09/22/2026
Hey fam,
Amy here. It’s been a challenging few days. We try to show you all the goodness on the farm and be real about the struggle as well. We are in a season of struggle right now…
On Saturday, our truck broke down which is a huge bummer as we need it for our markets and farm chores. But that’s material and hopefully it won’t be too much to repair.
On our way home from getting the car towed and a trip to urgent care for Mason and Max, martice began slurring his words and having difficulty with word recall. I immediately did a stroke assessment, and after admitting he had pain and numbness in his left arm, I rushed him to the ER where he was admitted and diagnosed with a TIA, a mini stroke. Thankfully he is home and doing okay, with no long-term effects, but he is exhausted.
Seeing that Martice isn’t even 40 years old yet, this was incredibly scary. For as long as I have known Martice, I have encouraged him to slow down, and it’s something he doesn’t do easily. When I met him, he hadn’t taken a single vacation day or sick day except when his appendix ruptured. And if you know us, you probably know that we both do too much, a lot of times. We have a hard time saying no. And like many, sometimes it’s hard to ask for help outside of our nuclear family.
So today we are reaching out to our community and and asking for help and sharing our needs for the remainder of the season getting some farm projects and chores done. Because I need Martice to slow down and be here for the long haul. This will be a challenge for him, but one that we need him to take.
I’m sharing some projects we are working on-if you have time or energy to help us, we would be grateful. Some of them have days/times and other projects are flexible around scheduling! And we can repay you in produce and farm goodies. 🥕 🥬 Our farm is located in Watertown, about a 50 minute drive from Milwaukee.
🥕Tomorrow, Tuesday (10-2) removing some items we won from the Watertown YMCA auction for the farm. Includes commercial two sinks, some tires for our kids area, play ground equipment and fencing. If you have tools and shovels, even better!
🌶️Harvesting for markets (most Fridays minus this one, and Saturday afternoons). Some harvesting during the week as well, depending on the order from the food pantries.
🥬Tearing down a dilapidated chicken coop on the farm (days/times flexible)
🫛Finishing building our new chicken coop, as well as putting up new fencing in our new chicken area (days/times flexible). This is an asap priority project.
🥒Hauling away a pile of junk left from previous owners in a back field (days/times flexible). If anyone has equipment as well, there are some giant slabs of concrete that are also randomly in the back field.
🍅Clearing out a tree area where we will be starting a new project soon (days/times flexible)
🧅Rebuilding our hoop house and making it stronger for these winds out here (mid October project)
🌸Deep cleaning the barn and preparing it for the winter for the animals (has not been used for the animals as far as we know in several years) (days/times flexible)
🌻Moving mulch into the area that is going to be our immersive play area for kids as well as our herbal spiral garden (days/times flexible)
🐑 Miscellaneous cleaning up of the animal shelters and preparing for winter.
We are so grateful to all who have been reaching out to support, friends, family and even people we have never met. We appreciate all of the love and care. Thank you especially to my family, especially my mom, for taking care of the kids so I could focus on martice this weekend.
Take care of one another. 💜
