What Were We Thinking?

It was the summer of 2011 when I first started seeing glimpses of this homestead dream of ours. I was reading Real Food by NinaPlank. In it she described the family cow and how pigs and chickens can root, fertilize and basically prepare your land for gardening. She described the cycle of food and animals – the cycle of a farm. That was the spark. 

Of course, my extended family was already moving in that direction. My brother had started a CSA on my parents’ land. Two of my sister-in-laws and I had “Nourishing Traditions” and were doing what we could. We all wanted to be eating real, traditional foods. And I began wanting to grow it.

Two and half years later, we are able to make steps toward this dream. It’ exhilarating. And daunting. And overwhelming. I have had many moments when I have thought, “What were we thinking?” Like when I smelled a stench in a particular part of the kitchen after we moved in. (It’s gone now thankfully!) Or when we would spend $200 in just half an hour getting things for the house and land. Just to mention a few. There have been challenges and I sense they are just the beginning. What were we thinking? What are we thinking?!?

I would ask myself this. Yet then, I’d see a glorious sunset. I’d catch the bright stars and stare out at the open field. While spring delayed, the sunsets and stars served as reminders to why we moved. Now that spring is here and we have walked and worked the land, I have even more reminders. Our plans are unfolding. And grateful and hopeful anticipation is rolling in.