To My Friends in Louisville

To All My Friends in Louisville,


I just wanted to say that it was a pleasure working with all of you - even the most demanding of my customers during the year and two months of my working at Baptist Health Louisville were nothing short of patient, kind, and professional. It was with a some discomfort that my wife and I made the decision to leave Louisville and head back to our home. But, really, healthcare is such a small field that it would not surprise me if we do not cross paths again at some time in the future.

 The newly renovated but not yet painted "Disle" (gaelic for trustworthy), the old farm truck now with our farm logo ready for markets that start up as early as March. Some of you made fun of me driving to work in this every morning, but she made it all the way back to Arkansas and has taken her rest and will now be used only to get produce to market or on the property when needed.

 Some of the work we had done by our caretakers while I worked with Aramark made it possible for us to move back when the opportunity arose. The opportunity just occurred a lot more quickly than we expected. The little red building is, indeed, our 396 square foot home. We will eventually build something slightly larger a little bit down the hill and then use this cottage to house visitors. When/if we get to where we can hold farm retreats for people who want to spend the weekend on a farm to see what we do, they can be rented.

 Here I am in the shop we had built by our caretakers. It is in our barn which is about 4 times more square footage than our home. Here I am attempting to rebuild a battery pack for a cordless drill because I am too cheap to keep buying new ones.

Patt has already started getting the le Petite Jardin (french for small or kitchen garden) ready for planting. We will plant this with herbs, tomatoes, and greens. by mid summer we should be able to step just outside the house and make a salad or collect ingredients for a pasta. Like the one below:

Pasta Fresca

In a blender, puree chopped fresh tomatoes, six leaves of basil, one fresh garlic clove, a 1/4 cup of olive oil, and a teaspoon of salt, until it is bright orange and mixed well. Cook your pasta (bowties are best on this). Drain the pasta and add the puree and a 1/4 to 1/2 pound of mozarrella cubes. Stir is up and have with a nice white wine like a Vouvray or cold welch's white grape juice.