Florida or Bust

I never dreamed I'd be living in the Sunshine State, but back in September when Brian told me that he and Kristin (who gave birth to the adorable Olivia in May) had put in a bid for a small piece of land within the city limits of their hometown, Jacksonville, Florida, I got pretty excited. "Will you take interns?" I asked Brian. "Of course!" he replied.

Two and a half months later, here we are: three aspiring farmers and an eight-month-old, sharing a double-wide and a huge back yard. Kristin brings home the bacon (i.e. the mortgage) working full-time as a Hospice nurse. Brian is at home full-time (it's true - babies are a full-time job). And me, well, we're still working out the details, but the idea is to be an extra set of hands both for farming and for Olivia-care so that we have almost the equivalent of one full-time person working on the farm.

I'm still figuring out the Florida growing season, but what I do know is that you can start planting in January and hope for a harvest through June or even July. Most crops will not do so well throughout the scorching summer, but by September farmers begin seeding again for the next go-round. I'm planning to be here until about June.

It's been wonderful to slip into Kristin's and Brian's social circle here, and Olivia is one of the cutest babies ever. And with the plethora of oranges we are acquiring and our very own arugula crop we've been eating, it's already a great season.