Lost and Finding Joy

Well, we were certainly doing something new. Just like with most new ventures, we didn’t know all the steps it would take to get this place in liveable condition. In the video below, do you see that tall grass Kevin’s mowing down with his new Kabota tractor? Yeah. That grass. It was infested with ticks. The whole farm was infested with ticks. Move into the tree line and you will find all the chiggers. Technically, the chiggers and the ticks would find you! I swear they could see us (or smell us or something) coming from a mile away. The ticks knew exactly when to fall out of the trees onto us when we walked underneath them. Almost every time we’d walk under a tree, we’d feel one drop in our hair, or somewhere on our body. That song, Ticks, by Brad Paisley, had a whole new meaning for me!

We didn’t care. We absolutely loved every second of being out there, even during those first few weeks. We were eager and willing to do whatever it took to experience this new life together.

We were advancing confidently in the direction of our dream. Although we couldn’t connect all the dots looking forward, like Steve Jobs once said; we can now connect them looking backwards.

When you do a project like this, it makes you wonder why we tend to shy away from hard work in the first place. There is something satisfying about it during and after the process. The first step on the farm was getting some equipment– for starters– a new tractor and bush hog. Then cut the grass down. Next Step? Well, it was time to clear out more trees and then breaking-plow the ground.

Remember when I said I was looking for something new in my life? Well, I found it! All of it was new for me. Even the terminology and the process of clearing the ground was a new experience. I was living a new chapter.

“We were looking dumb and happy,” (as my dad would always jokingly say), living our new life on the farm!