Life is sure full. Farming sure offers me unending possibilities of what to do and how to do it. It might not just be the farming, it is also the building and the acquiring of tools along the way that continually enables me and us here. And also the (re)generation of life has given us fullness I don’t think we quite understood before. It almost feels like that moment when you release something from your hand to be as it may, like handing a package over to shipping or planting a tree in the ground.
Maybe it has been all of this fullness that has led me to partner with Crystal to make a child! I’m still very unsure how to even share this, as I feel the responsibility and sacredness, the gravitas of what raising a (healthy) child means.
I guess it’s been six whole years here, this is the seventh growing season. It sure feels like it has not been that long, but when I think about each year on its own, I guess maybe time hasn’t flown so quickly and we did actually live each day to the fullest. We’ve built three houses now, a barn, a chicken coop, two cabins. We’ve successfully made hay to feed our animals all winter, planted half of our apple orchard, run a herd of goats, cows, sheep, remodeled our gardens so many times!, fenced a whole lot, and have nurtured a community of friends that we hope grows ever stronger.
I can only hope that these photographs remind me, and us, that reality is pretty damn good to us. This is a photographic collection of the full year 2023.
