That is to be determined, I suppose. Nonetheless, it is definitely time for a new start. For the past 16 months, you may have read Valley Creek Herb Farm blog. It was the name my mother had given the farm and we adopted the name when we all moved together. Since she was the horticulturist of 40+ years, when she moved back home to the Midwest, the "herb" in the name really did not fit anymore. We kept it for the past year because I was attempting to work in the greenhouse and garden a bit, but found with my transcription jobs it was nearly impossible to do what I wanted.
Starting next week, all things are different (farm name included)...I will no longer have the time- consuming, and of course good paying job. I have quit. The stress of the work, the feeling of "burning out" after 15 years of the same work, while the opportunity to make my dream a reality was just outside my window, made it a miserable existence for the last several months. In that time, my emotional stability, my overall feeling of wellness and joy has been slowly declining, whereas my weight, blood pressure and lazy ways have been going up. I prayed earnestly. I received a definite, undeniable answer...not only in what to do, but also when!
So, next week, a fresh start. A scary start with the loss of half of our income. There may be drastic changes, such as losing our newest vehicle, not being able to afford vacations, inevitable changes in our lifestyle, yes, but I have faith we will be adding new, simpler and more satisfying changes.
There are lots of improvements to be done. Buildings to build (such as a milkhouse, smokehouse, honey house, root cellar). Fences to put up for goats and/or sheep, pigs. Gardens to create both vegetables, beneficial insect gardens, grains to grown, orchards to plant. There are home improvements to make (pulling up that blue carpet, at least in the bathroom, and painting the porches and decks, replacing screens in the screened porch, repairing the pier/dock on the pond, and good old general deep cleaning that has been suffering for a long time now. Although the light is very dim at the end of the tunnel, it is there. Even as I think about the work to be done there is a small smile that comes to my lips. Knowing that I will be moving around and accomplishing something is satsifying, but knowing that the kids, who are almost grown now, will have that same wonderful satisfaction of a job well done is even better. Even this weekend, I had the kids to simple tasks. Jacob contructed a small chicken tractor out of an old rabbit run. It is wonderful. Although I enjoyed the end result by sitting on a stump and watching the three chickens eat grass, scratch and look for bugs, I know Jacob was proud of what he had done. And Sarah had filled up three large trash bags of old pots and trash that had been made by a litter of puppies in the shadehouse behind the greenhouse. And she was proud, as was I. Bruce had made a new gate for the goat fence with the leftover lumbar that was piled behind the third area of the garage. Everyone had a feeling of satisfaction that lasts a lot longer than the temporary joy of going to Barnes and Noble and sifting through the fiction section while drinking the 400 calorie coffee that you buy on impulse.
Lost Arrow Acres is named so as everyone in the family has a bow. We all shoot, although not as intensely as Bruce (not yet anyway). The kids and I lose arrows from bad shots, where as he loses arrows from Robin Hooding them! Because this homestead is MY dream, I wanted Bruce to know that it is his too, I let the name reflect him more. Personally, I had considered HoeBow Hills (I like gardening and hoeing and he likes bowhunting) but my dream, his name.
Since I am starting at square one again, I will be taking similar pictures and probably telling similar stories, but hopefully they will be enjoyable, teaching stories that bring a smile to your face or a tear to your eye. As I have experienced a lot of losses, a goat, rabbits, chickens, plants and trees, I do not expect that my learning curve of losses is over by any means. Its hard. I never had problems butchering rabbits and chickens, and I still do okay with it, but when you bury the animals that you had intended to keep and could put names on their headstones, it gets hard, or when the one goat that you have let in the kitchen just to see what she does and walks right next to you around the yard gets attacked and badly injured by another animal, it is like a family member. My mother told me as you get older it gets harder emotionally. Once again, I am starting to think she might be on to something.
With the family's hard work and God's grace, Lost Arrow Acres is born and ready to grow.
