The couple in the car were looking at our gorgeous flock, and I felt a little burst of pride, and at the same time it hit me: other people admire what we have here. It's silly that I'd be surprised at this I guess. Right now I feel it's the worst time to be admiring things here. Muck abounds and will suck your boots right off your feet with a careless step. Fence paint is peeling off after a winter of ice blasting, and some of the boards are rotting at the bolts. We still haven't fixed the poorly set posts that lean horribly, and they will probably be leaning even worse now after yet another season of frost heave.
G and I love driving around the countryside admiring farms, animals and the creativity that people express when they can leave behind 'keeping up with the Joneses'. We wonder how long it took for the people to achieve what they have there. And of course by 'have' I mean 'built'. I'm not talking about toys--boats and atvs etc. What state was the property in when they took it on? Our place was in a pretty rough state, essentially derelict. It all takes time, money, (sometimes)blood and hospital visits, sweat, tears, and learning from mistakes if you're smart.
We will keep chipping away at all of these things that need attending to, but it will never look like those picture perfect hobby farms in the magazines and movies. Anyone else actually doing this sort of thing will get what I'm talking about. Jenna Woginrich of Cold Antler Farm gets it. Her 6 acres is her livelihood. Her acreage is precious to her, and it's not about perfection. Anyone caring for many species of animals and tending a garden really doesn't have time for perfection. But for me going out to the garden to pick a fresh salad, then boiling up a fresh egg to put on it, and toasting up some bread my sweety has crafted to go along with it is pretty close to (one of) my version(s) of perfect. I don't really have the words to explain it more thoroughly at the moment.
It really is true what they say about pushing yourself out of a comfort zone, or away from whatever your social group is telling you to do. It's still surprising to me how many of my so-called friends thought it was a little silly that we got chickens almost five years ago. Moving away from big cities to find or live your passions is never a bad thing, in my experience. Except that starting over thing. I've had to do that so many times. That part is hard. I'm sure a lot of folks can relate to that one! Personally, professionally, physically, whatever type of starting over you've experienced, (they can all vary on scale of difficulty) they certainly give you tools with which you can relate to people you meet along the way. You know, those people slowing down to admire, dream, hope.
http://vimeo.com/84437521 have a look! ( couldn't link her video directly for some reason so you'll have to paste the link into your browser)
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