The Big People

Val is the farmer, writer, bread baker, and reader of the fam. I love cooking, eating, moving my bod and spending time laughing with my friends and family. After college, I spent three years working and learning on Henry’s Farm, one of the finest examples of a diverse, heirloom-oriented organic farm in the country. I’ve brought my skills back to the PNW and now grow for ourselves when I’m not at work planning and running an outdoor education and nature immersive summer camp and after school program on Bainbridge Island. I also am the Religious School Director for at our local synagogue and have spent this past year honing my challah making skills.

 James is the builder in this operation and also (thankfully) the person who deals with all the poop that a family with a dog, two cats, a baby, and a composting toilet bring about. I, of course, mean that both literally and figuratively. When not riding around on the tractor or dealing with the compost bins, James is across the water working on someone’s electric bicycle, repairing or making a canvas cover for a local’s boat top, or playing Red Dead Redemption (with headphones on) in our room.

Stella is the reason for this whole family-centered homesteading experiment. She is the greeter, dancer, and bringer-of-joy to basically everyone she meets (no pressure, kid). When she’s not dumping toys on the floor or grazing in the garden, she is living it up at the local outdoor preschool.

Takoda (or, Koda the Dog) is best friend extraordinaire and the chief clean-up officer now that Stella has started to help in the kitchen. He loves sleeping on the bed, running around outside, and playing with pinecones and tennis balls. He also makes me vacuum way more than I want to.

Poldy and Little Mac were adopted by Val from the shy cat room at a Chicago no-kill shelter way back in the day. Poldy came first and, after volunteering there for six months and finding later that the two had lived together since they were kittens, I finally adopted Mac Attack as well. When the dog is away, the cats will… lounge around downstairs. When he’s around, only Poldy ventures from the loft, which has become something of a Cat Clubhouse.

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