Life update from our farm & family

Life Update: Family Changes

When my wife and I bought our 5-acre farm in 2019, it was our hope that our kids and grandkids would find their way to the property even if just for a temporary stay. 

This year, part of our wish is coming true as we get some of our grandkids closer to us and we're busy preparing our farm for their arrival. At the same time, our other grandkids are preparing to move onto their next adventure so we're soaking in all the time we can with them. I'll bring you along on some of the things I'm doing around the property, and I'm sure my wife will share ways she's planning to get the kids engaged in all her crafts as well. 

I’m in Carhartt Stores for Father’s Day

My kids laugh at me for being a guy that likes his routine. I wake up, get my coffee and feed my cats. Then I put on my Carhartt work pants, my Carhartt hoodie, my Carhartt hat and my work boots and walk the perimeter of our house before I get started with my farm chores. I’ve had this clothing routine since the 80s, I’m sure.

So you can imagine how it must feel for me… a blue-collar Dad from a farm deep in Washington state… to be featured on Carhartt’s website, blog AND in their stores for Father’s Day this year. They even took time to sit down with me and share our story, which is incredibly special to me.

Father’s Day this year is Sunday, June 21^st and I have put together a whole list of great gifts from Carhartt you can buy for the Dad in your life. My credentials? I’ve been a Dad a long time and likely worn Carhartt for even longer. And if you don’t have a Dad you get to celebrate with, I also picked out gifts for women, dogs and kids so you can still celebrate someone you love this June.

Upcoming Projects

If you’ve been following for a while, you know that our farm had great bones but needed a lot of fixing up when we bought it. On nights and weekends, I do my best to get to every project one-by-one. Recently, I built a retaining wall that I’ve been needing for years, and have been working on laying landscape fabric and mulch so we don’t have to weed as much. Some projects I am hoping to get to this summer:

• Finish the “Gingerbread House.” Since our farm has turned into a bit of a revolving door, we’ve been needing extra sleeping space and a quiet area so people who need to get work done from here can do so in peace. We’ll also eventually need a garden shed so I decided to build a small all-in-one type of shed/outdoor office. It is 10x20 so it doesn’t need to be permitted and it doesn’t have water hookups or a restroom – just the bare bones. I’ve been slowly building it the past year and I’m at the point in the project where I never want to see it again so I’m guessing I’m close to being done.

• Build a deck: We need a small deck in our garden area and I built a deck up at my son’s house last month so I have a good idea of how to do it now. If I had extra hands, I could build it in about 4 days but by myself, I’m expecting it will take a week or two on and off.

• Dig an in-ground trampoline: For the grandkids I am installing an in-ground trampoline but our soil is very wet still so I will be waiting another month or so. The dirt I dig up for that will go to fill in my retaining wall.

Emmy’s Health Update

As many of you know, our daughter Emily suffered a Traumatic Brain Injury in a soccer game and has been in pursuit of a cure for many years. She exhausted all of her options in the traditional medical setting (so far) and moved onto experimental treatments. Her treatments are fully funded by my social media channels AND you all give us so many leads on new treatments.

Last year, we delayed several treatments because Emmy was navigating what we call “co-morbidities”, which are small health issues that pop up because your body is under a lot of stress. Since those issues are still persisting this year, we’ve formed a new plan:

• Emmy is going to take one-day trips to visit experimental clinics she has been hoping to attend as a patient. The issue with these clinics is that they usually cost thousands of dollars and require weeks of treatment, but you can’t know if they are a fit for her until you get there and commit. Finally we thought: What if we go out and visit for a day and meet with the doctors before picking the next treatment?

• We are still pursuing the CSF Leak possibility through the hospital system. We are currently at a standstill because the hospital that she was being treated at does not take any health insurances available to her in Washington state.

• I have been saving your emails you send with ideas and we are researching all of them. I saw a lot of you send me the article about GLP-1s helping brain injuries. If you know of anyone personally trying these and seeing results, please do share. Emmy probably won’t try them right away but we are curious.