I recently had an old neighbor over to see our property.  I’m hoping he can help me with a logo and some other graphic design needs for this blog, that I’m now affectionately referring to as “Farm Charm.”

As we walked around the yard and I showed him the barn, workshop, shed, chicken coop, and garden beds he said something to the effect of how much work this is going to be and that he would be intimidated to take on something like this.  He asked if either myself or Cactus Man had grown up on a farm and the answer is no. My only experience is having ridden horses briefly as a teen in Virginia Beach, VA and then briefly again as a twenty-something in Wheaton, MD. Cactus grew up in a beach town in Israel (one of the reasons I refer to him as a cactus).

I was trying to give him a little bit of the ‘why’ we moved to a farm story in case that helped spur some logo design ideas.  Explaining how we wanted to get away from the rush of suburbia and slow it down a few notches. His assessment was that we traded one form of busy-ness for another because of how much constant work and fixing and attention all aspects of the farm would require.  It gave me pause for a minute because I hadn’t thought of it exactly that way before. And I don’t disagree with him, but that isn’t how I see it.

Whether this was good timing or not, we moved here in the middle of November when the darker days had already arrived and winter was just a few frosty breaths away.  We haven’t even gone through our first change of season to be able to properly experience how each is made up of its own work, in addition to the work of preparing for the next season.  This winter was about figuring out the pellet stove, the wood stove, and the fuel so that we stayed warm. We didn’t have any time to prepare for this but we did pretty well thanks to Cactus (should definitely give him more credit in this department).

Yes, there will be lots of work.  I know that and yet I’m sure my calculation of it is still in the category many would classify as naive.  There is probably so much more work that I don’t even know exists. But it’s all work that we directly benefit from and can take pride in and can enjoy the results of.  We are choosing it. It’s not the empty busy-ness I feel from rushing around town to this and that store and buying more things that don’t make me any happier. It already feels different after living here for less than three months.

It’s walking out my door and not having to go any further than my own yard for peace of mind and satisfaction.