Farm Happenings at Diggin' Roots Farm
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Farm Happenings for September 29, 2020

Posted on September 28th, 2020 by Sarah Brown

Good Morning Friends;

This email comes a day late b/c we had a much needed clear sunny Sunday. My parents were visiting from Southern Oregon this past week. Somehow, between working their butts off and corraling the kiddos, PopPop also managed to repair and/or build three new model rockets with Wendell. A throwback to my childhood, there is no doubt that Wendell has also developed a love for this explosive hobby. Launch conditions were perfect on Sunday morning, so it was in a flurry of countdowns and blast-offs that PopPop and G'ma Dede said goodbye. Then, I took the kiddos over to our dear friends' farm in Scotts Mills for an outdoor canning extravaganza. Needless to say, group canning parties (with kids) are often more fun than efficiency, but processing some of the summers' bounty in the warm sun with pots bubbling and kids bubbling and some bubbly beverages, definitely filled the proverbial cup...and over 120 jars!

With the dudes out of the house, Sarah took some quiet time to finish organizing and arranging the new classroom space in our home. This past Spring, I finally finished the farm office in our converted granary building (farm headquarters...and onion storage) which freed up a room in the house. It WAS going to be the second kid room (but Wendell assures us that Sylas will be lonely in is own room, so they should stay together) and then when Covid hit and school became a question mark, we shifted gears (so many gear shifts in 2020) to make it a learning space. I'm so lucky and grateful to be co-parenting with Sarah. She is focused, resourceful, creative, and fiercely dedicated to our kids. She's also my best friend, which makes the entire journey more enjoyable. We will all be learning together this Winter, and surely there will be challenges with the move towards (collective) homeschool, but mostly we're focused on loving up these little beings and holding the space with them and listening to what they need. The 2nd grade learning will come in due time. Wendell is already a voracious reader (Calvin and Hobbes) and loooves math($). We know that being parent-teachers will be a tightrope walk, and that we will make mistakes and navigate plenty of our own frustrations. But we are also going to cherish this time together, and make sure that plenty of family farm walks, rain or shine, are an integral part of the curriculum. Today marks the beginning of this new season for our family. The classroom is ready, and now dad needs to get his act together and read the lesson book. Teachers are saints and superheros and superhuman. That has never been more clear to us than it is now.

With Love and Admiration, 

Conner + Sarah