Rolling Bay Farm where we buy our eggs.

It is really hard to get two out of the three men in my family to talk about their day at all. So I try new tactics…Today I asked Sam “What was something that made you think today in school?” So he thought about it for a minute then described how he thought about how to decorate his paper butterfly, making the two sides match. That gave a chance to talk about the word symmetry and how good that was to plan out his decoration just the way a real butterfly is “made.” While Sam was in school, Ben and I went on a bike ride on the SUB (sport utility bike) to the farm stands to get our produce and eggs. I picked up bread and corn from the first farm stand – happy to see corn husks sticking out of the cargo bags like little flags. On our way out of the farm we spied two horses working the land! How cool is that!? So we asked for some information about them. The lady’s name is Betsey and she runs Laughing Crow Farm. She has a blog if you want to Google her (Bainbridge Island) and she owns two draft horses. I reached out to her with an email and really hope to give Sam’s class a chance to come and learn about how she works the land – but knowing Sam’s school, they’ve already set that up years ago. I absolutely love draft horses – they are so kind and big, so reliable and sturdy. Then on to Rolling Bay Farm for eggs (photo above). She also sells soap, bacon, heritage turkeys for Thanksgiving. And works full time in Seattle! Wow. People are serious about their microfarms here, but it’s still hard to even get the farm to pay for itself, just like when we were kids living on a small farm. They just don’t, especially if land is costly like it is here. Anyway…the sun was out and we felt so lucky to have time to spend together, thanks to Dave working hard down in Bremerton. I get to chauffeur Ben around the island, soaking in experiences together. After Rolling Bay Farm we went down to Manitou Beach and parked on a bike path for blackberry snacks. Ben is quite the picker – he knows to check for musty-moldy-muckiness first. Or bird poop. Then he just plows them into his mouth like a bear. He has a big blackberry grin afterwards! Then up to Bay Hay and Feed for a check on the small chicks (the “peeps”) as they grow into little pullets.  Found out from Shelly, who has worked there for 20 years, that the mystery plant in our garden is Brussel sprouts! SO gratifying to figure out what in the world it is. Then coffee and a little muffin for late second breakfast/early lunch and meeting up with locals, gradually making friends. We’re planning an open house so we can thank those who have so warmly welcomed us here to the island. We absolutely love it. We are blessed. I look forward to reading a book called In Praise of Island Stewards to learn more about the farmers here on the island. And Sam continues to plan our chicken coop…he reads a book on chickens every night for bedtime. We are really going to do it…soon. As soon as Richard can come up and help us build it! 🙂