Wit & Whimsy

June 2026

Hello, friends —

So... It's been a little while 🙃 The "busy season" theme is a bit of a broken record after the last two newsletters, so we won't belabor that point. We're still here, plugging away at the daily chores and rhythms of this place - seeing what there is to see and learning what there is to learn.

We're reminded often that there's a real risk, in the fast-paced lives we all seem to lead, of prioritizing the urgent - those things that demand your immediate attention or else the world will fall apart - over the important ("the squeaky wheel gets the grease" and all that). And, of course, sometimes those urgent things are important... But not all of the time, and maybe (likely) not even most of it.

We offer the following principles that, while absolutely not perfected, we at The Wit and Whimsy Foundation continually find to bear particularly promising fruits:

• Sow only as many "seeds" as you can properly and lovingly tend
• Learn how to recognize when things that feel urgent are actually not important
• Notice and attend to the important things before they become urgent
• Don't let perfect be the enemy of the good - grow where(ever) you're planted!

"All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us." - J.R.R. Tolkien

And now, on to the good stuff...

In the June edition:

• Updates from the Farm
• The Magic of Maybe
• What You're Wondering About
• Hügelkultur Experiment Update: Taters gonna tate!
• Bonus Experiment: Chaos Poop Pile (CPP)
• Recent & Upcoming Events

Updates from the Farm

Well... A lot happens around here over the course of a couple months, so this section will be a bit longer than usual... But we'll note that the cows and chickens agreed to some extra photos to help make the extra reading worth your while.

The cows have been making mooooooves.

This year, we officially reached the point where we had too many boys for the girls to handle, so we made the decision to split our moo-tley crew into two groups - the boys in the back pasture and the girls (and this year's babies) up front nearer to us. The boys get a new pasture space each week, and the girls and babies move daily - but we visit each group daily (and often multiple times a day) to see how everyone is doing, check waters, bring a snack of highly prized alfalfa, etc. There's so much we could say about all of this (if you're interested, ask away), but for now, pictures...

New friends!

Since we were last with you, we've had a number of new friends (both wild and domestic) join our little space.

Daisy the chicken - Given to us by a friend, a tiny little ball of timidity and sweetness. She started in our house but has officially graduated to be part of the big kids table.

First round of 2026 chick-lets - These four (Popper, Puff, Patty Melt, and Pip) were hatched by Martie (one of the Rhode Island Red chicks hatched last year by Black Betty... who has also now decided she'd like to go broody again, so more chicks yet to come!)

Into the Wild - Each year, we have the pleasure of meeting all sorts of fascinating plants and animals. And this year was no exception - frogs and moths and spiders, oh my and so many wonderful little volunteer flowers, our favorite kind (the kind that know they want to be here and thrive without anything from us except our sincere admiration.

Not pictured: More skunks than we can count - because, although they've been very amenable, we don't dare press our luck trying to get a close-up 🦨 🦨 🦨

1st - Frog the size of a fist | 2nd - Frog the size of a pencil eraser 🐸🐸

1st - Luna moth | 2nd - Unidentified moth that really wanted to spend some time inside

1st - Pretty little garden spider 🕸️ | 2nd - Loganberry "volunteer"

1st - Alfalfa! (planted by the cows 🐮) | 2nd - Black oil sunflower (planted by the chickens 🐔)

1st - Bearded iris that rode in on those rocks behind it | 2nd - Poppy that apparently self-sowed in 2025

Some like it hot...

But they must not have lived around here! We're surely grateful for all that the sun gives, but boy oh boy do we sometimes wish we lived in a cooler, drier climate. As it stands, we are here, and we will continue to grow where we're planted (and also be grateful for the shade).

The Magic of Maybe

Have you ever come across "The Parable of the Chinese Farmer" (sometimes also called "The Old Man Who Lost His Horse")? It goes something like this (supposedly as recounted by philosopher Alan Watts):

Once upon a time there was a Chinese farmer whose horse ran away. That evening, all of his neighbors came around to commiserate. They said, “We are so sorry to hear your horse has run away. This is most unfortunate.” The farmer said, “Maybe.”

The next day the horse came back bringing seven wild horses with it, and in the evening everybody came back and said, “Oh, isn’t that lucky. What a great turn of events. You now have eight horses!” The farmer again said, “Maybe.”

