Thanks Giving At Wildflower Farm

Thanksgiving center piece
The old fashioned farm house here at Wildflower, lends its self quite well to the various holidays. Truly, it is a Christmas house, but it takes beautifully to thanks giving. I thought I should share some about a Wildflower Farm thanksgiving. So to start….. It is about the the 3 F’s.
F1 being *F*riends, F2 being *F*amily, and F3 is well duh….. *F*ood. We love the three F’s and can’t think of abetter way to spend our time.
So some photos for you, (I almost wrote to you…. which tells me I am thinking in Finnish again, as that is how it would directly translate. Not for you, but to you. But in english we say for.) so FOR YOU!

Jessica Cheese Board
My kid sister, is all about a nice swanky cheese and crackers tray. Pre-dinner eats. She works hard to create her Manhattan style cheese board, here on the farm and for just a moment I am a million miles off the farm roaming Manhattan. The cheese board is a small escape, and it is delicious.

Jessica’s green beans
My kid sister often makes green beans too for thanks giving. She boils them in frying pan till the color darkens. She strains them adds some chopped garlic, olive oil, and a little salt and mixes it in the now waterless frying pan. It’s one of my favorite things…. Or was till I discovered it can be improved upon…. Instead of adding Olive Oil, add basil olive oil! Greatest of yums and super simple!

Potatoes?
We have potatoes and root vegetables, and all kinds of other yums.

Gravy

Thanksgiving at Wildflower Farm
Everyone brings something…. My grandma, and my mother, friends in attendance…. Everyone comes early. Much of the cooking happens here.

Turkey
My husband and I are usually responsible for the turkey. On average it runs us about $100 to buy a fresh not frozen turkey from another local farmer up the road. We get it from one of the local Wheeler farms, Balance Rock Farm, right down the street. We pick it up, (this year it was 23 lbs,) at Balance Rock Farm the day before the holiday. We bring it home, clean it out, wash it, then we salt the bird, and we put him into the fridge uncovered and we wait till the following morning when we mix up some nice stuffing and stuff the bird. What follows is baking…. It bakes a looong time. Then finally! We are ready to eat!
Happy and late thanksgiving
From all of us here at Wildflower
Amanda of Wildflower Farm
Tags: acres, agriculture, B&B, barn, barn yard, bed and breakfast, farm, farm thanksgiving, farm wife, farm yard, holiday, homestead, homestead farming, homesteader, homesteading, new england, new england farming, new england hoimesteader, new england homestead, new england homestead farm, old fashioned holidays, old fashioned thanksgiving, recipe, recipes, thanksgiving, thanksgiving dinner, 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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