Summer at Hickory Hill Farm

Posted on August 19, 2015 by Kim Halloran-Fry

Before this summer is completely over I am determined to document the things we have seen and places we have been together. I'm serious. Gonna try anyway. First stop…Wisconsin.

When we were in Wisconsin we were able to catch up with an old school friend. About the same time we left the Rockies for our European adventure some years ago, Gretchen left the Rockies to create a new life for her family back on the soil she grew up on. Back in the day her parents had farmed this land and sold Shaklee vitamins to my husbands folks. She inherited their love for the natural world and the great outdoors. When both parents were gone she had a vision to bring the old homestead back to life as a modern market farm and is working hard to do just that.

It is a year round effort to cultivate Hickory Hill Farm. Nothing goes to waste. In the spring they tap the sugar maples for syrup. Summer time they hit the farmers markets with organic veggies, eggs, edible flowers and wild-gathered herbs. In the fall they harvest corn, spelt, and wheat. Winter brings fresh cut pine and dried roots to the market stalls. In between there is weeding, mending, reparing, building. It's just awesome. It's a lot of work. A way lot. Food, it's a miracle truly.

Once upon a time I thought this was my destiny. It turns out I was wrong but it is super inspiring for me to follow Gretchen's journey. She is amazing. So glad we were able to visit in person.

And, people? If you have never looked out over a lush, central Wisconsin valley and smelled the veggies and grain ripening in the heat or felt the rain pelt down from heavy clouds overhead, you don't know what you are missing.

It was good to be back.

Feeding Grandma’s Chickens

Posted on July 8, 2015 by Kim Halloran-Fry

Where I come from houses are white and barns are red. Not always, but very often. It just seems the way it should be. My mother-in-law's farm is such a place, Wisconsin perfection with mown lawns and flowers planted near the barn doors. On summer evenings it is idyllic. The little girls loved peeking inside the big red barn with her and visiting the hens.

Nor rural sights alone, but rural sounds,
Exhilarate the spirit, and restore
The tone of languid nature.
~William Cowper

Lisa’s retreat

Posted on July 3, 2015 by Kim Halloran-Fry

It was flukey, this little detour. My friend Lisa and I have a knack for never being in the same place at the same time, yet we move in similar enough circles that the rest of our families have been. We have seen some of her clan at various camps. My husband and son even had brunch at her Las Vegas home not too far back when traveling through. Despite the fact both of us lived in Colorado for many overlapping years we were both so busy with homesteading and homeschooling and general child corraling that our paths only crossed online.

That changed this month when she arrived back to her new heartland homestead (after marrying off a daughter in Denver) just as we were coincidentally passing right by. Other women might have begged off but Lisa messaged me en route and urged us to stop on the way. The difference between a 49 year old husband and a 29 or even 39 year old husband? "Sure! Why not," says the 49 year old man. Yes, gone are the hurry hurry, stick to the schedule days. We have every bit as much to do as we ever had but perhaps enough perspective now to know we really want to make the time.

We were greeted out front by Penny, the Wonder Dog, who was a modern-day Nana of Peter Pan fame.

and strolled past the napping kitties…

to the place I had come to see….

Lisa is blessed with a bevy of ingenious and industrious offspring who had the vision and determination to refashion the old summer kitchen on the property into a mom's retreat, a writer's haven. It is cute as can be and screams Lisa from the minute you approach the door.

They had paid $75 to have a local electrician shore up the wiring. Then came the brilliant part for me. They found a local fence builder who happened to keep a large stash of old pickets. They repurposed them for pennies a piece to panel the interior.

Is this awesome or what?

There are whimsical Lisa touches everywhere you look. Just a feast for the eyes. She is all set up with coffee, wood stove, and enough reading to keep her out of trouble a good long time. Are you jelly? I am. : )

…and here we are finally, as we loaded up for the next adventure. I'm so happy to have been able to steal away an hour with this wonderfully witty fabulous redhead.

November walk

Posted on November 28, 2014 by Kim Halloran-Fry

“November is usually such a disagreeable month…as if the year had suddenly found out that she was growing old and could do nothing but weep and fret over it. This year is growing old gracefully…just like a stately old lady who knows she can be charming even with gray hair and wrinkles. We've had lovely days and delicious twilights.”

– LM Montgomery

Lucy Maude captures my love for these days better than I. So grateful for chance to wander the lanes with my boy on a still afternoon.

Nov 2014 aidan web (11 of 14)

Pumpkins from the Farm

Posted on October 30, 2014 by Kim Halloran-Fry

Visiting the pumpkin patch was a regular occurence this fall since the farm rotated the fields making pumpkins very accessible to us. There were some varieties we have never seen before which were rather wart-y. A couple weeks ago they began to harvest. The crates came in and every evening there were fewer pumpkins as they were trucked off to the seasonal sale patch. They saved us several so tomorrow is the big day finally to decorate.

and looking the other direction….

of growing boys and pumpkins

Posted on September 22, 2014 by Kim Halloran-Fry

Just a handful of shots with this little man on the farm tonight. Am backlogged and should be sharing those images piling up but humor me. It's a late September sunset with a boy who is so very nearing the end of little boyhood and moving into middle boyhood. So that's where I am tonight, trying to freeze these moments of my last "little" boy.