Old Time, Celtic, Maritime Music, Gardening and Small Scale Farming

I didn't know I was a musician gardener.
All my life I've loved getting my hands dirty gardening, keeping small livestock, and playing traditional music, but I always thought that was just a peculiar combination that occurs in a completely random fashion. But one day my wife Sara and I were talking with a neighbor who ran a one acre educational garden down the street from us. He mentioned that as soon as the growing season was over he was going to hit the road with a bluegrass band he played with. He smiled and said that he felt really blessed to live the life he had- getting to play in the dirt and play on the stage. I had no idea he played in a bluegrass band so we talked shop about music, gardening, and travelling for a bit. After we said goodbye and started walking away Sara turned to me and said "oh I know what you guys are, you're Musician Gardeners."
Suddenly it clicked, all my life I've known and met people who combine their lives like that. friends, neighbors and other folks who combine their love of the land with a love of music, often the very music that grew and still grows out of that land.
This blog hopes to explore that relationship and to let other Musician Gardeners out there know that we're actually a demographic!

Thursday, September 13, 2012

I know I haven't made a post in a while, but A LOT of things have been happening over the summer.
First things first, my wife, Sara, and I are expecting another addition to our family... soon!  The due date is around October 2nd.   It's a girl, and we're pretty settled on the name Clover May.  We are very excited to be having another little one in our lives, and I'm really glad that June Rose will get to grow up with a sister.  We also are glad to start filling up our new house, since we just moved to the little town of Juliaetta, near moscow, ID.
A bit more about the place...
Sometimes an oppurtunity comes up.  Something unavoidably good, something that cannot be ignored for its overall ability to manifest hopes and dreams long held but unrealized.
My first real experience with this came with meeting my wife, and realizing right off the bat our deep connections and shared desires, and knowing that we needed to be together.  My wife has been my partner and confidant through a whole lot of changes in my life, and with her I've realized my dream of a growing family, learned a lot about myself, and had amazing and fun experiences.
Now, along with my new daughters impending birth, I feel like the next big chapter in me and my family's journey has started. 
Several months ago a property which I had taken quick looks at before suddenly changed.  It was formerly a house and pole barn on 2.5 acres for $127,000.  Not a bad deal but a bit beyond our price range.  The next time I looked at it the bank (it was a foreclosure) had dropped the price to $87,000 and brought the lot size up to 6.3 acres.
We weren't really ready or expecting to buy, what with a baby on the way, and watching our budget, but when we went to see this place my heart really made leaps in my chest.  The house was really big, 2600 square feet.  The pole barn was in perfect condition, and really big as well at about 60 by 80 feet with a little shop and a poured slab inside.  The acreage was perfect for small family and maybe a little farm.  So, we went for it.  We bought it at the end of july and have been working like crazy fixing it up, painting, replacing windows, wiring, plumbing, etc..  all trying to get everything done so we could rent out our place in moscow as the college students were coming back, and so we could have a safe clean place for our new baby.
So here we are.  This is really the realization of a dream for me.  Not only do I have a beautiful family, but I also have that little piece of the country I've always wanted.  Even when I was in highschool I thought things like "hmm, I think I might like to have an exotic fowl farm when I grow up.."  Well, maybe not an exotic fowl farm but berries, fruits, and vegetables- definitely.  Maybe even some goats and guinea hogs too. 
For now here's a bit of what our wonderful property has to offer.
- year round spring
- year round creek
- five nice old standard apples trees- red delicious, golden delicious, granny smith, and one mystery apple.  all of which need major pruning
-The pole barn, of course, and the shop inside which will make a great certified kitchen and farm store someday- fingers crossed.
- a few rag-tag prune plums
-acres and acres of sweet delicious blackberries (that's also why the goats may be necessary)
-enough norway maples for 10 taps
-acres of red alder trees, which are apparently tap-able as well
-a big old english walnut tree
-a tool shop in the house (holy cats!)

and to top it all off it's just across the street from a paved 6 mile bike path along the beautiful potlatch river, where just the other day, in the course of one half hour, I caught a nice smallmouth bass, a good 8 inch rainbow trout, and a REALLY nice 14 inch rainbow trout.

So, now we are relaxing, and winding down from the frenzy of fixing stuff, and getting ready for the new little addition to our family.  We are full of hopes and dreams, and realizations of the work ahead of us, but things seem to coming together.
Life can be trying sometimes, full of ups and downs.  But if you wait, and you hope, and you try, and you are thankful,  good things will come.


More pictures to come soon