The following day his son tried to break one of the horses, and while riding it, he was thrown and broke his leg. The neighbors then said, “Oh dear, that’s too bad,” and the farmer responded, “Maybe.”

The next day the conscription officers came around to conscript people into the army, and they rejected his son because he had a broken leg. Again all the neighbors came around and said, “Isn’t that great!” Again, he said, “Maybe.”

The point is this: We never really know the full weight or implications of the individual happenings in our lives. Life is forever unfolding and what seems like disaster one day may be seen as a great fortune the next.

Maybe this is the worst thing that ever happened to us. Maybe it's the best. All we know for sure is that it happened and that we get to choose what we do next. (This is the heart of the more figurative versions of what is referred to as alchemy - turning metaphorical lead into gold.)

"Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms - to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way."

-Victor Frankl (Man's Search for Meaning)

P.S. Another excellent version of this idea was immortalized in the following line from a song called "Pure Imagination" from the 1970s film Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. A bit of a motto around here, truth be told.

If you want to view paradise, simply look around and view it.

What You're Wondering About

We wish we knew! No pressure at all, but we're here (hello@withandwhimsy.org) for all your questions and wonderings ✨

As mentioned in our first newsletter, we can't promise answers - but we love exploring and imagining with other curious, thoughtful humans. Find us when you're ready!

Hügelkultur Experiment Update #2

Let's pick up where we left off: The beds were filled and mulched, and the potatoes had been planted and begun to sprout. And then... The rains 🌧️

One thing we can say for sure is that these beds have absolutely retained water as advertised... and maybe a bit too well. It was a very wet spring for us, and we really thought all of the potatoes might have drowned. (Though, we are growing a bumper crop of crabgrass, so there's that.)

But, lo and behold, survivors! And - we can't make this up - the only variety that hung in through all the wet was "Purple Viking" (obviously a sea-faring variety and so used to navigating big water). And the soil around them was beautiful - dark and fine and suspiciously similar to worm castings...

We'll be planting some other things in these beds this year (once we can muster up the determination to chop and drop all that crabgrass) and will share more on that - but, for now, we're going to celebrate the small wins and enjoy some homegrown/homemade potato salad.

Another Experiment - Chaos Poop Pile

We have another little garden experiment going that we've been referring to as the "Chaos Poop Pile" - a nod to both chaos gardening (because the seed mix was a little of everything, not too carefully tossed) and the fact that the growing medium is, well was, cow poop. This one's fun and not as smelly as the name implies.

Here's the thing: Whatever else they do, cows are very prolific poopers (some more than others). Each adult cow here can easily generate 40lb of poop per day, which... adds up. Especially during the winter when all of our saprophytic (poop-eating) helpers like microbes and fungi and dung beetles and roly polys are, we assume, either hibernating or away on winter vacation.

So, each year, we find ourselves with more of this wonderful resource than we quite know what to do with. And this year, we decided to try to recreate a surprise we encountered in 2024 that we called "The Squashtopus" - which was essentially a huge amount of volunteer butternut squash that grew in a pile of pig poop after the chickens had turned the pile into compost. (Another example of alchemy ✨)

This year's pile - which has just exploded over the last few weeks - is brought to us through generous donations from the cows, pro bono turning by the chickens, and many hours of shoveling and wheelbarrowing by those here of the human persuasion.

We expect to see this crazy patch continue taking over the surrounding areas (we assume under the self-appointed authority of "cucurbit domain"...) and (we hope) ultimately offering us some winter squashes and cucumbers and watermelons to enjoy. Time will tell!

Recent & Upcoming Events

We recently had the privilege to set up a little Wit & Whimsy booth at a local event call the June Fling! Our goal was just to put ourselves out there and to sow some seeds of wonder, creativity, and connection. They weather was beautiful, and we had some great conversations with passersby (and gave away LOTS of sunflower seeds).

Many thanks to our friends at the Blount-Oneonta Chamber of Commerce for all their help and support ✨

In truth, we're pretty sure most people didn't know what to make of us - but that's okay. It's a start, and we're continuing to work on how to bring what we have to offer in ways that genuinely put good things out into the world around us. More soon!

What's Ahead

P.S. If you know of someone who could use a little wit and whimsy in their life, please pass this along. That's how we hope this will grow - organically and by way of your particular personal support.

© 2026 The Wit and Whimsy Foundation

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