Is this thing on? This week was exciting mostly because the two new llamas came on Wednesday. Poppers and Rrhea have been getting used to our barn and meeting the four sheep. Poppers is tall and alert at all times, and Rrhea is shorter and also always on the lookout. They were part of a herd of more than twenty llamas and being with four sheep will take some getting used to.

Potato experiment Massive pheasant back. All photos by the author. So this week it felt like summer. We turned on the fans in the barn and turned off the heater in the greenhouse. This week we planted potatoes. After the last two years of fighting potato beetles in the big field, we are trying some good old fashioned crop rotation. They are moving to the small garden and we are planting about a quarter of the usual. In an effort to baby these baby potatoes, we mulched with hay, which should suppress weeds while giving some fertilizer. Fingers crossed.

Why not? It has been exactly one year since I started posting weekly photos and stories from the farm where I live and work. I really appreciate my regular readers, and I think I will try to keep it up. Farm Friday never turned into the viral sensation I imagined…

I want more-ls! We went out looking for morels on Saturday evening. We have a spot on the far side of the farm that sometimes gives a few of the most delicious mushrooms you can imagine. It only happens for one week in May and only if conditions are right…

Steamships were taking millions of Germans to the United States. Why? — German Emigration to the USA, Part Two: My Grandpa’s Side Do you have ancestors who came over from Germany? How many people of German ancestry do you know? For me, the answers are “yes,” and “too many to count.” Between 1800 and 1919, more than 7 million Germans immigrated to the United States. Today, descendants of those immigrants make up…

If you could smell this photo… — This week was a big week. On Monday we hosted 50 junior high students on the farm for a day of work and exploration. My group spent 2 hours loading plants into a 26-foot U-haul truck. We built levels into the truck with plywood and 2x4s, so it gave us…

20 ways that white supremacy harms white folks — What this essay is and is not I am not saying there is any comparison between the harm done to Indigenous, Black, and other people of the Global Majority to the harm done to white people living in the same society. No. By focusing on how white supremacy harms white people, I do not intend to minimize…

Quintessential spring week in Wisconsin This week we said goodbye to a group of junior high students who had been here for 19 days. When they started their stay, winter was still reaching an icy finger into the gathering springtime, and by the time they left, it was shorts and…

The greenhouse is full We got another chance to see amazing northern lights this week. This time there were students here on the farm and we woke them up to go outside in freezing temps to see the sky light up. For most of them, it was their first time…