It seems it's been a while

Hello All,

If you are still following this I will be quite amazed. Keeping up with things online has proved difficult on the road, and what time we have had on the internet has been devoted to our job hunt--we hope to land some decent jobs in Michigan. I know some of you thought we would never return back to Michigan, but home is on the horizon!

Right now, Chris and I are staying with his Uncle John in Everett, Washington which is just north of Seattle. Since we last updated we have farmed in Grants Pass, Oregon; Longview, Washington; and Hansville, Washington. We have seen Crater Lake, Mt. Ranier, and Olympic National Parks. We have explored the stunning coast of the Pacific Northwest, sampled some of the best beers America has to offer (thank you, Oregon), and put many more miles on the car. We've learned to milk goats, make cheese, build fences, and grow pumpkins. We even made some money (thank you again Ruth and Michael)! We've met some awesome people we will never forget. This really was the trip of a lifetime, and we still have a few more weeks to go.

With that said, we should probably start bragging about some of the farms we've visited since we last posted. We spent about two weeks working on Sweet Water Farm, just north of Grants Pass, Oregon. Check out the website for a view of the garden (we had a hiccup with the camera and didn't get any pictures). The farm was owned by Sam and Denise and may have been one of the prettiest farms we got to work on. They grew on just about an acre and a half, but had a beautiful harvest each week for both their CSA and for the farmer's market. It was really awesome to learn what could be done on a smaller space with a lot of thought and care.

Sam and Denise grew a wide variety of produce including kale, beets, carrots, lettuce and salad mix, tomatoes, potatoes, onions, strawberries, blackberries, and raspberries. They also saved their seed and had a contract with a seed company. It seems to be a very profitable endeavor and, more importantly, a dependable source of income. We were also very impressed with their farmer's market stand. They had a beautiful display each Saturday and obviously knew how to please their customers. We also learned what a "bad baby cow" is: someone who eats the veggies as they harvest. We are both happily guilty of being bad baby cows and have definitely grow to love more veggies than we'd ever eaten at home. This little adventure of ours has expanded both our knowledge of farming and our love for fresh food. We are very reluctant to return to grocery stores and actually having to pay for food we once grew in abundance.

We also had a lot of time to explore Oregon, and really grew to love that state. We spent a couple days in Crater Lake National Park, which is was gorgeous. We also got to see a Shakespeare play in Ashland, saw Hayward Field (any running nerds out there will know where I'm talking about), and explored Astoria where the Goonies was filmed. Oregon's coast is about as amazing as the Pacific gets. Better yet, it has the country's highest concentration of microbreweries.

I think we'll call this good for now, and hopefully we will post again ASAP! Here are some pictures from Oregon...enjoy!