M.J. Abell Farm

I will be the first to admit that I am full of really great ideas but sometimes my follow-through is…less than stellar. That said, it’s good to be back here on this page to give some updates from the past several months, as I have absolutely allowed my lack of follow-through to take center stage here. As a result, this is a long one.

August: I started teaching 11th & 12th grade English at the school where I’ve been teaching Baking & Pastry for the past 3 years. So far, it’s less stressful than B&P, but is still mildly stressful in its own way. Regardless, Mike has observed that I’m much happier this school year as a result of the subject/department switch, and the lack of ER trips for dangerously high blood pressure confirms that.

December: I completed my MS in Economics at WVU and attended graduation. This program was definitely a challenge for me, as math isn’t exactly my forté. I applied to the program in the fall of 2022, started in June 2023, and finished just over a month ago. It feels good to be done, but even better to have challenged myself in such a tough-for-me area of study which also required that I maintain all As and Bs (part of the scholarship requirement). I graduated with a 3.7 GPA while also working full time as a teacher & mom (and sometimes working another part time job on top of all that).

January: Mike and I have registered for a beginning beekeeping class at our local community college, so hopefully we’ll be able to start our first couple of hives this coming spring.
In addition, while we are still searching for a suitable property within a certain travel time from our jobs, we’ve decided to modify our search for a smaller property–1 ac. minimum with a house rather than a 5 ac. minimum with or without a house. The main goal is to leave Maryland, because it is only getting more and more difficult to afford. Our housing expense is manageable, thanks to our awesome landlords, but the utility costs and other costs associated with being Maryland residents is where the problems lie. Searching for a smaller parcel within our same price range should yield some better results, but only time will tell.

While we don’t have control over all of our living costs, we can certainly control what we spend on food. The current long weekend (and relatively responsibility-free) has allowed Mike and I to enjoy the luxury of staying home and letting YouTube play while we do other things. Anne of All Trades did a video with More Than Farmers that really made me think: If they can feed their family of 6 from a 1/8 acre garden, why can’t we? Michelle and Codi definitely have a much different setup than we do right now, but there is so much good info and advice on their channel for everyone, no matter where we happen to be in our self-sufficiency journey. Anne also has loads of info and expertise to offer on her channel, and while she probably covers more than just gardening, I’ve been focusing on her gardening content. I highly recommend y’all check these channels out. We’ve gotten lots of ideas to implement in the garden that we share with our parents on their property.

As we’ve watched these videos this weekend while the temps hover in the “too cold outside for me” range, I’ve been dreaming of spring planting and have (naturally) been browsing my favorite sites for seeds and plants. I’ve had excellent results with all the seeds I’ve purchased from Eden Brothers and also with most of the bare-root plants I’ve purchased from Stark Bros (any failures were my own fault). Baker Creek is also on the list for the more unique crops, such as Walking Stick Kale and Job’s Tears. With half the household being creative-minded, those two crops seem like a necessity so we can have a little fun (and hopefully make a little profit) amidst all the work that a productive garden requires.

One of the food items we now consider a luxury, since we’ve had no microwave since moving here in 2023, is popcorn. I’m taking a chance and ordering a variety of popcorn from Eden Brothers, and am hopeful that we’ll have a high germination rate and a successful harvest.

I think that’s probably enough for now. If our dear readers have any gardening or property-buying advice, we’d be happy to have you share it in the comments!