This post may contain affiliate links, which means that I may receive a commission if you make a purchase using these links, with NO additional cost to you.
Farm life moves in seasons, each bringing its own rhythm of challenges and blessings. While others mark their calendars by holidays and vacations, we measure time by calving seasons, planting dates, and harvest windows. It's a different way of life, but one filled with profound meaning when we learn to embrace its natural flow.
Spring arrives with muddy boots and early mornings, the air filled with promise as we help bring new life into the world. Our kitchen windows steam up from endless pots of coffee brewed for our hardworking spouses, while seedlings line every windowsill. It's exhausting but exhilarating to be part of nature's awakening.
Summer stretches before us with long, sun-drenched days. While others plan beach trips, we're orchestrating meals to the fields, tending gardens, and preserving the bounty for winter. But there's magic in those evening moments – watching the sunset paint the sky while the day's work winds down, feeling the satisfaction of another day well-lived.
Fall brings harvest season, when time seems to speed up and slow down all at once. The pressure is intense, but there's beauty in watching the combines move across golden fields, knowing that all the year's hard work is coming to fruition. This is when our strength really shines – in our ability to keep everything and everyone moving forward.
Winter offers a different pace, though farm life never truly stops. It's time for planning, maintenance, and catching up on all those indoor projects we've set aside. These quieter days give us space to reflect and prepare for the cycle to begin again.
Here's what I've learned: each season has its purpose. The busy times teach us resilience, while the slower periods allow us to recharge. I used to try and run at full speed all year long, and I found out it’s not sustainable. It is a good way to burn yourself out.
Find your own traditions and pace within each season – maybe it's having the first cup of coffee on the porch in spring, or always making your grandmother's pickle recipe in summer. These small rituals become anchors in the constantly changing flow of farm life.
Remember, you're not alone. Generations of farm wives before us have watched these same seasons pass and found their own ways to thrive. We're part of a proud tradition of women who understand that farming isn't just a job – it's a way of life.
As I've grown as an entrepreneur, mom, gardener, and livestock owner, I struggled to find a planner that met my needs and kept me organized. So, I MADE MY OWN. You can look at it on the link below and buy it on Amazon.
Don't want the whole calendar part? I got you! I pulled the gardening and animal care pages out and put them in a book all their own.
Wanting a community to lean into? Join the FREE Thriving Through Farm Life: Wife’s Support Network! In our community, we embrace the challenges of farm life and provide a supportive space for wives facing the complexities of managing a family farm. Whether you're navigating financial pressures, day-to-day operations, or seeking ways to create a thriving home, we're here for you. Explore garden and preservation tips for cultivating your oasis, share insights on animal care, and discover practical family budgeting strategies. Together, let's grow through challenges, flourish authentically, and sow the seeds for a resilient and thriving farm life. Join us on this journey of resilience and abundance!
Starting a garden doesn't have to be hard! I gathered all the tips I've learned over my gardening seasons and made them into a simple course to jump-start your gardening life.
I've had 3 very different pregnancies. After the first traumatic birth, I learned how to care for my body naturally preventing common pregnancy and birth problems before they arise. This quick course will give you the tools you need to have a natural healthy pregnancy, labor, and delivery. My first pregnancy I had a normal western medicine pregnancy. My second? I flipped to completely natural, no medicine. Bonus: Preventing Preeclampsia Without Aspirin & Healing from Birth Trauma
This post may contain affiliate links, which means that I may receive a commission if you make a purchase using these links, with NO additional cost to you.
Getting Your Garden Ready: A January Planning Guide for Zone 5
While winter blankets our zone 5 gardens in cold and snow, January offers the perfect opportunity to prepare for a bountiful growing season. Here's how to use these indoor days to set yourself up for garden success.
Plan Your Garden Space
Start by sketching out your garden plan. Review last year's garden journal notes, if you kept them, and plan crop rotations. Create a layout of your garden beds, noting which vegetables will go where. Consider companion planting relationships and succession planting opportunities to maximize your harvest.
Seed Organization and Orders
Take stock of your saved seeds and organize them by planting date. Check germination dates and create a list of seeds to order. January is the perfect time to browse seed catalogs and place orders before popular varieties sell out. Don't forget to plan for your indoor seed-starting schedule.
