A weekend at Wilderlove Farm

Last month, we finally made the trip down to the Bloomington area in Southern Indiana to visit our friends Maeve and Kyle, on their farm! Maeve has visited us a few times, but this was our first time to Bloomington to see their home and their farm, as well as meet the littlest member of their family for the first time.

We arrived on Saturday afternoon, and Maeve and Kyle gave us a tour of their gardens and property, and let us ask all our curious questions about how they run things, day to day. Cooper got to harvest a few carrots and beets too, which he loved. For dinner, we drove to a local park, had a picnic with salad greens from their farm, topped with spicy chicken, and with fruit on the side. It was a beautiful night, and the three older little boys (we have four little boys between us!) had so much fun playing on the playground.

On Sunday morning, we had coffee, pancakes, and local sausage for breakfast. On the way to church, we stopped at one of their favorite local coffee shops, Hopscotch Coffee, and we had an Americano (so good!).  After church, their oldest little boy and Cooper had fun examining a parked bulldozer, near the parking lot. Back at the farm, we spent hours outside, the boys having fun with a water table and their outdoor mud kitchen.

Later that afternoon, after tacos for lunch, we went for a walk down the road to their neighbor's farm, where he raises kunekune pigs. It was so interesting to see their neighbor's pastures, and mingle with some of their younger pigs on pasture, as well as see some of their larger pigs (one that weighed more than 300 lbs)! Cooper even got to hold a piglet, a job which he took very seriously. After showing us around, their neighbor, Jason, generously gave us some bratwurst made from his pigs, which we brought home and thoroughly enjoyed a couple weekends ago, on our own grill. What a neat experience to see fresh, local, sustainably raised meat and veggies, on two adjacent farms, in one weekend.

That night, we grilled burgers and had more local brats that Maeve bought from their farmer's market, along with sourdough buns I brought, and roasted veggies so incredibly fresh from the garden (carrots and beets and homemade kale chips). The little boys played while dinner cooked, and we stayed up chatting after all the kids were asleep, enjoying homemade cookies and tea.

And then we headed home the next morning, after Maeve and the little boys picked some fresh veggies (beets, radishes, lettuces, carrots) for us to take with us, and which we also enjoyed once we got home! So generous.

I first met Maeve when we both worked at a specialty coffee shop (hi, Greyhouse Coffee!) back in 2012 or 2013. We spent a lot of time together with knitting and coffee dates, when I was newly married to Nicholas, and she wasn't yet married to Kyle. And after years of us living in Texas, then NW Indiana and many letters written over the years, working on a cross stitch pattern together, and planning video chats, we've kept up such a sweet friendship. Ten years later, how wonderful to spend a weekend with our families together, sharing delicious, local food and coffee, and really good conversation. So special in every way.

We love you guys, and we loved spending time in your home and on your farm. Thank you for having us!