Well, that is quite a loaded lately! It’s hard to believe that I’ve been pulled away from this space for almost a year now. Though my mind and hands have been too occupied to make it here to share and connect, my heart has been here. If you have stuck around and are checking in periodically, thank you.
The past several months have been a whirlwind of planning our family-run homesteading festival from fall through spring (with the hard work of so many amazing volunteers), holding the festival in the end of June, recovering from said festival – and all the while, continuing our search for a farm to call home. Right around the time of the fest we found a place that was a dream come true and put in an offer. We were heartbroken to find out another offer was placed and accepted the same day. This was just one more in a series of similar heartbreaks, though it felt harder than most. Later in the summer we found out that the deal on our dream land and home had fallen through and we had another opportunity to make it happen. And we did!
Late summer and fall have therefore been mainly about packing and moving, and now unpacking and settling into our new home. Getting acquainted with the 80 acres we now steward has been such a joy and the ideas are swirling around in a dreamy way – we’re quite eager to feel our feet firmly planted on the ground, once we’re settled in, so we can begin the work of turning observations into plans and DIY projects for future events, plantings, and more.
If you’d like to follow along with our homestead journey, you can find us on Instagram as @cityfolkfarm. We know we are going into this journey as city folk who will make a myriad of mistakes that may invoke the “Oy… city folk” response from our country neighbours. We figured we should come into this from a place of humility, acknowledging our greenness and honouring the opportunity to learn from our inevitable mistakes! And, of course, continue to be able to laugh at ourselves when we make them, learn, and move on.
We are all keen to settle into this space and re-establish our family rhythms. Things look different and feel different for our crew, and in this season of chaos I am so very thankful for the seasonal rhythms we have grown in our family life. These rituals and celebrations will anchor us as we establish new roots in this land and home. Bigger things like our lovely Advent activities and gift-making that carry us through the holidays with intention and love, and the smaller but oh so important things like a seasonal book basket, tea and story time, bird-watching station, and nature walks.
There are just too many photos to share here in one post, so enjoy this small selection of pics from the festival and our new place. Please do stay tuned for more photo posts of what we have been up to as of late!