Indoor Growing Setup
Prepare your seed-starting area now. Clean your seed trays, check grow lights, and stock up on seed-starting mix and containers. Create a schedule for starting seeds indoors – tomatoes, peppers, and other long-season vegetables will need to be started in late winter for spring transplanting.
Tool Organization and Maintenance
Use this time to clean, sharpen, and oil your garden tools. Organize your potting bench or garden shed. Create a designated spot for frequently used items like pruning shears, trowels, and garden gloves. Make a list of any tools that need replacement before spring.
Garden Record System
Set up a simple system to track your garden's progress. Either create or buy a garden planner with a planting calendar that includes indoor seed starting dates, transplant dates, and direct sowing schedules. Consider starting a garden journal to record frost dates, successful varieties, and lessons learned. Having all your garden notes, plans, and schedules in a single, dedicated planner makes it easier to refer to previous successes and learn from past experiences. You can grab my favorite on Amazon here.
The key to a successful garden often lies in thoughtful winter planning. While you can't control the weather, you can control how prepared you are when the soil warms. Focus your energy now on creating systems that will support your gardening journey through the growing season ahead.
Remember, the goal isn't to create the perfect garden but to be organized enough to enjoy the process. Start with the preparations that will make the biggest difference in your garden, and take joy in planning for the growing season to come.
As I've grown as an entrepreneur, mom, gardener, and livestock owner, I struggled to find a planner that met my needs and kept me organized. So, I MADE MY OWN. You can look at it on the link below and buy it on Amazon.
Don't want the whole calendar part? I got you! I pulled the gardening and animal care pages out and put them in a book all their own.
Wanting a community to lean into? Join the FREE Thriving Through Farm Life: Wife’s Support Network! In our community, we embrace the challenges of farm life and provide a supportive space for wives facing the complexities of managing a family farm. Whether you're navigating financial pressures, day-to-day operations, or seeking ways to create a thriving home, we're here for you. Explore garden and preservation tips for cultivating your oasis, share insights on animal care, and discover practical family budgeting strategies. Together, let's grow through challenges, flourish authentically, and sow the seeds for a resilient and thriving farm life. Join us on this journey of resilience and abundance!
Starting a garden doesn't have to be hard! I gathered all the tips I've learned over my gardening seasons and made them into a simple course to jump-start your gardening life.
I've had 3 very different pregnancies. After the first traumatic birth, I learned how to care for my body naturally preventing common pregnancy and birth problems before they arise. This quick course will give you the tools you need to have a natural healthy pregnancy, labor, and delivery. My first pregnancy I had a normal western medicine pregnancy. My second? I flipped to completely natural, no medicine. Bonus: Preventing Preeclampsia Without Aspirin & Healing from Birth Trauma
This post may contain affiliate links, which means I may receive a commission if you make a purchase using these links, with NO additional cost to you.
Farming is not just a job; it's an identity, a legacy, and often, a way of life that stretches over generations. But what happens when the weight of debt forces a family farm to face liquidation? For my husband and me, 2024 was the year we tackled this heart-wrenching challenge head-on. It was a year filled with pain, growth, and lessons we never imagined we'd have to learn. I want to share this personal story with you, along with some key insights that might help if you're navigating similar struggles.
Liquidating a Four-Generation Farm
The year began with a decision no farmer wants to make— to liquidate my husband’s four-generation family farm. Watching the equipment, once symbols of hard work and tradition, being cleaned for the last time and lined up for auction was gut-wrenching. Failure hung heavy in the air, and with it, the weight of letting down the generations before us.
During this process, we also sold the remaining beef cows, holding on only to our family milk cow and her calf. When the final trailer pulled out of the yard, I broke. Those cows symbolized hopes and dreams that were now replaced by piles of debt we had to figure out how to pay off.
The liquidation process wasn’t quick—it was a grueling, emotionally draining road. And it led us to enter farm bankruptcy to settle the remaining debt. Working with auction companies, bankers, and attorneys was a roller coaster of delays, miscommunication, and stress, but each step taught us valuable lessons.
5 Hard Lessons From Liquidating a Farm
Whether you're facing farm liquidation, transitioning in your farming venture, or simply in the trenches of running your agricultural business, these lessons might resonate with you and offer some guidance.
1. Everything Will Take Longer Than You Expect
Liquidation is not a quick process. Initial timelines often turn out to be overly optimistic. If you think it will take a few months, it will likely take double—or even quadruple—that time, especially if attorneys get involved. Prepare for the long haul and give yourself grace during the process.
