have been moving out here to live a country life of one kind or another. Myself, and Dr. Farmer Moomin, included.
Why do I call my husband Dr. Farmer Moomin? Ahhh well of course I will explain…. My husband holds a PhD in physics from Helsinki university. I am the farm wife, which makes him the Farmer. Like the Moomin, my husband is Finnish. He was born in the Savo region about 4-5 hours by car into the middle of the country from Helsinki. So Dr. Farmer Moomin, feels somehow appropriate as a pet nickname for my husband.
Going to get our tree, has become a tradition. Dr. Farmer Moomin, and I love going to look at and choose a tree. We love supporting another local farm, and our trips to Indian Head, never disappoint especially at Christmas time.
Indian Head Farm
I think my favorite part of looking for a tree is the smell. I love the way trees smell. We love the lights. We aren’t even religious. We get a tree and do the holiday, because our families did when we were young. Because it is 12/11, 4:33 pm and already dark outside. We treasure the festivals of light that happen during this season. We love them all and are always happy to honor holidays that are different from ours right along side our secular christmas, which we love because it is a festival of lights at the darkest part of the year…..
Thank you for reading
Amanda of Wildflower Farm
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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