My Old Country Road
My Old Country Road.
Quarantine road runs long as does the road from the public street all the way to the old farm house. Still, we are stuck here. Prisoners of a contagion we can’t see… Isolated… Cut off. “social distancing.” Some days are better than others. The pace of life crawls, I now understand Anne in her attic a lot better…. But that being said…. No one’s convenience is worth the cost of someone else’s loved one’s life. So we stay here quarantining on the farm.
Honestly, it isn’t bad. My mother stopped in again for a day or two… So dinner was excellent. Dr. Farmer Moomin, is suffering from a pinched nerve in his leg and goodness I never have seen such suffering…. I mean I thought the man cold was bad…. But this has been pretty extreme. Normally, I would make him go to the doctor… But, we can’t go cuz of damned Covid.
We are less impacted than many by food shortages and issues because we are a farm…. But those issues have begun to appear…. People have started to protest all this and shame on them….. And ummmm life goes on and the wheel of nature turns and seasons begin to pass…. The days have already gotten much longer but they will still get longer…. We prepare the yard as much as we can for planting soon. We wil start with the kitchen herb garden and then work outward from the house finally reaching the vegetable patch…. I look forward to the march of the seasons along the little country road of time. I can’t wait till the berries ripen and the grapes can be juiced for jelly and muffins….
The canning continues…. I wonder if I have lost my mind but my refrigerator keeps telling me I am fine when ever I ask…. Only kidding.
Besides that, today I tested a new weapon against my evil goose Mr. Darcy, I tried shooting him w ith the hose when he got violent…. He seemed unbothered by the water and went on trying to do murder… But he failed once again. So life goes on the world turns and I will keep walking my little country road.
Come walk with me.
Amanda of Wildflower Farm
Tags: ag, agriculture, agro, airbnb, B&B, bed and breakfast house, Country Road, farm, farm blog, farm wife, farm wife blog, farmer, farming, homestead, homestead blog, homestead farm, homestead wife, homestead wife blog, homesteader, homesteading, house wife, housewife blog, inn keeper, inn keeper's blog, life style, massachusetts, new england, new england farm, New England farm blog, new england farming, New England Homestead blog, New England homesteader, new england homesteading, old fashioned, old fashioned house wife, old fashioned housewife, old fashioned housewife blog, Quarantine, simple living, simpler life, travel, wildflower farm, Wildflower Farm blog
Wildflower Farm, is a small New England homestead, B&B and AirBnB, in the Baystate. We came out here 7 years ago, when we returned from the better part of 10 years as peripatetic aristotelian nomads, for my husband's post docs. Upon our return, we had a plan. We had a lovely home. Everything was so clear. Then, I got sick. Things I used to eat all the time during our travels elsewhere in the world and even here before I left almost 10 years earlier made me ill. It took a couple trips to the ER and a trip to specialist... It became clear, something had changed in the way food is processed in this country since last I lived here. Some off label things was inevitably going to be my demise.
My husband and I looked around to see the clear path we were on, had exploded in front of us. We decided we had to create a new path for ourselves. We put children on hold. We found a small piece of land with a house we loved in a rural suburb in a right to farm area. I began researching how to do it ourselves. Grow it ourselves, make it ourselves, survive on our own as much as possible. We bought the property, and began plotting a new course. One that didn't involve off label chemicals. Closer to nature, with a lot more DIY, gardens, and animals for the products they provide. We created a life we loved though it hasn't always been easy and has of course come with compromise with each other, and even with ourselves.
Our family thought we had lost our minds. What were we doing leaving the city? We had no idea how hard this would be. They thought we would be back in 6 months. That was over 7 years ago, now. We have been making it work. They were not wrong, it isn't easy. But has anything worth doing ever been easy? And for us, avoiding as much store bought food as possible was simply necessary so I could live given how sick I was getting.
Then Covid hit.... We were lucky to have this place. It has allowed us a lot less need for public use territories which has kept us a lot safer and spared us much of the risk others face daily. This place, has given us a privilege through this of great meaning to us. To be of use in a difficult time. We have been able to help friends family and even strangers in need when things couldn't be found on store shelves. Or money was tight due to not working, rent being due and a child at home, or some other draining situation. We are so very grateful to have been able to not be helpless like so much of society through this miserable time. Our families, got used to it some time ago, us being out here. They made peace with it the day there was no bread and they had to ask me for some. Or when fresh vegies were rotten due to supply chain issues but they could find plenty in my garden.
Wildflower Farm, was a place I dreamed of. One of those sweet pastoral dreams a city dweller grows up knowing will never come true, that became unavoidable when I became ill. I never expected to get to do this. I never thought I had what it takes to make this work. I have learned pacing myself is important, compromise is critical, hard work never ends, burn out is real so breaks are just a necessary evil.
We are not fully self sufficient, but we work hard in that direction as we create a new path through life for ourselves, always reaching to do even more ourselves and to get closer to the ideal we envision. We are however far more self sufficient than many in this world. 7 years in, we continue to learn and grow in this homesteading lifestyle. We welcome comments and advice and ideas and questions.
We welcome visitors from all over to our home with strict covid policies in place. We spend our time learning to live all over again in a more environmental and sustainable way though even there we are far from perfect always learning and growing doing better as we know better.
This little homestead farm is a magical place named for the New England wildflowers that grow all around. A place where a physicist, watches the night sky on clear nights with the aide of mirror and glass, and a woman, works endlessly in the gardens, the kitchen, and a variety of projects to create and to keep a very unique life style running and functioning. Wildflower Farm, has become so much more than simply a piece of land we can grow a few vegetables on. The longer I spend here, the more alive the land seems, the more I learn about it's function and the more meaning it has. My place in the universe and the next steps on our new path become ever more clear.
We welcome you on this journey with us.
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