07/16/2026
Sometimes I feel the need to talk about some things about farm life here rather than classes and animals...today's one of those days. I mean, it's related to some of that, which you'll see near the end of this, if you read that far.
There are just some things about farm life that micro farmers don't talk about, so people find out about only when they've jumped in, and this one's one that's been...well...challenging to say the least since I started the farm 4 years ago. It's amazing to me just how many of my fellow farmers live in old (I mean over 100 years old) homes that don't have air conditioning and how expensive it is to add it. For that matter, even homes earlier than maybe the 80s that weren't upgraded at some point. To go a little further, how unaffordable AC is for lower income Americans still live without air conditioning. And I don't think people can really understand the impact on one's health, energy, well-being, and overall ability to get through the day this causes. If one has health conditions that are affected by heat stress like I and so many other do like asthma, arthritis, nerve-related diseases, migraines, the list goes on, the heat greatly exacerbates them and many times causes crises that end people in the hospital or even in death.
The challenge with old houses like mine is that the windows and ledges were different; the windows themselves have thicker framing, ledges, and sills and nothing to drill those brackets into that'll hold a window unit. My windows also had weights that move within the edges to move the windows up/down and keep the windows shut, which many have since broken and are now just free hanging with no resistance until I ever can afford to fix or replace them. I also have 2 entire sides of the house that have curved windows which mean no units in the windows even if they were newer. Then some brilliant person/people decided it would be a great idea to caulk and paint shut the windows so one can't even open them to bring in fresh air! And even if one could open the windows, there are no screens for almost all of them, long since lost or destroyed, and special sizes that people don't really make anymore. And if you don't want to ruin the character of the home, central air is out. There are only a few choices for old homes since ductwork didn't exist back then and a lot of times, the floors for one level are the ceilings for the lower room with no space between, no closets to run things through, many don't have real basements to put large units into...you get the idea.
Now I'm luckier than most where I had some money up front that was available, which so many families don't, so I have portable floor model AC units which cost about $700 each new, are far more expensive to run and far less capable of cooling a 2500 sq ft home like this one is. I could only afford to buy used (at $300 each), 5 of these. They are EXPENSIVE to run! The electric bill goes up over $500 per month extra from spring through most of October! - but I have to do it because it's not an option otherwise. This is with a ceiling fan AND a floor fan running in most rooms to circulate the air. And it's still been way too hot in the summer inside, but because my staff and I work outside most of the time, and I couldn't afford anything else, I've had to endure this situation every year. The only good from it is that it's been relatively easy to acclimate in the over 100-degree weather when it hits. That's not necessarily a bonus. But we'll pretend it is for now.
Let me break down the weather that we've been having here on the farm, in southeast Michigan, for you:
Outside temp = 80 degrees, inside temp = 74 degrees.
Outside temp = 85 degrees, inside temp = 77 degrees
Outside temp = 90 degrees, inside temp = 80 degrees
Outside temp = 95 degrees, inside temp = 84 degrees
Outside temp this year 2 weeks so far (and counting) = 105 degrees, inside temp = 89, or so unbearable, I burst into flames.
This is the first year that 2 of the ACs couldn't do more than blow slightly cool air, they just couldn't keep up. I just couldn't take it anymore.
Now I am lucky enough to have an emergency fund that I could pull from; so many people don't. And to be honest, while I couldn't really afford to do this, I knew that I had to; my body was literally breaking down from the heat and I was barely able to function.
I made an investment in my health this year. I had to; I couldn't continue living this way. When I ended up in bed, barely able to move and so sick physically from the heat that that was all I could do, I made the best choice I could for myself and the staff because well, let's face it, I don't know if I'd have made it to the next "emergency" that the emergency fund was for otherwise.
This week, the farmhouse gained air conditioning! I went with a couple of mini splits, one in the office upstairs, and one gigantic unit for the living room, since my biggest problem is the open, sprawling main floor where we hold workshops and cook, and have most of the daily everything going on. The difference is insane: the workers turned the machine(s) on and between the time they turned it on and the time they left, the temp had dropped a whopping FOURTEEN DEGREES!!! That's far more than even they expected. It's now 70 degrees in the house, a temp I've never seen in the summer here, and it won't cost me anywhere near as much as it did to run these 2 machines! I do still have to have 2 of the portable units in bedrooms upstairs because the smaller unit in the office, combined with the layout of the upstairs with all the doors and walls being unconducive to air flow, won't cover it, but because the units will be in rooms that they can actually cool, the cost to run them will be significantly lower than it's been previously.
Needless to say, life here since - all of 2 days - has been so different that it's unrecognizable: I've gotten deep sleep that I haven't gotten since weather was in the 60s, I'm no longer severely dehydrated, retaining water, hands so puffy I can't even type, migraines have subsided, my asthma has improved, my arthritis is almost non-existent, all the aches and horrible pain has gone away...I've lost 5 pounds just from whatever my body was holding on to in it's "survival mode" retention state it was in...I'm a brand-new person! I'll most likely raise the temp in here a few degrees because now it's going to be harder to acclimate to the wall of heat when we walk out the door, but it sure won't be back up to the 80s!
As an added bonus, the Canadian wildfires smoke has arrived here and because of the conditioning part of the AC, I can breathe - normally I'm coughing up a storm and have to use my 2 extra inhalers even with all the doors and windows closed, and now I don't!
Look, sometimes you just have to take a leap of faith and do what's best for your health. And let's face it: that's what this farm was created to do. I'll say that I learned a very hard lesson of what so many other Americans are suffering through this summer in the heat, and I don't wish that on anyone. My prayers this summer will be with all of them to find safe cool spaces to refresh themselves in wherever possible, and for solutions that ease their suffering in this dreadful heat. If you know someone who lives without air conditioning, please check on them, offer them a fan, some time in your home if they're friends or family (even an hour will help!), ice, cold water, electrolytes (especially important!), something to ease the stress.
Stay safe, stay cool, and breathe the fresh, clean air and have a blessed day.
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