It’s a balance.
There are so many things I’m trying to do on the farm.
Horse barns. Willow business. I have a hound who gets an off leash dog run (me in an ATV because I can’t run 20 mph) every day, rain or shine. I have a mule I never meant to own but who I love beyond all measure and who needs to get back into shape if we’re ever going to trail ride with her pals this season. It’s forage season to collect willow bark and dandelions. Other forage seasons are coming. I want to plant indigo, flax, and purple corn with Abby. I want to plant veggies and a perennial weaving garden. The pasture lines are only slowly getting back up after flood damage and the horses are finally back on grass, needing more pastures to open up when they get done with the ones their on. Abby and I built a fence at Harriet Beecher Stowe House. I have to figure out a way to protect everything from spotted lantern flies. Hay season is seconds away.
April and May are starting to feel woefully short to accomplish all of that and to keep all of the pieces of the puzzle coming together.
Also, truly, it would be nice to just enjoy the lovely spring weather. The farm is ridiculously beautiful right now. Green and lush, but the onslaught of summer bugs hasn’t descended yet. I would just like to sit on the edge of the river and watch some part of the day go by slow. Skip rocks. Find hagstones. Lie back in the grass and watch clouds inch past overhead.
Just the other day, my brother found two baby red ear slider turtles trying to scramble across his big parking lot at Lost Bridge Beverage Company. The world came to a screeching halt for a moment while we played with them for a bit and marveled at their completeness at such a small size before Casey released them safely down by the river.
My guess is that every farmer needs to be told or to remind themselves that it’s okay to enjoy their land from time to time. It shouldn’t always be work. There should be idle time set aside just to stare at trees and fields and a good stretch of sky.
That’s a hard ask when there’s so much to be done. But the ask has to come and be answered.