2. Over-Communicate Every Step of the Way
Communication is key. Stay connected with everyone involved—auction companies, bankers, attorneys—and follow up frequently. If someone isn’t delivering as expected, don’t hesitate to reach out. We eventually hired a second auction company after realizing the first wasn’t moving the sales forward. Your farm depends on your ability to push conversations forward.
3. Start Small and Focused
You can’t launch multiple ventures at once and expect them all to succeed—this was a hard-learned truth for us. The ambition of managing several operations was overwhelming and, ultimately, what caused both to fail. Pick one business focus, ensure it becomes stable and profitable, and then move on to the next goal when you’re ready.
4. Fully Close One Chapter Before Fully Launching Another
Splitting focus between liquidating and launching something new is incredibly draining. Your time and energy are finite, and closure becomes critical. Wrap up the previous chapter completely; only then can you dedicate your best to building something new.
5. Step Away to Reflect and Plan
Sometimes you can’t think clearly in the middle of the chaos. Take a step back to reassess what worked, what didn’t, and what needs to change. Setting aside time to plan intentionally can give you the clarity and confidence to move forward with purpose. If we had taken the time to do this in the beginning, our story would have looked much different.
Navigating the Loss of Farming Identity
Stepping away from farming wasn’t just a career shift for us—it felt like a loss of identity. Farming was in our blood, our conversations, and our daily lives. Without it, I started to wonder—who am I now?
For a while, I struggled to find a label. I was still raising food for my family, but no longer on a large scale. Did that make me a homesteader? Was I a farmer without a farm?
Eventually, I came across a definition that brought clarity and peace to my mind:
- A homesteader grows food for their own family.
- A farmer grows food for others.
Simple. No size requirements. Just purpose. And I realized—I can be both. I grow for my family now, and one day, I hope to grow for others again. Stepping out of farming is not giving up; it’s taking a break, realigning goals, and refocusing our “why.”
Holding Onto Hope amid Change
Liquidating a farm is deeply painful, and it might feel like the end of everything you've built and dreamed of. But I want you to know—it’s not the end. It’s a season, and seasons, as farmers know, always change.
This year taught me that the land might stop producing for a while, but we don’t have to. Farming is about resilience, adaptability, and hope. Even as we face debt and doubts, we also see potential.
To my fellow agricultural entrepreneurs, farm wives, and those fighting to save their legacies—you’re not alone. Whether you're downsizing, pivoting, or rebuilding, there is still growth ahead. And I hope some part of our story helps you in whatever season you’re in.
We’ll be back in the farming world someday. Until then, I’m focusing on what we can do—raising my family, tending to what’s in front of me, and preparing for what’s next.
If you're navigating farming challenges, remember there's strength in your story—just as there is in ours. Let's continue to cultivate hope and persevere together.
As I've grown as an entrepreneur, mom, gardener, and livestock owner, I struggled to find a planner that met my needs and kept me organized. So, I MADE MY OWN. You can look inside with the link below and buy it on Amazon below.
Don't want the whole calendar part? I got you! I pulled the gardening and animal care pages out and put them in a book all their own.
Wanting a community to lean into? Join the FREE Thriving Through Farm Life: Wife’s Support Network! In our community, we embrace the challenges of farm life and provide a supportive space for wives facing the complexities of managing a family farm. Whether you're navigating financial pressures, day-to-day operations, or seeking ways to create a thriving home, we're here for you. Explore gardening and preserving tips for cultivating your own oasis, share insights on animal care, and discover practical family budgeting strategies. Together, let's grow through challenges, flourish authentically, and sow the seeds for a resilient and thriving farm life. Join us on this journey of resilience and abundance!
Starting to garden doesn't have to be hard! I gathered all the tips I've learned over my gardening learning curve and made them into a simple course to jump start your gardening your life.
I've had 3 very different pregnancies. After the first traumatic birth, I learned better and how to care for my body naturally and prevent common pregnancy and birth problems before they arise. This quick course will get you the tools you need to have a naturally healthy pregnancy, labor, and delivery. My first pregnancy I had a normal western medicine all the things pregnancy. My second? I flipped to completely natural, no medicine. Bonus: Preventing Preeclampsia Without the Aspirin & Healing from Birth Trauma
