December is a bit of a landmark for us. As we creep in on the arrival of 2021, we also celebrate our official 1-year anniversary of living on the farm.
Holy cow, guys. We freaking made it.
This year – 2020 – we could very well say we’ve been in survival mode. We’ve:
- Chased a now 1-year-old pretty much everywhere
- Moved our ridiculous dogs to the country
- Added cats, chickens, guineas, calves, goats and a temporary donkey to the family
- Seen (huge) deer, geese, turkeys, bobcats, coyotes and foxes
- Planted a massive garden
- Harvested potatoes, green beans, snap peas, carrots, tomatoes, lettuce, arugula, nasturtium, radishes, cherries and apples
- Mowed a ton of grass and brush
- Enjoyed dinners, celebrations and time with family and friends all over the property
- Learned a lot about what grows around here
- Collected lots of eggs
- Built a gorgeous chicken coop
- Planted new trees in the orchard
- Started in on demolition
- Baled hay
- Uncovered an awesome concrete table
- Installed fences for the goats and calves
- Trimmed trees and bushes like crazy
- Started updating the greenhouse
- Navigated (and continue to navigate) a global pandemic
- Carved out the Goat Trails
- Built a pretty cool Goat House in the woodline
- Went on a bunch of side-by-side rides
- Found an unbelievable animal sitter
- Finalized the plans for our renovation
- Updated the basement fireplace
As if the farm wasn’t enough on its own, though, we’ve also:
- Continued to run Aaron’s successful real estate business in Kansas City
- Expanded that real estate service to Douglas County and Jefferson County
- Worked full-time growing a startup in Kansas City
- And, helped with a handful of other awesome projects for past clients and local small businesses
Yes, when you look back on it all, there are two things:
- We really have accomplished a lot.
- We are undoubtedly psycho.
Aaron and I are lofty goal setters. We may not always say it out loud – but we both have huge expectations of ourselves and what we want to accomplish. We also have entirely unrealistic expectations of how long it will take. (Ha!)
Neither of us anticipated that our renovation planning would take up to a year – but here we are. We’re eternally frustrated that we don’t actually live in the main part of the house while being equally as excited about the design and construction ahead. Patience is a virtue, right?
We also thought we’d have long, permanent fences wrapping around the pastures by now. We’ve planned a new pond for the cattle in the back pasture. Heck, we even expected to have a larger herd than the 6 that have found their way to us. Once again, it all comes with time.
We’ve learned tons. We’ve learned about the land and the animals. We’ve learned proper timing and gotten in tune with how things go around here. The familiarity that comes with working on the farm was something we couldn’t have acquired without spending time here. Having even this crazy, fast year under our belts will only make the year ahead a bigger, better and more efficient one.
While the pandemic has stuck us in place for a bit (check on your traveler friends in this pandemic – we are not all right!), the farm as a whole has taught us to slow down. Our family has spent the past 2-3 years moving at light speed. Really – when I say that we bought a house, got engaged, got married, survived our 1st pregnancy, bought a farm, sold our house, raised a pretty freaking cute son and are now expecting our daughter…in addition to everything we’ve accomplished here this year – I really do mean that it’s our style to move fast and loose! The slow, steady cadence of the farm day-to-day is a truly grounding gift.
Adjusting our lives to this farm has been challenging that in every single way. But, as I get up in the morning and sip coffee while ripping up waffles and fruit for Isai – I can look out over the entire frosty pasture wrapped in the warm morning sun. Aaron will inevitably walk in and leave the door open just a little too long – letting the cold air bite at our bare feet and warm cheeks. The morning chores will lead to daytime tasks. Our routines will be almost second-nature. And then, we’ll add our next little one to this madness and start re-figuring it out all over again.