(And other thoughts on eating locally wherever you are) by Laura Parker Roerden What does it mean to be here? I mean right where you are at this very moment. I can distinctly remember the first time I actually understood what being present to where I was meant deep in my bones. Like a lot of my epiphanies,Continue reading “Do You Know Where You Are?”
Author Archives: Laura Parker Roerden
Signs of Spring on the Farm
by Laura Parker Roerden It’s that time again, when the hens become broody and build hidden nests that make morning egg collection a treasure hunt rivaling the White House Easter Egg Roll. Last spring we found this nest in our calf barn. Naturally, we left the eggs so that the mother hen could tend toContinue reading “Signs of Spring on the Farm”
Morning Poem
Reflections on Spring’s Shoulder by Laura Parker Roerden Winter’s frozen fingers still clutch the ground, unwilling to yield to a muddy grave. Some years are like that: everything worn to the bone, promise blunt and fragmented. This morning has no choice but to rise clumsily against a thick attempt at erasure. At best, a hole had been rubbedContinue reading “Morning Poem”
We’re All Bigger on the Inside
by Laura Parker Roerden We’re still patiently awaiting the arrival of Mezzie’s first calf, which has felt just minutes away for five long days. My own first baby was born during a snowstorm in late January, when everything is quiet and suspended and nature gives us the blank slate on which to write a newContinue reading “We’re All Bigger on the Inside”
A Stitch in Time
(July 5, 2014) by Laura Parker Roerden It was a dark and stormy night. . .and we were celebrating the 4th of July and our dear friend Janice Kimball’s birthday at the farm with the Yankee Independence Day tradition of salmon and peas, a gaggle of children, board games, and soggy fireworks and poppers. We tookContinue reading “A Stitch in Time”
Farm Kids
by Laura Parker Roerden Growing up, I knew exactly one other dairy farmer in town who had a daughter my age. The other family I knew with a daughter a year younger had moved away to upstate New York before we were teens. Her father had been able to trade his 100 acre farm in Massachusetts forContinue reading “Farm Kids”
Among Large Animals
For My Big Brother David by Laura Parker Roerden (May 9, 2014) This morning I got a call from our most patient of neighbors. It was a familiar refrain: “Your cows are out,” she simply said. Before I could get off the phone this particular neighbor’s husband was already half way up the street toContinue reading “Among Large Animals”
Carrying the Water
(April 14, 2014) by Laura Parker Roerden I spent a fair amount of time in farmhouse kitchens growing up. My dad and uncle would often lend a hand to other farmers and they in turn would reciprocate here. There were the trips to help out old Miss Green and her daughter Miss Green, farmers inContinue reading “Carrying the Water”
Awaiting Lambs
by Laura Parker Roerden (September 24, 2015) Fall 2014 the young people (ages 8-15) of our Farm Camp raised enough money at our annual Farm Camp Friendraiser to purchase two lambs to begin a fiber arts project. The idea of raising wool at Jo-Erl Farm is a symbolic nod to our beloved Blackstone Valley’s storied pastContinue reading “Awaiting Lambs”
Peafowl: Reflections on Love, Rain and Separation
by Laura Parker Roerden Someone recently asked me over a glass of wine in a busy bar why I had gotten peafowl. I fumbled to answer, as the response was not neat or tidy. It was all somehow entangled with grief, a long drought, and my place in a decisive turn of the wheel of time. AsContinue reading “Peafowl: Reflections on Love, Rain and Separation”