Monday – Jill

Hi! I’m Jill and I’m the newest “Farm Chick”! I’m new to the farm life and new to the married life. I got married this April and my husband (Buddy) and I started our own farm as contractors for Polyface. We live at a beautiful farm about 10 minutes away from Polyface and couldn’t be happier! Here’s a little more about me:

1. What inspires you?

There are many things/individuals that inspire me, so I can’t choose just one, but here are a few in no particular order: Martha Stewart (I mean, seriously, she’s got amazing business prowess and great taste!), my parents, sunsets, music, Southern Living Magazine, Paula Dean (LOVE her).

2. Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

I was just reading in James that, “you do not even know what will happen tomorrow…you ought to say, ‘If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.’ “, so I’ll start by saying “God willing” I’ll still live in Virginia (because regardless of what any Texan says, it’s the greatest of all 50 states) and hopefully my husband and I will have purchased our own farm and built a house. And maybe, just maybe there will be a baby Powers in our family.

3. What is one of your most fulfilling hobbies?

One of my most fulfilling hobbies is photography. It’s an amazing creative outlet and I can take my camera anywhere. I love being able to capture moments in not only my own life, but also in others’.

4. What do you like to cook/favorite foods?

Let me just start by saying that I love food, all kinds of food. Besides raw onions I’ll try almost anything. As far as my cooking skills go, my husband likes to say that I’m “honing my craft”. But I’m learning and I love to experiment. I like to cook spaghetti because it’s easy and delicious! But, some of my favorite foods are: Indian, anything Asian, pasta, cheese, chips and salsa (I have a recent obsession with home made salsa!), ranch dressing, chocolate, grapes, blueberries (it takes serious self-control for me to not eat the entire carton)…I could go on and on, but I don’t want to bore you so I’ll leave it at that!

5. What relaxes you after a long day of farming?

Dinner and a movie with my husband!

6. How do you deal with farm animal deaths?

I never was good at watching the National Geographic specials where the gazelle gets attacked by the cheetah or the baby seal gets snatched up by the killer whale. It would always leave me on the verge of tears! So, naturally, the first time I saw Buddy attempt to kill a baby chicken (it was sick and already going to die) I literally covered my eyes and begged him to stop. After that incident, I quickly learned that it’s a fact of life and whether or not I see the gazelle get his leg bit off, or the baby chick die, it happens all the time and it’s just nature running it’s course. I’ve gotten a lot better at dealing with animal deaths, but I still can’t totally detach myself from the situation and I’m okay with that. I’m still a girl and I still get sad if I think about it too much. Luckily, it’s usually the men that have to deal with that kind of stuff!

7. Who do you hope to share farming skills with?

I hope to share farming skills with all the current or recovering “city girls” like myself. I have a business degree with absolutely no background in farming! I’m a novice in the world of farming so I hope others can learn along side me.

8. What do you like to read?

I like to read Psalms from the Bible and any sort of inspirational non-fiction (I know that sounds cheesy). Also, there are many photography and design blogs that I stalk read.

9. What is your greatest asset?

My greatest asset is my positive outlook. I’m definitely not always positive but I usually try to see the “cup half full”.

And because no blog is fun without pictures…

Here’s a picture from our wedding (photo credit: Katelyn James Photography)

Here are some little ones from our first batch of birds

Happy Monday!