Connection in the Ordinary
It’s been two months since we arrived on the farm. James Herriot said it best when he wrote “Life was full for me. There were so many things to find out and a lot I had to prove to myself. The days were quick and challenging and they pressed on me with their very newness.” Every day in spite of zero farm knowledge, we shift from what we know to what we learn and we continue to operate here with open hands, knowing God is in control.
Having no previous farm experience has been a mild hindrance to this new life on our farm, but there is no learning curve that’s gonna hold us down! I am once again struck with the enormity of connection. Our connection with the earth, plants, animals, family, food, ourselves. Every task is intimately woven together within a multitude of other tasks all connected, none separate from the other. It reminds me of the old woman who swallowed a fly. By the end of the poem she swallowed a goat to catch the dog, to catch the cat, to catch the bird, to catch the spider, to catch the fly. She was probably just trying to garden.
Highlights from the last 2 months:
We have our first wedding scheduled at the farm. Flowers are growing in the greenhouse for this event as I type. Yet another learning curve. Wedding planning and simultaneous flower germination.
The river keeps rising. We are excited to see what the river bank looks like when it’s fully running. (P.S. We are not in a floodplain. Rest your hearts).
We have completed many tasks that were handed down to us from the previous owners and feel a great sense of pride in the completion of so many checks on our long list of to-dos.
A resident eagle family hatched a baby and we watch it grow. It’s homely currently but still noble, powerful, and incredible.
Our baby goats have been a constant source of joy. Just sitting with them is an experience. They calm your racing thoughts and reduce mind clutter, your body relaxes, and your breathing slows. If you take a moment to inhale their presence...It’s nothing short of holy.
Much company, family, and friends have dropped in to experience farm life. Everyone leaves happy, more at peace, and refreshed. This is our greatest hope for the property that it would heal and restore all who enter its boundaries.
A moose stopped by and made a majestical appearance on the property.
Francesca our trauma llama has welcomed us to feed her by hand. It has been a glorious gift to see her start to heal and connect with us. And her LASHES!
...And just like that, you are caught up.
Its not easy to put it all out there and say "I know nothing about this journey I am on", but there, I said it. No guilt or shame attached to that statement, only light and truth. I doubt and amaze myself daily. Armed with a tremendous love of my goats, bedazzled overalls, and a dream, every day has been a chapter in this new book of knowledge unfolding in my heart and mind. I feel so connected to the Earth, the Creator, the growth of all living things both within us and outside of us, and so heavy with the tasks of caring for what we have been given. Yet it’s not a burden. It’s a gift. Like a weighted blanket. Thank you, God for this therapy blanket gift we call the farm and also home. And thank you friends for not laughing me out of your life when I ask ridiculous farm questions.
Art by Hannah Vance
“Dear old world', she murmured, 'you are very lovely, and I am glad to be alive in you.”
― L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables
