The sunny warmth of last week has given way to cold, dreary gloom. Today, specifically, the window from our basement has nothing much to show beyond the bright green grass dulled by the dark gray skies. Hard winds pound at the doors all around the house. The rain falls heavy to the puddles outside the door. Generally – the entirely scene screams of coldness.
Without socks, my feet are chilled by the concrete floors of the basement. Aaron ripped carpet out of the master bedroom (renovation continues!) and we’ve decided to repurpose it into the basement living area so that the small dude has a comfy space to practice crawling. This will also be good for my way-too-cold feet eventually.
The quarantine has been extended for our area. In Kansas, the state has extended to May 3. In Kansas City (where my office is located), the city has extended to May 15. In both cases, I will spend more time enjoying the farm from my makeshift office overlooking the pasture.
The chilly weather this week makes me glad I took a few hours out of the workweek to enjoy last week’s sunshine. I even spent some time working from the back deck which was many, many, many great decisions.
Getting the farm up and running in this strange time is…well…strange. We’ve loved the flexibility to focus on farm projects when the weather and timing is right – but balancing the juggle of focus with my full-time job and handful of side gigs is difficult.
Never-the-less, I’m grateful for the distractions in lieu of boredom. I’m even more grateful to find myself with an abundance of work in a time when many aren’t having the same experience. I’m grateful, as well, that I’m able to help others with free projects, marketing advice and more. With any luck – I’m helping others to weather the storm as much as they are helping me.
I’ve been humbled in the past couple of weeks by what the farm provides for us. Before we’ve even had the chance to truly get the garden and pastures up to speed, we have entertainment, distraction, protection, safety, peace, productivity, fun, joy, celebration. I’ve been attempting to follow guided meditations with Isai in the evenings. Even having just five minutes to reflect and be grateful for these things changes the shape of the day.
Aaron has been throwing himself into work and projects at every angle. While the weather was clear, he cleaned and prepped the fence line for repair. The new fence will contain cattle post-quarantine and this time has been valuable for completing the intense amount of work needed to get things in shape. He’s also nearly finished the chicken coop – which will have to get wrapped up this weekend. The chickens are enormous and quickly outgrowing the garage trough. He also continues demo on the master suite bit by bit. And when all else fails, he works on the finishing touches to our greenhouse. His effort in all things – especially while still juggling real estate clients – is incredible.
All in all, we’re doing just fine over here. Just fine. Just fine.