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Writer's pictureJ Outridge

History Pt.1

Updated: Jan 27, 2023

Hi, Welcome

Franro Farm age 2

I'm Jessie, Wife to Jarod and Mother to 2 lively little girls. Welcome to my lifestyle blog where I will be sharing posts monthly and hopefully connecting with all of you. The last few years have been challenging to say the least but from all the darkness I have somehow found my light, so to say. I have been able to reconnect with my roots and return to a way of living that has always been in my blood and bones. Literally, for 4 generations now we have been raised to connect with the land, nature and animals, to grow, harvest and preserve our crops, to give back what we take from mother earth and to count our blessings each and every day.


For me, I was raised with the best of both worlds. Our family home in Meaford, Ontario, where I grew up with both my parents and younger sister, backed onto the farm my grandparents owned. I was able to reap all the rewards of farm life without having to wake up at 4am to milk cows like my mom did. I rode the bus to school but every night the bus would drop me off 2 doors down the road at my grandparents farm in the evenings. My nights there were full of fresh air while playing outside, chores at the barn and laying on the carpet in front of the tv down stairs. Some nights we would even get to stay and have one of grammas home cooked meals for dinner. Chances are if you ever came to one of my birthday parties growing up you got to come to the farm for a “visit” too. It was my favourite place to be.


Meaford Fair, 2001

From a young age I could always be found at the barn with Grampa. His love for animals quickly grew on me and I soon learned there is literally nothing quite like the love you get from a cow. Every summer I would do 4H and look forward to the local fall fairs where we would be showing off our “best”. Our best animals, vegetables, and canned goods. This was the most exciting time of year, where all our hard work got displayed and judged. And I do mean hard work. There is nothing easy about training a calf to lead or making the best strawberry jam.


Growing up there was never a time we didn't have a garden. Every year as kids mom would drag us outside in the wet spring to plant 1000s of seeds. The odd year it would be an unusually hot spring and we would be baking under the sun but the seeds always got in the ground. In the summer we would be sent to pick beans for dinner or if we were bad we would be sent to the raspberry patch. Ugh, I can still feel the scratches. We would grow our own vegetables at home and Grampa would raise the beef 2 doors down. In the fall I always remember Mom and Gramma making big batches of jams and pickles. It was always so fun to be in the kitchen those days. I remember we would go to the berry patch with Gramma to pick all the strawberries and when we got back home, it was processing time. The house would fill with the sweet smell of sugar and fresh berries, it smelled so good. I can remember taking jars down to the cold room and always being in awe at all our hard work. As I got older I would admire my Moms cold room and think one day I can't wait to have my own.

Moms cold room in the mid 2000


This was the beginning of my love for gardening, preserving and the farm.



Pt.2 dropping 01.27.23

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