home feature: grey barn

Grey Barn Farm designed by Hutker Architects via Architectural Digest

Scrolling through my Bloglovin feed this morning I came across the above picture (posted by Elements of Style). Hello my dream! A beautiful, renovated farmhouse on a working farm. The Grey Barn, as it is called, is a working diary farmed owned and operated by the Glasgow family on Martha's Vineyard. They sell their organic cheese, raw milk, pork, beef, veal and eggs at the honor box farm stand every day and at a local farmers market on Saturday. Eric and Molly Glasgow did not start out as farmers but rather as an oil trader and a designer. In 2008 while contemplating a move back to the states from London, they decided they wanted to start a new life for themselves as farmers. In 2009, they brought their property on Martha's Vineyard and in 2010 their first cows arrived. 

Hutker Architects were called upon to aid in the design of the property, barns and the family home. The inspiration for the home was "a modern Belgian farmhouse" that Molly insisted have a "structural timber frame - not a fake one" (AD). The timbers came out of a barn in North Carolina with many other materials in the home being salvaged or sourced locally. The overall look is quite traditional but I love the mix of such modern elements as huge, single paned windows. 

farm entrance by Hutker Architects

family room with views out to the grazing cows by Hutker Architects

living room with custom carpentry doors by Hutker Architects

hallway stone detail by Hutker Architects

master bedroom by Hutker Architects

master bathroom by Hutker Architects

kitchen with focal point range by  Hutker Architects

exterior at night by Hutker Architects

a weekend at the farm

We spent this past weekend at a friend's farm in rural Missouri. It is one of Jeff's and I favorite places to go and this weekend we had beautiful weather which made it that much more enjoyable. I think both of us are ruralites at our core and so being out in the country makes both of us just so relaxed and at ease. Needless to say, I am having some trouble getting moving this morning so I thought I would share one of my favorite photo blogs - Notes For My Future Farm. I don't know who is behind it but they post beautiful images of farm life. Here are a few favorites. Enjoy!

notes for my future farm via Grow a Farm

notes for my future farm via coffee and wood

notes for my future farm via southern valley man

notes for my future farm via bungalow classic

notes for my future farm via oak apples

notes for my future farm via midwest supply co. 

animal, vegetable, miracle: a year of food life

As I mentioned in this spring gardening post, I have been reading Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life. I finished the book yesterday and I highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in food, planting or just wants to read a well written and informative piece of non-fiction. The book begins and ends in the spring so it was the perfect time to get inspired about starting our garden, shopping at the farmer's market and gearing up to have more locally grown and harvested food sources.

To summarize, the book traces Kingsolver's family journey to eat locally for one year. Much of their food source comes from their own Virginia farm with some additional items coming from surrounding local purveyors. The book is packed with information about why they chose to set on this path, how they accomplished it and ultimately what they learned. The why covers topics like the industrialization of the US food system, the current condition of small farming and a general sentiment about food as a sort of religion. The how, which included my favorite parts of the book, gets into the specifics of what they planted, how they did it and what they made from it (recipes included). I don't want to reveal the big take aways but I will say that it left me feeling inspired and ready to make some changes in the way we eat. Below is a short list of things I am thinking about/planning on doing after reading this book. 

- Rely as much as possible on the food we can get from the farmer's market - We already sort of do this but I want to make it a priority for this season. Menu planning will start at the farmer's market instead of going in with a predetermined list.

- Become even more conscious about where our meat is coming from - Again, we already are pretty good about this in that we primarily eat organic meat and try to limit our consumption of it but there is always room for improvement. I pretty much plan on only eating meat from Live Springs Farm from here on out (see this post to learn more).

- Eat locally and seasonally - This is something I don't think about enough. I would say I do the local part pretty well during the warmer months but the seasonal thing is more of an adjustment. There is this part in the book about bananas and how the family gives them up as they are not local (nor ever seasonal) and now I can't help but look at bananas or mangoes or any tropical fruit differently. 

- Stock up for winter - Since it can be harder to eat locally in the winter (no farmers markets and no crops really) I want to stock our pantry and freezer with the items that we can enjoy and feel good about eating even when it turns cold.

Check out Kingsolver's website to learn more about the book, get recipes and to see images of her farm - I want my own flock of sheep! Have a great weekend!