08/12/2026
Friday, August 14th is our anniversary. Some days, I can hardly believe we've been together for a little over 17 years! π₯°
As I reflect on the ups and downs of another year spent navigating all of the blessings and challenges of life together, I sometimes wonder how Jon Brokaw has put up with me for this long! π
Those of you who know me best know that I'm the high-energy type, always with a BIG, wild idea, and this poor fella gets drug along on a lot of my "Type 2 Fun" adventures... π
Like when I decided to thru-hike all 2,193.1 miles of the Appalachian Trail in 2021.... β°οΈπΆββοΈ
..or starting this little farm business in 2022, when I was still completely lost in a wave of grief from losing my sister in 2021. π©βπΎπ¨βπΎ
Okay, so, maybe Jon didn't WALK the actual trail with me, but my little walk in the woods crossed all through the territory where he travels for work. π§³π₯Ύ
He had a front row seat to many of the obstacles, challenges, and successes I found there, including when I broke my foot and hobbled nearly 100 miles on a broken foot to an extraction point that required him driving on a nearly impassable mountain road to fetch me... π€
..or the time my tent, backpack, shoes, and trekking poles all self-destructed in the same week and I needed an urgent ride to the nearest gear shop, which was over an hour away by car. π
And while he DEFINITELY didn't sign up for the farmers' market circuit, he's been the backbone of our farmers market operations right along, even serving on the volunteer advisory board for our Saturday market the past couple of years. π
The thing a lot of people don't know is, Jon does all of this in addition to working a full-time off-farm job to help keep our tiny farm dream alive. π¨βπΌπ₯
To make a long story short, we live a wild, full, and wonderful life, full of both blessings to be thankful for and challenges to overcome. Keeping the tiny farm and teaching program going through a difficult medical diagnosis has been one of the steepest mountains we've climbed yet... β οΈ
And at this point in the season, we're both starting to feel the normal end-of-season burn out, along with a little extra fatigue from all the medical challenges. So we've planned some close-to-home excursions for us throughout the week to give us a chance to step away from the farm and spend some quality time together. π
So, while we do plan to be at Bellville Farmers' Market from 9am-noon on Saturday, I want to be transparent with ya'll that we don't have any farm crew this week. Most of our interns and farm workers are either done for the year or out on vacation. πβοΈ
With taking some time off this week, I won't have enough time to fill all the home delivery orders for The Morrow Market AND harvest everything that's ready in the fields before the Saturday market. We'll bring what we can, and it'll still be bountiful and delicious, just probably not our full spread of crops! π₯π«π
Feel free to let us know what you're hoping we bring this weekend to help me direct my time and energy to harvesting the items most of ya'll are looking for this week! ππ½π₯¦π«π₯¬π₯