Set Out Running

Like many people in recent years, having faced downsizing and layoffs, my husband Ian found himself like the saber-tooth cat in the closing sequence of the Flintstones being set outside for the night. There was no longer room for him in the industry he'd worked in and loved for 15 years. It was a difficult time for sure but it allowed him time to grieve and think about what was next.

I should add that we had only been married for a year at that time. Transition and change - we were soaking in it! Having moved into rental house that needed some serious attention, the work we put into making the house a home along with numerous trips to the local hardware chain store tickled the latent DIY-ers within us. Around that same time, my father (a recent retiree) and his girlfriend of nearly two decades were preparing to move from a Seattle suburb to Hawaii. Avid gardeners they bestowed countless pots, gardening implements and books upon us. The seeds, so to speak, were being planted.

Ian started off doing yard work and working with the soil for my flower garden. I'd been bitten by the gardening bug and being the swell guy he is he did all the back breaking and extra dirty work for me. He also built his first raised beds for tomatoes and cucumbers. I would arrive home from work to find him in a pair of overalls and "wellies" covered in dirt, happier and more relaxed than I had ever seen him.

Ian and I were both born in Southern California in the late 1960s but our upbringing couldn't have been more different. As a toddler Ian’s Scottish born mother took him to live in Britain. I’ll leave that story for another day. As a pre-teen he returned to the States, Washington State to be exact, to live with his father, stepmother and kid sister who lived, as I like to call it, in the 1800s, near a reservation on the Kitsap Peninsula. They grew much of their own food and raised animals for the table. We joke that what was considered 'hippie food' then is considered artisanal now. As for my childhood, I like to say that I was born in McDonalds and weaned on Chef Boyardee. It’s been a long road from there to becoming a ‘foodie’ and Slow Food supporter.

These days, his folks live off the grid in Northern California where they grow olives organically with the help of more than 80 chickens for pest control and are making award winning small batch olive oil. Also in Northern California, his sister and her husband produce some incredibly tasty, biodynamically grown wine. Clearly, farming is in Ian’s blood and the family has been very encouraging of our thoughts of pursuing farming as a business.

So begins the journey. We are up to our ears in books on planning a successful agricultural business, farming and raising farm animals. After volunteering for a few months, Ian began a paid position at a local farm that supplies a well-known restaurant in March. We are cultivating seedlings for the produce we are growing in our own yard this year and continue to enjoy raising our backyard chickens. Our toes (and feet) are in the water and I look forward to recording our progress in this blog.